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Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site. 0108263 License for publishing multimedia online Registration Number: 130349 Registration Number: 130349 Ophthalmic Drugs Market Research Report by Geographical Analysis and Forecast to 2025 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/ophthalmic-drugs-market.html https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=S&rep_id=1769 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/checkout.php?rep_id=1769 20 nmOn 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, includingInvestment castingCatalystsTextiles & FabricsRefractoriesPolishing (Electronic)Paints and CoatingsOthersBrowse full report With TOC-Table of ContentsGlobal Modified Colloidal Silica Market Research Report 20181 Modified Colloidal Silica Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Modified Colloidal Silica1.2 Modified Colloidal Silica Segment by Type (Product Category)1.2.1 Global Modified Colloidal Silica Production and CAGR (%) Comparison by Type (Product Category)(2013-2025)1.2.2 Global Modified Colloidal Silica Production Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 20171.2.3 < 10 nm1.2.4 10-20 nm1.2.5 > 20 nm1.3 Global Modified Colloidal Silica Segment by Application1.3.1 Modified Colloidal Silica Consumption (Sales) Comparison by Application (2013-2025)1.3.2 Investment casting1.3.3 Catalysts1.3.4 Textiles & Fabrics1.3.5 Refractories1.3.6 Polishing (Electronic)1.3.7 Paints and Coatings1.3.8 Others1.4 Global Modified Colloidal Silica Market by Region (2013-2025)1.4.1 Global Modified Colloidal Silica 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)1.4.6 Southeast Asia Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.7 India Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.5 Global Market Size (Value) of Modified Colloidal Silica (2013-2025)1.5.1 Global Modified Colloidal Silica Revenue Status and Outlook (2013-2025)1.5.2 Global Modified Colloidal Silica Capacity, Production Status and Outlook (2013-2025)2 Global Modified Colloidal Silica Market Competition by Manufacturers2.1 Global Modified Colloidal Silica Capacity, Production and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.1.1 Global Modified Colloidal Silica Capacity and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.1.2 Global Modified Colloidal Silica Production and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.2 Global Modified Colloidal Silica Revenue and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.3 Global Modified Colloidal Silica Average Price by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.4 Manufacturers Modified Colloidal Silica Manufacturing Base Distribution, Sales Area and Product Type2.5 Modified Colloidal Silica Market Competitive Situation and Trends2.5.1 Modified Colloidal Silica Market Concentration Rate2.5.2 Modified Colloidal Silica Market Share of Top 3 and Top 5 Manufacturers2.5.3 Mergers & Acquisitions, Expansion3 Global Modified Colloidal Silica Capacity, Production, Revenue (Value) by Region (2013-2018)3.1 Global Modified Colloidal Silica Capacity and Market Share by Region (2013-2018)3.2 Global Modified Colloidal Silica Production and Market Share by Region (2013-2018)3.3 Global Modified Colloidal Silica Revenue (Value) and Market Share by Region (2013-2018)3.4 Global Modified Colloidal Silica Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)3.5 North America Modified Colloidal Silica Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)3.6 Europe Modified Colloidal Silica Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)3.7 China Modified Colloidal Silica Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)3.8 Japan Modified Colloidal Silica Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)3.9 Southeast Asia Modified Colloidal Silica Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)3.10 India Modified Colloidal Silica Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)Continue....Enquire about this report -About Market Research Hub:Market Research Hub (MRH) is a next-generation reseller of research reports and analysis. MRHs expansive collection of market research reports has been carefully curated to help key personnel and decision makers across industry verticals to clearly visualize their operating environment and take strategic steps.MRH functions as an integrated platform for the following products and services: Objective and sound market forecasts, qualitative and quantitative analysis, incisive insight into defining industry trends, and market share estimates. Our reputation lies in delivering value and world-class capabilities to our clients.90 State Street,Contact Details:90 State Street,Albany, NY 12207,United StatesToll Free : 800-998-4852 (US-Canada)Email : press@marketresearchhub.comWebsite :Read Industry News at - Artificial Intelligence In Manufacturing Market - Era of Digital Transformation of Machinery https://www.xpodenceresearch.com/Request-Sample/105620 https://www.xpodenceresearch.com/Reports/Artificial-Intelligence-In-Manufacturing-Market The manufacturing industry has always has been open to adopting latest technologies. Industrial robots and drones have been a part of the manufacturing industry subsequently since 1960s. The next automation revolution is just around the turn and the US Manufacturing Sector is awaiting this technological advancements eagerly. The adoption of AI by the companies can keep inventories lean and decrease the cost, there is a high possibility that the American manufacturing Industry will experience an drastic growth. It is said that, the manufacturing sector has to grow fast for networked factories where design team, supply chain, production line, and quality control are highly integrated into an intelligent engine that provides actionable insights.Global artificial intelligence in manufacturing market has be categorized into offering, technology, application, industry and regions. Based on the offering the market has been segmented into software, and hardware. On the basis of technology the artificial intelligence in manufacturing market has been divided into natural language processing, deep learning, computer vision, and context awareness. Application segment has been bifurcated into quality control, predictive maintenance and machinery inspection, material movement, production planning, field services and reclamation. Industry segment has been categorized into pharmaceuticals, automobile, power & energy, heavy metals & machine manufacturing, food & Beverages, semiconductors & electronics among others.Request For Free Sample Of The Report @The major factors driving the artificial intelligence in manufacturing market are the increasing usage of robotics in manufacturing, usage of big data technology in the manufacturing sector, computer vision technology being used in manufacturing, and industrial IoT in manufacturing sector. Reluctance among the manufacturers to adopt AI-Based technologies are the major factors that may hinder the progress of the artificial intelligence in Manufacturing market in the near future. Additionally the growth opportunities of AI-Based technology in emerging and developed countries and more over improving operational efficiency of manufacturing plants are some of the major growth opportunities for the artificial intelligence in Manufacturing market players.Geographically, the artificial intelligence in Manufacturing market has been bifurcated into five regions North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa and Latin America. The Artificial Intelligence in Manufacturing market size and forecast period for each region has been estimated from 2017 to 2023. Additionally the CAGR (%) for the forecasted period 2017 to 2023. The study also includes market estimates for major countries/regions such as the U.S, the U.K., Germany, France, Japan, China, India, GCC, North Africa, South Africa and Brazil. The detailed analysis by Offering, Technology, Application, industry and regions supports in evaluating the present scenario, growth prospects and the future scenario for the artificial intelligence in manufacturing market over the forecast period. Thus, the report delivers in-depth segment analysis of the market and classifies it into various industries, thereby providing valuable perceptions.Obtain Report Details @The growing necessity for the usage of robotics in manufacturing industry is anticipated to drive the Europe market for Artificial Intelligence in manufacturing in the future years. The major companies that are involved artificial intelligence in manufacturing are Intel Corporation, NVIDIA Corporation, Microsoft Corporation, IBM Corporation, Siemens AG, Alphabet Inc., General Electric Company, Datarpm, General Vision, Inc., Sight Machine, Aibrain, and Rokwell Automation Inc.About Us-Xpodence Research have the most extensive collection of market research reports of many categories. Xpodence Research provides the best market research solution for every industry by publishing the best possible results of great market research firms worldwide. For every particular problem, theres a particular solution, so according to the customer needs, we provide the best possible results to them from different market research organization, whether its a Custom Research or Syndicated Research reports because the product that wins is the one that bridges customers to the future, not the one that requires a giant leap.Every organization, whether it is related to Pharmaceuticals, Technology, Eatables, Consumable Goods and many more demands a market research results so that they can take important decisions for more productivity and better output in this swift world. Xpodence Research gives the best possible outcome, perfect forecast, analysis and insights of market research in the form of report which is beneficial for various organisations and also to the manufacturing companies in taking the best decisions for quality production.Contact Us-Xpodence ResearchUSA Office244 , Madison AvenueNew York City, NY - 10016United StatesUK Office109 ,Straford Street,LeedsWest Yorkshrie LS11 6JGUnited KingdomToll Free +1- 844-445-2861Email-sales@xpodenceresearch.com Indonesia and Malaysia Key Countries in Southeast Asia Food Emulsifier Market Food Emulsifier Market https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/southeast-asia-food-emulsifier-market.html https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=7003 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com A fresh business and commerce study by Transparency Market Research (TMR) has detected that the food emulsifier market in Southeast Asia is heavily dependent on product innovation in order to meet diverse demands. Consequently, research and development of new products is the primary strategy adopted by the key companies operating in Southeast Asia food emulsifier market, such as Archer Daniels Midland Company, BASF SE, Cargill, Inc., E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company, Ajinomoto Co., Associated British Foods Plc., Koninklijke DSM N.V., J.M. Huber Corporation, Chr. Hansen Holding A/S, and Givaudan SA. While Riken Vitamin and Palsgaard are focused on developing products with enhanced functional attributes, Danisco A/S already has a portfolio involving goods that possess enhanced taste, nutritional value, texture, and improved shelf life. On the other hand, Cargill, Inc. offers synthetic emulsifier for chocolate, bakery, and snacks.Browse Research Report With Complete TOC @As per the projections of the TMR report, the demand in the Southeast Asia food emulsifier market will increment at a CAGR of 5.1% during the forecast period of 2015 to 2021. The report has evaluated that the opportunities in this market were worth US$173.3 mn in 2014, and estimates it to swell up to a valuation of US$248.3 mn by the end of 2021.Application-wise, the food emulsifier market in Southeast Asia gains maximum demand from bakery and confectionery, significantly more than all other segments put together, including dairy products, meat products, convenience foods, and others. The report observes that demand for gluten-free baked products is escalating, besides gaining traction from growing consumer preference for nutritious and fibrous biscuits.Country-wise, the report gauges the potential of food emulsifier market in Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, and Rest of Southeast Asia. In 2014, Indonesia and Malaysia were the two key country-wide markets for food emulsifier. While Malaysia accounted for 25.2% of the demand share, Indonesia was the primary market and is projected to serve 38.2% of the overall demand in Southeast Asia food emulsifier market by 2021.Based on product type, the market has been bifurcated into Stearoyl Lactylatess, Mono, Di-Glycerides & Derivatives, Sorbitan Esters, Lecithin, and others, with mono, di-glycerides & derivatives constituting for 43.4% for the demand share, followed by lecithin which accounted for 23.7%. Mono-, di-glycerides & derivatives are extensively consumed for manufacturing dairy and bakery items, including ice creams, cakes, bread, and margarine.Request a PDF Brochure with Research Report Analysis @The sudden rise of urban population in these emerging economies in Asia Pacific is the primary reason behind the prosperity of Southeast food emulsifier market. The urban population live a restless life and consequently, the demand for packaged food as increased leaps and bounds in the recent past. Incrementing demand for convenience food is the major factor boosting the demand for food emulsifier in Southeast Asia. The food emulsifier market in Southeast Asia has been witnessing robust growth due to its increasing demand across confectionery and bakery among others. In addition to that, consumers are now preferring food that are low on fat and healthy. Moreover, food emulsifiers are being added to the finished product to increase the overall quality of bakery and functional foods. Growth in the bakery industry in Southeast Asia is set to propel the demand in the food emulsifier market.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.Each TMR syndicated research report covers a different sector - such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals, energy, food & beverages, semiconductors, med-devices, consumer goods and technology. These reports provide in-depth analysis and deep segmentation to possible micro levels. With wider scope and stratified research methodology, TMRs syndicated reports strive to provide clients to serve their overall research requirement.US Office Contact90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Network Security Appliance Market Sees Promising Growth during 2018-2025 Network Security Appliance Market https://www.htfmarketreport.com/sample-report/920417-global-network-security-appliance-market-4 https://www.htfmarketreport.com/reports/920417-global-network-security-appliance-market-4 https://www.htfmarketreport.com/enquiry-before-buy/920417-global-network-security-appliance-market-4 https://www.htfmarketreport.com/buy-now?format=1&report=920417 https://www.linkedin.com/company/13388569/ https://plus.google.com/u/0/+Htfmarketreportinsights https://www.facebook.com/htfmarketintelligence/ https://twitter.com/htfmarketreport How technological advancements is changing the dynamics of Global Network Security Appliance market. Know more about the key market trends and drivers in latest broadcast about Network Security Appliance market from HTF MI.HTF MI published a new industry research that focuses on Network Security Appliance market and delivers in-depth market analysis and future prospects of Global Network Security Appliance market. The study covers significant data which makes the research document a handy resource for managers, analysts, industry experts and other key people get ready-to-access and self-analyzed study along with graphs and tables to help understand market trends, drivers and market challenges. The study is segmented by Application/ end users [Government Organizations, SMEs & Large Organisation], products type [Firewall, Unified Threat Management (UTM), Intrusion Detection and Prevention (IDP), Content Management (Web and Messaging) & Virtual Private Network (VPN)] and various important geographies like North America, China, Europe, Southeast Asia, Japan & India].Get Access to sample pages @The research covers the current market size of the Global Network Security Appliance market and its growth rates based on 5 year history data along with company profile of key players/manufacturers. The in-depth information by segments of Network Security Appliance market helps monitor future profitability & to make critical decisions for growth. The information on trends and developments, focuses on markets and materials, capacities, technologies, CAPEX cycle and the changing structure of the Global Network Security Appliance Market.The study provides company profiling, product picture and specifications, sales, market share and contact information of key manufacturers of Global Network Security Appliance Market, some of them listed here are Check Point Software Technologies, Fortinet, Jupiter Network, Hewlett-Packard Enterprise, Siemens, Cisco, Palo Alto Networks, Samsung Techwin & McAfee. The market is growing at a very rapid pace and with rise in technological innovation, competition and M&A activities in the industry many local and regional vendors are offering specific application products for varied end-users. The new manufacturer entrants in the market are finding it hard to compete with the international vendors based on quality, reliability, and innovations in technology.Global Network Security Appliance (Thousands Units) and Revenue (Million USD) Market Split by Product Type such as Firewall, Unified Threat Management (UTM), Intrusion Detection and Prevention (IDP), Content Management (Web and Messaging) & Virtual Private Network (VPN). Further the research study is segmented by Application such as Government Organizations, SMEs & Large Organisation with historical and projected market share and compounded annual growth rate.Geographically, this report is segmented into several key Regions, with production, consumption, revenue (million USD), and market share and growth rate of Network Security Appliance in these regions, from 2012 to 2022 (forecast), covering North America, China, Europe, Southeast Asia, Japan & India and its Share (%) and CAGR for the forecasted period 2017 to 2022.Read Detailed Index of full Research Study at @Following would be the Chapters to display the Global Network Security Appliance market.Chapter 1, to describe Definition, Specifications and Classification of Network Security Appliance, Applications of Network Security Appliance, Market Segment by Regions;Chapter 2, to analyze the Manufacturing Cost Structure, Raw Material and Suppliers, Manufacturing Process, Industry Chain Structure;Chapter 3, to display the Technical Data and Manufacturing Plants Analysis of Network Security Appliance, Capacity and Commercial Production Date, Manufacturing Plants Distribution, R&D Status and Technology Source, Raw Materials Sources Analysis;Chapter 4, to show the Overall Market Analysis, Capacity Analysis (Company Segment), Sales Analysis (Company Segment), Sales Price Analysis (Company Segment);Chapter 5 and 6, to show the Regional Market Analysis that includes North America, China, Europe, Southeast Asia, Japan & India, Network Security Appliance Segment Market Analysis (by Type);Chapter 7 and 8, to analyze the Network Security Appliance Segment Market Analysis (by Application) Major Manufacturers Analysis of Network Security Appliance;Chapter 9, Market Trend Analysis, Regional Market Trend, Market Trend by Product Type [Firewall, Unified Threat Management (UTM), Intrusion Detection and Prevention (IDP), Content Management (Web and Messaging) & Virtual Private Network (VPN)], Market Trend by Application [Government Organizations, SMEs & Large Organisation];Chapter 10, Regional Marketing Type Analysis, International Trade Type Analysis, Supply Chain Analysis;Chapter 11, to analyze the Consumers Analysis of Global Network Security Appliance;Chapter 12,13, 14 and 15, to describe Network Security Appliance sales channel, distributors, traders, dealers, Research Findings and Conclusion, appendix and data source.Enquire for customization in Report @What this Research Study Offers:Global Network Security Appliance Market share assessments for the regional and country level segmentsMarket share analysis of the top industry playersStrategic recommendations for the new entrantsMarket forecasts for a minimum of 5 years of all the mentioned segments, sub segments and the regional marketsMarket Trends (Drivers, Constraints, Opportunities, Threats, Challenges, Investment Opportunities, and recommendations)Strategic recommendations in key business segments based on the market estimationsCompetitive landscaping mapping the key common trendsCompany profiling with detailed strategies, financials, and recent developmentsSupply chain trends mapping the latest technological advancementsBuy this research report @Reasons for Buying this ReportThis report provides pin-point analysis for changing competitive dynamicsIt provides a forward looking perspective on different factors driving or restraining market growthIt provides a six-year forecast assessed on the basis of how the market is predicted to growIt helps in understanding the key product segments and their futureIt provides pin point analysis of changing competition dynamics and keeps you ahead of competitorsIt helps in making informed business decisions by having complete insights of market and by making in-depth analysis of market segmentsThanks for reading this article; you can also get individual chapter wise section or region wise report version like North America, Europe or Asia.Connect with us atHTF Market Report is a wholly owned brand of HTF market Intelligence Consulting Private Limited. HTF Market Report global research and market intelligence consulting organization is uniquely positioned to not only identify growth opportunities but to also empower and inspire you to create visionary growth strategies for futures, enabled by our extraordinary depth and breadth of thought leadership, research, tools, events and experience that assist you for making goals into a reality. Our understanding of the interplay between industry convergence, Mega Trends, technologies and market trends provides our clients with new business models and expansion opportunities. We are focused on identifying the Accurate Forecast in every industry we cover so our clients can reap the benefits of being early market entrants and can accomplish their Goals & Objectives.Craig Francis (PR & Marketing Manager)HTF Market Intelligence Consulting Private LimitedUnit No. 429, Parsonage Road Edison, NJNew Jersey USA 08837Phone: +1 (206) 317 1218sales@htfmarketreport.com Global Fluorspar Market: Widespread Demand for Manufacturing Aluminum and Steel used in Infrastructural Developments to Accentuate Growth Fluorspar Market https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/fluorspar-market.html https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=1858 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com The global fluorspar market features a moderately consolidated landscape as a handful of players currently account for substantial shares of the global market, notes Transparency Market Research (TMR). The players observed at the forefront are Zhejiang Wuyi Shenlong Floatation Co Ltd., Mexichem S.A.B. de C.V., and Centralfluor Industries Group, Inc. Some of the other prominent players are Masan Group, Mongolrostsvetmet LLC., British Fluorspar Ltd, Seaforth Mineral & Ore Co., Inc., MINERSA GROUP, Kenya Fluorspar Company Ltd., China Kings Resources Group Co., Ltd., and Mongolrostsvetmet LLC. Leading players are relentlessly investing in research and development of high-performance products, to stay ahead of the pack.Browse Research Report With Complete TOC @The global fluorspar market is marked by glut in various regions accounting for the high intensity of competition. Over the years, the entry of new players is likely to up the level of competition. The emergence of players in regions such as Asia Pacific and the Middle East and Africa to tap opportunities on account of enormous fluorspar reserves in Africa and China is further expected to raise the ante in the forthcoming years. Intense competition notwithstanding, a number of players are interested in manufacturing inexpensive products to attract customers in price-sensitive regions, in order to gain a better foothold in the market.The global fluorspar market is projected to rise at a lackluster CAGR of 2.7% from 2017 to 2025. The market stood at US$1,505.3 million in 2016 and is anticipated to touch a valuation of US$1,860.8 million by the end of the assessment timeline.The major product types are acidspar, metspar, ceramic, lapidary grade, optical grade, and fluorspar. Of these, acidspar or acid grade fluorspar is projected to be the most attractive segment and accounted for the major market share in 2016. The attractiveness of the segment can be attributed primarily to a large number of applications of the high-purity material in the chemical industry. It is used widely in manufacturing hydrofluoric acid (HF), which is then used to make numerous useful chemicals, notably hydrofluorocarbons (HFC) and hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFC).Geographically, Asia Pacific leads as it held the leading share of the global market in 2016. The regional market is anticipated to hold its sway throughout the forecast period. The substantial automotive manufacturing activities in various economies of the region has spurred the demand for aluminum and steel, which has bolstered the uptake of fluorspar.The global fluorspar market is driven primarily by the substantial use of fluorspar in making fluorochemicals, which have widespread applications as refrigerants in the warming, ventilation, and cooling industry. The wide use of fluorspar in making a range of useful industrial chemicals, notably HFC, HCFC, fluoropolymers, and cryolite is boosting the market. The extensive application of fluorspar in the manufacturing processes of aluminum and steel is a noteworthy factor accentuating the growth of the market. The vast strides taken by infrastructural development in various developing economies has spurred the demand for aluminum and steel, which is bolstering the uptake of fluorspar. The substantial number of applications of ceramic grade fluorspar for making various products for consumer markets such as specialty glass, enamelware, and glazes and surface treatments is also providing a robust impetus to the growth of the market.The potential number of specialized applications of fluorspar, such as in making electrolytes used for lithium-ion batteries, has opened up abundant promising opportunities for market. Furthermore, the use of material having high clarity for making microscopes, telescopes, and camera lens is expected to accentuate the growth of the overall market. The growth of the hydrofluoric acid market is likely to have a direct bearing on the growth of the overall fluorspar market.Request a PDF Brochure with Research Report Analysis @The international thrust on phasing out the production of ozone-depleting substances, including hydrochlorofluorocarbons and chlorofluorocarbons, is likely to cripple the growth of the market to an extent. For instance, the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer has resulted in some serious efforts by several nations to look for alternatives to HCFCs and HFCs. This led a number of well-off and industrialized countries a pledge to cut down their production and consumption of these compounds. Be that as it may, the remarkably high demand for steel and aluminum from the construction industry is likely to sustain the growth of the market.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.Each TMR syndicated research report covers a different sector - such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals, energy, food & beverages, semiconductors, med-devices, consumer goods and technology. These reports provide in-depth analysis and deep segmentation to possible micro levels. With wider scope and stratified research methodology, TMRs syndicated reports strive to provide clients to serve their overall research requirement.US Office Contact90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Global Bioreactors and Fermenters Market - Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2018-2023 https://www.marketstudyreport.com/request-a-sample/783626/?utm_source=OPR-PSR https://www.marketstudyreport.com/check-for-discount/783626/ https://www.marketstudyreport.com/reports/global-bioreactors-and-fermenters-market-by-manufacturers-countries-type-and-application-forecast-to-2023 https://www.marketstudyreport.com/reports/north-america-and-europe-bioreactors-and-fermenters-market-by-manufacturers-regions-type-and-application-forecast-to-2023/?utm_source=RR-PSR https://www.marketstudyreport.com https://www.marketstudyreport.com/category/news-releases/ Market Study Report Add New Global Bioreactors and Fermenters Market by Manufacturers, Countries, Type and Application, forecast to 2023 to its research database presenting a deep study of the market growth factors and drivers. The report spread across 101 pages with table and figures in it.Bioreactors are vessels or tanks in which whole cells or cell-free enzymes transform raw materials into biochemical products and/or less undesirable by-products. The microbial cell itself is a miniature bioreactor; other examples include shake flasks, Petri dishes, and industrial fermentors. Diagnostic products based on enzymatic reactions, farm silos for silage fermentations, bread pans with fermenting yeast, and the soil in a Kansas wheat field may also be viewed as bioreactors. While the bioreactor may be simple or highly instrumented, the important consideration is the ability to produce the desired product or result.The bioreactor is designed and operated to provide the environment for product formation selected by the scientist, baker, or winemaker. It is the heart of many biotechnological systems that are used for agricultural, environmental, industrial, and medical applications. Industrial bioreactors may be operated as batch reactors or continuously, aerobically or anaerobically, and with pure or mixed cultures. In many bioreactors, three phases (gas, liquid, and solid) are present and mass transfer is an important consideration. Biofilms and immobilized cells can be used to retain microbial biomass in a flow bioreactor. Sensors, instrumentation, and control systems are essential for industrial bioreactors.Get Free Sample Copy on this Report:Scope of the Report:This report focuses on the Global Bioreactors and Fermenters Market, especially in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific, South America, Middle East and Africa. This report categorizes the market based on manufacturers, regions, type and application.Market Segment by Manufacturers, this report covers:Sartorius AG? BBI, Thermo Fisher, Merck KGaA, Danaher (Pall), Eppendorf AG, Praj Hipurity Systems, Pierre Guerin (DCI-Biolafitte), ZETA, Applikon Biotechnology, Bioengineering AG, Infors HT, Solaris.Market Segment by Regions, regional analysis covers:North America (USA, Canada and Mexico), Europe (Germany, France, UK, Russia and Italy), Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India and Southeast Asia), South America (Brazil, Argentina, Columbia etc.), Middle East and Africa (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa).Market Segment by Type, covers:Single-use Bioreactors, Multiple-use Bioreactors.Market Segment by Applications, can be divided into:Biopharmaceutical Companies, CROs, Academic and Research Institutes, Others.Get Discount on this Report:There are 15 Chapters to deeply display the global Bioreactors and Fermenters market.Chapter 1, to describe Bioreactors and Fermenters Introduction, product scope, market overview, market opportunities, market risk, market driving force;Chapter 2, to analyze the top manufacturers of Bioreactors and Fermenters, with sales, revenue, and price of Bioreactors and Fermenters, in 2016 and 2017;Chapter 3, to display the competitive situation among the top manufacturers, with sales, revenue and market share in 2016 and 2017;Chapter 4, to show the global market by regions, with sales, revenue and market share of Bioreactors and Fermenters, for each region, from 2013 to 2018;Chapter 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9, to analyze the key regions, with sales, revenue and market share by key countries in these regions;Chapter 10 and 11, to show the market by type and application, with sales market share and growth rate by type, application, from 2013 to 2018;Chapter 12, Bioreactors and Fermenters market forecast, by regions, type and application, with sales and revenue, from 2018 to 2023;Chapter 13, 14 and 15, to describe Bioreactors and Fermenters sales channel, distributors, traders, dealers, Research Findings and Conclusion, appendix and data source.Get More Details On this Report:Related Report:North America and Europe Bioreactors and Fermenters Market by Manufacturers, Regions, Type and Application, Forecast to 2023This report focuses on the Bioreactors and Fermenters in North America and Europe market, especially in United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, France, Italy and Spain. This report categorizes the market based on manufacturers, countries/Regions, type and application.About Us:Marketstudyreport.com allows you to manage and control all corporate research purchases to consolidate billing and vendor management. You can eliminate duplicate purchases and customize your content and license management.Contact Us:Market Study ReportThe Green Suite #4594,Dover, DE 19901United StatesPhone: 1-201-355-0868US Toll Free: 1-866-764-2150Email: sales@marketstudyreport.comWebsite:News: HEAD acoustics launches modular multi-channel front end labCORE labCORE is the modular multi-channel front end for precise and efficient voice and audio quality measurements http://www.head-acoustics.de/eng/telecom_labCORE.htm Powerful and versatile all-in-one solution for a wide variety of applicationsWith the new modular multi-channel front end labCORE, HEAD acoustics introduces a powerful and versatile measurement instrument onto the market. Due to its modularity, its wide selection of digital and analog inputs and outputs as well as its programmable interfaces, labCORE is the all-in-one solution for voice and audio quality measurements. The front end is designed to be future-proof: on the basis of modular technology, new technologies can be added quickly and easily. Users can expand labCORE flexibly at any time by means of optional modules and thus tailor it exactly to their individual measuring tasks.Numerous interfaces and versatile high-end modulesCurrently common interfaces that are relevant for measurements of telecommunication devices as well as audio applications are integrated into labCORE. For example, a USB host interface, interfaces for IS (Inter-IC Sound), AES/EBU, ADAT and SPDIF as well as a two-channel headphone connection (6.3 mm jack) are available by default. As optional modules, high quality two-channel analog inputs (coreIN-A2) and outputs (coreOUT-A2) are available from the outset, which can be switched to XLR/BNC. The THD+N value of these module inputs is -112 dB over wide frequency ranges and the S/N is better than -118 dB. In addition, sampling rates of up to 192 kHz are possible. Therefore, labCORE is ideally suited for high-end audio testing. Additional modules cover functions such as two-channel mouth amplifier (coreOUT-Amp2), binaural equalization (coreBEQ) and four microphone inputs (coreIN-Mic4). Different coreIP modules are available for users who conduct VoIP measurements and want to measure the voice quality of digital communication devices and transmission networks. Codecs such as EVS, AMR or OPUS as well as the Impairment function, which allows users to simulate different IP network failures directly at the signal source and apply them to the outgoing IP packets of the front end, are part of the optional IP modules. The IP functionalities are provided via the Ethernet interface (up to 1 Gbps) on the front of labCORE.Transmission of up to 32 channels at 48 kHz simultaneouslylabCORE enables users to simultaneously transfer up to 32 channels at 48 kHz or up to 8 channels at 192 kHz from PC to labCORE bidirectional. All configurations for the multi-channel front end can be set up quickly and easily in the upcoming version of ACQUA 4.0, the advanced communication quality analysis system. Thus, users are able to conduct fully automated measurements. On the front side of labCORE there is a 2.4" LCD display for status notification purposes. For mobile use, a HEADlab Power Box can be connected to the multi-channel front end as an external battery. labCORE does not require a fan and therefore operates completely silent.Customer demands for voice and audio quality are constantly increasing. Thus, the products - such as mobile phones, in-vehicle hands-free systems or IoT devices such as smart speakers - must be tested for the highest requirements. With labCORE, we provide our customers with an extremely powerful measurement instrument that offers completely new possibilities, not least thanks to its multi-channel capability. This enables users from a wide variety of application fields to test their products precisely and to further develop them in targeted manner," says Dr. Hans W. Gierlich, Managing Director of Telecom Division.Check out our website for further information on our new multi-channel front end labCORE:About HEAD acoustics GmbH Telecom Division:HEAD acoustics was founded in 1986 and has been involved in noise and vibration, electroacoustic and voice quality testing since its inception. HEAD acoustics is based in Herzogenrath, Germany, with affiliates in China, France, Great Britain, Japan, South Korea and USA as well as a world-wide network of representatives. The Telecom Division of HEAD acoustics manufactures telecom test equipment and provides consulting services in the field of speech and audio quality. Moreover, HEAD acoustics closely co-operates with DECT Forum, ETSI, ITU-T, 3GPP, TIA, CTIA, GSMA and other standardization bodies with regard to the development of quality standards for voice transmission and speech communication. In many partnership projects, HEAD acoustics has proven its competence and capabilities in conducting tests and optimizing communication products with respect to speech and audio quality under end-to-end as well as mouth-to-ear scenarios.Contact:Steffen ScholzHEAD acoustics GmbHEbertstr. 30a,D-52134 HerzogenrathGermanyPhone: +49 (0) 2407 577 744Fax: +49 (0) 2407 577 99E-Mail: Steffen.Scholz@head-acoustics.de APAC and Latin America to Present New Opportunities for Calcium Carbonate Manufacturers Calcium Carbonate Market https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/calcium-carbonate-market.html https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=1478 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com The global calcium carbonate market is moderately concentrated. The top three players accounted for more than 35% of the market in 2012. Key players are expanding their businesses in emerging markets such as China, Asia, and South America, Transparency Market Research (TMR) finds in a new study. Companies such as Huber Engineered Materials, Mississippi Lime Company, and Minerals Technologies have gained a strong global presence in the industry. This is making it difficult for small players to get a foothold in the market, especially in Asia Pacific. Intense competition exists in the market in regions such as the U.S., which has large limestone reserves.Browse Research Report With Complete TOC @Manufacturers are engaged in the development of newer technologies by which various products can be custom made to suit requirements of specific industries. Since there is no potential substitute for calcium carbonate, the threat from substitutes will remain low in the coming years. Procuring raw materials is a crucial factor for new entrants wishing to compete in the market. Overall, the low initial investment required for the production of precipitated calcium carbonate (PCC) and ground calcium carbonate (GCC) lowers the barriers for new entrants.The extensive use of paper in the FMCG sector has boosted the paper industry, which in turn is benefiting the global calcium carbonate market. The demand for mineral loading levels of paper has been on a rise ever since 1980. Papers such as coated mechanical (CM), coated woodfree (CWF), uncoated woodfree (UCWF), and uncoated mechanical (UM) encourage the demand for calcium carbonate. Calcium carbonate is used to enhance the softness, texture, and brightness of cellulose-based products. While GCC is responsible for the brightness of paper, PCC provides opacity to it. As such, these fillers are important in the manufacturing of paper.The plastic industry is another major application area of calcium carbonate. The plastic industry is growing and with it, the demand for calcium carbonate. GCC provides minute size and high brightness to plastics and PCC provides opacity and stiffness, thus driving their demand. The demand for calcium carbonate is also high from the construction industry. Calcium carbonate is one of the major raw materials used in cement, paints and coatings. On the other hand, harmful effects of excessive consumption of calcium carbonate will impact its demand in the pharmaceutical sector.The establishment of new paper mills and increase in the use of mineral loadings are collectively driving the demand for GCC and PCC in Asia Pacific and Latin America. India, Brazil, and China are expected to be key contributors in the growth of the calcium carbonate market owing to the use of this mineral in the paperboard and construction industries. China is likely to witness high demand for paints and coatings, which will further drive the demand for the mineral in APAC. The establishment of satellite plants in Latin America will further create a high demand for PCC, states a TMR analyst. Thus, all these factors will create opportunities of growth in the calcium carbonate market.Request a PDF Brochure with Research Report Analysis @According to the report, the global market opportunity in calcium carbonate is expected to rise from US$19 bn in 2015 to US$25.01 bn by 2019. By region, Asia Pacific is expected to lead and account for 50.8% of the global calcium carbonate market by 2019. On the basis of product, the GCC segment led in the past and will continue to do so in the coming years. By application, the paper segment is expected to account for 41.0% of the global calcium carbonate market by 2019.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.Each TMR syndicated research report covers a different sector - such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals, energy, food & beverages, semiconductors, med-devices, consumer goods and technology. These reports provide in-depth analysis and deep segmentation to possible micro levels. With wider scope and stratified research methodology, TMRs syndicated reports strive to provide clients to serve their overall research requirement.US Office Contact90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Threat Intelligence Market Key Growth Drivers 2017 - 2025 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/20140 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/toc/20140 http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com The growth of cyber-attacks against organizations and entities have made traditional cybersecurity measures virtually outdated which has given rise to the requirement of threat intelligence. It is the knowledge that helps organizations to comprehend the risks caused by common and severe external threats. Many a time the organizations face risks like zero-day threats, and exploits.These threats exploit the vulnerability and generate an incident which can cause harm to the company. Thus, solutions like threat intelligence help to inform an organization about prevailing or emerging hazard to their resources and provides with intelligent decisions as a response to them.Request to Sample of Report @The industries using threat intelligence the most are healthcare, manufacturing, and financial services since they are most regularly targeted for attacks. Also, the most common type of attacks to any organization is coming in the form of emails and malware. These are the latest trends in the threat intelligence market.In organizations, it is hard to determine the indicators which are causing them threats. Thus, threat intelligence is necessary to save an organization from any attack. Also, the information security offices have no control over the threats or attacks to any organization. Such factors are driving the use of threat intelligence in the market.The threat intelligence is a very complex concept to understand and any new analyst coming to a company will not be able to understand the information provided by it and thus wont be able to take necessary actions. Also, training of professions is difficult. Such factors are challenging the growth of the market. Also, the organization must know where this threat intelligence has to be applied exactly.The key players in the market are iSIGHT Partners Inc., Symantec Corporation, Looking Glass, Inc., Dell EMC, VeriSign, Inc., Crowdstrike Inc., Alienvault, Inc., EclecticIQ BV, Anomali, Inc. and ThreatQuotient Inc.North America is expected to the largest market of Threat Intelligence market. The majority of Threat Intelligence vendors such as iSIGHT Partners Inc., Symantec Corporation and Looking Glass, Inc., are based in North America region. This is attributed to the growth of threats to an organization. The market is anticipated to grow in Europe region due to the presence of other market vendors like EclecticIQ BV and few others in the region.Request Report for TOC @About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.Contact UsPersistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb: Chromium Market Share by Industry Research 2013 - 2019 Chromium Market https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/chromium-market.html https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=2316 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com Chromium is a lustrous steel-colored brittle but hard chemical. It exhibits high gloss, high melting point, excellent resistance to corrosion and is highly resistant to tarnishing. Chromium can combine with other metals to form a number of metal compounds. For instance, ferrochromium and chromium metal are produced by the aluminothermic or silicothermic reactions. Chromium is used in a wide range of applications including metallurgy, dye and pigment, wood preservation, tanning, refractory material, catalysts and magnets among others. Majority of chromium is converted into ferrochromium alloys, due to its high demand in stainless steel and alloy industries.Browse Research Report With Complete TOC @Rapid industrialization in emerging economies such as China, Brazil and India is expected to be one of the primary factors driving the demand for chromium in various industrial activities and processes over the next few years. In addition, the growing demand for stainless steel in various applications such as household goods, consumer goods and electronics due to its light weight, glossy luster and high resistance to corrosion, is expected to augment the demand for chromium over the next six years. However, the fluctuating cost of chromium and the increasing costs of mining are expected to hamper the growth of the market. Rising demand for chromium in BRICS is expected to open new opportunities for the growth of the market in the near future.South Africa, Kazakhstan and India are the leading producers of chromium and supply over three fourth of the worlds demand. Rising industrial activities in Asia Pacific is expected to drive the demand for chromium in this region and is expected to be the fastest growing market in the forecast period. Other developing regions such as South America and Africa are expected to witness a substantial growth in the chromium market over the next few years.Request a PDF Brochure with Research Report Analysis @Some of the key participants of the global chromium market include Norilsk Nickel, Cia De Ferro Ligas Da Bahia, Aquarius Platinum, African Rainbow Minerals, Assore, Lonmin, Anglo American Platinum, Merafe Resources and GlencoreXstrata among others.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.Each TMR syndicated research report covers a different sector - such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals, energy, food & beverages, semiconductors, med-devices, consumer goods and technology. These reports provide in-depth analysis and deep segmentation to possible micro levels. With wider scope and stratified research methodology, TMRs syndicated reports strive to provide clients to serve their overall research requirement.US Office Contact90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Machine Learning Market- Global Industry Insights,Analysis, 2017-2025 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/ongoing-insight/toc/1098 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/ongoing-insight/machine-learning-market-1098 http://www.coherentchronicle.com Machine learning is a branch of artificial intelligence that enables machines to learn directly from data, experience, and examples. By permitting computers to execute specific tasks smartly, machine learning allows computers to carry complex processes by learning from examples or data, rather than following pre-programmed rules. Increasing volume of data being generated across industry verticals creates an exhaustive repository for machines to learn from, something that is further backed by rapid strides made in processing power of computers, in turn enhancing the analytical capabilities of machine learning systems.Request Table of Content of This Report:Increasing advancements in technology leading to higher accuracy of systems fueling market growthPeople interact with various systems, which are based on machine learning such as recommender systems, voice recognition systems, and image recognition systems. Rapid advancement in technology in image recognition system has increased the accuracy of the system, which has fueled the demand for machine learning in various systems. For instance, in image labeling challenge, the accuracy of machine learning was 72% in 2010 and it reached to 96% in 2015. The ability of machines to process large volumes of data and to use the data for prediction have made the machine learning a key tool in various applications such as BFSI, healthcare etc.Integration of machine learning in robotics has fueled growth of the machine learning marketRampant advancements in robotic industry has created various innovations in robots with the integration of sensor technologies and materials. The advancements in machine learning have increased the capabilities of robots to contribute in applications such as drones and autonomous vehicles. Moreover, the increasing demand for advance robotic system in various verticals such as automotive, electronics, food and beverages, healthcare etc has fueled the market growth. According to International Federation of Robots, in 2016, around 294,000 units of industrial robots were deployed across the globe. For example: In 2016, Fanuc, a Japan-based company, announced development of a robot with deep reinforcement learning technique, which enables the robot to train itself over a very short time duration.Machine learning market is expected to witness rampant growth due to growing healthcare sector in the near future.Accuracy is one of the major concerns in the healthcare sector. Machine learning have the capabilities to provide more accurate diagnosis and healthcare services, which in turn has augmented demand for machine learning in healthcare sector. For instance, diagnosis of diabetic eye disease requires frequent examination of pictures at the back of an eye by the specialist. The features in the image helps to identify sensitivity of disease, which in turn, indicates fluid leakage and bleeding. Moreover, in 2016, Google has developed a deep learning algorithm, which analyze images and provides training to the system by using a data set of 128,000 images. Thus, the system diagnose the disease with a level of accuracy similar to human ophthalmologists. On similar lines, Google researchers are developing a deep learning algorithm for early diagnosis of skin cancer and breast cancer.Key Companies in the Global Machine Learning MarketMicrosoft Corporation, SAP SE, Sas Institute Inc., Amazon Web Services, Inc., Bigml, Inc., Google Inc., Fair Isaac Corporation, Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development Lp, and Intel Corporation are some of the major companies operating in the global machine learning market.For More Information :About Coherent Market Insights:Coherent Market Insights is a prominent market research and consulting firm offering action-ready syndicated research reports, custom market analysis, consulting services, and competitive analysis through various recommendations related to emerging market trends, technologies, and potential absolute dollar opportunity.Contact Us:Mr. ShahCoherent Market Insights1001 4th Ave,#3200Seattle, WA 98154Tel: +1-206-701-6702Email: sales@coherentmarketinsights.comVisit Our New Website: Vegetable Juice Market Future Growth Opportunities 2017 - 2025 Vegetable Juice Market https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/vegetable-juice-market.html https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=38057 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com Owing to changing lifestyles and increasing consciousness among consumers regarding what they consume, demand for healthy food and beverages is increasing among the consumers across the globe. Juices are one of the most preferred beverages among all the demographics across the world, owing to numerous health benefits and high nutritional portfolio offered. Vegetable juices contain anti-oxidants and vitamins that helps in improving and maintaining the health of individuals. As the lifestyle of individuals is changing globally, vegetable juices have found a place in daily meal, as demand for healthy beverages is increasing globally. Vegetable juice possesses numerous phytonutrients, phenolic compounds, and antioxidants that helps to remove free radicals from the body, improving blood circulation, boost immune system etc.Vegetable juice market is expected to increase by substantial CAGR over the forecast period, owing to increasing inclination of consumers towards choosing healthy beverages. Owing to increasing disposable income across the Asia Pacific countries, vegetable juice market is expected to increase by significant CAGR over the forecast period. Vegetable juices are becoming more popular among millennial across the globe and witnessing significant growth from past few years and are expected to continue the same trend in upcoming years as well.Browse Research Report With Complete TOC @Vegetable juice market is segmented on the basis of nature, product type, sales channel and region.On the basis of nature, vegetable juice market is segmented into organic and conventional. Organic segment of vegetable juice market is expected to exhibit relatively high CAGR over the forecast period, as it is assumed that organic products are more healthful as compared to conventional food products.Vegetable juice market is further segmented on the basis of product type into frozen, chilled, shelf stable, and others. Frozen and chilled segment of vegetable juice market is expected to increase with substantial value CAGR over the forecast period.On the basis of end-use, the vegetable juice market is segmented into HoReCa, household, institutions, and others. Institutions segment is expected to witness relatively high CAGR over the forecast period.Vegetable juice market is further segmented on the basis of sales channel into direct sales and retail sales. Retail sales is further sub-segmented into modern trade, convenience stores, specialty outlets, online retailing and other retailing formats. Modern trade and specialty outlets segment is expected to exhibit relatively high value CAGR over the forecast period.In the recent years, increasing number of millennial are getting health conscious across the globe and is expected to increase over the forecast period, leading to the growth of vegetable juice market over the forecast period. In many developed regions such as Europe, Canada, the U.S., vegetable juice market is booming, owing to a couple of reasons such as high disposable income, health-conscious individuals and health benefits and nutritional portfolio of vegetable juices. Millennial demographic of the world is increasingly inclined towards healthy food and beverages, which is a factor driving the growth of vegetable juice market. Changing lifestyles, an influence of social media and internet, increasing social awareness, is also expected to drive sales of vegetable juice market. Because of health benefits associated with vegetable juice, people are preferring to consume vegetable juice, which is driving the growth of the vegetable juice market and this is expected to continue over the forecast period.On the other side, cross-contamination of raw unprocessed juices and poor packaging could impede the vegetable juice markets trajectory over the forecast period and affect the sales of Vegetable Juice market. In addition, relatively high prices of vegetable juice also limit the scope of the sales and could possibly hamper the growth of vegetable juice market to an extent.Shifting focus of individuals towards healthy food and beverages consumption is trending. Also, increasing number of individuals in North America and Europe are preferring to buy organic food products irrespective of high prices.Request a PDF Brochure with Research Report Analysis @On the basis of region, vegetable juice market is segmented into five different regions: North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia Pacific and MEA. Among these regions, Europe and North America are expected to have the major value share of vegetable juice market globally, as both of these regions accounts for relatively high consumption of vegetable juice. The Latin America Vegetable Juice market is expected to grow significantly over the forecast period, but is anticipated to account for a lower growth rate than the APAC region, owing to a greater number of emerging economies in APAC. In Asia Pacific region the countries like China, Japan, India and Australia are generating the major revenue. The APAC Vegetable Juice market is estimated to account for relatively high value CAGR over the forecast period, owing to a larger consumer base, combined with a higher number of retail outlets than any other region.Some of the key players in Vegetable Juice market are Biotta, Campbell Soup Company, Naked Juice Company, Suja Life, LLC, Motts, LLP., Evolution fresh, and other regional players.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.Each TMR syndicated research report covers a different sector - such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals, energy, food & beverages, semiconductors, med-devices, consumer goods and technology. These reports provide in-depth analysis and deep segmentation to possible micro levels. With wider scope and stratified research methodology, TMRs syndicated reports strive to provide clients to serve their overall research requirement.US Office Contact90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Global Aerospace Materials Market Size, Share, Development, Growth, Key Players and Demand Forecast to 2023 https://www.marketstudyreport.com/request-a-sample/783616/?utm_source=OPR-PSR https://www.marketstudyreport.com/check-for-discount/783616/ https://www.marketstudyreport.com/reports/global-aerospace-materials-market-by-manufacturers-countries-type-and-application-forecast-to-2023 https://www.marketstudyreport.com/reports/north-america-and-europe-aerospace-materials-market-by-manufacturers-regions-type-and-application-forecast-to-2023/?utm_source=RR-PSR https://www.marketstudyreport.com https://www.marketstudyreport.com/category/news-releases/ Market Study Report Add New Global Aerospace Materials Market by Manufacturers, Countries, Type and Application, forecast to 2023 to its research database presenting a deep study of the market growth factors and drivers. The report spread across 103 pages with table and figures in it.This report studies the Aerospace Materials market, Aerospace materials are materials, frequently metal alloys, that have either been developed for, or have come to prominence through, their use for aerospace purposes.Get Free Sample Copy on this Report:Scope of the Report:This report focuses on the Global Aerospace Materials Market, especially in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific, South America, Middle East and Africa. This report categorizes the market based on manufacturers, regions, type and application.Market Segment by Manufacturers, this report covers:Alcoa, Rio Tinto Alcan, Kaiser Aluminum, Aleris, Rusal, Constellium, AMI Metals, Arcelor Mittal, Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal, Nucor Corporation, Baosteel Group, Thyssenkrupp Aerospace, Kobe Steel, Materion, VSMPO-AVISMA, Toho Titanium, BaoTi, Precision Castparts Corporation, Aperam, VDM, Carpenter, AMG, ATI Metals, Toray Industries, Cytec Solvay Group, Teijin Limited, Hexcel, TenCate.Market Segment by Regions, regional analysis covers:North America (USA, Canada and Mexico), Europe (Germany, France, UK, Russia and Italy), Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India and Southeast Asia), South America (Brazil, Argentina, Columbia etc.), Middle East and Africa (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa).Market Segment by Type, covers:Aluminium Alloys, Steel Alloys, Titanium Alloys, Super Alloys, Composite Materials, Others.Market Segment by Applications, can be divided into:Commercial Aircraft, Military Aircraft.Get Discount on this Report:There are 15 Chapters to deeply display the global Aerospace Materials market.Chapter 1, to describe Aerospace Materials Introduction, product scope, market overview, market opportunities, market risk, market driving force;Chapter 2, to analyze the top manufacturers of Aerospace Materials, with sales, revenue, and price of Aerospace Materials, in 2016 and 2017;Chapter 3, to display the competitive situation among the top manufacturers, with sales, revenue and market share in 2016 and 2017;Chapter 4, to show the global market by regions, with sales, revenue and market share of Aerospace Materials, for each region, from 2013 to 2018;Chapter 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9, to analyze the key regions, with sales, revenue and market share by key countries in these regions;Chapter 10 and 11, to show the market by type and application, with sales market share and growth rate by type, application, from 2013 to 2018;Chapter 12, Aerospace Materials market forecast, by regions, type and application, with sales and revenue, from 2018 to 2023;Chapter 13, 14 and 15, to describe Aerospace Materials sales channel, distributors, traders, dealers, Research Findings and Conclusion, appendix and data source.Get More Details On this Report:Related Report:North America and Europe Aerospace Materials Market by Manufacturers, Regions, Type and Application, Forecast to 2023This report focuses on the Aerospace Materials in North America and Europe market, especially in United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, France, Italy and Spain. This report categorizes the market based on manufacturers, countries/Regions, type and application.About Us:Marketstudyreport.com allows you to manage and control all corporate research purchases to consolidate billing and vendor management. You can eliminate duplicate purchases and customize your content and license management.Contact Us:Market Study ReportThe Green Suite #4594,Dover, DE 19901United StatesPhone: 1-201-355-0868US Toll Free: 1-866-764-2150Email: sales@marketstudyreport.comWebsite:News: Stun Gun Market Analysis and Trend 2017- Industry Forecast to 2025 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/ongoing-insight/toc/666 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/ongoing-insight/stun-gun-market-666 http://www.coherentchronicle.com Stun guns market refers to the business generated by the non-lethal conducted electrical weapons (CEWs) that are primarily utilized for the self-defense and law enforcement agencies. Ability to incapacitate the potential suspect through the delivery of high voltage electric shocks, with the prime motive of disrupting the muscle functions for small amount of time without causing substantial damage is expected to remain the primary growth driver of the industry over the forecast period.Request Table of Content of This Report:Increasing concerns and requirement of preparedness to counter the proliferating threats to womens safety and irregular upsurge of civil riots are expected to drive the industry growthNumber of criminal and rape incidents, in most economies is among the primary concern of the government agencies. Some of the major economies that include Australia, U.S., New Zealand, Norway and France are among the developed economies that have the highest reported incidents per 100,000 citizens. According to the Nations Master crime and rape rate statistics, these countries had over 15 rapes per 100,000 inhabitants.Moreover, usage of lethal weapons is substantially discouraged for the personal protection and are significantly difficult to afford. Requirement of preparedness in case of threat to personal safety are expected to drive the overall industry growth through the next few years. Moreover, functionality of some of the products that feature usability in adverse weather conditions, when pepper sprays or other self-defense tactics prove inefficient, are expected to propel the adoption rates.Irregular possibilities of civil unrest and requirement to maintain the law and order without critical damage to the civilians will present considerable growth prospectsFrance, Argentina, Myanmar, Mexico, Bangladesh, and India are among the most civil unrest prone regions, owing to substantial number of news headlines associated with the civil riots. Moreover, some riots in these countries past have witnessed requirements of military interventions to ensure the peace. Recurring surfacing of such incidences are expected to be the most prominent stun gun market growth driver over the forecast period. Additionally these find significant applications for probes against convicts who are under the influence of alcohol and drugs, which reduces their sensitivity to pain.Advent of CEWs that can monitor heart rates rhythms with featuring over 99.75% human life safety are gaining significant tractionIn August 2016, Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center researchers successfully developed stun guns that was capable of recording the subject individuals heart rhythm and rates and capability to avoid serious injuries and fatalities. Increasing incidences of the serious incidents owing to pre-medical conditions, when using these devices are doing the rounds in media. Moreover, these serious injuries and deaths%ME_PASTEBIN% often included other risk factors, including drug use. These developments will ensure the human life safety and drive the stun gun market.Law enforcement agencies are anticipated to continue the industry dominance through the forecast periodMajor factors driving the segment growth are the increasing adoption of stun guns by special police forces and law enforcement agencies in major countries such as the US, Australia, and Canada. Moreover, increased awareness in the developing and underdeveloped economies about the benefits of these devices will drive the overall product demands through the forecast period.U.S. accounted for the major global stung gun market share in 2016High utilization of these devices in both the civil and law enforcement agencies was the primary growth contributor in the region. However, the country has witnessed significant increase in the malpractices of these equipment in domestic violence and fatal incidences due to inappropriate usage on pregnant women and child abuse will drive present considerable growth challenges to the industry growthIndustry is characterized by presence of large number industry participants offering extensive range of products and devices. Some of the key players in the stun gun market include Euro Security Products, MARCH, Nova Security, Shyh Sing Enterprise, TASER International, and Jiun An Technology.For More Information :About Coherent Market Insights:Coherent Market Insights is a prominent market research and consulting firm offering action-ready syndicated research reports, custom market analysis, consulting services, and competitive analysis through various recommendations related to emerging market trends, technologies, and potential absolute dollar opportunity.Contact Us:Mr. ShahCoherent Market Insights1001 4th Ave,#3200Seattle, WA 98154Tel: +1-206-701-6702Email: sales@coherentmarketinsights.comVisit Our New Website: Semantic Knowledge Graphing Market Key Growth Drivers 2017 - 2025 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/20017 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/toc/20017 http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com A knowledge graph is a knowledge base utilised by Google to optimise its search engine results with semantic-search information taken from many sources. It was added to Googles search engine in 2012 with the initial rollout in its home market, the United States. The Semantic Knowledge Graph market aims at extracting and presenting the knowledge of a specific domain automatically from a group of documents representative of that domain. The representation encodes the semantic relationship between different words, phrases and concepts such that those relationships can expose new information about the interrelationships between all entities in that domain.Request to Sample of Report @The semantic knowledge graphing market has numerous applications like being used to discover related terms within a domain, explain multiple meanings of a similar phrase, boost semantic search by expanding user queries to related keywords/ phrases, and identifying trending topics among time-series data. It can also build a recommendation engine based on content, perform data cleansing by scoring each item according to relevance, summarise documents by judging the importance of each phrase and entity within the document and do a predictive analysis of time-series data.A key driver of the semantic knowledge graphing market is the sheer volume of data available on search engines. According to Internet Live Stats, there are approximately 1.11 billion websites live as of 2016 with hundreds more being added every minute. It can be extremely challenging for website owners to reach their target market or even customers to find the exact data they are looking for.Semantic knowledge graphs can act as the backbone of any information architecture, enabling entity-centric views on information, data, products, suppliers, employees, locations and research topics. Semantic graphs not only retrieve what is required but also provide the interrelations between the various objects, even if not stated in explicit terms. They thus help in converting unorganized data into useful information.The second driver of the semantic knowledge graphing market is the occasional personalization of information required. For e.g. - Some drugs might have regulatory aspects, a unique therapeutic character and an entirely different meaning to product managers or salespeople. At a given time, an individual might only require a certain aspect of information which is relevant in that particular situation. This personalised information processing requires a semantic layer on top of the data layer, particularly when the information is stored in different forms and scattered in several different repositories. Semantic knowledge graph engines can link similar content and documents related to one another in a highly precise manner.Current semantic knowledge graphs rely on traditional machine learning methods. Thus, their results are not reusable by algorithms and neither can humans easily interpret them. The amount of information being added to the World Wide Web daily is beyond the realm of imagination. Semantic knowledge graphing is not evolving anywhere near as rapidly as required.China currently has the worlds largest online population, followed by the U.S. which makes these two countries the largest semantic knowledge graphing markets. India is expected to outpace the U.S within this decade and should be a key focus for companies offering semantic knowledge graphs.Request Report for TOC @About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.Contact UsPersistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb: Electric Shavers Market Size to Develop Lucratively by 2025 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/toc/3549 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/3549 http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com Electric shaver is an electrical device, which is used for shaving purpose, for removal of unwanted hair from body with oscillating or rotating blades behind a metal guard. Electric shaver provides the most convenient means of shaving. Electric shavers generally come in foil shavers and rotary shaver. In foil electric shaver, two or more cutting blades arranged on top, which move back and forth in a vibrating mode under a foil with small holes that catch and cut the hairs. The other kind is the rotary shaver, which on its faceplate that has one or more round cutting heads with blades rotating under a grid with holes where the hair collected and cut off by the rotating cutting blades.Request for Table of Contents @Electric shaver is use in removal of chest hair, abdominal hair, leg hair, head hair, underarm hair or any other bodily hair. An electric shaver is most commonly used by men to remove their facial hair and by women to remove the hair from leg and underarm body parts. Various electric shaver products includes razor, razor handles, razor blades, disposable razors, shaving accessories and others electric shaver products. Electric razors usually no longer need gel, shaving cream, soap and water for shaving purpose and helps to reduce the investment over such extra products for shaving. Electric shaver product use rechargeable batteries for cordless use which it more convenient to use.In order to prevent from any kind of cuts, abrasions, and irritation form traditional shaving method, many individual prefer to use electronic shaving machine. Razor burn is an irritation of the skin caused by using a blunt blade; such problems get removed by using electric shaver products. Electric shavers provide closer shaves without skin irritations and they are more fun and convenient to use. Use of electric shaves is also very economically in long run. Electric shavers are used as grooming products among men. Shaving is the part of daily routine for many professionals, thus electric shavers help them to save their time and money as compared to traditional method of shaving. Growing fashion trends and desired to look better among men and women, the use of electric shavers is growing.Increasing beauty consciousness among women and men is one of the main reasons, which lead to drive the electric shaver market in Asia Pacific region. Rising economy, increasing in disposable income level and large population in China and India offers huge market potential for the significant growth of electric shaver market in Asia Pacific region. Various product innovation related to style, long life, less maintenance cost and easy to handle are some of the key issue which further helps to boost the electric shaver market in North America and European region.Request to View Sample of Research Report @Some of the major companies operating in global electric shavers market are Conair Corporation, BaByliss, Helen of Troy Limited, Koninklijke, Philips Electronics N.V., Panasonic Corporation, The Procter & Gamble Company, The Gillette Company, Braun GmbH, Spectrum Brands Holdings, Inc., Remington Products Company, Wahl Clipper Corporation, Eltron Company, Wahl Clipper Corporation and Izumi Products Company.About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.Contact UsPersistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,Telephone - +1-646-568-7751USA Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb: Global Thermal Insulation Material Market Expected to Account US$ 53,286.8 Mn by 2020 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/12946 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/market-research/thermal-insulation-material-market/toc PMR indicates steady growth for the global thermal insulation material market over a four-year forecast period, 2016-2020. By 2016 end, the revenues are likely to reach US$ 45.073.8 Mn. The market will observe stable growth at a CAGR of 4.1% during the forecast period. Developing economies will continue to lead the market globally, witnessing strong growth throughout the next four years.Rising urbanization and increased manufacturing and construction output levels are the key macroeconomic factors expected to escalate the demand for thermal insulation material. The critical need for thermal insulation in order to maintain any industrial systems performance will continue to sustain the demand for thermal insulation material. Rising consumption of thermal insulation material by a wide range of verticals, such as oil and gas, energy, petrochemicals, and food and beverages, is projected to escalate the demand. Increasing manufacturing levels of automobiles as well as aircrafts will also accelerate the market.Growing awareness about the significance of energy conservation and soaring preference for minimum energy spend are expected to accelerate the market growth. Efficient building norms in developed countries as well as emerging regulations regarding efficient building construction in developing countries, will fuel the market further. Governments of emerging economies are increasingly initiating building efficiency norms in order to meet the standards of energy conservation. This will remain a major factor boosting market during the forecast period.Request to sample reportTechnological advancements in insulation material, such as high-temperature insulation wool and bio-based insulation material may create lucrative growth opportunities. Moreover, increased emphasis on green energy is expected to benefit the sales of thermal insulation material. Promising introduction of vacuum insulation and nano-insulation will also hold a positive influence on market growth. Low awareness about the usage and expensive costs associated with thermal insulation material are likely to remain the long-term challenges to the market growth.Based on material type, fiberglass, stone wool, plastic foam, and others constitute the key sub-segments of the market. On the basis of temperature range, the highest growth will be observed in 1C to 100C temperature range segment. While this segment is anticipated to expand at a CAGR of 4.6% over 2016-2020, 160C to 50C temperature range segment will also register a significant CAGR. This growth is attributed to burgeoning demand from the petrochemicals industry for cryogenic preservation of gas. 490C to 00C temperature range segment will account for over 25% share of the market value in 2020.By regional analysis, developing countries in Asia Pacific are identified to remain the largest markets for thermal insulation material. This region will continue to be the largest shareholder with over 45% share in terms of revenues. While Western Europe is another key market, North America is also projected to be a major market by 2020 end.Request Report for TOC @Some of the leading companies in the global thermal insulation material market are Dow Chemicals Company, Saint Gobain S.A., Asahi Kasei Corporation, BASF SE, E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company, Bayer AG, Kingspan Group, Rockwool International, Owens Corning, and Berkshire Hathaway.About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a U.S.-based full-service market intelligence firm specializing in syndicated re-search, custom research, and consulting services. PMR boasts market research expertise across the Healthcare, Chemicals and Materials, Technology and Media, Energy and Mining, Food and Beverages, Semiconductor and Electronics, Con-sumer Goods, and Shipping and Transportation industries. The company draws from its multi-disciplinary capabilities and high-pedigree team of analysts to share data that precisely corresponds to clients business needs.ContactPersistence Market Research Pvt. Ltd305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.com Color Cosmetics Market Size will Observe Substantial Growth by 2020 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/toc/3433 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/3433 http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com Color cosmetics are personal care products that help to enhance the appearance of the human body. Color cosmetics refer to the colorants and cosmetic ingredients used for make-up, skin care, personal hygiene, hair care, fragrance and oral care. Color cosmetics include products such as foundations, eye shadows, nail paints, powders, lipsticks, concealers, bronzers and other. On the basis of type of product, color cosmetics market can be segmented into face, eye, lip and nail and others.Request for Table of Contents @North America, followed by Europe, has the largest market for color cosmetics due to innovations in color cosmetics, high consumer disposable income and new product launches in color cosmetic market in the region. Asia is expected to show high growth rate in the color cosmetics market in next few years due to increasing consumer incomes and rise in awareness about personal care products in the region.Increasing consumer spending in color cosmetics, rise in consciousness about appearance, innovation of new products, growing beauty and personal care sector, rise in demand for color cosmetics to reduce age related skin imperfections, improving quality of life, technological advancement in color cosmetics are driving the market for color cosmetics. In addition, attractive packaging, increasing consumer health awareness about the personal care and growing fashion trends are expected to drive the market for color cosmetics. However, economic downturn, high cost of quality chemicals, strict government regulations and high price related to packaging are some of the factors restraining the growth for global color cosmetics market.Growing demographics and economies in the developing countries such as India and China is expected to offer good opportunities in color cosmetics market in Asia. In addition, continuous rise in loyalty to color cosmetics, rise in demand for organic cosmetic products and innovations in color cosmetic products are expected to offer new opportunities for global color cosmetics market. Increasing number of brands and products, growing online retailing, growing number of mergers and acquisitions and rise in collaborations and partnerships are some of the latest trends that have been observed in global color cosmetics market.Request to View Sample of Research Report @Some of the major companies operating in the global color cosmetics market are Estee Lauder Inc., AVON PRODUCTS, INC., LOreal SA, Revlon, Procter & Gamble, Johnson & Johnson and Beiersdorf.About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.Contact UsPersistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,Telephone - +1-646-568-7751USA Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb: Global 4G (LTE) Devices Market Expected to Account US$ 926.1 Bn by 2024 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/10466 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/market-research/4g-lte-devices-market/toc Persistence Market Research delivers key insights on the global 4G (LTE) devices market in a new publication titled Global Market Study on 4G (LTE) Devices: Single Brand Store Distribution Channel Segment Expected to Witness Significant Growth Between 2016 and 2024 In terms of value, the global 4G (LTE) devices market is projected to register a healthy CAGR of 13.1% during the forecast period owing to various factors, regarding which Persistence Market Research offers vital insights in detail.Drivers and trends impacting the marketConsumers are increasingly becoming inclined towards technological advancements in networking solutions and are adopting devices that operate smoothly and with intelligent features. The features in devices such as low network latency rate, better battery backup, and screen resolution are attracting consumers to switch to 4G (LTE) devices thus fueling the demand for 4G (LTE) devices worldwide. Convenience, affordability, and attractive data packages offered by network operators in collaboration with device manufacturers are factors encouraging consumers to try 4G (LTE) devices. This, in turn, is increasing the penetration of 4G (LTE) devices globally.Request to sample reportDevice manufacturers at international and domestic levels are playing an important role in the global 4G (LTE) devices market by innovating in different ways. For instance, manufacturers are collaborating with network providers to provide a better service and make it more affordable for their customers. Government initiatives in some regions to encourage deployment of advanced network data consumption is impacting the global 4G (LTE) devices market positively. Traffic for online high-quality video content is increasing, making consumers opt for advanced network operating devices featuring high-speed data. Besides other factors, increasing data consumption per person per day is anticipated to drive revenue growth of the global 4G (LTE) devices market.Market forecastThe global 4G (LTE) devices market is segmented on the basis of Device Type (Smartphones, Tablets); Pricing (Low, Low-Mid, Mid-High, Premium); Distribution Channel (Multi-brand Store [Organized, Independent], Single brand Store, Online); and Region (North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and Middle East & Africa). Globally, the single brand store distribution channel segment is expected to witness significant growth over the forecast period as compared to the multi-brand store and online distribution channel segments, which are expected to witness relatively flat growth rates over the forecast period. In terms of value, the low price range segment in the Asia Pacific 4G (LTE) devices market accounted for 37.6% share in 2015. The developing countries in this region showcase the huge potential for low-end 4G (LTE) smartphones and tablets due to the advancements in network infrastructure.This report covers trends driving each segment and offers analysis and insights into the potential of the global 4G (LTE) devices market in specific regions. The 4G (LTE) devices market in Asia Pacific and North America is expected to register high growth rates between 2016 and 2024. In terms of value, Asia Pacific is expected to create an incremental opportunity of US$ 315.0 Bn between 2016 and 2024. Europe has a relatively small but significant market share in the global 4G (LTE) devices market, as mobile device manufacturers in this region are relatively less prominent. The 4G (LTE) devices market in Asia Pacific is expected to gain substantial market share owing to a high demand from consumers based in countries such as China, Indonesia, and India. The 4G (LTE) devices market in Asia Pacific accounted for 35.9% market share in 2016 and is expected to gain 1,145 BPS to account for 47.4% market value share by 2024. The 4G (LTE) devices market in North America is expected to continue being the second largest market over the forecast period as there is maximum mobile device penetration in that region.Request Report for TOC @Competitive landscapeThe report profiles some of the leading players operating in the global 4G (LTE) devices market such as Apple Inc., Samsung Electronics, ZTE Corporation, Huawei Technology Company Limited, Lenovo Group Limited, ASUSTeK Computer Inc., Xiaomi Inc., and LG Electronics Inc. Top market companies are focusing on increasing their offline presence by partnering with local retailers and are also making a swift strategic transition from 3G to 4G cellular data consumption.About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a U.S.-based full-service market intelligence firm specializing in syndicated re-search, custom research, and consulting services. PMR boasts market research expertise across the Healthcare, Chemicals and Materials, Technology and Media, Energy and Mining, Food and Beverages, Semiconductor and Electronics, Con-sumer Goods, and Shipping and Transportation industries. The company draws from its multi-disciplinary capabilities and high-pedigree team of analysts to share data that precisely corresponds to clients business needs.ContactPersistence Market Research Pvt. Ltd305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.com Neurosurgery Drugs Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, Forecast 2017-2025 https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/sample/sample/1509407 https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/reports/1509407/neurosurgery-drugs-global-industry-market-research-reports https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/sample/enquiry/1509407 https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/sample/checkdiscount/1509407 http://www.marketresearchreports.biz/ The report analyzes and presents an overview of "Neurosurgery Drugs Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast 2017 - 2025" worldwide.The objectives of this study are as follows:To define, describe, and forecast the "Neurosurgery Drugs" market by type, application, component, delivery model, end user, and regionTo provide detailed information regarding major factors influencing market growth (drivers, restraints, opportunities, and industry-specific challenges)To analyze micromarkets with respect to individual growth trends, prospects, and contributions to the overall marketTo analyze opportunities in the market for stakeholders and provide details of the competitive landscape for market leadersTo forecast the market size of market segments with respect to the four key regions: North America, Europe, Asia, and the Rest of the World (RoW)To strategically profile the key players and comprehensively analyze their product portfolios, market positions, and core competenciesGet Sample Copy Of This Report @Neurosurgery is a surgical specialty concerned with the treatment of disorders and diseases related to the spinal cord, sympathetic and peripheral nervous system, and brain. Medications related to neurosurgical conditions include four drugs: Phenytek, Phenytoin Sodium, Dilantin, and Phenytoin. These are anti-epileptic drug or anticonvulsant. Epilepsy causes recurrent seizures that are unprovoked by neurologic insults or acute systemic. Phenytoin is used to control these seizures by slowing down brain impulses caused by this disorder. Seizures can occur due to bleeding in the brain caused by injuries, brain tumors, or brain surgery. Phenytoin sodium is included under the drug class Hydantoins. Phenytoin is a hydantoin derivative anticonvulsant drug. Phenytoin sodium is used to reduce neuropathic pain, cardiac glycoside intoxication, cardiac arrhythmias, status epilepticus, seizures associated with neurosurgery, absence (petit mal) seizures, partial seizures, and tonic-clonic seizures.Long-term side effects of cerebellar ataxia and osteopenia, reduce their use by neurologists. Neurosurgery drugs have narrow therapeutic index and zero-order kinetics that makes these drugs to be one of the most difficult antiepileptic drugs to use. Moreover, these drugs are likely to have significant bidirectional drug interactions. Some neurosurgery drugs may cause difficulty in coordinating movements, confusion, headaches, nausea, dizziness, and drowsiness. If these drugs are ingested during pregnancy, they can causing various abnormalities in the baby.The neurosurgery drugs market is driven by the rise in geriatric population with neurological disorders. The Global Campaign against Epilepsy sponsored by the International League against Epilepsy, the International Bureau for Epilepsy, and the World Health Organization advocates using phenobarbital to increase health promotions in low-income countries. This projected to boost the neurosurgery drugs market. According to the book Neurological Disorders, written by Rajesh Pandav, Ramanan Laxminarayan, Vijay Chandra, and others, states that a study conducted in developed countries on people who underwent epilepsy surgery indicated that 58% of them are seizure free, while 10% to 15% people have less frequent seizures, and even if the patients have less or no seizures, medications need to be continued for one to two years. This is projected to support the expansion of the neurosurgery drugs market. Statistics from the World Health Organization suggests that the global burden of neurological diseases was approximately 92 million disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) in 2005 and is estimated to reach 103 million DALYs by the end of 2030. Rapidly increasing burden of neurological diseases is likely to increase the number of neurological surgeries, thereby increasing the demand for neurosurgery drugs.View Report @The neurosurgery drugs market can be segmented based on drug class, disease type, distribution channel, and region. In terms of drug class, the market can be categorized into hydantion anticonvulsants, and group I antiarrhythmics. Based on disease type, the neurosurgery drugs market can be classified into neuropathic pain, cardiac glycoside intoxication, cardiac arrhythmias, status epilepticus, seizures associated with neurosurgery, absence (petit mal) seizures, partial seizures, and tonic-clonic seizures. In terms of the distribution channel, the market can be segmented into retail pharmacies, hospital pharmacies, and online pharmacies.Based on geography, the neurosurgery drugs market can be divided into Latin America, Asia Pacific, Europe, North America, and Middle East & Africa. North America accounted for a large share of the market in 2016 owing to the increasing geriatric population and rise in research & development activities. Europe held the second large share of the market in 2016, due to rising stress levels and increasing inclination toward drug addiction for pain relief, which are expected to boost the demand for neurosurgery drugs. The market in Asia Pacific is anticipated to expand at a moderate pace during the forecast period owing to technological advancements and increasing stress levels in developed and developing countries. The market in Middle East & Africa and Latin America is projected to expand during the forecast period due to increasing health promotions in these countries.Key players operating in the neurosurgery drugs market are Pfizer Inc., Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Limited, WOCKHARDT, and Mylan N.V.The report offers a comprehensive evaluation of the market. It does so via in-depth qualitative insights, historical data, and verifiable projections about market size. The projections featured in the report have been derived using proven research methodologies and assumptions. By doing so, the research report serves as a repository of analysis and information for every facet of the market, including but not limited to: Regional markets, technology, types, and applications.Request For Enquiry @The study is a source of reliable data on:Market segments and sub-segmentsMarket trends and dynamicsSupply and demandMarket sizeCurrent trends/opportunities/challengesCompetitive landscapeTechnological breakthroughsValue chain and stakeholder analysisThe regional analysis covers:North America (U.S. and Canada)Latin America (Mexico, Brazil, Peru, Chile, and others)Western Europe (Germany, U.K., France, Spain, Italy, Nordic countries, Belgium, Netherlands, and Luxembourg)Eastern Europe (Poland and Russia)Asia Pacific (China, India, Japan, ASEAN, Australia, and New Zealand)Middle East and Africa (GCC, Southern Africa, and North Africa)The report has been compiled through extensive primary research (through interviews, surveys, and observations of seasoned analysts) and secondary research (which entails reputable paid sources, trade journals, and industry body databases). The report also features a complete qualitative and quantitative assessment by analyzing data gathered from industry analysts and market participants across key points in the industrys value chain.A separate analysis of prevailing trends in the parent market, macro- and micro-economic indicators, and regulations and mandates is included under the purview of the study. By doing so, the report projects the attractiveness of each major segment over the forecast period.Check Discount @Highlights of the report:A complete backdrop analysis, which includes an assessment of the parent marketImportant changes in market dynamicsMarket segmentation up to the second or third levelHistorical, current, and projected size of the market from the standpoint of both value and volumeReporting and evaluation of recent industry developmentsMarket shares and strategies of key playersEmerging niche segments and regional marketsAn objective assessment of the trajectory of the marketRecommendations to companies for strengthening their foothold in the marketAbout usMarketResearchReports.biz is the most comprehensive collection of market research reports. MarketResearchReports.Biz services are specially designed to save time and money for our clients. We are a one stop solution for all your research needs, our main offerings are syndicated research reports, custom research, subscription access and consulting services. We serve all sizes and types of companies spanning across various industries.Contact usMr. NachiketState Tower90 Sate Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-621-2074Website:E: sales@marketresearchreports.biz Beauty Devices Market to Extent an Assessed Value of US$54.2 Bn by 2020 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/market-research/beauty-devices-market.asp https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/3375 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/market-research/beauty-devices-market/toc https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/checkout/3375 http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com Persistence Market Research has published a new report on the Global Market Study on Beauty Devices: Asia to Witness Highest Growth by 2020. As per the report, the global beauty devices market is expected to progress rapidly from US$19.4 bn in 2014 to US$54.2 bn by 2020 at an 18.70% CAGR.The global beauty devices market is segmented on the basis of geography, usage area, and type. Based on geography, the global beauty devices market is divided into North America, Asia, Latin America, Europe, and Rest of the World. With the growing number of beauty salons and stores in North America, the global beauty devices market is expected to witness greater opportunities for development in the years to come. In the United States, currently there are approximately around 750,000 beauty spas and salons. The Asia beauty devices markets extraordinary rise in the recent past is attributed to the aggressive development of one of the market leaders, Nu Skin Enterprises, Inc. Similarly, entry of new beauty devices and beauty products in various regions across the globe has propelled the global beauty devices market.Beauty Devices Market Research Report Overview @In Asia, the market for beauty devices is expected to expand rapidly due to increasing disposable incomes, introduction of less expensive beauty products, and availability of branded products. Asia is expected to be the fastest growing regional segment of the global beauty devices market in the years to come. The Europe beauty devices market is propelled by the increasing aging population. Introduction of new skin care products, beauty devices, and spa solutions to treat skin and hair problems is expected to propel the Europe beauty devices market during the period from 2014 to 2020.Request Sample Report@Some of the other leading companies in the global beauty devices market are LOreal Group, Home Skinovations, Ltd., TRIA Beauty, Inc., Koninklijke Philips N.V., Carol Cole Company, Procter & Gamble, PhotoMedex, Inc., Syneron Medical, Ltd., and Panasonic Corporation. Although the leading companies have captured the majority of the global beauty devices market, entry of new companies is expected to increase the level of competition in the years to come. Market leading companies as well as new entrants are striving hard to offer quality products to maintain their standards in the global beauty devices market.Download and View Report TOC, Figures and Tables @Some beauty devices lead to reactions such as redness, swelling, and bruising. Growing awareness of the risks or side effects associated with skin care products and beauty devices is predicted to restrict the growth of the global beauty devices market in the coming few years. However, introduction of beauty products with natural ingredients is expected to propel the global beauty devices market during the forecast period. Based on usage area, the global beauty devices market is classified into at-home, spa, salon, and others. By type, the global beauty devices market is classified into hair removal devices, cleansing devices, acne devices, rejuvenation devices, light/LED therapy and photo rejuvenation devices, oxygen and steamer devices, hair growth devices, skin derma rollers, and cellulite reduction devices, and others. The current global beauty devices market is highly competitive, with new products being introduced by leading companies every year.Get Full Report now @About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.Contact UsPersistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb: Latest Report on Sleep Apnea Market Size & Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast 2017 - 2025 https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/sample/sample/1509413 https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/reports/1509413/sleep-apnea-global-industry-market-research-reports https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/sample/enquiry/1509413 https://www.marketresearchreports.biz/sample/checkdiscount/1509413 http://www.marketresearchreports.biz/ The report analyzes and presents an overview of "Sleep Apnea Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast 2017 - 2025" worldwide.The objectives of this study are as follows:To define, describe, and forecast the "Sleep Apnea" market by type, application, component, delivery model, end user, and regionTo provide detailed information regarding major factors influencing market growth (drivers, restraints, opportunities, and industry-specific challenges)To analyze micromarkets with respect to individual growth trends, prospects, and contributions to the overall marketTo analyze opportunities in the market for stakeholders and provide details of the competitive landscape for market leadersTo forecast the market size of market segments with respect to the four key regions: North America, Europe, Asia, and the Rest of the World (RoW)To strategically profile the key players and comprehensively analyze their product portfolios, market positions, and core competenciesGet Sample Copy Of This Report @Sleep apnea is a life-threatening and serious sleep disorder that generally occurs when an individuals breathing is disturbed during sleep. In individuals with sleep apnea, the tissue located behind the throat and between the mouth and the lungs briefly collapses and at times, it becomes so constricted that the breathing stops either momentarily or for longer durations and sometimes, for several minutes. During such events, the body sensors send a signal to the brain, which awakens the individual from sleep, leading to re-opening of the airways. People suffering from sleep apnea are unable to enjoy the deep level of recovery-style and restful sleep that is normally required by the body to function at an optimal capacity.Sleep apnea has been classified into three categories viz. obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), mixed sleep apnea, and central sleep apnea (CSA). Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is the most prevalent type, accounting for 84% of all diagnosed cases of sleep apnea. In OSA, obstruction in the upper airway (the nose or the throat) stops the flow of air to the lungs. In central sleep apnea (CSA), the nasal airway is open, but the brain is unable to send signals to the muscles to breathe, due to which respiration does not occur. Mixed sleep apnea is a mixture of both CSA and OSA. Symptoms associated with sleep apnea include loud snoring, morning headaches, restless sleep, insomnia, and recurrent awakenings. Sleep apnea can also lead to several health issues such as high blood pressure, heart failure, stroke, irregular heartbeats, heart attacks, diabetes, and depression. The condition can be treated with the help of the continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) treatment or sleep apnea dental devices. An individual can also be advised to undergo surgeries such as uvulopalatopharyngoplasty (UPPP) and mandibular maxillar advancement surgery.The rising number of patients with sleep apnea across the globe is driving the sleep apnea market. According to a study conducted by the World Health Organization (WHO), the global prevalence of sleep apnea is around 100 million people. In the U.S. alone, the number of people with sleep-disordered breathing (SDB) is around 42 million. One out of five adults in the U.S. have mild OSA, while one out of 15 have moderate to severe OSA. The number is expected to increase in the next few years, primarily due to increasing incidence of sleep-related disorders. This is projected to drive the sleep apnea market from 2017 to 2025. The other factors anticipated to augment the market are increasing awareness about adverse effects of sleep apnea, growing use of oral appliances for the treatment of sleep apnea, and technological advancements resulting in the development of novel products for treating sleep apnea. On the contrary, alternative treatment options and patient compliance issues can negatively impact the market in the near future. Increasing number of companies entering the sleep apnea market and growth opportunities in emerging markets are factors projected to offer lucrative growth opportunities to manufacturers of sleep apnea treatment devices during the forecast period.View Report @The global sleep apnea market has been segmented based on product, end-user, and region. In terms of product, the market has been classified into positive airway pressure (PAP) devices, oral appliances, pillows, nasal straps, and other accessories. In terms of end-user, the market has been segmented into hospitals, clinics, and home care settings.In terms of geography, the global sleep apnea market has been divided into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa. North America accounts for a leading share of the global sleep apnea market, due to increasing prevalence of sleep apnea in the region and rising investments by manufacturers for the development of novel products with enhanced features for sleep apnea treatment. The market in Asia Pacific is anticipated to register the maximum growth rate during the forecast period, due to growing awareness among patients in the region about ill-effects of untreated sleep apnea.Key players operating in the global sleep apnea market are Resmed, Inc., Fisher & Paykel Healthcare Ltd., Somnomed Limited, Philips Healthcare, Whole You, Inc., MEDiTAS Ltd, Sleeping Well, LLC, and Tomed GmbH.The report offers a comprehensive evaluation of the market. It does so via in-depth qualitative insights, historical data, and verifiable projections about market size. The projections featured in the report have been derived using proven research methodologies and assumptions. By doing so, the research report serves as a repository of analysis and information for every facet of the market, including but not limited to: Regional markets, technology, types, and applications.Request For Enquiry @The study is a source of reliable data on:Market segments and sub-segmentsMarket trends and dynamicsSupply and demandMarket sizeCurrent trends/opportunities/challengesCompetitive landscapeTechnological breakthroughsValue chain and stakeholder analysisThe regional analysis covers:North America (U.S. and Canada)Latin America (Mexico, Brazil, Peru, Chile, and others)Western Europe (Germany, U.K., France, Spain, Italy, Nordic countries, Belgium, Netherlands, and Luxembourg)Eastern Europe (Poland and Russia)Asia Pacific (China, India, Japan, ASEAN, Australia, and New Zealand)Middle East and Africa (GCC, Southern Africa, and North Africa)The report has been compiled through extensive primary research (through interviews, surveys, and observations of seasoned analysts) and secondary research (which entails reputable paid sources, trade journals, and industry body databases). The report also features a complete qualitative and quantitative assessment by analyzing data gathered from industry analysts and market participants across key points in the industrys value chain.A separate analysis of prevailing trends in the parent market, macro- and micro-economic indicators, and regulations and mandates is included under the purview of the study. By doing so, the report projects the attractiveness of each major segment over the forecast period.Check Discount @Highlights of the report:A complete backdrop analysis, which includes an assessment of the parent marketImportant changes in market dynamicsMarket segmentation up to the second or third levelHistorical, current, and projected size of the market from the standpoint of both value and volumeReporting and evaluation of recent industry developmentsMarket shares and strategies of key playersEmerging niche segments and regional marketsAn objective assessment of the trajectory of the marketRecommendations to companies for strengthening their foothold in the marketAbout usMarketResearchReports.biz is the most comprehensive collection of market research reports. MarketResearchReports.Biz services are specially designed to save time and money for our clients. We are a one stop solution for all your research needs, our main offerings are syndicated research reports, custom research, subscription access and consulting services. We serve all sizes and types of companies spanning across various industries.Contact usMr. NachiketState Tower90 Sate Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-621-2074Website:E: sales@marketresearchreports.biz Tuned Passive Harmonic Filters Market, By Filter Types, Verticals, and Region - Global Industry Insights, Trends, Outlook, and Opportunity Analysis, 20172025 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/ongoing-insight/toc/1235 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/ongoing-insight/tuned-passive-harmonic-filters-market-1235 http://www.coherentchronicle.com Passive harmonic mitigation systems or devices are used for power factor correction and have several advantages such as low power losses, better system performances, and better power efficiency, in addition to low cost over active filters. However, owing to these aforementioned factors, passive filters have found extensive applications in almost every electric grid and distribution networks. These tuned passive harmonic filters have applications in various end-use industries including food, pulp & paper, refining, exploration, pharmaceuticals, large commercial spaces, electronic industries, and automotive, among others, and this is expected to present considerable growth prospects over the coming years.Increasing dependence on electric power source is expected to propel growth of the tuned passive harmonic filters marketAccording U.S. Energy Information Administrations International Energy Outlook 2016, global industrial consumption of electrical energy as a power source is expected to grow from 31.9 quadrillion British Thermal Units (Btu) in 2012 to 40.0 Btu in 2025. Moreover, OECD countries are expected to witness an annual average change of 0.7% and non-OECD countries of 1.6% in the duration of 20122040. Furthermore, increasing utilization of renewable energy sources for electricity generation is among the prominent trends gaining traction, in order to reduce environmental impacts, which is expected to fuel demand for tuned passive harmonic filters over the forecast period.However, active harmonic filters (AHF) require relatively higher initial capital, and therefore are the last options for power quality correction solutions. This factor is expected to adversely affect growth of the market.Request Table of Content of this Report :Increasing demand for these filters to reduce harmonic distortions for enhancing supply efficiency and avoid system malfunctions is expected to drive growth of the marketPower systems have recurring distortions of current and voltage waveforms, owing to extensive usage of loads that produce currents with higher frequencies. Growing number of non-linear loads in conjunction with substantial surge in demand for electricity has led to introduction of large number of parameters that distort the voltage and can potentially cause malfunction, overheating, and breakdown of the systems utilized in power systems. Requirement to provide consistent supply and avoid potential damage to the end user and power systems is expected to lead to demand for these power factor correction systems and fuel growth of the tuned passive harmonic filters market. These equipment are featured with large sizes of MVAR ratings, maintenance free service, and are economically viable than synchronous condensers. It also offers many advantages for systems that require high starting power, voltage support, and protection in case of source. These features are expected to lead to high adoption of these systems over the forecast period.According to BP Statistical Review of World Energy 2017, Asia Pacific primary energy consumption in 2016 was over 42% of the global primary energy consumption in terms of million tons of oil equivalent. Moreover, the region is home to countries that include China, India, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Australia, and Indonesia that contribute to significant share in the global electricity being produced every year. These countries have some of the major energy intensive industrial activities, and a large population base contributing to high energy consumption. Owing to these factors, Asia Pacific passive tuned harmonic filters market is expected to witness highest growth over the forecast period.Some of the kay players in the global tuned passive harmonic filters market included Eaton Corp, ABB, Comsys AB, Schneider Electric, DELTAUS, Siemens, Crompton Greaves, Emerson Electric, Schaffner Holding, and MTE Corporation.For More Information :About Coherent Market Insights:Coherent Market Insights is a prominent market research and consulting firm offering action-ready syndicated research reports, custom market analysis, consulting services, and competitive analysis through various recommendations related to emerging market trends, technologies, and potential absolute dollar opportunity.Contact Us:Mr. ShahCoherent Market Insights1001 4th Ave,#3200Seattle, WA 98154Tel: +1-206-701-6702Email: sales@coherentmarketinsights.comVisit our news Website: Airborne Surveillance Market, by Type, Product Type, Application and Region - Global Industry Insights, Trends, Outlook, and Opportunity Analysis, 2017 2025 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/ongoing-insight/toc/1208 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/ongoing-insight/airborne-surveillance-market-1208 http://www.coherentchronicle.com Airborne surveillance system aims to provide early airborne unusual activities warning. It consists of antenna, airborne data processor, and integrated navigation system, which are featured to provide high accuracy navigation system. These are responsible for tracking and scanning of required target. They receive signal from transmitting radar, analyze the signal and transmit the signal to the receiving radar and provide navigation of the target.Major driving factor for the growth of global airborne surveillance market is increasing adoption of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) in commercial sector, which has applications in agriculture, government agencies, and other major industries. For instance, according to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), around 7 million drones are expected to ship to the U.S. by 2020, which includes sales of around 2.7 million commercial drone by 2020 from 600 thousands in 2016. These drones are available at affordable price and thus creating an opportunity to actively utilize these drones in commercial application. Increasing concern regarding safety and security along with digitization and advanced technologies used in mapping software and high resolution satellite imagery are prominent factors expected to accelerate the growth opportunity of the commercial drones market, which are expected to consequently fuel global airborne surveillance market growth. Drones are experiencing active adoption by agriculture sector. LiDAR, geographic information system (GIS) and high resolution satellite imagery system are highly being used in agriculture sector for crop health monitoring, production of crop measurement, and checking soil condition. Trimble Navigation Ltd. has a strong hold in the agriculture drones market. This company provides Trimble UX5 HP high-precision mapping solution in the agriculture drone market.Request Table of Content of this Report :However high cost of LiDAR is one of the key factor restraining growth of the global airborne surveillance market during the forecast period.Airborne Surveillance Market: Regional InsightsThe global airborne surveillance market has been segmented on the basis of regions into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, Middle East, and Africa. The market for North America is expected to account for largest share in the global airborne surveillance market. The U.S. is the prominent source for the regional market growth due to the presence of key players including Boeing, BAE Systems and Raytheon. High defense funding, increased focus on minimal troop casualties, minimum financial loss, and increased focus on the development of advanced airborne systems are key factors to have a positive impact in the U.S. market, which in turn is expected to fuel regional market growth. In July 2017, the U.S. Navy sent out proposals to four defense contractors to the General Atomics, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and Northrop Grumman for modulated reconnaissance requirement while enhancing the proposed unmanned aircrafts aerial tanking duties. UCAVs with long-ranged striking capabilities are incorporated with Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (C4ISR) systems into airborne platforms, which are capable of deploying precision-guided munitions, bombs, and missiles. These factors are expected to drive the growth of the market over the forecast period.Airborne Surveillance Market: Competitive BackgroundMajor players operating in the global airborne surveillance market include BAE Systems, Boeing, Lockheed Martin Corporation, Raytheon Company, Flir Systems, Israel Aerospace Industries Ltd., L-3 Wescam, Leica Geosystems AG, Leonardo, Northrop Grumman Corporation, and Saab AB.For More Information :About Coherent Market Insights:Coherent Market Insights is a prominent market research and consulting firm offering action-ready syndicated research reports, custom market analysis, consulting services, and competitive analysis through various recommendations related to emerging market trends, technologies, and potential absolute dollar opportunity.Contact Us:Mr. ShahCoherent Market Insights1001 4th Ave,#3200Seattle, WA 98154Tel: +1-206-701-6702Email: sales@coherentmarketinsights.comVisit our news Website: Elastomeric Infusion Pumps Market on Track to US$ 644.0 Million By 2024 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/market-research/elastomeric-Infusion-pumps-market.asp https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/11032 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/market-research/elastomeric-Infusion-pumps-market/toc http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com Persistence Market Research (PMR) delivers key insights on the global elastomeric infusion pumps market in its upcoming report titled, Elastomeric Infusion Pumps Market 2016-2024. In terms of revenue, the global elastomeric pumps market is projected to expand at a CAGR of 5.8% during the forecast period in terms of value. The global elastomeric pumps market value is expected to increase to US$ 644.0 million by the end of 2024.Global Elastomeric Infusion Pumps Market: Asia Pacific to Witness Highest Growth by 2024, Growth is expected to be driven by Favorable Reimbursement Policies for Infusion Therapy in Homecare Settings over the Forecast Period.Elastomeric Infusion Pumps Market Read Report Overview @The market is segmented based on product type, treatment type, end users, and regions. Based on product type, the market has been segmented into continuous rate elastomeric pumps and variable rate elastomeric pumps. Variable rate elastomeric pumps segment is expected to grow at the fastest CAGR over the forecast period, driven by increasing adoption of patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) elastomeric pumps, i.e. elastomeric pumps with a bolus. The segment is expected to register a significant CAGR of 6.9% during the forecast period. Whereas continuous rate elastomeric pumps segment is anticipated to grow at CAGR of 5.1% over the forecast period.The market has been segmented based on different types of treatment such as pain management, antiviral/antibiotic, chemotherapy, and chelation therapy (iron chelation for thalassemia patients) to provide deeper insight into the pattern of demand for elastomeric infusion pumps. The pain management segment is expected to expand at the highest CAGR of 6.7% over the forecast period.Request Sample Report@Based on end users, the market has been segmented into hospitals, ambulatory surgical centres, home care, clinics and, others (long-term care units, elderly care units). The hospitals segment is anticipated to account for the highest demand for elastomeric infusion pumps over the forecast period, registering a CAGR of 6.6% due to cost attainment models adopted by the hospitals, increasing the demand for disposable ambulatory home infusion therapy. Secondly, better reimbursement options for home infusion in developed economies, is expected to push demand for elastomeric infusion pumps in home care segment over the forecast period.Download and View Report TOC, Figures and Tables @A key trend in elastomeric infusion pumps market is the development of better designs for pumps ensuring greater patient safety. In addition, it has been noted that the market is fragmented with few established brands and many regional and local players in global elastomeric pumps market.This report assesses trends, that drive growth of each segment on the global as well as regional levels, and offers potential takeaways, that could prove substantially useful to start-up and other medical device manufacturing companies who wish to enter the market. North America is expected to dominate the elastomeric infusion pumps market with the maximum market share in 2016. North America and Western Europe collectively, have been expected to account for more than 65% of the total elastomeric infusion pump market share in terms of value in 2016. Among emerging markets, Asia Pacific is estimated to exhibit the highest CAGR of 7.1% over the forecast period, due to increase in the regional and local players.Some key players in the global elastomeric infusion pump market identified in the report include B. Braun Melsungen AG., Fresenius Kabi AG, Baxter International Inc., Halyard Health, Inc., Nipro Corporation, and Woo Young Medical Co. We have discussed individual strategies of these companies in terms of enhancing product designing, creating new manufacturing facilities, and enhancing distribution base. The report has been concluded with strategic recommendations for players already present in the market and new players planning to enter the market, which could help them in the long run.About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.Contact UsPersistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb: Global Anemometer Market, by Product Type, Technology, Application, End-Use Industry and Geography (North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, Africa, and Middle East) - Global Forecast to 2025 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-sample/1061 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/market-insight/anemometer-market-1061 www.coherentchronicle.com According to the new market research report 'Global Anemometer Market, by Product Type (Velocity Anemometer and Pressure Anemometer), by Technology (LIDAR and SODAR), by Application (Onshore and Offshore), by End-Use Industry (Agriculture, Aviation, Oil & Gas, Marine, Transport & Logistics, Renewables, and Others), and by Geography (North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, Africa, and Middle East) - Global Forecast to 2025', is estimated to be valued at over US$ 561.85 million by 2025 and expected to exhibit a CAGR of 5.79% during the forecast period (2017 2025), as highlighted in a report published by Coherent Market Insights.Increasing number of wind energy generation projects, with total 486,790 MW installed wind power capacity in 2016 and the rising demand for modern instruments for air speed, air quality and velocity measurement, due to the rising environmental pollution, is boosting the market growth globally. Increasing number of wind turbine installations is further fueling the market growth. According to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), the global cumulative renewable generation capacity reached 2,006 GW in 2016 grew by 8.7%, with a record of 71 GW new solar energy, the first time since 2013 that solar energy outpaced wind energy capacity additions. Wind energy accounted for 51 GW of new capacity addition of this.Request Sample Copy of this ReportKey Takeaways of the Anemo meter Market:The global Anemometer market is projected to reach over US$ 561.85 million by 2025, exhibiting a CAGR of 5.79% over the forecast period.Among velocity anemometers, the hot wire anemometers accounts for largest market share, as it is widely used for evaluating the velocities of wind across various industries such as chemicals and oil & gas.North America accounted largest market share in anemometer market, in 2016, followed by Europe and Asia Pacific respectively. According to The Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC), total wind power installed capacity in North America was 97,611 MW in 2016.China is the leading market for anemometer in Asia Pacific region. According to GWEC, China has largest share of new installed wind capacity and cumulative capacity with 42.7% and 34.7% respectively in 2016, followed by Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and India, respectively. The total wind power installed capacity in China was 168,732 MW, in 2016.Germany, the U.K., and France contributed significant shares in the anemometer market across Europe, with 10%, 1.3%, and 2.9% wind installed capacity, in 2016, respectively. Germany ranked 3 in the global wind power installed capacity in 2016, according to GWEC.The UAE, South Africa, Brazil and Argentina are dominant markets for anemometer across Middle East and Africa and Latin America. According to GWEC, Brazil ranked fifth in the global wind power installed capacity in 2016 with 2,014 MW of wind power installed and 3.7% of global market share.Key companies covered as a part of this study include Ammonit Measurement, FT Technologies, Gill Instruments, Lufft, Siemens, Delta Ohm Benelux, IED Electronics, LCJ Capteurs, Maretron, NRG Systems, PCE Deutschland and Vaisala.For More InformationAbout Coherent Market Insights:Coherent Market Insights is a prominent market research and consulting firm offering action-ready syndicated research reports, custom market analysis, consulting services, and competitive analysis through various recommendations related to emerging market trends, technologies, and potential absolute dollar opportunity.Contact Us:Mr. ShahCoherent Market Insights1001 4th Ave,#3200Seattle, WA 98154Tel: +1-206-701-6702Email: sales@coherentmarketinsights.comVisit our news Website: Global Solar Tracker Market 2018 Key Players: AllEarth Renewables, First Solar, Energia Ercam, Mecasolar. Solar Tracker Market https://www.wiseguyreports.com/sample-request/2787901-global-solar-tracker-market-size-study-by-technology-solar-photo https://www.wiseguyreports.com/reports/2787901-global-solar-tracker-market-size-study-by-technology-solar-photo Solar Tracker Market:WiseGuyReports.com adds Solar Tracker Market 2018 Global Analysis, Growth, Trends and Opportunities Research Report Forecasting to 2025reports to its database.Executive SummaryGlobal Solar Tracker Market industry valued approximately USD 7.25 billion in 2016 is anticipated to grow with a healthy growth rate of more than 18.21% over the forecast period 2017-2025. Major factors fueling the growth are growing awareness of renewable energy sources, decreasing prices of solar energy, escalating smart cities projects, and continuous innovations being made in solar trackers.The objective of the study is to define market sizes of different segments & countries in previous years and to forecast the values to the next eight years. The report is designed to incorporate both qualitative and quantitative aspects of the industry with respect to each of the regions and countries involved in the study. Furthermore, the report also caters the detailed information about the crucial aspects such as drivers & restraining factors which will define the future growth of the market. Additionally, it will also incorporate the opportunities available in micro markets for stakeholders to invest, detailed analysis of competitive landscape and product offerings of key players. The detailed segments and sub-segment of the market are explained below:Request Sample Report @Technology:Solar Photo VoltaicConcentrated Solar PowerConcentrated Photo VoltaicProduct:Single-AxisDual-AxisApplication:UtilityNon-UtilityFurthermore, the years considered for the study are as follows:Historical year 2015Base year 2016Forecast period 2017 to 2025Some of the key manufacturers involved in the market are AllEarth Renewables, First Solar, Energia Ercam, Mecasolar, Array Technologies, Grupo Clavijo, Sun Power, and Hao. New product launches, focus on continuous technology innovations, acquisitions, and effective mergers are some of the strategies adopted by the key manufacturers. The companies are also trying to dominate the market by investing in research and development.Target Audience of the Solar Tracker Market StudyKey Consulting Companies & AdvisorsLarge, medium-sized, and small enterprisesVenture capitalistsValue-Added Resellers (VARs)Third-party knowledge providersInvestment bankersInvestorsPlease note that owing to the criticality of the Solar Tracker Market and rapidly changing market attributes, we are in the middle of updating the report. The final report may require 2 to 3 working days post-confirmation in order to cater to the most recent updates.ContinuousFor further information on this report, visit Contact Us:Norah Trentsales@wiseguyreports.comPh: +1-646-845-9349 (US); +44 208 133 9349 (UK)Wise Guy Reports Is Part Of The Wise Guy Consultants Pvt. Ltd. And Offers Premium Progressive Statistical Surveying, Market Research Reports, Analysis & Forecast Data For Industries And Governments Around The Globe. Wise Guy Reports Features An Exhaustive List Of Market Research Reports From Hundreds Of Publishers Worldwide. We Boast A Database Spanning Virtually Every Market Category And An Even More Comprehensive Collection Of Market Research Reports Under These Categories And Sub-Categories.Addres:WISEGUY RESEARCH CONSULTANTS PVT LTDOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersPune - 411028Maharashtra, IndiaPhone :+91 841 198 5042 Asia Pacific Alopecia Treatment Market is Expected to Surpass US$ 2,655.9 Mn by 2024 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/market-research/asia-pacific-alopecia-treatment-market.asp https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/11077 https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/market-research/asia-pacific-alopecia-treatment-market/toc http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com According to the latest market report published by Persistence Market Research, titled Asia Pacific Alopecia Treatment Market: Industry Analysis and Forecast (20162024), revenue from the Asia Pacific alopecia treatment market is expected to expand at a CAGR of 6.6% during the forecast period 2016 - 2024.In the report, the Asia-Pacific alopecia treatment market is analyzed on the basis of, type of alopecia, treatment type, and end user. On the basis of the type of alopecia, the overall market has been segmented into alopecia areata, alopecia totalis, and alopecia universalis. Topical drugs (creams, oils, lotions, gels, shampoos, and foam), oral drugs, injectable (platelet rich plasma therapy, steroid, and injectable fillers), hair transplant services and low-level laser therapy form the basis of treatment type. By end user segment, the market has been segmented into hospitals, dermatology and trichology clinics, home care settings, and aesthetic clinics. In the overall market, oral solid dosage formulations are expected to witness increased acceptance owing to ease of consumption by patients in Asia Pacific. Accordingly, oral drugs segment is anticipated to witness an increase in value from US$ 556.6 Mn in 2016 to US$ 1,005.1 Mn by the end of 2024.Asia Pacific Alopecia Treatment Market Report Overview @Rising global demand for effective hair loss treatment medications especially oral drugs is the prime driver of the market. Oral hair loss treatment drugs are gaining popularity as they help in maintaining patient-safety through reduced number of medicine dosages, but with increased drug efficacy. However, changing lifestyle along with the increase in stress level among working class population, cosmeceutical drug manufacturers focusing on expanding their hair treatment and scalp treatment product line, and cytokine therapy gaining momentum for alopecia treatment are other factors that expected to fuel the market growth for alopecia treatment market over the forecast period.Patent expiry of major blockbuster drugs resulting in market exclusivity for some brands and various side effects associated with the hair loss treatments is expected to hamper the overall market growth. Some of the side effects such as allergies, depression, and chances of permanent sexual dysfunctions. Other market deterrents include the limited efficacy of the hair loss treatment drugs and lack of reimbursement facilities for hair loss treatments services, such as laser treatments.Request Sample Report@Based on countries, the market has been divided into China, Japan, Australia & New Zealand, Malaysia, Singapore, India, Vietnam, Philippines and Rest of Asia-Pacific. Developed pharmaceuticals markets such as the China and Japan are expected to emerge as the main sourcing markets.This report assesses trends by type of alopecia, treatment type, end user, and countries; to offer analytical insights about the potential demand emerging for particular alopecia treatments in specific regions. China is estimated to dominate the alopecia treatment market accounting for maximum revenue share of the overall market by end of 2016. By 2024 end, China and Japan markets are expected to account for over three-fifth share of the Asia Pacific alopecia treatment market revenue. In terms of market share by value, China is estimated to retain its dominant position, registering a CAGR of 7.1% over the forecast period.Download and View Report TOC, Figures and Tables @Some key companies covered in this report include Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., Merck & Co., Inc., Johnson & Johnson, Inc., Dr. Reddys Laboratories Ltd., Cipla Ltd., Cellmid Ltd., The Himalaya Drug Company, Taisho Pharmaceutical Holdings Co., Ltd, Shiseido Co., Ltd., and Zhangguang 101 Science & Technology Co., Ltd. These companies are primarily focused on enhancing their product portfolio through research and development and the introduction of innovative and cost-effective advanced manufacturing procedures in order to gain higher market share and to strengthen their respective positions in the Asia Pacific market.About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.Contact UsPersistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb: A Comprehensive Study exploring Keyboard Market Keyboard Market https://www.htfmarketreport.com/sample-report/339700-global-keyboard-market-2 https://www.htfmarketreport.com/reports/339700-global-keyboard-market-2 https://www.htfmarketreport.com/enquiry-before-buy/339700-global-keyboard-market-2 https://www.htfmarketreport.com/buy-now?format=1&report=339700 HTF MI published a new industry research that focuses on Keyboard market and delivers in-depth market analysis and future prospects of Global Keyboard market. The study covers significant data which makes the research document a handy resource for managers, analysts, industry experts and other key people get ready-to-access and self-analyzed study along with graphs and tables to help understand market trends, drivers and market challenges. The study is segmented by Application/ end users [ ], products type [] and various important geographies like North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific etc].Get Access to sample pages @The Global Keyboard Market Research Report Forecast 2017-2021 is a valuable source of insightful data for business strategists. It provides the Keyboard industry overview with growth analysis and historical & futuristic cost, revenue, demand and supply data (as applicable). The research analysts provide an elaborate description of the value chain and its distributor analysis. This Keyboard market study provides comprehensive data which enhances the understanding, scope and application of this report.The research covers the current market size of the Global Keyboard market and its growth rates based on 5 year history data along with company profile of key players/manufacturers. The in-depth information by segments of Keyboard market helps monitor future profitability & to make critical decisions for growth. The information on trends and developments, focuses on markets and materials, capacities, technologies, CAPEX cycle and the changing structure of the Global Keyboard Market.The study provides company profiling, product picture and specifications, sales, market share and contact information of key manufacturers of Global Keyboard Market, some of them listed here are . The market is growing at a very rapid pace and with rise in technological innovation, competition and M&A activities in the industry many local and regional vendors are offering specific application products for varied end-users. The new manufacturer entrants in the market are finding it hard to compete with the international vendors based on quality, reliability, and innovations in technology.Global Keyboard (Thousands Units) and Revenue (Million USD) Market Split by Product Type such as . Further the research study is segmented by Application such as with historical and projected market share and compounded annual growth rate.Geographically, this report is segmented into several key Regions, with production, consumption, revenue (million USD), and market share and growth rate of Keyboard in these regions, from 2012 to 2022 (forecast), covering North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific etc and its Share (%) and CAGR for the forecasted period 2017 to 2022.Read Detailed Index of full Research Study at @Following would be the Chapters to display the Global Keyboard market.Chapter 1, to describe Definition, Specifications and Classification of Keyboard, Applications of Keyboard, Market Segment by Regions;Chapter 2, to analyze the Manufacturing Cost Structure, Raw Material and Suppliers, Manufacturing Process, Industry Chain Structure;Chapter 3, to display the Technical Data and Manufacturing Plants Analysis of Keyboard, Capacity and Commercial Production Date, Manufacturing Plants Distribution, R&D Status and Technology Source, Raw Materials Sources Analysis;Chapter 4, to show the Overall Market Analysis, Capacity Analysis (Company Segment), Sales Analysis (Company Segment), Sales Price Analysis (Company Segment);Chapter 5 and 6, to show the Regional Market Analysis that includes North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific etc, Keyboard Segment Market Analysis (by Type);Chapter 7 and 8, to analyze the Keyboard Segment Market Analysis (by Application) Major Manufacturers Analysis of Keyboard;Chapter 9, Market Trend Analysis, Regional Market Trend, Market Trend by Product Type [], Market Trend by Application [ ];Chapter 10, Regional Marketing Type Analysis, International Trade Type Analysis, Supply Chain Analysis;Chapter 11, to analyze the Consumers Analysis of Global Keyboard;Chapter 12,13, 14 and 15, to describe Keyboard sales channel, distributors, traders, dealers, Research Findings and Conclusion, appendix and data source.Enquire for customization in Report @What this Research Study Offers:Global Keyboard Market share assessments for the regional and country level segmentsMarket share analysis of the top industry playersStrategic recommendations for the new entrantsMarket forecasts for a minimum of 5 years of all the mentioned segments, sub segments and the regional marketsMarket Trends (Drivers, Constraints, Opportunities, Threats, Challenges, Investment Opportunities, and recommendations)Strategic recommendations in key business segments based on the market estimationsCompetitive landscaping mapping the key common trendsCompany profiling with detailed strategies, financials, and recent developmentsSupply chain trends mapping the latest technological advancementsBuy this research report @Reasons for Buying this ReportThis report provides pin-point analysis for changing competitive dynamicsIt provides a forward looking perspective on different factors driving or restraining market growthIt provides a six-year forecast assessed on the basis of how the market is predicted to growIt helps in understanding the key product segments and their futureIt provides pin point analysis of changing competition dynamics and keeps you ahead of competitorsIt helps in making informed business decisions by having complete insights of market and by making in-depth analysis of market segmentsThanks for reading this article; you can also get individual chapter wise section or region wise report version like North America, Europe or Asia.HTF Market Report is a wholly owned brand of HTF market Intelligence Consulting Private Limited. HTF Market Report global research and market intelligence consulting organization is uniquely positioned to not only identify growth opportunities but to also empower and inspire you to create visionary growth strategies for futures, enabled by our extraordinary depth and breadth of thought leadership, research, tools, events and experience that assist you for making goals into a reality. Our understanding of the interplay between industry convergence, Mega Trends, technologies and market trends provides our clients with new business models and expansion opportunities. We are focused on identifying the Accurate Forecast in every industry we cover so our clients can reap the benefits of being early market entrants and can accomplish their Goals & Objectives.Contact us :HTF Market Intelligence Consulting Private LimitedUnit No. 429, Parsonage Road Edison, NJNew Jersey USA 08837sales@htfmarketreport.com+1 (206) 317 1218 Global E-Clinical Solutions Market 2018 Key Players: Bio-Optronics, Inc., CRF Health, Datatrak International, Inc., Eclinical Solutions, LLC. E-Clinical Solutions Market https://www.wiseguyreports.com/sample-request/2742050-global-e-clinical-solutions-market-size-study-by-product-cdms https://www.wiseguyreports.com/reports/2742050-global-e-clinical-solutions-market-size-study-by-product-cdms E-Clinical Solutions Market:WiseGuyReports.com adds E-Clinical Solutions Market 2018 Global Analysis, Growth, Trends and Opportunities Research Report Forecasting to 2025reports to its database.Executive SummaryGlobal e clinical solutions market was valued approximately USD 3.4 billion in 2016, is anticipated to grow at a CAGR of 15.4% by 2025. The market growth is attributed to the rising government funding and R&D investments from pharma-biotech companies. Moreover, clinical research studies incur higher cost and are highly regulated, thus there is a rapid increase in adoption of cost effective e clinical solution. Additionally, with the advent of big data and healthcare IT, the global healthcare industry is moving towards centralization of data for faster and better execution of healthcare, anywhere across the globe. The e clinical solutions will enable the effective planning, tracking and execution of the healthcare data base across different countries.By Product:Electronic Data Capture and Clinical Data Management SystemsClinical Trial Management SystemsClinical Analytics PlatformsRandomization and Trial Supply ManagementClinical Data Integration PlatformsElectronic Clinical Outcome Assessment SolutionsSafety SolutionsElectronic Trial Master File SystemsRegulatory Information Management SolutionsOther e Clinical SolutionsRequest Sample Report @Delivery Mode:Web-Hosted SolutionsOn-Premise SolutionsCloud-based(SaaS) SolutionsEnd User:E-Clinical Solutions Market, Sub Segment AnalysisContract Research OrganizationsMedical Device ManufacturersHospitalsAcademic Research InstitutesOn the basis of delivery mode, currently the market is dominated by web hosted delivery model. The web hosted delivery model aids faster and easy accessibility of data and incurs lower cost than on premise delivery. However, in coming years, cloud hosted models are expected to grow at highest CAGR. The market growth is primarily driven by the ability of cloud to flexibly integrate with multiple platforms and the pay as you go model.In 2016, North America dominates the global e clinical solutions market with more than 35% revenue share. The market growth is driven by the presence of large number of pharmaceutical and biotechnology firms in the region. Moreover, there is a significant rise in number of clinical trials in the region due to increasing support from government funds. However, during the forecast period, Asia Pacific market is expected to grow at an accelerating rate. Due to less stringent regulations in many Asian countries, the biotechnology and pharmaceuticals companies across the world are outsourcing clinical trials to the developing countries in Asia Pacific.The report highlights the top market players in the industry and their key strategies to operate in the market place. Some of the key companies discussed in the report include, Bio-Optronics, Inc., CRF Health, Datatrak International, Inc., Eclinical Solutions, LLC., ERT Clinical, Maxisit Inc., Medidata Solutions, Inc., Merge Healthcare Incorporated, Systems, Inc., Oracle Corporation, Parexel International Corporations and others. These companies are primarily engaged in partnerships and agreement, specially partnerships between biotechnology and pharmaceutical firms has been the most followed strategies in recent years.ContinuousFor further information on this report, visit Contact Us:Norah Trentsales@wiseguyreports.comPh: +1-646-845-9349 (US); +44 208 133 9349 (UK)Wise Guy Reports Is Part Of The Wise Guy Consultants Pvt. Ltd. And Offers Premium Progressive Statistical Surveying, Market Research Reports, Analysis & Forecast Data For Industries And Governments Around The Globe. Wise Guy Reports Features An Exhaustive List Of Market Research Reports From Hundreds Of Publishers Worldwide. We Boast A Database Spanning Virtually Every Market Category And An Even More Comprehensive Collection Of Market Research Reports Under These Categories And Sub-Categories.Addres:WISEGUY RESEARCH CONSULTANTS PVT LTDOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersPune - 411028Maharashtra, IndiaPhone :+91 841 198 5042 High Potency Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (HPAPI) Market: Oncology Drugs Show Maximum Demand http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/high-potency-active-pharmaceutical-Ingredients-market.html http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=S&rep_id=748 https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/checkout.php?rep_id=748> To sponsor or exhibit, contact Alia Malick on +44 (0)20 7827 6168>> For delegate and group bookings contact Fateja Begum on +44 (0)20 7827 6184>> Follow us on Social Media for latest industry and event updatesLinkedIn search 'SMi Pharma'Twitter we are @SMIpharm and #smiparalleltrade------------------------------------------------------------------------------------SMi's Parallel Trade Conference | 6 - 7th February, London------------------------------------------------------------------------------------The SMi Group is a highly Professional, Independent and Global event producing company that specialises in Business to Business Conferences, Workshops, Masterclasses and Training. 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We are Experts in knowing Experts and have been bringing you this Expertise since 1993!Luda Durneva - Marketing ManagerSMi Group1st floor, 1 Westminster Bridge RoadLondonSE1 7XWT: 0207 827 6088 Global Information Security Consulting Market Growth 10.65% by 2024- Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Opportunities, Key Vendors, Drivers and Forecast http://databridgemarketresearch.com/request-a-sample/?dbmr=global-information-security-consulting-market http://databridgemarketresearch.com/toc/?dbmr=global-information-security-consulting-market http://databridgemarketresearch.com/reports/global-information-security-consulting-market/ http://databridgemarketresearch.com/speak-to-analyst/?dbmr=global-information-security-consulting-market http://databridgemarketresearch.com/reports/geotechnical-instrumentation-monitoring-market/ http://databridgemarketresearch.com/blog/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/data-bridge-market-research Global Information Security Consulting Industry 2017 Market Research Report centers around value, deals, income and development rate of each kind, and also the sorts and each compose cost of key producers, through meeting key makers. Second on premise of sections by makers, this report centers around the business, cost of each kind, normal cost of Credit Insurance, income and piece of the pie, for key producers.The Global Information Security Consulting Market accounted for USD 15.85 billion in 2016 growing at a CAGR of 10.65% during the forecast period of 2017 to 2024. The upcoming market report contains data for historic year 2014, 2015, the base year of calculation is 2016 and the forecast period is 2017 to 2024.For In depth Information Get Free Sample Copy of this Report@Complete report on Global Information Security Consulting Market Research Report 2017-2024 spread across 350 Pages, profiling Top companies and supports with tables and figuresMarket Definition: Global Information Security Consulting MarketThe information security consulting helps in protection of the organization by providing expertise and experience that lack internally. The services comprises of including security engineering, management, assessment, and compliance provided by certified consultants. The growing network complexities, growing trends of IoT among others are some of the drivers for the growth of this market whereas the budget constraints are the restraining factor for this market.Global Information Security Consulting Market, By Geography, Security Type (Network Security, Application Security, Database Security, Endpoint Security), Organization Size (SMEs, Large Enterprises), Vertical (Aerospace & Defense, Government & Public Utilities, BFSI, IT & Telecom, Healthcare, Retail, Manufacturing) Industry Trends and Forecast to 2024Key Questions Answered in Global Information Security Consulting Market Report:-Our Report offers:- What will the market growth rate, Overview and Analysis by Type of Global Information Security Consulting Market in 2024? What are the key factors driving, Analysis by Applications and Countries Global Information Security Consulting Market? What are Dynamics, This Overview Includes Analysis of Scope, and price analysis of top Vendors Profiles of Global Information Security Consulting Market? Who are Opportunities, Risk and Driving Force of Global Information Security Consulting Market? Who are the opportunities and threats faced by the vendors in Global Information Security Consulting Market? Business Overview by Type, Applications, Gross Margin and Market Share What are the Global Information Security Consulting Market opportunities, market risk and market overview of the Market?Request for Detailed TOC:Major Market Drivers: Growing Network Complexities Increased Sophistication in Attacking Growing Trends of IoT Budget Constraints Growing Cyber-Attacks On Business NetworkTop Key Players: IBM Corporation Wipro Limited Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP BAE Systems. KPMG Accenture Ernst & Young Global Limited Atos SE Booz Allen Hamilton Inc. Optiv Security Inc. SecureWorks, Inc. among others.For more insightful information visit@Customize report of "Global Information Security Consulting Market" as per customers requirement also available.Market Segmentations:Global Information Security Consulting Market is segmented on the basis of Security Type Organization Size Vertical GeographyMarket Segmentations in Details:On the basis of Security Type into network security, application security, database security and endpoint security.On the basis of Organization Size, the global information security consulting market is segmented into small & medium enterprises and large enterprises.On the basis of Vertical, the global information security consulting market is segmented into aerospace & defense, government & public utilities, BFSI, IT & telecom, healthcare, retail, manufacturing and others.On the basis of Geography, North America South America Europe Asia-Pacific Middle East & AfricaCompany Share Analysis: Global Information Security Consulting MarketThe report for information security consulting market include detailed vendor level analysis for market shares in 2016 for Global, North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa and South America specifically. Also impact and development analysis of key vendors is registered in the market and factored on the basis of Vendor Positioning Grid Analysis which measures the vendors strengths and opportunities against present market challenges, measure providers ability to identify or satisfy present market needs, map providers market vision to current and upcoming market dynamics among others. The report also measures technology life line curve and market time line to analyze and do more affective investments.Speak to Author of the report @Other ReportGlobal Geotechnical Instrumentation & Monitoring Market Industry Trends and Forecast to 2024Global Geotechnical Instrumentation & Monitoring Market, By Geography; Offering (Hardware, Software, Services); Structure (Tunnels Bridges, Buildings Utilities, Dams); Technology (Wired Networking Technology, Wireless Technology); Application (Pore Water Pressure, Soil Stresses, Lateral Deformation, Vertical Deformation), End-Users (Building, Infrastructure, Energy, Power, Oil, Gas, Mining) Industry Trends and Forecast to 2024Report Access:About Data Bridge Market Research:Data Bridge Market Research set forth itself as an unconventional and neoteric Market research and consulting firm with unparalleled level of resilience and integrated approaches. We are determined to unearth the best market opportunities and foster efficient information for your business to thrive in the market. Data Bridge endeavors to provide appropriate solutions to the complex business challenges and initiates an effortless decision-making process.Contact:Vishal DixitData Bridge Market ResearchTel: +1-888-387-2818Email: Sales@databridgemarketresearch.comInvestor: investors@databridgemarketresearch.comVisit BlogFollow us on LinkedIn: Worldwide Neuropsychiatric Disorders and Treatment Market is Estimated to Grow at a CAGR of 6.2% till 2023 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/1281 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/neuropsychiatric-disorders-treatment-market-1281 Market Research Future published a Half-Cooked Research Report on Global Neuropsychiatric Disorders and Treatment Market Research Report - Forecast to 2023 Market Analysis, Scope, Stake, Progress, Trends and Forecast to 2023.Neuropsychiatric disorders are mental disorder occur due to disturbance in the function of cerebral system. Neuropsychiatric disorders are most common to the people having more than 65 years age. Increasing prevalence of neuropsychiatric disorders across the globe is the major reason for driving the market. Beside this increasing demand for the better treatment and development in the healthcare sector are the major driving factor for the growth of the market. While lack of clinical trial data for neuropsychiatric drugs and long term treatment of this diseases may restrain the growth of the market.AstraZeneca (UK), GlaxoSmithKline (UK), Universal Health Services Inc. (US), Biogen (US), Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH (Germany), Eli Lilly (US), Bristol-Meyer Squibb (US), Johnson & Johnson (US), Pfizer (US), Wyeth (US), Otsuka Holdings Co. Ltd (Japan), Astellas Pharma Inc. (Japan) are some of the prominent players at the forefront of competition in the Global neuropsychiatric disorders and treatment Market and are profiled in MRFR Analysis.Get a sample report atGeographically, North America accounts for the largest market for the neuropsychiatric disorders and treatment which is slightly less than Europe. Huge population suffering from neuropsychiatric disorders in this region is the major reason for the development of the market. According to WHO the number of patients suffering from neuropsychiatric disorders will be doubled in next couple of decades due to increasing aging population in North America and Europe. Asia Pacific has the third leading market which is expecting a fastest growth in this market due to rapid development in healthcare sector and increasing demand for the better treatment of the neuropsychiatric disorders.Global Neuropsychiatric Disorders and Treatment Market - Competitive AnalysisMany factors are fuelling the growth of the market. This has attracted many of the manufacturer for development of the market in this sector. Increasing in alliances amongst the leading player has helped to introduction of new and better treatment for the neuropsychiatric disorders.AstraZeneca is a multinational pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical company headquartered in UK. Recently AstraZeneca has completed its collaboration with National Institute of Mental Health. This collaboration will help to discover the new and better drug treatment for distressing condition. AstraZeneca has also collaborated with Vanderbilt Center for the Neuroscience Drug Discovery which aims to discover new drug for the treatment of neuropsychiatric disorders.Universal Health Services is an American Fortune 500 company headquartered in US. It is one of the largest hospital management companies in US. Universal Health Services is a huge company with the revenues of nearly USD 9.7 billion with the profit of more than USD 600 million.Boehringer Ingelheim is one of the worlds 20 leading pharmaceutical companies headquartered in Germany. In 2016, Boehringer Ingelheim is collaborated with Saniona. This collaboration aims to develop the new treatment for the patients suffering from schizophrenia.Browse Complete Report atGlobal Neuropsychiatric Disorders and Treatment Market- Regional AnalysisOn regional basis, global neuropsychiatric disorders and treatment market is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and Middle East and Africa. North America commands the largest market for the neuropsychiatric disorders and treatment. In North America neuropsychiatric disorders account the highest rate of disability-adjusted life year (DALYs). DALYs is a measure of overall disease burden which express the number of years lost due to ill health or early death. According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, around 5.3 million Americas are suffering from this diseases and this number is expected get double in next couple of decades due to due to the aging of the population. This increasing number of the neuropsychiatric patients in North America has led to the growth of this market in North America.Europe commands the second largest market for the neuropsychiatric disorders and treatment. Huge population suffering from mental disorders in Iceland, Norway and Switzerland has contributed a lot for the European market. Moreover, increasing demand for need of better treatment and increasing burden of neuropsychiatric disorders are the major factor for the growth of the market.Neuropsychiatric disorders and treatment market in Asia Pacific is growing at a steady pace due to huge geriatric population in this area, continuous improving healthcare infrastructure and rapid development in healthcare sector has boosted growth of this market. The Middle East and Africa has least market for the neuropsychiatric disorders and treatment.About Market Research Future:At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.Contact usMarket Research FutureMaharashtra, India+1 646 845 9312Email: sales@Marketresearchfuture.Com Global Forklift Trucks Market will grow with higher rate with 5.9% CAGR by 2023 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/2920 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/forklift-trucks-market-2920 Market ScenarioForklift trucks are used to lift and move materials within short distances. Forklift trucks are used across various industries such as automotive, food and beverages, construction, consumer goods, e-commerce, and retail. Growing demand from manufacturing industry is the primary driving factor of the forklift trucks market. Increase in productivity, reduced injuries & accidents along with operator comfort are some major factors that have positive influence on the market growth. However, high cost of electric powered forklift trucks is the factor that may hamper the growth of market.Global Forklift Trucks Market is projected to reach USD 41.73 billion by 2023, at a CAGR of 5.9% from 2017 to 2023.Regional Analysis of Global Forklift Trucks Market:Asia-Pacific dominates the global forklift trucks market followed by Europe. Growth in industrialization in this region, is the primary factor that increases the demand of forklift trucks market. This region is expected to grow at the fastest pace during the forecast period. Europe is another important market and is expected to contribute significantly during the forecast period.Request a sample @Key PlayersThe key players of global forklift trucks market are Komastu Ltd. (Japan), Toyota Industries Corporation (Japan), KION Group AG (Germany), Hyster-Yale Material handling Inc. (U.S.), Jungheinrich Group (Germany), Mitsubishi Nichiyu Forklift Corporation (Japan), Crown Equipment Corporation (U.K), The Raymond Corporation (U.S.), Anhui HELI Co., Ltd (China), and Kalmar Global (Finland).Target Audience Manufacturing Organizations Distributors & Suppliers Government as well as Independent Regulatory Authorities Research Institute / Education Institute Potential InvestorsProduct Analysis Product matrix which gives a detailed comparison of the market for different recycled product typesAdditional Information Regulatory Landscape Pricing Analysis Macroeconomic IndicatorsGeographic Analysis Geographical analysis across 15 countriesCompany Information Profiling of 10 key market players In-depth analysis including SWOT analysis, and strategy information of related to report title Competitive landscape including emerging trends adopted by major companiesThe report for Global Forklift Trucks Market of Market Research Future comprises of extensive primary research along with the detailed analysis of qualitative as well as quantitative aspects by various industry experts, key opinion leaders to gain the deeper insight of the market and industry performance. The report gives the clear picture of current market scenario which includes historical and projected market size in terms of value and volume, technological advancement, macro economical and governing factors in the market. The report provides details information and strategies of the top key players in the industry. The report also gives a broad study of the different market segments and regions.Browse report @About Market Research Future:At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting ServicesContact:Market Research FutureOffice No. 524/528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, HadapsarPune - 411028Maharashtra, India+1 646 845 9312Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.com Car Telematics and Wireless M2M 2018 Global Market Size,Status,Analysis and Forecast to 2025 Car Telematics and Wireless M2M 2018 https://www.wiseguyreports.com/sample-request/2925467-global-car-telematics-and-wireless-m2m-market-research-report-2018 https://www.wiseguyreports.com/reports/2925467-global-car-telematics-and-wireless-m2m-market-research-report-2018 WiseGuyReports.Com Adds Car Telematics and Wireless M2M 2018 Global Market Size,Status,Analysis and Forecast to 2025 Research to its Database.Description:In this report, the global Car Telematics and Wireless M2M 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 Car Telematics and Wireless M2M in these regions, from 2013 to 2025 (forecast), coveringUnited StatesEUChinaJapanSouth KoreaIndiaGet a Sample Report @For more information or any query mail at sales@wiseguyreports.comGlobal Car Telematics and Wireless M2M market competition by top manufacturers, with production, price, revenue (value) and market share for each manufacturer; the top players includingAirIQFleetmatics Group PLCMiX TelematicsTomTomTrimbleActsoftCtrackDaimler FleetBoard GmbHKOREMasternautTelogisViriCitiLocal MotionMojioSmartDrive SystemsToyota Motor CorporationWirelessCarOn the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split into4G M2M Router4G M2M RouterOtherOn 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, includingBusesVansCarsMotorbikesTrailersReport Details @Table Of Contents Major Key PointsGlobal Car Telematics and Wireless M2M Market Research Report 20181 Car Telematics and Wireless M2M Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Car Telematics and Wireless M2M1.2 Car Telematics and Wireless M2M Segment by Type (Product Category)1.2.1 Global Car Telematics and Wireless M2M Production and CAGR (%) Comparison by Type (Product Category)(2013-2025)1.2.2 Global Car Telematics and Wireless M2M Production Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 20171.2.3 4G M2M Router1.2.4 4G M2M Router1.2.5 Other1.3 Global Car Telematics and Wireless M2M Segment by Application1.3.1 Car Telematics and Wireless M2M Consumption (Sales) Comparison by Application (2013-2025)1.3.2 Buses1.3.3 Vans1.3.4 Cars1.3.5 Motorbikes1.3.6 Trailers1.4 Global Car Telematics and Wireless M2M Market by Region (2013-2025)1.4.1 Global Car Telematics and Wireless M2M 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 India Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.5 Global Market Size (Value) of Car Telematics and Wireless M2M (2013-2025)1.5.1 Global Car Telematics and Wireless M2M Revenue Status and Outlook (2013-2025)1.5.2 Global Car Telematics and Wireless M2M Capacity, Production Status and Outlook (2013-2025)..7 Global Car Telematics and Wireless M2M Manufacturers Profiles/Analysis7.1 AirIQ7.1.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.1.2 Car Telematics and Wireless M2M Product Category, Application and Specification7.1.2.1 Product A7.1.2.2 Product B7.1.3 AirIQ Car Telematics and Wireless M2M Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.1.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.2 Fleetmatics Group PLC7.2.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.2.2 Car Telematics and Wireless M2M Product Category, Application and Specification7.2.2.1 Product A7.2.2.2 Product B7.2.3 Fleetmatics Group PLC Car Telematics and Wireless M2M Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.2.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.3 MiX Telematics7.3.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.3.2 Car Telematics and Wireless M2M Product Category, Application and Specification7.3.2.1 Product A7.3.2.2 Product B7.3.3 MiX Telematics Car Telematics and Wireless M2M Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.3.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.4 TomTom7.4.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.4.2 Car Telematics and Wireless M2M Product Category, Application and Specification7.4.2.1 Product A7.4.2.2 Product B7.4.3 TomTom Car Telematics and Wireless M2M Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.4.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.5 Trimble7.5.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.5.2 Car Telematics and Wireless M2M Product Category, Application and Specification7.5.2.1 Product A7.5.2.2 Product B7.5.3 Trimble Car Telematics and Wireless M2M Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.5.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.6 Actsoft7.6.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.6.2 Car Telematics and Wireless M2M Product Category, Application and Specification7.6.2.1 Product A7.6.2.2 Product B7.6.3 Actsoft Car Telematics and Wireless M2M Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.6.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.7 Ctrack7.7.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.7.2 Car Telematics and Wireless M2M Product Category, Application and Specification7.7.2.1 Product A7.7.2.2 Product B7.7.3 Ctrack Car Telematics and Wireless M2M Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.7.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.8 Daimler FleetBoard GmbH7.8.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.8.2 Car Telematics and Wireless M2M Product Category, Application and Specification7.8.2.1 Product A7.8.2.2 Product B7.8.3 Daimler FleetBoard GmbH Car Telematics and Wireless M2M Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.8.4 Main Business/Business OverviewContinueFor more information or any query mail at sales@wiseguyreports.comABOUT US:Wise Guy Reports is part of the Wise Guy Consultants Pvt. Ltd. and offers premium progressive statistical surveying, market research reports, analysis & forecast data for industries and governments around the globe. Wise Guy Reports features an exhaustive list of market research reports from hundreds of publishers worldwide. We boast a database spanning virtually every market category and an even more comprehensive collection of market research reports under these categories and sub-categories.Office No.528,Amanora Chambers,Magarpatta Road,Hadapsar,Pune-411028.Car Telematics and Wireless M2M Industry +18% CAGR to be Achieved By E-Commerce Automotive in International Market By 2022 https://www.researchnreports.com/request_sample.php?id=120696 https://www.researchnreports.com/ask_for_discount.php?id=120696 https://www.researchnreports.com/enquiry_before_buying.php?id=120696 E-commerce automotive refers to an e-tailing platform where auto parts are sold to do-it-yourself customers and service professionals through the internet. The aftermarket covers all automotive spare parts, equipment, accessories and services related to automobiles that are procured after periodic vehicle use through E-commerce portals. Increasing ecommerce platforms and collaboration between E-commerce platform providers and brick and mortar stores is anticipated to drive the E-commerce automotive aftermarket market throughout the forecast period.E-Commerce Automotive Market estimated to grow at progressive CAGR of +18% during forecast periodGet Sample copy of this Report@:E-Commerce Automotive market research is an intelligence report with meticulous efforts undertaken to study the right and valuable information. The data which has been looked upon is done considering both, the existing top players and the upcoming competitors. Business strategies of the key players and the new entering market industries are studied in detail. Well explained SWOT analysis, revenue share and contact information are shared in this report analysis.Top Players Profiled in this Report includes, Amazon.com, Inc., Alibaba Group, U.S. Auto Parts Network, Inc., Auto Zone, Inc, Pep Boys, American Tire Distributors Holdings, Inc., National Automotive Parts Association, Tire Rack, Advance Auto Parts, Denso Corporation, EBay Inc.The automotive OEMs are increasingly under pressure to enhance their online presence to augment sales and to keep pace with customer mobility from brick-and-mortar model to the online retail industry. With the increasing penetration of Internet and the access to detailed product information, consumers are willing to buy products after online research and evaluation.New Year Offer, Get Flat 20% OFF on this Premium Report @:Various factors are responsible behind the markets growth trail, which are studied at length in the report. In addition, the report lists down the restraints that are posing threat to the global E-Commerce Automotive market. It also gauges the bargaining power of suppliers and buyers, threat to the new entrants and product substitute, and the degree of competition prevailing in the market. The influence of the latest government guidelines is also analyzed in detail in the report. It studies the markets trajectory between forecast periods.Reason to Access E-Commerce Automotive Market Research Report:The report provides information on the technological advancements that are bound to take place in the coming years or are currently taking place in the market. Furthermore, the opportunities and threats faced by the main players dominant in the Global E-Commerce Automotive market have been highlighted. This report covers the market from the bottom line, starting from its definition. Later, it segments the market on various criteria to give a depth of understanding on the various product types and pricing structures and applications. Each and every segment is examined carefully by factoring in sales, revenue and market size in order to understand the potential of growth and scope.For More Information:Table of ContentsGlobal E-Commerce Automotive Market Research ReportChapter 1 E-Commerce Automotive 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 E-Commerce Automotive Market ForecastAbout Research N Reports:Research N Reports is a new age market research firm where we focus on providing information that can be effectively applied. Today being a consumer driven market, companies require information to deal with the complex and dynamic world of choices. Where relying on a sound board firm for your decisions becomes crucial. Research N Reports specializes in industry analysis, market forecasts and as a result getting quality reports covering all verticals, whether be it gaining perspective on current market conditions or being ahead in the cut throat Europe competition. Since we excel at business research to help businesses grow, we also offer consulting as an extended arm to our services which only helps us gain more insight into current trends and problems. Consequently we keep evolving as an all-rounder provider of viable information under one roof.Contact us:Mr. Sunny Denissales@researchnreports.com(ResearchnReports) Devin Nuness much-hyped FISA memo came out a few hours ago. Its supposed not only to bring down the Mueller investigation, but basically the entire FBI. In reality, though, its about a dozen attempts at political suicide. If anything, it gives the Russia investigation even more credibility. For a breakdown of whats actually in it, and if you want to have a reference as you read this, we just published a comprehensive article. Anyway, lets watch our hero Wile E. Coyote as he follows the roadrunner into his fake tunnel. Its so bad we gotta back up to before the memo even came out. 1. The FISA warrant on Carter Page must have yielded some pretty big stuff The memo concerns solely the alleged improprieties committed by the FBI in its obtaining a FISA warrant on Trump campaign adviser Carter Page. So before we even get to the memo itself, the fact the thing was considered worth writing in the first place indicates the surveillance on Page reeled in some critical evidence. Otherwise, itd be a non-issue. 2. They released the memo but havent challenged the warrant If the FBI truly screwed up and obtained the warrant under false pretenses, Nunes would challenge the warrant in court. The memo is an admission they dont have an actual legal case. The DOJ, in fact, warned Nunes in a letter sent personally to him not to release it, because in short, it was a bunch of bull. The DOJ, obviously, is headed by Jeff Sessions and its own Inspector General office would, obviously, be the entity to prosecute the FISA abuse. 3. Nunes didnt even read the information he cites as evidence Seriously. He didnt. Because he couldnt. The DOJ reminded him of this in that letter cited above. This is probably going to result in the biggest legal backfire since the defense had O.J. try on the glove. On to the actual memo. 4. Things sure dont look good for Carter Page Full disclosure: I truly love Carter Page and wish hed get a nightly talk show. Alas, the memo helpfully reminds us that Page left the campaign under some sketchy circumstances, some of which are related, with predictable irony, directly to the evidence the memo itself simultaneously tries to discredit. For a visual, its basically Devin Nunes surrounded by a bunch of mirrors, madly firing a pistol at his reflection. The memo asserts the FBIs FISA warrant on Page was obtained in part based on a Yahoo News article that came out September 23, 2016. That article details Pages contacts that summer with the Russian government. This article was reportedly based, so the memo says, on information leaked to Yahoo by dossier author Christopher Steele. The memo also reminds us, though, that Page left the campaign three days after the Yahoo article came out. Upon his departure, a Trump campaign spokesman disavowed the campaign had any connection to Page: Mr. Page is not an advisor and has made no contribution to the campaign Hes never been part of our campaign. This, again, is clearly false. For good measure, Trump also said in March 2016 hed brought Page on board. 5. The memo elevates Pages role in the campaign We dont know for sure just what Page did for the Trump campaign or what his role was in any coordination with the Russian government. But we know he was on it. Trump minimized Pages role: I dont think Ive ever spoken to him. I dont think I ever met him. And he actually said that he was a very low-level member of I think a committee for a short period of time. I dont think I ever met him. Now, its possible that I walked into a room and he was sitting there, but I dont think I ever met him. But this memo reminds us, again and again and again, that the FBI sure thought Page was important. 6. The memo says no, the FBI actually didnt spy on the Trump campaign Remember when the memo said Page left the campaign in September? The FISA was sought on October 26. So if the nefarious premise is that the Obama administration was secretly spying on the Trump campaign, they werent. The memo itself says that. 7. The memo challenges the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court The judge that approved this FISA, and all judges that approve all FISAs, are members of a special court. The President doesnt appoint them. The Supreme Court Justice, in this case Bush appointee John Roberts, appointed the FISA judges that Trump and Nunes claim speciously granted the FBI the right to spy on Americans. So Nunes ultimately points his finger not at Obama, but at the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, who has ultimate oversight here and who, in the last year, hasnt uttered a single word of concern about any of this. So is the U.S. Chief Justice in on this? If not, now that the memo is out we should expect swift, scathing condemnation from on high. If we dont hear it, godspeed Mr. Nunes. 8. The memo reminds us, again, that the Russia investigation wasnt based on the dossier It literally that the investigation was opened based on information the FBI received from Australian intelligence about another Trump campaign aide, George Papadopoulos, and his efforts to conspire with Russia on behalf of the campaign. The Steele dossier didnt factor into this. 9. The memo reminds us of the scale of the campaigns efforts to work with Russia It says, and I quote, there is no evidence of cooperation or conspiracy between Page and Papadopoulos. I guess Nunes thinks the FBI misrepresented the Papadopoulos intel to connect him to Page. Two things: If true, this would imply the FBI likely would also have had a wire on Papa Dop. We know this warrant would have been, well, warranted, given that Nunes admitted in the memo the FBI opened its investigation because of Papa. Whoops a daisy. But also, this means the FBI, and the FISA court, had reason to suspect that multiple members of the Trump campaign might be acting on behalf of, or trying to conspire with, an adversary of the United States. 10. The FBI had a warrant on Page for THREE HUNDRED SIXTY DAYS Nunes reminds us, helpfully, that FISA warrants have to be renewed every 90 days, and that in addition to the first warrant, Pages received not one, not two, but three renewals. Do the math, and thats almost a year. 11. Most importantly: The leaders of the FBI, senior officials at DOJ, including one appointed by Trump, and multiple judges appointed by a Republican-appointed Supreme Court Justice, found in FOUR separate incidents over the course of nearly a year, new evidence that gave them probable cause to believe Trump campaign adviser Carter Page was acting as an agent of a foreign power. 12. The FBI might now be forced to publicize some of its evidence that the Trump campaign was indeed conspiring with Russia Of all the stupid things, this is the stupidest. In challenging the validity FBIs evidence, Nunes is also daring them to publicize that evidence. This might result in Nunes unintentionally causing the public release of the first hard evidence weve seen of direct coordination between the Trump camp and the Russian government. What a dolt. And indeed, FBI Director Christopher Wray has indicated hell release a response to the memo. I cant wait. A green card holder who served in the U.S. Army before serving time for a felony drug charge is entering the third day of a hunger strike in protest of his deportation. Chicago native Miguel Perez Jr. is currently being held at a detention center in Wisconsin for immigrants awaiting deportation. Perezs protest began as a response to a federal court denying his appeal to remain in the United States after his release from prison after serving half of a 15-year prison sentence. Perez plead guilty to delivering less than 100 grams of cocaine after he handed an undercover officer a laptop case containing cocaine. A childhood friend who gave Perez free drugs and alcohol was also present during the crime. While Perez holds a green card, he thought he earned U.S. citizenship after he joined the U.S. Army and served two tours of duty in Afghanistan, thinking he had solidified his immigration status for life. He realized he was mistaken as his time in prison was coming to a close in September 2016. He was summoned to immigration court and moved to the detainment center in Wisconsin after his release. According to the Chicago Tribune, the veteran has called America home for the past 31 years, and fears that his deportation to Mexico would make him a target of drug cartels who target those with combat experience to work with them. Those who choose not to work with the cartels are usually murdered. If it comes down to me being deported, I would rather leave this world in the country I gave my heart for, said Perez. Perez becomes yet another face at the forefront of the ongoing immigration debate that has dominated American politics over the past few months. Perez has two children who were born in the U.S. whose living and family situations would be greatly impacted by his deportation. He also suffers from PTSD and was scheduled to be evaluated for a traumatic brain injury at a VA hospital before his 2008 arrest. In response to the appeal denial, Perezs attorney, Chris Bergin, has filed a stay of his deportation based on his health concerns, and a request for citizenship retroactive to 2001, the year Perez joined the military. An appeal to the 7th U.S. Circuit court is being prepared and a pardon has been requested from Illinois governor Bruce Rauner. Every option is being explored by those supporting Perez, but his decision to begin a hunger strike has caused worry among those working to keep him in the country. Its pretty ridiculous that a veteran has to go on a hunger strike just to be able to stay hes definitely not getting the care hes earned, said Carlos Luna of the League of Latin American Citizens. Perezs hunger strike began the day after President Trump promoted a renewed support of veterans and the VA during his State of the Union address. 'It's a pretty big deal': A look back at Sept. 11 on its 20th anniversary local Matthew Smith Bests Steven van Zadelhoff in Aussie Millions Event #15 February 01, 2018 Jason Glatzer New Zealand's Matthew Smith navigated through a tough final table that included the likes of 2017 PokerStars WCOOP Main Event champion Steven van Zadelhoff and 2016 WSOP Main Event November Niner Kenny Hallaert to win the 2018 Aussie Million Event #15: A$1,150 No Limit Holdem/Pot Limit Omaha event for A$45,360 ($36,707). @svzff Go go!!! @svzff & @SpaceyFCB https://t.co/OMCFfsci6a Kristen Bicknell (@krissyb24poker) The tournament attracted 177 entrants to generate a A$181,425 prize pool, or 33 percent more than the 133 players it drew last year. Aussie Millions Event #15: A$1,150 No Limit Holdem/Pot Limit Omaha Final Table Results Place Player Country Prize in A$ Prize in US$ 1 Matthew Smith New Zealand A$45,360 $36,707 2 Steven van Zadelhoff Netherlands A$29,940 $24,229 3 Ali Ibrahim Australia A$19,050 $15,416 4 Sebestyen Balint United States A$15,420 $12,478 5 Iori Yogo Japan A$12,245 $9,909 6 Petar Vujic Australia A$9,980 $8,076 7 Kenny Hallaert Belgium A$8,165 $6,607 8 Luc Meritan France A$6,350 $5,139 A total of 21 players cashed the event for a minimum of A$1,815. The most notable player to cash but miss out on the final table was Poland's all-time winning live poker tournament player with $5.3 million in cashes Dzmitry Urbanovich (13th - A$2,720). Seven of the final eight players were representing different countries across four continents. France's Luc Meritan was the first player at the final table to hit the rail in eighth place for A$6,350 for his second career Aussie Millions cash. Hallaert, the winningest live tournament player at the final table with $3.9 million in live cashes was the next victim and took home the seventh-place prize of A$8,165. Hometown player Petar Vujic then secured his second Aussie Millions cash this festival after bowing out in sixth place for A$9,980. Japan's Iori Yogo was another big name at the final table and was the next player eliminated in fifth place for A$12,245. With over $900,000 in cashes, he is Japan's third most winning player in poker tournaments according to The Hendon Mob. American Sebestyen Balint recorded his third-ever live poker cash and his biggest to date after nailing down fourth place for A$15,420. Australia's Ali Ibrahim was the next player out and also recorded his biggest live tournament cash of A$19,050 for third place. This left the van Zadelholff and Smith battling it out heads up for the title. Van Zadelhoff had both experience with $1.6 million in live cashes to go along with $7.6 million in online cashes as well as the chip lead on his side. However, van Zadelhoff's lead evaporated after he doubled Smith when his overpair on a board proved to be no good against his opponent's two-pair with . Van Zadelhoff was short-stacked after that hand and got the rest of his chips in the middle with top-pair holding on a versus Smith's straight holding . The river was a blank and Smith turned his second-ever poker cash into a win, while van Zadelhoff settled for the runner-up prize of A$29,940. Matthew Smith Toby Lewis Leads Final Seven in 2018 Aussie Millions Main Event February 02, 2018 Yori Epskamp It took six days to bring the record-breaking field of 800 in the 2018 Aussie Millions Main Event down to its final table. The 36 hopefuls that started the day were whittled down to seven over the course of seven levels. Each of the seven has already secured a massive cash of A$235,000 but all eyes will be on the first-place prize of A$1,800,000, which will be awarded to the victor at Crown Casino on Sunday, February 4. The biggest story coming into the day was another deep run by former champions Ari Engel (2016) and Ami Barer (2014). No player has ever won the Aussie Millions Main Event twice, and it won't happen in 2018 as Barer (36th) and Engel (10th) both missed out on the final table. England's Toby Lewis will start the final table as the chipleader with 5,835,000 in chips. The 28-year-old from Southampton is easily the most recognizable name left in the field, and with $3.2 million in lifetime winnings already amassed, including an EPT title, is the odds-on favorite to claim the prestigious title and ANTON Jewellery bracelet that's up for grabs. Lewis' biggest hand of the day was a massive coin flip against the man who will come back second in chips: Espen Solaas (5,680,000). While Solaas may not have Lewis' pedigree coming into the final table, the Norwegian showed relentless aggression during Day 4 and is a dangerous contender. Solaas sat on top of the chip counts for most of the day and will have more than 100 big blinds to work with on the final day. The Brit and Norwegian headline an international final table, as no less than six nationalities are represented among the final seven. Joining Lewis and Solaas are Ben Richardson (4,870,000), Mike del Vecchio (3,065,000), Stefan Huber (1,975,000), Chul-Hyon Park (1,670,000) and short stack Johan Schumacher (955,000). Boisterous rails were aplenty in the packed poker room of Crown Casino, with the rowdiest supporters cheering for Huber (the Germans) and Richardson (the local Aussies). All players and their supporters will return on Sunday, February 4, in what will no doubt be one of the loudest-cheered final tables in recent memory. Final table seating and chip counts Seat Player Country Chip Count Big Blinds 1 Espen Solaas Norway 5,680,000 113 2 Johan Schumacher Belgium 955,000 19 3 Mike Del Vecchio United States 3,065,000 61 4 Toby Lewis United Kingdom 5,835,000 116 5 Chul-Hyon Park Australia 1,670,000 33 6 Stefan Huber Switzerland 1,975,000 39 7 Ben Richardson Australia 4,870,000 97 Day 4 Action While the aforementioned seven can take a days rest before returning for the final on Sunday, for 31 others, their shot at Aussie Millions glory ended on Day 4. Coming into the day, the biggest story was the unlikely deep run of not one, but two former champions: both Ari Engel (2016) and Ami Barer (2014) had a chance to win the prestigious Main Event for the second time. It wasn't meant to be, though, as each of them failed to make it through to the final table. Barer was the first of them to go and finished in 36th place. After losing all-ins with fours against queens, then with queens himself against ace-jack, Barer was left short. Nine big blinds went in with queen-jack but he couldn't catch up against Schumacher's ace-trey, ending his bid. Engel made it through to the final ten, where he met his demise at the hands of Solaas. Holding pocket jacks, Engel was all in and ahead against Solaas' king-ten, but a king on the turn ended his attempt at repeat Aussie Millions glory. Engel finished in 10th place and received A$120,000. Ari Engel finished in 10th place (A$120,000) Other notables that busted out during the penultimate day were Daniel Nelson, Anthony Hachem, Tobias Hausen, who finished 3rd last year, and Day 2 chipleader Najeem Ajez. Two of the most accomplished pro's in the field bowed out in 15th and 14th place, respectively. After a raise from Lewis, Artur Koren shoved 27 big blinds in the middle with pocket deuces. Unfortunately for Koren, Lewis held kings and knocked the Austrian out. Aaron Lim, a two-time APPT champion, shoved king-jack into the pocket jacks of Richardson in a blind-on-blind confrontation and couldn't catch up to bust shortly after Koren. Tu Lan, Kim Au and Ross Grammer busted next and had to settle for A$120,000 in prize money. Next to go was up-and-coming star Kahle Burns. The Australian Poker Young Achiever Award winner was short stacked with the final nine players. With ten-seven suited, he found himself at risk against ace-eight and bowed out after an ace hit the flop. With eight players left, one more player had to bust out before the official final table was set. It took three hours before Chen An Lin finally became the one to succumb. It was a classic setup ace-king against the aces of Richardson to deny Lin the final table. The final table will commence on Sunday, February 4 at 12:30 p.m. local time (2:30 a.m. CET / 20:30 p.m. EST on Saturday 3) and will be livestreamed on Twitch.tv, powered by runitup. The broadcast with hole cards up will shown on a 30-minute security delay. There will be 23 minutes left in Level 26 with blinds at 25,000/50,000 and a running ante of 5,000 to start. Besides the final table, the $100,000 Challenge will also kick off on Sunday in the biggest casino of the Southern hemisphere. Follow the PokerNews live updates and don't miss any of the action from these two tournaments as the 2018 Aussie Millions comes to a close! Espen Solaas starts final table 2nd in chips The last thing most teenage girls want to do their last summer before college is to start a band with their dad. However, this plot line is at the heart of Hearts Beat Loud, a film that might be questioned regarding whether or not it is "edgy" enough to hold a place in the usual boundary-pushing arena of Sundance. The oddness of the partnership alone, combined with the various other topics the film manages to cover without hitting you over the head with their relevance to the plot over the course of its hour and a half run, should confirm for critics that this is premier Sundance material. Written and directed by Brett Haley (previous work includes I'll See You in My Dreams and The Hero), the film follows Frank (Nick Offerman), a single dad with a failing record shop in Red Hook, Brooklyn, who struggles with letting go of his teenage daughter, Sam (Kiersey Clemons) the summer before she is to attend UCLA. Where Sam is a dedicated student with dreams of becoming a doctor, Frank is focused on her musical talents, and urges her to pursue them further than their weekly jam sessions. Sam's opposed, but when Frank uploads their first single to Spotify, their not-band, aptly named "We're Not a Band," could show some potential, even if it's just for a little emotional relief. Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times Haley's previous films have brought him to the festival before, so he is no stranger to the kind of material usually showcased over the ten days. On the surface, Hearts Beat Loud is an light-hearted, emotionally touching story about a parent and child relationship that is in transition. In the same way that Lady Bird curated a coming-of-age for mother and daughter, Hearts Beat Loud does so with a father tackling letting go, putting a more prominent focus on the parent overall. We see Offerman's character falling back into his cigarette habit, reading through his old musical composition notes, and trying desperately to discover what his life will be when he is no longer spending it predominantly as a single parent. Similarly, Clemons's character struggles with being caught between two wonderful worlds, not knowing where to go or stay. Interestingly enough, the knee-jerk reaction of both characters in ultimately to rely on one another. This story is not necessarily revolutionary, but its handling of outside elements is what allow it to shine, incorporating details within without marking them in red in some sort of unnatural way. Sam's relationship with girlfriend Rose (Sasha Lane, also known for 2016's Cannes hit American Honey and fellow Sundance flick The Miseducation of Cameron Post) is not exotic, or at least no more so than any teenager who is interested in someone new and disinterested in discussing it with a prying parent. Similarly, the effects of early onset Alzheimer's in Frank's mother (Blythe Danner) are rawly portrayed as an obstacle to his moving on in his life. These are exactly the ways in which these elements appear in our lives: not as abnormal, but as average as passing a local coffee shop or seeing a cloud cover up the sun. Haley's skill shines in adding this normality into a slightly offbeat premise. Where the film will struggle is in audiences' polarizing views of the genre. Musicals are not for everyone, and certainly not the kind that border on heartwarming. It could very well pigeon hole this film into being reserved for the HBO Family channel down the line. Audiences leaving the film also spoke about how it's hard to separate Offerman from his Parks & Recreation days and take him in another role. Hopefully, people will get over both of these issues and appreciate this film for the story it is trying to tell, one of a changing family we will all inevitably experience. Find out more about Hearts Beat Loud here. Rachel A.G. Gilman is a writer, a radio producer, and probably the girl wearing the Kinks shirt. Visit her website for more. POP DUST | Read More About Film... BOX OFFICE BREAKDOWN | What's coming to theaters this weekend? REVIEW | 'Paddington 2' will warm even the coldest winter hearts REVIEW | Greta Gerwig directorial debut soars with "Lady Bird" at the New York Film Festival Get the SC business stories that matter. Our newsletter catches you up with all the business stories that are shaping Charleston and South Carolina every Monday and Thursday at noon. Get ahead with us - it's free. You are the owner of this article. David Slade is a senior Post and Courier reporter. His work has been honored nationally by Society of Professional Journalists, American Society of Newspaper Editors, Scripps foundation and others. Reach him at 843-937-5552 or dslade@postandcourier.com Andrew Knapp is editor of the Quick Response Team, which covers crime, courts and breaking news. He previously worked as a reporter and copy editor at Florida Today, Newsday and Bangor (Maine) Daily News. He enjoys golf, weather and fatherhood. Gov. Henry McMaster made his case for a South Carolina exemption to offshore oil and gas exploration as he met with Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke on Friday at the Governor's Mansion in Columbia. McMaster and Zinke "had a good, productive conversation over lunch," said Brian Symmes, a McMaster spokesman. "No final decision was made regarding the exemption." The get-together with Zinke was expected. In January, McMaster called Zinke with his concerns, then wrote a letter to the Trump administration seeking an exemption to the leasing, such as the one already given to Florida. Federal officials have since stepped back on that promise, saying Florida will continue to be part of the review process. Zinke spokeswoman Heather Swift characterized the discussion as a positive and productive conversation about the benefits and concerns with the proposed offshore program. She said the Interior Department had no further comment. McMaster was the first Republican among the group of governors now lobbying the White House. He argues the state's billion dollar tourism economy and coastal environs are too precious an entity to put at risk. "Simply put: our coastline is not an industrial working coastline as in some other states. It is just the opposite," McMaster wrote Zinke in the letter. "Our 187-mile coastline and 2,876 miles of coastal shoreline drive a $20 billion tourism industry one of our largest industries. ... Such reliance means that we cannot afford to accept the risk of adverse environmental impacts attendant to offshore drilling," he also said. He concluded the letter by asking Zinke and his "good friend President Donald J. Trump" to take his concerns into consideration. McMaster was the nation's first statewide official to back Trump in his bid for president, and Trump has returned the favor by endorsing McMaster in his run this year for his first full term as governor. While the McMaster-Zinke meeting took place, the influential 1,400-member S.C. Restaurant and Lodging Association formally opposed the offshore work, joining a growing mass of individual, business and lawmaker opposition in the state that numbers in the tens of thousands. Other drilling opponents welcomed the visit as an opportunity for the state's top elected official to make a case. We are hopeful that this visit is an indication that the Trump administration is listening to the widespread opposition to offshore drilling in South Carolina," said Samantha Siegel, a Southeast region organizer for the environmental advocate Oceana. "The threat of a catastrophic spill and the impacts of onshore infrastructure necessary to support offshore drilling all add up to an industry that is wholly incompatible with existing coastal economies and our way of life, she said. Some state leaders, however, are advocates of exploring the South Carolina coast, pointing to the economic development it would bring. U.S. Rep. Jeff Duncan, R-Laurens, said the McMaster-Zinke meeting illustrates the administration is willing to listen to the states. I strongly believe that offshore energy development off the coast of South Carolina, beyond the visible horizon, will expand access to critical resources which will greatly benefit the state and the nation as a whole," he said in a media statement. "As I have said before, Gov. McMaster has every right to advocate for what he believes in with regards to offshore energy, but unlike other states, the issue has larger support in South Carolina, he said. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management has scheduled a meeting in Columbia on Feb. 13 for public comment on the offshore plans. 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. You have permission to edit this article. Edit Close Assistant Columbia bureau chief Adcox returned to The Post and Courier in October 2017 after 12 years covering the Statehouse for The Associated Press. She previously covered education for The P&C. She has also worked for The AP in Albany, N.Y., and for The Herald in Rock Hill. U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham is objecting to the speed at which the House's classified memo on the Russian investigation is moving toward release, saying no one in the Senate has seen it and that it's sure to be attacked and undermined as a political document. "I don't think it's a very smart process for the House to write a memo to the president, and the Senate have no idea what we're talking about," Graham, R-S.C., told reporters in Charleston on Thursday night. He said the report, pushed in its most recent form by House Republicans, will be viewed as a partisan document, possibly leaving as unsettled some of the problematic questions over how FBI surveillance operated. "A partisan memo is going to lead to another partisan memo," Graham said. Instead of the Trump White House getting behind this document, Graham suggested a better process would be to have an outside entity be in charge of a review. "My view is that there is some misconduct at the FBI and Department of Justice when it comes to the Clinton email investigation and the early stages of the Russian investigation, that trouble me," he said. "The FBI is a great organization. The Department of Justice, I have a lot of respect for," Graham said. "But somebody has to watch those who watch us." President Donald Trump is poised to clear the way for its publication. While Graham is for putting on the breaks, Upstate South Carolina U.S. Rep. Jeff Duncan, who is a strong Trump ally, earlier Thursday openly advocated for the document being released, saying the FBI should be worried by its findings and content. "Having read The Memo, the FBI is right to have grave concerns as it will shake the organization down to its core showing Americans just how the agency was weaponized by the Obama officials/DNC/HRC to target political adversaries." Duncan, R-Laurens, said in a tweet. Sign up for updates! Get the latest political news from The Post and Courier in your inbox. Email Sign Up! Having read The Memo, the FBI is right to have grave concerns - as it will shake the organization down to its core - showing Americans just how the agency was weaponized by the Obama officials/DNC/HRC to target political adversaries. #ReleaseTheMemo Rep. Jeff Duncan (@RepJeffDuncan) February 1, 2018 He added in another tweet "FBI Calling for names to be 'redacted' in 'The Memo' defeats the purpose of 'The Memo' in providing the transparency into the rogue actions of those named! Seems like FBI in total CYA mode after Wray read Memo" FBI Calling for names to be redacted in The Memo defeats the purpose of The Memo in providing the transparency into the rogue actions of those named! Seems like FBI in total CYA mode after Wray read Memo#Transparency #ReleaseTheMemo #AmericansHaveTheRightToKbow Rep. Jeff Duncan (@RepJeffDuncan) February 1, 2018 U.S. Rep. Mark Sanford, R-Charleston, does not sit on the intelligence committee but his office confirmed Thursday he has read the memo that has drawn so much fire. A spokesman said Sanford did not have a new comment on Thursday's developments but during an interview on MSNBC Tuesday, Sanford told host Craig Melvin the memo is "not the smoking gun" that many believe it to be. However, Sanford did say it raises important questions that need to be answered. "I think that there's very damaging information there that sets real alarm bells in terms of how we gather intelligence, as to whether or not the intel that we gather is politicized," Sanford said. "I think that this is important. Its big enough that people ought to decide, they ought to see it." Graham said he was advocating Trump heed the warnings of FBI Director Chris Wray and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and take into consideration the security consequences of releasing the document. "The best way to get this out to the public is to have some independent person or organization look at this, rather than a partisan memo coming out of the House," he said. Caitlin Byrd contributed to this report. South Carolina's Washington lawmakers reacted to Friday's release of the once-secretive House memo on FBI surveillance in the Russia investigation with a mix of praise for its exposure and concern that only part of the story is being told. U.S. Rep. Jeff Duncan, R-Laurens, who was overheard at the State of the Union speech Tuesday urging President Donald Trump to release the document, issued a scathing statement saying Democratic partisans in the government were exposed by the report. The entire basis of the investigation into possible collusion with the Trump campaign and the Russians, along with the corresponding media coverage, was based on false information spread by political and ideological allies to Hillary Clinton and former President Barack Obama," he said. Additionally, many of these same individuals had leading roles during the Clinton email investigation, which only further verifies the concerns that the FBIs investigation into the Clintons was not conducted in a fair and proper way," he said. In reading #TheMemoIsOut one needs to focus on the names of the people who signed off, multiple times, on the FISA warrant requests which used the fabricated Steele/FusionGPS dossier as evidence to spy on an American citizen. #ReadTheMemo Rep. Jeff Duncan (@RepJeffDuncan) February 2, 2018 U.S. Rep. Mark Sanford, R-Mount Pleasant, issued a statement saying he approved of the president's actions and reiterated the need for transparency. In his Twitter response he said that in the interest of political balance, the Democrats' version of the report should be released publicly as well. "Now that the majority memo from Chairman Nunes has been released, I believe that the minority memo prepared by Ranking Member Schiff should follow the same process. We should give the American people more info rather than less," he said. Now that the majority memo from Chairman Nunes has been released, I believe that the minority memo prepared by Ranking Member Schiff should follow the same process. We should give the American people more info rather than less pic.twitter.com/ZFzZIgjZCX Mark Sanford (@RepSanfordSC) February 2, 2018 The state's only Democrat in Congress, U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn of Columbia, called release of the document "a reckless partisan stunt that should not deter in any way the special counsels investigation into the Russians attack on our American democratic election." Clyburn continued, "Im not surprised at the lengths Republicans in Congress will go to protect Trump, but I am deeply concerned about undermining the rule of law and ongoing erosion of our democratic institutions. Sign up for updates! Get the latest political news from The Post and Courier in your inbox. Email Sign Up! U.S. Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-Spartanburg, said the release is more information for the American people on where the pre-election dossier on Trump put together by former career British spy Christopher Steele came from and how it may have been used. It is important for the American public to know if the dossier was paid for by another candidate, used in court pleadings, vetted before it was used, vetted after it was used, and whether all relevant facts were shared with the tribunal approving of the FISA application," he said in a statement. A FISA warrant covers a wiretap on someone suspected of spying with or for a foreign government. It is issued by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. The FISA warrant in this matter was first used to target former Trump campaign foreign policy adviser Carter Page. "While this memo clearly reveals abuse of the FISA process, and spurs the need for reform and accountability of the FISA process, I remain confident in the men and women serving at the FBI and DOJ," Gowdy said. U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., reiterated his concerns about Steele being paid by the Democratic Party and Clinton campaign for the dossier which "may have been used by the FBI without sufficient scrutiny." Going forward, he said special counsel Robert Mueller should be allowed to continue his job and appoint a second special counsel to look at potential abuses by some members of the Department of Justice and FBI regarding the Clinton email investigation and early stages of the Russia investigation. U.S. Rep. Ralph Norman, R-Rock Hill, has long supported its release, while U.S. Rep. Tom Rice, R-Myrtle Beach, said simply "The #memo has been released. You can now read and evaluate it for yourself." on Twitter and included an online link to the document. The #memo has been released. You can now read and evaluate it for yourself. https://t.co/W73dsSkZDu Congressman Tom Rice (@RepTomRice) February 2, 2018 U.S. Sen. Tim Scott's office did not respond to request for comment. Lead Acid Battery Market report categorizes the global market by Product Type (SLI Lead Acid Battery, Stationary Lead Acid Battery, and Motive Lead Acid Battery), by Construction method (Flooded Lead Acid Battery, and VRLA Lead Acid Battery), by End Use (Industrial, Residential, and Commercial), and Region - Insights, Size, Share, Opportunity Analysis, and Industry Forecast till 2025" Lead Acid Battery Market PR-Inside.com: 2018-02-02 12:19:17 Press Information Coherent Market Insights Coherent Market Insights 1001 4th Ave, #3200 Seattle, WA 98154 Mr. Shah CEO +1-206-701-6702 email https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/market-insight/lead-acid-battery-market-984 # 605 Words Coherent Market Insights1001 4th Ave,#3200Seattle, WA 98154CEO+1-206-701-6702 Lead acid battery is considered to be the oldest type of rechargeable battery with its use spanning across industries. It has the advantage of supplying high surge current, as the cells have large power to weight ratio. High power to weight ratio and low cost makes lead acid batteries attractive for its use in the automotive sector. Lead acid batteries comprises of container, plates, cell, separators, and battery terminals.The increasing demand from various industries, such as automotive sector, telecom sector, uninterrupted power supply in oil and gas mining, manufacturing, and chemical is expected to the boost the growth of the lead acid batteries market globally. Moreover, the low cost of the batteries coupled with new developments and innovation in lead acid battery products is further expected to augment the market growth. However, environmental restrains, due to lead content and threat from substitute namely lithium-ion battery are the major restraints for the growth of global lead acid battery market.Request Sample Copy of this Report: https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-sample/984 Asia Pacific accounted for the largest market share in the global lead acid battery market, in terms of revenue in 2016 and this trend is expected to continue over the forecast period. The growing industrialization and globalization in this region is the major driver in the growth of market. Furthermore, the growth in automobile industry coupled with rise in the disposable income is further expanding the automobile sales, thereby augmenting the market growth for lead acid batteries. According to China Association of automobile manufacturers (CAAM), China witnessed a year on year of 6.2% from 2016 to 2017 in automobile sales. Moreover, the increased government expenditure in the retail sector has resulted in the growth of the various industries, such as construction, power, banking, and telecom industry, in turn fuelling the demand for lead acid batteries, owing to its efficient use as energy storage system. According to Indian Brand Equity Foundation (IBEF), Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India, the retail market in India is expected to nearly double to US$ 1 trillion by 2020 from US$ 600 billion in 2015, due to income growth, urbanization, and attitudinal shifts.North America accounted for the second largest market globally. The developed industrial sector in this region stands to be the major factor contributing to the market growth. The presence of leading automobile companies, which include Toyota, Ford motor company, General Motors, and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles has augmented the demand for lead acid batteries. According to the International Trade Association, exports of automotive parts from the U.S has shown a steady growth from US$ 5 billion in 2012 to US$ 7.2 billion by 2015. Moreover, the developed telecom sector coupled with the increasing oil and gas related activities post the shale gas boom has propelled the need for power storage device hence, surging the demand for lead acid batteries in the region.View More Infromation @ https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/market-insight/lead-acid-battery-market-984 Based on the product, SLI lead acid battery is the largest segment in 2016 and is expected to show the same trend during the forecast period. SLI lead acid battery holds a revenue of US$ 26.80 billion and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 3.39% from 2017 - 2025. The increasing use of SLI lead acid battery in electric vehicles, owing to its excellent cold cracking abilities in engine starting coupled with durability are the major factors contributing to market growth.Major Players in the Global Lead Acid Battery MarketThe major players operating in the global lead acid battery market include Johnson Controls, ATLASBX Co. Ltd, Exide Technologies, East Penn Manufacturing Co, Crown Battery Manufacturing Company, C&D Technologies, INC, GS Yuasa Company, and Leoch International Technology Ltd. Respiratory Inhaler Devices Market: Global Market Estimation, Dynamics, Regional Share, Trends, Competitor Analysis 2012 to 2016 and Forecast 2017 to 2023 Respiratory Inhaler Devices Market PR-Inside.com: 2018-02-02 14:09:11 Press Information Precision Business Insights Kemp House, 152 160 City Road, London EC1V 2NX satya Lead Marketing +1-866-598-1553 email https://www.precisionbusinessinsights.com # 651 Words Kemp House,152 160 City Road,London EC1V 2NXLead Marketing+1-866-598-1553 Global Respiratory Inhaler Devices Market: By Product Type (Metered Dose Inhaler, Nebulizer, Dry Powder Inhaler), By Technology (Manually Operated Inhalers, Digitally Operated Inhalers), By Disease Indication (Asthma, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension, Others), By Distribution Channel (Hospital Pharmacies, Retail Pharmacies, Online Pharmacies), and Geography Market Estimation, Dynamics, Regional Share, Trends, Competitor Analysis 2012-2016 and Forecast 2017-2023Market Outline: Respiratory Inhaler Devices MarketRespiratory inhaler devices are the medical devices that deliver the medication to prevent or control the chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), asthma, and other respiratory disorders. Various types of respiratory inhaler devices are available in the market such as metered dose inhaler, dry powder inhaler, and nebulizer.Market Dynamics: Respiratory Inhaler Devices MarketIncrease in the prevalence of COPD, asthma, and other respiratory disorder, technological advancements in respiratory inhaler devices, rapid industrialization and rise in smoking population are anticipated to fuel the market. Moreover, ease of administration of drug with respiratory inhaler devices, cost-effective of the products, and growing newborn babies and geriatric population who often exposed to one or the other respiratory disorders are anticipated to boost the respiratory inhaler devices market over the forecast period. However, adverse effects associated with drug inhalation, product recalls, lack of single effective inhalers for all types of disease, and lack of awareness about respiratory inhalers in underdeveloped countries expected to hamper the growth of respiratory inhaler devices market over the forecast timeframe.A sample of this report is available upon request @Market Scope: Respiratory Inhaler Devices MarketRespiratory inhaler devices market is segmented based on the product type, technology, disease indication, and distribution channelBased on the product type, the market is segmented into the following: Metered Dose Inhaler Nebulizer Dry Powder InhalerBased on the technology, the market is segmented into the following: Manually Operated Inhalers Digitally Operated InhalersBased on the disease indication, the market is segmented into the following: Asthma Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension OthersBased on the distribution channel, the market is segmented into the following: Hospital Pharmacies Retail Pharmacies Online PharmaciesTo view TOC of this report is available upon request @Market Summary: Respiratory Inhaler Devices MarketEscalation in the number of industries led to an abnormal increase in environmental pollution that causes respiratory diseases such as COPD and asthma might propel the respiratory inhaler devices market. According to World Health Organization approximately 3 Mn deaths were observed in 2015 around the globe. Increase in the tobacco consumption majorly in middle and low income countries may causes respiratory disorders and which in turn drive the respiratory inhaler devices market. Moreover, most of the market players are focusing on the development of newer respiratory inhaler devices which are more convenient for drug administration. Furthermore, acquisitions and mergers, product approvals, and product launchings are the strategies followed by market players for garnering larger revenue share in respiratory inhaler devices market. For instance, in April 2016, AstraZeneca received FDA approval for Bevepsi Aeresphere (glycopyrrolate and formoterol fumarate) inhalation aerosol used in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). In addition, in January 2016, Novartis AG collaborated with Qualcomm, Inc. for the innovation of digital technology for Breezhaler inhaler used in the treatment of COPD.Need more information about this report @Competition Assessment: Respiratory Inhaler Devices MarketSome of the players in the global respiratory inhaler devices market include: Cipla Ltd. (India) Beximco Pharmaceuticals Ltd. (Bangladesh) Merck & Co., Inc. (U.S.) GlaxoSmithKline plc (U.K.) AstraZeneca plc (U.K.) Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH (Germany) Koninklijke Philips N.V. (Netherlands) Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (Israel) OMRON Healthcare Europe B.V. (Netherlands) Novartis AG (Switzerland) PARI Medical Holding GmbH (Germany)Get access to full summary @Contact to Precision Business Insights,Email: sales@ precisionbusinessinsights.com Website @ https://www.precisionbusinessinsights.com The Federal Government says it has commenced the exchange of information and data on overseas asset and foreign accounts held by Nigerians abroad. Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun, said the exchange under the Automatic Exchange of Tax Information, AETI protocol has since taken off with some foreign governments, particularly the United Kingdom. The Minister disclosed this on Friday in Abuja during the presentation of progress report on Tax Laws Reform by the Vice Chairman of the National Tax Policy Implementation Committee, Taiwo Oyedele. The data received in Nigeria with regard to overseas assets held by Nigerians has been impressive and will underpin a long term improvement in the nations tax to Gross Domestic Product, GDP ratio, and in turn improve life for the masses, the Minister said. The data on bank accounts, property and trusts, which have come automatically from a number of countries is being used to support the Voluntary Assets and Income Declaration Scheme, VAIDS by allowing the tax authorities to check the accuracy of declarations received. The Federal Government is also using the data to generate nudge letters, which are being sent to those identified as potential tax defaulters. Mrs. Adeosun said Nigeria had written to a number of countries to request specific information about offshore trusts and bank accounts held by its Nigerians. She advised users of offshore structures to take advantage of VAIDS to regularise their taxes before the expiration of the amnesty window. VAIDS was launched on July 1, 2017 to provide taxpayers with undisclosed income and assets opportunity to regularise their tax status. The one year amnesty period is expected to end by March 31, 2018. Minister of Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun (L) receiving the report of the National Tax Policy Implementation Committee (NTPIC) from the Committees Vice-Chairman, Mr Taiwo Oyedele, in Abuja on Friday (2/2/18). The National Executive Council approved the revised National Tax Policy on Feb. 1, 2017; and as a follow-up action to the approval, Minister of Finance on April 2, 2017, constituted the NTPIC. 00647/2/2/2018/Jones Bamidele/NAN The Minister said the offshore tax shelter system was basically over, pointing out that those who have hidden money overseas were being exposed. She said while Nigerians have the legal right to keep their money anywhere in any part of the world, they must first pay any tax due to the Nigerian Government so that we can fund the needs of the masses and create jobs and wealth for our people. The moral argument against illicit financial flows and tax evasion and the strong international co-operation are such that every Nigerian tax payer should do the right thing. The needs of our people for development override any other argument against payment of tax, the Minister stated. Mrs. Adeosun stressed the need for a sustainable revenue that could deliver infrastructural development for Nigeria and improve the tax to GDP ratio of the country. The Minister expressed satisfaction with the data being supplied to Nigeria by foreign countries under the AETI, to which the country became a party in January 2018. On the review of tax laws, Mrs. Adeosun assured that the Federal Government would continue to build a robust tax system and implement the recommendations by the National Tax Policy Implementation Committee, NTPIC on tax laws reform. While presenting the report, the NTPIC Vice Chairman, Mr. Oyedele said the Committee in its assignment considered three major policy documents, namely the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan, ERGP, the National Tax Policy and Ease of Doing Business Plan. Mr. Oyedele said the Committee agreed that tax reforms should align with overall government objectives as articulated in these documents, pointing out that every action or recommendations would promote and help realise overall objectives. The Committee said it identified seven major tax areas capable of creating the highest impact to the economy. These include Company Income Tax, CIT, Value Added Tax, VAT, Customs & Excise Tariff, CET, Personal Income Tax, PIT, Pension Contributions, Industrial Development Income Tax Relief, IDITR and Tertiary Education Trust Fund. ADVERTISEMENT Vice-Chairman, National Tax Policy Implementation Committee (NTPIC), Mr Taiwo Oyedele (6th, R) and other committee members after submission of their report to Minister of Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun, in Abuja on Friday (2/2/18). The National Executive Council approved the revised National Tax Policy on Feb. 1, 2017; and as a follow-up action to the approval, Minister of Finance on April 2, 2017, constituted the NTPIC. 00648/2/2/2018/Jones Bamidele/NAN Mr. Oyedele said the committee believes proposed changes to the tax laws would help increase and diversify government revenue, simplify paying taxes and doing business, promote micro, small and medium enterprises, protect most vulnerable persons in the society, and remove obsolete, ambiguous and contradictory provisions in the law. In addition, he said the Committee was able to propose two executive orders on Value Added Tax Act (Modification) Order and Review of Goods Liable to Excise Duties and Applicable Rate Order. Besides, five Amendment Bills were proposed in the areas of Companies Income Tax Act (Amendment) Bill, Value Added Tax Act (Amendment) Bill, Customs, Exercise, Tariff (Consolidation) Act (Amendment) Bill, Personal Income Tax Act (Amendment) Bill and Industrial Development (Income Tax Relief) Act (Amendment) Bill. ADVERTISEMENT Despite concerted efforts to curb the menace, malnutrition among children under five years is worsening in Nigeria, a new survey has revealed. The fifth round Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS5) also shows that malnutrition in under five children living in rural areas is higher than those in urban areas. The survey was carried out in 2016/2017 by the National Bureau of Statistics, (NBS), is in collaboration with the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency (NPHCDA) and National Agency for the Control of Aids (NACA) as part of the global MICS programme. According to the report, underweight prevalence (children who are too thin for their age) increased from 24.2% to 31.5%, stunting prevalence (children who are short for their age) increased from 34.8% to 43.6% while wasting prevalence (children who are too thin for their height) increased marginally from 10.2% to 10.8%. Malnutrition is a condition that occurs when people consistently do not consume or absorb the right amounts and types of food and essential nutrients. Globally, it contributes to nearly half of all child deaths that is more than three million children each year. In same development, Nigeria still ranks third highest in childhood mortality in the world, after India and Pakistan, despite a nationwide drop in infant mortality rate from 97 per 1000 live births recorded in 2011, to 70 per 1000 live births in 2016 to 2017. The MICS5 report also revealed that the probability of a child dying between birth and fifth birthday, dropped from 158 per 1000 live births in 2011 to 120 per 1000 live births in 2016 to 2017. Earlier, the head of nutrition division, federal ministry of health, Chris Isokpunwu, said that the country needs N279.54 billion ($912 million) to address malnutrition in all states for five years. The amount, according to him represents what is needed to be invested by all, including private, government and donor partners for the next five years and it will help save 123,000 lives each year, while it will also prevent 890,000 children from stunting, which is one of the manifestation of malnutrition in children. In the middle of 2017, Aliko Dangote Foundation pledged to expend $100 million (about N36billion) to reduce the prevalence of under nutrition by 60percent in the worst affected parts of Nigeria. In 2016, the Federal Government approved N4billion to tackle malnutrition in North-east Nigeria. ADVERTISEMENT An Abuja Division of the Federal High Court has affirmed the decision of the Senate to reject Ibrahim Magu as chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Ibrahim Magu. Mr. Magu was nominated by President Muhammadu Buhari twice. In both times, the Senate rejected the nomination. The court made the decision two weeks ago, but PREMIUM TIMES only got copies of the ruling on Thursday. According to the ruling, Justice John Tsoho ruled that the applicant was wrong in its assumption that the Senate was only there to confirm any choice made by the executive. The judge said the Senate has the powers to ensure that only suitable persons are appointed to the position of chairperson for the anti-corruption agency. The applicant, Oluwatosin Ojaomo, had asked the court to declare as illegal the rejection of Mr. Magu by the Senate. According to the motion contained in a 20-paragraph affidavit, filed on January 24, Mr. Ojaomo asked the court to reverse the rejection of Mr. Magu on the grounds that the Senate lacked powers to reject a nominated candidate for the said position, following his (Ojaomos) interpretation of the EFCC act, 2004. According to the motion, Mr. Ojaomo sought the determination of two issues by the court: whether the senate had powers to reject a validly nominated candidate for the position of EFCC chairman, by the presidency. He also asked the court to determine if the senate was not bound by the provisions of the EFCC act 2 (3) to confirm any candidate nominated by the presidency for the said position. The applicant argued that the provisions of section 2; subsections (i) (ii) (iii) as well as section 2 (3) of the EFCC act, 2004 does not give the Senate the authority to scrutinise any choice of a candidate made by the president for the position. According Mr. Ojaomo, the provisions of the sections that the Presidency Shall nominate a candidate while the senate shall confirm the nominated candidate means that the role of the senate is only to affirm the decision of the presidency and not to question it. In his ruling however, Mr. Tsoho said the sections referred to by the applicant were misconceived. According to the judge, the said sections provide that the presidency makes the nomination subject to the ratification by the Senate. More importantly the expression; subject to used in section 2 (3) of the EFCC act is very instructive. It has been categorically stated that the phrase, subject to introduces a condition, a limitation, the judge noted among other points. On the issue of the authorities therefore the expression subject to should be understood to simply mean; depending on. Accordingly the import of section 2 (3) of the EFCC act is that the appointment of a chairman made by the Presidency is dependent on confirmation by the senate. The Senate is thus confirmed with authority to ensure the choice of only suitable and credible persons for the appointment to that office. The submission of the plaintiff however gives the impression that the senate only exists to rubber stamp the Presidents appointment of a chairman. Such view runs counter to the proper intendment of section 2 (3) of the EFCC act 2004 and is misconceived. Consequently this suit is struck out, the judge ruled. The Defence Headquarters on Thursday denied reports that Nigerian troops had been deployed to Benue State following deadly attacks on Fulani in the state. The claim is not true and it now appears like some people are playing politics with security, defence spokesperson, John Agim, told PREMIUM TIMES by telephone Thursday night. The troops only went on a specific mission and have since returned to base. Panic spread quickly across Benue on Thursday after images surfaced online of a convoy of troops riding along major roads in the state, where several attacks linked to farmers-herders crisis have been recorded in recent weeks. Some newspapers also reported the images and quoted a spokesperson for 707 Special Forces Brigade in Makurdi as confirming the deployment and assuring Gboko residents of their safety. Daily Independent quoted Olabisi Ayeni, a major, as saying that the soldiers arrived Gboko in seven Toyota Hilux vans to scare away criminal elements. The Defence Headquarters, however, insisted to PREMIUM TIMES in a follow up enquiry Friday morning that there was no contradiction between its account Thursday night and the statement by the 707 Brigade spokesperson that troops were indeed on ground in Makurdi Thursday. PREMIUM TIMES learnt from Gboko residents that the only soldiers seen around the predominantly Tiv town as at Friday morning were those working with the police in Operation Zenda. Those ones have always been around because they mixed with police when Operation Zenda was launched to combat herdsmen attacks some years back, a resident said. The pictures of the military convoy, whose authenticity PREMIUM TIMES could not immediately ascertain, were circulated a day after a mob killed seven travellers in Gboko, an industrial town about 90 kilometres southeast of Makurdi, the state capital. The police identified the victims as Fulani who were travelling to Kogi and Taraba States. They were killed at a motor park by suspected Tiv thugs who burnt their remains, police said. The state police commissioner Fatai Owoseni said suspects had been taken into custody in connection with the killings. Governor Samuel Ortom had also imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew in Gboko and charged security operatives to ensure prompt arrest and prosecution of all suspects. The state government also increased a ransom for the most wanted militiaman in the state from N10 to N50 million on Thursday. The incident was largely presumed a fallout of January 1 attacks in which suspected herdsmen murdered scores of villagers across two local government areas of the state. The state government buried over 70 persons in a mass grave near Makurdi on January 12. President Muhammadu Buhari responded by ordering Inspector-General of police to move to the state on January 9 as parts of his administrations efforts to return calm and a lasting peace to the affected areas. Meanwhile, Benue residents have criticised the president for deeming the situation in the state critical enough for deployment of soldiers only after the killings of Fulani. David Ogbole, a Makurdi-based Pentecostal preacher and founder of the Movement Against Fulani Occupation, described the movement of troops in the state as shameful and belated. ADVERTISEMENT The military presence in Benue State is only relevant to the degree to which they crack down on Fulani militia, kill or capture them in the spirit of justice, Mr. Ogbole said in a statement to PREMIUM TIMES Thursday night. Anything other than that renders them a burden and an unnecessary sight. He that is not for us is against us. He that comes late, never came at all, he added. While denying the alleged deployment, Mr. Agim said the military could only get involved if the police are unable to contain the violence and ask for a back-up. He said the troops went on a special mission to further destroy shrines suspected to be hideouts of Tiv militia in Zaki Biam and Katsina Ala areas. Mr. Agim, a brigadier-general, said the military has bases in all the 36 states, but only the president can order their active deployment in areas that require intervention. As witnessed with the Boko Haram menace, the military is the last line of defence, Mr. Agim said. So it cannot just jump up and go into security issues. ADVERTISEMENT The Nigerian Presidency has strongly condemned what it calls an upsurge in the promotion of hate speech by the media especially as it relates to the farmers/herders crisis in Benue state. The condemnation was made Friday by the spokesperson of President Muhammadu Buhari, Garba Shehu, while briefing State House correspondents. Mr. Shehu said the growing lack of respect for journalism ethics and press laws in the Nigerian media, especially regarding the clashes in Benue State is very unfortunate. He said the frequent expressions of hate speech published by newspapers, in news stories and especially in columns have become a source of concern to all Nigerians. We want to state emphatically that a segment of the Nigerian media is sinking deeper and deeper into the mesh of hate speech in spite of repeated appeals by recognised and reputable media bodies, the Government and concerned Nigerians, he said. Unfortunately, self-regulation which is the norm in civilised societies has taken flight from many of our newsrooms. For instance, a recent column published in a national newspaper (The Sun newspaper), said President Muhammadu Buhari was the first to endorse the Benue massacre on New Year Day. The same columnist described the Minister of Defence, Mansur Muhammad Dan-Ali as a dyed-in-the-wool Fulani irredentist who places trade over and above human life. The diatribe went further to invite citizens of the country to arm themselves and fight each other. In addition, one of the newspapers Saturday headlines proclaimed: Expect More Blood in Benue, he said. The presidential spokesperson also said apart from the basic tone of respect expected from an individual who is supposedly intelligent and educated enough to know better since they have been granted space to write in a national newspaper, there is the risk of inciting the public to actions that will have gory consequences for the entire nation for generations to come. He also reminded those beating the gongs of war and fanning the embers of discord to remember what prevailed in Rwanda before the genocide of the early 90s, during which hundreds of thousands of lives were lost as a result of consistent hate speech spewing from that countrys media. We must learn to express our grievances and criticisms without resorting to gutter language or to name calling, and the press has a responsibility to maintain that even if it means calling their columnists to order, he said. He also said Mr. Buhari, by the Constitution, has the primary duty of protecting life and property of all Nigerians, adding and that is what he has been doing in Benue and across the country. Calling him a murderer is not only grossly disrespectful but unfair, especially when the President has written a letter to the Senate detailing his efforts to quell the crisis in Benue State, including dispatching the Minister of Interior and the Deputy Inspector General of Police in charge of operations for an on the spot assessment of the situation in the aftermath of the unfortunate incident; and receiving a direct briefing from the IG the following day. Mr. Shehu appealed to the media to show more decorum and professionalism in the reportage of security and humanitarian situation in the country. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has filed fresh charges of fraud against the chairman of the Code of Conduct Tribunal, Danladi Umar. The charges, prepared by Festus Keyamo, an EFCC prosecutor, came two years after the anti-graft agency last absolved Mr. Umar of any wrongdoing in a case of judicial bribery and racketeering. Court filings made available to PREMIUM TIMES Friday evening by Mr. Keyamo said Mr. Umar collected N10 million from Rasheed Taiwo, a former Customs official who was facing false assets declaration charges before the Code of Conduct Tribunal sometimes in 2012. The prosecution also accused Mr. Umar of receiving N1.8 million of the N10 million bribe sum through one of his personal assistants, Gambo Abdullahi. The two counts of fraud contradicted Section 12(1) (a) and (b) of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act, 2003, Mr. Keyamo stated in charge affidavit prepared on January 25 and stamped on February 2 at the Federal High Court, Abuja. The CCT chair could face up to seven years imprisonment if convicted of the charges. A spokesperson for the CCT, Ibrahim Al-Hassan, told PREMIUM TIMES Friday night that he could not immediately give a reaction to the development. He said he needed time to study the court filings against his principal, promising to revert by Monday. A PREMIUM TIMES examination of the charges indicates that they carry the same substance as the grounds for which anti-graft detectives had earlier cleared the tribunal chief. The EFCC first cleared Mr. Umar of the bribery allegations in March 2015. When the trial of Senate President Bukola Saraki reached its peak in 2016, the anti-graft office wrote another letter clearing the jurist of any wrongdoing in Mr. Taiwos case. We would like to reiterate the Commissions position in regard to this matter as earlier communicated to you and stated that the allegations levelled against Justice Umar were mere suspicious and consequently insufficient to successfully prosecute the offence, the EFCC said in an April 20 letter to the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, which supervises the Code of Conduct Tribunal. In the same letter, the EFCC concluded that there was no strong case against Mr. Umar but that there was prima facie evidence to prosecute Mr. Abdullahi, his personal assistant who could offer no coherent excuse for receiving N1.8 million naira into his salary account from Taiwo who is an accused person standing trial at the Tribunal. The EFCC was compelled to clear Mr. Umar after he came under intense scrutiny since the commencement of the trial of Mr. Saraki, over alleged false assets declaration, with many accusing him of being equally tainted and calling on him to excuse himself from Mr. Sarakis case. In December 2016, a group, the Anti-Corruption Network, had also alleged that Mr. Umar used his office to purchase N34.9 million exotic vehicles, furniture and other household items without following due process. The first clearance notice was written on March 5, 2015 through the office of the then-SGF, Pius Anyim. The anti-graft agency wrote another letter in April 2016 following concerted attempts by Mr. Saraki and his associates to force Mr. Umars hands to stand down from the top lawmakers false assets declaration trial. In June 2017, Mr. Umar ultimately found Mr. Saraki not guilty on all the 18 counts of false assets filings when he was governor of Kwara State between 2003 and 2011. In December, the Court of Appeal in Abuja affirmed the conclusion of the tribunal on all but three counts, a decision the Senate President immediately appealed to the Supreme Court. A spokesperson for the EFCC, Wilson Uwujaren, did not respond to PREMIUM TIMES requests for comments about why the agency brought the same charges for which it had previously cleared Mr. Umar. ADVERTISEMENT Mr. Keyamo declined further comments to PREMIUM TIMES about the charges Friday night. But a source informed about the case told PREMIUM TIMES on Friday that the anti-graft commission would enlist Mr. Umars assistant, Mr. Abdullahi, as a prosecution witness. ADVERTISEMENT Four Fulani herdsmen have been arrested with guns and other dangerous weapons by a local vigilante group in the coastal community of Agadagba Obon, in Ese Odo local government area of Ondo state. The suspects were arrested on Thursday after they were found to be in possession of arms, and were handed over to the police. The identities of the suspects were not immediately released. Police Public Relations Officer, Femi Joseph, confirmed the incident, saying that the police command had commenced further investigations into the matter. They have been handed over to us and when we interrogated them, they told us that they were farmers that they wanted to board a boat to Edo State but we have begun an investigation to ascertain their claims, said Mr. Joseph. However there was no report the suspects had killed anybody with the arms they are carrying about. Mr. Joseph said some items recovered from the suspects included guns, cutlasses, daggers and axes. A resident of the community who would not want to be named said many people, especially women, had stopped going to farm for fear of being attacked by the herdsmen. A group within the community under the auspices of Arogbo Ijaw Community Organisation has called on security agencies to prevent the Fulani herdsmen from entering the community again. LEADERS SUMMIT. President Rodrigo Duterte greets Supreme Tribal Council for Peace and Development chairman Datu Roel Ali and Mindanao IP Council for Development chairman Datu Joel Unad on his arrival at the Felix Apolinario Naval Station in Panacan, Davao City Thursday where he attended the Indigenous Peoples Leaders Summit. Malacanang Photo TRUST the Armed Forces of the Philippines, not the New Peoples Army, President Rodrigo Duterte told the lumad or indigenous people of Mindanao at a summit in Davao City on Friday. The President said the government had aided the lumad while the NPA only extort from them. Who buys oxygen for you? Who pays for your hospital bills? Who pays for the vehicles to bring your sick [to the doctor]? The NPA? (Expletive), the NPA will foot those bills? Theyd ask you to pay for it! Theyd extort you and scare you into paying [revolutionary taxes] for all time, Duterte said in Cebuano.In contrast, the Presidents soldiers would only ask the lumad to let them sleep in their homes and leave soon after.Why would you fight them? Soldiers are the ones you should be giving favors to, not the NPAs. They would ask everything from you, even rice, he said. The President then announced the release of P100 million for lumad livelihood programs and agricultural development, and promised them housing units and jobs. Soldiers, Duterte added, would never harass lumad families. Are there any soldiers who [have] touched your wifes legs? he asked.Instead, the President told the lumad to tell him where NPA camps are located, then stay away from thempresumably for a military raid to follow. The NPAs have camps here. What you do is, you leave, because we will come for them. Your soldiers will go for them and clean them up. If you want to live here now, we will move you later. Just tell me where they are. Ill even fly the chopper, and you man the guns. Two guns, just like in the movies, he said. Do we understand each other? Perhaps were not clear with this. We will start now, and tomorrow I will give you something. Prepare yourselves for eventual relocation if that is what you want, the President said. But for now, Duterte said, if the lumad felt it was dangerous to leave, he would build them temporary shelters, then permanent ones, and then give them jobs. The President has called the NPA and its political arm, the Communist Party of the Philippines, as terrorist groups, shortly after he canceled peace talks with the communist-led National Democratic Front of the Philippines. Authorities have also arrested several leaders of the CPP and NDF this week. ADVERTISEMENT The organisers of the 17th World Conference on Tobacco or Health (WCTOH) on Thursday announced the programme for this years event to be held in Cape Town, South Africa, on March 7th to 9th. The conference is expected to unite researchers, academics, non-governmental organisations, civil society, scientists, healthcare professionals and public officials working on all aspects of tobacco control from more than 100 countries, a statement from the organisers noted. Some of the programmes include studies on the Electronic cigarette use and conventional cigarette smoking initiation among youth in the United States authored by researchers based at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) which will reflect the growing debate amongst public health practitioners around tobacco harm reduction. It will also include, the impact of a tobacco point-of-sale display ban on youth in the United Kingdom: findings from a repeat cross-sectional survey pre-, mid- and post-implementation. Others are studies on the Use of flavoured cigarettes in the first few puffs: a step toward smoking initiation and nicotine addiction? Data from a national survey among Brazilian adolescents authored by Brazilian researchers to highlight the growing concerns amongst tobacco control practitioners around the trend towards the manufacture and marketing of flavoured cigarettes to young adults. The high quality of the science being presented in Cape Town comes at a pivotal moment in tobacco control, said Harry Lando, a professor and Chair of the 17th WCTOH Organising Committee. On the one hand we will see research being presented confirming the astounding public health progress made to eliminate smoking over the past decade but challengingly, we will also see research on trends that are currently shaping the future battle lines of tobacco control on a global scale. Flavia Senkubuge, President of the 17th WCTOH said tobacco use continues to be the worlds leading preventable cause of death killing more than seven million people each year. For the past 50 years, WCTOH has been the premier international forum on tobacco control and this years event the first to be held on the African continent is expected to attract over 2,000 researchers, scientists, civil society, healthcare professionals, policymakers and media representatives from more than 100 countries, Mr. Senkubuge said. The conference will also feature a number of key sessions focusing on the upcoming challenges for tobacco control. The opening plenary session, Priorities for Tomorrows Tobacco Control Agenda and Sustainable Development on Wednesday 7 March will feature Head of Secretariat for the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC), Vera Luiza da Costa e Silva. And on Thursday 8 March International Womens Day WHO Regional Director for Africa, Matshidiso Moeti, will be joined by Lorraine Greaves, Senior Investigator at the British Columbia Centre for Excellence on Womens Health, for the second plenary which will discuss Women, Development and Tobacco Control. While tobacco use is decreasing in many countries, evidence has shown that smoking rates in Africa are anticipated to rise dramatically. By 2030 the number of smokers in the region is projected to increase by 40 per cent from 2010 levels unless there is significant intervention. Africa continues to be aggressively targeted by the tobacco industry, as it represents an opportunity for considerable market growth. It is highly significant that the WCTOH is taking place on the African continent for the very first time in many ways the region is a test case for the future direction of tobacco control and its ability in the coming years to rein in aggressive interference from Big Tobacco, said Jose Luis Castro, Executive Director of the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (The Union), the WCTOH Secretariat. The theme of the conference is Uniting the World for a Tobacco-Free Generation with an overarching focus on expediting progress to reduce tobacco use in all populations around the world using new research and innovative approaches in public health, as well as powerful but under-used policies, including tobacco taxation and those aimed at preventing industry interference. ADVERTISEMENT The Jigawa State House of Assembly has passed nine of the 15 constitutional bills, including the Not Too Young to Run Bill transmitted to it by the National Assembly in the on-going constitution amendment process. However, the legislators rejected the bills amending the procedure of overriding presidential veto power, expenditure time frame before passage of budget and for laying Appropriation Bill by the President or Governor before the National or state House of Assembly. The National Assembly in December 2016 constituted ad-hoc committees on constitution review to initiate the process of amending relevant sections of the 1999 Constitution. After the adoption of some of the recommendations of the committee, the federal lawmakers on December 14, last year forwarded the bills containing the 15 recommendations to the state Houses of Assembly for their consent. The consent of at least 24 Houses of Assembly and the National Assembly is required to pass an amendment to any part of the Constitution. But the Jigawa legislators also rejected the bill on independent candidacy and reduction of time frame for authorisation of expenditure before budget passage from six months to three months, and stepped down for wider consultation the bill granting local government financial autonomy. Among the bills that secured the approval of the state lawmakers were financial autonomy for States House of Assembly and immunity for legislators for words spoken during plenary. Approved too were the requirement for the Independent National Electoral Commission to conduct by-elections within 21 days instead of seven days, and power to deregister political parties. Also, the legislators approved the change of the name of the Nigeria Police Force to Nigerian Police and the Bill on administration of justice in the country for speedy dispensation of justice. Other bills passed by the House were tenure restriction of president or governor which prohibits anyone who succeeds a President or a Governor and completes the tenure of such President or Governor, from contesting for that same office more than once. The legislators also approved the bill on the establishment of Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps in the Constitution, including their functions and procedure for appointment of its Commandant-General. However, the legislators rejected the bills on Independent candidacy and reduction of time frame for expenditure before budget passage from six months to three months. ADVERTISEMENT The Nigerian government has said it would provide educational support to victims of human trafficking who recently returned to the country. The Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, gave the assurance while exchanging views on rehabilitation strategies of deported illegal migrants with the Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki in his office in Abuja. In a statement the ministry of issued on Friday, Mr. Adamu promised to render help beyond the request of the Governor in order to curtail the migration crisis by advancing the educational levels of all the victims. The minister advised Governor Obaseki to make a formal request to the Tertiary Education Trust Fund, TETFund, for special interventions from the states tertiary institutions to be used to actualise his (Obaseki) plans. Similarly, the governor, who has been active in the area of providing succour to the returnees especially those from his state appealed to the minister to consider special help for the state to upgrade its three colleges of education and the polytechnics to be used to train such persons. The governor said his governments research reviewed that most of the deported migrants and trafficked persons are of low academic levels, adding that equipping them with better education and skills will enhance their orientations and lifestyle. He said his state will meet up with any criteria that would qualify the designated tertiary institutions to merit Tetfund interventions. Nigeria in recent weeks has witnessed the massive return of its citizens from across the globe, many deported from Libya. ADVERTISEMENT The federal government said it would continue to engage Saudi Arabian authorities in negotiations over the fate of Nigerians on death row for alleged drug trafficking in that country. The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, made this known while fielding questions from journalists in Abuja on Friday. The ministers reaction followed report that there were no fewer than 25 Nigerian drug suspects held in several prisons in Saudi Arabia. The report indicated that 15 of the suspects were on death row, while three had been executed, leading to a call on federal government to intervene. Mr. Onyeama, however, said necessary steps were being taken by Federal Government to engage Saudi Arabian authorities on the matter. He explained that regarding Nigerians on death row abroad, we have made very strong intercession over the issue with government of those countries to review the cases and not to execute them. However, you know that there is a limit because these are sovereign countries which have their rules and laws. But as far as the Saudi Arabia is concerned, we have been intervening at government level with authorities of that country. The minister added that government was working with some Non-Governmental Organisations on the matter. (NAN) ADVERTISEMENT Penultimate Monday, the first meeting in 2018 of the Monetary Policy Committee, MPC of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN was aborted. It was the first time in a long while that the meeting would fail to hold. Reason? Available members could not form a quorum. Since then, three appointments have been announced to either fill the vacant positions exited by the deputy governors in charge of Economic Policy, Sarah Alade, and her colleague in the Corporate Services department, Suleiman Barau, who retired last year. The latest appointee by President Muhammadu Buhari is Edward Adamu, the current Director of Human Resources at the CBN, who has already been selected to replace Mr. Barau as the new Deputy Governor. Born on June 22, 1959 in Kaltungo Local Government Area of Gombe State, Mr. Adamu has a degree in quantity surveying from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. A fellow of the Nigerian Institute of Quantity Surveyors, he is 57 years old. Mr. Adamu has several postgraduate professional certifications from the Institute of Credit Administration of Nigeria, Wharton School, USA, INSEAD France, Chicago Booth & IMD Switzerland. He is a member of several professional bodies, namely the Nigerian Institute of Quantity Surveyors; Project Management Institute, USA; International Knowledge Management Institute, USA; International Society for Performance Improvement, USA; and the Association of Project Managers, UK. Mr. Adamu was employed by the CBN in June 1992. In 2012, he was appointed Director of the Strategy Management Department responsible for the articulation of strategy to deliver the mandate of the bank. As director of strategy, he was a member of the Monetary Policy Implementation Committee and the Financial Services Regulatory Coordination Committee as well as an observer at the MPC. Between 1992 and 2003, Mr. Adamu served in several offices of the Engineering Services Department of the CBN handling Project Conception, Evaluation, Contract Documentation, Cost Planning & Control, Project Implementation and Closure of several projects of the Bank, including the current CBN Head Office Abuja. He rose from the position of a Manager to an Assistant Director. In 2004, he was an Assistant Director and Head of the Non-core Team under a Re- engineering and Re-structuring programme (Project EAGLES) undertaken to re-position the CBN working with Accenture Consulting. In 2005, Mr. Adamu led the Knowledge Management Team to supervise the development of CBNs Knowledge Management Framework. In 2006 as a Deputy Director, he served as CBNs Head of Business Support Division in charge of portfolio of teams and functions, including Knowledge Management, Records Management, Strategic Alliance and Price Intelligence. In 2008, he was seconded for two years to the Gombe State government to set-up and run a strategic framework for best practices in procurement. In 2010, he served as Programmes Director (Head of the Projects Planning & Implementation Division) in charge of multi-dimensional large scale projects for the CBN. In 2016, Mr. Adamu was appointed Director, Human Resources Department in charge of developing the human capital assets of the bank. He is a member of several Board and Project Steering Committees of the Bank, including Budget; Staff Matters; Pension Fund Management; Establishment, Enterprise Learning, Assets Disposal and REAL SPARC Project. He is married with four children. ADVERTISEMENT It will become mandatory for judges and staff of Nigerian courts to communicate court documents with lawyers by electronic mail from July 16, the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Walter Onnoghen, has announced. Mr. Onnoghen made the announcement on Friday while speaking at the launch of the newly Retrofitted Court and Legal Email System which took place at the Supreme Court. He said the email system, which is a unique feature of the days event, will replace manual forms of communication between judges, court staff and lawyers. I will like to implore all judges and lawyers to join us on this quest for excellence by subscribing to, and acquiring the legal email, as manual forms of communication within the Nigerian Courts will soon be phased out. Henceforth lawyers who have acquired the Legal Email can now communicate electronically with the courts and with each other. However, by July 16, it becomes mandatory. The Supreme Court will only serve processes by electronic means. (Legal mail). Hence all new filings as from July 16 must bear counsels legal email address. To ensure compliance, it is also imperative that all other heads of Courts aquire the Legal email addresses for their Courts from the JITPO Committee, especially for the Litigation Department staff. All courts are also encouraged to start using the email for serving lawyers. In addition, communication between the various Judicial bodies will soon be through the official email system only, thereby harnessing the benefits of the system in terms of confidentiality, integrity and availability, Mr. Onnoghen said. Mr. Onnoghen said the new email system will work better when the bar and the bench work together to improve it. From the inception of the email project, the committee of which the President, Nigerian Bar Association is a member, worked in tandem with the bar to ensure the successful completion of what we are witnessing today. I trust that the bar association will now drive the adoption so that the system will be fully operational within the period hereby stipulated. The quick adoption of the system will enable us move forward to improve and implement the other components that depend upon it. We must all take ownership of this project. It must not fail, Mr. Onnoghen said. The CJN noted that Nigeria had already developed and deployed the Nigerian Case Management System (NCMS) software, adding that the NCMS is the backbone of court automation project in the country. President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday hosted the governor of Edo state, Godwin Obaseki, at the presidential villa Abuja where they discussed human trafficking and what to do with Nigerians who were recently rescued from slavery in Libya. Shortly after emerging from the meeting, Mr. Obaseki, in a brief chat with reporters, said Fridays meeting was his first with Mr. Buhari since he assumed office as governor of Edo state in November 2016. I have not seen the president officially since I became the governor of a Edo State, so I came to pay him a proper visit and to pledge our support particularly since he got back home from his medical leave and the family accident, so I used the opportunity to felicitate with him and to wish him well, he said. The governor also said he discussed two critical issues with Mr. Buhari. The first, he said, is the issue of human trafficking and irregular migration. As you know it is a problem with Edo which we have accepted and we have rolled out our strategies to deal with them and we want to work with the federal government and other agencies of government to end this scourge of human trafficking and modern slavery. It is against the ethos of humanity for us to accept what is going on with our young people today. He said he took advantage of the meeting with the president to tell him what the state government was doing about the problem and to seek the support of the federal government. Mr. Obaseki also spoke about reports of some persons recently brought back to the country who complained about the stipend given to them upon their return. That is part of the challenge. The issues are very complex. The first set that were brought back by International Organization for Migration (IOM) were given stipend but the last wave of returnees that were repatriated, nothing was given to them and they were a bit agitated. What we have done in Edo is to help returnees settle and be reintegrated back to their families and we give them stipend for three months. So what we have done this time around is to bring them to Benin city and then give them the first stipend to go back home and then be able to attend the skills acquisition centres which we have set up to train them, he said. Meanwhile, the Nigerian government has also said it would provide educational support to victims of human trafficking especially those who recently returned to the country. The Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu gave the assurance while exchanging views on rehabilitation strategies of deported illegal migrants with the Edo Governor who also visited him in Abuja. In a statement the ministry of issued on Friday, Mr. Adamu promised to render help beyond the request of the Governor in order to curtail the migration crisis by advancing the educational levels of all the victims. The minister advised Governor Obaseki to make a formal request to the Tertiary Education Trust Fund, TETFund, for special interventions from the states tertiary institutions to be used to actualise his (Obaseki) plans. Similarly, the governor, who has been active in the area of providing succour to the returnees especially those from his state appealed to the minister to consider special help for the state to upgrade its three colleges of education and the polytechnics to be used to train such persons. The governor said his governments research reviewed that most of the deported migrants and trafficked persons are of low academic levels, adding that equipping them with better education and skills will enhance their orientations and lifestyle. ADVERTISEMENT He said his state will meet up with any criteria that would qualify the designated tertiary institutions to merit Tetfund interventions. Nigeria in recent weeks has witnessed the massive return of its citizens from across the globe, many deported from Libya. ADVERTISEMENT Former Edo State Governor Adams Oshiomhole was at the Aso Rock Presidential Villa for an audience with President Muhammadu Buhari. At the end of the visit, the All Progressives Congress chieftain spoke with State House correspondents on the state of the nation and the recent explosive public statement by former President Olusegun Obasanjo. Why are you in the Villa? Well, you know it is a new year and I felt since I havent been here since 2017, so I came in to wish the president a happy new year and appreciate him for his leadership of the country because, as an APC activist and loyalist, Im a party man, to reassure him of my absolute and total support for his government and even for 2019. I think that in moments like this nobody should sit on the fence. Our country has challenges and there are huge temptations here and there and it is important he knows that he has men and women who even at this hour have huge confidence in his leadership ability. Everything taken to account, I believe that every Nigerian who wants us to sustain some of the renewed vigour to deal with one of the most challenging problems that Nigeria has faced, namely corruption and things like that, you cannot but appreciate the president and all that has been done under his leadership this past two years and some months. So are you saying he shouldnt heed the former presidents advice and step aside? Im not sure when I see the list of the advisers that President Obasanjo is one of the advisers. But I also recall with respect that the day President Obasanjo was swearing in some of his advisers, he did say that anybody who is his adviser can advise him, he will make his own decisions. And I think that principle still stands. If you have to review the development in the country, the poverty level and all that? Lets trace the root of poverty, it is not something that developed over the past few weeks or few years. If you review all your newspapers editorials from my days as president of the NLC, the challenge has been how do we ensure that the Nigerian economy works for the betterment of the majority of the people, particularly the forgotten rural majority? So this has been there. But everybody who understands development issues and if you review Africa development literature, you will agree that one of the key issues that explains the paradox between a potentially very rich continent, in the case of Nigeria, a very rich nation, the paradox of a wealthy country but people getting poorer and poorer, has to do with the issue of corruption. And if you do not deal with that, you cannot deal with other things. I think this president rightly identifies that as a major area of focus. I think that people have to realise that the amount of damage done by the previous governments, you know, when people say no blame game, maybe yes, maybe no. But where I come from, people say that it is only a fool who will be walking in the road, get into a pothole and fall and then get up and continue the journey, go to the hospital and treat himself. But a wise man must interrogate how and why did I fall, and maybe in the cause of doing that, find that there is a pothole. The first and simple thing to do is to fill that pothole before you continue on your journey and then go ahead and treat yourself. Nigeria was below ground level and from what you guys report that I read, we have always had challenges, but never in terms of scale, magnitude. What President Buhari inherited is difficult to describe. So, I have said so before that when you meet such a situation, your first task is to halt the drift, when you half the drift then you stabilise before you begin to go, there is no miracle about it. I dont think that anybody who understands the challenge of nation-building, of national economic management, etc will expect that in two years you can fix in a sustainable manner all of the things that have been destroyed over 16 years before this party came into office. So, yes there are challenges, there are a couple of things we need to begin to do and reinforced, but there is no question that a lot has begun and a lot is being done. There is no miracle in the life of nations. So, the fact that the president even gave the lean resources and huge debts he inherited and the cost of serving those debts, the president insists that the poorest amongst us who are victims of these several years of misrule, that they must have something to give them a sense of belonging under the social programme which seeks to transfer cash of N5,000 and several other instruments that have been put in place, that is to recognize that they are really people who are so poor that N5,000 can make a difference. That recognition for me is important in a country where nobody has discussed this category of people before. However, the challenge of getting that done is huge, given the paucity of data. All the investments we have made in national ID card, you guys know how much previous governments have spent, trying to organize a national data without which really, you cant deliver a couple of things, because you need a data base that is reliable to be to identify who is poor, where is he located and how do we deliver something to him. But for me, there is a commitment. I can see a heart that cares for the poor. But that doesnt mean caring for the poor will make the poverty disappear overnight. But that is a starting point, because if you dont recognise that we have these people amongst us and they are in millions, then you are not even likely to reflect on how to deal with their problems. For me, in terms of values I can see a lot. ADVERTISEMENT The minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Muhammad Bello, has relaxed the 6 p.m. 6 a.m. curfew imposed in Bwari town as a result of the Christmas Day mayhem in the town to 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. In a statement issued on Friday, the minister said the move was as a result of visible signs of return of normalcy to the area. According to the statement, Mr. Bello, who was represented by the Secretary of Area Councils Services Secretariat, Adamu Bappah, made the declaration after a security meeting on the situation on ground in the town. Mr. Bello appealed to residents, community leaders and faith-based organisations to work towards the final return of peace to the town, noting that it will aid progress and development in the community. He urged all the residents to be alert in their neighbourhoods and to report all suspicious movements to security agencies. He commended the residents for being law-abiding and supportive of the efforts of the administration to ensure that normalcy returned to the town Similarly, the Bwari Area Council Chairman, Musa Diko, said the security agencies would intensify joint patrols in the various neighbourhoods and contiguous border towns as well as synergise and share information with their colleagues in Niger, Kaduna and Nasarawa states. PREMIUM TIMES had reported the violence, which residents said was caused by the killing of a man in December 2017. ADVERTISEMENT The Bayelsa State Government says that the ongoing reforms at the local government tier has reduced the monthly wage bill of the eight council areas in the state by N300 million. Agatha Goma, the Commissioner for Local Government Administration, stated this on Friday at the ongoing inter-ministerial briefing to mark the sixth anniversary of the Seriake Dickson administration. She noted that the current administration had introduced fiscal discipline and set up procedures on prudent management of public funds at the local government level in the state. The commissioner said the reforms were tackling wastage in the system and would be pursued to a logical conclusion. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Ministries, Departments and Agencies in Bayelsa had been taking turns to showcase their score cards as part of the six years anniversary of the present administration, Mrs. Goma observed that lack of supervision of the local government system had resulted in the uncontrolled recruitment of personnel without an audit leading to over bloated wage bill. She said the dwindling allocation to the local government tier during the economic recession caused a distress in the system, resulting in insufficient funds to pay workers salary. We got into office and discovered that the wage bill of the local governments across the state was in excess of N1.4 billion at such a time that the total revenue that accruing to the councils was about N600 million. We took steps to check the excesses, which is yielding results. As at December 2015, the wage bill dropped from over N1.4 billion to N1.38 billion; in April 2016, it further dropped to N1.22 billion and currently it stands at N1.18 billion. We have changed the narrative such that the funds freed are being channelled to development at the grassroots and today there are numerous ambitious projects dotted across the state undertaken by the local governments, Mrs. Goma said. She also said that the Bayelsa Fire Service supervised by her ministry performed optimally due to the upgrading of facilities and provision of fire -fighting equipment and training of 34 firemen. According to her, property valued at about N500 million was lost to fire incidents in 2017 while the fire service responded to 45 distress calls. (NAN) MEXICO CITYWashingtons top diplomat was to sit down Friday with the leader of the country that President Donald Trump has perhaps disparaged more than any other, the United States neighbor Mexico. As he confronts the first stage on his first Latin American tour since being named secretary of state, former oilman Rex Tillerson will talk trade, crime and immigration with President Enrique Pena Nieto. Before setting off, Tillerson laid out a vision of the US and Latin Americathe democratic hemisphereworking together to build a prosperous future, but first he will have to overcome the aftermath of Trumps aggressive brand of diplomacy. Trump has called the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) perhaps the worst deal in the history of the world, has said immigrants from across the southern border bring crime with them and remains determined to build a frontier wall. On some positions, Trump has softened his rhetoric since his inauguration a year ago, but in this weeks State of the Union address he spoke more about cross-border crime and immigration than any other foreign policy topic. Pena Nieto meanwhile is under pressure at home not to give up too much ground to his pushy northern neighbor, even though Mexico and Canada are keen to save NAFTA from Trumps threat to rip it up and start anew. Tillerson, in Latin America to build support for a tough stance against Venezuelas beleaguered government and make the case for closer economic ties and warn of Chinese encroachment, is not the US trade representative and could do without the row. But, when he sits down on Friday with Pena Nieto and his Canadian counterpart Chrystia Freeland the trade deal will be in the foreground of their agenda, and he has adopted an optimistic approach, whatever Trumps rhetoric. Im a Texan, former energy executive, and Im also a rancher. I understand how important NAFTA is for our economy and that of the continent, Tillerson told students at his alma mater, the University of Texas, on Thursday before flying south. But it should come as no surprise that an agreement put into place 30 years ago, before the advent of the digital age and the digital economy, before Chinas rise as the worlds second largest economy, that NAFTA would need to be modernized. Another round of talks is scheduled for next month and Canada and Mexico hope a deal can be salvaged. Mexicos foreign minister Luis Videgaray also met Freeland on Thursday before having dinner with Tillerson, ahead of Fridays presidential talks. After Mexico, Tillersonwho is often left with the task of explaining why Trumps America First slogan does not mean America Alonewas to travel on to Argentina, Peru, Colombia and Jamaica, touting his vision of deeper cooperation. We share an interwoven history and chronology. Our nations still reflect the New World optimism of limitless discovery, he said.And importantly, we share democratic values, values that are the core of what we believe, regardless of the color of our passport. In Mexico City, Tillerson was also due to discuss security and immigration with top officials, and he echoed Trumps warning of the need to fight violent drug cartels. The most immediate threat to our hemisphere are transnational criminal organizations, or TCOs, Tillerson said. In their pursuit of money and power, TCOs leave death and destruction in their wake. Tillerson also warned that China and Russia are assuming alarming roles in Latin America and urged regional powers to work with the US instead. Latin America doesnt need new imperial powers that seek only to benefit their own people, he said. He also went on the offensive against the leftist government of Venezuela, once a rival center of influence for Latin American nations, now a political and economic basket case. The corrupt and hostile regime of Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela clings to a false dream, an antiquated vision for the region that has already failed its citizens, Tillerson said. He noted that the United States, Canada and European Union have imposed economic sanctions targeting Maduro loyalists seen as profiteers or human rights abusers. He called on Latin America to do the same. The continents major powers reject the regime, but are cautious about piling on more economic misery with Venezuela on the brink of chaos. On Friday he is to meet Pena Nieto before heading to his next engagement at the Andean resort of Bariloche, Argentina, and then to Buenos Aires on Monday. Before arriving back in Washington late on Wednesday, he is to visit Peruthe host of a coming Summit of the Americasas well as Colombia and Jamaica. ADVERTISEMENT Lagos State Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, on Thursday paid a courtesy visit on his counterpart in Enugu State, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, where he again reiterated support for a united and indivisible Nigeria. Speaking at the Enugu Government House located at Independence Layout where he was received by top government functionaries, Governor Ambode said since assumption of office, concerted efforts have been made to maintain peace and harmony in the State. Governor Ambode, who was in Enugu to attend the final burial of late former Vice President, Alex Ekwueme, in his capacity as Chairman of Southern Governors Forum, said considering the cosmopolitan nature of Lagos being the melting pot of various cultures, deliberate policies were put in place to promote harmonious relationship among residents. He said: I am more Igbo than any other person because Lagos is a cosmopolitan State and I am not too sure whether I can cross any street in Lagos without having an Igbo brother or sister and if you want to govern Lagos properly, you have to abide by the rules and conditions of business men and women and which the majority happens to be our brothers. In the last 32 months that I have been Governor, I have tried as much as possible to keep peace and keep harmony because that is the only way my economy can grow and that is the only way Nigeria also can grow and that is why we are for a united Nigeria. It is also why I am so happy that the last time that the Southern Governors Forum meeting attended by all the Governors was held in Lagos and being the Chairman of the Forum, I took it upon myself that I have to be here for the burial of the late former Vice President, Dr Alex Ekwueme, he said. Besides, Governor Ambode commended Mr. Ugwuanyi for the developmental strides in Enugu, saying where other states seem to be having problem, there is dignified peace and stability in Enugu. Lagos State Governor Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode (right), with his Enugu State counterpart, Mr. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi during Gov. Ambodes courtesy visit to the Enugu State Government House, on Thursday, February 1, 2018. Lagos State Governor Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode (right), with his Enugu State counterpart, Mr. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi during Gov. Ambodes courtesy visit to the Enugu State Government House, on Thursday, February 1, 2018. Lagos State Governor Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode (middle); his Enugu State counterpart, Mr. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (left) and Lagos State Attorney General/Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Adeniji Kazeem (right) during Gov. Ambodes courtesy visit to the Enugu State Government House, on Thursday, February 1, 2018. Irrespective of party affiliation, development is development and progress is progress and the whole thing is more about being people-oriented and we give God all the glory that there are still people who can prove that there is good governance in Nigeria, said Governor Ambode who was accompanied by members of the State Executive Council. Aside Governor Ugwuanyi, other dignitaries who joined in receiving Governor Ambode and his entourage at the Lion Building of Enugu Government House located at Independence Layout included the States Deputy Governor, Cecelia Ezeilo; former Governor of Kano State, Rabiu Kwankwaso; Senates Minority Leader, Godswill Akpabio; members of Enugu State Executive Council, among others. ADVERTISEMENT The Enugu State Government says that one of its major policy thrusts is to achieve self-sufficiency in food production and exportation in 2018. The Commissioner for Agriculture, Emeka Edeh, made this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Enugu on Friday. He said that the state government was prepared to fulfill its mandate to the people as enshrined in its four-point agenda. Mr. Edeh said that the policy thrust as it affected agriculture was the establishment of 21 green cities for food production, following the state governments undertaking to make food available to the people. He said that the state governor, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, had been living up to his word by training over 2,000 youths on self-reliant agriculture. Mr. Edeh said that the governor trained and empowered the youth with N100,000 each to set up a business and promised to do more if the money was properly managed. He said the government had planted hectares of maize, rice, soya beans and other crops in its green cities, saying that government had also established 16 fish ponds across the state. The commissioner said that the state government was encouraging the local governments to establish their own green cities as part of this years project. (NAN) ADVERTISEMENT The Chairman of Oyo State Independent Electoral Commission (OYSIEC), John Ajeigbe, says the rescheduled local government election in the state will now hold on May 12. Mr. Ajeigbe made this known on Friday while addressing newsmen in Ibadan. He said the election would now hold because the Federal High Court Abuja injunction earlier stopping the conduct of the council poll on February 11, 2017, had been lifted. The chairman said the election would hold in all the 33 local council areas and the 35 local council development areas in the state. He reiterated the commitment of the state electoral body to conduct free, fair and credible election. Mr. Ajeigbe further assured the stakeholders that the commission would play the role of an unbiased umpire in the conduct of the poll and called for mutual understanding for a successful exercise. The chairman further solicited the cooperation of newsmen, saying `they have a greater role to play. You are all conscious of the fact that Oyo State is the central nerve of political activities in the South-West. Therefore I want to appeal to the gentlemen of the press to exercise caution while reporting election matters. He said details on the election timetable would be published in the national dailies soon. Waheed Oyewole, State Chairman, Intra-Party Advisory Committee, said the development was a good one and urged OYSIEC to conduct a free and fair poll. Mr. Oyewole said the credibility of the election would depend on the sincerity and unbiased actions of the state electoral body. (NAN) Posted Friday, February 2, 2018 5:00 am President Kristen Cologna opened the Jan. 25 meeting at 6:30 p.m. sharp. There were 11 Lions and three guests in attendance. Guests were Ruth Brooks, Don Weaver and a gentleman by the name of Mike, who spoke to us about a concern in the course of the meeting. The Tail Twister made his rounds and then collected happy dollars: Cole was glad we had such a beautiful day. Cindy was also happy that the day turned out beautiful and is hoping for many more. Jack was happy to have had two doctor visits this week in which they did not keep him overnight. Johnny was happy his mom is able to start attend meetings again. Junior was happy that Johnny's mom was here and that John Bill is out of the hospital and in attendance. Minutes from the Jan. 4 meeting were read and approved. As always, secretary Bart made sure we are all entertained with his magnificent way with words. Before we continued with the regular meeting, we had a citizen from the community, Mike, who spoke to us about helping to gather funds for a child's bike needs. The young man's name is Canyon, and he has had some life issues and needs encouragement. This young man is attending the Marshfield Christian School, which seems to be helping him in several different ways. Mike is trying to collect $200 to purchase this bike. A motion was made by John Greer and Johnnie to donate $100 from the club through our Random Acts of Kindness program and $25 additional was donated from an anonymous donor. The club challenged other public service clubs in the Marshfield community to match our efforts. Mike was very much appreciative of our donations and will send us a picture when the bike is presented to Canyon. OLD BUSINESS Junior reported on the Hobo Day which was held at Freistatt this year. There were close to 80 attendees, which seemed to be the biggest turnout in several years. Shorty dressed up as a hobo again this year, but alas, she did not win for best dressed hobo. The winner was a past District Governor. Maybe next year, Shorty! The soup and chili supper turned out to be a great event. We made approximately $1,720. We appreciate the community and the businesses for their support. Without them, the success of this event would not be possible. Johnny passed around the picture of the blue tee winner, Bill, from our last meeting. Many wonderful comments were made. Again, congratulations to Bill for his win of splitting the 50/50 pot. NEW BUSINESS Our next soup and chili dinner will be from 4-7 p.m. Feb. 24. The funds raised will help support the Webster County Food Pantry. There will be no pie auction at this event. Registration forms for the District Convention in Lebanon are available. This convention will be in March. Kristen has been nominated to the Decorating Committee and Joyce has been nominated to the Dinner Committee. Motion was made by Junior and seconded by Lionel to draw for the blue tee. Joyce won the opportunity to draw for the blue tee, but not before the whole group gave her grief about the prize being such a small pot because of Bill's recent win. As she pulled out the white tee, you could see her excitement not to be a winner which will give her a chance for a bigger pot later! Meeting adjourned at 7:01 p.m. South Africans in the city of Johannesburg have marked the 17th birthday of Ahed al-Tamimi, a Palestinian teenage girl who has become a global icon in Palestinian resistance against Israeli occupation following her arrest late last year. Al-Tamimi marked her birthday in an Israeli jail on Wednesday but the event was given fame in Johannesburg where supporters of the Palestinian cause, launched a photo exhibition, which will last for a month, Middle East Monitor (MEMO) reports. The teenage Palestinian girl was arrested in December amid protests against President Donald Trumps decision recognizing Jerusalem as Israels capital. She rose to fame after a video, which went viral on social media, showed her hitting two Israeli soldiers after the forces raided her house in the West Bank. South Africans protested against her arrest and demanded Israel to free the now-turned global icon. Other Palestinian resistance activists are also celebrated in the photo exhibition. Turkish ambassador to South Africa Elif Comoglu Ulgen joined the celebration and the campaign in support of Palestinians. The forex and cryptocurrency liquidity and technology provider has signed a cooperation agreement and opened a new Malaysian office amid growing interest in the region. Contact B2Broker ***@b2broker.net B2Broker End -- B2Broker, an aggregator and provider of turnkey, cloud, and liquidity solutions for the foreign exchange (FX) industry, has signed a cooperation agreement with a partner in Malaysia aimed at bolstering its presence in the Asian region.The company has announced that Yogeshwaran Chandra Dash, its new Malaysian partner, a native of Kuala Lumpur with over 10 years experience in the financial market, is tasked with developing the Malaysian market as part of its plans to expand into Asia and extend its global reach.The cooperation agreement was signed in parallel with the opening of a new office in Selangor which is due to commence operations in mid-February 2018. The office is already in the process of a recruitment drive to cater for its growing client base in Malaysia.The announcement comes on the back of the company's early successes in the Asian region. Evgeniya Mykulyak, Chief Operating Officer, B2Broker commented, "We have onboarded several important clients from this region, with our first international client having coincidentally hailed from Malaysia. We have very promising goals for our new office and expect to connect over 20 brokerage companies by the end of 2018".B2Broker has experienced a positive start to the new year following the success of its recent ICO for its B2BX project. The project is targeted at institutional clients to create a comprehensive marketplace for regulated and certified brokers, combining Bitcoin trading with existing retail forex trading solutions.Having most recently showcased its services at Hong Kong's iFX Expo, B2Broker's new Malaysian office is a timely move, falling in line with the company's expansion plans while positioning itself to connect with more service providers across the world.B2Broker was founded by group of IT professionals in the Forex industry and is an aggregator and provider of turnkey, cloud and liquidity solutions for the foreign exchange (FX) industry.The company specialises in the sphere of B2B services and products, catering for a wide range of clients including individual investors, large licenced brokers, banks, hedge funds and professional managers.B2Broker's advanced base of ready to use technical solutions enable brokers to save time and money on consuming infrastructure projects so they can focus on selling and enlarging their client base and eliminating the need to commit to expensive, long-term and labour-consuming processes of building and supporting the technical infrastructure of a brokerage business.Clients have access to a range of products and services including Turnkey Solutions, White Label Solutions for MT4 and MT5, Trader's Room modules for brokerage websites, CRM systems for brokerage sales and retention departments, DMA Liquidity, PAMM/MAM Services, Web API MT4/5, Cloud B2Bridge and Legal and Financial Services.B2Broker's new office is located at No.109, 1st Floor, Jalan SS14/ 1, SS14, Subang Jaya, Selangor, 47500 Malaysia.Yogeshwaran Chandra Das, Head of Malaysian office can be contacted at yogesh@b2broker.net VAL-D'OR, QC, Feb. 2, 2018 /PRNewswire/ - ABE Resources Inc. (TSXV: ABE) (OTC: ABEPF) (the "Company" or "ABE") is pleased to announce the closing of its acquisition (the "Transaction") of a 100% undivided interest in the Sirmac lithium property (the "Sirmac Lithium Property") from Nemaska Lithium Inc. ("Nemaska Lithium") (TSX: NMX) (OTC: NMKEF) (FRANKFURT: N0T) pursuant to the terms and conditions of the asset purchase agreement between the parties, previously announced on December 14, 2017 and January 5, 2018. The Sirmac Lithium Property consists of 24 map designated mining claims having a total area of approximately 1,100 hectares, located approximately 180 kilometres North-West of Chibougamau, in the province of Quebec. In connection with the Transaction, an updated independent technical report on the Sirmac Lithium Property, dated January 19, 2018 (the "Technical Report"), was prepared for ABE in accordance with National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects ("NI 43-101") by John Langton, M.Sc., P.Geo of MRB & Associates, a qualified person under NI 43-101. The Technical Report has been filed and is available under ABE's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Highlights from the Technical Report Nemaska Lithium completed 73 NQ-sized drill holes on the Sirmac Lithium Property in 2012 totalling 3,379.2 m and conducted extensive mechanical stripping and channel sampling of the #5 dyke. Results of this work were used by SGS Canada Inc. (SGS) of Blainville, Quebec to calculate a NI 43-101, within-pit, Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) in 2014, which is included as a historical estimate in the Technical Report (see Table 1 below). Table 1: Historical Estimate for the Sirmac Lithium Property with 0.50% Li 2 O Cut-Off Grade Cut-Off Grade Li 2 O%(1) Category(1)(2) Tonnage (t)(1)(3) Average Grade Li 2 O%(1) Average Grade Ta 2 O 5 (ppm)(1)(4) 0.50 Measured 185,000 1.40 70 0.50 Indicated 79,000 1.40 80 0.50 Inferred 40,000 1.10 60 Notes: (1) Effective date of December 19, 2013. (2) The historical estimate was calculated using the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (CIM) Definitions Standards for mineral resources in accordance with NI 43-101. Mineral resources which are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. Inferred mineral resources are exclusive of the measured and indicated resources. (3) Bulk density of 2.70 t/m3 is used. Rounded to the nearest thousand. (4) Ta 2 O 5 mineralization has yet to demonstrate recoverability and potential for economic extraction. While the Company considers the historical estimate to be relevant to investors, as it may indicate the presence of mineralization, a qualified person has not done sufficient work for ABE to classify the historical estimate as current "mineral resources" or "mineral reserves" (as defined in NI 43-101) and the Company is not treating this historical estimate as current "mineral resources" or "mineral reserves". Phase I of the recommended work program set out in the Technical Report involves a resampling of historic drill-core intervals for QA/QC purposes and twinning of a number of historic holes as part of a program to validate and potentially increase the historical estimate. All available data should be integrated into a 3D model of the Sirmac Lithium Property using Geoscience Analyst or similar software in order to better understand and advance the geological/structural model of the intrusion(s) comprising the #5 dyke complex. A detailed geological mapping, prospecting and sampling program should be initiated to investigate the areas of the Sirmac Lithium Property that have recently been clear-cut by wood-harvesting operations. A high-resolution magnetic survey is also recommended for the Sirmac Lithium Property. Being extremely low in iron, LCT pegmatites do not have a strong magnetic geophysical signature; however, the host metasedimentary and basaltic rocks are magnetic and strike at a high-angle to the pegmatite dykes, which should allow for resolution using magnetic survey methods. Conditional on the success of the Phase I program, the author of the Technical Report recommends a Phase II exploration program consisting of a comprehensive diamond-drilling program targeting the most prospective areas interpreted from the results of the Phase I program. "We are very excited to start working and to begin to realize the vast potential of this property," commented Yves Rougerie, President and CEO of ABE. "Our next step is to conduct a Mag survey which will help us identify the numerous other pegmatites on the property. Certainly, Dyke no. 5 is a large pegmatite and a very obvious target to begin work on. Since Nemaska Lithium first went on the property, there has been a lot of logging activity which has provided us with better access to the property and enabled us to see other pegmatites which were previously not visible and should be explored. Better sight lines combined with a Mag survey should generate numerous additional targets for exploration. Our goal is to build a large world class deposit on this property." The scientific and technical information in this release has been reviewed and approved by Yves Rougerie, Geologist, President and CEO of the Company. Mr. Rougerie is a "qualified person" as defined in NI 43-101. About ABE Resources Inc. ABE Resources Inc. is a Quebec mineral exploration company focused on the discovery and development of mineral deposits of economic potential primarily in the province of Quebec. With the addition of the Sirmac Lithium Property to ABE's other material exploration project, the Dome Lemieux copper property, ABE will be actively exploring two highly prospective battery material properties. For further information on the Company, please visit our website at www.aberesources.ca or contact us at [email protected]. NEITHER THE TSXV NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER (AS THAT TERM IS DEFINED IN THE POLICIES OF THE TSXV) ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE. CAUTIONARY STATEMENT REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION: This news release includes certain "forward-looking statements" under applicable Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to: the historical estimate, the estimates of cut-off grade and other factors underlying the historical estimate, the potential to extend the historical estimate to other portions of the Sirmac Lithium Property, the Company's plans for further drilling and exploration, and the business and operations of the Company following completion of the proposed Transaction. Forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon a number of estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable, are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors which may cause the actual results and future events to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such risks and other factors include, but are not limited to: the historical estimate of mineral resources may never become mineral reserves and does not have demonstrated economic viability; the assumptions made to calculate the historical estimate may turn out to be inaccurate; additional drilling and exploration may lead to a determination that there is no potentially viable mine plan for the Sirmac Lithium Property; general business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties; and the ability of the Company to execute and achieve its business objectives. There can be no assurance that the forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law. SOURCE ABE Resources Inc. WARSAW, Poland, Feb. 2, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- AJC Central Europe is urging Polish lawmakers to reconsider their adoption of a controversial bill regarding Holocaust accountability. The bill, which amends the Institute of National Remembrance law, makes it a crime, punishable by up to three years in prison, to use statements, such as "Polish death camps," suggesting Poland bears any responsibility for crimes against humanity committed by Nazi Germany. "It is a very sad day for Poland when lawmakers adopt a measure that has provoked the biggest crisis since 1989 in Polish-Jewish relations, as well as in Poland's bilateral ties to Israel and to Poland's chief western ally, the United States," said Agnieszka Markiewicz, Director of AJC Central Europe. "President Duda has an opportunity to defuse this crisis by not signing the bill, and suggesting steps be taken to work with the Jewish community, Israel and the U.S. to repair the relations." The U.S. State Department and the bipartisan congressional Task Force for Combating Anti-Semitism have urged Poland to reconsider the bill. State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert said, "We encourage Poland to reevaluate the legislation in light of its potential impact on the principle of free speech and on our ability to be effective partners." The Polish Parliament's lower chamber adopted the measure last Friday, on the eve of International Holocaust Remembrance Day, and the Senate passed it Wednesday, despite a concerted effort by the Israeli and Polish governments to ameliorate the tense situation. "It is stunning that Senators chose to vote without making any effort to allow for dialogue between the Polish and Israeli governments, or to consider the damage this measure may well cause to relations with the U.S. and world Jewry," said Markiewicz. "Many Holocaust survivors fear they may be punished if they tell their personal stories in which Poles are described as perpetrators rather than friends or helpers." Markiewicz urged "Poland and Israel to pursue talks. We hope that, despite the unfortunate action of the Polish Parliament, and some of the reaction from Israel, both countries will continue efforts to avert a tragic regression in the critically important relationships and understandings that have been achieved in recent years." SOURCE American Jewish Committee Related Links http://www.ajc.org Cash donations of RMB200,000 (US$31,797) from Mead Johnson Nutrition and RMB100,000 (US$15,898) from Jingxing Real Estate and in-kind donations of RMB3,129,517 (US$497,538) were raised in this year's charity effort. In-kind donations included products at market value of RMB60,000 (US$9,539) from P&G, RMB20,000 (US$3,180) from Apex Tools and Orthopedics, and RMB3,000,000 (US$476,948) from Skullcandy Audio (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd.. Products of clothing, educational materials, bedding, food, stationery, and headsets were donated from member companies. All donations will be properly processed by Guangzhou Youth Development Foundation, and cash donations will be used to save the lives of orphaned children in need of immediate life-saving surgery and to help Wuxing Village combat poverty. On February 2nd, a team of medical professionals from the Guangzhou Women and Children's Medical Center and the Sanitation Center of Zhuanshui County co-offered free onsite medical checkups and consultations to the villagers. The delegation also visited the local families in need of assistance, allowing AmCham South China to learn more about the villagers' living conditions. According to official statistics, Wuxing Village, located in Wuhua County of Meizhou City, covers an area of 11.5 kilometers and has a population of 4,034 people, comprising of 82 relatively poverty-stricken households (252 people). Before the Chamber's charity efforts last year, Wuxing Village was home to 157 poverty-stricken households (909 people), a preliminary census shows. For years, Guangzhou People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries of Guangzhou Foreign Affairs Bureau, Guangzhou Charity Association of Guangzhou Civil Affairs Bureau, Guangzhou Women and Children's Medical Center, and Guangzhou Youth Development Foundation have been partners of AmCham South China in the AmCham South China Charity Theme Events. * Chinese Yuan Renminbi (CNY) to U.S. Dollar (USD) exchange rate on Feb 2, 2018 was 6.29:1. About The American Chamber of Commerce in South China The American Chamber of Commerce in South China (AmCham South China) is a non-partisan, non-profit organization dedicated to facilitating bilateral trade between the United States and the People's Republic of China. Certified in 1995 by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in Washington D.C., AmCham South China represents more than 2,300 corporate and individual members, is governed by a fully-independent Board of Governors elected from its membership, and provides dynamic, on-the-ground support for American and International companies doing business in South China. In 2017, AmCham South China hosted nearly 10,000 business executives and government leaders from around the world at its briefings, seminars, committee meetings and social gatherings. The American Chamber of Commerce in South China is a fully independent organization accredited by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in Washington, D.C. All AmChams in China are independently governed and represent member companies in their respective regions. The mission of the American Chamber of Commerce in South China is to promote the development of trade, commerce and investment between the United States and the People's Republic of China with a special focus on South China; to provide a forum in which member businesses can identify their common interests and discuss solutions for common problems; to work with and advocate member interests with relevant organizations in South China, elsewhere in China and the United States, and to set the standards for corporate social responsibility for the community that the Chamber serves. About Mead Johnson Nutrition Company Mead Johnson Nutrition Company was founded in 1905 by Edward Mead Johnson, and its global headquarters is located in Glenview, Illinois, in the United States. Mead Johnson has a proud history of over 110 years and is a global leader in infant and children's nutrition. The company has been committed from its very beginning to nourishing the world's children for the best start in life. Mead Johnson has a workforce of approximately 7,700 dedicated employees worldwide. The company manufactures and markets more than 70 products in over 50 countries. Those innovative products deliver tangible, often clinically-proven developmental and health outcomes, and have helped Mead Johnson earn the trust of millions of parents and health care professionals. In June 2017, Reckitt Benckiser, one of the Top 500 enterprises, announced the completion of the acquisition of the Mead Johnson Nutrition Company. Mead Johnson will initially operate as a separate division within RB. About Mead Johnson Nutrition (China) Ltd. Mead Johnson Nutrition China was founded in 1993. Our manufacturing facility is located at Dong Ji Xia Yuan Road in the Guangzhou Economic and Technological Development Zone. It covers an area of 60,000 square meters and boasts some of the world's most advanced production processes and technology. Currently, the company's sales network is established in 29 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities nationwide. Mead Johnson strives to advance its leadership role as part of the healthy growth of the entire pediatric nutrition industry. The company has operated strictly under its first-to-market "All-Rounded Safety" quality management model and GMP standards across its manufacturing, supply chains, storage and distribution networks. Having been awarded ISO9001:2008 certification, Mead Johnson China adheres to HACCP principles and meets all national food safety and hygiene standards. With deep roots in China extending back 24 years, Mead Johnson is committed to delivering professional care and support to Chinese consumers by providing high quality nutritional products for pregnant women, infants and children and sharing our advanced knowledge of pediatric science through various activities to enhance the awareness of the importance of early childhood nutrition among young Chinese parents. About Jingxing Company Jingxing Company started business in 1985 in the Import and Export field, working with renowned electrical brands such as Haier, Gree and Midea. With them the business achievements of Jingxing Company were excellent. In order to broaden the business platform, Jingxing Company entered the Real Estate field in 1995 and formed Guangzhou Jingxing Real Estate Co., Ltd. Now, Jingxing Company has become an integrated enterprise with interests in residential real estate, property management, hotel, business trades and commercial real estate development. The total assets of the company exceeds RMB6 billion and has over 200 employees. The company abides by the phrase "improve living quality, elevate construction quality" as its responsibility, using the phrase to optimize the city functions and advocating for quality living. About Wuxing Village Covering an area of 11.5 kilometers, Wuxing Village is located in the east of Zhuanshui Town, Wuhua County, and is home to 680 households with the total registered population of 4,034 people. With its counterpart-assistance organized by Guangzhou Foreign Affairs Office, Wuxing Village is relatively poverty-stricken and in need of targeted measures to help people lift themselves out of poverty in Guangdong Province. The Village is home to 82 relatively poverty-stricken households (252 people), out of which 55 households (215 people) are labor-capable and 27 households (37 people) are not. In 2016, the Village lifted 39 households (93 people) out of poverty, accounting for 36.9% of its total poverty-stricken population. Nowadays, Wuxing Village needs to address major issues of employing the poor population, renovating the mud buildings, and educating the young generation. With help from supporting organizations, Wuxing Village has built a separate workplace for its committee, a public health station for its villagers, and a one-kilometer road to its neighboring village. The village is improving the residents' living condition by cleaning up the chaotic piling-up of garbage and wires as well as demolishing dilapidated buildings, ruins, broken oxen, and open-air toilets. With the help of supporting organizations, the village has established a long-lasting garbage collecting system. About the Guangzhou People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (GZPAFFC) Established in 1984, the GZPAFFC is a citywide local group. The Association aims at establishing friendship and strengthening mutual understanding between local people in Guangzhou and people from around the world, as well as promoting communication and cooperation between them, maintaining world peace and promoting mutual development. The Association is guided by China People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, Guangdong People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries and other superior departments. About the Guangzhou Charity Association-Guangzhou Civil Affairs Bureau Founded on June 5, 1994, Guangzhou Charity Association is a registered citywide charitable society and individual volunteer group approved by the municipal government. The association is committed to promoting the spirit of humanitarian works, contributing to poverty alleviation, and helping people with less fortune and people in need. It promotes awareness of charity, and exploration of fields of charitable services. It calls for society to contribute to fundraising, emergency rescue, care for senior people, orphans and medical treatments, and volunteer teaching, so as to help people in need. The association has established a transparent charity information platform and explored more channels for public involvement in charity in order to help accelerate innovative development of the philanthropic industry. In the past 21 years, the fund raised by the association has added up to RMB2.46 billion and fund donations added up to RMB2.17 billion. For its great contribution, the association has received the "Extraordinary Award for Philanthropic Industry in China," "Charity Award in South Guangdong Area," "2014 Excellent Social Group in Guangzhou," and "5A Grade Social Group in Guangzhou." About Guangzhou Youth Development Foundation Guangzhou Youth Development Foundation (GYDF) was founded on May 4, 1994. This public foundation was co-founded by Guangzhou Committee of China's Communist Youth League, Guangzhou Youth Federation and Guangzhou Working Committee of Young Pioneers. For a long time, GYDF has attracted broad attention and support from all sectors of society. Meanwhile, it has received guidance and assistance from central, provincial and municipal authorities. It's not only a public funding agency but also a private foundation and social organization. It raises public funds in Guangdong province, while receiving voluntary contributions, investment income and other lawful income from organizations, natural persons and legal persons. GYDF aims to raise funds and material support for development of Guangzhou teenagers' careers by connecting with enterprise & public institutions, social organizations, other organizations and individuals home and abroad; to carry on helping orphans and the poor in their studies; to develop a first aid service; to subsidize all districts and institutions in Guangzhou to hold various activities which benefit teenagers' physical and psychological health; to support and promote studies of teenagers' problems; to award excellent teenagers and social organizations and individuals who make contribution to teenagers' careers. Since its establishment, GYDF has taken an active participation in social welfare with support from different sectors of society. It promotes "Help the Disadvantaged," devotes itself to building a harmonious society, and remains dedicated to helping poor students learn. When the whole nation was faced with natural disasters, GYDF united and led the municipal youth to work in earthquake relief. This manifests noble spirits of great love in Guangzhou. Through 20 years of development, GYDF, with the help of the public, has advanced with the times and solicited social resources, made a greater contribution to social welfare by building its website and Weibo, and organized voluntary service groups to broaden serving fields for teenagers. About Guangzhou Women and Children's Medical Center Guangzhou Women and Children's Medical Center (GWCMC) was established with the integration of the former Guangzhou Children's Hospital and former Guangzhou Maternity Health Care Center. Covering an area of 37,000 square meters and a built-up area of 130,000 square meters, the hospital is equipped with 1,400 beds. Among the 2,603 staff, 282 hold senior titles, 573 have received master's level educations or above and 47 of them are MD or MS mentors. In December 2012, GWCMC became the first public hospital in southern China to earn JCI accreditation. The Hospital has greatly enhanced its capacity building. Three specialties have been honorably recognized as National Key Clinical Specialties entitled by the Ministry of Health, including Respiratory, Gastroenterology and Pediatric Surgery; six as Guangdong Key Clinical Disciplines or Specialties and one as Key Medical Laboratories listed in Guangdong "12th Five Year Plan." It has been authorized to set up the National Post-Doctoral Research Station. Affiliated to Guangzhou Medical University, it also serves as a teaching, training and internship base for Sun Yat-sen University, South China Medical University and Jinan University Graduate School. The hospital has evolved to a high-level, comprehensive and multi-disciplinary health care institution, integrating the function of medical and healthcare, prevention, research and education. Caring for women and children with benevolence and expertise remains at the core of the hospital's mission. Its culture stems from the motto of "Integrity, Professionalism, Endeavor and Diligence," and core values of love, harmony, prudence and practicality. Guangzhou Women and Children's Medical Centre spares no effort in communication and cooperation with counterparts nationwide and worldwide. We have developed strong connections with British Columbia Children's Hospital, Kansas Children's Mercy Hospital, Cincinnati Children's Hospital and Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) through ongoing exchanges in training and research. Ms. Rachel Chen Communication Manager The American Chamber of Commerce in South China Tel: 86-20-8335-1476 ext. 39 Fax: 86-20-8332-1642 E-mail: [email protected] SOURCE AmCham South China NEW YORK, Feb. 2, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Americord Registry LLC is seeking up to $6 million in funding to fuel its rapidly expanding business. Ranked for the past three years as one of the fastest growing private companies in the United States, Americord intends to use the additional funds to continue its history of innovation through the development and promotion of new stem cell collection technology and innovative new stem cell therapies. CEO Martin Smithmyer "The biotech industry is growing at a rapid rate and we are looking forward to being a major player in that industry. While we are excited at the prospect of developing new products and breakthrough treatments, we are still committed to continuing to meet the high standards our current and potential clients expect," said CEO Martin Smithmyer. "Americord has a long track record of innovation and already offer products that no other company currently does. In this environment, it is definitely the right time to scale and grow with forward-thinking partners." This round of financing is intended to provide capital to further improve our state-of-the-art collection kit, expand our current digital marketing campaigns by raising physician awareness of our product and stem cell banking in general, and hire new personnel in key areas. New Product Development and R&D: Americord has developed a new cutting-edge product that is scheduled to be launched in March of this year. Geared toward newborns, the product will revolutionize the newborn biotech industry. In addition, Americord intends to launch its first therapeutic product offering sometime in 2018. Medical Product Improvements and Innovation: Americord is in the process of further refining the efficacy of its current stem cell banking products. These products are critical to stem cell banking and Americord's work will have a positive and significant impact on the future of medicine as regenerative therapy continues to grow. Investing in Americord's Infrastructure: Americord has a desire to continue growing at a profound rate. Funding will ensure that the company will be able to grow internationally in 2018 and make vertical and horizontal acquisitions within the biotech industry. Americord Registry LLC is a leader in the advancement of umbilical cord blood, cord tissue, and placenta tissue banking. Americord collects, processes, and stores newborn stem cells from umbilical cord blood for future medical or therapeutic use, including the treatment of more than 80 blood diseases such as sickle cell anemia and leukemia. Founded in 2008, Americord is registered with the FDA and operates in all 50 states. The company's laboratory is CLIA Certified, accredited by the AABB and complies with all federal and state guidelines and applicable licenses. Americord is headquartered in New York, NY. For more information, visit www.americordblood.com. Press Contacts [email protected] SOURCE Americord Registry Related Links www.americordblood.com SUNNYVALE, Calif., Feb. 2, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Bancolombia became the first Colombian company to sign a partnership with Plug and Play, an innovation ecosystem located in Silicon Valley that connects startups and corporations in specific industries. In this way, the organization seeks to expand its network to one of the most dynamic innovation ecosystems in the world and open its doors to entrepreneurs, accelerators and venture capital funds. According to Gabriel Di Lelle, Innovation and Digital Transformation Vice President of Bancolombia, joining Plug and Play is an opportunity to continue supporting entrepreneurs, develop partnerships and seek innovative solutions that facilitate the lives of their customers. "Today we open the doors to be on the radar of entrepreneurs, incubators, accelerators and capital funds that look to emerging markets, because they see in Latin America and Colombia a real opportunity for growth for their business models," says the Vice President. According to him, "Plug and Play is one of the most recognized accelerators in Silicon Valley, and since 2006, it has driven thousands of companies to accelerate their growth with a total investment of close to 6 billion dollars." "We are proud to announce Bancolombia as a partner and as one of our key members for our global entrepreneurship network. This provides our startups the opportunity to expand their presence in Colombia and Latin America," said Scott Robinson, VP and Founder of Plug and Play Fintech. Plug and Play Fintech will run two batches in 2018 with each batch consisting of approximately 25 startups. To learn more about Plug and Play Fintech, please visit pnptc.com/fintech or contact Ashlene Ramadan at [email protected] About Plug and Play Plug and Play is a global innovation platform. We connect startups to corporations and invest in over 150 companies every year. Since inception in 2006, our programs have expanded worldwide to include a presence in 28 locations globally giving startups the necessary resources to succeed in Silicon Valley and beyond. With over 6,000 startups and 220 official corporate partners, we have created the ultimate startup ecosystem in many industries. We provide active investments with 200 leading Silicon Valley VCs, and host more than 365 networking events per year. Companies in our community have raised over $6 billion in funding, with successful portfolio exits including Danger, Dropbox, Lending Club, PayPal, SoundHound, and Zoosk. For more information, visit www.plugandplaytechcenter.com About Grupo Bancolombia Grupo Bancolombia is an organization with presence in Colombia and Central America, 23 years in the New York Stock Exchange and offers a broad portfolio of financial products and services to more than 10 million active clients. It provides commercial and consumer banking services, stock brokerage, investment banking, financial leasing, factoring, fiduciary services, asset management and private banking, among others. Ashlene Ramadan Plug and Play, FinTech Plug and Play, Security Cell: 818-699-7595 SOURCE Plug and Play Related Links http://plugandplaytechcenter.com FAIRFIELD, Conn., Feb. 2, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- SouthernAirs, the company that celebrates Southern-themed cuisine and culture, released four new branded hot sauces for Valentine's Day HOT Wife, HOT Husband, HOT Girlfriend and HOT Boyfriend. The all-natural sauces are gluten-free, soy-free, dairy-free, and may have other healthy attributes as well. Photo of Hot Sauces from SouthernAirs "Our hot sauces are the perfect gift to share with your significant other," said SouthernAirs president John Morgan. "There's just the right amount of boldness and passion in every drop." The SouthernAirs hot sauces contain various combinations of cayenne, habanero and serrano peppers with heat levels from mild to extra hot, plus vinegar and spices. Morgan cited a 2017 University of Vermont medical study that found hot chili pepper consumption is associated with a 13% lower mortality rate, and that the principal hot pepper component capsaicin may defend against heart disease. "If hot sauce is good for your heart, it may be good for love, also," Morgan said. "SouthernAirs hot sauces aims to be the ideal condiment for those special occasions." Company co-founder Judith Re' described the new hot sauces: HOT WIFE Hot Sauce, "named after your favorite gal", is a Rojo-style red sauce containing cayenne chiles, registering 4/10 on the Scoville heat scale. HOT HUSBAND Hot Sauce, which "finishes with a handsome burn that is fun to share", is a reliable Sriracha-style sauce, registering 4/10 on the Scoville scale. HOT GIRLFRIEND Hot Sauce, "offering the right amount of sweet and heat in every drop", is a combination of habaneros and chiles paired with mangos and pineapples. A great addition to margaritas! Registers 4/10 on the Scoville scale. HOT BOYFRIEND Hot Sauce "is a lot more than just eye candy", featuring a trio of smoked japanenos, cayenne chiles and habaneros that add up to a sizzling 8/10 on the Scoville scale. SouthernAirs offers a full line of Southern-themed sauces, jams and other condiments, including sweet bourbon glaze, cinnamon pear jam, Carolina barbecue sauce, apple hickory barbecue sauce and FROG jam. SouthernAirs products are available on Amazon, on the SouthernAirs website www.southernairs.com, and at selected stores. SouthernAirs.com features an online store, recipes and blogs. SouthernAirs is a celebration of cuisine, culture and the sauce on top. Company products are made in the SouthernAirs tradition of quality and craftsmanship with all-natural ingredients. Media Contact: John Morgan [email protected] 203-526-7046 SOURCE SouthernAirs Related Links http://www.southernairs.com SALT LAKE CITY, Feb. 2, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- RizePoint, the leading provider of quality management software, today announced that Chris Heaton, director of finance and operations at RizePoint, has been named as one of Utah Business' Forty Under 40, an honor recognizing Utah's exceptional talent. "Chris has been a vital part of RizePoint's transformation over the last three years," said Frank Maylett, president and CEO of RizePoint. "Chris has a talent for using data to solve business problems and achieve incredible results. At RizePoint, he applies his fluency with disparate business systems and his ability to digest large amounts of data to create clear action plans." Heaton joined RizePoint in January 2015. In his first year, Heaton developed customer intelligence that allowed the sales team to identify growth opportunities based on usage metrics and ultimately quadrupled bookings from existing clients in his first year. "My time at RizePoint has been the most exciting, the most challenging and the most rewarding part of my career," Heaton said. "It's an honor to be part of such a wonderful, dedicated, selfless and driven team. I'm humbled to be among such incredible recipients of the Utah Business Forty Under 40 award." A 15-year veteran of technology businesses, Heaton joined RizePoint from Hewlett-Packard Enterprise where he held multiple roles in controllership, FP&A, strategy, and sales finance. Prior to HPE, he worked in technology and management consulting at Sapient, consulting for General Motors, Enbridge, and the Department of Defense. Heaton holds an MBA from Duke's Fuqua School of Business and degrees in computer science and economics from Brigham Young University. Heaton will be recognized with this year's Forty Under 40 honorees at an awards ceremony and luncheon held at The Grand America Hotel on February 9, 2018. RizePoint At-a-Glance RizePoint mobile and cloud-based software helps organizations improve the quality, safety, and sustainability of their products, services, and facilities. RizePoint's software is used by 5 of the top 8 hospitality brands and 5 of the top 8 food service brands. RizePoint serves more than 387,000 users in 120 countries and territories, speaking 40 languages: 105,000 food service restaurants restaurants 27,000 hotels and resort properties properties 13,000 grocery and retail stores About RizePoint RizePoint is the global leader in Quality Experience Management SaaS solutions. RizePoint software creates a hub of valuable compliance information to align organizational focus on brand protection. Dedicated to helping our customers deliver a positive brand experience, RizePoint serves more than 2 million audits with 300 million questions answered annually. Considered the industry standard for food service, hospitality, and retail, RizePoint is headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah. For more information, visit www.rizepoint.com. About Forty Under 40 Awards This program recognizes business professionals under the age of 40 who have climbed the corporate ladder quickly, who have become standouts in their field, demonstrated exceptional leadership qualities, created a disruptive technology that has had a major impact in their industry or an entrepreneur who has created a market or industry for a new product and had a high level of success. For more information, visit http://www.utahbusiness.com Press Inquiries: Whitney McCarthy 801.285.9827 [email protected] SOURCE RizePoint Related Links http://www.rizepoint.com - State-of-the-art 5400 m2 manufacturing facility will play a key role in supplying local and U.S. based medical device companies with advanced component and sub-assembly solutions. SAN JOSE, Costa Rica, Feb. 1, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Heraeus Medical Components, today held the grand opening of its new state-of-the-art manufacturing facility, underscoring its commitment to its global customers, innovation and growth in Costa Rica. Recognized as one of the world's leading medical device suppliers, Heraeus designed the Cartago site to play a major manufacturing role in its Finished Devices business line, which includes cardiovascular access guidewires and catheters. To meet the evolving needs of its customers, Costa Rica is now part of the global Heraeus Medical Components operation with facilities in Germany, Switzerland, United States, Puerto Rico and Singapore. Located at La Lima Free Zone & Business Park, in Cartago, the new operation is planned to play a key role in supplying local and U.S. based medical device companies with advanced component and sub-assembly solutions. A majority of the Heraeus Costa Rica devices are critical access and delivery tools used to precisely deliver treatment in a variety of cardiac and vascular procedures. Working with its medical device customers and medical technology companies in Costa Rica, Heraeus Medical Components expects to produce over two million cardiovascular access guidewires alone in 2018 in addition to other interventional medical device products. With expected growth in the future, the site in Cartago was designed with the ability to double the manufacturing footprint for future expansion. Joining in the celebration was Costa Rica President, Luis Guillermo Solis. Jan Rinnert, Chairman of the Heraeus Board of Management and other prominent government officials and civic leaders. At the ceremony, President Luis Guillermo Solis said: "The expansion of the Heraeus company is a demonstration of the good conditions of Costa Rica as an investment destination, since it has qualified human talent, economic and political stability that guarantee strengthening of its operation. In addition, in this specific case the impulse to attract investment in provinces is fulfilled, which, like Cartago, has enormous potential to generate employment and well-being in specialized areas such as medical devices and technology." Heraeus Medical Components belongs to the German technology group Heraeus, with over 100 subsidiaries in 38 countries and approximately 12,400 employees worldwide. Jan Rinnert, Chairman of the Heraeus Board of Management, noted that while the company's portfolio of businesses spans a wide range of industries from telecommunications to renewable energy to industrial manufacturing, the mission of this business is truly special. "Heraeus Medical Components employees here in Costa Rica and around the world, are guided by a sacred mission: to produce medical components and solutions that extend and enhance the lives of patients. There is not a more noble purpose than that. With Cartago's skilled workforce and Costa Rica's strong business climate and med-tech community, we are excited to expand our presence here." The Cartago facility represents a significant expansion of Heraeus Medical Components in Costa Rica. The site replaces the company's first Costa Rica location in San Jose, which began operations in 2012. The new 5,400-square meter manufacturing site, began construction in May 2016 to enable Heraeus to meet growing demand from its global medical device customers over the coming years. The larger facility, which was completed in June, 2017 has allowed Heraeus to triple its workforce to over 160 employees including roles in engineering and operations. The company is expected to double the number of jobs by 2020. The growing life science sector in Costa Rica . The establishment of Heraeus in Costa Rica continues to consolidate the Life Science cluster in the country. According to recent data from CINDE, in 2017 more than 70 companies were grouped in this sector generating 22,399 direct jobs. Costa Rica has emerged as a leading location globally, outside of Europe, for MedTech investment, attracting 47 MedTech projects over a five-year period including 18 in 2012, and ranking 7th globally in terms of the number of manufacturing projects ahead of the Netherlands, Brazil and Mexico, between 2008 and 2012 (Medtech Report 2014, Oxford Intelligence). About Heraeus Heraeus, the technology group headquartered in Hanau, Germany, is a leading international family-owned portfolio company formed in 1851. With expertise, a focus on innovations, operational excellence and an entrepreneurial leadership, we strive to continuously improve the businesses of our customers around the world. We create high-quality solutions for our customers and strengthen their long-term competitiveness by combining material expertise with technological know-how. Our ideas are focused on important issues such as the environment, energy, health, mobility and industrial applications. Our portfolio ranges from components to coordinated material systems which are used in a wide variety of industries, including the steel, electronics, chemical, automotive and telecommunications industries. In the 2016 financial year, the FORTUNE Global 500 listed company generated revenues of 21.5 bn. With approximately 12,400 employees worldwide in more than 100 subsidiaries in 38 countries, Heraeus holds a leading position in its global markets. In 2016, the Foundation for Family Businesses named Heraeus as one of the "Top 10 Family Businesses" in Germany. SOURCE Costa Rican Investment Promotion Agency Related Links http://www.cinde.org The Saudi prominent business tycoon Prince Al-waleed bin Talal has resumed work at his Kingdom Holding Company (KHC) few days after his release from detention in the anti-corruption clean-up driven by Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman. Online footage showed the man thought to have a fortune estimated at $18 billion arriving at his skyscraper offices in Riyadh, reports say. A crowd of cheerful onlookers welcomed the owner of the holding who arrived under police protection. Board members of the holding and staff cheered the international investor upon his return to affairs. We are very pleased to welcome back Prince Al-waleed to continue his important work as chairman of Kingdom Holding Company. I would like to thank His Royal Highness and KHCs Board of Directors for the trust they have placed in the management team of this great company to deliver on our commitment to create premium value through KHCs investment strategy, said Talal Almaiman, CEO of KHC. We are also proud to have great partners who continue to support us in reaching our investment goals and strong returns for KHC shareholders. Prince al Waleed was arrested and detained on November 4 at Ritz Carlton Hotel in Riyadh alongside some 200 other princes and businessmen. The majority of those arrested have been freed after signing monetary agreements. Those still in detention were moved to another location as the opulent hotel which hosted President Trump during his May visit is set to be re-opened for usual business this month. Authorities claimed over $100 billion have been recovered under the monetary agreements. Shares of KHC have picked up since the release of the prince after a plunge following his arrest. The resolution also emphasizes the educational benefits of handwriting for children, as well as the cognitive development and motor skills benefit. To view the complete resolution, go to https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/115/hres654 . Established in 1977 by the Writing Instrument Manufacturers Association (WIMA), on the birthday of America's most notable scribe, John Hancock, National Handwriting Day designates a day each year to acknowledge the history and importance of penmanship. The recent congressional recognition, also further solidifies the value of handwriting in everyday life and how important it is to continue to keep the tradition alive in generations to come. "I can't think of a better way to celebrate National Handwriting Day than a visit with Ms. Grosso's second grade class at Rosendale Elementary School. Handwriting is a disappearing art that is worth preserving, especially for young students. A handwritten letter not only delivers emotion, connection and creativity in ways that an email or text message simply cannot, it also exercises cognitive and fine motor skills for the writer. I am proud to introduce this bipartisan resolution marking National Handwriting Day with Rep. Leonard Lance and am grateful for our mutual commitment to this effort. Thank you to WIMA for highlighting the significance and power of handwriting and for their support of our Congressional resolution" stated Congressman Paul Tonko. For additional information on National Handwriting Day visit http://www.pencilsandpens.org/national_handwriting_day and https://www.facebook.com/WritingInstrumentManufacturersAssociation/. SOURCE Writing Instrument Manufacturers Association Dr. Mahoney will succeed Brother Brian M. Walsh C.F.C., who leaves Bergen Catholic in July to assume the role of Co-Director of the Edmund Rice Christian Brothers Ofce of Education Services in New Rochelle, N.Y., focusing on Catholic identity in the 21st century for Edmund Rice Christian Brother schools in North America. Dr. Mahoney holds a Bachelor of Arts in History from Siena College and earned a Master's Degree and Doctorate in Educational Leadership and Administration from Fordham University. He has been in education for over 20 years, most recently as Head of School at EF Academy, Thornwood, N.Y., which he has led since 2011. EF Academy is a boarding and day school community with a current enrollment of approximately 780 students from 40 countries. During Dr. Mahoney's tenure, enrollment grew over 200%, the school was successfully relocated to a 100-acre campus, several buildings were renovated, and a new 56,000 square foot multi-use building was constructed. He has also served as a trustee, and most recently president of the Mahopac N.Y. Central School District Board of Education. He was selected after a national search led by Wickenden Associates, Princeton, New Jersey, a global leader amongst Head of School Search Firms. The Search Committee was led by Brian McAuliffe, BC '70; its 10-member committee included prominent alumni, board members, and members of the administration and faculty. In announcing Dr. Mahoney's appointment, Chairman Corley noted challenges the Board of Directors faced , "Dr. Mahoney will be the first laymen to lead Bergen Catholic High School, succeeding 12 Edmund Rice Christian Brothers, who founded and led Bergen Catholic to prominence since opening in 1955. We are confident that Dr. Mahoney, with his knowledge and practice of our Catholic Faith and his educational leadership skills, will continue to foster the Catholic identity and the Essential Elements of an Edmund Rice Christian Brother Education and build on Bergen Catholic's history of excellence." Commenting on Dr. Mahoney's appointment, and offering the perspective of an Edmund Rice Christian Brother, is sitting President of Bergen Catholic, Brother Brian M. Walsh, C.F.C., "Since 2000, when the Essential Elements of an Edmund Rice Christian Brother Education were first written, by an assembly of over 100 Brothers and Lay Faculty from over 20 schools, the Catholic character and Christian Brother ethos have increased as the number of Christian Brothers on the staffs has decreased. From my many interactions with Dr. Mahoney I know that that will continue here at Bergen Catholic." Jim Wickenden, Founder of Search Firm Wickenden Associates, and consulting leader of Bergen Catholic's Presidential Search, noted the very high quality of candidates that applied for the Bergen position. "Bergen Catholic's reputation extends well beyond the N.Y. Metropolitan area. Amongst the many Catholic School searches we have led, the quality of candidates applying here was as strong or stronger than any we have been involved with." In preparing and executing the Search, Mr. McAuliffe noted ''the committee was well aware that the competitive environment for Catholic high schools has changed dramatically in the last 25 years. We positioned the search to identify candidates who understood the competitive nature of the educational environment, the competitive strengths that Catholic Schools can offer, and successful experience competing. We felt Dr. Mahoney excelled in each of these criteria." Dr. Mahoney, 43, is married to Amy Sutton Mahoney. Amy is a graduate of the Academy of the Holy Angels '94, Demarest, New Jersey and Siena College. Amy is currently an English teacher at Mahopac High School The Mahoney's have three children; two boys and a girl. Brendan 12, Patrick 10, and Cameron 6. Bergen Catholic is a private, four-year, college-preparatory high school for young men located at 1040 Oradell Avenue in Oradell, New Jersey, a small suburban community approximately 10 miles from New York City. It is founded and staffed by the Edmund Rice Christian Brothers and is accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools. The school is currently celebrating its 63rd year of operation. Its student body numbers approximately 750 young men from over 130 towns in the surrounding area. Please call the school at (201) 261-1844 if you have any questions. SOURCE Bergen Catholic High School Related Links https://www.bergencatholic.org Elisa Advani is an associate practicing Workers' Compensation. She previously worked at a firm handling Social Security Disability cases nationwide. Ms. Advani is a frequent contributor and associate editor for the Philadelphia Bar Reporter and actively participates with Philadelphia Volunteers for the Indigent Program as a pro bono attorney and Spanish interpreter. She received her law degree from Widener University Delaware Law School. Envision, a global leading digital energy platform company, is partnering with four Singapore organisations to develop an innovation ecosystem that will enable the digital transition. (Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/637122/MOU_Signing_Ceremony.jpg ) (Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/637123/Envision_and_Sunseap.jpg ) (Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/637124/Partnership_with_SERIS_and_NTU.jpg ) The partnerships with Ascendas-Singbridge Group, Sunseap Group, the Solar Energy Research Institute of Singapore (SERIS), and the Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore), precede the opening of Envision's Global Digital Hub in Singapore. The Hub aims to foster innovation across smart city applications, intelligent IoT R&D and talents, while pursuing commercial excellence. The established relationships are testament to the strong support that Envision will have in Singapore, and will enable Envision to leverage Singapore's "Smart Nation" movement. "Envision is inspired by the Singapore Smart Nation commitment. We are excited to turn 'Smart Nation' from project into product, through an intelligent IoT platform and ecosystem. The collaboration with like-minded partners is accelerating the journey," said Mr. Lei Zhang, CEO of Envision. The Memorandum of Understanding between Ascendas-Singbridge and Envision will see teams from both parties collaborating to develop smart building solutions with Envision's EnOS IoT Platform and ecosystem. Ascendas-Singbridge will provide business knowledge and test-bedding facilities for a pilot trial of the co-developed solutions at Galaxis, an Ascendas-Singbridge development at one-north. Ascendas-Singbridge's coworking space at Singapore Science Park, thebridge, is currently the home to Envision's Global Digital Hub. Situating the Global Digital Hub in Singapore's prime location also positions Envision to incubate locally and springboard globally, especially into the APAC energy market. Mr Manohar Khiatani, Deputy Group CEO of Ascendas-Singbridge, said: "We are delighted to embark on our partnership with Envision. As Asia's leading sustainable urban development and business space solutions provider, Ascendas-Singbridge strives to develop smart business parks by incorporating transformational initiatives and sustainable building solutions for our tenants and community." The collaboration between Envision and Sunseap Group will enable both parties to jointly develop an IoT platform to optimize Sunseap's current and future portfolio of solar PV projects, which includes projects of rooftop, ground-mounted and floating variety in Singapore and Asia Pacific. The platform will also incorporate demand side energy management technologies and explore the feasibility of building innovative solar applications. Mr Frank Phuan, Sunseap Group's Co-Founder and Director, said: "We are excited to partner with Envision to jointly develop innovative clean energy solutions for our clients in a reliable and cost-effective manner. The partnership will allow us to tap Envision's technologies to foster clean energy innovations in the growth markets of Asia." EnOS platform will also be further improved with the support of SERIS, with a focus on weather predictions, over different time horizons and smart monitoring, operation and maintenance of large photovoltaic (PV) systems. Beyond this, the agreement will enable both parties to cooperate in other potential R&D activities. "SERIS aims to develop, test and commercialize innovative technologies in Singapore and then market them elsewhere in Asia Pacific and the world. Teaming up with the global intelligent IoT leader in the energy space helps to further test the solutions developed by SERIS and to disseminate them on a multi-national scale. We are excited about this collaboration and the mutual benefits arising from having joint teams working on some of the most advanced solutions for the solar energy sector," said Dr Thomas Reindl, Deputy Chief Executive Officer of SERIS. Together with NTU's research strengths in developing industry-relevant energy solutions, Envision will be able to explore the possibility of research in building load forecasting, battery management system, and integrating the EnOS platform into NTU's EcoCampus plans. Professor Lam Khin Yong, NTU's Vice President (Research) said, "NTU is pleased to collaborate with Envision to explore innovative and sustainable energy solutions. By tapping on NTU's extensive expertise in digitalisation opportunities across the energy value chain, I am confident that this partnership will enhance the development of sustainability solutions that can be implemented within Asia and beyond." About Envision Envision is a global leading smart energy management company. Envision owns the world's largest Energy IoT platform, EnOSwhich manages 100GW of energy assets. Envision is a global leading smart wind turbine company and is also the second largest wind turbine manufacturer and the largest offshore wind power solution provider in China. With major investment into leading energy tech companies including Sonnen, ChargePoint, AutoGrid, and Bazefield etc, Envision is also becoming an integrator of global Energy IoT & Smart City Ecosystem. Headquartered in Shanghai, Envision has regional offices across Asia, Europe, North and South Americas and has established global R&D and engineering centers in Denmark, Germany and the United States. Envision's mission is to "solve the challenges for a sustainable future"; the company is committed to developing advanced technologies to create a sustainable future where everyone has access to clean, secure and affordable energy - thus a world of "beautiful energy". For more information on Envision Energy, please visit http://www.envision-energy.com. About Ascendas-Singbridge Group Ascendas-Singbridge Group is Asia's leading sustainable urban development and business space solutions provider with Assets Under Management exceeding S$20 billion. Jointly owned by Temasek Holdings and JTC Corporation through a 51:49 partnership, the Group undertakes urbanisation projects spanning townships, mixed-use developments and business/industrial parks. Headquartered in Singapore, Ascendas-Singbridge has projects in 28 cities across 9 countries in Asia, including Australia, China, India, Indonesia, Singapore and South Korea. Ascendas-Singbridge holds commercial, hospitality and industrial assets across Asia Pacific. It has a substantial interest in and also manages three Singapore-listed funds under its subsidiary Ascendas, namely Ascendas Reit (a Straits Times Index component stock), Ascendas India Trust and Ascendas Hospitality Trust. Besides these listed funds, it also manages a series of private real estate funds. For more information on Ascendas-Singbridge Group, please visit http://www.ascendas-singbridge.com About Sunseap Group Sunseap Group is the leading solar energy system developer, owner and operator in Singapore. It operates through three key units: Sunseap Leasing, Sunseap International and Sunseap Energy. Sunseap Leasing is the first and largest solar leasing company in Singapore. Sunseap International targets markets in the South East Asian and Pacific regions. These include a 140 MegaWatt-peak (MWp) solar farm in India and a 10 MWp solar farm in Cambodia. Sunseap Energy provides clean energy solutions utilising off-site arrangements by drawing on solar systems within the Group's portfolio of distributed generation assets. A notable client is Apple, which signed an agreement with Sunseap to procure 100% of its local energy requirements from renewable sources. For more information on Sunseap Group, please visit http://www.sunseap.com About the Solar Energy Research Institute of Singapore (SERIS) The Solar Energy Research Institute of Singapore (SERIS) at the National University of Singapore (NUS) is Singapore's national institute for applied solar energy research. SERIS is jointly sponsored by Singapore's National Research Foundation (NRF) - via the Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB) - and NUS. SERIS conducts research, development, testing and consulting on solar energy technologies and their integration into power systems and buildings. The institute's R&D spectrum covers materials, components, processes, systems and services, with an emphasis on solar photovoltaic cells, modules and systems. SERIS is globally active but focuses on technologies and services for tropical regions, in particular for Singapore and South-East Asia. SERIS collaborates closely with universities, research organisations, government agencies and industry, both locally and globally. For more information on SERIS, please visit http://www.seris.sg About Nanyang Technological University, Singapore A research-intensive public university, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) has 33,500 undergraduate and postgraduate students in the colleges of Engineering, Business, Science, Humanities, Arts, & Social Sciences, and its Interdisciplinary Graduate School. It also has a medical school, the Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, set up jointly with Imperial College London. NTU is also home to world-class autonomous institutes - the National Institute of Education, S Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Earth Observatory of Singapore, and Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences Engineering - and various leading research centres such as the Nanyang Environment & Water Research Institute (NEWRI) and Energy Research Institute @ NTU ([email protected]). Ranked 11th in the world, NTU is top in Asia and has been placed the world's top young university for the past four years. The University's main campus is frequently listed among the Top 15 most beautiful university campuses in the world and has 57 Green Mark-certified (equivalent to LEED-certified) buildings, of which 54 are certified Green Mark Platinum. NTU also has a campus in Novena, Singapore's medical district. For more information, visit http://www.ntu.edu.sg SOURCE Envision The firm's new location spans 38,277 sq. ft., can accommodate more than 140 employees and boasts amenities such as state-of-the-art conference rooms, a fitness center and outdoor pavilion. Mollman says the office space reflects the firm's dedication to providing employees with a "Best Place to Work" environment. Burns & McDonnell is ranked No. 16 on Fortune's 2017 100 Best Companies to Work For list and has been recognized by more than 20 publications across the U.S. as a Best Place to Work. The firm was also recently awarded the Rosa Parks Diversity Award by WTS International and the Corporate Trendsetter Award by the Southern California Minority Supplier Development Council. "Our best place to work culture allows us to attract and retain the most talented, innovative and entrepreneurial professionals in the industry," says Mollman. "Our projects are critical to progressing and supporting our communities, and we can only be successful with great people." Backed by an international team of more than 6,000, the Burns & McDonnell's California offices support the region with a wide range of services, including program management; electrification; transmission and substation design; military, industrial and commercial facility design-build; environmental compliance, permitting and remediation; commissioning; design-build delivery and information management. The office has successfully managed nearly $5 billion in projects with clients including San Diego Gas & Electric, Southern California Edison, Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA), Port of Long Beach, Los Angeles Department of Water and Power and MetroLink. The firm is currently ranked No. 1 in Power by Engineering News-Record (ENR) and a Top Design Firm in California by ENR California. For photos and support materials, please visit our MEDIA KIT. About Burns & McDonnell Burns & McDonnell is a family of companies made up of more than 6,000 engineers, architects, construction professionals, scientists, consultants and entrepreneurs with offices across the country and throughout the world. We strive to create amazing success for our clients and amazing careers for our employee-owners. Burns & McDonnell is 100 percent employee-owned and is proud to be No. 16 on Fortune's 2017 list of 100 Best Companies to Work For. For more information, visit burnsmcd.com. Contact: Elle Jenkins, Burns & McDonnell 816-651-7826 [email protected] SOURCE Burns & McDonnell Related Links http://www.burnsmcd.com ATLANTA, Feb. 2, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- A proposed settlement has been reached in a class action lawsuit alleging that Core-Mark Distributors, Inc., violated the Fair Credit Reporting Act ("FCRA"). Plaintiff alleged that Defendant violated the FCRA by procuring, or causing to be procured, consumer reports for applicants, and failing to provide copies of the same and/or written notices of FCRA rights prior to taking adverse action against such individuals. Defendant denies that it violated the law in any fashion. The proposed settlement class includes people who, between December 1, 2013, and the present, applied for employment with or were employees of Core-Mark for whom Core-Mark procured or caused to be procured a consumer report, as defined by the FCRA, and for whom Core-Mark used adverse information contained in the consumer report to disqualify such individuals from employment with Core-Mark. Through this Settlement, Core-Mark, has agreed to pay $300.00 to each Class Member. Payments will be made by check directly to Settlement Class Members if the settlement is finally approved. There is no need to file a claim. Settlement Class Members may object to the proposed settlement or request exclusion from the Settlement Class. If you believe you are a Settlement Class Member and you have not received a settlement notice, you must call 1-888-663-7193 or send you name, address and phone number to Crosby v. Core-Mark Distributors, Inc., Settlement Administrator, P.O. Box 404000, Louisville, Kentucky 40233-4000 no later than March 16, 2018. There will be a Fairness Hearing on April 16, 2018 to determine the fairness, reasonableness, and adequacy of the settlement; whether the Settlement Class is adequately represented by the Class Representative and Class Counsel; and whether an order and final judgment should be entered. The Court also will consider Settlement Class Counsel's application for an award of attorneys' fees and expenses and Class Representative's compensation. You will be represented at the Fairness Hearing by Settlement Class Counsel, unless you choose to enter an appearance in person or through your own counsel. The appearance of your own attorney is not necessary to participate in the Fairness Hearing. Sharon Crosby, on behalf of herself and all similarly-situated individuals v. Core-Mark Distributors, Inc., Case No. 1:15-cv-04198-SCJ-JFK, United States District Court, Northern District of Georgia. SOURCE Francis & Mailman, P.C. WASHINGTON, Feb. 2, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Friends of the American Latino Museum (FRIENDS), the only non-profit, charitable organization dedicated to the creation of a National American Latino Museum announced today the creation of the Chairman's Advisory Council (CAC) with its initial cohort. The CAC will help key individuals involved with FRIENDS remain informed and engaged as they assist the organization in raising visibility and public support for the creation of a Smithsonian National American Latino museum, obtain Congressional backing for legislation and seek financial commitments (both donations and pledges). "I have been incredibly moved and touched by the outpouring of support for our efforts to create a National American Latino Museum. The wonderful people that make up our Chairman's Advisory Council will help us achieve our goals of getting Congressional authorization, securing financial donations and pledges, as well as build upon the already massive public demand for this museum," said Danny Vargas, Board Chairman for FRIENDS. "Working in collaboration with our board of directors, staff, former NMAL Commissioners and many other supporters, the Chairman's Advisory Council will help ensure we have a more complete account of American history, honor the contributions of Latinos throughout the last 500 years, celebrate the vitality and complexity of today's American Latino communities, and inspire future generations. Working together, we will soon witness the opening of the National American Latino Museum within the Smithsonian Institution on the National Mall." Estuardo Rodriguez, executive director at FRIENDS said "The launch of the CAC will help FRIENDS connect with their Congressional and public supporters to ensure they understand the importance and benefit of creating a National Latino museum. For far too long, contributions of Latino/Hispanic Americans have been underrepresented within the narrative of our American history. We are thrilled to have the commitment of some of our nation's leading Latino and Latina figures from business, media, museum arena and public service. The CAC members combined influence will help us amplify the critical void this museum will fill within the Smithsonian Institution for the benefit of the more than 30 million visitors to our National Mall every year." While additions will be made to the CAC in the future, initial members beginning in 2018 include: Nelson Albareda - CEO, Loud and Live and Former NMAL Commissioner - CEO, Loud and Live and Former NMAL Commissioner Thaddeus Arroyo - CEO, AT&T Business - CEO, AT&T Business Hector Barreto - Chairman of The Latino Coalition and Former SBA Administrator - Chairman of The Latino Coalition and Former SBA Administrator Juan Carlos Benitez - President Washington Pacific Economic Development Group and Former Special Counsel, US Department of Justice Civil Rights Division under President Bush - President Washington Pacific Economic Development Group and Former Special Counsel, US Department of Justice Civil Rights Division under President Bush Rudy Beserra - Former SVP Coca-Cola and Former Special Assistant to President Reagan - Former SVP Coca-Cola and Former Special Assistant to President Reagan Alejandra Castillo - CEO, YWCA and Former National Director, MBDA - CEO, YWCA and Former National Director, MBDA Luis Fortuno - Former Governor of Puerto Rico - Former Governor of Lorraine Garcia-Nakata - Museum & Arts Cultural Specialist, Former NMAL Commissioner - Museum & Arts Cultural Specialist, Former NMAL Commissioner Daniel Garza - President, The Libre Initiative - President, The Libre Initiative Lili Gil-Valletta - CEO & Cofounder CIEN+ - CEO & Cofounder CIEN+ Carlos Gutierrez - Chair of Albright Stonebridge Group, Former U.S. Secretary of Commerce, Former CEO of Kellogg Company - Chair of Albright Stonebridge Group, Former U.S. Secretary of Commerce, Former CEO of Kellogg Company Sean Reyes - Utah Attorney General and Former NMAL Commissioner - Attorney General and Former NMAL Commissioner Manny Rosales - Board Secretary the Latino Coalition - Board Secretary the Latino Coalition Camille Solberg - Former Federal Drug Free Communities Commissioner - Former Federal Drug Free Communities Commissioner Al Zapanta - President/CEO of US-Mexico Chamber of Commerce, Former Chairman of the Reserve Forces Policy Board, Retired Army Major General SOURCE Friends of the American Latino Museum The Israeli army said Friday it hit a Hamas position in Gaza Strip after the Islamist movement allegedly launched a missile late on Thursday towards the Jewish state. An Israeli aircraft hit a position of Hamas in the enclave in response to rocket attacks, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement relayed by local Times of Israel. The army said it holds Hamas responsible for what takes place in Gaza Strip and what emanates from it. It did not however specify what position of the Islamist movement was the target. Hamas did not comment on the air strike. Siren system announcing Hamas-launched projectiles into Israel were not heard as opposed to Monday incident when the sirens were triggered but turned out to be a false alert. The sirens sounded near Gaza boarder but no rocket impact was found, Times of Israel reports. The alleged Hamas attack on Israel and the response from the Jewish state are the latest incidents between Israel and the Palestinian movement since Wednesday after the US State Department put Hamass overall leader Ismail Haniyeh on its terror list. Haniyeh is accused of association in the killing of 17 American citizens. Listed Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT), Haniyeh will see his assets in the US seized if he has any. The decision also bans him from traveling to the US and all American entities or individuals are prohibited from dealing with him. Hamas rejected the US list. The movement itself has been on the US terror list since 2007. VANCOUVER , British Columbia, February 2, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Future Farm Technologies Inc. (the "Company" or "Future Farm") (CSE: FFT) (CSE: FFT.CN) (OTCQB: FFRMF) is pleased to announce that it has closed on the purchase of a 15,000-sq. ft. building in Providence, Rhode Island. The building is located in a M-1 zone, which legally permits the cultivation of cannabis by right. The Company intends to lease this property to a local, licensed cultivator who will use the property as a licensed medical marijuana cultivation space, providing wholesale cannabis to Rhode Island's state-sanctioned dispensaries. "With this asset purchase, Future Farm is building a solid foundation in the Northeastern part of the United States," says Bill Gildea, CEO of Future Farm. "The Northeast has a large population but has lagged behind the Southwest in the permitting of cannabis cultivation and dispensaries, which creates opportunity." Rhode Island is in the New England region of the Northeastern United States and is the second most densely populated of the 50 United States. Future Farm is investing heavily in building its portfolio of assets. The Company recently purchased a 10-acre operating greenhouse in Orange County, Florida, which generated an estimated $2,800,000 USD in revenue and $400,000 USD in EBITDA for 2017. It also recently purchased a 120-acre industrial hemp farm and entered into a lease for an additional 100-acres of organic farmland in Maine. The Company also recently entered into a lease agreement for an initial 12,960 sq. ft. of space in a 60,000 sq. ft. building located in Maine, with an option to expand and or buy the building. The building is perfectly suited for the Company's hemp cloning operation, which will use vertical farming technology pioneered by the Company to supply over 250,000 clones to the farms in 2018. The hemp clones will also be grown under the Company's Scorpion LED grow lights, which will save on electricity costs and further leverage its in house technology. As a consideration for the current acquisition, Future Farm paid $750,000 USD. In addition, Future Farm has agreed to pay a five percent cash finder's fee to Derek Ross. On behalf of the Board, Future Farm Technologies Inc. William Gildea, CEO & Chairman About Future Farm Future Farm Technologies Inc. is a Canadian company with projects throughout North America including California, Florida and Maryland. The Company's business model includes developing and acquiring technologies that will position it as a leader in the evolution of Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) for the global production of various types of plants, with a focus on cannabis. Future Farm provides scalable, indoor CEA systems that utilize minimal land, water and energy regardless of climate, location or time of year and are customized to grow an abundance of crops close to consumers, therefore minimizing food miles and its impact to the environment. The Company holds an exclusive, worldwide license to use a patented vertical farming technology that, when compared to traditional plant production methods, generate yields up to 10 times greater per square foot of land. The contained system provides many other benefits including 90% less water, fertilizer and land used, less travel costs, seed to sale security, scalability, consistency due to year-round production, cost control, product safety and purity by eliminating environmental variability. The Company also utilizes a leading cannabis oil extraction technology, which enables the Company to process 20lbs/hour of cannabis plant to yield approximately 908 grams/hour of oil. The Company is also in the business of designing and distributing LED lighting solutions utilizing the COB and MCOB technology. The Company is focused on delivering cost-efficient lighting to North America via advanced e-commerce sites the Company owns and operates. LEDCanada.com, which caters to B2B customers, is a supplier of the newest and highest demand LED solutions. The Company also owns and operates COBGrowlights.com, which caters to both large and small agriculture green houses and controlled cultivation centers. The Company recently acquired the exclusive right to use a patented, augmented reality (AR) technology in the cannabis industry. The Company will work with its partner to merge AR and ad-tech with the cannabis industry through the CannaCube LiveTM platform. Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Market Regulator (as that term is defined in the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. The Canadian Securities Exchange has not in any way passed upon the merits of the proposed transaction and has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this press release. This news release may include forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties. All statements within, other than statements of historical fact, are to be considered forward looking. Although the Company believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those in forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include market prices, exploitation and exploration successes, continued availability of capital and financing, and general economic, market or business conditions. There can be no assurances that such statements will prove accurate and, therefore, readers are advised to rely on their own evaluation of such uncertainties. We do not assume any obligation to update any forward-looking statements except as required under the applicable laws. For further information, contact: William Gildea Director +1-617-834-9467 SOURCE Future Farm Technologies Inc. DALLAS, Feb. 2, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Recently, media in New England reported the "retirement sale" for a company that had been in business for 235 years. Sadly, the firm's owners were closing the business because they could not find someone to buy the company. "Timing is a key component in the ability to sell a business for maximum value," said Terry Johnson, Chief Revenue and Strategy Officer at Generational Equity, a leading mergers and acquisitions advisor for privately held, middle-market businesses. "A business forced into closing its doors may have had much greater value if it had been positioned for sale by a professional at the right time. Timing is everything, and I've never met a business owner that regretted starting the process too early." Johnson added, "Too many people wait to begin the exit planning process until they are forced due to failing health, industry upheaval, and a myriad of other unforeseen circumstances. The degree of difficulty increases exponentially in these situations, and the net result is often times not favorable." What makes an optimal time to sell? A strong economy Low interest rates Favorable tax environment A strong stock market Active buyers with ample capital to invest Industry consolidation A business with a substantial opportunity to grow with the help of additional capital or experienced management "A business must be buyer ready in order to take advantage of positive timing conditions," noted Johnson. "This means following the multi-step process Generational Equity directs for all of our clients." One key step is creating professional documentation that demonstrates the buyer-readiness of the company. Because of this, having an experienced M&A advisor by your side is vital. "A proper exit plan is not something that is done overnight," said Johnson. "A business owner should initiate the process far in advance of their target exit date. For millions of baby boomer business owners now reaching retirement age, selling at the right time may be the difference between long-term financial struggles vs. a comfortable retirement. The stakes are high, and my advice to business owners is to start the process early." About Generational Equity Generational Equity, DealForce, and Generational Capital Markets, member FINRA/SIPC, are part of the Generational Group, which is headquartered in Dallas and is one of the leading M&A advisory firms in North America. With over 250 professionals located throughout North America, the companies help business owners release the wealth of their business by providing merger, acquisition and strategic growth advisory services. Their four-step approach features exit planning education, business valuation, value enhancement strategies, and M&A transactional services. The M&A Advisor named the company the 2016 and 2017 Investment Banking Firm of the Year. For more, visit https://www.genequityco.com/ or the Generational Equity press room. For more information: Carl Doerksen 972-232-1125 [email protected] SOURCE Generational Equity Related Links http://www.genequityco.com HUNT VALLEY, Md., Feb. 2, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Gilchrist, a nationally recognized, nonprofit leader in serious illness and end-of-life care, is pleased to announce the launch of an office-based consultation service to provide comprehensive health assessments and personalized plans of care for seniors, in coordination with primary care providers. This service is best suited for individuals with multiple chronic illnesses and those with advancing age who are beginning to need help with mobility, dressing and other activities of daily living. It is designed to assist older adults better manage their health care needs, promoting their independence and quality of life. Anna T. Monias, MD, former Associate Medical Director at Oak Crest, a continuous care retirement community located in Parkville, Maryland, has been hired to lead this service. According to Dr. Monias, a board-certified internist and geriatrician, "The benefits of comprehensive and coordinated care for seniors have never been greater. With Americans getting older and living longer and the shortage in geriatricians continuing to grow, a service that provides a comprehensive health assessment and develops a plan of care tailored to the individual's needs will help to ensure quality and seamless care." Also included in the geriatric consultation service will be patient and family education about what to expect over the next three to five years as their illness progresses and advance care planning conversations and assistance. This service will work directly with the individual's primary care physician or connect them with appropriate community physicians to assist with implementation of the plan of care. "Earlier engagement and education at the onset of serious illness can help people make better, more informed care choices while they are still able," says Dr. Monias. "We offer easy access to providers who have expertise in caring for aging adult with multiple medical problems." Gilchrist's geriatric consultation service is located at Broadmead Outpatient Clinic, 13801 York Road, Cockeysville, Maryland. The comprehensive health assessment is usually conducted over one to three visits, 1 1/2 to 2 hours in duration each. Annual follow-up visits may be recommended. Medicare and most insurances are accepted. For more information or to schedule an appointment, please call the Gilchrist Care Navigation Center at 888-823-8880. ABOUT GILCHRIST Gilchrist is a nationally recognized, nonprofit leader in serious illness and end-of-life care. With elder medical care, counseling and hospice, we help people at every stage of serious illness live life to the fullest and make informed choices about their care. Since 1994, the organization has served thousands of individuals throughout Central Marylandin homes, in skilled nursing and residential care communities, and at our three inpatient hospice centers in Towson, Howard County and Baltimore. Gilchrist is accredited by CHAP (Community Health Accreditation Partner), and is a recipient of the prestigious Circle of Life award from the American Hospital Association. For more information about Gilchrist, visit gilchristcares.org. Media Contact: Kristina Rolfes 443-465-5992 [email protected] SOURCE Gilchrist SANTA CLARA, Calif., Feb. 2, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Glassbeam, Inc., the leader in machine data analytics, announced today it is enhancing its Industrial IoT analytics platform to include open-source stream processing model with Apache Kafka. This gives unmatched freedom for organizations to develop and deploy custom machine data analytics applications without the need to lock in their data with Glassbeam. This transition into an industry-wide, neutral platform will drive innovation in building machine-data based solutions and services that solve an organization's biggest data analytics challenges and remove debate on having the need to build and own a platform or invest in an off-the-shelf solution. Glassbeam's Semiotic Parsing Language (SPL) already provided IIoT industry's first Data transformation and Preparation framework for complex machine data. By integrating with Apache Kafka, Glassbeam now allows customers to not only deploy Glassbeam on-premise, but also connect to any data store by using open source Apache Kafka consumers or building their own custom consumers. "Developers anywhere can now collect and enrich machine data from any source in their organization. With open access to our core platform, developers can use their existing enterprise apps, connectors and tools to deploy Kafka-based parsed data quickly," says Puneet Pandit, co-founder and CEO, Glassbeam. "With our open platform, organizations now have the complete freedom to build custom connected-machine applications with Glassbeam without the need to build their own data ingestion platform that may not fulfil their business objectives." Key Highlights: Access to open standards familiar environment with Kafka-based messaging bus for developers to configure flexible topics and quickly build apps on a variety of use cases involving real-time data streams. familiar environment with Kafka-based messaging bus for developers to configure flexible topics and quickly build apps on a variety of use cases involving real-time data streams. Unrivalled developer productivity - eliminates the need for organizations to own, deploy, and maintain a data ingestion platform. This allows developers to solely focus on building applications. - eliminates the need for organizations to own, deploy, and maintain a data ingestion platform. This allows developers to solely focus on building applications. Eliminate unnecessary data preparation burden Glassbeam platform includes a data preparation and transformation tool (Glassbeam Studio, currently in Beta). This reduces the developers' time to prepare and transform complex data from hundreds of data sources. Organizations can expect as much as 100 x improvement in the time taken to prepare data. Glassbeam platform includes a data preparation and transformation tool (Glassbeam Studio, currently in Beta). This reduces the developers' time to prepare and transform complex data from hundreds of data sources. Organizations can expect as much as 100 x improvement in the time taken to prepare data. Helps organizations focus on their core-competency avoid the unnecessary burden to build complex, distributed systems and attempting to scale them. Glassbeam's core platform (SCALAR) is designed to take care of multiple clusters, data velocity & variability, and handle computing terabytes of streaming, real-time data. avoid the unnecessary burden to build complex, distributed systems and attempting to scale them. Glassbeam's core platform (SCALAR) is designed to take care of multiple clusters, data velocity & variability, and handle computing terabytes of streaming, real-time data. Re-use existing infrastructure investment use the consumer framework of the Kafka message bus and the host of open source consumers to connect to any existing data stores. Additional Kafka Glassbeam Resources: Company Blog: Glassbeam opens its SCALAR platform for customers and partners with its Apache Kafka Integration Technical blog: Integrating Apache Kafka with Glassbeam Behind the scenes: Opening up the Platform for Integrating with other Data Stores Big Data Publication: Big Data Analytics with Spark, written by Mohammed Guller, Glassbeam Pricing and Availability: Glassbeam IIoT platform as a service integrated with Apache Kafka is available immediately with Glassbeam 5.7 release as an on premise managed service solution. Pricing is driven by data processed per day and retention period. For more details, contact [email protected]. About Glassbeam Glassbeam is the premier machine data analytics company bringing structure and meaning to complex data generated from any connected machine in the Industrial IoT industry. Funded by several ultra-high net worth investors, Glassbeam's next generation cloud-based platform is designed to transform and analyze multi-structured data, delivering powerful solutions on customer support and product intelligence for companies such as IBM, Dell EMC, Novant Health, and Dimension Data. For more information visit http://www.glassbeam.com or follow us on Twitter @Glassbeam. Media Contact: David Sawatzke Head of Marketing 408-740-4600 [email protected] SOURCE Glassbeam, Inc. Related Links http://www.glassbeam.com World Rare Disease Day is an annual observance to help raise awareness about rare disease and the impact of living with a rare disease on patients, families, and caregivers. Global Genes raises awareness throughout entire month of February, with the final day of the month recognized as World Rare Disease Day. During the month, Global Genes and rare disease advocates worldwide will host awareness and fundraising events for the more than 7,000 rare diseases. This year, Global Genes is raising awareness in observance of World Rare Disease Day across the nation by sharing their top 3 ways to get involved: Recognize a RARE Caregiver Hero with a short "selfie" style video to post on social media , using the hashtags #RAREhero and #GlobalGenes. Upload a picture of your favorite rare patient or family into a customized World Rare Disease Day picture frame and share it on social media, using the hashtags #WRDD2018 and #GlobalGenes. Attend an event, or host and share details about your World Rare Disease Day event, and take your involvement to the next level. "World Rare Disease Day is a unifying day that promotes awareness and support for rare disease patients, advocates, families and disease champions in this fight. In the U.S. alone, 1 in 10 individuals live with a rare disease," stated Nicole Boice, Founder and CEO of Global Genes. "It takes a day like this to help the world take notice, and grow the much needed support. We're happy to be a part of something so amazing, and do our part to help expand engagement and involvement around the globe." The inaugural RARE Carousel of Possible Dreams will take place on World Rare Disease Day, Wednesday, February 28, from 6 p.m. 8:30 p.m. at the historic LeRoy King Carousel at the Children's Creativity Museum in San Francisco. For more information, to register, join a team, or donate visit globalgenes.org/sfwrddevent/. To learn more about Global Genes and to get involved in World Rare Disease Day 2018, please visit globalgenes.org/world-rare-disease-day/. About Global Genes Global Genes is a leading rare disease patient advocacy organization whose mission is to connect, empower, and inspire the rare disease community. With international scope, Global Genes develops educational resources, programs, and events that unite patients, advocates, and industry experts. It is committed to fostering these meaningful connections to catalyze therapeutics and cures for the estimated 7,000 rare diseases that impact approximately 1 in 10 Americans, and 350 million people worldwide. For more information, please visit www.globalgenes.org and follow @GlobalGenes on social media to join the RARE conversation! SOURCE Global Genes Related Links http://www.globalgenes.org Arbonne International, whose holding company is Natural Products Group (NPG), is headquartered in Irvine, California. NPG also owns Nature's Gate, a personal care brand, which is also part of this acquisition. With a production site and four integrated distribution sites, Arbonne is a global business with sales revenue in excess of 550 million dollars (450 million euros). Founded in Switzerland in 1975, and brought to the U.S. in 1980, Arbonne was created to fulfill the vision of founder Petter Mrck to develop botanically based skincare, cosmetics and nutrition products that are better for both consumers and the planet, while also providing an opportunity for people to become financially independent by joining a direct selling network. Today, approximately 800 employees and over 250,000 active independent consultants contribute to the success of the Arbonne brand whose botanically based, vegan, gluten- and GMO-free products are sold in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Taiwan and Poland. WHY IS GROUPE ROCHER ENTERING INTO THIS AGREEMENT TO ACQUIRE ARBONNE INTERNATIONAL? Groupe Rocher and Arbonne have many things in common: The concept of robust brands that share real values, high quality and innovation standards, a wide range of natural products and a strong commitment to sustainability. Arbonne expects to be able to benefit from the resources and expertise offered by Groupe Rocher, thanks to the strength of its network (consumers, suppliers, partners). Bris Rocher, CEO of Groupe Rocher, stated: "This acquisition will be a real asset that will enable us to strengthen our positioning in the direct selling channel, which has seen an upturn over the past few years. We also have a heritage of providing employment opportunities dating back to my grandfather, our founder, Yves Rocher, who cared deeply about providing employment since he started his business. This, combined with our direct selling know-how, should foster company growth and longevity." Said, Kay Zanotti, CEO of Arbonne: "We share with Groupe Rocher commitments to pure, botanically based products and sustainability, as well as a long-term business vision that is grounded in family values. We are particularly pleased with Groupe Rocher's keen appreciation of the many benefits of the direct selling model in providing flexible income opportunities, and a positive community of professional growth for individuals." Thanks to recent investment in the digitization of the direct selling network, Arbonne can help Groupe Rocher enhance the direct selling model. Arbonne has implemented a state-of-the-art IT platform that will facilitate the move from traditional direct selling to "social selling." This pending acquisition (the value of which has not been released) will round off the portfolio of Groupe Rocher brands and positions the family-owned, Breton company as an operator that is growing more than ever before. Groupe Rocher has been able to reposition its business over time, thanks to its decisions regarding distribution channels and its commitments as an integrated company. ABOUT GROUPE ROCHER The Groupe Rocher is a profitable and independent family-run group (over 99% owned by the founder's family and with a philosophy of "creative entrepreneurship") with an original positioning (producer, harvester, manufacturer and distributor). Groupe Rocher sales (from nine brands dedicated to women's beauty and well-being: Yves Rocher, Petit Bateau, Stanhome, Dr. Pierre Ricaud, Daniel Jouvance, Kiotis, ID Parfums, Flormar and Sabon) amounted to more than 2 billion in 2017. More than 17,000 employees work together to ensure the destiny of the group's brands, and the group has also created over 350,000 indirect jobs. The business is an integrated group, characterized by the diversity and synergies of its distribution methods: Remote sales (by correspondence, telephone, Internet), in-store sales (over 6,000 points of sale across the world brands combined) and direct sales. SOURCE Arbonne International, LLC Related Links http://www.arbonne.com NEW YORK, Feb. 2, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Hunt Mortgage Group, a leader in financing commercial real estate throughout the United States, announced today it provided a $1.8 million Freddie Mac Small Balance Loan to refinance a multifamily property located in Boise, Idaho. Leisure Villa Apartments is a 57-unit, age restricted housing property located at 3003 North Overlook Road. The property was built in 1973 and expanded in 2000. The property is situated on three acres and is comprised of four, one- and two-story apartment buildings and a one-story clubhouse. The loan is ten-year fixed rate transaction with a 30-year amortization and a yield maintenance prepayment schedule. "The investors have successfully owned and operated multifamily properties in the Boise area for over 40 years," noted Chris Warren, Vice President at Hunt Mortgage Group. "They acquired and have successfully managed Leisure Villas for more than 12 years. Freddie Mac provided great assistance in bringing this deal in by agreeing to price the loan very competitively, particularly the Small Market of Ada County, ID. Hunt was able to offer an unbeatable rate." "The long-term ownership of this property, and the solid economics of the transaction, provided a great opportunity for Freddie Mac to bring its Small Balance Loan program to a target market that is facing a shortage of workforce housing," said Russ Dines, senior producer at Freddie Mac Multifamily. "We were thrilled to work with our strong partners at Hunt Mortgage Group to refinance this property, which delivers quality, affordable rental housing to older residents in the community. Our team is proud to have completed this unique transaction, and we look forward to continuing our work expanding the SBL program in the Pacific Northwest." "In addition to offering competitive pricing, this deal was unique as it had an age restriction covenant requiring that tenants were age 55 or older. We were able to work through this issue easily with the help of Russ Dines, of Freddie Mac," added Warren. "We were pleased to provide this financing to a local sponsor that is providing much needed affordable housing to the local community." Boise is both the capital and the most populous city in the state of Idaho. The area is known as a local hub for a wide variety of art and religious communities. The state has invested heavily in the construction of several performing arts centers, museums and monuments. The state government employs a large margin of the MSA's population, but recently the tech industry has begun to thrive under a prestigious employer, Micron Technology, who works closely with Intel to produce a large variety of consumer hardware parts. The I-84 Interstate connects Boise with Portland, Oregon and Salt Lake City, Utah, giving it exceptional access to other regions in the country. About Hunt Mortgage Group Hunt Mortgage Group, a wholly owned subsidiary of Hunt Companies, Inc., is a leader in financing commercial real estate throughout the United States. The Company finances all types of commercial real estate: multifamily properties (including small balance), affordable housing, office, retail, manufactured housing, healthcare/senior living, industrial, and self-storage facilities. It offers Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, HUD/FHA in addition to its own Proprietary loan products. Since inception, the Company has structured more than $21 billion of loans and today maintains a servicing portfolio of more than $13.4 billion. Headquartered in New York City, Hunt Mortgage Group has 222 professionals in 24 locations throughout the United States. To learn more, visit www.huntmortgagegroup.com. MEDIA CONTACTS Brent Feigenbaum Hunt Mortgage Group 212-317-5730 [email protected] Pam Flores 773-218-9260 [email protected] SOURCE Hunt Mortgage Group Related Links http://www.huntmortgagegroup.com SALT LAKE CITY, Feb. 2, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- This year's Intermountain Growth Conference, hosted by The Utah Chapter of the Association for Corporate Growth (ACG Utah), will feature a keynote by Dan Clark (CSP, CPAE, Hall of Fame Speaker, and New York Times bestselling author). As the CEO of an international high-performance consulting firm, Mr. Clark will serve as one of the highlights in an annual conference that brings together private equity groups and middle market businesses focused on growth. Scheduled for March 7, 2018, in Salt Lake City, the conference will offer industry professionals the opportunity to meet and share ideas, connect with potential funding partners and attend panel discussions covering topics as diverse as "Deciphering M&A Trends in the Lower Middle-Market," "Leading from the Top: How to Scale Higher," and "Emerging Technologies and Cybersecurity Risks: Impact and Opportunities for Business." By the end of the event, attendees will have a better understanding of the current M&A environment and capital market trends, how to attract and retain high functioning teams, strategies for scaling their businesses to new heights, and the impact that emerging technologies like blockchain, cryptocurrencies and artificial intelligence can have on growing companies. Conference goers may also extend their stay for the ACG Western Ski Conference on March 8, 2018, sponsored by Eide Bailly, located at the newly combined Park City Mountain and Canyons resorts. Ranked as one of the top -five ski resorts in the country, snowboarders, cross country skiers, and snowshoers who attend will enjoy a full day of networking on the mountain with fellow middle market professionals and conference attendees. Interested professionals may register for the Intermountain Growth Conference on March 7, 2018 and the Western Ski Conference on March 8, 2018 by visiting acg.org/utah. SOURCE Association for Corporate Growth (ACG Utah) Related Links http://www.acg.org/utah KPMG to Co-Host #DisruptMining, Supported by Strong Roster of Sponsors Highlights: Over 100 submissions received for #DisruptMining challenge Keynote address at the #DisruptMining finale event by Joi Ito , Director of MIT Media Labs and recognized amongst the world's foremost visionary thinkers, writers and speakers on technology , Director of MIT Media Labs and recognized amongst the world's foremost visionary thinkers, writers and speakers on technology KPMG to co-host #DisruptMining Finale gala as part of their efforts to pave the way for the future of mining Hard-Line, a 2017 #DisruptMining semi-finalist, leads a strong roster of sponsors from a variety of industries Export Development Canada partners with #DisruptMining to help top applicants grow their businesses internationally VANCOUVER, Feb. 1, 2018 /PRNewswire/ - GOLDCORP INC. (TSX: G,NYSE: GG) ("Goldcorp") is pleased to announce that Joi Ito, director of the MIT Media Lab and professor of the Practice of Media Arts and Sciences at MIT, will deliver the keynote address at the #DisruptMining finale on March 4, 2018 during the annual Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) Conference. Ito is an entrepreneur, venture capitalist, and a visiting professor of law from practice at the Harvard Law School. He was an early investor in Twitter, Flickr and Kickstarter and is amongst the world's foremost visionary thinkers on technology. In his talk, the head of the MIT Media Lab will skip future predictions and instead share new approaches to creating in the moment: to build quickly and improve constantly, without waiting for permission or for proof that you have the right idea. This kind of bottom-up innovation is seen in the most fascinating, futuristic projects emerging today and, according to Ito, it starts with being open and alert to what's going on around you right now. Don't be a futurist, he suggests: be a "now-ist." KPMG to co-host #DisruptMining Goldcorp welcomes KPMG as a co-host of #DisruptMining. The KPMG partnership demonstrates their dedication and determination to help pave the way for the future of mining. "What does it mean to be the official co-host of #DisruptMining? At KPMG, it means thinking and doing differently. We are excited to promote a challenge that encourages the mining industry to embrace innovation, be champions of change and pave the way for the future of mining," stated Elio Luongo, KPMG CEO. Strong roster of sponsors across various industries line up to support #DisruptMining Hard-Line has signed on as the #DISRUPTOR sponsor of #DisruptMining. As a leading automation control system manufacturer for heavy equipment, its submission to #DisruptMining in 2017 earned a semi-finalist spot in the innovation expo. Being involved in the challenge accelerated the company's innovative technology, leading to a partnership with Goldcorp and the deployment of autonomous and semi-autonomous technology at several of its mines. "In keeping with our constant drive for innovation and developing world leading automation for the global mining industry, Hard-Line is proud to be a #DISRUPTOR level sponsor at this year's #DisruptMining event. Our continued partnership with Goldcorp has allowed our company to grow and prosper, and by sponsoring this great competition we anticipate excellent game-changing ideas from this year's competitors," stated Walter Siggelkow, president of Hard-Line. Other major sponsors include: Epiroc is a leading productivity partner for the mining, infrastructure and natural resources industries. With cutting-edge technology, Epiroc develops and produces innovative drill rigs, rock excavation and construction equipment and provides service and consumables. is a leading productivity partner for the mining, infrastructure and natural resources industries. With cutting-edge technology, Epiroc develops and produces innovative drill rigs, rock excavation and construction equipment and provides service and consumables. IBM Canada is partnering with Goldcorp to accelerate geological exploration powered by advanced technologies like AI, machine-learning and cloud enabling geologists to identify and predict patterns and geological models with more certainty leading to increased accuracy in defining gold mineralization. is partnering with Goldcorp to accelerate geological exploration powered by advanced technologies like AI, machine-learning and cloud enabling geologists to identify and predict patterns and geological models with more certainty leading to increased accuracy in defining gold mineralization. Sandvik Mining & Rock Technology is a leading supplier of mining equipment, tools and system solutions. is a leading supplier of mining equipment, tools and system solutions. ePower Metals Corp is focused on advancing a high-quality portfolio of cobalt and other projects that have the potential to supply the growing rechargeable battery sector. is focused on advancing a high-quality portfolio of cobalt and other projects that have the potential to supply the growing rechargeable battery sector. FLSmidth is the market-leading supplier of productivity to the global mining and cement industries. is the market-leading supplier of productivity to the global mining and cement industries. Macquarie Group is a global provider of banking, financial, advisory, investment and funds management services with industry-leading expertise in metals and mining. is a global provider of banking, financial, advisory, investment and funds management services with industry-leading expertise in metals and mining. Microsoft Canada Inc. is helping mining companies around the world transform their operations across multiple technology pillars including IoT, Mixed Reality, AI, data visualization and cloud infrastructure to allow them to lead with innovation in this rapidly evolving industry. is helping mining companies around the world transform their operations across multiple technology pillars including IoT, Mixed Reality, AI, data visualization and cloud infrastructure to allow them to lead with innovation in this rapidly evolving industry. Newtrax is a leading provider of safety and productivity solutions to the global underground hard rock mining industry. is a leading provider of safety and productivity solutions to the global underground hard rock mining industry. Rockwell Automation is the world's largest company dedicated to industrial automation and information and includes a specialized line of products and solutions for mining. is the world's largest company dedicated to industrial automation and information and includes a specialized line of products and solutions for mining. The Chemours Company is a leading producer and supplier of chemical products, dedicated to safety and efficiency in precious metals ore processing. Export Development Canada (EDC) champions innovation in mining EDC helps Canadian companies go, grow, and succeed in their international business. As a financial Crown corporation, EDC provides financing, insurance, bonding, trade knowledge and matchmaking connections to help Canadian companies sell and invest abroad. EDC can also provide financial solutions to foreign buyers to facilitate and grow purchases from Canadian companies. About #DisruptMining #DisruptMining is an innovation accelerator designed to encourage new technologies and ideas to solve some of the biggest opportunities and challenges in mining. Over 100 submissions were entered into #DisruptMining 2018, representing completely new ideas and disruptive technologies that will benefit the entire mining industry. Semi-finalists and finalists will be notified by February 5, 2018. On March 4, 2018, during the annual Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) conference, semi-finalists will have the opportunity to showcase their ideas at the innovation expo, the largest innovation-focused networking event at PDAC. The three #DisruptMining finalists will pitch their competing ideas at the live "shark-tank" style gala in front of a panel of industry titans. They will have the opportunity to negotiate up to $1 million in investment1 for a proof of concept at one of Goldcorp's mines or direct investment in the winning technologies. All proceeds from the #DisruptMining finale event will be invested in the future of the mining industry through innovation-focused scholarships. To purchase tickets for the gala event or register for the innovation expo, please visit www.disruptmining.com. About Joi Ito Joi Ito is the director of the MIT Media Lab, Professor of the Practice at MIT and the author, with Jeff Howe, of Whiplash: How to Survive Our Faster Future (Grand Central Publishing, 2016). He is chairman of the board of PureTech Health and serves on several other boards, including The New York Times Company, Sony Corporation, the MacArthur Foundation and the Knight Foundation. He is also the former chairman and CEO of Creative Commons, and a former board member of ICANN, The Open Source Initiative, and The Mozilla Foundation. Joi is a serial entrepreneur who helped start and run numerous companies including one of the first web companies in Japan, Digital Garage, and the first commercial Internet service provider in Japan, PSINet Japan/IIKK. He has been an early-stage investor in many companies, including Formlabs, Flickr, Kickstarter, littleBits, and Twitter. He has received numerous awards, including the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Oxford Internet Institute and the Golden Plate Award from the Academy of Achievement, and he was inducted into the SXSW Interactive Festival Hall of Fame in 2014. Ito has been awarded honorary doctorates from The New School and Tufts University and is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. About Goldcorp www.goldcorp.com Goldcorp is a senior gold producer focused on responsible mining practices with safe, low-cost production from a high-quality portfolio of mines. Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements Certain disclosures in this document constitute forward-looking statements, including the timing and completion of the #DisruptMining expo and live finale. In making the forward-looking statements, the Company has applied certain factors and assumptions that are based on the Company's current beliefs as well as assumptions made by and information currently available to the Company, including that the Company is able to execute the challenge in accordance with the terms described herein. Although the Company considers these assumptions to be reasonable based on information currently available to it, they may prove to be incorrect, and the forward-looking statements are subject to numerous risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause future results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in such forward-looking statements. Such risk factors include, among others, those matters identified in its continuous disclosure filings, including its most recently filed MD&A. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. The Company does not intend, and expressly disclaims any intention or obligation to, update or revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law. 1 Investment not guaranteed, and/or investment may be allocated among two or more of three Finalists; exact level of investment, if any, is at Goldcorp's sole discretion and subject to completion of appropriate due diligence. SOURCE Goldcorp Inc. Related Links http://www.goldcorp.com Arab Foreign ministers have called for the setting up of a multilateral mechanism under the auspices of the United Nations to sponsor the peace process in the Middle East. This came in a resolution issued Thursday at the end of the Arab Leagues ministerial meeting on Palestine, held in the aftermath of the harmful decisions made by the Trumps administration, regarding the recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and the reduction of its contribution to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA). The Foreign Ministers warned against the repercussions of any decisions aiming to violate the status of Jerusalem and renewed their rejection of President Donald Trumps move, asserting their support to all decisions by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas under the framework of the Palestine Liberation Organization, to counter the US administrations recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of the occupying state. In this connection, the Arab League welcomed the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) which overwhelmingly passed a resolution on December 21 condemning Trumps decision. It also called on states not to move their diplomatic missions to Jerusalem, in accordance with the UN Security Council resolution 478 (1980). As to the cuts in UNRWA financing, they warned that they will have negative consequences not only on the countries receiving refugees, but also on the stability and security of the whole region. Washington announced on January 16 that it was withholding $65 million of $125 million it had planned for the agency this year. The UNRWA is funded almost entirely by voluntary contributions from UN member states. The Arab Foreign Ministers also called for convening an international conference to re-launch a credible and time-bound peace process based on international legitimacy resolutions, the principle of land for peace and the two-state solution on the territories occupied by Israel in June 1967. The ministers reaffirmed their support for the State for Palestine to obtain full membership at the United Nations, and called for mobilizing international support for this end. They also mandated the Arab Group in New York to take the necessary actions in this regard. The ministers called on the Palestinian factions and forces to speed up the completion of national reconciliation in accordance with the Cairo Agreement signed in May 2011 and the latest Cairo 2017 agreement, to enable the National Reconciliation Government to assume its full responsibilities in the Gaza Strip and hold general elections as soon as possible. Combination of the two largest independent family-based ambulance manufacturers in North America creates a leader within a global industry BELOEIL, QC and VAN WERT, OH, Feb. 2, 2018 /PRNewswire/ - Demers Ambulances, a Quebec-based leader in the design, manufacturing, and distribution of ambulances in Canada, is merging with Braun Industries, Inc., a leader in custom ambulance manufacturing based in Ohio serving customers throughout the U.S. The combination of expertise, trusted leadership, safety-driven products, values and cultures creates a leading player within the evolving specialty vehicle industry. The terms of the merger are not disclosed. Demers is a Quebec entrepreneurial success and the oldest continuous ambulance manufacturer in North America with ambulances in service worldwide. For Demers, this merger helps the company realize its ambition of dramatically increasing its North American market share and competing on a global scale. The merger with Braun creates the second largest ambulance manufacturer in North America and provides greater scale to pursue innovation and international growth. Braun is a family-owned company that has been manufacturing custom, high-quality ambulances since 1972. With an extensive dealer network, dedicated workforce and established brand throughout the U.S., Braun delivers hundreds of ambulances each year. For Braun, the merger provides an increased capacity to drive product enhancements, improve product value, and to better serve more customers across the U.S. network. "We are very pleased with our progress in strengthening our presence and pursuing growth," said Alain Brunelle, CEO of Demers Ambulances. "Partnering with Braun provides us the right opportunity to better serve and service our customers, strengthen our employee base, and enhance our capacity to operate and innovate in a competitive, global industry. Together, we look forward to growing the combined company and to meeting the industry's needs with even better products and service excellence." "The timing is right to partner with Demers Ambulances, a company that shares our values, spirit of innovation and commitment to quality and customers," said Kim Braun, CEO of Braun "As the family contemplated many growth plans for a successful future, joining another successful brand that creates value for our workforce and customers, was top of mind. With this merger, our employees, customers and dealers stand to benefit from over 100 years of combined experience." Moving forward, Kim Braun will maintain her current leadership positions of the Braun brands and related operations, based in Van Wert, Ohio. Both companies will retain their own brands, identities, facilities and employees. The combined company will be led by Alain Brunelle. The merge was made possible by Clearspring Capital Partners, a Canadian private equity firm focused on growing mid-market companies, who led the transaction alongside Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec (CDPQ), a global, long-term institutional investor. ABOUT DEMERS AMBULANCES Founded in 1960, Demers Ambulances is Canada's largest ambulance manufacturer and second in North America. Recognized as a leader in innovative products that meet and exceed the expectations of medical emergency specialists around the world, Demers Ambulances is accredited by Transport Canada and is recognized as a "Qualified Vehicle Modifiers" (QVM) by Ford, holds the US National Truck Equipment Association (NTEA) Member Verification Program (MVP) certification, and holds the BNQ1013 certification from the Bureau de Normalization du Quebec (BNQ). To learn more about Demers Ambulances, visit www.demers-ambulances.com. ABOUT BRAUN INDUSTRIES Since 1972, Braun Industries, Inc. has been a leading ambulance manufacturer that is known for designing and building custom ambulances that are "Built for Life". Braun's ambulance models offer exclusive innovations such as SolidBody Construction, the EZ-Glide Sliding Door, the MasterTech IV Multiplex Electrical Control System, and the VitalMax Lighting System. Braun is a member of the National Truck and Equipment Association (NTEA), the Ambulance Manufacturers Division (AMD), and the National Fire Protection Agency (NFPA). The company is headquartered in Van Wert, OH on a sprawling campus of 23 acres. For more information, visit www.BraunAmbulances.com. ABOUT CAISSE DE DEPOT ET PLACEMENT DU QUEBEC Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec (CDPQ) is a long-term institutional investor that manages funds primarily for public and parapublic pension and insurance plans. As at June 30, 2017, it held CAD$286.5 billion in net assets. As one of Canada's leading institutional fund managers, CDPQ invests globally in major financial markets, private equity, infrastructure, real estate and private debt. For more information, visit cdpq.com, follow us on Twitter @LaCDPQ or consult our Facebook or LinkedIn pages. ABOUT CLEARSPRING CAPITAL PARTNERS Clearspring Capital Partners is a leading Canadian mid-market private equity firm that invests in and acquires medium-sized companies through buyouts, growth and acquisition financings, going private transactions, industry consolidations, recapitalizations and other types of transactions. The Clearspring team works closely with the management team of its portfolio companies to ensure the creation of added value. For more information, visit cscap.ca. SOURCE Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec Related Links http://www.cdpq.com/ DANDRIDGE, Tenn., Feb. 2, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- An addiction recovery services clinic, First Step Counseling is a privately held entity specializing in assisting clients in their drug recovery. Dedicated to offering their clients affordable, competent and effective treatment, the team at First Step lends a compassionate approach in assisting its members. Passionate about helping individuals through addiction, the First Step staff strives to help each client evolve into productive, functional and responsible members of society. Addressing all aspects of recovery, First Step aims to, "provide effective, competent & affordable suboxone and vivitrol treatment to narcotic dependent individuals." Amassing over thirty years of experience in the field of counseling, in her current capacity Lester is the Chief Executive Officer at First Step Counseling. Throughout her career, Lester has attained expertise within the areas of business operations and management, leadership and nursing. Prior to beginning her role at First Step Counseling, Lester held a number of related positions as the Director of Clinical Operations at Recovery Treatment Center, the Manager of Nursing Administration at Fort Sanders Regional Hospital and as the ICU Manager at Baptist Hospital at East Tennessee. Throughout the course of her education and training, Lester attained her Registered Nursing designation as well as her Bachelor of Nursing Science degree from East Tennessee State University. Thereafter, Lester then went on to complete her Master's degree in Healthcare Administration from the University of St. Francis. To further her professional development, Lester is an affiliate of several organizations including the American Medical Association, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration and the National Association of Professional Women, which named her as a member of its VIP Woman of the Year Circle. When not working, Lester volunteers her time to Toys For Tots as well as to various children's charities. She also enjoys spending time on the lake in her houseboat. Contact: Katherine Green, 516-825-5634, [email protected] SOURCE Continental Who's Who Related Links http://www.continentalwhoswho.com AUSTIN, Texas, Feb. 2, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Main Street Hub, the marketing platform for over 10,000 small businesses across the United States, today announced the launch of a new service fully-focused on franchise networks and their unique marketing challenges. This new solution empowers franchisors to execute their brand vision and strategy at the local franchisee level across thousands of social media touchpoints -- blending brand compliance and local authenticity to power an exceptional digital consumer experience. Using their pioneering "Do-It-For-You" delivery model, expert team, nationwide, professional photography network, and proprietary technology, Main Street Hub will enable franchisors and their franchisees to elevate their brand presence and win new customers in every market. The company's solution gives franchisors the ability to localize their brand at every single location in their network. "We're raising the bar in terms of what technology, creativity, and data can do for franchise networks," said Matt Stuart, Co-CEO at Main Street Hub. "We're excited to empower franchises with our one-of-a-kind technology to find, engage, and delight their customers at both the brand and local level." "We're privileged to be able to help franchisors protect the brand that they've created and invested in and deliver a unique customer experience for them," said Andrew Allison, Co-CEO at Main Street Hub. "Our deep understanding of the franchise landscape will result in increased brand awareness and successful and sincere interactions with their customer base." "Earned media is a critical part of any successful marketing strategy -- even more so for franchise networks," said Chief Product Officer Mike Georgoff. "We're helping franchisors to overcome the challenges created by social media and master every micro-moment to bring new customers in the door." About Main Street Hub: Founded in 2010, Main Street Hub is the marketing platform for local businesses. Utilizing its proprietary technology, the company integrates social media, customer reviews, and email marketing to help local businesses get more customers and keep them coming back, while saving them valuable time. Main Street Hub is headquartered in Austin, TX and backed by leading investors, including Vista Equity Partners, Bessemer Venture Partners, and Harrison Metal Capital. For more information on Main Street Hub, visit www.mainstreethub.com, or follow Main Street Hub on their blog, Facebook, and Twitter. SOURCE Main Street Hub Related Links http://www.mainstreethub.com GAINESVILLE, Ga., Feb. 2, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Mansfield Energy Corp, North America's largest delivered fuel supply and logistics provider, announces the acquisition of Ohio-based Hi-Grade, Inc.'s oil and lubricants business assets. "Mansfield is excited to expand our offering and capabilities in Ohio," explains Joe Campbell, Sr. Vice President of Operations and Business Development for Mansfield Energy. "Adding the Valvoline branded lubricants to our portfolio as well as DEF distribution capabilities will serve Mansfield's customers well, particularly customers recently onboarded from Mansfield's acquisition of RW Earhart in October 2017." In addition to the residential and commercial fuel and lubricants, Mansfield acquired Hi-Grade's Pac Pride card lock facility. Campbell continues, "This expands our card lock offering in the local area to five locations as well as increases access to the Pac Pride network nationwide. We are excited to welcome the Hi-Grade fuel and lubricants team to our family." Founded in 1924 and headquartered in Sidney, Ohio, Hi-Grade has grown to be a trusted provider of commercial fuels, oils, lubricants and services with convenient locations of its Pacific Pride fueling sites. Hi-Grade's oil and lubricants offering includes Valvoline, Pennzoil, ConocoPhillips, 76 Lubricants, Shell, Kendall Motor Oil and Quaker State. The business will continue to operate from the Sidney, Ohio, location and work through Mansfield's regional office in Troy, OH. About Mansfield Energy Corp Mansfield Energy provides innovative solutions to the most demanding energy procurement, supply and logistics challenges for organizations across North America. Mansfield Energy offers a broad range of solutions including fuels, natural gas and energy price and data management services. Delivering over 3 billion gallons of fuel and complementary products annually to 4,000 customers across the U.S. and Canada, Mansfield Energy is the largest delivered fuel supplier in the nation. For more information, call 800-695-6626 or visit mansfield.energy.com. MEDIA INQUIRIES: Gayle B. Mitrano [email protected] SOURCE Mansfield Energy Corp LOS ANGELES, Feb. 2, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- CALLAHEAD Corp., a company focused on portable sanitation solutions, is pleased to announce an exclusive interview with Modern Living with kathy ireland. The interview, between Kimberly Howard, Vice President of Marketing for CALLAHEAD Corp, and Kathy Ireland, outlines the changes in the personal sanitation industry. Temporary events such as festivals, construction sites, and weddings rely on CALLAHEAD to provide sanitation equipment that can meet the needs of several people or thousands. Callahead Corp. featured on Modern Living with kathy ireland Kimberly Howard, Callahead Corp. & kathy ireland of Modern Living CALLAHEAD specializes in luxury portable sanitation. These are portable restrooms that can be set up without access to water or electricity, but are still able to keep with the standards of a high-class event such as a wedding or business conference. These portable restrooms and wash stations feature sturdily constructed stalls, brass or nickel-plated hardware, flush toilets, and other features that consumers expect from a modern restroom. There are even options that include showers and sinks. Since 1976, this family owned and operated business has focused on making personal sanitation a positive experience for its customers. J.L. Haber, Vice President of Programming for Modern Living with kathy ireland, says "While many other companies in this industry offer services that are viewed unfavorably by their customers, the unique service that CALLAHEAD offers has made its products highly sought after in its service area. The company has invented several new systems that have innovated the industry." For more information about CALLAHEAD, visit callahead.com and tune in to WE tv as sponsored content on Thursday, February 8, 2018 at 7:30am EST. About Modern Living with kathy ireland Modern Living with kathy ireland is a weekly business television program featuring real-world insights from corporate executives from all over the globe. Modern Living with kathy ireland airs throughout North America on WE tv as part of their sponsored content lineup and to over 50 countries throughout the world on Sundays on Bloomberg International as part of their sponsored content lineup. For more up to date information, visit us on Twitter and Facebook. Media Contact: Korynn Bottone [email protected] 800.634.2085 SOURCE CALLAHEAD Corp. Related Links http://www.callahead.com VIRGINIA BEACH, Va., Feb. 2, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The cloud computing, data security and converged infrastructure experts at Mythics, Inc. has been named as one of the 2018 Best Places to Work in Virginia. This statewide survey and awards program is designed to identify, recognize and honor the best places of employment in Virginia, benefiting the state's economy, workforce and businesses. "We are honored to once again receive the recognition as one of the best places to work in Virginia," said Mike Hillier, Co-Founder of Mythics. "Our success is driven by our incredible employees and we take great pride in creating an environment dedicated to providing our employees with programs, benefits and a corporate culture that promotes opportunities for career growth and a healthy work-life balance." "We are thrilled to receive this recognition for the 3rd consecutive year," said Sheri Mullin, Senior Vice President, Human Resources, of Mythics. "Our employees and our culture have been the foundation of Mythics from day one, and as the company continues to grow, we are committed to building a workplace environment built on respect, empathy, excellence and fun." Companies from across the state entered the two-part survey process to determine the Best Places to Work in Virginia. The first part consisted of evaluating each nominated company's workplace policies, practices, philosophy, systems and demographics. This part of the process was worth approximately 25% of the total evaluation. The second part consisted of an employee survey to measure the employee experience. This part of the process was worth approximately 75% of the total evaluation. The combined scores determined the top companies and the final ranking. Best Companies Group managed the overall registration and survey process in Virginia and also analyzed the data and used their expertise to determine the final ranking. The final rankings were announced at an awards luncheon on February 1, 2018 at the Boars Head Inn in Charlottesville, VA. For more information on the Best Places to Work in Virginia program, visit www.BestPlacesToWorkVA.com. About Mythics Mythics is an award-winning Oracle systems integrator, consulting firm, managed services provider and Platinum level member of Oracle PartnerNetwork representing Oracle product lines across cloud, software, support, hardware, engineered systems and appliances. Mythics delivers technology solutions serving the Federal Government, State and Local Governments, Commercial, Higher Education, Utilities and Healthcare sectors and is a trusted partner to organizations worldwide. To learn more about Mythics's culture and career opportunities, visit http://www.mythics.com/careers or @mythics on LinkedIn and Twitter. SOURCE Mythics, Inc. Related Links http://www.mythics.com PANAMA CITY, Fla., Feb. 2, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Appointments are now available at the new Aspen Dental-branded practice at 510 E 23rd St. scheduled to open on Thursday, Feb.8. The office will be open Monday through Wednesday, 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.; Thursday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.; and Friday, 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. as well as select Saturdays. Walk-in and emergency patients are welcome. The new dental office is led by Dr. Nouman Mujahid, who received his Doctor of Dental Medicine degree from Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine. Dr. Mujahid and his team will provide dental services ranging from dentures and denture repairs, to preventive care, general dentistry and restoration. The new office, located in Bay County, is one of 72 Aspen Dental practices in Florida, a state where 65 of the 67 counties, including Bay, are designated as dental health professional shortage areas by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. According to a study conducted by Syracuse University's Whitman School of Management, each new Aspen Dental practice supports local community growth by contributing more than $1.3 million in positive economic impact through job creation and capital investment. The new Aspen Dental office offers patient-friendly programs and services to make it easier for patients to get the dental care they need, including: Personalized treatment and friendly service. Each patient receives a comprehensive diagnosis and treatment plan designed by the dentist with long-term oral and overall health in mind. Each patient receives a comprehensive diagnosis and treatment plan designed by the dentist with long-term oral and overall health in mind. Affordable dental care. The practice works with insurance providers and handles the paperwork to save patients time and hassle, and offers free new-patient exams and X-rays to those who do not have insurance. The practice also offers detailed treatment cost estimates to give patients peace of mind as well as a variety of financing options. The practice works with insurance providers and handles the paperwork to save patients time and hassle, and offers free new-patient exams and X-rays to those who do not have insurance. The practice also offers detailed treatment cost estimates to give patients peace of mind as well as a variety of financing options. On-site denture lab and Denture Money Back Guarantee. The practice's on-site denture lab facilitates quick turnaround of denture repairs, relines or adjustments. Several styles of full and partial dentures are offered to ensure proper fit and comfort of each patient's custom-crafted dentures. And if patients are dissatisfied with their dentures the practice will refund the cost of the dentures when patients return them within 90 days. The practice also repairs all dentures, not just those purchased at Aspen Dental. To make an appointment, patients can simply go to www.aspendental.com and click on Schedule a New Patient Appointment. Patients can also call (850) 532-6738 or 800-ASPEN DENTAL (800-277-3633). About Aspen Dental Offices Aspen Dental-branded practices are committed to breaking down the barriers to better dental care, better smiles and better lives by making dentistry easier for patients. With more than 660 offices in 36 states, Aspen Dental practices provide a wide range of general dentistry and denture-related services and offer patient-friendly programs and services that help thousands of people every day get the dental care they need, including convenient locations, onsite labs, extended hours, and acceptance of most dental insurance. Together, Aspen Dental practices cared for more than 1.7 million patients in 2017. To learn more about how Aspen Dental practices make it simply easier for patients to get the care they need, visit AspenDental.com. About Aspen Dental Management Inc. With an innovative model that takes non-clinical business and administrative services out of the dental office so that dentists are free to focus on patient care, the team at ADMI is driven by one overarching purpose: To care for the people who care for the patients. ADMI makes it easier for dentists to have the careers they've always dreamed of, delivering care to their patients with the support of a team of experienced business professionals who are committed to making their practices a success. Support provided by ADMI includes services and recommendations related to finding the right locations, leasing, acquiring equipment, accounting and marketing. SOURCE Aspen Dental Related Links http://www.aspendental.com DUBLIN, Feb. 2, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The "North American Steam Boiler Rental Market 2017" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. This market research report on steam boiler rental equipment includes market sizing, market share by competitor, market share by revenue, market share by equipment type, market share by end user, market share by fuel, drivers, restraints and forecasts to 2024. The North American Steam Boiler Rental Market is mature and competitive with the presence of regional and national market participants trying to get a strong foothold in the market. The market is projected to experience moderate growth during the next seven years, driven by industrial activity expansion, increase in infrastructure spending, and emergency situations. A boiler is defined as an enclosed device using controlled flame combustion and having the primary purpose of recovering thermal energy in the form of steam or hot water. Waste heat boilers are excluded from this definition. This study aims to provide a detailed analysis of the North American Steam Boiler Rental Market, along with competitive intelligence for the year 2016. The market numbers included in this report represent revenues generated by companies operating in the North American Steam Boiler Rental Market. The base year for the study is 2016 and the forecast period is from 2016 until 2023. This study captures the following information on North American Steam Boiler Rental Market: Market Size, Growth Rate, Revenue Forecasts (2016-2023) Growth Drivers & Restraints Market Data Quotes by Key Industry Participants Market Share Analysis Market Trends Key Topics Covered: I. Scope of Research II. Market Definitions and Segmentation III. Methodology. IV. Executive Summary V. Market Drivers a) Expansion of Industrial Facilities. b) Changing Costumer Demand c) Increase in Infrastructure Spending. d) Changing Customer Demand. e) Emergency Situations. f) Impact Analysis of Market Drivers VI. Market Restraints a) Emission Regulations b) Skilled Labor Shortage c) Lower Oil Prices d) High Rental Cost e) Impact Analysis of Market Restraints VIII. Competitive Advantages IX. Market Trends X. North American Market Analysis a. Regional Analysis b. Revenue Forecast c. Canadian Steam Boiler Rental Market d. Revenue Share By Type of Boiler e. Revenue Share by End User f. Revenue Share by Fuel XII. Market Participants - Tier Level Analysis XIII. Revenue Share by Segment IX. Market Share by Revenues X. Key Organizations a) Wabash Power Equipment Co. b) Nationwide Boiler Inc. c) Indeck Power Equipment Co. d) Powerhouse Equipment & Engineering Co. Inc. e) Cleaver-Brooks Sales and Services, Inc. For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/dxmxqh/north_american?w=5 Media Contact: Laura Wood, Senior Manager [email protected] For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470 For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630 For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900 U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907 Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716 SOURCE Research and Markets Related Links http://www.researchandmarkets.com LAKEVILLE-MIDDLEBORO, Mass., Feb. 2, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Ocean Spray Cranberries Inc. announced it has reached a definitive purchase agreement to acquire Atoka Cranberries Inc., located in Manseau, Quebec, from The Bieler Group. This acquisition will expand Ocean Spray's manufacturing footprint in Quebec, the second largest and fastest growing cranberry farming region in the world. This transaction is expected to close in the coming weeks. "This is a strong investment for Ocean Spray and our 700 Farmer-Owners," said Ocean Spray CEO Randy Papadellis. "Ocean Spray's brand strength and global marketing reach, coupled with Atoka's unique product portfolio and location, will benefit all of our Farmers and expand the reach of the overall Quebec cranberry industry." In addition to acquiring the Atoka brand and processing facility, Ocean Spray intends to purchase The Bieler Group's freezer and receiving facilities in the coming year. The Cooperative also intends to make additional capital investments in these facilities to further increase efficiency and improve yield. The Bieler Group will retain its world-class cranberry growing operations and become a Farmer-Owner of the Ocean Spray Cooperative. Atoka's approximately 130 employees will become part of the Ocean Spray manufacturing network, which includes five food plants located in Massachusetts, Wisconsin, Washington, and Lanco, Chile as well as four beverage facilities in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Nevada. "The employees of Atoka and Ocean Spray share a similar culture of quality and customer focus, as well as a unique dedication to increasing demand for cranberries," said Marc Bieler, Chairman and CEO of The Bieler Group. "Bringing together these two businesses is exciting and we look forward to joining Ocean Spray as a Farmer-Owner." "This acquisition comes exactly 60 years after Quebec growers first joined the Ocean Spray Cooperative in 1958," added Papadellis. "Our Farmer-Owners have a long and proud history in Eastern Canada, and partnering with Bieler Cranberries, true pioneers of the Quebec cranberry industry, is a very exciting way to begin the next 60 years." About Ocean Spray Ocean Spray is a vibrant agricultural cooperative owned by more than 700 cranberry growers in the United States, Canada and Chile who have helped preserve the family farming way of life for generations. Formed in 1930, Ocean Spray is now the world's leading producer of cranberry juices, juice drinks and dried cranberries and is the best-selling brand in the North American bottled juice category. The cooperative's cranberries are currently featured in more than a thousand great-tasting, good-for-you products in over 100 countries worldwide. With more than 2,000 employees and nearly 20 cranberry receiving and processing facilities, Ocean Spray is committed to managing our business in a way that respects our communities, employees and the environment. For more information visit: www.oceanspray.com or www.oceanspray.coop. About Atoka Atoka was founded in 1984, initially as a cranberry farming operation. In 1988, Atoka began the first phase of its plant construction process. Over the years, the company launched its marketing, packaging and processing operations. Today, following seven additional expansion phases and several major investments, the company boasts two production lines, a freezer and a state-of-the art laboratory. SOURCE Ocean Spray Cranberries Inc. Related Links http://www.oceanspray.com NEW YORK, Feb. 2, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- OTC Markets Group Inc. (OTCQX: OTCM), operator of financial markets for 10,000 U.S. and global securities, today announced its trading statistics and news highlights for 2017. 2017 Highlights: Total dollar volume of OTCQX, OTCQB and Pink securities was $246.7 billion compared to $192.9 billion in 2016. compared to in 2016. Dollar volume of OTCQX, OTCQB and Pink companies that provide current information to investors was $241.9 billion , representing 98% of total dollar volume across all markets and demonstrating continued progress in using data-driven standards to encourage OTC issuer disclosure for investors and brokers. , representing 98% of total dollar volume across all markets and demonstrating continued progress in using data-driven standards to encourage OTC issuer disclosure for investors and brokers. Sixty-one companies graduated from the OTC markets to a national stock exchange, 46 of which came from the OTCQX and OTCQB markets. OTC Markets Group Indices finished strong in 2017 as the OTCQX Composite index closed out the year up 23.3%, outperforming all the major U.S. indices. The OTCQB Venture index closed up 6.5% for the year. OTCQX disclosure standards recognized by 27 states for Blue Sky secondary trading exemptions; OTCQB recognized by 24 states. Announced new policy on stock promotion and best practice guidelines for issuers to provide investors with better information and risk warnings. Expanded the Transfer Agent Verified Shares Program to include 15 leading transfer agents, improving the availability and accuracy of share data for OTCQX, OTCQB and Pink securities. Summary of Trading Statistics by Market for 2017 Versus 2016 The table below presents the number of securities included in each market as of December 31, 2017 and 2016 and the total dollar volume traded in each market during 2017 and 2016. # of Securities as of December 31, Year Ended Year Ended December 31, 2017 December 31, 2016 Market 2017 2016 $ Volume % of Total $ Volume % of Total (Millions) $Volume (Millions) $Volume OTCQX Best Market 425 461 $55,891 22.66% $36,848 19.10% OTCQB Venture Market 998 933 $22,696 9.20% $13,639 7.10% Pink Current Information 5,915 5,084 $163,269 66.19% $139,685 72.40% Pink Limited Information 216 448 $1,551 0.63% $1,352 0.70% Pink No Information 2,803 2,702 $3,273 1.33% $1,375 0.70% Totals 10,357 9,628 $246,680 100% $192,898 100% The total dollar volume of OTCQX, OTCQB and Pink securities increased 27.9% to $246.7 billion. OTCQX securities traded $55.9 billion in 2017, representing 22.7% of total overall dollar volume during the year. Increased Standards and Data Availability Continue to Improve Quality of OTC Markets Increased OTCQX and OTCQB market standards combined with growing recognition of our market designations and company information by investors, broker-dealers and market data distributors and the deployment of new tools such as the OTC Compliance Analytics continued to improve the transparency and quality of information available for securities traded on OTC markets in 2017. Investors continued to demonstrate a wariness for Pink No Information companies which provide no disclosure to investors and which OTC Markets clearly labels with a "Stop" sign. Only 1.3% of total dollar volume in 2017 was in securities of No Information companies, compared to 0.7% in 2016. In March, OTC Markets Group raised the standards for the Limited Information tier. 227 companies were downgraded to Pink No Information as a result of this change to our disclosure standards. OTC Markets Group continued to outperform other leading global venture markets in graduating companies to a stock exchange. Sixty-one companies graduated from the OTCQX, OTCQB and Pink markets to a national securities exchange in 2017, 46 of which came from the OTCQX and OTCQB markets. In comparison, 16 companies graduated from Canada's TSX Venture Exchange to the Toronto Stock Exchange in 2017 and 4 companies graduated from London's AIM market to the London Stock Exchange. Celebrating 10 Years of Growth -- OTCQX Best Market In March 2017, the OTCQX Best Market celebrated its 10th anniversary. OTCQX distinguishes established companies that meet high disclosure, financial and governance standards. It offers a transparent and efficient public trading market for reputable U.S. and international companies and provides a cost-effective, less burdensome alternative to a stock exchange listing. In 2007, OTCQX launched with an initial 12 Founding Member companies. OTCQX has grown to 425 U.S. and international securities totaling $1.6 trillion in market capitalization. Today, OTCQX securities trade a combined $56 billion in annual dollar volume, representing 23% of the total annual dollar volume of all OTC securities. The premium OTCQX market is widely recognized by federal and state regulators, broker-dealers, investors, market data distributors and the international investment community. Focused Efforts on Educating Small-Cap Companies: As part of our ongoing efforts to educate and address the needs of small cap issuers, in spring 2017 OTC Markets Group conducted its inaugural Small-Cap Survey. OTC Markets Group engaged 117 CEOs and CFOs of small cap U.S. and international companies that trade on the OTCQX and OTCQB markets on the challenges they face when trying to increase investor interest in their stock. In June 2017, the results were released with key findings indicating that small cap companies have key opportunities to attract new investors and raise capital. This year, OTC Markets Group also partnered with IR Magazine to launch an educational series dedicated to addressing small-cap investor relations issues. Topics included laying the foundation of a small-cap IR program and offering best practices tailored to small-cap companies to attract new investors. The launch of an eBook, Small-Cap Investor Relations: Best Practice culminated the programming, providing a comprehensive overview of IR for small-cap companies. Increased Industry Award and Product Recognition for Market Data Distribution and Trading Technology Network OTC Markets Group continued to expand its market data distribution network in 2017, with an increase in the number of firms using OTC Markets Group data files to assess risk and provide greater investment opportunities on OTCQX, OTCQB and Pink securities to more investors. The OTC Compliance Analytics Product received the award for "Most Innovative Market Data Project (Vendor)" at the 2017 Inside Market Data/Inside Reference Data Awards. By quantifying compliance data points, the Analytics Product helps broker-dealers, banks and asset managers automate risk processes and identify opportunities. In addition, OTC Markets' OTC Link ATS also won "Best ATS Client Service" at the Fund Technology and Wall Street Letter Awards. The annual awards recognize providers, including technology providers, data specialists and exchanges, catering to the institutional asset management community. OTC Link ATS was recognized for providing superior client service to the traders who use our ATS. Execution Quality Product In November 2017, OTC Markets Group introduced a new Execution Quality product.to better provide transparency to our execution quality of traded OTC securities. The industry unique algorithm allows both the Retail and Wholesale community to leverage the same set of information to evaluate Best Execution statistics. The algorithm improves upon the industry standard 605 execution quality calculation by utilizing the full depth of book for quotes on OTC Link ATS. A new web-based viewer allows users to filter their results by a number of parameters (e.g., date range, symbols, sub-markets, notional value, etc.). Retail clients that provide route information can compare the execution quality of their various route destinations. Conversely, wholesale clients that provide customer information can compare the execution quality they provide their various customers. The viewer also displays the actual OTC Link quote montage at both time of order entry and time of order execution. Pivotal Mark Reached for OTCQX and OTCQB Recognition by States for Blue Sky Exemption In November 2017, Pennsylvania became the 27th state on our Blue Sky Map. Broker-dealers rely on individual state Blue Sky laws to determine whether they can legally recommend a security or distribute research on that security to investors residing in a given state. Each of the 27 states has tailored its approach to granting Blue Sky exemption, using formal rule changes, no-action letters, administrative orders or existing trading exemptions. 24 states granted Blue Sky status to both the OTCQX and OTCQB markets: Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, Delaware, Georgia, Hawaii, Indiana, Iowa, Maine, Mississippi, Nebraska, New Jersey, New Mexico, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming. Idaho, Kansas, and Vermont recognize only the OTCQX market. OTC Markets continues to work directly with state regulators to obtain recognition for our premium OTCQX and OTCQB markets based upon the audited financials and easily accessible, free, online disclosure of information these companies provide to the public through our website, www.otcmarkets.com. We are committed to working with the North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA) and the remaining states to determine how best to qualify OTCQX and OTCQB traded securities based on their unique regulatory environment and financial standards. Enhanced Market Transparency and New Policy on Stock Promotion In November 2017, OTC Markets Group announced a new stock promotion policy establishing best practices for public companies designed to improve overall market transparency for investors and better address the problem of fraudulent stock promotion. The new policy and best practices codify a core principles of OTC Markets Group's disclosure-based philosophy and the OTCQX and OTCQB Rules. As part of OTC Markets ongoing effort to improve overall market transparency, we plan to begin to publicly-identify securities that are the subject of stock promotion by placing a "promotion" risk flag next to the stock symbol on our websites and in our market data feeds. Promotion risk flags are designed to augment OTC Market's current "Caveat Emptor" policy, in which a skull and crossbones icon is displayed next to a stock symbolindicating to investors that there may be a reason to exercise additional care and due diligence before investing in the security. Collectively, these initiatives reinforce OTC Markets Group's ongoing market surveillance programs, created to provide better information, enhance investor protection and ensure a fair market pricing process. Expanded Transfer Agent Verified Share Program In 2017, OTC Markets Group expanded its list of leading transfer agents participating in our Transfer Agent Verified Share Program, adding leaders such as Computershare US, Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc. and Continental Stock Transfer and Trust. The program launched in October 2016, is an initiative designed to provide investors with current and reliable share data on OTCQX, OTCQB and Pink securities. The program enables stock transfer agents to report their clients' share data, including authorized and outstanding shares, to OTC Markets Group on a regular basis via a secure, electronic file transfer. Through 2017, fifteen transfer agents have joined the program and OTC Markets Group is actively working to engage and enroll additional firms. About OTC Markets Group Inc. OTC Markets Group Inc. (OTCQX: OTCM) operates the OTCQX Best Market, the OTCQB Venture Market, and the Pink Open Market for 10,000 U.S. and global securities. Through OTC Link ATS, we connect a diverse network of broker-dealers that provide liquidity and execution services. We enable investors to easily trade through the broker of their choice and empower companies to improve the quality of information available for investors. To learn more about how we create better informed and more efficient markets, visit www.otcmarkets.com OTC Link ATS is operated by OTC Link LLC, member FINRA/SIPC and SEC regulated ATS. Subscribe to the OTC Markets RSS Feed Media Contact: OTC Markets Group Inc., +1 (212) 896-4428, [email protected] SOURCE OTC Markets Group Inc. Related Links http://www.otcmarkets.com South Africas President Jacob Zuma on Wednesday provided arguments on why he should not be prosecuted for corruption, the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) said. Wednesday marks the deadline for President Jacob Zuma to make fresh presentations to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) on why he should not face prosecution for corruption. Zuma who has faced numerous corruption allegations since taking office has provided explanations to the prosecutor on why 783 counts of corruption relating to a $2 billion arms deal arranged in the late 1990s should not be reinstated. The southern African High Court reinstated the graft charges in April 2016 and the Supreme Court upheld that decision in October, rejecting an appeal by Zuma. The court decision has amplified calls for Zuma to step down before his term as President ends in 2019. Zumas former financial advisor, Schabir Shaik, was sentenced to 15 years in prison in 2005 for similar charges while Zuma escaped prosecution. Zuma has faced a series of corruption allegations, most recently over leaked e-mails that suggest his friends may have used their influence to secure state contracts. NEW YORK, Feb. 2, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Evercore (NYSE: EVR) announced today that Peter Brundage has joined the Firm's Investment Banking business as a Senior Managing Director in its Advisory practice. He will establish Evercore's Dallas office and will focus on advising large corporate clients across a range of industries. Mr. Brundage was most recently a Managing Director in Investment Banking at Goldman Sachs, where he worked for over three decades. Based in Dallas, he has advised large corporate clients across a broad range of sectors including industrial, energy, consumer, and technology companies. Ralph Schlosstein, Evercore's President and CEO, said, "We are delighted that an investment banker of Peter's caliber has joined Evercore and will be establishing our office in Dallas, one of the fastest growing business centers in the country. Peter brings a broad network of relationships, extensive transaction experience and a strong reputation for providing insightful, objective and independent advice." Roger Altman, Evercore's Founder and Senior Chairman, said, "I'm truly pleased that Peter is joining the Firm. His extensive network of relationships in the southwest U.S. business community will be a tremendous asset to Evercore. Evercore has a lot of momentum, and Peter adds to it." Mr. Brundage has a BA from the University of Virginia and an MBA from The Tuck School at Dartmouth College. About Evercore Evercore (NYSE: EVR) is a premier global independent investment banking advisory firm. We are dedicated to helping our clients achieve superior results through trusted independent and innovative advice on matters of strategic significance to boards of directors, management teams and shareholders, including mergers and acquisitions, strategic shareholder advisory, restructurings, and capital structure. Evercore also assists clients in raising public and private capital and delivers equity research and equity sales and agency trading execution, in addition to providing wealth and investment management services to high net worth and institutional investors. Founded in 1995, the Firm is headquartered in New York and maintains offices and affiliate offices in major financial centers in North America, Europe, South America and Asia. For more information, please visit www.evercore.com. Investor Contact: Jamie Easton Head of Investor Relations, Evercore +1.212.857.3100 Business Contact: Timothy LaLonde COO, Investment Banking, Evercore +1.212.857.3100 Media Contact: Dana Gorman The Abernathy MacGregor Group, for Evercore +1.212.371.5999 SOURCE Evercore Related Links http://www.evercore.com MEXICO CITY, Feb. 2, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Petroleos Mexicanos ("PEMEX") announces the pricing of U.S.-dollar denominated global notes (the "New Money Notes") and the increase of the waterfall tender cap and maximum series caps in its waterfall tender offers. Pricing of New Money Notes The New Money Notes will be issued under PEMEX's U.S.$92,000,000,000 Medium-Term Notes Program, Series C, will constitute unsecured obligations of PEMEX and will be jointly and severally guaranteed by Pemex Exploracion y Produccion, Pemex Transformacion Industrial, Pemex Perforacion y Servicios, Pemex Logistica and Pemex Cogeneracion y Servicios. PEMEX priced an issue of 5.350% Notes due 2028 (the "2028 Notes"), for an aggregate principal amount of U.S.$2,500,000,000. The 2028 Notes have an issue price of 100.000%, plus accrued interest (if any) from February 12, 2018. Interest is payable on February 12 and August 12 of each year, commencing on August 12, 2018. The 2028 Notes will mature on February 12, 2028. PEMEX intends to use the net proceeds from the issuance of the 2028 Notes to purchase notes validly tendered and accepted for purchase in the Tender Offers (as defined below), and the remainder, if any, to finance its investment program and for working capital. PEMEX also priced an issue of 6.350% Bonds due 2048 (the "2048 Bonds"), for an aggregate principal amount of U.S.$1,500,000,000. The 2048 Bonds have an issue price of 100.000%, plus accrued interest (if any) from February 12, 2018. Interest is payable on February 12 and August 12 of each year, commencing on August 12, 2018. The 2048 Bonds will mature on February 12, 2048. PEMEX intends to use the net proceeds from the issuance of the 2048 Bonds to repurchase notes validly tendered and accepted for purchase in the Tender Offers, and the remainder, if any, for general corporate purposes, including the repayment of other indebtedness of PEMEX. Waterfall Tender Offers In connection with PEMEX's liability management transaction consisting of five separate offers to purchase for cash (the "Tender Offers") (i) any and all of its outstanding series of 3.125% Notes due 2019 and 5.500% Notes due 2019 (the "Any and All Notes"), and (ii) the series of notes set forth in the table below (the "Waterfall Notes," and collectively with the Any and All Notes, the "Tender Offer Notes"), PEMEX announces that: Y it has increased the waterfall tender cap, which consists of the maximum aggregate purchase price, including accrued interest, that PEMEX is offering to pay for Waterfall Notes validly tendered and accepted in the Tender Offers, from U.S.$400 million to US$900 million, and Y it has increased the maximum series cap for each series of Waterfall Notes, which consists of the maximum aggregate purchase price, including accrued interest, that PEMEX is offering to pay for each series of Waterfall Notes validly tendered and accepted in the Tender Offers, as set forth in the table below: Title of Security CUSIP ISIN Principal Amount Outstanding Maximum Series Cap 8.000% Notes due 2019 71654QAU6 71656MAA7 71656LAA9 US71654QAU67 US71656MAA71 US71656LAA98 U.S.$1,312,275,000 U.S.$100,000,000 6.000% Notes due 2020 71654QAW2 71656LAC5 71656MAC3 US71654QAW24 US71656LAC54 US71656MAC38 U.S.$1,000,000,000 U.S.$200,000,000 3.500% Notes due 2020 71654QBU5 71656LBC4 71656MBC2 US71654QBU58 US71656LBC46 US71656MBC29 U.S.$1,500,000,000 U.S.$600,000,000 Except as described in this press release, all other terms of the Tender Offers as described in the offer to purchase dated February 1, 2018 (as may be amended or supplemented from time to time, the "Offer to Purchase"), remain unchanged. Global Bondholder Services Corporation will act as the Depositary and Information Agent for the Tender Offers. Questions or requests for assistance related to the Tender Offers or for additional copies of the Offer to Purchase may be directed to Global Bondholder Services Corporation at +1 (866)-470-4500 (toll-free). You may also contact your broker, dealer, commercial bank, trust company or other nominee for assistance concerning the Tender Offers. PEMEX has retained Citigroup Global Markets Inc. and Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated (the "Dealer Managers") to act as dealer managers in connection with the Tender Offers. Any questions or requests for assistance regarding the Offer to Purchase may be directed to Citigroup Global Markets Inc. at +1 (800) 558-3745 (U.S. toll-free) or +1 (212) 723-6106 (collect) or Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated at +1 (888) 292-0070 (U.S. toll-free) or (646) 855-8998 (collect). This press release is for informational purposes only. This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy the New Money Notes, nor shall there be any offer, solicitation or sale of the New Money Notes in any state or other jurisdiction in which such an offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful. This press release is not an offer to purchase or a solicitation of an offer to purchase any Tender Offer Notes. The Tender Offers are being made solely pursuant to the Offer to Purchase and related documents. The Tender Offers are not being made to holders of Tender Offer Notes in any jurisdiction in which the making or acceptance thereof would not be in compliance with the securities, blue sky or other laws of such jurisdiction. In any jurisdiction in which the securities laws or blue sky laws require the Tender Offers to be made by a licensed broker or dealer, the Tender Offers will be deemed to be made on behalf of PEMEX by the Dealer Managers for the Tender Offers or one or more registered brokers or dealers that are licensed under the laws of such jurisdiction. The New Money Notes are being sold to qualified institutional buyers in the United States in accordance with Rule 144A under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Securities Act"), and to non-U.S. persons outside the United States in accordance with Regulation S under the Securities Act. The New Money Notes have not been registered under the Securities Act or any state or other jurisdiction's securities laws and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an applicable exemption from the registration requirements of the Securities Act and applicable state securities laws. PEMEX will enter into a registration rights agreement with respect to the New Money Notes. The New Money Notes are not intended to be offered, sold or otherwise made available to and should not be offered, sold or otherwise made available to any retail investor in the European Economic Area ("EEA"). For these purposes, a retail investor means a person who is one (or more) of: (i) a retail client as defined in point (11) of Article 4(1) of Directive 2014/65/EU (as amended, "MiFID II"); or (ii) a customer within the meaning of Directive 2002/92/EC (as amended, "IMD"), where that customer would not qualify as a professional client as defined in point (10) of Article 4(1) of MiFID II; or (iii) not a qualified investor as defined in the Directive 2003/71/EC (as amended). Consequently, no key information document required by Regulation (EU) No 1286/2014 (as amended, the "PRIIPs Regulation") for offering or selling the securities or otherwise making them available to retail investors in the EEA has been prepared and therefore offering or selling the securities or otherwise making them available to any retail investor in the EEA may be unlawful under the PRIIPs Regulation. This communication and any other documents or materials relating to the offer of the New Money Notes or the Tender Offers have not been approved by an authorized person for the purposes of Section 21 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000, as amended (the "FSMA"). Accordingly, this communication and such documents and/or materials are not being distributed to, and must not be passed on to, persons in the United Kingdom save in circumstances where section 21(1) of the FSMA does not apply. This communication is only being made to those persons in the United Kingdom (i) falling within the definition of investment professionals (as defined in Article 19(5) Financial Promotion Order, (ii) falling within Article 43 of the Financial Promotion Order (non-real time communication by or on behalf of a body corporate to creditors of that body corporate), or (iii) to whom it may otherwise lawfully be communicated by virtue of an exemption to section 21(1) of the FSMA or otherwise in circumstances where it does not apply (all such persons together being referred to as "Relevant Persons"). This communication is directed only at Relevant Persons and must not be acted on or relied on by persons who are not Relevant Persons. Any investment or investment activity to which this communication relates is available only to Relevant Persons and will be engaged in only with Relevant Persons. Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains words, such as "believe," "expect," "anticipate" and similar expressions that identify forward-looking statements, which reflect our views about future events and financial performance. We have made forward-looking statements that address, among other things, our: exploration and production activities, including drilling; activities relating to import, export, refining, petrochemicals and transportation, storage and distribution of petroleum, natural gas and oil products; activities relating to our lines of business, including the generation of electricity; projected and targeted capital expenditures and other costs, commitments and revenues; liquidity and sources of funding, including our ability to continue operating as a going concern; strategic alliances with other companies; and the monetization of certain of our assets. Actual results could differ materially from those projected in such forward looking statements as a result of various factors that may be beyond our control. These factors include, but are not limited to: changes in international crude oil and natural gas prices; effects on us from competition, including on our ability to hire and retain skilled personnel; limitations on our access to sources of financing on competitive terms; our ability to find, acquire or gain access to additional reserves and to develop the reserves that we obtain successfully; uncertainties inherent in making estimates of oil and gas reserves, including recently discovered oil and gas reserves; technical difficulties; significant developments in the global economy; significant economic or political developments in Mexico ; ; developments affecting the energy sector; and changes in our legal regime or regulatory environment, including tax and environmental regulations. Accordingly, you should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. In any event, these statements speak only as of their dates, and we undertake no obligation to update or revise any of them, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. No assurance can be given that the transactions described herein will be consummated or as to the ultimate terms of any such transactions. SOURCE Petroleos Mexicanos "We are so proud to be recognized as a top workplace in the Philadelphia area," said CapTech Principal Andy Sofish. "We strive to attract and develop the best talent in the industry and work hard to cultivate a culture that's both challenging and rewarding, without sacrificing work-life balance." CapTech's Philadelphia office currently has more than 50 local consultants and plans to create more than 35 jobs this year. The company, who employs 900 nation-wide, was recently ranked on the Inc. 5000's list of fastest growing American companies for the 11th time and was recognized by Forbes as one of America's Best Management Consulting Firms. The list is based solely on employee feedback gathered through a third-party survey administered by research partner Energage, LLC (formerly WorkplaceDynamics), a leading provider of technology-based employee engagement tools. The anonymous survey measures several aspects of workplace culture, including alignment, execution, and connection. The Philadelphia Media Network will honor the Top Workplaces winners at an event on Wednesday, March 14, at the Crystal Tea Room in Philadelphia. Top Workplaces will also be featured in a special section of The Inquirer on Sunday, March 18. About CapTech CapTech (www.captechconsulting.com) is a national IT management consulting firm that bridges the gap between business and technology. We partner with some of the world's most successful companies to design, develop, and manage technical and digital solutions that delight customers, drive insights, and meet strategic objectives. Headquartered in Richmond, Virginia, CapTech has locations in Atlanta, Baltimore, Charlotte, Chicago, Columbus (Ohio), Denver, Orlando, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Washington D.C. Contact: Emily Krause Phone: (804) 545-8733 Email: [email protected] SOURCE CapTech Related Links http://www.captechconsulting.com The BOGO deal is good for an Original with toppings, of equal or lesser value. Additionally, one of six unique bonus prizes will be randomly selected and loaded to the rewards member's loyalty card or account when used at checkout to make a purchase on National Frozen Yogurt Day. Prizes include free toppings, additional BOGOs, double points, and one, two, or even three free swirls with toppings. Customers must register their Pinkcard account in order to redeem the BOGO deal and load their bonus prize. "This great deal is our way of rewarding our loyalty members and thanking them for being our devoted fans," says Melissa Hubbell, director of marketing for Pinkberry. "Being a Pinkcard member truly has a lot of perks and it's so easy and free to join. We encourage all frozen yogurt fans to sign up and celebrate National Frozen Yogurt Day with us and continue earning rewards all year long." Pinkcards are available in-store and can be registered online at pinkcard.myguestaccount.com/guest/register. Guests can also sign-up for an account through the Pinkberry app. The BOGO deal and additional prizes are only valid with purchase and registered Pinkcard account at participating locations on National Frozen Yogurt Day, February 6, 2018. For more information or store locations visit www.Pinkberry.com, "Like" Pinkberry on Facebook, or follow us on Instagram @PinkberrySwirl. About Pinkberry Pinkberry launched in Los Angeles, CA in 2005 as the original brand that reinvented frozen yogurt. Today, over a decade later, Pinkberry continues to create great tasting treats with fresh ingredients in an experience comprised of distinctive product, outstanding service and inspirational design. At Pinkberry you can taste the difference of an uncompromising commitment to quality and freshness. Most recently, Pinkberry was acquired by Scottsdale, Arizona-based Kahala Brands, one of the fastest growing franchising companies in the world with a portfolio of 22 quick-service restaurant brands and approximately 2900 locations in 28 countries. For more information about Pinkberry, visit www.Pinkberry.com. For more information about Kahala Brands, visit www.KahalaBrands.com. SOURCE Pinkberry NEWARK, N.J., Feb. 2, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- PSEG Energy Solutions today announced that it has received approval to operate as a retail electricity supplier in the state of Maryland. PSEG Energy Solutions currently offers competitive electric supply to commercial and industrial customers in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. The company plans to continue to expand throughout the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast. "We are excited to soon be offering our products and services in Maryland," said Thomas Chamberlin, Managing Director, PSEG Energy Solutions. "Working closely with energy brokers, we deliver competitive prices and great customer service, backed by a name that can be trusted PSEG. PSEG Power operates one of the most balanced portfolios in the country. And it is that balance that enables PSEG Energy Solutions to provide the power our customers need, when they need it." PSEG Energy Solutions works with medium and large commercial and industrial customers to find the best energy supply product to meet the needs of a customer a locked-in, fixed price to ensure budget certainty, a price that is indexed and floats with energy markets, or some combination of the two. PSEG Energy Solutions comprises a team of energy industry professionals with more than 100 years of combined experience in executive leadership, wholesale energy operations, customer care and sales from every part of the industry, including utilities, retail energy companies and energy consulting firms. For more information about PSEG Energy Solutions, visit PSEGEnergySolutions.com. PSEG Energy Solutions is part of the PSEG family of companies. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of PSEG Energy Resources & Trade, which manages PSEG Power's generation portfolio. PSEG is a publicly traded company (NYSE:PEG) based in Newark, N.J. Visit PSEG at: www.pseg.com PSEG on Facebook PSEG on Twitter PSEG on LinkedIn PSEG blog, Energize! Forward-Looking Statements The statements contained in this press release that are not purely historical are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated. Such statements are based on management's beliefs as well as assumptions made by and information currently available to management. Factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated in any forward-looking statements made by us herein are discussed in our Annual Report on Form 10-K and subsequent reports on Form 10-Q and Form 8-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and available on its website: http://investor.pseg.com. All of the forward-looking statements made in this press release are qualified by these cautionary statements and we cannot assure you that the results or developments anticipated by management will be realized or even if realized, will have the expected consequences to, or effects on, us or our business, prospects, financial condition, results of operations or cash flows. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements in making any investment decision. Forward-looking statements made in this press release apply only as of the date hereof. While we may elect to update forward-looking statements from time to time, we specifically disclaim any obligation to do so, even in light of new information or future events, unless otherwise required by applicable securities laws. From time to time, PSEG, PSE&G and PSEG Power release important information via postings on their corporate website at http://investor.pseg.com. Investors and other interested parties are encouraged to visit the corporate website to review new postings. The "Email Alerts" link at http://investor.pseg.com may be used to enroll to receive automatic email alerts and/or Really Simple Syndication (RSS) feeds regarding new postings. SOURCE PSEG Energy Solutions Related Links https://psegenergysolutions.com LOS ANGELES, Feb. 2, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Ralphs Grocery Company's parent company, The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR), will introduce its new and exciting Scan, Bag, Go shopping technology in almost 30 Ralphs stores this year. The new Scan, Bag, Go service combines digital and in-store experiences to create more value and convenience for customers. The new technology will debut at Ralphs' Studio City supermarket, at 10901 Ventura Boulevard, on February 21, and at Ralphs' Redondo Beach store, at 1413 Hawthorne Boulevard, on March 7. "Now more than ever, our customers want new and more convenient ways to shop with us," said Valerie Jabbar, president of Ralphs. "We continue to meet our customers where they are today by redefining the shopping experience. Scan, Bag, Go is one more choice, like our online ordering, curbside pickup service, ClickList, that Ralphs provides so our customers can choose how they want to shop with us." Scan, Bag, Go transforms the way customers shop and checkout in the store. The innovative technology allows customers to use a wireless handheld scanner provided by Ralphs or the Scan, Bag, Go app on their personal device to scan and bag products as they shop for a quicker, seamless checkout experience. Scan, Bag, Go helps to create a personalized experience for customers throughout their shopping trip, allowing them to view and download digital coupons, keep a running total of their order, and view the current week's sales ad. Scan, Bag, Go customers currently visit a store's self-checkout area to provide payment. Customers will soon have the ability to provide payment directly through the app, allowing shoppers to exit the store even quicker. In addition to Studio City and Redondo Beach, Ralphs plans to introduce the Scan, Bag, Go service to almost 30 other stores throughout Southern California in 2018. The Scan, Bag, Go service will be offered as an option alongside traditional checkout lanes staffed by Ralphs' friendly associates, self-checkout, online ordering, curbside pickup, and home delivery. About Ralphs Ralphs Grocery Company is dedicated to our purpose: to Feed the Human Spirit . We are more than 22,000 associates serving customers in 191 supermarkets across Southern California. From the company's headquarters in Los Angeles County, Ralphs is a recognized leader in community service and giving. Last year, the company contributed more than $6 million to support education, hunger relief, women's health and local nonprofit organizations in the communities served by the company's stores. Ralphs is a subsidiary of The Kroger Co., (NYSE:KR), one of the world's largest retailers, based in Cincinnati, Ohio. For more about Ralphs, please visit our website at www.ralphs.com. SOURCE Ralphs Grocery Company Related Links http://www.ralphs.com (Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/637074/ijaw_leaders_bayelsa.jpg ) Jonathan, the Governor and the top Ijaw leaders called on President Muhammadu Buhari and the leadership of the All Progressives Congress to be sincere with the implementation of the recommendations of the party's committee led by Governor Nasir El Rufai of Kaduna State. The former President and the group said that, a holistic and sincere implementation of the recommendations of the report on restructuring would encourage inter-ethnic harmony and development in the country. A statement by the Special Adviser to Governor Dickson on Media Relations, Mr. Fidelis Soriwei, on Thursday quoted Jonathan as having said that, the issues which fell under the purview of the committee were exhaustively treated during the 2014 National Conference whose sincere implementation would definitely move the nation forward. He said that, it was a good idea that the APC was able to set up a committee to look into the same grey areas, which featured prominently in the deliberations of the 2014 Conference. Jonathan commended Governor Dickson for playing the leadership role of coordinating the thoughts of the Ijaw people on the sensitive issue of restructuring. He said that the Governor must be appreciated for ensuring that the Ijaw Nation did not speak with discordant tones on the issue of restructuring. He stressed that he was pleased that Governor Dickson was performing the leadership role in accordance with his expectations by coordinating the Ijaw Nation on the topical issue. He said, "I am pleased with the caliber of people who came with the Governor to brief me on the issue of the recommendations of the APC Committee on restructuring. "I must say that I am happy with the role being played by the Governor on this issue of restructuring. Ethnic nationalities must not speak with discordant tones on such pertinent issues. I am pleased that Dickson is coordinating the Ijaw Nation. "I am also pleased that the APC set up a committee to look into the grey areas to come up with these recommendations. When we were in government, we came up with a confab and several issues were addressed which if sincerely implemented would encourage relationship in the country. A sincere implementation of the recommendations on these grey areas will make the country to move forward." Speaking also, Governor Dickson said that, he led the delegation of the Ijaw leaders to the former President on a consultative meeting and to brief him on the steps the Ijaws had taken to build bridges of understanding in the pursuits of what is right in the country. He explained that, the meeting focused on the issue of restructuring and the moves being made to bring about a just, fair and egalitarian Nigerian society. Dickson noted that, the recommendations contained in the report of the APC committee were the same as those contained in the 2014 National confab. He said, "As you all can see, this is a high-powered delegation of Ijaw elders and leaders from all the zones from Ijaw nation. I am leading them to meet and consult with our respected leader, the former President and also to brief him on steps we are taking; steps we will continue to take to unify our people to build bridges of understanding and to support all that is right and good, not only in this region, but across the nation. "As you are aware, there is a raging issue of restructuring and moves made to bring about a fairer, egalitarian, stable and prosperous Nigeria. And here, in this state and in this region, we are proud to have our leader, the former President and so today we came to brief him about the steps we are taking to study all the reports, including, the reports of the 2014 Confab which was rightly empanelled by Mr. President and it is gratifying to note a number of the recommendations given by the APC panel are the same conclusions that the 2014 Confab arrived at." The meeting was a follow up to an earlier meeting of top Ijaw leaders at Kiagbodo, the country home of Pa Edwin Clark on January 20, 2018. The meeting, which had in attendance, the Governor of Bayelsa, Pa Clark, Alabo Graham Douglas affirmed that the 2019 general elections would be a referendum on restructuring across Ijaw land. The meeting also called on President Buhari and the APC to ensure that the recommendations contained the report of the APC Committee on restructuring were sincerely implemented. This release is being issued on behalf of the Governor's Office, Bayelsa State SOURCE The Governor's Office, Bayelsa State ATLANTA, Feb. 1, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- SalesLoft, the leading sales engagement platform, today announced it has hired veteran sales executive Sean D. Murray to join the company as its first Chief Revenue Officer (CRO). Murray joins SalesLoft from Xactly Corp, where he was Vice President of Global Sales and part of the executive team that took the company public and later sold the company to Vista Equity, a leading private equity firm. Murray has also held several global sales leadership positions, including more than 12 years at CEB. Chief Revenue Officer, SalesLoft "It's clear that Sean is a master of his craft and has a proven track record growing and driving sales performance for some of the fastest growing companies around," says Kyle Porter, Co-Founder and CEO of SalesLoft. "We are excited to add such an accomplished sales leader - and also a former SalesLoft customer - to our growing team of 'A' players." Murray has held multiple global sales leadership positions and joins SalesLoft as an expert in sales methodologies, processes and rep behaviors in delivering the customer with the sales experience that is a product in and of itself. "I've spent my career in professional sales and believe this is the most exciting time to work in sales," says Murray. "Our profession is ever evolving and today's leadership must continuously adjust, or they will fail. Our craft has become more data-driven and scientific than ever, but also requires more human touch, and SalesLoft is out in front as one of the most innovative companies supporting the needs of today's sales organizations. I'm looking forward to helping our customers take advantage of new opportunities, continue to deliver the best sales experience for their customers, and generate the most revenue possible." Murray believes organizations need to change the sales function in order to be more successful, considering many buyers are now much farther along in the sales process when they first engage with a rep. He believes reps must be able to deliver commercial insights and better position themselves as experts that can help solve customer challenges. At SalesLoft, Murray is looking to expand the company's efforts to guide customers to adopt a blend of human and machine learning approaches that will make them more successful. "Our purpose is to activate the authentic seller in all of us," adds Murray. "The best salespeople today rely more on human connection than automation. More on teaching than technology. At the same time, technology plays a more valuable role than ever in assisting great salespeople with the insights and intelligence they need to engage with and build stronger relationships with even more customers and less effort than ever before. I am most excited about leading a team that's doing this better than anyone else in the market today." Murray is currently reaching out to SalesLoft customers and starting to work with their teams to improve performance in 2018. SalesLoft customers interested in working with Murray more closely should plan to attend SalesLoft's 4th Annual Rainmaker Conference March 5-7 in Atlanta, Georgia. Customers should contact their Account Executive to coordinate time with Murray at the event. About SalesLoft SalesLoft is the number one sales engagement platform, helping companies deliver the best experience to their customers and prospects so they generate the most revenue and prospects so they generate the most revenue. SalesLoft customers are able to harmoniously blend the scalable automation side of sales with that of the human authentic experience. Find more at http://www.salesloft.com. Media Contact: Kevin O'Malley Phone: 404.664.5674 Email: [email protected] SOURCE SalesLoft STOCKHOLM, Feb. 2, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --Scania will collaborate with Haylion Technologies, which focuses on solutions for the Chinese transport industry in the areas of autonomous driving, electrification and connectivity. "For Scania, this partnership provides unique opportunities to contribute to as well as to learn from the rapid technology development now taking place in China in these strategic areas. We look forward to combining our knowledge and global perspective with the expertise and ambitions of Haylion Technologies," says Mats Harborn, Executive Director of Scania China Strategic Office. Scania and Haylion Technologies will join forces in the field of non-fossil fuel powered, mainly electrified, vehicles, autonomous driving and urban bus transport. The common aim is to expedite the commercialisation of autonomous driving applications and sustainable transport. "Gaining excellence in skills through collaboration has always been our principle. We recognise Scania's leading position in the world's commercial vehicle industry. I believe that our cooperation will further promote and accelerate China's development of intelligent vehicles and the Internet of Vehicle (IoV)," says Dr Jimmy Hu Jianping, founder and Chairman of Haylion Technologies. Haylion Technologies has together with Gortune Investment Co. Ltd established a team of specialists in artificial intelligence, automotive manufacturing, communications and public transport. This team focuses on autonomous driving technology, concept verification and its industrialisation. Haylion Techonologies' main focus is developing comprehensive solutions for public transport by electrified, autonomous and connected buses. Since the end of 2017, Haylion Technologies conducts trials with intelligent buses on public roads together with the Shenzhen Bus Group named 'AlphaBa', which is seen as industry breakthrough. For further information, please contact Hans-Ake Danielsson Press Manager tel +46-8-553-856-62 Scania is a world leading provider of transport solutions. Together with our partners and customers we are driving the shift towards a sustainable transport system. In 2016, we delivered 73,100 trucks, 8,300 buses as well as 7,800 industrial and marine engines to our customers. Net sales totalled nearly SEK 104 billion, of which about 20 percent were services-related. Founded in 1891, Scania now operates in more than 100 countries and employs some 46,000 people. Research and development are concentrated in Sweden, with branches in Brazil and India. Production takes place in Europe, Latin America and Asia, with regional production centres in Africa, Asia and Eurasia. Scania is part of Volkswagen Truck & Bus GmbH. For more information visit www.scania.com. http://mb.cision.com/Public/209/2443547/832399b261e2bdba_org.jpg SOURCE Scania Related Links http://www.scania.com NEW YORK, Feb. 2, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, the Seeger Weiss family mourns the loss of Melvyn I. Weiss, who passed away in his sleep last night at the age of 82, surrounded by his family. He had been diagnosed with ALS last June, and lived his last days in the warm company of friends and family, who loved and respected him deeply. A founding partner of the internationally renowned law firm Milberg Weiss Bershad Specthrie & Lerach from 1965 to 2008 together with Lawrence "Larry" Milberg, Mel was known as "a lion of the plaintiff's bar," taking on corporate wrongdoers against all odds. He pioneered the class action legal field, blazing trails that a generation of lawyers has followed to help level a playing field that for decades was tilted against disenfranchised individuals. Described by colleagues as "a brilliant and creative mind with unequalled character and charisma," Mel saw his work as a calling, fighting tirelessly to defend the rights of individuals wronged by powerful corporate interests. "Throughout my life, my father was an inspiration, role model, and hero to me," said his son Stephen, a founding partner of plaintiff's law firm, Seeger Weiss LLP. "He spent a lifetime in honest service to others, leaving his unique handprint on the practice of law and all of humanity, while somehow always managing to make time to be a loving husband and father. The world is a better place because of Mel Weiss, and there will never be another like him." Mel was known and beloved for his warmth, kindness and generosity, touching the lives of all who knew him. He was broadly admired for his heroic and tireless professional and charitable work, dedicating years representing on a pro bono basis Holocaust victims against Swiss and German banks and industrial complexes, as well as countless victims of the September 11 tragedy, to name a few. In the early 1990s, he and his wife established the Melvyn and Barbara Weiss Public Interest Foundation at the New York University School of Law, encouraging generations of lawyers to take on lower-paying public-interest jobs by paying their student loans. He served on countless philanthropic boards and committees, which were enriched by his sound wisdom, judgment and generosity. Mel also trained and mentored younger lawyers throughout his career, including Christopher Seeger, who co-founded Seeger Weiss in 1999. "Mel was a visionary, who was the first to use the class action mechanism to serve as a check against the power and abuses of corporate America to the benefit of millions of individuals in the United States and worldwide. To me and many others who had the privilege of working with him, he'll always be remembered as a kind and generous man and a pioneering giant in our field. He truly made this world a better place for the little guy," Seeger said. Mel was born in the Bronx in 1935 during the height of the Great Depression, and worked his way through law school as an accountant. He graduated NYU Law School in 1959 before embarking on his storied career. He leaves behind his wife, Barbara, three children, Gary (Nancy), Stephen (Debra), and Leslie, and 7 grandchildren. He will forever be in our hearts. SOURCE Seeger Weiss LLP Related Links http://www.seegerweiss.com Zimbabwes President Emmerson Mnangagwa has appointed High Court Judge Priscilla Chigumba as the new chairperson of the Electoral commission, local media reported. General elections are scheduled to be held in Zimbabwe in 2018 to elect the President and members of both houses of Parliament. President Mnangagwa had promised a fresh vote soon after the ruling ZANU-PF party anointed him interim President in November, acknowledging that the people of Zimbabwe should directly elect their countrys leader. The 2018 election will be the first since Zimbabwes independence in 1980 where Mugabes name will not appear on the ballot. Priscilla Chigumba will replace Justice Rita Makarau who resigned under unclear circumstances in December last year. Makarau, seen as an ally of 93-year-old former president Robert Mugabe, at the time of her resignation was overseeing an overhaul of the voters roll, which the opposition Movement for Democratic Change has described as shambolic. Rumors preceding the appointment announcement alleged that Justice Priscilla Chigumba solicited a $20,000 bribe from one of the parties in a case she was presiding over the electoral commission. Her appointment follows opposition parties request to reform an electoral system they say is skewed in the ruling ZANU-PF partys favor. Justice Chigumba studied at the University of London in 1991 and graduated with a Bachelor of Laws Degree (LLB) in 1994. She started her legal career as a professional assistant at Gollop and Blank Legal Practitioners from 1994 to 2000. UPLAND, Calif., Feb. 1, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Tamara Michelle Hodges is recognized by Continental Who's Who as a Pinnacle Professional Member in the field of Jewelry Creation in recognition of her role as Founder of Tamara Michelle Jewelry. An artisan jewelry store renowned for creating customized pieces with the consumer in mind, Tamara Michelle Jewelry creates one of-a-kind abstract jewelry pieces for their clients. Dedicated to offering quality customer service, Tamara Michelle ensures that her client's needs are met one jewelry piece at a time. Amassing three years of experience in her current role as Founder and Owner of Tamara Michelle Jewelry, Hodges has become an artisan within the realm of jewelry making. Throughout her career, Hodges has specialized in the development of silver and rare gemstone artisan jewelry. Additionally, she has gained expertise within the areas of business development, design and construction. Having been inspired at a young age with the art of jewelry making, Hodges is proud to say that all jewelry is one of a kind and handmade by her. Hodges recalls being, "madly in love with making jewelry since I was a young girl". She states that," in the beginning, I beaded and wire wrapped like a champ but always felt something was missing when I created jewelry. I had this burning desire to bring my designs to life and trigger an emotional response in those who came across my work. I found and fell in love with semi-precious gemstones, and realized these gorgeous works of art might just help in this pursuit." Throughout the course of her education and training, Hodges attained her Bachelor of Science degree in Business from California State Polytechnic University Ponoma. To further her professional development, Hodges is an affiliate of several organizations including the MSJA, the National Association of Professional Women and Ethical Metallurgy. With the intention of taking her customers on an "emotional yet fashionable journey of self-expression and individuality," Hodges believes in putting her customer's creative needs first. A firm believer in the philosophy of "working hard and inspiring creativity with style and grace," Hodges strives "to produce the best ethically sourced products available." Hodges holds in high esteem her ability to develop priceless pieces designed with her consumers needs in mind. Charitable to various organizations, in her spare time Hodges donates her time and talents to cancer research foundations as well as City of Hope. When not working, Hodges enjoys reading, painting, drawing, spending time with her husband and animal rescue. Hodges dedicates this recognition to her father, Neal Anthony Hodges. For more information, visit www.tamaramichellejewelry.com. Contact: Katherine Green, 516-825-5634 [email protected] SOURCE Continental Who's Who Related Links http://www.continentalwhoswho.com PETERBOROUGH, England, Feb. 2, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Campaign for the Prevention of Thalidomide Births in Europe, representing victims of the thalidomide tragedy of the 1950s and 1960s, has appealed to the US Congress not to set back efforts to prevent harmful exposure to thalidomide and drugs that cause terrible birth defects by passing the ''Creating and Restoring Equal Access to Equivalent Samples Act" in its present form. Intended to spur the development of lower-cost generic drugs in the US, CREATES would force pharmaceutical manufacturers to sell samples of dangerous medicines regulated with Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategies (REMS) to generic companies for drug development. This includes thalidomide and its chemical analogues, now used in cancer treatments. Addressing the possible safety consequences of CREATES, organizations representing thalidomide victims in Belgium, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom sent a letter dated 31 January to Senators Mitch McConnell and Chuck Schumer and House leaders Paul Ryan and Nancy Pelosi urging lawmakers to "learn from the mistakes made in other countries" by not weakening the REMS program. The letter is available at: http://www.preventionofthalidomidebirthsineurope.com/thalidomide-victims-appeal-to-us-lawmakers-to-preserve-safety-regulations-in-the-us-on-thalidomide-and-other-high-risk-drugs/ The concern, shared by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) in the UK, is CREATES will do away with established procedures whereby both innovator and generic manufacturers are held to the same safety requirements when testing and distributing dangerous drugs. Glenn Harrison, chairman of The Campaign for the Prevention of Thalidomide Births in Europe, himself a thalidomide victim, represented the remaining survivors who urge US policymakers to balance the economic benefits of generic drugs against the safety consequences of inadequate controls on dangerous drugs like thalidomide. "Although we are patients ourselves and appreciate the economic benefits afforded by generic drugs, when safety, and more importantly, control are as vital as with compounds like thalidomide, the consequences of inadequate protections greatly outweigh any projected cost savings. Recent experiences in Brazil, Africa and India, where thalidomide babies continue to be born, firmly underscore this point and highlight exactly what can occur if a medication like thalidomide is not tightly controlled." Marketed outside the US in the 1950s and early 1960s to treat morning sickness during pregnancy, thalidomide was responsible for one of the worst public health tragedies of modern times. From 1956 to 1962, as many as 10,000 babies were born with major malformations, such as severely shortened arms or legs and flipper-like hands or feet. An estimated 3,000 thalidomide victims remain alive today. About The Campaign for the Prevention of Thalidomide Births in Europe Founded by Glenn Harrison, a thalidomide victim, The Campaign for the Prevention of Thalidomide Births in Europe holds to account the regulatory bodies across Europe to ensure that agreed pregnancy prevention programmes to prevent harmful exposure to thalidomide. Glenn also lobbies for strict thalidomide regulations in Asia and South America where thalidomide babies continue to be born. SOURCE The Campaign for the Prevention of Thalidomide Births in Europe Related Links http://www.preventionofthalidomidebirthsineurope.com/ NeoGraft is an industry leader in the area of hair restoration technologies and topical products. NeoGraft has developed a tremendous reputation in the aesthetic industry for providing an excellent alternative to traditional hair transplantation surgery. Venus Concept's industry first and only subscription-based business model, combined with its global reach in over 60 countries and 27 direct global offices, will create a significant opportunity to expand the overall combined businesses of both NeoGraft and Venus Concept. "We are extremely pleased and excited to have reached an agreement to acquire NeoGraft, as it represents a significant milestone in our company's history. We believe that NeoGraft is a perfect fit for Venus Concept and will broaden our current customer base and product portfolio. This acquisition will enable us to accelerate our growth plans for 2018 and beyond. Our differentiated subscription model and unique products position the company well to take full advantage of tailwinds in the non-invasive aesthetic market," said Domenic Serafino, Chairman and CEO of Venus Concept. Glenn Normoyle, President of NeoGraft, also commented on the acquisition: "We are very happy to be joining the Venus Concept family. Having spent time with the Venus Concept team, it is clear there is consistency in culture and vision between the two companies and its employees. The depth of experience and infrastructure at Venus Concept will significantly increase the global presence of NeoGraft." About Venus Concept Venus Concept is a leading global medical technology company that develops, commercializes, and delivers safe, efficacious, and easy-to-use aesthetic technologies and related practice enhancement services in a unique, industry-disruptive subscription-based business model. Venus Concept's devices have been designed in cost-effective and proprietary ways that enables the company to expand beyond the aesthetic industry's traditional markets of dermatology and plastic surgery, and into non-traditional marketssuch as family practice, general practice, internal medicine, obstetrics and gynecology, and medical spas. The company has expanded its subscription platform and is now selling its devices in over 60 countries, including 27 with direct offices. Venus Concept now has over 400 global employees whose customer-centric approach has supported the company's rapid growth. For more information, please visit www.venusconcept.com. About NeoGraft Eight years ago, NeoGraft launched its automated follicular unit extraction system in North America. Today, NeoGraft is considered one of the most trusted hair restoration brands in the world. NeoGraft's commitment to continuously improving patient outcomes led to collaborating with top aesthetic surgeons. NeoGraft's combined next-generation minimally-invasive surgical techniques with decades of data, and designed NeoGraft 2.0 to be more than just a device. It is engineered to allow NeoGraft to be true partners with physicians. Wireless connectivity enables remote access for diagnostics, maintenance, automatic upgrades, and procedural data. The touchpad operates like your favorite tablet, and software communicates with the hand tools to provide real time extract and implant graft counts. Today, NeoGraft boasts over a 90% patient satisfaction rating on the world's leading independent consumer website, Real Self. For more information, please visit www.neograft.com. SOURCE Venus Concept Related Links http://www.venusconcept.com FORT WASHINGTON, PA., Feb. 2, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Walter Investment Management Corp. ("Walter" or the "Company") (NYSE: WAC.BC) today announced that Anthony N. Renzi, the Company's Chief Executive Officer and President, will be leaving the Company. To ensure a smooth transition, Mr. Renzi intends to stay with the Company and continue to serve as Chief Executive Officer and President until a permanent or interim successor is named. The Company expects to retain an executive search firm to identify and evaluate internal and external candidates to succeed Mr. Renzi. George M. Awad, Chairman of Walter's Board of Directors, said, "Under Tony's leadership, Walter has transformed into a more focused and efficient Company that is well positioned to build on the strengths of its core business to drive future growth and success. With the upcoming completion of our court-supervised financial restructuring efforts, we believe that this is the right time to transition leadership and prepare for Walter's next chapter. We are focused on identifying a strong leader who shares our commitment to creating value by continuously enhancing the customer experience. We thank Tony and appreciate his continued support as the Board conducts a thoughtful and comprehensive search for Walter's next CEO." Mr. Renzi said, "I am proud of all that we have accomplished to transform Walter by focusing on our core business, reducing costs and undertaking a financial restructuring process that will enable the Company to focus its resources on strengthening the areas that are critical to its success. I am confident that our next CEO and the rest of the Company's outstanding employees will continue to build on the important progress we have made and will advance our mission of caring for our customers throughout the homeownership journey. I look forward to continuing to work with my colleagues to ensure a seamless transition." As previously announced on January 17, 2018, the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York (the "Court") recently approved the Company's prepackaged financial restructuring plan (the "Prepackaged Plan"). The Company is continuing to work towards satisfying all conditions precedent to the Prepackaged Plan and currently expects that such conditions will be satisfied and to emerge from Chapter 11 in the near-term. About Walter Investment Management Corp. Walter Investment Management Corp. is an independent servicer and originator of mortgage loans and servicer of reverse mortgage loans. Based in Fort Washington, Pennsylvania, the Company has approximately 4,100 employees and services a diverse loan portfolio. For more information about Walter Investment Management Corp., please visit the Company's website at www.walterinvestment.com. The information on the Company's website is not a part of this release. Cautionary Statements Regarding Forward-Looking Information Certain statements in this press release constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act, as amended. Statements that are not historical fact are forward-looking statements. Certain of these forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as "believes," "anticipates," "expects," "intends," "plans," "projects," "estimates," "assumes," "may," "should," "could," "would," "shall," "will," "seeks," "targets," "future," or other similar expressions. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other important factors, and our actual results, performance or achievements could differ materially from results, performance or achievements expressed in these forward-looking statements. Such statements include, but are not limited to, statements relating to the effective date of the prepackaged plan and the Company's CEO search process. These forward-looking statements are based on the Company's current beliefs, intentions and expectations and are not guarantees or indicative of future performance, nor should any conclusions be drawn or assumptions be made as to any potential outcome of any proposed transactions or senior executive changes the Company announces, considers or seeks to implement. Important assumptions and other important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, those factors, risks and uncertainties described in more detail under the heading "Risk Factors" and elsewhere in the Company's annual and quarterly reports, including amendments thereto, and other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Contact Kimberly Perez SVP & Chief Accounting Officer 813.421.7694 [email protected] SOURCE Walter Investment Management Corp. Related Links http://www.walterinvestment.com "Yahweh, the Being Who created the heavens and earth, is the only Being Who has the Knowledge, Wisdom, and ability to foretell the future. Fulfilled Prophecies prove this fact," Yisrayl says. Yisrayl says not just anyone can read the Bible and understand the purpose and meanings in the passages, why they were written, who they were written for or even when they were written. Yisrayl says just ask any "Bible scholar" and you will find their answers will all vary, and all of them are based on guesswork. Yisrayl says his work is based on Scriptural fact and can be backed up; he would never explain anything by leaning on his own understanding. "I challenge every person reading this now to study what I've written, cross reference it, prove it for yourself. It's inspired by Yahweh; it's fact, and you need to know it," Yisrayl adds. The article has been placed on his blog and is a hearty 10 pages. Yisrayl promises no fluff in his work, and prepares the reader to come ready for some hearty meat. To read this article, go to www.yahwehsbranch.com About Us: The House of Yahweh, fully recognized in 1983 as a non-profit organization in the United States of America, continues to this present day to fulfill its commissioned work of preaching and publishing the True Message of Salvation. The House of Yahweh has correctly restored the Heavenly Father's Name and the Savior's True Name in the translation named in Scripture as The Book of Yahweh. SOURCE The House of Yahweh Related Links http://www.yahweh.com For her first standalone picture book in eight years, author-illustrator Laurie Keller has created a brand new character, an exuberant spud named Potato. His quest to find appropriate attire during a big sale provides, well, the meat and potatoes of Potato Pants! (Holt/Ottaviano, Oct.), arriving this fall. In an exclusive first look at the books jacket, Potatos excitement at the prospect of purchasing a perfect pair of pants is palpable. I had tried some things with potato stamp lettering first, but it wasnt quite working, said Keller. The books designer, April Ward, came up with the idea of Potato with a really excited look on his face. She thought of him in front of the store, shopping with other potatoes. But how did Potato get to a pants store in the first place? It started as a conversation I imagined a few years ago between a goofy pickle who wanted pickle pants, and a storeowner, Keller recalled about the spark for her tale. It wasnt really that much of a story, but I couldnt let it go. After auditioning a bunch of other characters in the pants shoppers role, she said, Finally, I thought, a potato! I started sketching it and I started loving Potato even more than Pickle. It was just a snippet of an idea; this odd character popped in my head having an earnest discussion with a snooty store owner, and it evolved from there. In the book, Potato cant wait to get to Lance Vances Fancy Pants Store for a one-day sale on potato pants. His enthusiasm turns to upset, however, when he spies an eggplant who has been rude to him, inside the store. Its about exploring misunderstandings and forgiveness; thats really at the heart of this story, said Christy Ottaviano, Kellers longtime editor at Henry Holt Books for Young Readers. Though its been a while since her last picture book (Birdys Smile Book, 2010), Keller has not been idle. As the idea for Potato Pants! was gestating, she was occupied with various other projects in recent years, including creating a series of chapter books starring another carbohydrate character, Arnie the Donut, at Ottavianos suggestion. Mastering that longer format was a process that was time-consuming for Keller, whom Ottaviano described as a perfectionist. Its very exciting to have a standalone picture book with her now after a decent span of time, Ottaviano said. The publication of Potato Pants! signals another professional milestone as well: it marks the 20th anniversary of Keller and Ottaviano working as a team. I was an associate editor back in 1997, Ottaviano said. There were very few agents, Holt was a smaller company, and as editors, you had to find your own material. You really had to go after it. In that vein, she had seen a greeting card featuring Kellers work, and, taken with the illustration style, pursued the artist. It was so fresh and funny and inventive, and I called her up based on the card, she noted. Keller remembers the card well. It was a sample she had left behind at Holt when she met with a design assistant there after cold-calling for an appointment. I was living in Kansas City at the time, and I naively called some publishers in New York when I thought of my first book idea, Keller said. I didnt meet with Christy, but I met with a design assistant, and she put one of the pieces of art that I left behind up on her door, where it caught Ottavianos attention. I wasnt home when she called, said Keller, and this was in the time of answering machines. She left me a wonderful message, and I was just so excited; I still have the little cassette recording of it somewhere. And when I finally got to talk to her, she and I clicked right away. That first phone conversation yielded more than Ottaviano had imagined. Laurie was already working on a manuscript and it turned out to be The Scrambled States of America [then known as Aloha, Kansas, according to Keller]. Ottaviano recalls that she was eager to buy it. It reminded me of Schoolhouse Rock; I was a huge fan of that as a child, she recalled. The sensibility of it struck a chord with me and it felt so fresh and different than anything that I was seeing at that time. Weve been working together ever since. Twenty years of projects has resulted in a comfortable working rhythm for Keller and Ottaviano. I have to be pretty excited about something if I want to talk to her about it, Keller noted. I let her in right away before I even go very far with an idea. Ottaviano says the duo does a lot of brainstorming along the way to a finished book. Weve gotten really close over the years, she noted, and I think that my job with Laurie, who is an idea machine, is to help her winnow through those ideas to try to find the most market-viable idea, but also an idea where she can bring her sense of humor to the subject matter with her inventive eye. Their collaboration has a more personal side, too. As you work with someone over time you learn a lot about what inspires them, says Ottaviano. One of the things I love to do with Laurie is, if she seems stuck between books or in a book, I will send her funny things like YouTube or SNL skits we both love, or shared favorite movies, or suggest, Youve got to see this art show thats in town, because she absolutely finds inspiration in other art forms. I find that shell come back from that and something will have ignited a new idea. One of the passions that Keller and Ottaviano share is a certain type of music. Were both closet disco music lovers, said Keller. We found that out right away when we started working together. So in every book, I take a snippet of a disco song or an 80s funk song [such as ABBA and Rick James] and I change it to be a dedication to her. Authors and illustrators typically get all the attention for the books, but there are so many people behind the scenes that work on it. I just like to give a shout-out to them to say thank you. In Potato Pants! Keller says she honored a request from Ottaviano who asked her, Can you do one for September by Earth, Wind, and Fire? Readers can find the tribute on the books copyright page. Though Keller has not yet settled on an idea for her next picture book, she has discovered over the past few years that she really enjoys working on several projects at once. To that end, she is illustrating a picture book by Adam Rex, Pluto Gets the Call (S&S/Beach Lane, 2019), about Plutos demotion from planet status; an early reader version of Arnie the Donut; and illustrations for her third Marty Frye, Private Eye title by Janet Tashjian. In the meantime, Keller and Ottaviano will be finding time to celebrate their working anniversary and friendship, though no plans are set yet. And when they get something on the calendar, you may just see Keller doing the robot, a dance skill she also gave to Potato in her new book. Its literally her happy dance. The idea of how the story of Potato Pants! was going to unfold popped into my head and I just started doing the robot, she said. I dont even know how to do the robot, but I was compelled to start doing it because I was so excited. Scholastic has announced the fall launch of Scholastic Focus, an imprint dedicated to middle grade and young adult narrative nonfiction that is both timely and timeless, and encourages readers to draw connections between historical events and contemporary issues. The imprints publishing philosophy underscores the relevance of values that have long guided humanity; the profound effects of invention, inspiration, and revolution; and the importance of introducing a diversity of perspectives and identities. The line will encompass new hardcover titles by established and debut authors, as well as paperback editions of Scholastic backlist titles. We plan to publish stories, set in various eras, that will resonate with todays young readers, said Lisa Sandell, Scholastic Presss editorial director, who will head up the new imprint editorially. Three bestselling and critically acclaimed authors will headline Scholastic Focuss inaugural list. Due in September is Deborah Hopkinsons D-Day: The World War II Invasion That Changed History, a middle-grade book that weaves together official documents, personal accounts, and archival photos to chronicle this pivotal invasion of Allied troops into German-occupied Europe. That same month, Scholastic Focus will release Unpunished Murder: Massacre at Colfax and the Quest for Justice by Lawrence Goldstone, recounting the events of Easter Sunday 1873, when white supremacists set fire to a Louisiana courthouse and massacred more than 100 African-Americans. In this YA title, the author traces the history of the ensuing court case, culminating in a Supreme Court decision in which not a single person was convicted. Sandell cited Unpunished Murder as a title whose story syncs well with the imprints stated mission, noting, This is about a Supreme Court case that happened during Reconstruction, but the decision basically overturned two Constitutional amendments and caused ongoing racial injustice. So though the events happened in the past, this is very much a story of the presentone that is still impacting our nation. Neal Bascombs The Grand Escape: The Greatest Prison Breakout of the 20th Century is an October YA title spotlighting a band of WWI Allied pilots who pulled off an ingenious escape from a German POW camp and made their way out of enemy territory, inspiring their countrymen in the wars darkest hours. The book will be co-published by Arthur A. Levine Books. And rounding out the fall list are two reprints: The Greatest: Muhammad Ali by Walter Dean Myers and Lincolns Grave Robbers by Steve Sheinkin. Scholastic Focuss spring 2019 list features four hardcovers: Dark Sky Rising: Reconstruction and the Dawn of Jim Crow by Henry Louis Gates Jr. with Tonya Bolden; The Greatest Treasure Hunt in History: The Story of the Monuments Men by Robert M. Edsel; Captured: American Prisoners of War in North Vietnam by Alvin Townley; and The Lady Is a Spy: Virginia Hall, World War II Hero of the French Resistance by Don Mitchell. Due the same season are reprints of Susan Bartolettis Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitlers Shadow and Malcolm X: By Any Means Necessary by Walter Dean Myers. Sandell, who anticipates that the imprint will release between six and nine new hardcovers annually, plus paperback reissues, observed that the timing of Scholastic Focuss debut is propitious, given todays rapidly and dramatically changing world. I think there is a great deal of conversation about our world happening today in classrooms and living rooms, and that more and more teachers and parents are looking for books to spark and facilitate dialogue, she said. That need, Sandell added, is neatly aligned with the imprints mission to provide middle grade and young adult readers with thoroughly researched, beautifully written, and thoughtfully designed narrative nonfiction that will help them make sense of the world, its history, and their place within it. As PW previously reported about this years Winter Institute, there were two issues uppermost in booksellers minds that framed many of the conversations that took place during the annual gathering: how to make the industry more diverse and how to sustain the indie bookstore business model. Last Thursdays panel on Hiring for Diversity and Inclusion fused together these two seemingly disparate issues. The panel featured two speakers: Mecca Sykes-Santana, senior v-p of diversity, inclusion and community engagement at the Westchester Medical Center Health Network in White Plains, N.Y., who provided an overview of the issue from a human resources perspective, and bookseller Marc Villa, one of 12 employees in the childrens book department at Politics & Prose in Washington, D.C., who explained some of the ways in which Politics & Prose has executed its longtime goal of hiring booksellers from diverse backgrounds and creating an inclusive atmosphere in the store. While diversity is a righteous pursuit in itself, Sykes-Santana said, it is also good for business: having a diverse workforce will increase booksellers sales and thus market share. And inclusion results in higher employee retention rates, as engaged employees will work harder even for less pay. Sykes-Santana urged booksellers to do such things as reach out to and partner with community-based organizations, to more efficiently tap into a pool of diverse job candidates. Do not limit the conversation to women and minorities, she cautioned the audience of about 40 booksellers. Diversity in hiring decisions should be defined broadly, she noted, to encompass differences in ability, geographic and cultural backgrounds, education levels, and religious/social/ philosophical beliefs. Villa concurred, recalling that his disclosure that he was the father to an adopted child from another country appealed to his future colleagues during his job interview. His life experience, both as a Filipino-American and as a father, adds to the diversity of P&Ps childrens department. While there are only two men on staff in the 12-person department, which is headed by an African-American woman manager, a variety of ages and ethnicities are represented. Ever since the department was established in the downstairs area of the store, there has been a conscious commitment to cultivating a diverse staff to better serve customers. Villa noted that P&P is committed to hiring employees with a variety of life experiences, as well as literary expertise, so as to build a knowledgeable staff who can perform multiple roles. Villa warned that even though employees are committed to diversity, there can be unconscious biases when interviewing job candidates. Politics & Prose always has at least two and oftentimes three staff members interview job candidates to more effectively guard against biases. This also tells the job candidate that we take hiring decisions very seriously, he said, noting that, from the interview onward, P&P strives to create a culture of inclusion. Engaging all of ones employees is essential, Sykes-Santana agreed, Diversity in itself gives you nothing. Inclusion is the goal. Diversity is being invited to the party; inclusion is being invited to dance. She urged booksellers to create a welcoming environment by treating all employees as valuable individuals, particularly employees from diverse backgrounds. Leverage the diversity for the benefit of the organization, she said, People want to belong to, connect with, something that is larger than themselves. Creating a culture of inclusion is not just about hiring diverse employees, the two panelists noted. Its also about welcoming diverse customers into the store. Besides hiring diverse booksellers, they suggested stocking a variety of books on the shelves and putting up inclusive book displays to foster an inclusive atmosphere. These practices are also a way to build brand loyalty, as customers are more likely to return to a bookstore where they can find books with characters and themes reflecting themselves and their children. The work you do is not just selling books, Sykes-Santana said. Its also cultivating readers. After a robust discussion between audience members and panelists that went overtime by 10 minutes, ricocheting between lofty ideals about diversity and prosaic matters about store operations, a first-time Winter Institute attendee, Emmanuel Abreu, a bookseller at Word Up, a community bookstore in Washington Heights, N.Y., summed up the entire session, declaring, Just treat [diverse customers and diverse employees] like you would treat any white person. With New Youth Media Awards Initiative, ALA Seeks to Walk the Walk on Diverse Books At the recently concluded WI13, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Junot Diaz praised the attention being paid by the publishing industry to diverse books. But he also urged booksellers and librarians to act, to stop talking about diversity, and start decolonizing our shelves." When Diaz speaks to librarians at the American Library Associations Midwinter Meeting in Denver next week, hell see that librarians are certainly trying to follow that advice. This week, ALA officials announced that the organization will seek to highlight the best in multicultural literature for youth by adding additional announcements to its 2019 ALA Youth Media Awards. The prestigious ALA Youth Media Awards (which include the Caldecott, Newbery, Coretta Scott King, and Printz Awards, among others) are the gold standard for childrens books. Specifically, the ALA will highlight titles selected by the American Indian Library Association (AILA), Asian/Pacific American Librarians Association (APALA), and the Association of Jewish Libraries during the upcoming 2019 ALA Youth Media Awards. In its release, ALA cited statistics from the University of Wisconsin, Madisons Cooperative Childrens Book Center, which has been collecting annual data on diversity in the children's book market since 1985, and has found that books by or about people of color remain stubbornly underrepresented. Often children in the United States are not exposed to print or digital materials that reflect themselves or their culture, said ALA President Jim Neal in a statement. A childs lack of exposure to other cultures paves the way to bigotry and cultural invisibility. The addition of professional affiliate awards can only assist with our efforts to encourage understanding and abolish cultural invisibility. Neals words speak to the exact message Junot Diaz delivered to booksellers and publishers at the WI13 conference in Memphis. Kids like me did not exist in the literature," Diaz told his audience. "What kid doesnt want to see themselves represented in the literature theyre reading?" Diaz said he wrote his first children's book, Islandborn, (due out in March from Penguin Young Readers) because he wanted to give a kid like me something I never had. Indeed, diversity and diverse books will be be a focal point of this years ALA Midwinter Meeting program, which will officially kick off on Friday, February 9, with a conversation between Marley Dias and Patrisse Cullors. In 2013, Cullors co-founded a global movement around the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter, and her memoir, When They Call You A Terrorist (Macmillan) is out this month. The 13 year-old Dias, meanwhile, first made headlines when, as a sixth grader, she started the #1000BlackGirlBooks campaign to collect and donate 1,000 books that featured black girls as the main characters. Her new book, Marley Dias Gets It Done (Scholastic), came out in January. As Diaz suggests, the literary community has a ways to go when it comes to seeing all Americans represented on our bookshelves, especially in young people's literature. But in Denver, Diaz will greet a library community that recognizes, and is working on the task at hand. After State of the Union Address, Budget Battle Set to Resume President Trump called for unity in his first State of the Union address this week. Yet, 2018 is shaping up to be an epic year of political challenges on issues that matter to libraries. Not the least of which will be the budget battle, especially in the wake of the recent changes to the tax code. As the library community braces for the Trump Administrations 2019 budget proposal, which is expected soon, Reuters reported this week that The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a fiscal watchdog group, predicted that the FY2019 deficit could hit $1.12 trillion. And if current policies continue, the group says, the deficit could top a record-setting $2 trillion by 2027. That could have a devastating effect on libraries, not only in terms of federal support, but at the state and local levels as well (where libraries draw the vast majority of their support) as many states and municipalities will be left to wrestle with their own budget shortfalls. Last year, the Trump Administration proposed the permanent elimination of the Institute of Museum and Library Services and with it pretty much all federal library support. Although the House ultimately rejected that proposal in its 2018 budget, a final FY2018 budget deal still not done, and with FY2019 now bearing down, its unlikely the administration has changed its tune, and ballooning deficits under the new tax laws could force cuts at some point. As ALA president Jim Neal told PW late last year, those tax cuts will have to be paid for in some way. Which is a good time reminder for librarians to get involved and stay involved with their local legislators. And if you can, attend this years ALA National Library Legislative Day, and get some face time with your representatives on the Hill. Citing Budget, Governor Seeks to Kill Support for University Press of Kentucky Kentucky's Republican governor Matt Bevin, citing a tight state budget, has proposed eliminating state support for the 75 year-old University Press of Kentucky. According to a report at Inside HigherEd, Bevin has proposed slashing the $672,000 in state support, which covers all employee salaries, and UKP officials say the press, which brings in about $1.8 million in annual sales, can't function without the funding. "At first blush the governors proposal seems both shortsighted in its policy and conspicuous in its granularity," Peter Berkery, executive director of the Association of University Presses, told Inside HigherEd. "The University Press of Kentucky is such a prominent and prestigious member not only of our community, but also of the communities it serves throughout the commonwealth; why anyone would want to eliminate an award-winning curator of their own culture and history is baffling." UPK director Leila Salisbury told the Lexington Herald Ledger that the proposed cut comes as the press is "doing great" and its output is back to "pre-recession levels," publishing about 60 titles per year. Defying FCC, States Move Ahead with Legislative Efforts to Protect Net Neutrality Ars Technica reports that the California State Senate this week approved a bill to impose net neutrality restrictions on Internet service providers, in defiance of the Federal Communications Commissions repeal order. In addition, the report notes, the governors of Montana and New York have signed executive orders regarding net neutrality and other states are considering measures, this despite the FCCs attempt to stop states from crafting such measures. The state legislative measures come as 50 U.S. Senators last week announced their support for a bill that would block the FCC repeal, and as more than 20 states have begun a legal battle to preserve net neutrality rules. Can Libraries Help Save Local News? In The Atlantic, David Beard has a look at how libraries have been pitching in to fill the void left by destruction of local news outfits. Its not a perfect role for librarians, but in an age of growing local news deserts there is certainly an opportunity for libraries to play a greater role in disseminating local information in their communities. Librarians understand the value of accuracy. They are familiar with databases. Americans by and large trust librarians, actually much more than they trust journalists, Beard writes. And in a nation where traditional local news outlets are cutting back, their advertising coffers drained by Google and Facebook, their ownership increasingly by hedge funds or other out-of-town enterprises, where else can a citizen go? In some communities, the questions are basic: Who will sift through and list the best events so residents could decide whether to participate? Who would understand what makes an area distinctive and would get its history right? Boston Public Library Launches Antislavery Manuscripts Transcription Project Earlier this week the Boston Public Library partnered with the web platform Zooniverse to launch a crowdsourcing initiative that seeks the publics help in transcribing their impressive collection of 12,000 antislavery manuscripts. Scans of the handwritten documents are available online from the Massachusetts library database, and the transcriptions will help develop the search and discovery functions of the online collection. According to an article in the Boston Globe, the antislavery collection is one of the librarys most popularly searched collections. It includes letters, newspapers, pamphlets, and more from abolitionists in the mid-19th century. BPL Content Discovery Manager Tom Blake spoke to the larger significance of the initiative: Its one thing to read these letters," he told the Globe, "but to actually sit down and meticulously transcribe them, its to commune with them. New Prize to Honor Thrillers that Do Not Feature Violence Against Women From The Bookseller in the U.K. comes a report on an idea whose time has surely come: a screenwriter has launched a book award for novels "in the thriller genre in which no woman is beaten, stalked, sexually exploited, raped or murdered." Bridget Lawless told The Bookseller late last week that she founded the Staunch Book Prize, worth 2,000, because she had grown fed up with the endless depictions of violence against women in the thriller genre, and wanted to highlight the great stack of brilliant material" available not only to readers, but to producers, directors, and actors "who might then have a wider choice of parts in which theyre neither cast as victims or sexual predators. The Staunch Prize is open to female and male authors of any nationality over the age of 18 and may include traditionally or self-published print or e-books. Entries for the prize open February 22nd, and close July 15. Elizabeth Flock. Harper, $27.99 (384p) ISBN 978-0-06-245648-9 Journalist Flock invites readers into the homes, lives, and marriages of three couplesone Marwari Hindu, one Sunni Muslim, and one Tamil Brahmin Hinduliving in Mumbai in this multifaceted portrait of love and marriage in modern India. Layered with history and glimpses of the varied cultures compressed into one vivacious city, the book pays as much attention to the lives of its subjects as it does to that which binds them together: the rituals of courtship and intricacies of marriage law, religious observances and festivals, and changing conventions that are seeing more couples choosing to live apart from their families and more women choosing to work outside of the home. Flock finds people trying to find happiness within the slipknot of tradition, longing for film-style romance within their arranged marriages, and searching peace with their lives inside a city and a country undergoing rapid population growth, Western influence, and rising far-right sentiment. Theres Ashok and Parvati, who get to know one another while planning a wedding (their courtship was arranged by their parents using an online matchmaking service); Shazhad and Sabeena, whose failure to conceive leads them to a more liberal practice of Islam (Sunni law doesnt recognize adoption); and Maya and Veer, career-oriented individuals who deal with infidelity and Mayas need for independence. Flock approaches the histories, hopes, dreams, and disappointments of her middle- and upper-middle-class couples as a reporter, not a storyteller, and the book is better for it, steering clear of caricature and sentiment, and letting each of her subjects emerge in the details of his or her own circumstances. Ostensibly a study of marriage as experienced by the people in it, Flocks book also provides a vivid portrait of a nation in transition, through the lives and desires of its most progressive citys residents. The European Union is set to mobilize 100 billion FCFA to finance the fight against the Boko Haram sect, La Tribune Afrique news portal reports. According to a statement from the institution, the funds will be directed to the Multinational Joint Force (MMF), made up of the Cameroonian, Nigerian, Nigerien and Chadian armies, set up to put an end to the groups actions. In addition, the EU contribution will provide humanitarian assistance to displaced people in the Far North of Cameroon, affected by the insurgency of the militant group. As of November 30, the UN Refugee Agency reports a total of 240,000 internally displaced people in Cameroon, nearly all of them in the Far North. Since 2014, Cameroon has been fighting a military campaign against the Boko Haram group, including cross-border operations with Nigerian troops. The terror group is estimated to have killed some 2,000 civilians and soldiers, and abducted more than a thousand people, in the last four years. While 700 abductees have recently escaped, the group continues to kidnap people. More than two million displaced persons desperately await an end to the Lake Chad Basin crisis. Since its creation in 2003, the EUs African Peace Facility has allocated more than 2.7 billion in support of African-led efforts to maintain Peace and Security in the continent. During the post-Cold War era, Western diplomacy has receded to the background as the lure of supposedly easy military options has carried the day. In the emerging multipolar world of power politics, this could be highly dangerous. Today we in the West face new and traditional threats around the world. Russia has annexed the Crimean peninsula and started a military crisis in Eastern Ukraine. China is expanding its territory and sphere of influence in the East and South China Seas by building artificial islands. North Korea is quickly becoming a nuclear threat, and it has been on a politico-military rampage making threats to South Korea, Japan and even the United States. The Taliban is marching forward in Afghanistan, Syria and Libya are in shambles, NATO is trying to make a U-turn and refocus on real defense, and the European Union is infested with a new East-West divide in addition to the pre-existing North-South split. There are good reasons to ask, what has gone wrong after the Cold War ended and we were supposed to have overcome divisions and adversarial relations as the fuel of international politics. The first part of the answer is, of course, that the end of the Cold War did not mean the end of adversarial relations in the world - even if many thought and even declared otherwise. Western narrative on cooperative security and non-zero sum globalizing world was more a political project to engage former adversaries than it was a sober description of the state of world affairs in the early 1990s. Thus, many of the divisions, conflicts and potential future wars that we can witness today, never actually went away. Our perspective on international security just bypassed them or neglected them for the most of the post-Cold War era. The second part of the answer is more difficult to swallow - at least within the Western security community. I argue that many of the new or emerging security threats of today have become such in part due to the decreased standing of diplomacy within the Western conflict resolution approach. As time has gone by, the art of diplomacy has withered away from the toolbox of Western statecraft. Since the early 1990s, the possibilities to use high-tech military capabilities has offered Western statesmen the promise of solving security problems effectively and quickly. This promise has been trumped on several occasions, but the lure of using military force to settle security issues in the globalizing world has increased. Professional militaries in the U.S. and Europe have been on standby to be used in humanitarian operations, counter-terrorism operations and to topple brutal autocrats and to spread democracy. Since the early 1990s, the asymmetry of military capabilities between the West (read: the U.S.) and the Rest has been so staggering that the need to engage in the art of diplomacy to settle disputes was practically removed from the scene. Instead of engaging enemies or adversaries, trying to understand their security interests, and seeking an outcome short of using military force, the recent history of Western conflict resolution paradigm is replete with examples of using ultimatums, refusing to negotiate and resorting to direct military action. Strategic trigger-happiness has increased. The decreasing importance of diplomacy has not been a one-time thing. Instead, it has been a process - taking approximately 20-25 years - starting with the 1990 occupation of Kuwait by Saddam Hussein and the associated 1991 Gulf War. If there was any lesson learned from the Gulf War, it was that modern military capabilities are a usable and an effective way to tackle the post-Cold War era security issues. Subsequently, air bombings in Bosnia and Kosovo during the 1990s and the Western wars in Afghanistan and Iraq together with the intervention in Libya have all contributed to the increased standing of military interventions in settling conflicts in the contemporary world. In most cases throughout the 1990s and the following decade, the losing significance of diplomacy did not matter much. All Western military operations during the last 25 years have been against adversaries that can cause practically no existential threats to the Western security community. In addition, Western states have always had the option of just walking away if the operations turned sour. There are of course inhibitions to do so, for example, questions related to prestige and sunk costs, but still, there have been only marginal national security interests at stake for the West in the militarized conflicts of the post-Cold War era. This is about to change. As so eloquently described by the recently published summary of the National Defense Strategy of the United States of America, great power rivalries and geopolitics are back. We have witnessed this already in Asia and Europe. China and Russia have become more assertive - even more aggressive - and could seriously challenge the rules of the international security game defined by the West during the last decades. To address this sea change, the United States and Europe need to bolster their deterrence and defense capabilities. But they need to do more. The gung-ho tradition of resorting to military force easily when faced with a security threat is compatible with a world of no serious national security threats. In a world of peer-competitors with massive military capabilities and the susceptibility of using them, Western states would be well advised to show firmness and credible military capabilities, but also take diplomacy seriously. After all, diplomacy has traditionally been most useful and much needed during times of crises. Russias actions against Ukraine since early 2014 are totally unacceptable. But to refuse to negotiate with Russia, and to practically stop talking with Russia at any significant level, is to make a bad situation worse. And the price is paid most harshly by the people of Ukraine. There should not be publicly declared preconditions for negotiations. Similarly, conveying messages to Russia - or China in the cases of South and East China Seas - through TV-interviews and other media sources is not only amateurish in the field of diplomacy, but it is also making the problem more difficult to solve in the future. Forcing the opponent - and oneself - into a corner by publicly setting preconditions does not facilitate defusing the conflict. Western statesmen and diplomats should lower their tone through public channels and engage in serious long-term back-channel diplomacy. The problem is that the Western approach to statecraft has been able to resort to ultimatums, unilateral declarations and the use of military force for so long that relearning the art of diplomacy will take time, even in the best of circumstances. Not only do we need to rethink our approach to solving crises at the statesmen level. Western citizens have also become accustomed to the use of military force. Starting a new military operation is the new normal - in many cases not causing much public discussion or debate. It should also be remembered that diplomacy does not equal soft power or being weak. Real, credible military capabilities - together with other elements of national power - are part of the diplomatic process, through which adversaries engage each other, make their interests more understandable and try to find a solution that is acceptable to both or all parties involved. It is a fallacy to presume that in a multipolar world of power politics, Western states are going to define the rules of the security game and the end result of every conflict situation that is in the horizon. Nor will the West be able - any longer - to try to solve security problems with the use of military force as freely as was the case for the first 20 years of the post-Cold War era. We in the West need more diplomacy - although we will not be able to solve all of our security issues with diplomacy alone. Jyri Raitasalo is Military Professor of War Studies at the Finnish National Defence University. Views expressed are his own. WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, W. Va. Republicans are bracing for strong headwinds in this years midterm elections, but also see signs that the environment might not be as treacherous as once anticipated. GOP lawmakers, here for their annual party retreat, point to improving poll numbers for their tax cuts and the decreasing Democratic advantage in the generic congressional ballot as signs that a tidal wave for the opposition party may not be forming. Republicans midterm plan is relatively straightforward: aggressively sell the individual benefits of their tax law and the broader strong economy, and scapegoat and attack Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi. The conventional wisdom said, in 2016, that Hillary Clinton was going to be elected president of the United States of America, right? Vice President Mike Pence said in his address to lawmakers here Wednesday evening. I mean, the truth of the matter is, we made history in 2016, and we're going to make history again in 2018 when we re-elect Republican majorities in the House and Senate. Pence added that he and President Trump would be with lawmakers every step of the way this year, and Politico reported that the vice president has charted an aggressive travel schedule in the coming weeks to raise money and to campaign for GOP lawmakers. Rep. Steve Stivers, the chairman of House Republicans campaign committee, presented the midterm outlook to his colleagues Thursday evening. Speaking to reporters before that briefing, Stivers admitted Democrats are energized and said Republicans were prepared for a battle. But he cited the tightening generic ballot and slight uptick in Trumps approval ratings as positive signs. Democrats currently have a 7.3 point advantage in the generic ballot, according to the RealClearPolitics average, but that is down from a 13-point margin at the end of last year. If we stay focused on selling the tax reform package, I think were going to hold the House and I think things are going to be okay for us, said Stivers (pictured). Its difficult to predict the political environment nine months ahead of Election Day, but both parties maintain certain advantages in their quest for congressional control. In the House, Republicans have a 24-seat majority and redistricting and geographic alignment limit the number of districts that are truly competitive. But Democrats have history on their side: The presidents party loses an average of 32 seats in the first midterm election. Since World War II, that average has jumped to 36 seats if the presidents approval rating is below 50 percent, according to Gallup, but drops to 14 seats if the president is above that threshold Trumps approval is currently at 41.5 percent, according to the RCP average. Both parties also have reasons to be optimistic on the financial front. Democrats on Tuesday touted that their candidates outraised nearly three dozen Republican incumbents in the final fundraising quarter of 2017, a sign both of grassroots optimism and professionally run campaigns from challengers. But Democrats acknowledge that theyre still likely to be far outspent overall in the election. A super PAC allied with Speaker Paul Ryan has pledged to spend $100 million to defend the House majority, and last weekend the Koch brothers political network announced plans to invest between $300 and $400 million in the midterms. When you start looking at total amount of money raised and spent, there are many different pots of money that get added up at the end of the campaign, Republican Rep. Lee Zeldin told RCP. When youre looking through the TV, the radio and the mail, its often not just the two general election campaign accounts spending money. Zeldin also pointed out that most House incumbents avoided facing primary challengers, while Democratic candidates could be forced to spend heavily in primary races, potentially depleting those war chests. On the Senate side, Republicans have a dream map: Democrats are defending 26 seats to Republicans eight, and 10 of Democrats seats are in states Trump won. But those incumbents remain fairly popular with their electorates, and Republicans have missed in recruiting some of their top candidates to challenge them. Democratic incumbents have also posted strong fundraising numbers, while some of the GOPs best recruits including Rep. Lou Barletta in Pennsylvania and Attorney General Josh Hawley in Missouri have had somewhat lackluster fundraising efforts. Still, not all Republicans are convinced theyll be able to dodge the typical midterm backlash of an unpopular president. Multiple GOP incumbents in swing districts have retired in the first month of 2018, putting several seats in far more jeopardy than they previously were. Rep. Charlie Dent, a Pennsylvania moderate who is retiring this year, said Republicans will try to make the election about the economy and their tax cuts, but it will inevitably become a referendum on Trump. The national environment and the presidents behavior his Twitter handle, his divisive rhetoric and all that are going to be a big issue, Dent said. He pointed out that the last time Democrats won the House, in 2006, they ran against an unpopular President George W. Bush, who was dragged down by the Iraq War and Hurricane Katrina. This feels much worse, Dent said. Those listening closely Thursday, even far from the GOP retreat at the Greenbrier Resort in West Virginia, could hear the sound of an immigration standoff making congressional Republicans squirm. This year, with tax cuts behind them and a new admission they wont again an attempt a repeal and replace of Obamacare, some Republicans have begun to accept that they cannot succeed without moving past their Dreamer nightmare. GOP lawmakers remain divided over how to extend expiring protections under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program -- some conservatives call President Trumps proposal to provide a path to citizenship for 1.8 million undocumented immigrants amnesty while they applaud his pitch to cut by nearly half the flow of legal immigration. Democrats have conceded publicly, repeatedly, they will have to agree to increased border security in exchange for a DACA fix. But a one-for-one deal is not acceptable to many Republicans, who have decided this deadline is the moment for sweeping changes to laws that have been in place for half a century. Though split along several fault lines, they have nonetheless continued to blame Democrats for lack of a deal. Their aim is to provoke Trump into either overreacting by deporting Dreamers or caving into passing the Dreamer Act with no concessions on border security, the visa lottery system or chain migration. It is a cynical ploy, said Rep. Tom Cole. Frankly, Republicans should hold their ground and refuse to take the bait. In my opinion, if Democrats refuse to negotiate in good faith, Republicans should put President Trump's bill on the floor and dare Democrats to vote against it. No one is entertaining a government shutdown over the issue, but Republicans know as soon as they pass another short-term funding bill days from now -- to a hail of scorn from lawmakers in both parties even as they vote for it -- they will have to deal with DACA this month. And if Democrats continue to vote to fund the government, instead of shutting it down, the hot potato is back in the lap of the majority party and the administration that set the March 5 deadline. Sen. James Lankford, a conservative who has worked on the issue for months, conceded lawmakers could not reach a unified position at the GOP retreat and he would encourage President Trump to extend the deadline. Sen. John Thune, a member of leadership, admitted Trumps sweeping plan was untenable. I think that if we can solve DACA and border security, that may be the best we can hope for, he said, adding that the two-part plan would be a fallback position that can pass the House, the Senate and get signed, and conceded if other issues enter into that conversation, it gets more complicated. Sen. Marco Rubio had issued a similar warning Wednesday. Trump hinted he may let the programs lapse and deportations begin, or he may indeed extend it. Well either have something thats fair and equitable and good and secure, or we will have nothing at all, he said Thursday. But a retreat with a long-term patch or an end to the program are both a source of dread for members of Congress. They believe a legislative fix is necessary and fear another patch will cement the narrative that they cannot govern, and an end to DACA spells an end to their majority in the House. Of course, for Republicans negotiating with each other, and those working with Democrats, just what Trump thinks is fair, equitable, good and secure can shift depending on the moment. After all, TelePrompTer Trump, who appeared before both houses of Congress Tuesday to unify the nation with uplifting talk of solutions and cooperation, was gone by Thursday morning when President Trump tweeted: March 5th is rapidly approaching and the Democrats are doing nothing about DACA. They Resist, Blame, Complain and Obstruct - and do nothing. Start pushing Nancy Pelosi and the Dems to work out a DACA fix, NOW! Hours later he told House and Senate Republicans gathered at the retreat, We're getting very little help from the Democrats. They talk a good game with DACA, but they don't produce. Either they come on board or we're going to have to work really hard to get" more Republicans elected. With Trump blaming Democrats, and conservatives insisting on a three-for-one compromise, Republicans like Thune are wondering how the majority will corral 60 votes in the Senate to move past this issue -- without which there surely wont be a coalition for infrastructure that would get 60 votes. House Freedom Caucus Chairman Rep. Mark Meadows had choice words for South Dakotan Thunes suggestion of a quick, consensus fix: Senator Thune represents a state thats a long ways from the southern border. Making a suggestion that a two-pillar answer is going to get support in the House is a nonstarter. There is middle ground, in both chambers, that will require an expanded commitment from Democratic leaders and a recognition by conservatives that some of the most significant changes to our legal immigration system must be done separately. In the upper chamber, nearly two dozen senators have been meeting across the aisle -- and over copious amounts of Girl Scout cookies -- in Susan Collins office to negotiate a compromise. Collins has worked closely with Democrat Joe Manchin to keep members of both parties at the table negotiating a framework surrounding principles in the proposal by Lindsey Graham and Dick Durbin that Trump recently rejected. In the House the 48 members of the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus have signed on to a compromise similar to Graham/Durbin and are coordinating with Manchin and Collins. If Trump wants to solve this urgent problem -- a strong majority of Americans want a fix for Dreamers -- and get a political headache off the table, he will seek common ground in the middle. Its what he spoke about before nearly 47 million Americans this week. Some Republicans have already realized that, politically, even worse than their failure to fix health care would be a drawn-out debate throughout the spring amid deportations, camera crews at the airports, a steady stream of heartbreaking stories, and Americans deciding the GOP is perfecting the Art of No Deal. It sounds like the title of a disaster movie, but the reality is a bit more muted. Still, for the residents of South Africa's second largest city, the approach of "Day Zero" is already inducing a certain degree of panic. In a little over two months, local officials will shut off the taps of Cape Town if the city's reservoirs drop too low amid a drought aggravated by political infighting and aging and inadequate infrastructure. With water conservation efforts drawing only a lukewarm response, local authorities are likely to enforce ever-stricter rationing measures. But even if the city eventually finds some respite, the ramifications of the crisis are likely to have lasting effects on all aspects of life in the region and the country. Seeking Water in the Desert Water scarcity has constrained South Africa's people and economy for many years now. Residents of Gauteng province, which is home to Johannesburg, felt the dual pressure of an arid environment and dilapidated infrastructure in 2014 when pumping failures caused temporary outages. Projected demand has outstripped the supply, meaning that a prolonged drought could eventually push all of South Africa over the edge. The 2030 Water Resources Group, a public-private-civil society group that works on water insecurity, previously designated Cape Town as a high-risk region, and now a long dry spell is turning that risk into a reality. April 16 looms large for the city's residents, because officials have declared that they expect they will have to turn off the taps on that date. Dam storage levels in the Western Cape Water Supply System, which includes the major reservoirs surrounding the city, are expected to fall then to a paltry 13.5 percent (as of the end of January, they were at 26 percent and falling). But Day Zero, as city officials are dubbing it, is not set in stone. Instead, it is a moving target that changes often (officials are continually recalculating all the factors involved) due to a variety of issues, including conservation efforts and unexpected precipitation, which offered the city a reprieve in December 2017. On Day Zero, authorities will turn off the region's normal water infrastructure and establish approximately 200 collection sites around the city to issue residents a comparative meager 25 liters (6.6 gallons) per day. According to the World Health Organization, one person requires 20 liters (5.28 gallons) per day to meet basic hygiene and food preparation requirements. By contrast, the average U.S. citizen consumes between 300 and 400 liters (79 to 105 gallons) per day, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. In the meantime, the city is also racing to secure alternative sources of water, primarily through desalination, but also by tapping the aquifers beneath the region. Many of those projects, however, remain behind schedule. The arrival of Day Zero does not entail the exhaustion of all of Cape Town's water resources. The taps of many citizens will be dry, but water will continue to flow in hospitals and clinics. There will also be exceptions for schools and communal taps in poor areas to prevent public health problems. In fact, numerous businesses and tourist destinations could retain access to water during the first stages of the shut-off. Nevertheless, the lead-up to the day will continue to deal a severe blow to Cape Town's social, political and economic life. The city is already seeing potential economic consequences. Revenue from water consumption provided an estimated 10 percent of the city's operating income in 2017, while tourism and agriculture two water-thirsty industries are expected to suffer due to the restrictions. The water crisis has also attracted the attention of Moody's Investors Service, which is contemplating a downgrade that would reduce the city's bonds to the junk level. Accordingly, the economic consequences of the water crisis are likely to last long beyond the shortage to the extent that Cape Town's financial health will be slow to recover. But compared with the economic ramifications, the political and security implications of the crisis might be more acute. Whiskey Is for Drinking, Water Is for Fighting Ahead of a general election next year, the ruling African National Congress (ANC) is struggling internally. Cape Town, in contrast, has been in the hands of the opposition Democratic Alliance for more than a decade. Accordingly, in the lead-up to the general elections in 2019, the ANC is likely to use the crisis as a political lever against the alliance in rhetoric and even in action. On Jan. 26, the national Water and Sanitation Department announced that it would not provide any monetary assistance to Cape Town for the crisis. Now, despite the withdrawal of calls for a no-confidence vote against Mayor Patricia de Lille, the local ANC asked on Jan. 31 for the national government to intervene. President Jacob Zuma, an ANC member, has also withheld aid to the city, refusing to declare the event a national emergency, which would automatically activate financial assistance mechanisms. And with limited amounts of water available and roughly half the population not complying with conservation measures, the potential for neighbor to turn against neighbor remains. The fight over water could also exacerbate the severe inequality in the city and foment protests and violence, because service failures have sparked fierce unrest in the recent past. The longer the crisis continues and the longer agriculture and tourism remain under threat, the greater the potential for violence becomes as jobs and incomes are lost. Cape Town, however, is not in a unique predicament. Sao Paulo faced a similar situation in 2014 and 2015. As in Sao Paulo, wealthier Capetonians are better equipped to find alternative water sources should the need arise which could also increase the potential that inequality ignites unrest. But as its reservoirs dipped to dangerously low levels, Sao Paulo explored several inventive measures, including putting into circulation water that had previously always remained in the reservoirs, to secure the city's water supply. Eventually, the clouds rolled in and the Brazilian city found relief. And that is what Cape Town waits for: relief. Even if Cape Town does experience the trials and tribulations of Day Zero sometime in April, the day will not usher in the apocalypse; barring misfortune on a grand scale, the rainy season will arrive later that month or sometime in May. However, the factors that led to the present water scarcity are underlying and long-standing. Even when the present crisis evaporates together with the potential for violence and the political ambition that accompany it Cape Town and much of the rest of the country appear destined to experience the constraints of water scarcity in the years and decades to come. Unless authorities enact fundamental changes in the distribution, use and maintenance of infrastructure, these acute crises are likely to occur periodically. Got some scoop for our reporters or editors? Click on the link below to send us your information. Send your news What is sometimes thought of as a leisurely trip to and from work has recently become an ove The African Union Commission (AUC) said Thursday it is ready to help defuse the political imbroglio in Kenya. The AUC said in a statement it rejects all actions that undermine constitutional order and the rule of law. Kenyan opposition leader, Raila Odinga, has been sworn in as the peoples president by thousands of his supporters in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, earlier this week. Odinga who was the presidential candidate for the opposition National Super Alliance coalition said he is willing to die in the struggle to correct electoral injustices in the East African nation. The government had warned that Odinga and anyone who participates in the illegal inauguration would be charged with treason, a charge that attracts the death penalty. The government on Friday arrested Miguna Miguna, a legislator that actively participated in the illegal swearing in ceremony of the opposition leader. The National Resistance Movement General Miguna Miguna was arrested on Friday morning, shortly after he raised the alarm on a police raid at his home. On Tuesday, the government branded the National Resistance Movement an organized criminal group. The group was formed on October 25 last year, a day before the repeat presidential election. Authorities in the southern Chinese city of Zhuhai have denied permission for the lawyer of a prominent anti-censorship campaigner to visit him. Zhen Jianghua was taken away from his home in Zhuhai, Guangdong province, on the night of Sept. 1 on suspicion of "incitement to subvert state power." Zhen was initially held under criminal detention in the Zhuhai No. 1 Detention Center, but was later taken to an unknown location by state security police, to be held under residential surveillance, where he has been for the past five months. Ren Quanniu, a lawyer hired by Zhens family to represent him, was denied permission this week, on the grounds that the case touches on matters of "national security." I sent off the application for bail, and for a meeting with my client, to the case management team on Jan. 24, Ren told RFA on. They responded that bail would not be granted, and that permission to meet with my client had been refused. He is currently under residential surveillance, and hasnt yet been formally arrested, Ren said. From a legal point of view, they can only not formally arrest someone in cases where the charges arent very serious, and yet they have still refused my bail application. Zhen, 32, who is also known by his online moniker GuestsZhen, is the executive editor of anti-censorship website Across the Great Firewall, www.atgfw.org, an overseas-registered site offering information about censorship, and circumvention tools for accessing the internet beyond Chinas borders. Postcard campaign for popular activist He was detained when he went to bring money to detained activists after taking part in a memorial event marking the death of late Nobel peace laureate and political prisoner Liu Xiaobo last July. Zhen Jianghua has been held by the Zhuhai authorities since Sept. 1, and his lawyers have had repeated requests for a meeting turned down, Hunan-based activist Xiao Biao said. The authorities have never let up on their persecution of dissidents and rights activists, and they dont bother sticking to the law in these cases, he said. Since Zhens detention, Chinese activists have launched a postcard campaign for his release. According to the overseas rights group, Frontline Defenders, Zhen is also a technical consultant with Human Rights Campaign in China, an advising expert with Chinese Wikipedia, and a project officer of a HIV/AIDS prevention education project in Zhuhai, run by the Hong Kong AIDS Foundation. He has previously been detained by state security police for traveling to Guangdong's rebel village of Wukan following a crackdown by armed police in , on suspicion of inciting protests there, the group said. The ruling Chinese Communist Party has moved to curb the use of circumvention tools like virtual private networks (VPNs) since the beginning of 2017, deleting swathes of foreign content not previously approved by the government under a draconian new cybersecurity law. In September, a Guangdong court handed a nine-month jail term to Deng Jiewei after he allegedly set up a website in to sell software helping users to scale the complex system of blocks, filters, and human censorship known collectively as the Great Firewall. Reported by Qiao Long for RFA's Mandarin Service, and by the Cantonese Service. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie. Pro-democracy activists (L-R) Joshua Wong, Nathan Law and Alex Chow walk out of the Court of Final Appeal in Hong Kong, Jan. 16, 2018. Jailed Hong Kong student democracy leader Joshua Wong and two fellow activists were nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize this week by a bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers, who hailed their courage, leadership and commitment to protecting freedoms in the former British colony. Wong, Nathan Law and Alex Chow, who spearheaded the 2014 Umbrella Movement, were nominated for the 2018 prize in a letter to the Norwegian Nobel Committee, signed by 12 politicians, led by Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida and Representative Christopher Smith of New Jersey. Rubio and Smith are chair and co-chair, respectively, of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, a bipartisan advisory body that focuses on human rights and rule of law issues. While the democracy movement in Hong Kong faces tremendous opposition from the Chinese Communist Party and the Hong Kong government, these young leaders have continued their fight to improve the welfare of Hong Kong, wrote the lawmakers. Through their respective leadership roles, Wong, Law, Chow, along with other pro-democracy politicians and supporters who took part in the largest pro-democracy protests in Hong Kongs history, demonstrated civic courage, extraordinary leadership, and an unwavering commitment to a free and prosperous Hong Kong that upholds the rule of law, political freedoms and human rights, said the letter to the committee. The nomination letter came two weeks after a court in Hong Kong sent Wong back to jail after finding him guilty of contempt of court at a trial last October. Wong, who was out on bail on public order charges linked to a separate 2014 incident, had earlier said he was ready to go back to jail. "They can lock up our bodies, but they can't lock up our minds, he told reporters before the sentencing hearing. Even though we now face a prison sentence, we'll do so without fear. This nomination could not be more timely as Hong Kongs long-cherished autonomy continues to erode, and Umbrella Movement leaders face reprisals simply for espousing basic human rights and freedoms, said Rubio in a statement accompanying the nomination letter. Law, who helped found the party Demosisto, won a seat in LegCo and then had it stripped when his oath of allegiance was found invalid by a Hong Kong court. In August 2017, Law was imprisoned for eight months and former student leader Chow for seven months by the city's Court of Appeal. They have shown great courage in the face of harassment, threats, detention, and legal and financial repercussions. In their writings, speeches and political activism they have boldly challenged the central governments steady erosion of the one country, two systems model, the lawmakers letter said. Hong Kong was promised a high degree of autonomy under the terms of its 1997 handover from Britain to China, but many say the citys traditional freedoms are now a thing of the past, as Beijing seeks to wield ever greater influence over the citys media, publishing, and political scene. Leaders of the 79-day Umbrella Movement civil disobedience movement rejected an Aug. 31, 2014 decree from Chinas parliament, the National Peoples Congress (NPC), which required the vetting of candidates for the city's top job by a pro-Beijing committee, as "fake universal suffrage." The Nobel nomination is expected to anger Beijing, which rejects criticism of its handling of Hong Kong and which appears to have special animus for the Nobel committee, which awarded political prisoner Liu Xiaobo the Peace Prize in 2010. China responded with trade sanctions and other diplomatic snubs of Norway, and Liu died in jail last July. How fitting would it be for Hong Kongs champions of freedom to receive the peace prize a year after the death of Nobel Laureate Liu Xiaobo, Smith said in a statement accompanying the letter. It would be both a fitting tribute and a reminder that the struggle for democracy and rights are not alien to the people of mainland China, but an indelible part of their great history and cultureand an important part of their future. Chinas foreign ministry hit out on at the nomination of three former student leaders of Hong Kongs 2014 pro-democracy movement for the Nobel Peace Prize, calling on member of the U.S. Congress to stop meddling in its internal affairs. Senator Marco Rubio and Representative Chris Smith of Washingtons Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC) nominated Joshua Wong, Nathan Law, Alex Chow and the pro democracy Umbrella Movement in Hong Kong for the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize for their "peaceful efforts to bring political reform and self-determination to Hong Kong." Rubio and Smiths nomination, which was supported by 10 other U.S. lawmakers, said they had made the nomination because the citys long-cherished autonomy continues to erode, two decades after the handover to Chinese rule. Joshua Wong and his fellow pro-democracy advocates have been unflinching in their peaceful and principled commitment to a free and prosperous Hong Kong, Rubio said in a statement on the CECC website on . They are an inspiration and their cause has reverberations far beyond their city. Smith said the trio were in the tradition of all great Nobel Peace Prize laureates. They continue to hold up a mirror to the ugly face of authoritarianism and show us again that the desire for democracy and human rights are universal ideals, shared by all people, everywhere, he said. He said Hong Kongs democracy movement should also be awarded the prize as a way of marking the death in custody last July of political prisoner and 2010 peace laureate Liu Xiaobo. It would be both a fitting tribute and a reminder that the struggle for democracy and rights are not alien to the people of mainland China, but an indelible part of their great history and culture, Smith said. But China's Foreign Ministry said that those involved in the protests had been punished in accordance with the law, saying that the entire movement was "illegal from head to toe. "We urge the relevant U.S. Congressmen to stop interfering in Hong Kong and China's internal affairs, and do more to benefit the development of Sino-U.S. ties rather than the opposite," it said in a statement sent to Reuters. Chinese University of Hong Kong professor Chan Kin-man, who initiated the movement along with Hong Kong University law professor Benny Tai and the Reverend Chu Yiu-ming, welcomed the nomination of the three activists. 'Worthwhile' recognition This is very worthwhile; its a form of recognition of the movement by the international community, Chan told RFA on . This movement, as well as fighting for democracy, embodied the spirit of peaceful protest, which was hugely important, especially during crackdown with tear gas. In a lot of places, you would have had people burning police cars, or even police stations, but we saw that the people of Hong Kong showed great restraint, and this generation of Umbrella Movement activists has since been persecuted, Chan said. But at least their nomination, their consideration for this prize, will show Beijing that the price they have paid for such oppression was a very high one, he said. But pro-Beijing politician Starry Lee said the move will likely damage the relationship between Hong Kong and the ruling Chinese Communist Party, and blamed the pro-democracy movement for triggering a more hands-on approach to governing the city, which was promised a high degree of autonomy after the 1997 handover. This whole thing is unbelievable, Lee told reporters on . If we think back, we will see that Occupy Central harmed Hong Kong in so many ways. Since the movement, we have seen no real democratic progress, and in fact the central government is even more worried about us. This has meant that there is now far less room for maneuver when it comes to [Hong Kongs autonomy]. But pro-democracy lawmaker Dennis Kwok said Nobel Peace Prize nominations dont target specific countries. I think everyone is getting a little over-sensitive here, because actually anyone in the world is allowed to put in a nomination, Kwok said. The bar for nomination is set very low compared with the bar for actually winning the Nobel Peace Prize, so I dont think any country or government needs to feel attacked right now. But Kenneth Chan, a politics and international relations professor at Hong Kongs Baptist University, said the move was definitely a political one. In the eyes of the U.S., Chinas rise to superpower status represents a definite threat; its competition, so I think we should see the nomination of Joshua Wong and the others against that background, he said. Of course there is a hidden political meaning. But while its making a huge fuss and saying that Hong Kong is being used as a pawn between China and the U.S., they should also perhaps reflect on the relationship between cause and effect, he said. If Hong Kongs autonomy hadnt been eroded, and the human rights situation in China hadnt gotten worse, then perhaps the international community would have had no reason to speak out, Chan said. 'Chilling effect' The letter signed by Smith, Rubio and 10 other U.S. lawmakers said Wong, Law and Chow had shown civic courage, extraordinary leadership, and an unwavering commitment to a free and prosperous Hong Kong that upholds the rule of law, political freedoms and human rights. Wong, 21, Law, 24 and Chow, 27, have all been jailed in connection with their role in the movement. Wong is currently out on bail pending an appeal of a contempt of court conviction relating to police attempts to clear a major highway at the end of the 79-day disobedience campaign. Some 1,000 people were arrested in connection with the Umbrella Movement during its existence, mostly for public order offenses like "unlawful assembly," "obstructing police," "assaulting officers," and "contempt of court. The New York-based group Human Rights Watch (HRW) said at the time that the arrest and jailing of peaceful Occupy Central protesters raised concerns about Hong Kongs adherence to international human rights standards. While most of those detained were quickly released, more than 160 have been charged so far under the citys Public Order Ordinance, a body of rules governing demonstrations that has been criticized by the United Nations Human Rights Committee, HRW said. Hong Kong was promised a high degree of autonomy under the terms of its 1997 handover from Britain to China, but many say the citys traditional freedoms are now a thing of the past, as Beijing seeks to wield ever greater influence over the citys media, publishing, and political scene. Leaders of the 79-day civil disobedience movement rejected a Aug. 31, 2014 decree from Chinas parliament, the National Peoples Congress (NPC), which required the vetting of candidates for the city's top job by a pro-Beijing committee, as "fake universal suffrage." Wong made his debut in protest politics by founding the student activist group Scholarism at the age of 15 and campaigning against a patriotic education program planned by Beijing officials for Hong Kongs schools that protesters rejected as brainwashing. Law was a former secretary General of the Hong Kong Federation of Students (HKFS) at the time of the Occupy Central movement, and later went on to form the post-protest party Demosisto, win a seat on the Legislative Council (LegCo), only to have it stripped from him along with five other lawmakers after a retroactive Beijing decree required their oaths of allegiance to be sincere and serious. Chow played a key role in mobilizing mass student protests in 2014, as leader of the HKFS. All three were jailed on public order offenses last year after Hong Kongs department of justice requested a court review of their previously non-custodial sentences. Continued harsh measures against pro-democracy advocates will no doubt have a chilling effect, the U.S. lawmakers letter said. Reported by Lam Kwok-lap and Fok Leung-kiu for RFAs Cantonese Service, and by the Mandarin Service. Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh turned over a list of almost 4,400 Rohingya killed in Myanmars Rakhine state since October 2016 to a U.N. envoy, who told reporters Thursday that violence against the Muslim minority bore the hallmarks of a genocide. The data was collected by Rohingya leaders going door to door in refugee camps in southeastern Bangladesh, according to people who took part in the effort and who shared the list with BenarNews, an RFA-affiliated online news service. Some 775,000 fled into Bangladesh as a result of disproportionate military crackdowns carried out after Rohingya insurgent attacks in October 2016 and August 2017. Our team visited door-to-door, talked to the refugees, and listed the level of atrocities committed by the Myanmar military, the Border Guard Police and the radical Buddhists after October 2016 and August 2017, refugee Jafar Alam, who led the effort, told BenarNews. According to our list, 3,942 people were immediately killed following the operations of the security forces and the Buddhists after Oct. 9, 2016, and Aug. 25, 2017, attacks in Maungdaw, Buthidaung and Rathidaung townships, he said. 430-plus bodies The U.N. envoy, who visited Bangladesh between Jan. 18 and 24, told a news conference in Seoul on Thursday that she had received scrolls of names of people who were allegedly killed or missing. In December, the medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said that based on its own surveys, at least 6,700 Rohingya Muslims were killed during the first month of the August 2017 crackdown. In September, Myanmar officials put the death toll from violence in Rakhine state in the early hundreds. They have not updated the figure since. Myanmar government officials have strongly denied allegations of atrocities, and blame rebels from the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) for much of the violence. Lee, who like other independent investigators is barred from entering Myanmar, said that violent actions committed by the Myanmar military against the Rohingya amounted to crimes against humanity. In response to a question about an Associated Press report that detailed a massacre and at least five mass graves in the Myanmar village of Gu Dar Pyin, the envoy said, These are part of the hallmarks of a genocide." But she explained that she couldnt make a definitive declaration about genocide until a credible international tribunal had weighed the evidence. When I was talking to some of the refugees, a man said to me that he had buried 430-plus bodies before he escaped his town, Lee said. In her statement simultaneously issued in Seoul and Geneva on Thursday, Lee said she interviewed more than 100 Rohingya when she visited refugee camps in Bangladesh. No amount of videos, photographs or news footage can prepare you for witnessing in-person the immensity of the camps and gravity of the loss and suffering experienced by the Rohingya population, she said. I listened as Imams stoically struggled through accounts of their villages being attacked until they broke down when revealing that their children were killed either burned alive or shot by Myanmar security forces, she said. At least 406 other Rohingya snatched from their homes were later found dead by their relatives, bringing the total number of people killed in the three townships to 4,348, he said. We have handed over the detailed list to the U.N. rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar, Yangee Lee, who visited us on January 20, said Alam, 23, a resident of Kutupalong camp. A spokesman at the U.N. office in Dhaka confirmed to BenarNews that a group of Rohingya refugees had given the list to Lee. Mass graves In its report published on Thursday, the Associated Press said it had confirmed the existence of more than five previously unreported mass graves through interviews of survivors in refugee camps in and time-stamped cellphone videos. APs reporting shows a systematic slaughter of Rohingya Muslim civilians by the military, with help from Buddhist neighbors and suggests many more graves hold many more people, it said. In Washington, a U.S. State Department spokeswoman said the department was deeply, deeply troubled by the report. We are watching this very carefully. We remain focused on helping to ensure the accountability for those responsible for human rights abuses and violations, Heather Nauert told a press briefing. The list obtained by BenarNews is organized by village and has numbers in columns with headings such as mass graves, houses burnt, raped and killed. It states that in Maungdaw alone, the worst hit of three townships, 2,354 people were killed, and there could be 106 mass graves. Alam told BenarNews that the data-gathering team could not visit five camps Unchiprang, Leda, Saplapur, Ghundum-1 and Ghundum-2 which house at least 100,000 more refugees. We did not visit the five camps as these are not government-recognized. The security situation in those camps was not good. Besides, we do not have enough resources to go to these distant camps, he said. He said his team spent 70 days to finish the list on Jan. 15. Our team members volunteered for the work. Nobody, provided us funds to complete the list, he said. Reported by BenarNews, an RFA-affiliated online news service. Myanmars government on Friday rejected reports of a massacre and at least five mass graves in the countrys troubled Rakhine state, where the military has been accused of committing atrocities against ethnic Rohingya Muslims, saying an investigation had found no evidence to support the claims. In a report published on Thursday, the Associated Press (AP) said it had confirmed the existence of more than five previously unreported mass graves in Buthidaung townships Gu Dar Pyin village, in Rakhine state, through interviews of survivors in refugee camps in and time-stamped cellphone videos. The report uncovered what AP called systematic slaughter of Rohingya Muslim civilians by the military, with help from Buddhist neighbors, with evidence suggesting many more graves hold many more people in the area. On Friday, Zaw Htay, director-general of the office of Myanmars de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi, told RFAs Myanmar Service that the Rakhine State government had been ordered to look into the claims and, after forming an investigation commission, found no evidence to support them. The commissionconsisting of the Buthidaung township administrator, a police officer, a legal officer, a doctor and an immigration officerwent to Buthidaung and arrived at Gu Dar Pyin village at 1:00 p.m. today, he said. They went to the five places AP mentioned and they found nothing. Village heads and villagers said there had been no incident like AP reported in their village. We [government officials] have asked them to conduct further searches around Gu Dar Pyin. Zaw Htay said the investigation commission had found no evidence that soldiers planned an Aug. 27 attack on the village and tried to hide what they had done, as AP reported, citing survivors who said troops had used shovels to dig pits and acid to burn away faces and hands so that bodies could not be recognized. Instead, he said, it discovered a police file detailing an incident on Aug. 28 in which rebels from the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) came to the village, killed some people, and set houses on fire. Security guards went to the area and fought with ARSA members. Nineteen ARSA members were killed and buried Police filed the case as an anti-terrorist action. Fridays response followed a pattern of Myanmar government officials repeatedly rejecting evidence and strongly denying allegations of atrocities against the Rohingyas in Rakhine state, and routinely blaming rebels from the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) for much of the violence. Call for evidence Zaw Htay noted that the AP had based its report on information and mobile phone videos it obtained from more than two dozen Rohingya refugees who fled Rakhine state into neighboring Bangladesh, and said Myanmars government had no way of checking the veracity of their claims without investigators viewing the videos to determine whether they were really taken in Gu Dar Pyin or not. Many photos have come out claiming to have been taken in Rakhine, but were notAP also showed a video of a fire in a village, and village heads said it was not Gu Dar Pyin, he said. We dont want to deny the cases by closing our eyes to the claims, but we need primary evidence [if they want to accuse us]. If we receive evidence, we will investigate on the ground. If we find the claims are true, we will take action according to law against the perpetrators. The Myanmar government's Information Committee, part of Aung San Suu Kyis office, also denied the AP report in a statement on its Facebook page Friday. However, Reuters news agency spoke with two Rohingya residents it said were still in the village who disputed the government's statement and said that there were mass graves there. They said senior military officers visited the area on Friday, took photographs and held a meeting with the villagers. They confirmed the existence of mass graves and said that after the meeting a large group of military men stayed behind and the villagers are scared. Independent investigation Addressing calls from the U.S. State Department and the United Nations to allow an independent investigation into the claims, Zaw Htay said Myanmars government plans to allow trusted and fair media into the area, adding that only those groups that are not biased will be given access. On Thursday, Kuwait's Ambassador to the U.N. Security Council Mansour al-Otaibi said Myanmars government told him February was not the right time for a visit by the top U.N. body to send a team to investigate the Rohingya refugee crisis in Rakhine state, although authorities were not opposed to such a visit, which could take place in March or April. Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh recently turned over a list of almost 4,400 Rohingya killed in Rakhine state since October 2016 to U.N. envoy Yanghee Lee, who told reporters Thursday that violence against the Muslim minority bore the hallmarks of a genocide. The data was collected by Rohingya leaders going door to door in refugee camps in southeastern Bangladesh, according to people who took part in the effort and who shared the list with BenarNews, an RFA-affiliated online news service. Some 775,000 fled into Bangladesh as a result of disproportionate military crackdowns carried out after Rohingya insurgent attacks in October 2016 and August 2017. Repatriation delays On Friday, Zaw Htay said that the biggest challenge in solving the Rakhine problem is that Bangladesh is not ready to send refugees back to Myanmar, despite an earlier pledge by the two nations to begin the repatriation process on Jan. 23. Bangladesh hasnt officially informed Myanmars government that the process will be delayed, he said. Many refugees want to return home voluntarily, but they are threatened by terrorists who are telling them not to return. This is a mutual danger for both Bangladesh and Myanmarneither country can be allowed to fall into the terrorists trap. Myint Kyaing, the permanent secretary of Myanmars Immigration Ministry, confirmed that he had yet to receive any word on a delay from his counterparts in Bangladesh. He said that Myanmar was ready to begin the process, and was prepared to receive around 1,100 refugees as part of the first group, but that no documentation has been sent for us to check and accept them back. We have already sent Bangladesh a list with the names and photos of refugees who [the government has determined] really lived in Rakhine state, Myint Kyaing said. It appears Bangladesh is experiencing difficulties with the repatriation process. The Myanmar officials did not say why they believed many refugees want to return voluntarily. Most tell U.N. or media interviewers the opposite. Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh have said they will only return to Rakhine under the protection of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and want assurances that returnees be taken to a safe zone under the auspices of the United Nations before going back to their home villages. They have also demanded that the Myanmar authorities compensate them for destroying their houses and other property, and try members of the security forces they say have committed killings, rape, arson and other crimes against humanity. Reported by Thin Thiri and Waiyan Moe Myint for RFAs Myanmar Service. Translated by Khet Mar. Written in English by Joshua Lipes. Bangladeshi militants were behind a bomb-blast last month at a Buddhist pilgrimage site in northeastern Bihar state while Tibets spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, was visiting the area, in a plot to avenge violence against Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar, Indian police said Friday. Two suspected members of Neo-JMB, a faction of Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), were arrested by the West Bengal polices Special Task Force on Thursday and confessed to their involvement in the low-intensity explosion in Bodh Gaya on Jan. 19, task force chief Muralidhar Sharma said. No casualties were reported. The blast occurred near the Kalachakra grounds just minutes after the Tibetan spiritual guru completed a workshop there. Police said they could not confirm whether the bombs were intended to target the Dalai Lama, 82. We had recently detained some people from West Bengal and Assam whose interrogation led to the arrests of these two men. They have confessed they belong to Neo-JMB and that they were involved in the Bodh Gaya attack. They said the attack was meant to retaliate against atrocities committed against Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar, Sharma told BenarNews, an RFA-affiliated online news service. The police recovered 50 kilograms [110.2 pounds] of ammonium nitrate, some other chemicals, electronic devices, gloves and some objectionable literature, he added. Neo-JMB is the group that authorities in Bangladesh blamed for a terrorist siege that killed 29 people, including 20 hostages and five gunmen, at an upscale cafe in Dhaka in July 2016. The extremist group Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack. Bangladesh shelters about 1 million Rohingya refugees, including 688,000 who fled from Myanmars Rakhine state since late August 2017, amid a brutal crackdown by the military and police. It followed attacks on security outposts carried out by Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army insurgents. Nearly 4,400 Rohingya were killed in atrocities allegedly committed by the Myanmar security forces and Buddhist militias, according to a partial list compiled by Rohingya refugee leaders in southeastern Bangladesh and obtained by BenarNews. On Thursday, Yangee Lee, the U.N.s special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar, told reporters the violence against the Rohingya minority bore the hallmarks of a genocide. More bombs found The two suspects arrested this week in West Bengal were identified as Indian nationals Mohammad Paigambar Sheikh, 24, and Jamirul Sheikh, 31, both residents of the state, police said. Sharma said the two accused men had planted eight bombs near the Kalachakra grounds where foreign Buddhist pilgrims were camping to celebrate the month-long Kalachakra festival, but only one went off. A day after the explosion, officials with the National Investigation Agency (NIA), Indias top counter-terror unit, recovered and defused two unexploded bombs from the site. The NIA, which is investigating the Bodh Gaya attack, will interrogate the suspects, an official told BenarNews on condition of anonymity. Paigambar, who was trained in 2012 by Bangladeshi handlers, was in touch with JMB chief Salauddin Salehin, Sharma said. He said raids were continuing across West Bengal to arrest more suspected members of the Bangladeshi terror outfit who were believed to have crossed into India following the attack at the Holey Artisan Bakery cafe in Dhaka on July 1, 2016. Neo-JMB is the party that nurtures Islamic States ideology and is responsible for recent atrocities, Monirul Islam, the chief of Bangladeshs counter-terrorism and transnational unit, told BenarNews last year. Since the 2016 siege, Bangladeshi forces have killed dozens of suspected militants in anti-terror raids, Islam said, adding that some Neo-JMB leaders had fled to India. Bangladeshi militant groups were taking advantage of cultural and linguistic similarities in Indian states including West Bengal, according to Nirmal Dutta, a former Indian intelligence official. Ever since the Bangladeshi government began cracking down on terror following the Dhaka attack, Bangladeshi terrorists have taken refuge in West Bengal, where they are actively recruiting Indians to carry out clandestine operations, Dutta told BenarNews. Reported by BenarNews, an RFA-affiliated online news service. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has called neighboring Pakistan the center of the Taliban and urged Islamabad to take action against the militant group. In an address to the nation on February 2, Ghani said his country has provided Pakistani authorities with a complete list of insurgents. We are waiting for action. Talks and process are only words on paper. Afghanistan's people demand actions and clear actions, he said. Ghanis comments come after a number of deadly attacks in the capital, including a massive January 27 suicide car bombing that killed more than 100 people and was claimed by the Taliban. Eleven suspects have been arrested and their roots have been identified. Their roots are known. The Taliban has claimed the responsibility, of course, Ghani said, referring to the attack. U.S. Vice President Mike Pence told Ghani in a telephone call on February 2 that the attacks "highlight the barbarity and cowardice of the insurgency, and strengthen Americas resolve to support Afghanistan" and its government, the White House said. Islamabad denies harboring militant groups that carry out attacks in Afghanistan. Earlier this week, dozens of angry protesters gathered outside the Pakistani Embassy in Kabul, chanting slogans such as "Death to Pakistan" and burning flags of the country. With reporting by RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan and Tolonews Some 955 miners, trapped underground since Wednesday at the premises of Sibanye-Stillwaters Beatrix gold mine in South Africa, have been brought to the surface, the company said on Friday. Miners were stranded since January 31 following the collapse of both the primary and secondary Eskom powerlines supplying electricity to Beatrix. The collapse had caused a power surge and outage at all three shafts at the mine. While some mineworkers have been driven by bus to the mines clinic for checkup in the early hours of Friday, others are driving out of the premises, local media reported. Parliamentary committee on Mineral Resources has reacted to the situation, describing it as utterly unacceptable. The committee is demanding an explanation as to why no backup plan was made before the power went out. The southern African nation operates some of the worlds deepest and most dangerous mines. The industry has often been accused of a poor safety record. More than 80 fatalities were recorded in the countrys mines in 2017. A shocking video of a mob beating in northern Afghanistan has provided a window into the brutal "justice" women in the country can face. Footage of the incident, which reportedly took place in December in Takhar Province, only recently emerged on social media. It shows a woman clad in a blue burqa kneeling as she is shouted at and insulted by a crowd of men that included family members. As she kneels, she receives heavy blows to her head, back, arms, and shoulders by multiple stick-wielding men. The woman is silent throughout the beating, as shouts of "Allahu Akbar" can be heard from the crowd. At one point, a man kicks her in the back, causing the woman to fall to the ground. When she gets back on her knees, the beating continues. Witnesses have claimed that the 22-year-old woman was being punished at the order of local clerics, who had decided she was guilty of having an extramarital affair while her husband was away in Iran. Sonatollah Teymour, the spokesman of Takhars governor, told RFE/RLs Radio Free Afghanistan that relatives had found the woman alone with a 17-year-old boy. "A young man had entered the woman's house and he had been there for three hours," Teymour said. "The relatives found out and discovered the woman and the boy alone." 'Mob Justice' Teymour said the woman was a relative of a local warlord who was present during the beating. The womans father-in-law and other male relatives took part in the beating, he added. The unidentified woman, he said, survived the attack and now lives with her husband in the village of Chahab. Teymour said authorities have ordered those involved in the punishment to be arrested and brought to justice. Bilal Siddiqi, spokesman for Afghanistan's Independent Human Rights Commission, has called on the government to find those involved in the beating as soon as possible. Were concerned and we hope that the government will take steps to strengthen the rule of law and prevent mob justice, Siddiqi told RFE/RLs Radio Free Afghanistan. The woman's ordeal is not uncommon in Afghanistan. In recent years there have been several reports of women facing public punishment for alleged moral crimes. The most prominent was the violent death of 27-year-old Farkhunda Malikzada, who was beaten to death by a mob in Kabul after being falsely accused of burning a copy of the Koran. Her death in March 2015 prompted a national outcry and an outpouring of anger in the country. MINSK -- A Belarusian court has convicted three journalists of hate crimes over articles they wrote for a Russian news agency, ruling that the stories risked inciting ethnic discord by belittling Belarus. In a decision on February 2, the Minsk City Court sentenced Belarusians Yury Paulavets, Dzmitry Alimkin, and Syarhey Shyptenka to five years in prison but postponed the start of the sentences for three years. The court released the three journalists from custody but ordered them to remain in Minsk. The verdict and sentences were in line with what prosecutors had recommended at a hearing in January. Paulavets, Alimkin, and Shyptenka, who were arrested in December 2016 and went on trial a year later, pleaded not guilty. The charges stem from articles they contributed to the Russian news outlet Regnum in which they expressed pro-Russia views and promoted the idea of closer integration between Belarus and Russia. In some of the articles, the authors described the Belarusian language as a Russian dialect and an attribute of "a lower cultural level." The three were arrested in December 2016. Their trial began on December 18, 2017. Belarus and Russia have close ties and are partners in a "union state" that was established in the 1990s but exists mostly on paper. Wariness about Moscow's intentions toward its neighbors deepened after Russia seized Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula and began supporting separatists in eastern Ukraine, where the ensuing war has killed more than 10,300 people since April 2014. Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka has strained ties with the West but now speaks frequently of the need to protect Belaruss sovereignty against potential threats from the east -- meaning Russia. Regnum is an online news outlet that covers events in Russia and other former Soviet republics. A fourth defendant in the Belarusian case, Yury Baranchyk, is also a Belarusian citizen but is residing in Russia. Russian authorities detained Baranchyk in March at Minsk's request, but refused to extradite him and later released him. So, imagine you're a citizen of one country and you want to transport goods within your home country. And imagine for a moment that in order to do this, you would need to clear customs that are administered by a foreign country. And on top of that, imagine you were barred by that foreign country from transporting any meat and dairy products between two parts of your own country. Doesn't seem right, does it? But this is exactly what is happening to Georgian citizens as we speak. Last month, Moscow's proxies in Georgia's Russian-occupied South Ossetia region opened a so-called customs checkpoint in the Akhalgori municipality. The Kremlin's proxies say the move is necessary to combat what it calls "smuggling" between Georgia and South Ossetia. Additionally, Russia has deployed so-called border guards to the region. Now, with Georgian friends and families living on both sides of the occupation line, the move is naturally creating a lot of hardship. The Georgian Foreign Ministry says it aggravates the dire humanitarian situation of the local population, restricts their freedom of movement, and blatantly violates their fundamental rights. But it also does something else. Because language matters. Customs and border controls are things that exist between countries -- not within them. Smuggling is something that occurs across international borders -- not inside them. South Ossetia is, indisputably, legally part of Georgian territory. But Russia's actions here advance the illusion and the fiction that it's not really part of Georgia at all. We should call things what they are. Russia is setting up an illegal customs and border post deep inside Georgian territory. Keep telling me what you think on The Power Vertical's Twitter feed and on our Facebook page. Iranian police say they arrested 29 women who removed their head scarves in a growing protest against a law requiring women to wear the Islamic veils in public. The Tasnim news agency reported on February 1 that police claimed the women had been tricked into removing their head scarves by a propaganda campaign being conducted by Iranians living abroad. It was not immediately clear if all the arrests were in the capital, Tehran. Women's dress has been heavily scrutinized in the Islamic republic since the 1979 revolution, when adherence to an Islamic dress code became compulsory. The dress code dictates that women's hair and body must be covered in public. Morality police launch regular crackdowns on those who are not fully respecting rules relating to the hijab. The arrests reported on February 1 came after at least six women had been detained in Tehran this week in similar protests. A woman whose case drew international attention was freed from custody on January 28. She had been arrested in Tehran last month for apparently protesting peacefully against the dress code. "The girl of Enghelab Street has been released," human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh wrote in a post on her Facebook page on January 28. A video showing the woman, whose name has not been made public, standing on a concrete structure on Tehrans Enghelab (Revolution) Street without wearing a head scarf had gone viral on social media since December 27. Amnesty International had called on Iranian authorities to immediately and unconditionally release the woman after her arrest. The London-based rights group also reiterated its calls on the authorities to end the persecution of women who speak out against compulsory veiling, and abolish this discriminatory and humiliating practice. Activists who defy the dress code could face jail sentences of several weeks for removing their head scarves. The protests over the dress code follow much larger protests that erupted on Iranian streets in December. At least 22 people were killed and 1,000 people arrested in the antigovernment protests that were sparked at first over rising consumer prices but later evolved into much wider demonstrations. Iranian President Hassan Rohani has yet to comment directly on the head scarf protests, though he has in the past urged authorities to act in moderation. "We can't get anything done if we don't have the people behind us and ignore their criticism," Rohani said on January 31. "All officials of the country should have a listening ear for people's demands and wishes," he added. With reporting by RFE/RL's Radio Farda, dpa, and Reuters It has been banned in Russia. It's been called an "insulting mockery" of the Soviet past. Police even raided a Moscow cinema that dared to screen it. It, of course, is Scottish director Armando Iannucci's black comedy The Death Of Stalin, which lampoons the power struggles, intrigue, and backstabbing that followed the Soviet dictator's demise in 1953. What does Russia's official reaction to this highly acclaimed film tell us? Is it simply about Russians' sensitivity about the darkest chapters of their history? Or is it something more? On this week's Power Vertical Podcast, we take a look at the Kremlin's sacred cows and what the scandal over this and other films tells us about Russia today. Joining me are co-host Mark Galeotti, a senior research fellow at the Institute of International Relations in Prague, head of its Center for European Security, and author of the forthcoming book Vory: Russia's Super Mafia; and Anna Arutunyan, a Moscow-based senior analyst on Russia for the International Crisis Group and author of the book The Putin Mystique: Inside Russia's Power Cult. Enjoy... Listen to or download the podcast above or subscribe to The Power Vertical Podcast on iTunes. A Moscow court has sentenced former Kirov Oblast Governor Nikita Belykh to eight years in prison following his conviction on bribery charges. The court on February 1 also ordered Belykh to pay a 48.5 million ruble ($866,000) fine in the high-profile case. Belykh was also barred from holding public office for an additional three years. The time Belykh has served in custody since his arrest in July 2016 will be taken into consideration. Prosecutors had asked the judge to sentence Belykh, a former opposition party leader, to 10 years in prison. The court said it considered Belykh's clean record, the fact that he has young children, and his numerous state awards as mitigating factors. "The court has established that Belykh, as a government official, received a bribe for actions or the absence of actions benefitting the bribe-giver," Judge Tatyana Vasyuchenko told the court. Immediately after the sentencing, the Prosecutor-General's Office posted on social media that it is considering whether to appeal the sentence. Defense lawyer Andrei Grokhotov told journalists Belykh will appeal his conviction. Belykh was accused of accepting bribes amounting to over 600,000 euros between March 2012 and June 2016, when he was detained in a Moscow restaurant. He is accused of sheltering various timber investment projects in exchange for the bribes. The court on February 1 acquitted Belykh on just one of the charges relating to an alleged 200,000 euro bribe offered in March 2012. He pleaded not guilty and has called the charges "absurd," saying he was the victim of a "banal provocation" by law enforcement authorities. After his arrest, federal investigators published a photo of a man they said was Belykh sitting at a table covered with stacks of 100-euro notes. Belykh was appointed Kirov Oblast governor in 2008 by then-President Dmitry Medvedev, who was steered into the Kremlin by Vladimir Putin earlier that year and pursued relatively liberal policies that were rolled back when Putin -- after four years as prime minister -- returned to the presidency in 2012. Belykh is one of the highest-ranking officials to be arrested in office since Putin was first elected president in 2000. The trial began in September and several of the most recent hearings have been held in Moscow's Matrosskaya Tishina remand prison because Belykh, 43, was undergoing treatment for high blood pressure. In an hourlong final statement to the court on January 26, Belykh said his guilt had not been proven during the investigation or the trial. He said he wanted to go home to his wife and four children, and hoped the court would make "a just decision." At a court hearing on January 9, defense lawyers were denied permission to recall businessman Albert Laritsky, a key witness, to the stand. Belykh's lawyers said Laritsky had told the former governor that he had made false statements in his testimony in October because he had been threatened by prosecutors. According to Belykh, Laritsky had apologized and told him the he was ready to "tell the truth." Before serving as Kirov governor, Belykh was a deputy governor of Perm Oblast, the leader of the center-right Union of Rightist Forces, and a lawmaker in the Perm Oblast Legislative Assembly. He conducted several political campaigns in opposition to Putin's policies and was sharply criticized by liberals such as former ally Boris Nemtsov -- who was assassinated in February 2015 -- when he accepted Medvedev's appointment. Putin fired Belykh in July 2016, shortly after his arrest. In December, a Moscow court sentenced former Economy Minister Aleksei Ulyukayev to eight years in prison in a similar high-profile bribery case. Ulyukayev was the highest-ranking government official to be arrested since the Stalin era. With reporting by RFE/RL's Russian Service, Mediazona, Novaya Gazeta, and TASS U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson warned countries of the Western Hemisphere to beware of alarming actions by Russia and China in their region, urging them to work with the United States instead. "Latin America doesn't need new imperial powers that seek only to benefit their own people," Tillerson said in speech in Texas on February 1 before arriving in Mexico to begin a tour of regional countries. Tillerson said that strong institutions and governments that are accountable to their people also secure their sovereignty against potential predatory actors that are now showing up in our hemisphere. He said that Russias "growing presence in the region is alarming. Tillerson added that Moscow continues to sell arms and military equipment to unfriendly regimes who do not share or respect democratic values. But he had the harshest words for China, which is now the largest trading partner of Chile, Argentina, Brazil, and Peru. But, he said, Chinese offers always come at a price. While the trade has brought benefits, he said, the unfair trading practices used by many Chinese have also harmed these countries manufacturing sectors, generating unemployment and lowering wages for workers." China -- as it does in emerging markets throughout the world -- offers the appearance of an attractive path to development. But in reality, this often involves trading short-term gains for long-term dependency. "Our region must be diligent to guard against faraway powers who do not reflect the fundamental values shared in this region," he said. Specifically, he said that Chinese business projects almost always demand the use of imported Chinese labor, large loans, and unsustainable debt and ignore human and property rights. After his Texas speech, Tillerson made the short trip to Mexico, where he was scheduled to meet with top officials to discuss security, immigration, and the fight against drug trafficking. He will also visit Peru, Argentina, Colombia, and Jamaica on the tour. The Moscow City Court ordered the deportation process against journalist Ali Feruz stopped and has granted him permission to leave Russia. The February 2 decision followed a January 22 ruling by the Supreme Court overturning the city court's earlier decision to deport Feruz to Uzbekistan and ordering it to hear the case a second time. The high court ordered the municipal court to take into consideration the fact that Feruz had a document from the International Committee of the Red Cross allowing travel to Germany. Feruz, a journalist for the independent Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta, remains for now in the immigrant detention center where he has been held since August 2017. Feruz -- a pen name for Hudoberdi Nurmatov -- was born in Soviet Russia in 1986 but moved to Uzbekistan and took Uzbek citizenship at the age of 17. He fled Uzbekistan in 2008, saying he had been detained and tortured by members of the Uzbek security services. In October, a Moscow district court upheld a decision by immigration authorities to deny Feruz political asylum, saying he had failed to prove he faces danger in Uzbekistan. In November, the same court ruled that he had been working illegally in Russia as a correspondent for Novaya Gazeta and ordered him deported. The court, however, suspended the deportation order in compliance with an August ruling by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) that Feruz could not be deported until the Strasbourg court had examined the case. The ECHR began looking into the case in December 2017. The deportation decision provoked a national and international outcry, with human rights groups and intellectuals calling on the Kremlin not to deport Feruz. Feruz, who speaks at least six languages, earned plaudits for his Novaya Gazeta coverage of Moscow's largely marginalized communities of migrant workers from Central Asia. A Russian court has extended the detention of a Norwegian man suspected of spying after he allegedly received classified documents from a Russian man who is also under arrest. The Lefortovo District Court in Moscow on February 2 ordered that Frode Berg should remain in jail until May 5. Berg, 62, was allegedly caught receiving classified material about the Russian Navy that he is accused of planning to hand over to Norwegian and U.S. intelligence agencies. He has denied the charges. "We still do not know if Berg fell into a trap, or if, without knowing it, actually became involved in a real intelligence operation," Ilya Novikov, Bergs lawyer in Moscow, was quoted by the Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten as saying. Norwegian media have reported that Berg is a former border inspector and that the Norwegian Foreign Ministry has been working to provide him with assistance. Some reports have suggested his arrest could be linked to what they said was his opposition to the construction of a fence along a small part of Norway's short border with Russia. Norway built the 200-meter fence in 2016 after thousands of asylum seekers, many of them from Syria, crossed from Russia into Norway at the border post. The reports come eight days after a Moscow court convicted an Estonian businessman of espionage and sentenced him to 12 years in prison. Russia has imprisoned several people from neighboring countries including Estonia, Lithuania, and Ukraine on espionage charges, with tension rising over Moscow's seizure of Crimea in 2014 and involvement in a war against Kyiv's forces in eastern Ukraine. Kremlin critics say Russia uses spy claims as a tool in geopolitcal competition. Russian courts usually hold espionage trials behind closed doors, citing what they say is the need to protect classified information and state secrets. With reporting by Dagens Naeringsliv, AP, and TASS Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has apologized after the head of Russia's Central Election Commission (CEC) reprimanded him for public statements that could be interpreted as electioneering for President Vladimir Putin. Peskov said on February 2 that he accepts the CEC's warning and said he would be careful about his statements during the run-up to the March 18 presidential election. "I apologize for any statements that could be interpreted as campaigning," Peskov said in Moscow. Earlier the same day, CEC Chairwoman Ella Pamfilova said that some statements Peskov made on January 29 bore "obvious signs of electioneering." She did not specify which comments she had in mind, but was probably referring to Peskov's assertion that Putin is beyond political competition. "I don't think anybody can doubt that Putin is the absolute leader of public opinion, the absolute leader of the political Olympuswith whom it is unlikely that anyone can seriously compete at this stage," Peskov said in response to a question about whether the Kremlin fears opposition politician Aleksei Navalny. With the Kremlin controlling the levers of political power nationwide after years of steps to suppress dissent and marginalize political opponents, Putin is virtually assured of being awarded a fourth presidential term following the vote. Based on reporting by RIA Novosti and TASS Serbian security officials say they have removed dozens of what they call illegal migrants, including unaccompanied minors, from the streets of Belgrade and placed them in migrant centers. The migrants have been provided with proper conditions, as well as all protection under the laws of the Republic of Serbia and in accordance with international standards, Milenko Nikic, the coordinator of the action and an adviser to Labor Minister Zoran Djordjevic, said in a statement on February 2. It said the action -- part of a plan to address the thousands of migrants residing in the country -- was carried out with incident. Thousands of migrants and refugees have been stuck in Serbia after tighter border controls shut down the so-called "Balkan route" into the European Union in 2015. Hungary closed its border completely in 2015 and since then has allowed only 10 people per day, mostly families, to enter from Serbia. According to Serbian aid groups, about 4,000 people live in official migrant camps in Serbia. But the groups estimate that a further 500 people live outside these facilities, fearing they could be deported or be prevented from crossing into the EU, via Hungary or Croatia, if the chance arises. 8 Clouds of smoke rise from besieged Stalingrad in this aerial picture that reached London and the United States via "neutral sources." Despite repeated German bombings like this, the Russian city was still holding out. (White markings on the photo are not explained.) (AP) More than 30 alleged militants who were pardoned by Tajik authorities after returning home from Iraq and Syria have gone back to the region to rejoin the extremist group Islamic State (IS), police say. Qudratullo Nazarzoda, the regional police chief of the northern province of Sughd, told reporters on February 2 that 34 people from Soghd who had returned to Tajikistan after joining IS in the Middle East have gone back to Iraq and Syria. We helped 72 people to return home to Sughd. Out of the 72 former fighters, 34 have gone back to those countries, Nazarzoda said. Others resumed normal, civilian life. Nazarzoda said that Sughd authorities pardoned all but one of those who voluntarily left Iraq and Syria. He said that the authorities are investigating one man they believe sought to recruit fighters for IS upon his return. Tajikistan amended its criminal laws in 2015 to allow authorities to pardon citizens who voluntarily return home and express regret that they joined militant groups abroad. Dozens have been pardoned under the amnesty, which authorities say only applies to those who have not taken part in violence. The Tajik Interior Ministry says that at least 1,100 Tajik nationals have gone to Iraq and Syria. Some 300 of them have been killed in fighting there while about 100 have returned home since 2015, it says. More than half of those who returned to Tajikistan have been pardoned, while others were convicted of being mercenaries. Republicans on the U.S. House Intelligence Committee released a controversial memorandum that accuses the FBI and the Justice Department of being biased against President Donald Trump just moments after he declassified it. The four-page memorandum released on February 2 alleges that the FBI and the Justice Department inappropriately applied for permission to conduct surveillance of a Trump campaign aide, Carter Page, who had extensive Russian contacts. . The document says its findings "raise concerns with the legitimacy and legality" of the actions of the FBI and Justice Department (DOJ) and "represent a troubling breakdown of legal processes." The White House released a statement saying the memo "raises serious concerns about the integrity of decisions made at the highest levels of the Department of Justice and the FBI." Shortly after the release of the memo, top Democrats in Congress warned that Trump could trigger a "constitutional crisis" if he uses the contents of the memo as a pretext to fire Justice Department Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who is investigating the alleged meddling of Moscow in the 2016 presidential campaign and alleged collusion between associates of Trump and Russia. The Democrats also said they would release their own memo next week. The White House statement said the administration was ready to assist Congress in further releases by facilitating "oversight requests consistent with applicable standards, including the need to protect intelligence sources and methods." "What's happening in our country is a disgrace," Trump said on February 2, announcing that he had declassified the memo. "A lot of people should be ashamed," Trump added, in an apparent attack on senior FBI and DOJ officials. After the memo's release, Trump's attorney general, Jeff Sessions, said he has "great confidence in the men and women" of the Justice Department. White House sources said that, despite a warning from Trump-appointed FBI Director Christopher Wray, whose future is now uncertain, Trump authorized the memo's release "in full" with no redactions. The memorandum was written by Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee, led by Representative Devin Nunes, a close ally of Trump who has become a critic of the FBI and Justice Department as they have been investigating alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. The memo alleges that the FBI relied on a dossier paid for by Trump's political rivals -- the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and the Hillary Clinton campaign -- in applying for permission to monitor Page. It also states that the author of the dossier, former British Intelligence agent Christopher Steele, told a Justice Department official that he was "desperate" to prevent Trump's election. The document also claims FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, who recently resigned, told the committee that the FBI would not have sought authorization to monitor Page without information from the dossier. 'Material Omissions' The FBI on January 31 took the unusual step of publicly opposing the release of the memo, saying it demonstrated "material omissions of fact that fundamentally impact the memo's accuracy." Democrats say the memo is a selectively edited set of Republican talking points aimed at distracting attention from the committee's own investigation into Russian interference with the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Shortly after the release of the memo, the Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee said in a statement that they hope to release their own memo on February 5. "This is designed to impugn the credibility of the FBI, to undermine the investigation, to give the president additional fodder to attack the investigation. And it's a tremendous disservice to the American people," Representative Adam Schiff, the senior Democrat on the Committee, said on February 2. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, House Minority leader Nancy Pelosi, and eight other key Democrats also issued a statement addressed to Trump after the release of the memo. "We write to inform you that we would consider such an unwarranted action as an attempt to obstruct justice in the Russia investigation. "Firing [Deputy Attorney General] Rod Rosenstein, DOJ Leadership, or [special counsel] Bob Mueller could result in a constitutional crisis of the kind not seen since the Saturday Night Massacre," they said, referring to President Richard Nixon's orders to fire justice officials during the Watergate scandal in the early 1970s. Democratic Senator Mark Warner, the ranking minority member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said releasing the memo was "dangerous to our national security," while the Senate Foreign Relations Committee's top Democrat, Senator Ben Cardin, issued a statement saying that "the president, once again, chose politics over national security." Earlier the same day, Trump posted on Twitter: "The top Leadership and Investigators of the FBI and the Justice Department have politicized the sacred investigative process in favor of Democrats and against Republicans - something which would have been unthinkable just a short time ago. Rank & File are great people!" But a senior Republican lawmaker, Senator John McCain, also admonished Republicans for attacking the FBI and the Department of Justice amid the Russia probe, saying such attacks only help strengthen Russian President Vladimir Putin. "Our nations elected officials, including the president, must stop looking at this investigation through the warped lens of politics and manufacturing partisan sideshows. If we continue to undermine our own rule of law, we are doing Putin's job for him," McCain said in a statement. With reporting by AP, The Hill, and Reuters U.S. President Donald Trump has lashed out at the FBI amid a controversy over a memo that has heightened tension in Washington during investigations into alleged Russian meddling in the election that put him in office. In a tweet on February 2, Trump charged that senior officials and investigators of the FBI and Justice Department "have politicized the sacred investigative process in favor of Democrats and against Republicans." His tweet followed reports citing unnamed officials as saying the White House plans to authorize the release of a memo regarding the FBI and the ongoing government probe into the alleged meddling and whether associates of Trump colluded with Russia. The memo was written by Republican members of the Intelligence Committee in the House of Representatives, one of three congressional panels conducting investigations in addition to the Justice Department probe. The document reportedly questions how the FBI has conducted its criminal probe of Trump associates during the 2016 election campaign. One section in particular deals with the justification for the extension of a court-ordered wiretap of Carter Page, a former foreign policy adviser to the Trump campaign. Democratic lawmakers have said the memo cherry-picks facts and omits important context. The FBI director, meanwhile, has taken the unusual step of publicly calling for it not to be released, saying it could be misleading and could compromise intelligence sources and methods. In a statement, the FBI said it has "grave concerns about material omissions of fact that fundamentally impact the memos accuracy. The reports cited officials as saying that Trump, who has the authority to prevent the memo from being made public, was "OK" with its release. The memo has been the source of intense debate in Washington. Citing four unnamed sources familiar with the memo, the Reuters news agency reported that the document contends that the FBI and Justice Department failed to tell a U.S. judge that some of the information used to justify the extension of a warrant for the surveillance on Page included portions of the so-called Steele Dossier, a report on Trump-Russia contacts that was opposition research paid for by Democrats. However, Reuters cited its sources as saying, the request to extend surveillance on Page -- which began before Trump took office -- also relied on other highly classified information and that U.S. agencies had confirmed excerpts from the dossier included in the request. The Steele dossier claims that Page, an oil industry consultant and former investment banker, met with representatives of Russian state oil giant Rosneft -- which is headed by Igor Sechin, an influential ally of President Vladimir Putin -- during his stint as a campaign adviser. Page also traveled to Russia during the 2016 campaign but says it was a personal visit only. In January 2017, U.S. intelligence agencies said they had determined that Putin ordered a concerted hacking-and-propaganda campaign aimed at influencing the 2016 election, with goals including undermining faith in the U.S. electoral process, denigrating Democratic Party candidate Hillary Clinton, and improving Trump's chances of winning. In addition to the congressional probes, U.S. Justice Department Special Counsel Robert Mueller is investigating the alleged meddling and whether there was collusion between associates of Trump and Russia. Trump denies there was any collusion and Putin denies that Russia interfered in the election, despite what U.S. officials say is substantial evidence. With reporting by AP, Reuters, and CNN The administration of President Donald Trump wants to revamp the U.S. nuclear arsenal and develop new low-yield atomic weapons, mainly in response to Russian actions in recent years, according to a policy statement released February 2. The Nuclear Posture Review outlines the Pentagon's nuclear goals under Trump and is the first time since 2010 that the military has spelled out how it foresees nuclear threats in the coming decades. It says Russia must be persuaded that it would face "unacceptably dire costs" if it were to threaten even a limited nuclear attack in Europe. "This is a response to Russian expansion of their capability and the nature of their strategy and doctrine," Defense Secretary Jim Mattis wrote in the 75-page summary of the sweeping review, which also highlights U.S. concerns about North Korea, Iran, and China. The Pentagon-led effort, known officially as a nuclear posture review, is customarily done at the outset of a new administration. The document specifically points to a Russian doctrine known as "escalate to de-escalate," in which Moscow would use or threaten to use smaller-yield nuclear weapons in a limited conventional conflict in Europe to compel the United States and NATO to back down. "Recent Russian statements on this evolving nuclear weapons doctrine appear to lower the threshold for Moscow's first-use of nuclear weapons," the review said. The review recommends a two-step solution. Modifying "a small number" of existing long-range ballistic missiles carried by Trident strategic submarines to fit them with smaller-yield nuclear warheads would be a first step. Second, "in the longer term," a nuclear-armed sea-launched cruise missile would be developed -- bringing back a weapon that existed during the Cold War but was retired in 2011 by the Obama administration. The review also calls North Korea a "clear and grave threat" to the United States and its allies, and warns that any North Korean nuclear attack against the America or its allies would result in "the end of that regime." "There is no scenario in which the Kim regime could employ nuclear weapons and survive," it says. With reporting by AP and AFP A top U.S. commander says he has seen improvement in Afghan forces' capabilities in the fight against Taliban extremists in Helmand Province since the American military returned to the troubled region nine months ago. But Marine Brigadier General Roger Turner told a Pentagon news briefing on February 1 that Taliban fighters still control about half of the province and the U.S.-backed Afghan troops remain in a tough fight throughout the countrys southern region. Turner returned to the United States about 10 days ago after completing his stint atop the nine-month rotating leadership command for the coalitions Task Force Southwest. Brigadier General Benjamin Watson has replaced Turner as commander of the task force, which will soon have bolstered numbers as the U.S. military builds up its force under a directive from President Donald Trump. U.S. and NATO forces formally concluded their combat mission at the end of 2014, shifting to a training role. After the pullback, Taliban fighters seized a sizable amount of territory, especially in Helmand, with local officials estimating that the extremists controlled some 85 percent of the poppy-growing province early last year. In response, U.S. officials announced that 300 Marines would be deploying to help train and advise security forces in Helmand -- the first Marine deployment to the province since the end of active combat operations. In the first few months after their April 2017 arrival, Turner told the news briefing, the U.S. Marines were able to assist local Afghan National Defense Security Forces (ANDSF) to retake some Taliban-held districts and improve security in others and help reduce the ANDSF casualty rate by 40 percent, bolstering their confidence in the process. Turner added that roads around key cities have become safer and a civilian airport reopened in the provincial capital of Lashkar Gah, leading to a greater sense of security for residents. During the briefing, Turner cited gains made in the administrative center of Nawa as an example of success in the Task Force South region. Afghans forces -- including the National Army's 215th Corps -- successfully took back Nawa after a bloody eight-week battle. "We knew that the Taliban didn't really have good control of Nawa, because the population there really kind of rejects their presence, he said. So we knew that, and our partners knew that.... They seized the Nawa district in July," Turner said. "It was the first time they took back terrain in a Taliban stronghold." He cited the emergence of a generation of younger commanders who have trained and fought with coalition forces for improved efficiency of Afghan units. Turner added that while the Marines have performed in combat roles in Helmand, his forces generally remain in the background while Afghan troops conduct the brunt of the fighting. "I'm not going to expose our forces to risk if I don't need to," he said. Turner said his successor will have even more forces to work with during his nine-month term, with an additional 100 troops to join the task force, allowing it to focus on advise-and-assist missions with local forces. The U.S. military has also sent a squadron of A-10 Thunderbolt aircraft to the fight around Helmand Province, providing more close-air support and to target the Taliban drug trade. Trump in August unveiled his new strategy for the South Asia region, under which Washington has deployed 3,000 more troops to Afghanistan to train, advise, and assist local security forces, The comments on battlefield gains come at the same time that the Taliban and other extremists have stepped up their campaigns of violence. In recent weeks, Kabul has been hit by several deadly assaults, including a massive suicide car bombing in a crowded central area on January 27 that killed more than 100 people and was claimed by the Taliban. With reporting by AP, Stars & Stripes, and Military.com Acapulco bar shooting leaves one dead, six injured Acapulco, Guerrero One person had died and six more injured after an altercation at an Acapulco nightclub turned deadly. The bar incident happened at the citys Baby Lobster bar, which according to authorities, began with a fight. The altercation inside the nightclub in the middle of the tourist strip of Acapulco left a Chilean tourist dead and six others injured, including a 17-year-old minor and another Chilean tourist. The official report says that the incident occurred at 4:10 a.m. inside the Baby Lobster bar, which is located in the tourist area of La Condesa, an area filled with nightclubs and restaurants. Guerrero Security spokesman Roberto Alvarez Heredia said the report that was given by witnesses says that there was a fight inside the bar when one person took out a gun and fired. Alvarez Heredia said, Inside the bar there was a fight between several people for no apparent reason, which caused a person to shoot with a weapon against people. The Secretary of Tourism of the State went to help injured people, relatives of the victims and gave notice to the Chilean Embassy in Mexico of the death of a citizen of Chilean origin, he explained. State authorities gave a press conference where the Secretary of Health of Guerrero, Carlos de la Pena Pintos, said that one of the two Chilean tourists shot was taken to the Naval Hospital of Acapulco, and that he arrived with serious injuries, without vital signs and could not be revived. He arrived at the hospital without vital signs, probably with an important intra-abdominal hemorrhage, he said. The state official said that the second injured Chilean tourist was taken to the Donato G. Alarcon Hospital with two bullet wounds, one of which was to the chest, and that he was in serious condition. Pemex nearing $2.6 billion USD Tula project close Pemex is a few months away from closing a project agreement with a group led by Japanese company Mitsui, which will help the company increase the amount of fuel produced in its Tula flagship refinery by approximately 40 percent. When closed, the agreement will have an investment value of $2.6 billion USD, reducing Mexicos dependence on imports from the United States. The Tula project is what we are focusing our attention on, said Carlos Murrieta, director of the subsidiary Pemex Transformacion Industrial. We need to discuss many things, but we are about to close the deal. The consortium, made up of the Japanese Mitsui and Cosmo Oil, the Spanish Compania Espanola de Petroleos, and a joint venture between Empresas ICA and Fluor in the United States, will build and operate a coking plant at the Hidalgo refinery. The project is one of the largest investments of a private company in the refining sector in Mexico since the country enacted reforms several years ago that promised to revive Pemexs plants in crisis. Fuel theft is a huge obstacle to refinery operations, future investments and worker safety. Major maintenance could change this, said Carlos Murrieta. Thus, the company expects to finish work at its Minatitlan and Madero refineries by the end of March and begin repairs at the Tula and Salamanca plants this year. Last year, Cadereyta was remodeled and the largest refinery in the country, Salina Cruz, was disconnected for months because Pemex sought to repair damages from natural disasters. Winner for Cancun ambassador dream job of $10,000 USD per month awarded to young American man Cancun, Q.R. A young American man has been chosen to fill the highly sought-after position of a dream job in Cancun. In November 2017, the Cancun Convention Center advertised an open position for someone to live in Cancun and promote the area, the city and all its attractions. Dubbed by many as a dream job, the winner would live in paradise with all expenses paid and a salary of $10,000 USD per month for six months. With more than 8,000 applicants from 120 countries around the globe, the Cancun Convention Center has announced the winner as Ivan Nanney, a 29-year-old from Biose, Idaho. His new job, which officially begins March 1 with the title of Cancun Experience Officer (CEO), will have him living in the city of Cancun while promoting the natural beauties of the Mexican Caribbean through social networks. Over the course of six months, the young American will visit all the tourist attractions including theme parks and archaeological sites, among others. Ten contest finalists from the United States, Mexico, Canada, Argentina and Spain were on hand when Cancun Convention Center director, Lizzie Cole announced the winner. Cancun has a very good image, but many still do not know it and think its only for spring breakers and parties. We want to show the rest of Cancun, its nature, culture, restaurants. We want to show the diversity that the destination offers, said Chad Meyerson, Director of Cancun.com. David Rebolledo, Director of Best Day.com said that the responsibility of the CEO will be to promote everything in the destination, its Mayan culture, tourist attractions, hotels and restaurants for both American tourism and visitors from other parts of the world. The participation of 120 countries in the contest came from places such as Spanish-speaking and Russia, Croatia, Europe and Australia. This shows us that we have people from all over the world with interest in the destination and that this is the diversity we want to reflect about Cancun without losing its history or its identity, he said. Mr. Nanney, who is also known as Ivan El Intrepido, pointed out that this is the first time he has visited Cancun, but many years ago he toured some destinations in the Yucatan Peninsula including Progreso and Cozumel, and said that trip aroused a great interest to return to this area of Mexico. In regard to his participation in the contest, Nanney said that Some friends told me and I thought it was very funny. It is an honor to be here and work very hard these months to be a worthy representative of Cancun. Mexico is a beautiful and preferred destination for Americans, I want to be an ambassador of destiny and of Mexico to inspire more people to visit it, he added. Chad Meyerson, Director of Cancun.com, thanked the OVC for participation in the winner selection process and acknowledged the support of the state government, as well as different sponsors that support the project such as Dreams, Riviera, Grand Oasis, Xcaret, Hyatt Zilara and Dolphin Discovery, among others that will be added to the number of attractions and experiences for the new CEO of Cancun. Nanney distinguished himself in the United States for promoting the Idaho Potato Commission and for being a renowned travel influencer with the creation of his Change.Through.Travel page. Nanney is also very active on social media with a large presence on platforms such as Instagram, YouTube and Facebook. Mr. Nanney was chosen by the board from the Cancun Convention and Visitors Bureau, the Travel Pass Group and Best Day Travel Group. He will live in Cancun from March to August of 2018. He was a science adviser to Cubas Council of State and vice president of the Academy of Sciences of Cuba. He graduated from the Institute of Science and Nuclear Technology in the former Soviet Union and also held a doctorate in physical-mathematical sciences from the Kurchatov Institute in Moscow. Mr. Castro Diaz-Balart said when he had studied in the Soviet Union he used an assumed name and that few people knew who he was. He earned international and national recognition. Fidel Castro and his son Mr. Castro Diaz-Balart played a prominent role in efforts to develop nuclear energy in the country. He was the executive secretary of Cubas Atomic Energy Commission from 1980 to 1992 and was in charge of a project to build a nuclear power plant at Juragua, a project which was abandoned by 2000. His family was not involved into politics. He was married to Maria Victoria Barreiro and had three children from his previous marriage: Fidel Antonio Castro Smirnov, Mirta Maria Castro Smirnova and Jose Raul Castro Smirnov. This item is available in full to subscribers. Attention subscribers We have recently launched a new and improved website. To continue reading, you will need to either log into your subscriber account, or purchase a new subscription. If you are a digital subscriber with an active subscription, then you already have an account here. Just reset your password if you've not yet logged in to your account on this new site. If you are a current print subscriber, you can set up a free website account by clicking here. Otherwise, click here to view your options for subscribing. SACRAMENTO Republicans took a rare victory lap in the Senate chambers Thursday after lawmakers unanimously approved whistle-blower protections for legislative employees, many of whom have come forward in recent months to say they fear reporting sexual harassment and abuse because of retaliation. One by one, Republicans laid blame squarely on the Senate Democratic leaders who have quietly killed whistle-blower protections four times since 2014 before abruptly reviving the legislation, AB403, by Assemblywoman Melissa Melendez, R-Lake Elsinore (Riverside County). Sadly, this bill has taken four years, said Sen. Joel Anderson, R-Alpine (San Diego County). I dont know why leadership wouldnt want it. Sen. Jeff Stone, R-Temecula (Riverside County), said it was a travesty of partisanship that the bill was hung up for years and credited Melendezs efforts over the past four years to try to get the institution to do the right thing. This should be a lesson to us, he said, that when the other side comes up with a good idea that enhances public safety and enhances us doing the right thing, that we shouldnt let partisan divides get in the way of doing something thats right. The bill now heads to the state Assembly, which could vote on it as early as Monday. The about-face by Democratic leaders to support the bill came as the #MeToo movement spotlighted sexual improprieties at the Capitol. Women have accused three Democrats of misconduct, leading to two resignations and one suspension and to pressure on the Senate leadership to explain why theyd sat on the whistle-blower legislation for years. Sen. Ricardo Lara, D-Bell Gardens (Los Angeles County), and Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de Leon, D-Los Angeles, made the decision to hold the bill in the Senate Appropriations Committee, which Lara chairs. Previously, neither would comment on why the bills were killed in 2014, 2015 and 2016. Melendez last year reintroduced a new version of the bill, which was also shelved in the Senate committee in June. De Leon released the bill last month and sent it to the Senate floor for a vote. Melendez said she was not given any explanation, so she continued to author the bills each year. On Thursday, de Leon finally offered an explanation for why the Melendez bills died in the Senate committee: He said he felt there were sufficient protections under Senate anti-retaliation and sexual harassment policies. Now Playing: Assemblywoman+Melissa+Melendez+talks+about+a+long+sought+bill+to+provide+whistle-blower+protections+to+legislative+employees.+Her+bill+passed+Thursday. Video: SFChronicle We have our Senate rules that cover it, de Leon said Thursday. In the wake of the #MeToo movement, I think it was appropriate to release the measure and make the bill a better bill, because we added the sexual harassment component. Melendez bristled at de Leons suggestion that her previous measures would not have helped sexual harassment victims. Melendezs bills previously said legislative employees were protected for any allegation involving a standard-of-conduct complaint. Sexual harassment has always been in the bill; it just hasnt been the only thing in the bill, Melendez said. The bills 38-0 passage comes as the Senate and Assembly prepare to release a cache of documents that were previously withheld from the public by each house. In December, leadership in both houses reversed course and said they would release substantiated sexual harassment claims against lawmakers and high-level employees where discipline has been imposed or allegations have been determined to be well-founded. Those documents could be released as early as Friday. Both the Senate and Assembly have been dealing with accusations against lawmakers, with Assemblymen Raul Bocanegra, D-San Fernando Valley (Los Angeles County), and Matt Dababneh, D-Encino (Los Angeles County), resigning late last year, while Sen. Tony Mendoza, D-Artesia (Los Angeles County), remains suspended pending an investigation into sexual misconduct allegations. All three have denied wrongdoing. AB403 says, Legislative employees should be free to report legal and ethical violations without fear of retribution. Employees of lawmakers have never been covered under the California Whistleblower Protection Act, which was expanded over the years to include additional workplaces like the governors office and legislative-appointed positions. Under the bill, anyone who intentionally retaliates against a whistle-blower in the Legislature could be fined up to $10,000 and jailed for up to a year, and could be sued by the whistle-blower in civil court. The protections in the bill would also cover volunteers, interns, fellows and those applying for a job in the Legislature. Melendez added an urgency clause to the bill that would allow it to take effect immediately if it passes the Assembly and is signed by Brown. That would ensure that the protections cover whistle-blowers as soon as possible, Melendez said. Once they have this protection in place, I think they can breathe a little bit of a sigh of relief and say, Now I can come forward, Melendez said. 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. More than half of the 120 lawmakers in the Legislature signed onto the bill as co-authors before the Senate vote. And while no one voted against the bill Thursday, one senator abstained. Sen. Holly Mitchell, D-Los Angeles, abstained from voting, saying she supports the concept of the bill, but that a joint committee she is on is working on broader reforms to address sexual harassment and abuse. Mitchell left the Senate chambers before the vote took place. Ive heard a lot of talk today about creating a safe space in which people can report, Mitchell said. I hope everyone who spoke today will give the same amount of energy and credence and effort around creating a culture that prevents circumstances that require reporting. On Tuesday, the Senate approved SB419 by Sen. Anthony Portantino, D-La Canada Flintridge (Los Angeles County), another whistle-blower protection bill that includes legislative employees and lobbyists and requires both the Senate and Assembly to retain harassment and discrimination complaints for 12 years. Portantino had previously tried to pass whistle-blower protections for legislative employees in 2011 and 2012. Both times, the bills failed in an Assembly committee. On Tuesday, AB419 passed with a unanimous 39-0 vote, including Mitchells. There has been a clear lack of transparency, accountability and trust in how the Legislature handles issues of sexual harassment, said Sen. Connie Leyva, D-Chino (San Bernardino County). Retaliation is one of the biggest barriers for women and men who want to file a complaint about sexual harassment. The Legislature must lead by example. Melody Gutierrez is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: mgutierrez@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @MelodyGutierrez The only thing that spread faster than the flames that struck the heart of West Portals commercial district last week was news of what had happened. Firefighters were barely on the scene outside Papenhausen Hardware at 10:42 p.m. on Jan. 23 when a crowd gathered outside the police lines to commiserate and gather information. The three-alarm fire damaged West Portal Daily, a newsstand and specialty grocer with a heavy Irish immigrant clientele; Sloane Square Salon, owned by a longtime neighborhood hairdresser; and Papenhausen, which has been providing West Portal with screws and drill bits since 1936. The fire is still under investigation, and its likely to be a year before the businesses will be able to reopen. There is no feeling to describe it its not shock or fear, its just disbelief, said Papenhausen Hardware owner Matt Rogers. You just think, No thats not possible, youre wrong. At a time when neighborhood retail districts from the Castro to Cow Hollow to Noe Valley are struggling with historically high vacancy rates, fog-lined West Portal remains a model of vibrancy the three-block retail strip has only three major vacancies, and two of them have been leased to new tenants who are building out the spaces. But merchants and residents worry that the fire, coming at a time when retail everywhere is struggling with rising commercial rents and competition from online businesses, could drag down the corridor. My own concern is that with those stores on the first block closed, it could depress the overall foot traffic on the avenue, and harm the commerce for the other businesses up and down the street, said Greater West Portal Neighborhood Association President Thomas Kanaley, who lives with his wife and six children half a block from the village. None of us want that. West Portal Avenue does not suffer from a lack of foot traffic. After work, commuters fill bars like the historic Philosophers Club next to the Muni Metro station, and, after school, kids from local schools like St. Brendan, Hoover Middle School and St. Cecilia wander down for bubble tea or ice cream. An increase in young families moving in has brought new businesses that cater to kids several tutoring centers and an indoor play space called Peekaboo Factory. When businesses have shuttered over the past few years, the spaces have been quickly filled by businesses like Noe Valley Bakery, Lemonade and Ballast Coffee. Papenhausen Hardware, along with the movie theater CineArts at the Empire and Bookshop West Portal, have long been the anchors that lure pedestrians to the strip, business leaders say. The three businesses sit on the block closest to the Muni Metro station, drawing commuters and visitors from surrounding neighborhoods. Deidre Von Rock, an attorney who lives and works in West Portal, said Papenhausen has been the heart of that block for a long time. Not too many Saturdays have gone by where I havent popped in there for a lightbulb or a Mason jar. Everyone is on a first-name basis there, she said. Their expertise and kindness will be missed. Rogers started working at the hardware store as a San Francisco State University student and has owned it for more than 30 years. Contrary to national retail trends, sales at the store have been booming, and Rogers has been able to add additional part-time staff. We have been doing really well the past couple of years, growing at a nice steady pace, he said. We are hoping we can get reopened and pick up where we left off. Sloane Square Salon owner Elana Weinstein, who rushed to her business from her nearby home when the fire was still attacking the roof of the building, said she, like most of the hairdressers in West Portal, have worked in the neighborhood for two decades or more. 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 a small town in the middle of the big, bustling city, Weinstein said. Everyone who walks by you knows everyone by name. You stop in and talk. You buy each other coffee. Noah Berger/Special to The Chronicle Supervisor Norman Yee, who represents West Portal, called Papenhausen a symbolic anchor, but he said the commercial district would be fine. When I compare it to other parts of the city, its doing pretty well, he said. Rogers said he has been inundated with notes and calls from customers, including from prominent street artist Aaron De La Cruz, who offered to paint a mural on the boarded-up store. Rogers has posted signs saying that the store staff has been overwhelmed with handshakes, hugs, and well wishes. It takes an event like this to show us how small San Francisco really is, the note read. J.K. Dineen is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jdineen@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @sfjkdineen A federal appeals court on Thursday overturned a ruling by a judge in San Francisco that would require the FBI to release documents describing its efforts to keep watch on Muslims in Northern California and recruit informants from the Muslim community. The writings were sought in a 2010 lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union, the Asian Law Caucus and the Bay Guardian newspaper. They said they wanted to know whether the FBI was using educational and community outreach programs to infiltrate Muslim institutions and conduct surveillance without evidence of criminal activity. The federal agency turned over more than 50,000 pages of documents, some of which showed that its agents in San Francisco had taken notes on the viewpoints and religious activities of Muslims they encountered from 2004 through 2010. But the FBI deleted material from some of those documents and withheld more than 47,000 additional pages, saying the information was protected because it had been compiled for law enforcement purposes. U.S. District Judge Richard Seeborg ordered the disclosure in 2015, saying the FBI had failed to specify any particular law it was trying to enforce. But the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco said Thursday that a government agency doesnt have to be that specific when a member of the public is seeking information about its guidelines and general practices. Instead, the FBI must show only a rational connection between the withheld document and its authorized law enforcement activities, Judge Andrew Hurwitz said in the 3-0 ruling. At that point, he said, Seeborg would have to examine the document and decide whether its release would cause one of the harms listed as an exemption in the law, like exposing the agencys methods or a confidential source. Among the documents at issue is an FBI memo about recruiting and handling confidential informants. One section was labeled Immigration vulnerabilities, with the details mostly blacked out. ACLU lawyer Julia Harumi Mass, speaking after the earlier ruling, said the title appeared to refer to the FBIs past practice of using the prospect of deportation as a tool to recruit informants. The ACLU said it also obtained a 2008 FBI Counterterrorism Textbook that described Islam as inherently violent. Many documents released to date have been blatantly Islamophobic, Christina Sinha, an attorney with the Asian Law Caucus, said Thursday. She said the court ruling was disappointing but not a total defeat for transparency and that the organizations still hope to gain release of more FBI documents. Bob Egelko is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: begelko@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @BobEgelko A couple from Lodi just took the wedding game to new heights. Professional highliners Kimberly Weglin and Ryan Jenks, who co-founded the instructional and community site Slackademics, wanted to celebrate their vows by paying homage to the way they fell in love: at a slacklining festival in Moab, Utah called GGBY. To do so, they took to the same canyon where the festival is held, strung up a huge, 2,000-square foot "spacenet" modified by the best man, "Sketchy" Andy Lewis, and got married on it while it was suspended 400 feet in the air. Jenks believes it's the biggest net of its kind, after Lewis added two additional miles worth of paracord to stabilize it for the ceremony. Page Content This is the second in a three-part series of articles about California wage statement laws. This installment addresses recommended practices for businesses that provide workers with electronic pay stubs. Read the first part here and the third part here. In a digital world, many employees no longer receive physical paychecks that they take to the bank to depositbut California workers still must have free access to paper copies of their itemized wage statements. California Labor Code Section 226(a) requires employers to include nine specific items on pay stubs, and the Healthy Workplace Healthy Family Act added paid-sick-leave accruals to the list. Even if employers comply with all 10 elements, they can still find themselves in legal trouble if they don't make it easy for workers to access and print copies. If employees in California say they want their wage statements on paper, employers must provide hard copies, said Bruce Sarchet, an attorney with Littler in Sacramento. Written Statements Under California law, pay statements must be issued in writing and deductions made from wages must be recorded "in ink or other indelible form." As more businesses began going paperless and employees opted to receive their pay by direct deposit, employers weren't clear on whether electronic pay stubs complied with the labor code. Thus, in 2006, the California Department of Industrial Relations Division of Labor Standards Enforcement (DLSE) issued an opinion letter about the circumstances under which paperless statements would be compliant with state law. [SHRM members-only toolkit: Complying with California Wage Payment and Hours of Work Laws] Essentially, the DLSE said, employees must be able to easily access electronic statements and convert them into hard copies at no expense to workers, Sarchet explained. The DLSE wrote that the employer's practices described in the letter were compliant because: Employees could elect to receive paper wage statements at any time. The wage statements contained all the information required under Labor Code Section 226(a) and were available on a secure website no later than the payday. Access to the website was controlled by unique employee identification numbers and confidential personal identification numbers. Employees could access their records at work using company computers or their own personal computers. Employees could print free copies of their electronic wage statements at work on printers that were close to their computers. Employers must maintain wage statements electronically for at least three years and must make them available to active employees during that time. Former employees are entitled to free paper copies upon request. The DLSE's guidance isn't binding on a court but it presents a pretty reasonable analysis of the factors that a court would use in deciding whether an employer's electronic system is compliant, said Christopher Ahearn, an attorney with Fisher Phillips in Irvine. In addition to giving employees unrestricted access to their wage statements and the option of having statements delivered in a paper format, employers should have security measures in place to protect employee information, he noted. Record-Keeping Tips Although the labor code states that employers must keep wage statement records for three years, Ahearn recommends retaining them for an additional year because the statute of limitations on state wage claims is four years. Most wage and hour class actions include a claim for pay statement errors, which can result in significant penalties for employers even if the value of the actual wage claims is low, Ahearn said. A big issue that comes up with electronic record-keeping systems is that when an employer goes into the system to pull wage statement data for a certain periodperhaps at the request of a plaintiff's attorney during litigationthe electronic data may appear differently than it did on the actual wage statement that was provided to the employee, he said. "Care needs to be taken when providing copies of wage documents to ensure that the copies are exact duplicates of what the employee actually received during the pay period." That way, an employer can readily show that it issued proper statements at the time the employee was paid. He recommended reviewing the system with counsel. "A California employment attorney can identify pretty quickly if any problems need to be corrected," he said. This was the second in a three-part series of articles on California wage statement laws. The first installment reviewed common pay stub errors that employers make. The next installment will examine the penalties employers may face for noncompliance. Even as Finance Minister Arun Jaitley raised concerns over rising air pollution in his Budget speech, not a single extra paisa was granted to the Union Environment Ministry for this fiscal, while the funds for pollution abatement were slashed. The Environment Ministry is proposed to be allocated Rs 2,675.42 crore in the 2018-19 Union Budget, the same as last year. For year 2018-19, the government, however, seems more focused on the tree-plantation drive, the sector that saw the biggest shoot in terms of funds allocation for a single programme. Fund for Pollution Abatement under 'Environment Protection, Management and Sustainable Development' was reduced to Rs 20 crore this fiscal against Rs 21.20 crore for 2017-18, which was further cut down to Rs 7.50 crore under revised estimation in 2017-18. The priorities too seem to have shifted in several key areas as the government's tree plantation drive under "National Mission for Green India" recorded maximum hike with Rs 159 crore allocated for afforestation in 2018-19, an increase of Rs 52 crore over last fiscal. The Centre also seems focused on conservation of the Tiger, Elephant and tackling Wildlife Crimes with more funds proposed. However it appeared on the backfoot with regard to biodiversity conservation where the funds were halved to to Rs 14.50 crore this financial year against Rs 30.21 crore in 2017-18. For Project Tiger, the Centre has proposed Rs 350 crore against Rs 345 crore last year, and for Project Elephant the amount proposed is Rs 30 crore against Rs 27.50 crore in 2017-18. Development of Wildlife Habitat is also set to receive more with Rs 165 crore proposed for this year, against Rs 150 crore in last fiscal. Awareness drive, as hinted by the Union Environment Minister earlier, also became the government's priority with Rs 7 crore diverted towards environment education, awareness and training. Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) was also granted extra funds with Rs 100 crore proposed for current fiscal against Rs 74.30 Surprisingly, no funds were allocated to Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) that received Rs 5.40 crore last fiscal, The government also cut down the entire budget for the National Coastal Zone Management Programme from Rs 441.98 crore in 2017-18 (revised estimate Rs 152.50 crore), with no allocation made. Funds for Conservation of Coral and Mangroves were also a big zero this year against Rs 18 crore in last fiscal, even with several reports pointing to degradation of coastal biodiversity. In 2017-18, the Ministry got a hike of over Rs 300 crore than the budget 2016-17. Read other articles: To continue, please log in, or sign up for a new account. We offer one free story view per month. If you register for an account, you will get two additional story views. After those three total views, we ask that you support us with a subscription. A subscription to our digital content is so much more than just access to our valuable content. It means youre helping to support a local community institution that has, from its very start, supported the betterment of our society. Thank you very much! The latest map of Georgetown's proposed TIF district. The area for the TIF is bounded by the white line. Georgetown Harbor is at the bottom right of the map. James Reilly, a former NASA astronaut who flew on three shuttle missions and performed five spacewalks, has been nominated to be the next director of the U.S. Geological Survey. WASHINGTON The White House announced Jan. 26 that it will nominate former NASA astronaut James Reilly to be the next director of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). Reilly, if confirmed, will lead an agency whose responsibilities include the Landsat series of Earth science satellites, but one that is also facing significant budget cuts from the administration. Reilly joined NASA's astronaut corps in 1994 after working for more than a decade as an oil and gas exploration geologist for Enserch Exploration Inc. He has three degrees in geosciences, including a doctorate, from the University of Texas Dallas. As an astronaut, Reilly flew on three shuttle missions that visited two space stations. His first flight was on STS-89 in January 1998, docking with the Russian space station Mir. He flew on the STS-104 mission to the International Space Station in July 2001, delivering an airlock module and performing three spacewalks. He returned to the ISS in 2007 as part of the STS-117 crew, performing two additional spacewalks. Reilly retired from the astronaut corps in 2008. He worked for several companies and started his own firm, Mach 25 Management, for consulting and speaking work. Most recently, he has been a subject matter expert on space operations for the U.S. and allied militaries, and instructor for a U.S. Air Force Space Command professional development course. He was also an officer in the U.S. Naval Reserve. Reilly would lead an agency whose responsibilities include a wide range of land and water natural resource studies, as well as natural hazards research. That work includes the operation of the Landsat series of Earth sciences satellites. The agency, though, is facing significant budget cuts. The Trump administration proposed $922 million for USGS in 2016, 15 percent below the $1.085 billion it received in the fiscal year 2017 omnibus spending bill. The proposed budget did include a $22 million increase in ground systems development for Landsat 9, the next spacecraft in the Landsat series, to keep that work on schedule to support a 2021 launch of the spacecraft. However, it also proposed a $9 million cut in satellite operations to defer "noncritical system maintenance and hardware and software refresh" and reduce planning for a spacecraft to follow Landsat 9. If Reilly's nomination is confirmed by the Senate, the USGS will become the third major civil government agency to be led by a former astronaut. Richard Truly served as NASA administrator from May 1989 to March 1992, and Charles Bolden also led the agency from July 2009 until January 2017. Kathryn Sullivan was administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration from February 2013 until January 2017. This story was provided by SpaceNews, dedicated to covering all aspects of the space industry. The Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS), which operates the national lab portion of the ISS, argues it's making progress in increasing utilization despite a critical report by NASA's Office of Inspector General and long-term concerns about the station's future. WASHINGTON Despite reports that the administration will seek to end NASA involvement in the International Space Station in the mid-2020s, the nonprofit organization that operates the national laboratory portion of the ISS is more concerned with near-term utilization issues. The annual meeting of the board of directors of the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS), held Jan. 30 in League City, Texas, focused primarily on the progress the organization was making in opening up the station to a growing number of users, amid concerns by NASA's Office of Inspector General that the organization is falling short of expectations in its agreement with NASA. "By many measures, fiscal [year] '17 was a banner year for the ISS National Lab," said Greg Johnson, president and executive director of CASIS, in a presentation at the board meeting. "Demand from the commercial sector for the use of the lab is expanding rapidly." Johnson and other CASIS officials at the meeting cited recent growth in the number of research and education payloads flown to the station and increasing use of astronaut crew time there, using those figures to project continued, linear growth in station utilization for the next several years. Ken Shields, director of operations for CASIS, noted that through fiscal year 2017 the organization has 190 projects in its portfolio, of which 105 were commercial. That figure includes projects currently on the station or selected for flight, as well as those that have already flown. "We've seen a nice, steady growth trend over the past five years," he said, maintaining a similar ratio of commercial projects to the overall total. He said that CASIS projected having 375 total projects, of which 200 would be commercial, in its portfolio by 2022. The rosy picture of current usage and future trends contrasts with a more pessimistic assessment by the NASA Office of Inspector General (OIG) published Jan. 11. That report reviewed the agreement between NASA and CASIS awarded in 2011 where CASIS manages the portion of the U.S. segment of the station designated as a national laboratory in a 2005 NASA authorization act. That agreement is in the form of a contract running through 2024, with NASA paying CASIS a total of $196 million over that period. The OIG report concluded that CASIS had met expectations established in 2011 agreement in only two of nine areas, development of research pathways on the ISS and education programs focused on science, technology, engineering and mathematics. The report also criticized NASA for not being more involved in overseeing CASIS' activities "that has contributed to the organization's inability to meet expectations." One performance metric where the OIG report found CASIS falling short was in crew utilization. The organization has failed to make full use of the crew time allotted to it by NASA for its research projects. In the last period analyzed by OIG, from September 2016 to April 2017, CASIS used 68 percent of the crew hours provided by NASA. In some prior six-month periods, dating back to September 2013, CASIS used as little as 33 percent of its allotted crew hours. At the CASIS meeting, organization officials offered a different perspective, focusing on the growth in crew hours it used the last few years. Shields said that, for all of fiscal year 2017 a period that includes data not analyzed for the OIG report CASIS used all of its crew time allocation and them some: a total of 758 hours versus the allocation of 731 hours. Shields, again using linear projection trends, estimated that CASIS would need 1,700 hours of crew time by 2022. However, he acknowledged that CASIS is currently not able to take advantage of the additional time available with four astronauts in the U.S. segment of the station versus the usual three. "Unfortunately, we have just not been able to generate enough projects to consume that additional crew time, so we're going to see a little bit of a downward trend," he said. The OIG report was also skeptical that CASIS would be able to take advantage of the additional crew time with the fourth crew member. "However, given its performance to date, CASIS utilization rates for the National Lab will likely further diminish," the report warned. The report called on NASA to more closely oversee CASIS, including semiannual performance reviews and requiring the organization to focus more of its resources on program development versus education and operations. It warned that, without significant changes, "CASIS likely will fall short of advancing NASA's goal for a commercial economy in low Earth orbit." The board meeting did not take up the substance of that report, although CASIS officials acknowledged there was room for improvement as they work to increase station utilization. "Where we fall short, we continue to learn, refine our processes and get better and better," Johnson said. Among those changes, he said, was a plan to double the number of business development staff at CASIS this year. "This will enable this exponential growth that we're seeing in commercial interest to continue, and we expect to see more traction as a result," he said. The three-and-a-half-hour meeting made little mention of long-term plans for the station, despite reports that the Trump administration, in its fiscal year 2019 budget proposal for NASA to be released Feb. 12, will seek to end NASA support for the ISS in the mid-2020s. There were some allusions to a potential end of ISS operations as soon as 2024, though. "We understand that there's limited time left on the ISS National Lab, and we know we need to get projects in now," said Cynthia Bouthot, director of commercial innovation at CASIS. Asked during a public question-and-answer session late in the meeting about any planning for an end of the ISS in the mid-2020, retired Air Force Lt. Gen. James Abrahamson, chairman of the CASIS Board of Directors, offered few specifics, providing instead a more general view of the mission of CASIS. "The best way that we can plan for anything in the future is to really work effectively to create this market and to be successful," he said. This story was provided by SpaceNews, dedicated to covering all aspects of the space industry. Cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin is pictured in a Russian Orlan spacesuit during a spacewalk outside the International Space Station on Aug. 22, 2013. This was the third spacewalk he performed during Expedition 36. Misurkin will take the fourth spacewalk of his career on Feb. 2, 2018. Russian cosmonauts are taking a spacewalk at the International Space Station (ISS) today (Feb. 2), and you can watch the entire 6.5-hour excursion live online. Expedition 54 Cmdr. Alexander Misurkin and flight engineer Anton Shkaplerov will put on a pair of Russian-made Orlan spacesuits before exiting the ISS through the Pirs airlock at 10:34 a.m. EST (1534 GMT). Live coverage of the spacewalk will begin at 9:45 a.m. EST (1445 GMT), and you can watch it live here on Space.com, courtesy of NASA TV. During this extravehicular activity (EVA), the two cosmonauts will replace an electronics box for one of the communications antennas outside the Zvezda Service Module, one of the main segments on the Russian side of the space station. [Space Station Photos: Expedition 54 Crew in Orbit] The spacewalkers will install an upgraded electronics box and jettison the old one, pushing it off into space, where it will eventually burn up in Earth's atmosphere, NASA officials wrote in the ISS blog. If there's time left after replacing the electronics box, the crew can work on some optional "get-ahead" tasks. "A pair of exposed experiments, Test and Biorisk, are due to be retrieved and brought back inside the station," NASA officials said. "The cosmonauts may also photograph the back of Zvezda, reposition a foot restraint and jettison old experiment gear." The Russian spacewalk will be the second this year following an EVA by NASA astronauts Scott Tingle and Mark Vande Hei on Jan. 23. NASA had planned a second EVA for Jan. 29, but flight controllers postponed it to Feb. 15 as they work to fix a software glitch that arose during the first spacewalk. Today's spacewalk will be the fourth of Misurkin's career and the second for Shkaplerov, and it will be the 207th spacewalk at the ISS since construction began in 1998. Email Hanneke Weitering at hweitering@space.com or follow her @hannekescience. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com. The Deep Space Network is one of the facilities at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, where many of the agency's space missions are designed, built and operated. Long-distance phone calls have nothing on NASA's Deep Space Network. Three stations scattered around the world make it possible to communicate with spacecraft as they journey through the solar system, and even as they leave it. The Deep Space Network (DSN) is a part of that great network, sending home images of the first moonwalk, playing a critical role in the rescue of the Apollo 13 astronauts, and returning the first-ever images of another world. In 1963, the network's first year of operation, DSN communicated with three spacecraft. As of 2013, the DSN communicated with 33 spacecraft across the solar system, including the Voyager satellites as they speed out of the solar system. Today, the DSN has three facilities spread roughly 120 degrees around the globe. At any given time, a spacecraft trying to send home a message should be within line of sight of one of the three stations. Each station contains multiple parabolic dishes, including one dish each that is 230 feet (70 meters) across. The DSN is capable of receiving very low-strength signals from distant spacecraft. "'Very low' might be an understatement," according to NASA's Deep Space Network Fact sheet. "The total signal power arriving at a network antenna from a spacecraft encounter among the outer planets can be 20 billion times weaker than the power level in a modern digital wristwatch battery." A plaque marks the "Center of the Universe," the nickname for the Deep Space Network command center. (Image credit: Nola Taylor Redd) Three stations for the solar system In January 1958, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), then under the umbrella of the U.S. Army, deployed portable radio tracking stations in Nigeria, Singapore and California to receive signals from the first successful U.S. satellite, Explorer 1. Only a few months later, JPL was transferred from the Army's jurisdiction to NASA's, where it began to design and execute robotic exploration programs. It didn't take long for NASA to realize that a single, separately managed and operated communications facility that could accommodate all deep space missions would be more economical than having each project acquire and operate its own specialized communication network. DSN was born. With JPL located just outside of Los Angeles, it shouldn't be a surprise that the first location chosen for a Deep Space Station was just down the road. Goldstone sits in the Mojave Desert, north of Barstow, where a single road points toward Ft. Irwin. The location was chosen because of its remoteness from power lines, commercial radio and television transmitters, which can impede signals from distant spacecraft. The Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex (CDSCC) opened in 1965. During the mid-1960s, NASA built three tracking stations in the Australian Capital Territory. Originally known as the Tidbinbilla Tracking Station, the CDSCC is the only NASA tracking station still functioning in Australia today. During the Apollo program, one of its antennas was used to track the Apollo Lunar Module. Antennas at the other stations also helped support the Apollo mission and communicate with the Apollo Command Module. The Madrid Deep Space Communications Complex (MDSCC), a ground station in Spain, also opened in 1965. The DSN helped Mission Control stay in touch with the Apollo astronauts. It relayed the first TV images of astronaut Neil Armstrong stepping on the moon in 1969. During Apollo 13, when limited battery power and an inability to use the high-gain antennas meant the crew was unable to communicate with NASA's Manned Space Flight Network, the largest DSN antenna, along with Australia's Parkes Observatory radio telescope, was critical in bringing the astronauts home. In 1965, the DSN received images from NASA's Mariner 4 spacecraft, the first close-ups of the Mars. In 1974, DSN returned Mariner 10 images of Mercury. When NASA's twin Voyager spacecraft buzzed by Jupiter, Saturn and Neptune, DSN brought home the first close-ups of these planets and their rings and moons. DSN also carried the data conveying the famous self-portrait of Earth known as the "Pale Blue Dot." It continues to monitor the Voyager spacecrafts' entry into interstellar space. While NASA runs DSN, the network also supports spacecraft from the European Space Agency, Japanese Space Agency and Indian Space Agency. In addition to communication, the DSN also performs science. By monitoring signals from its satellites, it is able to provide a precise distance from Earth to the sender. Just before the Cassini spacecraft made its death dive into Saturn in 2017, DSN's measurements of its final signals allowed researchers to calculate the mass of the B-ring, a decades-old mystery. The station's antennas can perform radar science, bouncing waves off passing asteroids, and radio astronomy, looking at radio sources such as pulsars and quasars. "People everywhere appreciate the fact that the U.S. was willing to share its program so effectively with them by means of modern communications," astronaut Neil Armstrong told tracking network personnel on March 18, 1972. "To those of you out there on the network who made all of the electrons go to the right place at the right time and not only during Apollo 11 I would like to say thank you." Sue Finley, a subsystem engineer, has worked at the DSN since the 1980s. Subsystem engineers help manage how the antennas interact and determine when they need upgrading. These are the folks who make sure that the antennas at one complex work together in an array. Sometimes, two stations work together to bring home the information, such as with NASA's Galileo mission to Jupiter. A broken antenna on the spacecraft meant engineers had to come up with a different plan to bring home the scientific data. "When I worked on Galileo, we did international arraying between Australia and Goldstone and Spain and Goldstone," she said. That challenge emphasized the vital role that the DSN plays in bringing home science from the spacecraft. "If it wasn't for the DSN, there wouldn't be any science, because nobody could listen to [the spacecraft]," she said. The Deep Space Network's stations are in Goldstone, California; Madrid, Spain; and Canberra, Australia. (Image credit: NASA) Controlling the DSN JPL continues to control the DSN from its facility in Pasadena, California. Set adjacent to the mission control center, the DSN control room contains rows of computer banks and several large screens that track the various missions. The room itself is dark, lit primarily by the glow of the screens. At least five engineers oversee and operate the DSN seven days a week. Subsystem engineers like Finley are found in the building across the street. According to Jim McClure, manager of mission control, former JPL Director Charles Elachi was describing how the control center collects information from both inside and outside the solar system. "This must be the center of the universe!" Elachi reportedly said. Now, a plaque on the floor of the room makes that title official. In a sunken glass box in the floor sits a seal. "JPL" is written boldly in the middle, encircled by the words "NASA" and "the California Institute of Technology." An "X" divides the seal into four wedges, with an image commemorating the various types of missions (telescopes, landers, orbiters and flybys) in each one. The words beneath the seal proclaim the spot to be "The Center of the Universe." "We fly our nerd flags extremely high here at JPL so high we have had four marriage proposals at the center of the universe," McClure said. [Inside NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory: Our Look at the 'Center of the Universe'] Additional resources STAMFORD Dina Zuckerberg was born with lack of hearing, a cleft lip, and no vision in her left eye. She was teased as a child, and her peers wouldnt touch her because of cooties. But none of these obstacles ever held her back. Zuckerberg is the director of family programs for myFace, a New York nonprofit dedicated to patients with facial disfigurement. The organization gave a presentation this week to fifth- and sixth-graders at Bi-Cultural Day School in Stamford under the theme of the new film Wonder, which is about a child with a rare genetic facial deficiency based on the 2012 book of the same name. During the 2016-17 academic year, there were 825 incidents of bullying reported in Connecticut, including 12 in Stamford Public Schools. The presentation by Zuckerberg and myFace community relations manager Vera Eastman dealt with bullying through the lens of those with facial birth defects like Auggie, the young main character of Wonder. In 2011, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy signed into law a public act that defines bullying as the repeated use by one or more students of a written, oral or electronic communication, such as cyber bullying, directed at or referring to another student attending school in the same school district. SPS follows this statute and has introduced various programs to help deter bullying, such as bully boxes in some middle schools where students can drop a complaint to avoid doing it in person. MyFace visited Davenport, Roxbury and Northeast schools in Stamford in December before returning this week to attend Bi-Cultural Day School, a Jewish private day school. Zuckerberg and Eastman dont like the term bullying. Zuckerberg said its just as harmful for kids to completely ignore someone who may be different. Sometimes I would sit alone on the school bus and the lunch table, and those moments have stuck with me, she said. But I remember other times, and they were far fewer, when someone would play with me or sit with me. Eastman said some of their patients have had dozens of surgeries before they are even teenagers. She asked the group of students to raise their hand if they have missed school. Nearly all raised their hands. She then told them to imagine missing weeks at a time for surgeries. They then shared a letter a real-life Auggie wrote to classmates before entering a new school. The child, 11-year-old Nathaniel, had 54 surgeries in his 11 years, and was invited to visit the set of Wonder during filming. After their presentation, Zuckerberg and Eastman viewed a locker in the school painted with a Wonder theme. All student lockers are painted with a different book theme, and students are assigned a locker at random or families can buy the use of the locker through a fundraising auction. Sixth-grader Nily Genger has the Wonder locker this year. A year ago, she read, and loved, Wonder, and had hoped to get the locker. Its really inspiring, she said. It showed how nice people can be and inspired me to treat people that might be different nicer. Now I know how people might feel that are different than others. tclark@stamfordadvocate.com; 203-964-2265; @TravClark2 T oday my thoughts are with the family of Makram Ali. Last June he was killed in cold blood by Darren Osborne, who was convicted yesterday of his murder and the attempted murder of others. We must not forget that there is a grieving family at the heart of this case who have lost their husband, father, brother and grandfather. It is for them, and for the families of the other 35 men, women and children killed in four other attacks last year; it is for those who suffered life-changing injuries that I remain steadfastly committed to making sure the Government is doing all it can to reduce the threat from all forms of terrorism present in the UK. In 2016 the country was shocked by the murder of my parliamentary colleague Jo Cox by a far-Right terrorist. Last year we witnessed five attacks in London and Manchester. Thankfully, others were foiled by our hard-working police and security services, who made a record number of arrests for terrorism-related offences last year. CCTV of Darren Osborne at pub in Cardiff before his attack in Finsbury Park. / Metropolitan Police Faced with a new tempo of terrorist activity last year, we began a root-and- branch review of our counter-terrorism strategy. We are now in the final stages and I will be announcing our updated plan in the coming months. But we have not stood still while this review has been carried out. We are continually adapting our approach to respond to the terrorist threat. Convicted: Darren Osborne We give parity to all terrorism regardless of ideology. I see no difference between a violent Islamist and a far-Right terrorist. All terrorists must face the full force of the law. As the first Home Secretary to proscribe a neo-Nazi group National Action in 2016. I extended this ban last September to include its alter egos Scottish Dawn and NS131. This means that members of this poisonous group, intent on spreading hate and willing to use violence, cannot hide behind another name. We have since seen arrests and charges of individuals suspected of being members of this terrorist group. Prevent, the strand of our counter-terrorism strategy designed to divert people away from terrorism, is already making great strides in safeguarding individuals vulnerable to radicalisation and diverting them away from far-Right views. Last week we marked Holocaust Memorial Day, a stark reminder of the consequences of not standing up to extreme and violent ideologies. I had the privilege of meeting survivors of genocide and of hearing their testimonies first hand. I t was good to hear the Mayor of London condemning those who have been hounding Claire Kober. Ms Kober is the successful and moderate leader of Haringey council who has been on the receiving end of a campaign by far-Left activist group Momentum that she rightly described as sexist, bullying and undemocratic. This week she was forced out. Her crime, in eyes of Momentum, was to champion a multi-million pound regeneration of Haringeys poor public housing that involves a partnership with private sector developers. The Haringey Development Vehicle is no different from the model used by all successful regenerations in London, under different governments and different Mayors, over the past 20 years. Without the involvement of these private developers, the money simply isnt there for the kind of transformation the borough needs. With Ms Kober gone, and Momentum council candidates selected, the scheme now looks doomed. The real losers from this internal civil war in the Labour Party are the local underprivileged residents who will be condemned to live in sub-standard homes for many more years to come, while these middle-class militants toast the success of their witch-hunt in their own nice private homes. What has Sadiq Khans position been on all this? After all, he is these residents elected Mayor. Mr Khan has praised Ms Kobers years of commitment, and unequivocally condemned intimidation and sexism in the Labour Party; but he refused to support publicly the housing regeneration scheme, even though he was elected on a platform to build new homes for Londoners. Today, just days after Ms Kobers departure, Mr Khan is appearing jointly with Jeremy Corbyn with a new plan for mandatory local ballots before future redevelopments. It may sound like a victory for grass roots democracy; in practice, as every council chief knows, it will place further obstacles and delays in the path of regeneration schemes like the one proposed in Haringey. We have all forgotten that Mr Khan was originally chosen as Labours candidate for the mayoralty in 2015 because he was the candidate of the far-Left against the then favourite, Tessa Jowell. It was an early sign of the Corbynista takeover of the Labour Party. To be fair to Mr Khan, he then ran against the Conservatives in the actual mayoral campaign as a more moderate figure and has occupied the centre ground as Mayor of London, speaking up for the City and wealth creation as well as on social injustice and inequality. But now Mr Khan is up for re-adoption as Labours candidate for the 2020 mayoral election. It is not guaranteed that he will be chosen, particularly if Momentum run a candidate against him. A cynic might suggest that is why the Mayor is cosying up to Mr Corbyn today, and staying silent on private sector housing developments. It is up to Mr Khan to show us that he is not appeasing the far-Left for his own political advancement at the cost of the interests of Londoners. The question the Mayor will have to answer is: whose side is he on? Momentums or Londons? Tessas cancer trial Last week the House of Lords gave Tessa Jowell, the Mayors former rival, an ovation for her moving speech about her brain cancer and the dearth of treatments to cure it. A week after her plea for more research, the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery in Bloomsbury, where she was treated, has launched a trial of immunotherapy treatment for the most common brain tumours. If successful, the trial could transform patients options and confirm Londons reputation for cutting-edge research. Tessa Jowell as she speaks about brain cancer for first time Y oure right to say in your leader that the Houses of Parliament building is remarkable and that it is our turn to make sure it stands for centuries more [Sorting out the House, Comment, January 31]. But surely not as a Parliament? Its design is totally unsuited to modern needs; there is not enough room in the chambers for all the members at the same time, there are no desks in the chambers and the technology is laughably antiquated. Walking through divisions is a waste of time and money when electronic votes can be counted in real time. We should build a new fit-for- purpose Parliament building and seek imaginative uses for the old building that respects its past and engages with the future. Michael Starling It is quite ironic to read that a high-ranking Conservative politician seems to be in favour of an enormous bill to upgrade the buildings at Westminster [Its time to save the Palace of Westminster from disaster, January 31]. The current estimate for restorations is already excessive and is likely to escalate further. That in itself is ironic because a Conservative Government under Margaret Thatcher had no trouble in closing down the GLC, on the other side of the river, and its building. Given the enormous value of property in London, and its interest to overseas investors, surely a sale of the building would make more than enough to build a new parliament building in Birmingham, Britains second city? The multi-billion-pound sale of Battersea Power Station to Malaysia guarantees that there would be interest from Malaysia, Russia, China or Saudi Arabia. As for the importance of the current building to London, maybe it is worth noting that more tourists will ride on the London Eye than visit the Houses of Parliament one of the few seats of government in the world that actually charges admission fees. Michael Rolfe The debate about the Houses of Parliament restoration shows where the Governments priorities lie. Rather than concentrate on fighting the crises in the country that threaten to ruin our public sector namely the NHSs underfunding, homelessness in the capital and the looming exit from the EU the Government would rather spend public money on improving the building it works in. I find this truly astounding. While nurses struggle to cope with numerous A&E calls and homeless people starve on the streets, at least our MPs will be happy in their upgraded offices. Carol Philips Grid girls send out outdated message The decision by many sporting events and organisations to discourage using women as ornamental objects is justified. There is nothing illegal about these jobs, and many women make a legitimate living from them, but the practice sends an unhelpful and outdated message about womens place in society within the events industry in particular. Future generations will probably look back on this transition bemused and wonder: What took them so long to stop this? Peter Vlachos, Lecturer, Department of Marketing, Events and Tourism, University of Greenwich While I support the move by Formula 1 bosses to remove grid girls from the sport, the reality is that dozens of women have lost jobs that they probably enjoyed doing. Perhaps they should have been involved in the decision-making too? Lee Myers Third runway will only benefit a few Sam Gurneys support of a third runway at Heathrow [Letters, January 26] glosses over many issues. There are serious doubts over the jobs claims in terms of the number, quality, duration and conditions, and similar concerns about where and to whom the economic benefits would accrue. Unions that oppose the runway are as keen to protect their members jobs as the TUC but recognise the massive environmental impact that will result from 250,000-plus additional flights per year. Instead of inflicting large-scale environmental damage, we need to demand job creation that retrieves the UK and London from its wretched environmental performance not worsens it. Tahir Latif, Aviation group president, Public and Commercial Services Union Dr Lee was wrong to step out of line Your article [No 10 gags minister who asked is Brexit worth it?, January 31], is a little disingenuous. A reader who was not familiar with Dr Philip Lees pro-Remain speeches prior to the Brexit vote easily could have believed that hed had some sort of epiphany as a result of recent economic projections, when in reality he never believed in Brexit. Dr Lees comments were out of line with government policy and the Chief Whip was right to reprimand him. If he is so principled, then he should resign. Alexander Culley Will Crossrail really go all the way? Almost hidden in your report on Crossrails budget and schedule is that problems are likely to prevent Crossrail trains getting all the way to Heathrow [January 31]. Y oure great at your job and you know it so why arent you getting a raise or promotion? Sometimes, all you need to do is ask. But this can be much easier said than done. A TotalJobs survey of 5,000 UK workers found that 67 per cent were denied a pay rise or a promotion last year, and that this led to demotivation in the workplace. Only 12 per cent of workers said they felt 'fully engaged' throughout the working day. Want to make sure you're not in that demotivated bracket this year? Make sure you are fully-prepared when you go in to make the pay rise or promotion request. How do you do that? We asked Liz Walker, HR Director at Unum UK, for her top tops: 1. Share your goals and ask for feedback If youve been in your current role for at least six months, ask to have a meeting with your manager. Liz told the Standard: Let them know while your primary aim is to excel in your current role, your long-term goal is to progress professionally through the company and you want to make sure you're doing everything possible to set yourself up for success. 2. Ask for advice on how you can improve Ask what you can do to position yourself well for your next role. Use this feedback to make sure youre on track the next time you ask for a raise or promotion. 3. Proactively communicate success Liz advised: One of the most important things you can do is communicate your accomplishments to your team and management. The world of work can get busy and your manager might not always remember all the times you took on additional responsibilities. Provide specific details in writing about your accomplishments and share examples of when you took on extra projects that positively impacted the business. Every step of the way, make it easy for your boss to see that youre a star performer who deserves a better title and salary. 4. Do your research Conversations about a raise need to be data-driven. Liz added: Before any salary negotiation, conduct background research to work out the market value of your role. You need to have a solid foundation to back up your request and realistic expectations. Sites like Glassdoor are good to help you to find out the market rate for your role or intended one. It will be useful when your boss asks you for the amount youd like to make. Present this information as a proposal up front, giving your line manager time to review what youve presented and follow up with a face-to-face meeting. 5. Think about your proposal from different perspectives You need to think about your managers perspective as well as further up the chain. A stroll through Ghent, perhaps Belgiums most overlooked city, presents some counterintuitive surprises. Im sitting on the banks of its central river, watching kids play nosebleed gabba music at an implausibly low volume. The muted din a frenzy of hollow kick-drums and sped-up vocals hardly makes a ripple, so this minor act of rebellion seems ridiculously polite. And where is everybody? Camera-strewn day trippers are nowhere to be seen, which is remarkable in such a photogenic place where impressive buildings and handsome facades demand to be noticed. I dont think Ghent really wants too many tourists. Its not an unsociable city far from it but theres a gentle beauty and understated vibe to the place, which means locals would rather keep it for themselves. In the 19th century this noble corner of Flanders was dubbed the Manchester of the Continent, the first Flemish city to successfully harness the industrial revolution. But factory pollution coated everything in grime until a major restoration programme in the mid-Eighties restored the place to former glories: the citys medieval buildings were scraped of soot, industrial sites tidied up and canals cleared of antique detritus. Today it positively glows with a new sense of civic pride, and by night is bathed in an intriguing, energy-conscious glow, designed by light architect Jon Geol. Why go now: Light Festival Geol is also responsible for the citys annual Light Festival, when Ghent hosts an impressive number of bold artworks based on projection and illumination. Extending from the historic centre through to its more industrial suburbs, 37 dazzling light projects glow around every corner. In the darkest days of the year its a bright idea to pull people out onto the streets, so take the official 7km route and see buildings and monuments reconfigured to amazing effect. It started yesterday and runs until February 4. People. Fashion. Power. Delivered weekly. Email Sign up Sign up I would like to be emailed about offers, event and updates from Evening Standard. Read our privacy notice {{message}} {{permutiveUid}} {{message}} What to do: history revisited Nothing is quite what it seems here and clever conversions have reappropriated buildings all over the city. Ghent teems with churches, but those surplus to requirement have morphed into more varied places of worship. Galerie St John (st-john.be) now trades in fin-de- siecle antiques and objets dart while Holy Food Market (holyfoodmarket.be), the former 17th-century Baudelo Chapel, is home to 16 varieties of global cuisine inspired by Borough Market and Barcelonas La Boqueria. Ghent's light festival / Alamy Stock Photo Taking the concept to a whole new level, and killing three birds with one stone, is Was Bar (wasbar.be), inside a launderette, which combines a cafe with a hair salon thrown in for good measure. Theres a large student population propping up the nightlife in Ghent, which might explain the Euro quirks and Shoreditch touches, yet theres a charm to these oddball ventures despite the mild contrivance. Slightly out of the city centre, and continuing the theme, a former local convenience store now houses De Superette (de-superette.be), a favourite brunch spot with the bearded crowd, who line the terrace quoting Baudelaire while picking at steak tartare. Bed Down: The Post room 1898 The Post, Ghents latest and undoubtedly premium hotel, has been fashioned from the upper floors of the old main post office. Its quite something a gothic confection to rival St Pancras station, with dramatic spires and an imposing central position. Its bold, luxurious and set to impress. Theme hotels often jar with novelty touches or forced nostalgia but this place, with its double-height bedrooms dressed in postage memorabilia, is more Fifty Shades of Grey than Il Postino. Doubles from 180 (160), room only. zannierhotels.com 1898 The Post Fed and Watered: best of Belgium With its Burgundy roots, food is an integral part of Ghent life, and the restaurant scene has become increasingly sophisticated. Cochon de Luxe (cochondeluxe.be) is an upscale establishment perched warily on the edge of the red-light district. Low-key, with simple decor, this is a room of perplexing extremes. Tasting menus are cryptic and laughably pretentious but the food set-piece novelties and nouvelle appetisers is tasty. Foie gras Gummi bears do battle with Donald Trump truffle over braised ox cheeks (really), while a classical violin version of Ed Sheerans Shape of You drifts by in the background. Its paradoxical, silly and not for the parsimonious menus start at 55 but its a good place to impress a date or splurge a few euros. More down to earth is Meme Gusta (meme-gusta.be), a runner-up in the Belgian My Pop-up Restaurant competition (yes, such a thing exists). Flemish comfort food is the order of the day slow-cooked beef in brown beer sauce, rich sausage and mash all championed by hungry locals. For drinks, the De Dulle Griet (dullegriet.be) tavern serves more than 500 types of beer, including Tripel Karmeliet, derived from a convent recipe. If youre ordering the house beer, Max, youll need to hand over a shoe as a deposit. Bar staff will present you with a special boot-shaped glwwass to drink it from. At 8.4 per cent, try not to confuse the two. A night cap at De Alchemist (Rekelingestraat 3) is a woozy, almost mystical, experience more witches coven than bar. Fittingly, it sits opposite the imposing Gravensteen (Castle of the Counts), a Flemish fortress from the Middle Ages, where torture chambers extracted confessions and you are never far from darkness. Details: Ghent T here is a strange but beautiful phenomenon that happens between North and Central America each year hundreds of millions of monarch butterflies migrate up and down the continent. It is not known why these insects make the lengthy migration from Canada to Mexico and back to Canada again over the course of a year, but this natural phenomenon is nothing short of spectacular. In Mexico, the butterflies base themselves in the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve - a World Heritage Site made of 56,259 hectares of rugged forest around 100 kilometres north of Mexico City. Shutterstock UNESCO states: Every autumn, millions, perhaps a billion, butterflies from wide areas of North America return to the site and cluster on small areas of the forest reserve, colouring its trees orange and literally bending their branches under their collective weight." People. Fashion. Power. Delivered weekly. Email Sign up Sign up I would like to be emailed about offers, event and updates from Evening Standard. Read our privacy notice {{message}} {{permutiveUid}} {{message}} What we do know about this wonder of nature is that the migratory path takes a few generations to complete as a monarch butterflys lifespan lasts only between two and six weeks. When the weather in Mexico starts to warm up the butterflies return north, stopping in states like Texas and Louisiana to mate and lay eggs, before those caterpillars turn into butterflies and continue the cycle for the 4,000 kilometre journey. As UNESCO says, In the spring, these butterflies begin an eight month migration that takes them all the way to Eastern Canada and back, during which time four successive generations are born and die. How they find their way back to their overwintering site remains a mystery. How can you visit the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve? The butterflies usually arrive in Mexico in November and stay until March, so a wintertime trip to Mexico is your best bet. The reserve is a two-hour drive from Mexico City, meaning it is possible to do a day trip out to it if you are visiting the capital. Shutterstock There are four places the public can witness the migration within the reserve, which you can hike to or get to via horseback with a guide. These places are Sierra Chincua, El Rosario and Cerro Pelon in the Mexican state of Michoacan and Piedra Herrada in the state of Valle del Bravo. El Rosario is the most popular of these destinations. T his was the dramatic moment an 80-year-old grandmother came to the rescue of a scooter rider who had been chased and trapped by moped thugs. Rosemary Bodger intervened when the rider became cornered by the would-be robbers who had chased him through the streets in an attempted bikejacking. Mrs Bodger, carrying two bags of shopping, bravely grabbed the handlebars as the two men tussled with the rider and tried to yank the scooter away. A businessman in a suit then charged across the road to help, before two builders - brandishing copper poles like spears - ran after them, forcing them to flee empty-handed. Grandmother-of-three Mrs Bodger today told the Standard: I didnt think twice. Nan-ja! Rosemary steps in to halt the attempted theft I dont run away. I was in the Wrens (Womens Royal Naval Service) and I thought no way are they having that! Mrs Bodger had been shopping in Crouch End, north London, when she witnessed the attempted robbery. The retired librarian said: I saw this man being chased right near me and I thought oh crumbs I better do something. I started shouting police! as loud as I could. Gran effort: Onlookers rush to her aid in dramatic scenes I wanted to stop them moving it, they would have had to run over me to get it away. She added: Im very impressed with how Crouch End reacted. There were suddenly lots of young men charging towards them taking them on. As soon as they saw they didnt have a chance they scarpered like scared, little boys. I dont think Im a hero, I just want these two caught - I cant have them snatching phones off my grandkids. Mrs Bodger had been doing her shopping when she saw the crooks target a scooter rider The victim of the attempted robbery described how he was riding from Hornsey to the West End when he realised he was being followed by the pair on a black Vespa. Theatre worker Stefan Cooper, 47, said: They were following me for a long time but I didnt really notice them until they started shouting give me your keys! It was terrifying. I had a plan to try to to lead them to Hornsey police station to get help but I got stuck in traffic. Hero: Mrs Bodger with her husband Hugh / Nigel Howard They were trying to kick me off and managed to grab my keys out of the ignition as I was still moving. It was very dangerous and Im shaken up. Mr Cooper thanked the passers-by who rushed to his aid and then stayed with him until police arrived. The two thieves fled empty-handed due to the efforts of passers-by including Mrs Bodger He added: Its sad that people have to take the law into their own hands but Im so grateful. I try to stay safe and stick to busy roads in daylight but they just dont care where you are. Nowhere is safe. I got this bike in a bright colour so people would recognise it easily and it wouldnt be stolen. But they dont care about that. Ive read so much about this kind of crime but you never think its going to happen to you. The attempted robbery took place in Park Road, Crouch End, at 9.20am on Monday. A witness, 27, said: I saw the two mopeds come round the corner on the wrong side of the road weaving between cars. I thought they were mates at first because they were exchanging words but then I saw the look on the poor blokes face - he looked terrified. It was amazing to see so many people step in and help - even this old lady waded in. Then these builders came out holding copper poles, like spears, and the muggers took one look and scarpered. Mrs Bodgers husband Hugh said he was not surprised at all that his wife took on the criminals. He added: Thats what she is like, its her Scottish side coming out. Her aunt warned me on our wedding day the Robinsons are fierce when roused. A Scotland Yard spokeswoman said officers were investigating. No arrests have been made. They are also probing whether the incident is linked to reports of two youths snatching two mobile phones from pedestrians in nearby Shepherds Hill a short time earlier. In May police revealed how thieves on scooters and pedal cycles were committing up to 50,000 offences a year in an alarming crimewave, Officers reacted by introducing radical new tactics, including using snatch squads to drag suspected moped thugs off their bikes. T he daughter of a man killed in the Finsbury Park terror attack said her heart had been shattered by a narrow-minded, heartless being as he was jailed for a minimum of 43 years. Darren Osborne, 48, was yesterday found guilty of deliberately mowing down worshippers near two mosques on June 19 last year, killing Makram Ali, 51, and injuring 12 others. He was handed a life sentence this afternoon. Osborne, a father of four from Cardiff, rented a van and drove to London looking for Muslims to kill after becoming radicalised in weeks. In a statement, one of Mr Alis six children, Ruzina Akhtar, said the image of her dead father would stay with her. She said: My heart was shattered when I saw my father lying in the morgue. Makram Ali's children tell of 'heartbreak' after Darren Osborne sentencing Today Woolwich crown court heard how he had a criminal record spanning 30 years, from 1984 to 2014, and had appeared in court 33 times for 102 offences. Convicted: Darren Osborne Prosecutor Jonathan Rees QC said the alcoholic had a history of drugs, theft, fraud, burglary and kindred offences, as well as nine offences against the person, including assault. Moment the Finsbury Park mosque attacker is arrested He first appeared in court aged 15 and in 2006, aged 36, was sentenced to 24 months in prison for wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm. Most recently, in 2014, aged 44, he was convicted of theft, attempted theft and shoplifting in South Wales. In her statement to court, Ms Akhtar said her mother feared being targeted because of her religion. She said: My mum is scared to go out by herself in case she is attacked because she is visibly a Muslim who wears a headscarf. Killed in the attack: Makram Ali / PA Mr Alis two sons are 13 and 14 years old, the court heard. Ms Akhtar said: They will now grow up without the help and support of their father. Without his guidance and assistance. She said her father would never be forgotten, adding: His laugh will echo the walls of our home and his smile will be reflected in our eyes. His memory will be in our conversation. Darren Osborne at a bar of a public house on the outskirts of Cardiff the day before the attack / PA He lived without any enemies and never hurt or upset anyone, she said. CCTV still of Darren Osborne driving at worshippers in Seven Sisters / PA She added: His life was taken in a cruel way by a very narrow-minded, heartless being. Mr Rees said Osbornes victims had suffered flashbacks, fear of going out onto the street and had lost confidence since the attack. The prosecutor put forward two people to be publicly commended Detective Sergeant Kevin Martin and the imam of Muslim Welfare House, Mohammed Mahmoud, who saved Osborne from being attacked. The scene after the attack in Finsbury Park last June / EPA The killer became obsessed with Muslims after watching the BBC drama Three Girls, about the Rochdale grooming scandal, in May last year and was angered by what he deemed as inaction after a series of UK terror attacks. He immersed himself in far-Right propaganda, reading posts by English Defence League founder Tommy Robinson and Britain Firsts deputy leader Jayda Fransen, before carrying out the attack. In court he spoke of his desire to kill Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and Mayor Sadiq Khan. Osborne denied murder, claiming another man called Dave had been driving the van in what prosecutors said was an absurd defence. The jury agreed, and took less than an hour to find him guilty of murder and attempted murder. Lisa Wilding QC, in mitigation, said: This defendant appears to have become radicalised in a short period of time. The hateful rhetoric espoused by this defendant in the summer of last year appears to have become suddenly upon him. Met Police handout image from body worn video recorded following Osborne's initial detention / PA As she sentenced Osborne to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 43 years, Mrs Justice Bobbie Cheema-Grubb said he had been convicted after overwhelming evidence by a jury who saw through your pathetic last-ditch attempt to deceive them. She added: This was a terror attack. This was a murder done for the purpose of advancing a political, racial or ideological cause. T he imam hailed a hero for his reaction to the Finsbury Park terror attack has said he protected Darren Osborne from furious witnesses to make sure he answered for his crime. Mohammed Mahmoud stepped in to prevent the shocked crowd from injuring Osborne after he mowed down Muslims outside a mosque last June, killing one. Osborne was today found guilty of murder and attempted murder at Woolwich Crown Court and faces life behind bars. Reliving the attack in an interview with ITV, Mr Mahmoud said: "The first thing I saw was bodies scattered around the place before I even noticed Darren Osborne. "He was restrained with his face down to the pavement." Osborne had ploughed his van into a group of worshippers who had been helping 51-year-old Makram Ali after he collapsed during a break from prayer. Mr Ali was killed in the collision. But Mr Mahmoud immediately noticed a group circling Osborne and tried to calm the situation. "We stepped in to prevent any further injury, any further harm that's unnecessary, and to make sure that he answers for his crime," he said. "Nobody directed any of their anger or frustration at me - maybe some disapproval, but that's just in the fit of rage and anger." Mohammed Mahmoud was named one of the Standard's Progress 1000 extraordinary Londoners Matt Writtle / Matt Writtle "A person's judgement is impaired and they're blinded by anger, added Mr Mahmoud, who was named as one of the Evening Standard's Progress 1000 extraordinary Londoners last year. Osborne will be sentenced on Friday, with the fact it was a terrorist attack being taken into consideration. Convicted: Darren Osborne The trial heard how Osborne, 48, an alcoholic with a history of violence and drug abuse, had no obvious political views before he watched a BBC docudrama, Three Girls, about the scandal of Muslim men grooming teenage girls in Rochdale. His partner, Sarah Andrews, revealed how he suddenly began pouring over far right wing internet articles, researching Britain First and the English Defence League, and reading public proclamations from controversial figures like Jayda Fransen and Tommy Robinson. Killed in the attack: Makram Ali / PA The night before he headed to London, Osborne penned a note in his local pub which revealed the motive for the attack, as he ranted about "terrorists on our streets" and "ferrel inbred raping muslim men hunting in packs preying on our children". He confessed to police immediately that he was behind the attack and flying solo, but refused to plead guilty at court, forcing a trial. The van at the scene of the attack last June / AFP Reacting to the verdict, Commander Dean Haydon, from the Mets Counter Terrorism Command, said: While Osborne set out to target Muslims, it was an attack on everyone in Finsbury Park, an attack on all Londoners. A murder probe has been launched by police investigating the disappearance of a kind father from south London after a body was found in a cemetery. Seyed Khan, 49, from Thamesmead, Greenwich, was last seen at A-Z Carpets on High Road, Ilford, where he worked, at 5pm on January 24. He made a phone call around two hours later and had not been seen since, police said. His car was found in Ilford High Road. Homicide detectives who took over the probe on Wednesday discovered the body of a man in Ilford cemetery. Mr Khans family have been informed of the discovery, Scotland Yard said as a murder investigation was launched. Formal identification is yet to take place, a spokesman added. A 30-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of murder and is being held at an east London police station. Detective Inspector Domenica Catino, said: A murder investigation has now been launched after officers searching for Mr Khan found a body. His family has been updated. We await formal identification. Whilst we have made an arrest, we would encourage anyone with information about this incident to contact us immediately. A range of enquiries including the review of local CCTV footage and forensic analysis are ongoing. A man has been found guilty of stabbing a victim 11 times in an "an unprovoked, vicious and protracted" attack after a trivial dispute in the street in south London. Alando Bolt knifed Andrew Thompson, 30, multiple times during the attack in broad daylight in Brixton. The pair had met in the street just after midday on August 18 and were seen talking before Bolt launched at his victim with a blade. Mr Thompson was unarmed and did not strike his attacker once, but Bolt continued to stab him before fleeing the scene, leaving his victim for dead. Stabbing: Andrew Thompson (left), 30 and killer Alando Bolt, 45, met in the street before the attack / PA Emergency services rushed to the scene but Mr Thompson was pronounced dead later that afternoon. The post-mortem examination found the victim had received eleven knife wounds including a fatal one to his chest that pierced his heart. The Met police launched a murder investigation and, on Friday, Bolt, 45, was found guilty at the Old Bailey murder and possession of an offensive weapon. Guilty: Metropolitan Police undated handout photo of killer Alando Bolt, 45 / PA Detective Inspector Garry Moncrieff said: "It is incredible that a trivial dispute could apparently lead to murder and so much despair. "Bolt deliberately armed himself with a knife and then carried out an unprovoked, vicious and protracted assault. "This attack was in broad daylight and in a busy street. CCTV: Bolt running from the scene / PA "I do not doubt that this day will haunt those who saw what happened and I am glad the jury has seen through Bolt's spurious claim of self-defence. "I hope this conviction will now bring some comfort to Mr Thompson's family and friends." Bolt, of Lambeth, south London, said he knifed his victim in self-defence because he thought he was going to be attacked, a claim which was rejected by the jury. S omething rather ugly has happened to Dr Steven Victor, the beauty guru whose clients include some of the world's most attractive women. Dr Victor known in his native Manhattan as Dr Lookgood is being chased for more than $2 million by investors who claim he misused their money. The news will probably come as a surprise to Sarah Ferguson, one of his most devoted clients, and Sharon Osbourne, another fan. Dr Victor charges thousands of pounds for his treatments and has always been perceived as the highly successful head of his own multi-million dollar beauty empire. Harvey Nichols sells an exclusive range of his products, including small jars of "Bio-Nutritive" cream at 250. He has operated from consulting rooms in Marylebone and Knightsbridge and he and his wife, Anna Rhodes, a New York socialite, were often seen on London's party circuit. But the tanned and quintessentially charming Dr Victor (he unfailingly greets famous women clients with the words: "You are so much more beautiful than your picture") has not been around of late. He has been spending a lot of time with his legal team after being hit with a lawsuit that threatens to change significantly his carefully cultivated public persona. Indeed, his difficulty may amount to more than an image problem. An Evening Standard investigation into Dr Victor's beauty corporation reveals a rather shaky edifice with a history of debts and accusations of broken promises. And, according to US court documents seen by the Standard, there are allegations that while investors were lending him money to build his business, he and his wife were using it to fund a lavish lifestyle. One claim suggests that after a group of Texan investors handed over $1.3 million, Dr Victor and Ms Rhodes used $49,000 of the investment to pay off their American Express bill. Then, it is alleged, they jumped on a plane to Europe and checked into some of the finest hotels in London and Paris. The doctor's many clients in London will find it hard to reconcile the beauty genius they know with the man being accused of financial chicanery in New York. Author and fashion writer Plum Sykes has credited Dr Victor, a dermatologist, with helping her create the flawless look for which she is known. She said he injects her skin with a vitamin solution. "I see him every four months or so," Ms Sykes said. "Your skin is pricked all over by these tiny needles, like acupuncture, which injects vitamin C just below the skin's surface. It's wonderful and addictive!" Ms Sykes is thought to have based Dr Fensler, the beauty consultant in her novel Bergdorf Blondes, on Dr Victor. Like Dr Victor, Fensler says he is in the "happiness business" and one of the book's characters, Julie, a department store heiress, says "dermatology is the new therapy". "Shrinks make people unhappy," Julie argues, while after treatment with Dr Fensler, "you look pretty, you feel great". It seemed the point was proved in real life by Sarah Ferguson who astonished photographers with her youthful look two years ago when she appeared at a book signing in London. In contrast to her rather tired and wrinkled appearance witnessed in New York a few months earlier, the Duchess of York then 46 appeared radiant and youthful. She told people she had been seeing Dr Victor. He confirmed she was a patient but added discreetly: "I cannot discuss her treatment." He hardly needed to. That summer of 2006 saw women beating a path to his door. In London, he worked from a clinic near Harrods, specialising in something called SmartLipo. It was basically liposuction using less invasive techniques than those generally employed. One of his patients was writer Helena Frith Powell who asked him to remove what she called her "pot belly". After the procedure she wrote: "I am wearing low-cut jeans with a fairly short top and my tummy looks great. I only wish I'd done it years ago." Dr Victor charged his London patients around 2,000 for similar work. He appears to have severed his link with the Knightsbridge clinic, however, and his New York office now suggests London patients ring a mobile telephone number in the UK. When the Evening Standard tried the number, it failed to connect. Dr Victor's range of products was taken up by Fenwick in Bond Street and Selfridges in Oxford Street and was already a bestseller at Saks on Fifth Avenue. He and his wife described by a friend as "incredibly tall and Barbie beautiful" became celebrities in their own right. They were invited to some of the best parties and they became familiar faces at New York charity functions, mingling with Hollywood stars and tycoons. Their apartment at 845 UN Plaza for which they paid $13,000 a month rent with a $78,000 security deposit was the scene of many smart gatherings. But there was a gloomy flaw in the dazzling life the Victors appeared to lead. They were running out of money. While they were socialising with some of the wealthiest people in America, they were having problems paying their bills. One of their lawyers sued them for his fees and an accountant quit, complaining he hadn't been paid. There was an insight into their financial plight when Stewart Rahr, the pharmacy billionaire, handed the Victors $200,000. Rahr, a friend of Donald Trump, says he gave them the money because they wanted a loan. Dr Victor claims the money was an investment in his business which was demanded back. Whichever version is correct, it all became rather unpleasant. Rahr, 62, claimed he couldn't get his money back from the doctor and his wife. So he hit on an unconventional way of persuading them to pay up. He hired a group to picket Dr Victor's practice on the Upper East Side with placards that read: "Dr Steven Victor, Dermatologist. May Make Your Skin Crawl." The demonstration was called off when Dr Victor wrote a cheque. At the time, Dr Victor and his company, Victor Cosmeceuticals, was being sued in New York for more than $1.1 million for alleged unpaid debts. In July that year, 2006, he was being asked to return with interest the $1.3 million paid by the Texan investors 12 months earlier. The $1.3 million is at the heart of a raft of allegations against Dr Victor. The investors want 18 per cent interest every year for the past three years. With expenses and fees, the sum being claimed is well over $2 million. The most disturbing allegation is that Dr Victor attempted to avoid paying back the money by re-inventing his beauty company. This, according to the court papers in New York, has led to an allegation of attempted fraud. Among the documents is an affidavit sworn by an executive who tried to recover the Texan investors' cash. The affidavit states: "Instead of making payment, Victor Cosmeceuticals engaged in a scheme to hinder collection efforts by continually providing false assurances that Victor Cosmeceuticals was on the verge of sourcing financing to pay off the debt, while secretly engaging in fraudulent conveyances of the company's assets." This refers to a transfer, in March last year, of assets in Victor Cosmeceuticals to another company, Victor Products. According to the Texan investors, the switch was made in an attempt to frustrate their efforts to get their money. The affidavit states that Dr Victor's wife, Anna Rhodes, who was president of Victor Cosmeceuticals, was "unable to articulate a valid business rationale for the transfers". It adds: "Clearly, because none exists." The investors claim the movement of the assets was an attempt to prevent them making a claim on them. But the question now is what assets does Dr Victor have left? His beauty products are still sold in high-end stores but Dr Victor told the Evening Standard he has been trying to manage shortfalls in cash flow. The money has come from his successful "Rejuvenation Center" and dermatology practice in New York, he said. When he completes his current funding operation, he added, he plans to roll up the centre and the products line into one. He is contesting claims that he misused investors' money. He said the money was spent on legitimate business expenses and the alleged jaunt he and his wife are said to have taken to Europe was a promotional tour. "The allegations that have been made simply aren't true," he said. "This was a loan to one of my companies. A rather small business thing, really." B AFTA has expelled Harvey Weinstein, after suspending him last year over allegations of sexual assault. The academy issued a statement on Friday saying that the disgraced movie mogul's membership had been terminated "effective immediately". The statement read: "Following the suspension of Harvey Weinsteins BAFTA membership in October 2017, BAFTA has formally terminated his membership, effective immediately. "The termination is the result of a process laid out in BAFTAs constitution. The academy said that although it had benefited from Weinstein's support for its charitable work, his alleged behaviour was "completely unacceptable and incompatible with BAFTA's values". Police in the US and UK are investigating allegations of rape and sexual assault against Weinstein, once one of Hollywood's most powerful players. Scores of women, including well-known actresses, have accused Weinstein of sexual assault or harassment. He has been fired by the film company he founded with his brother Bob and expelled from Hollywood's movie academy. B rixton last night became the third area of London to suffer a loss of water in less than a week after a pipe burst in one of the areas main roads. Dozens of residents were left without water following a leak in Brixton Water Lane just after 4pm. The rupture - caused by a Thames Water pipe - closed the road for more than 12 hours, with buses put on diversion as engineers worked to control the leak. It follows two severe floods in west London in the past week - also sparked by burst mains - which left one road under 20inches of water and caused thousands to lose water supply. James Reed, 27, who lives 50 metres from the flooding in Brixton, noticed the rising water while he was out jogging. He said: Water was coming up through the pavement on either side of the road. It was bulging up. The water was running quite intensely. It was going down the road towards Herne Hill. Both sides of the road were blocked, bus werent coming through. Meanwhile, residents complained on Twitter about a lack of water supply. One wrote: We are suffering from a massive water leak in Brixton Water Lane. Water supply is cut in the surrounding homes. Another added: Residents in Brixton Water Lane are seeing water begin to flood their cellars and basements. Thames Water said the impact on water supplies in Brixton was minimal and that water bottles had been distributed to the affected homes. It sent tankers, pumps and sandbags to the site as a precautionary measures. A Thames Water spokesman said on Thursday: Were really sorry for the disruption a burst on one of our 12 inch water pipes on Brixton Water Lane is causing. Our team of engineers have turned the pipe off to stop water flowing out, which will boost pressures in the area and restore water supplies to normal shortly. A spokesman said on Friday: "The repair job at Brixton Water Lane is very complex as several pipes have been affected. We responded quickly so were able to prevent any flooding to nearby properties, and used tankers to restore water supplies to the vast majority of customers. Were really sorry for the disruption this has caused, and well be in the area throughout today to get everything fixed and back to normal as soon as possible. It added that bottled water was available at a local pub. Last Friday, evening emergency workers had to use boats to rescue 70 people from cars, homes and restaurants after a pipe ruptured in King Street, Hammersmith. S cotland Yard has apologised after a fragment of bone belonging to a Grenfell victim was found in a washing machine six months after the tragedy. The family of Mohamed Amied Neda were forced to hold a second funeral after the discovery was made a few weeks ago, when police sent his clothes to be cleaned. Mr Neda, 57, jumped from the tower block and died as a result of multiple injuries consistent with a fall. His wife Flora spoke of her anger at the police and said the reburial was harder than the first funeral. Flora Neda, right, and her sister during the second funeral of Mohamed Amied Neda / PA She told Channel 4 News: "After six months, they start cleaning, they found one piece of his bone in the washing machine. "I'm angry with that. We are angry. Why didn't they check proper? Why did it take so long? "Even the police aren't getting the answer for me. Victims of the Grenfell Tower fire 1 /59 Victims of the Grenfell Tower fire Final death toll: Just some of the victims who were killed in the Grenfell Tower blaze PA Final death toll: Just some of the victims who were killed in the Grenfell Tower blaze Five-year-old Isaac Paulos Family Handout Logan Gomes, who was stillborn after his family escaped from the 21st floor of the Grenfell Tower AP Victoria King, 71, and her 40-year-old daughter Alexandra Atala were among those who died in the blaze PA A photograph of Mohamed Amied Neda as his family were forced to hold a second funeral PA Mary Mendy Maria Del Pilar Burton, who was rescued from the 19th floor of Grenfell Tower, has died seven months on from the blaze Alexandra Atala, 40, the last victim to be named and pictured from the Grenfell fire Metropolitan Police Gloria Trevisan and Marco Gottardi Rania Ibrahim, Fethia Hassan and Hania Hassan PA Raymond Bernard Bassem Choucair and Nadia Choucair PA Sirria Choucair PA Mierna Choucair PA Fatima Choucair died along with five other relatives PA Mariem Elgwahry AP Hashim Kedir, wife Nura and children Yahya, 13, left, Firdaws, 11, and Yaqub, six. Mehdi El-Wahabi, 8, lived on the 21st floor of Grenfell Tower Met Police Ligaya Moore, 79, a Filipino living in the tower Met Police Artist Khadija Saye PA Victim: 12-year-old Jessica Urbano Ramirez was killed in the fire Victim: Farah Hamdan, 31, pictured with her baby daughter Mohamednur Tuccu, 44, and his three-year-old daughter Amaya Tuccu-Ahmedin PA Berkti Haftom, 29 and Biruk Haftom, 12 Metropolitan Police Victim: Sakina Afrasehabi, 65, died in the Grenfell Tower fire PA Fatima Afraseiabi 'Well respected': Grandmother-of-six Sheila Smith was killed in the Grenfell Tower blaze Met Police Hamid Kani was found on the 23rd floor PA Steve Power Mohammed Al-Haj Ali Syrian Solidarity Campaign Denis Murphy PA Young victim: Jeremiah Deen, two, died in the blaze Met Police Zainab Deen Anthony Disson Ali Yawar Jafari PA Nora Huda Kedir Hashim: His wife and their three children died Hesham Rahman PA Gary Maunders PA Ernie Vital and his mother Marjorie PA Amal Ahmedin and Amaya PA Amna Mahmud Idris PA Kamru Miah, 79, who died in the Grenfell Tower fire PA Rabeya Begum PA Mohammed Hamid, 27, died in the fire PA Mohammed Hanif PA Husna Begum PA Fathia Ali Ahmed Elsanosi PA Vincent Chiejina PA Abdulaziz El-Wahabi PA Faouzia El-Wahabi, 41 PA Yasin El-Wahabi, 20 PA Nur Huda El-Wahabi, 16, PA Mehdi El-Wahabi, 8, lived on the 21st floor of Grenfell Tower Met Police Khadija Khaloufi PA Omar Belkadi, 32, and Farah Hamdan, 31 PA Deborah Lamprell Mohammed Al-Haj Ali PA "They tell the truth for us, I think it is respectful but we are angry because why they didn't check first time and they didn't tell us? "This time is more difficult from the first time, it is more difficult, we did again. "The ceremony... reburied, everything." Scotland Yard apologised as the second funeral of Mohamed Amied Neda was held / PA The Metropolitan Police has apologised to the family for the "distress that this has caused" and said Grenfell was "one of the most complex investigations" ever undertaken by the force. A spokeswoman said: "Mr Neda's clothing was sent to an external company for professional cleaning of each item prior to their return to his family. "Each person's items are cleaned within an isolated environment so no cross-contamination can occur. Mohamed Amied Neda's bone fragment was found in a tumble dryer six months after the tragedy / PA "It was during this process that a small fragment of bone was discovered. "Applying the same rigorous identification regime used throughout this operation the fragment was confirmed as originating from Mr Neda." She added: "At no stage during the post-mortem was it identified that there was a possibility any part of his body was missing." Mrs Neda and her son Farhad were the only residents to make it out of the 23rd floor at the top of Grenfell tower. She added that she was comforted that her husband spent his final moments trying to help their neighbours. She said: "I'm proud of him, he helped people and he died because he wanted to help more people." In the moments before he died, Mr Neda left his family a final message: "Goodbye, I am leaving this world, goodbye. I hope you forgive me. Goodbye everyone." Y ESTERDAY Tatler announced Richard Dennen as its new editor, and he promised a new day for the magazine. The Tatler I edit will access an even wider world, he said. Will it also include his candid memories of the Duchess of Cambridge? Dennen was a student at the University of St Andrews at the same time as the then Kate Middleton. Back in 2015, Dennen shared this candid throwback photograph of the Duchess at the airport, tucking into a sandwich. He posted it on his Instagram along with a caption: Before life got serious and we still ate wheat and flew economy. He added the hashtags #TheCourtJester and #TheKensingtonCrew. Dennen has spoken of his friendship with the Duchess before. Back in 2011, the year of her marriage to Prince William, he described his friend to CNN. Shes very measured, very controlled, he said. That is perfect because you dont want someone whos going to be falling out on the Kings Road face down, wasted after a boozy session. There was this nightclub that everyone went to called Boujis and she was famous for always nipping into the bathroom, checking her hair and make-up before she left because she knew there were photographers waiting outside. Dennen deleted the image a while ago but we found it in the archives. Its no surprise that Dennen would wish to strike it from the record: as editor of Tatler he will have to court those in high society who may disapprove of such indiscretion. Then again, he could make it his first cover... Meghan ensures spectacular success WHEN Meghan Markle appeared at the Invictus games in Toronto sporting a dashing pair of Finlay & Co sunglasses with her initials MM engraved on the outside of one arm, Meghans particular style, Percy, became an instant top seller. Launching their first store in Broadwick Street, Soho, last night, Finlay & Co owner, Dave Lochhead told the Londoner: I have no idea how Meghan got our glasses but it was a wonderful surprise. She must have bought them herself or received them as a gift. Dave is toying with the idea of sending Meghan and Harry a special wedding present. It might be a bit cheeky to send Meghan our new rose-tinted sunglasses for her honeymoon, with HRH engraved on them. Quote of the day No more tortoise: David Hare (Photo by David M. Benett/Dave Benett/Getty Images) / Dave Benett/Getty Images I write quicker now because of the panic of death Playwright David Hare says age will not wither him Bodies beautiful exercise the right to party Exercising their right to party: Yasmin Le Bon, Eric Underwood, Lady Emma Weymouth (Photo by Darren Gerrish/WireImage for E by Equinox) / WireImage for E by Equinox Yasmin Le Bon may be 53 but that doesnt mean shes slowing down: last night the model hit the gym. Well, sort of. She and her daughter Amber, also a model, were at the launch of E by Equinox, the swanky new St Jamess gym. The pair were joined by some real fitness experts: US ballet dancer Eric Underwood, accomplished sailor and adventurer Ben Fogle, and Lady Weymouth a keen long-distance runner were also among the guests. Maybe well see them at aerobics class. --- WHAT unites Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump? Is it their love of playing the strongman? No, its that theyre both fans of the Financial Times. French investigative outlet Intelligence Online has discovered that Putins office subscribes to the FT. And Trump is often pictured with a copy on his desk. Perhaps editor Lionel Barber can arrange a Presidents Club three-way interview with the pink un, the orange un, and the err, Russiun. Happiness in the afternoon At last, The Londoner has hit upon a recipe for happiness. And fortunately, it could be a description of The Londoners own working day. Confirmation bias, you say? Never heard of it. A well-loved magazine held a dinner earlier this week featuring advice from a usefully named guest: Charles Handy. Business guru Mr Handy said working after lunch was for the birds. Much better, he said, to work Oxford hours, nine to one and five to seven, spending the time in between relaxing, resting and reflecting. Doesnt sound half bad. Handy told a story about lunching with his father-in-law to be. This man was not just any fatherly slacker, but a colonel in the British Army. Handy got up at an appropriate time, but the colonel asked: Where the hell are you going? Back to work. You dont work in the afternoon do you! The Londoner agrees. But Mr Handy was not the only one living up to his name. If any institution needs the veneer of intellectual justification for its ways, it is the magazine that hosted the dinner: The Idler. Tweet of the day Denis MacShane, ex- Europe Minister, says Liam Fox is all talk, no trade deals. --- Blast from the past of the day: Lord Sugar has bought back the first Rolls- Royce he ever owned after the current owner traced him through the ownership records. Try keeping Miriam out of the scrum B rexit minister Steve Baker made a grovelling apology to the House of Commons today for falsely suggesting that Treasury officials were skewing reports in a bid to soften Britains exit from the EU. In an embarrassing blow to arch- Brexiteers who have declared war on experts, the minister said sorry to civil servants and stated that the allegation they lacked impartiality was not true. As Ive put on record many times, I have the highest regard for our hard-working civil servants, he said. Im grateful for this early opportunity to correct the record and I apologise to the House. Mr Baker looked stiff and contrite after being ordered by No 10 to return to the despatch box to deliver his apology in person and correct the record. Theresa May and her husband Philip on their tour of the far east in Shanghai / EPA He was flanked by Commons Leader Andrea Leadsom and international trade minister Greg Hands, who looked grave. Mr Baker admitted he should have dismissed the allegation that Treasury officials were drawing up skewed economic studies to make the case for staying in a customs union with the EU out of hand when it was raised by fellow Right-winger Jacob Rees-Mogg in the chamber yesterday. Standing up on a point of order, Mr Baker told MPs: I wish to correct the record of my answer yesterday. He said he had listened to an audio tape that undermined the account he and Mr Rees-Mogg had given which was that the allegation had been made to them by the head of the Centre for European Reform think tank, Charles Grant. Yesterday I answered a question based on my honest recollection of conversation. As I explained yesterday, I considered what I understood the suggestion being put to me as implausible because of the longstanding and well regarded impartiality of the civil service. The audio of that conversation is now available and Im glad the record stands corrected. In the context of that audio, I accept I should have corrected or dismissed the premise of my honourable friends question. I have apologised to Mr Charles Grant, who is an honest and trustworthy man. His apology took 147 words and lasted just 48 seconds. But it came as a blow to supporters of a hard Brexit, who have sought to dismiss economists warnings of the damage that would be inflicted on the economy by quitting the EU without a close future trading agreement. A draft Whitehall assessment, which was leaked this week predicted growth would be eight per cent lower after 15 years than it would be inside the EU, if the UK were to leave on bare World Trade Organisation terms. However, the downgrade would be limited to two per cent if Britain stays in the customs union and single market. The incident is also embarrassing to Downing Street, which initially said it had no reason to doubt Mr Bakers account of events. Speaking in Shanghai at the end of her three-day tour of China, the Prime Minister said she would not sack Mr Baker. She insisted civil servants and ministers were working together to deliver the best possible Brexit. Asked by Channel 5 News whether she would fire him, she replied: No. The ministerial code says that the minister should take the earliest opportunity to amend the record that has given to Parliament and apologise to Parliament. He will do that. The storm erupted after Mr Rees-Mogg who used a speech last week to warn No 10 against diluting Brexit asked Mr Baker to confirm that Mr Grant believed officials in the Treasury have deliberately developed a model to show that all options other than staying in the customs union were bad and that officials intended to use this to influence policy. Mr Baker said it was essentially correct that the allegation was being made, adding: At the time I considered it implausible. His response suggested he might no longer find it implausible. However, Mr Grant strongly denied making the claims and an audio recording emerged that contradicted the ministers recollection of the comments. Downing Street said the minister had made a genuine mistake. Asked if civil servants were deliberately skewing evidence, Mr Rees-Mogg appeared to take a swipe at Chancellor Philip Hammond, saying: I think the blame should always lie with ministers actually ... It is the Chancellor of the Exchequer who has to take responsibility for his department. Civil service unions were outraged by the allegations. Dave Penman, general secretary of the FDA union, called them a half-baked conspiracy theory. Cabinet Secretary and head of the civil service Sir Jeremy Heywood tweeted: Proud to address @UK Civil Service analysts yesterday. T heresa May was praised by Chinese state media for sidestepping questions over the country's human rights record. On the final day of the Prime Minister's three-day trade tour, she was commended as "pragmatic" for resisting calls to publicly challenge Beijing on the issue. The state's Global Times newspaper hailed her for avoiding rebuking the regime for its treatment of pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong and human rights in China. Mrs May secured a joint trade and investment review with China during her trip as the first step towards an "ambitious" post-Brexit deal, Downing Street said. The newspaper reports sparked an immediate denial from No10, saying Mrs May had raised the issue of Hong Kong - where more than 100 activists were detained in protests over alleged encroachment by Beijing on the former colony's partial autonomy - and broader human rights in her discussions with both President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang. Downing Street issued an account of the talks with Xi and said that both leaders had restated their commitment to the "One Country Two Systems" arrangements in place since the UK handed Hong Kong back to China in 1997. Mrs May was said by Chinese media to have sidestepped awkward questions on human rights / EPA The Global Times, viewed as a mouthpiece for Beijing, said in an editorial that Mrs May was right to resist "radical" pressure to highlight human rights concerns, and instead to confine herself to "enthusiastic and positive remarks about China". "For the prime minister, the losses outweigh the gains if she appeases the British media at the cost of the visit's friendly atmosphere," said the newspaper. "China's robust development has instilled impetus for Europe to overcome its prejudices against Beijing." Mrs May issued a call for gender equality in her address to business leaders in Shanghai on the last day of her trip. In a speech to the UK-China Business Forum, the Prime Minister said: "The UK and China together have the capacity to play a huge role in advocating for gender equality. But all too often those good intentions don't lead to positive outcomes, and that's something we should all be working to tackle." Theresa May drinks tea with China's President Xi Jinping / PA She hailed the work on gender equality of Alibaba entrepreneur Jack Ma - believed to be China's richest man - whom she met at the forum. Theresa May speaks at Shanghai business forum Mrs May said that her visit had marked Britain and China "opening a new chapter in our golden era", with commercial deals totalling 9 billion signed. These included a five-year export drive by Aston Martin worth 600 million and involving more than 20 showrooms for the luxury cars across China, as well as plans by Staffordshire-based Busy Bees to open a string of childcare nurseries including an international pre-school in Shanghai. Just hours after Mrs May's arrival in Shanghai, the city was put on alert after a van loaded with gas cannisters ploughed into pedestrians, injuring 18 people, three of them seriously. The incident occurred as Mrs May held talks with Shanghai mayor Ying Yong in a hotel around five miles away, but her itinerary was not disrupted. Police later said the crash was believed to be an accident. International Trade Secretary Liam Fox said that more than 9.3 billion in deals signed in China would create 2,500 new jobs in the UK, with the figure expected to rise as more agreements are sealed. Dr Fox said: "I am delighted to have joined the Prime Minister on this crucial and incredibly fruitful visit. "The agreements signed this week, valued at more than 9 billion, demonstrate a clear demand for British goods and services. "As an international economic department, we will continue to develop this valuable relationship, which already benefits British companies to the tune of 59 billion in trade each year." L eaders of a new political party aiming to stop Brexit are preparing to launch their campaign by touring towns and universities across the UK. The Renew party has recruited some 220 candidates to stand in local and national elections - with the first test coming in London and English councils in May - and many of them are expected to gather this weekend for their first mass training session. Representatives of Emmanuel Macron's En Marche will attend the London event to give advice on tactics for catapulting a new party into the political mainstream. But leaders of the party played down suggestions that Renew was an attempt to replicate the French president's political agenda in the UK. "The EU referendum was a wake-up call that the UK is a nation divided, with mass discontent at inequality, national identity and regional, social and generational differences," said Sandra Khadhouri, a former UN worker who is one of Renew's three "principals", alongside accountant James Torrance and start-up strategy consultant James Clarke. Renew aims to provide a rallying point for millions of people, particularly in the younger generation, who feel "politically homeless" in the wake of the EU referendum and regard the traditional parties as "weak, divided and out of touch", Ms Khadouri said. Mr Torrance stood as an anti-Brexit independent in last year's snap election and took just 393 votes in Kensington, though his tally was larger than the margin of defeat for Leave-backing Tory Victoria Borwick. The new party's operations and small staff are currently funded by a single donor and it is not expected to unveil any celebrity backers or defectors from the mainstream parties at its launch. It is using the slogan "People from outside politics to renew Britain's hope", though its leaders made clear they are open to discussions with sympathetic members of existing parties. Ms Khadhouri said Renew would call on voters to "reconsider" the decision made in 2016, now that the consequences of EU withdrawal are becoming clearer. Government leaked analysis shows Brexit will make UK worse off "Polls show many are changing their minds and the Conservative Government is forcing through a damaging hard Brexit without a clear mandate. Renew proposes that social change and progress can only be delivered without the cost, complications and distraction of an unnecessary Brexit." S adiq Khan today set out plans for mandatory ballots of residents ahead of major housing regeneration schemes as a strict condition of his funding. The Mayor appeared alongside Jeremy Corbyn to make the announcement which, though popular with many residents, could hamper town halls ability to build thousands of homes. The Labour leader welcomed the proposal, which comes days after a major row over regeneration in Haringey, which he said would help prevent the social cleansing of estates. But council leaders reacted angrily, with several suggesting that the Mayors lurch Leftwards suggested he was putting his reselection prospects above solving Londons housing crisis. City Hall insiders said Mr Khan is concerned that the Momentum-backed Left could challenge his bid this summer for a second term as mayor. Sadiq Khan and Jeremy Corbyn in Hendon / Jeremy Selwyn The Mayor denied he was backing the policy to appease the Labour Left and said he was not worried that the ballots would complicate an already convoluted planning process. At an event in Barnet, Mr Corbyn warned that too often estate regeneration led to social cleansing with residents forced to move out. He welcomed Mr Khans estate regeneration guide, the first from a mayor, saying the ballot proposal, which Labour would roll out across the country, would give locals real control. Sadiq Khan's visit to India - In pictures 1 /24 Sadiq Khan's visit to India - In pictures Mayor of London Sadiq Khan visits the Golden Temple in Amritsar in India where he met religious leaders and paid his respects to the most important pilgrimage site of the Sikh religion PA Mayor of London Sadiq Khan visits the Golden Temple in Amritsar in India PA Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan stands in silence after laying a wreath at martyrs' memorial, during his visit to the Jallianwala Bagh Memorial in Amritsar, India EPA Mayor of London Sadiq Khan helps prepare food for a communal vegetarian meal in a community kitchen during his visit to the Golden Temple in Amritsar AFP/Getty Images Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan partakes 'Langar' or holy food from the community kitchen during his visit to the Golden Temple, the holiest of Sikh shrines, in Amritsar, India EPA Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan performs the voluntary service of cleaning the dishes in the community kitchen during his visit to the Golden Temple, the holiest of Sikh shrines in Amritsar, India EPA Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan shakes hands with Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC) officials as he arrives at the Golden Temple, the holiest of Sikh shrines, in Amritsar, India EPA Mayor of London Sadiq Khan poses for a picture during his visit to the Golden Temple complex in Amritsar AFP/Getty Images Mayor of London Sadiq Khan, along with Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC) officials, poses for photographs during his visit to the Golden Temple, the holiest of Sikh shrines, in Amritsar, India EPA Mayor of London Sadiq Khan talks to Swami Sadhu Gnanmunidas during a visit to Akshardham Temple in Delhi PA Mayor of London Sadiq Khan pours holy water over a statue of Swami Narayan with Swami Sadhu Gnanmunidas (left) during a visit to Akshardham Temple in Delhi as part of his four-day trip to India. It was built by the same sect of Hinduism who built the temple in Neasden, north west London PA Mayor of London Sadiq Khan greets sadhus - holy men - during a visit to Akshardham Temple in Delhi as part of his four-day trip to India PA Mayor of London Sadiq Khan during a visit to Akshardham Temple in Delh PA Mayor of London Sadiq Khan talks to Swami Sadhu Gnanmunidas during a visit to Akshardham Temple in Delhi PA Mayor of London Sadiq Khan greets sadhus - holy men - during a visit to Akshardham Temple in Delhi as part of his four-day trip to India PA Mayor of London Sadiq Khan greets sadhus - holy men - during a visit to Akshardham Temple in Delhi as part of his four-day trip to India PA Mayor of London Sadiq Khan walks through a street in Delhi, India PA Mayor of London Sadiq Khan walks through a street in Delhi, India PA Mayor for London Sadiq Khan who has met film producer Michael Ward in Mumbai, India, who is involved in a remake of the novel The Far Paviliions which will be filmed in London and Indi PA Mayor of London Sadiq Khan addresses students at an event to discuss air pollution and climate change at the Maharaja Agarsain Public School in New Delhi, India AP Mayor of London Sadiq Khan takes a shot at a goal during the South Mumbai Junior Soccer Challenge in Mumbai, India which encourages young footballers of both sexes to take part in the sport PA Indian Bollywood actor Ranbir Kapoor (L) and British politician and Mayor of London Sadiq Khan attend the 9th 'QPR South Mumbai Junior Soccer Challenger 2017' event in Mumbai AFP/Getty Images Mayor of London Sadiq Khan poses for a photograph with young footballers and Bollywood actor Ranbir Kapoor (left) at the South Mumbai Junior Soccer Challenge in Mumbai, India which encourages young footballers of both sexes to take part in the sport PA Mayor for London Sadiq Khan meets Bollywood film producer Amitabh Bach at a reception and dinner hosted by the billionaire business man Makes Ambani in Mumbai PA Eyebrows were also raised over the timing of the announcement, days after Claire Kober, leader of Haringey council, quit amid claims of sexism and bullying from the far Left. She stood down following a row over the councils plans for a major housing scheme that opponents decried as social cleansing. Haringey council leader Claire Kober quits with blast at Corbynista 'bullying' The Tories accused Mr Khan of abdicating responsibility to special interest groups while Labour council chiefs accused Mr Khan of putting his own career above Londoners. One senior London Labour figure told the Standard: It looks like a politically motivated move to keep the Left happy ahead of his re-selection. Southwarks Labour leader Peter John said: The challenge we face in London is the lack of genuinely affordable housing, and the need to invest in our existing social housing stock. Do estate ballots help to solve either of these challenges? Almost certainly not. B irds Eye was forced to drop a fish finger advert after concerns raised by cold water swimming campaigners. The frozen food giant ran a TV advert showing a man and boy jumping into the sea to a voiceover that said: "Captain Birds Eye loves the simple things, like jumping into cold water on a hot day with his grandson." But a campaign group set up after a 14-year-old boy died from cold water shock claimed the advert was inappropriate. The firm took the advert off air and agreed to amend the voiceover. The Captain is seen jumping into water in the advert, which campaigners claimed was inappropriate / Birds Eye Cameron Gosling, from Cook, died in July 2015 from after going swimming with his friends in the River Wear. While his friends paddled in the river and acclimatised their bodies, Cameron jumped in. The cold water shocked his body and, despite his friends trying to save him, he died. The teenager's family and Durham County Council later launched the Dying to be Cool campaign to raise awareness of the dangers of swimming in cold water. His mother, Fiona, contacted the company to say she was "shocked" when she saw the advert. She added: "It seemed as though Birds Eye hadn't done its research before making it but I'm grateful that they agreed to change the advert and at how quickly they acted." And the council also called on the firm for the advert to be changed. A letter written by written by Jane Robinson, chair of Durham City Safety Group, and Kevin Lough, chair of Durham Open Water Safety Group, said: "Jumping into water can result in cold water shock which is a major factor in drownings. "Most waters in the UK are of a temperature which would induce cold water shock all year round. "Durham City Safety Group and Durham Open Water Safety Group therefore ask that you do not continue to suggest jumping into cold water on a hot day is safe. "This behaviour is not a 'simple thing', it leads to many fatalities and we ask that you reconsider this messaging." A spokesman for the firm said: "At Birds Eye, we take our advertising responsibilities very seriously and we were grateful to be made aware of this issue. "Since then, we have taken the current advert off air and are now amending the voiceover to remove references to the temperature of the water and weather. "We take all appropriate steps to ensure that our advertising is suitable to air in the UK and observe safety guidelines during the production of all our advertising. "Unfortunately our research and testing did not raise this specific issue. P atients with the same type of deadly brain tumour that Tessa Jowell has are to be offered immunotherapy treatment on the NHS for the first time, the Standard can reveal. A trial is being launched at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, in Bloomsbury, after doctors secured 6 million of free drugs. Dr Paul Mulholland, the consultant oncologist leading the trial, said: This is the most important trial for brain cancer patients in the last 15 years. The hospital is where Baroness Jowell, 70, the ex-Olympics minister, underwent neurosurgery last year to have part of her tumour a glioblastoma multiforme removed. Last week, addressing the House of Lords, she pleaded for more brain cancer patients to have access to clinical trials. Three per cent do at present. Tessa Jowell as she speaks about brain cancer for first time Glioblastoma is the most common brain tumour, with 2,200 cases diagnosed in the UK each year. Average survival is less than a year. The phase two trial involves the use of ipilimumab, which has delivered remarkable results in patients with the skin cancer melanoma. About 45 per cent of patients with advanced melanoma who received the drug were alive after two years. Dr Mulholland said the drug was being trialled on glioblastoma because of its genetic similarity with melanoma. Also, many melanoma patients developed secondary lesions in the brain, which the drug was found to reduce. There will be 120 places on the trial, with 80 patients receiving ipilimumab after the conventional treatment of surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Their outcomes will be compared with 40 who receive the conventional treatment. Up to six other UK hospitals will also take part. Drug manufacturer Bristol-Myers Squibb is providing 6 million of drugs free of charge, with 250,000 from the National Brain Appeal charity. The treatment involves four infusions over 12 weeks. Each infusion, if given privately, would normally cost 25,000 to 35,000. The first patients are expected to begin treatment in May. Immunotherapy drugs release the brakes on the immune system to enable it to kill cancer cells. They do not work on all patients but trials across many cancer types have seen higher success rates than conventional treatments. Dr Mulholland said: We have people come to us all the time and ask: Can we have immunotherapy? This is driven by the patients wanting to try new treatments over the course of their disease. This is an important first step. Its a really big opportunity to have this drug, which has transformed the lives of some people with melanoma. The National hospital is part of University College London Hospitals NHS Trust and runs the UKs first dedicated brain tumour ward. P rince William has launched a national poetry competition to mark the 100th anniversary of the end of the First World War. Created by the Defence and National Rehabilitation Centre (DNRC), it also celebrates the creation of a new clinical rehabilitation centre for the Armed Forces. Named 'A Poem to Remember' and inspired by the Great War Poets of the First World War, the competition seeks to discover poetry that reflects on "humankinds ability to triumph over adversity". The winning poem will be chosen by the public and read by the Duke of Cambridge, patron of the campaign, this summer. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge at Hartvig Nissen School, Norway 1 /14 The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge at Hartvig Nissen School, Norway the Duchess of Cambridge arrives at Hartvig Nissen School, the location for the successful Norwegian television programme "Skam", with Prince William, Duke of Cambridge PA The Duchess of Cambridge, speaks to actors Ulrikke Falch and Carl Martin Eggesbo during a visit to Hartvig Nissens School in Oslo, Norway Reuters the Duchess of Cambridge arrives at Hartvig Nissen School, the location for the successful Norwegian television programme "Skam", with Prince William, Duke of Cambridge Getty Images the Duchess of Cambridge arrives at Hartvig Nissen School, the location for the successful Norwegian television programme "Skam", with Prince William, Duke of Cambridge PA The Duchess of Cambridge, and Crown Princess Mette-Marit of Norway, are seen during a visit to Hartvig Nissens School in Oslo, Norway Reuters the Duchess of Cambridge arrives at Hartvig Nissen School, the location for the successful Norwegian television programme "Skam", with Prince William, Duke of Cambridge Getty Images Prince William, Duke of Cambridge arrives at Hartvig Nissen School Getty Images The Duchess of Cambridge, Crown Princess Mette Marit of Norway and Crown Prince Haakon of Norway (second right) at Hartvig Nissen School, the location for the successful Norwegian television programme "Skam" Getty Images the Duchess of Cambridge arrives at Hartvig Nissen School, the location for the successful Norwegian television programme "Skam", with Prince William, Duke of Cambridge Getty Images the Duchess of Cambridge arrives at Hartvig Nissen School, the location for the successful Norwegian television programme "Skam", with Prince William, Duke of Cambridge Getty Images Reuters the Duchess of Cambridge arrives at Hartvig Nissen School, the location for the successful Norwegian television programme "Skam", with Prince William, Duke of Cambridge Getty Images the Duchess of Cambridge arrives at Hartvig Nissen School, the location for the successful Norwegian television programme "Skam", with Prince William, Duke of Cambridge Getty Images the Duchess of Cambridge arrives at Hartvig Nissen School, the location for the successful Norwegian television programme "Skam", with Prince William, Duke of Cambridge PA Winners will receive 2,000 and their poem will be installed at the DNRC. Entrants must be aged 17 and over and the competition is free to enter. Only previously unpublished poems can be submitted, and they should not be more than 25 lines long. The Duke of Cambridge said: The centenary year of the end of the First World War is a very appropriate year to be launching a national poetry prize. "Many of the memories of that conflict, and our understanding of it, have been shaped by the remarkable works of poetry written by those caught up in that struggle. I am delighted to help launch this competition to find a new poem that, inspired by those earlier works, will have its own modern-day perspective on service, conflict and humankinds ability to overcome adversity." Dan Snow, chair of judges, said: "Im delighted to be chairing the judging panel and Im looking forward to reading [the] entries and discovering some new talent. "When the new DNRC opens later this year it will play a vital part in helping our seriously injured soldiers, sailors and airmen to deal with adversity and to bounce back." The deadline for entries is April 9 and the shortlist will be announced in May. D onald Trump is not worried about the prospect of mass protests when he comes to the UK, the US ambassador to London has said. Anti-Trump feeling in the country is growing ahead of the visit later this year, with activists rallying for the biggest protest in British history on Londons streets. One Facebook event planned for next month has seen more than 30,000 people express an interest, with celebrities such as Stephen Fry voicing their support for such demos. But despite this, Woody Johnson said the president was "more than capable" of dealing with any "discord" he may face when he finally visits. Anti-Trump protest outside Downing Street - London Live "I will assure you of one thing that I'm very clear on. This president is not worried about protests. In the US, here, anywhere," he said in an interview with ITV News. "He is very, very certain of where he wants to take the country and he's more than happy to deal with the different views and express his own view. "I think the president is more than capable of handling any sort of discord." Mr Trump confirmed his intention to make his first visit to Britain as president when he met Theresa May last month at the World Economic Forum in Davos. The president had previously caused consternation in Whitehall when he announced on Twitter he would not be attending the opening of the new US embassy in London, saying it was a "bad deal" and he did not like the location of the new building. It led to speculation he was unhappy after being rebuked by Mrs May for retweeting videos posted by the far-right Britain First group and feared that his visit would be met with mass demonstrations. However, following his talks with Mrs May in Davos, Mr Trump reaffirmed his commitment to the "special relationship" with Britain. Mr Johnson said: "I think the president values this special relationship that he has with this country. "His mother is Scottish. He feels an affinity, he knows the importance that the British people play in our shared security and our shared prosperity. F our teenage migrants are fighting for life after being shot during a mass brawl in Calais. Fighting broke out between more than a hundred Eritrean and Afghan migrants armed with sticks and stones in the northern French port city on Thursday, local authorities said. The four injured boys were Eritreans aged between 16 and 18, according to the local prosecutor's office. Another two migrants are said to have suffered less serious gunshot wounds while at least 12 more people had other injuries. A group of migrants carrying sticks during clashes in Calais / EPA Some injuries were apparently caused by "blows from iron bars". Reports suggest two fights broke out on Thursday afternoon, the first over food handouts before separately a brawl involving more than a hundred Eritreans and about 20 Afghans. Riot police were called in to break up the clashes. French Interior Minister Gerard Collomb tweeted that he would travel to Calais to review the situation following what he called "the serious incidents". A uthorities in Cape Town have rationed the clean water supply for residents to 50 litres per day in a bid to avoid running out completely. The cut from 87 litres to 50 for residents living in the Western Cape province was announced on Thursday. It is a preventative measure to avoid day zero - a term used to describe the day the taps will have to be officially turned off in the area. Authorities have anticipated that day zero will fall on April 16 and have asked residents not to use water unless it is absolutely necessary before then. Currently it is illegal for people to use water to wash cars, fill up swimming pools or hose down pavements. Residents queue to fill containers with water from a source of natural spring water in Cape Town / AP Western Cape was declared a disaster area in May 2017 after consecutive years of low rain fall. It is not clear when the next rainfall will be / AP When day zero does arrive, residents will be forced to collect water from 200 standpoints around the city. As the water supply depletes tensions are running high amongst local residents. People collect water from a source of natural spring water in Cape Town / AP One person was allegedly detained by Cape Town police after a fight erupted over water earlier in the week according to ABC news. Hundreds of people have queued at natural springs in a bid to slow the use of the citys emergency water supply. Residents have begun to collect water from natural springs / AP Local resident Susan Jones told ABC that the restrictions were terrible. She said: We can't bathe anymore, we can't," Jones said. "We must just shower. And every other day we shower to save water." C hinese authorities appeared to censor a BBC report on Theresa May's visit to the country amid a row over the Prime Minister "sidestepping" questions over the country's human rights record. Mrs May was praised for her "pragmatism" by Chinese state media after she resisted calls to publicly challenge Beijing on the issue during a three-day trade tour. The Global Times newspaper hailed her for avoiding rebuking the regime for its treatment of pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong and human rights record in China. Downing Street insisted that the PM did raise the issues in her discussions with both President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang. But a BBC World News report on Mrs Mays visit to the country was apparently cut out midway through the broadcast in the country, in a demonstration of the extent of China's censorship around the visit. China correspondent Stephen McDonnell tweeted a video of the incident alongside the caption: So I hope @BBCWorld viewers are enjoying their screens going to black in mainland #China today as the censors pull the feed with coverage of PM Theresa May @Number10gov + Pres Xi Jinping and human rights as well as #Xinjiang crack down. The Global Times, viewed as a mouthpiece for Beijing, said in an editorial that Mrs May was right to resist "radical" pressure to highlight human rights concerns, and instead to confine herself to "enthusiastic and positive remarks about China". "For the prime minister, the losses outweigh the gains if she appeases the British media at the cost of the visit's friendly atmosphere," said the newspaper. "China's robust development has instilled impetus for Europe to overcome its prejudices against Beijing." Theresa May seeks to strengthen UK-China relations But the praise sparked a backlash among those who wanted Mrs May to take a tougher stance on Chinas human rights abuses. Former Green Party leader Natalie Bennett said it was "less than welcome praise", adding: "Standing up for #humanrights not just morally right, also crucial for more secure world." Clive Stafford Smith, who founded human rights group Reprieve, tweeted: "What we all want in a principled leader! Theresa May "commended" by China for "sidestepping human rights" - so why not just abolish them, or abolish humans? Or maybe we could have @RealDonad_Trump for PM instead after he has been impeached?" Human rights barrister Malcolm Hawkes sarcastically added that it was a "proud moment for the UK". Mrs May said that her visit had marked Britain and China "opening a new chapter in our golden era", with commercial deals totalling 9 billion signed. These included a five-year export drive by Aston Martin worth 600 million and involving more than 20 showrooms for the luxury cars across China, as well as plans by Staffordshire-based Busy Bees to open a string of childcare nurseries including an international pre-school in Shanghai. Downing Street issued an account of the PMs talks with Xi and said that both leaders had restated their commitment to the "One Country Two Systems" arrangements in place since the UK handed Hong Kong back to China in 1997. In a report on China, Human Rights Watch said: "Under the leadership of President Xi Jinping, who will remain in power until 2022 and possibly beyond, the outlook for fundamental human rights, including freedoms of expression, assembly, association and religion, remains dire." It added: "The Chinese government continues to lead the world in the number of people executed, with 46 crimes eligible for the death penalty." A BBC spokeswoman said: "BBC World News is subject to regular blacking out when covering sensitive news from China and we are always against any censorship of our impartial journalism. T he Duke and Duchess of Cambridge today went back to school to see first hand the challenges faced by teenagers. The couple, on the last day of their Scandinavian charm offensive tour, visited the Oslo school that is the setting for Norwegian TVs version of Grange Hill. They met children from at the Hartvig Nissen School, the location for Skam - a drama series highlighting issues such as bullying, relationships, sexual assault and eating disorders. Kate, wrapped up in a burgundy coat by Dolce & Gabbana and scarf to keep warm in the sub zero temperatures, chatted to pupils about her own education. She told the students: I went to a school called Marlborough College and then onto university which is where I met William, to St Andrews University in Scotland. Miles away, freezing cold. The Duke of Cambridge visiting Hartvig Nissen School in Oslo, Norway / PA But I cant complain about that being here. Its much colder here. The temperature is Oslo this morning was minus 7C. At the school, the royal couple met the stars and producers of Skam to hear more about the series. Kate greets pupils outside the school on Friday morning / AFP/Getty Images They then met pupils to learn about the effect Skam had on bringing issues into the open, and the role played by social media. Later The Duke and Duchess were travelling to Skaugum, the official residence of The Crown Prince and Princess of Norway, for a private lunch. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge arrive in Oslo, Norway 1 /11 The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge arrive in Oslo, Norway The Duchess of Cambridge is greeted by Crown Princess Mette-Marit of Norway as she arrives to Oslo Gardermoen Airport on day 3 of their visit to Sweden and Norway Chris Jackson/Getty Images The Duchess of Cambridge arrives to Oslo Gardermoen Airport Chris Jackson/Getty Images Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and the Duchess of Cambridge arrive to Oslo Gardermoen Airport to meet with Crown Prince Haakon and Crown Princess Mette-Marit of Norway Chris Jackson/Getty Images Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and the Duchess of Cambridge arrive to Oslo Gardermoen Airport to meet with Crown Prince Haakon and Crown Princess Mette-Marit of Norway Hannah McKay/Reuters Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and the Duchess of Cambridge are greeted by Crown Prince Haakon and Crown Princess Mette-Marit of Norway as they arrive to Oslo Gardermoen Airport Chris Jackson/Getty Images Prince William and the Duchess of Cambridge, arrive at Gardermoen Air Force Base in Norway Cornelius Popp/NTB Scanpix/via Reuters Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and the Duchess of Cambridge arrive to Oslo Gardermoen Airport to meet with Crown Prince Haakon and Crown Princess Mette-Marit of Norway Chris Jackson/Getty Images The Duchess of Cambridge arrives to Oslo Gardermoen Airport Chris Jackson/Getty Images Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and the Duchess of Cambridge arrive to Oslo Gardermoen Airport to meet with Crown Prince Haakon and Crown Princess Mette-Marit of Norway Chris Jackson/Getty Images The Duchess of Cambridge steps from the aircraft as she arrives with the Duke of Cambridge at Oslo Gardermoen Airport in Norway Victoria Jones/PA Workers roll out a red carpet Prince William and the Duchess of Cambridge on their arrival at Gardermoen Airport in Oslo, Norway Hannah McKay/Reuters The final engagements of the tour were taking place in the the snowy hills that overlook the city. Accompanied by Crown Prince Haakon and Princess Mette-Marit, they were seeing how Norwegians embrace the outdoors in the coldest of temperatures, and champion the importance of exercise and wellbeing. A n FGM survivor named one of the worlds most influential people after leading a campaign to outlaw the practice in The Gambia says she drew inspiration from the work of London campaigners. Jaha Dukureh read stories about survivors speaking out against female genital mutilation in the UK and it motivated her to do the same. The 28-year-old, who was cut as a one-week-old baby in The Gambia, was living in the United States when she began campaigning against FGM. She had read about other survivors including Nimco Ali, who is based in London and whose story was first told in the Standard. An image taken from Jaha's Promise Ms Dukurehs campaign grew and led to The Gambia announcing a ban on FGM in 2015. She was named one of the worlds most influential leaders by Time magazine in 2016, alongside Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. A film about her life is having its first London screening today to mark the international day of zero tolerance for FGM. Jaha Dukureh speaks about FGM Ms Dukureh said knowing there is a global sisterhood of campaigners helps to spur her on. The stories in newspapers around the world do have an impact, she said. I read a lot about other campaigners and I saw what they were doing. It was inspiring that these women living abroad were doing so much. I thought I could also do it. Its very important that journalists continue doing this work. Jaha Dukureh travels to Gambia Africans living abroad also have a vital role to play, she said. Diaspora communities are very well connected to where they come from. If people living abroad are adamant about ending this practice and can talk to their family back home, it has an effect. Ms Dukureh, who was in the capital today for the London premiere of Jahas Promise, said she hopes women will see it and be inspired to speak out against FGM. The reason I agreed to be the subject of the film is for the young girls who are in a similar position. I am hoping someone will watch it and speak up and know they can be the change. Ms Dukureh underwent the most extreme form of FGM. In the film she reveals she did not realise the full extent of it until she was sent to America at the age of 15 for an arranged marriage to a man in his forties. Her clitoris and labia had been removed and she had been stitched together and almost totally sealed. An image taken from Jaha's Promise She underwent a procedure to de-infibulate her, which she described as like going through FGM all over again. Her marriage broke down and when she was 17 she moved to Atlanta to be married again. She battled to get an education, had three children and started working in a bank. It was then that she began campaigning, and set up the charity Safe Hands For Girls. She is responsible for the first national survey to measure the prevalence of FGM in the US, helped make it a crime to transport American girls abroad for FGM and led the successful campaign to have FGM banned in The Gambia. Time magazine praised her for refusing to let horror be silenced. She said: Women like me dont make it this far. I have been fortunate to enter rooms that people like me dont enter. The world sees us as broken survivors and people they should feel sorry for. By making it this far I am an example that other people shouldnt give up. Ms Dukureh, who lives in The Gambia, is organising an anti-FGM march in the country to mark International Day of Zero Tolerance on Tuesday. She said: In Gambia you used to not be able to talk about FGM. It would have been unimaginable for us to do anything at this level a few years ago. But we are expecting more than 1,000 people, and students have been given permission to join us. On what motivates her to keep campaigning despite facing anger and threats, she said: Not a day goes by that I dont get a message from a young woman or husband telling me that because of my work they realise the pain their wife is going through, or telling me how much they are suffering. They are my motivation and the reason I cant give up. A 12-year-old girl accidentally shot her classmates at a Los Angeles school with a semi-automatic handgun she reportedly thought was a toy. Bullets sprayed around the classroom after the girl reportedly dropped her backpack and the gun inside it started firing. The unnamed pupil was arrested and charged with negligent discharge of a firearm on school grounds. She reportedly sobbed and told a classmate: I didnt mean to. Video from helicopters showed a dark-haired girl in a sweatshirt being led away in handcuffs from Salvador Castro Middle School, in the district of Westlake. Parents and relatives gathered on a street corner, many crying. A girl was seen being led out of the school in handcuffs A 15-year-old boy who was shot in the head and a girl the same age who was shot in the wrist were in a stable condition and expected to recover. An 11-year-old boy, a 12-year-old girl and a woman aged 30 suffered minor injuries from flying glass. A handgun was recovered at the scene. Police who interviewed the girl said they believed the shooting was accidental. The information suggests that this was an isolated incident, Los Angeles Police Department said. Horrified pupils leave the school in LA / AFP/Getty Images A schoolfriend who was in the next-door classroom, Jordan Valenzuela, 12, said she was sobbing and repeatedly saying: I didnt mean to. He said she told him: I had the gun in my backpack and I didnt know it was loaded and my backpack fell and the gun went off. Jordan told Associated Press that after the gunshot there was screaming and children in the other classroom banged on the connecting door. He and other pupils opened it and tried to help. He said he noticed his friend sitting at her desk with her hands over her face. He added that: She doesnt do bad things, she just stays quiet. Another student told ABC News he believed the girl thought the weapon was a toy gun. The incident took place at about 8.55am, shortly after the opening bell. The boy who was shot in the temple was extremely lucky to survive, according to a doctor. We do not know yet how our young person ended up having the ability to have access to a firearm and bring it onto campus, said Los Angeles School Police Chief Steve Zipperman. Schools in the district conduct random checks for weapons with a metal detector. P resident Donald Trump has approved the publication of a controversial Republican memo believed to accuse the FBI of abusing its powers. The President said on Friday that the contents of the document tell a disgraceful story and that "a lot of people should be ashamed." He told reporters during an Oval Office event that he had approved the release and sent it back to Congress. The House Intelligence Committee released the document shortly after. Scrutiny: The FBI headquarters / Getty Images The memo accuses the US agency of abusing government surveillance powers in its investigation into Russian election interference. It says an FBI official acknowledged to lawmakers that a dossier compiled by former British intelligence agent Christopher Steele was an "essential part" of an application for surveillance of Trump campaign aide Carter Page. The memo said that the agency did not mention that information used to justify surveillance on Page was from the Dossier and thus poart-funded by rival Democratic Party and Hillary Clinton. Former MI6 agent Christopher Steele who compiled a dossier on Donald Trump / PA It also quoted Steele as telling a Justice Department official he was "desperate that Donald Trump not get elected and was passionate about him not being president." The FBI says it has "grave concerns" about the document's accuracy. The US justice department, as well as Democrats and some Republicans, had voiced opposition to the memo being released. "I think it's terrible, if you want to know the truth," Trump said when asked about the contents of the memo. "I think its a disgrace whats going on in this country... A lot of people should be ashamed of themselves, and much worse than that." The association representing the nation's FBI agents, after a controversial Republican memo was released on Friday, defended their law enforcement work and said they "have not, and will not, allow partisan politics to distract" from their mission." In response to the publication of the memo, FBI Agents Association said its agents "have not and will not allow partisan politics to distract" them from their job. It added: "The American people should know that they continue to be well-served by the world's preeminent law enforcement agency." The President has been accused of doing Russian leader Vladimir Putin's dirty work for him by releasing the memo. Vladimir Putin: Critics have said the memo undermines an investigation into interference by the Russians in the US election / Getty Images Critics have argued that it only serves to undermine the FBI and its current investigation into Russian meddling with the US election. Democratic Senator Bill Nelson tweeted saying: "By releasing this memo, the President of the United States is undermining the credibility of our intelligence community and serving a huge victory to Vladimir Putin, the Russian government, and many other intelligence services. Democrats in House Intelligence Committee called the release a "shameful effort to discredit" the FBI, the Justice Department and a federal investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election. Trump: US strong because 'people are strong' "The selective release and politicization of classified information sets a terrible precedent and will do long-term damage to the Intelligence Community and our law enforcement agencies," they said in a statement. The Democrats said they hoped to release their own memo responding to the allegations on Februrary 5. US Attorney General Jeff Sessions / EPA The US Attorney General, Jeff Sessions said in a statement that the memo reflected an issue of great importance for the country and said: I have great confidence in the men and women of this Department. But no Department is perfect. "Accordingly, I will forward to appropriate DOJ components all information I receive from Congress regarding this. I am determined that we will fully and fairly ascertain the truth. F ilm fanatics were left thinking they were seeing double after noticing the similarities between actresses Margot Robbie and Jaime Pressly. Those watching I, Tonya the biopic about disgraced figure skater Tonya Harding were left dumbfounded when they realised that Australian Robbie is a dead ringer for Pressly. Fans dubbed Robbie a younger version of the My Name Is Earl star as other questioned if they were, in fact, the same person. Writing on Twitter, one fan said: Oh my god it just hit me that Margot Robbie is young Jaime Pressly I feel like my eyes have been opened to the Hotness Matrix. Doppelganger? Margot Robbie has a famous lookalike / Brook Mitchell/Getty Images While another wrote: Margot Robbie and Jaime Pressly are not the same person and how did I not know this? Are we sure? I, Tonya is basically just Margot Robbie going full Jaime Pressly, right? mused a third. Pressly, 40, previously addressed the similarities between her and Robbie back in 2016 when a photographer pointed the resemblance out. According to the Daily Mail, the star quipped: Right, right, well that would be she looks like me! I think she's great yeah, I've loved everything she's done. Margot Robbie celebrates Oscar nomination Robbie received a nod of the highest acclaim last month as she was nominated for Best Actress at the Oscars for her role in I, Tonya. I f youre thinking of taking your potato peeler to Parklife this year think again. The kitchen utensil has now been officially banned from the Manchester event, which will be headlined by Liam Gallagher. Last year, the former Oasis frontman asked fans to peel spuds at an intimate London gig as a dig at his brother Noel after he enlisted someone to play the scissors with his band, High Flying Birds. Now Parklife organisers have said they have been inundated with requests from fans asking to bring potato peelers to the festival. Liam Gallagher fan peels potato Festival boss Sacha Lord-Marchionne told Manchester Evening News: Weve been so blown away by this weeks launch and the demand for tickets. But even more blown away at how many people have asked to bring in potato peelers for Liams main stage performance! In case youre wondering the answer is most definitely no! Gallagher has promised fans a biblical experience when he takes to the stage at Heaton Park. Announcing his slot on Twitter, he posted: Parklife mcr gonna be BIBLICAL as you were LG x. The set will mark his first as a solo artist at the venue where he previously performed with Oasis. Liam frequently hurls potato-based insults at his brother Noel and last year put out a Twitter request for people to peel potatoes at his Absolute Radio set at Londons Bethnal Green Working Mens Club. One man took on the request and was filmed peeling a spud to the beat as Liam played the maracas on stage. Liam Gallagher - In pictures 1 /28 Liam Gallagher - In pictures Getty Images Members of the British rock band "Oasis" Gem, Noel Gallagher, Andy Bell and Liam Gallagher hold a photocall in Hong Kong on February 25, 2006 AFP/Getty Images Liam Gallagher arrives for the special screening of Oasis documentary "Supersonic" Getty Images Liam Gallagher, former Oasis front man, arrives in Glasgow to open the clothing store Pretty Green on January 7, 2011 in Glasgow, Scotlan Getty Images Liam Gallagher and girlfriend Debbie Gwyther arrive at the Etihad Stadium PA Liam Gallagher of Oasis, Ricky Hatton of England, Noel Gallagher of Oasis and boxer Matthew Hatton celebrate Ricky Hatton's 11th round TKO victory against Paulie Malignaggi after their light-welterweight fight at the MGM Grand Garden Arena November 22, 2008 in Las Vegas, Nevada Getty Images Liam Gallagher of Oasis adopts a novel pose for receiving the band's Brit award from Chris Evans (with glasses), chatting to brother Noel Gallagher in rear, at a star-studded ceremony at London's Earl's Court PA Liam Gallagher accepts Oasis' award for 'Best Album of 30 Years' on stage at The Brit Awards 2010 at Earls Court on February 16, 2010 Getty Images Noel Gallagher and Liam Gallagher "Che Tempo Che Fa" Italian TV Show on November 9, 2008 in Milan, Italy Getty Images Liam Gallagher, of Oasis, and Damon Albarn, of Blur, during the second Music Industry 'Soccer Six' football tournament at Mile End Stadium PA Oasis receive their 'Best British Newcomer' award from Kinks lead singer, Ray Davies. (L/R) Noel Gallagher, Paul McGuigan, Liam Gallagher, and Ray Davie PA Liam Gallagher of 'Beady Eye' performs live on the Other Stage at day 2 of the 2013 Glastonbury Festival at Worthy Farm on June 28, 2013 Getty Images Liam Gallagher of Beady Eye performs live for fans at the 2014 Big Day Out Festival on January 26, 2014 in Sydney Getty Images Liam Gallagher visiting his new son, Lennon, and wife Patsy Kensit at the private Portland Hospital, London in 1999 PA Liam Gallagher of Oasis Liam Gallagher with Lifetime Achievement Award Winner Bradley Wiggins at the 2012 GQ Men Of The Year Awards at the Royal Opera House, Bow Street, London PA Wire/Press Association Images Liam Gallagher performing with his band Beady Eye during episode 12 of the BBC reality show The Voice PA Liam Gallagher with Oasis Liam Gallagher performs during the Olympic Games Closing Ceremony at the Olympic Stadium PA Liam Gallagher with Oasis Liam Gallagher with Oasis PA Getty Images Dave Benett Getty Images Getty Images EPA PA M el C and Mel B have been spotted arriving at Geri Horners house to discuss the reported Spice Girls reunion. The 90s pop sensations havent been in the same room for six years but are now rumoured to be ready to sit down to dicsuss working on new projects. Pictures show Geri Horner formerly Halliwell pulling into the driveway of her London pad, shortly followed by Mel B on Friday afternoon. Another car, thought to be Victoria Beckhams, was spotted parked up outside Horners house, while former band manager Simon Fuller was also pictured making his way to the house. Sporty Spice: Mel C was first to arrive at Geri Horner's house / Splash News Mel B is thought to have left Los Angeles to fly to London for the secret meeting, which will reportedly see the band plan a compilation album, a TV talent show and endorsement deals. A source told The Sun: This is the pop reunion no one thought would ever happen again. But after a long period of negotiation Victoria agreed the time is right to work on new projects this year. Its very exciting because she has always been adamant she wouldnt go back. Home: Geri Horner was pictured driving into her driveway / Splash News The insider continued: Victoria and Geri agreed it would be impossible to be part of a fully-fledged tour because of family and business commitments. Now that shes a top designer Victoria is concerned about singing but she wants to make money to pump back into her business, they added. It has been claimed that Beckham Posh has said that she does not want to sing in any of the new ventures, a promise thought to have been assured by Fuller. The band last performed together at the closing ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games. N ew Netflix drama Altered Carbon transports us to a dystopian future where human beings need never die, but simply upload their consciousness to a brand new body, decade after decade, century after century. With all that body-hopping going on, our guide to the series main characters should help you keep track of whos who. Joel Kinnaman as Takeshi Kovacs Takeshi Kovacs is a man from the 22nd century who wakes up over 250 years in the future in a whole new body. Back in his previous life (and body) he was a warrior in a defeated resistance group. But upon awakening from his centuries-long sleep, hes told he has a choice: spend the rest of eternity behind bars or solve a mystery for a very powerful man. Netflix Where do I recognise Joel Kinnaman from? If youre an avid Netflixer, you might be familiar with Kinnaman from his turns in Netflix political drama House of Cards, or in Scandi-style cop thriller The Killing. James Purefoy as Laurens Bancroft The man with the power to set Kovacs free is 375-year-old business mogul Bancfroft who pays to have the criminal's consciousness and skills implanted in a new sleeve (body). But whats behind this unusual act of apparent benevolence? An intriguing mystery. Bancroft reveals that his previous body was killed and made to look like a suicide, and he wants Kovacs to find out who did it. Solve the case and the prisoner will earn his freedom. Where do I recognise James Purefoy from? He played King George VI in the non Gary Oldman-starring Churchill film earlier this year and joined Kevin Bacon in several series of crime drama The Following. Martha Higareda as Kristin Ortega Netflix Helping Kovacs piece together clues spread across centuries is detective Martha Higareda of the Bay City Police Department. While shes dedicated to her job, shes embroiled in a tricky situation in her personal life that could compromise her and Kovacs investigation. Especially as she has unexpected links to him and their employer Bancroft. Where do I recognise Kristin Ortega from? Youll know Ortegas face if youre a fan of Mexican film and TV, as shes a megastar back in her native country. Chris Conner as Edgar A.I Poe Netflix Yes, as in the writer, but not as you know him. Poe the poet has a new incarnation in the future as a highly evolved operating system, located inside the retro Raven Hotel where Kovacs lives. As he tries to make sense of Bancrofts murder, Poe helps Kovacs keep track of his thoughts and gives useful insight when it comes to Bay Citys underworld culture. Where do I recognise Chris Conner from? If youre very eagle-eyed you may have spotted Conner in American Crime Story: The People vs OJ Simpson, where he played legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin who was assigned to cover the case for the New Yorker. Ato Essandroh as Vernon Elliot Netflix Elliot is a former medic who is haunted by the imprisonment of his wife and loss of his missing drug addict daughter, who unbeknownst to him has fallen into prostitution in Bay City and been murdered. Where do I recognise Ato Essandroh from? Essandroh has appeared in a number of high-profile films including Jason Bourne, Blood Diamond, Django Unchained and Hitch. A t Netflixs subscriber base continues to grow, so does its spending. New sci-fi series Altered Carbon follows in the footsteps of the streaming giant's other flashy originals Stranger Things and The Crown with its lavish budget. But aside from cutting-edge special effects and high-stakes action, what else can we expect from the new dystopian drama? Whats it about? Based on Richard K Morgans cyberpunk noir novel of the same name, theres more than a whiff of The Matrix about this new series, opening as it does with rows of hibernating bodies floating in preservation pods full of gloop. Altered Carbon trailer But there the similarities end as, were introduced to Takeshi Kovacs, a former criminal, who wakes up from a 250-year-long sleep with a new body and a dilemma help solve a murder or spend the rest of his life in futuristic prison. Altered Carbon is one for those who enjoyed Channel 4s rendering of Phillip Dicks Electric Dreams, or who are looking for something to fill a Black Mirror-shaped hole in their viewing schedule. Whos in the cast? Joel Kinnaman, who viewers may recognise from his roles in other Netflix dramas The Killing and House of Cards, plays warrior-turned detective Kovacs. Hes supported by James Purefoy as the man could help give him his freedom Laurens Bancroft, The Good Wife actress Renee Elise Goldsberry and Street Kings Martha Higareda. Star turn: Joel Kinnaman as Takeshi Kovacs / Netflix How can I watch it? Those with a Netflix subscription can watch the series in its entirety from Friday, February 2. Will there be a series two? As the first set of episodes has only just landed, Netflix will probably wait a while to gauge viewer response, if it can attract enough fans Altered Carbon will most likely get a second run. But there are rumours that the platform already put a sequel in motion six weeks ago. R equiem is not your usual thriller. Theres mystery in abundance sure, but its spooky supernatural quality sets it apart from any drama the BBC has recently aired. Heres everything you need to know about the exciting new arrival. 1. It revolves around the historical disappearance of a child At the centre of Requiems enigmatic plot is Matilda, a cello star on the rise, and a little girl who disappeared from a village in Wales in 1994 never to be seen again. After her mother commits suicide in shocking and mysterious circumstances, Matilda finds evidence linking her to the missing girl Carys Howell. Grief-stricken and unstable, she travels to Wales to see if she can untangle the web of secrets her mum left behind. 2. Its set in London and Wales BBC/New Pictures/Adrian Rogers Matilda lives in London, but quickly swaps her normal life as a musician in the city to go on a fact-finding mission in sleepy Welsh village Penllynith. In London we see Matilda preparing to perform at the Royal Festival Hall, with several scenes also filmed in the surrounding Southbank area. Meanwhile the cast headed to Dolgellau in North East Wales for the picturesque scenery of Penllynith. 3. It will almost certainly make you jump Creator and writer Kris Mrksa was inspired by 60s and 70s horror films and Requiem will certainly send a shiver up your spine and see you reaching for a cushion to hide behind. But its not just high-level horror, theres a more subtle thread of scariness woven through the six-part series, as Mrksa explained to the BBC: I dont mean the kind of in-your-face horror film that seems to be so ubiquitous these days. "Im talking about subtle-scary, the kind that trades on mood, and a sense of disquiet, slowly building to something that is ultimately far more disturbing and unsettling. The cast and crew felt the full effect of the shows power to unsettle and kept noticing eerie things happening on set including several dead birds popping up. 4. It stars Star Treks Lydia Wilson as a talented but troubled cellist Wilson plays main character Matilda, whose world is understandable turned upside down by her mothers unexpected death. Close friend: Joel Fry as Hal / BBC/New Pictures/Todd Antony Struggling to make sense of what drove her mum to suicide and bewildered by the discovery of a connection to the girls disappearance in South Wales, Matilda sets on a journey that will see her discover things about herself and her family she may wish she hadn't. Shes supported by Joel Fry as her friend and fellow musician Hal, who joins her on her quest for answers and tries to keep her sane. Downton Abbey fans will recognise Brendan Coyle as Stephen Kendrick, the inspector who led the original investigation into Carys Howells disappearance. 5. It will air every Friday Countries & Areas Search for country or area A Afghanistan Albania Algeria Andorra Angola Antigua and Barbuda Argentina Armenia Australia Austria Azerbaijan B Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belgium Belize Benin Bhutan Bolivia Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana Brazil Brunei Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burma Burundi C Cabo Verde Cambodia Cameroon Canada Central African Republic Chad Chile China Colombia Comoros Costa Rica Cote dIvoire Croatia Cuba Cyprus Czechia D Democratic Republic of the Congo Denmark Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic E Ecuador Egypt El Salvador Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Estonia Eswatini Ethiopia F Fiji Finland France G Gabon Gambia Georgia Germany Ghana Greece Grenada Guatemala Guinea Guinea-Bissau Guyana H Haiti Holy See Honduras Hungary I Iceland India Indonesia Iran Iraq Ireland Israel Italy J Jamaica Japan Jordan K Kazakhstan Kenya Kiribati Kosovo Kuwait Kyrgyzstan L Laos Latvia Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Libya Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg M Madagascar Malawi Malaysia Maldives Mali Malta Marshall Islands Mauritania Mauritius Mexico Micronesia Moldova Monaco Mongolia Montenegro Morocco Mozambique N Namibia Nauru Nepal Netherlands New Zealand Nicaragua Niger Nigeria North Korea North Macedonia Norway O Oman P Pakistan Palau Palestinian Territories Panama Papua New Guinea Paraguay Peru Philippines Poland Portugal Q Qatar R Republic of the Congo Romania Russia Rwanda S Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Samoa San Marino Sao Tome and Principe Saudi Arabia Senegal Serbia Seychelles Sierra Leone Singapore Slovakia Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia South Africa South Korea South Sudan Spain Sri Lanka Sudan Suriname Sweden Switzerland Syria T Taiwan Tajikistan Tanzania Thailand Timor-Leste Togo Tonga Trinidad and Tobago Tunisia Turkey Turkmenistan Tuvalu U Uganda Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom Uruguay Uzbekistan V Vanuatu Venezuela Vietnam Y Yemen Z Zambia Zimbabwe According to various Israeli media, during a meeting at the recent Davos World Economic Forum, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic agreed to push forward with a sale of Israeli Air Force F-16 fighter jets worth some $500 million to Croatia. This is not the first time that Israel is offering to strengthen this ex-Yugoslav republics military previous offers were made in 2015 and 2017 but it must nevertheless be viewed as surprising, in light of the countrys increasing tilt toward Word War II revisionism and increasingly open rehabilitation of its own dark Nazi-allied past. The Croatian index.hr website recently recapitulated an extensive report by the German Deutschlandfunk public radio, describing Croatia as a country imprisoned by its own past, which it refuses to face and veering increasingly to the right, in which radical political discourse and a climate of hate and intimidation predominate, and have actually worsened since the countrys accession to the European Union in July 2013. The main target of hate is the remaining Orthodox Christian Serb minority (Croats are overwhelmingly Catholic), mostly ethnically cleansed from Croatia during Croatias war of secession from Yugoslavia between 1991-95, its numbers having been reduced from about 600,000 (about 12.2% of the population) to fewer than 190,000 (about 4.4% of the population) today. As the German radio report puts it, In the narrative of national heroism, the enemy role is reserved for the Serbs, except if they give up their identity and declare themselves as Croats. What should be even greater cause for alarm, especially for Israel and Jews everywhere, is the reports assessment that the next phase of Croatian nationalism is the rehabilitation of the WWII Ustashe regime, almost certainly the most despicable of all the Nazi puppet regimes, responsible for the genocide of hundreds of thousands of Serbs and tens of thousands of Jews and Roma. The German radio report, while certainly newsworthy and valuable, is hardly a revelation. Warnings about Croatia have been circulating for years. Among others, British historian Rory Yeomans, author of books such as Visions of Annihilation: the Ustasha Regime and the Cultural Politics of Fascism, 1941-1945 and The Utopia of Terror: Life and Death in Wartime Croatia, has labeled Croatias WWII revisionism as terrifying, and that revisionist views of the wartime Ustasha movement and the Nazi-allied Independent State of Croatia, NDH, have entered Croatias political mainstream in recent years. This should come as no surprise, in view of the fact that the father of todays Croatia and its first president, Franjo Tudjman, after whom the airport in Croatias capital city, Zagreb is named, along with numerous streets, institutions, parks, schools and public venues throughout Croatia, was a notorious WWII revisionist who emphasized newly independent Croatias continuity with the WWII puppet state, which, in his own words, reflected the centuries-old aspirations of the Croatian people. His attempt to whitewash his past by attending the opening of the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington DC in April 1993, was met by condemnation on the part of Holocaust historians and survivors, including Elie Wiesel and Rabbi Marvin Hier of the Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies. In a letter to the New York Times of December 24, 1992, David A. Harris, Executive Vice President of the American Jewish Committee, warned of Tudjmans anti-Jewish views: Croatian Jews, Mr. Tudjman wrote in his book Wastelands: Historical Truth (1988), used their supposed traits of selfishness, craftiness, unreliability, miserliness, underhandedness and secrecy to gain control of the Jasenovac concentration camp (where tens of thousands of Yugoslav Jews and others perished) and victimize others. Jews, he alleged, are commanded to exterminate others and take their place because they consider themselves the chosen people. Israeli policy toward the Arabs, according to him, makes them nothing less than Judeo-Nazis. Perhaps Tudjman wouldve been kinder in his remarks had he anticipated that the Judeo-Nazis he despised would be offering his own successors (Croatian Prime Minister Plenkovic is also president of HDZ the political party that Tudjman founded) advanced fighter planes just a couple of decades later. In any case, once again, realpolitik (or, perhaps, just plain greed) has brought together the oddest of bedfellows As irony would have it, on the same day (January 25, 2018) that Mr. Netanyahu was pitching his F-16s to Croatia, Israeli professor Gideon Greif was giving a lecture entitled Jasenovac the Auschwitz of the Balkans at the UN building in New York, as part of a joint Serbian-Jewish exhibition Jasenovac the Right Not to Forget. Jasenovac was the most notorious Croatian WWII death camp, in which, according to the report of a post-war Yugoslav government commission, 500.000-600.000 people were savagely slaughtered, mostly Serbs, followed by Jews and Roma. Dr Greif, a renowned scholar and chief historian of the Israeli Shem Olam Faith and Holocaust Institute for Education, Documentation and Research, deems Jasenovac to have been even more brutal by its atrocities than Auschwitz. As he put it in a 2017 interview for the Belgrade daily Vecernje Novosti, as a reaction to Croatian attempts to revise history, specifically the push for the canonization of WWII Croatian Catholic Cardinal Alojzije Stepinac: It was hell on earth. That is why in Jasenovac the Croatian hands are completely covered in blood The Germans had camps for women, men or mixed, where children were with the adults, but the Croats went a step further and even had childrens camps. Horror. (Nikola Popovic, a member of the Serbian Academy of Science and Arts gives a figure of 24,911 children, mostly Serbian, exterminated in Jasenovac.) As expected, the Croatian government vehemently protested the exhibition at the UN, accusing Serbia of manipulating and disseminating false information, after previously unsuccessfully trying to block the exhibition. Greif would have none of it. In an interview for Deutsche Welle in Serbian, he dismissed the official Croatian complaints: In my opinion, this exhibit should in no way be controversial. It is based on historical data and does not contain anything that could not be supported with evidence. He also cautioned regarding further attempts at historical revisionism, by Croats and others: As a historian, I can only say that the twisting of history is a dangerous thing. And it is dangerous what some people are trying to do in terms of twisting historical facts connected with Jasenovac victims. In an October 2017 article for the American Jewish online Tablet magazine, Menachem Z. Rosensaft, General Counsel of the World Jewish Congress, accused todays Croatia of brazenly attempting to rewrite its Holocaust crimes out of history. Enough said. Finally, it should be added that present-day Croatia is mimicking its WWII predecessor state in another important way in its enthusiasm to fight on the Eastern Front. In July 1941, thousands of Croats enthusiastically volunteered to join the German invasion of the Soviet Union, initially as part of the Croatian 369th Reinforced Regiment of the Wehrmacht, attached to the 100th Jager-Division, which was ultimately destroyed at the Battle of Stalingrad, where it was the sole non-German unit participating in the attack. But the Croat anti-Russian enthusiasm could not be contained, leading to the formation of the 369th (Croat) Infantry Division, nicknamed Vrazja or the Devils Division. Today, according to Croatian media reports, Croatian troops are, proportionally, the most numerous NATO troops deployed towards the Russian border, in Lithuania and Poland, with a total of 258 soldiers, NCOs and officers (Croatia joined NATO in April 2009). In addition, Croatia has offered to help Ukraine with the peaceful reintegration of the occupied territories" of Donetsk and Lugansk, prompting Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov to remind of the peacefulness of Croatias own recent reintegration efforts: It is a well-known fact that large-scale military operations by the Croatian army in 1995 resulted in many casualties and the forced the exodus of some 250,000 Serbs from the country. Will revisionist and peaceful Croatia soon be reinforced by Israeli F-16s, proudly displaying, in what would make for historical irony par excellence, the trademark Croatian checkerboard, barely distinguishable from the notorious Croatian Nazi puppet coat of arms? Stay tuned. The publication this week of the so-called Kremlin List by the US Treasury Department is an outrageous provocation. The listing of 210 prominent Russian individuals for future sanctions, including senior members of government, is severely tempting for a robust response from Moscow. On reflection, however, the American Russian roster can be seen as absurd, as Russias President Vladimir Putin pointed out. But rather than reacting to it, Russia is probably best advised to laugh it off with derision and contempt. For a start, not even the Trump administration seems convinced by the Treasury reports merit. The report was drawn up in a half-baked fashion to comply with a law enacted by the Congress six months ago. That law was implemented on the back of bombastic accusations that Russia had meddled in the US presidential elections in 2016. This week President Trump declined to order further imposition of sanctions on the Russian political and business leaders listed by the Treasury. So, one may ask, what is the point of the list? It seems that Trump does not believe it warrants action. And various American pundits openly blasted it as puzzling and a mess-up. The hasty, half-baked nature of the Treasury report is evidenced by its laughable dearth of research. As even the American media widely reported, the people targeted evidently had their names simply copied and pasted from a Russia Forbes rich list, or from a Kremlin government phone directory. Such a move by Washington is of course contemptible and insulting. It is yet another reckless blow issued by Washington against the restoration of bilateral relations between the US and Russia. But it would seem futile to reciprocate with this American foolishness. Engaging with such idiocy is like dancing with a drunken half-wit. Such an affair is bound to end up in a demeaning tangle. As Putin also noted and this point is key the underlying problem is not so much between the US and Russia. It is largely a problem of internal American political conflict. The Treasurys Kremlin List stems from a law that is itself based on a false premise, namely that Russia interfered in the American presidential elections. This week the head of the CIA, Mike Pompeo, reiterated the overblown claim in an interview with British state broadcaster, the BBC, and he doubled down with a warning that Moscow was setting its sights on the US mid-term elections scheduled for later this year. Anyone with a critical brain can see that this whole Russiagate scandal is running on empty. This is leading to an abysmal contradiction between large sections of the US political class, and the Trump White House, as well as the wider public, who dismiss the Russia collusion claims as fake news. On this point, Trump is correct. It is a fake contrivance. However, the political factions opposed to Trump Democrats, intelligence apparatus, major liberal media just wont let their Russian charade go, so desperate are they to thwart Trump. Thus, the Congress and media are pushing laws and a public debate that has no basis in reality. It is illusory. Thats no doubt why Trump refused to slap on more sanctions due to the Treasury list of 210 senior Russian figures. That speaks of the fatal contradiction at the heart of the American political establishment. It is heading into a dead-end. Ironically, this week sees the whole Russiagate" ruse spectacularly coming apart with Republican Congressmen and Trump threatening to release a top-secret memo purporting to show that the real scandal of the 2016 elections was the FBI colluding with the Obama administration to sabotage Trumps campaign. In this situation of Washingtons self-inflicted chaos, Russias best ploy at this stage is to not fuel the latest US-led antagonism by engaging in futile recriminations. Admittedly, it is very tempting to do so. Especially, given the cloying hypocrisy of Washington accusing Moscow of interfering in US politics, when the Americans are brazenly doing this very thing in Russian politics ahead of the countrys presidential elections next month. Nevertheless, the American behavior is so absurd and irrational, it is prudent to calmly ignore it. Russia must continue with its global plans for Eurasian economic integration and paving the way for a multipolar world order in which Washingtons influence is rightly diminished according to its historic economic decline. Washington should be left to wallow in its own fetid internal feuding and thereby consume itself. The real problem is Americas inherent demise as a world power. Provocations and slurs against Russia, and others, is how the American political class is trying to distract from its own moribund state. Why give Washington a hand out of the grave it is digging for itself by playing its stupid games? The wave of Iranian protests is not dying out. Angry people continue to hit the streets and the feeling of discontent has not evaporated. The slogans show they mean business. With little information coming out, its impossible to make any assessments. The protesters appear to have no leaders and its hard to say if their actions are organized. Some people may welcome the events, some adopt negative attitude and some may be reserved, taking a wait-and-see approach. Are the protests incited from outside? On January 29, ambassadors from the United Nations Security Council were invited on a field trip to Washington to inspect remnants of Iranian weapons allegedly illegally supplied to insurgents in Yemen. The ambassadors visited the White House where President Donald Trump told them about the need to counter Irans destabilization activities in the Middle East. Its worth to note that the event took place on the eve of the renewal of the protests in Iran on Jan. 30. Was it a coincidence? Everybody has their own opinion but the last time the US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley presented what she called "concrete evidence" of Iran's weapons proliferation was in mid-December, 2017. A wave of protests hit Iran in early January 2018. A few days later, the US introduced new sanctions on Iran. Its nothing more than an observation but thats the chain of events we have. This is an internal affair of Iran, of course, though sympathies may differ. Unlike the US, the EU, Israel or Saudi Arabia, Russia has not taken sides, calling on other actors not to meddle. Its really neutral. Iranian people are the ones to decide whats better for them. The only thing to do is to keep the fingers crossed hoping there will be no bloodshed. Its worth to consider nothing but facts in an unbiased way. Some consequences to impact the situation in the Middle East are unavoidable. No matter how strong the Russias air force presence in Syria is, it cannot keep Assads government in power without boots on the ground. Today, military cooperation between Russia and Iran is crucial to keep the situation under control and prevent the resumption of large-scale hostilities. According to scenario number one, the rebels win, the ayatollahs regime in Tehran is toppled and the Iranian Revolutionary Guards formations are rapidly withdrawn from Syria. Another scenario the regime quells the rebellion, with a smoldering large-scale conflict to last for a long time. In both cases the outcome is the same the Revolutionary Guards will have to leave Syria, Iraq and Lebanon and return home to protect the government. One should be realistic with Iran gone, Persian Gulf monarchies and their supporters will come in. Russia enjoys good working relations with these countries to make them part of the ongoing peace process. In any of these scenarios, Iranian ground forces will partially or fully withdraw from Syria and someone will have to fill the void. This turn of events is quite unexpected as everyone believed the Irans government was stable. But you never know. After all, nobody expected the Iranians to oust the US-backed Shah Reza Pahlavi in 1979. So, its highly probable that Russia will have to rush in more troops or, to be exact, military police for peacekeeping missions into Syria for a limited period of time. With peace process making progress, the forces could be completely withdrawn to leave only the contingents deployed at the two military bases. The action could be coordinated with Syria, Turkey, Iran and other key players. The Russias military police units monitoring de-escalation zones have proven to be a very effective force. It does not necessarily mean intensification of combat actions. One of the ways to mitigate the probable reduction of Iranian and pro-Iranian forces is the intensification of diplomatic efforts, such as the Syrian National Dialogue Congress held in the Russian city of Sochi. No doubt such activities will be intensified. Moscow can lead an international coalition of pertinent actors. Irans reduced presence in Syria will not automatically lead to resumption of hostilities across the country. This scenario can be avoided. But the increase of boots on the ground forces to carry out peacekeeping missions will come to the fore. Nobody wants it, everyone tried to avert it but one cannot ignore reality its either more ground forces to support the government of Assad or sliding back to where we were before Russia lent a helping hand to Syrian President Assad in September 2015. Russia promotes an all-inclusive dialogue in Syria. The fact that it is friendly with everyone, except jihadi terrorists, makes Moscow the key broker of a peace deal. It is in unique position to head the process and achieve what nobody else can a peace settlement in Syria. It does not apply to Syria only but rather the entire Middle East. Russia is refurbishing a Cold War era self-propelled artillery system because it proved useful in Syria. This is the 2S4, a self-propelled version of the 240mm towed mortar first seen during World War II as the M240. The 2S4 is the four ton towed M240 mounted on an armored chassis that also carries the same nine man crew used by the M240. Both mortars fired the same ammunition, like the 130kg (286 pound) high-explosive shell that contained 34 kg (75 pounds) of explosives. The 30 ton self-propelled 2S4 appeared in the late 1970s and remained in production until 1988. The 2S4 has enough armor to be safe from machine-gun fire and most shell fragments. The 2S4 has a top speed of 62 kilometers an hour on roads (and a range of 420 kilometers with internal fuel). Since it is running on threads/tracks, like a tank, the tracks wear out every few thousand kilometers and have to be replaced. But the tracks make the 2S4 capable of moving through a shot up battlefield. This is important because the Russian 240mm mortar has, like weapons of this type, short range (about 9,700 meters). It is accurate and effective at that range, especially if firing at fortifications or in urban areas. The 240mm mortar fires a shell that can carry a variety of payloads. The basic high-explosive version can create lethal fragments out to 150 meters. But what has kept the 240mm mortar in use is the anti-fortification shell can go through several meters of earth and concrete to destroy an underground bunker or troops firing from the basement of a multi-story building. One of the incendiary shells can set fire to most of a large structure, which is useful when firing at warehouses or factory buildings. There is a rocket assisted 240mm shell with a range of 20 kilometers by using a smaller warhead and less accuracy. This was one reason why a 240mm laser guided shell was developed a decade after the 2S4 entered service. On the downside the 240mm has a low rate-of-fire (one round a minute) despite being a breach-loading (instead of dropping the shell down the barrel.) The 2S4 crew had to use a built in crane to lift the 130 kg shells up and position them so they could be inserted into the breach loading mechanism. The Russian 2S4s were also used during the 1980s in Afghanistan, where they provided field testing for the first laser guided artillery shell to enter service; the Daredevil. Both Russia and the United States began developing laser guided shells in the 1970s. The American 155mm Copperhead entered service in 1982 and a few years the less sophisticated, but workable, Daredevil appeared. The problem with the Daredevil was that its laser detector in the shell had a narrow field of vision, so you had to fire one or two unguided shells at a target so the forward observer with the laser could be sure his laser beam would be detected by the Daredevil guidance system. This guided shell was used successfully in Afghanistan and in the early 1990s in Chechnya. By the 1990s Russia had also developed a more effective laser guided 120mm mortar system, based on Krasnopol, their version of the American Copperhead. Krasnopol entered service at the end of the Cold War and in the 1990s improved versions were developed that were small enough for 122mm artillery shells and 120mm mortar shells. It appears that this tech is being applied to Daredevil because this 240mm guided shell is now used without the two unguided shells to check accuracy. Krasnopol is effective on the first shot and the laser designator has a range of five kilometers, meaning the longer range 240mm shell could be used. About a dozen 2S4s remained in service with the Russian Army after the Soviet Union dissolved in 1991. Another 24 were exported to Syria where they were used during the 1980s (in the Lebanese civil war) while Russia put about 400 into safe storage (not just left unattended in the open). These are being brought out of storage, refurbished and equipped with updated communications and fire control electronics. Based on the number of 2S4 battalions Russia recently announced were being formed up to a hundred of the 2S4s are being updated. Russia may have already done that to some of the surviving Syrian Army 2S4s. Syria and several other East European nations obtained M240s during the Cold War. Some of those Cold War era exports are and still used. Syria used the M240 unsuccessfully against Israeli fortifications during the 1973 war and again in 1989 against anti-Syrian factions in the Lebanese Civil War. In 2011 Syria again brought out its M240s and 2S4s in 2011 for the civil war but use has been limited, until 2016, by ammunition shortages. Russia troops entered Syria in mid-2015 and with that came a lot of technical help, spare parts and ammunition to revive Syrian tanks, aircraft and artillery. The Syrian M240s and 2S4s were noted in urban fighting during 2016 and 2017, especially in Aleppo, where 2S4 shells were often mistaken for GPS or laser guided bombs. At the end of 2017 a new variant of the Chinese H-6 bomber was seen over the South China Sea. The new version was actually an old (2007-8) H-6G which was a bomber model modified to provide updated targeting information for cruise missiles. This involved installing lots of additional electronics inside the aircraft. The new H-6G was seen with two ECM (electronic countermeasure) pods carried under its wings. These pods had been seen, also in late 2017, fitted to the J-16 (a clone of the Russian Su-30MK2). Both are 34 ton fighter-bombers similar to the American F-15E. The Su-30MK2 can carry 8 tons of smart bombs and missiles. It can be refueled in the air and is equipped to operate over land and open water. The Chinese J-16 SEAD (Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses) electronic warfare aircraft is referred to as the J-16D and some are apparently going to operate from Chinese aircraft carriers. The H-6G is land-based and often seen operating in the West Pacific and the South China Sea. The appearance of the ECM H-6G might explain another unexplained H-6 development. In early 2017 there appeared at least one H-6K equipped with an aerial refueling probe. This really doesnt make much sense because extending the range of the H-6K as it was designed to carry long range missiles (land attack and anti-ship). Extending H-6K range so it could reach targets in Hawaii or the American west coast doesnt make much since as the risks of being detected and shot down along the way are too high. China did not say what its H-6K equipped with aerial refueling was going to do but an H-6 with aerial refueling capability did make sense for an H-6 equipped for electronic warfare. In any event the H-6K in general appears to be largely a development project. Thats because since 2011 only about twenty H-6Ks have entered service and Chinese officials have said they want to develop a modern heavy bomber (H-20) but that takes time and tinkering with the H-6 has always been seen as preferable to making a major investment in a new aircraft design. But adding aerial refueling capability to the H-6G would make it a more useful ECM aircraft as these could jam enemy radars and communications quickly if one the H-6Gs just happened to be in the air at the time of a crises. The H-6K is the latest version of Chinas largest and most capable long range bomber and is basically a much improved and modernized version of a 1950s Russian Tu-16. The K model has a modern (glass) cockpit that consists largely of five flat screen touch displays rather than the older array of many switches and small analog indicators. These pictures also showed that the H-6K had a new side entry door that could use a stair or a ladder. The H-6K entered service in 2011 after several years of development. The H-6K uses more efficient Russian engines (D30KP2) that give it a range of about 3,500 kilometers without aerial refueling. Electronics are state-of-the-art and include a more powerful radar. The fuselage of the bomber has been reinforced with lighter, stronger, composite materials giving it longer range and greater carrying capacity. The rear facing 23mm autocannon has been replaced with electronic warfare equipment. The current H-6K can carry six of the two-ton CJ-10A land-attack cruise missiles under its wings and one more in the bomb bay. These appear to have a range of up to 2,000 kilometers, as they are similar to the older Russian Kh-55 (which could be armed with a nuclear warhead). The CJ-10A is sometimes described as a high-speed (2,500 kilometers an hour), solid fuel missile. But that type of missile is a short range (about 300 kilometers) anti-ship system. The CJ-10A appears to be more of a copy of the American Tomahawk (which uses a much slower jet engine). The CJ-10A can carry a nuclear warhead but usually does not. Armed with CJ-10A the H6K can attack American bases on Okinawa and Guam using air-launched cruise missiles. The H-6K can also carry up to eight anti-ship missiles, making it a threat to American carriers. This became obvious in late 2015 when Chinese media made much of a training exercise over the South China Sea featuring H-6Ks. In that November exercise eight H-6Ks were seen more than a thousand kilometers out to sea and accompanied by electronic warfare aircraft. Four of the H-6Ks flew close to Okinawa and were photographed by Japanese aircraft. This was apparently an effort to demonstrate the Chinese capability to hit targets far from the Chinese mainland, especially American bases in Okinawa and Guam. This was but the latest effort to publicize the H-6K. Earlier China media heavily covered senior officials visiting airbases where the H-6K was shown off with journalists allowed to take close up photos of the aircraft, including the cockpit. Apparently that publicity did not do the trick so the November flights were used for emphasis. There are about a hundred H-6s in service (out of about 200 built). These are Chinese copies of the Russian Tu-16s (about 1,500 built). Although the Tu-16 design is over fifty years old, China has continued to rely on their H-6s as one of their principal bombers. The H-6 is a 78 ton aircraft with a crew of four and two engines. Most models can carry nine tons of bombs and missiles, with the new H-6K able to haul about 12 tons. Most H-6s carry the CJ-10A and C201 missiles, as well as bombs. It does not appear that China is planning on building a lot of H-6Ks, perhaps no more than thirty. The Russians kept their Tu-16s in service until the early 1990s, but China kept improving their H-6 copy. Thus the H-6K is a capable heavy bomber that may be around for another decade or two. He met indignant Abdul Rashid Godil as latter was politically inactive for quite a while. During huddle, querulous Godil lodged complain with Sattar that he was left alone during tough hours and that no party leader had bothered to meet him in the past two and a half years. Godil urged Sattar to get rid of blandishers and focus on Karachis development. At the end of meeting, Godil did not give any clear timeframe to Sattar over his much-anticipated return to the party and mainstream politics. Aziz has been asked to appear before the court on February 7, which is when the contempt of court proceedings against him will be taken up. Although the court, in its notice, did not specify which "contemptuous speeches" by the PML-N leader the chief justice has taken notice of, it may be recalled that in December, members of the ruling party, including Aziz, had launched unprecedented verbal attacks on the countrys judiciary, accusing it of having different standards for former prime minister Nawaz Sharif than for his opponents. A few days after the SC had cleared Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf chief Imran Khan in a disqualification case, Aziz, on the floor of the National Assembly, had recounted the entire history of the Panama Papers case and questioned the way the courts had conducted the matter. Stopping just short of blaming Nawaz's ouster in the Panama Papers case on a grand conspiracy, he had recalled how the Jamaat-i-Islami had filed a petition naming all 450 Pakistanis mentioned in the Panama Papers with the SC, which was declared frivolous and rejected. Imran Khan then filed a copycat petition, containing just Nawaz Sharifs name. That too was thrown out, he said, adding that the PTI then staged a failed lockdown of Islamabad to put pressure on the court. But rather than sticking to its decision, the court changed its mind and took up the cases that were earlier thrown out. On Thursday, the SC had found Senator Nehal Hashmi guilty of committing contempt of court. The court sentenced him to one-month imprisonment, barred him from holding public office for the next five years, and imposed a fine of Rs50,000. Former Prime Minister and President PML, Mian Nawaz Sharif said on Friday that judiciary must maintain the respect for others. Addressing to gathering of lawyers in Karachi, former Prime Minister again criticized judiciary and said that judges have right to decide but they do not have right to disrespect anyone. During his speech, Nawaz lauded the lawyers endeavours during the movement to restore judiciary, saying it would always be remembered. The movement was not for restoration of a few judges. However, judiciary was restored but justice has yet to be provided, Nawaz added. He said 38,000 cases were pending for hearing in Supreme Court until November 2017. Now, a movement will be started to restore [provision of] justice. At a gathering, Nawaz welcomed Pakistan Bar Council member Yasin Azad to PML-N. The addition of important lawyers to PML-N will prove to be an asset for the party, Nawaz said. He added 40 other lawyers, including Azad, have joined PML-N. Earlier, speaking to a gathering of Pak Muslim Alliance merger in PML N, he said that PML N Govt has always tried to resolve the problems of common man. He said that all the political governments should be allowed to complete their tenure. Former Prime Minister said that it is not justified that five men decide the fate of two hundred million people. He said that I was elected Prime Minister of the country but I was ousted only by five individuals. Singaporean Emitters Seek Progressive Carbon Tax Regime Mary Swire, Tax-News.com, Hong Kong 02 February 2018 Singapore is engaging businesses on tweaking the design of its new carbon tax, which is proposed to be in place by 2019. In its Budget 2017, the Singapore Government announced plans to implement a carbon tax of between SGD10 (USD7.60) and SGD20 (USD15.25) per tonne of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The tax will be applied upstream on large emitters that produce over 25,000 tonnes of GHG emissions per year ("taxable facilities"). Current plans are for the tax to take the form of a fixed-price credits-based (FPCB) mechanism. Taxable facilities will pay the tax by purchasing and surrendering the number of carbon credits corresponding to their GHG emissions. The number of carbon credits that each taxable facility has to surrender will be determined by the National Environment Agency (NEA) based on a verifiable emissions report that the facility will submit by June 30 each year. The carbon tax will be levied on a facility's total emissions of the six covered GHGs carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs), and sulphur hexafluoride (SF6). For example, if a taxable facility emits 50,000 tonnes of GHGs for the year, the tax will be applied on the total emissions of 50,000 tCO2e. Companies must surrender these credits to NEA by September 30 of each year, for their preceding year's emissions that are subject to the carbon tax. Both the Government and the National Climate Change Secretariat conducted consultation exercises, in late 2017 and early 2017, respectively. The Government is currently engaging with significant polluters to fine-tune or amend its plans based on industry feedback. Key among their requests is a change to the design of the carbon tax to introduce a "tiered pricing scheme" to progressively tax companies by the amount of emissions they emit, rather than levy a fixed price. This would involve establishing a benchmark level for their activities against which any emissions reductions improvements would be measured. The idea is to incentivize companies to invest more to reduce their footprint on the environment, with firms noting that any investment in this area will be considered against its financial return only. During the earlier consultations also, stakeholders said the Government should increase the price level after a few years of introducing the tax, and extend the tax to other types of pollutants, such as carbon monoxide and nitrogen dioxide. The talks, including a consultation with 44 industry representatives on January 23, 2018, come ahead of Singapore's Budget 2018, scheduled for February 19, which is likely to include firmer plans on the proposal. In its earlier consultation, the Government reassured businesses and consumers that, "in implementing and deciding on the final carbon tax, the Government will take into consideration the prevailing economic conditions in Singapore and the need to maintain international competitiveness, and will provide appropriate measures to ease the transition." Singapore has pledged under the Paris Agreement to reduce its emissions intensity by 36 percent from 2005 levels by 2030. The Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources has designated 2018 the Year of Climate Action. For someone who described her life since being on tour to me as non-stop, Kate Stables is a remarkably calming presence. Even when uttering the occasional curse word or the phrase white supremacist holiday camp, her voice is soothing and lilting, easily recalling the tender and soulful nature of her singing. When I spoke to her at the Cambridge Junction in January, Stables and her band This is Kit were preparing to perform their latest album, Moonshine Freeze, produced by John Parish. Above the layers of contemplative poetic lyricism that has come to define Stables sound so well, the album has a starkness to it that distinguishes itself from her other records, such as 2015s Bashed Out, which Stables attributes to Parishs influence. Different people make different albums, she tells me. John imposed less of his own sound on it [than Aaron Dessner, producer of Bashed Out], because there was so many more people involved this time. Aaron knew the specific energy and direction he wanted for that album; his approach is more hands-on. Trademarks of Stables songwriting are nonetheless present in every facet of Moonshine Freezes journey through languid folk rock. The writing process is a collage, Kate muses. Its closely linked to poetry its stuff all layered on top of each other, and meanings come forward and sink back down again depending on whos listening. For me, its musical storytelling. And, when listening to the new record, this kind of strange magic summoned by the lyrics and minimalistic sound feels like the strongest installation of her sound yet. Not that Kate is entirely convinced by her frequent labelling as a folk artist, though. Other people choose the genre, but I feel like people who are into folk music are getting cheated. Its just a traditional band with someone playing banjo. That being said, the landscape of British folk has undoubtedly evolved in recent years to encompass every kind of artist with fringe associations to what folk should be, equally demonstrated by the laid-back Irish alt-rock of This Is the Kits support Seamus Fogarty, whose second album The Curious Hand debuted last year. Even This Is the Kits current record label Rough Trade was conceived as a punk label. It seems music itself is expanding into a bigger and more carnivalesque community than ever before. But Im not someone whos necessarily ever felt like part of a particular team or family, Stables says of her work. Ive definitely met people who Ive connected with and enjoy doing projects with. But at least, definitely not a folk family. Maybe this is a natural symptom of Kates living in Paris, something she credits with toughening [her] up in a lot of ways that might not have happened in England. For one, people arent always forthcoming or welcoming on the surface but if you learn how to see through that, then everyone is excellent. Its the kind of optimistic statement that youd expect from someone as quietly perceptive as Stables, whose absorption of inspiration for her work acts like a process of osmosis: the stuff that goes on inside people, and outside in the world they live in, its definitely linked. Its almost like a fractal pattern. A community is made up of individuals, and similar issues happen at each level. Its an anthropological take on storytelling that belies how seriously she takes her work another quality she credits Paris for. In England theres a tendency to be apologetic about your craft. You wouldnt really get that in France. People are serious and respectful about it. This is certainly the case for Stables own attitude towards the industry in general, too. When asked about what its like being a female artist in a heavily male playing field, she thinks for a second. Its easy to feel a little patronised like youre being treated differently. I dont feel that way as much as when I was younger, maybe its more my age, I dont know. One thing that does still offend her, though, is sexist mechanics of performing: Men just get a nice dry sound, whereas people pile on the reverb for female vocalists, because they think you want it to sound super lovely. And I just think, fuck off! On a more serious note, however, Stables emphasises her expectations for the future of music, and the atmosphere of the industry itself, with her mantra, Personal is political. I feel like its my responsibility to make sure my daughter knows whats an okay way to be treated, and what isnt. But its not always easy. You have to adjust to it and make it into a positive thing. Its an insurmountable task for one person to shoulder, of course but perhaps the imminent decay of celebrity culture, especially where rocknroll is concerned, will change music for the better. Weve reached an age in music now where a lot of the real icons are reaching an age as well, Stables admits, saying with conviction, People are going to have to get real with death. Its a timely sentiment after the passing of The Falls Mark E Smith last month and other tragic music losses of recent years. Therell never be another Beatles, or another David Bowie, says Kate, and a lesser artist would be daunted by the blank canvas that the future of music has become. For Stables, though, its an opportunity. Every single thing that happens may have sprouted from the past, but its always going to be in a totally new context and different musical environment. Thats not to say she knows exactly where This Is the Kit will take her next but for an artist whose career has been defined by consistent praise and effortlessly compelling melodies, that will hardly be a problem. Its good that things are hard to pin down, she states. I just like writing songs and seeing where they end up. Inspiration will always come from everywhere. In which case, its up to us to follow where that takes her. 'Welcome to Porterhouse College, Cambridge', a prestigious college that prides itself on having remained exactly the same for the past 500 years, where swan is served in hall, the rowing team champion the Cam, and the traditions of Cambridge life thrive! However, sudden disaster strikes with the death of the Master who fails to name a successor, leaving it to the Prime Minister who chooses hard-line left-winger Sir Godber Evans (played by Ravi Patel) triggering immediate changes for the antiquated college as he sets out his drastic plans for modernisation. Will his plans succeed? Or will underground fights by the College Council prove successful? A witty, lively and comic version of Tom Sharpe's novel adapted and directed by Ella Godrey and Simon West, promises to have you splitting your sides as it hits the stage of the ADC from the 6th February! 'Ultimately we want to make our audiences laugh', producer Nick Harrison tells me. As Sharpe's original novel was light, easy to engage with and intentionally very funny, their aim is 'to match that'. Surely a plot involving forbidden love between a research graduate and a bedder, non-functioning condom machines, and exposure of illegalities in scholarly practices promises to do exactly that! A key moment of such hilarity emerges as the young research graduate, Zipser played by Adam Reeves goes to seek advice from the elderly, deaf and completely-sex-obsessed chaplain and the clash of a shy, repressed student with sex-driven character whose solution to the problems is for Zipser to shout is repressed feelings and emotions to the crowds in a giant megaphone. 'Tom's a fantastic actor and truly brings the comedy alive', says Simon of the chaplain who is played by Tom Nunan. The team behind this rendition have stayed close to the original, remaining true to Sharpe's novel yet also using the opportunity of Cambridge's location to personalise the drama and drive home key themes of the book. As issues of gender, inequality, and academic disregard for student welfare all emerge set in the context of the 70s yet re-enacted in our 21st century, you may be led to question just how much Cambridge has truly changed at all 'Porterhouse represents the old times where women weren't admitted and were somehow even unnatural yet for us this becomes a core part of the satire by having women play the male roles of authority and conservative figures. And they do a brilliant job of it!' Simon says when I pry into how they have chosen to exploit these issues. The staging of the drama is relatively basic to ensure that the space is left for the actors and the comedy. The focus of the play is the action and its fast-paced narrative which seeks to capture the essence of Cambridge, along with all its oddities, and satirise it to the max! Guaranteeing giggles yet also offering a deeper questioning of ideals and issues surrounding inequalities, Porterhouse Blue is not to be missed especially it's promised ending that culminates in three deaths, incrimination on public television, and 2,000 inflated condoms falling from the skies of the stage! The shows been selling so well they recently added an extra performance, on Saturday afternoon so make sure you buy your tickets now to avoid disappointment! Porterhouse Blue is on at the ADC and runs from Feb 6-10 Delightful and witty, Dear Lupin was a wonderful stage adaptation of the correspondence between Major Roger Francis Mortimer (1909-1991), the Sunday Times racing correspondent for 29 years, to his prodigal son Charlie, affectionately nicknamed Lupin from the comic Victorian novel The Diary of a Nobody. Roger, now deceased, is brought back to life when Charlie is bequeathed his fathers writing desk and discovers a thick wad of letters stored in one of the drawers. Nostalgically, ironically, and flippantly, Charlie narrates his own life as an Eton and army dropout, an alcoholic and a homosexual, whilst Roger interrupts to read out his letters addressed to his hedonistic son whom he never gives up on trying to dissuade from his unorthodox lifestyle. The letters are mercilessly caustic, so prepare yourself for a true exhibition of stiff-upper-lip humour as well as a good dose of quintessential English charm. But they are also, underneath, warm and loving and full of awkward concern. The acting was on the whole very commendable. Will Hall played a sarcastically introverted Roger Mortimer, with an excellent sense of emotional reserve. His doubling as an army officer and Denise Bunny the Soho prostitute were fantastic in their vocal performance but lacked sadly any change of physicality from Roger. Joe Sefton had great energy and flair in playing Charlie. His monologues were tragically moving whilst avoiding sentimentality. Highlights included performing an Elvis impression at Sothebys and camping in France. The set depicting Mortimers living room was simple but effective. An neat array of wooden cabinets, sepia pictures and a hunting rifle had a touch of realism. At the same time, however, the set lent itself to imaginative reinvention and successfully served to stage very different places including Eton, the army, rehab and a care-home. Props were also used ingeniously, with school straw hats as driving wheels and watering cans as clouds. Sometimes, however, there were odd transitions between scenes in which there was not enough time for props or costumes to be properly put on or set down, which lent the show an uncomfortable sense of off-balance. The more technical features of the production were mostly good, although had some perplexing aspects. The music used was diverse and mannered, ranging from the Marriage of Figaro to Christmas choral music and boating songs. However, lighting could have been more varied, and the long blackouts over which radio-clips of racing were played left the audience disorientated and made the actions of play seem disjunct. Overall, this was not the smoothest of productions, but was undoubtedly funny and unexpectedly touching. In a play embedded in English traditions, conventions and stereotypes, it nonetheless manages to reveal the Mortimers as warmly eccentric and surprisingly relatable. Dear Lupin is definitely worth going to see! 7/10 The Cambridge Footlights need little introduction. Expectations are always high given their long heritage, sold-out shows, and alumni that includes some of the best and most famous comedians. Did you know Steven Fry went here? is a reoccurring joke in the show. Footlights Presents is one of four big annual Footlights shows and Pen Pals did not disappoint. It was full of wit, humour, and perfect comedic performance and timing. The show is packed full of sketches, skits, and songs. It stars five first class performers: Leo Reich, Noah Geelan, Emmeline Downie, Bella Hull, and Will Bicknell-Found. The gender imbalance was a little disappointing following Footlights President, Ruby Keanes recent spat with The Apprentice star, Claude Littner. Perhaps they can be forgiven considering the odd number of cast members. Although two-man band, which remained on stage for the entire performance were exactly that, two men, tipped the ratio to five men and two women. It must be noted that the show was made possible by the talents of Director Molly Stacey and Assistant Director Ania Magliano-Wright. The theme of pen pals becomes lost at times and it can feel like a normal Footlights Smoker. It can be a little jarring when trying to work out what this sketch has to do with pen pals. The cast are eager to reinforce the theme with embroidered Pen Pal polo shirts. The lack of any costume changes also leads to some expositional dialogue to explain characters. However, each of the five cast members has an overarching character and their own monologue. In these moments, the genius of the show really shone through. Amid the comedy they dealt with themes such as loneliness, communication, and friendship. The best monologue was Emmeline Downies letter to her Spanish lover with her reading what she wanted to say and a voiceover translator stating what she had actually said. The show made great use of various forms of media, from voiceovers to video and text message to projected backgrounds. The band also set Pen Pals aside from the usual Smokers. The music was entertaining in itself and the perfect way to fill the gap between sketches. The two musicians, Laurence T-Stannard and Finlay Stafford, are very talented. One of the highlights was the songs, which were specifically written for the show. These raised the standard of the performance above a traditional sketch show. The songs contained both witty lyric and a catchy tune. You will be singing Dear Pen Pal all the way home. It is billed as the thrill of going through someone elses mail without any of the risk. Although, audience member, Stephen, might not agree as he was dragged off stage for a V.I.P backstage tour and sat on by an Australian art critic. If you enjoy breaking the fourth wall and audience participation then Footlights is for you. If not, Footlights is still for you just dont sit in the front row. The show is packed full of sketches which have been devised by the performers. Some were not particularly funny, but that is the beauty of a sketch show, that if one is not funny, then it quickly moves onto another sketch. However, humour is very personal, for every sketch that you do not find funny, other audience members will. There really is something for everyone and plenty of laughter all round. The best sketches were the Mastermind and Lassie sketches, and The Queen gets a Buzz Cut. 8/10 Footlights Presents: Pen Pals is on at 11 pm in the ADC Theatre from 31 January to 3 February. Settling in to term, what better way to spend weeks 3 and 4, than enjoying an array of the serious, ridiculous and truly thoughtprovoking theatre put on in Cambridge? In Week 3, there is something for everyone. We begin with the Corpus Mainshow, Athol Fugards Sizwe Bansi Is Dead. Set during the apartheid era in South Africa, this play obliquely references several of the struggles faced by people of colour during the time and tethers them to broader questions of identity and human worth. Sizwe Bansi is a man who enters a photography studio to have his photograph taken. Entering as one man, he leaves as another. On the other hand, there is comedy at the ADC, with the adaptation of Tom Sharpes novel: Porterhouse Blue. A parody of life at the traditional Porterhouse College, where swan is served in hall and the rowers are head of the river, disaster strikes when a liberal politician is appointed as the new master. Satirical and witty, it is a cutting comment on tradition and modernity in our very own university. The Cambridge University French Society are putting on the French play, Rever, Peut Etre as Corpus Lateshow. To die, to sleep, to sleep perchance to dream: Gerard B., an actor rehearsing for his role as Hamlet, spends his nights trying to understand the character that he is playing. One morning, he wakes to find himself being arrested on the grounds of inhumanity, killing Polonius in his dream. Memories, fantasies, fears and dreams soon merge into each other as he loses contact with reality. This play promises to be a visual and aesthetic experience suited for a nonFrench-speaking audience. Finally, The ADC Lateshow, The Seventh Seal, tells the tale of a disaffected knight returning from the Crusades. He encounters Death, who agrees to spare his life while they play a game of chess. A playful tragicomedy about medieval society and a journey into the knights soul; this play delves into the serious motifs of deaths inevitability, the difficulty of faith and the prevalence of suffering, however seemingly delivered all with caustic wit. Week 4 meanwhile offers something entirely different, as Corpus Mainshow, Pomona, described as a fierce dystopian drama with terrific comic edge; explores the fictitious city of Pomona and its inhabitants. Unsettlingly funny and deeply challenging, blurring the line between fantasy and reality, it leaves us questioning where the nightmare ends, and real life begins. At the ADC, Assassins, presents a darkly humorous blend of fiction and history, conspiracy and truth. Through the medium of lyrical ingenuity and a variety of musical styles, it depicts the disturbing lives of the nine individuals who have assassinated, or attempted to assassinate, American Presidents, in the name of the American Dream. These next two weeks at the ADC and Corpus Playroom, provide spectacles which all look to be intriguing performances, and well worth taking a break from work. Cryptocurrency mining has no shortage of detractors, perhaps for good reason. "Drive-by cryptomining" code was recently discovered within YouTube's ads and ASIC-resistant cryptomining in general has been a major factor in the ongoing GPU shortage, frustrating casual PC gamers and enthusiasts alike. However, not all cryptomining has negative consequences. Some websites allow their visitors to opt into lightweight, background cryptomining as an alternative to ads or paywalls. Humanitarian organizations such as UNICEF are even using it to help those in need. UNICEF recently launched a new initiative dubbed "Game Chaingers" that looks to target gamers. "Thanks to the solidarity of the PC gaming community, Game Chaingers turns graphics cards into a humanitarian tool and organize [sic] the first ever blockchain fundraising by mining Ethereum for UNICEF." This is a smart move on UNICEF's part, since many PC gamers already own pretty high-end video cards despite the recent shortage. The organization's goal with this project lies in providing emergency assistance to Syrian children, who are reportedly facing "the world's worst humanitarian crisis." UNICEF's top four priorities will be to provide these kids and other Syrians in need with water, hygiene, education, "Children's protection" and medical attention. If you want to jump in and help out for yourself, you simply have to download UNICEF's provided Claymore mining software and turn it on. The software will mine Ethereum without further intervention from you, depositing the resulting currency directly into UNICEF's wallet. Naturally, you'll be able to stop this software at any time and the organization claims it will have no impact on energy usage. Image via Unicef Intel may be readying the next generation of processors, but it still has its hands in many other business segments. Augmented reality is one of Intel's divisions that has a new product nearing launch. The company is now looking for investors to continue development on a pair of smart glasses that use Bluetooth to pair with phones. These glasses are no Google Cardboard disguised with different branding, though. Intel will use a laser projector to direct light off of a lens and into a user's retina to provide extra information in a wearer's field of view. Internally, the project has the code name Superlite but may be sold under the name Vaunt. Owning several fabrication houses, Intel has the production capability for top of the line chips but does not have an assembly line ready for augmented reality products. Instead, Quanta Computer Inc. has been contracted to manufacture Superlite. Back in 2015, Intel acquired augmented reality business Recon. However, the AR segment was shut down when Intel started to move away from wearable tech. There are some former Recon employees that still work for Intel's current augmented reality division that totals approximately 200 employees. The end goal is for Intel to retain a sizable stake in augmented reality while selling off much of its side business. Intel has valued its augmented reality division at $350 million. By 2025, the market for augmented reality hardware is expected to grow to nearly $110 billion with software accounting for another $72 billion. Keeping up with advances for processor design is and will remain Intel's core business. Almost half of its revenue comes from personal computer processors, and another third comes from data center sales. Growing smartphone component sales and expansion of products designed for mobile devices have further improved Intel's market position. Image Credit: Hannover Messe It is estimated that over 35,000 people were victims of human rights violations, political and sexual violence during the dictatorship (1973-1990). | Read More Photo: Courtesy of Twitter/NegarMortazavi Police in Iran have arrested at least 29 women for removing their headscarves in public to protest the countrys mandatory-hijab laws. According to Al Jazeera, police told the Tasnim news agency that the women were arrested for disturbing public security. The arrests come amid a wave of anti-government protests that has swept across Iran following the arrest of Vida Movahed, a 31-year-old woman who was detained after she climbed on top of a telephone utility box, removed her headscarf, and began waving it on a stick. In the weeks since, more and more women have begun doing the same to demonstrate their solidarity with Movahed, and to protest the countrys strict hijab and clothing laws that were put in place following the 1979 Iranian Revolution. Two friends, one against the hijab, the other for, have sent their pix to @RadioFarda_ from Yasouj in southwestern Iran to express support for women protesting compulsory hijab #__ pic.twitter.com/FlRwYNyAJS Golnaz Esfandiari (@GEsfandiari) February 1, 2018 Holly Dagres, an Iranian-American analyst, told Al Jazeera that the police are clearly aware that the mandatory-hijab laws are unpopular. Its evident by the fact that the morality police are on constant patrol of the streets of major cities like Tehran, Dagres said. Authorities know that if they dont crack down, Iranian women will continue to test the boundaries of what they can and cannot wear. 23-Year-Old Pregnant Woman Killed on Day She Planned to Learn of Babys Sex A pregnant woman was found dead inside a home in Olathe, Kansas, on the day she was to learn the gender of her baby, authorities said. Police are now treating her death as a homicide. Ashley Harlan, 23, was found dead by police around in the afternoon of Tuesday, Jan. 30 inside a house at the Westerfield Townhouses off East Westerfield Place, reported The Kansas City Star. According to close friends, Harlan recently moved into her Olathe home to be closer to her babys father. She was living with her grandfather, who was out of town in Las Vegas when Harlan was killed. Kaitlin Beeton, 22, and Tabitha Brown, 23who were close friends of Harlan since grade schoolsaid the 23-year-old had had a pretty hard life. Harlan entered the foster care system after her mom died when she was very young, Brown said. Brown and Harlan had once lived together for a few months in the same foster home, according to the Star. The young woman also struggled with a drug addiction after running away from her foster home, Brown said. She became clean with the help of her friends, and began working in Homestead Ministries, a Christian-based organization in Manhattan, Kentucky, that helps victims of sex trafficking. She had a hard time finding her way, Brown told the Star. Harlans goal was to become a social worker. She was attending classes at Kansas State University and had planned to start a new job in the coming weeks mentoring foster children. Brown said she had planned to accompany Harlan to a scheduled ultrasound appointment that day but her friend never made it. I dont know who would want to hurt her, Brown told the Star. She was the sweetest person I think Ive ever known. Sgt. Logan Bonney, a spokesman with Olathe police, said no suspects have been identified. They also have not announced a cause of death, reported People, citing a police statement. Police are now urging anyone with further information to come forward. Those with information are encouraged to contact Olathe police at 913-971-6950 or the TIPS Hotline at 816-474-8477. From NTD.tv Recommended Video: How Doctors in China Turn into Murderers Being a Reporter in China Comes With Real Risks A recent incident that captured Chinese media attention highlighted the dangers that journalists in China face while on the job. According to a report published by news portal Beijing Time on Feb. 1, two reporters, identified only as Chen and Li, from a television station in Hebei Province were working undercover to investigate a factory located in a village within Quzhou County suspected of irresponsibly polluting the area. When they entered the factory area on January 25, eight people suddenly surrounded the reporters and started beating them. The suspects also took their cameras, cell phones, and wallets. One of the reporters was tied up and threatened: A suspect told the reporter he would be thrown into a well and drowned. It was only when the reporter said, If you kill me, youll get in trouble too, that the perpetrator backed off. Quzhou police have since arrested and detained the suspects. The factory owner has also been detained. When police retrieved the reporters cameras, they discovered that the footage had already been deleted. The reporters were sent to a local hospital to treat their injuries. Beijing Time learned that the factory had in fact operated without a proper license and did not have a proper system installed for removing waste. The factory had signage on its storefront indicating that it was a cooperative for raising goats. It turned out to be a factory that did industrial spray painting of bike racks, computer parts, and other items. It had been running for two months. After the violence against journalists, local authorities demolished the factory. Reporters in China frequently risk such violence to do their jobs. Earlier this month, Chinese media revealed that a Shanxi Province television reporter was beaten while on assignment covering a hospital suspected of charging exorbitant fees for family members of deceased patients who wished to retrieve their bodies from the morgue for burial. When the reporter arrived at the hospital, about a dozen young men rushed forward and began beating him. He was then thrown into the morgue room where he was trapped for about 20 minutes before the suspects let him go. In 2011, reporter Li Xiang in Luoyang City, Henan Province, was investigating the use of gutter oil (oil recycled from waste that is then used for cooking) by local businesses. While on his way home in September, he was attacked and stabbed multiple times. He died from the injuries. Authorities claimed that it was a botched robbery, but observers suspected that there was an ulterior motive behind the killing. Recommended Video: How Doctors in China Turn into Murderers Body Found in Backyard of Ohio Home A body of a man was found buried in the backyard of a home in Massillon, Ohio, on Friday morning, Feb. 2. The human remains were found at a home located on 8th Street SW. According to the Repository, an Ohio newspaper, the body appeared to have been beaten to death, a law enforcement official said. Sources told FOX8 that Massilon Police and the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation started searching the home on Thursday. Police said officers were investigating a case of a man that had been missing since summertime. Authorities received a tip that the missing man was last seen at this house. The Stark County Coroner office told News 5 Cleveland on Thursday that authorities had received plausible information to search the area. Authorities believed the area was searched in connection with a possible homicide. As of the time of this publication, the identity of the dead man had not been released. On Jan. 23, Massillon police went to the same house to serve an arrest warrant. When they arrived on the scene, officers found three children under the age of three who seemed to be neglected, FOX8 reported. A police report stated that the children were abused and that the living conditions were unsafe and unsanitary. Police find mans body buried in yard of Massillon home https://t.co/BOWOz30oPs pic.twitter.com/uUOEZY1Ry4 ohiodotcom (@ohiodotcom) February 2, 2018 Stark County Job and Family Services were able to remove all three children from the home. At the time police also discovered a dog with open wounds that was extremely malnourished. The dog was removed from the home by the humane society. Massillon detectives were expected to be on route to interview Bryan Gentry, a person of interest in the case. Court records obtained by the Repository show that he lived in the same house at the time. Gentry was arrested in March 2017 on a charge of receiving stolen property. From NTD.tv Recommended Video: How Doctors in China Turn into Murderers Chicago-Area Nurse Swept Away in Flash Flood While Hiking in Hawaii A Chicago-area nurse working at a health center in Hawaii has been missing for a week after being washed over a waterfall in a flash flood. Kelly Mrowinski worked for Aya Healthcare, a California-based company that sends nurses around the country. Mrowinski traveled to Hawaii at the start of 2018 to work at Hilo Medical Center on Hawaii, the Big Island. On Friday, Jan. 26, Mworinski and a friend went hiking alongside the Wailuku River, NBC Chicago reported, taking advantage of the 77-degree weather despite the light rain. The river ran right past the medical center where she worked and was dotted with famous waterfalls. As revealed by her Instagram and Facebook pages, Mrowinski loved to be outdoors. She enjoyed hiking, rock climbing, and winter sports. A soft, warm rain would not have slowed her down. A post shared by Kelly Mrowinski (@k_mrow) on Mar 28, 2017 at 10:41pm PDT However, the rains grew heavyheavy enough to cause a flash flood. Some time around 4 p.m. Mrowinski and her companion were swept up by the rapidly rising river and forced over Piihonua Falls. Her companion managed to reach shore and climb out of the water. Mrowinski was nowhere to be seenand she has not been seen since. Hawaii Fire Department divers searched below Piihonua Falls Saturday, but heavy rains created strong currents, which made searching difficult, NBC Chicago reported. CBS reported that helicopters were also used in the search on Saturday, Jan. 27. A post shared by Kelly Mrowinski (@k_mrow) on Jan 14, 2018 at 11:50pm PST Obviously, were deeply concerned, Erin Stafford, Aya Healthcare marketing director, told the Chicago Tribune. She said the company had offered emotional support, but also financial support so Mrowinskis family could go to Hawaii to assist in the search. The family made use of the opportunity. The mother flew in Sunday morning, shes been here since, Chief Brent Matsuda with the Hawaii County Fire Department told Big Island Now News. Numerous good friends have been coming, I know Kellys boyfriend is here alsothey all came here to support the mom in her time of need. A post shared by Kelly Mrowinski (@k_mrow) on Jul 11, 2017 at 5:53pm PDT The search was scheduled to last five days, but pleas from Kellys mother convinced authorities to extend it two more daysthough as NBC reported, it was not clear whether it was a rescue or a recovery effort at that point. Day cruise down highway 19 A post shared by Kelly Mrowinski (@k_mrow) on Jan 19, 2018 at 6:12pm PST Elena Cabatu, director of public affairs at a hospital in Hilo where Mrowinski had been working, told the Chicago Tribune, We appreciate Kelly for coming to Hilo to provide care to our community. This excellent nurse was well-received by her colleagues. Our hopes and thoughts are with the family for the best possible outcome. A post shared by Kelly Mrowinski (@k_mrow) on Jan 7, 2018 at 4:14pm PST From NTD/tv Recommended Video: Kayaker Rescues Iguana Swimming Miles From Shore China Makes Frightening Advances in Cloning Research pushes ethical boundaries and national agenda, says expert When embryos 78 and 79 survived they were given names to fit the occasionZhongzhong and Huahua. Created in a Shanghai lab, these two identical long-tailed macaques are the worlds first cloned monkeys, revealed on Jan. 24 in the journal Cell. Separately the monkeys names are just cute affectations. Put them together, however, and the propaganda, ambition, and power play that underpin Chinas state-sanctioned research are revealed. Zhong and Hua mean Chinese nation. China has been dubbed the Wild East of biomedical research for allowing research banned elsewhere. Thats a powerful statement, said Karen Rommelfanger, director of the Center of Ethics at Emory University, referring to the names. Its a stake in the ground, a sign with flashing lights. Chinas Power Play Primate cloning has long been seen as a step in the progression toward human cloning, so Zhongzhong and Huahua have naturally stirred up concerns that human cloning is just around the corner. Rommelfanger says the monkeys are a PR coup for Chinese authorities to ply their no-holds-barred research. It is meant to showcase the kinds of high-stakes work that China is housing. Rommelfanger is senior associate editor of the American Journal of Bioethics Neuroscience. She convenes an annual global summit on neurobiology ethics, giving her insights into Chinas research agenda. She says that this kind of research, pushing the boundaries ethics, is about pushing a national agenda. Science, technology, and innovation are not just simply about creating goods to eliminate disease, they are parts of culturethey are parts of power. She said that the Chinese are exploiting the fact that such research is relatively easier to carry out in China. I think thats become increasingly culturally challenging to be doing this kind of work [in the United States], Rommelfanger said. Step Toward Human Cloning? The stated purpose of cloning the monkeys is to provide a supply of genetically identical animals for medical research. The reason we broke this barrier is to produce animal models that are useful for medicine, for human health, research supervisor Muming Poo, told Reuters. The barrier hes referring to is being able to clone an animal so genetically similar to humans. When Dolly the sheep was famously cloned in 1996, it spawned a flurry of clone development in other species and sparked concerns about human cloning. However, it turned out that not all species are as easy to clone, each having its own challenges, with primates presenting the biggest challenge. At the time, it was described as a natural obstacle that put the brakes on the rush toward human cloning, allowing the breathing space to patch together laws and guidance on human cloning. Its almost like God in her wisdom said go ahead and clone cows and sheep, but if you clone a human Im going to paralyze the egg, said researcher Gerald Schatten back in 2003. Cloning works by taking the DNA from one animal and putting it into an egg cell from another, using electricity to fool it into developing into an embryo. In primates, however, the egg never grew past the most basic phase. The Shanghai lab realized that the cells genes that control its development into an embryo were switched off. So they added two new ingredients (messenger RNA and trichostatin A) to unlock them. It took 127 eggs, 79 embryos, and 6 pregnancies to produce the two surviving monkeys. This high rate of failure is why some scientists in the West say the same technique would never be used on humans. It could be a step towards human cloning, but why would you do it? Peter Andrews, professor of biomedical science at the University of Sheffield, UK, told the New Scientist. In terms of human biology, its illegal to clone a human in Britain and many other countries, and I dont think anyone would rationally want to do it. Another reason observers say the latest research wont lead to human cloning is that the technique only works on fetal cells. Most animal cloning until now has created carbon copies of adults, sparking dystopian visions of a world of mini-mes should the technique ever be used on humans. Zhongzhong and Huahua are not mini-mes, but researchers at the Chinese Academy of Sciences Institute of Neuroscience in Shanghai are working hard on getting there. Adult cells were already used to successfully produce two baby monkeys from 22 pregnancies, but they died shortly after birth. Poo said they currently have female surrogates pregnant with fetuses cloned from adult body cells. They seem to be developing well, so we are hoping we will produce babies soon, he said. Poo said, There is no intention to apply this method to humans. Elsewhere in China, that know-how may already exist. Xu Xiaochun, director of Boyalife Group, a leading Chinese animal cloning operationdubbed a cloning factorytold Agence France-Presse in 2015 that they have the technology to clone humans. But they have been self-restrained because of possible adverse public reaction. Wild East of Biomedical Research China has been dubbed the Wild East of biomedical research for allowing research banned elsewhere. The most high-profile example is perhaps that of Italian researcher Sergio Canavero, whose research on head transplants was rejected on ethical grounds in the United States and Europe, but found a home in China. On Nov. 22, 2017, Canavero published details of what he described as the first successful head transplantalbeit between two corpses. Canavero, who likens himself to Victor Frankenstein, says the experiment is the precursor to the next stage of transplanting between brain-dead subjects. The step after that is a full head transplant for a living person. Rommelfanger has raised concerns about the lack of transparency about where the bodies came from. Theres been no response from any of the Chinese collaborators about a very fundamental piece of this whole enterprisewhich is consenting individuals to participate. The medical community has also long criticized Chinas use of death row prisoners as a source of transplantation organs. And over the last decade, the international medical community, Western governments, and human rights groups have raised alarm bells over Chinas use of prisoners of conscience as living organ banks, ready to be killed to order. Organ harvesting is a multibillion-dollar state-run business in China. Recommended Video: How Doctors in China Turn into Murderers Chinese Boys Finger Blown Off by Exploding Cell Phone A 12-year-old boy was seriously injured after a cell phone suddenly exploded while it was being charged in China. Chinese media reported that Meng Jisu lost his right index finger and became blinded in his right eye due to the explosion, which occurred as the boy was reaching for the charging phone at his home in Guangxi province, China, on Jan. 31. The blast left Jisu bloodied and unconscious. He was immediately transported to a hospital, where it took doctors five hours in surgery to treat Jisu. The culprit is reportedly a 2-year-old Hua Tang VT-V59, a Chinese-made phone. Jisus distraught older sister told Pear Video, a Chinese video platform, that after the explosion she found her brother covered in blood on the floor. Even the floor was covered in a lot of blood, she said. At the hospital, doctors found shrapnel in Jisus face which caused damage to his right eyeball. He also suffered injuries in the chest area and severe wounds on his right hand, local media reported. During the five hour operation, doctors performed a skin graft on the boys arm to reattach the blood vessels on three fingers shattered by the blast. Lan Tianbing, the doctor who treated Jisu, told Chinese media that the boys index finger was not brought to the hospital. But it was deemed too damaged to reattach in any event. Doctors predict that Jisus hand will make a full recovery, regaining normal function in the future. The boy is currently recovering in the hospital. From NTD.tv Recommended Video: How Doctors in China Turn into Murderers The dragon dance is performed on stage at the 10th Annual Chinese New Year Festival in Falls Church, Virginia, on Jan. 14, 2017. (Asian Community Service Center) Chinese New Year Festival to Take Place in Falls Church WASHINGTONWant to celebrate the year of the dog? Then the 11th annual Chinese New Year Festival in Falls Church, Virginia, on Saturday, Feb. 10 should be on your calendar. Admission is free. Those who come to the Luther Jackson Middle School will feel, said the festivals Tiny Tang, as if they have arrived in China. The traditional decorations not only have the authentic look of decorations in China, they have the spirit of the scene in China. Chinese people will feel, Tang said, as if they have come to the towns temple or fair. Westerners will have a chance to learn about Chinese culture. At the festival, there will be performances all day, including dragon and lion dances, traditional Chinese and other Asian dances, music and singing, and martial arts demonstrations. There is lots of Asian food, booths with crafts, games, and, at 2 p.m.a parade that winds its way through the school. The Lunar New Year is the most important holiday, not only in China but in all of Asia. Tang said the holiday involves looking back at what one did in the year just ending, and looking ahead to the year that is coming. According to the traditional way of thinking, at the end of the year, one is taking stock and reporting to the gods what one has done, Tang said. There may be some punishments in store for those who have done poorly. In order to help the new year be auspicious, one wants to drive away any evil that may be at hand. So, one wears red and makes loud noises, banging things, and setting off firecrackers, all to scare the evil away. People are also careful with their thoughts, Tang said. At the new year, one only wants to speak in a positive way; one doesnt want to have bad thoughts. If you think of something, that will become true. In what may be the sweetest part of the celebration, one unites with ones family while eating special foods symbolizing happiness, longevity, prosperity, and harmony in the family. Tang said the mission of the festival is to promote Asian culture, and in particular traditional Chinese culture and values. This year is the year of the dog, which is known for the virtue of loyalty. And so this years festival has made the virtue of loyalty a theme. Both President Donald Trump and his son Barron were born in the year of the dog. In a new feature, children will have the opportunity to go on stage and recite two traditional Chinese poems. There will be a group of native Chinese speakers and another for non-native speakers. Those selected to recite on stage will receive a prize for participating. Tang said that for those who grew up in China, the new year provides many happy childhood memories. She says the same thing is true today for children who come to the festival. They give their whole heart to the event. She said that children who had attended the festival when it first started 11 years ago are now returning as volunteers to help run the festival. Tang said local VIPs, including members of Congress, have supported the festival with proclamations and letters. They come to the festival to take part in a ceremony, but then often linger through the day, and sometimes take part in the parade. Tang, who does marketing for The Epoch Times and for NTD, and Mindy Ge, an actuary for a local insurance company, started the festival 11 years ago after they found the local options for celebrating the Chinese New Year unsatisfactory. Tang said that everyone likes to see the dragon dance and the lion dance, and she and Ge had gone to Chinatown a few times for the New Year celebration. It was less than an ideal experience. The performance was outdoors, and it might be cold or even raining. If one was not at the right spot on the parade route, one would not even get a chance to see the dances. They decided that if they held an event indoors, that would benefit more people. And so, with that wish to bring something good to others, the festival was born. Chinese New Year Festival Saturday, Feb. 10, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Luther Jackson Middle School 3020 Gallows Road Falls Church, VA. 22042 ChineseNewYearFestival.org Dixie Highway in Boone County, Kentucky, close to the location where a Army veteran's service dog was found dead on Jan 29, 2018. (Screenshot via Google Maps) Disabled Vets 3-Year-Old Husky Found Dead With Bullet in Head The support dog of an Army veteran was found dead near train tracks in Boone County, Kentucky on JaD. 29. The dog, a 3-year-old husky named Gunner, went missing on Jan. 12, according to WLWT5. Fourteen-year Army veteran Bryan Vallandingham relied on Gunner for safety. The dog would alert the family when Vallandingham was about to have a seizure, sometimes as many as 30 minutes beforehand, so they could make sure he was safe. Vallandingham started having seizures after an accident in the military. They were loading Blackhawks for 9/11 to take water and supplies over there and making trips back and forth,said Vallandinghams wife, via WLWT5. On his last trip, they were going into the flight bay and the door came down and crushed his skull. A shelter found Gunner shot in the head near railroad tracks along Dixie Highway. The family believes the dogs death is connected with text messages a family member received the day before that sought tried an iTunes gift card or cash in exchange for the dogs return, reported WLWT5. The family refused, according to Fox News. Since Gunner went missing, Vallandinghams seizures have become more frequent, his sister-in-law told Fox19. The Boone County Sheriffs Office is investigating if extortion is related to Gunners death. The cost of cremating the dog is being covered by a local organization that specializes in helping pet owners deal with pet deaths. Vallandingham is getting a new service dog within eight weeks, WLWT5 reported. From NTD.tv Recommended Video: Emotional Footage Shows Overjoyed Family After Being Reunited With Missing Dog An Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent detains a convicted criminal alien in Los Angeles on Oct. 14, 2015. (John Moore/Getty Images) Dozens of California Businesses Raided by ICE in Ramp Up of Immigration Enforcement Dozens of businesses around three California cities were raided recently by immigration enforcement officers. The agents, from ICEs Homeland Security Investigations Unit (HSI), raided businesses in the areas of San Jose, San Francisco, and Sacramento. The agency said in a news release that the 77 businesses were raided between Jan. 29 and Jan. 31. A notice of inspection alerts a business owner that HSI is going to audit their hiring records to determine whether or not they are in compliance with the law. Employers are required to produce their companys I-9s within three business days, after which HSI will conduct an inspection for compliance, the agencys statement said. The deputy director of the ICE, Tom Homan, previously said that the unit would step up worksite enforcement to the tune of a 400 percent increase, reported Fox News. Its illegal for businesses to hire illegal immigrants. HSIs worksite enforcement strategy is focused on protecting jobs for U.S. citizens and others who are lawfully employed, eliminating unfair competitive advantages for companies that hire an illegal workforce, and strengthening public safety and national security, the ICE statement said. Federal law dictates that employers verify the identity and employment eligibility of all people they hire. Watch the latest video at <a href=http://www.foxnews.com>foxnews.com</a> The raids are followed by a three-day period during which business owners must produce records that show theyve complied with the law. If they dont, they will likely be fined and could also be charged in a criminal court. The raids come a few weeks after 7-Eleven stores nationwide were raided and suspected undocumented employees were detained. Experts said the latest sweep is unprecedented. Serving 77 notices of inspection on different employers in the last three days within a single area of responsibility, in this case, San Francisco, appears unprecedented, said Angelo Paparelli, an immigration attorney in Los Angeles with the firm Seyfarth Shaw LLP, reported the San Francisco Chronicle. Pratheepan Gulasekaram, a professor at Santa Clara University School of Law, added that this weeks raids appeared to be a retributive move by ICE to punish California and the Bay Area for their decision to not cooperate with other federal enforcement efforts. From NTD.tv Recommended Video: Dishwasher Ensures 500 Foster Kids Have Toys for Christmas Actor John Schneider (R) and ex-wife Elvira Castle attend the HBO Emmy after party at the Pacific Design Center on Sept. 16, 2007 in Los Angeles, California. (Stephen Shugerman/Getty Images) Dukes of Hazzard Stars Facing Legal Troubles Former Dukes of Hazzard star John Schneider is facing jail time if he cannot reach a deal on the $185,000 he owes in alimony. Schneider told the court he wants to pay the $18,9121 per month he owes his ex-wife, but simply cannot, even though he has tried his very best and has used his best efforts to earn a regular, reasonable, steady income, reported The Blast. Elvira, Schneiders ex-wife, filed for divorce back in 2014. During that year, Schneider moved to Louisiana with plans to construct the largest movie studio in the state, appropriately named John Schneider Studios. But Schneiders finances took a hit when two catastrophic floods within the same year inundated his studio. Schneider told The Blast that he spent virtually everything he had to repair the damage done by the first flood, which virtually destroyed the studio in March, 2016. About the time he finished rebuilding, the second flood hit in August that year. Those repairs were washed away, literally, by the August flood. Everything that was repaired was destroyed, plus more, Schneider claimed. Schneider then planned to cash in on his Dukes of Hazzard fame by staging a reunion tour with his Dukes brother, Tom Wopat. Wopat was arrested for indecent assault in August of 2017, scuttling those plans. After everything was tallied up, Schneider claimed he made a total of $805,000 between January 2016 and August 2017not shabby money, one would think. However, he stated during the second six months of that period his income was onlywhich put him below the poverty line. Schneider claimed that Elviras endless spending and refusal to contribute in any way financially put both of them into financial peril before they divorced. On top of that, he alleges Elvira took $200,000 from a joint bank account just before the divorce. Schneider was so broke, he told the judge, that he could not afford health insurance for himself or Elvira, and had to pay out-of-pocket for necessary medical procedures. According to court documents, Schneiders former spouse wants the judge to impose the maximum penalty on himthree months in jail, reported The Blast. Schneider concluded his statement with a plea that he not be put in jail for his inability to pay. Battling Assault Charges and Addiction John Schneiders Dukes of Hazzard co-star, Tom Wopat, is in a different kind of trouble. Wopat, 65, was arrested in his car on Aug. 2 by the Waltham police on charges of indecent assault and battery on a person over 14. A young lady had alleged that the famous TV good ol boy groped her while the two were rehearsing on the set of 42nd Street staged by the Reagle Music Theatre in Waltham, Massachusetts, reported USA Today. Wopat had performed in different versions of the show many times during the course of his career both on and off Broadway. Wopat was also charged with drug possession at his arraignment on Aug. 3, 2017, after police found what they believed to be two bags of cocaine in his car. In a statement by his publicist given to the New York Daily News, Wopat claimed that he was fighting an ongoing struggle with addiction. Mr. Wopat will be taking personal time to address his ongoing struggle with substance abuse, the statement read. Tom definitely understands that sobriety is the sole course for a successful future and will take immediate steps to achieve it. Wopat continues to deny improperly touching the young lady. From NTD.tv Recommended Video: Wranglers Wrestle With Alligator to Remove Eggs From Nest Fidel Castros Eldest Son Takes Own Life HAVANAThe eldest son of late Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, Fidel Castro Diaz-Balart, committed suicide on Thursday Feb. 2 aged 68 after being treated for months for depression, according to Cuban state-run media. He was also known as Fidelito, or Little Fidel, because of how much he looked like his father, had initially been hospitalized and then continued treatment as an outpatient. Castro Diaz-Balart, who had been attended by a group of doctors for several months due to a state of profound depression, committed suicide this morning, Cubadebate website said. Fidelito, who had the highest public profile of all Castros children, was born in 1949 out of his brief marriage to Mirta Diaz-Balart before he went on to topple a U.S.-backed dictator and build a communist-run state on the doorstep of the United States during the Cold War. Through his mother, Castro Diaz-Balart was the cousin of some of Castros most bitter enemies in the Cuban American exile community, U.S. Representative Mario Diaz-Balart and former U.S. congressman Lincoln Diaz-Balart. He was also the subject of a dramatic custody dispute between the two families as a child. Cuba scholars say his mother took him with her to the United States when he was aged five after announcing she wanted a divorce from Castro, while he was imprisoned for an attack on the Moncada military barracks in Santiago. Castro was able to bring Fidelito back to Cuba after the 1959 revolution. A multilingual nuclear physicist who studied in the former Soviet Union, Castro Diaz-Balart was head of Cubas national nuclear program from 1980 to 1992, and spearheaded the development of a nuclear plant on the Caribbeans largest island until his father fired him. Cuba halted its plant plans that same year because of a lack of funding after the collapse of Cubas trade and aid ties with the ex-Soviet bloc and he largely disappeared from public view appearing at the occasional scientific conference or diplomatic event. Fidelito had been working for his uncle President Raul Castro as a scientific counselor to the Cuban Council of State and Vice-president of the Cuban Academy of Sciences at the time of his death. A former British ambassador to Cuba, Paul Hare, who lectures at Boston Universitys Pardee School of Global Studies, said Castro Diaz-Balart had seemed thoughtful, rather curious about the world beyond Cuba at a dinner in Boston two years ago. But he seemed a bit weary about having to be a Castro, rather than himself, Hare said. Jonathan Benjamin-Alvarado, a Cuba expert at the University of Nebraska in Omaha, said he suspected Fidelitos title as scientific advisor was largely ceremonial as his views on energy development were not incorporated into national policies. Fidelitos death came just over a year after that of his father on Nov. 25, 2016, aged 90. By Sarah Marsh and Marc Frank Recommended Video: The Origins of Antifa Florida Man Arrested for DUI After Dropping Kid Off at School A Florida father has been arrested on suspicion of drunk driving while taking his child to school. Christopher Beauchemin, 47, was also charged with child neglect. Deputies told FOX35 that numerous 911 calls were received by concerned citizens about Beauchemins driving in Fruitland Park. It went off the road two times, in a short period of time, said a 911 caller. He called, based on the suspect coming up and almost running into the back of him, went around him and then ran him off the road, he said he watched the suspect and he almost ran into two or three other people head on, said Sgt. Fred Jones, with the Lake County Sheriffs Office. After the child was dropped off at Holy Trinity School, he apparently fell asleep. The suspect was passed out behind the wheel, and so the officer tapped on the glass, the guy woke up and he threw the car into drive and went into the fence, Jones said. Beauchemin blew a blood alcohol level of 0.233 after being arrested, reported ClickOrlando. In Florida, the cutoff is 0.08. It breaks my heart, Jones said. Your job as a parent, or as a caregiver if that child is in your custody, you should be a protector, and a child expects you to be a protector as well. Court records show Beauchemin pleaded guilty to a DUI in 2016. From NTD.tv Recommended Video: Brazen Pickpockets Steal 1,000 From London Pensioner I Am Tougher Than a Bullet: Girl Left for Dead Confronts Her Attacker in Court A Utah girl who was shot by a teenage boy and left to die in a ditch confronted her attacker in court. The 14-year-old, who still has a bullet in her brain, confronted Colter Peterson, 17, in Logan. You shouldnt have messed with me, because I am tougher than a bullet, Deserae Turner said Thursday, Feb. 1, at a hearing where Peterson was sentenced to at least 15 years in prison. Peterson pleaded guilty to aggravated attempted murder and robbery, reported CBS. Turner said Peterson was her friend before the shooting. The teenager used to enjoy riding horses, practicing karate, and playing the saxophone before the shooting. There are times I wish I could give the gun back to Colter and tell him to try again and put me out of my misery, Turner told the court. Welcome to hell. I have been here for a year now, she told Peterson. You wanted to kill. I was an easy target and took the bullet. You should never be allowed out of prison. Later, while Peterson sat at the defense table and wept, she went on. I hate you, she said, reported the Salt Lake Tribune. I hate what you did to me. I hate that I trusted you. Your life will be confined to a small room, and my life will also be confined. When Peterson and a friend left Turner for dead, they robbed her of a backpack, cellphone, and iPod, along with cash from her purse. Petersons parents also spoke during the trial, claiming that their son is not an evil person, reported KUTV. "I still need my mommy to help me to get dressed," #DeseraeTurner explains the struggles she faces in her daily life after the shooting. Morgan Saxton (@KUTVMorgan) February 1, 2018 He is a good boy and any parent would be happy to have him as a son, Colter Petersons mother said. Colter is not an evil person and does have many good qualities about him. He is a good boy and any parent would be happy to have him as a son. She added that shes praying for the victim and apologized for her son. Near the end, Peterson himself spoke, asking for forgiveness. Im sincerely sorry, which probably doesnt mean much. Peterson said facing the judge. I want to apologize to my family and the community. I want to pay for what I have done maybe one day I can be forgiven. From NTD.tv Recommended Video: Timelapse Video Captures Ocean of Clouds Over Vancouver, British Columbia Japanese Retailer Muji Dragged Into China Map Dispute Just after Japans foreign minister completed a visit to China to improve relations between the two countries, Chinese authorities showed how fraught the relationship can be. On Jan. 29, Chinas State Bureau of Surveying and Mapping released a notice on problematic maps, calling out eight companies for maps that do not display Chinas territorial disputes according to the regimes claims. Among them was Muji, a Japanese retailer that sells household goods and clothing. The Chinese authorities got offended by a map that appeared in Mujis 2017 winter/fall furniture catalog distributed in China, which did not show the Senkaku Islands and several islands in the South China Sea that Beijing has claimed. The Senkaku Islands, located in the East China Sea, are controlled by Japan, but China claims it was part of the Chinese empire since ancient times. The State Bureau of Surveying and Mapping ordered the catalogs to be destroyed. Muji has said it will comply. But the Japanese government was not happy about this. On Jan. 31, Japans Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga responded to the news: There is no territorial dispute to be settled over the Senkaku Islands. We can by no means accept the measure based on Chinas unilateral claims, he said, according to a report by Japans Kyodo news agency. Suga added that the Chinese regimes orders could have a negative impact on Japanese businesses. In fact, in 2012, the two countries disputes over the Senkaku Islands led to massive boycotts of Japanese goods and violent protests in many Chinese citieswith some Japanese businesses severely damaged by Chinese citizens protesting amid nationalist fervor. The violence occurred after the Japanese government announced its intention to buy the islands from private Japanese citizens who owned them, in September 2012. Many Japanese businesses pulled out of China during that time. But Muji went against the trend and began investing more in the Chinese market in 2015. It now has 200 stores in China. In the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen, Muji opened a flagship store in January that also included a hotel and restaurant on its premises. This latest geopolitical row occurred just after Japanese foreign minister Taro Kano met with Chinese high officials during a two-day visit intended to smooth relations, and to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Treaty of Peace and Friendship between Japan and the Peoples Republic of China. Lin Shiyuan contributed to this report. Man Who Kicked Grocery Store Shopper to Death in Front of Terrified Children Gets 11 Years in Jail A man who kicked a shopper to death in front of children at a supermarket to death has received a sentence of 11 years in jail. Authorities said Lee Monk, 20, attacked Nick Rogers, 26, after a long-running dispute over a debt near a Morrisons supermarket in Wymondham, Norfolk in the UK. The powerful kick to Rogers head, following a punch, left Rogers with a brain injury. He died in the hospital the next day. Rogers mom said that her son had been wiped off the planet for no reason as she spoke of feeling like her heart had been ripped out, reported the Mirror. I will never, until the day I die, forgive you for what you did, she told Monk. Monk did not get convicted of murder but was convicted of manslaughter. He will serve 11 years in a young offenders facility due to his age. Children were heard screaming at the violence they witnessed. This attack received widespread publicity, in a supermarket that many customers and residents in Wymondham use, Judge Stephen Holt said, reported Metro. Rogers kick was vicious, cowardly and it was inflicted on a helpless man lying on the floor, he added. What is clear is once he was on the ground he was sprawled out lying on his back. He did not present any sort of risk to you, the judge told Monk, reported BBC. From NTD.tv Recommended Video: Toddler With Rare Heart Condition Gets to Go Home After 402 Days in the Hospital Michigan Prisoner Released With No Shirt or Shoes The first steps of freedom must have been cold for a Michigan man, who was released from jail without a shirt or shoes, reported 9&10 News. The Mason County Prison in Michigan had said the man could only leave with the clothes he had been wearing when he came in. The temperature was 19 degrees at the time. The prison has since apologized. The story, published on Feb. 1, stirred some debate on social media, with most comments sympathetic with the inmate. It also prompted Mason County Jail to change their work practices. A photograph of the man, identified only as Nick by 9&10 News, shows him standing outside in the snow with no shirt or shoes. He had served his time for breaking and entering. Teresa Wroble, Nicks mother, said she had tried to bring him clothes to wear earlier, although it is not clear from the report exactly when this was in relation to her sons release from jail. I went in Sunday because I knew he had gone in with his socks and boxers, so I knew he didnt have any clothes to leave in. When I brought them in they told me that they leave the way that they come in, and I was just appalled at that, said Wroble. In a statement, Sheriff Kim Cole pointed out that despite the cold, the mans release was planned and his family was waiting outside for him. That said, we have a standard within this agency which I expect to be adhered to every minute of every day and Im saddened to say, yesterday we did not meet that standard. I have ordered an investigation into this matter and we are in the process of making changes to ensure this never happens again, he wrote in the Jan 31 statement. He also apologised, and said that the jail was adjusting its practices. What weve done is were going to allow the inmates to make a call the night before to family when theyre scheduled to be released, and the family can bring property in either the morning of the release or the night before the release so they have the proper attire when they get out of jail, Cole told 9&10 News. It sparked some debate on social media, but most people didnt appear to agree with the view that as an ex-con, he simply deserved it. Meanwhile, many people responded by offers of donations of clothes to the jail. Recommended Video: Sleepy Truck Driver Causes Multi-Vehicle Crash Missing 17-Year-Old Virginia Girl Believed to Be in Danger A 17-year-old girl who has gone missing in Virginia is in danger, according to state police. Virginia State Police issued an endangered missing child alert for Cayla Sue Austin, warning the public that the girl may be in danger and urging them to be on the lookout for her. Austin was last seen by her family back on Jan. 5. She may be with friends, police said, reported NBC12. Police said she may have access to a vehicle but arent sure at this time. She may also be in need of medical attention. According to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, Austin is white with blonde hair and blue eyes. She has a lip ring on her bottom lip. Austin stands 5 feet 3 inches tall and weighs 115 pounds. Anyone who sees her or has information is urged to call the police. From NTD.tv Recommended Video: First Lady Melania Trump Visits United States Holocaust Memorial Museum The Centers for Disease Control (CDC), a US federal agency, is holding a briefing on how the public can prepare for nuclear war. (Pixabay / CCO) Report: Russia Building Doomsday Nuke Torpedo Russia is building a so-called doomsday torpedo that could leave a countrys coastline uninhabitable for possibly years, the Pentagon said. According to a leaked draft of the Nuclear Posture Review, as reported by Popular Mechanics, the Kremlin is working on the Ocean Multipurpose System Status-6, known as Kanyon, by the Pentagon. The new Nuclear Posture Review was published Friday, Feb. 2. Kanyon is reportedly a very long range autonomous underwater vehicle that has a range 6,200 miles, a maximum depth of 3,280 feet, and a speed of 100 knots according to claims in leaked Russian documents, Popular Mechanics reported. The weapon has a 100-megaton thermonuclear weapon, which is equivalent to 100,000,000 tons of TNT. In comparison, the atomic bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima in World War II had 16,000 tons of TNT, according to the report. The 100-megaton bomb would kill 8 million outright if it hit New York City. The mega-bomb would also generate an artificial tsunami that would surge inland, spreading radioactive contamination with the advancing water, the report stated. To make matters worse, the report noted that the weapon could be salted with radioactive isotope Cobalt-60, which could theoretically leave some contaminated areas uninhabitable for 100 years. Rumors of the weapons development began in 2015 following a leak on Russian television, according to The Diplomat. Russia later confirmed its existence. The unclassified posture review document doesnt really tell defense analysts anything new, but it does establish Kanyon as a military fact, said defense analyst and military historian H. I. Sutton, according to Futurism.com. Until now, many observers had regarded the system as fake news. I think that this was partly because the stated specifications are so incredible and partly because it is hard to understand how it will be used. Sutton also said that Kanyon is 5.5 feet wide and about 79 feet long. Kanyon is unique in every respect, added Sutton. There really is nothing like it in any navys inventory. From NTD.tv Recommended Video: How Doctors in China Turn into Murderers Serial Killer Admits He Murdered 10 Times More Victims Than Police Know About A South Indiana serial killer sentenced to death for the murder and mutilation of three female victims claims he killed dozens more womenand menand the police have no idea. William Clyde Gibson, 60, on death row in Indiana State Prison, was interviewed by British broadcaster Sir Trevor McDonald, MailOnline reported, for a documentary on jailed killers. It was during this interview that he disclosed the shocking number. They [police] might have a tenth of it, Ill put it that way, Gibson said. McDonald clarified What, around 29 or 30? Yep, said the killer. But for Gibson, making disturbing utterances is nothing new. Steve Owen, the chief deputy prosecutor at Gibsons trial, told Judge Susan Orth that the accused said to police I guess Im really evil, the Courier-Journal reported, after admitting to doing particularly heinous things to his victims. Gibson was arrested in 2012 after the body of his late mothers friend Christine Whitis, 75, was found in his garage. It was reported she allegedly stumbled on the serial killer as he was disposing of one of his victims, so he strangled her to death. Police also found the body of 35-year-old Stephanie Kirk on Gibsons property in 2012. He also confessed to killing Karen Hodella, 44, whose body was found near a river in Clarksville with stab wounds. He received death sentences for the murders of Whitis and Kirk, and was handed down a 65-year prison sentence for the Hodella killing. Gibson later appealed the death sentence, the Sun reported, but it was upheld in April 2016. During one of his trials, Gibson caused a stir for showing up in court with a tattoo on the back of his shaved headDeath Row x 3. It was argued the inking indicated Gibson wanted to glorify his crimes and Judge Orth ordered that he receive no haircuts on grounds of the tattoo being prejudicial, the Courier-Journal reported. During the interview with the UK broadcaster, Gibson bragged about the crimes he claims he got away with. At first I was kind of nervous about it, but then after the first one . It wasnt just women, there were men too. They just didnt find them, I didnt say anything about them. Gibson showed no remorse for his crimes, and told the interviewer the reason he killed his first victim Hodella was because he felt like it. I didnt have to have a reason, he said. Everybody thinks when you do the type of stuff I did, cutting people up, the egregious stuffpeople automatically think its because you had a bad childhood. They think you were molested, or ask you if you started firesI didnt do any of that. I had a perfectly normal childhood. McDonald then asked about whether he had any humanity. Gibson replied matter-of-factly I dont believe Ive got any humanity. I dont think I do. It just doesnt seem to affect me. I could kill a person and then just go out for dinner. I dont care, said Gibson. Recommended Video: Brazen Pickpockets Steal 1,000 From London Pensioner Shocking Moment When Son Violently Beats up Sick Father in Hospital A man in China was filmed violently beating up his sick father in a hospital bed. The incident which allegedly took place at the Chinese Medicine Hospital in Shunyi district in Beijing, according to a video posted to Youku, a Chinese video platform. In the footage, a younger man, who has not been identified, could be seen allegedly hitting an elderly patient in a hospital bed and yelling at him loudly. The man was filmed forcefully pulling an elderly man from the bed and asking him, Are you going to wear? The elderly man can be seen receiving intravenous therapy on his hand. After a cut in the video, the old man can be seen laying on the bed again waving his hand feebly in response. The younger man then starts to repeatedly slap the older mans chest. The person filming the incident on their cellphone did not intervene and remained quiet in the room. According to MailOnline, the hospital confirmed that the pair were father and son. It is not the first time the old man has stayed in the hospital. We tried to stop the son from beating his father, but its still happening, the spokesperson told Pear Video. The hospital did not release further information about the patient or the man but said they had referred the incident to the police. From NTD.tv Recommended Video: How Doctors in China Turn into Murderers Fifteen-year-old Morgan Geyser has been sentenced to 40 years in a mental facility for the attempted murder of a friend in order to appease a fictional horror character called Slender Man. (Flickr / Terry Robinson) Slender Man Attempted Killer Gets 40 Years in Mental Institution A Wisconsin teenager has been sentenced to 40 years in a mental hospital after she, along with another girl, admitted they tried to murder a classmate to please Slender Mana fictional character from a horror tale. Judge Michael Bohren ordered 15-year-old Morgan Geyser to serve the maximum sentence prosecutors were seeking, justifying his decision as a matter of community protection. At the hearing, doctors expressed varying opinions on the mental state of the defendant and Bohren concluded the teenager was fragile and could be driven by persistent delusions to harm herself and others. What we cant forget is this was an attempted murder, Bohren said, according to The Associated Press, in a courtroom on Thursday, Feb. 1, in Waukesha, Wisconsin. According to the BBC, Geysers lawyers said her delusions stem from schizophrenia and psychotic spectrum disorder. In earlier statements to psychiatrists, the defendant reportedly told doctors she communicates telepathically with a range of fictional characters, including Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Harry Potter. At the sentencing, Geyser expressed a tearful apology to the girl she tried to kill. I just want to let Bella and her family know that Im sorry, she said, using a nickname for Payton Leutner, who was 12 at the time of the attack. And I hope shes doing well. The other girl involved in the attack, Anissa Weier, was sentenced to 25 years in a mental facility on Dec. 21, 2017, according to a Fox News report. Geyser and Weier, who were 12 at the time of the attempted murder of Leutner in 2014, both said they were influenced by the fictional character Slender Man and wanted to kill their friend to appease him. They said they plotted to kill Leutner for five months before taking action in the ultimately botched attempt, according to the Daily Mail. The girls invited her to the local park after they had a sleepover, and stabbed her 19 times. Leutner was left for dead but crawled out of the woods and got help from a bicyclist. She survived the ordeal. Weier pleaded guilty to attempted second-degree intentional homicide last year, although she was found not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect. Geyser pleaded guilty last year to attempted first-degree intentional homicide, CNN reported, also part of a bid to avoid serving time in prison. Both girls may seek conditional release before they have served their full sentences. Recommended Video: Emotional Footage Shows Overjoyed Family After Being Reunited With Missing Dog Successful Chinese Entrepreneur Commits Suicide Mao Kankan, a successful entrepreneur who was once hailed as one of Chinas top four young IT talents, killed himself on Jan. 24. He was 34. Taiwanese newspaper Liberty Times reported that he died in his home after leaving the gas stove turned on. He did not leave a suicide note. Prior to his death, his company had encountered financial trouble. Mao founded Beijing Times Majoy Technology Co., a gaming company, in 2004. His company was said to have revolutionized the way players engaged in computer gaming. He was frequently praised in Chinese state media as an example of self-made success as a way to encourage more young people to become entrepreneurs. After his death, articles appeared on Chinese internet portals expressing grief and lamenting the unpredictable trajectory of entrepreneurs in Chinas economy. In 2015, the company entered into a joint venture with Wanjia Wenhua and became Zhejiang Wanjia Co. He served as its CEO. The joint venture did business in gaming, mobile phone animations, and internet financial services, according to Bloomberg. But the joint ventures operations were unstable. By the end of 2016, it had incurred a total debt of 43.14 million yuan (about $6.8 million). In late 2016, Chinese actress Zhao Wei and her husband Huang Youlong attempted to buy controlling shares of Zhejiang Wanjia through a firm they controlled, Tibet Longwei Culture Co., according to Reuters. But Tibet Longweis bid drew the attention of Chinas regulators. The China Securities Regulatory Commission said it made misleading statements and omissions in its disclosures during the bid. The failed bid caused Zhejiang Wanjias stocks to drop drastically. Eventually, it was taken over by another investor and renamed Zhejiang Sunriver Culture Co., according to the Liberty Times. In 2017, the new investor wanted to sell its shares and did not inject more capital into the company. Mao put up his house and car as collateral in an attempt to borrow loans. But it was not enough. In October 2017, the company closed. At the time, it owed employees about two million yuan in unpaid wages (about $316,000). The news shocked many Chinese entrepreneurs, who expressed their condolences on social media. Li Xiang, one of the fellow top entrepreneurs namedand founder of smart car company, CHJ Automotiveurged on his Weibo (Chinese equivalent of Twitter) account that media and the public respect Mao and not make unfair judgements. Ryan Folsom, 29, was killed when a woman drove into oncoming traffic on the I-5 in California. (Ryan Folsom Memorial Fund/GoFundMe) Suicidal Woman Admits to Driving Into Oncoming Traffic on Highway Which Killed Aspiring Doctor An aspiring doctor, Ryan Folsom, was heading to a job interview in Sacramento, California on Jan. 7, when he was struck by a car driving into oncoming traffic on Interstate 5, just south of Knighton Road. Grace Elizabeth Ward, who was in the other car, had spent 7 minutes and 29 seconds sitting in the median strip contemplating suicide. After hanging up on a phone call with her mother to tell her that she decided to take her own life. She then turned her vehicle, drove through an opening in the cable meant for emergency vehicles and accelerated towards incoming traffic. Three vehicles managed to narrowly escape colliding with Ward, 28, before her car crashed into Folsoms car. The cars collided with so much force that it sent Folsoms car into a ditch on the side of I-5. Her car eventually came to a stop upside down in the center median. Folsom lost his life that day, while Ward suffered a broken leg. The 29-year-old aspiring doctor was a husband and a father of twoa 4-year-old and a 2-year-old. His wife was expecting their third child in January. Ward made a choice that day. Her choice was very selfish, Shasta County District Attorney Stephanie Bridgett said, reported Record Searchlight. Her actions demonstrated a complete disregard for human life, she added. Ward admitted to investigators that she had intentionally driven into oncoming traffic on I-5 in a bid to kill herself. Investigators also said they retrieved a phone next to Wards car which she used to call her mother prior to the crash, reported KCRC News, citing a report by the California Highway Patrol. The 28-year-old is now facing one count of second-degree murder, three counts of attempted murder, three counts of assault with a deadly weapon, and one count of vandalism. A now-closed GoFundMe page set up by a friend for Folsoms family raised over $304,000 after his death. From NTD.tv Recommended Video: Corvette Chase Teen Shot in Head After Confrontation With Officers at Courthouse An 18-year-old man is in a coma after he was shot in the head during a confrontation with officers at a courthouse in Maniwaki, Quebec, Canada. The man, who wasnt identified by authorities, was in the courthouse on Wednesday, Jan. 31, for sentencing of an unspecified criminal activity, his mother, also not named, told CBC. The altercation started after the man asked for a smoke break, but was told he couldnt have one since hed already been sentenced and remanded to custody, the mother said. The man at one point seized an officers telescopic baton and hit him with it in the head, stated the Bureau des Enquetes Independantes (BEI), an independent agency investigating deaths and injuries by police using firearms. Le BEI annonce la prise en charge dune enquete a Maniwaki. Plus de details suivront. BEI Quebec (@BEIQc) January 31, 2018 8 enqueteurs ont ete charges d'enqueter sur l'evenement survenu a Maniwaki HAP 21h00 https://t.co/Lir3hjbQhT BEI Quebec (@BEIQc) January 31, 2018 A video capturing part of the incident shows an officer holding the young man by the neck and trying to force him inside a room, while the man struggles to get away from the room. After about a minute the officer manages to get the man through the door. Other men in uniform are looking on. After about another minute a gunshot is heard from the room. Both the man and the officer were taken to a hospital. The officer has since been released. MAJ Maniwaki. Les enqueteurs ont quitte la scene a 05h35 ce matin. L'enquete se poursuit. BEI Quebec (@BEIQc) February 1, 2018 The officer was a special constable, part of a force stationed at courthouses. Quebec special constables union President Franck Perales said the video showed only one special constable at the scene. The other men in uniform may have been private security guards. Perales said the union is pushing for more constables and criticizes the use of private security guards, who, he said, lack the training to handle similar situations. The mother said her son was shot near his nose and the bullet was lodged in his neck. Recommended Video: Neighbors React to Parents Arrest After Their 13 Children Found Shackled, Malnourished in Home Texas Mom Admits to Beating Daughter for Years With Table Leg, Cowboy Boot A Texas mother has admitted to beating her daughter for years after the girl was rushed to the hospital following the latest beating, according to police. Eunice Alvarez Augusto, 30, confessed to using a variety of objects to beat her daughter for the past three years, investigators told News4. The Austin resident said she used a leather belt, an extension cord, the heel of a cowboy boot, and even a piece of wood she believes was once a table leg, to hit the girl. She also slapped her daughter in the face repeatedly. The 10-year-old was rushed to the hospital after she told a Child Protective Services investigator at school on Jan. 19 about the beatings. Doctors at Dell Childrens Medical Center found that the child had two lower spine fractures as well as a scalp hematoma, two hand healing fractures, and a left leg injury, reported KVUE. They said the injuries were a result of prolonged child physical abuse, reported KXAN. Augusto told officers that she would hit the out of control girl with whatever was nearby and that she goes blind when disciplining her child. Augusto said she had a bad temper and at certain points, worried that her beatings would kill her daughter. Besides the beatings, the girl told police that her mother made her stand nude in a cold shower with buckets of ice while her mother hit her with a stick. Doctors think the girls scars will lead to permanent disfigurement, and the injury to her left thigh will result in permanent swelling, reported News4. Augusto has been charged with injury to a child, a first-degree felony. If convicted, she would go to jail from five to 99 years depending on the sentencing. From NTD.tv Recommended Video: President Donald Trump: Year 1 Guns seized by the New York Police Department in the largest seizure of illegal guns in the city's history, are displayed during a press conference, Aug. 19, 2013 in New York City. (Andrew Burton/Getty Images) Three Men Arrested for Smuggling Firearms into New York City Three men were arrested in New York City Thursday night for selling smuggled firearms to undercover police. Maquan Moore, 29, originally of Florida, and Morris Wilson, of Orlando, Florida, were arrested on the night of Feb.1 after the last of three separate illegal firearms purchases made by undercover NYPD detectives and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosive agents. The third man was arrested later. The three men ran a gun-running ring from Florida to New York City. PIX11 reports that Wilson would board a bus in Florida with a load of firearms, hand them off in New York City to Maquan, and Maquan would deliver the illegal weapons to the third man who worked in an Equinox Fitness Club in Greenwich Village. That man used storage lockers at the gym to hide the guns until they were sold. The three were arrested after a long-term investigation by NYPD undercover detectives and ATF agents, which resulted in the seizure of at least 50 weapons, brought into New York on three separate trips, 850WFTL reports. NBC-New York reported that the first load was transported in October 2017. After police arranged the buys, the exchanges were made outside the gym. These weapons included several 9mm pistols, a .380 Kahr pistol, and an AR-15 assault-style rifle. Moore worked as a security guard at the 9/11 Memorial and Museum. Wilsons age and place of employment have not be released. The name of the Equinox gym employee has also not yet been revealed. A representative for Equinox where the guns were stored told PIX11, We are fully cooperating with the authorities to gather as much information as possible at this time. Federal prosecutors are expected to release specific charges and detailed information during the day of Friday, Feb. 2. New York City has long been the point of sale for weapons purchased in the Southern states, where lax gun-law enforcement makes mass buys easier. Guns travel north up the I-95 corridor and are sold on the streets of New York to people who possibly could not buy firearms legally, or who would not want their names associated with particular weapons. About 90 percent of these firearms are smuggled into New York from places like Georgia, Virginia, the Carolinas, and Florida, PIX11 reported. From NTD.tv Recommended Video: Firefighter Going Over 100 mph Before Deadly Crash Toyota Recalls 49,000 Toyota and Lexus Vehicles Over Airbags At least 49,000 Toyota and Lexus vehicles have been recalled over an airbag problem, according to the company. The firm said that 2016 Prius and Lexus RX vehicles are being recalled for safety reasons. The involved vehicles have air bag systems where an open circuit could be created over time. If this were to occur, the air bag warning light will illuminate and the side and curtain shield air bags and/or front air bags may not deploy. Air bag non-deployment could increase the risk of injury to the occupants in the event of a crash, it said in a news release. Lexus and Toyota dealers will inspect the serial number of the airbag sensors and replace them with new ones, if needed. All known owners will receive a notification by first-class mail starting in late March 2018, the firm said. According to Auto Week, a Toyota spokesperson declined to state whether the company is aware of any injuries or crashes related to the recall. The spokesperson cited a company policy. Other details about the recall were not disclosed. Recommended Video: How Doctors in China Turn into Murderers Joshua Wong (C), one of three Nobel Peace Prize nominees who led the 2014 pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong, chats with student leaders during the protests, on Nov. 18, 2014. (Benjamin Chasteen/The Epoch Times) US Congress Members Nominate Hong Kong Democracy Protest Leaders for Nobel Peace Prize HONG KONGA dozen members of the U.S. Congress have nominated Hong Kongs pro-democracy movement and its most prominent student leaders for this years Nobel Peace Prize. In nominating Joshua Wong, 21, and his colleagues Nathan Law, 24, and Alex Chow, 27, who led tens of thousands in the former British colonys largest pro-democracy protest in late 2014, the lawmakers wanted to recognize their peaceful efforts to bring political reform and self-determination to Hong Kong. The protests were part of a populist uprising that became a major political challenge for Chinese Communist Party rulers in Beijing, who took control of the territory from the British in 1997, as part of the terms of the Sino-British Joint Declaration. The Declaration guaranteed the one country, two systems principle, which promises Hong Kong a high degree of autonomy and freedoms not enjoyed in mainland China, such as freedom of speech and an independent judiciary. But many observers see a gradual erosion of those freedoms since 1997. Meanwhile, dissent against the Partys encroaching influence in Hong Kong has drawn Beijings ire. Hong Kongs pro-democracy advocates have made significant contributions to peace by actively seeking to safeguard the future of Hong Kong at precisely the time that Beijing has taken steps to undermine Hong Kongs long-cherished autonomy, four Democrats and eight Republicans, including former presidential hopeful Marco Rubio, told the Nobel Peace Prize Committee in a letter. If Wong wins, he would be the second youngest person to receive a Nobel Prize after Pakistans Malala Yousafzai, who was 17 when she became a laureate in 2014. The winner will be announced in October. Tens of thousands of protesters, some wielding umbrellas to shield themselves from tear gas and pepper spray attacks by local police, set up camp in the citys major thoroughfares for 79 days in late 2014, demonstrations which grabbed international headlines and social media attention. The protests were dubbed the #UmbrellaMovement. But the mostly peaceful protests failed to pressure Hong Kong and Beijing authorities to grant citizens universal suffrage to vote for the citys leader. Critics have decried a series of subsequent payback incidents, including months-long jail terms for the Peace Prize-nominated trio and, most recently, a ban on Wongs ally, Agnes Chow, from running in a legislature by-election. Hong Kong authorities have denied political interference, saying everything was done in accordance with the law. Wong, who faces two appeals over separate jail sentences, said he hoped the nomination would give more bargaining power to the citys democratic movement. I believe the nomination would show the international community and [Chinese leader] Xi Jinping how the young generation will persist in fighting for democracy, even if we have to face imprisonment or a permanent ban from public office, Wong said. The nominations provoked anger from Beijing, who say the city is an inalienable part of China. In a statement sent to Reuters, Chinas Foreign Ministry said that Wong and the others involved in the protests had been punished in accordance with the law. We urge the relevant U.S. Congressmen to stop interfering in Hong Kong and Chinas internal affairs, and do more to benefit the development of Sino-U.S. ties rather than the opposite, it said. Chinas only Nobel Peace Prize winner, dissident intellectual Liu Xiaobo, died last July, becoming the first Nobel Laureate to die in custody since Carl von Ossietzky died under Nazi Germanys watch in 1938. His wife, Liu Xia, said to suffer from severe depression, is still under effective house arrest. Reporting by Venus Wu and Ben Blanchard. Annie Wu of The Epoch Times contributed to this report. US Life Expectancy Just DroppedAgain What we can do to stop the trend The United States gross domestic product is at an all-time high. Unfortunately, U.S. life expectancy is not. Life expectancy has fallen for the second time in two yearsfrom a high of 78.9 years in 2014 to 78.6 years in 2016. And it fell across the boardfor men and women, whites, blacks, and Hispanics. Statistics show that thousands were preventable, premature deaths. Life expectancy is not supposed to fall in countries that are this rich, spend this much on health, and pride themselves on taking care of each other. As a demographer working in a school of public health, I am astounded by the complacency at the loss of so many Americans in the prime of life. Where can we turn for leadership? What can each of us do about the crisis? Public health has answers. The modern practice of public health is about building community coalitions to support many simultaneous strategies across different sectors. The public health problems of the 20th century were not solved by magic bullets; it took massive social change and political enlightenment. It will take nothing less in the 21st century. Life Expectancy Through History Between 1880 and 1945, U.S. life expectancy rose from 40 to 65 years old. And, until 2014, life expectancy continued to rise. In high-income countries in Western Europe and Asiasuch as Korea, Singapore, and Francelife expectancy has advanced well above 80. But the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that the death count for Americans under 65 rose by 20,566 between 2015 and 2016. Based on population growth alone, one would have expected only 6,131 additional deaths. The other 14,435 Americans died prematurely of causes that could have prevented. The extra American funerals were for people dying in their 20s, 30s, 40s, and 50s. Their death certificates list mostly overdoses from opioids and other substances, cirrhosis, suicide, and homicide. The Role of Public Health Public health is the profession devoted to identifying health threats, notifying the community and securing solutions from both private and public sectors. Bacteria in the milk supply? Unsafe vehicles? Insufficient vitamins? Public health professionals have sounded the alarm and spurred effective countermeasures. Their professional tools include epidemiology, communications, economics, law and, most importantly, political coalitions. However, modern scourges like addiction, suicide, and despair do not have easy solutions. We know partial remedies include funding addiction treatment, more access to the overdose antidote naloxone, better prescribing patterns and drug enforcement. None is sufficient alone. No single measure addresses the long pipeline that generates addiction in the first place. Community vulnerability to diseases of despair like suicide and addiction comes from a failure of social solidarity. Sociologists regularly observe an inverse relationship between suicide rates and national markers for social trust. Public health can bring us together to tackle our current nemesis. Public Health 3.0 Were already seeing how potential solutions to these problems can take shape. In 2016, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services introduced a new strategic blueprint called Public Health 3.0. The plan asks for the nations public health officials to gather citizens, local businesses, hospitals, schools, and other government agencies to understand and respond to modern health threats. The core of the strategy has been asking for health officers to become conveners and facilitators of local solutions. In Wilkes County, North Carolina, a Public Health 3.0-type approach to the opioid epidemic just finished its 10th year. Known as Project Lazarus, the communitys initiatives led to a nine percent reduction in mortality. The county got pharmacists and health professionals to train health care providers on diversion, forgery, and better pain management. They were able to engage their hospital emergency departments in new pain management policies. They expanded the availability of drug rehabilitation, promoted naloxone rescue kits, and mapped out safe pill drop locations. The critical foundation for all of this activity was an ongoing set of coalition meetings for citizens, health directors, school superintendents, sheriffs, hospital leaders, and mental health professionals. Leadership and energy came from both the government and the private sector. Public Health 3.0 has been hard to pull off, even though it doesnt require a major federal initiative. The public health workforce has a comfort zone in crunching numbers and running programs to control one disease at a time. Health departments raise much of their funds by writing disease-focused grants to state and federal agencies. There is scarce time or priority for the effort to convene communities. Few grants anywhere pay for the hard work of rallying citizens. Nevertheless, health officers do community organizing because there is no better way to prevent disease. We already have public health professionals in every American state and county. Its time for this profession to rise to the challenge of engaging not just the government, but all citizens in unifying communities to address the growing despair that has afflicted our minds and bodies. David Bishai is a professor of health economics at Johns Hopkins University. This article was originally published on The Conversation. US Says Syria May Be Developing New Types of Chemical Weapons WASHINGTONThe Syrian government may be developing new types of chemical weapons, and U.S. President Donald Trump is prepared to consider further military action if necessary to deter chemical attacks, senior U.S. officials said on Thursday. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said the United States is extremely concerned about reports that Syrian forces had carried out another chlorine gas attack this week in the eastern Ghouta area. President Bashar al-Assad is believed to have secretly kept part of Syrias chemical weapons stockpile despite a U.S.-Russian deal under which Damascus was supposed to have handed over all such weapons for destruction in 2014, the officials said. Assads forces have instead evolved their chemical weapons and made continued occasional use of them in smaller amounts since a deadly attack last April that drew a U.S. missile strike on a Syrian air base, the officials told reporters in a briefing. Characteristics of some of those recent attacks suggest that Syria may be developing new weapons and methods for delivering poison chemicals, possibly to make it harder to trace their origin, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity, but they declined to provide specifics. A deadly sarin attack on a rebel-held area in April prompted Trump to order a missile strike last year on the Shayrat air base, from which the Syrian operation is said to have been launched. We reserve the right to use military force to prevent or deter the use of chemical weapons, one official said. A second official said that the Trump administration hopes that stepped-up international sanctions and diplomatic pressure will help rein in Assads chemical weapons program. If the international community does not act quickly to tighten the screws on Assad, Syrias chemical weapons could spread beyond its borders and possibly even to U.S. shores, the second official said. It will spread if we dont do something, the official warned. The officials echoed U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillersons recent accusation that Russia, Assads ally in Syrias multi-sided civil war, bears some responsibility for failing to enforce the chemical weapons ban. Russia has denied any complicity, and the Syrian government has said it has not carried out any of the attacks. The U.S. officials suggested that if left unchecked there would be more smaller chemical attacks as an instrument of terror to compensate for Assads lack of adequate manpower to retake some opposition-held areas. They think they can get away with it if they keep it under a certain level, an official said. Western officials have cast suspicion on the Syrian government for a chlorine gas attack on a rebel-held enclave east of Damascus last week that sickened at least 13 people. The U.S. officials also said ISIS terrorists have sporadically used chemical weapons such as sulfur mustard and chlorine, some via improvised explosive devices, a more rudimentary tactic than those of the Syrian government. By Matt Spetalnick Recommended Video: President Donald Trump: Year 1 Wang Qishan, former member of the Politburo Standing Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, attends the opening session of the National People's Congress in Beijing's Great Hall of the People on March 5, 2017. (Wang Zhao/AFP/Getty Images) Wang Qishan, Chinas Former Anti-Graft Czar, Gets a New Political Post Analysts weigh in on what Wangs new role means Former Chinese Communist Party heavyweight Wang Qishan was a figure to be feared. For the past five years, he led the Partys anti-corruption campaign to purge the ranks of misbehaving officialsmany of whom also happened to be members of the opposing faction to the current leadership. More than a million officials were taken down in that period. But when it came time for the Partys once-in-five-years leadership transition, Xi couldnt keep his right-hand man by his side. Wang had reached the retirement age for senior posts set by Party convention. In the battle for power with the opposition factionthose loyal to former leader Jiang ZeminWang was kicked out of the Politburo Standing Committee, the Partys most powerful decision-making body. Many China watchers wondered if that would be the end of Wangs political career, or if Xi had something else in mind for his ally. On Jan. 29, there appeared clues about Wangs future. Wang was selected as a representative for Hunan Province within Chinas rubber-stamp legislature, the National Peoples Congress. It is highly unusual for a retired Politburo Standing Committee member to be assigned to this postespecially as Wang had not received any other official appointment after the leadership transition in October 2017. After the news was announced, the Hong Kong Economic Journal predicted that the appointment would pave the way for Wang to become vice-chair when the Congress convenes in March. Citing an anonymous official with an understanding of the Chinese leaderships thinking, the Wall Street Journal reported that Xi is tasking Wang with diplomatic affairs with the United States. According to the official, Wangs reputation as a problem-solver who can handle crises has come in handy amid growing tensions between the two countries over trade and other issues. However, Epoch Times political commentator Xia Xiaoqiang noted that the vice-chair position does not have concrete responsibilities, and is more of a symbolic role. In fact, in history, there have been non-Party members who became vice-chairs, such as Song Qingling [wife of Sun Yat-sen, founder of the first republic of China] and Rong Yiren [once denounced as capitalist]. Xia believed Wangs new appointment was a signal to the Jiang faction that the Xi camp still has the upper hand. But it remains to be seen whether Wang will have real power. Hu Ping, a U.S.-based commentator, also felt the significance of Wangs role has yet to be determined. The scope of his powers depends on how much Xi decides to assign to the roleas the vice chair essentially acts an assistant to the Party leader. It could be a figurehead role with no real power or a very important role, he said. But given Xis demonstrated trust for Wang, Hu believes it is likely Wang could be the most powerful vice chair in Chinese Communist Party history. Meanwhile, China scholar Xie Xuanjun told Radio Free Asia that he believes Wangs political resurgence is to help Xi serve another term as leader in 2022as Xi would then be breaking Party convention to allow himself to serve a third term. Gu Qinger contributed to this report. Congress Releases Report at Center of Government Spying Scandal Following White House removal of classified status from House Intelligence Committee memo, committee releases it A bombshell House Intelligence Committee memo released on Feb. 2 shows that top officials in the Obama administration abused surveillance powers to spy on the Trump team. The report shows how the top leadership in the FBI and the DOJ applied for a warrant to spy on a Trump associate by using a dossier they knew was compiled by a biased source and contained unverified claims. According to initial excerpts from the document obtained by the Washington Examiner, the unverified anti-Trump dossier paid for by Hillary Clinton was the essential part of the initial application to surveil Carter Page. The dossier was used again for the three renewal applications. The report reveals that FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe confirmed that FBI would not seek a surveillance warrant without the information in the opposition dossier. Worse yet, the report found that senior FBI and DOJ officials knew of the dossiers political origins, but did not include the information on warrant applications to the FISA court. Finally, the House Intelligence report shows that Bruce Ohr met with the dossiers author, former British spy Christopher Steele, in the summer of 2016 and relayed to the DOJ leadership that Steele was biased against Trump. Steele told Ohr that he was passionate about Trump not being elected president. Reacting to the contents of the memo, President Donald Trump told reporters in the oval office on Friday that: I think its terrible, its a disgrace, whats going on in this country, its a disgrace. A lot of people should be ashamed, he said. McCabe resigned on Monday hours before the intelligence committee voted to make the memo public. Trump had five days to make the declassification official and signed the order shortly before noon today. The FBI and DOJ stonewalled the House Intelligence Committee for months and only gave up the information once threatened with contempt charges. Once the memo was compiled, the Justice Department worked with Democrats and prominent liberal media figures to mount fierce opposition to the documents public release. The memo is only part of what the committee discovered during its investigation. According to the Washington Examiner, the fight may repeat soon as the committee members press to release more details. Why Does China Suddenly Want to Crack Down on Gangs? China has announced that it is undertaking a massive sweep to clean out criminal gangs. The orders came from the top. During a recent political meeting on Jan. 11, Chinese leader Xi Jinping made it clear: We need to combine anti-corruption with sweeping out gangs and eliminating evil forces. We need to catch the gang-related organizations, and catch the protectors behind them. On Jan. 24, the central authorities sent out a notice declaring the effort to clean out gangs and their protectors a major political task, asking all local Party committees and governments to place it at a prominent position amid ones work. This past week, Chinese state media ran reports detailing how high-level officials colluded with notorious gangs, a publicity campaign to get the public behind the regimes latest move. Why is the regime suddenly so devoted to this cause? Social Stability For a long time, gangs have served as for-hire thugs when businesses get into disputes or need to chase down someone who owes them money. A recent example has captured Chinese media attention. On Jan. 27, the head of a hospital in Langfang City, Hebei Province, identified as Mr. Zhang, jumped out from his office window and died. Soon after, a suicide note purportedly from Mr. Zhang was circulated online. It detailed how after the hospital, which was founded by Zhang, partnered with a local real estate company to run operations, the two sides entered into disputes about finances and hospital management. Zhang wrote that in October 2017, while on his way to visit his parents, four men in masks emerged from a car and proceeded to beat him. One of his legs was broken. On Jan. 31, local police said they discovered that the four thugs were hired by a Mr. Zhao, who was in turn instructed by Yang Yuzhong, Zhangs business partner. Yang also happens to be a local Party representative to the National Peoples Congress, Chinas rubber-stamp legislature. Organizationally, it [the gang cleanup campaign] is like inspecting and drilling your troops. Chen Kuide, executive director, China Initiative, Princeton University By initiating a campaign to clean up criminal gangs, the Chinese regime is maintaining social stability, said Chen Kuide, a China scholar and executive director of Princeton Universitys China Initiative, during an interview with Voice of America (VOA). The phrase is used to describe efforts to stamp out anything that could cause social unrest or dissent against the authorities. Criminal gangs and their violent activities could cause public disturbance, so the regimes purported crackdown can act as a deterrence, said Chen. Corrupt Police Gangs and police in China often form an alliance to benefit each other: gangs bribe the police to get them off the hook, while police and corrupt officials can have gang members do their bidding. The Chinese regime gave the prominent example of Liu Han, a big mafia boss in Sichuan Province who was ultimately brought down and executed by the state in February 2015. But before his downfall, he was protected by officials high and low: The Chinese Communist Partys anti-corruption agency ran an article in its mouthpiece newspaper on Jan. 28 detailing how officials in the public security bureaus (essentially police stations) of Deyang and Shifang cities would often get treated to banquets and liquor by Lius gang. They, in turn, provided gang members with weapons and bullets. The gangs biggest protector was Zhou Yongkang, the disgraced former security czar who was sentenced to life imprisonment on bribery charges. Two other state media, Beijing Daily, and CCTV ran articles explaining Zhous ties with Liu. In 2001, Liu first won favor with the Sichuan party secretary and Zhous son, Zhou Binby buying up the latters struggling tourism project for millions more than it was worth. In return, when Liu wanted to buy up a mine in Yunnan, Zhou Yongkang made a phone call to the Yunnan party secretary on his behalf. Liu ended up buying controlling shares of the mine for one billion yuan (about $159 million). Liu made most of his money through mining. His front company, Hanlong Group, was the largest private firm in Sichuan. When Liu wished to off his business rival, Yuan Baojing, Zhou, and his son arranged for Yuans and his brothers arrests. They were all sentenced to death in 2006. Remnants of a Political Enemy The mention of Zhou, the most powerful official purged in Xi Jinpings anti-corruption campaign, also hints at the deeper political reasons for the gang cleanup. Zhou was the head of the Central Political and Legal Affairs Committee, which at the time, controlled all aspects of law enforcement, from the police to courts. The gang cleanup implies the Xi regime wants to clear out any remaining corrupt officials who were under Zhous influence, according to China commentator Xia Xiaoqiang. Zhou and his circle were particularly dangerous to Xi because they were planning to stage a coup and allow the opposing faction to rule the Party. The gang cleanup will be a test of loyalty within Chinas law enforcement to see who will listen to Xi. Organizationally, it [the gang cleanup campaign] is like inspecting and drilling your troops, Chen Kuide said in his interview with VOA. He also offered the theory that the central authorities may be using the campaign to shake down gangsas many local authorities are struggling financially. The IMF estimated that Chinas debt will total 2.55 times its GDP. American-based Chinese economist Dr. Cheng Xiaonong estimated that out of Chinas 31 provinces and directly governed municipalities, 25 are in debt. Wen Pu, Li Wenhui, and Fang Xiao contributed to this report. Womans Body Found to Be Sitting at Mortuary for More Than a Year The body of an Ohio woman has been at a mortuary in Cincinnati for more than a year. Nancy Jo Roberts died of what appeared to be natural causes related to a heart failure in December 2016. Its unclear why Robertss body has not been buried yet, reported Fox19 in an investigative story. Roberts was developmentally disabled and taken care of at a group home, with Joe Stenger assigned as her guardian because no family lived nearby. The family told the broadcaster they werent informed of the assignment. Stenger visited Roberts monthly but in a call to the family after Robertss death, he said he had nothing more to do with her. Many months later, the odor from Roberts un-embalmed body triggered an investigation of Premium Mortuary Services. Anybody would ask, Why? Why would you still have a body for a year? said Poul Lemasters, a death care attorney who represented Casey Liston, owner of Premium Mortuary Services, throughout the investigation. And until you know and understand thatlegally because we have no other choice, there is nothing we can do. Cincinnati News, FOX19-WXIX TV Liston claimed that legally the company could do nothing without consent from the family or guardian, a death certificate, and a few other pieces of information. Cant cremate. Cant bury, Lemasters said, replying to questions asked by Fox19. (When it comes to Roberts), you hold her and keep her in the most dignified way you can. The mortuary was shut down in August 2017 after mold and maggots were found. The family said theyre just hearing about the case now and are upset. Had we done an autopsy last year, we would have a cause of death and a death certificate and my aunt would be at peace and the family would have closure on this, nephew Dave Lord said. From NTD.tv Recommended Video: High School Students Surprise Sweetest Janitor With New Work Boots for Christmas Special Events Friday, Feb. 2 A Couple of Couples Paintings and Photography Art Exhibition and Reception, 6-7:30 p.m. Wilton Librarys art exhibition this month features two very talented couples. Artists Julie Leff and Charles Douthat live in Weston and artist Leona Frank lives in Westport with her husband, photographer Richard Frank. The exhibition showcases more than 60 of their works in a variety of media including oil, acrylic, charcoal drawings and photography with subject matter encompassing portraits, still life, abstracts, botanicals, landscapes and more. Reception free and open to the public. Exhibition runs through Feb. 23. Most works available for purchase with a portion of the proceeds benefiting the library. Saturday, Feb. 3 Take Your Child to the Library to See Animal Embassy!, 10:30-11:30 a.m. Take your child to Wilton Library for a fun and educational program with Animal Embassy. Animal Embassy will show how animals prepare for winter in a variety of ways. Some migrate, some get new fur coats, some hibernate and some store food to last through the winter. Animal Embassy will help children to define and understand terms such as hibernation, migration, and adaptation. Families will meet a variety of animals such as a rabbit, a ferret, an African bullfrog, a South American chinchillas, an axolotl and more. Supported by the Amadeo Family. Registration required, ages 4 and up with caregivers. Register online or call 203-762-6336. Now through Wednesday, Feb. 28 2018 Winter Reading Olympics at Wilton Library During the 2018 Winter Olympic Games, young readers will have to complete different reading challenges, inspired by Olympic events, in order to place in bronze, silver or gold. Register Feb. 1 through Feb. 9. Children must be able to read on their own. Saturday, Feb. 3 (Not) Just for Kids Sounds from the Heart: Strings, 3-4 p.m. The Norwalk Symphony Orchestra (Not) Just For Kids program is a lively, fun and interactive program designed to be educational as well as entertaining. Members of the orchestra demonstrate their string instruments, play for the children, and answer questions in this hourlong presentation. All programs end with attendees having a chance to hold and try to play a beginning level instrument in the 'Petting Zoo.' Series schedule on Saturdays: March 10, 2018 Tap! Bang! Boom! Percussion; May 12, 2018 Soft and Sweet Winds. No charge. Registration recommended. Register online or call 203-762-6336. Monday, Feb. 5 through March 19 More Sign, Say, and Play, 10:15-10:45 a.m. The Baby Signs Program teaches caregivers and children from 6 months of age to the toddler stage signs for everyday activities so they can communicate before the child can speak fluently. Each workshop session focuses on one everyday activity. The signs are learned through activities, songs, and a book. Every participant will go home with a handout. There will be 6 workshop programs. There is no session Feb. 19. Please register for each session separately. Ages 6 months to toddlers with caregivers. Register online or call 203-762-6336. Tuesday, Feb. 6 Random Acts of Kindness (RAKtivist) Club for Middleschoolers, 3:30-5:30 p.m. We're looking for students in grades 6-8 who would like to join RAKtivists a world-wide movement which practices Random Acts of Kindness. On the first or second Tuesday of every month we'll do something nice and think of ways to spread kindness and put smiles on peoples faces. We'll bake cookies for a senior living community, make dog and cat toys for animal shelters, decorate gingerbread houses for local agencies, read to the elderly and more. Additional dates: 3/6, 4/3, & 5/1. Full seasons commitment is highly encouraged. Sponsored by the John & Patricia Curran Teen Fund. Registration required. Register online or call 203-762-6342. Thursday, Feb. 8, 15 & 22 Winter Poetry with Judson Scruton: Poetry, Power, and Politics, 10:30 a.m. to 12 p.m. Judson Scruton leads this four-part series exploring the key speeches and their contexts in four of Shakespeare's plays: A Midsummer Nights Dream, Twelfth Night, Henry IV Part One, and Julius Caesar. Judson Scruton, M.A (The Johns Hopkins University, The Writing Seminars, specializing in poetry), has taught creative writing and literature at prep schools and universities. He is currently an Adjunct Professor of English at Fairfield University. Poetry packets available at front desk. No charge for the program. Advance registration required. Register online or call 203-762-6334. Classes in Innovation Station this week include Saturday, Feb. 3: Embroider or Monogram a Valentines Day Gift, 12-2 p.m. American Consumer News, LLC dba MarketBeat 2010-2021. All rights reserved. 326 E 8th St #105, Sioux Falls, SD 57103 | U.S. Based Support Team at [email protected] | (844) 978-6257 MarketBeat does not provide personalized financial advice and does not issue recommendations or offers to buy stock or sell any security. Our Accessibility Statement | Terms of Service | Do Not Sell My Information 2021 Market data provided is at least 10-minutes delayed and hosted by Barchart Solutions. Information is provided 'as-is' and solely for informational purposes, not for trading purposes or advice, and is delayed. To see all exchange delays and terms of use please see disclaimer. Fundamental company data provided by Zacks Investment Research. InterXion Holding N.V. provides carrier and cloud-neutral colocation data center services in France, Germany, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Ireland, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland. The company enables its customers to connect to a range of telecommunications carriers, cloud platforms, Internet service providers, and other customers. Its data centers acts as content, cloud, and connectivity hubs that facilitate the processing, storage, sharing, and distribution of data between its customers. The company offers colocation services, including space and power to deploy IT infrastructure in its data centers; a range of output voltages and currents; connectivity services that enable its customers to connect their IT infrastructure to exchange traffic and access cloud platforms; and systems monitoring, systems management, engineering support, and data backup and storage services, as well as installs and manages physical connections running from its customers' equipment to the equipment of its telecommunications carriers, Internet service providers, Internet exchange customers, and other customers. It provides its services to telecom operators, Internet service providers, and content delivery networks; content and cloud providers; and enterprises through direct sales forces, as well as through tradeshows, networking events, and industry seminars. As of December 31, 2018, it operated 51 carrier and cloud neutral colocation data centers in 13 metropolitan areas in 11 countries. The company is also involved in real estate management/holding businesses. InterXion Holding N.V. was incorporated in 1998 and is headquartered in Hoofddorp, the Netherlands. Read More On Demand We have a new story every day on the front page of thephuketnews.com. Also like us on our Facebook page (facebook.com/thephuketnews) and be the first to watch all the new stories. Finally you can watch any segment, any time by going to thephuketnews.com/tv where all the stories are listed for you to enjoy. All our programs can be enjoyed in High Definition when watching on the internet. In-Room VDO SAN FRANCISCOIts been about a year since Rishi Gorantala deleted the Facebook app from his phone, and the company has only gotten more aggressive in its emails to win him back. The social network started out by alerting him every few days about friends that had posted photos or made comments each time inviting him to click a link and view the activity on Facebook. He rarely did. Then, about once a week in September, he started to get prompts from a Facebook security customer-service address. It looks like youre having trouble logging into Facebook, the emails would say. Just click the button below and well log you in. If you werent trying to log in, let us know. Read more: Facebook reports drop in North American users, record revenue after news feed changes Thinking about using Facebooks kids app? Dont do it, child experts warn parents As Facebook changes its News Feed, advertisers see video ambitions He wasnt trying. But he doesnt think anybody else was, either. The content of mail they send is essentially trying to trick you, said Gorantala, 35, who lives in Chile. Like someone tried to access my account so I should go and log in. Facebook, which has more than 2 billion people logging in monthly, has never failed to grow its user base. To beat investors expectations consistently on user numbers, its just as important for the company to retain people like Gorantala as it is to recruit new members. People who are logging into Facebook less often but arent fully disconnected are noticing more and more frequent prompts to come back, sometimes multiple times a day, via emails or text messages reminding them what theyre missing out on, according to screenshots and reports from users around the world. Gorantala, who eased off his Facebook usage because of privacy concerns, said his security prompt comes whenever I dont log in for a few days. Even with regular users, Facebook has become thirstier for posts. The social networks reminder boxes at the top of the news feed, which often show memories or anniversaries of friendship with close pals, have recently become real estate for more trivial milestones like being tagged in 10 photos with someone or getting 100 heart reactions. Chief executive officer Mark Zuckerberg said earlier this year that Facebook was going to rethink the formula for its news feed to put an emphasis on posts from friends and family, downplaying content from brands and media. The company will emphasize time well spent, aiming for meaningful interactions that will be better for users long-term. It cautioned that the changes could cause some measures of engagement to go down, because people may spend less time on the app reading articles and watching videos. On Wednesday, Sheryl Sandberg, Facebooks chief operating officer, said the companys advertising business is strong, despite weakness in key areas time spent and average daily users. Fourth-quarter sales rose 47 per cent year-over-year to $12.97 billion (U.S.), topping estimates. The stock initially fell as much as 5.2 per cent in after-hours trading after the company reported a drop in time spent by users on the site and the first-ever decline in North American daily users. But multiple analysts raised their price targets for the stock, noting that the changes wont affect revenue growth or Facebooks ability to make money off its users. Theres still plenty of room to grow in the mobile-advertising market, which Facebook dominates alongside Alphabet Inc.s Google, the digital-ad leader. This quarter, revenue will probably see a boost from people watching video ads. And no matter what happens with the flagship Facebook app, the company owns several other huge platforms for communicating with friends Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger that are just starting to seriously generate revenue. Still, investors are watching for any comments or clues about audience growth and user habits. Bumps in the trend line are a reminder that Facebooks continued dominance is not inevitable, and any protracted decline in engagement could eventually curb its appeal to advertisers. In order to count as a monthly active user, someone must have logged into or shared content on Facebook at least once in the last 30 days of the quarter. Facebooks biggest barrier to growth is its already-unprecedented size. The internet, in total, has about 3.6 billion users. For the roughly 1.6 billion of those who arent regular Facebook users, almost half are likely in China, where Facebook is banned by the government. For the rest, its unclear how many do have accounts that they just dont use, or decided to delete. Facebook says there are many reasons why users might get notifications from the company. Were always looking for ways to help people access their accounts more quickly and easily, especially when there are notifications from friends they may have missed, spokesperson Lisa Stratton said in an email. The new mini-celebrations, for occasions such as a milestone number of photos tagged with a particular friend, were rolled out in August because focus groups told Facebook they liked celebrating memories. Its standard for all types of companies to use email and text messages to re-engage their customers. Facebooks stand out for their frequency and personalization, users said. The company does it because it works. Kuldeep Patil, 32, deleted the app from his phone many months ago and says he gets at least two messages wooing him back each day. They used to be related to people that were interacting with his account, tagging him in photos or inviting him to like pages. Like Gorantala, Patil, who lives in India, decreased his usage due to concerns over Facebook tracking his activity. He said the messages have gotten more annoying recently as they start to flag updates that hes not even involved with a person from his past commenting on his or her own photo, for example. But sometimes, he admits, hell click. I guess thats why I havent deleted the account yet, Patil said. But after clicking, while hes scrolling through the feed, he gets uncomfortable watching the same bunch of people posting only good things. Hell close it quickly. Its that kind of activity idle scrolling to compare ones own life to others that even Facebook admits is depressing. As part of a reckoning over the companys impact on society, Facebook released a study in December that acknowledged it could be harmful for peoples mental health to use the app passively, reading others posts without contributing or reacting. If people interact with their close friends, commenting and sharing, that can actually positively impact mental health, the study concluded. That helped inform Zuckerbergs decision to focus on friends and family in the news feed. In other words, the solution for the ills of Facebook, in Facebooks academic opinion, is more Facebook. Its convenient, said Judson Brewer, director of research at University of Massachusetts Medical Schools Center for Mindfulness, who has written about technology addiction. It all sounds great, that they want to do this, but they still need to keep their user base because thats how they make money. As Facebook has continued to grow, its given users many reasons for malaise. There was the situation that sparked the companys rethinking of its mission the revelation that Russia had for months used the site to spread fake news and sow social discord around the 2016 U.S. presidential election and also a sprinkling of mini-crises, like live-streamed violent videos and the uncovering of racist ad-targeting options. But several users said their reasons for tuning out Facebook usage were much simpler: It was overwhelming. It wasnt fun. It was too public. The longer people use Facebook, the more people they become connected with, and the less intimate the feed feels. Gorantala became conscious of how much the site knew about him, as well as his activity on the rest of the internet. He felt it would be too extreme to delete his Facebook account entirely. It still contained a record of photos of him, and some social contacts that werent on his phone. Several others said they remained users, but not frequent ones, because they werent sure how to actually delete their accounts. On the website, a user has to put in a request to Facebook to have an account deleted. But many people choose the simpler deactivate option instead, which preserves all their data should they choose to come back. Brewer said his wife makes the choice to deactivate frequently, then gets the emails and comes back to Facebook. Rogerio Pereira, a user in Portugal, said among his friends its understood that theres only one way to make sure you never go back. You must ask your friend to say youre dead so they convert your account into a memorial, he said. Read more about: A year ago, the Toronto region real estate market was so hot builders were towing cars to try to control the crowding at their sales centres. Thats the environment in which Dionne Thompson bought a house in Mattamy Homes Queens Common development in Whitby last January. Fast forward 12 months, and Thompson and her future neighbours say they have been devastated to learn that their builder is selling nearly identical houses for significantly less money. Mattamy, the countrys largest home builder, says the buyers are victims of a softer housing market in recent months, and pre-construction homes are vulnerable to those conditions in the same way as resale houses. Read more: Real estate board predicts flat prices and sales this year New construction, single-family home sales decline 58% in 2017 Toronto housing market hits deep-freeze as new rules bite Thompson, a bus driver, bought her two-storey, detached house as a nest to share with her husband, her children and grandchildren. She says she paid $955,000 for a 2,749-sq.-ft. detached house. Last month Mattamy began selling the same model on a similar lot for about $859,000 in Queens Common Phase 2. I wish I could walk away from it because its just too much money, Thompson said. Mariam Boni was among the buyers caught up in Torontos scorching property market last January. She says she got an email from Mattamy when the first phase of the development was released. On the appointed date, she waited three hours in line to get a ticket to return to the sales centre the following day. When she went back, there were only two lots still available and Boni ended up spending $899,000, plus additional money for upgrades, exceeding her target price of $500,000 to $600,000. Although she owns a home already, she said Queens Common would be a better place to raise her son. No one understands until theyre in your shoes. At the time it was rushed. I have a 3-year-old. Im thinking about his future, Im thinking this is a good investment. Its going to go up in price, Im going to do something nice for my child, she said. Mattamy president Brad Carr said the company encourages buyers to look at their homes as a long-term investment. But he understands the disappointment. Prices in Queens Common, a community of about 600 back-to-back and traditional town homes and detached houses near Highway 412 and McQuay Blvd., are generally six to eight per cent lower than a year ago, he said. For so many buyers in the marketplace today the upswing has been so long and sustained that it has potentially created the false impression that real estate only goes in one direction, Carr said. When (the market) is moving upwards, we obviously raise our prices and when its moving downwards, in order to continue to sell and to build and complete the communities, we have to lower our prices to a price point the market will bear, he said. When a community is built in a number of phases over a period of years, there are going to be ups and downs in the prices, Carr said. He said Mattamy tried to mitigate the Phase 2 buyers disappointment by offering them a chance in December to increase their deposit up to $30,000, depending on the home, in exchange for reducing the cost of their homes an equal amount. But Thompson, who says she struggled to find the $90,000 for her down payment, was maxed out. When her son died suddenly a week after she bought in Queens Common, she was faced with unexpected funeral costs. The sale of an investment property in April, for more than $900,000, did not close when the buyer backed out. She recently sold it for about $200,000 less than the deal that fell through. Carr says Mattamys labour, materials and development costs are rising at the same time the Toronto-area housing market has fallen into a lull after the frenzied buying of 2016 and early 2017. Buyers dont realize, he said, that when someone buys a new construction home, the risk transfers from the builder to the buyer once the contract is signed, not on the closing date when the house is actually built. In a rising market, (buyers) love that. They talk about it all the time, they share that news with their friends theyre feeling very excited about the fact that they havent moved in yet and their house is worth more than they paid for it, Carr said. He says buyers experienced similar drops in value during the financial crisis of 2008. Hugh Heron, principal of another builder, Herity Homes, says Mattamys pricing must be based on business factors. But, he said, he has not heard of such a practice in the five decades he has been in the business. No one in the industry understands why they did it, Heron said. He said he cant recall a time when builders have reduced pre-construction home prices, although he added that it may have happened around the global economic recession of the early 1980s when the government was offering incentives to get the home building business back on its feet. The Ontario Home Builders Association said CEO Joe Vaccaro was not available for comment. NEW YORKBitcoin whipsawed investors, falling below $8,000 (U.S.) for the first time since November before recovering most of todays losses, as a miserable 2018 continued for cryptocurrencies, with investors confronting a mounting list of concerns about the future of the industry. Since reaching a record high of $19,511 on Dec. 18 shortly after the introduction of regulated futures contracts in the U.S., Bitcoin has wiped out more than half its value amid waves of negative news. Setbacks included escalating regulatory threats from authorities around the world including India, South Korea, China and the U.S.; a record $500-million heist at Japanese exchange Coincheck Inc.; fears of price manipulation; and Facebooks ban on cryptocurrency ads. Japanese authorities raided Coinchecks offices Friday morning, a week after the robbery, hauling out documents and computers as evidence. The inspection was conducted to ensure security for users, Finance Minister Taro Aso said. Read more: Investors worry price of bitcoin being propped up Kodaks move toward cryptocurrency raises uneasy questions Canada looking into Bitcoins risk factor, Bill Morneau says Bitcoin is in trouble, Lukman Otunuga, a research analyst at foreign exchange broker ForexTime Ltd, wrote in a note Friday. Price action suggests that bears are clearly in control, with further losses on the cards as jitters over regulation erode investor appetite further. Bitcoin is down about 21 per cent on the week. Rival coins Ripple, Ether and Litecoin tumbled at least 28 per cent as losses continued to spread across cryptocurrencies. Nouriel Roubini of Roubini Macro Associates said Bitcoin is the mother of all bubbles, and its bubble is now bursting, speaking in an interview on Bloomberg Television. He said virtually every Group of 20 country is talking about cracking down on the phenomenon as policy-maker worries grow. Read more about: SAN FRANCISCOIts Uber, but for bicycles. For the first time in Ubers history, the company is offering rides on roads in the United States using something other than cars. Starting next week, it will let certain users in San Francisco reserve pedal-assist electric bicycles through its app. The idea is that people will see the bicycles as a cheaper and faster alternative not a huge stretch of the imagination for anyone who has been stuck in Friday evening gridlock traffic in San Francisco. Uber is not supplying its own bicycles. It is working with Jump Bikes, a bike-sharing service that secured a permit in January to put 250 motorized bicycles making it easier to tackle San Franciscos steep hills in locations throughout the city. Were excited about the future of bike sharing in the Uber app, and this is the first step, said Andrew Salzberg, Ubers head of transportation policy and research. The pilot program is the latest indication of Ubers ambitions to move beyond its ride-hailing origins. It is also working on autonomous trucking services, while aggressively expanding into the fast-growing food delivery market with Uber Eats. Uber said it saw the bicycles as yet another option for riders alongside carpooling and rides on the less expensive Uber X or the pricier Uber Black. The company declined to detail whether the San Francisco test was a prelude to a bike-sharing service in other locations. Unlike the rows of Ford GoBikes available around the Bay Area or Citi Bikes in New York City, which have designated pickup and drop-off locations, Jump Bikes are left on the sidewalk attached to a public bike rack or (hopefully) out of the way of pedestrians once riders reach their destination. Thats convenient, but cities such as Dallas are grappling with how to deal with bikes left wherever riders feel like abandoning them. Uber said its app would present selected users with a bike option in a drop-down menu. From there, the customer could reserve a bicycle and be charged $2 for 30 minutes and then a per-minute fee after that. Uber will target people who often travel within the areas of the city where the bikes are available, while allowing other customers to join a wait-list for the service, the company said. With 250 bikes, Uber said, it expects to serve thousands of people, but it declined to get more specific. Read more about: If you havent been to Cambridge, Mass., you are in for a culinary surprise. Sure, some favourite haunts are still around, serving up tasty burgers and lobster mac and cheese. However, chefs of a new breed are crafting menus that reflect the vibrancy of the towns international community, combining cultures and tastes that in the past might have confounded bow-tie-and-Marimekko-frocked diners. Regional ingredients mixed with far-flung flavours can be found in many of the bistros and restaurants popping up in every neighbourhood. Via its association with Greater Boston, because of its location across the Charles River, Cambridge is claiming its place at the regions culinary table. Its appropriate that the logo for Cafe Luna is a cappuccino with a heart sketched in foam. People obviously love the place, as attested to by lines that form for daily breakfast and weekend brunch. (Reservations are highly recommended!) Offerings skew toward traditional breakfast fare, with omelettes, pancakes, Belgian waffles, French toast and such, but creative combos lift what could be mundane offerings to the sublime. Balsamic marinated figs are paired with goat cheese, leeks and prosciutto in a standout omelette ($15 U.S.); grilled pears, bacon and gorgonzola balance salty, sweet, creamy and crunchy elements in another ($15). On weekends, eggs Benedict made every which way take centre stage, with the surf-and-turf Benedict ($25) in a solid starring role. On the sweet side of the menu, lemon ricotta pancakes steal the show ($15). Tables are crowded in a cosy way in the modern, industrial interior. Somehow, the staff manages to be friendly and efficient despite the crowds. Bar choices include bloody marys, mimosas, wine and beer. It also serves fair-trade coffee and espresso. Barcelona meets Tokyo in Pagu, a tapas-style restaurant helmed by chef Tracy Chang. Inspired by her grandmothers Japanese restaurant, Tokyo (a must-dine destination for an earlier generation of Cantabrigians), Changs influences include stints at elegant O Ya sushi, Le Cordon Bleu Paris and a three-star Michelin restaurant in Spain. The resulting menu is a pas de deux of Japanese and Spanish flavours. Popular items include the colourful squid ink oyster bao (steamed buns), a riff on pork versions in Taiwanese night markets ($15); and cedar campfire black cod, a slightly smoky dish with accents of miso and sake ($23). Comfort food abounds. Its hard to resist the Guchis midnight ramen, a warm embrace in a bowl of noodles with seared pork belly, three kinds of broth and six-minute egg ($16). A non-traditional lobster roll adds Asian pear and avocado to a sake kasu brioche bun ($23). Small plates are designed for sharing; admittedly, there are more choices at dinner than lunch. Beverages run the gamut from sherry to sake, plus seasonal cocktails, and Basque and American ciders. In the centre of the cavernous space, an open kitchen is rimmed with seats where diners watch the chefs work their magic. The first thing you notice when entering Waypoint is a gleaming display of oysters. Yet chef Michael Scelfos coastal-inspired menu is much more than perfectly shucked bivalves, with offerings that transform traditional seafood classics into creative small plates and shareable dinners. The raw bar also features Wellfleet clams; a variety of crudo; smoked, salted peel-and-eat shrimp with hot sauce and buttermilk ($18); and caviar service. Pasta selections include octopus polpetti with mint, chiles and ricotta salata ($19); and the ambrosial uni bucatini, a silky mix of sea urchin roe, smoked egg yolk, pecorino cheese and bottarga, which is a salted, cured fish roe ($23). True story: I posted a photo of smoked whitefish and mascarpone pizza ($16) on Instagram, and a friend and her husband flew from Dallas just to try that dish, then returned the following night for more. Non-seafood eaters and vegetarians will find plenty to satisfy, including roasts to share (lamb, rib-eye, chicken) and emmer casarecci ($17), a surprising pasta with fermented parsnips, hazelnuts and brown butter. The interior is lively, with tall tables, a 24-seat oak bar with a copper absinthe tap and open kitchen. Just before dawn, the Hajar Mountains, about 32 kilometres east across the Arabian Desert, began to emerge from the darkness. I shifted my position in the wicker gondola and watched, rapt, as the sun peeked above the silhouetted limestone range. In the east, the sky glowed orange and crimson, and the light illuminated a sea of saltbushes, sweet grass and wind-rippled dunes. Beside me, the pilot, Mike Schaefer, a big, balding German with a salt-and-pepper goatee and black-framed glasses, turned to his co-pilot, Robertas Komza, a skinny Lithuanian new to desert flying, and ordered him to take us higher. Komza depressed a lever on a gas valve, sending a fearsome jet of propane-fueled flame into the 40-metre-tall hot air balloon. Head up to 4,000 feet (1,220 metres), then well let the falcon fly a bit, said Schaefer, gesturing to a large hooded bird with white- and charcoal-barred feathers, resting on the gloved arm of his colleague, Dylan Freeman. We were drifting over the Dubai Desert Conservation Reserve, a 225-square-kilometre former camel farm purchased by Dubais ruler, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, in 1997. Since then, the fenced-in wilderness, a part of the Arabian Desert, has served as a protected habitat for a variety of indigenous mammals hedgehogs, shrews, gazelles, Arabian hares and at least three species of bats and a getaway spot for tourists and locals overwhelmed by the skyscraper-dominated megalopolis of Dubai, the most populous of seven city-states that comprise the United Arab Emirates. Read more: 7 experiences that are strictly Dubai Delicious Dubai is hungry for growth For a fake city, Dubai provides real overnight comfort For the past year, the reserve has also been the locale for a remarkable new venture that combines hot-air ballooning with an introduction to falconry, the Arab worlds most ancient and venerated sport. In the cool of the morning, passengers soar high over the desert joined by a captive-bred bird and its trainer. The hour-long experience provides an intimate look at how these raptors which can soar 2,400 metres high and plunge after their prey at 241 kilometres per hour fly and hunt at high altitudes. Ive always been leery of hot air balloons, an unease that ramped up considerably in February 2013, after a fiery balloon accident in Luxor, Egypt, resulted in the death of 19 tourists. But on a recent trip to Dubai to research a nonfiction book that unfolds in the falconry world, I was seeking an opportunity to closely observe the raptors in flight, and so I suppressed my fears and signed up for an outing (prices vary, depending on group size; I paid about $400). The project, I reassured myself, came with a top pedigree: Sheikh Butti bin Juma Al Maktoum, the brother-in-law of the ruler of Dubai and an ardent conservationist and falconer, initiated it in early 2016 and brought together the staffs of two of his popular touristic enterprises to make it happen. Royal Shaheen Events, co-founded by the South African falconer Peter Bergh and the Zimbabwean falcon breeder Howard Waller, runs luxury falconry demonstrations by Land Cruiser in the desert. The other, Balloon Adventures Dubai, co-founded by the Hungarian ballooning expert Peter Kollar, has been flying tourists over Dubai since 2005. The first chicks designated for the project were hatched in May 2016 at Buttis breeding centre in Scotland and then taken by Land Cruiser for training in Umbria, Italy, where Kollar runs a ballooning company during the summer. We had no idea how they would react to the basket and to the burning jets. But we were surprised by how quickly they learned, Kollar told me. The falcons look at the basket as their nest, and theyre trained to return to it. They were very young and they didnt even pay any attention to the fire. At 3:30 on an October morning, a van picked me up at the Dubai Marina and shuttled me down the empty highway for an hour to Buttis sprawling property near the Desert Conservation Reserve. Staffers were still inflating the balloon in the darkness; a thick jet of propane-fed flame filled the huge nylon sack with an eerie orange glow. Freeman, a stocky and bearded Zimbabwean, stood off to the side, stroking the feathers of his 17-month-old bird, Bomber. Bomber, he said, was a mix of gyrfalcon, a highly prized, nonmigratory species often found north of the Arctic Circle, and the more common saker falcon, a migratory species that crosses the Arabian Peninsula every winter. Arab falconers trapped them here until Dubai banned capturing birds from the wild in the 1970s. The saker bloodline, he said, helps Bomber deal with the desert heat. Nineteen passengers Chinese, Scandinavian, French and me gathered around Schaefer, who gave a safety briefing, fitted us with harnesses and carabiners, divided us into two groups and hustled us into a partitioned wicker basket. Four propane tanks fitted with four burners allowed Komza to adjust the air temperature inside the balloon while aloft. With the air heated to 38 C, we soared over the desert as the luminescent red glow on the horizon signalled the imminent dawn. At 1,220 metres, Freeman removed the hood from Bomber. The raptor swiveled his white mottled head and took a measure of his surroundings. You can see how big his eyes are, so he can spot his prey, the trainer said. The bird flapped his pointed wings and rose from Freemans glove. He climbed another six metres and circled the balloon three times, dipping and rising on the desert thermals. He swooped close to a Chinese tourist whose bag of potato chips stuck out from the pocket of his hoodie, then abruptly veered away. Freeman waved a chunk of quail. Hey, hey, hey, he shouted. Bomber rose, dove and then alighted on Freemans glove. As he gobbled the bloody morsel, he spread his wings, fanned his tail and arched his body over the food an instinct known as mantling, protecting the prey from other predators. Freeman fed him another chunk. He eats 10 per cent of his body weight in three minutes, he said. Thats like me eating 18 pounds of steak in the same amount of time. It was only a couple of generations ago when Dubai was a sleepy fishing port bordered by a vast swath of desert that trained falcons such as Bomber could eat their fill in the wild, Freeman said. The Arabian Desert abounded with the houbara bustard, a migratory, partridge-like fowl found in arid habitats across Asia and northern Africa. But the sheikhs hunted the birds to near-extinction on the Arabian Peninsula, obliging them to organize lavish houbara-hunting trips overseas. In 2002, Sheikh Hamdanbin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the crown prince of Dubai, launched the sport of falcon racing in an effort to keep some semblance of the tradition alive in Dubai, and the sport has proved immensely popular, spreading to Abu Dhabi, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. Meanwhile a houbara-breeding program launched by Sheikh Mohammed has introduced the birds to private hunting grounds in Dubai, where wealthy falconry enthusiasts can bag a few a year at high prices. Its been so effective that theres a surplus, Freeman told me. They release the extra bustards into the Desert Conservation Reserve. Despite the comeback of the falcons traditional prey, Freeman doubted that falconry would ever be fully revived in the Emirates. The sheikhs really still want to go abroad to hunt, Freeman told me, explaining that it was a purer and more challenging experience. A released bustard might have been let go two years ago, but it doesnt have the stamina of a bird that has migrated a couple of thousand miles. After Bombers show, Schaefer, the German pilot, directed Komza to tug on a dangling blue cord known as a vent line that rotated the balloon and allowed some air to escape. (The adjacent red line, he explained, collapsed the balloon irreversibly and was to be used only for emergency landings. We have a nice saying, he told me. If you pull red you are dead.) We clipped our carabiners to a safety line as the balloon descended to a few hundred feet, and sailed toward a date palm plantation owned by Butti. As we prepare for landing, you never know where you will end up, Schaefer, said, grinning. The balloon grazed a high hedge and then headed for a sweep of cream-coloured dunes. Schaefer barked instructions to the Lithuanian. The gondola hit the dunes hard, bounced twice, then rolled on its side. For one moment, I was terrified that the basket would flip over, but then it came to rest at a 90-degree angle. I unhooked my carabiner and scrambled onto a dune. A convoy of Land Rovers was parked nearby, ready to whisk us off to the sheikhs desert compound for a breakfast of poached eggs, fruit, smoked salmon, toast and Arabic coffee. As I stepped into the vehicle, I paused to admire Bomber one final time. The raptor, now hooded, was perched serenely on Freemans glove, looking none the worse for his wild ride. DORVAL, QUE.Maggie Putulik has vivid memories of boarding a small airplane in the Inuit village of Kangirsuk in northern Quebec. It was the beginning of a 1,500-kilometre journey south to have her tonsils surgically removed. She remembers the coloured ribbons hung at the arrival gate in the Quebec City airport, the French-language instructions that she did not understand, waking after surgery to the taste of blood-tinged saliva and the post-operation vanilla ice cream, which she ate with a wooden spoon. It was 1984. Putulik was 8 years old and she was all alone. The village nurses told her mother that she could only go along if she paid for her own plane ticket. It was traumatizing, Putulik said. How dare they make an 8-year-old, unilingual, little Inuk girl travel alone to a very foreign region for a surgical procedure? Its beyond my comprehension. Three decades later, Inuit living in the Arctic must still travel south to big cities for cancer treatments, cataracts procedures, psychiatric care, high-risk childbirths as well as a host of other ailments. The governments of Nunavut, Yukon and the Northwest Territories send patients to privately run boarding houses in Yellowknife, Winnipeg, Vancouver, Edmonton, Ottawa and Iqaluit. For patients in the Nunavik region of northern Quebec, which consists of 14 Inuit villages along the coasts of the Hudson and Ungava bays, the destination is Ullivik, a 91-room residence in an industrial area near the Montreal airport. Here, Putulik, the former patient, is the facilitys director, tasked with making a difficult experience a little less bewildering for patients. Ullivik, which opened in December 2016, may not be home for patients whose stays can last from a few days to a few months. But it has the feel of an Arctic-inspired boutique hotel. There is a stone Inukshuk out front; French, English and Inuktitut signs throughout; and bright, spacious rooms spread out over three floors, each of which has its own natural theme: water, earth and sky. An Anglican priest, Rev. Annie Ittoshat, an Inuk from the northern Quebec village of Kuujjuarapik, leads two services every Sunday for patients. There is even a country food room a separate kitchen next to the cafeteria with a long chest freezer filled with cardboard boxes. Each is marked with patients names and filled with fish, whale, moose and bird carcasses that have been harvested in the north and carefully packed for the trip. During a recent visit one afternoon, several bloody and feathered ptarmigan, a softball-sized hunk of moose meat and two severed fish heads were laid out on pieces of cardboard to thaw. On an orange tray nearby lay an assortment of tools, including hammers, saws, files, axes, a pizza cutter and a wood-handled ulu, a traditional all-purpose Inuit cutting tool. Mary Sakiagak, a patient from Kangiqsujuaq, or Wakeham Bay, rushed into the kitchen and sliced open a cardboard box, pulling out a long, thin Arctic char that was wrapped in a plastic bag, a meal that she would prepare and share with others as all country food is at Ullivik. He smile faded slightly when asked how long she had been staying at the residence: three weeks. I miss my home, she said. The history of such medical travel programs stretches back to the 1950s when the federal government, responsible for the delivery of Indigenous health services, responded to a tuberculosis epidemic in the Arctic by forcibly evacuating Inuit for treatment in southern hospitals rather than building the necessary facilities up north. The experience, captured in the 2009 Genie award-winning film The Necessities of Life, is a distressing period in modern Inuit history. Families were forcibly separated for years. Some returned having lost their language or the necessary skills to live in the Arctic. Still other patients died and were buried without their families being informed. Cultural sensitivities have greatly improved. Today, the territorial and provincial governments will pay for escorts often family members to accompany children, the elderly, new mothers and those who dont speak English or French on their medical travel. But there are staggering costs. In the last fiscal year, Ullivik had 8,000 patients and escorts come through its doors. On any given day, Putulik said, she is obligated to reserve about 20 rooms at nearby hotels to handle the overflow. It cost nearly $12-million last year to run Ullivik. Another $25-million went toward paying airplane tickets. It is a similar situation across the Arctic. The authors of a Nunavut government report on the costs of its medical travel program in 2007/08 classified the territorys medical travel program as not so much a health care expenditure as a subsidy to the airline industry. A decade later, the program is estimated to account for about one-fifth of the territorys total health budget. There are no signs of those costs diminishing, or even coming under control. For Nunavik, Putulik said that the annual patient load grows by about 1,200, whether due to a fast-growing population, an aging population or a sicker population in need of complex care. Like any growing market, there are those who would take advantage of those Inuit patients and their escorts during their stays in Montreal, and local police are often brought in to speak to residents about the risks and the help available if people find themselves in trouble. Access to alcohol and drugs is one problem so present that security guards at the door search returning residents bags. There are two rooms set aside for people to sober up if they return to Ullivik intoxicated. A recent report by Nunatsiaq News said there had been 1,400 incidents involving intoxicated patients and escorts at Ullivik and that officials were considering hiring Montreal-based staff to assist patients rather than paying for escorts to travel with patients. Putulik also said that there have been several patients and escorts to became involved in undesirable activities in Montreal and missed their return flights. Her staff intentionally book open airplane tickets so that people do not get trapped in the city and can easily return home if or when they decide that the time is right. Other people, she said, are targeted by local predators, in search of an easy sale, a buyer for drugs, someone to transport drugs or people who can be otherwise exploited. Putulik mentioned one Montreal bar owner who operates an establishment near the downtown YMCA residence where Inuit medical patients used to be housed. The bar is set to move to a new location just 500 metres from Ullivik. Hes migrating to Dorval, following our clients, because he knows theres a guaranteed profit to be made from Inuit, she said. Read more about: EDMONTONA disabled veteran, an Indigenous woman angry about racism and people worried about stalled oil pipelines had tough questions for the Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during a town hall meeting in Edmonton Thursday night. A former soldier who lost a leg in Afghanistan was critical of Ottawas plan to reform some veterans programs, including changes to disability pensions. Read more: Politicians struggle to deal with misconduct complaints, Justin Trudeau says Trudeau begins series of town hall meetings in Nova Scotia, will be at McMaster University Wednesday More on Justin Trudeau I was prepared to be killed in action, said Brock Blaszczyk, a former corporal who lost his left leg to a roadside bomb in Afghanistan. What I wasnt prepared for, Mr. Prime Minister, is Canada turning its back on me. Trudeau thanked the man for his service and said his frustration and anger are justifiable. To some shouts and boos from the crowd, he defended his governments changes to veteran pensions, saying they shift the emphasis from lump payments to long-term services. We have significantly invested in services, rehabilitation support, investments in training and support for caregivers and families. Trudeau said that program spending must be taken into account. Why are we still fighting against certain veterans groups in court? Because they are asking for more than we are able to give right now, Trudeau said A woman told Trudeau that Indigenous people continue to face racism and called for more action to better their lives. The womans voice shook with emotion as she spoke of the media vilifying Indigenous people. She mentioned murder trials underway in Winnipeg and in Saskatchewan where the victims are Indigenous. Racism is alive and real right now in Canada. It is happening to Tina Fontaines family. It is happening to Colten Boushies family, she said. What are you going to do for our communities because I dont see you doing a lot, and that kind of hurts my heart. The prime minister said the status quo is not acceptable. He said his government is making progress on righting wrongs, but reconciliation is going to be a long road. On pipelines, Trudeau faced questions from a man worried about stalled oil pipeline projects that he said are needed to help the economy and create jobs. As the man spoke others in the crowd held up big yellow signs that read Albertans Against Kinder Morgan and No Jobs On A Dead Planet. The prime minister told the crowd that Canada must be able to get its resources to new markets and reaffirmed his determination to see the construction of the Kinder Morgan pipeline expansion project through British Columbia. But he said it also needs a world-class plan to protect the oceans and a climate change plan to reduce carbon emissions. You cannot have any one of them, unless you have all three of them, he said. That is what this government gets and that is what we will stand up for. A small business owner said hes worried about growing payroll taxes, such as the increase to Canada Pension Plan benefits. The strategies that are currently being employed seem to limit the ability of employers to hire people. Trudeau said the Liberal have lowered the small business tax rate and plan to lower it again. He said its important to increase CPP benefits because more people move from job to job and cant necessarily take their pension plans with them. Getting that balance right of making sure were securing peoples retirement while at the same time giving our small businesses more opportunity ... this is all part of what were working on. Trudeau entered the hall in Edmontons MacEwan University to mixed chorus of applause and boos. His answers were interrupted periodically through the night by angry shouts, although Trudeau never lost his composure. He then spoke to a crowd of Liberals at a fundraising event. The prime minister is to hold another town hall meeting on Friday in Nanaimo, B.C. Read more about: To measure the high leap Caroline Mulroney will attempt should she, as expected, run for the leadership of Ontarios Progressive Conservative Party, consider that she would have four months to do what Justin Trudeau accomplished over seven years. More than half a decade on the watch of two Liberal predecessors elapsed between the moment Trudeau entered politics by winning a seat in the Montreal riding of Papineau and his 2015 majority victory. Two of those years were spent in the leaders office preparing his first national campaign. For all the glamour of the Trudeau name, it is far from certain that a plurality of Canadian voters would have considered handing him the reins of the federal government on the morning after he won his first Liberal nomination. Read more: Former MPP Christine Elliott joins Ontario PC leadership race, Caroline Mulroney to follow Opinion | Martin Regg Cohn: How Ontarios Tories tried to make it right but got it all wrong Tories aim for March leadership contest despite party chaos after Brown scandal One can only wonder how Trudeau would have fared absent any previous experience in the lions den of the House of Commons on a leaders debate platform featuring seasoned rivals such as Stephen Harper, Jack Layton and Gilles Duceppe. Watching the question period travails of Bill Morneau last fall, one was reminded almost daily that effectiveness in partisan politics requires some acquired skills. Morneau had never seen action in the House before he became finance minister. By the time Trudeau became leader five years after his own entry in the political arena, many, including more than a few Liberals, still believed his selection amounted to little more than a dubious Hail Mary pass for a party fast running out of options to avoid being consigned to the margins. There is one recent example of a candidate with no experience in elected political office taking on the leadership of provincial party and securing a governing mandate a few months later. But for a variety of reasons, that example may be more useful to collectors of political trivia than to those who want to map a credible quick path to power for Mulroney in Ontario. Prince Edward Islands Wade MacLauchlan left academia to become his provinces Liberal leader and premier in 2015. Only a few months later, he led his ruling party to re-election. But P.E.I. is hardly a microcosm of Ontario. Moreover, MacLauchlan did not have to fight for his partys leadership. He was acclaimed to the role. He did not go into his first election licking fresh leadership campaign wounds. By comparison, next months Ontario leadership campaign is lining up to be anything but a cakewalk for whoever wins it. From a distance, it comes across as the sort of family reunion in preparation for which the host locks away the kitchen knives. The transition from delegated conventions where party insiders were mostly in charge of choosing a leader to a one-member-one-vote formula has significantly increased the market value of celebrity candidates. When it comes to selling membership cards, a well-known last name can go some way to trump proven political experience and/or demonstrated leadership skills under fire. The reverse is not necessarily true once one becomes party or government leader. Still, the fact is that in Canada there are more examples of political neophytes failing to parlay their pedigree into a shortcut to a major partys leadership than the opposite. On that score, the recent history of the Conservative movement in particular has featured some spectacular failures. At this time last year, fans of businessman Kevin OLeary still believed his reality television fame would propel him to the top of the federal Conservative party and, eventually, to the prime ministers office. Not only did he not go the distance, he also came up short in his self-appointed role of kingmaker. In 2004, then-Magna CEO Belinda Stronach brought many of the same assets as Mulroney to her leadership bid against Stephen Harper. But neither her charisma nor her business background nor a last name that resonated in international corporate circles translated into the kind of presence one associates with a candidate ready for political prime time. Those two recent episodes will not prevent many battle-hardened veterans of the Tory backrooms from lining up behind a Mulroney leadership bid. If she does run, there will those who will serve her campaign out of loyalty to her father, Brian. Others will be drawn to the many qualities that make Caroline Mulroney a promising political neophyte. Some may even be the same people who tried unsuccessfully to cast Stronach and/or OLeary as natural-born political leaders. Chantal Hebert is a national affairs writer. Her column appears Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Read more about: WINNIPEGThree people connected to accused killer Raymond Cormier told police he owned the same type of duvet cover that the body of 15-year-old Tina Fontaine was found in, his trial was told Friday. Cormier, 55, has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder in the case, which prompted renewed calls for a national inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women. In August 2014, Tinas body was pulled from the Red River in a duvet cover that had been weighed down with rocks. Two Winnipeg police investigators Det.-Sgt. Myles Riddell and Det.-Sgt. Jeff Stalker testified they went to the home of Ida Beardy, who had allowed Cormier to live in a tent in her backyard in the summer of 2014. Read more: No DNA links between accused, objects connected to Tina Fontaines death, trial hears Forensic pathologist tells Winnipeg murder trial cause of Tina Fontaines death not determined Manitoba trial hears recording of Tina Fontaines voice as murder trial begins The home is a little more than a kilometre from the shore where Tinas body was found. On one visit four months after Tinas death, they showed Beardy a picture of the same kind of duvet cover that Tinas body had been wrapped in, the officers said. They asked Beardy if the photo meant anything to her. She positively identified the duvet cover as the one belonging to Raymond Cormier, Riddell testified Friday. She was confident. The photo was later shown to Beardys daughter, who had been in another room. She also said it was the same as Cormiers, Stalker said. It was an immediate recognition. Ida Beardy testified Thursday that when she was shown the photo, chills went up her spine. The jury has already heard the particular duvet was part of a series of four designs sold only by Costco Canada, which has three stores in Winnipeg and had sold or donated some 800 of the duvets in the 18 months before Tinas death. Police were unable to determine how many of the particular design used to wrap Tinas body were sold. The officers also told court they showed the duvet picture to an inmate in a provincial jail who knew Cormier and who has yet to testify. The inmate also said the duvet was the same as Cormiers, they said. Under cross-examination, defence lawyer Anthony Kavanagh asked Stalker whether Beardy knew he was investigating Tinas death when he showed her the duvet picture. Stalker said yes, because he had been to the house previously. Kavanagh also asked Stalker why he only showed Beardy and her daughter one photo of a duvet, instead of a lineup of several different duvets to choose from. Stalker said it was an unusual case, and photo lineups are usually used to identify people. I still think its fair, Stalker said. In his opening statement Monday, Crown attorney James Ross said Tina Fontaine had a happy childhood and was raised by her great-aunt on the Sagkeeng First Nation. Ross told the jury that Tina went to Winnipeg to visit her mother and became an exploited youth. City council voted 35-3 to turn Old City Hall into a museum of Toronto, predicting tourists and Torontonians will flock to the exhibits. Under a preliminary plan approved Thursday, the iconic building that now houses courtrooms and holding cells will also get a large public library, wedding chapel, museum gift shop, cafe or restaurant and space to be rented out. Councillor Josh Matlow spoke passionately about the opportunity presented by provincial courts moving out of the city-owned building on Queen St. West. Showcasing exhibits about the history and culture of Toronto will let tourists fall in love with Canadas biggest city rather than the date of traditional touristic sampling, he said. We have our moment to finally create this museum of Toronto to return old city hall to the people, Matlow said. Councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam also championed the incredible opportunity. She said the museum could showcase Torontos Indigenous history that was also erased, the stories of regular Torontonians and gay Torontonians fight for equality. The city owns about 150,000 historic objects and artworks, almost all of them stored in boxes and never or rarely seen by the public. City staff believe the new museum would also benefit from donations of historically significant items from Torontonians. What it would not display, most likely, is a profit. Staff say revenues from admission fees around $16 per adult, a gift shop, cafe and leased space would almost certainly not cover the costs of the museum and building, a national historic site completed in 1899. Few if any international museums pay for themselves without subsidy, staff added. The museum would cover about 110,000 square feet of the 406,000-square-foot building. The library, relocated from neighbouring city hall, would grow in size five-fold to 25,000 square feet. The wedding chapel on city halls third floor would also move across the street. City staff will report back to council in mid-2019 with refined plans and cost estimates. Not all councillors were stoked about the idea of a Toronto museum in the signature building, where council itself used to sit. Stephen Holyday told council: Ask yourself how many people would pay $16 to go in and look at the artifacts that weve got? . . . Its going to bleed money. A new policy on temp agencies under consideration at the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board is inadequate and fails to address and rectify the very real dangers temporary employment agencies pose to workers, a coalition of Toronto-based legal clinics says. In a submission made to the provincial compensation board, the Workers Health and Safety Legal Clinic warns that a new WSIB proposal on insurance premium rates creates no incentive for companies using temp agencies to address health and safety issues, and contains no substantive contemplation of longstanding concerns raised by worker advocates. The policy takes no action to support accident prevention for workers, says the submission, which was endorsed by a network of legal clinics, labour organizations, and injured worker groups. Last year, a Star undercover investigation revealed how companies use often poorly-trained temps to limit responsibility for accidents and workplace safety. Temp agencies assume the cost of workers injuries at the compensation board, saving their clients money on insurance premiums which are calculated by injury claims. Research by the Toronto-based Institute for Work and Health suggests companies are contracting out risky work to temps as a way to minimize their costs at the board. The WSIBs new temp agency proposal is part of a review of how the board calculates employers insurance premiums, initiated after a 2012 report by labour expert Harry Arthurs raised issues with the existing system. Previously, the temp agency sector had a lower premiums rate than many high-risk industries, which the new framework proposes changing. We believe this will go a long way towards making sure every business in Ontario takes safety seriously, said WSIB spokesperson Christine Arnott. As part of our continued review of policy updates, we will also be looking to strengthen the temporary employment agency requirements for claims reporting in 2018. But critics say the measures do little to address one fundamental problem: that temp agencies will remain workers employer in the eyes of the compensation board. As a result, injuries will show up on the temp agencys file not the workplace where the accidents actually happen. If you know that certain jobs are perhaps heavier, more onerous, or dangerous and you want to keep your record clear, you can call a temporary employment agency to supply labour. If something happens to those workers, its the temporary employment agency on the line, says John Bartolomeo, assistant director the Workers Health and Safety Legal Clinic. A workplace littered with accidents only to have the problems covered by the temporary employment agency remains the likely outcome, the clinics submission says. The board will continue to think employers are great while remaining oblivious to the hazardous conditions in the workplace for (temp) employees. Statistics obtained by the Star show that temp agency workers in Ontario are increasingly being placed in non-clerical environments like factories and warehouses, and were more than twice as likely to get hurt in these sectors in 2016 as their non-temp counterparts. In fact, the injury rate for temps in non-clerical workplaces has consistently been close to double that of other comparable sectors for the past 10 years. Mary McIninch, head of the lobby group the Association of Canadian Search, Employment and Staffing Services, which represents 255 Ontario staffing firms, has previously told the Star its members pledge to uphold a code of ethical standards and are committed to advancing best practices, including proven safety in the workplace. Critics say the WSIBs proposed new rate framework also does little to accurately reflect health and safety performance because it is still based on accident claims. This, they argue, gives employers an incentive to avoid reporting claims to the board either through encouraging workers not to claim workplace injuries, or by using temp agencies. Claims costs are just not a good indicator (of health and safety), says Laura Lunansky of the Injured Worker Consultants legal clinic. Using temp agencies also allows companies to avoid providing modified duties after an employee gets hurt at their facility, adds Lunansky. That responsibility also falls on temp agencies that dont really have the ability to return the worker to work, she argues. Willy Noiles says that was his experience almost two decades ago when he was injured as a temp agency worker in his first hour on the job at a Niagara-area flower farm. He says he received no training for the position. The smashed knee he sustained after his workplace fall is now held together by bolts and wires, he says. But the accident would not have shown up on the flower farms record at the board, and the modified duties provided by his temp agency involved shredding paper for six weeks, says Noiles, who now advocates for other injured workers as president of the Ontario Network of Injured Workers Groups. Most workers are made to feel they are replaceable in an instant, he says of temp agencies. Theyre afraid to say no. The compensation board says that under provincial legislation, temp agencies are deemed to be the employer of record for people who are performing temp work and that it was outside of the WSIBs authority and the scope of the rate framework project, to change the law. In 2014, legislation was introduced making both temp agencies and their client companies jointly liable for temp workers unpaid wages. But a section that would have made both parties responsible for injury claims was removed before the bill passed. At the time, the government said the issue would instead be addressed through the WSIBs rate review process. Last year, a 420-page report by two government-appointed special advisers for the provinces so-called Changing Workplaces Review noted the increased risk of workplace injury for temp workers and again argued that in the interests of safety and workplace responsibility, the client (of a temp agency) should be responsible for injuries sustained by (temp) assignment workers. While the new legislation introduced in November will prohibit paying temp workers less for doing the same job as their permanent counterparts, Bill 148 did not include the special advisers recommendations that client companies shoulder responsibility for injuries suffered by temps. In a statement to the Star, Labour minister Kevin Flynn said he is prepared to proclaim and enact this regulation if the issue is not satisfactorily addressed through the WSIB review. The WSIB does currently have the power to shift claim costs from one employer to another, if a workers injury is caused by negligence at another workplace. That means the board can technically shift the injury costs usually shouldered by a temp agency onto the agencys client. In 2016, this power was exercised four times, according to WSIB statistics. Theyre talking about prevention and health and safety, but in terms of what I see on temporary employment agencies, substantially I havent seen much changed, Bartolomeo said. Theyre using the right words, but they havent really come through with anything. A long-time Toronto justice of the peace has been found guilty of judicial misconduct for repeatedly inserting himself into an assault case in which his friend-turned-partner was the alleged victim. Tom Foulds, appointed to the bench in 1999, exploited his position as justice of the peace, according to a 57-page decision from a hearing panel of the Justices of the Peace Review Council, released Thursday. The hearing panel concludes that, on any objective assessment, His Worships repeated acts of misconduct resulted in the administration of justice being brought into disrepute, says the decision. The panel has now adjourned until March 23 to decide on Foulds fate, which could include paid or unpaid suspension, or a recommendation to the attorney general that Foulds be fired. The criminal case in question relates to Foulds friend (and later partner), identified as AA due to a publication ban, who alleged she was assaulted by BB. The charges against BB were later stayed by the Crown. Foulds, who normally presides at Old City Hall but is currently not presiding over cases, was found to have signed what is known as the information in 2014 laying out the charges against BB, despite knowing both BB and AA. The three-member hearing panel comprising a judge, a justice of the peace and a community member rejected Foulds statement that he was not fully aware at the time that the information related to AA and BB. The panel noted that Foulds had even attended the police station a few days earlier with AA when she reported her accusation against BB. The hearing panel finds that Justice of the Peace Foulds intentionally abused the authority of his office when he signed the information that commenced criminal process against BB in circumstances where he knew that he was in an obvious conflict of interest, the panel said. The panel found that Foulds later told a Crown attorney, Michael Callaghan, that he had signed the information and that he was aware that he should not have done so. The original information was then withdrawn and a new one sworn before a different justice. The panel found Foulds actions regarding the information were motivated by animus toward BB. This animus is concluded to have been based on a desire to advance the criminal prosecution against BB while ensuring that BB was aware of His Worships involvement and interest in that criminal prosecution, the panel said. Foulds was also found to have tried to assert some influence on the proceeding involving BB, by virtue of the office he held, as he asked Crown attorneys about the case on more than one occasion, while they tried to brush him away. A member of the public would not have the opportunity to access the Crown attorney in a similar way or any means of communicating in like fashion, the panel said. The hearing panel concludes that His Worship intentionally exploited a special relationship that he enjoyed with the police and Crown counsel by virtue of the position he holds as a judicial officer and that this position was exploited in order to further his own personal interests as those interests related to AA, a person of significance in his life. Finally, Foulds was called out for signing a subpoena requiring AA to attend BBs trial, even though by this point he and AA were in a romantic relationship and living together. The hearing panel said it would not be unreasonable to conclude that Foulds conduct had an aggravating influence on BBs legal fees, because at one point the defence made a third-party records application to obtain communications between AA and Foulds. This is not the first time that Foulds has faced discipline. In 2013, he was slapped with a seven-day suspension without pay for interfering with a health inspection of a close friends restaurant. York Region and the Ontario Nurses Association have reached a tentative two-year agreement after holding a number of bargaining sessions while about 250 nurses worked without a contract for 11 months. The deal will now be reviewed by the ONA membership on Friday. If the union approves the contract, it will proceed to ratification by the Regional Council on Feb. 15. This is very positive. The public health nurses want to be with the community and do their work, said ONA president Vicki McKenna. I hope the contract is approved by the membership. The collective agreement for ONA expired March 31, 2017, and the nurses have been working without a contract since. Since September, York Region and the ONA have held a series of meetings, including two with an Ontario Ministry of Labour conciliator. On Jan. 12, the ONA requested a no-board report, which could have resulted in a legal strike position on Feb. 5. Both sides agreed to continue contract negotiations on Jan. 25, but after five more days of bargaining and two days of conciliation, they had still not agreed a contract. McKenna said one of the major concerns was how many hours the nurses spend travelling to locations they are assigned to work at. This includes travelling to various clinics or to residences to help patients. York Region spokesperson Patrick Casey declined to go into further details on the talks. Before the agreement, McKenna had said the union members felt insulted, disrespected, disillusioned and devalued by their employer. ONA represents 65,000 registered nurses and health-care professionals, and 16,000 nursing student affiliates, who provide care in hospitals, long-term care facilities, public health and clinics. The nurses run vaccination and breastfeeding clinics, provide pregnancy counseling, prenatal support and partner with community agencies. The provincial government is promising hospitals that the funding boost they received to get them through the current flu season is not a one-time thing, the Star has learned. Health Minister Eric Hoskins will announce Friday that hospitals will be funded to open more beds during flu season next year and in years beyond, according to government sources. Hoskins is making the announcement at the height of flu season, which, this year, has been widely described as a particularly bad. Nevertheless, Ontario hospitals so far appear to be coping better than they did last winter, Dr. Howard Ovens said on TVOs The Agenda on Wednesday. Thats because the province last October gave hospitals an extra $100 million to open 1,235 temporary beds during flu season, noted Ovens, the provinces lead for emergency medicine and chief medical strategy officer for Sinai Health System. That took a little steam off an overheated radiator, he said. Infectious diseases experts, who describe this influenza season as unusual, warn the peak of infections with one of the dominant circulating strains could come within a few weeks. (The Canadian Press) Hospitals welcomed the extra cash, but were concerned about what would happen when the money ran out at the end of March. They didnt want to have to go to the province hat in hand every six months, begging for more. That makes budgeting and planning next to impossible. It appears the lobbying efforts of the Ontario Hospital Association have been successful. The OHA says it has been assured there will be extra funds in next months provincial budget to deal with next winters capacity crunch. And there will be more of the same in following years. Continuation of surge investments is a very good step for stabilization of the hospital system, a government source said. Its unclear exactly how much extra hospitals will see in the budget. Another source said they can expect significantly more than they got this year to get them through flu season. Although Ontario hospitals are known to be very efficient, they struggle to care for patients who dont actually need to be there. Known as alternate-level-of-care patients, they are typically frail seniors who are waiting to move into long-term care homes, rehabilitation facilities and other community settings. There is not enough space in those settings, although efforts have long been underway to beef them up. The bottleneck shows up in hospital emergency departments, where patients face long waits before they can be admitted to in-patient beds. Some are even forced to wait in what hospitals describe as unconventional spaces, such as meeting rooms, storage rooms and staff lounges. In its pre-budget submission, the OHA warned that hospital overcrowding is so serious that the sector is on the brink of a crisis. Canada can credit immigrants for making it one of the best-educated countries in the world. Not only do many newcomers arrive with university degrees, their high expectations for their childrens academic achievements also appear to lead to the pursuit of higher education among their children, according to a new internal government analysis. The Immigration Department report, obtained through an access to information request, found 36 per cent of the children of immigrants aged 25 to 35 held university degrees, compared to 24 per cent of their peers with Canadian-born parents. Among the top immigration source countries, more than 50 per cent of the children of immigrants from China and India graduated from university, while one-third of those born to Filipino immigrant parents finished their degrees. By comparison, between 30 and 37 per cent of children to immigrants from Western Europe completed university, followed by those from Latin America and the Caribbean at a rate ranging from 23 to 28 per cent about par with children with Canadian-born parents, the report said. The educational attainment of the parents matters; children with highly educated parents are more likely to be highly educated themselves. And immigrant parents in Canada tend to have higher levels of educational attainment than Canadian-born parents, said the report by researcher Garnett Picot for the departments research and evaluation unit. Parents expectations regarding education matters, and immigrant families, particularly Asian families, tend to have higher educational expectations for their children, on average, than families with Canadian-born parents. Picot, who declined the Stars interview request, said family income did not seem to play a role in the gaps in educational attainment. This is important because many immigrant families struggle economically, he wrote in his article, titled The Educational and Labour market Outcomes of the Children of Immigrants: A Success to be Preserved. The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) ranked Canada second only to Korea as the highest educated nation in the world in 2016, with over 60 per cent of Canadians with a post-secondary education. An Immigration Canada spokesperson said Picots study was part of the governments attempt to monitor the long-term performance of immigration policies and programs by looking at how the children of immigrants are doing in terms of their educational and economic outcomes. According to a separate study by Jack Jedwab of the Association of Canadian Studies, 54.2 per cent of new immigrants in the prime working age between 35 and 44 had at least a bachelors degree in the cohorts arriving between 2011 and 2016, up from 30.5 per cent in the 1990s. By comparison, only 27.9 per cent of non-immigrants have the same level of education. While 46.5 per cent of visible-minority women and 45 per cent of their male counterparts in this age group in Canada are university degree-holders, only 33.8 per cent of white Canadian women and less than a quarter of white Canadian men have at least a bachelors degree. Canada is the most university-educated country in the planet and apparently immigrants and in particular those arriving here since the beginning of the 21st century are contributing to this, said Jedwab, who teaches sociology and public affairs at Concordia University. Long gone are the days when someone can say those immigrants lack education. Though first-generation visible minority immigrants dont do as well as first-generation white immigrants, their children are doing much better. However, Jedwab warns that visible minorities are made up of many ethnic groups and some fare better than others in their educational attainment. Its important for policy-makers not to overlook the differences within such a diverse group. University of Toronto sociology professor Monica Boyd said the aspirations of immigrant parents can be incredibly powerful in steering their children to success, especially if they are themselves highly educated but struggle to return to their old professions and make ends meet after coming to Canada. The pressure becomes more on the child because (the parents) did the move for them and want them to succeed, said Boyd, the Canadian research chair in immigration, inequality and public policy, and co-author of a recent study on educational and labour market attainment among children of East Asian parents in the American Behavioral Scientist journal. Overall, Picot said the children of immigrants are doing as well or better as adults in the labour market than their peers of Canadian-born parents because of they have higher educational attainment and are more likely to be in professional occupations than in blue collar jobs. A 2011 Statistics Canada survey found that across all age cohorts, the second generation of immigrants had higher percentages than the next generation obtaining at least bachelors degrees. Boyd suggested that one factor influencing how far people go in school is geography. Since the second generation of immigrants is more likely than the third generation to grow up in larger urban centres where the education level of the general population is higher, she said this could at least partially explain why the former tends to have higher educational attainment than the third generation. The Immigration Department study said the average earnings of the employed children of immigrants tended to be 9 to 13 per cent higher than those of workers with Canadian-born parents. However, it also recognized that these statistics mask some important differences for visible minority groups who tend not to do as well in terms of economic outcomes despite their higher schooling. York University education professor Carl James said policy-makers cannot overlook the underlying circumstances such as racism and discrimination that lead to the different academic attainment and economic performances among various immigrant groups. Black people have the same high expectations and motivation to achieve. Its not sufficient to say some parents are more motivated than others. Doing so, we focus less on the socio-economic conditions, racism and xenophobia different ethnic groups and generations find themselves in, said James, the Jean Augustine Chair in Education, Community and Diaspora at York. The way the (Immigration) Departments report is presented, a teacher might approach and interact with students from different backgrounds differently based on expectations. A student may live up or down with the teachers expectation. University degree-holders in Canada WOMEN NEW YORKGrade 7 teacher Patricia Cummings shocked and traumatized children in her social studies classes when she singled out Black students and told them to lie on the floor for a lesson on U.S. slavery and then stepped on their backs to show them what slavery felt like. Students at Middle School 118 said Cummings, who is white, conducted the lesson in multiple classes as part of a unit on the infamous Middle Passage, during which Africans were kidnapped and brought to America as part of the slave trade. Kids and adults in Cummings school, where the student body is 81 per cent Black and Hispanic and just 3 per cent white, were horrified by the offensive lessons they said occurred roughly two weeks ago. It was a lesson about slavery and the Triangle Trade, said one of Cummings students, who asked to remain anonymous. She picked three of the Black kids, the boy said, and instructed them to get on the floor in front of the class. She said You see how it was to be a slave? She said, How does it feel? When a girl on the floor made an uncomfortable joke and said she felt fine, Cummings stepped on her back, the student said. She put her foot on her back and said How does it feel? the student said. See how it feels to be a slave? Kids and a staffer said Cummings was removed from her post for a couple of days following the incident but then returned to class and was in school Thursday. However, the $68,934-a-year teacher was reassigned later Thursday after the Daily News contacted the city Education Department about her slavery lesson. Education Department spokesperson Douglas Cohen said she is not working around kids anymore. Ms. Cummings is being reassigned away from students pending the outcome of the investigation, Cohen said. We are providing additional support and guidance to the school. Principal Giulia Cox declined to comment on Cummings actions. She refused to discuss her slavery lessons when a reporter approached her after school on Thursday. Excuse me, Im not talking to anyone, no, she said, when asked if she stepped on black students in her class. CAIROWhen it comes to securing a second term in power, Egypts president is leaving little to chance. Potential rivals in the March election have been sidelined, jailed or threatened with prosecution. The news media is largely in his pocket. On polling day, Egyptians will have a choice between President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi and one of his most ardent supporters an obscure politician drafted at the eleventh hour to avoid the embarrassment of a one-horse race. As he cruises toward victory, el-Sissi need not worry either about foreign censure: President Donald Trump, who has hailed the Egyptian leader as a fantastic guy, and most other Western leaders have been largely silent. Across the world, autocratic leaders are engaging in increasingly brazen behaviour rigging votes, muzzling the press and persecuting opponents as they dispense with even a fig leaf of democratic practice once offered to placate the United States or gain international legitimacy. The global tide is driven by a bewildering range of factors, including the surge of populism in Europe, waves of migration and economic inequality. And leaders of countries like Egypt, which had long been sensitive to Washingtons influence, know they run little risk of rebuke from a U.S. president who has largely abandoned human rights and the promotion of democracy in favour of his narrow America First agenda. In Cambodia, Prime Minister Hun Sen, who has ruled the country for 33 years, has led a sweeping crackdown on opponents before elections this summer. In November, Trump flashed a big thumbs-up as he posed for a photo with Hun Sen, who later praised the U.S. president for what he called his lack of interest in human rights. In Honduras, President Juan Orlando Hernandez was inaugurated for a second term Saturday amid uproar from opposition figures who accused him of rigging the vote, and despite calls for a new election from the Organization of American States. Washington ignored the OAS findings, with the U.S. charge daffaires offering only tepid statements calling on all sides to behave peacefully. And the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, who once was forced to surrender power for four years to respect his constitution, has barred the main opposition challenger in the March election, virtually assuring that he will win a fourth term. Trump has repeatedly expressed his desires for closer ties with Putin. Despite decades of lofty American talk of democracy and human rights, espoused by every president since Jimmy Carter, policies have prioritized security and strategic considerations over principle. And the CIA torture program after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks further undermined the United States standing. Trump has barely paid lip service to the promotion of universal human rights, and experts say his warm embrace of hard-line leaders like President Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines, whose anti-drug drive has killed thousands of his own citizens without due process, has only encouraged their worst excesses. The issue is a troubling one, Stewart M. Patrick, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, said in an email. Trumps lionizing of the strong leadership qualities of authoritarian personalities like Putin, Erdogan, Duterte, and Sisi as well as his own attacks on free press at home cannot help but to embolden their efforts to crack down on civil society and crush dissent in their own countries. Trump administration officials question the value of publicly lecturing friendly autocrats about their record, arguing that such criticisms are more effectively made in private. Last year, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said that while American values like freedom and human dignity still underpinned U.S. policies abroad, insisting that others adopt those values creates obstacles to advancing U.S. security and economic interests. Trump, however, has not hesitated to use human rights as a cudgel against unfriendly countries, like Iran, North Korea and Venezuela, whose records he criticized in his State of the Union address Tuesday. Critics say that by not confronting allies, Trump is ceding valuable leverage over strongmen, who, despite their worst actions, still care about their international image. And in sub-Saharan Africa on a continent Trump insulted in January with a profane slur some the globes least democratic strongmen now rule free from the threat of even cursory condemnation from the Oval Office. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, hundreds of people have been arrested and dozens killed in protests against President Joseph Kabila, who refused to step down at the end of his mandate in 2016. The unrest has already forced up to a million Congolese to flee violence as refugees in their own country. Elections are scheduled for the end of this year, if they happen at all. The situation is arguably worse in neighbouring South Sudan, where opposition forces on Thursday threatened guerrilla warfare should peace talks with longtime President Salva Kiir fail, the Associated Press reported. Tens of thousands have been killed in the conflict, with millions displaced in the conflict. Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the UN, appeared moved by a visit to the two nations last November, but Trump himself has not engaged. The White House has likewise turned a blind eye to Niger, where President Mahamadou Issoufou, an ally in the fight against Daesh-affiliated forces in West Africa, has made a series of increasingly authoritarian moves. Bad governments behave badly, no matter what, said Tom Malinowski, who was assistant secretary of state for human rights in the Obama administration. But they take the expected American reaction into account when making decisions. Citing the example of Egypt, Malinowski added: If youre going to send your security forces out to kill a bunch of Muslim Brotherhood leaders, knowing the U.S. is going to be in your face when it happens, and that it could have an impact on security co-operation, thats a factor. It doesnt mean youll do everything the Americans want. But it does probably mean that fewer people get killed. U.S. rhetoric on human rights is seen cynically in parts of the world where Washington has a history of selectively embracing despots. During the Cold War, the United States allied with Mobutu Sese Seko in Zaire, now the Democratic Republic of Congo; the shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi; and Gen. Augusto Pinochet of Chile. More recently, President Barack Obama was openly disdainful of el-Sissis harsh tactics yet left untouched the United States $1.3 billion in annual military aid to Egypt. Even so, a U.S. presidents rhetoric can make a significant difference. Yes, realpolitik often wins out over values, and it often seems steeped in hypocrisy, said Michael Wahid Hanna of The Century Foundation in New York. But, he added, espousal of those values by U.S. officials is neither 100 per cent cynical, nor is it inconsequential. One good example of that is in Egypt where, although U.S. policy has long been driven by security concerns, activists say there was traditionally a valuable margin for human rights issues. Maybe 85 per cent of the time they were supportive of the regime and stability, said Heba Morayef of Amnesty International. But there was a lot we could with the other 15 per cent. But under Trump, that margin has drastically shrunk, and now el-Sissi is heading for re-election in what the Project on Middle East Democracy this week called the most repressive political environment in Egypts modern history. In the past month, four prominent challengers to el-Sissi have quit the race. Ahmed Shafiq, a former prime minister, withdrew after being held for a month at a Cairo hotel where security officials threatened to prosecute him on corruption charges. Last week Sami Anan, a former army chief with long-standing ties to the United States, dropped out after being imprisoned by the military on charges of forgery and incitement. Days later Anans running mate was beaten up outside his home by pro-government thugs. In a muted response, a State Department spokeswoman noted Anans arrest with concern and said officials were watching the situation very closely. Now el-Sissis sole challenger is Moussa Moustapha Moussa, an architect with long-standing loyalties to Egypts security services. Moussa is best known for helping President Hosni Mubarak split a small opposition party in 2008, in part by leading a gang of thugs that smashed the partys offices and set it on fire. The Trump administration did rebuke el-Sissi last summer when it froze or cancelled over $290 million in military aid over concerns about Egypts covert ties to North Korea and a law passed by el-Sissi sharply restricting aid work in Egypt, especially by Western organizations. But any critical message for el-Sissi was overshadowed by Trumps praise for his rule. Trumps priorities are further underscored by his failure to appoint an assistant secretary of state for human rights, and by Tillersons unusual snubbing last year of the presentation for the release of the State Departments annual report on global human rights. Trump is not alone in his silence over countries like Egypt. The leaders of Britain, France and Germany, also grappling with the surge in populist politics in their own countries, have said little about el-Sissis election crackdown as well. The most senior Western visitor to Cairo of late was the French spy chief who, according to the Egyptian presidency, expressed his appreciation to el-Sissi for his efforts in bringing peace to the region. With files from Star staff Read more about: KABULAfghanistans president forcefully accused Pakistan on Friday of sheltering Taliban insurgents, blaming the neighbouring Muslim country for a recent wave of urban terrorist attacks that has roiled the nation and raised questions about his governments ability to protect the populace. In a televised address, President Ashraf Ghani described Pakistan as the centre of Taliban terrorism and demanded that Pakistani officials take swift, concrete steps to drive insurgents from their country. The Afghan nation is waiting for clear action from Pakistan, he said. Pakistani officials immediately denied the allegations that they are harbouring Taliban groups, including the Haqqani network, which claimed to have carried out several of the recent attacks. A foreign ministry statement in Islamabad said Afghanistan should focus on its domestic security lapses rather than blaming its neighbour. Read more: 11 Afghan soldiers die in Daesh attack on Kabul military academy Afghanistan officials raise death toll from Kabul suicide bombing to 103 Four killed after gunmen storm British Save the Children charity in Afghanistan Pakistan has repeatedly rejected similar accusations from U.S. officials, but the Trump administration recently suspended all military aid to the longtime security ally after saying Pakistan had not done enough to rein in the Haqqani network and other anti-foreign militant groups. We reject any allegations of support to the Haqqani network or the Taliban and or them using our soil, foreign ministry spokesperson Muhammad Faisal said in Islamabad. He said that vast swaths of Afghan territory are being used by terrorist groups as a sanctuary. Blaming Pakistan for security lapses inside Afghanistan is unfair. Despite their denials, Pakistani officials said they still intend to send a delegation of officials here in the next several days to discuss the issues. Ghani, flanked by Muslim clerical leaders, reiterated charges made by two top security aides Thursday after they travelled to Pakistan. The Afghan interior minister and intelligence chief said they had shown officials there undeniable evidence that the attackers who staged a series of bombings and shooting raids in Kabul were trained and launched from Pakistan. The aides said they gave Pakistani officials a list of individuals who had orchestrated the attacks, as well as the locations of religious and training facilities for them. They said the information was gained in part from suspects arrested during the recent wave of violence, which left more than 130 people dead and hundreds wounded. Ghani and his government have come under harsh new criticism for failing to provide security for civilians, who were deliberately targeted in most of the attacks. The president said Friday that he has ordered a broad review of security in the capital, and he recently said his new top priority was making reforms in the security sector. Critics have accused Ghani, who is expected to seek re-election next year, of letting political rivalries distract him from the more pressing issue of security. Former president Hamid Karzai, one of his sharpest critics, tweeted Friday that while the country is under serious terrorist siege and threat, the government is focusing more on its political rivals to rid them ahead of the elections. This past week also saw groups of protesters gather in the capital, denouncing both the Afghan and Pakistani governments, and an explosion of frustration and anger on social media. Many people and some opposition leaders have called on senior government officials to resign. Read more about: WASHINGTONIf youve caught even a few minutes of cable news in the past week, youve probably heard about the Nunes memo, and the controversy it has stirred. The document, which Republicans released shortly after Trump declassified it Friday, has created a massive fissure between Democrats and Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee, and even pitted President Donald Trump against his own FBI director, who has publicly expressed concerns about the memo being made public. But what exactly is the Nunes memo? You can read the full document here, but before you do, here are the answers to some basic questions you might have about what it is and how it came to be. What is the Nunes memo, and how did it come to be? The Nunes memo is a four-page document, created by the staff of House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, a California Republican, that alleges the FBI abused its surveillance authority, particularly when it sought a secret court order to monitor a former Trump campaign adviser. It is the work product of Nunes months-long effort to investigate the FBI and Justice Department and their ongoing probe into whether the Trump campaign co-ordinated with Russia. The memo has yet to be released, so it is impossible to say with certainty and specificity what it says. But Republicans who have seen the document say it will describe how a research effort funded by Hillary Clinton and the Democratic National Committee ended up playing a role in the FBIs obtaining a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court warrant to surveil former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page. The research effort was that of former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele, who produced a now infamous dossier of lurid allegations against Trump. Steele had been hired for his work by Fusion GPS, an opposition research firm who had themselves been hired by Hillary Clintons campaign and the Democratic National Committee. Republicans will probably attempt to use that information to portray the monitoring of Page as a political ploy by Clinton and the Democrats, which they will say casts doubt on the integrity of the Russia investigation. It must be noted, though, that the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court process is generally a robust one, and it is virtually impossible that the bureau would have relied solely on unverified information in Steeles dossier to obtain the warrant. Why are the Democrats so upset about the memos release? The House Intelligence Committee has long done bipartisan work conducting oversight of U.S. intelligence services. As a part of that, the committee had been doing its own investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. The Nunes memo has essentially upended the probe, and the work has devolved into partisan bickering over whether the document should be released. Democrats are upset for two primary reasons. First, Nunes staff created the document after reviewing classified and highly sensitive Justice Department files related to the Russia investigation. Democrats fear the memo could expose some of that material and harm national security. That is problematic in its own right, Democrats say, but also for the precedent it might set. In the future, the Justice Department and the FBI might be reluctant to turn over materials to the House Intelligence Committee out of fear the committee will make them public. Foreign intelligence partners watching from afar, too, might be more reluctant to co-operate with Americans out of worry that Congress might get access to their work and expose it to the world. Second, Democrats are angry that the memo, in their view, cherry picks facts to paint the FBI in an unfairly negative light. They say Republicans are essentially using the document to discredit the probe into the Trump campaign and ignoring information that is unhelpful to them. To that point, when Republicans voted to authorize the release of their memo triggering an up-to-five-days review by the White House which, as of 11 a.m. Thursday, was ongoing they voted against releasing a Democrat rebuttal memo. Democrats have charged that that is an attempt to control the political narrative. What is the FBI and Justice Departments stance on all of this? Initially, officials at the Justice Department had not even seen the memo, and the department wrote Nunes last week warning him against releasing the document until it could conduct its own review. On Sunday, FBI Director Christopher Wray looked at it, and he asked to brief Republican lawmakers on his concerns with making it public. They did not let him do so. Wray and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein also privately lobbied the White House against the memos release. On Wednesday, Wrays FBI issued a remarkable statement saying the bureau has grave concerns about material omissions of fact that fundamentally impact the memos accuracy. That puts the agency at odds with not just Republicans in Congress, but also Trump, who sees the document as helpful to himself and wants it released. Notable about the FBIs statement is that the bureau is not publicly expressing any concerns that releasing the memo could jeopardize national security, but rather, they are saying the document is wrong. Nunes fired back that the FBI was welcome to make public information that could clear up the record, though law enforcement officials have said the bureau is in a bit of a bind. That is because the information they might make public in their defence, according to the officials, is sensitive, and its release could be damaging to national security. Why has this become such a big issue? This is a big deal because it could have real implications for the Justice Department and the Russia investigation. Trump is said to believe the memo could help him convince people the FBI and special counsel Robert Mueller III are biased against him. Its possible, even likely, he will use it in an effort to discredit that probe. Its also possible that the memos release could trigger leadership changes at the Justice Department. Trump has told associates he hopes new questions facing the Russia investigation could allow him to make changes at the department, and the memo could give him the questions he needs. Trumps FBI director also is now publicly at odds with the president over whether the document should be released. It is an open question as to what he will do if it is made public, or how Trump who fired his last FBI director will react to his defiance. Read more about: Small business owners in Toronto can breathe a sigh of relief after city council voted Wednesday to cap this years property tax hikes at 10 per cent. Thats a far cry from last year, when a number of small businesses along the Yonge St. strip south of Bloor St. faced increases of 100 to 500 per cent, forcing some of them to shutter. The House of Lords hair salon, for example, closed because of the tax hike after 51 years in business. But the tax cap is just a Band-Aid solution. The problem wont be fixed until the provincial Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC) changes how it calculates a propertys current value. And that wont happen until the Wynne government steps in and fixes the legislation governing it. As Mayor John Tory notes, that requires fundamental reform. The current model looks at the potential market value of the land and assesses it according to its highest and best use. That can mean a mom-and-pop store is assessed as if it is a nearby high-rise condo. That has created nightmares for small businesses in low-rise buildings as well as for buildings housing charities and arts and culture hubs, such as 401 Richmond St. Last September, after an outcry over the potential shuttering of that building because of untenable tax hikes, the province promised to make a new tax class for cultural and community hubs. It needs to step in and find a long-term solution for small businesses, especially those in historic or heritage areas. After all, who wants to live in a city composed completely of cold condo corridors, which is what the current tax system encourages. As Councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam argued in the Star, the tax increases on businesses in the area south of Bloor stretching from Bay to Church Sts. threatened years of planning work meant to preserve the heritage assets of the area and prevent new developments that would create a visual wall on Yonge. Indeed, the current property tax system seems designed to displace the small and unique with the big and generic. What the province must do is change its valuation approach to reflect the actual use of a property not its hypothetical worth. As Wong-Tam argued, MPACs current system fuels unchecked development and unintentionally destroys character neighbourhoods as we know them. Its not just the Yonge St. area thats threatened. Left unchecked, high-rise redevelopment will eventually be forced on every neighbourhood in the GTA. True, the purpose of the highest and best use measure was not simply to increase taxes, but to encourage landowners to make the most use of their lots by, say, building needed housing or new commercial space. But there are other ways to do that, such as taxing vacant properties, as Vancouver now does. Whatever the solution, the Wynne government needs to act on it before any other businesses or cultural and community hubs are shuttered and vital, historical communities needlessly wiped out. Read more about: Last week, in the midst of the #MeToo movement, members of Parliament debated legislation to curb what can only be described as rampant sexual harassment and abuse on Parliament Hill and in federally regulated work forces (think the RCMP). Bill C-65 will not apply to MPs, but it should. Because if anyone is wondering what is holding more women back from running for office or staying in it once they get there they should start by considering the widespread harassment and bullying women politicians face, and how long men in power have been perpetuating it. That needs to change. As Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told Liberal MPs last week, Add women, change politics is how we will make a better country. Or, indeed, a better world. But as the debate on Bill C-65 showed, it will be a long time coming if the status quo is not changed. Conservative MP Michelle Rempel illustrated this point with an example of a woman allegedly abused by former MP Rick Dykstra. The women complained to police in 2014 that Dykstra pressured her to perform oral sex on him after a night of drinking, but senior officials in his party allowed him to run in the 2015 election. They should be ashamed of themselves, said. Rempel. (Party leader Andrew Scheer has now ordered an investigation into how that was allowed to happen.) Rempel was talking about a Conservative staff member who may have been intimidated by the power an MP wields. But she could just as easily have been talking about how the powers-that-be in politics have treated their female counterparts, many of whom have come forward to discuss the sexist and abusive behaviour they have had to endure. Rempel herself has written that she is regularly called a bitch if she doesnt comply with someones request. The degradation also involves my ass being occasionally grabbed as a way to shock me into submission. Sadly, her experience is far from unique. Nor is it new. Former MP Sheila Copps revealed in 2014 that she was sexually assaulted by a legislator more than 30 years ago unbelievably, while on a tour studying violence against women. But while sexual abuse is the topic du jour, it isnt the only thing holding women back from fully participating in politics in 2018. First, political parties (some more so than others) do not do enough work to find potential female candidates. (Hello, federal Conservatives!) Just as bad, when women are asked to run it is often in ridings where theres little hope their party will win. In other words, they are set up for failure. It doesnt have to be that way. Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland is a perfect example. She was personally recruited from a stellar career in journalism by Trudeau, and is now one of the top lieutenants in his gender-parity cabinet. In short, its not that there are not enough qualified women; its that there are not enough qualified party members seeking them out. Still, in a perfect world, they wouldnt wait to be asked. Theyd run on their own. Thats where Equal Voice, a non-partisan organization dedicated to getting women elected at all levels of office, comes in. They do so by encouraging women to run for office through an online campaign school, as well as raising awareness about the impact of womens under-representation in politics. Another badly needed change is making political life more family-friendly. Environment Minister Catherine McKenna made headlines in 2016 when she announced she intended to leave the office every day at 5:30 to do homework with her children and sit down to dinner as a family before returning to work at 8 p.m. Im not going to be a good minister unless Im happy at home, she told the Star. In an article she co-wrote in the Ottawa Citizen in 2014, McKenna suggested introducing such steps as video-conferencing and condensed parliamentary sessions so that commuting MPs could spend more time at home. She also recommended an end to evening parliamentary sessions so parents could get home for bedtime. Theres no reason those changes cant be made. More than 22 years ago, the federal government made a commitment that every piece of legislation, and all new policies and programs, would be subjected to what is called a gender-based analysis. The goal was to bring womens experience to decision-making. It hasnt worked. Change needs to come from within. But only 26 per cent of Canadian MPs are female, below the 30-per-cent threshold the United Nations says leads to a shift in policy and practice in government. Nor is it the 50 per cent we should aspire to. Indeed, it will take another 90 years at the current glacial pace of change to reach that level, according to an analysis by Equal Voice. Canada should hang its head. This country ranks a shameful 64th among almost 200 countries in its percentage of women MPs, according to the Inter-Parliamentary Union. Sweden, Finland and Norway lead the pack of Western countries on that list (women hold more than 40 per cent of the seats in their parliaments). Ironically, what may encourage more women to run for office may actually be the sexism and misogyny that still rules the day. Stephanie Schriock, president of EMILYs List, the largest resource for women in politics in the United States, believes that Donald Trump may be responsible for the fact that since his election more than 26,000 women have signed up for more information on running for office. Equal Voice says it, too, has seen a recent uptick in interest in its campaign boot camps. Maybe the next phase of the #MeToo movement will be a wave of women running for office and finally tipping the general balance in political life. We can only hope so. The latest pipeline faceoff between Alberta and British Columbia is more than a constitutional tussle. It is also a reminder of the unresolved contradictions within Prime Minister Justin Trudeaus climate-change policy. More specifically, it is a reminder that the core of that policy the assertion that carbon emissions can be adequately reduced without significant economic cost is simply not true. The Alberta-B.C. brouhaha is over Kinder Morgans proposed Trans Mountain pipeline expansion, which would vastly increase the amount of tarsands oil moving to the Pacific coast. Alberta Premier Rachel Notley and her New Democratic government desperately want that pipeline expansion in order to keep the provinces high-cost oilsands industry competitive. B.C. Premier John Horgan and his minority NDP government equally desperately do not want it. In part, thats because they need the support of the anti-pipeline Greens to stay in power. But in part, it is because the project is deeply unpopular in Vancouver and the Lower Mainland. Residents worry that shipping more bitumen to the coast would vastly increase the likelihood of beach-fouling oil spills. This week, the B.C. government announced a proposed regulation that would prevent more bitumen entering the province until an assessment on the danger of spillage can be done. A furious Notley threatened to take B.C. to court, arguing that the move was an attempt by Horgans government to regulate in an area interprovincial pipelines over which it has no constitutional authority. Sitting quietly on the sidelines (and hoping to stay there) is Trudeaus federal Liberal government. It does have the constitutional authority to regulate interprovincial pipelines and has already okayed the Kinder Morgan expansion. Indeed, that expansion was supposed to embody the great climate-change bargain that Trudeau promoted: Pipelines could be built, but only if their builders had social licence to do so. That social licence would include a commitment to reduce carbon emissions in order to fight climate change. Notley brought in a carbon tax. Trudeau approved Kinder Morgan. This was supposed to be the model of how measures to reduce greenhouse gases could coexist with economic growth. The bargain didnt work. In part, this was because opposition to Kinder Morgan was based on more than climate change. But in part it was because the premise behind the bargain was false. Seriously battling climate change does carry a cost. True, ignoring climate change carries a greater cost. But it is naive to think that the transition away from a high-carbon world will be painless. In a roundabout way, the Trudeau government seems to understand this. But it appears to believe (perhaps correctly) that Canadians are unwilling to pay these transition costs. And so it settles for half measures. In opposition, the Trudeau Liberals dismissed then prime minister Stephen Harpers carbon emission goals as grossly inadequate. In government they embraced them. Even then, these goals are far from being met. The Trudeau government announced a national carbon tax to reduce emissions. But experts say that the tax as planned is far too low to get the job done that it wont discourage Canadians from high-emission activities, such as driving gasoline-powered cars. The federal government tabled its formal carbon tax bill last month. But here too it backtracked, allowing big breaks for large industrial emitters. The governments caution is understandable. Fighting climate change carries a political as well as an economic cost. But if climate change is as dangerous as scientists say, then boldness is required. Compromises, like the one behind the ongoing Kinder Morgan political soap opera, just dont cut it. Thomas Walkom appears Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Read more about: Donald Trump is locked and loaded, as he would want it written, and Americas bleeding democracy is in his crosshairs. The clock is ticking. It is now becoming clear what desperate steps Trump is preparing to take to stop the Robert Mueller investigation and salvage his failing presidency. And it is now becoming apparent that he will soon try to shut down the Mueller probe entirely. For the United States, on the brink of a historical constitutional crisis, the consequences will be profound. Such an assault on Americas democracy may outdo Watergate in terms of enduring lethal damage. In a chaotic, yearlong presidency that never ceases to astound, this past week has been a turning point. But at least we can now see what shape Trumps catastrophic game plan is taking. Like Richard Nixon in Watergate, Trump is methodically getting rid of the key U.S. Justice Department and FBI people who threaten him. This is resembling a slow-motion replay of Nixons infamous 1973 Saturday Night Massacre in which he desperately tried to shut down the investigation that ultimately doomed his presidency. In that drama, largely due to principled opposition from his own Republican party, Nixon failed in his efforts and the country recovered. But no such happy ending is certain here. As the Mueller probe creeps closer to the Oval Office, an alarmed Trump is aggressively quickening his pace as a supine Republican Congress largely hides under the bed. This week, Trump showed how bitterly he is now at war with the FBI and the Justice Department determined to discredit the Mueller investigation as partisan and bogus by defaming the law enforcement agencies it relies on. And one-by-one, Trump is trying to eliminate their leadership. First, it was FBI director James Comey, the man who headed the investigation into Trumps Russia ties a year ago. He was fired by the president last May after refusing to pledge loyalty to Trump. A month later, according to The New York Times, Trump tried to fire Mueller but held off for the time being after his White House counsel, Don McGahn, threatened to resign. And last Monday, after unrelenting criticism from Trump, deputy FBI director Andrew McCabe announced his sudden departure. Next on Trumps hit list are certain to be the two remaining officials with integrity who stand between Trump and Mueller: deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein, who now oversees Muellers probe, and FBI director Christopher Wray, who succeeded Comey after he was fired. The president realizes that he needs to get rid of them first in order to get at Mueller, and is aware of the risks ahead of him if he doesnt act. Trump knows what Mueller must now know that Trump is not only guilty of obstruction of justice and collusion with the Russians, but even more damning, his suspect business empire has been knee-deep in illegal money-laundering schemes with Russian oligarchs and mobsters for years. Beyond sexual blackmail the Russians may very well have on Trump kompromat as its known in Russian intelligence circles what else would explain why Americas president has been so beholden to Russias Vladimir Putin? It wont be long before Trump makes his next move. He knows that the longer he waits, the more damning will be the criminal case that Mueller and his team are building against Trump and his family. And at least now until the Democrats win next Novembers midterm elections he undoubtedly believes that a largely passive Republican Congress will let him have his way. A column that I wrote in August titled We now know how the Trump presidency will end. Lets hope we survive was picked up by several American websites and garnered thousands of responses. In the column, I predicted what Trump would likely do as a last resort if he feels his presidency is threatened: His only remaining hope will be a 9/11-scale disaster or contrived war that he can exploit. There is so much noise and distraction emanating from the Trump White House that it is easy not to hear certain things. But if we listen closely, we can hear the quiet drumbeats of war in the halls of Washington regarding the desirability of military conflict with a nuclear-armed North Korea and, separately, with Iran. In the perilous days ahead, we shall soon learn whether anyone in America is listening. Tony Burman is former head of Al Jazeera English and CBC News. Reach him @TonyBurman or at tony.burman@gmail.com. Read more about: The U.S. payment networks said revenue surged during the fourth quarter amid strong holiday spending. Visa Inc. (V) - Get Visa Inc. Class A Report and Mastercard Inc. (MA) - Get Mastercard Inc. (MA) Report , the two big U.S. credit-card payment networks, said sales surged last quarter amid strong holiday spending by consumers. Visa, based in Foster City, Calif., said in a statement Thursday that net income climbed 22% from a year earlier to $2.52 billion, as revenue rose by 9% to $4.86 billion. Excluding gains and charges stemming from the new tax law passed in December, the company's adjusted earnings per share were $1.08, exceeding the 98-cent average estimate of analysts in a FactSet survey. Mastercard, based in Purchase, New York, said separately Thursday that revenue rose 20% in the quarter from a year earlier. Net income fell by 76% to $227 million, mostly due to an $873 million charge related to the tax act. Excluding special gains and charges, net income climbed by 28% to $1.2 billion, or $1.14 a share, according to the statement. That figure exceeded the $1.12 average estimate in a FactSet survey. Visa CEO Alfred Kelly said in the statement that his company saw "healthy growth in all key business drivers across the globe." "In particular, momentum accelerated in the U.S., driven by strong holiday spending and e-commerce growth," he said. MasterCard also benefited from from "strong" holiday sales, CEO Ajay Banga told stock analysts on a conference call Thursday. Visa shares rose 1.2% to $125.72 on Thursday. MasterCard gained 2.33% to $172.93. More of What's Trending on TheStreet: Aetna Inc. operates as a health care benefits company in the United States. It operates through three segments: Health Care, Group Insurance, and Large Case Pensions. The Health Care segment offers medical, pharmacy benefit management service, dental, behavioral health, and vision plans on an insured and employer-funded basis. It also provides point-of-service, preferred provider organization, health maintenance organization, and indemnity benefit plans, as well as health savings accounts and consumer-directed health plans. In addition, this segment offers Medicare and Medicaid products and services, as well as other medical products, such as medical management and data analytics services, medical stop loss insurance, workers' compensation administrative services, and products that provide access to its provider networks in select geographies. The Group Insurance segment offers life insurance products, including group term life insurance, voluntary spouse and dependent term life insurance, group universal life insurance, and accidental death and dismemberment insurance; disability insurance products; and long-term care insurance products, which provide the benefits to cover the cost of care in private home settings, adult day care, assisted living, or nursing facilities. The Large Case Pensions segment manages various retirement products comprising pension and annuity products primarily for tax-qualified pension plans. The company provides its products and services to employer groups, individuals, college students, part-time and hourly workers, health plans, health care providers, governmental units, government-sponsored plans, labor groups, and expatriates. Aetna Inc. was founded in 1853 and is based in Hartford, Connecticut. Read More Unum Group is engaged in providing financial protection benefits. It operates through the following segments: Unum US, Unum International, Colonial Life, Closed Block and Corporate. The Unum US segment comprises of group long-term and short-term disability insurance, group life and accidental death and dismemberment products, and supplemental and voluntary lines of business. The Unum International segment engages in the operations of UK business, which includes insurance for group long-term disability, group life, and supplemental lines of business that include dental, individual disability, and critical illness products; Poland business primarily includes insurance for individual and group life with accident and health riders. The Colonial Life segment includes insurance for accident, sickness, disability products, life products, and cancer and critical illness products. The Closed Block segment consists of individual disability, group and individual long-term care, and other insurance products no longer actively marketed. The Corporate segment refers to investment income on corporate assets and other corporate income and expenses not allocated to a line of business; and interest Read More 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 [] ALBANY State officials are now looking at selling off a Malta energy business park in pieces instead of trying to find a buyer for the entire 280-acre site. The Saratoga Technology + Energy Park (STEP) was created as a way for the state to turn a former federally operated weapons testing site into a high-tech business park geared toward renewable energy and semiconductor technologies. It is owned by the state Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), which prior to the 1970s was known as the New York State Atomic and Space Development Authority. STEP played an important role over the years as a landing spot for GlobalFoundries' first offices before it built its Fab 8 computer chip factory next door at the Luther Forest Technology Campus. It also served as the site of Hudson Valley Community College's Saratoga County satellite campus. But it has never lived up to the vision that NYSERDA and other state officials imagined for it. Luther Forest, the 1,200-acre tech park that sits next to STEP, has failed to realize its initial goals of growing beyond GlobalFoundries. Both the land at STEP and at Luther Forest were once part of the Malta Test Station, a federal government rocket test bed created to assess technology developed or acquired in the wake of World War II and into the Cold War era. Last spring, the NYSERDA board approved the sale of STEP through a state-run auction. But NYSERDA's general counsel, Noah Shaw, came back to the board earlier this month to ask its members to revise that decision and allow NYSERDA to sell off the park in pieces; Shaw also asked the board to grant the authority the power to negotiate directly with buyers instead of going through the state auction process. "Some flexibility may be needed in order to maximize the return for the authority," Shaw told NYSERDA's board members. Shaw didn't provide specifics, but NYSERDA board chairman Richard Kauffman, Gov. Andrew Cuomo's energy policy director, indicated that conclusion was based on "market feedback," likely from real estate or development professionals. The board voted unanimously in favor of the change in strategy. Three years ago, NYSERDA's board found itself embroiled in controversy over STEP when it was revealed that Cuomo's budget office had pushed NYSERDA to sell the tech park to SUNY Polytechnic Institute in Albany for the token sum of $1 to satisfy a multi-million-dollar state commitment to a SUNY Poly semiconductor research program that has since ended. At the time, STEP's appraised valued was $9 million. Sign up for The Knick Get the latest news and some area history with our afternoon newsletter. In the past few months, the real estate market for land around GlobalFoundries, Luther Forest and STEP has appeared to warm up. One STEP building is used by the county's economic development arm, the Saratoga County Prosperity Partnership, to land suppliers for Fab 8. There has also been talk that other parcels at Luther Forest and surrounding land could be redeveloped. When Luther Forest was first developed for chip manufacturing, economic development officials imagined several companies like GlobalFoundries opening up factories at the site, with suppliers and related businesses also opening up offices at the park. Since solar panel manufacturing and other semiconductor technology like LED systems are closely related to chip manufacturing, the state saw STEP as a logical landing spot for companies that could utilize the same suppliers. It was also anticipated that those firms would draw on a workforce trained at Hudson Valley Community College's TEC-SMART campus at the site. Students from CBS Thurles, Nenagh College and Central Technology Institute Clonmel are among a group of students taking part in a Coding in Action initiative ahead of the introduction of Computer Science as a Leaving Certificate subject next September. The students are among 50 schools currently participating in the Junior Cycle Coding in Action programme. The two-year initiative is designed to support schools and teachers in their introduction of the short course in Coding within their junior cycle programme. As part of the two-year programme, Intel will donate 500 Genuino 101 development boards across participating schools. The boards, geared to learning environments, are powered by the Curie microchip developed by an Intel Ireland design team. This donation is supported by both online and elective training events for participating teachers, including an intensive workshop for teachers held on Sat 27th January in the Intel Ireland Campus in Leixlip, Co. Kildare. This is the biggest involvement by post-primary schools since we began the programme of support for schools interested in including the Coding short course at Junior Cycle. 175 schools applied which reflects the growing appetite and enthusiasm in developing teacher and student skills in the vitally important area of coding, commented Clare McInerney, education and outreach manager of SFI-backed Lero. Maeve Byrne, Public Affairs, Intel added, Computer science is present in every aspect of modern society and is creating millions of fulfilling and well rewarded jobs in Ireland and across the globe. Fundamental understanding of how computer hardware and software operate and relate to everyday life is central to a 21st century educational system. Intel is delighted to be participating in this programme and making available technology developed right here in Ireland. With enormous pressure having been applied to Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII), it has been confirmed to Councillor Seamus Hanafin, Chairman of the Templemore Thurles Municipal District, that restoration work on the Suir Bridge in Thurles will be fast tracked immediately to tend to the ever worsening problem with the surface. The condition of the bridge has been the talk of the town for many weeks and the public representatives have been doing cartwheels in a bid to try and figure out a solution to the problem. Just last week it was revealed that the bridge was on the TII's two year plan, but it was felt that it would be sorted out sooner rather than later. The sub surface of the bridge must be removed completely and a new sub surface and topping provided after the last attempt failed miserably. Cllr Seamus Hanafin has welcomed today's news that works on the Suir Bridge will be fast tracked. "This is the news we wanted to hear and I have been informed that this is now a priority for the TII. They recognise how serious this is and are going straight to appointing of a contractor, thereby by-passing the tender stage and all that. Works will begin on this very soon once the contractor has been sourced, but I understand that temporary remedial works might be carried out next week in the interim just to help make the bridge passable," Cllr Hanafin told The Tipperary Star this afternoon. While the surface of the bridge - known locally as Barry's Bridge - has been crumbling badly, the general public has been assured that there is no issue whatsoever with the underlying structure. President Donald Trump might move forward with a national Internet sales tax, his Treasury Secretary has signaled. And it could have a big impact on the way you shop and how much you pay. (Image credit: Alex Wong/Getty) Speaking before the Senate Banking Committee this week, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said that there are parts of a proposed national Internet sales tax that President Trump "likes a lot." He added, according to the Washington Times, that the president wants to see a formal proposal and then will work with lawmakers on a bill. I think the president fundamentally supports the idea of some type of sales tax across the board, and we look forward to working with you and others on that, Mnuchin said, according to Washington Times. A national Internet sales tax has been a hot-button topic for years, with some saying it's a must-have and others saying it's an unfair concept. Those in favor of the tax say that current law provides an advantage for retailers that chiefly sell products online, since they only need to collect sales tax in states where they have a major physical presence. MORE: 25 Cheap Tech Products That Make Life Easier "Just about everyone except self-interested and cost-sensitive consumers and pure-play online retailers see the merits of an online sales tax so long as its easily administeredcalculated and collected," said Greg Girard, a retail analyst at IDC. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have at one point or another floated the idea of an online sales tax in a bid to improve "fairness" between online and brick-and-mortar retailers. So far, however, some states have successfully enacted online sales tax, but no national bill has passed. "A uniform national online sales tax system, regardless of nexus,would simplify administration and do a lot to level the playing field," said Girard. A nexus refers to whether the retailer has a physical presence, stores or distribution centers in the state or not. Girard noted that Amazon sales are already subject to tax in many if not most states, given its national network of distribution centers, Whole Foods Market stores and lockers. According to the Washington Times, which cited a Government Accountability Office estimate, the taxes could be major: state and local governments could raise between $8 billion and $13 billion each year. Currently, you're able to save cash on many online purchases by not paying sales tax. By being forced to pay online sales tax, retailers would likely pass on that cost to consumers. The cost to buy products online, then, could go up significantly. So, assuming a national online sales tax becomes a reality, what would it mean for online shoppers? Would they wind up paying more? "Those are not easy questions to address," said Girard. "It all depends on what the market will bear, how the tax is constructed, its rate, and how much cost bears on a shoppers decision. Still, there's no telling if and when this bill would pass. Lawmakers would still need to draft a bill, fight about it in Congress, and hope to get the President's buy-in. It would be easy, then, to see this through. 68-year old could be charged with espionage and serve as much as 10 years in jail Australian director James Ricketsons time in a Cambodian jail isnt getting cut short after his bail request was rejected by Supreme Court Judge Soeng Panhavuth because the investigation is still underway. The 68-year old Ricketson was arrested in June 2017 after he was caught flying a drone over a campaign rally organized by the now-defunct Cambodia National Rescue Party in Phnom Penh. Flying a drone in the capital city is illegal without official permission from the government. Ricketson was charged with acts of collecting information which may undermine national defense. If found guilty, could face between five to 10 years in prison. Understandably, Ricketsons family was dismayed at the decision and are worried about the health of the 68-year old. The Ricketson family are obviously very disappointed by the outcome of todays proceedings, Alexandra Kennett, the partner of Ricketsons son, Jesse, told reporters outside the court. The Australian director has spent the last five years in Cambodia and was said to be filming a documentary at the time he was arrested. Its also not the first time the director has had a brush with the law in the country. Back in 2014, Ricketson was slapped with a two-year suspended prison sentence for allegedly threatening to expose an Australian-based church working in Cambodia for child-trafficking. More recently, Ricketson was fined after being found guilty of defaming Action Pour Les Enfants (APLE), a non-profit organization that works on locating and apprehending pedophiles, on accusations that the group was manipulating witnesses. Its hardly surprising that Ricketson would be in this kind of trouble in a country thats as politically charged as Cambodia is now. You get in the crosshairs of the government, and youre going to be in trouble. Hopefully, we see a resolution here that will work best for all parties concerned. Digital screens that really make sense as a replacement for traditional mirrors In an effort to eke out every last little bit of fuel economy, lots of manufacturers are proposing replacing the traditional side-view mirrors with small cameras, feeding the view to digital screens inside the cabin. The smaller, blade-like cameras reduce aerodynamic drag, thus increasing efficiency in the process (not to mention adding an extra layer of cool digital bling). Unfortunately, the camera feed is usually relayed to some awkward spot inside the cabin, such as on the other side of the dash or even into the rear-view mirror. Its understandable, considering the limited real estate offered in the modern car interior, but there has to be a more sensible approach. Luckily, it looks like the Lexus LF-1 Concept has the right idea. Recently revealed with a debut at the 2018 Detroit Auto Show, the Lexus LF-1 is the luxury Japanese brands latest forward-thinking look at the SUV segment. We think it looks great, with sharp lines, excellent proportions, and solid use of Lexus latest styling language. In fact, we liked it so much, we gave it a spot on our Best In Show list. However, the good stuff isnt limited to whats going on outside the vehicle, as the Lexus LF-1s interior is equally attractive. The multi-tier layout, the color scheme, the glittering panels all well-executed features, if you ask us. Of particular note are the twin screens flanking the central display behind the steering wheel. These two screens provide a feed from the side-view cameras, which is perfect for the system in question here. Not only does it make it easy for the driver to watch the right and left sides of the vehicle (no need to turn around or take your eyes off the road!), but the ancillary screens still provide plenty of space for whatever infotainment features you might want to see on the dash. Well done, Lexus. Now well just wait here to see if it makes it into production. Vous etes confrontes a une infestation par la puce, la punaise de lit ? Voici plusieurs actions qui sont a mettre en uvre pour faire [] Every year, new cars become increasingly more connected and more technologically advanced. That progress has led to many new opportunities for technology companies like Samsung, which just became the worlds largest chipmaker thanks in part to growing demand from the auto industry. The Full Story Samsung in particular seems well-poised to leverage the increased integration of digital technology and automobiles. One look at the automotive lineups at this years Consumer Electronics Show is proof enough that the auto industry is in the midst of a major technological shift. Consumers now expect the very latest in gadgetry and connected features with their automobiles, and as a result, tech companies are reaping the benefits. Samsung in particular seems well-poised to leverage the increased integration of digital technology and automobiles. In fact, Samsung just posted record profits, outpacing Intel for the first time in decades. Since 1992, Intel enjoyed its position as the worlds dominant chip manufacturer, but despite posting record profits of its own, Samsung is now in the lead, posting $69.1 billion in annual revenue compared to Intels $62.8 billion. The shift is due in part to growing demands from the auto industry, which, like the smartphone industry, requires advanced memory chips (a Samsung specialty) to make it all work. While Intel still has a strangle hold on the PC market, Samsungs memory chips are finding new ground. That much is outlined in Samsungs newest quarterly report, which points to growth when it comes to demand for high-density memory products for cloud servers and for chipsets required for automotive electronics and AI. It should be noted that cloud servers are used for a litany of automotive infotainment features, while AI is used for self-driving features, both of which are expected to grow considerably in the next several decades. Indeed, Samsung looks quite well-positioned for the up-and-coming technologies headed to the auto sector (and those technologies already here). Last year, the South Korean technology giant launched a $300 million autonomous driving fund aimed at backing startups and other companies looking to innovate in the self-driving field. Meanwhile, automotive manufacturing giants like Volkswagen, Toyota, and GM are pouring millions into the race to full autonomy. If Samsung establishes itself as the leader in this space now, it could pay big dividends in the future. References Read more technology news. There is the gradual convergence of opinions on the need for a national dialogue over the producer price of cocoa Ghana pays its farmers in the face of dipping global prices. Edward Kareweh, General Secretary of the General Agricultural Workers Union (GAWU) of Ghana Trades Union Congress (TUC), said such a national conversation should not only determine the pricing of the commodity in-country but also to redefine the role of cocoa in the countrys economy in general. Kareweh described as great at the time the decision by government to maintain prevailing prices when other cocoa producing countries had slashed their producer prices in line with the drop in world market price for the commodity. It showed our willingness to ensure that the farmers are not directly affected by the vagaries of the global arena, the trade unionist said in a telephone interview with Xinhua. He was however of the belief that this was not going to be sustainable since if the prices continued to fall, then government would also have to change its stance In spite of the fall in global prices, Kareweh admonished government not to touch the current prices so as to inspire confidence in the cocoa farmers. However if government sees the dire need to review prices it should revert to the Producer Price Setting Committee which is made up of representatives of all major stakeholders to justify why this must be done, he urged. Cocoa prices on the world market have dropped from a high of 2,287 US Dollars per metric ton around December 2016 to as low as the current price of 1,800 dollars per metric ton with Ghana still paying 7,600 Ghana cedis or 1,687 dollars per metric ton as producer price to farmers. The current world market prices are not going to stay the same forever and so all the investments government has been making into the industry should be considered on long-term basis since they are bound to yield the positive dividends once the prices begin to increase, Kareweh argued. He urged for a diversified agricultural sector so that the impact price shocks from the world cocoa buyers on the economy can be minimized. Cocoa pricing has over the years played a part in the political rhetorics in election years in Ghana as the two major parties New Patriotic Party (NPP) and National Democratic Congress (NDC) challenge each other as to which of them served best the interest of cocoa farmers. It is really a quandary: if you have cocoa prices from 2,900 dollars a ton and it is now down to 1,800 dollars per ton and you have pegged your producer price at 7,600 cedis, you have a problem. Can the country continue to subsidize that? Minister for Finance Kenneth Ofori-Atta said. Cocoa is Ghanas largest foreign exchange earner with the annual syndicated loan from foreign banks helping to cushion the local cedi currency against the major international currencies. Since Cocoa pricing is such a fundamental question, the minister said there was the need for a national conversation where some real sober minds would have to think through how to liberalize the pricing regime. Ofori-Atta could not confirm whether government intended to slush the producer prices any time soon. Ghana and its western neighbor Cote dIvoire have established joint cooperation on cocoa with the aim of seeking to influence the direction of decisions of global stakeholders on the commodity, especially those which affect pricing of the commodity as the two countries account for more than 60 percent of total global output annually. tralacs Weekly e-Newsletter is posted: feature articles by Prof Gerhard Erasmus and Talkmore Chidede Lighthizers African dream (Politico) United States Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer sparked a new conversation in trade circles on Wednesday when he floated the idea of the Trump administration launching bilateral trade negotiations with an African country before very long. Personally, I think that before very long were going to have to pick out an African country - properly selected - and enter into a free trade agreement with that country, he said in an interview on Sirius XM radio channel Patriot 125. And then that will, if done properly, become a model for these other countries. [AGOA loss cost Swaziland 600 mn emalangeni: FSE&CC] Blockchain to track Congos cobalt from mine to mobile (Reuters) Blockchain is to be used for the first time to try to track cobalts journey from artisanal mines in Democratic Republic of Congo through to products used in smartphones and electric cars. Sources close to a pilot scheme expected to be launched this year say the aim is eventually to give manufacturers a way of ensuring the cobalt in lithium-ion batteries for products such as iPhones and Teslas has not been mined by children. Tracking cobalt presents many challenges as scores of informal mine sites would have to be monitored, all players in the supply chain would need to buy into the scheme, and accurate, electronic data would need to be transmitted from remote areas - all in a vast country plagued by lawlessness. But companies are under growing pressure from consumers and investors to show the cobalt they use has come through supply chains free of rights abuses, just as they have for minerals used in electronics such as tantalum, tin, tungsten and gold. Zambia: December 2017 trade surplus rises (pdf, Central Statistical Office) Zambias trade surplus increased by 11.4% from K421.7m in November 2017 to K469.9m in December. The increase can be mainly explained by a decline in imports which outweighed that of exports. Imports declined by 4.7%, from K8,270.2m in November to K7,878.5m in December, while exports declined by 4.0%, from K8,691.9m to K8,348.5m in December. Metal export earnings marginally increased by 0.3%: the overall contribution of metals and their products to the total export earnings between December and November 2017 averaged 80.4%. Non-traditional exports decreased by 19.7%. Switzerland was the largest market for Zambias total exports in December 2017, accounting for 43.9%. Asia was the second largest market for Zambias total exports, accounting for 26.1% in December 2017. Within Asia, China was the dominant export market, accounting for 59.5%. Ghana seeks national dialogue over cocoa pricing quandary (Xinhua) There is the gradual convergence of opinions on the need for a national dialogue over the producer price of cocoa Ghana pays its farmers in the face of dipping global prices. Edward Kareweh, General Secretary of the General Agricultural Workers Union of Ghana Trades Union Congress, said such a national conversation should not only determine the pricing of the commodity in-country but also to redefine the role of cocoa in the countrys economy in general. Kareweh described as great at the time the decision by government to maintain prevailing prices when other cocoa producing countries had slashed their producer prices in line with the drop in world market price for the commodity. It showed our willingness to ensure that the farmers are not directly affected by the vagaries of the global arena, the trade unionist said in a telephone interview with Xinhua. Cocoa prices on the world market have dropped from a high of $2,287 per metric ton around December 2016 to as low as the current price of $1,800 per metric ton with Ghana still paying 7,600 Ghana cedis, or $1,687 per metric ton, as producer price to farmers. Single unified market: Nigerias FG assures on the economy (The News) The federal government has said that the proposed launching of African single trade market would not affect Nigerian economy as adequate measures were being put in place to protect the economy. The News Agency of Nigeria reports that Chief Negotiator for Continent Free Trade Area, Amb. Chiedu Osakwe, stated this in Abuja on Thursday night at a joint news conference on the outcome of the just concluded AU Summit in Addis Ababa. Osakwe said that as the scheme is set to be launched in 4 March, Nigeria is bracing up to ensure that it does not become a dumping ground for counterfeit and substandard products. We will embark on sensitisation programme, we have been to the Nigeria trade negotiation agency, we have developed a time table as advised by the presidency to meet with industry group and private sector. We are putting in place measures to safeguard our unprotected economic environment from dumping, counterfeiting and unfair trading practices by some of the trading partners. [Nigerias Aviation Safety Round Table Initiative: Imperatives of cooperation, strong carriers for open sky] Nigeria: Customs launches strike force to intensify crack down on smugglers (Daily Trust) Attah said the new strike force is headed by the National Coordinator, Deputy Comptroller, Abubakar A.U., along with four Assistant Comptrollers of Customs who will oversee its operations at the four zones comprising Lagos, Kaduna, Bauchi and Port Harcourt. To promote the Ease-of-Doing-Business, the new team which will be at the zones and training colleges will not erect checkpoints on the highways and will only be seen patrolling when they have credible information of smugglers activities as furnished by the Surveillance operatives who do covert operations. The spokesman said Col. Ali initiated this to ensure that there are no impediments to the free flow of doing business on the Nigerian highway. On trade facilitation, there should be no unnecessary hindrance to trade on our highways, Attah added. Nigeria: Envoy raises the alarm over upsurge in smuggling, human trafficking, piracy at Seme border (ThisDay) For the purpose of security, the ambassador also observed the need for scanner machines to be installed in all the land borders and the immediate opening of the abandoned Seme/Krake ECOWAS joint border post. He expressed the missions effort in repositioning the border agencies for improved performance, especially on making frantic efforts with the relevant agencies including the Nigeria government, the EU, ECOWAS and the Beninese authorities to ensure the joint border post is commissioned without further delay. The ambassador assured that the mission is working assiduously to ensure the promotion, facilitation and enforcement of ECOWAS trade liberalisation Scheme as this will increase the smooth movement of goods and products produced within the two countries into Nigeria and Benin Republic respectively. He charged the Nigeria border control agencies to continue to protect the Nigeria territorial integrity and National interest through effective and efficient border control and management. Tanzania wants Kenya to pay Sh2.3 billion Uchumi Supermarket debt (The Standard) The meeting had been called to discuss the waning relations between Nairobi and Dar es Salaam but saw the issue of Uchumi and Nakumatt supermarkets sneaked into the agenda. Uchumi shut its stores in Tanzania and Uganda in 2015 as it sought to stem further losses. But the NSE-listed retailer left behind a huge trail of debt owed to suppliers. At the Mombasa meeting, Kenya through International Trade Principal Secretary Chris Kiptoo, however, outrightly rejected the demand by the Tanzanian delegation. Dr Kiptoo said while the Government has about 14% stake in Uchumi, it has no control over the supermarket. Uchumi is listed at the Nairobi Securities Exchange and regulated by Capital Markets Authority, said the PS. The Government in December last year gave Uchumi Sh700 million which the retail chain used for restocking. Egypt: AUC research papers suggest progressive tax scale, other reforms to reduce income inequality (Ahram) Working on policies that aim at striking a balance between economic growth and equitable development, Alternative Policy Solutions, a one-year-old American University in Cairo research project, has issued two papers on how to reform the tax regime in a way that increases revenues while adopting fairer taxation for different income brackets. The sharp and rapid concentration of wealth in the higher-income brackets has the negative consequences of hindering economic growth, increasing speculation, and prompting imbalances in the balance of payments, in addition to the social consequences of the widening gap among social classes, states a paper entitled Towards a Wealth Tax in Egypt. [Egypts new industrial strategy offers promises of new growth] Informal WTO Ministerial on sidelines of WEF: the need for political discussion on development (dti) It offered an opportunity for an assessment of the 11th Ministerial Conference held in Buenos Aires and to reflect how to ensure the WTOs relevance to all Members. The meeting was attended by 29 countries from across all regions. Speaking on behalf of the Africa Group, Minister Davies re-iterated concerns with lack of outcomes on development issues of interest to Africa. He agreed with the need for a deeper reflection in the WTO that takes into account the backlash against globalisation and trade due to growing inequality and uncertainty amongst citizens, as well as a political discussion on development. Classification decisions taken at the 60th Session of the Harmonized System Committee have been released (WCO) The Harmonized System Committee held its 60th Session at WCO Headquarters in Brussels from 27 September to 6 October 2017. The decisions taken by the HSC during this session have now been published. These include, in particular, 21 new Classification Opinions and 18 sets of amendments to the HS Explanatory Notes, as well as 45 Classification Rulings dealing. AUs Peace and Security Council: new members Amb. Dr. Namira Negm, the Legal Counsel of African Union Commission is pleased to announce the election of Equatorial Guinea and Gabon (Central), Djibouti and Rwanda (East), Morocco (North), Angola and Zimbabwe (South) and Liberia, Sierra Leone and Togo (West) as Members of the Peace and Security Council for a term of two years. The member states were elected as members of the Council during the 32nd Ordinary Session of the Executive Council held 25-26 January 2018, Addis Ababa Ethiopia. Treehugger and our third-party partners use cookies and process personal data like unique identifiers based on your consent to store and/or access information on a device, display personalized ads and for content measurement, audience insight, and product development. To change or withdraw your consent choices for Treehugger.com, including your right to object where legitimate interest is used, click below. At any time, you can update your settings through the "EU Privacy" link at the bottom of any page. These choices will be signaled globally to our partners and will not affect browsing data. List of Partners (vendors) We're looking forward to our first visit to Jamaica. Taking our little ones as well. We can't wait! Counting down the days! We're staying at Franklyn D Resort. 8 more Weeks! 54 days! We'll be there for Easter and hoping to head to an Easter service on Sunday morning,(if the resort doesn't offer one) any suggestions on churches? Any input on Dunns River falls vs Blue Hole. Should we do both or skip one? (May be short on time) I ask because I know Dunns River gets crazy busy. If we do blue hole do we need water shoes as well? Thanks in advance. Re: Watching snow fall in early December.. Where to go? 3. Re: Watching snow fall in early December.. Where to go? Back in early Dec 2005 we visited Kanazawa, Shirakawa-go and Wakura onsen for the first time and we were lucky to experience snowfall lasting for few days in a row. However, due to global warming snowfall in Honshu is more unpredictable in recent years. If you're serious to watch snow better fly to Asahikawa in central Hokkaido for higher probability in your timeline. Before end Nov another option is to visit Murodo @2400m along the Alpine route for new snow in the JP Alps. Myself and my mother are visiting for the 1st time.. Ive had great advise already on here and Im managing to put together our itinerary.. we will arrive on 28th March (late) and will be leaving tues 2nd April (late) Amongst the sightseeing and shopping my mother really wanted a show and a really good dinner... So Ive booked hello dolly at the Shubert theatre on Sunday 1st April at 3pm... Now we can do a meal a separate night but I thought we may as well go after the theatre, Ive been looking at: Daniels, Per se Le Coucou Jean georges Eleven madison However we dont particularly want a seven course tasting menu, but we want a nice setting so would rather not be at the bar... Can anyone recommend a really good a la carte restaurant at all? If it isnt near the theatre thats ok because I can book the meal for another night if needed. Many thanks in advance Remember, it's a 7-hour trip (or more) just to get there from NYC. Unless you leave early the first day, and return late the second day, you will not have any time to enjoy it at all. And getting a rental car and going the first 10 miles often takes a full hour. Then the rest is at highway speeds. And to see the Canadian side, you may need a visa obtained in advance. If you stay on the US side, you will most likely be a little disappointed at the view. And act nice to Customs people in both directions; they ask quick short questions that seem none of their business; all they want is a nice pleasant answer. Like "Why were you in the US?" "Where did you stay?" "Who owns the car?" "Why are you returning so soon?" They are easy, but also easy to get flustered over. This is, after all, international travel, and is treated with the seriousness of an airport arrival (each way). And drive over the Rainbow Bridge; it's the easiest. And yes, American cars, can legally and easily go into Canada. - National Super Alliance (NASA) co-principal Moses Wetang'ula has condemned arrest of key opposition leaders - Wetang'ula skipped the inauguration of Raila Odinga at Uhuru Park sparking a string of criticism with supporters terming him a hypocrite - On Thursday, February 1, the NASA leaders emerged for the first time in public and affirmed their support for the swearing-in of Raila as the People's President - On Friday, February 2, Wetang'ula had a slip of the tongue and referred to NASA leaders as opposition leaders National Super Alliance (NASA) co-principal Moses Wetang'ula found himself in trouble on Friday, February 2 when he took to social media to condemn the chaotic arrest of Miguna Miguna. In his post seen by TUKO.co.ke, Wetang'ula told the Jubilee administration to stop harassing, intimidating and humiliating 'opposition' leaders as the move was primitive and would lead to further polarisation of the country. His choice of words did not escape the sharp eyes of netizens who questioned the Ford Kenya leader's allegiance and commitment to NASA's ideals. READ ALSO: Kalonzo atiririkwa na machozi viongozi wa NASA wakihutubia wanahabari NASA Principals Musalia Mudavadi, Moses Wetang'ula, Raila Odinga and Kalonzo Musyoka during a joing media beriefing. Photo: NASA Source: Facebook READ ALSO: Miguna Miguna arrested NASA Principal Moses Wetang'ula's controversial tweet. With the contoversial swearing-in of Raila, NASA declared it had formed a government and would soon release names of its cabinet. READ ALSO: Miguna Miguna dares Interior CS Fred Matiang'i to arrest him Wretang'ula was reacting to the arrest of Miguna Miguna whose home was broken and hosue ransacked by police officers who later arrested and took him to Kiambu Police station for questioning. Miguna had earleir as reported by TUKO.co.ke dared the police to arrest him for his role in the swearing-in of Raila Odinga as the People's President. READ ALSO: You forgot to address me as Your Excellency - Raila tells CS Wamalwa at Yvonne's funeral service Ruaraka MP Tom Kajwang who is also an advocate of the High Court was arrested earlier and charged with attending an illegal gathering. The United State dismmissed the inauguration and urged both Jubilee and NASA to initiate a national conversation to end the stalemate. READ ALSO: Trump dismisses Raila's self-inauguration, recognises Uhuru as Kenya's president NASA principals talk in one accord for the first time since Raila Odinga's 'swearing in' - on TUKO TV Source: Tuko - Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni wowed Radio's fans when he footed the late musician's hospital bill - Museveni has now bought a KSh 500k (USh 20 million) casket for the celebrated musician - Rumours were rife that he had financed food and drinks for mourners who had attended Radio's vigil Click HERE for a clever and easy way to read TUKO.co.ke news from Facebook. Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni stunned East Africans when he decided to buy an expensive casket for the late Mowzey radio according to reports by the Daily Monitor. Yoweri coughed up a whopping USh 20 million which roughly estimates to KSh 500k after channeling USh 30 million for the musician's hospital bill. Send 'NEWS' to 40227 to receive all the important breaking news as it happens READ ALSO: "Serikali ya NASA" yaanza kazi rasmi TUKO.co.ke understands that Museveni had even financed foods and drinks for mourners who had showed up for the musician's vigil at his home. READ ALSO:Bar where Ugandan top musician Radio was injured and died closed Museveni had described the lyricist as a talented musician who had a great future ahead of him as he stated that he was saddened by his sudden demise. Radio sustained serious head injuries after being involved in a bar brawl at Da Bar, a local hanging joint at Entebbe. READ ALSO:Meet the baby mamas and children left by the late Ugandan singer Radio He was hospitalized for two weeks and was reported to be getting better right before Saturday, January 27 when he took a turn for the worst. READ ALSO:Ugandan musician Radio is dead Source: Kenyan Breaking News 3- People suspected to be supporters of the National Super Alliance (NASA) ruthlessly clobbered traffic police officer in Naivasha -The incident reportedly happened on Wednesday, January 31, along the busy Nairobi-Nakuru highway - The rowdy youth were reportedly traveling from Nairobi to Kisumu after attending NASA's swearing-in ceremony - The officer was attacked when he stopped the vehicle that was ferrying the NASA supporters, said to be about 30 in number, for flaunting traffic rules A group of 30 youth suspected to be supporters of the National Super Alliance (NASA) coalition reportedly attacked traffic police officer in Naivasha. TUKO.co.ke has established that the rowdy youth were traveling to Kisumu from Nairobi city on the morning of Wednesday, January 31, after attending NASA's inauguration ceremony. Send 'NEWS' to 40227 to receive all the important breaking news as it happens READ ALSO: Moses Kuria amsuta vikali Kalonzo kwa kulia mbele ya kamera za TV A report by The Standard indicate that the incident happened along the busy Nairobi-Nakuru highway at around 8 AM. Irate NASA supporters allegedly attacked and beat up a traffic police officer in Naivasha on Wednesday, January 31. Photo:Kenya Today. Install TUKO App To Read News For FREE It all began when the unarmed and alone officer on duty stopped the vehicle that was ferrying the NASA supporters for reckless driving. When the bus stopped, the passengers came out one after another and engaged the officer in a heated exchange moments before they descended on him with kicks and blows. READ ALSO: Tension in Kericho as NASA supporters pelt Kisumu-bound shuttles with stones The officer flagged down a bus that was ferrying NASA supporters from Nairobi to Kisumu after they attended inauguration of Raila Odinga.Photo:Twitter/Standard. Sources privy to the incident say the youth roughed up the lone officer as members of the public and other road users watched helplessly. It took several members of the public to save the poor officer, who by then was lying on the ground even as the youth continued to clobber him. READ ALSO: Journalists escape death by a whisker as NASA supporters attack them As more people trooped to the scene, the youth jumped onto their vehicle and sped off, leaving the officer bleeding profusely. He was rushed to hospital and is reportedly recuperating. READ ALSO: Raila Odinga lands as welcome party turns chaotic Naivasha sub-county commissioner, Isaac Masinde, has confirmed the incident. Police have launched manhunt for the attackers, who also allegedly robbed the victim of his personal belongings including a phone, beret, and swagger cane. Kalonzo faces the wrath of Kenyans for missing swearing in - On Tuko TV Source: Tuko Breaking News Latest - The High Court ordred the release of city politician Miguna Miguna on a KSh50,000 cash bail - The self-decalred general of outlawed National Resistance Movement (NRM) was arrested at his Runda home by police officer - Miguna was arrested for his involvement in the illegal swearing-in of Raila Odinga as the alternate People's President Fiery city politician and lawyer Miguna Miguna got reprieve on Friday, February 2 after the High Court ordered his release on a KSh50,000 cash bail following his dramatic arrest. The Court directed that the order be served to the Inspector-General of Police Joseph Boinnet personally for it to be effected. Send 'NEWS' to 40227 to receive all the important breaking news as it happens READ ALSO: Raila akutana na Waziri Eugene siku chache baada ya kuapishwa, amuambia aitwe "Mheshimiwa Rais" Miguna Miguna when he administered oath of office to Raila Odinga during the illegal swearing-in ceremony. Photo: NASA Source: UGC Miguna was picked in the morning at his Runda home by police officers barely a day after the self-declared general of the outlawed National Resistance Movement (NRM) dared Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang'i to arrest him. READ ALSO: Miguna Miguna arrested The High Court ordered the immediate release of Miguna Miguna on a KSh50,000 cash bail hours after his dramatic arrest. READ ALSO: Youth stage demos in parts of Kibera following arrest of Miguna Miguna Police forcibly broke into his house and ransacked it before bundling the rebelious politician to a police vehicle and zoomed off to Kiambu police station where he was detained. This follows government directive that all those who participated in the illegal swearing-in of Raila Odinga as the People's President. READ ALSO: Irate NASA supporters mercilessly beat up police officer in Naivasha Miguna paid KSh50,000 cash bail to secure his release. Miguna was the one who administered the controversial oath to Raila Odinga at Uhuru Park at a ceremony skipped by his NASA co-principals. Ruaraka MP Tom Kajwang was arrested earlier and charged with attending an illegal gathering. Following the Tuesday, January 30 controversial inauguration of Raila Odinga as an alternative president of Kenya, the Interior Ministry declared his National Resistance Movement (NRM) an organized criminal group under the Prevention of Organized Crimes Act. Raila: the human behind politics | TUKO - on TUKO TV Source: Tuko.co.ke - The huge crowd of locals surrounded the police station to prevent Miguna Miguna from leaving - They demanded that he must apologise for abusing President Uhuru Kenyatta before they allow him to leave - Miguna was taken to Githunguri police station after he was arrested for declaring himself general of the now outlawed National Resistance Movement (NRM) - The High Court ordered that he be released on a KSh 50,000 bond pending hearing of his case - He is yet to be released with police in Githungiri saying they are awaiting an order from Nairobi Fiery politician and lawyer Miguna Miguna on Friday, February 2 faced an unlikely hurdle moments after the court granted his release when an irate crowd attempted to block his exit from the Githunguri Police Station. A TUKO.co.ke team on the ground witnessed a huge crowd, presumably Jubilee supporters,which thronged the police station with an intention of stopping Miguna from leaving. READ ALSO: Rais wa Marekani - Donald Trump - atoa msimamo mkali kuhusu kiapo cha Raila The huge crowd of locals which surrounded the police station to prevent Miguna Miguna from leaving.Photo:Lynn Ngugi/Tuko. READ ALSO: Irate NASA supporters mercilessly beat up police officer in Naivasha Residents were reportedly demanding an apology from Miguna for allegedly disrespecting President Uhuru Kenyatta. They engaged police in a verbal exchange as they declined to leave the grounds until they heard an apology from the self declared general of the now outlawed NRM. A police officer restrains a huge crowd which had surrounded Githunguri police station where Miguna was being held.Photo:Lynn Ngugi/Tuko. READ ALSO: Pack and go - Uhuru orders journalists out of his event Miguna was picked in the morning of Friday, February 2 from his Runda home by police officers barely a day after he dared Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang'i to arrest him. He was arrested for declaring himself general of the now outlawed National Resistance Movement (NRM). Miguna was taken to Githunguri police station after he was arrested for administering illegal oath to Raila Odinga.Photo:Lynn Ngugi/Photo. READ ALSO: Police used bombs to force their way into my house - Miguna Miguna He had also sensationally declared that NRM would be rallying supporters to torch Uhuru's portraits. Police forcibly broke into his house before bundling the rebellious politician to a waiting vehicle and zoomed off to Githinguri police station where he was detained. Hours later, the High Court ordered that he be released on a KSh 50,000 bond pending hearing of his case. Police keep vigil at Githunguri police station.Photo:Lynn Ngugi/Facebook. READ ALSO: Ruaraka MP TJ Kajwang arrested after administering oath to Raila Former Nairobi Senatorial candidate Edwin Sifuna who was also present at the scene insisted they would not leave the area without Miguna. The crowd demanded that Miguna must apologise for abusing President Uhuru Kenyatta before they allow him to leave.Photo:Lynn Ngugi/Tuko. READ ALSO: Trump dismisses Raila's self-inauguration, recognises Uhuru as Kenya's president We were born men..we will die men in Githunguri if we have to but we are not leaving without Miguna, he said. The huge crowd of locals which surrounded the police station to prevent Miguna Miguna from leaving.Photo:Lynn Ngugi/Tuko. READ ALSO: Jubilee Women Rep wants Govt to arrest Raila and charge him with treason Anti-riot police officers kept vigil even as the crowd surged by the minute. Anti-riot police keep vigil at Githunguri police station.Photo:Lynn Ngugi/Tuko. More to follow... Have anything to add to this article or suggestions? Share with us on news@tuko.co.ke Raila: the human behind politics | TUKO: Source: Tuko Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. If you do not get your child vaccinated soon, you'll have to wait until the country acquires Russian-backed militants launched four attacks on positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the anti-terrorist operation (ATO) area in Donbas over the past day. This is reported by the ATO Headquarters press center. In Luhansk direction, illegal armed formations used 82mm and 120mm mortars, weapons on infantry combat vehicles and heavy machine guns to shell Ukrainian positions near Luhanske (59km north-east of Donetsk) for over than two hours. The same types of weapons were used to launch attacks on Ukrainian strongholds outside Troitske (69km west of Luhansk). As reported, Russian-backed militants fired over 50 mortars of different calibers on Ukrainian positions over the past day. No casualties among Ukrainian troops were reported. ol No Ukrainian soldiers were killed or wounded as a result of the enemy shelling in the anti-terrorist operation (ATO) area in eastern Ukraine over the past day. Ukrainian Defense Ministry's Spokesperson Dmytro Hutsuliak said this at a press briefing on Friday, an Ukrinform correspondent reports. "No Ukrainian soldiers were killed or wounded as a result of armed hostilities in eastern Ukraine over the past day, he said. As reported, Russian-backed militants launched four attacks on positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the anti-terrorist operation (ATO) area in Donbas over the past day. ish Ukrainian Defense Minister Stepan Poltorak has started an official visit to the United States. This has been reported by the press service of the Defense Ministry of Ukraine. "Within the framework of the visit, the defense minister will participate in bilateral defense consultations of the defense ministries of the two countries, hold talks with Secretary of Defence James Mattis, representatives of U.S. Department of Defence, as well as leadership and officers of US National War College," the report reads. Poltorak is expected to meet with Ukrainian volunteers living in the USA and helping the Ukrainian army. ish Ukrainian enterprises will join the first China International Import Expo (CIIE), which will be held in Shanghai from November 5 to 10, 2018. President of the Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce and Industry Gennadiy Chyzhykov announced this on Thursday, Xinhua News Agency reported. "China International Import Expo will be one of the most important events in our cooperation with the Chinese business community in 2018. I am sure that this will be an event of the global significance," he said during the presentation of the CIIE in Kyiv. The presentation was attended by about 500 guests, including a delegation from the Chinese Ministry of Commerce, representatives of Shanghai municipal government, Ukrainian entrepreneurs and government officials. In turn, Chinese Ambassador to Ukraine Du Wei voiced his belief that Ukraine's participation in the CIIE would contribute to the development of the Ukrainian economy. "The Ukrainian economy needs capital investments and sales markets, so I urge Ukrainian producers to visit China, to visit Shanghai, and to take part in this exhibition," he said. The CIIE, a major event organized by the Chinese government to promote a new round of high-level opening-up, will be held in Shanghai. The expo that includes exhibitions and forums provides a platform for trade and services and offers opportunities for closer international cooperation. Ukraine and the United States of America are strategic partners, which share common tasks and interests. Prime Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Groysman said this during the annual meeting at the American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine, an Ukrinform correspondent reports. "We are indeed important strategic partners, and the United States of America plays a very significant role in upholding territorial integrity of our country, restoring our economy, protecting our national interests and fighting for democracy on the continent," Groysman said. He expressed gratitude to the United States for a high degree of confidence in Ukraine. "We really appreciate this," the Prime Minister assured. Groysman told the meeting participants that Ukraine had managed to move from stagnation to the economic growth and to take important steps towards deregulation and simplification of business conditions. According to him, the Ukrainian government is interested in development of business, creation of new jobs and production growth as all these factors are of interest to business. "We have common tasks and interests," Groysman said. ol The Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine (PGO) has declared former Deputy CEO of NJSC Naftogaz Yevhen Korniychuk a suspect and placed him on the wanted list, Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko has said. He said this at a briefing on Friday, an Ukrinform correspondent reports. "Today former Deputy CEO of NJSC Naftogaz of Ukraine Korniychuk was declared a suspect and placed on the wanted list. Using this opportunity and knowing that he is on the territory of Ukraine and is still hiding from the investigation, I would like to say that he is advised to voluntarily come to the PGO, which will obviously influence the qualification of his crime," Lutsenko said. According to him, "today, through international channels, we also appealed to our colleagues from Latvia to report suspicion to the owner of the Riga Shipyard, Vasily Melnik." As reported, in 2011, Ukraine's state-owned enterprise Chornomornaftogaz purchased two jack-up rigs for $400 million each. Agreements were signed through intermediaries, which gave rise to suspect corruption. In 2013, Norwegian firm Ferncliff reported that in 2012 it sold its drilling rig via its subsidiary directly to Naftogaz for $220 million, while Naftogaz claimed to have bought it through the Riga Shipyard for $400 million. op The State Emergency Service of Ukraine has issued warnings for mountainous areas in Ivano-Frankivsk and Zakarpattia regions, where a considerable avalanche danger is expected on February 2. The State Emergency Service reported this with reference to the Ukrainian Hydrometeorological Center's forecasts. On February 2, a considerable (III) level of avalanche risk is expected in the Carpathian mountains due to snow blast, the report reads. ish Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin will visit France on February 4-5, the press service of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry has reported. "During the visit, the minister will hold talks with French Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs Jean-Yves Le Drian and meet with politicians and experts," the statement reads. The ministry said that Klimkin would also lay flowers at the burial place of Secretary of International Affairs and Foreign Minister of the Ukrainian People's Republic in exile Oleksandr Shulhyn. Klimkin is on a working visit to the Netherlands on February 1-2. op Ukrainian-Kuwaiti political consultations co-chaired by Deputy Foreign Minister of Ukraine Mr. Sergiy Kyslytsya and Deputy Foreign Minister of the State of Kuwait Mr. Khaled Suleiman Al-Jarallah were held in Kuwait City on February 1, 2018. This was reported by the press service of the Foreign Ministry of Ukraine. "During the consultations held on the first day of Kuwaits Chairmanship in the UN Security Council, the Ukrainian side informed about its readiness to support Kuwaits priorities as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council," the report reads. Kuwaiti party was informed about the situation in eastern Ukraine. During the meeting, the key issues of bilateral relations were discussed. Some practical steps aimed at upturning political dialogue, enhancing interaction within the frameworks of international organizations, intensifying economic and investment cooperation as well as in military, medical and education fields, were outlined. The parties exchanged views on topical issues of international agenda and the situation in the Middle East. President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko is glad that four of our citizens returned home from the captivity in Libya. The President wrote about this on his Facebook page. "I am glad that four of our citizens returned home after years of captivity in Libya," he wrote. Poroshenko also thanked diplomats and foreign intelligence for "four more rescued Ukrainians." ish The U.S. Mission to the OSCE sharply condemned Russia for ongoing violations of the international law in Ukraine. Acting Deputy Chief of the U.S. Mission to the OSCE Michele Siders said this while delivering the speech at the OSCE Permanent Council meeting in Vienna on Thursday, the Radio Liberty reports. "We all know the truth the brutal war in Donbas is fomented and perpetuated by Russia," Siders said. The U.S. mission once again called on Moscow and its proxies to allow internationally-recognized humanitarian aid organizations and their local partners to deliver humanitarian assistance to the conflict-torn areas. The Acting Deputy Chief of the U.S. Mission to the OSCE noted that result of Russias aggression was the ongoing conflict that had cost the lives of over 10,000 Ukrainians. "If Russia wants to help address the humanitarian crisis it created, it should also contribute to the UNs Humanitarian Response Plan," she said. ol The Council of Europe together with the European Union plans to implement a project in Ukraine to ensure the rights of national minorities. The press service of the Foreign Ministry of Ukraine informed this following a meeting of Deputy Foreign Minister of Ukraine Vasyl Bodnar with a delegation of the Council of Europe. "During the meeting, special attention was paid to the project "Strengthening the Protection of National Minorities in Ukraine" which will be implemented within the framework of the CoE / EU Programme Partnership for Good Governance (PGG)," the report says. The parties agreed that thanks to the synergy of the efforts of Ukraine, the Council of Europe and the European Union, the new project will become a tool for improving the legal and institutional framework for the protection of national minorities in accordance with the best European standards and practices. ish It again called on Moscow "and its proxies" to allow international humanitarian assistance into the conflict areas. The U.S. Mission to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) has issued a harshly worded statement accusing Russia of "ongoing violations of international law" in Ukraine. The statement posted on February 1 said Moscow's "aggression" in eastern Ukraine has resulted in "the ongoing conflict that has cost the lives of over 10,000 Ukrainians," Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) reported. Read alsoU.S. Mission to OSCE calls on Russia stop conscripting residents in annexed CrimeaIt again called on Moscow "and its proxies" to allow international humanitarian assistance into the conflict areas. "If Russia wants to help address the humanitarian crisis it created, it shouldcontribute to the UN's Humanitarian Response Plan," the statement said. The U.S. statement also expressed concern for those "brave enough to speak out against Russia's occupation of Crimea," particularly Crimean Tatars. It said Crimean Tatars are persecuted "with impunity" and cited "ongoing raid on Tatar homes" and arrests "on trumped-up charges." Russia annexed the Ukrainian region of Crimea in March 2014, prompting international condemnation and sanctions. The U.S. statement noted that Russian officials have said the conflict in Ukraine is tantamount to a "civil war." "We all know the truth the brutal war in Donbas is fomented and perpetuated by Russia," the statement countered. The statement concluded by saying: "We do not, nor will we ever, recognize Russia's occupation and purported annexation of Crimea. Crimea-related sanctions on Russia will remain in place until Russia returns full control of the peninsula to Ukraine." To enter into force, the law still needs to be enacted by the country's president. OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Harlem Desir on Thursday expressed his concern about a new draft law criminalizing statements on historical events, such as accusations against Poland or the Polish people of complicity in crimes committed during the Holocaust or a denial of crimes against the Polish population committed by Ukrainian nationalists, such as the Volyn Massacre during World War II. "I have serious concerns about the law, which criminalizes speech in historical matters," Desir said, according to the OSCE's press release of February 1, 2018. Read alsoDuda promises to analyze Poland's ban on Ukrainian nationalist ideology"Though we all know the sensitivities around historical events, freedom of expression is of particular importance for historians and academics. History is a matter of independent academic research and of free discussion, not of judiciary decision. The law should be rejected as a disproportionate restriction of freedom of expression. Only when statements constitute incitement to violence or discrimination could they be criminalized," he said. The OSCE representative recalled that in its authoritative interpretation of Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights ("ICCPR"), General Comment No 34, the UN Human Rights Committee has stated clearly that "laws that penalize the expression of opinions about historical facts are incompatible" with international obligations on freedom of expression under Article 19. Furthermore, the ICCPR "does not permit general prohibition of expressions of an erroneous opinion or an incorrect interpretation of past events." To enter into force, the law would still need to be enacted by the country's president. "I hope that to protect freedom of expression the law will be vetoed by the president," said Desir. At the same time, the diplomat said she had no direct telephone line with either the American or the Ukrainian leader. U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch says she is not aware whether U.S. President Donald Trump is going to visit Ukraine. Speaking on TV Channel 1+1 on February 1, Yovanovitch recalled that Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko had invited his U.S. counterpart to visit Kyiv. Read alsoUkraine must go "long way" to tackle corruption U.S. AmbassadorShe said that, as the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, she would very much like to see the U.S. president here. At the same time, the diplomat said she had no direct telephone line with either the American or the Ukrainian leader. Poroshenko and Trump met at the White House in Washington, D.C., on June 20, 2017 and during the 72nd session of the UN General Assembly in New York City on September 21. The envoys words echo the findings of American Chambers of Commerces latest survey on corruption perceptions in the international business community in Ukraine. Accelerating the fight against corruption would be the most transformative change Ukraine could make in 2018, United States Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch said on Feb 1 at an AmCham conference in Kyiv. Business investment and growth in Ukraine is not where it needs to be, Yovanovitch said, according to the Kyiv Post. It is stunted by an unreliable and unreformed judicial system. For this reason, the U.S. government is a vocal advocate for the creation of Anti-Corruption Court composed of judges properly vetted and of highest integrity. The ambassadors words echo the findings of AmChams latest survey on corruption perceptions in the international business community in Ukraine, which was released on Jan 29. According to the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry, the men have been held in Libya for more than six years. President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko reported on the safe arrival in Ukraine of four Ukrainian men following years spent in captivity in Libya. "I am glad to see the return to their Homeland of the four of our citizens after many years of captivity in Libya," the head of state wrote on Facebook. The president expressed gratitude to diplomats and Ukraines Foreign Intelligence Service for their efforts to bring the men back. According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Ukrainians have been held in Libya for more than six years. "On February 2, 2018, Ukrainian diplomats jointly with the Foreign Intelligence Service managed to ensure the return to their homeland of four Ukrainian citizens who had been held in Libya for more than six years," the ministry said. Also, the diplomats once again urged Ukrainian nationals to refrain from traveling to Libya due to the complicated security situation in this country and the inability to provide proper consular and legal assistance in its territory. Those who continue to stay in Libya are urged to leave the country. Read alsoUkraine MFA says Ukrainian kidnapped by militants in Libya releasedAt the same time, the press service of the Belarusian Foreign Ministry reported on the release from the Libyan captivity of a Belarusian citizen, who had been held there since August 2011 by one of the so-called "revolutionary brigades". As UNIAN reported, in early September 2011, armed forces of the Transitional National Council of Libya detained more than 20 citizens of Ukraine on suspicion of military assistance to the former leader of the Jamahiriya, Muammar Gaddafi. The Foreign Ministry reported that all detainees were civilians. In particular, they worked as contracted engineers for one of the oil companies. There was also a female among the detainees. In the spring of 2012, the trial of Ukrainians began. Read alsoVolker hands over to Surkov names of some Ukrainian hostages for swapIn August 2014, with the assistance of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 18 Ukrainians returned to their homeland, while another four of them remained in captivity. Last year, the Libyan Coast Guard arrested two tankers, including a ship under a Ukrainian flag, and detained their crews suspected of smuggling oil. Over 50 shells of various calibers were lobbed into areas where Ukrainian troops were stationed near the village of Troyitske in the Luhansk sector. Russia's proxy forces mounted four attacks on Ukrainian army positions in Donbas in the past 24 hours, with no Ukrainian soldiers reported as killed or wounded in action. Read alsoUkraine reports five enemy attacks, 1 KIA, 2 WIA's amid in last day"In the Luhansk sector, the enemy was active at the Svitlodarska Duha bulge. In the evening, the adversaries had been shelling our positions near the village of Luhanske for more than two hours, using 120mm and 82mm mortars, cannons of infantry fighting vehicles and heavy machine guns," the press center of the Anti-Terrorist Operation (ATO) Headquarters said on Facebook on Friday, February 2. "Moreover, the same types of weapons were used in the afternoon and in the evening to shell the Ukrainian fortified positions near the village of Troyitske. In total, the illegal armed formations lobbed over 50 shells of various calibers into our fortified positions," the report says. The return of the village did not violate the Minsk peace agreements. Ukrainian civil volunteer and activist Yuriy Mysyagin has said the Ukrainian army has liberated the village of Katerynivka in Luhansk region. Read alsoNo breaches of Minsk deal as Ukraine regains more ground in Donbas "grey zone" report"The village of Katerynivka in Luhansk region is ours! The Armed Forces of Ukraine did everything in a calm and quiet way some time ago," he wrote on Facebook. According to the volunteer, the villagers returned to Ukraine again. "There are no violations. According to the Minsk agreements, this is all ours," Mysyagin said. As reported earlier, on January 31, Ukraine's Defense Ministry announced the liberation of the village of Novo-Oleksandrivka in Luhansk region. Zalichev served as a sniper in 2014. The press secretary of the Ukrainian SBU Security Service's chief, Olena Gitlianska, has said two-time champion of the Russian shotgun practical shooting competitions (duel) Alexander Zalichev has been involved in terrorist activities in Donbas, eastern Ukraine. "In 2014, Zalichev was a sniper with the Wagner private military company," she wrote on Facebook on Friday, February 2. As UNIAN reported, SBU chief Hrytsak said earlier that the SBU had established the involvement of the Russian private military company (PMC) Wagner in armed conflicts in Donbas and Syria. Read alsoSBU releases intercepted comms between PMC Wagner chief, Russian army General on Donbas incursion"To date, we have identified 1,587 people who are members of PMC Wagner. The total number we see now is about 5,000 people. The geography of their deployment is Ukraine (occupied areas in Donbas; June 2014-August 2015) and Syria (the cities of Homs, Hama, Latakia, Damascus, and Palmyra on August 15, 2015), he said. The Wagner's training base is located in Russia's Krasnodar Krai. According to Hrytsak, "this project of the Russian special services allows the Kremlin's politicians to confidently state before the public and the international community: 'They [Russian military] are not there [in Ukraine]' or 'We have not sent them there.'" Russian citizens account for 95% of PMC Wagner members, the SBU said. Ukraine's security service also identified about 40 Ukrainian citizens who were trained for subversive activity in Ukraine. What is more, the SBU has information that there are about 100 fighters from a Balkan country who are related to PMC Wagner. In addition, the SBU has video evidence of PMC Wagner's participation in the seizure of Luhansk airport in 2014. The Russian Embassy in Washington did not immediately respond on Thursday to requests for comment on the meetings. U.S. Central Intelligence Agency Director Mike Pompeo on Thursday defended talks he had at CIA headquarters last week with Russian spy chiefs at a time of strained ties between Washington and Moscow and political squabbling over allegations of Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. election. A U.S. intelligence official, speaking on condition of anonymity, accused Moscow of disclosing the visit partly to fuel political discord in Washington over investigations of a Russian interference campaign that is rankling President Donald Trump and some of his fellow Republicans, Reuters reported. The U.S. Senate's top Democrat Chuck Schumer wrote to Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats on January 31 asking why U.S. intelligence officials met with Sergey Naryshkin, the head of Russia's foreign intelligence agency, known as the SVR. "We periodically meet with our Russian intelligence counterparts for the same reason our predecessors did to keep Americans safe," Pompeo replied to Schumer in a letter made public on Thursday. There is nothing "untoward" about such meetings, Pompeo said. "We cover very difficult subjects in which American and Russian interests do not align," Pompeo said. "We vigorously defend America in these encounters and pull no punches we never will." The Russian Embassy in Washington did not immediately respond on Thursday to requests for comment on the meetings. Read alsoChiefs of three Russian intelligence agencies travel to Washington mediaThe Russian officials' visit was made public on Tuesday by the state-run ITAR-Tass news agency and the Russian ambassador to Washington Anatoly Antonov tweeted the report. Pompeo's reply to Schumer failed to satisfy the senator. "This letter is responsive to approximately none of the questions that were raised about these visits," Schumer's spokesman, Matt House, wrote on Twitter. Moscow denies the conclusions of U.S. intelligence agencies that it led a hacking campaign of political party networks and spread disinformation to help Trump in his presidential campaign. Congressional panels and a special counsel are investigating. Trump denies any campaign collusion with Russian officials. Moscow denies the conclusions of U.S. intelligence agencies that it led a hacking campaign of political party networks and spread disinformation to help Trump in his presidential campaign. Congressional panels and a special counsel are investigating. Trump denies any campaign collusion with Russian officials. Among other questions, Schumer asked how Naryshkin was able to enter the United States because he is under U.S. sanctions barring him from the country. Naryshkin was blacklisted in 2014 as part of the U.S. response to Russia's seizure of Crimea from Ukraine. Naryshkin met with DNI Coats at Coats's suburban Washington headquarters, according to two sources. A third source said that the SVR chief met Pompeo at CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia. Naryshkin was accompanied by Alexander Bortnikov, the director of the Federal Security Service, or FSB, Russia's main domestic intelligence agency, the third source said. The U.S. intelligence official told Reuters that "it was no accident that Russia decided to publicize" the visit after years of not disclosing meetings between U.S. and Russian intelligence officials. It appeared to be "a calculated effort" that "not only sowed discord in the United States but also reinforced the notion that they (Russia) are not isolated internationally," said the intelligence official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Washington has been gripped this week by arguments over a Republican memo said to cite allegations of FBI bias against Trump in its Russia probe. The memo is a flashpoint in a wider battle between Republicans and Democrats over Special Counsel Robert Mueller's criminal investigation into potential collusion. Pompeo's letter to Schumer said that meetings between Russian and U.S. intelligence agencies include counter-terrorism cooperation in which the CIA recently helped Russia thwart a "terrorist plot" in St. Petersburg "that could have killed Americans." A deadly sarin attack on a rebel-held area in April prompted Trump to order a missile strike last year on the Shayrat air base, from which the Syrian operation is said to have been launched. The Syrian government may be developing new types of chemical weapons, and U.S. President Donald Trump is prepared to consider further military action if necessary to deter chemical attacks, senior U.S. officials said on Thursday. President Bashar al-Assad is believed to have secretly kept part of Syria's chemical weapons stockpile despite a U.S.-Russian deal under which Damascus was supposed to have handed over all such weapons for destruction in 2014, the officials said, Reuters wrote. Assad's forces have instead "evolved" their chemical weapons and made continued occasional use of them in smaller amounts since a deadly attack last April that drew a U.S. missile strike on a Syrian air base, the officials told reporters in a briefing. Read alsoRussia vetoes UN resolution on chemical weapons probe in Syria - CNNCharacteristics of some of those recent attacks suggest that Syria may be developing new weapons and methods for delivering poison chemicals, possibly to make it harder to trace their origin, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity, but they declined to provide specifics. A deadly sarin attack on a rebel-held area in April prompted Trump to order a missile strike last year on the Shayrat air base, from which the Syrian operation is said to have been launched. "We reserve the right to use military force to prevent or deter the use of chemical weapons," one official said while declining to specify how serious a chemical attack would have to be to draw a fresh U.S. military response. A second official said, however, that the Trump administration hopes that stepped-up international sanctions and diplomatic pressure will help rein in Assad's chemical weapons program. If the international community does not act quickly to tighten the screws on Assad, Syria's chemical weapons could spread beyond its borders and possibly even "to U.S. shores," the second official said. "It will spread if we don't do something," the official warned. The officials echoed U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson's recent accusation that Russia, Assad's ally in Syria's multi-sided civil war, bears some responsibility for failing to enforce the chemical weapons ban. Russia has denied any complicity, and the Syrian government has said it has not carried out any of the attacks. The U.S. officials suggested that if left unchecked there would be more smaller chemical attacks as an "instrument of terror" to compensate for Assad's lack of adequate manpower to retake some opposition-held areas. "They think they can get away with it if they keep it under a certain level," an official said. (@ChaudhryMAli88) Gwadar sea port will serve as shining example of Pak-China growing deep-rooted mutually cooperative partnership that leads to bring a positive change in the life the common man Islamabad, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 02nd Feb, 2018 ) Gwadar sea port will serve as shining example of Pak-China growing deep-rooted mutually cooperative partnership that leads to bring a positive change in the life the common man. Chinese ambassador Yao Jing in his message on successful holding of Gwadar Expo 2018 said that the development of Gwadar is in line with the principles of the Belt and Road Initiative, which stress wide consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits. As Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi put in Davos, the Belt and Road Initiative is about creating shared future for participating countries. The message further says that with the commitment and hard work by the both sides, the Gwadar will become a new hub of connectivity and commercial activities, bringing tangible benefits to the people of Balochistan, Pakistan, and the region at large. As the flagship project of the Belt and Road Initiative, the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) has been making a lot of progress. As a starting point and the gateway of the CPEC, Gwadar in indeed a pearl on this crown. By now, the port can handle containers and other goods including bulk-cargo, general cargo and RORO with 3 multi-functional berths. With the construction of the East Bay Expressway, the new airport, and more motorways and national highways, Gwadar will be better connected with other parts of Pakistan. Gwadar has also become a new destination to investors. Around 5,000 businessmen attended the Expo. With this new Free Zone inaugurated, more than 30 enterprises ranging from banking, hotel, insurance, logistics, seafood processing and home appliance assembly have up their business at the expo. The development of the Free Zone could serve as a model for the much expected special economic zones (SEZs) under the CPEC framework. The development of Gwadar is more than economic activities. The Chinese companies take themselves as members of the Gwadar community. With the support of the Chinese Government, they are actively engaged in education, poverty alleviation, medical service and drinking water supply, the message added. It may be stated here that the Gwadar Port has 3 multifunctional berths which can accommodate two 50000-ton vessels simultaneously, including 5 STS cranes, 400 RF reefer container allocations, and the stack yard of 500000 square meters. The port can handle containers and other goods including bulk-cargo, general cargo and RORO. Currently, seafood containers from Pakistan western coast area can be exported through Gwadar Port to China, middle East and other regions. Gwadar port is now connecting Karachi by marine high coast way, and connecting Punjab Province and Sindh Province with M8 highway. The Karachi Port Trust (KPT) issued the following shipping report for the last 24 hours, ending 0700 hours on Friday KARACHI,(UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 02nd Feb, 2018 ) :The Karachi Port Trust (KPT) issued the following shipping report for the last 24 hours, ending 0700 hours on Friday. ALONG SIDE (Bulk Oil Pier) OP-I Bahra D. HSD Trans Maritime 01/01/18 OP-II Csc Risingsun L. Naptha Alpine 29/01/18 ALONG SIDE (East Wharves) 1/2 Ellie Lady D. Mogas GAC 31/01/18 10/11 Silkroad 03 D. DAP Bulk-Sh. 28/01/18 ALONG SIDE(P.I.C.T) Berth Vacant... ALONG SIDE(PDWCP): SAPT-4 Mol Endowment D. L. Cnt. Mol Pak 01/02/18 Along Side(West Wharves) 24 Hong Fa Shang Hai D. Gen.Cargo M.R Traders 31/01/18 25 Mohar L. Cement Argonaftis 01/02/18 ALONG SIDE (K.I.C.T): 26/27 YM Wealth D. L. Cnt. Inshipping 30/01/18 28/29 Ever Diamond D. L. Cnt. Green Pak 31/01/18 EXPECTED ARRIVALS: CONTAINER (GEARLESS) Northern Priority COSCO 03/02/18 Not Sched 600 Cnt. 600 Cnt. Maribor COSCO 04/02/18 Not Sched 600 Cnt. 600 Cnt. Kota Karim P-Delta 07/02/18 Not Sched 300 Cnt. 500 Cnt. MOL Explorer MOl Pak 07/02/18 Not Sched 700 Cnt. 1000 Cnt. Ever Unique Green Pak09/02/18 Not Sched 1000 Cnt. 900 Cnt. Koata Lagu P-Delta 18/02/18 Not Sched 1500 Cnt. 1500 Cnt. CONTAINER (GEARED): Polo Golden 04/02/18 Not Sched 335 Cnt. 465 Cnt. GENERAL CARGO: Da Kang COSCO 02/02/18 Not Sched Nil 611 G. C Damas Crystal Sea 03/02/18 Not Sched Nil 163 G.c Han Zhi Facilities 03/02/18 Not Sched 47 G.C Nil Hermann-S GAC 05/02/18 Not Sched 30,974 Steel Nil Royal Jade GAC 05/02/18 Not Sched 14,349 Steel Nil COAL: CMB Chikoko OC-Services 02/01/18 Not Sched 58,130 Nil Young Harmony OC.Services 03/02/18 Not Sched 60,215 Nil SEEDS: Lemessos Lion WMA Shipcare 03/02/18 Not Sched 47,078 Sorghum Nil PET COKE: Challenger OC-Services 02/02/18 Not Sched 24,500 Nil OIL TANKER: Maersk Tacoma GAC 05/02/18 Not Sched 42,000 Gas Oil Nil SHIPS OFF PORT: Vessel Name Type Agent expected Berth No. Arrival date Arrival Time Remarks Cerulean General Cargo COSCO -- 02/02/18 07:10 - Unique Harmony Oil Tanker GAC -- 16/01/18 07:48 - Alpine Duke Oil Tanker Alpine -- 22/01/18 10:05 - Chem Singapore Oil Tanker Alpine -- 26/01/18 16:48 - Gennaro Ievoli Oil Tanker East Wind -- 29/01/18 19:12 - Sti Executive Oil Tanker Alpine -- 30/01/18 10:24 - Quetta Oil Tanker PNSC -- 30/01/18 21:30 - BW Gallium Oil Tanker East Wiind -- 31/01/18 17:24 Karachi Oil Tanker PNSC -- 01/02/18 02:30 - YM Mirinda Oil Tanker General Cargo -- 01/02/18 09:48 - Nord Larkspur Oil Tanker GAC -- 01/02/18 16:31 (@FahadShabbir) Three days moot of Model United Nations (MUN) began on Friday at Mehran University of Engineering and Technology Jamshoro with participation of 400 male and female students from various educational institutions of Hyderabad and Jamshoro districts HYDERABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 02nd Feb, 2018 ) :Three days moot of Model United Nations (MUN) began on Friday at Mehran University of Engineering and Technology Jamshoro with participation of 400 male and female students from various educational institutions of Hyderabad and Jamshoro districts. The Model United Nations is an academic activity which introduced in Sindh by the management of Mehran University four years back aimed at to build teamwork and leadership capabilities of students by improving their skills in research, public speaking, debating and writing. During MUN moot, the participating students formed delegates of the countries which representing in the United Nations. They conduct sessions of discussions and debates on the topics and issues with preparation of resolutions at the pattern of the United Nations. Speaking as chief guest at the inaugural session of the moot, the Vice Chancellor Mehran University Prof. Dr. Muhammad Aslam Uqaili said that three days MUN would provide opportunity for participating students to make themselves aware of the growing issues of the world like economic instability, environmental threats, water, energy and regional conflicts. The moot would also provide a platform to participating students to learn the art of diplomacy, discuss and debates on issues with finding the solutions, he added. The introducer of MUN in Mehran University Pro-Vice Chancellor Prof. Dr. Taha Hussain Ali informed that during three days moot, the students of other educational institutions of Hyderabad will also take part in various activities. The President MUN Waleed Memon said that besides holding sessions, meetings of different committees, the global carnival and musical concert are also the parts of MUN. Deputy Assistant Secretary US Department of State Nancy Izzo Jackson visited Bokra Government School for Boys at I-12 Settlement here on Friday and met with Afghan refugee students.' During the visit, the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) briefed Deputy Assistant Secretary about the school that started accepting Afghan students in 2016 after advocacy by UNHCR, said a press release ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 02nd Feb, 2018 ) :Deputy Assistant Secretary US Department of State Nancy Izzo Jackson visited Bokra Government School for Boys at I-12 Settlement here on Friday and met with Afghan refugee students.' During the visit, the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) briefed Deputy Assistant Secretary about the school that started accepting Afghan students in 2016 after advocacy by UNHCR, said a press release. The Bokra Government School is the only government Primary school located in the vicinity of I-12 Afghan settlement that offers free education from Kindergarten to Grade five. ' Deputy Assistant Secretary Izzo Jackson appreciated the notion that the number of Afghan refugee students has increased at the school, and the school is also encouraging girls' enrollment due to non-availability of girls' school there. ' The United States is the largest, contributor to UNHCR, she said, adding that the U.S. government has been working with UNHCR to support the projects that enhance educational opportunities for Afghan and Pakistani children, strengthen cultural ties, and build a shared future between Afghanistan and Pakistan. ' UNHCR representatives informed Izzo Jackson that it has obtained the approval from Federal Directorate of Education Islamabad for construction of extra classrooms in the school while the design of building has already been devised and the consultant has been identified through call-of-interest to monitor the progress of the construction. High Court Bar Association (HCBA),in Indian occupied Kashmir, has appealed to the lawyers to hold protests, tomorrow, against recent killing of innocent civilians in the brutal actions of Indian troops in Shopian district ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 02nd Feb, 2018 ) :High Court Bar Association (HCBA),in Indian occupied Kashmir, has appealed to the lawyers to hold protests, tomorrow, against recent killing of innocent civilians in the brutal actions of Indian troops in Shopian district. According to Kashmir Media Service, the HCBA spokesman in a statement issued in Srinagar urged the lawyers to protest on Saturday (February 3) across occupied Kashmir at respective headquarters of all Bar Associations. 'The main protest rally will be taken out from Moominabad Court Complex in Srinagar. The Bar Association seeks the arrest of army officers involved in civilian killings and immediate arrest of killers of a minor girl of Kathua,' the statement added. (@FahadShabbir) Preparations are reaching to its climax in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Fata where people of every walk of life are all set to observe Kashmir Solidarity Day with national enthusiasm and fervor on February 5 (Monday) PESHAWAR, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 02nd Feb, 2018 ) :Preparations are reaching to its climax in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Fata where people of every walk of life are all set to observe Kashmir Solidarity Day with national enthusiasm and fervor on February 5 (Monday). In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and FATA, the people would renew their pledge and unwavering support to people of Kashmir to continue their moral, political and diplomatic support till achievement of their legitimate right of self-determination and liberation of the Occupied Jammu and Kashmir from Indian yoke. As only three days left in Kashmir Solidarity Day, preparations have reached to its peak in all 25 districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and seven agencies of Fata where a number of programs were chalked to mark the day in most befitting manner. The day will dawn with special prayers in mosques for progress and prosperity of Pakistan, eternal peace of martyrs of Kashmirs struggle and liberation of Muslim occupied territories including Indian Held Jammu and Kashmir and Palestine. The civil society, political, culture and educational organizations have planned special programmes, seminars, talks shows, walks, symposium, demonstrations and declamation contests in connection with this momentous day. The day is observed every year in continuation of the first call given by former Prime Minister of Pakistan Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in 1975 and there would be public holiday on February 5 (Monday) in the country. Big rallies, demonstrations, declamation contests and walks would be the main features of the day in all the major cities and towns of KP and Fata where big congregations and processions would also be taken out. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Teachers Association, Jamiat Tulba e islam, Kashmiris, Transports and Rickshaw unions and students organizations besides others have planned walks, rallies and declimation contests in connection with the day in KP. Pro-Vice Chancellor Islamia College University Peshawar, Professor Dr Naushad Khan told APP that Father of the Nation Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah had special attachment with Kashmir and declared it as a jugular vein of Pakistan. Kashmir is the unfinished part of the partition of subcontinent and if it was not addressed quickly, could pose a serious threat to peace and stability of the South Asia. Dr Naushad Khan, who also served Chairman Pakistan Studies Department, Islamia College Peshawar said the people of Kashmir have never accepted Indias illegal occupation and the day was not far away when Kashmiris will succeed in their legitimate struggle. He said the struggle of independence in IoK has entered into a decisive phase and time was nearer when people of IoK will get freedom from Indias oppression. The Kashmiris struggle had forced India to approach the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) on January 1, 1948 seeking its help to settle the issue. The UNSC had passed several successive resolutions including asking for a free and impartial plebiscite to be conducted by the UN but New Delhi backtracked on its promises and Kashmiris are still struggling for their right to self-determination, he recalled. He regretted that UNSC had failed so far to implement its resolutions on Kashmir and this major failure was a big question mark on the performance of the world body. Dr Nausahd said it was the responsibility of International Community and UNSC to implement its resolutions on Kashmir in letter and spirit besides taking notices of grave human rights violations and extra judicial killing of the innocent Kashmiris at IoK. He urged upon the international community to take serious notice of the unprovoked firing of Indian forces on Line of Control as they were deliberately targeting civilians particularly children and women, ambulances and civilian transport, which could not be tolerated. Around 36 religious-political parties are currently operating in both sides of Kashmir and their unity was required to press India to give Kashmris the right of self determination as promised to them by the world body. He said, The use of military power was not a viable solution to address the lingering problem of Kashmir and rather this conflict could be addressed through table talks. Dr Naushad said if India was interested to join CPEC, it should have solved the conflict over the Himalayan territory first through peaceful means by sitting together with Pakistan and Kashmirs leadership. He strongly supported observance of Kashmir solidarity day, which was aimed seeking a peaceful solution of this longstanding issue and to pass on a pragmatic message to the international community and UN through peaceful means to implement its resolutions on Kashmir. He urged tv channels, radio stations and newspapers to continuously highlight the Kashmir cause especially the atrocities and human rights violations of the Indian occupied forces against innocent Kashmiries in IoK. Global stock markets got a shot in the arm from hopes for a coronavirus vaccine on Wednesday, with the outlook for more US financial stimulus adding to the brighter mood Records 13926 To 13950 (Total 65139 Records) Business news Business news is important part of the news. 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Within its efforts to spread a culture of innovation, and as part of its participation in the UAE Innovation Month (21-27 Feb), Dubai Customs inaugurated the 2nd International Innovation, a joint initiative by the Ministry of Economy and Dubai Customs for the second consecutive year The Afghan government sets no deadline in negotiations with the Taliban movement and is not able to abandon talks due to its responsibility to the Afghan people, Foreign Minister Mohammed Haneef Atmar told Sputnik Records 36151 To 36175 (Total 277399 Records) World News Due to the diverse and sudden change in global politics and international relations, everyone is interested to see world news about their friends and enemy states both. There are very less sites that are doing unbiased reporting about global scenario. Urdu Point gives world news today. The site provides world news live streaming for its users. 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Urdu Point posts all the news from the world. People are concerned about knowing news from globe. The Punjab Emergency Service (Rescue 1122) provided help to 81,952 victims of different emergencies while conducting 81,454 rescue operations in January across the province LAHORE, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 02nd Feb, 2018 ) :The Punjab Emergency Service (Rescue 1122) provided help to 81,952 victims of different emergencies while conducting 81,454 rescue operations in January across the province. Punjab Emergency Services Director General Dr Rizwan Naseer, while presiding over a meeting of Rescue Officers at Rescue-1122 Headquarters Friday reviewed the performance of emergency operations in all 36 districts of the province. He said that we have to maintain standards of the Emergency Service by timely repair and maintenance of vehicles & equipment and the best utilization of available resources. The emergency calls to which Rescue-1122 responded include: 25,000 road accidents, 46,104 medical emergencies, 1,168 fire incidents, 1,575 crimes, 21 drowning incidents, 28 building collapses, 20 explosions and 7,538 miscellaneous operations. According to the statistics, majority of fire incidents occurred in major cities, including 284 in Lahore, 145 in Faisalabad, 80 in Rawalpindi, 56 in Multan, 60 in Gujranwala and 38 in Sialkot. Similarly, 6,251 traffic accidents were reported in Lahore, 2,379 in Faisalabad, 1,658 in Gujranwala and 1,871 in Multan and 763 in Rawalpindi. All arrangements have been finalised to observe Kashmir Solidarity Day on February 5 across Pakistan and Jammu and Kashmir with the pledge to seek a resolution of the Kashmir issue according to the United Nations' resolutions and aspirations of the Kashmiri people MIRPUR (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 02nd Feb, 2018 ) , :All arrangements have been finalised to observe Kashmir Solidarity Day on February 5 across Pakistan and Jammu and Kashmir with the pledge to seek a resolution of the Kashmir issue according to the United Nations' resolutions and aspirations of the Kashmiri people. 'Kashmir Solidarity Day is one of the occasions of significance in Kashmir which is celebrated every year to reiterate complete solidarity with the people of Jammu & Kashmir in their just and principled struggle for freedom and to achieve their globally acknowledged right to self determination', said Raja Azhar Iqbal, the AJK government spokesperson and Director General of Public Relations (DGPR) while Talking to APP here on Friday. Azhar Iqbal said that the day is most valuable for the Kashmiri people inhibiting either side of the line of control and rest of the world. The DGPR said that ex Prime Minister of Pakistan Muhammad Nawaz Sharif, besides top PML N's Central and AJK leadership including AJK Prime Minister Raja Farooq Haider Khan will address mammoth Kashmir Solidarity Day rally in Muzaffarabad on February 5. Human chain would be made on all six bridges linking Pakistan to Azad Jammu & Kashmir including at Kohala, Azad Pattan, Gari Habib Ullah, Holar, Bhimbher and and Mangla in which People of Pakistan and AJK would join hands to express solidarity with the people of Jammu & Kashmir. Special prayers will be begged in all the mosques across the state for those who were martyred during this freedom struggle as well as for the early success of the cause. To pay homage to the martyrs one minute silence will be observed at 10 am with the sound of sirens and all traffic would be stopped. Television channels and Radio stations would be airing special programmes to highlight different aspects of the IoK issue particularly Indian brutalities against innocent Kashmiris fighting for their freedom. Raja Azhar Iqbal said Pakistan always considers Kashmir as the core issue, between India and Pakistan. This remains a flash point between the two neighbors. The world leaders have already stressed the need to peacefully resolve the Kashmir dispute between India and Pakistan to avert any eventuality that may cause a catastrophe in the region, he underlined. He recalled that Kashmir Solidarity Day is observed on 5th February every year since 1990 in Pakistan as a day of protest against the long Indian unlawful occupation of bulk of Jammu & Kashmir against the aspirations of the people of the state. Meanwhile, arrangements are being given final touches to observe Kashmir Solidarity Day throughout Pakistan and AJK to reiterate support with the Kashmiris in the Indian occupied state in their just struggle for the freedom of their homeland. A public holiday has also been announced by the government across the liberated territory. A Kashmiri cultural show featuring, Artisan at Work, an exhibition of Kashmiris Handicrafts, national songs, tableaux, display of publicity material and puppet show will be held at Lok Virsa to depict the stories on issues related to Kashmir. Indian brutality would also be highlighted through photographs and Kashmiri songs. The support was extended by Ambassador of Republic of Azerbaijan Ali Alizada to National Security Adviser Nasser Khan Janjua during a meeting here on Friday. ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 02nd Feb, 2018) : The support was extended by Ambassador of Republic of Azerbaijan Ali Alizada to National Security Adviser Nasser Khan Janjua during a meeting here on Friday. The Ambassador called for implementation of United Nations Security Council (UNSC) Resolution on Kashmir. Azerbaijan is also the member of OIC Contact Group on Jammu and Kashmir. The Ambassador said that Azerbaijan enjoys cordial and warm relationship with Pakistan and expressed his desire to expand the spectrum of cooperation further. He also highlighted the fact that the two countries have identical views on major regional and international issues concerning peace and security. He also acknowledged Pakistan's support to Azerbaijan's stand on the issue of Nagorno Karabakh. The National Security Adviser said that since the inception of Azerbaijan, Pakistan is one of those countries that not only recognized it immediately but also supported in every aspect at every world forum. Both sides also discussed ways and means to further improve cooperation in defence and security. The co-accused in murder case of medical student Asma Rani has been handed over to police for a one-day remand. PESHAWAR, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 02nd Feb, 2018) : The co-accused in murder case of medical student Asma Rani has been handed over to police for a one-day remand. Saddiq Afridi, the brother of the prime accused, was earlier arrested by police for his involvement in the murder of Asma Rani. However, Mujahid Afridi the prime accused is still at large. Earlier, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) had dispatched a letter to Interpol Riyadh (Saudi Arabia) to locate and extradite Mujahid. Asma Rani, a third year student at Ayub Medical College, was shot dead after she rejected a marriage proposal. Abbas Majeed Marwat, the DPO Kohat, earlier said that the FIA has requested Interpol to issue red warrants for prime accused Mujahid Afridi. The accused after committing the crime fled the country to Saudi Arabia via Benazir Bhutto International Airport Islamabad the same day. Police had registered an FIR in the case on the complaint of the brother of the deceased, Muhammad Irfan under Section 324 and 304 of Pakistan Penal Code. Asma Rani was returning in a rickshaw with her sister-in-law when suspect Mujahid who was already present outside their house shot her dead. Asma received three bullet wounds and was shifted to a hospital in critical condition but later died from her wounds. However, Asma revealed the name of the person who fired on her before she succumbed to her injuries. She said his name was Mujahid Afridi and he was the nephew of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf district vice-president Aftab Alam. (@ChaudhryMAli88) Mayor of Karachi Wasim Akhtar has decided to give concession to citizens of Karachi on entry fee of parks and recreational centers KARACHI, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 02nd Feb, 2018 ) :Mayor of Karachi Wasim Akhtar has decided to give concession to citizens of Karachi on entry fee of parks and recreational centers. According to which, free entry would be provided to the children upto three years of age in the Karachi Zoo, Safari Park and Landhi Zoo. This decision shall also be applicable to other parks including Beach Park, Hill Park, Polo Ground, S. T22 and Amir Khusro Park, said a press release here on Friday. All special persons and senior citizens of over 65 years of age shall also have free entry in these recreational places, whereas, 50 per cent concession will be allowed to the students in these parks and recreational places. The Mayor said that this step has been taken to provide maximum recreational facilities to the citizens of Karachi and all departments concerned have been directed about this. The fee concession is applicable from February 2. (@rukhshanmir) Minister for Information Technology and Telecommunication Anusha Rehman Friday said, government is fully committed to provide technology and training to 50,000 artisans and bringing them online on Made in Pakistan portal, through Universal Service Fund (USF) ISLAMABAD,(UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 02nd Feb, 2018 ) :Minister for Information Technology and Telecommunication Anusha Rehman Friday said, government is fully committed to provide technology and training to 50,000 artisans and bringing them online on Made in Pakistan portal, through Universal Service Fund (USF).' While addressing the Universal Service Fund Company (USF Co) 57th Board of Directors Meeting, the minister said that we want to take Pakistan digitally forward. The Board also took into consideration the agenda pertaining to the provision of Information and Communication Technology to Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises in Pakistan, a press release said. The micro, small and medium enterprises in Pakistan can be termed as the backbone of the economy because they constitute nearly 80% of the enterprises in Pakistan. Pakistan has a population of around 200 million and a work force of about 65 million, with these enterprises. The Board discussed that by providing access to digital platform and bringing MSMEs online, the real potential can be reaped and has surely create opportunity to propel Pakistan to higher-income country. The Board also made a sub committee, headed by Amir Ibrahim, CEO Jazz (Member board of directors) with Mudassar Hussain Member Telecom and Yusuf Hussain CEO Ignite Co, to oversee the e-commerce project finalization being executed by USF company. Board members including the Secretary IT; Mr. Rizwan Bashir Khan, Member Telecom; Mr. Mudassar Hussain, Mr. Aamir Ibrahim; CEO Jazz, Mr. Daniel Ritz CEO PTCL Mr. Azfar Manzoor; VP ISPS; Mr. Kaukab Iqbal Chairman Consumers Association and the senior management of USF Co also attended the meeting. The board welcomed the new CEO USFco, Rizwan Mustafa Mir as new director on the board. Kashmir Solidarity Day programme has been scheduled by the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) on February 5 in KMC Building at M.A Jinnah Road here KARACHI, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 02nd Feb, 2018 ) :Kashmir Solidarity Day programme has been scheduled by the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) on February 5 in KMC Building at M.A Jinnah Road here. Mayor of Karachi Wasim Akhtar and Kashmiri leaders and intellectuals are expected to attend the event, said a statement on Friday. A rally shall also be held afterward to show solidarity with Kashmiri brethren. (@ChaudhryMAli88) The election commission of Pakistan has issued notice to ruling party PML-N candidate for NA-154 by-poll over violation of code of conduct (CoC) on Friday. LODHRAN, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 02nd Feb, 2018) : The election commission of Pakistan has issued notice to ruling party PML-N candidate for NA-154 by-poll over violation of code of conduct (CoC) on Friday. The seat was fallen vacant after the disqualification of PTI MNA Jahangir Tareen for hiding their assets by Supreme Court. The election commission teams actively monitoring the election campaign run by he candidates of NA-154 by poll as they found PML-N candidate Muhammad Iqbal Shah indulged in violation of code of conduct.ECP has summoned him Muhammad Iqbal to appear before district election commissioner office personally or through counsel on February 03. As per the code of conduct set by the ECP for NA-154 by-poll the giant banners, posters are banned, however PML-N candidate violating the rules has hanged huge banners more than the size set by the ECP. The polling for the by-poll on NA-154 will be held on February 12. In order to maintain peace during by-election in Lodhran, Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has issued notification to deploy Army in NA-154 where Army would have the powers of magistrate. According to ECP sources, by-elections of NA-154 would be held on February 12, for that notification has been released by ECP. According to the notification, Army would be deployed inside and outside the polling stations on request of DRO. (@ChaudhryMAli88) A meeting of the National Assembly Standing Committee on Rules of Procedure and Privileges was held on Friday at Parliament House under the Chairmanship of Rana Muhamamd Qasim Noon, MNA ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 02nd Feb, 2018 ) :A meeting of the National Assembly Standing Committee on Rules of Procedure and Privileges was held on Friday at Parliament House under the Chairmanship of Rana Muhamamd Qasim Noon, MNA. The Committee prayed for the departed souls of Mir Hazar Khan Bijarani, Ex.MNA and his wife due to their sudden deaths. The Committee welcomed Rana Muhammad Ishaq Khan, MNA for becoming new member of the Standing Committee on Rules of Procedure and Privileges. On the amendment moved by Ms. Naeema Kishwar Khan, MNA in Rule 48 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of business in the National Assembly, 2007, the Committee directed the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs and the Ministry of Law and Justice to further go through the amendment and report to the Committee in its next meeting. On the complaint of Ms. Shagufta Jumani and Sheikh Salahuddin, MNAs, regarding non giving the time of meeting by Chairman, NADRA, the Committee took suo-moto of the matter and decided to discuss it in the next meeting of the Committee. The Committee directed the Secretary, Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs to suggest proposals for the Committee for making amendments in the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the National Assembly, 2007 on monthly basis. The Committee also decided that in future, no such compromise would be made by the respondents and the Movers outside the Committee. All the decisions would be made by the Committee within the presence of all the concerned during the meeting. The Committee disposed of the Questions of Privileges moved by Malik Abdul Ghaffar Dogar, Mr. Siraj Ahmed Khan, Mr. Amjid Ali Khan, Mian Imtiaz Ahmed, Mr. Abdul Majid Khan Khanankhail, MNAs. On the Question of Privileges, raised by Mr. Ghalib Khan, Advocate and Mr. Muhammad Jamal Ul Din, MNAs against Mr. Zafar Ul Islam, Political Agent, South Waziristan, the Committee expressed its displeasure for irresponsible attitude of Mr. Zafar Ul islam with the Hon. Members and said that this was the third Question of Privilege against Mr. Zafar Ul Islam. The Committee unanimously decided that the Chief Secretary, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) should inquire into the matter as per Efficiency and Discipline (E&D) Rules by dis-continuing the MCMC training of Mr. Zafar Ul Islam in National Institute of Management (NIM), Peshawar and report to the Committee in its next meeting. However, the Committee pended the agenda till its next meeting. On the Question of Privilege raised by Sheikh Salahuddin, MNA, the Committee directed the Inspector General of Police, Sindh to attend the next meeting of the Committee in person and submit the reply of all the questions raised by the Committee Members during the meeting within the presence of Mr. Sarwar Jamali, DIG (Admn), Sindh before the next meeting of the Committee. On the Question of Privilege raised by Dr. Fehmida Mirza, MNA, the Committee expressed its displeasure on non-satisfactory reply given by the representative of Sindh Irrigation Department regarding non-availability of drinking water in Badin, Sindh. The Committee directed that the Secretary, Irrigation Department, Sindh should attend the next meeting of the Committee in person and brief the Committee about the shortage of water in Sindh and particularly in Badin. The Committee pended its discussion till its next meeting. On the matter of medical facilities to the dependents/parents of Members of the National Assembly, the Committee directed the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs to work on this matter and on the points raised by Ms. Shagufta Jumami, MNA, during the meeting. The Committee pended the amendment till its next meeting. On the Question of Privilege raised by Mr. Sher Akbar Khan, MNA, the Secretary, Ministry of Energy and the concerned Project Director were directed to resolve the issues of the Hon. Mover and report to the Committee in its next meeting. On the Question of Privilege raised by Mr. Ramesh Lal, MNA, the Committee was not satisfied with the reply given by Mr. Zahid, M.D (OGDCL) and directed him to establish a Cell under the supervision of any good officer for the facilitation of the Hon. Members of the Parliament. The Committee pended the Question of Privilege till its next meeting. The Committee confirmed the minutes of its previous meeting held on January 2, 2018. However, on the request of Ms. Shagufta Jumani, MNA, the Committee unanimously decided to again discuss the amendment moved by Dr. Azra Fazal Pechuho, MNA regarding amendment in Rules 122 and 244 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the National Assembly, 2007. The compliance Report on the previous recommendations of the Committee was also seen by the Committee. The meeting was attended by Rana Muhammad Ishaq Khan, Rana Umer Nazir Khan, Mr. Azhar Qayyum Nahra, Mr. Abdul Majid Khan Khanankhail, Sheikh Muhamamd Akram, Ms. Kiran Haider, Ms. Maiza Hameed, Ms. Shagufta Jumani, Mr.S.A.Iqbal Quadri, Mr. Muhammad Ali Rashid, Ms.Asiya Nasir,MNAs/Members. The meeting was also attended by Ms. Naeema Kishwar Khan, Mr. Siraj Muhammad Khan, Mr. Ghalib Khan Advocate, Mr. Amjid Ali Khan, Sheikh Salahuddin, Mr. Sher Akbar Khan, Mr. Muhammad Jamal Ul Din, Mr. Ramesh Lal, MNAs. Gatundu South MP Moses Kuria has taken a rare stand in support of Raila Odinga over Kalonzo Musyokas alleged betrayal during Nasas oath-taking ceremony. While the Wiper Party leader and his fellow co-principals Moses Wetangula and Musalia Mudavadi have since blamed the withdrawal of their respective security details for missing the ceremony, Moses Kuria believes there was a disagreement between the Nasa leaders. Moses Kuria claims that after a heated argument they agreed to go to Uhuru Park but only on one condition- Raila had to publicly announce that he would not vie in 2022. The three agreed with Baba to meet on the morning of 30th January to finalise on their 2022 renunciation demand. Come the morning of 30th January, Kalonzo and Musalia arrived at the Karen home of Wetangula. They try to call Jakom who was by that time at Dusit Hotel, Riverside. Raila refused to pick their calls. At around 2 pm Baba calls them back and asks them to meet him at Uhuru Park, narrated Moses Kuria. Being the controversial legislator he usually is, Moses Kuria took to his Facebook page to slate Kalonzo for crying during a press conference yesterday. Kalonzo was overwhelmed by emotions when Odinga mentioned the attack at his house where his sick wife was recuperating. I want to tell my brother Kalonzo pole (sorry) for the attack which was done in his compound against his family, Odinga stated. My brother here has got a sick wife who is ambulant in the house. Imagine the kind of shock that such a person receives when a grenade is thrown into the compound and bullets are fired, he added. This moved the former vice president as he struggled to hold back his tears. With Kenyans sympathizing with Kalonzos plight, Moses Kuria was not buying it and said he had lost all respect for Kalonzo. The MP questioned Kalonzos tears and declared that he was on Railas side. Read his post below. Kalonzo wept. I have my differences with Tinga but I still do have profound respect for the man. My main beef with him emanates from the fact that whereas his place in history is cast in stone, he allows his supporters to cast stones at his place in history, literally. But as for Kalonzo Musyoka, I have lost the scant respect I had for you. As in how dare you weep? On 29th January there was a heated argument between Raila and his three sisters-Kalonzo, Wetangula and Musalia. At the end of the day, they agreed to go to Uhuru Park but only on one condition- Raila had to publicly announce that he would not vie in 2022. All this time they were sending signals to all and sundry that they were trying to talk Raila out of his silly swearing-in plan. Which, of course, was dishonest and duplicitous. The three agreed with Baba to meet on the morning of 30th January to finalise on their 2022 renunciation demand. Come the morning of 30th January, Kalonzo and Musalia arrived at the Karen home of Wetangula. They try to call Jakom who was by that time at Dusit Hotel, Riverside. Raila refused to pick their calls. At around 2 pm Baba calls them back and asks them to meet him at Uhuru Park. They thought it was a joke. With TVs switched off they had no way of knowing. Only to learn that Baba had taken the oath while they were still having a threesome at Wetangulas. And now you dare cry! Tutigithie! On this, I am with Tinga. Pretenders are worse than murderers. (@ChaudhryMAli88) Pakistan and Azerbaijan Friday expressed satisfaction over level and substance of growing bilateral engagements between the two countries and discussed ways to further improve cooperation in defence and security ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 02nd Feb, 2018 ) :Pakistan and Azerbaijan Friday expressed satisfaction over level and substance of growing bilateral engagements between the two countries and discussed ways to further improve cooperation in defence and security. Ambassador of Republic of Azerbaijan, Ali Alizada called on National Security Adviser, Lt General (Retd) Nasser Khan Janjua here and besides, security and defence, multiple areas pertaining to promotion of bilateral relations came under discussion. Talking to the ambassador, Nasser Janjua said Pakistan attached great importance to relations with Azerbaijan as those were based on strong mutual trust and respect. He said since inception of Azerbaijan, Pakistan was one of those countries that not only recognized it immediately but also supported it in every aspect at every world forum. The ambassador said Azerbaijan enjoyed cordial and warm relationship with Pakistan and expressed his desire to expand spectrum of cooperation further. He also highlighted the fact that the two countries shared views on major regional and international issues concerning peace and security. He acknowledged Pakistan's support to Azerbaijan's stand on issue of Nagorno Karabakh which was being occupied by Armenia. The ambassador said Azerbaijan fully supported Pakistan's stand on Kashmir calling for implementation of UN Security Council Resolution. Azerbaijan is also member of OIC Contact Group on Jammu and Kashmir. The ambassador extended invitation to NSA to preside a seminar on "Crime against Humanity: Genocide and Ethnic Cleansing" scheduled to be held on February 20 in Islamabad. The international community must stop India from ruthless carnage being carried against innocent Kashmiris said Pakistan High Commissioner Tariq Azim Khan, in a meeting with Mr. Alex Neve, Secretary General Amnesty International, Canada, says a press release received here today from Ottawa OTTAWA,(UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 02nd Feb, 2018 ) The international community must stop India from ruthless carnage being carried against innocent Kashmiris said Pakistan High Commissioner Tariq Azim Khan, in a meeting with Mr. Alex Neve, Secretary General Amnesty International, Canada, says a press release received here today from Ottawa. He briefed the Secretary General on the situation in Indian occupied Kashmir where hundreds of civilians, especially the youth, were blinded through use of pallet guns by the occupational forces. Pallet shot guns have been responsible for blinding, killing and traumatizing thousands of people in occupied Kashmir and violates international standards under UN code of conduct, he added. High Commissioner underlined that Canada is considered as the flag bearer and champion of human rights, and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, in his forthcoming visit to India, should take up the issue of human right violations in the Indian occupied Kashmir. The Secretary General informed the High Commissioner that it is unfortunate that India is not allowing access to Amnesty International and other international human right organizations to visit parts of Kashmir which are under siege by the Indian forces. He informed the High Commissioner that Amnesty International will urge Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to take up the human rights violations issue with the Indian government during his visit. He also briefed the High Commissioner about the postcard campaign, against use of pallet guns, initiated by Amnesty International India. Speakers in a national seminar resolved that a peaceful dialogue in the light of Islamic education was mandatory for the elimination of terrorism, extremism from the society and women could play a vital role in this regard ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 02nd Feb, 2018 ) :Speakers in a national seminar resolved that a peaceful dialogue in the light of Islamic education was mandatory for the elimination of terrorism, extremism from the society and women could play a vital role in this regard. The women speakers including parliamentarians and Wafaq ul Madaris also resolved that women could play an important role in building of a society, a press release Friday said. They were speaking at the seminar organized by Iqbal Research Institute (IRI) of International Islamic University (IIU) on 'Role of Dukhtaran e Pakistan in Reconciliation and Peace Building in continuation with Paigham e Pakistan' held at Faisal Masjid campus. The seminar recommendations were presented by Chairman of Council of Islamic Ideology, Dr Qibla Ayaz. Participants maintained that the points would be sent to the legislative quarters and this communique would be part of the next edition of Paigham e Pakistan. The speakers recommended that opportunities for personal identity must be provided to women. In the four panel discussion sessions, speakers said role of media was important for characterization of women and children and special programmes should be organized in this regard. The resolutions also said national educational curriculum should be prepared according to the modern needs. Speaker Balochistan Assembly Rahila Durani speaking on the occasion said there was lack of implementation of women rights in the society. She said practical measures were needed for safety of women rights and for their meaningful role. In this regard, she said a bill was being presented in the assembly to prevent pre-mature marriages. Rector IIUI Dr Masoom Yasinzai stressed the need for imparting modern education based on critical thinking and characterization integrated with the blend of Islamic character. He said there was no place for terrorism in islam and added that IIUI took the responsibility to provide a narrative to the nation to remain clear about Islam, its teachings and dissemination of message of peace. He urged for the promotion of the attitude of peaceful co-existence. President of IIUI Dr Yousif Al Draiweesh said Islam was the only religion which gives complete rights to women. He called upon the Muslim societies to practice and provide the rights to women granted by Islam. He maintained that university was keen for women empowerment and its separate campus for females was visible example where as many as 14 thousand females were getting quality education. He said the number of female students was more than male students at the university. Director General of IRI, Dr Zia ul Haq elaborated the journey of Paigham e Pakistan and told that it commenced with a muster of religious scholars at IRI in programme on reconstruction of Pakistani society where a decree was announced against terrorism. He said the decree was endorsed by all the religions' scholars in a programme at IIUI and also same was endorsed by the VCs of more than 80 universities. He told that after the launch of Paigham e Pakistan, this programme was the continuity of that effort. Seminar was also joined by Khalid Iqbal Jhagra, Director female campus Dr Farkhanda Zia, representatives of Wifaqul Madaris including Asma Baig, Naber Andleeb, Razia Madni, Tayyeba Khanum, Durdana SIdiqui and MNAs Farhana Qamar, Shazia Sobia, Romeena Alam and Huma Chughtai. (@ChaudhryMAli88) Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation (PTDC) on the special directives of Managing Director is organizing an event at Flashman's Hotel on Kashmir Solidarity Day to be observed on February 5, to express solidarity, support and unity with the people of Kashmir RAWALPINDI, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 02nd Feb, 2018 ) :Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation (PTDC) on the special directives of Managing Director is organizing an event at Flashman's Hotel on Kashmir Solidarity Day to be observed on February 5, to express solidarity, support and unity with the people of Kashmir. According to a PTDC spokesman, the venue will be decorated with picturesque sceneries of Kashmir while the speakers on the occasion would also highlight plight of Kashmiris in occupied valley. The prominent personalities of the twin cities, Rawalpindi and Islamabad and tourism related personnel would participate in the event while national and Kashmiri songs would also be played by a Police Band, he added. (@FahadShabbir) President Mamnoon Hussain has summoned the session of the Senate to meet on February 12 (Monday) at 03:00 pm in the Parliament House ISLAMABAD,(UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 02nd Feb, 2018 ) :President Mamnoon Hussain has summoned the session of the Senate to meet on February 12 (Monday) at 03:00 pm in the Parliament House. The President summoned the Senate in exercise of powers, conferred by clause (1) of Article 54 of the Constitution, said a press release issued here Friday. (@rukhshanmir) The United Nations has expressed intense sorrow over the recent sexual assaults on a seven-year-old girl in Pakistan and an eight-month-old baby girl in neighbouring India, saying the scourge of violence against females affected all countries UNITED NATIONS, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 02nd Feb, 2018 ) :The United Nations has expressed intense sorrow over the recent sexual assaults on a seven-year-old girl in Pakistan and an eight-month-old baby girl in neighbouring India, saying the scourge of violence against females affected all countries. Responding to a question at the regular noon briefing at United Nations' Headquarters in New York on Thursday, a spokesman of UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the UN and its agencies were working with governments to get the message across to communities against the attacks on girls and women. "First, these two cases that you are referring to are heart-breaking," Spokesman Stephane Dujarric told the questioner. But he added, "What is clear is that no country on this planet is immune from the scourge of violence against women, violence against girls. We see it in all countries, North, South, East and West. " Last month, Zainab Ansari, the 7-year-old, was raped and murdered in the Kasur. A couple of weeks later, the eight-month-old infant was raped in New Delhi and a 28-year-old cousin was arrested and charged in the assault. Both incidents sparked off a wave of anger in the two countries, and off calls for stern action to protect children and women. About the UN actions to fight violence against girls and women, Dujarric said through various programmes, through UN Women, through UNFPA (UN Fund for Population activities), UNICEF and others, UN is working with national governments to try to get messages through to communities to respecting girls, to respecting women. It is about equal rights, access to health, access to education (for women and girls). It is about empowerment of women, he said. Through a number of development programmes the UN is trying to face the issue. (@FahadShabbir) A week long photographic exhibition in connection with Kashmir Solidarity Day to be observed on Feb 5 began here on Friday at the Rawalpindi Arts Council RAWALPINDI, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 02nd Feb, 2018 ) :A week long photographic exhibition in connection with Kashmir Solidarity Day to be observed on Feb 5 began here on Friday at the Rawalpindi Arts Council. The exhibition depicted atrocities committed by Indian forces on people of Indian-held Kashmir. Member National Assembly, Tahira Aurangzeb inaugurated the exhibition which was attended by Director RAC Waqar Ahmed, former RAC Director Naheed Manzoor and a large number of citizens. Over 100 pictures showcasing human rights violations after the brutal killing of Burhan Wani being exhibited in the exhibition. Speaking at the inauguration, Tahira Aurangzeb said Kashmir was the unfinished agenda of the partition and the world community should play its role in ending human rights violations and force India to implement the United Nations resolution that gives Kashmiris the right to self-determination. Naheed Manzoor said the Kashmir issue is pending with the UN for over 60 years, and the people are rendering unforgettable sacrifices. She said the time has come to end the brutalities of Indian forces. Waqar Ahmed said the exhibition is part of an awareness campaign about the brutal actions of Indian forces against innocent Kashmiris who want their right to self-determination. He said RACl has arranged a number of events to observe Kashmir Solidarity Day including theatrical performances by schoolchildren to highlight the issue. (@FahadShabbir) WWF-Pakistan in collaboration with the Ministry of Climate Change (MoCC) and Capital Development Authority (CDA) organized an advocacy event at Lakeview Park Islamabad to celebrate World Wetlands Day 2018 Islamabad,(UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 02nd Feb, 2018 ) : WWF-Pakistan in collaboration with the Ministry of Climate Change (MoCC) and Capital Development Authority (CDA) organized an advocacy event at Lakeview Park Islamabad to celebrate World Wetlands Day 2018. The theme for this year is Wetlands for a Sustainable Urban Future, which is selected to highlight the significance of wetlands for sustainable urbanization. In order to foster restoration and conservation of urban wetlands, and to highlight the importance of individual responsibility, a clean-up drive was organized where participants voluntarily cleaned up Lake View Park by picking up litter and trash. Representatives from governmental and non-governmental organizations, academia, research and development, and youth-led organizations were present on the occasion. World Wetlands Day (WWD) marks the date when the Convention on Wetlands was adopted, in 1971, in the city of Ramsar, Iran. The Convention provides the framework for the conservation and wise use of wetlands and their resources. Pakistan is blessed to have more than 240 major wetlands including 19 Ramsar sites, which are international significant wetlands. These wetland sites include inland water, delta marshes, mangroves, lakes, reservoirs, fish farms and ponds and serve as a source of livelihood for millions of people. Urbanization results in enormous challenges for city planners and managers who must ensure that cities today can deliver not only basic services but that these cities are safe, resilient and ecologically sound. Urban wetlands like Rawal Lake are also essential as they provide cities with multiple economic, social and cultural benefits. Despite the critical role of wetlands worldwide, the global extent of wetlands degradation continues. Speaking on the occasion, Syed Mahmood Nasir, Inspector General of Forests (IGF), explained the relationship of wetland degradation and freshwater availability in the world including Pakistan. He said that it is high time to act against the adverse impacts of climate change and promote a green living culture in the country. He also encouraged youth to come forward and take the lead in environmental preservation and conservation initiatives. Rab Nawaz, Senior Director Programmes, WWF-Pakistan, in his message on WWD, emphasized on achieving a balance between resource availability and resource consumption. He also said that we need to work collectively to lead the way towards a prosperous and sustainable future and it is up to our young generation to maintain the momentum for environmental advocacy. Dr. Muhammad Ibrar Shinwari, Chairperson, Department of Environmental Sciences, IIUI also shared his thoughts regarding the importance of wetlands and various plant species in Pakistan. He urged that youth must be sensitized about environmental issues and a habit of plantation and anti-littering should be inculcated in children at an early age so that they grow up to become responsible citizens. Youth representatives from Friends of Environment and Fatima Jinnah Women University also spoke on the occasion to encourage participants to work for environmental sustainability and conservation by bringing about a behavioural change and promoting local actions. They also urged governmental officials to show stronger commitment towards policy implementation. Honey Bees that are adapted to the local environment fare better at meeting challenges than bees purchased from a different home area, researchers have found ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 02nd Feb, 2018 ) :Honey Bees that are adapted to the local environment fare better at meeting challenges than bees purchased from a different home area, researchers have found. Scientists came to the conclusion after studying the genes of honey bees and their interaction with the environment."It is very clear that the local bees fare better than imported ones and that they live longer," said Per Kryger from the Aarhus University, Denmark.Colonies with queens from the local environment lived on average 83 days more than colonies with queens from foreign areas, Science Daily reported. "Our results indicate that the way forward is to strengthen the breeding programmes with local honey bees instead of imported queens. That would help maintain the bee population's natural diversity," explained Per Kryger. Bees are one of the most important insects for humans, producing honey and pollinating our crops.The numbers of bees are under pressure from pesticides, germs and environmental changes the world over and when bees in a colony die, many bee-keepers believe that it is best to buy queens from outside. They shot to fame in 2015 with a portrait of Vladimir Putin made of bullet shells from the killing fields of eastern Ukraine New York,(APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 02nd Feb, 2018 ) :They shot to fame in 2015 with a portrait of Vladimir Putin made of bullet shells from the killing fields of eastern Ukraine. Now, the two Ukrainian artists are back with a portrait of Donald Trump made from coins and poker chips. Threats forced Daria Marchenko, 35, and Daniel Green, 34, to leave their homeland in November 2016. They now lead an itinerant life, traveling and exhibiting their work in the United States and Latin America. The Trump portrait, finished one month ago, is made of nearly 4,000 one cent and five-cent pieces. Poker chips are used for the US president's shoulders. The artists are now searching for a place for a public unveiling. As with their "Face of War" portrait of the Russian leader, the Trump version, called "Face of Money" plays in the light revealing different expressions. Marchenko's favorite? The one in which "he is very proud of himself," she tells AFP in New York. They came up with the idea of the enormous portrait -- nearly eight foot by five foot (2.4 meters by 1.7 meters) -- last summer when Putin ordered the United States to reduce its diplomatic footprint in Russia by 755 employees. Kenyas infamous eyewitness in chief Charles Karanja alias Dennis Ngengi Muigai has been sentenced to serve time in jail. The once mysterious man captured public attention after he claimed to have witnessed two high profile accidents last year. It, however, did not take long for the long arm of the law to catch up with him. Following Karanjas arrest in November last year, police established he had a criminal record and an arrest warrant had been issued. He had been arrested in 2015 in Diani and charged at Kwale Law Court for impersonating a Kenya Airforce officer. He was accused that on April 12, 2015, at Ukunda Township, with intent to escape arrest after committing a traffic offence, presented himself to police Inspector Loilobon as a Captain based at Moi Airbase, Nairobi. He was then released on a Sh50, 000 bond and expected to honour court hearings but he absconded. The bond was subsequently canceled and an arrest warrant issued. Until his new-found fame last year, Karanja was a free criminal going around bragging that he was an influential State House operative with connections to the best government tenders and employment opportunities. So confident was he that he even tricked his wife into marriage. After his arrest, investigators almost took the 40-year-old father of two for a mental check-up at Mathari hospital. This was after he took them to State House which he termed his home. Read: Revealed: Eyewitnesss Real Name and How He Tricked His Wife Into Marriage Karanjas craving for the spotlight appears to have been his own undoing as he pleaded guilty to impersonation charges yesterday. Kwale Resident Magistrate Mr Patrick Wambugu sentenced him to one-and-a-half years in jail without the option of a fine. Karanja will serve his jail term at Kwale GK Prison. (@FahadShabbir) They shot to fame in 2015 with a portrait of Vladimir Putin made of bullet shells from the killing fields of eastern Ukraine. Now, the two Ukrainian artists are back with a portrait of Donald Trump made from coins and poker chips New York, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 02nd Feb, 2018 ) :They shot to fame in 2015 with a portrait of Vladimir Putin made of bullet shells from the killing fields of eastern Ukraine. Now, the two Ukrainian artists are back with a portrait of Donald Trump made from coins and poker chips. Threats forced Daria Marchenko, 35, and Daniel Green, 34, to leave their homeland in November 2016. They now lead an itinerant life, traveling and exhibiting their work in the United States and Latin America. The Trump portrait, finished one month ago, is made of nearly 4,000 one cent and five-cent pieces. Poker chips are used for the US president's shoulders. The artists are now searching for a place for a public unveiling. As with their "Face of War" portrait of the Russian leader, the Trump version, called "Face of Money" plays in the light revealing different expressions. Marchenko's favorite? The one in which "he is very proud of himself," she tells AFP in New York. They came up with the idea of the enormous portrait -- nearly eight foot by five foot (2. 4 meters by 1.7 meters) -- last summer when Putin ordered the United States to reduce its diplomatic footprint in Russia by 755 employees. Trump responded by thanking Putin, saying it would allow the United States to cut down its payroll and "save a lot of money." "I thought, 'oh my God, you are so cheap, how can you be American president'?" says Green. "At that moment, I thought coins is the best way to show his portrait." The duo deliberately chose one cent and five-cent pieces, the smallest denominations of US Currency, to illustrate their point, Green explains. Coins darkened with fire are used for the pupils, eyebrows and to emphasize the chin. The poker chips are a nod to the casinos the billionaire once ran in Atlantic City, New Jersey but also, in Green's words, to his brand of international diplomacy. "He does international politics like he's playing. Sometimes he wins, sometimes he loses big," says the artist. (@rukhshanmir) Tensions between Colombia's government and a hold-out rebel group, the ELN, rose Thursday when officials said three of the guerrillas were killed in the bombing of a camp in the northwest of the country Bogota,(APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 02nd Feb, 2018 ) :Tensions between Colombia's government and a hold-out rebel group, the ELN, rose Thursday when officials said three of the guerrillas were killed in the bombing of a camp in the northwest of the country. The offensive, part of wider crackdown ordered by President Juan Manuel Santos following a string of deadly attacks on police stations blamed on the ELN, was another blow to peace efforts with the group that have been frozen. The attack occurred Monday on a jungle camp close to the San Juan river, in the Choco region close to Panama, the commander of joint military operations, General Jorge Arturo Salgado, told reporters. A national group representing indigenous communities accused the military of wounding a civilian child in the bombing. But the head of Colombia's military forces, General Alberto Mejia, told radio outlets the child had been recruited by the ELN and said civilians had not been harmed. Santos on Monday suspended peace talks with the ELN, the National Liberation Army, after bombs last weekend targeted three police stations, killing seven officers and wounding dozens more. Denmark's Prince Henrik, the French-born husband of Queen Margrethe who flew back from Egypt this week to be hospitalised in Copenhagen, is suffering from a lung infection, the palace said Friday Stockholm, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 02nd Feb, 2018 ) :Denmark's Prince Henrik, the French-born husband of Queen Margrethe who flew back from Egypt this week to be hospitalised in Copenhagen, is suffering from a lung infection, the palace said Friday. Aged 83 and diagnosed in December 2017 with dementia, Henrik was hospitalised on Sunday at Copenhagen's Rigshospitalet for "examination of a tumour in his left lung," the palace said in a statement. "The tumour is fortunately benign" and the prince was to be transferred to another ward to be treated for a pulmonary infection, it said. The palace never disclosed the details of the prince's dementia, saying simply that his illness "involves a deterioration of cognitive abilities". Born Henri Marie Jean Andre de Laborde de Monpezat on June 11, 1934 near Bordeaux, he married Margrethe, then crown princess, in 1967. Henrik, who retired from public service in January 2016, has often spoken out about his frustration that his royal title of prince was never changed to king when his wife became queen in 1972. Last year, he announced that he did not want to be buried next to his wife because he was never made her equal in life, thereby breaking with the tradition of burying royal spouses together in Roskilde Cathedral west of Copenhagen. Henrik and Margrethe have two sons, Crown Prince Frederik, 49, and Prince Joachim, 48. Bulgaria, which holds the presidency of the EU, warned British Prime Minister Theresa May against plans to deny residency rights to Europeans arriving during the post-Brexit transition period Brussels,(APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 02nd Feb, 2018 ) :Bulgaria, which holds the presidency of the EU, warned British Prime Minister Theresa May against plans to deny residency rights to Europeans arriving during the post-Brexit transition period. Lilyana Pavlova, the Bulgarian minister for the EU Presidency, told AFP that she was "worried" by May's stance and that the other 27 countries would be "tough" in negotiations on Britain's exit in March 2019. Pavlova -- a close ally of Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov -- said in an interview that she hoped "in the end the support for the citizens will be ranked higher than political ratings." "European acquis (laws) should be applied in the transition period, it should be followed completely," Pavlova said. "This is not the right way forward if we are not following and we are not completing the EU acquis as it is." The EU said on Monday that Britain must follow all of the bloc's laws -- including the right of citizens to live and work where they choose -- in return for access to the European single market during the proposed transition ending in December 2020. But May set up a fresh clash after saying that Europeans arriving in Britain during the 21-month transition phase should not get the same rights as those who arrive before Brexit day. Bulgaria, which heads the EU for six months until June, wanted to protect both Bulgarians living in Britain and Britons living in Bulgaria, "so we are a little bit worried," Pavlova said. - 'Tough in negotiations' - The EU wants to finish talks on the transition by the end of March so negotiations on future ties with Britain can start, but has warned that deadline could be pushed back if there is no progress from London. The Bulgarian minister said Brexit talks were now entering "the most challenging" period and that the EU needed to keep unity. "Success for us means keeping the unity of the 27, defending the rights, because now Theresa May was very well supported by, for example the United States president in having a tough Brexit," she said. "We prefer Britain to stay. But if they decide to leave then we will be tough in negotiations," Pavlova added. Pavlova meanwhile said the former Soviet bloc country would push during its first EU presidency for closer relations with six Western Balkan states. She said they should have "roadmaps" for joining the EU, financial commitments to better road, rail and communications links, and that she hoped Serbia and Montenegro would be able to join by 2025. But Pavlova said they would not give them "false promises" and urged the Balkan states to meet the EU's requirements for membership. These included resolving all regional disputes before they join, adding "If they want to join the EU, they should not bring new problems to the EU." Kosovo's President Hashim Thaci hopes to strike an "historic agreement" with Serbia in 2018, 10 years after his country made a declaration of independence that Belgrade still rejects Pristina,(APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 02nd Feb, 2018 ) :Kosovo's President Hashim Thaci hopes to strike an "historic agreement" with Serbia in 2018, 10 years after his country made a declaration of independence that Belgrade still rejects. "I think that 2018 is a crucial year and should be a decisive one. Otherwise, we will drag on for decades," Thaci said in an interview this week with AFP in Pristina. On February 17, Kosovo will celebrate a decade of independence. Supported by the United States and most European Union members, it has won recognition from more than 110 countries -- but not from Serbia or Russia. The unilateral declaration came 10 years after a 1998-1999 war between Serbian troops and ethnic Albanian rebels in the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), of which Thaci was political leader. But as Kosovo approaches its landmark anniversary, it awaits the first indictments from an EU-backed court set up to try KLA members suspected of committing war crimes in the conflict. Speculation is rife that Thaci, who denies any wrongdoing, could be among those indicted. He says he is ready to respond to the tribunal "at any moment, under any circumstances" and "with all my capacity". "I have nothing to hide," he said. The United Nations human rights office said Wednesday it had identified 206 companies mostly Israeli and American so far doing business linked to illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank and it urged them to avoid any complicity in pervasive violations against Palestinians. UNITED NATIONS, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 02nd Feb, 2018) : The United Nations human rights office said Wednesday it had identified 206 companies mostly Israeli and American so far doing business linked to illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank and it urged them to avoid any complicity in pervasive violations against Palestinians. But in its long-awaited report, the rights office does not cite companies by name, saying it still has work to do. The report is politically sensitive because companies in the UN database could be targeted for boycotts or divestment aimed at stepping up pressure on Israel over its illegal settlements. Officials said the companies Names were not mentioned under immense pressure exerted by both the United States and Israel, especially by American Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley and her Israeli counterpart Danny Danon. The majority of these companies are domiciled in Israel or the settlements (143), with the second largest group located in the United States (22). The remainder are domiciled in 19 other countries, the UN human rights office said in a statement. Supporters of the move to blacklist such companies insist that they must be held accountable for their activities in the settlements, arguing that those actions can contribute to injustices against Palestinians. Ultimately, the rights offices review could lead to a public naming and shaming of companies for their activities linked to the settlements and give an U.N. imprimatur to efforts championed by the BDS movement (boycott, divest and sanction), which has been primarily a grassroots campaign to pressure Israel through action against companies. The violations of human rights associated with the settlements are pervasive and devastating, reaching every facet of Palestinian life, the report said, citing the repressive restrictions on movement, freedom of religion, education and land ownership faced by Palestinians in east Jerusalem and the West Bank. Businesses play a central role in furthering the establishment, maintenance and expansion of Israeli settlements. Business enterprises may need to consider whether it is possible to engage in such an environment in a manner that respects human rights, it said. Some 115 other companies were eliminated after an initial review. Israel and the United States have been sharply critical of a resolution passed by the 47-member Human Rights Council in March 2016 that paved the way for the review the first of its kind. The resolution called on the rights office to create database of companies found to engage in any of 10 activities, either explicitly linked to the settlements or supportive of them. I urge all sides to avoid misrepresenting the contents of this report, which has been produced in good faith on the basis of the mandate laid down by the Human Rights Council, Zeid Raad al-Hussein, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, said. He said he hopes the database will assist states and businesses in complying with their obligations and responsibilities under international law. Saeb Erekat, the chief Palestinian negotiator, said an Israeli and U.S. pressure campaign to block publication of the company names violates international law. We call upon the secretary-general of the U.N. to publish the names of the companies that are doing business with the settlements, he said. Settlements are illegal according to international law and thus companies doing business with it should be known because what they are doing is illegal. A doctor in Vietnam has been sentenced to four years in jail for "anti-state propaganda", state media reported, as part of a fresh wave of convictions in the one-party state accused of waging a crackdown on critics Hanoi(APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 02nd Feb, 2018 ) :A doctor in Vietnam has been sentenced to four years in jail for "anti-state propaganda", state media reported, as part of a fresh wave of convictions in the one-party state accused of waging a crackdown on critics. Bloggers, activists and lawyers are routinely jailed in communist Vietnam, where a hardline leadership in place since 2016 is accused of tightening its grip on dissidents. At least 24 activists were convicted last year, with another 28 arrested, according to Human Rights Watch, making 2017 one of the worst years for activists in the country. The latest to be jailed is Ho Van Hai, 54, a doctor who was arrested in November 2016 over a series of blog posts criticising the government. He was sentenced to four years in prison after a one-day trial in Ho Chi Minh City on Thursday, state-controlled VNExpress reported. "Of the 75 articles posted online and stored in Hai's computer, the authorities identified 36 articles that violated the regulation on management, provision and use of Internet services and information on the internet," according to the VnExpress report. Hai is also accused of calling for public protests against Taiwanese steel giant Formosa, which dumped toxic waste into the ocean killing tonnes of fish along Vietnam's central coast in 2016. The disaster hit livelihoods hard and sparked rare nationwide protests. Hai is the fourth person jailed in Vietnam this week, after three men were convicted Wednesday also under Article 88 of the criminal code -- anti-state propaganda, which rights groups say is vaguely worded and used to curb dissent. Last month, four Buddhist activists were jailed on the same charge for flying the flag of the defeated southern regime loathed by the ruling communists. The UN Human Rights Office for Southeast Asia called for Hai's release after his arrest, criticising Article 88, which runs "contrary to international human rights standards and should be repealed", said the office's acting representative Laurent Meillan in November 2016. Jason Haddigan is a reformed gambler and the author of How and Why I Conned the Bookies: Lessons from a Loser for Gamblers the World Over. His addiction led to him scamming bookmakers across England and Scotland. He gambled in Las Vegas and for a time Mexico, winning and losing sometimes breath-taking amounts. But he lost it all and ended up in prison, banned from most betting shops nationwide. He now advises politicians, professionals and reformers as well as encouraging youngsters to steer clear of temptation. He is currently involved in the campaign to restrict the scope of fixed odds betting terminals (FOBTs). Dont Take the Road I Did! By Jason Haddigan After 18 months of emotional stress, writing my book, getting it published, etc, I finally know what its like to have peace of mind. Twenty tons of concrete have been lifted from each shoulder, my mind is clear, and my day-to-day tasks have become so easy to manage. Im still gamble-free, and Im a hundred per cent sure that will always be the case. I am never ever going back to prison again. Two years ago, I was sitting at a roulette table in Las Vegas, watching a ball spin around a wheel, and probably losing. Zoom forward to the present and I have just texted leading politicians who are trying to change the law to protect on-line gamblers and set a limit on the stakes for fixed odds betting terminals (FOBTs). And 48 hours before that, I was in London for the same reason; and before that a Member of Parliament travelled on a train for five hours to my home town to meet me. We met at my local coffee shop and chatted for hours. A month later, someone else important drove down to see me and we hit it off straight away. I told him my entire life story during our long meeting. He told me that he too once had a major gambling addiction, got himself into 20k ($30k) of debt, was hooked on FOBTs and thought about taking his own life many times. Thats the reason we clicked. The gambling addiction can get hold of anyone. Sometimes I have to pinch myself, to see if this is all a dream. Im now actually campaigning, Im travelling to London and having lunch in Japanese restaurants, having my picture taken with well-known people and hoping for a film deal. I believe in a lot of sayings, but there is one that I really do find false, and thats A leopard cant change his spots. Because I have. All the conning, cheating, lying, and the evil gambling has left my soul. I am a changed man, and Im actually starting to like myself. The person I was for many, many years wasnt nice at all. I was a gambler and a con man and I survived by deceit. But as I say, Ive been reborn, Im a changed man. I will continue to campaign until these vile, nasty, evil machines and over-blown and constantly misleading advertising for gambling sites gets reduced. And after that I will then campaign about all the other things, the bright lights and the false promise, that entice the vulnerable to gamble. In between campaigning, I will also start on my next book. Ive already got the title of it in my head, and Im sure Bryan (my delightful publisher) will as ever want me to tone it down just a little! Leaving on a serious note, I am so happy to be involved with these campaigns. It is overwhelming the support I am getting. Deep down, Ive always been a bit of an emotional chap, and the messages I receive (daily) from my Twitter fans and others, for example Jason, thank you so much, if it wasnt for you, Id still be gambling do get me a bit tear-jerky. And then theres the amazing number of five-star reviews I have had on Amazon since my book came out which seem to make it all worthwhile. Everyone tells me they cant put it down. Just remember, if your gambling addiction is getting out of control, dont keep it to yourself, tell someone, get help. Do not take the road I did! Oh, and do read my book Join the race to the pot of goldcake! Freeds Bakery, the featured bakery on Food Networks hit show Vegas Cakes, will offer guests a chance to get lucky this St. Patricks Day with a contest for the chance to win a Rainbow Pot of Gold Cake, available for the holiday on Saturday, March 17 (Pictured: Freeds Bakery Rainbow Pot of Gold Cake). Guests who purchase an Irish Cupcake may find one filled with gold dragees beginning Saturday, March 10. Those who find the gold infused cupcakes will receive a complimentary Rainbow Pot of Gold Cake. The colorful creation will be made of vanilla, rainbow-layered cake and filled with Bavarian cream, chocolate gold coins and gold dragees. The seven-inch St. Patricks Day dessert will be available for purchase on Thursday, March 15 through Saturday, March 17 and priced at $64.95. The Irish Cupcakes will be chocolate cupcakes filled with Baileys Irish Cream mousse and topped with festive sprinkles, priced at $2.85 each, or $30 per dozen. Cupcakes will be available Saturday, March 10 through Saturday, March 17. President Uhuru Kenyatta has directed immediate repossession of all grabbed National Youth Service (NYS) land. The President said part of the plan to ensure employment, housing, and food security is to ensure that the land stolen from NYS reverts back to the youth. We must ensure that we recover all the land that was owned by NYS and taken by people in various parts of the country, said President Kenyatta, adding, That land can be put to use to train those amongst you desirous to move into agriculture. The President was speaking at the NYS Textile and Garment Institute in Ruaraka when he launched the NYS Tuko Tayari (We are Ready) campaign on Thursday. The campaign is aimed at imparting the youth with skills, which will make them productive in the economy in line with the Presidents Big Four Agenda. President Kenyattas Big Four agenda include food security, affordable housing, manufacturing and affordable healthcare. Once recovered, the NYS land will also be used to deliver the Housing pledge. We will use part of the land that we will recover, to build affordable houses and the youth who work to deliver Food Security and the manufacturing promise, should be the first to benefit. Our youth should be able to own their own houses The land will also be used to expand training opportunities for the youth The President further said land in Tana River would be handed over to the NYS so that it can be put to use for commercial agricultural activities. He also said the government would reclaim and buy other parcels of land on which to build affordable houses. We will ensure that you are given that opportunity to use the skills you have acquired from this institution, said the President. The President at the same time directed that security agencies uniforms be made at the National Youth Service garment factory in Ruaraka, Nairobi. He said the move would enable the young people graduating from the service get employment when they complete their course at the institute. These facilities, which were built many years ago and have been lying idle have now been revamped and put to use. Many of your colleagues who have graduated before you are seeking and finding gainful employment in this facility, said President Kenyatta. The Head of State said the youth are the countrys greatest asset that will eliminate tribalism, adding that they will be facilitated to achieve their goals. He assured the youth of his support and thanked them for the great service they offer to the nation. The NYS Textile and Garment Institute employs its graduates and has so far made more than 200,000 uniforms for the youth in the service and Kenya Defence Forces. Youth Development Principal Secretary Lillian Mbogo-Omollo, said the youth are at the centre of the Presidents Big Four Agenda. NYS Director-General Richard Ndubai thanked President Kenyatta for touring and inspecting the facility. He said the NYS is well equipped for its role in training and imparting skills on the youth. -By PSCU A Cambodian court Thursday rejected a plea for bail by detained opposition leader Kem Sokha, following his arrest last year on charges of seeking to overthrow the government. Kem Sokha, head of the now dissolved Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), was arrested Sept. 3 amid a crackdown on critics of authoritarian Prime Minister Hun Sen. Rights groups have criticized the crackdown as Cambodia prepares to hold two elections this year. The CNRPs dissolution and the jailing of Kem Sokha have removed the biggest challenge Hun Sen may have faced at the polls, the groups say. A Senate election is set for Feb 25, and a general election is due in July. Health concerns The court decided to uphold the lower courts decision not to release Kem Sokha on bail, Touch Tharith, a spokesman for the Appeal Court, told Reuters. He declined to say why the application was rejected. Lawyers for Kem Sokha, who sought bail on the grounds that he suffers from high blood pressure and diabetes, said judges cited security concerns as a reason for the rejection. I am disappointed that the court didnt consider these illnesses ... and continued to detain him, Chuong Chu Ngy, a lawyer for Kem Sokha, told reporters. Lawyers for Kem Sokha said he appeared in court Thursday. No date has been set for the trial. Dozens of Kem Sokhas supporters gathered outside the court and his 92-year-old mother was seen weeping. Observers denied access Observers from the Australian, Swedish and United States embassies and the U.N. human rights office were denied access to the hearing. The CNRP was dissolved by Cambodias Supreme Court in November at the request of the government. Hun Sen has accused Kem Sokha of getting help from the United States to overthrow the government. The U.S. embassy has rejected any suggestion of interference in politics. In a speech on Thursday Hun Sen said nobody could topple him. Nobody can topple Hun Sen, except Hun Sen, he said, adding that any group that tried to remove him from power would be met with deadly force. The Cambodian government on Friday approved a legal amendment that will see insults to the monarchy punishable by up to five years in prison. The new lese-majeste rules will draw comparisons with neighboring Thailand, where an offense against the monarchy can bring up to 15 years in jail. Phay Siphan, a government spokesman, said offenders could also receive a fine of more than $15,000 in total. He added that the amendment was made in response to the rise of attackers affecting our entire monarchy, adding that Cambodia was following the example of other constitutional monarchies like Britain and Thailand. He said the amendments would be sent to the ruling Cambodian Peoples Party-controlled parliament next week for approval. Oum Daravuth, a spokesman for the palace, declined to comment. Am Sam Ath, a senior investigator with local rights group Licadho, said he supported the idea of drafting the amendment, but criticized the process, which had not included public consultation. In the democratically-ruled countries, any proposed legislation or legal amendment is always made with public consultation to receive input from relevant experts or stakeholders to ensure effective implementation and to reduce controversy, he said. Cambodias former opposition leader, Kem Sokha, appeared in court for the first time on Thursday in a contentious treason case that has polarized political opinion. The court denied bail to the ex-president of the now-defunct Cambodia National Rescue Party after his lawyers claimed that he had fallen ill and needed treatment. The hearing was held behind closed doors with only Sokhas legal team allowed to attend. Meng Sopheary, a lawyer for the defense, said after the session that Sokha had pleaded innocent to the charges and requested bail on medical grounds, which the court had denied, claiming he would commit further offenses if released and prejudice proceedings. We think this is not correct. First, there was no offense. My client did not cause chaos or crime. He has his own job, responsibilities, and family, and he guarantees he will attend court whenever he is summoned, Sopheary said. The Thursday hearing was the first time Sokha had appeared in court since he was arrested five months ago and charged with treason for allegedly conspiring with a foreign power to overthrow Prime Minister Hun Sen. Following Sokhas arrest in November, the government took the CNRP to the Supreme Court, which ordered the party be dissolved. Officials declined to comment on why Sokha had been brought from prison to attend Thursdays hearing despite the authorities previously claiming his attendance at proceedings would be a security risk. Soeung Senkarona, a legal officer with local human rights group Adhoc, said denying Sokha bail was politically motivated, because he posed no flight risk. He should be considered for release. The public has already concluded that there is a political agenda behind this, he said. A US court has ruled in favor of US and Thai seafood companies in a complaint by Cambodian laborers. The decision is a setback for the victims and rights advocates who had high hopes for a favorable resolution to the case. The District Court in Central California ruled that there was not sufficient evidence to show that US-based Rubicon Resources and Wales & Co. Universe Ltd., and Thai companies Phathana Seafood and S.S Frozen Food had benefited from human trafficking and forced labor or even had any knowledge of such practices in their supply chains. In a ruling on January 4, Judge John F. Walter decided that the complainants take nothing by way of their complaint, and that the final judgment shall be entered in favor of defendants Phatthana, SSF, Rubicon, and Wales. Plaintiffs have failed to demonstrate that Rubicon or Wales knew or should have known that human trafficking existed at Phatthanas Songkla factory, Judge Walter ruled. Keo Ratha, a victim of alleged forced labor and one of the seven complainants, expressed his deep regret at the decision. Im disappointed because we thought that the US court would find justice for us, Ratha told VOA Khmer last week. But when the court dismissed our complaint I was speechless. This is their law. Keo Ratha and six other victims Seam Kosal and his wife Bun Sophea, Yem Ban and his wife, Nol Nakry, Sok Sang, and Phan Sophea filed a lawsuit on June 15, 2016, against all four seafood manufacturers, accusing them of human trafficking, involuntary servitude, and forced labor. The complaint was filed under the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA), which allows victims to file a complaint against a US company if it is involved in or benefitted from human trafficking activity, even though it takes place outside the United States. Rubicon Resources and Wales are American companies. Phatthana Seafood Co. Ltd and S.S. Frozen Food are Thai seafood companies and have a shrimp factory in Songkhla province in southern Thailand. Phatthana supplied shrimp products to Rubicon Resources for sale to retailers in the United States, including Walmart. Wales is a quality inspector for Rubicon Resources. The seven victims were lured by a local recruitment agency to work at Phatthana and S.S. Frozen Food between 2010 and 2012. The victims loaned money to fund their travel and remain in debt as a result. They have complained of health problems due to difficult working conditions and poor living conditions. We are obviously disappointed in the courts decision, Agnieszka Fryszman, a lawyer for the complainants, wrote in an email. Fryszman explained that the defendants declined to seek summary judgment on the trafficking claims of the majority of the plaintiffs, which meant that they conceded that there was sufficient evidence of peonage, forced labor and human trafficking to proceed to trial. We believe the courts decision that the claims could not be heard in the United States is wrong on the law, she said. In order to more effectively combat human trafficking in global supply chains, the United States enacted and expanded the Trafficking Victims Protection Act to permit victims to bring suits in U.S. district courts and to ensure accountability over the entire trafficking chain. As a result, the TVPRA expressly imposes liability on those who financially benefit from trafficking, forced labor, or peonage in overseas supply chains, Fryszman said. We believe this case falls squarely within the statutes protections. Labor rights activist Dy Thehoya of the Center for Alliance of Labor and Human Rights said this is a case in point where victims are not familiar with the court systems and need support from the authorities. They are simply ordinary fisherpeople so they have difficulties in reaching out to the legal system, Thehoya said. The Cambodian and US governments should help them to ensure that justice is served. VOA reached out to the defendants attorney at Sheppard, Mullin, Richer & Hampton, but did not receive a response. In defense documents, the team argued that the US-based companies, Rubicon and Wales, never received any benefits from forced labor while the plaintiffs worked at Phatthana's factory in Songkhla province. The defense team argued that Patthana was not involved in human trafficking because the company did not directly recruit workers and had only legal duties to assist in filing for a work permit for them. The victims decided to enter Thailand illegally without a passport, which prevented them from traveling freely in Thailand or changing jobs for fear of arrest by Thai authorities. These consequences cannot be blamed on Phatthana, said the lawyers statement. The victims have appealed the case but have little hope their appeal will be heard. Its hard to hope for a victory because we dont know if the Courts of Appeal will seriously consider our complaint, said Ratha. If they dismiss our case again, we are hopeless. We will be doubly victimized by this. Afghanistan's government is in advanced stages of negotiations with several U.S. companies interested in becoming involved with the country's coal industry, a first step toward wider American investment in Afghanistan's potentially lucrative industrial mining sector. The negotiations - confirmed to VOA by a senior Afghan diplomat and the owners of two consulting firms that specialize in the extractive industries, all of whom are involved in the talks - are in line with a push by President Donald Trump for greater U.S. economic involvement in Afghanistan, where the United States is entering its 17th year of war. Trump has complained the U.S. is not profiting from the conflict, leaving China to take the lead in exploring the country's natural resources. Specifically, Trump has had his eye on Afghanistan's vast supply of untapped mineral deposits, which the U.S. Geological Survey estimated in 2010 were worth as much as $1 trillion. Though coal is not among the country's most valuable natural resources, U.S. companies involved in such a deal would be well-placed to take advantage of future opportunities involving copper, gold, lithium and rare earth elements. Map: Geologic and mineral resource map of Afghanis Map: Geologic and mineral resources of Afghanistan. Click image to download full map (PDF, 26 MB) Map: Geologic and mineral resources of Afghanistan. Click image to download full map (PDF, 26 MB) For the Afghan government, which is almost completely reliant on foreign aid, the agreement would provide both a measure of self-sufficiency and a better chance of long-term U.S. commitment. "This is a way to bind the two countries long-term," said the Afghan diplomat helping negotiate the deal, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to publicly disclose the agreement. As envisioned, the Afghan government would invite companies to bring mining expertise, equipment, logistics and security to Afghanistan to help extract coal and fuel what would be the country's only large-scale, coal-fired power plant, hopefully within one to two years. Seventy percent of Afghans do not have access to reliable electricity, and the country is largely dependent on often-interrupted supplies of imported power from neighboring countries. That shortage makes domestically fueled power plants a possible game-changer, said Mohsin Amin, an Afghan energy policy analyst. "There is a huge market in almost all the provinces for electricity," he said. "Boosting the power sector would be very, very beneficial for Afghanistan." Obstacles Mining in Afghanistan faces formidable challenges. The country lacks much of the basic infrastructure needed to extract, process, and deliver minerals to global markets. It is also one of the world's most dangerous and corrupt nations. Starting with a coal mining deal is an attempt to conquer those obstacles. Since coal must be extracted in large quantities, it is more difficult for militants to loot than other more valuable resources, such as gold. It is also less vulnerable to claims by Taliban insurgents that the Afghan government is colluding with foreign invaders to plunder the country's natural wealth. "We are cautious about this argument," said the Afghan official. "That's why we have chosen coal to begin with. If you win the confidence of the people when it comes to coal, then you can move on to other resources." Coal has long been mined in Afghanistan, especially in the north and west of the country. Three to four million tons of coal, valued at $300 million to $400 million, are already extracted each year, according to a 2017 estimate by the U.S. Institute for Peace. By comparison, U.S. coal production in 2016 was about 700 million tons. But the bulk of Afghanistan's mining is off the books and illegal - overseen by warlords, politicians, or other politically connected individuals. As a result, very few taxes from the mining sector go to the cash-strapped Afghan government. "Afghanistan is not short of people digging stuff out of the ground," said Stephen Carter with Global Witness, a watchdog group that monitors natural resources exploitation. "The problem is that when the extraction does happen it doesn't benefit the government." Global Witness says it is not necessarily against a proposed coal mining deal. But it would oppose any major new contracts, especially those involving more valuable resources, until Kabul establishes a structure that would provide greater transparency in the mining sector. Since 2009, the U.S. has poured nearly $500 million into efforts to clean up the regulatory structure around Afghanistan's extractive industries, according to a 2016 report by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR). But that effort has seen "limited progress," said the report, citing concerns about incompetence and widespread corruption in the country's mining ministry. "The question is really around the transparency of the production, who the partners are, and who is benefiting," said Carter. "The stakes are very high for the Afghan people, because these are resources that you can only dig out of the ground once, and which are desperately needed for development." Security concerns Afghanistan's mining sector is also held back by conflict. Since many deposits are in Taliban-held areas, some companies have paid off insurgents for protection, according to Global Witness. Mining is the biggest source of revenue for the Taliban, after narcotics. However, unlike Afghanistan's other natural resources, companies can more easily extract coal from areas not held by the Taliban, since coal deposits are scattered throughout the country. Map: Location of coal deposits and coal mines in A Map: Location of coal deposits and coal mines in Afghanistan Map: Location of coal deposits and coal mines in Afghanistan But coal mines are still vulnerable. Last month, insurgents torched two coal trucks and took the drivers hostage in the north-central province of Samangan. It is reportedly the third time in a month the coal mine had been attacked. The Taliban in 2016 offered protection to a large, Chinese-backed copper mine (such projects improve the economy and are in the "interest of Islam," they said). But it's not certain whether the armed group would apply the same standards to an operation linked to the U.S., a country it's been at war with since 2001. It's also not clear how groups like Islamic State would respond. Security for the operation would likely be Afghan-led, but would probably also include foreign contractors, according to one Afghan official. Kabul says it has reached a preliminary agreement with at least some of the companies that would provide logistics and security for the project. U.S. coal companies are among those involved in the talks. But according to two officials involved in the negotiations, the deal hasn't been finalized and is moving slowly, in large part because of delays in the confirmation of Afghanistan's recently appointed mining minister, Nargis Nehan, who is still in an acting role. Afghanistan is also in the process of a slow-moving review of its mineral law, and has frozen nearly all contracts and bids with Western companies. A boost for US coal? But why would U.S. coal companies want to do business in a war zone? "The number one thing they'd get out of something like this is survival," says Andy Roberts, a consultant who focuses on emerging coal markets at Wood Mackenzie. Since the U.S. coal market is in a prolonged slump and fresh domestic demand is unlikely, Roberts says many companies are looking to the developing world for growth opportunities. In Afghanistan, those opportunities include not only coal, but also more valuable resources, such as lithium or rare earths. "It at least opens the door a crack toward capturing value in other commodities," he says. "They'll have in-country expertise having done this. They'll know people. They'll know the workforce. They'll understand the problems better and be better positioned." Additionally, much of the equipment used in coal surface mines - such as trucks, bulldozers, and pipes - could be used at any surface mine, he says, making it easier if the companies eventually wanted to focus on other deposits. "I see it as an important, West Virginia-led initiative," said one person involved in the negotiations. "Instead of trying to recreate coal mining jobs in West Virginia, why not export your technical expertise to other markets?" The Trump factor But any U.S. effort to extract Afghanistan's natural resources is politically tricky, not least of all because of Trump. For years Trump has lamented that other countries profit from Afghanistan's natural resources, while the U.S. spends billions fighting to secure it. "China is taking out all the minerals. And here we are fighting...and we get nothing out of it," Trump said in an interview in December 2015. (It's an overstatement to say China is taking "all" the minerals" - though Beijing in 2007 signed a $3 billion deal to lease Afghanistan's Mes Aynak copper mine, the project has been stalled over contract disagreements, instability, and the possible impact on a 5,000-year-old Buddhist archaeological site that lies directly above the copper deposit.) The ruins of an ancient temple in Mes Aynak, Logar The ruins of an ancient temple in Mes Aynak, Logar province, Afghanistan are seen in this Feb. 14, 2015 file. The copper lying beneath the ancient Buddhist ruins is one of the world's largest untapped deposits. The ruins of an ancient temple in Mes Aynak, Logar province, Afghanistan are seen in this Feb. 14, 2015 file. The copper lying beneath the ancient Buddhist ruins is one of the world's largest untapped deposits. As recently as August, Trump reportedly complained that U.S. officials haven't acted quickly enough to help American businesses acquire rights to Afghan minerals. Many critics are uncomfortable with explicitly linking decisions about U.S. military intervention to the exploitation of natural resources. Kabul, too, is sensitive to those concerns, according to Afghan officials. But the government may have more pressing worries. Amid a resurgence in Taliban attacks, Afghanistan's President Ashraf Ghani recently told "60 Minutes" that the Afghan Army wouldn't last six months without U.S. support. Though Trump's new "conditions-based" strategy essentially commits the U.S. to Afghanistan indefinitely, many in Kabul are mindful that Trump for years slammed the U.S. war there as a "complete waste." Why are we continuing to train these Afghanis who then shoot our soldiers in the back? Afghanistan is a complete waste. Time to come home! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 21, 2012 Given that dynamic, it will be imperative for both sides to make clear that U.S. companies have not gotten preferential treatment, warns Carter with Global Witness. "I can see why some people might take the view that America deserves some gratitude for what they've invested in Afghanistan," Carter says. "But mining concessions are not the proper currency for expressing that gratitude." One official involved in the talks acknowledges it will be "very, very difficult" to combat those perceptions. "I think that's a really legitimate concern, and I don't know what the answer is," said the official. The official stressed it will be important for U.S. companies to partner with local Afghans, and secure buy-in from the local community. "Otherwise, you could end up in a situation where the local population rises up and physically threatens the mining operation." However, if the project can successfully navigate the risks of corruption and conflict, backers say there are few foreign investment opportunities that could provide Afghans with as many practical, long-term benefits. "The Afghan people will get electricity from it. The Afghan government will get revenue and jobs from it. And U.S. companies will...also profit, of course," says the Afghan official. "It's a win-win situation." Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can download this video to view it offline. LONDON - Britain has made clear its desire to be part of China's so-called "One Belt One Road" initiative a cornerstone of President Xi Jinping's vision to boost Chinese investment and influence across Asia, Europe and Africa. But there are concerns about the financial and humanitarian costs of the vast infrastructure projects being undertaken. British Prime Minister Theresa May recently visited Beijing, leading a delegation of ministers and business leaders in an effort to boost trade after Britain's European Union exit. The two countries signed deals worth $12.7 billion, and May hailed a "golden era" of Sino-British relations. WATCH: Britain Buys Into China's 'One Belt' Initiative, but Washington Offers Warning Her ambassador to Beijing, Barbara Woodward, earlier outlined Britain's hopes of cooperating in China's "One Belt One Road" initiative. "The first is, we'd like to collaborate on practical projects," she said. "The second area where we'd like to collaborate with China is bringing some of our city of London financing experience. Because these projects are big projects, particularly infrastructure, they require complex funding mechanisms." Too complex, according to some. Approximately 9,500 kilometers away in Uganda, one of China's latest "One Belt One Road" projects is nearly complete. Soaring above the muddy swamp between the capital, Kampala, and its airport, the new 51-kilometer (31-mile) four-lane expressway was built by the China Communications Construction Company. Its $580 million cost was met with a loan from Beijing. Vehicles drive on the interchange of the new Chine Vehicles drive on the interchange of the new Chinese-built 51-kilometer (31-mile) four-lane expressway connecting Uganda's capital Kampala to Entebbe International Airport, in Kampala, Uganda, Jan. 29, 2018. Vehicles drive on the interchange of the new Chinese-built 51-kilometer (31-mile) four-lane expressway connecting Uganda's capital Kampala to Entebbe International Airport, in Kampala, Uganda, Jan. 29, 2018. Kampala's mayor, Erias Lukwago, says the price is too high. "Even these Chinese who are coming here from even these commercial banks we are borrowing from, Exim Banks and what not, the burden will finally come on our shoulders as Ugandans, our children and grandchildren will have to shoulder this burden which is very, very unfortunate," Lukwago said. Through the "One Belt" initiative, China has invested across Africa, Asia and the Middle East, and even into eastern Europe. However, Britain's decision to get involved should not be taken lightly, warns Barnaby Willitts-King of the Overseas Development Institute. "Particularly in fragile parts of the world where China's Belt and Road initiative is going to be running through, there are a lot of potential risks around humanitarian concerns, environmental concerns, that I think focusing on just on a trade deal might overlook," Willitts-King said. "But it's also got an advantage. The U.K. has worked and invested in a lot of these countries over the years. And it could actually provide some very practical advice to China." Washington has gone further in its criticism of China's trade and foreign policy. "China, as it does in emerging markets throughout the world, offers the appearance of an attractive path to development. But in reality, this often involves trading short-term gains for long-term dependency," U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Thursday, ahead of his trip to Latin America. Many emerging economies welcome China's investments, and the involvement of countries such as Britain. However, there are concerns that mounting debts will cause big problems further down the road. The video shows students at the so-called female morality school in northeastern China getting up at 4:30 a.m. to scrub floors and being taught not to resist if their husbands beat them. Shot with a hidden camera and posted on a popular Chinese video website, it sparked a storm of criticism of the school and highlighted complaints that the status of women is deteriorating under the rule of a Communist Party that promised them equality. In the recording, students at the Fushun Traditional Culture School were shown being told to put aside career aspirations and, in one instructors words, shut your mouths and do more housework. One group of students was shown practicing bowing to apologize to their husbands. Dont fight back when beaten. Dont talk back when scolded. And, no matter what, dont get divorced, a female teacher says in the post on Pear Video, a Beijing-based online platform for short videos. Women should just stay at the bottom level of the society and not aspire for more, another teacher says. Such schools appear to be growing in popularity, though it is unclear how many China has, according to researchers and womens rights activists. Status of women eroding Their emergence reflects the erosion in the status of women since the launch of economic reforms in the 1980s that reduced the ruling partys focus on social equality, said Feng Yuan, a prominent womens rights activist. Archaic ideas about gender equality still have a market in todays society, she said. Deng Xichan, a 21-year-old nurse, said she and her mother attended a female morality institute in the southern city of Changsha, enticed by its offer of free classes, lodging and vegetarian food. Students were taught to obey men because it would bring their children good fortune and that sex before marriage would bring bad luck, Deng said. Every evening, she was required to bow in front of a statue of Confucius and participate in group confessions, she said. Many of the students truly believed that their life was hard because they had premarital sex, or because they cheated on someone, so they would kowtow and confess, Deng said. Video comes out, school closes The Fushun school was founded in 2011 by an ex-convict who had served time for murder and was approved by local authorities as a public welfare organization, according to Chinese news reports. It charged no tuition and was supported by students donations. The school had more than 200 volunteer workers and took in as many as 40 students for each 20-day female virtue course, according to an online report by the Yangcheng Evening News, a major local newspaper. After the video came out in November, hundreds of people criticized the school on internet message boards and blogs, prompting an investigation. The school was shut down in December, according to the official Xinhua News Agency. The local education bureau concluded it violated socialist core values and called for similar programs to be investigated. The Fushun school and several others across China contacted by The Associated Press refused repeated requests for comment. FILE - Chairman Mao Zedong at general assembly of FILE - Chairman Mao Zedong at general assembly of the Chinese communist party in March 1955. FILE - Chairman Mao Zedong at general assembly of the Chinese communist party in March 1955. ?Women hold up half the sky The Communist Party came to power in 1949 promising to improve the status of women, who then-leader, Mao Zedong, famously declared hold up half the sky. By many measures, the status of women improved after the revolution. They gained access to jobs and education and, on paper at least, were legal equals in many ways. Activists say the decline in womens status that began with the economic reforms of the 1980s accelerated as the party set aside leftist politics as a unifying message for the country and instead promoted more traditional, male-dominated Confucian beliefs. The gulf between the sexes is especially pronounced at the highest levels of politics: The ruling partys Standing Committee, the inner circle of power, has never had a female member. In the next tier, a single woman sits in the larger 25-member Politburo. The state-run All-China Womens Federation rejected the activists assertions that the party has promoted male-dominated beliefs. We deplore and are dissatisfied by such a view that misrepresents reality, the group said in a faxed response to questions. It said 551 women delegates attended the partys twice-a-decade national congress last year, an increase of 30 places, making up nearly a quarter of the total. The group noted that there are women among Chinas government ministers, astronauts, scientists and entrepreneurs. Still, in a 2011 survey the federation also found womens wages were on average two-thirds lower than mens. And the share of women in the labor force dropped to 61 percent last year from 72 percent 20 years ago, according to the World Bank. FILE - Nurses show a pair of fraternal twins to th FILE - Nurses show a set of fraternal twins to their mother, bottom, after they were born in a hospital in Xi'an, Shaanxi province. FILE - Nurses show a set of fraternal twins to their mother, bottom, after they were born in a hospital in Xi'an, Shaanxi province. ?Not enough children Party leaders are worried China is producing too few children to support its aging population, said Leta Hong-Fincher, a sociologist and author of Betraying Big Brother: The Rise of Chinas Feminist Resistance, scheduled to be out later this year. The government launched a propaganda campaign referring to single, over-educated women over 30 as leftover to stigmatize women into returning home, getting married and having babies, Hong-Fincher said. The easing last year of Chinas one-child birth restriction, which now allows couples to have two children, has only put more pressure on women to raise families instead of working, Hong-Fincher said. In the more conservative countryside, women who suffer from domestic violence and sexual assault tend to blame themselves rather than speak out publicly, said Li Maizi, a womens rights activist who was detained in 2015 for handing out stickers protesting sexual harassment. Chinese leaders are trying to suppress feminist activism as a source of potential unrest, Li said, adding that even the term feminism has become politically sensitive. Chinese women's rights activist Li Maizi poses for Chinese women's rights activist Li Maizi poses for a photo in Beijing. So-called "female morality schools" where women are taught to be subservient to men have sparked a storm of criticism in China. Chinese women's rights activist Li Maizi poses for a photo in Beijing. So-called "female morality schools" where women are taught to be subservient to men have sparked a storm of criticism in China. ?What about #MeToo? The global spread of the #MeToo campaign against sexual misconduct also presents a potential challenge to Chinese authorities wary of unrest. Beihang University in Beijing fired a prestigious scholar in January following accusations of sexual misconduct by multiple women, seeming to signal the start of the movement in China. Yet Chinese censors moved quickly to scrub from social media sites a petition by Gu Huaying, a former Peking University student, calling for anti-harassment policies. Despite the heavy censorship and ever-present risk of retaliation for speaking out, petitions continue to surface online from university professors and students at campuses across China. In response, the Education Ministry has said it will establish a mechanism for addressing sexual harassment. I am very hopeful. The fact that so many students feel so strongly is an indication that China is undergoing a kind of feminist awakening, Hong-Fincher said. This is a pretty stunning example of that coming to life in a very political way and that this kind of collective action can actually produce results. CHIANG MAI, THAILAND - The thundering crash of 60 mm artillery shells pounding down on Hauy Yao village is as clear as day for Shan refugee Lung Sai Lang, recalling the Sunday morning in 2002 when he grabbed his two young children and fled through the jungle to the Thai-Myanmar border with his wife. The Burmese troops thought that we civilians wanted to support the Shan army but actually we just wanted to live in peace, recounts the 66-year-old rice farmer, who now resides at Kung Jor refugee camp in the mountainous border region. The ruling Junta forces "scorched earth" campaign displaced over 300,000 ethnic Shan civilians from 1996 onward, with a campaign of terror and abuse to destabilize community support for opposing ethnic armed forces. WATCH: Cycle of Military Violence Repeats in Myanmar Whenever we heard that the Burmese military were coming into our area, all the men disappeared while the women and the children stayed to make sure the soldiers didnt steal their property, recalled Sai Lang. When the Burmese army couldnt get the men for forced labor or porters to carry their weapons in the jungle, the soldiers forced the women to go with them on patrols and many of the women were raped, many rapes, Sai Lang explained, adding,it was used as a way of humiliating us. Critics say instilling fear in the ethnic minorities has been practiced since the military coup in 1962, but documentation of the methodology was limited due to the countrys isolation from the rest of the world. Then, in 2002, Shan Human Rights Foundation (SHRF) and the Shan Womens Action Network (SWAN) investigated and published "License to Rape," documenting 173 incidents of rape and other sexual violence involving 625 girls and women, allegedly committed by the Myanmar army in Shan state, primarily between 1996 and 2001. This atrocity is considered a very shameful action. Its used to terrorize and demoralize and humiliate the local communities and also to show that they can control the whole community, explained Shan teacher and co-founder of SWAN Charm Tong. Our documentation shows that the Burmese army clearly used rape as a systematic weapon of war and during that time most of the perpetrators went unpunished and there was no justice for the women, the 37-year-old humanitarian award winner added. Despite the report drawing international attention to the issue of sexual violence in Myanmars conflicts, the army denied all claims of any wrongdoing, conducting their own internal investigation in August 2002. Later, it was uncovered by the SHRF that the people of Central and Southern Shan State were forced by authorities to sign papers stating that no incidents of sexual violence had been committed by the army. But brutal attacks by the military have continued over the years, displacing thousands more in Shan state and other ethnic areas, largely unreported because of the remote locations. The reality is the Myanmar military has sealed itself off from any sort of accountability, with its exertion of power and its willing to use violence to back up its prerogatives, said Phil Roberston, deputy director of Human Rights Watch's Asia division. No state or national officials in the recent democratic era have been able to seriously challenge that reality. Only external pressure from the international community, threatening to take senior military commanders before an international court, has made any kind of appreciable impact on Tatmadaw attitudes, Robertson added. The allegations of the security forces practice of rape as a weapon of war continue to this day, now in Rakhine state against the ethnic Rohingya minority, where more than 650,000 people have fled the country into Bangladesh since Aug. 2017. Hundreds of women and girls have retold horrific accounts of rape and sexual abuse, but the Myanmar military has restricted access for human rights groups to access witnesses and victims in the areas where the alleged attacks have occurred. And once again, a recent military's internal probe claims that 2,817 people from 54 Rohingya villages were interviewed and findings concluded that its army did not rape or commit sexual violence against women. The fact that Aung San Suu Kyi and her government did not say a word when the Lt. General Aye Win issued his incredibly ridiculous report in November, denying all Tatmadaw atrocities in the clearance operations in Rakhine state, shows how weak national Burmese efforts have been to demand accountability, Robertson said. In fact, Aung San Suu Kyi proclaimed in 2011, Rape is used in my country as a weapon against those who only want to live in peace, who only want to assert their basic human rights, especially in the areas of the ethnic nationalities, during a speech at the Nobel Women's Initiative Conference in Montebello, Canada. However, those words have yet to be repeated in response to the mounting accounts of rape of the Rohingya women during Myanmar military operations in Rakhine. Most of these attacks and offenses the violence committed by the Burmese military in a very systematic way in different parts of ethnic areas and I think it is time that the international community to stop being silent about all of these crimes and the impunity that has been committed for over 70 years, said Charm Tong. In the meantime, humanitarian aid agencies including the International Organization of Migration have set up safe zones offering support, including psycho-social services, and physical care for Rohingya women to visit inside the refugee camps near Coxs Bazar. As the trial of two Myanmar journalists who work for Reuters entered its third hearing Feb. 1, holes in the governments case presented easy pickings for a dedicated duo of defense lawyers, who cross-examined a second police witness over five hours. Yet the fate of local reporters Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo remains in the hands of an unreformed judiciary that critics say is vulnerable to government pressure. Both face a possible 14-year prison sentence, and as expected, the judge denied their bail request Feb. 1. The two are being tried under the Official Secrets Act a British colonial-era, counterespionage law for their investigative work with Reuters, the international news wire, on military operations in Rakhine State. Following militant attacks in August, the crackdown has driven close to 700,000 Rohingya Muslims into Bangladesh. The reporters told their families they were arrested on Dec. 12 in Yangon right after meeting police for dinner, where the officers, whom they hadnt met before, handed them documents allegedly detailing security deployments in Rakhine. Soon afterwards, ruling party figure Win Htein told the press the reporters had likely been caught in a trap. The civilian government, led by Aung San Suu Kyis National League for Democracy (NLD), could in principle drop the case tomorrow, via its control of the attorney generals office, which handles criminal prosecutions, and the pardoning powers of the President. But her administration has withstood a sustained diplomatic and media campaign and explosive criticism from U.S. diplomat Bill Richardson. Reuters journalist Wa Lone, center, flashes thump Reuters journalist Wa Lone, center, flashes thumps up as he is escorted by Myanmar police to court for trial, Feb. 1, 2018, on the outskirts of Yangon, Myanmar. The trial resumes for the two Reuters journalists charged of violating state secrets. Reuters journalist Wa Lone, center, flashes thumps up as he is escorted by Myanmar police to court for trial, Feb. 1, 2018, on the outskirts of Yangon, Myanmar. The trial resumes for the two Reuters journalists charged of violating state secrets. Inconsistencies During the Feb. 1 session, police witness Major Min Thant, who claims to have commanded the team that arrested the reporters in Yangons northern Mingalardon Township, was unable or refused to answer many of the questions from defense lawyer Than Zaw Aung. When he did respond, inconsistencies emerged. The police major who professed not to have known about the reporters dinner with police told the court the reporters had been arrested at a major road junction, where police in uniform had set up a checkpoint. However, the case file recorded it elsewhere. The major explained that Kyaw Soe Oo had refused to sign a police report till the recorded location of arrest was changed to outside the restaurant they had come from. After the hearing, Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo told reporters that plainclothes officers arrested them right outside the restaurantnot at a road junction checkpoint, which, according to police major's description, was located in the opposite direction to their way home. They also claimed not to recognize Min Thant. Min Thant submitted the four documents allegedly found on Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo to the court. These contained information on police resources in northern Rakhine, the details of a Rohingya militant attack on a police base, and a report on the state of villages subject to the army and police crackdown. In response, the defense lawyer handed over old copies of Kyemon, a government-run newspaper, to the judge, to illustrate that the contents of the purportedly secret documents were already on public record. During breaks in the courtroom, Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe were able to interact with their families, friends, and reporters. Wa Lone told VOA he was trying to be optimistic about the case. We didnt do anything wrong. We shouldnt be here, he said. Than Zaw Aung, lawyer of two Reuters journalists W Than Zaw Aung, lawyer of two Reuters journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, talks to journalists after their trial, Feb. 1, 2018, outside of Yangon, Myanmar. Than Zaw Aung, lawyer of two Reuters journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, talks to journalists after their trial, Feb. 1, 2018, outside of Yangon, Myanmar. In the last court session, on Jan. 23, the defense drew attention to the unlikely speed with which the police sought and obtained authorization from the Presidents Office to investigate the reporters, as required by the law. According to the testimony of Lieutenant-Colonel Yu Naing, police commander of Yangons northern district, the permission letter citing the 1923 Official Secrets Act was prepared by 10 pm, within an hour of their arrest. Permission was granted the next day. The President Htin Kyawan Aung San Suu Kyi ally drawn from the NLDhad just left for Japan to attend a health forum, allowing Myint Swe, the former army general appointed as Vice President by the military, to authorize the investigation. The other defense lawyer Khin Maung Zaw told VOA that the inadequate responses given during police testimony made him hopeful, since they expose the weakness of the governments case. Future witnesses Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe are set to remain behind bars for many months before the judge decides their fate. Police officers Yu Naing and Min Thant, who occupied a full day each of court time, are the first out of 25 witnesses lined up by the government. Defense lawyer Khin Maung Zaw told reporters on Jan. 23 that hearing all prosecution witnesses could take three to four months, after which the defense would present 10-15 witnesses of their own. The names of two other police officerswhom the government has claimed are also being investigated under the Official Secrets Act for handing the reporters the secret documentswere found on the prosecution witness list. The defense lawyers asked the court about their case but the judge and prosecutors claimed not to know. Meanwhile, international pressure continues to mount on the case, underlining growing concern over Myanmars illiberal turn after years of relative freedom since reforms began in 2011. A Feb. 1 statement from Stephen J. Adler, Reuters president and editor-in-chief, called for the reporters prompt release, adding, We believe the court proceedings will demonstrate their innocence. The Danish Embassy in Myanmar on Thursday cited inconsistencies in the material put before the court on the earlier session and called for the immediate release of the two journalists. The Norwegian Embassy backed that call Friday, adding this is just one of several cases in Myanmar where journalists are on trial for doing their job. In New York, a spokesperson for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he is watching the case closely. The Secretary-General has expressed his concern at the erosion of the press freedom in Myanmar and he has called for the international community to do whatever it can to secure the release of the journalists and to ensure press freedom in the country, spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said. An earlier version of this story misspelled Kyaw Soe Oo. All buildings within the Nairobi central business district and its environs are required to have a fresh coat of paint, according to a new directive by the County boss. Sonko said the directive, which took effect yesterday, is part of a beautification exercise that City Hall embarked on last week. He noted there was a need to invest in transforming the city since its the hub of several multinational companies and headquarters for several world organisations. The governor said despite Nairobi being known as The Green City in the Sun, some buildings were in a dilapidated state as they have not been repainted for a long time. By not maintaining the buildings, they deny Nairobi the beauty associated with it and the Moniker, The Green City in the Sun. Nairobi is a commercial hub. We should make sure that it is beautiful and clean. All buildings should be repainted. The snowpack that's essential for California's water supply is at critically low levels again this year, raising fears of the return of a drought. On Thursday, researchers from the state's Department of Water Resources headed into the Sierra Nevada to measure water content and snow levels at the Phillips Station near Lake Tahoe. They found the snowpack stood at less than a third of its normal size for the date. A weekly report released by the U.S. Drought Monitor also shows 44 percent of the state is now considered to be in a moderate drought. That's a dramatic jump from just last week, when the figure was 13 percent. Spring and summer snowmelt of the Sierra snowpack is a crucial element to California's water supply, recharging reservoirs during the state's dry summer and early fall. While the current Sierra snowpack is worrisome, officials say, it's not yet time to sound the alarm for another California drought, thanks in part to California having its wettest water year in 122 years in 2017. California lifted a drought state of emergency less than a year ago, ending a record five-year drought. But the drought never really seemed to end in some Southern California areas, said Daniel Swain, a climate scientist with the University of California, Los Angeles. Los Angeles has received only one significant rain in nearly 12 months. A little farther north, in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties, the lack of rain and the dry vegetation were perfect fuel for a December wildfire that grew to be the largest recorded in state history. When it finally did rain, the scorched earth turned into deadly mudslides. Roughly half of the state's precipitation falls from December through February. So far, there's been little precipitation in parts of the state, and the forecast is showing little relief and calling for higher temperatures. The situation looks just as worrisome across much of the West. At the beginning of the year, the snowpack was unusually low across swaths of Colorado, Utah, New Mexico and Arizona. The European Union imposed sanctions Friday on three current and former South Sudanese officials implicated in human rights violations and obstructions of their country's peace process. Former army Chief of Staff General Paul Malong, Deputy Chief of Defense and Inspector General Malek Reuben Riak and Information Minister Michael Makuei Leuth will now be subject to sanctions by all EU member states, effective immediately. The sanctions include assets freezes and a ban on travel to EU countries. Britain's minister for Africa, Harriett Baldwin, welcomed the sanctions and pledged her country's support to ending violence in South Sudan. "It is more vital than ever that those undermining the peace process recognize the price of their actions," she said. "The UK has played a leading role in pushing for these sanctions at an EU level and it is right that we are taking tough action against those who continue to act against the interests of the South Sudanese people." The sanctions come five months after the U.S. Treasury Department took similar action against the three men. The Treasury Department said the move was "for their roles in threatening the peace, security, or stability of South Sudan." Speaking to VOA's South Sudan in Focus in December about the sanctions, Makuei said he was not frightened by the actions of the Trump administration. "The fact that I am sanctioned does not stop me from continuing to perform my duties as the minister of information and the spokesman of the government," he said. "I will continue to talk for the government [of South Sudan] and say whatever the government wants to be said. The fact that I am sanctioned I do not have much interest in going to America." FILE - South Sudan government delegates are shown FILE - South Sudan government delegates attend peace talks in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. (J. Tanza/VOA) FILE - South Sudan government delegates attend peace talks in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. (J. Tanza/VOA) The EU sanctions come ahead of a second round of talks on revitalizing a collapsed 2015 peace agreement between South Sudan's government and rebel forces. The initiative, known as the High Level Revitalization Forum, will begin on Monday in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. "We remain committed to supporting the peace process and urge South Sudan's leaders to participate in good faith to agree [to] a political solution and end the suffering of their people," Baldwin said. The conflict in Sudan Sudan, Africa's youngest country, began as a power struggle between President Salva Kiir and his deputy, former first vice president Riek Machar. The conflict has devastated the country, causing a humanitarian, political and economic crisis. More than 1.5 million people are on the brink of famine twice as many as the same time last year. More than 4 million people, comprising a third of South Sudan's population, have fled their homes, causing Africa's largest refugee crisis. Christopher Wray, director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, is one of the central figures in the furor over the release of the so-called "Nunes memo." Wray took over as FBI director after U.S. President Donald Trump abruptly fired James Comey on May 9, 2017. Two days after the firing, Trump told NBC News that he was thinking of, in his words, "this Russia thing" when he made the decision regarding Comey. Former FBI Director James Comey testifies during a FILE - Former FBI Director James Comey testifies during a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on Capitol Hill, June 8, 2017, in Washington. FILE - Former FBI Director James Comey testifies during a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on Capitol Hill, June 8, 2017, in Washington. Trump nominated Wray for the job four weeks later. Born in New York City in 1966, Wray attended prestigious private schools and earned his bachelor's and law degrees at Yale University, where he served as executive editor of the Yale Law Journal. Wray began his career with a federal judge clerkship in 1992, before going to work for an Atlanta-based private law firm. Five years after finishing his law degree, he took a government service position as assistant U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Georgia. He joined the U.S. Department of Justice in 2001 and by 2003 took charge of the department's criminal division, overseeing issues such as securities fraud, public corruption, and piracy of intellectual property. Among those he prosecuted for corruption were energy giant Enron and lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Wray was among a group of top prosecutors who threatened to resign in 2004 over the extension of illegal wiretaps conducted by the George W. Bush administration. He returned to private practice a year later. At the end of his tenure with the Department of Justice, he was given the agency's highest award for leadership and public service. While working as a litigation partner with the law firm King & Spalding from 2005 to 2017, Wray represented New Jersey Governor Chris Christie in 2014. The governor's administration was accused of illegally closing off the entrances to a bridge leading to Manhattan as part of a political revenge plot. While Christie escaped charges, several of his former aides were sentenced to prison terms. FBI Director Christopher Wray is sworn in during a FILE - FBI Director Christopher Wray is sworn in during a House Judiciary hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Dec. 7, 2017. FILE - FBI Director Christopher Wray is sworn in during a House Judiciary hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Dec. 7, 2017. Wray was tapped last year to succeed James Comey as head of the FBI. During his confirmation hearing before the U.S. Senate, Wray testified he would not bend to White House influence. He said he would resign if asked to do something immoral. When asked for his reaction to Trump's statement that the Russia investigation amount to a "witch hunt," he stated that he did not agree. The Senate confirmed Wray by a vote of 92 to 5. And when he was sworn into office in August of 2017, Trump did not attend the ceremony. Now, with the president signing off on the release of the Nunes memo, Wray is in the spotlight. The Washington Post reports he warned the White House privately not to release the memo, which has raised concern about the exposure of sensitive security information, as well as what the FBI said were serious concerns about the memo's accuracy. In an uncharacteristically confrontational statement, the FBI said Wednesday it was given "a limited opportunity to review this memo" one day before the House Intelligence Committee voted along party lines to release it. The statement continued, "We have grave concerns about material omissions of fact that fundamentally impact the memo's accuracy." President Trump has been criticizing the agency for months, saying the FBI's reputation is "in tatters" without directly criticizing Wray. It remains to be seen how fallout over the Nunes memo could affect the FBI director, less than a year into his job. "Put on a thick jacket, the 18-year-old son of Albanian immigrants instructed the 12-year-old German-Iraqi boy over the Internet on how to carry out a Christmas market attack last year in the Rhineland town of Ludwigshafen. Then go behind a hut and light and run, he advised. Fortunately, the crude nail-bomb device failed to work and the 12-year-old was arrested by police in December trying for a second time to pull off an attack, this time outside Ludwigshafens city hall. The chilling mentoring by the 18-year-old from his home in neighboring Austria was detailed last month in court papers. And now the head of Germany's domestic intelligence agency is lobbying for a repeal of laws restricting security surveillance of minors under the age of 14, arguing that the country is facing grave risks from what the German media dubs kindergarten jihadists. In a media interview midweek, Hans-Georg Maassen, head of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, warned that the Islamic State and the terror groups followers are continuing to target children in Germany online. Islamic State uses headhunters who scour the internet for children who can be approached and tries to radicalize these children, or recruit these children for terrorist attacks, he warned. Massive danger Maassen said he was alarmed also at the risks posed by returning brainwashed Islamic State women and their children, who he warned pose a massive danger to the country. He described the children of jihadist parents as ticking time bombs. An estimated 1,000 German recruits joined IS. There are children who have undergone brainwashing in the ISIS [Islamic State] areas and are radicalized to a great extent, he said. We see that children who grew up with Islamic State were brainwashed in the schools and the kindergartens of the Islamic State. They were confronted early with the ISIS ideology ... learned to fight, and were in some cases forced to participate in the abuse of prisoners, or even the killing of prisoners. Only a handful of the 290 children and toddlers who left Germany with jihadist parents or who were born in Syria or Iraq have so far returned to Germany. And some rights activists have warned that Germany should not over-react and be too quick to alter civil liberty protections, questioning whether the danger is being over-stated. YouTube screen grab from an Islamic State propa FILE - ? screen grab from an Islamic State propaganda video shows an Islamic State recruiter with two child soldiers at an unknown location. Experts warn that not enough thought is being given about what to do with so-called cubs of the caliphate both the offspring of foreign recruits as well as Syrian and Iraqi children enlisted into terror ranks. FILE - ? screen grab from an Islamic State propaganda video shows an Islamic State recruiter with two child soldiers at an unknown location. Experts warn that not enough thought is being given about what to do with so-called cubs of the caliphate both the offspring of foreign recruits as well as Syrian and Iraqi children enlisted into terror ranks. The threat posed by the radicalization of minors has become a major political issue in Germany. Three out of five radical Islamist attacks in the country in 2016 were carried out by minors. This is the second time Maassen has sounded a public alarm about child recruits he last did so in October, saying he was worried about a new generation of jihadists being raised in Germany. He urged Germans to take a very serious look at the threat, and to call police if they noticed anything suspicious. Last year, de-radicalization experts warned that Western governments were not giving enough thought about what to do with so-called cubs of the caliphate both the offspring of foreign recruits as well as Syrian and Iraqi children enlisted into the terror ranks. IS leaders made no secret of their earmarking of the young to be the generation that will conquer Baghdad, Jerusalem, Mecca and Rome, grooming youngsters to be the deadly legacy of a murderous caliphate on the brink of military defeat. As the terror groups territory shrank in the face of offensives on IS strongholds in the Levant, the militants highlighted in a series of gloating videos what they hoped would be in store for their enemies. Other countries share worries German intelligence officials aren't alone in expressing worries about the offspring of IS foreign fighters or the continuing efforts of jihadist recruiters. On Thursday, the head of Londons polices counter-terrorism command, Dean Haydon, warned of children trained by Islamic State coming back to Britain to carry out attacks. Some terror groups are training children to commit atrocities, he said as he outlined the risks posed by returnees. We need to not just understand the risk the mother poses but the risk that any child poses as well. We look at them on a case-by-case basis and they may be arrested, he told a London newspaper. Last month a 27-year-old British woman returning from Syria was arrested at Heathrow airport under terrorism laws. She had a two-year-old with her. Haydon revealed that police are DNA-testing children who have been brought to Britain by jihadist parents after being born in Syria or Iraq to establish their identity. If a mother turns up with a stateless child, born in Syria, we need to be satisfied that that child actually belongs to that mother because we have had instances of kids trying to be smuggled back into the UK but not actually belonging to that parent, he said. De-radicalization experts say child recruits can be rehabilitated but warn they are battling a prevalent attitude among Western officials that cubs of the caliphate are different from child soldiers from other wars. In an interview with VOA last year, Mia Bloom, a Canadian academic, whos co-authoring a book on jihadist child soldiers, said: It would be a terrible mistake to think that because someone was a cub for a year or two, they are lost forever - they can be saved and rehabilitated. She highlighted a de-radicalization program funded partly by the Pakistani army that has proved highly successful. U.S. President Donald Trump said Saturday a disputed Republican memo that alleges FBI investigators abused their powers in their Russia probe "totally vindicates" him, despite a contrarian view held by most Democrats. "This memo totally vindicates 'Trump' in probe," the president wrote on Twitter Saturday morning. "But the Russian Witch Hunt goes on and on. Their [sic] was no Collusion and there was no Obstruction (the word now used because, after one year of looking endlessly and finding NOTHING, collusion is dead). This is an American disgrace!" This memo totally vindicates Trump in probe. But the Russian Witch Hunt goes on and on. Their was no Collusion and there was no Obstruction (the word now used because, after one year of looking endlessly and finding NOTHING, collusion is dead). This is an American disgrace! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 3, 2018 The U.S. House Intelligence Committee released a memo to the public Friday that outlines allegations by Republican lawmakers that FBI investigators exceeded their authority in their probe of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. The release followed Trump's approval of the declassification of the memo, which was written by the committees chairman and fellow Republican Rep. Devin Nunes. A significant part of the document focuses on foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrants that permitted FBI surveillance of former Trump campaign foreign policy adviser Carter Page, a businessman with interests in Russia. WATCH: Trump and Republicans Hail Release of Classified Memo on Russia Probe There had been concerns about Page's alleged contacts with Russian intelligence agents. The memo asserts that a dossier compiled by former British spy Christopher Steele was an "essential part" of the FISA application to surveil Page, and that the FBI did not mention the Steele dossier had been funded by then-Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's campaign and the Democratic National Committee, or that Steele had previously made anti-Trump statements. Trump, the FBI and the disputed memo Speaking to reporters Friday at the White House, Trump said the contents of the memo were "terrible." "I think it's a disgrace, what's going on in this country," he said. "A lot of people should be ashamed of themselves, and much worse than that." WATCH: Trump on Republican Memo When asked by a reporter whether releasing the memo made it more likely Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein would be fired, Trump replied, "You figure that one out." Rosenstein supervises the Russia probe and named special counsel Robert Mueller to lead it. The release of the memo intensified the battle between Trump and his Republican allies in Congress on one side and Democrats and top FBI officials on the other about whether the probe into Russian interference in the presidential election was affected by political bias on the part of investigators. The FBI on Friday reissued its statement from earlier this week, saying the agency "takes seriously its obligations to the FISA Court and its compliance with procedures overseen by career professionals." The FBI noted it was given "limited opportunity" to review the document before lawmakers voted to release it. "As expressed during our initial review, we have grave concerns about material omissions of fact that fundamentally impact the memo's accuracy," the agency said. Support for the memo Nunes issued a statement Friday expressing hope that the actions of Intelligence Committee Republicans would "shine a light" on what he called "this alarming series of events." "The committee has discovered serious violations of the public trust, and the American people have a right to know when officials in crucial institutions are abusing their authority for political purposes," Nunes said. "Our intelligence and law enforcement agencies exist to defend the American people, not to be exploited to target one group on behalf of another." House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wisconsin released a statement saying the "concern outlined" in the memo is a "legitimate one." He said he supported both the release of Nunes' memo as well as a memo produced by minority Democrats on the committee. FILE - House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. FILE - House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington. FILE - House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington. "It is critical that we focus on specific actions and specific actors and not use this memo to impugn the integrity of the justice system and FBI, which continue to serve the American people with honor," Ryan said. Critics of the memo's release The Democratic members of the committee issued a statement lambasting Nunes' decision to release his memo, saying it contains "misleading allegations against the Department of Justice and Federal Bureau of Investigation [and] is a shameful effort to discredit these institutions, undermine the special counsel's ongoing investigation and undercut congressional probes." "Most destructive of all may be the announcement by Chairman Nunes that he has placed the FBI and DOJ under investigation, impugning and impairing the work of the dedicated professionals trying to keep our country safe," the statement said. Rep. Adam Schiff of Calofornia, the ranking Democr Rep. Adam Schiff of California, the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, speaks to reporters, on Capitol Hill in Washington. Rep. Adam Schiff of California, the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, speaks to reporters, on Capitol Hill in Washington. The Democratic statement accused Republicans of setting a "terrible precedent" by releasing classified information they say will do long-term damage to the intelligence community for the purpose of protecting Trump against charges in the Russia probe. Representative Adam Schiff of California, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, issued a separate statement questioning what he calls "serious mischaracterizations" in the Republican memo. "The majority suggests that the FBI failed to alert the court as to Mr. Steele's potential political motivations or the political motivations of those who hired him, but this is not accurate," Schiff wrote. "The GOP memo also claims that a Yahoo News article was used to corroborate Steele, but this is not at all why the article was referenced." FILE - Former FBI Director Robert Mueller, the spe FILE - Former FBI Director Robert Mueller, the special counsel probing Russian interference in the 2016 election, departs Capitol Hill following a closed door meeting in Washington, June 21, 2017. FILE - Former FBI Director Robert Mueller, the special counsel probing Russian interference in the 2016 election, departs Capitol Hill following a closed door meeting in Washington, June 21, 2017. Intelligence community reaction Attorney General Jeff Sessions weighed in on the memo's release Friday, saying he has "great confidence in the men and women of this Department [of Justice]. But no department is perfect." Former FBI Director James Comey, who headed the agency during the period in question, issued a blistering tweet Friday, calling the Republican memo "dishonest and misleading" and charging that it had "inexcusably exposed [a] classified investigation of an American citizen." Thats it? Dishonest and misleading memo wrecked the House intel committee, destroyed trust with Intelligence Community, damaged relationship with FISA court, and inexcusably exposed classified investigation of an American citizen. For what? DOJ & FBI must keep doing their jobs. James Comey (@Comey) February 2, 2018 ?The president of the FBI Agents Association, Thomas O'Connor, defended the rank-and-file officers and their commitment to their work. "The American people should know that they continue to be well-served by the world's pre-eminent law enforcement agency," he said in a statement. "FBI special agents have not, and will not, allow partisan politics to distract us from our solemn commitment to our mission." Trump's approval ratings Trump also promoted on Twitter Saturday the results of a new poll that shows an increase in his approval rating. "Rasmussen just announced that my approval rating jumped to 49%, a far better number than I had in winning the Election, and higher than certain sacred cows. Other Trump polls are way up also. So why does the media refuse to write this? Oh well, someday!" Rasmussen just announced that my approval rating jumped to 49%, a far better number than I had in winning the Election, and higher than certain sacred cows. Other Trump polls are way up also. So why does the media refuse to write this? Oh well, someday! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 3, 2018 The Rasmussen results show Trump has a higher approval rating than the Real Clear Politics Average, a compilation of findings from eleven national polls (including Rasmussen), of 41.9 percent. CAPITOL HILL - U.S. lawmakers are struggling to find common ground on one of the nations toughest political debates and a key issue that led to the most recent government shutdown: immigration policy. President Donald Trump told Congress it is time to take U.S. immigration policy into the 21st century during his first State of the Union address on Tuesday. But his plan to provide funding for border security and secure a path to citizenship for 1.8 million undocumented immigrants is drawing criticism from both Republicans and Democrats. The chances that Trump can bring both sides together are dwindling, and failure to do so means Congress could face another government shutdown or be forced to pass another short-term funding bill to buy more time to help the so-called Dreamers young undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children. WATCH: Another Deadline, But No Sign of an Immigration Deal Plan for Dreamers Trump rescinded the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program affecting about 800,000 Dreamers last year and gave Congress until March 5 to pass legislation to provide similar protections. The U.S. Congress is considering a short-term measure to extend government funding beyond Feb. 9, giving them more time to come up with a solution for DACA recipients. As the deadline approaches, Democrats and Republicans remain deeply divided on key issues, and both sides object to parts of the immigration framework the White House has put forth. The Trump administrations plan includes four pillars: a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers; funding for border security, including money to build portions of a wall; an end to family-based immigration and an end to the diversity visa lottery system. My duty, and the sacred duty of every elected official in this chamber, is to defend Americans, to protect their safety, their families, their communities, and their right to the American Dream. Because Americans are dreamers, too, Trump said during his nationally televised speech. Democrats pushed back in their response to Trumps address, saying they would stand by Dreamers. U.S. Rep. Joe Kennedy III (D-MA) takes the stage t U.S. Rep. Joe Kennedy III (D-MA) takes the stage to deliver the Democratic rebuttal to U.S. President Donald Trump's State of the Union address in Fall River, Massachusetts, Jan. 30, 2018. U.S. Rep. Joe Kennedy III (D-MA) takes the stage to deliver the Democratic rebuttal to U.S. President Donald Trump's State of the Union address in Fall River, Massachusetts, Jan. 30, 2018. To all the Dreamers watching tonight, let me be clear: You are a part of our story. We will fight for you. We will not walk away, Rep. Joe Kennedy said in English and in Spanish. But conservative members of Trumps own party are criticizing his proposal to provide Dreamers with a pathway to citizenship. The rule of law is not negotiable, Rep. Steve King, a Republican from Iowa, told VOA. Amnesty is a pardon for immigration law breakers coupled with a reward for the objective of their crime. King is part of a conservative group of lawmakers who stand apart from more moderate Republicans who want to see a fix for DACA recipients. Diversity visa lottery and family-based migration But it appears the Democrats greatest objection to the White House plan is over Trumps proposal to cut the diversity visa lottery and family-based immigration programs. The Trump administration argues the systems are outmoded and leave the nation vulnerable to terrorist infiltration. Democratic lawmakers argue the programs reflect American values. The United States became the strongest and most powerful nation on Earth with these immigration policies in place. And part of the reason why you allow people to petition to have their family members with them is because those family members being close to them makes it more likely that theyre going to succeed and less likely that theyre actually going to rely on the government for help. Rep. Joaquin Castro told VOA on Tuesday. Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., who announced last year Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., who announced last year he would not run for re-election in 2018, takes questions from reporters at the Capitol in Washington, Jan. 4, 2018. Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., who announced last year he would not run for re-election in 2018, takes questions from reporters at the Capitol in Washington, Jan. 4, 2018. Some moderate Republicans expressed potential for compromise. Senator Jeff Flake, a Republican from Arizona, told VOA that 1.8 million on a path to citizenship, thats a good positive. Border security is going to need to be there. If you go diversity visa, get rid of that, if you talk about chain migration, those broaden the discussion and make it more difficult to get a deal, Flake added. The wall and border security Democrats will fight their biggest battles on these fronts, not on the presidents border wall, which he once claimed would be paid for by Mexico. Mexico is not going to pay for the wall, lets be direct about that. So the taxpayers of this country are going to pay for border security and theyre going to be anxious to make sure that we spend our money wisely, Sen. Ben Cardin, a Democrat from Maryland, told VOA. Demonstrators rally in support of Deferred Action Demonstrators rally in support of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) outside the Capitol, in Washington, Jan 21, 2018. Demonstrators rally in support of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) outside the Capitol, in Washington, Jan 21, 2018. ?Negotiation obstacles Both sides are accusing the other of unpredictability. They talk a good game with DACA, but they dont produce, Trump told congressional Republicans at their annual retreat Thursday. He tweeted earlier Thursday that Democrats Resist, Blame, Complain and Obstruct, while time runs out for DACA recipients. But Democrats say Trump has proved to be an unreliable negotiator. Over and over again, we listen to what he says one night and see a tweet in the morning thats somewhat different, Cardin told VOA. But if the president lets us do our work in the United States Senate, I believe we can come up with a bipartisan proposal. NEW DELHI - India has signed a pact to build naval infrastructure in the Indian Ocean archipelago of Seychelles to counter growing Chinese influence in the region. The Indian foreign minister has also made an unusual visit to Nepal where Communist parties friendly with China are due to take power. Analysts said the two moves in the past week underline India's concerns about looming Chinese presence both in the Indian Ocean and in its immediate neighborhood. Under the agreement concluded last week with Seychelles, India would build an airstrip and a jetty for its navy on Assumption Island. The base will help firm up its presence in the Indian Ocean and extend the reach of India's navy by allowing it to rotate its ships and aircraft through the islands. "Relations with countries in the Indian Ocean Region and nurturing a climate of peace and stability are important cornerstones of India's foreign policy," Indian foreign secretary, Subramaniam Jaishankar said after sealing the pact, which was renegotiated on the basis of an earlier deal signed in 2015. India's quest for strategic bases overseas comes amid intensified worries about being encircled by an increasingly assertive China. FILE - Djibouti's President Ismail Omar Guelleh (2 FILE - Djibouti's President Ismail Omar Guelleh (2nd-L) walks with Chinese President Xi Jinping during a welcome ceremony held outside the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, Nov. 23, 2017. FILE - Djibouti's President Ismail Omar Guelleh (2nd-L) walks with Chinese President Xi Jinping during a welcome ceremony held outside the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, Nov. 23, 2017. Beijing formally opened its first overseas military base in Djibouti in East Africa last August. A greater concern, say analysts, is that Chinese assets are beginning to ring India in countries such as Bangladesh, Myanmar, Maldives and Sri Lanka that have signed on to Beijing's ambitious Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). "What we have got in our midst is a constriction of the Indian strategic maneuver space within our own geographical area," says Director of National Maritime Foundation in New Delhi, Pradeep Chauhan. "As China begins to develop bases in the Indian Ocean, there is a higher risk of this competition turning into areas of conflict." Although some of the projects under the BRI have recently been cancelled or are being renegotiated due to fears of tough financial terms, it has not allayed concerns in India, which worries that a region that needs billions of dollars in infrastructure investment will not be able to resist the lure of Chinese investments. "The real problem is of money and resources which all these countries want. There are aspirations which have gone up. Everybody wants to modernize and why not? And the Chinese are willing to offer money to them," points out Sukh Deo Muni, a South Asia expert at the Indian Institute of Defense Studies and Analyses. And the worry is that the economic presence leads to a strategic presence "because they are using infrastructure projects for strategic purposes." Chinese structures are pictured on the disputed Sp FILE - Chinese structures are pictured on the disputed Spratlys island in South China Sea, April 21, 2017. FILE - Chinese structures are pictured on the disputed Spratlys island in South China Sea, April 21, 2017. India's insecurities about Beijing's looming presence in the Indian Ocean and in its neighborhood stem from China's assertive behavior in the South China Sea, where it has conflicts with several countries such as Vietnam, Japan and Philippines. These concerns intensified after Beijing refused to accept the results of an international tribunal in 2016 over territorial claims in the South China Sea. "That undermines the entire fabric of international law," says Chauhan. The growing economies of Asia have made the Indian Ocean a hugely strategic region for countries like India and China with a bulk of their trade and crude oil imports traveling over these waters. India's concerns about Beijing's growing political clout in neighboring Nepal also prompted Indian foreign minister Sushma Swaraj to visit Kathmandu days before an alliance of Communist parties is set to takes power. The alliance, backed by China, won a landslide victory in elections held in December. Swaraj's visit on Thursday and Friday is seen as New Delhi's outreach to Nepali leader Khadga Pradad Oli who is expected to head the new government. "It [Swaraj's visit] speaks, it reflects a nervousness. That should have been done after he assumes the prime ministership," said Muni, pointing out that the visit would usually take place after the new government takes power. Relations between the two countries had hit a low point during Oli's previous stint as Nepal's prime minister in 2015. Accusing New Delhi of imposing an economic blockade on the country, he had built friendly ties with China in a bid to reduce the landlocked country's dependence on India. China has pledged about $8 billion in investments in Nepal and has promised rail links between the two countries. In the run up to the election, Oli also promised to revisit the previous government's decision to scrap a $2. 5 billion dollar contract with China for a hydroelectricity project. While India has also reached out to help small, neighboring countries like Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh develop infrastructure projects such as dams and roads, it is unable to match Chinese resources and is often accused of moving too slowly to implement the projects. Investigators in the unsolved 1981 drowning death of actress Natalie Wood have named her husband, actor Robert Wagner, as a "person of interest" in a case that stunned the nation. Wood's body was found floating off Santa Catalina Island the morning after she disappeared from a yachting party with Wagner, actor Christopher Walken and the boat's captain. All had been drinking heavily. Los Angeles County Sheriff's Lieutenant John Corina tells CBS-TV's 48 Hours, to be broadcast Saturday, "We know now that he [Wagner] was the last person to be with Natalie before she disappeared." Corina also said Wagner's story of what happened that night has shifted over the years and "his version of events just don't add up." The capitan told investigators he heard Wood and Wagner arguing that night. Wagner had written that it was he and Walken who argued and that he did not notice his wife was missing until he saw a small boat hooked onto the yacht was also gone. Investigators originally ruled Wood's death an accident, but reopened the case in 2011. The coroner has since amended Wood's death certificate to read the cause of death as "drowning and other undetermined factors." Investigators say the 87-year-old Wagner is not a suspect, but just a person of interest, meaning he may have more information that he has yet to disclose. He has always denied responsibility for his wife's death. Wood, 43 when she died, started her career as a child actress and became a Hollywood icon, starring in such classics as Rebel Without a Cause, West Side Story, The Great Race, and Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice. NEW YORK - James Ivory didnt see Call Me By Your Name with an audience until the week before he was nominated for its screenplay. He caught it at a New York theater with a good audience, he says, that applauded at the end. It was his first tangible taste of the adulation for the film he wrote, about first love in Northern Italy, since it began its celebrated run at last years Sundance Film Festival. Ive just been thinking: What is it about the film that people respond to so much? Ivory says in a recent phone interview from his upstate New York home in Claverack. And I think its a story about a happy love in a beautiful place. I think that just appeals to people. It ought to. The pure and glittering romance of Call Me By Your Name has taken on an almost escapist quality in an awards season consumed with sexual harassment revelations throughout Hollywood. But if Call Me by Your Name, about the sun-dappled relationship between 17-year-old Elio (Timothee Chalamet) and a visiting grad student (Armie Hammer), radiates with the tumultuous emotions of youth, it's also composed with the insight of age. Expected to win Ivory is 89, and should he win the Oscar for adapting Andre Aciman's 2007 novel as Ivory is widely expected to hell become the oldest Oscar winner ever. (That is, unless the 89-year-old French filmmaker Agnes Varda, born a week before Ivory, also wins at the March 4 ceremony. Her Faces Places is up for best documentary.) But regardless of the outcome, Call Me By Your Name has proven an unlikely yet altogether fitting encore for a master filmmaker whose films have already pocketed 31 Oscar nominations and six wins. For some 50 years, Ivory was half of perhaps the most long-running and illustrious independent filmmaking duo in film history. With Ismail Merchant, his partner and producer, they made up Merchant Ivory Productions, a name virtually synonymous with literate, refined period dramas. Together, with their regular screenwriter Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, they more or less wrote the book on literary adaptations with films such as Remains of the Day, Howard's End, Maurice, A Room With a View and The Golden Bowl. Though sometimes superficially seen as stuffy portraits of upper-class life, the recent and ongoing 4K restorations of their work by Cohen Media Group has only enhanced the films' intimacy of character and pristine economy of storytelling. A lot of directors don't bother to go back and look at their films, but I do, says Ivory. If I hear that a film of mine is going to be shown on a big screen somewhere and I havent seen it in a while, I make a point to get to see it. I just want to see it up on the big screen. My feelings dont usually change much about it. I happen to like all our movies. FILE - In this July 27, 1999, photo, film director FILE - In this July 27, 1999, photo, film director James Ivory, left, and producer Ismail Merchant arrive for an auction of movie memorabilia at a hotel in New York. FILE - In this July 27, 1999, photo, film director James Ivory, left, and producer Ismail Merchant arrive for an auction of movie memorabilia at a hotel in New York. 'Three-headed monster' For filmmakers known for tales about British aristocracy, they were an unusual trio: Ivory, the Oregon son of a sawmill owner; Merchant, the son of a Bombay textile dealer whose family protested the 1947 partitioning of India; and Jhabvala, a German Jew who fled Britain during World War II. Merchant called them a three-headed monster. Merchant died in 2015, Jhabvala in 2013 and Ivory's last film was 2009s The City of Your Final Destination, which he prepped with Merchant and which Jhabvala wrote from Peter Camerons novel. The losses were profound, but Ivory never wanted to retire. No! I still dont, Ivory says. In fact, Im working on a new screenplay. Maybe its absurd to imagine that I would actually get to direct it at my age. But I dont know why. Im much healthier than other people who are doing movies. And Im in great shape. Its always a matter of convincing the insurance people. They seem to think that after a certain age, youre just going to fall over or something. For the past several years, Ivory has been trying to mount a Richard II film, with a script penned by Chris Terrio (Argo, Justice League) and potentially Tom Hiddleston and Damian Lewis starring. A Shakespeare film does not grab the hearts of financiers, I can tell you, he says. Concerns over Ivorys age also fed into his experience on Call Me By Your Name. The rights to Acimans novel were acquired by Ivorys neighbors, Peter Spears and Howard Rosenman. They asked Ivory to be an executive producer, and Ivory accepted. Script takes a year After some difficulty finding a director or financing, the producers met with Luca Guadagnino, who suggested he co-direct with Ivory. Ivory again accepted but he wanted to write the screenplay. Ivory spent a year on the script but the co-directing framework was less appealing to investors. We wanted to make it with him as the director, but we were disappointed by the market, says Guadagnino. When we realized that could have been made was a teenie, teenie tiny movie in a very small amount of time, and that there was some interest in me doing it, we said, OK. He was very generous. He said, I bless this project if you do it. James is at the peak of his career, added Guadagnino. I cant explain how full of life is James. Its extraordinary. His wonderment and love of discovery. I am 46 and hes almost 90, and the energy in his body is really more than mine.'' Ivorys script, which he typed on a typewriter, begins with a description of the villa owned by Ellios family and an atmosphere of upper-middle class comfort but nothing princely, or run-down aristocratic. As is commonplace, there were changes along the way. To save money, the film was uprooted from Sicily and re-set around Guadagninos town of Crema. The films beloved final close-up which even Aciman has praised as superior to his ending was originally located not by a fire but while Elio was hanging a candle on a Christmas tree. A few issues to be settled The collaboration wasnt without issues. Ivory went to arbitration with the Writers Guild over whether Guadagnino deserved a co-writer credit. The WGA ruled he didnt. Ivory has also previously suggested disappointment that the film didnt feature more of the nudity in the script. (Both Chalamet and Hammer had contract clauses against frontal nudity.) But Ivory has walked back those comments. I think it has to do with nationalities, he says. In A Room With a View, you have three young Englishmen running around naked and laughing and whooping and jumping in the water. Its something the English dont apparently find troublesome. They like that. But you would never get three American actors to do that. Its just not in our nature, somehow, to expose ourselves like that. Its a cultural thing. Call Me By Your Name is a kind of bookend to Ivorys 1987 film Maurice, a restoration of which was released last summer. Now regarded as a landmark in gay cinema, Ivorys adaptation of E.M. Forster's posthumously published novel is about two Cambridge students (James Wilby, Hugh Grant) who fall in love in Edwardian England. Released at the height of the AIDS epidemic, it dared something groundbreaking: a happy ending. In Maurice, their love is tortured and strained by the times. But in Call Me By Your Name, any hurdles to romance are entirely interior. Its about, Ivory says, young love that doesnt know how to trust itself. Having both films in theaters a few months apart, Ivory grants, has been gratifying. It's been a really interesting year, I have to say. GENEVA - The International Organization for Migration says at least 90 migrants have drowned after their boat capsized off the coast of Libya early Friday morning. Most of the migrants are believed to have been Pakistanis. The U.N. migration agency says 10 bodies reportedly have washed up on Libyan shores - two Libyans and eight Pakistani nationals. The agency says information about this latest tragedy is still sketchy and an investigation is underway. IOM spokeswoman Olivia Headon is in Tunisia monitoring the situation. Speaking by telephone from the capital, Tunis, she told VOA the migrants apparently were making the fatal journey on an overcrowded smugglers boat. So far, there have not been any rescues except one person who was rescued by a fishing boat. That would have been typically a Libyan fisherman and two other survivors who swam to shore. I believe that the Libyan coast guard is looking for other survivors off the coast of Libya at the moment, Headon said. Libya is a major transit route for migrants trying to reach Italy. Last year, the European Union was widely criticized for making a deal with the Libyan coast guard to try to stop this traffic. Most of the migrants and refugees making the perilous Mediterranean Sea crossing to Italy are from Sub-Saharan Africa. It is unusual to have so many Pakistanis making the voyage and IOM data show their numbers are going up. Last year, IOM says 3,138 Pakistani migrants arrived in Italy by sea from Libya. They were 13th in the list of total migrant arrivals for 2017. This year, it says an estimated 240 Pakistanis reached Italy in January, making them the third highest nationality group so far. In comparison, IOM notes only nine Pakistanis arrived in Italy by sea in January last year. The agency says it is unclear what is behind the increase in Pakistani migration. Kenyans will soon be forced to drink their favorite beverages directly from the bottle. This after the government revealed that plans are underway to ban plastic straws. Ahead of the planned gazettement of the ban, Ministry of Environment Principal Secretary Charles Sunkuli has encouraged Kenyans to start training themselves to use a glass or drink juices directly from the packaged bottles. Our main goal as a ministry is to ensure that we reduce the use of plastics in the country as they are a major source of pollution, he said. The announcement comes barely after the National Environment Management Agency (Nema) announced they will ban plastic bottles by April 30. But the PS averred that plastic bottle manufacturers would simply be encouraged to develop plans to recycle the bottles. The Government has no plans whatsoever to ban the manufacture and use of plastic bottles. What we intend to ban are plastic straws, said Sunkuli. The Government also effected a ban on use, manufacture or importation of plastic bags on August 28 last year. Sunkuli said so far, the ban has had 80 percent success implementation despite a few challenges that have affected the process, among them importation of plastic bags from neighboring countries such as Uganda and Tanzania. MALE, MALDIVES - Opponents of the Maldives government clashed with police on the streets of the capital Friday as they demanded the release of imprisoned politicians whose convictions were overturned by the Supreme Court. The court late Thursday had ordered the release of politicians including ex-President Mohamed Nasheed, who lives in exile in Britain, because it found their guilty verdicts had been influenced by the government. Hundreds of people celebrated in Male by waving the countrys flag, but police dispersed the crowds using pepper spray and batons. Rocks were thrown at police and at least one injured officer was seen being carried to a hospital. The ruling could allow Nasheed, the nations first democratically elected president, to challenge President Yameen Abdul Gayoom when he seeks re-election later this year. Former Maldives President Mohamed Nasheed, center Former Maldives President Mohamed Nasheed, center, arrives to address the media in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Jan. 22, 2018. Former Maldives President Mohamed Nasheed, center, arrives to address the media in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Jan. 22, 2018. Government to 'clarify' ruling An Indian Ocean archipelago known for its luxury tourist resorts, Maldives became a multiparty democracy 10 years ago after decades of autocratic rule. But it lost much of its democratic gains after Gayoom was elected in 2013. He has maintained a tight grip on power, controlling institutions like the judiciary, police and the bureaucracy. The court also reinstated 12 lawmakers who had been ousted for switching allegiance to the opposition. When those lawmakers return, Gayooms Progressive Party of the Maldives will lose a majority in the 85-member Parliament. The government said in a statement it was trying to vet and clarify the courts ruling and will work to engage, and consult with, the Supreme Court in order to comply with the ruling in line with proper procedure and the rule of law. The opposition alliance in a statement welcomed the ruling and called for Gayooms resignation, saying the courts decision effectively ends President Yameens authoritarian rule. Nasheed had been sentenced to 13 years in prison on terrorism charges but was allowed to get medical treatment in Britain, where he received asylum. Eligible to run The ruling could lead to him becoming eligible to run in the presidential election expected to take place between August and November. In a statement last month while in neighboring Sri Lanka, Nasheed said the opposition parties were in discussion to field a common candidate if he is unable to run. President Yameen wants a coronation; not an election. We wont let that happen, he said. Gayoom had been set to run for re-election virtually unopposed with all of his opponents either jailed or exiled. Also named for release was Gayooms former deputy Ahmed Adeeb, who had been jailed on accusations of plotting to kill Gayoom. Adeeb in 2016 was sentenced to 33 years in prison for alleged corruption, possession of illegal firearms and planning to kill Gayoom by triggering a blast on his speedboat even though FBI investigators said they found no evidence of a bomb blast. PENTAGON - The U.S. has no evidence that the Syrian government recently has used deadly sarin nerve gas on its citizens but is looking into reports of its alleged use from people on the ground, U.S. Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis said Friday. Were looking for evidence of it since clearly we are dealing with the [Bashar al-]Assad regime that has used denial and deceit to hide their outlawed actions, Mattis told reporters at the Pentagon. Syria has denied using illegal chemicals. Mattis said the Syrian government has weaponized and used chlorine gas in the Syrian civil war, and that the U.S. is even more concerned about the possibility of sarin use. The colorless toxin can cause respiratory failure, leading to death. A U.N. chemical weapons expert (R) gathers evidenc FILE - A U.N. chemical weapons expert (R) gathers evidence at one of the sites of an alleged poison gas attack in the southwestern Damascus suburb of Mouadamiya, Aug. 26, 2013. FILE - A U.N. chemical weapons expert (R) gathers evidence at one of the sites of an alleged poison gas attack in the southwestern Damascus suburb of Mouadamiya, Aug. 26, 2013. The United States is suspicious, Mattis said, because in addition to the reporting on the ground, the Assad government has been caught using chemical weapons against the Syrian people before. Last April, the U.S. military fired a barrage of missiles into Syrias Shayrat Airfield in retaliation for a chemical weapons attack that killed about 100 civilians. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said at the time the U.S. had "very high confidence" that the chemical agent used in that deadly attack was sarin nerve gas. Theyd be ill-advised to go back to violating the chemical convention, Mattis said Friday, referring to the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on their Destruction. A North Korean double amputee who fled North Korea on crutches says President Donald Trump sent a warning when he spoke of human rights violations in North Korea. During Tuesday night's State of the Union address, Trump said, "No regime has oppressed its own citizens more totally or brutally than the cruel dictatorship in North Korea. ... We need only look at the depraved character of the North Korean regime to understand the nature of the nuclear threat it could pose to America and our allies." That Trump's speech recognized human rights violations in North Korea, using Ji Seong-ho as an example, "will be meaningful to the people of North Korea," Ji said. "It probably will come as a big threat to the North Korean regime." Ji, who waved a pair of wooden crutches as Trump acknowledged him, said he was "deeply moved" and "honored" to be mentioned by the president in his first State of the Union address and applauded by lawmakers. Ji Seong-ho holds up his crutches after being ackn Ji Seong-ho holds up his crutches after being acknowledged by President Donald Trump during Trump's address to a joint session of Congress on Capitol Hill in Washington, Jan. 30, 2018. Ji Seong-ho holds up his crutches after being acknowledged by President Donald Trump during Trump's address to a joint session of Congress on Capitol Hill in Washington, Jan. 30, 2018. "I was moved to tears," Ji told VOA's Korean service. "I have never felt more honored in my life." Focus on escape Trump used Ji's story to describe "the depraved character" of North Korea when he said the reclusive nation's leader, Kim Jong Un, "recklessly" pursues the development of nuclear weapons and missiles that "could very soon threaten [the U.S.] homeland." Instead of condemning North Korea as he has in past remarks and tweets, Trump highlighted Ji's escape from hopelessness and hunger. Like many North Koreans, Ji suffered in North Korea's famine of 1995-98. Triggered by a series of natural disasters and the disintegration of the country's economic policies after the collapse of the Soviet bloc eliminated key support, the famine led to as many as 3 million deaths. Many of the victims were urban residents unable to forage for sustenance. In 1996, the teenage Ji watched his body swell after he ate grass and dirt. Then, "my wish was to eat just a few ears of corn, not even a bowl of white rice. My biggest wish until I defected from North Korea was to cook an entire chicken and gorge on it," Ji told VOA in 2017. At the time, Ji "was helping my parents make a living by stealing coal off trains and selling it in the market. I got dizzy once and I ended up falling off a moving train. It ran me over." His left arm and leg were amputated in North Korea without anesthesia. Ji Seong-ho, North Korean refugee and president of FILE - Ji Seong-ho, North Korean refugee and president of Now Action and Unity for Human Rights, is pictured during a press conference on May 25, 2015, in Oslo, on the eve of the Oslo Freedom Forum. FILE - Ji Seong-ho, North Korean refugee and president of Now Action and Unity for Human Rights, is pictured during a press conference on May 25, 2015, in Oslo, on the eve of the Oslo Freedom Forum. On crutches, Ji crossed into China to find food. But upon his return, he was caught by North Korean guards, "who told me that because I am disabled I brought shame to North Korea and that someone with only one leg should stay home. That is when I lost my trust in the North Korean government," he told VOA last year. Crutches are symbols Ji fled North Korea in 2006 by crossing the Tumen River into China and making his way to Laos and Myanmar, before entering Thailand. From there, he was transported to South Korea where he received a prosthetic arm and leg. Ji kept his crutches, which he lifted up before lawmakers Tuesday night. "These crutches symbolize that I have found freedom and that I am living a new life. They are the message that I am sending to Kim Jong Un and Kim Jong Un's regime," Ji said. Today, Ji runs Seoul's Now Action and Unity for Human Rights (NAUH), an organization that helps defecting North Koreans by coordinating their journeys into South Korea while preparing for unification. According to the South Korea's Unification Ministry, 31,339 North Korean defectors entered South Korea between 1998 and 2017. As a human rights activist, Ji wants to see Trump pressure North Korea on human rights. He's concerned about China's crackdown on North Korean defectors. If given the chance to speak with Trump, Ji says, he would discuss how to stop Beijing from returning defectors to North Korea. "Although I am a disabled person, I've become someone the U.S. president recognizes. This became possible because I came out [of North Korea] to seek freedom," Ji told VOA. "I want to see the day when many people come out of North Korea to find freedom, and I want to see democracy rising up inside North Korea to overturn the regime." Christy Lee contributed to this report, which originated on VOA's Korean service. The Nunes memo is a four-page document creating a big controversy in Washington, despite few people outside Congress having read it. It has even become the subject of a rift between U.S. President Donald Trump and his FBI director, Christopher Wray. But what is in this memo that is upsetting so many people? Critics of the document say the memo seeks to discredit the FBI and the U.S. Justice Department, which are involved in the effort to uncover whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russia during the 2016 presidential race. The document was created by staff members of House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, a Republican, alleging the FBI abused its authority to conduct surveillance by seeking a court order to monitor a former Trump campaign advisor, Carter Page. FILE - House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. FILE - House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., enters the House Intelligence Committee area on Capitol Hill in Washington, Jan. 16, 2018. FILE - House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., enters the House Intelligence Committee area on Capitol Hill in Washington, Jan. 16, 2018. Reports say the memo was produced solely by Republican members of the committee without the knowledge of committee Democrats. The memo, along with a 10-page Democrat rebuttal, was released to the full House of Representatives on January 24. There is controversy over whether the document should have been released to the public. Republicans wanted to, but Democrats and other critics fear it could expose sensitive Justice Department files related to the Russia investigation. Not only could that be an immediate problem, critics say, but it could set an uncomfortable precedent that could make the FBI and DOJ (Department of Justice) reluctant to share materials with the House Intelligence Committee in the future. Adam Schiff, ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, has publicly criticized the memo as "rife with factual inaccuracies" that are "meant to give Republican House members a distorted view of the FBI." Rep. Adam Schiff, D- Calif., ranking member of the Rep. Adam Schiff, D- Calif., ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, speaks to members of the media, Jan. 29, 2018, on Capitol Hill in Washington. Rep. Adam Schiff, D- Calif., ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, speaks to members of the media, Jan. 29, 2018, on Capitol Hill in Washington. Complicating the matter, a U.S.-based nonprofit group that tracks efforts by foreign nations to interfere with democratic institutions, the Alliance for Security Democracy, reported last month that the hashtag #ReleasetheMemo was being heavily used by hundreds of pro-Russia Twitter accounts that regularly spread disinformation. That connection could support the argument that the Republican memo is meant to discredit the FBI Russia investigation. While the full House has had access to both the Republicans' and Democrats' competing papers on the subject, Democrats on the committee have drafted a 10-page rebuttal memo, but the House Intelligence Committee voted along party lines Monday to release publicly only the Republican version, rejecting Schiff's motion to release the Democratic rebuttal. This has prompted accusations that the Republicans are trying to control the conversation by releasing only what information they find advantageous. Republicans also rejected a motion giving the FBI and DOJ additional time to vet the document. The president is tasked with deciding whether the Republican memo should be released to the public or kept secret.Trump has advocated release of the memo in the past. Arguments over the memo have created new divisions in Washington, D.C. FBI Director Christopher Wray on Wednesday openly opposed release of the Nunes memo, saying he has "grave concerns" about the memo's accuracy. As of Thursday afternoon, the document remains under review at the White House. A senior administration official told The Washington Post that the president "is inclined to approve release of the memo today or tomorrow." The Nunes memo is a four-page document creating a big controversy in Washington, despite few people outside Congress having read it. It has even become the subject of a rift between U.S. President Donald Trump and his FBI director, Christopher Wray. But what is in this memo that is upsetting so many people? Critics of the document say the memo seeks to discredit the FBI and the U.S. Justice Department, which are involved in the effort to uncover whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russia during the 2016 presidential race. Carter Page, a foreign policy adviser to Donald Tr In this Nov. 2, 2017, photo, Carter Page, a foreign policy adviser to Donald Trump, speaks with reporters following a day of questions from the House Intelligence Committee, on Capitol Hill in Washington. In this Nov. 2, 2017, photo, Carter Page, a foreign policy adviser to Donald Trump, speaks with reporters following a day of questions from the House Intelligence Committee, on Capitol Hill in Washington. The document was created by staff members of House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, a Republican, alleging the FBI abused its authority to conduct surveillance by seeking a court order to monitor a former Trump campaign adviser, Carter Page. Reports say the memo was produced solely by Republican members of the committee without the knowledge of committee Democrats. The memo, along with a 10-page Democrat rebuttal, was released to the full House of Representatives on Jan. 24. There is controversy over whether the document should be released to the public. Republicans want to, but Democrats and other critics fear it could expose sensitive Justice Department files related to the Russia investigation. Not only could that be an immediate problem, critics say, but it could set an uncomfortable precedent that could make the FBI and DOJ (Department of Justice) reluctant to share materials with the House Intelligence Committee in the future. Rep. Adam Schiff, D- Calif., ranking member of the Rep. Adam Schiff, D- Calif., ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, speaks at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, Feb. 1, 2018. Rep. Adam Schiff, D- Calif., ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, speaks at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, Feb. 1, 2018. Adam Schiff, ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, has publicly criticized the memo as "rife with factual inaccuracies" that are "meant to give Republican House members a distorted view of the FBI." Complicating the matter, a U.S.-based nonprofit group that tracks efforts by foreign nations to interfere with democratic institutions, the Alliance for Security Democracy, reported last month that the hashtag #ReleasetheMemo was being heavily used by hundreds of pro-Russia Twitter accounts that regularly spread disinformation. That connection could support the argument that the Republican memo is meant to discredit the FBI Russia investigation. While the full House has had access to both the Republicans' and Democrats' competing papers on the subject, Democrats on the committee have drafted a 10-page rebuttal memo, but the House Intelligence Committee voted along party lines Monday to release publicly only the Republican version, rejecting Schiff's motion to release the Democratic rebuttal. This has prompted accusations that the Republicans are trying to control the conversation by releasing only what information they find advantageous. Republicans also rejected a motion giving the FBI and DOJ additional time to vet the document. The president is tasked with deciding whether the Republican memo should be released to the public or kept secret. Trump has advocated release of the memo in the past. FILE - FBI Director Christopher Wray speaks during FBI Director Christopher Wray speaks during the FBI National Academy graduation ceremony, Dec. 15, 2017, in Quantico, Virginia. FBI Director Christopher Wray speaks during the FBI National Academy graduation ceremony, Dec. 15, 2017, in Quantico, Virginia. Arguments over the memo have created new divisions in Washington, D.C. FBI Director Christopher Wray on Wednesday openly opposed release of the Nunes memo, saying he has "grave concerns" about the memo's accuracy. As of Thursday afternoon, the document remains under review at the White House. A senior administration official told The Washington Post that the president "is inclined to approve release of the memo today or tomorrow." WASHINGTON - Pakistan's defense minister is expressing concern about a White House statement saying the U.S. military has been given authority to eliminate militant safe havens in Pakistan. The White House statement was published deep within a late Tuesday email to the press that listed Donald Trump's foreign policy accomplishments during his first year as president. "President Trump's conditions-based South Asia Strategy provides commanders with the authority and resources needed to deny terrorists the safe haven they seek in Afghanistan and Pakistan," the White House statement read. Khurram Dastgir Khan Pakistan Defense Minister Khurram Dastgir Khan Pakistan Defense Minister Khurram Dastgir Khan In an interview with VOA's Urdu Service, Pakistani Defense Minister Khurram Dastgir Khan said he takes the statement "very seriously." "We want to make it clear to the U.S. that Pakistan is a sovereign country and its sovereignty must be respected," Kahn said. "Instead of using these words, which can be interpreted in any way, Pakistan should be consulted," he added. "Statements like this are taking us away from peace in Afghanistan." At a Thursday Pentagon press briefing, Joint Staff Director Marine Corps Lt. Gen. Kenneth McKenzie said the U.S. military doesn't "contemplate military operations inside Pakistan." "Through a variety of measures, we look to gain Pakistani cooperation and assistance as we pursue operations in Afghanistan, but no, we're not planning to conduct military operations inside Pakistan," McKenzie said. Supporters of Pakistani religious groups rally aga FILE - Supporters of Pakistani religious groups rally against U.S. President Donald Trump in Lahore, Pakistan, Jan. 2, 2018. Trump slammed Pakistan for "lies & deceit" in a New Year's Day tweet that said Islamabad had played U.S. leaders for "fools." FILE - Supporters of Pakistani religious groups rally against U.S. President Donald Trump in Lahore, Pakistan, Jan. 2, 2018. Trump slammed Pakistan for "lies & deceit" in a New Year's Day tweet that said Islamabad had played U.S. leaders for "fools." ?Relations deteriorating Pakistan-U.S. relations have deteriorated rapidly. Last month the Trump administration cut nearly all security aid to Islamabad until the country takes stronger steps to deal with terrorist networks operating in its territory. The U.S. has long accused Pakistan of allowing safe haven to terrorists who carry out deadly attacks in neighboring Afghanistan, where the U.S. is entering its 17th year of war. Pakistan denies the accusation. In a January tweet, Trump accused Pakistan of "lies and deceit" over the issue. FILE - A boy holds a banner while sitting on his f FILE - A boy holds a banner while sitting on his father's shoulder attending a rally called by Pakistan Defense Council, a coalition of Islamic parties, in Lahore, Pakistan, June 12, 2016. FILE - A boy holds a banner while sitting on his father's shoulder attending a rally called by Pakistan Defense Council, a coalition of Islamic parties, in Lahore, Pakistan, June 12, 2016. Drone strikes Reports have suggested U.S. officials are also discussing expanded drone strikes in Pakistan. Since 2004, the U.S. has carried out hundreds of such drone attacks, mostly along the Afghan border in northwest Pakistan. Those attacks had fallen off in recent years. The White House National Security Council did not immediately respond to a VOA question about whether the U.S. has changed its policy on additional military operations inside Pakistan, or whether the White House email was a misstatement. Shamila Chaudhary, director for Pakistan and Afghanistan at the National Security Council under former President Barack Obama, said the Pakistani defense minister is likely interpreting the statement correctly. "It's not a misreading. That's exactly how anyone would interpret it," Chaudhary told VOA. "This suggests they might change the rules to apprehend insurgents" across the border in Pakistan. Chaudhary said the statement is consistent with the Trump administration's overall South Asia policy. In his August speech unveiling that policy, Trump said the U.S. "must stop the resurgence of safe havens" in both Afghanistan and Pakistan. In his State of the Union address, Trump did not mention Pakistan directly. But he did say he asked Congress to pass legislation to help ensure that U.S. assistance dollars "always serve American interests, and only go to America's friends." Carla Babb at the Pentagon contributed to this article. SORAN, MARRIN SYRIA - As our white armored bus rumbles across the Turkish border into Syria, the roads become muddy as journalists snap pictures of the war-torn countryside. This bus, and the one in front of us, is packed. We are on a tour arranged by the Turkish government of the outskirts of Afrin, where their forces have been fighting Kurdish forces for nearly two weeks. The bus drivers are Syrian policemen, who currently live in refugee camps. When we arrive at our first stop, the town of Soran, a rally is already under way. It is in support of the battle, officially called "The Olive Branch Operation." WATCH: Turkish forces are on the move Hope for better future after dark past The people we meet include soldiers from the Free Syrian Army, an opposition military now allied with the Turkish forces against the Kurdish forces. They tell us they are fighting for the protection of their families and futures, and the unity of Syria. "Our goal is to delete them, as we did Islamic State militants," says Fadel Lamone, a FSA commander who farmed potatoes, olives and other vegetables before the Syrian civil war begin in 2011. Kurdish forces also fought IS with the support of the United States. But on this side of the front lines, we cannot ask Kurdish people in Afrin what they think. A quick scan of Kurdish news finds reports of civilian deaths and the general belief that the people of Afrin are under attack. Turkish supporters of their country's battle for A Turkish supporters of their country's battle for Afrin in Syria rally on Jan. 31, 2018 in Hassa, Turkey. (H.Murdock/VOA) Turkish supporters of their country's battle for Afrin in Syria rally on Jan. 31, 2018 in Hassa, Turkey. (H.Murdock/VOA) At the rally, men wrapped in flags of the FSA lead children in chants, shouting, "Turkey and Syria are one!" Other men wave Turkish flags in the background. "This battle is for our children's future," says Ghuda, a mother and local policewoman whose husband, an FSA fighter, was killed in battle. Her town is safe now, she says, but she remembers a time when it was briefly overrun by IS militants and fears Kurdish forces will attempt to expand. "We only want peace," she adds. Smoke seen over the battle for Afrin on Jan. 31, 2 Smoke seen over the battle for Afrin on Jan. 31, 2018 in Hassa, Turkey. (H.Murdock/VOA) Smoke seen over the battle for Afrin on Jan. 31, 2018 in Hassa, Turkey. (H.Murdock/VOA) On the other side On Wednesday, Turkish supporters on the other side of the border said they have similar goals. They don't want Kurdish forces, whom they say are part of a terrorist organization that has killed tens of thousands of people in decades of attacks, so close to their borders. "They are killing our children, we don't want this blood anymore," said Mustafa Karslioglu, at a pro-government demonstration on a hillside overlooking the mountains around Afrin. Earlier that day in Reyhanli, Turkey, four bombs had been lobbed over the border from Syria, killing at least one teenage girl. At the demonstration, supporters blamed the U.S. for much of their trouble, saying U.S. arms and training has made their foes stronger and more of a threat. If the battle moves on to Manbij, Syria, farther east, Turkey will be fighting directly with U.S.-supported Kurdish fighters. U.S. troops are currently stationed in Manbij, as well. Syrian soldiers and families rally in Soran, Syria Syrian soldiers and families rally in Soran, Syria on Feb. 1, 2018. (H.Murdock/VOA) Syrian soldiers and families rally in Soran, Syria on Feb. 1, 2018. (H.Murdock/VOA) The road back to Turkey But at the rally in Soran, locals say they are not interested in the shaky alliance between Turkey and the U.S. "That's a political question between nations," says Omar al-Wesi, a Syrian police commander. "Before Turkey came into this area, we were in crisis. Now our population is booming, with new schools and hospitals." Press officials soon gather the two busloads of journalists, and we pile back in with our cameras poised. On some roads, we can travel no more than 16 kph (10 mph) and many reporters eventually drift off to sleep. About an hour later, we are hoping to be heading to the hills that over look the battles. But a press officer in a flak jacket boards the bus and tells us it is too dangerous right now, so we will stop in a nearby village. A few minutes later, presenters and cameramen jump out of the buses and race up to what appears to be a raised strip of land. Behind them are two mountainsides. Our drivers tell us one hill is occupied by PKK fighters, Kurdish militants designated by both Turkey and the U.S. as terrorists. The other had been captured a week ago by Turkish forces, with the help of the FSA. The Kurdish fighters who are battling the IS jihadists in Syria are regarded by the United States as its most reliable partners there. But to Turkey, a NATO ally of the United States, these Kurds are an extension of the PKK. About 20 minutes later, we hurry back into the bus, taking our final glimpses at the embattled country before heading back into Turkey. On a bus tour with Turkish officials in northern On a bus tour with Turkish officials in northern Syria on Feb. 1, 2018, some journalists get a taste of the mood on one side of the battle for Afrin. (H.Murdock/VOA) On a bus tour with Turkish officials in northern Syria on Feb. 1, 2018, some journalists get a taste of the mood on one side of the battle for Afrin. (H.Murdock/VOA) ? JAKARTA, INDONESIA - Just a month after Indonesias Constitutional Court rejected a petition to ban gay and extramarital sex, the countrys parliament seems poised to pass a sweeping set of revisions to the nations criminal code that would criminalize extramarital and gay sex. Civil society and activists are extremely concerned. But at least one legislator has told reporters that all 25 members of a working committee have agreed to all the proposed revisions. An online petition started this week calls on Parliament to remove the articles criminalizing zina (adultery) has received more than 26,000 signatures to date. There are concerns that the bylaws will increase raids and vigilantism, overcrowd prisons, and further persecute Indonesias LGBT community. Sundry restrictions The two sections that have most alarmed activists are Article 484 and Article 496, which suggest five years in prison for extramarital sex and imprisonment for same-sex relations with a minor. Article 496 also criminalizes same-sex relations between adults if there is violence or threat of violence, breaching public morality, publications containing pornography, according to Andreas Harsono, a senior Indonesia researcher with Human Rights Watch who translated the proposed revisions. He says the latter is so broadly phrased that essentially all gay sex would become illegal. The proposed revisions also include clauses that would penalize unauthorized personnel for sharing information on contraception and abortion, as well as punish those who insult general authority or state institutions for defamation, according to Jakarta-based activist Kate Walton. THREAD. So, let%27s talk about the draft revised Criminal Code (RKUHP). 1/ Kate Walton (@waltonkate) January 29, 2018 The revised code would also make it much more difficult for rape victims to obtain justice, according to Naila Rizqi Zakiah, a public defender at Jakartas Community Legal Aid Institute. Rape cases are [already] the most underreported cases in Indonesia, and probably all around the world, Zakiah said. This criminal code revision will make it even harder for women to prove rape allegations. Basically, if a womans rape accusation fails in court and her rapist claims they had consensual sex, then they could be prosecuted for extramarital sex the rape victim would be considered an adulterer. Tunggal Pawestri, a feminist activist in Jakarta who helped launch the petition against the revised Criminal Code, said the best outcome would be if Parliament postponed all discussion until after the 2019 election. She said she is in touch with several parliament members and will forward comments from the petition to legislators. If they cant stop [the discussion], at least they could delete all the articles that have the potential to criminalize women, children, indigenous people, and marginalized groups, she said. Garuda Indonesia flight attendants arrive at Term Garuda Indonesia flight attendants arrive at Terminal 3 Ultimate on the first day of its operations for domestic flights at Soekarno-Hatta Airport in Jakarta, Indonesia, Aug. 9, 2016. Female Muslim flight attendants now will have to wear headscarves on flights to Aceh. Garuda Indonesia flight attendants arrive at Terminal 3 Ultimate on the first day of its operations for domestic flights at Soekarno-Hatta Airport in Jakarta, Indonesia, Aug. 9, 2016. Female Muslim flight attendants now will have to wear headscarves on flights to Aceh. ?Islamization on the rise Indonesia is officially a multireligious state and has long avoided explicit sharia (Islamic law) in its federal laws, although sharia-inspired local bylaws have been on the rise across the archipelago. If the proposed criminal code revisions pass, it would be a major victory for the countrys Islamic parties, who will have set the national legal discourse. This would widen the gap between the two de facto legal systems in Indonesia, code law and Islamic law, Harsono said. Sharia-inspired laws are overall bad for development, as they impose a large economic burden. Areas with sharia have slower growth so the economy will be affected science and knowledge will be affected, and, taken to the extremes, they will prevent women from working. Not to mention the resource drain on Indonesian prisons. The Islamic parties are really using this issue as their marketing going into the political years, this year and next year, Bivitri Susantri, a constitutional law expert, told AP News. The only thing we can do is to push the government, the president, to stop this, she said. Because if we see how the political parties, both the secular ones and the Islamic ones discuss this, I think this draft law will be passed as it is now. All major parties are eager to broadcast their moral and Islamic credentials in advance of regional elections in 2018 and the presidential election in 2019. Thus, critics say, even President Jokowi, the person with the most power to intervene in the parliaments process, has little incentive to do so. JUBA, SOUTH SUDAN - South Sudan's warring parties are preparing for a second round of talks next week, aimed at revitalizing a 2015 peace deal between the government and rebel forces. The initiative, known as the High-Level Revitalization Forum, takes place February 5-16 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The talks are expected to cover security and governance structures for South Sudan, the world's newest country. Ahead of the discussions, an umbrella group of more than 20 civil society activists is calling on all parties to order their forces to adhere to a Cessation of Hostilities agreement signed in December in the first phase of the initiative. The South Sudan Civil Society Forum wants those involved to release all political prisoners, prisoners of war, and child soldiers and issue directives to field commanders to "cease all hostilities and refrain from any unauthorized movement of forces." Rajab Mohandis, executive director of the South Sudanese Network for Democracy and Elections, or SSuNDE, said South Sudanese were disappointed to see the agreement being violated by the warring parties just days after it was signed. But he said progress has been made in recent days. "We have been monitoring the implementation of the cessation of hostilities closer, " he told VOA's South Sudan in Focus program. "In the past one week, the country has been largely silent and that is positive and the citizens should remain hopeful." FILE - An opposition fighter walks with his weapon An opposition fighter walks with his weapon on which is tied a red ribbon, signifying danger as a warning to government forces and a willingness to shed blood, according to an opposition spokesman, in Akobo town, one of the last rebel-held strongholds in An opposition fighter walks with his weapon on which is tied a red ribbon, signifying danger as a warning to government forces and a willingness to shed blood, according to an opposition spokesman, in Akobo town, one of the last rebel-held strongholds in Mohandis said civil society activists are urging the parties to do more to ensure that their forces strictly abide by the terms of the agreement and hold to account individuals who violate the cease-fire. The activists are also calling on the government to retract recent comments declaring that non-governmental organizations need not report violations. "When there is fighting in any part of this country, we don't take permission from them to run away from the violence," said Mohandis. "We also do not need permission to speak on these issues as long as we have credible information." South Sudan Cabinet Affairs Minister Marti Elia Lomuro recently warned NGOs against reporting cease-fire violations. Mohandis countered that NGOs should not be restricted because they are contributing to efforts to restore peace. He said civil society activists are helping the voiceless who cannot come to the table in Addis Ababa. The activists say the High Level Revitalization Forum risks joining the long list of failed peace processes in South Sudan's history if the parties simply replicate past models, most of which focused on power sharing. Mohandis said the South Sudan Civil Society Forum developed principles to ensure that decisions about governance and security arrangements will serve the interests of the nation's people. "Decision making processes and institutions should be representative of the South Sudanese public," he added. "There should be integrity and good faith by the parties. This process should be geared toward nation-building and national identity that will unify the people of South Sudan." Mohandis said as the warring parties return to the negotiating table in Addis, South Sudanese must take ownership of the political process and ensure that all efforts contribute to lasting peace. "To the mediators, we want to remind them that the people of South Sudan do not want to continue in war again; the ordinary citizens, who are bearing the cost of this violence," he said. "And so the role of the mediators should be to help the parties to the conflict reach an agreement." The forum is being organized by regional trade bloc IGAD, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development. New refugee arrivals from South Sudan wait to regi New refugee arrivals from South Sudan wait to register at the Imvempi reception center in Arua district, Uganda, Jan. 30, 2018. (H. Athumani/VOA) New refugee arrivals from South Sudan wait to register at the Imvempi reception center in Arua district, Uganda, Jan. 30, 2018. (H. Athumani/VOA) South Sudan's civil war has displaced some 4 million people and created a humanitarian crisis. The internal conflict began in 2013 as a power struggle between President Salva Kiir and his deputy, former first vice president Riek Machar. The war has driven 2 million people from the country and left more than a million others a step away from famine, according to the United Nations. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has warned countries of the IGAD bloc against taking sides in South Sudan's internal affairs. United States Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said in Mexico on Friday that immigrants bring "enormous value" to the U.S., but added the U.S. government lacks "good discipline" in regulating who enters the country to live. After meeting in Mexico City with Mexican Foreign Secretary Luis Videgaray and Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland, Tillerson told reporters the U.S. has put "many mechanisms in place" over the years to control immigration, but has "never gone back to clean this up." "Let's make sure we have systems in place where we understand who's coming into the country," Tillerson said. He said immigration in the U.S. has "gotten out of normal order," which is why President Donald Trump is pushing Congress to "fix these defects that have risen over the years." Mexico US Tillerson Canada's Minister of Foreign Affairs Chrystia Freeland, from left, Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray, and U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, pose for a group photo at the end of their joint press conference in Mexico City, Feb. 2, 2018. Canada's Minister of Foreign Affairs Chrystia Freeland, from left, Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray, and U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, pose for a group photo at the end of their joint press conference in Mexico City, Feb. 2, 2018. The Mexican government has repeatedly expressed opposition to Trump's proposals to curb illegal immigration and have Mexico pay for a reinforced border wall. Differences over the issue did not preclude Videgaray from praising the U.S. He said the Mexican government's relationship with the Trump administration is "closer" than it was former President Barack Obama's administration. Videgaray acknowledged the two countries "do have some differences" but said "we are working closely and we are about results." Tillerson later held a closed-door meeting with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto during a time when relations have also been strained by U.S. threats to pull out of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). NAFTA, which Trump alleges costs American jobs, was discussed at the trilateral meeting, along with energy development and drug interdiction. Tillerson's visit to Mexico is the first stop on a six-day trip through Latin America that will also take him to Argentina, Peru and Colombia, with a final stop in Jamaica on February 7. U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is on a six- U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is on a six-day trip to Latin and South America. U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is on a six-day trip to Latin and South America. Before embarking on his trip, Tillerson delivered a speech Thursday at his alma mater, University of Texas at Austin, during which he warned that China and Russia are assuming "alarming" roles in Latin America and urged regional powers to work with the U.S. instead. "Latin America doesn't need new imperial powers that seek only to benefit their own people," Tillerson said. "China, as it does in emerging markets throughout the world, offers the appearance of an attractive path to development, but in reality this often involves trading short-term gains for long-term dependency.'' He also derided Russia for selling weaponry to unfriendly, authoritarian governments in the region. After visiting Buenos Aires and the Argentine mountain resort town of Bariloche, Tillerson is scheduled to meet in Lima with Peruvian President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski on various issues, including the eighth annual Summit of the Americas, which is to be held April 13-14 in Lima, Peru. In Colombia, Tillerson plans to meet with President Juan Manuel Santos and other officials. They're expected to discuss not only Venezuela but also "the surge in coca cultivation and cocaine production, economic issues and the growing refugee population" from neighboring Venezuela, the State Department said. U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson exits his pl U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson exits his plane as he arrives in Mexico for a two-day visit, at Benito Juarez airport in Mexico City, Feb. 1, 2018. U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson exits his plane as he arrives in Mexico for a two-day visit, at Benito Juarez airport in Mexico City, Feb. 1, 2018. Tillerson is also expected to rally the region's governments in pressing democratic reforms in crisis-ridden Venezuela. Sanctions The United States will use "all its political, diplomatic and economic tools to address the situation in Venezuela," a senior State Department official said at a briefing this week on the trip. Venezuela is in its fifth year of a worsening political and economic crisis. In January, the U.S. Treasury Department added four current or former Venezuelan senior military officials to its sanctions list, accusing them of corruption and repression that have contributed to critical shortages of food and medicine and the erosion of human rights. The European Union also has imposed sanctions, and the Organization of American States' secretary general, Luis Almagro, has championed democratic reforms for Venezuela. On Thursday in Texas, Tillerson said the administration was not advocating for a "regime change" in Venezuela. He did, however, say it would be "easiest" if President Nicolas Maduro chose to leave power on his own. Maduro, who accuses the United States of leading an international effort to topple his socialist administration, announced in January that he would seek a second six-year term and called for an election by April 30. WASHINGTON / BALKH, AFGHANISTAN - Clashes between Taliban insurgents and the Islamic State (IS) militants have forcibly displaced thousands of civilians in Afghanistan's northern Jawzjan province. "Most of these families are the residents of Qosh Tipa and Darzab districts. Continued fighting has forced them to flee their homes," Halima Sadaf, a member of Jawzjan provincial council, told VOA. "The terrorists burned down a number of civilian houses to the ground," Sadaf added. Qosh Tipa and Darzab are two of the most restive districts of the province where militant groups frequently launch attacks against the Afghan government targets and at times fight each other for control of territory. Hafizullah Nodrat, another Jawzjan provincial council member, said militants prevent civilians from fleeing their homes. "Taliban and IS fighters prevented a lot of families from escaping violence and fleeing to the capital city [Shberghan]," Nodrat said. Members of the provincial council warned if government does not launch an operation to suppress the militants in the province, more civilians will suffer and potentially die in the hands of Taliban and IS militants. Meanwhile, local government officials downplay the IS and Taliban threat and reject reports that large numbers of civilians have been displaced in the province due to continued fighting. "A number of families were displaced last week due to fighting between the Taliban and IS in Darzab and Qosh Tipa, who went back to their villages," Mohammad Raza Ghafoori, spokesperson for the governor of Jawzjan province, told VOA. However, Ghafoori did not rule out the possibility of Taliban and IS militants clashing again in the area. Military offensive Ghafoori said the government intends to launch a widespread military operation in the region aimed at cracking down on militant groups that pose a threat to the security of Jawzjan and its neighboring provinces. Militants are reportedly active in neighboring Faryab and Sar-e-Pul provinces where continued clashes between rival militant groups and Afghan government forces also displaced hundreds of civilians from their homes, particularly in restive Qaysar and Ghormach districts of northern Faryab province. The displaced civilians in all three northern provinces are facing dire living conditions without access to basic services like clean water and sanitation. Hundreds of families live out in the open in tents. Aid and rights organizations have voiced concerns over the living conditions of the displaced civilians, particularly during the harsh winter season. "We are very concerned because the weather is very cold and most of the IDPs are living in inappropriate places and the aid packages being distributed to these people are not sufficient," Sayed Mohammad Sami, a member of Afghanistan's Independent Human Rights Commission, told VOA. Sami added that hundreds of children are among those displaced. National Disaster Management Authority, a government body tasked with responding to natural disasters in the country, told local media that many IDPs have received the necessary winter aid packages. However, IDPs complain of lack of transparency in the distribution process. "People in charge of distribution are distributing aid packages to whom they personally know or someone who has contacts within the organizations," Zainuddin, a resident of Qosh Tipa, told RFE/RL Afghanistan service. Government officials, however, reject the allegations and maintain that the government has been fair in its distribution of winter kits to displaced families across the country. Islamic State in North Afghanistan Initially based in southern parts of eastern Nangarhar province, IS's Khorasan branch, also known as ISIS-K, emerged in early 2015 in the mountainous areas of Afghanistan and Pakistan to cover the two states and "other nearby territories." The group has since been trying to expand and find inroads to other parts of the country, including northern Afghanistan. As the Islamic State terror group is trying to expand from its traditional enclave of eastern Afghanistan to other parts of the country, Taliban insurgents are blocking them, sparking periodic and deadly clashes between both groups. Experts believe Taliban insurgents are fighting IS militants because the Taliban wants to be the main armed opposition group fighting the Afghan government and its international allies. NAIROBI - Political tensions continue to rise in Kenya as the government defied a court order to lift a ban on three independent media organizations. Authorities also arrested a key opposition ally in the wake of Raila Odinga's self-inauguration Tuesday as the so-called "people's president." Kenya's three largest broadcasters remained off the air for a fourth day Friday despite the high court ruling the day before that the government must reverse the suspension. Authorities cut transmission for the media outlets Tuesday as they prepared live coverage of the opposition's swearing-in event. The Kenyan human rights activist behind the legal challenge, Okiya Omtata, attempted to serve the court papers to the government's Communications Authority Friday. "I was personally marked," he told VOA, "and I was not allowed past the gate. I was told that they had instruction from above not to be allowed past the gate, nor the court order to be served. So what I did is I pinned it on the wall a copy of the order, but they ripped it off." Omtata said he has no choice but to bring the matter back to the court Monday. A studio on the newsroom floor of the NTV channel A studio on the newsroom floor of the NTV channel is seen, which was shut down by the Kenyan government because of its coverage of opposition leader Raila Odinga's symbolic presidential inauguration this week, at the Nation group media building in Nairobi A studio on the newsroom floor of the NTV channel is seen, which was shut down by the Kenyan government because of its coverage of opposition leader Raila Odinga's symbolic presidential inauguration this week, at the Nation group media building in Nairobi "It now clarifies issues for me," he said. "Now I know what we are dealing with is not a failure to comprehend the law, but a deliberate move by the government to violate the Bill of Rights and the constitution of Kenya and to operate outside the consent of the law." The Communications Authority has not commented on the ban. Omtata said he was able to serve the remaining court papers addressed to the attorney general, interior minister, and minister of information, communication and technology. The ruling Jubilee administration accuses the media of failing to heed its advice not to air Tuesday' opposition swearing-in. In a statement released Wednesday, the day before the high court's ruling, Interior Minister Fred Matiang'i said the stations will remain shut throughout ongoing investigations into alleged complicity in what he called an effort to subvert the government and spark violence. In a statement Thursday, the U.S. State Department grave concern over what U.S. officials called "the government's action to shut down, intimidate, and restrict the media" and Odinga's self-inauguration. Opposition leader Raila Odinga holds a bible aloft Opposition leader Raila Odinga holds a bible aloft after swearing an oath during a mock "swearing-in" ceremony at Uhuru Park in downtown Nairobi, Kenya, Jan. 30, 2018. Opposition leader Raila Odinga holds a bible aloft after swearing an oath during a mock "swearing-in" ceremony at Uhuru Park in downtown Nairobi, Kenya, Jan. 30, 2018. Odinga has refused to accept the results of an October presidential run-off, which he boycotted. Incumbent President Uhuru Kenyatta was declared the winner. Murithi Mutiga, the International Crisis Group's Kenya researcher, says the spat between the Kenyatta administration and the media will go on. "He came to office and seems to have an axe to grind with the key element of the society including the media and civil society and that has continued and persisted," said Mutiga. "We've seen media houses being denied advertising, which is a crucial source of revenue. We've seen continued attempts to legislate against the media. So I think, I think it will continue, they will continue to be a push and pull between the administration and the media." President Kenyatta gave a televised speech at the Kenya School of Government Friday. At the end, he gestured to the journalists, saying in Swahili, "Now why don't you switch off your things, pack and go? Your work is over." U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson warned Thursday that China and Russia were assuming "alarming" roles in Latin America, and he urged regional powers to work with the United States instead. "Latin America doesn't need new imperial powers that seek only to benefit their own people," Tillerson said in a speech at his alma mater, the University of Texas in Austin, before embarking on his first multination trip to South America. U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is on a six- U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has begun a trip to Latin America. U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has begun a trip to Latin America. "China, as it does in emerging markets throughout the world, offers the appearance of an attractive path to development, but in reality this often involves trading short-term gains for long-term dependency,'' Tillerson said. He also derided Russia for selling weaponry to unfriendly, authoritarian governments in the region. In his remarks, Tillerson laid out in broad terms the Trump administration's policies toward Latin America and elsewhere in the Western Hemisphere. After the speech, Tillerson left for Mexico City to meet with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto and other senior officials. NAFTA talks The United States and Mexico have had tense relations over President Donald Trump's proposals to curb illegal immigration and have Mexico pay for a reinforced border wall. This week, the United States, Mexico and Canada also completed a sixth round of talks on renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement, which Trump often alleges has cost American jobs. After visiting Buenos Aires and the Argentine mountain resort town of Bariloche, Tillerson is scheduled to head to Lima to meet with Peruvian President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski on issues including the eighth annual Summit of the Americas, set for April 13-14 in Lima. In Colombia, Tillerson plans to meet with officials including President Juan Manuel Santos. They're expected to discuss "the surge in coca cultivation and cocaine production, economic issues and the growing refugee population" from neighboring Venezuela, the State Department said in a statement. An opposition member holds a poster that reads in An opposition member holds a poster that reads in Spanish "Venezuela is kidnapped by a corrupt government, criminals and murderers" during a protest outside of the city's morgue in Caracas, Jan. 20, 2018. An opposition member holds a poster that reads in Spanish "Venezuela is kidnapped by a corrupt government, criminals and murderers" during a protest outside of the city's morgue in Caracas, Jan. 20, 2018. During the South American part of the trip, Tillerson is expected to rally the region's governments in pressing for democratic reforms in Venezuela. The United States will use "all its political, diplomatic and economic tools to address the situation in Venezuela," a senior State Department official said at a briefing this week on the trip. Venezuela is in its fifth year of a worsening political and economic crisis. Four more sanctioned In January, the U.S. Treasury added four current or former Venezuelan senior military officials to its sanctions list, accusing them of corruption and repression that have contributed to critical shortages of food and medicine and the erosion of human rights. The European Union also has imposed sanctions, and the Organization of American States' secretary-general, Luis Almagro, has championed democratic reforms for Venezuela. On Thursday in Texas, Tillerson said the administration was not advocating for a "regime change" in Venezuela. He did, however, say it would be "easiest" if President Nicolas Maduro chose to leave power on his own. Maduro, who accuses the United States of leading an international effort to topple his socialist administration, announced in January that he would seek a second six-year term and called for an election by April 30. Tillerson will wrap up his trip with a stop in Jamaica on February 7. President Trump is accusing the leadership of Americas top law enforcement agencies of abusing their investigative authority for partisan ends. In the first of two tweets Friday, ahead of his expected approval of the release of a classified memo written by the Republican chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Devin Nunes, Trump accused the leaders of the FBI and the Justice Department of politicizing the sacred investigative process in favor of Democrats and against Republicans. The second Trump tweet suggests that top law enforcement officials took part in an effort to hide a move by the campaign of Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton to produce misleading information to persuade a judge to approve spying on the Trump campaign. The top Leadership and Investigators of the FBI and the Justice Department have politicized the sacred investigative process in favor of Democrats and against Republicans - something which would have been unthinkable just a short time ago. Rank & File are great people! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 2, 2018 You had Hillary Clinton and the Democratic Party try to hide the fact that they gave money to GPS Fusion to create a Dossier which was used by their allies in the Obama Administration to convince a Court misleadingly, by all accounts, to spy on the Trump Team. Tom Fitton, JW Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 2, 2018 White House officials say Trump plans to declassify the Nunes memo as soon as Friday. It would then likely be sent back to the House committee for possible release to the public. Trump is at odds with both the FBI and the Justice Department over whether to make the memo public. In a rare public statement this week, the FBI expressed "grave concerns about material omissions of fact that fundamentally impact the memos accuracy. Critics of the memo say it selectively uses classified intelligence to allege the Russia investigation is affected by political bias. FILE - Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Ho FILE - Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi speak at a news conference. FILE - Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi speak at a news conference. Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee have prepared their own memo, countering the Republican claims. The top Democrat on the intelligence committee, California Congressman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), told "CBS This Morning" that any move by Trump to make the document public would constitute an attack on the integrity of law enforcement agencies. Its clear from the president that this is exactly the purpose behind this cherry-picking of information that Nunes wants to release," Schiff said. "This is designed to impugn the credibility of the FBI, to undermine the investigation. George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley says he sees the FBIs concern as being more political than substantive. "Notably, the objections by the FBI have been to the memo being "inaccurate" by "omission." That does not sound like a concern over classification. It sounds like a concern over public embarrassment or criticism, Turley told VOA. It is a curious thing to see Democrats expressing outrage at the notion that the Committee would ever question the classification of material by the FBI. Agencies have long been notorious for over-classification of information and the use of classification authority to shield officials from public exposure or criticism, Turley said. FILE - Former CIA director James Woolsey testifies FILE - Former CIA director James Woolsey testifies on Capitol Hill, Aug. 16, 2004, in Washington. FILE - Former CIA director James Woolsey testifies on Capitol Hill, Aug. 16, 2004, in Washington. Former CIA Director James Woolsey, who advised the Trump campaign, said it is important that the classification system works in a straightforward fashion. But he told CNN the president has total discretion in releasing information. This whole classification system reports ultimately to one individual, the president, Woolsey said. So its entirely clear that its his right under the process to say I have decided this will not harm the United States and it should be released, or I have decided this would harm the United States so I do not wanted it released. Thats his call, he told CNN. David B. Cohen, political science professor at the University of Akron, said he sees release of the Nunes memo as part of a Republican campaign to discredit the Russia probe being carried out by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who is also a former FBI Director. Trump seems to be laying the groundwork for further firings of high-level DOJ personnel including Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and Special Counsel Robert Mueller, as well as the pardoning of key witnesses and family members, Cohen told VOA. By utilizing a sustained strategy of publicly criticizing and discrediting the upper ranks and career civil servants of the FBI and DOJ, Trump is attempting to inoculate his base and others that are sympathetic to his plight for when he fires Rosenstein, Mueller, and others, Cohen said. House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Devin N FILE - House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif. FILE - House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif. Intelligence Committee chairman Nunes called the FBI's objections to release of the memo "spurious." "The FBI is intimately familiar with material omissions' with respect to their presentations to both Congress and the courts, and they are welcome to make public, to the greatest extent possible, all the information they have on these abuses," Nunes said in a statement. Trump, while attacking top FBI and Justice Department officials, tried to differentiate between leadership and the rank and file of the investigative agencies. In on his his tweets Friday, Trump wrote Rank and file great people. TAIPEI, TAIWAN - The United States tacit acceptance of Philippine President Rodrigo Dutertes deadly campaign against illegal drugs is expected to put the worst in bilateral relations behind them and lead to renewed cooperation between the two longtime allies despite a wary China. U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State James Walsh said in a telephone news briefing Jan. 31 he was cautiously optimistic about how the Philippines is ridding itself of illegal drugs and that Washington would support the campaign as long as it was done legally. Activists believe the Duterte government has let police kill as many as 7,000 people, without trials, since taking office in June 2016. Walshs comments hint of a growing appreciation of the positive impact of the administrations anti-illegal drug campaign, the Philippine presidential website said. That exchange, following an upbeat meeting between Duterte and U.S. President Donald Trump in November, begins to push back a storm of comments that the rough-spoken Philippine leader has made against the United States largely over its criticism of the anti-drug campaign. Duterte paired his remarks with the establishment of friendly ties with U.S. Cold War rival China. You could just say that probably (the relationship) has sort of stabilized, said Jay Batongbacal, a University of the Philippines law and international maritime affairs professor. People take part in a protest against the governme FILE - People take part in a protest against the government of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte in front of the Philippine consulate in New York, Dec. 10, 2017. FILE - People take part in a protest against the government of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte in front of the Philippine consulate in New York, Dec. 10, 2017. Duterte vs. Obama After Duterte took office on popular pledges to stop sales of illegal drugs, human rights groups accused him of letting police shoot to kill suspects without trial. His approval ratings grew at home as Filipinos felt crime was easing, but the U.S. government under then President Barack Obama criticized the suspected extrajudicial killings. Washington withheld millions of dollars in funding for the Philippine National Police after pledging $32 million for Philippines law enforcement. Duterte once used profanity to describe Obama and asked the United States to leave the Philippines. The United States exercised colonial rule over the Philippines for about 50 years, and the two sides retain a series of mutual defense agreements. After domestic protests last year over the police killings of teens during drug busts, Duterte retrenched. In December, the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency took over anti-illegal drug operations, with police and others offering backup. U.S. President Donald Trump, left, and Philippine FILE - U.S. President Donald Trump, left, and Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte hold a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the 31st ASEAN Summit at the Philippine International Convention Center in Manila, Philippines. Nov. 13, 2017. FILE - U.S. President Donald Trump, left, and Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte hold a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the 31st ASEAN Summit at the Philippine International Convention Center in Manila, Philippines. Nov. 13, 2017. ?Warming trend under Trump When Duterte met Trump in Manila in November, the U.S. leader avoided criticizing the Philippine leader. Walshs comment this week adds to Trumps gesture. With the announcement, I think the U.S. government is betting on warmer ties, improved relations, on top of what they already have now, said Renato Reyes, secretary general of the Bagong Alyansang Makabaya alliance of left-wing Philippine organizations. The alliance has protested the deaths during the anti-drug campaign and worries that Trump is turning a blind eye to any continued extrajudicial killings. More U.S.-Philippine cooperation Stronger relations with the United States could restore law enforcement cooperation while protecting an economic relationship, experts say. The United States ranks among the top foreign investors in the Philippines with more than $4.58 billion in existing direct investment. Its also a source of jobs for 3.4 million overseas Filipino workers. The United States shows signs of aiming to deepen defense aid to the Philippines, which some consider pivotal to the wider U.S. military position in Asia aimed at containing the expansion of the regions strongest country China. Last month the United States announced its Operation Pacific Eagle-Philippines effort to stop terrorism on the restive southern island Mindanao, where Muslim rebel violence has left about 120,000 dead since the 1960s. Philippine troops battled one rebel group for five months last year. The U.S. Embassy in the Philippines also began a $358,000 effort this month to help 37 social welfare projects, also in Mindanao. The two sides still conduct joint naval exercises every year but have recently avoided the South China Sea where Manila and Beijing remain locked in a maritime sovereignty dispute. FILE - Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, left, FILE - Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, left, and Chinese President Xi Jinping pose for photographers on the sidelines of the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, May 15, 2017. FILE - Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, left, and Chinese President Xi Jinping pose for photographers on the sidelines of the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, May 15, 2017. ?China factor Duterte befriended Beijing in late 2016, earning $24 billion in pledges for Chinese development aid and investment in projects such as railways. Trump hopes his ties with the Philippines will stop Manila from getting any closer to China, said Eduardo Araral, associate professor, National University of Singapores school of public policy. Seventy percent of Filipinos indicated trust in the United States at the end of 2016 and 39 percent voiced the same for China, Metro Manila research institution Social Weather Stations found in a survey. What follows from the Walsh comments depends how other U.S. leaders treat the Philippines going forward, Araral said. It really depends on how the U.S. would play its cards, he said. If it plays like a bully or a condescending patron, then of course that wont click well with Duterte, so they have to have a more nuanced messaging. Duterte might not come around so fast to Washington anyway, Batongbacal said. He had resented the U.S. governments role in the Philippines even before taking office. Its not really a big change, I think, because if you compare it to, say, how he still conducts his foreign policy vis-a-vis China or even in comparison with the EU its all still basically the same as before, he said. STATE DEPARTMENT - The United States expressed grave concerns Thursday about Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga's "self-inauguration" and rejected actions that undermine Kenya's Constitution and the rule of law, while urging the government to respect freedom of expression and implement court orders calling for restoration of television broadcasts. Odinga took the oath of "president" in a mock inauguration on January 30, a symbolic move in defiance of last year's controversial election and of authorities. The government responded to Tuesday's mock inauguration by declaring the opposition movement a criminal organization and ordering the TV stations to stop broadcasting. In a statement, the State Department recognized Uhuru Kenyatta as Kenya's president-elect, while expressing deep concern about action by Kenyatta's government "to shut down, intimidate and restrict the media." "Uhuru Kenyatta was elected as president of the Republic of Kenya on October 26, 2017, in a poll that was upheld by Kenya's Supreme Court," State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said. "Grievances must be resolved through appropriate legal mechanisms," she added. In Nairobi, a Kenyan judge on Thursday ordered the government to allow the country's three largest television stations back on the air after they tried to broadcast images of the mock inauguration of Odinga. "Freedom of expression, including for members of the media, is essential to democracy and is enshrined in Kenya's Constitution," Nauert said. Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga of the Natio Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga of the National Super Alliance speaks during a news conference in Nairobi, Kenya, Feb. 1, 2018. Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga of the National Super Alliance speaks during a news conference in Nairobi, Kenya, Feb. 1, 2018. ?Kenyatta victory protested The mock ceremony was attended by tens of thousands of Odinga supporters in Nairobi to protest Kenyatta's election victory last year, an election Odinga contends was rigged. Interior Minister Fred Matiangi said Wednesday that the TV stations and some radio stations would remain shut down while the government investigated their role in what he said was an attempt to "subvert and overthrow" Kenyatta's government. On Thursday, however, High Court Judge Chacha Mwita ordered the government to restore the operations of Citizen Television, the Kenya Television Network and Nation Television News. He also ordered the government not to interfere with the stations until a case disputing their shutdown had been heard. Odinga told reporters that democracy in Kenya was "under serious attack" and called the country's ruling party "certainly mad." Kenya's Supreme Court invalidated Kenyatta's August victory when Odinga said the vote counts had been changed in Kenyatta's favor after the electoral commission's computer system was hacked. The court ordered a new election in October that Kenyatta won. Natasa Kandic, who founded a nonprofit to document human rights violations amid the breakup of the former Yugoslavia, has been nominated for the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize by two U.S. lawmakers. Senator Roger Wicker, a Mississippi Republican who is chairman of the Helsinki Commission, an independent government agency that promotes human rights, military security, and economic cooperation, and Representative Eliot Engel, a New York Democrat who is the ranking member of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, nominated Kandic, of the Belgrade-based Humanitarian Law Center. Kandic, who founded the nonprofit in 1992, has won numerous international accolades for her humanitarian work. "As members of the U.S. Congress, we helped shape the international response to the conflicts, which erupted in the Western Balkans, and we continue to support and encourage post-conflict recovery in the countries of the region," read the nomination letter, jointly drafted by the legislators and submitted to the Norway-based awards organization Wednesday. "This recognition would further the cause of peace and reconciliation in this and other troubled regions of our world," they said. FILE - Human rights activist Natasa Kandic is inte FILE - Human rights activist Natasa Kandic is interviewed by The Associated Press, in Belgrade, June 25, 2005. FILE - Human rights activist Natasa Kandic is interviewed by The Associated Press, in Belgrade, June 25, 2005. Trained as a lawyer, Kandic has been widely credited with furnishing to U.N. war crimes tribunal officials in The Hague critical evidence on Serbia's role in the 1995 Srebrenica massacre of Bosnian Muslim men and boys. Her documentation of atrocities committed by Serb military commanders throughout the 1990s led to prosecutions of Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic and his military commander, Ratko Mladic. Now in her early 70s, Kandic has continued to receive death threats, largely because of HLC engagement in Balkan peace and reconciliation campaigns. In 2017, she began advocating the launch of the Regional Commission for Truth and Reconciliation (RECOM), a fact-finding body tasked with compiling a name-by-name catalog of all people regardless of ethnicity or nationality killed, missing, imprisoned or tortured in regional conflicts since the early 1990s. Kandic told VOA she was overwhelmed and surprised by the nomination, and that the nomination process should nonetheless inspire humility among Balkan-based humanitarians. "It's good that it is just the nomination," she said in an interview with VOA's Serbian service. "Nothing has changed in this region during the past 25 years. There [is no progress], no new situation which shows that we have become a better civilized society, so I think that the nomination might be too strong." If, however, leaders of former Yugoslav countries were to sign the agreement to form RECOM at a regional summit scheduled for July, "that would be a big win for civil society in the whole region," she said. "Victims would be documented, [and] facts about the death of all 130,000 victims would be determined," she said. "We are heading toward it, but we'll see." This story originated in VOA's Serbian service. A federal judge has again blocked the Trump administration from deporting about 50 illegal Indonesian Christian immigrants who say they could face violence if sent back to Muslim-majority Indonesia. In Boston Thursday, Judge Patti Saris ruled the Indonesians need more time to make their cases. She said under U.S. immigration rules, they could be deported even before their cases are heard. "Under this Kafkaesque procedure, they would be removed back to the very country where they fear persecution and torture while awaiting a decision on whether they should be subject to removal because of their fears of persecution and torture," Saris wrote. Saris issued an injuction in November allowing them to stay. The Indonesians are living in New Hampshire. Some have been in the United States for more than 20 years. Immigration authorities have always allowed them to stay as long as they reported regularly to Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. But the officials told them in August they have to leave. It is unclear why. He spent the next seven years in Chicago, where he taught at Loyola University and worked at an interfaith organization called the Parliament of the Worlds Religions. Next, he said, I put my dog in my car and we drove down to the Shenandoah Valley, where he spent a semester at the Center for Interfaith Engagement at the Eastern Mennonite University in Virginia. I did part-time rabbinic work and then I said, You know what, Im ready to get back into the full-time rabbinate but only for the right place. I looked at the different opportunities and the two that were most appealing was one in San Francisco and one here in Napa. This was the one that felt like a much better fit. They felt the same, so here I am. Trial by fire He had been in Napa for three months when the October wildfires broke out. The U.S. State Department announced Friday it would immediately enact restrictions on arms transfers to South Sudan. Paul Sutphin, the State Departments senior adviser on Sudan and South Sudan, said the decision will restrict the flow of lethal material into South Sudan for all parties and is part of a series of steps to impose consequences on those who use violence to advance a political agenda. The restriction is enacted through the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), a set of U.S. laws that regulate the export and import of defense related articles and services. This is an action we can take with our law for people who require licenses from the United States to sell arms and material, said Sutphin. Companies and entities seeking a license to export defense materials to South Sudan will be denied under the new restrictions. This includes American manufacturers or a company that uses American parts that are controlled under the ITAR, said Sutphin. U.S. law requires companies, entities or manufacturers seeking to export controlled products to register with the Directorate of Defense Trade Controls, an office in the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs at the Department of State. The law also requires an approval of an export license for all exports of a U.S.-controlled defense article or service, according to a State Department official. The U.S. arms restriction is limited to U.S. jurisdiction, and will not directly affect weapons flows from neighboring countries. The U.N. secretary-general's special adviser for the prevention of genocide, Adama Dieng, told VOAs South Sudan in Focus this week that weapons are flowing into South Sudan through neighboring countries, including Kenya and Uganda. The State Department hopes the U.S. trade restriction will encourage others, including the African Union and the regional bloc IGAD, to take similar measures. We need to impose consequences to those parties including the government, including the main armed opposition groups who have violated their commitment to stop fighting multiple times since they signed it, said Sutphin. FILE - U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki FILE - U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley speaks at UN headquarters in New York, NY, U.S., Jan. 2, 2018. FILE - U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley speaks at UN headquarters in New York, NY, U.S., Jan. 2, 2018. United States officials under then-President Barack Obama and current President Donald Trump have argued that a United Nations led arms embargo could stem the flow of weapons into South Sudan. U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley told the U.N. Security Council last week an arms embargo could slow the violence, slow the flow of arms and ammunition, to South Sudan. A U.S.-led resolution to impose additional sanctions and an arms embargo on South Sudan failed at the U.N. Security Council in December 2016. The move was backed by seven of the 15 Security Council members, including Britain and France, but received eight abstentions, including one from Russia, whose top U.N. ambassador argued an embargo would not stabilize the country. The U.S. arms restriction comes ahead of the second phase of the IGAD-led High Level Revitalization Forum, a peace initiative that is intended to revive the 2015 peace deal. Sutphin, who will be at the talks in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, says he hopes the arms restriction will send a clear message to the warring parties, who have repeatedly violated cease-fire agreements since conflict erupted in December 2013. Issue No. 1 has to be taking the cessation of hostilities and really making it work, said Sutphin. Stopping the suffering and violence that have wracked South Sudan and have injured and killed so many people there. Seven years ago, thousands of Egyptians took to the streets in protest against the government led by President Hosni Mubarak. When Mubarak was forced out of office, and democratic elections put the countrys first civilian leader in decades in office, there was hope for lasting political change. This week, however, Egypts current president sternly warned the opposition that he wont tolerate their plans to organize a boycott of national elections, after independent candidates dropped out of the race. Now, political analysts say hope is fading. General Abdel Fattah el-Ssisi won the presidency in the 2014 election, after leading a military coup that ousted his predecessor, Mohamed Morsi - Egypt's first freely elected civilian president. Since then, critics say Sissis government has engaged in human rights violations, imprisoning journalists and members of the opposition. As long as the current regime is not willing to open up the political space, I think we are going to see a continuation of a status quo which is a high level of repression and a kind of parliamentary facade but is really only a facade, says Shadi Hamid, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington. Opposition boycott This week, several opposition groups joined in calling for a boycott of the March 26-28 election. They called it a charade, after six candidates dropped out. Sissis only opponent now is Mousa Mustapha Mousa, the leader of the Ghad political party, which earlier endorsed Sissis candidacy. Amy Hawthorne is the deputy director of research with the Project on Middle East Democracy in Washington. She says that although Sissi said he wanted a true election, he didnt really want competition. The fact that several of these would-be candidates came from the military was even more apparently threatening to him, and so using a variety of measures, and tricks and means, the Egyptian authorities have managed to either disqualify on very shaky grounds these would-be candidates, or has intimidated, threatened and pressured them, their families, their supporters, leading them to pull out, Hawthorne said. She says the effort to suppress the opposition is a waste, because many people think it likely that Sissi would win a fair election. The opposition parties say Mousa is simply running to give the impression of a fair election. Mousa has said he is running to help the country and that he is acting independently of Sissi. Other regional analysts say Sissis control of the government is complete. They say parliament has introduced laws that impede freedom of expression and criminalize civic society activities. In addition, the Egyptian judiciary has abandoned the rule of law, said Sahar Aziz, a law professor at Rutgers University in the U.S. state of New Jersey. By rule of law I mean open and fair hearings by unbiased and qualified judges, a degree of predictability and limitation of arbitrariness of government actions and a level of individual rights and freedoms in accordance with international norms, Aziz said. Tolerating Sissis government Dalia Fahmy, an associate professor of political science at Long Island University, in New York state, said the military has tightened its grip over political and social life, and the media. Under these conditions, she thinks it will be very difficult to promote democracy. From within it has to be a level of political openness, there has to be the ability for dissidents to congregate, form political parties, a level of political contestation, but more so there has to be a free and vibrant media, Fahmy said. Part of the problem, Fahmy said, is that many regional and Western governments tolerate Sissi. The international community really needs to hold the repressive regime accountable. We cant continue this signaling game that you signal one thing to the people and something else to the regime, she says. Shadi Hamid said the U.S. administration has shown little public interest in promoting Middle East democracy. Some in the administration of President Donald Trump say security for Egypt and the region is their primary concern, given the threat of attacks from Palestinian or Islamic State militants.Some advocates of U.S. policy say the administration does support human rights, although discreetly. I think that is problematic because terrorism does not fall from the sky; terrorism, extremism and political violence arise from a particular context and if there is a very repressive and closed context, that is actually a more conducive environment for extremism, Hamid said. Hawthorne said part of the problem is that many Western countries are exhausted by years of tumult in the Middle East. She also said that since dictatorships can create temporary stability, many Western governments tolerate them as they focus on short-term solutions. Ultimately, she said, repressive governments fall. We can be sure that another wave of change and popular unrest will be coming, Hawthorne said. And, she said, it is likely the international community will be unprepared. South Africa's President Jacob Zuma has provided arguments on why he should not be prosecuted for corruption, the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) said on Thursday, as pressure mounts for the scandal-plagued president to step down. Zuma, who has faced and denied numerous corruption allegations since taking office, submitted documents on Wednesday night to the NPA providing reasons why 783 counts of corruption relating to a 30 billion rand ($2 billion) arms deal arranged in the late 1990s should not be reinstated. The NPA extended the deadline to the end of January for Zuma to make his representations before deciding whether to proceed against him. South Africa's High Court reinstated the graft charges in April 2016 and the Supreme Court upheld that decision in October, rejecting an appeal by Zuma and describing the NPA's decision to set aside the charges as "irrational." Zuma has faced numerous calls to step-down with the ruling African National Congress (ANC) mounting the pressure after admitting to having discussed removing him as president before the end of his term. If you havn't done it yet,to get one of the fastest volcano news online: Look upin the world during the past 24 hours Look up earthquakes in your country, region or state! A new fissure eruption started on Iceland's Reykjanes peninsula in Mar 2021. Follow the latest news and updates on this remarkable event! Browse through feedback about our tours from customers, read what they have said about us! A selection of photos of different features: lava flows, lava fountains, lava lakes, fumaroles and more. Support us - Help us upgrade our services! Maintaining our website and our free apps does require, however, considerable time and resources. We're aiming to achieve uninterrupted service wherever an earthquake or volcano eruption unfolds, and your donations can make it happen! Every donation will be highly appreciated. Improved multilanguage support Tsunami alerts Faster responsiveness Earthquake archive from 1900 onwards Detailed quake stats Additional seismic data sources Download and Upgrade the Volcanoes & Earthquakes app to get one of the fastest seismic and volcano alerts online: Android | IOS to get one of the fastest seismic and volcano alerts online: We truly love working to bring you the latest volcano and earthquake data from around the world.We need financing to increase hard- and software capacity as well as support our editor team.If you find the information useful and would like to support our team in integrating further features, write great content, and in upgrading our soft- and hardware, please PayPal or Online credit card payment )., these features have been added recently: Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan will pay an official two-day visit to Rome on 4-5 February, during which time he will meet Pope Francis, Italian president Sergio Mattarella and Italian premier Paolo Gentiloni. More than 3,000 officers will be on duty during the Rome visit, and each of the president's routes through the city will be selected at the last minute, for security reasons. Street closures and traffic problems are expected in the city centre on both days. President Erdogan, who is reportedly staying at the Hotel Excelsior on Via Veneto, will make the first Turkish presidential trip to the Vatican in 59 years. In 2014 Pope Francis was Erdogan's guest at the presidential palace in Ankara. 8 Feb. The British School at Rome hosts The sacred home in the Italian Renaissance, a talk by Abigail Brundin, Deborah Howard and Mary Laven whose forthcoming book of the same name challenges the widespread assumption that a new secular spirit pervaded the Italian Renaissance home. Instead the scholars explore the private devotional life of Italians between 1450 and 1600, suggesting that piety was not confined to the church and the convent but was shaped to meet the demands of domestic life childbirth, marriage, infertility, sickness, accidents, poverty and death. The lecture will be in English and is scheduled from 18.00-19.30. Please enable cookies on your web browser in order to continue. The new European data protection law requires us to inform you of the following before you use our website: We use cookies and other technologies to customize your experience, perform analytics and deliver personalized advertising on our sites, apps and newsletters and across the Internet based on your interests. By clicking I agree below, you consent to the use by us and our third-party partners of cookies and data gathered from your use of our platforms. See our Privacy Policy and Third Party Partners to learn more about the use of data and your rights. You also agree to our Terms of Service. Napa Police are warning Napa residents about an online scam that is occurring locally, according to a post shared on the departments Facebook page this week. The scams are occurring through the classifieds site Craigslist, police said. For example, police said, a scammer might offer to buy an item listed for sale for more than the listed price, pay with a check or credit card and then ask for the overpayment back in cash or a cashiers check. Often, the credit card numbers are stolen and the checks are fraudulent, police said. In another scam, a local business received an Internet call asking for a large order of food for pick-up. The buyer asked to pay an extra $1,000 on their credit card and asked that the business give the food and the money to the person picking up the food, police said. Police said that residents should not respond to similar Craigslist postings and that business owners should not take similar orders over the phone. Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. This past year, the district spent nearly $5 million on upgrading technology infrastructure, according to the annual report. That included upgrading its wireless network and voice over Internet protocol for telecommunications. Every middle school student in the district has a laptop to use in the classroom the district wants the same for high school students, Sweeney said. The district made strides in supporting student health after adding wellness centers to Silverado and Redwood middle schools and changing the school lunch program so that students have healthier options, according to Mike Mansuy, director of student services. This week we served kids fish tacos, Mansuy said. Students now have vegetarian options, more produce and, he said, many of the meals are made from scratch. The days of cheese zombies are gone. This was the districts second year presenting the State of the Schools information. Elizabeth Emmett, director of communications and community engagement, said that she hopes to repeat the event every February. Our goal is to be transparent with our community about our goals, successes and challenges, and to highlight success stories and to engage with our fellow public agencies, like cities and county, Emmett said. Elected officials, school principals, the districts partner organizations as well as district staff and parents were invited to the event sponsored by ATI Architects & Engineers and the Napa Valley Education Foundation. Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. SACRAMENTO Nearly all the cities and counties in California 97.6 percent are failing to approve the housing needed to keep pace with population growth and will be subject to a new law that aims to fast-track development, according to a report released by the state Thursday. The states housing department released lists showing that more than 500 cities and counties are not on track to meet guidelines for the development of market-rate housing, affordable housing or both. Those jurisdictions will now lose the ability to reject certain types of development projects under legislation that was signed into law last fall. Only 13 cities and counties, including Napa and Sonoma counties, Foster City, Hillsborough, San Anselmo and Beverly Hills, made the grade. When 97 percent of cities are failing to meet their housing goals, the bills author, Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, said in a statement Thursday, its clear we need to change how we approach housing in California. I dont want parents to feel more fear because there was an allegation or report, Page said. The school doesnt want parents to panic, especially because no crime was committed, she said. The person in question, she added, has no criminal record. Information is always better, said a parent. Not telling us anything is wrong. Now it looks wrong, said another. We should have known more. Youre asking us to trust you, but how can we? Whether or not the alleged perpetrator was cleared or arrested, parents still have a right to know what is going on at their childrens school, Lalonde said. I think Im more mad now than before I got here, said one mother. Is my kid safe here or do I need to take him out? Im sorry this wasnt satisfying to you all, Page said. The most important thing that (parents) need to know is the safety of their kids is of utmost importance to us and if we had any reason to suspect their kids werent safe they would know about it, Elizabeth Emmett, NVUSD spokesperson, said after the meeting. If something like this happened again, we wouldnt inform them .... we would handle it in the same exact way. Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. According to legend, if the groundhog sees his shadow on Feb. 2, there will be six more weeks of winter; if not, an early spring is predicted. Of course groundhogs also known as woodchucks dont emerge at this time just to be furry weather predictors. So whats the real reason? Research into groundhog biology shows they have other priorities in early February than mingling with the people of Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. Its Groundhog Day! Groundhog Day appears to have European roots. Early February is midway between the winter solstice and the spring equinox, and throughout history this seasonal crossroads has been celebrated. The ancient Greeks and Romans observed a mid-season festival on February 5th in anticipation of spring. In the Celtic tradition, this period was celebrated as the festival of Imbolog to mark the beginning of spring. Early Christians in Europe embraced this tradition and celebrated Candlemas Day on February 2nd, to commemorate the purification of the Virgin Mary. Customarily on this day, clergy would bless candles and distribute them to the people in the dark of winter in anticipation of spring. Former Mayor Willie Brown, Breeds most important supporter, cried foul, likening it to a palace coup in his weekly newspaper column which is a bit ironic, since Brown has been the master of political ju-jitsu as mayor, as speaker of the state Assembly and as a behind-the-scenes kingmaker who handpicked both of his mayoral successors. Only in San Francisco would Brown be seen as a crypto-conservative, but he and Breed are deemed by those to their left as too cozy with much-despised real estate interests. Farrells win is an indirect boost for former state Sen. Mark Leno, a progressive favorite to become mayor, and the campaign leading up to the June election promises to be brutal. Neither Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck nor schools Superintendent Michelle King was elected, but both have been on the frontlines of the citys very tumultuous evolution from white bread America to cultural polyglot. There are no more fundamental issues for any community than how it is policed and how its children are educated and both Becks police department and Kings Los Angeles Unified School District have been buffeted by nonstop conflicts over the direction of their agencies. The California Department of Public Health is advising consumers not to eat recreationally harvested shellfish from Monterey County. According to the health department, dangerous levels of paralytic shellfish poisoning toxins have been detected in mussels from the area. The naturally occurring PSP toxins can be detrimental to human health, causing illness or even death, public health officials said. Cooking does not destroy the toxin. The warning does not extend to commercially sold clams, mussels, scallops or oysters from approved sources, according to the health department. State law permits only state-certified commercial shellfish harvesters or dealers to sell the products. Shellfish sold by those harvesters must go through frequent mandatory testing to monitor for the PSP toxins, public health officials said. PSP toxins affect the central nervous system, meaning they can produce a tingling around the mouth and fingertips within minutes to hours after eating toxic shellfish. The tingling sensation is usually followed by loss of balance, lack of muscular coordination, slurred speech and difficulty swallowing, according to public health officials. Second, despite significant disagreements on many global issues, the U.S., Russia and other nuclear-armed nations must work together on areas of existential common interest -- chief among them, reducing the risk of a nuclear error. Once fired, a nuclear ballistic missile unfortunately cannot be recalled before it reaches its target. Removing U.S. and Russian nuclear weapons from Cold War-era "prompt-launch" postures -- where they are ready to launch and hit their targets within minutes -- would eliminate "hair-triggers" and increase decision time for leaders. In doing so, Washington and Moscow would set an example for all states with nuclear weapons. Military experts in each of these countries should be mandated by their leaders to explore this and other options that would give them more time to make fateful decisions about nuclear use. Third, the U.S. and Russia should reinforce the principle -- articulated eloquently by Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev -- that a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought. Have the two largest nuclear powers already forgotten this powerful historical breakthrough that was essential to ending the Cold War? WSU Continues Conversation on Race During Black History Month February 1, 2018 OGDEN, Utah In recognition of Black History Month, Weber State Universitys Office of Diversity will host two film screenings and panel presentations that will challenge traditionally held views about American history, slavery and segregation, Feb. 13 at 9 a.m. and again at 5:30 p.m. in the Hurst Center Dumke Legacy Hall. Loki Mulholland produced the award-winning documentary The Uncomfortable Truth to unravel his own familys history of owning slaves and subsequently structuring institutions that benefitted Caucasians at the expense of people of color. A documentary producer living in Utah, Mulholland was shocked and saddened by the role his family played in fostering racism. It was especially poignant because the family history he was most aware was that of his mother, Joan Trumpauer Mulholland. During the 60s she was on the Ku Klux Klans most-wanted list for her participation in the Woolworth sit-in along with many other protests and marches. Loki decided to tell his familys story as a way of encouraging others to carefully examine their perceptions, biases and culpability in fostering institutional racial barriers. The documentary is titled The Uncomfortable Truth, because it lays bare the many ways in which racism has been fostered and preserved. Its about a starting line set so far back by the policies of white supremacy that you cant even see it, Loki explains in the film. Loki with his mother Joan and Luvaghn Brown, a civil rights activist and Freedom Rider, are traveling the country to talk about their personal experiences. Weber States events titled, Americas Role in Black History: A Town Hall Conversation about Race, are part of a series of conversations WSU began hosting in July 2016, following several police shootings, where people of color were killed. The 9 a.m. event will include a shortened screening of the documentary followed by a panel discussion. The evening event will feature the entire documentary and include a light meal and panel discussion. Both events are free and open to the public. The payoff to our conversations is when we come together and people who have not participated in the dialogue previously show up and say, I didnt realize the extent to which racism occurs. I thought we were past that. I thought we were post-racial, but Im recognizing thats not the case. said Adrienne Andrews, WSUs associate vice president for diversity. In other words, people are moving from willful blindness to recognize the lived realities of communities of color. Thats a critical starting point. Visit weber.edu/wsutoday for more news about Weber State University. Description Second-hand (out of print) Contents Descent (108), October 1992 Back from the Brink With the close of Rescon 92, Charles Bailey offers this topical piece of fiction. Under Ingleborough In the years following the Second World War, British caving underwent a resurge of popularity. One activity was to become an annual event, the winch meet at Gaping Gill, enabling easy access to the bottom of the 365ft shaft. It was such an occasion in 1947 that introduced Len Cook to caving and, ultimately, the production of some of the finest caving pictures (and some of the earliest in colour) taken at that time. In this first of a series of articles concerning his involvement in those early years of British caving, Len tells of his introduction to Yorkshire exploration. Down Under, Down Under Alison Matthews comments on a visit to Coober Pedy in Australia, where opal mines are a fact of life. An Aggtelek Visit Caving activities by outdoor centres are usually perceived as being trips with beginners to over-visited caves. However, some centres travel further afield; Dave Ludlam and Paul Edmunds take up the story of a trip to the karst of Hungary. The Thrupe Connection After years of possibilities, theres now a new drop on Mendip: Atlas Pot in Thrupe Lane Swallet is open for visitors. Swallow Holes and Mine Drainage The Forest of Dean is renowned for its iron mines and the recently discovered Slaughter Stream System, and has rightly been attracting a lot of interest in the search for more caves. Here, Chris Bowen investigates the surface channels constructed to prevent water draining into the mines, and suggests that cave systems were deliberately sealed for this reason. The Descent Caption Competition Theres a new prize on offer for the best captions for the latest engraving: a Daleswear oversuit. A Gathering of Cavers The months of July and August saw more than just torrential downpours there were also two, well-organised events aimed at giving cavers practical experience of techniques. The first, a Cavers Fair, was a new venture in Britain, while the second was Rescon 92, an international conference on rescue. Cover: Neil Pacey in the White River Series extensions, Peak Cavern. Photos: Giles Barker The premise was simple: a dream, suspended in glass. The dream was Jim Barretts, founder of Chateau Montelena, one of Napa Valleys most famed properties and the site last month of a retelling in wine. The story? How Barrett and his family, taking a winery and vineyard in Calistoga nearly half a century ago, chased that dream and a vision of potable glory; a first growth California Cabernet Sauvignon that would stand shoulder to shoulder with the great first growths of Bordeaux. So reads the introduction of the tasting note pamphlet provided for the Dream Tasting, a history told in 15 such wines, each a year in a glass spanning the decades since Jim Barrett bought the Montelena property on Tubbs Lane in 1972 and brought his ideals to the world of Napa winemaking. Not long after, the winery produced its 1973 Chardonnay, entered it into a blind tasting in Paris against those first growths of Bordeaux, won and changed the course of wine history. Yet the telling gets a jolt of levity from Bo Barrett, Jim Barretts son and today Montelenas CEO and master winemaker. Its kind of funny, said Bo as he led the Dream Tasting alongside Montelenas winemaker Matt Crafton, calling on a personal history with the winery that goes back every vintage. When I grew up my dad didnt drink wine. But as Jim Barretts career as a Southern California attorney grew, clientele dinners cultivated a need to be wine savvy and, as Bo remembers, a night class at UCLA brought his father up to speed on the wines of the world, including those of the Bordeaux chateaux. Well he gets out here, Barrett recalled, says okay, what were going to try to do is were going to try to do a Bordeaux chateau here, and make like a Latour California. He didnt even know that hed bought a great property, he just was counting on basically his Irish luck. Marking the start of their tenure at the winery in 1972, the Barretts replanted 100 acres of the Montelena Estate Vineyard to Cabernet Sauvignon, at a time when Beaulieu Vineyard and Inglenook were the varietals Napa Valley powerhouses. Nobody really knew Calistoga as a Cabernet district at the time, Barrett said. So its kind of a gutsy move to move into the Cabernet world here, as the area was thought to be the hottest region in the valley, a view since disproved. While the vineyards potential remained unclear as the land would not yield a wine until 1978, the Barretts made Cabernet Sauvignon from other sources in the meantime, beginning with the Dream Tastings first wine dated to 1974. As his fathers vision called for a wine made in the European style, Barrett noted the 1974s moderated alcohol and lower ripeness, coupled with more acid than has been used in later years at Montelena. The wines creator was none other than Mike Grgich, who had trained under winemaking legend Andre Tchelistcheff at Beaulieu Vineyard, and was also responsible for Montelenas historic 1973 Chardonnay. Apart from dialing back the acid in years since, the winery has stuck to the essence of moderate alcohol, Barrett said, even as Cabernet Sauvignons throughout Napa Valley took a turn over the years toward more emphasis on power, ripeness and higher alcohol. We always stayed away from that, Barrett said, moving on in the tasting to Montelenas 1975 North Coast Cabernet Sauvignon. Other than the tastings three vintages from the 80s, he pointed out, all of the wines throughout the decades remained at 14 percent alcohol. Its a good prototype for us, Barrett said of the 1975, a wine started by Grgich and finished by Montelenas next winemaker, Jerry Luper. But with Luper at the helm, Barrett said, We definitely decided that we wanted to make wines of a lot more horsepower and depth than we were making in the 74 and 75. As the winemaking approach at Montelena matured, so too did its estate vineyard. On the heels of the 1978, the first vintage from the vineyard, an ambition took shape to showcase changes in the wines from the estate, where the only variable would be the weather throughout each year. By using the same fields, the same crew, the same cooperage, the same yeast, year after year, Barrett said, we were really trying to accentuate what this vineyard would tell us. The upshot is a consistency in style across the decades, with difficult years for grape growing preserved next to those with better conditions. The vineyards tendency for low yields helps to spotlight the weathers effects, Crafton said. Its such a strange paradigm compared to the rest of the valley. I joke with people, Dont eat that berry out of the bin. I need it. As such, subtle changes in the weather, the heat, the cool, the fog, everything else, its almost like it has a magnified effect on what were seeing, Crafton said. So it really forces us to be much better technical farmers and better winemakers here. Included in the tasting was the 1988 Montelena Estate Cabernet Sauvignon, a wine testifying to a year of extremely severe drought during which only four inches of rain fell. I mean the drought we just came out of was bad, Barrett said, but the drought in the 80s was way worse. There would be panic in the streets if we had a drought like that. Parching the valley in the days before drip irrigation, the drought pushed vines that were already stressed from a year of little rainfall in 1987 to the breaking point. This wine was extremely stressed out. It was really, really tough going, Barrett said. We poured it today, he explained, because its a really good view of how things got better [] by the time we circle into later drought vintages, you can see how much more finesse we can impress with the same type of difficult hand of cards, and how you play the cards so much differently when youre crafting the wine. As the years progressed and the winery pressed on, the grim turn of conditions in the late 80s opened to a respite. And something happens in Napa that had never happened in the world of wine anywhere, to our knowledge, Barrett recalled. Here at Montelena we always call it Battleship Row, he said, recounting an unprecedented string of back-to-back vintages from 1990 to 1999 of what is considered excellent weather. Intersecting with a generation of winemakers beyond Montelena who by then had the experience needed to best wield them, Barrett said, the conditions ultimately set the stage for Napa Valley to gain its place in the modern world. The confidence of American winemakers, he remembered, we actually now believe in what were doing a lot. And its not just here at Chateau Montelena, but you could see there was quite a bit of that were standing alone, making really amazing Napa Valley wines and then the weather starts cooperating so it gives us more confidence. Adding another dimension to the world of wine at the time was the growing impact of wine critic Robert Parkers point system for rating wines, although Montelena never tried for the Parker 100 points and their potentially destabilizing level of praise, Barrett said. Because thats not what our customers wanted, he said. We never really tried to go for the big points and over the center field. We wanted to go for batting average every year, not just one shot over the fence. As the point system drove wine industry ambitions into the new millennium, and the Cabernet Sauvignons of Napa Valley grew in clout and alcohol, a new leaf meanwhile began to turn over in the estate vineyard. With the dawn of precision viticulture in the early 2000s, the winery began to refine its harvesting methods, changing out its fruit receiving equipment and becoming one of the first adopters of a now standard practice in Napa: the night harvest. And that opens a whole new world on the winemaking and on the viticulture side, Crafton said, as we start to understand the differences and just how berries change over the course of the day. Capable then of delivering grapes to the cellar at 45-55 degrees Fahrenheit, where the fruit is just absolutely pristine and perfect, he said, it goes all right in line with the new handling techniques that we were using to get that real purity of flavor. Barrett injected, recalling that the night harvests began with the crews that picked Chardonnay. The funniest thing was, so we get all prepared for the picking crew to squawk and give us guff [] but the exact opposite happened. The Cabernet crew said, How come we cant pick at night? The winery obliged, just because the crews asked us to, because its less hot, less buggy, theyre more productive, he said. It worked out great. While helping to spur innovation in the vineyards, the winery avoided other evolutions in the Napa Valley wine world of the time, including the rise of cult wines such as Screaming Eagle, of which Barretts wife, Heidi, was at one time winemaker. And Montelena sticks to its guns and keeps making 14 alcohol, pretty high acid Cabernets, Barrett said, though added that throughout the 2000s the winery began to look for that fine line between classically styled (wines) and those ripe enough to make Americans like them. The search went to the turn of the decade, when Barrett remembers his father was just extremely upset with the 16 percent alcohol Cabernets that were being produced and he was determined he wasnt going to go down that road. Jim Barrett instructed then-winemaker Cameron Perry and Crafton, who by then had joined the winery team, to make the wines as elegant as possible, Bo said, and quoted his father: When the customers revolt against these high alcohol Cabernets, were going to be the wine for them. Though the team followed orders and made the wines anticipating such a revolt, Barrett remarked, That, frankly, didnt happen. When his father died in 2013, it was clear by then, Barrett said, that the only people that didnt like high alcohol Cabernets was us. There was no consumer pushback, Barrett said, and no stampede back to wines of elegance. Rounding out the tasting and the progress of Jim Barretts dream to date, the winerys current release, the 2013, was preceded by the 2011 estate Cabernet, bringing the specter of a trying growing season back to the spotlight. As the winerys lowest production year ever, the 2011 also offered a glimpse of the teams one priority above all others: the reputation of Montelena. Because all this stuff, really about halfway through it just wasnt ripe enough to make Montelena standards, Barrett said. I remember sending vineyard crews back out again, Crafton said, saying drop more fruit, drop more fruit, take another pass, more has to come off. As the 2011 came together, first in the vineyard and then in the tanks, he said, there was no question, there wasnt going to be any compromise. The team made a similar ruling after the October wildfires of last year, refusing to pick nearly 40 tons of Cabernet on the west side of Calistoga that was affected by smoke taint. It comes down to that sense of integrity that we really live by, Crafton said, because we know that this whole operation, everything here is bigger than just us. Barrett added, Every single thing you see here from this glass to this napkin to these tanks was paid for by somebody trusting us enough to buy a bottle of wine. There is no money behind Chateau Montelena. This is all we have. Theres no software, theres no oil, theres no nothing. Today, with its prestige intact, a cellar retrofitted in 2011 and a wealth of sustainability measures in place, including a transition to entirely automated pump-overs last year, the next leg of the Montelena dream approaches. That sea change will come with a third replanting of the estate vineyard in the coming years, an upheaval Barrett predicts is really where Montelena should hit its stride. We really have some exciting wines coming up, he said, pivoting to the stories yet to be made and had, and I think our next, the last iteration of Montelena looking forward [] were still going for the future. Its a pretty exciting time out here. Pop the cork on Napa Valley wine! Discover the hidden stories of Napa Valley wine and the people behind it -- plus expert analysis from our columnists and more with our weekly email newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. The last of four men charged in a beating death of a Winnipeg man last summer has had his charges upgraded to first-degree murder, Winnipeg police said Friday. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 2/2/2018 (1317 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. The last of four men charged in a beating death of a Winnipeg man last summer has had his charges upgraded to first-degree murder, Winnipeg police said Friday. Aram Soroush, 25, of Vancouver, previously faced conspiracy charges in the Aug. 13, 2017, slaying. The latest development brings the total number of men who face first-degree murder charges in connection with the death of Mustafa Peyawary, 29, to four. Winnipeg police found Peyawary unresponsive after officers were alerted to a possible assault on the 100 block of Killarney Avenue. Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service workers pronounced him dead at the scene, police said Friday, in announcing the latest development in the case. Police had previously said Peyawary died from blunt trauma to his body. Early in the investigation, police said they had evidence the beating lasted over an extended period. They said the incident took place in a Fort Richmond apartment block. Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. Vancouver police arrested Soroush after tracking him to a downtown residence in the B.C. city Jan. 10. They filed the conspiracy charge and detained him. A couple of days later, on Jan. 12, Winnipeg police flew to Vancouver and brought Soroush back to Manitoba. The Winnipeg Police Service upgraded the conspiracy charge to first-degree murder on Feb. 1. The other three charged in the murder are: Damir Kulic, 27, of Vancouver; Ahamed Althaaf Ismail, 29, of Edmonton; and Matthew Marjonovic, 29, of Winnipeg. Marjonovic was the focus of an appeal last month, when city police were looking for information on his location. He was picked up after the public notice and charged Jan. 20 with murder. All four remained in custody Friday. OTTAWA The federal government opened the taps Thursday to bridge a long-standing, discriminatory funding gap against First Nations children in child welfare a move Manitoba chiefs welcomed, but wondered why it took two years. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 1/2/2018 (1318 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. OTTAWA The federal government opened the taps Thursday to bridge a long-standing, discriminatory funding gap against First Nations children in child welfare a move Manitoba chiefs welcomed, but wondered why it took two years. The funding could amount to $110 million for children in Manitoba to make up for the past two years. But it comes only after the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal issued a fourth reprimand Thursday against Ottawa for its shortfall in funding Child and Family Services. "This is one of the most serious social challenges our country is facing," federal Indigenous Services Minister Jane Philpott told reporters. "We are fully committed to addressing those gaps, and today is another indication of how serious that commitment is." She announced the Liberals would pay for all federal shortfalls going back to January 2016, when the tribunal found Ottawa was racially discriminating against First Nations youth by giving less funding than what non-Indigenous children receive. Last month, the Free Press revealed First Nations CFS agencies in Manitoba estimate theyre $104 million short of what they need to properly operate each year a 26 per cent budget shortfall that amounts to $12,814.42 for each child. Ottawa is responsible for $54.8 million of that estimated annual shortfall, accounting for children living on-reserve, who fall outside provincial CFS obligations. Grand Chief Jerry Daniels, who represents First Nations in southern Manitoba, said the funding was a welcome relief. "I think its a long time coming. I mean, theyre being forced to do this. Its something they should have done a long time ago," he said. "Its too bad that in 2018, we still have to fight to be treated equally in our own lands." The money can be used for prevention, intake, legal fees and building repairs, according to the letter sent Thursday to all 105 CFS agencies in Canada that care for First Nations children. Grand Chief Sheila North Wilson, who represents First Nations in northern Manitoba, said her people should have had their "fair share" long ago. Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. North Wilson said Manitobas overburdened CFS system with a caseload that is 87 per cent Indigenous contributes to issues such as incarceration and even the phenomenon of missing and murdered women. "We would have been able to tackle them sooner if the government admitted there was a huge problem." Philpott was defensive when asked why the funding came now and not at the January 2016 tribunal ruling. "In fact, a lot has been done over the last two years," she said. "This is another step today, but certainly lots has been done." The spring 2016 budget earmarked $635 million over five years, but agencies said that was nowhere near enough. Ottawa also put up $383 million to settle jurisdictional disputes over whos responsible for treating First Nations children. In a press release, the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs said the money should go to First Nations to do preventive work, instead of the CFS agencies. "The current regime administering the child-welfare system does not work," wrote Grand Chief Arlen Dumas. "The status quo cannot correct child protective services." dylan.robertson@freepress.mb.ca University students from the Indian community and a Winnipeg home builder are hoping a fundraising drive will convince a 17-year-old international student who was recently attacked and beaten while waiting in a downtown Transit bus shelter to stay in the city. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 2/2/2018 (1317 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. University students from the Indian community and a Winnipeg home builder are hoping a fundraising drive will convince a 17-year-old international student who was recently attacked and beaten while waiting in a downtown Transit bus shelter to stay in the city. Dhruv Patel, president of the Indian Students' Association at the University of Manitoba, and Tim Comack, vice-president of Ventura Land Company Inc., have set up a GoFundMe page to help the teen student, who had moved to Winnipeg from India just weeks before the assault that sent him to hospital with head injuries. Patel said the fundraiser's goal is $5,000, but "the more we can get, the better." "We want to make him feel he's not alone," he said Friday. "And we also hope to raise some for our association, so we can help others when they come here. People have to be aware of who we are and who we help." Patel said the teen has health insurance, but had no coverage for ambulance transportation, so money raised will also be used to pay that bill. Patel said he met with the teenager for the first time earlier this week. He said the U of M student told him he's fine with the fundraiser, but he wishes to remain anonymous and doesn't want to be interviewed by the media. "He is very shy and withdrawn," Patel said. "He is an introvert." Winnipeggers reacted in shock after police released a video to the public showing the beginning of a vicious assault on the teen inside the bus shelter on Portage Avenue in front of Portage Place shopping centre on Jan. 23. The video shows a lone male suspect waiting until everyone else had left the shelter. Without warning, the suspect wheels around and strikes the teen student in the face with his fist. Police halted the video footage at that point, saying the beating was too brutal to be shown. On Jan. 24, Winnipeg police arrested Joshua Zachary Snakeskin, 26, of Alberta. Winnipeg police spokeswoman Const. Tammy Skrabek said last week the suspect was arrested in a stolen vehicle. Police also said Snakeskin had recently been released from Stony Mountain Institution, north of Winnipeg, after serving 16 months for dangerous operation of a motor vehicle and possessing a weapon. HANDOUT / POLICE A teen victim was attacked and robbed at Portage Place on Jan. 23. Police said at the time of the assault the injured student had an uncle and aunt in Winnipeg, but Patel said they are not relatives, but family friends. Comack said he hasn't met the student, but he had his condition described to him. "He was beaten," Comack said Friday. "His eyes are bloodied red. "He was kicked in the face a number of times. His body, too. This was a prison-grade beating. And he was knocked out." Comack said the teen can't work in his condition and was only where he was, waiting for the bus, because he had applied for a Social Insurance Number at the Service Canada outlet inside Portage Place minutes before. The GoFundMe page states: "We have been told money is tight for him and his biggest concern is that he cant work in the condition he is in. "This money will be used to help a struggling student reduce his financial burdens for food, school and getting around Winnipeg. He has enough to deal with from the terrible injuries he has sustained." Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. Comack said he wanted to help the teen, and show him such incidents are not what Winnipeg is about. "We just want to show him Winnipeg cares and it is not a bad place," he said. "We want him to feel he is part of this community. "This was like lightning striking." By Friday afternoon, $3,940 of the $5,000 goal had been raised. with files from Alexandra Paul kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca Conservative MP and former cabinet minister Kellie Leitch announced last week she is retiring from politics. Leitch, a pediatric surgeon, was recruited as a star Conservative candidate in the 2011 federal election, but her star fell after she ran for the party leadership in 2017 on a platform advocating for screening potential immigrants for un-Canadian values. She ultimately finished in sixth place. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 2/2/2018 (1317 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Opinion Conservative MP and former cabinet minister Kellie Leitch announced last week she is retiring from politics. Leitch, a pediatric surgeon, was recruited as a star Conservative candidate in the 2011 federal election, but her star fell after she ran for the party leadership in 2017 on a platform advocating for screening potential immigrants for un-Canadian values. She ultimately finished in sixth place. Leitchs retirement was no doubt motivated in part by two strong challengers who have threatened to steal the Conservative nomination in the riding of Simcoe-Grey from her, even before the next election campaign has begun. Some have groused that these challengers are part of a plot co-ordinated by party officials to jettison incumbent MPs they view as electoral liabilities. While thats possible, its more likely that her two challengers, including a local mayor, sensed that Leitch was vulnerable following her leadership run and her subsequent exclusion from the Tory shadow cabinet. I also suspect Leitch herself did not excel in the task of maintaining connections with her constituents between elections. To her credit, Leitch never blamed the challenges on a plot, instead simply noting "Our party has an open nomination process and I agree with it... Its part of a healthy process and evidence of a strong party." The centrepiece of Leitchs campaign last year for the Tory leadership was a values test for potential immigrants. Leitchs proposals found strong support among some Canadians especially Conservative supporters but were highly polarizing. Often, it seemed as though Leitchs critics were less concerned about her actual ideas than they were with what those ideas represented: an electoral bulwark for Trumpism. Leitch did little to discourage this perception, even sending out an enthusiastic tweet congratulating U.S. President Donald Trump on his win in 2016. Trumps win, Leitch argued, represented an "exciting message that needs to be delivered in Canada as well." Yet, when the results rolled in, Leitch finished in sixth place, far behind leadership-race-winner Andrew Scheer. In part, this was because Leitch lacked some of the fundamental skills we often take for granted in politicians. She was a poor, wooden communicator and was widely mocked after releasing an amateurish campaign advertisement that could have been mistaken for a This Hour Has 22 Minutes skit (and it later was lampooned by one). More fundamentally, Leitch failed in the leadership race because its doubtful she herself believed in the policies she was advocating. Widely regarded as a centrist "Red Tory" prior to the race, Leitch broke down in tears when discussing her role in announcing the 2015 Conservative promise to create a tip line Canadians could call to report "barbaric cultural practices," which was widely seen as a thinly veiled attack on Muslims. Despite this, Leitch was persuaded by adviser Nick Kouvalis to emphasize a values test for immigrants, after he concluded polling had found a potential path to victory for her. We often think pollsters and marketers craft politicians from whole cloth. Not so. Politicians come to their jobs with pre-existing experiences, ideas and concerns. The trick is to take those pre-existing ideas and transform them into themes that can sustain and animate the politician when she sets out to gain public support. Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. As the political scientist Richard Fenno put it, politicians must find themes that work for voters. But they also have to find themes that work for them. With this in mind, Leitch falls into a familiar category of inauthentic politicians. Saddled with a platform she herself hardly seemed to believe in, she often appeared uncomfortable and awkward defending it. An obviously intelligent person, Leitch nonetheless struggled to explain aspects of her proposals, and so resorted to the use of catchphrases and slogans. She stumped for her proposals with all the passion and conviction of an IT guy instructing someone to turn his computer off and on again. In the end, having failed to convince herself, she could hardly convince others. There is a lesson for aspiring politicians in Leitchs failed public career, and it is not just that inflammatory issues have a way of exploding in ones own hands. The current emphasis on charisma notwithstanding, politicians must believe in something other than their own success in order to convince others to support them. Politicians can compromise and bend their core beliefs into pretzels, but they cannot run in direct opposition to what they believe without giving up enormous advantage to their opponents. Leitch is undoubtedly leaving politics under a cloud. We are far too willing to either lionize or demonize our politicians, rather than accepting them simply as human beings, warts and all. As a pediatric surgeon, Leitch experienced great success and did an enormous amount of good for others in her pre-political career. The opposite, however, was true of her time in politics. Its probably best for both her and us that shes retiring from public life. Royce Koop is an associate professor and head of the department of political studies at the University of Manitoba. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 2/2/2018 (1317 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Editorial In January 2017, Canadians got a horrifying wake-up call. When an armed man entered a Quebec City mosque and killed six Muslim worshippers, it became clear that such incidents of racially motivated violence are not limited to the U.S., where in June 2015 a white supremacist shot and killed nine black worshippers in a Charleston, S.C., church. Jacques Boissinot / The Canadian Press A vigil marked the anniversary of the mosque shooting. Though such mass shootings are rarer in Canada, the Quebec City tragedy also hearkened back to the Montreal Massacre at Ecole Polytechnique in 1989, in which a lone gunman shot 28 people, killing 14 women, declaring in a suicide note that feminists had ruined his life. While the Charleston shooter, who pleaded guilty, made no secret of his motives, and neither did the man responsible for the deaths in Montreal, the man charged in the mosque mass shooting has not openly declared any such rationale. He is scheduled to go to trial in March. However, the place and the victims speak to a specific motive. It was Muslims who were targeted, who were injured and who were killed. It is long past time for Canada to acknowledge that Islamophobia is a serious problem in this country. Political leaders in Quebec were reluctant this week to connect animosity toward Muslims in commemorating the anniversary of the massacre. Premier Philippe Couillard discussed Islamophobia alongside other forms of discrimination, but stopped short of calling for Jan. 29 to be made a day to fight against Islamophobia. The federal government has also avoided doing so, though Prime Minister Justin Trudeau did cite racism as the massacres cause and called on MPs to stand against Islamophobia. It wasnt even the first time this mosque was targeted. In June 2016, worshippers found a pigs head at the buildings door, wrapped with bows and ribbon, with a card attached that said "bonne appetit." Want to get a head start on your day? Get the days breaking stories, weather forecast, and more sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. Anti-Islam sentiment in this country is neither rare nor decreasing. According to Statistics Canada, police-reported hate crimes against Muslims jumped by 60 per cent in 2015, to a total of 159 incidents, compared to 99 in 2014. Its a nationwide issue. And its in our backyard, as well. In 2017, six Syrian families in Winnipeg were subjected to threats of arson, had rocks and eggs thrown at their homes and were targeted with racist graffiti and slurs. Children were harassed, with some receiving threats such as "Well burn you alive." This is not the society Canada aspires to be. We can do better. The December date of the Montreal Massacre has been made a day of remembrance and action against hatred toward women. Some, including Shahina Siddiqui of the Islamic Social Services Association, have called for Jan. 29 to be a day of remembrance and action against Islamophobia. This is a call worth considering. With incidents of hate speech, and worse, directed at Muslims, we should remember that targeted injustices can lead to darker outcomes. The Holocaust was built on many things, but an early cornerstone was anti-Semitism and a willingness of the average person to look the other way when Jews were deprived of their safety and their rights. A parallel can be drawn to what is happening today to Muslims in many parts of the world, including Canada. If we are serious about loving our freedom, our rights and our strength as a democratic country, we cant turn a blind eye to intolerance and hatred directed at our fellow citizens. On January 22, Bolivian President Evo Morales delivered a speech marking 12 years of his government. He declared that over the course of his three terms in the presidency, we have structurally transformed the country with greater social justice [and now] are looking more optimistically at the future. The policy of limited social welfare measures, combined with a fiscal pact with the Bolivian capitalist oligarchy and the defense of private property, has resulted in a transformation reflected most accurately in the extraordinary rise of the Bolivian banks, which last year recorded the second highest growth rate in Latin America, 12 percent, compared to an average of 4.7 percent for the region. This reflects the extraordinary performance of the national banking sector, which, for the sixth year in a row, has 11 national financial institution among the 250 largest in the region, Guillermo Prommel, the Bolivian representative of the Revista America Economia en Bolivia told the La Paz daily La Razon. But this stunning economic performance in terms of profits generated by the financial system under the government of Evo Morales and his ruling Movement Toward Socialism (MAS) stands in stark contrast to the conditions confronting the masses of Bolivian people. The countrys poverty rate is close to 39 percent, with 64 percent working in the so-called informal sector. For the minority who are employed, the monthly minimum wage is only US$290, or US$1.57 an hour. In his televised message to Congress, Morales proclaimed, We are the strongest state in the entire region and the one that has grown the most in recent years in South America. Now we enjoy economic stability that is an example in the world. Meanwhile, however, the Bolivian people have taken to the streets in opposition to Moraless bid to seek another re-election, which voters rejected in a referendum that the president lost on February 21, 2016. Morales refused to recognize the results of the ballot, instead using the judicial apparatus, controlled by the ruling MAS, to nullify the vote. This action by the government has unleashed a series of protests, with the government itself recording 984 social conflicts in 2017 in which the police were called in to repress opposition. One of those mobilizations was a strike by Bolivian doctors, which lasted 47 days. The strike was launched to demand the annulment of Article 205, which criminalizes malpractice, essentially scapegoating underpaid and overworked residents and interns for the failures of Bolivias health care system. The response of President Morales was swift in coming. It is time to finish with some conservatives on the issue of health care, who do not want to change the system; and we are going to change it, it is our obligation, as well as changing many other issues. Some changes are hard but necessary. He threatened criminal prosecution of the strikes leaders, as well as workers and students, and the closing down of pharmacies, dismissals and wage cuts. Over the course of the last 12 years, Morales and his administration have made many pledges to build hospitals and improve the health care system, but this has all remained on the level of demagogic speeches and populist promises, without either the budgeting of funds or any genuine planning to resolve the deep problems of the system. Those with resources are treated in private clinics, and those without are relegated to crumbling public hospitals, where the cost still places treatment out of reach for large sectors of the working class, peasants and poor. The lack of decent health care is only one of the indices of the impoverished living conditions of the Bolivian population. In 2016, the Human Development Index created by the United Nations Development Program, taking into account life expectancy, education, per capita income and levels of social inequality, placed Bolivia at 119th in terms of national rankings of the 193 member states of the United Nations, making it one of the lowest in Latin America and the Caribbean, alongside Haiti, Nicaragua, Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras. In his January 22 speech, Morales proclaimed that the countrys next challenge was the the technological revolution, calling upon young people to take up the banner of the technological revolution. Our doors open to receive and listen to them; we have to support the new generations. The reality is that in Bolivia, most of the young people have precarious jobs in the informal sector, without social benefits or stability, suffering extreme forms of exploitation at sub-minimum wages and without any labor rights. Young graduates are forced into positions unrelated to their academic or technical training, working for long periods under conditions of underemployment and the general labor instability that affects the entire population. This social reality of poverty, exploitation and inequality found no expression in Moraless celebratory speech. Instead, he appealed to the social movements, which are controlled by the ruling MAS, to defend his government against any threat from the right-wing opposition. Even as large sections of the Bolivian bourgeoisie have accommodated themselves to the MAS government, the right has been strengthened by Moraless actions, particularly the repudiation of the popular referendum denying him a fourth term in office. It has allowed these forces to masquerade as defenders of democracy. The biggest threat to Morales and his attempt to remain in power indefinitely, however, comes not from the right-wing bourgeois parties and their allies in the US Embassy, but rather from below, from the masses of Bolivian workers, peasants and youth, whose social reality stands in stark contrast to the populist demagogy of the ruling MAS, driving them into mass struggles against the government and the capitalist system that it defends. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus plan to deport African refugees, mainly from Sudan and Eritrea, to so-called safe countries Rwanda and Uganda, has provoked a backlash. A campaign was launched on January 18 in a letter to the government by dozens of well-known authors, including winners of the Israel Prize, Amos Oz, David Grossman and A.B. Yehoshua. It called on the government to act morally, humanely and with compassion worthy of the Jewish people, and to stop the deportation of refugees to the hell from which they fled before it starts. Otherwise, we will have no reason to exist. Some Holocaust survivors told the Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth that the Jewish state has a moral duty to protect the asylum seekers, with some saying they would take African refugees into their homes to hide them to prevent their deportation, while some 36 survivors wrote a personal letter to Netanyahu. This has had a powerful impact. Hundreds of people have offered to host asylum seekers as part of the Anne Frank Home Sanctuary movement, following a call by a group of rabbis for Israelis to hide asylum seekers in their homes, just as Dutch families helped Anne Frank and her family. Since then, thousands of workers, including El Al pilots and cabin crews, more than 1,000 doctors and medical staff, school principals, psychologists, 400 film and television personalities, 470 academics and religious figures have joined the protest. Demonstrations and protests have been held in support of the refugees. The refugees have said they will refuse to accept the financial inducements offered by the right-wing coalition government, while legal advisers have told the High Court they would almost certainly accept a petition against forcible deportation. In the run-up to International Holocaust Remembrance Day, Netanyahu announced that Israel was seeking to get at least 600 Eritrean and Sudanese asylum seekers, whom it designates as infiltrators, to leave the country each month, making a total of 7,200 a year, more than double the 3,300 that left in each of the last three years. So-called safe countries would be paid to take them. The government claims that it would replace the deported workers with Palestinians at the rate of one Palestinian work visa for every two Africans that leave. But the practical difficulties in employing Palestinian workers are so great that the cynical and reactionary pledge is meaningless. The government says it will also give every refugee who leaves voluntarily $3,500. While women and children will not be subject to deportation, they are unlikely to remain without their husbands and fathers. There are around 40,000 African migrants and asylum seekers in Israel, mostly fleeing civil strife and repression, according to data from the Interior Ministry, down from 60,000 four years ago, following deportations and practices aimed at forcing them to leave voluntarily. About 72 percent are Eritrean and 20 percent are Sudanese from Darfur, most of whom arrived between 2006 and 2012, before Israel built the notorious fence across the Sinai desert to prevent them entering Israel. Israel, despite constantly referring to the way European Jews were barred from entering the US and Britain to escape persecution in the 1930s, and signing up to the 1951 Refugee Convention, has refused to introduce asylum legislation because it would mean absorbing tens of thousands of non-Jewish refugeesthreatening the Jewish character of the state on which Zionist policy is based. According to human rights groups, Israel has recognised less than 200 people as refugees, in addition to some 350 Vietnamese boat people in the late 1970s, since its establishment in 1948. To do so would also spur demands for the right to return of Palestinians and their descendants, who fled or were forced from their homes in the wars of 1948 and 1967. All regulations regarding migrant workers and refugees are at the discretion of the minister of the interior, which set up the Refugee Status Determination (RSD) Unit in 2009 to interview asylum seekers and assess their claims in the light of the 1951 Refugee Convention. The Conventions definition of those entitled to refugee status lists those who have been subjected to persecution based on race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion. But the refusal to put in place legislation means that the RSD is essentially free to refuse to recognise any asylum seekers as refugees. The RSD has granted only eight asylum applications from Eritreans and two from Sudanese. In 2017, it granted a further 200 out of 6000 Darfurians humanitarian protection, after it became public knowledge that the government had suppressed an internal RSD report stating that Darfurians were fleeing genocide and thus qualified for asylum. Israels rotten record, a less than one percent success rate for asylum seekers, is far below even that of European Union countries, where Eritrean and Sudanese asylum seekers have an 86 and 64 percent acceptance rate, respectively. The African asylum seekers, bereft of legal status as refugees, are extremely vulnerable to exploitation. They typically live in desperately impoverished conditions, alongside poor Israelis in the suburbs in South Tel Aviv. Many live in crates, shacks and other improvised homes, without access to basic rights and treated by the police as criminals. The asylum seekers are forced to take the worst jobs at scandalously low rates of pay and face brutal exploitation by their employers, while the Ministry of Labour turns a blind eye and the trade unions do nothing. They are required to register weekly or monthly with the RSD. They will soon be subject to a new anti-migrant law that robs them of 20 percent of their wages and puts it in an escrow account, supposedly to be returned to them when they leave Israel. Those without a valid visa have been subject to detention for up to a year without a judicial hearing at the Holot detention centre, the worlds largest, in the Negev desert near Israels border with Egypt. It is run by the prison service and designated as an open prison. Detainees are not allowed to work and must report for roll call three times a day. Right-wing and fascistic agitators have sought to whip up xenophobia and racism, blaming the migrants for rising crime rates and dreadful social conditions, and lobbied the government to deport them. Last August, the Israeli Supreme Court outlawed such detention at Holot for longer than 60 days, but also ruled that Israel could deport migrantseven without their consentto third safe countries such as Rwanda or Uganda. In November, the Netanyahu government claimed that an African receiving country, presumed to be Rwanda and/or Ugandathe agreement has not been made publichad agreed to accept migrants deported against their will. Under this agreement, the government will pay the receiving country $5,000 per migrant. In the wake of the opposition to the forced deportations, the two countries have now denied there was any such agreement. In December, parliament approved an Infiltrators Bill mandating the closure of the Holot detention centrewith the 1,000 Africans detained there required to leave Israel by April or face indefinite imprisonment, the forced deportation of Eritreans and Sudanese starting in March and increased restrictions on them. The Trump administration is preparing to deploy at least 1,000 more US troops to Afghanistan over the coming months amid mounting signs that the 16-year-old US war and occupation is confronting its gravest crisis since the invasion of October 2001. In his first State of the Union speech on Tuesday night, US President Donald Trump boasted of having given our warriors in Afghanistan ... new rules of engagement. He continued, Along with their heroic Afghan partners, our military is no longer undermined by artificial timelines, and we no longer tell our enemies our plans. To put it more bluntly, with the Afghanistan war now in its 17th year, there is no end in sight. The new rules of engagement have included a tripling of the number of US airstrikes against the country in 2017 compared to the previous year, leading to a sharp increase in civilian casualties, most of them women and children. The number of US troops, including advisers operating with Afghan units and special forces units participating in search and destroy operations against insurgents, is increasing from approximately 11,000 to over 15,000. The increased carnage, however, has done nothing to stabilize Afghanistans corrupt and impotent government or to reverse the territorial gains made by the Taliban and other insurgent groups. The inability of Afghan security forces and their US advisers to secure even the most heavily guarded zones of the capital of Kabul has been underscored over the past two weeks in a series of spectacular attacks. These included a January 21 assault on the luxury Intercontinental Hotel that killed 22 people, including 14 foreigners, a suicide bombing last weekend that claimed the lives of 103 people and wounded another 200 at a police checkpoint near foreign diplomatic missions and government buildings and an armed assault on Monday against Afghanistan's military academy in Kabul in which at least a dozen soldiers died. As for Trumps assertion that we no longer tell our enemies our plans, this policy found its genuine expression with the release Tuesday of the latest quarterly report of the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), which said that the Pentagon had refused to provide key data on the war. The agency reported that it had been informed that DOD [Department of Defense] has determined that although the most recent numbers are unclassified, they are not releasable to the public. Withheld were both estimates as to the extent of control exercised by government forces and the Taliban over Afghan territory and the casualty figures for the Afghan security forces. SIGAR was formed by an act of Congress and is mandated to produce the quarterly reports on the progress of the war, which has to date cost over $1 trillion, and killed at least 120,000 Afghans and 2,269 American military and civilian personnel, while turning millions of Afghan civilians into refugees. The withholding of such information, the SIGAR report commented, was troubling. The figures on government versus insurgent control of territory had been one of the last remaining publicly available indicators for members of Congress ... and for the American public of how the 16-year-long U.S. effort to secure Afghanistan is faring, the report stated. It added that the number of districts controlled or influenced by the government has been falling since SIGAR began reporting on it, while the number controlled or influenced by the insurgents has been risinga fact that should cause even more concern about its disappearance from public disclosure and discussion. The Pentagon has also barred SIGAR from reporting data on the attrition of Afghan security forces as a result of casualties and desertions last year. In its last quarterly report it described historic losses but could not give any specific number. It had noted earlier in 2017 that a total of 2,531 Afghan security forces were killed and 4,238 wounded in the first four months of the year, which would translate into some 20,000 casualties on an annual basis, losses which US commanders have described as unsustainable. Following the release of the SIGAR report, the Pentagon backtracked on its attempt to censor the data on territorial control, with a US military spokesman claiming that it had been the result of a human error in labeling. The previously censored figures provided by the Pentagon showed the US-backed Afghan regime in control of just 56 percent of the country, the lowest amount since the US war began. It claimed insurgents held sway over 14 percent of Afghan territory, also a record, while 30 percent was contested. Earlier, the BBC issued its own findings based on an extensive investigation, reporting that the Taliban and other insurgents were contesting the government for control in up to 70 percent of Afghanistan. A statement released by the White House on Tuesday night included a threat to further extend the US war into Pakistan. The statement said: President Trumps conditions-based South Asia Strategy provides commanders with the authority and resources needed to deny terrorists the safe haven they seek in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Earlier this month, Washington cut off virtually all military and security aid to Pakistan, worth roughly $1 billion annually, with Trump claiming in a tweet that Islamabad had given safe haven to the terrorist we hunt in Afghanistan. The virulent turn by the US against Pakistan found direct expression in the response of the US puppet regime in Kabul, which publicly blamed all of the attacks this month on the Pakistani government and its military intelligence service the ISI. On Wednesday, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani refused to accept a condolence call from Pakistani Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi. Later, however, he did accept one from Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the leader of Pakistan's regional rival, India, saying the two discussed the need for an end to terrorist sanctuaries in our neighborhood. The grinding war in Afghanistan has become increasingly bound up with the US attempt to forge an Indo-Pacific anti-China bloc that includes India, as well as Japan and Australia. Washingtons backing has encouraged the Indian government to pursue a more aggressive policy against Pakistan, heightening tensions between the two nuclear-armed regional rivals. US hostility has driven Pakistan into closer alignment with China. In light of Washingtons actions, Pakistani Defense Minister Khurram Dastgir Khan told Bloomberg on Wednesday that his country would begin seeking arms purchases from China, as well as Russia and Eastern European countries. Meanwhile, China has announced tens of billions of dollars in infrastructure projects in Pakistan, including the building of an off-shore naval base near the strategic Gwadar Port in the Pakistani province of Balochistan. The facility would be the second Chinese overseas military base after its installation in Djibouti in the Horn of Africa. Washington is above all determined to prevent Pakistan, China and Russia from brokering any peace agreement that would end the protracted bloodletting in Afghanistan. After the recent attacks in Kabul, Trump declared that talks with the Taliban were off the table. So we dont want to talk with the Taliban. There may be a time, but its going to be a long time, Trump said on Monday. Were going to finish what we have to finish. What nobody else has been able to finish, were going to be able to do it. What the Obama administration failed to achieve with over 100,000 US troops in Afghanistan will not be accomplished by Trump with 15,000. What is threatened is a massive US escalation and with it the danger of a wider war that could draw in the regions three nuclear powers, China, India and Pakistan. Industrial workers across Germanys automotive and electrical industries are fighting for higher wages and a voluntary reduction of the workweek with a third day of 24-hour strikes. Yesterday, they shut down the entire auto industry in southern Germany. More than half a million workers have expressed their readiness to fight by taking strike action. Automakers impacted by the strike include Mercedes-Benz, Daimler, Porsche and Audi, as well as parts suppliers Bosch, Mahle, Schaeffler, Kolbenschmidt, Powertrain and ThyssenKrupp Rasselstein. Earlier, Ford workers at plants in Cologne struck and shut down all assembly lines. At almost all the 250 companies where IG Metall held strike votes, between 95 and 100 percent of the workforce backed strike action. This speaks volumes about the workers readiness for struggle. It is not merely a declaration of hostility to the executives in the boardrooms and their political representatives, but also the trade union itself, which is desperately seeking to restart talks with the corporations. Talks could be continued on Monday so long as the opposing side shows significant movement, said Roman Zitzelsberger, regional leader of IG Metall in Baden-Wurttemberg on Thursday. The union has already rented rooms in Stuttgart on Monday morning to host negotiations. This is further evidence of the contradiction that has dominated the three days of strikes. IG Metall would prefer to end the strike as soon as possible, above all to avoid hindering the formation of a new grand coalition, which will be a government of social attacks, militarism and the strengthening of the repressive state apparatus. By contrast, the working class is ready to take up the fight against extreme levels of social inequality. IG Metall sent its top representatives to the most important strike pickets so as not to lose control of the situation. Highly-paid union bureaucrats, who have backed the Social Democrats (SPD) in government for years and only days ago voted for a new grand coalition with the conservative parties, delivered pseudo-radical speeches to workers across the country. Picket at the vacuum smelter in Hanau At the vacuum smelter in Hanau, Christiane Benner, the deputy leader of IG Metall, remained silent on the close connections between the IG Metall leadership and the committees and company supervisory boards responsible for the assault on social conditions. Benner is herself a member of BMW Munichs supervisory board, and her colleague on the union executive, IG Metall leader Jorg Hofmann, is a member of the VW and Bosch supervisory boards. Hofmann and Benner are both members of the SPD. Meanwhile, anger is growing on the picket lines towards the anti-social and reactionary policies of a ruling elite which holds sway in the boardrooms and in government. Managers salaries and bonuses are rising. Precisely those managers who attack their workforces most brutally are rewarded, such as at Siemens, ThyssenKrupp, General Electric and many more. The scale of social inequality is as great as it was a century ago. The Schaeffler family, which owns one of the companies where strike action is taking place, is among Germanys richest. Many discussions on the picket lines revolve around these issues. Workers, who support the demands for higher wages and more family-friendly working hours, have suffered from speed-ups and have experienced major attacks on their working conditions. Andre, who was picketing in front of the vacuum smelter in Hanau, explained why he supports the demand for reduced working hours. When I started here, we had 2,500 workers, today we have just 1,400, he said. Cutbacks were made everywhere. Departments were shut down, and machinery was shipped abroad. Whereas in the past the lights were on everywhere, now more than half of the firms are in darkness. Andre has worked for the company for 28 years. When he was hired, the 40-hour workweek was still in force. The struggle for the 35-hour workweekthat was supposed to divide up the work among more people to make jobs more secure in the long-term. That obviously didnt work. Here, the older people who are retiring are systematically not replaced, and the burden for every individual has risen as a result. This impacts the electrical and fitting operations in particular, where the number of workers has long been insufficient. The few people left in these departments can barely cope with the workload. The Hanau Vacuum Smelter, one of the largest metal facilities in the state of Hesse, was considered an IG Metall stronghold in the Main/Kingzig district. Ownership of the plant has changed several times and anger is growing with the trade union, which recently agreed with US parent company OM to impose a further 200 job cuts. Andre said of IG Metall, It is good for us that IG Metall exists, but they really need to impose themselves more forcefully! Andre did not think much of the ongoing talks on the formation of a new government made up of the SPD and conservative parties. When the people are out of a jobwho will look out for them? The shareholders only care if the figures are right, and everything is offloaded onto us. That is what has to change, he said. Frank at the picket in Hanau The SPD has been on the other side for decades. They have nothing more to do with workers, said Frank, a worker employed at Thermo in Langenselbold. The political questions have to be publicised. He added, We have young German-Russian colleagues, and they try to play them off against us, young against old, women against men, because they are a cheap labour force. Any of us who still have good collective contracts are described as an old burden. Frank also spoke about the Ford strike in Romania. It is important that workers in different countries dont allow themselves to be played off against each other. Theres a reason why they try to keep that quiet. IG Metall has carefully ensured that the contract struggle remains isolated from the fight to defend jobs at Siemens. This is a further indication of their nervousness. Siemens is currently planning unprecedented job cuts and intends to offload or shutdown plants in Erfurt, Gorlitz, Leipzig, Offenbach and St. Ingbert. On January 31, the first day of the three days of strikes, Siemens workers protested at Siemens shareholder meeting in Munich and at the old Frankfurt stock exchange. Hans-Jurgen Urban, a member of the IG Metall executive, spoke in Frankfurt. Siemens works councils and IG Metall group are clearly preparing to reach an agreement with the companys board that will be a rotten sell-out. Urban said that it is nothing new that in the area where you work, there are problems. IG Metall works councillors have long offered to talk constructively about how to respond to these problems. IG Metall is also willing to attach value to things that are economically viable for the business being put into practice. One only needs to deal fairly with the workers. Siemens employees in front of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange It is becoming ever clearer that the industrial workers strike confronts political questions. While workers are fighting for higher wages and a shorter workweek, the SPD and conservative parties, with the full support of the trade unions, are in the process of forming a third installment of a grand coalition. Such a government would not only intensify the attack on the working class in Germany and across Europe, but also aggressively push ahead with the expansion of domestic state repression and militarism. WSWS reporters and Sozialistische Gleichheitspartei (SGP) members discussed the relationship between the government talks and the strike at many strike rallies. The WSWS statement calling for an expansion of the strike and for new elections was met with great interest. It states, As in the first half of the twentieth century, the working class faces the alternative of socialism or barbarism. To prevent the ruling class from imposing its programme of social counterrevolution and plunging the world into a catastrophic war, the working class must seize the initiative and unite internationally to overthrow capitalism. The strikes in the metal and electrical industries must be expanded. This requires a break with the IG Metall union, which is doing everything it can to stifle the strike. The union works closely with the employers associations, and most of its officials are members of the SPD and supporters of a new edition of the grand coalition. In order to expand the strike, rank-and-file workers committees must be set up to take control of the dispute and establish contact with workers across Europe and around the world. This is inseparably bound up with the fight for fresh elections to prevent the installation of a new grand coalition and advance a socialist alternative. The political conflict in Washington expressed in the Russia investigation has reached a new and extraordinary level of intensity, with the White House expected to deliver a public rebuff to the FBI and the Justice Department Friday. White House officials told the press Thursday afternoon that President Trump had approved the public release of the so-called Nunes memo over the vociferous objections of the FBI, and that it would probably be sent back to Congress for release sometime Friday. The Nunes memo is a four-page document drafted by the staff of the House Intelligence Committee, chaired by Republican Representative Devin Nunes of California. It reportedly states that the FBI initiated wiretap surveillance of former Trump foreign policy adviser Carter Page in October 2016, at the height of the presidential election campaign, based on unproven allegations of ties between Page, Trump and the Russian government. These allegations make up the bulk of a 35-page report prepared by Christopher Steele, a former British intelligence agent hired by Fusion GPS, a Washington-based muckraking firm that was commissioned by the Democrats to conduct opposition research into Trump. Steele compiled raw, unverified material supplied by his Russian contacts, purporting to document Trumps efforts to develop business in Moscow and the Russian governments efforts to cultivate relations with Trumps campaign staff and advisers. Whatever its own lies and distortions, the Nunes memo apparently asserts one irrefutable truth. It argues that the Russia investigation was concocted, without any genuine basis in fact, by sections of the intelligence apparatus who supported Hillary Clintons campaign. Despite the massive media propaganda on this issue, no actual evidence has ever been presented of Russian interference in the 2016 elections (whether through hacking or through the purchase of small quantities of pro-Trump advertising on social media). This bogus issue has been placed at the center of American political life to promote a definite line in foreign policy, demanding greater US military intervention in the Syrian civil war and a more militantly anti-Russian posture in Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Central Asia. Both sides in the conflict in official Washington are reactionary and antidemocratic. While Trump speaks for sections of Wall Street, allied with fascistic and racist factions of the ultra-right, the Democrats defend big business with equal fervor, while voicing the concerns of the dominant sections of the military-intelligence apparatus. The Republican majority on the House Intelligence Committee pushed through a vote to make the Nunes memo public in a party-line vote on Monday night, which started the clock on a five-day period for White House review before release of the document. At the same time, the committee voted to keep secret a minority report by the committee Democrats rebutting the memo. Its clear that top officials used unverified information in a court document to fuel a counterintelligence investigation during an American political campaign, Nunes said in a statement after the vote. Once the truth gets out, we can begin taking steps to ensure our intelligence agencies and courts are never misused like this again. FBI Director Christopher Wray has stridently opposed the release of the memo. Remarkably, Nunes initially opposed even allowing the FBI to see the memo, and the committee voted not to permit Wray to address them in person before the vote to release it. Wray and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein went to the White House Monday afternoon to appeal for support, only to be flatly rebuffed in a meeting with chief of staff John Kelly and White House counsel Don McGahn. Trump did not even bother to speak with themboth his own appointees to top Justice Department positions. On Wednesday, the FBI released an unprecedented statement denouncing the House Intelligence Committee decision to release the memo (and implicitly criticizing Trumps support for that action). The two-paragraph statement was not issued under Wrays namean apparent signal that he did not intend to provoke his own firingbut it was nonetheless an unmistakable act of defiance. With regard to the House Intelligence Committees memorandum, the FBI was provided a limited opportunity to review this memo the day before the committee voted to release it, the statement said. As expressed during our initial review, we have grave concerns about material omissions of fact that fundamentally impact the memos accuracy. Nunes replied in even more strident terms, declaring in a statement: Having stonewalled Congress demands for information for nearly a year, its no surprise to see the FBI and DOJ issue spurious objections to allowing the American people to see information related to surveillance abuses at these agencies. House Speaker Paul Ryan, addressing the question Thursday during a Republican congressional retreat in West Virginia, said that the public needs to know if federal agents brought bias or cut corners or did something wrong. He cited concerns about the Justice Departments violating American civil liberties. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, standing side-by-side with Ryan, said that Nunes is handling this just right. By Thursday evening, press accounts of the crisis were full of speculation that Wray might resign in protest once the memo was made public Friday, and that Trump was preparing to fire Rosenstein, who is the top Justice Department official overseeing the Russia investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller, since Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself from that role last year. The spectacle of a president openly at war with his own appointees at the FBI and Justice Department only underscores that the conflict in Washington is not a matter of personalities or mere partisan conflict between the two corporate-controlled parties, but a more fundamental conflict within the state machine itself. Congressional Republicans, normally down-the-line defenders of the FBI and other agencies of state repression, are now posturing as advocates of civil liberties and the rights of individuals to be free of unwarranted government spyingas long as those individuals are Donald Trump and his top aides. Nunes, who claims to oppose abuses by the intelligence agencies, was a leading proponent of the recent push to reauthorize Section 702 of the PATRIOT Act, which authorizes virtually unlimited warrantless spying on the communications of Americans, provided it is conducted on the pretext of combating terrorism. Republicans like Ryan and McConnell, now posing as defenders of civil liberties, are relentless defenders of police violence and repression, and have led the charge for the most savage measures to be used against those genuinely engaged in the exposure of the crimes of the US military-intelligence apparatus, like Chelsea Manning, Julian Assange and Edward Snowden. On the other side, Wray and Rosenstein are defending the unfettered power of the intelligence apparatus to spy on anyone and everyone, including political candidates and their top aides, without the slightest democratic accountability. Significantly, Thomas OConnor, president of the FBI Agents Association, issued a statement Thursday supporting Wray. It praised Wray for standing shoulder to shoulder with the men and women of the FBI as we work together to protect our country from criminal and national security threats. While Nunes and the Republicans claim that the FBI abused the FISA process to obtain a warrant to conduct surveillance of former Trump aide Carter Page, the FISA process itself, supported by the entire political apparatus, is an abuse of democratic rights. The secret court hears applications from the intelligence agencies for spying warrants and invariably, 99.9 percent of the time, rubber-stamps them. There is no opportunity for those targeted for spying to oppose the request for a warranton the contrary, they do not even know about it, since the entire proceeding is conducted behind closed doors. The conflict between Trump and the FBI has allowed the congressional Democrats to adopt their favorite role, as the most ardent defenders of the military-intelligence apparatus. The ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, Adam Schiff, has issued a barrage of statements upholding the integrity of the FBI, one of the main instruments of the capitalist state for the attack on democratic rights. In an op-ed published in the Washington Post Thursday, Schiff portrayed Nunes as a virtual traitor, claiming that his memo smears the FBI and the Justice Departmentall while potentially revealing intelligence sources and methods. He attacked Nunes for declaring that the Justice Department and the FBI themselves were under investigation, as though such a probe would be intrinsically forbidden. And he warned of the risk of a constitutional crisis if Trump should follow up release of the memo by firing Special Counsel Mueller or Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein. Schiff ends with a warning that the Republicans are disrupting the bargain that underlay the creation of the House and Senate intelligence committees after the 1972-74 Watergate scandal: In exchange for the intelligence communitys willingness to reveal closely guarded national secrets to a select group of members and staff for the purposes of oversight, the committees and the congressional leadership pledged to handle that information responsibly and without regard to politics. That contract has now been spectacularly broken by the creation of a partisan memo that misrepresents highly classified information that will never be made public. Intelligence agencies can no longer be confident that material they provide the committee will not be repurposed and manipulated for reasons having nothing to do with national security. As a result, they will be far more reluctant to share their secrets with us in the future. Schiff is making an extraordinary acknowledgement of the real relationship of power in Washington: that it is the unelected officials of the intelligence apparatus, not the elected members of Congress, who actually call the shots. The Democratic and Republican politicians serve only as window dressing, and their conflicts give the illusion of democracy, while the entire system is dedicated to the oppression and robbery of working people, both in the United States and around the world. 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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 Glenn Howerton as Jack in A.P. Bio. (Photo: Ron Batzdorff/NBC) A.P. Bio stars Glenn Howerton from Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia as Jack Griffin, a philosophy scholar whos lost his job at Harvard and, down on his luck, is stuck teaching advanced-placement biology in a Toledo, Ohio, high school. The shows engine runs almost entirely on the strength of Howertons poker-faced contempt: He doesnt want to be in this classroom, he tells the kids hes not going to teach them anything about biology, and he feigns interest in the other teachers and the principal (whos played by Patton Oswalt) only in order to ridicule them. Its not a pleasant show to watch. Which is odd, because its made by some very comedy-savvy people. In addition to Howerton and Oswalt in front of the camera, there are the shows creators: producers Seth Meyers, Lorne Michaels, and Mike OBrien. The series, premiering tonight on NBC, really seems to be OBriens baby he wrote the pilot and oversees a lot of the show. OBrien is a former Saturday Night Live writer (a featured performer for one season) and someone who has specialized in the cool-kid category of uncomfortable comedy with his 7 Minutes in Heaven short films, in which he interviews a celebrity in a closet and tries to kiss the famous person at the end of the interview. In A.P. Bio, the uncomfortableness resides in the reaction of the students to their new teacher, Jack. Since this is an advanced-placement class, these are kids who are genuinely interested in the subject of biology. Theyre disappointed that Jack turns out to be a hip dude exuding rebellion and irony. In theory, its a nice flip of the more common sitcom setup, in which kids would usually be shown to be thrilled that their rule-breaking teacher was showing them how to, you know, really enjoy life! But in practice, A. P. Bio ends up ridiculing the students. Theyre stereotyped as wearing nerdy glasses lookit the four-eyes! and being socially awkward. Its also telling that the three teachers in the school break room with whom Jack regularly interacts are all women, since these teachers are portrayed primarily as superficial chatterboxes who are easily duped by Jacks charm. Not progressive, to put it mildly. Story continues A.P. Bio seemed to me to be a throwback to the National Lampoon style of raucous, privileged-white-boy humor to be found in Animal House, Caddyshack, and a lot of first-generation SNL material. Howerton, whos so distinctive in Its Always Sunny, here acts as though the producers told him to do an impersonation of Joel McHale in Community. The funniest moment of A.P. Bio that I watched occurred in the second episode, which had Niecy Nash as a guest star. Nashs more democratic and behaviorally authentic performing style gave A.P. Bio a warmer glow than the show possesses without her. A.P. Bio airs Thursdays at 9:30 p.m. on NBC. Read more from Yahoo Entertainment: Kate Middleton and Meghan Markle are poised to become sisters-in-law in May but they have already begun leaning on each other. Im sure Kate will do all she can to help Meghan, a source in Kates hometown of Bucklebury tells PEOPLE, while noting that in the early years of her romance with Prince William, Kate herself was mentored by Queen Elizabeth. She had audiences with Queen Elizabeth quite often and was taught to behave like a future Queen. Unlike Kate, whose husband is second in the immediate line of succession, Meghan has ample breathing room between herself and the throne: Prince Harry will downshift to sixth in line with the arrival of William and Kates third baby in April. Meghan, who will be learning on the job, is funny and serious and extremely hard-working, says a source close to the former Suits star. I can imagine Kate will find a great friend in her. Prince William, Princess Kate, Meghan Markle and Prince Harry at Sandringham on Christmas Day 2017. The two women, both 36, have quickly bonded, helped by their close proximity as neighbors at Kensington Palace. Of course, their paths to the palace were very different: Kate, who enjoyed a bucolic childhood in the English countryside, was a 19-year-old student at St. Andrews University in Scotland when she met fellow art history major Prince William. Across the ocean, Meghan whose parents, onetime TV sound engineer Thomas Markle and yoga instructor Doria Ragland was cultivating her interests in acting and activism at Northwestern University in Illinois. For much more on Meghan and Kates blossoming friendship, pick up this weeks issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands Friday RELATED VIDEO: Solving the Mystery Behind Meghan Markles Other Diamond Ring By the time Meghan met Harry in July 2016, she had an established career as an actress and had been through 2013 divorce from producer Trevor Engelson. Meghan is far more worldly and sophisticated than Kate was when she arrived on the scene, says royal biographer Ingrid Seward. She was in one of the toughest businesses in the world and did well in it. Shes a divorcee and had some of the ups and downs in life. Kate has lived a rather charmed existence. Reporting by PHIL BOUCHER, SIMON PERRY and AILI NAHAS McQueen match-up! Kate Middleton and Meghan Markle may be hundreds of miles apart, but their style sense is completely in sync. Both women had official royal engagements on Thursday. Kates event was a formal dinner at Oslos Royal Palace during her official tour of Sweden and Norway alongside Prince William. And Meghans event is her first official evening engagement with Prince Harry, the Endeavor Awards, which honor servicemen and women. And though their outfits couldnt have been more different Kate wore an ethereal, flowing blush gown, while Meghan was in a fitted pantsuit they had one very important thing in common: The designer. Both women wore Alexander McQueen creations for their respective events. Kates a longtime fan of the fashion house, which is now run by designer Sarah Burton, and famously wed Prince William in a custom Sarah Burton for Alexander McQueen gown in 2011. Since her wedding, Kate has opted for McQueen pieces again and again, from evening gowns to skirt suits and coats. Kate Middleton and Meghan Markle Meghans history with the brand doesnt go back as far as Kates does. But with McQueen being one of the most iconic British designers in the world, its no surprise that shes choosing to embrace the designer especially since her future sister-in-law is such a big fan. Prince William and Kate Middleton Kates dress was a light pink gown featuring silver sequin detailing on the shoulders, and cape-like sleeves that fell over the top half in front and continued down the back of the gown. Its a version of this white McQueen gown, which is currently 60 percent off. Meghan Markle and Prince Harry Meghan wore a sleek black tuxedo suit with the brands Classic Suiting Jacket, which retails for $1,995. She paired the look with a white Tuxe Bodywear bodysuit with a bow at the neck. (The bodysuit is still available in most sizes, too.) This isnt the first time Meghan and Kate have been on the same style wavelength. Earlier this week, Kate carried a medium-sized handle bag twice just like the ones Meghan favors. Nearly 40 years after the tragic loss of Hollywood actress Natalie Wood, new witnesses in her 1981 drowning have emerged prompting Los Angeles County Sheriffs investigators to deem her cause of death suspicious. The news which was reported by CNN, and the Associated Press comes hours after CBS News released a clip from an upcoming 48 Hours special where Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department Lieutenant John Corina when asked if Woods widower Robert Wagner, 87, is considered a suspect responded by saying he is now considered more of a person of interest in the case. Police had initially classified Woods death as an accidental drowning, but the case was reopened in 2011. Wagner has long said he had no involvement in her death, and no charges have ever been filed. Wood died on Nov. 29, 1981, off of Catalina Island in California her body found floating in the water after disappearing after a night of drinking with her husband on their yacht, Splendour. Also on board was actor Christopher Walken, Woods then-costar in the movie Brainstorm, and the boats captain, Dennis Davern. She was 43. On Thursday, sheriffs officials said in a statement that they obtained new witness accounts after reviewing more than 100 tips, The New York Times reported accounts that portray a new sequence of events on the boat that night. One witness described hearing crashing sounds and yelling coming from Wood and Wagners stateroom, the AP reported. Separate witnesses heard a man and woman arguing on the back of the boat, voices believed to belong to Wood and Wagner. Wagner has refused to speak with investigators since they began to look into the circumstances surrounding Woods death again. His attorney didnt respond to PEOPLEs request for comment on Thursday. Robert Wagner and Natalie Wood in 1959 Wood was married to Wagner twice first in 1957 (they divorced five years later) and again in 1972 until her death. Story continues I havent seen him tell the details that match all the other witnesses in this case, Corina said of Wagner on 48 Hours. I think hes constantly changed his story a little bit. And his version of events just dont add up. Detectives who spoke with 48 Hours noted that there were numerous bruises on Woods body that appeared to be new, according to her autopsy report. She looked like a victim of an assault, said Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department Detective Ralph Hernandez. When asked if Woods death was a murder rather than a tragic accident, Corina said, I think its suspicious enough to make us think that something happened. Robert Wagner and Natalie Wood In Wagners 2008 memoir, Pieces of My Heart, he wrote that after a night of drinking, he got into an argument with Walken over Woods career. At one point, the now 87-year-old actor wrote, I picked up a wine bottle, slammed it on the table and broke it into pieces. As for what caused her to fall off the boat, Wagner wrote it was all conjecture. Nobody knows. There are only two possibilities: either she was trying to get away from the argument, or she was trying to tie the dinghy. But the bottom line is that nobody knows exactly what happened. In 2016, Wagner spoke to PEOPLE about his familys heartbreak and his close bond with his stepdaughter and Woods daughter, Natasha Gregson Wagner. We were all so shattered by the loss, and we were hanging on to each other, Wagner said. My bond with Natasha is very, very intense. Weve hung onto each other through the years and she means the world to me. The 48 Hours report includes the latest information from interviews with the detectives and Woods sister Lana, as well as archival interviews with Wagner, Davern and others. The shows efforts to get comment from Wagner and Walken were unsuccessful. Natalie Wood: Death in Dark Water will air Saturday, Feb. 3, at 10 p.m. ET/PT on CBS. Kate Middleton continues to impress with her royal tour ensembles. The 36-year-old pregnant Duchess of Cambridge once again looked spectacular on her and Prince William's Royal Tour of Sweden and Norway, this time attending a reception on Wednesday night to celebrate Swedish culture at the Fotografiska Gallery on the second day of their trip. Middleton covered her burgeoning baby bump in a blue velvet dress by London-based designer Erdem. The elegant frock featured a white floral print, bell sleeves and a solid hemline. She paired the gown with black Gianvito Rossi "DOrsay" suede sandals and minimal jewelry, including silver earrings and her wedding ring. Middleton's brown locks were pulled back in a neat updo and her makeup consisted of blush, smoky brown eyeshadow and a light pink lip. Dominic Lipinski - Pool/Getty Images As for William, he matched his lovely wife by donning a bright royal blue suit with a crisp white button-up and a printed blue tie. Dominic Lipinski - Pool/Getty Images The Duke and Duchess were also accompanied by Crown Princess Victoria and Prince Daniel as they greeted guests inside the event. Prince William and Kate Middleton took a trip down memory lane to where they first met and fell in love. Youre bringing us down memory lane, Kate told CEO of Motitech Jon Ingar Kjenes. This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it. William was enthusiastic, Kjanes adds. He knew straightaway where we were filming and said, Youve filmed my room. They also showed a cafe near the St. Andrews called the North Point, which today has a sign outside proclaiming William met Kate here for coffee. Kjanes asked him if it was true: He said, Of course, St. Andrews is a very small place. I took it to mean they had been everywhere. Princess Mette-Marit, Prince Haakon, Kate Middleton and Prince William The stop is just one of many during William and Kates two-day visit to Norway. They arrived in the country on Thursday morning after spending the previous two days in Sweden. Its one of Hollywoods most tragic mysteries: what happened to Natalie Wood on the night of November 28, 1981? The beloved actress drowned off the coast of Californias Catalina Island after an ocean outing with her husband Robert Wagner and her Brainstorm co-star Christopher Walken, having gone missing the night before. The next morning, she was found nearly a mile away from the yacht Splendour, though the circumstances of her death have long remained strange and unanswered. Four decades on, a new 48 Hours special, titled Natalie Wood: Death in Dark Water, appears to offer up still more questions. CBS reports that Los Angeles County Sheriffs investigators have told the televised news magazine that Wagner is now a person of interest and, further, investigators want to speak with Wagner about the circumstances surrounding her death. The new special includes interviews with new witnesses, plus supposedly new evidence and new theories as to what really happened on the Splendour. Read More:Steven Spielbergs West Side Story Remake Puts Out Open Casting Call for Tony, Maria, Anita, and More As weve investigated the case over the last six years, I think hes more of a person of interest now, Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department Lieutenant John Corina said in an interview with 48 Hours correspondent Erin Moriarty. I mean, we know now that he was the last person to be with Natalie before she disappeared. Woods death was the subject of an initial two-week investigation, which later ruled that the death was an accident. Yet, thirty years later, in 2011, the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department reopened the death investigation. A year later, the Los Angeles Coroners Office amended Woods death certificate, as CBS notes, changing the manner of death from an accidental drowning to drowning and other undetermined factors. Story continues CBS reports that Wagner has refused to speak with any investigators since the case was reopened seven years ago. I havent seen him tell the details that match all the other witnesses in this case, Corina said of Wagner. I think hes constantly changed his story a little bit. And his version of events just dont add up. (CBS adds that Walken has spoken with investigators, though neither actor spoke with the 48 Hours team.) In a new preview of the special, Moriarty asks Corina if he believes Wood was murdered. I think its suspicious enough to make us think that something happened, he said. Natalie Wood: Death in Dark Water to set to be broadcast Saturday, February 3 at 10 p.m. ET/PT on CBS. Sign Up: Stay on top of the latest breaking film and TV news! Sign up for our Email Newsletters here. Related stories 'I, Tonya' Bodyguard Explains Why He Was Kicked Out of Alamo Drafthouse in Funny PSA -- Exclusive Logan Paul Responds to Suicide Video Controversy in First Interview: 'It's Not Like I'm a Bad Guy' 'The Week Of' First Trailer: Adam Sandler and Chris Rock Are Dysfunctional Fathers in Netflix Comedy Police have filed murder charges against the ex-husband of a woman who vanished in 2014 and whose body was discovered two years later floating in San Diego Bay. PEOPLE obtained a statement from San Diego Police that confirms Matthew Sullivan, a Navy veteran, was apprehended Wednesday morning outside his home in Wyoming, Delaware. The 32-year-old has been charged with first-degree murder in the death of his wife, Elizabeth Sullivan, who disappeared without a trace from her Point Loma home. Elizabeth, a mother of two, was 32 at the time of her disappearance. She was reported missing on Oct. 14, 2014 three days after her family members received a suspicious text from her phone. Her badly decomposed body surfaced on Oct. 6, 2016, and was positively identified two months later. Elizabeths death was classified as a homicide. San Diego Homicide Detectives continued their investigation and identified the suspect in Elizabeths murder to be her former husband, Matthew Sullivan, reads the police statement. Matthew and Elizabeth were married at the time of her murder. Authorities have yet to reveal how they believe Elizabeth was killed, but several reports allege a knife was used. Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Click here to get breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases in the True Crime Newsletter. Detectives obtained a homicide warrant for Matthews arrest last week, the statement continues. He was booked into a local jail and will be transported back to San Diego after extradition proceedings. The statement does not disclose how Sullivan emerged as a suspect and what alleged evidence led to his arrest. Sullivan has entered no plea to the charges against him; he will be arraigned upon being returned to California. PEOPLE was unable to ascertain if he has retained legal counsel who could comment on his behalf. Its Killing Me, Suspect Previously Said of Elizabeths Disappearance Story continues In a rare interview with PEOPLE after his wife vanished, Sullivan expressed his frustrations and his fears. Im at the end of my rope, he told PEOPLE in late 2014. Im running on fumes right now, I dont know where to look. Im always looking around the neighborhood, trying to catch a glimpse of her. Even if I got a phone call saying shes okay, it would put my mind at rest. But nothing at this point. He said the couple had been having some marital difficulties when Elizabeth went missing, but he said she never would leave her children. Shes a good mom, Sullivan said then. The girls need their mom. Shes been with them while I was at work or on deployment, she was always here. At the time of her disappearance, Sullivan said his wifes family had asked him not to talk to the media. I dont want to upset them any more than they are, he told PEOPLE. My wife was very close to her cousins and I know they are just trying to do whats right by her. At points, Sullivan fought back tears as he spoke about his missing wife. Its killing me. Ive lost 25 lbs. Its taking a toll physically and mentally, he said at the time. I think about her constantly, I cant stop. The girls are my biggest concern right now. I have to keep going, try to do what I have to do for them, and keep praying. For more compelling true crime coverage, follow our Crime magazine on Flipboard. Elizabeth was born and raised in Hampton, Virginia, and graduated from Kecoughtan High School in 2001. She met Sullivan when he was stationed in Norfolk, Virginia, and the couple was married about five years at the time of her disappearance. Sullivan eventually moved from San Diego to Maryland with his fiancee, Kayla Turner, their new baby and Elizabeths two daughters. Anyone with information regarding Elizabeths murder is asked to call the San Diego County District Attorneys Offices Homicide Unit at (619) 531-2293, or Crime Stoppers at (888) 580-8477. Amal George Clooney Theres no place like home. George Clooney didnt technically travel far to meet the love of his life, Amal Clooney. The actor revealed to David Letterman in a new interview that the fateful introduction just happened to take place within the comfort of his own (second) home in Lake Como, Italy. I didnt leave the house, the Monuments Men director said on Netflixs My Next Guest Needs No Introduction with David Letterman. A mutual friend of ours said, Im stopping by and can I bring my friend? And I was like, Of course! It was July 2013, and Clooney was still considered the eternal bachelor by multiple media outlets. While the international superstar didnt think much of Amal prior to the meeting, someone on his team had a hunch that something could develop with the Lebanese-born human rights lawyer. I got a call from my agent who said, I met this woman who is coming to your house, who youre going to marry, he continued. It really worked out that way. Joining the group was Clooneys parents. The funniest thing was my mom and dad were visiting so my parents were there, he continued. And we just talked, we stayed up all night talking, and I got her email address, because she was going to send me some pictures of my parents. So we started writing. I didnt know if she wanted to go out with meI just thought we were buddies. Eventually, their friendship developed into a romance, and the pair married in September 2014 in a star-studded ceremony in Venice. The bride wore a custom gown by Oscar de la Renta, and the groom wore a tux by Giorgio Armani. They are now parents to 7-month-old twins Alex and Ella. It had never been part of my DNA, the father of two concluded of building a family. We didnt plan on it. We never talked about it until after we were married, which is funny. There was an assumption that we didnt want them. And then, after the wedding, we just felt wed gotten very lucky, both of us, and we should share whatever good luck weve got. It would seem self-centered to just have that belong to us. Story continues Watch above. Related Articles Yahoo Life Videos By Erin Donnelly On Monday, Sept. 13, after 16 months of pandemic-forced cancellations and postponements, the famed Met Gala will at last return, with throngs of A-listers descending upon New York City's Metropolitan Museum of Art in their most inventive fashions. Though this year's long-awaited event often referred to as fashion prom is being billed as more intimate in scale this go-around, rumors are already running rampant about who might be on the star-studded guest list, notoriously vetted by Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour. As the 2021 co-chairs, Timothee Chalamet, Billie Eilish, Amanda Gorman and Naomi Osaka alone are guaranteed to be gracing the most thrilling red carpet in the world, with this year's theme devoted to American fashion. But it's the legacy of a Brit that carries special significance, as this year marks the 25th anniversary of Princess Diana's visit to fashion's big night out. (In a stroke of symmetry, 2021 also marked what would have been the late royal's 60th birthday, on July 1, and 40 years since her July 29, 1981, wedding to Prince Charles.) Princess Diana's appearance on Dec. 9, 1996, remains noteworthy on several counts: her daring, lingerie-inspired dress, designed by a visionary young John Galliano in his first season at Dior; the rarity of a British royal attending the gala (although Wintour herself is a dame); and the moment's encapsulation of her transition, as Eloise Moran of Lady Di Revenge Looks puts it, "from royal to international celebrity." Moran, whose popular Instagram account chronicles Diana's "sassiest post-divorce looks" and will release The Lady Di Look Book: What Diana Was Trying to Tell Us Through Her Clothes in June 2022, says the then-35-year-old royal's attendance came as she was finding new footing among New York City's fashion crowd in the months since her scandalous split from Prince Charles. The former couple finalized their divorce on Aug. 28, 1996 a year and three days before Diana would die from injuries sustained in a Paris car crash, and just three months before the Met Gala. Was Diana's dress a "revenge" look? "One hundred percent," says Moran. For its theme that year, the gala which started in 1948 as a more staid fundraising dinner for the Met's Costume Institute, until the legendary fashion editor Diana Vreeland came on as a consultant in the early 1970s and transformed it into the splashy, starry spectacle it is now had chosen the work of Christian Dior. Though the eponymous French designer died in 1957, his fashion house remains one of the leading luxury labels. In 1996, all eyes were on the young British-Gibraltarian man who had just taken over as head designer, John Galliano. In his first couture collection for Dior, Galliano included a slinky midnight-blue silk slip dress reminiscent of a negligee, black lace trim emphasizing the boudoir-chic effect. It's this dress that Diana chose to wear. The princess reportedly had her reservations about the provocative look, however. According to the royal biographer Katie Nicholl, author of 2010's William and Harry, Diana worried that the dress might embarrass her then-14-year-old son William, who was struggling with his parents' split. Ultimately, the urge to make a bold sartorial statement as a newly single woman won out. Diana paired the Dior dress with a matching navy silk robe-style cover up perfect for fending off the December chill but didn't shy from adding some ice in the form of her sapphire and diamond cluster drop earrings. The jewels perfectly complemented her sapphire engagement ring which, along with the earrings, has since been passed down to her daughter-in-law Kate Middleton and the pearl and sapphire choker necklace made famous for its appearance during her 1985 dance with John Travolta. Diana also carried her go-to quilted Dior handbag, a style now known as the Lady Dior in her honor. Dressed to the nines, the princess arrived in the company of her friend Liz Tilberis, then the editor of Harper's Bazaar and a co-chair for that year's gala. (In a rare absence since becoming chairwoman of the Costume Institute now part of the Anna Wintour Costume Center in 1995, Wintour did not co-chair the 1996 event, though another princess, Marie-Chantal of Greece, stepped in.) Tilberis, wearing a velvet turtleneck dress with matching opera-length gloves in the same shade of midnight blue as her royal pal, was at the time undergoing treatment for ovarian cancer, and would die from the disease in 1999. Galliano himself also stayed close to Diana's side throughout the evening, reportedly introducing the princess to fashion's own version of royalty. By all accounts the mother of two was the "belle of the ball," though Moran notes that her dress now considered an iconic look that's been displayed at London's Victoria and Albert Museum fell flat with some more conservative royal-watchers. "That was one of her most shocking dresses, and it got slated because they said it didn't suit her figure because she obviously had quite broad shoulders," Moran says. "But I thought she looked fabulous. She just looks so happy and confident." The dress's shock value may have been the appeal, Moran adds, noting that Diana was well aware of the reaction her outfits received. What better place to push the envelope than at the Met Gala? "I think she was embracing it and enjoying it," Moran says. "She knew she could never get rid of the attention and the spotlight on her, but I think she was positioning it in a different way, as a kind of international megastar, Marilyn Monroe-type icon rather than a member of the royal family. And I think the dress really reflected that." Read more from Yahoo Life: Dwyane Wade wears Princess Diana's famous 'I'm a Luxury' sweater Prince Harry says Meghan Markle was the reason he started therapy: 'She could tell that I was hurting' 10 years after Alexander McQueens death by suicide, a look at mental health in the fashion world Want lifestyle and wellness news delivered to your inbox? Sign up here for Yahoo Lifes newsletter. Just because Meghan Markle is leaving Suits after season seven doesnt mean she cant dress like the character that made her famous (Rachel Zane). Markle attended the Endeavour Fund Awards, an event honoring the achievements of wounded servicemen and women, along with her fiance, Prince Harry, in London today. When the royal couple arrived at the event, Markle stepped out in a chic trouser suit that would no doubt turn heads at Pearson Specter Litt. The 36-year-old looked put-together in a black Alexander McQueen pantsuit, white bodysuit and black pumps, and we cant help but wonder if the pretty paralegal was her muse. Coincidence? We think not. RELATED: Suits Is Returning for Season 8 with Katherine Heigl but Sans Meghan Markle & Patrick J. Adams Meghan Markle is proving once again that shes not going to play by the royal familys rules. For her first black tie function since announcing her engagement to Prince Harry in November, the 36-year-old was expected to step out wearing a ball gown. Instead, the former actress opted for a black pantsuit, looking utterly professional and powerful in the black and white getup. Those hoping for an evening gown will be left disappointed, as the royal-to-be wore a two-piece suit for the awards ceremony. (Photo: Getty Images) Markle went with cropped black trousers and matching blazer from Alexander McQueen, a favorite brand of her soon-to-be sister-in-law the Duchess of Cambridge (she just so happened to wear a gown from the British design house in Norway on Thursday night as well), and paired the set with a white button-down shirt from Tuxe. The choice to forgo a gown in favor of tailored separates was shocking to many, but the outfit has still received glowing reviews on social media. This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it. This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it. This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it. This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it. This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it. And despite many peoples high hopes, the former Suits star didnt accessorize with a tiara (however, this is more due royal protocol than it clashing with her look a sparkly royal family heirloom wont rest on Markles head until her May nuptials). The evening was momentous nonetheless. The Endeavour Fund awards ceremony marks the first time the couple have been photographed attending such a formal event. Held at Goldsmiths Hall in London, the event celebrated the achievements of wounded veterans who took part in a number of sporting events over the past year. In an effort to rediscover their self-belief and fighting spirit through physical challenges, the Endeavour Fund has offered advice and mentoring to more than 950 servicemen and women since its launch back in 2012. Read more from Yahoo Lifestyle: Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter for nonstop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day. 00:05 West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee called the state's Congress leaders 'pygmies' and reminded them that without the Trinamool Congress, the party cannot function in Delhi. She also accused the Congress of hobnobbing with the Communist Party of India-Marxist to oppose her government. "The Congress and the CPI-M are one. They are made for each other. It is nothing new. I know how it had extended support to CPI-M," she told the assembly while replying to a debate on the motion of thanks to the Governor's address to the house. "Without us Congress cannot function in Delhi. Let the state Congress leaders ask their party leaders in Delhi," she said. "The Congress leaders here are pygmies," she said adding that Sonia Gandhi had congratulated her on Thursday after her party's victory in the bypolls in West Bengal. "I too congratulated her (for Congress' victory in the Rajasthan bypoll)," she said. Congress members staged a walkout in the state assembly along with CPI-M when Banerjee rose to speak. The Trinamool Congress chief lambasted the Congress,the Left and the Bharatiya Janata Party for overlooking the development ushered in the state by her government and said that they should do 'constructive criticism'. "I have to manage with limited funds. The Centre can print notes. But we have no such option. We are facing the legacy of the CPI-M, which had pushed the state into shouldering a huge debt burden," she said. Banerjee said debts had not accumulated during TMC rule and 45 per cent of the loan taken by the her government is used for the development projects. She told the opposition members, "You cannot point fingers only at West Bengal (for taking loans). Every state is taking loans." "I will ask Congress leader (Abdul) Mannan to look at what is happening in Punjab. The CPI-M should look what is happening in Kerala. The BJP must look at Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh. This type of debt is there everywhere, not only in West Bengal," the chief minister said. -- PTI California Representative Maxine Waters chose to boycott President Trumps first State of the Union address on Tuesday night, but opted to respond to the presidents words with her own brief message which aired on BET yesterday. In her short response, Waters fiery personality shone through, and she didnt mince words in broaching what she feels is a negative overall tone in Washington right now. Yesterday, Donald Trump had the audacity to call upon people to set aside differences, when in reality, he has divided Americans in ways no other modern president has done, Waters began. From this starting point, the reclaiming my time, congresswoman recalled the presidents reaction to the racial violence in Charlottesville, VA, accusing the president of defending white supremacists and the KKK. (While the president never made explicitly pro-white supremacist remarks following Charlottesville, he was widely criticized for saying that white nationalist protesters included some very fine people, among other things.) Waters went on to remind viewers of the presidents previous comments on Mexicans and the racially charged travel bans his administration has worked to implement. Its impossible to believe him, she deadpans,when he tries to declare that he wants to bring the country together. Waters then goes on to straight up accuse the president of being racist, and calls Trump out for regular vulgarity making the president, in her eyes, unsuitable for children. Next, the woman fans call Auntie Maxine, decided to land a punch in the face of the administrations foreign policy, reminding folks about the presidents verbal attack on our allies in NATO, our refusal to comply with the Paris Accord, and the administrations seemingly cozy relationship with Russias Vladimir Putin a man and nation who are under intense scrutiny for possible meddling in the 2016 election cycle. Story continues Finally, Waters lashed out at the Republican-led Congress, saying that those in power in the party are too yielding to the presidents dangerous whims, and their complacency has equal weight in the state of US politics. Reminding people that the current administration inherited a strong economy from President Obama, she calls specifically on Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell for their towing of the company line in all things Trump. Calling the White House, constant chaos, Waters then delivers her final punch: Increasingly, millions of Americans have recognized that Donald Trump is detrimental to our nation. We deserve better. Thats why I have called for his impeachment. She goes on: Some believe its too early. I disagree. The time is now. We must organize, challenge and resist. While this isnt the official Democrat response to SOTU, Waters tendency to unabashedly speak her mind has created a huge fan base within groups who want to see the president ousted, and continues to draw ire from those GOP fans who think her brash words are disrespectful. What do you think of Maxine Waters rebuttal? Let us know @BritandCo! (Photo by Aaron P. Bernstein/Getty Images) You Might Also Like A 16-year-old schoolgirl and her family have spoken out against the culture of bullying after a fellow student ripped her wig off while others laughed and filmed the incident. Lauren Williams, who attends Franklin High School in Tennessee, suffers from eczema and psoriasis, which has affected her hair growth, The Tennessean reports. Williams began wearing a wig to school to help with her self-confidence after years of bullying. After the latest incident was recorded on video and posted to Snapchat, her family decided to take a stand. Lauren Williams with her mother, Myckelle. (Photo: The Tennessean) They posted the video and pictures of Williamss damaged scalp after the bullies tore off the wig, which was held to her head by clips and glue. The Williams family received overwhelming support from other families from as far as Belgium and Nigeria, many of whom had similar experiences of school bullying. By doing this, theyve helped me reach out to other girls who are dealing with the same things, the teenager told the newspaper. Williamss mother Myckelle Williams said she had spoken to school administration officials about bullying in the past but felt they had not taken her concerns seriously. Once she got to the school, immediately girls started attacking her, she said. I was going to the school constantly. These were seniors, girls who are 17, 18. My daughters 14 at the time, and shes enduring this. Myckelle Williams said her daughter had become so frustrated by the constant bullying that she posted a message on social media saying she wished she had a gun. Franklin High School officials said they began investigating the incident as soon as it was reported. This type of behavior can never be tolerated at school, a Williamson County Schools spokesperson told The Tennessean. In addition to school discipline, WCS prosecutes delinquent behavior to the fullest extent of the law. Lauren Williams used to wear a wig to cover up her eczema and psoriasis. (Photo: The Tennessean) Since the horrific incident, Lauren Williams has shaved her head in a note of defiance against her bullies. Story continues Your beauty isnt defined by the number of strands on your head, she said. Ever since I shaved it, I feel free. Im not held down by my hair. Im not defined by it Im defining myself. Read more from Yahoo Lifestyle: Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter for nonstop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day. When the Miami-Dade Medical Examiners office released a report earlier this year that revealed 40-year-old Kizzy Londons cause of death was a fat embolism, it was of no surprise to those who had been following her fatal plastic surgery case and other cases like it. In December, London traveled from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to Miami for a Brazilian Butt Lift procedure. But just as in the case of 25-year-old Ranika Hall from Missouri, 29-year-old Heather Meadows from West Virginia, 32-year-old Maria Christian from Ecuador, and 51-year-old Maribel Cardona from Naples, FL, what may have seemed like a simple plastic surgery procedure would ultimately end in her untimely death. You May Also Like: Mother Dies After a Popular Butt Lift Procedure Goes Wrong London, and the countless other women before her who tragically died on the plastic surgery table or who have been permanently disfigured by botched surgery, was in search of a low-cost fix. At Jolie Plastic Surgery Center in Miami, where her procedure was performed, the BBL surgery specials advertise for thousands less and sometimes even more than half off the average cost for this type of procedure. But what London may not have known before she boarded the airplane for sunny South Florida, was that Jolie Plastic Surgery was once named Eres Plastic Surgery, and not long before that, Encore, and before that, Vanity. Owned and operated by the same person, over the course of a few years, the strip-mall clinic continued to change its name following several plastic surgery-related deaths and numerous investigations by the Florida Attorney Generals Office. Miami plastic surgeon Daniel Careaga, MD says a fat embolism is a rare and severe complication that can happen when injecting fat into the buttocks, but its becoming an increasingly occurring trend due to the number of unqualified doctors who are deceiving patients by advertising as plastic surgeons. During a Brazilian Butt Lift, if the surgeon is not aware of how deep the tip of their instrument is, they can accidentally inject the fat too deep and into a vein, which then allows the fat to travel to the heart and lungs, he says. Its important to emphasize that in South Florida, most of the deaths that have occurred are at the hands of doctors who are not plastic surgeons. Anyone can call themselves a cosmetic surgeon; there is no training requirement or board exam needed for you to call yourself that. Story continues You May Also Like: Court Bans Miami Plastic Surgeon from Practicing After Recent Patient Death The Legal Loophole That Allows for Under-qualified Physicians Miami general physician Arnaldo Valls, MD, the doctor who performed Londons surgery, studied medicine in Havana, Cuba, and has no record of plastic surgery training to his name. This doctor is not even board eligible to be certified in any plastic surgery specialty, says Miami plastic surgeon Adam Rubinstein, MD. According to the Florida Board of Medicine website, his sole qualification in surgery is a two-month rotation in pediatric surgery. Its hardly adequate training to be operating on people. Based on the latest reviews on sites like RealSelf and Yelp, where many patients chronicle their out-of-state plastic surgery journeys, Dr. Valls is still practicing BBL, tummy tucks and breast augmentations at Jolie. In the state of Florida, any doctor with a valid medical license can legally perform any surgery on any patient who provides consent. This isnt just in Florida; this is consistent nationwide, says Robert Aicher, Esq., the legal counsel for the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery. Unlike other jurisdictions like Canada, which actually has plastic surgery separately identified, in the U.S., every medical certificate says physician and surgeon. Technically even psychiatrists are MDs, although they wouldnt be able to get privileges of course, theyd still be within their legal right to do it. I hate to say buyer beware, but the real expression should be buyer be educated. The case of Dr. Vallss lack of qualifications is not isolated, even within his own practice. Another physician operating alongside him at Jolie, dermatologist Anthony Hasan, MD, is the doctor responsible for Maribel Cardonas fatal BBL procedure. Although Dr. Hasan was once board-certified (his certification is now inactive) by the American Board of Dermatology, this certification does not guarantee he is qualified to perform tummy tucks, breast augmentations or Brazilian Butt Lifts. Theres a reason there is plastic surgery training and board-certification, says Dr. Rubinstein. You wouldnt call a plumber to fix an electrical problem and you wouldnt call an electrician to fix your toilet. If you wouldnt call a plumber to take a look at your electrical problem, why are you going to a family practitioner or an internist to perform your surgery? Jolie Plastic Surgery center is just one of the many clinics that advertise their doctors as cosmetic surgeons, or even more deceptively as plastic surgeons. Their Instagram page boasts almost 10,000 followers with daily posts that advertise unbelievable deals on BBL surgeries that include six nights in a recovery house and rides to and from the airport. For potential patients who perform a quick Internet search, Real Self shows doctors like Valls and Hasan listed as Miami Physician instead of Miami Plastic Surgeon, as the site cannot verify their plastic surgery credentials. This slight change of language, however, is misleading to consumers who may not be aware of the disparity in wording. But even so, as RealSelf user LIONESS92, who flew from Texas to Miami for her BBL, stated in a review of the clinic seven months ago, the word-of-mouth credentials from the clinic and the doctor can sometimes be enough for those seeking a low-cost procedure. Because the intake process for the clinic's out of town patients involves just sending paperwork ahead of time and being given the choice of a few doctors to perform the surgery, most patients don't see their doctors in person until they arrive for their procedure. After inquiring into Dr. Vallss credentials upon her arrival in Miami, LIONESS92 was still confident in her choice of surgeon despite discovering that he and another doctor merely had medical licenses, but no plastic surgery training. I asked how long he has been performing BBL's (10 years was his answer), why did he close his own practice (he claims it was too much maintaining his own practice), and what are my chances of anything going wrong (I did not get a clear answer, but he assured me I will be fine). Now, I am aware of the reputation that the company has which are numerous deaths involving different procedures and other surgeons working there doing unethical practice. However, I made my decision to choose Dr. Valls or Dr. Johnathan Fisher because neither surgeons have any reported deaths and both have licenses. Dr. Valls studied in Cuba and graduated in 1975. Dr. Fisher study at Harvard for physiology and attended another accredited medical school that I cannot remember. Either way I feel I have done extensive research on either doctors and I am confident with the decision I have made despite all the negative things that are out in the media. Real Self Member LIONESS92 Preventing Future BBL Deaths Dr. Careaga is all-too familiar with these tragedies as he himself has even dealt with the string of what he calls Miami chop-shops firsthand. The worst experience I have ever had was four years ago when a patient came to me for a consultation for a Brazilian Butt Lift despite having paid for the surgery already at a local chop-shop, he says. They would not refund her money, so she had no choice but to go through with her surgery there and subsequently died on their operating table. It was a tragic but preventable death. The truth is, plastic surgery-related tragedies dont only happen in Miami. Both Dr. Careaga and Dr. Rubinstein agree that patient education is vital to preventing more casualties that stem from the Wild Wild West mentality of low-cost surgery. You want to put yourself in the best circumstances for the best results, says Dr. Rubinstein. At any time, the most qualified, most experienced surgeon can have a complication. These things can happen and at times its uncontrollable, but when you look at a trend across a certain type of center, you have to ask yourself why these things are happening. If you are considering plastic surgery and have been referred to a surgeon by a friend, social media or an internet search, educating yourself and following these steps are imperative. Look them up in their state health department website. Here, you can confirm if they are licensed physicians and whether or not they've had any disciplinary actions against them, advises Dr. Careaga. Visit checkyoursurgeon.com to determine if they are board-certified in plastic surgery, adds Dr. Rubinstein, and make sure the facility where your surgery is taking place is certified by an accrediting body of surgical facilities like the Joint Commission and the American Association for Accreditation of Ambulatory Surgery Facilities." Kizzy Londons case serves as a cautionary tale for the mothers, wives and daughters who continue to fly to Florida for the promise of a look for less. Despite the Florida Attorney Generals investigation into the clinic, Jolie remains open, and its RealSelf page shows that the news of Londons death and the many reviews that reveal unsatisfactory BBL results has not stopped others from forging ahead with their surgeries. Without a governing body regulating whether a doctor is qualified to perform certain surgical procedures, the onus is entirely on the patient to do the research themselves. Its now more important than ever to arm yourself with the proper information before making a decision based solely on price. Being frugal about a vacation, a car or your clothes is a good thing, but this is not the case for plastic surgery, says Dr. Careaga. Two students have been wounded and three others injured after a 12-year-old female student opened fire in a classroom at a middle school near downtown Los Angeles. The Los Angeles Police Department got a call of shots fired at 8:55 a.m., LAPD Officer Drake Madison told TIME. The shooting occurred at Sal Castro Middle School, which adjacent to Belmont High School. Both schools were locked down, according to NBC 4. The shooting was in the Westlake District, a heavily populated area just northwest of downtown Los Angeles. This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it. This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it. An LAPD spokesman confirmed that they have one suspect, a female student, in custody. The suspect was found with a weapon. The shooting victims, a boy and girl both 15 years old, were transported to a local hospital. The boy is in critical condition and the girl is in fair condition, according to KTLA. Three others were taken to the hospital with other injuries. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A Russian man accused of operating a network of infected computers used by cyber criminals has been extradited to the United States from Spain and will make an initial court appearance on Friday, the U.S. Department of Justice said. U.S. prosecutors said Peter Levashov, 37, ran the Kelihos botnet, a network of more than 100,000 infected devices used by cyber criminals to distribute viruses, ransomware, phishing emails and other spam attacks. Levashov denies the charges in an eight-count indictment handed down by a federal grand jury in Connecticut in April. Levashov, who fought the extradition, told Spain's High Court in September that he had worked for Russian President Vladimir Putin's United Russia party for the last 10 years, Russia's RIA news agency reported. He told the court that investigators in the United States would torture him for information about his political work if he was sent there to face the charges, RIA said. Levashov was charged by U.S. prosecutors with causing intentional damage to a protected computer and wire fraud, which carry a potential prison sentence of up to 52 years if he is convicted at trial. He was arrested while on holiday in Barcelona last April and in October, Spain's High Court granted a U.S. request to extradite him. Levashov was scheduled to appear in court in Bridgeport, Connecticut, the Justice Department said. (Reporting by Eric Beech; Editing by Mohammad Zargham and Grant McCool) Amid the seven-year civil war that has plunged Syria into a humanitarian crisis, the U.N. warned on Thursday that aid delivery is getting nowhere at the moment. The announcement comes as Syrian President Bashar al Assad has intensified airstrikes while pushing deeper into a rebel-held province of Idlib. While Russian-sponsored peace talks were held this week, they were largely seen as a failure because fighting still continues. "We cannot have conventional warfare in what is essentially a refugee camp," said Jan Egeland, the U.N. humanitarian adviser in Geneva, according to Reuters. Trending: White Supremacy Propaganda on College Campuses Tripled in Trump's First Year According to U.N. estimates, 13.1 million people require humanitarian assistance, including nearly 3 million people in hard-to-reach areas. Calling the humanitarian flow impotent, Egeland said that over the last three months there hasnt been a single convoy of life-saving relief, medical supplies, food, to any besieged area. Syria OMAR HAJ KADOUR/AFP/Getty Images Don't miss: Groundhog Day 2018: Facts, Quotes, History And Everything Else You Need To Know About Punxsutawney Phil's Prediction The top U.N. advisor urged Russia, Iran and Turkey to aid in the de-escalation of fighting in the area, which has hindered the delivery of life-saving supplies. The last time the flow of aid reached this low was 2015, Egeland said. Russia and Iran, close allies with Syria, and Turkey, who backs some Syrian rebel groups, have forged together to come up with a peace agreement. Known as the Astana Process, Turkish troops oversaw the so-called de-escalation zones of the last insurgent strongholds in Syria. The process sought to reduce fighting between pro-Syrian government forces and rebel fighters while monitoring any violations. Story continues The deal established checkpoints in the zones that include Idlib Province and in Eastern Ghoutathe site of a recent alleged chemical attack by the Syrian government. On Thursday, the Syrian opposition's Higher Negotiations Committee, which represents the rebels, said it would support a Russian-brokered constitutional reform initiative for the besieged country, but only if it was led by the U.N. However, the committee did not attend peace talks in Sochi, Russia, earlier this week because it was not under U.N. auspices. At the peace talks in Sochi, a commission was formed in order to draft up a new constitution for Syria. This article was first written by Newsweek More from Newsweek Joel Kinnaman in Altered Carbon. (Photo: Netflix) Some believe that Altered Carbon the sci-fi epic that begins streaming today may be the most expensive production Netflix has yet bankrolled, although showrunner Laeta Kalogridis cheerfully denied a rumored $150 million production budget. Whatever it cost, Altered Carbon certainly does look expensive: sleek but also elaborate and darkly glistening visually, it is much like Blade Runner. Altered Carbon, with its questing hero Takeshi Kovacs (Joel Kinnaman, primarily; Ill explain in the next paragraph), has the flinty dialogue of a hard-boiled detective tale; tonally, it is much like Blade Runner again. Indeed, Ridley Scott ought to be paid some royalties for Altered Carbon. Although its based on a 2002 novel by his fellow Englishman Richard K. Morgan, the Netflix version is as much a visual sequel to Scotts 1982 movie as director Denis Villeneuves Blade Runner 2049 was last year. In Altered Carbon, were in a future where the essence of an individuals humanity is a cluster of conscious technology called a stack, which can be removed from a person and inserted into another body called a sleeve endless times, thus keeping folks alive for hundreds of years, swapping bodies when necessary. We see this occur early on in Carbon, when rebel-mercenary Takeshi Kovacs, who is played by Will Yun Lee, has his stack placed in the new sleeve of Joel Kinnaman. Kinnaman-Kovacs is hired by a wealthy man, James Purefoys Laurens Bancroft, to find out who killed a previous-sleeve Bancroft. Kinnamans Kovacs roams the dirty, bleak alleyways of an overcrowded metropolis, muttering cynical thoughts; down these mean streets a man must go, as Raymond Chandler a spiritual father to Altered Carbon wrote in an essay about detective fiction in 1945. Morgans source novel is an example of second-generation cyberpunk, the rebellious sci-fi offshoot where initially in early-80s novels of William Gibson, Bruce Sterling, and others wedding the hard-boiled tone to dystopian futures everything was as dank as the inside of Johnny Rottens torn T-shirt. In adapting Altered Carbon, show creator-writer Kalogridis has taken care to emphasize tough women as well as tough men in this story thus, for example, the two-fisted cop Kristin Ortega, played by Martha Higareda, and the lithe warrior Reileen Kawahara, played by Dichen Lachman, who already knew a lot about swapping bodies from her time on Joss Whedons Dollhouse. Story continues Theres a kind of irony that, at a time when pop culture is seeking to explode the stereotypes of how men and women talk to and behave with each other, Kalogridis should be striving so valiantly to redeem a genre that is wholly rooted in retrograde social roles for women and men. The showrunner cannot avoid, for example, including a perfectly awful scenario in which Bancrofts wife, Miriam, played by Kristin Lehman, acts as a classic femme fatale, slinkily seducing a mostly silent but very willing Kovacs. Is the ample nudity of both Kinnaman and Lehman a measure of Netflix daring and equal-opportunity nekkidness? Or is it an example of titillation as cynical as one of Kovacss wisecracks? A lot of Altered Carbon is very silly, mostly whenever any of the principals converse. Trite dialogue prevails. Coming back from the dead is a bitch, Kovacs spits out early on, along with bromides such as, The truth is a weapon! What are you starin at? a tough guy asks Kovacs, who responds, Dont worry youre not my type. (Ooh, is that homophobic transgressiveness I hear?) When Laurens Bancroft hires Kovacs, Purefoy uses the silky, villainous tone he deployed so cornily with Kevin Bacon in The Following: Here, he murmurs to Kinnaman, I want you to solve a murder [pause, eyebrows waggle] mine! Bwa-ha-ha! I made it through half of Altered Carbons 10 episodes before I decided life is too short to hear lines like, Kovacs is a ticking time bomb! If you like your sci-fi good-lookin and tough talkin, I heartily recommend Altered Carbon. Me, if I want a dose of steely speculative fiction, Ill reread my old paperbacks of novels by Pat Cadigan and Lewis Shiner. Altered Carbon is streaming now on Netflix. Read more from Yahoo Entertainment: Donald Trump has been sent a letter by the US's top scientific organisation for weather and climate researchers, correcting him on points made in a recent interview. Talking to Piers Morgan, Mr Trump questioned much of the science of climate change, and appeared to suggest global temperatures were actually decreasing. There is a cooling, and theres a heating. I mean, look, it used to not be climate change, it used to be global warming. That wasnt working too well because it was getting too cold all over the place, he said. Though he expressed an appreciation for clean air and clean water, Mr Trump also suggested that polar ice is not melting. The ice caps were going to melt, they were going to be gone by now, but now theyre setting records. Theyre at a record level, he said. Many scientists have already been vocal in discrediting the ideas suggested by the US President, and now the American Meteorological Society (AMS) has offered to help him understand the science of climate change. In a letter, AMS executive director Dr Keith Seitter pointed Mr Trump in the direction of the wealth of comprehensive and accurate information on climate change available via US government agencies. Dr Seitter expressed disappointment that Mr Trump has seemingly ignored the data from global scientific observations, especially given that US agencies like Nasa and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) have been instrumental in making those observations. Unfortunately, these and other climate-related comments in the interview are not consistent with scientific observations from around the globe, nor with scientific conclusions based on these observations, wrote Dr Keith Seitter, executive director of the AMS. The AMS is the largest scientific society for weather and climate scientists in the US. Mr Trumps comments about climate change were part of an extensive interview that touched on a range of subjects, from Brexit to feminism. Story continues While the US Presidents comments on climate change did not suggest a commitment to environmental action, he did state he would be willing to go back into the Paris climate agreement, but only if he could get a good deal for the US. The AMS letter came in the wake of criticism from scientists over Mr Trumps comments. Glaciers and ice caps are globally continuing to melt at extreme rate, Dr Michael Zemp, director of the World Glacier Monitoring Service, told Reuters. He stated the implication that glaciers and ice caps are growing is simply wrong. Or maybe he is referring to a different planet, said Dr Zemp. Dr Seitter offered the services of the AMS to help educate the US President about the facts of climate change. The American Meteorological Society stands ready to provide assistance in connecting Executive Branch staff with that knowledge and expertise to ensure that you and your staff are working with credible and scientifically validated information as you navigate the many difficult policy areas impacted by the Earths changing climate, he wrote. Trump has allowed the release of the memo, which Democrats say is a crude attempt to undermine Muellers Trump-Russia investigation Republicans on Friday released a controversial memo that alleges an abuse of power by the FBI in its investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election, after Donald Trump declassified the document and accused top officials of bias. The House intelligence committee chairman, Devin Nunes, published the memo minutes after the presidents approval, despite a warning from the Department of Justice that it would be a reckless act. Democrats have portrayed the memo as a crude attempt to undermine the credibility of the Robert Mueller investigation into possible collusion between the Kremlin and members of the Trump campaign. The four-page memo, released with a letter from the White House, alleges that the FBI omitted key information when it applied for a wiretap on an adviser of Trumps campaign. The findings raise concerns with the legitimacy and legality of certain DOJ and FBI interactions with the court that approves surveillance requests, the memo says. It also claims they represent a troubling breakdown of legal processes established to protect the American people from abuses. This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it. The memos central claim is that the FBI omitted context in its application to surveil the Trump adviser, Carter Page. The document notes that the FBI used material compiled by former British spy Christopher Steele, whose work was partly funded by Democrats, and who the memo says was desperate that Donald Trump not get elected and was passionate about him not being president. The memo also claims that the FBI terminated Steele as a source because he spoke with the media, and that texts between an FBI agent and FBI attorney demonstrated a clear bias against Trump. The agent was removed from the investigation in December. The release follows a week of partisan rancor over the memo in Washington, and Democrats and former law enforcement officials swiftly condemned the declassification, joined by at least one senior Republican senator, John McCain. Story continues The latest attacks on the FBI and Department of Justice serve no American interests no partys, no presidents, only Putins, McCain said on Friday. In a rare statement, the FBI Agents Association mounted a defense of the rank-and-file agents it represents. The men and women of the FBI put their lives on the line every day, the association said, because of their dedication to our country and the constitution. FBI special agents have not, and will not, allow partisan politics to distract us from our solemn commitment to our mission, it added. For weeks, Democrats have said the memo cherry-picks classified intelligence to cast Rod Rosenstein, the deputy attorney general, as a villain in an FBI plot to surveil Page. The memo was written by aides to Devin Nunes, chairman of the House intelligence committee and a member of the Trump transition team. The committee is investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election but the inquiry has devolved into a fight about the separate FBI investigation, now led by special counsel Robert Mueller. On Friday, Nunes published the memo after Donald Trump declassified it. The memo revolves around a wiretap on Carter Page, an adviser to the Trump campaign, alleging the FBI omitted key information when it applied for the wiretap. The findings raise concerns with the legitimacy and legality of certain DoJ and FBI interactions with the court that approves surveillance requests, the memo says. It also claims a troubling breakdown of legal processes established to protect the American people from abuses. The memo criticizes investigators who applied for the wiretap, saying they used material provided by an ex-British agent, Christopher Steele, without sufficiently disclosing their source. The memo says Steele was desperate that Trump not get elected. The memo also says texts between an FBI agent and FBI attorney demonstrated a clear bias against Trump and says there is no evidence of any co-operation or conspiracy between Page and another Trump aide under investigation, George Papadopoulos. The memo casts deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein in a negative light. Rosenstein could fire Mueller. The president, said to dislike Rosenstein, could fire and replace him. The FBI argued against the memos release. Democrats wrote a rebuttal and sided with the bureau. The president reportedly told associates he believes the memo will help discredit the special counsel. Alan Yuhas Rosenstein has oversight of the special counsel investigation, and his removal would pass that oversight to another person, threatening to close or cripple the investigation. Early on Friday morning, Trump disparaged leaders of the FBI and justice department in a tweet, accusing them of partisan bias. He later spoke to reporters, telling them, a lot of people should be ashamed of themselves. Asked whether he still had confidence in Rosenstein, he said: You figure that one out. In a letter, the White House counsel, Don McGahn, acknowledged extraordinary circumstances around the memo, and said that the president can declassify information when the public interest in disclosure outweighs any need to protect the information. To be clear, he added, the memo reflects the judgments of its congressional authors. Adam Schiff, the leading Democrat on the House intelligence committee, said the memos sole purpose was to circle the wagons around the White House and insulate the president. Tellingly, when asked whether the Republican staff who wrote the memo had coordinated its drafting with the White House, the chairman refused to answer, Schiff said. On Friday, Nunes said he had not actually read the underlying materials referenced in a memo he and other Republicans on the panel assembled. Nunes told Fox News the committee arranged with the justice department for a limited number of people to read the documents. I thought the best person on our committee was the chairman of the oversight committee, Trey Gowdy, who has a long career as a federal prosecutor, to go and do this. And then they, over a series of meetings, would come back and brief us, the committee members, Nunes said. Democrats have drafted a memo to compete with the Nunes memo, the details of which are unknown. They also have asked social media companies to identify any Russia-linked actors behind a viral campaign taken up by the Republican grassroots to #ReleasetheMemo. Democrats have noted that Page was known to the FBI since at least 2013, for instance, when Russian spies courted him in New York, and that Australian officials tipped off the FBI to another campaign adviser who knew of Russian hacks. The memo itself notes that information about this second adviser, George Papadopoulos, triggered the opening of an FBI counterintelligence investigation in late July 2016. The memo also contained material that was deemed classified, meaning the presidents consent was required for its release. For days, law enforcement officials objected to its release, but Trump was overheard on Tuesday, leaving his state of the union address, telling a lawmaker he 100% supported the memos release. That he overruled the FBIs concerns has raised fears he means to undermine the bureaus work. Ive read both memos, Democratic representative Ruben Gallego tweeted on Thursday. Whats clear to me is that the sole intent of the #NunesMemo is to give the Trump administration cover to fire Rosenstein. Earlier this week the FBI had strongly discouraged publication of the memo, saying it had grave concerns about its accuracy. The FBI director, Christopher Wray, brushed aside suggestions that he would resign, however. While many House Republicans have supported Nunes or refused to comment on his actions, McCain quickly moved to support career law enforcement officials. The American people deserve to know all of the facts surrounding Russias ongoing efforts to subvert our democracy, which is why special counsel Muellers investigation must proceed unimpeded, he said. Our nations elected officials, including the president, must stop looking at this investigation through the warped lens of politics and manufacturing partisan sideshows. James Comey, the former FBI director who was fired by Trump last year, reacted to the memo with incredulity. Thats it? he asked on Twitter. Dishonest and misleading memo wrecked the House intel committee, destroyed trust with intelligence community, damaged relationship with Fisa court, and inexcusably exposed classified investigation of an American citizen. For what? DOJ & FBI must keep doing their jobs. A Tennessee lawmaker introduced a bill this week to ban fraternities and sororities from state colleges and universities, hoping to force a conversation about the role of Greek organizations after a year of high-profile hazing incidents. Ive thought about it for quite some time. You realize that some legislation is volatile. You realize that its not going to be popular, and you may hold off, Rep. John DeBerry Jr., a Democrat representing Memphis in the Tennessee House, told TIME on Thursday. But the continuation of assaults and hazing incidents and just bad behavior not just in Tennessee, but all over the country at some point in time, you have to force the argument and force the discussion. DeBerry filed the bill on Tuesday, nearly a year after the death of fraternity pledge Tim Piazza in an alleged hazing ritual at Penn States Beta Theta Pi fraternity. Piazza suffered traumatic injuries when he fell down a slight of stairs after being forced to drink a toxic amount of alcohol, according to a grand jury report. In the months since, three more students have died in alleged hazing incidents at Louisiana State, Florida State and Texas State, prompting those universities and others to temporarily suspend Greek life. We ought to be able to send our young people to school, they ought to be able to be in a safe environment, and if they want to join a fraternity or sorority, it ought to be such that they come out better people and were not watching a national news story about someone being hazed and falling down stairs, DeBerry said. This is something that weve got to get right all over the country. The bill would prohibit fraternities and sororities from being recognized by, associated with, or operating on the campus of, any state institution of higher education. It would not apply to professional fraternities and honor societies. Sign up for The Brief, TIMEs newsletter with the top stories you need to know now Story continues DeBerry said he wants to hear a stronger commitment from universities to be transparent about Greek misconduct, hold fraternities accountable and prioritize the safety of students over the longevity of Greek organizations. He met Wednesday with representatives from the University of Tennessee to discuss the bill. We share Rep. DeBerrys concern for the safety and conduct of our states college students, and our campuses are actively looking for ways to make students safer, Gina Stafford, a University of Tennessee spokesperson, said in a statement. We do not, however, believe that removing Greek Life from campuses is the best way to accomplish desired student conduct or outcomes. Last year, the universitys Knoxville campus implemented the first significant changes to its student code of conduct in more than 40 years, Stafford said. In the wake of deadly hazing incidents at other schools, the campus launched a hazing prevention team. It also suspended one of its fraternities for extreme intoxication and injury requiring medical attention during a big brother, little brother event, the Knoxville News Sentinel reported. If it advanced, DeBerrys bill would likely face strong criticism from fraternity groups and alumni. Six national fraternity and sorority organizations released a joint statement Friday, arguing that banning Greek life will not solve deeply-rooted campus culture issues and would likely make them worse. While colleges and universities are facing critical challenges, fraternities and sororities are actively partnering with campuses to implement measures to enhance health and safety, and we invite true collaboration and dialogue with public officials as we focus on solutions, the six groups said in the statement. Together, as interfraternal organizations, we call on Rep. DeBerry to withdraw his bill, which if implemented, would have a chilling effect on a students basic constitutional rights of freedom of expression and association. Fraternity members and national fraternity leaders often argue that banning Greek organizations will simply force bad behavior underground and make it harder to stop. As long as those organizations act within the character and the image and expectations of that university, Im all for it, DeBerry said. What this bill does is say look, we cant ignore it any more. With the release of Rodartes fall-winter 2018 collection came the excitement about actress Kristen Dunsts official pregnancy reveal, but the campaign marks another big first: the official modeling debut of Ava Phillippe, daughter of actress Reese Witherspoon and actor Ryan Phillippe. And while many celebrity offspring find themselves thrust into the spotlight (ready or not!), the 18-year-olds journey into the public eye has been a carefully curated path that has undoubtedly been orchestrated by her mother. (Would you expect anything less from someone whose production company used to be called Type A?) Ava Phillippe posted photos from the Rodarte campaign, describing it as an incredible opportunity: This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it. For a kid whose mom is one of the industrys most high-profile actors, Phillippe largely stayed out of the spotlight while growing up, except for the occasional appearance at industry events honoring Reese. For instance, she and her brother Deacon added a whole lot of cute to Reeses Hollywood Walk of Fame induction ceremony in 2010. (His dad is also Shooter star Ryan, whom Reese divorced in 2007.) Reese Witherspoon with kids Ava and Deacon at the Hollywood Walk of Fame Star induction ceremony in 2010. (Photo: Getty Images) Reese, who is remarried to Jim Toth, with a 5-year-old son, Tennessee, also brought her kids when she won the American Cinematheque Award in 2015 another proud moment along her career path. By then, Ava had already embraced hair color. Honoree Reese Witherspoon with kids Ava and Deacon at the American Cinematheque Awards in 2015. (Photo: Steve Granitz/WireImage) Things changed in September 2016, however, when Ava stepped out of the shadows, making her solo red carpet debut at a Chanel dinner. Instead of Here I am with my mom, it was more like: Here I am. And the celebrity gossip world ate it up. There were news stories about the teen nailing her first appearance. Looks like Ava Phillippe is ready to shine in the spotlight! wrote the Huffington Post. Ava Phillippe attends the Chanel dinner celebrating N 5 LEau in 2016. (Photo: Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images) It certainly seems like shes ready to shine. From there she sort of became her moms red carpet sidekick with all the look-alike headlines to prove it. And by February 2017, when they walked the carpet together for the premiere of HBOs Big Little Lies, there was an air of presentation that followed the mother-daughter duo as they posed for pictures. Story continues This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it. Later, Phillippe took to Instagram to gush to her then 239,000 Instagram followers (despite never having appeared in a film) about her moms accomplishments in taking the beloved book and turning it into a project for the small screen. So proud of my awesome mama and her passion for this project. It is so nice to see these wonderful, talented women in roles just as dynamic as they are, she wrote. Even more red carpets followed from there, including Wall Street Journals Innovator Awards, and she was Reeses partner in crime at the Emmys (where Big Little Lies was a big winner). She also showed up at the premiere for Witherspoons film Home Again, looking like her mothers doppelganger even though the two insist they dont look alike. By the time the fall rolled around, Phillippe looked and acted like a red carpet veteran. This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it. But another big change came in the wake of Phillippes 18th birthday in September. The month following, it was reported the teen would make her grand debut at the 25th annual Bal des Debutantes in Paris, as one of 20 women being officially introduced to society. Phillippe and Witherspoon marked the momentous occasion over Thanksgiving weekend, kicking things off with a mother-daughter shopping trip, visits to local museums, and attending the balls day-before breakfast before Phillippe attended the prestigious event. This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it. Decked out in a bold, voluminous gold ball gown from Giambattista Valli haute couture, Phillippe was escorted by Maharaja Padmanabh Singh of Jaipur (who is reportedly an acquaintance of Prince William). They danced to a song from La La Land, and Phillippe posed with her mom for pictures. Later, Phillipe gushed about the experience on Instagram. Wow! I am so thrilled to have had the opportunity to meet so many beautiful, kind, supportive, and passionate young women (and men!) at Le Bal, she wrote, adding how honored she was to help raise money for the Seleni Institute and Enfants dAsie. Last week felt like a dream, and I am so grateful to have so many beautiful memories from this adventure. Thank you to all involved! It seems like as soon as the New Year kicked off, Phillippe was officially invited to every party and showing up for numerous photo ops, all of which were on brand for the Witherspoon name. In mid-January, she attended the Stella McCartney autumn 2018 collection launch in L.A., looking like the spitting image of her mothers iconic film character Elle Woods, decked out in hot pink. At the end of January, Phillippe made an appearance at an event celebrating the one-year anniversary of the Womens March in West Hollywood, which also marked the launch of the book Together We Rise and she wore head-to-toe black, a fitting tribute for the #TimesUp movement. And then, of course, she was at the Golden Globes with her mom and BFF the actress Rowan Blanchard. (The gal pals also attended the Womens March event together.) Ava Phillippe attends a Conde Nast event to celebrate the one-year anniversary of the Womens March and the publication of Together We Rise on Jan. 24. (Photo: Stefanie Keenan/Getty Images for Glamour) Which brings us to her official modeling debut. Posing along with Black Panther star Danai Gurira, Gia Coppola, Grimes, Hong Chau, Joanna Newsom, Miranda July, Tessa Thompson, and others, Phillippe is officially making her mark on the fashion world and it all seems like perfect timing. Some more of the Rodarte modeling shots: This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it. This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it. This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it. Were sure no offense was meant on this one, which cut off her head. It was supposed to be about the clothes anyway, right? This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it. As if that werent enough, Phillippe marked another first immediately afterward modeling alongside her mom in a new campaign featuring the spring collection from Draper James, Witherspoons fashion line. This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it. While its Phillipes first time modeling for her moms brand, shes been supportive of Draper James. Just last year, she joined Witherspoon in a matching outfit for the launch of the companys collaboration with fashion retailer Net-a-Porter. In December, Witherspoon told People that last falls black lace jumpsuit was inspired by Phillippe and that she desperately wanted it for Christmas. So is Phillippe planning on adding designer to her list of accomplishments? Well, she is a teenager, so obviously our styles are different, Witherspoon said. But she does love fashion, and we talk about it a lot. What makes Phillippes emergence so momentous is how her parents were somehow able to give her some semblance of a normal life which likely helped lead to such a grounded debut. Phillippe is reportedly a hostess at a pizza restaurant, which her mother felt was important. My mom worked, and I think its good for kids to see women working and being successful, Witherspoon told InStyle. I think its going to make them hard workers because they see that I dont get much sleep. According to Us Weekly, Phillippe was given a used Volkswagen for her first car so she wouldnt stand out among her friends. And even though she has more than a half million followers on Instagram now, her parents work to ensure she retains perspective on what social media is all about. Well, she has an incredibly famous mother and a moderately famous father, but thats how that works, her dad, Ryan, told People . And also social media is largely driven by the youth and the associations made within that group. The danger would be if you had a kid who didnt have perspective and didnt have an understanding of it. I dont feel like our kids are as caught up in the value that some might place on those things. Its a by-product of the life that theyve been born into. Whatever her next steps are, no doubt shell have her parents guidance and support behind her. We cant wait to see where she goes next. Read more from Yahoo Lifestyle: Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter for nonstop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day. Bashar al-Assad and Vladimir Putin inspect a military parade in the northwestern Syrian province of Latakia: AFP/Getty Images Trump administration officials have claimed the Syrian government may be creating new kinds of chemical weapons, despite a 2013 agreement to destroy such a programme. The US officials said the administration was prepared to take military action to deter the use of such weapons amid the country's near seven-year civil war. "It will spread if we don't do something," warned one official, speaking on condition of anonymity. The US and Russia agreed to destroy Syria's chemical weapons arsenal in 2013, with weapons due to have been removed or destroyed by 2014. Several UN Security Council resolutions and the Chemical Weapons Convention also ban the use of such weapons. However it was "highly likely" that Syria had stockpiled some of its weapons after the 2013 intervention, the Trump administration officials said in a briefing reported by Reuters. The officials said the characteristics of recent alleged attacks suggested the creation of new, different chemicals weapons by President Bashar al-Assad's government. They believe the government is developing these weapons to improve their military capability, or to escape international accountability. More recent attacks have involved both chlorine, which has non-chemical uses and is easier to acquire, and the more sophisticated chemical sarin, the officials said. The US believes it has a firm understanding of the extent of chemical use in Syria through a combination of intelligence, sample testing by third countries, and social media and other open-source information, the officials said. The news came shortly after scientists for the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) said they had linked samples from the 2013 attack to the Assad government's stockpile, suggesting the government had been behind the attack all along. The scientists said the samples also matched those taken from the site of another alleged chemical attack last year. Story continues The Syrian government has repeatedly denied using chemical weapons. US President Donald Trump ordered an air strike on Syria last April, after a suspected chemical weapons attack killed more than 100 people, a move which marked a departure from Mr Trump's typically non-interventionist foreign policy. A joint inquiry of the United Nations and the OPCW determined that the Syrian government used the nerve agent sarin in that attack on 4 April 2017, attack and also used several times chlorine as a weapon. The US raised the concern of Mr Assad possibly using chemical weapons against his own people again last month, attack in the rebel-held area of Eastern Ghouta near Damascus. The alleged attack killed 20 civilians, most of whom were children. The US State Department blamed Russia for their "unwillingness or inability to restrain the Assad regime". Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said: Russias failure to resolve the chemical weapons issue in Syria calls into question its relevance to the resolution of the overall crisis "Russia ultimately bears responsibility for the victims in eastern Ghouta and countless other Syrians targeted with chemical weapons since Russia became involved in Syria," Mr Tillerson said. Diplomats from 29 countries gathered last month for the first meeting of a new organisation that will target governments who continue to use chemical weapons. The group plans to publish information about chemical attacks, and eventually sanction the perpetrators. They expected to put pressure on both Syria and Russia. Brussels (AFP) - Belgium on Friday handed over to French authorities a man linked to a foiled 2015 jihadist attack on a high-speed train bound for Paris, prosecutors said. Youssef Siraj is suspected of having housed Ayoub El Khazzani in Brussels who allegedly shot and seriously wounded a Thalys passenger before being overpowered. "In connection with the investigation into the terrorist attack on the Thalys of 21 August 2015, Youssef S. has been handed over today to the French judicial authorities," the federal prosecutor's office said. Youssef and Mohamed Bakkali, who had been in custody in Belgium charged with helping to organise the Paris attacks, were charged in Brussels last October with helping Khazzani in the train attack. Brussels handed Bakkali over to French authorities last week on condition that he would serve any eventual sentence in Belgium. France immediately charged Bakkali with being an accomplice in the November 13, 2015 attacks which left 130 people dead and hundreds wounded across Paris. Several men from the Brussels neighbourhood of Molenbeek are alleged to have taken part in those attacks. Youssef Siraj, a Molenbeek resident, is alleged to have housed Khazzani, a Morrocan, shortly before the Thalys attack. A bloodbath was only narrowly averted on the Thalys train from Amsterdam to Paris when passengers including two off-duty US servicemen subdued Khazzani -- who had fought for the Islamic State group in Syria -- as he opened fire with a Kalashnikov. Khazzani, a Moroccan who fought for Islamic State in Syria, has allegedly told investigators he was acting on the orders of Abdelhamid Abaaoud, one of the organisers of the Paris attacks, whom he met in the war-torn Middle Eastern country. The Thalys incident added further weight to the theory that the French-Belgian IS network had been behind the Paris attacks in 2015 and triple suicide bombings in Brussels in March the following year. Khazzani is one of three people France has charged in the Thalys case, along with Bilal Chatra and Redouane Sebbar. Chatra is suspected of having played the role of scout for Khazzani on the migrant trail to Europe from Syria. Sebbar is believed to have helped prepare the train attack. Ain Dara (Syria) (AFP) - For 3,000 years, the lion sculptures of Syria's Ain Dara stood as testaments to the Iron Age. But as Turkish bombardment pounds the region, they have little left but their paws. Syrian and Kurdish authorities have blamed the damage squarely on Ankara's nearly two-week offensive on Afrin, a Kurdish-controlled pocket of northwest Syria that borders Turkey. Perched on a hilltop in northern Syria, the neo-Hittite temple of Ain Dara dates back to the Aramaic era from around 1,300 to 700 BC, and is named after a village located in Afrin. The identify of the deity worshipped there has not been officially determined, but one theory is that it is Ishtar, the goddess of love. Until last week, the temple stood as "one of the most important monuments built by the Aramaeans in Syria during the first millennium BC", according to Syria's department of antiquities. But on January 26, Turkish bombardment battered Ain Dara. Today, visitors can barely make out the dark, engraved steps that once led into the temple but are now covered with rocks and debris. And the frescoes of imposing winged animals carved in black basalt stone have been reduced to indistinguishable piles of rubble. Only the temple's rear section was spared, including a basalt sculpture of a lion standing guard, overlooking the green hills of Afrin. - Artefacts 'scattered' - "I was sitting right there," said Ahmed Saleh, pointing to the steps of his home in the adjacent village of Ain Dara. The elderly villager's home directly faces the heritage site. "The strike was so fierce that we were really shaken up. Then, the smoke began to rise up from the hill," said Saleh, his head wrapped in the ubiquitous red-and-white checkered scarf of local residents. Between 40 to 50 percent of the site was damaged, estimated Salah el-Din Senno, an archaeologist and member of Afrin's local antiquities council. Senno pointed to old photographs of the temple hung around the walls of his office. Story continues "The damage began from the entrance and extended to the interior -- the legendary animal statues, guardians of the temple, and other sculptures representing the gods were scattered" by the force of the blast, he said. "Stone slabs were thrown a distance of 100 metres (yards)," he told AFP. Turkey and allied Syrian rebel groups launched operation Olive Branch on January 20 against the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), which controls the Afrin region. Ankara considers the YPG a "terrorist" organisation and has pledged to oust them from the area. The Turkish military has insisted that "religious and cultural buildings, historical sites, archaeological ruins and public facilities are absolutely not among the targets of Turkish Armed Forces". - 'Catastrophe' - But government authorities in Damascus, Kurdish officials in Afrin and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group have all accused Ankara of damaging Ain Dara. Condemning "Turkish attacks against Afrin's archaeological sites," Syria's directorate of antiquities and museums condemned "the destruction of the Ain Dara temple". Speaking on condition of anonymity, a UNESCO official told AFP the Ain Dara temple had been special. "The temple is an important example of Syro-Hittite religious architecture and the most extensively excavated structure of its kind in Syria," said the official. The bombardment caused "heavy damage to the central and southeastern portions of the building" and some features "have been blasted into fragments", the official said. Syria has been rocked for nearly seven years by a ferocious conflict that has killed more than 340,000 people and displaced millions. UNESCO-listed heritage sites around the country have also been ravaged, including Aleppo's celebrated Umayyad mosque and the desert city of Palmyra. Islamic State group fighters deliberately destroyed the famed tower tombs in Palmyra, its statue of the Lion of Athena and the main Temple of Bel. "Destroying the Ain Dara temple is the same level of atrocity as destroying the Temple of Bel," said Syria's former antiquities chief Maamun Abdulkarim. "It is a catastrophe in all meanings of the word. Three thousand years of civilisation destroyed in an air strike," Abdulkarim told AFP. He also voiced concern for 40 old villages in Afrin, dubbed the "Ancient Villages of Northern Syria". According to the UNESCO, the villages date from the 1st to the 7th centuries and feature the remains of homes, pagan temples, churches and bathhouses. By Jan Strupczewski and Alastair Macdonald BRUSSELS (Reuters) - British and European Union negotiators will spend all next week in talks on Brexit, culminating in their first formal discussion of what their future relationship will look like after Britain has left the EU. A schedule posted by EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier on Twitter on Friday confirmed he will meet his opposite number, Brexit Secretary David Davis, in London on Monday for the first time since EU leaders gave him instructions to agree a post-Brexit transition to ease Britain's departure. After interim accords in December on key parts of the divorce terms, EU leaders agreed to launch talks on the transition and the future relationship. EU officials expect a faster pace to negotiations compared to the roughly monthly rounds of talks lasting 2-3 days each time that was the norm last year. Both sides hope to conclude a deal on a transition in time for EU leaders to endorse it at a Brussels summit on March 22-23. Though not legally binding unless and until it forms part of an overall withdrawal treaty, leaders hope a transition deal can calm nerves among investors. Negotiating teams will hold the first technical talks in Brussels from Tuesday to Thursday on what a transition may look like, notably which courts might enforce the treaty and further discussions on avoiding a disruptive "hard" border with Ireland. On Friday, Barnier and Davis's top officials, Sabine Weyand and Oliver Robbins, will meet in Brussels to wrap up progress made during the week. The British side will also offer an "update on the future relationship", according to Barnier. A British official said they would not reveal details of trade proposals; Prime Minister Theresa May has caused some frustration in Brussels by failing to do that so far, although she is expected to lay out her trade ideas in the coming weeks. Rather, the British official said, Friday's session would focus on areas where London has already declared its preferred outcomes, such as a close relationship in security matters and a "customs partnership". Story continues TRANSITION DEAL Declared positions on both sides suggest little room for dispute, although May has rejected an EU demand that EU citizens who take up residence in Britain even after Brexit, but before the end of the transition, should enjoy the same lifetime rights which London agreed to grant to those who arrive before Brexit. That has raised the prospect of delay, but May insisted on Friday that the transition deal would be done within seven weeks -- in time for the March EU summit. The EU has offered Britain a status quo transition until the end of 2020 after Brexit. But there is disagreement inside May's Conservative Party over the citizens' rights issue and the scope of European Court of Justice jurisdiction during the transition. Of more concern to some in Brussels is the continued lack of clarity on how Britain sees a free trade deal working. EU leaders want to be able to agree instructions for their negotiators when they meet on March 22-23 so that trade talks can start in the weeks after that. But once May has revealed her demands it will take the EU some weeks to prepare those plans. If they cannot meet the deadline of the March summit, the start of trade talks could be pushed back, possibly even beyond the next formal EU summit in late June, jeopardising hopes of having an outline trade accord ready by the end of the year. "We still expect to be able to have the trade guidelines for the March summit," one senior EU official said. "But Theresa May is being so discreet. If she doesn't say what she wants, we may not be able to prepare our position in time." An EU diplomat involved in Brexit talks said: "Its for them to tell us what they want. If they don't do it in a timely manner, they would be shooting themselves in the foot again." (Reporting By Jan Strupczewski in Brussels and Andrew MacAskill in London; Editing by Alastair Macdonald, William Maclean) Tunis (AFP) - Britain's security minister, Ben Wallace, on Friday praised efforts by Tunisia to boost security and said he expects a return of tourists from his country, two-and-a-half years after a terror attack on a beach in which 30 Britons were killed. "It's been really impressive what I've seen over the last few days," Wallace told reporters in Tunis. "I look forward to the fact there's gonna be lots more British people coming in the next few weeks." Wallace has been in Tunisia since Wednesday for talks with officials on the security situation. In June 2015, a gunman killed 38 people, including 30 British tourists, in a shooting spree at a beach resort at Port El Kantaoui near Sousse. The attack, one of three that shook Tunisia that year, was claimed by the Islamic State jihadist group. It prompted Britain to impose a warning against "all but essential travel" to Tunisia. Last July, Britain lifted the travel warning for virtually all of Tunisia's Mediterranean coastline following "security improvements" in the North African country. However, it continues to advise against travel to southern Tunisia, along the border with Libya, and advises against all but essential travel along the western border with Algeria. In August last year, British travel group Thomas Cook, one of the world's biggest tour operators, said it would resume organising holidays to Tunisia. Tunisian Foreign Minister Khemaies Jhinaoui said London's decision to ease the travel ban "has had a positive impact". "God willing, the next season will see an influx of British tourists in Tunisia," he said, speaking to reporters alongside Wallace. Tunisia's economy is heavily dependent on tourism. Before the beach attack, more than 400,000 British tourists visited Tunisia annually. But in 2016, just 20,000 British visitors were recorded, official Tunisian figures show. A 12-year-old girl has been taken into custody following a shooting incident at a California middle school. Two students, a male and a female, were reportedly shot inside a classroom at Sal Castro Middle School just before 9 a.m. local time. The male student, 15, is in critical but stable condition with a gunshot wound to the head, while the girl, also 15, was shot in the wrist and has been listed in fair condition. The alleged shooter, who has not been identified, was taken into custody without incident, cops said. The weapon used in the shooting was recovered. The LAPD said that three additional students were injured, but had not been shot. RELATED STORIES Family of Student Killed in Kentucky School Shooting Made it in Time to Say Goodbye A Look Inside the Deadliest School Shootings in Modern American History At Least 4 Killed, 2 School Children Hurt in Multiple Shootings in Rural California Town Related Articles: SIU welcomes top students for scholarship interviews Feb. 2 and 3 CARBONDALE, Ill. -- More than 350 high-achieving students and their family members will be at Southern Illinois University Carbondale on Friday and Saturday, Feb. 2 and 3, for the Chancellors and University Excellence Scholarship Interview Weekend. Students will interview for the universitys top scholarships, tour campus, visit colleges, and learn about the University Honors program, student life and more. About 80 of the students will stay overnight in campus residence halls. More than 1,000 visitors from 18 states The students and families, together totaling more than 1,000 visitors to Carbondale and the campus, are coming from 18 states. All of the students are already admitted to the university. This important weekend gives top students and their families an opportunity to visit the campus and learn firsthand about our quality programs and support services, our dedicated faculty and staff and the inviting atmosphere within our community and region, Chancellor Carlo Montemagno said. Im looking forward to learning more about these students and their families and showing them the significant role SIU can provide in their continuing educational journey. Nearly 425 students invited Students unable to attend the weekend event interviewed for scholarships on an alternate date. Overall, 419 students were invited to the interview weekend based on their ACT scores, academic credentials and high school activities. SIU will award 25 Chancellors Scholarships, which cover tuition, fees and room and board for four years, and a larger number of University Excellence Scholarships, which is a $9,500 award for four years. New scholarships offered this year New this year, the university will also be offering Chancellor Transfer Scholarships and University Excellence Scholarships. SIU will award five Chancellor Transfer Scholarships, which cover tuition and fees for two years, and 50 University Excellence Transfer Scholarships, which is a $9,500 award for two years. Ottawa (AFP) - Canadians will soon be singing a new tune after parliament passed a bill to change the lyrics of the national anthem to make it gender neutral. Only one line in O Canada was amended, from "True patriot love in all thy sons command" to "True patriot love in all of us command." But it has caused quite a stir. "It's about two words," Senator Frances Lankin told reporters. "But it's huge in terms of one of our major national symbols, the anthem we sing with pride about our country." Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called the move "another positive step towards gender equality," while feminist author Margaret Atwood, who has been pressing for this since the 1980s, tweeted her thanks to lawmakers. Others decried the new lyrics and vowed to continue to sing the older version. "Disappointed to hear the Liberals changed our national anthem. Somethings (sic) shouldn't change," said MP Bob Saroya in a Twitter message. The late MP Mauril Belanger had proposed the change to the English language version of the anthem. Belanger was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, shortly after his party, under Trudeau, took power in 2015. The proposal passed the House two months before Belanger's death in 2016, and late Wednesday the Senate added its support for the bill. Now it needs only the governor general's signature to become law, which is a formality, but a date for that has not yet been set. "It will receive royal ascent in due course," Sabrina Atwal, spokeswoman for government House leader Bardish Chagger, told AFP. The French version of O Canada, which has not been revised, was originally commissioned by Quebec's lieutenant governor in 1880. The English version followed in 1906. In 1914 the phrase "thou dost in us command" was changed to "in all thy sons command." A verse was added a decade later. There have been several attempts in recent decades to further amend the lyrics of the song -- which only officially became Canada's anthem in 1980 -- but they all failed largely due to the entrenched opposition of Conservative lawmakers. Today the anthem is sung at the beginning of sporting events and in schools across Canada at the start of classes, often mixing both French and English versions. President Trump could decide as soon as Friday to release a controversial GOP memo on FBI surveillance. Prepared by Rep. Devin Nunes, the four-page memo reportedly alleges that the FBI mishandled a request for a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrant on former Trump campaign advisor Carter Page by relying on information from an unverified dossier on Trumps ties to Russia compiled by former British intelligence agent Christopher Steele. In a rare public move, the FBI said in a statement that it has grave concerns over the memo, while Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee voted against its release and prepared a counter-memo. At the center of the controversy is Page, a colorful foreign policy expert with business ties to Russia who advised Trumps campaign. Heres what to know about Page, his involvement with the Trump campaign, and why he may have been the focus of an FBI investigation. What are the key events in the Carter Page controversy? January 2013: At an energy conference in New York, Page meets with Victor Podobnyy, according to court documents. The two exchange contact information and have several more meetings discussing energy policy, where they also exchange documents on that subject. Jan. 26, 2015: Pobodnyy and two other Russians are charged with working as agents for Russian intelligence in New York. Court records include a transcript of a recorded conversation in which Pobodnyy talks about trying to recruit someone identified as Male-1, which BuzzFeed later reveals to be Page. I think he is an idiot, Pobodnyy says in the transcript. December 2015: Feeling that the Trump campaign aligns with his ideas on Russia, Page asks Ed Cox, chair of the New York state Republican Party, to recommend him as an advisor. He is brought on right away. Anyone who came to us with a pulse, a resume and seemed legit would be welcomed, a campaign official tells the Post later. March 21, 2016: Trump meets with the editorial board of the Washington Post. Asked about his foreign policy team, he names, among others, Page and George Papadopoulos, who later pleads guilty to lying to the FBI about contacts he had with the Russian government during the 2016 presidential campaign. Story continues July of 2016: Page joins a group dinner of Trump campaign national security advisors, including then-Sen. Jeff Sessions, at the Capitol Hill Club in Washington. He later testifies that he casually told Sessions about an upcoming trip to Russia during the dinner. Page spends three days in Moscow, where he gives a talk at the New Economic School that is critical of American policy toward Russia and favorable toward Russian President Vladimir Putin. The speech interests FBI investigators, who have kept an intermittent eye on Page since the Pobodnyy case, reportedly prompting their first looks at the Trump campaigns ties to Russia. Former British intelligence agent Christopher Steele approaches an FBI agent with information he has uncovered about Trumps relationship with Russia while doing opposition research on behalf of the Democratic National Committee and the Hillary Clinton campaign. Summer 2016: The FBI and the Justice Department obtain a FISA warrant to monitor Pages communications after convincing a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court judge that there is probable cause to believe Page is acting as an agent of a foreign power, namely Russia. December 2016: Trump attorney Don McGahn writes Page to immediately cease saying he is a Trump advisor. You were merely one of the many people named to a foreign policy advisory committee in March of 2016 a committee that met one time, McGahn writes. You never met Mr. Trump, nor did you ever advise Mr. Trump about anything. You are thus not an advisor to Mr. Trump in any sense of the word. Jan. 10, 2017: In sworn testimony at his confirmation hearing, Attorney General nominee Jeff Sessions testifies that he is not aware of any communication between the Trump campaign and the Russian government during the campaign. BuzzFeed News publishes the full unsubstantiated dossier detailing President Trumps alleged ties to Russia and claiming the Russian government may be blackmailing him. The dossier alleges that former campaign manager Paul Manafort used Page as an intermediary with the Russian government and that Page attended a secret meeting at the Kremlin in July of 2016. Feb. 12, 2017: In an eight-page letter to the Justice Departments civil rights division, Page calls the Russia investigations frivolous and says they are among the most extreme examples of human rights violations during any election in U.S. history since Dr. Maritn Luther King Jr. was similarly targeted for his anti-war views. March 2, 2017: Amid concerns about his January testimony and newly revealed meetings with the Russian ambassador, Sessions announces he will recuse himself from any investigations related to the Trump campaign. April 11, 2017: The Washington Post first reports on the existence of the FISA warrant on Page from the summer of 2016. In an interview, Page again compares the surveillance to the FBIs eavesdropping on King. This confirms all of my suspicions about unjustified, politically motivated government surveillance, he says. May 7, 2017: In an angry nine-page letter to the Senate intelligence committee, Carter says he had only brief interactions with Pobodnyy in 2013 and calls requests for more information a show trial based on the corrupt lies of the Clinton/Obama regime. Oct. 18, 2017: During five hours of testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sessions is grilled about his contacts with Russians during the campaign. When asked if any surrogates from the Trump campaign had contact with the Russians, he responds: I did not and Im not aware of anyone else that did. I dont believe that it happened. Oct. 30, 2017: In wide-ranging interview MSNBCs Chris Hayes, Page discusses Papadaopoulos guilty plea, admitting that he was on campaign email chains with Papadopoulos about Russia. I genuinely hope, Carter, that you are innocent of everything, because you are doing a lot of talking, Hayes says. Nov. 2, 2017: During six hours of closed-door testimony with the House intelligence committee, Page testifies that he told Sessions about his trip to Russia ahead of time. During the testimony, Page invokes the Fifth Amendment when asked to produce documents that could potentially be relevant to the investigation. Nov. 3, 2017: In an interview with CNNs Jake Tapper, Page says that the fact he told Sessions about his upcoming trip to Russia was a nothing event made totally in passing. He adds that Sessions was not the only one on the campaign that he told before he took the trip. I mentioned it to a few other people, he says. Jan. 29, 2018: The House Intelligence Committee votes along party lines to publicly release a classified memo overseen by Republican Rep. Devin Nunes which criticizes the FBIs handling of a FISA warrant on Page, alleging that relied too heavily on information in the Steele dossier. In a rare public statement, the FBI says it has grave concerns about the memo. Kabul (AFP) - Worried about militants sneaking into a restive Chinese region from war-torn Afghanistan, Beijing is in talks with Kabul over the construction of a military base, Afghan officials say, as it seeks to shore up its fragile neighbour. The army camp will be built in Afghanistan's remote and mountainous Wakhan Corridor, where witnesses have reported seeing Chinese and Afghan troops on joint patrols. The freezing, barren panhandle of land -- bordering China's tense Xinjiang region -- is so cut off from the rest of Afghanistan that many inhabitants are unaware of the Afghan conflict, scraping out harsh but peaceful lives. However they retain strong links with neighbours in Xinjiang, and with so few travellers in the region local interest in the Chinese visitors has been high, residents told AFP on a recent visit there. China's involvement in the base comes as President Xi Jinping seeks to extend Beijing's economic and geopolitical clout. The Chinese are pouring billions of dollars into infrastructure in South Asia. With Afghanistan's potential to destabilise the region, analysts said any moves there would be viewed through the prism of security. Beijing fears that exiled Uighur members of the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM) are passing through the Wakhan into Xinjiang to carry out attacks. It also worries that Islamic State group militants fleeing Iraq and Syria could cross Central Asia and Xinjiang to reach Afghanistan, or use the Wakhan to enter China, analysts say. Afghan and Chinese officials discussed the plan in December in Beijing, but details are still being clarified, Afghan defence ministry deputy spokesman Mohammad Radmanesh said. "We are going to build it (the base) but the Chinese government has committed to help the division financially, provide equipment and train the Afghan soldiers," he told AFP recently. A senior Chinese embassy official in Kabul would only say Beijing is involved in "capacity-building" in Afghanistan. Story continues NATO's US-led Resolute Support mission in Afghanistan declined to comment. But US officials have previously welcomed China's role in Afghanistan, noting they share the same security concerns. - Joint patrols - Members of the Kyrgyz ethnic minority in Wakhan told AFP in October they had been seeing Chinese and Afghan military patrols for months. "The Chinese army first came here last summer and they were accompanied by the Afghan army," said Abdul Rashid, a Kyrgyz chief, adding that he had seen vehicles flying Chinese flags. The Afghan army arrived days earlier "and told us that the Chinese army would be coming here", he said, adding: "We were strictly told not to go near them or talk to them and not to take any photos." Rashid's account was confirmed by other Kyrgyz, including another chief Jo Boi, who said the Chinese military spent almost a year in Wakhan before leaving in March 2017. Both Chinese and Afghan officials deny the claims, with China's defence ministry telling AFP that the "Chinese army is not engaged in any military operation in the Wakhan Corridor". With little access to the corridor, Kabul provides almost no services to those who live there -- but the Chinese, Boi said, have been bringing "a lot of food and warm clothes". "They are very good people, very kind," he told AFP. After their March visit, he said, they returned in June for roughly a month. "Since then they come every month... to distribute food." - Economic interests - China fears militancy could threaten its growing economic interests in the region, Ahmad Bilal Khalil, a researcher at the Kabul-based Center for Strategic and Regional Studies, told AFP. "They need to have a secure Afghanistan," he said, estimating Beijing had provided Kabul with more than $70 million in military aid in the past three years. It recently flagged the possibility of including Afghanistan in the $54-billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) linking western China to the Indian Ocean via Pakistan. "The anti-terrorism motivation is an important one but it's not as important as the bigger move to boost the CPEC," said Willy Lam, a political analyst in Hong Kong. Kabul is also keen for Beijing to have a "more active role", Andrew Small, author of The China-Pakistan Axis, told AFP. It hopes China will use its "special relationship" with Islamabad to encourage the Pakistani military, who wield significant influence over Afghanistan's insurgents, to "force the Taliban into peace talks", Small said. "In the end China has vastly greater financial power than anyone else. So having them engaged... may end up being critical to the country's basic economic viability," he said. burs-ga-ds-amj/st/kaf/amz When news broke that Robert Wagner is officially a person of interest in the 1981 death of Natalie Wood and that her cause of death is now deemed suspicious, actor Christopher Walken one of the last people to see Wood alive didnt make a statement. But dont expect him to say much on the topic ever. Walken was one of the three people on Wood and Wagners boat, the Splendour, when she was found dead, floating in the water off Californias Catalina Island, on Nov. 29, 1981. The third person was Dennis Davern, the boats captain. While Wagner wrote about the tragedy in his 2009 memoir, Pieces of My Heart: A Life, and Davern has given interviews to the likes of Today and TMZ, Walken has rarely commented. Christopher Walken in 2016. (Photo: Miquel Benitez/WireImage) He gave a curt quote to People magazine about Woods death in 1986: I dont know what happened, Walken said. She slipped and fell in the water. I was in bed then. It was a terrible thing. Look, were in a conversation I wont have. Its a f***ing bore. The magazine noted that Walken snapped his response and that his eyes were icy. Natalie Wood and Christopher Walken in a wedding scene from Brainstorm. (Photo: Getty Images) However, Walken opened up more in a 1997 interview with Playboy, theorizing how Wood ended up in the water. Anybody there saw the logistics of the boat, the night, where we were, that it was raining and would know exactly what happened, Walken told the magazine (and recently referenced in the Hollywood Reporter). You hear about things happening to people they slip in the bathtub, fall down the stairs, step off the curb in London because they think that the cars come the other way and they die. You feel you want to die making an effort at something; you dont want to die in some unnecessary way. Walken had accompanied Wood, his co-star in the 1983 thriller Brainstorm, and her famous husband on their Thanksgiving weekend trip. What happened that night only she knows, because she was alone, Walken said. She had gone to bed before us, and her room was at the back. A dinghy was bouncing against the side of the boat, and I think she went out to move it. There was a ski ramp that was partially in the water. It was slippery I had walked on it myself. She had told me she couldnt swim; in fact, they had to cut a swimming scene from [Brainstorm]. She was probably half asleep, and she was wearing a coat. Story continues Walken suspected that Wood also might have hit her head before falling into the water. An in-depth investigation in Vanity Fair from 2000 also attributed this quote to the actor. The people who are convinced that there was something more to it than what came out in the investigation will never be satisfied with the truth. Because the truth is, there is nothing more to it, Walken said. It was an accident. TMZ filmed Walkens response (well, nonresponse) to a question about Wood in 2011, after the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department reopened the case based on new information. The video was hailed as Walken breaking his silence, which gives you an idea of just how quiet hes been on the subject, at least in public. Davern, the third man aboard the Splendour, has insisted for years that Wagner and Walken were arguing before Woods disappearance because Wagner was jealous. Woods sister, Lana, wrote in her own book, titled Natalie, in 1984, that Wood did have a great affection for Walken: I dont know if Natalies [love affair] with Chris was imaginary or real, though my strong suspicion is that it was all in her mind and that perhaps she was only wishing it to be so. Read more from Yahoo Entertainment: CNN anchor Don Lemon is mourning the death of his older sister after she fell into a pond and drowned on Wednesday. L'Tanya "Leisa" Lemon Grimes, 58, died while fishing in Denham Springs, Louisiana, reported the New Orleans Times-Picayune. GettyImages-629192686 Getty Trending: Did Sean Hannity Help Convince Trump to Release the Nunes Memo? Fox News Host Denies Report Lemon wrote on Twitter Thursday: Thanks everyone for your words of sympathy. Please keep my family in your prayers. Leisa was my oldest sister & partner in crime growing up. Always had my back. #RIPbigSis. This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it. Don't miss: Pruitt Directly Oversaw Efforts to Erase Climate Change Info from EPA Website, Emails Reveal Police were called to a reported accident in the Livingston Trace area of Denham Springs at around 4 p.m. on Wednesday after a woman reportedly tripped and drowned in a neighborhood pond while fishing. Lori Steele, a Livingston Parish Sheriffs Office spokeswoman, confirmed on Thursday that the downing was a freak accident and no foul play has been linked to Grimess death. "The Lemon/Grimes family would like to thank everyone for their condolences and prayers at this time. Our family has suffered the tragic loss of L'Tanya 'Leisa' Lemon Grimes and we are leaning on each other for strength at this time. We appreciate privacy as we grieve the loss of our loved one," Lemon's family said in a statement to the Times-Picayune. Most popular: The World's Richest Person Just Got a Lot Richer: Amazon Founder Jeff Bezos on Track to Be World's First Trillionaire Lemon missed his show CNN Tonight with Don Lemon on Thursday night following his sisters death. Grimess two daughters, Kimberly and Katie, have both posted tributes on their social media accounts. Story continues Im at a loss for words and struggling to understand how and why. We love you mom! Thanks to everyone that has called or texted to check on us, Kimberly wrote on Instagram. Katie wrote: "Yesterday we lost our mom and Ive never felt so hurt and empty in my life. I am grateful for all of the memories we have together." Earlier on Thursday, Lemon also tweeted a video of a mock news segment in which young children report on how black excellence is at an all-time high. Lemon wrote: This lifted my spirits. I needed this today. Thank you. This article was first written by Newsweek More from Newsweek A Republican lawmaker with a background in medicine has been hailed a hero after an Amtrak train ferrying dozens of GOP members of Congress, including House Speaker Paul Ryan, struck a garbage truck that had rolled onto the tracks. Rep. Roger Marshall, of Kansas, said he immediately offered himself as a volunteer when police officers passed his aisle following the Wednesday crash. By the time I got there, I looked outside, there were two patients lying down and obviously, one was in really bad shape, and the other was not in good shape, Marshall told CBS News. Dr. Phil Roe [a] close, close friend, OB-GYN from Tennessee was trying to get an airway out on the other person. [I] jumped over there, no pulse, no breathing a bad situation so we started CPR at that time." He explained that fellow doctors, Rep. Larry Bucshon, a cardiologist, his wife Dr. Kathryn Bucshon, an anesthesiologist, Rep. Michael Burgess, an OB-GYN, and several other doctors and servicemen all had a hand in rescue efforts at the crash site. It was kind of like after a big surgery, we all ended up in the bathroom trying to get the blood off of ourselves and trying to get ourselves together, Marshall explained. And certainly we knew by then that everybody on the train was basically OK. Before his career in politics, Marshall was a doctor. He worked as an OB-GYN, during which time he delivered more than 5,000 babies, according to his website. A passenger in the truck, Christopher Foley, 28, of Louisa County, Va., died as a result of injuries sustained in the crash. The other passenger was airlifted to the hospital with critical injuries, and the trucks driver was transported to a medical facility in serious condition, the Albemarle County Police Department said in a statement. A total of six people were hospitalized, and no members of Congress or their staffers were seriously injured, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said. Story continues I think we did everything we can do, Marshall said. So you know were praying for their families. The garbage truck was struck by the train at about 11:20 a.m. in Crozhet, Va., located just outside Charlottesville, Amtrak said in a statement. Marshall recalled that he and his wife were on their way to a legislative retreat at the Greenbrier resort in West Virginia when they felt "a big thump." "I knew that something was wrong," he said. "The first thing I thought, 'My gosh, someones trying to hijack our train or something.' So I looked around... Capitol police scurrying [] there was a couple kids running down the aisle and they fell and bumped their heads. I could see they were okay." GOP lawmakers say the retreat will go on as planned, with President Trump scheduled to arrive and address the group Thursday. A GoFundMe page has been set up to support Christopher Foley's family with funeral expenses. RELATED STORIES Capitol Police Officer Who Saved GOP Baseball Players Denies He's a Hero: 'Just Doing My Job' Democrats' Baseball Team Pictured Praying After Learning Republican Colleagues Were Shot Republican Lawmakers Seen Joking and Playing Baseball a Week Before Shooting Related Articles: The #3 most powerful computer at a U.S. public university The University of Floridas recent move into the U.S. News and World Report top 10 standing has only propelled this Research I university forward and set their sights even higher. In order to continue its trajectory, UF is in the process of recruiting 500 of the finest investigators who are conducting and producing the highest caliber of research. That is made possible with the help of UFs HiPerGator supercomputer. HiPerGator is the most powerful supercomputer in Florida, the most powerful university supercomputer in the Southern U.S. and the third-fastest university supercomputer in the country, according to the latest world rankings. Originally unveiled in 2013, HiPerGator was already state of the art. But, Gators are not ones to rest on their laurels. In 2015 HiPerGator 2.0 came to life adding 30,000 cores to the already impressive 21,000, doubling the terabytes of RAM and increasing the maximum speed by nearly 1,000 teraflops. To put this into perspective for the less tech-savvy reader, HiPerGator can hold: Nearly 21 million times more data than the computer program on Apollo 11 that put a man on the moon 240 million books. This is more than the Library of Congress plus the nations Top 25 public libraries. Nearly 40 years of HD-TV video. Supercomputing and BIGDATA are terms used on campus all the time. But when you learn what is actually being donein human terms, not technical termsit is so exciting and humbling, says Elias Eldayrie, vice president and chief information officer at the University of Florida. We have renowned scientists analyzing the effects that having HIV has in Alzheimers patients. We have faculty collaborating with colleagues in other states, evaluating data to improve early childhood medical care in underserved communities. We have postdoctoral students studying the epidemiological patterns of Cholera in Haiti and HIV transmission patterns in South Africa. And we have English faculty curating social media data to understand the ways digital platforms influence opinion. The work taking place at the University of Florida has the power to transform society. And that power comes from our facultys imaginationand HiPerGator. Having HiPerGator available is instrumental in the research I do at UF, explains Steve Coombes, Ph.D., assistant professor in Applied Physiology & Kinesiology at UF. Were interested in the structure of the brain after a stroke. Collecting and analyzing images of brains from people who havent experienced a stroke helps us track the different motor pathways in the brain. Knowing which part of the tract is damaged after a stroke may be extremely helpful in predicting recovery. Utilizing 3,000 HiPerGator cores, the images of Coombes team were processed in three months. Without HiPerGators processing power, analyzing the data on a single computer would have taken 42 years. UFIT Research Computing is constantly refining and updating its services to the university community. Some of the latest advancements include ResVault. This is the super-secure environment for storing and processing meeting the rules specified by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and mandated for all federal grants involving restricted data, like export controlled research and patient health information. Additionally, UF was one of the first universities to successfully set up and deploy a FISMA-compliant environment. UFIT Research Computing is also home to a staff of professionals that train, support, and consult faculty and students in evaluating the best way to analyze data or offer expertise in the complex software available to them. According to Erik Deumens, Ph.D., director of UF research computing, as a scientist and computer engineer, I like to list the amazing specs and capabilities of UFs supercomputer, but what is truly important to the university is the research our faculty and students are able to carry out with this resource. At UF, we strive every day to move the world forward and tackle problems and challenges that plague the world. HiPerGator supports our researchers to make that possible. To learn more about HiPerGator, visit here. To view videos on the capabilities of HiPerGator and how UF researchers use it, visit here and here. Washington (AFP) - US congressman Devin Nunes, at the heart of a dramatic tug of war over a classified memo, is a staunch Donald Trump supporter, a young Republican who defends the president at all costs. His aggressive pursuit of allegations of misconduct by the FBI and Department of Justice amid an escalating Trump-Russia scandal has led Democrats to accuse him of seeking to discredit the investigations, while some fellow Republicans have taken swipes at him as a graceless "Inspector Clouseau" sleuth. The California lawmaker, 44 years old and in his eighth term in Congress, served on Trump's presidential transition team. He has written a memo that he says outlines "surveillance abuses" at the agencies but that Democrats -- and some Republican critics -- charge is a political smear. Trump declassified the memo on Friday. The Justice Department had warned it would be "extraordinarily reckless" to do so, and the FBI expressed similar concerns. Critics say it contains material that could give the president cover to fire officials such as Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein or even special prosecutor Robert Mueller. As the memo became public, Nunes insisted he was serving the public good. "The American people have a right to know when officials in crucial institutions are abusing their authority for political purposes," he said in a statement, adding that he hoped the committee's actions "will shine a light on this alarming series of events so we can make reforms" to government institutions. Democratic leaders have fumed over Nunes's handling of the case, and accuse him of altering the memo itself after his committee voted along party lines to release it and before it was presented to the White House for review. On Thursday, an outraged House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said Nunes had been "deliberately dishonest" about the document and the changes he made, and demanded Speaker Paul Ryan remove Nunes from his powerful post. Story continues Ryan called the demand a "political distraction." He insisted the fracas over the memo would not discredit Mueller's Trump-Russia probe or the country's top law-enforcement departments. "This memo is not an indictment of the FBI, of the Department of Justice," Ryan said. "It does not impugn the Mueller investigation, or the deputy attorney general." - White House 'agent' - But several critics have blasted Nunes as a Trump lapdog. "Nunes is an agent of the White House instead of an independent investigator," House Democrat Mike Quigley, a member of the intelligence panel, told CNN. Nunes has been in a hot spotlight for much of the past year. In March, two months into Trumps term, he made a trip to the White House to inspect classified executive documents that he said showed that American citizens were being improperly "unmasked" in intelligence reports. He then briefed the president on what he had discovered, raising alarms in some quarters that he was actually warning Trump about elements of the investigation into Russian interference in the US election and possible coordination between Trump and Moscow. The issue caused such a furor that Nunes was forced to step down from his role heading the intelligence committee's Russia probe, although he maintained his committee chairmanship. Republican Senator Lindsey Graham expressed alarm at the time about Nunes suggesting impropriety about surveilling the Trump campaign. "He's gone off on a lark by himself, sort of an Inspector Clouseau investigation here," he said, referring to a movie character seen as an incompetent bungler. Democrat Adam Schiff, blasted Nunes for seeking to release a memo "that cherry-picks facts, ignores others and smears the FBI and the Justice Department." Nunes has raised eyebrows on other fronts. During a California drought in 2014 when then-president Barack Obama met with farmers in Fresno, near Nunes's district, the lawmaker scoffed that "global warming is nonsense." Donald Trump has falsely claimed the number of American TV viewers watching his State of the Union speech was "the highest number in history". The US President said 45.6 million people watched his speech on Tuesday evening, and praised Fox News for "beating every other network, for the first time ever". But according to Nielsen, a global TV ratings research agency, the figure fell short of President Barack Obama's 2010 address to Congress, which was watched by 48 million. It was also down on President Bill Clinton's 1998 address, watched by 53.1 million, George W Bush's in 2002 (51.7 million) and again in 2003 (62.1 million). Mr Trump's first televised address in Congress last February, although not a State of the Union speech, was watched by 47.7 million. The numbers do not include viewers who live-streamed the events. This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it. But the 71-year-old was right to say Fox News beat its competition after it notched the biggest ratings for any State of the Union address in the history of cable news. 11.5 million people tuned into the right-wing news channel's coverage of the speech, compared to 3.1 million for CNN and 2.7 million for MSNBC. Since 2018, Nielsen measures ratings using a sophisticated system that employs small devices connected to television in selected homes. These gadgets transmit the viewing habits of the household back to Nielsen, giving it a minute-by-minute ability to track viewing habits. Elon Musk/Instagram/screengrab Elon Musk has sold $10 million of flamethrowers to the British public. The weapons which appear to have begun life as a joke, though are probably more of a marketing stunt will be issued to people in the spring. Mr Musk claims they are completely safe, despite the fact they can spew out flames. Still, the PayPal co-founder said each of the flamethrowers would come with a free fire extinguisher and buyers need to agree to certain conditions before getting the device in spring. Four days after announcing that he would sell 20,000 flamethrowers for $500 each and after several promotional tweets the weapons have now sold out. "When the zombie apocalypse happens, you'll be glad you bought a flamethrower," he tweeted last Saturday. "Works against hordes of the undead or your money back!" Another tweet joked about false rumours that he was triggering such a zombie apocalypse. The rumor that Im secretly creating a zombie apocalypse to generate demand for flamethrowers is completely false, he tweeted. Youd need millions of zombies for a so-called apocalypse anyway. Where would I even get a factory big enough to make so many!? More serious posts suggested that the flamethrower isn't actually dangerous and that "a flame shorter than 10 ft is A-ok", he posted. "Our design is max fun for least danger. Id be way more scared of a steak knife. Sponsored The flamethrowers appear to have been created as a way of generating publicity for The Boring Company, a firm that Mr Musk hopes will drill holes in the ground to send super-fast transit through. He has sold novelty products in the past, such a 50,000 hats that were also marketed through a range of confusing tweets. Mr Musk is facing questions over whether Tesla will need to seek extra funding as it struggles to produce as many cars as it had promised. What Were Following Memo Dilemma: The saga surrounding a controversial memo from House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes took another turn when the FBI issued an unusual public statement arguing strongly against the memos release. In addition, it was reported that when Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein asked President Trump for support during a clash with Nunes in December, the president responded by asking whether Rosenstein was on my team. Trump reportedly believes that the memo will vindicate his claims that hes been unfairly targeted by the Russia investigationbut so far, the pattern of his presidency is that such hoped-for vindications tend to fail. The U.S. and the World: In its National Defense Strategy, the Trump administration calls for a new focus on strategic competition with world powers such as Russia and China, yet the president himself has appeared reluctant to carry out that policy. He hasnt quite completed the withdrawal from world affairs that some of his critics fearedbut his aggressive America First rhetoric has in some ways undermined the nations position as a global superpower. Robert OMalley asks: Will Europe seize the opportunity to lead? Recommended: The Banana Trick and Other Acts of Self-Checkout Thievery The Future of Work: A new study from Ubers s Advanced Technologies Group posits that the development of self-driving trucks could increase jobs for human drivers, and experts within the trucking industry think that that prediction might be right. In other fields, particularly health and retail, companies could stand to increase their revenues by half through investing in artificial intelligencebut theyll need to double down on worker training. And though Amazons rapid expansion has recession-struck areas competing for its investment, the jobs the company brings may not be the ones that struggling cities need. Scroll down for Alana Semuelss report in tonights Evening Read. Story continues Rosa Inocencio Smith Snapshot Three-day-old tracks from NASAs Curiosity rover mark the surface of a Martian dune on February 9, 2014the 538th Martian day of the robots work. See more of Curiositys photos from Mars here. (JPL / Caltech / MSSS / NASA) Who Were Talking To Douglas Feith, who served as a policy adviser under former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, shares how he responded to Rumsfelds memo request for broad solutions to Issues w/Various Countries. Recommended: What Amazon Does to Poor Cities Armando Iannucci, the creator of Veep, discusses his new film, The Death of Stalin, and the political role of satire. His advice: Always beware of politicians who cant take a joke. Mollie Hemingway, a senior editor at The Federalist and Fox News contributor, defends Trumps record and explains where she finds the president most effective on the latest episode of The Atlantic Interview. Listen and subscribe here. Evening Read Alana Semuels reports on what happened when Amazon opened a massive network of facilities in and around San Bernardino, California: This expansion provided a lifeline to the struggling region, creating jobs and contributing tax revenue to an area sorely in need of both. In San Bernardino, the unemployment rate that was as high as 15 percent in 2012 is now 5 percent. Yet in many ways, Amazon has not been a rare and wonderful opportunity for San Bernardino. Workers say the warehouse jobs are grueling and high-stress, and that few people are able to stay in them long enough to reap the offered benefits, many of which dont become available until people have been with the company a year or more As the experience of San Bernardino shows, Amazon can exacerbate the economic problems that city leaders had hoped it would solve. Keep reading here, as Alana outlines how the retailers expanding footprints affect poor cities. What Do You Know About Global Affairs? Last week, the Taliban conducted a terrorist attack in Kabul, Afghanistan, that killed at least 95 people. The massacre brought the spotlight back on violence in the country, where the U.S. has been militarily involved for more than 16 years. Throughout the conflict, the actions of Pakistan, Afghanistans neighbor and Americas ally, have ensured that the Afghan War would continueand with President Trump reluctantly deploying more American troops to the country, its not likely to end very soon. Recommended: What Kids Are Really Learning About Slavery Can you remember the other key facts from this weeks global-affairs coverage? Test your knowledge below: 1. Though ____________ was the presumptive nominee to be U.S. ambassador to South Korea, the White House is no longer considering him for the position. Scroll down for the answer, or find it here. 2. Qatar has paid the United States $____________ billion for 36 F-15QA fighter jets. Scroll down for the answer, or find it here. 3. Roughly ____________ African migrants have been waiting for decisions on their asylum applications to Israel since at least 2012. Scroll down for the answer, or find it here. Annabelle Timsit Urban Developments Our partner site CityLab explores the cities of the future and investigates the biggest ideas and issues facing city dwellers around the world. Gracie McKenzie shares todays top stories: If you could just get white liberals to live their values, you could have a significant amount of integration. A grassroots movement is tackling school desegregation in 18 cities around the U.S. Greenhills, Ohio, is a National Historic Landmark, but town officials have demolished some of the buildings from the 1930s. The reason? They say they cant afford to keep the buildings up. Los Angeles County, the most populous county in the U.S., has been dramatically expanding rail-transit connections for its 10 million residents. So why is the system losing riders? For more updates from the urban world, subscribe to one of CityLabs daily newsletters. Reader Response In our ongoing list of reader reflections on Trumps first year as president, Laura T. of Boise, Idaho, is less concerned about his agenda than about his personality deficits: My 11-year-old asked me whether I had heard that our president called Haiti and African countries shithole countries. Thats when I knew President Trumps comments were not something to chuckle at. Hes worrying children. Read about how children reacted to the 2016 election here. A language-arts teacher in Arlington, Massachusetts, worries that students may be copying Trumps offensive comments, and feels a responsibility to counter them: I teach middle school, in a district that is primarily white and upper-middle to upper class. Students think it is their right to make remarks that are derogatory toward people who are different from them (LGBTQ+, Chinese, African, Mexican, etc.) I am adding in texts that have an underlying theme of tolerance and/or plots in which they must put themselves in someone elses shoes. Some examples of texts such as these and what they can teach are here. Verbs Dingoes domesticated, artifact faked, twister twisted, elegy framed. Time of Your Life Happy birthday to Nicoles dad (a year younger than NASA) and to Andrew (born around the time of the Selma to Montgomery marches). Do you or a loved one have a birthday coming up? Sign up for a birthday shout-out here, and click here to explore the Timeline feature for yourself. Most Popular on The Atlantic Here are five of the most read stories on our site today: 1. What Amazon Does to Poor Cities 2. The Peril of Taking On the FBI 3. The Many Failed Vindications of Donald J. Trump 4. What Kids Are Really Learning About Slavery 5. Michael Wolff and the Smearing of Nikki Haley Meet The Atlantic Dailys team here, and contact us here. Did you get this newsletter from a friend? Sign yourself up here. Read more from The Atlantic: This article was originally published on The Atlantic. The government has, time and again, refused to fix this major issue. Of all the good tech-policy ideas dying a slow death in Congress, none has sunk to a deeper level of Groundhog Day futility than the effort to reform the Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986. That law tech-policy types call ECPA has long since become a four-letter word. Its original sin was leaning on an obsolete understanding of email to grant warrant-free access to messages stored online, but its major failing is now irrelevance: webmail providers demand a warrant anyway. And yet Congress cant fix a law that has decayed from dangerousness to uselessness. This year is still young and many Republicans now profess themselves uneasy over the Federal Bureau of Investigations reach but history suggests 2018 will end like the years before it, with ECPA intact. How we got here ECPAs error should have been obvious to people versed in bulletin-board systems and email protocols 32 years ago: It imposes a 180-day limit on how long messages stay parked on an electronic communications system. Up to that expiration date, the government needs a warrant from a judge based on probable cause to compel a communications provider to turn over your mail. Afterwards, a mere subpoena suffices. The advent of webmail services in which your messages never left the cloud beginning less than 10 years after ECPAs passage with Hotmail only made that line look more absurd. In 2010, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit held in U.S. vs. Warshak that the government needed a warrant even for messages stored more than 180 days. But it wasnt until after a front-page sex scandal uncovered in part via e-mailthen-Gen. David Petraeuss 2012 fling with biographer Paula Broadwell that Congress paid a little more attention. Legislative purgatory Alas, the reform bill Sen. Patrick Leahy (D.-Vt.) had introduced in 2011 only got out of committee in 2012. Leahy tried again in 2013 with Sen. Mike Lee (R.-Utah) and did no bettereven though the Justice Department said it could live with a warrant requirement. Story continues The only ECPA good news that year came from Google (GOOG, GOOGL), Facebook (FB), Microsoft (MSFT) and this sites parent firm Yahoo: They all revealed they had insisted on a warrant for stored email since 2010 or 2011, citing the 2010 Warshak ruling. (And yet none had thought until then that their customers would want to know about this defense of their rights, which speaks volumes about the false innocence of those pre-Edward Snowden times.) Since then, other telecom firms as AT&T (T), Comcast (CMCSA) and Yahoos corporate parent Verizon (VZ) have also said they require warrants. Smaller mail services without staff counsel, however, may still oblige a subpoena. 2013 saw Leahy and Lee make another attempt to reform ECPA; this, too, failed to get a Senate vote. A companion bill in the House introduced by Reps. Kevin Yoder (R.-Kans.) and Jared Polis (D.-Colo.), the Email Privacy Act, racked up 272 co-sponsors but didnt escape a subcommittee in 2014. Hope sprang anew in 2015, when that years version of the Email Privacy Act passed the House 419-0 and the Obama White House endorsed ECPA reform. But in the Senate, Leahy and Lees bill died in committee after Sen. John Cornyn (R.-Tex.) and then-Sen. Jeff Sessions (R.-Ala.) moved to amend it to give law enforcement warrant-free access in terrorism and emergency cases. Last February, a new version of the Email Privacy Act sailed through the House on a voice voteand, basically, nothings happened since. Leahy and Lees latest Senate bill has yet to advance out of the Judiciary Committee. Two members of Cornyns staff did not answer a query sent Thursday asking if his views had changed. Opposition is a renewable resource What would hold back a bill that Democrats and Republicans support and name-brand email providers ignore in practice? Under the Obama administration, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Federal Trade Commission complained that a warrant requirement would impede their enforcement activitieseven though representatives of each also testified that they dont use their existing ECPA authority. The Trump administration has made it clear that it wants to loosen rules on both companies and law enforcement, which may weaken the agencies cause while encouraging the anti-terrorism argument. Meanwhile, its overall vagueness about tech policy has included silence about fixing ECPA. There is no reason to expect they will act to move reform forward, concluded Sharon Bradford Franklin, director of surveillance and cybersecurity policy at New Americas Open Technology Institute. Meanwhile, Congress has a hard time passing anything these days, not just in tech policy. There no longer seems to be space for small, useful reforms like this update to ECPA, said Chris Calabrese, vice president for policy at the Center for Democracy & Technology. Because everything is hard to pass, other actors like local law enforcement and the FBI want to make sure that they get their unrelated priorities met in any piece of legislation. Calabrese and Bradford Franklin both now hope for favorable Supreme Court rulings in cases on warrantless access to cell-phone location data and mail stored overseas. Hoping the courts clean up Congresss mess is, as the president might say, sad. But seeing as how judicial intervention finally yielded meaningful progress in patent reform last year, it also appears sadly realistic. More from Rob: Email Rob at rob@robpegoraro.com; follow him on Twitter at@robpegoraro. Follow Yahoo Finance on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn Seth J. Frantzman Security, Middle East Turkeys decision to launch an operation in Afrin in northern Syria has opened a new front and phase in the Syrian conflict. Ankara says its offensive alongside Syrian rebel allies is aimed at eliminating the Kurdish Peoples Protection Units (YPG) control of the mountainous area around the city of Afrin that has been a mostly Kurdish-controlled enclave for five years. Ankaras momentous decision will have aftershocks far beyond its immediate results. The thousands of Syrian rebels Turkey has recruited to f The Afrin offensive marks a major new phase of the Syrian conflict, likely bookending the conflict with ISIS and the civil war. Erdogan's War in Syria Could Wreck U.S.-Turkey Relations Turkeys decision to launch an operation in Afrin in northern Syria has opened a new front and phase in the Syrian conflict. Ankara says its offensive alongside Syrian rebel allies is aimed at eliminating the Kurdish Peoples Protection Units (YPG) control of the mountainous area around the city of Afrin that has been a mostly Kurdish-controlled enclave for five years. Ankaras momentous decision will have aftershocks far beyond its immediate results. The thousands of Syrian rebels Turkey has recruited to fight alongside the operation are now being co-opted into a Turkish agenda that is mostly aimed at removing what Ankara views as a terrorist threat from its border. In addition the offensive is aimed at forcing the United States to choose sides between the YPG, which has been its partner against Islamic State for years, and Ankara, which has been a Washington ally since the 1950s. On January 24 President Donald Trump spoke with Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan and relayed concerns that escalating violence in Afrin, Syria, risks undercutting our shared goals in Syria, according to a White House statement. Trump urged Turkey to deescalate and limit its military action. However, Turkey is already deeply embroiled in a conflict in Afrin. The Turkish military claims it has killed 260 Kurdish YPG and ISIS fighters since January 20. It has carried out hundreds of airstrikes with F-16s. In addition Turkish tanks and ground forces were engaged along with up to twenty-five thousand Syrian rebels in the offensive. Can Turkey pull back after claiming it wanted to build a nineteen kilometers buffer zone inside Syria, which would involve taking most of Afrin? Either way its offensive has forever changed the map of Syria, putting Syrian rebels against Kurds in the first major clashes of the war, and risking a major break with Washington that has pitted the State Department against the Pentagon and ruffled feathers in the Trump administration. Secretary of Defense James Mattis told reporters in Indonesia that the Afrin battle distracts from the international efforts to ensure the defeat of ISIS. Story continues On January 23 Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin told CNN that Turkey would only cooperate with Washington once the United States stopped supporting the YPG. Then we can talk about the future of Syria, Kalin said. His statements are part of a series of increasingly bellicose and stark statements from Ankara portraying the United States role in Syria as a threat. A country we call an ally is insisting on forming a terror army on our borders. Our mission is to strangle it before its even born, Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan told reporters on January 15. Erdogan holds up a carrot-and-stick in this statement, both portraying Ankara as a victim, arguing that the United States could be allowed to work with Turkey again if Washington behaves, and also making threats. In a speech to municipal leaders in Ankara on January 24 Erdogan claimed that the Obama administration has broken promises to Turkey to keep the YPG, which Turkey refers to as terrorists east of the Euphrates. Weve done our part and they have not, Erdogan said. They promised they would send the terrorists in this area to the east of the Euphrates and leave Manbij to its rightful owners. For Turkey, the YPG is part of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which it has been fighting for decades. Since 2015, when a ceasefire broke down, there has been a major conflict in eastern Turkey. Meanwhile Ankara has watched as the YPG has grown in power in eastern Syria, defeating ISIS in Kobani with U.S. help in 2015 and defeating ISIS in battle after battle. For the Pentagon, which found the YPG valiant partners, this was not a terrorist group but liberators removing the stain of ISIS from Syria. In 2016 things became more complex when the YPG and the Syrian Democratic Forces, which were an umbrella group the United States and YPG had helped construct, crossed the Euphrates and took Manbij, a city twenty kilometers from Turkey. This prompted Ankara to intervene in Syria in August 2016. It attacked ISIS with the help of Syrian rebel allies and clearing ISIS from the border in an operation termed Euphrates Shield. Turkey said it was fighting terrorists, by which it meant ISIS and the YPG. Euphrates Shield was designed to keep the YPG from advancing west towards Afrin, where the YPG controlled a canton that was ringed by the Turkish border and Syrian rebel groups. In the summer and fall of 2017, Turkey made further threats to intervene in Afrin, but hesitated. Meanwhile the United States and the SDF liberated Raqqa from ISIS and Ankara watched as the U.S.-led coalition released statements saying they were beginning to stabilize eastern Syria. Coalition spokesman Col. Ryan Dillon said in mid-January that the United States was looking to train a force of up to thirty thousand in eastern Syria. Turkish media immediately accused the United States of building a PKK/PYD-led army in Syria. The PYD is the political wing of the YPG. The controversy over the stabilization efforts led to a rift between Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and the coalition. After meeting Turkish foreign minister Mevlut Causoglu in Vancouver on the sidelines of a discussion about the crises on the Korean Peninsula, Tillerson claimed that the entire situation has been misportrayed, misdescribed and that some people misspoke. Tillerson refused to mention Kurds or the YPG in a speech at the Hoover institute on January 17. Two days after Turkeys offensive the State Departments Heather Nauert said the United States understood Turkeys legitimate security concerns. The State Departments line is closer to that taken by the UK and NATO. UK foreign secretary Boris Johnson has also supported Turkeys right to want to keep its border secure. The U.S. administration has mixed messages that reveal a lack of policy. U.S. officials said there was a difference between allies and partners, but this semantics hasnt prevented the Turkish operation or prevented Kurds who fought ISIS alongside the United States feeling betrayed. Erdogan has upped his rhetoric. Daily Sabah reported on January 24 that Turkey will first exterminate the terrorists in Afrin and then make the region livable again, all for the 3.5 million Syrians we are currently hosting. This comment and others about operations against Manbij, which is where the United States and Turkey almost clashed in March 2017, reveal much larger plans. For Syrian rebels these larger plans present a double-edged sword. On the one hand Turkey has been a conduit and host for the Syrian opposition. Since 2015 Turkey has cultivated certain rebel groups, such as Faylaq al-Sham, the Sham legion. In the fall of 2017 when Turkey sent forces into Syrias Idlib, they had to navigate a mosaic of rebel groups including Tahrir al-Sham which includes former Al Qaeda affiliates. Turkey has also worked closely with Turkmen groups in Syria which have hailed the latest operation. Now these groups are being told the goal is to aim their rifles at Afrin and not Damascus. One should not think Afrin is the last target. On the contrary, it is the beginning. The next stages of the anti-YPG fight will enter the pipelines only after Afrin is fully cleared. It is believes that the Afrin operation could take around five or six months, writes Serkan Demirtas at the Turkish daily Hurriyet. That means what remains of the Syrian rebel groups in northern Syria, who hold the largest opposition stronghold free from the Syrian regime, are now increasingly intermingled with Turkeys current goals. Becoming clients of Ankara means they now focus on Kurdish YPG rather than fighting the regime. Turkeys relations with Russia now complicate its former support for the rebels against the Syrian regime. Turkey held numerous discussions with Russia before the Afrin offensive. The official details of those discussions are vague but Russia, which is the closest ally of Damascus, has not harshly condemned the Afrin offensive.The Syrian regime which threatened to shoot down warplanes over Afrin before January 20 has also not responded harshly. By contrast both Russia and Syria condemned the U.S. coalitions comments about training a large stabilization force in eastern Syria. Russia, Turkey and Iran have been meeting in Astana and Sochi and there are open lines of communication between them and Syria. The Afrin offensive therefore appears to be cementing a Russia-Turkey-Syria understanding where the YPG is being targeted not only because Ankara views it as terrorists but also because the Syrian regime and Russia view it as too close to the United States. The U.S. coalition has said that Afrin is outside its area of operations, which leaves the YPG there by itself against an awesome array of enemies. Whatever happens in Afrin therefore means that the aftershocks will be felt among the Syrian rebels and the United States. What's the long-term implication of this? It creates a potentially contentious relationship between Turkey and the rebels that could cause Ankara problems if Turkey appears to have sold them out to the Syrian regime later or if Afrin does not go well. Claims that Syrian refugees could be resettled in Afrin would mean demographic change, and if their hopes for resettlement do not pan out, then they may react. Also it forces the United States to accelerate processes such as increased development finance from U.S. AID to Raqqa and to move away from the YPG towards more Arab portions of the SDF stabilization force. The Afrin offensive marks a major new phase of the Syrian conflict, likely bookending the conflict with ISIS and the civil war in general. Seth J. Frantzman is a Jerusalem-based journalist who holds a PhD from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He is a research associate at the Rubin Center for Research in International Affairs at the Interdisciplinary Center (IDC) Herzliya. Image: Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan attends a ceremony as he is flanked by top officials and army officers at the mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, marking Ataturk's death anniversary, in Ankara, Turkey November 10, 2017. REUTERS/Umit Bektas Read full article By Idrees Ali WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Concerned about Russia's growing tactical nuclear weapons, the United States will expand its nuclear capabilities, a policy document released on Friday said, a move some critics say could increase the risk of miscalculation between the two countries. It represents the latest sign of hardening resolve by President Donald Trumps administration to address challenges from Russia, at the same time he is pushing for improved ties with Moscow to rein in a nuclear North Korea. The focus on Russia is in line with the Pentagon shifting priorities from the fight against Islamist militants to "great power competition" with Moscow and Beijing. "Our strategy will ensure Russia understands that any use of nuclear weapons, however limited, is unacceptable," the document, known as the Nuclear Posture Review, said. The rationale for building up new nuclear capabilities, U.S. officials said, is that Russia currently perceives the United States' nuclear posture and capabilities as inadequate. By expanding its own low-yield nuclear capability, the United States would deter Russia from using nuclear weapons, U.S. officials argue. Low-yield nuclear weapons, while still devastating, have a strength of less than 20 kilotons. The atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima had about the same explosive power. The argument for these weapons is that larger nuclear bombs are so catastrophic that they would never be used and do not work as an effective deterrent. With less power and destruction, the low-yield option would potentially be more likely to be used, serving as an effective deterrent. The Pentagon document, which is largely in line with the previous review in 2010, said the United States will modify a small number of submarine-launched ballistic missile warheads with low-yield options. In the long term, the U.S. military will also develop a new nuclear-armed sea-launched cruise missile. The missile could have the less powerful option, but a decision has not been made, and will take up to a decade to develop, officials said. Greg Weaver, deputy director of strategic capabilities at the Pentagon, said the United States would be willing to limit developing the missile if Russia would "redress the imbalance in non-strategic nuclear forces." Weaver said the most difficult task for those working on the review was trying to address the gap between Russian and American non-strategic nuclear weapons. Russia has a stockpile of 2,000 non-strategic nuclear weapons, according to the Pentagon. The U.S. has a few hundred active low-yield weapons deployed in Europe. The U.S. State Department said it had briefed Russian and Chinese officials on the review. RESPONDING TO RUSSIA U.S. officials argue that since the last nuclear review, Russia has expanded and modernized its non-strategic nuclear weapons, annexed Crimea in 2014, and deployed a ground-launched cruise missile that breaches the 1987 Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty. The treaty bans testing and fielding missiles with ranges of 500-5,500 km (310-3,417 miles). The report also, for the first time publicly, said Russia was developing a hypersonic, nuclear-powered undersea torpedo. "The U.S. is not arms racing, we are responding to Russian initiative here," Weaver said. Some experts have questioned the expansion. Jon Wolfsthal, a former top advisor to President Barack Obama on arms control, said there was a possibility that it could lead to a miscalculation. "If we put nuclear weapons on cruise missiles and we launch conventional cruise missiles, how does Russia know that they are conventional?" he said. The document argues that by developing U.S. nuclear responses, it raises the Russian threshold for using the weapons, rather than lowering the U.S. threshold. Kingston Reif, director for disarmament research at the Arms Control Association advocacy group, said the document could bolster a new kind of arms race. "It's not an arms race in terms of numbers like during the Cold War, but is an arms race that involves more than just the United States and Russia and it involves upgrading and improving the capability of existing nuclear forces," Reif said. The review called for continuing the B-83 bomb, the largest nuclear weapon in the U.S. stockpile, until a replacement is found, reversing plans to retire it. (Reporting by Idrees Ali; editing by Yara Bayoumy and James Dalgleish) The father of three sexual abuse victims tried to attack disgraced former Michigan State University and USA Gymnastics team doctor Larry Nassar during his sentencing hearing in Charlotte, Mich. After one of his three daughters detailed Nassars sexual abuse when she was 13 years old during her victim impact statement, Randall Margraves charged at Nassar before being blocked by the ex-doctors lawyer, Matthew Newburg, and restrained by three deputies, according to multiple reports. This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it. Margraves asked Eaton County Court Judge Janice K. Cunningham if he could have five minutes alone with the man who assaulted his three daughters, Lauren, Madison Rae and Morgan. When Cunningham said that wasnt possible, he asked for one minute, and when she refused again, he rushed at Nassar. Let me at that son of a bitch, Margraves said as deputies pinned him to the ground and handcuffed him. I want that son of a bitch. Give me one minute with that bastard. One minute. He asked the deputies, What if this happened to you guys? As emotions ran high, a number of people in attendance could be heard crying amid the ruckus. Assistant Attorney General Angela Povilaitis asked the courtroom not to respond violently. You havent lived through it, lady, Margraves responded, before being led out of the courtroom. Margraves appeared before Cunningham hours later, facing the possibility of a jail sentence and fines up to $7,500 for direct contempt and assault and attempt to batter, but he was not charged. This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it. This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it. This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it. At least 65 victims are scheduled to provide impact statements before Nassars sentencing in Eaton County. He has already been sentenced to 60 years in prison for pleading guilt to possessing child pornography in federal court and another 175 years for assaulting more than 150 victims in Michigan. Randall Margraves (L) lunges at disgraced former USA Gymnastics team doctor Larry Nassar (wearing orange) during victim impact statements in a Michigan courtroom. (Reuters) Ben Rohrbach is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at rohrbach_ben@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! WASHINGTON FBI agent Peter Strzok helped draft a letter that, in the final days of the 2016 presidential campaign, signaled the re-opening of a probe into Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clintons emails, CNN reported Wednesday. Strzok is one of the FBI agents whom some Republicans have accused of scheming to undermine President Donald Trump ahead of the 2016 election. He worked on both the Clinton probe as well as the Russia probe when it was in its early stages, and later joined special counsel Robert Muellers team. The letter Strzok helped draft, sent to Congress by then-FBI Director James Comey on Oct. 28 days ahead of the 2016 election dealt a blow to Clinton, whom Trump repeatedly attacked for using a personal email while serving as secretary of state. Comey penned another letter just before the election saying no new relevant information was found, and stood by the FBIs prior decision not to recommend charges The FBIs actions ahead of the 2016 campaign hurt Clinton, while the bureau stayed quiet about its ongoing probe into ties between Trump associates and Russia. Nevertheless, many Republicans have been working off of the idea that the FBIs actions somehow hurt Trumps election, and say the FBI continued to work behind the scenes to undermine his presidency. Republicans have seized upon text messages between Strzok and an FBI attorney with whom he had a relationship, Lisa Page. Neither were fans of Trump, but they also exchanged texts venting about Democratic politicians and figures as well. One particular text a joke about a secret society sent hours after Trumps election drew lots of attention from Republicans, who painted it as evidence of a vast conspiracy within the bureau. As it turned out, the joke was made in connection with gag gift calendars Strzok had bought for the team working on the Russia probe that featured beefcake photos of Russian President Vladimir Putin. CNN reported that Strzok did have reservations about Comey making the announcement public, and text messages showed they were troubled by the fallout from the letter. Story continues Christ. Its there led on freaking MARKETPLACE, Page texted, an apparent reference to the public radio show. Our statement affected the stock market. (It had.) (Photo: FBI texts) Republican theories about the actions of the two FBI employees havent really panned out, as HuffPost has reported. Republicans suggested that they were leaking anti-Trump information to the media, when in reality, Page cooperated with a story in which she defended the bureaus handling of the Clinton probe. Another set of texts indicated they rejected an outsiders suggestion that the FBI should have gone after agents leaking information about the Clinton investigation by monitoring an ex-FBI officials phone. Trump, in an interview with The Wall Street Journal, even made an unfounded accusation of treason against Strzok. Clarification: A previous version of this story said Marketplace is an NPR show. It airs on NPR and other public radio stations, but is produced by American Public Media. Related... FBI Texts Reveal Major Flaw In GOP Theory Of 'Deep State' Plot To Defeat Trump The 'Law And Order' Party Has Unleashed An Extraordinary Attack On Law Enforcement House Republicans Vote To Release Classified Memo They Wrote Attacking Russia Probe Love HuffPost? Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today. This article originally appeared on HuffPost. In statement attributable to FBI director appointed by Trump agency raises concerns about material omissions of fact in document The FBI said on Wednesday it had grave concerns about Donald Trumps apparent intention to release a memo said to contain classified information about the bureaus investigation into one of the presidents campaign aides. After both Trump and the House speaker, Paul Ryan, made public statements supporting the so-called Nunes memos release, which the US president said he 100% backed releasing, the fight over its fate took an extraordinary twist with the highly unusual FBI statement ultimately attributable to its director, Trumps appointee Christopher Wray. The clash between Wray and Trump is only the latest flare-up in what officials warn is an increasingly dangerous showdown between the White House and justice department, with a cycle of firings and retaliatory leaks potentially culminating in a spectacular firing or similar move by Trump that could threaten a constitutional crisis. We have grave concerns about material omissions of fact that fundamentally impact the memos accuracy, the FBI said in its statement. A Trump administration official told Reuters the memo was likely to be released on Thursday. The memo in question, which Democrats have said cherry-picks classified material to make Russia investigators look bad, was assembled by the House intelligence committee chairman, Devin Nunes, a staunch Trump supporter and a member of his transition team. Nunes issued a combative statement in reply, accusing the FBI of surveillance abuses and dismissing what he called the bureaus spurious objections to the release of the memo. However, Nunes opposes the release of a parallel memo written by Democrats. Though the Nunes memos precise contents are unknown, it is believed to describe a supposedly flawed request by the FBI to extend surveillance of Carter Page, a former Trump campaign aide. Story continues The memo is being treated as potentially explosive in part because it is said to place responsibility for the supposedly flawed request at the door of the deputy attorney general, Rod Rosenstein, who is overseeing the Trump-Russia investigation led by special counsel Robert Mueller. Trump used the mishandling of another FBI investigation as a pretext for firing former director James Comey in May 2017. The axe fell on Comey after Trump requested a loyalty pledge from the director which Comey said he declined to give. The memo was written by aides to Republican Devin Nunes, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, a staunch defender of Donald Trump and member of Trumps transition team. The committee is investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election, but the inquiry has devolved into a partisan fight about the separate FBI investigation, now led by special counsel Robert Mueller. As of Thursday morning, the public does not know the memos specifics, only its broad contours. The memo reportedly revolves around a wiretap on Carter Page, a brief adviser to the Trump campaign and a figure on the FBIs radar for years. According to reports, the memo criticizes investigators who applied for the wiretap, saying they used material provided by a former British agent, Christopher Steele, without sufficiently disclosing their source to the judge. Steele was employed by a freelance research firm, which in turn had been hired by Democrats. The memo criticizes these omissions; it is not clear whether it mentions other factors that led to the investigation, such as how Australian officials tipped off American counterparts to suspicious remarks from another Trump aide, George Papadopoulos. The memo also reportedly criticizes the deputy attorney general, Rod Rosenstein, for approving continued surveillance of Page. Rosenstein is the justice department official with authority to fire Mueller should he find evidence of misconduct. Rosenstein has said he has not seen any such evidence. The president, said to dislike Rosenstein, could fire and replace him. The FBI has argued against the memos release, saying: We have grave concerns about material omissions of fact that fundamentally impact the memos accuracy. Democrats have written a rebuttal and sided with the bureau against Republicans, who largely support the release. The president has told lawmakers he 100% supports the memos release, and has reportedly told associates that he believes the memo will help discredit the special counsel investigation into Russian interference, his campaigns potential role in it, and any attempts to obstruct justice. Alan Yuhas Trump made a similar request of Rosenstein, CNN reported for the first time Wednesday, in a December meeting in which Trump is said to have asked whether the deputy attorney general was on my team. Of course, were all on your team, Mr President, Rosenstein replied, CNN quoted unnamed sources as saying. The prospective removal of Rosenstein, whom Trump has attacked elsewhere, would constitute a grave threat to the special counsel investigation of alleged collusion between the Trump presidential campaign and Russia, analysts have warned. Trump reportedly sought to exact a loyalty pledge from a third top justice department official, asking former deputy FBI director Andrew McCabe whom he voted for in the presidential election in a meeting following Comeys firing. McCabe stepped down in a surprise announcement Monday. Eric Holder, the former attorney general, issued a warning about releasing the Nunes memo on Wednesday. People must understand what is at stake by release of the bogus, contrived Nunes memo, Holder wrote on Twitter. It uses normally protected material and puts at risk our intell capabilities in order to derail a legitimate criminal investigation. This is unheard of - it is dangerous and it is irresponsible. Trump signaled his intention to release the memo during his departure Tuesday night from the House chamber, following his first State of the Union address. Approached by a representative who urged him: Mr President, lets release the memo, Trump was heard to reply: Dont worry, 100%. Can you imagine? Congressional Republicans have aggressively followed Trumps lead in attacking the Russia investigators, briefly floating allegations last week of a secret society at work within the FBI to hobble Trump, before those allegations were retracted. Let it all out, get it all out there, cleanse the organization, Ryan told colleagues at a breakfast event Tuesday, referring to the FBI. That sentiment was part of a larger effort to discredit the FBI among Republicans, who cheered the announcement on Monday that McCabe, the deputy FBI director, would step aside earlier than formerly announced. The move was interpreted in some quarters as a power play by Wray, whose interests in the matter were assumed to be aligned with the president who appointed him. That picture was complicated by the release of the FBI statement on Wednesday, and by reports that Wray had sought to dissuade the White House from releasing the Nunes memo in a meeting Monday between Rosenstein and the White House chief of staff, John Kelly. Republicans have likewise echoed Trumps attacks on Mueller, whom Trump ordered fired in June 2017, according to a New York Times report, only to back down amid resistance from White House lawyers. Mueller reports to Rosenstein, who has testified before Congress that he alone has the power to fire the special counsel. Further complicating the memos release, the top Democrat on the House intelligence committee said late on Wednesday that his committees vote to release the memo was now invalid because it was secretly altered by Republicans who wrote it. Adam Schiff said in a letter to Nunes that committee Democrats had discovered changes that were made after the panel voted Monday to send it to Trump for review. The White House has therefore been reviewing a document since Monday night that the committee never approved for public release, Schiff said in the letter. A spokesman for Nunes said the changes were minor edits to the memo, including grammatical fixes and two edits requested by the FBI and by the minority themselves. The Associated Press contributed to this report Darren Osborne will be sentenced at a later date A father of four from Cardiff, who became brainwashed against Muslims after watching a BBC drama on the Rochdale grooming scandal, has been found guilty of carrying out the Finsbury Park terror attack. Darren Osborne was convicted of murdering 51-year-old Makram Ali and attempting to murder others, when he deliberately ploughed a hire van into a group of worshippers who had just left a mosque in the Finsbury Park area of north London last June. Osborne, 48, a lone wolf attacker, had tried to claim that the driver had been another man called "Dave", who then mysteriously vanished from the van. Darren Osborne has been found guilty of murder and attempted murder But he was found guilty after the jury spent just less than hour deliberating its verdict. Osborne, who had denied both charges, nodded and looked around the courtroom as the verdicts were delivered on Thursday afternoon. Makram Ali, who died in the attack, leaves a wife and six children Credit: PA He will be sentenced on Friday morning and the judge will be asked to take account of the fact this was a terrorist act when deciding on the length of the prison term. Woolwich Crown Court had heard how unemployed Osborne, 48, became a "ticking time bomb" after watching Three Girls, a drama based on events in Rochdale, where young girls were raped and abused by a group of predominately British Pakistani men. Video: Moment Darren Osborne ploughed into worshippers He was then "radicalised" within three weeks, after viewing extreme right-wing material online, including social media posts by Tommy Robinson, the former leader of the English Defence League, and Jayda Fransen, the co-founder of the Britain First group. On Sunday 17 June last year, Osborne drove a Citroen Luton hire van from his home in south Wales to London, where he spent several hours scouring the capital for a target. Finsbury Park van attack - How it unfolded Just after midnight, he spotted a group of Muslim men who had gathered on Seven Sisters Road in Finsbury Park to help Mr Ali, who had collapsed after taking ill. Story continues Osborne accelerated into the group, driving over Mr Ali and killing him and injuring 12 others. In the van police found a note in which Osborne expressed his extreme racist views and also railed against politicians, referring to Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, as a terrorist sympathiser and calling London Mayor, Sadiq Khan, a disgrace. Osborne was detained by the crowd and handed to police after carrying out the attack During the trial, Osborne's estranged partner, Sarah Andrews, described how he become radicalised by extremist material he had been viewing online. She said: "The first thing that started it was when we watched Three Girls . I think this may have caused Darren to go on the Internet to research this subject further. Darren has always been very unpredictable man in terms of his temperament and I think the feelings he had after watching has fuelled his unpredictability." Osborne just moments after the terror attack Credit: PA Other family members, including Osborne's mixed race nephew, Ellis Osborne, said there had been no sign of racism prior to last summer. Speaking about the investigation, Commander Dean Haydon, head of the Met's counter terrorism unit, said the speed in which Osborne had been radicalised by material online was extremely worrying. He said: "He has become radicalised in a period of three to four weeks. He was certainly not interested in extreme right wing up until that stage." The scene of the murderous attack in Finsbury Park Credit: Geoff Pugh He added: "My view around Osborne is that he is a troubled, vile and hate filled individual. If you go back 30-years, he has a history of violence, a history of alcoholism and drugs abuse, depression, a dysfunctional family background. "Taking all that into account, the first trigger for him on the path to radicalisation was that TV drama documentary. That was the catalyst for him having a hatred for the Muslim community. "From thereafter he accessed extreme right wing material. He then became obsessed with that material and that sent him into a further spiral of him wishing to carry out an attack." Mohammed Mahmoud, won praise for his actions after the attack Credit: PA After carrying out the attack, Osborne leapt from the van and tried to escape, but was detained by some of the crowd he had targeted. Some of the group began attacking him, but Imam from the nearby Muslim Welfare House, protected him from further attack and handed him over to the police. Darren Osborne was found guilty of murder and attempted murder Credit: Elizabeth Cook/PA Sue Hemming from the CPS said: Darren Osborne planned and carried out this attack because of his hatred of Muslims. He later invented an unconvincing story to counter the overwhelming weight of evidence but the jury has convicted him. We have been clear throughout that this was a terrorist attack, and he must now face the consequences of his actions. One person was killed and another 12 injured in the attack Credit: Neil Hall/Reuters Commenting on the verdict, HOPE not hate's chief executive, Nick Lowles, said: "This case highlights the pernicious nature and danger of online hate and sadly confirms the threat from right-wing extremism, which we have long warned about." Harun Khan, secretary general of the Muslim Council of Britain said: "The scenes we witnessed last summer were the most violent manifestation of Islamophobia yet in our country. We cannot be complacent and regard this as a one-off terrorist incident. "We heard during the trial how Osborne was motivated by anti-Muslim groups and Islamophobic tropes not only prevalent in far right circles, but also made acceptable in our mainstream. "The case tells us that we must all exercise caution when tempted to stigmatise any group of people, regardless of colour, creed or community." Le Cannet-des-Maures (France) (AFP) - Five army officers were killed Friday after two training helicopters crashed into each other near a lake in southern France, officials said, one of the deadliest such accidents involving the country's armed forces in recent years. The collision took place near the lake of Carces, about 50 kilometres (30 miles) northwest of the resort of Saint-Tropez, just a few minutes after takeoff at 8:30 am (0730 GMT). All three people aboard one craft, and the two in the other, died in the crash, the Marseille prosecutor Xavier Tarabeux said Friday. The cause of the accident was still unclear, and Tarabeux said the helicopters were not equipped with "black box" data recorders that might have explained what happened. But he said that the three instructors involved in the exercise were "experienced" as were the two trainees who were with them, and that investigators had excluded the possibility that the helicopters had hit a power line. A director at the nearby EALAT light-aircraft training school where the two Gazelle helicopters were based said the two instructors at the controls each had 3,000 to 5,000 hours of flight on their record. "I don't think it's a pilot error -- maybe a lapse of concentration, or a mechanical problem," he told AFP. The two aircraft were discovered about 600 metres apart, one having crashed onto a road and the other in a forest, Tarabeux said at a press conference on a tarmac at the EALAT school alongside defence minister Florence Parly. One helicopter shattered on impact, spreading debris across a wide area, while the other burst into flames when it hit the ground. The three instructors were identified as lieutenant-colonel Stephane Chaon, 44, captain Francois Mille, 35, and captain Patrick Vasselin, 52, while the trainees were captain Quentin Gibert, 29, and lieutenant Sebastien Greve, 30. All were married and they leave behind a total of 11 children. Story continues Parly said it was "a day of mourning for all in the defence community, which stands alongside the brothers in arms, the friends and the families of the victims". - 'Terrible shock' - President Emmanuel Macron hailed the "commitment of these officers who were preparing themselves for future missions". The French-made Gazelle helicopters entered service in the 1970s, and are used for reconnaissance and light attacks as well as training. More than two dozen Gazelles are stationed at the Lejay school at the Cannet-des-Maures base, along with Fennec and Puma choppers. A local councillor, Jean-Pierre Veran, said helicopters "regularly" fly over the zone and there had never been an accident, calling it a "terrible shock" with debris spread over a large area. Army chief of staff Jean-Pierre Bosser expressed his "solidarity with the family and friends of the victims, as well as their comrades" at the training facility. The last major aviation accident involving the security forces in France took place in May 2016, when a police helicopter crashed near Cauterets in the Pyrenees mountains, killing four on board. An investigation later determined it was caused by pilot error. French Interior Minister Gerard Collomb (C) meets in Calais, northern France, following a large brawl between a hundred migrants which resulted in several injuries. - AFP Four migrants are in a critical condition after being shot in Calais in what the French government dubbed unprecedented scenes of violence among those seeking to reach Britain. The brutal attack came days after Theresa May pledged an extra 44.5 million to beef up border security in Calais and President Emmanuel Macron promised there would be no return to the jungle the notorious migrant camp razed in 2016. Calais mayor Natacha Bouchart slammed charities and activists who manipulate migrants. They are people who live off this. Culturally, they are against the state, institutions. They help neither the migrants nor the population, she said. Her comments came as the government promised to take over control of food distribution from local aid groups within two weeks and conduct the handouts outside the town. The four men, all Eritreans, were shot in the neck, chest, abdomen and spine at a food distribution point. A fifth gunshot victim was not facing life-threatening injuries. In all, some 22 people were hospitalised after three giant brawls across the city on Thursday between hundreds of Afghans and Eritreans camped out in squalid conditions in the hope of sneaking to the UK as stowaways in trucks. Two officers were injured in the clashes. French Interior Minister Gerard Collomb (C) meets in Calais, northern France, following a large brawl between a hundred migrants which resulted in several injuries. Credit: PHILIPPE HUGUEN/AFP It was the worst violence in Calais since clashes on July 1, 2017 left 16 people wounded. A year earlier in June, 40 people were injured in clashes in the northern port town. Police were searching for a 37-year-old Afghan, a suspected migrant smuggler, over the attack but witnesses reported seeing several people fire shots, according to local prosecutors. "There were migrants who had no money, the smugglers got angry and fired shots," said one 18-year old Afghan migrant called Daniel. In response, around 100 Eritreans armed with iron rods and sticks then attacked a group of around 20 Afghans at the industrial estate where food was handed out, prosecutors said. Police intervened to protect the Afghans. Story continues Visiting the scene, Gerard Collomb, the French interior minister, said the unprecedented level of violence was "intolerable for the people of Calais and the migrants". He urged migrants to stay away from Calais, calling the port town a mirage and a wall" into which they were "slamming". Those that camped there were illegal immigrants who did not want to claim asylum in official centres, he added. French authorities say four migrants have been shot in the northern port city of Calais in a confrontation that police tried to stop. Credit: AP The clashes came just two weeks after President Emmanuel Macron visited Calais and promised that there would be no return to the jungle, the notorious camp that at one point housed almost 10,000 migrants and was bulldozed late in 2016. He also attacked "certain organisations" for spreading "lies" - referring to volunteers and charities accused of encouraging migrants to enter Britain illegally, and of fabricating claims of police brutality against them. The French president later travelled to Britain, where he agreed to preserve the Le Touquet treaty, which authorises British border checks on French soil. In return, Theresa May agreed pay for more fencing, CCTV and detection devices, and to take in more unaccompanied minors. An aid work in Calais told Le Monde that there had been an influx in migrants since the Franco-British summit. "In Paris and elswehere, exiles heard that the President had visited Calais then Theresa May. "So they have arrived en masse here to benefit from family entry and settlement and the passage of accompanied minors, the subject of negotiations (between Britain and France)." On Friday, Mr Collomb insisted: "The message I want to get across is that if you want to go to Britain, it's not here you should come. He blamed the latest violence on people smugglers who reportedly charge as much as 2,500 (2,200) to hide migrants in lorries crossing the Channel by ferry or through the Eurotunnel."These networks must be broken up," he said, pledging riot police reinforcements for the area. Migrant wakes up in shelter tent in Calais Credit: PASCAL ROSSIGNOL/REUTERS Despite state claims that Calais border is now impregnable, the number of migrants camping there has risen to between 550, according to state figures, and 800, according to local associations. By day they hide from the police in camps in the woods. By night they try to board passing trucks. The police systematically tear down their encampments and tents, and chase them away with tear gas and batons when they try to hold up truckers. Given this precarious situation, naturally the smugglers dont help matters, said Jean-Claude Lenoir, president of the charity, Salam. Mr Macron has pledged to step up the deportation of economic migrants and speed up processing asylum requests in a mixture of efficiency and humanity. His interior minister warned that half a million migrants had been refused asylum elsewhere in Europe mainly in Germany and risked heading for France. "The situation's untenable," he told reporters, noting that France registered a record 100,000 asylum requests last year a record high. Tens of thousands more were turned away at the border. France is due to table a new immigration and asylum law later this month. PARIS (Reuters) - France condemned on Friday attacks by suspected English-speaking separatists in Cameroon that killed three gendarmes on Thursday, but urged the Cameroonian government to engage in dialogue to stop an escalation in violence. The separatists have taken up arms over the past year in an attempt to create a nation they call Ambazonia. The insurgency represents the gravest challenge yet to the 35-year rule of Cameroon's President Paul Biya. France, which has significant business interests in its former colony and relies on it to fight against Islamist militants, has been careful not to overly criticize the government's handling of the crisis. "France condemns the new killings of law enforcement officials that took place on 1 February in Cameroon," Foreign ministry spokeswoman Agnes Von der Muhll told reporters in a daily briefing after three gendarmes were killed in separate clashes on Thursday in towns in the North West Region. She said only dialogue would enable a peaceful response to the concerns of all sides and ensure the unity and integrity of the country. "This is a message we are also passing on to the Cameroonian authorities, in close consultation with our European and international partners," the spokeswoman added. Violence has flared in the past week, with armed separatist factions clashing against Cameroon security forces in several towns and villages in the two English-speaking regions after Nigeria deported the leader of the self-declared state and 46 others. The United Nations refugee agency condemned the handing over of the 47 people, saying most of them had submitted asylum claims and their forced return was in violation of international refugee law. More than 43,000 Cameroonians have fled as refugees to Nigeria to escape the government crackdown on the separatists, say local aid officials. The majority are in Nigeria's Cross River state, which borders southwest Cameroon. (Reporting by John Irish; Editing by Gareth Jones) PARIS (Reuters) - French President Emmanuel Macron warned Turkey that its operation against Kurdish militias in northern Syria should not become an excuse to invade the country and said he wanted Ankara to coordinate its action with its allies. Turkey last week launched an air and ground offensive in northwest Syria, targeting the Kurdish YPG militia in the Afrin region. That has opened a new front in the seven-year-old civil war and strained ties with Turkey's NATO allies. "If it turns out that this operation takes a turn other than to fight a potential terrorist threat to the Turkish border and becomes an invasion operation, (then) this becomes a real problem for us," Macon said in an interview with Le Figaro newspaper published on Wednesday. Turkey considers the YPG a terrorist organization and an extension of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has waged a three-decade-long insurgency in Turkey's largely Kurdish southeast. Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim defended the operation saying it was solely aimed at securing his country's security and protecting Arabs, Kurds and Turkmens from "terrorist organizations." "If France is interpreting this issue as such (invasion operation), we need to assess what they have done in Syria accordingly," Yildirum said at a news conference alongside Lebanese Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri in Ankara. "This is a crooked idea from the start. The whole world knows that Turkey is not acting with an invasive mind. They should know it." The United States and France have armed and trained YPG-led militia in the fight against Islamic State in Syria. Macron said he would bring the issue up again with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and that the nature of the operation meant there should be discussions between Europeans, but also more widely among allies. (Reporting by John Irish in Paris and Ezgi Erkoyun in Ankara; Editing by Richard Lough and Peter Graff) BERLIN (Reuters) - A mosque in northwest Germany may no longer broadcast its Friday midday call to prayer by loudspeaker for now after a local court upheld a challenge by a couple who live nearly 1 km (1,000 yards) away. The Gelsenkirchen administrative court found that the town of Oer-Erkenschwick had not assessed the local Muslim community's request properly in 2013, but a court spokesman said on Friday that this did not prevent the mosque making a new application. The local Christian couple had argued that the call to prayers violated their own religious rights. Anti-Muslim sentiment and support for anti-immigration policies are growing in many parts of Germany after the influx of well over a million migrants from Iraq, Syria and other mostly Muslim countries, beginning in 2015. Huseyin Turgut, a senior official with the affected mosque, said the court's decision was disappointing. "The call to prayer lasts for two minutes, just around 1 p.m., but only on Fridays," he said. "We've never had any complaints and we have German neighbors who are much closer - just 10 meters away." The town's administration could not immediately be reached for comment. (Reporting by Andrea Shalal; Editing by Kevin Liffey) By Michele Kambas and Renee Maltezou ATHENS (Reuters) - Greece will soon submit draft proposals to resolve its decades-old name row with Macedonia, its foreign minister said, adding that a settlement could be reached in the coming months. The two countries have agreed to step up negotiations this year to resolve the dispute, which has frustrated the ambitions of Greece's small northern neighbor to join NATO and the European Union. Greece is a member of both. Greece objects to the former Yugoslav republic's use of the name Macedonia, arguing that it, along with contentious articles in Skopje's constitution, could imply territorial claims over its own northern region of the same name. Greeks are proud of their links to Macedonian empire-builder Alexander the Great, who spread Hellenistic culture across the ancient world. "In life, Alexander the Great ... proved we should cut Gordian knots. At some point we should finish with such issues," Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias told Reuters in an interview. Asked what would constitute progress for Athens if the dispute with Skopje was not settled by June, he said: "It will be settled." Talks between the two states have been inconclusive since 1991, when Macedonia withdrew from former Yugoslavia. It was admitted into the United Nations in 1993 under the name Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM). Kotzias said there was a new momentum to settle the dispute since a more moderate government was elected in Macedonia last year and following three years of trust-building efforts. "We want to solve it. It's in our national interest and in the interests of the region, for stability, security and economic growth," Kotzias said. Kotzias said Athens was working on a draft which could form the basis of discussion. "It won't be a Greek text containing only our views, nor a done deal-compromise. It will be a text which we consider could be the basis upon which we could start to cooperate," he said. Kotzias said he hoped the draft would be ready in February. For Athens, the name Macedonia refers to a large area of the central Balkans, most of which lies in Greece. The most profound difference between the two sides was over references in Skopje's national constitution, Kotzias said. Greece perceives them as implying territorial claims and says they must be changed. "LINGUISTIC ACROBATICS" More than 140 countries worldwide refer to the republic as Macedonia. Greece has previously said a compromise could include a compound name with a geographical or chronological qualifier, and be the only name used for the country. But the leftist-led government has failed to muster wider political support for its negotiating stance or for any suggested name that includes the word Macedonia. "Let me tell you a paradox. Let's say we don't reach agreement today, what name is left?" said Kotzias when asked about that lack of support. "Internationally, we will be left with plain 'Macedonia', therefore we will have no gain, and in our (bilateral) relations left with 'Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia'," he added. "Grammatically, it's a name which still includes the name Macedonia, which is compound and with chronological definition. So we are just fooling ourselves with linguistic acrobatics." Hundreds of thousands of Greeks turned out at a demonstration on Jan. 21 against any use by the neighboring state of the name Macedonia. It was on a scale rarely seen in protests against the eight years of austerity foisted upon Greece by its international lenders. "The demonstrations are signs of democracy. In both countries, people who do not agree to a good compromise ... do not have bad intent," Kotzias said. "They are simply people who see the problem from a different angle, without taking into account the historical (background) or future cooperation prospects," he added. "We have to respect this history and learn from it, but not be trapped in it." A U.N. special envoy said in Skopje on Thursday it was "time for a decision" on the dispute. "This is the right time for a breakthrough on this issue, to solve it finally and move forward in the region," Matthew Nimetz told reporters. "The momentum is now. We probably have weeks and months." (Additional reporting by Kole Casule and Ivana Sekularac; editing by Andrew Roche) It was fate that Bill Murray starred in Groundhog Day. (Credit: Columbia Pictures) Sure, Punxsutawney Phil is great and all, but the real magic happens when Groundhog Day star Bill Murray does some popping up of his own. It happens more than once a year, of course, in a wide range of places from a random couples engagement photo shoot in Charleston, S.C., to a college party in St. Andrews, Scotland. In honor of Groundhog Day on Feb. 2, check out a select few of Murrays most delightful surprise appearances. Eating a strangers fries The truth is that Murray has been accused of stealing a strangers fries before, but he was caught on camera doing it at the Marthas Vineyard Airport in August 2016. A Reddit posted wrote, Seemed like he was just getting his friends to the airport; flight was delayed so they went for a bite. He added that the incident gave everyone in the restaurant a good laugh. This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it. Serving drinks at a local bar during South by Southwest In 2010, the annual hip music festival in Austin, Texas, got a little hipper as Murray showed up unannounced to serve drinks at Sixth Street bar Shangri-La. And he did it in a way that is so Bill Murray. Somebody would order a shot of whiskey and he would just pour them a shot of tequila and hand it off, a partygoer reportedly said. No wonder everyone loves Bill Murray. (Photo: George Pimentel/WireImage) Singing karaoke with strangers Anyone who invites Murray to a social event should understand that theres a small chance the star will actually show up. Eight years after making that famous karaoke scene in Lost in Translation, Murray appeared at a bash he had been invited to at Karaoke One in New York. Another person there noted that Murray was super nice. The Ghostbusters star reportedly sang Elvis Presley and bought everyone drinks. Washing dishes at a college party Are you noticing a theme here? Murray is a party guy. He knows how to have fun, sure, but hes thoughtful too. Really. In 2006, the Associated Press confirmed an overseas newspaper report claiming that Murray had accompanied a 22-year-old woman he didnt know to a get-together, where he drank vodka out of a coffee mug. He then slapped on an apron and proceeded to do the dishes. Have you invited him over to your place yet? Story continues Crashing a couples engagement photo shoot A wedding photographer shared that while snapping pics of a couple in downtown Charleston, S.C., she noticed that the two were a little distracted. I thought, Who the heck is bothering them? photographer Raheel Gauba told the local Post and Courier in June 2014. I turn around and its Bill Murray with his shirt up, belly out, tapping his belly and trying to make them laugh. Classic Bill. Read more from Yahoo Entertainment: By Anne Marie Roantree and Farah Master HONG KONG (Reuters) - Cash withdrawals at Hong Kong ATMs have surged, prompting scrutiny from monetary authorities, the banking industry and police amid media reports that mainland Chinese are withdrawing hundreds of thousands of dollars using up to 50 cards at a time. China has battled to curb capital outflows for years. A move that took effect on Jan. 1 caps overseas withdrawals using domestic Chinese bank cards. The gambling hub of Macau last year introduced facial recognition technology at ATMs to target illicit outflows from mainland China, a move that Hong Kong's central bank told Reuters could increase cash withdrawals in the financial centre. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) declined to provide data on cash withdrawals at ATMs over the past three months but said monthly cash withdrawals using mainland bank cards ranged between HK$2 billion ($255.7 million) and HK$6 billion in 2017. "The HKMA is aware of media reports about people using multiple mainland cards to withdraw cash at ATMs in Hong Kong," the central bank said in a statement, adding that it was "monitoring the situation and is in discussion with the banking industry and the police about this issue". HKMA deputy Chief Executive Arthur Yuen shrugged off media reports that said up to HK$20 billion was being withdrawn from the city's ATMs each month. "I have to clarify that we have never seen that number. We don't know where that number comes from. The number of monthly withdrawals, actually, is very volatile but it never reached that high a level," he said. "The most important thing is banks need to monitor that (cash withdrawal). If they see any suspicious transaction ... they should and they have been reporting those kind of situations to the law enforcement agencies," he said. Representatives of BOC Hong Kong Holdings, a unit of Bank of China Ltd, HSBC and Standard Chartered, which have large Hong Kong ATM networks, declined to comment on cash withdrawals. Story continues A local banker said some commercial banks have stepped up monitoring of cash withdrawals. At the start of 2018, about 90 percent, or 1,040, of Macau's ATMs had been fitted with "know your customer" (KYC) measures, including facial recognition technology. HALTING 'IRREGULAR ACTIVITIES' The Monetary Authority of Macau told Reuters that measures introduced at ATMs in the world's largest gambling hub had cut cash withdrawals to a "relatively reasonable level". "Irregular activities have been stopped, promoting the security of the financial system of Macau and having a positive impact on the development of the local financial sector," it said. The HKMA said it was "in close touch with the Macau authorities on their experiences in the use of facial recognition technology in ATM cash withdrawal", adding that there currently was no plan to introduce the technology in Hong Kong. China's foreign exchange regulator, in its latest move on outflows, capped international withdrawals using domestic bank cards at 100,000 yuan ($15,815) a year and 10,000 yuan a day. The HKMA said that rule could impact withdrawals in Hong Kong. In recent weeks, Hong Kong media have reported several cases of mainland Chinese being robbed of hundreds of thousands of dollars after withdrawals using multiple ATM cards. The HKMA said it was not against the law for a person to withdraw cash from ATMs on behalf of others, exposing a potential loophole that could make it hard for authorities to crack down on mass withdrawals. Hong Kong police said they were working closely with the HKMA and banking industry to respond to any changes in financial crime trends. ($1 = 6.3 yuan) ($1 = HK$7.8) (Additional reporting by Sumeet Chatterjee; Editing by Richard Borsuk) U.S. lawmakers have nominated three of Hong Kongs most prominent pro-democracy youth activists, Joshua Wong, Nathan Law and Alex Chow, for this years Nobel Peace Prize along with other contributors to the semi-autonomous regions movement for political freedom. Wong, 21, Law, 24, and Chow, 27, were among the most well-known figures in the Umbrella Movement, which seized the worlds attention during a 79-day occupation of Hong Kongs political and financial center in 2014. Originally planned in opposition to Chinas political control in election of the citys highest executive, the protests drew tens of thousands of mostly young people to tent-laden encampments that brought the city to a standstill and awakened a new generation of political participation. A dozen U.S. congressmen and women, including Fla. Sen. Marco Rubio and N.J. Rep. Christopher Smith, submitted the nomination to the Nobel committee Thursday, in recognition of their peaceful efforts to bring political reform and self-determination to Hong Kong. The congress members, several of them chairs of the bipartisan Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC), announced their intention to nominate the trio late last year. Read more: Occupy Hong Kong One Year Later: What Next? Hong Kong, a former British colony, was handed back to Beijing under a 1997 agreement that promised a degree of political autonomy over 50 years; the territory is governed under a parliamentary-style system and enjoys freedoms of press and expression that are not shared by mainland Chinese cities. Facing an uncertain future and fearing an ever-encroaching Beijing, the Umbrella Movement unleashed a generation of Hong Kong youths demanding a democratic future and rejecting Beijings authoritarian model. Wong, Law and Chow and the entire Umbrella Movement embody the peaceful aspirations of the people of Hong Kong who yearn to see their autonomies and way of life protected and their democratic aspirations fulfilled, the congress members wrote in a letter to the Nobel Peace Prize committee. The Umbrella Movement and its leadership are acting in the long tradition of previous Nobel Peace Prize Laureates who captured the imagination of their fellow countrymen and sought principled and peaceful change from within. Story continues While the protests failed to extract political concessions and camps were eventually forcibly dispersed by police, the movement focused global attention on Hong Kongs democratic promise and stood as a litmus test of Beijings tolerance for dissent in the financial hub. Wong, Law and Chow have all since served time in prison for their role in the demonstrations; upon their sentencing in August, they were branded Hong Kongs first prisoners of conscience. The sentences bar them from political office for the next five years. Pro-democracy activists continue to face headwinds from Hong Kong authorities: Law, who became the citys youngest elected lawmaker in 2016, was disqualified along with three other legislators on allegations that they insulted China during their swearing-in ceremony. Subsequently, 21-year-old Agnes Chow, another leader of the groups political party Demosist?, was disqualified last week from seeking to replace him in a forthcoming legislative by-election. Read more: Facing Jail, Joshua Wong Tells TIME Hong Kong Is Under Threat The nomination letter also referenced Liu Xiaobo, the 2010 Peace Prize winner who died in detention in China last year. Lius treatment by authorities serves as a stark reminder of Chinas authoritarianism and deep disregard for universally-recognized human rights realities that Wong, Law, and Chow seek to preserve for the city they love, the letter said. Dubai (AFP) - An independence push by southern separatists who have seized the Yemeni government's de facto capital has laid bare deepening fault lines and shifting alliances in the war-plagued country. A deadly battle for control of the southern city of Aden, the base of President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi's government, ended this week in a takeover by separatists backed by troops trained by the United Arab Emirates. The UAE and Saudi Arabia lead a military coalition that has fought alongside the Hadi government and its now-former southern allies since 2015 in a war against the Huthi rebels from north Yemen that has left more than 9,200 people dead. The official narrative from Riyadh and Abu Dhabi has been unconditional support for Hadi, who has lived in exile in the Saudi capital since 2015. But behind the scenes, sources close to the separatists and in Washington say, the coalition may be growing frustrated with Hadi, who has been unable to gain the upper hand in the south. "It might be too big a statement to say this is the end of the Hadi government... but I think it's fair to say it is the end of one Yemen," said Farea al-Muslimi, Yemen researcher at the London-based think tank Chatham House. "It's not necessarily the start of a South Yemen, but it is the end ... of the uncomfortable political honeymoons of the Yemen war." Among those honeymoons, according to analysts, is that of the UAE and Saudi Arabia around Hadi in particular. - 'At odds with reality' - Historically, the UAE has more military experience than Saudi Arabia, having sent troops to Kosovo in the 1990s and dealing more closely with the Yemeni army on the ground today. "The Saudi-Emirati coalition has been pushing a narrative which is at odds with reality," said Simon Henderson, director of Gulf research at The Washington Institute. "The reality seems to be that the UAE has become exasperated with Hadi and is orchestrating its own plans for the south". Story continues The collapse of the southern coalition -- which comes less than two months after ex-president Ali Abdullah Saleh was killed in a fight with his former allies the Huthis -- ends the ties that have dominated Yemen throughout its civil war. The demise of the southern Yemen alliance, which included the Hadi government and southern factions, was foreseeable long before the Aden clashes of the past week. In April last year, Hadi dismissed a cabinet minister, Hani bin Breik, and Aden governor Aidarouss al-Zoubeidi -- now the president of the self-proclaimed Southern Transitional Council (STC), a 25-seat body of military and political separatist leaders. In January, the STC released an English-language mission statement calling for the "complete liberation of all territories of South Arabia" and the establishment of a "civilian state of the South". But how long the council will hold, and how far it reaches, remain unclear. "For the moment, the STC appears to be paying lip service to the Hadi government and the notion of a unified Yemen," said Henderson. "But it seems that the country is increasingly split along north-south lines as well as Huthi-Hadi lines." - Facing West - Those lines are infinitely more complex than a divide between a national government and insurgents. Oil-rich and impoverished, south Yemen is lined with a string of ports along the Gulf of Aden and Red Sea. It is home to separatists with different backgrounds and beliefs, Islamist organisations including Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and the Islamic State group, and an army with factions trained by, and loyal to, various national and international powers. Cutting across those divisions are tribal loyalties that have long dominated Yemen's provinces, including Aden -- until 1989 the capital of former South Yemen and after 2014 yet again the bastion of an embattled government. Once a stronghold for socialists and Marxist-Leninist groups, the south was the site of a failed leftist coup in 1986 that helped pave the way for the 1990 unification under Saleh, who remained in power until 2012. The south has long complained of neglect and marginalisation, grievances which did not disappear under Hadi, who is himself a southerner. A deadline given to Hadi by Zoubeidi to clean up his "corrupt" government expired on Sunday, triggering the clashes that saw Zoubeidi's forces seize Aden this week with the support of the UAE-trained troops, dubbed the "Security Belt". But Zoubeidi has stopped short of stating his council's goal is southern independence, saying he would await a "positive response" by the international community. The STC now aims to open a bureau in Washington with the hope of gaining recognition by the international community. According to two STC leaders, the council has sent a delegation to the US capital in what they say is an attempt to secure a licence for an office. The State Department has not confirmed talks with the STC. The State Departments third-ranking official has stepped down amid a wide-scale exodus that continues to hit the diplomatic arm of Trumps administration. "Thirty-five years is a long time. I've fought the good fight," Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Tom Shannon told CNN and the Associated Press in an interview Wednesday. A career diplomat, which included a quick stint as acting secretary of state before Rex Tillerson held the post, Shannon said he would resign once a successor was confirmed. Trending: Fight for Justice: Indian Man Ends 782-Day Protest Into His Brother's Death in Police Custody Although reports point that Shannon's retirement was expected, it follows an ongoing reshuffling of senior Foreign Service officers, where low morale has continued to hit Foggy Bottom. Shannon told outlets on Wednesday that the move is personal, not political. Tillerson made an appearance in the interview and echoed those sentiments, noting that Shannon had been thinking of the move for some time and expressed how much he would be really missed. After the announcement, State Department Spokesperson Heather Nauert tweeted on Thursday that "hes a patriot, a diplomat and a great American." "Working with him has been one of the great honors of my life." Don't miss: People Are Taking Diarrhea Medication to Get High, Sometimes Consuming 400 Pills at a Time This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it. Former president Barrack Obama appointed Shannon as undersecretary in February 2016. While he saw himself as a designated survivor, Shannon wanted to carry over his duty into the Trump era. In Wednesday's interview, Shannon said he would stay a year under Tillerson's leadership, believing that the allotted time would allow for "maximum impact." Shannon led U.S.-Russia negotiations amidst rising tensions and is also a climate change advocate. He was expected to lead the U.S. delegation in its first climate talks since Trump withdrew from the Paris agreement, but pulled out because of a family emergency. Story continues A well respected career ambassador across diplomatic channels, Shannon rose up the ranks after joining the Foreign Service in 1984, serving under six presidents and 10 secretaries. Shannons posts have spanned from counselor of the State Department, ambassador to Brazil and political counselor to Venezuela. He was also a special assistant to President George W. Bush. Most popular: Roger Stone Visits Ecuadorian Embassy Where Wikileaks Founder Julian Assange Is Staying The State Department has been hit with criticism over empty posts and resignations, as well as the administration's downgrade of soft power, as it grapples with continued rumors that Tillerson would leave his post. As reports that Tillerson was on his way out reached a fever pitch in December, he made the rounds at U.S. missions in Europe, denying media accounts while overhauling his State Department redesign. From day one, the former Exxon Mobil CEO has been on the offense about the State Department's budget cuts, thwarting concerns from both political parties, amid high-profile resignations, including recent departures of U.S. Ambassador to Panama John Feeley and Elizabeth Shackelford, a Nairobi-based political officer for the U.S. mission to Somalia whose resignation letter became a loud voice against current policies. A month into its tenure, the senior administrative team resigned last January, foretelling the waves of what would become the State Department's sliding door for many of its senior staff. This article was first written by Newsweek More from Newsweek By Gavin Jones ROME (Reuters) - A low, "flat tax" rate for individuals and businesses alike can invigorate Italy's economy, reduce tax evasion and strengthen public finances, a close ally of Silvio Berlusconi and possible future economy minister told Reuters. Renato Brunetta, leader of Berlusconi's Forza Italia (Go Italy!) party in the lower house of parliament, said a flat tax would be the centre-piece of the campaign by the centre-right alliance, which is expected to win the most seats in a March 4 election. "It will be an epoch-making, revolutionary reform and our decisive weapon in the election campaign," said Brunetta, a former economics professor at Rome's Tor Vergata University and one of Berlusconi's closest collaborators for the last 20 years. The centre-right bloc made up of Forza Italia, the anti-immigrant Northern League and the far-right Brothers of Italy will win the election but probably fall short of a working majority, opinion polls suggest. Brunetta is proposing a single income and corporate tax rate of about 23 percent. It would replace staggered income taxes going from 23 percent to 43 percent, the main corporate tax rate of 24 percent as well as unpopular regional taxes on business revenue of around 4 percent. The former public administration minister said in an interview with Reuters that the tax measures would cost state coffers some 50 billion euros ($62.4 billion). The Northern League wants the flat tax rate set at 15 percent, and the two parties have yet to settle on a compromise. Numerous countries have experimented with a flat tax to stimulate growth. The Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania introduced the system in the mid-1990s and Russia followed suit several years later. Italy has been the euro zone's most sluggish economy since the start of monetary union in 1999. Gross domestic product grew around 1.5 percent last year, its strongest rate since 2010 but still weaker than most of Italy's European partners. Story continues Italy's unemployment rates stands at 10.8 percent, two points above the euro zone average. 'FULLY FUNDED' Brunetta said the money to fund his proposal would come from scrapping a plethora of tax breaks and incentives for families and firms which he said amounted to 175 billion euros. The flat tax is not the only costly proposal in the centre-right's election platform of tax cuts and extra spending which Roberto Perotti, an economist at Milan's Bocconi University, estimated would cost up to 150 billion euros per year overall. Other measures include increasing pensions and scrapping inheritance and capital gains tax, and road tax on most cars. Brunetta said all the measures were fully funded, partly because the flat tax would generate a virtuous cycle in which people and companies would no longer feel the need to evade high taxes. He said this in turn would lead to companies investing, employment rising, higher economic growth and more tax revenue. "It's a win-win strategy where tax-payers, state coffers and the Italian economy all benefit," said Brunetta. The flat tax has been proposed by four-time prime minister Berlusconi ever since his first government in 1994, but he has never managed to enact it. Brunetta said previous attempts had made the mistake of trying to reform the tax system gradually, whereas what was needed was a "one-shot" approach. The flat tax would be passed in the centre-right's first budget, he said, along with a pension overhaul to replace unpopular 2011 reforms that raised the retirement age and helped calm markets at the peak of the euro zone debt crisis. That reform gradually raised the pension age for women to 65 in 2018 from 60 in 2011, bringing it more into line with the rules for men, and prescribed regular increases for both men and women thereafter, based on updated estimates of life expectancy. The new "fully sustainable" system, would be based on the broad principle that people can retire when they want, and get a pension based entirely on the contributions they have paid in. NO 5-STAR TALKS Brunetta, 67, who is known for his combative personality and prodigious energy, made no secret of his ambition to be economy minister if the centre-right bloc wins the election. "I have seen plenty of worse ones and I think I have the political and academic qualifications required," he said. "Of course everyone has their aspirations and it's something we will all decide together." Brunetta made light of the frequent friction between Forza Italia, which presents itself as a moderate, pro-European force, and the Northern League, which wants an end to budget restraint and sees Italy eventually leaving the euro zone. He said tensions were a "completely natural" result of the largely proportional electoral system which meant the parties were competing within the coalition as well as being allies. Berlusconi, who is barred from public office following a 2013 tax fraud conviction, has not yet said who Forza Italia's candidate for prime minister will be, and Brunetta said he was unlikely to do so before the election. He said if the March 4 vote produced a hung parliament the most likely solution would be a rapid return to the polls. He flatly rejected a call by the leader of the 5-Star Movement, which polls say is the most popular single party, for the other parties to back a 5-Star government based on jointly negotiated and agreed policies. 5-Star's and Forza Italia's election platforms have several points in common but Brunetta said the anti-establishment movement's aggressive attacks on its mainstream rivals meant he would "not even sit down to talk" with them about policy. "They are insulting, destructive, violent and anti-political," he said. ($1 = 0.8009 euros) (Reporting by Gavin Jones; editing by David Clarke) Israel's Ambassador to Poland, Anna Azari, is leaves a meeting with Poland's Senate Marshal Stanislaw Karczewski, in Warsaw - REUTERS Israel could recall its ambassador from Poland as a diplomatic row between the two countries escalated about Polish complicity in the Holocaust, reports claim. Polish parliament on Thursday passed a bill that could criminalise false accusations of Polish complicity in the Holocaust, which now awaits the signature of the president to become law. It comes amid protests from the Israeli government and claims that it was an attempt to whitewash any apparent involvement of Poles in wartime crimes against Jews. Onet, a Polish news website, cited a source close to the Israeli foreign ministry saying that Anna Azari, Israels ambassador to Warsaw, would return home as an expression of her countrys anger over the passage of the legislation. Yisrael Katz, the Israeli transport minister, had called on Thursday for Benjamin Netanyahu, Israels prime minister, to recall Ms Azari, while Emmanuel Nahshon, an Israeli foreign ministry spokesman said: Israel views with utmost gravity any attempt to challenge historical truth. A man walks in front of the monument to the Heroes of the Warsaw Ghetto who fought in the 1943 uprising Credit: AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski No law will change the facts, the statement continued, adding that Israel adamantly opposes the bill. The controversy has led to a sharp deterioration in once-strong Polish-Israeli relations, and prompted fears it could embolden far-right elements in Poland. In Warsaw police cordoned off an area around the Israeli embassy to prevent fascist protests. As it stands the legislation allows for punishments of up to three years in prison for anybody found guilty of making false accusations of Polish responsibility for crimes committed by the Third Reich. It also outlaws the term Polish camps when referring to concentration and death camps operated by the Germans in Poland during the war. The clash over the bill has touched upon a sensitive and complicated issue in Poland. Many Poles, and in particular the government, feel the immense suffering the country endured the Nazi occupation is too often ignored abroad, or deliberately pushed aside by those wanting to focus on Polish anti-Semitism. Story continues Senators attend an overnight session at the Polish Senate in Warsaw, on February 1, 2018 Credit: OUTRADEK PIETRUSZKA/AFP/Getty Images However, others argue that while it is wrong to diminish Polish suffering the legislation could stand in the way of Poland investigating and confronting incidents of Poles betraying or killing Jews. The United States has also flagged its concern over the legislation saying it could undermine free speech and academic discourse. Despite the criticism the Polish government appears unflinching in its support for the legislation. We have to send a clear signal to the world that we won't allow for Poland to continue being insulted, Patryk Jaki, a deputy justice minister, told reporters in parliament, before the vote. In a statement issued on Thursday the Polish foreign ministry also denied the legislation would inhibit freedom of research and scholarship, and freedom of historical debate. The bill now awaits the approval of Andrzej Duda, the Polish president. A former member of the governing Law and Justice party, Mr Duda has already spoken out in support of the bill so few expect him to use his constitutional right to veto it. Jeffrey Loria is still finding ways to crap on Miami even after selling the Marlins. (AP Photo) Lately, when the Miami Marlins have been in the news, its because new owner Derek Jeter has done something exceedingly dumb, or at least something that looks really dumb. But this time its not about Jeter. The Marlins previous terrible owner, Jeffrey Loria, is in the news for surprise! still being a terrible owner, despite the fact that he no longer owns the Marlins. Back when Loria swindled/convinced Miami-Dade county and the city of Miami to pay the majority of the $515 million it would take to build Marlins Park, there was a profit-sharing clause in the contract. That clause gave Miami-Dade and Miami the right to 5% of the profits if the Marlins franchise was sold within ten years. The contract was signed in 2008 and the sale was completed in 2017, which means that both the city and the county would get 5% of the $1.2 billion sale, right? Not right. The Miami Herald reported on Friday that Loria has found yet another way to take money away from Miami and wont be sharing any of the profits from the sale. But Loria could deduct team debt, certain expenses and taxes tied to a sale, and county officials and team executives privately predicted Loria wouldnt agree to give up any of his revenue from the October sale to Derek Jeter and partners. Loria bought the Marlins for $158 million in 2002, and sold the team 15 years later for $1.2 billion, which is a profit of over a billion dollars. But according to documents obtained by the Herald, Lorias accountants are arguing that the $1.2 billion sale actually resulted in a $141 million loss. And how they got to that number is pretty bonkers. In a brief report sent by Lorias lawyers, his organization said the terms of the deal resulted in a profit-sharing calculation of zero. The reason? About $280 million in debt that lowered the profits from the $1.2 billion sale, plus an agreed-to underlying value of the franchise of about $625 million, based on it getting more valuable each year. Add in nearly $300 million in taxes tied to the sale by Loria and partners, and Lorias accountants claim the sale amounted to a loss of $141 million. Loria also deducted the $30 million fee paid to the financial advisors hired to negotiate the deal. Story continues Carlos Gimenez, mayor of Miami-Dade County, told the Herald that the county may sue Loria to get a portion of the profits. Considering that Miami-Dade paid the majority of the $515 million it took to build a stadium for a private multi-millionaire, and the multi-millionaire himself paid shockingly little, that seems like a just response. The countys communications director, Mike Hernandez, had a much shorter take when he first heard the news about Lorias profit sharing. This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it. Derek Jeter may have done some ridiculous things as the Marlins new owner, but he has a long, long way to go to catch up with Jeffrey Loria. More MLB coverage from Yahoo Sports: Liz Roscher is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email her at lizroscher@yahoo.com or follow her on twitter! Follow @lizroscher Many have spent the past year anxious, angry, afraid, said Kennedy, a third-term congressman from Massachusetts Representative Joe Kennedy of Massachusetts delivered the official Democratic response to Donald Trumps State of the Union address on Tuesday. Photograph: AP Joe Kennedy, a member of the Kennedy political dynasty, delivered the official Democratic response to Donald Trumps State of the Union address on Tuesday, warning that the US president had ushered in an era of divisiveness and hatred. Many have spent the past year anxious, angry, afraid, said Kennedy, 37, a third-term congressman from Massachusetts, who is the grandson of Robert Bobby Kennedy and great-nephew of former President John F Kennedy. Kennedy spoke just after Trump pushed for unity and declared a new American moment in his first State of the Union speech. Making the response to Trump was a tall order for the fresh-faced congressman who despite his family pedigree is relatively unknown on the national stage. Kennedy was nonetheless chosen by Democrats due to his progressive record and forward-looking demeanor at a time when many Americans feel the nation is at a crossroads. He said in his response to Trump, We all feel the fault lines of a fractured country ... We hear the voices of Americans who feel forgotten and forsaken. Immediate reaction to his address on social media was partly, unkindly, preoccupied over how glistening his lips appeared, which on Wednesday he explained on ABCs Good Morning America was ChapStick. A little too much, apparently, he joked. Before his election to Congress in 2012, Kennedy worked as a district attorney in his home state of Massachusetts and also served a two-year stint in the Dominican Republic as part of the Peace Corps. Kennedy explained on Wednesday that ChapStick was the reason his lips glistened. A little too much, apparently, he joked. Photograph: AP The latter earned him a fluency in Spanish, a skill Kennedy did not hesitate to tap into on Tuesday when addressing the fate of nearly 700,000 young, undocumented immigrants, known as Dreamers, who were brought to the US illegally as children. Congress remains at a deadlock over how to resolve their status, after Trump moved in September to rescind legal protections granted to Dreamers under Barack Obama. Kennedy spoke directly to the young immigrants from his podium, first in Spanish before translating his message in English. Story continues You are a part of our story, he said. We will fight for you. We will not walk away. Kennedy delivered his remarks from a vocational school in Falls River, Massachusetts, a city he declared was built by immigrants. Just before he took the stage, Trump had recorded the third-longest State of the Union in modern US history. But even as the president sought to strike a conciliatory tone, his speech was pilloried by immigration advocates and Democrats for nationalist undertones that associated immigrants with violence and crime. Kennedys speech was designed to project a more inclusive vision of America, while decrying Trumps administration for rolling back civil rights and paving the way for Hatred and supremacy proudly marching in our streets. The staging inevitably led to chatter over Kennedys prospects as a contender for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination. But operatives within the Democratic party believe the young politician might first seek to represent Massachusetts in the US Senate, following in the footsteps of his legendary great-uncle, the late Senator Ted Kennedy. Asked about his political ambitions last year, Kennedy alluded to a potential run for the Senate somewhere down the road. Until his national debut on Tuesday, Kennedy had gravitated toward keeping a lower profile in Washington. He has rarely made headlines, barring a viral speech denouncing Republican efforts to repeal Obamas healthcare law on the House floor last year, which racked up more than 3 million views. On Jan. 30, the Alabama state House of Representatives passed a bill to ban smoking in vehicles with any riders under the age of 19. If it becomes law, Alabama would be the ninth state to do so. This comes as the federal agency Housing and Urban Development is rolling out its nationwide ban on smoking in public housing, and just a few years after many states have outlawed smoking in beaches and public parks. This trend raises the question: Are we getting closer to prohibiting tobacco smoking altogether? And would that be such a bad thing? In America, its very difficult to be simply paternalistic, Ronald Bayer, co-director of the Center for the History and Ethics of Public Health at Columbia Universitys Mailman School of Public Health, tells Yahoo Lifestyle. American values of privacy and freedom make it very difficult to prohibit anything as mainstream as tobacco, even if its to save the lives of smokers. That old nanny state argument rears its head every time. Smoking isnt good for anyone, but would an all-out ban work? (Photo: Getty Images) In 2014, a Gallup poll found that 79 percent of Americans would be against an outright ban of smoking. On the other hand, 56 percent were in favor of prohibiting smoking in public places. The difference is that people accept the concept of protecting nonsmokers from the dangers of secondhand smoke. In 2006, the surgeon general declared that there is no risk-free level of second-hand smoke. So even if some are skeptical that smoke coming in from the street to the second or third floor of a building would do real damage to nonsmoking residents, second-hand smoke is the only politically acceptable grounds for such laws. You wont hear anyone arguing that smoking with children in the car is a good thing either. Exposing a child to smoke in a closed environment is really unhealthy, Bayer says. But laws like Alabamas pose other problems, and he wonders if this would become a new way to target minorities, like controversial stop and frisk policies. How are you going to enforce it? he asks. Are people of color going to be stopped more frequently and searched to see if they are smoking? The questions of enforceability and what intrusions are necessary to enforce it are critically important. Story continues Alabama has passed a bill to ban smoking in vehicles with any riders under the age of 19. (Photo: Getty Images) While there is plenty of evidence that public space and workplace bans on smoking improve the health of adults and their children, not even the scholars trying to envision a future without tobacco smoking are pushing for all-out prohibition. One of the stumbling blocks for prohibition would be the disproportionate affect such a law would have on the poor. About 5 percent of people with a graduate degree smoke and about 30 percent of people with a GED smoke, so theres a very steep social gradient, Bayer explains. With millions of people still addicted to cigarettes, there is also the very real fear that a ban would spawn a black market similar to what exists with illegal drugs or what happened with alcohol during Prohibition. Bayer suggests that one way to help people quit would be by tackling the problem from the supply side. I think we would do much better to think about reducing the nicotine content, so that the addictive quality of cigarettes wasnt as severe, and make quitting easier. The World Health Organizations Framework Convention on Tobacco Control established a method called MPOWER in 2008 that aims to end the global tobacco epidemic, which kills over 7 million people each year. The way to do this is not by banning it all at once, but instead by monitoring use and prevention, protecting citizens from second-hand smoke, offering ways to help people quit, warning people of the dangers of smoking, enforcing bans on advertising, and raising taxes on tobacco products. Read more from Yahoo Lifestyle: Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter for nonstop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day. Kate Middleton is on day two of her four-day adventure in Scandinavia, and her pregnancy style remains very much on point. After an day that saw the Duchess focus on emerald green ensembles followed up by an eye-catching, floor-skimming floral print frock from Erdem, Middleton went sleek and sophisticated for her early engagements today. A Catherine Walker houndstooth topper in red and white brought a modish twist to the Duchesss maternity coat game, while underneath, Middleton took a polished tack in Sarah Burton for Alexander McQueens boucle shift. Middleton started off at the Matteus school in Stockholm, attending classes with students before learning about mental health issues affecting the countrys youth. Her McQueen dress was a safe choice for the setting, and mimicked the silhouette of yesterdays outing with its covered neckline, long sleeves, and above-the-knee length. An oxblood Chanel lady bag and coordinating shoes tastefully punctuated the ensemble. Kate Middleton Chanel Catherine Walker Photo: Getty Images Afterwards, Middleton and Prince William (who donned a local label, Acne Studios) visited the Karolinska Institute, a medical university. There, the Duchess topped off her shift with a graphic houndstooth topper from Catherine Walker with a similar A-line silhouette. Middleton kept her accessories the same, simply adding a pair of gloves to combat the chilly weather. See this weeks best dressed celebrities: 10 Best Dressed: Week of January 29, 2018 Photo: Getty Images Photo: Getty Images Photo: Getty Images Photo: Getty Images Photo: Getty Images Photo: Getty Images Photo: Getty Images Photo: Getty Images Photo: Getty Images WASHINGTON More than 2 million acres of Utah wilderness land that President Donald Trump cut from a pair of protected national monuments will be opened early Friday to new mining claims. Trump signed a pair of proclamations to dismantle the 1.35 million-acre Bears Ears National Monument and the 1.87 million-acre Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in December. The move is the largest reduction of national monuments in history. According to Reuters, the protections that banned new hard-rock mining claims will lift at 6 a.m. Friday. The Bureau of Land Management is preparing for an influx of gold, silver, copper and uranium claims under the General Mining Law of 1872. The 150-year-old law allows for private citizens and companies to claim mineral rights on land using nothing more than a hammer, stakes and a written note. The claimant then must record the claim within 90 days at a local BLM office and pay a nominal fee. Were working on getting information and new monument maps ready for people interested in claims, Utah Bureau of Land Management spokesman Michael Richardson told Reuters. Trump and Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke have accused past presidents of abusing the Antiquities Act a 1906 law that 16 presidents have used to designate 157 monuments to lock up public land. Upon signing a pair of executive orders in April that threatened the future of 27 national monuments, Trump boasted that he would end another egregious abuse of federal power, put states back in charge and open up protected areas to tremendously positive things. After a monthlong administrative review, Trump gutted the two Utah national monuments. The boundary of Bears Ears, a landscape named after a pair of buttes and home to thousands of Native American archeological and cultural sites, will shrink by about 85 percent. Grand Staircase-Escalante, the largest land national monument in the country, will be cut roughly in half. The administration has claimed that its review of national monuments was not driven by the opportunity to boost mining and drilling. But, as the Washington Post first reported, uranium company Energy Fuels Resources (USA) Inc. lobbied Trump to carve up Bears Ears so that it could access deposits of the radioactive ore around Bears Ears. Story continues A spokesman for Energy Fuels told Reuters that the company has no intention of mining in land removed from the monument. Rep. John Curtis (R-Utah) has introduced legislation that would enshrine Trumps reduction of Bears Ears, establishing two smaller monuments in the region, as well as prohibit new mining and drilling operations on the original 1.3 million acres. Meanwhile, Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.), the ranking member of the House Natural Resources Committee, and 11 other Democrats sent a letter to Zinke this week to request an emergency withdrawal of all land in the monuments original boundaries from energy and mineral development. Clear action is needed now, they wrote. Also on HuffPost Basin and Range National Monument, Nevada Bears Ears National Monument, Utah Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument, California Canyons of the Ancients National Monument, Colorado Carrizo Plain National Monument, California Cascade Siskiyou National Monument, Oregon Craters of the Moon National Monument, Idaho Giant Sequoia National Monument, California Gold Butte National Monument, Nevada Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument, Arizona Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument, Utah Hanford Reach National Monument, Washington Ironwood Forest National Monument, Arizona Mojave Trails National Monument, California Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument, New Mexico Rio Grande del Norte National Monument, New Mexico Sand to Snow National Monument, California San Gabriel Mountains National Monument, California Sonoran Desert National Monument, Arizona Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument, Montana Vermilion Cliffs National Monument, Arizona Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument, Maine Marianas Trench Marine National Monument, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands/Pacific Ocean Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument, Atlantic Ocean Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument, Pacific Ocean Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument, Hawaii/Pacific Ocean Rose Atoll Marine National Monument, American Samoa/Pacific Ocean Love HuffPost? Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today. This article originally appeared on HuffPost. BEIRUT (Reuters) - President Michel Aoun said on Thursday that Lebanon was using diplomatic means to counter Israel's stance regarding an offshore energy block in disputed territory on their maritime border. On Wednesday Israel described as "very provocative" Lebanon's first offshore oil and gas exploration tender and said it would be a mistake for international firms to participate. Lebanon is on the Levant Basin in the eastern Mediterranean where a number of big sub-sea gas fields have been discovered since 2009, including fields located in Israeli waters near the disputed border with Lebanon. After meeting Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri, Aoun tweeted, quoting Hariri as saying Lebanon was "confronting a big aggression relating to Lebanon's oil wealth". Aoun said he and parliament speaker Nabih Berri had agreed to meet to discuss steps to confront "repeated Israeli threats" and called on Berri to "turn the page" on tensions between their political factions. A row over comments about Berri by Aoun's son-in-law, Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil, has exacerbated a political standoff, threatening to ignite sectarian tensions in Lebanon before a planned election in May, and to paralyze government. (Reporting by Lisa Barrington and Angus McDowall; Editing by Robin Pomeroy) Male (Maldives) (AFP) - The Maldives' top court Thursday ordered the release of nine key political prisoners in a surprise move that cleared the way for exiled former leader Mohamed Nasheed to run for president. The atoll nation's joint opposition welcomed the surprise ruling, which has also granted them a parliamentary majority and stunned the government of strongman President Abdulla Yameen. "The Supreme Court's verdict effectively ends President Yameen's authoritarian rule," the opposition said in a statement calling for his resignation. The Maldives' popular image as an upmarket holiday paradise had been severely damaged by a major crackdown on dissent under Yameen, who has overseen the jailing of almost all the political opposition. Yameen's spokesman, Ibrahim Hussain Shihab, said the court had made its decision without hearing out the government. "While the ruling makes significant implications on various points of constitutional import and criminal justice procedures, it was issued without representation of the state from either the Attorney General or the Prosecutor General," Shihab said in a statement. However, he said the administration "will work to engage, and consult with, the Supreme Court in order to comply with the ruling in line with proper procedure and the rule of law". On the tiny streets of the capital Male, there were celebrations. Hundreds of opposition activists took to the streets and were quickly pushed back by police who fired teargas. Nasheed, who is currently in neighbouring Sri Lanka, urged his supporters to avoid confrontation with the police. "President Yameen must abide by this ruling and resign," Nasheed said on twitter. "Urge all citizens to avoid confrontation and engage in peaceful political activity." Nasheed, who is living in self-imposed exile, was sentenced to 13 years in jail on a terrorism charge widely criticised as politically motivated. Story continues In its order, seen by AFP, the Supreme Court said the "questionable and politically motivated nature of the trials of the political leaders warrant a retrial". The court ordered authorities to immediately free nine jailed leaders. -Police chief sacked- The Maldives police said in a tweet that it will abide by court orders, but within minutes the government announced the sacking of police chief Ahmed Areef. Attorney General Mohamed Anil told a hurriedly summoned press conference at the military headquarters in the capital that Yameen sacked the police chief because he was uncontactable after the court order. Anil said they were also in the process of "verifying the validity" of the court order. The court also restored 12 dissident members of parliament who had been controversially expelled in July for defecting from Yameen's party. The latest order gives Yameen's opponents a majority in the 85-member parliament. Earlier this week, opposition figures jointly petitioned the court to remove Yameen over alleged corruption. Opposition figures including Nasheed and another five dissidents named in Thursday's order have united against the president. Among those who petitioned the top court was Yameen's half-brother and former president Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, whose legislator son, Faris Maumoon, had been arrested. He was among those whose release the court ordered. Also among them is Ahmed Adeeb, Yameen's erstwhile deputy, who is serving a 15-year jail term after being convicted on a charge of attempted assassination in September 2015. Another key dissident, Qasim Ibrahim, who helped Yameen in the 2013 run-off election, was also ordered to be released. He, however, is not in the Maldives. Like Nasheed, he also obtained prison leave for medical treatment and has remained in Europe. Almost all key opposition leaders and a number of ruling party dissidents have either been jailed or gone into exile in the Maldives in recent years under Yameen. The president took office in 2013 after winning a controversial run-off vote against Nasheed. The former president was jailed in 2015, but granted prison leave in 2016 for medical treatment in London, where he secured political asylum. Last year he announced his intention to return and run for president in elections due later this year, but he was prevented by the criminal conviction against him. The United States has said democracy is under threat in the strategically located archipelago of 340,000 Sunni Muslims, which sits on key international shipping lanes. Nouakchott (AFP) - Mauritania has named the commander who will take charge of operations in the western zone overseen by the regional G5 Sahel anti-jihadist force, as it wrapped up its second operation. Colonel Salem Vall Ould Isselmou will head operations in Mauritania and a section of Mali for the force of troops drawn from five countries in Africa's Sahel region, a military source told AFP on Thursday, confirming reports in local media. The force's operations under Ould Isselmou will be based in Nbeikit in Mauritania. The G5 Sahel force -- composed of contingents from Burkina Faso, Chad, Mauritania, Mali and Niger -- has just finished its second operation, which lasted two weeks. The force has worked since last year, with heavy French backing, to re-establish control in lawless frontier regions south of the Sahara, where terror groups have been able to flourish. Few details were released about the most recent operation, codenamed "Pagnali", for security reasons. The G5 Sahel countries have been hit by jihadist attacks that began in Nigeria, claiming thousands of lives, displacing hundreds of thousands of people, crippling local economies and worsening food security. It works alongside France's 4,000 troops, deployed across the Sahel, and the UN's 12,000-strong MINUSMA peacekeeping operation in Mali. But the five participating countries -- all former French colonies -- are among the poorest in the world and their militaries are badly under-equipped. Phoblographer "I wish it had never happened, and I wish I had never captured that moment.", says photojournalist David Handschuh of the fateful moment when the second airliner flew into the South Tower on 9/11. His instincts told him to keep on shooting even after that, and he continued to do so until an I-beam fell on him. He didn't think he'd get out alive, but he was one of the fortunate survivors from that day. MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico's Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray told a news conference on Friday that Mexico's relationship with the United States is tighter with Donald Trump's government than previous administrations. "I think in many ways the relationship today is more fluid, it's closer than it was with previous administrations, which might be surprising to some people but that's a fact of life," said Mexico's top diplomat. Videgaray spoke alongside U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Canada's Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland in Mexico City. Freeland said that uncertainty around renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement was not good for business, but that it was important to get it right. As Videgaray, a former finance minister and longtime aide of President Enrique Pena Nieto, put a good face on U.S.-Mexico relations, he also acknowledged some tensions. "We do have some differences, as every other country does, but we've been working very closely," said Videgaray. "We're looking to the future." (Reporting by Anthony Esposito and Gabriel StargardterEditing by Chizu Nomiyama) MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Venezuelans must find a peaceful solution to the democratic crisis facing their country, Mexico's Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray said on Friday, a day after U.S Secretary of State Rex Tillerson raised the prospect of a military uprising. Videgaray, who said Mexico would use all available diplomatic means to address the situation in Venezuela, spoke after meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Canada's Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland in Mexico City. Tillerson said on Thursday that the Venezuelan military could decide to oust President Nicolas Maduro, but said he did not know whether that would happen. (Reporting by Gabriel Stargardter and Anthony Esposito) MSNBCs Morning Joe host Mika Brzezinski has abruptly ended an interview with Fire and Fury author Michael Wolff after a contentious debate over allegations he made in his book. The author has already taken heat from several journalists for the accusations he made in his controversial account of Donald Trumps presidency, but it was his allegation of a White House affair that had Ms Brzezinski reeling. While Mr Wolff was promoting Fire and Fury, he made an appearance on Real Time With Bill Maher, during which he claimed that Mr Trump is having an extramarital affair. He pointed readers to look for clues about that said affair at the end of his book where he detailed the Presidents working relationship with the US ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley. During Morning Joe on Thursday, Ms Brzezinski pressed Mr Wolff on her show about whether he was sorry for inferring anything about Nikki Haley. Throughout the interview, the author repeatedly insisted he hadnt implied that the President was having an affair with his UN Ambassador, claiming that what he inferred was that the president is many of the people around the president believe he is still involved with various women. Michael, you said that she has embraced it, Ms Brzezinski responded. Im going to go as far as to say that you might be having a fun time playing a little game dancing around this, but youre slurring a woman. Its disgraceful. After more arguing, Ms Brzezinski ended the interview. If you dont get it, if you dont get what were talking about, Im sorry. This is awkward. Youre here on the set with us, but were done, she said. Michael Wolff, thank you. Were going to go to break now. In response, Mr Wolff took to Twitter to blast Ms Brzezinski for pulling the plug on the interview. This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it. This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it. This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it. My bad, the President is right about Mika, Mr Wolf wrote, referring to Mr Trumps Twitter attacks on the co-host last year. To be invited on a show with the purpose of being thrown off...is the new television. Story continues The last time I was on Morning Joe off camera Joe and Mika eager to gossip about who Trump might be sleeping with, he later added. Ms Haley has also addressed the affair rumours, calling them highly offensive and disgusting. A judge has refused bail to two Reuters reporters charged with illegal possession of state secrets while reporting on the ongoing Rohingya crisis in Rakhine state. Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, reporters with Reuters, have been charged under the colonial-era Official Secrets Act for possessing confidential documents, in a case that observers and media workers warn is symptomatic of a lack of freedom of expression under Myanmars democratically elected government. If convicted, the pair face up to 14 years in prison. At a hearing in Yangon today, their third, the judge denied the defenses application for bail and heard testimony from prosecution witnesses. At a hearing last month, the prosecutions first witness, a police official, told the court that the documents contained information regarding police force strength and munitions in Rakhine States Maungdaw district, near the Bangladeshi border. But family members and rights groups say they were entrapped by Myanmar police. We are disappointed that the court denied bail for Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, Reuters president Stephen Adler said in a statement. We believe the court proceedings will demonstrate their innocence and Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo will be able to return to their jobs reporting on events in Myanmar. Read more: Myanmars Case Against Reuters Reporters Is a War on Truth Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo have now been detained for six weeks. They were arrested last month while investigating a brutal campaign of violence by Myanmars military that has engulfed western Rakhine State and driven an estimated 688,000 Muslim Rohingya to neighboring Bangladesh. Myanmar contends that the clearance operations, are a legitimate counterinsurgency campaign in response to deadly attacks by Rohingya militants. However, the U.N.s top human rights official has said the campaign resembles a textbook example of ethnic cleansing. Last week, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said the crisis is even worse than it has been portrayed in the media. Story continues The reporters met police officers for dinner in Yangon believing they were chasing a lead. Instead, they told family members, they were handed documents and almost immediately arrested. A senior ruling party official has suggested that they were set up, while rights groups have argued that the case is intended to intimidate other journalists from investigating the militarys conduct in Rakhine. The State Department has called for their immediate and unconditional release. Myanmar government spokesperson Zaw Htay previously rejected the idea of the government interfering in the case to hasten the journalists release, telling the Associated Press that its up to the court to decide. On Thursday, an apparent petrol bomb attack caused minimal damage to the lakeside villa of Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmars de facto leader, the residence where the Nobel laureate was held under house arrest for 15 years. She was not in residence at the time. GettyImages-856841672 Nashville Mayor Megan Barry has admitted to having an affair with her former bodyguard, saying God will forgive her, even if the voters dont. Barry, who has been Nashville mayor since 2015, said Wednesday she had been involved in an affair with now retired police Sgt. Robert Forrest of the Nashville police department, ABC news reported. Forrest, who had been with the force for 32 years, retired just hours before Barry made the statement. Trending: NASA: Dinosaur Footprint Discovery Reveals Ancient Feeding Frenzy in Space Agencys Own Backyard Related: Hundreds of slaves may be buried under Nashville baseball stadium God will forgive me, but the people of Nashville dont have to. In the weeks and months to come, I will work hard to earn your forgiveness and earn back your trust, the Nashville mayor told reporters in prepared remarks. Barry also apologised to her husband Bruce and took full responsibility for the pain caused to her own family and the family of Sgt. Forrest. Don't miss: Does Coffee Cause Cancer? California Cuppas Could Soon Carry Warning GettyImages-856841672 Rick Diamond/Getty Images For his own part, Forrest issued a statement through his lawyer expressing regret for the affair but denying any professional impropriety. "I deeply regret that my professional relationship with Mayor Barry turned into a personal one," Forrest said in the statement. At no time did I ever violate my oath as a police office or engage in actions that would abuse the public trust." Barry has attempted to deflect accusations that the pair used work trips to cover their affair. According to documents obtained by ABC affiliate WKRN Barry and Forrests travel expenses amounted to $30,000 since January 2017. At the same time, Forrests overtime pay doubled since Barry took office. Story continues Most popular: Physics: Speed of Light Could Be Brought to a Complete Stop By Trapping Particles Inside Crystals At the press conference, Barry said every one of the trips had been business-related and Forrests overtime had changed to match her own aggressive schedule. The affair between the mayor and her bodyguard, which is now reportedly over, appears to have come at particularly trying time for Barry. Her only child, 22-year-old Max Barry, died in July of an apparent drug overdose. This article was first written by Newsweek More from Newsweek Los Angeles County Sheriffs investigators say Robert Wagner is more of a person of interest in the death of actress Natalie Wood, who died nearly 40 years ago under mysterious circumstances. As weve investigated the case over the last six years, I think hes more of a person of interest now, Lt. John Corina told 48 Hours in an interview thats set to air Saturday. I mean, we now know that he was the last person to be with Natalie before she disappeared. Robert Wagner and Natalie Wood in 1970. (Photo: Silver Screen Collection via Getty Images) Wood, who starred in West Side Story and Rebel Without a Cause, was found dead in the water in 1981, near Santa Catalina Island off the coast of California. She had gone on a yachting weekend with Wagner, as well as Christopher Walken, who at the time was starring with the actress in the movie Brainstorm, and Dennis Davern, the boats captain. Woods death was originally ruled an accident, but the case was reopened in 2011. The coroner changed her cause of death to drowning and other undetermined factors the following year. Detectives who spoke to 48 Hours said an autopsy report indicated there were a number of bruises on Woods body that appeared to have been fresh at the time of death. She looked like a victim of an assault, Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department Detective Ralph Hernandez said, noting that the marks made it suspicious enough to make us think that something happened. Wood and Wagner in 1958, shortly after their first marriage. (Photo: ullstein bild Dtl. via Getty Images) Investigators said Wagner who was married to Wood twice, first from 1957 to 1962, and again from 1972 until her death has been uncooperative since they reopened the case. I havent seen him tell the details that match all the other witnesses in this case, Corina said of Wagner. I think hes constantly changed his story a little bit. And his version of events just dont add up. Walken, however, has spoken with investigators. Wagner wrote in his 2008 memoir, Pieces of My Heart, that nobody knows how Wood died. There was a lot of drinking that night, he wrote. He said he and Walken also got into a fight about Woods career path. Story continues I picked up a wine bottle, slammed it on the table and broke it into pieces, he wrote. As to how Wood ended up in the water, Wagner said: There are only two possibilities: either she was trying to get away from the argument, or she was trying to tie the dinghy. But the bottom line is that nobody knows exactly what happened. Love HuffPost? Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today. This article originally appeared on HuffPost. Viktor Moisa, a retired rocket scientist, welcomed the North Koreans to his institute in eastern Ukraine just as he would with any other guests. He took them upstairs to the showroom of Soviet satellites and rocket engines, the pride of the institutes collection. Then they went out to the yard, where an array of parts for ballistic missiles were on display. This was in the early 2000s, well before North Korea would test its first nuclear bomb in 2006. So the visitors interest in missile technology did not arouse Moisas suspicion. They came as tourists, he told TIME on a breezy afternoon last fall. At least thats how they presented themselves. We were standing in the same yard he had shown to the North Koreans, a paved lot in the city of Dnipro where old missile components are still on show, many of them made at a nearby rocket factory known as Yuzhmash. Guidance systems, fuel pumps and the massive cones designed to hold nuclear warheads at the tip of a rocket all stood in the autumn sun like leftovers from a military rummage sale. Moisa, a cheerful 79-year-old with a puff of silver hair, says he understands in retrospect that his guests from North Korea were probably spies. Its just a guess, he told me with a smile. But they were probably dreaming of being a real missile power. That dream has since been achieved. Over the past eight months, North Korea has test-launched three rockets capable of striking the U.S. mainland. According to missile experts in the U.S. and Europe, the key components of these rockets are based on Soviet designs, much like those displayed in Moisas museum. The latest North Korean breakthrough, the Hwasong-15 missile, was tested in November; experts believe it could be powerful enough to lob a nuclear warhead all the way to New York City. This feat of engineering, which only a few nations have ever achieved, exposed a long history of failures on the part of the U.S. and its allies. It showed that the strict sanctions they imposed on North Korea failed to isolate its military. It showed that North Korea, a country so poor that its cities go dark at night to save power, was still able to acquire some of the worlds most sensitive technology and hire experts who know how to use it. It showed that, despite decades of nonproliferation efforts, a rogue nation had obtained a weapon capable of starting World War III. Story continues A 1952 nuclear detonation at the Nevada Proving Grounds, which Trump has ordered to prepare for resuming tests. Now, as the world adjusts to the reality of a nuclear North Korea, its young dictator Kim Jong Un has begun to sell this technology abroad. One of his most eager customers is the regime in Syria, which is also under strict international sanctions, according to a classified report that the U.N. Security Council is due to discuss at the end of February. A draft of the report, which was seen by TIME in January, suggests that RussiaSyrias steadfast supportermay be turning a blind eye to this trade while stonewalling U.N. efforts to investigate it. As a permanent member of the Security Council, Russia has always denied such accusations. President Vladimir Putin insisted in December that he has tried to help the West in curtailing the spread of weapons of mass destruction. But in the same breath, he blamed the U.S. for leaving Kim no choice but to go nuclear. For North Korea, this was the only way of self-preservation, Putin said. WMDs and missiles. Pyongyangs weapons program had help from a variety of sources. The regimes ability to enrich uranium, a key step in building a nuclear warhead, is believed to have come from Pakistan. But launching those warheads across continents would be impossible without Russian or Ukrainian technology, experts have concluded; and that, they say, is what allowed North Korea to become a truly global threat. Starting in the early 1990s, the North Korean military methodically sought to assemble its weapons program from the ruins of the Soviet missile industry. The regimes first team of foreign missile experts was recruited inside Russia, and recruitment efforts have continued in the decades since. Such scientists, including experts in chemical, nuclear and biological arms, are not hard to find in Russia and Ukraine. By U.S. estimates, tens of thousands of them were left jobless after the Soviet Union fell apart. And there were huge temptations for scientists to take some of their knowledge and potentially sell it elsewhere, says former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Carlos Pascual, who headed the Russia desk at the White House in the late 1990s. Given what was at stake, and what the cost of that knowledge leaking out might be, I think few had a clear understanding of how important this was. The warning signs look painfully clear in hindsight. As early as 1991, and as recently as 2011, North Koreans were caught trying to acquire Soviet-era missile technology, which has not always been kept under lock and key. In 2002, six tons of components for a Soviet ballistic missile turned up in a Ukrainian scrapyard. In another case in Russia last summer, two sets of surface-to-air missiles were found in a garbage dump in eastern Siberia. Among the experts studying North Koreas newest rockets, the first to raise the alarm over their Soviet origins was Michael Elleman, a former U.N. weapons inspector and consultant to the Pentagon. He had seen many of these weapons up close over the years. After the fall of the Soviet Union, he took part in U.S. programs to dismantle some of the largest missiles in the Russian stockpile, and he understood how easy it would be for this technology to leak. As a proliferation risk, he told me, this has never really gone away. That seemed clear from North Koreas latest missile launches. At his think tank in London, the International Institute for Strategic Studies, Elleman compared footage of those launches shown on North Korean television in July with photos of Soviet missile engines dating to the 1960s. One of them appeared to match the RD-250, an outdated but highly reliable machine. Roughly 200 of these engines still exist, according to Yuzhmash, the missile factory in Dnipro that made them. Nearly all are stored in Russia, but Elleman concluded that if one had been stolen, it would more likely have been from a smaller stockpile in Ukraine. He pointed in particular to Yuzhmash itself, which was known to have been a target of North Korean spies not posing as tourists. Two of them were arrested in Ukraine in 2011 while trying to purchase copies of the factorys designs; both are now serving eight years in prison for espionage. In some ways, the plant was an obvious target. Founded during World War II to help the Red Army defeat the Nazis, it went on to develop many of the Soviet Unions most powerful ballistic missiles. When TIME visited Yuzhmash last October, we were greeted by the sight of a missile code-named Satan, which was once capable of orbiting the earth and, at Moscows command, dropping a hail of nuclear warheads on its target. This was our pride, says Vladimir Platonov, the factorys in-house historian. We kept the Americans up at night. But the end of the Cold War made such weapons seem unnecessary. Under pressure from the U.S. and Russia, Ukraine agreed in 1994 to give up the arsenal of nuclear warheads it inherited from the Soviet Union. It also pledged to disarm the ballistic missiles meant to carry those warheads. For the cause of global disarmament, this was a breakthrough. For Yuzhmash, it was a disaster. Thousands of its engineers lost their jobs as the states demand for missiles dried up. Today the factory makes tractors and trolley buses to make ends meet. What rockets it still builds are intended to launch satellites into orbit. Traditionally, its most reliable customer for these rockets has been Russia. But the conflict that broke out between the two countries in 2014 severed many of the economic ties between Russia and Ukraine, especially in sensitive fields like rocket technology. Yuzhmash fell on even harder times, slashing wages, rationing electricity and laying off the bulk of its staff. It was a question of survival for us, says Oleg Lebedev, the factorys chief of production. Engineers assemble a rocket at the Yuzhmash factory in eastern Ukraine Its not hard to see how these troubles made the factory more vulnerable to theft, Elleman said. A small team of disgruntled employees or underpaid guards could be enticed to steal a few dozen engines, like the RD-250, he wrote in a report that was published in August. These machines, he added, can be flown or, more likely, transported by train through Russia to North Korea. The report put Ukraines government on the defensive, and it scrambled to find all the ballistic-missile engines stored inside the country. In little over a week, it tracked down about a dozen RD-250s, nearly all of them stored at Yuzhmash, and announced that the investigation was closed. But what the commission did not examine was the risk of the weapons scientists finding their way to North Korea. According to Lebedev, who took part in the investigation on behalf of Yuzhmash, the size of the factorys workforce shrank sixfold between 2014 and 2017. Were talking about thousands of workers, he says. Everyone from the welders on the factory floor to the top engineers in our design bureau. We lost them all. The impact was obvious when Lebedev showed TIME around the missile factory. Its main production hall was almost deserted. About a dozen workers busied themselves inside a few space rockets, each one about the size of a jumbo jet. There was not a computer in sight. All measurements were done by hand, and elderly women in heavy coats noted them down in paper ledgers. Yuri Simvolokov, a union organizer who has helped Yuzhmash workers stage strikes over unpaid wages, says many of them have gone abroad to find work over the yearsnot just to North Korea, but also to Iran and Pakistan. They pay big money over there, he says of these countries, over dinner with a few of his fellow teamsters. And if they want to build a rocket, they bring our specialists over. Its nothing new. In fact, the exodus began decades ago. In April 1991, as the Soviet Union was dissolving, a specialist in solid-state physics named Anatoly Rubtsov was approached by a group of North Koreans at an academic conference in Beijing. He had worked for years at a top-secret facility in southern Russia, producing intermediate-range missiles for the Soviet arsenal. But his loyalties seem to have flagged as his nation fell apart, and he became one of North Koreas first known recruits from the former Soviet Union. The North Korean offer, compared with Rubtsovs prospects back home, must have seemed like a saving grace. As he later explained in interviews with Russian and Western reporters, he was invited to set up a research institute in North Korea and staff it with Russian engineers. Their aim would be to establish the regimes missile program, according to Rubtsovs own published accounts. But it didnt stay secret for long. On Oct. 15, 1992, about 60 of his recruits were detained at a Moscow airport, and news of their plans caused an international scandal. Under pressure from the U.S. and South Korea, the Kremlin agreed to prevent Russian scientists from working on the North Korean missile program. Pyongyang took this as a sign of betrayal. The regimes relations with the Soviets had always been comradely. The founder of the dynasty that still rules North Korea, Kim Il Sung, was installed in power by the Soviet military in 1945 on the direct orders of Joseph Stalin, and the Soviets provided Kim with the tanks and artillery he used in 1950 to invade South Korea. In 1961, Moscow signed a treaty of mutual defense and cooperation with Pyongyang. The agreement obliged the Soviet Union to defend the Kim regime if it ever came under attack. But President Boris Yeltsin and his band of reformers had no intention of honoring that agreement after they took power in Russia in 1991. We had a different understanding of that responsibility, says Georgy Kunadze, who as Russias Deputy Foreign Minister for Asia was dispatched to Pyongyang to explain how Russian thinking had changed. He understood upon arrival that the North Koreans felt abandoned by Moscow. Their subsequent push to build a nuclear weapon was, to a large extent, driven by a resulting sense of insecurity, Kunadze says. During his meetings in Pyongyang, he asked that North Korea stop inviting Russian scientists to build their arsenal for them. They gave some mild assurances, and that was that, he says. These assurances meant little in practice, as did Russias attempts to stop its scientists from going to work where they pleased. In a recent interview, the prominent missile designer Yuri Solomonov admitted that Russian scientists did wind up working on the North Korean weapons program in the 1990s. They took the bait, he told the state-run newspaper Rossiyskaya Gazeta in December. Kunadze, who went on to serve as Russias ambassador in South Korea, says there was little the government could do to stop them. Russia at the time was a total mess, he says. Nobody had any money. The borders were open. And the Russian scientists who traveled to North Korea were not in violation of any Russian laws. So all we could do was reason with them, says Kunadze. In the end, it was their choice. The most immediate impact of the Rubtsov scandal was the alarm it caused in Western capitals, which were forced to realize the potential danger of an unchecked Soviet brain drain. The U.S. and Europe responded in 1993 by throwing money at the problem. Acting in sync with partners in Europe and Canada, the U.S. set up two organizations that year, one based in Moscow and the other in Kiev, with the aim of giving tax-free grants to scientists in Russia, Ukraine and other formerly communist nations. Our goal was never to fund science, says Curtis Bjelajac, the director of this operation in Kiev, which is called the Science and Technology Center in Ukraine. The whole thought process behind the STCU was, Its a handout. By his estimate, between 15,000 and 20,000 experts in weapons of mass destruction were left jobless in Ukraine alone after the fall of the Soviet Union. The number in Russia was likely far higher. Most of them were middle-aged or elderly. So the aim was to keep them busy until they either transitioned to work in the private sector or grew too old to go abroad. Initially, it worked. At its peak around 2003, the programs in Moscow and Kiev were jointly giving out some $100 million per year in the former Soviet Union. This lifeline did not simply make the difference between a steady income and abject poverty for researchers across the region. It also nurtured their dignity by allowing them to continue working in their fields, says Dimitry Bazyka, one of Ukraines leading experts in nuclear technology. It gave us a reason to value ourselves, he says. His nuclear institute still functions today with Western support, but it is a shoestring affair. Its campus abuts an outdoor bazaar in eastern Kiev full of kebab shops and peddlers of bric-a-brac. The entrance to the compound was so hard to find amid the maze of alleyways and vendors that I ended up climbing over a fence to get inside. No one stopped me. Rocket parts await assembly at Workshop 97 of the Yuzhmash plant Scientific institutes in Russia have generally fared better, but their record of security is mixed at best. In the winter of 2011, two bloggers found a way to sneak into one of Moscows most secretive missile factories, Energomash, and spent several nights photographing its technology. They did not encounter a single security guard. Although highly embarrassing for Russias missile industry, the incident did not make many headlines in the West, where terrorism and the wars in the Middle East had eclipsed other security concerns in the early 2000s. Public interest in the safety of Soviet-era weapons technology dwindled, as did support for obscure programs like the STCU. Our donors concluded that the threat from weapons scientists had been contained, says Bjelajac. But Serhiy Komisarenko, one of Ukraines leading experts in biological weapons, said the money was never enough to cease the flow of personnel. The temptation to go abroad was always intense, he said. And it still is. Whether any of Ukraines impoverished scientists have gone to work in North Korea is difficult to prove. In eastern Ukraine, one rocket scientist agreed through an intermediary to discuss his work in Pyongyang with TIME, but then changed his mind at the last minute and refused to meet me. Its hard to blame him. With the renewed concern over technology leaking out, Ukraines security services have stepped up monitoring of former weapons scientists. Those caught selling their expertise abroad could face charges of treason. The U.N. panel of experts on North Korea has not found anyone either. In preparing its latest report to the Security Council, the panel sent inquiries to Russian officials, asking for the names and passport numbers of any weapons scientists who might have passed through Russia on their way to Pyongyang. They received no response, according to the draft of their report. In some sense, the silence was typical of Russias two-faced position on the issue. Throughout his 18 years in power, Putin has supported or acquiesced to U.N. sanctions that have sought to isolate the Kim regime. But he has also offered Pyongyang ways to escape that isolation. Less than two months after Putin took power in 2000, Russia signed a treaty of friendship and co-operation with North Korea, reviving many of the diplomatic ties that bound Moscow to Pyongyang during the Cold War. A few months later, Putin became the first Russian or Soviet leader ever to pay an official visit to North Korea. That totally revitalized our relationship, says the former Russian diplomat Konstantin Pulikovsky, who helped steer Moscows relations with Pyongyang. The main thing was the personal rapport between the two leaders. The second tyrant of the ruling dynasty, Kim Jong Il, had an even deeper connection to Russia than did his father. He was born in the Soviet Union, in a dirt-road village called Vyatskoe, where he lived for the first few years of his life under the name Yuri Irsenovich Kim. During that first meeting with Putin, he made no secret of his nuclear ambitions. He told me back then that they have an atom bomb, Putin recalled during a televised interview last October. And more than that, he said they could use some pretty basic artillery to launch it all the way to Seoul. That first impression has not discouraged Putin from building bridges to the Kim regime. Even amid the spate of new missile tests over the past yearand the new U.N. sanctions imposed on North Korea in responseMoscow has continued to assist Pyongyang in crucial ways. A major Russian telecommunications firm provided North Korea with a new link to the Internet in October, relieving it of its dependence on Chinas fiber-optic cables. Around the same time, North Korean ships were spotted picking up loads of fuel in Russia and, despite a tightening international oil embargo, bringing it back to their homeland. The factorys old missile workshops now produce rockets that launch satellites into orbit For Putin, there would seem to be little obvious upside in nurturing this friendship. His country shares a border with North Korea, whose refugees would likely pour over the so-called Bridge of Friendship into Russia if a war ever broke out. A nuclear explosion in the area would also put Russian citizens in serious danger, especially in the nearby city of Vladivostok. But Putins thinking goes beyond such immediate considerations, says Kunadze, the former Russian diplomat. Only in the broader context of Russias rivalry with the West does it start to make sense. In that context, North Korea is the enemys enemy, Kunadze says. It keeps the U.S. distracted. And thats valuable in itself. Whether it is valuable enough for Putin to arm North Korea directlyor turn a blind eye to smugglers who are seeking to do the sameremains an open question. The most likely players in this trade have so far tended to blame each other: Ukraine insists that Russia is the source of North Korean arms, and Russia points the finger at Ukraine. As we stood among the old missile parts on display outside his institute in Dnipro, I asked Moisa, the former rocket scientist, whether the blame could be so neatly apportioned. He pointed at an RD-250 engine next to us. It had been in that spot for more than two decades, he said, exposed to the elements, yet it had no obvious corrosion or other damage. That was the quality of what we made back then, he said proudly. I can tell you, it took a lot of work, a lot of people and a very long time. In order to clone this technology, he added, the North Koreans would need many years to master the materials and the science involved. And if the North Koreans had a team of Soviet-trained professionals helping out? Moisa smiled again and looked at the engine. We could do it in a year and a half. The White House has said President Donald Trump will approve the release of the Nunes memo: AP President Donald Trump is set to approve the release of a Republican-authored memo that is said to allege surveillance abuses by FBI officials investigating potential collusion between Trump presidential campaign officials and Russia. An administration official told reporters that the president is expected to tell Congress probably on Friday that he is okay with releasing the memo, that is despite objections from his own Justice Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). The White House official said the decision was made after examining the memo over the last few days and making sure it doesnt give away too much in terms of classification. The president is ok with it, the official said. I doubt there will be any redactions. Its in Congress hands after that. It would then be up to the House Intelligence Committee to make the document public. Republicans claim the memo contains evidence of shocking abuses by the FBI. It reportedly shows that the bureaus officials relied on an opposition research dossier paid for by Democrats to obtain a warrant to conduct surveillance on the Trump presidential campaign. The Democrats claim the document is an attempt to discredit the federal investigation into Russian election meddling and possible Trump campaign ties to the country. Special counsel Robert Mueller is leading that investigation. Senior Democrats have called the memo a cherry-picked list of Republican talking points that also attempts distract from the House Intelligence Committees own investigation into Russian meddling in the presidential election. The FBI and its director Christopher Wray have raised issues over the memo, with the bureau issuing a rare public statement on Wednesday declaring it had grave concerns about the accuracy of the classified document. The FBIs short and sharp statement, its first on the issue, laid bare a Trump administration conflict that had previously played out mostly behind closed doors in meetings between top Justice Department and White House officials. Story continues As expressed during our initial review, we have grave concerns about material omissions of fact that fundamentally impact the memos accuracy, the FBI statement read. Mr Wray is reportedly preparing a rebuttal for when the memo is released, although the White House is said to have tried to have accommodate concerns raised by the FBI in reviewing the memo. Several national security officials are said to have warned the White House that releasing the document could jeopardise sensitive government information, including how intelligence is collected. Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee voted on Monday to release the so-called Nunes memo- named after committee chairman Republican Devin Nunes - giving Mr Trump five days to accept or object to the committees request. The President has repeatedly denied allegations of collusion between his campaign and Russia. Mr Nunes and the ranking Democrat on the committee, Adam Schiff, have engaged in a public battle over the memo since the chairman released it to members of the House earlier this month. Mr Schiff claims the memo sent to the White House was materially different than the version the committee approved. Mr Schiff said Democrats were only belatedly given a chance to review the version sent to the White House, and that the minority was never apprised of, never had the opportunity to review, and never approved [of], the changes therein. It is now imperative that the Committee Majority immediately withdraw the document that it sent to the White House, Mr Schiff wrote in a letter to Mr Nunes. If the Majority remains intent on releasing its document to the public, despite repeated warnings from DOJ and the FBI, it must hold a new vote to release to the public its modified document. On Wednesday, Mr Nunes fired back at the FBI and Justice Department for what he described as spurious objections to the release of the memo. Having stonewalled Congress demands for information for nearly a year, its no surprise to see the FBI and DOJ issue spurious objections to allowing the American people to see information related to surveillance abuses at these agencies, Mr Nunes said in a statement. According to multiple news accounts, the memo says that the FBIs 2016 application for a warrant to wiretap Carter Page, a former Trump campaign adviser, was based on information in an infamous Trump dossier compiled by ex-spy Christopher Steele. The memo is said to assert that the FBI failed to adequately explain to a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court judge that some funding for the dossier reportedly came from Hillary Clintons presidential campaign and the Democratic National Committee. House Speaker Paul Ryan on Thursday defended the memo and Mr Nunes, asserting that the document is not an attack on the Justice Department and FBI, and does not undermine Special Counsel Muellers investigation. However, Senator John Thune, the number three Republican in the Senate, has urged House Republican members to slow down their push to release the document. Speaking to reporters at the Republicans annual policy retreat in West Virginia, he said he thought the Senate Intelligence Committee, which is also running a parallel investigation into Russias meddling in the 2016 election, should be allowed to see the document first. He also said House Republicans should carefully consider the warning from the FBI. They need to pay careful attention to what our folks who protect us have to say about what this, you know, how this bears on our national security, Mr Thune said. The South Dakota senator also called for a separate Democrat memo to be released at the same time as the Republican one, with the former document said to serve as a rebuttal against claims of abuses by the FBI. Meanwhile, Senate and House Democratic leaders are calling for the removal of Mr Nunes as House intelligence chair over the memo, with the controversy over it showing few signs of abating. The decision of Chairman Nunes and House Republicans to release a bogus memo has taken the GOPs cover-up campaign to a new, completely unacceptable extreme, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi wrote in a letter to Mr Ryan. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer released his own statement, saying the memo is meant to sow conspiracy theories and attack the integrity of federal law enforcement as a means to protect President Trump. Carter Page started out as an unknown foreign policy adviser to Donald Trumps 2016 presidential campaign. Now hes at the center of a national scandal about Russia, secret courts, and surveillance of U.S. citizens. Thats because a controversial Republican memo, created by GOP Congressman Devin Nunes, apparently alleges that the FBI and the Department of Justice used misleading evidence for a surveillance warrant against Page in the fall of 2016. Though he was not well known in Russian policy circles, Page had spent years working in the region before signing up with the Trump campaign. An ex-Moscow-based investment banker, he attracted the attention of the FBI in 2013 when a Russian spy tried to recruit him. Page is one of the Trump administrations many friendly links to the government of Vladimir Putinties that have fueled speculation and questions about the Trump campaign and Russia's efforts to influence the U.S. presidential election. Trending: Tom Brady Kissing His Son on the Lips Controversy Is Super Bowl Weeks Weirdest Story So Far Page did not immediately respond to Newsweek's requests for comment. Pages work in Russia began in the late 1990s, when he briefly worked for the Eurasia Group, a consulting firm that advises banks and multinational corporations. He left abruptly after three months. GettyImages-869515864 Mark Wilson/Getty Images It was very clear he was ideologically very strongly pro-Kremlin, which wasnt at all clear when he interviewed. As a result, he wasnt a good fit at Eurasia Group, Ian Bremmer, president of the Eurasia Group, told The Guardian in 2017. Bremmer even called Page the most wackadoodle Eurasia Group alum on Twitter. Don't miss: Who Is Fidel Castro Diaz-Balart? Oldest Son of Deceased Leader Fidel Castro Committed Suicide Story continues Page would go on to get an MBA from New York University and work at Merrill Lynch, including at their Moscow office between 2004 and 2007. While there, he claimed to have worked on billions of dollars worth of transactions with Gazprom, a state-owned oil and gas company. Individuals involved in the trades have downplayed his role. But investment banking wasnt Pages only contact with Russia: A Russian spy tried to recruit Page as an asset in 2013. Pagewho says he thought the spy was a businessmanprovided him with publicly available energy-related documents. The man and two other operatives later decided that while enthusiastic, Page was an idiot, and not worth their time. That spring, Page had his first brush with FBI counterintelligence agents, who interviewed him about his contacts. The Russians were charged in a criminal case in 2015, though Page was not identified as their object of interest until April 2017. When questioned by The Wall Street Journal about his 2013 meeting with investigators, Page said that he discussed his research on international politics at length and criticized the U.S. governments treatment of Russia. Page began advising the Trump campaign in 2016. Then, the newly minted foreign policy advisor flew to Moscow that July to deliver a speech at Russias New Economic School. This, too, caught the eye of the FBI. Page delivered a blistering critique of U.S. foreign policy. Most popular: Secretary of State Tillerson Says Russias Presence in Latin America Is 'Alarming,' Warns Region Against Overreliance on China "Washington and other Western capitals have impeded potential progress through their often hypocritical focus on ideas such as democratization, inequality, corruption and regime change, he said. Page served on the campaign until September 2016. During a press briefing in March, after the election, Sean Spicer described Carter and others under investigation as "hangers-oner on the campaign." "Those people, the greatest amount of interaction that they had with the campaign was the campaign apparently sending them a series of cease and desists," he said. After the election, Trump lawyer Don McGahn would tell Page to immediately cease calling himself a Trump adviser. And in the fall of 2016, the Department of Justice and the FBI applied for a secret court order that would let them monitor Pages connections. Its that order that House Republicans now claim was obtained with dubious information gathered by a former British spy. Yet Page remains vocal about his admiration for Russia. U.S.-Russia relations has been dominated by misunderstandings throughout much of the past 70 years since the original McCarthy era, he told Politico in January. I harbor no ill will towards anyone for past xenophobic biases and only hope that justice is eventually served. This article was first written by Newsweek More from Newsweek Mr Nunes' staff authored the controversial memo last year: REUTERS/Carlos Barria The so-called Nunes memo has been released, documenting what Republicans in the House say are abuses by the Department of Justice and FBI during the Russia investigation. The memo written by Rep Devin Nunes revolves around Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrants that were issued to monitor former Trump campaign aid Carter Page, who reportedly had ties with Russian recruiters and sources prior to joining the campaign. FISA warrants allow for electronic surveillance of individuals, including American citizens. Republicans and allies of President Donald Trump have argued that the 2016 warrant against Mr Page, because of the way it was approved, amount to political targeting, and prove that the Russia investigation itself is biased. Democrats have argued that the memo is a rough-shod effort to discredit an otherwise independent investigation overseen by special counsel Robert Mueller. Here is how things went down in Mr Nunes' efforts to release the document. April 6, 2017: Mr Nunes announces that he will temporarily step aside from the House Intelligence Committees probe into Russian meddling in the 2016 campaign after the House Ethics Committee says they are determined to investigate allegations that he had made unauthorized disclosures of classified information. Mr Nunes had come under fire for speaking publicly about classified foreign surveillance reports which he said suggested members of the Trump campaign were under surveillance he had seen at the White House. The congressman dismissed the suggestion that he had violated ethics laws as false and politically motivated attacks from left-wing activist groups. Sept 1, 2017: Despite his recusal, Mr Nunes sends a letter to Attorney General Jeff Sessions on behalf of the House Intelligence Committee, saying that the Department of Justice has been slow responding to their subpoena requests. Dec 7, 2017: Mr Nunes is cleared of wrongdoing by the Ethics Committee. Mr Nunes then resumed his work with the House Intelligence Committee's investigation. Story continues Jan 4, 2018: Mr Nunes sends a letter to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein who is overseeing the Russia investigation after Mr Sessions recused himself from the matter suggesting that his committee is expanding its investigation to include the Justice Departments handling of the Russia investigation. Mr Rosenstein appointed special counsel Robert Mueller to lead the investigation into Russian meddling last year. Mid-January 2018: A four-page document is compiled by Mr Nunes staff summarising classified information. The memo makes the argument that the FBI has abused its power in its investigation of Mr Trumps 2016 campaign. The document is not made public, however reports indicate that it argues investigators used a dossier compiled by Christopher Steele that indicated Russia might have compromising information on Mr Trump to get a FISA warrant to monitor Mr Trumps former foreign policy adviser Carter Page. The memo, according to reports, argues that using the Steele dossier as a basis for the warrant shows the warrant was politically motivated. It also argues that the importance of the dossier proves that the warrant should not have been issued at all. Democrats have said that the details in the memo are cherry-picked and reliant on classified information that people still would not have available to them, even if the memo were declassified. They also note that FISA warrants require approval from a judge on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, and that there are other layers of oversight before a warrant can be issued. While Mr Nunes compiled his memo, Democrats on the committee compiled their own memo, which runs 10 pages. The memo reportedly includes criticism of Mr Nunes. Jan 18, 2018: Republicans and conservative media begin to rally around the memo, saying that the public has a right to see its contents. Sean Hannity, a top Fox News anchor, declares that the witch hunt is now over parroting Mr Trumps description of Mr Muellers investigation even though the memo is still classified, and he theoretically should not have been able to access it. The President is among those who wants the memo to be released. Jan 24, 2018: The Justice Department warns the House Intelligence Committee against releasing the memo. Although the department had not seen the memo, they say that releasing it before allowing the FBI and Department of Justice to review its contents would be extraordinarily reckless, and that it could risk sources and methods used to collect information. Jan 30, 2018: The House Intelligence Committee votes along party lines to publicly release the Nunes memo. In a separate party line vote, the committee votes against making the Democrat version of the memo available to the public. Feb 2, 2018: Mr Trump approves the release of the Nunes memo, and the memo is released by the House committee. House Intelligence Committee chairman Devin Nunes attends a House Ways and Means Committee markup of the Republicans tax reform plan: Mark Wilson/Getty Images The two top Democrats in Congress have called for the removal of House Intelligence Committee chairman Devin Nunes in the latest development in a fierce, partisan battle over the chairman's classified memo. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer have sent letters to House Speaker Paul Ryan alleging that Mr Nunes engaged in "dangerous" and "illegitimate actions, and asking the Speaker to remove Mr Nunes from his role. Mr Nunes, a Republican, recently authored a memo alleging the FBI had relied on an opposition research dossier paid for by Democrats to obtain a warrant to surveil the Trump presidential campaign. Democrats claim the memo is an attempt to discredit the Justice Department investigation into possible Trump campaign ties to Russia. The Democratic leaders urged Mr Ryan to intervene in the debate on Thursday, three days after the House Intelligence Committee decided in a party-line vote to send the memo to President Donald Trump for review. "It is long overdue that you, as Speaker, put an end to this charade and hold Congressman Nunes and all Congressional Republicans accountable to the oath they have taken to support and defend the Constitution, and protect the American people," Ms Pelosi wrote in her letter. "The integrity of the House is at stake." Mr Schumer sent a separate letter to the Speaker, expressing his "deep concern" that House Republicans "have not taken credible action to fully address Russia's meddling in US elections and prevent future Russian cyber-attacks". He also submitted a long list of questions about the panning and drafting of the memo, as well as Mr Nunes's credibility. Responding to questions about the letters on Thursday, Mr Ryan told reporters that the Democrats were "just playing politics". "I think they're looking for a political distraction, is what I get out of that," he said, before pivoting to tout Republican legislative achievements. Story continues Mr Trump has recently signalled his intent to release the memo to the public, telling a House Republican on Tuesday that he would 100 per cent do so. The President is also said to have told those around him in recent days that the memo could help discredit the federal Russia investigation by exposing bias within the agency, according to CNN. But Democrats on the Intelligence Committee claimed on Wednesday that the version of the memo sent to Mr Trump for review was materially different than the version approved by the committee. Ranking Democrat Adam Schiff demanded the immediate withdrawal of the document sent to the White House and a new vote on its release. A spokesman for Mr Nunes called the claim a bizarre distraction from the abuses detailed in the memo. The FBI also warned against releasing the memo on Wednesday, citing "grave concerns" about the documents accuracy. The FBI Agents Association later released a statement in solidarity with the agency's director. The FBI Agents Association appreciates FBI Director Chris Wray standing shoulder to shoulder with the men and women of the FBI as we work together to protect our country from criminal and national security threats," the association wrote on Twitter. When Oprah Winfrey delivered her now famous speech at the Golden Globes earlier this month, she paid homage to Recy Taylor, an African-American woman who was abducted and raped in Alabama over 60 years ago, but whose perpetrators were never charged. Justice wasnt an option in the era of Jim Crow, Winfrey said. She lived as we all have lived, too many years in a culture broken by brutally powerful men. As Winfrey noted in her speech, Taylor passed away at the end of last year. But at the State of the Union Tuesday night, members of Congress, including female representatives and members of the Congressional Black Caucus, honored her memory by sporting red pins at the State of the Union with Recy emblazoned on them. Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman announced that members of Congress would wear the pins just days after Winfreys speech. Last week she announced she had invited Taylors niece, Rose Gunter, as her guest to the State of the Union. Recy Taylor represents the voice of many marginalized women who have spoken up, spoken out and have long been ignored, Watson Coleman said in her announcement on Twitter. Beyond her terrifying experience, Recy Taylor is a representation of the many communities this Administration has chosen to leave behind. This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it. Michigan Congresswoman Brenda Lawrence, who will also be sporting a red pin, told Cosmopolitan that the decision to wear one is helping her sit through the speech a President whose rhetoric she deems divisive and offensive to women and minorities. Its going to be very difficult because I have no clue what this man will say as our president, Lawrence said. Ive heard and witnessed so many sexist and racist comments. But I will be there to look him in the eye and will be there as a person elected by the democracy of this country, and I will continue to use my voice. Lawrences guest is historian Danielle McGuire, who wrote about Taylor in a 2010 book that researched sexual violence African-American women encountered during the fight for civil rights. Lawrence is also one of the many of the Congresswomenincluding House Speaker Nancy Pelosiwearing all black in honor of the #MeToo movement, following the lead of women in Hollywood during the Golden Globes, Dressing in black is a form of protest, Lawrence told Cosmopolitan. Ill be there in protest, but no one can take my seat from me. Surgeon with his team in the operating room. (Photo: Getty Images) On a summer day in 2017 Alison Wrenne, a mother of two, felt a sharp pain in her stomach. Wrenne was in the middle of cooking pancakes, according to local Kentucky station WKYT, but the pain was so severe that it sent her to the ground. After calling her husband to come home, she phoned a friend, who happens to be a physicians assistant. By then it had been 30 minutes, and the pain was getting worse, so her friend advised her to go to the emergency room. Severe stomach pain can be a symptom of several life-threatening conditions, including a pulmonary embolism, ruptured ectopic pregnancy, or perforated stomach. Thankfully, in Wrennes case, it wasnt. At the ER, she got good news: She had a ruptured ovarian cyst, a fairly common phenomenon that often requires nothing but pain medicine. It was when Wrenne returned home and the bill arrived a few weeks later that she learned the bad news. Her insurer, Anthem, was refusing to pay for the visit, meaning she had to cover it out of pocket. In a letter, the company explained to Wrenne that her ER trip was unnecessary, and that she should have visited a practitioner instead. She was forced to hand over $4,000 to the hospital in medical fees. I feel like Im a reasonable person who made a decision to seek care, and to get a letter like that is really frustrating, Wrenne told WKYT of the incident. If someone else was in that level of pain, Id totally understand their wanting to seek treatment. And I think its a little bit scary to have to sit at home and weigh the costs. Unfortunately, stories like Wrennes are only likely to increase. Kentucky is one of six states where Anthem one of the largest insurers in America, boasting a net worth of $48 billion has quietly enacted its new policy on emergency room visits. The policy states that unless the situation qualifies (under Anthems rules) as a true emergency, the medical costs to an emergency room will not be covered. First introduced in Kentucky, Missouri, and Georgia, Anthems program expanded to include three more states this January Ohio, Indiana, and New Hampshire. Story continues The company insists that the program is aimed at providing its members with the best care possible and keeping them from spending long hours in ER waiting rooms. But patient advocates say the move is a thinly veiled attempt to reap more profits, one thats putting patients lives in danger. In an email to Yahoo Lifestyle, Anthem spokeswoman Joyzelle Davis broke down the programs specifics. If a consumer chooses to receive care for nonemergency ailments at the ER when a more appropriate setting is available, an Anthem medical director will review the claim information and medical records submitted by the provider using the prudent layperson standard, Davis wrote. In the event a members claim is denied, they have the right to appeal. The prudent layperson standard, which dates back to 1994, is what has been used up until now to protect patients when they find themselves in what they believe to be an emergency room-worthy circumstance. The phrase prudent layperson was added to the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) in the mid-90s as a tool to help clarify what constitutes an emergency medical condition. It defined one as any medical or behavioral condition of recent onset and severity that would lead a prudent layperson, possessing an average knowledge of medicine and health, to believe that his or her condition, sickness, or injury is of such a nature that failure to obtain immediate medical care could result in placing the patients health in serious jeopardy. In Wrennes case, then, Anthem is arguing that a person with an average knowledge of health would recognize severe abdominal pain as a nonemergency and would wait to visit a practitioner. On a press release on its website, Anthem begins by stressing that actual emergencies require care. Always call 911 or go immediately to the ER if you think its a life-threatening situation, the statement begins. But it goes on to dissuade users from going to the ER for non-emergencies, saying that primary care doctors are in the best position to have a comprehensive view of their patients health status. It lists examples of non-emergencies, as seasonal allergies, athletes foot, suture removals, and common cold symptoms. The company has yet to produce a comprehensive list of what it considers to be an emergency and what it doesnt. Varied reports from subscribers in different states suggest there may not be one set of criteria, or one list. In New Hampshire, the company reportedly told subscribers it wouldnt cover ER visits for rashes, itching skin, removal of wound dressings or sutures, and general medical exams. As for what it will cover? In a letter to another subscriber denied coverage in Kentucky, who ended up forking over $12,000, the company listed stroke, heart attack, and severe bleeding as examples of things that would be covered under the policy. Anthems spokeswoman says the company is revising the policy to include exceptions. She says Anthem will not deny ER claims if the member is sent to the ER by a provider, lives more than 15 miles from an urgent care facility, or visits an ER on a weekend. The company will also cover an ER visit if a member is traveling out of state, receives an MRI or CT, or undergoes surgery. And members under 15 years old are automatically covered, regardless of the diagnosis. Still, exceptions aside, the news doesnt sit well with the president of the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP), Paul Kivela, MD. The medical society, made up of of 31,000 ER doctors, has released scathing reviews of Anthems new policy in recent weeks, writing that it has deadly serious implications for its patients. In an interview with Yahoo Lifestyle, Kivela calls it further proof that the insurance behemoth prioritizes profits over patients. Anthem and other insurers have had a habit of not paying doctors and putting patients in the middle, but this seems to be far more egregious than their other behaviors, he says. Denying care and scaring patients away from the ER is reprehensible. There are reasons there are laws for this. Beyond his disappointment with Anthems greed-based decision, Kivela worries about the long-term consequences of telling people they will have to cover thousands of dollars of emergency medical fees and says that the companys decision to deny coverage for flulike symptoms is the most troubling part. Were seeing the worst flu season in a decade, with people getting particularly bad cases that are resulting in arrhythmias and heart attacks. So to have major insurers institute this policy, it just shows how little they care for the patients and how important profits are to them. Kivela hopes that those reading stories about Anthems decision will keep in mind that ERs are there for a reason, and not to hesitate to use one if a medical emergency arises. They are putting patients lives at risk and for what? Kivela asks. The amount of money theyre going to save is very small, and the lives theyre going to put at risk by scaring people away is immeasurable. Read more from Yahoo Lifestyle: Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter for nonstop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day. Yangon (AFP) - A man threw a petrol bomb at the lakeside Yangon compound of Myanmar's leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Thursday, officials said, a rare attack on a national figurehead who enjoys strong domestic support but has drawn global outcry over her reticence to speak up for the Rohingya. There was little damage caused by the attack, Kyi Toe, an official from her National League for Democracy (NLD) party wrote in a Facebook posting. "Nothing was destroyed or burned... Our respected security forces are continuing their work so they can arrest the culprit," he added. But the attack is symbolic -- Suu Kyi was held for long years at the house by the former junta, occasionally leaning over the famous gates in appearances that galavanised the democracy movement. Government spokesman Zaw Htay confirmed the attack, without speculating on a possible motive. But he circulated a photo on his Facebook page of a suspect wearing a pink t-shirt and blue longyi. The democracy heroine has lost much of her lustre in the eyes of the international community over her perceived failure to speak up on behalf of Myanmar's Rohingya Muslim community. Nearly 700,000 Rohingya have fled a brutal military crackdown in northern Rakhine state into refugee camps in Bangladesh since August, bringing with them testimony of murder, rape and arson. US diplomat Bill Richardson was the latest to lambast Suu Kyi last week as he resigned from her panel set up to ease communal tensions in Rakhine. He decried the Nobel Laureate's "absence of moral leadership" over the crisis, saying he could not serve on a committee likely only to "whitewash" the causes behind the Rohingya exodus. But many inside Myanmar regard the Rohingya as illegal "Bengali" immigrants. Suu Kyi, who swept to power after elections in 2015, is still widely seen as a heroine by the majority-Buddhist population, who fondly dub her "The Lady". She was in the capital Naypyidaw at the time of the attack where she addressed parliament to mark the second anniversary of her NLD government coming to power. Story continues She has so far not commented on the incident. The attack comes almost exactly a year after the assassination of a top Muslim lawyer and advisor to Suu Kyi. Ko Ni was shot in the head as he waited outside Yangon airport while holding his grandson. The murder horrified the Muslim community and the ruling party in particular in a country where political killings are rare. During the election campaign Suu Kyi's security was beefed up over fears she could become a target for assassination. In 2003 a convoy carrying "The Lady" was attacked by a mob as she travelled across the country, an incident widely seen as an attempt by the then dictatorship to assassinate her. Melania Trump in a white Christian Dior pantsuit at the State of the Union. (Getty Images) The first lady of the United States broke tradition by arriving separately from her husband to the State of the Union address on Tuesday night. Wearing a white Christian Dior pantsuit, Melania Trump appeared in public for the first time since allegations of a 2006 affair between Donald Trump and adult film star Stormy Daniels surfaced earlier this year. Media outlets (including this one) were quick to suggest Melania Trumps all-white ensemble was a nod to the suffrage movement and a subtle protest against her husband. Yes, white pantsuits are seen as a modern-day equivalent to the outfits worn by suffragists and have been worn several times by Donald Trumps political rival Hillary Clinton. They were even worn by female Democratic senators to protest Trump during his first address to Congress, using the hashtag #WomenWearWhite. But if you think wearing a white pantsuit makes Melania Trump a feminist hero, think again. The lines were drawn well before cameras began rolling for President Trumps address. Many of the same female Democratic senators and members of the Democratic Womens Working Group who wore white in protest of Donald Trump in 2017 decided to dress in black as a sign of solidarity with the women of the #MeToo and Times Up movements. In a divisive move, female members of the GOP announced earlier this week their intentions to wear red, white, and blue to the State of the Union address as a sign of support for the military. The first lady did not try to find a middle ground and made no reference to the movements. Instead Melania Trump chose to wear white, the opposite color of the #MeToo and the Times Up movements. She may have arrived at the State of the Union address alone, but her choice of outfit clearly signaled her allegiance to the GOP and her husband. Women wore black at the State of the Union in solidarity with the Times Up and #MeToo movements. (AP) It seems as though many people are searching for any sign that the first lady will join the resistance and publicly denounce her husbands actions. With each new allegation against Donald Trump, we wait for Melania Trump to speak out against him. Story continues However, the first lady did not comment when 19 women came forward with accusations of sexual assault against her husband, and comment has yet to come since it was reported he allegedly had an affair with another woman months after Melania Trump have given birth to their only child together. The line in the sand is seemingly never drawn for Melania and Donald Trump, at least not in public. In public, Melania Trump supports her husband. In 2016, she defended Donald Trumps infamous grab em by the pussy comments in an interview with Anderson Cooper as boy talk and suggested his comments were egged on by reporter Billy Bush. Melania Trump also defended Donald Trumps tweets criticizing reporter Mika Brzezinski. In fact, Melania Trump has a long history of supporting her husbands hateful behavior. In 2011, well before Donald Trump announced any plans to run for office, she appeared on The Joy Behar Show and echoed sentiments of her husbands racist birther allegations, demanding to see Barack Obamas birth certificate. Melania Trump has had ample opportunity to voice her support for marginalized groups and condemn her husbands overt racism and misogyny. If she wanted to separate herself from the current rhetoric of the Trump administration, the entire world would be watching. Its time to stop treating Melania Trump as a hostage in the gilded cage of the White House. Her actions, or lack thereof, make her an accomplice of the Trump administration, and its time we stop watching her every move, hoping she drops clues for us to interpret. Read more from Yahoo Lifestyle: Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter for nonstop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day. Warsaw (AFP) - Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki on Thursday defended a controversial Holocaust bill intended to safeguard his country's image abroad but which has instead drawn dismay from Israel, the US, the EU and Ukraine. The head of the conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party government spoke after the senate approved the legislation, which sets fines or a maximum three-year jail term for anyone who refers to Nazi German death camps as Polish or accuses Poland of complicity in the Third Reich's crimes. "One of the worst forms of lies (regarding the Holocaust) is to minimise the responsibility of the real perpetrators and to attribute that responsibility to their victims," Morawiecki said in a national address. "We want to fight against this falsehood... That's why we amended the law... The camps where millions of Jews were murdered were not Polish. This truth needs to be protected." Israel, however, has expressed concern that the legislation, which relates to the extermination of Jews by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland during World War II, could serve to deny the involvement of individual Poles in the Holocaust. "Israel views with utmost gravity any attempt to challenge historical truth. No law will change the facts," Israeli foreign ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon said on Thursday. The legislation was approved by the lower house of parliament on Friday, prompting a flurry of Israeli efforts to have the bill dropped, as well as a rebuke from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. "We have no tolerance for the distortion of the truth and rewriting history or denying the Holocaust," he said on Sunday. Morawiecki responded Thursday that "we understand the emotion coming out of Israel" but added that "spreading the truth about the Holocaust is not just Israel's job, but also Poland's." "Our government condemns all crimes committed on Poland's soil during World War II, regardless of the nationality of the perpetrators or victims. We will never restrict freedom of speech regarding the Holocaust." Story continues - 'Despicable slander' - EU president and former Polish premier Donald Tusk also condemned the bill for having caused the false "Polish camps" term to be repeated in recent days. "The authors of the bill have promoted this despicable slander across the globe, more effectively than anyone ever has before," Tusk said on Twitter. Polish President Andrzej Duda now has 21 days to sign the bill into law. Its main aim is to prevent people from ascribing "responsibility or co-responsibility to the Polish nation or state for crimes committed by the German Third Reich -- or other crimes against humanity and war crimes." Both the senate and the lower house of parliament are controlled by the PiS, which has sought to revive patriotism through a policy of extolling Polish heroism in the face of Nazi Germany, the communist regime, Ukrainian nationalists or the Soviet Red Army. The bill has also angered Kiev, which takes issue with a section that imposes a criminal sentence on anyone who denies crimes were committed by Ukrainian nationalists against Poles between 1925 and 1950. "I am deeply concerned by the decision of the Polish parliament," Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko wrote on Facebook, describing the premises on which the law was based as "totally biased and completely unacceptable". Some historians say Ukraine's UPA nationalists committed atrocities during World War II, notably against Poles in Ukraine. In Poland, UPA fighters were seen as death squads responsible for the ethnic cleansing of Poles from what is now western Ukraine. In 2015, Kiev's parliament gave unprecedented recognition as "Ukrainian independence fighters" to those who served in the UPA. A year later, Polish MPs recognised as "genocide" the wartime massacre of some 100,000 Poles by Ukrainian nationalists. - 'Holocaust denial' - In Israel, opposition MP Itzik Shmuli said Poland had become "the first nation to legislate Holocaust denial". Israeli lawmakers on Wednesday penned a bill of their own to amend Israel's law regarding Holocaust denial so that diminishing or denying the role of those who aided the Nazis in crimes against Jews would be punishable with jail. Washington also expressed concern that the bill "could undermine free speech and academic discourse" and have repercussions on Poland's ties with the United States and Israel. During the war, Poland was attacked and occupied by Nazi Germany and six million of its citizens were killed, half of them Jews. More than 6,700 Poles -- outnumbering any other nationality -- have been honoured by Jerusalem's Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial as "Righteous Among the Nations", a title given to non-Jews who stood up to the Nazis. Yad Vashem has called the legislation "unfortunate" and "liable to blur the historical truths regarding the assistance the Germans received from the Polish population during the Holocaust". But it added that referring to the extermination camps the Nazis built in Poland as Polish is "an historical misrepresentation". burs-amj/cw Chicago (AFP) - A Michigan police chief will personally apologize to a victim of Larry Nassar Thursday for his department's failure to believe her when she reported that the former USA Gymnastics doctor abused her sexually. Brianne Randall-Gay had reported Nassar to the Meridian Township police in 2004 when she was 17 years old, but the case was closed after he convinced investigators his actions were legitimate medical treatment. "We missed it. We're not going to hide it. We were deceived," Meridian Township city manager Frank Walsh said Wednesday. Walsh said in a statement that he and police chief David Hall would apologize to Randall-Gay during a news conference "on the handling of the 2004 police report." Randall-Gay is one of at least 265 young female gymnasts and athletes identified as having been abused by Nassar, who was sentenced January 24 to 40 to 175 years in prison. She was among 158 women and girls who confronted Nassar at his sentencing. "You used my vulnerability at the time to sexually abuse me," Randall-Gay told Nassar in court. "I reported you to police immediately and had a rape kit done. The police questioned you, and you had the audacity to tell them I had misunderstood this treatment because I was not comfortable with my body," she said. "Sadly, they took your word instead of mine." - 'Built-in excuse' - Randall-Gay told police that Nassar had fondled her right breast and attempted to digitally penetrate her vagina during an appointment to treat her back. She initially told her mother about Nassar's actions, and they both went to the Meridian Township police department to file a report in September 2004. In an interview a few days later at the police station, Nassar persuaded the detective assigned to the case, Andrew McCready, that his actions were legitimate treatment. As supporting evidence, he gave the detective a 26-page PowerPoint presentation filled with technical terminology. Story continues "Dr Nassar went on to say that this technique has been published in medical journals and training tapes instructing the same are available to physicians throughout the United States," McCready wrote in his report. He told Randall-Gay's mother that "we would be closing the case with no prosecution being sought, due to the facts presented to me by Dr Nassar." The belated apology comes amid another wave of victim testimony at a separate sentencing hearing for Nassar on another set of three sexual abuse charges that could bring him an additional 25 to 40 years in prison. He also was previously sentenced to 60 years in prison for possession of child pornography. In closing arguments at last week's sentencing hearing, lead state prosecutor Angela Povilaitis said Nassar had "perfected a built-in excuse and defense" for his years of brazen abuse of children -- sometimes as parents sat in the same room. "He was a doctor and a good one -- so the world thought," she said. The police department at Nassar's employer Michigan State University also investigated him in 2014, but prosecutors declined to press charges in that case, as well. "Mr Nassar's abuse went on for too long because nobody was listening to us," Randall-Gay said in court. By Justyna Pawlak and Lidia Kelly WARSAW (Reuters) - Polish lawmakers approved a bill on Thursday that would impose jail terms for suggesting Poland was complicit in the Holocaust, drawing concern from the United States and outrage from Israel, which denounced "any attempt to challenge historical truth". Poland's ruling Law and Justice party (PiS) says the bill is needed to protect Poland's reputation and ensure historians recognize that Poles as well as Jews perished under the Nazis. Israeli officials said it criminalizes basic historical facts. The Senate voted on the bill in the early hours on Thursday and it will now be sent to President Andrzej Duda, who has 21 days to decide whether to sign it into law. "Death and suffering in German Nazi concentration camps were a shared experience of Jews, Poles and many other nations," Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said, adding that Poland would never limit debate about the Holocaust. Deputy Prime Minister Beata Szydlo said on Wednesday before the vote that, "It is a duty of every Pole to defend the good name of Poland." Duda has not said whether he will sign the bill, but has suggested he sympathizes with its aims. He told state television on Monday: "The matter needs to be explained calmly, but we absolutely cannot backtrack." The bill would impose three years prison sentences for mentioning the term "Polish death camps", although it says scientific research into World War Two would not be constrained. Israel "adamantly opposes" the bill's approval, the Israeli Foreign Ministry said on Thursday. "Israel views with utmost gravity any attempt to challenge historical truth. No law will change the facts," ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon said on Twitter. Israeli Housing Minister Yoav Galant, one of several cabinet ministers to denounce the bill, told Israel's Army Radio that he considered it "de facto Holocaust denial". Israel also requested on Thursday the postponement of a planned visit next week by the head of Poland's National Security Bureau. The Polish bill has come at a time when right wing, anti-immigrant parties like PiS have been in the ascendancy in Europe, especially in the former Communist countries of the east. EU officials have expressed alarm over the PiS administration in Poland, which they say has undermined the rule of law by exerting pressure over the courts and media. The socially conservative, nationalist PiS has reignited debate on the Holocaust as part of a campaign to fuel patriotism since sweeping into power in 2015. The U.S. State Department said the legislation "could undermine free speech and academic discourse" and Washington was concerned about the repercussions it could have "on Poland's strategic interests and relationships". Piotr Buras, head of the Warsaw office of the European Council on Foreign Relations think tank, told Reuters the bill could push Poland further toward nationalism and isolation. "The president will have to sign it - otherwise it would mean he is giving into international pressure. But the external criticism will, of course, push the government further into the position of a besieged fortress, strengthening both the nationalistic rhetoric...and the nationalistic mood in the country." PAINFUL DEBATE Poland had Europe's largest Jewish population when it was invaded by both Germany and the Soviet Union at the start of World War Two. It became ground zero for the "Final Solution", Hitler's plan to exterminate the Jews. More than three million of Poland's 3.2 million Jews were murdered by the Nazis, accounting for around half of the Jews killed in the Holocaust. Jews from across Europe were sent to be killed at death camps built and operated by the Germans on Polish soil, including Auschwitz, Treblinka, Belzec and Sobibor. According to figures from the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, the Germans also killed at least 1.9 million non-Jewish Polish civilians. Many thousands of Poles risked their lives to protect their Jewish neighbors; Israel's Yad Vashem Holocaust center recognizes 6,706 Poles as "righteous among nations" for bravery in resisting the Holocaust, more than any other nationality. But Poland has also gone through a painful public debate in recent years after the publication of research showing some Poles participated in the Nazi atrocities. Many Poles have refused to accept such findings, which have challenged a national narrative that the country was solely a victim. A 2017 survey by the Polish Center for Research on Prejudice showed that more than 55 percent of Poles were "annoyed" by talk of Polish participation in crimes against Jews. Poland has long sought to discourage use of the term "Polish camps" to refer to Nazi camps on its territory, arguing that the phrase implies complicity. European Council President Donald Tusk, a former Polish prime minister and political foe of the PiS, said the bill had the opposite of its intended effect, tarnishing Poland's name and encouraging the view of history it aimed to criminalize. "Anyone who spreads a false statement about 'Polish camps' harms the good name and interests of Poland," Tusk said on Twitter. "The authors of the bill have promoted this vile slander all over the world, effectively as nobody has before." (Additional reporting by Dan Williams in JERUSALEM, Mohammad Zargham in WASHINGTON, Anna Koper and Pawel Florkiewicz in WARSAW and Gabriela Baczynska in BRUSSELS; Writing by Justyna Pawlak and Lidia Kelly; Editing by Peter Graff) (WASHINGTON) President Donald Trump will clear the way for the publication of a controversial Republican-authored memo, White House officials said, despite objections from the FBI. The memo, prepared by Republicans on the House intelligence committee, is said to allege FBI misconduct in its investigation of potential ties between Russia and Trumps 2016 campaign. Trumps own Justice Department and Democrats have furiously lobbied Trump to stop the release, saying it could harm national security and mislead the public. A White House official said Congress would probably be informed of the decision Friday, adding Trump was OK with its release. A second White House official said Trump was likely to declassify the congressional memo but the precise method for making it public was still being completed. The officials were not authorized to be quoted about private deliberations and spoke on condition of anonymity. The House intelligence panel voted along party lines Monday to put it out, giving Trump five days to reject the release under committee rules. But Trump also has the power to declassify the memo himself and either release it or give it to Congress to release. One of the White House officials said the memo would be in Congress hands after Trump declassified it and that there were unlikely to be any redactions. Trump has said he wants the memo released despite the objections of the FBI and the Justice Department. The FBI declared Wednesday that it has grave concerns about the accuracy of the classified memo, which was written as part of an effort to reveal what Republicans say are surveillance abuses by the FBI and the Justice Department in the early stages of the Russian investigation. Senior FBI officials have also made direct appeals to the White House, warning that it could set a dangerous precedent. Democrats call the memo an attempt by Republicans to distract attention from the investigation into Russian meddling in the election that sent Trump to the White House. Democrats on the intelligence panel made a last-ditch effort Wednesday evening to stop the memos release, saying it had been secretly altered by the Republicans who wrote it. California Rep. Adam Schiff said in a letter to the House Intelligence Committee chairman, Republican Devin Nunes of California, that committee Democrats had discovered changes that were made after the vote Monday. Story continues The White House has therefore been reviewing a document since Monday night that the committee never approved for public release, Schiff said in the letter. Schiff asked Nunes for another vote on the memo, but Republicans didnt appear to waver. Nunes spokesman Jack Langer said the committee vote was procedurally sound and to suggest otherwise is a bizarre distraction from the abuses detailed in the memo, which the public will hopefully soon be able to read for themselves. The FBIs stance means that Trump, by allowing the memos release, would be openly defying his own FBI director by continuing to push for its disclosure. It also suggests a clear willingness by FBI director Christopher Wray, who in the early stretch of his tenure has been notably low-key, to challenge a president who just months ago fired his predecessor, James Comey. The FBI statement came the day after Trump was overheard on television cameras telling a congressman that he 100 percent supported release of the four-page memo. House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer are pressing Speaker Paul Ryan to stop the memos release. They both called Thursday for Nunes to be removed as chairman of the intelligence panel. Pelosi says Nunes took deliberately dishonest actions by altering a classified memo. Some Senate Republicans have also urged caution. South Dakota Sen. John Thune, the No. 3 Senate Republican, said Thursday that the Senate intelligence committee still hasnt seen the memo and should before it comes out. I think they need to pay careful attention to what our folks who protect us have to say about how this bears on our national security, Thune said, echoing concerns of other Republican senators. Democrats have called the memo a cherry-picked list of GOP talking points. They have prepared their own memo in response, but Republicans voted to block its immediate release. This all comes as special counsel Robert Mueller also is investigating whether the Trump campaign improperly coordinated with Russia during the campaign and whether Trump sought to obstruct the inquiry by, among other actions, firing Comey. Republicans have intensified their pressure on the Justice Department as Muellers probe has moved closer to Trumps inner circle. Trump has been telling confidants in recent days that he believes the memo will validate his concerns that the FBI and Justice Department conspired against him, according to one outside adviser familiar with those conversations but not authorized to speak publicly about private discussions. The president also has told allies that he believes the memo bolsters his belief that accusations of collusion between his campaign and Russian officials are false and part of a conspiracy to discredit his election. On Wednesday afternoon, Nunes lashed out at the law enforcement agencies, calling the FBI and Justice Department objections spurious. The vote to release the memo was unprecedented in the committees history. The panel usually goes out of its way to protect classified information in the interest of shielding intelligence sources and methods. The Justice Department had said in a letter last week that it would be extraordinarily reckless to release the memo without first giving the FBI and the department the chance to review it. President Donald Trump asked Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein if he was on my team in a December meeting at the White House, according to CNN. In a report cited to sources familiar with the meeting by CNN, Trump asked Rosenstein who oversees special counsel Robert Muellers investigation where the Russia probe is going and may have inquired about his loyalty. Of course, were all on your team, Mr. President, Rosenstein told Trump awkwardly, CNN reported. Its unclear how Rosenstein interpreted the remark, either. When testifying before a House committee in December, he denied ever having been asked to take a loyalty pledge. Nobody has asked me to take a loyalty pledge, other than the oath of office, Rosenstein testified. The report is the latest in a string of episodes in which Trump appeared to press or demand law enforcement officials and members of the judiciary who are supposed to remain independent for their loyalty. In a private dinner with then-FBI Director James Comey in January, Trump asked if he wanted to remain in his job and told him I need loyalty, I expect loyalty, as Comey testified to Congress later. In February, Trump was reportedly angry over comments made by Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch that he considered pulling his nomination over concerns that he would not be loyal, according to the Washington Post. After Trump fired Comey, he then asked Acting Director Andrew McCabe how he voted in the 2016 election during a meeting in the Oval Office in May, as the Post reported later. In a December interview with the New York Times, Trump also praised former Attorney General Eric Holder for showing loyalty to President Obama: I dont want to get into loyalty, but I will tell you that, I will say this: Holder protected President Obama. Totally protected him And I have great respect for that, Ill be honest. Trump has long valued loyalty. A cursory review of his Twitter account reveals dozens of times when he has accused everyone from Ted Cruz to Hillary Clinton to the Macys department chain of being disloyal. Story continues This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it. This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it. This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it. In his 1987 book, The Art of the Deal, Trump praised his friend, the notorious lawyer Roy Cohn, for his loyalty. Just compare that with all the hundreds of respectable guys who make careers out of boasting about their uncompromising integrity but have absolutely no loyalty, he wrote. White House adviser Kellyanne Conway confirmed in a May interview after Comey was fired that loyalty was an important part of the White House culture. The president expects people who are serving in his administration to be loyal to the country and to be loyal to the administration, she told Fox News. But in the world of law enforcement and the judiciary, loyalty is a troubling concept, as prosecutors and judges are expected to pledge their loyalty only to the Constitution. President Donald Trump accused the countrys top law enforcement officials of political bias against the Republican Party and his administration in a tweet he sent early Friday morning. The tweet came just hours before the expected release of a memo commissioned by G.O.P. lawmakers that chronicles the F.B.I.s purported abuses of its surveillance authorities during the 2016 presidential campaign. The top Leadership and Investigators of the FBI and the Justice Department have politicized the sacred investigative process in favor of Democrats and against Republicans something which would have been unthinkable just a short time ago, Trump tweeted. Rank and file are great people! This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it. It is the latest marker of the rift between the president and the justice officials he appointed. Amidst the ongoing Department of Justice investigation into Russian involvement in the 2016 presidential election, Trump and a good number of his Republican allies in Congress have accused these officials of political bias and ulterior motive. The memo, spearheaded by House Intelligence Committee chairman Rep. Devin Nunes of California, is said to describe the F.B.I.s unlawful wiretapping of Carter Page, a former Trump campaign advisor. Republicans have called on Trump this week to release the memo. This stinks to high heaven, North Carolina Republican Rep. Mark Meadows, the chairman of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, tweeted on Jan. 23. If this is anything what it looks like the FBI changing course on investigation, putting their thumb on the scale to undermine Donald Trump and essentially help Hillary Clinton that is as wrong as it gets. This demands further investigation. The Duke of Cambridge said he he will ensure his children - like those in Scandinavia - play outside no matter how cold the weather - AFP When the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge return from their overseas trip, their children could rightfully expect an armful of gifts and a happy-to-be home cuddle. Instead, they may be in for a rude awakening. The Duke of Cambridge has spoken of how he had been inspired by hardy Swedish children, who play outside in all weather and are all the healthier for it. In a speech detailing how the British could learn from the Swedish people, the Duke said he would take home the lesson of how youngsters are "actively encouraged" to go out in the cold. Prince George, four, and Princess Charlotte, two, are at home at Kensington Palace while their parents spend four days in Scandinavia. The Duke and Duchess met hundreds of schoolchildren, some bundled up in thick coats and gloves and others braving the sub-zero temperature in short sleeves, waving flags in the playground for their arrival. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge wrapped up warm as they met school children in Stockholm Credit: Stephen Lock/i-Images The Duchess, who is about five-months pregnant, also wrapped up warm in a red houndstooth coat, which fashion afficionados recognised as being very similar to a short jacket worn by Diana, Princess of Wales, in 1990. The distinctive patterned coat, custom made for the Duchess by Catherine Walker, is reminiscent of a Moschino outfit the late Princess wore to Princess Eugenie's christening. Duchess of Cambridge's fashion on Stockholm visit Speaking at an evening reception celebrating the ties between Britain and Sweden, the Duke observed: "The Swedish love of the outdoors - the way you embrace your climate and environment, and are committed to ensuring future generations can do the same; the fact that you do so when it is so cold is really inspiring. "One lesson that we will take home with us is that children are actively encouraged to spend time outdoors, whatever the weather. This is obviously very good for their physical physical health but, as we learnt this morning at the remarkable Karolinska Institute, it has huge benefits for a child's mental health as well." Story continues The Duke of Cambridge makes a toast after speaking at a reception at the Fotografiska Galleries in Stockholm Credit: Dominic Lipinski /PA His words follow research from the Office for National Statistics, which found that he average British child spends just 16 minutes outdoors each day. The health and happiness of children has been a key concern of the Duke and Duchess, as well as being a major focus of Crown Princess Victoria and Prince Daniel, their Swedish Royal counterparts. The children of Crown Princess Victoria and Prince Daniel of Sweden quietly ate snacks as they listened to the grown-ups talk Credit: Raphael Stecksen/Royal Court Sweden /PA If the Duke and Duchess were missing their own children during their short trip, they at least had he opportunity to spend time with two young members of the Swedish royal family. The Duke, 35, met the little girl who is, at least in terms of succession, his equal in Sweden: a five-year-old schoolgirl with a bow in her hair. The Duke of Cambridge meets Princess Estelle and Prince Oscar, along with the children's mother, Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden Credit: Raphael Stecksen/Royal Court Sweden /PA Princess Estelle and her younger brother Prince Oscar joined the Duke and Duchess for tea at their Stockholm palace, nestling on the sofa alongside heir parents. The pair, dressed in a smart grey dress and shirt respectively, were on their best behaviour, quietly eating snacks as they listened to the grown-ups talk. Kate and William's tour of Sweden and Norway The trip, during which the Duke and Duchess spent two days in Sweden and will spend two days in Norway from Thursday, has already been spoken of as a friendship-building exercise, as the British couple get to know European Royal families. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have come full circle with their relationship! The engaged couple stepped out on Thursday, February 1, to attend the annual Endeavour Fund Awards. The awards celebrate the achievements of wounded, injured and sick servicemen and women who have taken part in remarkable sporting and adventure challenges. It's fitting the couple chose to make their awards debut at this particular event since they made their first official joint appearance last summer during Harry's Invictus Games for veterans and service individuals. The royal bride-to-be coordinated with her Prince wearing a black trouser suit by Alexander McQueen, while Princess Diana's son looked sharp wearing a navy suit. CLICK FOR GALLERY VIEW GALLERY The pair coordinated in mesnwear for the awards Photo: BEN STANSALL/AFP/Getty Images Both Harry, 33, and Meghan, 36, are advocates for veterans. While her royal fiance served in the army for ten years and continues to work with veterans with his annual Invictus Games, the American actress has also shown her support for troops by traveling to Afghanistan on an USO tour. VIEW GALLERY Meghan and Harry attended the Endeavour Fund Awards at Goldsmiths' Hall in London Photo: BEN STANSALL/AFP/Getty Images The Suits alum documented her 2014 travels abroad on her Instagram account which has since been deleted since becoming engaged to Queen Elizabeth's grandson. Alongside a group selfie with soldiers at the time, Meghan wrote, In gratitude to our troops, and the opportunity to thank them personally for their sacrifice and service. Such an honor and feeling very very blessed. #USOtour @usotour#afghanistan. VIEW GALLERY The American actress wore a suit by Alexander McQueen Photo: Jonathan Hordle/WENN GALLERY: EVERYTHING WE KNOW ABOUT PRINCE HARRY AND MEGHAN MARKLE'S WEDDING Meghan and Harry will say "I do" on May 19 at St. George's Chapel in Windsor. The Prince and American actres announced their engagement in November 2017, after dating for a year and a half. Harry's communication's secretary Jason Knauf said that the couple were delighted to be holding their nuptials on the "beautiful grounds of Windsor, adding that they would be putting their stamp on their wedding day. He said, They will be making sure it reflects who they are as a couple. From left, Rep. Devin Nunes, President Trump, and FBI Director Christopher Wray. (Photo illustration: Yahoo News; photos: AP) The House Intelligence Committee released on Friday the controversial memo, prepared by GOP chairman Devin Nunes, alleging surveillance abuses by the FBI and the Department of Justice. President Trump declassified the four-page memo and authorized its release, ignoring warnings from current and former FBI and DOJ officials and numerous lawmakers who said doing so would be reckless and dangerous. Below is the full memo as well as the letter from the White House authorizing its release. This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it. Related Video: This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it. Watch news, TV and more on Yahoo View. Bashu (Nigeria) (AFP) - John Osang arrived in Nigeria at dawn on the verge of collapse, wearing just shorts and flip-flops after two fevered days running through the jungle from Cameroonian soldiers. He said he had no other choice. The soldiers were on the hunt for English-speaking separatists. People were being killed. Since December, troops had occupied Bodam, located on the border with Nigeria, pushing ahead with a crackdown on an independence movement that has taken up arms against the Cameroon state. "The soldiers are looking everywhere for Ambazonia fighters," said the exhausted 19-year-old, referring to the name the separatists have given their putative state. "They looted the houses, broke the doors, took our mattresses, televisions and generators. There's nothing left," said Osang, his arms lined with deep scratches from the bush. For two months, Osang hid in a cassava plantation a few kilometers (miles) from home with his sick mother and older brother. But as the situation deteriorated he decided he had to escape. He found sanctuary in Bashu, a remote village in the lush mountains of Cross River State in Nigeria that has seen its population triple to 4,500 because of the Cameroonian influx. The mud-brick houses of peaceful Bashu are just five kilometres (three miles) from the Manyu River that represents the border with Cameron. But the tranquility is an illusion. Residents say they regularly hear helicopters in the sky and "intense exchanges of fire" at night. Many of the displaced Cameroonians are in shock. Joseph Mbia Ndem said he had to leave behind the bodies of his wife and brother, who were shot dead on December 24 when soldiers surrounded his village of Dadi. "They didn't say anything, they just started shooting," the former plantain farmer said, his eyes brimming with tears behind small, square-rimmed glasses. "I've never been interested in politics," said the 74-year-old. "I don't know why they're killing us." Story continues - Gunfire - Pro-independence supporters have mounted attacks against symbols of the state in Cameroon's two anglophone regions, which are home to about 20 percent of the country's 23 million people. The independence movement developed from a strike in late 2016 by teachers and lawyers against perceived marginalisation by the French-speaking majority. But, little by little, the crisis has developed into a low-level but brutal armed conflict. Twenty-two soldiers and police have been killed since November last year, according to an AFP tally. Yaounde has responded to the separatist movement with massive force, notably around the border with Cross River state. According to the Cross River state emergency management agency, more than 33,000 people, including many farmers and civil servants, have arrived in the last four months. Cameroon's army has refused to say how many troops it has on the ground in the country's troubled anglophone region. But Hans De Marie Heungoup, a researcher with the International Crisis Group, estimates that 5,000 to 6,000 men from all security forces have been deployed in anglophone areas. - Multiple incursions - Cameroon's authorities have labelled the separatists "terrorists" and say they are hunting down rebel training camps. They have repeatedly dismissed videos on anti-Yaounde social media accounts purporting to show attacks on villages and the massacre of civilians. English-speaking Cameroonian refugees who have fled to dozens of Nigerian villages along the border remain concerned after several incursions by soldiers. Security sources and aid workers said dozens of Cameroonian soldiers -- on foot and not in uniform -- caused panic when they turned up in the Cross River village of Danare last week. The head of the Cross River state emergency management agency, John Inaku, said: "It is not the first time. The first time was in the district of Akamkpa in December." Several people have also been taken back to Cameroon, he added. Cross River's governor, Ben Ayade, complained about "violations of international laws" to senior figures from the defence ministry and army who came from Abuja to assess the situation, according to one Nigerian official. In Danare, refugees said the Cameroonian soldiers were not hostile but believed they were trying to lay a trap for them. "Last week, 50 to 70 Cameroonian soldiers came to Danare to tell us our village was safe now and that we could go back home," said Tony Kajang. A group of about 30 youths then crossed back across the border to verify the claim, according to the 22-year-old. "When we got near the village the soldiers started shooting," he said. "They killed several of us, I don't know how many exactly. But only 16 of us came back." WASHINGTON The top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, Rep. Adam Schiff of California, predicted Friday that the public will get to read his sides rebuttal to a disputed Republican memo alleging dire surveillance abuses in the FBIs probe into Russian meddling in the 2016 election. On a conference call with reporters, Schiff also disputed key points of the GOP document, which he described as an effort to protect President Trump. The California lawmakers remarks came as he promised to make a fresh push to have Congress approve the release of the Democratic counterpoint to a memo crafted by Republican Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, also of California, and approved for publication by the White House. I think theyre going to be forced to release it, Schiff said, referring to the Democratic response. By law, a majority of committee members would have to vote to make it public, after which the president would have five days to approve or block such a move. It will have to go to the White House. And the president, in theory, could veto its release, in which case the House would have to override that veto, he said. I think the president would be hard-pressed to try to suppress this memo, particularly since they claim theyre releasing the GOP memo in the interest of transparency. Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan has come out in favor of making public the Democratic document once it has undergone a review by the Justice Department and intelligence officials in order to scrub it of sensitive secrets. I would expect that our memo is likely to be redacted, Schiff said. We do want to make sure that we protect sources and methods. Rep. Adam Schiff, D- Calif., ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee. (Photo: Matt Rourke/AP) He was speaking after Trump approved the release of the four-page Nunes memo, which contends that the FBI relied on a Democratic-funded opposition research dossier on Trump as well as news reporting by Yahoo News Chief Investigative Correspondent Michael Isikoff in order to obtain a warrant to spy on one of the future presidents associates, Carter Page. The GOP document also charges that the FBI concealed the political motivation behind the dossiers creation. Story continues I think its a disgrace. Whats going on in this country, I think its a disgrace, Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Friday. But the Nunes memo also confirms that the dossier, put together by former British spy Christopher Steele, was not what sparked the FBIs overall investigation into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 election and the Trump campaigns possible role. Instead, the probe began after the FBI became aware of contacts between a Trump campaign foreign policy adviser and Russia in 2016. Democrats have said that their 10-page rebuttal will show that Nunes cherry-picked information and mischaracterized evidence. They have also charged that the memo is designed to undermine the Russia investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller, and potentially lay the groundwork for the president to fire Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who appointed the former FBI director to the job. Asked whether he has confidence in Rosenstein, Trump replied: You figure that one out. Schiff told reporters, This wasnt about oversight, this is about telling a political story thats helpful to the president. Its about telling a political story thats designed to injure the work of the special counsel and discredit it. He urged Trump not to use the memo as a pretext for purging Rosenstein. Photo: Evan Vucci/AP Schiff accused Republicans of misleadingly characterizing still-secret information in order to smear the Russia investigation. He pointed to a section of the memo that asserts that Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe, pushed this week into early retirement after public denunciations by Trump, told the committee that the warrant application under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) would not have occurred without the dossier. What he was describing is that the FISA application relies on all of the components within the application, each and every component, Schiff said. And only in that sense is it fair to say, Well, if you take out any piece of it, then does that mean that the application would not be complete. Schiff also said that the Nunes memo incorrectly suggested that the FISA application rested on the entire dossier. Its only very select parts of what Christopher Steele related to Carter Page, some of it corroborated from other sources, that the court saw, he said. The investigation would have begun and continued even if Christopher Steele had never come along, Schiff said. The Democrat also denied the Nunes memo charge that officials withheld the fact that Steele assembled his dossier at the behest, ultimately, of the Clinton campaign. I can say that its not accurate to say that the FBI didnt make the FISA court aware that there was a likely political motivation behind those who were funding Christopher Steeles work, Schiff said. Its misleading to suggest that the court had no idea there was a political motivation involved in his work. Read more from Yahoo News: Rep. Devin Nunes is suddenly very worried about the wrong part of FISA. (Photo: Jonathan Ernst / Reuters) This week, the House Intelligence Committee voted along party lines to release a controversial Republican memo alleging improper political surveillance of President Donald Trumps campaign. Although we dont know the full contents of this memo, which was written by staff for Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), its clearly focused on accusing the Justice Department and the FBI of abusing the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. But that focus misrepresents how FISA works, the checks that are in place and where the real risks for abuse reside. FISA, a highly complex law, has two provisions particularly relevant to the Nunes memo and the hypocrisy surrounding the Republicans sudden concern about it. First is Title I of the 1978 statute, commonly called traditional FISA, which is used to target suspected agents of foreign powers (e.g., spies, terrorists or people who aid them). Second is Section 702 of FISA, passed in 2008 as an evolution of President George W. Bushs terrorist surveillance program. Although the section only targets foreigners abroad, it doesnt require any suspicion of wrongdoing by or judicial approval of targets. As a result, this warrantless surveillance sweeps up a huge number of communications involving Americans, including some members of Congress. Unfortunately, the intelligence community last year reneged on a promise to Congress to estimate how many Americans are affected, leaving lawmakers and the public in the dark about one of Section 702s most concerning aspects. Given Nunes views and his history of voting on surveillance, his memo (which might have been developed in coordination with the White House) likely relies on a legal fable: that traditional FISA is the part of the law thats unchecked and susceptible to abuse, while Section 702 is just fine. Prior to a congressional vote to reauthorize and expand Section 702 earlier this month, Trump tweeted (after some confusion) an endorsement and depicted the section as distinct from the part of FISA that was used to so badly surveil and abuse the Trump campaign. White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders echoed this narrative when she said, The president fully supports 702 but he does have some overall concern with the FISA program more generally. Story continues As for Nunes, while his memo appears to be centered on traditional FISA, he was the lead sponsor of that bill to reauthorize Section 702. But the notion that traditional FISA is dangerous while Section 702 is worry-free doesnt pass the laugh test. In reality, traditional FISA contains the basic checks we expect when the government eavesdrops on our private communications, while those checks are frighteningly absent from Section 702. First, traditional FISA requires suspicion to pry into Americans communications, while Section 702 requires none. Under traditional FISA, the government cannot engage in surveillance unless it shows probable cause that someone is acting as an agent of a foreign power, which significantly limits the breadth of monitoring and potential for abuse. In contrast, the government can generally search its databases for any Americans communications collected under Section 702 without any suspicion of wrongdoing. That leaves the system much more susceptible to fishing. The Nunes memo supposedly argues that the FBI abused traditional FISA by relying too much on the Steele dossier to obtain a warrant. But under Section 702, the FBI could scour its databases for communications by Trump campaign officials (or any other American) based on a mere anonymous tip from former British spy Christopher Steele (or anyone else). It seems inconceivable that Nunes truly believes the FBI has hijacked a part of FISA that requires a probable cause showing when he doesnt worry that misconduct could occur under the part of FISA that allows the bureau to search first and find evidence later. Second, traditional FISA requires judicial approval to seek out Americans communications, whereas Section 702 does not. By mandating that the government not only gather probable cause but also convince a court that surveillance is merited, traditional FISA safeguards against any officials who would exaggerate evidence or ignore requirements entirely. Meanwhile, when intelligence agencies search their databases for communications collected under Section 702, judges are virtually never involved. So under Section 702, the only check against improper efforts to look at Americans communications comes from the agencies themselves. This is why its so tough to buy the narrative coming from Nunes and the White House that the intelligence community is abusing FISA under a courts watchful eye, but Americans need not worry about FISA surveillance when that independent check is taken away. If Congress or President Trump believes FISA is vulnerable to abuse, the sensible reaction is to add checks where Section 702 is used to focus on Americans. Specifically, FISA could be amended so that whenever the government queries its databases for an Americans communications, it must get judicial approval based on probable cause before reading any communications collected without a warrant under Section 702. Even if there are currently no efforts to misuse FISA, this would be an important shield to prevent future impropriety. Indeed, many Republicans and Democrats have supported adding this reform, although Congress did not include it when reauthorizing Section 702 and is unlikely to consider doing so in the near future. But there are steps we can take now. Pushing the FBI to tally how often it looks at Americans communications and calling for the intelligence community to follow through on its promise to provide an estimate of Americans swept up in Section 702 surveillance would provide much-needed perspective. If Congress truly cares about guarding against improper surveillance, its members should demand public disclosure of this information about Section 702 just as fervently as some are demanding that they #ReleaseTheMemo. Jake Laperruque is senior counsel for The Constitution Project at the Project On Government Oversight, where he works on issues of surveillance, national security and defending privacy rights in the digital age. ALSO ON HUFFPOST OPINION Protect Immigrants From Trump Now, Before Its Too Late The Broken Promises Of Iraq's Oil Trump Still Has Nothing But Platitudes For American Workers Love HuffPost? Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today. This article originally appeared on HuffPost. President Donald Trump on Friday authorized the release of a controversial memo that reportedly accuses the FBI of abusing its surveillance powers in its investigation into whether Trumps presidential campaign colluded in Russian election meddling. The memo is expected to become public later on Friday. The memo, which follows an investigation directed by Republican House Intelligence Committee chairman Devin Nunes of California, has been touted by Republican lawmakers and conservative media figures as confirmation of supposed political bias against Trump among the countrys top law enforcement officials. Trumps own FBI and Justice Department have warned that releasing the memo would be reckless, and Democrats have painted it as a misleadingly cherry-picked reading of the facts without context. Not all Republicans are clamoring for its release. Heres what the GOP dissenters are saying. Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona Jeff Flake, the maverick junior Senator from Arizona and frequent Trump critic who is not seeking reelection, released a joint statement Thursday with Delaware Democratic Sen. Chris Coons, urging Trump not to allow the release of the memo. President Trump should heed the warnings of the Justice Department and FBI, and reverse his reported decision to defy longstanding policies regarding the disclosure of classified information, Flake and Coons said. The presidents apparent willingness to release this memo risks undermining U.S. intelligence-gathering efforts, politicizing Congress oversight role, and eroding confidence in our institutions of government. Sen. John Thune of South Dakota John Thune who, as chair of the Senate Republican Conference, is the third-ranking GOP Senator urged his party to proceed with caution on the memo in remarks made to reporters on Thursday. I think the Senate Intelligence Committee needs to see it, for sure, Thune said, in remarks reported by The Hill. There are important national security considerations they need to weigh, and hopefully theyre doing that. Story continues Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina In an interview with ABC News This Week, Graham said that the memo warranted greater scrutiny before its release. I want somebody outside of the Republican-led Congress to look at the allegations, Graham said. Im not asking that Lindsey Graham be the final arbiter of whether the F.B.I. and D.O.J. were off-base. [But] no, I dont want it released yet. Rep. Charlie Dent of Pennsylvania Speaking with a reporter from NBC News at the annual Republican retreat in West Virginia, Dent suggested that releasing the memo could jeopardize intelligence security. We run the risk of exposing some sensitive sources and methods, Dent told NBC News. I read the memos and I would rather not release them. YANGON (Reuters) - Two Reuters journalists accused of violating Myanmar's colonial-era Official Secrets Act are due in court on Thursday as the prosecution presents more witnesses, while a defense lawyer has said the judge will rule on a bail request. Wa Lone, 31, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 27, had worked on Reuters coverage of a crisis in Rakhine state, where an army crackdown on insurgents since the end of August has triggered the flight of 688,000 Rohingya Muslims, according to the United Nations. The reporters were detained on Dec. 12 after they had been invited to meet police officers over dinner in Yangon. They have told relatives they were arrested almost immediately after being handed some documents at a restaurant by two officers they had not met before. At the last court hearing on Jan. 23, the first prosecution witness, Police Lieutenant Colonel Yu Naing, said the reporters were arrested while they were walking along a road carrying four official documents that included a listing of forces and weapons of a police battalion in the Maungdaw district of Rakhine state. Yu Naing repeatedly told the court "I don't know", when asked about the circumstances of the arrest because it was only reported to him by subordinates. He could not point to evidence that the defendants were acting for the enemy or hostile forces, defense lawyer Khin Maung Zaw told reporters after the hearing. The prosecution has 24 other witnesses in the case, more than half of whom are police officers, Khin Maung Zaw has said. Another police witness was likely to be called on Thursday, he said. A ruling on an application for bail will also be announced at the hearing in a Yangon district court, Khin Maung Zaw said. The prosecution has previously objected to the bail application. Reuters repeated its calls for the pair's prompt release in a statement after the last hearing. "They are innocent of any wrongdoing and should be allowed to return to their jobs reporting on events in Myanmar," the news agency said. SECRETS ACT CHARGES Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo are being tried under the Official Secrets Act, which dates back to 1923 - when Myanmar, then known as Burma, was under British rule - and carries a maximum prison sentence of 14 years. They have been accused under Section 3.1 (c) of the act, which covers entering prohibited places, and taking images or obtaining secret official documents that "might be or is intended to be, directly or indirectly, useful to an enemy". Government officials from some of the world's major nations, including the United States, Britain and Canada, as well as top U.N. officials, have called for the reporters to be freed. Veteran U.S. politician Bill Richardson said last week that Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi's response was "furious" when he brought up the case in a meeting with her. Richardson quit an international panel advising the Myanmar government on the Rohingya crisis, saying it was conducting a "whitewash" and accusing Suu Kyi of lacking "moral leadership". Suu Kyi's office said her government had asked Richardson to step down and accused him of pursuing "his own agenda". A statement from the nine remaining members of the advisory board said they met last week "with open minds" and rejected Richardson's criticism that he feared the panel would be used as "a cheerleading squad". (Writing by Raju Gopalakrishnan; Editing by Alex Richardson) Russia has hit back after the U.S. accused one of its warplanes of performing an "unsafe" maneuver Monday by reportedly coming within five feet of a Navy spy plane over the Black Sea. The incident, which reportedly lasted more than two and a half hours, occurred when a U.S. Navy EP-3E Aries II surveillance plane neared the Crimean Peninsula, a former Ukrainian territory controversially annexed by Russia in 2014. The Russian military dispatched a Sukhoi Su-27 fighter jet, forcing the Navy spy plane to end its mission early. Facing backlash from its U.S. counterpart, the Russian Defense Ministry said Thursday it had acted well within its rights and that the Pentagon should get used to such incidents if U.S. aircraft did not respect Russian boundaries. Related: Russian military jet comes within 5 feet of U.S. plane on Black Sea, performs 'unsafe' intercept: report Trending: Fight for Justice: Indian Man Ends 782-Day Protest Into His Brother's Death in Police Custody "The Aerospace Force will continue to maintain the reliable protection of Russian airspace, the ministry said in a statement carried by the state-run Tass Russian News Agency. "Should American pilots, knowing this fact, fall into depression or succumb to any phobias, we advise the U.S. side to exclude these flight routes near Russias borders in the future, or return to the negotiating table and agree on their rules," it added. RussiaBlackSeaIntercept U.S. Naval Forces Europe-Africa/U.S. 6th Fleet/Social Media Don't miss: People Are Taking Diarrhea Medication to Get High, Sometimes Consuming 400 Pills at a Time The ministry said that similar moves by the U.S. and fellow members of the NATO Western military alliance "near Russias Aerospace Force planes over the Baltic, Barents, Norwegian and North seas cause absolutely no effects on Russian crews," and argued that that the correct term for the maneuver was "escort," not "interception," because the Russian jets stayed with Navy plane for so long. Story continues Hours after the incident, the Navy released a statement Monday saying that "the Russian military is within its right to operate within international airspace, but they must behave within international standards set to ensure safety and prevent incidents... Unsafe actions increase the risk of miscalculation and midair collisions." "The U.S. aircraft was operating in accordance with international law and did not provoke this Russian activity," it added. Most popular: Roger Stone Visits Ecuadorian Embassy Where Wikileaks Founder Julian Assange Is Staying Specifically addressing 67th Task Force of the 6th Fleet Commandant Bill Ellis, the Russian Defense Ministry offered a reminder that "Crimea is an integral part of Russia" and that U.S. forces had to consult with Russian, not Ukrainian personnel, before conducting such missions near the Black Sea peninsula, whose population was mostly ethnic Russian. GettyImages-601048548 VASILY MAXIMOV/AFP/Getty Images Russia's 2014 seizure of Crimea occurred during major political unrest in neighboring Ukraine that saw its pro-Russia president removed from power. Russia defended its move by claiming it was preserving the interest of the local population, but U.S.-led NATO saw this, as well as alleged Russian support for separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine, as a violation of Ukraine's sovereignty. The political fallout has resulted in a transcontinental arms race between the NATO Western military alliance and Russia, prompting a Cold War-esque buildup along their respective borders. Both factions have used the Black Sea to host massive military drills, often accusing the other of escalating already heightened tensions in Eastern Europe. The Russian Black Sea resort city of Sochi also hosted on Tuesday the first round of the Syrian National Dialogue, Moscow's latest attempt to reconcile warring parties in Syria. This article was first written by Newsweek More from Newsweek In the State of the Union on Tuesday night, President Donald Trump singled out three of his guests for special praise Albuquerque police officer Ryan Holets and wife Rebecca, who adopted the baby of a heroin addict he saw preparing to shoot up on the street while she was pregnant. Holets story came to national attention in December a little over two months after he first met the pregnant woman, Crystal Champ. In footage captured by his body camera, Holets can be seen chastising Champ for using drugs while pregnant, saying, Why do you have to be doing that stuff? Its going to ruin your baby. The video shows Champ breaking down crying after his comment. The Holets were seated in the gallery next to First Lady Melania Trump for the presidents address to Congress. Cameras panned to the family multiple times during the speech. In an interview with CNN, Champ said, I was like how dare you judge me. You have no idea how hard this is I know what a horrible person I am and what a horrible situation Im in. This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it. Champ was homeless and addicted to both heroin and crystal meth, drugs which she says rule her life. When she told Holets she was looking for someone to adopt the baby once it was born, she said she noticed a change in him: He became a human being instead of a police officer. Holets says he felt he heard a message from God: You will do it because you can. He told Champ he would adopt her child. Holets, who was already a father of four, discussed the idea with wife Rebecca and she agreed. After the baby was born in October, they named her Hope, and saw her through her detoxing and methadone treatment. Champ says she believes it was serendipity that brought her daughter together with the Holets family: She needs to have a safe environment and a stable life and be able to grow and be nurtured and be safe and secure and all of these things I cant give her right now, she told CNN. This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it. Champ and her partner, Tom Key, are reportedly now in a rehabilitation facility. Holets started a GoFundMe page to raise money for them to pay rent after they leave the program, as well as to cover medical bills. I am directly in control of all funds raised and personally ensuring that they are used for the previously mentioned purposes, he wrote on the page. In the most recent update on the page, Champ and Key wrote, We just wanted to say thank you for all your prayer, praise, and financial help. But the truth is that Ryan is the true catalyst for every thing that has happened. He is the one who deserves the praises (after God that is). Thank you for everything. On Wednesday, following the State of the Union, Holets gave an interview to CNN saying Champ and Key had been sober for around 40 days. Were sending them pictures were giving them updates, he said. We want them to be able to continue to see her and be in their life. I think shes going to know how much they loved her. And thats never going to be in question. Mr Trump and Ms Cruz briefly met when he visited the island: Jonathan Ernst/Reuters The mayor of San Juan says President Donald Trumps comments about hurricane recovery during his State of the Union speech this week were hypocrisy. Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz, who attended the speech, has been highly critical of Mr Trump and his administrations handling of the crisis her city and island have endured. To everyone still recovering in Texas, Florida, Louisiana, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, California and everywhere else we are with you, we love you, and we will pull through together, Mr Trump said Tuesday night. Less than 24 hours later, however, the Federal Emergency Management Agency which has spent $1.6 billion on food and another $361 million on water to help victims of Hurricane Maria in the past four months suspended operations on the island. The President has not been with the people of Puerto Rico, Ms Cruz said on CNN, before adding that Mr Trumps address was an utter statement of hypocrisy. Thirty-five per cent of our people do not have electricity. Our children are going to school only part time. Half a million homes are totally disrupted, either need to be rebuilt completely or need to have their roof put back on, Ms Cruz said, referring to the extensive damage the hurricane season brought to her island. Roughly 3 million Puerto Ricans needed assistance immediately after those storms. Power line infrastructure was devastated across the island, leading to a blackout throughout the island. Drinking water was scarce, and residents relied on bottled water and other forms of aide. The island still has nearly half a million people living without power, and some people still rely on bottled water. Many residents have still been unable to return to work, and have been forced to rely on unemployment insurance paid out by the federal government. The situation in Puerto Rico is improved to the extent that most grocery stores are open and accessible, transportation systems are operable, and gasoline stations are operable, as are banks and ATM machines, a FEMA spokesperson said in response to questions about the agencys decision to pull operations. The spokesperson said that the agency would continue to address documented issues on the island, but that its primary responsibilities had been met. The chairman of the House Intelligence Committee made material changes to a controversial memo before providing it to the White House to be considered for public release, according to the top Democrat on the committee. In a letter Wednesday night, Representative Adam Schiff, the Democratic ranking member of the committee, accused Representative Devin Nunes, its Republican chairman, of secretly altering a memo that alleges misconduct by the FBI and the Department of Justice in their surveillance of a former campaign adviser to President Donald Trump. The changes, Schiff charged, came after the intelligence panel voted on Monday to release the memo and before the document was sent to the White House for review. Nunes did not tell Democrats about the changes, Schiff wrote, and said that after the Democrats learned of the alterations, Republicans allowed them to compare the new memo to the original. Trending: NASA: Dinosaur Footprint Discovery Reveals Ancient Feeding Frenzy in Space Agencys Own Backyard Related: When Will Congress Release the Secret Memo? Trump Must Decide After reviewing both versions, it is clear that the majority made material changes to the version it sent to the White House, which committee members were never apprised of, never had the opportunity to review and never approved, Schiff wrote to Nunes. This is deeply troubling, because it means that the committee majority transmitted to the White House an altered version of its classified document that is materially different than the version on which the committee voted. The White House has therefore been reviewing a document since Monday night that the committee never approved for public release. A Nunes spokesman dismissed Schiffs letter Wednesday, calling it part of an increasingly strange attempt to thwart publication of the memo. The committee minority is now complaining about minor edits to the memo, including grammatical fixes and two edits requested by the FBI and by the minority themselves, Jack Langer, a spokesman for Nunes and the House Intelligence Committee, said in a statement. The vote to release the memo was absolutely procedurally sound and in accordance with House and committee rules. To suggest otherwise is a bizarre distraction from the abuses detailed in the memo, which the public will hopefully soon be able to read for themselves. Story continues Don't miss: Does Coffee Cause Cancer? California Cuppas Could Soon Carry Warning Schiffs letter marked the latest development in a dramatic debate over the release of a classified memo alleging misconduct around the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) process. The allegations reportedly involve Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and the surveillance of Carter Page, who was a foreign policy adviser on Trumps 2016 campaign. Nunes, who served on Trumps presidential transition team, wrote the memo. 12_31_Nunes_altered_memo Mark Wilson/Getty Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee made the memo available to all members of the House for review on January 18. Some Republicans have since rallied for its public release, despite vocal opposition from the Justice Department and the FBI. Assistant Attorney General Stephen Boyd reportedly has said the move would be extraordinarily reckless, and the FBI said in a statement that it has grave concerns about material omissions of fact that fundamentally impact the memos accuracy. Most popular: Physics: Speed of Light Could Be Brought to a Complete Stop By Trapping Particles Inside Crystals On Monday, the committee voted to invoke a little-used rule to make the Nunes memo public. The release now needs to be approved by Trump, who has said he would do so. This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it. Schiff has disputed the accuracy of the document, and the Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee wrote their own 10-page memo based on the same source materials. During the vote on Monday, the committee decided to make the Democratic version available to the full House, but it voted against releasing it publicly. In his Wednesday letter, Schiff argued that Nuness alleged alterations to the letter meant there is no longer a valid basis for the White House to review the altered document, since this new version is not the same document shared with the entire House and on which committee members voted. A senior Democratic committee official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity in order to discuss the closed-door matters, disputed Nuness spokesmans characterization that the alterations were minor. The changes are not cosmetic, the official said. In his letter, Schiff called for the Republicans to withdraw the memo from White House consideration and to hold a new vote on February 5 so the panel can consider the new document. This article was first written by Newsweek More from Newsweek Damascus (AFP) - A Syria peace congress hosted this week by ally Russia is the "cornerstone" of any solution to the country's nearly seven-year conflict, a government source said on Thursday. Tuesday's congress in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, snubbed by Syria's main opposition and the Kurds, agreed on the creation of a commission to discuss the country's post-war constitution. UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura, who attended the meeting, said the United Nations would lead efforts to form the commission. A copy of the final statement, seen by AFP in Arabic, did not mention the fate of Moscow's ally President Bashar al-Assad. In a statement quoted by state news agency SANA, a source in Syria's foreign ministry said the talks in Sochi were "the cornerstone of the political process and solid base upon which dialogue will be launched from now on". Around 1,400 delegates attended Tuesday's meeting, as part of a broader push by regime-backer Moscow to consolidate its influence in the Middle East. But the main opposition group, the Syrian Negotiations Committee, boycotted the meeting as did representatives of Syria's Kurdish minority. Beirut (AFP) - At least 20 civilians were killed Thursday in Syrian government air strikes on rebel-held territory in the country's north, a war monitor said. Elsewhere three children were reported killed in artillery strikes on rebel-held Eastern Ghouta, while state news agency SANA said seven people died in apparent retaliatory shelling of nearby government-held Damascus. The aerial bombardments in the north pounded several areas in the provinces of Aleppo and Idlib, where government troops are waging a Russian-backed assault against rebels and jihadists. "Regime raids hit two villages in the south of Aleppo province, killing 15 civilians," said Rami Abdel Rahman, head of Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. In the neighbouring province of Idlib, government air strikes killed five civilians in the town of Saraqeb, said the Observatory, a Britain-based war monitor. That broad region is held by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which is dominated by Al-Qaeda's one-time affiliate in Syria. Syrian government troops launched a ferocious offensive in late December to retake parts of Idlib and secure a key road leading from Aleppo south to the capital. Regime forces have made key gains, recapturing the Abu Duhur military airport and dozens of nearby villages. Since it erupted in 2011, Syria's conflict has morphed from a protest movement into a brutal and complex war that has left 340,000 people dead. In an attempt to bring an end to the fighting, backers of opposing sides last year agreed to four "de-escalation" zones in the country. Idlib makes up part of one zone. The other three are in Syria's south, the central province of Homs, and the area of Eastern Ghouta, an opposition enclave near Damascus. The area has been besieged by government troops since 2013 and is home to around 400,000 people living a humanitarian nightmare. ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Syria's opposition will cooperate with proposals made at a Russia-hosted conference this week to rewrite the country's constitution as long as the process remains under U.N. auspices, the chief opposition negotiator said on Thursday. Participants at Tuesday's meeting in the Black Sea resort of Sochi in Russia - which is a powerful supporter of President Bashar al-Assad - agreed to set up a committee to change the Syrian constitution, and called for democratic elections. The main Syrian opposition negotiating group had boycotted the gathering, while the United States, Britain and France also stayed away because of what they said was the Syrian government's refusal to properly engage. However, chief opposition negotiator Nasr Hariri said the Syrian Negotiation Commission would "work positively" with the proposed committee because responsibility for setting it up had been handed to the U.N. Syria envoy, Staffan de Mistura. "If the constitutional committee is set up... within the U.N. process in Geneva, strictly consistent with U.N. resolution 2254, yes we will continue to work with the U.N. process in this regard," he told a news conference. Damascus welcomed the results of the Sochi meeting. "The final statement of the conference confirmed the consensus of Syrians on ... preserving the sovereignty and unity of Syrian territory and people, and the exclusive right of the Syrian people to choose their own political and economic system," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement. It made no mention of the decision to set up a committee to rewrite the constitution or the call for democratic elections. Four years of on-off United Nations-mediated peace talks have yielded little progress toward ending the seven-year war, but De Mistura has pressed ahead with efforts for a political solution. He said on Tuesday the constitutional committee agreed in Sochi "will become a reality in Geneva", where most of the U.N.-led Syria peace talks have been held. De Mistura also said he would decide the criteria for committee members and select about 50 people - from government, opposition and independent groups. (Reporting by Dominic Evans, additional reporting by Angus McDowall in Beirut; Editing by Gareth Jones and Peter Graff) Exclusive: eyewitnesses to the first two judicial killings in the state last month reported alarming scenes on the gurney A gurney in Huntsville, Texas, where Texass condemned are strapped down to receive a lethal dose of drugs. Photograph: Pat Sullivan/AP Texas prepared on Thursday afternoon to put to death its third prisoner this year, using a batch of old and poorly regulated sedatives, which eyewitnesses have suggested may have led to the botched executions of two other inmates in the past two weeks. John Battaglia, 62, is set to die after 6pm local time on Thursday, using a lethal dose of the barbiturate pentobarbital. If the procedure goes ahead Texas will have completed three executions this year. No other state has carried out an execution so far in 2018. John Battaglia. Photograph: AP The Guardian can reveal that witnesses to the first two judicial killings last month that of Anthony Shore on 18 January and William Rayford on 30 January reported alarming scenes on the gurney, tantamount to the procedure being botched. An ordained priest who was Shores spiritual adviser has given a sworn account in an affidavit of what she saw at his execution. She said that as the pentobarbital was injected into Shores veins, his body started to tremble and he said, in a stressed voice: Ohh weeee, I can feel that it does burn. Burning! Shore continued to appear to struggle to breathe, and the priest testified that he had a desperate look on his face. His comment about a burning sensation was reminiscent of the botched execution of Michael Wilson by Oklahoma in 2014 during which Wilson said exclaimed, mid-procedure: I feel my whole body burning. Shore was put to death for the serial murders of four people, from a nine-year-old girl to a 21-year-old woman, for which he became known as the tourniquet killer. Two eyewitnesses to the Rayford execution on Tuesday also reported alarming events. Liliane Sticher, who was present in the viewing room of the death chamber at the Huntsville unit, said she saw the prisoners torso rise about 30 degrees after the drug went in. He was shaking and looked at me as if he wanted to say something, as if in distress, as if asking for help, Sticher said. Story continues A similar account was given by Danielle Allen, another witness, who reported that Rayfords eyelids twitched, and then his head jerked back into the pillow. His face was twisted into a grimace, Allen said. Its hard to describe but Mr Rayford was clearly in severe pain. Rayford was executed for the 1999 murder of Carol Hall, 44, in Dallas County. Battaglia is set to be executed for killing his two daughters, Liberty and Faith, in 2001. With the clock ticking down on Battaglias execution, his lawyers have filed an emergency complaint in federal district court in Houston, calling for the procedure to be stopped. They point out that the same batch of pentobarbital used in the troubling deaths of Shore and Rayford is scheduled to be injected into Battaglia on Thursday evening. The batch is more than a year old, and according to defense lawyers it is well beyond anything that is considered acceptable by the relevant scientific treatises or by experts in the field. In the wake of a boycott of death penalty states by drugs manufacturers, Texas has taken to acquiring the chemicals it needs to kill prisoners from compounding pharmacies storefront outlets that concoct their own equivalents of big-name brands. The compounded medicines are much less stringently regulated by federal authorities, and as a result their consistency and effectiveness can vary. Initially, the beyond-use date assigned to the batch or the point at which it should be discarded was set at 22 January 2018. But records obtained from the Texas department of criminal justice show that, shortly before Rayfords execution, the date was changed to November this year. Maya Foa, director of the international human rights group Reprieve, said that Texas should have disposed of the batch of pentobarbital almost a year ago. No responsible pharmacist would have anything to do with these medicines, Foa said, but the department of criminal justice appears to have manipulated the beyond-use dates to keep their dwindling stocks in use, without thought to the suffering they could cause. She added that Tuesdays execution demonstrated the consequences of the state insisting on experimenting with poor-quality drugs that have been cooked up in compounding labs, hidden from public scrutiny or oversight by secrecy laws that harm public trust and potentially endanger public health. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle blasted the decision by President Trump and Republican members of the House Intelligence Committee on Friday to release a controversial memo alleging surveillance abuses by the FBI and the Department of Justice. Trump declassified the four-page memo, prepared by GOP chairman Devin Nunes, and authorized its release, ignoring warnings from current and former FBI and DOJ officials and numerous lawmakers who said doing so would be reckless and dangerous. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., was among the first to criticize the decision. The latest attacks against the FBI and Department of Justice serve no American interests no partys, no presidents, only Putins, McCain said in a statement. The American people deserve to know all of the facts surrounding Russias ongoing efforts to subvert our democracy, which is why Special Counsel Muellers investigation must proceed unimpeded. Our nations elected officials, including the president, must stop looking at this investigation through the warped lens of politics and manufacturing partisan sideshows. If we continue to undermine our own rule of law, we are doing Putins job for him. This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it. Gov. John Kasich, R-Ohio, slammed the decision too. This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it. Rep. Adam Schiff, the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, vowed to fight to release the Democratic response to Nuness memo, which has yet to be declassified. The Presidents decision to publicly release a misleading memo attacking DOJ & FBI is a transparent attempt to discredit these institutions and undermine Muellers probe, Schiff wrote on Twitter. Well fight to release our classified response. This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it. Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, called the release of the memo reckless, and said the unprecedented public disclosure of classified material during an ongoing criminal investigation is dangerous to our national security. This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it. This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it. This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it. Former FBI Director James Comey, who has taken to defending the bureau against Trumps repeated attacks, expressed his disbelief. Story continues Thats it? Comey tweeted. Dishonest and misleading memo wrecked the House intel committee, destroyed trust with Intelligence Community, damaged relationship with FISA court, and inexcusably exposed classified investigation of an American citizen. For what? DOJ & FBI must keep doing their jobs. This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it. In recent days, FBI and Justice Department officials urged Trump not to release the memo, with the bureau saying it had grave concerns about its accuracy. Earlier Friday, Trump tweeted a statement slamming the leadership of the FBI and DOJ. The top Leadership and Investigators of the FBI and the Justice Department have politicized the sacred investigative process in favor of Democrats and against Republicans something which would have been unthinkable just a short time ago. Rank & File are great people! I think its a disgrace, Trump told reporters at the White House after authorizing the memos release. A lot of people should be ashamed of themselves. According to the Washington Post, Trump had reportedly told friends in recent days that he believes the memo will vindicate his repeated claims that special counsel Robert Muellers Russia investigation was a witch-hunt, and could give him the justification to fire Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who is overseeing Mueller, or even Mueller himself, should he decide to do so. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., warned that using the Nunes memo as a pretext to fire anyone involved with the Russia probe would be viewed as an attempt to obstruct justice in the Russia investigation. This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it. House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said that by releasing the memo, Trump has surrendered his constitutional responsibility as Commander-in-Chief and that the decision undermines our national security and serves as a bouquet to his friend Putin. This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., slammed the release of the memo as a blatant attempt by House Republicans and the White House to disrupt the critically important investigation into Russias interference in the 2016 election and the possible collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign. The fact that Congressional Republicans and the White House would release a memo the FBI itself says is misleading is a sad example of a political party putting partisanship above patriotism, Sanders said in a statement. According to news reports President Trump himself has acknowledged that the release of the memo was designed to disrupt Robert Muellers investigation, Sanders added. It is critical that the American people learn the truth about what happened in 2016, and no political stunt should interfere with the special counsels work. What is the president afraid of? Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., said the memo seems to do more to confirm the legitimacy of the FBI investigation into the Trump campaign than to undermine it. It is clear from this memo that Chairman Nunes is serving up garbage evidence to provide cover for the president to fire either Robert Mueller or Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein in order to scuttle the investigation before it reaches the truth, Murphy said. Americans deserve the full story, not a partisan witch hunt. Nunes himself pushed back against criticism. Having stonewalled Congress demands for information for nearly a year, its no surprise to see the FBI and DOJ issue spurious objections to allowing the American people to see information related to surveillance abuses at these agencies, Nunes said in a statement. Its clear that top officials used unverified information in a court document to fuel a counter-intelligence investigation during an American political campaign. Once the truth gets out, we can begin taking steps to ensure our intelligence agencies and courts are never misused like this again. Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz, said the memo shows clear and convincing evidence of treason. This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it. White House press secretary Sarah Sanders defended Trumps decision to declassify the memo, saying the four-page document raises serious concerns about the integrity of decisions made at the highest levels of the Department of Justice and the FBI to use the Governments most intrusive surveillance tools against American citizens. This decision was made with input from the Presidents national security teamincluding law enforcement officials and members of the intelligence community, for whom the President has great respect, Sanders said, contradicting Trumps own ruminations about the Deep State, which suggest he actually has very little respect for members of the intelligence community. He is especially grateful to the hardworking rank-and-file public servants who work every day to keep America safe and uphold our laws while protecting the constitutional rights of all Americans, she added. Yahoo News photo illustration; photos: AP, Steven Senne/AP, Jose Luis Magana/AP, Aaron P. Bernstein/Reuters, AP, Jonathan Ernst/Reuters, AP [2], Jonathan Ernst/Reuters, Carlos Barria/Reuters, AP Read more from Yahoo News: Every consumer product goes through three stages of life. Its invented; its improved and adjusted; and, finally, it becomes a commodity. Theres not a lot of innovation anymore in microwave ovens, ceiling fans, or toilets theyve pretty much stopped morphing. Theyve reached the third stage, their ultimate incarnations. Drones, love em or hate em, are still in the second stage: Theyre rapidly changing direction, gaining features, finding out what they want to be. Its an exciting period in this categorys life, because new models come out fast, each better and more interesting than the last. For proof, just look at the Chinese company DJI, the 800-pound gorilla of drones. It releases a new drone or two every single year. Theyve just introduced a drone called the Mavic Air ($800). Its so small and smart, it makes you wonder why anyone would buy the 2016 Mavic Pro, which costs $200 more but its not what youd call perfect. The new Mavic Pro is incredibly tiny, stable, and lightweight. Meet the Air The 15-ounce Mavic Air is small and thats huge. It folds up for travel: its four arms collapse against the body to make the whole thing small enough to fit into a coat pocket, about 6.5 inches by 3.5 inches by 2 inches. (The top two arms swing horizontally, as youd expect. The bottom two, though, are hinged in two dimensions: They fold downward and inward, and you have to remember to do those before you do the upper arms. Youll figure it out.) The Mavic Airs arms fold up. Of course, there are plenty of small drones but not in this league. The Mavic Air, for example, can capture gorgeous 4K video. And its camera is on a three-axis gimbal for stabilization; the video looks like it was shot from a tripod even when the drone was being buffeted by 20 mph winds, as you can see in the video above. The box includes the drone, a remote control (it uses your smartphone as its screen), a battery, a charger, a set of propeller guards for indoor flying, and a spare set of propellers (in crashes, theyre the first to go). Story continues The Mavic Air comes with four propeller guards for indoor flight, 1 battery, a case, spare propellers and a charger. The Mavic Air is also smarter than any sub-$1,000 drone DJI has ever made. It has depth-sensing cameras on three sides forward, down, and backward (thats new) so that it can avoid collisions automatically in those directions. Like most drones, this one has an automatic Return to Home feature that kicks in whenever the battery is getting low or if it loses the signal with the remote control. (You can also call it home with one button press whenever youre just feeling anxious.) Thanks to the cameras underneath, this thing lands exactly where it took off within a few inches. The competitive landscape The Mavic Airs primary competition comes from two other DJI drones. Heres the rundown: Mavic Pro (2016 model, $1,000). Twice the size of the Air. Folding arms. 4K video. 27 minutes of flight per charge (in the real world, 22 minutes). Front and bottom collision avoidance. Remote control included with built-in screen (no phone necessary). Very few palm control gestures (see below). Mavic Air (2018 model, $800 the new one). Folds up. 4K video. 21 minutes per charge (more like 18). Front, bottom, and back collision avoidance. Remote control folds up tiny even the joysticks unscrew and store inside the body, for even smaller packing. Has the most palm gestures of the three drones and the most reliable palm gestures. 8 GB of internal storage for video and stills, so you can still record if you dont have a micro SD card on you. Another $200 buys you a Fly More kit that includes two extra batteries, an ingenious folding four-battery charger, and even more spare props. Spark (2017 model, $400). The smallest body of all, but its arms dont fold, so it winds up being bigger for travel. 1080p video. 18 minutes per charge (more like 11). Front and bottom collision avoidance. Remote control is an extra purchase ($120); uses your phone as a screen. Responds to hand gestures, but not reliably. The Spark may look smaller than the Mavic Air, but remember that it doesnt fold up. True, the Mavic Pro gets a little more flight per battery. And theres an even more expensive model, the $1,100 Mavic Pro Platinum, that gets 30 minutes per charge. (Do those seem like incredibly short flights? Yup. But thats drones for you. As it is, a modern drone is basically a flying frame designed to haul its own battery around.) But in my book, the Airs tiny size is far more important than the marginally greater battery life. As the old saying doesnt go, The best drone is the drone you have with you. Only the front arms have landing gear (the white thing), which fold up for travel. In-flight entertainment You can fly the Mavic Air in three ways. First, you can use the included remote control. If you insert your smartphone into its grippers and connect the little cord, you get a number of perks like actual joysticks, which make the drone much easier to fly than using the phone alone. The remote also has a dial at the outer corner for adjusting the cameras tilt in flight, as well as a switch for Sport mode, which unlocks the drones top speed of 42 mph (by turning off the obstacle-avoidance features). The remote also gives the drone a much greater range. It uses a Wi-Fi connection to the drone, instead of the proprietary radio connection of the Mavic Pro. DJI says that still gives you 2.4 miles of range, but I say baloney; even in the middle of the Texas desert, youll be lucky to get half that distance. It doesnt really matter, though, since Federal Aviation Administration rules say you cant fly a drone out of sight. (Speaking of the FAA: You dont need a license to fly the Mavic Air as a hobby, but you do need to register the drone itself. And if you intend to fly it professionally this means you, wedding videographers, filmmakers, construction firms, realtors, police, and farmers you have to get permission from the FAA.) The second way to fly the drone is using your smartphone. It works, but you get a much shorter range (about 250 feet), and its harder; DJIs app has become one super-crowded, complex piece of software. The third way: using hand gestures. The drone must be facing you at all times, and it has to remain pretty close to you, so this trick is primarily useful for positioning it for dronies (selfies from the air). Keep in mind that you also need the phone app with you, though, to turn on the palm-control mode. You stand with your arm out, palm forward, in a Stop! In the name of love! pose. Now, you can drag your hand up, down, or around you; the drone follows as though connected to your palm by a magnet. Its the next best thing to The Force. New, two-handed gestures let you push the drone farther away or pull it closer to you. And you can now make the drone land by pointing your palm toward the ground and waiting. In the previous model, the Spark, those palm gestures were super iffy; sometimes they worked, sometimes not. The Mavic Air makes them far more reliable, although I never got the new take off from the ground gesture working. As in other DJI drones, the Mavic Air can follow you as you ski, bike, drive, or run (it tracks you optically you dont have to have the remote control on you). Unlike earlier ones, this one doesnt just hover when it encounters an obstacle; it actually attempts to fly around the obstacle and keep going. Hows it look? 4K may be a buzzword, but it doesnt automatically mean great picture; it could refer to 4,000 pixels worth of ugly blotch. The Mavic Air contains the same tiny camera sensor as the Spark and the Mavic Pro. The footage and stills generally look terrific anything shot from the air is automatically kind of stunning, and the Air uses more data (100 Mbps) to record data than the Pro does. Unfortunately, this sensor is still fairly disastrous when it comes to dynamic range. That is, it tends to blow out bright areas and muddy up dark areas. Alas, those are things you get a lot of when youre shooting from the sky. The Mavic Airs footage is often marred by blown-out highlights (sun, left) and goopy, murky shadows (people, right). The Air can also do half-speed slow motion (in 1080p, not 4K), and take high-dynamic range photos (not videos). All of these drones offer preprogrammed flight patterns, called QuickShots, that make great 10-second videos, incorporating flight maneuvers and camera operations that would be incredibly difficult to do yourself. For example, the one called Circle makes the drone fly around you, keeping the camera pointed toward you the whole time; Helix makes the drone spiral out and away from you; and so on. There are two new ones: Boomerang flies a grand oval around you, up/out and back. Asteroid combines a flight up and away, with a spherical panorama. On playback, the video is reversed, so that it seems to start with a whole planet earth viewed from space, as the camera rushes down toward you. Here, have a look. But its small Like all drones in this price range, the Mavic Air is complicated and sometimes frustrating. It does a lot of beeping at you, its still full of options that are not available now for one reason or another, and it still doesnt come with a printed instruction manual. And yeah, someday, well look back and laugh at an $800 drone that flies for only 18 minutes. But you cant buy a dream drone that doesnt exist. And among the ones that do, the Mavic Air is ingeniously designed, impressively rugged, and incredibly small. Its features beat the cheaper DJI Spark in every category and even the more expensive Mavic Pro in almost every category. In other words, if youre the kind of person considering a drone, the Mavic Air strikes a new sweet spot on the great spectrum of drones, somewhere between beginner and pro, between tiny and luggage-sized, between cheap and pricey. Invest as much time learning it as youve invested in buying it, and youll be flying high. David Pogue, tech columnist for Yahoo Finance, welcomes non-toxic comments in the Comments below. On the Web, hes davidpogue.com. On Twitter, hes @pogue. On email, hes poguester@yahoo.com. You can sign up to get his stuff by email, here. Read more: Exclusive: What Fitbits 6 billion nights of sleep data reveals about us Tech that can help you keep your New Years resolutions Pogues holiday picks: 8 cool, surprising tech gifts Googles Pixel Buds: Wireless earbuds for the extremely tolerant Study finds you tend to break your old iPhone when a new one comes out Rejoice: Sonos Speakers are finally voice-controllable Follow Yahoo Finance on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn By Stephanie van den Berg and Enrique Andres Pretel THE HAGUE/SAN JOSE (Reuters) - Costa Rica claimed victory over Nicaragua on Friday, after the United Nations' highest court awarded Costa Rica disputed territory along the coastal border shared by the two Central American countries. Nicaragua was ordered by the International Court of Justice in The Hague to remove a military base from a contested coastal area near the San Juan river, which the judges said violated Costa Rican sovereignty. The court's panel of 15 international judges also found that Costa Rica has sovereignty over the "whole northern part of Isla Portillos, including the coast," but excluding Harbour Head Lagoon. Costa Rica's President Luis Guillermo Solis called the decision "historic," while Foreign Minister Manuel Gonzalez said it was very close to what the country had asked for. In a separate case heard at the court earlier on Friday, Nicaragua was ordered to pay Costa Rica nearly $379,000 dollars - less than it had asked for - in reparations for environmental damage to parts of its wetlands at the mouth of the disputed San Juan river. Costa Rica should be compensated by April 2 for damage caused, the cost of environmental restoration, expenses and interest, the court said. "The amount is not what we hoped for, but we accept fully and respectfully what the court decided," Gonzalez said. "Nicaragua has a valuable opportunity to rebuild trust between the two countries and close the chapters that have distanced us in recent years." Nicaragua's government called the environmental verdict a "major defeat for Costa Rica" in a statement. It did not comment on the other cases. As part of the border settlement, the court drew a new maritime boundary between the states, who have had rival claims since 2002, when Nicaragua published maps detailing oil concessions. Some of those were in waters claimed by Costa Rica. Costa Rica had filed the suit in 2014, asking the court to determine its borders with Nicaragua in the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean. In 2010, Nicaragua sent soldiers to open an artificial waterway to divert water from the San Juan River that divides both countries to a nearby Nicaraguan lake, in what Costa Rica saw as a move to shorten its territory. Nicaragua said it was dredging a natural waterway. (Writing by Anthony Deutsch and Christine Murray; Editing by William Maclean and Rosalba O'Brien) By Doina Chiacu and Steve Holland WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump and his Republican allies in Congress on Friday escalated a campaign against U.S. law enforcement agencies over their probe of Trump's ties to Russia, releasing a disputed memo that the FBI warned was misleading and inaccurate. The previously classified document, written by Republicans on the House of Representatives intelligence committee, alleges that the federal probe of potential collusion between Trump's 2016 presidential campaign and Russia was a product of political bias against Trump at the FBI and Justice Department. Ignoring a plea from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Trump approved the release of the memo without redactions, deepening an extraordinary breach between the president and senior law enforcement officials over a probe that has dogged him during his first year in office. Democrats said the four-page memo mischaracterizes highly sensitive classified information and was intended to undermine Special Counsel Robert Mueller's criminal probe into the Russia matter launched in May 2017 that grew out of an earlier FBI investigation. They warned Trump against using it as a pretext to fire Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who hired Mueller and oversees the investigation, or Mueller himself. Asked by reporters whether the memo made him more likely to fire Rosenstein or whether he had confidence in him, Trump replied, "You figure that one out." Dismissing Rosenstein would likely ignite a political firestorm, much as his firing of FBI chief James Comey did last year. Hours after Trump spoke, a White House official said there have been no discussions or considerations about firing Rosenstein. Mueller also is examining whether Trump has committed obstruction of justice in trying to thwart the Russia probe. The memo alleges that the FBI concealed the Democratic ties of a source the agency used to justify surveillance on a former Trump campaign advisor with ties to Russia. The memo listed a string of senior Justice Department officials including Rosenstein who it said signed off on this. "I think it's a disgrace what's happening in our country," Trump told reporters when asked about the memo, adding that "a lot of people should be ashamed of themselves." Some lawmakers accused Trump of playing into the hands of Russian President Vladimir Putin after, as Republican Senator John McCain put it, Russia "engaged in an elaborate plot to interfere in an American election and undermine our democracy." "If we continue to undermine our own rule of law, we are doing Putin's job for him," McCain, who is being treated for brain cancer, said in a statement. Mueller's probe has led to guilty pleas by two of his foreign policy advisers to charges of lying to the FBI, and indictments of former campaign manager Paul Manafort and Manafort's business partner Rick Gates. Trump has called the investigation a "witch hunt," denying any collusion with Russia or obstruction of justice. Moscow has denied any election meddling. 'SACRED INVESTIGATIVE PROCESS' In a swipe at U.S. law enforcement leaders on Twitter hours before the memo's release, Trump said, "The top Leadership and Investigators of the FBI and the Justice Department have politicized the sacred investigative process in favor of Democrats and against Republicans - something which would have been unthinkable just a short time ago." It was his latest attack on top law enforcement officials. Trump fired Comey last May as the FBI pursued the Russia probe, leading to Mueller's appointment by Rosenstein. The FBI on Wednesday had expressed "grave concerns about material omissions of fact" in the document and urged that it not be made public. Writing on Twitter, Comey branded the memo "dishonest and misleading." FBI Director Christopher Wray sent a message to bureau employees apparently aimed at boosting morale after the memo's release. "I stand by our shared determination to do our work independently and by the book," Wray said in the message, excerpts of which were seen by Reuters. The memo was commissioned by the Republican chairman of the House intelligence panel, Devin Nunes. It focused on court-approved surveillance of former Trump campaign aide Carter Page and said the FBI used a source who was strongly biased against Trump - former British spy Christopher Steele - to justify the action. It alleged that a dossier of alleged Trump-Russia contacts compiled by Steele, and funded in part by U.S. Democrats, formed an "essential part" of requests to a special court to be allowed to conduct electronic surveillance on Page that began in October 2016. It said the initial application and subsequent renewal applications, signed off on by various senior Justice Department officials, did not mention the link between Steele and the Democrats. It also portrayed Steele as "passionate" about Trump not becoming president. Despite the memo's charges, neither the focus on Page nor the FBI's investigation of Trump-Russia ties began with the Steele dossier. Page appeared on the FBI's radar screen as early as 2013, when he met in New York with Russians who were officers of the Kremlin's foreign intelligence service, sources have said. The memo acknowledges that the FBI counterintelligence investigation began in July 2016 - three months before the request for electronic surveillance on Page - as a result of the activities of another Trump campaign aide, George Papadopoulos. Papadopoulos told an Australian diplomat in May 2016 that Russia had political dirt on Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, information Australian officials passed to the U.S. government, the New York Times reported in December. The entire file that the Justice Department used to apply for permission to eavesdrop on Page remains highly classified, making it hard to evaluate the memo's contents. "The selective release and politicization of classified information sets a terrible precedent and will do long-term damage to the Intelligence Community and our law enforcement agencies," House intelligence committee Democrats said in a statement. They said they hoped the panel would vote on Monday to release their own memo responding to the allegations. U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who has recused himself from the Russia investigation, indicated he planned to refer the memo's allegations to the Justice Department's inspector general for investigation. A White House official said Trump had always been inclined to release the Republican memo, despite the FBI's urging that he not do so, and he relied heavily on Chief of Staff John Kelly and White House Counsel Don McGahn in approving the release. (Reporting by Steve Holland and Doina Chiacu; Additional reporting by Susan Heavey, Warren Strobel, Sarah N. Lynch and David Alexander; Writing by Alistair Bell and Warren Strobel; Editing by Will Dunham and Leslie Adler) The top Leadership and Investigators of the FBI and the Justice Department have politicized the sacred investigative process in favor of Democrats and against Republicans President Donald Trump addressing the Republican National Committees winter meeting. Photograph: Yuri Gripas/Reuters Donald Trump attacked top officials he appointed at the justice department and FBI on Friday morning, accusing them of bias in the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. For days, Washington has braced for the release of a controversial memo by the office of Devin Nunes, a California Republican who chairs the House intelligence committee and a defender of the president. The memo reportedly imputes partisan and unethical conduct in the early stages of the FBI investigation, which began before the 2016 election. The FBI has urged the White House against releasing the memo, suggesting it is misleading, and issued a rare unsigned statement on the subject, saying: We have grave concerns about material omissions of fact that fundamentally impact the memos accuracy. Democrats have also accused Republicans of omitting key context, and lawmakers have fought for days over whether to make the memo public. On Friday morning, the president tweeted disparagement of justice department leadership. The top Leadership and Investigators of the FBI and the Justice Department have politicized the sacred investigative process in favor of Democrats and against Republicans, something which would have been unthinkable just a short time ago, he wrote. Rank & File are great people! The tweet dovetails with a Republican effort to impugn the FBI investigation, led by Nunes. His memo reportedly alleges that the FBI improperly gained a wiretap on a Trump campaign adviser, based in part on information supplied by the former British spy Christopher Steele. Trump is expected to approve the release of the four-page document, which Democrats fear may be used by Trump as a pretext to fire justice department officials and either close or cripple the Russia investigation. Story continues The memo was written by aides to Devin Nunes, chairman of the House intelligence committee and a member of the Trump transition team. The committee is investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election but the inquiry has devolved into a fight about the separate FBI investigation, now led by special counsel Robert Mueller. On Friday, Nunes published the memo after Donald Trump declassified it. The memo revolves around a wiretap on Carter Page, an adviser to the Trump campaign, alleging the FBI omitted key information when it applied for the wiretap. The findings raise concerns with the legitimacy and legality of certain DoJ and FBI interactions with the court that approves surveillance requests, the memo says. It also claims a troubling breakdown of legal processes established to protect the American people from abuses. The memo criticizes investigators who applied for the wiretap, saying they used material provided by an ex-British agent, Christopher Steele, without sufficiently disclosing their source. The memo says Steele was desperate that Trump not get elected. The memo also says texts between an FBI agent and FBI attorney demonstrated a clear bias against Trump and says there is no evidence of any co-operation or conspiracy between Page and another Trump aide under investigation, George Papadopoulos. The memo casts deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein in a negative light. Rosenstein could fire Mueller. The president, said to dislike Rosenstein, could fire and replace him. The FBI argued against the memos release. Democrats wrote a rebuttal and sided with the bureau. The president reportedly told associates he believes the memo will help discredit the special counsel. Alan Yuhas When Trump took office, he appointed Jeff Sessions, the first Republican senator to endorse his candidacy, to lead the justice department. Sessions eventually recused himself from overseeing the Russia investigation, however, when it was revealed that he had met with Russias ambassador to the US during the campaign, meetings he did not disclose during his confirmation hearings. The recusal enraged the president, and oversight of the FBI investigation fell to the deputy attorney general, Rod Rosenstein. The FBI director at the time, James Comey, spoke with the president on several occasions shortly after Trumps inauguration, and Comey has testified to Congress that in one meeting Trump demanded his loyalty. Trump eventually fired Comey, telling NBC: When I decided to just do it, I said to myself, I said, you know, this Russia thing with Trump and Russia is a made-up story. He later appointed Christopher Wray, another justice department veteran, to replace Comey. Rosenstein named former FBI director Robert Mueller to act as special counsel overseeing the wide-ranging investigation, which covers Russias meddling in the election, what relationship if any members of the Trump campaign had with that interference, and potential obstruction of justice by the White House. Late on Thursday, Comey praised Wrays stand against the White House, tweeting: All should appreciate the FBI speaking up. I wish more of our leaders would. He then urged Americans to take heart: American history shows that, in the long run, weasels and liars never hold the field, so long as good people stand up. Democrats have furiously attacked the document and the motives behind it. They describe it as partial, misleading and deliberately designed to sabotage the Mueller investigation into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russians working for the Kremlin. On Thursday, the House minority leader, Nancy Pelosi, accused Nunes of turning the intelligence committees proceedings into a charade. In a letter to the House speaker Paul Ryan, Pelosi said Republicans had embarked on a cover-up campaign to hide the truth about the Trump-Russia scandal. The precise contents of Nuness memo, which contains classified information, remain unclear. But reports indicate that it concerns Carter Page, an energy consultant who joined Trumps campaign as a foreign policy adviser. It reportedly claims that the FBI and justice department may have committed abuses when they applied for a warrant in October 2016 to wiretap Pages communications. The application was made in part with material supplied by Steele, the memo alleges. According to reports, the memo says the FBI failed to inform the judge who approved the warrant that Democrats had paid for Steeles research. Steele claims that in summer 2016 Page held secret discussions with officials in Moscow. Page denies this. But the memo appears to omit the fact that the FBI had known of Page since at least April 2013, when he met with a Russian career intelligence officer, Victor Podobnyy, in New York. Pages encounters with Russias foreign intelligence service were documented in court papers in 2015, though they left Page unnamed. A member of the Russian spy ring in New York, Evgeny Buryakov, later admitted he was an illegal undercover agent. Nunes has rejected criticism, accusing the FBI of surveillance abuses and dismissing what he called the bureaus spurious objections to the memos release . He also opposes the release of a counter-memo written by Democrats. Republicans have largely supported the release of the memo, even amid reports that the president has demanded political loyalty from Rosenstein and the FBIs former deputy director. Let it all out, get it all out there, cleanse the organization, House speaker Ryan told colleagues at a breakfast event on Tuesday, referring to the FBI. Mueller has largely carried out his investigation in silence. His team has charged Trumps former campaign chief and an aide on money-laundering and conspiracy charges; Trumps former national security adviser has pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI; and a former campaign adviser who tipped off an Australian official to his knowledge about Kremlin-hacked emails, starting off the FBI investigation in 2016, has also pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI. Mr Rosenstein appointed special counsel to investigate Russia's meddling last year: AP Photo/Alex Brandon President Donald Trump reportedly asked Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein if he was on my team last month during a conversation in which he also asked for details about the investigation into Russias meddling in the 2016 election. Mr Trump, according to CNN, pressed Mr Rosenstein about where special counsel Robert Muellers investigation was heading. The investigation has reportedly widened over the past year, and Mr Muellers team has already indicted at least four individuals associated with Mr Trumps 2016 campaign. Mr Rosenstein appointed Mr Mueller to run the investigation last year after Mr Trump fired former FBI Director James Comey. Mr Comey and his intelligence agency were in charge of the Russia investigation at the time he was fired. The news that Mr Trump reportedly wanted to know if he could count on Mr Rosenstein is the latest example of the President asking for loyalty from top ranking government officials. He reportedly also asked for Mr Comeys loyalty early in his presidency, and asked that Attorney General Jeff Sessions to protect him. Mr Rosenstein was asked about his allegiance during a visit to the White House to speak with Mr Trump about how to fight back against document requests from Rep Devin Nunes and the House Intelligence Committee, according to CNN. Of course, we're all on your team, Mr. President, Mr Rosenstein reportedly responded when asked. Mr Muellers investigation has filed charges against four individuals connected to Mr Trump, including his former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, and his former national security adviser Michael Flynn. Mr Manafort has pleaded not guilty to his charges, while Mr Flynn has pleaded guilty to his. Ji Seong-ho, a North Korean defector, stood at Tuesdays State of the Union, as Americans and the world heard his compelling story of starvation and abuse, and ultimately tremendous courage and perseverance that brought him to freedom. His story is heart wrenching and inspiring. The President captured it well when he stated that Seong-hos story is a testament to the yearning of every human soul to live in freedom. The Presidents decision, however, to discuss actions to address North Koreas nuclear ambitions, while omitting their atrocious human rights violations, raises a significant question about the takeaway from Jis remarkable life and presence at the event. What is compelling about Jis story is that he faced and overcame inhumane treatment at the hands of his own government. The fact that his abusers are also an international nuclear threat compels us to address both the dire security threat posed by North Korea, as well as the massive human rights violations in that country. And yet, President Trump used this opportunity to focus only on action toward North Koreas nuclear ambitions. Iran was treated similarly. President Trump highlighted that the United States America stands with the people of Iran in their courageous struggle for freedom. He should be commended for that statement and for rhetorically supporting these individuals. But his expressed concern about the people was followed by proposed action only on the Iran nuclear deal, and not on the broader question of political rights in Iran. Security threats to the United States are paramount, and must be addressed swiftly and effectively. Similarly our global leadership role on promoting human freedom and human rights should be a cornerstone of American foreign policy. It is not only a moral imperative for a leading democracy, but it is also crucial to American and global security by checking the abuses of powers domestically and globally. The United States cannot and should not highlight human rights abuses and the plight of those who long for freedom singularly as it relates to our security threats. Story continues The United States has long stood with those who seek the values that the President referred to numerous times in the State of the Union. In fact, all of the State of the Union speeches since 2000 have included explicit references to the United States global commitment to advocating for freedom globally, promoting human dignity or standing with those who are facing persecution and seek the same protections and rights that Americans enjoy. From President Bushs 2001 commitment to always stand firm for the non-negotiable demands of human dignity to his 2006 call for the United States to seek the end of tyranny in our world to President Obamas 2014 commitment to supporting those who are willing to do the hard work of building democracy. And in each of these speeches where human rights and security were mentioned together, it was clearly stated that the case that promoting human rights was both the right thing to do and a policy that would enhance American security. In this era of stark partisanship, this common thread serves as a reminder of this consistent message in the State of the Union. Until now. As we see mass atrocities being committed in South Sudan, Burma, and Syria, the United States cannot remain silent or lose any opportunity to reaffirm its global leadership role to advocate for those people. If we find the abuse of Ji and many like him in North Korea deplorable, we must work to prevent further abuse in North Korea and champion the freedom of others around the world. The State of our Union may be strong, but the State of our Presidents commitment to promoting the values that underpin our nation and the global system is weak, at best. WASHINGTON President Donald Trump said Thursday that he had little interest in opening Alaskas Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling until a friend whos in that world and in that business called and told him Republicans have been trying to do so for decades. It was at that moment, it seems, that it became a competition. After that I said, Oh, make sure thats in the [tax] bill, Trump said during a speech at the GOP congressional retreat in West Virginia. I really didnt care about it, he added. And then when I heard that everybody wanted it for 40 years theyve been trying to get it approved I said, Make sure you dont lose ANWR. Trump didnt say who first urged him to push for opening the refuges 1.5 million-acre coastal plain, also known as the 1002 Area. The GOP tax bill passed in December includes a provision, introduced by Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), that requires Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to approve at least two lease sales for drilling each covering no less than 400,000 acres in the refuges coastal plain. The region is home to polar bears, moose and caribou, and it has been the subject of a decades-long battle between energy companies and conservationists. Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) told a rather different story shortly after Trumps speech. In an interview with The Washington Post, Sullivan said he and Murkowski briefed the president on several Alaska issues, including ANWR, early last year and were surprised at Trumps knowledge about the state. Trumps grandfather reportedly worked on an 1890s route that led to the Yukon gold fields. He actually knew a fair amount about Alaska, Sullivan told the Post. Its pretty amazing history. His grandfather was there. Described by some as Americas Serengeti, ANWR covers more than 19 million acres in northeastern Alaska. Scientists, environmentalists and a bipartisan group of former Interior Department officials have warned that fossil fuel extraction there could spoil the landscape and harm the species that call it home. Story continues The Trump administrations fiscal 2018 budget, released last year, called for allowing oil and gas drilling in the coastal plain. In May, Zinke signed an order to jump-start Alaskan energy production. He said at the time that the move was an important first step in a smart and measured approach to energy development in ANWR. The Congressional Budget Office estimates the ANWR provision would generate slightly more than $1 billion in federal revenue over the next decade a figure that has been widely disputed. Within the drilling leases, the measure allows for 2,000 acres of the coastal plain to be developed above ground with wells and support facilities. In his speech Thursday, Trump called the refuge one of the great potential fields anywhere in the world and said drilling it is a great opportunity for Alaska. This post has been updated with quotes from Sen. Dan Sullivan about Trumps relationship with Alaska. Related Coverage Lisa Murkowski Introduces Bill To Open Arctic Wildlife Refuge To Oil Drilling Tribal Nations Protest Republican Plan To Drill In Arctic Refuge 6 Republicans Who Said They Oppose Arctic Refuge Drilling Just Voted To Allow It Love HuffPost? Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today. This article originally appeared on HuffPost. Ankara (AFP) - Turkish authorities on Friday detained 13 people for supporting the country's main medical association whose top members are in custody for criticising Ankara's offensive against a Syrian Kurdish militia. Police this week detained 11 members of the Turkish Medical Association's (TTB) central council after the body said that "war is a man-made public health problem". The TTB has more than 83,000 members representing 80 percent of Turkey's doctors. A TTB official said three doctors of the 13 held Friday were later released in Ankara under observation. The co-founder of Ankara-based gay rights group Kaos GL Ali Erol was also detained. "While there was no clear information on the grounds for Ali Erol's detention, the lawyers said his social media posts were included in the detention warrant," Kaos GL said in a statement. Erol repeatedly expressed support for the TTB on his Twitter account, sharing its official statements and tweeted using the hashtag #WeAreWithTheTBB (#TTBninYanindayiz in Turkish). Turkey on January 20 began a cross-border offensive, supporting Syrian rebels with ground troops and air strikes against the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) militia in its western enclave of Afrin in Syria. Turkey sees the YPG as a "terrorist" offshoot of outlawed Kurdish militants in Turkey. The YPG has been working closely with the US against the Islamic State group in Syria, capturing swathes of territory from the extremist group last year. - 'Worrying developments' - The TTB was among many critical of the operation and in a statement on January 24, said: "No to war; peace now and everywhere!" The members had been accused of "legitimising the activities of a terrorist group", "inciting hatred" and "praising crimes and criminals", local media said. Sinan Adiyaman, a doctor released on Friday, was defiant in a video shared on social media. Story continues "We did our duty as doctors, and after this, we will continue our duty as doctors," he said. "We will always be in favour of life, we will not be in favour of war." The interior ministry on Monday said 311 people had been detained over disseminating "terror propaganda" against the offensive on social media. The number is likely to be higher after police detained 12 people in the western province of Bursa on Friday over spreading "terror propaganda". The detentions come after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called for national unity over the offensive. The EU's diplomatic chief Federica Mogherini and Enlargement Commissioner Johannes Hahn said the TTB detentions was one of the latest examples of "worrying developments undermining the rule of law and independence and impartiality of the judiciary". "Concrete and lasting improvements in the area of rule of law and fundamental freedoms remain essential to the prospects of EU-Turkey relations," they said. By Lesley Wroughton WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States on Friday banned the export of weapons and defense services to South Sudan, stepping up pressure against President Salva Kiir to end the country's four-year civil war. While the United States does not conduct arms sales with South Sudan, the move prevents any U.S. company or citizen from providing military equipment or defense services to the country's warring factions. The unilateral arms embargo was another signal that Washington is losing patience with South Sudan's leaders after repeated agreements to end the violence. The war has been marked by brutal attacks against civilians, which has sparked the region's biggest refugee crisis since the 1994 Rwandan genocide. In South Sudan's capital Juba, Kiir's spokesperson Ateny Wek Ateny declined to comment. The Trump administration has pressed neighboring countries and African groups, such as the eight-member Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), to sanction South Sudanese officials who undermine the peace process. The State Department said in a statement it would amend the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) to reflect the arms ban on South Sudan. Other countries on the blacklist include Belarus, China, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Syria and Venezuela. OFFICIALS SANCTIONED Some top officials close to Kiir have already been sanctioned by the United States, including the once-powerful army chief Paul Malong, who was later fired and forced into exile when he quarreled with the president. The African Union on Monday said it was open to imposing sanctions on leaders violating ceasefires in South Sudan, joining a chorus of officials who say those prolonging the conflict must be punished. U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley told the U.N. Security Council last week it was time to impose a U.N. arms embargo on South Sudan. Haley visited South Sudan in late October and met with Kiir. The Obama administration had failed to convince the United Nations to back an arms embargo in 2016. Any U.S. push for the U.N. Security Council to take further action against South Sudan is likely to be resisted by veto power Russia. The council, however, sanctioned several senior South Sudanese officials on both sides of the conflict in 2015. "The time has come to acknowledge the hard reality that the leaders of South Sudan are not just failing their people, they are betraying them. And so this Council is at a crossroads," Haley told the council last Wednesday. "We cannot stand by idly as innocent civilians are murdered and raped." Brian Adeba of the Enough Project, a Washington-based policy group fighting to prevent genocide and atrocities, said a weapons ban would be more effective if it was imposed by a group of countries, including some in Africa. "A unilateral action risks being symbolic," he said, adding, "However, we believe that the United States should not just restrict this to an arms embargo, but should escalate this by enacting more targeted financial pressures." WAR Oil-rich South Sudan has been wrecked by civil war since 2013, when troops loyal to Kiir clashed with troops loyal to then-Vice President Riek Machar. The conflict has claimed tens of thousands of lives since then, slashed oil production and driven about a third of the population of 12 million from their homes. The European Union imposed an arms embargo on Sudan in 1994, which was amended to also apply to South Sudan when the country gained independence from Sudan in 2011. Independent U.N. experts have reported to the U.N. Security Council that South Sudan's government has spent millions of dollars on weapons as the country slid into famine and an economic crisis. In January 2016, U.N. experts reported that sources had told them: "Uganda either supplies South Sudan with its own stock or acquires the weapons and then transfers them to South Sudan, without necessarily involving or obtaining the consent of the primary seller." Last year, the U.N. experts said: "Weapons continue to flow into South Sudan from diverse sources, often with the coordination of neighboring countries." (Additional reporting by Denis Dumo in Juba; editing by Susan Thomas and Andrew Hay) (GENEVA) The U.N. human rights office said Wednesday that 206 companies mostly Israeli and American are facing a review of their business practices involving Israeli settlements, which are considered illegal under international law. In a long-awaited report, the office said more resources were needed to handle the complex and unprecedented task of compiling what some critics call an unfair blacklist and a sign of anti-Israel bias at the U.N. Proponents insist that companies must be held accountable for their activities in the settlements, arguing that those actions can contribute to injustices against Palestinians. The governments of both Israel and the United States criticized the U.N. effort. The 16-page report, which does not cite companies by name, said the rights office still has work to do. The office said it had contacted 64 companies, but it would not identify any until all 206 companies had been contacted and possibly not at all. Of those companies, 143 are based in Israel or the settlements and 22 in the United States. Of the 19 other countries linked to such companies, Germany is home to seven and the Netherlands to five. Ultimately, the rights offices review could lead to a public naming and shaming of companies for their activities linked to the settlements and give an U.N. imprimatur to efforts championed by the BDS movement (boycott, divest and sanction), which has been primarily a grassroots campaign to pressure Israel through action against companies. The violations of human rights associated with the settlements are pervasive and devastating, reaching every facet of Palestinian life, the report said, citing restrictions on movement, freedom of religion, education and land ownership faced by Palestinians in east Jerusalem and the West Bank. Businesses play a central role in furthering the establishment, maintenance and expansion of Israeli settlements. Business enterprises may need to consider whether it is possible to engage in such an environment in a manner that respects human rights, it said. Story continues Some 115 other companies were eliminated after an initial review. Israel and the United States have been sharply critical of a resolution passed by the 47-member Human Rights Council in March 2016 that paved the way for the review the first of its kind. The resolution called on the rights office to create database of companies found to engage in any of 10 activities, either explicitly linked to the settlements or supportive of them. I urge all sides to avoid misrepresenting the contents of this report, which has been produced in good faith on the basis of the mandate laid down by the Human Rights Council, said Zeid Raad al-Hussein, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights. He said he hopes the database will assist states and businesses in complying with their obligations and responsibilities under international law. Israeli officials vowed to fight what they called a blacklist, with Israels ambassador saying the whole review process pointed to the councils moral bankruptcy and alleged slant against the Jewish state. We view the report, and the initiative as a whole, as fundamentally illegitimate, said Aviva Raz Shechter, the Israeli ambassador in Geneva. It is, in our view, outside the competence and the authority of the Human Rights Council This is kind of another instrument to pursue a discriminatory and politically motivated agenda. In Washington, the State Department lashed out at such biased and politicized actions taken against Israel. We have not provided, and will not provide, any information or support to the Office of the High Commissioner in this process, the U.S. statement said. We strongly urge other countries to do the same. Saeb Erekat, the chief Palestinian negotiator, said an Israeli and U.S. pressure campaign to block publication of the company names violates international law. We call upon the secretary-general of the U.N. to publish the names of the companies that are doing business with the settlements, he said. Settlements are illegal according to international law and thus companies doing business with it should be known because what they are doing is illegal. Advocacy group Human Rights Watch urged more resources for the rights office to continue its work. Todays report shows progress in identifying and communicating with companies that contribute to serious abuses in Israeli settlements in the West Bank, said Sari Bashi, Israel and Palestine advocacy director at Human Rights Watch. Eugene Kontorovich, head of International Law at the Kohelet Policy Forum, a conservative think-tank in Jerusalem, said no international law was being violated by countries who do business in occupied lands, including in the settlements, and said Israelwas being singled out unfairly. The U.N. Human Rights Council is supposed to be about human rights, not Israeli wrongs, so to create a report just about Israel seems to go against its own mission, he said. Mexico City (AFP) - Secretary of State Rex Tillerson insisted Friday the US and Mexico are bolstering cooperation in the fight against drug trafficking, brushing aside concerns about the impact of his boss Donald Trump's anti-Mexican barbs. The US-Mexican relationship has been strained by Trump's attacks on Mexican immigrants and the North American Free Trade Agreement -- and his insistence on building a border wall. Critics say he is jeopardizing the US relationship with an ally and neighbor whose cooperation Washington needs on a range of issues, including security. But as Tillerson kicked off his first major tour of Latin America, he and his Mexican counterpart sought to play down any tensions, focusing instead on fighting what the former oilman turned secretary of state called the "devastating impact" of the international narcotics trade. "We've created... a different approach as to how we cooperate to attack the entire supply chain of this devastating impact of drugs -- cocaine, heroin, fentanyl, opioids," Tillerson said after meeting with Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray and Canada's Chrystia Freeland in Mexico City. "This is having a horrible effect on American citizens, Mexican citizens, Canadian citizens." In October, Trump declared the US opioid crisis a national public health emergency, after overdoses of drugs such as heroin and fentanyl killed more than 40,000 people in 2016. Videgaray said all three countries had agreed to place "special emphasis" on fighting both the supply and demand side of the problem: the Mexican drug cartels fueling a wave of bloodshed in his country, and the US and Canadian consumption making it a multi-billion-dollar business. "The paradigm has to be one of cooperation, not blaming each other," he said. - All good? - Tillerson later met with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto, saying they both agreed the two countries' relationship remained strong. Story continues "We have too many things of common interest that we need to be working on to allow anything to get in the way," Tillerson told US embassy staff after the meeting. Mexico and Canada's top diplomats also played down tensions, despite Trump's tirades and a recent series of trade disputes between the Washington and Ottawa. "In many ways the relationship today is more close, it's more fluid, than it was with the previous administration. That might be a surprise for many people, but it's a fact," Videgaray said. Freeland said Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau "really get along" and called Tillerson "an incredibly important voice in maintaining the rules-based international order." But it was impossible to paper over tensions on certain issues. Videgaray stayed mum as Tillerson sought to explain Trump's wall proposal and immigration crackdown as part of a shared security push. Deporting those who lack immigration papers fits into Trump's law and order agenda, even if it is "painful" for some people, Tillerson said. Videgaray said both that and the wall were internal decisions for the US government. But he added that a mass exodus of "Dreamers" -- who were illegally brought to the United States as children and are now at the center of a bitter political battle -- would be "an enormous gain for Mexico and a loss for the United States." - Venezuela challenge - With a new round of talks on overhauling NAFTA scheduled for next month, Canada and Mexico hope the agreement can be salvaged. Videgaray and Freeland both touted their vision for a "win-win-win" deal. Tillerson acknowledged the huge role of North American trade in the US economy. "I cannot emphasize enough the importance of our economic relationships," he said. The three also found common ground on the Venezuela crisis, calling for President Nicolas Maduro's leftist government to restore constitutional rule. "What we would like to see happen there is a peaceful transition," Tillerson said, denying accusations from Caracas of plotting a violent ouster. He added that "if -- if -- President Maduro would return to the Venezuelan constitution, restore the duly elected assembly, dismantle the illegitimate constituent assembly and return to free, fair elections," he'd be welcome to "stay and run." Tillerson flew out Friday evening for Argentina, and will then visit Peru, Colombia and Jamaica, pushing for stronger action on Venezuela and touting his vision of deeper cooperation. Vatican City (AFP) - Pope Francis is facing a complex row over the Vatican's warming ties with Communist China, which have sparked a new war of words with a Hong Kong cardinal and growing bitterness among some Chinese faithful. Beijing and the Vatican severed diplomatic relations in 1951, and although ties have improved in recent years as China's Catholic population has grown, they remain at odds over which side has the authority to ordain bishops. The Vatican relaunched long-stalled negotiations three years ago and now seems to be nearing concrete steps towards solving the major stumbling bloc of how to designate bishops. But the issue has flared up again after two underground Chinese bishops, recognised by the pope, were asked by a top Vatican diplomat to resign in favour of state-sanctioned prelates, including one who was ex-communicated by the Vatican in 2011. The news was first reported in January by the Vatican-linked AsiaNews website and since confirmed by Cardinal Joseph Zen, bishop emeritus of semi-autonomous Hong Kong, who is a staunch opponent of any rapprochement between the Vatican and Beijing. "Do I think that the Vatican is selling out the Catholic Church in China? Yes, definitely," Zen said in an open letter on Monday, adding that the Communist government had introduced "harsher regulations limiting religious freedom". The Vatican's number two, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, did not deny the disagreement in a post on the Vatican Insider website, but said that the Hong Kong rebel was only expressing a "personal point of view" and was in no way a spokesman for Chinese Catholics. Zen said he had appealed to the pope in a private meeting earlier this month in Rome, where he delivered a letter from one of the bishops who was asked to step aside, Peter Zhuang Jianjian. - Two churches - The cardinal also indicated in his statement that the pope, who has sought to improve ties with China, was not in agreement with his mediator in Beijing -- a claim which prompted a terse denial from the Vatican. Story continues For Parolin, the Vatican secretary of state, "there does not exist two churches in China, but two communities of the faithful calling for a gradual path towards reconciliation and unity". China's roughly 12 million Catholics are divided between a government-run association, whose clergy are chosen by the Communist Party, and an unofficial church which swears allegiance to the Vatican. The secretive negotiations between the two sides could come down to the Vatican recognising some of the bishops chosen by the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association in exchange for a more benevolent attitude from Beijing. The last word on nominations for future bishops could be given to the pope, following the suggestion of the China's underground Catholic authorities. Parolin hopes that it will be possible to "abolish" the distinction between "underground" and "official" churches, which he warned would require certain "sacrifices" by some. "The Church does not forget the sufferings past and present of all Chinese Catholics," he said, calling for everyone to work towards "building a more peaceful future". - Anger among the faithful - Reactions from the faithful at underground Chinese churches, published last week by AsiaNews, included both sorrow and anger. "I have nothing left to do but become a farmer," said one priest. At the heart of the drama is Chinese bishop Zhuang, who has been ordained by the Vatican. The 88-year-old has twice been asked to leave his post in China's southeast in favour of bishop Joseph Huang Bingzhang, Beijing's nominee who was excommunicated by the Vatican in 2011. Another Chinese prelate, aged 70, who was imprisoned in 2017, according to AsiaNews will be relegated to number two in his diocese to allow another Chinese regime pick to take the position. Progress appears elusive, with staunch opponents to normalising diplomatic ties on both sides. In a positive development, the Forbidden City and the Vatican Museums are organising joint art exhibitions. But bishop Peter Shao Zhumin was detained without charge by Chinese authorities for seven months -- despite the "serious concerns" voiced by the Vatican last summer -- before being freed on January 3. A doctor in Vietnam has been sentenced to four years in jail for "anti-state propaganda", state media reported, as part of a fresh wave of convictions in the one-party state accused of waging a crackdown on critics. Bloggers, activists and lawyers are routinely jailed in communist Vietnam, where a hardline leadership in place since 2016 is accused of tightening its grip on dissidents. At least 24 activists were convicted last year, with another 28 arrested, according to Human Rights Watch, making 2017 one of the worst years for activists in the country. The latest to be jailed is Ho Van Hai, 54, a doctor who was arrested in November 2016 over a series of blog posts criticising the government. He was sentenced to four years in prison after a one-day trial in Ho Chi Minh City on Thursday, state-controlled VNExpress reported. "Of the 75 articles posted online and stored in Hai's computer, the authorities identified 36 articles that violated the regulation on management, provision and use of internet services and information on the internet," according to the VnExpress report. Hai is also accused of calling for public protests against Taiwanese steel giant Formosa, which dumped toxic waste into the ocean killing tonnes of fish along Vietnam's central coast in 2016. The disaster hit livelihoods hard and sparked rare nationwide protests. Hai is the fourth person jailed in Vietnam this week, after three men were convicted Wednesday also under Article 88 of the criminal code -- anti-state propaganda, which rights groups say is vaguely worded and used to curb dissent. The US embassy in Vietnam on Friday said it was concerned over the fresh convictions, saying it "supports the right of people to freely express their opinions". "We call on Vietnam to release these individuals and all other prisoners of conscience immediately, and to allow all individuals in Vietnam to peacefully express their political views without fear of retribution", the embassy said in a statement. At least eight dissidents have been jailed so far this year, after four Buddhist activists were convicted last month for flying the flag of the defeated southern regime loathed by the ruling communists. Where to Find the Best Grocery Store Prices in America Consumer Reports has no financial relationship with advertisers on this site. Consumer Reports has no financial relationship with advertisers on this site. If you're looking for the lowest grocery store prices, here's a baker's dozen of national and regional chains where you'll find them. According to our Consumer Reports grocery stores and supermarket report, 13 national and regional chains, ranging from traditional markets to vast warehouse clubs to two upstarts from Europe, have the most competitive prices. The report is based on a survey of more than 75,000 Consumer Reports members. Here's the lineup, in alphabetical order. 13 Standouts for Grocery Store Prices Aldi. This fast-growing, no-frills import from Germany has been expanding westward from its base in the eastern half of the U.S.; now you'll also find Aldis in southern California. Its stores are on the small sizethey're about one-third the size of a typical American grocerand sell a limited selection of mainly private-label goods. For Easter, the outlet near Consumer Reports' headquarters was selling spiral-sliced ham at 95 cents a pound, down from $1.69, and fresh blueberries at $2.49 a pint. Costco. Who could pass up a 3-pound rotisserie chicken for $4.99 at this venerable warehouse club, cheaper in some cases than a raw bird of the same size? Our survey respondents also gave the national retailer top marks for meats and poultry quality, and store-brand quality. Crest. "Home of Rock Bottom Prices" is the slogan of this Oklahoma-based chain, and our members agreed. The company says it saves customers money because, among other reasons, it has low overhead, buys direct from manufacturers, and doesn't spend much on advertising. Among the attractions: Customers can self-serve from the store's bulk containers of fresh-ground peanut butter, flavored vinegars, honey, nuts and trail mixes, and dried fruits and vegetables. Story continues Fareway Stores. This family-owned market operates in Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota, Nebraska, and South Dakota. Six-ounce portions of bacon-wrapped filet mignon, as well as 8-ounce boneless ribeye steaks, were $6.99 at its Belmond, Iowa, store this week. A fresh whole pineapple was half off99 cents, with coupon. Grocery Outlet. Located on the West Coast and in Idaho, Nevada, and Pennsylvania, the company says it's able to pass on savings by buying brands' excess inventory "for pennies on the dollar." Its Sandy, Ore., market's circular this week offered three jumbo avocados for $5; Pra Vinera Reserve Pinot Noir for $7.99, about 50 percent off; and Thomas Farms boneless butterflied leg of lamb, $4.99 a pound, a savings of up to $3 a pound. Lidl. With outposts along the East Coast, this retailer follows the same principle as Aldi, another German-based chain: Smaller-footprint stores with a "curated" product assortment. This weekend, smoked ham portions were 69 cents a pound, a 50-cent-per-pound savings; a 12-ounce package of uncured hickory-smoked bacon was $2.99, discounted from $4.99; and a dozen cage-free brown eggs was $1.29, down from $2.29. Marc's. The Ohio-based chain's pricing is its best feature, according to our members; they otherwise aren't impressed with checkout speed, meat and poultry quality, and other attributes. The store's vast weekly circular, posted online, includes a "discount slider" that lets shoppers filter deals based on the percentage off. (This week, lawn products carried the biggest discount, at 40 percent.) Market Basket (Northeast). Residents of Maine, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire know this family-owned chain for its low prices and absence of self-checkout lanes. Our surveyed members placed Market Basket among the top-rated chains overall. Among recent specials: Thin-sliced Carando prosciutto, $5.99 a pound, $2 off the regular price; and red, yellow, and orange peppers, $1.99 a pound, a $1-a-pound savings. Military commissaries. The federal government ensures that these vast stores, open only to those carrying authorized Department of Defense ID cards, offer competitive prices for the astounding 38,000 items they sell. Prices here are generally good year-round. Save-A-Lot. With stores in 26 states, this retailer says it saves money with smaller stores and an edited assortment of items that its customers buy most. This week's circular for the Linden, N.J., store includes sweet potatoes at 49 cents a pound, Sugardale shank portion ham at 79 cents a pound, and fresh USDA choice boneless beef eye of round roast at $4.49 a pound. Trader Joe's. The national chain, known for its funky vibe and unique store-brand products, impressed our members the most with its competitive prices, store cleanliness, employee helpfulness and attentiveness, checkout speed, and store-brand quality. Trader Joe's is the only national chain among the top-rated grocers overall, according to our survey. WinCo. With more than 100 stores in the West, WinCo sells many items in bulk and further trims costs by requiring customers to bag their own items. Several readers on CR's Facebook page said they did most of their shopping at these warehouse-style grocery stores. The appearance of the WinCo store's interior will go unchanged for decade after decade, which is nice, said one. I don't want never-ending remodeling driving up the price. Woodman's. Warehouse-style Woodmans, which operates in Illinois and Wisconsin, passes on savings by selling items in bulk, making this a good place to buy in quantity for a party. The employee-owned retailer also saves by refusing to accept credit cards, sidestepping the associated processing fees. Shop Like a Nutritionist Eating well isn't always easyor fun. On the "Consumer 101" TV show, Consumer Reports' expert Amy Keating heads into the grocery store to show you how to make healthy decisions when it comes to food. More from Consumer Reports: Top pick tires for 2016 Best used cars for $25,000 and less 7 best mattresses for couples Consumer Reports is an independent, nonprofit organization that works side by side with consumers to create a fairer, safer, and healthier world. CR does not endorse products or services, and does not accept advertising. Copyright 2019, Consumer Reports, Inc. Christopher Steele and Michael Isikoff. (Yahoo News photo Illustration; photos: Victoria Jones/AP; Gordon Donovan/Yahoo News) In a new podcast, Yahoo News Chief Investigative Correspondent Michael Isikoff gives details of a key passage in the controversial Republican memo alleging surveillance abuses by the FBI and the Department of Justice a passage in which Isikoff himself, to his surprise, played a leading role. The memo, which was released Friday after it was declassified by the White House, says a September 2016 article by Isikoff was cited extensively in an FBI application for a surveillance warrant against former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page. Isikoff was the first to report that Page was under federal investigation over a trip he had taken to Moscow two months earlier. On a new episode of Yahoo News weekly podcast Skullduggery, Isikoff discussed with Yahoo News Editor in Chief Dan Klaidman his meeting with Christopher Steele, the former British spy who prepared the dossier about Donald Trump that was also a major part of the FBIs application to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court for permission to wiretap Page. Listen: Skullduggery, Ep. 4: The spy, the reporter and the memo The memo, prepared by GOP House intelligence committee chairman Devin Nunes, claims that the FISA application relied on the Yahoo News article to corroborate the Steele dossier but that the article was derived from information leaked by Steele himself to Yahoo News. One reason that kind of stuns me is obviously is the information I got from Christopher Steele was information that the FBI already had, Isikoff said. Isikoff said he was introduced to Steele by Glenn Simpson, the former journalist who founded the research firm, Fusion GPS, who invited him to meet a secret source at a Washington restaurant. Glenn had booked a private room upstairs so that no one would see us, Isikoff recalled. During the hour or so we talked that day, Steele tells me an amazing story how one of Donald Trumps foreign policy advisers, Carter Page, had flown to Moscow and had private talks with close associates of Vladimir Putin about lifting U.S. sanctions against Russia. Story continues And Steele tells me something else that day that gets my attention: Hes taken this information to the FBI and the bureau is very interested, Isikoff continued. Why were they interested? What did the bureau know that would prompt them to take the extraordinary step to launch an investigation into an adviser of the Republican nominee for president? Isikoff said Steele was a serious guy and came across as credible. He was not interested in small talk, Isikoff said. It was all business. And he had what clearly he viewed as very significant information he developed from his sources. Isikoff said his resulting story did not rely solely on what Steele told him. I talked to a senior U.S. law enforcement official who was well aware of these allegations, Isikoff said. For me, the key piece, the reason that this was a story, was the fact that the FBI was investigating Page. Download or subscribe on iTunes: Skullduggery by Yahoo News Trump declassified the four-page memo and authorized its release on Friday, ignoring warnings from current and former FBI and Department of Justice officials and numerous lawmakers who said doing so would be reckless and dangerous. According to the Washington Post, Trump had reportedly told friends in recent days that he believes the memo will vindicate his repeated claims that special counsel Robert Muellers Russia investigation was a witch hunt and could justify his firing of Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who is overseeing Mueller, or even Mueller himself. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle blasted the decision. Rep. Adam Schiff, the ranking Democrat on the House intelligence committee, vowed to fight to release the Democratic response to Nunes memo, which has yet to be declassified. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., slammed the release as Trumps latest attack on his own law enforcement agencies. The American people deserve to know all the facts surrounding Russias ongoing efforts to subvert our democracy, McCain said. If we continue to undermine our own rule of law, we are doing Putins job for him. Read more from Yahoo News: HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe President Emmerson Mnangagwa has named High Court Judge Priscilla Chigumba as head of the election agency, according to an official letter, ahead of a vote this year whose credibility will be key in rebuilding the nation's foreign relations. The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission has not had a permanent chair since Rita Makarau resigned in December. Makarau was seen as an ally of 93-year-old former president Robert Mugabe, whose increasingly repressive 37-year rule alienated African and Western nations alike. But she gave no reason for her resignation, a month after Mugabe stepped down when the army and his ZANU-PF party turned against him. A copy of Chigumba's appointment letter written by the chief secretary to Mnangagwa and his cabinet showed that Chigumba would start her new job immediately and was expected to be sworn-in on Thursday. A government source also confirmed her appointment. Mnangagwa said last week the southern African country would hold transparent elections by July and he would respect the result if the opposition wins. Chigumba's last high-profile case was in November when she freed activist pastor Evan Mawarire, who had faced trial on charges of attempting to subvert Mugabe's government. (Reporting by MacDonald Dzirutwe; Editing by James Macharia and Mark Heinrich) Thank you for reading! Please purchase a subscription to read our premium content. If you have a subscription, please log in or sign up for an account on our website to continue. Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said on Thursday that Poland would never limit the freedom to debate the Holocaust and that Warsaw understood Israels emotions about the issue. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter "We will never curb the freedom of the Holocaust debate. We owe that to all those who experienced it," Morawiecki said on the Polish state television TVP. "We understand the emotions of Israel. We need a lot of work to make our common, often complicated, history possible to tell together." Polish Prime Minister Morawiecki (Photo: EPA) Morawiecki's remarks came in the wake of Polish lawmakers' overwhelming approval of draft legislation penalizing suggestions of any complicity by Poland in the Nazi Holocaust on its soil during World War Two, defying criticism by Israel and the United States. Poland's foreign ministry said that Warsaw hoped relations with the United States would remain unchanged despite the newly adopted legislation. "We believe that the legislative work ... despite differences in the assessment of the introduced changes, will not affect the strategic partnership between Poland and the United States," the ministry said in a statement. Meanwhile, a string of Israeli politicians and survivors and experts of the Nazi Holocaust blasted Poland for approving the draft without any amendments saying it constituted "a denial of Poland's part in the Holocaust," as put by Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz (Likud). The Israeli Foreign Ministry also issued a belated statement responding to the Polish decision. "The State of Israel categorically opposes the Polish Senates decision. Israel views with utmost gravity any attempt to harm historical truth. No law will change the facts." The Israeli Counter Terror School, where elite units train, has been working on increasing the collaboration between snipers and the combatants who break into the rooms to extract hostages. Ynet reporters have recently joined one such exercise at the Adam training base in central Israel. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter "The sniper observes the room on behalf of the 'monkey,' and their relationship is covert and direct," explained one of the training officers. (Photo: Yaron Sharon) "It includes transferring data and instructions in real time, because the 'monkey' will only encounter the threat for the first time after he has broken inside. The sniper shoots the first shot and the 'monkeys' enter and finish the job. Their cooperation is crucial for the success of the mission," he added. (Photo: Yaron Sharon) The Counter Terror Unit is also considering equipping the storming forces with small demolition blocks and small axes for use during a "hot breach" or "cold breach" of barred or closed windows, allowing them to quickly and more easily remove obstacles and facilitate fast entry. (Photo: Yaron Sharon) The IDF sees the threat of the abduction of soldier to be used for bargaining and attaining the release of imprisoned terrorists as a central goal of terror groups like Hamas and Hezbollah. (Photo: Yaron Sharon) Hamas has already orchestrated such kidnappings, including the abduction of IDF soldier Gilad Shalit in 2006 and the 2014 kidnapping of three Israeli teenagers in the West Bank, who were murdered shortly after. (Photo: Yaron Sharon) The IDF is therefore looking into equipping counter terror units with special slides that can be used to efficiently descend from the roof to a room in which terrorists are located or hostages are being held. (Photo: Yaron Sharon) The IDF is also preparing for a scenario in which Hamas or Hezbollah terrorists infiltrate via tunnels or via the fence and entrench themselves inside of a building with Israeli hostages. (Photo: Yaron Sharon) To combat this threat, the IDF has improved the readiness and availability of counter terror units in the different sectors. The US' decision to put the head of the Hamas terrorist organization Ismail Haniyeh on its terror blacklist is an essential step towards "drying up" Hamas' recourses, US Ambassador-at-Large and Coordinator for Counterterrorism Nathan Sales explained in an interview with Ynet on Thursday. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter The blacklisting, announced on Wednesday, targeted Haniyeh alongside Harakat al-Sabireena small Gazan terror group that splintered away from the Islamic Jihad and, like Hamas, is backed by Iranand two other terror groups active in Egypt: Liwa al-Thawra and HASM. Hamas leader Haniyeh (Photo: Reuters) "As a result of these designations, these individuals and groups will be frozen out of the international financial system, their assets will be frozen," Sales noted. "In addition, it is a crime under US law for people to engage in transactions with these designated terrorists, and finally, these individuals will not be permitted to enter the United States." Nathan Sales in an interview with Ynet news anchor Attila Somfalvi (: ) X Iran, publically being Hamas' biggest financial supporter, will thusly be declared in violation of US law. Sales noted this was in no way unintentional. "The United States is under no illusions about Iran's malign intentions in the region, nor are we under any illusions about its ability to project its power and to shed blood around the world," he stated, adding Iran' actions and ambitions of regional hegemony can, and must, be thwarted. "Iran can be stopped. Iran is not invincible," he said, explaining that Iran is actually "vulnerable because it has chosen to use an illegitimate tool, like terrorism, to spread blood and disorder around the world," clearly leaving their fingerprints, such as with their support of the dictatorship of Bashar al-Assad in Syria and the Houthi insurgency in the war in Yemen. Actions such as these forced the US to "push back against Iran to counter its malign influence in the region," he says, which left the Islamic Republic in a precarious position. Sales then emphasized the importance of restricting "the ability of terrorist organizations to raise money (and) to inspire new recruits" by noting its ability to prevent war and further de-escalation of the Middle East's security status, as it discourages those same organizations from lending their arms in regional conflicts due to poor financial situations. "We want to stop war from happening by degrading terrorist organizations and preventing them from accumulating the weapons, manpower and confidence that they would need to launch a new war," he concluded. US Ambassador-at-Large and Coordinator for Counterterrorism Nathan Sales Explaining their sanctions against the Hamas leader, the US State Department noted during their announcement on the matter that "Ismail Haniyeh is the leader and President of the Political Bureau of Hamas, which was designated in 1997 as a Foreign Terrorist Organization." Responding to the decision, Hamas said it was "a failed attempt to pressure the resistance. This decision will not deter us from continuing the resistance option to expel the occupation." The IDF attacked a Hamas observation post in the northern Gaza early Friday morning in retaliation to last night's rocket fire from the strip. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter The IDF Spokesperson's Unit once again reiterated that "the IDF considers the Hamas terrorist organization solely responsible for what is happening in the Gaza Strip." Rockets fired from Gaza into Israel (Photo: Reuters) No alarm sounded Thursday night as a rocket was launched from the Strip towards Israeli territory. The launch, which occurred at around 23:30, caused no casualties or damage. Security forces are searching the area to determine whether the rocket landed in Israel or failed to cross the northern Gaza border and crashed within the strip. IAF attacks Hamas post in response to rocket fire (: ) X On the night between Monday and Tuesday, at exactly midnight, a red alert sounded in the Sha'ar HaNegev and Sdot Negev regional councils. Explosions were heard in the area and after a rapid investigation, the IDF confirmed that a rocket had fallen inside an open field in within Israeli territory. No injuries or damages were reported in the incident. The last attack from Gaza took place at the beginning of January when three mortar shells were fired at Israeli territory within a few hours at the Eshkol Regional Council, all of which landing in open, uninhabited fields. No one was injured and no damages were inflicted in the attack. In every such incident, the IDF never fails to respond in kind by bombing a Hamas post in the strip. SHANGHAI -- A minivan carrying gas canisters plowed into pedestrians near a prominent park in downtown Shanghai on Friday, injuring 18 people, local authorities reported. Shanghai police said the crash was caused by a 40-year old man surnamed Chen who was smoking inside the van, accidentally igniting the gas he was transporting. Police appeared to dismiss fears the crash could have been an attack in the heart of the Chinese financial hub. The driver and two other people suffered serious injuries. Chen works for a Shanghai metals company and had no criminal record but was now under suspicion of transporting dangerous materials, police said. The minivan, registered in the southern province of Jiangxi, veered onto a sidewalk and burst into flames around 9 a.m. near People's Park, authorities said. The vast city center plaza is also home to the headquarters of the Shanghai municipal government, which oversees a metropolis of almost 25 million people that is widely regarded as China's most cosmopolitan city. Videos on social media showed injured people lying on the pavement next to a Starbucks cafe and others pinned under the tires of the van. Firefighters were seen trying to put out a blaze inside the vehicle. Friday's crash occurred just as British Prime Minister Theresa May was speaking at a business event in Shanghai. May's speech was at a forum in the Lujiazui district on the opposite side of the Huangpu River from People's Park. Shani Zanu suffered face and eye injuries when the bus she was travelling on was stoned while passing by Arab towns in the Wadi Ara region on December 7th. The police investigation was closed less than two weeks after the incident. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter The incident took place shortly after US President Donald Trump's controversial recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital. Shani, who was in the midst of her National Service year in Jerusalem, was riding bus line 959 from Jerusalem to Afula when the incident occurred. She was sitting in the back seat, not near the window and slept through most of the ride. "When the bus made stops in Wadi Ara the driver put on the interior lights when suddenly I heard a crash and felt something hit my face. I did not understand what had happened at first, then I saw one of my friends holding a large stone and I understood that it had been thrown at me," Shani recalled, Shani Zenu (Photo: Eden Chen Productions) "Other passengers offered me assistance; they gave me water and tried to stop the bleeding. The driver stopped the bus at the next station but the police told him to continue driving to the police station in Ein Iron. From there, I was taken in a private Arab ambulance to Haemek Medical Center in Afula," she continued. After receiving stitches, the x-ray revealed bone fractures in her eye socket and jaw. She went on to undergo three surgeries at Rambam Hospital in Haifa and is still on the long road to recovery. She does not know when she will be able to continue her National Service. After the incident, Shani testified and filed a police report. To her surprise, at the beginning of January, she was notified that her case was closed only 11 days after the incident. The investigating officer wrote: "Unknown assailant" as the reason for shutting the case. Shani's father turned to the right wing legal aid organization Honenu which in turn appealed the case closing and asked that it be reopened. The Honenu attorney Haim Bleicher said that the case was handled quite unreasonably. "This was no less than an act of attempted murder on racial-nationalist grounds. The investigation requires the full efforts of the police, and intelligence units including the Shin Bet so that the terrorists can be speedily locked up." The attorney added that a case as severe as this one, where a bus travelling on a main Israeli highway was attacked by stones, must not be dismissed so quickly, only 11 days afterwards. "We are asking of the police and security agencies to do everything possible to apprehend the terrorists and thereby prevent additional attacks." The police say that during the investigation, suspects were arrested but released shortly after for lack of evidence. They claim they took many measures in an effort to solve the case but due to a lack of progress, the case was closed. Now, in light of the appeal, the case is being re-examined. The police added that a quality investigation is measured not by time but rather by criteria such as allocation of resources and whatever else needs to be done to uncover the truth. Seven members of the northern branch of the Islamic Movement were indicted by the Jerusalem District Court for activities relating to terror and other unlawful activities. Two organizations associated with the movement were also indicted. The defendants took a plea bargain whereby they admitted to conspiring to collect funds for the outlawed Islamic Movement via a corporation they initiated. A 20-years-old ultra-Orthodox man from Jerusalem was arrested early Wednesday morning after police officers found nine bags of marijuana and a large sum of money in his car. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter He told police he was an IDF soldier serving in a commando unit and was forced to sleep in his car after being thrown out of his Meah Shearim home by his parents because of his decision to serve in the IDF and become secular. The suspect passed himself off as his brother, who is a soldier, by presenting the police with his brother's driver's license and reciting the brother's ID number. Illustration (Photo: EPA) He further claimed the drugs did not belong to him, but rather to his brother, although he admitted to occasional use due to domestic and personal issues he was suffering from since enlisting. He was detained for questioning by the Military Police, where investigators began to doubt his claims the vehicle he was in belonged to his friend and suspect the vehicle was in fact stolen. After a few hours of questioning by both the Jerusalem Police and the Military Police, the suspect was found to be lying about being a soldier. He was, rather, a civilian impersonating his brother, who is serving as a combat support soldier in an IDF commando brigade. Military Police (Photo: Amit Shabi) The brother is currently on leave and is not suspected of wrongdoing, but police are investigating how his ID came to be in the suspect's possession. As with any arrest, his identity was supposedly checked by the arresting officers who confiscated his phone and personal items. When he was brought before a judge, he was not carrying any form of identification as the court assumed his identity had already been confirmed earlier during the arrest. The Jerusalem Police took custody over the suspect, and he is expected to face charges of impersonation. His drug test also came back positive. During a hearing Thursday afternoon, the suspect's remand was extended until Monday, and he received a court-appointed attorney with whom he spoke broken Hebrew as his main language is Yiddish. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will address the United Nations Security Council on February 20 during the bodys monthly meeting on the Middle East amid tensions over the United States decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israels capital. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter Since President Donald Trump broke from decades of United States policy with his December 6 announcement on Jerusalem, Abbas has said he will ask the council to grant full UN membership to the Palestinians and will only accept an internationally-backed panel to broker any peace talks with Israel. Mahmoud Abbas (Photo: AP) This will be a good thing for members of the Security Council to listen to the president himself, said Kuwaits UN Ambassador Mansour Ayyad Al-Otaibi, president of the council for February. No council members rejected this proposal. US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley told the Security Council last week that Abbas lacked the courage and the will to seek peace. Trump has threatened to withhold aid to the Palestinians if they did not pursue peace with Israel, but Abbas has said the United States had taken itself off the table as a peace mediator in recognizing Jerusalem as Israels capital. Israels UN Ambassador Danny Danon accused Abbas of seeking to put an end to any possibility of negotiations with Israel with his address to the 15-member Security Council. Danny Danon (UN PhotoEskinder Debebe) Abbas is completely misreading todays reality and harming the prospects for a better future for his people, Danon said in a statement on Thursday. Al-Otaibi said Israel had not yet asked to send a high-level representative to the council meeting. In 2012, the UN General Assembly granted de facto recognition of a sovereign Palestinian state when it upgraded their status to a non-member state from an entity. However, the UN Security Council has to recommend a state for full membership to the General Assembly, which then needs to approve it with a two-thirds majority. The United States would likely veto a Palestinian bid in the Security Council. In December, the 193-member General Assembly adopted a resolution calling for the United States to drop its recognition of Jerusalem as Israels capital. Trump had threatened to cut off financial aid to countries that voted in favor. A total of 128 countries backed the resolution, which is non-binding, nine voted against and 35 abstained. Twenty-one countries did not cast a vote. ISTANBUL - Turkish authorities on Friday ordered the detention of 13 people for supporting the national medical association online, the newspaper Hurriyet reported, after the organisation publicly opposed a military campaign in Syria. A prosecutor this week ordered the detention of 11 senior members of the Turkish Medical Association (TTB), including its chairman, after the organisation criticised the incursion into Syria's Afrin, saying "No to war, peace immediately". President Tayyip Erdogan accused the body of treason. More than 300 people have been detained over social media posts that "criticised, opposed or misrepresented" the Afrin campaign, which started nearly two weeks ago, the government has said. Among the 13 people targeted by the latest detention warrants was the gay rights activist Ali Erol, who had tweeted "War is a public health problem. #WeStandWithTTB", his organisation said. Another person was detained after tweeting "War is death, destruction, blood and tears. #NoToWar", other local media reported. Seven members of the northern branch of the Islamic Movement and two associations affiliated with the movement were convicted Friday of affiliation with a banned terrorist organization and conspiracy to commit a crime. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter The defendants confessed and were convicted as part of a plea bargain of operating through a limited company and a registered association, initiating, planning and executing various charitable activities on behalf of the branchafter it was outlawed in order to discontinue its activities. The indictment detailed the manner in which the defendants obtained money to carry out their illegal projects, and described how the funding for the prohibited activity, amounting to several million shekels, came from various organizations in Turkey and the UK who transferred funds to finance the Islamic Movement's projects, even after it was outlawed. Leader of the Islamic Movement's northern branch, Sheikh Salah (Photo: Gil Yohanan) Some of the defendants took commissions from those funds, which were usually transferred to them in cash. As part of the plea bargain, they were sentenced to prison terms ranging from weeks to a few months, agreed to the forfeiture of any funds seized during the investigation against them, and fined with amounts ranging from NIS 10,000 to NIS 150,000, depending on the severity of each defendant's offense. In November 2015, the Israel declared the northern branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel an unlawful gathering under the Defense (Emergency) Regulations of 1945, effectively outlawing the group led by Sheikh Raed Salah. In November 2016, the law went into effect, designating the northern branch as a terrorist organization. In August 2017, the leader of the outlawed northern branch, Sheikh Raed Salah, was charged with three counts of inciting terror and supporting an illegal association. The indictment refers to remarks he made after the Temple Mount terror attack , some of which were part of a speech he'd given during the funerals of the three Israeli Arab terrorists who murdered two Israeli police officers. The indictment details the comments Salah made that according to the state constitute incitement to terrorism. Salah was released from prison some seven months prior after serving nine months following his conviction for inciting violence and racism in a sermon he delivered in east Jerusalem in 2007. Hundreds of Umm al-Fahm residents greeted him with celebrations and fireworks. A statue of Hungarian-born US Rep. Tom Lantos, the only Holocaust survivor ever to serve in the US Congress, was unveiled Thursday in Budapest as those attending praised the man known for his advocacy of democracy and human rights around the world. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter A California Democrat in office from 1981 until his death in 2008, Lantos frequently visited his homeland, often warning against anti-Semitism while also supporting Hungarian minorities in neighboring countries. "During his whole life, his heart was in Hungary," said his widow Annette, speaking at the unveiling ceremony on what would have been Lantos' 90th birthday. Rep. Lantos's statue was unveiled in Budapest Thursday (Photo: AP) The top US diplomat in Hungary remembered Lantos as "Hungarian by birth and a dedicated American by choice" who worked to build consensus and strengthen relations between the two countries. "Tom Lantos called on all of usnot just those in government service, but all citizens, all human beingsto show courage in the face of fear, to smooth difficulties and correct mistakes," said David Kostelancik, the charge d'affaires at the US Embassy. "He called on us to remember that the very essence of our civilization, the belief we hold most dear, is the inherent dignity and worth of every single person." During World War Two, the teenage Lantos, like many other Jews, was sent to a forced labor camp, this one not far from Budapest. He escaped but was caught and severely beaten, escaped again and managed to survive the final stages of the war with relatives in a Budapest safe house set up by Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg, who helped save the lives of thousands of Hungarian Jews by issuing Swedish diplomatic passes. The late Holocaust survivor's family was present at the ceremony (Photo: AP) In 1983, Lantos co-founded the bipartisan Congressional Human Rights Caucus, which after his death was renamed the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission. In 2011, the Hungarian government and the US Senate established the Budapest-based Tom Lantos Institute, a research institute and think-tank focusing mainly on Jewish and Roma issues. In a video during Thursday's ceremony, former US Vice President Joe Biden recalled being Lantos' guest in Hungary and said he often cited a Lantos quote in his own speeches"The veneer of civilization is paper thin. We are its guardians, and we can never rest." The bronze statue with a special red patina, depicting a slightly larger-than-life Lantos sitting on a bench with his favorite dogs, was created by Mamikon Yengibarian, a Budapest-based Armenian sculptor. It was placed on Tom Lantos Promenade in Budapest's 13th district, near his high school, the Berzsenyi Daniel Gimnazium. Yengibarian said he wanted to show "a magnificent, brilliant man who is not afraid ... and fights for justice and humanity until the end." The World Union of Jewish Students (WUJS) which represents some 600,000 Jewish students in 38 countries, has decided to officially oppose the Israeli government policy to expel Sudanese and Eritrean asylum seekers to Rwanda. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter "We condemn the Israeli government's scandalous policy towards asylum seekers," Alina Bricman, President of the European chapter of the Union, told Ynet on Thursday. Bricman added that the "Asylum seekers came to Israel with hopes that democracy would offer them safety. However, their dignity is taken from them daily and now their physical safety is in danger. We will not support this; we want a State of Israel that we can be proud of." Alina Bricman The resolution adopted by the union stated: "The administration of the WUJS believes that the expulsion will place thousands of people in danger of death, rape, torture, slavery and extreme poverty. Israel has a moral obligation to safeguard its Jewish principles and protect asylum seekers in its territory. "Israel must consider the asylum requests according to international standards in order to determine which migrants are deserving of refugee status." They went on to say that Israel "Should formulate a clear policy regarding illegal immigration and take into consideration its social, economic and demographic needs; but also with empathy towards the difficulties that brought the migrants to Israel." With regards to the difficult situation in south Tel Aviv, they wrote: "It is problematic, but Israel is capable of finding alternative solutions to the situation without deporting thousands of people." The union is calling on the government to immediately halt the expulsion plan and adopt a policy of asylum in accordance with international and Jewish ideals. They also called on the Israeli public and its allies to assist and work with Israel in humanely handling the challenges presented by the international refugee crisis. President of WUJS Avigayil Benstein explained the union's decision to Ynet, saying: "We have a moral obligation as a nation of refugees. There is not a Jew in the world that is not a descendent of refugees. We are an activist organization that, during the 1970s and 1980s, worked to get Jews out of the Soviet Union and, in the nineties, to bring Ethiopian Jews to Israel. "This is an organization with deep roots of social justice and Jewish values and we want to help. We have a moral obligation to ensure asylum seekers are okay and we want to support Israel." Vilenchuk The American chapter of the union also expressed support for the resolution, as its President Misha Vilenchuk reiterated the moral and Jewish obligation to migrants and he quoted bible passages about showing kindness to slaves and strangers. "Europe has been dealing with the refugee crisis for four years now and while some governments present themselves as victims in this regard, the European chapter of WUJS and other social organizations make their voices heard in support of the tens of thousands who have fled murderous regimes," added Bricman. BERLIN A mosque in northwest Germany may no longer broadcast its Friday midday call to prayer by loudspeaker for now after a local court upheld a challenge by a couple who live nearly 1 km (1,000 yards) away. The Gelsenkirchen administrative court found that the town of Oer-Erkenschwick had not assessed the local Muslim community's request properly in 2013, but a court spokesman said on Friday that this did not prevent the mosque making a new application. The local Christian couple had argued that the call to prayers violated their own religious rights. A convoy of hundreds of vehicles left Ashdod's Tet-Vav beach Friday afternoon in protest of what organizers called " religious coercion in the city ." Ashdod Mayor Yehiel Lasry published a Facebook post on the same topic Friday, in which he announced plans to resolve the problem. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter Ashdod residents are protesting the municipality moving to close businesses in the city on Shabbat, and the distribution of warning letters to 150 such businesses. Mayor Lasry wrote on his Facebook page that he will be presenting possible solutions to the Shabbat commerce problem in the near future, which he christened collectively "Living together." Aerial footage of the Ashdod protest convoy (: ) X Heads of the city's protest, however, were less than impressed with the mayor's "Living together" solution, calling it in a post of their own "hollow slogans." Hundreds participated in the Ashdod protest convoy (Photo: Ricki Cohen) Orit Almozlino-Rize, one of the protest's leaders, said that, "The people of Ashdod don't want to hear hollow slogans anymore. The people of Ashdod demand actions on the ground." "Just like other mayors were prudent enough to amend municipal bylaws, we hope the mayor of Ashdod does the same, working on behalf of the majority of the city's population," Almozlino-Rize said. "We cannot fathom why the mayor has to launch Facebook posts instead of speak up in interviews, or in conversations with residents." "Not one overture had been made to converse with the protest's leaders thus far," Almozlino-Rize protested. (Photo: Avi Roccah) Ashdod resident Ofer Tzachar added, "I think it's just treading on our corns. Everyone can see what's happening in this city. We're all Ashdodites. We're sick of talk and slogans. We demand the status quo be redrawn from scratch and the municipal bylaw relating to all places of recreation, leisure and culture upheld." "What the mayor offered was effectively to return to the situation of three weeks ago, but that won't happen. The public demands all municipal services, culture and recreation centers to be available on Shabbat. That's what we pay for," he added. "Our youth has to go to Tel Aviv. Why do they need to leave town? I think we contribute to unity. I have never seen Ashdodites united around one goal. We're the silent majority. We've remained silent, and felt the noose slowly tightening around our necks," Tzachar concluded ominously. (Photo: Avi Roccah) Mayor Lasry, who has refrained from being interviewed on the matter so far, wrote in his Facebook post that, "In the past few weeks I have shown restraint. I did not allow myself to be dragged to badmouthing others and did not respond to the wild incitement campaign against me. "I refused to take part in dividing the city and harshly harming its image. The lion's share of my efforts was thus aimed at constructing a solution that is up to spec both publically and legally. Today I can say with cautious optimism that such a solution is forthcoming," the mayor said. Lasry had been meeting daily with representatives of different communities, he claimed, and other residents comprising the city's tapestry. The mayor listened to their opinions and ideas for a solution to the crisis, and "was glad that most people, on both sides of the argument, agreed and wanted to preserve the city's uniting and inclusive character, allowing everyone to continue living together." Ashdod Mayor Lasry said he will be announcing a plan to solve the crisis in the near future (Photo: Avi Roccah) Despite Lasry's statements, he has never met with any of the protest's leaders. Moreover, they claim they were never even approached for such a meeting. Lasry further maintained that, "I will be presenting you with a broad view of this tangled issue in the near future, along with possible ways of solving it, born of the deep belief that Ashdod can be a shining example of the ability to bridge large lifestyles gaps among its populace, while recognizing each group's important, inalienable values." MARKOWA, Poland Poland's controversial legislation regulating Holocaust speech could have been timed and presented better, the prime minister acknowledged Friday, but he insisted that the law is needed to defend historical truth. Mateusz Morawiecki spoke on Friday to foreign correspondents at a museum that memorializes Christian Poles who risked their lives to help Jews during the German occupation of Poland during World War II. Poland is involved in a bitter diplomatic spat with Israel over the legislation, which would outlaw publicly and falsely attributing the crimes of Nazi Germany to the Polish nation. The penalty for violations is up to three years in prison. He defended the law, calling it necessary to protect historical truth and prevent the Polish people as a whole from being blamed for the murder of Jews during the Nazi occupation from 1939 to 1945. ANKARA Turkish authorities said on Friday they had detained eight people in connection with a bomb which rocked the capital Ankara on Thursday, injuring three people. A ninth suspect was killed during the operation to round up the group, they said. Soon after the blast on Thursday night, authorities had reported the explosion took place in the gas boiler room of a tax office in the Cukurambar district. But after investigating security footage, police said a man had placed a bag they believe contained explosives at the entrance to the building, the governor's office said in a statement on Friday. The Trump administration attacked Hezbollah's financial network on Friday by imposing sanctions on six people and seven entities in an effort to turn back Iran's influence in the Middle East and beyond. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter "The administration is determined to expose and disrupt Hezbollah's networks, including those across the Middle East and West Africa, used to fund their illicit operations," Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in announcing the penalties under financial regulations targeting the Lebanon-based terrorist group. The Trump administration levied sanctions on 6 people and 7 firms linked to Hezbollah (Photo: AFP) The six sanctioned individuals included five Lebanese and one Iraqi, most of them linked to Al-Inmaa Engineering and Contracting, the Treasury Department said. The seven entities were firms based in Sierra Leone, Liberia, Lebanon and Ghana, the statement said. Senior Trump administration officials said the sanctions were part of an aggressive move against Hezbollah to try to limit the influence of Iran , which gives the group about $700 million a year to help finance its activities. The officials, briefing reporters at the White House on condition of anonymity, said the Trump administration was working to reverse what it considers a more lackadaisical approach toward Hezbollah by Democratic President Barack Obama after the 2015 Iran nuclear deal went into effect. More such targeted sanctions are expected in the months ahead, they said. US sanctions targeted funding channels for Hassan Nasrallah's terror group The officials said Hezbollah was already under financial strain as it continued to pay for costly operations in Syria and Yemen. The goal was to get European allies to join the United States in increasing pressure on the group, they said. As a result of the Treasury designations, all their assets subject to US jurisdiction are blocked and Americans are prohibited from engaging in transactions with them. The six individuals were targeted because they are linked to financier Adham Tabaja and his company, Al-Inmaa Engineering and Contracting. The officials described Tabaja as among the top five Hezbollah financiers at the moment. -Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia has returned to Ghana from his medical leave -Dr Bawumia was met arrival on by President Akufo-Addo and other leading members of government The Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia has arrived in Ghana following an almost two-week medical leave in the United Kingdom. READ ALSO: Ghanaians weep as mother and son who died in accident are buried together Accompanied by his wife, Samira, Dr Bawumia touched down from British Airways Flight minutes around 8:00pm on February 1. As YEN.com.gh reported earlier, he was met on arrival at the airport by President Nana Akufo-Addo and the first lady, Rebecca Akufo-Addo. The Vice President was flown out on Friday, January 19 upon the advice of his doctors after he fell ill after reporting to work. READ ALSO: Here are all the 5 benefits Shatta Wale is getting from the Zylofon Media deal There has been a lot of controversy since Dr Bawumia left. Until last Saturday when photos and videos of him and his wife, Samira surfaced online, rumours had been rife that he suffered a stroke. The Minority in Parliament had been on the neck of government to disclose the full details of the health condition of the Vice President. READ ALSO: Afia Schwar hints in latest photo of settling with another macho man after Abrokwah brouhaha? Upon his arrival, Dr Bawumia who was beaming with smiles as he interacted with the welcome party looked very strong. Leading members of government who were at the Kotoka International Airport to welcome him were, the Chief of Staff, Frema Osei Opare, Senior Minister, Yaw Osafo Maafo, Trade Minister, Alan Kyerematen. READ ALSO: Teacher found dead in her police boyfriend's room The Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu, Local Government Minister, Hajia Alima Mahama, Agric Minister, Dr. Afriyie Akoto, Minister for Aviation, Cecilia Abena Dapaah and many others were also present to give him a rousing welcome. Your stories and photos are always welcome. Send us a message via our official Facebook and/or Instagram page to get it published on YEN.com.gh Source: Yen We have used your information to see if you have a subscription with us, but did not find one. Please use the button below to verify an existing account or to purchase a new subscription. The first results of the feasibility study on the undersea power grid linking Morocco and Portugal are so far promising. The inter-continental electricity link, expected to be operational by 2020, can be achieved for a total cost of 700 million. The results of the study will be fully unveiled in two or three months, said Secretary General of Moroccos Energy Ministry Abderrahim El Hafidi in a statement following talks in Lisbon with Portuguese counterparts. The study showed the beneficial impact for both Morocco and Portugal to establish such an electric inter-connectivity, he said. The implementation of this undersea electric interconnectivity will place Morocco at the heart of key regional energy players, as the North African country launched substantive projects to produce 42% of its electricity output out of renewable energy sources by 2020 and 52% by 2030, with a strong export potential. Besides renewables, the two countries launched ambitious projects to diversify their energy sources through the construction of liquefied gas terminals. With a capacity of 1000 megawatts, the Moroccan-Portuguese electric interconnectivity will help create a regional energy hub and increase regional energy independence. At present, Portugal exports its excess energy to its neighbor Spain, which then feeds into the European system via France. Portugal currently has an excess of electricity production, especially in terms of renewable energy, while Morocco has a growing rate of demand. The World Food Program has expressed its full support to the Moroccan national school meals Program, vital component of the Vision 2030 education reform and the National Nutrition Strategy 2011-2019. Under the Morocco Transitional Interim Country Strategic Plan (TICSP), the UN agency has pledged to provide technical support to the Ministry of National Education in the development of innovative, home-grown school meals pilots, as well as standardized guidelines for the implementation of the program. These guidelines will enable the government to introduce improvements in the areas of governance, financing, supply chain, monitoring and evaluation. In 2013, the Moroccan government requested WFPs support to review the national school meals Program, which provides meals for 658,000 girls and 742,000 boys in primary, secondary and boarding schools, of which 70 percent are located in rural areas. WFP designed a Development Project that was implemented in three phases: an assessment of the existing school meals program, the development of a Plan of Action for the improvement of national school meals; and study visits and sharing of best practices. WFP Plan of Action for the improvement of the Moroccan national school meals program was endorsed by Rabat in July 2016, and its implementation constitutes the core of WFPs operations for the 12 months TICSP starting January 2018. The plan leverages the findings of the comprehensive assessment phase of the project, encompassing activities for short and mid-term implementation. WFP provides technical and policy advice for the implementation of the Plan of Action. Specifically, the activities under the extended phase of the project aim to strengthen regulatory frameworks and tools in the areas of governance and normative guidelines; and support the Moroccan government in designing school meals that are efficient, accountable and support local employment creation. Funded entirely by voluntary donations, in 2016 WFP raised $5.9 billion. WFP has more than 14,000 staff worldwide of whom over 90 percent are based in the countries where the agency provides assistance. WFP is governed by a 36-member Executive Board. It works closely with its two Rome-based sister organizations, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the International Fund for Agricultural Development. WFP partners with more than 1,000 national and international NGOs to provide food assistance At least 90 migrants, mostly Pakistanis, lost their lives off the coast of Libya on Friday after their boat capsized, according to press reports. The victims were dreaming to reach Italy but their vessel, owned by smugglers, sank adding a new tragedy in the Mediterranean Sea. According to IOM Libyas Olivia Headon, 10 bodies washed up on Libyan shores. Two survivors are reported to have swam to shore, while another was rescued by a fishing boat. This new tragedy brings to 246 the total number of deaths recorded in the Mediterranean Sea during the first month of 2018. In 2017, the 3,138 Pakistani migrants arriving by sea to Italy from Libya were 13th in the overall list of migrant arrivals (119,369). This year though, they already are the third highest nationality so far, with an estimated 240 reaching Italy in January. In 2017, about 119,000 migrants and refugees arrived in Italy from across the Mediterranean and, according to the International Organization for Migration, more than 3,100 died making the crossing. In 2016, 181,000 made it to Italy wherein Migration has become a key issue in the countrys election campaign, with voters due to go to the polls on March 4. Major parties, including Silvio Berlusconis Forza Italia and the Right-wing League, formerly the Northern League, have said Italy can no longer accept such high numbers and have called for hundreds of thousands of migrants already in the country to be sent home. Libya is a hotbed for human traffickers, whose networks thrived due to the chaos prevailing in the North African country since the fall of the regime of former ruler Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. According to Amnesty International, hundreds of thousands of refugees and migrants trapped in Libya are at the mercy of Libyan authorities, militias, armed groups and smugglers often working seamlessly together for financial gain. Tens of thousands are held in overcrowded detention centers, suffering abuse, ill-treatment and even slavery. Nunes. Photo: Mark Wilson/Getty Images At long last, Congressional Republicans have released the memo that the FBI didnt want you to see (if you didnt get the memo on Memogate, these pieces should help you get up to speed). Now that weve seen the actual text, heres the one-sentence upshot: Even if we stipulate that all of the memos factual assertions are true, the document does nothing to discredit the validity of the Mueller investigation but does quite a bit to discredit the GOPs own attacks on that probe. Here are six more concrete takeaways: 1) Its possible that Carter Page was improperly surveilled by the U.S. government. In late October 2016, the FBI and DOJ obtained a probable cause order from a FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act) court, allowing them to electronically surveil Carter Page, a voluntary adviser to the Trump campaign (and charmingly bizarre human being). The memo claims that the Christopher Steele dossier research by an ex-MI6 intelligence officer, which was funded, in part, by Hillary Clintons campaign formed an essential part of the FBIs application for that order. And yet, the Bureau did not inform the court of Clintons role in financing the collection of this information anywhere in its application. This, by itself, is not necessarily damning. A lot depends on the meaning of the word essential. If the FBI had corroborating evidence for the Steele dossiers assertions or, more precisely, for those assertions most relevant to Carter Page then the source of Steeles financing would seem irrelevant. The memos more compelling charge is that the FBI did present corroborating evidence for the Steele dossiers claims but that said evidence consisted primarily of a Yahoo News article that was based on information leaked by Christopher Steele. If this is true and if the Steele dossier and Yahoo News article really did constitute the entirety of the FBIs case then it appears that the Bureau misled the FISA court, and an American citizen was unfairly subjected to state surveillance. 2) But theres little reason to believe that the memos factual assertions are true. Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee dispute the memos core contentions about how the FBI secured its warrant to spy on Page. Specifically, they contend that the Steele dossier was not the sole source of evidence that the Bureau presented to the FISA court and, even more critically, that it is not accurate to say that the FBI did not make the court aware that there was a likely political motivation behind who was funding Steeles work. .@RepAdamSchiff says it is "not accurate to say that the FBI did not make the FISC aware that there was a likely political motivation behind who was funding Steele's work. It is misleading to suggest that the court had no idea that there was a political motivation involved." Natasha Bertrand (@NatashaBertrand) February 2, 2018 The FBI, for its part, has expressed grave concerns about material omissions of fact that fundamentally impact the memos accuracy. And, even as they defend their memos release on grounds of transparency, Republicans on the Intelligence Committee have barred their Democratic counterparts from releasing an alternative memo based on the same source materials. But the biggest reason to take the memos claims with several spoonfuls of salt may be this: It wildly misrepresents publicly available facts. First, as canine Twitter lawyer @nycsouthpaw notes, the memo is deliberately misleading in its representation of the Yahoo News article that the FBI cited in its application to the FISA court: The whole memo reads like it was written by an overeager production assistant on Hannity. It contains no quotes or other attribution for its animating claims, and when it runs out of gas in a logical sequence, rather than acknowledging any uncertainty, it simply shifts subjects. southpaw (@nycsouthpaw) February 2, 2018 As an example of what I mean, take a look at the below paragraph. The memo tries to imply that FBI/DOJ *misled* the FISC about their confidence in Steeles dossier in their initial FISA application in Oct 2016 by citing an Isikoff article (for which it says Steele was a source). pic.twitter.com/nHGgfxBRQO southpaw (@nycsouthpaw) February 2, 2018 There are several problems with the logic of this idea: - The Isikoff story draws on a multitude of sources other than Steele who *do* corroborate Pages contacts w Russia (https://t.co/w2V0PJWEhw) - Steeles interactions with Yahoo were not disclosed until much later, etc. southpaw (@nycsouthpaw) February 2, 2018 But just notice how the memos author loses focus and shifts subjects. He needs to be talking about what FBI/DOJ supposedly knew and withheld from the FISC in October 2016. But by the end of the paragraph hes talking about what an outside law firm, Perkins Coie, may have known. southpaw (@nycsouthpaw) February 2, 2018 Second, the memo states, as a fact, that FBI Director James Comey testified to Congress in June 2017 that the Steele dossier was salacious and unverified. But as the conservative blog Red State (of all publications) notes, Comey never said any such thing. While the FBI director did call certain material (i.e. the pee tape stuff) in the dossier salacious and unverified, heres what he had to say about whether the bureau had corroborated the criminal allegations in Steeles research. BURR: In the public domain is this question of the Steele dossier, a document that has been around out in for over a year. Im not sure when the FBI first took possession of it, but the media had it before you had it and we had it. At the time of your departure from the FBI, was the FBI able to confirm any criminal allegations contained in the Steele document? COMEY: Mr. Chairman, I dont think thats a question I can answer in an open setting because it goes into the details of the investigation. If Congressional Republicans are willing to lie about the public record, theres little reason to trust that they are accurately conveying the substance of classified material. 3) The memo does not validate the claims that Republicans said it would. Before the memo was made public, Republicans suggested that the information contained within it exposed a scandal that was worse the Watergate, a threat to rule of law in the United States, and very, very sad for democracy. More specifically, they claimed that it exposed the special counsels investigation into the Trump campaigns Russia ties as a partisan witch hunt. But the memo does nothing to advance any of those claims which might be why, on the eve of its release, the White House reportedly worried that it would land as a dud. To the extent the memo exposes anything more important than a potential violation of Carter Pages privacy, it is the ease with which the FBI can secure the right to spy on American citizens. But we already knew this. As of 2013, the FISA court had rejected only 0.03 percent of all surveillance requests sought by the Executive branch. And anyhow, the GOP has no genuine concern about the FBIs ability to spy on ordinary Americans even as they were assembling a memo which suggests the FISA court can be abused, House Republicans voted to reauthorize its operations without enacting any significant reforms. The insinuation that Republicans wish to make is that Clinton sympathizers within the FBI pushed for the surveillance of Page as a means to obtain information useful to the Clinton campaign, on the eve of an election. But there is no evidence for that incendiary claim in the memo. And the reality of the FBIs conduct in the run-up to the election reviving an investigation into Clinton, while leaking word that there was no clear link between the Trump campaign and Russia makes the idea that the Bureau was working to elect the Democratic nominee facially absurd. 4) The memo confirms that the Steele dossier was not the basis for the broader investigation into Trump and Russia. But the memo doesnt just fail to discredit the investigation into the Trump campaign it actually confirms its validity. The core of the GOPs argument against the Mueller probe has been that it was based on unsubstantiated allegations gathered by a Clinton operative. The memo suggests this might be true of the Carter Page warrant but not of the broader investigation. THE MEMO reveals that the counterintelligence investigation of Trump's campaign was, in fact, launched by Peter Strzok as a result of the PAPADOPOULOS information -- not the dossier. pic.twitter.com/9BjP97XSb2 Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) February 2, 2018 5) This hardly amounts to a damning indictment of Rod Rosenstein which was, arguably, its animating purpose. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein has overseen the investigation into the Trump campaigns Russia ties ever since Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself from the probe. It was Rosenstein who appointed the special counsel; Rosenstein who has authority over all of Muellers requests and thus, has the power to expedite or impede his efforts; and Rosenstein who will decide whether to pursue any charges that Mueller might recommend at the investigations end assuming that Rosenstein isnt fired before then. Before the memos release, some Republicans strongly suggested that its contents would give Trump cause to treat the deputy attorney general to his signature catchphrase. And, by all appearances, the president is eager to do so. Earlier this week, we learned that Trump asked Rosenstein, in December, whether he was on my team. The course of the Mueller probe since then has ostensibly given the president an answer and not the one he was looking for. The only thing preventing Trump from firing Rosenstein is the sense that it would be politically disadvantageous to do so. The promise of the memo, then, was that it would indict the deputy attorney generals conduct to such a degree that (if one pretended to forget the countless times that Trump has said, publicly, that the Justice Departments first loyalty should be to him and not the law) a nonpartisan observer could see the case for his dismissal. But the memo provides no such indictment. There was a lot of speculation that Rosenstein was going to be a big target for Nunes memo, but he's only really mentioned in signing one renewal of Carter Page warrant and noting that Ohr worked "closely" with him Manu Raju (@mkraju) February 2, 2018 6) Trump could get what he wants out of this memo, anyway (because facts and reason dont necessarily matter). Sen. Orrin Hatch says he has confidence in Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein but said Trump may have to get rid of him if he becomes too controversial and cant oversee the investigation. Shimon Prokupecz (@ShimonPro) February 2, 2018 Hatchs position here is, ostensibly: If a baseless smear campaign is mounted against a law enforcement official with the aim of removing him from an active investigation, then the prudent response is to give the smear campaign exactly what it wants. If this is the line that an Establishment Republican elder statesman give, then its hard to see what stops Trump from making a frontal assault on the Mueller investigation. To Trumps supporters, even a Republican like Mueller is suddenly suspect. Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images The problem with tribalism is that it knows no real limiting principle. It triggers a deep and visceral response: a defense of the tribe before all other considerations. That means, in its modern manifestation, that the tribe comes before the country as a whole, before any neutral institutions that get in its way, before reason and empiricism, and before the rule of law. It means loyalty to the tribe and its current chief is enforced relentlessly. And this, it seems to me, is the underlying reason why the investigation into Russian interference in the last election is now under such attack and in such trouble. In a tribalized society, there can be no legitimacy for an independent inquiry, indifferent to tribal politics. In this fray, no one is allowed to be above it. On the face of it, of course, no one even faintly patriotic should object to investigating how a foreign power tried to manipulate American democracy, as our intelligence agencies have reported. And yet one party is quite obviously doing all it can to undermine such a project even when it is led by a Republican of previously unimpeachable integrity, Robert Mueller. Tribalism does not spare the FBI; it cannot tolerate an independent Department of Justice; it sees even a Republican like Mueller as suspect; and it sees members of another tribe as incapable of performing their jobs without bias. The release of the Nunes memo is just the latest, deeply dangerous manifestation of this. Congressman Nunes saw his task, from the get-go, not as investigating the underlying issue as a congressman concerned with the integrity of elections, but as finding a way to protect his tribal chieftain, Donald Trump, from suspicions that his own campaign might have invited such intervention, or that he might have obstructed justice to stymie Muellers inquiry. The entire concept of digging fairly into the facts to discover exactly what relationship, if any, the Trump campaign had with agents of the Russian government is close to meaningless to Nunes. So is any cooperation with Democrats or waiting until the full investigation is finished. More to the point, all this is meaningless to the Republican base as well. Their tribal chief has said there was no Russian interference and no collusion, and thats all they need to know. And since they already know the truth, the only point of such an investigation must be an Establishment attack on their own tribe, right? Before too long, even Jeff Sessions was regarded as a traitor, by recusing himself from intervention in the matter. Ditto Rod Rosenstein, another Republican pressured to give Trump personal, and not institutional, loyalty at the DOJ. Mueller himself, of course, is now described by his fellow Republicans as an agent of the deep state, mired in liberal sabotage. James Comey was summarily fired, and even Trumps handpicked FBI chief, Christopher Wray, is now suspect, because he believes the Nunes memo is deeply misleading and may even compromise national security. The FBI had to be intending to frame Trump, after all, when it surveilled Carter Pages troubling contacts with Moscow. What other reason could there be? And the medias reporting of any of these developments is, of course, fake news born out of a conspiracy so vast that, well, take it away, Newt: The elite media group has survived by being in collusion with the senior bureaucracy, the city of Washington, the senior reporters, the senior bureaucrats, the senior lobbyists, they all hang out together, they all talk to each other, they all compare notes. Note the C-word. If Trump is accused of collusion, the gambit is to accuse the FBI, the media, and the DOJ of some sort of collusion as well. If Trump is exposed as evading the rule of law, so now must the Justice Department and the FBI be seen as undermining it. The logic here is pure Roy Cohn. Bret Stephens made a devastating and completely unanswerable point this week about how differently the GOP would react if these attempts to evade or obstruct justice had been made by a President Hillary Clinton but to the tribal mind, none of that matters. And the tactics Cohn once deployed are now all around us: throw back the exact same charges youre facing against those investigating you. Invent a conspiracy theory to rival a collusion theory. Throw sand in everyones eyes. Get your allegations out first, in as inflammatory and scandalous a way as possible. Ransack peoples private lives and communications to more effectively demonize them. Dominate the news cycles. Do anything to muddy the conflict and to sow suspicion. Lie, if you have to. Exercise not the slightest concern for the stability of the system as a whole because tribe comes first. Trump, to make things worse, sees no distinction between the tactics he deployed as a private citizen in lawsuits for decades and the tactics he is deploying as president, because he has no conception of a presidency committed first of all to the long-term maintenance of the system rather than the short-term pursuit of personal interest. He simply cannot see the value of institutions that might endure through time, under both parties, as a way to preserve objective fact-finding and the neutral enforcement of justice. All he sees is his own immediate interest, as filtered through his malignant narcissism. Some thought this might change when he became president and realized the gravity of the office. We know now how delusional that idea was. Many commentators, of course, see all these various gambits at obstructing justice as endangering Trump, as Mueller closes in. Some believe that the public reaction to this overreach will be punishing, especially if serious wrongdoing emerges, and that impeachment could follow. Im afraid I dont see this. In fact, I see tribalism deepening and the constitutional crisis intensifying. Its quite clear now that the GOP has thrown itself in completely with the Trump movement. (Paul Ryan is pledging to cleanse the FBI!) The tax bill has become proof, in their eyes, of the potential success of this strategy. They think they can hold back a Democratic wave in November by rallying the tribe behind their leader, and by giving an economy at peak employment a stimulus of over $1 trillion in tax cuts. And, for all their cynicism and fiscal irresponsibility, they may be right. Since the tax law passed, the Democratic lead in the generic congressional polling has been more than halved from 13 points to a mere 6. Trumps own approval ratings were negative 20 points in mid-December. Now they are negative 15. Still terrible, I know, but its the direction Im concerned about. Pretty soon, most middle-class workers will also find their take-home pay slightly higher because of the tax law while Democrats repeatedly told them they would get nothing. In December, according to the Monmouth poll, only 26 percent supported the GOPs tax legislation. Now that number is 44 percent a pretty staggering leap. As I recently noted, wages in manufacturing and construction are also finally moving upward. If you keep an eight-year recovery going artificially through massive deregulation and tax cuts the very bottom of the workforce is going to feel the dividends simply because of supply and demand. And they will react accordingly. Check out this AP story on reactions to the slight pay gains: Wayne Love, who works in managed care in Spring Hill, Florida, got an extra $200 in his paycheck last week, which he said will help offset a $300 increase in the cost of his health insurance. I have heard time and again that the middle class is getting crumbs, but Ill take it! Love said by email. How many more people are going to feel the same way in the coming months? Theres also a chance that the first-quarter numbers for growth this year could be dramatically higher than the last quarter: the Atlanta Fed just predicted a growth rate of 5.4 percent. Can you imagine how shamelessly Trump will tout that? I think these tax cuts are extraordinarily fiscally irresponsible, and are already creating a bubble. But if the bubble doesnt burst before Election Day this year, whatever Mueller finds may well be moot. There isnt a crime the Trump administration might have committed that will lead to any consequences in a Congress where either chamber has a Republican majority. Meanwhile, the Democrats tribalism has also deepened. They picked an iconic tribal name to present their response to the SOTU, Joe Kennedy, and his speech had the failed theme that Hillary Clinton tried out last year: stronger together. Beneath that facade was the usual shout-out to the various identity groups who now dominate the Democratic discourse: He praised those pledging to tear down a future wall on the southern border; he endorsed Black Lives Matter; he cited the left-feminist womens marches; he spoke directly in excellent Spanish, as if to taunt Republicans concerned about a changing culture; he invoked #MeToo (ballsy for a Kennedy, I know); he even gave a shout-out to the parents of transgender kids. The Rainbow Coalition is now ever more indistinguishable from mainstream Democratic politics, as the Dems find themselves defending more porous borders, and designating any position to the right of them on immigration as racist. Race in general is a theme that is deepening: In 2011, Democrats agreed that generations of slavery and discrimination have made it difficult for black people to experience upward mobility by a net 15 points (i.e., 15 percent more Democrats agreed than disagreed with that statement). In 2016, that more than doubled to 38 points. And this is happening as the GOP becomes ever more the party of whites and men. We are in a different zero-sum political world. This is a tribal scorched-earth war, underpinned by racial and gender divides, thriving regardless of the consequences for our democratic institutions, discourse, and way of life. And if we once thought with confidence that one tribe would come back in the midterms, and somehow moderate this, we may be forced soon to reconsider. I know my pessimism is deep. I just long for evidence that it is misplaced. Guilty Until Proven Innocent It was interesting to see last week that the political journalist Ryan Lizza, formerly of The New Yorker, was reinstated by CNN as a commentator after a six-week investigation of a charge of sexual misconduct against him. I mention this because it appears to be the first case in which someone summarily fired and disgraced in the sex panic of last year has subsequently been cleared of all charges by a cautious news organization with absolutely no interest in getting on the wrong side of the workplace-harassment debate. So what exactly happened? It seems well never know. Lizza (a former colleague and friend) was first impugned by the anonymous spreadsheet, the Shitty Media Men list, as the purveyor of creepy DMs. But we still have no idea what those DMs might have contained. We also dont know what Lizza was actually charged with at The New Yorker; who made the accusation; and how The New Yorker was able to conclude that Lizza had to be dismissed within days, while a six-week investigation by CNN found nothing incriminating. All of this remains in a haze. Ill just note that the coverage of Lizzas sacking was massive; his reinstatement barely got a mention in Erik Wemples Washington Post blog. A cloud still therefore hangs over his reputation, fairly or unfairly. Guilty until proven innocent seems to be the guiding principle here. For anyone concerned with simple due process and the prevention of real sexual harassment this should be worrying. The Delinquent President A while back, as so many on the right pooh-poohed the idea that Trump was a threat to the Constitution, I asked if there were circumstances in which he might simply refuse to enforce the law as written by the Congress, if the margin were veto-proof. He had largely obeyed various court rulings, which was a relief, even if he routinely demonized individual judges and courts. But we had only one instance of the Congress passing a measure by such a huge margin that he had no wiggle room but to do something he didnt want to do. That instance was a renewed tightening of sanctions against Russia that passed the Congress by veto-proof margins in the wake of the unprecedented attack on our democracy by the Russian government in 2016. The law passed by a majority of 982 in the Senate and by 4193 in the House. Trump grumpily signed it. Then, we found out this week, the president did nothing to follow through. He simply ignored the law, as I suspected he would. Senator McCaskill called it a constitutional crisis. Strictly speaking, it isnt, because the law included a provision that the president could make exceptions at his discretion if he believed national security was at stake. So technically, Trump is in the clear. But more broadly? The intent of the law could not have been clearer: a near-unanimous congressional signal that the U.S. took Russian meddling in its own elections to be a major breach that would lead to serious consequences. The Trump administration subsequently simply refused to perform this constitutional duty. Trump is characterologically incapable of taking instructions from anyone, including Congress. His White House even made a mockery of the intent of the law by hurriedly publishing a list of oligarchs it might sanction by cribbing it off a Forbes magazine article! And this all came to light immediately after the CIA director, Mike Pompeo, announced that Russia was once again gearing up to intervene in the midterm elections as well. Is Trump taking this threat seriously or is he quietly hoping the Russians will help the GOP? This may seem a minor matter. Except it isnt. A massive attack on our democracy took place in the last election. Nothing, so far as we can see, has been done by this administration to prevent this in the future. The Congresss bid to punish Moscow has now been sidelined by a president unwilling to perform his constitutional duties. When the president is already suspected of having had ties with the Russian government during an election when that government tried to tilt the results to Trump, his refusal to obey Congresss specific intent to punish Moscow is more than troubling. Can we truly expect this presidency to exist within the framework the Founders constructed? Can we trust our elections anymore? Or is tribalism getting closer and closer to something we used to call treason? See you next Friday. The life of the presidential mind. Photo: Ron Sachs/Bloomberg via Getty Images We know from reporting about the Trump administration, from an overheard comment before the State of the Union address, and from President Trumps own Twitter feed that Trump is very excited about the Devin Nunes memo. We know Trump believes the memo discredits the FBI as a tool of the biased deep state, provides him with a pretext to interfere with or close down the Mueller investigation, and wants it released to the public. Heres one thing we dont know: Has Trump read the memo? I am willing to bet he has not. The country has grown so accustomed to the mental limitations of its president that we have largely skipped over this question. And yet, the Department of Justice and the FBI believe there are profound national security implications in litigating its Russia counterintelligence operations in public. Numerous White House aides also believe they run a serious risk of throwing their weight behind a memo that may be a dud. The decision whether or not to publish it is, by everybodys account, very serious. Yet nobody seems to be entertaining the question of whether the president has bothered to read the memo. The Washington Post comes closest to addressing the mystery, yet fails to resolve the matter. The Post reports that the president tuned in to cable television segments about the memo. He talked to friends and advisers about it. He thereby became absolutely convinced it must be published. After becoming convinced, Trump was then left alone to read the memo in its entirety. And then Chief of Staff John Kelly returned a few hours later and shared with the president his opinion. A few hours is obviously ample time to read a three-and-a-half-page memo. But the Post does not say that Trump read it, or even that he claimed to have read it. All we know is that he was left alone with a copy. Could Trump have read the memo if he wanted to? Consider several accounts of the presidents extremely limited reading capacity: In 2016, Trump told Marc Fisher, he would like to read but, I have so little time. (The television isnt going to watch itself.) He explained that reading is unnecessary to do his job anyway, because: Im a very efficient guy. Now, I could also do it verbally, which is fine. Id always rather have I want it short. Theres no reason to do hundreds of pages because I know exactly what it is. In 2016, Tony Schwartz, the ghostwriter of Trumps The Art of he Deal, told Jane Mayer, Its impossible to keep (Trump) focused on any topic, other than his own self-aggrandizement, for more than a few minutes. Trumps memos preferably must be no more than a single page. They must have bullet points but not more than nine per page, a source told the Huffington Post. Conversations with some officials who have briefed Trump and others who are aware of how he absorbs information portray a president with a short attention span, Reuters has reported. He likes single-page memos and visual aids like maps, charts, graphs and photos. Analysts briefing Trump should only include facts that support their analyses, according to Mother Jones. The New York Times has reported that, while Mr. Obama liked policy option papers that were three to six single-spaced pages, council staff members are now being told to keep papers to a single page, with lots of graphics and maps. Trump himself told Axios last year, I like bullets or I like as little as possible. I dont need, you know, 200-page reports on something that can be handled on a page. That I can tell you. By the parameters of what Trump and his staff have reported about his reading ability, making it through a three-and-a-half-page memo appears to be wildly ambitious. But this is a political debate about a document. What do we do when the decisive figure in such a debate is obviously incapable of making an informed judgment about the document in question? McConnell with Cochran, whose still-occupied seat hes looking to fill. Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images Last fall Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell threw all his electoral muscle behind Luther Strange in Alabamas GOP primary, only to see him easily defeated by ultraconservative theocrat Roy Moore. Then the situation took a turn from bad to disastrous when multiple women accused Moore of molesting them as teenagers, prompting McConnell to float a number of wacky schemes, including forcing a new election. Ultimately Republicans opted not to try any likely unconstitutional maneuvers, and the seat in the deep-red state went to Democrat Doug Jones. McConnell does not intend to let this happen again, so he appears to be plotting to hold a seat that hasnt even opened up yet. Mississippi senator Thad Cochran has been hospitalized at least twice in the past six months, and went home for several weeks in the fall to recover from a urinary tract infection. The 80-year-old has appeared frail since his return, sparking rumors that he might soon step down. Cochran aides say there are no imminent plans to announce his retirement, but nevertheless, McConnell made a pitch this week to the man hed like to see in the seat. According to the Washington Post, McConnell asked Mississippi governor Phil Bryant to consider appointing himself to the seat. McConnell wooed Bryant by dining with him before the State of the Union this week, and taking him to the event as his guest. The Clarion Ledger reports that President Trump encouraged Bryant to consider the idea as well but sources told the paper that the governor isnt interested. (A handful of governors have had themselves appointed to the Senate, but it rarely ends well.) Governor Bryant was honored to meet with Senator McConnell on Tuesday to discuss infrastructure and a range of issues important to Mississippi and America. Those conversations will remain private, Bryant spokesman Clay Chandler said. The governor, like many Mississippians, thinks Senator Cochrans service has made our state stronger. There might be less unseemly jockeying for Cochrans seat if McConnell foe Chris McDaniel wasnt waiting in the wings. The state senator and attorney made an unsuccessful attempt to primary Cochran in 2014, and hes made it clear he still hopes to seek higher office. He reportedly asked Bryant aides to consider him for an appointment to Cochrans seat, but they told him thats unlikely. McDaniel had been mulling a run against the states other U.S. senator, Roger Wicker, whos up for reelection this year. McDaniel was expected to announce his plans in January and only has until March 1 to file but he told the Post he put off the decision because of the multiple options before him, adding, Its a really fortunate time for me and Im incredibly blessed to have these options. Elections for either Senate seat would take place on November 6, 2018, but going for Cochrans seat would likely be easier, as there would be no primary (if no candidate topped 50 percent, there would be a runoff). McConnell has other options for positioning a strong GOP Establishment figure to run for Cochrans seat. And while the Majority Leader might not want to see McDaniel in the Senate, it probably wouldnt be as painful as choosing between a respectable Democrat and an Republican alleged child sex predator. McDaniel embarrassed the Republican Party in the past by retweeting white supremacists and making wild election fraud claims, but nowadays theyre much more tolerant of that sort of behavior. Devin Nunes, chairman of the United States House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. Photo: Mark Wilson Amid all the lies Donald Trump has told about the Russia scandal, there is one underlying truth: The intelligence community truly fears him and considers him unfit for the presidency. This is not because the intelligence community is traitorous, or left wing, or (as Donald Trump Jr. sneeringly put it) wine-spritzer-drinking elites. It is because the IC had early access to a wide array of terrifying intelligence linking Trump and his orbit to Russia. People who spend their lives protecting their country from foreign threats saw in Trump a candidate who had at some level been compromised by one of them. Trump and his allies have viewed the causality the other way around. Because the IC distrusts Trump, its investigation of Trumps connections to Russia is therefore illegitimate. Since his election, Trump has seized upon news of the investigation into his campaigns ties to Russia as evidence that the investigators cannot be trusted. If they were unbiased, he reasons, they wouldnt have been investigating Trump in the first place. The newly released memo by Republican staff follows the tracks of this reasoning. Its central contention, leaked in advance, is that the FBI used the work of a biased source (Christopher Steele, a British intelligence agent with expertise in Russia) to justify surveillance of Carter Page, a Trump campaign adviser. The memo highlights Steeles opposition to Trump (he was desperate that Donald Trump not get elected), along with the beliefs of FBI agents Peter Strzok and Lisa Page, both of whom demonstrated a clear bias against Trump and in favor of Clinton. As a legal matter, as law professor Orin Kerr has explained, there is no merit to the argument that a politically biased source cannot be used to obtain a warrant. Indeed, the FBI used journalism funded by Steve Bannon to investigate Hillary Clinton. In the place of any strong legal claim, the memo substitutes the assumption that intelligence sources who dont want Trump to be president must be up to no good. But this treats the effect as the cause. Strzok, as the context of his texts reveals, was a moderate Republican who voted for John Kasich in the GOP primary. Steele was a Brit who had not shown any strong passion for American politics. They developed intense preferences in the 2016 election outcome in large part because they had access to intelligence about Trump and Russia. They did not create this intelligence to support their political beliefs. Indeed, Carter Page the former Trump campaign official, the surveillance of whom occupies most of the memos attention came under FBI scrutiny in 2014, after he had passed documents on to Russian spies. Page is the kind of person who would be brought on as a foreign policy adviser only if (a) the campaign was actively seeking out Russian assets, or (b) it was so slipshod it could easily be penetrated by Russian intelligence. The Nunes memo omits an unknown, but probably large, amount of contextual data about other sources of the warrants to surveil Page. This tracks the whole method of Trumps defense, which is to begin the story in the middle. The official Republican justification for the Nunes propaganda offensive is to serve the cause of transparency. There are legitimate questions about whether an Americans civil liberties were violated, House Speaker Paul Ryan told reporters. There may have been malfeasance at the FBI by certain individuals, so its our job in conducting transparent oversight to get to the bottom of that. But Republicans blocked the publication of a Democratic-authored memo rebutting the claims in the Republican one. Instead, they leaked the Nunes memo first to sympathetic conservative reporters, who could shape its narrative. (One problem critics of the Nunes memo have is that revealing other sources of intelligence that were used to support the application to surveil Carter Page might risk blowing up the FBIs sources.) They can force Democrats and the FBI to choose between letting the accusation against the Bureau stand or risk its secrets. Ryans enthusiasm for transparency has not extended to the long-standing practice of releasing presidential tax returns, which he has blocked from public view for more than a year. Apparently, the public is entitled to full transparency into FBI counterintelligence sourcing, but has no need to know who is paying the president. The stench of bad faith covers the entire effort. Trump has not even bothered to conceal his belief that the memo gives him an excuse to replace Rod Rosenstein, Robert Muellers supervisor, with a more pliant figure. Trump believes to his core that he is entitled to federal law enforcement run by personal loyalists, and that any investigation of him is per se evidence of disqualifying bias. Nuness memo places the House Republicans foursquare behind that grotesquely authoritarian belief. Nothing to fear but Trump, himself? Photo: Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images Just before he flew too close to the sun, lost his wings, and plummeted back down into the murky depths of the far-right fever swamp, Steve Bannon said something so politically incorrect, it made the Trump administration blush: that there was no military solution to North Koreas nuclear program. Until somebody solves the part of the equation that shows me that 10 million people in Seoul dont die in the first 30 minutes from conventional weapons, Bannon told The American Prospect, I dont know what youre talking about. The administration publicly rejected this analysis, and proceeded to expedite Bannons eviction from the West Wing. But according to a new report from the New York Times, in private, our governments top military advisers see the same unsolvable equation and are worried that the remaining civilian leadership lacks the sobriety and humility of that not-so-dearly departed nationalist-Leninist blogger: The White House has grown frustrated in recent weeks by what it considers the Pentagons reluctance to provide President Trump with options for a military strike against North Korea, according to officials, the latest sign of a deepening split in the administration over how to confront the nuclear-armed regime of Kim Jong-un. The national security adviser, Lt. Gen. H. R. McMaster, believes that for Mr. Trumps warnings to North Korea to be credible, the United States must have well-developed military plans, according to those officials. But the Pentagon, they say, is worried that the White House is moving too hastily toward military action on the Korean Peninsula that could escalate catastrophically. Giving the president too many options, the officials said, could increase the odds that he will act. The optimistic reading of the Times story is this: None of the presidents top advisers believe that preemptive military action against North Korea is advisable, but McMaster wants to put together the strongest possible bluff. Pentagon officials, however, are concerned that the president could actually green-light whatever horrendously ill-advised, hypothetical battle plan they put in front of him. In this reading, the dynamic is broadly similar to the one portrayed in Mitchell and Webbs Kill All the Poor sketch. The pessimistic reading is that McMaster genuinely believes what hes said about the North Korean regime: that it is an irrational actor that cant deterred by the logic of mutually assured destruction. This view, for which there is scant evidence, would ostensibly make a mass-casualty, preemptive war look justifiable if that were truly the only way to prevent Kim Jong-un from holding a nuclear arsenal that could reliably hit major American cities. The Times report suggests that Defense Secretary James Mattis, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Joseph F. Dunford Jr. all fear that the pessimistic scenario is closer to reality: When North Korea tested an intercontinental ballistic missile in July that experts concluded was capable of reaching the West Coast of the United States, the National Security Council convened a conference call that included Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis and Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson. After General McMaster left the room, Mr. Mattis and Mr. Tillerson continued to speak, not realizing that other participants were still on the line. The officials familiar with the matter overheard them complaining about a series of meetings that the National Security Council had set up to consider options for North Korea signs, Mr. Tillerson said, that it was becoming overly aggressive. While General McMaster also favors a diplomatic solution to the impasse, officials said, he emphasizes to colleagues that past efforts to negotiate with North Korea have forced the United States to make unacceptable concessions. The Pentagon has a different view. Mr. Mattis and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr., argue forcefully for using diplomacy. They have repeatedly warned, in meetings and on video conference calls, that there are few, if any, military options that would not provoke retaliation from North Korea, according to officials at the Defense Department. Such internal tensions have been visible at multiple points in recent weeks. Back in December, Tillerson suggested that the White House was ready to talk with Kims regime without precondition an offer that the White House promptly disavowed, and that Tillerson was forced to walk back. Around the same time, tensions were (reportedly) building between Trumps tentative nominee for ambassador to South Korea, Victor Cha, and the more trigger-happy members of his NSC. A former director of Asia policy in the George W. Bush administration, Cha is widely respected in Seoul, and is regarded as a hawk on foreign-policy questions in Washington. In December, the White House formally notified the South Korean government that Trump would ask the Senate to confirm Cha to the ambassadorship. And then, earlier this week, we learned that Cha is no longer under consideration for that position. The cause of the split, according to several sources who spoke with the Washington Post, was Chas relentless opposition to the idea of a bloody nose strike (a limited attack, aimed at strengthening Americas position in talks) against Pyongyang. The would-be ambassador explained that such a gambit was strategically incoherent and could very well get tens of thousands of people killed. Some in the White House reportedly found this analysis off-putting and so, Chas appointment was called off. Trump speaks at the Republican National Committee winter meeting. Photo: Olivier Douliery - Pool/Getty Images President Trump bragged about his recent performance on a cognitive test at an RNC meeting Thursday, telling the crowd that hes one of the rare few who can identify drawings of animals. The comments came after Trump booted the media, or haters as he called them, from the dinner, which was held at the Trump International Hotel in Washington. But leakers leak, and Breitbart got the audio of Trumps speech. Let me tell you, those last ten questions are hard, he said, referencing the final third of the test thats sometimes used to screen for Alzheimers and dementia. There arent a lot of people that can do that. He added that most members of the media couldnt pass the test. Trump was almost certainly joking. One of the last ten questions asks test takers to identify the similarity between a train and a bicycle, and Trump isnt so deranged to think thats a world-class brainteaser. Right? Trump also bragged about his physical fitness, telling the crowd that doctors asked him to run on a treadmill for five minutes and he made it to nine, when he decided to stop. I said, What do I have to prove? he said. Im telling you, I could have gone much longer. Three women who accused Bill Clinton of sexual misconduct: (from left) Kathleen Willey, Juanita Broaddrick, and Kathy Shelton, watch the second presidential debate between former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, on Sunday, October 9, 2016. Photo: Melina Mara/Getty Images Juanita Broaddrick had almost given up by the time she called her grandson from her house in Van Buren, Arkansas, on January 6, 2016. She had been trying, since seeing a video in late November, to send a single tweet, with no success. Her grandson, Ridge, then 13, diagnosed the problem immediately. Nana, are there red numbers at the bottom? Broaddrick remembers him asking. When Broaddrick said yes, he explained this meant that the message was over the maximum 140 characters then allowed by Twitter. Broaddrick didnt tell Ridge what she was trying to tweet when he gave her the quick lesson. After staring at the pared-down message on her screen for more than 30 minutes, Broaddrick finally hit send, saying what she had been trying to say for over a month: I was 35 years old when Bill Clinton, Ark. Attorney General raped me and Hillary tried to silence me. I am now 73....it never goes away. Juanita Broaddrick (@atensnut) January 6, 2016 This wasnt the first time Broaddrick had made this claim. In February 1999, she appeared on NBCs Dateline, in an extensive and emotional interview with Lisa Myers. Broaddrick described the alleged rape, which she said had taken place in a Little Rock hotel room, when she was a nursing-home operator and a volunteer in Bill Clintons campaign for governor. Clinton had relocated a scheduled lobby-coffee-shop meeting at the last minute, saying it was too noisy for the planned conversation about nursing-home reform. Despite appearing on national television, Broaddrick remained a relatively obscure figure in 1999 unlike Monica Lewinsky, whose story had come out the year before. Indeed, it had been Monica Lewinskys story that finally compelled Broaddrick to come forward. NOW president Patricia Ireland issued a statement that called Broaddricks account compelling and asked Clintons defenders to refrain from smearing the accuser, but Ireland was one of very few high-profile liberals to show her any respect. Clinton aides like James Carville and Betsey Wright, and even as feminist icons like Gloria Steinem and Betty Friedan, had already gone on the offensive against other women who had accused Bill Clinton of sexual harassment. Broaddricks tweet and public support for Donald Trump brought her story back into the spotlight, and the ongoing reckoning over sexual abuse and harassment has kept it there. Daily Intelligencer talked to Broaddrick in a series of interviews about feminism, the Clintons, the #MeToo movement, Roy Moore, and why she decided to go to the second presidential debate as a guest of Donald Trump. The following transcript has been edited and condensed for clarity and length. Additional parts of the interview, including Broaddricks account of her sexual assault, can be heard here. Did any feminists or feminist organizations reach out to you or support you at the time? No. Not one. I was so disappointed, you know. And then I just, I just tried to forget it. You know, you sit there and you think day after day, week after week, month after month. Why dont they support me. Why dont they at least pick up the phone and call and ask to talk to me. What is your relationship with feminism? Did you ever consider yourself a feminist? I guess in a way I did from being a womens-majority-stockholder business. But I didnt feel like a true feminist. I went along with how I was raised, that women should be in their places, and its taken me a while to get over that. I do have strong feelings about the feminists and them not coming to me when my story aired. Not one feminist group ever contacted me to judge my story for themselves. They ignored me.They wanted nothing to do with me, nothing. And I know why. Back then they had the cooperation of the Clinton White House and did not want to endanger any of their prospective legislation that they wanted to put through. You once said to me, Feminists failed me, but they didnt fail a lot of other women because they got a lot of legislation passed. Yeah. And you know I hope that what they did for womens rights brought us women to a better existence I just hate that they threw me and the other victims of Bill Clinton under the bus to do it. I used to think that you can sacrifice a few for the many. But you know, you and I have talked over the past few days and Ive come to another realization. I wonder how many of the women and children and men would not have been raped or sexually assaulted over the last two decades if these womens groups had just done the right thing and denounced Bill Clinton. Instead, it brought us to this society of accepting Bill Clintons transgressions. Thats wrong. How many less victims would there be had he been removed from office for what he did? Your story resurfaced during the 2016 primary when you responded to Hillary Clintons statement that women had the right to be heard. Yes. Well, Hillary came out with this statement and it was on the news and she said every victim has the right to be heard and to be believed and I could not believe that that was coming out of her mouth. So I had been on Twitter a couple of years before, but I really didnt know how to use it, so I never used it. I think I tweeted something one time about well Im on my porch having coffee. [Laughs] And thats really interesting. Right. Everybody wants to hear that. I sat down and I thought, Ive got to answer this. And thats when I sent out the tweet that, you know, went viral about being raped by Bill Clinton. And I had to have the help of my grandson because I kept getting too many words in it and Twitter wouldnt allow it to go through. So he walked me through what to do even though he did not know what I was tweeting. And so I tweeted, you ready? I was 35 years old when Bill Clinton, Ark. Attorney General raped me and Hillary tried to silence me. I am now 73.it never goes away. I punched tweet and all hell broke loose. I mean, this is a story thats been out there for decades, but I guess I didnt realize the power of Twitter. My phone was ringing off the wall, with reporters wanting interviews and my son called me and said, What have you done? Then Hillary Clinton removed the statement from her website that said women have the right to be believed. Yeah, after my tweet. I just didnt realize the power in the words that you put on Twitter. I wish Twitter had been around in 1999 right when I did the Dateline interview. Juanita Broaddrick speaks to members of the media in the spin room after the second U.S. presidential debate at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. Photo: Andrew Harrer What made you endorse Trump? I became a Trump supporter late in the campaign. And when people ask, Why did you support a man such as Trump, I say, Donald Trump gave Bill Clintons victims a voice that we had been denied for two decades. And they say, Well, why did you go to that debate? Well, I had been told for two decades to go back in the woodwork, I didnt matter. So here was my opportunity to be heard in a huge public forum. I just couldnt have imagined that happening to me after all these years. And people say, Do you feel used by the campaign? I dont know what I feel. I just feel glad that I had that opportunity to bring this to view again. You know, if we were used, I dont care. Whatever his reasons were when he asked us to the second debate, I thought I would finally be able to tell my story to millions of people who had never heard it before. Thats why I went. In other words, he may have done it for political reasons. He may not care. But he still provided an opportunity for you to tell a story that youd been unable to tell for all these years. Right. I thought it was important not only because of Hillary running but because who she would take to the White House with her. And did telling your story there give you any relief? Oh my goodness, yes. That was the best experience of my life. We had no idea that that press conference was going to take place. We were taken by Trumps hotel on the way to the debate and told he wanted to meet us. We went up to a large room with all kinds of refreshments and we waited for him to come. He came in and graciously talked to us and told us how sorry he was for what wed been through. And then all of a sudden we were ushered into this room next to the large room and heres this long table. And we were told where to sit, Kathleen and Paula and Kathy Shelton and I. We all looked at each other and we followed their orders because we didnt know what we were doing in there. And so in a few minutes, Mr. Trump came in again. I heard him say, You can let them in. We had no idea what he was talking about. Then all of a sudden the doors open and here come all these cameras and reporters. And we all looked as shocked as those reporters, who were looking back at us. And then all of a sudden Mr. Trump says, These ladies perhaps have something they would like to say. We had no idea I am thinking that somebody was supposed to tell us and forgot or they were possibly afraid that we wouldnt do it. So, it was all off the cuff for you? Yep. But Im happy I did it. Id do it all over again. Some people who are sympathetic to your story and believe you are still surprised and disturbed that you supported Trump because he himself has been accused of rape and sexual assault. Whats your response to that? I know that people came forward after the second debate. And they came out again recently. I know nothing about these cases. The only one I know about is my own rape. But they have the right to be heard. What if you had learned Trump had raped someone. Or what if someone who sounded as credible as you do had accused him of rape? Would that have changed anything? I would not have supported him if I had heard anybody had come forward with what I came forward with and what I experienced. Some people who supported Hillary Clinton in the primary and general of course are criticizing Bill Clinton for the first time. Senator Gillibrand, and writers like Matt Yglesias, for example, now say that Bill Clinton should have resigned over Monica Lewinsky. Why do you think that is? Their bravery comes up now, when the Clintons have lost their power. They mention Lewinsky but not you. Why do you think that is? Its like they are tiptoeing into the abyss and cant quite reach me yet. Hopefully they will in time. Maybe they still dont believe it happened or maybe its just too hard to imagine. That is their right. But I do still feel vindicated by those who have admitted they were wrong so many years ago about me. Michelle Goldberg, for example, is another journalist who supported Hillary Clinton but has mentioned your case. She wrote an op-ed at the New York Times called I Believe Juanita. What do you think caused someone like Goldberg to write this? Some of those that did come forward did surprise me. Its hard to know why. Id like to think that those people truly believe me. But after you go through decades of being harassed and ridiculed you have to wonder where theyre coming from now and what their motive is. It does please me to hear them say that. But I want people to be sincere. I dont want them to come forward and say I believe her because this is what my political party wants me to do. I want them to say it because they truly feel and they know that its the right thing to do. If she was sincere, I commend her for her comments. Lots of media on the right asked you to comment on Roy Moore ahead of the Alabama Senate race in December. What are your thoughts on him and the allegations against him? You know, I think that all of those victims have the right to be heard. But I also believe they should have to go through all of the intense scrutiny that I had to go through. Thats only fair. But do you think the intense scrutiny of you was fair? They were unfair but not because of the scrutiny. After I was scrutinized to the point that I was, they didnt believe that it was true. That was my problem with the media. You know, with Roy Moore, I give the benefit of the doubt to a victim because I am one. I honestly think history will prove that the Roy Moore allegations brought out how the Democrats will protect the Democrats and Republicans will protect the Republicans. And thats just not the way that it should be. You shouldnt care whether its a Democrat or Republican if someone has a valid allegation. And I think that this just came to a head when Chris Hayes tweeted what he did. That started a new awakening. Speaking of a new awakening, what are your thoughts on #MeToo? Its positive and such an interesting story, how it evolved ten years ago with one little girl wanting to tell someone what was happening to her. After all the revelations of Weinstein, Alyssa Milano revived it and because of her star status it caught on. Its a very good thing. Women and girls, men and boys who had been silent for so long could, in one instant, come forward. The movement of course could not answer to each individual of the thousands who came forward but it brought awareness. As you know, Time magazine made the Person of the Year the silence-breakers from the #MeToo movement. Time had asked you before they made their selection for a comment on the movement. I was happy to do that. I thought those women were brave. When I found out they had been chosen as Times Person of the Year, I was happy and looked for my comments. But they werent there. Do want to share the comment that Time did not include? Its a different time now. Women arent taking it anymore. For decades we were told men will be men, just deal with it. Now these allegations are being brought to a level playing field and victims deserve the respect to be heard. It is a revolution that we must be careful not to allow the pendulum to swing to any extreme until the investigative process is completed. Youve expressed hurt and anger about feminist groups ignoring your story. Going forward, is there anything they could do to bridge the divide you feel? Is there anything youd want them to say? Say they were wrong. Say they should not have had such a close liaison with the Clintons, and that they should have done the right thing. What do you think the important lessons from your story are? What I think that we can learn from all of this is that all people regardless of sex, regardless of anything, have the right to say no and expect to be treated accordingly. But when nos not taken for an answer, then victims must be heard loud and clear. 1978, Van Buren, Arkansas: Bill Clinton on a visit to Juanita Broaddricks (right) nursing home. Some people who find your story credible find it hard to understand why you hold Hillary Clinton responsible in any way. [Other than feeling] like Hillary made a threatening statement to you in 1978 at an event for Bill, what else do you hold against [her] in terms of enabling? After the in person threat to me in 1978, I took special note of how Hillary treated other victims of her husband in the years that followed. She referred to victims of her husband and male colleagues as whiny women and waged an all-out war on any woman who came forward or were rumored to have allegations not favorable to her familys political goals. This is why I remained silent until I was outed by the Paula Jones lawsuit. Were you surprised by the recent revelations that Hillary Clinton had not fired an adviser [Burns Strider]who had been accused of sexual harassment, even though her own campaign manager recommended he be fired? Hillary Clintons actions of protecting her male staffer [Burns Strider] accused of sexually harassing a young female staffer did not surprise me. Hillarys relationship with this man as a faith adviser was important to her personally. Therefore, the young womans degrading assaults took a back seat to Hillarys own needs. Just because Hillary is a woman does not automatically translate her championing other women, especially if it does not fit her agenda. I truly wonder how all the feminists will spin their continuing support of Hillary Clinton when they discover she sold us all down the river for her own personal and political aspirations. And what else do you want us to know about you and your thinking? You know, somebody asked me recently what am I proud of. And if I should go to my grave right this minute, what would I regret the most. Im proud of my son. And my grandson. And the one thing Im afraid of is that I will go to my grave without forgiving Bill Clinton. Its just something that I cant do. My pastor has asked if we need to pray about this, if there is something we need to do to give me peace. And I, just, Im not there. Rubaga Cathedral priest Rev Fr Deogratius Kateregga Kiibi Seizing a rare opportunity that brought together almost all Ugandas celebrities under one roof, the charismatic Rubaga Cathedral priest Rev Fr Deogratius Kateregga Kiibi went bare knuckles. Using his homily during the requiem mass for fallen artist Mowzey Radio also known as Moses Ssekibogo, Father Kateregga more often than not permuted the sombre mourning mood in church into that of laughter and applause. Mowzey died yesterday morning from head injuries sustained following a bar brawl in Entebbe on January 22. Let Mowzey Radio death be a warning to others who want to die in similar circumstance, he said. He said whoever caused Mowzey's death will will to live with that fact for the rest of their life and will also have to answer to God once they also die. Father Kateregga advised Ugandan celebrities to learn how to handle their fame and money and stop living wasteful lives. He urged them to return to God and not only be brought to church in coffins for requiem mass and service. Kateregga reminded Ugandas celebs that the talent that has given them the fame and money is after all God-given, and the gift they give back to God, is how they use that talent. Kateregga said at least Mowzey was a regular in church, always taking his children for baptism. Mowzey had 3 wives and six children. He [Mowzey] was an inspiration to so many people. So many young people were looking up to himYou [celebs] have people who are following you, people who look up to you. Celebrities normally have silent people who are following them and its important that you touch those peoples lives in a positive. he said. Some women these days look too expensive, driving posh cars but with uprooted money from men. I normally pity the men who love you, he added. Mowzey Radio's casket in church during the requiem mass Quoting American TV host and philanthropist Oprah Winfrey, the priest said, we must all be mindful of the kind of legacy that well leave behind. Legacy are not the cars you have, the buildings you have or the investments that you have made. People are very important in anyone's life and how you relate with people is also very importantLegacy is the people you inspire...Don't let your money become a curse to you by spending it on booze and women., he said. Learn to handle life of fame. However rich, everybodys coffin will be squared and not round. Nobody will be buried on an acre of their land. Even your own children or spouse will not mourn for you forever. There will come a time when they have to move on. The priest said between the ages of 0-20 years is the time for a human being to set themselves for life after parents' support. Ages 20-30 years, is the period of mistakes, the film and show phase of human life. During this period, he said, one can make mistakes so long as you dont get killed, arrested or annoy God. From the age 30 to 40 years, he said is a period of seriousness, years of investments, years of marriage. This period is the most productive period of the human life according to the priest. Father Kateregga said its a pity that Mowzey died aged just 33, most productive period of his life. Some of the mourners in church. Photos: Nicholas Bamulanzeki The priest said, when some Ugandans get money, they become extravagant, not on their families but to the worshipping world. Some even fail to pay school fees for their own children or even take care of their familys needs. He said to the worshipping fans, the celebrity is a hero but some celebrities are seen as a burden in their own families. They abandon their wives and children; choosing instead to spend most of their time in bars and with 'artificial' friends. When trouble kicks in, it is your wife, your children and family who will be by your side, he said. Multitudes of people only turn up for your funeral, he added. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley cheeringly announced in the Budget, the government has crossed the disinvestment target for this financial year. In the last budget, he pegged the disinvestment target at the highest ever level at Rs 72,500 crore. Jaitely said, "I am happy to inform the House that we have already exceeded the budget estimates. I am assuming receipts of Rs 1,00,000 crore in 2017-18." He set a Rs 80,000 crore disinvestment target for the coming financial year. First of all, disinvestment is not a happy phenomenon as it's like selling one's own properties to meet the expenditure at home. Obviously, cash flow shortage is the issue. If you keep that issue aside, since we need to move ahead without financial hiccups, the government has achieved the target primarily putting the egg from one basket to another. The government sold its entire 51.11 per cent stake in the public sector undertaking (PSU) Hindustan Petroleum Corp (HPCL) to another PSU Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and raised Rs 36,915 crore. Without this deal, which the government did just a day before the budget, the disinvestment number would have been much lesser than the target or would have been just around half. Though ONGC is a cash rich hydrocarbon upstream player, the company slightly over stretched its balance sheet for the deal. In addition, the oil refiner HPCL is a worthy asset to hold in a scenario where the oil price is rising. Another PSU, which the government continuously taps is Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC). It has invested Rs 44,000 crore in the equity markets between April-November this year, a rise of 52 per cent over the year-ago period. In the first half of the current fiscal, the life insurance major had more than doubled its investment in equities to Rs 39,224 crore from Rs 18,000 crore. LIC chairman V K Sharma told media recently, "This year the government's disinvestment program has picked up in the first half and, we, being the long term investor have invested there." Again, it is a PSU which is heavily funding the government's disinvestment programmes. Again, a day before the budget, the government has fixed the coupon rate of up to 7.68 per cent for the Rs 80,000 crore recapitalisation bonds, which will be issued to 20 PSU banks during the current fiscal for meeting the regulatory capital requirement and growth needs. Bank recapitalisation bonds are being issued as part of the Rs 2.11 lakh crore bank recapitalisation plan of the government. Here also, the government issues bonds to PSU banks and collects the money (not as currency) and round trips it back to the banks. Jaitley said in the budget speech that the government has approved listing of 14 PSUs, including two insurance companies, on the stock exchanges. The government has also initiated the process of strategic disinvestment in 24 PSUs, including strategic privatisation of Air India. In another deal, the government targets to merge three public sector general insurance companies - National Insurance Company, United India Assurance Company and Oriental India Insurance Company - and go for its public issue. Can the government do the disinvestments without the help of PSUs? It may be a tough task even in this buoyant market. IGP Sindh given 10 more days to arrest SSP Rao Anwar ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Thursday admonished Sindh Inspector General of Police (IGP) AD Khawaja while granting him 10 more days to arrest suspended Malir SSP Rao Anwar, who is accused in case related to extrajudicial killing of Naqeebullah Mehsud. A three-member Supreme Court bench comprising Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar, Jutices Umar Ata Bandial and Justice Ijazul Ahsan was hearing a suo motu case on murder of 27-year-old Naqeebullah Mehsud, who was allegedly killed by Rao Anwar and his team in a fake encounter on January 17 in Karachi. Appearing before the court on notice, the IGP requested the court to order intelligence agencies to assist police for the arrest of Rao Anwar, which the court accepted and directed the Inter-Services Intelligence, Military Intelligence and Intelligence Bureau to provide their complete support to the Sindh Police for arrest of Rao Anwar. The court ordered protection to the witnesses of the case, besides directing FIA chief to seek Interpols services to search Rao Anwar through data from all the airports of the world. AD Khawaja also submitted a seven-page progress report on the case. The chief justice noted that the investigation report has found Naqeebullah as innocent, adding that the deceased was severely tortured in police custody. He observed that the state has been blamed for Mehsuds murder, adding that those who were responsible for providing security to the citizens have been accused of killing them. What police force was doing when Rao Anwar attempted to flee the country before going into hiding, the chief justice asked AD Khawaja, adding that his attempt to flee was foiled by a brave daughter of FIA Immigration department. The chief justice admonished AD Khawaja that why did police was not on alert at all the airports of the country, adding that the court saved his job when Sindh government tried to get rid of him. AD Khawaja then offered to tender his resignation, saying that all resources were being utilized to arrest Rao Anwar. He said all the phones being used by Rao Anwar have been switched off. To a court query, he said police teams were active in Lukki Marwat, Islamabad and interior Sindh to trace and capture him. He said police did not have facility to trace WhatsApp communication, thus it had written to ISI and IB for assistance. The court held that contempt proceedings would be initiated against Rao Anwar if he failed to appear. The court also barred media from airing messages or statements of Rao Anwar. A representative of the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) told the court that there were four private airplane operators in the country and all of them had submitted their sworn statements declaring that Rao Anwar did not use their aircraft to leave the country. He also submitted a report by CAA director general containing record of private flights that flew out of Pakistan between January 10 and 29. He said three flights of private jets had taken place during this period. To a query, he said a contractor had used the jet owned by Malik Riaz to fly abroad during these days. The court then directed that an affidavit of Bahria Town CEO Ali Riaz be submitted in next one or two days in this regard. A letter written by Naqeebullahs father was also submitted in the court, to which the chief justice assured him of justice. Indian magazine addmited Kulbhushan Jadhav as Naval Officer KARACHI: The magazine Frontline that is published by publishers of the well-known newspaper The Hindu, which has not only acknowledged that India is engaged in a covert war but also said that Jadhavs arrest and conviction by the Pakistan Army has underlined the need for New Delhi to review its policies. The admission made by the Frontline is all the more significant because a similar report discussing Jadhavs career as an agent of the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) was canned just a few weeks ago. So much pressure was brought to bear on the staff of The Quint that it pulled the damning report from its website for rechecking some of the information mentioned in the article. In his article in the Frontline, Praveen Swami writes: Ever since 2013, India has secretly built up a covert action programme against Pakistan that was initially led by National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and now by RAWs Anil Dhasmana. The programme registered unprecedented success, according to him. ...But the story of the man on death row [Jadhav] illustrates that this secret war is not risk-free. Lapses in trade-craft and judgement, inevitable parts of any human enterprise, can inflict harm far greater than the good they seek to secure, Swami says. Praveen Swami writes regularly for the Indian Express. His articles publication in the Frontline, and not in the Express, suggests that the latter may have declined to publish it. The article says that Jadhav joined the Indian Navy in 1987. Inducted into the Navy in 1987, with the service number 41558Z, Kulbhushan Sudhir Jadhav would likely have been promoted to the rank of commander after 13 years of service, in 2000, it says. But the digital archive of the Gazette of India, a public document, has removed all files relating to the Defence Ministry for several months in 2000. Files in subsequent years bear no record of Jadhavs retirement.... The Indian government has claimed before the International Court of Justice that Jadhav is a retired naval officer, but it has declined to state exactly when he retired. In response to a written question from this writer, the Naval Headquarters declined to confirm or deny whether Jadhav was a serving naval officer. Instead, it referred this writer to the Ministry of External Affairs. The ministry, in turn, said it had nothing to add to whatever is already in the public domain, says Swami. In general, nation states simply deny any ties to individuals arrested for espionage. Thirteen Indians are being held in Pakistan on espionage charges, and 30 Pakistanis are in Indian jails, but in not a single case has either country officially concerned itself with its agents fate. The article quotes unnamed sources as saying that Jadhav volunteered for secret service. Few sign up for these kinds of dangers, recalls a senior intelligence official who met Jadhav on one occasion. His was a choice of exceptional courage. However, there was a catch, a senior naval official told the writer. The commander [Jadhav] was insistent that he be allowed to remain on the Navys rolls to secure his promotion and pay, he said. The Navy didnt have a system for off-the-books operatives overseas, so this was how it had to be. The spy initially worked for Naval Intelligence, but later moved on to the Intelligence Bureau. He came in contact with RAW in 2010. (He) was greeted with consternation at RAW, where he first appeared in 2010, introduced as a former naval officer. Anand Arni, the head of RAWs Pakistan desk, shot down proposals for Jadhav to work with the organisation, sources said, arguing that the naval officer had little intelligence that RAW did not already possess, says Swami. But small cash payments, the source added, were made to Jadhav by successive RAW chiefs, beginning with K.C. Verma a standard practice to maintain a working relationship with potential sources, said an official familiar with the payments. Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI), the parent company of the leading pan-African financial institution, has been selected as a private sector partner of choice by the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) in its mission to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all. The Presidents of Senegal and France are co-hosting GPEs 2018 Financing Conference, aimed at replenishing its financial resources, which commences in Dakar today. GPE is seeking to raise US$3.1 billion from donors to support the education of children in developing countries over the next three years. Its goal is to enable governments to increase their education expenditure to 20% of their overall budget. GPE is currently active in 31 of the 36 countries that make up Ecobanks pan-African footprint. Commenting on Ecobanks involvement, Serge Ackre, Managing Director of Ecobank Senegal, said: Senegal is achieving significant economic progress thanks to investing 24% of its budget in education, setting up a countrywide programme of state-funded nurseries and providing free universal access to schooling. By co-hosting GPEs financing conference, Senegal is asserting its rightful position as an educational blueprint for other African states to follow. Ade Ayeyemi, Ecobanks Group CEO, concluded: Ecobank is proud to be the first banking group to join forces with GPE to advance educational outcomes across Africa. GPE is seeking to leverage our experience of working with African governments, DFIs and global technology leaders to develop digital solutions that will facilitate more targeted investment in Africa's education systems. We all need to unite to help shape Africas future by equipping our children with the skills for success in the digital world. Only together can we force the pace of change necessary. Source: Daniel Adu Darko/Peacefmonline.com/[email protected] Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video A six-unit classroom block and teachers bungalow for Tousa L/A Primary School in Wa East awarded on contract in 2011 have been abandoned, forcing pupils and teachers to undertake lessons under trees and in crumbled old rooms. The School with enrolment of 220 and located in the Wa East District of the Upper West region was expected to have completed in 2012 but was soon deserted after the presidential and parliamentary elections. Mr Yussif Moomin, Headteacher of the School, told the Ghana News Agency on Thursday that the education facility also lacked furniture for both learners and teachers, a situation officials say could weaken morale in the setting. He appealed to education authorities and duty-bearers to take swift action to revamp the dumped project and alleviate the plight of children and staff as the psychological and health implications of learning under trees could be severe. Information gathered by the GNA indicated that the contract was awarded in 2011 and work started immediately but halted soon after the 2012 polls, and the then District Chief Executive also secured a parliamentary seat. The situation in the school learning environment has created overcrowding in classrooms as multiple classes have been merged and the pupils forced into the collapsed rooms. According to GNA checks repeated attempts by the then District Chief Executive, Mr Abudu Abdul-Karim who took over the administration in 2014 to get the contractor back to continue the project proved futile. Mr Bayorn Dramani, the Assembly Member for Tousa Electoral Area said the issue of abandoned projects has become a song, people sing on daily basis yet is not yielding any positive result which he claimed had culminated in the upsurge of classes under tress in the Wa East District. At the moment the pupils are pairing classrooms, class two and three pupils are always kept in a single classroom and some of the pupils are sitting under tress to observe classes, he said. Others also sit in a shed provided by the PTA [Parent Teacher Association], but during the rainy season when its cloudy and ready to rain, we do allow them to run into the structure, he added: We complained to the assembly but theyve also failed us. However, Mr Evans Kpebah, the Upper West Regional Education Director who is also the Acting Wa East District Director of Education, when contacted by the GNA confirmed the six-unit primary school project had essentially been dumped but could make out the contractor responsible for the project. I have sketchy information about the school project, the project commenced in 2011, it is actually true that it has been abandoned, he said: it is roofed but the floor is not plastered, no windows and no doors put in. According to sources, the contractor is Mr Tanko and he is from Bawku, and I dont know who awarded the contract, that is all what I can say about the project, he added. The GNA monitoring team to the school also showed that the current classroom structure being used was dilapidated and had no doors and windows fixed, making the learning environment prone to domestic animals sharing the facility with humans. The District Chief Executive for the Wa East district, Mr Moses Jotie, said he was aware of the uncompleted school building but pleaded for more time to have full report on it. His plea followed, weeks of contacts by the GNA to have him speak on the matter, and how the Assembly could help salvage the 220 pupils and their teachers from having regular lessons under trees and in overcrowded classrooms that expose learners and teachers to health risk. Source: GNA Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Kennebunk Post Extensive work on the steeple, the Aaron Willard Jr. clock and the weathervane of the 1824 building is complete. 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 Welcome Guest! You Are Here: Botswana, which is the worlds second largest diamond producer in volume and value terms, registered a 17 percent drop in rough exports in 2017 to 36.03-billion pula ($4-billion). Reuters, citing the countrys central bank data, reports that the drop was due to poor demand in the second half of the year. The central bank data showed that Botswana earned $70 million in December from rough exports from the previous months $378, 5 million. Botswana exported $4.02 billion of rough in 2016, according to the Bank of Botswana. Fourth-quarter exports leapt to $1 billion from $114.1 million, a year earlier. Botswanas total exports, which are dominated by diamonds, grew by 21 percent in 2016 from the previous year, mainly as a result of the recovery in the diamond market. Mathew Nyaungwa, Editor in Chief of the African Bureau, Rough&Polished Thank you for reading! Please log in, or sign up for a new account and purchase a subscription to continue reading. If You Go Curtains will rise on the Wizard of Oz at 7 p.m. tonight and Saturday night and 2:30 p.m. on Sunday at the Seguin High School Performing Arts Center. Tickets are $15 for adults or $10 for students at the door or $12 for adults and $8 for students pre-sale. If you are currently a print subscriber but don't have an online account, select this option. You will need to use your 7 digit subscriber account number (with leading zeros) and your last name (in UPPERCASE). US District Judge finds unconstitutional Florida's process to restore voting rights to disenfranchised felons | Main | New York makes deal to bring (sort-of) free electronic tablets to all state prisoners February 2, 2018 Are Governors considering capital clemency inclined to give great weight to capital jurors calling for a commutation? In my sentencing class, we have been talking about all the different players in the sentencing drama, and those stories often come into especially sharp relief as we move into our capital punishment unit. And, coincidentally, after an execution in Texas last night, Ohio has the next scheduled execution in the US so that my students can have a front-row seat concerning all the players that become involved in the sentencing drama as a death sentence gets ever closer to being carried out. Against that backdrop, the question in the title of this post arises as a result of the news, reported at the end of this article: Ohio "Governor Kasich has faced calls in recent weeks to spare Tibbetts because attorneys say he suffered from opioid addiction. On Thursday, a former juror in Tibbetts capital murder trial wrote a letter urging Kasich to grant him a reprieve. The juror said he has since seen mitigating evidence that he had never seen at trial and he would not have recommended the death penalty if he heard about Tibbetts history of abuse and addiction." The full text of the intricate four-page letter from juror Ross Allen Geiger to Ohio Gov Kasich is available at this link. It makes for an interesting read, and here an excerpt: All of these things lead me to one conclusion and that is that the system was and seems to be today very flawed in this case. The State of Ohio (through Hamilton County) called on me to fulfill a civic duty one that included an unenviable task of possibly recommending death for another man. I fulfilled this duty faithfully. Governor, if we are going to have a legal process that can send criminals to death that includes a special phase for mitigation shouldnt we get it right? Shouldnt the officers of the court (primarily the defense attorneys) treat the life or death phase with great attention to detail and the respect it deserves? In conclusion, Tibbets is guilty and has forfeited forever his right to freedom. If the death penalty is reserved for the worst of the worst, that is murderers that truly have no potential for redemption, then I ask you to grant mercy to Tibbets. Based on what I know today I would not have recommended the death penalty.... February 2, 2018 at 11:34 AM | Permalink Comments This letter is evidence of inadequacy of counsel, Bruce. Juror did not learn a material fact that may have influenced the verdict or thesentencing Is an appellate court ruling of inadequacy of counsel a per se ruling of negligent lawyer care and of lawyer malpractice? No lawyer has wanted to answer that question for the past 5 years. A statute is need making that so. Posted by: David Behar | Feb 2, 2018 2:41:02 PM Isn't clemency the forum for 'everything else,' i.e. information such as juror letters that would likely be inadmissible in any preceding legal proceeding? Posted by: John | Feb 3, 2018 12:41:33 AM Enjoy the show, DAB Posted by: anon | Feb 3, 2018 11:53:27 AM I think governors should consider everything in the case including what the jury did not hear. I don't think a juror necessarily gains a privileged position by being randomly chosen to hear the case. There is always some evidence that is a double-edged sword (like defendant's use of drugs) that will be considered mitigating by some jurors and aggravating by other jurors. Defense counsel has to make a judgment call based on experience as to how most jurors react to that evidence. The fact that one juror who served on the case would have considered such evidence mitigating does not necessarily mean that the governor should place a lot of significance on that fact. Posted by: tmm | Feb 4, 2018 11:39:47 AM That one of the jurors who voted for death now leans hard towards life would give me some pause about going forward with an execution. I'm not suggesting that should be dispositive, but I'm not surprised to see it offered as part of a clemency application Posted by: John | Feb 4, 2018 10:46:45 PM Post a comment Texas completes its thirs execution of 2018 | Main | US District Judge finds unconstitutional Florida's process to restore voting rights to disenfranchised felons February 1, 2018 Prez Trump speaks again about prison reform at the 2018 House and Senate Republican Member Conference As noted here a few days ago, President Donald Trump in his very first State of the Union address said that prior reform was on his agenda for the coming year. Lest anyone think he was not serious about this issue, today in remarks at the 2018 House and Senate Republican Member Conference he spoke again about the topic. From this official transcript, here is what Prez Trump had to say today: We can reform our prison system to help those who have served their time get a second chance at life. And Ive watched this, and Ive seen it, and Ive studied it. And people get out of prison, and they made a mistake. And not all some are very bad, but many are very good. And they come home and they cant get a job. Its sad. They cant theres they cant get a job. Now, the best thing weve done to fix that, Paul, is the fact that the economy is just booming. I mean, that fixes it better than any program we can do, anything we can do at all. But the economy is so strong now and so good, and so many companies are moving in that I really believe that problem its a big problem is going to solve itself. But were working on it. I find notable (and a bit amusing) Prez Trump's assertion about prison reform that he has "studied it" (and I am not quite sure what "it" he is referencing). Moreover, because I hope to see significant reforms coming out of Congress, I am bit concerned that Prez Trump is here also suggesting that the prisoner reentry problem "is going to solve itself." Still, with Prez Trump's two statements this week about prison reform, following a White House meeting on this issue a few weeks ago, it now seems he is genuinely interested in this topic. That reality bodes well for the prospect of some measure of federal reform making it through Congress and to his desk. But what developing reform might specifically look like, and just how it gets implemented, are the critical follow-up realities. And, of course, nothing should be considered a done deal in DC until it is truly a done deal. A few prior recent related posts: February 1, 2018 at 11:49 PM | Permalink Comments Post a comment "Mass Incarceration: New Jim Crow, Class War, or Both?" | Main | Prez Trump speaks again about prison reform at the 2018 House and Senate Republican Member Conference As reported in this local article, headlined "John Battaglia jokes with his ex-wife before being executed for killing their girls while she listened in horror," a death sentence was carried out tonight in Texas. Here are the details: John David Battaglia went out with a joke and a grin. Battaglia, 62, offered no apologies and showed no remorse for killing his daughters at his Deep Ellum loft in 2001. He seemed jovial, strapped to a gurney while witnesses arrived to watch his execution at the state's Huntsville Unit. As they filed in, he looked around and asked, "How many people are there? Oh, that's a lot." The one-time accountant even said hello to his ex-wife, Mary Jean Pearle, who was there to watch him die. "Well, hi, Mary Jean. I'll see y'all later. Bye," he said. "Go ahead, please." He closed his eyes for several moments, and shortly after the lethal injection was administered, he looked at the chaplain at his feet, smiled and asked, "Am I still alive?" Battaglia grinned and then sighed. "Oh, here, I feel it," he said. It took about 22 minutes for him to be pronounced dead at 9:40 p.m. Battaglia was the third man executed this year in the nation, all in Texas, and the second killer from Dallas put to death this week. His execution brought an end to a lengthy legal battle to spare his life. He was twice granted a stay so his mental competency could be evaluated, and his attorneys filed last-ditch efforts Thursday to delay the execution. Battaglia received national attention in May 2001 after he gunned down his 9-year-old daughter, Faith, and 6-year-old Liberty at his Deep Ellum loft while their mother listened helplessly on the phone. At the time, he was on probation for hitting his ex-wife, the girls' mother, and she had been trying to have him arrested for violating that probation. "Mommy, why do you want Daddy to have to go to jail?" Faith was told to ask her mother, moments before the girl begged for her life. "No, Daddy. Don't do it." Last week, his attorneys filed a request for a stay of execution to the U.S. Supreme Court saying that Battaglia did not fully understand why he was being put to death. "Although he is aware of the state's rationale for his execution, he does not have a rational understanding of it," appellate attorneys Michael Mowla and Gregory Gardner wrote. Battaglia, himself, said in a 2014 interview with The Dallas Morning News that he didn't recall committing the crime and still considered the girls his "best little friends."... In his Texas appeals, his attorneys wrote that Battaglia was "convinced that his trial and conviction were a sham" and that his death sentence was all part of a conspiracy involving "the KKK, child molesters and homosexual lawyers."... A state judge and the state appeals court, however, described Battaglia as highly intelligent, competent and not mentally ill. They argued he was faking mental illness to avoid execution. Testimony at a hearing showed Battaglia used the prison library to research capital case rulings on mental competence and discussed with his father the "chess game" of avoiding execution.... Pearle, the killer's ex-wife and the mother of his victims, was at the Huntsville Unit on Thursday to witness his execution almost 17 years after she listened to Faith and Liberty die and pleaded for them to run away from their father. On Thursday, she leaned in as close as she could to the window separating the witnesses from the death chamber. Pearle watched as Battaglia's breathing grew heavy and then stopped. "I've seen enough of him," Pearle said as she walked away. Prez Trump speaks again about prison reform at the 2018 House and Senate Republican Member Conference | Main | Are Governors considering capital clemency inclined to give great weight to capital jurors calling for a commutation? February 2, 2018 US District Judge finds unconstitutional Florida's process to restore voting rights to disenfranchised felons As reported in this local press article, "Florida routinely violates the constitutional rights of its citizens by permanently revoking the "fundamental right" to vote for anyone convicted of a felony, a federal judge ruled Thursday." Here is more about this notable ruling: U.S. District Judge Mark Walker said the Florida "scheme" unfairly relies on the personal support of the governor for citizens to regain the right to vote. In a strongly-worded ruling, he called the state's defense of voter disenfranchisement "nonsensical," a withering criticism of Gov. Rick Scott, the lead defendant in the case. "Florida strips the right to vote from every man and woman who commits a felony," Walker wrote. "To vote again, disenfranchised citizens must kowtow before a panel of high-level government officials over which Florida's governor has absolute veto authority. No standards guide the panel. Its members alone must be satisfied that these citizens deserve restoration The question now is whether such a system passes constitutional muster. It does not." Walker wrote: "If any one of these citizens wishes to earn back their fundamental right to vote, they must plod through a gauntlet of constitutionally infirm hurdles. No more. When the risk of state-sanctioned viewpoint discrimination skulks near the franchise, it is the province and duty of this Court to excise such potential bias from infecting the clemency process." The judge condemned a system that he said gives "unfettered discretion" to four partisan politicians, and cited as proof a comment Scott made at one hearing when he said: "We can do whatever we want." Scott's office issued a statement late Thursday, hinting at an appeal. "The discretion of the clemency board over the restoration of felons' rights in Florida has been in place for decades and overseen by multiple governors," said a statement attributed to Scott's communications director, John Tupps. "The process is outlined in Florida's Constitution, and today's ruling departs from precedent set by the United States Supreme Court."... Scott was the principal architect of the current system that requires all felons to wait at least five years after they complete their sentences, serve probation and pay all restitution, to apply for right to vote and other civil rights. Scott and the Cabinet, meeting as a clemency board, consider cases four times a year, and usually fewer than 100 cases each time. It can take a decade or longer for a case to be heard, and at present the state has a backlog of more than 10,000 cases. Scott imposed the restrictions in 2011, soon after he was elected, with the support of three fellow Republicans who serve on the Cabinet, including Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam, now a leading candidate for governor. Scott's actions in 2011 reversed a policy under which many felons, not including murderers and sex offenders, had their rights restored without application process and hearings. That streamlined process was instituted in 2007 by former Gov. Charlie Crist, then a Republican and now a Democratic member of Congress. "We've known this policy was unjust, and today a federal judge confirmed it's also a violation of constitutional rights," Crist wrote on Facebook.... Walker's decision came nine days after the state approved a ballot measure that, if passed in November, would automatically restore the voting rights of about 1.2 million felons, not including convicted murderers and sex offenders. That proposal will appear as Amendment 4 on the Nov. 6 ballot in Florida. A leader of the initiative is Desmond Meade of Orlando, a law school graduate of Florida International University and a convicted felon waiting to have his rights restored. Meade said the judge's decision validated the work of more than a million Florida voters who signed petitions that helped get the measure on the ballot. "The system is broken, and now we know not only is it broken, but the courts are saying it's unconstitutional," Meade said. Walker, who was appointed by President Barack Obama, ruled that Florida's lifetime ban on the right to vote violates the First and Fourteenth amendments to the U.S. Constitution, which are the guarantees of freedom of expression, due process and equal protection under law. Throughout his 43-page ruling, Walker cited the arbitrariness of Florida's system. Felons routinely have been denied their voting rights because they have received speeding tickets or failed to pay child support. "So the state then requires the former felon to conduct and comport herself to the satisfaction of the board's subjective and frankly, mythical standards," Walker wrote. "Courts view unfettered governmental discretion over protected constitutional rights with profound suspicion."... The judge gave both sides in the case until Feb. 12 to file briefings on how to permanently remedy the constitutional deficiencies in Florida's system. Scott and Cabinet members are scheduled to hear the next round of clemency petitions in March. District Judge Walker's 43-page opinion is available in full at this link. Because I am a fan of expanding the franchise as much as possible, I am always pleased to see a ruling that has the potential effect of broadening voting rights and remedies. But because Florida's restoration procedures are styled as a form of clemency and court have historically be chary about finding constitutional problems with or limits on clemency powers, I am unsure if this ruling will withstand likely appeals. February 2, 2018 at 12:26 AM | Permalink Comments Doug, it makes me really sad that eight of the last eight comments on your blog have been made by supremacy claus. I used to enjoy, and learn from, comments by serious and intelligent people. bruce Posted by: bruce cunningham | Feb 2, 2018 6:23:15 AM This is amazing---felons may be disenfranchised by the state, and it's to the governor to restore them. Why is this hard? Oh, because the Democrats need felons to win elections. Posted by: federalist | Feb 2, 2018 8:01:51 AM Voting is a fundamental right, deprivation has to be done particularly carefully, and there isn't a total exception here for those convicted of felonies, serve their time and eventually seek to regain their right to vote. This applies to the current process. There is also the wider argument shared by the professor here who repeatedly supports Republicans when it advances his goals of expanding the suffrage generally. For everyone, be it Democrat, Republican or other. It is quite true that felony disenfranchisement by purpose often effect over the years tends to in various cases involve certain groups. The laws were specifically drawn up with this in mind. To be blunt, this is totally unsurprising and being adults, we shouldn't really be shocked by any of it. Of course, one might find the results troubling, like some (be it by Democrats or Republicans) don't like political gerrymandering. The fact that Democrats, in certain cases, will benefit from fundamental rights being fully honored is duly noted. Posted by: Joe | Feb 2, 2018 10:20:13 AM Take it to the bank, the 11th circuit is going to reverse. This is garbage judicial activism and the opinion reads like it. Posted by: The Prince | Feb 2, 2018 10:34:41 AM bruce: this thread shows interested persons will sometimes comment more than SC. I share your sadness that SC uses this comment soap-box so much more than others. But his rants tend to be shorter these days, and I am always hoping they will be less frequent. federalist: American colonists were heard to cry "Taxation without representation is tyranny." If we are going to preclude felons from voting, I would be incline to also exempt them from taxation if we are to be true to the spirit of our founding. Why is this hard? Posted by: Doug B | Feb 2, 2018 10:42:53 AM Bruce. You want to silence dissent from the hegemony of your sick criminal cult enterprise over our government. I am with the ACLU, the remedy to offensive speech is more speech, not censorship. Your specialty stinks. It is in utter failure. We do not even need robots or algorithms to replace you. You can be replaced by an email service between the prosecutor and the defendant. All you do is hand carry plea offers. You know that better than I do. You need more dissent, not less. Then on appeal, you just play the loophole game, and allow the 20% of clients who are innocent to be chewed up by this failed system. You stink. You are a disgrace. Posted by: David Behar | Feb 2, 2018 10:59:02 AM Mr. Behar, great job there showing the value of free expression. This isn't a town square. It's Professor Berman's dinner party, and he has every right to ask a guest to leave if that guest persists in rudely monopolizing the conversation and angrily calling other guests offensive names. Yes, yes, I know. I'm a disgrace, my job stinks, the world would be better off if I received the Italian death penalty, blah, blah life skills students. Posted by: Publius | Feb 2, 2018 11:23:41 AM Given that the 14th amendment recognizes that voting rights may be removed upon conviction I do not see this surviving. There doesn't have to be _any_ process for restoration, that Florida does is to its credit even if that system is Byzantine and rigged against the felon. Posted by: Soronel Haetir | Feb 2, 2018 11:51:57 AM Given some of the recent First Amendment ruling from the United States Supreme Court, I can't tell what the "right" (i.e. following the current law) result is at the Eleventh Circuit. On the one hand, the State does not have to have a clemency process, but Florida does. If they establish a process, does it have to have sufficient guidelines to prevent it from being arbitrary and capricious? Is it a First Amendment violation if the process permits the clemency determination to discriminate based on the applicant's viewpoint (or perceived viewpoint)? If so, how do you avoid the First Amendment issue. Posted by: tmm | Feb 2, 2018 1:58:01 PM It is not Prof. Berman's dining room. Billions of people are not invitees there. It is Prof. Berman's sidewalk, where he may not exclude people on the basis of the protected classes, or on the basis of viewpoint. He owns the sidewalk in front of his house, and must compensate people who fall, pay a fine for not shoveling the snow, but he may not exclude any invitee, except by time and manner. Lawyer dumbass Volokh, a national First Amendment expert, also had trouble understanding that. I have told Prof. Berman I am not interested in his blog for this subject of litigation. However, I am interested in Facebook/Twitter/YouTube and other left wing, disloyal abominable sites. Posted by: David Behar | Feb 2, 2018 2:46:26 PM Because this is a new right being promoted, one may resist the pretextual attempt to increase the number of registered Democrats. The overwhelming majority of lawyer are Democrats. The overwhelming majority of criminals will be Democrats. There are millions out there, to tip the balance for the Democratic party in our divided nation. I have proposed that felons start their own businesses and stop depending on others. If they ever listen, they will be voting for the Republican Party as they see the regulatory obstacles at every step of trying to run a business. The other way to make someone register as a Democrat is to give them a share of a major corporation for Christmas. Posted by: David Behar | Feb 2, 2018 2:51:02 PM Publius. You criticize repetition. You would have more credibility if you mocked the repetitive posts of this blog pushing the false idea of low crime and decarceration. These are ridiculous, and relentless. This blog requires a busy Truth Squad. Posted by: David Behar | Feb 2, 2018 2:52:56 PM But Mr. Behar, it's more fun to mock your repetitive posts. If I mocked Professor Berman, he'd simply respond with a level-headed explanation for his approach. You, on the other hand, fairly froth at the mouth and write three frenetic comments in the space of six and a half minutes. By the way, your sidewalk analogy is wrong. Professor Berman cannot exclude someone from his sidewalk. He can click his mouse and exclude anyone he wants from this blog, and it is entirely his right to do so. His decision to date to allow you free expression here is discretionary. Posted by: Publius | Feb 2, 2018 3:25:02 PM That exclusion is a court or legislative question. If Facebook invites 2 billion people, it may not exclude any based on viewpoint. Thanks for your candor that your comments are personal attacks. Posted by: David Behar | Feb 2, 2018 3:35:12 PM "federalist: American colonists were heard to cry "Taxation without representation is tyranny."" Heald v. District of Columbia (1922): "Finally, it is earnestly contended that the act is void because it subjects the residents of the District to taxation without representation. Residents of the District lack the suffrage, and have politically no voice in the expenditure of the money raised by taxation. Money so raised is paid into the Treasury of the United States, where it is held not as a separate fund for the District, but subject to the disposal of Congress, like other revenues raised by federal taxation. The objection that the tax is void because of these facts is fundamental and comprehensive. It is not limited in application to the tax on intangibles, but goes to the validity of all taxation of residents of the District. If sound, it would seem to apply not only to taxes levied upon residents of the District for the support of the government of the District, but also to those taxes which are levied upon them for the support generally of the government of the United States. It is sufficient to say that the objection is not sound. There is no constitutional provision which so limits the power of Congress that taxes can be imposed only upon those who have political representation." Posted by: Teed-Off Party | Feb 3, 2018 4:08:07 AM You are 100% right, Teed-Off, that there is not formal constitutional principle that says those who are taxed have to have voting rights. Kids and foreign nationals earning significant money in US, for example, still have to pay income taxes without voting rights. And my travel to another state for vacation, where I will end up paying hotel taxes and sales taxes, does not bestow me with voting rights. That said, the key point is that we as a nation are founded in some part on the basic notion that those who bear the burdens/responsibilities of citizenship through tax responsibilities ought also get the benefits/rights of citizenship through voting rights. If one approaches the issue in deeply partisan ways --- as partisan federalist is inclined to do for lots of issues --- there can be lots of justifications for shrinking/growing the franchise at a moment in time: e.g., the GOP would likely be well served politically by trying to raise the voting age to 21, and Dems would likely be well served politically by saying everyone over 70 needs to come with a competency certification as well as an ID when seeking to vote. But if one approaches the issue with a deep commitment to democratic values and participation --- as I do --- then there should be a strong starting premise that everyone in the polity has a right to vote absent a very strong and enduring reason for disenfranchisement. As I have written in the past, I do not think committing a crime should, standing along, every be the basis for disenfranchisement. And there is even evidence to suggest that allowing felons to vote furthers public safety interests. Posted by: Doug B | Feb 3, 2018 11:44:36 AM "Given that the 14th amendment recognizes that voting rights may be removed upon conviction I do not see this surviving. There doesn't have to be _any_ process for restoration, that Florida does is to its credit even if that system is Byzantine and rigged against the felon." I think the cited provision has been too broadly applied (agree with the dissent in Richardson v. Ramirez, cited by the judge here) but once a process is set up, it has to follow "due process." Circuit precedent (cited) so states. The ability to remove does not mean any system in place is legitimate. At the very least, the ability to remove didn't stop the Supreme Court from saying the purpose for doing so must not be racially discriminatory. (Not saying as such this one is for the purposes of this comment.) Hunter v. Underwood. The reach of Ramirez is unclear and is ripe in my opinion for re-examination. The professor's latest comment is well taken. But, appeals to 18th Century slogans applied more narrowly at the time only takes us so far. They are appealing though as seen by the usage of the Declaration of Independence in ways that would appall certain signatories. Posted by: Joe | Feb 3, 2018 12:28:23 PM SC you state: "He owns the sidewalk in front of his house, and must compensate people who fall, pay a fine for not shoveling the snow, but he may not exclude any invitee, except by time and manner." But you forget DB lives in Ohio -- he doesn't have to pay for persons like you or me who slip and fall on his unshoveled sidewalk. A homeowner has no common-law duty to remove or make less hazardous natural accumulation of ice and snow on private sidewalks or walkways on homeowner's premises, or to warn those who enter upon premises of inherent dangers presented by natural accumulations of ice and snow, regardless of whether the entrant is a social guest or business invitee. Brinkman v. Ross, 68 Ohio St. 3d 62 (1993). So do us all a favor, and realize you are not Immanuel Kant -- your categorical imperative -- concerning snow and ice is not categorically embraced in Ohio -- instead, common sense rules --pay attention to the weather because a homeowner is not an insurer vis-a-vis mother nature. Posted by: ? | Feb 3, 2018 9:09:37 PM ?. My comment is about Free Speech on private property. Tort liability was an illustration of property ownership. Posted by: David Behar | Feb 4, 2018 5:44:30 PM Post a comment 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. Theres more than one intricate stitch sewn into the fabric of writer/director Paul Thomas Andersons Oscar-nominated Phantom Thread (Focus). As the final film of retiring actor Daniel Day-Lewis, its not only a high point for the performer who already has three Oscars to his name, but also for the filmmaker and supporting cast members. Reynolds Woodcock (Day-Lewis) is a sought-after couturier in 1950s London with A-list clients running the gamut from stunning Belgian and British royalty to dowdy, drunk, wealthy Americans. A most demanding man, not only of himself, but also of his devoted business associate sister Cyril (Oscar-nominee Lesley Manville), whom he refers to as my old sew and sew, his staff of seamstresses, and whomever is the current object of his affection. Woodcock is straight (Day-Lewis did play gay in the brilliant My Beautiful Launderette), despite his magenta socks and grooming regimen. Following an especially awkward breakfast scene between Reynolds and his live-in lover Johanna (Camilla Rutherford), Cyril wastes no time in dispensing with her, as it is agreed that she is impeding the dressmakers creative process. During a weekend trip to his country home, Woodcock encounters clumsy, but efficient waitress Alma (Vicky Krieps, as sort of Luxembourgian Meryl Streep) and is immediately smitten. So much so that he asks her to dinner. Dinner leads to a fitting in his workshop and, before you know it, Alma is moved in to the bedroom next to Reynolds in his London house. Even Cyril, who notes that while Alma doesnt have much in the way of breasts and has a bit of a belly, she is the perfect muse for this point in Reynolds creative and personal life. Alma soon discovers that not only must she compete with Cyril for Reynolds attention, but also his needy high-end clients, and the ghost of his dead mother. The relationship remains on a steady course for a while and Reynolds becomes more affectionate and giving of himself to Alms. However, his mood shifts, bordering on being on the bipolar spectrum, threaten to destroy everything. It wouldnt be a Paul Thomas Anderson movie without some kind of fascinating twist, and Phantom Thread unspools its surprising turn of events in a way that is either terrifying or hilarious, depending on your point of view. As they did in Sofia Coppolas The Beguiled remake, mushrooms play a prominent role in Phantom Thread, as perhaps the most bizarre aphrodisiac ever swallowed. Almost everything about Phantom Thread is visually striking. From the Bristol sedan Reynolds drives to his home and workspace to the social events attended by Reynolds and Alma. It goes without saying that the range of fashions, including both the daily wear and the exquisite haute couture creations, is nothing short of breathtaking. There is, no doubt, a potential Oscar-win in costume designer Mark Bridges future. Rating: A- More than 1.2 million people are living with HIV/AIDS in the U.S., including more than 498,400 who are Black, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF). HIV diagnoses among Blacks are concentrated in a handful of states, with ten accounting for the majority (68 percent) of Blacks living with an HIV diagnosis at the end of 2014. Florida closely follows New York at the top of the list, according to KFF. Blacks comprise nearly 16 percent of the adult population in Florida but represent 47 percent of adult HIV infection cases, and 52 percent of adult AIDS cases were reported in 2014 according to AIDSVu. The rate of black women living with an HIV diagnosis is nearly 18 times that of white women. The rate of black males living with an HIV diagnosis is 4.5 times that of whites. Wilson Williams (not his real name) is one of them he received the diagnosis in 1997. The 51-year-old said the news was devastating. I thought it was a death sentence, he recalls. I used to feel cursed, like God hated me for being gay. But that was then. HIV treatments have come a long way so has Williams. The West Palm Beach resident returned to college in his 40s and earned a bachelors degree. He has a new job, a 14-year committed relationship, and hes been sober for three years. I have a new respect for life. I am now more present. I want to do more than survive; I want to live! But living well is not so easy for many black people with HIV/AIDS. The fight against HIV/AIDS is still looking tough under President Trump. His administration does not have a National Director of AIDS Policy; a shift from previous administrations, and late last month the president fired the entire council that advises the White House about the HIV/AIDS epidemic. The uncertainty about policy remains as blacks, especially, young black, gay men, the demographic where the majority of new HIV infections are occurring, are hit the hardest. Blacks maintain the highest death rate among all populations diagnosed with HIV. If current rates persist, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) projects that approximately one in 20 black men, one in 48 black women, and one in two black gay and bisexual men will receive a diagnosis of HIV during their lifetimes. Why? In part because of poverty, lack of access to health care, racial inequality and stigma. Stigma remains one of the many barriers in the fight against HIV/AIDS within the black community, said Lorenzo Lowe, Director of HIV Prevention at Compass the Gay & Lesbian Community Center of Palm Beach County. Unfortunately, we as a community are remaining silent about our needs and our fears. The judgment and shaming surrounding HIV/AIDS tend to be more harmful than the disease itself. Adherence to treatment will promote longevity and quality of life. However, it is the narrative of life ending at HIV positive that needs to change. National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day (NBHAAD) is Feb. 7. The 2018 theme is Stay the Course; the Fight is Not Over!" NBHAAD aims to raise awareness of HIV/AIDS prevention, care, and treatment among Africans Americans in the U.S., as well as serve as a catalyst to mobilize the African American community. The NBHAAD initiative leverages a national platform to educate, bring awareness, and act with organizers planning activities and events, particularly in cities with the highest prevalence of HIV/AIDS in African American communities. Testing is another key aspect of NBHAAD. Testing helps reduce the transmission of HIV. Early diagnosis allows those infected to take steps to protect their partners from infection, and early treatment can lower viral load, and reduce the risk of transmitting HIV to others by 96 percent. Preventive medicine is the best medicine, said Williams. Get tested. Be proactive. I wish I had been tested sooner. Treatment helps people with HIV live healthy lives and prevents transmission of the virus to partners. But too few African Americans living with HIV receive the care and treatment they need. The CDC estimates that of the roughly half a million African Americans living with HIV in 2013, 87 percent were aware of their status. And a recent CDC study suggests that among African Americans with diagnosed HIV, less than half (49 percent in 2013) have achieved viral suppression (that is, the virus is under control at a level that helps them stay healthy and reduces the risk of transmission). Williams is one of them. His viral load has been undetectable for years. These days, he takes two medications, in the morning and before bed. I feel healthy, he said. HIV or not. To find a list of HIV testing locations near you, visit https: www.HIV.gov/locator. Black Art Awakening at the Pride Center The Pride Center at Equality Park hosts a Black Art Awakening as part of its NBHAAD commemoration. A spoken word artist will share her story of living with HIV. (add image from jpeg) Compass hosts a dinner for NBHAAD on Tuesday, Feb. 6. The event begins at 6 p.m., there will be a presenter and food will be served. Anyone interested in attending should RSVP to Alejandro Rodriguez at 561-533-9699 ext. 4003 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Compass is located at 201 N. Dixie Highway in Lake Worth. When Donald Chauncey took over for the late Mike Anguilano as Miami-Dade Public Library System's Film Librarian in 1982 he never dreamed that he'd one day be labeled Dade Countys official pornographer," by a local Miami pastor. As film librarian, Chauncey, a self-proclaimed gay man, his job was to find ways to grow the library system's film collection and give it exposure. In the 1980s this was quite a job. With over 5,000 film reels, Miami-Dade's film collection was among the largest belonging to a public library in the country. During this week in 1987, Chauncey felt he would put a modern spin on the American Library Association's Banned Books Week and screen a series of banned X-rated films. He chose La Cage aux Folles, a Franco-Italian comedy about a gay couple that runs a drag show club and later influenced the popular 1996 film The Birdcage. He also chose to screen Last Tango in Paris, which was controversial due to its very explicit content which include a graphic rape scene. Once the library system began promoting the series of screenings, which were to take place after library hours and only those above the age of 18 were to be admitted, Jesus Fellowship Church of Miami pastor Rick Patterson stepped forward arguing that films depicting pornography or homosexuality should not permitted inside a publicly funded tax paying facility. Chauncey argued that the films were not being screened to the masses but rather shown on the context of censorship. He said that each film was chosen for its artistic merit, and for its reason for censorship, whether that be homosexual themes or sexual/moral reasons. He also went on to add that the library system had received a private grant for the program and tax payer monies were not being used. Despite this, it wasnt long before one publication quoted Patterson as calling Chauncey Dade Countys Official pornographer, Patterson argued to a Miami News reporter that there was no purpose in showing the movies. The idea that by showing a previously banned movie to endorse its position against censorship is ludicrous. He went on to say that if he didnt stop it now Miami could find itself full of pedophiles by 1990. Patterson was stunned when not only did county commissioners side with the library system, but the film screenings ended up being complete sell outs. He was indeed successful in raising awareness, but not the opposition he was hoping for. Patterson can probably inadvertently be thanked for creating the appreciation for some of the controversial cinema displayed here and paving the way for more. It was this appreciation that likely allowed Chauncey to go on to create the Queer Flickering Light (QFL), Miami's first LGBT film festival in 1993. The festival, which happened twice and took place at The Colony Theater in Miami Beach, featured films such as "Raising Heroes" which touted being the first LGBT action hero film and David Schimmer's gay portrayal in the 35 minute short "Party Favor." Screenings later at night featured sexier films such as Mel Chionglo's "Midnight Dancers," an erotic Filipino thriller about three brothers who consider themselves straight, but work as gogo dancers (and more) at night. While the film festivals were fairly well received, Chauncey said he had hoped to have David Schwimmer present, but he claimed to have a prior commitment. Chauncey said in an interview with Barron Sherer in the Miami Rail magazine that "...we [the LGBT community/advocates] could fill the Colony Theater with a film about lesbian body piercing, which everybody thought six people would go to. Whatever we screened at QFL was near capacity. There was a hunger for this programming. I wanted to replicate the conversations that were going on in gay communities across the United States." Now living the retired life, but still active in Miami's film scene, Chauncey told me he was not interested in putting on annual festivals, but simply wanted to "prime the pump" for someone else. It did eventually morph into OUTshine, South Florida's current LGBT film festival. Chauncey still thinks it was a fantastic experience for him and it allowed him to meet his all time hero, Quintin Crisp. Maybe once being labeled Dade County's Official Pornographer wasn't such a bad thing after all. In the end we all seem to crave, what we're told we can't have. Mister Act, the drag show parody of the 1990 film, Sister Act, starring Whoopi Goldberg, will be performed for one night only Friday, Feb. 2 at the Parker Playhouse, 707 NE Eighth St., in Fort Lauderdale. Produced by Latrice Royale Inc. and Peaches Christ Productions, the show marks its South Florida debut with RuPauls Drag Race alumni Latrice Royale and Willam as the lead stars, along with Peaches Christ, Heklina and a slew of Miami drag queens in the supporting cast. We planned this about a year ago, probably, looking at the calendar and deciding to try to bring this show to Fort Lauderdale, said Christ, aka Joshua Grannell, who is perhaps best known as the host of his cult movie send-up, San Franciscos Midnight Mass. And the only way to do it really is to work with all this amazing local talent. Heklina, Willam and I come from out of town but the rest of the cast is local, pretty much. Florida local. One is from Jacksonville. Theyre not all from Fort Lauderdale but from the region. Christ is a filmmaker and screens movies in San Francisco with drag shows. Ive been doing that for a long time, Christ said. Actually, 1998 is when we started so this is my 20th anniversary of creating these shows. Even though Christ created the drag parody of the film, Sister Act, ironically enough, he admits hes never actually watched the original musical. As writer and director of the show, he partnered with Royale and Willam to bring it to a mainstream audience. We performed it in San Francisco, Seattle and Portland, and Latrice had said Id love to do it in Fort Lauderdale someday because thats my hometown and kind of show them this other side of me, Christ said. Theyve never seen her act in a play before. In Mister Act, Royale stars as a struggling Reno, Nevada drag performer who accidentally witnesses the murderous side of her showgirl sister, LeWanda Balenciaga, played by Tiffany Fantasia. Fantasia says the parody has been tweaked up a little bit from the original film. I am...lets just say, Im not the best person. Im a mean person in the play, Fantasia said. When [producers] were putting everything together, they were like oh Tiffany, youre perfect for this role. So I was like hell yeah, get me in it. So I jumped right in. Much like in the original movie, Royales main character is forced to re-enter the closet and hide in a convent, fleeing to Fort Lauderdale to impersonate a nun at a church in the urban ghetto of Wilton Manors. There, she meets the choir of nuns, including Sister Willam, who has a hidden talent for singing and tucking but just needs it to be brought out...her voice, that is. Reverend Mother Christ encourages Royale to direct the failing church choir, much to the dismay of the grumpy choir director, Sister Heklina. Instead of teaching the choir to sing because we suck so bad, she actually teaches us to lip synch, Christ said. Its still very much a parody. Its a drag show. And we all kind of get to be ourselves to some degree while playing other characters. The choir members are played by some of Miamis drag talent, including reigning Miss Florida F.I. Kalah Mendoza, reigning Miss Miami Beach Gay Pride Joanna James, Elishaly D'Witshes and Tayanna Love. Also in the cast are Rose Boca Jaya and current reigning Mr. and Miss Pride South Florida, Judas Elliot and Delores T. Van-Cartier, who is actually really named after the title character from the original film. Im one of the nuns, but for me, its a little special because my name actually came from Sister Act, Van-Cartier said. The whole thing is almost like a tribute to me. Just the perk and playing off the name and what the show is actually about, its a lot of fun. Im glad to be a part of it. Added Elliot: Im really excited to be a part of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I actually have four roles. I am a guido. I get to be a leather daddy. I am the lieutenant, and Im also the very flamboyant bishop. So I get to be quite versatile, if you will. Bringing Mister Act to South Florida happened by chance. Christ and her friend, Heklina, a drag queen and entrepreneur who founded San Franciscos TrannyShack, do an annual cruise, called Queens Overboard. This years cruise runs from Feb. 4-11 and departs out of Fort Lauderdale, going to Key West, Costa Maya, Cozumel and Grand Cayman. Last year, Christ and Heklina did the cruise with Royale and fiancee Christopher Hamblin, who both live in Fort Lauderdale. When we realized we were going to be here to do the cruise, we checked to see if Willam was available. If the dates all worked out, we could all be together in Fort Lauderdale at the same time, which sounds a lot easier than it is, usually, Christ said. Christ and Royale met a few years ago after she appeared in season four of RuPauls Drag Race. When Royale came off the show, Christ had a screening scheduled for the documentary movie, Paris is Burning. I asked her if she wanted to come and be a part of a ball that we threw in the theater with real ball folks, Christ said. Latrice had been a part of ball culture and had judged things before. So she came and did a performance and actually helped me co-host this whole ball we threw in the Castro Movie Theatre; and then we screened the documentary. For me, I was like that was amazing, I love Latrice. The two did a few other projects together, including working at the San Francisco Symphony, where Christ was producing an event. But I really wanted to do a show for Latrice, and it was actually Willam who suggested we do a parody of Sister Act with Latrice, Christ said. I was like, thats brilliant. Willam had previously starred in a Peaches Christ production of Clueless: Get a Clue, a parody of the 90s Alicia Silverstone film, playing the title role of Cher. For Mister Act, he said he wanted to play against type and be the little white nun an acting stretch because I get to be naive and innocent and sweet. Coming to Fort Lauderdale is a treat for Willam, who visits Florida (Boca Raton, Orlando, Cocoa Beach) at least three or four times a year. Christ promises theres a big Willam moment in the show, so Willam fans wont be disappointed. Tickets for Mister Act are available at https://www.browardcenter.org/events/detail/mister-act. Use ticket code MRACT to save 15 percent. Ramzan Kadyrov, the Chechen President, maintains there were no gays in his country. Kadyrov declares there is no truth to claims LGBT people are being persecuted in Chechnya, PinkNews reports. Kadyrov also told the BBC gays had been operating as foreign agents defending human rights in the small country located in southern Russia. Kadyrov has been accused of human rights atrocities. There are widespread reports of Chechen authorities rounding up and imprisoning LGBT people. Last summer the U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution condemning the anti-gay violence in Chechnya. RELATED: Evil In Russia Kadyrov told PinkNews the reports are fabricated by human rights activists for financial gain. He reportedly told a representative from American television channel HBO that if there are gays in Chechnya they should be taken away to purify our blood. On the Jan. 10, the U.S. Department of State released a statement saying they were troubled by the arrest of Oyub Titiev, a Chechen human right activist. This is the latest in a string of reports of alarming recent human rights violations in Chechnya, said spokesperson Heather Nauert, in a press release. We call on Chechen authorities to immediately release Mr. Titiev and allow independent civil society to operate free from harassment and intimidation. The State Department is urging Russian Federation officials to intervene on Titievs behalf to ensure his rights and protections according to the Russian constitution. Kadyrov is considered a strong supporter of Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin. Le Collectif Cheikh Yassine a organise un certain nombre dactivites et de festivites pour les enfants de Gaza sous le theme La joie des enfants de Gaza pour lAid . Ces activites ont commence le premier jour de lAid et continue jusquau 4eme jour de lAid dans la bande de Gaza. Plusieurs activites, ont ete organisees parmi lesquelles : des competitions recompensees par des prix, des jeux, des animations et des chants presentes par un groupe ainsi que des distributions de cadeaux et daides financieres. A new international study involving The Australian National University (ANU) has found a plane of dwarf galaxies orbiting around Centaurus A in a discovery that challenges a popular theory about how dwarf galaxies are spread around the Universe. Co-researcher Associate Professor Helmut Jerjen from ANU said astronomers had previously observed planes of dwarf galaxies whirling around our galaxy, the Milky Way, and the neighbouring Andromeda. He said the latest finding challenged a long-held theory among cosmologists and theoreticians that there were thousands of dwarf galaxies in all directions around these large galaxies like bees swarming around a hive. "Cold dark matter theory made astronomers believe that the best studied galaxies in the Universe - the Milky Way and Andromeda - are the odd ones out," said Dr Jerjen from the ANU Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics. "It seems that our Milky Way and Andromeda are normal galaxies after all, and spinning pancake-like systems of satellite galaxies are more common than scientists expected." Dr Jerjen said dwarf galaxies were distributed in planes that were almost perpendicular to the disks of the Milky Way, Andromeda and Centaurus A. "Even the best cosmological simulations struggle to explain the phenomenon of these small galaxies revolving in one direction around host galaxies," he said. Dr Jerjen conducted the study in collaboration with Dr Oliver Muller from the University of Basel in Switzerland, Dr Marcel Pawlowski from the University of California, Irvine, in the United States and Dr Federico Lelli from the European Southern Observatory in Germany. Dr Muller said it was likely most large galaxies in the Universe have had a close encounter or merged with another galaxy at least once in their life. "Co-rotating dwarf galaxy systems could have formed during such interactions. In this scenario dwarf galaxies should be devoid of dark matter," he said. The Milky Way and Andromeda are spiral galaxies, while Centaurus A has both elliptical and spiral features. Centaurus A is about 13 million light years away from Earth. The most well-known dwarf galaxies around the Milky Way are the Magellanic Clouds, which are visible to the naked eye from the southern hemisphere. "Scientists have identified close to 50 dwarf galaxy candidates around the Milky Way - most of them are aligned in a plane orbiting the centre of the host galaxy," Dr Jerjen said. "Most of the dwarf galaxy candidates that my colleagues and I observed around Centaurus A are arranged this way, and it's a similar case with at least half of them around Andromeda." Dr Jerjen said the latest research will have major implications for future cosmological work. Please follow SpaceRef on Twitter and Like us on Facebook. International Space Station managers have rescheduled a U.S. spacewalk postponed on Monday to mid-February. Meanwhile, the Expedition 54 crew is also preparing for a Russian spacewalk this Friday. Astronauts Mark Vande Hei and Norishige Kanai are planning to begin their spacewalk Feb. 15 at 7:10 a.m. EST to stow and reposition a pair of Latching End Effectors (LEEs). The LEEs are robotic hands attached to the tip of the Canadarm2 that grapple and release cargo ships and external station hardware. During the 6.5-hour excursion, the spacewalkers will first move an older LEE from a bracket on the Mobile Base System on the truss to the Quest airlock. It was removed from Canadarm2 during a spacewalk last October. Next, a degraded LEE detached from Canadarm2 during the last U.S. spacewalk on Jan. 23 will be moved from an external stowage platform to the Mobile Base System. NASA TV will begin its live broadcast of the spacewalk at 5:30 a.m. Cosmonauts Alexander Misurkin and Anton Shkaplerov will exit the Pirs airlock in their Orlan spacesuits Friday at around 10:30 a.m. for 6.5 hours of Russian maintenance, highlighted by the swap out of an electronics system for the Zvezda Service Module's high gain communications antenna. Live NASA TV coverage begins at 9:45 a.m. Earlier today, Zvezda's engines fired for 23 seconds to increase the station's altitude and set up operations for the arrival of cargo and the departure of crew. The Progress 69 cargo craft will launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan Feb. 11, then 3 Expedition 54 crew members will depart the station in their Soyuz MS-06 spacecraft Feb. 27 for a landing in Kazakhstan later that day. On-Orbit Status Report Personal CO2 Monitor Sensor Calibration: Today the crew will perform a single point calibration of the Personal CO2 monitors using and iPad and readings from a Major Constituent Analyzer (MCA) sample port. The Personal CO2 Monitor demonstrates a system capable of unobtrusively collecting and downlinking individual crew members' CO2 exposure for weeks to months. This investigation evaluates wear ability principles in microgravity and also demonstrates Modular Wearable Architecture Base Board, allowing rapid certification of future wearable devices. Rodent Research 6 (RR-6): The crew will remove the mice and restock both of the rodent habitats with new food bars in addition to cleaning the lids and interiors cages of the habitats in support of the on-going RR-6 investigation The Rodent Research-6 (RR-6) mission uses mice flown aboard the International Space Station (ISS) and maintained on Earth to test drug delivery systems for combatting muscular breakdown in space or during disuse conditions. RR-6 includes several groups of mice selectively treated with a placebo or implanted with a nanochannel drug delivery chip that administers compounds meant to maintain muscle in low gravity/disuse conditions. Condensate Water Separator Assembly (CWSA) Desiccant Module (DM) Inspection/R&R: This morning, the crew will inspect the CWSA DM and determine if the salt is saturated. If so, the DM will be replaced. ExtraVehicular Activity (EVA) Operations: Today the crew is performing activities to deconfigure the airlock and Extravehicular Mobility Units (EMUs). Yesterday's EVA was deferred, but much of the preparation had already been completed already. The activities today include EMU water loop scrubs and Simplified Aid for EVA Rescue (SAFER) battery R&Rs. Russian EVA support: Today the USOS crew assisted with preparations for the Russian EVA planned for Friday. They gathered USOS tools and inspected tethers and bags that will be used by the Russian crew. Today's Planned Activities All activities are complete unless otherwise noted. On MCC Go Regeneration of 2 Micropurification Cartridge (start) Filling (separation) of () for Elektron or - COL1D1 AFT panel cleanup In Flight Maintenance (IFM) Waste and Hygiene Compartment (WHC) Urine Receptacle (UR) and Insert Filter (IF) Remove and Replace Russian Extravehicular Activity (EVA) Tool Gather Columbus Video Camera Assembly 1 Adjustment CWSA Desiccant Module inspection Monitoring shutter closure on SM windows 6, 8, 9, 12, 13, 14 US Extravehicular Activity (EVA) Tether Inspection Checkout of DC1 EV hatch 1 pusher status and Protective Ring []. Photography, Photo Downlink maintenance Health Maintenance System (HMS) Vision Test Environmental Health System (EHS) Total Organic Carbon Analyzer (TOCA) Water Recovery System (WRS) Sample Analysis Health Maintenance System (HMS) Vision Questionnaire Crew Consolidates and Relocates COL1F2 Hardware SPHERES Battery Swap Tool Transfer for EVA No.44 from USOS Russian Extravehicular Activity (EVA) Tool Transfer USOS Window Shutter Close Crew Consolidates and Relocates COL1O2 Hardware Tool caddy consolidation for RS EVA-44. Photography, photo downlink, conference with specialists PMM1P2 Rack Relabel Restore COL1D1 AFT panel stowage [Deferred till tomorrow] Extravehicular Activity (EVA) Air Lock Deconfiguration SAFER Battery R&R Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) Swap Personal CO2 Monitor Sensor Calibration Station Support Computer (SSC) 23 Relocate Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) Cooling Loop Maintenance Scrub Initiation Installation of USOS EMU Lights, Video Camera, and REBA on Orlan-MKS No.4 and Orlan-MK No.6. Program Management/ISS CREW Conference Consolidate FCF Hardware and Relocate CVB Control Box, CTB Dividers, and Russian Headset Internal Thermal Control System (ITCS) Sample Gathering Station Support Computer (SSC) 23 Load Preparation Installation of USOS EMU Lights, Video Camera, and REBA on Orlan-MKS No.4 and Orlan-MK No.6 (Operator) Node 2 Low Temperature Loop (LTL) Internal Thermal Control System (ITCS) Sample Collection Crew Choice Event (CCE) High Definition (HD) Config LAB Setup Install Orlan-MKS No.4 Attached Equipment Installation of GoPro on Orlan. Photography and Photo Downlink. Installation of Orlan-MK No.6 Attached Equipment. Installation of GoPro on Orlan. Photography and Photo Downlink. Crew Choice Event Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) Post Scrub Cooling Loop Water (H2O) Sample Node 2 Moderate Temperature Loop (MTL) Internal Thermal Control System (ITCS) Sample Collection Crew Medical Officer (CMO) Proficiency Training Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) Cooling Loop Maintenance Iodination Environmental Health System (EHS) Total Organic Carbon Analyzer (TOCA) Sample Data Record Health Maintenance System (HMS) Spaceflight Cognitive Assessment Tool for Windows (WinSCAT) Test Private Exercise Conference (PEC) with Exercise Specialists Rodent Research Node 2 Camcorder Video Setup Countermeasures System (CMS) Treadmill 2 (T2) Quarterly Maintenance Rodent Research Habitat 3 & 4 Restock In Flight Maintenance Personal Toolkit Audit Regenerative Environmental Control and Life Support System (RGN) Wastewater Storage Tank Assembly (WSTA) Fill EVA Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) Cooling Loop Scrub Deconfiguration Rodent Research Access Unit Clean SPHERES Battery Stow On MCC Go Regeneration Micropurification Unit () 2 Absorption Cartridge (end) Completed Task List Activities Handover Debrief Ground Activities All activities are complete unless otherwise noted. SM Reboost Standard commanding. Three-Day Look Ahead: Wednesday, 01/31: Eye exams Thursday, 02/01: ACE oil dispensing, eye exams Friday, 02/02: Russian EVA QUICK ISS Status - Environmental Control Group: Component - Status Elektron - On Vozdukh - Manual [] 1 - SM Air Conditioner System ("SKV1") - Off [] 2 - SM Air Conditioner System ("SKV2") - Off Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly (CDRA) Lab - Operate Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly (CDRA) Node 3 - Standby Major Constituent Analyzer (MCA) Lab - Idle Major Constituent Analyzer (MCA) Node 3 - Operate Oxygen Generation Assembly (OGA) - Process Urine Processing Assembly (UPA) - Process Trace Contaminant Control System (TCCS) Lab - Full Up Trace Contaminant Control System (TCCS) Node 3 - Off Please follow SpaceRef on Twitter and Like us on Facebook. Coffee Design is proudly sponsored by Savor Brands , your boost in coffeedence through maximizing designs in packaging, sustainability and tech. Philadelphia's Elixr Coffee is a coffee company on the grow. Eight years in, Elixr is cranking out coffee at three cafes, including a fresh roastery and cafe that opened last year. This year, Elixr is rolling out new packaging that's sophisticated and practical. Stackable, shippable, displayable blue boxes with colorful and well-executed labels. We asked Elixr's Evan Inatome to tell us more. When did the coffee package design debut? We just rolled these out on Thursday, January 25th, although the design process has almost been a year in the making. Who designed the package? Smith and Diction, a local company, has been amazing from start to finish. Extremely talented hard-working professionals, they have an honest knack for good design. I just hope they will still be affordable in 5 years! Tell us about the different portraits, illustrations, and labels for the offerings. Our really special single origin coffees always get a hand-drawn illustration. For instance, the one pictured is the great Arturo Aguirre Sr, owner of the legendary (and seven-time COE winning) farm, Finca El Injerto. Our blends also get a custom illustration. The Ethiopia Limu's label is noticeably minimal. Was that intentional? Our standard single origin offerings all have a minimal, but elegant design. We love illustrations, but we also love simplicity. So the single origin label is thoughtful and minimal, but noticeably different from the look of our blends and reserve coffees. Why do you feel aesthetics are important in coffee packaging? One of Elixrs core operating philosophies is to execute everything within our power as best as we possibly can. At the cafe level that means things like finding the best local milk or procuring the best chocolate chip cookies in the city. Its the details and follow-through that are extremely important. So in bringing that philosophy to all aspects of the business, we decided it was time for packaging to get a much-needed redesign. We realized that its a damn shame to let something so special sit in an often-wrinkly package, on an often-disheveled looking retail shelf. So the packaging should be an extension of the coffee experience: thoughtful, simple and elegant. Where is it currently available? Many of Phillys favorite haunts: Federal Donuts, Essen Bakery, Machine Shop Bakery, Knead Bagels, Rooster Soup, Dotties Donuts, Middle Child, Girard, Alchemy Coffee, five points coffee in addition to lots of local Restaurants and grocery stores. Outside of the city, you can find us in Loma and Coffee Mode in Delaware or Azafran, a Baked Joint, and Baked & Wired in the Maryland/DC area. Thank you! Location: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Country: United States Design Date: January 2018 Designer: Company: Elixr Coffee RoastersLocation: Philadelphia, PennsylvaniaCountry: United StatesDesign Date: January 2018Designer: Smith and Diction Zachary Carlsen is a co-founder and editor at Sprudge Media Network. Read more Zachary Carlsen on Sprudge. The story of the miracle horse, Magical Albert, added another chapter Thursday evening at Woodbine Racetrack as the miracle horse celebrated his first ever victory. As outlined in the award-winning TROT Magazine story Survival: The Fight of a Lifetime, Magical Albert has been a fighter since before he left his dams womb. Lucky to be alive let along racing - the four-year-old son of Mach Three-Illusionist was treated to a second-over trip by Jonathan Drury in his $14,000 conditioned assignment at the Rexdale oval on Monday evening, and the gelding wasnt about to let it go to waste. He swung wide coming off the final turn and used a :29.4 closing quarter to prevail by a head over Devils Peak in 1:55.4. Anthony Beaton trains Magical Albert for owner David Lumsden of Ancaster, Ont. Lumsdens celebrated bigger wins as an owner, but theres no disputing he hasnt celebrated a more meaningful victory than the one with this inspirational homebred. To view results for Thursday's card of harness racing, click the following link: Thursday Results Woodbine Racetrack. Missile J was never headed in a 1:50 conquest in the Thursday (Feb. 1) $25,000 headliner at Dover Downs. Sometimes Said was even faster, scoring a scintillating 1:49.3 victory to keep his lengthy win streak alive. Corey Callahan drove a quadruple of winners. Missile J and driver Tim Tetrick took no prisoners in the featured race, taking the lead in :26.3 at the start on the way to an 18th lifetime victory and second in a row. Scott DiDomenico conditions the American Ideal-Cantors Daughter gelding for John McGill and Brian Carsey. It was Missile Js third start in 2018 and second win. Cajon Lightning, with Russell Foster in the bike for the first time, sat second the entire mile. Hypothetical (Tony Morgan), winner of last weeks Four-Year-Old Open, finished third. The event marked the end of a four-race win streak for Little Ben. Back in mid-December, Bobby Glassmeyer picked Sometimes Said, who had a two-race win streak, out of a $12,500 claimer. Since the Well Said-Lady Sometimes gelding step up to win a pair of $25,000 claimers and two $13,000 winners-over paces, including this weeks edition with Jonathan Roberts piloting his sixth win in a row in 1:49.3, good for a new lifetime mark. It was his 15th career win and rises his lifetime earnings to $558,265. Machamillion N (Foster) was second in front of Gerries Sport (Tetrick), third. In the sub-feature, Corey Callahan completed the program guiding Cash Is King, trained by his dad Nick Callahan, to a second straight win in 1:52.2 in a $16,000 pace. L. W. Hood, Bunuccelli, and Breakaway Racing own the Rocknroll Hanover-Showherthemoney gelding. George & Tina Dennis Racings Northwest Yankee started in the second tier before recording a 1:51.4 decision for Mike Cole in a $14,500 test. The win was the first of the new year for the four-year-old Yankee Cruiser-Northwest Hanover gelding. Big Bad Mike (Callahan) was the runner-up; Ponderingjacksfame (Ross Wolfenden) was third. In another $14,500 division Hail To The Master closed with a rush at 11-1 for Kim Vincent to register a 1:52.1 success for owner-trainer Dorothy Ann Conner. The Delaware-bred altered son of Rustler Hanover and Morepowertoya gained a new lifetime record with the win. Goin Down Rockin (Allan Davis) and front-pacing Manceiver (Sean Bier) were second and third respectively. Jet Airway overcame the outside post to win the $25,000-$30,000 claiming handicap in 1:50.4, giving Callahan another of his four victories. Mike Casalino and Dylan Davis own the Jeremes Jet-Aromatic seven-year-old. Reggiano (Morgan) finished second with Whirl Monroe (Vic Kirby) third. (Dover Downs) Christian Community CU's 2018 Scholarships for Success Program is Awarding $60,000 in Scholarships Contact: Hope Smith, Christian Community Credit Union, 626-915-7551 ext 6233, HopeSmith@myCCCU.com SAN DIMAS, Calif., Feb. 2, 2018 /Standard Newswire/ -- Christian Community Credit Union's 2018 Scholarships for Success Program is awarding $60,000 in scholarships. Awardees will receive multi-year scholarships of $1,000 per year! The scholarship program is open to members of Christian Community Credit Union with a Checking Account (newly-opened or existing). The scholarship application deadline is March 31, 2018 and scholarships will be awarded by mid-May. Christian Community Credit Union offers Student Advantage Bankinga money saving program exclusively for students age 16-24. The Credit Union also offers Student Choicea private loan solution to help fill educational funding gaps. Contact the Credit Union for details. To date, the Credit Union has given over $814,000 in scholarships. "The Lord has blessed us with the opportunity to sow financial seeds in our students' academic growth," says David Estridge, Christian Community Credit Union Interim CEO. "In offering the Scholarships for Success program, our hope is to ease some of the financial burden college expenses can cause so they can focus on their education." Christian Community Credit Union has $650 million in assets and over 30,000 members nationwide. For over 60 years, the Credit Union has served as a financial partner of Christian ministries, churches, and their members. For a scholarship application and/or Credit Union membership information, please call 800.347.CCCU (2228) or visit myCCCU.com/scholarship. To download a flyer, web graphics, and scholarship materials, please click here. What Jesus Wants Your Kids to Know Contact: Karen Hennings, Marketing Manager, Lifetree and Group Publishing, 970-292-4131; MyLifetree.com LOVELAND, Colo., Feb. 2, 2018 /Standard Newswire/ -- A newly released book aims to introduce kids to a new friend, Jesus. Notes From Jesus: What Your New Best Friend Wants You to Know, the latest offering from Lifetree and Group Publishing, was created specifically to help young believers learn how Jesus sees them, and wants to be in daily relationship with them. Featuring 28 personal messages written to readers from Jesus' perspective, the book covers topics ranging from "I love being with you" and "I'll never get tired of your questions" to "My friends don't always agree" and "I made you for a purpose." In addition, each message includes an inspirational Bible verse, and practical, kid-sized ideas of how readers can become better friends with Jesus. Craig Cable, director of church publishing for Lifetree, explained the book was designed for children, but can also have a large impact on parents and adults. "This book was created for a simple purpose, to help readers see that Jesus doesn't just want to be their friend, but he wants to be their best friend," said Cable. "It's a message that can have a profound impact as children grow into their faith." Notes From Jesus is the newest offering in the Lifetree Kids line of resources, which includes the popular Friends With God Story Bible. Notes From Jesus released on February 1, 2018, and can be found on MyLifetree.com, Amazon.com, and at other popular Christian retailers. Lifetree is a division of Group Publishing, an interdenominational organization whose mission is to help people grow in relationship with Jesus and each other. Images and interviews are available upon request. In the aftermath of Donald Trumps election, you might have seen maps showing TrumpLand and the Clinton Archipelago, essentially, creating two new geographic bodies out of the areas that voted for Trump or Clinton. Well, Alex Egoshin of Vivid Maps has now applied a similar dynamic to religious faith, creating a new map based on the percentage of people in a given area that believe in a higher power. Redder areas are more religious, while bluer areas are less so. Take, for instance, the Utah Island, where more than 60% of Utah residents are Mormon, so its unsurprising that the state makes up such a large contiguous area of red. By the way, here are the Trump and Clinton maps. Pretty interesting to look at too: Maps are always pretty to the point! Follow us: Facebook and Twitter via Vivid Maps Ancient Rock Carvings in South Central Sri Lanka, and A Jataka Tale Of A Tortoise Who Loved Its Home Too MuchHidden in the rural countryside of Sri Lanka, amidst thick jungles with old growth trees, there are large scale stone carvings that have stood there for centuries.We visited several of these rock and stone carvings, over a period of two days, staying overnight in a lovely jungle resort.They had a large, clean pool and fine dining served poolside.In our cabin room, we had no walls, just thick bamboo trusses lined with mosquito netting, a great outdoor shower, a toilet and a ceiling fan.While we were reading in our comfortable, king size bed, the turndown service arrived. It included tucking us into bed, while attaching a mosquito bed netting around us, and showing us how we can get out of the netting, should we need to pee during the night.At night, we heard the sounds of the jungle and they lulled us to sleep.The symphony included the cries of the peacocks, the songs of jungle birds, the calls of monkeys, the chirping of insects, and the sounds of the young buffalos.It was very harmonic to me.Located about 6km from Bandarawela, nestled amidst the hills, this historic cave temple complex was the sanctuary for King Walagamba.The temple and the carvings date back over 2000 years.This area is located within a ring of mountains, with a river which flows across the plateau.The temple is modest, built on a rock, but it has a beautiful ornamental gateway with very unique paintings on each side.Nearby, there is a large rock with a small white stupa on the top.A 38 ft Buddha image is carved from the rock.This image is not carved very deep into the rock, and there is some deterioration of the lower parts of the carvings.Some say that the shallow carving is an indication that this carving was never finished.To enter the temple, you have to climb down from the top where the small stupa is located, and, passing by a Bodhi tree, you remove your shoes and enter the temple area.To see the carving, you have to walk on the rock outcropping that stretches to the left and behind the temple.Inside the temple there are paintings, belonging to the Kandyan era, which depict various Jataka stories.The Jataka stories are a collection of 550 folk tales, dating back to 300 B.C., that carry a spiritual message or a moral for the people.At the end of this post, I will share one story from the Jataka tales.Located about 8km south of Wellawaya, Buduruwagala is by a lake in a forested area that is alive with wildlife.The name literally means Images of Buddha, and it has the most impressive rock carvings of the ones I am describing here.The images are carved into a grey-blue rock, about 196 feet (90 meters) long and 69 feet (21 meters) high.The largest of the standing Buddha statues is 51 feet (16 m) from head to toe; it is the largest standing Buddha statue on the island.The complex consists of seven statues, and belongs to the Mahayana school of thought.The statues date back to the 10th century AD, but no inscriptions have been found nearby to date it exactly, nor to indicate who created it or what kind of temple once existed here.Perhaps it was a forest hermitage for monks and nuns, who wanted to do their spiritual practices without being disturbed by the outside world.The gigantic Buddha statue still bears traces of its original stuccoed robe and some orange color, suggesting that once, all these images were brightly painted.The central image is of the Buddha.To His right, there are three images; the middle one is the Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara, (the bodhisattva of compassion), and at his side is his female consort, Tara, and Prince Sudhana.Prince Sudhana is also mentioned in the Jataka tales, as a prince who fell in love with one of seven beautiful Kinnari, who were half women, half birds, who came to earth to bathe in a clear lake and got captured.The main figure of three on the left of the Buddha is thought to be Maitreya, the future Buddha, who is standing in the center.To the Maitreyas left stands Vajrapani, a Bodhisattva who is a protector and guide of Gautama Buddha.Vajrapani always holds a vajra, which is an hourglass-shaped thunderbolt symbol.This vajra is a very unusual symbol in Sri Lanka, and it is rarely found on the island, although this Tantric symbol of power is a very common in Tibetan Buddhism, and is often seen in Bhutan, China and Tibet.The figure to the left of Maitreya is believed to be either Vishnu or Brahma.Several of the rock carving figures hold up their right hands with two fingers bent down to the palm a Mudra which encourages and beckons people into the wisdom of Buddhism.The stone images in Maligawila and Dambegoda are located a short walking distance from one another.These massive stone statues are thought to have been created in the 7th century A.D., and to have been part of a huge forest temple complex.Both statues suffered much damage through the years, and laid face down, on the forest ground, for centuries, which is now thought to have actually helped to preserve the facial details of the statues.Attempts to raise the broken pieces and restore the statues to their original location were not successful until the 1990s.Finally, the massive statues, weighing 60 tons each, were restored and placed in their original locations.One must wonder how, in the year 700 AD, the monks were able to quarry a 60 ton slab of stone out of the Far hills, bring it to the temple location and carve it, then raise it up into a standing position, all without any heavy equipment...Perhaps this was a massive human group effort.... but maybe it was one of those mind over matter spiritual powers that these hermit monks might have acquired through spiritual practices...Here are the details:Located about 15 km to the south of Monaragala.The location is popular because of the two colossal stone statues of Buddha, which date back to the 7th century A.D.Both statues are carved from crystalline limestone, taken from the cliffs in the area.One of the statues is 11 meters high and is considered to be the world's largest free standing Buddha figure.It was found broken into three pieces, and was restored with a red brick arch to support it from its back side.Located about 1km from the Maligawila Buddha statue stands the massive stone statue of Avalokitheswara, the Bodhisattva of compassion.It is 10m high and is believed to be of a Divine Being who chooses to incarnate and reside in the human realm, in order to help people attain Enlightenment.This Avalokitheswara looks grand with Her jewelry and fineries, and it radiated so much glowing light, that in the past, marauders believed that there were real jewels hidden inside the statue.As a result, in later years the marauders blew up the statue with dynamite.No jewels were hidden inside.The statue broke into 117 pieces that laid scattered in the jungle, until the extensive restoration job was completed.It now looks wonderful, and hopefully will stay looking glorious for centuries to come.Near the Avalokitheswara statue, we saw a large group of people who had come to worship, perform pujas, have lunch and picnic at this holy site.I think it is wonderful that most of the temples we have visited are still used by the people as blessed places to worship, and have not become museum pieces open only to those who have the funds to pay.These temples and carvings were always made FOR the people, and if in the attempt to preserve them we end up keeping the people away, the places will lose their original holiness.As promised, here is a tale from the Jataka which I have arbitrarily chosen.Or maybe I chose this because it fits my own belief that we grow and stretch higher when we do not cling to the familiar, to what is comfortable, but like me, when we become nomads, roaming the earth in search of wisdom and spiritual Truth....I have changed some of the wording of the tale to make it easier to understand, but the moral of the story is the same.The Tortoise That Loved His Home Too MuchOnce upon a time, when Brahmadatta was reigning in Benares, a Bodhisatta was born in a village as a potter's son.He worked making clay pottery, and soon he had a wife and family to support.At that time, there was a great natural lake close by the great river of Benares.When there was much water, the river and lake became one, but when the water was low, they were apart.Now fish and tortoises know by instinct when the year will be rainy, and when there will be a drought.So at the time of our story, the fish and tortoises who lived in that lake knew there would be a great drought coming, and when the river and lake were one water, they swam out of the lake and into the river and onwards toward the sea.But there was one tortoise that would not leave the lake to go into the river.He said: "Here I was born, and here I have grown up, and here are my parents, my friends and my home.Leave it I cannot!Then when the hot season arrived, the water in the lake all dried up.The tortoise dug a hole and buried himself in the moist clay, hoping to preserve himself with the moisture in the clay until the rainy season came again.Sadly, it was the same place where the Bodhisatta was used to coming, to dig for clay.One day, the Bodhisatta came to get some clay.With a big spade he dug down, and accidentally cracked the tortoise's shell, turning him out on the ground, as though he were a large piece of clay.In his agony, the tortoise moaned:"Here I am, dying, all because I was too fond of my home to leave it, even though I knew the drought was coming.Here was I born, and here I lived, thinking it is my refuge.And now the clay in which I seek my refuge, has played me false in a most grievous way.Thee, I call, oh Bhaggava, hear what I have to say!Go where you CANNOT find comfort.Leave the place where you believe happiness resides.Wherever the place may be,Be it forest or a village,Anywhere, the wise can find her homeAnd there, her new birthplace will be.Go where there is life,Do NOT stay at home for death to master thee...And with these words, the tortoise exhaled his last breath and passed on.The Bodhisatta picked him up, and gathering all the villagers together, addressed them thus:"Look at this tortoise.When the other fish and tortoises went into the great river, he was too fond of home to go with them.When the drought came, he buried himself in the place where I get my clay.Then as I was digging for clay, I broke his shell with my big spade, and turned him out on the ground in the belief that he was a large lump of clay.Then the tortoise recalled to mind what he had done, lamented his fate in a few verses of poetry, and expired.So you see he came to his end because he was too fond of his home.Take care not to be like this tortoise.Don't say to yourselves:I am so blessed, I have sight, I have hearing, I have smell, I have taste, I have touch, I have a son, I have a daughter, I have numbers of men working for me and maids for my service.I have social standings and precious gold.Do not believe that these things offer you protection and joy and are to be craved and desired.Seek only the Eternal Truth, for the things of the world all pass away through the three stages of existence." The state Senate, which in June unanimously approved a bill to allow LA County to give back land to the descendants of the original Black property owners, must vote one more time this week before sending it to Newsom's desk. This seems to be a very balanced and cautious budget which is a good for all. Mitsubishi Electric is a global leader in social infrastructure and the focus of Government of India on infrastructure development is a welcome move excites us. The boost in allocation to infrastructure development like roads, railways, building airports will have far reaching long-term impact and Mitsubishi Electric would be willing to be an active partner in this growth and development story of India. Also the budget outlay of 2.04 lakh crore for the selected 99 smart cities is a welcome step and Mitsubishi Electric has global experience on contributing to such projects which could be leveraged in these projects. @Technuter.com News Service The Union Budget 2018 has taken a huge step in making healthcare affordable and accessible by launching the worlds largest government-funded healthcare programme. The initiative to cover 100 million families with INR 5 lakh per family annual insurance cover is a welcome change. More exposure of the healthcare industry value adds to the Life Sciences sector which will boost the growth of the sector. The governments proposed R&D investments in futuristic technologies artificial intelligence, robotics, big data are sure to be a game changer to our industry. @Technuter.com News Service We welcome the focus of the Union Budget on disruptive technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), Big Data, Internet of Things (IoT) and Robotics. With the renewed focus on Digital India, we hope that the Government of India also consider additional reforms to the telecom sector. Reforms that will create a predictable, flexible, lightly regulated and reliant on technology policy framework that incentivises the businesses to invest, reinvest and to compete in Indias telecom market on a level playing field basis. Reforms that will also provide consumers with greater choices to modernize and simplify regulations for all stakeholders. We are also encouraged that the government is considering series of initiatives to empower the Indian citizens with broadband access thereby bridging the digital divide. Broadband access will spur demand for digital services and usher in a new era of digital revolution, establishing India as one of the most robust ecosystems for investment and innovation in the world. @Technuter.com News Service One of Her Majesty's Government's favourite Islamic fundamentalists will be visiting London this month for a bit of a rah-rah over the amusingly profitable situation in Yemen, and a bit of a blah-blah over how the carnage might best be extended into Iran. The Imperial Haystack had a blather about Britain's and Saudi Arabia's common view of the world in many ways, such as their respective governments' attitudes to democracy and social mobility. He also had a burble about the century-long relationship between the countries, although in the reality most of us share Saudi Arabia has only been in existence since 1932; the Imperial Haystack, sharing Saudi values, equated the kingdom with its founder, a British ally in the First World War. During the present era, Allah having matched him with His hour, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has been merrily purging his enemies at home; which would be enough to excite the envy of a prime minister as beleaguered as our own even if she lacked Tumbledown Tessie's Christian delight in persecution for its own sake. However, the prince's purge is taking place under an anti-corruption rubric, which may well give rise to human rights concerns among some of Britain's more entrepreneurial ministers. Sri Lanka sets up special courts for Rajapakse-era graft AFP, Colombo : Sri Lanka is to set up special courts to investigate charges of corruption amounting to billions of dollars under former president Mahinda Rajapakse, the government said on Wednesday. The move, designed to accelerate the process of trying such cases, follows criticism over the slow pace of justice under the government elected three years ago. President Maithripala Sirisena came to power in 2015 promising to stamp out corruption and punish members of the former administration accused of stealing vast sums from Sri Lanka's coffers during Rajapakse's decade in power. "There will be special three-judge high courts set up exclusively to hear bribery and corruption cases which are currently clogging the lower courts," the government said in a statement. Sirisena has said as many as half of all public procurement contracts under the Rajapakse administration were corrupt and the new government has renegotiated several multi-billion dollar projects. Rajapakse's chief aide Lalith Weeratunga has already been convicted on a charge of misappropriating $4 million and sentenced to three years in prison. Two of the former president's three sons have been charged with money-laundering and other family members face allegations of corruption. Rajapakse, who is not under investigation, denies any wrongdoing and says his successor is carrying out a witch hunt. Official sources said the new courts could start functioning by the middle of this year. KHULNA UNIVERSITY: Students of Electronics and Communication Department brought out a colourful rally on the campus marking the 20th founding anniversary of the Department yesterday. MetLife donates over Tk 1.22cr to BLF fund Business Desk : MetLife, an American life insurance company, Thursday donated over Taka 1.22 crore, a fixed portion of its profit, to Bangladesh Labour Welfare Foundation (BLF) fund, according to an official release. MetLife Chief Financial Officer Alauddin handed over a donation cheque for Taka 1,22,14,424 to State Minister for Labour and Employment Md Mujibul Haque at his office in the Secretariat here, the release said. Addressing the cheque hand over function, the state minister said it is a unique law for the employees of different companies that they get 80 percent of five percent profit out of the total profit of the company. It plays a vital role in developing work environment in the companies and positive impacts on production, he added. According to the release, MetLife donates money to the BLF fund regularly for the welfare of the labour. As per the Labour Law, a total of 95 local and international companies donate one of tenth of five percent of their total profit to the BLF fund. The total amount of the BLF fund now is over Taka 250 crore, the release said, adding that financial and educational assistances are given to the institutional and non-institutional workers and their children. Secretary of Labour and Employment Ministry Afroza Khan, BLF Director General Dr Anisul Awal and MetLife Head of Corporate Affairs Mostak Hossain were present in the function, among others. Russia reveals plan to start offering spacewalks for tourists in 2019 An astronaut goes on a spacewalk outside the International Space Station, where he may soon be joined by tourists. AFP : Russia is planning to send paying tourists on the International Space Station out on spacewalks for the first time, an official from the country's space industry said Thursday. The plan will rely on a new module that could transport up to six tourists to the orbiting space station for a 10-day trip. But, it won't be cheap - officials estimate the space vacation could cost as much as $100 million. 'We are discussing the possibility of sending tourists on spacewalks,' Vladimir Solntsev, the head of Russian space company Energia, told Russian tabloid Komsomolskaya Pravda. 'Market analysts have confirmed this: wealthy people are ready to pay money for this,' Solntsev told the paper. He said the cost of such a trip could be around $100 million (80 million euros), 'possibly less for the first tourist'. The tourists will be able to 'go out on a spacewalk and make a film, (or) a video clip'. Energia, which was behind the launch of the first man in space Yuri Gagarin in 1961, is currently building a new module dubbed NEM-2 to transport tourists to the International Space Station (ISS). Solntsev said the NEM-2, the name of which is still to be confirmed, will accommodate four to six people. It will be fitted with 'comfortable' cabins, two toilets and internet access. 'It should be launched in 2019,' he said. 'Basically it will be comfortable, as much as that is possible in space,' the space official was quoted as saying. He added that American aircraft manufacturer Boeing was interested in becoming a partner in the project. Five to six tourists a year will be able to take a space trip lasting up to 10 days, Solntsev said. Man gets life term for killing BD natl in van attack near UK mosque bdnews24.com : A 48-year-old man has been sentenced to spend the rest of his life in prison, with a minimum jail term of 43 years, for killing a Bangladeshi in an attack near a London mosque last year. Woolwich Crown Court announced the punishment on Friday, a day after finding Darren Osborne guilty. The father of four from had planned "a suicide mission" and expected to be shot dead, Justice Cheema-Grubb said, the BBC reported. "This was a terrorist attack - you intended to kill," the judge told him, according to the report. It also quoted Osborne as saying, "God bless you all, thank you", while being led away from court. Makram Ali, 51, had fallen ill at the scene just before the attack, and police initially said it was unclear whether he had been killed in the incident or had died of other causes. Later, the attack was declared the cause of his death. The father of six, who had come to Britain from Bangladesh at the age of 10, was a quiet man who regularly attended his mosque and enjoyed playing with his grandchildren, his family said. Castro's eldest son 'Fidelito' commits suicide Havana, Reuters : The eldest son of late Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro, Fidel Castro Diaz-Balart, committed suicide on Thursday aged 68 after being treated for months for depression, Cuban state-run media reported. The nuclear scientist, also known as "Fidelito", or Little Fidel, because of how much he looked like his father, had initially been hospitalized and then continued treatment as an outpatient. "Castro Diaz-Balart, who had been attended by a group of doctors for several months due to a state of profound depression, committed suicide this morning," Cubadebate website said. Fidelito, who had the highest public profile of all Castro's children, was born in 1949 out of his brief marriage to Mirta Diaz-Balart before he went on to topple a U.S.-backed dictator and build a communist-run state on the doorstep of the United States during the Cold War. Through his mother, Castro Diaz-Balart was the cousin of some of Castro's most bitter enemies in the Cuban American exile community, U.S. Representative Mario Diaz-Balart and former U.S. congressman Lincoln Diaz-Balart. He was also the subject of a dramatic custody dispute between the two families as a child. Cuba scholars say his mother took him with her to the United States when he was aged five after announcing she wanted a divorce from Castro, while he was imprisoned for an attack on the Moncada military barracks in Santiago. Castro was able to bring Fidelito back to Cuba after the 1959 revolution. A multilingual nuclear physicist who studied in the former Soviet Union, Castro Diaz-Balart was head of Cuba's national nuclear program from 1980 to 1992, and spearheaded the development of a nuclear plant on the Caribbean's largest island until his father fired him. Politicisation is blamed for criminalisation of police IT IS shame for entire police administration as their members have in a growing number become involved with robbing and other forms of crimes. National dailies reported that detectives have arrested seven people, including four policemen, on charges of robbing a family on Dhaka-Sylhet highway recently. In this election year, when people need more and more protection, the heinous crime committed by law enforcers is simply repulsive. When Mohammad Sohel, a Bangladeshi expatriate in Malaysia, on his way to Raipura of Narsingdi from Dhaka Airport with his family members by a microbus, seven people followed them by another microbus. As the driver stopped the vehicle at a CNG station near Narsingdi Sadar upazila on the highway for fuel, two sub-inspectors appeared there and started to accuse Sohel of carrying illegal goods in his vehicle. At one point, the two policemen boarded Sohel's microbus and looted gold ornaments, mobile sets and cash from the family members as the vehicle went on. The duo forced the victims to get down in Puranpara area of Narsingdi town and took away the vehicle. Later, relatives of Sohel informed DB police who busted the involvement of the policemen in the robbery. It is not a single example; there are numerous incidents like it. The law and order are deteriorating but those who are responsible for restoring the law and order are turning into abusers. In the years, when citizens' rights were violently fended off and the opposition voice forcefully muted by the police though the Constitution awarded the rights as inviolable, blatant support and near to impunity by the government have emboldened police an indomitable and uncontrolled force. The government has become highly dependent on police force and overlooked their crimes that created such Frankenstein. It is the duty of the government to restore discipline in the force. UNHCR warns of grave danger for Rohingyas Staff Reporter : UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, on Friday warned that more than 100,0000 Rohingya refugees now living in Cox's Bazar's makeshift camps would be in grave danger because of adverse weather condition during the upcoming monsoon season in Bangladesh. "The adverse weather conditions, including cyclones, landslides and floods, might envelope tens of thousands of Rohingya refugees staying at the highly congested settlements in Cox's Bazar district into serious risk," UNHCR spokesperson Andrej Mahecic told reporters in Geneva. Earlier an UN report said landslide and flood risk hazard puts at least 100,0000 people at refugee camps in grave danger from landslides and floods requiring relocation to new areas or in the neighbourhoods they lived in. The findings of an initial risk analysis, mapping the world's largest refugee settlement areas in Kutapalong and Balukhali which have sheltered more than 569,000 refugees, and other Rohingya settlements in Cox's Bazar. Experts of Dhaka University, UNHCR, IOM, REACH and the ADPC (Asian Disaster Preparedness Centre) carried out this assessment suggesting that up to one third of the settlement area could be flooded. As a result, more than 85,000 refugees could lose their shelters. Another 23,000 refugees living on steep slopes within the site could be at risk of landslides. "The lack of space remains the main challenge for the sector as sites are highly congested leading to extremely hard living conditions with no space for service provisions and facilities. In addition, congestion brings increased protections risks and favours disease outbreak such as the diphtheria outbreak is currently escalating in most of the sites," according to the UN report. In addition, key services in the settlement, installed by humanitarian agencies, working with the Government of Bangladesh, are also at risk of being washed away. These include latrines, washrooms, tube wells, and health centres. Access roads into the settlements could be blocked and inaccessible to vehicles, making it hard to provide emergency aid. There is also a high risk for public health situation, especially of outbreak of communicable diseases. Andrej Mahecic said the UN refugee and its partners are ramping up efforts to mitigate some of the expected impacts of the upcoming monsoon season in Bangladesh. "The Government of Bangladesh has acknowledged and committed to addressing these concerns, while UN and humanitarian partners have set up an emergency preparedness group to co-ordinate these efforts," he said. Andrej Mahecic said UNHCR has already taken a number of steps to protect refugees. They include providing families with upgraded shelter kits, such as biodegradable sandbags to help to anchor the structures, which are sturdier and can better protect them in heavy rains. "Several engineering projects are also underway to build bamboo-reinforced footpaths and stairs, raised bridges, bamboo/brick/concrete retaining walls for soil stabilisation and drainage networks," he said. The UNHCR further said that the large-scale mechanised work is scheduled to start within the next few weeks to level some of the steep hilltops in order to reduce the risk of landslides, as well as to increase the amount of useable area. In addition, we will start to relocate some families living in the most precarious parts of the camp, who are most at-risk of landslides. Early warning systems are also being put in place, with public information campaigns also underway to alert the refugee population of the risks they could face. The refugees lived in low-lying plains in the Maungdaw area of the Rakhine State in Myanmar and have not previously experienced landslides. "As part of our preparations for the monsoons, UNHCR is also working with the Bangladeshi authorities and other key operational agencies in the refugee settlements to pre-position materials and heavy-lifting machinery," he noted. Polls won't be inclusive without BNP: CEC Staff Reporter : Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) KM Nurul Huda on Friday said that the national polls would not be inclusive without the BNP's participation. "The next election would not be inclusive without the BNP's participation due to the party's honourable position in the country's politics," said the CEC. He said it while talking with a group of journalists at Nirbachan Bhaban in the city. Nurul Huda also said that the Election Commission always wants all the political parties in the race of national polls and they will enjoy all the facilities equally. "We hope that the BNP will participate in the next national polls," the CEC said. He swore that the EC would conduct the election in a free, fair and neutral manner. In reply to a query, the CEC said, the election environment is friendly. To another question, he said, the Dhaka North Mayor polls will be held after the HC vacates stay order. Woman stabbed to death in Madhya Badda Agency : A woman, employed as a receptionist at a private clinic, has been stabbed to death at Madhya Badda of the city. The victim has been identified as Liza Akter, 22, said Ashraful Karim, Senior Assistant Commissioner (Badda zone) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police. "She was a receptionist at Haidar Digital Dental Clinic at Madhya Badda," he said. Liza went to her workplace around 10:00am in the morning. It was not crowded today due to Friday being the weekend, the police official said. "One or more miscreants stabbed her repeatedly with the hospital equipment," the AC added. Police recovered the body around 4:45pm and sent it Dhaka Medical College morgue for autopsy. 4 lakh secondary students dropped out in 2 yrs M M Jasim : About four lakh secondary level students have been dropped out in last two years, Education Ministry sources said. According to academics, financial problem, social deterioration and erroneous education system are behind the drop out. Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid said that his ministry has been trying to reduce the drop out. "We hope the number of drop out students will be reduced in future," he said. "We don't want drop out of a single student. That is why we have taken many initiatives to check it. We give scholarship to meritorious students. Scholarship is given to 40 percent female students. The students of under-privileged, river erosion, haor and hill tracts areas are given more scholarship," Nahid said. According to the Education Ministry, as many as 21,14,222 students registered in Class XI under 2016-17 session. But a total of 17,39,573 students registered to sit for the Secondary School Certificate (SSC) and its equivalent examinations under ten education boards this year. As a result, the number of drop out students is 3,74,649. The maximum number of students dropped out is in Comilla Board. A total of 2,10,745 students were in Class IX. Of them 1,36,770 students registered for the SSC examination. Of them, 73,975 students were dropped out. In Dhaka Board, the number of drop out students is 50,413, in Rajshahi Board 22,489, in Jessore Board 32,976, in Chittagong Board 17,133, in Barisal Board 12,458, in Sylhet Board 18,931 and in Dinajpur Board 17,262. A total of 2,95,492 students admitted in Class IX. Of them, 2,37,294 students registered for the Dhakhil examination. As a result, the number of drop out students is 58,198. In Technical Education Board, a total of 97,834 students registered for the SSC examination out of 1, 58,648 students. The number of drop out students is 60,814. Professor Shahan Ara Begum, Principal of Motijheel Ideal School and College, said it is more difficult to pass the final examination in Class IX. That is why some students drop out from their regular batches. "The guardians arrange marriage of their daughters in the rural areas. Some students go for wage due to hardship in their families. The internet addiction also influences the students for their drop out," she said. Professor Abdul Khalek, Chairman of Comilla Board, said the Education Ministry directed that no student would be allowed to register for the SSC examination if they failed in the school test (test taken before SSC central examination by the school). It is also cause for dropping out the students, he said. BNP leaders Aman, Alam arrested UNB, Dhaka : Law enforcers detained BNP chairperson's adviser Amanullah Aman and party executive committee member Nazimuddin Alam from a house at Mohakhali DOHS on Friday night. BNP senior joint secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi told UNB that a team of Rab-1 picked up the two BNP leaders. He said Rab men encircled a house at the DOHS around 8:30pm, where Aman and Alam were staying. Later, the elite force members took them into their vehicle as the two BNP leaders came down to the ground floor of the house. Rizvi alleged that law enforcers are arresting their party leaders ahead of its executive committee members' meeting scheduled to be held on Saturday. "The government is arresting our party leaders with an ulterior motive so that we can't make our meeting a success." Earlier, plainclothes police arrested BNP training affairs secretary ABM Mosharraf Hossain from near Uttara while he was returning to the capital from Tongi around 4:30pm. Rizvi strongly condemned and protested the arrest of the three BNP leaders and demanded the government release them immediately. Earlier, at a press conference Rizvi alleged that police arrested at least 275 party leaders and activists, including its standing committee member Gayeshwar Chandra Roy in the past four days. BNP's executive committee is set to hold a day-long meeting on Saturday at hotel Le Meridien to work out party's next course of action as a court is sen to deliver verdict in the graft case of BNP chairperson Khelada Zia on February 8. Barrister Mainul for total rejection of Digital Act Staff Reporter : The police have been empowered to arrest on mere suspicion of committing any offence under the Digital Security Act which will make it impossible for press to gather information not liked by the government. This law meant to rob us our security from police arrest, said Barrister Mainul Hosein at a talk show of SA Tv on Thursday night. The other participants were senior journalist Mahfuzullah and the chief editor of government news agency BSS Abul Kalam Azad. Barrister Hosein added to explain how approved draft of the law has empowered a police officer to arrest and search anybody without a court's order, if he suspects any of the offences mentioned in the Act has been committed. Thereafter he will be taken to police remand for interrogation. Because the lower judiciary has been recently gone under the control of the government, the accused has almost no chance of being released on bail, Barrister said. He found it most objectionable to call a journalist a spy because of investigating journalism. Richwood, TX (77531) Today Some clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 74F. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph.. Tonight Some clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 74F. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph. Annette Mark, Executive Director Invest SVG, wants to see the creation of a new mindset that will guide how business is conducted by and with SVG. All the details have not been finalised, but Invest SVG is moving full steam ahead with plans for another display of Vincy creativity through its annual Everything Vincy Expo. Annette Mark, Executive Director Invest SVG, in a widespread address, last Friday, to launch a new nine- minute video promotion, remarked on the success of last years event staged at the site of the decommissioned Arnos Vale Airport, and promised that this year will be "another opportunity for us to partner with major stakeholders, both in the private and public sectors. Workshops have been planned for those who took part last year, but Mark is inviting "anyone else interested. The aim of the Expo, Mark said, was to make "small to medium businesses export ready and be able to meet the demands for exporting their products. The Invest SVG Executive Director spoke of plans to "promote partnering with foreign investors who bring with them the potential for access to larger markets, more modern technologies, and their accompanying skills sets. With respect to the video, Mark expressed "pity that the announcement by the government for cannabis production "for medical purposes, came before the completion of a nine-minute long Video promotion. She cited the medical marijuana industry as "the genesis for sound collaborations in what is known as a multi-billion-dollar industry. A former Chief Immigration Officer in Antigua, Mark praised the quality of Vincentian marijuana which she described as "the best in the Caribbean and the world. Marks pointed to the need to put things in place so as to achieve "quick sustainable results while building on the foundation. Marks is looking at what will "create jobs quickly and sustainably and contribute to the countrys overall development. On the issue of sailing, she chided countries whom she deemed have "poached our destination and stolen what is a uniquely Vincentian experience. And in an overarching comment with respect to the existing framework for doing business, Mark suggested, "altering and stripping away parts of the existing framework for doing business, to develop an entirely new mind-set and create a superstructure that recognises opportunities and capitalises on them, and certainly does not frustrate the process of doing business. Anthony Regisford, Invest SVG Chairman, commended the video production and highlighted its use of the Argyle International Airport as its "central piece. He is not pleased with the criticism levelled at Invest SVG which she cited as "personal, and bordered on "character assassination. He valued the money spent on the video as a "worthwhile investment. The film was done by the Financial Times. (L-R): Lotto jackpot winner August Timothy, his daughter Jennita Lewis, and GM of the NLA McGregor Sealey at last Wednesdays presentation. by Rafielia Herbert Fifty-one-year-old August Timothy of Simon is the lucky winner of the latest LOTTO Jackpot of $254,000. The winning combination was 10, 14, 25, 30, and 31. When THE VINCENTIAN asked him how he felt, Timothy said that his dream was to win the Super Six, but he is very happy that he won the Lotto. He confessed to holding the ticket and not checking it until he heard that someone had won. He checked his ticket and realized it was he. He immediately called his daughter to tell her the good news. Timothy said that he will be handing over his winnings to his daughter, 25-year-old Jennita Lewis of Diamond, who was always helpful to him. Lewis, who was present on Wednesday when her father received his winnings, told THE VINCENTIAN that she was speechless when she heard the news. Now, she is happy. McGregor Sealey, General Manager of NLA, congratulated Timothy on winning the Lotto and advised him and his daughter to spend the money wisely - by investing in the future of children. Anthony Dennie, Product Development Officer/NLA also congratulated the winner. The winning ticket was bought at the L.Bs Lotto booth located outside the exit of the Windward Bus Terminal on the 19th January 2018. They will receive a commission for selling the winning ticket. Shortly after the handing over of the $254,000 cheque, another lucky winner walked in the door with a winning Play4 ticket of $20,000. Left:Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves may have caught the Opposition off-guard when he rose to table an amendment to the original motion of No Confidence. Right:Speaker of the House Jomo Thomas skillfully managed a barrage of sometimes heated exchanges between members of the House and himself. The New Democratic Party (NDP) had its motion of No Confidence against the Dr Ralph Gonsalves led Unity Labour Party Administration, essentially shot down in Parliament on Wednesday. And following a protracted and sometimes heated exchange between members on both sides and the Speaker of the House Jomo Thomas, a recommendation was made to seek guidance from the Court as it related to the issue of amending No Confidence motions. Notwithstanding, the Sitting allowed for an amendment to the initial motion of No Confidence to read Confidence. The amendment was tabled by Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves on Wednesday, the day set aside by a decision of the House on Monday, for debate on the No Confidence motion. The Prime Minister tabled the amendment and proceeded to hand out copies of the amended motion, following which a recommendation was made by the Speaker for a break in order that the members of the House become familiar with the new document. At this point, Opposition Parliamentary Representative for Central Kingstown St Clair Leacock objected. "I am seeking clarification; the motion brought by us was a motion of No Confidence, he said. The Prime Minister responded that, based on the literature, a motion of Confidence and No Confidence is used interchangeably, and he cited the Constitutional Theorist, Erskine May to support his position. Speaker Thomas sided with the Prime Minister, explaining that what was proffered by the Prime Minister was that there was an amendment to the motion, and that although there was an amendment to the motion of No Confidence coming from the majority party, opposition members could still speak to their motion and then have a vote based on the amendment. However, recently appointed Opposition Senator, Kay Bacchus-Baptiste interjected stating that the NDP had submitted a motion under Section 47, and that if the government side wanted to bring an amendment to the original motion, then under Section 32, it cannot be brought and negate the No Confidence motion. She added that it was for that very reason, that of the government was trying to negate the No Confidence motion, that the motion was brought forward and that such motions were usually sought when governments were guilty of encouraging poor economic conditions and scandals, which drew reaction from the government side. "If you want to bring a Confidence motion, you have to bring it, (you) cannot bring an amendment to negate our No Confidence motion, she said. "What you are proposing is not constitutionally correct, when we are here to debate a No Confidence motion, Bacchus-Baptiste concluded. The Leader of the Opposition Dr. Godwin Friday added his bit, saying , "This is not an amendment, even the title of the motion has been changed, even the clause has been changed. They can bring that motion whenever they want to, he said. "Our rules are very clear on the matter; the members on this side proposed a motion; what the members on the other side are prosing is contrary to our motionthis is a motion for No Confidence in the government, Dr. Friday added. Prime Minister Gonsalves, however, got in the last word, saying that a preliminary decision ( to accept the Confidence motion) had been made and at the end there would be a vote when the question was put, and that that question will be in relation to the amendment. Following a two-hour suspension of the Sitting, the members of the government debated and adopted the motion of Confidence, in the absence of the members of the opposition. (DD) His Excellency Sir Frederick Ballantyne, Governor General of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, is now among the over one million Paul Harris Fellows worldwide. Last Wednesday, 31st January, the award of Paul Harris Fellow was conferred on Sir Frederick at a ceremony held at the Grenadine House, Kingstown Park, hosted by The Rotary Club of St. Vincent and Rotary Club South. The Paul Harris Fellow Award was created by Rotary International founder Paul Harris, a lawyer from Chicago. The award is bestowed on members of Rotary clubs or on individuals, who work closely with Rotary clubs to realize their plans and projects. Additionally, the recipient of the award must have made a contribution of $1,000 USD or more to the Rotary Foundation for the continuation of its work worldwide. This sum could also be donated by the recipients club, and becomes instrumental in local clubs receiving financial input from the Foundations, for their programmes. Reflections of the Awardee Over five years ago, Sir Frederick Ballantyne was named an honorary Rotarian. His recommendation for the award came through Rotary District Governor of District 7030, Surinamese Waddy Sowma, who was in attendance to hand over the certificate and attach the gold pin which comes to each Fellow. In his acceptance speech, His Excellency expressed his humility on being named a Paul Harris Fellow, and remarked humorously on his sentiment at the time of his honorary status, "I thought at that time, that I was given that pin because I was the Governor General! He, however, went on to outline the depth of his involvement in projects of the Rotary. In explaining the impetus for such involvement, the Governor General recalled a life-changing experience which reasserted his "attitude to life and living and voluntary work. As a third-year medical student, he had been invited to visit a migrant camp of underprivileged families in Syracuse, New York. These people were being fed with only potatoes and butter, which in no way at all improved their state of being; with many nine and ten-year-olds never having seen a physician for vaccination or any other cause. "We spent the whole time taking care of these children and their families, and that was the experience that changed my life, he said, "I decide there and then that my future would be taking care of people and children who are disadvantaged. He told the audience that he had been doing just that all his life, up to the time of his speaking. Words of advice Sir Frederick was not without some advice for the Rotary Club. "It is time that Rotary look outside of its borders to see what they can do for those people who are less fortunate, he affirmed, recommending as a start, a mentoring group. "It has been shown repeatedly that this is the cheapest way of meeting young people and influencing their life. There is no reason why the Rotary Club with all these successful people do not get into mentoring. He also proposed greater contributions to the World Pediatric Project. "Rotarians identify with the WPP and Im not very happy with their contribution to that project. He stated that contributions do not have to be monetary, but members could assist by even looking after the welfare of the doctors and other team members while in SVG on their missions, calling it "an appreciation that will go a very long way. The ceremony was witnessed by members of the Rotary clubs here in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, including Assistant District Governor, Mr. Francois Trouchot; President of Rotary Club of SVG, Mrs. Laela Constantine; and President of Rotary Club South, Ms. Kim Haydock. Sir Frederick now joins a small group of Paul Harris Fellows in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, including Rotarians like Bob Haydock and Richard Joachim, both deceased; Trevor Thompson, Daniel Cummings, Brian Glasgow, Joe Sheridan and Reuben John. Right: President Nicolas Maduro and Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves have already struck another deal for debt forgiveness to this country. This country has, once again, been the beneficiary of the kindness of the Government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. According to the Finance Minister Camillo, the Government of President Nicolas Maduro has granted debt forgiveness to this country, to the tune of EC$81 million. Gonsalves made the announcement while delivering the 2018 Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure at Mondays sitting of Parliament. He explained that the EC$81 million debt forgiveness was in relation to a loan toward construction cost of the Argyle International Airport. "For a long time, we held our tongue while people talked about debt at the airport. We already knew that we were going to get $81 million debt forgiveness, but it was not the opportune time to do that, the Minister of Finance said. As a result of the kind gesture, Gonsalves said that the overall amount owed in relation to the construction of the airport was now EC$320 million. Gonsalves added that more forgiveness was forthcoming. Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves and President Nicolas Maduro had already held discussions for an additional debt forgiveness of EC$100 million under the Petro Caribe arrangement, he disclosed. The obvious impact of this debt forgiveness, said Minister Gonsalves, was a reduction in the overall external debt and the debt to GDP ratio. SVGs debt As far as this countrys indebtedness is concerned, the external debt as of September 30, 2017, according to Gonsalves, amounted to EC$1.1 billion. The overall public debt amounted to EC$1.68 billion, which, according to the Finance Minister, reflected a marginal increase of .2 percent over the corresponding period for 2016. Total domestic debt stood at EC$572.6 million. Gonsalves explained that the main changes in the domestic debt were as a result of the sinking fund and amortized bonds issued, which increased by EC$55.2 million inclusive of a EC$35 million bond issue applied to the re-purchase of majority shares in the Bank of St Vincent and the Grenadines (BOSVG). Bonds used to fund the implementation of the Public Sector Improvement Progamme also contributed to the increase. Overdraft and liabilities increased by EC$3.5 million in the Accountant Generals account, Gonsalves said. Debt service for 2018 amounted to EC$221.7 million, made up of: interest payments amounting to EC$62.2 million; amortization funds of EC$137.5 million; and sinking fund contributions of EC$22 million. (DD) Charlotte NC Shooting Range Setting the Bar High If you are new to the area or just want a place to hone your skills with an old-fashioned feel, then you might want to check out the Charlotte NC shooting range. This is where you will find traditional hunting as well as the latest technology at your fingertips. The indoor facility is clean, organized, and stocked with anything you need to be a success. From youth programs to military training, from the newest technology to the oldest bows and arrows, you are sure to find something that will fit your needs. This range offers everything from youth programs to military training, from new technologies to the oldest bows and arrows. If youre looking for the very best in bow hunting equipment, this is the place to go. From bow hunting beginners to the most seasoned hunters, you will find it all at this one of a kind facility. With everything you need including bows, recurve and compound bows, arrows, shooting accessories and apparel, this is the place to be. If you own your own business, this is the perfect place to advertise, display your wares and raise money for your favorite cause. If youve always wanted to start your own business, this great shooting range is the perfect setting to do it in. With all the benefits of a professional location, as well as being within a short driving distance from Charlottes professional downtown area, your business will boom. Your customers will come from all over the world, which is always a good thing when youre trying to expand. Its a truly win-win situation for everyone involved. The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) has held a series of meetings with government and corporate leaders in Beijing, focused on strengthening the strategic relationship between the UAE and China and deepening the partnerships between Adnoc and Chinas energy, chemical and technology sector. Dr Sultan Al Jaber, UAE Minister of State and Adnoc Group CEO, met with Wang Yi, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Peoples Republic of China and with Ning Ji Zhe, and Vice Chairman of Chinas National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), where business and economic relations between the UAE and China were discussed, including growing cooperation between the two countries in the technology, energy, chemical, investment and commercial sectors. China is the UAEs largest trading partner, with bilateral trade growing 800 fold in the three decades since formal relations were established to top $50 billion per annum. Dr Al Jaber highlighted the significant progress made in developing the close ties between the UAE and China and expressed the keen interest of the UAE leadership to further enhance those relationships. Prior to his meeting with H.E. Wang YI, Dr Al Jaber met with senior officials from Huawei Technologies, a leading global information and communications technology (ICT) solutions provider, during a visit to the Zhongguancun technology hub, in the Haidan District of Beijing. Dr Al Jaber said: Adnocs focus on the application of advanced technology, in support of its 2030 growth strategy, is one area where Chinas experience in developing Artificial Intelligence and Predictive Data, through companies such as Huawei, could be deployed to create additional value from its resources. Adnoc is keen to advance and lead the digitization of the oil and gas industry. As part of its transformation objectives, Adnoc is exploring how advanced technologies and applications, such as machine learning, neural networks, predictive data and artificial intelligence, could help enhance efficiency, productivity and profitability across the oil and gas value chain. Adnoc launched its two digital command centres Panorama and Thamama in 2017, where data from its subsurface and surface operations is captured, analysed and incorporated to decision making. China represents a key strategic partner for the UAE and the growing ties between Chinese companies and Adnoc is a testament to the depth and importance of the relationship, said Dr Al Jaber. We are keen to explore how Adnoc can continue to serve the growing demand for energy, and, in particular, for chemical and petrochemical products in China, as a key growth market. Meanwhile, Adnoc is focused on market expansion in China and Asia, where demand for petrochemicals and plastics, including light-weight automotive components, essential utility piping and cable insulation, is forecast to double by 2040. China is the largest export customer in Asia, for Borouge, a petrochemicals joint venture between Adnoc and Borealis, accounting for 1.2 million tons per year of polyolefins, equal to one third of its sales worldwide. TradeArabia News Service Movenpick Hotels & Resorts has promoted Marc Descrozaille to President, Middle East & Africa (MEA), effective February 1. Having joined the hospitality firm in 2017 as Vice President, Operations Middle East & Africa, Descrozaille will now take the helm from Andreas Mattmuller, who has retired from his role as Chief Operating Officer, MEA, a region where the company currently manages 50 properties, with 20 more under development. Marc has become an invaluable member of the management team and his international experience is proving a real asset in enhancing the ongoing success of our MEA operations, remarked Olivier Chavy, President & CEO, Movenpick Hotels & Resorts. As we say a fond farewell to Andreas, I hand the baton to Marc, confident in his abilities to build on the remarkable momentum we have achieved in the region and to maximise the many opportunities we have identified to grow our footprint and brand presence. Marc joined Movenpick Hotels & Resorts from Carlson Rezidor where he was Area Vice President for the firms Africa & Indian Ocean operations. He has significant experience working in the Middle East, having also been employed as Regional Director, UAE, Egypt, Jordan and Oman for the hotel group. He has also held key executive positions at several major hospitality companies including Hilton, Compass Group and Londons Claridges Hotel. - TradeArabia News Service Dubai Culture & Arts Authority (Dubai Culture), the emirates dedicated entity for culture, arts and heritage, has launched the My Environment, My Responsibility initiative in Hatta. The initiative took place on February 1 and reflected the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyans interest in preserving and maintaining our world for future generations, as well as his efforts to balance development with the environment. The initiative was part of an integrated programme that serves to protect Hattas environment and support the Hatta Development Plan. The programme targeted senior officials from Dubai Culture and other government and private sector leaders, aiming to promote the concept of volunteerism and its role in building a society that believes in community responsibility as a way of life. This supports the UAE leaderships mission to spread happiness across the community. The officials started by signing in at a volunteer corner, which was placed in the Hatta public library to support the Day for Dubai initiative launched by His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed Al Maktoum, Crown Prince, chairman of the Executive Council of Dubai. The corner was open to the public, students and people with determination with an opportunity to participate. The event was led by Saeed Al Nabouda, acting director general of Dubai Culture, and attended by a number of government and private senior officials. The participants planted trees in the Suhaila area and also cleaned the hill area of Hatta. The programme also included a traditional tour of the Hatta Heritage Village and concluded with a ceremony where the participants were honoured and thanked for their help by Dubai Municipality and Watani Al Emarat Foundation; private companies including Al Futtaim Group and Sheikha Maitha Bint Rashid Al Maktoum Centre for special needs; and students from the Rashid bin Said School in Hatta. Al Nabouda said: "Dubai Culture regularly launches initiatives and events across Dubai to promote social responsibility. This is aligned with the directives of our leadership and initiatives such as Day for Dubai, which aims to strengthen the spirit of volunteerism among community members and spread the values of the Year of Zayed 2018. By encouraging the community to participate in the programmes and events launched by our Corporate Social Responsibility Team, we are sharing the values of the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, may God bless him. Dubai Culture invited all segments of the community to participate in World Volunteering Day in cooperation with the Community Development Authority and the Al-Futtaim Group, and to register at the Dubai Volunteer Platform in Dubai Festival City last December. The platform received 83 volunteers and provided opportunities to volunteer for various events hosted in the emirate. Dubai Culture aims to enhance Dubais cultural scene and draw attention to the Emirates rich heritage with a variety of initiatives that take place throughout the year. The authoritys mandate is to build bridges of constructive dialogue between different civilisations and cultures through enriching initiatives that benefit the Emirates citizens, residents and visitors. - TradeArabia News Service The worldwide market for Muslim travel could take off in the next few years thanks to the growing population of Muslim millennials who travel internationally, according to a leading expert. With about 60 per cent of the worlds 1.8 billion Muslims aged under 30, this segment of the world population could become the next biggest consumer market, Fazal Bahardeen, CEO of Singapore-based Crescent Rating and HalalTrip, told the 25th World Travel Monitor Forum. Overall, Muslims are estimated to have spent about $142 billion on travel in 2014, and to have accounted for about 121 million arrivals worldwide in 2016. These figures could rise to spending of $220 billion and 158 million arrivals in 2020, Bahardeen predicted. At present, Asia (57 per cent) and Europe (30 per cent) are the two main destination regions for Muslim travellers. In terms of regional markets, the GCC states, including Saudi Arabia and the UAE, represent the biggest outbound market by spending, although not by numbers, Bahardeen said. South-East Asia, including Malaysia and Indonesia, is the next biggest market. In Europe, the UK, Germany and France jointly account for about 10-12 per cent of Muslim outbound travel spending. Turkey and Iran are other significant markets. Faith-based specific needs for Muslim travellers Regardless of their nationality, Muslim travellers have some specific faith-based needs when travelling, Bahardeen explained. Halal food and prayer facilities, for examples, are absolute musts. Destinations, hotels and other travel suppliers are also well-advised to provide additional services such as adapting meal times and other facilities to Ramadan, he recommended. Shared values among Muslims are much stronger than among other communities. For example, Muslims need halal food, wherever they come from, he made clear. Turning to the structure of the halal travel market, Bahardeen explained that Muslim travel in the past tended to be dominated by families. However, millennials (born between 1980 and 2000), who make up 60 per cent of the global Muslim population, are now travelling in much greater numbers. By 2016, 36 per cent of Muslim travellers were millennials, and this share is likely to continue rising, he said. Muslim millennial travellers will significantly re-shape the Muslim travel market, Bahardeen predicted. By 2026, the overall Muslim travel market is expected to grow to overall spending of $300 billion, with millennials accounting for over $100 billion of this total," Bahardeen said. These Muslim millennials will share many general travel characteristics with other young people of their generation, he explained. Thus, they will want authentic travel experiences such as discovering destinations and trying local cuisines, while taking advantage of affordable transportation and accommodation and making extensive use of technology and social media. In some cases, Muslim millennials could even help re-balance overall tourist flows, Bahardeen pointed out. For example, North Asian destinations could reduce their reliance on Chinese tourists by trying to win more visitors from South-East Asia, he added. Ultimately, destinations will have to offer Muslim-friendly products and services if they want to attract this group of millennials, Bahardeen concluded. - TradeArabia News Service The Emirates Group has honoured its top employees for their extraordinary commitment to excellence, performance, and service. The Najm Chairmans Awards ceremony took place at Emirates Group Headquarters, and was presented by Sir Tim Clark, president Emirates Airline on behalf of Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al-Maktoum, chairman and chief executive of Emirates Airline & Group. Sheikh Ahmed said: Every year, we come together to celebrate the outstanding achievements of our employees. Their hard work, tenacity, compassion, and continued pursuit of excellence are vital to the success of Emirates and dnata, and I congratulate them for their brilliant performance and contributions. Whether individually or collectively, we firmly believe that the most outstanding contributors who have gone beyond expectations should be recognised and rewarded. Najm, means star in Arabic, and is the Emirates Groups rewards and recognition system that recognises employees for their commitment to excellence and innovation. This is the 11th edition of the annual Chairmans award, which has seen more than 70 employees recognised for individual and collective achievements within the Emirates Group. Award nominations run through a rigorous review, selection and voting process by heads of departments and members of the senior executive team. Stories of Excellence The Najm Chairmans Award 2017/2018 winners were recognised for a range of outstanding achievements, from saving lives and providing support in difficult situations, to creating innovative business solutions. Giles Peter Daniel Birch, first officer (Airbus), Emirates Flight Operations, won the Najm Chairmans Award for his work on a project to reduce usage and maintenance costs for A380 auxiliary power units (APUs). Auxiliary Power Units are gas turbine engines used during aircraft ground operations to provide power for engines, electricity, air-conditioning and other aircraft systems. Birch found a way to cool the aircraft by improving equipment performance and reducing wastage in a practical, innovative and scientific manner, devoting much of his own personal time to implement the project. These initiatives implemented under Giles' leadership have already yielded millions of dirhams in fuel cost savings. Gavin Keyes, ramp agent, dnata International-Australia, was awarded the Najm Chairmans Award for his quick and prompt action which averted a potential crash on the ground that could have resulted in injuries to employees and serious damage to an aircraft. Early one morning, as an aircraft turnaround was in progress at Sydney Airport, Gavin noticed that an unattended ramp tug was speeding towards an aircraft and two employees. A tug was left on its own while a driver was collecting safety cones, unaware that one of the cones had fallen onto the vehicle accelerator, setting it into motion. Keyes immediately pulled one of the employees to safety and jumped onto the moving tug, taking control of it. He steered the tug, jammed the brakes and was able to stop it only centimetres away from the engine of the aircraft. Eissam Mostafa Mohamed Ouf, Cabin Crew member, was awarded the Najm Chairmans award for his lightning speed reaction that saved a babys life onboard. Eissam was carrying out the meal service on a flight from London Heathrow when he suddenly heard a commotion. A baby had started choking and had fallen unconscious. Realising a life-threatening emergency, Ouf instantly took hold of the baby and administered back slaps and chest thrusts. The baby regained consciousness and the object in its throat was dislodged. His quick thinking and correct administration of first aid saved the babys life. Fadila Bachiri, department officer, dnata Airport Operations was also awarded the Najm Chairmans Award for her life saving actions. When a passenger in the Concourse D lounge choked on a piece of candy, Bachiri made an impromptu decision not to wait for the medical team and rushed to apply first aid immediately. After five attempts, she managed to get the blockage out of the passengers throat and clear his airway. Apart from averting a potential death, Bachiri also helped to calm the passengers distressed wife. Khadija Arsanova, customer service manager, dnata Travel Services, was recognised with the Najm Chairmans Award for her exceptional customer service. Arsanova helped two Emirates Holiday customers who had suffered a severe accident while on a safari and buggy ride with a company that was not part of the Emirates Group. Arsanova became their constant point of contact during the tragic time. She put herself in the customers and families situation and helped them throughout their ordeal, going above and beyond what was expected of her in the call of duty. - TradeArabia News Service More than six million foreign tourists visited Iran last year, a top government official was quoted as saying in a media report. The highest figure belongs to pilgrims and Khorasan Razavi province has allocated the highest number of foreign tourists to itself, Mohammad Moheb Khodaei, deputy head of Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization (CHHTO) for tourist affairs was quoted in the Irna report. Meanwhile, more than nine million Iranian tourists, including four million pilgrims, have travelled abroad, he added. In a stirring speech following President Donald Trump's first State of the Union address, Joe Kennedy delivered the official democratic response. The 37 year old third term congressman from Massachusetts, is the great nephew of President John F Kennedy and Robert Kennedy's grandson. He accused Trump of ushering in an era of divisiveness and hate. His speech advocated an inclusive America while attacking a rollback on civil rights by the current administration. An inclusive America The response delivered by Joe Kennedy invoked an inclusive America. Speaking directly to the Dreamers, in Spanish, he pledged to fight for them saying they are part of our story. The fate of some 700,000 young immigrants whose parents brought them to the US as children now hang in the balance after the Trump administration withdrew Obama era legal protections for them. He blamed the president for rolling back civil rights and making it possible for hatred and supremacy to march the streets. Speaking from a student auto shop in Fall River, he described it as a proud American city built by immigrants. Angry, anxious and afraid Kennedy spoke about what he described as the fault lines on a fractured country and pointed out that many have spent the last year feeling afraid, anxious and angry and about hearing the voices of Americans who feel forsaken and forgotten. He elaborated by talking about a chaotic past year filled with partisan politics, the targeting of laws that protect the people and broken promises by an administration turning American life into a zero-sum game. Broken promise The democratic response to Donald Trump's speech highlighted the American promise that is being broken because the administration rejects the belief that all are worthy and equal. Kennedy declared the Democrat's promise to fight for all dreamers and said that politicians will be judged by the promises they keep. Who is Joe Kennedy? He was an unlikely choice for a rebuttal to the State of the Union as Joe Kennedy has so far been an unknown in the political arena even though he is part of the Kennedy political dynasty. Prior to his election to Congress in 2012, he was a district attorney and did a two-year term as a member of the peace corps in the Dominican Republic. Until his spotlight on the national stage, the congressman had kept a low profile. Last year his speech in the House where he attacked the Republican's attempt to repeal Obamacare went viral. Since his speech, questions are now swirling around about a possible run for president in 2020. British Prime Minister Theresa May has publicly addressed the increasing pressures that she and the government are facing as the negotiations take place for Brexit. She spoken about where she sees Britains trade going in the future as she travels the world, trying to figure out where to take the trade after leaving the EU. She used the appearance to assure the nation that, following concerns during her trip to China to discuss a possible trade deal, Britain will not be facing a choice between a trade deal with the European Union and a string of trade deals with the rest of the world. These announcements by May came as she had been criticised recently by Conservative MPs for leading Britain into what they call a Brexit in name only. Yeah, the name we made up after the referendum we called for and the outcome we voted for. Typical politician babble using these vague, mostly meaningless terms. Brexit in name only and thats what? Brexit happens and we call it Brexit, but we dont leave the EU? Because thats what the name Brexit means. Its a portmanteau of Britain and exit. If Britain exits the EU, then itll be Brexit in more than just name only. Brexit negotiations set to resume on Monday The EU leave thats going to take place roughly a year from now will continue to be discussed within the UK government starting on Monday, after Mays little detour to China, where she ignored the human rights crisis for the sake of friendly trade discussions. David Davis, the Brexit Secretary, will meet with the EUs chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, on Monday for the first time in 2018 so far, while all the technical details are getting ironed out by everyone else. Davis tweeted that he was looking forward to the meeting with Barnier, where he will be welcoming his European friend to London. He described this upcoming summit as an important next step in the Brexit negotiations. Meanwhile, Mays trip to China has led to over 9 billions worth of trade deals being signed. This was described by Downing Street as being the first step in a prospective business situation for Britain following Brexit that they called ambitious. China has the second biggest economy in the world, so its quite exciting. But despite all the excitement, May is facing a lot of criticism for leaving her priorities for Brexit and her plans for the future of British trade relatively unclear. Its politicians being vague again its the source of most of the issues, really. According to Liam Fox, who was present in China for Mays visit, the UK is prohibited from getting involved with any customs deal with the EU as soon as Brexit has taken place. No. 10 confirmed that he was speaking for the government and not just for himself, but added that the decision wasnt final and that it was being negotiated, saying that May has an open mind about the situation. May facing criticism for her indecisiveness over Brexit negotiations May has been facing a lot of criticism recently as she often does because of what is perceived to be indecisiveness over the Brexit negotiations. She doesnt know what her priorities are, she doesnt know what she wants or at least she doesnt let on or tell her party these things and thats something you should do if youre a leader. Shes the British Prime Minister and no one knows where her heart is. One detractor who used to be a supporter said that May has more reviews than a film critic would produce in a lifetime, while another said that they felt badly let down by the PM as a leader. A Boris Johnson hater has pondered if his bad leadership would be better than no leadership. With May, it seems that it is no leadership, since shes not leading and she has no clue what she wants to get out of Brexit. Back when John Major was the Prime Minister in 1991, he visited China and its leader, Li Peng. It was a controversial trip, because the Tiananmen Square Massacre had occurred just two years prior, China had become ostracised from the international community, and Li Peng was known as The Butcher of Beijing. Major was the first western leader to visit China after Tiananmen Square Major was the first western leader to visit China after the massacre, and it was pretty badass: he didnt hold back in challenging his host on hot button issues of Tibet, freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and of course, the infamous massacre. Theresa Mays visit, however, was not quite as badass. It came at what is being called the worst human rights crisis in China since the Tiananmen Square massacre, as the Chinese government are taking away peoples human rights and silencing any protestors or naysayers, but May didnt mention it once. Instead, she just drank tea and had a good time. The only praise shes been getting after her visit is from China, thanking her for sidestepping the human rights issue. Not exactly the sort of commendation she should be looking for. Some have pointed out that May ignored the human rights issue for the sake of the trade deal she hopes to strike with China. Brexit has got us up S**t Creek without a paddle and the only way out is a trade deal with China, so it would be wise not to tick them off. Still, ignoring human rights and silencing people its hard to condone, frankly. Mitel Rebrands ShoreTel Solutions Share Tweet By Paula Bernier Executive Editor, TMC By Paula BernierExecutive Editor, TMC This week, Mitel revealed the new names of its ShoreTel (News - Alert) solutions. The company introduced the rebranding a quarter after buying its unified communications competitor. From here on out, the ShoreTel Connect CLOUD shall be known as MiCloud Connect with Teamwork and Contact Center. And ShoreTel Connect ONSITE is now MiVoice Connect with Connect UC and Contact Center. Also, Mitel (News - Alert) MiCloud Enterprise has been renamed MiCloud Flex with MiCollab and MiCloud Contact Center. In addition to these offerings, Mitels on-site solutions include the MiVoice Office 250 with Phone (News - Alert) Manager applications solution, and the MiVoice Business with MiCollab and MiContact Center Business. The company sells cloud-based solutions as well, as some of the names above suggest. "North American businesses are rapidly moving to the cloud, but they are not all doing it at the same pace or with the same configuration, said Bob Agnes, President and Executive Vice President of Products and Solutions at Mitel. Our customers need choice and a clear technology path forward. Mitel's portfolio is purpose-built to provide maximum choice and flexibility to meet customers' immediate needs, solve their business problems, and move them ahead where ever they are in their journey." Mitel sells business phones and collaboration, contact center, and unified communications solutions. Its technology powers more than 2 billion business connections a day. Its solutions are used by 60 million end users in more than 100 countries. And the company has been a key consolidator in the UC arena. Gartners (News - Alert) 2017 Magic Quadrant for Unified Communications lists Mitel as a leader. (The other leaders were Cisco and Microsoft.) Mitel moved into the No. 2 UC-as-a-Service market spot with the acquisition of ShoreTel; that deal was announced in July. Marty Parker of UCStrategies wrote: It is reasonable to expect that Mitel will stick with the delivery of economic and reliable telephony through their broad and diverse channels. If Mitel can continue to manage successfully the integration of their many acquisitions, this will likely work for them. Its pretty likely that a lot of enterprises will be more than happy to buy low-cost dial tone whether on premises or in the Mitel cloud and put their innovative energies elsewhere. Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. Article comments powered by Disqus Article comments powered by Edited by Mandi Nowitz Effective April 1, 2018, Kenichiro Yoshida will be taking on the role of President and CEO of Sony following a management transition proposed by current CEO Kazuo Hirai. This announcement came as a surprise to many, including the Nominating Committee and Board of Director's at Sony, considering the success of the company over the six years with Mr. Hirai at the helm. Since taking on the role of CEO in April 2012, Kazuo Hirai had a clear vision revolving around the Japanese word "kando," or emotional involvement. He also aimed to improve profitability for Sony, a goal he achieved with the great success of the PlayStation 4 which no doubt helped put Sony on track to surpass their current financial goals. After deliberation held February 1, Sony report that Mr. Hirai and the Sony Board of Directors agreed to a management realignment that they believe will ensure future success. Whatever the future may hold, the momentum to continue growing is certainly there after Kazuo Hirai had such a strong six years as Sony's CEO. The future of sony April 1 marks the beginning of the Japanese financial year as well as a new beginning for Sony. With projections looking good for Sony, hopes are that by handing off the baton they will be able to keep the momentum and continue to innovate and grow with the new footholds they have achieved over the past six years. While roles may be changing in Sony's upper management, Kazuo Hirai will still be very present to continue to offer his knowledge and vision. Mr. Hirai currently holds the titles of President, CEO, Director, and Representative Corporate Executive Officer; beginning April 1st he will hold the titles, Chairman and Director. Kenichiro Yoshida will be taking on all of Kazuo Hirai's former titles and moving away from some of his current roles (currently he holds the titles of Executive Deputy President, Director, Chief Financial Officer, and Representative Corporate Executive Officer). Mr. Yoshida plans to continue to build upon the successes of Mr. Hirai to continue to improve global competitiveness and profits across the Sony Group. Board of Directors support Hirai's recommendations The Board of Directors unanimously supported Kazuo Hirai's recommendation of Kenichiro Yoshida as his successor, a good indicator that the transition will be smooth and Sony will hit the ground running at the beginning of the Japanese fiscal year of 2018. Sony fans are certainly grateful for everything Kazuo Hirai achieved during his time as CEO, and we look forward to the things to come. Groundhog Day happens every February 2. The current tradition has a fuzzy little weather predicting rodent popping his head out of the ground and predicting whether were going to have an early spring or long winter. But what do you really know about Groundhog Day? Candlemas Day In the 1800s, German immigrants to Pennsylvania first started this tradition in the US. Their original tradition, Candlemas Day, stemmed from the clergy blessing candles to distribute to people in the dark of winter. Handed down originally from Roman Times, the Germans took it a step further by introducing a sacred Bear or Badger to predict the weather. Groundhogs, also known as woodchucks, scientific name Marmota Monax, are not long-lived creatures. Typically living six to eight years, and weighing in at 12 to 15 pounds, they are small and mostly herbivorous eating fruits and vegetables. Each fall they go into hibernation where their body temperatures will drop significantly and their heart rates will slow to just five bpm. During this time they can lose 30 percent of their body fat. February is when the male groundhog comes out of their borough for a short period looking for a mate (not typically to predict the weather). They then come out of hibernation in March. Modern Groundhog Day folklore dictates that if the chosen groundhog emerges from his borough and casts a shadow then winter will last six more weeks. If the groundhog does not cast a shadow then spring will arrive early. Contrary to popular belief, the groundhog does not actually have to see his own shadow. The most famous of the groundhog celebrants is known as Punxsutawney Phil. His full title, however, is "Punxsutawney Phil, Seer of Seers, Sage of Sages, Prognosticator of Prognosticators, and Weather Prophet Extraordinary." He was named the USs only true weather forecasting groundhog in 1887 by the editor of the local paper, the Punxsutawney Spirit. But there are other celebrity Groundhogs celebrated across North America. Just to name a few, Woodstock, Illinois is where you will find Woodstock Willie, Hagerstown, Virginia is where you will find Felix the Groundhog, and Wiarton, Ontario, Canada is home to Wiarton Willie. But how accurate are these celebrity rodents? While it is fun to watch, apparently Punxsutawney Phil is only accurate around 39 percent of the time. A flip of the coin is accurate about 50 percent of the time so hes not doing very well. His predictions since 1988 seem to have improved greatly though, he is now 46 percent accurate. Bill Murray Of course, the most famous "Groundhog Day" is the movie by Bill Murray. Since its 1993 release, attendance at Groundhog Day celebrations has dramatically increased according to Punxsutawney Phils Groundhog Day organizers. Now rather than weather prediction, Groundhog Day has become a term defining somebody doomed to repeat the same thing over and over again. It was more than four months ago that Hurricane Maria struck Puerto Rico, and its electricity has not yet been restored because the disaster played havoc with the infrastructure and left its people to fend for themselves. In todays world, a life minus electricity is unthinkable. Without power, the elderly struggle in the heat and everyone is forced to finish his work before it is dark. CNN reports that a teenager has come on the scene as a good Samaritan. He is Gomez Colon, who is a ninth grader and lives in San Juan. Soon after the hurricane, he started a crowdfunding campaign to help out those in the worst hit areas. He wanted to buy portable solar lamps and hand-operated washing machines for them. Solar power is a solution It is estimated that the lack of electricity has affected upwards of half a million residents of Puerto Rico. The disaster had uprooted electric poles and left the outdated infrastructure in shambles. The road and bridges were also badly damaged by Hurricane Maria. Soon after the hurricane, many residents moved out to the US mainland and those who stayed back are now suffering. The good Samaritan has already raised funds and started distributing the solar lamps. He has already distributed 1,400 of them to some 840 households and has another 1,600 that he plans to distribute soon. He does his work on weekends and procures the items directly from reputed manufacturers. So far, he has procured around 300 hand-powered washing machines and more than 3,000 lamps. Some of these lamps have provisions for charging mobile phones. The situation is grim The government of Puerto Rico has revealed that power has been restored to about 80 percent of the island, while 96 percent has access to running water and almost 98 percent now has telecom services. This paints a rosy picture, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) indicated that in view of the improvement, it would discontinue the supply of food and water to the island. However, it has added that it still holds adequate quantities of food and water for distribution if required. In spite of the official statements, the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority says that a large portion of residents continues to remain in the dark. Under the circumstances, this scheme of free distribution of solar lamps by the good Samaritan has brought a ray of hope in the lives of Puerto Ricans who are still on the island. Incidentally, Elon Musk had proposed that the island should replace its existing power generation setup with solar power. Vox had reported that after the disaster, a childrens hospital in San Juan was brought back online in October with solar panels and batteries manufactured by Tesla. Subsequently, its CEO, Elon Musk, discussed the matter with Gov. Ricardo Rossello about restoring power to Puerto Rico with solar energy. Republican Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) announced that he would not be running for re-election. Gowdy says he is leaving politics for a career back in the Justice System. Gowdy has led the House investigations into Hillary Clinton and the Russian interference in the 2016 election. Gowdy released a statement on Twitter saying it's the right time for him to leave and return to the justice system. Rep. Gowdy has been silent on what he would do in the justice system. However, his announcement comes a day after a spot opened up on the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals, sparking speculation that he may be gunning for that seat. Gowdy's decision makes him the latest Republican to announce his retirement. There is an uptick in the number of Republicans heading for the exit. However, Gowdy would be a shoe-in for re-election. He gained national recognition for his work as lead House investigator into the 2012 Benghazi terrorist attack, that killed four Americans. Shortly after Gowdy's announcement, the NRCC released a statement praising Gowdy and said they were confident the GOP would retain control of the district. U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley praised Gowdy as well. Several South Carolina political figures have announced their intentions to run for Gowdy's seat. S.C. State Senator William Timmons announced his candidacy. County Republican Party Chairman Josh Kimbrell announced his intention to run on Facebook. Following the firing of FBI Director James Comey, Gowdy's name began to surface as a replacement. Instead, Trey Gowdy told AG Jeff Sessions he was not the right choice for FBI director. Gowdy was critical of the FBI's work during the 2016 election but has defended the special counsel investigation into possible Russia collusion. Recently Gowdy has been one of the supporters of releasing a classified memo that alleges FBI abused its powers. Along with Gowdy, 20 other Republican incumbents have announced their retirement. Democrats are only in need of 24 seats to reclaim the House. According to NBC News, there have only been two instances (9/11, Great Depression) where the president's party picked up seats during the midterm. Gowdy said that whatever skills he has are better used in a courtroom than in Congress. Trey Gowdy has become the eighth Republican committee chairman to retire. Rep Jeb Hensarling - House Financial Services Committee Rep. Lamar Smith -- House Science, Space and Technology Committee Rep. Bob Goodlatte - House Judiciary Committee Rep. Bill Shuster -- House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Rep. Gregg Harper -- House Administration Committee Rep. Ed Royce -- House Foreign Affairs Committee Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen -- House Appropriations Committee Rep. Diane Black is expected to give up her position on the House Budget Committee, so she can run for Governor of Tennessee. After a storm hit on Wednesday night (Jan. 31), 955 miners became trapped in the Beatrix Mine after an electrical cable outage stopped lifts from working. Mine authorities worked to restore the power supply and were able to rescue all the mine workers at 6:30 AM on Friday (Feb. 2). The Sibanye Gold Beatrix Mine is located in Theunissen in the Free State of South Africa. None of the miners experienced any serious injury but were suffering from exhaustion. The mine workers did have access to water and food during their ordeal, although some suffered from dehydration and others suffered high blood pressure. Storm downs two Eskom power lines at mine After the storm downed two power lines supplying the mine, lifts stopped working and miners were unable to leave. However, after an ordeal of more than 24 hours, they have finally been rescued. It was confirmed Friday morning that all the miners were back on the surface. Livhuwani Mammburu, a spokesman for the National Union of Mineworkers in South Africa, told News24 that the miners were receiving medical check-ups and that no serious injuries were sustained. Management will be holding a meeting at the mine once all workers have been checked. All 955 miners who were trapped underground for more than a day have resurfaced, mining company #SibanyeGold says. https://t.co/fxY5LAFkk0 pic.twitter.com/0Pbu0wWH5B News24 (@News24) February 2, 2018 James Wellsted, a spokesman for the Sibanye Gold mine, confirmed that some of the workers suffered from dehydration, while others had high blood pressure. Reportedly, 16 of the older workers did require drips. Wellsted said counseling was being provided to the workers and their families as required. Wellsted added that while the mine workers were trapped for some time and are exhausted, he said they were in a well-ventilated area of the mine. Constant contact had been kept up with the miners, who were never in any danger. Other miners had been rescued over the course of a day, with 272 workers rescued on Thursday (Feb. 1) from shaft four and a further 64 from shaft one, but this still left the 955 who were still trapped underground. Power restored to mine early Friday morning Power was finally restored at 2:30 AM Friday and most of the other miners were rescued by 5.00 AM. The other seven mine workers were back above ground by 6:30 AM. Mineral resources committee calls for action As reported by Times Live, the portfolio committee on mineral resources in Parliament criticized the power outage and resulting ordeal suffered by the miners. While the blackout was caused by a storm, the committee believes the mine should have had a backup plan. Sahlulele Luzipo, the chairperson, said it is unacceptable that a power outage could hit an underground mine which relies on electricity. He said this demonstrates the mine managements attitude towards safety. The committee went on to call for a better explanation of the situation, urging the Department of Mineral Resources to take drastic actions against such acts of carelessness. All the #SibanyeGold #BeatrixMine workers have been rescued! But are SA mines doing enough to ensure workers safety? We could use your comments on DStv403 with @danmoyane this morning. pic.twitter.com/v9ihD7bqWm eNCA (@eNCA) February 2, 2018 Once the news was reported that the miners had been rescued, friends and family members started gathering at the mine to welcome their loved ones. They were reportedly forced to wait outside the mine entrance, waiting for news after they and reporters were prevented from entering the site. The Beaumont children, Jane, Arnna, and Grant lived with their parents, Jim and Nancy Beaumont, in Somerton Park, a suburb of Adelaide. On a hot Australia Day in 1966, the children took a short trip the beach, one they had taken before. Jane, at age nine, was considered responsible enough to babysit her siblings, and Jim and Nancy were not at all concerned. The children left home at 10 AM and were expected to return home by 2 PM. Their parents became worried when they had not returned and called the police at 7:30 PM. To this day the children have never been seen again. Capturing a nation 52-years on, the disappearance of the Beaumont children is one of the largest police investigations in Australian criminal history and, to this day, remains one of Australia's most infamous cold cases. With its significance in Australian criminal history and the fact that their disappearance has never been solved, the Beaumont case has led to an evolution of Australian society, with parents cracking down on the supervision of their children. Parents began to believe that their children could no longer be presumed to be safe In early 2016, near the case's 50th anniversary, a telephone tip pointed South Australian police to a recently deceased suspect in the case. In early 2018, excavation was initiated in the back of a North Plympton factory that had previously belonged to a suspect. The site, formerly owned by Harry Phipps will undergo excavation today in the hope of finally bringing the Beaumont children home. A new South Adelaide dig site to finally bury the past In early 2018 South Australian Police announced they would be conducting a new search of the New Castalloy site following geophysical testing of the area which showed an anomaly. Excavations at the dig site at the New Castalloy site at North Plympton began at about 8:00 AM on 2 February. Recent geophysical testing uncovered an anomaly at the spot where two brothers said they dug a hole for Mr. Phipps the same year the Beaumonts disappeared. Police say the brothers were only boys at the time they dug the hole, and the new spot was in close proximity to where investigations were previously focused. A team of police and Major Crime detectives, accompanied by archaeologists have been monitoring the excavators digging a large patch of land on the north side of the Castalloy factory since 8 AM this morning. As of 4 PM no human remains have been found. It may be another 50 years before Australians know what happened to the Beaumont kids. Upgraded Sino-UK ties could be expected in global governance matters, including the Belt and Road initiative, after the two countries agreed to embrace an enhanced version of the "Golden Era" of relations during the top leaders' summit in Beijing on Thursday. Chinese President Xi Jinping met with visiting British Prime Minister Theresa May Thursday, calling on both countries to forge an enhanced version of the "Golden Era" bilateral relations. Global Times cites the Xinhua News Agency and reports in its article China, UK embrace stronger Golden Era that the two countries first agreed to embrace a "Golden Era" for bilateral relations during Xi's visit to Britain in October 2015. "The enhanced version means cooperation between China and the UK would be not just in bilateral ties but also in global governance, including the Belt and Road initiative and other multilateral diplomatic occasions," Zhang Shengjun, an international politics professor at Beijing Normal University, told the Global Times. It also shows that the UK has been adjusting its diplomatic strategy and sees China as a major power in the world with great potential, Zhang noted. Business deals worth 9 billion pounds ($13 billion) were signed between China and the UK during May's visit, China's Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) said Thursday. The deals include the construction of Belt and Road initiative routes, finance, innovation, agriculture and technology. Both countries plan to set up a Fintech center at the Xiongan New Area, North China's Hebei Province, the ministry said. The two countries aim to strengthen cooperation in innovative industries and enhance bilateral economic and trade ties in the future, MOFCOM said. The UK always has soft power resources and diplomatic experience. "In helping China, the UK hopes to gain the privilege of building a relationship with China," Zhao Junjie, a research fellow at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences' Institute of European Studies in Beijing, told the Global Times on Thursday. BBC reported on Thursday that May brought Xi a box-set of the BBC's Blue Planet II series. The documentary was rated 9.9 out of 10 by Chinese audiences on Chinese site Douban. "The gift was chosen after careful deliberation and shows that China and the UK, as two responsible big countries, would face the world's major issues together, such as climate change," Zhao said. Clean energy ties China General Nuclear Power Corporation (CGN), a major Chinese nuclear power operator, said Wednesday that nuclear projects in Britain were proceeding well, Xinhua reported on Thursday. He Yu, CGN chairman of the board, said since the deals were signed in 2016 with French energy company EDF and the British government on Hinkley Point C, CGN has invested 1.7 billion British pounds to advance the projects. Zhao said cooperation in nuclear power shows the need for clean energy, and indicates that "the UK values its cooperation with China, and hopes the cooperation could also have a leading effect in Europe." Zhao said he believes that aside from diplomacy, the other significant area of Sino-UK cooperation is technology. "The UK tops Europe in high-tech. After Brexit, China could expand its cooperation with the UK on technologies, especially on nuclear power, new materials and aerospace," He said. France and other European countries have been looking to increase trade with Iran since Paris, Washington and other world powers agreed in 2015 to lift many economic sanctions in exchange for controls on Irans nuclear program. Reuters reports in its article France to finance exports to Iran, aims to sidestep U.S. sanctions that the plan is to offer dedicated, euro-denominated export guarantees to Iranian buyers of French goods and services. By structuring the financing through vehicles without any U.S. link, whether to the currency or otherwise, the aim is to avoid the extraterritorial reach of U.S. legislation. The move could anger U.S. President Donald Trump, who has threatened to pull out of the Iran nuclear agreement reached by his predecessor Barack Obama. Washington has maintained some financial restrictions, leaving private banks - even those based outside the United States - wary of financing deals. We put a lot of preparation into this in 2017 and we keep on working, every single day, on the conditions of our entrance into Iran, Bpifrances chief executive Nicolas Dufourcq said on Wednesday, referring to the new loans. This is a completely separate flow (of money), he added. There is no (U.S.) dollar in this scheme... no one holding a U.S. passport. There is a pipeline of about 1.5 billion euros in potential contracts from interested French exporters, Dufourcq told lawmakers on Wednesday. RISKING TRUMPS IRE France, which has had close business ties with Iran since before the fall of the Shah in 1979 and still operates several large factories there including Renault and PSA plants, is not alone in Europe in seeking to deepen trade ties. A French banking source said Italy, Germany, Austria and Belgium were also working on mechanisms that would shield their companies from the risk of U.S. sanctions. It was not immediately clear how closely coordinated the efforts are. Earlier this month, Italy and Iran agreed a framework credit agreement to fund investments in Iran worth up to 5 billion euros. The accord was signed by Irans government-owned Bank of Industry and Mine and Middle East Bank, and the investment arm of Italian state-owned holding Invitalia. The Rome government chose Invitalia over state lender Cassa Depositi And Prestiti (CDP) because, unlike CDP, it has no exposure to U.S. investors and no U.S. footprint. In October, Trump accused some signatories to the nuclear deal of profiteering from the accord. He later rowed back, saying he had told French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel they could keep making money in Iran. French banks have been severely penalized by U.S. financial authorities for their dealings with Iran before. BNP Paribas received a $9-billion fine in 2014 for violating U.S. financial sanctions - even though it was imposed before the nuclear agreement was reached. European aerospace giant Airbus has complained about the banks wariness, which has cast a shadow over deals linked to rival Boeing. Dufourcq said French export credits could be offered as soon as May or June. Bpifrances total export credits jumped to 186 million euros ($231 million) in 2017 from 30 million euros a year earlier. It plans to more than double the amount to 400 million euros in 2018. Islamic State remains a mortal threat to the region despite its recent battlefield defeats, Qatars foreign minister warned in an interview Wednesday, cautioning that the terrorist group could rise again if Washington and its Arab allies fail to address the root causes fueling religious extremism. Washington Times reports in its article ISIS remains mortal threat to Middle East, Qatari envoy warns that Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani, the top diplomat from the tiny but influential Persian Gulf nation, said the military victories over Islamic State should be celebrated but the terrorist groups ideology must be crushed in order to defeat any version of the group rearing its head. A portion of the Islamic State has likely dissolved into the general population of the Middle East, Sheikh al-Thani said, and nations across the region need to become more responsive to their people and the needs of their people to fill the vacuum that was there and created [such] organizations. The sheikh, who serves as both deputy prime minister and minister of foreign affairs, was in Washington this week for an inaugural strategic dialogue with the Trump administration. In an interview with The Washington Times, he touched on a wide range of other matters, including the future of the Iranian nuclear deal, the growing economic ties between Qatar and the United States and the bitter diplomatic stalemate that has divided Qatar from other U.S. Arab allies in the region. His remarks on the need for vigilance against terrorism were noteworthy because Qatar has been accused by Saudi Arabia and other Arab powers of supporting terrorist groups and radical Islam. Nearly eight months ago, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates banded together to impose an economic and diplomatic blockade against Qatar, a wealthy country that sits atop some of the worlds largest proven natural gas reserves, over what they say is its weak posture on Islamic extremism. The rift among Arab nations within the Gulf Cooperation Council has put Washington on shaky diplomatic ground. The Trump administration has resisted siding completely with Saudi Arabia because of American interests in Qatar. In addition to major investments by U.S. companies such as Exxon Mobil Corp. in Qatars oil and gas sectors, the Qataris host what is widely considered Washingtons most strategic military base in the Persian Gulf. Al Udeid Air Base, situated just outside Doha, is home to U.S. Air Force Central Command and is critical to U.S. military operations in the Middle East, Afghanistan and South Asia. In a separate interview with The Associated Press, Qatari Defense Minister Khalid bin Mohammed al-Attiyah said his country had agreed to expand the base to accommodate more U.S. forces and increase facilities for their families. The Saudis and the others say Doha provides funding for jihadi groups, such as Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood, and that it has developed close economic ties to Iran. Qatar shares ownership over a massive offshore natural gas field in the Persian Gulf with Tehran a field that has fueled Dohas growth as a major Middle East player in recent years. Pushing back Sheikh al-Thani said the charges from Saudi Arabia and others were exaggerated to justify an attempt to contain Dohas economic rise. Our country has been subject to an unjust aggression, he said, adding that claims by Saudi Arabia and the others have created an unnecessary distraction for the region. With regard to Iranian relations, the sheikh asserted that the Arab worlds overall trade with Iran is dominated by the United Arab Emirates, which has accused Qatar of having stronger ties with Iran. How are we closer to Iran when we are a front-runner against Iranian policy in Syria and Iraq and Yemen? he said. He said Qatar stood with Iraqs Sunni Muslim population while it was marginalized under Shiite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who was perceived to have close ties to Iran. Sheikh al-Thani took a cautious tone on the Iranian nuclear deal, which President Trump has harshly criticized but which other parties to the deal, including the European Union, China and Russia, continue to support. We were not part of the deal, Sheikh al-Thani said. But what we know is that we need to make sure that any nuclear program which will be developed [in Iran], we have to assure that its a peaceful program. Iran, he said, is a neighbor, and we need to deal with it in a way that ensures the security of the entire region is not affected by any confrontation, to ensure that Iran doesnt have any destabilizing factors for us. Despite U.S. mediation efforts, the sheikh said he was not optimistic about a quick end to the diplomatic divide in the Gulf Cooperation Council. It will not end by bullying, this is for sure, he said. It will end if every country understands that its rights and responsibilities are equal to other nations. He said Qatar, with U.S.-backing, has repeatedly called for dialogue with the Saudis and the others to no avail. The other side is not willing, he said. President Trump invited everybody to Camp David. We responded positively; they just rejected the invitation. Ties to Trump The Qataris have been engaged in a charm offensive in Washington as the stalemate deepens, seeking to curry favor with the Trump administration while it gets its bearings on Middle East policy. Part of the push has involved an uptick in Qatari investments in the U.S. economy. In addition to tens of billions of dollars worth of ongoing weapons deals between the two nations, Sheikh al-Thani touted major investments in the U.S. financial services, health care, technology and energy sectors. Doha in recent months has ramped up its commitment to investing in the LNG Golden Pass in Texas, a joint venture between Qatar Petroleum and Exxon Mobil touted as a linchpin to facilitating eventual U.S. entree into the global liquid natural gas market. Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson, a former CEO of Exxon Mobil with long ties with Doha, pressed Qatar to embrace a more aggressive counterterrorism posture. In July, Doha signed a special memorandum of understanding with Washington to combat terrorism, including a promise to crack down on suspected fundraising for terrorist organizations by individuals with Qatari bank accounts. The Qataris in August hired the Financial Integrity Network, a U.S.-based company run by former American counterterrorism officials, to help close loopholes that had allowed terrorist financing to flourish in Qatar. Sheikh al-Thani said the results were evident in this weeks strategic dialogue with the Trump administration. Mr. Tillerson made headlines across the Middle East on Tuesday when he appeared beside the Qatari foreign minister in Washington to declare that Doha has made significant progress to improve efforts to combat terrorism. The recognition of the United States about the role Qatar has in the fight against terror, said the sheikh, [is] a very strong statement from the government of the United States in response to whatever accusation that those blockading countries are trying to throw at us. * ISIS is a terrorist organization prohibited in Russia The French president is under fire at home for adopting an immigration policy that critics say shirks the human rights he has espoused. But implementation of that policy may be difficult, as once-distinct definitions of migrant increasingly overlap. Christian Science Monitor reports in its article As Macron looks to control migration, line between economic migrants, refugees blurs that French President Emmanuel Macron came into office promising to make France the new center of the humanist project. Its an oft-repeated theme seen as a repudiation of the far right at home and of leaders in Europe and across the Atlantic who have scored points by rallying for closed borders and railing against immigration. France has always been the country of enlightenment, not darkness, he told anti-immigrant rival Marine Le Pen in their final campaign debate. Then in his acceptance speech outside the Louvre museum, he spoke of a global expectation now for France to defend the spirit of the Enlightenment that is threatened in so many places. Except now Mr. Macron himself is under fire for betraying those ideals as his government plans to write a new law to more speedily distinguish between economic migrants, whom they want to deport, and those legally in need of refuge. His supporters say he is just operating out of political realism. Foes say his lofty rhetoric of France as the birthplace of droits de lhomme (human rights) doesnt match the crackdown on the ground. But underlying it all is a larger global tension, as the lines between economic migration and crisis-driven migration blur and the push factors, like abject poverty and drought, coincide with war and persecution. Many question whether the United Nations definition of a refugee should be expanded to reflect the reality of crisis today. It is a broader discussion being had at the international level, says Elizabeth Collett, director of the Migration Policy Institute Europe in Brussels, as it is more difficult in humanitarian terms to distinguish between the acuteness of need some people are experiencing It is much more of a continuum than it was before. Humanism vs. realism In France, Macrons government has said that the most humanitarian path forward is to make the asylum system more efficient. But that means a harder line for undocumented immigrants. He echoes the oft-repeated statement of Michel Rocard, a Socialist prime minister from 1988 to 1991, who crossed an ideological divide when he said, France cannot welcome all the misery in the world. Among the most controversial moves by the government was a circular released in December allowing authorities to conduct identity checks in emergency shelters. Leading Catholic and Protestant organizations penned an open letter condemning the move. At its heart its a hostile measure, a mistrust of people, says Bruno Magniny, director of a welcome center for charity Secours Catholique, one of the letters signatories. Even some of Macrons former allies have spoken out. In another open letter in Le Monde this month, a former top advisor, Jean Pisani-Ferry, along with unions and intellectuals, criticized Macrons policy as one that contradicts the humanism you are advocating. A magazine cover this month sums up the dissent with a mug shot of Macron behind barbed wire, provocatively declaring: Welcome to the country of human rights. Alain Minc, a former mentor of Macron, says his immigration policy fits into Macrons ethos as a president neither on the right nor left. I think the question about immigration is theoretically very simple, he says. We should be as open as necessary vis-a-vis the political refugees and war refugees but not vis-a-vis migrants coming from what are called safe countries. In fact what Macron is proposing is nowhere near as radical as policies floated by President Trump in the United States. It is in line with mainstream policy in Europe, which aims to balance welcome for those truly in need of it and a functional border policy, including national security. Germanys welcome of refugees at the peak of flows in 2015 was accompanied by a similar bifurcation of the system to better distinguish between two sets of migrants. A migration continuum? But Catherine de Wenden, a political scientist in Paris who specializes in migration, says that a crackdown on economic migration is increasingly meaningless. We have to differentiate because they have different legal statuses, but the profiles are very close now, she says. In some countries there is a mix of political crises and economic crises. Although Macrons government has said it has increased deportations of undocumented migrants, Ms. de Wenden says it remains a difficult task once they are here, even with a harsher crackdown. She estimates that only 5 percent are eventually sent back. Ms. Collett adds that in Europe, many governments who dont grant asylum still implicitly recognize that it is difficult to return certain migrants like 19-year-olds from Afghanistan, for example back home, which leaves them in a legal limbo. At the orientation center run by Secours Catholique in the northeast corner of Paris, migrants sip coffee under red and white snowflake decorations. Children play with donated toys in a corner. Ibrahim, who came from Ivory Coast in 2016 and is awaiting his asylum claim to be processed, says migrants still believe in France as a country of droits de lhomme, but the situation on the ground is sobering. We are escaping a difficult situation to come to live out another difficult situation, he says. Mr. Magniny, the director of this center, says he believes Macron is following public opinion in France instead of setting an example. Magniny calls Macrons tougher policies a historic error in a changing world where migration is a reality. The fear of the migrant is real, it exists. But it is an irrational fear, a fear of the future, he says. By creating a climate of crackdown, Magniny says, Macron is only adding to a climate of fear of others. And you dont prepare for the future cultivating fear in people, he says. After declaring that the US was no longer qualified to act as an honest broker in any peace process with Israel, the Palestinian Authority is trying to persuade Russia to play a role in efforts to solve the conflict, The Times of Israel writes in the article Palestinians court Russia as new broker in peace process. PA President Mahmoud Abbas is scheduled to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Black Sea summer beach resort of Sochi on February 12. He will tell Putin that the Palestinians do not believe the Trump administration is capable of playing any constructive or positive role in efforts to achieve peace with Israel, said a PA official in Ramallah. The PA president has also been seeking greater European involvement in the peace process. Relations between the PA and the US administration have rapidly deteriorated since Trumps announcement recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel last December. US threats to cut funds to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees have further exacerbated tensions between the Trump administration and the PA. We are hoping that Russia and the EU will step in to fill the void, the PA official said. We believe that these countries should and can play a larger role in any peace process in the wake of the Trump administrations hostile policies toward the Palestinians and bias in favor of Israel. On Thursday, Abbas met in his Ramallah office with two senior Russian officials, Nikolai Patrushev, secretary of the security council, and Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov, PLO Secretary-General Saeb Erekat and PA General Intelligence Chief Majed Faraj attended the meeting with the Russian emissaries. Abbas told them that the PA was interested in developing and strengthening its relations with Russia. He also expressed appreciation for Russias support for the Palestinians in various areas, according to the Palestinian official news agency Wafa. Abbas emphasized the importance of Russias political stance, due to its great weight in the international arena and as part of the Quartet, which should continue to play a fair and just role, Wafa reported. In addition to Russia, the Quartet on the Middle East, which was established in Madrid in 2002, comprises the United Nations, the United States and the European Union. Wafa quoted the Russian officials as saying that Putin was looking forward to his meeting with the PA president. The envoys also affirmed Russias continued support for the Palestinians and efforts to achieve peace in the Middle East, it said. Amid his efforts to rally the international community against the US, Abbas will also deliver a rare address to the UN Security Council on February 20, the councils president said Thursday. Israels ambassador to the UN, Danny Dannon, said that Abbass address to the council would further damage prospects for direct peace talks with Israel. Before heading the Ramallah, the Russian officials met Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem for talks that focused on security cooperation and Irans efforts to entrench itself in Lebanon. Netanyahu had met with Putin in Moscow on Monday. The Russian delegations visit to Israel was part of the framework of the dialogue between the Israeli and Russian national security teams following the first round of talks held in Moscow approximately three months ago, a spokesperson for Netanyahu said. Talks have focused on Israels concerns over Iranian efforts to establish a presence in Syria and its attempt to turn Lebanon into a base for missiles against Israel, as well as security cooperation with Moscow, the spokesperson said. Israel has been coordinating its activities in Syria including, reportedly, dozens of airstrikes against weapons shipments bound for the Lebanese terror group Hezbollah with Russia, whose military has been shoring up the regime of President Bashar Assad. At least 11 people were wounded after six rockets launched from Syria's Afrin district hit Turkey's southern provinces of Kilis and Hatay. Three rockets launched from Afrin hit Hatay's Reyhanli district injuring six people, the Daily Sabah newspaper reported. The media outlet added, citing the Kilis governor, that one of those injured in his province was in a serious condition. The report comes a day after a rocket fell on the roof of a restaurant in the center of Turkish Kilis, injuring one civilian. According to the estimates, since the start of the Turkish operation in northern Syrian enclave of Afrin, 4 civilians were killed in Turkey's border districts Kilis and Reyhanli, whereas dozens got injuries. Azerbaijans Minister of Defense Colonel General Zakir Hasanov met with the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office Ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk today, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said in a statement. During the meeting the sides exchanged views on the current situation on the contact line of troops and the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Israeli Air Force aircraft attacked a Hamas position in the northern Gaza Strip this morning in response to a rocket attack several hours earlier, the army said. "The IDF sees the Hamas terror group as the sole party responsible for what takes place in the Gaza Strip and for what emanates from it," an Israel Defense Forces spokesperson said. There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage in the strike, Times of Israel reported. The army said earlier that it wasnt clear whether the rocket fired from the Gaza Strip toward Israel Thursday night had landed in Israeli territory. No rocket sirens were triggered, indicating the projectile was not headed for a populated area in Israel. No impact site was immediately identified, and the Israeli military said it was investigating. The expert of the German Association of Foreign Policy (DGAP), Josef Braml, speaking with ZDF, commented on US President Donald Trump's recent statement. "According to the US, they are surrounded by enemies. In addition to further militarisation, Trump also wants to verify that development and assistance aid will be given exclusively to those countries the United States considers friends. This division into friends and enemies reminded me of George Bush Jr.," the expert said. As an example, Braml cited Trump's position on the UN vote on moving the US Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Then the White House made it clear that the countries that voted against the US position will feel its wrath. "The US ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley openly stated that the US is 'taking' names," the expert recalled. A cleanup of Russia's banks almost complete, Russia's Central Bank Chair Elvira Nabiullina said today. "In 2017, the Bank of Russia was forced to revoke more than 50 bank licenses," she said, adding that this is almost half as much as in 2016 and 2015. "At the same time we had to take three major decisions," TASS cited the head of the Central Bank as saying. Nevertheless, Nabiullina noted that a cleanup of Russias banks is more than half completed. Nabiullina also said that the central bank still saw problems in the banking sector and cases of unfair business practice. The head of the department of Economics and Finance at the Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences of RANEPA, doctor of economic sciences, Professor Alla Dvoretskaya, speaking with a correspondent of Vestnik Kavkaza, noted the contradictory results of the Central Bank's cleanup. According to her, indeed, many unsustainable banks were rightly rejected, because they were unstable and inefficient. On the other hand, the expert pointed out, the trend towards an excessive cleanup leads to the fact that licenses of not all the banks put on the list should be revoked. "In general, as a result of such an active restructuring, there are so few players on the market that such things as competition and market-driven banking system are being questioned. There is an excessive centralization, monopolization and nationalization, which is the negative side of this process," Alla Dvoretskaya explained. She added that some banks are so dissatisfied with the decisions of Russia's Central Bank that they even come into conflicts with it. "The consumer have little choice when picking, because the number of banks is declining. The private business is experiencing difficult times," the economist admitted. The expert drew attention to the fact that very many banks really did not have the right to work because they violated the rules set by the CBR, engaged in questionable operations and withdrawal of assets, conducted inefficient management, had huge capital holes and implemented too risky policies. The head of the department of stock markets and financial engineering of the Faculty of Finance and the Banking Business of RANEPA, Konstantin Korischenko, also said that it is impossible to give an unambiguous answer to the question about the consequences of a banking clean-up. "On the one hand, it has become more transparent and reliable, since there is a clear result of the Central Bank's actions. But on the other hand, there is a diminished availability of banking services with a concentration of capital in large banks, primarily state-owned. The issue of the private banking sector perspectives also left open," the expert listed. The economist explained that the appearance of a significant number of "bad" banks in Russia in recent years can be explained both by objective and subjective reasons. "Objective ones are the worsening of the macroeconomic situation, in particular, declining oil prices, sanctions. And the subjective one is that in the last 10-15 years the risk management system was insufficient to prevent the accumulation of low-quality debts," Konstantin Korishchenko concluded. Russia's Central Bank fined more than 10 banks last year for conducting questionable operations, the Deputy Governor of the Central Bank Dmitry Skobelkin said. "There have been cases, and multiple ones - estimated at billions of rubles of fines. More than ten banks, much more, last year," TASS cited Skobelkin as saying. He added that the total amount of fines is estimated at billions of rubles. The chief of Russias Central Election Commission, Ella Pamfilova has warned Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov against making impermissible electioneering statements. According to her, some mass media on January 29 cited Peskovs statement that bore "obvious signs of electioneering." "On behalf of the CEC I make a warning addressed to the presidential spokesman against making such statements in the future," TASS cited Pamfilova as saying. She called upon the mass media and "officials cooperating with them" to "keep in mind the restrictions established by the law throughout the election period," and asked all officials to refrain from election statements while performing official duties Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu stressed today that the only aim of Ankara's Olive Branch operation in Syria is liquidating terrorist groups threatening the entire region. "Turkey is not Syria's occupier, it's liberator," he noted. The minister recalled that the civilians, whose rights are forgotten or concealed by countries that criticize Turkey's position and de facto support the preservation of terrorist organizations in northern Syrian areas located on the border with Turkey, are victims of the terrorists in the regions where the Olive Branch operation is taking place. The Turkish experts Togrul Ismail and Orhan Gafarli, speaking with correspondents of Vestnik Kavkaza, noted that it is constantly overlooked by the critics of Ankara - Turkey is waging a war against terrorists, as it previously fought against the ISIS terrorist group. Togrul Ismail noted that liquidating terrorist groups in northern Syria is needed to stabilize the region. Turkey has already solved the problem with the Kurdistan Workers' Party on its territory, but there are external problems related to terrorists in Syria. Therefore, Turkey has launched the Olive Branch operation - the Syrian groups are a branch of the PKK terrorist organization. The main danger for Turkey is that the US considers these groups to be allies in the fight against ISIS, and it is unlikely that Washington will take its weapons back after the end of the fight against ISIS," he said. Turkey, unlike the US, does not divide terrorists into "good" and "bad." "Recently, four terrorists were killed in Turkey, two of them were in the highest echelons of the PKK and the US weapons was found there during the search. The problem is that the fight against terror should be united. Everyone must fight against this disaster, and Turkey contributes to this struggle through the Olive Branch in Afrin," Togrul Ismail pointed out, adding that Ankara welcomes Moscow's understanding of this common goal. "We have mutual understanding, we see that Russia acts as a normal state for which the fight against terror is a struggle against all terrorists. The current situation is not linked to the Kurdish issue. Terrorist organizations cannot be ethnic or religious. Terrorists use religions and nationalities as a smokescreen in order to gain support from certain sectors of society or foreign forces," the expert stressed. Orhan Gafarli also noted the terrorist nature of the organizations against which Turkey is fighting. "There are terrorist organizations in the region that are indirectly linked to the Turkish Kurdish terrorist organization PKK. In Syria and Iraq, these groups continue their terrorist actions and try to get territory and create a republic. Turkey, Iran and Syria consider these organizations as terrorist ones. The most important thing for Turkey is preserving the borders of the states in the region," he said, adding that Russia's support of maintaining the borders of existing states is essential for Turkey. At the same time, the expert drew attention to Ankara's support for the consistent democratization of Syria and Iraq. "Wishing to preserve the states within their current borders, Turkey seeks to ensure that all parties, including Arabs, Kurds, Sunnis and Shiites were represented in power structures of Syria and Iraq. In this situation, the reform of the Syrian Constitution, which was officially adopted at the Sochi Syrian National Dialogue Congress, is very important. I think it can give an impetus to the peaceful solution of the Syrian issue," Orhan Gafarli concluded. The Turkish president's spokesman Ibrahim Kalin believes that the US is making a historical mistake by arming and supporting PYD and YPG in Syria. "The US policy on Syria raises many questions," the Turkish media cited Kalin as saying. He also noted that the Operation Olive Branch is directed not against Syrian Kurds, but against terrorists who threaten the security of Turkey, which is a member of NATO. The spokesman added that more than 700 terrorist attacks have been committed so far from the Syrias Afrin against Turkey and the Turkish border provinces are regularly subjected to rocket fire. On January 20, the Turkish Armed Forces, together with the Free Syrian Army, launched the Operation Olive Branch in Syria's Afrin. The Pentagon will keep conducting its surveillance flights over the Black Sea near Russian borders , Joint Staff Director Marine Corps Lt. Gen. Kenneth McKenzie Jr. said. "We fly in international airspace. The Black Sea's international airspace. We had every right in the world to be there. Those flights will continue," McKenzie said, adding that the interception of the US plane was an unsafe and unprofessional action by the Russians. The US State Department harshly criticized the interception claiming that Moscow was harassing an American plane over international waters and thus flouting international laws. However, Russia's Defense Ministry said that the intercept was conducted in strict compliance with international aviation rules and was necessary to prevent the Aries from violating Russian airspace. HCM CITY MSN065, one of three Airbus A350-1000 test aircraft, will arrive in Ha Noi on February 2 as part of a three-week demonstration tour to the Middle East and Asia-Pacific. The A350-1000 is the newest member of Airbus widebody family. The tour follows the completion of a successful flight test campaign, which culminated in a joint European Aviation Safety Agency and Federal Aviation Administration type certification. The tour comes ahead of the aircrafts first delivery to Qatar Airways in the next few weeks. During the tour the aircraft will visit 12 destinations to demonstrate its exclusive features to airlines. The itinerary will see it travel over 55,500 kilometres with stops in Doha, Muscat, Hong Kong, Seoul, Taipei, Ha Noi, Singapore, Bangkok, Sydney, Auckland, Tokyo and Manila. VNS HA NOI In a newly issued decree, the Government has made a clear effort to boost inland border-trade quotas and the overall trading situation for Vietnamese residents living in the border areas next to Viet Nam, China, Laos and Cambodia. Data from the General Department of Viet Nam Customs states that in 2017, Viet Nams trade turnover with Laos was above US$890 million, while the turnover with Cambodia was $3.7 billion, and with China, a staggering $71.9 billion. With the Decree No 14 coming into effect on January 23, trading activities performed by border residents and licensed traders are expected to be significantly improved. Most importantly, the decree stipulates that goods traded and exchanged by border residents for direct consumption are not subject to medical quarantine, such as animals, plants and aquatic products, unless the competent State body warns of an epidemic or contagious disease. Therefore, goods consumed by border residents are not subject to inspection and control in terms of food quality and safety, except for emergencies requiring immediate quarantine, when they must comply with international treaties. The decree stipulates that Vietnamese traders, including enterprises, co-operatives, business households and individuals with Vietnamese business registrations are allowed to buy, sell and trade goods along the border and via border checkpoints. Businesses with foreign-direct-investment capital, companies and branches of foreign companies in Viet Nam are also allowed to purchase and exchange goods across the border in accordance with national Law on Foreign Investment Management and any international treaties to which Viet Nam is a member. Border residents, defined as Vietnamese citizens with permanent residence in border areas, are now exempt from customs duties on goods valued at not more than VN2 million (US$89) per person per day, and on no more than four days a month. The value of duty-free quotas in excess of the above limits is subject to import tax and other taxes and charges (if any) in accordance with Vietnamese law. In addition, Decree 14 also contains new administrative reforms, including the abolition of the Border Trade Steering Committee. Traders engaged in the purchase, sale or exchange of goods across borders shall have to fully pay taxes, charges and fees according to the provisions of law. The decree also states that goods traded or exchanged across borders are entitled to preferential value-added tax refunds, according to the provisions of law. Vu Ba Phu, director of the Viet Nam Trade Promotion Agency and head of the 2017 National Trade Promotion Programme, said at a conference early this week that the Ministry of Industry and Trade considered goods produced by border residents and bordering countries (Laos, Cambodia and China) as serving multilateral trade ties. Vietnamese trade associations and trade promotion organisations encourage border traders to access and expand markets in bordering countries, said Phu. He said he hoped that by bringing domestically produced goods to rural, mountainous and border areas, the ministry could boost trade and create distribution channels for essential products. In 2017, the ministry co-ordinated with other ministries and localities to organise trade-promotion programmes in border and mountain areas, including the Viet Nam-China International Trade Fair. Late last year, the World Bank published its global Doing Business 2018 report. Accordingly, Viet Nams time and cost of cross-border trade were classed as having changed positively. As a result, the country now ranks fourth in South-east Asia behind Singapore, Thailand, and Malaysia in terms of cross-border trading. VNS HA NOI Singapore-headquartered Spiral Ventures recently announced that it has invested in Vexere Joint Stock Company, which operated VeXeRe.com, the largest bus ticket and car booking platform in Viet Nam. In an announcement on its website, ao Viet Thang, finance and operation director of Vexere, said: VeXeRe.com is pleased to receive an investment from a professional fund like Spiral Ventures, so we might continue our momentum and assure breakthrough growth in 2018. The financial term of the agreement has not been disclosed, as agreed by the related parties, Thang said. VeXeRe.com was founded in July 2013 and has reported an annual growth rate of 300 per cent, to become the largest bus ticket booking platform in Viet Nam with two million visitors per month. VeXeRe.com also pioneered in developing bus management systems among more than 300 bus operators, which helped these operators save more than 40 per cent of management costs. The company said that the fund from Spiral Ventures would be used to invest in developing apps for passengers, drivers and operators, similar to the model of Uber/Grab, but for mid- and long-distance bus routes. Focus would still be placed on bus ticket bookings, with a targeted growth rate of 500 per cent in 2018, before expanding to railway, airline ticket bookings and other markets in the region. Spiral Ventures, formerly known as IMJ Investment Partners, was founded in 2012 by IMJ Corporation, a major digital marketing company, as an independent venture capital subsidiary in Japan. CAN THO Improvements in corporate governance and risk management are believed to support microfinance institutions in Viet Nam in catering to the financial needs of micro-enterprises and low-income groups. Dozens of board members and senior executives of Vietnamese microfinance institutions gathered in Can Tho on January 1 for a two-day workshop to address the common challenges they faced and develop an action plan for improvements. Globally, regulators and investors have been supporting company efforts to demonstrate better governance, such as having a robust board, accountable senior management, effective internal control and risk management practices. IFC (International Finance Corporation) believes supporting Vietnamese microfinance institutions in strengthening their corporate governance practices will boost their capacity to provide better financial services and expand lending, said Kyle Kelhofer, IFC Country Manager for Viet Nam, Cambodia and Laos. This will ensure sustainable growth for the institutions and benefit their key clients millions of micro-entrepreneurs, primarily women, and low-income households, contributing to poverty reduction in the country, Kyle said. According to IFC studies, only one in five adults in Viet Nam have access to formal financial services, while only 8 per cent of them have savings in formal institutions. Mircofinance lenders play a critical role in providing financial services to the low-income population, serving an estimated 10 million people, many of whom are women and the poor. Viet Nams microfinance sector is evolving with many small, non-profit operators hoping to transition into bigger, commercial-oriented entities, said Nguyen Thi Tuyet Mai, managing director of Viet Nam Microfinance Working Group. Implementing corporate governance reforms to enhance efficiency, transparency and risk management will be paramount to their successful transitions, Mai said. The workshop was conducted by IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, in partnership with Citi Foundation and Viet Nam Microfinance Working Group. This initiative was part of IFCs Viet Nam Microfinance Programme supported by the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs of Switzerland with the aim of strengthening industry capacity and transparency as well as boosting microfinance institutions ability to increase sustainable and responsible financial access. VNS HA NOI Many goods imported from the Republic of Korea (RoK) into Viet Nam will be exempted from import taxes in 2018, due to the Viet Nam-Korea Free Trade Agreement (VKFTA). The Government recently issued Decree No149/2017/N-CP, which regulates a new special preferential import tariff, as agreed upon in the VKFTA, and to be put in place between 2018 and 2022. Under the decree, import taxes imposed on 704 types of products imported from the RoK to Viet Nam, will be eliminated in 2018. The groups of commodities that will enjoy tax exemptions this year are mainly in seafood, wheat flour, confectionery, diesel fuel, jet fuel, paint, laundry detergent, plastic, iron and steel products, power machinery and equipment, and electronic products. In 2018, an additional 653 products imported from the RoK will also have their tax rates lowered from last year. The preferential tax rates will be applied to commodities directly transported from the RoK to Viet Nam. The goods must also meet origin regulations, as stated in the agreement, and exporters must provide certificates of origin in a form stipulated by the Vietnamese Ministry of Industry and Trade. This year, Viet Nam has set several new preferential import tariffs to implement bilateral and multilateral FTAs with partner countries and territories, such as mainland China, Hong Kong, Japan and RoK. Under the Viet Nam-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement (VJEPA) and the ASEAN-Japan Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (AJCEP) for 2016-19, nearly 4,000 import tariff lines for many groups of commodities imported from Japan will be also eliminated this year. VNS HA NOI Asian Development Bank (ADB) on January 2 signed a US$100 million loan agreement with China Everbright International Limited (CEIL). This initiative will support a series of waste-to-energy (WTE) plants in primary and secondary cities in the Mekong Delta region and is the first municipal WTE public-private partnership project in the country. The agreement signed today will be a new model to improve solid waste management in cities and also mitigate climate change by reducing methane and increasing energy generation from renewable sources, said Christopher Thieme, deputy director general of the Private Sector Operations Department at ADB. Viet Nam generates more than 27.8 million tonnes of waste annually. Most of the waste collected are disposed in landfills in an unhygienic manner. This poses a significant health threat to nearby communities, mostly the urban poor. One of the most effective ways to treat and manage this increasing quantity of municipal solid waste is through WTE, which can reduce waste volume by 90 per cent and eliminate greenhouse gas emissions while producing energy from the heat during incineration. ADBs assistance will support the construction and operation of a series of WTE plants with advanced clean technologies in multiple municipalities in Viet Nam. Each WTE plant will treat urban solid waste and supply electricity to the local electricity grid. CEIL will develop and invest in WTE sub-projects in Viet Nam to facilitate the harmless treatment, reduction and reuse of household waste in cities, and production of clean electricity. CEIL is one of the worlds leading integrated environmental protection companies, with environmental protection projects spanning across 18 provinces and municipalities in the Peoples Republic of China. As of 2017 end, CEIL had 43 WTE projects in operation with a combined processing capacity of 39,100 tonnes a day and generation capacity of some 4,300 gigawatt-hours every year. ADB, based in Manila, is dedicated to reducing poverty in Asia and the Pacific through inclusive economic growth, environmentally sustainable growth and regional integration. VNS HA NOI A luncheon featuring the favourite delicacies of Belgium was prepared by Belgian chef Christoph Pouls for nearly 100 special guests at the Pullman Hanoi Hotel yesterday. The gastronomy event, entitled A Taste of Belgium, showcased the best of Belgian cuisine such as the dish waterzooi of stewed North Sea fish, tender braised beef tongue with Lutosa truffle croquettes, Escaveche of sea bass and steak Bearnaise. Other classic dishes include vol au vent, a light puff pastry case filled with a savoury mixture, and the invigorating dish chicon au gratin: Belgian endives braised in butter, wrapped in ham slices and covered with a rich mornay sauce. A variety of sweet treats including Belgian waffles, Dame Blanche vanilla ice cream with whipped cream and warm molten chocolateand Belgian pear with Speculaas crumble were also crafted for the event by the international award-winning chef. And of course, a gastronomy event dedicated to Belgian food would be incomplete without Belgian chocolate. The event was held by the Belgian Embassy in Ha Noi to promote Belgian agricultural products on the occasion of Agricultural Minister Denis Ducarmes visit to Viet Nam . At the event, Minister Ducarme also joined chef Pouls to serve food for guests. Today, chef Pouls will meet with students of KOTO a culinary vocational school for disadvantaged youth, where he will also present them with some Belgian recipes using local ingredients. Also today, Minister Ducarme will visit to the Viet Nam National University of Agriculture (VNUA) a main partner of Belgium in agricultural field in Viet Nam . The co-operation with the VNUA is one of our efforts aiming to enhance the quality of Vietnamese agricultural products, so more of those products can be exported to Belgium in particular, and to Europe in general, he said. GIA LAI President Tran ai Quang extended Lunar New Year (Tet) greetings to people in Gia Lai during his working trip to the Central Highlands province on February 1. Visiting residents in the border commune of Ia Dom in the provinces uc Co District, the State leader expressed his delight at the communes development, with consolidated political system, reduced rate of poor households, and better health care, culture and education. Ia Dom was recognised as a new-style rural commune in 2015, reflecting the efforts of the local authorities and people, he said. President Quang also highly evaluated military units based in Ia Dom, especially the border guard post at Le Thanh International Border Gate and Army Corps 15, which have greatly supported the commune over the past years. He affirmed that the Party and the State always pay attention to caring for local people, especially revolutionary contributors and poor people, and called on residents in Ia Dom to continue exerting efforts to improve their living conditions and contribute to the homelands development. On this occasion, President Quang presented Tet gifts to 100 policy beneficiaries and poor households in the commune. Ia Dom is one of the three border communes of the uc Co District, bordering the Cambodian province of Ratanakiri. It has a population of more than 7,100 who are people of 10 ethnic groups. About 38 per cent of the population is Jrai ethnic minority people. Also on February 1, President Quang visited officers and soldiers of the border guard post at the Le Thanh International Border Gate, which is in charge of managing a 17.6km-long border section in the district. He emphasised the major task of protecting national independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity, building a pure and strong Party organisation, ensuring combating preparedness, and fighting peaceful evolution. The President also asked the officers and soldiers to promptly and effectively deal with any emerging incident so as to help keep political security, social order and safety, and national sovereignty and border security. VNS A foreigner visits a traditional craft village in Quang Nam Province. Photo vietnambiz.vn HA NOI Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has defended the Governments call to prioritise domestic products following the scandal last year involving Khaisilks false claims that it sold made in Viet Nam goods. Questioned by National Assembly deputy Duong Trung Quoc regarding the unwanted downside of the campaign Vietnamese prioritise Vietnamese goods, Phuc on Wednesday admitted that some companies had taken advantage of the favourable policy for domestic companies to cheat and break the law. In a particular case of Khaisilk, the loss is not only to the company but on a much bigger scale the credibility of Vietnamese brands and the trust of Vietnamese and foreign customers in Vietnamese products in general has eroded, Phuc said. Khaisilk was once regarded as a popular high-end Vietnamese silk brand with stores popping up in touristy areas across big cities. Doubts were raised late last year after a customer found a Made-in-China tag attached to the silk products. A ministerial probe uncovered even more horrifying news: the supposedly silk products were not made from silk. The Khaisilk scandal prompted NA deputy Quoc of ong Nai Province to question whether the Governments promotion campaign was somehow twisted by Vietnamese companies to sell fake and counterfeit products, and if it was time to reconsider such policy. Phuc said that the campaign did not necessarily mean to promote the implementation of a protectionist policy for domestic products. It aims to orient the whole society towards patriotism, to encourage the will of Vietnamese businesses for fair competition, as well as the detection of goods fraudulently claiming to be of Vietnamese brands, the PM added. He said that the Government would tighten market management work to prevent further cases like Khaisilk that directly harm the health and trust of Vietnamese customers. Son Tra inspection Phuc on Wednesday also responded to the question posed by HCM City NA deputy Truong Trong Nghia regarding the final decision on the mass construction of tourism facilities on the protected Son Tra peninsula in the central city of a Nang. The controversial a Phuoc International Urban project was brought into the limelight last summer as 1,920 villas, 24 bungalows and 1,600 luxury hotel rooms were expected to be built by 2030 on the 4,439ha Son Tra Nature Reserve. The public heatedly protested the mass tourism project due to concerns over the possible irreversible environmental impacts to the biodiverse reserve where the critically endangered red-shanked douc langurs are living. Phuc said that he had ordered a thorough inspection into the project last September on the management and the use of protected land and forestry. The inspection report is expected no later than March 31, 2018. Regarding the Governments role in monitoring and handling violations of credit institutions of which several bankers were brought to trial in 2017, PM Phuc admitted that the State Bank of Viet Nam (SBV) bore responsibility for those cases. He asked the SBV to urgently and seriously look into the responsibilities of those involved and to hand out strict punishment. VNS HA TINH The social insurance agency in the central province of Ha Tinh has revealed that some 38,000 students in the province have not registered for the school medical insurance service. The agency said 53,240 students of the total 91,044 students in schools around the province had registered for medical insurance, a compulsory healthcare policy for students. The rest, nearly 38,000 students, have not registered yet. That means they will be excluded from healthcare programmes that the agency has designated for school students and they will have to pay high fees for using public health services. The situation also leads to reluctance during health check-ups when these students get into problems, affecting their studies in general. A report by local Ha Tinh newspaper said no students had registered for the service in some schools in the districts of Thach Ha, Can Loc and Huong Khe. An agencys official blamed the cause on poverty among these student communities. Many of the students parents are rice farmers, fishermen and salt farmers with a low income and cannot afford to buy the insurance service. A package for an entire year costs each student VN640,000 (US$28). The province has issued a policy to subsidise 20 per cent of the insurance package for underprivileged students, but healthcare centres in the communities have delayed statistics work in making a list of eligible students, partly causing thousands of students be uncovered by health insurance. VNS by Hoang Nguyen MEKONG DELTA Nguyen Van Hon has been a farmer all of his life. Now, in his mid 50s, he is working as a tour guide. He is one of the first lotus farmers in the Mekong Delta to adopt the lotusecotourism model as an alternative to growing an unsustainable third rice crop every year (called the autumn-winter crop). The owner of 4ha of lotus in My Hoa Commune in ong Thap Provinces Thap Muoi District, Hon began offering tourism services in 2013 when locals set up the ong Sen (lotus farm) ecotourism zone. His business began to take off about two to three years ago, and during peak season from June to August, he welcomes around 50-100 tourists a day. Visitors at his farm can pick lotus flowers and enjoy lotus specialties like salted roasted lotus seeds, rice cooked with lotus, sweet lotus dessert, and fresh lotus seeds. When I was growing only rice and lotus, my income was quite good, but when I started the tourism business, it definitely improved, he said. Last year, visitors from HCM City, ong Nai Province and even the central and northern regions came here. Over a period of four years, his business expanded by four-fold. The ong Sen ecotourism zone has now expanded to 11ha, with tourism services the main source of income for local farmers taking part in the model, according to local authorities. In the first half of 2017, the zone welcomed more than 36,000 local and international visitors and grossed more than VN2.1 billion (US$92,000). Though the province has encouraged more farmers to join the ecotourism model, not everyone has the skills needed to offer good services or the finances to invest in infrastructure. Tran Van Kich, who has a 4.5ha area of lotus flowers only a 20-minute riverboat ride away from Hons farm, has decided to breed fish on his lotus farm to increase income. But unlike the lotusecotourism model in which the lotus output is bought by tourists, farmers like Kich who rely on selling lotus seeds are worried about the price fluctuations of lotus. Im not sure if I can sell lotus flowers at good prices this year, he said. As he only sells fresh lotus seeds, he has to rely on prices offered by traders who visit his farm to buy lotus seeds and flowers directly from him. Sometimes traders are willing to pay VN12,000 per kilogramme, but later change their minds to VN10,000 or even VN8,000 after the lotus is picked, saying the plants are not beautiful, according to Kich. Farmers have to sell the lotus plants soon after they picked, he said, because they could lose freshness if they are stored overnight. Unstable prices discourage farmers, he said. Besides, its not easy to find lotus pickers since many of them have moved to other places to work in factories or at construction sites. When asked why he still grows lotus even though many neighbours have stopped, he said: My first thought was that I am doing this for the environment. Lotus leaves can also be a good source of organic fertiliser, he said. After harvesting lotus and preparing for the next rice crop, I only need to use half of the fertiliser volume compared to other rice fields, he added. The income from selling fish also helps him cover the expenses of growing lotus. Tran Van Kich in ong Thap Muoi District in ong Thap Province feeds fish bred on his lotus farm. Though the lotus fish farm model brings two sources of income, the price fluctuation of lotus remains a concern for farmers. VNS Photo Hoang Nguyen Finding markets Many provinces in the delta such as Long An and An Giang have followed suit and adopted several flooding-based livelihood models to reduce production of the third rice crop and create jobs during the flooding season. But they have also faced market challenges. Nguyen Chi Thien, deputy director of Long An Provinces Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, said that many models were being adopted, but finding the right markets for farmers remains a problem. He cited the example of the ro (anabas) fish rice model. When it was first implemented, the fish sold for VN30,000 per kilogramme. But when it was widely adopted, fish prices dropped nearly one-half, he said. External factors such as food scams and fish disease outbreaks have also affected prices, he added. ang Kim Khoi from the Institute of Policy and Strategy for Agriculture and Rural Development said the issue of markets could not be solved at a local level or for a single model. He said the Government and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) have classified three groups of strategic agricultural products as national key products, provincial key products and local specialties. Each group needs to be addressed differently, he said. For example, for national key products, there should be a nationwide supply-demand assessment to avoid oversupply, which leads to a fall of prices in domestic and international markets, he added. For this to happen, enterprises and farmers cannot do it alone, and the Government must play the role of an enabler and leader with support from other ministries and research institutes, he said. Similarly, for provincial key products and local specialties, local authorities should take the leading role and follow guidance from the ministries, he said. At the moment, MARD is developing a programme on enhancing agribusiness capacity for farmers and enterprises which will be piloted in Can Tho City and Tay Ninh and Nghe An provinces. Through this programme, based on assessing selected key agricultural products, we will identify our weaknesses and fill the holes. And through this, well be able to see what the Government must do and where the private sector has to give a hand, he added. VNS HCM CITY HCM City is looking for private investors to fund urban development, especially the relocation of 20,000 households living along canals. Speaking at the Open Call for Investment in Projects for the Rehabilitation of the Canal Region and Urban Renewal Conference on February 1, Tran Vinh Tuyen, vice chairman of the municipal Peoples Committee, said: The goal of urban development is to improve the quality of life for people and build a modern and civilised city. Over the past 20 years, a programme to relocate people living along canals and reorganise their lives has moved 36,000 households, he said. But the results have fallen short of expectations and more than 20,000 households along canals have not been relocated, he said. Urban development has not been inadequate, and confused in terms of management, he admitted. Pollution and flooding remain bad, affecting the health and lives of people, detracting greatly from the quality of life, he said. Moreover, essential public services are not available to all, he said. To improve the situation, the city targets by 2020 to complete the relocation of all 20,000 households and development of the areas along the canals they leave behind. The city is focusing on mechanisms and policies to attract investors through private public partnerships (PPPs) and efficiently use funds for urban renewal projects. Tran Trong Tuan, director of the citys Department of Construction, said: Urban renewal projects along the canals in the city are classified into three specific groups: urban development projects using the State budget, construction of housing by private developers together with urban development, and urban renewal projects in the form of PPPs. For projects in the first group, authorities will directly undertake relocation, clearance, resettlement, and technical infrastructure construction since the areas identified have small canals without adjoining lands of commercial value. There are 52 projects involving the relocation of 14,437 households and estimated compensation payments of around VN22.85 trillion (over US$1 billion). The second group includes three canals and requires relocation of 1,801 households and compensation payment of VN2.7 trillion ($120 million). The relocation and resettlement would be funded by enterprises. The final group has six projects requiring relocation of 6,223 houses and compensation payment of VN19 trillion ($844 million). The plan involves mainly expanding the canal bank on either side and recovering lands in the vicinity to create land lots to hand over to investors in return for developing resettlement housing. The city organised the conference to unveil the projects and invite private investors to participate in urban development. They can opt to either receive land along canals or invest in BT (build - transfer) mode. VNS HUNG YEN Police and market watchdogs in the northern province of Hung Yen seized thousands of litres of fake lubricant oil in the provinces My Hao District. Nguyen Van Nam, director of the provincial polices division of urban order, and economic investigation, said while doing their duty on Wednesday, a team of market management, in co-ordination with local anti-trafficking police in the district, caught Pham Van Sang, born in 1984, from Thanh Mien District in the neighbouring northern province of Hai Duong, producing fake oil in his rented house in My Hao District, Hung Yen Province. At Sangs house, the force discovered 10 barrels, each of which contained some 200-litre of lubricant oil without unoriginal labels. Of these, the oil in four barrels was being extracted into 900 small cans, which would be labelled with brands such as Yamaha and Honda. The remaining six barrels were awaiting extraction. Police said the amount of fake oil was suspected to have been reprocessed from used lubricant oil collected from different automobile garages in the province and others areas. Sang confessed he had bought the fake lubricant at a very cheap price, then packed into small empty cans with labels of popular brands. The empty cans were also purchased from automobile garages and scrap shops from different areas. He said the fake oil would be sold at a higher price, bringing in vast profit. Authorities said all amounts of fake oil have been seized and they would conduct a further investigation into the case to give strict punishment according to law. VNS Ancient: A ritual fire dance performance by Ha Giang people was presented at February 1 conference. VNS Photo Trong Kien HA NOI Ha Giang Province has been advised to continue pursuing sustainable development, with a focus on tourism, one of the biggest potentials of the northernmost region. The recommendation was made by international partners and organisations participating in a conference held on February 1 in Ha Noi by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a bid to introduce the potentials of the beautiful and unspoiled province to the world. Michael Croft, head of office and UNESCO country representative to Viet Nam, praised Ha Giang as being a model of sustainable development as it continues to develop sustainable tourism, conserve local heritage and promote earth science research in the ong Van Karst Plateau, recognised by UNESCO as a Global Geopark. Unspoiled beauty: An ethnic minority girl living on the ong Van Karst Plateau in the northernmost province of Ha Giang. VNA/VNS Photo Nhat Anh Irish Ambassador to Viet Nam, Cait Moran, shared a similar sentiment, saying, however, that the special nature of the provinces tourism lay in its small-scale characteristics, eco-tourism, and community tourism. She said after her trip to the province, she had come to appreciate the real value of diversity in the region and advise the provincial authorities to craft policies and decisions that respect and engage these small communities. Developing tourism but preserving ethnic diversity and culture has been identified as one of the areas needing support from international partners, according to Nguyen Van Son, chairman of Ha Giang Provinces Peoples Committee. Ha Giang locals presented their craft products to guests in February 1 conference to help promote the images of Ha Giang to international partners. VNS Photo Trong Kien The second priority was to develop and transfer high-quality plant varieties, with a focus on organic agriculture and promoting the capacity of manpower and agriculture officials and technicians. Son said Ha Giang had 8,000ha of king oranges, whose unique flavour earned Ministry of Industry and Trades geographical indication and made it a name across the country. Thirty per cent of orange orchards and plantations of shan tuyet tea is being cultivated following VietGap standards and the province wants to expand the VietGAP-compliant areas. Ha Giang Province Fact sheet. VNA/VNS Infographic Trong Kien At the conference, Ha Giang Provinces Party Secretary Trieu Tai Vinh asked the European Chamber of Commerce in Viet Nam (Eurocham), whose presence remains limited in the province, to help Ha Giang step up from VietGap to Global GAP, making its agro-products better known internationally and able to enter more demanding markets such as the EU. He said Ha Giangs third priority area was in attracting official development aid and preferential-interest loans to implement a range of infrastructure development projects, including water supplies, wastewater treatment, upgrading health and education facilities, and building safer roads. The province also attaches importance to improving human resources as well as scientific and technological capabilities, creating jobs, poverty alleviation, and ensuring the rights of workers and disadvantaged groups in the locality. Reaffirming the provinces commitments in administrative reforms, he said the province had implemented many measures to streamline them under the one-stop mechanism, to best facilitate the conditions for businesses and organisations, Secretary Vinh said. The Ha Giang Presentation conference kicked off of a series of programmes to help promote the images, strengths and potentials of localities across Viet Nam to international organisations, diplomatic missions, and foreign businesses. Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son noted Ha Giang was selected as the first due to its converging of tangible and intangible values, and for its huge untapped potential. VNS HA NOI For many ethnic people, solar energy is a new concept, but Pham Thi Nam, a 50-year-old Muong woman from ong Luong Commune in Thanh Hoa Provinces Lang Chanh District, now knows what its all about. Nam went to India to learn solar engineering skills and helped bring light to dozens of households in her village. Nam was chosen with other four ethnic women in the northern province of Thanh Hoa to attend a six-month training course at Barefoot College in India in 2015 under a project that focuses on creating opportunities for poor women to learn about solar energy. Upon hearing the news, Nam said, she felt joyful, but nervous. I was scared. I didnt know anything about electricity. Never before had I seen a bulb or electricity wire, she said. She had finished fifth grade and couldnt speak any foreign language, so people wondered how she could acquire solar engineering skills. Her family also voiced their concerns as she had never left her village before. However, with strong determination, Nam made up her mind and convinced her family to let her to go to India. The commune where I live is remote and has no electricity. Thus, I wanted to do something to help my community, she said. The first three weeks were a great challenge to Nam and her friends. They felt homesick and could not get used to the food in India. In addition, she had no ability to speak or understand English so she couldnt learn about electricity circuits and equipment. As soon as we arrived at the college [Barefoot College], we met people who had finished the course. Although we didnt exchange any words, we shook hands which made me feel emotional, she said, adding that many people also embraced her as encouragement. Its lucky that we had lecturers who were creative and enthusiastic at the college, Nam said. To overcome the language barrier, they used colour-coded charts to help students remember the permutations and combinations of the wires through listening and memorising without needing to read or write. Nam said that more than 50 people from 12 countries learned together in the same class. It took them a month to learn by heart the name of all equipment relating to electricity and solar energy. After a six-month course, they could assemble solar lamps and know how to repair and maintain them. Back home, Nam shared what she had learnt with four other members of a solar energy board, which she led. When the equipment was brought to the village, I was a little bit anxious as I did not know whether I could remember all the knowledge as well as skills and if I could install the device. Fortunately, everything was good," she said. A few technical problems occurred during the installation process. However, she and other members of the solar energy board handled them without much difficulty. They went to each house in the village to install the equipment, including solar panels, batteries and solar lanterns. Several weeks later, the entire village was lit up by solar power and Nams world was changed forever. Villagers also set up a solar energy fund used for equipment maintenance and purchasing replacement parts when needed. Thanks to her dedication and hard-work, she can share her knowledge with people in neighbouring villages. Nam said she was not only capable of installing and repairing light installations for her family, but also for her relatives and villagers. Every Saturday, villagers bring solar energy equipment which has broken down to the village warehouse for her to repair, she said. When asked about his impressions of Nam, Tran Van An, a project official, said she was special among the four solar engineer trainees sent abroad. She is open, active, intelligent and gentle. She knew how to apply skills and knowledge of her own as well as from project officials," he said. The project, which began in January 2015 and ended in June 2016, is funded by GRET, a French non-governmental organisation. Present in Viet Nam since 1989, GRET has implemented many projects in agriculture, rural development and community health. The project has been implemented in six villages in the Lang Chanh and Ba Thuoc districts of Thanh Hoa Province, enabling poor women to access solar energy through training. Under the project, about 240 households in remote villages now have access to energy and can notice the improvement to their lives and living conditions. Project official An said he remembered helping one householder to install the first solar system in ong Luong Commune in 2016. An elderly man of about 90 years was so amazed at the power of solar that he wept," he said. The old man said it was the first time he saw electric light in his life. He then offered a cup of wine to cheer the workers from the solar energy team. Both An and Nam are now looking foward to receiving more financial support to continue the project in more than 90 underprivileged villages in the province. VNS HA NOI The Northern Airports Authority has fined two staff members of the Noi Bai Airport Security Centre for not seriously obeying regulations when they allowed a woman listed on a no-fly list to board an Aeroflot plane, traveling from Ha Noi to Moscow, on January 3. They were fined VN4 million (US$88) each under Item 3, Article 15 of Government Decree 147, issued in 2013. Additionally, a member of the staff of Aeroflot the Russian airlines - was also penalised the same amount. The passenger, named Pham Thu Thuy, 36, of the northern province of Hai Duongs Hai Tan Ward, was banned from flying between September 16, 2017 and March 15, 2018 by the Civil Aviation Authority of Viet Nam (CAAV) because she quarreled with a passenger on another Aeroflot flight, traveling from Ha Noi to Moscow last August. After issuing the ban, the CAAV had asked Vietnamese airlines, and those which operate in Viet Nam, to refuse to transport Thuy during this period. Airports have been required to tighten security monitoring to prevent Thuy from boarding flights. However, she was still able to board a flight on January 3. The agency has asked Aeroflot to pay more attention, to avoid repeating such cases in the future. To Tu Hung, deputy head of the CAAVs Airport Security Office, told Tuoi tre (Youth) online newspaper that it had only issued an administrative fine, and the two staff members would be disciplined after the conclusion of the CAAVs inspection to determine why the woman could slip through surveillance and board the plane. VNS HA NOI The second phase of a project to broaden Phap Van-Cau Gie Expressway, the southern gateway to Ha Noi , from four lanes to six lanes is scheduled to be completed before June 30. The phase has been taken under the Build-Operate-Transfer model, with a total investment of VN4.73 trillion (US$208 million) by Phap Van-Cau Gie BOT Company. Pham Van Khoi, general director of the company, said the land clearance for the second phase was 95 per cent complete so far. He said the company would speed up the remaining works to meet the deadline of June 30. The projects first phase was started in July 2014 and was completed in November 2015, with the four-lane expressway measuring 25m in width. Soon after, the company continued to implement the second phase. According to the initial plan, the second phase was to build a six-lane expressway with a width of 33.5m and make it operational by the end of 2017. But the project was delayed due to lack of land clearance. Khoi attributed the situation to cumbersome administrative procedures. Meanwhile, to avoid traffic jams during Tet (Lunar New Year), Khoi said vehicles would be allowed to run through several finished parts of the second-phase expressway. The company would put up signs to inform drivers on which sides to drive, he said. The Ministry of Transport has given the green light to the company to put up signs. VNS AK LAK Yok on National Parks management board in the Tay Nguyen (Central Highlands) province of ak Lak on Friday has coordinated with Buon on District police to start investigation into a large-scale deforestation inside the park. The deforestation was brought to the notice of the board on January 26 after patrol officers of forestry protection office No 8, under the Yok on National Park, came across 45cu.m of deforested land for timber, Pham Tuan Linh, acting director of the management board, told dantri.com.vn online newspaper. The area in question is the bordering belt of Sub-zone 408, currently managed by border-guard station 741, under ak Lak Provinces Border-Guard Command. Trespassing is prohibited in the area. The ranger force, in co-operation with Border-guard Station 741, has seized 23 pollarded trees, of which 19 are red-wood trees, two Cam Lai-wood trees and two belong to the group of precious wood. According to a ranger, traces at the site show that the tree trunks were cut into boxes and some parts of the trees had been transported to other places. Initial investigation by Yok on National Park authorities reveals that the trees were illegally cut by unknown people in early January. Further investigation into the matter is underway. In the central province of Quang Binh, several trees were logged down illegally in a preventive forest, forcing local forest rangers to go on high alert ahead of the Tet (Lunar New Year) holidays. The logging of trees in the forest is expected to worsen the floods in the lower areas of the province during the rainy season this year. Ho Ngoc Danh, deputy director of Forest Ranger Department in the provinces Tuyen Hoa District, said the department had deployed staff rangers to keep a close watch on the remaining trees in the cut-down forest section, as they believed the loggers would return to take the 50cu.m of timber that they had left behind. Earlier, residents living near the forest saw the loggers coming out from the forest and informed the rangers about the logging. Danh said his rangers had to travel to the neighbouring Ha Tinh Province to access the logged forest area. The forest lies on the border between the two provinces, but there is no access to the rear part of the forest in Tuyen Hoa District from the Quang Binh side. Cao Xuan Tin, vice chairman of the district, was quoted by a local newspaper as saying the investigation into the case was ongoing and that they had clues showing that local loggers had worked with loggers from Ha Tinh to chop the forest trees. Tin has pledged a detailed investigation, as well as protection for the remaining trees. Ahead of the Tet holidays, forest ranger departments around the country allow staff to leave early for the new year celebration with their families, before they return to work after Tet. Loggers often make use of this period to log trees illegally. VNS MEKONG DELTA People travelling to the Mekong Delta during Tet should visit Sa ec flower village in ong Thap Province to admire flowers blooming in vivid colours and the bustling atmosphere. Located some 150km southwest of HCM City, Sa ec is the largest supplier of flowers to southern provinces. It has some 2,000 households who chiefly earn a living by growing and selling flowers and ornamental trees. Tourists should drop by the village by the 20th of the lunar years last month, which falls on February 5 this year, when flowers are trucked or loaded onto boats to flower markets in HCM City and other parts of the country. Locals and wholesalers bargain over the flowers and chat merrily while visitors are excited to take photos, turning the quiet village into a busy area. VNS HEUNISSEN, Afrique du Sud Hundreds of gold miners among almost a thousand trapped underground for more than a day in South Africa following a power-cut resurfaced on Friday, mining company Sibanye Gold said, as a rescue effort moved into full swing. "Power has been restored," spokesman James Wellsted said, adding that "the first hoist has come up and brought the first batch of employees up." By dawn, several buses carrying the freed miners had already left the site of Beatrix gold mine, in the small town of Theunissen near the city of Welkom. Rescue operations are expected to continue for around another hour to bring up the entire group of 955 miners who have been trapped since Wednesday evening, Wellsted said. Asked if there had been any casualties, Wellsted said there was "no indication so far that anyone has been in distress" although it had been a "traumatic experience." Several ambulances arrived on-site overnight. The Sibanye-Stillwater mining company earlier said a massive power outage caused by a storm had prevented lifts from bringing the night shift to the surface at the mine. The miners have been underground for around 30 hours and nervous family members patiently gathered along the road to the shaft, kept at a distance by security guards. 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Northern Hemisphere, halfway between the winter solstice and spring equinox. This means were also in the middle of prime feeder-watching season, and I suspect many of you have been busy filling up your backyard feeders for all the grateful little gangs of finches, chickadees, and jays. There are some birds looking to be fed on the label of this weeks beer, too, which is an excellent collaboration from Baltimore brewers Stillwater Artisanal and Oliver Brewing Company called Tuppence (Feed the Birds). Im not above recognizing a Mary Poppins reference as obvious as this one, but I dont think these are the birds Julie Andrews had in mind while singing that syrupy tune yet here were presented with a dapper city gent wearing a bowler, tossing crumbs to what appear to be three very out-of-range Turkey Vultures. Granted, I dont know for sure that were in Edwardian London here, but thats the geographical allusion Im getting, pictured vagrants notwithstanding. On the other hand, birders may recall that the film features Mary Poppins singing to an American Robin perched on her hand, so maybe this practically perfect, rosy-cheeked nanny is some sort of magnet for mega-rarities possibly of the umbrella-assisted variety. Super-Coragyps-atratus-expialidocious! A one-legged Black Vulture waits for its next meal, somewhere in suburban Albany, New York. Of course, people have been feeding and been food for scavenging vultures since time immemorial. Theyre unquestionably the birds best known for devouring human flesh, at least on a regular basis and in notable quantities. And theyre really good at it, too in their own gruesome, vulturine way. Tibetan sky burials, Zoroastrian dakhmas, and other spectacles of avian-assisted postmortem excarnation attest to the ability of vultures to pick bones clean and if you have some Lammergeiers around, theyll be happy to take care of those as well. Recently, there have even been several instances of well-meaning bird enthusiasts of dubious mental fitness (I understand these may not be mutually exclusive conditions) attracting vultures to their homes by setting out food for them, including a local story I was able to witness in person two years ago. As related in this newspaper article, a resident near Albany, New York was feeding groups of over 30 Black Vultures, much to the consternation of her neighbors. Her charity became so notorious that some friends and I paid a quick visit to her block on New Years Day, 2016 for our nicely staked-out, first-of-year Black Vultures. I didnt notice any denuded cadavers lying on the homeowners porch, so I assume she was just feeding the birds cat food. In any case, seeing as Ive gone from Disney soundtracks to Zoroastrian funeral practices to suburban wildlife nuisances in just a few short paragraphs, lets just skip ahead to the beer review already. Tuppence (Feed the Birds) is described as an Old World Porter fermented with Brett, with this last item referring to funky wild yeasts of the genus Brettanomyces that weve now encountered in several beers here at Booze and Birds. Porter is one of the oldest of modern beer styles and 18th and 19th century examples were often aged or vatted as stock ales, allowing slow-acting wild yeasts enough time to contribute their characteristic flavors. So, theres probably a historical precedence to this practice, though Tuppence is fermented with nothing but Brettanomyces, a daring but increasingly popular use for what is regarded by many as a spoilage yeast. The Old World description may serve to distinguish it from modern American porters loaded with West Coast hops, and I also suspect Tuppence was made with a good amount of brown malt, a somewhat old-fashioned grain that was once the workhorse of historical porter production in Britain, known for producing rich bready and toasty flavors. Whatever the grist, Tuppence is colored a deep chestnut brown with burgundy highlights, topped with an enduring head of billowing, beige mousse. Come feed the little birds, show them you care. And youll be glad if you do. Their young ones are hungry. Their nests are so bare. All it takes is tuppence from you Rest assured theres nothing cadaverous about the aroma of Tuppence, but theres no doubt about the presence of Brett in this beer, with its telltale fragrances of roasted pineapple, white cardamom, peat smoke, and old leather. Instead of the obvious roasted coffee flavors of most porters, the dark malts here express themselves as chocolate ganache, toasted hazelnuts, cherry cordial, and toffee, complemented by an earthy but subtle hop aroma. The palate starts with a slightly acidic, vinous tinge, before giving way to blackcurrant lozenges, cocoa powder, and toasted bread crust. The body is light and drinkable, especially when compared to the swaggering richness of modern American porters, and Tuppence finishes with a cleanly medicinal, quinine bitterness with just a touch of roast. Certainly, Tuppence plays with some eccentric flavors, but crafts them into a well-rounded and beguilingly complex porter. So, go ahead and feed the birds even the vultures. But thats just my two cents er, tuppence. ________________________________________________________________________________ Stillwater Artisanal with Oliver Brewing Co.: Tuppence (Feed the Birds) Four out of five feathers (Excellent) Gina Kolata in The New York Times: Two types of bacteria commonly found in the gut work together to fuel the growth of colon tumors, researchers reported on Thursday. Their study, published in the journal Science, describes what may be a hidden cause of colon cancer, the third most common cancer in the United States. The research also adds to growing evidence that gut bacteria modify the bodys immune system in unexpected and sometimes deadly ways. The findings suggest that certain preventive strategies may be effective in the future, like looking for the bacteria in the colons of people getting colonoscopies. If the microbes are present, the patients might warrant more frequent screening; eventually people at high risk for colon cancer may be vaccinated against at least one of the bacterial strains. I cant guarantee you these bacteria will be the holy grail of colon cancer, but they should be high on the list of possible culprits, said Christian Jobin, a professor of medicine at the University of Florida who studies bacteria in the gastrointestinal tract. An estimated 50,000 Americans are expected to die of colon cancer in 2018. The new study focused on the earliest stages of the disease. Two types of bacteria, Bacteroides fragilis and a strain of E. coli, can pierce a mucus shield that lines the colon and normally blocks invaders from entering, the researchers found. Once past the protective layer, the bacteria grow into a long, thin film, covering the intestinal lining with colonies of the microbes. E. coli then releases a toxin that damages DNA of colon cells, while B. fragilis produces another poison that both damages DNA and inflames the cells. Together they enhance the growth of tumors. Not everyone carries the two types of bacteria in their colon. Those who do seem to pick up microbes in childhood, where they simply become part of the diverse mass of bacteria in the intestinal tract the so-called microbiome. For most who carry them, it is not clear the bacteria would ever be a problem, said Dr. Eric Pamer, an infectious disease specialist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York. More here. Bee Wilson in the London Review of Books: In July 1923 at the Lewes assizes, Mr Justice Avory handed an anonymous letter containing some improper words to a respectable-looking woman. He asked her if she had ever used such foul language. Never during the whole of my life, either in writing or talking, never, she replied. The womans father, a retired house painter with a grey beard, was asked whether he had ever heard his daughter use indecent language. Never, he said. She was brought up quite differently. I have never heard such language from her or any others of my family of nine children. Edith Swan, a 30-year-old laundress from the seaside town of Littlehampton in Sussex, was accused of sending a letter to a sanitary inspector called Charles Gardner that contained words of an indecent, obscene and grossly offensive character. The full letter has not survived, but the gist of it was that Mr Gardner would be very sorry that he had ever called Swans dust boxes a nuisance. Three witnesses had seen Swan post this letter. Offensive letters had been circulating in Littlehampton for several years, and the police had taken the unusual step of installing a periscopic mirror in the post offices mail drop. Whenever anyone posted anything, it was retrieved by post office staff and examined by two clerks from the Special Investigation Branch. Looking through the periscope, Edwin Baker, one of the clerks, saw Miss Swans hand posting the letter to the sanitary inspector along with a letter addressed to her sister in Woking. The stamps on both letters had been marked with invisible ink, and had been sold to Swan at the request of the police, who had long suspected her of being behind the rash of anonymous letters. Despite all of this, Mr Justice Avory was not convinced that the slender, self-possessed woman in front of him was capable of writing such a letter. The Brighton Argusreported that he directed the jury to consider whether it was conceivable that she could have written this document given that her demeanour in the witness box was that of a respectable, clean-mouthed woman. The judge said that the jury must ask themselves whether there might possibly be some mistake. The Littlehampton Libels by Christopher Hilliard is a short but dazzling work of microhistory. It uses the story of some poison pen letters in a small town to illuminate wider questions of social life in Britain between the wars, from ordinary peoples experience of the legal system to the way people washed their sheets, and is a far more exciting book than either the title or the rather dull cover would suggest. More here. Erin Blakemore at Poetry Magazine: When Ramesses II died in 1213 BCE, the 96-year-old Egyptian pharaoh was so unusually old for ancient times that most of his subjects couldnt imagine life without him. Some feared that his death meant the end of the world itself. After all, he had reigned for 66 yearslong enough that many Egyptians lived and died without ever knowing another ruler. Several centuries later, and thousands of miles away, Ramesses II was resurrected: not in Egypt this time, but in Britain, where he was the subject of an impromptu literary competition that spawned Ozymandias one of Percy Bysshe Shelleys most beloved works and a staple of poetry anthologies. Two hundred years later, its hard to imagine literature without Shelleys oft-quoted poem. That wasnt always the case. Were it not for the tireless work of Mary Shelley, Percys second wife, collaborator, and posthumous editor, Ozymandias would probably be forgotten today. Likewise, Marys own work, including her most famous book, Frankenstein, might not exist in its current form without Percys encouragement. The potent brew of collaboration, competition, and chaos that fed the Shelleys shared literary lives was rare but not singular. more here. Picture yourself sea kayaking along the island channels of the northwest, surfing or snorkeling the Hawaiian tropics, touring a historic island prison off the coast of California, or hiking remote islands with not a soul in sight. (Jakob Owens) Coastal island adventures can offer so much more than just a place to relax in the sun with a Mai Tai in your hand (although that can be fun, too!). This week's edition of the #52WeekAdventureChallenge is an encouragement to find an island adventure that brings out your sense of wonder, accomplishment, and exploration, whatever that looks like to you. Here are a few of our favorite island adventures. 1. Anacapa Island The smallest island in the Channel Islands National Park is a great place to start because it is easy to see in one day and offers great opportunities for snorkeling and kayaking in Southern California. 2. Patos Island For a remote, northern Puget Sound paddle, head on up to Patos Island, where you will experience an open water crossing, lots of wildlife viewing, and plenty of solitude. 3. The Mokulua Islands Located just off the coast of O'ahu, these popular islets offer the typical tropical paradise that many people travel to Hawai'i to find. They are popular for relaxing on the beach, surfing, and cliff jumping. 4. Vashon Island This southern Puget Sound Island between Tacoma and Seattle offers a long circumnavigation and plenty of campsites for paddles interesting in an overnight. 5. North Island Island Viewpoint While this Oregon beach doesn't offer island access, it does provide a pretty spectacular view of the rocky outcrops off the shore, as well as plenty of opportunities for exploration along the crashing waves and coastal bluffs. 6. San Juan Islands The San Juans north of Seattle in the Puget Sound are one of the most breathtaking and memorable island networks to explore for any traveler and adventurer. From Orcas Island to Friday Harbor, good eats, great views, and the charming island way of life won't be in short supply. 7. Hawai'i Don't underestimate Hawaii. It's a relatively easy place to travel too and extremely popular, but that doesn't mean that you won't be blown away by this incredibly hospitable and naturally wondrous island state. From the jungles to the beaches, the islands of O'ahu, Maui, Kawai, Hawai'i, Lanai, Molokai, and the rest of these magical destinations will not disappoint. 8. Camano Island State Park Interested in exploring the San Juans without breaking the budget? Camano Island, accessible by car, is a great place to start. Camano Island State Park is a perfect place to discover the beauty of the northern Puget Sound. With no ferry ride necessary, you can be taking in views of the Olympic Mountains while combing a rocky shoreline, hiking through old forests, or settling into your campsite, all before lunchtime. 9. Alcatraz Tour the most infamous prison of the United States on this island located just out from San Francisco. It's an adventure totally unlike the others on this list, and it makes for a memorable experience. Acquires Option over the Tombolo Copper/Cobalt Project Perth, Feb 2, 2018 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Prospect Resources Ltd ( ASX:PSC ) (the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has entered into an option agreement with TSM Enterprises sarl to acquire the Tombolo Klippe Project (PEPM1787).- Prospect Resources has secured an option to acquire a 100% direct interest in the Tombolo Klippe project in the Democratic Republic of Congo- Option covers an area of 21km2 containing numerous cobalt and copper occurrences- Area is underlain by prospective stratigraphy of the Roan Mines Series rocks which host many of the large copper and cobalt deposits of the Katangan Copperbelt- First pass geochemical soil sampling has identified two cobalt and two copper anomalies;o Best Cobalt anomaly (>22ppm); 1,000m long by 600m.o Best Copper anomaly (> 230ppm); 1,400m x 400m.The properties are registered as a "Permis d'Exploitation de Petite Mine" ("PEPM" - a small scale mining permit) covering approximately 21 km2 over the Tombolo Klippe in South Eastern DRC (see Figure 1 in link below).Exploration work is being undertaken during the option period. The Company, subject to satisfaction of conditions, can acquire the first 50% on or before 7 February 2020. The Company, subject to satisfaction of conditions, can acquire the remaining 50% on or before 12 months from the date when the initial 50% is acquired. The Company has completed the first pass, technical due diligence which has included geological mapping and sampling the results of which are shown below.The acquisition of a significant cobalt and copper project fits with the Company's profile in energy metals, Mr. Hugh Warner had the following to say following signing of the option agreement: "Our team has reviewed numerous DRC Cobalt projects over the last 12 months. Without local knowledge, the DRC can be a daunting environment in which to do business. Thankfully our team has that experience, enabling us to navigate the legal, environmental, labour and political processes. We look forward to getting on the ground to begin exploration on Tombolo. Adding cobalt to our lithium deposit is another building block in establishing Prospect and the leading new energy provider in Africa".PROJECT OVERVIEW & GEOLOGYPEPM1787 is located approximately 25km north of the city of Kolwezi in the Lualaba Province in the southeast of the Democratic Republic of Congo.Access to PEPM1787 from Kolwezi is made via one of two improved, all-season laterite roads which approach the east and west edges of the permit, with several bush tracks which cross the central and north portions of the concession, permitting simple access to all areas of the project.PEPM1787 covers the eastern half of the Tombolo Klippe (see Figure 2 in link below), an allochthonous (transported) fragment of a normal (right way up) stratigraphic sequence of Roan and Nguba Group rocks resting on younger autochthonous rocks of the Kundelungu Group.The Tombolo Klippe forms a shallow syncline with a basal layer of Undifferentiated Roan (Ri) which is known to host mega-breccia fragments of Mines Series (R2) rocks which will form the primary target of Prospect's exploration programmes. The Mines Series is known to host many of the largest copper and cobalt deposits of the Congolese, or Katangan, Copperbelt.The Tombolo Klippe has previously been the subject of a number of surficial prospecting programmes which consisted of mapping and trenching but has never been subject to a multi-disciplinary, targeted exploration programme as planned by Prospect Resources. This will investigate known copper and cobalt occurrences on the permit and systematically assess the entire permit area with geochemical sampling programmes, followed by AirCore and Reverse Circulation drilling.The geology of the PEPM1787 permit is similar to many nearby cobalt and copper producers, with rocks of the Mines Series, which hosts major deposits such as KOV and Kamoto in Kolwezi - two of the most prolific copper and cobalt producers in the Katangan Copperbelt, and the Nguba Group, which hosts Glencore's Mutanda Mine, one of the world's richest cobalt deposits.DUE DILIGENCE PROGRAMMEThe Company has completed a first pass geochemical soil sampling programme covering the entire surface area of PEPM1787. A total of 888 soil samples and 47 duplicate samples were collected on a line/sample spacing of 200 x 100 m. Samples were first dried and then sieved to -75 microns and then analysed using a handheld X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) instrument for determination of cobalt and copper content.Statistical analysis of the soil analytical results suggests an anomalous threshold for cobalt-in-soil of approximately 22 ppm and an anomalous threshold for copper-in-soil of approximately 230 ppm.Mapping of the soil sampling analytical results show an area of anomalous cobalt-in-soil values over an area of approximately 1000 m x 600 m in the central area of PEPM1787 (see Figure 5 in link below) and another anomalous cobalt zone of approximately 400 m x 200 m in the south-eastern corner of the permit. Both areas warrant further investigation.Copper shows a pronounced anomalous zone of some 1,400 m in length and as great as 400 m in width in the north central area of the permit (see Figure 6 in link below), and a second anomalous zone approximately 700 m in length in the northeast corner of the permit. Both of these zones are planned for further investigation during the next phase of exploration, planned for an immediate start.PLANNED FOLLOW-UP EXPLORATION PROGRAMMEFollow-up work will comprise of detailed geological mapping, trenching and drilling. Pending a successful outcome of this process and exercise of the option, the Company intends to commence with an exploration programme focusing on defining a JORC reportable Mineral Resource and generating material for metallurgical testwork.To view figures, please visit:About Prospect Resources Ltd Prospect Resources Limited (ASX:PSC) is based in Australasia with operations in Zimbabwe and is a publicly listed company. We are committed to creating value for Prospect's shareholders and the communities in which our company operates. Our vision is to build a Southern African based mining company of international scale. A top Pennsylvania state Senate Republican is refusing to follow a court order requiring lawmakers to turn over data that would redraw the state's congressional map. In a letter to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, which struck down the map, state Sen. Joe Scarnati on Wednesday called the order unconstitutional and said he would not comply. "In light of the unconstitutionality of the court's orders and the court's plain intent to usurp the General Assembly's constitutionally delegated role of drafting Pennsylvania's congressional district plan, Senator Scarnati will not be turning over any data identified in the court's orders," wrote Brian Paszamant, Scarnati's attorney. The court threw out the Republican-drawn map last week, ruling that districts "clearly, plainly and palpably" violate the state's constitution and ordering that the map be redrawn in the next three weeks. If they fail to meet this deadline, the court will then draw its own map, with input from the parties. Republicans control 12 congressional districts, while Democrats control five. (Another district is the subject of a special election next month.) Republican state lawmakers have filed an appeal to the US Supreme Court to stay the order, and accused the court of "attempting to play the role of 'lawmaker'" by striking down the map. "As President Pro Tempore of the Pennsylvania Senate, Senator Scarnati swore an oath to uphold the Constitution of Pennsylvania and the Constitution of the United States, which is exactly what he is doing by this action," Scarnati's chief of staff, Drew Crompton, said in a statement. "The Federal Elections Clause unambiguously vests exclusive authority over congressional elections in the state legislatures, subject only to limitations imposed by the United States Congress." Last month, federal judges said North Carolina will have to quickly redraw its 13 congressional districts because the map is unconstitutionally partisan. Yuba City, Calif.-- Steps are being taken to terminate a Yuba City High School teacher following an allegation of inappropriate conduct. Citing laws governing privacy, the school district will not release the teachers name. Family of the alleged victim say it is physical education teacher Jim Whiteaker, who is also a Sutter County supervisor. At this point, he has not been charged with a crime, he has not been fired from his teaching job, though he has been placed on leave. During a special board meeting Tuesday, the Yuba City Unified School District said they have given direction to staff at the school to bring a statement of charges to terminate Whiteaker. Some in the audience could be seen holding signs reading "Time's up," a nod to the Hollywood movement against sexual harassment. The uncle of the alleged victim said that on January 16th, his 14-year-old niece playfully nudged her friend with her foot. At which point Whiteacker allegedly grabbed the girl's behind, telling her "you kick her, I touch you." "My family will not sit quietly and allow another person to be abused by this man, no matter what his position within the community may be. This person should not be teaching children anymore, he said. Sutter County District Attorney Amanda Hopper felt there was a conflict of interest if she reviewed the report filed by law enforcement because of Whiteaker's position on the Sutter County Board of Supervisors. The report was handed over to Yuba County District Attorney, Pat McGrath, who is reviewing the case. There is no timeline on when McGrath will be finished reviewing the report, but if there is a criminal case, it will be reviewed by the state's attorney general. On Nov 18, 2017, at about 1:06 a.m., the Humboldt County Sheriffs Office received a missing persons report for 22-year-old Rebekah Martinez. The reporting party, Martinezs mother, told deputies she last had contact with Martinez on Nov. 12, 2017, at about 11:00 a.m. via a friends cell phone. Martinez told her mother that she was going to work on a marijuana farm and would see her in seven to eight days. The Humboldt County Sheriffs Office attempted to contact Martinez and other persons associated with her, receiving no response. The deputy followed procedure, following up on all leads and forwarding the case to the Humboldt County Sheriffs Office Criminal Investigations Division. On Dec. 12, 2017, a deputy sheriff contacted Martinezs mother by email to inquire whether she had heard from Martinez. Martinezs mother responded to the email confirming that Martinez had contacted her late in the afternoon on Nov. 18, 2017, and stated that she was headed home. The deputy requested Martinez to contact the investigator of the case as soon as possible. As part of procedure, Humboldt County Sheriffs Office deputies are typically required to make direct contact with the missing person to confirm status and wellbeing, as geographical and other factors allow. A deputy was not able to make direct contact with Martinez and she was not removed from the Missing and Unidentified Persons System. On Feb. 1, 2018, the Humboldt County Sheriffs Office received an inquiry from a local resident in response to a news article about missing persons in Humboldt County. The resident reported that one missing person listed on the California Attorney Generals missing persons website was actually on the television show, The Bachelor. The deputy who initially took Martinezs missing person report attempted to contact Martinez by phone, without answer. The deputy left a message for Martinez directing her to contact The Humboldt County Sheriffs Office as soon as possible. The deputy then reached out to Martinezs mother as to why Martinez had not contacted the Sheriffs Office as requested in December. The deputy was informed that Martinez had attempted to contact the Sheriffs Office but was not able to speak directly with a deputy. At this time, Martinezs attempts to contact the Sheriffs Office have not been confirmed. The deputy provided Martinezs mother with her direct phone number and requested Martinez call the deputy immediately. Martinez returned the deputys call at 2:59 p.m. on Feb. 1, 2018, confirming that she was not missing and was doing well. Based on the totality of information provided regarding Martinezs wellbeing, Martinez status as a missing person was cleared over the phone and she was removed from the Missing and Unidentified Persons System. "I don't think they should be still punished, and they should be let go because if someone's doing it legally on the street, it's unfair that others are still in jail for that," said resident Justin Miller. "If the law changes, those accused should be absolved of breaking that law,"said Chico resident Robert Wysling. Many North State residents applaud the san francisco district attorney's plan to dismiss all misdemeanor marijuana charges, as far back as 1975. "If these people were just charged with a crime that no longer exists? More people coming in, more responsible people for the community. I could see it being a positive impact," said Wysling. The San Francisco D.A.'s office will also immediately begin reviewing more than 4900 felony marijuana charges and possibly reducing them to misdemeanors, a lifeline to many who are struggling to gain employment and opportunity after serving time. "There are background checks and what not - that's an interesting grey area, if they should carry that with them," said Wysling. "I know jobs seriously look at offender, so it's for the best that they wipe it clean," said Miller. While San Francisco leaders urged others to follow suit, the Butte County district attorney says it's different for rural areas. "We grow in the Butte County hills to supply the demand in San Francisco. We suffered the environmental damage that San Francisco did not. We already expended resources to repair the damage from the larger marijuana growers in the area that did significant environmental damage" said D.A. Mike Ramsey. And there's an ethical opposition to the blanket forgiveness approach. Some local residents argue it doesn't matter if it's illegal or not now, at the time it happened, the offender still broke the law. Butte County's District Attorney Mike Ramsey says his office will not be following suit - they just don't have the resources to do so unsolicited. But they're not ignoring the change in state law - in fact, about two people a week come into the court to be expunged for a felony crime that's no longer illegal, or at least not a felony. A defendant doesn't need an attorney, they just need to fill out a form. Butte County Mosquito and Vector Control District has recently received many calls from residents concerning mosquito problems. While cold weather kills most species of adult mosquitoes, the adult female Anopheles freeborni hibernates during the cold winter months. The majority of these mosquitoes were bred during the previous summer in agricultural lands throughout the west and south areas of the District. When the female mosquitoes are done laying their eggs, they look for a place to hibernate or over-winter. These locations include garages, outbuildings, thick grass, etc. These hibernating mosquitoes generally are not a problem during the winter months until a warming trend occurs. A warming trend (in excess of 65) in January, February, or March sounds a wakeup call to these mosquitoes. They are extremely hungry and are looking for a blood meal that will nourish their developing eggs. Biting females are most bothersome during the afternoons and early evenings. Fortunately, this problem usually lasts only as long as the warm days persist. This is not a phenomenon. This happens each year when a warm spell grabs hold of Butte County during the late winter months. Residents can experience these mosquitoes in some foothill communities as well as every place in the valley. The overwintering Anopheles freeborni mosquitoes are not easily controlled during the cool weather months. The District usually cannot "fog" for mosquitoes in the winter months due to its ineffectiveness compared to the warmer spring and summer months. Certain conditions have to be met in order to effectively control adult mosquitoes. During the warmer months, the District sprays for mosquitoes before the sun rises in the mornings and after it has set in the evenings. This is not usually possible in January, February, or March since the temperature is not warm enough to spray during those times. The overwintering mosquitoes are usually most active during sunlight hours. The District does not spray during sunlight hours due to improper weather conditions such as the lack of an inversion layer, UV rays reducing the pesticide effectiveness, and the risks to non-target beneficial insects. Can these mosquitoes transmit disease? The Anopheles freeborni mosquito is considered unlikely to transmit West Nile virus. These mosquitoes historically transmitted malaria and were involved in the malaria epidemics during the late 1800s and early 1900s in northern California. Although malaria is not currently a concern in California, the potential for disease transmission exists if malaria is reintroduced through an imported human case. The District works closely with state and local health departments to monitor new and emerging vector-borne diseases. To summarize, these overwintering pests are primarily a nuisance, especially during winter and spring months. Individuals can reduce their risk of mosquito-borne disease by following these prevention tips: - Avoid spending time outside when mosquitoes are active, especially at dusk and dawn - If you must be outdoors when mosquitoes are active, wear long pants, and long-sleeved shirts, socks, and shoes - Before going outdoors, apply insect repellent containing DEET, Picaridin, IR3535 or oil of lemon eucalyptus according to label instructions - Make sure that doors and windows have tight-fitting screens. Repair or replace screens that have tears or holes - Eliminate all standing water on your property that can support mosquito-breeding - Report standing water to Butte County Mosquito and Vector Control District - Contact Butte County Mosquito and Vector Control District if there is a significant mosquito problem where you live, work, and/or play For more information call the Butte County Mosquito and Vector Control District at 530-533-6038 or 530-342-7350 or visit the website Holding the required level of PII is a key prudential and consumer protection safeguard. EIOPA is required under the IDD to develop draft Regulatory Technical Standards, which adapt the base euro amounts for PII and financial capacity of insurance intermediaries. Based on a review carried out by EIOPA, which takes account of changes in Eurostat's European index of consumer prices, the proposed new amounts are EUR 1 300 370 and EUR 1 924 550 for the PII and EUR 19 510 for the financial capacity. EIOPA has to submit the draft Regulatory Technical Standards to the European Commission by 30 June 2018. The aim of this consultation is to gather feedback on professional indemnity insurance and minimum financial capacity as well as the draft Regulatory Technical Standards. EIOIPA therefore welcomes comments to the consultation from all interested parties by 27 April 2018. Details on how to submit comments are included in the consultation paper. Comments must be sent using the template provided to the specified email address before the deadline. Any comments that are submitted without using the template, to a different email address or after the deadline will not be processed. The consultation paper and the template for comments can be viewed here. Contributions received will be published on EIOPA's website following the end of the consultation period. Air Senegal, Senegals national carrier has signed a firm order for two A330neo aircraft, the new re-engined version of the best-selling A330 wide-body airliner. The order follows on from the Memorandum of Understanding signed in November at the Dubai Airshow. The agreement was signed in Dakar by Philippe Bohn, CEO Air Senegal and Fouad Attar, Head of Commercial Aircraft Airbus Africa Middle East, in the presence of the President of the French Republic, Emmanuel Macron on a state visit to Senegal and Macky Sall, President of the Republic of Senegal. These A330neo aircraft will contribute to developing our medium and long-haul network. It is important for us to begin our commercial activities with aircraft that are both reliable and economical, while offering our passengers unrivalled comfort. This order demonstrates our ambitions for this new airline, declared Philippe Bohn, CEO Air Senegal. We are pleased to count Air Senegal as a new customer. These A330neos will enable Air Senegal to benefit from unbeatable economics and to offer its passengers an outstanding level of comfort and travel experience in its market. said Fouad Attar Head of Commercial Aircraft Airbus Africa Middle East. Launched in July 2014, the A330neo is the very latest generation in Airbus wide-body family. It is powered by Rolls-Royces latest-generation Trent 7000 engines and features a new larger span wing with sharklet wingtip devices. Derby headquartered aerospace and defence supply chain service provider, Pattonair, has further expanded its global footprint with the opening of an office in Japan, as the latest stage in fulfilling the companys global expansion strategy. Above: Pattonair's Derby HQ. The Japan office extends Pattonairs presence in Asia where it already operates a facility in Singapore and an office in China. Located in Nagoya, the new office is headed up by Business Development Manager, Naoki Makino, and will focus on supporting Pattonairs current Japanese customers and growing the local market for the companys world class supply chain services for both OEM and MRO sectors. Pattonair is an established provider of supply chain solutions to major Japanese OEMs in support of civil aircraft engines. Last year Pattonair won its first contract from All Nippon Airways (ANA) servicing the airlines global MRO network with the supply of C class parts for its Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engine which powers Boeings 787 Dreamliner. David Schaffar, President of Pattonair Asia, said: We distinguish ourselves in the market by our global network, world class service and the ability to tailor solutions to a customers specific needs and performance goals. Being close to our customers is an essential part of this which the new office will provide for our Japanese customers. Political parties may say, there will be Congress-free India, but its my prediction that Indian voters have great grounds for Congress to exist for ever. Four years of BJP rule was not that promising and memorable. People got fed-up and are seen shifting their loyalties towards grand old party Congress. In a thumping victory, the Congress grabbed three Assembly seats in Rajasthan from the BJP. Even in West Bengal, where BJP was hoping to upset the applecart of the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) in the by-election to the Uluberia Lok Sabha constituency and Noapara assembly constituency, the saffron party only managed to finish second to TMC, whose candidates won with comfortable margins. The loss in the two Lok Sabha seats in Rajasthan is a big setback to the BJP considering these were won with significant margins by the party in 2014, when Narendra Modi had led the party to power at the centre. In Rajasthan, the elections were fought in the background of the Padmavaat controversy which had enraged the Rajput community, which had accused the BJP of not doing enough to stall the release of the movie. In fact, in all the constituencies, Congress candidates had established strong leads right from the initial rounds of the counting, triggering celebration in state party offices. Congress has swept the by-polls in Rajasthan by winning the parliamentary seats of Ajmer and Alwar and the Assembly seat of Mandalgarh. In winning the three seats, the Congress candidates Raghu Sharma, Karan Singh Yadav and Vivek Dhakhar lured away more than seven lakh votes as compared to the previous polls when the BJP won all three seats. The results cement Sachin Pilot as Rajasthan Pradesh Congress Committee president and he will lead the party through the next Assembly polls. Over the past four years Pilot had taken small steps to rebuild the party over four years. Rarely has any Congress leader worked so hard and so consistently to build himself across the state given Pilot was mostly confined to Dausa and Ajmer, both his own constituencies in the past. The victory boosts the confidence of his party workers which had dipped after it lost in Dholpur and caste factors also worked for Congress. Former Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot will carry on in an advisory role as the party will continue to rely on his experience. The deserving new faces got role to play in party, and slowly its becoming youth power. No wonder if they manage to grab good seats in 2019. At least, they will make things difficult for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), as they made it in Gujarat. Pilots decision in putting faith on Karan Singh Yadav paid off in a Yadav-dominated area. Besides, Congress got overwhelming support of Meo Muslims who have been targeted by cow brigade of the BJP in this belt. In Ajmer, again Pilots decision to field Raghu Sharma to cut into BJPs Brahmin votes paid off. Besides, Gehlot too worked hard for his aide Sharma. The biggest surprise for Congress itself has been Mandalgarh, which despite being a traditional Congress stronghold, was considered lost because of entry of its rebel leader in the fray. Pilot successfully highlighted flaws of government focusing on farmers suicides, poor civic amenities and religious intolerance. Gehlot reminded party workers that if it can do so well in Gujarat, it can do it in Rajasthan. Nothing worked for BJP this time. Vasundhara Raje will continue to lead the party but her government needs face lift. She is a great disappointment for BJP in Rajasthan. She will have to make drastic changes in her style of functioning besides carrying out massive reshuffle in cabinet. Although the state BJP is trying to blame demonetisation, GST and lack of cooperation by the RSS, such excuses will not help party improve its chances in the upcoming Assembly polls. The recent by-polls were important as they were seen as a political weather vane by observers. With Rajasthan heading to Assembly elections in a few months, this spectacular showing is being touted no less than a precursor to the polls verdict. On the other hand, the (now infamous) Karni Sena has joined the celebrations and is hailing the Congress victory as a stamp of rejection to Rajes governance. The Shri Rajput Karni Sena has been at loggerheads with the incumbent BJP-led Rajasthan government over several issues, including gangster Anandpal Singh encounter and the raging Padmaavat controversy. Meanwhile, people have started realising that the financial policies of UPA were far better than BJP. It was middle class and poor man-friendly. Moreover, BJP must remove present CM who is solely responsible for humiliating defeat in two Lok Sabha and one Vidhan Sabha seat. The corrupt and worst governance is the main reason for such shameful defeat. If BJP leadership has no guts to remove present CM, the party should be ready to lose Rajasthan in Assembly Election due in 2018. The BJP government in Rajasthan is exactly like the Congress culture that Modi wants to end in India. Wish there was a third party. Vasundhara was responsible for breaking lots of temples in Jaipur to make the Metro. But she was unable to remove even a single mosque which hindered development. The agents (political dalaals) who used to get things done in Gehlot government are the same in Vasundhara government. The statement of AAP that both Congress and BJP are same party is actually true in Rajasthan. Thats why traditionally the government changes every five years. Moreover, Vasundharas arrogance and (mis)rule may have played a part no doubt. If we look at West Bengal, Mamata Banerjees Trinamool Congress once again upset the BJP calculations and romped home easily in both the by-polls. The election results of West Bengal assume significance since they show BJP to be gradually moving ahead but repeatedly falling well short of TMCs numbers. This could have a major bearing on BJP national president Amit Shahs dream of bagging at least half the seats in the state in the next Lok Sabha polls. In 2019, if Congress restructures their whole party and brings young faces who can connect with masses then they should give more responsibility to mass appealing leaders like Sachin Pilot, Shashi Tharoor etc. Currently there are very few faces in the party at national level that came from lower levels. They should emphasise on improving transparency in their party and need to motivate local party workers. They have strong chances of regaining power. Congress decline isnt new; it has been consistently losing vote share and seats since Rajiv Gandhis reign. The reason why it stayed in power was its ability to attract and retain allies. This was where BJP lacked substantially. Since the kick in West Bengal, tie-up with DMK and most stunningly BJPs alliance building in Manipur and Goa, it is evident that Congress cant do it anymore. Bihar seems like an outlier here. For it to succeed, it needs to reinstall confidence in potential allies. Booth Management is overlooked so often, but without it you are only on the ballot paper, not in the government. Congress needs to attract volunteers and party workers for booth management and ground connect, which they are doing. BJP needs to come out of their royal grope and fanatic mindset. They need to be more people-friendly, if both BJP and Congress fail to address their failures, voters will give them tough time. (Any suggestions, comments or dispute with regards to this article send us on [email protected]) Supporters of political parties that oppose the Maldives government clashed with police on the streets of the capital early on Friday after the countrys Supreme Court ordered the release of imprisoned politicians, including an ex-president living in exile in Britain. Hundreds of people celebrated in Male by waving the countrys flag after the court-overturned verdicts against ex-president Mohamed Nasheed and an ex-vice president jailed after trials that were internationally condemned. Police dispersed them using pepper spray and batons. Rocks were thrown at police and at least one injured officer was seen by an Associated Press reporter being carried to a hospital. The ruling issued late on Thursday could allow Nasheed, the archipelago states first democratically elected president, to challenge President Yameen Abdul Gayoom when he seeks re-election later this year. The court said the guilty verdicts against the politicians had been influenced by the government. The ruling also reinstated 12 lawmakers who had previously been declared as having lost their positions for switching allegiance to the opposition. Gayoom has maintained a tight grip on power, controlling institutions like the judiciary, police and the bureaucracy. But he and his Progressive Party of the Maldives will lose a majority in the countrys 85-member Parliament when the 12 lawmakers who had been ousted return to Parliament. Nasheed had been sentenced to 13 years in prison on terrorism charges but was allowed to go to Britain to seek medical treatment, where he received asylum. The ruling could lead to him becoming eligible to run in the presidential election expected to take place between August and November. Gayoom had been set to run for re-election virtually unopposed with all of his opponents either jailed or exiled. Also named for release was Gayooms former deputy Ahmed Adeeb, who had been jailed on accusations of plotting to kill Gayoom. Adeeb in 2016 was sentenced to 33 years in prison for alleged corruption, possession of illegal firearms and planning to kill Gayoom by triggering a blast on his speedboat even though FBI investigators said they found no evidence of a bomb blast. The Maldives, known for luxury tourist resorts, became a multiparty democracy 10 years ago after decades of autocratic rule. However, it lost much of its democratic gains after Gayooms 2013 election. The government said in a statement that it is trying to vet and clarify the court ruling. The statement added, The administration will work to engage, and consult with, the Supreme Court in order to comply with the ruling in line with proper procedure and the rule of law. The countrys opposition alliance in a statement welcomed the ruling and called for Gayooms resignation saying the courts decision effectively ends President Yameens authoritarian rule. Congress partys impressive performance in the Rajasthan by-polls indicates that the party has gone into revival mode after the drubbing it received in the state during the 2013 December Assembly polls and Lok Sabha polls. The party won the Alwar Lok Sabha seat by more than 1.94 lakh votes and Ajmer seat by over 84,000 votes. It also won the Mandalgarh Assembly seat by nearly 13,000 votes. Earlier all these seats were held by BJP. The results have given a shot in the arm for Congress which was written off after the 2014 general election. Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut took a jibe at BJP and termed that the Rajasthan bye-poll results acts as an interval and the real status of the party (BJP) will be revealed in the next years general election. He said, The Gujarat elections were the trailer and the Rajasthan by-polls were the interval, now we will see the entire picture in 2019. BJPs also failed to make inroads into West Bengal after it lost Uluberia Lok Sabha and Noapara Assembly seats to Trinamool Congress. Trinamool Congress leader Sajda Ahmed expressed her happiness to get the maximum support of voters and said, BJPs vote share has increased as CPI (M) has become weak in West Bengal and few of their voters have shifted their loyalties towards BJP. The election was seen as a contest only between BJP and TMC as Congress and CPI (M) stayed inactive in campaigning activities. Rajasthan by-poll and Gujarat assembly election results indicate that people have lost faith in BJP as the party has failed to fulfil masses expectations. We expect that the partys vote share will further decline in forthcoming elections. Thus BJPs dream of Congress Mukt Bharat looks a distant dream as the party is showing a tendency of bouncing back after suffering severe defeats in elections. The results of Rajasthan and West Bengal is a wakeup call for BJP to pull up its socks and improve governance or else face more electoral debacles in forthcoming polls. According to political analysts, the Vasundhara Raje government will have to work hard to regain confidence of voters ahead of the assembly polls scheduled to be held this year. Former AAP leader Mayank Gandhi said that people were unhappy with Vasundhara Raje led BJP government in Rajasthan as it has failed to provide good governance in the state. He said, Farming community too is miffed with BJP. Congress has some good leaders in Rajasthan so it was expected that the party will fare better. When asked about BJPs performance in Bengal he replied that BJPs foothold is different altogether in WB as they have improved their performance in the state and it is a good sign for the party. It is too early to say whether these results will have a bearing on the BJPs performance in 2019 Lok Sabha polls as the party is in power and stronger in many states of the country, he added. Caste factor has played a dominant role in Congresss victory as Rajput groups had supported the party after the Padmaavat controversy had erupted. Encounters of history-sheeter Chatur Singh and gangster Anandpal too helped the partys cause. Gujjars were miffed with the BJP government after the bills granting reservation to them was stayed by the High Court. Shiv Sena MLC Anil Parab said, There might be some strong reason why BJP has received severe drubbing in Rajasthan by polls as the party had won convincingly in the 2014 Lok Sabha election in the same seats; but it is too early to judge the cause. Its time for BJP to analyse what has gone wrong with the partys strategy. People voted against BJP as they were unhappy with the demonetisation policy of the government. Business community too was adversely affected due to note ban and GST. The government had to pay a heavy price for ignoring the agricultural sector as it had failed to provide loan waiver to distressed farmers. The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) will go on a two-day strike in the national capital from Friday to protest the Municipal Corporation of Delhis sealing drive. The trade body on Saturday announced that they have called for a 48-hour bandh. Earlier, the members of the ruling Aam Aadmi Partys trade wing took part in a katora (cup) march at the Karol Bagh market against the MCDs move. Traders, industrialists and transporters, who have suffered huge losses because of sealing and demonetisation, also participated in the protest march. The drive to seal commercial establishments flouting provisions of the 2021 Master Plan began on January 7 in Khan Market on the orders of a Supreme Court-appointed monitoring committee. According to the master plan, traders using properties for mixed purposes have to pay a one-time conversion charge at the rate notified by the Delhi Government. Britain signed deals worth more than 9.3 billion pounds ($13.26 billion) creating over 2,500 jobs across the United Kingdom during Prime Minister Theresa Mays visit to China this week, the British government said on Friday. The agreements signed this week, valued at more than 9 billion pounds, demonstrate a clear demand for British goods and services, International Trade Secretary Liam Fox said in the statement. As an international economic department, we will continue to develop this valuable relationship, which already benefits British companies to the tune of 59 billion pounds in trade each year. The figure is expected to rise as more agreements are signed, the statement added, representing commercial signings, market access agreements and future contract commitments within different sectors. More than 1 billion pounds of deals and market access, and 890 jobs, were secured for Britains financial services industry, it said. May ended her three-day visit to China in the countrys commercial capital Shanghai on Friday. Britain is trying to reinvent itself as a global trading nation after a 2016 referendum decision to leave the European Union, but Brexit has unnerved Beijing, even as London hopes to sign a free trade deal with the worlds second-largest economy. Still, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang told May on Wednesday that Chinas relations with Britain will remain unchanged through Brexit. It was about a government plan to deal with autism. It had a lot of familiar details: autism is on the rise, we need to find the cause, and early intervention is best. In Nov 2003 the New York Times published an interesting article titled, Government Mapping Out A Strategy to Fight Autism by Jane Gross. HERE Groundhog day 2018. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Groundhog day 2017 From 2003 to January 19, 2017 - so little had changed for autism. AofA readers know the drill. "No cause. But we know it's not vaccines. No cure. Why would you want a cure for such a gifty diagnosis?" Yadda yadda yadda ad NAUseam. Maybe 2017 is the year the groundhog turns into a tiger. Let's hope so. Here's a BEST OF post from 2012. By Anne Dachel Gross reported, Nobody knows the cause of the surge, although epidemiologists suspect it is largely a result of refined diagnosis and public awareness. That does not change the dimensions of a problem that strains schools, medical services and families. Nor does it affect forecasts of growing caseloads for decades to come. Not bad coverage for something from almost a decade ago. We would expect that after millions of dollars of research and all the efforts of the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee created by Congress to deal with autism there would be definite answers and wed have great success stories about programs for affected children and the progress being made. Sadly, its not happening. WNDU-TV in South Bend, IN just published a story about autism on Jan 3, 2012 called, Doctors working on ways to better diagnose children with autism. HERE WNDU announced, The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that all children be screened for autism twice before age 2. However, only between 5 and 7 percent of pediatricians perform a formal screening. The average age of diagnosis for a child with autism is about 5 and a half, and experts say thats way too late. In addition they reported, The number of children diagnosed with autism appears to be rising. Its not clear whether this is due to better detection and reporting of autism, a real increase in the number of cases, or both. What the South Bend story reveals is that we are basically where we were at in 2003 when it comes to autism. Autism is still a medical mystery that doctors and health officials scratch their heads over. There is still no alarm over autism. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Academy of Pediatrics didnt call autism a crisis in 2003 and they still dont call it one today. Back in 2003 it seemed like a real effort was going to be made and I might have been a little hopeful. The Times told us, Propelled by the skyrocketing number of diagnoses of the perplexing brain disorder autism in children, federal officials have for the first time mapped out a long-term, interagency plan to deal with the problem. The plan includes objectives like the development of teaching methods that will allow 90 percent of autistic children to speak; the identification of genetic and nongenetic causes of the condition; and adequate services for all afflicted children in the next 7 to 10 years. The Times also included Dr. Fred R. Volkmar from Yale who has long blamed bad genes and credited doctors for the explosion in autism. Volkmar is still in the news regularly trying to convince us that theres been no real increase in autism. The strategy mapped out in 2003 set definite goals. The plan lays out a timeline, in increments of 1 to 3 years, 4 to 6 years and 7 to 10 years and then ranks goals according to the likelihood of achieving them. Realistic goals in each of the three stages include the development, evaluation and institution of effective treatments, in collaboration with the Department of Education. The idea is to be challenging everyone in the field to be reaching for the best we can possibly do, said Dr. Steve Foote, the director of neuroscience at the National Institute of Mental Health, which was designated the lead agency by the Child Health Act. The Times did warn, Some parents are likely to be frustrated by the plans suggestion that it will take at least seven years to provide treatment for all who need it. Reaching for the best we can possibly do Dr. Footes goal of challenging everyone in the field to do their best for autism seems comical today. The truth is the science is nowhere when it comes to autism. The epidemic now affects one in 110 children in the U.S. and almost two percent of just boys according to outdated statistics from the CDC. (We dont even know what the real numbers currently are.) Back in 2003 when the Times story was written, the autism rate was officially one in 250 children. The Times told us that the plan mapped out by the government was drafted by scientists to assess the state of autism research and identify the roadblocks that might be hindering progress in understanding the cause and the best treatment options. Of course that has never come to pass. The cause of autism paralyzes officials because if they honestly looked into whats happening to a generation of children theyd have to admit that most of it points to their out-of-control vaccination schedule. Robert L. Beck of the Autism Society of America lamented the lack of funding in 2003. And theres no money on the services and treatment side. What do we do with the kids for the next 7 to 10 years? We have to do both. You cannot just throw away a generation of children. Little has come from all the official attention autism received back in 2000 when the IACC was established and in 2003 when the Strategic Plan was announced. The nightmare only gets worse for families caught up in the epidemic as their children struggle with the lack of services, endless waiting lists, enormous out-of-pocket costs, and growing fears about what the future holds. We constantly see stories in the press about charges of abuse in schools unprepared for the onslaught of autistic children. We read about parents who cant find a place for their young adult children aging out of the public school system. And officials and mainstream medicine continue to close their eyes to what autism is doing to America. Experts have quietly surrendered to autism. I can only guess at what it will be like in another nine years of doing nothing as autism conquers the U.S. Anne Dachel is media editor for Age of Autism. Subscribe to her active news site AnneDachel.com today. The Quest for Orthodox-Assyrian Alliance To be frank, any kind of Orthodox -- Assyrian Church alliance seems to be a distant dream. However, it is always good to keep our hopes high and keep praying for the distant dream. The Christian world is dominated by ecumenism and persecution and Orthodox Christian Churches (EO and OO) churches struggle hard keep their own families in order. Irrespective of all good things, the Orthodox world is dominated by schisms and separations. The Eastern and Oriental Orthodox unity itself remains a distant dream. Both Eastern and Oriental families struggle and find it hard to resolve schism and stabilize unity within their own families. In such conditions, it would be very hard to converse on Assyrian-Orthodox unity. Few thoughts are worth considering. My aim is not an in-depth analysis of Assyrian Theology or Christology. I have presented various arguments and the urgent need for Orthodox-Assyrian dialogue for cooperation and unity. A Brief History of the Church of the East As we know, the Assyrian churches are descendants of the Church of the East that has East Syriac Orthodox Christian origins using East Syriac Liturgy. St. Thomas the Apostle is the founder of this church according to traditions. Some experts believe that after founding Church of the East, St. Thomas left for India from Basra port in Iraq, and established Church in Malankara/Malabar (Kerala). The ancient Christians of Malankara are called St. Thomas Christians, who had close relations with the Church of the East. Church of East is wrongly called the Nestorian Church, because it is erroneously associated with his teachings. Eastern and Oriental Orthodox Churches has condemned the teachings of Nestorius. Wikipedia) Wikipedia) Assyrian Church of the East led by Catholicos-Patriarch of the Assyrian Church of the East seated in Erbil. Ancient Church of the East led by Catholicos Patriarch of the Ancient Church of the East seated in Bagdad. Ancient Church of the East of the Old Calendarists -- led by Archbishop of Old Calendar Church seated in Germany. Uniate Chaldean Syrian Catholic Church (in full communion with the Roman Catholic Church) led by Patriarch of Babylon of the Chaldeans seated in Bagdad. Christ Pantokrator icon of Assyrian Church in Paris. Catholicos-Patriarch Mar Addai II and Catholicos-Patriarch Gewargis III. Assyrian Patriarchs with Patriarch Ignatius Aphrem II . Syriac Patriarchate) Syriac Patriarchate) Bishop Mar Awa Royel and Anba Raphael of Coptic Church. Assyrian Bishops at Orthodox Old Seminary. OTS) OTS) The late Catholicos-Patriarch Mar Dinka IV with Patriarch Kirill. Moscow Patriarchate) Moscow Patriarchate) The Georgian Assyrian Orthodox Community. Orthodoxy Cognate PAGE Society Delegation with Mar Metropolitan Aprem Mooken. The Church of East was ruled by Patriarch the East (Patriarch of Babylon, also called Catholicos) ruling from the Patriarchal See of Seleucia-Ctesiphon. Patriarch Timothy I was one of the most famous and extraordinary Primates of the Church of the East. He was well educated, author, outstanding leader and a great diplomat, even though he had to face a lot of incidents and problems during his reign; many of them were marked with controversies. One of the famous events is the debate on the Christian and Muslim faiths between Timothy I and Caliph Mahdi in 781 AD. It was Patriarch Timothy I, who organized an Ecclesiastical Province of India for the St. Thomas Christians in Malabar. Unfortunately, the advent of Portuguese Roman Catholic Missionaries and the infamous actions of the ruthless imperialist Archbishop Aleixo de Menezes, destroyed and divided St. Thomas Christians. Moreover, Archbishop Aleixo destroyed the ancient Malabar Liturgical textbooks and many valuable documents, which totally erased the history, worship and indigenous liturgy of the ancient Orthodox St. Thomas Christians and their historical relations with the Church of the East.Church of the East was one of the most powerful and biggest Eastern Christian Churches in the world. Church of the East was first Christian Church to take up large-scale evangelizing process of foreign lands. It had presence in several parts of the world including China, Mongolia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Yemen, Gulf region, Arabia, long before the arrival of Roman Catholic and other Western missionaries. Long before the arrival of Roman Western and Protestant missions, the Eastern Syriac Orthodox Church (Church of the East) evangelized several parts of the world. Several Persian crosses discovered in several parts of the world, underline their global missionary zeal and wider outreach. The Church of East separated from rest of the Orthodox world by Council of Ephesus in 431. Later, the Schism of 1552 divided the Church of the East into Assyrian Church of the East and Chaldean Catholic Church when a part of the Church of East entered in full communion with Rome. One of the major reasons was that patriarchal succession was hereditary in Church of the East from the middle of the 15th century. Another schism in 1968 resulted in the formation of Ancient Church of the East.The decline of the Church of the East began with the attack on Assyrian population in Mesopotamia (Iraq), by Amir Timur, who was a Turkish-Mongolian conqueror. His attacks resulted in complete eradication of Christians in several parts of Mesopotamia. Assyrian Christians have undergone severe persecution in modern times in Iraq, Turkey, and elsewhere. During Sefyo the Turkish Ottoman, rulers slaughtered countless Assyrian Christians alongside Armenians and Greeks. In recent times, the severe persecution from ISIS and other Islamic terrorist organizations in Syria and Iraq has seriously affected Assyrian Christians. Large numbers of Assyrians were replaced; many were kidnapped tortured, raped, and murdered. Some of them escaped and others were released upon paying ransom. The persecution, atrocities, and collateral damage suffered by Assyrian Christians cannot be expressed in words. Like Armenian, Serbian, other Orthodox, and Eastern Churches, they are living martyrs of Jesus Christ.Nestorius was the Orthodox Archbishop of Constantinople. Some experts believe that Nestorius tried to find a balance between Divine and Human nature of Christ. Anyhow he was strongly condemned by St. Cyril of Alexandria, who is the common father for Eastern and Oriental Orthodox Churches, Roman Catholic, Anglican and Lutheran denominations. Many theological experts have stated that Nestorius is wrongly associated with Church of the East. The late lamented Catholicos-Patriarch Mar Dinkha IV once stated "Nestorius has nothing to do with us; he was a Greek." Although Nestorius is venerated as a saint by the Assyrian Church, Nestorius was not their founder nor did Church of the East was familiar with his language. Nestorius was Greek and had no connection with Syriac or the East Syriac Churches.Theological arguments, theological conceptual aspects proposed by Nestorius have been a great influence in forming the theology and doctrines of the Church of the East, but they are not a Nestorian church. Church of the East or Assyrian Churches shares many theological concerns raised by Nestorius. Dr Sebastian Brock states that, the writers of Church of the East spoke high of Greek theologian Theodore of Mopsuestia, during the period of Christological controversies. The theology of Theodore had high influence on the formation of the theology of the Church of East. However, the Church of the East venerates three Greek theologians -- Theodore, Nestorius and Diodore.Fr. John S. Romanides the famous Orthodox theologian remains critical of Theodoret and Nestorius. He states, "Thus, when Theodoret says that He who was born of the Virgin is consubstantial with God the Father, he does not mean that He who is consubstantial with the Father was born of Mary in the flesh. The name Christ seems to be the only one Theodoret allows to be predicated of the Logos in the flesh, and by means of this he avoids saying with Nestorius that Christ is the Son of David and Son of God united in His (Christs) One Person. Yet he clearly follows Nestorius by distinguishing the Only-begotten Son and Christ in the Creed by insisting that the name Jesus Christ, and not the title of Only-begotten Son, is the recipient of the things human such as birth, suffering, death, burial and resurrection. His attempt to explain why only the name Christ of all things human should be predicated of the Logos in the flesh is a Nestorian failure." Fr Dr V C Samuel the great Orthodox theologian in his article Christological Controversy and vision of the Church states that St Cyril of Alexandria had made it clear that his concerns were of Christology and not of Mariology. According to Cyril of Alexandria, questioning of Theotokos with reference to Mary would imply that the Child in the womb was not really God incarnate, hence Nestorius contradicted the faith of Nicea and so he should be condemned. This argument is valid form the viewpoint of Cyril and his supporters, but not in the light of tradition maintained in the Anthochiene School. This basic truth was not raised in ancient times and Nestorius was condemned and thrown out of the Church.Many believe that Assyrian Churches do not use icons. However, Assyrian Churches has a history of using icons. We may not see wider use of icons in Assyrian Liturgical worship in their churches. Many believe that Assyrian Church rejects icon, which is not a correct fact. They may not have wide use of icons presently; however, the Church of East has a great history of venerating icons. The theology and traditions of the Church of the East stress the need for the presence of icons during liturgical worship. Unfortunately, the use of icons diminished and there can be varied reasons for the same, according to church experts. More on Assyrian Iconography here: Church of the East uses the Greek term Christotokos for St. Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Orthodox Churches has the most beautiful, appropriate and apt definition for Mother of God- Theotokos. Orthodoxy rejects Roman Mariology, its doctrinal and faith additions of Roman Catholic Church. The Roman Catholic theological attributions like immaculate concept are unacceptable. Some Roman Catholic theologians have even emphasized the role of Mother Mary in Salvation, along with Jesus Christ, which is extremely dangerous and fanatic corruption of Latin theology. Nestorian view of Theotokos challenges Latin theological errors to a greater extend, which is extremely good in several aspects. I have presented arguments and quotes above, on Assyrian Theology and i do not aim at an in-depth analysis of Christological or theological aspects of the Church of the East. These are things that require deep study and constructive discussions between Orthodox and Assyrian theologians to arrive at a proper conclusion without compromising the original orthodox faith established by Jesus Christ, his apostles and ancient church fathers.The interesting part is that with such extreme erroneous Latin interpretations of Mother Mary, the Vatican succeed in convincing the Assyrian Church of the East and they agreed and recognized that both Churches has legitimacy and rightness to use their own expressions of the same faith.The challenge for Orthodox theologians is to connect and relate the Assyrian term of Christotokos and Orthodox term of Theotokos in order to arrive at common agreements and conclusions, which will enable Assyrians and Orthodox to use their own desired terminologies without altering the original orthodox faith. The diplomatic openness of Vatican resulted in the Common Christological Declaration between the Catholic Church and the Assyrian Church of the East, whereas the conservative attitude of Orthodox Churches has not resulted in any major theological dialogues and agreements with the Assyrian Churches. The conservative attitude is not just limited towards Assyrians; rather it has created too many difficulties between Eastern and Oriental Orthodox families as well.Ecumenical councils are very important. They are measuring tools, for affirming the true faith. Unfortunately, many of our theologians and faithful are blinded by the decision of Ecumenical councils, especially the council of Chalcedon. The fanatic Chalcedonains want every other non-chalcedonian churches to be subjugated to the decisions of this council. This is an unrealistic and unreasonable approach. There is no blind subjugation to anyone and anything, expect to Jesus Christ and the Holy Trinity. Bow your head to our Lord our Christ, and our Savior not to anyone else or anything else. I have conversed with several people who place the council of Chalcedon above Christ, which is dangerous. There were several reasons for not recognizing the Council of Ephesus (431 A.D) by the Church of the East. According to Dr Sebastian Brock, the Church of the East never accepted the Council of Ephesus because of its irregular procedures and not to its doctrinal decisions.Right from the creation of Chaldean Catholic Rite, Vatican has aimed theological and sacramental subjugation of Assyrian Churches, especially Assyrian Church of the East. Sadly the Chaldean Catholic Church, which comes from the Ancient Church of the East, remains one of the heavily Latinized Eastern Catholic communities according to several theological experts. The aggressive nature of Vatican was evident long back. In India, it was in the form of the cruelties by Archbishop Aleixo de Menezes. He literally burned the ancient Malankara-Malabar Rite Liturgical texts and erased all historical documents of the historic relations between Church of the East and Orthodox St. Thomas Christians of Malabar.It is always the tactics of Papacy to send Franciscan or other missionaries to work among Eastern Christians to bring them under the Papal communion and rule. This no different from the Evangelical, Mormon, and Pentecostal missionaries working in several eastern Christian hubs where they convert Orthodox and other eastern Christians, mainly through monetary and social assistance. Rome encourages the consecration of Orthodox or other Eastern Bishops who approach them aiming the formation Eastern Catholic communities. Most of the Eastern Catholic communities joined Rome due to several imperial and political reasons. However, it should be noted that during the Schism of 1552, Pope Julius III consecrated the first Chaldean Catholic Patriarch Shimun VIII Yohannan Sulaqa because of some misinformation. Patriarch Shemon VII Ishoyahb of the Church of the East was still alive. It was wrongly informed to Pope Julius that Patriarch Shemon passed away. Patriarch Shimun VIII Yohannan Sulaqa approached Rome after an unsuccessful attempt to join the Syriac Orthodox Church as well. "Not one of the Uniate Eastern Churches is ancient. They are all insignificant and comparatively recent schisms, which have been brought under Roman influence either during the crusades, or much later, chiefly from political motives, to secure French protectorate. The oldest and most respectable of them is the Maronite sect, which joined Rome in 1182, seceded about two centuries later and rejoined her in 1445. The Roman Prelates, who call themselves Patriarchs of Constantinople, Antioch and Jerusalem and so forth, have no connection with the real secession and the real Churches there. They are simply "dummies" set up to produce a false impression of Catholicity, and to make Roman Church seem to be Eastern as well as Western. Just as, at George II's coronation, two men were dressed up to talk in the procession as Duke of Aquitaine and Normandy, to make believe that George was King of France, with Grand Feudatories in attendance on him." The Culdee. Rome, especially after the Second Vatican Council, stated that Unaites or Eastern Catholicism would not be a tool to accept or convert Orthodox or Eastern Christians. However, they have not adhered to their statement until date. All of these remain just in papers or just declarations. Rome has very clever ways to construct ecumenism; always to their advantage. This is the bare minimum understanding that all Assyrian and Orthodox Christians should always keep in their hearts. If we do not remain alert, Vatican will swallow the whole of Assyrian Church of the East.Primacy of Rome does not mean that one should remain under the Pope. Primacy of Rome is nothing but an honor for the Pope of Rome. Bishop Bawai is an Assyrian Prelate who left the Assyrian church of the East in 2008 along with 1,000 families and joined the Chaldean Catholic Church under Rome. This is another sad case of the Assyrian-Roman Ecumenism. Bishop Bawai believes in the primacy of pope and he urges Assyrian Churches to join Roman Church. In 2008, the Bishop said, "Twenty years ago, many of the Assyrian churchs faithful realized that other than Papal Primacy, there were no theological issues that existed between themselves and the Catholic Church. He stated that, "the more I studied Catholic theology, the more I became certain that both Churches were basically of the same apostolic faith and practice." If that is the case, he should have united his faithful with Oriental Orthodox Churches or have become part of the Oriental Orthodox or Eastern Orthodox communion because Orthodox Churches have many things in common with Assyrians than Roman Catholics. A common understanding Christology alone will not work out unity. In fact, Bishop Bawai set an unworthy example of union with Rome. In response, the Assyrian Church of the East suspended Bishop Bawai and suspended dialogue with Rome. However, the dialogue and ecumenical interactions resumed and it remains very strong, despite the fact that Rome did not adhere to their words that they would not use Uniates as a tool to unify Eastern Christian communities under the Holy See. I personally believe that there are few reasons that attract Assyrian Church of the East Prelates to dialogue and ecumenism with Vatican. International support from Pope and Vatican is important for Assyrian Church of the East in the present situation of persecution displacement. Vatican and the Roman Church accommodate Assyrian Church, their theology and the willingness for dialogue is much greater in comparisons to Orthodox Churches. Many of the conservative and fanatic Orthodox Prelates are reluctant to converse with Assyrians accusing them Nestorian. Vatican invests huge funds for ecumenical activities and provides an international platform for ecumenical interactions and cooperation. Regardless of the Vatican support for Assyrians, it is clear that the agenda of Rome is nothing but diplomatic subjugation of Assyrian Churches. This was clear from the appeal made by Chaldean Patriarch Raphael Sako I.The Vatican as usual employed their tactical offerings to the Assyrian Church the moment they realized that there would be a greater chance of Unity between Assyrian Church of the East and Ancient Church of the East to create one single Church of the East. They have been trying to propose the same since the time of His Holiness Mar Dinka IV. In 2016, at the height of Christian persecution in Iraq and Syria, Patriarch Raphael Louis I Sako of the Chaldean Uniate Eastern Catholic Rite made a diplomatic proposal to the Assyrian church of the East and Ancient Church of the East, i.e., to create a union of a canonically independent Assyrian Church, but united with Rome. Therefore, it seems that the Assyrian Church will come under Rome under the so-called Supreme Pontiff of Vatican. However, they will convince faithful that the church will remain canonical independent and not under Rome, but rather a kind of Union with Rome will be established. So on the whole, the union will lead to communion and it will erase the unique history, traditions, and faith of the Assyrian Churches of the East. In the future, they will be also 'Latinized in all other aspects of their faith, beliefs, and traditions. The sad situation in Iraq was pointed out as one reason for union with Rome. If that is the case, then there are other Christian denominations, which are still in Iraq and should be invited to seek union with Rome. A union with Rome will not improve the situation of Christians in Iraq and it never did. If so first, a union between Assyrian Churches and Orthodox Christian Churches should be established. The Eastern Catholic Patriarchal Rites claim that they are in 'a kind of Autocephalous Union with Rome, but in reality, they are under the imperial subjugation of the Roman Pope Supreme Pontiff for the whole of Roman Church. The imperial agenda of Vatican to vanquish Eastern Christianity will never fade away. It is clear from the appeal of the Uniate Patriarch Sako, that even during difficult times of Christian persecution, Rome uses fragility of such circumstances to create fake union. Vatican ecumenism is always getting churches and faithful under Papal rule, nothing else.Assyrian Bishop Mar Awa Royel of California gave a brilliant reply to the union with Rome offered by the Chaldean Catholic Patriarch. Mar Awa Royel commented that true union must be based on the Apostolic, Orthodox, Catholic and True Faith that was deposited by Christs own disciples in the East, which has been preserved by the Church of the East. He put forward the fact that any acceptable union with the church of East cannot be under the ordinary jurisdiction of any Western Bishop, but only as free acceptance of a great inheritance practiced according to the ecumenical and apostolic model of the first Christian millennium. If any Church is under the jurisdiction of a Western Bishop, that church cannot be called the legitimate heir of the name "Church of the East." The Bishop also invited the Chaldean Catholic brothers to take steps for a true unity by returning to their own theology, traditions through the patristic and liturgical patrimony of the Church of the East. If there can be a call for union, then there must be an unquestionable common grounding in ecclesiological and patristic tradition, namely the tradition of the Church of the East.The major reasons of schism between these two churches was some of the controversial reform introduced by Mar Eshai Shimun XXII. The most important among them was the replacement of traditional Julian calendar with Gregorian calendar. In 2010 as part of the reunification gestures Ancient Church of the East celebrated Christmas on December 25 in line with the Gregorian calendar and this resulted in a split in January 2011. A part of the Ancient Church of the East, who accepts the Old Calendar (Julian) under the leadership of Archbishop Timothaus Mar Shallita separated from the main church. Archbishop Timothaus and three bishops lead Church of the East Old Calenderist branch. Several parishes in Europe, USA, Canada, and Australia are under the Old Calendar leadership (Calendar schism is common in Eastern Orthodox families as well). Even before talking unity with any other church, the two families of Assyrian Churches should unify as one single Assyrian Church. This has to be priory for both families. For that, the calendar split within ancient Church of the East must be resolved. Assyrians should not adopt a new calendar if such decisions result in disunity and schisms, or there should be an agreement within Assyrian community to use both calendars like the Eastern or Oriental Orthodox communion where some churches follow Julian and the rest follow Gregorian. Dialogues for reunification intensified after the demise of Catholicos-Patriarch Mar Dinka IV. Unfortunately, it did not result in full unity. Unity of both churches is possible. If Assyrian Churches move away from inter-Assyrian unity and focus more on unity with Rome, the Roman Papacy will decide the fate of this ancient East Syriac Church.Syriac Church and Assyrian Churches have in-depth historical relations. They suffered alongside Armenians and Greeks during Seyfo. In 1997 as an ea result of the efforts between Catholicos-Patriarch mar Dinka IV and Patriarch Igatius Zakka Iwas, two churches ceased anathematizing each other. Syriac Orthodox Patriarch Ignatius Aphrem II has taken special interests in accommodating Assyrian Churches. Patriarch Ignatius Aphrem II met Catholicos-Patriarch Mar Geevarghese III of the Assyrian Church of the East. Patriarch has shown special concerns on the situation of Assyrian Christian in Syria and Iraq.Several exchanges and contacts were made between the Ecumenical Patriarchate and the Assyrian Church of the East in Constantinople and in the USA. Ecumenical Patriarchate supported the admission of Assyrian Church of the East into World Christian Council (WCC).Theological dialogues between two churches remain difficult, despite occasional developments. Coptic Orthodox Church remains very critical of Nestorius and his veneration by the Church of the East. Metropolitan Bishoy of the Coptic Church in the paper presentation at the Orientale Lumen conference in 2000, states "For the Coptic Orthodox Church Saint Cyril of Alexandria is and will remain a hero of faith and true defender of orthodoxy and we cannot accept to sign an agreement with a church who venerates Nestorius as 'a staunch defender of Antiochene orthodoxy and a martyr to the pride and arrogance of Cyril of Alexandria.' That is a great hindrance in our dialogue with the Assyrian Church of the East, which is reflected in our relations with the Church of Rome with a threat towards the Christological agreement signed between Rome and Alexandria in February 1998. For that reason, we shall exert our efforts to clear away any difficulties, which may affect the theological dialogue between the Roman Catholic Church and the Coptic Orthodox Church." In April 2016, His Beatitude Mar Meelis Zaia, Metropolitan of Australia, New Zealand, and Lebanon along with Coptic Prelates participated in the event exploring the theology and Christology of the Assyrian Church of the East and Coptic Orthodox Church in USA. Mutual visits and brotherly exchanges are made possible. However a major breakthrough in formal relations may take longer period of time.Armenians and Assyrians have historic relations. They lived together in Turkey and suffered together from the hands of Ottoman Turks. Both Christian communities have borrowed a lot together into their lives and liturgical worship by mutual interactions and exchanges they had together for several centuries in Iran, Turkey, Iraq and allied areas. Armenians documents have been key sources for preserving and circulating historic information on Assyrians especially during and after the genocide committed by Ottoman Turks. More here: Malankara Orthodox Church and Jacobite Syriac Orthodox Churches maintain good relations with Chaldean Syrian Church in India. Please note that Assyrian Church of the East is known by the name Chaldean Syrian Church in India. Apart from the current relations, there were negotiations for unity between Malankara Church and the Chaldean Syrian Church during 1880-1889. The Bishops of Malankara regularly visited Church of the East headquarters in Thrichur during the reign of Mar Abdisho Thondanata and Chor-bishop Michael Augustine. The negations were aimed at receiving the Chaldean Syrian Church as one of the autonomous rites of the Malankara Church. Further details remain unknown.Russian and Assyrian Churches had several exchanges during 19th and 20th centuries. Commission for Bilateral Dialogue between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Assyrian Church of the East was established in 2014, during a meeting between Patriarch Kiril and Catholicos-Patriarch Mar Dinkha IV. As of 2018, the commission successfully finished two sittings and the members are looking forward to the possibility of developing Assyrian-Pan-Orthodox dialogue.The conservative Georgian Church has historic connections with Assyrian Christianity. The thirteen Assyrian Church Fathers along with St Nino played a crucial role in the Christianization of Georgia. Georgia owes a lot for the development of its Christian Orthodox Monasticism to the Assyrian Church Fathers. Many of the ethnic Assyrian Christians (who migrated to Georgia) in Georgia are now part of the Georgian Eastern Orthodox Church. Catholicos-Patriarch Ilia appointed a priest with Assyrian language skills for their spiritual and pastoral care. They use Assyrian Aramaic language for liturgical worship. Such integration is beautiful. Several Orthodox churches and theologians are not so open to Assyrian theology, mainly because of the presumption that it is shadowed with Nestorian influence (which is a wrong attribution). Therefore, if the Assyrian community got integrated to the Georgian Orthodox Church (preserving their ethnicity, language, and liturgical practices), the Georgian Orthodox, and other Eastern Orthodox churches can easily welcome a permanent dialogue with the Assyrian Churches.The above diagram shows the intensity of interactions between Churches. EO, OO and Assyrians interact with Rome regularly and the dialogues are well organized. When it comes to inter-orthodox or Orthodox-Assyrian, inter-Assyrian cooperation the scenario is different. Sadly, all Churches place themselves in irregular closed boxes.I think we need to reassess the relation and the dialogue with the Assyrian Churches of the East (Assyrian and Ancient Church of the East) too. It seems that the historical connections of the Assyrian family with the Orthodox Churches are ignored at times. The regularity in the theological dialogue and agreement between Vatican and the Assyrian Churches is one of the examples to this scenario. However, I do appreciate past, present and ongoing exchanges and relations between Orthodox Churches and the Assyrian family of Churches. Orthodox has a moral responsibility to invite Assyrians to a dialogue with us and help them prevent being 'Latinized by Vatican. One of my Orthodox friends had a conversation with an Assyrian Priest on Facebook where he asked about the ecumenical relations and the Priest was happy to answer their activities with the Roman Catholic Church. Then my friend switched the topic of relation and dialogue between Assyrian Church and Orthodox Churches. He said to the Priest that it is always better trying and resolving difference between 2, 3 and 7 ecumenical synods rather and struggling to patch up with 21 synods of Vatican. The Assyrian priest fall silent and never replied back. They are with no doubt that Assyrian Church of the East tends to remain close to Vatican, rather than the Orthodox family, which is indeed a great concern. The Vatican knows how to strike well with funding for dialogues and providing assistance to theological education, thus creating a kind of dependency. A serious rethinking on the relations between Assyrian Churches and the Orthodox Christian families is a need of the time. A bilateral dialogue commission has been developed with the Assyrian Church of the East, thanks to the Russian Orthodox Church, but we should not stop the cooperation here. We need to develop an 'Assyrian-Orthodox International Federation for Cooperation'. Many Orthodox Christians are skeptical towards Assyrian Church with regard to their theology and Christology. This stigma should be eliminated where theologians and faithful needs to be more open to the Assyrians. If the Roman Catholic Church can make a common Christological agreement with the Assyrian Church of the East, why doesn't Orthodox try to understand them? Orthodox practice ecumenism with the Roman Catholic Church and they make agreements with Assyrian church, which is closer to Orthodox Churches in many aspects than to the Vatican. I do not really understand the major factors that prevent us from having theological dialogue with the Assyrian. Orthodox need to set apart our ignorance, analyze the theology well, and be flexible enough to accommodate Assyrians, with respect to the theology of Orthodoxy. Orthodox Churches can take many practical steps in bringing the Assyrian Churches closer. Orthodox delegations can have increased visits with Assyrian Church delegations, involve Assyrians more in ecumenical programs, and offer theological education to Assyrian Seminarians. Parish level, diocesan level, Diaspora level, national and international levels of cooperation with Assyrians can be practised. Orthodox Medias can publish Assyrian news and events. Once Church of the East was one of the largest and most flourishing Christian communities in the world, and presently they are one of the smallest and most persecuted Christian communities. Practical cooperation will strengthen higher theological dialogues, which will result in fruitful and constructive agreements between Assyrian Churches and Orthodox family.Orthodoxy Cognate PAGE as a Pan-Orthodox organization, we were advised several times to remove the clause for dialogue between Oriental Orthodox Churches and Assyrian Churches in our petitions filed to OO Churches, because such a close may hurt OO prelates who have conservative understanding on the Church of the East. Assyrian Churches have done no damage to Orthodox Churches. That is not the case with Vatican. The theological, doctrinal, socio-political damages caused by the Roman Catholic Church remain huge and Orthodox Churches suffered the most of such damages in the form of theological corruption, genocide, Uniates and imperialism. I am not against ecumenical dialogues with Roman Catholic Church, but what I fear is the ignorance of Orthodox Christian families to heal wounds among themselves as well with the Assyrian family. Hence, Orthodox Churches and Assyrian Church end up having ecumenical dialogues with Rome. However, it remains one-sided dialogue because interactions between Eastern and Oriental Orthodox Churches and Orthodox interactions with Assyrian Churches remains quite pale and in low volume. When it comes to ecumenism, Rome is always a winner.I have conversed with several Assyrian faithful on the progress of the dialogue between their church and the Roman Catholic. The majority of the people I talked fear that Assyrian Church of the East will end up as another Eastern Catholic Rite under Roman Papacy. All of them prefer Assyrian Church unity with Orthodox Churches. Some of them even told me that they would leave Christianity if Assyrian Church of the East ever establishes a union with Rome. At the same, time many others, support ecumenical progress made between Assyrian church and the Roman Church."Nothing is black or white, everything is grey." This is the situation with inter-orthodox dialogue as well as the Orthodox-Assyrian dialogue. The future will remain bleak unless there will be a major shift in the attitude. There is no substitution for dialogue. Orthodox Churches may have many disagreements with several churches and their theological outlook. However, Orthodox Churches has to find common grounds with those eastern churches that are closely linked with their history, theology, and traditions. Assyrian Churches are the most important ones. Even though almost all Uniates or Eastern Catholic Rites has Orthodox history, origin, and background, they are already part of papacy, and are heavily Latinized with extreme falsification of Latin theology, which makes it very difficult for the Orthodox to seek unity with them. Unfortunately, Assyrian and Orthodox Churches are beating around the bush when it comes to unity and dialogue. Dialogues are either on Pro Oriente, Vatican, WCC or some ecumenical platforms. Roman Church act as a diplomatic negotiator and pace broker for Orthodox and Assyrian churches. Hence, Orthodox and Assyrians find it easy to deal with Rome rather than dealing themselves.More than doctrinal or theological unity, Orthodox and Assyrians can focus on functional unity (social cooperation, ecumenical relations, mutual conference, mutual political and religious support, defending Christian values and rights of worship, charity, exchange of art, iconography, and regular visits). Sadly, some of the Orthodox Churches and orthodox theologians are not even ready for any kind functional unity and they feel that any sort of ecumenical relations with Assyrian Church will harm Orthodox theological and doctrinal positions. A theological doctrinal unity will be a huge challenge for both Churches. However, such a unity may or may not happen in long run. A close social and functional unity is very important and this will eventually save Assyrian Churches from the iron clutches of Vaticans diplomatic imperial ecumenism. Only constructive dialogues with mutual respect love and prayers without tampering the original Orthodox faith will open us to a wider understanding and cooperation. A joint commission for dialogue between Assyrian Churches and Eastern Orthodox Churches as well as between Assyrian Churches and Oriental Orthodox Churches are required. Christ was dialogical and hence he was widely accepted by the masses. He was always open for dialogue with his enemies. Lets follow footsteps of Jesus Christ and not of the Roman Popes. An Orthodox-Assyrian unity in Christ is inevitable. References: 1. Lina Yakoubova. Assyrians and Armenians: The History of Interrelations and Interactions for Centuries http://www.atour.com, 2004. 2. Metropolitan Bishoy. Dialogue with the assyrian church of the east and its effect on the dialogue with the roman catholic- http://lacopts.org, 2000. 3. S. P. Brock. The Nestorian Church: A Lamentable Misnomer- The Oriental Institute, University of Oxford. 4. Metropolitan Mar Aphrem. Is the Theology of the Assyrian Church Nestorian? Pro Orienete Foundation, 1994. Alabama's largest church will open a new branch on Sunday. The Church of the Highlands, which has its main campus in Irondale, will open its 17th location in Oxford this Sunday. Services will be held at the Oxford Civic Center at 9:45 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. The campus pastor for Oxford is Brian Bagwell, but Church of the Highlands branch campus services feature sermons by Senior Pastor Chris Hodges broadcast from the main campus. The 15th campus, the Shoals Campus, opened a year ago and meets at the Marriott Shoals Conference Center in Florence. The 16th campus, in McCalla, opened in April 2017. A campus launch team has been meeting in Oxford planning for the first service open to the public this Sunday. The Church of the Highlands was founded in February 2001 and met in the fine arts auditorium at Mountain Brook High School. In 2007, the church opened its $15 million main campus with a 2,400-seat sanctuary on Grants Mill Road near Interstate 459. With sermons by Hodges beamed via internet to all the branch locations, the church has attendance of more than 40,000 per week, making it one of the largest churches in America. Calhoun County school officials say it was rule breaking, not a same-sex "promposal," that prompted them to suspend two students this week at Alexandria High School. The mother of one of the students says she was suspended for being perceived as "rebellious." Today saw several students check out of school at Alexandria, 17 miles north of Anniston, after published reports of the suspensions. Students said a morning announcement over the intercom apologized to anyone who was offended by the incident, which occurred at Tuesday's talent show. The statement added that Alexandria, a public school, is a "Christian school." Janizia Ross, 17, was the student who received an in-school suspension after she asked a female to the prom during the talent show, according to her mother Jeanise Ross-Walton. Ross-Walton, who spoke to the Associated Press, said her daughter made a poster with the word "prom" and a question mark decorated in rainbow colors. She had planned to hold the poster during the talent show and gave it to a teacher to hold. Ross-Walton said the student had received permission to display the sign, but it was later withdrawn. The student who served as master of ceremonies at the show, however, didn't know that and called Janizia onstage. Janizia, unsure of what to do, went ahead with the proposal as planned, she said. The student who served as master of ceremonies also received an in-school suspension. Ross-Walton said the punishment was handed down because her daughter was singled out for being what officials called "rebellious." A statement on the Calhoun County Schools website said that the system could not fully discuss the case because of legal restraints, but that news reports may have created a "misimpression regarding the school's rationale" for the suspensions. "Students, parents, and the public may be assured that the Calhoun County Board of Education remains firmly committed to guaranteeing its students equal educational opportunities in all phases of school administration, including student discipline," the statement said. "Our investigation to date confirms that school officials have fully honored that commitment in this instance." Alexandria High School Principal Mack Holley declined to answer questions from AL.com, but referred to statements he made earlier in the day to the Anniston Star. Holley told the paper the suspensions were related to breaking a rule against making prom proposals at school events. The student made the proposal after being told not to, he said. It is unclear if the two girls will be allowed to attend the prom, but Holley said Alexandria's prom has had same-sex couples before. He said the school can't ban same-sex couples from attending because "it's probably against the law." A woman who described herself as the mother of a friend of one of the suspended students said she worries that the students may face bullying because of the attention the incident has received. The mother asked that she not be identified. "This is a straight A student we're talking about," she said of the student who made the proposal. "To single this kid out was just wrong." Some parents stated on various social media posts that they feared an unsafe environment at the school. Calhoun County Sheriff Matthew Wade has two children who attend Alexandria High - an eighth grader and a junior. He said the school did see a lot of students check out today, but there were no reports of violence or a need for increased security. "Numerous people called me several times during the day to ask if they should take their children out of school," Wade said. "I told them my children were still there. "There were no credible reports of anything out of the ordinary. Were some students upset? Yes. Were some stories spread? Yes. But a lot of the stuff that people were talking about on social media were not accurate." Wade said he too had heard the story of the prom proposal shortly after it had happened. "It had nothing to do with sexual orientation, as I understand it," he said. "Just because you're part of a protected class doesn't mean you don't have to follow the rules." Holley told the Anniston Star that he had, in the past, banned at least one other public proposal involving a boy asking a girl to marry him from a school event. However, a former student, Hunter Borders, said he was the boy who had made a marriage proposal to a female student during a 2013 talent show held during school hours his junior year. He was told beforehand not to do it, he said, and he was not disciplined. The two did not get married. "It was simple, there was nothing inappropriate," Borders said. "It was just part of the performance. I received no punishment for it." Borders said he heard about the story yesterday and felt it was discriminatory. "Even though it may be classified as interruption of a school event, I don't see where punishment was necessary," he said. "Regardless of the political or religious standpoint, it's the law that they're allowed to be together. If there was any discrimination, it was wildly inappropriate and should be dealt with." The statement from Calhoun County Schools said that if any evidence is found to suggest school officials acted inappropriately, "remedial action will be promptly taken." "The faculty and staff at Alexandria High School--and at all Calhoun County Schools--strive daily to provide a nurturing, fair, and orderly school environment that is conducive to learning for all students, and will continue to do so," the system said. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin has joined nine other mayors in a new national movement which rejects outdated "tough on crime" initiatives. Mayors from 10 cities across the country have joined with the Center for American Progress to launch the "Mayors for Smart on Crime" initiative which is "committed to pursuing a fair, equitable and comprehensive approach to public safety and criminal justice reform." The group is designed to provide a "unified voice for Smart on Crime principles" and reject "outdated tough on crime approaches that have been shown to be short-sighted, ineffective, and disproportionate in their effect on black and Latino communities," according to the Center for American Progress. Woodfin has yet to respond to a request for comment on the initiative. He posted this on his Facebook page on Thursday: "Proud to join with other mayors around the country and Smart On Crime to pursue fair, equitable and comprehensive criminal justice reform." According to the Smart on Crime website, Woodfin is developing a comprehensive approach to public safety, including the creation of a summer jobs program that invests in and provides opportunities for young people; establishes community prosecution units that emphasize intervention and diversion; and provides tax credits for companies that hire the formerly incarcerated. Woodfin also recently launched a nationwide search for a new Birmingham police chief. A.C. Roper announced plans to retire as chief in November. Here are the other mayors who have joined the initiative: Mayor Bill de Blasio, New York City, New York Mayor Jenny Durkan, Seattle, Washington Mayor Karen Freeman-Wilson, Gary, Indiana Mayor Michael Hancock, Denver, Colorado Mayor Jim Kenney, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Mayor Michael Tubbs, Stockton, California Mayor Marty Walsh, Boston, Massachusetts Mayor Sharon Weston Broome, Baton Rouge, Louisiana Mayor Nan Whaley, Dayton, Ohio The mayors will work together in this initiative to share ideas and learn from their collective experience, according to the Center for American Progress. "As a former attorney general, judge, and deputy prosecutor, I have seen the criminal justice problem from every angle," Mayor Freeman-Wilson, of Gary, Ind. said in a statement. "If we continue to use law enforcement centered solutions, we will get the same mixed results and we will continue to lose valuable human potential." Ed Chung, vice president of criminal justice at the Center for American Progress, said research has shown that "Smart on Crime strategies increase public safety for everybody and they build trust in the community. "We want to work with mayors to uplift the smart strategies they're already implementing," he said. "Tactics like increasing incarceration rates and sentences have a minimal long-term impact on crime, but they have life-long effects on predominantly African American and Latino communities." Smart on Crime strategies are rooted in four principles, according to the Center for American Progress: Fair laws and the fair enforcement of the law Just and proportional responses to crime Comprehensive investments, including prevention and reentry Strategies driven by evidence and data Each quarter, mayors will focus on one of the networks' five core issue areas: violence reduction and prevention, pre-trial and bail reform, accountable community policing, opportunities for the formerly incarcerated or those involved with the justice system, and public health solutions and investments. This project was created with support from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation as part of the Safety and Justice Challenge, which seeks to reduce over-incarceration by changing the way America thinks about and uses jails. A former Alabama doctor thrice convicted in a 2011 murder-for-hire was hit by a car and killed in Arizona. David Nash, 59, died one week ago - on Jan. 26 - from blunt force trauma after being struck by a vehicle, according Tucson News Now. Arizona DPS spokesman Kameron Lee told the news agency that Nash was hit by a black Dodge sedan while walking across the southbound lanes. He said it was a dark area of the highway and he didn't know why Nash was crossing the roadway. Nash was convicted three times in the stabbing death of Ralph "Critter Man" McNeil, who ran a pest and animal control business. Nash's former fiancee Serena English, who had a child with McNeil, was implicated in the crime and is now serving a life sentence. Authorities say Nash hired cousins Jeremy and Kindall Riley to kill McNeil for $9,000. McNeil was apparently in a child custody dispute with English at the time of his death. His body was found stabbed and shot to death outside a trailer on Pilgrim Street on Jan. 18, 2011. A jury first convicted Nash of capital murder for hire in August 2013, but that conviction was later vacated after officials found out two jury members lied during the selection process. The third time he went to trial, a lesser-charge of felony murder was included and the jury in 2015 found him guilty of felony murder. The defense appealed, claiming felony murder was not a proper lesser-included charge for capital murder. The Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals in 2017 set aside Nash's conviction and he was released from lockup a month later. A Hoover City Schools bus driver is off the job after authorities say he was drunk when he crashed a school bus on Wednesday. Mark Pierce, of Shelby County, is charged with DUI and improper lane change. Alabama State Troopers said his blood alcohol content was .15 - almost four times the legal limit for someone operating a school bus which is .04. Superintendent Kathy Murphy made the recommendation to terminate Pierce at a special-called meeting Friday afternoon. Three board members were present at the meeting and their vote was unanimous in favor of the firing. Murphy said she would be making no additional statements to the media at the recommendation of the board attorney. Pierce, hired in September 2017, was still under his probationary period. His termination is effective immediately, with pay and benefits to expire in 15 calendar days. The wreck happened about 5 p.m. Wednesday on I-459 northbound at the Acton Road ramp, said Alabama State Trooper Corporal Steve Smith. Authorities said the bus ran off the roadway and into the woods line. The initial report was that it overturned, but it did not. Troopers and Hoover police responded to the scene. Smith said there were no children on board at the time of the crash. Pierce was determined to be under the influence of alcohol at the time. School officials on Friday said 35 students had been transported home on Pierce's bus, which was No. 2007-01 on the afternoon of the wreck. There are 67 students assigned to that route. Schools spokesman Jason Gaston said student load count varies daily due to a number of factors, Pierce's route is a high-school-only route. The route lasts roughly one hour and twenty minutes, with an approximate return time to Spain Park High School's parking lot each afternoon around 5:00 p.m. The route serves the Bluff Park, Shades Mountain and Alford Avenue areas of Hoover. The citation issued against Pierce states his BAC was .174 before field sobriety testing and .16 after field sobriety testing. The citation lists as facts relating to the offense that Pierce was "with children after school, before crashing school bus." The citation says Pierce "crashed school bus down a ravine." Pierce was released from the Jefferson County Jail at 6:37 a.m. Thursday. Efforts to reach him for comment were unsuccessful. His first court appearance is set for March 24. Murphy on Thursday issued this written statement: "Among the many roles of a school district, the most important is the safety and well-being of children. The Hoover City School District accepts and embraces that the safety of our children is priority one, and we will accept nothing less from our employees. A serious breach of good judgment occurred on yesterday by one of our bus drivers. His failure to act responsibly could have resulted in serious injury and loss of life. Thank God no children were on the bus at the time of the crash. Our community can be confident that the irresponsible conduct of this employee will not be tolerated." A Hoover City Schools bus driver was formally issued citations Thursday for DUI and improper lane change following a crash on Interstate 459. Mark Pierce, a 58-year-old Shelby County man, was held overnight Wednesday in the Jefferson County Jail after he was taken in custody at the scene of the accident. Alabama State Troopers said his blood alcohol content was .15 - almost four times the legal limit for someone operating a school bus. Pierce was released from the Jefferson County Jail at 6:37 a.m. Thursday. Efforts to reach him for comment were unsuccessful. His first court appearance is set for March 24. The wreck happened about 5 p.m. Wednesday on I-459 northbound at the Acton Road ramp, said Alabama State Trooper Corporal Steve Smith. Authorities said the bus ran off the roadway and into the woods line. The initial report was that it overturned, but it did not. Troopers and Hoover police responded to the scene. Smith said there were no children on board at the time of the crash. Pierce was determined to be under the influence of alcohol at the time. Hoover school officials have not yet responded to specific questions about Pierce's activities on Wednesday. It wasn't clear how many children, if any, the bus driver had transported following the school day Wednesday and whether any alcohol had already been consumed at that time. The citation issued against Pierce states his BAC was .174 before field sobriety testing and .16 after field sobriety testing. The citation lists as facts relating to the offense that Pierce was "with children after school, before crashing school bus." The citation says Pierce "crashed school bus down a ravine." Superintendent Kathy Murphy issued this written statement Thursday: "Among the many roles of a school district, the most important is the safety and well-being of children. The Hoover City School District accepts and embraces that the safety of our children is priority one, and we will accept nothing less from our employees. A serious breach of good judgment occurred on yesterday by one of our bus drivers. His failure to act responsibly could have resulted in serious injury and loss of life. Thank God no children were on the bus at the time of the crash. Our community can be confident that the irresponsible conduct of this employee will not be tolerated." A special called meeting has been set for Friday afternoon to discuss a personnel matter, but it's unclear whether Pierce is the personnel matter to be discussed. A teenager who was acquitted in a Hoover murder last year was sentenced Thursday on charges of reckless endangerment. Charleston Wells, 18, will not serve jail time for the sentence. He was ordered to serve a year in jail, but that sentence was split with three months to serve. Because of the time Wells has already spent in the Jefferson County Jail awaiting trial, he was credited with time served. He was also ordered to spend two years on supervised probation. Wells was originally charged with attempted murder in the incident, which occurred in Fultondale when prosecutors said Wells was breaking into cars with some of his friends. He was convicted by a jury in October of reckless endangerment, a lesser charge. The victim in that case testified at trial, and said he was walking to his car in the early-morning hours of Jan. 4, 2016. He said he saw lights in the street from a parked car and two young black males in his driveway. The victim said he yelled at the men, and they ran towards the car parked in the street. He heard a gunshot, and ducked behind one of the two cars in his driveway. The victim was not injured, and the two cars were not struck. The Fultondale incident occurred just one day before the Jan. 5, 2016 shooting that left Mike Gilotti dead outside his Lake Cyrus home in Hoover. Gilotti was a father of two and an Iraq war veteran. Early the morning he was killed, Gilotti was headed to the gym. Just after he walked outside, his wife Heather heard a shot and heard him yell for help. Heather said she opened the door and saw her husband bent over, bleeding. "I'm asking him, 'Mike what happened," but he couldn't talk at that point. He just reached with his hand to show me," she said. Heather started performing CPR on Gilotti and talking to him. "Babe its ok. It's a clean wound, its all going to be okay," She said. Gilotti died on the threshold of their home. Wells and three others-- Ahmad Johnson, Darrian Bryant, and De'Ron Lucas-- were charged with murder in Gilotti's death. Prosecutors said Wells was the shooter that night, and he stood trial in May. After a weeks-long trial, a jury found Wells not guilty of Gilotti's murder. He was convicted on nine counts of unlawful breaking and entering a vehicle for a string of car burglaries that night, but his prison sentence was suspended and he was ordered to serve 42 months of probation. After the acquittal, Wells faced trial again-- this time in Streety's courtroom for attempted murder. The jury convicted him of the lesser charge. While awaiting trial for the Fultondale case, Wells was charged in the Bessemer division with first-degree rape. The charge stems from a rape reported by a 21-year-old woman in 2015 in Bessemer, Assistant District Attorney Lane Tolbert said. At the time the attacker was reported as being unknown, but DNA collected was entered in the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) and later came back as a match to Wells, Tolbert said. That case has been sent to the grand jury. Decatur police say a local physician has been charged with two misdemeanor counts of harassing women. One victim says her complaint arises from inappropriate touching in the physician's office. Dr. Michael Dick of Alabama Medicine and Rheumatology in Decatur was served the warrants on Monday, Decatur police said today. He was released on a personal recognizance bond. Cheree Jordan told AL.com news partner WHNT News 19 that Dick kissed her in an examining room after pulling down her panties and pants to administer injections. "He put his hands on my face like he's done before and said, 'It's all going to be okay. You're going to be just fine,' and that's when he kissed me," Jordan told WHNT. Attorneys for the second alleged victim, a Shoals woman who says she started going to Dick last year after being referred for neck and back issues, issued a statement. "We are deeply troubled by what happened inside this Decatur medical practice," Huntsville attorneys Nick Lough and Marcus Helstowski said. "Our client is the victim in all of this and has asked for privacy at this time. This is a very serious matter, and we will be in touch with the media when the time is appropriate." Dick's office is closed Fridays, and there was no answer when the office was called. (Updated at 10:30 a.m. with a statement from the attorneys of the second alleged victim) City of Huntsville The plant site This is the location for the new Toyota-Mazda plant coming to Huntsville. Looking south, the aerial view shows Alabama Highway 20 and Interstate 565 across the top of the image. Other notable landmarks of the area include Interstate 65 in the southwest (top right of photo). The plant site is about 2,500 acres but there's more land nearby. Don't Edit A broader view This map shows the location of the new Toyota-Mazda plant on what is locally called the TVA megasite. That designation means the plant is certified ready for work to begin with utilities and other key services available at the location. The darker yellow section on the center left is Limestone County. Madison County is the lighter section on the right. Don't Edit City of Huntsville A closer look This map from the City of Huntsville's Big Picture planning process shows the city's expansion into Limestone County in more detail. Huntsville International Airport is in the lower center. Basically everything to the left of the airport in pink is Huntsville in Limestone County. The city's annexations there, including the Toyota-Mazda land, encompassed approximately 21 square miles in 2011 when Huntsville finished encircling the city of Madison (the white space in the center). Don't Edit What's coming This is an aerial view of the new Toyota plant in Blue Springs, Miss. near Tupelo. The plant produces Corollas, just like the one in Huntsville is scheduled to do. For size comparisons, the Mississippi plant cost $961 million to build and employs 2,000 people. The Alabama Toyota plant and its twin Mazda plant on the same site will employ 4,000 people at an investment of $1.6 billion. Alabama's combined Toyota and Mazda plants will have more than 3 million square feet under roof. Don't Edit Huntsville-Madison County Chamber of Commerce What's coming Part II Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle, third from right, stands with executives of auto supplier Bocar at Bocar's announcement a few weeks before the Toyota-Mazda announcement that it will build a production plant near I-65 . Bocar is a so-called Tier 1 supplier - it provides parts directly to automakers - and it uses modern methods like additive manufacturing to make those parts. It is making a $117 million initial investment and will hire about 300 people. Alabama officials say 40 or more Tier I and Tier II supplier plants could locate near the Alabama Toyota-Mazda plant. Don't Edit Don't Edit What's coming Part III Local officials expect site preparation work to begin this spring with several thousand construction workers swarming the site by year's end. Expect to see plenty of dump trucks like this one. Trucks like this can carry around 25 tons of rock or gravel per load. Officials say the Toyota-Mazda plant will need 5 million tons of concrete for building pads, parking lots, retaining walls, drainage systems and the like. That's a lot of trucks moving to and from the site during construction. Don't Edit Toyota image Toyota Corolla This is a 2018 Toyota Corolla. The company says it will make Corollas at the Huntsville plant after it opens in 2021. Total production for both plants will be 300,000 vehicles per year. How many will be Toyotas and how many Mazda's isn't clear yet. Don't Edit Mazda photograph Mazda SUV This is a popular Mazda crossover SUV produced by the company today. Mazda says it will make a "crossover vehicle" in Huntsville that will be new to the North American market. Don't Edit Toyota photograph The number 1 Imagine that this photo shows the coming Alabama Toyota and Mazda plants side by side (and not Toyota's Mississippi plant actually pictured). The square in the middle represents the shared plant the two automakers plan to build in Huntsville. It's this plant that has people most excited. Toyota and Mazda will collaborate here on designs for cars of the future. This one plant is a signal that the automakers' investment in north Alabama is long-term and potentially far-reaching, leaders say. The future of automobiles could come from here, and that could draw talent far beyond auto assembly workers. Don't Edit The key to the win? This is Toyota's massive engine plant in north Huntsville, which produces a third of all the Toyota engines made in America. Toyota has expanded the plant five times, most recently announcing in late 2017 that it will make its most modern new engines here. The confidence the company has shown in the Huntsville workforce certainly didn't hurt Huntsville's bid for the assembly plant. Don't Edit Don't Edit Toyota video Where are we going? This short video shows Toyota's vision for the future of societal mobility. Working on this vision is expected to be part of the mission of the new Toyota-Mazda plant in Alabama. Don't Edit Todd Media, Inc. Mercedes by comparison The Mercedes Benz plant in Tuscaloosa, Ala., shown in a 2016 aerial photograph when the plant and its expansions measured close to 4 million square feet. That's about 1 million square feet bigger than the planned Toyota-Mazda plant coming to Huntsville and Limestone County. Don't Edit Marty Sellers/SellersPhoto.com Honda by comparison This is the Honda plant in Lincoln, Ala., in 2015. Honda has invested $2 billion in the plant, which is half of the $4 billion that Toyota and Mazda and putting into the Huntsville plant. Honda's plant is now 3.7 million square feet in size, which is close to the size of the combined Toyota-Mazda plants. Those plants and the third shared facility between them are expected to total about 4 million square feet. Don't Edit Joe Mazzone Hyundai by comparison Hyundai's plant near Montgomery, Alabama, cost $1.7 billion to build and produced 328,000 vehicles and 620,000 engines in 2017. Don't Edit Mercedes photo Alabama's big year Alabama started 2018 landing Toyota and Mazda, but 2017 was a big year, too. Among the auto industry's accomplishments in the state were Mercedes' producing its 3 millionth vehicle in Tuscaloosa, Hyundai in Montgomery producing 328,000 vehicles and 620,000 engines, Honda producing 357,000 vehicles in Talladega County along with a record number of Honda Pilot SUVs and Toyota turning out nearly 700,000 engines in Huntsville. Don't Edit Don't Edit William Thornton | wthornton@al.com What comes next? Alabama is one of America's Top 5 vehicle-producing states now, an amazing accomplishment since Mercedes announced its first plant in 1993. More than 1 million cars and light trucks are made in the state each year. But when industry leaders gathered for a forum in Birmingham in late 2017, they painted a picture of an industry about to change "everything." The big driver is government regulation mandating smaller cars and more gas mileage. Toyota and Mazda are clearly responding to that with their plans for Huntsville. Stay tuned to see what happens next. Evangelical preacher Scott Dawson sent in his qualification papers to run for governor as a Republican during an appearance Thursday on the "Rick and Bubba Show." Dawson, who announced in the summer that he would seek the state's highest office, has been a friend of the show, and co-host Rick Burgess vouched for the Birmingham-based preacher's integrity on the air. Dawson filed electronically, paying the more than $2,400 qualifying fee online as Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill joined him in the "Rick and Bubba" studio in Vestavia Hills. The gubernatorial candidate said he was running on a platform of putting morality back in the governor's mansion, alluding to the downfalls of former Govs. Robert Bentley and Don Siegelman. "Two of the last three governors of the state of Alabama were arrested," Dawson said. "It is time for us to have leaders that will stand ... we're not creating a theocracy, but people have to understand that every leader will make a decision based on an authority in his or her life." Dawson is an evangelist and chief development officer for the Birmingham-based Scott Dawson Evangelistic Association. He has preached at arenas across the country. "Everyone's looking for leadership," Dawson said. "And it's time for Christian leaders to rise up and start leading." As a gubernatorial candidate, Dawson said he has been spending time on the campaign trail speaking to college Republicans, women Republican groups and GOP executive committees throughout Alabama. Burgess said Dawson, who has been a frequent guest of the show, is a "person of integrity." "We've walked with you for a very long time... we vouch for you," he said. Burgess added that dysfunction in state government doesn't have to be the status quo. "I think almost all Alabamians have been convinced of the mindset that 'All the embarrassment of Montgomery and all these state politics, all this state embarrassment, all the darkness...well that's just who we are, we're never going to change.' And we have to understand that that is not true. That is a false mindset." The father of a teenage girl killed in an auto accident has purchased a Super Bowl ad in Florida, hoping to catch the attention of President Trump. Steve Eimers' 17-year-old daughter, Hannah, died after the car she was in struck a guardrail end in 2016. The guardrail penetrated the driver's side door and punctured the car, killing the teenager, the New York Post reported. Steve Eimers paid $1,000 for the 30-second pre-game ad on the West Palm Beach affiliate station in hopes Trump will be at his Florida estate Mar-a-Lago. The 30-second video urges the president to include guardrail safety improvements as part of his infrastructure package. "I am shooting for the moon," Eimers told the Palm Beach Post. "I'm counting on him being at Mar-a-Lago. It's worth the shot for me." Eimer's family filed a lawsuit against Lindsay Transportation Solutions, manufacturer of the guardrail. The company has denied the allegations. A man and a two-year-old died Thursday when the car left the roadway and stuck an embankment on Highway 14, according to the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency. Rolando Xavier Whitehead, 27, and two-year-old in his car were ejected from the 2005 Honda Accord he was driving left the roadway and struck an embankment, troopers said. The two-year-old child, was pronounced dead on the scene. Whitehead was transported to Greene County Hospital, where he later died, troopers said. Both he and the child were not using seat belts. Both victims were from Sawyerville. The crash happened about one and a half miles east of Eutaw on Highway 14 near the 49 mile marker, troopers said. Troopers said the crash it still under investigation, but said they believe speed was a factor. Additional details about the crash were not immediately available. A Morgan County woman who owns a dog boarding business has been arrested on multiple charges of animal cruelty. Alexandria Holland (Morgan County Jail photo) When sheriff's deputy went to investigate a complaint at Dog House of Alabama in Hartselle, they found three dogs that apparently had been starved to death, Morgan County Sheriff Ana Franklin said. Three other dogs on the scene were surviving by eating the remains of the dead animals, the sheriff said. That investigation began Nov. 10, 2017. Three days later, the sheriff said, animal control officers went to the home of Alexandria Holland, the owner of the business. At the 26-year-old's home they found two starving dogs, the sheriff said. A veterinarian later determined the dogs were suffering severe parasite and worm infestations, according to lawmen. This week Holland was arrested on five felony warrants for animal cruelty, records show. She is held in the Morgan County Jail with bail set at $12,500. Animal control officers took custody of the surviving dogs. Further details weren't immediately available. Felony animal abuse carries a sentence of up to 10 years in prison. The House Intelligence Committee released a formerly classified memo - dubbed the "Nunes Memo" - on Friday. The release follows authorization by President Donald Trump, a step required due to its security classification. The four-page memo was written by GOP staffers for Rep. Devin Nunes, R-California, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee. The memo covers the FBI's use of a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA, warrant during the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. President Trump claims the memo's release will reveal political motivations behind investigations into his campaigns ties to Russian officials. The FBI opposed the memo's release, saying it could compromise national security. The release is already being criticized by some, including former FBI director James Comey. Thats it? Dishonest and misleading memo wrecked the House intel committee, destroyed trust with Intelligence Community, damaged relationship with FISA court, and inexcusably exposed classified investigation of an American citizen. For what? DOJ & FBI must keep doing their jobs. James Comey (@Comey) February 2, 2018 House Intelligence Committee releases memo by acohnthehill on Scribd Spire is giving relief to its Alabama customers in the form of rate decreases as a result of the utility being a beneficiary of the Trump tax plan. Residential customers in Mobile can expect a 4 percent rate decrease while those in Spire's Central Alabama territory, which covers Montgomery and Birmingham, can expect a 3 percent rate decrease, Spire spokeswoman Jenny Gobble told AL.com Friday. The two territories operate under different tariffs and rate structures, which explains the different rate decreases. Spire, formerly known as Alagasco, is among the companies giving back either to customers or employees due to receiving a tax cut. Walmart made headlines last month for giving $1,000 bonuses to employees with 20 or more years of service with the company. Alabama Power, the state's other large utility company, said its customers will also see a benefit but the company is still working on the most appropriate way to give back, a spokesman told AL.com. Any change would have to be approved by the Public Service Commission, which regulates Alabama utilities. "Alabama Power is currently reviewing the impact of the new federal tax law, and will work with its state regulators to ensure that benefits are passed on to our customers in an appropriate manner," utility spokesman Ike Pigot said in a statement. credit cards.jpg Steven T. Marshall By Attorney General Steve Marshall Do you shop online? Use a ride-sharing service? Pay for fast food with a credit card? Use an email provider or online gaming forum? Have a credit report? If so, you're likely one of the millions of Americans who has been the victim of a data breach. As a consumer, you should have the right to know when your personal information has been acquired by an unauthorized source. Yet, in Alabama, notice to the consumer is not required by law. As consumers in the digital age, we share sensitive personal information such as names and credit card numbers multiple times a day through online purchases, transactions, and log-ins. The average consumer has little to no control over the degree to which that information is protected. All that the consumer can do is take reactionary measures to limit the damage once he or she is made aware that a breach has occurred. Of course, the sooner consumers can take action to prevent or stop the fraudulent use of their sensitive information, the better. That's why timely notification of a breach is critical. The most recent high-profile breaches--like Equifax--were egregious not just because of the number of consumers who were affected, but because of the failure (or refusal) to notify them when the company knew that the highly-sensitive personal information of hundreds of millions of people had been obtained by professional hackers. The Attorney General's Office has been asked on occasion why our Consumer Protection Division is limited in its ability to force an entity to notify consumers of a security breach involving their personal information. The answer is simple: unlike the laws of 48 other states, Alabama law does not require that consumers be notified. Only our state and South Dakota still lack this important safeguard--and we have five times as many consumers as the Mount Rushmore State. My office has crafted the Alabama Data Breach Notification Act of 2018 to ensure that Alabama's consumers aren't late out of the gate when their sensitive personal information is obtained through a data security breach. The bill does not penalize an entity for being breached; rather, it requires the entity to notify consumers within a reasonable time after it has determined that a consumer's personally identifying information has been accessed and is likely to cause the consumer harm. If the data breach involves the information of more than 1,000 individuals, then notice must be given to the Attorney General's Office as well. The goal of our legislation is to deter entities from covering up a data breach that leaves consumers in the dark. We've taken the best parts of the notification laws from the business-friendly states around us to ensure that our proposal is strong, effective, and workable. We still don't know the degree to which any of us have been or will be affected by Equifax's massive data breach. There is high demand for personal data on the black market and statistics tell us that this problem will continue to grow. The worst-case scenarios are bleak for consumers who experience identity theft, but we've seen that consumers can limit the damage caused by a breach if they are notified in a timely manner. That's why the Alabama Data Breach Notification Act is so important. I look forward to the swift passage of this legislation to ensure that, in the future, Alabamians are in a stronger position to defend themselves against the vast threats that we all face in this new age of data security breaches. "You are 114 miles from America's Original Mardi Gras." Made you look. More than anything, those three words explain why Alabama tourism officials would go to the trouble of buying 10 billboards in and around New Orleans suggesting that while New Orleans' Mardi Gras is good, Mobile's is best. As a 40-year resident of south Alabama and former editorial page editor of Mobile's newspaper, I dare to defend that assertion with a hearty, "Maybe." It depends on what you want from your Mardi Gras experience. If you want streetcars, high-rise bridges spanning the mighty Mississippi, lush tropical foliage in the dead of winter, historic French Quarter streets lined with bars, blues players and sidewalk artists, restaurants of national renown and local joints serving steaming bowls of gumbo and red beans, and -- lest we forget -- an epic Mardi Gras celebration that'll leave you with the worst Ash Wednesday hangover you've ever experienced, then the truth is, New Orleans is the place to be. If, on the other hand, you want a Carnival season that's a little tamer, a little safer and a little more family oriented, and if you want exciting parades with beautiful floats and boisterous crowds, and if you enjoy historic homes, restaurants featuring local seafood and bars serving up live music and refreshing adult beverages, and if you'd like to take a 45-minute side trip to nearby Gulf of Mexico beaches, then look no farther than Mobile, Alabama - the birthplace of Mardi Gras in the United States. It's not an either-or proposition, by the way. You can jump in the car and be in New Orleans in about two hours -- and in fact, the Crescent City is many Mobilians' favorite regional get-away for shopping, dining, concerts and bar-hopping. Its airport is where Mobilians often go for cheaper, non-stop flights to cities nationwide and abroad. The interstate leads both ways, of course. Most New Orleanians are well familiar with Mobile, having visited it many times. And God help you if you get between them and Alabama's beach resorts on hot summer weekends. They are among south Alabama's best customers during vacation season. All in all, the cities share many attributes and have a cordial relationship. But there is the matter of Mardi Gras: its origin, its reputation and its ability to attract tourism dollars. Despite what you may hear in the larger of the two cities, it's a fact that Mardi Gras was born in Mobile, in 1703, some 15 years before New Orleans was established. "That and 25 cents will buy you a cup of coffee," you might respond, assuming you accept the assertion (and you might want to update your understanding of what a cup of coffee costs these days). You might also point to a snarky editorial in a New Orleans newspaper, which counters that MySpace -- now on life support -- was the birthplace of social networking. On the other hand, it's also a fact that New Orleans' Mardi Gras celebration has more parades, rakes in more money and is considered the country's premier Carnival city. In the face of those truths, what are Mobile and the Alabama tourism office supposed to do -- roll over and play dead at the feet of the New Orleans behemoth? Or tilt their chins upward with a saucy wink, and buy a bunch of billboards in and near New Orleans that remind everybody that Mardi Gras began and is still vigorously celebrated in Mobile? In marketing, it's all about exposure and people hearing about your product. Made you look, indeed. Well played, Alabama. Well played. Frances Coleman is a free-lance writer who lives east of Mobile, in Baldwin County. Email her at fcoleman1953@gmail.com and "like" her on Facebook at www.facebook.com/prfrances. Melting sea ice makes it possible for many more ships to cross Northwest Passage without help of an icebreaker. Cambridge Bay, Canada It was a classic seaside moment: the sinking sun turns the dark waters of Cambridge Bay subtle shades of pink and gold. An elegant 18-metre yacht, Celebrate, is pulling away from the wharf and sailing off into towards the sunset. But Captain Charlie Simon and his crew are not heading out to a tropical anchorage in Tahiti, or the Caribbean. Theyre bound for the Bering Strait and distant Nome, Alaska, where theyll celebrate a successful transit of the Northwest Passage between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. They had set out from Greenland two months earlier. {articleGUID} Before 2007, the first year that sea ice melted entirely from these waters in late summer, it wouldnt have been possible to do this without a sturdy coastguard icebreaker clearing the way. Now Captain Charlie is one of dozens of yachtsmen to make a journey that increasingly beckons adventurers like him, as well as cruise lines and commercial shipping companies. We had lay in so much food and fuel, Captain Charlie told me before he gave the order to sail away. Theres nothing in that passage, no coastguard, no ports where you can re-supply, and you still have to watch for ice jams and polar bears. Over the past 11 years, an estimated 300 vessels have done what Celebrate did in 2017. Dozens of them were passenger liners and in future, many will be cargo ships. Like Captain Charlie, theyll be braving what are uncharted, unprotected waters. The Arctic is an incredibly large remote extreme regions, says professor Michael Byers of the University of British Columbia. Its a hazardous place to navigate at the best of times, and the remoteness means that theres no search and rescue located anywhere close to the NW passage. Over the past 11 years, dozens of passenger liners have crossed the Northwest Passage [Al Jazeera] Protecting the seas Canada claims these waters but so far has taken few concrete steps to make them safer, or to prepare for toxic spills like the wreck of the Exxon Valdez in Alaska in 1989. Up to 40 million litres of thick, greasy crude oil spilled into Prince William Sound, and the clean up still is not complete. Arctic communities are some of least prepared on the planet for a spill, says Andrew Dumbrille, a shipping expert with the World Wildlife Fund of Canada. These people, the indigenous Inuit people, theyll be the first responders, and their waters will be hardest hit. They need to be a core of making sure were ready for a toxic event in the north. In the past, Canada rarely consulted the indigenous people of the North, the Inuit. But now after a land claim agreement in the 1990s, the Inuit have a lot more authority. They have a say in how outsiders use their land, waters and ice. Thats why Aluki Kotierk president of the northern-based Nunavut Tunngavik organisation, thinks her peoples voices will be listened as the cruise liners and cargo ships head their way. We have the knowledge of the land, the water, Kotierk says, We use the land, the wildlife, and we have for millennia. Its good policy for Inuit to lead the way on this. We must. Back at the wharf in Cambridge Bay, Captain Charlies boat is just a dot on a darkening horizon. A cruise liner is bobbing at anchor, preparing to sail for Greenland. Local people can only hope these new arrivals will bring more than environment pressures and a reminder that an ancient, icy way of life is profoundly changing. Where is China headed in 2018? President Xi Jinping promised world peace for the new year but his 2017 track record suggests otherwise. Remember the singular stain of the July death of 2010 Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo, surrounded by state security? Many condemned Chinas conduct, but such interventions are fewer and further between these days. Increasingly, abusive Chinese authorities are garnering international support for their principles and policies. In a single December week, the Chinese Communist Party hosted an international political forum in Beijing attended by representatives of political parties from democracies including New Zealand and the United States, seemingly unbothered that their hosts run an authoritarian, one-party state. Chinas Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the State Council Information Office held an international symposium in Beijing on human rights attended by United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, a UN body that, unlike two dozen other UN agencies, is systematically denied the ability to operate in China. And China held another global information technology summit on connectivity attended by Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple, who in the US argues hard for privacy rights but in China lauds Beijings plans for a common future in cyberspace despite rampant censorship and electronic surveillance. The term normalising is in heavy use these days, typically to mean the implicit or explicit acceptance of problematic behaviour. In diplomacy, it means two countries establishing formal diplomatic relations. But its now also a perverse hybrid in contemporary international politics: individuals and institutions from parts of the world where human rights are generally protected arent just cosying up to, but also increasingly publicly praising, their Chinese counterparts while failing to defend the principles and institutions that underpin their very existence. In doing so, they enable a whitewash of an abusive regime, one with global aspirations to change and set the rules of modern political life. While its true that many people across different realms academia, business, politics have, over the years, pushed the Chinese government to adopt international human rights standards and end its persecution of peaceful critics, few now stand against Beijings intransigence. Many now choose to engage on Beijings terms, even when doing so is perverse and even harmful to their interests. Will Apple still thrive if Chinas vision of state control of all sources of information and the use of artificial intelligence to monitor all citizens behaviour becomes a reality? Those who participate in these kinds of gatherings invariably insist that its better they engage than not: after all, the logic goes, who else will set out different or higher standards on everything from democratic governance to corporate social responsibility? But, increasingly, they simply dont bother to set out or defend those standards. Did any of the political party conference attendees publicly dissociate themselves from their hosts closing statements praising President Xis leadership, or offer up publicly available remarks reflecting concern about the lack of elections or multiple political parties in China? No. Did anyone at the human rights conference make a public statement, while in China, about the death penalty, or torture by police? No. While Chinese authorities host these substantively through-the-looking-glass gatherings and proclaim international support for their vision, increasingly they exploit openness elsewhere to do the same, often through state organisations like the United Front Work Department. Australian politicians have been discovered receiving political donations from Chinese businesses. The Chinese authorities have been limiting access of human rights groups to the country. Police from Cambodia to France have capitulated to pressure from Chinese law enforcement or Party discipline officers and handed over allegedly corrupt fugitives without any semblance of due process. Universities struggle with ferocious complaints from Chinese diplomats about whether the institutions may describe Taiwan as an independent country, or have the Dalai Lama as a commencement speaker. The question for democracies or businesses isnt whether to engage: it is how to engage in a principled manner. This means treating China like many governments treat US President Donald Trump when he makes outrageous statements or adopts retrograde policies. Democratic leaders condemn Trumps remarks about fake news but dont condemn China for its censorship or propaganda. They criticise Trump for his hostility towards the UN, but have nothing to say on Chinas efforts to weaken the institution. It is time for new standards to reverse these highly abnormal relationships with China. Forty years into Chinas reform era, Beijing has made clear its not moving on democracy, a free press, or an independent legal system, though courageous people continue to push for these at considerable personal risk. If powerful outside voices mindlessly engage, they not only stab these brave people in the back they may also find themselves obliged to dance to the tune of a highly repressive government. The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial stance. On Tuesday, December 30, the Kenyan government took the unprecedented step of shutting down three of the largest television stations in the country. At KTN, the first independent station in Kenya, the signal was merely switched off. But at Citizen Television and NTV, officials of the Communications Authority of Kenya (CAK) allegedly went to one of their main distribution locations and physically disconnected their machines. This after a Monday evening memorandum from the chair of the Editors Guild of Kenya, Linus Kaikai, alleging that all senior editors in the country had been summoned by the president and deputy president among other officials and told that if they covered the parallel inauguration ceremony called by the opposition coalition NASA, they would be punished. Thats a lot of information for anyone to process in five days, but for Kenyans especially this latest plot twist in the story of an election that just wont end marks another step deep into unchartered territory. The opposition coalition NASA called for the parallel inauguration because they insist that Raila Odinga won the August election and the October rerun was invalid. They summoned their supporters to Uhuru Park in Nairobi so they could witness Odinga sworn in as the Peoples President. And tens of thousands showed up far more than attended the Independence Day celebrations in December. The state, fronted by Cabinet Secretary for the Interior, Fred Matiangi insists that the inauguration was treasonous and any media house that covered it is party to treason. All three stations remained off air until today, when a high court judge issued an injunction against the action pending full legal review. This is a small victory in the context of the alarming contraction of civil space that the disconnection represents. At the height of the repressive Moi regime, several journalists were arrested and their publications stopped, but in this period only the print market was diversified while only state-owned organisations operated television and radio stations. Private television was only allowed in 1990, so there is little precedent for such a sweeping action within the television space. Only during the height of the 2007 political crisis that led to the post-election violence were television stations banned from broadcasting for a few hours, followed by a still-in-place mandatory 7-minute delay on live broadcasts. {articleGUID} The authoritarian move opens a new front in what had so far been a struggle between two political networks, adding the media to the fray even if the fraternity is highly divided in its response. Kaikai, also the managing editor at the Nation Media Group, leads a faction that insists it will not be intimidated by the state, and that the constitutional freedom of expression protects the medias right to broadcast any issues of public interest. In contrast, editors at the state-owned broadcasters and those owned privately by the president insist covering the parallel inauguration ceremony was subversion. For his determination, Kaikai spent Wednesday night in his office as plain-clothes policemen allegedly surrounded the office building, waiting to arrest him and his colleagues. The Jubilee administration doesnt need another battlefront given the legitimacy questions leftover by contentious 2017 election, and it is unclear from a purely instrumentalist perspective why they would open one up. By responding with so much force, the administration unwittingly signalled that the NASA event rattled them even while the actual inauguration was rather anticlimactic. Odinga was only on stage for about 15 minutes. None of the other NASA principles turned up. For most of the morning, viewers were treated to panoramic images of the crowd gathering at Uhuru Park and a gaggle of men offering in-studio analysis. Switching off three media houses just because you can is the definition of swatting a fly on your head with a hammer painful, self-destructive and counterproductive. Its worth noting that while this latest move is certainly surprising it isnt exactly unexpected. One of the first moves of this administration was the Media Council Act of 2013, which among other things gave the Cabinet Secretary for Information the authority to establish a Communications and Multimedia Appeals Tribunal with the power to impose criminal sanctions and hefty fines, as well as suspend any member. In court, lawyers representing the Editors Guild and other interested parties argued that this bill would greatly reduce media freedom in the country which it did by raising a fear of retribution. At the same time, senior journalists like Gado and Dennis Galava, fired for publishing materials unpopular with the state, also assert on record that they were fired because of directives from State House rather than from their superiors. Yet much of the space that the Kenyan media has lost in recent years has been ceded willingly. Over the 2017 election period, none of the established media houses including the three affected would cover ongoing violence in informal settlements until the information circulating on social media could no longer be ignored. At the same time, both NMG and the Royal Media Group that owns Citizen asserted in the build-up to the August vote that they had a reporter at every polling station yet neither published independent tallies of the electoral results. They simply parroted Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) statistics that the commission itself disavowed during the Supreme Court proceedings. Moreover, until the High Court ruled that they had to stop, every station broadcast advertisements praising the administrations achievements in the lead up to the election even though the Election law expressly forbids it. Even the practice of summoning editors to state offices is arguably an extension of the infamous July 2013 media breakfast when the Editors Guild met the president and his deputy at statehouse to discuss how the State and media should interact, as if these roles arent already clearly defined. Some weeks after this meeting, David Makali, Executive Director of the Media Institute noted with concern the administrations intolerance for criticism, warning in the Nairobi Business Monthly that they have [a] certain intolerance for information that questions [their] legitimacy anything that questions [their] validity is likely to be met suppression. Backchannels and access journalism is bad enough, but even by 2013 many in civil society flagged that brazenly waving such comity between the state and the media was a worrying development. One hopes that this scare triggers an awakening of sorts in the media fraternity a realisation that they are only useful as far as they hold up a mirror to the government. This will not be easy in the context of such open division within the media associations but its worth recalling that such tension isnt new. Someone always benefits from state authoritarianism and prefers to maintain the status quo rather than move towards more openness. While independent media bore the brunt of Mois authoritarianism, Kenya Broadcasting Cooperation (KBC) thrived yet eventually the pressure to move towards an open and just society prevailed. Unfortunately, on the political side the media shutdown suggests that the legitimacy crisis triggered by the problematic October 26 election rerun is haunting the administration. This draconian overreach makes them look panicked and needing a major show of force in order to maintain the appearance of control. It is having the opposite effect. Rather than quelling the underlying unrest, it has exacerbated it and more tests of authority from various actors are surely on the way. The political crisis leftover by the election lumbers on. The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial stance. As former speaker of the House of Representatives Tip ONeill once said, all politics is local. United States President Donald Trump adhered to this motto when he delivered his first State of the Union address on Tuesday, reserving approximately 80 percent of his 90-minute-long speech for domestic policy issues. He focused specifically on the Tax Reform Act and shrinking unemployment figures, and repeatedly congratulated himself for taking steps towards building a safe, strong and proud America. In the brief moments that he touched upon foreign policy, he carefully avoided delving into salient issues like Syria, Yemen, the Gulf crisis or the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He avoided commenting on these significant foreign policy challenges either because his administration failed to produce coherent strategies to tackle them, or he simply did not want to taint an opportunity to brag about his successful first year in office by addressing thorny issues. Instead, he stuck to his usual talking points and criticised the Iran nuclear deal, praised the US militarys success in its war against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) and attacked the cruel dictatorship that is North Korea. He briefly mentioned his widely condemned decision to move the US embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, but rather than using this opportunity to respond to the controversy, or explain how this move fits into his plan to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, he chose to launch an attack against the countries that voted against him in a UN vote about the issue. In his first State of the Union address, Trump also took a page from the Cold War playbook and resurrected the idea that the US is the protector of global freedoms. Just like Ronald Reagan and Richard Nixon frequently did in the 1980s, he shaped the sections of his speech that deal with foreign policy around advocacy of freedom and American morality. He told the gruelling story of North Korean defector Ji Seong-ho, and equated his yearning for freedom on the other side of the globe to the construct of freedom that is deeply rooted in Americas exceptionalism and historical collective memory. He asserted it was that same yearning for freedom that nearly 250 years ago gave birth to a special place called America. He also mentioned the recent protests in Iran against the government, and emphasised that America stands with the people of Iran in their courageous struggle for freedom. Trump has perpetuated this pro-freedom narrative for more than one purpose. First, by presenting himself as a protector of human rights and freedoms, he implicitly countered his critics argument that he is undermining the values of American democracy by his nativist, racist, misogynist, and Islamophobic positions. After all, there is growing conviction in the international community that Trumps America has relinquished its commitment to human rights and other liberties. Second, by taking a pro-freedom stance in his first State of the Union speech, Trump sought to affirm his extreme right-wing and Evangelical bases attachment to the idea of American exceptionalism, and ultimately positioned himself on a high moral ground close to his idol Reagan, who once said Freedom is not the sole prerogative of a chosen few; it is the universal right of all Gods children. Of course, Trumps moralistic call for freedom in Iran and North Korea was contradictory to his anti-globalist motto of keeping America first, but it seems irony is lost on his supporters. A brief analysis of Trumps address at the Congress proposes a few revealing observations: First, Trumps realpolitik mindset that was apparent throughout his address showcased his preference for muscle-flexing military superiority as a deterrence strategy. By stating that he believes weakness is the surest path to conflict, and unmatched power is the surest means of our defense, the president clearly demonstrated his inclination to focus on his countrys hard power capabilities, and to neglect its considerable soft power resources. In his address, Trump expressed his intention to modernise and rebuild our nuclear arsenal and asked Congress to fully fund the US military, even though the US military spending at 16 percent of the federal budget already exceeds the military spending by China, Saudi Arabia, Russia, United Kingdom, India, France, and Japan combined. However, he refrained from mentioning cultural and educational exchanges and other forms of public diplomacy between nations. The decades-long practice of soft power by certain agencies, such as the State Department, the International Institute of Education, and the Smithsonian, has already been waning after he imposed a 40 percent cut on international programs at the State Department. Second, Trumps speech signals a selective resurrection of the Cold War paradigm, not against Russia the heir to the Soviet Union, but a nouveau Trumpian axis of evil. In his State of the Nation address, Trump sought to overdramatise his stance on Korea, Iran, and ISIL, and praised himself for speaking against Irans corrupt dictatorship. He also vowed to impose sanctions on communist and socialist dictatorships in Cuba and Venezuela. But he did all this without indexing his strategy of containment, let alone deterrence. He advocates for a sharper, defensive realism, but does not seem to have a coherent foreign policy strategy beyond simplifications based on us vs them dichotomies. Third, Trump avoided addressing several elephants in the room. He uttered the word Russia only once as one of the two economic rivals of the US, and avoided any mention of Russian rivalry in the turbulent Middle East and beyond. Many Americans remain uneasy about Russias growing influence in the region amidst Trumps isolationism, and criticise his lack of strategy in Syria, beyond his loud criticism of his predecessor Barack Obamas failure to act against Assads use of chemical weapons. Since his decision to fire dozens of cruise missiles at the government-controlled Shayrat airbase in Syria, in retaliation for a suspected chemical weapons attack on a rebel-held town that killed scores of civilians, Trump has drifted between five conflicting policies: Assad must go, Assad can stay, fight ISIL first, let the Russians and Iranians fight our enemies, and lets see what Russia wants in Syria. Trumps address, which coincided with the Kremlin-hosted Sochi meeting on Syria, failed to clarify which one of these five strategies -or any strategy at all- the president is currently pursuing in Syria. Earlier this month, Pentagon implicitly gave green light to Turkeys military operation in Afrin, which is targeting Kurdish groups that allied themselves with the US in the fight against ISIL. In a recent phone call, President Trump urged his Turkish counterpart to de-escalate, limit its military actions, and avoid civilian casualties and increases to displaced persons and refugees. All this raised new questions about the US lack of strategy in Syria, yet the president did not clarify his administrations stance on Turkeys cross-border operation. In fact, he did not mention Turkey or the Kurds even once throughout his address. Fourth, the State of the Nation address showed that Trumps political radar does not seem to detect the upcoming crises in the Middle East and beyond. It showed that the president is not planning to adopt an informed, pro-active foreign policy strategy to lift up the USs standing in the world. The president claimed that his administration is strengthen(ing) friendships around the world, while restoring clarity about our adversaries. Unfortunately, this oversimplified us vs them dichotomy did nothing to ease the concerns of political observers about Trumps tendency to distort reality to fit his personal myth of greatness. In his address to the nation, Trump called for a new American moment, possibly in an attempt to carve himself a place next to true American statesmen in history books. But, as one commentator rightly put it, in the end, his first State of the Nation address did nothing but prove that Donald Trump is the only politician in American history who looks smaller when surrounded by the trappings of the presidency. The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial stance. Sixties Scoop vow to block financial settlement until the government holds more inclusive consultation process. Survivors of a Canadian policy that forcibly placed thousands of Indigenous children into foster and adoptive homes decades ago are calling on the government to relaunch a consultation process, after some survivors were excluded from a recent multi-million-dollar settlement. The National Indigenous Survivors of Child Welfare network, an organisation based in Ottawa, said on Friday it wants a just and inclusive reparations package from Canada for all the survivors of what is known as the Sixties Scoop. The message really is that we need to be heard and that its important that were heard and that were taken seriously, Duane Morrisseau-Beck, cofounder and director of the NISCW network, told Al Jazeera. The group said it would seek to stop a recent $640m settlement proposal reached between Ottawa and some Sixties Scoop survivors until proper consultation takes place. The settlement did not include the Metis and non-status Indigenous peoples. The Sixties Scoop denotes a period during which Canadas child welfare agencies took thousands of Indigenous children away from their families and placed them into mainly non-Indigenous homes. The removals largely took place between the 1960s and 1980s. The Sixties Scoop children were placed into homes across Canada and abroad and many were never told about their Indigenous roots. Some also suffered from emotional, physical and sexual abuse. {articleGUID} The NISCW network is also organising a national day of solidarity next month for the survivors. Rallies will be held in cities across Canada on March 16, the group said. Morrisseau-Beck, a Sixties Scoop survivor who was taken from his family as a newborn in Manitoba, a province in central Canada, only discovered he was Metis of mixed, Indigenous-European ancestry as an adult. When we look at the cost to our physical, spiritual, mental wellness, whats missing out of this [settlement] is the physical, sexual and psychological abuses that weve suffered. People dont seem to understand the gravity of the situation, Morrisseau-Beck said. The first step In October, the federal government announced a $640m settlement agreement with Sixties Scoop survivors, after individuals had brought a class-action lawsuit against Ottawa. The settlement came after a court in Ontario, Canadas most populous province, ruled that the children involved in the Sixties Scoop were denied their language and culture and lost their Indigenous identity as a result of the policy. But the settlement agreement did not include Sixties Scoop survivors who are Metis or non-status (people whose indigenity is not legally recognised by the government), which has led to some anger and resentment. Its not about a settlement agreement; its about justice for Sixties Scoop survivors, Morrisseau-Beck added. Stephanie Palma, media relations officer at Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada, a government ministry, said the proposed settlement is the first step in resolving the issue. The Sixties Scoop is a dark and painful chapter in Canadas history and resolving these cases is a vital step in our journey of reconciliation with Indigenous peoples, she told Al Jazeera in an email. The Government of Canada is aware that there are other Sixties Scoop claims that remain unresolved, including those of the Metis and non-status. Greater consultation Colleen Cardinal, a Sixties Scoop survivor and member of the NISCW network, said the settlement leaves out a lot of survivors, including many who dont know where they come from and who their family is and because of that, they dont have status. Many survivors feel the government never consulted them on the settlement proposal, Cardinal told Al Jazeera, and they are confused about how the settlement process works. If the federal government wants to make this right, they should have a process where they are involving survivors in what they need, Cardinal told Al Jazeera earlier this week. A request to meet Canadas minister for relations between the government and Indigenous peoples to chart a way forward has so far gone unanswered, she said. Survivors are the ones that went through it, not the federal government. We are the ones who are most impacted, she said. Right now, survivors dont feel like we have any say. State Department says it is very concerned as volunteer White Helmets group claims children among those suffocated. The United States has accused the Syrian government of using chemical weapons against its people. US State Department spokesman Heather Nauert said on Thursday that reports of chlorine gas being used against civilians in Eastern Ghouta were very concerning. Russia is making the wrong choice by not exercising its unique influence. To allow [the] Syria regime to use chemical weapons against its own people is unconscionable. We will pursue accountability, she said, writing on Twitter. Russia is Syrias closest ally, and has previously blocked attempts to investigate the suspected use of chemical weapons. Nauerts comments follow a suspected chlorine gas attack in the rebel-held territory of Eastern Ghouta, on the outskirts of Damascus, on Thursday. On Saturday, Syrias foreign ministry denied the allegations, according to Reuters news agency. The White Helmets volunteer rescue group posted photos of the suspected attack on Twitter, under the hashtag Douma Suffocating. 3 civilians killed and many injured, including suffocation cases among children, women and #CivilDefense volunteers! 28 air raids, 70 surface-to-surface missiles, some loaded w/chlorine gas and 200+ artillery shells targeted cities in #Eastern_Ghouta today! #Doumasuffocating pic.twitter.com/yXuyWAcLMe The White Helmets (@SyriaCivilDef) February 1, 2018 3 civilians killed and many injured, including suffocation cases among children, women and #CivilDefense volunteers! 28 air raids, 70 surface-to-surface missiles, some loaded w/chlorine gas and 200 artillery shells targeted cities in #Eastern_Ghouta today! #Doumasuffocating, the group wrote on Twitter. It was unclear whether White Helmets was suggesting the three people who had been killed died of suffocation. The group claimed that volunteer Bilal Bayram was among the victims who was suffocated by the chlorine gas attack. Several children were also affected, the group said. Rebel stronghold under siege Eastern Ghouta is the last remaining rebel stronghold near the capital, Damascus, and has been under a government siege since 2013. It is believed that around 400,000 people still live in the area, which suffers from acute food and medicine shortages. A ceasefire deal for Eastern Ghouta was recently negotiated in Vienna by the Russians, but when implemented in late January, the truce only lasted a few hours. The civil war in Syria has not been at the top of the news agenda for at least weeks, but on Thursday the Trump administration made some serious concerns, said Al Jazeeras Rosalind Jordan, reporting from Washington, DC. Off camera, reporters have been told that the US government believes the Syrian government still holds chemical weapons, Jordan said. While the use of chemical and biological agents has been rare since World War I, in recent years the Syrian government and Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) have been accused of using such weapons as a tool in the conflict. Chemical weapons have been used on several occasions during the war, which has claimed at least 400,000 lives and displaced 22 million people since fighting began in 2011. Last April, autopsy results revealed that chemical weapons were used in an attack which killed more than 80 people in Syrias Idlib province. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said that suspected attack was a fabrication to justify a US military attack. A United Nations spokesperson says Kenya must follow a court order lifting the suspension of three television stations. The United Nations has criticised the government of Kenya for keeping three independent television stations off the air, despite a court ruling ordering the state to lift the suspension. Rupert Colville, spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said the stations remained suspended for a third day on Friday in spite of an interim order by a Kenyan high court. We call on the government to respect and implement the judicial decision, Colville said in a statement. The NTV, Citizen and KTN TV networks were suspended on Tuesday after they planned to broadcast the symbolic swearing in of Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga in Nairobi, the capital. The government said broadcasting the mock swearing-in ceremony at which Odinga declared himself the peoples president threatened national security. It also described the event as an attempt to overthrow President Uhuru Kenyatta. {articleGUID} Drawing tens of thousands of Odingas supporters, the ceremony came three months after the opposition leader boycotted a presidential election rerun. The countrys High Court ordered a 14-day suspension of the governments shutdown on Thursday while a legal challenge could be heard. Journalists and human rights groups have condemned the media shutdown as an attack on freedom of the press. The government allowed the event to take place, Linus Kaikai, managing editor of Kenyas Nation Media Group, told Al Jazeera earlier this week. I didnt understand the ministers rationale on why they allowed the event, but cannot allow coverage. US State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert said the US was deeply concerned by the governments action to shut down, intimidate, and restrict the media. We urge the government and all Kenyans to respect freedom of expression and implement court orders calling for the restoration of television broadcasts, she said. The controversial document, which Democrats call misleading, was released after Trump declassified it on Friday. The US House Intelligence Committee, with the approval of US President Donald Trump, released a previously classified memo that raises concerns about FBI surveillance. The release of the memo on Friday came amid protests from some elected officials and national law enforcement. The memo, prepared by Republican legislator Devin Nunes, criticises suspected FBI surveillance abuses in relation to the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election. Its clear that top officials used unverified information in a court document to fuel a counter-intelligence investigation during an American political campaign, Nunes said in a statement. The document says the FBI and Department of Justice obtained warrants to monitor Carter Page, a former foreign policy adviser to Trump during his 2016 presidential campaign, based on information from a disputed dossier on Trump compiled by a former British spy. I think its a disgrace whats happening in our country. A lot of people should be ashamed of themselves and much worse than that, the president told reporters in the Oval Office on Friday. Misleading The release of the memo comes as the president and Republicans intensified a conflict with the FBI. Democrats have called the memo misleading and inaccurate. Congressman Adam Schiff, the highest-ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, tweeted: No, Mr President its worse than that. The countrys top elected leader has agreed to selectively and misleadingly release classified info to attack the FBI thats what would have been unthinkable a short time ago. Julian Sanchez, a senior fellow at the CATO Institute, told Al Jazeera that part of the problem is that its difficult to really assess whats said in the memo without a lot of contextual information. He added: What it seems to do is make a bunch of claims that seem to insinuate something bad was going on without actually saying it. The feud between the FBI and the White House, an uncommon event in US politics, began last summer. Trump fired then-FBI Director James Comey in May. The president cited concerns over the FBIs handling an investigation into the email servers of Hillary Clinton, Trumps opponent in the 2016 presidential election. Detractors have said Trumps motivation for firing Comey involved the FBIs investigation into the affairs of the president and those close to him. Robert Mueller, a former director of the FBI, was appointed as Special Counsel to head the Department of Justice investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election. Reports surfaced last month that Trump considered firing Mueller, but reconsidered once senior members of his staff threatened to resign. DR Congo: Mourners demand opposition leaders body back Mourners in the Democratic Republic of Congo are calling for the body of a veteran opposition leader to be brought home, a year after he died in Brussels. Some 130 refugees from Eritrea and Afghanistan clashed in northern French city close to transport routes to England. At least four Eritrean refugees are in critical condition after being shot during a mass brawl between some 130 Afghans and Eritreans in the northern French city of Calais, local media outlets reported. The fighting started while volunteers were handing out food to refugees but later spread to other locations in the city, according to Le Monde newspaper. Officials said a further 22 people suffered wounds, including two police officers trying to break up the fighting, which involved more than 100 Eritreans and around 20 Afghans. Speaking to police officers on Thursday evening, French Interior Minister Gerrard Collomb described the violence as exceptionally serious and promised that those responsible would be punished. Collomb also ordered the deployment of more police officers to the area to avoid a repeat of the events. Calais was home to the unofficial jungle refugee camp, which housed thousands of refugees in tents, until French authorities demolished it in October 2016. The city and neighbouring areas drew refugees and migrants from around the world due to its proximity to England, which lies at the other end of a 25-mile stretch of sea. Many of those who had lived in the jungle moved to other areas of France, but others remained in the hope of making their way on to trucks and boats heading towards the UK. According to local authorities, up to 800 refugees and migrants remain in Calais. The wider Calais region has experienced previous incidents of violence, including clashes between rival human trafficking gangs. Mass brawls between refugees have also broken out occasionally. International Organization for Migration says three people survived the incident early on Friday. Around 90 people have drowned after a shipwreck off western Libya, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM). A spokesperson for the UN-affiliated body said 10 bodies had washed ashore near the town of Zuwara. A fishing boat rescued one survivor, and another two managed to swim to shore. Pakistans Foreign Office said 11 of those killed were Pakistani. Eleven Pakistanis feared dead in boat sinking incident off the coast of Libya. [Pakistan] Embassy in Tripoli actively following up. Names and details of the deceased will follow as soon as Foreign Office gets them from Tripoli, Muhammad Faisal, a Foreign Office spokesperson, said on Twitter. Two Libyans were also among the dead, the IOM said. How the boat got into difficulties and ended up capsizing is still unclear. We know that the weather was calm, so thats indicating that the smugglers who are cavalier to say the least have hugely overloaded this vessel, said the IOMs Leonard Doyle. We need to get the word out to people, desperate people around the world, who think they are coming to a better life and they are reading about it on social media, that its not the case. The route from Libya through the Mediterranean to Italy and other European Union states drew nearly 120,000 people in 2017. As authorities in the EU and Turkey work to clamp down on routes between the Turkish coast and Greek islands, refugees and migrants are looking for alternate routes into Europe. Libya, with its weak central government and proximity to Italian territory, is increasingly becoming the preferred option for many refugees despite the dangers involved in crossing the Mediterranean. People smugglers often send refugees on their way on overcrowded and poorly maintained boats that are prone to capsizing or sinking. The IOM describes the Mediterranean Sea as the worlds deadliest border. The body of water claimed the lives of 3,116 people trying to cross into Europe in 2017. EU states, including Italy, are working with Libyan authorities to stem the flow of refugees trying to make the journey but Libyan officials say they do not have the resources to tackle the issue. On January 10, around 100 refugees died when the inflatable boat they were travelling in capsized. One person was killed and several others wounded when Osborne drove a vehicle into a group of people outside a mosque. A British court has sentenced the man who carried out a deadly vehicle ramming attack near a mosque in London last year to life in prison. In June, Darren Osborne killed one worshipper and wounded several others in the Finsbury Park area of North London while the area was busy with worshippers leaving late evening prayers during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. On Friday, a judge sentenced Osborne to a minimum 43-year prison term after he was found guilty of murder and attempted murder the previous day. During the trial, jurors heard how Osborne had intended to attack a march celebrating Jerusalem Day earlier on June 18 but was unable to. The 48-year-old from the Welsh city of Cardiff then drove around the English capital until he settled on the target in Finsbury Park just before midnight. A group of worshippers had gathered around 51-year-old grandfather Makram Ali, who had collapsed, when Osborne drove his vehicle into the group, killing Ali. Witnesses told the court that Osborne shouted: Ive done my job, before being caught and restrained by passersby while trying to escape. In court, he had attempted to defend himself against the charges of murder and attempted murder by claiming that an accomplice named Dave had taken his place in the drivers seat during the attack. However, he was unable to provide an explanation as to why CCTV footage showed only one person in the car. Sue Hemming from the British Crown Prosecution Service said Osborne was motivated by his hatred of Muslims. He later invented an unconvincing story to counter the overwhelming weight of evidence, but the jury has convicted him, she said. We have been clear throughout that this was a terrorist attack, and he must now face the consequences of his actions. China accuses US politicians of meddling after nominating pro-democracy activists for a Nobel Peace Prize. Three Hong Kong activists and the pro-democracy group behind the Umbrella Movement have been nominated for the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize for their role in pushing for reform in the Chinese territory. Joshua Wong, Nathan Law and Alex Chow, as well as the Umbrella Movement, were nominated by a group of US Congress members for the prestigious prize, a move Beijing denounced on Friday as a form of meddling in its internal affairs. This nomination could not be more timely as Hong Kongs long-cherished autonomy continues to erode, and Umbrella Movement leaders face reprisals simply for espousing basic human rights and freedoms, Marco Rubio, US senator and former Republican presidential candidate, said in a statement announcing the nomination. Rubio said Wong and his fellow activists are an inspiration and their cause has reverberations far beyond their city. Chris Smith, a member of Congress who also signed the nomination, said the prize would be a fitting tribute to Chinese Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo, who died in China in 2017. The letter was addressed to Berit Reiss-Anderson, chairman of the Nobel Peace Prize committee. In a statement posted on social media on Friday, Wong said the nomination would show the international community and [Chinas] President Xi how the young generation will persist in fighting for democracy, even if we have to face imprisonment or a permanent ban from public office. In mid-January, Wong, 21, was sentenced to jail for the second time for his role in the 2014 pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong. He is currently out on bail for a separate case. Wong had previously been jailed for six months in August 2017. Wongs fellow nominee, Law, told Al Jazeera on Friday that they are honoured to have taken part in the Umbrella Movement. Its spirit will continue to guide us and future generations. Hong Kong residents have been protesting Chinas meddling in the citys freedoms [AP] Domestic affairs In Beijing, the reaction was swift. Hong Kongs affairs are Chinas domestic affairs, and China firmly objects to anyone intervening through any means, Chinas foreign ministry said in a statement. We urge the relevant congressmen to stop meddling with Hong Kongs affairs, it said, urging the American politicians to do more things that are conducive to the development of China-US ties, and not the opposite. Starry Lee Wai-king, a pro-China Hong Kong politician, was quoted by the South China Morning Post calling the nomination incomprehensible, adding that the 2014 protests were not peaceful. Hong Kong, a former British colony, was returned to China in 1997 under a one country, two systems agreement that ensured its freedoms, including a separate legal system. But Beijing has ultimate control over the territory, and pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong contest it is increasingly clamping down on the citys constitutionally enshrined freedoms. In 2014, Hong Kongs pro-democracy activists staged massive protests that drew hundreds of thousands of protesters at its peak. The protesters were demanding an end to Chinas pre-screening of candidates for election of the autonomous regions leader. The protest was later referred to as the Umbrella Movement, after the use of umbrellas as a tool for peaceful resistance against the Hong Kong police during the protests. The demonstrations, which continued for almost three months, brought parts of Hong Kong to a standstill and sent alarms in mainland China. As governments across the globe increasingly use the internet to crack down on dissent, manipulate information and control access, the idea of the web as a space of democracy and freedom has all but withered. In the past two years, Palestinians launched several campaigns accusing tech companies of discrimination and bias, with hashtags such as #FBCensorsPalestine and #PayPalForPalestine going viral. Multinational tech companies such as Google, Facebook and PayPal have also been accused of complicity in rights violations for controlling how knowledge and services are provided, and who can access them. Saed Habib, 25, first joined one of the online marketplaces that connects clients with freelancers worldwide five years ago, offering services as a translator and web developer. Remote work seemed like a golden opportunity in Gaza, where literacy levels are some of the highest in the region but youth unemployment stands at nearly 60 percent, and free movement restrictions prevent people from easily travelling out of the enclave. PayPal for Palestine Online payment platform PayPal is widely used to conduct monetary transactions between clients and service providers using the online freelance marketplace Saed signed up for. But PayPal, which operates in 202 countries including war-torn Yemen, doesnt offer its services to Palestinians in Gaza or the West Bank while making them available to Israeli settlers living in the same territory and using the same currency. This prompted Palestinian entrepreneurs and businessmen to start a campaign in 2016 asking the company to roll out its services to Palestinians and reverse the discriminatory situation, under the hashtag #PayPalForPalestine. Forty-three Palestinian tech companies and startups signed an open letter addressed to PayPals CEO Daniel Schulman, which never received an official response. Clients dont want to use [money transfer companies like] Western Union or MoneyGram, where theyd have to go physically to an office and pay in cash, said Saed, who now works in the freelance programme of startup accelerator Gaza Sky Geeks. To have a platform people will trust, like PayPal is essential for the work of freelancers, startups or companies doing outsourcing, Habib told Al Jazeera, adding: If you cant get paid, you cant do the work. Saed recounts that his attempt at signing up for the service by choosing Israel as his location ended with the company freezing his account for six months once he was asked to verify his residential address and they realised that Gaza couldnt be part of Israel. Hussein Nasser Eddin, cofounder of RedCrow Intelligence, a risk-analysis startup based in Ramallah that has developed an application alerting subscribers of security incidents across the West Bank using open source information and maps, was one of the signatories of the #PayPalForPalestine campaign. Most Palestinian startups, including RedCrow, are registered as businesses in the US, in order to facilitate trade as well as attract investors with more ease. The problem is not for the startup to survive, Nasser Eddin told Al Jazeera. The problem is those who think outside the box in a place that is very much chained by geographical limitations. If they cant do it here, thats the problem. Your technology is in the US, your money is in the US, when you exit [sell your share of the business] your tax goes to the US. In order to grow, you move outside this country. The issue is denying [Palestinians] from keeping the innovation of its own people. A spokesperson for PayPal told Al Jazeera that while we do not have anything to announce in the immediate future, we continuously work to develop strategic partnerships. The spokesperson did not specify whether negotiations are ongoing to introduce the service to the Palestinian market. Last week, the company became once again the subject of a controversy after it closed the account of a Palestine solidarity organisation based in France over its alleged support for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement. Airbnb in occupied territory Its not the first time an internet giant finds itself embroiled in a political controversy in the Palestinian-Israeli context. Another campaign called Stolen Homes recently targeted the global accommodation website Airbnb for allowing listings of holiday homes located in Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank without labelling them as such. Campaigners argued that as settlements are illegal under international law and Palestinians can only enter them with special permits usually to work as labourers the company has made itself directly complicit in human rights violations. A report on internet freedoms published in January by 7amleh, the Haifa-based Arab Centre for the Advancement of Social Media, points out that as these companies shape narratives and control knowledge dissemination in the digital world, they do not stay neutral and often serve to perpetuate existing inequalities. Palestine on Google Maps Google Maps, one of the most widely used mapping services worldwide, labels Israel but not Palestine on its maps. 138 countries around the world recognise Palestine as a state, not including the US and much of the EU. Petitioners asking Google to put Palestine on the map in March 2016 argued that recognition of Palestine by Google may even turn out to be as important as recognition by organisations like the UN. While Ramallah, the current seat of the Palestinian government and the Palestinians main financial and business hub, is only mapped in a rudimentary way, Google Maps can easily point visitors to the nearest bank in any West Bank settlement. Googles spokesman Paul Solomon told Al Jazeera the company is working to provide a more comprehensive map for users. Some Palestinian villages in Area C, whose names did not appear on Google Maps until recently, were added last March. Thanks to this update, we now have data for the overwhelming majority of the Palestinian residential areas in Area C. Also, in December, we published Street View imagery of the West Bank, namely Ramallah, Bethlehem and Jericho, Solomon said. While other mapping services offer better navigation in the West Bank, one effect of under-mapping Palestinian areas in the West Bank is that Google Maps is not made for Palestinians, who dont use the same roads. As a user, if you use Google Maps around the West Bank the default is that you are a settler, Nadim Nashif, the director of 7amleh, told Al Jazeera. For many Palestinians, Google Maps brings them to settler roads, even putting them in danger by taking them to the entrance of a settlement. Its an apartheid reality that you have streets for settlers only, and Google Maps functions to serve the Israelis and Israeli needs. Even when tourists activate them they have the same experience. They [the companies] are adopting the Israeli narrative in a way, Nashif said. Women removed their headscarves in public in protest of Irans compulsory law. Iran has cracked down on women violating its compulsory headscarf decree, arresting at least 29 individuals, according to Iranian media, and drawing criticism from activists and rights groups. Tasnim news agency reported on Friday that 29 women had been arrested, and quoted Tehran police as saying that the detainees were arrested for disturbing public security. It was unclear where else arrests had been made, as protests have spread from the capital to other areas, including the ancient cities of Esfahan and Shiraz. {articleGUID} The mandatory headscarf, or hijab, has been in place in Iran since 1979, after the Iranian revolution and the installation of Ayatollah Khomeini as Supreme Leader. Over the years, hundreds of thousands of Iranian women have protested against the law. In recent weeks, following a new wave of protests in the country, women renewed their opposition to the law, taking off their hijabs in public and waving them on wooden sticks like flags. Holly Dagres, an Iranian-American analyst, said Iranian authorities are very much aware that more than half of the population is against wearing the hijab. Its evident by the fact that the morality police are on constant patrol of the streets of major cities like Tehran, Dagres told Al Jazeera. Authorities know that if they dont crack down, Iranian women will continue to test the boundaries of what they can and cannot wear. Dagres said that more arrests were likely to spur solidarity with the campaign. Two friends, one against the hijab, the other for, have sent their pix to @RadioFarda_ from Yasouj in southwestern Iran to express support for women protesting compulsory hijab #__ pic.twitter.com/FlRwYNyAJS Golnaz Esfandiari (@GEsfandiari) February 1, 2018 On social media on Friday, Masih Alinejad, an exiled Iranian activist who started the campaign against the compulsory hijab, singled out Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif for remaining silent on the arrests. Small acts of resistance While hijab protests are not new, Dagres told Al Jazeera that recent rallies were inspired by a lone female demonstrator, who stood on a busy pavement in central Tehran waving her white headscarf on a wooden stick. The image of the woman spread on social media. Her case attracted more attention when she was reportedly detained by police in late January. She was later released on bail, according to the Iran Human Rights group. In another viral video, an elderly woman was shown struggling to walk in a snow-covered park, then clambering up an idle fountain to wave her white scarf in the air. Iran Human Rights said that another woman, who also protested, had been transferred to a prison south of Tehran, and that she is being held on bail set at $135,000. On Wednesday, Mohammad Jafar Montazeri, Irans chief prosecutor, had denounced the protests as childish, suggesting that individuals from outside Iran are inciting the movement. Under Irans law, a woman who does not wear a hijab in public could face jail time or fines. While only a few of Irans more than 80 million people have joined in the headscarf protest, social media applications such as Telegram and Instagram have helped spread the news quickly. Some hijab-supporting Iranian women back the protests. One Iranian woman, wearing the traditional black outer garment, or chador, was seen standing on top of a utility box in the corner of a busy Iranian street expressing solidarity. Omid Memarian, a US-based Iranian journalist who was once imprisoned in Iran, wrote on social media that the fight against forced hijab is not about whether the hijab is good or bad. Its about choice and equality. Its about dignity. So far, the protest still lacks momentum for Irans authorities to consider amending the hijab law, said Dagres. At the same time, movements always start as small acts of resistance. If these protests gain traction, we might see a shift, she said. She added that when it comes to womens rights in Iran, amendments to the marriage and divorce laws need greater attention. Mahmoud Abbas to deliver a rare address at UNSC meeting Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is set to deliver a rare address at the United Nations Security Council later this month. Hundreds rally for second day urging action on court ruling ordering release of President Abdulla Yameens opponents. Hundreds of people have rallied in the Maldives capital, Male, urging President Abdulla Yameen to comply with a court ruling ordering the release of several jailed opposition leaders. Protesters sang and danced outside an opposition campaign hall on Friday, chanting slogans such as respect the constitution and enforce the Supreme Court ruling now. The landmark verdict which drew praise from the United Nations human rights office, the EU and several foreign governments, including India, the UK, and the US overturned what judges called unfair convictions against nine high-profile political prisoners, including the island nations exiled former President Mohamed Nasheed. It also reinstates 12 members of parliament, who were stripped of their seats when they defected to the opposition last year, giving Yameens opponents a majority in the 85-member parliament. {articleGUID} The sudden about-face by the Supreme Court, which has sided with Yameen in the past, and the international support for its ruling puts unprecedented pressure on the embattled president ahead of a presidential election later this year. Neighbouring India, in a rare statement on Friday, urged Yameens government to comply with the ruling. In the spirit of democracy and the rule of law, it is imperative for all organs of the Government of the Maldives to respect and abide by the order of the apex court, the Indian Ministry of External Affairs said. Rupert Colville, spokesman for the UN human rights office, also called on the Maldivian government to fully respect the court verdict. Expressing concern over a police crackdown on opposition supporters celebrating the ruling on Thursday, Colville said his office was closely watching how the situation develops in particular the reactions of the government, military and police. In the immediate aftermath of the verdict, Yameen fired his police chief. The dismissal came minutes after the police force said it would obey the Supreme Court. The opposition, in a statement on Friday, said it was fearful the governments failure to implement the court order could escalate to unrest and incite violence across the country. The government, however, reiterated a promise to comply with the court order on Friday, with Attorney General Mohamed Anil telling reporters the prosecutors office and the police were working at top speed to review the cases of the nine people whose convictions were overturned by the court. But the government has several legal concerns, he said, adding: The offences in some of these cases are very serious, and include terrorism, bomb attacks, corruption, embezzlement and fraud. The Maldives has been mired in political unrest since Nasheed, the countrys first democratically elected president, was arrested and jailed on terrorism charges in 2015. He later sought asylum in the UK after travelling there on medical leave from prison. {articleGUID} Since then, almost all key opposition leaders have either been jailed or gone into exile. The opposition accuses Yameen, who assumed office in 2013, of unprecedented corruption, misrule and rights abuses, and is seeking to undermine him ahead of this years presidential election. Yameen denies the allegations. On the streets of Male, after police pushed celebrating opposition supporters out of the streets and on to the pavements, 24-year-old Mickail Naseem said he has never been more hopeful for change in this country. Although the ruling was limited to prominent political prisoners, it is a win for the common man. It means there is a good chance of justice in more cases. Leaked UN report says Saudi-led coalition is responsible for the deaths of scores of Yemeni children since last summer. The Saudi-led coalition that is fighting Houthi rebels in Yemen is responsible for the deaths of scores of children since last summer, a United Nations report says. Al Jazeera obtained excerpts from the confidential report by the UN Office on Children and Armed Conflict, which was sent to the UN Security Council on January 19. According to the excerpts, the Saudi-led coalition killed 68 children and wounded 36 others from July to September 2017. The report found there were at least 20 coalition raids every day some targeting schools and homes. {articleGUID} Saudi Arabia, together with several other Arab nations, launched a military campaign in 2015 that aimed at rolling back advances made by Houthi rebels after they overran much of the country, including the capital, Sanaa, in 2014. The Saudi-led intervention initially consisted of a bombing campaign and later saw a naval blockade and the deployment of ground forces into Yemen. The coalition says it is attacking positions of the Houthi rebels in response to a request from the internationally recognised government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi. Houthi killings In addition to the coalition, the UN report also points fingers at the Houthis, blaming the rebels for the deaths of 18 children since last summer. Another 29 children were wounded in attacks by Houthis in the same period, the report says. The report also notes that recruitment of children to fight has increased, particularly by the Houthis and the Yemeni National Army. The UN describes the situation in Yemen as the worst man-made humanitarian crisis in the world, with the ongoing conflict making an already dire situation worse. Speaking to Al Jazeera from Sanaa, Shabia Mantoo, spokesperson for the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, said thousands in Yemen are in desperate need of aid. Its not just affecting children. Its affecting everyone. Its affecting 75 percent of the population. So our concern is that as long as this conflict continues, were going to see more and more casualties. Were also going to see the humanitarian needs rise as well. So, children, women, the elderly, people with particular vulnerabilities; they are suffering the most in Yemen at the moment, Mantoo said. According to the UN childrens aid agency, UNICEF, more than 5,000 children have been killed or injured in the war an average of five children a day since the conflict escalated in March 2015. UNICEF also says that more than 11 million children are in need of humanitarian assistance and nearly two million children are suffering from acute malnutrition. In addition to a massive cholera outbreak, Yemen has also seen outbreaks of diphtheria in recent months. Suze van Meegen, spokesperson of Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) in Yemen, said it is time the international community wakes up to the humanitarian situation in the country. It is astounding to me that we have the United Nations Security Council that has not commented on Yemen in, now more than seven months. The scale of suffering in Yemen is incomparable. We have 22 million people in need. We are speaking to families who are fleeing their homes because of violence and constructing houses out of plastic bags. People dont have enough to eat. Theyre forced to eat whatever they can find. This sort of suffering is inexcusable, and we would really like to see some action taken from the US, the UK and the United Nations Security Council, Van Meegen told Al Jazeera. UAE-backed separatists took over Yemeni government buildings but Saudis and Emiratis insist that they have same goal. Saudi Arabia and the UAE have called on Yemeni government fighters and southern secessionists to focus their efforts on fighting Houthi rebels, in an apparent attempt to end a standoff between the two sides in Aden. Emirati-backed separatists took over large parts of the southern port city earlier this week, including military bases, but stopped short of advancing on the presidential palace after clashing with pro-government forces and briefly surrounding the building while Prime Minister Ahmed bin Daghr and his ministers were inside. The move exposed potential divides between Saudi Arabia, which finances and arms the Yemeni government, and the UAE, which is providing direct financial and military aid to the separatist Southern Transitional Council and its armed militia. Yemeni government officials accused the Emirati government of deploying fighter planes to help the separatist fighters. In a statement published by the Saudi Press Agency on Thursday, the Saudi-led coalition said Riyadh and Abu Dhabi shared one goal and a shared vision for Yemen. Saudi Arabia and the UAE have no ambitions but for Yemen to be a safe, stable, and able, Arab nation, the statement said. While stopping short of expressing support for the Yemeni government, which is based in Aden because the capital is under Houthi rebel control, the coalition called on both sides to focus on the goal of defeating the Houthi militias of Iran. The separatists want greater autonomy for South Yemen, which was an independent state until reunification with the north in 1990. They complain that the government has presided over rampant corruption and neglected southern regions. The fighting in Aden has left at least 36 people dead and wounded more than 185 people since Sunday, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross. Arab coalition intervention The UAE and Saudi Arabia intervened militarily in Yemen in March 2015 after Houthi rebels swept across the country and threatened to conquer the last government stronghold of Aden. While the coalition and government fighters successfully fended off the Houthi takeover of Aden, years of air attacks have failed to dislodge the Houthis from much of the rest of the country. The coalitions stated aim of restoring President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadis rule still seems distant, as the capital Sanaa remains under Houthi control. The Saudis have indicated they want out of the war and have largely limited their campaign to bombing raids, but the Emiratis have also committed troops to the effort to defeat the Houthis. Separatists, government forces, and the Houthis, are competing for control over Yemeni territory alongside al-Qaeda and the local affiliate of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) group. The war has severely damaged the countrys infrastructure with the UN warning that up to 8 million people are at risk of starvation and more than a million have contracted cholera. Around 1,000 miners were left stranded underground for more than one day after a power outage in Welkom. Durban, South Africa Some 955 gold miners were rescued on Friday morning after being trapped underground for more than 24 hours following a power cut. They resurfaced unharmed, but some were suffering from dehydration and blood pressure issues. They had been stuck a kilometre underground at the Sibanye Stillwater Beatrix Mine in Welkom for two nights and were finally rescued when the power returned to the mine. Severe storms on Wednesday had knocked down the power lines in the area, causing an outage at all three shafts at the mine. Unions are now demanding answers. The Nation Union of Mineworkers in South Africa (NUM) and the National Union of Metalworkers in South Africa (NUMSA) said the mine should temporarily cease operations. The mine should be closed for now until the health and safety measures are put in place, said Livhuwani Mammburu, NUM spokesperson. When there is a power failure, generators are supposed to kick in. Our sense is that the generators were not properly maintained and this company seems to be relaxed about health and safety, Mammburu told Al Jazeera. There were workers working underground with chronic illnesses like high blood pressure and diabetes who didn't have access to their medication for two nights, and you are telling me this is acceptable? Livhuwani Mammburu, NUM spokesperson According to local news channel ENCA, the mine had generators, but there were fears they might trip while bringing the miners up. The mining company reportedly wanted to avoid miners being stuck in cages should the power supply cut. James Wellsted, Sibanye spokesperson, told Al Jazeera that the miners were technically never trapped. Wellsted said miners had the option of walking 4km to an escape shaft that remained operational, but management decided against using this potentially risky route. To move such a large group of people underground is difficult and risky and as it turned out, this was the right decision, Welsted said. South African Chamber of Mines spokesperson, Charmane Russell, told Al Jazeera the incident was safely and competently dealt with. We share the concern for those who were delayed underground, and for their families who had to wait for their return. But we commend their patience and diligence in following the procedures that are in place to deal with such eventualities, said Russell. Unacceptable NUM spokesperson Mammburu said employers underplayed the incident. There were workers underground with chronic illnesses like high blood pressure and diabetes who didnt have access to their medication for two nights, and you are telling me this is acceptable? he said. The National Union of Metalworkers in South Africa (NUMSA) spokesperson Phakamile Hlubi-Majola told Al Jazeera a proper audit was needed to avoid similar incidents. They were trapped underground it is like being buried alive. We need to analyse how this happened, and if all necessary measures were taken to prevent it. Power outages cannot be controlled; it happens from time to time. If they [the company] do not have the necessary equipment, then they should not be allowed to operate. Mosebenzi Zwane, South Africas mines minister, will travel to Welkom on Friday to be briefed on the incident. South Africa has some of the deepest mines in the world, reaching depths of 4km. Unions have long accused mining companies of poor wages and skimping on health and safety standards. In August 2017, five mineworkers died when sections of a gold mine collapsed. There were at least 76 fatalities in South African mines in 2017, following 73 deaths in 2016. Follow Azad Essa on Twitter: @AzadEssa Scholar Tariq Ramadan went before a French judge as a probe into allegations of rape and sexual assault continues. Tariq Ramadan went before a French investigating magistrate on Friday after the prominent Islamic scholar was taken into custody earlier this week over allegations of sexual assault and rape. Ramadan, an Oxford University professor of Islamic studies, has been held in France since Wednesday as part of a preliminary probe into the accusations, which he has denied. AFP and AP news agencies reported late on Friday that Ramadan was charged with rape in relation to two separate incidents that allegedly occurred in 2009 and 2012, respectively. The agencies were each quoting an anonymous judicial source. Al Jazeera could not independently verify the information. Meanwhile, the Paris prosecutors office had demanded that Ramadan be indicted and placed in pre-trial detention, a judicial source told French newspaper Le Monde. Two women came forward last October to accuse Ramadan, 55, of rape and sexual assault. They both filed charges against him. One of the women, a former Salafi who has become a secularism activist, accused Ramadan of raping her in a French hotel room in 2012. Henda Ayari described parts of the alleged assault in a book that was published in 2016, but publicly named Ramadan last year amid the #MeToo movement to combat sexual violence against women. A second woman, who has remained anonymous, came forward a week later, accusing Ramadan of raping her in 2009. The woman, who has been given the pseudonym Christelle, detailed the alleged assault in front of an investigative judge for over three hours earlier this week in Paris, Le Monde and AFP reported. Ramadan and his lawyer, who were present during the womans testimony on Thursday, vehemently denied the allegations. Ramadan also refused to sign a written report at the end of the session, Le Monde reported. The French newspaper said police in France had investigated the allegations for three months. The investigators have reportedly collected stories from other women who made similar allegations against Ramadan, but have not pressed charges, Le Monde said. After the accusations became public last year, Ramadan filed a complaint against Ayari for slander. A Swiss citizen, Ramadan is one of the most prominent Islamic scholars in Europe. He is also the grandson of Hassan al-Banna, founder of the Muslim Brotherhood. Since September, Michell Hernandez has been counting down the days. The UF microbiology sophomore immigrated to the U.S. from Mexico when she was 3 years old and has lived and studied here under Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. Now, the 20-year-olds future is filled with uncertainty as the end of DACA looms closer. I cant continue living with a countdown in my head, with my days being numbered, she said. In September, President Donald Trump announced the end of the DACA, legislation that allows people brought to the U.S. as children to work and attend school without fear of deportation. Trump said it would be phased out by March, according to NPR. UF President Kent Fuchs joined Volusia County Sheriff, Michael Chitwood, and Dean Inserra, pastor of City Church Tallahassee, in a press call Thursday to encourage Congress to pass permanent legislation that protects Dreamers. Fuchs said he not only wants to see protection for undocumented students, but also legislation that gives them a pathway to citizenship. These are some of the worlds very best individuals in terms of their achievements so far and also their potential, he said. To advocate for Dreamers, Fuchs has reached out to leaders in Washington who can promote the reinstatement of DACA or a pathway to citizenship. The Student Affairs office has also compiled a list of resources for DACA students on its website. Fuchs believes a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants pursuing a degree in the United States would be beneficial in every aspect. Its in the best interest not only of those students, not only of the university, but its in the best interest of the state of Florida and, indeed, our nation, he said. Hernandez hopes other people see the urgency of passing legislation that protects Dreamers. She was pleased to see Fuchs use his position of influence to advocate for undocumented immigrants, but she feels UF and the nation as a whole has a long way to go to protect the Dreamers. Its really wild to feel like youre not really human, she said. Contact Jessica Giles at jgiles@alligator.org. Follow her on Twitter at @jessica_giles_ Enjoy what you're reading? Get content from The Alligator delivered to your inbox Subscribe Now Kent Fuchs City of Gainesville and Alachua County commissioners are in disagreement over a bill in the Florida House of Representatives. The bill, proposed by Rep. Chuck Clemons in December, would allow county representation on the board of the Community Redevelopment Agency, which is currently not allowed, according to state law. Clemons said the countys participation in decision making is lacking, considering it funds two-thirds of the agency. They have no seat at the table. I think thats unjust, he said. The county commission has requested representation on the board of a city-run development agency before. The commission gave Clemons a list of three priorities, which included CRA representation. The CRA develops areas that need help. Prior projects have included the DNA Bridge, Depot Park and 352Walls. Alachua County Commissioner Ken Cornell said the county should have the option of board representation proportional to the funding the agency receives. Im a firm believer in our Founding Fathers no taxation without representation, Cornell said. This is a way for the county to have representation. Gainesville City Commissioner David Arreola staunchly opposes the bill, which was filed without the City Commissions knowledge, he said. Arreola argues the bill leaves the door open for the county to take majority control of the board to influence certain policies. He feels the county went behind the citys back, he said. If there is a project or a policy that is coming up that they want to dictate or control, they can use that stipulation in the bill to get majority control, he said. Its a poison pill. The bill has already passed two committee hearings. The final hearing was delayed until after a Feb. 12 meeting between city and county commissioners. Cornell hopes for compromise, but Arreola refuses to negotiate policy. Enjoy what you're reading? Get content from The Alligator delivered to your inbox Subscribe Now If were going to reach a compromise, it is going to be on representation going forward and that new board will make the policy changes, Arreola said. Contact Amanda Rosa at arosa@alligator.org. Follow her on Twitter at @AmandaNicRosa. When UF associate professor Paul Ortiz told Haitian students their country was the first in the Caribbean to gain independence, they were flabbergasted. Ortiz, who was not taught the history of his grandfathers country, Mexico, published a book Tuesday on Latin American and African history. An African American and Latinx History of the United States, describes how Latin American, Caribbean and African history has influenced political, economic and cultural development in the United States since the American Revolution. Its a reinterpretation of American history, Ortiz said. U.S. history is too nationalistic. Ortiz said American history focuses on how European countries affected the United States instead of the impact Latin American and African countries have on it. Unlike the history lessons he was exposed to growing up, his book is not eurocentric, he said. During his books launch Wednesday night, Ortiz told a crowd of about 70 at Third House Books & Coffee the history is told with focus on societal changes. What took me the longest with the book was not necessarily the research but conceptualizing U.S. history from 1776 to present and finding different ways to frame that history, especially from a social movement perspective, he said. Ortiz said the inspiration for the book stems from his own experience as a U.S. Army soldier stationed in the Panama Canal Zone from 1984 to 1986. Ortiz said he spoke to locals while he was stationed there who told him about the history of their country in relation to the United States. He was also inspired by his students, Ortiz said. I have a lot of students of color, and they would often ask me in regards to American history, Well how does this include us? he said. Gainesville resident Michelle Ott asked Ortiz why the title included the X at the end of Latin. He said the term was non-gender binary for people with Latino and Latina heritage. Some former students of Ortizs attended the book launch. UF alumna Lauren Krebs, 27, who majored in history and received her masters degree in Latin American and Caribbean studies, said she came to finally hear and see the work Ortiz has been working on for several years. Enjoy what you're reading? Get content from The Alligator delivered to your inbox Subscribe Now This event was great because it brought the community together to listen and engage with the important history of African American and Latinx peoples that has been excised from the official histories for so long, Krebs said. UF associate professor Paul Ortiz reads a few passages out of his new book to audience members at Third House Books & Coffee. Ortizs book An African American and Latinx History of the United States was officially released on Tuesday. Manatees are as much a part of Floridas identity as oranges and Mickey Mouse. Picture, for a moment, a manatee floating effortlessly beneath the waters surface, looking for a patch of vegetation to munch on before it innocently moves through a precious Floridian body of water. Pretty majestic, right? Manatees got lucky. Their conservation required minimal adjustments to the ways Floridians and tourists enjoy boating hobbies. Unfortunately, most endangered species arent as fortunate. As humans continue to develop land in order to meet demands for our own species, territory clashes will occur with animals that have established their niches long before we showed up. Protecting these animals can cost millions of dollars and allow the government to unfashionably influence the use of private property. People often resist changing for animals if it will alter their own livelihood, but unpopular policies for the sake of species protection are currently adhered to by the enforcement of law. Unfortunately, Congress may soon change the governments stance on endangered animals. According to the Center for Biological Diversity, the Endangered Species Act was legislatively attacked more than 60 times in 2017. Those attacks focused on defunding attempts to enforce laws that protect endangered species but also impede on land development. The President Donald Trump administration now considers economic analysis when deciding whether to save an animal, and an economic value on living things is something scientists cant seem to effectively refute. Endangered animals should be protected because this Earth is not just ours. We share it with other living things, and its their home just as much as it is ours. Scientists shouldnt have to use another argument to save these animals, but under the current administration, scientists will have to push for the protection of many endangered animals without the law behind them. The best solution is to argue in terms people will understand and care about. An exemplary success story is the relationship between the Ecuadorian brown-headed spider monkey and cacao farmers. With only 250 of the monkeys estimated to be left on this planet, this monkey is one of the most endangered primates on record. The problem was, in an effort to plant more cacao, locals to the Chocoan rain forests had been cutting down trees that provided a home for the spider monkeys. These farmers performed backbreaking labor just to survive, so why would they care if a monkey is losing its habitat? Realizing the farmers were driven by making money, scientists brought in Samuel von Rutte, an expert in fermenting cacao, to lead training sessions on how to grow more valuable cacao without cutting down trees. Since then, farmers have tripled their profits from $1.50 to $3.50 per kilo, and scientists are already seeing optimistic signs for the spider monkeys future. Scientists only became successful once they merged conservation with the values of the farmers. It would be ideal for everyone on earth to see an altruistic purpose to share the planet with other animals, but more endangered animals risk the possibility of becoming extinct as scientists wait for this miraculous paradigm shift. No one wants to see an animal disappear forever, but people will still value personal matters over the life of another living thing. Scientists must change their argument to terms people care about in order to save endangered animals. Joshua Udvardy is a UF environmental engineering junior. His columns focus on science. Enjoy what you're reading? Get content from The Alligator delivered to your inbox Subscribe Now Trumps proposal offers a path to citizenship for 1.8 million illegal immigrants who were brought here by their parents at a young age, known as DREAMers; includes implementing his signature campaign promise to build a wall on Americas southern border, ending the visa lottery , and ending chain migration. On Tuesday evening, in his first State of the Union address , President Trump defended the American way and offered a four-point plan on immigration. Trump unequivocally extended a hand of bipartisanship. But Democrats were furious over the presidents words, saying he has only made a bipartisan deal harder to reach. Given the remarks of legislators interviewed after the State of the Union address, some appear to be fixated on words used in Trumps speech and tonality, rather than on actions that could serve the interests of the American people and DREAMers they say they care so much about. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) criticized Trumps speech, saying, The tone was of a divider-in-chief. Senator Corey Booker (D-NJ) called the speech, a lot of empty rhetoric, adding that his words wont get him a deal from Democrats. Really stoking the fires, from my perspective, of bigotry," said Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ). Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) felt Trump did not address the DREAMers issue enough: He had opportunities to heal. Ive never seen a president that cares nothing about reaching out to people that didnt vote for him. When I served as U.S. diplomat in Iraq (2006-10), and later at the U.S. embassy in Pakistan (2010-15), many American consular officials -- those who are responsible for vetting and ultimately approving or denying U.S. visas to foreigners around the world -- would privately lament that our countrys immigration policy was flawed because it is based on uniting families. The policy is what allows for chain migration, rather than prioritizing that visas be issued to persons of desirable skills needed within the U.S. workforce. This is precisely what the president has stood for, and exactly what the Democrats, like Nancy Pelosi, are rejecting. Some critics write that Trumps plan is out of touch with American ideals -- yet it is the Democratic Party that appears to be out of touch with what the majority of Americans want. Nearly 80 percent of Americans believe that DREAMers should be given a pathway to citizenship, and a recent Harvard-Harris poll shows that 65 percent of voters across party lines are in agreement with Trump that any bill granting protections for them should be accompanied by funding for a wall, ending chain migration, and putting a stop to the visa lottery. Democrats appear to be short-sighted, if not tone deaf. They have made caring for undocumented, or illegal, immigrants the priority issue going into the 2018 mid-term elections. Let that sink in for a moment. Elected U.S. officials have put an issue that concerns less than 1.2 percent of the official U.S. population -- persons who are technically not Americans -- at the top of their agenda. This is a strange reordering of priorities, if not legislatively at least in terms of public relations and spin. As late as 2016 the crisis of student debt and crumbling infrastructure were considered key matters for the party. These are two issues on which Democrats and the president can find common ground. During his Tuesday night speech, Trump even called for $1.5 trillion infrastructure spending. When issues that concern American citizens, like debt and infrastructure, are secondary to those of non-citizens, one of two things is happening: Either the U.S. is doing exceptionally well, and we are a nation whose angst merely lives in our heads; or the Democratic Party has lost its sense of what matters to the majority of Americas citizenry. A lost sense of what matters to the average American is precisely what post-mortem analyses of Hillary Clintons 2016 defeat determined opened the door for then-candidate Trump to win. An anti-Trump platform, absent of any hard lessons learned from the election, might serve the Democratic Party in the short term. But staying fixated on rejecting President Trump based on his semantics, tone, and tweets should long ago have proven an unfruitful strategy. Immediately following Trumps speech Tuesday evening, Congressman Joe Kennedy spoke directly to the millions of DREAMers, who speak fluent American English, in Spanish, saying, We will fight for you. Fight, the Democrats have. And the GOP is ready to make a deal. The Democrats should jump on board and not miss an opportunity to put the minds and fate of DREAMers at ease while staying in tune with the majority of the American electorate. Gutierrez, who claimed he had to leave early for a scheduled interview, gave a snarky commentary on President Trumps pointed remarks on immigration and the consequences of open borders as reported by NBC News Chicago : When amnesty-loving Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-IL, walked out of the State of the Union amid chants of USA! USA!, he once again revealed his hatred for America and his loathing of the heroes that gave him the freedom to make an absolute fool of himself. Even though I disagreed with almost everything he said, for Trump, the speech was clear and well-delivered, Rep. Luis Gutierrez said in a statement. Whoever translated it for him from Russian did a good job. Trump riffed on the debate over immigration, weaving stats and anecdotes throughout the address, all while boasting of economic growth and the general optimism of what he called "the new American moment." "My duty, and the sacred duty of every elected official in this chamber, is to defend Americans -- to protect their safety, their families, their communities, and their right to the American Dream," Trump said. "Because Americans are dreamers too." Indeed, they are, but Rep. Gutierrez has another dream, as do his fellow Democrats who know they cannot win future elections unless they change the electorate and to that end they seek open borders and an endless stream of undocumented Democrats to accomplish President Obamas dream -- the fundamental transformation of America. Rep. Gutierrez and his ilk have no stomach for the celebration of America and its heroes, particularly those who wear a military uniform or ICE agents who risk their lives to keep America and its citizens safe. Last September, Gutierrez, who represents the 4th Congressional district, a gerrymandered snake-shaped district designed to protect his vitriolic incumbency, doubled down on his criticism of Gen. John Kelly as being unfit to wear his uniform for opposing the illegal and unconstitutional DACA program rejected by a Congress in which Gutierrez sat: Illinois Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D) responded to Gen. John Kelly [Ret.], after the White House chief of staff dismissed the Chicagoan's first round of criticisms. Gutierrez said Kelly, a retired four-star Marine general, is "a politician, OK, not a general." "What could be more mean and more vicious than to say 'you've got six months to pack up... and leave the United States'?" Gutierrez asked of Kelly. "I don't see [him wearing] a uniform," Gutierrez told the Washington Post. But we dont see Rep. Gutierrez ever wearing a uniform, unlike Gen. Kellys son Robert, who gave his life for his country in Afghanistan fighting to protect America and the freedom of Muslims seeking liberation from the depraved tyranny of the Taliban: Robert Kelly, 29, was killed in a roadside bomb blast in 2010 during a foot patrol in Afghanistan's Helmand province. Like his son, who gave his life for others who did not look like him or share many of his beliefs, Gen. Kelly served with and commanded and witnessed the sacrifice of soldiers of all races, ethnicities and genders. He is not a bigot, but a patriot who deserved better for seeking enforcement of the nations laws and Constitution than what Rep. Gutierrez gave him: The Washington Examiner reported that U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez, a Democrat, took personal aim at Kelly because Kelly once reportedly spoke favorably about the program. [DACA] House members reported in July that Kelly told Latino lawmakers in a closed-door meeting that he was supportive of the program, but pointed out that it was probably illegal. General Kelly is a hypocrite who is a disgrace to the uniform he used to wear, the congressman said in a statement. "General Kelly, when he was the head of Homeland Security, lied straight to the faces of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus about preventing the mass deportation of DREAMers," Gutierrez also said. "He has no honor and should be drummed out of the White House along with the white supremacists and those enabling the president's actions by just following orders.'" It is Rep. Gutierrez who has no honor, as well as no respect for American citizenship, the nations laws, or the Constitution he was sworn to uphold. Gutierrez has long supported open borders and even supported expanding the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program to illegal parents: For Democrats such as Grijalva and Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., amnesty and the political benefits stemming from it are inevitable. They are quite willing to use children to exploit the inherent compassion of the American people if it means ensuring the political future of the Democratic Party through the gratitude of millions of illegal aliens allowed to come here and stay. Gutierrez recently told a La Raza conference that it was only a "down payment" that President Obama gave the Latino community with his Deferred Action for Children Arrivals (DACA) program that halted the deportation of 600,000 of "our people": "Now it is time for the president in the United States... (to) free the mom and dads of the DREAMers and to go further -- be broad and expansive and generous." Unlike Rep. Luis Gutierrez, Gen. John Kelly has long served his country honorably: Gutierrez is a career politician living on the taxpayers dime while, like Bill and Hillary Clinton, using his office to personally enrich himself: In Chicago, where a decade long building boom has reshaped neighborhoods, politicians have come to rely on real estate interests to donate to their campaigns. But the Democratic congressman's financial relationship with some contributors goes beyond campaign cash, according to records and interviews. In half a dozen deals with campaign supporters since 2002, Gutierrez has made about $421,000 by investing his money in real estate deals and exiting a short time later. The congressman says he made a profit in five of those deals but lost a small amount of money on the sixth Gutierrez has bought and sold properties with five campaign donors, including convicted political fundraiser Antoin "Tony" Rezko Gutierrez long ago admitted that programs such as DACA are a Trojan horse for transforming Americas political landscape and not for admitting those who truly love America and truly want to become Americans. As Investors Business Daily editorialized: "Now it is time for the president in the United States... (to) free the mom and dads of the DREAMers and to go further be broad and expansive and generous." And just how many would he eventually like to sign up? "I think we can get 3 or 4, maybe even 5 million people," he said on MSNBC's "Morning Joe." If you can't persuade voters, you can always import them. Swamp thing. Gutierrez owes an apology to Gen. Kelly, President Trump, the American people, and the American heroes he slandered by turning his back on them in the peoples House, the U.S. Congress. Daniel John Sobieski is a freelance writer whose pieces have appeared in Investors Business Daily, Human Events, Reason Magazine and the Chicago Sun-Times among other publications. In her highly anticipated first television appearance since moving into her new $8.1-m illion mansion , Michelle spent time with Ellen celebrating the hosts 60th birthday. Surely Barack Obama recognizes how distressing it is for liberals to have to deal with a commander-in-chief who, instead of saying "I" 96 times in a 72-minute speech, in an 80-minute speech, chooses instead to say "We" 129 times . Thats why, every chance he gets to set the record straight, albeit, with finesse , Barack makes sure to disparage the sitting president. Now Mrs. Obama is back, assisting her husband in eloquently casting all things Trump in a less-than-becoming light. Instead of dancing to Up Town Funk, or challenging DeGeneres to a pushup match, this visit, Michelle chose to tell the story of how uncomfortable it was on Inauguration Day when Melania Trump handed her a robins egg blue box from Tiffanys. The implication of Michelles tale was that although the former first lady thought the frame Mrs. Trump handed her was lovely, receiving it on the steps of the White House broke protocol. Michelle told Ellen: "I mean, this is like a state visit, so they tell you that you're going to do this, they're going to stand here. Never before do you get this gift, so I'm sort of like OK. ... What am I supposed to do with this gift?" That was the question Queen Elizabeth probably asked herself in 2009 when, after gracing the aging monarch with an iPod, loaded with photos of Obamas inauguration and audio files of some of his speeches, Michelle proceeded to give the Queen of England a bear hug. Mrs. Obama continued, "No one would come and take the box," she said, "And I'm thinking, 'Do we take the picture with (it)'? " That's when Michelle said her gallant spouse; a man who exemplifies decorum, except when hes in Britain and continuing to speak while God Save the Queen plays in the background -- "saved the day." Michelle said, "[Barack] grabbed the box and took it back inside. But everybody cleared out. No staff, no one." Excuse me but doesnt Michelle remember her husbands Inauguration Day when she stepped out of the limousine and handed Laura Bush a package with a garish red bow on it? Maybe Melania reviewed the 2009 tape and followed Michelles lead. Either that or knowing how highly Barack Obama esteems himself, the incoming FLOTUS could have thought the former president needed a frame from Tiffanys to house a photo to place on the altar alongside his Nobel Peace Prize. Either way, characterizing herself as the personification of protocol, Michelle discussed the Melania frame incident on the same day the former first lady decided to forgo a pink pu**y hat and present Ellen with a birthday gift that included boxed wine, Metamucil, push-up handles and a Barack Obama Chia pet. In addition to being part of Ellens birthday festivities, Michelle exploited the opportunity as an excuse to address the fragile sensibilities of those gripped with fear over having a man in the White House who puts America first; elevates adoption over abortion; honors law enforcement and the military; worships God, stands for the Pledge of Allegiance; doesnt have domestic terrorist friends who stomp on the American flag; defeats ISIS; cuts taxes and recognizes that Americans are DREAMers too. Attempting to appear inclusive and understanding the former first lady went on to acknowledge that, there are people who feel good about the direction of the country, so I mean, thats what makes this country complicated because its made up of so many different people from different backgrounds. During the discussion, Mrs. Hope and Change commiserated with the Resistance, reminded them that "All we have is hope," and acknowledged that "People are afraid. Afraid of what -- deporting MS-13, Blacks having the lowest unemployment rate in the nations history, the stock market hovering at 26,000? When asked what advice she'd give snowflakes like Ellen who find the world to be such a "scary place right now, Obama suggested we do what she has never done, which is to do good things every day, show empathy, care for each other and to remember that you cant do [those things] only when people make you feel good or safe. Setting her advice apart from Trumps scary nationalistic racism and xenophobia Obama stressed that, We do have a lot in common. Thats what it means to lead with hope and not fear." The problem with Michelles sentiments is that this is the same woman who gave a 2017 commencement speech at City College where she delivered a contemptuous attack on Donald Trump without mentioning his name. While demonizing differences, stirring-up fear, and verbally segregating those who disagree with her left-leaning, collective view of the world, Michelle told the graduating class that, Here in America, we dont let our differences tear us apart? Here in America, we dont give in to our fears, we dont build walls to keep people out? The only exception to Michelles assertion is if the person doing the preaching, the tearing, and the fear mongering, is building a wall around a multi-million dollar mansion located in the tony Northwest Quadrant of Washington, D.C. Meanwhile, on Ellen Michelle continued saying, "We have to be an open-hearted nation and thats who we are. So, lets forget what theyre saying in Washington. Thats not necessarily who we are. We know who we are." In other words, Michelle Obama is back from vacation and has picked up where she left off telling Americans who we are, what to do and who to listen to. So, after mocking Melania Trump for doing exactly what she did on Inauguration Day eight years prior, and after implying the current president is someone who is frightening and should be ignored, the woman who spent two terms demanding our piece of the pie, inciting racial dissension, and issuing diktats to schoolchildren is officially back on the job. Jeannie hosts a blog at www.jeannie-ology.com Pieces of the Same Puzzle: SOTU, DACA, FBI There are three issues swirling around in the news lately that may appear to be unrelated: the recently-delivered State of the Union (SOTU) address, the ongoing controversy over DACA immigrants, and the about-to-be-released FBI memo regarding the basis of the FISA warrants in the Russia collusion investigation. But they are not unrelated. Quite the contrary: they are all incredibly important pieces of the same puzzle. Lets look at them individually and then put the pieces together into one big picture. Piece 1 -- The State of the Union Address President Trump, by all accounts, delivered a very direct, surprisingly inclusive, clearly America-first State of the Union address last week. Polls indicate Republican and Independent approval of the speech in the 75-80% range and even Democratic voters gave him a mid-40% approval rating. On issue after issue, he pointed to clear evidence of the success of his policies and approaches, coupled with a clear vision for moving the country forward. His harshest critics, the ones who will never concede to him even the smallest smidgeon of credit, the ones to whom he is an embarrassment, an aberration, had their minds made up about his SOTU speech before he uttered even a single word. Their take on his dynamic, inspiring performance was -- sadly, predictably -- Well, he did a pretty good job of reading a speech that someone else wrote, but in my mind, he doesnt deserve credit for that. As if every president doesnt read a speech that someone else wrote. The president may or may not actually write a majority (or any!) of the speech itself, but regardless, the speech is directly, accurately reflective of the presidents policies, plans, and future strategies. The president edits, shapes, tweaks, and ultimately approves the speech. The SOTU speech is the presidents speech, regardless of the actual authorship. The written/spoken line, Were going to keep Guantanamo Bay open was as indisputably Trumps as Im going to close Guantanamo Bay was Obamas. Regardless of who originally wrote it, those lines represent each presidents intended policy and they each deserve the credit or criticism as appropriate. Thats the way it is with the entire SOTU speech and with every speech given by any president, for that matter. However, much to his opponents unending irritation, President Trump has an unambiguous, clear, and yes, inspiring manner of expression. He is capable of reaching and convincing a significant portion of the undecided casually-attentive voting bloc. That talent was clearly on display this past January 30th. The sophisticated liberal sect and their liberal media allies would never succumb to such a simplistic, transparent presentation. Instead, they purport to see right through his rhetoric, as if it was nothing more than the intentionally-misleading, disingenuous pap of an old-time snake-oil huckster. Unfortunately for the Democrats in Congress and CNN/MSNBC, President Trump pointed to much success for which he can justifiably take credit: Extremely low unemployment, especially among Blacks and Hispanics Dramatic stock market gains, to the direct tangible benefit of individual investors, pension participants and educational savings account owners The decimation of ISIS as a direct result of new military Rules of Engagement instituted under Trump The personal and corporate tax cuts, resulting in immediately greater individual disposable income and greatly increased corporate investment and expansion. Piece 2The DACA Compromise President Trump is on the cusp of pulling off a political coup by giving into a key Democratic demand -- the acceptance of DACA. Not just the 800k actual DACA persons themselves, but 1.8 million, which includes giving unequivocal amnesty to extended family members of the so-called Dreamers. Democratic Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer, fresh off his humiliation in the ill-fated Schumer Shutdown, is now in the uncomfortable position of having to take yes for an answer on the Dreamers in return for agreeing to funding the Wall, ending chain migration, instituting a merit-based immigration system and ending the visa lottery system. The American public favors all of these positions. Trump has artfully maneuvered the Democrats into either accepting what the public views as a perfectly reasonable compromise to the hitherto vexing immigration conundrum, or, with a refusal to compromise, exposing what many feel is the real Democratic aim on immigration: to simply maximize the importation of future low-income/Government-dependent Democratic voters by turning a blind eye to illegal immigration. President Trumps strategy has yet to bear fruit and there is no guarantee that it will. The Democrats stubbornness and willingness to avoid working with President Trump is incredibly deeply-ingrained, bolstered by their never-lessening resentment over his having beaten the anointed Hillary and their certainty that their liberal media allies -- no, accomplices -- will sway public opinion in their favor regardless of the Democrats actions. Piece 3The FBI Memo The Democrats ace-in-the-hole is, of course, the Russia investigation. If the investigation can somehow uncover some conclusive, destructive evidence of Trump Administrations legal wrongdoing, then the Democrats will have succeeded in dissembling and delegitimizing the Trump presidency and, as a bonus, ruining the Republican brand for several voting cycles to come. By which time, of course, all those extra imported Democratic voters will be securely in place, ensuring comfortable Democratic national electoral victories in perpetuity. The Democrats real fear about the FBI memo being released is that it will show the FBI to have acted in a corrupt, overtly-partisan manner that tried to influence the 2016 election in Hillarys favor. If that is shown to be true, it removes the legal basis for the investigation of Trump in the first place, exposing the Democrats blatantly political motives for the entire matter. Without their collusion investigation, the Democrats are shorn of their ability to distract the public and thus it lays bare the fact that they are not cooperating with President Trump -- purely for political reasons -- on an immigration policy with which the public approves. Bolstered by the extremely strong public approval of his SOTU speech, President Trumps DACA proposal is now much stronger than it would have been. If the released FBI memo badly damages the Democrats anti-Trump activities, it sets in motion for them a nightmare domino scenario that will derail their efforts at unfairly manipulating public opinion and forces them to actually settle the immigration matter -- something they are loath to do. Absent their treasure-trove of illegal-immigrants-turned-future-Democratic-voters, the election process will return to something of a level playing field, issues-oriented contest. A nightmare indeed for the Democrats. It all fits together so neatly. The completed puzzle presents a crystal-clear picture: For the Democrats, its all about collecting votes by any means possible and gaining power. Maximizing illegal immigration increases the number of future Democratic voters. Ruining Trumps image with a ginned-up investigation wrecks the Republican brand and increases the number of future Democratic voters. A strong Trump SOTU address coupled with his sane DACA proposal and the danger posed by the release of the FBI memo does not add up to a pretty picture for the Democrats. Over 50 years have passed since then Secretary of Labor Daniel Moynihan was raked over the coals for raising awareness on the alarming rise of illegitimacy in black communities. Now that the percentage of single mothers has almost tripled, even leading members of the NAACP regard the breakdown of the family as the single largest barrier to black achievement. Nevertheless, how much of the general public knows the extent of the black gender gap? According to the Moynihan Report, black females usually outperformed their male counterparts in school and almost always greatly outnumbered black men in white-collar jobs. Data from Marylands 2016 PARCC exam concurs with Moynihans observations. Based on data from the 2016 Maryland Report Card Based on these scores the gender gap in blacks is 69%. This far exceeds the 47% difference between black girls and their white counterparts. Moynihan characterized this as a matriarchal society where men were devalued for their inability to provide for the family. He speculated that since men are poorly suited to this reversal of roles, some black males react with aggression self-hatred, or crime. Data from the state of Virginia shows a strong association between single parent households and violent crime. Both single parent household (years 2011-15) and violent crime (years 2012-14) are based on data from Country Health Rankings and Roadmaps. The cities of Bedford and Radford are excluded because their crime data was inconsistent with other data from Home Facts and Area Vibes. Since the Appalachian cities of Galax and Bristol are 87-90% white, this correlation applies to both races. Moynihan blamed the trend on past injustices that had emasculated black men and rendered them more vulnerable to downturns in the economy. Many conservatives dispute this, but in all fairness, the illegitimacy rate in blacks was already much higher than that of whites as early as the 1930s (about 15% versus 2%). Nevertheless, by exclusively focusing on past injustices, Moynihan overlooked the unintended consequences of governmental regulations that made it harder for black men to access the first rungs of the economic ladder. Ultimately, Moynihan was a liberal Democrat who did not see government as the problem. True to form, he reported that the federal minimum wage was well below the poverty line for people supporting families. There are two problems with this perspective: First, most minimum wage jobs are held by teens and young adults. Second, wage restrictions deprived poor blacks of the main leverage they had for competing against whites. Ironically, the Moynihan Report started out as an internal memo written as an advisory to President Lyndon Johnsons Great Society; a social program that is now widely credited for hastening the breakdown of the family. According to the Heritage Foundation, black illegitimacy rose exponentially halfway through the 1960s. This is precisely when the perverse incentives of Johnsons War on Poverty were being implemented. The report still has many detractors: Ibram Kendi, the founding director of the Antiracist Research and Policy Center at American University resented Moynihans use of the term tangle of pathology and believes it contributed to the narrative of black inferiority. The activist-professor also condemns the Christian right for wanting to impose their civilizing theology to the wayward behavior of blacks. Dr. Kendi asserts that the heartbeat of racism is denial and for Black History Month he will be shuttling across the nation to share his expertise with fawning members of the academic community who are eager to display their antiracist credentials. As for those who see through this charade, almost none of them deny that racism exists, but when young black men are murdering one another at almost 15 times the rate of their white counterparts, you need not be black to see why the problem of racial discrimination is not high on everyones agenda. Moynihan offered no solutions, but predicted that unless this trend was reversed all the effort to end discrimination and poverty and injustice will come to little. This prophecy came true for large portions of the black community, but who could have predicted how this ongoing achievement gap would so greatly empower a grievance industry that would hijack Americas colleges and universities? With the rejection of patriarchy and biological gender now all the rage, do not look to higher education to find answers. Antonio Chaves teaches biology at a local community college. His interest in economic and social issues stems from his experience teaching environmental science. Democrats' delusions of normalcy According to the unhinged left-wing media and their sycophants from the left, if American Citizens voted for or support President Trump, they are white supremacists by default. This is nothing more than a Saul Alinsky-inspired tactic to smear ideological opponents. And the constant yakking about pulling down statues that reflect our history both good and bad, is another attempt to divide and try to conquer this great nation. While these tactics might infect the psyche of the lefts sophomoric acolytes and a few Trump haters from the Republican establishment, most Americans realize that the Trump haters are acting mentally ill. The sane amongst us know that these Progressive (sic) demagogues are trying to tear down America with an eye on ushering in the ubiquitously failed ideology of Socialism. One would have to ignore the hard-won experience of Eastern Europe and the suffering of Venezuelans today to want Socialism for our country. The loudest and most toxic voices that scream racism and operate under the delusion of normalcy are coming from the party of plantations, Jim Crow, and the Ku Klux Klan. Poster by by A. B. Frost, 1876 The present day plantation owners, the Democrat leadership and the left-wing media, continue to use, abuse and manipulate minorities for their own benefit. Their aim is to keep minorities enslaved with the cynical bigotry of control, fear and low expectations. It is the Republican Party that was at the forefront in ending slavery and promoting civil rights. Today, it is the Republican Party that advocates genuine educational reform that includes vouchers so all kids can get the same basic skills. President Trumps call to Buy American and Hire American that is echoed by those on the right is a clarion call to help all Americans. While Republicans believe in the basic human quality of becoming the very best you can be, the vein-popping, self-serving fanatics from the left foster the belief that minorities cannot be successful on their own. They continue to profess that minorities must vote for their foe benefactors from the left in order to succeed. How has that been working out? It is plantation mentality; give us your vote and we will care for you so that you will never be free to be all that you can be. If minorities abandon the victimology gestalt fostered by Progressives, they will be more than capable of creating their own destiny. Minorities are not the mindless automatons that the railing demagogues from the left believe and foster. I have no problem admitting that our president can be, at times, undignified, rude and crass, but thank God he is a fighter who will lambaste the Progressives socialist cabal at every opportunity. It is pure joy to watch our president co-opt the book of Saul Alinsky (the bible of progressives) to combat the enemies of capitalism. Tweets and all, this is delicious to watch. In a capsule, what is happening here is that the thersitical speech coming from the Democrat leadership and the media arm of the Democratic Party, is fertilizing division and hate in order to push ideological anarchy. There is a revolution in this country, all right; it has been perking along for a long time. It is not about racism, sexism or any other smoke screen manufactured by Progressives. It is a revolution against a free economy by the Socialists Cabal. Under which ideology will minorities prosper? More and more minorities, despite being spoon-fed liberalism, are realizing that they will succeed under the ideology of the right. Many minorities who have already turned their backs to the slave masters are finding themselves free to chart their own success. Tonight, President Trump said the word America more than 80 times in his speech. Yet, after a divisive first year, we hear and feel how exclusionary that America is, with policies that have harmed so many vulnerable American communities. The ACLU stands ready to protect these communities, both in the courts and at the polls. I believe that the ACLU should remove American from their name, since that is so exclusionary and divisive, so then they would be known just as the CLU. (It should come off all their letterheads and websites and they should never be allowed to use the word American again in describing their organization.) They don't have a clue that when a President of the United States of America is giving a speech about the State of the Union of the United States of America to the Congress of the United States of America, the term America should be used as much as the POTUS likes. Somehow, President Trump saying that Americans are dreamers, too was also a problem. I had no idea that illegal immigrants of a certain age had a patent on the American Dream. Now I know. Other terms Dreamers and other illegal immigrants may not like are legal, illegal and rule of law. In Trumps lexicon, they represent anyone who might feel resentful or distrustful of immigrants. Americans are dreamers, too, he added; it was a dig at immigrants known as Dreamers, whose future hangs in the balance. I think we have to forgive Nancy Pelosi for calling Trump a racist who wants to make America white again. She may not understand that the 1.8 million people, mostly minorities, that Trump is offering citizenship to is over two times the 800,000 that the Democrats have repeatedly talked about. After all, sometimes she doesn't remember that Bush is not the current President, and she believed her colleague Dennis Nunes (actually Devin) was going to release the memo. She probably still believes putting more people on food stamps and unemployment is the best way to get the economy humming, instead of letting individuals and businesses keep more of the money they earn. And she is the top office holder in the country of the Democratic Party right now. Of course the smartest woman in the World, Hillary, now wishes she would have fired a sexual abuser in 2007. How could such a supremely intelligent woman as Hillary possibly have known when she was only sixty years old that a powerful man sexually harassing female subordinates should have been canned? Maybe she received her advice from Bill. I very much understand the question Im being asked as to why I let an employee on my 2008 campaign keep his job despite his inappropriate workplace behavior, wrote Clinton on Facebook The short answer is this: If I had it to do again, I wouldnt. If this response sounds vaguely familiar, it is essentially the same as her answer when she set up her private server. It is really never her fault! And to think almost all the media said this woman was a good candidate for President. Somehow a woman who had prepared for years to be President didnt have time to think what kind of email to use as Secretary of State? Maybe she could have used the government system that was already set up for her. "You know, I was not thinking a lot when I got in. There was so much work to be done. We had so many problems around the world," Clinton said. "I didn't really stop and think what kind of email system will there be?" Hillary should also be forgiven, because according to the honorable, honest, smart former FBI Director James Comey, Hillary and her staff werent smart enough to understand that they were breaking the law. Or was he told not to do an actual investigation and to exonerate her and her staff no matter how many laws they violated? I truly look forward to the 2018 and 2020 campaigns against the best and brightest of the Democrats. In the last decade I can think of no policies that Democrats have proposed to lift the private sector and give opportunities for all, especially minorities, to move up the economic ladder. Everything I have seen Democrats offer is for the government to get bigger and more powerful and to make more people dependent on government. Ill take the party that wants to give the power and purse and freedom back to the people. Little Manushi and healthcare Earlier in January, there was an article in the Daily Star (UK) about a one-pound baby (Little Manushi) born prematurely at 28 weeks in India. The mother, age 48, delivered Manushi at 28 weeks due to dangerously high maternal blood pressure and reduced blood flow to Manushi. According to the article, the cost of Manushis care was one million Rupees or, converted into American dollars, $15,738. According to the Mirror, she was hospitalized for 6 months. What does this story mean to us? In the January 1, 2010 issue of Managed Care, the average daily cost of treating a premature infant was $3,000 with children born at 26 weeks quickly exceeding $250,000 or more. Finding an average cost of care for a very low birthweight/premature infant is very difficult. In 2018 we find that Nationwide Childrens Hospital in Columbus, Ohio charges between $4,800 and $6,984 per day for neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) services. University Hospitals in Cleveland charges $8,935 per day for their NICU unit -- $7,250 per day for neonatal step-down unit. Suffice to say, everyone agrees neonatal care (and healthcare in general) in the U.S. is very expensive. If Manushi was born at Nationwide Hospital and because our care is more efficient, we assume 150 days of Manushis care was in a neonatal intensive care unit and use Nationwide Hospitals average cost of $5,892 per day, the cost of the hospital component would be $883,800. If we had matched the 180 days that Manushi was confined, the number would have been $1,060,560. This overlooks the cost of care provided by a neonatologist. How is it that India can treat Manushi for 1.8% of what the cost of the treatment is here (yes, physicians and nurses are paid 20+ times more in the USA than India)? What were the techniques employed in India that could be incorporated here? What techniques can be incorporated in other aspects of healthcare such as pharmaceuticals (for example, a Harvoni course of treatment in the U.S. is $96,000 while it is $1,500 in India) that will allow us to drive down the cost of healthcare and preserve positive outcomes? According to the World Health Organization, in 2014 India spent $267 per capita on healthcare which represented 4.7% of GDP. Life expectancy in 2014 is age 67 for males, 70 for females. According to the Commonwealth Fund, the 2014 private sector funds 69.1% of Indian healthcare expenditures directly out of pocket. 20% of the Indian population is insured. For comparison purposes, the United States spent $9,403 per capita for healthcare, which represented 17.1% of GDP. Life expectancy is age 77 for males, 82 for females. According to the Commonwealth Fund, 67.2% of our population is insured via private voluntary health insurance. Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway, and JP Morgan are looking to form a company with the end goal of getting healthcare costs under control. Can they incorporate the lessons of Manushi and help drive down the cost of healthcare? While healthcare was barely mentioned in the SOTU address, the cost of healthcare is an issue that must be addressed in order to make sure the United States continues to be the world beacon for prosperity and freedom. The alternative is to have the cost of healthcare suck the life out of our economy like a vampire in the night. Lets learn from Little Manushi. But above all else, Waters is a hypocrite, as she showed in her "response" to the president's state of the union speech broadcast on BET. Radical, racist, crazy, ignorant - Maxine Waters has demonstrated all of those character traits and more over her 30 years in politics. That she has risen so far in the Democratic party hierarchy is a testament to the liberal's penchant for delusional thinking and race politics. The Hill: This president with his vulgarity and his disrespect for women and people of color is a terrible role model for our children, Waters said Wednesday, in her response to Trumps State of the Union address. Whenever he appears on TV, there should be a disclaimer that says This may not be acceptable for children. That's a real knee slapper, Maxine. What sort of "disclaimers" should we use whenever you appear on TV? "Warning! The message you are about to hear is so off the wall that it should be ignored." Yesterday Donald Trump had the audacity to call upon people to set aside differences when, in reality, he has divided Americans in ways no other modern president has done, Waters said in a pre-recorded video aired on BET. As an example of the president's divisiveness, Waters pointed to Trump's statement last summer that there were people to blame on both sides at a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Va., during which a counterprotester was killed. She also pointed to his reported shithole countries remark about Haiti, El Salvador and African nations. One speech cannot and does not make Donald Trump presidential, Waters said. She said Trump is a dangerous, unprincipled, divisive, and shameful racist and should not be allowed to stoke racial animosity on public platforms. Whoa. See what I mean? Her statement about Trump could just as easily have applied to the immediate former occupant of the Oval Office, who never missed an opportunity to cleave America along racial and ideological lines. I'll let history decide if using the IRS to target the opposition, lie about the death of an American ambassador, and pass a massive health care bill under false pretenses is "unprincipled" or not. Waters has been calling for the impeachment of the president almost before the inaugural ball champagne went flat. To date, she has yet to identify any high crimes or misdemeanors that would necessitate the removal of Trump by Congress. She seems perfectly content to accuse the president of "racism" without offering any proof except his statement that there were two sides fighting each other at the Charlottesville riots. Given the outrageously stupid and crazy things Waters has said over the years, she should be the last person urging a "disclaimer" on any statement made by Trump. Incredibly, the same failed trend toward politicizing science has resurfaced right here in the United States. A trio of articles in Scientific American reveal the danger, not as a warning, but in two cases, as actual advocacy. In the old Soviet Union, science was subverted to promote failed socialist policies. The results were disastrous to both Russian society and to Russian science itself. Everything scientists did was for the advancement of the state, meaning the dictators. Individual scientists were imprisoned under torturous conditions, even murdered, if their science did not comport with official propaganda. Of course, in the end, the USSR collapsed. In a commentary titled, Universities Should Encourage Scientists to Speak Out about Public Issues, the authors say this: Opioids. Fracking. Zika. GMOs. Scientists should be speaking up about all sorts of science-based issues that affect our lives. Especially now, when Trump administration officials tell us that climate change is debatable and that killing African elephants can benefit the herd, scientists should be constantly exposing misinformation, bogus alternative facts and fake science. While it is true that scientists should express their views, it must be true for all sides of a controversial issue, not only for the radical left, which dominates the universities where scientists are taught. It must also be the case that the science aspect of the issue be separated from the personal opinion aspect. Conflating the two is not only increasingly the practice, it is being encouraged by the left. A second commentary concerned the decision by a noted science personality to attend President Trumps first State of the Union Address. Bill Nye, the star of the PBS television series, The Science Guy, was invited to attend the event with Representative Bridenstine (R-OK), who is the nominee for NASA administrator. The commentary states that, We anticipated this [attendance] would be a controversial decision, and we were right. It is the third commentary, referred to in the second, that poses the greatest threat. What makes this latest screed so concerning is that the authors insist that science cannot be separated from their own liberal viewpoint. Moreover, it should not. They claim that any other viewpoint is destructive of science. As with most liberal propagandists, it is not enough to agree with them on most matters -- one must be in continuous lockstep with them, every inch of the way. Even the slightest deviation makes you, in their eyes, the devil. Here is an example of their thinking: No amount of funding for space exploration can undo the damage the Trump administration is causing to public health and welfare by censoring science. No number of shiny new satellites can undo the racist policies that make our Dreamer colleagues live in fear and prevent immigrants from pursuing scientific careers in the United States. And no new mission to the Moon can make our LGBTQ colleagues feel welcome at an agency run by someone who votes against their civil rights. As women and scientists, we refuse to separate science from everyday life. How can so much deception be crammed into so few words? The women authors are identified as a group known as 500 Women Scientists, who most decidedly do not represent women, nor science, but only the radical left. Of course, they did not name their organization, Four Radical Leftists Perverting Science, although that would have been more accurate. Even as I write these words, a fourth screed has appeared online misrepresenting the presidents policies regarding science. Science is an exciting and productive feature of the human intellect, and as such, it should (and must) be disciplined by objectivity. Its assertions must be firmly based in fact, not opinion. Those who practice it, especially those whom we pay (though our taxes), must be people whom we can trust to rise above their personal prejudices, and stick to the data. The law of gravity is not contingent on ones political views. The so-called 500 women, while claiming to shield their liberal colleagues from discrimination, are in fact targeting those who disagree with their social worldview, personally attacking them, and by implication, demanding that they be silenced. Could anything be more anti-science than that? In the UK the Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123. In the US, the National SuicidePrevention Lifeline is 1-800-273-8255. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is on 13 11 14. Other international suicide helplines can be found at www.befrienders.org Buying wholesale into the Cuban state media claim that Fidel Castro's eldest son committed suicide based on clinical depression, The Guardian put up suicide hotlines in its news write-up. They knew how much its readers identify with the Castros, and considered this a death in the family. The British lefty paper actually posted this notice at the bottom of its story about the demise of 68-year-old Fidelito Castro : Is The Guardian trying to tell us that its readers might be so bereaved about the loss of another Castro that some might take their own lives? Is it saying this story is really all about the pitfalls of untreated depression leading to suicide, despite the vaunted Castrocare system, which failed to prevent it, as if that is what really happened in Havana? It's baffling that they think suicide hotlines or any self-help advice widely available only in the West (and certainly not Cuba) belongs in what will likely end up as a story about a Jacobean power struggle in the Cuban communist ruling class. Castro junior was the son of a billionaire dictator, living a playboy's life, partying it up in plutocrat luxury...while his nation starved. But of course, those are the people they identify with, Cuba's rulers, a suicide in the family of Castro is a suicide in the entire Guardian family. Not to be outdone, the BBC managed to rival The Guardian for the same sort of personifying identification with the Castroite princeling who partied with Paris Hilton and Obama-era celebrities: Fidelito, according to the vaunted British broadcaster, committed suicide all right -- over not being able to get enough green energy to Cuba. His ideas for developing renewable energy on the island were not incorporated into state policy, an academic colleague, Jonathan Benjamin-Alvarado, told Reuters. "I imagine that was disappointing for him," Mr Benjamin-Alvarado said. Instead of this being a self-help issue as the Guardian concludes, it's a social justice issue, a quest to stop global warming, a green issue over saving the planet, according to the boobs at the Beeb. The real problem here with this sort of coverage and speculation is that the news claim comes from Cuba's communist state-owned press. It's an organ not famous for its honesty. This story isn't about suicide, and it isn't about green energy, it's about who rules Cuba. Fidelito Castro Diaz-Balart, who supposedly took his own life, was part of the upper 0.0001% crust of Cuban society, and was last seen partying it up with caviar and canapes among the other Cuban elite as Hurricane Irma ravaged Havana. He and the others were contenders for who would rule Cuba in the wake of his uncle's death. Babalu traced his whereabouts during the storm in this translated article here: While the settlers of Gibara suffered the desperate anguish of the terror of the floods and the exasperating cut of light, within the charming building of Baroque architecture located in the old part of Havana, the Crowning princes of the dynasty Castro, Alejandro, Nilsa and Mariela Castro Spin (Rauls children); together with Antonio, Alexis, Alex and Angel Castro Soto del Valle, as well as Fidel Castro Diaz-Balart (Hijos de Fidel), enjoyed the freshness of very well prepared mojitos and the delightful delight of a canape of caviar, squid and salmon with raspberry marmalade that on a thin layer of crustless bread enlivened the debut ceremony and farewell to the presentation of a couple of books titled Fidel Castro and the United States and Raul Castro and our America. Against this backdrop, it needs to be understood that a major succession battle is going on in Cuba, with dictator Raul Castro, Fidelito's uncle, rescinding his vow to resign in February, supposedly over Hurricane Irma, as if the canape partiers of Havana actually cared about whether Cubans have their houses rebuilt, their water turned back on, or their electricity restored. He promised to resign, his coevals positioned themselves for the kill in the wake of it to take over, the long knives were out, and casualties were the consequences. It would be very easy for the Castroite press, which never reports a significant death without a long delay, to cover it up and call it suicide. As Babalu's Carlos Eire aptly put it: Think Game of Thrones. Think Sopranos. Think Godfather. As for Fidelito: who can imagine what it was like to have Fidel for a father and Raul for an uncle? Fidel kidnapped him at a young age, after he divorced his mother. And that was just at the beginning of a very miserable life. Miserable it must have been, yes, but he did live like the prince he was, along with all the other princes and princesses of the Castro dynasty. The BBC notes that no one had ever thought Fidelito had been depressed up until now: As the personal lives of members of the Castro family are generally kept away from the public eye, almost no-one will have known he suffered mental health issues prior to the announcement of his death. Which rather supports the idea that this might not have been suicide, but homicide. But Guardian readers will be looking inward, with the smarter of them wondering to themselves why Castrocare couldn't save him. Dianne Feinstein leaks testimony about the Russian investigation to the media. She later blames a cold for her malfeasance. James Comey illegally leaks government documents to a professor who releases it to the media. Much later, Comey says the professor was his attorney. Adam Schiff repeatedly goes to the media and claims there is evidence of a Russian collusion with Trump even though there is no actual evidence. The media gladly repeats what Schiff says, acting as if it is factual. Anonymous sources have repeatedly leaked material from private conversations at the White House and the media gladly takes the leaks and treats them as factual. Information is repeatedly leaked from the secret Mueller investigation and it shows up in newspapers and on cable and network news. But now, we are told that Democrats and the FBI say how dangerous it would be to the FBI and how it would undermine the justice system if a memo from Republicans were released to the public. That sounds like a pure crock of crap considering all the leaks that have come out continuously -- that the media gladly reports (when FBI is often the source itself). In the past, the media would be anxious to get hold of this memo if there were corruption at Justice and in a Republican administration, but in this case they are doing everything they can to block it themselves. They essentially are trying to hide information from the public instead of having transparency. The Washington Post, which pompously adopted the motto Democracy dies in darkness about the time President Trump took office, now editorializes for the suppression of the information in the Nunes memo. There must be some pretty bad stuff in the Nunes memo or the Justice Department, FBI, Democrats and the media wouldnt be fighting so hard to block its release. What we almost certainly know: The Russian collusion investigation was a fraud from the start meant to destroy Trump. The U.S. intelligence agencies did not have any intelligence that justified the spying on anyone surrounding Trump. Instead, the Justice Department used a DNC and Hillary-funded fake Russian dossier as justification to spy. We know that the Obama administration intentionally and illegally spied for years on many Americans so why wouldnt we believe that they would use a fake document to spy on a political opponent. People surrounding Obama used the illegal surveillance to illegally unmask names and conversations of people surrounding Trump and the media gladly took these illegal leaks and repeated what they were told no questions asked. We also know that Hillary and her staff intentionally and illegally violated the nations security laws for four years. Instead of the Justice Department caring about the serious violations of laws protecting secrets classified information, they did a pretend investigation and exonerated her and everyone surrounding her. We have seen a huge number of texts of high up FBI officials advocating destroying Trump and clearing Hillary. Does anyone actually believe that the FBI did a serious investigation of the thousands of emails that showed up on Weiners computer in a few days? Obama and many others also violated the nations laws by corresponding with her knowingly on her private server with classified information. Again, Justice held not one of these powerful people to account and the sycophant media didnt care. Lois Lerner and the IRS intentionally violated the constitutional rights of political opponents of Obama, and again there was a pretend investigation where no charges were filed. Obama also didnt like immigration laws that Congress had passed, so he just ignored them and changed them. The supposedly independent justice Department did what they were told and ignored the laws themselves. Sanctuary cities and states also were allowed to ignore the laws. Holder, Clapper, Brennan and Comey committed perjury before Congress and they were allowed to skate. After seeing all the abuse at Justice, the FBI and throughout the Obama administration for eight years, we are told that it is Trump and Republicans that are hurting the integrity of the Justice Department and threatening democracy. Again, what a crock of garbage! The media and other Democrats portray Trump as a tyrant when the opposite is true. Trump is trying to give the power and purse back to the people. The true tyrant was Obama, who controlled Justice and IRS with an iron hand and continually tried to increase the power of the federal government. The true threat to democracy and our freedom is when the compliant media looks the other way, no matter what an administration they like does, and seeks to destroy a president every day, no matter what he does, because they dont like him or his agenda. The media pretends they are honest fact-checkers but nothing could be further from the truth. There was never a scintilla of evidence of Trump colluding with Russia to rig the election, but almost all the media has presented that as if it were factual, and that was the justification for the investigation in the first place. A couple questions for journalists and other Democrats: What crime did Trump commit which justified the special prosecutor? How can there be obstruction if there is no crime? With storied statues having come down from sea to shining sea the past year, its time for the same to happen with something somewhat newer: the socialist-born plaque in the Statue of Libertys pedestal. Yeah, its the one with the huddled masses bit. There are good reasons for it to be removed, too above and beyond the fact that our whole nation is being turned into a huddled mass. The plaque contains the poem The New Colossus, written by socialist writer Emma Lazarus. It didnt come with the statue, a gift from France unveiled in 1886, but was slapped on smack dab in the middle of the Progressive Era (in 1903). This was also the period that gave us other things as American as Lazarus poem, such as entry into World War I, the income tax, and the notion that the Constitution could be considered a living document (Woodrow Wilson loved to bloviate about this). The poem remained relatively obscure for decades, and wed be well served if it stayed that way. Alas, though, its now well known. Whats not so well known is that the Statue of Liberty had nothing to do with immigration. That the poem helps create the confusion that it does is enough of a reason to remove it, but there are others as well: Many now see the poems most famous line, Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore, as a policy statement. In fact, former secretary of state Madeleine Albright (Halfbright?) tweeted last year, There is no fine print on the Statue of Liberty. America must remain open to people of all faiths & backgrounds. #RefugeesWelcome. Fine print, of course, is the way you speak of law or a contract. That the poem is being used this way should give everyone pause. The New Colossus was an example of 19th-century virtue-signaling. Its also more than troubling that policy is being influenced by sentiments that most dont even know have a socialist pedigree. In fact, as a socialist, Lazarus could be seen as having been an (unwitting) enemy of America. Having said this, shes not the only 19th-century socialist shaping policy theres Bernie Sanders, too. Today, the huddled masses arent yearning to breathe free; theyre yearning for free stuff. Immigration aint what it used to be, and romanticizing immigrants distorts reality; being people, they include the good, the bad and the ugly. Id sooner see the romanticizing of citizens, though truth beats incessant pep talks any day. Created by French sculptor Frederic Auguste Bartholdi, the Statue of Liberty was originally intended to symbolize the principles of international republicanism; again, it had nothing to do with immigration. And as with the Constitution, wed do well to return to original intent. This is especially true because the huddled-masses bit now buttresses what I dubbed immigrationism, the bizarre notion that immigration is always good, always necessary and should be the one constant in an ever-changing universe of policy. Yet with 85 to 90 percent of todays immigrants hailing from the Third World and 70 to 90 percent of them voting for freedom-squelching Democrats upon naturalization, theres an irony here: The phenomenon now represented by the Statue of Liberty is destroying liberty. This, of course, is why leftists love todays immigration. If most of these huddled masses voted GOP, the Democrats would have long ago changed the statues plaque to read, America is full. Stay wherever the heck you are. Regardless, immigration is far from as American as apple pie. In fact, 21 years after Lazarus poem was placed on the statue, immigration was severely restricted via the enactment of the National Origins Act in 1924. Back then our population was only 114 million, mind you. Now, having almost tripled, its 327 million and counting. And with our stable fertility rate, it only grows because of immigration. When will we say enough is enough? When our population is 400 million? A half-billion? One billion? George Soros may want to make our population stats look like his bank account, but, cmon, really, talk about teeming shores. This is yet another reason why the socialist plaque should be removed from the Statue of Liberty. Oh, dont worry, Im not proposing it be destroyed. To echo the opponents of Confederate statues, it can be put in a museum where it belongs. Contact Selwyn Duke, follow him on Twitter or log on to SelwynDuke.com Maybe so. But maybe the story is a little more complex, and maybe President Trump has his reasons for continuing to express confidence in the man he chose to reform a powerful agency that appears to have been hijacked at the top executive level. When the FBI objected to release of the Nunes memo, at the reported urging of President Trumps hand-picked successor to James Comey as FBI Director, Christopher Wray, the temptation to dismiss him as another deep state operative was understandable. All the more so when CNN and The Daily Beasts fabulist Spencer Ackerman pushed the story that he was ready to resign yesterday. Naturally, the rest of the Trump-hating media picked up the story and ran with feverish hopes for a second Saturday Night Massacre , with its scent of President Trumps departure in disgrace 45years ago.. For starters, the resignation threat appears to be fake news (again!). Streiff of RedState: CNN has walked back their story Wray has not directly threatened to resign after clashing with Trump over the possible release of the memo, the source added, because that is not his style of dealing with conflict. Another person familiar with discussions about the memo said Wray didnt threaten to quit when he met with Kelly earlier this week and in numerous conversations since, but White House chief of staff John Kelly believes that is a real possibility and has been working on a way to avoid another departure from an already turbulent Trump administration. There is a recognition, however, that Wray leaving could set off a chain reaction of events inside the law enforcement agency. Top officials inside the bureau have been trying to identify who might be considered a Trump guy in the order of succession in the bureaus organizational chart, another law enforcement official said. The operant word in the last paragraph is could which means CNN hopes it happens but has no basis for claiming it will happen. Streiff thinks Wray was suckered earlier, but now knows better: I suspect that about the time Wray told McCabe to pack his sh** and get off the battlefield he realized that hes been suckered into supporting senior staff who are deeply and maybe criminally compromised. Wray may be angry about being ignored on the memo but hes going to be furious about being set up for a public buggering. I have another theory, and Paul Sperry of the New York Post today provides a counterpoint that lays the groundwork: FBI Director Christopher Wray is slowly but surely sweeping partisan operatives out of the bureaus executive suites all on his own. On the job just a few months, Wray told Congress in December he wanted to wait and see the evidence before taking any action against high-level investigators accused of bias and misconduct. Over the weekend, he saw some of that evidence, and it convinced him to remove his own deputy, Andrew McCabe. Wray is a smart, experienced attorney, former assistant FBI Director Ron Hosko told me. Hes not gonna fold to BS pressure with no facts, so he saw something solid, something from the agencys inspector general, who has been investigating political conflicts and irregularities involving McCabe for more than a year. Whatever Wray saw wasnt manufactured by the White House. It came from Justice Department watchdog Michael Horowitz, who launched his probe at the request of Democrats. My guess (it is only a guess because I have no contact with him) is that Wray understands the enormity of the task he faces, and is taking a slow and deliberate approach to it. He is in many ways like a new CEO recruited to turn around a large corporation, but without the ability to lay off people, close or sell poorly performing divisions, and cumbersome civil service protections constraining his ability to discipline his troops. He has barely 3 months in office at this point: Swearing in as FBI Director, October 27, 2017 As a consultant, I have had the privilege to be involved in multi-year organziational change projects in some very large corporations, where there are degrees of freedom for top management that Wray could only envy. But as one CEO put it, "The president [of this company] is not almighty." There are many hazzards for the insufficiently wary change agent. The first thing Wray must do is avoid the trap of taking any actions that could be successfully contested. Even though the executive levels of the FBI do not enjoy civil service protections, they have promoted and placed staff allies with those protections at critical organizational positions. Those allies can slow walk desired actions, bottle up critical information (that can set-up the CEO for embarrsment and failure), and resist him in countless ways that will not be discovered for a long time, if ever. In order to combat these moles, Wray's principal counter-weapon has to be the mainstream FBI professionals, the ones who genuinely are committed to truth, justice and the American way, the ones who are embarrassed and appalled at what they have seen of the corruption. They are the ones who can spot the resistance forces, call out their activities, and counteract their politicization. There are a lot of long knives that start to be unsheated when careers are imperiled. The most important weapon in mobilizing these allies is the powerful culture of the FBI, a culture that sustains the dedication expected of FBI professionals. He has to reinforce the positive aspects of that culture and turn them to the goals he and President Trump hold: removing politics from their operations and uncovering the abuses that have taken place since the poltiicization of the Obama years. One of the foundations of the FBIs organizational culture ever since founder J. Edgar Hoovers days has been the imperative to avoid embarrassing the Bureau. Since uncovering corruption inevitably will embarrass the FBI, it is important that Wray establish the principle that only provable misconduct will be revealed and then punished. He must be seen not as a wrecking ball, but as someone who will restore the FBIs standing and win back public trust by being totally honest, while protecting innocents from false accusations. In this context, his reported urging of redaction of names in the Nunes memo can be seen as an effort to protect the good guys, not shield the bad guys. Dont forget The Nunes memo is not the last word, for the Horowitz Inspector Generals report is going to be issued in a matter of weeks. Any shielding at this point is a short term act. The task ahead for Wray includes moving moles out of their critical positions, firing those that can be fired for misconduct (a long and difficult process), and moving and de-fanging the others, while moving allies into positions where they can do the nitty gritty of cleaning up the messes. Those allies have to know that he has their back. An FBI Director who seemed eager to jump the gun and embarrass the agency without due process might have a much tougher time persuading people down the organization chart to take some career risks to help his reforms along over the opposition of powerful entrenched opponents currently in positions to retaliate against them. As many as 300,000 people have fled to Florida from Puerto Rico in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria. And a ballot initiative this November could return the vote to the states estimated 1.5 million discharged felons. At first glance, either tally of these two Democratic-leaning groups would seem to dwarf Donald J. Trumps 113,000-vote margin of victory in the state in 2016. There are two demographic trends in Florida which may turn the state Democratic: Puerto Ricans moving to the state, and felons possibly being given the right to vote. The article claims that voting by felons is the bigger concern: According to Daniel Smith, a professor of political science at the University of Florida, about 62 percent of Floridas registered Puerto Ricans voted in 2016, a lower percentage than that of other Hispanic groups in Florida. That would mean around 80,000 votes, and not all of those voters will support Democrats. Even if Democrats won them by a big margin, 75 percent to 25 percent, for example, they would still net only around 40,000 votes. The re-enfranchisement of most former felons in the state is potentially much more significant. And while theres considerable evidence that ex-convicts have a low turnout rate, they dont need to have a very high turnout rate to make a difference if theres roughly 1.5 million of them. But in a countervailing trend, the article suggests that white people could be an important factor in the next elections: Florida has long been a retirement destination, and its above-average number of high-turnout older white voters have both trended toward the Republicans and helped counter other demographic shifts. The Villages, Fla., was the fastest-growing metropolitan area in the United States in 2016; it voted for Mr. Trump by 39 points. Over all, 10 of the 25 fastest-growing metropolitan areas in the United States were in Florida in 2016, and all except Orlando-Kissimmee where there has been considerable Puerto Rican immigration supported Mr. Trump in 2016. It's very sad that Puerto Ricans are such reliable Democratic voters. But at the same time it is understandable. Puerto Rico is part of America but culturally it is more like Central America, with a socialist orientation and little respect for private property rights and entrepreneurship. Puerto Ricans have also fallen for the Democratic propaganda line that Republicans hate Hispanics because they oppose illegal immigration, which is not nearly the same thing. Republicans can oppose illegal immigrants, and many illegal immigrants are Hispanic, but that says nothing about Republican views of legal Hispanics of any kind. If Florida turns Democratic, a Republican can never be elected president. Trump won it by slightly over 1%. Do you think Democrat's "Escape from New York" strategy will turn Florida blue? Ed Straker is the senior writer at Newsmachete.com. Posted on: February 2, 2018 10:44 AM A new 16-storey commercial office suite in the heart of Ugandas financial district will carry the name of martyred Archbishop Janani Luwum, the Primate of Uganda, Archbishop Stanley Ntagali has announced. The building, to be known as Janani Luwum Church House, was first envisioned by Archbishop Janani before he was murdered on the orders of Idi Amin in February 1977. The building, which is being constructed by the Church of Uganda with the support of the Kenyan-based Equity Bank, will provide an income stream to support the ministry of the province. Archbishop Janani Luwum. Photo: Church of Uganda Work on the building, which is opposite the Bank of Uganda, the countrys central bank, is in its final stages, and it is anticipated that tenants will move in later this year. Equity Bank, which is expanding across the region, will move their Ugandan corporate headquarters to the building and will become the anchor tenants of Janani Luwum Church House. The remaining space will be let to other businesses and commercial organisations. Work continues on the new Janani Luwum Church House commercial office building, opposite the central Bank of Uganda in Kampala. Photo: Google Street View Paying tribute to Archbishop Janani, Archbishop Stanley said: I get a lot of inspiration from him. He was a pastor, he was a teacher, he was a counsellor and he was very developmental. Church House, which we are about to complete, was his idea. . . And that is why the provincial assembly has decided to name it Janani Luwum Church House. We have many things we remember about him: his faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, he was a peace-maker he loved peace and he wanted reconciliation. And that is why he died. We remember him, we commemorate him, we value his ministry and that is why we are inspired. . . He was a great leader and he inspires us all. We should emulate his example to serve the Lord Jesus Christ. Archbishop Stanley made his comments in one of a series of video remembrances being posted by the Church of Uganda on its Facebook page in the run-up to this years anniversary of Archbishop Jananis assassination. The anniversary date 16 February is a public holiday in Uganda and is commemorated with church services across the country. In another video remembrance, Bishop Johnson Gakumba of Northern Uganda, where Archbishop Janani served from 1969 to 1973, said that the church needs to cultivate in the lives of our people the pillars of Archbishop Jananis ministry: evangelism, discipleship, ministerial formation, socio-economic development, standing for justice and love for humanity. The Church of Ugandas provincial office will continue to be based in their current building near St Pauls Cathedral on Namirembe Hill. Posted on: February 2, 2018 3:18 PM A Sri Lankan Anglican school founded in 1872 by a priest working for the Church Missionary Society was this week visited by the Earl and Countess of Wessex Prince Edward and his wife Sophie. Trinity College in Kandy was founded as the Kandy Collegiate School by the Revd Richard Collins in what was then British Ceylon. Prince Edward, the youngest son of Queen Elizabeth II is visiting Sri Lanka with his wife on behalf of the Queen as part of celebrations to mark the 70th anniversary of the countrys independence. When the school was founded, the missionaries took into their ambit the best of our indigenous culture, the college says on its website. Today it is one of the leading schools in the country and boasts a rich heritage. While the school was founded in 1872, its roots date back to 1818 when the first missionaries from Britain penetrated the Kandyan Kingdom and established an elementary school of humble proportions. Yesterdays visit began at the Junior School gate where the Earl and Countess were met by the Principal, Andrew Fowler-Watt. They were welcomed by the Junior Schools traditional drum troupe procession which led them in to the school where they were met by the Cub Scouts. The Earl and Countess spoke to many junior school students throughout the visit and they happily and confidently engaged with the royal guests, the school said. The Earl and Countess were shown around an arts and science exhibition in the lobby of the Oorloff Building. Afterwards, they opened the new Trinity College London A Level Section. The royal visitors moved on to the college chapel, where the College Cadet Corps formed a guard of honour. The college choir led the singing of God Save the Queen before the Master, Shihan Maharoof, gave a talk on the history of the Trinity Chapel, and the coats and arms of the British colleges carved on the pillars. Later, the choir sang the Hallelujah Chorus from Handels Messiah. Before moving on to the chapel lawn for a performance by the Kandyan Dance Troupe, the Earl and Countess signed the same College Guest Book that Queen Elizabeth II signed when she visited Trinity College in 1954. (ANSA) - Rome, February 2 - The Council of State, Italy's highest administrative court, on Friday raised fresh questions of Italy naming foreign-born museum chiefs. Culture Minister Dario Franceschini said "it's really tough to make reforms in Italy "After 16 decisions from the Lazio TAR (regional administrative court) and six from the Council of State, the latter changes its mind and calls into question, again, the decision on foreign directors of museums". At the end of May Franceschini sponsored a budget amendment overcoming the Lazio regional administrative court (TAR)'s rejection of five out of 20 museum appointments made by international selection. The amendment stated that in international selection procedures the limits envisaged for civil service appointments do not apply, "limits which preclude EU citizens from accessing posts involving direct or indirect powers safeguarding the national interest". The amendment would "clarify" museum appointments and "overcome" the TAR ruling, Franceschini said. The Lazio TAR had struck down five of the 20 appointments for top Italian museums that were recently put out to international selection to attract the best possible candidates. The TAR ruled against the five because the tender was open to non-Italians, interviews took place behind closed doors, and other technicalities. The controversial ruling affected four Italians and one Austrian, in Mantua, Modena, Naples, Reggio Calabria and Taranto. Franceschini said the government would appeal while both ex-premier Matteo Renzi and Justice Minister Andrea Orlando said the TARs must be reformed. "The world has seen Italian museums change in two years and now the Lazio TAR cancels the appointment of 5 directors," Franceschini said via Twitter. "I'm speechless". "We'll immediately appeal to (top administrative court) the Council of State," he said. "I'm worried about how Italy looks to the rest of the world and about the practical consequences, because as of today some museums don't have a director. "I find it strange that the sentence talks of foreigners, when in reality they are European directors and this contrasts with the European Court of Justice and the Council of State. "I am an experienced lawyer and politician. I know that you should not comment on sentences but combat them in the right place". He added that he was astounded that the TAR had described the procedure as confused. "The international selection was conducted by an impartial committee," he said. Franceschini added that the museum directors affected by the Lazio TAR's ruling "will be replaced ad interim". "The sentence has already been published and so the museums are effectively without directors," he added. "These people left everything and the reform was already bringing about great change, but it has been blocked as of today. "It is absurd to make distinctions on the candidates' nationality. The director of the National Gallery is Italian, while the British Museum's is German. It's a truly great damage to our image". Ex-premier and Democratic Party (PD) leader Renzi slammed the TAR ruling and said the government should have reformed the TARs. "The fact that the Lazio TAR has annulled our decision deserves institutional respect...but confirms, yet again, that we cannot be a country founded on cavils and appeals," he said on Facebook. "We did not make a mistake in trying to change museums; we made a mistake because we did not try to change the TARs". Justice Minister Orlando, another top member of the PD, agreed that the TARs should be changed. "The TARs should be changed, without demonising them but they certainly should be changed by better defining what is the ambit of competence of politics and what is the ambit of competence of an administrative court, which often enters into the merits of choices that should be exclusively the province of politics," said Orlando. Asked if the TARs too often infringed on the political sphere, Orlando replied "Yes". TAR sources said that "rather than changing the TARs, laws should be changed". One Austrian and four Italians were among the five museum chiefs scrubbed by the TAR. Here are pen-pix of the five. 1) PETER ASSMAN (MANTUA DUCAL PALACE): 63, art historian. Austrian, studied and worked in Florence, at the Deutsches Kunsthistorisches Institut. From 2002 to 2012 president of the Austrian museum association. Directed Obersterreichischen Landenmuseen di Linz and Angerlehner Museum in Thalheim bei Wels. Teaches at Johannes Kepler Universitat in Linz and University of Vienna. Since 2011 on scientific committee of Buonconsiglio Castle Museum in Trento. 2) MARTINA BAGNOLI (GALLERIA ESTENSE IN MODENA): 53 art historian. Born in Bolzano, graduated from Cambridge in art history and got a phD cum laude from the Johns Hopkins University of Baltimore in 1999. From 2003 at Baltimore's Walters Art Museum. Also worked in other US museums including National Gallery of Art in Washington. 3) EVA DEGLI INNOCENTI (MUSEO ARCHEOLOGICO NAZIONALE IN TARANTO): 41, archaeologist. Born in Pistoia, graduated from Pisa, then got European research doctorate from Siena University. Was a director at the Coriosolis museum of the Plancot Ple'lan community in Brittany. From 1995 to 2008 led digs in Italy and Tunisia. 4) PAOLO GIULIERINI (MUSEO ARCHEOLOGICO NAZIONALE OF NAPLES): 48, archaeologist. Born in Cortona, graduated in archeaology with specialisation in Etruscanology from Florence University. Director of the Museum of the Etruscan Academy and city of Cortona, where he has worked since 2001, and has had several other museum posts. 5) CARMELO MALACRINO (MUSEO ARCHEOLOGICO NAZIONALE OF REGGIO CALABRIA): 46, archaeologist and architect. Born in Catanzaro, graduated in architecture in Florence and specialised in Archaeology and Ancient Architecture at Athens. From 2010 researcher in history of architecture at the Universita' Mediterranea of Reggio Calabria. In 2005 got doctorate in history of architecture in Venice. MADRID - Galicia, the northwestern region in Spain, is looking for investments and innovative startups in Israel. The region's president, Alberto Feijoo, led a delegation of 30 businesses from Galicia to the '2018 OurCrowd Global Investor Summit', a trade show that brought together 300 multinational companies, 500 venture capital funds, and about a thousand startups from 90 countries. During the official visit, Feijoo met with the president of the Israeli Parliament, Yuli Kneset, and visited the Yissum Technology Transfer Centre of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, to promote cooperation with Galicia, said sources from the government of Galicia. Feijoo presented his administration's "Innova Plan 2020", which calls for 1.8 billion euros in investments for innovation and entrepreneurial promotion. "Israel's model of tehcnological innovation is exportable worldwide," said the president of Galicia at the end of the visit. CAIRO - The International Organization for Migration registered a total of 246 deaths in the Mediterranean in the first month of 2018, nearly all of whom were on the route towards Italy, it said in a statement announcing Friday's shipwreck in which 90 migrants are feared dead. IOM said on the Central Mediterranean route, running from Libya to Italy, there were 218 deaths in January. The remaining 28 died on the route to Spain. The death toll of 246 migrants makes January 2018 "the second-deadliest in the Mediterranean since June 2017," IOM said. In December 2017, it registered 23 deaths, making it the "least deadly" month since January 2014. The statement said that last year - in the months of the highest migrant traffic, between June and October - the number of deaths was always below 200. There were 4,256 migrant arrivals in Italy from Libya in the first month of 2018, compared to 4,531 last year (and 225 deaths), according to a table provided by IOM in the statement. The IOM Missing Migrants Project has registered "more than 3,000 migrant deaths in the Mediterranean each year since 2014", the statement said, making for a total of more than 12,000 victims in four years. As noted, a shipwreck with "no less than 90 to 100" migrants missing - at least according to the official estimate by the Libyan Coast Guard on January 9 - took place about 20 days ago off the coast of Khoms. AMMAN - Jordanian authorities on Thursday approved $7.3 billion Syria Crisis Response Plan for the next three years, as prime minister Hani Mulki told foreign diplomats that his country needed international backing to provide aid to more than 1.5 million asylum seekers. The response plan will be the reference point for dealing with refugees in the coming years including projects funding on the local level, infrastructure projects and efforts to collect donation from the international community. "The Syrian crisis resulted in the worst humanitarian catastrophe since the WWII, representing an increased threat for international security and economic growth", said Mulki infront of a delegation of foreign diplomats, UN and EU officials as well as representatives of major aid organizations, Petra news agency reported. "After seven years, the chance of Syrians returning to their country remains slim. Even if there is a peaceful solution, it will require years to rebuild Syria and resend Syrians back to their homes," he added, as he expressed his country's readiness to provide aid to refugees, but called for international backing. Jordanian officials say the international response to the crisis has reached %65 amid concern that local authorities might struggle to meet obligations as a result of hosting refugees. UN report says 68 children killed in Yemen in three months (ANSAmed) - ROME, FEBRUARY 2 - A total of 68 children were killed in airstrikes by the Saudi-led Arab coalition in Yemen between the months of July and September 2017. According to Al Jazeera, the figures are contained in an excerpt of a confidential United Nations report on children and armed conflicts sent to the UN Security Council on January 19. The confidential report, obtained by Al Jazeera, also said that 36 children were wounded during coalition airstrikes during the three summer months of 2017.(ANSAmed). ANSAmed - Weekly diary from February 5 to February 11 (ANSAmed) - ROME, FEBRUARY 2 - Weekly diary of the main events scheduled in the Euro-mediterranean area from February 5 to February 11: MONDAY FEBRUARY 5 VATICAN CITY - Visit by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. STRASBOURG - Visit by Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic (until 8/2). BRUSSELS - EU, visit by Khemaies Jhinaoui, Tunisian Foreign Minister. TUESDAY FEBRUARY 6 VARIOUS CITIES - International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation STRASBOURG - EU, Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker participates in a debate on the future of Europe in the plenary sessino of the European Parliament with Andrej Plenkovic, Croatian Prime Minister. TUNIS - Anniversary of the assassination of Chokri Belaid, one of the main leaders of the Tunisian opposition. WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 7 ROME - Lower House - 15:00. Conference titled "Migration, reception, inclusion, co-development. The role of the Med-African diasporas". THURSDAY FEBRUARY 8 NO MAJOR EVENTS SCHEDULED FRIDAY FEBRUARY 9 BRUSSELS - EU, Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker receives Werner Hoyer, president of the European Investment Bank (EIB) and Jan Figel, special envoy for the promotion of freedom of religion or belief outside the EU. SATURDAY FEBRUARY 10 NO MAJOR EVENTS SCHEDULED. SUNDAY FEBRUARY 11 CAIRO - Anniversary of the resignation of President Hosni Mubarak. (ANSAmed). In todays Wall Street Journal drama column I report on an extremely rare revival by the Mint Theater Company of Stanley Houghtons Hindle Wakes. Heres an excerpt. * * * Of all the countless off-Broadway troupes with which the side streets of Manhattan are dotted, none has a more distinctive missionor a higher artistic batting averagethan the Mint Theater Company, which finds and produces worthwhile plays from the past that have been lost or forgotten. If that sounds dull to you, dont be fooled: Ive never seen a production there that was a sliver less than superb. Rachel Crothers Susan and God, John Galsworthys The Skin Game, Harley Granville-Barkers The Madras House, N.C. Hunters A Day by the Sea, Dawn Powells Walking Down Broadway, Jules Romains Doctor Knock, John Van Drutens London Wall: All these fine plays and others just as good have been exhumed by the Mint to memorable effect in the 13 years that Ive been reviewing the company, a tribute to the uncanny taste and unfailing resourcefulness of Jonathan Bank, the artistic director. This time around, though, Mr. Bank haspulled one out of his seemingly bottomless hat. Id never even heard the name of Stanley Houghton, an English playwright who died in 1913 at the age of 32, before the Mint announced its latest revival, a Houghton play called Hindle Wakes that hasnt been staged in the U.S. since 1922. Were it being produced by any other company in New York, Id probably have passed on so obscure an offering, but the Mints infallible record of success led me to roll the dice. It was the right call, too: Not only was Houghton an artist of exceptional skill, but Hindle Wakes, his last play, is a study of provincial hypocrisy in Vicwardian England that crackles with a biting candor fully worthy of George Bernard Shaw, on whose far better-known plays it was plainly modeled. Fanny Hawthorn (Rebecca Noelle Brinkley), the sparky Lancashire lass at the center of Hindle Wakes, lives with her working-class parents (Ken Marks and Sandra Shipley) and toils alongside Christopher, her father, in Hindles cotton mill. Shes returned home much later than expected from what the Brits used to call a dirty weekend with Alan Jeffcote (Jeremy Beck), a hard-drinking young man about town. No sooner do the Hawthorns confront Fanny, demanding that she tell them where she went and what she did there, than Christopher pays an unscheduled call on Alans father Nathaniel (Jonathan Hogan), the owner of the mill and the richest man in town. The objective, naturally, is to force Alan to make an honest woman out of Fanny, but thats where the plot starts to thicken. Nathaniel, it seems, is a childhood friend of Christopher who clawed his way up the greasy pole of success. Whats more, hes about to marry off his neer-do-well son to Beatrice (Emma Geer), the mayors daughter, thereby securing for himself and his wife (Jill Tanner) a place in society that the money of a self-made businessman who started life in a weaving shed cant buy. What we have here, in short, is a standard-issue clockwork melodramaexcept that Hindle Wakes proves to be nothing of the kind. The difference is that save for Fannys earnest, hapless father, all of the characters respond to her dilemma in unexpected ways, none more so than Nathaniel, a coolly sardonic businessman in the Trollopian mold * * * Read the whole thing here. A fashion show consisting of seven designers hailing from the North East states of India highlighted the traditions of the area. The world of fashion, without some level of responsibility, becomes a shallow one. However, through fabric and style, through dresses made for all body types, one can spread some important messages about sustainability and inclusivity. The second day of Lakme Fashion Week Summer Resort 2018 saw a number of designers showcase the works of local artisans through their fabulous designs. The North East Mojo show, which was definitely a highlight of the day, saw seven designers from this often-overlooked part of India collaborating to bring to focus the styles, traditions and fabrics of their regions. Hand-woven silks and cotton dresses dominated the ramp a testament to the local weavers from the North East. While one could easily spot contemporary, edgy designs, the designers claimed that it is important not to forget ones roots. Aratrik dev varman's collection at lakme fashion week summer resort 2018 Traditional design needs to be recontextualised so that we can use it today, said Tripura-based designer Aratrik Dev Varman, whose collection showcased dresses woven by the Riyang tribe. However, it is important to stay close to tradition and respect it even while finding new forms. Karma Sonam, who hails from Sikkim, however, sees no harm in experimentation. I love traditional motifs and weaves. But I feel that those from Sikkim are too elaborate for a more global consumer base. Hence, I simplify the traditional artwork that one can find woven into the fabrics of our local garments, and create cleaner, simpler designs, she explains. No matter how the designs are adapted into the newer ones, what remains most important is the impact it has on the weavers themselves. Daniel Syiem, who hails from Meghalaya, elaborates on how his work with the local weavers has given the local handicrafts industry a boost. Weaving in Meghalaya has started to become a dying profession, as more and more people try to opt for readymade clothing. I have been working with the few weavers who remain for the last 10 years. We have tried to take the local designs and clothing to an international market. In the process, several weavers, who had given up the profession, have been convinced to come back to weaving, he smiles. And it is not just the traditions of the region that initiatives like these save, but also the culture and the stories as told by the fabrics. Manipur has tribal and Meitei community weavers and each of their weaves and motifs tell a story, explains Manipuri designer Richana Khumanthem. For instance, I have used a Meitei Sami Lami design in my collection. This motif was originally used in a shawl that was involved in an exchange between a Meitei king and a tribal chieftan. When reinventing traditional designs, it is important to hold true to the stories they tell, she concludes. CBI filed the appeal against the May 31, 2005 decision of Delhi HC by which all the accused were discharged from the case. In 2005, the Delhi High Court quashed all charges against the accused people in the politically-sensitive Rs 64 crore Bofors pay-off case. (Photo: ANI) New Delhi: The Central Bureau of Investigation on Friday filed a petition in the Supreme Court challenging a 2005 order of the Delhi High Court quashing all charges against the accused persons in the politically-sensitive Rs 64 crore Bofors pay-off case. The agency filed the appeal against the May 31, 2005 decision of the high court by which all the accused, including Europe-based industrialists Hinduja brothers were discharged from the case. Read also: Bofors case: BJP leader files plea for CJI's recusal, says he is 'prejudiced' The filing of the appeal assumes significance as recently Attorney General KK Venugopal had advised against going for the petition after 12 years of delay, saying it was likely to be dismissed on account of the long delay itself. It is not clear if the CBI persuaded the government's top law officer to review his opinion. Venugopal had earlier advised the agency to remain a respondent in the case filed by Ajay Kumar Agrawal, a BJP member and advocate, who in 2017 challenged the high court judgment in the Bofors case. A dismissal of a separate petition by the CBI in the Supreme Court would prejudice this case, the note said. Also read: Bofors scam: CBI asks for Centre's nod to move SC to challenge 2005 ruling But the investigating agency is reported to have been keen to file the appeal and there were reports that officers of the CBI had told a parliamentary panel recently that they had the evidence to back up their petition also. In October 2017, the CBI had indicated that it was considering an appeal against the Delhi High Court decision after Michael Hershman, a private detective from US-based firm Fairfax, alleged that the then Congress government led by Rajiv Gandhi had sabotaged his investigation into the case. However, sources said that the law officers after consultation were in favour of the appeal as the CBI placed some important documents and evidence to challenge the high court order. Jaitley who started his Budget speech in English, quickly switched over to Hindi the moment he came to the chapter on agriculture and rural economy. New Delhi: Finance minister Arun Jaitley by reading his budget speech bilingually, defied convention as no finance minister since the inception of the budget exercise has spoken in Hindi at length. Mr Jaitley who started his Budget speech in English, quickly switched over to Hindi the moment he came to the chapter on agriculture and rural economy. In other words the populist measures were all read out in Hindi. With the focus of the NDA governments last full budget prior to 2019 Lok Sabha polls, being completely on the rural poor and providing sops to farmers, the finance minister read the entire chapter in Hindi, before switching over to English while reading later chapters. The move, as reported by this newspaper on January 31, was aimed at sending a signal to the farmers that it is the common mans budget. Meanwhile there were several sidelights during Mr Jaitleys speech, as he quipped, Ab hawai chappal wale bhi hawai jahaz mein ja payenge, while speaking on the small town connectivity scheme of the Civil Aviation Ministry. When Mr Jaitley was announcing sops in the agriculture sector for farmers, TMC MP Saugata Roy reminded that farmers suicides were continuing unabated. The moment the Finance Minister started reading out paragraphs on boosting the food processing sector, Mr Roy again quipped that making pakodas should also be encouraged. He was taking a jibe at Prime Minister Narendra Modis recent comment when he had said that small level entrepreneurial jobs were on the rise and had given the example of how pakoda sellers had spawned across country. Mr Modi was present in Lok Sabha during the presentation of the budget. However there was no reaction from the treasury benches over Mr Roys comments, even as Opposition members could be seen laughing. The words strategic privatisation were used for Air India by finance minister Arun Jaitley in his Budget speech. The government had announced last year that there would be disinvestment in Air India, but the extent of it is yet to be decided. New Delhi: The government has officially announced that it intends to privatise national carrier Air India. The government has so far been maintaining that it is yet to decide the quantum of disinvestment of its stake in the national carrier in which it owns 100 per cent stake. The words strategic privatisation were used for Air India by finance minister Arun Jaitley in his Budget speech. This obviously indicates that at least a maj-ority 51 per cent stake in Air India will be sold by the government to private players. The government in its Budget speech also mentioned a new initiative NABH Nirman wherein it proposes to expand Indias airport capacity by more than five times to handle a billion trips a year. In the wake of the governments push for the Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS) or Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik (Udan) that is helping put even remote areas in the country on the aviation map and in which fares for some of the seats on flights are subsidised by the government, Mr. Jaitley said, Even those who wear hawaii chappals (slippers) are travelling by hawaii jahaz (aircraft). The allocation for the civil aviation ministry for 2018-19 has also been hiked steeply and pegged at Rs 6,602 crore, up from just Rs 2,710 crore in the revised Budget estimates for 2017-18. Of this amount, Rs 4,469 crore has been earmarked for purchase of two new aircraft for special extra section flight operations, seen to be a reference for VVIP flights. The finance minister also announced that for promoting tourism and emergency medical care, the government will make necessary framework for encouraging investment in sea plane activities. On Air India, Mr Jaitley said, The government has also initiated the process of strategic disinvestment in 24 CPSEs. This includes strategic privatisation of Air India. Budget documents show that the budgetary support allocated to Air India in 2018-19 as part of investment in public enterprises is Rs 650 crore, down from Rs 1,800 crore in the revised Budget for 2017-18. The separate capital expenditure support for the turnaround plan of Air India has also been earmarked as Rs 650 crore, again down from Rs 1,800 crore in the revised Budget estimate for 2017-18. In his Budget speech, finance minister Jaitley said, In the last three years, the domestic air passenger traffic grew at 18 per cent per annum and our airline companies placed orders for more than 900 aircraft. Regional Connectivity Scheme of Udan, initiated by the government last year, shall connect 56 unserved airports and 31 unserved helipads across the country. Operations have already started at 16 such airports. Airport Authority of India (AAI) has 124 airports. We propose to expand our airport capacity more than five times to handle a billion trips a year under the NABH Nirman initiative. Balance sheet of AAI shall be leveraged to raise more resources for funding this expansion. It may be recalled that the NDA governments recent move to allow FDI by foreign airlines in debt-ridden national carrier Air India upto 49 per cent was an indicator that the government is serious about disinvestment in the loss-making cash-strapped national carrier so as to bring about fresh infusion of funds. However, the government has made it clear that the critical substantial ownership and effective control (SOEC) of Air India remains in Indian hands. The government had announced last year that there would be disinvestment in Air India, but the extent of it is yet to be decided. It had constituted an inter-ministerial group to chalk out the strategy in this regard. The governments announcement of plans for a necessary framework for encouraging investment in sea plane activities. PM Modi had flown in a seaplane in Gujarat ahead of the Assembly polls there. Modi had stormed to power with his reform agenda and promises to do away with social sector schemes like MNREGA. Prime Minister Narendra Modi termed the Union Budget development-friendly and said it would strengthen the vision of a new India. (Photo: PTI) New Delhi: With seven state elections slated to be held this year, and growing indications of voters disenchantment with the BJP, especially in rural India, Prime Minister Narendra Modis last full-fledged Budget is designed with eyes firmly on the restless underprivileged and angry farmers. Stepping up on the agenda of empowering the poor, finance minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday unfurled, with aplomb, one of the biggest ever health care schemes that will cover, he said, nearly 50 crore underprivileged people. The BJP hopes that its National Health Protection Scheme, which aims to offer health insurance of up to Rs 5 lakh per year to 10 crore poor families, will draw them towards the party. With 30 per cent of Indias population living below the poverty line, the largest government-funded health insurance scheme to be implemented anywhere in the world will go a long way in easing the heavy debt families incur because of their healthcare bills. The government believes that its anti-rich and pro-poor demonetisation policy helped it record an unprecedented victory in Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls. It was being predicted that the UP polls verdict would drive the government to loosen its purse strings in the run-up to the 2019 general elections. Thats what is happening, a senior BJP leader said. While the urban India remains tilted towards Modi-led BJP, its the rural belt that is rapidly shifting towards the Congress. Majority of Indias 1.25 billion population lives in the countryside, and winning rural voters, the BJP has realised, is the key to return to power at the Centre and in the states. This lesson was driven home by rural Gujarat. While urban Gujarat voted for Mr Modi in the Assembly elections, angry farmers voted against him. Huge sops have been given to placate the angry farmers. Farm-distress led to farmers protests across the country. This Budget promises to raise the minimum price offered to farmers for crops, while investing heavily in agricultural markets across India. More money has also been allocated for irrigation projects, and state governments have been directed to purchase extra solar power generated by farmers using solar-powered pumps. This budget is farmer friendly, common citizen friendly, business environment friendly and development friendly. It will add to ease of living, Prime Minister Modi said after the Budget announcement. Mr Modi had stormed to power with his reform agenda and promises to do away with social sector schemes like MNREGA. The government, which was being perceived as a suit boot ki sarkar, has clearly taken a socialist turn. Mr Modis last Budget clearly indicates that he is not in a mood to woo his core votebank, the middle class, anymore. The Budgets tilt towards rural India has further fuelled speculation that Lok Sabha polls could be advanced and held with the Assembly elections scheduled for end of this year. Speculation of early Lok Sabha polls also gained momentum with the BJPs complete rout in its desert citadel - Rajasthan. In a severe blow to the BJP and chief minister Vasundhara Raje, the party lost the Ajmer and Alwar Lok Sabha seats and suffered a humiliating defeat in the Mandalgarh Assembly berth. The defeat has shocked the BJP and party spin doctors felt that the only way to retain the state is to make Modiji the mascot yet again. And this, they claim, can be done only if we advance the Lok Sabha. With Mr Modis popularity remaining intact, they say, people will vote for the BJP in both Assembly and Lok Sabha polls. Same is the story in Madhya Pradesh where the Congress is rapidly gaining ground. A stand-alone Assembly polls might just help Congress regain the state, a senior BJP functionary claimed. Jaitley said India cannot realise its demographic dividend without its citizens being healthy. New Delhi/Chennai: Unveiling the worlds largest government-funded healthcare programme, finance minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday announced the setting up of National Health Protection Scheme (NHPS) to offer coverage of up to Rs 5 lakh per year to 10 crore poor and vulnerable families for secondary and tertiary care hospitalisation. Noting that only a swasth Bharat (healthy India) can be a samriddha Bharat (prosperous India), Mr Jaitley said India cannot realise its demographic dividend without its citizens being healthy. The NHSP, he said, will cover approximately 50 crore people. This will be the worlds largest government-funded healthcare programme. Adequate funds will be provided for smooth implementation of this programme, the finance minister said. Secondary medical care is provided by a specialist or facility upon referral by a primary care physician. Tertiary care is specialised consultative health care, usually for inpatients. While not specific allocation has been made for the scheme, at the current commercial rate of premium, NHPS could cost the government up to Rs 1.5 lakh crore. Experts are unclear about how the government will implement the scheme without specifying allocation. At present, the government has a Rashtriya Swastya Bima Yojana (RSBY) which provides a cover of Rs 30,000 per family. While the RSBY has received an increased allocation of Rs 2,000 crore in the Budget, NHPS has not got any. If we go by the current commercial rate of 3 per cent premium, for a family of five the government will have to pay a premium of Rs 15,000. For 10 crore families, this is would cost Rs 1.5 lakh crore, an expert said on condition of anonymity. Announcing the scheme at this time looks like it is politically inspired, he added. The total Gross Written Premium of the general insurance industry was Rs 1.7 lakh crore last year. The entire budgetary allocation for family and healthcare is just Rs 52,800 crore, up 11.5 per cent from last years Rs 47,353 crore. I think the government will find some way to fund it. We need to know whether Central and state governments will be funding it and whether private insurers also will be included in the scheme. But it is definitely a good intention to cater to the masses and overdue for a long time, said Antony Jacob, CEO, Apollo Munich Health Insurance. The previous RSBY scheme had become almost defunct. This scheme would probably subsume all the other health cover schemes like RSBY. The target population will be the same BPL and Antodaya beneficiaries. But we will have to see how government will enrol the beneficiaries as the earlier scheme had met with frauds in enrollment. We will have to see whether the government will do a door-to-door enrollment or based on the BPL data, Sanjay Pande, executive director, Finsall Networks, said. Mr Jaitley also announced two major initiatives as part of the Ayushman Bharat programme aimed at addressing health holistically, covering both prevention and health promotion. To enhance accessibility of quality medical education and health care, the Budget announced setting up of 24 new Government Medical Colleges and Hospitals by upgrading existing district hospitals. This would ensure that there is at least one medical college for every three parliamentary constituencies and at least one government medical college in each state, Mr Jaitley said. The finance minister said that National Health Policy envisioned health and wellness centres as the foundation of Indias health system and committed Rs 1,200 crore to it. This would go towards 1.5 lakh health and wellness centres to bring healthcare closer to the homes of people. Noting that tuberculosis claims more lives every year than any other infectious disease, and mainly affects poor and malnourished people, he said, My government has, therefore, decided to allocate additional Rs 600 crore to provide nutritional support to all TB patients at the rate of Rs 500 per month for the duration of their treatment. Lakhs of families in India have to borrow or sell assets to receive indoor treatment in hospitals, Mr Jaitley said, emphasising that his government is seriously concerned about poor and vulnerable families. The proposal to build the Sela Pass comes amid concerns over Beijing's growing assertiveness along nearly 4,000 km-long China-India border. Jaitley said the government was developing connectivity infrastructure in border areas to secure the country's defence. (Photo: PTI/Representational) New Delhi: To ensure faster movement of troops in Tawang, a strategically located town in Arunachal Pradesh bordering China, the government plans to build a tunnel at an elevation of 13,700 feet. The tunnel will go through the Sela Pass, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley announced on Thursday while presenting the Union Budget. Jaitley said the government was developing connectivity infrastructure in border areas to secure the country's defence. Also read: Rs 2.95 lakh crore allocated for defence budget for 2018-19 "Rohtang tunnel has been completed to provide all weather connectivity to the Ladakh region. Contract for construction of Zozila Pass tunnel of more than 14 kilometres is progressing well. I now propose to take up construction of tunnel under Sela Pass," Jaitley said. The proposal to build the Sela Pass comes amid concerns over Beijing's growing assertiveness along the nearly 4,000 km-long China-India border. The Sela Pass is located between the Tawang and West Kameng districts of Arunachal Pradesh and considered crucial from strategic perspective. Troops of India and China were locked in a 73-day-long standoff in Doklam in 2017 after the Indian troops stopped construction of a road in the disputed area by the Chinese Army. Bhutan and China have a dispute over Doklam. The face- off ended on August 28. The Indian army has been pressing for speedy development of infrastructure along the border with China. Army Chief General Bipin Rawat in January had said that the time has come for India to shift focus from its border with Pakistan to that with China. He had also said that the army was focusing on improving border infrastructure to ensure speedy movement of ammunition and troops. The CBI had said that a loss of Rs 1500 cr was allegedly caused to the land owners of Gurgaon's Manesar, Naurangpur and Lakhnoula villages. CBI filed the chargesheet under IPC sections related to criminal conspiracy and cheating, and relevant provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act. (Photo: PTI) New Delhi: The CBI has filed a chargesheet against former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and 33 others in the Manesar land deal case, officials said in Delhi on Friday. The agency has filed the chargesheet under IPC sections related to criminal conspiracy and cheating, and relevant provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act, they said. Former UPSC member Chattar Singh, who was a senior officer in the Haryana government at that time, has also been named in the charge sheet as an accused, they said. The CBI has alleged in its FIR that land measuring about 400 acres, whose market value at that time was above Rs 4 crore per acre, was allegedly purchased by private builders and others from innocent land owners for only about Rs 100 crore in collusion with government officers. The CBI had said that a loss of Rs 1500 crore was allegedly caused to the land owners of Manesar, Naurangpur and Lakhnoula villages of Gurgaon. The agency registered the case in September 2015 on allegations that private builders, in conspiracy with public servants of the Haryana government, had purchased the land at meagre rates showing the threat of acquisition by the government, during the period between August 27, 2004 and August 24, 2007. In this process, the Haryana government had initially issued a notification under the Land Acquisition Act for acquisition of land measuring about 912 acres for setting up of an industrial model township, it had said. After the land had allegedly been grabbed from their owners by private builders under the threat of acquisition at meagre rates, the government issued a fresh notification in 2007 and put the land out of the acquisition process, the agency had said. 'The death penalty is not the answer to everything,' Additional Solicitor General PS Narasimha, appearing for the Centre, said. The bench, which termed the Delhi minor rape case as 'brutal', also said that it could not direct Parliament to amend the law. (Photo: Representational | File) New Delhi: The Centre on Thursday opposed in the Supreme Court a plea for awarding the death penalty to those convicted of raping minor girls. The submission was made by a law officer before a bench comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices AM Khanwilkar and DY Chandrachud which was hearing a PIL filed in a case relating to the gruesome rape of an eight-month-old baby allegedly by her 28-year-old cousin. "The death penalty is not the answer to everything," Additional Solicitor General PS Narasimha, appearing for the Centre, said. The ASG was responding to the submission of lawyer Alakh Alok Srivastava, who had filed the PIL in the rape case, that Parliament be directed to amend the law and award death to those convicted of such crimes. Also read: Delhi: 8-month-old undergoes 3 hr surgery after 28-yr-old cousin rapes her The bench, which termed the case "brutal", also said that it could not direct Parliament to amend the law. The baby was raped allegedly by her cousin on January 28 in a locality near Netaji Subhash Place in north-west Delhi. The woman allegedly didn't get a stretcher even when she expressed inability to walk. Vikas Verma, the woman's husband, said no doctor was present at the primary health centre in Ghodadongri due to a government holiday, so they had to rush to Betul. (Photo: AFP/Representational) Betul (MP): In a tragic incident, a 25-year-old woman delivered a baby when she was forced to walk down the corridors of the government district hospital in Betul, and the infant died after falling to the floor. The woman allegedly didn't get a stretcher even when she expressed inability to walk. Civil Surgeon of Betul District Hospital Dr AK Baranga said that Neelu Verma, resident of Ghodadongri, was brought to the Betul hospital by a Janani Express ambulance after she started having labour pains. Dr Baranga admitted that there was a major lapse on the part of the staff. "Not providing a stretcher and forcing her to walk despite the fact that she was in labour is a serious case of carelessness," he said. There would be an inquiry and action would be taken against erring employees, Dr Baranga added. The exact cause of the infant's death would be known after the autopsy report is available, he said. Vikas Verma, the woman's husband, said no doctor was present at the primary health centre in Ghodadongri due to a government holiday, so they had to rush to Betul. His wife started having labour pains midway through the ambulance journey, but she wasn't offered a wheel-chair or stretcher at the hospital, he said. When she was being escorted, on foot, to the labour room, she delivered the baby which fell to the floor and died on the spot, Verma said. Swaraj also discussed ways to advance India's multi-dimensional, historic ties with Nepal during talks with the country's top leadership. Swaraj, who is on a two-day goodwill visit to Nepal, called on President Bidya Devi Bhandari, Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and held talks with CPN-Maoist Centre chairman 'Prachanda'. (Photo: @MEAIndia) Kathmandu: External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Friday discussed ways to advance India's multi-dimensional and historic ties with Nepal and assured New Delhi's support for its political stability and development as she held wide-ranging talks with the country's top leadership. Swaraj, who arrived in Kathmandu on Thursday on a two-day goodwill visit, on Friday called on President Bidya Devi Bhandari, Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and held talks with CPN-Maoist Centre chairman 'Prachanda'. "We will extend full cooperation to Nepal in attaining political stability and development," Swaraj said after her breakfast meeting with Prachanda. "We discussed about the situation emerging after the conclusion of the elections and the preparation for formation of new government," said Prachanda, whose party formed Left Alliance with CPN-UML during the recently held elections in Nepal. "I told Swaraj that we want political stability and development for which we need cooperation from the neighbours. Swaraj assured that India will extend full cooperation to Nepal in its efforts towards attaining political stability and development," Prachanda said. The Maoist chief said Swaraj was curious to know about the political developments taking place in Nepal. "The talks we had were very positive and constructive. She also congratulated the Left Alliance for gaining victory during the recently concluded elections," he said. "EAM @SushmaSwaraj met with Chairman CPN (Maoist Centre) Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda of #Nepal and complemented him on his party's performance in the recent elections. The two leaders discussed steps to further deepen our unique India- Nepal bilateral relations," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar tweeted. During her courtesy call on Nepal Prime Minister Deuba, she congratulated him on the successful conduct of the recent elections. "Discussions focused on enhancing our bilateral cooperation to take our age-old and historical partnership forward," Kumar said. During her talks with Bhandari, Swaraj congratulated her on the successful conduct of election in Nepal. "Exchange of views on advancing our multi-dimensional relationship took place," Kumar said. Swaraj on Thursday held one-on-one talks with CPN-UML chairman KP Sharma Oli, who is likely to be the next prime minister, and prominent leaders of Madhesi parties. Swaraj congratulated Oli for the victory of the Left Alliance in the recently concluded elections and expressed willingness to work with the new government. Oli said his party is eager to work in collaboration with neighbouring countries and would forge partnership with India to move forward the country towards the path of economic prosperity, according to CPN-UML sources. The clear victory to the Left alliance -- CPN-UML led by Oli and the CPN-Maoist led by Prachanda -- was not seen as a positive development for India given that Oli had publicly criticised New Delhi for interfering in Nepal's internal matters and accused it of toppling his government last year. Highly-placed sources said the A-G gave his oral nod, paving the way for the CBI to file the appeal after over 12 years. In 2005, the Delhi High Court quashed all charges against the accused people in the politically-sensitive Rs 64 crore Bofors pay-off case. (Photo: ANI) New Delhi: The Central Bureau of Investigation on Friday moved the Supreme Court after 12 years challenging the Delhi high court order quashing the charges against the Hinduja brothers in the Rs 64-crore Bofors payoffs case. The Delhi high court had in May 2005 quashed all charges against the Hinduja brothers Srichand, Gopichand and Prakashchand and the Bofors company and criticised the CBI for its handling of the case, saying it had cost the exchequer Rs 250 crore. During the last hearing before a bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A.M. Kanwilkar and D.Y. Chandrachud in the appeal filed by advocate Ajay Agrawal, the CBI did not say whether it would file an appeal or not. In the meanwhile, attorney-general K.K. Venugopal had given an opinion that it was not desirable for the CBI to file an appeal after 12 years as the court might not entertain it on the grounds of delay. However, the CBI officials showed additional documents to the A-G to convince him of the need to file an appeal. Highly-placed sources said the A-G gave his oral nod, paving the way for the CBI to file the appeal after over 12 years. The petition by the CBI relies on a media interview by investigator Michael Hershman, who has given new information, which the CBI says must be probed and reopened. Further, the Central investigating agency said the Delhi high court had rejected the agencys evidence, relying on some Swedish documents. The high court was wrong in rejecting these documents, these were in the public domain and must be accepted, it claimed. According to the CBI, Michael Hershman, the first secret investigator into the Bofors case, had revealed the truth for the first time in a television interview and had allegedly exposed former PM Rajiv Gandhi and the then Congress-led government. Mr Hershman had hinted that there were powerful politicians in India who risked being identified in the Bofors case. He further alleged that the Congress government had sabotaged his investigation. Mr Hershman, who is the president of US-based private detective firm Fairfax, had said Rajiv Gandhi was furious when he found a Swiss bank account uncovered. Mr Hershman has expressed willingness to testify and help the Indian agencies on the Bofors gun payoffs scandal, the CBI said in its appeal. Mr Agarwal, meanwhile, said he was compelled to file the petition against the high court judgment as the CBI had failed to approach the Supreme Court with a special leave petition against the high court verdict. He said the CBI was in possession of sufficient materials to sustain the case in the highest court. There was ample evidence with the CBI that kickbacks had been given to different persons out of the Bofors deal. He said the high court had erroneously rejected the xerox copies of documents of the foreign country duly attested when the same had evidentiary value in the Indian courts. The petitioner submitted that the quashing of the charges in the Bofors case had given rise to corruption in other defence deals. Several important questions of law of public importance were involved in this SLP, he said, and sought a direction to quash the impugned judgment. He alleged that on February 1, 1992, then external affairs minister Madhavsinh Solanki had visited Davos to attend the World Economic Forum summit and handed over an envelope containing a detailed note to Swiss foreign minister Rene Felber to stall proceedings in furtherance of the Indian letter rogatory issued by a court sent for execution to the Swiss government by the Indian government. This, he alleged, had been done in order to help the Gandhi family. Gupta said that he feared a threat to his family and had sought security from chief minister Yogi Adityanath. Chandans father, Sushil Gupta, told reporters that some people came to his house on a motorbikes and told him not to go too deep in the case of his sons murder. (Photo: ANI | Twitter) Lucknow: The family of Chandan Gupta, who was killed in Kasganj during the January 26 riots, has reportedly been threatened by some elements. Chandans father, Sushil Gupta, told reporters that some people came to his house on a motorbikes and told him not to go too deep in the case of his sons murder. They said that some have gone to jail, but others are still outside. This enmity can cost you more, they said. Mr Gupta said that he feared a threat to his family and had sought security from chief minister Yogi Adityanath. I also want a license for arms so that my family can feel secure, he said. Maldivian top court had ordered all political prisoners there to be let off. New Delhi: In a clear political message to tiny maritime neighbour the Maldives, India on Friday said that the Maldivian Government must respect and abide by Thursday nights order of the Supreme Court of Maldives on release of all political prisoners there. New Delhi said this should be done in the spirit of democracy and rule of law. New Delhi also made it clear that the safety of Indian nationals in the Maldives should be ensured, adding that it was monitoring the situation. According to various news agency reports, the Maldivian Supreme Court has ordered the immediate release of exiled former president Mohamed Nasheed and other opposition leaders, terming their trials a violation of the constitution and international law. India has been unhappy with increasing Chinese influence in the Maldives and previous crackdowns on Opposition leaders by the Maldivian Government. New Delhi has also been upset on the way in which Maldives recently signed a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with China. In its reaction, over the evolving situation in Maldives after order of the Supreme Court of Maldives, New Delhi said, We have seen last nights order of the Supreme Court of Maldives releasing all political prisoners. In the spirit of democracy and rule of law, it is imperative for all organs of the Government of Maldives to respect and abide by the order of the apex court. We also hope that the safety and security of the Indian expatriates in Maldives will be ensured by the Maldivian authorities under all circumstances. As a close and friendly neighbour, India wishes to see a stable, peaceful and prosperous Maldives. We are closely monitoring the evolving situation. According to some reports, the apex court in the Maldives has ordered new trials, citing the questionable and politically motivated nature of the trials of the political leaders. However, the International spokesperson at the Maldivian Presidents office Ibrahim Hussain Shihab was quoted as saying in a statement, While the ruling makes significant implications on various points of constitutional import and criminal justice procedures, it was issued without representation of the State from either the Attorney General or the Prosecutor General. News agencies have reported that the Maldives has seen political unrest and street protests since Nasheed was convicted in 2015 on terror charges and sentenced to 13 years in jail while Nasheed himself was earlier granted asylum by the UK after he was authorised to seek medical treatment there amid mounting foreign pressure. The Maldivian leader, who is currently reported to be in Sri Lanka, welcomed the court order and said Maldivian President Abdulla Yameen must resign in the wake of the ruling by the apex court. Earlier this month, in a a bid to reassure India, visiting Maldives Foreign Minister Dr. Mohamed Asim (who is also the Special Envoy of the Maldives President Abdulla Yameen) had met both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj in New Delhi at meetings in which the senior Maldivian Minister had reaffirmed his Governments India First policy and emphasised that Maldives attached the highest priority to its ties with India. After an invitation by Maldives which offered the olive branch to a miffed New Delhi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had agreed to visit the Maldives-the only south Asian country he has not visited so far-at a suitable time. Swaraj congratulated the Government and people of Nepal for the successful conduct of three-tier elections in Nepal. New Delhi: With a pro-China Left government set to take over power after a landslide electoral victory in Nepal, India is pulling out all stops to ensure that it retains its influence in its Himalayan neighbour. Visiting External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj conveyed to all political leaders of Nepal that the Government of India is looking forward to working with the democratically elected Government to take forward bilateral ties to newer heights for mutual benefit, and to support the Government of Nepal, as per its priorities, in its endeavours for rapid economic growth and development. With China already undertaking massive economic assistance to Nepal, India, in its budget on Thursday, had steeply hiked aid to Nepal to Rs 650 crore for 2018-19, up from just Rs 375 crore in the revised estimates for 2017-18. Ms. Swaraj also met the victorious chairman of CPN-UML Mr. K.P. Sharma Oli who is expected to take over as the next prime minister and who is known to openly take a pro-China stand on various issues. Ms Swaraj is the first high-level visitor from India after the successful holding of Parliamentary and first ever Provincial Assembly elections in Nepal in November-December 2017. During her visit to Nepal, Ms Swaraj called on President of Nepal Bidya Devi Bhandari and Prime Minister of Nepal Sher Bahadur Deuba. She also held meetings with Mr K.P. Sharma Oli, chairman of CPN-UML, Mr. Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda, chairman of CPN-MC, Mr Upendra Yadav, president of SSF-N and Mahanta Thakur, coordinator of the Presidium. Ms Swaraj congratulated the Government and people of Nepal for the successful conduct of three-tier elections in Nepal, which is an important milestone in the democratic transition of Nepal. EAM conveyed to all political leaders of Nepal that the Government of India is looking forward to working with the democratically elected Government to take forward bilateral ties to newer heights for mutual benefit, and to support the Government of Nepal, as per its priorities, in its endeavours for rapid economic growth and development. According to the officer, the matter came to light after Pradip's neighbour found his daughter dead and son bleeding profusely at his house. The incident took place on Wednesday at a village in Debai when Pradip (45), who is said to be an alcoholic, cut the girl's vein and strangled her. (Photo: Representational | File) Bulandshahr: A nine-year-old girl was allegedly strangled to death by her father in Uttar Pradesh's Bulandshahr district, police said on Thursday. The incident took place on Wednesday at a village in Debai when Pradip (45), who is said to be an alcoholic, cut the girl's vein and strangled her, they said. "The accused has been booked for murder," Circle officer DP Tyagi said, adding that Pradip also allegedly cut the vein of his 12-year-old son. According to the officer, the matter came to light after Pradip's neighbour found his daughter dead and son bleeding profusely at his house. The boy has been admitted to a district hospital, the officer informed reporters. A case has been registered and police said they are investigating the matter for further details. These drawings will deal with a number of subjects like landscape, figurative, abstract, nudes, semi-nudes, religious art, and murals. Conceived on the lines of Artexpo New York, which provides space to mid-level galleries and foreign artists to put their art on display, Mumbai has been hosting its very own Indian Art Festival since 2011. Now running in its seventh edition, the festival keeps returning to the city from where it originated. We thought of introducing something on similar lines in India and creating a workforce for artists who dont get enough recognition otherwise, says Rajendra, founder and managing director, India Art Festival. Starting on February 15, this four-day festival will have art lovers soaking in an array of colours, murals, and installations, as artworks from around the globe will be on display. There will be a total of 50 art galleries, 575 artists, close to 5,000 artworks and 150 booths, all under one roof. Explaining the need to set up such a large-scale art festival, Rajendra reveals that a huge number of artists, who are not associated with any gallery to sell their work, depend on such public platforms to promote their work. We bring on board independent artists struggling for a platform. We also bring smaller galleries that are left out of the art circuit but have fantastic works of masters, established, and emerging artists, elaborates Rajendra. Art work by Rohan Sonavane But the bigger aim, says the organiser, is to democratise art viewing and buying in India. We want to bring out the art confined to fancy spaces where even true art lovers fear entering and make it available to the common market, he beams. Terming this years participation the highest in seven years of its existence, the curator discloses that this edition will have art from Tanzania, Singapore, Tokyo, Qatar, Doha, two galleries from Dubai and artworks from different parts of Europe. We also have art from across the length and breadth of India right from Kashmir to Kanyakumari and Assam to Ahmedabad, he smiles, adding that almost 30 per cent artists are city-based. And while theres a plethora of creativity available at the festival, Rajendra does not have favourites. We have each and every medium of artwork on display. Paintings right from watercolour, oil to acrylic, sculptures in wood, stone, and marble. So, if you ask me for best one, it is difficult to choose, he laughs. The exhibition will also showcase oleographs by legendary artist Raja Ravi Varma, besides site-specific installations, original prints and drawings in a huge number of sizes. These drawings will deal with a number of subjects like landscape, figurative, abstract, nudes, semi-nudes, religious art, and murals. But while there continue to be festivals bridging the gap between Indian artists, art galleries, collectors and connoisseurs, Rajendra feels that world of art continues to struggle in India. The market may have improved but it is not crossing the mark it created in 2008-09. Artists have reduced their prices, and are definitely still worth a buy. It is a good time to buy art, he advises. Indian Art Festival, On February 15 to 18, Nehru Art Centre, Worli Dutt had taken parole and furlough several times, while serving the term for his role in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case at Yerwada jail, Pune. Mumbai: The Bombay high court on Thursday disposed of a public interest litigation (PIL) filed against the reduction of Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt's five-year jail-term by eight months. Mr Dutt had taken parole and furlough several times, while serving the term for his role in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case at Yerwada jail, Pune. The HC gave the state a clean chit against the allegations of the petitioner. It also directed the state government to devise a scheme to extend the benefits of parole and furlough to other jail inmates so that they do not have a perception that the government extends favours to a select few inmates only. A division bench of Justices S.C. Dharmadhikari and Bharati Dangre was hearing a PIL, which alleged that Mr Dutt was favoured with regards to paroles and furloughs by the prison authorities. The state denied the allegations and said that it had followed correct procedures. It further said that details like - number of days, dates and reason when Mr Dutt was out on parole and furlough had been submitted to the Home department. The state submitted the details to the court as well. After hearing the submissions, the HC observed that it was satisfied with the contentions of the state as it had backed it with proper documents. The HC further said that the PIL seemed to be filed for the sake of publicity. The bench warned against such PILs and said that litigations targeting individuals should be avoided. The court then directed the state to devise a scheme whereby applications for parole and furlough by convicts are decided upon in an expeditious manner. The unpaid penalty is approximately Rs 27 crore. Mumbai: In a bid to deter traffic violations, the Mumbai traffic police and regional transport office (RTO) will increase fines by five fold and in some cases 10-fold from February 15. More than 46 lakh traffic have not paid their fine to the traffic department. The unpaid penalty is approximately Rs 27 crore. Despite various attempts made by the traffic department, the violators have not coughed the fines. Till date only 11 lakh traffic offenders have paid up fines to the tune of Rs 8 crore. Amitesh Kumar, joint commissioner of police (traffic) said, The recovery rate has been consistently low. We have used various tactics to recover fines. One such measure that will be introduced is the increase in the fines charged for various traffic violations. These fines will be doubled or increased by five to 10-fold. Mr Kumar added, The aim is to make people aware of the money they will have to pay when they violate traffic rules. We hope this will decrease the rate of traffic violations committed on a daily basis. Traffic violations like driving without licence, over speeding, drinking and driving, driving without seatbelt, riding without helmet and talking on the phone will see a generous rise in the fines levied on the motorists and riders. The city has about 5,200 Closed-Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras installed. The images are sent as a video grab which clearly show the traffic violation committed by the person at a time mentioned with the image attached in the mail or MTP (Mumbai traffic police) mobile application. Process of getting an e-challan When a vehicle violates a traffic rule, a text message is sent to the registered mobile number. After logging in the MTP application, a screen grab while violating the rule is sent along with the fine amount. When the e-challan is not paid, a constable is sent at the registered address. If still the fine is not paid, and the motorist is caught in a routine check up, the pending amount is recovered from him/her, if not paid, the licence is impounded. Faulty system of e-challan Wrong sent images in the form of video grabs Issue of e-challan despite payments being made Issuing e-challan to motorists who had not violated any traffic rules Measures used to recover fines The old practice of impounding licences was started again. E-challans were sent via post to the registered address of the traffic violators. Constables were sent at the residences of traffic violators to collect the fines. Motorists were stopped at various checkpoints, and if their vehicle was sent an e-challan, the amount was recovered from them. The Delhi court on September 9 had issued a production warrant in Indranis name and sought her presence before it on February 5. Mumbai: The special CBI court conducting trial in the 2012 Sheena Bora murder case on Friday gave nod to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) application to produce accused Indrani Mukerjea before a Delhi court in connection with alleged INX money laundering case. Former finance minister P. Chidambaram's son Karti is an accused in the case. The ED of Delhi will take Indrani into their custody, arrest her and will producer her before the designated court in Delhi on February 5. The Delhi court on September 9 had issued a production warrant in Indranis name and sought her presence before it on February 5. Since Indrani is already in judicial custody for allegedly murdering her daughter Sheena, it was necessary for the ED to seek trial courts permission to take her into their custody. Though the same court had rejected earlier application filed by ED, as the accused-turned-approver and prime witness Shyamvar Rai deposed as witness in murder case. Initially, the CBI had filed an FIR against Karti, INX Media and its former directors Indrani and her husband Peter Mukerjea on charges of criminal conspiracy, cheating, receiving illegal gratification, influencing public servants and criminal misconduct. The central agency had alleged that Karti had received money from INX Media for using his influences to manipulate a tax probe against it. The case involved violations of Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) conditions to receive investment from Mauritius. Based on the CBIs FIR, the ED had also registered a case against the INX Media, Karti, Mukerjeas and others under various sections of Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). With the Mumbai CBI courts permission, the ED officers had interrogated Indrani and Mukerjea in jail last year. The Malvani police has registered a case of murder against the accused and are on his lookout. Mumbai: A 28-year-old man allegedly killed his neighbour a 47-year-old tuition teacher in Malvani Thursday night over past grudges. According to police sources, the accused had fought with the deceased, Jaya Vishwas in the past complaining that she had too many students who allegedly created a ruckus in the area during noontime. Jaya had dismissed the accuseds rant, and that could have made the accused hold a grudge against her, the police said. The accused attacked her with a knife, taking her by surprise. He attacked her when she was out on a stroll with her husband Arpit (54). The accused is absconding since the murder. The accused, whose name the police did not reveal as they are looking to nab him, had stabbed Vishwas on her stomach and chest. The Malvani police has registered a case of murder against the accused and are on his lookout. According to the police sources, the incident took place on Thursday evening at 8.30 pm, when the deceased teacher Jaya Vishwas, a resident of Malvani gate number 2, was out for a stroll with her husband Arpit (54) when suddenly the accused person jumped on her with a sharp knife, and stabbed her in the stomach and chest, killing her on the spot. After the attack, the accused fled the scene, and the onlookers immediately rushed Jaya to the nearest civic-run hospital, where she was declared on arrival. Sources said that the accused had in the past fought with Jaya over trivial matters such as her students in the area creating a ruckus in the afternoon. Deepak Phatangare, a senior police inspector of Malvani police station, said, The accused and the deceased were residents of the same area, and had differences in the past. We have registered a murder case and are probing the matter. Under Franklin Roosevelt, the US favoured liberation for European colonies after the Second World War. The beginning of the end for what the Vietnamese appropriately refer to as the American War came with an audacious assault in the early hours of the first day of Tet, the Vietnamese new year, in 1968. Tactically, it was a disaster for the North Vietnamese Army and the South Vietnamese National Liberation Front. Strategically, it was a masterstroke. The fact that less than two dozen guerrillas infiltrated the US embassy in Saigon 50 years ago on January 31 and held it for several hours, raising the NLF flag in the citadel known as Pentagon East, changed perceptions of the war in America and across the world. Although 1967 had witnessed a heightening of antiwar sentiment among American youth, not least those eligible for the military draft, most US citizens had hitherto backed the war, tending to believe the lies told by successive administrations and much of the media. The Tet Offensive demonstrated that the war was unwinnable. It took somewhat longer for its sheer immorality to widely sink in. The My Lai massacre of March 1968, publicised the following year, was another turning point. Much domestic American opposition to the war nonetheless sprang from the creeping realisation that victory wasnt imminent, rather than an epiphany about the true nature of a horribly misguided venture. Under Franklin Roosevelt, the US favoured liberation for European colonies after the Second World War. A representative of the OSS CIAs precursor stood close by as Ho Chi Minh, quoting from the US Declaration of Independence, announced the birth of an independent nation following the end of Japanese occupation. But Roosevelt died in 1945, and Harry Trumans administration embroiled itself in a cold war with the Soviet Union and, soon enough China, seen as the primary enemies. As a consequence, the US began backing the French reoccupation of Vietnam, and continued to do so beyond the colonialist forces game-changing comeuppance at Dien Bien Phu in 1954, which clearly demonstrated the Vietnamese resolve for liberation. By the time French forces withdrew from the territory, Vietnam had been divided across the middle, with a reunification election in the near future ratified at peace talks in Paris. Once it became clear that the Viet Minh running the north would sweep any popular vote, the democratic intention was hastily abandoned. The US began sending in military advisers to the south, ruled by the deeply corrupt Diem brothers, whom the US succeeded in overthrowing via its favoured instrument of a military coup in 1963. The siblings were summarily executed just weeks before John F. Kennedys assassination. Not long afterwards, the American military role began to expand exponentially; at the height of the aggression, more than half a million US troops were deployed in Indo-China. Both Kennedy and his successor, Lyndon B. Johnson, privately acknowledged that their adventurism in Vietnam was militarily untenable. It was steadily expanded primarily to save face: until that point, the US had never lost a war. The American public cottoned on to the scale of the deception only after the Pentagon Papers were leaked by Daniel Ellsberg in 1971. In its wisdom, the electorate nonetheless chose to re-elect Richard Nixon by a landslide in 1972. Four years earlier, he had promised peace with honour but, determined not to be the first US President to acknowledge defeat on the battlefield, had escalated the war, not least by bombing Cambodia, a decision that made way for the Khmer Rouge and its genocide. Ironically, it took Vietnamese intervention to displace the Khmer Rouge, which in turn entailed an assault by Deng Xiaopings newly neo-liberalising China that Vietnam was able to ward off. Going back to the Tet Offensive, the premonition of American imperialisms ultimate defeat echoed far and wide. Perhaps the revolts that subsequently broke out in various parts of the globe 50 years ago would have occurred anyway. Yet the evidence of a tiny Southeast Asian nation not only defying the worlds most formidable military machine but actually winning victories against it undoubtedly helped to shatter the notion that late-20th-century imperialism was invincible. The Vietnamese were every day demonstrating the reverse. It took another seven years for the war to end with Vietnams reunification and the withdrawal of the last American personnel and some of their collaborators after the loss of millions of Vietnamese lives, and nearly 60,000 American ones. Last years recent Ken Burns/Lynn Novick TV miniseries, The Vietnam War, contains loads of fascinating documentary footage and ostensibly seeks to depict both sides of the story, yet reinforces the absurd fallacy that the cruel war was primarily an American tragedy, a salutary reminder that America first isnt a Donald Trump innovation. By arrangement with Dawn Besides commiserating with victims of terrorist strikes in Kabul, India has said nothing of a political nature about Afghanistan lately. At a lunch for UN Security Council members, US President Donald Trump said that after the recent atrocities in Afghanistan a reference to a spate of ghastly attacks in Kabul last week his government wouldnt hold talks with the Taliban. He added, though, that if talks were held, it would be a long way off. The anger is palpable, and understandable. But this cant be deemed as the final US stance. Only a month earlier, a New York Times report said, Americas UN ambassador Nikki Haley had said all parties were preparing for a conversation. This was before the US suspended a tranche of crucial defence-related payments to Pakistan, which angered Islamabad. The succession of attacks on Kabul was a follow up. The real point, really, is Pakistan. The Taliban are only an instrumentality. The US should say if its prepared to take any further steps to chastise Islamabad, besides stopping defence funds. That would give Afghans hope of meaningful steps being taken. Besides commiserating with victims of terrorist strikes in Kabul, India has said nothing of a political nature about Afghanistan lately. The least it can say is that US forces should end the futile attempt to bomb Afghan villages in search of terrorists, but focus instead on the sanctuaries inside Pakistan. Remember, India and Afghanistan are strategic allies. Every day they fight the same forces in tackling extremism and terrorism. India should voice its own thoughts, not repeat Washingtons, although the two are friendly. Instead, the US seeks Pakistans cooperation and assistance in various operations under its new South Asia strategy. Donald Trump, in a New Years Day tweet, accused the country of giving nothing to the US but lies and deceit and providing 'safe haven' to terrorists in return for USD 33 billion aid over the last 15 years. (Photo: File) Washington: The United States is not contemplating military action inside Pakistan, the Pentagon has said, refuting such reports appearing in Pakistani newspapers. Instead, the US seeks Pakistans cooperation and assistance in various operations under its new South Asia strategy, Lt Gen Kenneth F McKenzie told reporters at a news conference on Thursday. We actually dont contemplate military operations inside Pakistan. On the other hand, we recognise, because the strategy is inherently regional and Pakistan is geographically located at a critical nexus of a lot of different things, Pakistan is a fundamental part of the strategy, said McKenzie. Through a variety of measures, we look to gain Pakistani cooperation and assistance as we pursue operations in Afghanistan. But were not planning to conduct military operations inside Pakistan, he told Pentagon reporters in response to a question. Under the new South Asia strategy, Pakistan has an opportunity to be a partner in fight against terrorism, Pentagons chief spokesperson Dana White said. It (Pakistan) has been a victim of terrorism, and it has supported terrorism. We are looking for Pakistan to actively join -- it can do the things we need them to do to confront terrorism, said White. So its an inflection point, its an opportunity, and we hope Pakistan will take it, she said in response to a question. The US has recently suspended about USD 2 billion in security aid to Pakistan for failing to clamp down on the Afghan Taliban and the Haqqani Network terror groups and dismantle their safe havens The freezing of all security assistance to Pakistan came days after US President Donald Trump, in a New Years Day tweet, accused the country of giving nothing to the US but lies and deceit and providing safe haven to terrorists in return for USD 33 billion aid over the last 15 years. White refuted impression that there is connection between the recent attacks in Kabul and the US decision to suspend aid to Pakistan. The Taliban is desperate. Theyre murderous and they attack innocent civilians. As the general said, these were flashy but it shows their disparity, she said. For every attack thats carried out, many, many, many are stopped, many are prevented from occurring. So to think that youre going to have exquisite timing on when an attack occurs is probably a bridge too far for the Taliban to have, White said. Myanmar's army had said that the security forces had discovered a mass grave on the edge of a village in Rakhine State. Washington: The US State Department said on Thursday that it was "deeply, deeply troubled" by new reports of mass graves in Myanmar's Rakhine State, where the military has been accused of atrocities against minority Rohingya Muslims. The Associated Press reported earlier it had confirmed the existence of more than five previously unreported mass graves in the Myanmar village of Gu Dar Pyin, through interviews of survivors in refugee camps in Bangladesh and through time-stamped cellphone videos. Also Read: Petrol bomb thrown at Myanmars democracy heroine Suu Kyis home "We are deeply, deeply troubled by those reports of mass graves," State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert told a regular news briefing. "We are watching this very carefully. We remain focused on helping to ensure the accountability for those responsible for human rights abuses and violations." Nauert said the reports highlighted the need for authorities in Myanmar to cooperate with an independent, credible investigation into allegations of atrocities in northern Rakhine state. In December, Myanmar's army had said that the security forces had discovered a mass grave on the edge of a village in Rakhine State, and had launched an investigation. A violent crackdown by the security forces in response to attacks by militants in the state has caused around 650,000 Rohingya Muslims to flee to Bangladesh in recent months. Donald Trump has asked Pakistan to take decisive action against terror groups operating from its soil. Unveiling his first National Security Strategy, Trump said Pakistan has to intensify its counter-terrorism efforts and help in eliminating terror sanctuaries as America was making massive payments to it every year. (Photo: File) Islamabad: Pakistan said Friday that it had killed more than 17,600 militants in counter-terrorism operations started after the 9/11 terror attacks and destroyed their training camps in the restive tribal region bordering Afghanistan. Foreign Office spokesman Mohammad Faisal said at the weekly briefing that Pakistan had also cleared more than 46,000 km of land from terrorists. "Counter-terrorism operations within Pakistan have cleared 46,378 km of land and eliminated 17,614 terrorists, ensuring that our soil is not used against any other territory; we expect the same from our neighbours," he said. US President Donald Trump has asked Pakistan to take "decisive action" against terror groups operating from its soil. Unveiling his first National Security Strategy (NSS), Trump said Pakistan has to intensify its counter-terrorism efforts and help in eliminating terror sanctuaries as America was making "massive payments" to it every year. Faisal said the ongoing counter-terrorism operation Raddul-Fassad which was launched by Pakistan military last year eliminated terrorists especially those belonging to Tehreek-i-Taiban Afghanistan (TTA) and Haqqani Network (HN). "Actions against HN include rooting out of terrorist camps in Waziristan, blocking medical assistance to terrorists & breaking their financing & training camps," he said. Faisal said Pakistan continued to prevent suspected TTA and HN elements from using its soil for any terrorist activity in Afghanistan. He said that 27 individuals suspected of belonging to TTA and HN were handed over to Afghanistan in November 2017. Faisal also alleged that "tensions and escalation by India at the Eastern border adversely impact our counter- terrorism efforts". Pakistan has deployed 202,000 troops for action against militants, the largest counter-terrorism deployment. Faisal said effective border management remained one of Pakistans prime objectives in preventing cross-border terrorism. "Pakistan has 975 border posts to man Pak-Afghan border; Afghanistan has 218," he said. He said Pakistan was keen to assist the Afghan government while highlighting that on the southern side of the border, "a stretch of 648 km has no check post on the Afghan side". "Large swathes of ungoverned spaces in Afghanistan are leaving a vacuum for safe havens and terrorist sanctuaries to flourish and launch attacks on Pakistan. Incidence of cross- border terrorist attacks from Afghanistan has increased since 2016, and peaked to 417 in 2017," he said. The spokesman also said that "Pakistan continues to share intelligence with more than 70 countries" and has lost 75,000 civilians and 6000 soldiers to the scourge of terrorism. He said Pakistan had one of the highest officer-to- soldier casualty rates globally. Faisal also said his country had suffered economic losses worth USD 123 billions in the war against terrorism. He also mentioned the recent fatwa jointly issued by 1,829 highly qualified religious scholars, condemning terrorism and declaring it contrary to the teachings of Islam. "The fatwa outlaws the use of force by individuals or groups to take up arms against state for imposition of Sharia. The Fatwa also prohibits Pakistani citizens from violating territorial boundaries in the name of helping other armed groups and struggles outside Pakistan, offering intellectual and practical training and recruitment of terrorists," he said. by Hocine Drouiche The intellectual leaders of the Islamic State continue to justify the enslavement of non-Muslim women as part of the "spoils of war". In doing so, they go along with many of todays Muslim scholars. Conservative circles have put up a resistance to an historical and contextual re-examination of Islams sacred texts. This is the second part (out of three) of an analysis by Imam Hocine Drouiche. The first part was published yesterday. Nimes (AsiaNews) We publish the second part (out of three) of the analysis by Imam Hocine Drouiche on the urgency of reform in Islamic law, especially on the issue of rape and enslavement of non-Muslims. The first part is available here. Scrapping religious opinions about sexual slavery has been the struggle of many Muslim thinkers, people like Abdelouhaeb Maadeb, Mohamed Arkoune, Mohammed Chahrour and Nasr Hamed Abu Zeyd. They and others have not stopped calling for the historicisation and contextualisation of the interpretations of these texts, to free Islam and Muslims from the weight of the "sacred past" that is holding back the evolution of the Muslim world. Because of this heavy legacy, the Muslim world is in conflict with the whole world, in the West, in China, in India and in several African countries. It is this hateful and bloody legacy that has pitted Sunnis against Shias, Salafists against Sufis, etc. . . . What has made reform more complicated is the refusal by conservatives of any contextualisation or historicisation of the texts, which end up authorising all sorts of violence. In general, all interpretations are linked to the so-called "reasons of revelation (Asbaab ennuzul), and the repeal of these opinions does not yet seem feasible in the face of the great resistance by conservative and Salafi schools. In their view, any reform represents a modification of Gods law, a fundamental questioning of the bases of Islam, and a capitulation before its enemies! In the opaque legal climate that reigns in the great ship of Islam, which is not led by any unitary clergy, terrorist organisations like Daesh are not an exception. They continue to apply to the letter Sharia, which is still recognised and taught in various Muslim organisations throughout the world, in institutes, as well as in many official universities in the Muslim world. Al Monjid, one of the Salafist references in contemporary Islam, answered clearly a question regarding the spoils of war, including women, on his website: "To have sexual slaves represents [follows] the example of the prophet, his companions and all our Muslim predecessors. Nobody can forbid it. Those who forbid it commit a great sin because it goes against the consensus of the scholars of Islam." The issue of the permanent jihad within Islam complicates the idea that Muslim law and contemporary international humanitarian law share the same fundamental values with respect to the protection of civilian populations in armed conflicts. Suad Salih (pictured), director of Higher Studies at al Azhar University, should officially apologise to all non-Muslim women (Yazidis and others) for her inhuman statements on the treatment to be meted out to non-Muslim women, irrespective of whether they are seen or not as "spoils of war" in armed conflicts. By continuing to disseminate these religious opinions in Muslim communities authorising the enslavement of the "spoils of war" and the legalisation of sexual slavery, Muslim authorities and universities, both public and private, could be probed and judged on this point, as well as on their role and direct and indirect responsibility in legalising such crimes against humanity. Islamic law contains a number of Muslim legal rules that protect civilians, including women, in the event of armed conflict, but many Muslims view jihad as a sword in a perpetual duel against the infidels, the unbelievers and the enemies of Allah. Muslims who defend this binary vision of the world do nothing but stigmatise the religion they purport to defend by giving it a false image. One can legitimately ask how jihad can Islamise people since in religious terms no one has a binding authority over others. How can jihad be invoked in order to place the whole universe under Islams jurisdiction when, in Quranic terms, God created the various peoples and nations so that that they may know each other. It is clear that Jihad is the most manipulated concept in the whole of Muslim history. Such manipulation has led the concept to become, at certain moment, synonymous with savagery and aggression. They are charged with violating the rules that limit Christian practice in the district of Phin. Local official: "Christianity is the religion of Europeans and Americans". There are numerous episodes of intolerance and abuse of Christians across the country. Vientiane (AsiaNews / RFA) - Five Protestant Christians from the village of Non Soung, in the western province of Savannakhet, are still being held by the Laotian authorities, for having invited the pastor of a nearby village to organize the Christmas celebrations in their community. A local resident told RFA that the invitation would have constituted a violation of the rules aimed at limiting the practice of the Christian religion in the district of Phin. "A few days before Christmas - the source says - district security officials arrested the five and the pastor". It is believed that the five are held and there is currently no news about their health conditions. "As a rule, villagers can celebrate Christmas only in their village. People from other villages are not allowed to participate ". An official from Phin District confirms that the Christian celebrations at Phin are subject to a wide range of checks. "In general, Christians are still limited in the profession of their faith in this district," says the official, also on condition of anonymity. "They do not have permission to teach the Bible or spread their religion to others, because Christianity is the religion of Europeans and Americans". Throughout the past year, there have been numerous arrests among Christians in the country. World Watch Monitor, a Protestant group active in the field of religious freedom, reports that the pastor of a village in the northern province of Luang Prabang was arrested for preaching to residents of another location. In addition, more than 50 Christian residents of a village in the province of Bolikhamxay (photo) were ordered by other inhabitants to renounce their faith, and when they refused, one was killed and others were forced to flee. by Nirmala Carvalho Mumbai (AsiaNews) - Positive steps for the poor and the Dalits, but it remains to be seen whether the reforms will actually be implemented.: This is the opinion of Indian Catholic leaders commenting to AsiaNews on the new 2018 budget presented by the Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. Yesterday, the representative of the Delhi government unveiled the measures for the current year, which focus in particular on support for rural poor areas and access to health care. Fr. Axj Bosco SJ, coordinator of the United Front for Dalit Christian Rights (Ufdcr), welcomes "changes regarding the funding for the Scheduled tribes [disadvantaged ethnic groups, ed] and Scheduled castes [belonging to the caste previously discriminated, ed. ]. The budget for 2018 is expected to increase spending and around 50% will be used in joint projects ". The activist priest, who is also a councillor of the National Council for Dalit Christians and representative for the Andhra Pradesh of the Forum for Religious for Justice and Peace, adds that "for various reasons [in the past] disadvantaged groups have not had access to the funds. They did not even know of the existence of programs for them, because the government machine does not take care of them. Two years ago, more than 30 billion rupees [over 375 million, ed] were not spent. Last year, another 45 billion rupees [more than 562 million euros, ed] destined for the Scheduled castes were not used, as well as 21 billion rupees [262 million euros, ed] for the Scheduled tribes ". The Jesuit also speaks of the project of the "Ekalavya" [residential school program for tribal groups, ed.]. "The purpose is to promote the ideology of the RSS [Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, Hindu nationalist paramilitary group, ed] Most of the existing Ekalavya Schools are in pathetic condition. There are not enough teachers and the teachers there, are not skilful enough to impart standard education. If only the Govt. sees that quality and committed teachers are appointed, that purpose of the schools is for the education of the tribals and not for promotion of RSS ideology, and that schools are monitored continuously, it would be a great service to the Scheduled tribes". Frederick D'Souza, director of Caritas India, comments on the government's intention to expand health coverage [up to a maximum of 100 million poor families who do not have access to treatment, for a total of almost half a billion people , distributing around 7 thousand euros to a family - ed.). "At the moment - he says - health as a service is under terrible stress at the moment as the affordability and reaching the unreached is a serious issue. Often its seen the poor cannot afford the expensive treatment and the free service provided by the government is over stressed. The health insurance proposed in the budget is a good step to ensure health for the poor. But how it will be implemented especially how it will be reaching the poor is not clear and our experience suggests that often such schemes as much as good they are there are issues in making it working for the poor". Regarding provisions for Dalits issues in the budget Fr Frederick said: "Dalits as a group do need positive affirmation action from the government as the community has been historically disadvantaged discriminated and marginalised. Again the question is how the benefits will reach the poorest Dalits ". Fr Jothi SJ, director of Udayani, the Jesuit social arm in West Bengal, says "that apparently policies are good for the poor. Health is one of the most serious problems and many die in rural areas due to lack of access to treatments. But what worries us is that the budget forecasts say nothing about how the money will be distributed. There is a suspicion that the funds will only go to insurance companies, leaving sick people without treatment". by Mathias Hariyadi Parish provides basic necessities and free medical check-ups to people in need. The extremists have been trying to prevent this initiative in areas where most residents are Muslim. Ominous protest rallies and blockades are held in Banguntapan and Jaranan. For a Catholic lawyer, this is public persecution". Jakarta (AsiaNews) Groups of hard-line Muslims have been protesting the charity work of St Paul's Pringgolayan, a Catholic community in Banguntapan, a suburb of Yogyakarta (Central Java), claiming that they are engaged in covert proselytising. The charitable work is intended to mark the construction of a church for a new parish in Bantul Regency. On 27 December, Mgr Robertus Rubiyatmoko, archbishop of Semarang, led the ceremony marking the establishment of the newly ecclesiastical circumscription (picture 2). The Catholic presence in the village on the outskirts of Yogyakarta dates back to 1974. At that time, a priest from the central parish of St. Joseph's Bintaran would celebrate Mass in the homes of the faithful, people like Mr Sukirdjo and Francis Xavier Sardjono. In 1979, with the full support of the late Card Justinus Darmojuwono, then archbishop of Semarang, the administrator of the Bintaran church bought land. Between 1980 and 1983, the Catholic community engaged in a major fundraising drive that led to the construction of a first modest chapel, which was inaugurated on 25 January 1986. Plan to expand the compound were slowed down by a major earthquake that hit the Yogyakarta area in 2006. In the following years, work resumed and last December the local community saw the birth of its parish (picture 3-4). To mark the event, Catholics in Banguntapan under took various charity initiatives for surrounding villages. These activities, which embody the Churchs commitment to and compassion for the most unfortunate among local residents, consist of the gift of basic necessities and free medical check-ups. However, this was met with the firm opposition by some hard-line Muslim groups who do not want Catholics to be involved in areas where the majority of the population is Muslim. Last Sunday, Muslim extremists organised protests in Banguntapan (picture 1) to exclude Catholics from the locations where the latter had planned to carry out their initiatives. Ominous gatherings were also held in Jaranan, where other beneficial projects had been planned. Islamic extremists accuse Catholics of carrying out "covert operations" to proselytise in Muslim villages. The local Islamist group Darrohman, which belongs to the Front Jihad Islam (FJI), told Catholics to do their charity works in the parish compound, not in residential areas. In order to ease tensions, St Pauls parish priest, Fr. Ariawan, was forced to cancel all the initiatives. Speaking to AsiaNews, the Bhinneka Tunggal Ika Lawyer Association in Yogyakarta slammed Islamist action, defining the incidents as "public persecution" against Indonesian citizens, based on "false assumptions". "The persecution is a serious crime that leads to bullying, sorrow and concern among people, said Agnes Dwi Rusjiyati, a Catholic lawyer and president of the association. What is more, it constitutes a serious violation of international law." "The demonstrators have no evidence to support their accusations of proselytising, which are groundless," concluded the lawyer, who calls on the authorities to prosecute anyone who took part in the violence. by Sumon Corraya The ceremony took place on Wednesday in the presence of Mgr Gervas Rozario. In addition to the church, the parish includes a school and a youth centre. For the new parish priest, "The school is for everyone". Catechist noted that "Many tribal people want to be baptised. Joypurhat (AsiaNews) The diocese of Rajshahi, in northwestern Bangladesh, has a new parish church in Khonjanpur, Joypurhat. The new parish priest is Fr Pawel, a Polish missionary with the Salesians of Don Bosco. Speaking to AsiaNews, Fr Pawel noted that "where once stood a large space, we built the new church, the school building and the youth centre. Thousands of people will benefit from our service." The inauguration ceremony took place on Wednesday in the presence of hundreds of Catholics and Mgr Gervas Rozario, the local bishop. The prelate expressed "joy at having a new parish. We opened another one in the diocese last month. Our episcopal circumscription is getting bigger and bigger and we hope that another one can be born in the future." According to the bishop, "the new church offers the opportunity to preach Gods message. In the future many non-Christians will be able to welcome Jesus Christ." The parish priest explained that "the area is inhabited mostly by tribal people, in a place where we want to spread Christian teachings. We thank the Lord for our parish." The parish school opened its doors on 1st January, Fr Pawel noted. "The school is for everyone because we work with all religions. With our good work we put into practice the values of Jesus Christ." Local Catholics enthusiastically welcomed the opening of the church. One of them, Babu Ram, is a tribal Santal who has worked locally as a catechist for four years. "On Wednesday, we listened to the words of our bishop and priests during the Mass, he said. We felt blessed by God. We hope to receive deeper spiritual care from our priests." Speaking about his work as a catechist, he went on to say, "I spend time in the villages with Catholics and I teach them their religion. But We also go among non-Christians. Among the latter, we know that many of them have expressed a desire to be baptised. I believe that in the future we will have many new faithful and increase the number of Catholics in the parish." Bangladesh is a predominantly Muslim country. Christians represent less than 0.3 per cent of the population, or about 600,000. Of these, 380,000 are Catholics, out of a population of almost 163 million. Tribal communities offer more opportunities to preach the Gospel. More than 50 ethnic groups live in the same territory. The missionaries work among them to win their hearts for Christ. by Paul Wang They are Joshua Wong, Nathan Law and Alex Chow. They are the first Hong Kong personalities to be nominated for the prize and among the youngest. Praised for their nonviolent and peaceful commitment to human rights in the territory. The power of Beijing against the prize. Hong Kong (AsiaNews) - Joshua Wong, Nathan Law and Alex Chow, three of the leaders of the Occupy Central movement have been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. Their names have been handed over to the Nobel Committee of Oslo by a group from the US Congress and will almost certainly irritate China. It is the first time that Hong Kong personalities have been nominated for the international award. A letter from US MPs to the Committee justifies the decision "in recognition of [the trios] peaceful efforts to bring political reform and self-determination to Hong Kong and protect the autonomy and freedom guaranteed Hong Kong in the Sino-British Joint Declaration". The three activists, who would also be among the youngest to receive the award, are praised for their "civic courage, extraordinary leadership and an unwavering commitment to a free and prosperous Hong Kong that upholds the rule of law, political freedoms and human rights". The Occupy Central movement gathered hundreds of thousands of youths and adults from the territory for almost two months in a sit-in in the central areas of Hong Kong in response to Beijing's decision to block any democratic development of the territory, in contravention of the agreements previously made with Great Britain, at the time of Hong Kong's return to the motherland. It is also called the umbrella movement after young people used umbrellas to protect themselves from the water cannons and pepper spray used by police. The long sit-in took place in non-violence, between studies and debates and even keeping the environment clean. Some Chinese parliamentarians have judged it "counter-revolutionary", and have called for the army intervention, accusing the young men of being maneuvered by "foreign powers". But many democratic activists in China have appreciated it as a courageous way of defending human rights. It is likely that Beijing uses all its power and diplomacy to block the nomination, as it did in the past for the Nobel Peace Prize awarded to the writer Liu Xiaobo, left to die in prison for his writings on democracy. by Padre Pietro A priest of the official Church, recalls the 88 year old bishop that the Vatican wants to replace with an illegitimate bishop, to please the regime. Mons. Zhuang Jianjian became an underground bishop at the behest of the Vatican in 2006. Card. Zen and Msgr. Zhuang, image of the faithful Church, "which provokes an immense sadness and a sense of impotence". The hopes of card. Parolin to console "the past and present sufferings of Chinese Catholics". Beijing (AsiaNews) - The Vatican's decision to replace Msgr. Pietro Zhuang Jianjian with another bishop (currently excommunicated), to please the Chinese government, is provoking pain and confusion in China. In this reflection an official Church priest, Fr. Peter, expresses sorrow at the way this underground Church bishop is being treated, who went underground by Vatican order in 2006. Fr. Peter also recalls the attempts Card. Joseph Zen to communicate with Pope Francis to avoid another "Mindszenty case". Unlike certain images released by some media, the attempt by Card. Zen and the tears of Msgr. Zhuang are viewed as "impotent" and "sad". Greater suffering for priests and more problems of conscience for the faithful in China. I have no direct impression of the bishop of the diocese of Shantou Msgr. Pietro Zhuang Jianjian. I only know that when I was a seminarian, I liked to listen to Radio Veritas Asia and I heard from Radio Veritas Asia the news of the priestly ordination of Zhuang Jianjian in Shanghai - it was the first time I learned about the priest Zhuang Jianjian of the diocese of Shantou. Radio Veritas Asia was not the only one to sprea the news of his ordination: the magazine "Catholic Church of China" also published an article that said: "Father Zhuang Jianjian, was born in Jiexi county of the diocese of Shantou, in the province of Guangdong. In his youth he attended the seminaries of Meixian (in Guangdong) and Shanghai. He never changed his mind despite a 10 year interruption during the Cultural Revolution and went on to enter the Seminary of Sheshan (Shanghai) in 1985. Once he had completed his studies, on December 21, 1986, he received priestly ordination in the Basilica of Our Lady of Sheshan, where he also celebrated his first Mass as a priest". According to the circumstances of the time, I think that the ordination of Fr. Zhuang Jianjian was celebrated by Msgr. Jin Luxian, even if Radio Veritas Asia did not reveal who the bishop who presided over the ceremony was. But I'm certain in affirming that Fr. Zhuang Jianjian had always been a pastor of the official Church. That is until 2006, when Fr. Zhuang Jianjian was nominated by the Pope as bishop of Shantou and received episcopal ordination in secret, and when his name became known to all. In recent decades, every Pope has hoped to improve relations with mainland China, in particular Pope Francis, from the beginning of his pontificate, he has ardently desired that an agreement be reached with the Chinese government on the appointment of bishops. In October 2017, the Holy See representative Msgr. Claudio Maria Celli twice requested the resignation of Msgr. Zhuang Jianjian. At a meeting in Beijing, a Vatican delegation asked Msgr. Zhuang to step aside to make way for Msgr. Huang Bingzhang, who is an excommunicated bishop. The 88 year old Msgr. Zhuang, on hearing the request, burst into tears, refused to accept and said he preferred to "carry the Cross for disobedience". According to normal ecclesiastical practice, a bishop should resign to the Pope at the age of 75, but given the special circumstances of the Chinese Church, many bishops were ordained at the age of 75, and some are still responsible for diocesan affairs at the age of over 80. This is due to the fact that, from 1960 to 1980, the Chinese Church never had the opportunity to make priestly and episcopal ordinations. It is not that Msgr. Zhuang wants to cling to the post of bishop, the point is that he cannot accept leaving the sacred chair to an illegitimate bishop. It is a matter of faith and conscience: it should not be considered a mere question of obedience or disobedience. For this he hoped that Card. Joseph Zen, bishop emeritus of Hong Kong, would be able to express his concern to the Pope. On 10 January 2018, Card. Zen placed an envelope containing Msgr. Zhuangs letter and another letter on his behalf in the Popes hands, on the occasion of the "baci-a-mano" [kissing of the ring or personal greeting ed] at the end of the Wednesday general audience. From the photos taken at that moment, you see the snow-white hair and the curled back of Card. Zen delivering the letters to the Pope: an image that provokes an immense sadness and a sense of impotence. The gesture of desperate struggle and Card. Zens courage in attempting to address uncomfortable warning is admirable. His figure is precisely the figure of the faithful Church in China. Also that of Msgr. Zhuang Jianjian: his tears are the tears of faithful priests in China, tears full of mortification and sacrifice. In an interview published January 31, 2018 in the Italian newspaper La Stampa, the Vatican Secretary of State Card. Pietro Parolin spoke of the recent confusion caused by the behaviour of the Holy See, explaining that "the negotiations in progress are moving exactly along this line: constructive openness to dialogue and fidelity to the genuine tradition of the Church". He added hopefully that "the time will come, when the Lord wants, when we will no longer speak of 'legitimate' and 'illegitimate', 'clandestine' and 'official' bishops in the Church in China, but of an encounter between brothers, learning again the language of collaboration and communion ". Regarding the concern of the faithful that the sufferings inflicted in the past and the present are erased, Card. Parolin apparently in an attempt to offer some consolation to the people who are living through these sufferings - and said that "the Church will never forget the past and present trials and sufferings of Chinese Catholics. All this is a great treasure for the universal Church ". I hope that Card. Parolins words are sincere and come from the heart. But the important question remains how can the ecclesial authority dry the tears of the faithful and allow their conscience to experience genuine and true peace and consolation? Fr. Peter Thursday, February 1, 2018 On World Day of Consecrated Life, Pope Francis tells consecrated men and women that we can never leave others behind, never pass over generations, but must accompany one another daily, keeping the Lord always at the center. Vatican City (AsiaNews) Pope celebrated Mass for the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord in St Peters Basilica as well as the 22nd World Day of Consecrated Life. The pontiff focused on the bond that must exist in a religious community to the vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience. Speaking to thousands consecrated men and women holding lit candles (today is Candlemas), Francis said that the youthfulness of an institute of consecrated life lies in its roots, in listening to its elders, in never leaving others behind, nor passing over generations. It lies with accompanying one another every day, and going against the grain in todays world. Francis noted that In the Christian East, this feast is called the Feast of Encounter: it is the encounter between God, who became a child to bring newness to our world, and an expectant humanity, represented by the elderly man and woman in the Temple. In the Temple, there is also an encounter between two couples: the young Mary and Joseph, and the elderly Simeon and Anna. The old receive from the young, while the young draw upon the old. In the Temple, Mary and Joseph find the roots of their people. This is important because Gods promise does not come to fulfillment merely in individuals, once for all, but within a community and throughout history. There too, Mary and Joseph find the roots of their faith, for faith is not something learned from a book, but the art of living with God learned from the experience of those who have gone before us. The two young people, in meeting the two older people, thus find themselves. And the two older people, nearing the end of their days, receive Jesus, the meaning of their lives. This event fulfills the prophecy of Joel: Your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions (2:28). In this encounter, the young see their mission and the elderly realize their dreams. All because, at the center of the encounter, is Jesus. This is how it was for those who heeded Jesuss calling. Everything started in an encounter with the Lord. Our journey of consecration was born of an encounter and a call. We need to keep this in mind. And if we remember aright, we will realize that in that encounter we were not alone with Jesus; there was also the people of God, the Church, young and old, just as in todays Gospel. The evangelical episode also shows something else. The young couple, Mary and Joseph, were silent, whilst the older one, Simeon and Anne spoke. It seems it should be the other way around. Generally, it is the young who speak enthusiastically about the future, while the elderly protect the past. In the Gospel, the very opposite occurs, because when we meet one another in the Lord, Gods surprises immediately follow. For this to occur in the consecrated life, we have to remember that we can never renew our encounter with the Lord without others; we can never leave others behind, never pass over generations, but must accompany one another daily, keeping the Lord always at the center. For if the young are called to open new doors, the elderly have the keys. An institute remains youthful by going back to its roots, by listening to its older members. There is no future without this encounter between the old and the young. There is no growth without roots and no flowering without new buds. There is never prophecy without memory, or memory without prophecy. And constant encounter. Todays frantic pace leads us to close many doors to encounter, often for fear of others. Only shopping malls and internet connections are always open. Yet that is not how it should be with consecrated life: the brother and the sister given to me by God are a part of my history, gifts to be cherished. May we never look at the screen of our cellphone more than the eyes of our brothers or sisters or focus more on our software than on the Lord. For whenever we put our own projects, methods and organization at the center, consecrated life stops being attractive; it no longer speaks to others; it no longer flourishes because it forgets its very foundations, its very roots. Consecrated life is born and reborn of an encounter with Jesus as he is: poor, chaste and obedient. [. . .] Whereas the life of this world attempts to take hold of us, the consecrated life turns from fleeting riches to embrace the One who endures forever. The life of this world pursues selfish pleasures and desires; the consecrated life frees our affections of every possession in order fully to love God and other people. Worldly lifes aim to do whatever we want; consecrated life chooses humble obedience as the greater freedom. And while worldly life soon leaves our hands and hearts empty, life in Jesus fills us with peace to the very end, as in the Gospel, where Simeon and Anna come happily to the sunset of their lives, with the Lord in their arms and joy in their hearts. How good it is for us to hold the Lord in our arms (Lk 2:28), like Simeon. Not only in our heads and in our hearts but also in our hands, in all that we do: in prayer, at work, at the table, on the telephone, at school, with the poor, everywhere. Having the Lord in our hands is an antidote to insular mysticism and frenetic activism since a genuine encounter with Jesus corrects both saccharine piety and frazzled hyperactivity. Savouring the encounter with Jesus is also the remedy for the paralysis of routine, for it opens us up to the daily havoc of grace. The secret to fanning the flame of our spiritual life is a willingness to allow ourselves to encounter Jesus and to be encountered by him; otherwise, we fall into a stifling life, where disgruntlement, bitterness and inevitable disappointments get the better of us. At the end of the Gospels, there is another encounter with Jesus that can inspire the consecrated life. It is that of the women before the tomb. They had gone to encounter the dead; their journey seemed useless. You too are journeying against the current: the life of the world easily rejects poverty, chastity, and obedience. But like those women, keep moving forward, without worrying about whatever heavy stones need to be removed (cf. Mk 16:3). And like those women, be the first to meet the Lord, risen and alive. Cling to him (cf. Mt 28:9) and go off immediately to tell your brothers and sisters, your eyes gleaming with joy (cf. v. 8). In this way, you are the Churchs perennial dawn. I ask you to renew this very day your encounter with Jesus, to walk together towards him. For this will give light to your eyes and strength to your steps. It caused only minor damage. The building is the villa where the democratic leader spent many years under house arrest. Renewed criticism of the international community invest the Lady. The government removes the American diplomat Bill Richardson from an advisory group on the crisis in Rakhine. He declares: "Aung San Suu Kyi remains the best hope for change for Myanmar". Yangon (AsiaNews / Agencies) - Unknown assailants threw a petrol bomb at Aung San Suu Kyi's home this morning. A spokesman for the Burmese government said that at the time of the incident the democratic leader was not inside the building. The Lady is indeed in Naypyitaw, where she should give a speech to Parliament to celebrate the second anniversary of the rise to power of her National League for Democracy party (NLD). "It was a molotov," confirms spokesman Zaw Htay, without giving any further details on the possible motive behind the rare attack on Myanmar's democracy heroine. The incendiary bomb caused minor damage. However, the attack on the villa in which Aung San Suu Kyi was detained for long years of house arrest by the former military junta is extremely symbolic. In recent weeks, renewed criticism from the international community has invested the Burmese civilian leader for her management of the humanitarian emergency in Rakhine, which has caused the exodus of more than 650 thousand refugees belonging to the Islamic Rohinghya minority to Bangladesh. On January 25, Naypyitaw's government said it had removed US diplomat Bill Richardson from an advisory group on the crisis, accusing the former governor of New Mexico of a "personal attack" on Aung San Suu Kyi in his pungent letter of resignation. Nevertheless, the US mediator affirms that the Lady remains the best hope for change for Myanmar. Richardson claims that Aung San Suu Kyi has developed a "encirclement syndrome" in her position as Councilor of State in Myanmar, but added that Western governments should continue to work with her. "I think the Myanmar army is to blame for many things and the only person who can reverse the situation, I think, is Aung San Suu Kyi, and she should start doing it," he concludes. (Duplass/Bigstock.com) (Duplass/Bigstock.com) The higher education sector in Australia is concerned about how changes to visa programmes will affect students from overseas who want to study in Australia.Nor is the industry sure how the creation of the new super Home Affairs Department will have an impact as it is just a few weeks since it was formed in what has been the second significant reform in a decade.Home Affairs has seen both immigration and law enforcement come under one department for the first time.'The jury's still out on the extent to which two different departmental cultures merging into one will impact on the new department being conducive to student visa support,' said Phil Honeywood, chief executive of the International Education Association of Australia (IEAA).'In most cases, it seems to come down to the personnel involved, and already we've had examples of border protection background people taking on substantive senior management roles in the immigration student visa space,' he explained.There are concerns that officials who previously specialised in border protection would have a significant learning curve in understanding the benefits of international education and transitioning away from the type of scrutiny previously applied to other visa types.'Crucially, the key people who are slotted into key decision making roles in the student visa space need to be properly educated to the nuances of supporting the international education sector,' Honeywood pointed out.While it is still unclear whether there will be a change in the way the super department view applications from international students, Joff Allen, chief executive of EduCo International Group, said officials need to be aware that change can put off young people from applying if they view getting a visa as hard or long drawn out.From March the 457 temporary skilled work visa is replaced with a more stringent Temporary Skill Shortage visa and it is hoped that this will not directly affect student visas or the post-study work rights visa scheme.Experts believe that fewer international students will be eligible for the upcoming TSS visa than for the 457 visa but figures show that the number of student visa holders moving to a 457 visa has been gradually decreasing over the last three years.'While the reforms do not have a direct relationship to education, international students do consider future employment opportunities in choosing study destinations,' said Rod Camm, chief executive of the Australian Council for Private Education and Training (ACPET).But he added; 'Any perceived tightening of migration conditions may discourage some students from choosing Australia as their study destination'. Hi I'm a UK citizen currently in Australia on a years working holiday Visa. I have 4 years experience as a carpenter in the UK, but no qualifications. I have a company willing to sponsor me on the 457 (or TSS - Temporary Skills Shortage visa). Question I have is, will 4 years experience be enough with no qualifications? Will I need to do a skills assessment prior to lodging my application? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Oji Fibre Solutions has completed building its $72m site in South East Queensland, with assistance from the Queensland Governments Advance Queensland Industry Attraction Fund. The company says it will produce corrugated packaging and packaging products, particularly in the fruit, vegetable and meat sectors. While it is currently unknown which presses will be inside of the site, the company uses flexo four-colours at its other sites in Sydney and Melbourne. It is also a possible recipient of the countrys first digital carton press EFI Nozomi, due here next month. Japanese-based packaging manufacturer Oji Fibre Solutions (Oji) had increased planned staff numbers from 55 to 70 ahead of schedule at its soon-to-open Yatala factory and was already setting its sights on Queenslands regions, with plans to expand the business in Far North Queensland later this year. Dr Jon Ryder, CEO, Oji says, The Governments support was a major factor in the decision of the company, which produces corrugated packaging products for use by fruit and produce, meat, industrial, fast moving consumer goods, paper products and consumer durables. The Queensland Government has been tremendous help, they are pro-business and commercially astute. We very much appreciate the industry attraction program they put together which has been fundamental in helping us select Queensland as the best destination for this factory. It is an exciting time, we are investing, growing, and getting good support. Being associated with the worlds fifth largest pulp and packaging manufacturer helps, we feel fighting fit, and will keep going. The Queensland Government says Oji plans to open satellite businesses in far north Queensland and two other regional Queensland locations, creating a potential 30 more jobs. Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk says, Ojis decision in 2016 to build a corrugated box manufacturing factory here in south-east Queensland was a corporate vote of confidence in our state from one of the worlds largest forest, paper and packaging producers with a billion-dollar-plus turnover. The incentives our government is providing through our industry attraction fund were instrumental in Oji building this highly automated facility here in Queensland, providing jobs for Queenslanders and another feather in the cap of our states growing manufacturing industry. It is not the only major investment Oji has made recently, as it picked up specialty on-demand box manufacturer Cardboard Cartons in September, also adding litho and laminating capabilities to its lineup. Oji is a pulp, paper and packaging company owned by Oji Holdings and Innovation Network Corporation of Japan. Its operations are based in Australia and New Zealand, employing 1600 people. Market Kraft pulp and container board products are produced in their three New Zealand facilities. Eight paper-based packaging operations across Australasia produce a range of corrugated board packaging products and paper bags principally for the horticulture, dairy, meat and beverage industries. The business also includes the Fullcircle waste paper collection service and the Lodestar logistics operations. Market pulps, container board and packaging products are exported to 25 countries. Comment below to have your say on this story. If you have a news story or tip-off, get in touch at [email protected] Sign up to the Sprinter newsletter Jason Luo, Ford China's chairman and CEO, has stepped down from his position with the automaker citing personal reasons. His resignation comes less than a week after a Ford annual earnings report that included declining sales in China, reports USA Today. Luo was hired to lead all of the automakers operations in Greater China, according to a release from Ford last year. This would have included its import business, Lincoln, its passenger car joint venture Changan Ford, commercial vehicle investment in Jiangling Motors Corporation, and operations in Taiwan. Luo Peter Fleet, the head of Fords Asia Pacific operations, said Luos replacement would be the subject of a future announcement, reports Reuters. The announcement of his initial hiring in August 2017 was made a day after Ford signed a memorandum of understanding with Anhui Zotye Automobile Co., Ltd., a manufacturer of zero-emission all-electric vehicles in China, to secure a joint venture for the development, production, marketing, and servicing of a new line of all-electric passenger vehicles in China. Songdo, South Korea and Ravensburg, Germany, February 02, 2018 / B3C newswire / -- In an event at its new branch office attended by key customers and business associates, Vetters senior management representatives presented the companys service portfolio along with its growth strategy for South Korea and the Asia Pacific (APAC) region. In addition, attendees were introduced to Mr. Michael Yi who will manage the office in his role as Business Development Manager for Vetter Pharma International GmbH, South Korea. Mr. Yi, who is based in Songdo, has pharmaceutical experience in responsible business development roles at several companies. He reports to Ms. Chervee Ho in her role as Director Key Account Management Asia Pacific. A rapidly growing local economy, combined with a regulatory environment conducive to the industry is a strong incentive for doing business in the country. And, because the population is aging rapidly with corresponding needs for adequate medication, South Korea demonstrates strong commitment to the pharmaceutical market through investing and supporting campaigns in R&D that contribute to innovative healthcare products. With its branch office, Vetter is well positioned to support its existing South Korean business as well as that of new local and global customers, helping them to meet stringent development, manufacturing and packaging requirements of their injectable drugs. As a leading contract and development manufacturing organization in prefilled drug delivery systems with a vast amount of experience in business development, we are well aware that being physically close to our customers and their ongoing projects is one of the keys to good client relationships, said Vetter Managing Director Peter Soelkner. Our event today acts as an additional signal of our strategy to build on our local presence and activities in this market, highlights Oskar Gold, Vetters Senior Vice President Key Account Management, Marketing/Corporate Communications and Customer Project Management. Vetters entry into the Korean pharmaceutical market represents an important recognition of the progress our nation has made in this segment, said Javier Camposano, Celltrions Managing Director for Drug Product. South Korean companies such as ours are in need of the services Vetter offers, to help us bring our innovative products to local and global markets. With its long history of qualitative resources, combined with its state-of-the art technology, Vetter can support us in competing on a level playing field and achieving our goals on a global scale. We wish Vetter a successful future in Korea. Caption: During Vetters customer event in the new branch office: Jong Hyun Kim, Director Supply Chain Management Department at Celltrion, Inc. (3rd from left) with Vetters Chervee Ho, Peter Soelkner, Michael Yi and Oskar Gold (from left to right). Picture source: Vetter Pharma International GmbH For high resolution please click the image. Find the Vetter press kit, additional press releases, high-resolution pictures and more background information in our Download Center. About Vetter Headquartered in Ravensburg, Germany, Vetter is a global leading contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) with production facilities in Germany and the United States. The company has long-term experience offering services ranging from early development support including clinical manufacturing, to commercial supply and various packaging solutions for vials, syringes and cartridges. Vetters customers range from small and midsize to the worlds top 20 pharmaceutical and biotech companies. As a leading solution provider, the CDMO recognizes its responsibility in supporting the needs of its customers in developing devices that contribute to increased patient safety, convenience, and enhanced compliance. Contact Vetter Pharma International GmbH Markus Kirchner Corporate Spokesperson / Media Relations Eywiesenstrasse 5 88212 Ravensburg Germany +49 (0)751-3700-3729 This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. The December shooting by police of an unarmed 73-year-old man, which sparked outrage and calls for a federal investigation, has been ruled wit A hearing one month from now could bring to closure to a long-running battle between Kern County and the California Emergency Medical Services Unfortunately, our website is currently unavailable in your country. We are engaged on the issue and committed to looking at options that support our full range of digital offerings to your market. We continue to identify technical compliance solutions that will provide all readers with our award-winning journalism. The City of Lakeland is getting ready to spend $3,500 on a fourth study of the Lovers Oak tree in the citys historic Lake Morton neighborhood. PREVIOUS STORY: Lakeland to cut down 'Lover's Oak,' residents share memories City has already spent $1,100 on previous study People living, working nearby fought decision to cut down tree Parks and Recreation Director Bob Donahay said the city is procuring the contract with Joseph Samnik of Samnik & Ballard, Expert Tree Consultants. He said Samnik helped start the arborist program in Florida, and is also an attorney. Theyre going to bring two climbers. Theyre going to climb the tree to assess the tree. Theyre going to bring a drone, which has a 35 mm camera to take pictures above the tree, said Bob Donahay. Donahay said Samniks crew will also take x-rays of the trees insides. It really hurts us to be to have to stand here and do these studies and figure out what were going to do and ultimately if the decision is made to cut it down, its not something we want to do, Donahay said. The city already spent $1,100 on a previous study and three arborists have examined it and said the tree must come down because it has defects, according to Donahay. The debate started when one of the trees limbs fell on a car. The city had planned to cut the tree down in September. When people living and working nearby got wind of it, they fought back. Realtor Natalie Oldenkamp was one of them. Im really glad theyre hiring another arborist it really makes me excited and Im hoping for the best, said Oldenkamp. She and a friend went to Donahay and the city manager, begging them not to cut down the tree. This tree is so old and so beautiful and it has so much personality. People get married under that tree, Oldenkamp said. Others in the neighborhood said its where they take family photos. Donahay said Oldenkamp wasnt the only person to come to him about the tree. We had a citizen come forth and wanting to buy an insurance policy, Donahay recalled. He said he turned down that offer. Hes scheduling the fourth study for sometime in February. Then, commissioners will review the results and make the decision on whether to cut the tree down. Oldenkamp said if the results dont come back in her favor, she and others will back away and not make a fuss about it. The Florida Department of Transportation has named Pasco County crossing guard Don Niles as the state's School Crossing Guard of the Year. State honors 'Mr. Don' for his work at Double Branch Elementary School He decided to be a crossing guard after retiring from previous jobs Students, parents know Don Niles cares about education "It's so nice to be recognized for doing something that you love to do," Nile said. Niles became a crossing guard eight years ago after retiring as a state corrections department probation officer and postal worker. "I'm not going to sit at home and vegetate," Niles said of his decision to become a school crossing guard. "I'm going to be involved. So, what is the best place in the world to be involved? Your children." "He's awesome," said Hailey Kean, a second-grade student at Double Branch Elementary School. Hailey's mother, Victoria Kean, agrees. "It's wonderful. It gives the kids something to look forward to every morning. He keeps an eye on them when they're going up to school and making sure they cross," Kean said. So excited to introduce you to Mr. Don Niles! Hes the 2017 #Florida School Crossing Guard of the Year. Ill tell you what made him stand out among the states 5,000 crossing guards and how hes making a difference in the lives of @pascoschools students! @BN9 pic.twitter.com/wGwFvYxA1t Sarah Blazonis (@SarahBlazonis) February 2, 2018 Niles mans the busy intersection of Chancey Road and Meadow Pointe Boulevard across from Double Branch. He greeted students and parents by name as he helped them cross Friday morning. "I'm 'Mr. Don,' and if any kids have any problems, they know that they can talk to me," he said. While waiting to cross, Niles checks in with students, asking how they're doing in school and telling them to have a good day. He sponsors four classrooms at Double Branch to help teachers buy supplies. When Christmas, Easter, and Halloween roll around, he provides 76 students with small gifts. "He's a really nice and positive guy. He's always so joyful and he's never down," said fifth-grader Nathan Helm. "He said that he looks up to me as a role model for the little kids," said Nicholas Jenkins, another fifth-grader. "They look up to me, but it's a mutual respect, you know? I have a respect for them," Niles said. Niles said his work as a probation officer drove home the importance of getting a good start in life a message he tries to communicate to students during classroom talks. "Right now, we're building a foundation," he said he tells them. "I want you to work with your teachers here because your teachers and myself are building the foundation of your life, and you have to be a participant in that." Niles is 76 years old and said he has no plans of retiring from his crossing guard position anytime soon. The Tampa Hard Rock Casino's police agency is investigating an overnight robbery. Authorities: Armed man robs Hard Rock casino cashier Man armed with a gun robbed a cashier in the casino's poker room just after 2 a.m. Suspect ran out of the casino and headed south on Orient Road on foot. The Seminole Police Department of the Seminole Tribe of Florida said a man armed with a gun robbed a cashier in the casino's poker room just after 2 a.m. Police said the man was described as about 5-foot-4 and 140 lbs., wearing a black hooded sweater with gray sleeves and black sweat pants. He was in his mid to late 20s, officials said. The suspect ran out of the casino and headed south on Orient Road on foot. The Hillsborough County Sheriff's deputies with K-9s helped in the search for the suspect. Officials are reviewing surveillance video from multiple locations. An investigation is ongoing. Lines to tour the Vatican these days may be horrendous. But Houstonians will have a more intimate, insider's peek this spring at 40 masterpieces by the Italian Renaissance artists who made the Pope's compound a must-see. The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston has organized "Michelangelo and the Vatican: Masterworks from the Museo e Real Bosco di Capodimonte, Naples," a show that could inspire some lines of its own during the three months it is on view, March 11-June 10. The exhibition's 40 artworks -- including drawings, paintings, sculpture and prints -- promise a feast for the eyes. All were commissioned or completed during the papacy of Alessandro Farnese, Pope Paul III, who was an avid patron of the arts and architecture during the first half of the 16th century. PRINT'S NOT DEAD: The Printing Museum has reopened with new sense of purpose Paul III was especially fond of Michelangelo, the famous Renaissance sculptor, painter, architect, draftsman and poet. The pope oversaw the completion of Michelangelo's"Last Judgment" in 1541 on the altar wall of the Sistine Chapel and also commissioned the artist to design the basilica and dome of St. Peter's. Michelangelo's almost-as-famous predecessors and successors are also represented in the show, including Raphael, Titian and Tintoretto. Some of the works are labeled "cartoons," but as viewers will discover, these drawings were quite serious business, created in many layers, as studies for major commissions. Among the treasures: A unique, large-scale copy of the "Last Judgment" fresco painted in oil by Marcello Venusti in 1549 that documents how Michelangelo's original work looked before another artist was tasked with painting over the nudity in the mid-1560s. A monumental, 10-sheet engraving of "Last Judgment" by Giorgio Ghisi that allowed Michelangelo's design to be shared across Europe. Michelangelo's two largest surviving drawings, which caused a stir during a recent New York appearance: The circa-1535 "Venus Kissed by Cupid" and circa 1546 "Roman Soldiers," one of two frescoes Paul III commissioned for the Pauline Chapel in the Apostolic Palace. Engravings and a 16th-century wooden model made by Michelangelo and carpenters of the Fabbrica di San Pietro for the design of the basilica and dome of St. Peter's, also commissioned by Paul III. Iconic portraits of Paul III by Raphael and Titian that portray the pope in his youth and old age. As the show's title suggests, most of the works will be loaned by Naples' Capodimonte Museum. The Vatican, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, private collectors and the MFAH permanent collection also contributed. MORE: Holocaust Museum Houston's "Butterfly Project" now fluttering at the United Nations Liberty County Jail A Cleveland man was arrested Thursday after a gunshot victim went to Kingwood hospital with wounds to his chest and neck. Authorities say 36-year-old Mark Gregory Joloff got into a dispute with his roommate, Shawn M. Rodger, around 4 a.m. Thursday at their house on the 100 block of CR 3793 in Cleveland. Think you have a food or beverage worthy of being an H-E-B Primo pick? The San Antonio-based grocer invites you to meet with company leaders from 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Feb. 15 at the Beaumont Small Business Development Center, 5091 Rolfe Christopher Drive. Bilal: A New Breed of Hero brings to life a Middle Eastern story about freedom. Directed by Ayman Jamal and Khurram H. Alavi, the film was created in Dubai and was the first CGI epic in that country. Bilal premiered in Dubai in 2015 before being released in North Africa and throughout the Middle East. Now, this Muslim epic has been translated into English and is available in America. Bilal follows the story of Bilal, a boy who is kidnapped by slave traders as a child. He and his sister are sold to the rich man Umayyah ibn Khalaf. Umayyah and his son, Safwan, are cruel to both slaves and freemen alike. Bilal repeatedly runs afoul of his masters as he ages including a notable moment when he is whipped for saving his sisters life when Safwan tries to kill her. Safwan intended to use her as a living archery target simply because she happened to be passing by where he was practicing. Bilal, however, comes to her rescue and fights off Safwan and the other boys. Bilals situation does not improve as he ages, but he exchanges his bitterness and anger for kindness. In one of the early scenes with the adult Bilal, Bilal gives his own food to a hungry child. The child was going to rob one of the many idols in the streets, and Bilal knew that doing so would attract the wrath of the priests. It is immediately after this that Bilal meets Abu Bakr, the Lord of Merchants, and is introduced to the idea that all men are created equal. Bilal has several more conversations with Abu Bakr and comes to believe in this idea of equality. It echoes what Bilals mother told him as a child, Being a great man means living without chains. Bilals beliefs in equality are finally exposed, and he is brutally punished. Umayyah leaves Bilal without food or water for days before urging Bilal to become a spy. Bilal refuses and is pinned beneath a massive boulder. Abu Bakr, who sees Bilals agony, buys Bilal from Umayyah for twice what he is worth. Umayyah, however, refuses to sell Abu Bakr Bilals sister as well. Umayyah claims that he gave her to his son, Safwan, as a gift. Safwan, in his typical cruelty, refuses to sell her. Bilal is freed and later uses his freedom to join Abu Bakr and some of Bilals old friends in fighting back against the slavers when they come to attack Bilals new home. The slavers are defeated, and Bilal confronts Safwan one final time. In an earlier confrontation, Safwan implied that he had killed Bilals sister. At the end of the movie, however, Safwan reveals that he spared her saying it was my one act of morality. Years after their separation, Bilal and his sister are reunited. The final scene of the movie echoes the ending of The Prince of Egypt. Bilal stands before the assembled people and presses his hands to the side of his head, the traditional position of a muadhin when they call out the famous Islamic Call to Prayer. Bilal repeatedly emphasizes the idea that all people are equals and created by the same God. Bilal refuses to refute this idea, even when it might cost him his life. This message is powerful, and Bilals bravery is inspiring. Westerners are most familiar with animated movies being aimed at children. Put this assumption out of your mind. Bilal has colorful clothing, beautifully animated scenery and carefully rendered sequences depicting dreams and young Bilals imaginings, but it is not a movie for young children. Bilal does not shy away from the horrors of slavery or the violence of the times. There is a scene that depicts a slave auction, and slaves, including Bilal, are whipped more than once in the film. Bilal also does little to tone down the tortures Bilal underwent when Umayyah wanted him to give up his fate. The scene when a huge boulder is laid on top of Bilal would likely disturb young children. Instead, Bilal should be attended by those old enough to appreciate the context of the story but still young enough to be swept up in the colorful world Bilal inhabits. Bilal also represents a chance for young teens and preteens to encounter a story beloved by Muslims. Bilal is based on the story of one of the first converts to Islam, Bilal ibn Rabah, who was chosen to be the first muadhin by Muhammad himself. He was known for his deep, beautiful voice and is still beloved by many Muslims today. Exposing young teens to a story so steeped in Islamic history is an excellent way to expand their cultural horizons while still carrying such an inspiring message about freedom and equality. For Immediate Release, February 1, 2018 Contact: J.P. Rose, (408) 497-7675, jrose@biologicaldiversity.org Beloved Los Angeles Mountain Lion Killed by Car in Malibu Death Underscores Region's Desperate Need for Wildlife Corridors LOS ANGELES A five-year-old female mountain lion named P-23 has died after she was struck by a vehicle on Malibu Canyon Road in the Santa Monica Mountains. P-23 was beloved by Southern Californians and became famous in 2013 after she was photographed on top of a deer on Mulholland Highway. This animals tragic death is a reminder that wildlife corridors and open space are critical to the survival of these magnificent cats, said J.P. Rose, an attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity. California needs to stop funneling money into more highway projects when our existing road networks dont include crossings to protect mountain lions and other key members of our ecosystems. P-23 is the 18th mountain lion to be killed in a road collision in the region since 2002. Existing freeways and sprawl development in Southern California severely limit mountain lion movement in the Santa Monica and Santa Ana mountains, leading to decreases in genetic diversity. As these big cats struggle to survive in urbanized Southern California, some local jurisdictions are making the problem worse. The city of Temecula in Riverside County just approved the Altair development in a wildlife corridor that Santa Ana mountain lions rely upon. The Center and other conservation groups filed a lawsuit challenging the Altair project in January. Environmental groups and local officials have advocated for the Liberty Canyon wildlife crossing over Highway 101, which will improve mountain lion movement in the Santa Monica Mountains if it is built. However, progress has been slow due to lack of funding for the project. For Immediate Release, February 1, 2018 Contact: Taylor McKinnon, (801) 300-2414, tmckinnon@biologicaldiversity.org Trump Guts Environmental Review in Radical Overhaul of Public Lands Oil, Gas Leasing WASHINGTON The Trump administration is radically restructuring oil and gas leasing on public lands to sharply expand fracking industry access while eliminating environmental protections and narrowing public participation. A new Bureau of Land Management memorandum aims to eliminate public review and disclosure of environmental harm from drilling and fracking and restrict BLM from taking land off the auction block even if those lands contain sensitive resources and wildlife habitat. BLM also wants to eliminate Obama-era master leasing plans, which are intended to steer development away from sensitive lands, and give the public just 10 days to protest a lease sale. Its deeply disturbing that the Trump administration wants to give fossil fuel companies free rein over our public lands without community input or analysis of environmental harms, said Michael Saul, a senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity. Trump clearly puts profits ahead of public health, wildlife and wild places. But these changes wont speed up oil and gas leasing. Theyll result in rushed, ill-considered, illegal decisions that will be overturned in court. The BLM would eliminate environmental and public review of leasing decisions, required under the National Environmental Policy Act, by expanding use of Determinations of NEPA adequacy. Those cursory reviews presume lease sales comply with broader management plans. This sidesteps the law and eliminates public notice or input, as well as any disclosure of harm from fracking to communities, wildlife, climate, lands and water. The memo also pressures BLM staff to offer all lands nominated by the oil and gas industry at auction, reversing BLMs long-established discretion to defer parcels from lease auctions when there are environmental concerns. Approval from the bureaus Washington, D.C. office is now required before parcels can be pulled from auctions. Master leasing plans help guide the location of oil and gas development to reduce harm to endangered species, wildlife habitat, recreational lands, air, water and communities. They are eliminated under the new BLM policies. For Immediate Release, February 2, 2018 Contacts: Bob Sallinger, Audubon Society of Portland, (503) 380-9728, bsallinger@audubonportland.org Ryan Shannon, Center for Biological Diversity, (503) 283-5474 x 407, rshannon@biologicaldiversity.org Jason Rylander, Defenders of Wildlife, (202) 772-3245, jrylander@defenders.org Conservation Groups Intervene in Lawsuit to Protect Oregon Salmon, Orcas, Rivers PORTLAND, Ore. The Audubon Society of Portland, the Center for Biological Diversity and Defenders of Wildlife submitted a motion to intervene in a lawsuit filed by industry groups seeking to undermine protections for Oregons endangered salmon and the rivers they depend on for survival. This would harm endangered Southern Resident orcas, which live along the Pacific Coast and are starving for lack of their preferred prey, spring chinook salmon. If successful, the industry lawsuit brought by a coalition using the deceptive name Oregonians for Floodplain Protection would reverse years of effort in Oregon to reform the taxpayer-subsidized National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) administered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The flood insurance program places people, communities and wildlife at unnecessary risk by encouraging development in flood-prone areas by providing taxpayer subsidies for insurance coverage that private companies generally see as too risky. Floodplains provide important fish and wildlife habitat, increase flood storage capacity and protect water quality. In an age of climate change, floodplains provide critical landscape resiliency in the face of larger and more extreme flooding events. The tragic flooding that occurred around the country in 2017 should have been a wake-up call to all Americans that our current floodplain development policies are dangerous and unsustainable, said Bob Sallinger, director of conservation at the Audubon Society of Portland. However, instead of allowing Oregon to move forward with much-needed floodplain reforms, industries that benefit most from irresponsible, taxpayer-subsidized floodplain development are seeking to undermine reform efforts. FEMAs program subsidizes flood insurance in flood-prone areas. Increased losses in floodplains in recent years have put the national flood insurance program more than $24 billion in debt. That number still needs to be updated to account for flooding in Houston, Puerto Rico and elsewhere in 2017. Without federal tax dollars covering the inevitable damage, most flood-zone construction would not occur. In 2016 the National Marine Fisheries Service concluded in a biological opinion that the current structure of the flood insurance program in Oregon jeopardizes the continued existence of salmon, steelhead and Southern Resident orcas and adversely modifies the designated critical habitat of anadromous fish species in Oregon. The biological opinion included a list of reforms FEMA should implement to protect those endangered species. These reforms not only benefit imperiled species, but will also reduce flood risks to people and property. The Oregon reforms set a national precedent for reforming floodplain management to better protect both people and imperiled species. The National Marine Fisheries Service has outlined sensible improvements to FEMAs flood insurance program to help recover listed salmon, steelhead and orcas, said Jason Rylander, senior staff attorney at Defenders of Wildlife. The changes will protect not only listed salmon and steelhead habitat, but also people, property and American taxpayers. This industry-led lawsuit must not prevent FEMA from making the reforms necessary for sensible development within Oregons floodplains. However, the industry lawsuit argues that FEMA has no obligation to comply with the Endangered Species Act when it issues taxpayer-subsidized flood insurance to high-risk developments. In fact, FEMA has always maintained minimum eligibility requirements for communities to obtain flood insurance. Unfortunately, as currently implemented by FEMA, these requirements often facilitate dangerous and environmentally destructive development. This lawsuit is about greed, period, said Ryan Shannon, staff attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity. The suits backers want to keep building in highly hazardous flood-prone areas and they want taxpayers and endangered species to keep footing the bill. We have waited long enough for FEMA to make these necessary, common-sense changes to its program, said Daniel Rohlf, counsel at Earthrise Law Center. Now it is time to move forward and ensure that FEMA works with Oregons municipalities to manage floodplain development to protect salmon and strengthen our communities. Background Under the program, FEMA identified 251 communities in Oregon that are flood-prone. These communities have experienced damaging floods in 41 of the past 53 years and since 1995, there have been 12 flood-related presidential disaster declarations in Oregon. Since 1978, Oregon has had 5,299 flood claims under the program totaling more than $91 million costs that were directly borne by taxpayers. Oregon currently has more than 31,600 flood insurance policies in place totaling more than $7.5 billion dollars. The Fisheries Services biological opinion recommends a series of changes to the NFIP in Oregon in order to comply with the Endangered Species Act and ensure that the NFIP program does not push listed salmon, steelhead and orca closer to the brink of extinction. These guidelines will not prevent floodplain development altogether, but it will provide incentives to local jurisdictions to put in place long overdue protections to reduce unwise floodplain development and ensure that impacts are mitigated when construction does take place in floodplains. Africanews has partnered with the L'Obs television network to strengthen its position in Senegal... Available in 38 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa and already broadcast in Senegal on Canal+ offer, Africanews is stepping up its presence in the land of Teranga, thanks to the partnership with the new media outlet L'Obs TV, a Futurs Medias Group entity, created by Youssou N'DOUR.Launched in January 2018, L'Obs TV includes Africanews in French in its programming, every day from 9 am to 11 am WAT.With this new partnership, Africanews is increasing its audience in Senegal.This initiative enables Africanews, the leading pan-African and multilingual news channel, to strengthen its editorial position and thereby secure the loyalty of a wider audience. Africanews viewership has grown to 1.2 million additional people in Senegal.Less than two years after its launch, Africanews is already available in 38 countries and 11.7 million homes in sub-Saharan Africa. This growth is driven by Africanews availability on the leading pay-TV platforms on the continent, including Canal+ Africa, Startimes, Azam TV and more recently Kwese TV. I want to share two secrets with you. Firstly, how a lifetime in PR has qualified me, unexpectedly, to thrive in Malta. And secondly, to address the fear that all South Africans secretly have about living abroad - what to do about house cleaning! Marsascala enjoys a reputation as one of the prettiest seaside villages in the south | Mark Leach The pebble of trust, the ripple of reputation Coming clean Regarding the first matter. The PR skill that enables me to flourish here is my understanding of the theory and the importance of reputation management. Because in Maltese circles, and especially in business circles, reputation is everything.A quick analogy: If trust is the pebble tossed into the lake, reputation would be the ripples that grow outwards in ever widening circles. Professionally, every action you take, utterance you voice, promise you make is another pebble cast into the marketplace which creates those ripples of reputation.In large societies like South Africa, the lake is so vast its impossible for people on the north shore to see the plops on the far side. Back on island Malta, the marketplace is totally exposed, everyone can see the opposite shore. Nobody does a poor job here because the reputational fallout if you dont deliver is too big. There is no recovery from a fail and, to misquote Scott Fitzgerald talking about the Americans, there are no second acts in Maltese lives. On the island, life that is to say commercial life is governed by reputation. And reputation, in a smaller society like Malta, has the most marvellous self-regulating effect on professional standards.One of the impacts of living the dream and moving into a rambling old villa slumbering in the Mediterranean sunshine is that a large old house has a lot of rooms and a lot of rooms need a lot of cleaning. Many village folk presumably in more modest abodes proudly and capably do their own housework. We, however, soon came to realise that we were not equipped for domesticity. Admittedly, all of our friends here (Maltese and of course our fellow South Africans) have helpers in once a week for the cleaning and/or ironing, so it was widely expected that we would get someone in too.In my island life fantasy (which owes perhaps a little too much to Gerald Durrels Corfu), we would find a plump old village woman full of country wisdom and benevolent superstition who would char for us. Although we put the word out, the village couldnt produce a cleaning lady with a good enough command of English. In the end, one of our Maltese friends Edgar recommended his helper for the gig.Katy is about as far from my Durrellian domestic dream as you can imagine. Shes Australian (actually a blissfully returned Maltese exile), a biker (Harley of course), and is barely five foot tall with curly chestnut ringlets and a preternaturally cheerful disposition (her self-appointed nickname is Smiley). Regarding her work ethic, shes never late (at her own suggestion, her start time is 06h00), and is speedily industrious and efficient.But heres the rub: After her first morning, Katy asked with some trepidation if we were happy with her services and of course we were. She said, I have to do a special job for you because Ed recommended me. I couldnt possibly let him down because he puton the line in recommending me!Malta the island where even your cleaning lady worries about reputation!The business takeout: Its not just the ad agency truism that youre only as good as your last job, its that your last job could literally be your last job! People talk, and as RuPaul would say, Dont f%&k it up!The social take-home: Yourefer to your domestic as a "maid". The acceptable term is "cleaner" or "helper", and because of Maltas booming economy (and zero unemployment) your helper is likely to be either Fillipina or Eastern European. By invitation from the Tanzania Tourist Board, Radio2000 will tour the country from 4-11 February 2018 to create content around the annual Sauti Za Busara Music Festival and tourism in Tanzania. Just Ice, Planet Haaibo Radio2000 Station Manager, Puleng Thulo, says: We at Radio2000 are proud to have been invited to broadcast in Tanzania - East Africa and especially at this time when we are talking about African unity and working together in terms of promoting arts, culture and tourism. We welcome this opportunity to expose our station to the African continent and to generate content that will benefit our listeners in South Africa.Radio2000s breakfast show, Planet Haaibo will broadcast from various tourist attraction sites in Tanzania such as Serengeti Park, Mount Kilimanjaro and Zanzibar from the 5th 10th of February 2018.The Station has, through the years, forged relationships with African states, embassies and high commissions celebrating Africa Day and promoting #SayNOToXenophobia campaigns.Radio2000 has broadcast at various high commissions during AFCON tournaments and Africa Day, highlighting trade missions between South Africa and other African countries. In 2017, Radio2000 hosted a successful Africa Day and Heritage Day respectively at the SABC where various African embassies and high commissions were invited to exhibit their arts and culture as well as to promote tourism.Following those events, Tanzania Tourist Board saw it befitting to extend the invitation to the station to visit the country and to see what they have to offer. PARIS, France - The historic French fashion label Paul Poiret has been resurrected and will show its first collection in nearly nine decades at Paris fashion week next month, the brand said. The legendary designer and bon vivant, who with Coco Chanel is credited with liberating women from Victorian-era corsets, was the first couturier to launch his own brand of perfume.Backed by the South Korean department store chain Shinsegae, the revived brand is being led by Belgian entrepreneur Anne Chapelle, owner of the Ann Demeulemeester and Haider Ackermann labels."The house will present its first ready-to-wear autumn-winter collection designed by artistic director Yiqing Yin," the label said.Rising Franco-Chinese creator Yin launched her own couture house in 2011 and was later admitted into the elite haute couture ranks, which is limited to a few dozen brands.Her designs first hit the headlines when the French actress and "Amelie" star Audrey Tautou wore one of her spectacular white pleated dresses to preside over the awards ceremony at the Cannes film festival in 2013.Yin said that she intended to continue in the Paul Poiret tradition, "liberating women's bodies and spirits".Poiret invented the shirt dress and was famous for using strong colours. A friend of artists Matisse, Pablo Picasso and Raoul Dufy and dancer Isadora Duncan, his brand folded after the Wall Street Crash of 1929.A number of historic French fashion brands have been revived in recent years including Vionnet and Schiaparelli. In an effort to help mitigate the impact of Day Zero, Coca-Cola Peninsula Beverages (CCPB) in partnership with the Coca-Cola Foundation and participating suppliers are in the process of finalising the details to provide millions of litres of relief water to the Western Cape and City of Cape Town. Ruslan Nassyrov via 123RF Reducing reliance on municipal water This initiative is dependent on CCPB being able to utilise alternate water sources in order to supplement the use of municipal water. The prepared water" will be provided in a 2-litre recyclable PET bottle, according to Priscilla Urquhart, public affairs and communications manager at CCPB.The bottles will be clearly marked not for resale and would also be produced to supply to emergency sites as determined by the Provincial Task Team on Water and the Disaster Risk Management team. CCPB will be working closely with the relevant authorities to ensure full approvals of all aspects of this water relief undertaking.On the existing bottled water products it sells, CCPB says it has already implemented a discount structure with its retail customers on the BonAqua 1.5 litre [still] water in order to provide this product to consumers at affordable prices. All non-flavoured Bonaqua and Valpre bottled water sold in the Western Cape is produced and brought in from outside the Western Cape.According to CCPB, it has invested in a number of initiatives to reduce the reliance on municipal water which include the potential use of professionally installed boreholes that are currently being tested in terms of sustainability and impact on the environment. CCPB is working with the relevant authorities to facilitate the speedy issuing of the necessary licences to ensure that municipal water supplies are protected.The company has installed a 1.5 million litre bulk water tank at the plant in order to ensure a buffer in supply once the boreholes are approved and operational. It has also acquired three 33,000 litre food-grade water tankers to transport water from sources outside the water-stressed areas.Following an announcement by the Cape Town Cycle Tour Trust this week, CCPB, as one of the main partners of the Cape Town Cycle Tour, will be using these tankers to assist in delivering the 2-million litres of water required by the City to ensure the event is water neutral. The water is being sourced from areas outside of the Western Cape, that are unaffected by any water shortages, and will be delivered into the Citys local water grid.In addition CCPB, has committed R1-million to fund an entrepreneurship initiative in conjunction with the City of Cape Town and Western Cape Government to fund new ideas that will stimulate the water-wise economy in the Western Cape, said Urquhart.CCPB is working with the Coca-Cola Foundation and other key partners to identify further initiatives in order to militate against the impact of the water crisis and to secure sustainable solutions into the future. THE HAGUE, The Netherlands - Food and consumer products giant Unilever on Thursday posted soaring 2017 profits of 6.5 billion ($8.05 billion), after a year of "major change" when it spurned a Kraft Heinz takeover bid. The announcement came a day after Unilever announced it was adding to its popular ice-cream ranges, which include Magnum, by scooping up Romania's leading ice-cream maker, Betty Ice, for an undisclosed price.Net profit leaped 16.9% on sales of 53.7 billion euros, up 1.9% year-on-year, which chief executive Paul Polman said "demonstrates the progress we have made in transforming Unilever into a more resilient and more agile business"."We have delivered a good all-round performance with competitive growth," he said in a statement, adding the company had also made 2 billion in savings during the year."This puts us well on track towards our savings target of 6 billion, and a targeted underlying operating margin of 20% by 2020," Polman said.The Rotterdam-based Unilever, which employs some 169,000 people around the world, owns more than 400 household brands including Dove beauty products, Knorr soups, Lipton teas, Magnum ice cream and Marmite.Since rejecting the bid by its US rival Kraft Heinz in February 2017, Unilever has sought to prove to shareholders that it is better off on its own and has vowed better profitability.It bought up or took stakes in 11 companies in 2017, with a heavy focus on organic and natural products including Mae Terra organic food in Brazil and Pukka Herbs organic herbal tea in Britain."We are evolving the portfolio at an accelerated pace to ensure we have the platforms in place for long-term growth," Polman said.Following the tensions triggered by Kraft Heinz's unsolicited bid, Unilever unveiled a 3.5 billion restructuring plan and announced the spin-off of its margarine division, hoping to soothe investors concerns after rejecting the proposed tie-up which would have valued the group at $143 billion.Unilever said Thursday that after agreeing "to sell our global spreads business ... we expect to exit around the middle of 2018".Excluding spreads, sales reached 50.7 billion, an increase of 2.2% over the previous 12 months. Sales were particularly strong in Asia increasing 5.9%, driven particularly by increasing online sales in China, and strong demand in India and Pakistan.But the North American market was "weak throughout the year," while European markets "remained challenging with subdued volume growth and continued price deflation in several countries".Unilever is listed in both London and on the Amsterdam AEX, a historic status which the company is also reviewing. Polman said the investigation "of the dual-headed legal structure has progressed well and we expect to conclude it shortly". KIGALI, Rwanda - The long-awaited Free Trade Area (FTA) that aims to increase intra-regional trade within the continent, will be launched in March this year in Kigali, Rwandan Foreign Affairs Minister, Louise Mushikiwabo, said in a statement obtained on Tuesday in Kigali. The proposed FTA would be a key component of the African Union's (AU's) strategy to boost trade within the region by at least 25-30% in the next decade.The main step toward this new agreement has been reached earlier this week on the sideline of AU Heads of State Summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, after African governments approved the adoption of Protocol on Free Movement of People and the official launch of African air transport market "A continental FTA is expected to be launched at an extraordinary AU Heads of State Summit this March," said the top Rwandan diplomat.The new move comes five years after AU heads of state and government commited to deepen regional integration and boost intra-Africa trade.FTA will bring together about 53 African nations with a combined population of close to a billion. Hyprop Investments has taken steps to regain its status as one of the most reliable dividend-paying and capital growth-generating listed real estate investments in 2018, having managed tenant churn over the past few months. Delta City Belgrade The high-end shopping mall owner has filled the space vacated by Stuttafords, which folded in 2017. Its plans to list its east European portfolio are also gaining momentum.CEO Pieter Prinsloo said the real estate investment trust (Reit) could be primed for a turnaround after a tough 2017.The stock's total return including dividends was only 5.92% for 2017. This was while the listed property sector's return was 16.18%. The Hyprop share price fell 1.58% in 2017, having recovered towards the end of the year after dropping nearly 20% by the middle of October. Cyril Ramaphosa's ANC presidency victory did result in most property stock prices climbing in December.Property analysts said the pressure on Hyprop's share price reflected tough trading conditions in SA's retail market in 2017 and included a lack of consumer confidence."The company's share price also came under pressure last year on concerns over the impact of the upcoming listing of its south-eastern European assets," said Naeem Tilly of Catalyst Fund Managers.Hyprop has been a market darling for some years, regularly delivering double-digit distribution growth from its impressive portfolio of malls that include The Mall of Rosebank, Clearwater Mall, Canal Walk, Somerset Mall, The Glen and Hyde Park Corner.The demise of Stuttafords, after 159 years of trading in SA also meant Hyprop lost one of its long-standing tenants at the end of July 2017. Since then Hyprop managed within mere months to eliminate nearly all of the vacancies left by the group. Tilly said Hyprop's management had tackled the space vacated by Stuttafords in various ways at each shopping centre."At Canal Walk, the entire 4,628mhas been let to H&M and began trading in November 2017. At the Rosebank Mall, the Stuttafords space has been let to various tenants. The front-facing shopfronts would be occupied by line stores, while the back has been let to Standard Bank, which relocated from Cradock Heights," he said.Fabiani and Le Creuset also filled old Stuttafords space in the Rosebank Mall. Edgars gave back 1,000m, which was used in this reconfiguration. "This was a joint decision as Edgars were concerned with the amount of space it occupied and the performance of the store," said Tilly.At Clearwater Mall about 2,003mwas taken up by Mr Price and Mr Price Sport. Mr Price relocated and its existing store was let to Toys R Us. Mr Price Sport was new to the centre. Prinsloo said overall rental levels achieved on new leases were in line with Stuttafords rentals and that his team had worked effectively in a short space of time."We worked very hard to fill the space left by Stuttafords quickly," he said. Subdividing the space in Rosebank made it easier to lease. River Island also exited SA, but Edcon replaced that with other brands."It's pleasing that vacated stores have been replaced by good tenants relatively quickly across our portfolio."Prinsloo said Hyprop's plans to list its eastern European assets separately were on track.As much as 10% of Hyprop's assets are exposed to south-eastern Europe, through a co-investment with PDI Investment in UK-based Hystead. Peter Clark, a portfolio manager at Investec Asset Management, sounded a cautionary tone, saying South African investors were yet to experience a bear market in eastern Europe. He said Hystead had only recently made the acquisitions in the region and it would take time to assess their quality. Director and chairman of Steinhoff's audit committee, former ABSA CEO, Steve Booysen on Wednesday recounted the dramatic discovery on 5 December of the alleged accounting irregularities which have rocked the group and led to the resignation of former CEO Markus Jooste. Booysen told a Parliamentary hearing on the Steinhoff scandal held by the finance, public accounts, and public service and administration committee that he only got confirmation of alleged accounting irregularities at 9.45am on 5 December.The auditors had raised issues on 20 September for management to resolve. Management engaged with the external auditors and the result of this work was presented to Booysen on 14 November. From then on, Booysen worked full-time with the company until 14 December.As soon as the confirmation of the accounting irregularities was received on 5 December, Booysen told MPs, then Steinhoff CEO Markus Jooste was called in to explain the transactions, accounting entries and, "more importantly", the cash flow of certain transactions.Jooste sent an SMS to Booysen, which led Booysen to conclude that it was confirmation of the accounting irregularities. Steinhoff executives waited the whole day for Jooste to make a presentation about the alleged irregularities, but he did not pitch up. Jooste then offered his resignation to the group's chairman at 7.45pm that evening.Booysen said the time period in which the allegations were investigated might seem long, but this was because there was "collusion" - not only inside the company but also outside it as well."That makes it complex because you need to go through legal processes to obtain information in these havens such as Switzerland where there is a lot of protection for external parties." Deputy minister of environmental affairs Barbara Thomson has encouraged South Africans to get involved in protection and conservation of wetlands in the country. Wetlands are an important part of the ecosystem, as they provide a number of benefits, not only to the natural environment, but also to peoples livelihoods, Thomson said.These benefits include the reduction of flooding, replenishing of drinking water, filter waste, and provision of urban green spaces. She said the benefits become more crucial as the number of people living in cities continues to increase.In urban areas, wetlands act as crucial green lungs for cities by improving water quality and serving as reservoirs, containing run-off from roads, drains, roofs and storm water drains.It is recognised that wetlands in urban areas are also important for human-related value, particularly landscape amenity and recreational purposes amongst others. However, for many years, urban wetlands have been regarded as wastelands, with their vital importance and functions not being fully understood, she said.When wetlands are sustainably managed they are able to reduce the impacts of droughts and floods by regulating stream flow. Furthermore, urban wetlands can provide cities with multiple economic, social and cultural benefits.The department runs the Working for Wetlands Programme which is implemented through the governments Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) methodology. The programme focuses on rehabilitation, restoration, maintenance and protection interventions to ensure healthy wetlands.Through the departments investment, the Working for Wetlands programme has improved and secured the health of more than 80,000 hectares of wetland area, while providing 17,575 employment opportunities.Working for Wetlands has also provided 180,753 days of training in both vocational and life skills. Teams that form part of the programme are made up of a minimum of 60% women, 20% youth and 2% people with disabilities, Thomson said.South Africa will today join the global community in celebration of the annual World Wetlands Day which is held under the theme 'Wetlands for a sustainable urban future'.World Wetlands Day is an annual event that commemorates the signing of the Convention on Wetlands on 2 February 1971 in the Iranian City of Ramsar. The annual celebration is aims to raise awareness on the benefits and importance of wetlands as a natural resource. Thomson will also embark on a public awareness drive in the City of eThekwini on Tuesday. Credit: Mondi Looking after the worlds water factories Mondi Wetlands Programme celebrates 26 years Sappis efforts yield success for Shafton/Kusane wetland in the Karkloof catchment We are all stewards By linking land and water bodies, wetlands protect coastlines, prevent flooding, filter pollutants and act as giant sponges soaking up rainwater and releasing it slowly over time. This makes them one of the most important freshwater storage systems on Earth. Wetlands also store carbon dioxide (between 10 and 20 times faster than terrestrial ecosystems), thus slowing the impact of climate change.With today (2 February) marking World Wetlands Day 2018 , it is important to recognise the contribution they make to human well-being and economic growth through farming, fishing, tourism and water provision, and how they are being protected.Sadly, 50% of South Africas wetlands have been lost as a result of human and urban impact, and only a fraction of those that remain are being conserved, says Jane Molony, president of the International Council of Forest and Paper Associations (ICFPA) and executive director of the Paper Manufacturers Association of South Africa (PAMSA).For decades, the forestry and forest product sector have been working alongside scientists and conservationists to rehabilitate and conserve wetlands on forestry-owned land.Tissue, tables, pencils, paper and cellulose come from farmed trees. Without these products, our urban lives would be less than ideal, says Molony. While it meets these needs, the industry regards looking after the land on which trees are farmed as a business, social and environmental imperative.As timber plantations share land with wetlands and grasslands, environmentally sound plantation design and management are crucial to effective water stewardship. Such efforts include conserving freshwater ecosystems, like wetlands, rivers and banks, all of which serve as vital habitats for freshwater plant, animal, insect bird, and aquatic species.More than 28,000 hectares of wetlands have already been identified on forestry-owned land, says Michael Peter, executive director of Forestry South Africa. Among our wetland conservation efforts are the removal alien and invasive plant species and where necessary, our trees, he says, pointing out that forestry companies continually reduce their plantation areas in riverine and other ecologically-sensitive areas.A number of flagship programmes are managed by forestry, paper and packaging companies, among them Mondi and Sappi.Mondi owns and leases about 250,000 hectares, including 20,000 hectares of wetland. The company has been a steadfast funder of the World Wildlife Fund-Mondi Wetlands Programme which marked its 26th anniversary in 2017. As one of the countrys longest-running, privately-funded conservation programmes, it has helped move wetlands to the top of conservation agendas, especially for the forestry, sugar and dairy industries. It has also pioneered the way wetlands are identified, restored and protected across sectors, in South Africa and beyond.The Karkloof catchment in KwaZulu-Natal consists of highly productive agricultural land. Not only is the area rich in wetlands, it serves as a water catchment for the greater Durban and Pietermaritzburg areas. Intense land use over the years makes the protection of the area and its rich biodiversity extremely important. Sappi owns and manages approximately 170 hectares of a large floodplain where the Karkloof, Kusane, and Mnalweni rivers meet. One particular wetland - the Shafton/Kusane wetland in the upper Umgeni catchment area has been assessed and is in good health owing to rehabilitation efforts undertaken by Sappi. The company is exploring further opportunities to improve the ecosystems functionality still further through weed and bramble control and the preventing of encroachment by poplar, wattle, pine and gum trees.Wetlands, just like working forests, absorb excess carbon dioxide and provide clean air, water and climate regulation. Its up to each of us to be stewards of our environment. On this World Wetlands Day we encourage you to work together in your communities to ensure that those marshy places that you didnt think were important are rehabilitated and kept clear of invasive vegetation and litter, states Molony. After several years of being a wallflower, the Section 12J tax dispensation is finally attracting investors, and based on current trends, the expectation is that further significant growth will be seen for the 2018 tax year. Ian Groenwald, CEO: TBI Treasury initiative Qualifying companies According to the South African Revenue Service (Sars), 724 investors took advantage of the incentive in 2017, which was a substantial increase compared to the 34 and 272 individuals for the 2015 and 2016 tax years respectively.Section 12J is an initiative by Treasury to mobilise capital towards small and medium-size South African businesses. It entails registering a venture capital company with Sars, and inviting taxpaying investors to take up shares in the company. Investors can deduct 100% of their investment upfront against their taxable income. Section 12J vehicles allow investors access to well-regulated, tax-managed private equity while managing their tax liability during the provisional tax season. Their money is pooled and put to work in specifically identified opportunities. There are currently in excess of 80 such companies registered.Minimum investments into 12J companies tend to vary, but there is no upper limit to the amount you can claim back from the receiver for a Section 12J investment.To retain the upfront tax deduction, it is necessary to stay invested for at least five years. During that period, if all goes as planned, investors should receive a commensurate return on their investment. On realisation of an investors venture capital shares, this entire amount would then be subject to standard capital gains tax rates.For many investors five years can feel like a long time in the current environment of political and economic uncertainty, and can increase their perception of risk, says Ian Groenewald, CEO of TBI.This obviously creates demand for a higher return; however, the tax benefit should contribute towards this, allowing the manager to take more tapered risk exposure while still providing venture capital type returns.Its important to understand how the venture capital company plans to invest your money so that it generates a return. After all, you wont be able to access your capital for at least five years and the return needs to compensate for that. The Act has listed criteria for suitable investments, referred to as qualifying companies. It is extremely important that the venture capital company has a well-identified, well-researched pipeline of qualifying companies to invest in when it is established.Given the strong focus on tax, investors should also expect the management of the venture capital company to have a suitable depth of tax knowledge. A failure of the venture capital company to abide by the requirements of 12J would result in stiff penalties, to the ultimate detriment of the investor.The 12J initiative is much needed in South Africa, spurring economic growth and job creation. There is also a great deal of pressure on the management teams of venture capital companies to manage both the tax risk and investment risk in these vehicles. Investors are therefore encouraged to do their due diligence before considering an investment, Groenewald concludes. Agricultural endeavours on the African continent is as old as the first domestication of animals and plants by humans. This measure of control over nature stirred a slow but sure switch from a hunter-gatherer lifestyle to that of the agriculturalist. Interaction between the two groupings probably was hostile at times, but it is conceivable that there was an exchange of technologies. Hunter-gatherers became much more efficient with the development of technologies for producing metal tools, primarily made from iron. Somsak Sudthangtum via 123RF The African perspective Key constraints are: Bridging SAs skills gap The boundary of agriculture is pliable there are numerous qualifications and courses with links to the field of agriculture. To be relevant, agricultural education and training must focus on building capacities not only for agricultural production but also to equip a broader range of professionals and practitioners with the necessary skills to engage successfully with the key links in the value chain. The role of agriculture Appropriately trained graduates Funding and resource allocation The mastery of metallurgy also benefited agriculturalists. Metal tools made greater efficiency of key crop production practices such as the turning of hard soils, weeding and harvesting possible. Domestication of animals and plants meant that people could settle in communities that were self-containing and promised permanency and security the start of human civilisation.Agriculture in Africa characteristically has a huge gulf between commercial and subsistence (resource-poor) farming that reflects in farmer livelihoods. In sub-Saharan Africa, most agricultural production occurs at small-scale (subsistence) level. In South Africa, commercial agriculture produces most of the food, although subsistence farming is the mainstay food source in remote rural areas.The chasm between commercial and resource-poor farming is slow in closing on the African continent because this evolutionary process tends to bog down in socio-economical, cultural and political quagmires. poor access to funding and advanced technologies. entrenched patriarchal social system (chiefdoms, male-dominated). limited school education and practical training with local relevance. degradation of soils, changing rainfall patterns, global warming, new pests. poor infrastructure limits agricultural development and livelihoods. enough said!The successful resource-poor farmer that pushes boundaries of agricultural productivity is already on the way to the commercial farmer level entrant commercial farmer.Africa abounds with wrecked projects designed with the best intent for the upliftment of its people through boosting agricultural production. Many projects designed in developed countries have failed when advice and training rely solely on information dissemination, without effective knowledge transfer as the main driving force. Irrespective of how the education and training are packaged, failure is likely if local people, who are supposed to benefit, do not volunteer for active participation.Thestates that Africas skills gap at secondary school level is high. In most African countries, local business executives believe secondary school graduates do not possess, on average, the skills employers demand from a productive workforce. Skills shortcomings vested in school leavers increase the risk of them failing to cope with the skills leap to tertiary education level. Similarly, industry finds that entrants fresh out of university often require inordinately long adjustment periods and upskilling to cope with workplace challenges.In South Africa, tertiary training institutions attempt to deal with the skills discrepancy between secondary school and university through bridging programmes, with capricious success. Universities experience unacceptably high dropout rates, especially at first- and second-year levels.Many leading South African farming entities share the common sentiment that agricultural colleges are no longer delivering the well-rounded, technically skilled professionals who are critical to the role of not only production managers but also lesser-skilled workers.Young Africans deserve urgent and tangible actions to equip them for future roles in the agri-industry. They need an enabling environment that will prepare them for competing in the global village where interconnectivity and technology-dense work environments define labour markets.From a business management perspective, agricultural enterprise is dependent on various skill sets. In a survey conducted by Van Rooyen et al. (2012), respondents assigned the highest importance to interpersonal, communication, team building, conflict management and related soft skills. Fundamental to it all is the need to instil the drive for acquiring in-depth disciplinary knowledge as well as to develop skills for transferring knowledge to different levels of implementation, across the full spectrum of qualifications.Government intervention and support for education and training on the African continent is generally slow and fraught with bureaucratic impediments. The logical solution is to involve private industry, i.e. the required skills, experience and funding. Effective public-private collaboration can contribute to reducing skill-gaps at national and regional levels.South Africas economy is heavily reliant on the agricultural sector. Agriculture delivers more jobs per rand invested than any other productive sector and remains critical in the face of rural poverty and food insecurity. The primary production component of this sector contributes nearly 3% to the countrys GDP, but for the entire value chain, the contribution to GDP increases to nearly 12%.Agriculture is often neither a study direction nor a career. Partly to blame is limited awareness and understanding of the vast number of agri-business and entrepreneurship career opportunities that exist along the entire length of the food and nutrition value chain. Much can be and should be done to change perceptions, which are currently evident at both school and higher education levels.The NQF (national qualifications framework) abounds with qualifications in the field of agriculture. In light of the variety of components comprising the total agricultural supply chain, not only skills linked with college diplomas and university degrees are required, but skills ought to derive from a wider range of disciplines outside of the traditional agriculture-focused qualifications.The boundary of agriculture is pliable there are numerous qualifications and courses with links to the field of agriculture. To be relevant, agricultural education and training (AET) must focus on building capacities not only for agricultural production but also to equip a broader range of professionals and practitioners with the necessary skills to engage successfully with the key links in the value chain.In addition to local relevance, curricula should be multi- and transdisciplinary in order to build capacity for solving modern-day challenges, such as evolving environments (e.g. climate change), new weeds and pests, resistance to pesticides, and improved crops and livestock through classical breeding and genetic modification. Increased exposure to modern agricultural practices is required in student studies.The South African agri-industry has lamented the lack of practical exposure and experience of university graduates in particular. This gap in practical experience, which exists between university and industry, puts the brakes, temporarily at least, on both a companys and the countrys competitiveness.A major challenge facing AET in South Africa and other countries on the continent is how to allocate scarce resources towards both commercial and small-scale farming. The argument, in particular for South Africa, is that there remains a skewed focus towards commercial agriculture. However, the reverse is true in certain other African countries or is perceived as more equitable.South African organisations that have instituted training programmes for farm labourers and small-scale farmers, include Grain SA and the Agriculture Research Council (ARC). Government support in the form of the AgriSETA also contributes to the development of much-needed human capacity. There is consensus, across all levels of agricultural endeavour, that the socio-economic aspects at all farming levels get too little attention.Funding for education is a contentious issue. The need for increased funding was raised in all AET workshop forums; top of the item list is practical, vocationally relevant training. Agricultural experimental farms have become financial liabilities for schools and tertiary training institutions alike. Relatively low student numbers in the field of agriculture results in disparate funding, which eventually causes facilities and equipment to become rundown and outdated.Lack of funding is a debilitating factor for schools delivering agricultural science as a programme or subject. Shortcomings include lack of adequate infrastructure for practical training, and inefficient channelling and management of funding is problematic.Industry involvement in tertiary education and training can ensure the injection of much-needed funding at meaningful levels that can sustain the practical component of curricula and enable exposure of students to modern technology and agricultural practices. Industrys close ties with the farming community make on-farm training possible that is practical and vocationally relevant. Have you ever been thoroughly annoyed by a driver cutting across your lane, or turning at a traffic light without using their indicators? It's a simple gesture and an even simpler flick of a switch, but when someone forgets to do it, it can make your blood boil. Ever wondered who invented indicators? Liz Segal Developing a competitive advantage Starting at the top Addressing gender bias head-on Fostering growth programmes and sponsorship Creating a flexible work environment Developing the automotive workforce early Promoting personal development Creating a legacy Diversity matters Gender diversity seems to take a backseat Leadership lessons Florence Lawrence, a Canadian actress and car enthusiast born in 1886, was the first person to develop indicators, using flags on either side of the car that she lifted remotely to signal which direction she was turning in. She also developed the earliest version of a brake light of sorts, which was a stop sign that would pop up at the back of her car when the brakes were applied to indicate that she was about to stop.The broader public might not know about them, but those of us in the motoring industry is familiar with women such as Lawrence, who started paving the way for women in motoring a long time ago.According to research conducted by Deloitte and The Automotive News Group over a ten-year period in Europe and North America into the recruitment, retention and advancement of women in manufacturing industries, the path forward entails:This path was suggested on the back of statistics such as 75% of women in North America who feel women are underrepresented in the automotive industry. The following were cited as factors that contributed to the underrepresentation: 76% said there was an industry bias toward men for leadership positions; 53% pointed towards organisational cultural norms; and 46% said the underrepresentation was due to a lack of mentorship.Manufacturers across the world are embarking on radical transformation in all areas of their business, and automotive companies looking to develop a competitive advantage would do well to embrace diversity, taking advantage of the opportunity to foster disruption and innovation through the incorporation of new perspectives, and skills. This movement is much bigger than gender parity.According to the 2017 Women In Business Report compiled by international audit firm Grant Thornton, only 28% of senior management roles in South Africa are held by women. 13 years ago, when the firm first started compiling this report, the figure was 26%. A 2% increase since 2004 isnt good enough.Worryingly, 31% of South African companies have no women in senior management positions. Lee-Anne Bac, Grant Thornton advisory services director, said: Companies should constantly be working to improve gender diversity in the workplace. We have too few women in management positions and until we tilt that balance, it will remain difficult for women to influence change. Women are fighting from a position of lack of power.In South Africa, gender diversity seems to take a backseat as companies focus on addressing other imbalances. Businesses are currently prioritising broad-based black economic empowerment targets, which are legislated, as opposed to gender diversity targets, which are not.South African companies should take note of a published McKinsey report titled Why diversity matters, which states that gender-diverse companies are 15% more likely to outperform other companies. The report states that companies in the top quartile for gender or racial and ethnic diversity are more likely to have financial returns above their national industry medians.McKinsey has been researching diversity in the workplace for many years and these findings are the result of data collected from 366 public companies across industries in North America, Latin America and the United Kingdom (UK).The research also found that in the United States, there is a linear relationship between racial and ethnic diversity, and better financial performance. In the UK, greater gender diversity on the senior executive team corresponded to the highest performance uplift in the data: for every 10% increase in gender diversity, earnings before interest and tax rose by 3.5%.As successful female executives, there is a responsibility to empower other women, to mentor them, encourage them and engage with them to share what we have learnt over the years.Like many industries, the motoring sector is a male-dominated one and there are gender-related challenges. However, in my opinion, its prudent to adopt a take-charge attitude and to work hard regardless of the negativity you might encounter because this is the only way to succeed in any organisation.Several industries have gender-related roadblocks. You can either choose to get stuck, or you can find a way around or even over these obstacles. I believe in the saying where theres a will, theres a way, and I have always found a way to progress in this industry.At Nissan South Africa, were working towards gender equality in our workforce, particularly at our manufacturing plant in Rosslyn, where we have achieved a 50/50 gender split with the engineering trainees who participate in our skills development programme.Ive had 12 challenging, yet enjoyable years in motoring and I have learnt that being driven, professional, willing-to-learn and versatile are key attributes for success. I would advise young women to be more expressive about their passions, learn to become hard negotiators capable of getting their hands dirty, whilst also being able to exercise strategic thinking to ensure theyre always ahead of the curve. Liquid Telecom South Africa's CEO, Kyle Whitehill, is leaving the company at the end of his contract on 20 March 2018 to return to the UK to be with his family. Since joining Liquid Telecom South Africa, Whitehill has helped reshape the business as a leading communications services and solutions provider, enabling more customers to access high-speed, reliable connectivity across South Africa.Nic Rudnick, Group CEO at Liquid Telecom, said: Kyle has decided to return home to be with his family who remained in the UK during his time in South Africa. We thank Kyle for his determination and drive that has seen the company go through many positive changes and renewed focus. With our strong leadership team in place, the company will continue to build Africas digital future. The People's Tribunal on Economic Crime in South Africa will open its first hearings at Constitution Hill in Johannesburg on Saturday, 3 February 2018. People's Tribunals have been led by citizens and civil society for over four decades to address human rights abuses and war crimes in many contexts, including Palestine and Indonesia. Importantly, the South African People's Tribunal on Economic Crime will be the first tribunal of its kind to focus primarily on economic crimes and corruption. This intervention comes at a time when there is significant evidence in the public domain related to these crimes. Yet there has been insufficient action by the state to fully investigate allegations of corruption and state capture, and to hold powerful individuals, international corporations and politicians accountable for their conduct. The Peoples Tribunal is one way that citizens can take action by collecting, discussing and publicising evidence that can be used to hold those responsible to account.From 3-7 February, the Peoples Tribunal will examine the continuities between apartheid-era economic crime; the post-apartheid Arms Deal and contemporary state capture. The first hearings will focus on the arms trade over the past 40 years. These economic crimes contributed to the loss of thousands of lives during the apartheid era. The 1999 Arms Deal has significantly weakened our democracy with little accountability. Most recently, the state arms company Denel is an important example of state capture. Few people and corporations have ever been held to account.The Tribunal will join the dots between corruption past and present focussing on detailed evidence, public submissions and testimony by 15 witnesses and whistle-blowers. In addition over a dozen civil society organisations will provide testimony of the impact of corruption and inequality on the lives of South Africans.This evidence will be led before a panel of six esteemed adjudicators including Zak Yacoob, Navi Pillay, Dinga Sikwebu, Mandisa Dyantyi, Yasmin Sooka and Allyson Maynard Gibson. Their findings will be recorded in a final report that will be the basis for the next steps in the struggle for accountability.The Tribunals organising committee comprises a range of civil society organisations, including Corruption Watch, the Foundation for Human Rights, Open Secrets, Public Affairs Research Institute and the Right2Know Campaign.For more information about the Tribunal, detailed bios of the adjudicators, visit: corruptiontribunal.org.za . Follow the #PeoplesTribunal on Twitter. An ongoing staff strike at the beleaguered Durban University of Technology has forced the institution to delay the start of the academic year by a week. Lectures were due to kick off on Monday, 5 February. However, the impasse between management and staff over wage increase demands has resulted in the university moving the commencement of academic activities back a week, to Monday, 12 February.The decision was made on Thursday.Despite management and three labour unions going back to the negotiating table on Wednesday, no common ground was reached.The unions were initially asking for 10% a salary increase, R400 increase on their monthly housing allowance and a R9,000 once-off bonus. But on Wednesday, after caucusing, the unions dropped their demands to an 8% increase in basic salary, R350 housing allowance and no once-off bonus.DUT's final offer was a 6.5% increase for both basic salary and in housing allowance - and they would not offer a once-off bonus."Labour was not prepared to revise their position," DUT's spokesman Alan Khan said on Thursday. He said the intervention of a mediator now needs to be explored."The unions have rejected the university's request for the CCMA or another independent mediator to assist."While protestors have tried to disrupt student registration, the university remains open. Students are registering online."Khan said the university had urged unions to concentrate on resolving the salary deadlock rather than focus on allegations directed against the vice-chancellor professor Thandwa Mthembu."Our combined objective should be to resolve the current salary crisis so that more of our students can register quicker and our academic programme could start soonest," Khan added.The unions - the National Education, Health and Allied Workers' Union (Nehawu), in particular - have called for Mthembu's removal."We demand strong leadership at DUT in order to end the current impasse between the union and management," Nehawu said in a statement on Wednesday. Radisson Blu has opened its third hotel in Nigeria and its second in Lagos - the 155-room Radisson Blu Hotel Lagos Ikeja. Radisson Blu Hotel Lagos, Ikeja Superior guest room. Image Supplied. Image Supplied We are thrilled to be expanding our presence in Nigeria, one of Africas economic powerhouses, with the opening of Radisson Blu Hotel Lagos Ikeja. We have identified Nigeria as a key country for scaled growth, and the addition of our second Radisson Blu in the megacity of Lagos perfectly complements our development strategy. We are confident the appeal of the international upper upscale Radisson Blu brand and the excellent location of the hotel will attract strong business from both international and domestic travellers, said Tim Cordon, area senior vice president, Middle East, Turkey and Africa, Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group.The hotel is centrally located in Ikeja, the capital of the Lagos State home to many corporate headquarters, government offices and large manufacturers. It is situated next to Mobolaji Bank Anthony Highway, a main highway linking Ikeja with the rest of Lagos. The location of Radisson Blu Hotel Lagos Ikeja is also just a few kilometres away from Murtala Muhammed International Airport, and close to the suburbs cultural and tourist attractions.The hotel offers a choice of contemporary standard and business-class rooms, as well as a range of ultra-stylish one, two and three-bedroom loft suites. All rooms carry a fresh and modern design, with free high-speed Wi-Fi. Leisure facilities include a fully equipped gym and swimming pool.The hotel has an extensive food and drinks offering. Guests can enjoy the all-day dining restaurant, serving international and local cuisine, or dining at the steakhouse restaurant that will calm any carnivorous craving. For a relaxing drink, guests have a choice between the stylish lobby cafe, a bar, the business class lounge or the pool terrace.The hotel has impressive meeting and events facilities encompassing an area of 2,047m including a ballroom, an expansive conference room capable of hosting over 400 guests, and six meeting rooms with an adjoining business centre. All meeting rooms are equipped with modern meeting technology and break-out areas.Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group now has a portfolio of 85 hotels and over 17,800 rooms in operation and under development in Africa. Although most companies have invested in IT security solutions focussing on mitigating threats like viruses and malware, many fall short of addressing more sinister risks such as fraud, identity theft and espionage. Charl Ueckermann Advice to C-level employees We must understand that the threat landscape has changed and keeps on changing. With cybersecurity threats and the associated business risks increasing, we should treat IT security risks as business risks. Traditional, signature-based security technologies are not enough to address these risks; dont bring a knife to a gun fight. I also believe that we should be more pro-active and prepared to avoid reactive firefighting after a breach or leak. Consult with IT security experts to help identify potential risks and implement the most appropriate and effective solutions to support your risk management strategy. Having been in the IT industry for over 20 years, I know that if you dont understand that it is impossible to predict exactly how your systems might be attacked or threatened, you will be in trouble. I believe in an adaptive system with machine learning and pattern recognition capabilities, to deal with evolving threats. Aim for machine/man symbiosis; use computers for their strengths, but dont neglect to leverage the intuition of your people. There are things a computer can do that even the smartest person in the world cant, but there are things a child can do that a computer cannot. Get expert advice and support to understand, defend and deal with advanced threats like zero-day attacks. In my opinion, conducting regular vulnerability assessments of your IT infrastructure will help you to uncover the loopholes in your organisations security architecture and avoid damage that could be caused by cyberattacks. More than 80% of all cyber incidents are caused by human error.[2] Make sure all employees are trained and are informed of risks that can occur. Companies lose money recovering from staff-related incidents, yet education and training programmes intended to prevent these problems are limited, and they usually fail to engender the desired behaviour and motivation. When employees are educated about the potential risks associated with clicking on links in emails, responding to phishing emails, connecting unsecured devices to company IT resources or sharing access credentials, they are less likely to put systems in danger. References: Lab, K. (2017, 01 18). the Enterprise. Retrieved from Kaspersky: p.4 Lab, K. (2017, 01 18). the Enterprise. Retrieved from Kaspersky: p.12 These are damaging threats that can put a companys reputation and business continuity at risk and can have serious financial implications. It is only when IT security-related risks are considered as business risks that the relevance of addressing them with proactive, strategic and appropriate solutions really becomes apparent and this has to come from the top.I believe, cyber risks should be treated as business risks and should form part of a companys overall risk management strategy. This has to be a top-down drive; from C-level employees, for whom the cost of a breach or leak is highest, to everyone else in the organisation that has access to information systems.Cybercrime is burgeoning rapidly, not only in volume but sophistication as well; while 70% of threats faced by enterprises are known, 30% are unknown, advanced threats that traditional signature-based security technologies alone cannot tackle.Cybercriminals are also becoming far more discerning and are targeting their attacks. Though more targeted, they often employ basic methods to implement their attacks. These methods can include social engineering, stealing of employee credentials, imitating legitimate software or even using malware covered by a stolen certificate to infiltrate systems.Ransomware, a type of malware that encrypts data and either prevents or limits users from accessing their systems, is typically targeted at C-level employees as well as departments dealing with sensitive information, such as accounts and human resource departments. These types of advanced, targeted cyber incidents are becoming more prevalent even in South Africa.For me, it becomes quite clear that organisations need a multi-disciplinary approach that is aligned with their specific risk management requirements and includes the implementation of appropriate IT security solutions, ongoing monitoring, analysis of IT security intelligence, and employee education.Regardless of how expensive or robust the IT security technologies are, they will not be fully effective unless everybody throughout the enterprise, starting at the top, understands the risks and supports the IT security strategy.I would like to offer some advice to C-level employees when managing IT security risks in organisations:I want to put organisations at ease with the fact there are various computer-based training products available that leverage modern learning techniques and address all levels of the organisational structure.We must realise that every individual in the organisation using a computer is responsible for IT security, not just the IT department. And that cybersecurity awareness and education are, therefore, fundamental to the effectiveness of your risk management strategy. TOKYO, Japan - Sony chief executive Kazuo Hirai, who led a major and successful overhaul at the Japanese electronics giant, will step down at the end of March. Hirai will become Sony chairman, filling a post that has been empty since June 2012, and will be replaced by the company's current chief financial officer Kenichiro Yoshida on April 1."As the company approaches a crucial juncture, when we will embark on a new mid-range plan, I consider this to be the ideal time to pass the baton of leadership to new management, for the future of Sony and also for myself to embark on a new chapter in my life," Hirai said in a statement.Sony said Hirai had approached the board seeking to step down.The 57-year-old company veteran was tapped in April 2012 to head up an overhaul of the once-iconic company, which was then suffering from huge losses largely tied to a hard-hit consumer electronics business.He said he was "very proud" of the company's current financial health."And it excites me to hear more and more people enthuse that Sony is back again," he added.Hirai praised his successor as the "ideal person" to lead Sony going forward, saying the pair had worked closely together since 2013. Darkest Hour, Inxeba (The Wound) and Den of Thieves open at SA cinemas this week. Darkest Hour Inxeba (The Wound) Den of Thieves Directed by Joe Wright, from a screenplay by Anthony McCarten, this powerful drama is nominated for six Oscars and tells the inspiring story of four weeks in 1940 during which Churchills courage to lead changed the course of world history. During the early days of World War II, with the fall of France imminent, Britain faces its darkest hour as the threat of invasion looms. As the seemingly unstoppable Nazi forces advance, and with the Allied army cornered on the beaches of Dunkirk, the fate of Western Europe hangs on the leadership of the newly-appointed British Prime Minister Winston Churchill (Academy Award nominee Gary Oldman). While manoeuvring his political rivals, he must confront the ultimate choice: negotiate with Hitler and save the British people at a terrible cost or rally the nation and fight on against incredible odds.Words can, and do, change the world. This is precisely what happened through Winston Churchill in 1940, says BAFTA award-winning screenwriter and producer McCarten. The linchpins of his original screenplay forwere the three speeches that Churchill wrote and delivered between May and June 1940. He was under intense political and personal pressure, yet he was spurred to such heights in so few days over and over again.Directed and written by John Trengove, this controversial local film made its debut at 2017s Sundance Film Festival, before opening the Berlin Film Festivals Panorama section, and is a ripe-for-controversy exploration of sexuality - more specifically, same-sex desire - within the context of initiation schools. Xolani, a lonely factory worker, joins the men of his community in the mountains of the Eastern Cape to initiate a group of teenage boys into manhood. When a defiant initiate from the city discovers his best-kept secret, Xolanis entire existence begins to unravel.was born out of a desire to push back against cliched stereotypes of black masculinity perpetuated inside and outside of African cinema, says writer-director Trengrove, whose critically acclaimed drama explores tradition and sexuality and is set amid the Xhosa rites of passage into manhood.This gritty crime drama follows the lives of an elite unit of the LA County Sheriffs Dept. and the states most successful bank robbery crew as the outlaws plan a seemingly impossible heist on the US Federal Reserve Bank.Written and directed by Christian Gudegast, with Gerard Butler, Dawn Olivieri, Mo McRae, and Curtis Jackson.With, Gudegast was particularly drawn to the complex relationships between professional bank robbers and the detectives who hunt them. I was fascinated by the specificity of their worlds, says Gudegast, and how these two crews operate. Understanding what they do, and why they do it, became the fuel for the movie. Southern Wild, Hellcats, BCUC, Dan Patlansky, Cortina Whiplash, BRYNN and Retro Dizzy have been announced at the support acts for the Incubus SA tour taking place in Pretoria on 24 February and Cape Town on 28 February. About the bands: The Pretoria show will be held at the Voortrekker Monument and will include support byandwith two more acts to be announced next week.In Cape Town, fans will be treated toand. The show will be held at the Green Point A Track - a new, central venue opposite the Cape Town Stadium.: Headed by 2011 South African Idols winner Dave van Vuuren, Southern Wild provides an original music experience. The band describes each song as a layered journey, where lyrical melodies rest between expressive guitar riffs.: A two piece band, stripped down, performing bare knuckle rock n roll. Their music is unashamedly raw and their live performance is full throttle energy. With colossal sound, their songs vibrate through the crowd.: Bantu Continua Uhuru Consciousness (BCUC) moves the audience both physically and emotionally with an explosion of passion, funk and rhythm. They baptized their unique sound as indigenous funky soul.: An international sensation in his own right, Patlansky is a maestro on guitar and has ploughed his way up the charts in the UK and USA with his signature blues music. Billed as a modern blues guitarist sensation, theres no stopping this musical giant when hes on stage.: From their silky jazz riffs in Music ruined my life to their psychedelic outbursts in Make it hard, this all-girl band shakes the rock scene regularly, so be prepared to get your feathers ruffle.: A solid new psychedelic surf rock band from Cape Town who put on a crazy energetic show. Their energy on stage is a contagious effort that is sure to get the crowd feeling groovy.: A five piece alternative folk band, the boys from Cape Town add drums, guitar, bass and violins to their musical mix, and their new-fangled sound is a welcomed addition to the South African music scene.We Are Live founder Craig Bright, says the Californian rock legends are excited to have such strong supporting line-ups for their shows in South Africa.We have carefully handpicked every band that will be supporting Incubus in Cape Town and Pretoria, and we are proud to bring an incredible line-up to South African music fans as each band brings something special to the stage. shares Bright.Tickets are on sale now from www.wearelive.events and range from R175 (for kids between 3 and 16) to R395 for general access and R795 for Golden Circle tickets (excluding booking fees). Gauteng residents were urged on Thursday, 1 February, not to jeopardise their own water supply by sending truckloads of donated water to the drought-stricken Western Cape. The department of water and sanitation cautioned that as much as the situation was dire, it had not reached a crisis. "The situation in Cape Town, although dire, is not in a place really where we need to be carting water from all over the country towards it," said department spokesman Sputnik Ratau.Donated water is being sent to Cape Town as the city prepares for a possible Day Zero - when residents will have to queue to collect water."We must remember, the drought is not Western Cape-specific. Even as a country we are not out of the drought yet. So we really want to start looking at whether we should be impacting on other water systems. We need to be cautious," he said.Non-profit organisation Operation SA said on Thursday that sending water to the Western Cape was "not viable". "We reiterate that the option of transporting bottled water to Cape Town is not viable," said the organisation's Yusuf Abramjee.Yaseen Theba from Operation SA said that during 2014 and 2015, bottled water was distributed to provinces without water due to poor infrastructure problems. "At that stage we needed to get drinking water urgently to people that were literally dying of thirst, and bottled water was the fastest option. The current situation in Cape Town is different... We must use the time and the current water infrastructure to plan more sustainable drives to save water."On Wednesday evening a double tanker truck was found drawing water at a municipal point in Muldersdrift near Johannesburg. The tanker was impounded after a ward councillor, Molefi Selibo, observed "odd activity". When confronted, the driver said the water was destined for the Western Cape. A case of theft was opened.Witnesses told Selibo that it was the third truck that had drawn water on Wednesday."This is a gross violation of the rights of the citizens of Mogale City. We are sympathetic to the plight of the people of the Western Cape, especially the poor of that province who are living under severe strain socially and economically. We would certainly want to come to their rescue following a properly organised national water effort that rations what aid municipalities can or should give to the citizens of the Western Cape," said Mogale City mayor Naga Lipudi. Private hospitals are not taking any chances with Western Cape Premier Helen Zille's promise that water supplies to their facilities will be maintained in the event of Day Zero. The three biggest hospital groups - Netcare, Mediclinic and Life Healthcare - are investing in alternative water supplies from the sea and underground. Many of the measures they are taking in Cape Town are also being rolled out in other water-scarce regions, such as the Eastern Cape.The Western Cape is gripped by severe drought and dam levels have fallen to 25.9% of their capacity. Should the levels fall to the critical 13.5% level, which the DA-led municipality says could happen by mid-April, it will turn off the supply to most of Cape Town's taps. From Day Zero, residents will be rationed to 25 litres per person per day, which they will have to fetch from collection points.Jacques du Plessis, MD of Netcare's hospital division, said Netcare was installing a desalination plant at its Christiaan Barnard Hospital on the Foreshore, which would yield enough water for the group's five Cape Town hospitals, its Medicross primary healthcare facilities and its renal dialysis units. The plant could also provide enough water for staff showers and drinking water, he said. Netcare had drilled boreholes on the grounds of three of its Cape Town hospitals and was investigating the use of black water, he said. Black water comes from toilets.Netcare had cut water consumption at its Cape Town hospitals by 44% since 2015.Mediclinic GM for infrastructure Kobus Jonck said the group could not risk relying on promises that hospitals would be guaranteed water if Day Zero arrived. "We are drilling boreholes and will transport water between facilities if need be."Ten of Mediclinic's hospitals were directly affected by the water crisis, he said. Mediclinic had reduced its water consumption by, on average, 3.5% a year over the past eight years, he said.Life Healthcare had sunk boreholes, which would be able to supply water to its Cape Town hospitals - Vincent Pallotti and Kingsbury - as well as its renal, rehabilitation and mental care units by mid-March, said CEO Lourens Bekker.On Tuesday, Zille assured Cape Town residents that public and private healthcare facilities would be prioritised should the city fail to avert Day Zero. Even so, the provincial government intended to make sure 18 priority public hospitals could turn to borehole water should the municipal supply fail, she said. MultiChoice had decided to axe the Gupta-linked ANN7 channel from its DStv platform, the payTV group said on Wednesday. Owing to the "controversies" associated with ANN7, MultiChoice said it would not renew its contract with the channel when it expired in August 2018. The company was preparing a tender for a replacement blackowned news channel, MultiChoice CEO Calvo Mawela said.The decision to drop the channel - which was launched in 2013 to much criticism given its ties to the Gupta family - was a blow to new owner Mzwanele Manyi and possibly also the Guptas' embattled Oakbay Investments vehicle.In 2017, Manyi bought the Guptas' shares in ANN7 for R300m in a vendor-financed deal. In such deals, if the buyer did not put up collateral, the seller and financier - in this case Oakbay - would be at risk of losing the repayments owed, Robert Peche, group strategy associate at Bravura, said."Essentially, [ANN7] will lose its core revenue stream and it therefore seems unlikely that it will be able to service the vendor finance, almost regardless of what the terms were," Peche said on Wednesday.Manyi did not respond to requests for comment. But Mawela said the former cabinet spokesman "has accepted our position and is considering what we have shared with him".MultiChoice was announcing the outcome of an internal investigation into its dealings with ANN7, following allegations that payments made to ANN7 and the SABC were intended to sway government policy on digital migration in its favour.Mawela said the investigation showed that former MultiChoice CEO Imtiaz Patel's relationship with the Guptas "played no role" in the terms negotiated. "We made some mistakes in our dealings with ANN7, but there is no evidence of corruption or any illegal activity."MultiChoice had failed to carry out a "comprehensive" due diligence process when signing ANN7, while it had also not raised concerns as they came to light and the company had communicated the situation poorly, Mawela said.But the terms of the contract - including a R25m upfront payment on renewal of the deal in 2015 - were "within acceptable parameters associated with the establishment and cost of producing a news channel".Mawela said payments to e.tv of about R500m a year were about three times higher than those made to ANN7.Media Monitoring Africa director William Bird said there were concerns that the briefing amounted to "smoke and mirrors" and that "if there's nothing to hide" MultiChoice should make public the report and its agreements with ANN7. Its response was worryingly similar to those of scandal-hit McKinsey and KPMG. In the 1970s, people were served about 300 ads a day. Today it's about 5,000 ads a day. It's a product-polluted world with smart consumers, where it's no longer about differentiation, but about multiple and meaningful connections, says Carmen Murray, founder of Boo-Yah!. Carmen Murray Why did you start Boo-Yah!? For innovation, you need to spend 70% of your time to do day-to-day operations, 20% to improve and 10% to explore. What is really happening is 90% day-to-day and 10% crisis management. Why are you passionate about marketing and marketing education in particular? If we teach that attention is a finite recourse, surely we need to create education with a powerful punch? What trends do you predict for the industry? What led you to bring The Connected Marketer to SA? Comment on the rise of The Connected Marketer. The more connected devices we have in our lives, the more constantly connected we are. The more we live in a state of connectedness, the more we are aware of that connectivity and the more it affects our behaviour. Why are marketers increasingly needing to merge and synchronise digital and their physical marketing efforts, and how does Boo-Yah! hope to equip them with the know-how and skills to achieve this? What are you looking forward to most with the launch of The Connected Marketer courses? How often do you plan to run these courses? Currently, all courses are facilitated in Johannesburg. Any expansion plans or digital offerings in the pipeline? Consumers are more connected than ever and this gives rise to a new breed of marketers. Marketers who are able to merge physical and digital touchpoints to create sensorial and emotional experiences.Following Boo-Yah!s launch announcement and its partnership with Paul Berney, founder of The Connected Marketer to facilitate these courses to South Africa, I caught up with Murray to find out more about this connected marketer and how Boo-Yah! hopes to impact the industry with a different kind of education and a new way of thinkingId like to think of myself as a fire-starter. I love getting people super excited and driving passion and purpose towards innovation and technology.Boo-Yah! is a slang word used to express triumph but in Zulu means return. I want to give back to this industry, but the African way. Our challenges. Our technology. Our future. Our innovation.From all my talks and masterclasses, I realised one very important thing:We are becoming the walking dead professionals of our time and more disconnected than ever. We are so busy keeping up with our jobs and KPIs, we neglect to invest the time to learn and relearn to find the answers we need.I wanted to change all of that. I wanted to create a fun, witty company that not only gets people future-fit, but also supports brands with strategy post-learning.I love innovation and technology and I inherited the name imagineer because I love solving problems.I love education, but I dont like the way it's delivered. We teach the tools, not the problem. Everything has changed around us, but not the way we educate, and that boggles me.I believe knowledge is your superpower. When you improve your frame of reference, you become more innovative. It is like a chef. They would need to taste so many different foods and a combination of textures and ingredients to develop their palettes to create more innovative dishes beyond a recipe book.Its very common this time of the year to start thinking about trends, however it is very important for each brand to identify trends that are relevant to their business and apply them with clarity.As the Protection of Personal Information (Popi) Act comes into play, the impulse marketing days to exploit our consumers will come to a halt, and it will force marketers to rely on data. Data will be the catalyst and enabler of AI and ML to drive hyper-personalisation and relevancy to stop spamming consumers. AI might be in its infant stages, but you become more vulnerable the longer you ignore it. Ultimately, youll lose leverage, not gain it. Data should become a number-one priority, because if your data is junk, all the outputs will be junk and then this will ultimately lead you down the wrong track.I foresee a high adoption of chatbot messengers this year and also believe that AR and VR will rise and be more adopted by brands.I actually attended Paul's courses last year. It blew my mind away and put a fire in my belly and excited me about the possibilities. It really added value to my way of thinking and how I approach marketing. Both Paul and I share the same views on the future of marketing and the position to ramp-up marketing efforts in a time of unprecedented change. If you look at Fortune 500 firms, 1995 vs 2017, only 60 remain. Companies are being out-innovated because they dont stay on top of change. The marketers of the future will all be about stacking technology. The technology landscape was 150 in 2011, 3,500 in 2016, 5,000 in 2017. Its only going to grow, not decline.Behaviour leads to the rise of the connected individual. If there are going to be connected individuals, there must be connected brands.The Connected Marketer is the umbrella and it forms part of many pillars that is the foundation of The Connected Marketer, from mobile to AI, programmatic, customer experience marketing, IoT, proposition development and many more to follow, as this is an evolving practice.The connected individual is in a constant connected state. For example, if I was at a conference and the speaker talks about a good book to read, I will take out my phone, find the book in Audible, add it to my wishlist to buy it later and continue to listen to the speaker. I was only connected for a moment in time. How do I as a brand form part of that physical and digital journey? That is exactly what we will unpack in each course, and the layers and dimensions to drive and aid discovery, and how to build the experiences around it. Its key to realise that journeys are not linear.As we progress into the third wave of computing, physical products will become services, as we are able to connect our physical products to the internet. That can be anything from a plaster to a car, and we're already seeing this happening around us.The Connected Marketer has already trained thousands of marketing professionals from around the globe, from hundreds of global organisations. Some of the organisations include Adidas, P&G, Unilever, Coca-Cola, The Home Depot, FedEx, Kraft, Pepsi, Pfizer, Red Bull and over 20 mobile operators. Also agency groups, which include most big agency groups, like Ogilvy, Mediacom, Mindshare, Carat and M&C Saatchi.I am thrilled that this will now be offered in Africa for the very first time and we are going to impact our industry with a new way of thinking.Paul Berney will come down for the official launch in May and we get to co-present for the very first time.The Connected Marketer courses will run continuously after the launch and will be presented by myself in SA and Africa. Boo-Yah! will also introduce its own masterclasses, which will be aimed towards global case studies, innovation and technology, which will support marketers to always stay on top of whats happening around them.Yes, for the launch of Boo-Yah! and The Connected Marketer we are focusing on Johannesburg for the launch, however we are hoping to expand into Cape Town, Durban, Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwe this year.The Connected Marketer will not only offer courses, but will be supported by roadshows, private dinners and bespoke training.As for Boo-Yah! we are working on an innovation incubation programme that can be offered internally in organisations to help drive a culture of idea hunters and problem solvers in the next coming months.As Charles Darwin said: It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change. NEW YORK, US - US television network CBS announced on Thursday it will explore a possible merger with Viacom amid accelerating consolidation in the media industry. The CBS board "has established a special committee of independent directors to evaluate a potential combination with Viacom," CBS said in a news release after the stock market closed.The move opens the potential to rejoin two companies that were split in 2006, combining CBS with Viacom's networks which include Nickelodeon, MTV, BET and Comedy Central."There can be no assurance that this process will result in a transaction or on what terms any transaction may occur," the statement said. "Neither CBS nor the committee intends to comment further, until the process is completed."The companies previously explored a combination in 2016, but later abandoned the effort.Big media companies are under pressure to lock in top-flight creative content as the traditional broadcast industry is disrupted by Netflix and other streaming options.Big transactions outstanding include Disney's proposed $52.4 billion acquisition of key 21st Century Fox assets, and AT&T's proposed takeover of Time Warner, which is in litigation following an antitrust complaint by the Department of Justice. Reciba en su email: noticias de ultima hora, analisis tecnicos o el cierre de mercado Email no valido Nombre requerido Recibira las informaciones mas relevantes del dia en tiempo real Que informacion desea recibir? Noticias de Ultima hora Boletin Cierre de Mercado Boletin analisis tecnico Boletin Fundsnews Debe seleccionar un tipo de boletin Acepto la Politica de privacidad Debe aceptar la politica de privacidad Responsable EMPRESAS DEL GRUPO WEB FINANCIAL GROUP Finalidad La remision de informacion, novedades y promociones Establecimiento o mantenimiento de Relaciones Comerciales. Legitimacion Consentimiento del interesado. Interes legitimo en el desarrollo de la relacion comercial Destinatario Empresas del Grupo WEB FINANCIAL GROUP Derechos Acceso, rectificacion, supresion, limitacion, oposicion y portabilidad Informacion adicional Politica de Privacidad de nuestra pagina Web + INFORMACION Campus News Paranormal investigator Nickell to headline next Science & Art Cabaret By CHARLOTTE HSU Buffalos Science & Art Cabaret will feature a single speaker at its next event on Feb. 7: paranormal investigator Joe Nickell, a senior research fellow of the Amherst-based Committee for Skeptical Inquiry and a former stage magician and private detective. The Science & Art Cabaret is presented by Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center, the Buffalo Museum of Science, the Techne Institute for Arts and Emerging Technologies at UB, and the UB College of Arts and Sciences. The event, Investigating Paranormal Mysteries, will begin at 7 p.m. at The 9th Ward at Babeville, 341 Delaware Ave., Buffalo. Admission is free and there will be a cash bar. At the cabaret, Nickell will give a talk that provides a revealing and entertaining look at such mysterious phenomena as the ghost at the Mackenzie House in Toronto and cases of alleged spontaneous human combustion from the speakers own case files all examined from the scientific point of view. Utilizing his eclectic background, Nickell has become widely known as an investigator of myths and mysteries, frauds, forgeries and hoaxes. The event series acts as an ongoing conversation about endless topics across all disciplines, typically bringing together artists and scientists to discuss how their work illuminates a common theme. The series underlying premise is that intellectual pursuits that appear distinct actually cross paths far more often than presumed and share spheres of interest and meaning. The cabaret was launched in October 2009 by Gary Nickard, UB clinical associate professor of art; Will Kinney, UB physics professor; and John Massier, visual arts curator at Hallwalls, out of their collective interest in art, science, critical thinking and creativity. In true cabaret fashion, Nickells presentation will highlight the art and craft of critical thinking as applied to areas of investigation and research that are both dramatic and hyperbolic. As Massier says, Joe Nickells investigative and research pedigree is broad and gigantic, and his knowledge of the field extremely deep. We know his presentation will give great clarity to the tools of critical thinking and skepticism as used in considering subjects many often take at face value or believe in too readily. Our cabaret has always had an ongoing theme of the value of critical thinking, and we know Joes experiences and insight will give great texture to this theme, he says. It should be a telling cue to our audience that Joe has placed the word paranormal within quotations marks. True believers may have their belief systems challenged. To date, the cabaret has presented dozens of subjects and speakers across many fields, with such themes as The Man Machine, Modularity, Nothing, Love Yer Brain, Color and Are We Special? A full listing of past cabaret events can be found online. The cabaret will return to its usual multi-speaker format for its next planned event on March 28, which is expected to tackle the theme of Death. Profile Atkinson boosts sustainability opportunities for UB students John Atkinson (third from left) stands near a wind turbine at a wind energy park he and his students toured while in Costa Rica for the UB study abroad program. Photo: Douglas Levere By PETER MURPHY Sustainability isnt a fad. As educators, we need to respond. In this TEDxBuffalo talk, John Atkinson aims to motivate people to live sustainable lives. John D. Atkinson believes engineering students want to study abroad, but struggle to fit semester-long trips into dense schedules. So he found a way they can have that opportunity. Atkinson, assistant professor of environmental engineering, was one of eight UB faculty members who traveled to Costa Rica last June as part of UBs first-ever Study Abroad incubator, a program for faculty and staff interested in designing and leading new study abroad initiatives. Costa Rica is fascinating, Atkinson says. They are highly ranked in global sustainability surveys. Almost 98 percent of their electricity is from renewable resources. Over 25 percent of their land is protected forests. During the trip, I saw the implementation of what I discuss in my on-campus class, he says. I needed to get students there, fast. Atkinson developed CIE 464: Sustainability in Latin America: A Case Study in Costa Rica In less than five months, working with advocates in the Office of International Education, UB Sustainability, the Experiential Learning Network, the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) and SEAS Office of Diversity and Inclusion on the trips logistics. Last week, he and 16 students returned to Buffalo after spending more than two weeks in the Central American country. The trip reinforced what I want to be doing in my life, says Kaitlyn Alcazaren, a senior environmental engineering major. It might put you out of your comfort zone, but theres nothing like getting out of the classroom, being in a gorgeous place and learning about super-interesting topics. Say hello to February with your favourite Daniel Day-Lewis film, TED x LASALLE: Make Me talk and homegrown talents Kiat, Intriguant and Vandetta PARTY | KIV Championing the bolder side of the local electronic music scene are homegrown talents Kiat, Intriguant and Vandetta, who will be playing their vibrant sonic palette for an extraordinary evening under the stars. Featuring NUS Electronic Music Lab's btcprox (Bryan Tan) as the opening act for this electronica evening, your dancing streak is sure to reach an all-time high. 2 February, 7.30pm till 9.30pm at NUS UTown. FILM | Daniel Day-Lewis Retrospective 2018 In light of Day-Lewis' remarkable performances that proved no role too difficult and no accent too obscure, The Projector will be screening a series of achingly memsmerising films by the 61-year-old who recently came back with one last curtain call in Phantom Thread. From Day-Lewis' earliest breakthrough in My Beautiful Laundrette to the three-time Oscar winner's illustrious masterpiece in My Left Foot, his ability to delve into any character will leave you in awe. Till 11 February at The Projector. TALK | TED X LASALLE: Make Me Join Singapore's most notable drag queen Becca D'Bus, former Bloomberg TV producer Sarah Bagharib and plus size model Priscilla Boh in the TEDx initiative on present-day issues from the perspective of individuals who have travelled off the beaten path. The half-day event encompasses meticulously curated topics that will be delivered through each speaker's turbulent experiences and struggles with self-doubt in their adolescent years through adulthood. 4 February, 1pm till 4.30pm at LASALLE College of the Arts. MUSIC | TRIBE with Revision X Choice Cuts Take your pre-loved vinyl out for a swap or snag some local records and merchandise at the music market happening this weekend. Lined up for the evening of festivities are handpicked DJ sets from RAH and Senja, who will be sharing the stage with Choice Cuts Goods + Coffee in all things hip hop and reggae to rare groove and house. 4 February, 4pm till 10pm at Camp Kilo Charcoal Club. MUSIC | Barber Shop by Timbre Bringing you strong grooves of alt-rock and techno, renowned DJ KoFlow and Jaelee's turntable magic is sure to cater to every music lover's needs. Besides a live band performance by Singapore's only Incubus tribute band, Inkquebus, expect diverse fringe activities from pop up stores to live skate demo stations. 4 February, 4pm till 8pm at Barber Shop by Timbre. Dear Reader, Business Standard has always strived hard to provide up-to-date information and commentary on developments that are of interest to you and have wider political and economic implications for the country and the world. Your encouragement and constant feedback on how to improve our offering have only made our resolve and commitment to these ideals stronger. Even during these difficult times arising out of Covid-19, we continue to remain committed to keeping you informed and updated with credible news, authoritative views and incisive commentary on topical issues of relevance. We, however, have a request. As we battle the economic impact of the pandemic, we need your support even more, so that we can continue to offer you more quality content. Our subscription model has seen an encouraging response from many of you, who have subscribed to our online content. More subscription to our online content can only help us achieve the goals of offering you even better and more relevant content. We believe in free, fair and credible journalism. Your support through more subscriptions can help us practise the journalism to which we are committed. Support quality journalism and subscribe to Business Standard. Digital Editor The four senior-most judges of the Supreme Court, who had virtually revolted against the Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra, have been alloted important cases in the new roster made public on Thursday by the apex court. The notification, which was issued under the order of CJI and made public on the official website of the apex court, gave the description of matters that would be dealt by justices Chelameswar, Ranjan Gogoi, M B Lokur and Kurian Joseph. At a press conference held at Justice Chelameswar's residence on January 12, the four seniormost judges had raised a litany of problems, including assigning of cases in the apex court, and said there were certain issues afflicting the country's highest court. Chief Justice Misra has kept to himself the public interest litigation (PIL) cases under the roster system that will come into effect from February 5. Previously, the cases in the apex court were assigned by the CJI in his capacity as master of the roster. The CJI also allocated to the bench headed by him the petitions based on letters, election cases and matters pertaining to contempt of court and constitutional functionaries. He will also deal with cases related to commissions of enquiry, statutory appointments and appointment of other law officers, habeas corpus (a writ requiring a person under arrest to be brought before a judge or into court) matters and social justices cases. The new roster of Supreme Court, assigns the bench headed by Justice J Chelameswar, the senior most judge after CJI Misra, matters related to judicial officers, employees of Supreme Court, high courts, district courts and tribunals for hearings. Besides these, according to the new roster, the bench headed by Justice Chelameswar would deal with matters like labour, indirect tax, land acquisition and requisition, compensation, criminal matters and cases related to consumer protection. Justice Gogoi, who during the presser, had answered in affirmative the concern on the allocation of PILs relating special CBI judge B H Loya to a bench headed by a particular judge, has been allocated matters relating to labour, indirect tax, company law, MRTP, TRAI, SEBI, RBI, criminal matters, contempt of court, personal law, religious and charitable endowments, mercantile laws, commercial transactions including banking etc. He will also hear matters related to judicial officers, state excise-trading in liquor-privileges, licences and distilleries and breweries. Similarly, a bench headed by Justice Lokur has been allocated matters including service, social justice, personal laws, land acquisition, mines and minerals and consumer protection. He will also hear matters related to ecological imbalance: protection and conservation of forests throughout the country, protection of wild life, ban on felling trees and falling of underground water level. Justice Joseph's bench has been assigned to deal with matters including labour, rent Act, family law, contempt of court, personal law etc. He will also hear matters related to religious and charitable endowments and all land laws and agriculture tenancies. The DDA has proposed bringing uniform floor area ratio (FAR) for shop-cum-residence plots and complexes at par with residential plots, a move that will come as a big relief to traders facing threat of sealing, officials said today. The proposal, which hinges on an amendment to the Master Plan of Delhi (MPD-2021) was approved during a meeting of the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) held under the chairmanship of Lt Governor Anil Baijal at the Raj Niwas here today. The DDA, however, said provisions of parking as per the prevailing standards shall be mandatory for approval or sanctioning of any revised plans by local bodies in case of shop-cum-residence plots or shop-cum-residence plots designated as local shopping centres (LSCs). "An amendment has been proposed to the Master Plan to provide uniform FAR for shop-cum-residence plots or complexes at par with residential plots, as given to properties on mixed-use street, which will depend on the size of the plot and subject to availability of parking," a senior official said. FAR is the ratio of a building's total floor area (gross floor area) to the size of the piece of land upon which it is built. The urban body also proposed reducing penalty charges from "10 times to two times" for violation of other terms and conditions for properties meant for mixed use. At the meeting, the DDA proposed to "allow commercial activity in the basements in all commercial streets and areas, subject to payment of requisite charges without any discrimination". "Once the public notification regarding the amendment is issued, there will be three days for inviting suggestions and objections from people, after which it will again come up for review and then finally sent to the Centre for approval," the official said. The move will come as a big relief to traders, who have been seeking uniform FAR, as several properties have been sealed by civic bodies in the last few months. Civic bodies in north, south and central Delhi have taken action against more than 50 shops in the Defence Colony market on the directions of the apex court-appointed monitoring committee for failing to deposit conversion charges according to Master Plan 2021. Union Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri had recently said the DDA was process of amending Delhi's Master Plan to provide relief to the traders from the ongoing sealing drive in the capital. The ministry has also decided to reduce the number of days for which the notification has to be put in public domain from 45 days to three considering the urgency of the situation. DDA authorities said the decision was spurred by large scale public grievances raised by shopkeepers and trade associations. "Issues were also raised by the local bodies with respect to absence of provisions for shop-cum-residence plots, which came up after MPD-1962 and development control norms for shop-cum-residential plots/complex, declared as commercial centres," the urban body said in a statement. At the meeting, it was proposed that local bodies approve the revised plans for any additions or alterations as per permitted use or activity, subject to all statutory clearances with respect to relevant provisions of building bye-laws, structural safety, fire safety and other norms. The DDA also proposed norms for redevelopment of godowns clusters existing in "non-conforming areas, to be inserted as new paragraph 6.4 in Chapter 6 - Wholesale Trade as a modification to MPD-2021". Two persons have been arrested with weighing 5.73 kg, worth Rs 22 million (Rs 2.20 crore) in international market, from Deramari chowk in Bihar's Kishanganj district, officials said. The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) was tipped off that swamp deer (Barasingha) antlers are being smuggled into India from Nepal. DRI officials along with Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) personnel intercepted two persons riding a motorcycle and eight pieces of swamp deer antlers/horns weighing 5.57 kg were seized from their possession, a DRI official said. The value of seized antlers/horns are estimated to be around Rs Rs 22 million (2.20 crore) in international market, the DRI official said. The two persons arrested have been identified as Mohammad Moin and Vishnu Lal Rajak, both residents of Kishanganj district, he said, adding they have admitted that the antlers were brought into India from Nepal. They have been booked for violating the provisions of the Customs Act and Wild Life Protection Act, the DRI official said. Celebration of World Wetlands Day at Deepor Beel in Assam Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Science & Technology and Earth Science, Dr. Harsh Vardhan has said that Wetlands play a vital role for the cities and for the humanity. They serve as a source of drinking water; reduce flooding and the vegetation of wetlands filters domestic and industrial waste and improves water quality. Save them, save humanity", the Minister said on the occasion of World Wetlands Day today. In a message on the World Wetlands Day 2018, Dr. Harsh Vardhan said, On this World Wetlands Day, I appeal to all of you to put your heart and soul into developing a strong movement for Green Good Deeds" in this country. I think this is our Green Social Responsibility towards the society and the nation and of course for this whole planet. It is our solemn duty to protect the rights of the children, who are yet to take birth. It is our duty also to ensure that we give back to our children an environment which is clean and green." Dr. Harsh Vardhan interacting with school students at his residence today On the occasion, Dr Vardhan also interacted with hundreds of school and college students, who came to observe the Day with him. An exhibition of posters on World Wetlands Day" was also put up by National Museum of Natural History, under the Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change. The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) in collaboration with Department of Forests, Assam government is organising the national-level celebration of World Wetlands Day (WWD), 2018 at Deepor Beel, a Ramsar Site in Guwahati, today. The 2018 theme Wetlands for a sustainable urban future marks the role of healthy wetlands play in making cities and towns liveable, through their role in groundwater recharge, buffering floods, filtering wastewater, enhancing landscape aesthetics, providing income generation opportunities and ultimately supporting well-being. Secretary, MoEF&CC, Shri. C.K. Mishra, delivered the keynote address at the event. The event is being preceded by a painting competition amongst school children. A technical workshop on Wetlands is also being organized wherein experts will deliberate on strategies for conservation and wise use of wetlands and their resources. Every year, February 2 is celebrated as World Wetlands Day, to mark the date of adoption of Ramsar Convention on Wetlands. The Convention on Wetlands, called the Ramsar Convention, is an intergovernmental treaty that provides the framework for national action and international cooperation for the conservation and wise use of wetlands and their resources. The Convention was adopted in 1971 at the Iranian City of Ramsar. India is a party to the Convention since 1982, and committed to the Ramsar approach of wise use of wetlands. The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, as the nodal Ministry for wetlands conservation has been supporting the State Governments/ Union Territories since 1985, in design and implementation of Management Action Plans for conservation and management of wetlands including Ramsar sites. Financial and technical assistance has been provided to State Governments for implementation of Management Action Plans for over 140 wetlands. According to National Disaster Management Authority, over 40 hectares which means 12% of land in India is prone to floods and river erosion. Wetlands in India account for 4.7% of the total geographical area. The Environment Ministry also has urged people from all walks of society to use World Wetlands Day as an opportunity to promote awareness on the significance of wetlands. Cochin Shipyard Limited signs MoU with Russian firm for development of vessels CSL and USC to collaborate for development of specialized vessels for Inland and Coastal shipping Cochin Shipyard Limited (CSL) and Joint Stock Company United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC), Russia have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to collaborate and engage in Design, Development and Execution of contemporary, State-of-Art vessels for Inland and Coastal Waterways. The MoU was signed by Shri Madhu S Nair, Chairman & Managing Director, Cochin Shipyard Limited and Mr Alexey Rakhmanov, President, United Shipbuilding Corporation, in the presence of Shri Nitin Gadkari, Minister for Road Transport & Highways, Shipping and Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation, Govt. of India in New Delhi yesterday. CSL and USC will collaborate for development of High-Speed Vessels, River-Sea Cargo Vessels, Passenger Vessels, Dredgers, and other watercrafts for inland waterways and coastal shipping. The MoU will give a push to the Governments Make-in-India programme, as also its plans to develop eco-friendly and economic transportation along Indias inland waterways and coastal shipping routes under SAGARMALA. Once the infrastructure for water based transport is in place there will be a demand for different kinds of specialized vessels in the near and medium term. The MoU is an effort to get ready to cater to this demand. Speaking on the occasion Shri Gadkari said, There is a huge potential in inland waterways, cruise tourism and RO-RO transportation in the country. This collaboration would certainly bring in the much needed product as well as market innovation while harnessing newer technologies." USC, a Joint Stock company is the largest shipbuilding holding in Russia incorporating about 40 enterprises including shipyards, with more than 300 years of experience, which have been key contributors to the growth of inland waterways in Russia. CSL has recently incorporated a JV Company called HCSL (Hooghly Cochin Shipyard Limited) at Kolkata, West Bengal, with plans of setting up an exclusive facility for construction and repair of vessels for inland and coastal waterways. CSLs capacity augmentation will help capture the growth and employment opportunities that will open up from the development of inland waterways and coastal shipping in the country. Government and private sector must join hands to strengthen PHCs: Vice President Police should adopt people friendly policies: Vice President Lays Foundation Stone for Primary healthcare Centre & Police Station in Atukuru village near Vijayawada The Vice President of India, Shri, M. Venkaiah Naidu has said that Government and private sector must join hands to strengthen Primary Health Centers which play a key role in supplying low cost essential medicines to rural areas. He was addressing the gathering after laying the foundation stone for the Primary healthcare Centre in Atukuru village near Vijayawada today. The Minister for Health and Medical Education, Andhra Pradesh, Dr. K. Sreenivas, the Minister for Youth and Sports, Andhra Pradesh, Shri Kollu Ravindra and other dignitaries were present on the occasion. The Vice President said that the Private hospitals along with government hospitals should take part in providing Primary Health services at remote level. PHC is the cornerstone upon which most of the health delivery systems of a nation are built. Goal of PHC should be to make universal health care available to all people and reach the unreached in the remote corners of the country, he said. The Vice President said that it is important for professionals who provide primary care need to posses clinical, management skills, as well as social skills to bring in a humane approach. At times, they must also play the role of counselors to get people out of trauma in some situations, he said. The Vice President said that strengthening Police Force will improve the law and order situation in the society. He further said that good policing is the need of the hour. Police should adopt people friendly policies in addressing the law and order situation. Inland Waterways Authority of India signs project agreement with the World Bank for Jal Marg Vikas Project on Ganga World Bank enters into US $ 375 million loan agreement with DEA Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) signed a project agreement with the World Bank today, even as the latter entered into a US $ 375 million loan agreement with the Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance for Jal Marg Vikas Project (JMVP). The signing of the Agreement follows the approval of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, for the implementation of the US $ 800 million JMVP for capacity augmentation of navigation on National Waterway-1(River Ganga) from Varanasi to Haldia. Out of the remaining amount, US $ 380 million is to be sourced through the Government of India counterpart funds from budgetary allocation and proceeds from the bond issue. Another US $ 45 million will come from private sector participation under the PPP mode. The JMVP, which is expected to be completed by March, 2023, is being implemented with the financial and technical support of the World Bank. The project will enable commercial navigation of vessels with the capacity of 1500-2,000 tons on NW-I. The development and operations of the National Waterway-1 project will lead to direct employment generation to the tune of 46,000 and indirect employment of 84,000 in the states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal. The project includes development of fairway, Multi-Modal Terminals at Varanasi, Haldia and Sahibganj, strengthening the river navigation system, conservancy works, modern River Information System (RIS), Digital Global Positioning System (DGPS), night navigation facilities, modern methods of channel marking, construction of a new state-of-the-art navigational lock at Farakka etc. The JMVP will result in an environment-friendly, fuel-efficient and cost-effective alternative mode of transportation, especially for bulk goods, hazardous goods and over-dimensional cargo. The National Waterway-1 along with proposed Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor and National Highway-2, constitutes the Eastern Transport Corridor of India connecting the National Capital Region (NCR) with the eastern and north-eastern states and will function as a link to Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, Nepal and other east and south-east Asian countries through the Kolkata Port and Indo- Bangladesh Protocol Route. The eldest son of the late Cuban president committed suicide on Thursday, state media reported. He was 68 years old. " Diaz-Balart, who had been treated by a group of doctors for several months due to deep depression, took his life this morning," Cuba's official newspaper Granma reported. "Fidelito" -- as he was known on island nation -- had initially been hospitalized for his condition and then continued with outpatient follow-ups. Born on September 1, 1949, he was the son of the revolutionary Castro's first marriage to Mirta Diaz-Balart. A scientist who trained in the former Soviet Union, Fidel Jr helped usher in the development of a nuclear power program in the Communist-ruled country. At the time of his death he had served as a scientific adviser to the Cuban government and was vice president of the country's Academy of Sciences. Funeral arrangements will be made by the family, state media said. Google parent Alphabet Inc is in talks with Saudi state oil company Saudi Aramco about jointly building a technology hub in Saudi Arabia, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter. It is not clear specifically whose data the centres would house or who would control them, the WSJ said. Reuters could not immediately reach Aramco and Alphabet for comment. Alphabet rivals Apple Inc and Amazon Inc are in licensing discussions with Riyadh on investing in Saudi Arabia as part of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's push to give the ... On the morning of the Oscar nominations, I was chatting with a stranger about movies, as one does. The conversation turned to Woody Allen. My son has seen all his movies, and he thinks hes innocent, she said. Ive seen all his movies, and I think hes guilty, I said. There was not much else to say. There is a lot more to say. The words we chose werent quite the right ones. Innocence and guilt are legal (and also metaphysical) standards, but when we talk about the behaviour of artists and our feelings about them, we are inevitably ... Citing his recent decision to suspend security assistance to Pakistan, US President has said that countries cannot hope to be friends with America while supporting or condoning terror. "President Trump is making clear to our allies that they cannot be America's friend while supporting or condoning terror," the White House has said in a detailed fact sheet on his foreign policy, which was issued after his first State of the Union Address. "The President has suspended security assistance to Pakistan, sending a long overdue message to aid recipients that we expect them to fully join us in combating terrorism," the White House said. Last month, the Trump administration had suspended nearly $2 billion in security assistance to Pakistan accusing the country of not doing enough in the fight against terrorism. Pakistan has denied the allegations and said it will suspend military and intelligence cooperation with the US. The Pentagon, however, says that there has not been such move from Pakistan. According to the White House, Trump will relentlessly pursue threats to America's security, prioritising efforts to confront and defeat radical Islamic terror and the ideology that sustains it. "President Trump's conditions-based South Asia strategy provides commanders with the authority and resources needed to deny terrorists the safe haven they seek in Afghanistan and Pakistan," it said. The US State Departments third-ranking official, Tom Shannon, said on Thursday he was stepping down, the latest senior career diplomat to exit since President Donald Trump took office a year ago. Shannon, who serves as under secretary of state for political affairs, is the most senior career diplomat at the State Department and has been a fixture among the nations diplomatic ranks during more than 34 years of service spanning six presidents and 10 secretaries of state. In a letter to department staff, Shannon, 60, said he was resigning for personal ... President Donald Trump on Friday approved the release of a classified Republican memo that alleges anti-Trump bias at the FBI and Justice Department, sending the document back to a congressional committee that may make it public, Fox News reported. The four-page memo has been declassified and its release was expected later on Friday, Fox reported, citing unidentified sources. Trump said he had sent back to Congress a Republican memo accusing leadership of the FBI and Justice Department of misconduct, which the House is expected to release later on Friday. Its been ... Five people have died after two army helicopters collided and crashed in a dense forest area in southern France on Friday. The French police authorities, who were present at the site, said that the Gazelle helicopters both of which belonged to the Ealat military flight training school in nearby Le-Cannet-des-Maures due to "technical reasons" between Cabasse and Carces, the Sky News reported. As per the local media reports, two rescue aircrafts, consisting of around 20 troops and more than 30 police officers were sent to investigate the crash and to launch rescue operations. The rescue operations were underway to trace a sixth person, who was said to be aboard on the helicopter. So far, five persons have been officially dead. French defence minister Florence Parly will travel to the crash site later in the day. He had expressed "great sadness" at the news of the crash in a post on Twitter. Also, three people were confirmed to have been on one helicopter, with two on the other. The police authorities implied that the area was uninhabited and that no one on the ground was injured. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Three Army personnel lost their lives while one sustained injuries on Friday after an avalanche hit an Army post in Machil Sector of Jammu and Kashmir's Kupwara district. The injured soldiers have been admitted to the hospital. Earlier on Thursday, the Snow and Avalanche Study Establishment (SASE) issued an avalanche warning in several districts of Jammu and Kashmir for next 24 hours. The SASE issued a medium-danger avalanche warning of level-3 in higher reaches of Baramulla district and low danger warning of level-2 in Kupwara, Bandipore, Shopian and Kargil districts. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Through the Bangladesh-India Friendship Company (BIFCL), Bangladesh is planning to build a solar or coal-based power electricity general plant in the Indian soil. A decision has been made to form a committee comprising representatives from both the countries to move the project forward, reported the Dhaka Tribune. Khaled Mahmud, Chairman Engineer of Bangladesh Power Development Board (PDB), recently confirmed about the developments to the media, after returning home from India following a joint working committee meeting. The PDB and India's National Thermal Power Company Ltd (NTPC) will jointly operate the power station, it reported. "Bangladesh will also be able to import electricity from the power plant after its construction," it added. The BIFCL will build the power plant in India as was done in the Rampal Power Plant construction project. "India has agreed to the proposal. We are currently importing power from India, and after construction, Bangladesh will import power from that power plan as well," Mahmud was quoted as saying. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Chattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh had lauded the Centre for a pro-farmer and pro-people budget. On Thursday, Singh, in a statement, said, "The budget focuses on 80 percent of the country's population especially the farmers and poor people. Farmers of the country have been given the priority." The new budget has been mooted as farmers and poor-people friendly and lauded by MSME's and agricultural sector. He took to Twitter and said, "Government of India is firmly committed to realise PM Narendra Modiji's vision of doubling farmer income by 2022." Finance minister Arun Jaitley allocated around Rs 14.34 trillion for the development of rural infrastructure and to provide economic support to the farmers. He announced a minimum support price for all the notified Kharif crops which will be 1.5 times the input cost. The farmers were also assured of a 50 percent return over over-production costs for crops, though the route for the same has not been defined. To reduce the pressure of loans in the farming sector, the budget includes setting up of two separate funds of Rs. 10,000 crores for building infrastructure for fishery, aquaculture and animal husbandry. In favour of the small farmers holding lands less than 0.5 hectares, a 100 percent deduction is given to Farmers Producer Organization for next five years. The budget also mentions liberalizing exports of agricultural commodities. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A day after Finance Minister Arun Jaitley proposed certain healthcare measures as a part of the Budget proposals for 2018-19, people across the country hailed the same. While some termed the health and wellness centre scheme as the silver lining of the Budget, others termed it as good and useful for the poor people. "The health and wellness centre scheme is the silver lining in this budget and will be a major reform.Proposal to establish 24 medical colleges is another welcome move, " said Manda Chiranjeevi Das, Management Consultant of Ramesh Hospitals in Vijayawada. "This scheme, if implemented well, would be very good and useful for poor people like us. I hope we will see the effect on the ground," Rizwana, a local from Hubli, Karnataka. "This will be extremely beneficial for us and very effective in the long run. I would like to thank the Central Government for this scheme," said Raj Mandal, a patient's attendant. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley announced two new measures under the government's Ayushman Bharat scheme, which are expected to take healthcare to greater heights. The two measures are as below: 1. Rs 1,200 crores will be allocated towards setting up health and wellness centers in India, which will provide comprehensive healthcare, maternal and child care, free drugs and diagnostics to the poor. The government has also invited private sector contribution towards the same. 2. In a bid to increase the insurance cover for the poor, the government, under the flagship Health Protection Scheme announced that a sum of up to Rs 5,00,000 will be provided to 10 crore poor families in India per year, which is expected to reach around 50 crore beneficiaries, and will be used for secondary and tertiary care hospitalisation. Apart from the above, Jaitley announced that a sum of Rs 600 crore will be provided for nutritional support to tuberculosis patients at a rate of Rs 500 per month. Additionally, 24 new government medical colleges and hospitals will be set up by upgrading existing district hospitals, thereby moving towards achieving universal health coverage. These measures, Jaitley believes, will be crucial to building an efficient, productive New India, and would create additional jobs, especially for women. He had further claimed that schemes such as Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana and Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana will now expand to cover the lower strata of the society. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A businessman has been arrested by Mumbai's Juhu Police based on a complaint of stalking and criminal intimidation filed against him by veteran actress Zeenat Aman. On January 30, Aman had filed a molestation and stalking complaint against the businessman, Mumbai Police said on Thursday. The complaint has been registered under sections 304 D (stalking) and 509 (insulting modesty of a woman) of the Indian Penal Code. The police said they both knew each other; however, the relationship had soured over some issues following which Aman had stopped talking to the businessman. Nevertheless, the businessman allegedly kept calling and following her. After failing to convince the person to stop stalking, the veteran actress sought the help of police and filed a complaint at Juhu police station. An investigation has been launched into the matter. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) England all-rounder Ben Stokes has been named in the 15-member squad for the five-match one-day international (ODI) series against New Zealand, starting later this month. Stokes' involvement is subject to any court obligations in connection with a brawl outside a Bristol nightclub September last year, for which he has been charged with affray, reports the Guardian. The former England vice-captain has to appear before Bristol Magistrates' Court on February 13 to answer a charge of affray. Stokes, has not played for the country since the Bristol incident. He had to earlier miss the Ashes series against Australia after being suspended indefinitely by the ECB, as the outcome of the police investigation into the incident was pending. But with Stokes named in the squad against New Zealand, Dawid Malan, who had played the Ashes series, has been dropped. Test skipper Joe Root will also return for the series, after being rested for the Twenty20 tri-series against Australia and New Zealand. The England ODI series against New Zealand will start from February 25. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) An FIR has been filed against Congress MLA Hemant Katare in connection with a rape case. Earlier the police had registered an FIR by Katare against the alleged victim, who Katare claimed was blackmailing him. According to the reports, the alleged victim is said to be a journalism student and was arrested by Bhopal crime branch on Katare's complain. The woman had then written a letter to the jail's Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) alleging that Katare had raped her. Acting on the charges written in the letter, the woman police station filed an FIR in the case against MLA Katare. According to reports, Katare has gone 'underground' after the FIR was filed. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A fire broke out in a shoe factory near Delhi's Peeragarhi area in the wee hours of Friday. The situation did not come under control even after five hours of the incident. "The incident happened at around 2.30 a.m., and it has been five hours and we are still trying to douse the fire," the fire department informed, at the time of filing the report. One fireman has also been injured in the ordeal. There were about 20 fire tenders at the spot, said the fire department. The fire has engulfed the basement area, first floor and second floor of the shoe factory. More details are awaited. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A man has been arrested for allegedly raping a 19-year-old-girl inside a movie theatre in Telangana's Hyderabad city. The victim, who became friends with the accused through social media, went to watch the film Padmaavat in Prashanth Theatre when she was allegedly sexually assaulted. According to Mathaiah, Circle Inspector, "The girl was raped inside a movie theatre. Two months back, the victim and the accused became friends through social media." The accused took advantage of the fact that there were only a few people in the theatre and nobody was near them, said police. The accused was arrested on January 31 and on the following day; he was remanded to judicial custody. The victim received severe injuries on her private parts and is undergoing treatment now. A case has been registered under section 376 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and action has also been initiated against the theatre owner for negligence. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Reacting to the ongoing political turmoil in the Maldives, India on Friday said that it wishes to see stability and peace there. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said in a statement, "We have seen last night's order of Supreme Court of Maldives releasing all political prisoners. In the spirit of democracy and rule of law, it is imperative for all organs of the Govt. of Maldives to respect and abide by the order of the apex court." "We also hope that the safety and security of the Indian expatriates in the Maldives will be ensured by the Maldivian authorities under all circumstances. As a close and a friendly neighbour, India wishes to see a stable, peaceful and prosperous Maldives. We are closely monitoring the situation," the statement added. The Supreme Court of the Maldives acquitted former Maldivian President Mohamed Nasheed and former Maldivian Vice President Ahmed Adeeb, along with 12 other parliamentary members. The court ordered the immediate release of high-profile prisoners and held that "the prisoners were free until fair trials could be conducted without undue influence". The order given on late Thursday evening could be a major blow to the Maldivian President Yameen Abdul Gayoom, who has a tight grip on power, controlling institutions like the judiciary, police and the bureaucracy, Fox News reported. The main opposition party, the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) hailed the ruling and described it as a "death knell for President Yameen's corrupt and criminal dictatorship". Yameen took over as the president after winning a controversial runoff against Nasheed. The Maldives was plagued by political unrest in 2015 when Nasheed, the first democratically elected president of the country, was arrested on "terrorism" charges, relating to the arrest of a judge during his tenure. The arrest led to widespread protests across the country and resulted in the arrest of hundreds of dissidents. The apex court had sentenced Nasheed to 13 years in prison. In 2016, Nasheed also sought political asylum in the United Kingdom after travelling there on medical leave from prison. Ten years ago, the Maldives became a multiparty democracy, after three decades of autocratic rule of former strongman and Yameen's half-brother Maumoon Abdul Gayoom. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Indian Air Force saved life of a young Kashmiri boy while battling acute weather condition. Nine-year-old Gurez resident Taufik started suffering acute pain as a result of a very serious case of appendicitis, at night. Since, adequate medical care for these situations is not available in Gurez, so the next best option was to evacuate him to Srinagar for treatment. The Airforce Station Srinagar received message for an evacuation at night and the crew of the helicopter was put on standby. Bad weather at Gurez prevented the helicopter from getting airborne in the morning. The helicopter was then put on another assignment. On the way back from this assignment the crew of the helicopter received a message that the weather at Gurez has improved to marginal. The copter was diverted to the landing site, inflight, and after a successful landing Taufik and his father were picked up and despite the continuous snowing and low clouds they were evacuated to Srinagar. Prompt action by IAF and its highly motivated crew led by Squadron Leader Vinit Singh Sikarwar and co-pilot Lakhsay Mittal of "Hovering Hawks" saved a young life. Taufik is now recuperating at a medical facility in Srinagar. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A six-year-old girl admitted to Sir Ganga Ram Hospital yesterday with injuries to private parts, died on Friday. The child was in decompensated septic shock with respiratory failure and multi-organ dysfunction. The doctors, who treated the girl, suspected sexual assault and the body has now been sent for post-mortem. However, the Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Outer of Delhi Police has said that the girl died due to severe infection. "The 6-year-old girl died due to severe infection. So far, neither the family members nor medical reports suggest any sexual assault. We are awaiting postmortem report," the Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Outer, Delhi Police said. More details are awaited. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Mumbai Court on Saturday allowed a production warrant against Indrani Mukerjea, the prime accused in the Sheena Bora murder case, from Delhi's Patiala House Court in connection with the INX media case. A special court for the Enforcement Directorate (ED) cases in Delhi had directed that she be produced before it. The ED had earlier registered a case against INX Media, its founder Peter Mukerjea and his wife Indrani under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). INX Media has been accused of violating Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) guidelines while receiving investments from Mauritius. Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram's son Karti is also an accused in the case, which relates to FIPB approval granted in 2006 for receipt of funds by INX Media. The Mukerjeas are currently facing a trial in Mumbai for conspiring to kill Sheena Bora, Indrani's daughter from an earlier marriage, in April 2012. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Jodhpur High Court heard the petition filed by director Sanjay Leela Bhansali in connection with rejecting the FIR of a case filed against 'Padmaavat' in Didwana police station of Nagaur district. The court has decided to review the film and have set the date of watching the film on February 9 at Judicial Academy auditorium. The judicial officers will preview the Sanjay Leela Bhansali film 'Padmavat' and decide whether anybody's religious feelings are hurt by the film or not. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Women belonging to the Muslim community reached the Collectorate on Friday and handed over a memorandum, requesting the President to pass the Triple Talq Bill "as soon as possible". They handed it to District Administration, Prakash Gupta. "For many years we have been fighting for our rights but now as the triple talaq bill has been presented to the government, we want it to be passed as soon as possible," said Rukhsana, one of the woman who had come to give the memorandum. As the Budget session of the Parliament began on January 28, the Muslim Women's (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill, 2017 related to triple talaq, is among the important bills that will be tabled for discussion and passage. On January 29, President Ram Nath Kovind expressed hope for the bill on triple talaq to get enacted. "My government has introduced the bill on triple talaq in the Parliament. I hope the Parliament will pass it soon. After the bill is enacted, the Muslim women can live a life of dignity and without fear," Kovind said addressing a joint sitting of the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, at the commencement of the Budget Session. The bill, if enacted, will make triple talaq a criminal offence. It proposes a three-year jail term for a Muslim man who divorces his wife in any form of spoken, written or by electronic means such as email, SMS, and WhatsApp. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Maldives Supreme Court has directed all institutions of the country, and the armed forces in particular, to honour its full and final decision to reinstate twelve opposition parliamentarians who were disqualified and detained earlier. It said in a fresh order that all arrangements have to be made to ensure that they attend the first session of the parliament on February 5. Exercising its powers under Article 141 and 145 of the Constitution of Maldives and also its position as the highest authority for the administration of justice in the Maldives, the Supreme Court said that alleged floor crossing charge levelled against the twelve opposition parliamentarians stands withdrawn and rescinded. A five-member bench of the apex court, comprising of the chief justice and the four other judges, warned the government, parliament, the armed forces and the police, and all other relevant parties of the state that failure to implement its unanimous order would lead to their prosecution. It said the cases against these members of parliament would be judicially re-examined in accordance with law. The court described the judgement as full and final, and ruled out the possibility of review or appeal. Those ordered released include: Mohamed Nasheed, G. Kenereege, Mohamed Nazim, M. Seenukarankaage, Imran Abdulla, Malhaar, M. Kolhufushi, Ahmed Adeeb Abdul Gafoor, H. Saamaraa, Muhthaaz Muhsin, Rasmaage, Ga. Maamendhoo, Gasim Ibrahim, M. Maafannu Vilaa, Ahmed Faris Maumoon, M. Kinbigasdhoshuge, Ahmed Nihan, Venus, Hamid Ismail and M. Shoora Manzil. In a tweet, the U.S. Ambassador to Sri Lanka and the Maldives Atul Keshap welcomed the ruling. "I urge the government and security services to respect this ruling, which bolsters #democracy and #RuleOfLaw for all Maldivians." Police in the Maldives said through a tweet that they had decided to follow the court ruling after seeking legal advice and have had started to enforce it. Supporters of the opposition cheered and clapped when this tweet was read out yesterday. Subsequently, there were clashes which led to the police firing tear gas shells to quell the disturbance. "The Supreme Court's verdict effectively ends President Yameen's authoritarian rule," the opposition said in a statement. They called for his resignation. The Maldives is a popular tourist destination and this sector had been hit hard when President Yameen ordered a major crackdown on dissent and oversaw the jailing of almost all political opposition members. "While the ruling makes significant implications on various points of constitutional import and criminal justice procedures, it was issued without representation of the state from either the attorney general or the prosecutor general," President Yameen's spokesman, Ibrahim Hussain Shihab said in a statement. The government has, however, confirmed that it will consult with the Supreme Court on how to apply the ruling through proper procedure and the rule of law. Earlier this week, opposition figures jointly petitioned the court to remove President Yameen on charges of alleged corruption. Among those who had petitioned the top court included President Yameen's half-brother and former president Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, former president Mohamed Nasheed and former vice president Ahmed Adeeb. Almost all key opposition leaders and a number of ruling party dissidents have either been jailed or gone into exile in the Maldives in recent years under Yameen. The political crisis in The Maldives can be traced to ouster of Mohammad Nasheed, the country's first democratically elected leader in 2012. He was then sentenced to 13 years in jail on terrorism charges after a widely denounced trial in 2015. He was freed last year on medical and compassionate grounds. He initially travelled to the United Kingdom for medical treatment and then managed to get political refugee status. Nasheed, who is now in self-exile in Sri Lanka, has consistently accused President Yameen, who has been in power since 2013, of widespread corruption and of amassing wealth through illegal means. He has maintained that President Yameen has used his wealth to purchase the loyalties of members of the legislature, judiciary and special operations unit of the police. There have also been reports of the widespread use of "fear and intimidation" as a political tool against the opposition, he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Manchester UK is a city known world-wide for innovation and being a game-changer. Today the city is embodying that spirit by launching an innovative approach to capitalising on global trade opportunities. Unifying leading organisations such as Deloitte, Manchester Airports Group, Squires Patton Boggs, Growth Company, MIDAS, Manchester's inward investment agency and Greater Manchester Local Enterprise Partnership within the "Manchester-India Partnership", the city will uniquely provide a clear route for engagement with this strategically-vital market. Designed to build trade, investment, cultural and educational ties, the Manchester-India Partnership will have at its heart "Make in India, Innovate with Manchester", building on the economic strategy championed by Prime Minister Modi; leveraging Manchester's innovation and research capabilities in a broad range of sectors ranging from advanced materials to big data in collaboration with Indian industry and research institutes. Manchester-India Partnership, with dedicated staff in Delhi, Bangalore and Manchester, will launch at the "Createch" Summit in Mumbai on 6 February. The Partnership will be chaired by Andrew Cowan, Chief Executive of Manchester Airport, who will attend the launch, along with Tim Newns, CEO, MIDAS, and Jo Ahmed, partner and head of Deloitte Manchester's Global Employer Services. This follows the UK launch which took place at the House of Commons on 1 February. The formation of the Manchester-India Partnership reflects the strong investment into the region from knowledge-led Indian firms such as HCL, Hero Cycles and 42Gears, and strategic partnerships by Universities of Salford and Bolton with Bangalore and the State of Karnataka, to build on the increasing attractiveness of Manchester for Indian researchers, students and tourists. A major target for the Manchester-India Partnership will be to encourage direct air routes to further broaden the existing economic and cultural links, with Manchester Airport already the 6th largest European air gateway into India. Drawing on parallels with the city's strategic relationship with China, the launch of a direct Manchester-Beijing air route generated an additional 138m into Manchester's visitor economy in the first year of operation. It is hoped that, with similar focus, the city will attract direct Indian routes and in doing so facilitate comparable levels of investment and economic growth. Andrew Cowan, CEO of Manchester Airport, said: "Forging closer relationships with the world's most important markets is key to the future prosperity of Manchester and the wider region. That is why I am pleased to be chairing the Manchester-India Partnership, which will exist to strengthen the trade and cultural ties between the two locations. "We have seen first-hand how direct air links can stimulate significant increases in inward investment, exports and research collaborations and that is why securing a route into India will be one of the Partnership's number one priorities." Tim Newns, CEO, MIDAS, Manchester's inward investment agency, said: "Manchester city region is famed for being at the forefront of industry and continues to be a competitive destination for international investors. India is a strategic market for Manchester and over recent years, the city region has welcomed significant investments from Indian companies including Hero Cycles, who chose Manchester as the location for their 2m global design centre, HCL Technologies, 42Gears, a high growth logistic solutions company from Bangalore, Vistaar Productions and the State Bank of India." Jo Ahmed, Partner and head of Deloitte Manchester's Global Employer Services team, said: "Manchester and India already have a long history of collaboration, trade and connectivity, and great work is already underway to grow these links. Prime Minister Modi's speech at Davos last week further reinforced the benefits of international trade and therefore the formalised Manchester-India Partnership will add greater emphasis to building relationships in the region, providing access for many of the city's businesses into a new and emerging market." During the UK launch Tech Mahindra announced the company will establish an innovation and digital office at MediaCityUK, Greater Manchester this year, creating up to 80 jobs. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Unidentified miscreants opened fire at the house of Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) MLA from Bakhri, Upendra Paswan, in Bihar's Begusarai on Friday. The MLA escaped unhurt while Middle school's headmaster Naval Kishore Mukhiya suffered injuries. The injured head master has been shifted to the nearby hospital for further treatment. Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) of Munger, Vikas Vaibhav has personally reached the spot to investigate the matter. More details are awaited. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A woman has been arrested for allegedly strangulating her 14-month-old son at Bhiwandi in a bid to save her extra-marital relationship. The police have arrested Mamata, her paramour Rakesh Kumar and one Ajeet Kumar for killing the toddler and then burying the body near their house. Mamata had left her husband Virendra Yadav and her child to live with Rakesh, said official sources. She used to keep the child with her in the absence of Yadav. This, however, became a bone of contention between her and Rakesh as the latter disapproved the presence of the child at their home. Rakesh believed that Yadav was using their child to convince Mamata to stay with him. In the absence of her husband, Mamata allegedly killed her son with the help of Rakesh and Ajeet. As Yadav enquired about their son on his return, he was told that the child lost his life in a fatal illness. Being suspicious about his wife, he approached the police and after a brief investigation arrested all the three culprits. A case has been registered in this regard and further probe is on. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A tuition teacher in Mumbai's Malad was stabbed to death by another tuition teacher after a dispute over students. The incident took place on Thursday when Arup Biswas was sitting near his house and Vijay Harjan attacked the former with a knife after a verbal fight. The accused later surrendered before the police after committing the crime. According to police, "The incident took place at around 8.30 pm on Thursday. The teachers used to keep two separate tuition classes for the children. Since the past few days, there was a dispute between the two regarding the students." "At least, 10 children this month joined Arup Biswas's classes to which the accused did not approve of and out of jealousy he took the step," police added. A case has been registered under section 302 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). Further investigations are on. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Pakistan's Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa has called on Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz in Riyadh. In a meeting held with the crown prince on Thursday, the two sides dwelled upon the matters of mutual interest and military ties between Islamabad and Riyadh, Radio Pakistan confirmed on Friday. They also underscored the close ties between the Kingdom and Pakistan. Saudi vice president of the Council of Ministers and the minister of defence were also present on the occasion, along with other senior Pakistani military officials. Earlier, General Bajwa also held meeting with Commander of Saudi Ground Forces, Lt Gen Prince Fahd bin Turki bin Abdulaziz. According to Dawn, this is Gen Bajwa's second visit to the Kingdom in the last two months. He last visited Saudi in December 2017 and held a string of meetings with the crown prince King Salman. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Friday came down heavily on the Odisha government over the Kunduli gang-rape incident. A class IX girl committed suicide on January 22 after being allegedly gang-raped by four men in Kunduli of Koraput district in October last year. Speaking to ANI, Pradhan demanded the resignation of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and asked him to take the moral responsibility for the incident. "An unfortunate incident took place in Kunduli. A 14-year-old girl committed suicide. The state government ignored this issue. The girl had alleged that the Odisha DG had offered her Rs 90000 to keep her mouth shut. Some people are trying to change her forensic report," he said. Stating that the 'insensitive government of Odisha stood failed to give justice to the woman, the minister said that the BJP will continue to protest against it until the culprits get arrested. Earlier also, Pradhan had demanded Patnaik's resignation in connection with the incident. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Rajya Sabha on Friday was adjourned till 12 pm after the house witnessed a massive uproar over the recent clash in Uttar Pradesh's Kasganj, in which one was killed. A Special Investigation Team (SIT) has been constituted to probe the violence that erupted in Kasganj. One person, identified as Chandan Gupta, died and two others were injured in the violence that broke out on January 26. The clash broke out after an unauthorised bike rally was taken out by RSS-affiliated students' group Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) in the city to commemorate the Republic Day and allegedly stones were pelted at them during the roadshow. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Supreme Court on Friday will hear the pleas filed by three petitioners seeking a SIT probe into the alleged mysterious death of Special CBI judge Justice B H Loya. A bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dipak Misra will be hearing the petitions. The top court had asked the Maharashtra government, earlier in the month, to submit the postmortem report of the CBI judge, who had died in alleged suspicious circumstances in 2014, citing that the "matter was very serious." According to reports, Maharashtra-based journalist Lone and activist Tehseen Poonavala had filed independent pleas seeking a fair probe into the death of Justice Loya, who was hearing the Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case, involving various police officers and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A van ploughed into a crowd of people outside a Starbucks outlet in central Shanghai on Friday, leaving at least 18 people injured. The incident occurred in the city's Huangpu District.Three of the injuries were reported as critical, the People's Daily said. According to the reports, the vehicle was carrying six people. Witnesses said the van was ablaze before mounting the pavement and crashing into a fence in front of the cafe at around 9am, the local media reported. The Shanghai government has confirmed on its official Weibo account that the fire in the minivan had been put out. All of the injured were rushed to hospital for treatment, it read. The cause of the accident is not known immediately. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Jammu and Kashmir Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh on Friday criticised Omar Abdullah's speech in the Jammu and Kashmir Parliament, where the latter questioned the state government's intention over the killing of civilians in Shopian. Speaking to ANI, Nirmal Singh said, "This was unfortunate stand by a former CM. Army, the institution making sacrifices for the country, don't have rights to approach law?." "They are demanding that they (army) should be hanged for filing a return FIR but didn't utter a word against stone-pelters," added Singh. Earlier in the day, former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah demanded a Special Investigation Team (SIT) probe into the killings of civilians in Shopian. Addressing members of Jammu and Kashmir State Assembly Abdullah said, "I demand now a high-level special investigation team should be constituted in Shopian matter." He questioned the intention of the Mehbooba Mufti government in allowing a person to be tied to a jeep by the Army and not offering compensation to him. "Army man was awarded. So, how can we trust now that you (CM) are assuring a logical conclusion in the Shopian FIR," he said. On January 27, two civilians were killed and nine others injured reportedly after the army opened fire on a stone-pelting mob in Ganowpora village. Earlier, Abdullah said that ordering a magisterial probe into the killings of civilians in Shopian and simultaneously registering an FIR against the Army was creating confusion. Jammu and Kashmir Director General of Police (DGP) S.P. Vaid had said no officer has been named in the F.I.R. over the Shopian killings. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) External Affairs Minister (EAM) Sushma Swaraj on Friday met with Nepal Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba here and congratulated him on the successful conduct of the recent elections. The two sides dwelled upon enhancing the bilateral cooperation to take the age-old and historical partnership forward. "EAM @SushmaSwaraj met @PM_Nepal and congratulated him on the successful conduct of the recent elections. Discussions focused on enhancing our bilateral cooperation to take our age-old and historical partnership forward," EAM spokesperson Raveesh Kumar tweeted. Earlier in the day, Swaraj also paid a courtesy call to President Bidya Devi Bhandari and exchanged views on advancing multi-dimensional India-Nepal relations. Swaraj also met with former Nepal Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal. The minister, who reached Kathmandu on Thursday, met Chairman of CPN-UML K.P Sharma Oli in her first engagement and congratulated him on his Party's victory in the recent elections. Swaraj is on a two-day official visit to Nepal in an effort to reach out to the country's political leadership ahead of the formation of a new government by a Communist alliance. This is Swaraj's seventh visit to Nepal since assuming office in May 2014. However this is her first visit to Nepal after the three-tier elections ended here in December. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) External Affairs Minister (EAM) Sushma Swaraj met former Nepal Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal here on Friday . The minister, who reached Kathmandu on Thursday, met Chairman of CPN-UML K.P Sharma Oli in her first engagement and congratulated him on his Party's victory in the recent elections. "The two held wide ranging discussions on ways to take the special relationship between India and Nepal forward," EAM spokesperson Raveesh Kumar had tweeted. Swaraj is on a two-day official visit to Nepal in an effort to reach out to the country's political leadership ahead of the formation of a new government by a Communist alliance. This is Swaraj's seventh visit to Nepal since assuming office in May 2014. However this is her first visit to Nepal after the three-tier elections ended here in December. The timing of the visit comes at a time when India wants to improve its relations with Oli and his party, Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist Leninist) (CPN-UML). Relations between the two sides are often described as "patchy", where Oli criticised India's constant hindrance over Nepal's new constitution in 2015, which did not recognise the rights of the Madhesis. On January 21, Prime Minister Narendra Modi telephoned Oli and congratulated him in advance on his win in the just-concluded Nepal elections and invited each other to visit their respective countries. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) External Affairs Minister (EAM) Sushma Swaraj, during her visit to Nepal, congratulated the Government and its people for successfully conducting the three-tier elections in Nepal, according to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA). "Sushma Swaraj conveyed to all political leaders of Nepal that the Government of India is looking forward to working with the democratically elected Government to take forward bilateral ties to newer heights for mutual benefit, and to support the Government of Nepal," MEA, said, in a statement, Swaraj was in Kathmandu on February 1 and 2, on an official visit in an effort to reach out to the country's political leadership, ahead of the formation of a new government by a Communist alliance. Swaraj "is the first high-level visitor from India after the successful holding of Parliamentary and first ever Provincial Assembly elections in Nepal in November-December 2017," the statement added. During her visit to Nepal, EAM called on Nepal's President Bidya Devi Bhandari and Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba. Furthermore, Sushma Swaraj held meetings with KP Sharma Oli, Chairman of Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist Leninist) (CPN-UML), Pushpa Kamal Dahal, political leadership of Rashtriya Janta Party Nepal and other leaders and congratulated them on their recent electoral victories. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) External Affairs Minister (EAM) Sushma Swaraj emplaned for Delhi after successfully completing a two-day visit to Nepal. During her visit to Nepal, Swaraj congratulated the Nepalese Government and its people for successfully conducting the three-tier elections in Nepal. Swaraj was in Kathmandu on February 1 and 2, on an official visit, in an effort to reach out to the country's political leadership, ahead of the formation of a new government by a Communist alliance. She is also the first high-level visitor from India after the successful holding of Parliamentary and first ever Provincial Assembly elections in Nepal, held in November-December 2017. The EAM called on Nepal's President Bidhya Devi Bhandari and Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba. Furthermore, Swaraj held meetings with K.P. Sharma Oli, Chairman of Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist Leninist) (CPN-UML) and Nepal's Prime Minister-elect, Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda, the political leadership of Rashtriya Janta Party Nepal and other leaders and congratulated them on their recent electoral victories. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Vasai a small industrial hub outside Mumbai, is in the prime industrial zone of being in close proximity to Mumbai and its ports. It is one of the largest Industrial zones in India with more than 15,000 Manufacturing units. Vasai will be hosting the third edition of Vasai Industrial Expo spearheaded by EXHICON. The event has grown to become one of the pioneering initiatives of EXHICON in the category of geographical shows highlighting the USP's of the said region. This year also the event looks promising with 150 exhibitors with a sustained 50 percent growth in the scope of the event. The three-day industrial show is scheduled to take place from February 10 to 12 and spread over 20,000 sq. mt area at Hitendra Thakur Appa ground is Mega Exhibition on combined industry catering to plastic and polymers, engineering and manufacturing, electrical, luminaire and electronics, print and packaging, renewable, solar energy, led, food processing, plants and equipment's are some of the notable companies participating. The event is organised in association with Govalis Industries Association, MACCIA, LACMA, Udyami Maharashtra, VIA, VIMA, PMAL, SME Chamber of India, MBSSIA. Day two of the event will host several seminars by agencies like EEPC (Engineering Export Promotion Council of India), FIO (Food Information Organization). These seminars are targeted towards creating awareness on the new Government policies and rules which will benefit the manufacturers in making and exporting the products. Seminars on SME's, IPO, and more will also be held to enlighten the businesses on newer trends in the market. Vasai Industrial Expo will also be holding a Vendor Development Program, in association with PSUs, Private Sector Majors, MNCs, Utility & Services, automobile giants. There will also be a special pavilion for MSME & National Small Industries Corporation (NSIC) and VIE SME Awards 2018, in association with Udyami Maharashtra for the businesses. "EXHICON has been a trendsetter and pioneer in conceptualizing geographic industrial shows at various industrial belts of Maharashtra. Organising Vasai Industrial Expo 2018 is the next step in providing a platform to SME's, MSME's, and local businesses to showcase their products, ideas, and concepts and benefit from various Govt Schemes," said M Q Syed, Founder and Director, EXHICON. Ashok Grover, Secretary Vasai Taluka Industries Federation added, "It is a pleasure to be associated with Vasai Industrial Expo. It has always facilitated the growth of Industry in Vasai Taluka by promoting new businesses and opportunities to expand existing businesses." "Over the last 2 years, Vasai Industrial Expo has helped to highlight the issues faced by the community, the labourers, the environment etc in the region. As it is a geographic specific expo, they are willing to work with the government to execute new schemes and this edition of is another step towards achieving the goal of promoting Vasai as the critical component for the manufacturing in Maharashtra," said Kshitij Thakur, an MLA. The 3-day event will see introduction of new and existing industrial products in market, will give live demonstration of industrial products to be launched, Workshops for SME and MSME sector and more. FSSAI will provide licenses to 1000 women free of cost for starting their own food Seminars on Vendor Development, Women Entrepreneurs, and Start-ups will be the highlights of the three day fest. Along with the seminars, they will also be organising a free medical health check-up for the labourers of Vasai industrial belt. Visitors will witness products in various segments like Renewable Energy, LED, Solar Power, Engineering and manufacturing, Electrical, Printing and Packaging, etc from nearly 150 companies who will be on display. The event will host seminars on all the day with various key speakers / companies. The third day will be closing ceremony evening 5 pm followed by felicitation and consensus report. For more information contact: exhicongroup.com. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) "We write to inform you that we would consider such an unwarranted act as an attempt to obstruct justice in the Russia investigation. Firing Rod Rosenstein, DOJ (Department of Justice) leadership or Bob Mueller could result in a constitutional crisis of the kind not seen since the Saturday night massacre," the Democrats said in a letter to the President. The massacre is in reference to President Richard Nixon's firing of the Watergate scandal special prosecutor in the 1970s. Local reports said that Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of California said that they are "alarmed" at reports that Trump may use the memo "as a pretext" to fire Rosenstein "in an effort to corruptly influence or impede" special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation. Rosenstein is the only Department of Justice official who can remove Mueller, and he was expected to be named in the four-page classified memo made public Friday, local media stated. Trump recently gave the green signal to release the controversial Nunes memo, containing alleged surveillance abuses of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). "I think it's a disgrace. A lot of people should be ashamed of themselves," Trump said in Oval Office after approving the memo. The decision clears the way for the Intelligence Committee to release the memo, reported The Hill. "It was declassified and let's see what happens," Trump added. White House spokesman Raj Shah said that the copies of the memo had been sent to Republican and Democratic members of the Intelligence panel and Speaker Paul Ryan's office. It is now up to the panel whether to release the memo to the public or not. In a rare public statement on Wednesday, the FBI had said: "We are gravely concerned that critical facts are missing from the documents and has painted an inaccurate picture of how the bureau sought approval to conduct surveillance in the probe." Trump had earlier accused top FBI officials and the US Justice Department of "politicising" the memo on the probe into Russian interference in the US elections. The four-page document has become a flashpoint in a wider battle between the Republicans and Democrats over Mueller's criminal probe into potential collusion between Trump's 2016 presidential campaign and Russia. The probe grew out of the FBI's Russia investigation after Trump fired FBI director James Comey and Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself from the investigation. Russia has denied meddling in the election campaign and Trump has called Mueller's probe a "political witch hunt". (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The bamboo farmers in Tripura's Agartala have welcomed the Union Budget 2018 under which Rs 1,290 crore have been allocated for a Restructured Bamboo Mission. This mission will be launched to promote the bamboo sector in a holistic manner. "The Union Budget 2018 is a farmer-friendly proposal. They have particularly kept provision for the bamboo sector. If implemented properly farmers from North-East will get better opportunity to earn their livelihood through bamboo," Centre for Forest-based Livelihoods and Extension, PK Kaushik told ANI. A bamboo farmer, Samir Acharjee, said, "This will benefit us as well as the bamboo artisans and those who make their houses out of bamboo. Now bamboo is a thing which is useful everywhere in our day to day life and so everyone will be benefited due to this budget". For agriculture sector, this year's budget has proposed increasing the minimum support price (MSP) of all crops to at least 1.5 times that of the production cost. "I make furniture out of bamboo and this time Rs. 1200 crores allocated in the budget for bamboo will be of great help to people like us and all those engaged with the bamboo sector," a bamboo artisan, Sreeram Shil, told ANI. The budget also announced Rs 500 crore for Operation Green. The allocation to food processing ministry has been increased to Rs. 1,400 crore from Rs. 715 crore. For the development of the rural economy, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in his speech said that Rs 14.34 lakh crore will be spent for providing livelihood to rural India through infrastructure building. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Turkish jets destroyed a number of Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) threats in northern Iraq, the country's military said on Friday. The Turkish General Staff said in a statement, "The airstrikes were carried out on Thursday in the Hakurk and Avasin-Basyan regions of northern Iraq." "Four shelters, hideouts, and weapons pits used by the terror organization (PKK) were destroyed during the airstrikes", the statement added. The Turkish military continued that the PKK forces were preparing for an attack on a Turkish convoy and their bases in the region, the Anadolu news agency reported. The PKK has its main base in the Qandil Mountains, near the Iraq-Iran border. Turkey has been conducting regular airstrikes in northern Iraq since 2015. Turkey launched 'Operation Olive Branch' to filtrate PKK and Islamic State (IS) militants from Afrin in north-western Syria on January 20. At least 823 militants have been "neutralised" since the beginning of the operation in Afrin and parts of Iraq, the Turkish General Staff said on Friday. The Turkish authorities often use the word "neutralised" in their statements to say that a terrorist has either been killed or captured. Meanwhile, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that the ongoing military operations will "effectively crush" the PKK militants. The PKK which is based in Turkey, Iraq, and parts of Syria has been involved in an armed conflict with Turkey. Its aim is to achieve the objective of creating an independent Kurdish state. It has been listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States, and the European Union. The PKK is responsible for the deaths of more than 1,200 Turkish security personnel and civilians. Turkey has been embroiled in a state of emergency since last year, ever since the failed military coup against Erdogan and subsequent terrorist attacks by local militants and the IS group in the country. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Farmers from Uttar Pradesh have expressed their unhappiness over the Union Budget 2018 that was introduced by Union Finance Minister on Thursday. With agriculture being a key focus in this year's Union Budget, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has announced a number of schemes and measures that are expected to benefit the agriculture sector, and also help the Centre in realizing their mission to double farmers' income in the near future. Although the key focus of this year's Union Budget has been agriculture with the announcement of a number of schemes and measures that are expected to benefit the sector, it has not been appreciated by many. "There is no relief to the farmers. They said earlier during Vidhan Sabha elections that they will waiver the loan, but it didn't happen in our village," said Moolchand Swami a farmer from Kanpur. On a similar note, a farmer from Varanasi has stated that even if the government had hiked the Minimum Support Price (MSP) farmers will be a loss. "Budget is alright for farmers if we get the right rates for our crops. The government has hiked the MSP for crops, but still, we will be in loss because the cost of agricultural production is very high, we do not get a return," said Shiv Kumar Singh. Besides increasing MSP for kharif crops to 1.5 times the production cost. The government has announced a Rs 10,000 crore allocation for fisheries, aquaculture and animal husbandry funds. The government has also proposed setting up of an agricultural market fund of Rs 2,000 crore as well as launch Operation Green for which a sum of Rs 500 crore will be allocated. However, agriculture expert M.S. Swaminathan said that increase in MSP will benefit the farmers. "Budget says that crops for which MSP is not announced, they will have MSP at 1.5 times cost of production. I am happy that after over 10 years that we recommended this formula, the government has accepted it. Better late than never. Farmers will be more happy," M.S. Swaminathan to ANI. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The White House on Friday is likely to give Congress approval to release a Republican-drafted memo, despite of a warning from the top US law enforcement agency. Trump is likely to declassify the document and send it to Congress for release, according to the US media. "We have had over the last couple days to look at it to make sure it doesn't give away too much in terms of classification. Right now, I think it will be that we tell the Congress, probably tomorrow [Friday], that the President is OK with it," CNN reported, citing the official as saying aboard Air Force One. "I doubt there will be any redactions," the official added, "Then it is in Congress' hands after that." The memo alleges Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) bias against President Donald Trump in its Russia probe. The four-page memo was crafted by Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee, and commissioned by Devin Nunes, the panel's Republican chairman. Democrats have branded the draft misleading, based on a selective use of highly classified data and intended to discredit Special Counsel Robert Mueller's criminal probe into potential collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia to help him win the 2016 presidential election. The FBI has voiced "grave concerns" about the release of the memo. "The FBI was provided a limited opportunity to review this memo the day before the committee voted to release it. As expressed during our initial review, we have grave concerns about material omissions of fact that fundamentally impact the memo's accuracy," reported the Huffington Post, citing the FBI as saying, in a statement. The statement followed a Monday visit to the White House by FBI Director Christopher Wray and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein who asked Trump's chief of staff, John Kelly, not to make the memo public, according to two sources familiar with the matter. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) World Trade Center (WTC) GIFT City and World Trade Center (WTC) Noida in its endeavor to promote investment in the region facilitated the visit of high level Chinese Delegation comprising 30 delegates. The Chinese delegation led by CASME (China Association for Small and Medium Enterprises) is on visit to India to identify business investment opportunities. The preferred investment destination for the group was GIFT City and Noida as both these regions are emerging as nucleus of trade, manufacturing and investment. The visit was facilitated by VERBIND the trade services arm of WTC GIFT City and WTC Noida. Impressed by the development activities of WTC GIFT City and complementing WTC Noida for setting new standards, Jun Shao, the leader of the delegation and CEO of CASME (China Association of Small and Medium Enterprises) stated that the, "project poised a wonderful opportunity for the enterprises interested in entering into India market." The delegation visited GIFT City, Gujarat and had detailed discussions with GIFT City officials on 31st January 2018. The deliberations were focused on business potential for CASME members in areas of BFSI and construction sectors. The futuristic GIFT City envisaged by Prime Minister created a lasting impact on the business delegates and provided boost and confidence to the investors into making investments in GIFT City. They also visited WTC Noida for exploring large level of investment opportunities. Khair Ull Nissa Sheikh, Executive Director of WTC Noida and VERBIND commenting on the visit said that, "WTC Noida would extend full support for the investors in facilitating the investments and would also liaise with government agencies for accelerated growth and investments in the region." The business delegates were also interested about the MOX (Mobile Operators Exchange) initiative of UP Govt. The presence of a major mobile company VIVO in WTC Noida will accelerate the development and transformation of the region and will create new benchmarks, which links it to the Electronics Manufacturing Zone policy of the UP Government. MOX is slated to transform the region into a focused mobile ecosystem harboring infrastructure service providers, handset and component manufactures, along with promotion of mobile content and application service providers. WTC Noida proposed the CASME delegation to foray investment in the MOX zone to tap the vast opportunity. CASME agreed to promote the MOX zone in its strong 150000 member base in China to consider investment in the MOX zone. WTC GIFT City and WTC Noida is committed to the promotion of the regions through facilitation of such business delegations and undertaking activities that would propel trade and investment scenario in the state. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Hindalco Industries dropped 4.03% to Rs 246.60 at 14:02 IST on BSE after the company announced Q3 results. The result was announced during market hours today, 2 February 2018. The S&P BSE Sensex was down 640.98 points or 1.79% to 35,265.68. High volumes were witnessed on the counter. On the BSE, 10.5 lakh shares were traded in the counter so far, compared with average daily volumes of 5.78 lakh shares in the past one quarter. The stock had hit a high of Rs 261.50 and a low of Rs 246.15 so far during the day. The stock had hit a record high of Rs 283.95 on 5 January 2018. The stock had hit a 52-week low of Rs 179.25 on 22 February 2017. Hindalco Industries' net profit rose 17.5% to Rs 376 crore on 11.17% rise in revenue from operations to Rs 11023 crore in Q3 December 2017 over Q3 December 2016. The revenue rose led by macro factors, volumes and by-product realisations. Earnings before interest, tax and depreciation (EBITDA) rose 15% to Rs 1611 crore in Q3 December 2017 over Q3 December 2016 driven by higher volumes in both businesses and supportive macros partially offset by higher input costs. Net profit rose after considering a provision of Rs 115 crore based on a judgement of the Supreme Court on mining regulations. Hindalco Industries, metals flagship company of the Aditya Birla Group, is the industry leader in aluminium and copper. Powered by Capital Market - Live News (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) ICICI Bank said that the Committee of Executive Directors constituted by the board of the bank is scheduled to have a meeting in the week of 5-9 February 2018 to consider, domestic fund raising by way of issuance of senior unsecured long term bonds/ Basel III compliant unsecured subordinated perpetual Additional Tier 1 bonds in single/multiple tranches on private placement basis. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 1 February 2018. Punjab National Bank said that meeting of board of directors of the bank is scheduled to be held on 6 February 2018 for considering capital infusion by Government of India up to Rs 5473 crore by way of preferential issue of equity share. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 1 February 2018. Powergrid Corporation of India's net profit rose 5.7% to Rs 2040.83 crore on 13.2% rise in net sales to Rs 7506.95 crore in Q3 December 2017 over Q3 December 2016. The result was announced after market hours yesterday, 1 February 2018. Bajaj Auto and Hindalco Industries will announce Q3 results today, 2 February 2018. Chambal Fertilisers & Chemicals said that Securities and Exchange Board of India vide its order dated 31 January 2018 has imposed a penalty of Rs 10 lakhs on Shyam Sunder Bhartia in relation to a matter pertaining to Jubilant Life Sciences. Shyam Sunder Bhartia is also a director and part of promoter group of Chambal Fertilisers and Chemicals. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 1 February 2018. Jubilant FoodWorks said that it has noted the disclosure made by Jubilant Life Sciences (a company belonging to the Jubilant group of companies, which the company is a member of) and note that the promoters of the company, Shyam Sunder Bhartia and Hari Shankar Bhartia have, received an adjudication order from the Securities and Exchange Board of India imposing a penalty of Rs 10 lakhs on each of them. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 1 February 2018. Grasim Industries said that with effect from 1 February 2018, the right to manage and operate the VSF business of Century Textiles and Industries has vested with the company. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 1 February 2018. IL&FS Transportation Networks said that the Committee of Directors approved the allotment of, 1,000 secured rated, listed, redeemable, non-convertible debentures of the face value of Rs 10 lakh aggregating to Rs 100 crore on a private placement basis. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 1 February 2018. TVS Motor Company registered a sales growth of 31% to 271,801 units in January 2018 over January 2017. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 1 February 2018. Powered by Capital Market - Live News (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Three students of a Delhi school were detained on Friday for beating a Class 9 student to death, police said. CCTV footage from Jeevan Jyoti Public School in north Delhi's Khajuri Khas area helped the police to crack the case. The footage showed the three students, aged 15-16, beating up 14-year-old Tushar inside the school toilet. "There was a scuffle between some students in the toilet. Tushar was punched on the face and neck by the three," Deputy Commissioner of Police A.K. Singla said. Tushar was later found unconscious inside the toilet by some students. School authorities and the victim's mother shifted him to a hospital where he was declared dead. "We have registered a murder case... The three have been sent to a juvenile correction home," Singla added. --IANS sp/him/mr (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Eighty-five persons were jailed for upto 13 years for a telecom fraud using fake medical advertisements to collect contact details in China's Mongolia region, a court said on Friday. The case surfaced after a resident in Ordos reported to police that he was cheated out of $5,560 in the suspected fraud in July 2016. Following a probe, the police arrested the suspects in November 2016, Xinhua news agency reported. The criminals had published fake medical advertisements to collect contact information of the victims. They contacted them by mobile or social networking platforms, pretending to be relatives or students of medical workers, and convinced them to buy false healthcare or food products. From mid-June to November 2016, more than 8,900 victims were cheated out of over $1.6 million. Three of the accused were sentenced to 11 to 13 years in prison, while another 82 were given prison terms of between one and six years. --IANS nks/in/ (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The price of bitcoin dropped 20 per cent in the Japanese markets after authorities on Friday inspected the headquarters of the cryptocurrency exchange operator Coincheck. They were probing the financial situation in the wake of cyber attacks that took place a week ago, Efe news reported. The bitcoin traded on Friday below $8,011 after 10.30 a.m. at Coincheck and BitFlyer, two of Japan's main markets, its lowest price since November 2017. This represents a drop of more than 10 per cent during the hour after inspection news of Coincheck surfaced, and an accumulated intra-day drop of 20 per cent. Officials from the Japanese Financial Services Agency (FSA) entered the headquarters of Coincheck in Shibuya to verify whether the company holds sufficient funds to compensate its clients, public broadcaster NHK said. The authorities wanted to clarify whether Coincheck had the assets of the clients and its own separated; whether it has the necessary liquidity to reimburse its users after more than 58 billion yen disappeared in the hacking last week. The FSA officials would also inspect whether the company was correcting the security holes that opened the way for the cyber attack; whether it has provided enough information to the 260,000 customers affected. The Japanese operator has promised that it will reimburse the losses to those affected by what is considered the biggest hack of a digital currency to date. However, it has not specified when it would do so. The customers affected have begun to putting pressure on the company and were preparing legal actions, they announced on Twitter. The January 26 cyber attack on Coincheck is reminiscent of the Mt. Gox scandal in 2014. Mt. Gox was once the largest bitcoin exchange globally but went bankrupt following the disappearance of 850,000 bitcoin units, whose estimated value at that time was about 48 billion yen. --IANS in/ (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Blockchain technology has benefits across the Banking, Financial Services and Insurance (BFSI) sector, retail, Internet of Things (IoT) and Cloud and the government should promote it towards realising its goal of digitally transforming the country, top industry leaders said on Friday. Blockchain is a distributed digital technology -- that supports crypto currencies -- and is adept for businesses where large amounts of data is transferred, updated and filtered by multiple users. "Microsoft Azure Cloud has been powering the exponential and disruptive growth of Blockchain and believes the convergence of public and private Blockchains to an ecosystem. It can already be seen that its potential to reach across non-financial sectors is staggering in India," Microsoft India said in a statement. "Looking ahead, Microsoft is working with customers, partners, and the developer community to accelerate Blockchain's enterprise readiness," the company added. For Sunil Sharma, Managing Director, Sales for Sophos India and Saarc, it was no wonder that Blockchain technology got a special emphasis in the Union Budget. "With the rise in Bitcoin's popularity and a strong warning to act with 'extreme caution', the significant risks of choosing to invest in crypto currencies is apparent," Sharma said. Raja Raman, Vice President at Sapient Consulting, said that with an emphasis to bring technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI), data analytics, Machine Learning (ML), 3D Printing and Blockchain in focus, they are positive that this move will strengthen India's advancement towards becoming a digital nation. "We also like the move to de-hyphenate Blockchain from crypto currencies in general and investing further in Blockchain while limiting misuse of crypto currencies," Raman added. Rajesh Rege, Managing Director, Red Hat, India and Saarc, said he is looking forward to an early implementation of AI and Blockchain initiatives. Rostow Ravanan, CEO at Mindtree, said that the government's interest and budget allocations to areas like Blockchain could be a big opportunity for using technology to deliver superior outcomes. According to cyber security firm Symantec, Blockchain technology is poised to find uses outside of crypto currencies in 2018 and expand its functions in inter-bank settlements with the help of IoT gaining traction. "However, these use cases are still in their infancy stage and are not the focus for most cyber criminals today," Symantec said. Instead of attacking Blockchain technology itself, cyber criminals would focus on compromising coin exchanges and users' coin wallets since these are the easiest targets and provide high returns, it added. --IANS sku/na/bg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Bombay High Court on Friday rejected an anticipatory bail plea filed by Hindutva leader Milind Ekbote, a key accused charged with inciting the casteist riots of January 1 in Pune. With this, the stage is set for the possible of arrest of Ekbote - who heads the Hindu Ekta Manch - and has been booked under three different cases pertaining to the Koregaon-Bhima incident in which a youth was killed, besides many injured and widespread damage to public and private properties worth around Rs 9 crore. A division bench of Justice S.C. Dharmadhikari and Justice Bharati H. Dangre, while rejecting Ekbote's contentions challenging a Pune Sessions Court order declining his anticipatory plea, ruled that the lower court's observations in the matter could not be ignored. Citing the Pune court, dismissing his anticipatory bail plea on January 22, observed that he was an accused in a "grave matter with very serious charges" against him, the bench said: "We cannot ignore the averments made by the (Pune) trial court against the appellant. Therefore we find no merit in this plea and are inclined to reject it." Challenging the sessions court's order rejecting his pre-arrest bail plea, Ekbote argued that police had erred in lodging the charges against him since he was not present at the site of the violence in Koregaon-Bhima. Accordingly, he contended there was no question of him inciting any violence or committing any acts of atrocities, as alleged by police. Ekbote said the ground situation in that area had been simmering since 10 days prior to the January 1 violence - when several lakhs of Dalits from all over Maharashtra had gathered to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the victory of British East Company's forces over the army of Peshwa Bajirao II on January 1, 1818. The former BJP municipal corporator from Pune termed it as an "intelligence failure" for not gauging that the situation could turn so bad, and the violence preceded the Yalgar Parsiahd in Pune where Gujarat lawmaker Jignesh Mevani and JNU student leader Umar Khalid allegedly made provocative speeches. Arguing against the anticipatory bail plea, the state made it clear that police had evidence of Ekbote's presence in a hotel around four kms near Koregaon-Bhima two days before (December 30) the violence, and as per his mobile records, he was in contact with at least four other accused in the case. --IANS qn/vd (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The CBI on Friday moved the Supreme Court challenging the 2005 Delhi High Court verdict discharging Britain-based Hinduja brothers - Srichand, Gopichand and Prakash Hinduja - in the case of alleged corruption in the purchase of Bofors 155 mm howitzers guns. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in its plea against the 2005 high court verdict had cited some new facts that need to be investigated as a ground for the reopening of the Though CBI cited "new facts" but it will have a difficult task in persuading the top court to entertain its plea after sitting over it for 12 long years. Earlier, Attorney General K K Venugopal had told the government that, in his opinion, it will be faced with the difficulty in justifying the delay of over a decade in moving the top court against 2005 Delhi High Court order. In a letter to the Secretary, Personnel, Venugopal said: "Now, more than 12 years have elapsed. Any SLP filed before the Supreme Court at this stage, in my view, is likely to be dismissed by the Court on account of the long delay itself." He had, in his opinion, said that the record did not reveal any significant events or special circumstances which could be said to constitute sufficient cause for not approaching the Supreme Court within the 90 days permitted by law, or at any time thereafter in the last so many years. However later, said sources, Venugopal gave his oral consent to the probe agency's move to challenge 2005 order. The 2005 High Court order discharging the Hinduja brothers was challenged by lawyer Ajay Agrawal, who is associated with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party. During the hearing of the plea by Agrawal on January 16, Additional Solicitor General Maninder Singh told the court that there was no appeal by the CBI against the 2005 order as it was advised so, though adding that the judgment ought to have been challenged. The top court had in the same hearing also asked Agrawal to satisfy it on his locus as a third party to challenge an order in a criminal case as it noted that CBI which investigated the case did not contest the High Court order. Agrawal's matter was listed for further hearing on Friday but it did not reach as post lunch session was consumed by the hearing on plea seeking SIT probe in judge B H Loya's death. The Rajiv Gandhi government (1984-89) was rocked over the allegations of kickbacks in the purchase of 155 mm Howitzers guns from the Swedish arms manufacturer. The CBI had on January 22, 1990, registered an FIR for alleged criminal conspiracy, cheating and forgery under the provisions of Indian Penal Code (IPC) and sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act against Martin Ardbo, the then President of AB Bofors, alleged middleman Win Chadha and the Hindujas. Chile's capital is gearing up for its first-ever Formula E race in an atmosphere of excitement mixed with annoyance over traffic woes caused by street closures. Competitors in Saturday's inaugural Antofagasta Minerals Santiago E-Prix will race around a 2.47-km circuit that winds though three of the city's districts, Efe news reported on Thursday. The fully electric single-seat cars can reach a top speed of 225 kmph and need just three seconds to go from zero to 60 mph, Chilean former Formula One driver Elisio Salazar said on Thursday. And while an F1 Grand Prix unfolds over three days, a Formula E event consolidates practice sessions, qualifying and the race into a single day, he added. Santiago joins global cities such as Hong Kong, Moscow, Paris, Rome and New York on the list of Formula E venues. --IANS pgh/ (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) China and the UN Development Programme (UNDP) on Friday signed a $4 million agreement to support the recovery of Pakistan's remote areas that have been affected by natural and human-made crises. According to the agreement, the project will help 8,100 families returning to the areas affected by insecurity in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) as well as about 19,000 schoolchildren in Balochistan after their schools were damaged in the 2010-2011 floods, Xinhua news agency reported. UNDP Pakistan Country Director Ignacio Artaza said that FATA and Balochistan were among the country's least developed regions and have been severely affected by disasters in recent years. Artaza said that the support from the Chinese government will help temporarily displaced families get back on their feet and ensure that schools in Balochistan meet the necessary conditions to impart education. Chinese Ambassador Yao Jing said that the successful launching of the "China South-South Cooperation Assistance Fund" project renewed Beijing's commitment to deliver strong support to the people of Pakistan. According to the UNDP, the project is built on the UN agency's ongoing support for early recovery and rehabilitation of affected populations in Pakistan. It will provide 8,100 families in Kurram, South Waziristan, North Waziristan, Khyber and Orakzai Agencies with construction kits to rebuild their homes as well as essential household items. Also, 375 schools in Balochistan's Naseerabad, Jafferabad and Sohbatpur districts will receive new furniture and education kits. In November 2017, the fund provided $1 million to the World Food Programme to help the organization's initiative in FATA for humanitarian adds. --IANS nks/soni/vm (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Clashes erupted in the Maldives between police and supporters of former President Mohamed Nasheed on Friday as they took to the streets celebrating a ruling by the Supreme Court to release the exiled leader along with other high-profile prisoners. The top court in Thursday night's ruling declared that "the politicians original trials violated constitutional and international law", the BBC reported. It called for their immediate release and said the "questionable and politically motivated nature of the trials of the political leaders warrant a re-trial". Former Vice-President Ahmed Adheeb Abdul Ghafoor and other opposition leaders were among the others named in the latest order. The decision effectively restores the opposition majority in Parliament, reinstating 12 members who had been stripped of their seats. Hundreds of Nasheed supporters took to the streets to celebrate but clashes broke out after President Yameen Abdul Gayoom fired the country's police chief, whose department had announced that it would uphold the verdict. Police fired teargas to disperse opposition supporters gathered in the capital while riot police urged people not to take part in any protests and asked everyone to immediately leave, the local media reported. Defence Minister Adam Shareef urged people to exercise restraint "for the sake of harmony", warning that "if things escalate, it could be a time of a national security crisis". Nasheed, the country's first democratically elected leader, took office in 2008. He was ousted in a coup in February 2012. The country has seen political unrest since he was sentenced to 13 years in jail in 2015 on terrorism charges after allegedly ordering the arrest of a judge during his presidency. His conviction sentence was internationally condemned and he was given political asylum in the UK. In a tweet, Nasheed called President Gayoom to resign. Similar call was echoed in a joint statement by the country's opposition parties. He told the local television that he planned to return to Male, but not immediately. "I will move forward wisely with the advice of the party and the united parties," he said. The US Ambassador to the Maldives urged the country's leader to respect the court's judgment. A spokesman for the President's office said that the government questioned the ruling but would comply. --IANS soni/vm (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Actress Priyanka Bose, whose film "Lion" was widely lauded, says credits in Bollywood have not been epic for her yet. "I don't think I am entirely satisfied with what I have at the moment, so I am willing to push a little bit harder," Priyanka told IANS when asked if her journey as an actor has been appreciated more in the west than in her homeland. "You know, whether I am paid my dues or not, it's not something I now want to focus on. I just want to give my best. It is one life. I don't want to put thought into where I am getting appreciated. Of course where the time is going to take me, I am going to take it with full aplomb," she added. Does she think she has been given due credit in Bollywood? "Credits have not been so epic. I would love (to take) more responsibility in Bollywood for sure. I am meeting a lot of people. They appreciate my work and my love for what I do and so it's only about time," she said here on the sideline of Lakme Fashion Week (LFW) Spring-Summer 2018. Priyanka is currently balancing her time between her international and Indian projects. "I am trying to buy my time between Hollywood and here, season by season. I am doing meetings in Los Angeles and there are a couple of offers and I said yes to all of them," she said. At LFW, she walked for label Bloni by Akshat Bansal during the Gen Next show. The label made a remarkable impact on the ramp with his all black/white menswear and women's wear collection. It was a line inspired by snow clad mountains and science of nature. Bansal highlighted the plight of nature with his collection 'Mourning of the Marine Life'. Using his inspiration creatively, he brought a deconstructed mix of linen, delicate Japanese lace and the amazing sustainable fabrics made from 100 per cent regenerated marine plastic waste that would often cause havoc in landfills or oceans. On her fashion statements, Priyanka said: "I don't follow trends and no, I don't always follow comfort because if I like a good pair of stiletto, I will go with that if it is going well with the look. I also have a pair of chappals in my bag, so comfort is always two hands for me. "But it's not something I will go with all the time." (Nivedita is in Mumbai at the invitation of the LFW organisers. She can be contacted at nivedita.s@ians.in) --IANS nv/rb/vm (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Delhi Development Authority (DDA) on Friday approved changes to the city's Master Plan - in a move to provide relief to traders hit by the sealing drive. The proposed amendments in the Master Plan include -- increasing Floor Area Ratio (FAR) of local shopping complexes (LSCs) from existing 180 per cent to 300 per cent, and regularising agricultural godowns on 12-metre wide roads. The sealing drive is on against business establishments using residential areas for commercial purposes without paying conversion charges. According to the proposed amendments, there will be a reduction in conversion charge penalties from existing 10 times to two times. A statement from the development authority said that under these amendments, commercial activity in the basements will be allowed in all commercial areas "subject to payment of requisite charges without any discrimination". The decision was taken at a meeting headed by Lt Governor Anil Baijal, who is chairman of DDA. "The board has approved these changes. They will now be put in the public domain for three days and a meeting will be called after that," DDA member and BJP MLA Vijender Gupta told IANS. --IANS nkh-mg/rn (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Ghaziabad, one of the biggest districts in India, has lost its wetlands due to encroachments, environmentalists said on the International Wetland Day on Friday. Vijay Pal Singh Baghel, a green activist, said there were 149 water bodies in the district earlier. Now only 21 survived. This has pushed down the water table in Ghaziabad from 21 feet deep to 175 feet. And this is getting reduced by 2 to 3 feet annually. "Not only private persons but even government bodies are to blame for the destruction of these water bodies," said Baghel. The Hindon bird sanctuary, which was once spread over 27 hectare, is now non-existent, he said. Similarly, Arthala lake has reduced from 27 acres to a mere 3 acres due to encroachment by greedy individuals. --IANS sps/mr/rn (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Separatists in Kashmir have been using the cross-border trade route and linkages with Pakistan to smuggle weapons and generate money to fuel their anti-India agenda in Jammu and Kashmir, the NIA has said in its charge sheet to prosecute Hurriyat leaders for allegedly stoking terror in the state. "It has been established that the secessionist and separatist leaders are raising funds through LoC (Line of Control) trade by way of directing Kashmiri traders to do under-invoicing of the goods imported through LoC barter trade," the Investigation Agency (NIA) said in its charge sheet filed in a court here on January 18. A portion of the 12,794-page charge sheet is in the possession of IANS that exposes an alleged three way nexus between Pakistan-based militants, unnamed Pakistani officials and separatist leaders to foment terrorism and stone-pelting protests in Jammu and Kashmir. "...a significant number of traders engaged in have relatives across the border who are closely associated with banned terrorist organisations, especially Hizbul Mujahideen," the charge sheet said. During the course of investigation, the agency said, it found that some traders have been smuggling contraband and weapons in the garb of the cross-border trade. It said it was conducting a separate investigation into how terror was being financed through the trade link opened in October 2008 as part of a confidence building measure to facilitate hassle-free movement between people living in parts of Jammu and Kashmir divided between India and Pakistan. However, the NIA said that terrorist leaders exploited the link to further their secessionist agenda and escalate terror activities in the state, particularly in the Kashmir Valley. It said Kashmiri traders sell goods imported from Pakistan through LoC barter trade to businessmen in Delhi and a part of the profit was being shared with Hurriyat leaders. The money that goes to the Hurriyat was "used on anti-India propaganda, for mobilising the public to organise protests and stone-pelting and to support families of killed and jailed militants", according to the NIA. It said hawala operators were also being used to transfer funds for stoking terror in the valley. "The investigation has revealed the funds are generated by resorting to sale of third-party goods, under-weighing, under-invoicing, large-scale dealings in cash and committing irregularities in maintenance of records. "This modus-operandi leads to generation of huge cash surpluses on the Indian side which are then channelised through several formal banking channels as well as cash couriers and hawala dealers to the separatists active in Jammu and Kashmir." The charge sheet has named Pakistan-based terrorist leaders Hafiz Saeed and Syed Salahuddin and seven jailed Kashmiri separatist leaders and three others in the case. The Hurriyat leaders are Aftab Hilali alias Shahid-ul-Islam, Ayaz Akbar Khandey, Farooq Ahmad Dar alias Bitta Karate, Nayeem Khan, Altaf Ahmad Shah, Raja Mehrajuddin Kalwal and Bashir Ahmad Bhat alias Peer Saifullah. Shah is the son-in-law of hardline Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani who is a strong votary of Jammu and Kashmir's merger with Pakistan. Hilali is a close aide of moderate Hurriyat leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq. The NIA has alleged that the separatists, arrested on July 24 last year, conspired with Saeed and Salahuddin to wage war against India and secede Jammu and Kashmir from India. All of them have been booked under stringent anti-terror laws. The NIA also charge sheeted businessman Zahoor Ahmad Watali and two alleged stone pelters -- Kamran and Javed Ahmed Bhat. Watali has been associated with the LoC trade and has worked as the president of the LoC Traders' Association in the past. Churchill Brothers registered a stunning 2-1 victory over league leaders Minerva Punjab FC in their I-League encounter at the Tilak Maidan here on Friday. Back-to-back first-half goals from Koffi Mechac (17') and Wayne Vaz (45') put the Red Machines in an advantageous position before Minerva pulled one back through Kassim Aidara's goal (57'). The result put a dent into Minerva's title charge as they stay on 26 points with Neroca FC just two behind and Kingfisher East Bengal 6 points adrift. The Red Machines jumped straight to 7th place with 13 points. After some end-to-end action, a big moment in the match came when William Asiedu was tackled by Wayne Vaz in the box after William was released by Checho Gyeltshen. Although the visitors had a strong appeal for a spot-kick, the referee paid little attention to it. In the 16th minute, the referee awarded a penalty at the other end for Churchill and Koffi Mechac drew first blood much to the dismay of the travellers. Churchill midfielder Bektur Talgat lined up a shot from distance that deflected into the path of Koffi Mechac. Sukhdev Singh went into a tackle on the Cote D'Ivoire striker and the referee pointed straight to the spot. Minerva had a chance when a curling free-kick from William Opoku was punched away by James Kithan. Minerva suffered a further setback at the stroke of half-time when local boy Wayne Vaz netted from wide. Minerva conceded a free-kick close to the half-way line and Osagie Monday released Dawda Ceesay down the right flank. Ceesay slid a pass to Wayne Vaz to cross into the box. His first attempt was blocked but the ball came back to Vaz who curled the ball towards the goal second time. The effort caught Minerva keeper Kiran Kumar Limbu napping who was well off his line and couldn't react on time as Churchill led 2-0 going into half-time. Minerva found a lifeline in the 57th minute when they won a free-kick down the left flank near the touchline. Chencho curled the free-kick into the box. The ball was not cleared away and fell kindly to Minerva skipper Kassim Aidara who slammed home to make it 2-1. They had a golden opportunity to level terms when Churchill conceded a penalty in the 61st minute. A Minerva corner saw Aidara knock the ball back into the middle which caught Wayne Vaz's hand. Chencho stepped up to take but his thumping shot went wide of Kithan's post. Churchill had some opportunities to score but they held their nerves to take all three points. The Red Machines will enjoy an 8-day break now before taking on Indian Arrows on February 10 whereas Minerva Punjab FC will welcome Shillong Lajong FC at their 'new home' in Chandigarh. --IANS dm/tri/vm (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Indonesia is about to publish a medical guide where it has listed homosexuality as a mental disorder, the Health Ministry said on Friday. According to the guide, lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transsexuals community are at risk of mental disorders owing to their sexual orientation, the Ministry's Director of Prevention and Control for Mental Problems told Efe news. The guide is based on two reports -- one drafted in 2016 by the Indonesian Psychiatrists Association (PDSKJI) and the other by the Health Ministry last year. The PDSKJI report said "gays and bisexuals were at risk of emotional problems such as depression owing to identity crises while transsexuals are susceptible to mental diseases". It also recommended certain rights for the LGBT group such as access to treatment and medical awareness. The Ministry document stated that "homosexuality was against the ethos of the country". The Indonesian Parliament is currently discussing an amendment to the penal code to criminalize homosexuality in the country. Homosexuality is legal in Indonesia, except in the Aceh province, in Sumatra island, where the Islamic Sharia law is in force. --IANS soni/mr (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Finding a new and improved method of removing the yellow stains off the Taj Mahal may be devised in the coming days as university students from India and elsewhere have been posed this problem at an international science contest underway in the Taj city. The eighth International Natural Sciences Tournament (INST) of Russia is underway in Agra with India being represented by a team from the Mumbai University. Other teams and jury have come from Singapore, Russia, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Belarus. The three-day competition that started on Thursday requires students to solve a dozen difficult problems in the spheres of medicine, biology, physics, and chemistry. One of the problems is to propose a "new method" to remove the yellow pollution stains which have started to develop on "the snow-white cupola and the upper part of the facade" of the 17th century monument. "Our mission is to bring real-world problem solving skills to bright scientists around the globe. We believe the science to be not only an interesting subject to study, but a real tool to change things around us, to create new products and solve ecology problems," the tournament's founder Sergey Safonov said in a statement. He said it was their belief that there is a lot of "under-evaluated talented students" in Asia, who should be helped to find their place in the science and industry. "That's why we brought the tournament to India, a country with well-developed industry, especially in pharmaceuticals," he said. The INST originated in Russia's St. Petersburg, and its former participants launched many events in their cities on this model, covering topics such as biology, medicine, and engineering. According to the INST press service's Dina Mostovaya, the tournament movement in Russia "became a gathering point for elite of science, medicine and engineering students, resulting in new careers for top students, scientific collaboration..." and the organizers hope to help Indian universities to launch similar national events. --IANS vn/him/vd (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Rome, Feb 3 (IANS/AKI) Italy's Economic Development Minister Carlo Calenda on Friday slammed US online retail giant Amazon's move to patent electronic wristbands for its workforce, saying this would "never happen" in Italy. "The only bracelets we make in Italy are the ones produced by jewellers," said Calenda, who summoned Amazon representatives to a meeting on Friday. "I told them, and they understood, that such a thing, which is not in use but which has been patented, will never happen in Italy," he said. Amazon claims the wristbands are a time-saving device for staff, meaning they don't need to scan the products' barcodes as they take them off shelves or alerting them when they're approaching the item they looking for. "Patents take years to be approved and do not necessarily reflect current developments in our products and services," the company said in a statement. At a electoral rally on Thursday, Italian Premier Paolo Gentiloni also voiced his opposition to electronic wristbands for workers. "The challenge is quality jobs, not jobs with electronic bracelets," he said. The rumoured wristbands have been blasted by Italian politicians of all stripes and "electronic bracelets" was on Friday one of the top trending terms for Italian Twitter users, some of whom likened the plan to modern-day slavery or even Nazi death camps. Amazon has been accused of dodging 100 million euros of tax in Italy and workers at its distribution centre in the northern city of Piacenza held strikes in December during the Black Friday retail bonanza on November 24 to protest pay levels and working conditions. --IANS/AKI vd (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Senior Congress leader P. Chidambaram on Friday said Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had proven that the government's massive healthcare scheme was a "jumla" because no money has been provided for the initiative, touted as the biggest government-run health cover programme in the world. "Yesterday, I had said that the new health care scheme is a 'jumla' (mere claim) with no money provided in the budget. Today, (the Finance Minister) has admitted that no money has been provided and he will 'raise money in the future'. Perfect jumla," Chidambaram tweeted. Jaitley in his budget speech on Thursday announced a National Health Protection Scheme (NHPS) providing health insurance worth Rs 5 lakh to 10 crore poor families -- 50 crore individuals -- per year. Referring to the proposed scheme, the Congress leader said it would entail huge expenditure but no money was provided. "The promise of Rs 5 lakh per family for secondary and tertiary healthcare is a big 'jumla'. The target group is 10 crore families. Assuming each family will avail of Rs 50,000 - one tenth of Rs 5 lakh - the amount required per year will be Rs 5 lakh crore," he said. He said if the insurance companies foot the bill, the estimated premium at Rs 5,000 to Rs 15,000 per family will require an outgo from Rs 50,000 crore to Rs 1.5 lakh crore per year. "Is the Finance Minister serious," the former Finance Minister asked. --IANS sar/vm (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Over a week after their school bus was attacked by miscreants in the name of protest against film "Padmaavat", Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Friday made an unscheduled visit to the G.D. Goenka School, Sohna, in Gurugram and interacted with the students and teachers. Khattar praised the children, teachers and bus staff for showing courage in the face of an adverse situation. The school bus was pelted with stones by some miscreants, allegedly belonging to the Shree Rajput Karni Sena, on January 24 during a protest against the release of the movie "Padmaavat". While sympathizing with the school children, the Chief Minister said: "Since I saw this incident on the television, what kept boggling my mind was why it should have happened to the little children. Though I am not feeling well, yet I decided to meet you all." "When the stones were being thrown at their bus, the children not only showed courage but also braved the situation with poise and calm. Expressing concern over their security, the Chief Minister assured them that adequate arrangements would be made by the state government to prevent re-occurrence of such incidents," a state government spokesman said in Chandigarh. Khattar said that in a democratic system, every citizen had the right to express his views but if protest is to be registered, it should be done peacefully. He inquired from the children about how things happened that day and also interacted with the teachers who were present in the bus. He appreciated the teachers for acting sensibly during the incident and saving the students from being hurt. A teacher told the Chief Minister that the brave students, on getting instructions, sat down on the bus floor between the seats and covered themselves. Five women teachers were accompanying the students in the bus. After giving the students and teachers a patient hearing, the Chief Minister asked the students to try and forget the incident. Khattar also interacted with bus driver Ramesh. The driver told the Chief Minister that three buses of G.D. Goenka School were in the queue. "Of these, two buses were provided safe passage by the Gurugram Police by pacifying the people but someone from the crowd threw a stone on the front glass of his bus, followed by another stone which hit the driver's side glass window. Until then, the bus of Haryana Roadways had not been set ablaze and the police were trying to pacify the mob," Ramesh said, narrating the incident. --IANS js/rn (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A Congress lawmaker from Madhya Pradesh has been charged with kidnapping and molestation of a female journalism student, on the complaint of the young woman and her mother, an official said on Friday. The police complaint was filed against Hemant Katare, an MLA from Ater constituency in Bhind. The police charges against Katare come days after he had filed a complaint last month alleging that the woman was blackmailing him and demanding Rs 2 crore. The police had arrested the woman on January 24 after she was caught accepting Rs 5 lakh from Katare. Bhopal DIG Dharmendra Choudhary told IANS, "The student, through the jail superintendent, had sent a request on Thursday in which she had written about the molestation she faced several times. Her mother filed a complaint in the Bajaria Police Station about her kidnapping. On the basis of these complaints, a case of molestation is filed at the 'Mahila thana' and a case of kidnapping in the Bajaria Police Station." Dinesh Pratap Singh, Bajaria Police Station in-charge, told IANS on Friday: "A case of kidnapping has been registered against Katare following a complaint by the girl's mother. Action will be taken after the investigation." The police has taken Katare's mobile phone and is investigating the matter. Earlier, the woman had uploaded a video alleging molestation by the politician but later posted another video claiming that it was a joke and also apologised to Katare. Katare was not available for comment, despite attempts by IANS to reach him. Congress spokesperson K.K. Mishra said, "The allegations against him are politically motivated. The party is with Katare." --IANS hindi-nks/rn (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Kuwait, which assumed the presidency of the Security Council on Thursday, is inviting Palestine President Mahmoud Abbas to address the top decision-making body of the UN. Abbas is scheduled to address the Council on February 20, at a Council session on the Middle East, Kuwait's Permanent Representative Mansour Ayyad Al-Otaibi told the media here on Thursday after he took over the leadership of the Council. He said that it would "be a good thing" for Council members to hear the Palestinian President in person. "He is the President of the state and he is directly concerned by the topic that will be discussed." Kuwait, which won election to the Council in June 2017, is returning to it after 40 years and is the sole Arab member. The priorities set for Kuwait's membership in the Council "include of course the issues of our region as we are the Arab representative and the closest to them geographically, including - Palestine, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Libya," Al-Otaibi said. Sheikh Sabah Khalid Al Hamad Al Sabah, the Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Kuwait, will preside over a "Signature Event", a high-level ministerial meeting on the purposes and principles of the Charter in maintaining international peace and security on February 21, Al-Otaibi said. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will present a briefing at the meeting. Two more "Signature Events" are planned. One is an open debate on the working methods of the Council next Tuesday and the other is an informal session on the humanitarian situation in Palestine on February 22, to which former US President has been invited as the keynote speaker, Al-Otaibi said. He said that he had tried to organise a visit by the Council to Myanmar to study the situation of the Rohingyas but was not successful. The Myanmar government did not refuse permission outright for the trip, but had said the time was not opportune for the visit, which could take place later, he said. Reflecting the regional concerns, there will be two sessions dealing with international terrorism on February 8 and 13, he said. The situation in Syria will come up at the Council on February 14. Kuwait and Sweden are the Council members dealing with the humanitarian situation in Syria. Abbas will be speaking to the Council at a time of heightened tension between the US and the Palestinians following President Donald Trump's decision in December to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and move his country's embassy there. The move was criticised by the General Assembly in a resolution that passed with an overwhelming majority in December 2017. After Trump announced his decision, Abbas said that Washington can no longer play a mediating role in the region, putting an end for now to the initiative launched by Trump through his son-in-law Jared Kushner to broker a peace between Israel and the Palestinians. The Trump administration has also withheld $65 million from a UN agency that helps Palestinian refugees, an amount more than half the aid it gives it. Al-Otaibi said that there was no objection from any Council members to inviting Abbas. (Arul Louis can be reached at arul.l@ians.in) --IANS al/in/rn (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Credit: Jill Furmanovsky The Pretenders will briefly be hitting the road in the U.S. this spring on a headlining trek that will follow their stint opening for Phil Collins on his upcoming tour of Latin America, which kicks off later this month. Chrissie Hynde and company will mount a seven-date stateside outing that gets underway on March 25 in Miami Beach, Florida, and runs through an April 2 show in Morristown, New Jersey. Collins' tour begins February 22 in Rio de Janeiro and is mapped out through a March 23 show in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The Pretenders also have lined up a major U.K. trek that launches August 3 in Leeds and winds down September 9 in Dundee. The band continues to promote its 2016 studio album, Alone, which was recorded in collaboration with and produced by Black Keys frontman Dan Auerbach. A deluxe two-CD version of the record featuring a bonus disc with a variety of live performances recorded at various concerts last year was released in October. Here are all of The Pretenders' confirmed U.S. tour dates: 3/25 -- Miami Beach, FL, Fillmore Miami Beach 3/27 -- North Charleston, SC, North Charleston Performing Arts Center 3/28 -- Greenville, SC, Peace Center Concert Hall 3/30 -- Red Bank, NJ, Count Basie Theatre 3/31 -- Upper Darby, PA, Tower Theater 4/1 -- Boston, MA, Orpheum Theater 4/2 -- Morristown, NJ, Mayo PAC Copyright 2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. A man who drove a van into a crowd of Muslims near a London mosque last year, killing one man, was on Friday sentenced to life in prison with a minimum term of 43 years behind bars. Darren Osborne, 48, was found guilty of murdering Makram Ali, 51, after deliberately ploughing into a crowd of people in Finsbury Park in June, the BBC reported. At least nine people were injured in the incident. Justice Cheema-Grubb said Osborne, from Cardiff, had planned "a suicide mission" and expected to be shot dead. Osborne attacked the crowd because they were wearing traditional Muslim dress, the prosecution said. "This was a terrorist attack -- you intended to kill," the judge told him. She said he was "rapidly radicalised over the Internet by those determined to spread hatred of Muslims". Osborne, who had been found guilty of murder and attempted murder, said "God bless you all, thank you", as he was led away from court. He used a rented van to target Muslims as they returned from prayers during the holy month of Ramadan, and the court heard he had wanted to kill as many as possible. Osborne had appeared before the courts on 33 occasions for 102 offences. The attacker, the trial heard, had became "obsessed" with Muslims in the weeks leading up to the attack, having watched the BBC drama "Three Girls" about the Rochdale grooming scandal. It is the story of three victims of a child abuse ring. He quickly grew angry at what he deemed as "inaction" over the scandal, the court heard. --IANS soni/vm (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Coming down heavily on state opposition leaders, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday accused them of "always scheming and plotting" against the state government but being scared to face her or listen to her government's response to their allegations. Both the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) and the Congress dismissed her accusations. "I have always seen that they are always busy scheming, conspiring against, or foul mouthing, the Trinamool Congress and spreading confusion inside the house (state assembly). But they are not reasonable enough to listen to our answers. Because they cannot face me," Banerjee told the assembly. "They are scared of listening to the government's answers. I want you to check how many times were they (opposition MLAs) present in the house during my speeches. May be just one or two times. It is totally planned," she said. Banerjee hit out against a section of opposition members, whom she accused of constantly trying to interrupt her speech, for resorting to "cheap tactics of creating controversies" to draw attention of the electronic media. "Their only intention is to come on television. It seems that they do not even come out of their houses if they are not shown on television. These are cheap tactics. If I want I can make television news in every second but that is not my intention," the Trinamool supremo said. Banerjee also attacked Leader of Opposition Abdul Mannan, of the Congress, claiming that he is "over-enthusiastic" in his protest to grab the media attention as he was informed by a local television channel about the live telecast of her speech in the assembly. Referring to the recent bypolls results where both Congress and CPI-M have performed dismally, Banerjee said the leaders of those parties to reflect on their result instead of blaming the ruling party and asked them not to underestimate the people's verdict. "They have no shame at all. They cannot keep their mouth shut even for a day after performing so badly. I suggest them not to underestimate people's verdict and belittle them so much," she said. "...so many people have voted for us. How can they say it was rigged? Observers and central forces were deployed at all the election centres. Are they also our people?" she asked. Responding to Banerjee, Communist Party of India-Marxist's Sujon Chakraborty said opposition parties' duty is to raise the voice for common people and unfortunately, her government does not pay heed to common people's questions. "We are compelled to walk out from the assembly. She is happy to speak at the house when opposition members are not present," he said. State Congress President Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said: "We have seen didi's (Mamata Banerjee) development benefitted her party leaders. We raised questions about the development for the unemployed youths of Bengal. Can you reply to what the Congress has been raising?" --IANS bdc/vd (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Actress Radhika Apte, who plays a key role in Akshay Kumar-starrer "Pad Man", says the menstruation taboo has not only existed among men but also among women who are conditioned for years not to talk about the natural process openly. "Pad Man", based on the story of a real-life hero, addresses the issue of menstrual hygiene and is aimed at creating awareness about it. Asked if the film can bring any change in the society, Radhika told IANS: "I think the taboo attached to menstruation is not only among men, but women as well. It is happening for years. Even women feel uncomfortable to talk about it openly. "Mothers taught their daughters how not to talk about it openly, not to go to the kitchen or not to enter the temple. So it does not just exist among men but women as well. "Though I think one film cannot bring all the changes to a practice that is happening for ages, if people start talking about menstruation comfortably, be aware of the importance of menstruation hygiene, it would be more than enough for us. And it is also about the journey of an individual who struggled through his life for a cause. It is an incredible story." "Pad Man", releasing on Friday, is based on the story of Arunachalam Muruganantham, who brought about a near revolution by introducing a machine capable of producing low-cost sanitary pads. As an artiste, Radhika is proud to be a part of a poignant story like this. Starting her acting career in theatre, Radhika has acted not only in Bollywood films but also in various regional language films ranging from those in Bengali and Tamil to Telugu and Malayalam. She has been appreciated by critics and audience for some of her fine performances in films like "Rakht Charitra", "Badlapur", "Parched", "Phobia", "Manjhi - The Mountain Man" and "Kabali". Asked if putting in so much work for her characters in every film at times exhausts her, Radhika said: "I like to work hard for a character that I play. I enjoy the process of doing my homework. It does not exhaust me as it is enriching. For a performing artiste, it is the biggest high." This year, the actress is working on several projects including films like "Bazaar", "Bhavesh Joshi", "Shoot the Piano Player" and web series "Sacred Games". Does she find any difference shooting for digital content from a feature film? "I see no difference when I work in a web series and a film. There is absolutely no difference when we are shooting on set. It is just that a web series takes a few more days than a film," she said. Since the actress has worked with some of the finest film directors of the country, asked how it helps her in her craft, she said "For an actor, a lot of the time it depends on the director, the writer and editors because it is ultimately a collaborative art. But then there are sometimes, that director gives an actor freedom to bring their creative contribution to the character." Radhika has worked with various directors -- Sriram Raghavan, Prakash Raj, R Balki, Leena Yadav and Anurag Kashyap -- whose world of cinema is sometimes polls apart. "The idea is to collaborate with different directors, working with different creative energy, and different perspectives of people... That is how we create something new. The job of an actor is to match up with a different creative energy." (Arundhuti Banerjee can be contacted at arundhuti.b@ians.in) --IANS aru/rb/bg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Myanmar Army on Friday conducted military drills, a day after it was accused by a top UN official of human rights violations against ethnic minorities, including the Rohingyas. Myanmar's Army Chief General Min Aung Hlaing oversaw the drills involving the Infantry, Navy and Air Force for the first time in 20 years in the Ayeyarwady region, Efe news reported. Missile launchers, tankettes, anti-aircraft guns, helicopters and fighter planes were used in the battle simulations. Myanmar in November had refused to allow UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Yanghee Lee to visit the country, forcing her to inspect camps along the borders with neighbouring countries of Bangladesh and Thailand that have been sheltering Burmese refugees, including the Rohingyas. Nearly 690,000 Rohingyas have fled Myanmar's Rakhine state since the Army launched an offensive in August 2017, following a series of attacks on government posts by Rohingya rebels in the region. Lee had said eyewitness accounts by the Rohingyas as well as other minorities -- such as Shan, Karen and Kachin -- described various human rights abuses including killings, torture, rapes and pillaging by the Myanmar Army. Myanmar's ethnic minorities including the Chin, Kachin, Karen, Kokang, Kayah, Mon, Shan and Wa, which together represent over 30 per cent of the nearly 53 million inhabitants of the country, have been demanding greater autonomy. --IANS soni/vm (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Ri Yong Ho, Foreign Minister of North Korea, has accused the US of undermining the inter-Korean reconciliation process and aggravating the situation in the Korean Peninsula. In a letter sent to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday, Ri said "good results are borne in the inter-Korean dialogue" and the easing of tension on the Korean peninsula was welcomed by the international society, Xinhua reported citing Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). The US authorities, however, are "seeking to intentionally aggravate the situation by introducing the strategic assets including nuclear powered aircraft carrier strike groups into the vicinity of the Korean peninsula at a time when north and south of Korea are charting a course of peace together," Ri said. "In view of its nature and contents, scope of troop and war equipment being introduced, the US current moves of military reinforcements are designed to make preemptive strike against North Korea," Ri said. The US is also openly stating that it will conduct a large-scale aggressive joint military exercise against North Korea immediately after the Winter Olympic Games, he added. Ri called on the UN not to "keep silent as to the US dangerous game of aggravating situation in and around the Korean peninsula and driving the whole world into a possible disaster of nuclear war. Ri requested Guterres to take up at the UN Security Council "the issue of welcoming the process of improved inter-Korean relations and discouraging the neighbouring countries from disturbing the process." --IANS pgh/ (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Three major political parties in poll-bound Nagaland -- the ruling Naga Peoples' Front (NPF), the BJP and the Congress -- have done a U-turn on the joint poll boycott decision and are now gearing up for the forthcoming polls. The ruling Naga Peoples' Front (NPF) on Friday issued a statement saying that the party will contest the polls as the central government has repeatedly pointed out that holding of timely elections was a constitutional requisite and that the Centre was bound by constitutional provisions. The party said that as all Naga NGOs and political parties could not arrive at a consensus on deferment of elections, NPF as a recognized political party cannot be an exception to participating in the upcoming general elections. The BJP too has decided to contest the election for the cause of 'Solution to the Naga political issue' in the state. "The BJP is for early solution to the present Naga Political issue and BJP will be part of the system to implement all the agreements held between the Government of India and the negotiating parties," said a statement issued by the BJP on Friday. Similarly, the Nagaland Pradesh Congress Committee (NPCC) on Friday issued a statement to the media saying that Congress will soon be releasing the Election Manifesto of 2018. The Congress, however, blamed the BJP and NPF for trying to "spread Hindutva" across the hills of Nagaland and said that since all the political parties including the NPF and BJP are gearing up to take part in elections, Congress party will soon be releasing the Election Manifesto of 2018 wherein the future is assured for all. On January 29, 11 political parties in Nagaland decided not to participate in the February 27 polls until the ongoing Naga Political process reaches its desired goal. The 11 parties included NPF, BJP, Congress, United Naga Democratic Party (UNDP), Nagaland Congress, AAP, National Democratic Political Party (NDPP), NCP, LJP, JD(U), National People's Party (NPP). --IANS ah/rn (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Friday requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to set up a tribunal, as directed by the Supreme Court, to resolve the Mahanadi water dispute with Chhattisgarh. He also requested Modi to direct the Union Water Resources Ministry to instruct the Chhattisgarh government to stop construction of ongoing projects on the river. The Supreme Court on January 23 directed the Central government to form the tribunal within one month under Section 4(1) of the Inter-State River Water Disputes Act, 1956 for adjudicating the inter-state water disputes between Odisha and Chhattisgarh. Odisha argues that Chhattisgarh has been constructing dams, affecting the flow of the Mahanadi river to Odisha. In a letter to Modi, Patnaik said if the ongoing work by Chhattisgarh was not stopped immediately, Odisha would be forced to "meet a situation of fait accompli frustrating the adjudication under the provisions of the Act of 1956". Stressing that the apex court court on the tribunal had brought a sense of relief among the people in the state, he said that 60 per cent of the Odisha population depended on Mahanadi waters for meeting the needs of irrigation and drinking water. --IANS cd/him/mr (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Coming down heavily on state opposition leaders, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday accused them of "always scheming and plotting" against the state government but being scared to face her or listen to her government's response to their allegations. "I have always seen that they are always busy scheming, conspiring against, or foul mouthing, the Trinamool Congress and spreading confusion inside the house (state assembly). But they are not reasonable enough to listen to our answers. Because they cannot face me," Banerjee told the assembly. "They are scared of listening to the government's answers. I want you to check how many times were they (opposition MLAs) present in the house during my speeches. May be just one or two times. It is totally planned," she said. Banerjee hit out against a section of opposition members, whom she accused of constantly trying to interrupt her speech, for resorting to "cheap tactics of creating controversies" to draw attention of the electronic media. "Their only intention is to come on television. It seems that they do not even come out of their houses if they are not shown on television. These are cheap tactics. If I want I can make television news in every second but that is not my intention," the Trinamool supremo said. She also attacked Leader of Opposition Abdul Mannan, of the Congress, claiming that he is "over-enthusiastic" in his protest to grab the media attention as he was informed by a local television channel about the live telecast of her speech in the assembly. Referring to the recent bypolls results where both Congress and CPI-M have performed dismally, Banerjee said the leaders of those parties to reflect on their result instead of blaming the ruling party and asked them not to underestimate the people's verdict. "They have no shame at all. They cannot keep their mouth shut even for a day after performing so badly. I suggest them not to underestimate people's verdict and belittle them so much," she said. "...So many people have voted for us. How can they say it was rigged? Observers and central forces were deployed at all the election centres. Are they also our people?" she asked. --IANS mgr/vd (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Deepening the mystery around dark matter, new research has found that the small satellite dwarf galaxies orbiting around the much larger galaxy Centaurus A are rotating in synchrony around their host. These observations do not fit with the standard model of cosmology that assumes the existence of dark matter, said the study published in the journal Science. Simulations based on standard cosmology predict that fewer than one per cent of satellite systems should exhibit this synchronous behaviour. Because our own Milky Way and the neighbouring Andromeda Galaxy also have similar arrangements of coherently orbiting satellite galaxies, new findings suggest that standard cosmological simulations may be wrong. Current theories of galaxy formation, based on standard cosmological ingredients such as dark matter, predict that small dwarf satellite galaxies should orbit in random positions and directions around their closest large galaxy. For the study, researchers led by Oliver Muller from the University of Basel in Switzerland analysed the movement of satellite dwarf galaxies around Centaurus A, a galaxy around 13 million light years away. The researchers were able to show that 14 of the 16 satellite galaxies follow the same pattern of movement and are likely rotating within the plane around the main galaxy. According to model simulations with dark matter, however, only half a per cent of satellite systems in the local universe at most should behave this way. "Coherent movement seems to be a universal phenomenon that demands new explanations," said Muller. The astronomical observations challenge the simulations. The researchers said that the possibility of coincidence can be ruled out, as this result -- already seen in the Milky Way and the Andromeda galaxy -- has now been detected a third time, in Centaurus A. --IANS gb/vm (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Pakistani provincial minister Mir Hazar Khan Bijarani, who was found dead in his house along with his wife, first killed her and then committed suicide with the same weapon, the police said on Friday. Bijarani and his wife Fariha Razak were found dead on Thursday at their residence in Karachi. The police said they suspect a domestic dispute to be behind the incident, Geo News reported. A press release by the police stated that the initial reports revealed that all the bullet casings collected from the crime scene were fired from the same weapon. The minister had one bullet wound in his head whereas his wife was shot thrice, report said. Bijarani, a veteran leader of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), was the Planning and Development Minister in Sindh province. His wife was a journalist. Funeral prayers for the minister and his wife were held shortly after Friday prayers. While Razzaq's funeral was held in Karachi's Defence Housing Authority area, prayers for Bijarani were offered in Kashmore. --IANS soni/vm (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Election Commission-appointed surveillance teams will keep a close vigil on the flow of unaccounted cash before the assembly polls in Tripura, Meghalaya and Nagaland, an official said here on Friday. "Possession or carrying of unaccounted cash in excess of Rs 50,000 is barred as per the election laws. Any unauthorised person found carrying Rs 50,000 and above would be arrested by the security personnel," an Election Commission official said here. The poll panel in a directive has asked the state election and law enforcing authorities of Tripura, Meghalaya and Nagaland to adhere to the order. "Static and mobile surveillance teams would keep a close vigil on the flow of cash before the assembly polls in the three northeastern states. Intelligence wings have also been asked to keep a close watch on the issue," the official added. "Close surveillance would be maintained and necessary action taken under the provisions of the Income Tax Act, 1961, and in accordance with the instructions issued by the Election Commission on carrying of unaccounted cash." He said if traders or vendors or officials carry hard cash in excess of Rs 50,000 they should hold valid documents like receipts, official papers or satisfactory documents. The Income Tax Department officials would also keep vigil at hotels, business houses and farmhouses and collect information regarding any suspicious movement of cash or gifts. "Upon information received about the availability of a large amount of cash in a business premises or residence, necessary action would be taken with the help of police and executive magistrate under the Income Tax Laws," he added. Single-phase Assembly polls will be held in Tripura on February 18, and in Nagaland and Meghalaya on February 27. Counting of votes for all three northeastern states with 60-member Assemblies each, will be done on March 3. The Election Commission has appointed around 150 general observers, police observers and expenditure observers to oversee the poll process in these three states. "The Commission has also asked all the three northeastern states and Border Security Forces to further tighten the security along the domestic and international borders," the official added. Tripura has 856 km international borders with Bangladesh and 109 km and 53 km inter-state borders with Mizoram and and Assam, respectively. Meghalaya has 443 km frontiers with Bangladesh and Nagaland shares 215 km boundaries with Myanmar. Meghalaya has internal borders with Assam while Nagaland has borders with Assam, Manipur and Mizoram. --IANS sc/rn (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) British paleontologists have discovered a rare 200 million-year-old Ichthyosaur specimen from a private collection 22 years after it was originally found. Ichthyosaurs were a type of sea-going reptile that lived during the time of the dinosaurs. The new fossil belongs to a rare species of "sea reptile" known as Wahlisaurus massarae and is the second known specimen of the entire species. In 2016, Dean Lomax palaeontologist at the University of Manchester had discovered Wahlisaurus massarae from the collections of New Walk Museum and Art Gallery at Leicester. He spotted several unusual features of the bones and determined that the features were unique. But some paleontologists questioned this and said it was just 'variation' of an existing species, Lomax noted. Thus, collaborating with fossil collector Simon Carpenter, of Somerset, Lomax re-discovered a specimen of Wahlisaurus, originally collected in 1996 from a quarry in northern Somerset. The specimen had an almost complete coracoid bone (part of the pectoral girdle) that has exactly the same unique features of the same bone in Wahlisaurus. The new discovery, published in the journal Geological Journal, is from a time known as the Triassic-Jurassic boundary, right after a world-wide mass extinction. For these reasons, the team have been unable to determine exactly whether the Ichthyosaur was latest Triassic or earliest Jurassic in age, although it is roughly 200 million-year-old. "When you have just one specimen, 'variation' can be called upon, but when you double the number of specimens you have it gives even more credibility to your research," Lomax said. --IANS rt/and/mr (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Stating that the Doklam standoff was not a one-off incident, former National Security Advisor M.K. Narayanan on Friday said the relationship between India and China is likely to worsen in future. He said China's attempt to strangle India by befriending its neighbours including Pakistan, would shift the balance of power in the region to India's disadvantage. "China's taking over of Hambantota port in Sri Lanka, Gwadar port in Pakistan and setting up of a naval base in Djibouti in Africa and its intent to increase such presence will only lead to worsening of relations between the two Asian giants," Narayanan said at the international symposium on Indo-China relations here. "Doklam was not a one-off incident. China's nibbling tactics would continue in future. They will bring it back again and again. I won't say there will be war but there will be constant conflict," the former Intelligence Bureau (IB) chief said. He said China has now shifted its focus to the east from Ladakh and it is resorting to different means including economic blackmail to have control over the relatively smaller neighbouring countries of India like Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. Terming Pakistan as the "main kingpin" in China's design to influence the region, he said such hostility between the two Asian super powers might lead to unexpected circumstances. "Finding common ground will not be easy, the differences may lead to unexpected consequences," he added. --IANS mgr/rn (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Authorities imposed restrictions in Srinagar and districts on Friday to prevent a separatist-called march in protest of the killing of five civilians over the last few days. Police said restrictions under section 144 of the Code Of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) have been imposed in Rainawari, Nowhatta, M R Gunj, Safakadal, Khanyar, Maisuma and Kralkhud in Srinagar. The District Magistrate has also imposed restrictions in the town to maintain law and order. Separatist conglomerate, Joint Resistance Leadership (JRL) headed by Hurriyat leaders Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Mirwaiz Umer Farooq and Yasin Malik, have called for the protest march to to express solidarity with the people there. The march was called after five persons were killed in the Shopian district in violent incidents. Three civilians were killed in army firing in Ganowpora village on January 27, when a stone-pelting mob attacked an army convoy in the village. A 10-year-old boy died in a hospital on Thursday after he was injured in an explosion on January 25 when a debris clearing operation was in progress in the Shaigam village . While another civilian was killed on January 24, in a gunfight between security forces and militants in Shaigam village. Jammu and Kashmir Police and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were deployed in large numbers to maintain law and order in sensitive areas in old city area. Security forces have also been deployed in strength in south Kashmir's Shopian town. Unidentified masked criminals looted Rs 69 lakh at gunpoint from a Bank of Baroda branch in Jharkhand's Jamtara district on Friday. According to police, four criminals wearing masks entered the bank situated under Mihijam locality, around 350 km from Ranchi, looted the cash and escaped. Before leaving, the criminals damaged the CCTV. The criminals had entered the bank when it was opened in the morning. There was no customer inside the bank and all the bank officials had not arrived. The police have launched an operation to arrest the criminals. --IANS ns/and/rn (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Ahead of the much hyped Global Investment Summit, Safexpress, India's largest Supply Chain and Logistics company on Friday announced an investment of Rs 100 crore in the northeastern region. Safexpress, which has the largest Logistics Network in the northeast, is representing the Logistics industry at the Global Summit, which will be held in Guwahati from Saturday. Of the 12 focus industries identified by the Assam government for investment in northeast in general and Assam in particular, logistics is one of the major industries. "On this momentous occasion, we are pleased to announce an investment of Rs. 100 Crore in the Northeast region. We whole-heartedly support this wonderful initiative by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to boost investment in this region," said Safexpress Managing Director, Rubal Jain on Friday. The Safexpress is seen as an icon in logistics industry, and hence was the flagbearer of the industry at this very prestigious Summit. "Given the vital role Assam plays in connecting northeast to the rest of the country, Safexpress has recently built up an ultra-modern Logistics Park in Guwahati. We have invested Rs 30 crore in creating this state-of-the-art Logistics Park," said Vineet Kanaujia, Vice President - Marketing, Safexpress. "Northeast has always been a very high priority region for us. We have offices across the whole of northeast," he added. --IANS ah/pgh/ (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Supreme Court on Friday was urged to order an independent probe into the death of Special CBI Court judge B.M. Loya as petitioners cited contradictions in the report submitted by the Maharashtra government and discrepancies in the statements of judicial officers who were present on the spot. Judge Loya, who died in December 2014, was holding trial in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh staged shoot out case in which now BJP President Amit Shah was one of the accused - but later discharged. Telling the bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Justice A.M.Khanwilkar and Justice D.Y.Chandrachud that judge Loya's death was too serious a matter to be ignored, senior counsel Dushyant Dave described as "self-serving" the report submitted by the Maharashtra government. "All these are self-serving documents. All these people should be interrogated during further investigation" of the Loya case," he said, asking the court to call Loya's father, sister and other family members in their chamber and if they say "they don't investigation, then close the case". Pointing to the over-writing in the Xerox copy of the records relating to judge Loya given by the Maharashtra government and the discrepancies, senior counsel Indira Jaising urged the court to call for the original records. Dave pointed to questionable response of the judicial officers which defied "natural instincts" when judge Loya's end came. "Why his (judge Loya's) family kept in dark," Dave asked pointing out whether it was not natural for three judicial officers to call Loya's wife and inform her about the condition of her husband. At this, Justice Chandrachud said: "Individuals react differently in face of calamity. Somebody cannot now say they should have acted in a different way. Their conduct does not determine the truth behind the case." Taking the court through the background of the case, Dave told the bench that to keep in view that after the discharge of Amit Shah in the case, the Central Bureau of Investigation did not approach the High Court to challenge it while it has challenged the discharge of three police officers including N.K.Amin - who at one stage wanted to become an approver. As Dave sought to show holes in the report submitted by Maharashtra government, senior counsel Mukul Rohatgi objected to some of the submissions, saying: "Let us not make a wrong statement." Hearing will continue on Monday when senior counsel V.Giri will address the court. --IANS pk/vd (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Delhi Development Authority (DDA) on Friday approved changes to the city's Master Plan -- in a move to provide relief to traders hit by the sealing drive -- on a day lakhs of traders pulled down their shutters to protest against the ongoing measure. The sealing drive is being carried out against business establishments using residential areas for commercial purposes without paying conversion charges. Praveen Khandelwal, National Secretary General, Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT), which announced the 48-hour 'Delhi Trade Bandh' from Friday, told IANS that around seven lakh businesses across Delhi remained closed on Friday. He said that they would continue with the strike on Saturday and urged the Central government to reopen the sealed business establishments. DDA's proposed amendments to the Master Plan include increasing Floor Area Ratio (FAR) of local shopping complexes (LSCs) from existing 180 per cent to 300 per cent and regularising agricultural godowns on 12 metre wide roads. Also, there will be a reduction in conversion charge penalties from existing 10 times to two times and commercial activity in the basements will be allowed in all commercial areas "subject to payment of requisite charges without any discrimination". The decision was taken at a meeting chaired by Lt Governor Anil Baijal, who is chairman of the DDA. "The board has approved these changes. They will now be put in the public domain for three days and a meeting will be called after that," DDA member and BJP legislator Vijender Gupta told IANS. The changes are expected to be notified as amendments to the Master Plan after the next meeting. Meanwhile, both the Aam Aadmi Party and the Bharatiya Janata Party took credit for the proposed amendments. DDA member and AAP MLA Somnath Bharti, addressing party supporters, said the changes happened due to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's "struggle". BJP MLA O.P. Sharma, who is also a DDA member, termed the changes to the Master Plan a "historic decision by the Central government" and alleged Kejriwal was misleading traders on the sealing drive. The AAP and BJP have locked horns over the drive with both parties blaming each other. The issue of sealing drive echoed in the Rajya Sabha on Friday, causing disruptions. AAP MPs trooped near the Chairman's podium under party leader Sanjay Singh's leadership and raised slogans against the drive. Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad said: "Delhi is second home for every MP. So it is our duty to help them. The Union government can't be a mere spectator. They should give answers." Addressing media later, Sanjay Singh condemned the BJP MPs from Delhi for staying "mum" when he along with other AAP MPs -- Sushil Gupta and N.D. Gupta -- raised the issue of sealing in the Upper House. "Can't the BJP bring a bill in the parliament against sealing and conversion charges?" he questioned. --IANS nkh/him/vd (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Visiting Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Friday here in Nepal held talks with CPN-Maoist Centre Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda'. According to MEA spokesperson Raveesh Kumar, Sushma Swaraj complemented him on his party's performance in the last held elections. The two leaders discussed steps to further strengthen bilateral ties, he added. The CPN-Maoist Centre has emerged as the second largest party in the Provincial and Federal Assemblies elections, just behind the Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML). Sushma held talks with top UML leaders on Thursday in a bid to mend ties at a time when UML chief K.P. Oli will lead the next government in the Himalayan nation. During the talks, both the UML and visiting Indian delegations agreed to widen and strengthen the two nations' ties in the new changed context. India wishes to see a stable, democratic and prosperous Nepal, she said, and expressed happiness over the sucessful elections in the country which were fundamental in consolidating the democracy and political stability as well as implementation of the new constitution. Before wrapping up her two-day goodwill visit, she will also call on Nepali President Bidhya Devi Bhandari and Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba. --IANS giri/in/vm (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Rome, Feb 3 (IANS/AKI) Sweden and the United Nations World Food Programme on Friday signed a Strategic Partnership Agreement committing an unprecedented $370 million dollars to WFP over the next four years, the agency said, hailing the Scandinavian nation as a global leader in aid. The contribution for the period 2018-2021 is the biggest ever made by a donor within a WFP Strategic Partnership Agreement, WFP underlined. For almost a decade, the Swedish government has been the largest donor of flexible funds to WFP whereas 90 per cent of government funding to WFP is earmarked for specific operations or activities, the agency said. "Sweden's extremely generous contribution provides WFP with one of the largest amounts of flexible and predictable funding any country has ever given us, enabling us to save lives at any given place and at any given time," said WFP Executive Director David Beasley. "The people and the government of Sweden help us bring hope to millions of people, including the most vulnerable people caught up in some of the world's most heart-breaking crises. When it comes to saving lives and changing lives, Sweden is a global leader." The Swedish contribution comes at a time of record need as the world faces the worst humanitarian crisis since the end of World War II, with multiple large-scale hunger emergencies occurring across the planet, WFP said. For the first time in a decade, the number of hungry people in the world is increasing and the majority of world's hungry people now live in countries affected by conflict, WFP said. Ten of the 13 largest food crises on the planet are driven mainly by conflict, said WFP. "Food assistance is one of the most critical ways to respond to famine and save lives in acute emergency situations," said Sweden's International Development Minister and Deputy Premier Isabella Loevin. "As part of our partnership, we are working closely with WFP to develop sustainable approaches to save livelihoods," she added. --IANS/AKI vd (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A police official probing two sensational murder cases has gone "missing" in Telangana's Nalgonda town on Friday, police said. M. Venkateswarlu, circle inspector at II town police station in Nalgonda, disappeared after leaving his weapon and official mobile phone at the police station. His personal mobile phone was also switched off and the efforts of senior officials to reach him proved futile till evening. The police official was probing two sensational cases including murder of the husband of Nalgonda municipal chairperson Boddupally Lakshmi belonging to opposition Congress. Bodupally Srinivas was murdered by few people near his residence on the night of January 24. He was a close follower of former minister and Congress legislator Komatireddy Venkatreddy. The Congress has alleged that leaders of ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) are behind the killing as they were pressurizing him to switch loyalties. The town was rocked by another brutal murder on January 29. The decapitated head of a 25-year-old P. Ramesh was found kept on the wall of a roadside religious structure. Police later recovered the torso from another place. Venkateswarlu had reportedly told his close associates that he was under pressure from his seniors on the one side and politicians on the other. A senior police official, however, said the inspector may be facing some personal problems. --IANS ms/vd (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) US President Donald Trump has insisted in remarks before Republican lawmakers that the young undocumented foreigners who came to this country as children should not be called "Dreamers," advising people not to "fall into that trap." "I've been hearing about DACA for so many years. Some people call it Dreamers. It's not Dreamers. Don't fall into that trap," the President said on Thursday during his speech at the winter meeting of GOP lawmakers in West Virginia, Efe news reported. He referred to the situation of undocumented migrants who came to this country as children and who have been protected under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which he cancelled and which expires on March 5. "I said the other night, you know, we have dreamers too. We have dreamers in this country, too. You can't forget our dreamers," said the President, referring to his State of the Union address on Tuesday. Last September, when Trump decided to end the DACA program implemented by former President Barack Obama and which has shielded some 800,000 young people from deportation, the mogul instructed Congress to find a permanent legislative solution for that group by March 5. Republicans and Democrats have been negotiating for months on an alternative to DACA and several weeks ago they reached an agreement in principle that fulfilled the requirements originally demanded by the White House, but the president then refused to give it the green light. In exchange, the White House last week presented its own proposal, taking a much harsher line regarding border security, eliminating the possibility of family reunification and the visa lottery, but creating a path to citizenship for 1.8 million young foreigners. "I gave a number that was ... very generous ... because I wanted to see whether or not (Democratic lawmakers) were interested in approving that," the President said. Trump went on to urge the Republican-controlled Senate to bring his immigration proposal to a vote, knowing that congressional debates on it will begin in the coming weeks. "It's a strong bill, but it's a very fair bill. And it protects our border," Trump said to applause from the GOP legislators. The debate on how to regularise the immigration status of the young people - due to lack of consensus among lawmakers from the two parties - led to a partial government shutdown two weeks ago. Beverages major Coca-Cola India is planning to take the home-grown Thums Up brand to other South Asian countries by March, an official said here on Friday. It is expected to be launched in Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and Sri Lanka, Coca-Cola India and South West Asia President T. Krishnakumar told reporters here. The company intends to make it the first home-grown billion dollar beverage brand in the next two years, he said. The company was committed to taking Indian flavours global. --IANS bdc/in/bg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A senior IPS officer has been caught on camera endorsing, at a "public oath taking", the construction of a grand Ram Temple at Ayodhya. In the video, Director General (DG) Home Guards Surya Kumar Shukla can be seen taking the oath with others, including some Muslims. He can also be heard chanting 'Jai Shri Ram' from the dais. The video is of a seminar held at the Lucknow University on Sunday (January 28). It shows the 1982-batch IPS officer -- who was sometime back in the race for the DGP's chair -- happily speaking, along with others on the stage, of the need for the Ram Temple. Also present at the event was former Urban Development Minister and senior Samajwadi party (SP) leader Mohd Azam Khan. The officer has, however, said the video was "mischief" and should not be taken as anything more. "All I was doing there was participating in a seminar held in good faith to discuss with Muslims and Hindus a way for the construction of the Ram Temple at Ayodhya," he said on Friday. Congress Spokesman Subodh Srivastava has said that this was a clear violation of the service rules that govern Shukla and demanded that Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath take disciplinary action against him. State Spokesman of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Vaibhav Maheshwari said it was shameful that in a secular country a senior police officer such as Shukla was behaving like this. "The government and the courts should take note of this immediately and terminate Shukla," he demanded. The Ayodhya dispute is centred on a plot of land in Uttar Pradesh's Ayodhya to which both Hindus and Muslims claim stake. --IANS md/him/vm (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) US President Donald Trump will welcome Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to the White House on February 23. The two leaders will discuss a range of shared bilateral, regional and global priorities including fighting terrorism, promoting economic growth and expanding security as well as defence cooperation, the White House said in a statement cited by Xinhua news agency. Last year, Trump engaged in a combative call with Turnbull over refugee issues one week after his inauguration, pressing the latter to make concessions on receiving refugees. Turnbull insisted that both nations should abide by the agreement, making Trump snap towards the end of the call. "I have been making these calls all day, and this is the most unpleasant call all day," Trump said. The US President complained that he had to accept refugees held by Australia on the islands of Nauru or Manus for more than three years. "I am saying, boy that will make us look awfully bad," he said. "The US has become like a dumping ground." --IANS nks/soni/mr (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Two women were killed and five persons were injured in an explosion in Afghanistan's Ghani province on Friday, an official said. The incident occurred in the morning after a vehicle carrying seven persons was struck by an improvised explosive device in Cherli village in Gellan district, said a provincial government spokesman. The injured were shifted to a nearby hospital. Taliban and Islamic State militants have been using roadside bombs and landmines to target security forces, but the lethal home-made weapons also inflict casualties on civilians. Some 2,640 civilians were killed and over 5,370 injured in conflict-related incidents in the first nine months of 2017, according to the UN mission. --IANS nks/soni/bg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has welcomed the outcome of the intra-Syria talks in Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi, saying Russia kept its word that the Sochi talks would be a contribution to the UN-led Geneva process. The UN's presence in Sochi was based on a common understanding between the United Nations and Russia on the nature and outcome of the meeting and its contribution to the Geneva process. The Sochi talks concluded with a statement fully in line with that common understanding, Guterres told reporters at UN Headquarters in New York on Friday, Xinhua news agency reported. The final declaration at the Sochi talks embraced a vision of Syria for all Syrians -- as reflected by the 12 living intra-Syrian principles put forward by his special envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura late last year, said Guterres. The two-day Sochi talks ended Tuesday. The talks affirmed that a Constitutional Committee should be formed under UN auspices in accordance with Security Council Resolution 2254, which provides for a roadmap of political settlement of the Syria crisis that has entered into the eighth year. The Sochi talks also made it clear that a final agreement on the mandate, terms of reference, powers, rules of procedure, and selection criteria for the composition of the Constitutional Committee is to be reached in the UN-led talks in Geneva, he said. "My special envoy will now draw on this Sochi outcome to meet our shared goal: full implementation of Security Council Resolution 2254 and the Geneva Communique. He will also work for the talks to address the other areas determined by Resolution 2254." Guterres, however, expressed concern over the situation on the ground. "We must never forget that progress toward a political settlement needs to be accompanied by progress on the ground." Yet in the last two months, he said, not a single convoy of life-saving relief has reached a besieged area -- no medical supplies, no food. "Humanitarian aid is not getting in. And people suffering dire health conditions are not getting out." He also expressed concern over "disturbing new reports" about the possible use of chemical weapons. Guterres called on the Syrian government and opposition delegations and all countries with influence to cooperate with his special envoy. "We must ensure that the UN-led process moves ahead in Geneva, credibly and seriously." --IANS pgh/ (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A marsupial smaller than kangaroo called wallaby, rescued by ferry crew members from harbour waters here in Australia, is recovering and set for release on Friday, an official said. The animal was taken to a veterinary facility after rescuers looped it on board their boat late Thursday, Xinhua news agency reported. It was X-rayed to check how much seawater it had swallowed. It might be released by Friday afternoon, an animal welfare group said. The female wallaby was spotted struggling just over two weeks after one of the males made global headlines for hopping along the iconic Sydney Harbour Bridge on January 16. Wallabies, like the koalas are native to Australia, and were "vulnerable" because of the lack of wildlife corridors in newly developed urban areas, Wildlife volunteer Joan Reid was quoted as saying. Marsupials are mammals that carry their young in pouches and are found in the wild throughout the country. The male marsupial rescued earlier was found to be under serious, stressed condition. It later recovered and was released back into the wild in Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park. --IANS nks/in/mr (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) AIADMK rival leader on Friday launched his 'people reach out tour,' seeking their support to usher in 'Amma's (Jayalalithaa's) government,' and oust the K Palaniswami regime in Tamil Nadu. In a co-incidence, the ruling AIADMK held a meeting of its office-bearers and district secretaries with its co-ordinator and Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam and co-coordinator and Chief Minister Palaniswami chairing the discussions at the party headquarters in Chennai. A party release said the meet deliberated on "party development tasks," and enrolling new members besides the upcoming birth anniversary of late party chief J Jayalalithaa on February 24. In a scathing attack on Palaniswami regime, Dhinakaran, who won the RK Nagar bypoll in December last as an independent, alleged that the Palaniswami regime was bowing to the Centre out of fear and had given its nod to schemes opposed by Jayalalithaa. The rival leader launched his "Makkal Sandhippu Puratchi Payanam," (Revolutionary people reach out tour) at Cholapuram about 15 km from here in Thanjavur district which is part of the Cauvery delta region. Addressing the people from an open-top van, he said the Palaniswami government was not Amma's regime. Key issues in the delta region like the hydrocarbon project at Neduvasal were not addressed by the government despite the long drawn out protests by the people against such initiatives, he alleged. Praising Jayalalithaa as a strong leader who fought for the rights of the state and farmers of the Cauvery Delta region, he said she ensured water for ryots by approaching the Supreme Court on the Cauvery issue. However, he claimed farmers were now not able to engage in farming activities due to non-availability of water and faulted the Palaniswami regime for it. He accused the State government of not taking steps to address the irrigation water needs of the farmers of the Delta region to save the standing crops. Dubbing the AIADMK regime as a "betrayal regime," he said it was only keen on retaining power and guarding its MLAs. "Please support us to end the betrayal regime. Election to the State Assembly may be called anytime." Claiming that "this regime will come to an end in a few months," he sought the people's support to him to usher in "Amma's regime" and with that goal in mind, he said he has launched his tour. Dhinakaran, who is a native of Thanjavur district, was accorded a rousing welcome by his supporters. He toured several small towns including Thiruppanandhal that falls under the Thiruvidaimarudhur Assembly Constituency, a primarily agrarian belt, on the first of his tour. AIADMK party meet led by the top two leaders of the ruling regime was attended by State Ministers, district secretaries, and top office-bearers besides MLAs. Party sources said the discussion on party's growth agenda vis-a-vis current political scenario as usual. The meet's focus on party's growth assumes significance in the wake of rival Dhinakaran's reach out tour. It also comes against the background of expulsions of a slew of office-bearers by the mainstream AIADMK for alleged anti-party activities. A minivan today crashed into pedestrians after veering onto a crowded sidewalk in China's financial hub Shanghai, injuring 18 people, three of them seriously, according to media reports. Police, however, believe the crash was not intentional and it was an accident and not an attack, state-run Xinhua agency reported. The 40-year-old driver was identified by police as a man surnamed Chen. According to an initial investigation, he is thought to have been illegally transporting gas bottles and was smoking at the time of the crash. The champagne-coloured minivan was moving from Xinchang Road to West Nanjing Road when it went out of control and crashed into the sidewalk, the report said. The vehicle was on fire before crashing into the sidewalk in front of the cafe around the Shanghai People's Park, local media reported. Eighteen people were injured in the incident. Three of those injured are said to be in a serious condition, the report said. A video posted by the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post showed the van was on fire and thick smoke emanated from it. Photos posted on the Weibo, Chinese version of Twitter showed several people lying on the ground and fire fighters trying to put off the fire. A witness, identified only by her surname Qian, said that immediately after the incident, some passers-by broke the vehicle window with stones to get to the driver, Shanghai- based portal The Paper reported. "I think the driver had passed out. People had to break the window to save him," Qian was quoted as saying by the Post. Another witness, who was not identified, said: "There were gas bottles in the vehicle. The van was burning but the bottles did to catch fire". "There were six persons in the van. A woman whom rescuers pulled out was badly burnt," the witness said. A passer-by wrote in a WeChat post that a few people were trapped under the van after the incident. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Kolkata Police said today they have arrested two Jamatul Mujahiddin Bangladesh (JMB) terrorists involved in a low-intensity blast in the Buddhist pilgrim town Bodh Gaya in Bihar during the Dalai Lama's visit in January. Paigamber Sheikh, 24, and Jamirul Sheikh, 31, were arrested by a special task force of the police on Wednesday, an STF official said. Sheikh was arrested from his home in Kankuria village in Murshidabad district, while Jamirul, who hails from Ratanpur in the same district, was nabbed from Darjeeling, the official said. Nearly 50 kg ammonium nitrate, materials used to make explosives and a laptop computer were seized from them, he said. A low-intensity blast was reported at a kitchen set up at the Kaalchintan Ground in the temple town on January 19, causing panic among devotees gathered to hear the Dalai Lama's discourse. The STF official said the two men admitted to their links with the JMB. "They also admitted to manufacturing three IEDs, which were planted by their accomplices at Bodh Gaya during the Dalai Lama's visit." A search is on for their accomplices, he said. The STF has informed the National Investigating Agency (NIA), which is probing the blast, about the arrests. After the low-intensity blast in Bodh Gaya, two live bombs were detected near the Kaalchintan Ground. The Dalai Lama was holding a discourse there and a host of Buddhist pilgrims from around the world had gathered there for it. In September 2016, six JMB members, including four wanted in connection with the 2014 Khagragarh blast in Burdwan, were arrested from West Bengal and Assam. Those arrested included Anwar Hussain Farooq, head of the outfit's West Bengal unit, and Yusuf Sheikh, second in command in the state and its chief motivator who carried an award of Rs 10 lakh on his head announced by the NIA. Three of the arrested were Bangladeshi nationals. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Delhi High Court has upheld the life imprisonment awarded to five convicts in the sensational 2010 Dhaula Kuan gangrape case of a 30-year-old BPO woman executive from north-east. A bench of justices Vipin Sanghi and P S Teji dismissed the appeals of five convicts and said that not only was the victim's testimony sufficient, but her deposition was also corroborated by her friend, who was with her at the time of abduction, and her employer. The bench handed down the jail term to Usman alias Kale, Shamshad alias Khutkan, Shahid alias Chhota Billi, Iqbal alias Bada Billi and Kamruddin alias Mobile, all residents of Mewat region in Haryana. It said the prosecution has been able to establish all the charges against the convicts who have failed to make out any ground in support of their appeal and the same deserves dismissal. The bench said that from the woman's testimony, the prosecution has established that on the night of November 23 -24, 2010, the five men had kidnapped the victim near Sharma Automobiles in south Delhi's Moti Bagh, took her in a pick-up van and raped her in the moving vehicle. The incident took place when she along with a friend was returning home from their office in Gurgaon and were just dropped by the office cab. The convicts then took her to Mangolpuri in outer Delhi, gangraped her and left her at an isolated road. The victim has since returned to her home in Mizoram. Upholding the conviction of the five, the bench said that the trial court found the woman's evidence credible and trustworthy and the high court finds no reason to take a different view. "In our considered view, the testimony of the prosecutrix is natural, reliable, credible and trustworthy, free from any kind of glitches. She in simple language narrated the incident at the time of her deposition before the trial court and her testimony has duly been corroborated by her friend and employer," it said. The five men were convicted and sentenced by a trial court here in October 2014, with the judge observing that the the offence demonstrated that the five married men having children, "were on the prowl, looking for a prey to satiate their sexual lust." It had said that they were "psychopaths" who should be kept away from the society as long as possible. The five men were held guilty for offences of gangrape, abduction, criminal intimidation and common intention. Besides awarding them life term, which was the maximum sentence for the offence, the court had also imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 on each of the convicts. The convicts challenged the trial court verdict claiming that they were falsely implicated and that there was a gap in the prosecution story regarding identification of the accused and linking them up with the crime. The bench, however, rejected their claims saying that while Usman and Shamshad were identified by the woman during their test identification parade (TIP), Shahid, Iqbal and Kamruddin had refused to participate in TIP proceedings and an adverse inference is warranted against them. It also said the DNA report clearly demonstrated that the victim was raped by them. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Three people, all migratory labourers residing in Phawara, were arrested today for strangulating a 45-year-old man to death near here, police said. On January 31, the body of Ram Sunder, a resident of Bihar's Aara district, was found in a field by the Phagwara- Mukandpur road, they said. Sundar used to work at a factory in Phagwara and also lent money on interest to migratory labourers, they said. He was last seen leaving home to meet Lakshman Sharma, a resident of Bihar currently living in Phagwara, on January 29, police said. Based on this information, police nabbed Raj Kumar, Lakshman Sharma and Bablu Gupta in connection with the killing, they added. Upon preliminary investigation, it came to light that while Kumar, a cousin of the deceased, suspected Sunder of harbouring bad intentions toward his wife, Sharma was threatened by him of legal action since he owed him money, officials said. The accused asked Sunder to come to Lakshman's residence on the pretext of returning him his money, police said. They later took him to a secluded place, got him inebriated and then strangulated him with a plastic rope, the police said, adding that the accused disposed of the body, and kept his purse and mobile phone so as to conceal his identity. The plastic rope used in the crime, a bicycle and a mobile phone belonging to the deceased was recovered from the accused, officials said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Three Nepali nationals were arrested for allegedly stealing a number of mobile phones from a shop in Narayanbagad recently, policer said. Indu Budda, Prem Budda and Moti, who hails from Nepal, were arrested in Maunachauna village last evening, Chamoli Superintendent of Police Tripti Bhatt said. The accused had stolen 82 mobile phones of different manufacturers, 39 earphones and 73 chargers from the shop. A camera and a video camera, which they had allegedly stolen from somewhere else, have been recovered from their possession, she said. The trio had committed the theft in the mobile shop in the night of January 21, she said. The accused used to work as labourers and stayed in Sirsi village near Kedarnath, she said. Moving around as labourers, they used to do recce of shops in the day and strike at night. They used to hide the stolen goods in forests so that they are not suspected, the SP said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The police today arrested four members of a gang of dacoits, hailing from Madhya Pradesh and notorious for burgling several homes in at least four states, after a pre-dawn firefight at their hideout in Bengaluru. The gang members had attacked two constables on patrol duty in the city and decamped with their .303 bore assault rifle a fortnight ago, the police said. During the raid today, the dacoits fired from the rifle and threw stones on the police team to resist arrest. Three gang members - Azam Bhai Singh Moher, Jiten Ram Singh Palashe, Suresh Kodriya Moher - suffered bullet injuries during the raid and have been admitted to Victoria Hospital. Another member was identified as Abu Bhai Singh Moher. Three policemen were also injured during the firefight. The police said that they had formed a team to bust the gang after the constables were attacked two weeks ago. The team found that Rai Singh Mahel, a resident of Bhagoli village in Dhar district of Madhya Pradesh, was among those who had attacked the constables and robbed the rifle. Mahel was arrested and brought to Bengaluru yesterday. During interrogation, Mahel told the police that his accomplices were hiding near Yelahanka New Town. A police team stormed their hideout in Kempanahalli area and arrested them. Bengaluru Police Commissioner T Suneel Kumar said the gang from Madhya Pradesh had burgled many homes in Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and other parts of the country. In Karnataka, they had targeted residences in Mysuru, Mangaluru, Udupi, Tumakuru and Bengaluru. The police seized 100 grams of gold jewellery from their possession. A special team has been formed to arrest the other gang members, Kumar added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Eighty-five people were sentenced to one to 13 years in jail by a court in China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region today for cheating over 8,500 people of over 10 million yuan (USD 1.59 mn) in a major telecom fraud case. The case surfaced after a resident in Ordos reported to police that he was cheated of about 35,000 yuan (USD 5,560) in a suspected telecom fraud in July 2016. Following an investigation, police arrested 85 suspects in November 2016 from central China's Hubei Province. During the probe, police found that the convicts had published sham medical advertisements to collect contact information of the victims. They contacted them by mobile or social networking platforms, pretending to be relatives or students of medical workers, and convinced them to buy fake healthcare or food products. From mid-June to November 2016, more than 8,900 victims were cheated over 10 million yuan, the state-run Xinhua agency reported. Three main convicts were sentenced to 11 to 13 years in prison, while another 82 were given prison terms of between one and six years. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) There has not been a single case of data breach from the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) database, the government said on Friday, claiming that a recent report about data being sold was "completely false". Replying to a question in the Rajya Sabha, Minister of Electronics and Information Technology Ravi Shankar Prasad asserted that the data was fully safe and secure. To a question by Neeraj Shekhar of Samajwadi Party on the issue, he claimed that a media report saying that data was available to anyone for a sum of Rs 500 was a case of "misreporting and completely false". "UIDAI, for the purpose of grievance handling, has provided a search facility to state government officials, which provide demographic information of the person whose enrolment ID or Aadhaar is provided. The reported case was a misuse of the said facility," Prasad said. The minister said the UIDAI had filed a complaint on January 4 with full details of the incident, on which an FIR was registered by the Crime Branch in the cyber cell of Delhi Police against unknown persons under several sections of the Aadhaar Act and the IT Act. The report had said that Aadhaar details of thousands of people could be accessed by paying Rs 500 to a private person. The Delhi High Court was today informed by the AAP government that it will set up a Rs 100 crore corpus fund for treatment of rare genetic diseases. The court was also informed that the central government will contribute funds towards the state corpus in the ratio of 60:40 and it would be used for only funding the entire treatment cost. Justice Manmohan said that the court hoped and expected that the Cabinet of Delhi Government shall approve creation of a corpus fund for the rare diseases as "expeditiously as possible" as mentioned in minutes of meeting of January 29 under the chairmanship of Principal Secretary (Health). "The Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi shall keep in mind the fact that the corpus fund of Rs 100 crore (already) created by the central government shall lapse on March 31, 2018," the court said. Delhi government standing counsel Ramesh Singh also informed the court that it has been decided to constitute a Technical cum Administrative Committee for the state corpus which will be chaired by the secretary and have such technical experts as members as considered necessary and the panel will meet once in three months. "The committee will identify and accredit institutions that will carry out diagnosis of rare diseases, and institutions that will provide treatment for rare diseases and the institutions that will both diagnose and treat rare diseases," he said. The court was hearing a batch of petitions filed by patients of rare diseases like Gaucher, a genetic disorder. The petitioners, through advocate Ashok Agarwal, have said they were denied treatment at the Employees' State Insurance Scheme of India (ESIC) hospitals here and did not have the capacity to bear the cost of the Enzyme Replacement Therapy (ERT). During the day's hearing, the counsel said that two of the 122 patients require immediate medical attention as they were suffering from Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) Type 1 disease and are residents of Delhi. To this, the court asked their guardians to apply to Delhi government's Technical cum Administrative Committee for rare disease on February 5 and also asked the state to form a rare disease board within a week to consider these applications. The court listed the matter for March 8 for further hearing. The high court had earlier asked the Centre to take urgent steps to make the National Policy for Treatment of Rare Diseases functional at the ground level. The petitioners counsel had earlier said that patients have been running from pillar to post to get treatment. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Afghan president slammed Pakistan today, blaming it for a wave of massive deadly attacks that have ravaged his nation recently and accusing Islamabad of harbouring the Taliban. In a televised speech to the nation, Ashraf Ghani insisted the "centre of Taliban terrorism is in Pakistan" and demanded that authorities in the neighbouring country "show some concrete action to rid their territory of insurgents." Ghani, flanked by Afghanistan's top Islamic clerics, also urged those among the Taliban who wanted to talk peace with the government to separate themselves from those who want only to fight. On Wednesday, Afghan officials visited Pakistan with what they describe as evidence of Taliban attacks emanating from militant training centres in Pakistan. Afghanistan's Intelligence Chief Masoom Stanikzai and Interior Minister Wais Ahmed Barmak presented documentation and confessions from arrested insurgents claiming to have been trained in Islamic seminaries in Pakistan. "The Afghan nation is waiting for clear action" from Pakistan, said Ghani, adding that so far Afghanistan got only promises of cooperation from Islamabad. Pakistan's Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua along with senior military and security officials will travel to Kabul tomorrow with Islamabad's response, after reviewing the Afghan documents. Kabul and Islamabad have repeatedly traded accusations that the other is harbouring enemy insurgents. The United States has also criticised Pakistan for providing sanctuaries for the Taliban, who are fighting US troops in Afghanistan. President Donald Trump accused Pakistan of "lies and deceit" and demanded Pakistan evict Taliban insurgents, particularly the Haqqani network from Pakistani safe havens. The US has suspended military assistance to Pakistan to back its demands. Pakistan has denied providing sanctuaries to militants. Today, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it stands with Afghanistan "in fighting the menace of terrorism." The ministry's statement noted that Pakistan has erected 975 security posts along the porous border with Afghanistan, while Kabul set up only 218. It called for more border security from Kabul, saying insurgents in Afghanistan have carried out 417 attacks in Pakistan in 2017. Meanwhile, Ghani said he has ordered a wide-reaching review of Kabul's security following massive deadly attacks in recent weeks that have left killed nearly 200 and wounded hundreds more. "The Kabul people are demanding that we make a serious review of our security arrangements," he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Eleven people have been detained over a spate of deadly attacks in Afghanistan, President Ashraf Ghani said today, as he vowed to take revenge for the bloodshed. The government is under growing public pressure to improve security in the Afghan capital after three major attacks in the past two weeks demonstrated the ability of militants to strike at the heart of the country. Since January 20, militants have stormed a luxury hotel, bombed a crowded street and raided a military compound in Kabul, killing more than 130 people. A British charity in the eastern city of Jalalabad was also attacked. Officials said five people were killed. "People will not forget. Even if it takes a hundred years, the Afghans will take their revenge," Ghani said in a televised address to the nation after Friday prayers. He gave no further details about the 11 detained. Officials would submit a new security plan for Kabul on Sunday, Ghani said, speaking inside the heavily fortified presidential palace -- eight months after a devastating truck bomb in the city triggered a similar move. Afghans "demand" peace and wanted "practical actions (from Pakistan)", he added. His remarks came a day after Afghan officials said they had handed "undeniable" evidence to Pakistan that they claimed showed the recent attacks were planned on Pakistani soil. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack on the Intercontinental Hotel on January 20 and the street bombing last Saturday. The Pakistani embassy in Kabul said the information was "being examined for its authenticity". Kabul, along with Washington, has long accused Islamabad of providing safe havens to leaders of the Taliban and other militant groups. Pakistan denies the charges, insisting it has eradicated safe havens in the tribal region along the border with Afghanistan. The area is largely inaccessible to foreign journalists. But Islamabad is widely believed to retain links to the Taliban as a bulwark against arch-nemesis India, which it rivals for influence in Kabul. US President Donald Trump has ratcheted up the pressure on Pakistan in 2018 with a freeze on aid. But some analysts warn there may be no real way to pressure Islamabad, which believes keeping Kabul out of India's orbit is more important than clamping down on cross- border militancy. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Asphyxia, a condition in which the body is deprived of oxygen, was the main cause of death of a two-and-a-half-year-old girl whose family had claimed that she was not provided oxygen by the hospital administration. The girl, Oyetri Dey, had died at the AMRI Mukundapur unit last month. Family members, including her mother, had alleged that she was not provided oxygen or given cardiopulmonary resus citation (CPR) on time after she had a convulsion following administration of an injection. "Death was due to the effects of asphyxia as noted above ante-mortem in nature," the post mortem report, a copy of which is with the PTI, said. The girl was admitted to the hospital with acute bronchitis on January 15. She was recovering well and about to be discharged but died two days later, on January 17 morning. A senior hospital official has denied the charges, saying the patient "had been on nebulisation and the oxygen mask was at her bedside. CPR was given promptly." The hospital had cited cardiac arrest as the cause of the death and said they suspected she had an underlying heart ailment. Parts of the child's heart, lungs, liver, kidneys, brains along with the spleen, have been sent for histopathological tests. The post-mortem report also stated, "Further opinion if any would be given after the receipt of the reports of preserved materials. Meanwhile, the West Bengal Clinical Establishment Regulatory Commission, where the girl's parents had lodged a complaint against the hospital, held the first hearing in the matter today. The commission heard the parents as well as the AMRI authorities. Jayanti Chatterjee, the unit head of AMRI Mukundapur, who allegedly misbehaved with the girl's family, was also summoned along with and the doctor, Jayati Sengupta, who was treating the baby. "We have asked both the parents and the hospital to submit affidavit stating their versions of what had happened," said Commission chairperson Justice Ashim Kumar Roy. The next hearing would be held on Wednesday. The girl's parents had filed two separate complaints with the commission and East Jadavpur Police. Police had earlier summoned both Chatterjee and Sengupta for questioning. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Armed robbers looted Rs 59 lakh from a branch of a nationalised bank at Mihijam in Jamtara district today, police said. Four masked miscreants laced with fire arms entered the Mihijam branch of Bank of Baroda and looted the cash, they said. The miscreants allegedly assaulted the sweeper and the cashier, whom they followed and entered as soon as the bank was opened, police said adding that the miscreants also locked the two inside a room before they committed the crime. The miscreants also damaged the CCTV camera and taken away its hard disk along with them, the sources said. Senior police officers including DIG (Santal Paragana), Akhilesh Jha and Superintendent of Police Jaya Roy rushed to the spot on being informed of the incident. Jha said a massive raids are being conducted in all possible hide-outs to apprehend the culprits by two police teams headed by the Deputy Superintendent of Police ranked officers. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Assam will host its first global investors summit beginning tomorrow to showcase its manufacturing opportunities and geostrategic advantages to foreign and domestic investors. The 'Advantage Assam: Global Investors Summit 2018', which will be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, aims at highlighting Assam's geostrategic advantages and core competencies in different sectors along with the policy initiatives taken by the state government. "So far, 4,500 delegates have registered for participation that include representatives from 16 countries. Prime Minister of BhutanTshering Tobgay has already arrived while industrialists like MukeshAmbani and Ratan Tata are expected to attend the summit," Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal told PTI. The chief minister said the February 3-4 event will showcase the manufacturing prowess and theopportunities offered by Assam in terms of export-oriented manufacturingand services to growing economies such as the ASEAN and the Southeast Asian countries. Sonowal said the prime minister's special focus for the developmentof the Northeast and his multiple initiatives for theregion will be the basis for the success of the summit. The state has identified a number of focus sectors, including agriculture and food processing, organic cultivation andbamboo, handloom, textile and handicrafts, inland water transport, port township and river front development and logistics. Other focus areas include information technology and informationtechnology enabled services, pharmaceuticals and medicaldevices, plastics and petrochemicals, power, tourism, hospitalityand wellness, petroleum and natural gas and civil aviation. Bangladesh Industry Minister Amir Hossain Amu, Cambodian Tourism Minister Thong Khon, Myanmar Commerce Minister Than Myint, Lao PDR's Vice Minister of Information Culture and Tourism Ounethoang Khaophanh are also likely to attend the event. Ambassadors, High Commissioners and business delegations from 16 countries such as the USA, Vietnam, the UAE, the Netherlands, Nepal, Korea, Japan, Israel, Indonesia, Germany, Czech Republic and Canada are expected to attend the two-day event. Dilip Shanghvi of the Sun Pharmaceuticals, Anand Burman of the Dabur, Subhash Chandra of the Essel Group along with a host of industrialists are also expected attend the summit. As a precursor to the main event, roadshows were organised at various domestic and international locations to inviteinvestors to the summit and also showcase the business potential and investment opportunities in the state. Chief Minister's media advisor Hrishikesh Goswami said roadshowsheld in Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Toronto, San Francisco, New York, Tokyo, Seoul and Singapore have generated very positive response from the investors. "Very aptly, 'India's Expressway to ASEAN' has been chosen as the tagline of the summit," he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Haryana Chief MinisterManohar Lal Khattar today paid an unscheduled visit toGD Goenka School, Sohna, a bus of which was recently pelted with stones by some miscreants protesting therelease of the movie "Padmaavat". Khattar interacted with teachers and students and lauded them for showing courage in the face of an adverse situation. "Since I saw this incident on the television, what kept boggling my mind was why it should have happened to the little children. Though I am not feeling well, I decided to meet you all," he told the students. When stones were being thrown at their bus, the children not only showed courage but also braved the situation with poise and calm, he said. The chief minister assured the students that adequate arrangements would be made by the state government to preventre-occurrenceof such incidents. He said that in a democratic system, every citizen had the right to express his views but ifa protestis to be registered, it should be done peacefully. He lauded the teachers for acting sensibly during the incident and saving the students from being hurt. A teacher told the chief minister that the students, upon being instructed, lied down between the seats of the bus and covered themselves. Five woman teachers were accompanying the studentsinthe bus. After giving the students and teachers a patient hearing, the chief minister asked the students to forget the incident. He also interacted with bus driver Ramesh who told the chief minister that three buses of GD Goenka Schoolwere in the queue on that day. Out of these, two buses were provided safe passage by the Gurugram Police by pacifying the people but someone from the crowd threwstoneon the front glass of his bus. It was followed by another stone which hit the driver's side glass window, he told the CM. Welcoming the chief minister, Principal Nita Bali said he was quite concerned about the students and had taken time out meet them. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry has appointed B A Chopade the vice-chancellor of Banaras Hindu University (BHU). Chopade is at present the vice-chancellor of Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University. President Ram Nath Kovind, who is the Visitor to the university, approved Chopade's appointment this week. He will take charge from BHU Registrar Neeraj Tripathi, who had been holding the additional charge of the top post since October last year. Chopade's predecessor, Girish Chandra Tripathi had gone on leave two months before his tenure came to an end, following a ruckus on campus in September last year. The development came amid indications from HRD Ministry sources that the central government was upset with the manner in which the former vice-chancellor had handled the entire episode, including a protest by women students following an incident of alleged harassment. The ruckus started when a number of students, including women, and two journalists were injured in a baton-charge by the police after a protest against an alleged eve-teasing incident turned violent in BHU, one of the 43 central universities in the country. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Bombay High Court today refused to grant any interim protection from arrest to Milind Ekbote, a key accused in the case related to the January 1 violence at Bhima-Koregaon in Pune district. A bench of justices S C Dharamadhikari and Bharati Dangre rejected Ekbote's argument that a sessions court in Pune had erred in rejecting his anticipatory bail plea last month. The bench instead said that the Pune court's observations made against the right-wing leader in rejecting his plea, could not be ignored. Ekbote, who heads a trust called the Samast Hindu Aghadi, has beenbooked by the Pune Police in three separate FIRs for inciting violence under the Indian Penal Code, and sections of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. He had approached the high court after the Pune court refused to grant him any relief. In his plea in the high court, Ekbote had argued that the police erred in filing charges against him since he was not present at the site of the incident. Therefore, there existed no question of him having incited any violence, or committed any act of atrocity, he had said. Ekbote had contended that the ground situation in the area had been "simmering" for about 10 days prior to the January 1 violence. "However, it was a failure of intelligence on part of the authorities since they could not assess that the situation will get so bad," the right-wing leader had said. He had also said theevents preceding the violence at Bhima-Koregaon, particularly the Elgar Parishad event where JNU student leader Umar Khalid and Gujarat MLA Jignesh Mevani gave speeches, werethe real cause of the violence which had caste overtones. "Khalid and Mevani made provocative speeches," he had alleged. The Maharashtra government, however, had told the court that the police had evidence that on December 30 (just ahead of the violence), Ekbote was present at a hotel about 4 km away from Bhima-Koregaon. His call data records (CDR) showed he had been in contact with several other accused persons in the case, they had said. Ekbote had 17 previous cases of atrocities registered against him, the prosecution said, adding public property worth Rs 9 crore was vandalised during the violence. Ekbote, however, argued he had been planning to go to Bhima-Koregaon on December 30 to "appeal to the public to maintain peace". "However, the police advised me against going there and so I stopped at a hotel about 4 km away. I held a press conference there and distributed a press note which was in no way provocative," he said. Ekbote also said that the mere fact that he had been in touch with four of the 49 people (charged under SC/ST Act) was not adequate evidence against him. The bench, however, observed since the police were still in the process of collecting evidence, the court need not comment on the relevance of the CDR at the present stage. "The probe is still on. The police is still recording statements of victims and collecting evidence. "Therefore, it will be totally unsafe to express any opinion on the evidence and also on the complicity, even prima facie, of the appellant (Ekbote)," the bench observed. "We, however, can not ignore the averments made by the trial court (in Pune) against the appellant. Therefore, we find no merit in this plea and are inclined to reject it," it said. The bench also observed that the entire incident could have been avoided if the local leaders as well as the general public had "shown some discipline". On January 22, the Pune court had rejected Ekbote's anticipatory bail application, observing he was accused in a "grave matter" and had "very serious charges" against him. One person was killed and several others were injured in the violence which erupted after right-wing outfits opposed the 200th anniversary celebration of the Bhima-Koregaon battle, in which forces of the East India Company defeated Peshwa's army. People belonging to the Mahar community among Dalits had fought for the British, while the Peshwas were Brahmins. Dalit groups celebrate the victory as a symbol of their resurgence. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Online grocery player, bigbasket today said it has raised USD 300 million (about Rs 1,920 crore) in a funding round, led by Chinese e-commerce major Alibaba and others. The deal will give bigbasket more muscle to compete against rivals like Grofers and e-tailing giant Amazon. Other investors, who participated in the round include Abraaj Capital, Sands Capital and IFC. The company plans to use the investment to build farmer networks and expand deeper into existing cities. bigbasket has also renewed its contract with actor Shahrukh Khan to continue as the company's brand ambassador, it said in a statement. "bigbasket is delighted to receive this funding from Alibaba, which will essentially be directed towards growth and consolidation. The multinational e-commerce retailer fits in best with what we believe in," bigbasket co-founder and CEO Hari Menon said. The funds will be directed towards strengthening the company's technology, analytics and infrastructure, he added. "bigbasket is currently partnering with about 1,800 farmers throughout the country and aims to become the 'most preferred partner' for up to 3,000 of them," Menon said. The company said it is planning to "dig deeper" into the cities it already has foothold in, rather than focus on expansion into more cities. The deal pegs bigbasket's valuation at over USD 900 million post the transaction. bigbasket has recently crossed the 8 million customers mark. It closed the previous fiscal year (2016-17) with Rs 1,410 crore in revenue and has broken-even in Bengaluru and Hyderabad. bigbasket expects to break-even in Kolkata, Ahmedabad and Chennai in the next three months. Operational in 30 cities, the company is clocking Rs 200 crore in terms of monthly run- rate. It expects this number to increase to Rs 300 crore in August, and touch Rs 500 crore in March 2019. In November last year, Alibaba -- which is also an investor in Paytm -- had sought approval of the Competition Commission of India (CCI) for acquiring stake in bigbasket. Alibaba is aggressively investing in the Indian market. In 2015, it had invested in e-commerce major Snapdeal. Its affiliate, Ant Small and Micro Financial Services Group (Ant) has recently pumped in about USD 200 million in online restaurant guide and food ordering app, Zomato. Previously, bigbasket has raised over USD 200 million from investors like Abraaj Group, Bessemer Venture Partners, Growthstory, Helion Venture Partners, IFC and Sands Capital. With people becoming comfortable buying even milk and bread online, the online grocery segment is projected to witness a strong growth over the next few years in India. According to a report by Franchise India, the online grocery market is expected to be Rs 2.7 billion market by 2018-19. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A senior minister in Pakistan's Sindh province, whose bullet-riddled body was found in his house along with that of his wife, first killed her and then used the same weapon to commit suicide, police said today. Mir Hazar Khan Bijarani, 71, and his former lawmaker wife, Fariha Razzaq were found lying in a pool of blood in the bedroom in their posh Defence Housing Authority residence here yesterday. According to police, both were shot dead at close range. An initial post-mortem report suggests Bijarani killed his wife before committing suicide, the deputy inspector general police, South Zone Karachi said in a statement. "On the basis of available crime scene or circumstantial evidence and initial post-mortem report, it appears that Mir Hazar Khan Bijarani killed his wife and then committed suicide with the same weapon," the statement said. The examination of the crime scene and dead bodies indicated that the death was caused by firearms, the DIG said, adding that Bijarani received one gunshot in the head while his wife three bullets -- one on head and two on abdomen. "According to initial forensic/ballistic report of Forensic Science Laboratory, all the empty bullet casings collected from the crime scene has been fired from the same weapon," the statement added. During the initial investigations, police secured the crime scene and photographed properly, also the DVR of CCTV cameras installed at the house has been seized, the DIG said. "Relevant evidence" - blood samples, bullet empties, fingerprints - were as also collected from the scene. While police are yet to ascertain the reason behind the deaths, they had interviewed six individuals - including two police guards and four domestic servants - in which it was revealed that the couple was having altercations over the past few days. The house was locked from inside and the door was forcibly opened by Bijarani's son and servants, the statement said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar today described the pre-poll alliance between the BJP and the Indigenous People's Front of Tripura (IPFT) as an "unholy combination", which was "conspiring" to usurp power from the Left Front in the north-eastern state. The 60-member Tripura Assembly goes to the polls on February 18 and the BJP and the IPFT have entered into an understanding, whereby the former will field candidates from 51 seats and the latter from nine. "I would appeal to you all to remain alert about their conspiracy, keep a close vigil on the situation and inform the police if you find outsiders moving around your locality," Sarkar told an election rally here. He said the chief of the banned National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT) had recently announced that the outfit would extend support to the IPFT in the ensuing election, which only proved that the IPFT was nothing but the "overground mask" of the "underground insurgent group". Sarkar, who is a CPI(M) politburo member, said the BJP had raised a slogan of changing the government in Tripura, but the people of the country were preparing to change them in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls for their "jumla" or the promises they failed to honour. He added that the people of the state had witnessed the days of insurgency and were now being organised under the Left flag to give a befitting reply to the BJP-IPFT alliance. Pointing out that the BJP had assured to generate two crore jobs in the country every year and reduce the prices of essential commodities, Sarkar said that in reality, the prices were skyrocketing and those employed were losing their jobs. Referring to the IPFT's call for a separate state by carving out the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC), the veteran CPI(M) leader expressed confidence that the people of the state would not let that happen and that they would protect the state by all means. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Former Congress minister A L Hek and ex-state president of NCP Sanbor Shullai, who crossed over recently, were among among 45 candidates named by the BJP today for Meghalaya assembly polls. Soon after the release of the first list of candidates, state BJP president Shibun Lyngdoh's sister Violet Lyngdoh walked out of the party along with her supporters and joined the National People's Party (NPP), saying she was denied a ticket which was assured to her. The BJP, which is hoping to expand its footprint in the North-east, is contesting all 60 assembly seats in the February 27 elections. NPP, an ally of the BJP at the Centre and in Manipur, are contesting Meghalaya polls separately. "The central election committee (of the BJP) has released the first list of candidates for the February 27 election," the BJP's Meghalaya unit chief Shibun Lyngdoh told PTI. NPP, headed by Conrad P Sangma, son of former Lok Sabha Speaker P A Sangma, is a constituent of the BJP-led North-East Democratic Alliance (NEDA), a political coalition that was formed in 2016. Violet, who is also an elected member of the Jaintia Hills Autonomous District Council from Khliehriat in East Jaintia Hills, joined the NPP along with the district president of the BJP Balios Swer and leaders from 42 booth committees in the district. Justine Dkhar, who quit from the Assembly on January 2 and joined the BJP along with three MLAs including former Congress minister A L Hek and NCP president Sanbor Shullai, has been given ticket from Khliehriat BJP. At the NPP office, Violet Lyngdoh was given warm welcome. She is likely to be given ticket from Khliehriat. "I have joined the NPP after I was denied the BJP ticket which was assured to me, she told reporters. She claimed that she had have worked for the BJP at Khliehriat and in Jaintia Hills region for the past five years but was denied ticket at the behest of a "readymade candidate" Justine Dkhar. Sparing her brother and state BJP president Shibun Lyngdoh, Violet Lyngdoh said it was the party that took the final decision and not him alone. The state BJP president was not available for comments. "It is a fact that she (Violet) has tendered her resignation," a senior BJP leader in the state told PTI. Two women feature in the BJP list -- state mahila morcha president Pelcy Snaitang (from the Ranikor constituency) and Marian Maring (from the Nongpoh constituency in Ri-Bhoi district). Oher former legislators, who lost in the 2013 state polls but feature in the list, include R L Tariang, J A Lyngdoh, Phlour Khongjee, John Manner Marak, K C Boro and Billykid Sangma. The second list of candidates for the remaining 15 constituencies was likely to be out very soon, Lyngdoh said. After formation of governments in Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur, the BJP is making efforts to further expand its presence in the North-east. The saffron party is sparing no efforts to perform well in upcoming elections in Tripura, Meghalaya and Nagaland. The BJP had drawn a blank in Meghalaya in 2013 polls when it had fought on 13 seats. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The National People's Party (NPP), an ally of the BJP at the Centre, today said JD(U) president Nitish Kumar was the only person who could unseat the saffron party from power and not Rahul Gandhi. The NPP and the BJP, although allies at the Centre and in Manipur, where the two are running the governments together, are contesting the February 27 Meghalaya Assembly polls separately. The NPP, headed by Conrad P Sangma, son of former Lok Sabha speaker P A Sangma, is a constituent in the BJP-led North-East Democratic Alliance (NEDA), a coalition that was formed in 2016. "The way I am looking at it from the north-east, the only person who can unseat the BJP is Nitish Kumar," state NPP president W R Kharlukhi told reporters here. "I am telling you, may be in 2019, Nitish Kumar will be the prime minister. Mark my words," he added. Kharlukhi, however, said, "I will leave it to the intelligence of the Congress...But the way I am assessing the political situation in India, that is the only solution for them, not Rahul Gandhi." Bihar Chief Minister Kumar had severed his ties with the RJD and Congress in the Grand Alliance last year and joined hands with the BJP to form a coalition government in the state. Once considered a potential political rival of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Kumar's JD(U) is now part of the ruling NDA at the Centre. The NPP has released the names of 52 candidates in poll- bound Meghalaya, while the BJP made public its first list of 45 candidates in the north-eastern state today. The poll results for the 60-member Meghalaya Assembly will be declared on March 3, along with the outcome of the Tripura and Nagaland Assembly polls. According to Kharlukhi, there was nothing unusual in the two parties parting ways for the Meghalaya polls. He pointed out that the NPP was part of the UPA, when party MP Agatha Sangma was made a minister, but the party fought against the Congress in the 2013 Meghalaya election. "We are very clear that we are a party of our own. We have our own ideology. The NPP is the National People's Party, while the BJP is the Bharatiya Janata Party," Kharlukhi said. Reacting to the allegation of Chief Minister Mukul Sangma that the NPP was funded by the BJP, he said, "The chief minister said it as if he was the treasurer of the BJP. Only the treasurer will know how much money is coming in and going out of the BJP." Alleging that Meghalaya had suffered under the Congress rule, the NPP leader said the ruling party was levelling false allegations, hoping that it would not have to show to the people what they had done in all these years. "It is a real pity that Meghalaya is ranked at the bottom of all the small states in every sector today. In general, it is on number 10 out of 10 states. In law-and-order, it is ranked 9, if you take tourism, it is ranked 10, in the states' economy, it is ranked 9, in health, it is ranked 8, except for agriculture where it is ranked 4," he said. Stating that states like Nagaland were doing better than Meghalaya, Kharlukhi said the state had performed badly in education as well, even though it was known as an education hub. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Public sector Bank of Baroda today said its board will meet on February 9 to decide on allotment of shares on a preferential basis to the government in lieu of a capital infusion of Rs 5,375 crore. The bank said a meeting of the board of directors will be held on February 9 to consider and approve it. "The board will consider and approve the issue of equity shares on preferential basis to government up to Rs 5,375 crore," the bank said in a regulatory filing. The capital infusion is part of the government's massive bank recapitalisation plan to the tune of Rs 2.11 lakh crore in the next two years which is aimed at improving public sector banks' fiscal situation that is mostly hit due to huge amount of bad assets accruals over the years. As per the recapitalisation plan of Rs 2.11 lakh crore, Rs 80,000 crore is to be raised by floating bonds by lenders. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in his Budget speech for 2018-19 yesterday said that the recapitalised banks will now have a greater ability to support growth. "This recapitalisation will pave the way for the public sector banks to lend additional credit of Rs 5 lakh crore," he said. Stock of Bank of Baroda traded at Rs 1.54 per cent up at Rs 154.65 apiece on BSE. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The city police today introduced body worn cameras for traffic personnel to record their interactions with motorists in a bid to ensure cordiality between them. The move would also help in "probing complaints made against traffic policemen and clear doubts regarding traffic violations," a city police release said. The move comes close on the heels of a 21-year-old taxi driver committing suicide, alleging assault by traffic police here. "To address differences between traffic police officers and public and create cordiality, policemen have been provided with body worn cameras," the release said. In the first phase, four such equipment have been given on an "experimental basis" to traffic police inspectors under four police stations, it said. The cab driver Manikandan set himself ablaze in full public view here January 25 after an alleged tiff with traffic policemen over spot fine for allegedly not fastening his seat belt while driving his car on the busy Rajiv Gandhi Salai. He later recorded a video alleging that police treated him badly and beat him up. Alleging that he was humiliated in full public glare, Manikandan then suddenly took out a petrol can from his car, poured the fuel all over his body and set himself ablaze. He died of burns on January 26 at a hospital. A police sub-inspector has been suspended in connection with the incident. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The CBI today filed a petition in the Supreme Court challenging a 2005 order of the Delhi High Court quashing all charges against the accused persons in the politically-sensitive Rs 64 crore Bofors pay-off case. The agency filed the appeal against the May 31, 2005 decision of the high court by which all the accused persons including Europe-based industrialists Hinduja brothers were discharged from the case. The filing of the appeal assumes significance as recently Attorney General K K Venugopal had advised against going for the petition after 12 years of delay. However, sources said that the law officers after consultation were in favour of the appeal as the CBI placed some important documents and evidence to challenge the high court order. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The much-awaited crucial hearing in the politically-sensitive Rs 64 crore Bofors pay-off case today did not take place in the Supreme Court as the matter did not reach the board. A bench comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra and justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud had to hear the case in which it had asked BJP leader Ajay Agrawal, who is pursuing the matter for over a decade, to explain his locus in filing petition as a third party. The same bench ended the day by hearing the PILs on special judge B H Loya's death. Agrawal and the CBI waited for the matter to come till 4 pm when the bench rose for the day. However, the CBI, which was a respondent in Agrawal's petition, today filed an appeal against the May 31, 2005 order of the Delhi High Court after a lapse of 12 years. The BJP leader had filed the appeal in 2005 as the CBI had failed to move the special leave petition (SLP) within the stipulated 90 days of the high court judgement. Agrawal, who contested the 2014 Lok Sabha election from Rae Bareli against the then Congress president Sonia Gandhi, had earlier asked the CBI to make its stand clear by filing documents on the case as respondent in his appeal. During the hearing on January 16, the bench had asked him to explain his locus in filing the appeal and satisfy it how could the matter be entertained at the instance of a third party. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The CBI today filed a petition in the Supreme Court challenging a 2005 order of the Delhi High Court quashing all charges against accused persons in the politically-sensitive Bofors pay-off case. The filing of the appeal assumes significance as Attorney General K K Venugopal had recently advised the agency against moving a petition against the high court verdict after a delay of 12 years. Sources, however, said that after consultations, law officers were in favour of the appeal as the CBI came out with "some important documents and evidence" to challenge the high court order. The agency swung into action after the Attorney General orally gave it a go ahead to file the appeal in the case in which it has cited the October 2017 interview of private detective Michael Hershman, who alleged that the then Rajiv Gandhi-led Congress government had sabotaged his investigation. Hershman, who is the president of the US-based private detective firm Fairfax, had claimed in television interviews that Rajiv Gandhi was "furious" when he had found a Swiss bank account "Mont Blanc". He had also alleged that the bribe money of the Bofors gun scandal had been parked in the Swiss account. Sources said that the CBI in its appeal stated that further investigation was necessary in view of the reports relating to Hershman's interviews. Further in the petition, the agency said that the high court erred in quashing the case by ignoring the evidence it collected through Letters rogatory from foreign country which was to be dealt by the trial court. The Central Bureau of Investigation filed the appeal against the May 31, 2005 decision of the high court by which all accused, including Europe-based industrialists Hinduja brothers, were discharged from the Rs 64-crore pay-off case. The agency will urge the apex court to condone the delay in filing the appeal. Earlier, the Attorney General had advised the CBI to make out a case as a respondent in the petition filed by BJP leader Ajay Agarwal, who had challenged the 2005 high court order after the agency had failed to file a special leave petition (appeal) within the mandatory limitation period of 90 days. Agrawal, who contested the 2014 Lok Sabha election from Rae Bareli against the then Congress president Sonia Gandhi, has been pursuing the case for over a decade in the apex court which on the last hearing on January 16 had asked him to prove his locus in the case as a third party. The CBI in the case was represented by Additional Solicitor General Maninder Singh. During the brief hearing on December 1, 2016, the agency had told the apex court that the authorities had not permitted it to immediately file an appeal against the May 31, 2005 verdict. Sources said the agency has considered the views of investigating officers associated with the case since 1986. After the high court had quashed the case, they had studied the judgement and gave an "unanimous recommendation" that "an SLP should be filed in the Supreme Court to set aside the May 31, 2005 order of the high court". The investigating officers were of the opinion that a prayer should be made in the apex court for "restoration of the case from the point immediately after the framing of charges in the trial court (March 26, 2004)". In the SLP, an advocate of the Centre, closely associated with the case, said the CBI has also raised objections to a "superfluous remark" of Justice R S Sodhi (since retired) who while quashing the case said that the investigation had caused the exchequer nearly Rs 250 crore. However, later on an RTI application filed by Agrawal, the CBI had said that it had spent nearly Rs 5 crore on investigation in the Bofors case. Justice Sodhi (since retired) of the Delhi High Court on May 31, 2005, had quashed the CBI case in the Bofors pay-off scam. Before this, another judge of the high court, retired Justice J D Kapoor, had on February 4, 2004, exonerated late prime minister Rajiv Gandhi in the case and directed the framing of charge of forgery under section 465 of the Indian Penal Code against Bofors company. The Rs 1,437-crore deal between India and Swedish arms manufacturer AB Bofors for the supply of 400 155mm howitzer guns for the Indian Army was entered into on March 24, 1986. Swedish Radio on April 16, 1987, had claimed that the company had paid bribes to top Indian politicians and defence personnel. The CBI on January 22, 1990 had registered the FIR for alleged offences of criminal conspiracy, cheating and forgery under the IPC and other sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act against Martin Ardbo, the then president of AB Bofors, alleged middleman Win Chadda and the Hinduja brothers. It had alleged that certain public servants and private persons in India and abroad had entered into a criminal conspiracy between 1982 and 1987 in pursuance of which the offences of bribery, corruption, cheating and forgery were committed. The first charge sheet in the case was filed on October 22, 1999, against Chadda, Ottavio Quattrocchi, the then defence secretary S K Bhatnagar, Ardbo and the Bofors company. A supplementary charge sheet was filed against the Hinduja brothers -- S P Hinduja, G P Hinduja and P P Hinduja -- on October 9, 2000. A special CBI court in Delhi on March 4, 2011, had discharged Quattrocchi from the case saying the country could not afford to spend hard-earned money on his extradition which had already cost Rs 250 crore. Quattrocchi, who had fled from here on July 29-30, 1993, never appeared before any court in India to face prosecution. He passed away on July 13, 2013. The other accused persons who died are Bhatnagar, Chadda and Ardbo. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Actor Bryan Cranston is retiring from giving autographs to fans but selfies are welcome. The 61-year-old actor said he loves meeting his fans but signing autographs is one thing he "just can't do anymore". Cranston, however, said he is open to getting clicked with his fans and is willing to oblige them with their requests. "Friends, after 18 years of signing everything for fans - I'm retiring. Overwhelmed by requests and I just can't do it anymore," Cranston tweeted. "I love meeting fans and will personalise pix in person, but that's all. Thanks for your understanding. See you on the street - we'll take a selfie!" he added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Congress leader Anand Sharma said today that the Union budget was "deeply disappointing" as it lacked accountability of the implementation of the schemes announced by the government. The Congress leader said the government has announced a number of schemes over the years, but the roadmap for their implementation was not clear. "I will say with sincerity that the budget announcement of yesterday has been deeply disappointing," Sharma said at an event here. "There are so many schemes, that neither prime minister (Narendra Modi) nor finance minister (Arun Jaitley) are aware of it. So many announcements (in four years). But what has been their implementation? How beneficial were they? That accountability did not come in the budget," he said. Sharma hit out at the prime minister for allegedly claiming from foreign platforms that whatever was happening in the country was "for the first time". "The talk about a New India. Which New India you are talking about? India is good, it should be developed. Flaw, if there's any, should be corrected. No new country is going to take shape. The country will remain the same," Sharma said. He also criticised the government over alleged poor employment generation. The leader claimed that the schemes such as Skill India, Start Up India and Mudra did not yield results and remained "more of a fiction". The former Union minister also picked holes in the government's budgetary promise of providing insurance coverage of up to Rs 5 lakh to 10 crore poor families and asked "where is the montetary allocation" for it. The government yesterday announced the world's largest government-funded health care programme, aimed at benefiting 10 crore poor families by providing coverage of up to Rs 5 lakh per family per year for secondary and tertiary care hospitalisation. The National Health Protection Scheme, announced by Jaitley in the Budget will cover approximately 50 crore people. Sharma also expressed concerns over the "change in architecture" with the government allegedly withdrawing from education, health and infrastructure sectors, leading to their likely privatisation. All the big schemes announced by the government would cost Rs 14.2 lakh crore and it has stated that 12 lakh crore out of that would be borrowed from market, Sharma said. "Where is the money in the market? We are moving away from state schools, hospitals to private. And this reveals the same mindset that they do not want to build what belongs to the people. You are forcing people by circumstances that go for the private sector," he said. Sharma also said that the government becoming completely dependent on private sector was not a "healthy thing". (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Lauding India's budget, the head of a top Indian-American business advocacy group has said it will accelerate growth, boost manufacturing and make sectors like health and real estate lucrative for foreign investors. "We applaud the budget. The reason we applaud is that it's going to accelerate the growth in the Indian economy," Mukesh Aghi, president of US India Strategic and Partnership Forum (USISPF), told PTI in an interview. He said a majority of Indians lived in rural areas and the whole health programme means that people will have insurance there which will further drive growth. Commitment to build one core housing is going to create jobs, he said, adding that putting duty on completed item will push industry to manufacture more in India. Aghi said that the new policies would give further boost to 'Make in India', a programme launched by the government in 2014 to encourage companies to manufacture their products in India. "Committing to maintaining a 3.3 per cent fiscal deficit is a strong message to the world in development in some kind of fiscal discipline also. I would say it's a good budget. It's a budget which is inclusive. So we applauded it," Aghi said. He said after the health care sector will become lucrative for international investors and bring in more foreign direct investment to India. Real estate is another sector, which will be lucrative for international players, he said. "On the consumer goods side, things will move very strongly. That's where US companies can play a very very strong role," Aghi said. "I think taking up duty on manufactured goods will have an impact, but not a big impact because the buyers if they're buying Apple phone, both the supplier and the buyer will adjust and find the right balance. So I don't think that will get impacted but it's going to nudge companies to basically look at more manufacturing in India," he said. Aghi said many companies, including Apple, were looking at India for manufacturing. The cost of labour had gone up in China and they want to be closer to the consumer market, he said. "So I think Apple has been seriously discussing with government of India to bring manufacturing into India itself. From that perspective, what I feel is you will see a strong momentum of bringing manufacturing into the country," he said. Aghi said there will be a slight dip initially on manufactured goods coming into the country. "But both sides will adjust and find the right balance. Because the target market which buys this high end equipment may not be impacted by the budget constraint itself," he said. Aghi said the initial reaction from the US companies was very positive. "The US companies are saying that this will take India's growth to above seven per cent. The consumer will have more spending. That means it will create demand for a lot of US goods," Aghi said. This budget will drive consumer spending, revive the economy to more than seven per cent and that is attractive to US companies, he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The railways has handed over a case against a member of the Railway Claims Tribunal (RCT) regarding the fraudulent disbursement of compensation to the Chief Justice of India (CJI), Parliament was informed today. Minister of State for Railways Rajen Gohain said this in written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha. The case, senior railway ministry officials say, pertains to alleged irregularities in the disbursement of around Rs 50 crore between 2015 and 2017, according to an internal probe by the tribunal's principal bench in Delhi. "This case has been referred to the Chief Justice of India for his orders as to holding an enquiry into the matter and nomination of a judge of Supreme Court for conducting an enquiry into the allegation. The names of five lawyers of Patna have been mentioned in the report," Gohain said. In a letter to the railway ministry last month, the principal bench's chairman, Justice (retired) K Kannan, recommended a probe by the CBI against the tribunal's Patna bench member (judicial), who passed the compensation orders that are under the scanner, the officials said. Gohain said that the the tribunal member worked in collusion with a group of lawyers to derive "unlawful monetary benefits", according to the report from the principal bench. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Centre today informed Parliament that the proposals are under consideration to provide drought relief to 52 districts of Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan during Kharif 2017. Already, inter-ministerial central teams have visited these states to assess the drought situation and ascertain financial assistance to be released from the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF), it said. "The proposals received from these states for assistance from NDRF are under consideration," Minister of State for Agriculture Gajendra Singh Shekhawat said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha. Chhattisgarh has declared drought in 21 districts, Madhya Pradesh in 18 districts and Rajasthan in 13 districts, he said, adding that these states have submitted a memorandum seeking financial help from NDRF. The government has also received a memorandum from Maharasthra government seeking financial help in the wake of pest attack on paddy and cotton crops during Kharif 2017, the minister said in a separate reply. Even Odisha government has intimated that it has declared drought in 15 districts and is using funds from the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) towards agri-input subsidy to affected farmers as per the existing norms, he said. The state governments have ready availability of funds under SDRF for taking immediate measures in the wake of all notified natural calamities, including drought. The primary responsibility for disaster management rests with the states, he added. Under the NDRF, assistance is admissible for natural calamities of severe nature only. Assistance to farmers is given in the form of agriculture/horticulture input subsidy (where crop loss is 33 per cent and above) for damage caused to cropped area due to the notified calamities only. The assistance under SDRF and NDRF is provided in the form of input subsidy for total crop area damaged and not crop-wise. A subsidy of Rs 6,800 per hectare is given for rainfed crop areas and Rs 13,500 per hectare for assured irrigated areas subject to minimum assistance not less than Rs 1,000 per hectare and restricted to sown areas. Whereas Rs 18,000 per hectare assistance is given for all types of perennial crop areas, subject to minimum assistance not less than Rs 2,000 per hectare and restricted to sown areas, where crop loss is more than 33 per cent and more. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Worried about militants sneaking into a restive Chinese region from war-torn Afghanistan, Beijing is in talks with Kabul over the construction of a military base, Afghan officials say, as it seeks to shore up its fragile neighbour. The army camp will be built in Afghanistan's remote and mountainous Wakhan Corridor, where witnesses have reported seeing Chinese and Afghan troops on joint patrols. The freezing, barren panhandle of land -- bordering China's tense Xinjiang region -- is so cut off from the rest of Afghanistan that many inhabitants are unaware of the Afghan conflict, scraping out harsh but peaceful lives. However they retain strong links with neighbours in Xinjiang, and with so few travellers in the region local interest in the Chinese visitors has been high, residents told AFP on a recent visit there. China's involvement in the base comes as President Xi Jinping seeks to extend Beijing's economic and geopolitical clout. The Chinese are pouring billions of dollars into infrastructure in South Asia. With Afghanistan's potential to destabilise the region, analysts said any moves there would be viewed through the prism of security. Beijing fears that exiled Uighur members of the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM) are passing through the Wakhan into Xinjiang to carry out attacks. It also worries that Islamic State group militants fleeing Iraq and Syria could cross Central Asia and Xinjiang to reach Afghanistan, or use the Wakhan to enter China, analysts say. Afghan and Chinese officials discussed the plan in December in Beijing, but details are still being clarified, Afghan defence ministry deputy spokesman Mohammad Radmanesh said. "We are going to build it (the base) but the Chinese government has committed to help the division financially, provide equipment and train the Afghan soldiers," he told AFP recently. A senior Chinese embassy official in Kabul would only say Beijing is involved in "capacity-building" in Afghanistan. NATO's US-led Resolute Support mission in Afghanistan declined to comment. But US officials have previously welcomed China's role in Afghanistan, noting they share the same security concerns. Members of the Kyrgyz ethnic minority in Wakhan told AFP in October they had been seeing Chinese and Afghan military patrols for months. "The Chinese army first came here last summer and they were accompanied by the Afghan army," said Abdul Rashid, a Kyrgyz chief, adding that he had seen vehicles flying Chinese flags. The Afghan army arrived days earlier "and told us that the Chinese army would be coming here", he said, adding: "We were strictly told not to go near them or talk to them and not to take any photos." Rashid's account was confirmed by other Kyrgyz, including another chief Jo Boi, who said the Chinese military spent almost a year in Wakhan before leaving in March 2017. Both Chinese and Afghan officials deny the claims, with China's defence ministry telling AFP that the "Chinese army is not engaged in any military operation in the Wakhan Corridor". With little access to the corridor, Kabul provides almost no services to those who live there -- but the Chinese, Boi said, have been bringing "a lot of food and warm clothes". "They are very good people, very kind," he told AFP. After their March visit, he said, they returned in June for roughly a month. "Since then they come every month... to distribute food." China fears militancy could threaten its growing economic interests in the region, Ahmad Bilal Khalil, a researcher at the Kabul-based Center for Strategic and Regional Studies, told AFP. "They need to have a secure Afghanistan," he said, estimating Beijing had provided Kabul with more than $70 million in military aid in the past three years. It recently flagged the possibility of including Afghanistan in the USD 54-billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) linking western China to the Indian Ocean via Pakistan. "The anti-terrorism motivation is an important one but it's not as important as the bigger move to boost the CPEC," said Willy Lam, a political analyst in Hong Kong. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) China today successfully launched its first seismo-electromagnetic satellite to study seismic precursors, which might help it establish a ground-space earthquake monitoring and forecasting network in the future. A Long March-2D rocket, which was launched from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in northwest China's Gobi Desert at 15:51 (local times), carried the 730-kilogramme China Seismo- Electromagnetic Satellite (CSES) into a sun-synchronous orbit at an altitude of about 500 Kms, the state-run Xinhua agency reported. Known as Zhangheng 1 in Chinese, it will help scientists monitor the electromagnetic field, ionospheric plasma and high-energy particles for an expected mission life of five years, Zhao Jian, a senior official with China National Space Administration (CNSA) said. The satellite is named after Zhang Heng, a scholar of the East Han Dynasty (25-220), who pioneered earthquake studies by inventing the first ever seismoscope in the year 132. Zhangheng 1 will record electromagnetic data associated with earthquakes above 6 magnitude in China and those above 7 magnitude around the world, in a bid to identify patterns in the electromagnetic disturbances in the near-Earth environment, Zhao said. It will focus on Chinese mainland, areas within 1,000 kms to China's land borders and two major global earthquake belts. The satellite will help scientists understand better the coupling mechanisms of the upper atmosphere, ionosphere and magnetosphere and the temporal variations of the geomagnetic field, and thus accumulate data for the research of seismic precursors, Zhao said. "Zhangheng 1 cannot be used to predict earthquakes directly, but it will help prepare the research and technologies for a ground-space earthquake monitoring and forecasting system in the future," he said. A senior manager with DFH Satellite Company Zhou Feng said that Zhangheng 1 is a cubic satellite, 1.4 meters on each side. It has a single solar panel and six booms, which will deploy and keep electromagnetic detectors more than 4 meters away from the satellite. It carries a high-precision magnetometer, a search-coil magnetometer and electric field probes to measure components and intensity of the magnetic and electric fields. It is also equipped with a Langmuir probe, a plasma analyzer, a GNSS occultation receiver and a tri-band beacon to measure in-situ plasma and ionospheric profile as well, Zhou said. It also carries high-energy particle detectors, some of which are provided by Italian partners, and a magnetic field calibration device developed in Austria, according to Zhou. Research shows that just before a quake, tectonic forces acting on the Earth's crust emit electromagnetic waves and twist magnetic field lines. But such electromagnetic phenomena are relatively weak and need further study to be useful. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) West Bengal CID today raided the residences of former IPS officer Bharati Ghosh and police officers apparently close to her, for their alleged involvement in misconduct and extortion from civilians. Raids were conducted at Ghosh's two houses in the city - at Naktala and Mukundapur - in the wee hours, besides her residence in West Midnapore district, a senior CID official said. Several gold jewelleries as well as a large amount of cash and documents were seized from the residences of Ghosh, the officer said. The step was taken following a court order after one person complained that some police personnel had forcefully taken money from him last year, the officer said. Ghosh, who was the West Midnapore SP and once known to be a very loyal officer to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, had resigned from the services after she was transferred to a less significant post - the commandant of the third battalion of the state armed police - in late December. Ghosh's transfer came following allegations from a section of Trinamool Congress leadership that she had worked for the BJP in the Sabang by-election held last month. Raids were also conducted at the residences of two other police officers of West Midnapore district. One of the two has been taken off roster until the probe is over and the CID is likely to act similarly for the second one too, the officer said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Jammu and Kashmir minister Abdul Haq Khan said Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti would chair an all- party meeting to seek views of all political parties in the state on the upcoming Panchayat elections. The minister told the state assembly that the decision was taken on suggestions by leaders of various parties. The issue of convening the all-party meet was taken up in a cabinet meeting chaired by the chief minister earlier this week. The state government had decided to hold the panchayat elections from February 15 after Mufti held a meeting with Governor N N Vohra in December last year. Two days later, separatist leaders Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Mohammad Yasin Malik, in a joint statement, called for a boycott of the elections. Militant-outfit Hizbul Mujahideen had last month threatened to throw acid on those who participated in it. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Beverage major Coca-Cola today said it is planning to take the home-grown carbonated cola brand Thums Up to South Asia before launching it globally and is hoping India to emerge as its fifth largest market soon. "We are all set to take Thums Up brand to South Asia, possibly by March 2018," Coca-Cola India and South West Asia president T Krishnakumar said. Currently, Thums up is available in a small way in the Middle East catering to the Indian diaspora. The company said Thums Up will be also launched in markets like Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal. Thums Up is also the first Indian brand that will become a USD 1 billion (approx. Rs 64,000 crore) brand, much before the targeted timeline of 2020, company officials said. Thums Up is a 40-year-old brand which is with the US beverage major for the past 26 years. In 1993, Coca-Cola bought Thums Up from Parle Bisleri Ltd. Coca-Cola is also hopeful about another home-grown mango drink Maaza to turn into a billion dollar brand by 2023. As part of the journey, it has launched 'Maaza Gold'. It has also taken 'RimZim' (sparkling drink) to Bangladesh, said Krishnakumar. Coca-Cola has 15-20 brands, and with variants the number is close to 40 in India. Globally, Coca Cola has several billion Dollar brands including Coca Cola, Fanta and Georgia. Despite reports of stagnation in carbonated drink market in India and hiccups in 2016 and 2017 following demonetisation, Coca Cola India is hoping to surpass Japan in size from the sixth position now and aiming to emerge as the third-largest market over the next few years, officials said. "India will soon become fifth-largest market for Coca Cola surpassing Japan," Coca Cola Company president Asia Pacific Group John Murphy said. Coca-Cola India is also moving ahead with a few new initiatives. The company is ramping up its existing portfolio of juices made from fruits that have been locally grown in various regions of the country. This year, priority will be given to accelerate our juice portfolio," Murphy said. Coca-Cola India is creating a new category of 'frozen dessert' under the brand name 'Minute Maid Perfect Fruit' due to be launched this summer. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Delhi High Court today asked aviation regulator DGCA to reconsider the norms on duty and rest hours for the cabin crew and to come out with a fresh one within 12 weeks. Justice Vibhu Bakhru passed the order on a plea by an NGO and some Air India cabin crew members working on long haul flights, who had challenged the existing CAR 2016 on the ground that it did not take into account the fatigue faced by them due to their duty hours and the time they get for rest. The Civil Aviation Requirement (CAR) pertains to flight duty time and flight time limitations. The NGO--Dedicated to Aviation Safety and Health-- represented by senior advocate Vivek Kohli in the court, had claimed in its plea that cabin crew fatigue affects and puts at risk their safety and those of the passengers. Advocate Anubha Singh, who also represented the NGO as also the cabin crew, said the high court did not quash the CAR 2016 and gave the Directorate General of Civil Aviation 12 weeks to come out with new guidelines. DGCA comes out with a number of CARs on issues which deal with operation, safety and management of airlines. She said that the court, while passing the order, took on the record their contention that the CAR was "arbitrary, irrational, inhumane and exploitative in nature" and that DGCA did not take into account the international standards on the issue. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) As part of its expansion plans to meet the increasing demand for elevators and escalators, Kone, a global leader in the sector, is starting a manufacturing unit at Sriperumbudur in Chennai, a top official said today. Commercial production at the unit is expected to begin by the middle of next year and will cater to the needs of the domestic market and also neighbouring countries like Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, Kone India Managing Director, Amit Gossain told reporters here. The existing unit also manufactures components for modernisation projects in other Asia-Pacific markets such as Korea, Australia, Singapore and Malaysia, he said. With 50,000 to 55,000 units domestic market size per year, the company has 20 per cent share, particularly in the elevator segment, which contributes 95 per cent of the business of the company, he said. Stating that demonetisation and GST has resulted in a dip in growth by five to seven per cent in the sector, Gossain said after the initial hiccup, the industry started picking up and is expected to achieve a growth of 8 to 10 per cent during this year. On the budget, Gossain, here to inaugurate the company's new office, said the major housing scheme announced in it and also to install escalators in railway stations will boost the industry. Kone has entered into an agreement with IBM, which will further help harness the potential of digitisation and innovate new solutions, he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Supreme Court on Friday gave a "loud and clear" message that it was concerned only with the death of special CBI judge B H Loya, and would not go into other aspects including BJP chief Amit Shah's discharge in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case. The apex court, which is hearing the petitions seeking an independent investigation into Loya's death in 2014, made it clear that issue before it was whether further probe should be ordered into it or not. Loya, who was hearing the Sohrabuddin Sheikh case, had died of cardiac arrest in Nagpur on December 1, 2014, when he had gone to attend the wedding of a colleague's daughter. After Loya's death, special judge M B Gosavi, who took over the trial, had discharged Shah and some other accused. When the petitions seeking an independent probe into Loya's death came up for hearing before a bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra, one of the advocates said he had filed a plea in the Bombay High Court, which has now been transferred to the apex court. He said he had made Shah one of the respondents. When the lawyer sought that notices should be issued on his plea, the bench said, "We will permit you to argue. There is no question of issuing notice." "We are only concerned with the death of the judge. We are not on other cases at all. This message must go loud and clear," the bench, also comprising Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud, said. When Shah's issue was raked up, senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, representing the Maharashtra government, said, "This is the real purpose of these petitions". Senior counsel Dushyant Dave, representing Bombay Lawyers Association, said it was a "very serious matter" and it would be proper if pleadings in the case were completed first. Referring to a report by Commissioner of Intelligence (CID) of Maharashtra, Dave said an independent probe was required as it contained "bundle of discrepencies" and "contradictions". At the last hearing, Dave was warned by the apex court against casting aspersions on Shah in the case, and today he said that the same set of advocates, who had defended the BJP chief in the matter, were now appearing for the state. Senior advocate V Giri, representing Congress leader Tehseen Poonawalla, who has also sought a probe into Loya's death, raised questions about the veracity of reports filed by the state, and said the records must be placed before the court. Rohatgi countered the submissions, saying "Except for maligning the judiciary and have (media) glare, there is something more to it. We have given the entire records, please see that," Rohatgi told the bench. To this, the bench told Dave, "Let us have a birds eye view of your case and let us see what are the documents." Dave narrated the sequence of events prior to and after Loya's death, and said serious questions have been raised about what had really happened since there were "overwritings" on several crucial documents. Dave wanted to know how special judge J T Utpat, who was hearing the Sohrabuddin Sheikh case before Loya took over, was transferred, and said circumstances warranted an independent probe. He said the CBI had not appealed against the discharge of Shah, while it did move court to challenge the discharge of some police officials. When he said a "third person" accompanied Loya's body to his native place, Rohatgi referred to the statements of district judges that said two judicial officers had gone with his mortal remains. Dave, however, insisted family members of Loya were "kept in dark", and claimed that statement of Loya's wife was taken under pressure. "Please call his wife, father and sister, and talk to them in chamber. If they say that they do not want any probe, then we will not say anything," he said, and alleged that Loya's son was also under pressure. Terming the discharge of Shah in Sohrabuddin Sheikh case as "extraordinary", he said, in such a serious matter, an independent probe was needed, and the court should not "throw out" the petitions at the threshold. Senior advocate Indira Jaising, appearing for one of the applicants, said the state should be asked to produce the original records, including the register of the government guest house, where Loya had stayed in Nagpur, and his ECG report. Rohatgi said he would show the original records. The arguments in the matter remained inconclusive and the court fixed the matter for further hearing on February 5. Loya's death came under the spotlight in November last year after media reports quoting his sister fuelled suspicion about the circumstances surrounding it, and its possible link to the Sohrabuddin case. However, Loya's son had on January 14 said in Mumbai that his father had died of natural causes and that the family does not want any further investigation. During the hearing on January 22, the apex court had restrained other high courts from entertaining any petition relating to Loya's death and transferred to itself the pleas pending before the Bombay High Court. A special sub-inspector of police was today arrested here for allegedly attempting to misbehave with a pregnant woman co-passenger in a train, police said. The incident occurred in the Coimbatore bound Nilgiris express that left Chennai last night. Erode Railway police said the woman was the wife of Ashok Kumar, an IAF personnel working at Coimbatore. They said she was provided a middle berth in the train. Following the woman's request, Chandrasekar, special sub-inspector attached to the CB-CID police, Udhagamandalam, offered her his lower berth. When the train crossed Salem in the early hours today, Chandrasekar in a drunken mood allegedly attempted to misbehave with her. But she raised an alarm and her husband came to her rescue and warned him. When the train reached Erode junction, Ashok Kumar and his wife got down and lodged a complaint against the police officer with the Erode railway police. As the train left the station, a railway police team rushed to Coimbatore by another train, traced and arrested Chandrasekar. He was taken back to Erode and a case registered, they added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A Delhi court has issued bailable warrant against the son of real estate baron Sushil Ansal for allegedly cheating a former director of his company to the tune of Rs 40 crore. The warrant was issued by Metropolitan Magistrate Harun Pratap last week against Pranav Ansal, the managing director of Prime Maxi Mall Management Pvt Ltd, seeking his presence before him on April 24 after summons to him returned unexecuted. The court said the summons came back unexecuted with a report that the accused was out of station and that his employee did not receive the summons. "In the facts and circumstances as revealed on record, bailable warrants in the sum of Rs 50,000 be issued against the accused on filing of PF (process fee) for further proceedings on April 24, 2018," the magistrate said. A complaint lodged by businessman Suneal Mangal has alleged that he was offered the directorship by Pranav Ansal in his firm from 2002-2006 but later due to a fallout, he was forced to resign from the company and was allegedly threatened by the accused and his family with dire consequences. It was alleged that the accused and his family members had entered into an agreement with him on May 4, 2005 agreeing to pay him nine per cent of the increased revenue and five per cent of the brand value of 'Ansal Plaza' every year. However, Mangal alleged that the accused and his family members forced him to resign and cheated him of more than Rs 40 crores by taking the entire benefit of the brand value and business proceeds. The complaint levelled allegations of criminal intimidation, furnishing false information and giving false evidence read with criminal conspiracy under the Indian Penal Code. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Cochin Shipyard Limited (CSL) and a Russia-based firm have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to collaborate and engage in design, development and execution of contemporary state-of-the-art vessels for inland and coastal waterways in the country. CSL Chairman and Managing Director Madhu S Nair and President of United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC) Alexey Rakhmanov inked the MoU in the presence of Union Transport, Highways and Shipping Minister in New Delhi yesterday, an official release said here. CSL and USC will collaborate for development of high-speed vessels, river-sea cargo vessels, passenger vessels, dredgers, and other watercrafts for inland waterways and coastal shipping, it said. The MoU will give a push to thegovernments Make-in-India programme as also its plans to develop eco-friendly and economic transportation along Indias inland waterways and coastal shipping routes under "SAGARMALA", it said. Once the infrastructure for water based transport was in place there will be a demand for different kinds of specialised vessels in the near and medium term. The MoU is an effort to get ready to cater to this demand, the release said. Speaking on the occasion, Gadkari said there was a huge potential in inland waterways, cruise tourism and RO-RO transportation in the country. "This collaboration would certainly bring in the much needed product as well as market innovation while harnessing newer technologies," he added. USC, a Joint Stock company is the largest shipbuilding holding in Russia incorporating about 40 enterprises including shipyards, with more than 300 years of experience, which have been key contributors to the growth of inland waterways in Russia, the release said. CSL, a Mini Ratna company under the Ministry of Shipping, is the largest shipbuilding and repair facility in the country. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The DDA has proposed bringing uniform floor area ratio (FAR) for shop-cum-residence plots and complexes at par with residential plots, a move that will come as a big relief to traders facing threat of sealing, officials said today. The proposal, which hinges on an amendment to the Master Plan of Delhi (MPD-2021) was approved during a meeting of the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) held under the chairmanship of Lt Governor Anil Baijal at the Raj Niwas here today. The DDA, however, said provisions of parking as per the prevailing standards shall be mandatory for approval or sanctioning of any revised plans by local bodies in case of shop-cum-residence plots or shop-cum-residence plots designated as local shopping centres (LSCs). "An amendment has been proposed to the Master Plan to provide uniform FAR for shop-cum-residence plots or complexes at par with residential plots, as given to properties on mixed-use street, which will depend on the size of the plot and subject to availability of parking," a senior official said. FAR is the ratio of a building's total floor area (gross floor area) to the size of the piece of land upon which it is built. The urban body also proposed reducing penalty charges from "10 times to two times" for violation of other terms and conditions for properties meant for mixed use. At the meeting, the DDA proposed to "allow commercial activity in the basements in all commercial streets and areas, subject to payment of requisite charges without any discrimination". "Once the public notification regarding the amendment is issued, there will be three days for inviting suggestions and objections from people, after which it will again come up for review and then finally sent to the Centre for approval," the official said. The move will come as a big relief to traders, who have been seeking uniform FAR, as several properties have been sealed by civic bodies in the last few months. Civic bodies in north, south and central Delhi have been carrying out sealing drives, which started in December with action against over 50 shops in Defence Colony Market, at the instance of a Supreme Court-appointed monitoring committee. Union Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri had recently said the DDA was in the process of amending Delhi's Master Plan to provide relief to the traders from the ongoing sealing drive in the national capital. The ministry has also decided to reduce the number of days for which the notification has to be put in the public domain from 45 days to three considering the urgency of the situation. BJP leader and DDA Member Vijender Gupta said, "the FAR earlier for 100 sqm was variable, ranging from 180 to 225, but now it is proposed to be uniform 350 for 100 sqm". Chairman of NDMC's Satnding Commitee Tilak Raj Kataria, welcomed the proposal, saying, "We thank the Union UD Minister and the LG for providing some relief to traders, by propsing to increasing FAR to 350, reducing the penalty charges." Leader of House in SDMC Shikha Rai also welcomed the proposal to increase the FAR. DDA authorities said the decision was spurred by large scale public grievances raised by shopkeepers and trade associations. "Issues were also raised by the local bodies with respect to absence of provisions for shop-cum-residence plots, which came up after MPD-1962 and development control norms for shop-cum-residential plots/complex, declared as commercial centres," the urban body said in a statement. At the meeting, it was proposed that local bodies approve the revised plans for any additions or alterations as per permitted use or activity, subject to all statutory clearances with respect to relevant provisions of building bye-laws, structural safety, fire safety and other norms. The DDA also proposed norms for redevelopment of godowns clusters existing in "non-conforming areas, to be inserted as new paragraph 6.4 in Chapter 6 - Wholesale Trade as a modification to MPD-2021". (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Differences between India and China are likely to deepen and the Doklam standoff was not a one off incident, former National Security Advisor M K Narayanan said today and cautioned that the differences may lead to "unexpected consequences". Narayanan, while speaking at the international symposium 'Indo-China relations -- Resolving Contentious Issues', said the Chinese are peeved over India's support to the Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, apart from differences over economic and border issues. "I don't say there will be war but there will be constant conflict," the former Intelligence Bureau (IB) chief said. China's focus has shifted to the east from Ladakh. Narayanan said that Doklam was not a one off incident and "China's nibbling tactics will continue". "There is no end, China will bring it back again and again," the former NSA said. China is trying to strangle India by befriending its neighbours and attempting to make India friendless, he alleged. China has employed different means, including economic blackmail, to try to win over India's neighbours, Narayanan said and noted that it had also employed such tactics with Nepal, Sri Lanka, the Maldives and Bangladesh. He said Pakistan was the "main kingpin" in China's designs in the region. "China's taking over of Hambantota port in Sri Lanka, Gwadar port in Pakistan and setting up of a naval base in Djibouti (in Africa) and intent to increase such presence will only lead to worsening of relations between the two Asian giants," he asserted. These will change the balance of power to India's disadvantage, Narayanan said, adding that the differences between the two countries were likely to deepen. "Finding common ground will not be easy, the differences may lead to unexpected consequences," he said. Speaking at the same event, former Army chief General (retd) Shankar Roy Chowdhury was, however, optimistic that India would prove to be a match for China's military prowess. "We have travelled a long way since 1962. Most of the issues with China are due to diminished self-perception. We are actually bigger than we think we are. "Doklam was expression of India's self-confidence. It started with a havildar telling a junior commissioned officer on the other side that this is not 1962. It took the havildar to tell we are not in 1962," the former Army chief said. Stating that much is being made of the Chinese threat in the Indian Ocean, he asserted that India is strategically better placed there than China. "The Indian Peninsula provides us with the world's largest natural aircraft carrier which is unsinkable and looks over the Chinese oil supply lines from the Middle-East, apart from Andaman and Nicobar Islands placed like a dagger on the throat of the strategic shipping routes of China in the Indian Ocean," Roy Chowdhury said. The two-day symposium has been organised by the Research Centre for Eastern and North Eastern Regional Studies, a Kolkata-based think-tank. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A huge consignment of over 1,800 kilogram cannabis was seized by the Directorate Of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) recently from parts of Tripura and Assam, according to an official statement issued today. A truck was intercepted by DRI officials near Jawaharnagar area in Tripura yesterday and during search of the vehicle, about 1137.40 kgs of cannabis in 74 packets concealed in the artificial cavity behind the driver's seat was recovered, it said. The cannabis, also known as 'Ganja', has been seized and the driver of the vehicle arrested, the statement said. Acting on tip off, the DRI officials had on Wednesday intercepted another truck at Digarkhal area of Cachar district of Assam and recovered 750 kgs of cannabis packed in 66 packets concealed under waste/scrap paper cartons being carried in the vehicle, it said. Apart from the driver and cleaner of the truck, two other people engaged in escorting the truck using a car have also been arrested, the statement said. The total estimated market value of 1,887 kgs of cannabis, which has been seized, is about RS 94 lakh, it said. "These two back-to-back seizures by DRI indicate that North East continues to be a sensitive zone for production of cannabis from where it is being spread to different parts of India by the syndicates," the DRI statement said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Tamil Nadu Government today informed the Madras High Court bench here that it had appointed Edwin Joe as the Director of Medical Education after considering afresh the case of another candidate as directed by the court earlier. The counsel for the government informed the division bench comprising Justices N Kirubakaran and R Tharani that Edwin Joe was appointed considering various merit factors including his experience. While quashing his appointment on December 12 last year the court had directed the principal health secretary to reconsider afresh the case of S Revathy, another candidate, and Joe for promotion to the post of DME in a fair, free, impartial and unbiased manner with an open mind. The court had then asked the government to pass necessary and qualitative order with tangible reasons the comparative merit, ability and seniority in accordance with the law within six weeks. Revathy had contended that though Joe was junior to her, he was appointed him as the DME. As the government did not consider the high court order, Revathy filed a contempt case against the Principal Secretary which came up for hearing today. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Egypt has welcomed a US designation of two militant groups targeting Egyptian security and public figures as "terrorist" groups. The US State Department labelled the Hasm movement and Liwaa el-Thawra as "Specially Designated Global Terrorist" groups on Wednesday, which blocks any assets they may have in US jurisdictions and bars Americans from making financial transactions with them. Egypt's Foreign Ministry said yesterday the move is "a positive development" and "a practical display of solidarity with Egypt against terrorism." Egyptian authorities believe they are splinter factions of the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist organisation that Egypt has outlawed since 2013. The US says some leaders of the two groups were previously associated with the Brotherhood. Militant attacks have surged since the military's 2013 ouster of President Mohammed Morsi, a senior Brotherhood figure. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Electricity Supply Companies of Karnataka have filed an application with the Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission seeking electricity tariff increase ranging from 83 paise to more than Re 1.10 per kw of power, KERC Chairperson M K Shankarlinge Gowda said today. Bangalore Electricity Supply Company has sought an increase of 83 paise per kilowatt of power and Hubballi and Gulbarga Electricity Supply Companies (ESCOMs) have asked for more than Rs 1.10, he told PTI. "We will have to decide after consulting with public," Gowda said. The public consultation regarding increasing the tariff will start from February 19 to March 2. The KERC chairman said in Bengaluru, consultations with the public will start from February 19 while similar hearing will be conducted in all the ESCOM headquarters like Mysuru, Mangaluru, Hubballi and Kalaburagi. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Federation of Indian Blood Donors Organisations (FIBDO) today urged Union Health Minister J P Nadda to establish the NBTA for the monitoring of the blood banking system in the country. Members of FIBDO, the largest representative body of blood donors, met Nadda in Delhi. The delegation was led by the organisation's national vice-president Ajai Srivastava. They submitted a charter of demands to the Union minister, stressing for fundamental changes in blood banking and its monitoring system, including the establishment of the National Blood Transfusion Authority (NBTA). Srivastava said that Nadda had assured the delegation of necessary actions in this regard. The minister also said that the government was working hard to achieve the goal of 100 per cent voluntary blood donation with the help of NGOs, he said. National general secretary, FIBDO,Biswaroop Biswas said that the major demand raised in the meeting with Nadda was to stop the practice of demanding blood from patients and ensure thet the total blood be arranged and supplied by hospitals. It was agreed that 100 per cent use of component therapy was one of the solutions to meet the large demand of blood, he said. Srivastava said that by using this system, one unit of blood could be utilised to save at least four patients and transfusion of whole blood would be discouraged. The delegation also urged the minister to launch programmes inschools and colleges to prepare them as future blood donors. The National Blood Transfusion Council and State Blood Transfusion Councils should also be set up, and blood banks should be operational round-the-clock, FIBDO said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A fire broke out in a wagon of a Rae Bareli-bound goods train at the Mathura junction station today, a railway official said. The fertilizer-laden train was coming from Bhopal, Senior DCM and PRO DRM office Agra (NCR) Sanchit Tyagi said. The fire started at 5.25 pm and was doused by 5.54 pm, he said. Immediately after the wagon caught fire, it was detached from the train and the fire brigade was informed, Tyagi said. However, the fire was almost doused by rail staff, before the fire tender's reached the spot, he said. The wagon which caught fire had some paper in it, Tyagi said. "Team of supervisors would probe the incident," the officer said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Fiscal discipline has taken a backseat in the latest annual Indian budget which contains many tinges of populism, noted Indian economist Eswar Prasad said today. Prasad, a professor of trade policy at the prestigious Cornell University, said there were no major measures in the budget that could stimulate private investment. "Fiscal discipline has taken a backseat in this budget, which contains many tinges of populism, as was to be expected in the run-up to a national election cycle," Prasad told PTI. "There are no major measures that could stimulate private investment, which has been notably weak even during the recent period of high growth," Prasad said. However, the proposed new health insurance scheme and other measures that will in principle directly benefit the poor are welcome, Prasad said. "Although it is unclear how exactly some of these programs will be funded within the budget envelope," he said. US India Business Council (USIBC) president Nisha Desai Biswal said the Indian government has displayed its commitment to areas that will benefit India's growth and prosperity for many years to come. "Infrastructure development, access to health care, affordable housing, energy, and education for all citizens form the backbone of any growing economy... American industry is committed to growing, strengthening, and sustaining these areas of collaboration with India," Biswal said. In the last three years, Biswal said, India has been on a robust path to growth, backed by a strong economic reform agenda. Karun Rishi, president of USA-India Chamber of Commerce, said the budget carefully balances the essentials of accelerating growth and fiscal prudence. Focus on agriculture and health is a game changer, he said. "We commend Finance Minister Arun Jaitley for his ambitious, out of the box thinking by covering the bottom 40 per cent of all households under the health insurance scheme - 'Ayushman Bharat'," Rishi told PTI, adding that this "bold and pragmatic" step will help the poor and low income families. 'Ayushman Bharat' -- the world's largest government- funded health care programme, is aimed at benefiting 10 crore poor families by providing coverage of up to Rs 5 lakh per family per year for secondary and tertiary care hospitalisation. An outlay of close to 10 per cent of the GDP in the agro-rural sector will boost rural and farmers' incomes, leading to a rise in consumption and consumer durables demand, he said. Rishi lauded Jaitley for making a pitch for the 'technologies of the future' in his Budget speech. "India can be a significant player in Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and Blockchain technologies. The use of Blockchain can add muscle to the digital economy especially in the BioPharma and Healthcare sector," Rishi said. According to Richard Rossow, Wadhwani Chair in US-India Policy Studies at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the budget did meet analysts' expectations in terms of having specific programmes to appeal to farmers and rural voters. "Included among these are a new health care insurance programme for the poor, expanded programmes to deliver subsidised cooking gas and electric power connections, and escalated programs to build homes and toilets," Rossow said. Barriers to the export of agriculture items will be relaxed, and the Minimum Support Price (MSP), a floor price the government pays to farmers for staple crops, will see a hefty increase, he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) "For heaven's sake, do your duty," an exasperated Delhi High Court today told the AAP government and the municipal corporations in the national capital in view of the recent dengue cases. It also expressed displeasure over the Delhi government laying the blame on the corporations' inaction and asked, "Don't you have any responsibility?" "It is always you (the Delhi government) versus the Centre, the corporations, some statutory authority. It has to be only versus? Can't you work together," a bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar asked the lawyer appearing for the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government. It further said that instead of the authorities doing their duty, the court had to actively monitor the issue of waste management, the lack of which, according to the bench, was one of the reasons behind vector-borne diseases like dengue and malaria. "We do not want any mortality in Delhi due to vector- borne diseases. If not for our intervention, you (the government and corporations) were happy doing nothing. "You need to look at reducing garbage generation, instead of more sites for landfills. Else, soon Delhi will move out and only the landfills will remain," the bench said. It sought to know from the authorities why dengue cases were being reported in January itself and said there was a need to address "this critical problem" before it reached "unmanageable proportions". The observations came as the Delhi government had brought to the court's attention the reports of five dengue cases in the national capital in January. The government had also told the court that no information was available from the corporations about the locations from where these cases were reported, the bench said and asked, "What are you doing?" It noted that the Delhi government was yet to publicise or put up on its website the waste management bye-laws which were framed on the court's direction and notified recently. The court said there was hardly any publicity about the new rules by any of the authorities, who had made "no efforts" in this regard. It sought a report from the Delhi government and the civic bodies on the steps taken to publicise and implement the bye-laws as well as the measures taken in anticipation of a dengue outbreak. "How many challans have you issued under the new rules (bye-laws)," the court asked and listed the matter for further hearing on February 27. The court had ordered framing of the draft bye-laws after environmental experts like Sunita Narain, Almitra Patel and M C Mehta claimed that a major challenge in solid waste management was the lack of such provisions. The court was looking into the issue of solid waste management as it was of the view that garbage and lack of cleanliness contributed to the spread of vector-borne diseases like dengue and chikungunya. The view was expressed by the court during the hearing of two PILs, filed by lawyers Arpit Bhargava and Gauri Grover respectively, seeking directions to the civic bodies and the other authorities concerned for steps to prevent the spread of dengue, chikungunya and malaria. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Ford India today reported a 58 per cent increase in total sales at 22,535 units in January as against 14,259 units in the same month last year. The company said its domestic sales stood at 9,450 units in January as against 7,995 units in the year-ago month, up 18.19 per cent. Exports stood at 13,253 units last month as compared to 6,264 units in January 2017, a jump of 111.57 per cent, Ford India said in a statement. Commenting on the sales performance, Ford India President and Managing Director Anurag Mehrotra said, "The all-new Ford EcoSport continues to receive encouraging response from the customers. Complemented with other products in our portfolio, the momentum is helping us post consistent double digit growth." He further said exports are continuing to grow at a steady pace as well with the addition of new global markets. "We recently started exporting the all-new EcoSport to North America," Mehrotra added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Sri Lanka's central bank's former governor Arjuna Mahendran was today named as one of the key suspects in a treasury bond scam that caused a loss of USD 11 million to public institutions and triggered a rift within the ruling coalition. Perpetual Treasuries Director and Mahendran's son-in-law Arjun Aloysius and Perpetual Treasuries CEO Kasun Palisena were also named as suspects of the Criminal Investigation Division (CID) inquiry into the issuance of bonds. The Colombo Fort Magistrate has ordered Mahendran, who is currently in Singapore, to respond to charges under the Public Properties Act. He and his bond-dealer son-in-law Aloysius are accused of manipulating of bond auctions in 2015 and 2016, causing losses of over USD 11 million to the state. Mahendran, handpicked by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, was sacked by President Maithripala Sirisena after the alleged scam. The clash is the latest in a series of disputes within the ruling coalition, formed after Sirisena split his own Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and secured support from the rival United National Party. The allies have since clashed over economic policy and on stalled investigations into corruption under the regime of former president Mahinda Rajapaksa, who is also from the SLFP. A presidential probe ordered by Sirisena found Mahendran to be the provider of information to his son-in-law's firm. The scandal rocked the current unity government between Wickremesinghe's United National Party and Sirisena's Sri Lanka Freedom Party. Sirisena used the findings to attack the UNP in the run upto the February 10 local council election. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Alexandre Ziegler, the French envoy to India, today welcomed the first batch of Young Architects and Urban Planners Programme, launched as part of 'Bonjour India' to celebrate the bilateral ties, the French embassy said. The Bonjour India 2017-18 is a four-month-long voyage across India celebrating Indo-French partnership as well as shaping people-to-people contacts between the two countries. "Building on the positive institutional exchanges between India and France over the past few years, the Young Architects and Urban Planners Programme offers dedicated training to the private sector in the field of architecture and urban planning," the embassy said in a statement. This programme will enable five young architects and urban planners from the alumni network of the School of Planning and Architecture (SPA) of Delhi and CEPT University in Ahmedabad, to undergo theoretical and professional training in renowned French architecture firms, familiarising them with best practices in France, it added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Seventy French scholars and researchers have taken up a project to chronicle the journey of Indian literature for the last 3,000 years, two Indologists from France said here. The French government is funding the project undertaken by two leading French institutes where Indology studies are undertaken, Nicholas Dejenne and Claudine Le Blanc, the academicians from France, said. Dejenne and Blanc spoke about the project while delivering the annual Ashok Kumar Sarkar Memorial Lecture at the 42nd International Kolkata Book Fair here yesterday. "We have undertaken a big task of preparing a dictionary of representative classics ranging from Kalidas' Shakuntala to the writings of Bibhutibhusan to Amitava Ghosh. From Rabindranath Tagore to modern Bengali poets which will have the defining works across different genres," Dejenne said. It will be titles 'Dictionary Encyclopedia Indian Literature (DELI)' and the researchers are aiming to complete the first phase by the end of 2019, Blanc said. One of the objectives of the project would be to collate and disseminate defining literary works across ages and present them to French readers, she said. "We will also like to act as a bridge between ancient and recent Indian literature in different languages including Bengali," she said. Dejenne and Blanc are Indologists at the Sorbonne Nouvelle of Paris. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) There was a time Sunita used to earn Rs 20 from stitching blouses and now the housewife says she easily makes Rs 20,000 as now she contributes to the country's top fashion designers, Amit Vijaya and Richard Pandav. The artisan, who belongs to Rajasthan's Bagru district (famous for its traditional natural colour block printing), is now a proud entrepreneur who has given employment to four more women under the Usha Silai initiative, a sustainable fashion label which was launched yesterday at the ongoing Lakme Fashion Week. "Earlier I used to work in other people's farms. It felt a little lowly but I had to earn so couldn't do much. Last year, Shyamji (from Usha) came to me and asked if I'd like to work for the company. It was that day and now. "Today, I charge Rs 50 to Rs 150 per blouse and I take additional orders for the clothes too. I'm too busy now," Sunita, who worked on 'Ranisthan' clothing line, told PTI here. She underwent a training with the designers in Kaladhera district last year and said her family supports her in the initiative. Santosh Kumawat from the Kaladhera Cluster, who is on her maiden visit to Mumbai like Sunita, said she has now put up a board for her unnamed shop where she stitched the clothes for the models. "They come looking for me. They know where I live. They have even started calling me 'Usha' after the sewing machine." Vijaya said the collection was named 'Ranisthan' as it would be unfair to the women. "It's their time". He said they created deconstructed Rajput 'poshak' showing off colours of the desert to make it more comfortable for woman of any age and setting - rural or urban. Sayantan Sarkar worked with Bengal's 24 South Parganas Mastikari Cluster, Soham Dave with Gujarat's Dholka Cluster and Sreejith Jeevan for the Puducherry Cluster for their respective collections. Sarkar's 'The Girl From The Pages Of The Diary" stood out with big smocking portions at the abdomen area of the garments with Batik prints in pink, brown, green and blue khadi by Bengal artisans. Jeevan said he was enthused after he saw women were taking great interest in the initiative and believes 'Window to the World' collection perfectly describes the place. "It is a blend of powerful Tamil culture, French colonial feel and the philosophy of the Aurobindo Ashram, that's how it is a window to the world," he added. For Dave, the inspiration was the subject of his clothing line, 'The Black Machine" inspired by the Black Usha Machine. He said experiments were made with designs and with the black lock stitch machine and the collection sticks to its basic colour story black and white - with minute detailing and sustainability. Apart from Sunita and Santosh, two women workers from other clusters were present and also walked the runway with their mentor designers. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) India and other G4 nations today called for starting a "credible" text-based negotiations which adequately captures all positions expressed to reform the outdated UN Security Council. Japan, India, Brazil and Germany - commonly known as G-4 - are seeking expansion of the permanent and non-permanent seats of the Security Council. They support each other's bids for permanent seats on the UN Security Council. "Let us not lose time and energy in discussions and repetition of positions which do not take our work forward," Germany's Permanent Representative to the UN Christoph Heusgen told the first meeting of the intergovernmental negotiations (IGN) on the "question of equitable representation on and increase in the membership of the Security Council and related matters". He was speaking on behalf of G-4 countries. Heusgen said an overwhelming 85 per cent of member states or 164 countries -- have demanded to begin text-based negotiations. "We need a text that can be negotiated. A text which adequately captures all positions expressed, Heusgen said, urging the co-chairs to facilitate these negotiations. "We need to look at all positions in a holistic manner, and lets be frank, in a political manner. Because we all know: this is not technical discussion. This is not an academic exercise. This is a political discussion. One which should be based on give-and-take and negotiations," he said. "So lets not tip-toe around this fact, but lets confront it head-on and, if we are serious about the credibility of this process, then we need to get going!" the German ambassador said. He also called on the IGN Co-chairs, to develop their own text to be presented at their next meeting. "Such a text should be based on the work done by us, member states, in the previous years reflected in the documents listed in decisions of the General Assembly relating to IGN. "Focusing our discussions on a text is the only way we can do justice to our responsibility and the wish of the General Assembly to achieve an early reform of the Council," he said. In such a text, the positions of all the groups should be duly and comprehensively reflected, the German Ambassador said. The structure of the Security Council, created 70 years ago, must take into account new ground realities of the 21st century, or else it will affect the credibility and relevance of the world body, UN General Assembly President Miroslav Lajcak said as he called for out of the box ideas to get it done. "We need a Security Council adapted to todays world. And that is not merely a technical, or procedural task. It relates to the lives of people. It affects the credibility and relevance of the General Assembly, which established this process. And, it puts the entire United Nations system at stake," Lajcak said in his address. he world it was created to protect is unrecognisable today, he noted. "The Council must reflect these changes. It must take into account new realities. We have all agreed on this. Throughout our years of negotiation, no one has challenged, or questioned, the need for reform. Which is why we can say, we need a credible process leading towards a meaningful outcome," Lajcak said. "Another thing we can say, for certain, is that we know what does not work. We know what will not drive us forward. Repeating well-known positions. Drawing red lines. Calling for flexibility from others, without giving any ourselves. Choosing prepared statements over interactive dialogue. Talking at - instead of to - each other," he said. Addressing diplomats from member countries, he urged them to put forward their ideas on how it should proceed. "This will mean identifying any gaps that need to be filled. It will mean shining a light on new possibilities for convergence," he said. "It will mean looking at options to move ahead in all five clusters. It will mean thinking outside the box. It will mean brainstorming.It will mean really talking, and really listening, to each other," said the UN General Assembly President. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Actor George Clooney has opened up about he met his wife Amal Clooney. The "Money Monster" actor said he "didn't leave the house" when he met his future wife during an appearance on Netflix's "My Next Guest Needs No Introduction", hosted by David Letterman. "A mutual friend of ours said, 'I'm stopping by and can I bring my friend?' And I was like, 'Of course.' (Then) I got a call from my agent, who called me and said, 'I met this woman who's coming to your house who you're gonna marry,'" Clooney said. Clooney also said that he was unsure whether Amal was interested in him as the meeting also included his parents. "And the funniest thing was my mom and dad were visiting, so my parents were there, and we just talked and we stayed up all night talking and then, you know, I got her email address 'cause she was going to send me some pictures of my parents and then, we started writing and I didn't really, I didn't know if she wanted to go out with me. I just thought, you know, we were buddies," he added. Letterman's interview with Clooney will cover his formative years as a child, his journey through Hollywood, and his personal life. Clooney, 56, and Amal, 39, got married in 2014 and have two children together twins Alexander and Ella. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The government expects to complete the privatisation of Air India by year-end and the winning bidder is likely to be known by the end of June, Union minister Jayant Sinha said today. The debt-laden carrier, which is staying afloat on taxpayers' money, would be put up for sale as "four different entities", while private players can have at least 51 per cent stake in the airline. The Minister of State for Civil Aviation said the information memorandum for the proposed strategic disinvestment of Air India would be issued in the next few weeks. The memorandum would lay out details about various aspects, including what would be available for bidding, assets and how much stake the government would own, he told reporters here. "We expect to have a winning bidder by the end of June and the legal closing of this transaction by end of this calendar year," Sinha said, adding that so far two formal expressions of interest have been received by the ministry. Legal closing means that by that time, "all of the legal agreements, security clearances, transfer of assets, transfer of title, deeds, everything will be complete. So Air India will be operated by somebody else", he noted. The expression of interest in Air India disinvestment has come from no-frills airline IndiGo and a foreign bidder, about whom details were not disclosed by the minister. As part of reviving the ailing airline, the government has decided on its strategic disinvestment last year and a group of ministers, headed by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, is working out the modalities of the stake sale. "We are privatising Air India. That means more than 51 per cent of ownership of Air India is going to be transferred to private sector. We will be transferring control to the private sector, that means government's ownership will be 49 per cent or less," Sinha said. He also noted that Air India would be transferred to the private sector just like British Airways, American Airlines, Lufthansa and Qantas. According to the minister, the national carrier would be offered for bidding as four different entities. Air India, its low-cost arm Air India Express and subsidiary AISATS would be one entity while regional arm Alliance Air would be a separate entity. Besides, Air India Air Transport Services Ltd (AIATSL) and Air India Engineering Services Ltd (AIESL) would be sold separately, he said. AISATS is a 50:50 joint venture between Air India and Singapore Airlines' group entity SATS Ltd. To a query on whether he had discussions with various players in respect of Air India disinvestment, Sinha said, "I have had many discussions with many different players for Air India as well as various different entities that belong to the Air India group." Under the turnaround plan approved by the previous UPA regime, Air India is to receive up to Rs 30,231 crore from the government, subject to meeting certain performance thresholds, over a ten-year period starting from 2012. The airline has already received more than Rs 26,000 crore under the package. For 2018-19, the carrier has been allocated Rs 650 crore in the Union Budget. In June 2017, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) gave its in-principle nod to the strategic disinvestment of the airline -- which has a debt burden of more than Rs 50,000 crore. "The government has also initiated the process of strategic disinvestment in 24 CPSEs (Central Public Sector Enterprises). This includes strategic privatisation of Air India," Jaitley had said in his Budget speech on Thursday. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A contentious bill to ban cow slaughter and ensure stabilisation of the population of the Indian breed of bovines was today withdrawn by BJP member Subramanian Swamy in the Rajya Sabha, after the government urged him to do so. While withdrawing his Cow Protection Bill 2017 during the private members' business, Swamy said he would like the government to put a voluntary cess to ensure that the cows are looked after they cease to give milk. During a 2-hour discussion on the bill, the Upper House witnessed heated exchanges when members of the Opposition objected to Railway Minister Piyush Goyal standing up and saying that such an important issue was being "made fun of", after Samajwadi Party member Javed Ali Khan spoke on it. Khan said cow should be immediately declared the national animal and provisions made whereby the government is held responsible for rearing and nourishment of cows. He also said India must end its diplomatic ties with countries which trade in meat. Intervening in the debate, Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh said over the past 3.5 years, the government has been working on various schemes related to cow welfare. "We have been taking steps for the protection and promotion of the cow. I want to assure Swamy that we are working in the same direction. With these words I request you to withdraw the bill," the Minister said. In response, Swamy said "I wanted a law to come, but want the government to seriously consider putting a voluntary cess for the purpose of ensuring that cows are looked after they cease to give milk." He said 'gaushalas' (cow sheds) should be set up and scientifically run. An authority to ensure stabilization of population of cows (Bos Indicus) should also be set up and the people would not hesitate to contribute. "So the only thing that remains is the law. But since the minister has said that in consulation with me, he will proceed in this matter. I would like to give government one more chance so that I don't have to come back again with another bill. ... Therefore, permit me to withdraw the bill," Swamy told the Chair. During the debate, Congress member Rajeev Shukla asked Swamy "why doesn't the BJP discuss the matter of cow slaugher with Goa chief minister Manohar Parrikar?" The Goa CM had recently backed beef traders and warned vigilante groups attacking them. Ananda Bhaskar Rapolu (Congress) observed that Swamy was earlier the Commerce Minister and the present-day Ministry has a separate Committee to promote export of beef. "We are not addressing the real issues. We are giving just emotional tinge to the aspects with which we can polarise, we can exploit, we can divert," Rapolu said. When D Raja (CPI) was speaking, the Railway Minister stood up and alleged that SP's Javed Ali Khan had used some derogatory language and sought that these remarks be expunged. There were heated exchanges between the opposition and treasury benches as Congress leader Jairam Ramesh alleged that Goyal had used a derogatory word. But Kurien said the Minister had made a casual remark. Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi defended Goyal, saying the Railway Minister did not say anything against anyone. In his speech, Raja said he opposed to the Bill and took a dig at Swamy, saying some Tamilian friends referred to him as a "Buddhi Pishaach". Raja said the cow was being used as a weapon of hate, either in the name of religion or law alleging that the legislation would legitimise cow vigilante groups and encourage mob lynching. He asked the government to make its position clear. Raja also took a jibe at Swamy saying he should advise Finance Minister Arun Jaitley that instead of going for health protection scheme, he should go for cow protection, adding "I don't know whether the Finance Minister listens to you". In his response, Swamy claimed that prohibition of cow slaughter was there in the Directive Principles of the Constitution. "Cow eating was not prevalent during the Mughal period. The last empire was in 1857 when the first thing Bahadur Shah Zafar declared was a ban on cow slaughter. "There are anectocal information that Babar had told his son Humayun, don't allow the slaughter of cows. It is a sentimental issue. It is the British who made the cow cutting a part of our regular fashionable cuisine and that is how it became prevalent in our country," Swamy said. He claimed that patents have been given for cow urine because the urea that is produced is used in modern medicine. Attacking the Congress, he said "the first anti-cow sluaghter bill passed was in Madhya Pradesh ...all these congress people including Dr Rajendra Prasad were in the forefront saying that cow should be give a special place and its killing should be banned," Swamy said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Even as the massive fire which engulfed a warehouse in Gondal town in the district on January 30 is yet to be doused, officials estimate that a groundnut stock worth Rs 28 crore has been destroyed in the blaze. "Nearly 1.35 lakh sacks, each containing 35 kg of groundnuts, worth over Rs 28 crore (in total) are feared to have been destroyed in the fire which is still raging," said Rajkot district collector Vikrant Pandey today. Yesterday, Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani had ordered a CID probe into the incident. Deputy Inspector General of CID-Crime Dipankar Trivedi, present at the press conference alongwith Pandey and Rajkot Superintendent of Police Antrip Sood here today, said the probe will cover all possible angles, including conspiracy. "We have formed a seven-member team to investigate. As the fire is still raging, forensic experts are finding it difficult to collect samples to ascertain its cause," Trivedi said. As to the reports that welding work in the warehouse caused the fire, Trivedi said, "We are not ruling out any possibility. We will conduct a thorough investigation to find out whether it was an accident or a conspiracy." The collector had said yesterday that the fire looked suspicious as the warehouse had no electricity connection, which ruled out short circuit as a possible cause. The privately-owned warehouse had been rented by the Gujarat State Cooperative Cotton Federation Ltd and the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (NAFED) to store groundnuts procured from farmers in Saurashtra. Opposition Congress had claimed that the groundnut stock was set on fire on purpose to destroy the evidence of corruption in the procurement. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court today allowed the forest department of the Maharashtra government to tranquilise and capture two tigers roaming in Pandharkawada jungle in Yavatmal district. One of these two big cats, tigress 'T-1', has killed ten people in the last one year, said forest authorities who recently ordered that she be captured and if it could not be done, shot at sight. A division bench of Justices Bhushan Dharmadhikari and Swapna Joshi passed the directive during the hearing of a public interest litigation filed by Jerryl Banait and Sarita Subramanium. The petitioners had moved the court against the January 29 order of the principal chief conservator of forest (PCCF) to either capture or shoot the tigress T-1. The PCCF had also ordered that the other tiger, a male, be captured by tranquilising. The petitioners claimed that the animal responsible for the human deaths was not identified properly. The identification should have been done in a scientific manner by considering camera trap photographs, pug marks and DNA profiling of scats and hairs, the PIL said. On January 30, the high court stayed the forest department's order. Advocate Tushar Mandlekar, Banait's lawyer, argued that there was no conclusive evidence to attribute human deaths to the tigress. The order to shoot and kill her was issued due to political pressure, the lawyer said. According to the PIL, T-1 is not a "habituated man killer". It also demanded a special investigation team to probe all the 10 deaths attributed to her. Advocate R L Khapre, arguing for Subramanium, claimed that no efforts were made to tranquilise the tigress and capture her. Advocate Karthik Shukul, the forest department's lawyer, told PTI that the department sought permission to tranquilise and capture both the tigers. The High Court lifted its stay order partially, allowing capture of both the animals, but not shooting of the tigress. The petitioners have demanded that both the animals be relocated to some other tiger reserve. Next hearing will be on February 6. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Delhi High Court has asked the police to run on a trial basis for two weeks a facial recognition software (FRS), developed by a private entity, which can help trace and rescue missing children. A bench of justices S Muralidhar and I S Mehta said the test run of the FRS by the Delhi Police should start from February 20 and not later. The software is expected to help trace and rescue the missing children. The high court's direction came after the Centre expressed its inability to immediately put into motion such a software. The government had said that the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (CDAC) was developing an FRS in West Bengal, but did not give a timeline as to when it would be completed and put into operation. To this, the bench had said, "Waiting for the perfect software to be developed with an open-ended time line does not serve the purpose of addressing the issue of missing children on an urgent basis. "Given the possibility of the tender process taking a considerable amount of time, the MWCD will inform the court on affidavit the concrete time line within which it proposes to procure and test an FRS to track missing children." The Ministry of Women and Child Development (MWCD) had also informed the court that a proposal of NGO Bachpan Bachao Andolan (BBA) to give the software free of cost had some technical drawbacks. To this the bench said, "Even if the software does not perfectly match the requirement of the MWCD, an FRS which substantially serves the purpose must be procured and made operational at the earliest." Senior counsel H S Phoolka and advocate Prabhsahay Kaur, appearing for the NGO, submitted in the court that Vision Box, the software developer, has offered the FRS free of cost for one year, provided it is used only for tracing missing children. The bench, thereafter, in its order said, "BBA shall ensure the provision of the FRS to the Delhi Police forthwith for the above purpose. The trial runs of the FRS by the Delhi police should commence not later than February 20." The bench was hearing a plea regarding missing children in which it has been examining ways and means to address the issue of tracing them and restoring them to their families. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Madras High Court today took a serious view of a 1991 Tamil Nadu government order permitting its employees to work in private companies outside India after securing leave, and posed questions on the validity of the order. A bench comprising justices N. Kirubakaran and R. Tharani directed the government to state how many employees had used the G.O. No.196 of May 20, 1991 to go abroad and how many had rejoined after returning. The court was hearing an appeal by the government against the order of a single judge directing it to consider the representation of a deputy tahsildar for a notional promotion as deputy collector after working abroad for three years. The bench wondered on what basis such a G.O was issued. "When there was unemployment problem in this country, how can the government allow an employee to leave the country for three years. When an employee is abroad, would it not affect the local administrative job. "The post will remain vacant for so many years and it could not be filled till he returned and rejoined. All this was against public interest," the judges said. They also impleaded the state secretary (personnel and administrative reforms) and the labour secretary suo motu and asked them to reply. They posted the matter for hearing on February 15. The judges wanted to know how the government order was valid. "While the government had the right to depute a person for foreign duty, how could it allow an employee to go on leave and work in a foreign private firm," the bench asked. "Does that not mean he is having a job here and work in a foreign private firm also," the bench asked. The judges asked how many people were granted permission to work in foreign private firms and how long an employee was permitted to work. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Hero Electric today said it plans to invest Rs 500 crore over the next five years to expand its manufacturing capacity as well as R&D infrastructure. The company, which is a leading player in the electric two-wheeler space, plans to set up a new manufacturing facility in south India this year. It also plans to expand manufacturing capacity at its Ludhiana plant next year as part of its aim to bolster production capacity of electric vehicles. At present, the plant has a capacity to roll out 40,000 units per annum. "We plan to come up with a plant in south India this year. It will be more of an assembly plant but with three times more capacity than Ludhiana. Next year, we aim to expand the Ludhiana capacity as well. So with all this manufacturing activity, we are looking at an investment of around Rs 500 crore over the next five years," Hero Electric Managing Director Naveen Munjal told PTI. The company sold around 15,000 units in 2016-17 and has already crossed over 26,000 units mark in the current fiscal. It is targeting to sell 75,000 units in the next financial year, Munjal said. "By 2023, we aim to sell around 5 lakh units per annum," he added. The company is also looking to expand its sales network with plans to have 450 dealers before 2020. It currently has 350 dealers across the country. As part of its expansion plans, the company will also roll out 6-8 new electric vehicles during the year. It unveiled three new products today, which it plans to launch later this year. "The AXLHE-20 is a high speed e-bike that promises the perfect blend of performance and efficiency. On the other hand, A2B Speed and Kuo Boost are premium electric bicycles that cater to upwardly mobile youth who value adventure and fitness," Munjal said. AXLHE-20 can reach a top speed of 85 kms per hour and has a range of up to 110 kilometers on a single charge. The lithium ion batter on the bike can be charged from empty to full in around 4 hours. A2B Speed comes with a range of 70 kms along with a top speed of 45 kms per hour. Similarly, A2B Kuo Boost has a top speed of 32 kms per hour and a range of 60 kms per charge. The products are part of the company's plans to double sales every year over the next five years. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Aditya Birla Group company Hindalco Industries today reported a 17.65 per cent rise in its standalone net profit to Rs 377.14 crore for the third quarter ended December 31. The aluminium maker had clocked a profit of Rs 320.56 crore in the corresponding quarter previous fiscal. The net profit is "after considering a provision of Rs 115 crore, based on a judgement of the Supreme Court on mining regulations," Hindalco Industries said. The company's revenues from operations were higher at Rs 11,023 crore as compared to Rs 9,914.81 crore in Q3 FY17, led by macro factors, volumes and by-product realisation, it said. Its total expenses in the December quarter increased to Rs 10,576.13 crore, as compared to Rs 9,675.44 crore in the same period a year ago. "Depreciation rose by 7 per cent Y-O-Y, on account of progressive capitalisation. Interest expense for the quarter was lower by 18 per cent due to prepayment and re-pricing of long term loans," the company said. The revenue for aluminium segment for the third quarter of the current fiscal was rose to Rs 5,323 crore, mainly due to higher sales of aluminium metal and increased realisation. Driven by higher realisation, the revenue from copper segment surged to Rs 5,701 crore. Aluminium metal production stood at 323 kilo tonne and alumina at 734 kilo tonne in the October-December quarter. Shares of the company were trading down 2.26 per cent at Rs 251.15 on BSE. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Hong Kong activists Joshua Wong, Nathan Law and Alex Chow today said they were honoured to be nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by a group of US lawmakers at a time when the city's freedoms are "under serious attack by China". A bipartisan group of four senators and eight members of the House announced yesterday that they had nominated the activists "in recognition of their peaceful efforts to bring political reform and self-determination to Hong Kong." Wong, Law and Chow -- who shot to prominence as leaders of the 2014 pro-democracy Umbrella Movement -- said they were honoured by the nomination, but warned that Beijing was targeting the freedoms enjoyed by residents of Hong Kong as a semi-autonomous part of China. The city's administration -- handpicked by Beijing -- has "criminalised people for their speech, deprived people of their right to stand in elections, ousted elected lawmakers and punished dissenters by jailing them," the activists said in a statement. "At this critical juncture, we need to join hands with the international community and together defend Hong Kong as a bridgehead for democratic movements." Hong Kong has been governed under a "one country, two systems" deal since 1997, when Britain handed the territory back to China, and its residents have rights unseen on the mainland, including freedom of speech. But there are growing concerns that these liberties are being eroded. Wong, Law and Chow said today the system is "under serious attack by China". Officials at the foreign ministry in Beijing did not respond to requests for comment today. Tens of thousands of protesters paralysed parts of Hong Kong during the Umbrella Movement, demanding fully free elections for the city's leader. The rallies failed to win concessions and since then, Wong and other leading activists have been charged over their involvement. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) India today said it was imperative for "all organs" of the Maldivian government to abide by the country's Supreme Court order to release all political prisoners "in the spirit of democracy". In a statement, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said it was "closely monitoring" the evolving situation in the Maldives and also hoped that the safety and security of Indian expatriates in the island nation would be ensured by the Maldivian authorities under "all circumstances". The Maldivian Supreme Court, in a significant development yesterday, ordered the immediate release of the former president Mohamed Nasheed and other opposition leaders "We have seen last nights order of the Supreme Court of Maldives releasing all political prisoners. In the spirit of democracy and rule of law, it is imperative for all organs of the Government of Maldives to respect and abide by the order of the apex court," the MEA said. It said that as a close and friendly neighbour, India wishes to see a stable, peaceful and prosperous Maldives. "We are closely monitoring the evolving situation," said the MEA. The island nation has witnessed political unrest and street protests since Nasheed was convicted in 2015 on terror charges and sentenced to 13 years in jail. There were reports of clashes between supporters of Nasheed and police in the capital city Male today where hundreds of policemen were deployed to restore peace. Nasheed was earlier granted asylum by the UK after he was authorised to seek medical treatment there amid mounting foreign pressure. The leader, who is currently in Sri Lanka, welcomed the court order and said President Abdulla Yameen must resign in the wake of the ruling by the apex court. "Welcome tonight's SC ruling calling for the immediate release of political prisoners and the restoration of their civil and political rights. President Yameen must abide by this ruling and resign. Urge all citizens to avoid confrontation and engage in peaceful political activity," Nasheed tweeted. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Police today arrested a man for impersonating a candidate while appearing in a type test for the post of the Junior Assistant at the NIELIT test centre in Rangreth here, an official spokesperson said. The spokesman said the impersonator -- Lukman Fayaz -- was impersonating a candidate identified as Musaebul Islam. "The Jammu and Kashmir Services Selection Board (JKSSB) today handed over an impersonator to police who was trying to appear in the type test for the post of Junior Assistant at the NIELIT test Centre in Rangreth in Srinagar," he said here. He said the accused was apprehended when his credentials were being checked at the Biometrics Registration Centre, set up by JKSSB to obtain biometric information of candidates taking the test. Fayaz was paid Rs 9000 to take the test on behalf of a valid candidate, he said, adding that the matter was under investigation. The original candidate was blacklisted for five years and barred from all future exams of JKSSB. The board has also issued a show cause notice to Musaebul Islam. JKSSB Chairman Dr Simrandeep Singh said the board was also looking into another complaint of similar nature and the matter would be handed over to the police soon. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) An Indian-origin UK man on trial for killing his ex-wife and then stuffing her body into a suitcase was today sentenced to a minimum of 18 years in jail for murder. Ashwin Daudia had denied the murder charge, claiming he lost his temper during an argument with Kiran Daudia at their home in Leicester last January and did not attack her deliberately. But the jury did not accept his version of events and found him guilty of killing the 46-year-old call centre worker. The 51-year-old accused was caught on CCTV dragging his ex-wife's body in a suitcase before dumping it in an alleyway. "I was angry, I lost control," he told the Leicester Crown Court, adding that Kiran Daudia had initially assaulted him and to silence her he put his hand over her mouth and then forcefully squeezed her neck. He admitted he then lied to his two sons, relatives and the police by falsely claiming his ex-wife did not return home from a morning shift at a call centre and hid the body in the suitcase to prevent his younger son from seeing it. The couple, who had an arranged marriage in India in 1988, were divorced in 2014 but had continued living separate lives under the same roof. The factory worker husband was to move out of the family home on January 16, 2017, when the attack occurred, the Leicester Mercury reported. Kiran's body was discovered in the suitcase by policethe next day. Her sister had bought the couple's family home in Leicester to enable the victim to continue living there without her ex-husband after the divorce. Their two sons chose to "side" with their mother and had relatively little to do with their father. During the two-week murder trial which concluded on Friday, Ashwin Daudia claimed he lost his temper when his ex- wife shouted at him because he had not packed his bags or moved out. He claimed she swore at him and told him to go and die in India. He denied the prosecution's suggestion that he had waited for his ex-wife to return home from work to deliberately kill her. "I didn't do it deliberately, at that time my mind wasn't working," he told the court. The prosecution claimed that Daudia, who followed the court proceedings through a Gujarati interpreter, had continued to lieabout the circumstances surrounding the killing andhad committed the murder after growing increasingly resentful of his ex-wife, who had joined a dating agency to meet other men. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Some of India's micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in the space and satellite sector are in talks with their international counterparts for collaboration to globalise their businesses, industry representatives said here. "Indian industry is in dialogue with not only the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) to cater the burgeoning domestic demand but also original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) as suppliers to their global supply chain," said H S Shankar, chairman and managing director of Alpha Design Technologies Pvt Ltd. Having worked as ISRO sub-contractors and vendors, the Indian industry partners, primarily MSMEs, have migrated from being supply chain vendors to AIT (assembly, integration and design) which opens up immense market opportunity, he said. Shankar added that this also leaves ISRO to its core capabilities of design, development and research. Indian MSMEs are in a position to build a complete satellite and launch it, claimed Subba Rao Pavuluri, chairman and managing director of Ananth Technologies Ltd. "This gives ISRO and the global space industry confidence in our capacity," he said, adding, "we are also expanding our eco-system by including Indian start-ups working on space technologies." Both Shankar and Rao are part of the nine-member industry delegation at the two-day Global Space and Technology Convention (GSTC) being held on February 1 and 2 in Singapore. Shankar and Rao are chair and co-chair of Space Committee at the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI). FICCI and ISRO already have a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Singapore Space Technology Association since November 2017 for mutual support of the space industry initiatives in the two countries. FICCI will follow up with another space industry delegation visits to Southeast Asian companies and institutes working on satellites, according to Ratan Shrivastava, Honorary Advisor at FICCI's Space Division. GSTC comes just about three months after FICCI and ISRO held a seminar on "Indian Space Program: Trends and Opportunities for Industry" in November in New Delhi. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Indrani Mukerjea, a prime accused in the Sheena Bora murder case, would be produced before a Delhi court in connection with a money laundering case next week. A special court for the Enforcement Directorate cases in Delhi had directed that she be presented before it. "The court (in Mumbai) has allowed the production warrant, which means she will be taken to Delhi on Monday and produced before the court there," said a prison official. The ED has registered a case against INX Media, its founders Peter Mukerjea, former media baron and his wife Indrani, and others under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). ED sleuths had interrogated Indrani and Peter Mukejrea in prison here last year. INX Media has been accused of violating Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) guidelines while receiving investments from Mauritius. Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram's son Karti is also an accused in the case, which relates to FIPB approval granted in 2006 for receipt of funds by INX Media. The anti-money laundering agency has claimed that Karti Chidambaram received money from INX Media to use his influence for grant of FIPB approval when his father was the Union finance minister. The Mukerjeas are facing a trial in Mumbai for conspiring to kill Sheena Bora, Indrani's daughter from an earlier relationship, in April 2012. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Indo-UK Institute of Health today said it will pump in Rs 1,600 crore to set up a medicity with a 1,000-bedded hospital in Assam, taking the total investment in India to Rs 19,200 crore. The Indo-UK Institute of Health (IUIH) shall be signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Assam government during the two day-long 'Advantage Assam - Global Investors Summit 2018', beginning tomorrow. "With this MoU, we have expanded our presence to the 12th state in India, taking the overall investment to Rs 19,200 crore. Each IUIH Medicity, including the one to come up in Assam, shall be developed with an investment outlay of Rs 1,600 crore," IUIH Managing Director and Group CEO Ajay Rajan Gupta said. The medicity will have a 1,000-bedded hospital in association with the UK's leading NHS hospital and up to 20 per cent of the total patients will be given free treatment at IUIH facilities, he added. The IUIH medicity in Assam will have medical college, nursing college, PG academy and a training facility for allied health professionals. It shall also have a separate zone for medical equipment and device manufacturing and pharmaceutical production. Cutting edge medical research shall be carried out at the IUIH medicities in areas as diverse as genomics and stem cells, translational research and clinical research leveraging on the patient data available. "The objective is to make every IUIH medicity a medical tourism hub and attract the patient traffic from across the globe. NHS standard healthcare at lower price points is our winning formula to tap the medical tourism business potential," Gupta said. He informed that IUIH has tied up with leading implant companies like Stryker, Medtronics, Zimmer Biomet, Johnson & Johnson, along with leading medical equipment firms such as Toshiba, GE healthcare, Philips and Canon. Many of them would start their manufacturing operations in IUIH medicities in accordance with the Indian Prime Minister's 'Make in India' programme bringing the healthcare cost further down for patients in the country, he added. "We are also relying heavily on technology and have tied-up with IBM for big data analytics. Our e-health and m- health platforms will facilitate exchange of patients' medical records electronically using telemedicine, tele-radiology and tele-pathology for diagnostics," he said. "Our partnership with Google and other technology service providers will enable delivery of these advanced services. It's all about covering the last mile and taking healthcare services down to patient's doorstep," Gupta said. The IUIH medicity programme was announced as a joint statement between the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the former United Kingdom Prime Minister David Cameron in 2015. Besides Assam, the other 11 states to benefit from the IUIH programme are Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Punjab, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh and Haryana. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) chief Mohammad Yasin Malik was detained by the police in Shopian district of Jammu and Kashmir today as he attempted to take out a rally to protest against the killing of civilians in army firing last week. Malik, who had managed to reach Shopian town, attempted to take out the march from the local Jamia masjid, but was taken into custody by the policemen waiting outside, officials said. Moderate Hurriyat Conference chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq was also detained outside his Nigeen residence here as he defied the house-arrest orders and attempted to march towards Shopian, the officials added. The separatists had called for a march to Shopian to protest the killing of three civilians in army firing on stone-pelters there on January 27. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) US President Donald Trump today accused the Justice Department and the FBI of a "pro-Democrat bias", saying their top leadership had "politicised" the probe against the Republicans, ahead of the possible release of a highly controversial memo. The memo penned by House Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes and approved for release by the House committee earlier this week alleges that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) abused its surveillance tools during its probe into the alleged Russian collusion in the 2016 US presidential election. Trump's accusation is a rarest of the rare instance as it maligns people he appointed to their roles, including FBI Director Christopher Wray whom he nominated after firing former FBI Director James Comey in May. The tweet also puts Trump squarely on the side of the Republican lawmakers who view the memo as a document that exposes the nefarious designs of the FBI. "The top Leadership and Investigators of the FBI and the Justice Department have politicised the sacred investigative process in favour of Democrats and against Republicans - something which would have been unthinkable just a short time ago," Trump said in a tweet. "Rank and File are great people!" he added. In a follow-up tweet, Trump quoted from a recent speech given by American activist and president of conservative watchdog operation Judicial Watch Tom Fitton in which he alleged the Democrats attempted to conceal their funding of a dossier that accused Trump of personal ties to the Kremlin. "'You had Hillary Clinton and the Democratic Party try to hide the fact that they gave money to GPS Fusion to create a Dossier which was used by their allies in the Obama Administration to convince a Court misleadingly, by all accounts, to spy on the Trump Team," Tom Fitton, JW", Trump wrote. Trump's tweet came as he is set to approve the release of a highly controversial memo that reportedly shows improper surveillance of one of his campaign aides, which the FBI says is "inaccurate". On January 31, the FBI released a rare statement to express their "grave concerns about the material omissions of fact that fundamentally impact the memo's accuracy". The memo apparently accuses the Department of Justice (DoJ) and the FBI of abusing a surveillance programme known as the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (Fisa) during the 2016 election campaign. The allegation is that the FBI ran surveillance on a member of Trump's campaign. Earlier, a senior administration official, told reporters aboard Air Force One that the president was expected to tell Congress that he had no objections to the release of the memo. Requesting anonymity, the official said it is a Congressional process and that the decision was made after looking at the memo the last few days and making sure "it doesn't give away too much in terms of classification". "The president is ok with it," the official said. "I doubt there will be any redactions. It's in Congress' hands after that," the official said, and refused to answer any further questions. Trump's reported decision comes a day after the FBI in an unusual move went public urging against release of the memo. Some White House official fear that this might result in the resignation of Wray. Last year, Trump abruptly fired FBI chief James Comey for his handling of the Russia inquiry. Trump publicly shamed Attorney General Jeff Sessions for his decision to recuse himself from the Russia case because of his prior contacts with Russia Ambassador Sergey Kislyak. Intelligence officials warn the memo distorts facts and could jeopardise intelligence-gathering information. Once Trump gives his approval, it would be up to the House intelligence committee to take a final call on the report's release. In a separate statement, FBI Agents Association (FBIAA) president Thomas O'Connor opposed the release of the memo. "The FBI Agents Association appreciates FBI Director Chris Wray standing shoulder to shoulder with the men and women of the FBI as we work together to protect our country from criminal and national security threats," said O'Connor. He said the agency's special agents remain professional and focused on protecting the US from terrorists and criminals. "Special agents take a solemn oath to our country and to the constitution, and the American public continues to be well-served by the world's preeminent law enforcement agency," he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Lambasting the Maha government for allowing events to be held at public properties free of cost and without any conditions imposed, the Bombay High Court today refused permission for cultural events as part of the Kala Ghoda festival to be held at Cross Maidan here till February 5. The festival, which starts tomorrow, had Tabla maestro Zakir Hussain performance scheduled for tomorrow evening at the Cross Maidan. Cultural events of the festival were shifted to Cross Maidan in the past few years after Kala Ghoda area in south Mumbai was declared as silence zone. A division bench of Justices A S Oka and P N Deshmukh was today hearing a petition filed by the Kala Ghoda Association and Organisation for Verdant Ambience and Land (OVAL) organisers of the Kala Ghoda festival, seeking permission to hold the cultural events. As per earlier directives of the High Court, for any event to be held at Cross Maidan, the organisers have to seek permission from it. The city collector on January 30 passed an order permitting the events to be held. However, the court today after perusing the order said it was passed without "proper application of mind" and without according proper reasons. "It is our prima facie opinion that a public property, especially one that is situated in a prime location, cannot be allowed to be used free of cost and with no conditions imposed. "The government has not even passed a reasoned order as to why it feels such permission can be given," Justice Oka said. The court said the order was vague and such blanket permissions without imposing conditions on the organisers cannot be granted. "This is disastrous. The government should take back this order and pass a fresh order with reasons," it said. Following this, government counsel S U Kamdar told the court that the government would pass an additional order on February 5 with reasons. The bench has now posted the petition for hearing on February 5. The petitioners' counsel Birendra Saraf then sought the court to consider their case and permit them to hold the events and said all arrangements have been made and Zakir Hussain was scheduled to perform tomorrow. The bench, however, refused and said: "How can we grant permission when we have found fault with the government order. You (organisers) should not have assumed that the state government, civic body and court will pass orders in your favour. You proceed on the footing that everyone will allow and you fix all the events and now you are saying permit." The court noted that under the Development Plan, Cross Maidan was a recreational ground and as per the civic body only recreational and social events can be allowed in such places. "The government should not be supporting all this. The government before passing order should have first seen whether it is a charitable event or a profitable one. This is very strange," Justice Oka said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Terming it unconstitutional, the Karnataka High Court today stayed the bandh called by pro- Kannada farmers' groups in the city on Sunday on the Mahadayi water dispute issue. Passing an interim order, a division bench of acting Chief Justice H G Ramesh and Justice P S Dinesh Kumar asked the Siddaramaiah government to take appropriate steps to prevent breakdown of law and order on that date. The bandh call on February 4 coincides with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's election rally in Bengaluru. The bench observed that the bandh calls given by Kannada Chalavali Vatal Paksha on January 25 and February 4 "violates the democratic rights of citizens". The bandh was called to protest the "inaction" by the central and state governments to resolve the Mahadayi river water sharing row. "Earlier, the prominent judgements of Supreme Court had declared bandhs by political parties and others as unconstitutional, and hence it is appropriate for this honourable court to adhere to the order as it violates the democratic rights of the citizens," the bench observed. The petition was filed by Bengaluru-based 'Shraddha Parents Association' seeking a direction from the court to term the bandh calls unconstitutional. The bench also considered the petitioner's submission that bandhs resulted in loss to the nation in so many ways, other than damaging public or private properties. The petitioner also sought a direction to government to take steps to prevent initiation of bandhs by any organisation. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Karnataka is briskly moving towards making functioning of state legislature paperless under a project titled E-Vidhan, the state Legislative Council Chairman D H Shankarmurthy said today. The chief whips of all political parties in Karnataka had attended the 18th All India Whips Conference at Udaipur where deliberations were held on paperless Parliament and state legislatures, he told reporters here. E-Vidhan would make the functioning of legislature paperless, transparent, productive and more accountable to the public and economise the entire legislative process, he said. The conference made a number of recommendations for smooth and efficient working of state legislatures in the light of the experience gained by the whips, Shankarmurthy said. A 'whip' is a member of a political party's parliamentary body responsible for discipline within the party. Their main job is ensuring that their members in Parliament and legislature vote in line with the party's official policy on important issues. Shankarmurthy said a plan was prepared by legislature officials after visiting Himachal Pradesh Legislature in May 2015. "Himachal Pradesh, though it is small state, has fully adopted E-Vidhan," he said. By enabling this, the model will put an end to "practises of needless paper work," Shankarmurthy said. "It will also help legislators track questions, notices and subjects, pertaining to their constituencies at the touch of the icon in their smart electronic gadgets," he added. The legislators could browse through the agenda of the day, Question Hour questions and attachments to their questions, among other things, Shankarmurthy added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Former Union Minister Kalraj Mishra today held pro-Pakistan and anti-national elements responsible for the Kasganj violence and termed the incident "very unfortunate". Mishra claimed that pro-Pakistan people had raised objection over taking out of the tricolour rally (Tiranga- Yatra) and also to "Pakistan Murdabad" slogans in Kasganj. The led to the violence, he said "We have been focusing on those who with the connivance of pro-Pakistan people are attempting to disturb law and order and create problems for the government and the district administration," Mishra said. "The pro-Pakistan people and law breakers must be identified. They would be dealt with iron hands. The Kasganj violence was very unfortunate," the Member of Parliament said, adding that he hopes that the law and order will be much better in Uttar Pradesh soon. The law and order situation under the Yogi Adityanath dispensation is better than what it was during previous governments, he said. Mishra alleged that some people were trying to give the Kasganj violence a communal colour, but the police and administrative authorities' commitment and efforts would help maintain peace and expose anti-nationals. "Those in the bureaucracy making controversial statements regarding events like the Kasganj violence are undoubtedly promoting rioters and anti-social elements irrespective of their intentions whether knowingly or unknowingly. "Such acts should not be tolerated," he said, adding that "no one should politicise such acts". (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Ahead of the Assembly elections which are due later this year, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan is likely to reshuffle and expand his cabinet tomorrow, a senior official said here. A Raj Bhawan official confirmed that preparations for oath-taking ceremony were underway. Names of the new ministers are not yet disclosed, sources said. The Chouhan-led government, in its third term, has 20 cabinet ministers including the chief minister and nine ministers of state since December 2013. The state can have a maximum of 35 ministers as per the Constitutional provisions. The state Congress, meanwhile, has submitted a memorandum to the Election Commission and writen a letter to the Governor saying that the BJP government can not carry out a cabinet expansion, as the model code of conduct is in force ahead of February 24 Assembly by-polls in Mungaoli and Kolaras. In the memorandum to the EC, state Congress president Arun Yadav demanded that the proposed cabinet expansion be postponed till February 28. In the letter to the governor, Yadav said, "This expansion or reshuffle would be against the Constitutional traditions. The proposed cabinet expansion, if any, is directly or indirectly a way to influence the electorate." Chief Electoral Officer of Madhya Pradesh Salina Singh said she has forwarded the memorandum to the Election Commission of India (ECI). (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Used vehicle automotive services provider Mahindra First Choice Wheels (MFCWL), has raised a new round of $15m or about Rs 100 crores, the company said here today. The company will use the funds to grow its franchise dealer network and invest in new technology-enabled products and services for the consumer online, it said. The entire investment is in the form of primary capital and will be used to fund its growth over the next 18 months and values the company at USD 250 m pre-money and USD 265 million post money, it said. The last primary fund raise was in March 2015. MFCWL has been among the fastest growing automotive products and services provider and over a five-year period has achieved a monthly growth rate of nearly 3.5 per cent. The company revenues have grown nearly eight times in the last 5 years, it claimed. "MFCWL is a company founded on the principles of innovation and entrepreneurship and as one of the fastest growing companies in the Mahindra Group it is testament to both its own performance as well as the Groups ability to create and nurture ventures with a focus on shareholder value," Anand Mahindra, Chairman, Mahindra &Mahindra said. MFCWL has 1,650 franchise dealers in 800 plus towns (mahindrafirstchoice.com). It also provides of technology enabled platforms in the areas of used vehicle auctions (eDiig.com), inspections (autoinspekt.com) and pricing analytics (indianbluebook.com). More recently it has launched a new remote inventory management solution (Yard Management Solution YMS) which is an innovative wholesale inventory management platform with nearly 600 yards under management. With GST rates being rationalised, the company is looking to grow to a network of 5,000 dealers in the next five years. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Maldives' top court ordered the release of nine key political prisoners today, clearing the way for exiled former leader Mohamed Nasheed to run for president. The atoll nation's joint opposition welcomed the surprise ruling, which has also granted them a parliamentary majority, and demanded that President Abdulla Yameen step down. "The Supreme Court's verdict effectively ends President Yameen's authoritarian rule," the opposition said in a statement. The Maldives' popular image as an upmarket holiday paradise had been severely damaged by a major crackdown on dissent under Yameen, who has overseen the jailing of almost all the political opposition. Nasheed, who is living in self-imposed exile, was sentenced to 13 years in jail on a terrorism charge widely criticised as politically motivated. In its order, seen by AFP, the Supreme Court said the "questionable and politically motivated nature of the trials of the political leaders warrant a retrial". The court ordered authorities to "immediately free the jailed leaders until a court of law sentences otherwise". The Maldives police said in a tweet that it will abide by court orders, but within minutes the government announced the sacking of police chief Ahmed Areef. Attorney General Mohamed Anil told a hurriedly summoned press conference at the military headquarters in the capital that Yameen sacked the police chief because he was uncontactable after the court order. Anil said they were also in the process of "verifying the validity" of the court order. The court also restored 12 dissident members of parliament who had been controversially expelled for defecting from Yameen's party. The latest order gives Yameen's opponents a majority in the 85-member parliament. Hundreds of supporters of Nasheed's opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) took to the streets today to celebrate the court decision. Several activists gathered outside an MDP office and chanted slogans demanding Yameen's impeachment. It was not immediately clear when the political prisoners would be freed or what prompted the action by the court. But earlier this week opposition figures jointly petitioned the court to remove Yameen and order an investigation into corruption allegations against him. Opposition figures including Nasheed and another five dissidents named in today's order have united against the president. They accuse him of "unprecedented corruption, including unjust enrichment from appropriation of state properties and funds for personal benefit, for the benefit of his family and political associates". Among those who petitioned the top court was Yameen's half-brother and former president Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, whose legislator son, Faris Maumoon, had been arrested. He was among those whose release the court ordered. Also among them is Ahmed Adeeb, Yameen's erstwhile deputy, who is serving a 15-year jail term after being convicted on a charge of attempted assassination in September 2015. Another key dissident, Qasim Ibrahim, who helped Yameen in the 2013 run-off election, was also ordered to be released. He, however, is not in the Maldives. Like Nasheed, he also obtained prison leave for medical treatment and has remained in Europe. Almost all key opposition leaders and a number of ruling party dissidents have either been jailed or gone into exile in the Maldives in recent years under Yameen. The president took office in 2013 after winning a controversial run-off vote against Nasheed. The former president was jailed in 2015, but granted prison leave in 2016 for medical treatment in London, where he secured political asylum. Last year he announced his intention to return and run for president in elections due later this year, but he was prevented by the criminal conviction against him. A UN panel has ruled that his imprisonment was illegal and asked the regime to pay him compensation -- an order ignored by Yameen's administration. The United States has said democracy is under threat in the strategically located archipelago of 340,000 Sunni Muslims, which sits on key international shipping lanes. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Opposition parties in the Maldives today demanded the immediate resignation of President Abdulla Yameen after the island nation's top court ordered the release of nine key political prisoners, clearing the way for exiled former leader Mohamed Nasheed to return to Nasheed, 50, the country's first democratically-elected leader, was sentenced to 13 years in jail on terror charges in 2015 over the arbitrary arrest of chief criminal judge Abdullah Muhammed during his presidency. The UK granted him asylum after he was authorised to seek medical treatment there amid mounting foreign pressure. The ruling by the Supreme Court came yesterday during the hearing of a petition by the joint opposition which had sought the removal of President Yameen, alleging corruption, misrule and rights abuses. Though the judges did not deliver a judgment on that request, they ordered the release of nine political prisoners, saying the trials against them violated the Maldives' Constitution and international law. The apex court also reinstated 12 members of parliament who had defected to the Opposition and lost their seats last year. Nasheed, who is among the prisoners ordered freed, said in a tweet: "Welcome tonight's SC ruling calling for the immediate release of political prisoners and the restoration of their civil and political rights. President Yameen must abide by this ruling and resign. Urge all citizens to avoid confrontation and engage in peaceful political activity". The Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), in a statement issued here, demanded the immediate resignation of Yameen in light of the ruling. The MDP activists are based here. The Supreme Court ruling also stated that political pressure was put on the prosecutors and the courts during the trials, the MDP claimed. Hundreds of MDP supporters celebrated the judgment in Male while demanding Yameen's impeachment. It was not immediately clear when the political leaders would be released from the prison. While President Yameen's term in office will end in November this year, according to the Constitution, the presidential elections are to be held in August. Nasheed was narrowly defeated in 2013 by President Yameen. Nasheed says his conviction on terror charges was politically motivated. The Maldivian government holds that Nasheed is convicted for a crime and is wanted in the Maldives to serve a jail sentence. Nasheed said he will seek UN support to ensure he is allowed to contest. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today called the state's Congress leaders "pygmies" and reminded them that without the Trinamool Congress, the party cannot function in Delhi. She also slammed the Congress for hobnobbing with the CPI-M to oppose her government. "The Congress and the CPI-M are one. They are made for each other. It is nothing new. I know how it had extended support to CPI-M," she said in the assembly while relying to a debate on the motion of thanks to the Governor's address to the house. "Without us Congress cannot function in Delhi. Let the state Congress leaders ask their party leaders in Delhi," she said. "The Congress leaders here are pygmies," she said adding that Sonia Gandhi had congratulated her yesterday after her party's victory in the bypolls in West Bengal. "I too congratulated her (for Congress' victory in the Rajasthan bypoll). Congress members staged walkout in the state assembly along with the CPI-M when Banerjee rose to speak. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Police today arrested a man, suspected to be part of a counterfeit currency racket, from Basta Police station limit in Balasore district and seized 100 fake notes of face value of Rs 2,000 each from his possession. Police made the arrest based on an investigation and leads from two students, who were earlier caught circulating fake notes in the market here on Wednesday. The two students were detained by the locals of Baripada town and later handed over to Rasagobindpur police. They were trying to purchase clothes from a store in Baripada by using the fake notes. According to additional SP Dinajan Nayak, 100 fake notes of face value of Rs 2,000 have been recovered from the arrested and further investigation into the incident is on. Nayak said that during interrogation, the accused has admitted that he purchased the 100 counterfeit notes of Rs 2,000 each by paying Rs 10,000 to a man in West Bengal. Both had earlier worked together in Chennai, Nayak said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis today said his government had acted positively on the Maratha reservation issue and the matter was now in court. He was speaking at the launch of several schemes to provide financial assistance to economically backward enterpreneurs under the Chhatrapati Rajaram Maharaj Entrepreneurship and Skill Development campaign being implemented by the Skill Development and Entrepreneurship department. Fadnavis said these schemes would encourage farming and community agriculture, adding that over 2.5 lakh youth would be trained in farming and allied businesses. He launched four schemes- personal loan interest refund scheme, group project loan interest refund scheme, group project loan scheme, and the Shetkari Kushal Yojana- to provide financial assistance to economically backward entrepreneurs. He said that creating jobs for the youth was the responsibility of the state. "We have launched these four schemes and the Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj Shikshan Pratipurti Yojana for 602 study programmes to provide new avenues to students. Hostel facilities have been made available to students through the Dr Panjabrao Deshmukh Hostel Scheme," the Chief Minister said. He said that the Annasaheb Patil Economically Backward Development Corporation was preparing a "project appraisal system" under which banks will extend advances and the corporation would pay interest on them. The Cabinet Sub Committee would review the schemes every fortnight and remove hurdles in their implementation, he added. Stating that larger investments were required in community farming, Fadnavis appealed to agro-businessmen and farmers to come together. "We started using urea in 1906 for farming and even after 112 years we have not found an alternative to it," Fadanvis said, emphasising on the need for scientific and experimental farming to increase the quality and quantity of the produce. Revenue Minister Chandrakant Patil said that the four schemes being implemented would generate jobs, adding that nearly 2.50 lakh farmers and youth would be provided skill development training for self-employment and business. Under this, training in 34 farm-related study programmes had been included, he said. Patil said officials of the Annasaheb Patil Economically Backward Development Corporation would be visiting each district and holding meetings of farmers and youth to inform them about these schemes. Minister Eknath Shinde said that these schemes were prepared in such a way that they would reach the common masses and benefit them. Skill Development Minister Sambhaji Patil-Nilangekar said that farming in Israel was considered to be the most progressive as that country was using scientific experiments and technology to enrich their agriculture. "We must follow this system in Maharashtra by adopting modern techniques," he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Medical device manufacturers have been left disappointed by the Budget 2018-19, saying their concerns have not been addressed. Although they welcomed Finance Minister Arun Jaitley's mega healthcare proposal saying it was a step in the right direction, domestic medical devices makers said promised reforms and anticipated conducive measures to boost local manufacturing have not happened. On the other hand, associations such as Medical Technology Association of India (MTaI) and AdvaMed said the government should not dis-incentivise technical innovation by medical device manufacturers. "It is frustrating that against our expectations, the government has not included any measures for promoting growth of USD 10 billion Indian Medical Device market in the Budget 2018-19 as has been done for consumer electronics, food processing, footwear, etc," Association of Indian Medical Device Industry (AiMeD) Forum Coordinator Rajiv Nath said. Though the Budget's focus on providing universal healthcare services is a step in the right direction for building a healthy nation, the domestic industry is left in the lurch by not giving it necessary protection against imports, he added. "Nominal tweaking in custom duty applicable to medical devices is urgently needed to address Rs 27,300 crore import bill and 70-90 per cent import dependency," Nath said. One of the important steps the government needs to take is to increase the basic import duty on medical devices in the range of 10-15 per cent to make manufacturing more viable than importing, and give nominal protection to investors, he added. Taking a contrarian line, Medical Technology Association of India (MTaI) Chairman & DG Pavan Choudary said: "While access to basic healthcare is an important determinant of Universal Healthcare, another critical factor is quality of healthcare". The latter requires access to advance healthcare technology for best health management of patients. The government should have looked at incentivising import of advance medical devices into the country by bringing down the customs duty, he added. Under the current ecosystem more than 70 per cent of medical devices have to be imported from abroad, Choudary said. He further said a balanced approach to reduce cost to patient is trade margin rationalisation for distributors, gradation in pricing thereby allowing a higher price bracket for superior medical devices and lower customs duty. There is also a need to undo the 'un-nuanced' price control imposed by NPPA as it is leading to unintended consequences on healthcare ecosystem without any significant reduction in the cost of patients, he added. Advanced Medical Technology Association (AdvaMed) also said: "We are truly encouraged with the Union Budget's focus on healthcare and the government's continued commitment towards achieving the long-term goal of universal health coverage". While the Budget this year has exhibited many positives, the industry continues to urge the government of India to promote an enabling environment for the medical devices sector that is conducive to innovation, patient access and patient choice, it added. AdvaMed said there is a need for a more scientific approaches that facilitate differential pricing for innovative medical technologies. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) With Leader of Opposition in the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly Omar Abdullah drawing a parallel between the PDP-BJP alliance and the "deal with the devil", Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Friday said she can accept going to hell to save Kashmir. During his address, Abdullah narrated the story of Faust and Satan - the pact between a person and Satan or a lesser demon in which the person offers his or her soul in exchange for diabolical favours and said today's situation reminds him of the story. Abdullah on Friday demanded the constitution of a high-level special investigation team (SIT) to probe the killings of three people in firing by security forces when a convoy was attacked by stone-pelters in Shopian district. "You (Mehbooba) have also entered into such a trade politically for six years of rule. They (BJP) gave you full six years of rule with respect, dignity, honour, with a design to take away your political soul," Omar said. The former CM said the end of this story depends upon you. In case, she (Mehbooba) wants to save herself from the fire of hell (as per the story), then it better to take corrective measures. "You undertake prayers like Faust, bring change in the governance of this state so that you can restore your political soul and save yourself from fire of hell," he said. Responding to Omar's comments, Mufti said she doesn't believe in mythology and stories. "Now, he (Omar) has left by giving me fatwa of going to hell but I feel that God has given us the paradise - the paradise of Kashmir," Mehbooba told the Assembly after Omar had left the House. She said, "I can accept going to hell a hundred times to save this paradise. I will be happy to do that if I can be able to bring people out of this hell here. It will not be a big price for me to pay." Mehbooba, who was replying to a discussion on the budgetary demands of the home department, said she can sacrifice herself if people of Jammu and Kashmir could get rid of their agony and pain. She said it was the mission of former chief minister and her father Mufti Mohammad Sayeed to pull the people of the state out of the vicious circle of violence. Reacting to Abdullah's remarks, Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh said, "He (Omar) is adding fuel to the fire with his remarks. He has targeted security forces. He has tried to create polarisation between Kashmir and rest of India." The deputy chief minister said he had high respect for Abdullah but lost it today. Police today booked a Congress MLA, Hemant Katare, on charges of abduction and rape after a 21-year old journalism student, currently in jail for allegedly extorting money from Katare, filed a complaint. Bhopal South's Superintendent of Police (SP) Rahul Kumar Lodha today said, "A case under IPC sections 376 (rape), 342 (wrongful confinement) and 506 (criminal intimidation) was registered against Hemant Katare on the complaint of the woman, who is currently lodged in Bhopal Central Jail." The journalism student was arrested on January 24 for trying to extort money from the Ater (Bhind) MLA. Lodha said that a case against Katare was registered after the journalism student's complaint was forwarded to police authorities by the superintendent of Bhopal Central Jail, where she is currently lodged. When asked about the possibility of Katare's arrest, Lodha said further action would be taken following completion of investigations, including recording the woman's statement in court as well as a medical examination. Earlier on January 24, the student (21), was arrested after she demanded Rs 2 crore from Katare and then came forward to collect the first installment of Rs 5 lakh, police said. Katare had complained that the woman had been calling him since January 17 threatening to file a rape case against him if he did not pay Rs 2 crore to settle the issue. Following the case against Katare today, the Congress said that it was an effort to harass Katare. "This is being done to harass Katare, who himself had filed a complaint against this woman for blackmail. She was caught red-handed while accepting money from Katare," Congress spokesman Pankaj Chaturvedi said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Assam Government today signed an MoU with the National Building Construction Corporation (India) Limited to build a Twin Tower Trade Centre in Guwahati at a cost of Rs 1950 crore. Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal said the state government decided to build the Twin Tower Trade Centre as it wanted to develop an international environment for business. "This modern tower will give boost to the business in the state," Sonowal asserted. He also mentioned that the state government is organizing a global investors summit from tomorrow to boost employment generation and doubling farmers' income. The twin towers would come up at Basishta Chariali near NH-37 and was expected to be completed within 60 months from the commencement of construction in July this year. "This building will not be just an impressive structure but embody the spirit of progress, aspirations of the youth and world class design", Union Minister of State for Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri said. Puri stressed on the need for improved connectivity for Assam and the North East for becoming a nodal point of business in South East Asia and for prosperity of the region. "These towers would be not only a symbol of the greatness of Assam but also a visible manifestation of the Act East Policy," he added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Myanmar's government has told the Security Council that this month was "not the right time" for a visit by the top UN body to see first-hand the Rohingya refugee crisis, the council president said today. Kuwait's Ambassador Mansour al-Otaibi said Myanmar authorities were not opposed to such a visit, which could take place in March or April. "They just think that this is not the right time for a visit," Otaibi, who holds the council presidency for February, told reporters at UN headquarters. The council has demanded that hundreds of thousands of Muslim Rohingya who were driven out of Rakhine state during an army crackdown be allowed to return. The ambassador said Myanmar authorities were trying to organize a visit for diplomats based in the country, and had emphasized that "tensions are high in Rakhine state at the moment." Nearly 700,000 Rohingya have crossed into Bangladesh and are living in refugee camps since August following the campaign that the United Nations has said was tantamount to ethnic cleansing. Last month, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution calling on UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to name a special envoy for Myanmar, but that appointment has yet to be made. China, a supporter of Myanmar's former ruling junta, and Russia voted against the resolution. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) North Korean skaters have begun training a day after arriving in South Korea to take part in this month's Winter Olympics. But short-track speed skater Choe Un Song fell and slid into a padded wall during his first practice at the Gangneung Ice Arena today. He was taken to a nearby hospital, and media officials later said an examination showed he wasn't injured seriously. A pair of North Korean figure skaters also practiced at the same venue. They are among 10 North Korean athletes who arrived yesterday in the second and final group of a total of 22 athletes from North Korea who will attend the Winter Games. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Realtors body NAREDCO today made several demands to achieve the target of 'Housing For All' by 2022, including halving the GST rate to 6 per cent, incentives to promote rental homes and infrastructure status for the entire residential segment. NAREDCO's representatives made these demands in a meeting with senior officials of the PMO. They also thanked the government for its recent decision to reduce GST rate on affordable housing to 8 per cent. The association hailed the Budget but said more needs to be done for the real estate sector to meet the target of Housing for All by 2022. "GST rate should be 6 per cent for entire housing sector," NAREDCO President Niranjan Hiranandani told reporters here. He also talked about the need to promote rental housing and sought "enough incentive" for development of such homes. On the Budget proposals for real estate, Hiranandani said: "We are not really happy... Happiness is a state of mind, it is more about expectation. We had a lot of expectations." However, he said a lot has been done for this sector in last two years, including infrastructure status for affordable housing. Hiranandani said the sector needs more incentives if 'Housing for All' has to be achieved by 2022. NAREDCO will also meet senior officials of the housing ministry and plans to present its wish-list to the finance minister. "We held a meeting with PMO officials. We will also send our representation to PMO soon with suggestions to boost real estate sector and achieve Housing For All mission," he said. Apart from GST cut and sops for rental housing, he said the government should take a re-look at the concept of notional rent. "It is unhealthy for the industry as well as for the people...If there is a vacant flat then you will be charged a tax based on notional rent," he said. NAREDCO Vice-Chairman Parveen Jain welcomed the Budget announcement that no adjustment shall be made in respect of transactions in immovable property where the circle rate value does not exceed 5 per cent of the consideration. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A new (MIP) aimed at connecting Indian companies with the northern regions of England has been set up to further trade, investment, science and innovation ties between India and Britain. The public-private initiative between India and Manchester, a core city of what has been termed as the Northern Powerhouse in Britain, is backed by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and will have permanent full-time teams based in Manchester, Delhi and Bangalore. Jim O'Neill, the economist who coined the phrase BRICS in reference to Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa as the emerging economies of the world, officially launched the partnership at an event hosted by the Indo-British All Party Parliamentary Group on the terrace of the Houses of Parliament on Thursday. "Between 2015 and 2035, just the increase in India's working age population will be bigger than the combined working age populations of the four largest countries in the European Union (EU). If that translates into real economic life, in my judgement, India could easily repeat what China has done in the last 30 years in growing by double digits," O'Neill said, adding that more needs to be done to achieve that double-digit growth. "India could grow at 12.5 per cent...because of the demographics, India could do some much better. For the Manchester-India Partnership, it means a much bigger opportunity than China because demographics will start slowing down there," he said. The Chair of the Manchester-India Partnership, Manchester Airport CEO Andrew Cowan, made a call for direct flights to connect Manchester and cities in India to further boost the partnership, founded by the Manchester Airport Group, Deloitte, Growth Company, MIDAS and Greater Manchester Local Enterprise Partnership. Rona Fairhead, Minister of State in the UK Department for International Trade, said Indian companies can now "make in India but innovate in Manchester", a cityshe described as the second-largest gateway to the UK for Indian companies. "The numbers show just how significantly Indian companies have been investing in Britain and how good that has been for job creation and innovation in our country," she said. Indian High Commissioner to the UK Y K Sinha stressed that India's "success story" needs more attention by the media worldwide. "There must be a reason why people are queuing up to woo India. There must be something right India is doing but I am afraid that story is not being well publicised," he said. "This year we will grow at 7.1-7.2 per cent and next year, according to the World Bank, 7.8 per cent, which by any standards is a lot. The government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the last few years has achieved more than governments in the past over similar periods because of the emphasis on the mantra of development for all," Sinha noted. He also flagged the Commonwealth Heads of Government (CHOGM) in the UK in April as an important avenue to revive the institution, which has suffered from "benign neglect" in the past. Modi is expected to attend the summit in London, as part of a wider India-UK bilateral visit. "The time has come to give the Commonwealth a particular focus and make it meaningful for member-states," Sinha said. A walkthrough exhibition of Indian companies at the Manchester India Partnership launch was represented by Indian companies like Tata, Tech Mahindra, HCL Technologies, ICICI, Union Bank, Hero Cycles, Air India and Varana Worldto highlight the diversity of sectors where Indian companies operate in the UK such as technology, manufacturing, services, banking and financial services, tourism, fashion and luxury products. "There's probably never been more attention on the economic relationship between the UK and India, as India undertakes significant market reforms and the UK prepares to leave the EU.Its time, therefore, to put the spotlight on the huge contribution which Indian businesses make to the British economy," said David Landsman, Chair of the CII India Business Forumand Executive Director, Tata Limited. A man accused of forcing a Gujarat- based woman to convert and attempting to sell her off to ISIS terrorists in Syria has been taken into custody by the NIA, an official of the agency said today. "Muhammed Riyaz Rasheed was intercepted at the Chennai airport on his arrival from Jeddah and we are examining him at Chennai," the official of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) said here. The development comes days after the NIA said it has registered a case against nine people hailing from Kerala and Bangalore for allegedly being involved in forcibly converting the 25-year-old woman, who hails from Pathanamthitta district of Kerala and is settled in Gujarat. They have also been accused of involvement in attempting to sell her off to ISIS terrorists in Syria. Rasheed, who also hails from Kerala, is the main accused in the case. He is expected to be produced before the NIA special court here tomorrow after the agency records his arrest. The Central government informed the Kerala High Court four days ago that the NIA has taken over the probe into the matter and registered a case against nine people. The Centre has said that it suo motu entrusted the investigation into the case to NIA in view of the seriousness of the alleged offence. The NIA has filed an FIR before the special court in Ernakulam here against the nine people under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act. The nine have also been charged under various IPC sections for offences, including rape, forgery and forced religious conversion, the Centre has said. The Centre's response was filed in an affidavit over a petition by the woman seeking an NIA probe into her alleged forced religious conversion and attempt to traffic her to Syria after marriage. Earlier in January, the Ernakulam Rural police had arrested two persons in connection with the case. The woman, in her complaint to police, has alleged that Rasheed pretended to be in love with her when she was studying in Bengaluru in 2014 and forced her to convert to Islam and married her. She has also accused Rasheed of luring her and taking objectionable pictures of her, besides illegally confining her. After forging documents for a fake passport, he had taken her to Jeddah in Saudi Arabia in August last year and tried to take her to Syria to join Islamic State, she has said. The woman has alleged that eight other persons had assisted Rasheed in committing the crime. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has directed the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) to review the ongoing "sheet piling" work on the Yamuna riverfront in the temple town of Vrindavan. A bench headed by acting chairperson Justice U D Salvi said that the work carried out by the Uttar Pradesh Irrigation Department would be subject to the review by NMCG. The review would be conducted within three months. Sheet piling involves interlocking sheets of metal which are driven using excavators or special vibration machines to form retaining walls during construction. "The work carried out and undertaken by the respondent nos. 3 (UP) and 4 (Irrigation Department) shall be subject to the review done by the NMCG and the respondents shall not claim any equity in that regard and remove the same, if required by NMCG to do so at their cost and expenses. "NMCG shall review the said work carried out and undertaken by the respondent nos. 3 and 4 along the ghats of Mathura and Vrindavan as aforesaid without being influenced by any of the observations made by us within three months," the bench, also comprising expert member Nagin Nanda, said. The tribunal said that the construction work has not been completed and it would be "prudent" to have the entire project reviewed by the NMCG keeping in mind the principles of "sustainable development and precautionary principle". The Uttar Pradesh government, under the Vrindavan rejuvenation project, has proposed "expansion, renovation and beautification" work on three-kilometre riverfront from Kesi Ghat to downstream of the Yamuna river. The project, which proposes expansion of Kesi ghat by 750 metres into the river floodplain, also involves a mechanism to clean tributaries entering the river and construct interceptor drains to counter overflow of sewer into the river. The tribunal was hearing a plea filed by nature enthusiast Akash Vashishtha, who claimed that reclamation of the eco-sensitive Yamuna floodplain is being carried out in gross violation of the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 and the provisions of the EIA Notification of 2006. The plea, filed through advocate Rahul Choudhary, had contended that the project proponent was encroaching right into the river floodplain in order to create space for a new ghat and an interceptor pipeline. This expansion was taking place over and above the already encroached land consisting of illegal colonies and other construction projects. "Direct the concerned respondents to restore the river bed and floodplain of Yamuna and its ghats after removing the pipeline and any other construction done, and demolition and removal of 21 colonies identified by Mathura-Vrindavan Development Authority as illegal," the plea had said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal today told the Delhi High Court that no FIR has been lodged against him in Goa on the Election Commission's (EC) direction for his bribery remarks during assembly polls there in January 2017. The court was hearing Kejriwal' plea challenging the EC's January 29 order in which it had directed the Chief Electoral Officer of Goa to lodge an FIR against Kejriwal for his remarks about bribes made at poll rallies in the state on January 7-8 last year. Kejriwal's lawyer told Justice Rekha Palli today that according to information received under the RTI Act, no FIR has been lodged against him anywhere in Goa in connection with the remarks. The court, thereafter, asked the lawyer for the EC to take instructions on whether any FIR has been lodged, since during the last hearing the Commission had said such an action has been taken. The court also said whether an FIR has been lodged or not, Kejriwal's plea challenging the EC's letter was infructuous. With the observation, the court listed the matter for further hearing on February 26. Kejriwal in his plea has alleged that the poll panel's January 29, 2017 order had curtailed his right to free speech. During his series of rallies in Goa between January 7-8, Kejriwal had appealed to voters to "accept money from the Congress and BJP candidates but vote for the AAP." The BJP had filed two complaints against Kejriwal seeking his prosecution under various sections of Indian Penal Code for asking voters to accept money. Congress too had condemned his statement. The poll panel had, thereafter, directed that a complaint be lodged against the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader under the provisions of the Representation of the People Act dealing with bribing voters and relevant sections of the IPC. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) No candidate filed papers today, the third day of filing of nominations for the February 27 Nagaland Assembly election, officials said. The filing of nominations in the north-eastern started following the issuance of the poll notification by the Election Commission (EC) on January 31. The Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Nagaland, Abhijit Sinha, said no candidate had filed nominations for the election so far. The last date of filing of nominations is February 7. In a significant development yesterday, the BJP, after backing out of a joint declaration signed by all the parties in Nagaland to boycott the polls, announced that it would contest the election. The media cell convener of the BJP's Nagaland unit, K James Vizo, had yesterday said that after a thorough deliberation, "it was agreed upon that the BJP would contest the election as scheduled for the cause of a solution in the state." The BJP, an ally of the ruling Naga People's Front (NPF), is yet to finalise its candidates, while both the parties have not come to any conclusion on seat-sharing for the election to the 60-member state Assembly. Vizo said the party leaders were holding discussions with the national leaders to finalise the candidates, while talks were also going on with the NPF over seat-sharing. Rajya Sabha member and NPF secretary general K G Kenye said the party had entrusted its president, Shurhozelie Liezietsu, and Chief Minister T R Zeliang with the task of finalising the candidates and taking a decision on seat- sharing with the BJP. Except for the BJP, no political party in Nagaland, including the NPF and opposition Congress, has made any official statement on contesting the polls. But they have said they will file nominations if any party does so first. "The NPF, as a party, has solemnly pledged its allegiance to the principle of socialism, secularism and democracy. However, our commitment towards a solution to the Naga political issue shall continue as in the past," a party statement said. Nagaland Congress secretary Moa Imchen told PTI that the first list of the party's candidates was approved by the All India Congress Committee (AICC), but the party would stand firm on its commitment that unless the other parties filed nominations, it would not do so. Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party's (NDPP) working president Nuzota Swuro said, "We are mentally and physically prepared to contest the election, but everything depends on the filing of nominations by the other political parties." JD(U) Nagaland convener Senchumo NSN Lotha said the party was preparing to contest from at least 10 seats, if the polls were held. The Core Committee of Nagaland Tribal Hoho and Civil Organisation (CCNTHCO) has asked the presidents and office- bearers of all the apex tribal bodies and civil society organisations to attend a meeting here tomorrow to chart the future course of action. A joint declaration was signed by all the political parties in the state on January 29 not to contest the polls, in solidarity with the call of the Naga tribal organisations and civil society. But the BJP backed out the next day, stating that the final call on the issue would be taken by its central leaders. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Nobel Laureates Prof Richard J Roberts and Prof Christiane Nusslein-Volhard today advised students that endurance was the key to success in any scientific discovery. The Nobel Laureates were speaking here at the Nobel Series organised by Nobel Media and Goa government's Department of Science and Technology. It began yesterday and will continue for three days. The dialogues were held in two sessions, moderated by Dr Mattias Fyrenius and Dr K Vijayraghvan respectively. Prof Carl Harris, Chairman of the Nobel Foundation, Sweden participated in the first session. While addressing the gathering, Prof Roberts said that parents are overprotecting their children, especially in the cities. "Children living in the farms are healthier and closer to nature. Parents must let their children free to explore the wonders of science. We must follow our own interests and develop talent. If you do not like a field, do not hesitate in switching, take risks," he said. While answering a question raised by a student about essentials of the best research, Prof Volhard claimed that a good surrounding or environment was essential for best results. "A healthy setting broadens our views. Be your own master and discover things. Learn from what you have," Prof Volhard stated. Answering a question about work-life balance, the laureates agreed that its their love for science which has kept them motivated. "If one wants to jump into the field of research, it is mandatory that one travels to foreign universities in order to derive new perspectives and to broaden scientific horizons. However, after a certain period of time, they must return to their homeland. India is a hub of the worlds best universities. Hence, make the best use of your own resources," stated Prof Roberts said. "Find a niche which is less populated. It helps in building realistic and original content. Have confidence in yourself and believe that nothing is impossible. Come out with good ideas. Understand the basics, read more books, sort out your priorities, be creative and love science. Only then will you succeed," Prof Volhard said. In the second session, Prof Serge Haroche and Prof Tomas Lindahl spoke about teams in scientific research. "To obtain the best research project, one must have colleagues who have a different viewpoint. If you have a good team, you get the best results," Prof Haroche said. Prof Lindahl stressed the need for a strong education system which recognized the importance of science. "Science is a universal agent of truth. Understanding its history is essential. It is important not to be misguided and to be careful with your opinions. The foundation training should be robust," he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik today once again urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to ask the Union Ministry of Water Resources to instruct neighbouring Chhattishgarh to stop construction work of projects on the upstream of river Mahanadi immediately. The chief minister also urged the prime minister to implement the order of the Supreme Court by constituting a tribunal immediately. "... pending the constitution and functioning of the tribunal, I would be grateful, if you could kindly instruct the Water Resources ministry to issue necessary administrative direction ... to Chhattishgarh to stop the construction work of the ongoing projects, particularly the ongoing six barrages across river Mahanadi," Patnaik wrote to the prime minister. If the construction of these ongoing work is not stopped immediately, Patnaik said: "then my government would be forced to meet a situation of fait accompli frustrating the adjudication under the provision of the Act of 1956 enacted by the Parliament pursuant to Article 262 (1) of the Constitution of India." Patnaik, who has also written similar letters to the Prime Minister on November 7, 2017, November 17, 2017 and December 12, 2017, said a tribunal should be formed by issuing necessary notification under section 4(1) of the Inter-State River Dispute Act, 1956. Patnaik said the Supreme Court has passed an order on January 23, 2018 directing the Central Government to constitute the Tribunal within a period of one month under section 4(1) of the Act of 1956 for adjudicating the inter-state dispute (emerging from the complaint dated 19.11.2016 filed by Odisha government). Patnaik said the Apex Court judgement, as a first step, has brought the sense of relief to the people of Odisha by way of protecting the age old rights and interests in the waters of Mahanadi. "I would like to emphasise that 60 per cent of the population of Odisha depends on Mahanadi waters for meeting the needs of irrigation and drinking water. The ecology and environment dependent on Mahanadi is far too important to be ignored," Patnaik mentioned in the letter. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Leader of Opposition in Jammu and Kashmir Assembly Omar Abdullah today demanded the constitution of a high-level special investigation team (SIT) to probe the killings of three people in firing by security forceswhen a convoy was attacked by stone-pelters in Shopian district. "It will be my humble request to you to constitute high- level special investigation team (SIT) to probe both the FIRs (in Shopian incident). Please give orders to set up a high- level SIT and leave it to them to investigate," Omar said in Assembly. He was speaking on the grants of home, general administration, planning departments moved by Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti today. Omar said that there was now a "battle" over two separate FIRs filed by the police and the Army, and that it would be difficult for a station house officer (SHO) to probe the matter. He said that the magisterial probe, ordered by the state government after incident, would continue separately. The Army has submitted its version of the January 27 incident, when its convoy was attacked in Shopian district, to the Jammu and Kashmir Police and explained its reasons for opening fire at the stone-pelting mob, officials said today. According to the Army's narrative, submitted yesterday, the force's convoy was attacked by a group of stone-pelters and its personnel resorted to firing to save themselves, the officials said. The Army's version comes after the state police registered an FIR about the incident in Ganovpora area of Shopian in south Kashmir in which three youths were killed. The FIR filed by the state police does not name any accused but states that a company of 10 Garhwal Rifles led by Major Aditya was on its way for official duty when it was attacked by an unruly mob with stones. The Shopian incident became a bone of contention between the state's ruling alliance partners PDP and BJP. A BJP legislator demanded on the floor of the House that the FIR against the Army be cancelled. This was, however, turned down by Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, who said the FIR would be taken to its logical conclusion. Taking a dig at the chief minister, Omar asked why no action had been taken in previous FIRs registered against security forces. "You have assured the people of the state that FIR will be taken to conclusion. It is good. But till now, there has been no action on FIRs (registered against security forces in the past)," Omar said. He said that since 2000, the state government had forwarded 50 requests to the Centre to give permission for prosecution of central security forces, particularly the Army, where "we have seen human right violations". "Forty-seven requests were rejected and three are still pending...This is our track record," the former chief minister said. Omar said that the security situation was getting worse in the state. He batted strongly for the grant of compensation to Farooq Ahmed Dar, who was tied to an Army gypsy and paraded through nine villages on the day of bypoll to the Srinagar Lok Sabha constituency. "The Army officer who tied him got award but this youth who voted in elections does not deserve even the compensation?" he wondered. The former chief minister asked Mehbooba Mufti to advise her counterparts in New Delhi not to take decisions for the state from there and to consult the state leadership. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) With one crore villagers being made digitally literate across the country, Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad today said Assam accounts for less than half a per cent of them. "We had set a target of making six crore villagers digitally literate. I'm happy to inform that one crore people are now digitally literate. Out of that, 49,000 are from Assam," the Union Information Technology Minister said at a function here. The 'Common Service Centres' performing various duties digitally in rural areas have an important role in this regard, he said. Prasad said currently 2,892 active CSCs are functioning on Assam, imparting services in Aadhaar Card, PAN Card, insurance services along with host of other areas involving digital expertise. "Out of these, 2,311 CSCs are working in gram panchayats. Across India, 10 lakh youths are working in such centres. These will also start selling fertilisers in coming days," he added. The CSCs are also imparting legal counselling to villagers with 7,980 cases across the country, of which 2,054 are from Assam. The Union Minister also informed that BPOs will be opened in Majuli, Silchar, Kokrajhar, Nagaon and Diphu, for which tender process has been initiated. "Already three BPOs have opened in Guwahati and one in Jorhat. I'm very happy to know that the ones in Imphal and Kohima are getting orders from the US," he added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) One person was injured when unidentified persons tonight opened fire at the residence of an RJD MLA here, police said. The legislator escaped unhurt, they said. Upendra Paswan, who represents Bakhri assembly constituency, was at his residence in Kumharso village when two motorcycle-borne miscreants fired three bullets, Garhpura police station SHO Ruby Kant Kachchhap said. MLA's supporter Naval Kishore Sahni, the headmaster of a local school who was seated beside Paswan, received bullet injuries in his stomach and was admitted to a private hospital, he said. It was not yet clear who were the attackers and what was their motive, the SHO said, adding further investigations were underway. Meanwhile, leader of Opposition in the state Assembly Tejashwi Yadav said, "I would like to inform the people of the country that this is the fourth incident of a murderous assault on an RJD MLA since Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's betrayal of mandate in July last year". Kumar exited the Grand Alliance comprising the RJD and the Congress which followed corruption cases against Yadav. The JD(U) leader subsequently formed a new government in Bihar with the BJP. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Over 40,000 personnel of the central paramilitary forces will be deployed to provide security for the upcoming panchayat elections in Jammu and Kashmir, officials said. They said the Union Home Ministry, on the request of the state government, has decided to deploy 300 companies of various Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) for the polls. Of the fresh battalions sanctioned for the task by the home ministry, 85 will be from the Central Reserve Police Force, 75 from the Border Security Force, 55 from the Central Industrial Security Force, 40 from the Sashastra Seema Bal and 45 from the Indo-Tibetan Border Police. Apart from the fresh battalions, 101 training companies of these forces, already present in the state, will also be utilised for the panchayat elections, officials said. A CAPF company has just over 100 personnel. The state government has decided to hold the panchayat elections from February 15 after Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti held a meeting with Governor N N Vohra in December last year. Separatist leaders Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Mohammad Yasin Malik, in a joint statement, had called for a boycott of the elections. Mufti would also chair an all-party meeting to seek views of all political parties in the state on the upcoming polls. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) In a sudden turn of events, the producer of "Padmaavat" today withdrew a petition from the Gujarat High Court seeking a direction to the state government to provide police protection to theatres wanting to screen the movie. Though the matter was not listed, Justice J B Pardiwala allowed an urgent hearing upon the request of lawyers of the petitioner - Viacom 18 Media Private Limited. Pardiala allowed the petitioner to withdraw its plea during the brief hearing. The high court also told the petitioner that the doors of the court were open if it wants to file a plea in the future in this regard. Yesterday, when the matter came up, Pardiwala had deferred the hearing until February 7 after the state government sought an adjournment till Wednesday to file its reply. The film's producer had claimed that exhibitors were ready to screen the Sanjay Leela Bhansali-directed movie in Gujarat but feared violence from fringe groups. A few fringe outfits, including the Karni Sena, have opposed the film based on the saga of the historic 13th century battle between Maharaja Ratan Singh and his army of Mewar and Sultan Alauddin Khilji of Delhi. The groups allege that the film distorted history and showed Queen Padmavati, the central character in the film, in "poor light". The filmmakers have denied the allegations. The film released nationwide on January 25 after the Supreme Court stayed notifications and orders issued by BJP- led governments in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan prohibiting the exhibition of the film. Following the Supreme Court order, some of the theatre owners in Gujarat had announced to screen the movie while some had refrained from screening the film, fearing violence on their premises. A day ahead of the release of the film, agitators, claimed to be from Rajput community, staged violent protests outside three multiplexes in Ahmedabad and torched several vehicles. Following this violent protests, the Gujarat Multiplex Owners Association then announced that no theatre or multiplex in the state would screen "Padmaavat". (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) JuD chief on Friday backtracked from his earlier statement about the alleged role of India and the US in his house arrest, claiming he was detained by the Pakistan government to stop him from raising the Kashmir issue. "It was not the Modi government...but our own Pakistani government that had detained me for 10 months. The Pakistani government wanted to stop me from raising the Kashmir issue," Jamaat-ud-Dawah chief Saeed said while speaking at the Nazria Pakistan Trust here. Earlier, he had blamed India and the US for his detention saying the Pakistani government had put him under house arrest under pressure from India and the US. Saeed was released from house arrest last November. The 2008 Mumbai attack mastermind further said the Pakistan government should not ignore the "atrocities" in Kashmir and play its role to help the Kashmiri people secure freedom. "I fail to understand as to why Islamabad is ignoring the sacrifices of Kashmiri people. Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi should stage a sit-in along with at least five members of his Cabinet outside the office of the UN on February 5 to express solidarity with the Kashmiri people," he said. Saeed, the founder of the Lashkar-e-Taiba, has a bounty of $10 million on his head. He was also critical of the Pakistani media for allegedly speaking India's language. "I really get hurt when I am called a terrorist by elements in the Pakistani media for speaking on the issue of Kashmir," he said. Saeed walked free on November 24 after the Pakistan government decided against detaining him further in any other case, in a setback to India's efforts to bring to justice the perpetrators of the Mumbai terror attack. Pakistan said today that it had killed more than 17,600 militants in counter-terrorism operations started after the 9/11 terror attacks and destroyed their training camps in the restive tribal region bordering Afghanistan. Foreign Office spokesman Mohammad Faisal said at the weekly briefing that Pakistan had also cleared more than 46,000 km of land from terrorists. "Counter-terrorism operations within Pakistan have cleared 46,378 km of land and eliminated 17,614 terrorists, ensuring that our soil is not used against any other territory; we expect the same from our neighbours," he said. US President Donald Trump has asked Pakistan to take "decisive action" against terror groups operating from its soil. Unveiling his first National Security Strategy (NSS), Trump said Pakistan has to intensify its counter-terrorism efforts and help in eliminating terror sanctuaries as America was making "massive payments" to it every year. Faisal said the ongoing counter-terrorism operation Raddul-Fassad which was launched by Pakistan military last year eliminated terrorists especially those belonging to Tehreek-i-Taiban Afghanistan (TTA) and Haqqani Network (HN). "Actions against HN include rooting out of terrorist camps in Waziristan, blocking medical assistance to terrorists & breaking their financing & training camps," he said. Faisal said Pakistan continued to prevent suspected TTA and HN elements from using its soil for any terrorist activity in Afghanistan. He said that 27 individuals suspected of belonging to TTA and HN were handed over to Afghanistan in November 2017. Faisal also alleged that "tensions and escalation by India at the Eastern border adversely impact our counter- terrorism efforts". Pakistan has deployed 202,000 troops for action against militants, the largest counter-terrorism deployment. Faisal said effective border management remained one of Pakistan's prime objectives in preventing cross-border terrorism. "Pakistan has 975 border posts to man Pak-Afghan border; Afghanistan has 218," he said. He said Pakistan was keen to assist the Afghan government while highlighting that on the southern side of the border, "a stretch of 648 km has no check post on the Afghan side". "Large swathes of ungoverned spaces in Afghanistan are leaving a vacuum for safe havens and terrorist sanctuaries to flourish and launch attacks on Pakistan. Incidence of cross- border terrorist attacks from Afghanistan has increased since 2016, and peaked to 417 in 2017," he said. The spokesman also said that "Pakistan continues to share intelligence with more than 70 countries" and has lost 75,000 civilians and 6000 soldiers to the scourge of terrorism. He said Pakistan had one of the highest officer-to- soldier casualty rates globally. Faisal also said his country had suffered economic losses worth USD 123 billions in the war against terrorism. He also mentioned the recent fatwa jointly issued by 1,829 highly qualified religious scholars, condemning terrorism and declaring it contrary to the teachings of Islam. "The fatwa outlaws the use of force by individuals or groups to take up arms against state for imposition of Sharia. The Fatwa also prohibits Pakistani citizens from violating territorial boundaries in the name of helping other armed groups and struggles outside Pakistan, offering intellectual and practical training and recruitment of terrorists," he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Palghar district rural police have requested the Special Inspector General, Konkan Range to transfer the investigation into the case of alleged suicide of Amit Jha, out of the district. Palghar District Rural Superintendent of Police Manjunath Singe, in a statement issued today, said he has requested to the SIG Konkan Range to transfer the probe out of the district as it was necessary to give police a fair chance for investigation. On January 23, the Palghar district police had booked four persons, including a senior police official, for allegedly abetting the suicide. "I have been noticing some messages related to death of Amit Jha. It's important to stay away from rumours and false perceptions. It's even more important to give police a fair chance for investigation," Singe said. "There are rare occasions, where our officers become accused in the FIR. This itself shows that law is equal to everyone. We make no distinction when accused is police officer or someone else. "For the fair investigation of the cases, I have requested Special Inspector General, Konkan to transfer the investigation out of Palghar district and give it to some officer outside district," the statement said. Amit Jha, who consumed poison on January 20, died at a Mumbai hospital on January 22. Jha is the brother of Vikas Jha, who had tried to set himself ablaze in November last year inside the office of a Deputy Superintendent of Police, police had said. Amit Jha had alleged that police did not take any action in the case involving his brother and hence consumed poison. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik today said emhasis should be given on the preservation of cultural identity and heritage of Bhubaneswar while developing it into a smart city. The state government has been doing so, besides promoting tourism and best practices in this field while developing Bhubaneswar as a smart city, he said inaugurating the fifth International Biennial Conference organised by the Indian Heritgae Cities Network Foundation, UNESCO and housing and urban development department. Stating that more cultural sites of Odisha should come into the purview of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites, he said "My government is committed towards taking steps towards identifying, preserving and protecting these sites through listing and documentation, preparation of tourism promotion and conservation plans and developing heritage resource management plan." He said along with development of modern amenities and facilities, the cities should also be vibrant with the socio-cultural life centered on art, craft and heritage. There are several cities in India and abroad where this has been done. The chief minister said he was hopeful that the conference will be a platform for exchange of ideas and best practices in this field. Stating that Odisha is known for its rich cultural heritage with Bhubaneswar at the centre stage, Patnaik said the state's Kalingan style of temple architecture, which is seen in places around Bhubaneswar, Puri and Konark, dates back to the 7th century A.D and is a great attraction to the people visiting this part of the country. Some monuments of Odisha such as the Sun Temple at Konark, the Jain caves at Khandagiri and Udayagiri have preserved their glorious history over thousands of years. Bhubaneswars cultural heritage is epitomized by Ekamra Khestra, which has been the cultural capital over the centuries, he said. The chief minister said the state's monuments and the associated cultural activities play an important role in the lives of people of Odisha and give them a special identity. "It is thus necessary to create awareness about our cultural heritage, their protection and preservation from the continuous onslaught of development and its related effect," he said. Shingeru Aoyagi, Director and UNESCO Representative to India-Bhutan, Maldivies and Sri Lanka also spoke on the occasion. Patnaik also inaugurated an exhibition of architecture competition at the venue. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Press Council of India (PCI) has sought a report from the Meghalaya government on the recent assault on a journalist allegedly by timber smugglers in West Khasi Hills district, the Council said today. Biplap Dey, a freelance journalist, had gone to Athiabari area of the district, along with a driver and his friend, to investigate timber smuggling business when he was attacked and his camera and mobile phone damaged by alleged timber smugglers, police had said. "Taking suo-motu cognisance of the issue, the (PCI) chairman has directed the government of Meghalaya through chief secretary, secretary (Home), director general of police, superintendent of police, West Khasi Hills district to file a report on the facts of the case," the PCI said in a statement. The Shillong Press Club (SPC) has condemned the attack on the journalist and sought action against the perpetrators. The Meghalaya Electronic Media Association has also urged the authorities to take action against the groups involved in both the attack and in smuggling. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) US Vice President Mike Pence today called Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and discussed the current situation in Afghanistan in the aftermath of a series of recent terrorist attacks. "The vice president noted that attacks like these only highlight the barbarity and cowardice of the insurgency, and strengthen America's resolve to support Afghanistan and its national unity government," the White House said. This was the first conversation between the two leaders after the last week's Kabul attacks. During the call, Pence expressed the US administration's condolences for the recent terrorist attacks against the Afghan people, and recognised the bravery of the Afghan security forces. Pence and Ghani reaffirmed the enduring bonds and close alliance between the US and Afghanistan, the White House said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The process to appoint a new vice chancellor of the Banaras Hindu University (BHU) has not yet been completed, the HRD ministry said today. Earlier in the day, a source in the BHU had claimed that B A Chopade, the current vice chancellor of the Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University in Aurangabad, has been appointed to the post which was lying vacant since last year. "The process of appointment of the BHU VC is still underway. The selection panel appointed for the purpose will shortlist the names which will be communicated to the President, who is Visitor to the university," a spokesperson of the human resource development ministry said. The post has been lying vacant since October last year when Girish Chandra Tripathi, who was the vice chancellor, went on indefinite leave two months before his tenure was to end following a spate of protests at the university triggered by an incident of alleged eve-teasing. The BHU is among the 43 central universities in the country and the appoinment of its VC has to be cleared by the President. Registrar of the university Neeraj Tripathi has been holding additional charge of the VC's post since then. Girish Chandra Tripathi had proceeded on leave after indications that the central government was upset with him for the manner in which he had handled the incident as well as subsequent protests by women students. The trouble started when a number of students, including women, and two journalists were injured in a baton-charge by the police after a protest against the alleged eve-teasing incident turned violent. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A top railway workers' union official, who also represents central government employees, today wrote to Union ministers Arun Jaitley and Piyush Goyal expressing disappointment over the 2018-19 Budget. The letters to the finance and the railway ministers by Shiv Gopal Mishra, General Secretary, All India Railwaymen's Federation, states the workers were "aggrieved" because "none of the budget announcements addressed their welfare" issue. Mishra is also the Secretary of the Joint Consultative Machinary for central government employees. In both the letters, the union has complained the Rs 40,000 standard deduction introduced in the Budget for government employees will not benefit them because of enhancement in the education cess by one per cent. "Moreover, exemption already available for transport and medical reimbursement has been done away with by this announcement in the Budget. "All this has created an atmosphere of depression in the minds of the hard-working railwaymen," the letters said. In the letter to Goyal, the union has said the issue of long-pending demands of improvement in minimum wages has not been addressed. The union has demanded the enhancement of exemption from income tax to minimum Rs 4 lakh. "I hope, you will kindly intervene at this juncture and pursue the finance minister and prime minister to give some relief to the salaried class of this country by enhancing Income Tax Slabs and resolving their long-pending demands," Mishra has said in his letter to Goyal. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Supreme Court today sought the response of the Telangana government and Bollywood producer Karim Morani on a plea seeking cancellation of his regular bail granted in a rape case. Morani has been accused by a 25-year-old woman of "aggravated", "brutal rape" over a period of six months. The woman has claimed in her petition that she was raped under threat of elimination by the underworld and circulation of her nude pictures possibly taken during alleged assaults. A bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud issued notice to the Telangana government and Morani and sought their response in six weeks. The apex court on September 22 last year had dismissed the plea of Morani challenging the Hyderabad High Court verdict cancelling his anticipatory bail in the case. It had asked the film producer to surrender before the Telangana Police in connection with the case. The high court on September 5 last year had upheld the decision of the sessions court refusing anticipatry bail to Morani. The sessions court had taken note of the fact that Morani, who has now been acquitted in 2G spectrum allocation case, had concealed the fact that he was facing trial in the high-profile corruption case and had been in jail for several months. An FIR was filed by an aspiring actor alleging that she was raped by the film producer. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A rare 200 million-year-old ichthyosaur species has been discovered from a private collection, 22 years after it was originally found. Ichthyosaurs were a type of sea-going reptiles that lived during the time of the dinosaurs. In 2016, Dean Lomax from the University of Manchester in the UK described an ichthyosaur skeleton that he had examined in the collections of Leicester's New Walk Museum and Art Gallery. He spotted several unusual features of the bones and determined that the features were unique and represented a new species, which he called Wahlisaurus massarae. "When Wahlisaurus was announced, I was a little nervous about what other palaeontologists would make of it, considering the new species was known only from a single specimen," Lomax said. "My analysis suggested it was something new, but some palaeontologists questioned this and said it was just 'variation' of an existing species," he said. Lomax then teamed up with fossil collector, Simon Carpenter, of Somerset and rediscovered a specimen. It had an almost complete coracoid bone (part of the pectoral girdle) with exactly the same unique features of the same bone in Wahlisaurus. The specimen was originally collected in 1996, in a quarry in northern Somerset. The new discovery, published in the Geological Journal, is from a time known as the Triassic-Jurassic boundary, right after a world-wide mass extinction. For these reasons, the researchers have been unable to determine exactly whether the ichthyosaur was latest Triassic or earliest Jurassic in age, although it is roughly 200 million-year-old. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A Trinamool Congress member in the Rajya Sabha today expressed concern over the practice of judges appointing judges and sought that the earlier exercise of consultation between the judiciary and the government should be resumed. Moving a private member's bill on the issue of judges' appointment, senior TMC leader Sukhendu Sekhar Ray also indirectly referred to the recent press conference by four senior-most judges of the Supreme Court and said "I want this debate to continue and the matter discussed again and again and the issue kept alive. "This government must intervene to address the problem because it has already come to the surface," he asserted. "A press conference was held recently and something is being held which is not very healthy for our democracy," Ray said while moving his Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2017 (amendment of article 366) for consideration and passage. Apparently opposing the practice of Collegium system for appointing judges, he said "India is the only country in the world, where judges appoint judges." He said his legisation intended to amend the Constitution to restore the pre-1993 process for selection of judges of high courts and Supreme Court and sought a debate on the matter. Prior to the first judgment on the matter in 1993, as a matter of convention the government used to consult the Chief Justice of India in the appointment of judges. Ray said the intent of the framers of the Constitution was to have a balance of power between the judiciary and the executive in such appointments. The constituent assembly neither wanted to give this appointing power either to the President or the Legislature and even not to the CJI, Ray said. "Ambedkar had ruled out concurrence in the favour of consultation for appointment of judges either in the Supreme Courts or in the High Court. Unfortunately, after following this procedure over a decade, suddenly in 1993 all of us know that how it happened and what happened" he said. The process of consultation in appointment of judges was going on but it was derailed by the Supreme Court in 1993 through a judgement in 1993 and through its advisory judgement given in 1998, he said. "From 1993 the scenario drastically changed and this Parliament unanimously enacted the constitution amendment bill National Judicial Appointments Commission, which was again set aside by the apex Supreme Court on the ground that consultation means concurrence," Ray contended. Even late Chief Justice J S Verma, who was the main architect of 1993 apex court judgement, had said that his judgement was "misunderstood and misused" and there was a need for rethink, the TMC leader said. The President, he said, now "is bound by the recommendations of the judiciary and he has no options. This would going to denigrate the position of the President of India," he added. Discussion on the bill remained inconclusive. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Noisy protests by Samajwadi Party members over communal clashes at Kasganj in Uttar Pradesh forced the adjournment of the Rajya Sabha this morning. The newly-elected members of Aam Aadmi Party too were seen raising slogans against sealing drive in the national capital in the Well of the House, along with the SP members. Congress member K V P Ramachandra Rao also entered the Well holding a placard with the slogan 'Help Andhra Pradesh', though he did not utter a word. Soon after the obituary reference was made for those killed in a road accident in Murshidbad district of West Bengal and the laying of the listed papers, Ram Gopal Yadav (SP) raised the Kasganj issue. "Atrocities are being perpetrated against minorities in Kasganj...they are being supressed...(their) houses are being vandalised," Yadav said, as his party colleagues joined him in vociferously raising the issue. Deputy Chairman P J Kurien asked the party to give a notice to raise the issue. However, the SP members kept raising the issue from their benches and then troooped into the Well. In the meanwhile, Kurien asked Rao to vacate the Well and return to his seat, but the latter remained unmoved. Then Kurien asked Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad to call Rao back to his seat. "What is he (Rao) doing? Can somebody do like this? Has he gone mad? Please call him (back to seat)," Kurien said and even threatened action against Rao. Referring to the Kasganj issue, Kurien again asked the party to give a notice on the issue. "I cannot ask the government (to reply on the issue). It is upto them," he said. He said 15 members wanted to raise issues during the Zero Hour which are to be taken up. As the protests by SP and AAP members continued in the Well, he said "this is unbecoming of members to come and shout slogans instead of giving notice". Following this, he adjourned the House till noon as the slogan-shouting continued unabated. Communal violence had erupted in Kasganj on January 26 leading to the death of one person. Today was the third day of the Budget Session. On January 29 when the session commenced, the House was adjourned after the Economic Survey was laid. The House was adjourned yesterday after the Union Budget was tabled. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Actor Saoirse Ronan has said that she got to know about the gender inequalities that exist in Hollywood at the age of twelve. The 23-year-old actor, in an interview with New York Times, said she used to be "infuriated" with the questions she was always asked when she was a child. "It may have taken me a while to see how dynamics on set weren't fair. But I've always known, from the age of 12, that I was being asked different questions by interviewers than men: 'Who's your celebrity crush?' 'Are you putting on all the dresses?'" Ronan said. "All about image and crushes. That always infuriated me," she added. Asked about the inequality women faced in the movie world, Ronan said there is not enough "equal playing field" in the industry. "A lot of women think a job like director, which is so authoritative, is one where a woman can only succeed so much," she said. "It's only watching Greta that's changed my perspective on what I might achieve. And I've always thought of myself as a confident person," she added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Modifying its 2012 order, the Supreme Court today asked the Madhya Pradesh High Court chief justice to constitute a dedicated bench to hear matters related to relief, rehabilitation and treatment of the Bhopal gas tragedy victims. A bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud said that the dedicated bench should comprise judges having "reasonable tenure" of service. Advocate Wills Mathew, appearing for the petitioner, Bhopal Gas Peedith Mahila Udyog Sangathan, said that the apex court had in its order on August 9, 2012, passed various directions and transferred petitions related to relief and rehabilitation of the gas tragedy victims to the high court. He submitted that the top court had said in one of its directions that the petitions should be dealt with by a bench presided over by the chief justice of the high court. Mathew said in the past five years, various chief justices of the high court, who heard the matter, were transferred to other high courts or elevated to the apex court. He said that the transfer or elevation of different chief justices had affected the hearing of the cases as also the proper implementation of the relief measures. On August 9, 2012, the apex court had transferred the petitions to the high court for better and effective control in the matter. "All applications filed henceforth shall be dealt with and disposed of by the bench concerned of the high court, in line with the various orders passed by this Court, so as to ensure proper functioning of the relief and rehabilitation programme, working of the expert bodies and utmost medical care and treatment to the gas victims", the apex court had said. It had passed a slew of directions such as the state should provide necessary infrastructure to the monitoring committee. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Supreme Court today referred the pleas related to 'jallikattu' to a five-judge Constitution bench which would decide if the bull-taming sport fell under cultural rights or perpetuated cruelty to animals. A bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justice R F Nariman said the petitions challenging the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Tamil Nadu Amendment) Act, 2017, needed to be decided by a larger bench since they involved substantial questions relating to interpretation of the Constitution. The bench framed five questions to be adjudicated upon by the larger bench and said the papers be placed before the chief justice to constitute a bench of five judges. The petitions, including one filed by animal rights body PETA, have challenged the state law that allowed the bull- taming sport in Tamil Nadu. Framing the questions for the larger bench, the two-judge bench said it needed to be tested if the amendment Act "perpetuates cruelty to animals" and "can it, therefore, be said to be a measure of prevention of cruelty to animals". The court asked, "Is it colourable legislation which does not relate to any Entry in the State List or Entry 17 of the Concurrent List?" Another question framed by the bench was whether the amendment Act be stated to be part of cultural heritage of the people of Tamil Nadu, as claimed by the state, so as to receive the protection of Article 29 (protection of interests of minorities) of the Constitution. "Is the Tamil Nadu amendment Act, in pith and substance, to ensure the survival and well-being of the native breed of bulls? Is the Act, in pith and substance, relatable to Article 48 (organisation of agriculture and animal husbandry) of the Constitution of India?," it said. The larger bench will also determine if the state law went contrary to provisions of Article 51 which deals with fundamental duty to protect and improve natural environment including forests, lakes, rivers and wild life and was violative of Articles 14 (equality before law) and 21 (protection of life and personal liberty) of the Constitution. The two-judge bench also framed a question for the larger bench as to whether the amendment Act was directly contrary to the apex court's earlier judgement in the 'jallikattu' matter and whether the defects pointed out in the two verdicts "could be said to have been overcome by the Tamil Nadu legislature by enacting the impugned Tamil Nadu Amendment Act". Tamil Nadu had amended the central law, the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960, and allowed 'jallikattu' in the state. The state law has been challenged in the apex court. Jallikattu, also known 'eruthazhuvuthal', is a bull- taming sport played in Tamil Nadu as part of the Pongal harvest festival. On November 6, 2017, the apex court had sought a response from the Tamil Nadu government on a plea of animal rights body PETA, which challenged the state law that allowed the sport in the state. After issuing notice on PETA's plea, it had tagged the plea with other pending petitions on the issue. The petition has assailed the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Tamil Nadu Amendment) Bill, 2017, passed by the state Assembly on several grounds, including that it circumvented the apex court verdict holding the bull-taming sport as "illegal" in the state. PETA had alleged that in jallikattu, bulls were subjected to various types of cruelty. The apex court had earlier dismissed the Tamil Nadu government's plea seeking a review of the 2014 judgement banning the use of bulls for jallikattu events in the state and bullock-cart races across the country. The court in its 2014 judgement had said bulls cannot be used as performing animals, either for jallikattu events or bullock-cart races, and banned their use for these purposes across the country. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Supreme Court today sought the Centre's response on a plea by the CPI(M) and its general secretary Sitaram Yechury against the government's decision on issuing electoral bonds. The plea claimed that government's decision entitles political parties to receive unlimited donations without recording its source. A bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud issued notice to the government on the plea and said it will be tagged along with a pending petition. Challenging the Centre's decision, the CPI(M) said that the amendments in the Finance Act, 2017, jeopardise the very foundation of Indian democracy and it would lead to greater political corruption. The petition claimed that the introduction of electoral bonds by the Finance Act by which details of donations made to political parties are not reported or recorded by the parties and whose purchasers' identity remains hidden from the public realm is the creation of an "obscure funding system" which is unchecked by any authority. "The requirement of disclosure of such bonds and the names and addresses of their contributors in the account statement of political parties is omitted by the amendment to the Representation of the People Act," the petition, filed through advocate Shadan Farasat, said. It sought striking down of amendments made through the Finance Act, 2017 and the January 2, 2018 notification issued by the Ministry of Finance, whose cumulative effect is that political parties are entitled to receive unlimited donations from individuals and corporations, including loss-making and foreign corporations, without having to record or report the sources of such funding. It sought to declare certain provisions of the Finance Act and the corresponding amendment in the Reserve Bank of India Act, the Representation of the People Act and the Companies Act as "arbitrary", "unconstitutional, illegal and void". "The system of corporate donations has been made correspondingly secretive by removing the requirement of disclosure of the names of political parties to whom contributions have been made by amendment to the Companies Act," it said, adding that, at both ends of the transaction, neither the contributor nor the recipient of funds is required to be disclose the identity of the other. The petition contended that quid pro quo arrangements, not unknown to Indian polity, will only be strengthened. It said that the intention of government in introducing the 'Electoral Bond Scheme, 2018' has been stated by the Finance Minister for introducing transparency and reducing the use of black money in the financing of political parties. However, the plea claimed that neither of these objectives is achieved by the provisions of the scheme. The NDA government had announced electoral bonds in the previous budget, claiming that the scheme would clean up political funding. The move was resisted by opposition parties. The Election Commission of India had also expressed its reservations initially. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Scientists are working on developing kits for testing and grading of honey in the country to ensure that its quality is maintained, the government today informed the Rajya Sabha. Replying to questions on adulteration of honey in the market, Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh said there are seven laboratories in the country where testing of honey is done. "Our scientists are working to develop kits to ensure that the honey is pure and there is no adulteration and to ensure that its grading is done," he told the members. In his written reply, he also said that a total of 153 lakh assistance has been provided in 2017-18 for promotion of honey production. He said promotion of honey production is being done through the mission for integrated development of horticulture (MIDH) and the National Bee Board has been formed for implementing various activities for development of scientific beekeeping under MIDH. In reply to another question, Minister of state for Consumer Affairs C R Chaudhary said to check leakages and diversion of foodgrains from PDS shops, the government is implementing a scheme for computerisation of such shops. "Government is implementing the scheme on 'end-to-end computerisation of PDS operations' in association with states/UTs," he said. The minister said the scheme consists of activities like digitisation of ration cards/beneficiairies and other databases, computerisation of supply-chain management including online allocation of foodgrains, setting up of transparency portals and grievance redressal mechanism. To a question on whether the government has allowed mall to open up in PDS shops, the minister denied having any knowledge or complaint about it and said some states have allowed PDS shops to sell other grocery items and not the central government. The government also said that it is implementing various schemes for the welfare of farmers including loans under interest subvention scheme. During the Question Hour in Rajya Sabha, some members had sought to know the meausures being taken to support farmers. TMC member Sukhendu Sekhar Roy also referred to suicides committed by farmers. In his reply, Agriculture minister Radha Mohan Singh listed a slew of measures taken by the government including schemes like the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana, Soil Health Card Scheme and pension schemes including the Atal Pension Yojana. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Hundreds of shops in were shut today as part of a two-day bandh called by an industry body against the ongoing sealing drive by civic bodies in the city on the direction of a Supreme Court-appointed monitoring committee. Traders took out a protest march in a number of markets, demanding that the sealing exercise be stopped immediately. The bandh called by Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT), an umbrella body of trade groups, affected markets in Chandni Chowk, Karol Bagh, Sadar Bazar, Kashmiri Gate, Bhagirath Place, Defence Colony, Green Park, among other areas. According to CAIT, all wholesale and commercial markets in were shut in protest against the sealing drive. Civic bodies in north, south and central have taken action against more than 50 shops in the Defence Colony market on the directions of the apex court-appointed monitoring committee for failing to deposit conversion charges according to Master Plan 2021. "Multiple authorities are working in Delhi without coordination which is hampering planned development. "The Centre should set up a special task force under the Lieutenant Governor to ensure timely and planned development according to the Master Plan," CAIT Secretary General Praveen Khandelwal said. CAIT claimed the two-day strike will result in a loss of millions of rupees. "There should be no sealing or penal action in a special area until a redevelopment plan is drafted and put into action," it said. All three major parties in Delhi, the ruling AAP, the Congress and the BJP, which controls the three municipal corporations, have extended their support to the protesting traders. The recent incidents of sexual assault on young girls in India and Pakistan are "heart breaking", the spokesperson of the UN chief said, underlining that the world body is trying to address the issue through access to education and women empowerment. He was responding to questions on recent incidents of rapes in India and Pakistan. In India, an eight-month-old baby girl was raped last week by her 28-year-old cousin in New Delhi, a shocking incident that outraged the nation. While in Pakistan last month, a seven-year-old girl was brutally raped and murdered allegedly by a serial killer, triggering a national outcry. "I think these two cases you referred to are heart- breaking," Stephane Dujarric, the spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, said while answering a question on UN's advice for the two countries on this "vicious cycle". "What is clear is that no country on this planet is immune from the scourge of violence against women, violence against girls.We see it in all country, north, south, east and west," Dujarric said. Through various programmes, through UN-Women, UNFPA [United Nations Population Fund], UNICEF [United Nations Children's Fund] and others, the UN is working with governments to try to get messages through to communities to respecting girls, to respecting women, he said. "It's about equal rights. It's about access to health. It's about access to education. It's about empowerment of women. Through a number of its development programmes, the UN is trying to face the issue," said the spokesperson of the UN Secretary General. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) After the Shiv Sena criticised the Union budget, BJP's city unit president Ashish Shelar has retaliated by raising questions over the Sena-led Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation's (BMC) budget proposal to privatise some of its schools. In a series of tweets today on the BMC's budget, the Mumbai BJP president said, "BMC to give dry fruits to school children and start 24 international schools, though it is welcome, does anyone want to eat the dry fruits of privatisation?" Hitting back at the Sena, which earlier had opposed installation of LED street lights along the Marine Drive promenade, Shelar sarcastically said, "at last light has been shed and BJP's say has been accepted". He further said that 20 per cent of the 1.36 lakh conventional street lights will be replaced with LEDs by March 31 and by 2018-19, the rest of the 80 per cent lights would also be replaced. Complimenting BMC Municipal Commissioner Ajoy Mehta for not burdening Mumbaikars with new taxes, Shelar thanked him for making a substantial allocation of Rs 1,500 crore for Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis's coastal road concept. Shelar claimed the BMC budget proposal, of not passing on the burden of pending dues of property tax on saleable buildings of MHADA and the rehabilitation component of SRA buildings till the issuance of the occupation certificate, was a big relief for common people. He also thanked the civic chief for adopting Information Technology to usher in transparency in the BMC administration by making e-Seva, e-Office and other services online. He also thanked him for fixing a target for completing Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Swachh Bharat Abhiyan. After a bitterly fought BMC poll, the BJP had extended an olive branch to its ally Shiv Sena, by deciding not to contest the posts of Mayor and Deputy Mayor and also not by putting up candidates to lead key committees, including the standing committee. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) P V Sindhu took another step closer to retaining her title as she reached the women's singles semifinals in the USD 350,000 India Open Super 500 badminton tournament here today. Sindhu dished out an attacking game to beat Spain's World No. 36 Beatriz Corrales 21-12 19-21 21-11 in the 35-minute quarterfinal match. The Olympic silver medallist will face 2013 World champion Ratchanok Inthanon of Thailand in the semifinals. Sindhu dished out an attacking game to walk away with the opening game without much ado but Corrales came back in the second to lead 19-11. Sindhu, however, reeled off seven points to draw parity at 18-18 but a lucky net chord kept the Spaniard alive in the match. Back to the winning side of the court, Sindhu once again showed class as she zoomed to a 11-6 advantage at the lemon break. Corrales tried to make a comeback but the Indian ensured there are no hiccups as she used her disguised returns to bamboozle the Spaniard. A jump smash gave Sindhu 10 match points. Corrales won a long rally before she hit long to hand over the match to Sindhu. However, it turned out to be a disappointing day for Parupalli Kashyap and B Sai Praneeth as they suffered straight game defeats to their respective opponents to bow out of the tournament. Commonwealth Games champion Kashyap seemed a bit tired and could not match China's Qiao Bin, losing 16-21 18-21 in the men's singles quarterfinals. Kashyap blew a 7-2 lead early on in the opening game, while in the second, he erased 4-11 and 8-16 deficit to claw his way back at 18-18 before Bin surged to close out the match. "I was struggling to continue the long rallies. May be I was tired after the last match. I had a chance in the second game but somehow I was not able to read, come forward and kill the rallies. Some part of my defence I am not happy with. I perhaps should have prepared better," Kashyap said. Eighth seed Praneeth too failed to negotiate the fast- paced game of third seed Taiwanese Chou Tien Chen and went down 15-21 13-21. Praneeth was 6-11 behind at the break and though he levelled par at 14-14, Chen quickly changed gears to pocket the first game. Nothing changed in the second game as the Indian trailed 4-9 before making it 10-11 at the interval. But Chen stepped up and walked away with the match. "He was hitting rally hard. It was long rallies and suddenly he was changing the pace and hitting hard. I was rushing but I should have been more patient on court," Praneeth said. Among others, top seeded Indonesian Marcus Fernaldi Gideon and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo shut out the fighting Indian men's doubles pair of Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy 21-19 21-19, while sixth seeded women's doubles pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy lost 17-21 21-23 to Chinese pair of Du Yue and Li Yinhui. Seventh seeded Indian pair of Jakkampudi Meghana and Poorvisha S Ram lost 10-21 15-21 to second seeded Thai pair of Jongkolphan Kititharakul and Rawinda Prajongjai. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Six persons were killed today in two separate road accidents in Jangaon district of Telangana, police said. Three persons were killed and two others injured when their car collided with a mini-bus near Raghunathpally mandal headquarters, they said. The mishap occurred when the victims were returning to Hyderabad from Medaram, said N Ranjith Rao, Sub Inspector of Police, Raghunathpally. While two of passengers were killed on the spot, the driver succumbed to injuries while being taken to a nearby hospital, the officer said. The deceased have been identified as J.Satthemma (60) and her daughter-in-law J.Shiva Rani (35) and the car driver Raju (23). In another mishap, three persons were killed when their car collided with a container at Nidhigonda village, a senior police official said. The mishap occurred this evening when the victims were heading towards Hyderabad from Hanamkonda. All the three persons were killed on the spot, he said. The deceased have been identified as V Subbha Rao, his Wife V Durga Devi and car driver Mohd. Abidh, the officer said. Police are probing both the accidents. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Six persons - including five women and a child were killed and several others injured in two separate accidents in Bihar today, officials said. The incidents happened in Siwan and Begusarai districts, they said. In the first incident, four persons, including three women and a child, were killed after they fell down from a railway bridge, an official said. They were crossing the bridge over Daha river on foot to reach the Siwan Kutchery railway station, the District Magistrate (DM) of Siwan, Mahendra Kumar, told PTI. The deceased were residents of Kuchaykot police station in the neighbouring district of Gopalganj and they were approaching the railway station to catch a train back home, he said. Apparently, they panicked when they saw the Siwan-Gorakhpur passenger train approaching and jumped to save their lives, only to get killed, he said. The Chief Public Relations Officer (CPRO) of North Eastern Railway, headquartered at Gorakhpur, Sanjay Yadav said, "The driver of the train gave a message upon reaching the next station confirming that none of the persons walking on the bridge were run over". The DM said, another person, who was seriously injured, was referred to the PMCH hospital in Patna. The deceased were identified as Khushboo Nishan, Jhuni Khatoon, Saraswati Devi and Munna, the child. The injured person was identified as Aslam Ansari, the DM added. In another incident, a man and a woman, both in their 40s, were killed and six persons injured, when a three-wheeler collided head-on with a truck in Begusarai district, SHO Ram Swarath Paswan said. The incident happened under the jurisdiction of Teghra police station in the district, he said. The man has been identified as Suresh Sah, a resident of Jagdar village under the jurisdiction of Veerpur police station, the SHO said, adding, the identity of the woman was yet to be established. The injured were sent to a hospital, he said. Though, the three-wheeler and the truck were seized, the driver of the truck fled the spot, he added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal today directed departments concerned to speed up the development works in unauthorised colonies and complete them by the end of this year. The direction was issued at a meeting attended by Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, PWD minister Satyendar Jain and Development minister Gopal Rai. Besides, Chief Secretary Anshu Prakash and senior officials of the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) and the Irrigation and Flood Control Department also took part in the meeting. The chief minister has directed that the development works in all unauthorised colonies should to be completed this year, an official said. Directions were also issued by the chief minister to set a colony-wise deadline for completion of the development works, the official said. Kejriwal's directions come at a time when the city is staring at likely bypolls following the disqualification of 20 AAP MLAs by the Election Commission (EC) for allegedly holding the office of profit. However, the party has challenged the EC's decision in the Delhi High Court. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) As the BJP staged a protest here against the killing of a 28-year-old man, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah today refuted the opposition party's claim that the victim was its member. Police have arrested four suspects after Santosh was stabbed to death near here on Wednesday night. The chief minister condemned the killing and said the Central Crime Branch has been asked to investigate and bring the culprits to justice. He, however, questioned the BJP's claim that Santosh was its member. "They (BJP) are making all those who are dead BJP members. He (Santosh) was not a BJP member," Siddaramaiah said. "We will get the case investigated seriously and punish the guilty," he added. The statement from Siddaramaiah comes on a day when the BJP staged a protest led by former deputy chief minister R Ashoka in the city against the killing. State BJP chief and former chief minister B S Yeddyurappa today visited the residence of Santosh and handed over a compensation of Rs one lakh to the family. The Karnataka BJP has termed the incident as a continuation to the series of killings of "Hindu activists" in the state in recent months especially in Dakshina Kannada district, triggering a political slugfest between the party and the ruling Congress. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Three minors have been apprehended in connection with the mysterious death of a Class 9 student in northeast Delhi's Karawal Nagar, police said today. Tusshar (16) was found unconscious by some students in his school bathroom and was taken to a hospital yesterday. He was later referred to the GTB Hospital where he was declared brought dead. CCTV footage revealed that he had a fight with some students near the washroom. Three of the students with whom he had a fight have been apprehended, said a senior police officer, adding that they were minors. One more student is on the run. Family members of the deceased alleged that he was thrashed by the students. On the basis of a complaint by the boy's family, a case was registered. A medical board will conduct post-mortem on the body later today. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Three minors have been detained in connection with the mysterious death of a Class 9 student in northeast Delhi's Karawal Nagar, police said today. Tusshar (16) was found unconscious by some students in his school bathroom and was taken to a hospital yesterday. He was later referred to the GTB Hospital where he was declared brought dead. CCTV footage revealed that he had a fight with some students near the washroom. Three of the students with whom he had a fight have been detained, said a senior police officer, adding that they were minors. They are being questioned. Family members of the deceased alleged that he was thrashed by the students. On the basis of a complaint by the boy's family, a case was registered. A medical board will conduct post-mortem on the body later today. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj today assured India's support to Nepal in its efforts towards attaining political stability and development after the successful conclusion of parliamentary and provincial elections. Swaraj's remarks came during her talks with CPN-Maoist Centre chairman 'Prachanda'. "We will extend full cooperation to Nepal in attaining political stability and development," Swaraj, who arrived here yesterday on a two-day visit, said. The two leaders had a breakfast meeting at Hotel Soaltee Crowne Plaza this morning. "We discussed about the situation emerging after the conclusion of the elections and the preparation for formation of new government," said Prachanda, whose party formed Left Alliance with CPN-UML during the recently held elections in Nepal. "I told Swaraj that we want political stability and development for which we need cooperation from the neighbours. Swaraj assured that India will extend full cooperation to Nepal in her efforts towards attaining political stability and development," Prachanda said. The Maoist chief said Swaraj was curious to know about the political developments taking place in Nepal. "The talk we had was very positive and constructive. She also congratulated the Left Alliance for gaining victory during the recently concluded elections," he said. Swaraj also called on President Bidya Bhandari. She will also call on Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and meet other political leaders today before leaving for Delhi. Swaraj yesterday held one-on-one talks with CPN-UML chairman K P Sharma Oli, who is likely to be the next prime minister, and prominent leaders of Madhesi parties. Swaraj congratulated Oli for the victory of the Left Alliance in the recently concluded elections and expressed willingness to work with the new government. Oli said his party is eager to work in collaboration with neighbouring countries and would forge partnership with India to move forward the country towards the path of economic prosperity, according to CPN-UML sources. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Syria's Kurds today accused Turkey-backed rebels fighting them of mutilating then filming the body of one of their female fighters, after a video emerged of her corpse. Turkey and allied Syrian rebels have since January 20 pressed an offensive against the Kurdish enclave of Afrin in northern Syria, whose Kurdish fighters Ankara views as "terrorists". A Kurdish official identified the young woman as Barin Kobani, who took part in a US-backed campaign to drive the Islamic State jihadist group from the northern town of Kobane. The Kurds in a statement blamed the "terrorist allies of the enemy Turkish state" for mutilating the body of Kobani, who was a member of the all-female Kurdish Women's Protection Units. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain- based monitor, said it received the video from a Syrian rebel fighting with Turkish forces in the Afrin offensive. The rebel told the Observatory the footage was filmed on Tuesday after rebels found the young woman's corpse in the village of Qurna near the Turkish border in the north of the enclave. In the footage, a dozen men, some armed, gather around the badly mutilated body of a woman lying on the ground. The Kurdish community reacted with outrage and social media users shared online a portrait of Kobani smiling next to another shot of her brutalised body. "Barin did not surrender, she fought to the death," said Amad Kandal, an official with the Women's Protection Units, vowing to avenge her comrade's brutal murder. "This kind of behaviour will only serve to reinforce our determination to resist until victory," said Kandal. YPG male and female fighters have taken part in the battle by the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) to expel IS from large parts of Syria. SDF spokesman Mustefa Bali said the video of the fighter's body was reason to continue fighting back against Turkey and its allies. "Imagine the savagery of these invaders with the bodies of our daughters. How would they behave if they took control of our neighbourhoods?" he wrote on Facebook. "All this hatred and barbarity leaves us with a single option: to continue the resistance," he said. Afrin resident Hussein Cheikho, 65, said he was "deeply pained" when he saw pictures of Kobani's mutilated body but said her death will not be in vain. "The death of a young man or a young woman will not weaken us. Out strength will be bolstered every day," he said. In a statement, the Syrian National Council, the main opposition body in exile, condemned the "criminal acts" and called for "the opening of an immediate investigation" to punish those responsible. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Tata Steel has acquired 74 per cent stake in Bhubaneshwar Power (BPPL) from JL Power Ventures for Rs 255 crore to ramp up its captive source of power. On November 30 last year, the Tata Steel executed definitive agreements to acquire 74 per cent equity shares of BPPL from JL Power Ventures (JL Power). "Tata Steel has concluded the acquisition of 74 per cent of the equity shares of BPPL on February 1, 2018," the steel major said in a BSE filing today. The acquisition will provide an opportunity to Tata Steel to meet the growing demand for power. "The consideration for 74 per cent equity shares is Rs 255 crore," it informed BSE. Shares of Tata Steel today ended 3.82 per cent lower at Rs 669.70 apiece on BSE. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Tata Steel today announced an investment of over 14 million pounds in its Hot Strip Mill at Port Talbot in south Wales, which the Indian steel giant says will help manufacture higher-value steels. As part of the latest investment, a transfer bar cooling system has been installed which will increase the annual capacity of the site by around five per cent and ensure steel can be quickly brought to the exact temperature required for the final product before it is rolled. The company says the new system will increase the volume capacity of the Hot Strip Mill by more than 150,000 tonnes per annum. Mark Davies, Works Manager Hot Rolled Products,said: "The system is designed to cool steel to very specific temperatures, depending on what it is to be used for, rather than waiting for it to cool naturally. "This fine temperature control also allows us tomore tightly control the mechanical properties and surface quality ofsteel used in specific and demanding applications." The latest "capability upgrade" is part of a series of investmentsto Tata Steel's European operations designed to strengthen operations and long-term capabilityand allow the development and production of high-performing steels. "This will help meet the emerging need for next- generation steels for hybrid and electric cars, as well as for energy-efficient homes and buildings and innovative food packaging," Tata Steel said. In November 2017, the company had announced around 30 million pounds of investments, including the replacement of a Basic Oxygen Steelmaking vessel weighing 500 tonnes at Port Talbot Britains largest steelworks. At the same time, the company is replacing the massive cranes in the steel plant as well as installing enhanced dust extraction hoods and energy-efficient drives to minimise emissions. "This investment has created a stronger, more efficient and more reliable platform from which we can meet the needs of our customers. We took the opportunity of a planned maintenance shutdown to upgrade several plant areas to further improve production of high-value steels and their delivery to customers," said Jon Ferriman, Tata Steel's Director of Strip Products UK. Port Talbot produces high-quality steel which is processed at Tata Steel's steel mills around the UK for manufacturers in Britain, mainland Europe and other countries around the world. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Telangana will soon set up a body to address issues of and it would function on the lines of a similar agency in Tokyo, said state Municipal Administration Minister K T Rama Rao today. 'Clean Authority of Telangana', to be set up on the lines of one existing in Tokyo, will address issues of environment, he said. "...Telangana will be the first state in India to be creating its own clean authority. We recently entered (into) an MoU in Tokyo...(to set up the body)," Rao said. "We are going to institute the same kind of mechanism (which exists in Tokyo). We will be setting up several waste- to-energy projects in the state of Telangana," he said, speaking at the 66th National Town and Country Planner's Congress here. According to the MoU signed last month, the government of Telangana and the Clean Authority of Tokyo would "exchange information on knowledge in municipal solid waste incineration facilities", a state government statement said last month. They will "make an effort to realise human resource exchanges in view of technical cooperation in the future", it had said. The congress was organised by the Institute of Town Planners, India (ITPI), the apex body of qualified professional town and country planners. Highlighting the violations in building norms often witnessed, the minister said the state government would bring in more stringent rules vis-a-vis construction of buildings. "We will also bring in a lot of very, very important reforms. We brought in important reforms already. But, I promise you, we will bring in much more stringent norms which will not allow builders and people to construct (buildings) in a haphazard manner..." Rao said. Describing cities as "engines of growth", Rao said issues related to administration and development of urban centres should be handled effectively. Urban planners should give practical suggestions to the governments and in a manner that facilitates planned development, the minister said. Citizens should be able to walk to work with urban growth taking place in a planned manner, he stressed, adding the planners should also leverage technology. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The telecom sector should be able to address global requirements and attract investments of about USD 100 billion by 2022 under the new policy in works, as per suggestions made by sector regulator Trai today. The regulator recommended that under the new policy framework, the telecom sector should be able to generate 20 lakh jobs, achieve 900 million broadband subscriptions with download speed of 2 Mbps and connect all gram panchayats with at least 1 gigabit per second with wireless broadband by 2022. Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) reiterated its long pending demand of putting in place an ombudsman based consumer grievance redressal mechanism "by end of 2018". The regulator in March 2017 had recommended DoT to set-up ombudsman in the sector, which should have the power to levy penalties on the telecom service providers. The Department of Telecom had sought views of Trai on National Telecom Policy (NTP) 2018 on August 21, 2017. The regulator listed out seven broad missions and 18 objectives that should be achieved under the NTP 2018. Trai said that the NTP 2018 should be able to enable access at affordable prices for wireless broadband services, including through satellite to 90 per cent population and there should be 65 per cent active unique mobile subscribers by 2022. The teledensity in the country is around 91 per cent but the total number of subscribers include individuals with multiple mobile connections. Trai said that the vision of the new telecom policy in works should be developing a competitive, sustainable, and investor-friendly information and communication technologies (ICT) market for rollout of state-of-the-art ubiquitous digital communication infrastructure. "...to provide resilient, reliable, affordable, and consumer friendly products and services to meet local as well as global needs; and in the process, transform India's knowledge economy, support inclusive development, foster innovation, and stimulate job creation," Trai said. The regulator recommended that the mission of NTP 2018 should include development of "indigenous technologies, equipments, platforms, and applications ecosystem for providing digital services to local and global markets". Trai has recommended that NTP 2018 should aim to make the sector net positive in international trade of communication systems and services by 2022. It said that mission of the sector should attract investments by enhancing ease of doing business through simplification of licensing and regulatory frameworks, rationalisation of taxes, levies and related compliances, and facilitating availability of resources, including spectrum. The regulator said that NTP should be able "to attract an investment equivalent to USD 60 billion in communication sector by 2020 and USD 100 billion by 2022". The foreign direct investment in the sector during first half of current fiscal has been to the tune of USD 6.08 billion. Trai said that an online centralised platform should be created by 2019 for facilitating single window clearance for rolling out telecom infrastructure in the country. Under the NTP 2018, the telecom sector should be able to deploy 2 million public wireless local area network, including Wi-Fi hotspots in the country by 2020 and 5 million by 2022, enable access for connecting 1 billion internet of things (IoT)/ machine-to-machine sensors or devices by 2020 and 5 billion by 2022 and establish a policy framework for facilitating setting up of data centres by 2019. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A special court here today took cognizance of the NIA charge sheet against LeT chief and 26/11 Mumbai attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed, Hizbul Mujahideen head Syed Salahuddin and others in the terror funding case. They have been accused by the NIA of "conspiring to wage war against the government" and fomenting trouble in the Kashmir Valley. Additional Sessions Judge Tarun Sherawat directed the anti-terror probe agency to hand over copies to the accused persons, and posted the matter for March 8 for scrutiny of documents. It posted for February 15 the bail petition of freelance photo-journalist Kamran Yusuf, arrested last year for alleged stone-pelting and other offences. The NIA has alleged that Yusuf was acting as a conduit for those funding terrorist activities in Jammu and Kashmir. The 12,794-page charge sheet and annexure, also alleged that officials of the Pakistan High Commission here were passing on money through businessman Zahoor Watali, who has been arrested, to separatists. The separatist leaders have been accused of taking a cut before handing over the money to foment trouble. Saeed has been accused of using the services of Watali for passing on the money to separatists and some individuals who were actively indulging in stone-pelting in various areas of the Valley, the NIA said in the charge sheet. The agency has charged Pakistan-based terrorists Saeed and Salahuddin, besides 10 others with criminal conspiracy, sedition, and under stringent provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. It said 60 locations were raided and 950 incriminating documents seized. There are 300 witnesses in the case. Besides Saeed, Salahuddin, Watali and Yusuf, the agency has also named hardline pro-Pakistan separatist Syed Ali Shah Geelani's son-in-law Altaf Shah alias Altaf Fantoosh, Bashir Ahmad Bhat and Javed Ahmad Bhat, who was identified along with Yusuf as a stone-pelter. Hurriyat Conference leaders Nayeem Ahmad Khan, Farooq Ahmad Dar alias Bitta Karate, Mohammad Akbar Khanday and Raja Mehrajuddin Kalwal have also been charged by the agency in the terror funding case. All the 10 arrested accused are currently in judicial custody. The agency has charged the Hurriyat leaders with acting under the overall guidance of and instructions from Saeed and Salahuddin, and their "Pakistani handlers". They have been accuse of plotting strategies to launch violent protests. Saeed, Salahuddin and their Pakistani handlers informed people about the agenda of violence through "protest calendars", the NIA said. These calendars were released through newspapers, social media and religious leaders, it said. These acts were aimed at creating an atmosphere of terror and fear in Jammu and Kashmir, the NIA alleged in the charge sheet. It claimed money was also routed through fake and bogus companies floated abroad and remitted to the Hurriyat leaders in Jammu and Kashmir. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The ruling Naga People's Front (NPF) suffered a jolt as three of its MLAs resigned from the membership of the Nagaland Assembly and also from the party ahead of the state elections on February 27. A notification issued by the Nagaland Assembly, commissioner and secretary, N Benjamin Newmai said NPF MLAs - Dr Longrineken, L Khumo Khiamniungan and Pukhayi Sumi, have resigned from the House. Assembly Speaker Dr Imtiwapang Aier accepted the resignation of Dr Longrineken and L Khumo and declared the seats vacant today, Newmai said, adding that Pukhayis resignation was accepted on January 31. The three were also parliamentary secretaries in the NPF government led by T R Zeliang. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Washington's top diplomat was to sit down today with the leader of the country that President Donald Trump has perhaps disparaged more than any other, the United States' neighbor Mexico. As he confronts the first stage on his first Latin American tour since being named secretary of state, former oilman Rex Tillerson will talk trade, crime and immigration with President Enrique Pena Nieto. Before setting off, Tillerson laid out a vision of the US and Latin America -- the "democratic hemisphere" -- working together to build a prosperous future, but first he will have to overcome the aftermath of Trump's aggressive brand of diplomacy. Trump has called the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) "perhaps the worst deal in the history of the world," has said immigrants from across the southern border bring crime with them and remains determined to build a frontier wall. On some positions, Trump has softened his rhetoric since his inauguration a year ago, but in this week's State of the Union address he spoke more about cross-border crime and immigration than any other foreign policy topic. Pena Nieto meanwhile is under pressure at home not to give up too much ground to his pushy northern neighbor, even though Mexico and Canada are keen to save NAFTA from Trump's threat to rip it up and start anew. Tillerson, in Latin America to build support for a tough stance against Venezuela's beleaguered government and make the case for closer economic ties and warn of Chinese encroachment, is not the US trade representative and could do without the row. But, when he sits down on Friday with Pena Nieto and his Canadian counterpart Chrystia Freeland the trade deal will be in the foreground of their agenda, and he has adopted an optimistic approach, whatever Trump's rhetoric. "I'm a Texan, former energy executive, and I'm also a rancher. I understand how important NAFTA is for our economy and that of the continent," Tillerson told students at his alma mater, the University of Texas, on Thursday before flying south. "But it should come as no surprise that an agreement put into place 30 years ago, before the advent of the digital age and the digital economy, before China's rise as the world's second largest economy, that NAFTA would need to be modernised." Another round of talks is scheduled for next month and Canada and Mexico hope a deal can be salvaged. Mexico's foreign minister Luis Videgaray also met Freeland on Thursday before having dinner with Tillerson, ahead of Friday's presidential talks. After Mexico, Tillerson -- who is often left with the task of explaining why Trump's "America First" slogan does not mean "America Alone" -- was to travel on to Argentina, Peru, Colombia and Jamaica, touting his vision of deeper cooperation. "We share an interwoven history and chronology. Our nations still reflect the New World optimism of limitless discovery," he said. "And importantly, we share democratic values, values that are the core of what we believe, regardless of the color of our passport." In Mexico City, Tillerson was also due to discuss security and immigration with top officials, and he echoed Trump's warning of the need to fight violent drug cartels. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The February 18 Assembly polls were important not only for Tripura, but entire India, as it would show which way the country would move, CPI(M) politburo member Prakash Karat said here today. All the earlier elections in the north-eastern state were fought between the Left Front and the Congress but this time, it was a contest between the BJP and the Left Front as the Congress leaders and supporters had joined the saffron party, he said. "It is like old wine in a new bottle. But I have no doubt that the conscious voters of the state will again support the Left Front to form its eighth government under Chief Minister Manik Sarkar," Karat said, addressing an election rally here in South Tripura district. He alleged that the Indigenous People's Front of Tripura (IPFT) was the mask of the insurgents, who had killed the people of the state a decade-and-a-half ago. The BJP forging an alliance with such a party was tantamount to sedition, the senior CPI(M) leader said. Karat further alleged that the BJP-IPFT alliance had hatched a conspiracy, so that the Left Front could not return to power. But he expressed confidence that the people of the state, who were zealously guarding the Left Front government, would foil all such conspiracies. Karat said there had been riots in the BJP-ruled states of Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan and alleged that the saffron party was harassing people in the name of cow protection. He asserted that the Left Front government in Tripura was the most clean and pro-people and that it always tried to protect the harmony between the tribals and non-tribals. This Left Front government had formed the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council to safeguard the interests of tribals and provided land rights to the landless people, the former CPI(M) general secretary said. Claiming that the BJP-led central government had failed on all fronts, he alleged that this year's budget was an attack on the working class as all of its provisions were aimed at protecting the interests of the corporates. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) US President Donald Trump today accused the Justice Department and FBI of a "pro-Democrat bias", saying their top leadership had "politicised" the probe against the Republicans, ahead of the possible release of a controversial memo. The memo, which was penned by House Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes and approved for release by the House committee earlier this week, alleges that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) abused its surveillance tools. Trump's accusation of the leadership once again maligns people he appointed to their roles, including FBI Director Christopher Wray whom he nominated after firing former FBI Director James Comey in May. The tweet also puts Trump squarely on the side of Republican lawmakers who view the memo as a document that exposes the nefarious designs of the FBI. "The top Leadership and Investigators of the FBI and the Justice Department have politicised the sacred investigative process in favour of Democrats and against Republicans - something which would have been unthinkable just a short time ago. Rank & File are great people!" Trump tweeted. Trump's tweet came as he is set to approve the release of a highly controversial memo accusing the authority in FBI of abusing its surveillance tools during its probe into alleged Russian collusion in the 2016 presidential election, setting up a clash with the intelligence agency. The memo apparently accuses the Department of Justice (DoJ) and the FBI of abusing a surveillance programme known as the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (Fisa) during the election campaign. The allegation is that the FBI ran surveillance on a member of Trump's campaign. Earlier, a senior administration official, told reporters aboard Air Force One that the president was expected to tell Congress that he had no objections to the release of the memo. Requesting anonymity, the official said it is a Congressional process and that the decision was made after looking at the memo the last few days and making sure "it doesn't give away too much in terms of classification". "The president is ok with it," the official said. "I doubt there will be any redactions. It's in Congress' hands after that," the official said, and refused to answer any further questions. Trump's reported decision comes a day after the FBI in an unusual move went public urging against release of the memo. Some White House official fear that this might result in the resignation of Wray. Last year, Trump abruptly fired FBI chief James Comey for his handling of the Russia inquiry. Trump publicly shamed Attorney General Jeff Sessions for his decision to recuse himself from the Russia case because of his prior contacts with Russia Ambassador Sergey Kislyak. Intelligence officials warn the memo distorts facts and could jeopardise intelligence-gathering information. Once Trump gives his approval, it would be up to the House intelligence committee to take a final call on the report's release. In a separate statement, FBI Agents Association (FBIAA) president Thomas O'Connor opposed the release of the memo. "The FBI Agents Association appreciates FBI Director Chris Wray standing shoulder to shoulder with the men and women of the FBI as we work together to protect our country from criminal and national security threats," said O'Connor. He said the agency's special agents remain professional and focused on protecting the US from terrorists and criminals. "Special agents take a solemn oath to our country and to the constitution, and the American public continues to be well-served by the worlds preeminent law enforcement agency," he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) US President Donald Trump welcomed six North Korean defectors to the Oval Office today, a high profile and potentially provocative show of support. The group - whose stories Trump described as "incredible and truly inspirational" - included a banker with knowledge of the regime's overseas operations, a former political prisoner and amputee Ji Seong-ho. Seong-ho escaped from North Korea in 2006 and was given a place of honour just seats away from First Lady Melania Trump at Tuesday's State of the Union address. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) US President Donald Trump is set to approve the release of a controversial memo accusing the FBI of abusing its surveillance tools during its probe into alleged Russian collusion in the 2016 presidential election, setting up a clash with the intelligence agency. The approval for the release of such a memo, which is being opposed by the FBI, could come as soon as tonight, US media reported. A senior administration official, told reporters aboard Air Force One that the president is expected to tell Congress that he has no objections to the release of the memo written by House Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes. Requesting anonymity, the official said it is a Congressional process and that the decision was made after looking at the memo the last few days and making sure "it doesn't give away too much in terms of classification". "The president is ok with it," the official said. "I doubt there will be any redactions. It's in Congress' hands after that," the official said, and refused to answer any further questions. Trump's reported decision comes a day after the FBI in an unusual move went public urging against release of the memo. Some White House official fear that this might result in the resignation of FBI Director Christopher Wray. Last year, Trump abruptly fired FBI chief James Comey for his handling of the Russia inquiry. Trump publicly shamed Attorney General Jeff Sessions for his decision to recuse himself from the Russia case because of his prior contacts with Russia Ambassador Sergey Kislyak. The potential release of the memo has set up a standoff with Trump against both the FBI and Department of Justice. Although the President has signalled that he is inclined to release the memo, as part of an effort to undercut the special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation, senior officials inside the White House are trying to come up with a solution that satisfies both the President and law enforcement officials like Wray and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, CNN said. Intelligence officials warn the memo distorts facts and could jeopardise intelligence-gathering information. Once Trump gives his approval, it would be up to the House intelligence committee to take a final call on the report's release. Nunes is under pressure from the opposition Democrats and some of his own Republican lawmakers not to release the memo. They side with officials of the FBI and many in the Department of Justice and feel the report is misleading and could expose sensitive and classified information. On January 31, the FBI released a statement to express their "grave concerns about the material omissions of fact that fundamentally impact the memo's accuracy". A top Democrat lawmaker, Adam Schiff, who is also a ranking member of the intelligence committee, has accused Nunes of altering the memo. Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi issued a strong warning to the Republicans against issuing the memo. "Speaker Paul Ryan, Chairman Nunes and House Republicans reckless decision to release a bogus, partisan memo, pushes the GOP's campaign to cover-up for President Trump to a new, completely unacceptable extreme," she alleged. "It seems to reflect either a wilful disregard or ignorance of the importance of separation of three branches of government which seem to be eroding right now. So, that on its face is kind of disturbing," said James Clapper, the former Director of National Intelligence. Meanwhile, House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Jerrold Nadler sent a letter to Chairman Bob Goodlatte to request an emergency briefing with FBI Director Wray on his concerns regarding the memo. The memo, Nadler alleged is "a set of misleading talking points drafted by the Republican staff of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. "The White House plans to release it to the public in an attempt to discredit the FBI and undermine Special Counsel Robert Muellers Russia investigation," Nadler said. House Democratic Whip Steny H Hoyer said the report was intended "to undermine the Special Counsel's independent investigation into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia". In a separate statement, FBI Agents Association (FBIAA) president Thomas O'Connor opposed the release of the memo. "The FBI Agents Association appreciates FBI Director Chris Wray standing shoulder to shoulder with the men and women of the FBI as we work together to protect our country from criminal and national security threats," said O'Connor. He said the agency's special agents remain professional and focused on protecting the US from terrorists and criminals. "Special agents take a solemn oath to our country and to the constitution, and the American public continues to be well-served by the worlds preeminent law enforcement agency," he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) President Donald Trump spoke with his South Korean counterpart Moon Jae-In and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe about the upcoming Winter Olympics and the current situation in the Korean peninsula, the White House said today. During yesterday's call, Trump wished Moon and the Korean people a successful Winter Olympic Games. "The two leaders discussed the importance of improving the human rights situation in North Korea and underscored their commitment to work together on this issue," the White House said in a readout of the call. Trump also reiterated his commitment to addressing the trade imbalance between the two countries, the White House said. In his phone call with Abe, Trump thanked the Japanese prime minister for his country's efforts to maintain international pressure on North Korea, including recent efforts to clamp down on Pyongyang's attempts to circumvent sanctions in the waters surrounding the Korean Peninsula. "Both leaders agreed on the need to intensify the international maximum pressure campaign to denuclearise North Korea," the White House statement said. "The two leaders discussed the pending relocation of a US Marine base on Okinawa and discussed ways to strengthen Japan's defence capabilities including an expanded missile defense system," the statement said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Turkey today denounced the US decision to put the head of Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas on its terror blacklist, saying it hoped the move would not have a negative impact on Ankara's humanitarian aid to Gaza. The US State Department on Wednesday also slapped sanctions on Ismail Haniya, who was named head of Hamas in May 2017. Hamas has been on the US terror blacklist since 1997 but Turkey's ruling Islamic-rooted Justice and Development Party has friendly ties with the movement. "We are concerned that this decision of the US administration, which disregards the realities on the ground, could undermine the Middle East peace process, including the efforts for intra-Palestinian peace and reconciliation," Hami Aksoy, the Turkish foreign ministry spokesman, said in a statement. The moves comes as Hamas, which has controlled the Gaza Strip for more than a decade, has reached a fragile reconciliation deal with Fatah, the movement of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. "We also hope that the decision will not have a negative impact on our country's humanitarian assistance and economic development activities towards Gaza." Aksoy said the move overlooked the fact that Hamas is "an important reality of Palestinian political life". Haniya is now on the US Treasury sanctions blacklist, which freezes any US-based assets he may have and bans any US person or company from doing business with him. Haniya replaced Khaled Meshaal, who now lives in Doha in exile. Washington's decision comes as ties between the Americans and Palestinians have worsened since US Donald Trump recognised Jerusalem as Israel's capital last year. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a fervent supporter of Palestinians, sought to lead Islamic condemnation of Trump's Jerusalem plan late last year. At one point, he called a summit of Muslim nations in Istanbul in response to the move. Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad al-Malki will visit Turkey today and tomorrow and hold talks with his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Two people were killed and 16 were wounded in a Turkish border town today by rockets fired from Syria, local authorities said, as Turkey continues its offensive against a Syrian Kurdish militia. Three rockets hit neighbourhoods of Reyhanli in southern Turkey and 68-year-old Rifat Sinirli died in hospital, the state-run agency Anadolu reported. Reyhanli mayor Huseyin Sanverdi said on Twitter that a man was killed by a rocket fired from Syria's Afrin region, a Kurdish enclave where the Turkish army has launched its offensive against the YPG militia deemed "terrorists" by Ankara. Later in the afternoon, he announced a second man was killed in another attack by "treacherous terrorists." The Hatay governor's office said 16 people were injured. Sinirli's funeral was attended by dozens of people including Hatay governor Erdal Ata standing in front of a coffin covered with a Turkish flag. His weeping relatives screamed: "Let the terrorists be cursed!" Two rockets also hit the nearby border town of Kilis, one landing on a street and the other on an empty field near the state hospital, according to Anadolu. There were no casualties in Kilis and the Turkish artillery fired in response, the agency reported. Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said earlier that 82 rockets have hit the Turkish border provinces of Kilis and Hatay, including the town of Reyhanli, since the start of the Turkish operation on January 20. Seven people have been killed so far in mortar fire. Turkey says the YPG is an offshoot of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) which has waged a three-decade insurgency against the Turkish state. But the YPG has been working closely with the United States against the Islamic State extremist group in Syria. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A man found guilty of murder and attempted murder after he drove a van into worshippers near a north London mosque last year was today sentenced to life imprisonment, with a minimum term of 43 years in jail. During sentencing at Woolwich Crown Court here, Justice Cheema-Grubb described Darren Osborne as a dangerous man on "a suicide mission" who had been brainwashed by far-right extremist ideology in the lead up to the attack in June, 2017. "This was a terrorist attack. You intended to kill. Your mindset became one of malevolent hatred. In short, you allowed your mind to be poisoned by those who claimed to be leaders," the judge said. The 48-year-old reacted to the sentencing from the dock with the words, "God bless you, thank you". He was found guilty by a jury on Thursday of the murder of Bangladeshi-origin Makram Ali and of the attempted murder of others at the scene. Osborne, from Cardiff in Wales, was handed two life sentences on the charges, to be served concurrently which would mean he would effectively die in jail. "Many of them (victims) were wearing distinctive Muslim dress. You had found your target. You accelerated the van towards them intending to kill as many people as you could," the judge noted. She also praised Mohammed Mahmoud, the 'imam' from the local Muslim Welfare House in Finsbury Park, who stepped in to save Osborne from being beaten up. "This was a demonstration of true leadership...He chose to respond to evil with good," the judge said. Prosecutor Jonathan Rees read out a victim impact statement from Ruzina Akhtar, the daughter of 51-year-old Ali, who had rushed to his aid on the street outside their home in north London. "I have suffered with recurring nightmares. The scene of the incident is near to our house. We walk past this most days and are constantly reminded," she said. Osborne used a rented van to target worshippers as they returned from prayers during the holy month of Ramadan, and the court was told that he wanted to kill as many Muslims as possible. His trial was told that he had become radicalised after watching a BBC docudrama about a child-grooming scandal involving Pakistani-origin men in Rochdale and reading online content from far-right organisations such as 'Britain First'. "Your use of Twitter exposed you to racists and anti- Islamic ideology," the judge told Osborne during sentencing. Osborne had previously appeared before the courts on 33 occasions for 102 offences, making him a "belligerent and violent character" in the eyes of the law. UK home secretary Amber Rudd reacted after Osborne's conviction, saying that the government was determined to combat all forms of terrorism. "We are continually adapting our approach to respond to the terrorist threat...We give parity to all terrorism regardless of ideology. I see no difference between a violent Islamist and a far-right terrorist. All terrorists must face the full force of the law," she said in a statement. Osborne's attack came after three Islamist terrorist attacks in London and Manchester. "I welcome the judge's decision to sentence Osborne under the Terrorism Act, which reflects the gravity of his actions," said Commander Dean Haydon, the Head of Scotland Yard's Counter Terrorism Command. On arresting Osborne on June 19 last year, Metropolitan Police officers had found various items in the van, including a hand-written note from him containing a monologue of his extremist views. Through their enquiries, the Met Police believes that Osborne drove from Cardiff to London on June 18, 2017 with the intention of targeting the 'al-Quds' march, where he thought a large number of Muslim people would be present. However, after arriving in London, Osborne was unable to access the march route with his vehicle. At this point, it is believed that Osborne decided to change his plans and after driving to south London, where he asked for directions to mosques, he eventually ended up in Finsbury Park, north London. After effectively carrying out a reconnaissance of the local area, he carried out the attack by ploughing his van into people heading for prayers at the mosque. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Farmers' organisations, led by Swaraj India president Yogendra Yadav, today slammed the BJP-led Union government's last full fledged budget before Lok Sabha polls next year and announced a mass agitation against it from March. Yadav, addressing reporters here, said Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, while proposing to increase the minimum support price (MSP) to 1.5 times the cost of crop production, had levied his own formula instead of going by the recommendations of the Swaminathan Commission report. "While the Finance Minister has increased the MSP to 1.5 times, he has done so using his own formula and not according to the Swaminathan Commission recommendations. According to the government's formula, it will not have to spend anything from its pockets," he said. Yadav added that a Budget's relevance could not be gauged by the number of times the word "farmer" was invoked but by substantial allocations for schemes. "The Economic Survey has said that in the last 4 years, the agricultural growth rate has been the lowest in the last 20-25 years. Farmers' income has remained stagnant," he added. He said the allocation for the agriculture sector had seen a mere rise of 11 per cent, while overall budget outlay had increased by 13 per cent. "This is at a time when the Chief Economic Advisor has warned that farmers' income can decrease by 20-25 per cent due to climate change," Yadav said. Claiming that the government had duped farmers, Yadav said 180 farmers' organisations from across the country would protest from March. Also present were Swabhimani Shetkari Sangathana (SSS) representative Ravikant Tupkar and Lok Sangharsh Morcha leader Pratibha Shinde. SSS representative Ravikant Tupkar said while increasing the MSP, the government did not make its formula clear and also did not specify how the production cost would be calculated. "No policy for long term crops has been announced. How many farmers would be able to use credit cards at a time when nationalised banks don't even give loans to farmers? Also, farmers have to sell their produce at less than the MSP because they do not have place to store grains. However, nothing was announced on this front," he said. Tupkar added that there was no substantial contingency fund in case of fall in market prices of crops. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Whipping up a controversy, an IPS officer of the director general of police rank has openly favoured the construction of the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya "at the earliest". Surya Kumar Shukla, DG, Homeguard, not only participated in an event on Ram Mandir organised at Lucknow University two days ago, but was also captured on camera taking a pledge to build the Ram Mandir. The video of the 1982-batch Indian Police Service officer taking the pledge went viral on social and electronic media today. "We Ram-bhakts, today, as part of this programme, take this pledge that at the earliest, the Ram Mandir be constructed. Jai Shri Ram," the video showed him saying. Many other people were also seen taking the pledge with him at the event, where slogans of "Jai Shri Ram" was raised. Shukla, however, said he had done nothing wrong. "I was taking a pledge to create an atmosphere of harmony. The video that has gone viral is an edited version and portions have been deleted deliberately to create mischief," he said. "It is misinterpretation... The matter related more to creating a peaceful environment for the construction of the temple rather than construction itself," he said. Shukla said there was a discussion at the programme that if Hindus and Muslims talk of temple construction in Ayodhya and a mosque at a distance from there, then the dispute will end. The Supreme Court has suggested that a way should be found through talks, he said. Commenting on the video, SP spokesman Rajendra Chaudhary termed it a violation of service rules by the IPS officer. "Shukla is a public servant, and he is not supposed to take such a pledge at a public function," he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A lawyer and his associate have been booked under the stringent Gangster Act in connection with cases of land grab, police said today. According to the police, lawyer Ranjan Mittal and his aide Rajiv Aggarwal have been booked under the Uttar Pradesh Gangsters and Anti-Social Activities (Prevention) Act. Protesting against the move, a group of lawyers led by the district bar association president staged a demonstration. They alleged that the lawyer had been falsely implicated in the land grab cases. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) US President Donald Trump is set to host Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull at the White House on February 23 to "celebrate 100 years of mateship" according to a statement issued today. The pair held an infamously bad-tempered telephone call early on in Trump's presidency, when the US leader reportedly exploded and hung up after he was told about a Barack Obama- era deal to move refugees from Australia to America. But the affair appeared to have been smoothed over after Turnbull visited Trump for a patch-up summit in New York last May. "President Trump looks forward to further enhancing our partnership and alliance, and demonstrating our shared commitment to the democratic values that underpin peace and prosperity around the world," the statement said. It added: "The President and Prime Minister will discuss a range of shared bilateral, regional, and global priorities, including fighting terrorism, promoting economic growth, and expanding security and defense cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region. "The leaders will celebrate 100 years of mateship through war, peace, and prosperity, charting the course for the coming century of partnership," it continued, referencing an Australian idiom. Despite outward bonhomie, the advent of Trump has invigorated a debate over Australia's place in the world and whether its future lies with an unpredictable United States or a closer relationship with China, its top trading partner. Several former senior Australian diplomats have urged Canberra to rethink ties with the United States in light of China's rise. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Trump administration today accused Syrian President Bashar Assad's government of producing and using "new kinds of weapons" to deliver deadly chemicals despite committing to abolish its program in 2013, and said the world must find a way to stop it. President Donald Trump has not ruled out additional military action to deter attacks or punish Assad, administration officials said, although they did not suggest any action was imminent. They emphasized that the United States was seeking a new way to hold chemical weapons-users accountable and wanted cooperation from Russia, Assad's patron, in pressuring him to end the attacks. Raising the alarm about the continued threat, US officials said it was "highly likely" that Assad kept a hidden stockpile of chemical weapons after 2013 that he failed to properly disclose. They said information gathered from recent alleged attacks also suggested that Assad retained a "continued production capacity" -- also banned under the 2013 deal. There were no indications that the Syria government, after seven years of civil war, had developed new, deadlier chemicals. Rather, the officials said Assad's forces are using the same chemicals -- chlorine and sarin -- but in more sophisticated ways, potentially to evade international accountability by making the origins of attacks harder to trace. Barrel bombs used earlier in the war to disperse chemicals indiscriminately, for example, have been replaced by ground-launched munitions, officials said. More recent attacks have involved both chlorine, which has nonchemical uses and is easier to acquire, and the more sophisticated chemical sarin, the officials said. The officials weren't authorised to speak on the record and briefed reporters on condition of anonymity. Though evidence-collection is different in the middle of a war zone, the officials said the US has a firm understanding of the extent of chemical use in Syria through a combination of intelligence, sample testing by third countries, and social media and other open-source information, the officials said. Assad's government has denied using chemical weapons. Syria's chief ally, Russia, has claimed that the reports are false attempts to pressure Syria's government or provocations perpetrated by opposition groups. Syria and Russia have dismissed the conclusions of the Joint Investigative Mission, an expert body set up by the United Nations and Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, that Assad's government used chlorine gas in 2014 and 2015, and sarin in April 2017. Late last year, Russia used its UN Security Council veto to prevent the investigative body from being renewed, arguing it had been discredited. That led the US and other nations to accuse Moscow of covering for chemical use by Assad's forces. Use of such widely deplored weapons comes with great risk for Assad, raising questions about why he would take the chance. But the officials said the US believes Assad's government sees chemical attacks as an effective way to terrorize rebels and sympathetic populations into fleeing, therefore altering the demographic balance in the Alawite heartland where Assad is trying to consolidate control. Assad is a member of the Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shiite Islam that forms a minority of Syria's population. Yet Syria's government isn't the only chemical weapons threat in the region, according to the officials. The Islamic State group continues to use them, they said, although the militants' arms are said to be more rudimentary. Though IS no longer controls large parts of Syria or Iraq, the officials said the extremist group continues to use sulfur mustard, via artillery shells, and chlorine, delivered by improvised explosive devices. The officials noted that the underlying chemicals are easy to acquire or produce, and said the US does not believe IS has gotten ahold of military stockpiles in either Iraq or Syria. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The US has made it clear to Pakistan that it expects it to act against terrorists in sanctuaries on its soil and help reduce terror attacks in neighbouring Afghanistan, a top American diplomat has said. Deputy Secretary of State John J Sullivan, who recently returned from a visit to strife-torn Afghanistan, said the US also expects Pakistan to contribute to a lasting and enduring peace in the region. "That was certainly part of my conversations with the Afghan leadership," Sullivan told reporters on his return from Kabul. "We have made clear to the Pakistani government our expectations for them to take action against terrorists that are in sanctuaries in Pakistan, to reduce the pressure and the threat of violence in Afghanistan," he said. The trip to Afghanistan, Sullivan said, was an important opportunity for him to reaffirm the US' commitment to strengthening its partnership with the country. He met with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani; Chief Executive, Dr. Abdullah Abdullah; Foreign Minister Salahuddin Rabbani and other government leaders during the visit. "During each of these meetings, Afghanistan's leadership made it clear to me that despite the recent tragic events, the Afghan government will continue to work to create the necessary conditions to bring the Taliban to the negotiating table, and establish an environment for a sustained peace," Sullivan said. "We applaud this conviction, as the path to peace and reconciliation must be an Afghan-led and Afghan-owned process, as we have laid out in the president's South Asian strategy," he said. Sullivan rued that despite everyone wanting peace at this stage, the Taliban still seemed unwilling to come to the negotiation table. "The Taliban's reprehensible attacks targeting innocent civilians demonstrate that they are not ready to enter into good faith peace negotiations," Sullivan said. "The US will continue to support its Afghan partners to defeat the ISIS, Al-Qaeda, and other terrorist groups in Afghanistan, and deny them and their affiliates safe haven and material support," he said. Sullivan said he discussed security cooperation, and the importance of holding timely, credible and inclusive parliamentary and presidential elections with the Afghan leaders. "During an executive committee meeting of the Afghanistan compact, we reviewed Afghanistan's progress in the areas of security, governance, rule of law, economic development and peace and reconciliation," Sullivan said. Responding to a question, Sullivan said President Donald Trump's recent comments ruling out talks with the Taliban is a reflection of the ground realities. "Our policy is to continue to put pressure on the Taliban to bring them, eventually, with patience and perseverance, to peace talks that are Afghan-led and Afghan-owned," he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The United States has made it clear that it expects Islamabad to take action against terrorists in sanctuaries inside Pakistan, a top American diplomat has said. Deputy Secretary of State John J Sullivan, who recently returned from a visit to Afghanistan, said the US also expects Pakistan to contribute to a lasting and enduring peace in the region. "That was certainly part of my conversations with the Afghan leadership," Sullivan said in a briefing with reporters on his return. "We have made clear to the Pakistani government our expectations for them to take action against terrorists that are in sanctuaries in Pakistan, to reduce the pressure and the threat of violence in Afghanistan," he said. The trip to Afghanistan, Sullivan said, was an important opportunity for him to reaffirm the US' commitment to strengthening its partnership with the country. He met with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani; Chief Executive, Dr. Abdullah Abdullah; Foreign Minister Salahuddin Rabbani and other government leaders during the visit. "During each of these meetings, Afghanistan's leadership made it clear to me that despite the recent tragic events, the Afghan government will continue to work to create the necessary conditions to bring the Taliban to the negotiating table, and establish an environment for a sustained piece," Sullivan said. "We applaud this conviction, as the path to peace and reconciliation must be an Afghan-led and Afghan-owned process, as we have laid out in the president's South Asian strategy," he said. Sullivan rued that despite everyone wanting peace at this stage, the Taliban still seemed unwilling to come to the negotiation table. "The Taliban's reprehensible attacks targeting innocent civilians demonstrate that they are not ready to enter into good faith peace negotiations," Sullivan said. "The US will continue to support its Afghan partners to defeat the ISIS, Al-Qaeda, and other terrorist groups in Afghanistan, and deny them and their affiliates safe haven and material support," he said. Sullivan said he discussed security cooperation, and the importance of holding timely, credible and inclusive parliamentary and presidential elections with the Afghan leaders. "During an executive committee meeting of the Afghanistan compact, we reviewed Afghanistan's progress in the areas of security, governance, rule of law, economic development and peace and reconciliation," Sullivan said. Responding to a question, Sullivan said President Donald Trump's recent comments ruling out talks with the Taliban is a reflection of the ground realities. "Our policy is to continue to put pressure on the Taliban to bring them, eventually, with patience and perseverance, to peace talks that are Afghan-led and Afghan-owned," he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The US today welcomed the decision by the Maldives' Supreme Court to order the release of political prisoners and to reinstate elected members of parliament. "The United States urges the Maldivian government to respect and abide by the Supreme Court ruling," State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert said. "It is imperative that the Maldivian president, government, and security services uphold the Constitution and rule of law and implement the court's ruling in full," she said. Nauert said the US also strongly supports freedom of expression for all Maldivians and calls upon the government to uphold this fundamental freedom. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu and Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao today offered prayers to deities Samakka and Saralamma at an ongoing tribal festival. The four-day mega tribal festival, 'Sammakka Saralamma Maha Jathara' or 'Medaram Jathara', started on January 31 at Medaram in Jayashankar Bhupalpally district. "In a way, this can be termed as adivasi 'girijana' (tribal) 'Kumbh Mela'. People from 10 states in the country come here in their traditional attire. They offer respects to their ancestors and the 'Van Devtas' (forest gods)," Naidu said on the occasion. Naidu, who offered silk 'vastram' (cloth) and 'bangaram' (jaggery equal to his weight as per tradition) to the two deities, said such festivals promote a spirit of togetherness and encourage people to walk on the righteous path. Rao, who offered prayers along with his family members, ministers and officials, announced several measures for the development of the festival site. The CM said he would visit the area again soon to take stock of the permanent arrangements to be made at the place. About 200-300 acres at the place would be taken for the purpose of development, the Chief Minister said. As part of permanent arrangements, Rao announced Rs 200 crore to raise constructions and other facilities. Massive arrangements would be made for the 'jatara' next year, he said. Noting that the festival should be recognised on par with the famous 'Kumbh Mela', he said the state government has already taken up the matter with the Centre and added he would raise the issue with Prime Minister also. The state government's website describes the festival, held every two years at Medaram village in Tadvai mandal, deep inside forests, as the largest tribal religious gathering in the world. Over one crore devotees are expected to visit the festival this year, an official said. During the Jathara, declared a state festival by the Telangana government, tribal devotees offer obeisance to deities Sammakka and her daughter Saralamma. As per the folklore, the festival commemorates the fight of Sammakka and Saralamma against the oppression of Kakatiya rulers. White jaggery is the traditional offering made to the two deities. Devotees often offer their own weight in jaggery to Sammakka and Saralamma. They also take a holy bath in nearby Jampanna Vagu (stream). (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A well-known woman private detective, Rajani Pandit, was today arrested by the Crime Branch of Thane police for her alleged involvement in procuring call detail records (CDR) illegally. Police officials today said that the 54-year-old woman detectives name cropped up after four private detectives arrested earlier revealed her involvement. The four, whom police identified as Makesh Pandian (42), Prashant Palekar (49), Jigar Makwana (35) and Samresh Jha (32) alias Pratik Mohpal, were arrested on January 24 from Kalwa township here. "During their questioning, it was revealed that Pandit had purchased five CDRs from the arrested persons. On this basis, she was arrested today. She is being questioned for further leads and her statement is being recorded," the official informed. According to officials, the case against the four was that they were illegally procuring CDRs from some persons in neighbouring Mumbai and selling them for money. Police had seized three desktop computers, two laptops, 11 mobile phones and electronic files of 177 CDRs from them. Kalwa police had charged the four under section 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code and sections 66 (computer related offences), 72 (disclosing electronic record, correspondence, information, document or other material without the consent of the person concerned) and 72A (disclosure of information in breach of lawful contract)of the Information Technology Act. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Short-term home rental service Airbnb Inc will not go public this year, the company said on Thursday, and it also announced a change in executive leadership with the loss of its chief financial officer and appointment of its first chief operating officer. San Francisco-based Airbnb, a service where homeowners and renters can post their house, room or apartment for rent, had been on a list of anticipated initial public offerings this year. Chief Executive Officer Brian Chesky refuted that timeline, and said in a statement that "we're working on getting ready to go ... BEIJING (Reuters) - China's banking regulator has imposed fines of 52.5 million yuan ($8.36-million) on 19 banks in the northwestern province of Shaanxi and the central province of Henan over a 19-billion-yuan ($3-billion) pledged loan fraud, it said on Friday.It is the third major penalty handed down since the start of the year as the regulator steps up a crackdown on illegal practices to fend off financial risk.Criminals illegally pledged gold of low purity to obtain loans from banks, including branches of large state lenders Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd and Postal Savings ... By David Lawder and Lesley WroughtonWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The chief executives of top American steel companies and related groups urged President Donald Trump on Thursday to urgently impose trade measures to curb excess steel capacity and surging imports they say are undermining the U.S. industry.A letter, sent to the White House and Congress by the American Iron and Steel Institute and the Steel Manufacturers Association, called on Trump to immediately act under the rarely used "Section 232" of a 1962 U.S. trade law, which allows for restrictions to protect national security."We urge you to ... This was Finance Minister Arun Jaitleys last full-year Budget before the general elections due in 2019, and also with the perspective of four state elections to be held this year. So, there was no surprise that much of the resources were devoted to the agriculture and rural sectors that are crucial for the outcome of the next elections. In that respect, the results of the Gujarat elections in which the frustration of the rural sector boosted the performance of the Congress, were a warning that the Prime Minister Narendra Modi could not ignore. However, should the electoral ... The Centre has allocated around Rs 107.83 billion to the Department of Space in the Union Budget for 2018-19 against 2017-18's Rs 91.55 billion, as per the revised estimates. The allocation includes around Rs 89.63 billion for various space related projects of Department of Space in the 2018-19 Budget and also the targets to be achieved in the next fiscal. . While the allocation is slightly lower than expected, considering that Isro is trying to increase its launches, experts pointed out this should be viewed in the backdrop of Isro's efforts to partner with private industries ... Andhra Pradesh's ruling TDP on Thursday expressed its unhappiness with BJP-led NDA government for the "raw deal" meted out to the state in the Union 2018-19. Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, at a meeting with party leaders, voiced his disappointment over lack of any allocations for the state to fulfill the commitments made in Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act. Naidu, who is also the TDP chief, which is a constituent of the NDA, met his Cabinet colleagues and party leaders to discuss the "injustice" meted out to the state. TDP is a part of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government at the Centre while the Bharatiya Janata Party is the junior ally in the TDP-led government in the state. Cabinet minister S Chandramohan Reddy told reporters after the meeting that they will convey their dissatisfaction to the Centre and the party leaders authorised Naidu to take an appropriate decision. He said the TDP had been waiting for four years for the BJP to help the state come out of the difficult situation created by its division. Party leader and Union Minister of State for Science and Technology Y Sujana Chowdhary said that the has let down the people of Andhra Pradesh. Chowdhary told reporters in New Delhi that the should have made allocations for Polavaram project, development of new state capital Amaravati, the Visakhapatnam Metro Project and the Visakhapatnam Railway Zone. He said there were no allocations for major railway projects in the state. Stating that there will be no compromise on the state's interests, he said the future course of action would be decided by Chandrababu Naidu. Party MP Rammohan Naidu said they were even ready to resign for the sake of the state. The TDP chief had last month called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi to request him to take steps to fulfill the commitments made to the state at the time of the state's division. He had demanded that the Centre do the handholding to help the state overcome revenue deficit and ensure level playing field at par with other states. Even as the Union 2018-19 proposed levy of road and infrastructure cess of Rs 8 per litre on petrol and diesel, while abolishing the additional excise duty of Rs 6, global prices pushed petrol to a nearly three-and-a-half-year high of Rs 73.05 per litre in Delhi on Thursday. The basic excise duty on unbranded petrol was slashed by Rs 2 from Rs 6.48 per litre and on branded petrol from Rs 7.66 per litre. Similarly on unbranded diesel, the additional excise duty was brought down from Rs 8.33 per litre to Rs 6.33 per litre and on branded diesel from Rs 10.69 per litre to Rs 8.69 per litre. Union Finance Secretary Hasmukh Adia told a post- media briefing that the changes won't affect the customer. Only the devolution of cess has been changed, he said. The 5 per cent road and infrastructure cess on ethanol-blended petrol up to 10 per cent and bio-diesel up to 20 per cent has been abolished. Road and infrastructure cess on petrol and diesel manufactured in and cleared from four specified refineries in the northeast has been levied at Rs 4 per litre. Instead, governed by the dynamic daily pricing system, petrol prices reached landmark levels on Thursday in key metros Kolkata, Mumbai and Chennai at Rs 75.74, Rs 80.91, and Rs 75.77 per litre respectively. The previous coresponding highs in these cities were Rs 76.14 (Kolkata, August 2014), Rs 81.75 (Mumbai, July 2014) and Rs 75.78 (Chennai, August 2014). Asked about the cut in excise duty and imposition of road cess in the Budget, analysts said it was the global crude oil prices which were driving petrol and diesel rates. "That depends on the crude oil price outlook. Crude oil prices have been increasing for the last six months after 2-3 years of lull. So, given that it is free pricing now, any projection on prices of petrol and diesel will be difficult," Raju Kumar, tax partner, EY, said. "Finance Minister Arun Jaitley's populist measure of reducing basic excise duty on fuel comes at a time when petrol prices have hit Rs 80 across major cities in India. For the past few years, the excise on the commodity has always remained steep despite crude prices almost halving since early 2016," said Saurabh Bhagotra, Solicitor at Zaiwalla & Co. Global and domestic factors have spiked the fuel prices. Production curbs by the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and high demand have led to the surge. On Thursday, price of the Brent crude oil was around $69 per barrel. With eight state elections scheduled to be held this year, and the general elections due soon after, it would have been surprising if the Narendra Modi government had not presented a Budget that was aimed at the bottom of the economic pyramid, as it were. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has not disappointed his entire emphasis has been on the rural sector and the poor, with a few tweaks to the salaried, income-tax paying classes almost as an afterthought. As for the corporate sector, it cannot possibly be delighted at Jaitleys proposals, simply because there was nothing ... Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday asked the BJP MPs to go among the people, especially in their constituencies, to publicise the "pro-people" aspects of the Union Budget, and urged them to work as a bridge between the people and the government. "This is a historical document which embodies the mantra of 'Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas'. This NDA government not only talks about social justice but also implements it," Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar quoted Modi as having said at a special meeting of the Bharatiya Janata Party parliamentary party. He was briefing the reporters after the meeting held at the parliament annexe building. BJP President Amit Shah lauded Modi and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley for presenting the budget, which he termed historical. Ananth Kumar also said: "The Prime Minister asked the party MPs to reach out to the last man in the queue with the pro-poor, pro-farmer and pro-youth aspects of the "The MPs should campaign so that benefits of the reach the common man. The MPs should work as bridge between the common man and the government." Jaitley spoke at length in the meet about the aspects of the budget, saying it would pave ways for employment for the poor. Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Vijay Goel briefed the Members of Parliament about the issues likely to be discussed in the Parliament in the coming days while Railways Minister Piyush Goyal spoke about the country's achievements at Davos summit. I, like many others, expected that the last full years Union Budget before the elections would have many heads of expenditure directed at Indias rural poor. The Budget is but an instrument of politics of the government in power, and why should it ever be otherwise? However, this is what I had thought the Budget would be: first, large expenditure growth for rural India some revenue but much of it employment generating capital outlays; second, a significant uptick in key infrastructure spends; third, a clear road map to how the government plans to help increase the ... Opposition parties including Congress, CPI-M and Trinamool Congress on Thursday slammed the Union as "jumlanomics" and "big bluff" and said the Modi was still promising fair price to farmers despite being in office for nearly four years. Congress President Rahul Gandhi said Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had made "fancy" announcements with no matching funds. 4 years gone; still promising FARMERS a fair price. 4 years gone; FANCY SCHEMES, with NO matching budgets. 4 years gone; no JOBS for our YOUTH. Thankfully, only 1 more year to go.#Budget2018 Office of RG (@OfficeOfRG) February 1, 2018 Congress leader and former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram held a press conference and termed the promised Rs 500,000 national health protection scheme coverage scheme for Rs 100 million families a "jumla". He said there was "tokenism" on creating jobs, nothing to indicate rise in farmers income, no tax relief to the average tax payer and no measures to boost exports. He also expressed his deep disappointment about some major schemes having reduced outlays. Referring to the national health protection scheme, he said it will entail huge expenditure but no money has been provided for it by the "The promise of Rs 500,000 per family for secondary and tertiary healthcare is a big jumla. The target group is 100 million families. Assuming each family will avail of Rs 50,000 - one tenth of Rs 500,000 - the amount required per year will be Rs 5 trillion," he said. He said if the insurance companies will foot the bill, the estimated premium at Rs 5,000 to Rs 15,000 per family will require an outgo from Rs 500 billion to Rs 1.5 trillion per year. "Is the Finance Minister serious?" he asked. The Congress leader said he did not hear any measures to boost exports. On the promise to increase the minimum support price (MSP) of crops 1.5 times, he said there were no details. "There is nothing to indicate that farmers real income will rise. The agriculture distress will continue and deepen," he said. Referring to jobs, Chidambaram said that Jaitley had no new ideas and "has fallen back on tried and failed Mudra scheme". He said there was nothing in the to boost private investment. Chidambaram said there is no tax relief to the average tax payer and only corporates with income up to Rs 2.5 billion get tax relief of five percent. In Kolkata, Trinamool Congress supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee described the Union as a "big bluff", "anti-people" and "very disappointing". "The BJP-led in Delhi is unfit to govern. It is a budget which is neither here, nor there," she said. Questioning the proposals for farmers mentioned in the budget, Banerjee said: "There is no mechanism. Has any fund been allotted for farmers? No." Party MP Derek O'Brien termed the budget was a "big bluff show" and "super-flop show" with no mechanism to implement the announcements. "People have lost their trust" in the BJP-led government and "its credibility is now zero with today's budget. It is clear that all sections are displeased, disappointed, angry: the unemployed, the farmers, the youth, SC/ST, majority, minority," he said. AAP leader and Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia also termed the budget as "disappointing." CPI-M leader Sitaram Yechury termed the budget as "Jumlanomics. Spin and Slogans, not substance". In a series of tweets, he accused the government of abandoning state responsibilities towards health and education and hiking cess. "Modi government's last full budget is a textbook exercise in post-truth: Unconnected to ground realities. Promise of increasing farmers' income remains unfulfilled. The input costs conveniently ignore the rising costs of petroleum/diesel." Referring to fuel prices, he said: "Excise duty reduced by 2% i.e. Rs 2 less per litre, but hiked cess per litre from Rs 6 to Rs 8. Petrol prices which were Rs 67.71 on 1/12/2017, are now Rs 74.20 on 15/01/2018." "Fraud of MSP only for Kharif i.e. Elections: Cost of production used by government does not include costs of family labour and land rent, which is the global norm. We reiterate our demand for bringing a law giving farmers the right to Sell at MSP," he added. A case of cheating was registered against e-commerce giant Flipkart, after a software engineer from Mumbai received a detergent bar instead of the iPhone 8 he has paid and ordered for. Tabrej Mehaboob Nagrali, 26, said he ordered the phone for Rs 55,000 and paid the full amount. When the soap bar arrived instead, he approached the Byculla poice in central Mumbai. Avinash Shingte, senior police inspector at Byculla police station told PTI, "Nagrali approached us with a complaint yesterday, and an offence of cheating was registered against Flipkart." According to a report in India Today, Flipkart mentioned that they are aware of this matter and are looking into it to try and resolve it as soon as possible. A Flipkart spokesperson said that they have zero tolerance policy towards incidents that affect customers' trust on them. "We are investigating the incident and will resolve the matter at the earliest," said the Flipkart official. Disclosing the incident, Nagrali said that the phone was supposed to arrive at his house in Panvel in the neighbouring Navi Mumbai on January 22. He was, naturally, shocked to see the content of the package that was delivered to him. Incidentally, this is not the first time something like this has taken place with online shoppers. In fact, it is also not the first time a soap bar has been delivered! Multiple people have taken to social media over time to describe their horror at receiving stones, bricks, soap bars, wrong products, and even trash. Ordered a phone,gave a brick & vim instead. wow! very happy that @snapdeal has proved itself http://t.co/1P3wNMvqxP pic.twitter.com/L3wxWchhe3 - Anandh Jose (@AnandhJose) October 30, 2014 @amazonIN I ordered a Thermosteel flask and i received a vegetable cutter what the heck is this? pic.twitter.com/kJjTsXhH5w - masalacoconair (@Masalacoconair) August 13, 2014 Rs24489 of Stones and Garbage is what you get from @Paytm when you order an ASUS LAPTOP!!! pic.twitter.com/IEewBSbdE0 - Yash Ghag (@yash_y10) April 10, 2015 (With PTI inputs) The Union Budget 2018 was a Budget focused on the country's growth prospectus but, as expected earlier, was stressed on addressing agrarian crisis, including infrastructure development, diversification, and pro-poor measures. Experts suggest this was certainly not an election Budget but a budget that seems to be "taking from rich but giving to poor", and the one that's all about rural, women, and social empowerment. Therefore, critics are also calling it a populist Budget for the farm economy. Lauding the Budget, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the New India Budget strengthens the hopes and aspirations of over 125 crore Indians, belonging to every section of the society. "The New India Budget is a farmer-friendly, common citizen friendly, business environment friendly and development friendly. It goes beyond 'Ease of Doing Business' and focuses on 'Ease of Living." He said to further 'Ease of Living' and to give a boost to development, the Budget accords utmost importance to the Next-Gen Infrastructure. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said that while on the expenditure and the prioritisation, "we looked at areas that required most acknowledgement, and agriculture and rural areas came foremost" to our mind. "If we could help the rural economy grow, it's a good thing." "Our second priority was to uplift those who are economically weak. The government has always supported weaker sections of society. The Ujjwala boost and the mega health scheme are the biggest example of this." BJP chief Amit Shah called it a pro-farmer budget. "This budget gives new wings to the aspirations of the poor, farmers and the middle class. The New India Budget will truly empower all sections of the society to attain prosperity." However, terming the Union Budget 2018-19 a "defeatist" Budget and a "big letdown", the Congress party said the government has "thrown in the towel" and conceded that it had failed to address key issues in the economy. "It is a defeatist budget. I think they have thrown in the towel. It is a budget of a government which has conceded that it has failed to address key issues in the economy... Unfortunately, the budget proposals are a big letdown," senior Congress leader P Chidambaram, adding that the government's budgetary promise of providing insurance coverage of up to Rs 5 lakh to over 10 crore poor families was nothing but a "big jumla". Congress President Rahul Gandhi said the government's failure would hurt it in a year's time when the country goes to polls. "Four years gone; still promising farmers a fair price. Four years gone; fancy schemes, with no matching budgets. Four years gone; no jobs for our youth. Thankfully, only one more year to go," Rahul posted on his Twitter account. AAP chief and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal picked up the 'middle class' issue and said there's nothing for them. "There is nothing for the middle class and traders in this Budget. Completely ignored." Unlike popular opinion that this year's Budget was inclined towards farmers, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh said it did not have any mention of farm debt waiver. "It also failed to implement the recommendations of the Swaminathan Commission." The Finance Minister has presented a comprehensive and wide-ranging Budget for FY19, which addresses most of the areas that need focus to ensure sustainable, long-term and equitable growth of the Indian economy. The Union Budget needed to be prudent and forward-looking rather than populist and that is exactly what Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has achieved through some very smart schemes announced in the areas of healthcare, Science & Technology (S&T), agriculture and rural infrastructure. Healthcare The announcement of National Health Protection Scheme (NHPS) for marginalized and disadvantaged families is going to be transformative for the Indian economy as the Budget correctly notes that "India cannot realize its demographic dividend without its citizens being healthy." The provision of a health cover of Rs 5 lakhs per family per year for 10 crore poor families through NHPS is a big step towards introducing a much-needed universal health coverage in our country. It is an ambitious undertaking as it probably would be the largest government-funded healthcare program in the world aiming to provide health insurance to over 50 crore individuals, which is nearly 40% of India's population. The devil is in the details about how this scheme is going to be financed because that is going to determine the effectiveness of its delivery. I believe it is a cost that we can afford and a cost we must afford to ensure inclusive economic development. Similarly, the decision to set up 24 new government medical colleges and hospitals by upgrading existing district hospitals in the country is noteworthy. This would ensure that there is at least one medical college for every three parliamentary constituencies and at least one government medical college in each state, which augurs well for overall clinical practice and clinical research in our country. I believe the use of telemedicine by linking primary health centres with district hospitals can further strengthen the healthcare delivery mechanism in rural and semi urban areas. Science & Technology I am also pleased to see the focus on Science and Technology in this Budget. If we are to move the economic needle, we urgently need to raise public spending on R&D, which has stagnated at 0.6%-0.7% of GDP in the last two decades. It is interesting to note that the latest Economic Survey for the first time included a chapter on the transformative potential of Science & Technology. It called for a doubling of efforts and expenditure in R&D with a mission mode focus on Genomics, Mathematics, Dark Matter, Energy Storage Systems, Cyber Physical Systems and Agriculture. Acknowledging the immense potential of next-generation technologies in unleashing exponential economic growth, the Budget announced the launch of a Mission on Cyber Physical Systems to support the establishment of centres of excellence, which will invest in research, training and skilling in robotics, Artificial Intelligence, digital manufacturing, Big Data analysis, quantum communication and Internet of Things. The Budget has rightly doubled the allocation on the Digital India program to enable combination of cyber and physical systems, which have the potential to transform the innovation ecosystem and the economy. It also said that the NITI Aayog will establish a national program to direct efforts in the area of Artificial Intelligence towards national development. In institutions of higher learning and research centres, lack of state-of-the-art laboratory equipment can have a disastrous effect on the quality of research conducted. Funding is a critical factor that can decide the course of science. Better allocation of resources can improve the quality of science education in our schools, colleges and universities. In this regard, the FM's proposal to launch a major initiative named Revitalising Infrastructure and Systems in Education (RISE) by 2022 with a total investment of Rs 100,000 crore in the next four years is a step in the right direction. This will lead to higher investments in research and related infrastructure in premier educational institutions, including health institutions. I particularly welcome the proposed launch of the Prime Minister's Research Fellows (PMRF) Scheme, which offer fellowships to 1,000 best B.Tech students each year from premier institutions and provide them facilities to do Ph.D in IITs and IISc. Agrarian Distress The Budget also takes note of the fact that there is severe agrarian stress and has rolled out a slew of measures to address it. The announcement of a higher MSP for farmers along with the launch of Operation Green will boost farm produce leaving more money in the hands of farmers, which will hopefully lead to higher rural consumption. The Budget also unveiled a massive spending of Rs 14.34 lakh crore on rural infrastructure, for the construction of roads, new houses, toilets, and providing electricity connections to 1.75 crore new households. Budget Misses The much-awaited corporate tax relief was missing in this year's Budget. At 30%, India probably has the highest rate of corporate taxation in the world. To be globally competitive we need to bring this down to sub-20% levels. This year's Budget brought relief to MSMEs by bringing down the corporate tax rate to 25% for companies with revenue of up to Rs 250 crore. However, this could have been extended to all corporates leading to more investments and job creation. I believe the introduction of a 10% tax on long term capital gains exceeding Rs 1 lakh will be a deterrent to long-term investment in India as it would disincentivize FIIs and may lead to the outflow of funds from Indian capital markets to more attractive investment destinations. The Budget also failed to provide any major respite to salaried individuals, thus missing out on the opportunity to boost local consumption. Conclusion Overall, it is a good Budget that offers something for everyone. The fact that it is an inclusive Budget reflects that the NITI Aayog was aligned with the finance ministry in the Budget planning exercise. Through Budget 2018, the government has successfully progressed from its 'ease of business' agenda to 'ease of living' ahead of general elections in 2019. Colter Peterson cries while listening to testimony during his sentencing for attempted aggravated murder and robbery, Thursday, Feb. 1, 2018, in Logan, Utah. Peterson received a sentence of 15 years to life for shooting Deserae Turner in February 2017, and leaving her for dead in a dry irrigation canal in Smithfield, Utah. LOGAN Colter Peterson was sentenced to 15-years-to-life in prison Thursday morning. The 17-year-old Smithfield teenager cried and wiped his eyes with a tissue, as the girl he tried to kill, Deserae Turner, told him he was evil. Turner spoke publicly for the first time during the sentencing hearing, in 1st District Court. She described the daily therapy she is undergoing, after being shot in the head a year ago and left to die in a canal bed, east of Sky View High School. While sitting in a wheel chair, she turned to speak directly to Peterson, telling him that she hopes he never forgets what he did to her. I hope that you are constantly reminded that you tried to kill me, said Deserae. You should know, I am tougher than a bullet. Welcome to hell, Ive been here for a year now. Lead prosecutor Spencer Walsh said what Peterson and the co-defendant, Jayzon Decker, did was so heinous, evil and damaging to the victim, it demand the maximum penalty under the law. He explained how Peterson was the gunman, shooting Turner in the back of the head with a .22 caliber revolver, while Decker acted as lookout. He described how the two defendants concocted their plan, weeks in advance. Deseaes father, Matt Turner, said the hardest part for him is trying to comfort his daughter while she suffers from painful headaches, caused by the bullet that remains in her brain. He also turned to speak to Peterson directly, asking him how he could shoot her. I know that I hate what this boy did to Deserae, Matt said. I hate that he had no feeling about what did. After the deed, to go to the store for treats and act like nothing happened. Seriously come on, this whole thing should never have happened. {{tncms-asset app=editorial id=04aa3eaa-07ae-11e8-925a-d7b6690733ff}} Tearfully, Matt said despite what has happened to his family because of Petersons actions, he does not hate the defendant. Peterson spoke briefly, telling the court he wished he could go back and change what happened on the night of February 16, 2017. He apologized to the Turner family, his own family and the community. Im very, very sorry for what I have done, said Peterson. Words can not describe how awful I feel. He told the court no matter what happens to him, it is nothing compared to what he has caused Deserae to go through. He said he has tried to cooperate with investigators and prosecutors, pleading guilty last year. Judge Kevin Allen told Peterson what he did was evil, horrific, and altered the lives of many people. He said the only way the defendant could obtain redemption is by changing his life. Occasionally in our community a case comes along that shakes us to our very core, expressed Allen. It is so heinous and so tragic, that is has us questioning everything about us. Why and how could two boys raised in this community do something like this? I dont know that well ever really get the answer to that question but I think that its important that we as a community understand that this is not who we are. Judge Allen said he hoped the community would not ostracize or demean Petersons family because of what the defendant did. He noted that the 17-year-old was raised in a good home. While chocking up he told Deserae that her courage, wit and sense of humor had touched his soul. Peterson was given the maximum sentence of 15-years-to-life for the attempted aggravated murder charge, and one-to-15-years for the robbery charge. The sentences will run concurrent, meaning he will not be eligible for parole for at least 15-years. Judge Allen ordered him to begin serving his sentence in the juvenile detention center until he turns 18-years-old and is transferred to the Utah State Prison. Decker is scheduled to be sentenced February 7. The 17-year-old Hyde Park teenager has also pleaded guilty to attempted aggravated murder, a first-degree felony, and obstructing justice, a second-degree felony.

will@cvradio.com Courtesy of Facebook.com Leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have announced the closing of the Utah Logan Mission. The closure is part of 19 boundary realignments and the creation of five new missions throughout the world. In a press release, the Church announced it would merge the Utah Logan Mission with the Utah Ogden Mission in July 2018. Specific details are expected to be announced in the upcoming months. Currently the mission, overseen by Jerald K. Allred and his wife, Christine, covers Box Elder, Cache and Rich Counties in Utah. It also has assignments in parts of Bear Lake, Franklin and Oneida Counties in Idaho. It was created in July 2015. The Churchs press release stated that boundary changes are common and anticipated. Since President Thomas S. Monson announced in 2012 the change in the ages for missionary service, the Church has created 76 new missions to accommodate a surge of growth, from 58,000 to 88,000 missionaries. The initial wave has since decreased to about 68,000 men and women. Fewer missionaries means that not only are fewer missions needed but also a heightened importance of a more strategic placement of missionaries in areas of need around the world. Brent H. Nielson, Executive Director of the Missionary Department said, We want missionaries to be in the best possible place and position to help people, whether through sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ or community service. Missionaries will continue to be assigned to serve throughout the area but likely in fewer numbers. The consolidation will also mean the closure of the missions office, located at 179 E 800 N. Jerald Allred will continue to serve as president of the mission until June 30, 2018, when he and Christine are released, after completing their three year term.

will@cvradio.com Statement from the family of Sisiku Julius Ayuk Tabe: "I need to start by thanking God for all good things come from Him, even difficult moments too. With every passing day we are becoming more and more worried about the whereabouts of Sisiku Julius Ayuk Tabe. The last three weeks have been a nightmare, for all his family and friends and the people of former British territory Southern Cameroons (hereafter referred to Federal Republic of Ambazonia), not knowing where he is. I issue this statement because we have reason to be worried for my husbands life and safety and we know that the media, public, governments and organizations will pay attention. Sisiku Julius Ayuk Tabe is a loving, caring, humble, and honest husband and father of my children. A trained and experienced computer engineer, he is calm and always desire to serve others and seek solutions toward improving human prosperity. These are the qualities that earned the confidence of Ambazonians who trusted him to lead legal and diplomatic efforts toward the independence restoration and international recognition of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia as a democratic and sovereign state. My husband Julius is not a terrorist. He is not a criminal. Julius is an activist fighting for freedom, equality and justice in the land of our birth Ambazonia. Julius and I last discussed on 5th January 2018, when he flew to Abuja ahead of a scheduled meeting with close members of the Interim Government of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia. The meeting, he told me, was to focus on the rising humanitarian need of Ambazonia refugees in Nigeria and indiscriminate killing, arrest, and destruction of property and businesses of unarmed citizens in our homeland by armed soldiers and paramilitary forces of La Republique du Cameroun and appointed government officials of President Paul Biya regime in Yaounde. In the evening of 5th January 2018, Julius had not returned home and was unreachable via phone. On the of 6th January 2018, after several inquiries and consultations, we received information that my husband Julius and eleven other leadership members of Ambazonia Interim Government were abducted by Nigerian Security Service during their meeting at Nera Hotel in Abuja. For three weeks, no single person, including Nigerian human rights lawyers Femi Falana and Abdul Oroh and family members of the abducted leaders including myself have neither seen nor heard from one of the abductees. On 28th January 2018, the two lawyers defending my husband and 11 others issued a statement indicating that the Government of Nigeria extradited the 12 leaders to Cameroon. On 29 January 2018, Cameroon government spokesperson Issa Tchiroma Bakary announced to Camerouns public and international community that 47 abductees in Nigeria including my husband Sisiku Julius Ayuk Tabe are in Camerouns territory and under custody. Until the announcement, my children and I still had no information of Julius whereabouts. Today is 31 January 2018, we have no proof that Julius and the 11 others are alive. And if they are alive, what are the charges against them and why have they not been allowed to talk to their families and to access legal due process under international law? I did not choose to be born in Southern Cameroons. Sisiku Julius Ayuk Tabe and other 11 leaders did not choose to be born in Southern Cameroons either. Our children and grandchildren did not choose to be descendants of Southern Cameroons. More than 8 million of us within Ambazonia territory and worldwide did not choose to originate from Southern Cameroons. It is our land of birth and our ways of life are shaped by our common culture and values. We will all die Southern Cameroonians. Hear my cry and that of my children. Hear the cry of thousands of spouses, children and family members of those who have been killed, injured, kidnapped, detained and are missing. We appeal to the international community and governments to urge Mr. Paul Biya to produce video footages of Julius Ayuk Tabe and 11 others, grant access to lawyers and family members to meet them, and free them because they are not criminals. Our appeal equally applies to all other activists illegally detained in prisons and unknown locations across Cameroun territory. I call on fellow women, Amnesty International, the United Nations, Commonwealth, and African Union to act swiftly and decisively by offering to mediate on finding a political solution to the independence restoration struggle of Southern Cameroons. Hear our voices. We are not terrorists. We are Ambazonians. We are fighting for freedom, sovereignty, and human dignity for millions of Southern Cameroonians. Our birth rights have been suppressed, our liberties erased, our political, cultural and economic freedoms denied for more than half a century by the Governments of La Republique du Cameroun. By Mrs Lilian Ayuk Tabe " ----- | BY Ricki Green | Late last year, Australian production company OTTO teamed up with OPositive, Jim Jenkins and Wieden + Kennedy New York to help bring to life the two of the three spots in what has become the SuperBowl Trilogy for Bud Light. Live online today before the big game in the US on Sunday, Bud Knight is the final instalment in the Jim Jenkins directed Superbowl series, and was produced locally with The OTTO Empire. Also produced locally with OTTO was the second ad in the trilogy, Ye Olde Pep Talk which was released 2 weeks ago, and the US filmed Wizard forming the first in the series. The first Dilly Dilly spot (also directed by Jenkins) went viral as soon as it was released last August, and spawned what has now become a series. Bud Knight is the seventh instalment with agency Wieden+Kennedy NY, and is part of a campaign which has penetrated popular culture, prompted viral cease and desist letters, Christmas light displays, an appearance in an audible, and t-shirts. The campaign nets approximately 1.1million google searches per month, and even includes a snapchat game Battle of Beer Run. Also filmed with OTTO were multiple social media executions which will be rolling out during the big game. Jenkins is an industry-leader, renowned for his superb comedic and visual storytelling skills. His work has been recognised at every major industry award show, including Cannes Lions, D&ADs, One Show Pencils, AICP honors, and Emmy Nominations. He has previously been ranked in Creativitys Top 10 Award Winning Directors. Filmed in rural New Zealand using a cast and crew of hundreds, Jenkins found the process of working in in the Southern Hemisphere fantastic and is keen to work locally again. Jenkins, David Shane, Brian Billow and the OPositive roster is exclusively represented by The OTTO Empire in Australia and New Zealand. Bud Knight will screen during the Superbowl on Sunday 4 February (US time) / Monday 5 February (AUS time) and is live online now. | BY Ricki Green | AWARD School, the leading Australian ideas programme for aspiring art directors and copywriters, opens for applications on February 9. Running for 34 years, AWARD School has equipped thousands of graduates with the skills to forge careers in advertising agencies, technology companies, at the helm of start-up companies, or working for TV programs and publishers. No matter the field, the ideas and application of creative thinking are more important than ever before. Just last year, the winning ideas of AWARD Schools top student Tom Lawrence took him to NYC to meet David Droga. As part of his trip, he interviewed some of Australias greatest advertising exports including Leo Premutico, Justine Armour, Sarah Barclay and Suyin Sleeman all whose careers began at AWARD School. Says Mike Spirkovski, AWARD chair and CCO of Saatchi & Saatchi Australia: AWARD School has been globally renowned for decades and has helped nurture some of Australias most talented creatives, spanning across the country and the world. It is a powerful way to experience first-hand, the power of the BIG IDEA, through challenging briefs and direct exposure to the top Agencies and their talented tutors. There is no better way to kick start your career as a creative than taking on the challenge of AWARD School. The 12-week part time course runs from April to August each year in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide. The course consists of a Monday evening lecture and Thursday evening tutorial, held inside agencies. AWARD School. Where can it take you? AWARD School 2018 applications opens next Friday, 9 February 2018. Apply via https://awardonline.com/education/award-school. AWARD School will host a FREE information night next week in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide with applications to the course opening on Friday 9 February. All are welcome to attend the evenings to find out more information about applying for the course. Meet School Heads and past students for a fun Q&A. Information Nights Wednesday 7 February, 6:30-7:30pm SYDNEY NSW Teachers Federation Conf. Centre, 37 Reservoir St, Surry Hills, Sydney MELBOURNE HIGHLINE, 1/60-66 Hanover St, Fitzroy, Melbourne BRISBANE The Alice Room, CloudLand, 641 Ann St, Fortitude Valley, Brisbane PERTH Mezzanine Level, The Vic Hotel, 226 Hay St, Subiaco, Perth ADELAIDE NATION Creative, 16 Anster St, Adelaide AWARD School KEY DATES: Applications open online Friday 9 February Applications close Friday 23 February AWARD School START DATES: NSW Monday 9 April VIC Monday 9 April QLD Monday 16 April SA Monday 16 April | BY Ricki Green | Youth media company VICE has partnered with Schweppes Australias new soft drink range, ALT, on a four-part co-branded video series and large-scale, roving festival activation. The brand partnership was developed in collaboration with Schweppes Australias media agency, Carat and creative agency TBWA Melbourne. The Self Portraits video series sees VICE help ALT position itself as a brand that doesnt just talk about self expression, but enables it. Championing strong, notable characterspaired with like-minded creativestheir fame, personality and lifestyle are captured through a series of creative and imaginative portraits. Now online, Russell (AKA Backpack Kid), the 15 year old from Atlanta, USA, internet-famed for his deadpan, stiff-armed dance move that he calls The Russell. A star born out of Katy Perrys Saturday Night Live appearance (his very own Twitter moment), Backpack Kid is one of the internets favourite icons and the perfect example of how the world falls in love with someone whos just doing them. Also live now, a colourful profile on Shanae Sheezy Collins, an Australian female skateboarder who hopes to follow an X Games appearance with a shot at the 2020 Olympics. In a skate community dominated by young men, Sheezy has made it to the top, not by doing what everyone else was doing, but by being unashamedly herself. Episodes to follow feature Australian Paralympic sprinter, painter and fashion designer, Gabriel Cole and Melbournes Otis Armada, creators of cultish bootleg dining experiences which honour engaging service, artistic collaboration and creative eating. Having left its mark on Sugar Mountain Festivaland social mediathe experiential CTRL + ALT activation leaves Melbourne to feature at Laneway Brisbane (10 Feb). Once more, attendees will be encouraged to interact with the space, to Keep Doing You through an immersive, personalised experience that maximises self-expression/reflection through a giant waterbed, interactive digital ceiling, and GIF photo booth. Watch the Melbourne footage here. Says Lisa Saunders, general manager marketing, Schweppes Australia: ALT is a brand that wants to do things differently, so a partnership with a like-minded collaborator such as VICE was a fantastic opportunity to help us champion the spirit of the individual, and amplify our Keep Doing You campaign. We wanted a partner to talk to the millennial audience on our behalf with credibility, at scale, and in an engaging way. VICE was able to do this and more, with access to a range of unique and diverse young talent captured with expertise and pushed out across multiple platforms, exceeding reach targets. ALT is part of a broader business strategy to expand our low sugar offering, and the sentiment to date has been incredibly positive. Says Michael Slonim, managing director, VICE Australia: What an excellent project to kick things off for our 15th year in Australia. By partnering up with some of our favourite music festivals and young characters that fascinate us, we get to do more of what we lovemaking engaging, multi-screen video content and truly adding something to the cultural conversation. Thanks to our forward-thinking partners at Schweppes Australia and Carat who let us keep doing us. ALTs highly visible OTL campaign heroes the Keep Doing You messaging, championing self expression and empowerment. | BY Lynchy | Ensemble Worldwide Malaysia and Maxis have teamed up on yet another ground-breaking campaign, this time, for the Chinese New Year festive season. The HuatAR campaign is a worlds first, devised by the team to bring blessings (Huat in Hokkien) and make the culturally significant lion dance more accessible to masses through the use of augmented reality (AR) technology. Users will have the opportunity to download the Maxis HuatAR app and collect unique ang pao packets from any Maxis store. Through AR, the scanned ang pao packets will transform and activate an interactive lion that users will be able to engage with. Executive Creative Director of Ensemble Worldwide, Chan Woei Hern, said, Ang Pao packets are the one commodity Malaysians look forward to from big brands during Chinese New Year. This year, with the help of technology, we get a chance to give Malaysians that little bit extra in their red packet. The team worked with several parties to bring this to fruition, including Kun Seng Keng (KSK) Lion and Dragon Dance Association who acted as a cultural advisor. KSK has been a pioneer in lion dance, and shared insights about its evolution and future in Malaysia, including the challenges of economies, space and availability of lion dance troops during the CNY period. The app itself was developed from scratch with The Ministry Experience. In-depth research went into studying lion dance movements to make the experience as realistic as possible, with the lion developing pet-like behaviours, and animated movements to have a mix of traditional and millennial interactions. Woei Hern added, There have been attempts at pocket-sizing the iconic lion dance into mobile before, but with the progress in scalable AR technology, we wanted to push the level of interactivity even further. The team has included lots of features to make it fun for the entire family, and we cant wait to see how Malaysians play and create their own content with it. This however is just stage one. As we see AR seep into more of our daily lives, we want to see how brands can infuse technology into every bit of their funnel, from e-commerce to education to story doing. Head of Marketing Services at Maxis, Tai Kam Leong, said, Following the cult success of PokemonGo, and Hotlink Pokemobile, we were excited to integrate the beauty of AR with the culturally relevant lion dance. The idea that our users would be able to have a lion dance within their pocket was powerful, and we are excited to partner Ensemble to bring this to life. The HuatAR app is available for download from the play store today, and on iOS next week. There are three ang paos available at Maxis stores, with each initiating a unique lion named Ah Huat who will perform a distinctive dance move. | BY Lynchy | McCann Worldgroup Australia has today confirmed that chairman and CEO, Ben Lilley, will be stepping down at the end of March after 18 years in his leadership role. Lilley is moving with his family to France in April, for a well-earned career break. The search for his replacement commenced several months ago and is expected to be announced shortly. Lilley joined McCann Australia as chairman and CEO McCann after the sale of his agency, SMART, in 2011. Charged with reinventing the agencys integrated creative offering, McCann Australia has since achieved record growth and been named Agency of the Year at D&AD, London International, Spikes Asia, Campaign Asia, Campaign Brief and AWARD. Lilley also served as McCann Worldgroup creative leadership chair, Asia Pacific, responsible for driving McCanns creative excellence across the APAC region in 2016 and 2017. Under Lilleys leadership, in 2013 McCann Australia made history as the worlds most awarded agency in the the Gunn Report, Won Report and AdAgeAwards Report, for campaigns including Dumb Ways to Die (DWTD). Named the most awarded campaign in history, DWTD featured in both the AdAge Top 15 Ad Campaigns and Gunn Report 20 Best Commercials of the 21st Century. McCann is now amongst only a handful of Australian agencies to have recorded year-on-year Cannes Lions since. In 2017, McCann was the second ranked Australian agency at Cannes. It has been equally recognised in effectiveness awards, winning a coveted Cannes Lions Creative Effectiveness Grand Prix for V/Line in 2014 and numerous effectiveness awards at the Australian, APAC and Global Effies, the Asian Marketing Effectiveness Awards and WARC. In 2017 McCann Melbourne was one of just four Australian agencies to finish in the top 10 of the 2017 Global WARC 100 list of the worlds most effective marketing campaigns. Since Lilley assumed the CEO role, McCann has invested significantly in its integrated offering, introducing full-service media in-house in 2015 and merging its strategic, media and digital and creative capabilities under a single agency offering. The move has paid off, with major new business wins and integrated campaign launches for high-profile clients including LOreal, AGL, tigerair, Microsoft, Bakers Delight, Worksafe and the University of Melbourne. Says Harris Diamond, chairman and CEO of McCann Worldgroup: From our first entry into Australia six decades ago, this country has been, and will continue as, one of the cornerstones of our global network. Since becoming part of McCann, Ben and his team have helped raise our Australian creative and integrated marketing offering to world-class recognition. As he moves into the next phase in his life, we thank him for his contributions and wish him great personal success. Says Charles Cadell, president, McCann Worldgroup APAC: Ben has led one of McCanns most successful offerings for years, responsible for delivering outstanding work and building a truly dynamic and exciting business. In his capacity as our APAC CLC Chair, he effected remarkable results, with 2017 being the best ever year for our regional award wins both on the creative and the effectiveness front. One of those rare hybrid leaders a true mix of creative and CEO hell be very much missed by the network and we wish him all the best. | BY Lynchy | New York Festivals International Advertising Awards has added 14 additional members to the 2018 executive Jury, bringing the panel up to 35 members from 17 countries including Sunmi Park, Chief Creative Officer, Daehong Communications, South Korea (pictured left) and Cindy Yan Chan, Partner/Chief Strategy Officer, Focus Media Group, China (pictured right). The executive jury, an elite panel of global and regional chief creative officers will meet in New York City on April 20th to Monday, April 23rd to select the Worlds Best Advertising. Says Michael Demetriades, president and executive director, New York Festivals: Never before has New York Festivals assembled an executive jury of this magnitude and executive leadership level. NYFs world-class executive jury has a 360-view of global creativity and through four rounds of judging they will determine the 2018 Worlds Best Advertising award-winners. The work chosen as trophy winners by this highly acclaimed creative group truly deserve the accolade bestowed upon it. Additions to the 2018 Executive Jury: Cam Blackley, Chief Creative Officer, M&C Saatchi, Australia Cosmo Campbell, Chief Creative Officer Canada, DDB, Canada Javier Campopiano, Chief Creative Officer, Saatchi & Saatchi NY, USA Cindy Yan Chan, Partner/Chief Strategy Officer, Focus Media Group, China Andy DiLallo, Chief Creative Officer, TBWA Sydney, Australia Ralf Heuel, Chief Creative Officer/Partner, Grabarz & Partner, Germany Maxi Itzkoff, Chief Creative Officer, Santo Buenos Aires, Argentina Armin Jochum, Chief Creative Officer/Co-Founder, thjnk, Germany Eduardo Maruri, President/Chief Executive Officer LATAM, Grey, Ecuador Farid Mokart, Creative CEO/Chief Creative Officer, Fred & Farid, France Britt Nolan, Chief Creative Officer USA, Leo Burnett, USA Sunmi Park, Chief Creative Officer, Daehong Communications, South Korea Hugo Rodrigues, Chairman & CEO, WMcCann, Brazil Taras Wayner, EVP/Chief Creative Officer, R/GA, USA To view the 35 members of the 2018 New York Festivals Executive Jury, please click here. Since 2011, all entries into NYFs Advertising Awards competition are viewed by 400+ members of NYFs executive and grand juries, a brain trust of global creative minds, who collectively cast over 300,000 votes during the two-tiered judging process. Utilizing New York Festivals patented Matrix Judging System, the executive jury scores each entry on its own merits with 50% of the vote based upon its concept / idea, 25% stemming from its brand and market relevance, and 25% pulled from its production execution. All Shortlisted entries will be selected by the grand jury. Shortlisted (finalist) entries, in all competitions, except Public & Media Relations, Marketing Effectiveness, Film Craft and Package Design, will be reviewed by the executive jury through four rounds of judging, to determine the Worlds Best Advertising Award-Winners. The 2018 New York Show awards ceremony and gala will take place the evening of Thursday, May 17, 2018 at the world-class performance space, Jazz at Lincoln Centers Frederick P. Rose Hall, Broadway at 60th Street, New York City. | BY Lynchy | The Asia Pacific Tambuli Awards has named Yasuharu Sasaki, Executive Creative Director, Head of Digital Creative Center, and Managing Director, Creative Planning Division 4, of Dentsu Japan, as the 2018 Jury President of the Media & Digital Executive Jury. The pioneer award show globally that honors brands that do good and do well, the APAC Tambuli Awards celebrates brands that show the seamless integration of creativity + human good + results. Case study entries must demonstrate how brands uplift society, create positive change, and correlate purpose with purchase. The APAC Tambuli Awards is not an award on charity, advocacy, pro bono, or CSR advertising, even if those campaigns are welcome and encouraged to enter. The award, however, focuses on mainstream brand campaigns that celebrate humanity, inspire purpose, and deliver results. Sasaki commented, In the digital age, people and brands are connected not only with advertising communications, but with relevant promises that brands can offer to society. I believe that the Asia Pacific Tambuli awards is one of the best places to find out those kind of great brand experiences that are not just fun, not just efficient, but effective. Sasaki is executive creative director at Dentsu Tokyo in charge of digital creative and innovation. He has a background in computer science and his curiosity has always found a way into writing, digital experience design and coding. He has worked on clients such as Coca-Cola, Google, Glico, Kirin and UNIQLO. His list of awards includes Cannes Lions, D&AD, The One Show, Spikes, ADFEST and CLIOs, of which hes also been a jury member. Sometimes, youll find Yasu kayaking anywhere from the rivers of Mongolia to the Hudson in New York. Always, however, he seems to be wearing a cool shirt. Calgary Horticultural Society: Time to wrap up the garden As this summer has shown us, gardening in the chinook zone is challenging, and summer seems to be over far too quickly. To make the most of our short growing season, taking time in the fall to prepare the garden for our variable winter weather is worth the effort. Besides, its nice to be outside on beautiful fall days and there is plenty to do. news, latest-news The Defence Department has taken back a notebook containing information that could cause "substantial harm" to national security after it was handed to The Canberra Times in another major security breach. Following questions from Fairfax Media on Thursday, Defence moved to lock down and then remove the notebook, which belonged to a top Defence official, on Friday afternoon. A member of the public claims to have found the notebook, along with three security passes and a personal letter addressed to the official, in December. Following an assessment of the items on Friday morning, the department confirmed them as genuine and said publishing the contents of the notebook "could cause substantial harm to national security, in particular with respect to intelligence arrangements and related activities". The department also requested Fairfax withhold the identity of the senior official involved in the breach, as "publication of such information may give rise to a foreign intelligence threat". "An assessment by the department's senior officials of the hand written material it contains is that, in addition to personal information, it includes sensitive and classified national security information, in particular with respect to intelligence agencies," associate secretary of Defence Rebecca Skinner said. How the items fell into the hands of the public remains unclear, but they were not reported stolen, a Defence spokesman confirmed. The senior official is understood to have written the notes while working with the Australian Signals Directorate in 2016. Several pages inside the small, pink notebook appear to reference counter-terrorism and intelligence operations, while one of the passes confers top security clearance. Defence has since launched a full investigation into the breach. "Initial inquiries indicate the items were inadvertently left in a piece of personal furniture recently disposed of by the Defence official," the spokesman said. Soon after a Defence officer secured the notebook at The Canberra Times on Friday, officials from both Defence and the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet arrived to negotiate access to the document. The notebook, along with the security passes and letter, were returned, but redacted copies were provided to the newsroom. Handwritten notebooks containing classified information are subject to the same security protocols as printed or digital documents, but the onus is on government officials to keep them safe. On Thursday, head of the ANU National Security College Professor Rory Medcalf said handwritten notes about classified material "should be in themselves classified, and handled and stored as such". "But it's obviously hard to enforce," Professor Medcalf said. The Defence spokesman said officials were required to report lost or stolen passes, but a lost pass was considered a minor security incident. "Notwithstanding that the passes have no ongoing validity, in the wrong hands they may still be abused, and government policy and procedure requires that such passes be returned for destruction by the relevant government agency," Ms Skinner said. The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet launched an "urgent investigation" into another security breach on Wednesday after the ABC revealed it had obtained thousands of sensitive cabinet documents accidentally sold off at a second-hand furniture store in Fyshwick. Dubbed "The Cabinet Files", the ABC said the documents span more than a decade, covering the Howard, Rudd, Gillard and Abbott governments, and should not have been made public for another 20 years. On Thursday, ASIO took back the documents from the ABC, as part of negotiations between the broadcaster and the department. Many of the files also contained national security information, the ABC reported. /images/transform/v1/crop/frm/silverstone-ct-migration/b4748b2a-4164-4105-a087-d38d48d37d45/r1_0_619_349_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg The Medicare Annual Disenrollment Period, which allows beneficiaries who have a Medicare Advantage Plan to make changes, ends on Feb. 14. The disenrollment period provides beneficiaries with an opportunity to switch back to original Medicare or return to original Medicare and join a prescription drug plan. Counselors from SHINE (Serving Health Insurance Needs of Elders) are available to assist beneficiaries with this process. Choosing a health care or prescription drug plan requires careful consideration of coverage and cost, and some beneficiaries may need assistance in understanding the benefits. Free help is available statewide from the Department of Elder Affairs SHINE program. Locally, SHINE is managed by the Area Agency on Aging for Southwest Florida. SHINE is an award-winning program that provides information and free, unbiased counseling for people with Medicare, their families, and their caregivers. The SHINE program can help beneficiaries compare plans and understand their options. For example, it is important to understand that beneficiaries cannot use this disenrollment period to switch from one Medicare Advantage Plan to another. Beneficiaries are allowed only one change during this enrollment period, so it is especially important that beneficiaries review their options carefully. Medicare beneficiaries with limited income and assets may qualify for additional assistance with the cost of prescription drug plan premiums, deductibles, and co-payments. Medicare beneficiaries who believe they may be eligible are encouraged to contact a SHINE counselor for information about applying for these benefits. SHINE counselors can assist with applications for these programs. SHINE is a program of the Florida Department of Elder Affairs and is operated through the states network of Area Agency on Aging offices. SHINE volunteers are trained to offer free, unbiased, and confidential information and counseling concerning Medicare. For help understanding the Medicare Advantage Disenrollment Period or to set up an appointment with a trained SHINE counselor to compare plans and review benefit programs, call the Elder Helpline toll-free at 1-866-41-ELDER (1-866-413-5337). You can also locate a counseling site in your area by visiting www.floridashine.org. The Area Agency on Aging for Southwest Florida is a nonprofit organization serving Charlotte, Collier, DeSoto, Glades, Hendry, Lee, and Sarasota Counties. AAASWFL is the states designated Aging and Disability Resource Center for Southwest Florida. The organization is committed to helping adults ages 60 and over and people with disabilities to live with independence and dignity in their own homes and communities. More information is available at www.aaaswfl.org or by calling the toll-free Helpline at 866-413-5337 (866-41-ELDER). This Southwest Florida legislative delegation recognizes the financial difficulties facing the Lee County School District and has tried earnestly to assist it in addressing the needs. The districts leaders claim that they are overburdened with debt. As a result, the school board is proposing to raise our sales tax in Lee County, an idea we believe is avoidable and unwise. Like many in Southwest Florida, the school district borrowed money to buy land in 2005-2006 and soon found themselves upside down and squeezed on cash. As the recession ended, growth returned more quickly than property values, meaning classrooms had to be constructed in the face of diminishing revenue. In the depths of the recession, the school districts leaders asked the Legislature to lower the local capital millage from 2.0 to 1.5 and apply the 0.5 to operating revenue. We did so, and it helped address the needs at that time. Unfortunately, some are now trying to rewrite history and say the Legislature imposed it against their will, but make no mistake, the board was outspoken in requesting the move at the time. Last term, the school board requested a public meeting with this legislative delegation and the Board of County Commissioners to discuss the challenges they were facing. We discussed several solutions then and shortly thereafter. We offered to work in the legislature to restore the 0.5 millage to capital. We offered to give them authority to levy impact fees without going through the county commission. We offered to help them build more partnership high schools with FSW and teaching schools with FGCU, which we could possibly fund directly from the state budget. We even offered to help propose a sales tax swap in exchange for eliminating the 1.5 millage in capital altogether. They already have the right to hold a referendum on a separate 0.5 millage to pay capital bond debt, which expires when the debt is paid off. Regretfully, they declined each option. The districts leadership believes that, coupled with pre-recession debt, new school debt will burden them unbearably. In reality, the heft of that earlier debt will paid off in the next few years. They project an insurmountable growth challenge. But as we all know, the South zone is built out and the West zone is almost built out. This is an acute challenge in the East zone with the future growth of Lehigh Acres. Keep in mind that the Legislature has more than doubled the funding in K-12 education since 1999, to approximately $7,300 per student today. The school district spends roughly $280,000 per classroom right now. The tax increase being requested is 3.8 percent of a $1.5 billion budget. If constraints are as they have been represented, then the District has a far more systemic problem than a 3.8 percent increase in taxes will solve. This leads us to conclude that the issue is not a lack of revenue, but of spending and planning priorities. Our hope is the board will rescind its decision and embrace a workable solution that provides quality education for students without placing a new, additional tax burden on Lee County taxpayers. Submitted by Representatives Matt Caldwell, R-North Fort Myers; Dane Eagle, R-Cape Coral; Heather Fitzenhagen, R-Fort Myers; Ray Rodrigues, R-Estero; and Senators Lizbeth Benacquisto, R-Fort Myers, and Denise Grimsley, R-Wauchula. A two-day comedy night fundraiser has been set at the Laugh In Comedy Cafe to raise money for the Mike Neves Memorial Fund. The Comedy Night Fundraiser, featuring Bucky Lewis, will be held Sunday, Feb. 11, and Monday, Feb. 12. The doors will open at 6 p.m. and the show will begin at 7:30 p.m. The charity helps support individuals struggling with addiction. This is the first comedy night, hopefully one of many. I think everyone is going to enjoy the comedian coming in, Pat Neves said. Its really snowballed. Ive got people that are donating items to do a silent auction. The special comedy night is being held in honor of Pats son Michael, who passed away at the age of 35. Her son struggled with a drug addiction for almost 20 years, which she believes started when he was provided medication for his knee. We are committed, she said. To lose such a big piece . . . its just so heartbreaking. On the other end, to know that maybe someone else, maybe one of his friends, will be able to fulfill a dream . . . To help stay sober, Michael attended the Phoenix House, a treatment center in Ocala. After finishing the treatment, he decided to stay in Ocala he loved the area. He loved the fellows he met up there and had a lot of support with the group up there, Pat said. He was in the restaurant industry, something he was great at. From conversations, she said he had a couple jobs in that area and seemed to be doing well. Pat was able to see her son the day he passed away while she Facetimed him with her family. He looked healthy, smiling and was talking OK. I never realized that he had started using again, she said. The use began again, Pat believes, because he was going through a difficult situation after a relationship ended. That put him into a tail spin and we never knew it, she said. That night he overdosed. Although that left Pat and her husband with a very deep loss, she wanted to turn her grief into something that could help others. I was so overwhelmed with the young people reaching out to me saying that they were totally shocked. Some of the guys still struggling . . . because of him they were committed to staying strong and staying straight, Pat said. Looking at all of the pictures . . . the happiest ones that I had ever saw was him at the retreat. A combination of seeing pictures of Michael at the Serenity on the Mountain retreat and the outpouring of love, led to creating the Mike Neves Memorial Fund and sponsoring five men every fall to attend a spiritual retreat at YMCA Camp Greenville, located in the heart of Blue Ridge Mountains of upper Greenville County, South Carolina. Michael attended the retreat in 2016 in the spring and the fall with a group of 35 men, all from his AA group. We wanted to try to help someone else that is struggling and help another family, so that they do not have to go through this sadness, Pat said. A GoFund Me account was started with the goal of $1,000 to establish the memorial fund. As the thousands kept coming in I was overwhelmed, Pat said, adding that at the time of her hearts darkest grief she saw an outpouring of love from people they knew. The fund kept climbing as friends and family donated as little as $25 to as much as $1,000 in memory of Michael. We raised over $10,000 and that was just family and friends, Pat said. That fund now has more than $11,300. When we saw how much money we raised, we are going to try to do this as much as we can. Every session I want five guys to go and keep going for as long as we can, Pat said of the retreat. We want to help as many young men as we can. The Neves family works with Michaels sponsor, Mike Lloyd, and counselor, Davieyon Hopson, to choose the five guys to attend the retreat. Its a small way of trying to give something back. Saying that my sons life did have meaning and hopefully its going to save another family from going through a heartache that we have lived with for eight months now, Pat said. We are pushing forward and putting all of our heart and soul (into the memorial fund). She said that everything is kept confidential, that she does not know the names of those they sponsor. The fund has already sponsored five guys, Pat said, which included paying for the retreat and paying for the participants to get to South Carolina. They also wanted to provide funds for those five people to have breakfast on Michael in his memory. They all had this memorial card and had a breakfast on him and celebrated his life one night under the stars, Pat said. In addition, she was provided with Michaels walking stick, which he carved during his last retreat, so he could walk with the guys in the mountains. Pat said its important to her to help others who are struggling with addictions. When they are straight they are the most wonderful people, she said. They dont want to be like this. Her experience of losing her son has connected her to other mothers who have also lost a child to an addiction. Almost every single one of these mothers I spoke with, its the same thing. Theyve been put on drugs and it just seems to snowball. They dont want to be dependent on drugs, Pat said. When he (Michael) was straight, he was the happiest person around. When he was using, it wasnt him. Tickets to the two-day comedy night fundraiser at the Laugh In Comedy Cafe are $20 per person. They can be purchased at the venue at 8595 College Parkway, Suite 270, online atwww.laughincomedycafe.com, by calling (239) 479-LAFF, or by calling Mike at (239) 633-6321. The Lee County School Board has called a special meeting for Monday morning to reconsider and possibly modify its decision to hold a special election for a proposed half-penny sales tax. The tax, if voter-approved, would help cover costs of capital improvements for the schools, as well as fund numerous construction projects. The board decided last week to hold a special election in May at a projected cost of almost one million dollars. Theres a couple issues at play in working with the Lee County commissioners and some of the community interests and the (local state) legislators, Rob Spicker, district spokesperson, said late Thursday. In terms of probably and perhaps moving the date from what we were first thinking in May. The notice for the special board meeting states It is to consider and take action concerning the schools sales tax referendum. According to the posted agenda, Superintendent Gregory K. Adkins recommends the sales tax referendum be placed on the General Election ballot. I recommend the School Board adopt a replacement resolution to place the school sales tax referendum on the November 6, 2018 general election ballot, the agenda states under Superintendents Recommendations. One of the main concerns school board members have expressed with putting this vote on the General Election ballot where the cost to the district would only be $50 is that the ballot will be crowded with complex issues, as well as candidates running for numerous positions, including the Florida governors race. They say they fear voters will be occupied with all the other decisions that need to be made on that ballot, and not be able to fully educate themselves about what district officials say is the importance of this sales tax. We want the voters to go into that voting booth with only one issue on that ballot, Steven Teuber, School Board member, said in an earlier interview. We want voters to understand why were doing it and why its a good decision. During the School Board meeting held last week to set the referendum date, residents showed up to voice their disapproval of a special election. School Board members sat and listened as critics hammered its cost and District spending. Also perking along are Senate Bill 372 and House Bill 317, companion bills going through the State Legislature. The bills would require that special referendums requested by a local government such as this go on the November ballot. If approved by the Senate and signed by Gov. Rick Scott, the law would go into effect immediately. Theres a couple different factors at work and thats a legislator working with the (county) commissioners and just working with the community on the special election, Spicker said. So, all those factors are playing into the board wanting to have this special meeting. The special meeting is set to begin at 8 a.m. and is open to the public. Officials are asking those who have the flu to put a pause on their life stay home from work, or school, slow down, rest and drink lots of fluids to allow the body to recuperate. Florida Department of Health in Lee County Epidemiologist Jennifer Roth said compared to last season there have been more flu cases than usual, and earlier. She said this fast flu season is comparable to 2014-2015, when it peaked around the same time. Dr. Mary Beth Saunders, System Medical Director Epidemiology for Lee Health, said there were 600 new cases of flu across Lee Health during the week of Jan. 22, through Jan. 28. Early treatment with antiviral medication may reduce the severity of the flu and may prevent serious flu-related complications. It is not easy to predict why some years influenza is worse than others. Influenza A strain H3N2 is a strain that can change and move rapidly. It is not as easily controlled with vaccination, Saunders said. Australia had high peaks of influenza in the fall (during their flu season) with H3N2, which is a predictor of our fate during our flu season. The flu season runs from October through May. We peak in February with high activity starting in January, Roth said of a typical year. This time we started seeing widespread activity in December. Peaking in January is early for us. The earlier detection is attributed to a variety of factors. One is there is many different strains that circulate every season, Roth said, adding that the strain this year is the H3N2. One of the ways someone can protect themselves from this illness is the flu shot. Roth said each flu shot contains four different strains, providing protection from those strains. The flu shot can give you basic immunity, so it helps prevent more severe outcomes, she said. Individuals are still encouraged to get this years flu shot. Roth said although they are seeing a peak in cases right now, they will continue to see cases as the flu season coninues through May. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention urges everyone 6 months of age and older to get the flu vaccine. The best time to get the vaccine is before the flu starts spreading in your community, but now that the flu is prevalent here, it is not too late to vaccinate. It is an important reminder, too, that it takes about two weeks for the antibodies to develop in the body and provide protection. Getting the flu vaccine does not guarantee that you wont get the flu, but it can help make the illness milder and reduce the risk of flu-associated hospitalization, Saunders said. Individuals can also seek some protection from the flu by taking Tamiflu, an antiviral. Roth said Tamiflu is good to take 48 hours within the onset of symptoms. It can also be used as a preventative if others in the household have the flu. The flu can be harmful to children under the age of 5, those 65 years and older, women who are pregnant and any other compromising condition of chronic health problems an individual may have. Roth said children under 5 years old and adults older than 65 do not have fully competent immune systems. The signs and symptoms of flu include fever or feeling feverish/chills, cough, sore throat, runny or stuffy nose, muscle or body aches, headache and fatigue. Some may experience vomiting and diarrhea, though that is more common in children. It is important to note, too, that not everyone with flu will have a fever, Saunders said. Roth encourages individuals who are experiencing flu symptoms to make an appointment with their primary care physician. We want people to seek medical care, but not overwhelm our emergency rooms, she said. You should go to the Emergency Room if you have noticed you have very severe symptoms. Those symptoms, Roth said is a fever over 103 degrees, difficulty breathing for adults and children, chest pain and not getting enough air. She said all of those symptoms, if they progress, can cause pneumonia and more acute intervention from a physician is then needed. For children, Roth encourages parents to pay attention to their childs fever. Children spike fevers for multiple reasons and it becomes hard in children that are nonverbal to express how they are feeling and where it hurts, she said. Watching the fever is important. If the fever does not go away with over the counter medications like Ibuprofen and Tylenol, and the parent hears their child wheezing and not breathing well, or the childs hands are cool or clammy, seek medical attention. Saunders said in most cases, people who get the flu should stay home and avoid contact with other people except for medical care. The primary care doctors office, Lee Healths Convenient Care offices, or other urgent or walk-in medical centers are appropriate venues for medical care, as they can diagnose and treat the flu, she said. Lee Health has a restriction in effect for children 12 years and younger from visiting the hospitals across the system. The restriction is important because young children often do not have the personal awareness to practice appropriate hand hygiene-this restriction protects both the patients and the child, Saunders said. Roth said unfortunately, this is a bad flu season. We have flu every single year. We get seasonal flu, she said. Its more prevalent in the media when we have a lot of cases. We saw a lot of cases three years ago. Every flu season you just need to be prepared. We know it is the same strain of flu we have had the last three years. We know what we are dealing with. Roth said individuals should practice good hand washing because the flu spreads through droplet transmission through saliva, mucus and not washing hands. Get your flu shot and wash your hands, Roth said. Ungar joins CONRIC PR & Marketing graphic design team CONRIC PR & Marketing has added graphic artist Justin Ungar to its award-winning creative design team. Ungar will work collaboratively with CONRIC team members and clients to build customized designs that are innovative and contemporary, yet capable of withstanding the test of time. Communication and attention to client needs will be a key part of the process to ensure that campaign objectives and client expectations are exceeded. Ungar previously worked with Scott Fischer Enter-prises, serving as graphic designer and creative lead for the Southwest Florida firm that owned Six Bends Harley-Davidson and operates Top Rocker Field and Events in Fort Myers. He was also a graphic designer for Zumiez, a Seattle-based clothing/skate retailer that sells several brands alongside its own private-label goods. He previously had his own company, providing freelance graphic design work for brands beginning in 2008, and he received his degree in fine arts from Florida Gulf Coast University in 2014. CONRIC PR & Marketing was founded in 2007. The award-winning, full-service PR agency provides strategic brand awareness campaigns, integrated public relations programs, marketing development and consulting services, advertising concept and campaigns, media buys, custom and niche publishing, creative writing and design, digital marketing strategies, website development and crisis communications strategy and implementation. For more information, call 239-690-9840 or visit ConricPR.com. Prendiville to host free seminar The latest procedures to smooth wrinkles and rejuvenate the face will be explained at a free seminar Friday, Feb. 23, conducted by facial plastic surgeon Dr. Stephen Prendiville. The seminar, which includes a light lunch, starts at 11:30 a.m. at Gulf Harbour Yacht & Country Club on McGregor Boulevard in South Fort Myers. The seminar is free, but reservations are required by calling 239-437-3900. Space is limited. The newest facelift techniques can rejuvenate the cheek, jawline and neck, Dr. Prendiville said. Laser resurfacing also is one of the more popular and effective procedures to reduce skin irregularities such as blemishes and acne scars, according to Dr. Prendi-ville. Attendees will be able to make an appointment for a free consultation with Dr. Prendiville. Dr. Prendiville is the only Fellowship-trained facial plastic surgeon in Fort Myers who is certified by both the American Board of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery and the American Board of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery. All surgeries are performed at Dr. Prendivilles Surgical Center adjacent to his office in South Fort Myers at 9407 Cypress Lake Drive. For more information, visit www.drprendiville.com. New Dunkin Donuts opens in Fort Myers Dunkin Donuts is now open in the Sky Walk plaza, 13101 Paul J. Doherty Parkway, Suite 207, in Fort Myers. To celebrate the grand opening, the restaurant will host a grand opening celebration on Saturday, Feb. 10 from 10 a.m. to noon, featuring a ribbon-cutting ceremony with Lee County Commissioner Cecil Pendergrass, complimentary Red Sox bobbleheads and pocket calendars of scheduled games, as well as a special visit from local firefighters and a fire truck from the Southwest Florida International Airport Fire Rescue. As part of the celebration, guests may also enjoy an iced or hot coffee of any size for $1 during the grand opening event, with all proceeds going to the Harry Chapin Food Bank of Southwest Florida to assist the hunger-relief organization with providing fresh nutritious food and other essentials to children, seniors and those at risk of hunger. The new restaurant will be open from 4 a.m. to 10 p.m., seven days a week and will employ approximately 20 crew members. Located near the JetBlue Park, the new restaurant will have a drive-thru, free Wi-Fi, comfortable seating for 30 and provide a welcoming environment for guests to enjoy Dunkin Donuts high-quality coffee beverages in a friendly atmosphere. To learn more about Dunkin Donuts, visit www.DunkinDonuts.com or subscribe to the Dunkin Donuts blog to receive notifications at news.dunkindonuts.com/blog. Aloia, Roland, Lubell & Morgan PLLC promotes Seitz to senior associate The law firm of Aloia, Roland, Lubell & Morgan, PLLC has announced that attorney Danielle L. Seitz has been promoted to senior associate. Seitz joined the firm in 2016 and concentrates her practice in family law, handling dissolution of marriage, child support, paternity issues, adoptions, post-judgment modifications and domestic violence injunctions for Lee, Collier, and Charlotte Counties. Seitz received her undergraduate degrees from the University of Florida and her Juris Doctor from the Loyola University of Chicago School of Law. Aloia, Roland, Lubell & Morgan, PLLC is a leading Southwest Florida law firm with offices in Fort Myers and Cape Coral. The firm concentrates on areas of serious personal injury and wrongful death, defective medical products and drugs, first-party insurance claims, civil rights violations, family law, general business/construction litigation, as well as real estate and corporate transactional matters. More information is available on the firm website at www.FloridaLegalRights.com. Applebees announces Above and BEEyond Teacher Essay Contest Applebees Neighbor-hood Grill & Bar recently announced the return of its Above and BEEyond Teacher Essay Contest, which will recognize top teachers as nominated by their students by awarding them with a sponsorship check and end-of-year class party, courtesy of Applebees. The contest is being offered at Applebees restaurants in Florida and Georgia owned and operated by local franchisee, Doherty Enterprises. Specifically, Applebees will award one deserving teacher from each school district a $500 sponsorship check to use towards their classroom for the upcoming 2018-2019 school year, along with an end-of-year party for their current class. To nominate a teacher, students must submit an essay in-person at their local Applebees explaining why their teacher deserves to be Teacher of the Year. To sweeten the deal, students who enter an essay will receive a FREE ice cream certificate to Applebees. Contest submissions will be accepted at participating Applebees restaurants through March 31, and winners will be announced on Monday, April 23. Doherty Enterprises is committed to being in-volved in the communities it serves by giving back to local causes and supporting education. Each Doherty restaurant stays engaged in its neighborhood and, through donations, fundraisers, sponsorships and participation in community events, helps local organizations grow and flourish. Applebees Above and BEEyond Teacher Essay Contest entries will be accepted at the following Applebees restaurants in Florida: Boynton Beach, Cape Coral, Coral Springs, Cutler Bay, Delray Beach, Doral, Fort Myers, Fort Pierce, Greenacres, Jacksonville, Margate, North Port, Okeechobee, Pembroke Pines, Port Charlotte, Port St. Lucie, Punta Gorda, Royal Palm Beach, Sarasota, St. Augustine, Sunrise, Tamarac, Venice, Vero Beach and West Palm Beach, and in Georgia: Brunswick, Kingsland and Waycross. Lee County Economic Development to host 2018 SWFL Womens Business Summit The Lee County Economic Develop-ment Office will host the 2018 SWFL Womens Business Summit on Friday, Feb. 16, at Florida SouthWestern State College, Building U, 8099 College Parkway, Fort Myers. The event is free and registration will begin at 8 a.m. The program runs from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. followed by networking from 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. To register, call Tiffany Grint at 239-533-6800. Diane Ellis, brand president for Chicos FAS, will be the keynote speaker for the event. The summit will include breakout sessions on topics such as salary negotiations, harassment avoidance, working with millennials, ageism, corporate philanthropy, employment law, diversity and inclusion. The Lee County Economic Develop-ment Office provides business assistance to retain existing businesses, encourage entrepreneurship and to attract new businesses to ensure Lee County has a strong economy, thriving communities and broadly shared prosperity. For information, visit LeeCountyBusiness.com. The Horizon Council is a public-private advisory board established in 1991 to advise the Lee Board of County Commissioners on economic development issues. The Councils mission is to improve Lee Countys business environment, retain and encourage expansion of existing businesses, and attract new and diversified employers. It is the only public-private partnership of Lee County Government and business leaders. The Horizon Foundation, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) organizations established as a fundraising vehicle enabling individuals and businesses to actively support the program of work of the Horizon Council and the Lee County Economic Development Office. For more information, visit www.leecountybusiness.com or call 239-533-6800. Jane Rosenbohm, an accomplished classical guitarist whose passion and skill with the classical guitar is an inspiration to many, will perform on Saturday, Feb. 17, at 1 p.m. She has performed with various prominent musicians through participating in the Christopher Parkening Master Class and The Castellani & Andreaccio Duo Master Class in Rome. She has also performed for West Virginias Moun-tain Stage on public radio and also earned the Artsbridge Founders Club Award for artistic excellence. Sponsored by the Friends of the Cape Coral library, the performance is for all age groups. Registration is required. A conversation with local authors Tuesday, Feb. 27, 1 p.m. A roundtable of local Southwest Florida authors leading up to the 19th Annual Southwest Florida Reading Festival. Open to all ages. Light refreshments will be provided by the Friends of the Cape Coral Library. AFRICA photography exhibit in library art gallery Changing exhibits are featured in the spacious art gallery of the Cape Coral Public Library, which is located at 921 S.W. 39th Terrace. The latest show will be available for viewing during library business hours until Feb. 27. Welcome back to photographers Claude Chalut, Estelle Chartrand, Marie Elise Mathieu, and Andre Morin who wowed everyone with their French Connection exhibit in the Cape Coral Library art gallery last spring. This years show is called AFRICA and features new images by these four talented snowbirds who return from way up north each year to their homes in Cape Coral. Each has received numerous awards and recognition in shows at the Cape Coral Art League, where they are all members. The extraordinary work in this exhibit at the library captures the wildlife, scenery, and culture of this fascinating part of the world. Small paintings and decorative pieces by Judith MacLaren and Jackie Marth are featured in the cases. Both artists have a wealth of experience working in different media on a wide variety of surfaces, have taught many art classes and workshops in the local area, and are active members of the Decorative Artists of Southwest Florida (DASF). The librarys gallery shows are sponsored by the Friends of the Cape Coral Library. For more information, contact Art Gallery Chairperson Monica Rahman at (239) 258-2991 or monica4608@comcast.net. More free programs for adults at Cape Coral Library n Saturday, Feb. 3, at 1 p.m. An Afternoon at the Movies A married couple who work as zoo caretakers help save Jews from the Holocaust. PG-13. ? Visit www.leelibrary.net or see flyers at the library for title of movie. Sponsored by the Friends of the Cape Coral library. n Tuesdays at 9:30 a.m. (Feb. 6, 13) Its All About You Last two sessions of the 6-part, research-based chronic disease self-management program developed by Stanford University. Learn to live with a chronic health condition, more easily manage medications, understand benefits of exercise, and make smarter decisions related to healthy eating. Presented by Lee Health. Seating is limited, and registration is required. Please call 239-343-9264 to register. n Wednesday, Feb. 14, at 2 p.m. Book Discussion: Behind Closed Doors by B.A. Paris On the surface, Jack and Grace have the perfect marriage, the perfect house, and the perfect jobs. What lies beneath the surface is something so sinister yet so believable that it will horrify most readers. What happens behind closed doors and could, or would, you believe it? This is a superb story of psychological abuse that will have your heart racing right up to the end. Ongoing programs for adults n Tuesdays at 6 p.m. (Feb. 6, 20, 27) and Fridays at 10 a.m. (Feb. 2, 9, 23) English Caf Free, informal conversation for adult ESOL/ESL students. Sponsored by the Friends of the Cape Coral Library. n Thursday, Feb. 15, at 11 a.m. Coloring for Grown-ups Coloring books are not just for kids anymore. Adults have found this childhood activity to be a refreshing way to release creativity, relieve stress and meet other participants. Materials provided. Sponsored by the Friends of the Cape Coral Library. Other free programs for adults and also open to teens n Mondays at 2 p.m. (Feb. 5, 19, 26) Craft Corner: Knitting & Crocheting A casual self-guided group of knitters and crocheters share ideas, techniques and patterns. Sponsored by the Friends of the Cape Coral Library. n Tuesdays at 5:30 p.m. (Feb. 6, 13, 20, 27) Chess Anyone? Rise to the challenge and join in the fun. Bring a personal chess set, if desired. Sponsored by the Friends of the Cape Coral Library. Free programs for children n Monday, Feb. 12, at 4 p.m. Holiday Craft Fun Join us for some holiday fun and create a special gift for a special friend or family member in honor of Valentines Day. All supplies will be provided by the library. Please register online. Your registration is valid up until the start of the program. n Monday, Feb. 19, at 10 a.m. Preschool Short Film Festival Enjoy several short films of some of the most popular and enjoyable picture books available at the library. Little ones can vote on their favorite films, and well have a photo station with props for your own little film star to have their picture taken. Space is limited to 15 children and 15 adults. Pick up your special movie pass at the Youth Services desk beginning Jan. 15. Tickets are for children ages 3-5. Ongoing free programs for children Visit the Lee County Library System website at www.leelibrary.net for dates and times of Family Storytime, Preschool Storytime, Toddler Tales and Baby Rhyme Time at the Cape Coral Library or pick up a flyer at the library. See website also for dates and times of Kids Read Down Fines. Library Hours and General Information The Cape Coral Library is open: Monday thorugh Wednesday: 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday: 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday and Saturday: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. About the Friends of the Cape Coral Library The Friends of the Cape Coral Library is a 501(c)3 non-profit, volunteer organization that raises funds through book sales, membership dues, etc. to purchase goods and services that cannot be included in the County Library budget and to provide enhancements to the library experience. The book sales are major fundraisers and are held each April and November. Donations of books, CDs and DVDs for the sales are accepted all year round. Small quantities can be dropped off at the Cape Coral Library circulation desk. Please mention that they are donations for the Friends book sale. For large donations (Request a receipt, since theyre tax deductible.) you can have books picked up at your home by calling the Friends hotline at 239-349-2572 and leaving a message. Visit www.capefriends.org for more information about the Friends of the Cape Coral Library. Monica Rahman is president of the Friends of the Cape Coral Library. This Wednesday, Feb. 7, Chabad of Cape Coral will be hosting a heroine of the Holocaust when 97-year-old Marthe Cohn shares her incredible story of courage, faith and espionage. Cohn will share her story Wednesday, Feb. 7, at the Westin Cape Coral Resort at Marina Village. Cohn was born in Metz, France, in 1920. She was a devoutly religious Jewish woman living across the German border in France when Hitler rose to power. As the Nazi occupation escalated, Cohns sister was sent to Auschwitz while her family fled to the South of France. Cohn chose to fight back, and joined the intelligence service of the First French Army. Utilizing her perfect German accent and Aryan appearance, she posed as a German nurse desperately trying to obtain word of a fictional fiancee. She traveled the countryside and approached troops sympathetic to her plight, thereby obtaining critical information for the Allied commanders. When, at age 80, Cohn was awarded Frances highest military honor, the Medaille Militaire, not even her children knew to what extent this modest woman faced death daily to defeat the Nazi empire. At its heart, this remarkable story is the tale of an ordinary human being who, under extraordinary circumstances, became the hero her country needed her to be. In 2002, Cohn penned her memoir, Behind Enemy Lines: The True Story of a French Jewish Spy in Nazi Germany. She lives together with her husband in Palos Verdes, California, and travels internationally, sharing her remarkable story. It is rare that we have the opportunity in our lifetime to meet a heroine the likes of Marthe Cohn, said Rabbi Yossi Labkowski, director of Chabad of Cape Coral. With the passing of time, the possibility to hear these stories firsthand grow smaller and smaller. I encourage our community to come hear this remarkable woman tell her incredible story of courage and faith. Cohn will be the feature speaker at Chabads Annual Gala Dinner. Chabads continued growth and expansion servicing the local community is a true testament to the survival of the Jewish people. This event will feature a VIP cocktail reception at 6 p.m., followed by dinner at 7 p.m. Guests will have the opportunity to meet Cohn, purchase her book and have it autographed. This event is open to the entire community. For additional information and to purchase tickets, visit www.ChabadCape.com or call the Chabad Jewish Center at 239-963-4770. The 1st Annual Texas HoldEm Poker Tournament hosted by the Cape Coral Lions Club on Jan. 27 was an outstanding success. A large crowd came for the buffet dinner at Terrace Hall and many stayed for the poker tournament. All Hearts Poker provided the tables, dealers and expertise. The top winners were Carl Perone (1st $650), William Servick (2nd $400), and Victor Lambiase (3rd $150). Everyone told me they had a great time and asked us to do this again, said Frank Lee, fundraising chair for the club. We had some great partners in this venture. Mike Palladino at Terrace Hall was terrific to work with. Lori and Nicky of All Hearts Poker were unbelievable. There were all those generous Cape Coral businesses who kindly donated items for our silent auction. And our Lions worked tirelessly to make this succeed. Lion President Judy Moulton commented, We are grateful to the folk who came to enjoy themselves and, at the same time, help us raise money for our on-going charitable work. We hope to make this an annual event. Cape Coral Lions provide preschool vision and hearing screenings free of charge. They collect eyeglasses, recycle and distribute them to needy people all over the world. They also work closely with the Southwest Florida Council for the Blind. The club meets every 1st Thursday at 5 p.m. at Perkins Restaurant, Cape Coral Parkway, as well as the 3rd Thursday (September through May) at the 1st United Methodist Church, Room 152, on Colorado Parkway. Visitors are always welcome! For additional information, visit www.Capecorallionsclub.com or email: info@capecorallionsclub.com Its February, and that means Valentines Day is right around the corner. To help Southwest Floridians mark the day, the Gulf Coast Harmonizers is again offering Singing Valentines to help you say I love you to that special someone. The Gulf Coast Harmonizers is Lee Countys only male singing group affiliated with the National Barbershop Harmony Society. For a $60 donation, special quartets made up of Harmonizers members will go to the location of your choice home, workplace, school, restaurant, office, nursing home and present a two-song serenade plus a rose, chocolates and personalized card to the recipient. Each year the Gulf Coast Harmonizers donate its Valentines Day earnings to the Golisano Childrens Hospital Pediatric Speech Therapy Department. Nearly $30,000 has been donated by the group over the years. The quartets will be singing Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, Feb. 12-14. To schedule a visit the day, time and location of your choice, call 855-425-3631. Looking ahead, the Gulf Coast Harmonizers will be presenting its annual show, Main Street USA, March 24 at 2 and 7 p.m., and March 25 at 2 p.m., at Cypress Lake Presbyterian Church. In addition to performances by the Harmonizers, the show will also feature Main Street, the 2017 Harmony Society International Quartet Champions, and the Sweet Adeline quartet Here N Now. General admission tickets are $20, with reserved seating $25. Thirty percent of the proceeds from the concerts will be donated to Cypress Lake Presbyterian to repair damage to the church caused by Hurricane Irma. For tickets, visit www.gulfcoastharmonizers.org or call 855-425-3631. Madison Erhardt ICBC faces $1.3 billion in losses this fiscal year. A number of drivers have been up in arms with the rates they have charged, leaving many to wonder if privatization is the only option. Castanet hit the streets of downtown Kelowna asking residents, do you have an issue with ICBC? If you have a thought on this topic, drop us a line to [email protected]. Photo: The Canadian Press Researchers say opioid users in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside are increasingly testing positive for the potent painkiller fentanyl, which was linked to the majority of fatal overdoses in British Columbia last year. Dr. William Honer, head of the University of British Columbia's psychiatry department, was part of a study that followed 237 people living in marginalized housing in the neighbourhood between March and July last year. At the beginning of the study, he says urine samples from 45 per cent of people who reported using opioids tested positive for fentanyl, but five months later that number jumped to 100 per cent. The BC Coroners Service released statistics Wednesday showing fentanyl was linked to 81 per cent of the 1,422 fatal overdoses across the province last year. Honer's research included 103 people who were in opioid-replacement programs, where they were prescribed methadone, suboxone or prescription heroin. He says over the five months of the study, half of those involved in the replacement programs submitted urine samples that tested positive for fentanyl. He says the results show there is a need for more comprehensive treatment that addresses mental illness and physical ailments as well as addiction. Photo: Contributed Someone stole a toilet, and the internet is amused. Nova Scotia RCMP say a Royal Flush portable toilet was stolen from a worksite in Dutch Settlement, northeast of Halifax, sometime between Jan. 26 and Jan. 31. Police are hoping someone saw the blue portable toilet going down the road in the back of a truck or being hauled by an all-terrain vehicle. Cpl. Dal Hutchinson says the RCMP's social media sites are flush with jokes on the theft. "One in particular is that police have nothing to go on," he said. Another says police are trying to "flush" out a suspect. "Social media has lit up with regards to this," Hutchinson said. "At least we have people talking about it and thinking about it. Hopefully someone will come forward with some information so that we can locate that portable toilet." Hutchinson said there were other comments he wouldn't repeat, including many variations on a scatological theme. Police noted that "the portable toilet was empty at the time of its theft." It is described as being blue with a white roof and red trim. Photo: Facebook An altercation at a Quebec courthouse that left an 18-year-old man in hospital with a gunshot wound to the head is raising questions about security at the province's courthouses. The young man was listed in stable condition Thursday, a day after he was shot after fighting with a special constable at a small courthouse in Maniwaki, Que., about 130 km north of Ottawa. Franck Perales, the head of the union representing courthouse constables, said his organization has been calling for more security in courtrooms across the province. "For two or three years the union has been ringing the alarm," he said in an interview. "We've had meetings with the government and concerned parties to inform them on the lack of manpower." Quebec's police watchdog released a statement Wednesday saying the 18-year-old who has been identified as Steven Bertrand managed to seize the constable's baton and allegedly used it to strike the officer over the head at the courthouse. The constable then took out a gun and fired it, hitting Bertrand at least once in the head, the statement said. Perales believes the incident could have been avoided by having more than one special constable on duty. "Since there was no backup, no reinforcement, no support, he had to manage alone, and nobody helped him," Perales said. Perales said the union has already begun legal action against the province over the use of private security guards in courthouses in place of special constables, who are subject to the Police Act and work under the same code of ethics as police officers. Perales said he doesn't want to blame the private security officers, who in his opinion simply don't have enough training to intervene in similar situations. Bertrand's mother, Julie, wrote on Facebook that her son was stable and the bullet hadn't hit his brain. "He is strong and he is fighting for his life," she wrote late Wednesday. A spokesperson for Quebec's independent police watchdog added the constable, who was also injured, was out of danger. Photo: IHIT British Columbia's police watchdog has cleared officers of wrongdoing after a man suspected of fatally shooting a constable was injured during his arrest. Const. John Davidson with the Abbotsford Police Department was killed Nov. 6 after responding to reports of shots fired. The Independent Investigations Office has previously said that a suspect fled the area where Davidson was critically injured and he suffered non-life threatening injuries when he was apprehended by police. The agency said it believed the man had been shot. The office said in a news release Thursday that it has completed an investigation into the arresting officers' actions and determined that they did not commit an offence. Sixty-five-year-old Oscar Arfmann has been charged with first-degree murder in Davidson's death and a trial date has been set for January 2019. The Independent Investigations Office says its reasons for the decision are not being released because of ongoing legal proceedings. The office probes all cases where police officers in B.C. are involved in a serious injury or death. Photo: Twitter Alberta Premier Rachel Notley says her government is suspending talks with British Columbia on the purchase of electricity from that province. She says it's the first step in Alberta's fight against the B.C. government's move to obstruct the Kinder Morgan oil pipeline expansion project. She says $500 million annually for B.C.'s coffers hangs in the balance. Notley says she met with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in Edmonton today on the pipeline issue and is calling on the federal government to end the dispute. She says the federal government needs to be specific about what it will do to ensure that the pipeline expansion moves ahead. The B.C. government has said it plans to ban increased shipments of diluted bitumen off the province's coast until it can determine that shippers are prepared and able to properly clean up a spill. Photo: Contributed A group of snowmobilers has volunteered to search the area around Three Valley Gap for a missing plane and the two people who were on board. Dominic Neron, 28, and Ashley Bourgeault, 31 were last seen taking off from Penticton in a single-engine Mooney and were expected to land in Edmonton on Nov. 25. Tammy Neron, the pilots sister, put a call out on Facebook Wednesday, saying the family is looking for anyone with snowmobiles who can help search for a day or two. Even just to get a couple people to the top of the mountains; there is an active snowmobiling trail there, she said. Neron said they have an area of interest, and if anyone can help, that would be great. Four snowmobilers headed out Thursday to scour the area. Bourgeaults family had been sifting through thousands of images when they spotted something they believe could be plane wreckage and the word HELP or HERE written in the snow. Weve been looking and looking, and something just popped out to us, said Carol Barnes, Bourgeaults cousin. That image was taken near Cougar Mountain, northeast of Revelstoke. The area the snowmobilers are searching is just outside Revelstoke, to the west. We found a bunch of sleds and snowmobilers (who) can help us out, said Neron. From that post, we got lots of help, she said. The family doesn't want to reveal exactly where the snowmobilers are searching, as they dont want people stepping on their tracks, she said. The Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre led a 13-day search of the Revelstoke area, but turned up nothing. Photo: The Canadian Press Shubenacadie Sam didn't see his shadow today. UPDATE: 6:35 a.m. Officials declared a longer winter after Wiarton Willie emerged from his den just after 8 a.m. This year was the first for the young rodent, which replaced the previous Willie, who died last September. Meanwhile, Nova Scotia's famed Shubenacadie Sam had another prediction. Sam waddled out of his fenced pen about 8 a.m. local time and wandered around, a sign he was predicting an early end to winter. Fans looked on and let out loud cheers as Sam, who lives at the Shubenacadie Wildlife Park, scampered around the snowy grounds on what was the 30th anniversary of his annual weather prediction. UPDATE: 6:20 a.m. Pennsylvania's most famous groundhog foresees no early end to winter. The handlers of Punxsutawney Phil said the furry rodent has called for six more weeks of winter after seeing his shadow at dawn Friday. The top hat-wearing members of the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club's Inner Circle reveal Phil's forecast every Feb. 2. It is based on a German legend surrounding Candlemas. The legend says if a furry rodent casts a shadow that day, winter continues. If not, spring comes early. Thousands of people gathered overnight to await the forecast, bundled up against the cold and entertained by folk music and a fireworks display, with temperatures around 11 degrees (minus-12 Celsius). The groundhog's prediction is typically contained in a short poem. "Up early this morning. Far from home. Are you searching for the Phil-osopher's stone? Well, even my best friends, they don't know. Is it an early spring or just more snow," the proclamation read. "My faithful followers, your hands (and my paws) are getting cold so here is my forecast. Not lead, but solid gold: I see my royal Shadow! Six more weeks of Winter to go!" ORIGINAL: midnight Is spring ever coming? If it feels like you've been here before, maybe it's because today is Groundhog Day a day when we eagerly wait to see if a furry rodent sees its shadow, thus predicting the end of winter. There isn't a lot of science behind the day, but in a nutshell, if the groundhog comes out of his hole and doesn't see his shadow, it will be an early spring. If the groundhog does sees its shadow, we will have six more weeks of winter. The tradition dates back to old times. Here in Canada, we have Balzac Billy's prediction in Balzac, Alta., Manitoba Merv in Stonewall, Man., Shubenacadie Sam in Shubenacadie, N.S., Wiarton Willie in Wiarton, Ont., and Fred la Marmotte in Val d'Espoir, Que. Photo: Contributed With more and more people taking to the great outdoors, where can one go to find a place to be at one with nature? Enter the Uber of camping. Guita Yazdani is the co-founder of Campertunity, an online site where landowners can offer their property for campers in need of a place to stay. Provincial campgrounds are booked months in advance, as are many private sites, but Yazdani noticed there are plenty of private properties that can double as a campground. The Lower Mainland entrepreneur is developing an app similar to Uber that will connect those in need of a spot with those able to provide a spot. Yazdani's plans are to have the app up and running within the next few weeks. We all know in B.C., every summer it's the same deal - there just aren't enough campsites, so it just made sense if there is a demand for this, let's open up this market to private landowners, Yazdani said. The idea came to Yazdani while she was camping near Pemberton two years ago. I went on this camping trip and it was on private land and I remember putting the numbers together and thinking this is private land and this person is making thousands of dollars on this one weekend, she said. However, there is a question of liability for the landowner should someone get injured on their property, but Yazdani has looked into that as well. Yazdani said all landowners have to do is get extended liability insurance on their existing home insurance for the campers. And like the rise of Uber, Yazdani believes Campertunity is part of how the world is evolving. The shared economy is what the world is coming to and what it's going to be in the future, said Yazdani. It just makes sense. It brings communities together, it makes money, it helps the economy people want to get involved in it. Photo: CTV Vancouver Police are investigating the city's first traffic fatality of 2018. A pedestrian died after being struck by a vehicle just before 6 p.m. Thursday at a crosswalk on Inverness Street at East King Edward Avenue. The 55-year-old Vancouver man was struck by an eastbound pickup. He was rushed to hospital with serious injuries, where he later died. Sgt. Jason Robillard says the driver remained on scene and has co-operated with investigators. Police believe rain and low light conditions were contributing factors in the collision. Speed and alcohol are not believed to have played a role. Photo: CTV An investigation is underway into a helicopter crash Thursday night in a snow-covered field near Drummondville, Que., that claimed the lives of three people. Quebec provincial police said Friday the crash occurred at about 9 p.m. just north of the city. The victims two women and one man have not yet been identified. Police said the helicopter caught fire after it crashed on the banks of the Saint-Francois River in Saint-Joachim-de-Courval, Que. First responders had a difficult time getting to the scene because of deep snow. A snow removal machine was brought in from the city of Drummondville to help them get to the site. Marc Descoteaux, who owns a farm not far from where the helicopter crashed, said he smelled smoke as he did some work Thursday evening. "It was a burning smell, not a wood-burning smell, but more like metal or solder," Descoteaux said in a phone interview. "Before going home, I saw a fire in the middle of a field about 800 metres from my house." Thinking it was a snowmobile on fire, he called his nephew to go have a look. The field is considered part of the farm land, but it is devoid of any buildings. His nephew accessed the area by snowmobile. Realizing it was a helicopter, Descoteaux said they called police. "A helicopter at night in the neighbourhood is very rare," he said of his rural area. "We get very few cars at night, let alone helicopters." His brother used a snowblower to make a path for the first officers and emergency personnel at the scene. Provincial police spokesman Hugo Fournier said an investigation is underway to determine the cause of the crash, including weather conditions last night. Details on the helicopter's origin and destination have not been released. Transportation Safety Board investigators also arrived at the scene on Friday, Fournier said. Photo: The Canadian Press Long-standing problems with Canada's military procurement system are threatening to undermine the Trudeau government's vaunted defence policy, warns a new report. The study, published by the Canadian Global Affairs Institute this week, says the government is on track to spend billions less on new equipment this year than was promised in the Liberals' policy. The main reason, says the report's author, defence analyst David Perry, isn't that the money isn't available; bottle necks in the procurement system have slowed progress on a variety of projects, meaning the money can't be spent. That has been a recurring theme in military procurement for the past five years, as the actual amount of money spent on new equipment has steadily declined because of delays and other snarls in the system. And while the Liberals' defence policy, released last June, promised to dramatically increase year-over-year spending on new equipment over the next decade, it did not include any major new measures to address those problems. The short-term fear is that the military will have to wait longer than expected for new equipment; the bigger concern is that the Liberal government's ambitious plan to revitalize and expand the military won't materialize as promised. The first year of the 20-year defence policy, entitled "Strong, Secure, Engaged," was supposed to see federal officials buy about $6-billion worth of new equipment for the Canadian Forces. Perry, however, found that barring a major surprise in the last quarter of the federal government's fiscal year, officials will purchase between $3 billion and $4 billion in equipment. "The first fiscal year of Strong, Secure, Engaged is already providing evidence that the policy's spending plans will not be achieved as outlined unless significant changes (to the procurement system) are made," he wrote. Photo: The Canadian Press Lawyer Anthony Morgan At Anthony Morgan's law office, the calls keep coming: parents of young black men hoping their son's marijuana possession charge will be wiped clean when the country legalizes the drug this year. The Liberal government has talked about granting amnesty for past marijuana crimes, but isn't likely to move until after the new cannabis regime comes into effect this summer. For black communities across the country, that's not soon enough and frustrated lawyers in Toronto are now considering lighting a fire under the feds with a class-action lawsuit. "There are lawyers who are coming together to consider that as an option if the government is slow," said Morgan, a lawyer with Falconers LLP in Toronto. "They (the Liberals) are going to have to respond and it's probably best that they respond internally and in a proactive way, as opposed to a reactive way where much is spent on litigation to move this forward." For black communities in Canada, amnesty would finally mark a break from a troubled history with marijuana one wrapped in stigmas, stereotypes and shame that have left some feeling left out of the federal cannabis debate. Morgan recently encapsulated those feelings in a lengthy analysis published in the magazine Policy Options. This week, to mark the beginning of Black History Month, leaders in Ottawa began putting in their own words what the black community has felt for years. NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh spoke about "tackling the systemic nature of anti-black racism," including "discriminatory policing." Prime Minister Justin Trudeau expressed a desire to take on the "very real and unique challenges that black Canadians face." Blacks make up 8.6 per cent of federal inmates, even though they account for 3.5 per cent of the general population. In 2014, of the almost 2,200 federal inmates with drug charges, 12 per cent were black, said Robyn Maynard, author of the book "Policing Black Lives." Statistics, meanwhile, indicate the black community is no more prone to drug use than any other. One study from 2002 found that black youth in Toronto were less likely to use marijuana than their white counterparts. Photo: CTV It's like Christmas in February for universities across the country. Except it's random and bizarre. Amazon packages have been showing up at post-secondary institutions across Canada including four campuses on Vancouver Island. Student unions have been getting bombarded with shipments from Amazon containing random gadgets like flashlights, headphones and even sex toys and they have no idea who's sending them. "Every couple of days, we seem to get something weird in the mail. Today we got fishing tackle," said Michael Glover, a student services coordinator at Camosun College. The seemingly unexplainable phenomenon has been popping up on campuses coast-to-coast, including Simon Fraser University in Burnaby all the way to the University of New Brunswick's Moncton campus. Amazon has no explanation either. No word on whether any Okanagan schools have been receiving any of the mystery packages. -with files from CTV Vancouver Island Photo: CTV Attorney General David Eby wants to release documents he says show how the former Liberal government could have acted to prevent financial chaos at ICBC. "The public deserves transparency about the decisions that were taken and not taken by the BC Liberal government in relation to this financial crisis at a public company," David Eby told CTV News. Eby's office sent a letter to former Liberal finance minister Mike de Jong saying the province wants to make public a 2014 Ernst and Young report which studied ICBC financials. Earlier this week Eby called the ICBC situation a 'dumpster fire'. The Ernst and Young report was edited to remove recommendations before it was made public. The file is considered confidential which means the province needs direct permission from the former government to release it. "I expect nothing less than that they will consent to the release of that report," Eby said. Talk of the report comes just days after the provincial auto insurer posted net losses of $935 million in the first nine months of the fiscal year. Those losses are expected to reach $1.3 billion by the end of Q4. ICBC said the cost of injury claims is nearing $3 billion a year. -with files CTV Vancouver Photo: The Canadian Press PM Justin Trudeau is ready for a rough ride at BC town hall meeting. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is standing firm in his support for the Kinder Morgan pipeline expansion across British Columbia, just hours before he attends a town hall meeting on Vancouver Island. Speaking this morning on CBC radio in Victoria, Trudeau says support for the pipeline is a key link in his government's three-part plan to safely export Canadian resources, protect the B.C. coastline and meet carbon emission targets. He says without the pipeline between the Edmonton area and the port in Burnaby, the other parts of the plan will collapse. B.C. has released proposals that would ban increased exports of diluted bitumen until shippers demonstrate they can clean up any spill. Alberta Premier Rachel Notley has called that an unconstitutional attempt to get around federal approval of the Trans Mountain pipeline. Trudeau is in Nanaimo for another in his series of town hall meetings and members of the Georgia Strait Alliance say they hope to get into the event to question him on the pipeline and about protection for endangered orcas. Photo: CTV Residents of an Abbotsford apartment building had to be rescued from their balconies during a fire early Friday. About a dozen people were brought down by ladder in the incident about 2:30 a.m. on George Ferguson Way. The blaze started in the third floor elevator lobby, blocking the hallway so residents could not escape. Everyone was evacuated safely. "I thought it was just an alarm, so I went back to bed," resident Olivia Knight told CTV. "I looked out the window, and someone told me it was a real fire. So I grab my dog and by the time we got out, the windows already burst and there was glass all over the ground and pretty big flames." A few residents were treated for minor smoke inhalation and one injured his shoulder while coming down the ladder. with files from CTV Vancouver Photo: DriveBC The Coquihalla Highway, 60 kilometres south of Merritt, just after 10 a.m. on Friday. Treacherous conditions are expected to further deteriorate today on the Coquihalla Highway between Hope and Merritt. Environment Canada issued a snowfall warning for the mountain pass Friday morning, with 15 to 20 centimetres of snow expected to fall by Saturday. Heavy snow is expected to begin this morning as a Pacific air mass moves in, Environment Canada said, also noting snowfall will be heaviest at the summit. Motorists are advised to prepare for reduced visibility and to drive to conditions. Photo: The Canadian Press The B.C. government has released a snapshot of the results of its transportation upgrades along Highway 16, the route also known as the Highway of Tears. The update comes on the first anniversary of expanded transit service connecting communities along highway where RCMP say 18 women have disappeared or have been murdered. A news release from the Ministry of Transportation says approximately 5,000 people have used the expanded transit service over the last year. That service connects Prince George to Burns Lake, Smithers, the Hazelton area and Terrace, a distance of nearly 600 kilometres. The ministry says more than 9,000 passengers have also used the new community-vehicle program since the summer. That includes 7,000 passengers, or 43 people every day who rely on the 18-kilometre shuttle service between Vanderhoof and the Saik'uz community. "People in Northern B.C., in particular, women and teenaged girls are benefiting from these new transportation services, knowing there is a safe link to get between communities," Transportation Minister Claire Trevena says in the release. Reg Mueller, Deputy Tribal Chief with the Carrier Sekani Tribal Council, says the community-vehicle program provides valuable access to employment and education opportunities. Vanderhoof Mayor Gerry Thiessen says it has "changed our communities for the better." Transit across northern B.C. was a key issue raised repeatedly during last fall's hearings in Smithers by the national inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women. Photo: Wikipedia Transit police in Vancouver are seeking a mysterious SkyTrain passenger with a wandering tongue. A woman reported that a stranger in his twenties licked her lips New Year's Day on a Millennium Line train. The 21-year-old woman and two friends boarded at the Commercial-Broadway station after celebrating New Year's Eve. Three men boarded at the same time. The men "made the women feel uncomfortable," according to transit police, and then the suspect stood up, grabbed the woman by the face and licked her lips. The woman shoved the man away, and her group moved to the opposite end of the train. The suspect is described as Middle Eastern, about 24 years old, five feet six inches tall, with a thin build and dyed, faded blond hair. Anyone with information is asked to contact transit police at 604-515-8300, and cite the file number 2018-8. with files from CTV Vancouver The Tennessee Valley Authority reported on Friday in its FY18 first quarter financial disclosure a net income of $288 million for the three months ended Dec. 31, 2017. Net income was up $186 million from the same period last year, primarily due to overall lower expenses. TVAs total operating revenues of approximately $2.5 billion for the three months ending Dec. 31, 2017, were relatively flat when compared to first quarter last year. Power sales were up about two percent for the quarter on more normal weather, as milder weather affected sales during the same period last year. Even with higher sales volume, fuel and purchased power expenses were down $115 million, or about 14 percent, primarily due to an increase in low-cost hydroelectric production and slightly lower natural gas prices. Power consumers in the Tennessee Valley are seeing significant benefits from the investments weve made to diversify TVAs power system, said TVA Chief Executive Officer Bill Johnson. More than half of the energy supplied by TVA in the first quarter came from carbon-free sources - nuclear, hydro and other renewables that are helping the power system deliver safe, reliable, and cleaner energy - at a lower cost. TVAs residential rates are lower than 70 percent of our competitors. As a result of reductions in O&M, improved operations and lower fuel costs, the effective rate for consumers is 2 percent below 2013. With more normal rainfall, TVA was able to increase hydroelectric generation in the first quarter, which accounted for about nine percent of total power supply, versus only five percent during the same period last year. Natural gas-fired generation also increased by about 13 percent during the first three months of FY18, compared to the same period of the prior year. This was partially driven by the slightly lower natural gas prices. Operating and maintenance expense was $32 million lower for first quarter FY18 compared to FY17. The decrease was partially due to fewer planned nuclear outage days and lower expenses related to identified efficiencies and staffing changes. TVA customers are seeing the benefits of lower costs from each of our major expense categories - lower fuel and purchased power expense, greater efficiency in how we operate and declining interest on debt, said TVA Chief Financial Officer John Thomas. The significant improvements in TVAs power system and operations over the last few years are keeping TVAs power rates low, while improving TVAs financial health for the future. Additional highlights of TVAs first quarter fiscal year 2018 results include: Increased revenue from higher energy sales and the base rate adjustment that became effective Oct. 1, 2017, was offset by lower fuel cost recovery. Total operating expenses decreased approximately eight percent during the first quarter of 2018 as compared to the same period of the prior year. During the first quarter of 2018, TVA completed installations of two selective catalytic reduction systems at the Gallatin Fossil Plant, as well as the installation of scrubbers and SCRs for Units 1 and 4 at the Shawnee Fossil Plant. Units 1-4 of the Johnsonville Fossil Plant were retired in December 2017. Selected Financial Data For the Quarter EndedDecember 31 Sales, Revenues & Expenses 2017 2016 Sales (millions of kWh) 37,283 36,497 Operating Revenues ($ millions) $ 2,549 $ 2,546 Fuel & Purchased Power 695 810 Operating & Maintenance 709 741 Interest Expense 322 339 Net Income $ 288 $ 102 Net Cash Provided by / (Used in) ($ millions) 2017 2016 Operating Activities $ 613 $ 617 Investing Activities (628) (707) Financing Activities 15 90 Net Change in Cash & Cash Equivalents - - TVA executive management will host a conference call to discuss first quarter fiscal year 2018 results at 9:30 a.m. EST, on Friday, Feb. 2, 2018. The conference call can be accessed from TVAs website via webcast, at http://www.tva.com , on the Investor Relations home page. For quicker access to the live conference call, pre-register through TVAs website before the scheduled start time, and follow the instructions provided. Once pre-registered, the dial-in number will be provided via an email. If you are unable to pre-register, you may access the conference call by dialing toll free (844) 308-6432 in the United States, or (412) 717- 9611 outside the United States. A replay will be available one hour after the end of the conference call until 9:30 a.m. ET, Feb. 2, 2019, by calling toll free (877) 344-7529 in the United States or (412) 317-0088 outside the United States and using the conference number 10115229. A webcast replay and transcript will also be available for one year on TVAs website at http://www.tva.com/investors. TVAs quarterly report on Form 10-Q provides additional financial, operational and descriptive information, including unaudited financial statements for the quarter ended Dec. 31, 2017. TVAs quarterly report and other SEC reports are available without charge on TVAs website at http://www.tva.com/investors, on the SECs website at http://www.sec.gov or by calling TVA toll free at (888) 882-4975. Guest Commentary Local coalition aspires to achieve smokefree air for all More than 1 in 5 Indiana adults smoke cigarettes (21.5%), one of the highest rates in the nation, while the number of youths using vaping products remains a concern for anti-smoking advocates. Secondhand smoke is estimated... Voice of the People Well so much for the Tribune allowing only letters focusing on local issues. Tuesdays letter giving Biden a pass on his totally irrational screw-up of the Afghanistan withdrawal, ends if under the circumstances if they could do better. The answer is absolutely. The... Voice of the People Recently four members of Porter County Board of Zoning Appeals approved to give an Iowa company special exceptions and variances to build a THIRD gas station at U.S. 6 and Indiana 149, on the northwest corner adjacent to Liberty Township. In this growing age of... Voice of the People We havent betrayed the Afghan people; they betrayed us. Monday morning quarterbacks criticizing our government and military are nothing more than cheap shot malcontents. Id like to see or at least hear how, under these same circumstances, they could do better. Joel Sutlin Chesterton September... If Panathinaikos misses the deadline, it will be excluded from the next Champions League or Europa League for which it qualifies until 2021. Atlanta-based Cumulus has been operating WLUP and WKQX since January 2014 under a local marketing agreement with Merlin that included an option to transfer ownership of the stations. Cumulus paid Merlin a fee that escalated from $300,000 to $600,000 a month over four years, or more than $20 million since its inception. McDonalds has made an effort in recent years, under CEO Steve Easterbrook, to look forward and put less of an emphasis on nostalgia. It will soon leave its longtime Oak Brook headquarters for newly designed digs in the Fulton Market district. The so-called Rock n Roll McDonalds in River North is getting a major remodeling with an eco-friendly face-lift, and will reopen in the spring without those famous arches. Restaurants worldwide are being redesigned to add kiosks and table service. Mobile ordering and delivery is expanding. And another one of the early McDonalds restaurants, this one in Portland, Ore., is set to be demolished next month. Cedar Street and Millers Pub join the city and other developers in investing in the gritty Wabash Avenue. The $75 million Washington-Wabash L station opened last year, the first of its kind in the Loop in 20 years. Restaurants, including Goddess and the Baker and Good Stuff Eatery, have been flocking to the street in recent years. The Chicago Loop Alliance has been working to make the street, most of which is in the shadow of elevated train tracks, more inviting. Developer Thomas Roszak also is planning a residential tower on Randolph Street near Wabash. "We have to be careful because if we build a stop sign where there isn't enough traffic to warrant it, people will just roll through it," Letson said. "And that will just make it more dangerous." This is a rare benefit for real estate agents across the country who are historically on their own when it comes to finding healthcare coverage. When I asked a few local real estate agents how common or uncommon it is, they agreed it's unheard of in the industry. I think one of my most lucrative gigs was playing bongos on the subway. I socked away quite a bit of cash doing that, Shannon told Colbert on Thursdays episode of The Late Show. I played in this tunnel. OK, so theres the Red Line and the Blue Line in Chicago and theres a tunnel that connects them, and it has great reverb so it disguises the fact that you dont have any rhythm whatsoever. Yet so strong is the hold of death that we read closely into the last works of artists who died unexpectedly, looking for clues to whats coming. Even the last work of artists who kill themselves acts that are not always planned send us scrambling to comprehend the unraveling. Mark Rothkos final paintings were characteristic blocks of solid colors, though in the months before he slit his wrists, those colors were often blacks and grays. Its a cheap understanding of pain and illness and one hard to avoid. Think of Iris Chang, a historian raised in Urbana, who attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, who worked for a time at the Tribune. In the years after The Rape of Nanking, her best-selling account of Chinas 1937 Nanking Massacre by the Japanese, Chang had nervous breakdowns. Her next book was a pessimistic history of the Chinese in America. Soon after, she shot herself. None of the notes she left offered much reason, and she had also been diagnosed as bipolar. Yet the grim outlook for humanity that you take away from her work often gets bundled up with her death. None of this has ever been updated, she said, not in over 60 years. It was all like this in the movie. Even those curtains same curtains. Its an interesting place, and home for a lot of people here. But some of the younger members, they want to update it. You hear a lot of people, Oh, you cant. The movie was shot there. But Groundhog Day doesnt exactly bring in money to this place now. I guess its too bad that they want to change it, that they want to do away with all this. The only saving grace I suppose is it will cost so much money to make those changes, my guess is none of it will ever actually get done. The primary repeated action in Winchester, however, is the grinding repetition of the dreaded jump scare. Clarkes character cant turn a single corner in this nutty maze of a mansion without someone appearing SUDDENLY right in his FACE, AGAIN. The Spierigs shoot the bulk of their picture in scrinched-up telephoto compositions, piling the actors on top of each other. Photographed mostly on Australian soundstages, with Australian actors approximating a turn-of-the-century performance style better suited to a turn-of-the-century stage melodrama, Winchester pauses now and then for Mirrens Sarah to expound on the grim slaughter that created her late husbands fortune. You may or may not like the way this movie would vote, if it could. But as a period ghost story, its pretty pallid. "She the People" is a new revue at Second City featuring five women and the subtitle "A Girlfriends' Guide to Sisters Doing It For Themselves." Much of the show was penned before the current #MeToo movement, and its references to Ross and Rachel feel positively quaint. But things pick up in the second half when it snags an audience member for a game show and, inevitably and not unkindly, reveals she knows more about the Kardashians than ISIS. Up-and-comer Maria Randazzo is the natural leader here and her range is striking. She can play a CEO and a quirky, wacky woman someone who "works with kids, animals or coffee" and you believe her as both. Through April 1 in the UP Comedy Club at Second City, 230 W. North Ave.; $26-$41 at 312-662-4562 and www.secondcity.com Still, when you see a Ragtime with an excellent cast, there always is much to appreciate. Aside from Thomas, who is phenomenal, there is a most interesting performance from Benjamin Magnuson as Tateh. Its a piece of acting shorn of the usual Broadway sentimentalism, a deeper-than-usual dive into the immigrant persona, a more honest Tateh, you might say, but mercifully not one devoid of belief in an idea. Kathy Voytko, who plays the middle-aged white woman whose eyes progressively are opened, sings her role and its exquisite ballads with great beauty. But the emotional life of this quietly radical, ultimately revolutionary woman seems muted: There is not enough fire in her deeply seated belief right, wrong, not the point that the wheels are spinning in the right direction. Here, in her fragmentary and interconnected narratives of family love and trauma, neglect and healing, mental illness and recovery, Mailhot offers her own quest for autonomy and self-determination in a milieu in which Indian girls can be forgotten so well they forget themselves. In blunt yet lyrical prose, she depicts struggles and stories of herself, her mother, her father and her grandmother that are at once singular and sovereign, yet also representative and collective, portraying the travails and quotidian heroism required to be a woman wielding narrative now, particularly in a world where no one wants to know why Indian women leave or where they go. One turning point in a romantic relationship is the first time I love you is expressed. To make that event unique for one couple, The One Romance arranged a walk in a London park during which complete strangers handed the clients girlfriend objets damour, including messages in a bottle and an iPod playing a special song. After this, when they neared a bridge at the edge of the park, eight heart-shaped umbrellas opened, spelling I love you. Wright, who has worked on hundreds of events, says this was one of her favorites. Her clients girlfriend started crying the second the umbrellas opened. It was one of the most romantic things Ive ever seen. If you ever feel like you dont think that we need to have some changes, Im going to just say two words to you: Harvey Weinstein, Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., told USA Today in November. The only way were protected is to have ironclad protection in the United States Constitution. Is it so challenging to say that women and men should have equality of opportunity, equality of protection under the law? Some members of Aurora's clergy also were at the meeting, and they said they wanted more information about the event. The Rev. Peggy Hicks, of Exalted Word Church, admitted some clergy are "worried about this event" and wanted more details about what it would entail. Police said at 12:17 a.m. Dec. 27, De Leon robbed the pizzeria at 1450 W. Main St. in St. Charles. Employees told police the offender had come in through the front door with a black handgun and demanded cash, according to the news release. Then a student at the University of Illinois, he was in his familys home in Winnetka when Laurie Dann, a mentally ill woman, burst into their kitchen brandishing a gun and took Andrew and his parents hostage. Andrew grabbed the gun after she put it down, removed the clip to win her trust, and persuaded her to let his parents go. Later, though, after police arrived, Andrew was shot in the chest before she killed herself. The girl, 17, and the man, 22, were in a vehicle in the 7300 block of South Wabash Avenue when someone shot at them from a passing vehicle around 12:15 a.m. The amount of the settlement has not made public, but sources have since confirmed to the Tribune that the city agreed to pay $20 million half to each family. The settlement still must be greenlighted by the City Councils Finance Committee before going to the full council for a vote. What stops them from going to the public library and looking in archives or doing a LexisNexis search and getting the information themselves? he said. Instead, theyre taking the most convenient route for them and placing the burden on the Tribune, or whatever media outlet it is, to do the work for them. Crime scene tape is up outside of an Ace Hardware store in Chicago's Garfield Ridge neighborhood after a man was found critically injured in the area Feb. 1, 2018. (Madeline Buckley / Chicago Tribune) That's a reference to a comment Rauner made in December in which he said Madigan is in charge of the state, but he's "trying to get to be in charge." The statement has dogged Rauner ever since and has even been put to use by Rep. Jeanne Ives of Wheaton, who is challenging the governor in the March Republican primary election. (Monique Garcia) U.S. Rep. Mike Quigley of Chicago called the memo biased, incomplete, and in many instances completely false. Hes the only Illinois member of the House intelligence committee. Quigley said the document may give the committees GOP chairman and his allies what they perceive as a short-term political win, but it will come at the great expense of our national security. Im sure theres something that didnt sound right, because he talks a lot, hes on video, hes on radio, hes got podcasts, thousands and thousands of hours, Rabine said. So Im sure something was there that doesnt sound right, because it just happens. Hes a very passionate guy, so Im sure he doesnt say the perfect thing all the time. Quigley called releasing the memo a very bad idea and accused House Republicans of trying to protect the president from a legal and political point of view. GOP lawmakers, he said, threw together a memo. They put together a memo about highly classified information. The FBI said it was a very bad idea. The Justice Department called it reckless and said the memo was incorrect. Biss campaign also noted that Pritzker, his wife, Mary Kay, and brother and business partner Thomas Pritzker each donated $10,000 to a political action committee that backed the legislation. State records show the donations between 2011 and 2012 were to the We Mean Business political action committee that listed as its goal the adoption of legislation to reform public pensions in the state. Besides it being an absolute bold-face lie and an embarrassing lie if youre going to lie, dont lie about something that can so easily be refuted. Cmon. I thought he was more sophisticated than that, Vallas said of Emanuel. This is what politicians do when they have a lot of money and they have a record they really dont want to run on. Like Trump, Rahm thinks if he can repeat the lies enough times, people will begin to believe them. I have a lot more faith in the public than Rahm has. The political newcomer from LaGrange also got the backing of the political group EMILYs List. Newman has been attacking Lipinskis stances against abortion rights, protection for immigrants living in the country illegally and health care that she says are out of touch with voters in the Southwest Side and suburban district. Akira Fujita lifts the futon where Hiroaki's body was found. (The Post agreed to withhold his last name to respect his privacy.) (Shiho Fukada / For The Washington Post) Bernstein, who grew up in Orange County and was visiting his family on winter break, was missing for a week after going out with Woodward the night of Jan. 2, according to authorities. Authorities searched for him with help from drone pilots and found his body at the park after rain partially exposed it. Under those requirements, people in the program already must pay monthly insurance premiums into Personal Wellness and Responsibility (POWER) accounts intended as incentives for them to stay healthy and use cost-effective care - or risk losing eligibiilty or certain benefits. People who fail to keep up their premium payments are being locked out of the program if their incomes are above the poverty line - or bumped down to a level of coverage with fewer medical benefits if they are in poverty. Arpaio has been a contentious political figure for years. As sheriff of the state's Maricopa County for more than two decades, he was known for his harsh rhetoric and crusades against illegal immigrants. Arpaio was voted out of office in 2016 and was later convicted of criminal contempt for ignoring a judge's order to stop detaining immigrants on nothing more than the suspicion that they did not have legal status. But the controversial pardon he was given by President Donald Trump has helped improve his fortunes. The U.S. Capitol in Washington is seen June 20, 2017, at sunrise. (J. Scott Applewhite / AP) "The authors of the GOP memo would like the country to believe that the investigation began with Christopher Steele and the dossier, and if they can just discredit Mr. Steele, they can make the whole investigation go away regardless of the Russians' interference in our election or the role of the Trump campaign in that interference," Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee wrote in response to the memo, which was put together by the committee's Republican chairman, Devin Nunes, Calif. "If we spend our time just spinning our wheels on something that certainly will not have a force of law and, No. 2, is not ever going to see the light of day, it begs this question: Would you be better off spending that time doing something that will have much better long-term effects for what we do as a committee?" he said. "At the early stages of this discussion, I would say that I would support that." Twenty or 50 years from now, the uproar over the House intelligence committee memo will be no more than a footnote to history, and many Americans living then will have fading memories, if any, of the Trump administration. But they will be sure to feel the consequence of other policies, little noticed now, that will weigh more heavily with each passing year. You may have never heard of Irene Triplett, who illustrates something politicians often forget: Decisions made for immediate purposes can reverberate for a long, long time. Classified information includes much more than the actual "secrets" acquired. It includes how they were acquired and the process by which related analyses were made. Professionals refer to the stages of the intelligence cycle as collection, processing, analyzing and sharing information. In most cases, the implications and significance of raw pieces of information found in classified materials are reviewed and vetted to keep sensationalized and unsubstantiated accounts from being deemed credible. This process should also identify circular reporting, which is when a piece of information appears to come from multiple sources but in fact comes from only one source, even though it is offered through different channels. In matters addressed by the Nunes memo, I am not confident that proper vetting occurred, and I believe that the American people should have the ability to decide for themselves. President Donald Trump congratulates Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Ky., while House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wis., watches to acknowledge the final passage of tax overhaul legislation by Congress at the White House in Washington, Wednesday, Dec. 20, 2017. (Manuel Balce Ceneta / AP) I want Trump to remember me and all those voters he betrayed. I want him to know that he's not making America great again for workers like me. And I want him to know that, next Election Day, I'm holding him accountable. President Donald Trump walks across the South Lawn upon return to the White House in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 1, 2018. (Mandel Ngan, AFP/Getty Images) How to steer young people away from an addiction that will wreck their health? One way is for Illinois lawmakers to raise to 21 from 18 the legal age to buy tobacco products. That would limit access to cigarettes, and not only for 18-, 19- and 20-year-olds. Thats because younger adolescents who smoke need someone to buy, or give them, cigarettes. Theyre more likely to know an 18-year-old who will do that often a fellow high school student than they are to have a 21-year-old running illicit errands for them. Ten of Illinois 12 public university campuses suffered overall enrollment declines in 2017, some plunging by double digit percentages. Some schools have watched enrollment shrivel for years without mustering much urgency to change their ways. These schools have a hard time differentiating themselves, in Illinois or nationally; many are look-alikes without distinctive academic specialties. They dont focus obsessively on key questions: Are our students learning and graduating? How can we do better with what we have, not what we wish for? And what restructuring of higher ed statewide would make this school unique? What we see is a president who goes negative when it suits him, which is often. He can be mean, disrespectful, conniving and dunderheaded. Yet he also can get the peoples work done. Many Republicans and Democrats in Washington behave just the same. They are fighters. Their motives arent always pure. The biggest practical (not stylistic) difference between Trump in 2018 and a past practitioner such as, say, Lyndon Johnson is that Johnson didnt tweet his every impulse. My moms Uncle Adolph came to the U.S. in 1902, at the age of 12. Solo. No English. The oldest male child, sent by his family to pave the way in the U.S. He made it to Chicago and found a community of Polish people, where he could find a place to stay, get a job, and save to bring over his older sister. "You three are so catty no wonder you do your business in a sandbox." Susan Radzinowicz, Chicago Stacker reflects back on 9/11 and 20 ways life in the United States was changed by these terrorist attacks, using information from news reports, government sources and research centers. For those of us who lived through 9/11, the days events will forever be emblazoned on our consciousnesses, a terrible tragedy we cant, and wont, forget. Now, two decades on, Stacker is reflecting back on the events of 9/11 and many of the ways the world has changed since then. Using information from news reports, government sources, and research centers, weve compiled a list of 20 aspects of American life that were forever altered by the events of that day. From language to air travel to our handling of immigration and foreign policy, read on to see just how much life in the United States was affected by 9/11. Our weekly round up of other news affecting foreign investors throughout Asia: IP Considerations in Singapores Healthcare and Medical Technologies Sector Underpinned by both rising disposable income and progressively aging population, Singapore offers various business opportunities in healthcare and medical technologies sectors. South-East Asia IPR SME Helpdesk highlights the pre-market IP issues that companies need to consider. The Companies (Amendment) Act, 2017 Key Changes for Corporate Governance in India Indias upper house of parliament passed the Companies Act (Amendment) Bill, 2016 in December 2017, after it was approved by the lower house last July. Upon securing the Presidents assent, the Act came into effect on January 4, this year. Customs Procedures for the Import of Goods into Russia The demand for foreign products into Russia has been significantly increasing over the past 12 months as Russia both recovers its economy from the drop in global oil prices, sanctions, and is moving into positive GDP growth rates. Chinas Hongshi Issues First Belt Road Bond in Shanghai for Laos Project A small, but significant, 300 million yuan (US$47 million) three year corporate bond has been issued on the Shanghai Stock Exchange (SSE), becoming the first official bond related to Chinas massive Belt and Road infrastructure initiative. An Overview of Transfer Pricing in Vietnam Many foreign businesses delocalize their production facilities in Vietnam and charge their foreign outposts for administrative, technical, financial, and commercial services. However, financial administration teams need to be aware that their transactions must comply with the arms length and substance-over-form principles. About Us Our Briefing updates are written by and provided by the various regional offices of Dezan Shira & Associates throughout Asia. To obtain a complimentary subscription to Asia Briefing please click here. To contact Dezan Shira & Associates concerning foreign investment and assistance in Asia, please email us at asia@dezshira.com Dezan Shira & Associates Brochure Dezan Shira & Associates is a pan-Asia, multi-disciplinary professional services firm, providing legal, tax and operational advisory to international corporate investors. Operational throughout China, ASEAN and India, our mission is to guide foreign companies through Asias complex regulatory environment and assist them with all aspects of establishing, maintaining and growing their business operations in the region. This brochure provides an overview of the services and expertise Dezan Shira & Associates can provide. An Introduction to Doing Business in ASEAN 2017 Doing Business in ASEAN introduces the fundamentals of investing in the 10-nation ASEAN bloc, concentrating on economics, trade, corporate establishment and taxation. We also include the latest development news in our Important Updates section for each country, with the intent to provide an executive assessment of the varying component parts of ASEAN, assessing each member state and providing the most up-to-date economic and demographic data on each. An Introduction to Doing Business in China 2017 Doing Business in China 2017 is designed to introduce the fundamentals of investing in China. Compiled by the professionals at Dezan Shira & Associates in January 2017, this comprehensive guide is ideal not only for businesses looking to enter the Chinese market, but also for companies who already have a presence here and want to keep up-to-date with the most recent and relevant policy changes. An Introduction to Doing Business in Hong Kong 2017 Doing Business in China 2017 is designed to introduce the fundamentals of investing in China. Compiled by the professionals at Dezan Shira & Associates in January 2017, this comprehensive guide is ideal not only for businesses looking to enter the Chinese market, but also for companies who already have a presence here and want to keep up-to-date with the most recent and relevant policy changes. An Introduction to Doing Business in India 2017 An Introduction to Doing Business in India 2017 is designed to introduce the fundamentals of investing in India. As such, this comprehensive guide is ideal not only for businesses looking to enter the Indian market, but also for companies who already have a presence here and want to stay up-to-date with the most recent and relevant policy changes. An Introduction to Doing Business in Singapore 2017 An Introduction to Doing Business in Singapore 2017 provides readers with an overview of the fundamentals of investing and conducting business in Singapore and outlines the citys role as a trading hub within ASEAN. The guide explains the basics of company establishment, annual compliance, taxation, human resources, and social insurance in the city-state. An Introduction to Doing Business in Vietnam 2017 An Introduction to Doing Business in Vietnam 2017 will provide readers with an overview of the fundamentals of investing and conducting business in Vietnam. Compiled by Dezan Shira & Associates, a specialist foreign direct investment practice, this guide explains the basics of company establishment, annual compliance, taxation, human resources, payroll, and social insurance in this dynamic country. By Dezan Shira & Associates China has announced that it will establish Belt and Road Courts to handle disputes arising from projects carried out under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), to which many countries have signed up. The courts, which are to be based in Beijing, Xian, and Shenzhen, have been established under the authority of the Supreme Peoples Court of China. The Xian court will manage commercial disputes for the Silk Road Economic Belt, which connects China, Central Asia, the Middle East, and Europe. The Shenzhen court will manage commercial cases for the Maritime Silk Road, which connects China, Southeast Asia, Africa, and Europe. Media reports state that Beijing will seek to promote the courts to resolve disputes that emerge in the BRI. Observers noted that the courts appear similar to the International Commercial Court in Singapore and the International Finance Centre Courts in Dubai. It is unclear over which authority the Chinese have claimed jurisdiction over BRI disputes. There are existing mechanisms to deal with such matters, ranging from existing bilateral investment treaties (Dezan Shira & Associates maintains a library of these, available here) to multilateral agreements such as those ASEAN has with China, the 2012 Agreement on Dispute Settlement Mechanism of the Framework Agreement on Comprehensive Economic Cooperation. Most bilateral treaties and the ASEAN treaty provide for similar conflict resolution processes: consultation, followed by mediation, followed by arbitration by an ad-hoc arbitration tribunal, with no preset venue or choice of law, either procedural or substantive. Beijings move to establish BRI-specific courts seems to alter that position, and move jurisdiction specifically to China. The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) China has signed off with over 70 nations concerning cooperation on BRI projects also does not appear to suggest any differing mechanisms for dealing with disputes, other than the usual terminology referring to friendly consultations, though these may differ from case to case. The question concerning Chinas establishment of the BRI courts therefore revolves around the question of how this mechanism was agreed to between China and the BRI nations with which it has signed agreements. There are other existing alternatives to accepting arbitration in China. These include an agreement reached in September last year between the Singapore International Mediation Centre and the China Chamber of International Commerce Mediation Centre (CCOIC), who entered into an MoU to resolve BRI cross-border disputes, while Hong Kongs justice department has also been developing eBRAM.hk, an online dispute resolution tool for major BRI infrastructure projects. Given these existing platforms, it could be argued that the Chinese government is trying to force other sides to accept Chinese mediation and arbitration through its proposal to have these three courts rule on all BRI disputes. Chinas top legal body has been in the process of internationalizing its domestic court system and the three new courts are supposed to be modeled after the established ones in Singapore or Dubai. Despite these steps by China, the choice of arbitration venue and law, both procedural and substantive, should be left to negotiation between the concerned parties. As a general rule of thumb, third party jurisdictions with established rules and an experienced body of jurists are always preferable to those jurisdictions affiliated with one or the other of the parties to a contract. It remains to be seen how successful China will be in bringing Belt & Road disputes to courts in China. Meanwhile, legal counsel would be advised to look at exactly what was agreed upon when signing the MoU with China for Belt & Road cooperation. About Us China Briefing is published by Asia Briefing, a subsidiary of Dezan Shira & Associates. We produce material for foreign investors throughout Asia, including ASEAN, India, Indonesia, Russia, the Silk Road, and Vietnam. For editorial matters please contact us here, and for a complimentary subscription to our products, please click here. Dezan Shira & Associates is a full service practice in China, providing business intelligence, due diligence, legal, tax, IT, HR, payroll, and advisory services throughout the China and Asian region. For assistance with China business issues or investments into China, please contact us at china@dezshira.com or visit us at www.dezshira.com Silk Road Briefing Silk Road Briefing is designed to monitor investment and infrastructure developments and potential opportunities for foreign investors to participate along the One Belt, One Road scheme. With the OBOR covering over 60 countries, this ambitious portal brings a snapshot of what is going on and where, as well as introducing the emerging trade routes that are developing as a result. The website draws on our considerable first hand experience dealing with FDI into and from China, Russia, India and South-East Asia, and is researched and written by professionals at Dezan Shira & Associates Emerging Asias primary professional services practice. Establishing and Operating a Business in China 2018 Chinas foreign investment landscaped changed significantly in 2017, where strategic investors will find that their options have broadened significantly. Establishing and Operating a Business in China 2018 is designed to explore the establishment procedures for the Representative Office (RO), and two types of Limited Liability Companies the Wholly Foreign-owned Enterprise (WFOE) and the Sino-foreign Joint Venture (JV) along with related business considerations that decision-makers should examine at the pre-investment, setup, and operational stages of the expansion cycle. Chinas New Economic Silk Road This unique and currently only available study into the proposed Silk Road Economic Belt examines the institutional, financial and infrastructure projects that are currently underway and in the planning stage across the entire region. Covering over 60 countries, this book explores the regional reforms, potential problems, opportunities and longer term impact that the Silk Road will have upon Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Europe and the United States. Dezan Shira & Associates UK Prime Minister Theresa May wrapped up her China visit on Friday, concluding the three-day trip with the announcement of a series of trade agreements. May announced deals with China worth over 9.3 billion (US$13.26 billion), which the government claims will create more than 2,500 jobs in the UK. The Chinese government also agreed to end its ban on UK beef, while allowing increased market access for dairy producers and certain UK financial service firms. Business Intelligence from Dezan Shira & Associates Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged to upgrade the golden era in bilateral relations, at a time when the UK seeks alternative trade partners as it extricates itself from the EU. Currently, China-UK trade is worth about 59 billion (US$84.1 billion) per year. However, May failed to endorse Xis signature Belt and Road Initiative despite China lobbying her to sign a memorandum of understanding in support of the plan. While May balked at the chance to become the first Western country to formally sign on with the Belt and Road, the two countries agreed to an RMB 10 billion (US$1.58 billion) fund for projects in countries covered by the initiative. During the visit, which included stops in Wuhan, Beijing, and Shanghai, May also stressed the need to address plastic waste management, and gave Xi a box set of the BBC nature series Blue Planet II. May endeared herself to Chinese social media users, who referred to her warmly as Auntie May. About Us China Briefing is published by Asia Briefing, a subsidiary of Dezan Shira & Associates. We produce material for foreign investors throughout Asia, including ASEAN, India, Indonesia, Russia, the Silk Road, and Vietnam. For editorial matters please contact us here, and for a complimentary subscription to our products, please click here. Dezan Shira & Associates is a full service practice in China, providing business intelligence, due diligence, legal, tax, IT, HR, payroll, and advisory services throughout the China and Asian region. For assistance with China business issues or investments into China, please contact us at china@dezshira.com or visit us at www.dezshira.com Dezan Shira & Associates Brochure Dezan Shira & Associates is a pan-Asia, multi-disciplinary professional services firm, providing legal, tax and operational advisory to international corporate investors. Operational throughout China, ASEAN and India, our mission is to guide foreign companies through Asias complex regulatory environment and assist them with all aspects of establishing, maintaining and growing their business operations in the region. This brochure provides an overview of the services and expertise Dezan Shira & Associates can provide. An Introduction to Doing Business in China 2017 This Dezan Shira & Associates 2017 China guide provides a comprehensive background and details of all aspects of setting up and operating an American business in China, including due diligence and compliance issues, IP protection, corporate establishment options, calculating tax liabilities, as well as discussing on-going operational issues such as managing bookkeeping, accounts, banking, HR, Payroll, annual license renewals, audit, FCPA compliance and consolidation with US standards and Head Office reporting. China Industries Outlook 2018 In this issue of China Briefing magazine, we analyze macro-level foreign investment trends into China, and how the high-tech sector stands out above others. We then shift our focus to Chinas healthcare sector in the context of policy reforms and demographic changes. We also examine how to invest in Chinas education industry and how Chinas war on pollution introduces new opportunities for foreign investors. Dezan Shira & Associates Cuban and Chinese writers exchanged ideas about their craft on Thursday, prior to the inauguration in Havana of the 27th International Book Fair, where China is featured as guest country. Cuban novelists, poets, essayists and critics met with 11 renowned Chinese authors at the headquarters of Cuba's Union of Writers and Artists, and discussed the literary ties that bind the two nations together. "Literature is a bridge between different souls, so to promote literary exchanges between the two countries is to promote mutual knowledge and understanding between the two peoples," said Zhou Huilin, assistant general director of China's State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television. "Sharing the same ideals and beliefs leads us to understand each other well, and establishes a solid foundation for literary exchanges," Zhou noted, adding China's government plans to take measures in support of such literary encounters. Cuban poet and novelist Miguel Barnet, who is also president of Cuba's Union of Writers and Artists, said his country's authors were committed to deepening exchange "based on the ties between the two countries and peoples, which have embarked on an entirely new path in contemporary history." "We have much to share and much to defend in favor of a culture that enriches and improves human beings," said Barnet. Chinese novelist and editor Xu Zechen moderated the discussions, which served to bring the two geographically distant countries closer together. The president of Cuba's Association of Writers, poet Alex Pausides, later told Xinhua: "I think that for Cuban writers, getting closer to the millenary literature of China is a permanent source of enrichment and learning." Pausides recommended a few prominent Cuban authors and thinkers for the Chinese reading public, including Jose Marti (1853-1898), Alejo Carpentier (1904-1980) and Nicolas Guillen (1902-1989). Under the banner "Reading China," the Chinese delegation is presenting more than 300 books by well-known authors at this year's fair, such as A Lai, Li Jingze, Liu Zhenyun, Mai Jia, Xu Zechen, Yu Hua and Zhao Lihong. As guest country, China boasts two extensive pavilions, measuring 400 square meters, at the fair, which is annually held at the San Pedro de La Cabana Fort, a historic landmark that rises above the eastern banks of Havana Bay. The fair runs through Feb. 11 in Havana, before touring the country. You are here: China Police in east China's Nanjing City arrested 12 people Thursday, including the boss of an online financial firm, for illegally obtaining money. Zhang Xiaolei, who was the controller of Qbao.com, and 11 other suspects have been arrested on charges of illegally siphoning off public money, police in Jiangbei new district in Nanjing said. Zhang founded Qbao.com in 2012 and used it as a platform to accumulate money given by creditors, who were lured by large interest returns as high as 60 percent, police said. Qbao.com was found to have amassed huge amounts of money, police said, without specifying numbers. In its heyday, the website was said to have 200 million registered users and billions of yuan worth in cash flow, according to previous report. Local police said they were doing their best to retrieve investor losses. Police have seized assets of the company and the assets will be disposed of after the court verdict. Police ask investors to timely register information with the police and not to organize illegal activities. In January, 11 investors were detained for organizing illegal gatherings and disturbing public order. You are here: China China has addressed nearly 200,000 safety issues after inspecting all of the country's 41,700 senior care facilities over the past year, a vice minister said Thursday. Vice Minister of Civil Affairs Gao Xiaobing said at a press conference in Beijing that the national overhaul covered both registered and unregistered senior care facilities. As a result, safety incidents in senior care facilities dropped by a quarter in 2017, Gao said. China has a rapidly aging population. The number of people over 60 has reached 241 million. Public elder care services, however, are in short supply. The vice minister said the government will draft policies to boost the development of quality senior care facilities and pilot community support services for the elderly who opt to stay at home, which is more in line with the country's elder care tradition. Flash Ri Yong Ho, Foreign Minister of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), has accused the United States of undermining inter-Korean reconciliation process and aggravating the situation on the Korean Peninsula. In a letter sent to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday, Ri said "good results are borne in the inter-Korean dialogue" and the easing of tension on the Korean peninsula was welcomed by the international society, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported Thursday. The U.S. authorities, however, are "seeking to intentionally aggravate the situation by introducing the strategic assets including nuclear powered aircraft carrier strike groups into the vicinity of the Korean peninsula at a time when north and south of Korea are charting a course of peace together," Ri said. "In view of its nature and contents, scope of troop and war equipment being introduced, the U.S. current moves of military reinforcements are designed to make preemptive strike against the DPRK," Ri said. The United States is also openly stating that it will conduct a large-scale aggressive joint military exercise against the DPRK immediately after the Winter Olympic Games, he added. Ri called on the UN not to "keep silent as to the U.S. dangerous game of aggravating situation in and around the Korean peninsula and driving the whole world into a possible disaster of nuclear war." Ri requested Guterres to take up at the UN Security Council "the issue of welcoming the process of improved inter-Korean relations and discouraging the neighboring countries from disturbing the process." Flash British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has praised China's total ban on ivory trade as an important and far-reaching decision. "China has struck a blow against elephant poaches by closing down its domestic ivory market," said Johnson in a press briefing on China's full implementation of the ban on ivory trade. The event was jointly held in the British Parliament Wednesday by the WWF, All Party Parliamentary China Group and the Chinese Embassy in the UK. "China's enlightened and foresighted decisions, would give humanity a chance to reverse the tragic decline of the African elephant," said Johnson, stressing that the British side is willing to work with China to combat poaching and protect rare wild species. Existing rules allow for "worked" or carved items produced before March 3, 1947 to be sold in the UK while sale of raw ivory of any age is prohibited. Johnson said he looks forward to seeing a complete ban on the sale of ivory in Britain and the EU. "The only question is where we have the collective will. And I believe that today is a manifestation, I think it's great that the UK and China are united and expected on this, on this policy, we are more forward looking the ambitious in our ban and the European union," the British minister said. Zhu Qin, Minister-Counsellor at the Chinese Embassy in the UK, said protecting the wildlife is a key to save environment. "Out planet is our only home. It is also crucial to the future of human civilization. In the past five years, china has make remarkable progress in building ecological civilization both at home and for ecological Conservation of the world," he said. Charles Mayhew, CEO of Tusk, which represents Prince William's charity, told Xinhua that China has made a huge significant move to support the protection of African elephants and "UK should follow the way in China's lead." John Stephenson, CEO of Stop Ivory organization, said China's efforts are significant in two aspects. "One is the ban get implemented and two is the neighbouring countries learn from China's leadership and begin to engage." He believed China's move is a massive step but it can not do it all by its own, and others need to step forward as well. "We fully expect UK government to announce a stronger ban." Flash Denmark pioneers "TechPlomacy" by sending a Tech Ambassador to its Beijing Embassy. Denmark is the first country in the world to elevate technology's status to a foreign policy priority by establishing a diplomatic platform and presence to promote this agenda across the globe. The initiative is based on the recognition of the key role technology and digitalization plays and will increasingly play in the future for individuals and societies alike from China to Denmark and the rest of the world. "It's interesting to see how China's tech industry has grown into being among the most advanced in areas of artificial intelligence, machine learning and cloud-computing. The resources and the willingness from the Chinese Government to drive and push this development together with the big tech companies is very significant, said Denmark's Tech Ambassador Casper Klynge. "In that light, it's only a natural step for the Danish Government to expand our technological diplomacy or our so-called Tech Plomacy Initiative - to China," said the Ambassador, who will be in China next week to officially open the Beijing leg of the Tech Ambassador's Office at the Royal Danish Embassy in Beijing. Once established, the Tech Ambassador's Office will have a physical presence in three time zones across the globe, in Denmark's capital Copenhagen, Silicon Valley in the United States, and in China's capital Beijing. Tech Ambassador Casper Klynge and his global team will work to build strategic partnerships and engage directly with tech-hubs, governments, international organizations, civil society, cities, regions, world-class universities and other stakeholders. "I really look forward to engaging in dialogue on a broad range of topics with the tech-industry and Chinese authorities. We need a stronger multi-stakeholder discussion on how we want these new technologies to shape our societies in the future. And with a stronger dialogue we will be better equipped to meet both the opportunities and challenges which new technologies create," said Ambassador Klynge. The Office of the Danish Tech Ambassador is located at the Royal Danish Embassy in Beijing. "We warmly welcome our new Tech colleagues as an integrated part of our efforts to promote Danish interests in China and to further strengthen the multi-facetted cooperation between our two countries," said the Ambassador of Denmark to China, A. Carsten Damsgaard. Hainan may allow visa-free entry for citizens from eight more countries and regions in the near future, in a bid to further open up the tropical island province, Shen Danyang, vice-governor of Hainan province, said at a news conference in Beijing in September. Survivors of church sex abuse have gathered outside Highpoint Church on Jan. 29 to call on the Tennessee megachurch to fire a pastor accused of sexual assault when he was still working for another church in Texas 20 years ago. Three weeks after Jules Woodson came out with sexual assault allegations against Pastor Andy Savage over what happened when he was her youth pastor 20 years ago, protesters demanded that Highpoint Church fire him to give "Justice for Jules." The embattled pastor has since asked for forgiveness in front of his congregation and has been placed on paid administrative leave while the situation is being evaluated, WREG relayed. David Brown, a church sex abuse survivor who launched the SNAP Network, said keeping Savage in his position sends the wrong message. Kenny Stubblefield, another survivor and local activist, said it was about time to show more concern for the victim rather than the abuser. "It's time to stop being so concerned about the abuser and be more concerned about the abused," said Stubblefield. "What they've said about the situation is that Highpoint is a safe place for abusers and a dangerous place for victims to come to. They should not feel safe there." Highpoint Church, on the other hand, has issued a statement to WREG in response to the demonstration. The Memphis megachurch acknowledged that what happened to Woodson was wrong but assured people that it was taking the situation seriously and has in fact made steps to evaluate the church's actions in light of Savage's ministry. Meanwhile, Highpoint administrator Jim Pritchard said the investigation into Savage's ministry is expected to be concluded by March 1. While he did not release additional details, he clarified that there was a separate investigation looking into the megachurch's protocol for protecting children which will start after the completion of their investigation, USA Today reported. Savage has explained that he thought his encounter with Woodson was mutually consensual. He also said he had no intention of hiding the incident and had in fact informed Highpoint about it when he was hired. Iran has sentenced a pastor's wife to five years in jail even though there was no evidence presented to back the spying charges against her which stemmed from her involvement in organizing house churches. The wife of Assyrian Pentecostal Church former pastor Victor Bet Tamraz, Shamiram Isavi, was declared guilty earlier this month by Judge Mashallah Ahmadzadeh of espionage and "acting against national security by organizing home churches" and participating in Christian seminars abroad. However, a representative for U.K.-based group Article 18 told the Center for Human Rights in Iran that there was no proof that she had been involved in spying. "As far as we know, and based on Mrs. Isavi's own statements, no evidence has been presented in the case to show that she was engaged in spying or disturbing national security. She has denied all the charges," Article 18 spokesman Kiarash Alipour told CHRI. "Mrs. Isavi explained during the interrogation that when the Assyrian Pentecostal Church was shut down, she attended home churches and prayed with fellow Christians and discussed the Holy Book," Alipour explained. "It's astonishing that a country's national security could be threatened by a gathering of Christian believers." On Dec. 26, 2014, authorities arrested Isavi, her husband, their son, and 12 other Christian converts in their home in Tehran. Pastor Tamraz and converts Hadi Asgari and Kavian Fallah Mohammadi were handed 10-year prison sentences each in 2016, while Amin Afshar Naderi was sentenced to 15 years in jail. In the latter part of December 2017, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu slammed Iran for its alleged hypocrisy after its foreign minister sent out a Christmas greeting via Twitter. In a recorded message posted on social media, Netanyahu asked how the persecuted Christians in the Islamic nation would react to that greeting, the Christian Broadcasting Network reported. According to Netanyahu, saying "Merry Christmas" while torturing or throwing Christians in jail for practicing their faith was the epitome of hypocrisy. He also expressed solidarity with the persecuted believers and assured them that Israel and the rest of the world were standing with them. Young Evangelicals Have Inherited 'Narrow Understanding' of Christianity, Molly Worthen Says 02 February, 2018 by Samuel Smith/CP , | GRAPEVINE, Texas University of North Carolina history professor and Christian author Molly Worthen told administrators from over 130 Christian colleges Wednesday that many young evangelicals haven't been taught the historical context of what it means to be "evangelical" in an era when the term has been given such a political connotation. Worthen, whose research focuses on North American religious and intellectual history and is the author of the 2013 book Apostles of Reason, spoke at the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities International Forum, a conference held once every four years, at the Gaylord Texan Convention Center. At a time when the common social understanding of the term "evangelical" has become linked with conservative white evangelicals and their strong support of President Donald Trump, Worthen said every week she is seemingly reading articles about how "unprecedented numbers of young people [are] leaving the church in droves" as "all these talking heads [who are] pronouncing the label evangelicalism" have "corrupted and politicized" the word too much for it to be "useful." "So often, all of this is tied to the outcome of the last presidential election," Worthen said. "Don't get me wrong, the 2016 election was a moment of historical significance. But I think that our current political situation has effectively shed more light on a longstanding debate and divide among evangelicals and a struggle of Christian educators to prepare students for modern challenges that goes back at least a half century." According to Worthen, students looking to attend Christian colleges today are much different from the types of students who attended Christian and evangelical higher education institutions in the 1940s and 1950s. "The thing they seek more than anything and the thing that causes them anxiety is not really a quest for the perfect, watertight, rational case for believing the Bible. Certainly, there are some students who are preoccupied with these traditional questions of apologetics," Worthen contended. "I think the thing they really crave and it's the same thing most of my students at [North] Carolina crave is a sense of authenticity, a sense of knowing who they truly are in the world, of being part of a human and humane community that is rooted in place and time and can occasionally persuade them to put down their smartphones and interact as real, living, breathing individuals." Worthen argues that the best thing Christian colleges can do for these types of students is to "give them a sense of their own history of where they stand in the broad sweep of Christianity." Read more about young evangelicals at The Christian Post. Many observers were troubled when Andy Savage, a pastor at Highpoint Church in Memphis, received a standing ovation from his congregation for his admission of a sexual incident with a 17-year-old high-school student when he was a youth leader at Woodlands Parkway Baptist Church in Texas. They have reason to be troubled. Though the congregation was probably unaware that the woman involved described the incident as an assault, at least one pastor at Woodlands and the leaders of Highpoint were aware. The alleged victim claimed that Larry Cotton, an associate pastor of Woodlands at the time, urged her to stay quiet about what happened. And only after the alleged victim made the case public did Highpoints pastor Chris Conlee admit that the information was not new to him or to the church leadership. Conlee went on to support Savage and his continued ministry at Highpoint Church. Unfortunately, it is not uncommon for churches and religious organizations to try to handle sexual assault allegations internally. Bob Jones University, Sovereign Grace Ministries, the Association of Baptists for World Evangelism, and the Institute in Basic Life Principles have all come under fire in recent years for not adequately addressing sexual abuse within their communities. Some of these organizations have been accused of blaming the victimseven those who were children at the time of abuseand pressuring them to forgive their abusers rather than report them. Many church leaders probably react to these stories by thinking that they would never do such a thing. They would never intentionally cover up allegations of sexual abuse in their church. But what if intentionally covering up the truth is not the only thing churches need to worry about? When investigations of sexual abuse by church leaders are handled internally, we risk missing the truth in the first place. The Problem of Bias Were all familiar with our tendency to evaluate our own moral failings more leniently than the moral failings of others. When someone else does something wrong, we condemn; when we do something wrong, we rationalize. The problem is, this bias doesnt stop at ourselves. Research shows that we also extend this favored treatment to members of our in-group and to those close to us. We judge our friends more positively than other people judge them, and we are likelier to excuse unfair behavior by an in-group member than we are to excuse the same behavior committed by someone outside the group. Given that church leaders are often personally close, this calls into question their ability to be impartial when judging one of their own. We also have a hard time being objective when we have a stake in the outcome. Harvard researcher Max Bazerman and colleagues demonstrated this in a study where they gave participants identical information about the potential sale of a fictitious company and asked them to estimate the companys value as the buyer, the seller, the buyers auditor, or the sellers auditor. The researchers found that the participants playing the role of sellers auditors reached estimates that were 30 percent higher than the estimates of the buyers auditors, even though they were told they would be rewarded according to how close their evaluations were to those of impartial experts. Article continues below Even when were trying to be as accurate as possible, if were already on a particular side, this can hinder our ability to view the situation objectively. And if people are this influenced by bias in a hypothetical case, this doesnt give us much hope when we have a real interest at stake. The effects of bias can continue beyond our initial evaluations. When another persons morally questionable behavior benefits us, we trust them more than if it doesnt, and we are less likely to remember their bad behavior. As we can see, bias doesnt just affect our final decisions; it can permeate our whole judgment and decision-making process. People who have an interest in seeing data in a particular direction have a hard time being objective about a range of judgments and in a variety of contexts. There might be an even greater danger of rationalization when it comes to judging church leaders than non-religious leaders. Church leaders are not only working for us; they are working for God. Precisely because working for Gods kingdom is a noble goal, it can lead us to justify any sins committed by those who have made it their career. Indeed, this is one of the ways people often try to rationalize keeping leaders accused of sexual abuse in power. This is a precarious road, however. Many terrible injustices have been rationalized in the name of Gods kingdom. Power without accountability is dangerous. The Importance of Impartiality Another problem with bias is that it generally occurs outside our awareness, leading us to overestimate our own objectivity. As researchers have found, we tend to evaluate ourselves as more ethical and less biased than other people. The unconscious nature of bias can make it especially difficult to recognize and correct through our own conscious efforts. This is why judges are supposed to recuse themselves when they know one of the parties involved in a case, or when they have an economic interest that might be affected by the outcome. Though there are some differences between the decisions made by a judge and those made by a church, there are also some important similarities. In both cases, we have similar aims and values: We want to find the truth, to be fair, and to carry out justice for all parties. We would never let a judge preside over a sexual assault case where the accused was a friend or a business partner. Yet, not only is Chris Conlee judging his close friend, but he is using this friendship as a reason we are supposed to trust his judgment: As one of my closest friends and partners in ministry, I can assure you that I have total confidence in the redemptive process Andy went through under his leadership in Texas. On the contrary, this friendship is one of the reasons we should doubt his ability to uncover the whole truth, to be fair, and to carry out justice for all parties. In the legal system, not only are judges supposed to recuse themselves when they have doubts about their ability to be objective; they are also supposed to recuse themselves when the public might have doubts about their ability to be impartial. When we doubt the ability of judges to make impartial judgments, it erodes public trust in the fairness of the justice system. Article continues below Similarly, it is in the wider interest of the Christian community that people can trust that church leaders will seek the truth. When people see churches trying to handle investigations of their own leaders internally, it leads many to doubt whether the church really desires to bring the truth to light. Even if you think you can be objective, if the public views your actions as trying to sweep things under the rug, this does real damage, not only to your church but to the entire Christian community. How Should Churches Respond? We obviously need to do what we can to prevent sexual abuse, but we also need to have a plan in place for how to respond if it does occur. Once your real interests are at stake and your churchs reputation is on the line, it can become far too easy to rationalize bad behavior. But what about 1 Corinthians 6:16? some will ask. Thats the passage where Paul reprimands the Corinthian believers for taking their disputes to court. I would submit that this passagelike all biblical passagesshould be read with careful attention to the context that surrounds it, chapters 5 and 6, in which Paul is especially severe on sexual sins. They are not among the trivial cases being taken to court that he refers to in 6:2; on the contrary, he goes so far as to instruct perpetrators to be handed over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh (5:5). It seems that certain transgressions are beyond the churchs power to address adequately. That is especially true of sins of abuse. As Owen Strachan wrote in a Christianity Today article on domestic violence, The civic ruler, Paul says, acts as an avenger who carries out Gods wrath on the wrongdoer (Rom. 13:4, ESV). When churches teach otherwise, they not only fail to provide psychological and emotional care, they also fail theologically. Divine vengeance cries out to be exercised against evil. Given all this, and given how difficult it is to evaluate our own leaders objectively, it is essential to have sexual abuse allegations investigated by an independent party that does not have a vested interest in the church. If we want the church to be a safe place of healing, we cant afford to cover up the truth. The first step, though, is finding it. We need to be aware of how our relationships with the accused and our desire to keep them in power might affect how we interpret the situation. Dont take your ability to overlook warning signs or minimize accusations as evidence that there is no problem. Your biases might be preventing you from seeing the truth. Jen Zamzow has a PhD in philosophy and cognitive science from the University of Arizona and teaches undergraduate ethics online for UCLA and Concordia University Irvine. She writes about faith and doubt, meaning, morality, and motherhood at jenzamzow.com. Wycliffe Bible Translators has become renowned as the worlds leading Bible translation organization, and William Cameron Townsend is well known for his role as its founder. Yet this is only half of the story. Townsend also founded the Summer Institute of Linguistics (SIL) which has played an important part in Wycliffes success. SILknown today as SIL Internationalis a scientific as well as a faith-based organization. The story behind SILs rise and of Kenneth L. Pike, the key character in that rise, is one of the most interesting episodes of the modern missionary movement. Townsend and the birth of a vision In 1917, Townsend arrived in Guatemala as a Bible salesman. The standard practice of selling Spanish Bibles to the Kaqchikel, Kiche, Mam, and other indigenous peoples who spoke little or no Spanish proved frustrating. Townsend later recalled that Guatemalas indigenous inhabitants kept asking, if not in these exact words, something like: If your God is so powerful, why doesnt he speak my language? Staggered by the implications of this question, Townsend blazed a new path in missions. Against the advice of veteran missionaries, the independent-minded Townsend translated the New Testament into Kaqchikel, completing it in 1930. He also started a school that used the indigenous language to train native pastors. From these experiences flowed Townsends threefold vision that would form the core of SIL. Firstly, the move away from Spanish language ministry to Kaqchikel ministry and translation strengthened and expanded the indigenous church. Townsend found that Bible translation into the mother tongue was not optional but imperative if indigenous peoples were to understand its message and form viable indigenous churches. Secondly, Townsend discovered that unwritten indigenous languages were not simple or primitive but rather extremely complex and capable of expressing the full range of human thought and emotion. Faced with an enormously complex grammatical structure, he concluded that the recently developed science of structural linguistics held the key to cracking the mysteries of these languages. He therefore sought out the advice of Edward Sapir, a leading linguist at Yale University. By enlisting scientific research in support of Bible translation, Townsend was on the path to creating an entirely different kind of mission. Thirdly, living in close contact with Guatemalas indigenous communities, he became acutely aware of these peoples extreme poverty and powerlessness due to illiteracy and social marginalization. For Townsend, saving souls was not enough. A true Christian response included social uplift. He was convinced that community development was an essential component of Christian missions. For an evangelical missionary in the 1930s, the embrace of Bible translation was fitting, but science and social concern were hardly the stuff of evangelical missions. In the wake of the modernists-fundamentalists controversies, intellectual pursuits and the life of the mindnot to mention social ministrywere in serious decline in conservative evangelical circles. After all, it was from within the academy that evolution and secularism were emanating. In order to pursue the three strands of ministry he envisioned, Townsend was compelled by circumstance to found his own organization, hence the Summer Institute of Linguistics. Townsend first set his sights on anti-clerical and revolutionary Mexico. Since the country was closed to traditional missionaries when he crossed the border in 1933, he resourcefully dropped his missionary identity and entered Mexico as an ethnologist and educator. Clearly, even at this early date, he envisioned creating something other than the standard evangelical faith mission. During his two-month, 5,000-mile survey trip, Townsend met a number of key figures, of which the most important was Mexicos director of rural education, Rafael Ramirez, who opened the way for him to study the nations educational system. Mexico sorely needed linguistic research to develop the countrys many unwritten indigenous languages before real educational gains could be made. Mexicos revolutionary leaders also remained frustrated in their efforts to raise the indigenous population out of grinding poverty. Townsend was bold to the point of audacity. Despite having no money or workers, he proposed to Mexican officials a three point program of Bible translation, cooperation in scientific research, and assisting the government in its welfare program on behalf of the indigenous peoples. Townsend was a great salesman, and he convinced Mexican education officials that SIL could make a legitimate scientific and humanitarian contribution. They were even ready to permit Bible translation in order to gain the linguistic and community development aid promised by this intrepid American. SIL would be like no other mission. Motivated by religious purpose, it was yet truly scientific and pursued humanitarian aims. In fifteen years, Townsend exclaimed, we will make the scientists sit up and take notice. Townsend envisioned sending young evangelicals into Mexico with his newly formed Summer Institute of Linguistics. Once there, they would carry out linguistic research and publish the results in academic journals. They would also develop alphabets, produce grammars and dictionaries for unwritten languages, translate the New Testament, and undertake community development and educational projects. It was a tall order, one that would require a new kind of specially trained missionary: the translator-linguist. Pike and the realization of the vision In 1934, Townsend established a summer linguistic course in rural Arkansas for training these translator-linguists. The first summer course was inauspicious. Only two students turned up for classes at the abandoned farmhouse Townsend rented for housing the school. The next summer Kenneth Pike, a skinny young man recently rejected by the China Inland Mission (CIM), arrived for the summer course along with four other students. The CIM had rebuffed Pike because of his nervousness and inability to pronounce Chinese. After failing as a CIM candidate, Pike had returned to Gordon College where he took a graduate course in Greek, and it was there that he learned of Townsends summer school. If he couldnt be a traditional missionary, perhaps he could be a Bible translator? As unpromising as Pike appeared, Townsend had just collected his first linguistic genius. In Mexico, with a mere ten days of phonetic training under his belt, Pike proved he had the makings of a competent linguistic scientist. He progressed rapidly in his analysis of the Mixtec language, into which he would translate the New Testament with the help of Angel Merecias. He quickly grasped the importance of the linguistic sciences for both the translation and humanitarian aims of SIL. In 1937, Pike wrote his family that Townsend has his plan of action here in Mexico upon the basis of scientific research. In the bargain we will of course plan to do the translating which is our goal. But we do not want to masquerade as linguists and be anything else but that. The only answer is to become linguists, in fact, not theory, and deliver the real goods. Townsend took note of Pikes ability and in 1937 sent him to the University of Michigan, where each summer the Linguistic Society of America held a Linguistic Institute. Leonard Bloomfield and Edward Sapir, the two leading linguists of the day, were present at the Linguistic Institute in 1937, and Sapir was impressed with Pikes initial analysis of Mixtec. Pike returned to the Linguistic Institute in 1938. After lecturing on his Mixtec linguistic analysis, he was offered an opportunity to pursue doctoral studies at the University of Michigan. After completing his doctorate in 1942, Pike joined the faculty at the university where he eventually became a tenured professor and remained until his retirement as professor emeritus in 1977. Pike also developed his own linguistic theory, tagmemics, which was used to analyze many previously unwritten languages. In the end, he would contribute more than 20 books and 200 articles to the academic literature. It is a little-known fact among American Christians that Pike was not only an evangelical missionary and Bible translator but also one of the worlds top linguistic scientists of the 20th century. Providence smiled on Townsend. In 1936, another linguistic prodigy walked through the door. Eugene Nida, who had studied Greek and linguistics at UCLA, was a student for only a few weeks before Townsend placed him on the summer school faculty. Nida was SILs second PhD, graduating from the University of Michigan in 1943. For various reasons, Nida would move to the American Bible Society full-time in 1953, where he would become well known for developing the Bible translation theory of dynamic equivalence. In the first two decades of SILs existence, these two men were largely responsible for advancing the organization in a truly scholarly and academic direction. SIL grew apace and by 1941 numbered nearly a hundred members serving in Mexico. Although Townsend had convinced Mexican officials of SILs standing as a bona fide scientific institution, as a college dropout he had only a hazy idea of what was required to fulfill this. By the early 1940s, Pike and Nida knew that some heavy lifting was required if SIL expected to keep up with the increasingly sophisticated and complex discipline of linguistics. When the opportunity to partner with the University of Oklahoma at Norman in 1942 arose, the two men rightly saw it as a way to upgrade SILs academic credentials. SILs linguistic courses, taught by SIL personnel, became part of the universitys accredited curriculum. This cooperative program placed incredible strain on SIL at a time when evangelicals tended to disassociate from secular academia. Moreover, as Pike himself was well aware, American evangelicals were not exactly noted for scientific prowess. Indeed, they often prioritized the heart over the mind. Both the SIL faculty and evangelical students struggled with the university setting, and Pike and Nida were forced to defend the program. An especially contentious point was the dropping of classroom prayer to accommodate the secular university setting. However, by the late 1940s, it was becoming evident that the academic merits of the cooperative program outweighed any perceived spiritual costs. Indeed, SIL members found that they could rub shoulders with non-Christians in academia without losing or harming their faith. The growth of SIL led to another landmark event that took place in 1942the founding of Wycliffe Bible Translators in the United States as a sending agency to resource the work that SIL was doing in the field. It would have been difficult for the scientifically oriented SIL to relate to the Christian public in North America. Hence the more religiously oriented Wycliffe was formed for this purpose. The dual structure was at times cause for accusations of duplicity, but the combination was effective in that it allowed each entity to focus on its own area of expertise. From the time that Pike assumed the presidency of SIL in 1942, he labored to build SIL into a full-fledged scientific organization, while maintaining the founders threefold vision. In addition to producing a New Testament, each SIL translation project also conducted linguistic and anthropological research. By the early 1980s, the organizations translator-linguists were laboring in 761 indigenous language projects and SIL members had published over 9,000 articles and books. Pike also groomed a growing cadre of professional linguists in SIL by encouraging the organizations best minds to pursue doctoral degrees at top universities around the world. By the time he retired as president of SIL in 1979, the organization had more than 100 members with earned doctorates. Had Ken Pike not happened upon the scene, it is most doubtful SIL would have attained such academic stature. Time and again, even in the highly academic SIL, Pike had to reassert the place of scholarship and its fundamental importance to producing good translations of the Bible when evangelistic activism threatened to usurp scholarly production and academic rigor. Evangelicals could, and should, he emphasized, serve God with their heart and mind. Scholarship, adding to the worlds knowledge, was a legitimate way to serve God. Pike modeled this throughout his career, self-identifying both as a missionary and a scholar until his death on December 31, 2000all the while demonstrating that evangelicals could effectively serve God with both the heart and the mind. SIL today From its founding in 1934, SIL has grown from a small summer linguistics training program with two students to a diverse international staff of nearly 5,000. SIL has trained over 20,000 students in various aspects of linguistics, literacy, and other cross-cultural work through a network of training programs that now involves 26 institutions in 18 countries. Today SIL works alongside speakers of more than 1,600 languages in 100 countries, and more than two million people have learned to read and write as a direct result of SILs literacy efforts. SILs Language and Culture Archives houses over 60,000 works of various kinds, including scholarly publications, Bible translations, and vernacular literacy materials in addition to SILs flagship publication, the Ethnologuean online database of the worlds more than 7,000 living languages. SIL continues to play a key role in the global Bible translation movement. Not only does SIL directly facilitate Bible translation on a large scale, it also contributes through foundational research into the worlds languages and cultures, as well as through applied work in developing alphabets, dictionaries, local literatures, and programs of literacy instruction. Additionally, it serves the whole movement through foundational serviceslike consulting and software developmentwhich support all these tasks. When Townsend founded SIL to be a research organization, he saw it as an important strategy for getting beyond the gaps in knowledge that were hindering ministry. With an ever-changing world that does not cease to present new challenges, this strategy is just as relevant today as it was then. In response to this on-going need, SIL has recently established the Pike Center for Integrative Scholarship. Its mission, following the example set by Pike, is to build the capacity of the Bible translation movement to use scholarly research as a tool in meeting the challenges it faces. The heritage of Townsend and Pike is alive and well in the SIL of the 21st century. Boone Aldridge (PhD, University of Stirling, 2012) is the SIL Corporate Historian; his book, The Development of the Wycliffe Bible Translators and the Summer Institute of Linguistics, 19341982, is in press with Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. Gary Simons (PhD, Cornell University, 1979) is SILs Chief Research Officer and director of the Pike Center for Integrative Scholarship. The authors have previously collaborated on an ebook that tells much of this story at greater length: A Threefold Purpose: Rediscovering the Heart of SIL. The evangelical church in Puerto Rico wont be the same after Hurricane Maria. Even congregations that have resumed their regular gatherings after repairing buildings and regaining power are still missing a major part of church life: some of their members. An estimated 400,000 of the islands more than 3 million residents have left the US territory for the mainland since the record-setting September storm. Like every other aspect of Puerto Rican life, church attendance has taken a hit. Gadiel Rioss 350-member congregation in Arecibo, La Iglesia del Centro, saw five to six families relocate to the mainland after enduring ongoing power outages and financial hardshipa number similar to losses experienced by fellow pastors. About a third of Rioss congregants still dont have powerthe same proportion of electricity customers island-wide who are still waiting for service. He estimates Sunday attendance has dropped 5 to 10 percent. All of this is putting a lot of strain on families, he said. Remember that Hispanic families are very close and tend to live in clusters to support each other; now Maria is disrupting this way of life. Meanwhile, Spanish-speaking congregations in the States have welcomed the Puerto Ricans who have fled, particularly those in Orlando, where the great migration is expected to transform the city. Of all the people who moved to the continental US from the Caribbean island in the past four months, more than 300,000 settled in Florida alone, according to the Sunshine States division of emergency management. Members of Calvario City Church greeted arrivals from Puerto Rico as soon as they landed in the Orlando International Airport, where they served as bilingual volunteers. Dozens of families ended up joining them in worshipa bittersweet transition from the churches, homes, and jobs they left behind. Nobody wants to leave, but the options are so minimal, said Gabriel Salguero, co-pastor of Calvario City and president of the National Latino Evangelical Coalition (NaLEC). Weve even had pastors come because their churches were so hard-hit. Salgueros denomination, the Assemblies of God, lost 50 churches in Puerto Rico, while a fellow Pentecostal body had 150 churches undergo severe damage. His uncle, a pastor on the island, now shares space with a fellow congregation since his building was among the wreckage. In addition to Florida, Puerto Ricans are settling in New York, New Jersey, Ohio, and Texas. The majority of those that have left seem to indicate a desire to remain within the continental US rather than return to the island, said Tony Suarez, vice president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference (NHCLC). Many have lost their homes and possessions and are simply seeking to start over. NaLEC and NHCLC have rallied American churches on the mainland to support the Christians who are staying in Puerto Rico to rebuild, giving millions in aid toward relief efforts. The NHCLC estimates that 3,000 Puerto Rican churches were damaged in Hurricane Maria. Back in the fall, NHCLC board member and Puerto Rican megachurch pastor Wanda Rolon said: We understand why some of our brothers and sisters have decided to leave the island and I believe life will go very well for them wherever they decide to plant their roots, but many of us have also made the decision to stay and we are going to make history because we are going to rebuild this island and experience what Rev. Sam Rodriguez called Puerto Rico 2.0. Those remaining in Puerto Rico face spiritual and emotional burdens on top of the islands ongoing infrastructure and financial needs. Every week is unique, and pastors are faced with the need to get insight from the Spirit of God to understand the mood and emotional state of the congregants, said Rios, citing a rise in depression and marital issues among hurricane victims, as well as concerns over suicide rates and violent criminal activity in the long recovery period. January marked the islands deadliest month in recent years, according to an Associated Press report. First of all, we need your constant prayers. Entire lives were disrupted by this crisis and we need to minister to them, and help them continue their path, whatever it may be, he said. Second, a large number of families relocated in the States will need solid, Bible-teaching, Christ-exalting churches to attend, so we need more church planters in the mainland. Third, we need advocates to ensure the federal government treats Puerto Rico with fairness and justice. Marco Rubio, a Florida Republican senator and 2016 presidential candidate, spoke up this week to say Congress needs to do more to ensure disaster relief continues in Puerto Rico. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) clarified that the government will keep sending supplies. Christian Community CU's 2018 Scholarships for Success Program is Awarding $60,000 in Scholarships Contact: Hope Smith, Christian Community Credit Union, 626-915-7551 ext 6233, HopeSmith@myCCCU.com SAN DIMAS, Calif., Feb. 2, 2018 /Christian Newswire/ -- Christian Community Credit Union's 2018 Scholarships for Success Program is awarding $60,000 in scholarships. Awardees will receive multi-year scholarships of $1,000 per year! The scholarship program is open to members of Christian Community Credit Union with a Checking Account (newly-opened or existing). The scholarship application deadline is March 31, 2018 and scholarships will be awarded by mid-May. Christian Community Credit Union offers Student Advantage Bankinga money saving program exclusively for students age 16-24. The Credit Union also offers Student Choicea private loan solution to help fill educational funding gaps. Contact the Credit Union for details. To date, the Credit Union has given over $814,000 in scholarships. "The Lord has blessed us with the opportunity to sow financial seeds in our students' academic growth," says David Estridge, Christian Community Credit Union Interim CEO. "In offering the Scholarships for Success program, our hope is to ease some of the financial burden college expenses can cause so they can focus on their education." Christian Community Credit Union has $650 million in assets and over 30,000 members nationwide. For over 60 years, the Credit Union has served as a financial partner of Christian ministries, churches, and their members. For a scholarship application and/or Credit Union membership information, please call 800.347.CCCU (2228) or visit myCCCU.com/scholarship. To download a flyer, web graphics, and scholarship materials, please click here. home World Iran sentences pastor's wife to 5 years in prison for 'acting against national security' An Iranian court has sentenced the wife of the former Assyrian Pentecostal Church leader for allegedly "acting against national security" through her efforts in organizing house churches. Shamiram Isavi was arrested in her home on Dec. 26, 2014 along with several other Christian converts, including her husband Victor Bet Tamraz and her son Ramin Bet Tamraz. The Center for Human Rights in Iran reported on Monday that Isavi was charged with "acting against national security" for her efforts in organizing home churches, as well as attending Christian seminars abroad and training Christian leaders in Iran "for the purpose of espionage." On Jan. 6, Judge Mashallah Ahmadzadeh of Branch 26 of the Revolutionary Court in Tehran found her guilty and sentenced her to five-years in prison. Some human rights advocates believe that Isavi is being punished for praying with other Christians. "As far as we know, and based on Mrs. Isavi's own statements, no evidence has been presented in the case to show that she was engaged in spying or disturbing national security. She has denied all the charges," said Kiarash Alipour, a spokesman for Article 18, a UK-based organization focusing on Christians in Iran. "Mrs. Isavi explained during the interrogation that when the Assyrian Pentecostal Church was shut down, she attended home churches and prayed with fellow Christians and discussed the Holy Book. It's astonishing that a country's national security could be threatened by a gathering of Christian believers," Alipour added. In June 2016, Ahmadzadeh sentenced Isavi's husband and Christian converts Hadi Asgari and Kavian Fallah Mohammadi to 10 years in prison each, while another convert, Amin Afshar Naderi, received a 15-year prison sentence. At least 16 Christian converts in Iran have received prison sentences ranging from five to 15 years since March 2017, according to Article 18. On Dec. 28, the Fourth Chamber of the Revolutionary Court in Shiraz handed down seven-year prison sentences to two Christian converts for allegedly forming a group that works against national security and an additional year for "propaganda against the state." Iran has been designated by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom as one of the five worst countries in the world when it comes to blasphemy laws and treatment of minorities. In 1975, Iran ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which holds that "everyone shall have the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion," but the Christian community, particularly the converts, still faces systematic state persecution and discrimination due to its growth. The Islamic Republic reportedly views other belief systems, such as those seeking converts, as a threat to the existing Shia order. In 2013, President Hassan Rouhani vowed during his election campaign that "[a]ll ethnicities, all religions, even religious minorities, must feel justice." But despite his promise, Christians have been routinely charged with national security-related crimes under his administration. Houston's top law enforcement brass have recently stepped up calls for more resources, arguing that the department is woefully understaffed - and that public safety is suffering. The city's vastness, and the paucity of officers, exacerbate the situation, argues Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo, who recently revealed that the department had seen response times lengthen for lower priority calls. And while murders dipped in 2017, sex assaults and aggravated assaults both rose significantly. MORE: Houston pledges to add 500 police officers over next 5 years The city's crime rate has an impact beyond public safety: during Houston's bid to be the site of Amazon's second corporate campus, Moody's Analytics ranked the city 52 on the list cities it believed most likely to win the bid. The analytics firm noted the city's crime rate as a factor in that ranking. Talk to most Houston police officers, and they'll express similar concerns: They're understaffed. They need more resources. The department's staffing is a joke compared to other big cities. So just how true is that? Here's how Houston measures up, compared to the nine other largest municipal police departments across the nation. (The data comes from the FBI's annual Uniform Crime Reports, dating back 10 years. It's also important to note that there is no recommended police-to-population ratio - the geography and density of cities varies widely and so do staffing needs.) The last time HPD made a request like this, four years ago and it went nowhere. Back then, former-Chief Charles McClelland commissioned an outside study to evaluate police services. The study found "excessively high numbers of cases with leads that were not investigated," and in total, approximately 20,000 cases with leads that didn't get looked at. When McClelland took the results of that study - and a request for $109 million to hire an additional 590 over five years - he got nowhere. Whether Police Chief Art Acevedo and Houston Police Officers Union President Joe Gamaldi can move the ball forward beyond platitudes from city hall - that's anybody's guess. St. John Barned-Smith covers public safety and major breaking news for the Houston Chronicle. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. Send tips to st.john.smith@chron.com. A woman on a flight from Dallas/Fort Worth to Charlotte, North Carolina was restrained Wednesday with zip ties and duct tape after reportedly trying to storm the cockpit and attacking flight attendants. Charlene Sarieann Harriott, 36, is charged with interfering with airline workers after her actions, reports the Charlotte Observer. Harriott was sitting in the back row when the airplane began to descend into Charlotte. She reportedly got out of her seat and charged at the cockpit, prompting flight attendants to chase her. Texas City police announced Friday that they arrested a suspect who allegedly made a bomb threat to a preschool last week. Authorities said Anthony Dewayne Alexander, 31, confessed to calling 911 to place a bomb threat last Thursday, calling for the evacuation of Calvin Vincent Early Childhood Center, a preschool in Texas City. STANDOFF: Suspect who shot a deputy while handcuffed identified Police said they were able to identify Alexander by sourcing the call he made to police. He was arrested Friday morning and charged with false alarm or report, a state jail felony punishable by up to two years. Alexander is being held at a local jail with a bond of $60,000. Above: See the most dangerous cities in Texas, per FBI data. Houston's Episcopal Health Foundation announced a $10 million initiative on Thursday to fund clinics across the state in an effort to tackle the underlying conditions that affect health. The ambitious project called the Texas Community Centered Health Homes Initiative will create a model for clinics to take a larger role in improving the neighborhoods where patients live. "Medical care alone isn't enough to keep many Texans healthy," Lexi Nolen, the foundation's vice president for impact, said in a statement. She will oversee the project. "When patients keep coming back with recurring health problem, community clinics are left asking the same frustrating question: What good does it do to treat people if we keep sending them back to conditions that make them sick?" she asked. RELATED: Big health gains in Medicaid expansion states elude Texas' poor The $10 million investment to create a model will be spread over four years. Thirteen clinics across the state are participating with each receiving up to $500,000 to develop and implement its own community-specific project. Poverty, rundown and dangerous housing, a lack of affordable healthy food and a lack of safe places to exercise are known to contribute to lingering poor health. Medical conditions such as diabetes, heart disease, obesity and asthma can be linked to living conditions. RELATED: Episcopal Health Foundation awards grants to 17 groups Dr. Andrea Caracostis, CEO of Houston's HOPE clinic, said the mission is not limited to a program or procses. "It's a cultural shift," she said. United Airlines recently launched the longest flight departing Houston 8,596 miles and 17 hours on the fuel-efficient Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner. "It's the latest technology," said Patrick Quayle, vice president of international network for United Airlines. Being 20 percent more fuel efficient than a Boeing 767 makes a route like Houston-Sydney both possible and affordable. The $280 million 787-9 Dreamliner is also passenger friendly as the cabin provides more humidity and is pressurized at a lower altitude than other planes. RELATED: At 8,596 miles, United's Houston-Sydney flight is IAH's longest The Dreamliner is pressurized at 6,000 feet comparable to the altitude of Denver, Colo., at 5,280 feet above sea level. Other planes pressurize the cabin at 8,000 feet. Frequent travelers report feeling more refreshed and less dried out after a long flight aboard a Dreamliner. "I feel better after this flight," said Galen Cobb, vice president of industry relations with Halliburton, who has been flying 43 years with the company. "The humidity is different. The air pressure is different." Bill Gill, an international service manager and 31-year employee with United Airlines, likes to tease his customers aboard the Dreamliner. "It's always a joke on this airplane. I'd say, 'Man, you should have seen me a few months ago when I was flying the 777 all the time. My skin was wrinkly and I looked my age,'" Gill said. "They'd go, 'How old are you?'" He'd tell them he's 72, which he doesn't look, and watch their jaws drop. Gill is actually 58. MORE: After 6 weeks of training, freshly minted flight attendants soar The Dreamliner also has large windows. According to United's website, they're 65 percent larger than other passenger planes. And there aren't shades. The windows dim electronically with smart glass. The Dreamliners being flown to Sydney currently have some empty seats, but United is applying with the Federal Aviation Administration to fly a new, more direct route that would allow it to carry less fuel and more passengers. Currently, all airlines flying twin-engine planes long distances from airports have to comply with ETOPS, which stands for extended operations. This began in the '80s when the Boeing 767 was the first twin-engine plane to fly over the Atlantic Ocean from the U.S. to Europe. ETOPS requires flights going over the water to stay within a certain distance from an airport they can land. That distance has expanded over the years, due to improving technologies, and U.S. airlines are currently flying within 180 minutes from airports where they can land. Some airlines based in other countries are flying within 360 minutes of airports. United Airlines has applied to fly within 240 minutes of airports. This requires some additional safety equipment, which United already has onboard its planes. The airline is now just awaiting approval. For the Houston-Sydney route, flying 240 minutes from an airport rather than 180 minutes means the Dreamliner doesn't have to hug as many islands and can fly more direct. "Operating this way will allow United Airlines to be more efficient on ultra-long-haul routes," Quayle said. "It's exciting for our passengers because it will allow them to arrive quicker and more efficiently, and it's really good for the environment because it saves fuel." Fiction 1. The Woman in the Window: By A.J. Finn. A recluse who drinks heavily and takes prescription drugs may have witnessed a crime across from her Harlem townhouse. 2. City of Endless Night: By Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child. A New York detective and an FBI special agent track down a killer who decapitates numerous victims. 3. Iron Gold: By Pierce Brown. The fourth book of the Red Rising Saga. A hero of the revolution finds his fate tied up with others as the war continues. 4. Origin: By Dan Brown. A symbology professor goes on a perilous quest with a beautiful museum director. 5. Little Fires Everywhere: By Celeste Ng. An artist upends a quiet town outside Cleveland. 6. The Rooster Bar: By John Grisham. Three students at a sleazy for-profit law school hope to expose the student-loan banker who runs it. 7. The Immortalists: By Chloe Benjamin. Four adolescents learn the dates of their deaths from a psychic, and their lives go on different courses. 8. Before We Were Yours: By Lisa Wingate. A South Carolina lawyer learns about the questionable practices of a Tennessee orphanage. 9. The Wife Between Us: By Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen. The connections linking a hedge-fund manager, his ex-wife and his fiancee are explored from several points of view. 10. Sing, Unburied, Sing: By Jesmyn Ward. A 13-year-old boy comes of age in Mississippi while his black mother takes him and his toddler sister to pick up their white father, who is getting released from the state penitentiary. Nonfiction 1. Fire and Fury: By Michael Wolff. A journalist offers an inside account of the first year of the Trump White House. 2. It's Even Worse Than You Think: By David Cay Johnston. The Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist describes how he believes the scope of the Trump presidency differs from all the others. 3. Astrophysics for People in a Hurry: By Neil deGrasse Tyson. A straightforward, easy-to-understand introduction to the universe. 4. Leonardo Da Vinci: By Walter Isaacson. A biography of the Italian Renaissance polymath that connects his work in various disciplines. 5. Together We Rise: By Women's March organizers and Conde Nast. Photographs and profiles of the organizers and participants of the 2017 Women's March. 6. Trumpocracy: By David Frum. A former speechwriter for George W. Bush argues how the current president might push America to become an illiberal democracy. 7. How Democracies Die: By Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt. The Harvard professors examine the erosion of democracies in Europe and Latin America and recommend ways to avoid authoritarianism. 8. The Last Black Unicorn: By Tiffany Haddish. The comedian recounts growing up in South-Central Los Angeles, exacting revenge on an ex-boyfriend and finding success after a period of homelessness. 9. When: By Daniel H. Pink. Research from several fields reveals the ideal time to make small decisions and big life changes. 10. Grant: By Ron Chernow. A biography of the Union general of the Civil War and two-term president of the United States. New York Times Jmblya is coming back to Houston. The annual festival, which hasn't been in these parts since 2013, returns May 6 to Sam Houston Race Park. MAGIC: Listen to Houston rapper Riff Raff on a remake of Aladdin tune 'A Whole New World' The lineup includes rappers Playboi Carti, Trippie Redd, Ski Mask The Slump God, Cozz, Killy and Jack Harlow. Locals Bun B, Trae Tha Truth and DJ Mr. Rogers are listed as "special guests." Additional artists will be announced soon. Tickets are on sale now and range from $60 to $299. Jmblya will also be in Dallas (May 4) and Austin (May 5). FINISH LINE: Bun B, Paul Wall, Los Skarnales set for AIDS Walk Houston post-concert Jmblya debuted in 2013 at Bayou Music Center (now Revention Music Center) in Houston but hasn't been back. That inaugural lineup included Tyler, The Creator, Earl Sweatshirt, Zeds Dead, Big Boi and G-Eazy. It's since been in Dallas, Austin and New Braunfels. Jmblya will partner this year with the Houston Rockets' James Harden's Lucky 13 Program to provide free tickets to the festival in exchange for participating in community service projects. The San Jacinto River Authority was denied motions to dismiss a mass tort lawsuit involving more than 100 Lake Houston area residents. Bradford T. Laney, Kingwood resident and lawyer with Raley & Bowick LLP, filed the lawsuit in October when his and hundreds of other area homes flooded after Hurricane Harvey. Laney and the other residents believe the SJRA's release of water from the Lake Conroe dam directly caused the flooding of their homes. They allege this constitutes inverse condemnation, which is when a government entity takes private property without compensation. The SJRA is appealing the district court's order denying the motion to dismiss. Laney said the appellate court usually sides with the district court in these decisions, but government entities may hold certain advantages. "We're up against the government, and they have all these procedures in their favor," Laney said. "Normally, in a lawsuit, you have to wait until the very end and then file an appeal, but the government has built-in procedures to appeal things along the way." Ronda Trow, SJRA public relations manager, stated via email it's not unusual for this kind of case to end up in appellate courts. "As is often the situation with complicated legal cases, such as those involving governmental immunity, which protects public funds, the ultimate decision will likely come from the Court of Appeals or, perhaps, the Supreme Court of Texas," Trow said. "We look forward to presenting these legal issues to the Court of Appeals and to their ruling." The SJRA was not the only defendant in the original suit. The Texas Water Development Board was listed in the petition, which stated the TWDB helped make the dam regulations implemented by the SJRA and shares culpability. A request for a temporary restraining order states, "The SJRA and the Texas Water Board control the rights to 'maintain and use' the reservoir. Defendants jointly enacted regulations so they would have a direct say in how the Lake Conroe Dam is operated and, thus, how much water from the spillway is released." The TWDB filed a motion to dismiss the case on Nov. 17, asserting the plaintiffs would need to show the TWDB played a direct and intentional role in flooding their homes. The TWDB argued plaintiffs base their claim on vicarious liability instead of showing the TWDB directly contributed. The document adds the TWDB does not control the SJRA, "and instead establishes a financial-aid relationship. Nothing in the Plaintiffs' petition specifically alleges or supports the inference that the TWDB directly controls or operates the water projects it helps to finance." The TWDB was granted its motion to dismiss, and the plaintiffs filed an appeal of the district court's decision on Jan. 29. Both the SJRA and the plaintiffs have filed notices to appeal the court's decisions. SJRA Proceedings The residents involved in the lawsuit are seeking compensation for flood damage and an injunction to prevent future flooding from large releases of water. "The SJRA is strictly liable for the flood it orchestrated," states a response to the SJRA's motion to dismiss. It later adds, "Long after the rain water naturally drained, the SJRA proceeded to release water from the Lake Conroe Dam at rates over a 116 times higher than what was flowing into the dam. This strict liability water dump went on for at least 37 hours, ravaging northeast Houston and shattering families in its wake." The SJRA denies allegations that the release of water was solely responsible for the flooding of the residences in question and filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit, stating the plaintiffs did not give a fact-, or law-based cause of action. Additionally, the SJRA argued that as a government entity, it is immune from suit and the plaintiffs have not given adequate justification for a waiver of that immunity. An amended motion to dismiss was filed by the SJRA on Dec. 12, with the addition of a plea to the jurisdiction. Plaintiffs filed an amended response to the motion on Dec. 14 in which they call the SJRA's plea to the jurisdiction a "poorly camouflaged motion for judgement." A motion for judgement is filed by one party asking the court to dismiss the suit based on a lack of factual material that would substantiate the other party's case. The SJRA had put out a news release in September stating the media and upcoming lawsuit were misrepresenting the facts of the situation and the SJRA's management of the dam "was in accordance with both the law and a carefully prepared engineering plan that, among other things, actually has the effect of reducing downstream peak flow as water passes through the lake from the San Jacinto River." Laney submitted an information request Sept. 20 for documents relating to the legality and protocols of the SJRA's dam operation, the SJRA's engineering plan, flowage easement documents, copies of policy regarding water inflow and outflow, and proof that the SJRA has legal control of the Lake Conroe dam spillway. The SJRA sent the request to the Attorney General's office, which responded it agreed with the SJRA's argument that if the requested information was released, it would unveil inner-workings of the dam's operations that could put it at risk for a terrorist act. A second amended petition filed by the plaintiffs on Dec. 8 argues the SJRA violated the right to due process. "The Texas Water Board's attorneys have agreed and endorsed SJRA's refusal to produce these documents. While refusing to produce these documents directly relevant to plaintiffs' claims, defendants moved to dismiss plaintiffs' claims. This litigation tactic violates plaintiffs' due process rights," states the petition. While the denial of the SJRA's motion to dismiss is on appeal, Laney said the plaintiffs' efforts are stayed. "But, once we get over that, it's full-speed ahead," Laney said. "Their game has been delay, delay, but we've been ready at every turn." Renu Khator said Amazon.com Inc.'s snub of Houston -- a city she's grown to love -- for its second headquarters hurt. It just hit me as if it was so personal, she said in a recent interview. Ive just fallen in love with the place. Khator's feelings for Houston have evolved since she began as president and chancellor in 2008. KHATOR'S CLIMB: An ambitious president. A Houston university set on change. Husband Suresh Khator said the city of Houston was a draw for his wife when she was first considering the job. She believed universities in major metropolitan areas have the chance to succeed because of the job market, because of the employers who are there, he said. And Durga Agrawal, appointed to the UH System's board as a regent in 2013, said the Indian community in Houston is a draw for Khator, too. Heres how Khator says she describes Houston to outsiders today, 10 years into her job leading the citys largest university. Houston may not be on your radar as a tourism destination, but Houston is a wonderful city to live in. The city is not necessarily dressed up for visitors. The city is there for people who live there. It is a kind city, it is a very generous city, it is a friendly city. It is a cohesive city, despite all of its diversity. I tell people, you can think about sports, you can think about food, you can think about arts. You can think about cultural experiences. Everything is available right here in Houston. BUILDING A 'POWERHOUSE': UH students, alumni reflect on changing institution Sometimes I have to drag people to visit Houston. What is there to see? (they say). (But) people end up staying here. A city grabs you. The city, she said, is one reason why she hasnt moved to another university. I know you can give me this, I know you can give me that, but the one thing you cannot give me is Houston, she said. Ive pinned all my hopes here that you can build a great institution in this great city. Read our full profile of the 10 years that elevated both Khator and UH here. Lindsay Ellis writes about higher education for the Chronicle. You can follow her on Twitter and send her tips at lindsay.ellis@chron.com. Since March 2017, Command Sgt. Major John Sampa has been the Command Senior Enlisted Leader for the Texas Military Department - made up of the Texas Army National Guard, the Texas Air National Guard and the Texas State Guard. The Katy man's responsibilities are about to increase dramatically as he takes the reins for a three-year assignment in Washington, D.C. as the Command Sergeant Major for the entire Army National Guard. He will be the twelfth person to have the assignment and the first African-American. "I'm very appreciative of it. It's a true honor," Sampa said after he was hand-picked for the position by his new boss, Lt. Gen. Timothy J. Kadavy, director of the Army National Guard. Sampa is expected to report for duty on Feb. 14. As senior enlisted advisor, he will be the "eyes and ears" for Lt. Gen. Kadavy and will keep him appraised on anything pertaining to Army National Guard enlisted troops and their families. "My primary job is to advise the director about what's working and what isn't working," Sampa said. "I'm his 'nurse.' I go out and check the pulse of the force." Sampa enlisted in 1987 and was trained as a tank crewman at Fort Knox, Ky. He has held a variety of leadership positions in the Texas National Guard, including spending more than three years as Command Sergeant Major for the 36th Infantry Division just prior to his job as the senior non-commissioned officer for both Army and Air National Guard units in Texas. During his three decade career as a National Guard soldier, Sampa deployed for combat in Bosnia from August 1999 to October 2000 and after 9/11 in Iraq on two separate occasions - from July 2004 to August 2006 and July 2009 to November 2010. In his civilian life, Sampa is a Texas State Trooper and has been with the Texas Department of Public Safety for more than twenty years. The new National Guard assignment will require him to go on military leave from DPS. It's something he's done several times over the years. "They weren't surprised that I was leaving again. They know me as 'the military guy,'" Sampa said with a laugh. His new position will require a lot of travelling. The Army National Guard has units in every state and as far away as Guam. "We also constantly have National Guard soldiers deployed overseas - in a combat mission or a training operation," Sampa said. One of his major platforms as a Command Sergeant Major has been to develop young leaders in the Army National Guard - first in Texas and now nationwide - so the organization will be ready for missions both at home and abroad. "A lot of people helped me get where I am today," he said. "I wouldn't be doing the Army any good if I didn't turn around and do the same thing." Sampa is quick to point out that the National Guard has changed dramatically over the years - both in its combat capabilities and operational tempo. Long gone are the days of "Weekend Warriors" who played cards for a weekend a month and two weeks in the summer. "Today's National Guard is not yesterday's National Guard. We have really evolved into a operational force in support of the active component Army mission," Sampa said. "National Guard soldiers are used more now than ever before." One of the turning points for the National Guard's relationship with the active Army occurred during the 1999-2000 deployment to Bosnia when the Texas Army Guard's 49th Armored Division had command and control over a full-time Army unit, the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment - now based at Fort Hood in central Texas. It was the first time since World War II, Sampa said, that a National Guard division was placed in charge of active Army units. After 9/11, National Guard units have regularly deployed on combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Guard also has taken the lead in missions such as the US military role in the Multinational Force and Observers, an international peacekeeping force based in the Sinai peninsula that monitors the peace treaty between Egypt and Israel. "We have been working alongside the active component soldiers for years," he said. "There is a mutual respect in the forces. We've all been working side by side for a long time." Another development in the realignment of the National Guard was the decision in 2012 to make the head of the National Guard Bureau - responsible for both the Army and Air National Guard - a four star general and a full-fledged member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. "It really recognizes the force-multipliers that the Guard brings to the fight. Now only do we have a war fighting assignment, we also have the homeland security assignment," Sampa said. Last year, Sampa went back to Fort Knox for a senior leadership conference and visited his old basic training barracks. "It was a very surreal moment. I looked at the old building and said, 'That's where it all started and look at where I am now,'" he said. Missouri City officials now say three state agencies and the city's police chief are assisting with a months-long investigation after animal shelter volunteers allegedly brought dangerous controlled substances to the shelter. "The state review of policies and procedures at the Missouri City Animal Shelter, involving multiple entities, is still under way," city officials wrote in an update recently posted to the city website. Although city officials didn't name two of the three state agencies, the update includes a letter from the Texas Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners that notes several "areas of concern" such as volunteers bringing Xanax, tramadol and other controlled substances into the shelter. "Merely possessing these possessing these drugs could be a violation of state law, and if these drugs are given to the adoptive clients (shelter dogs and cats), this could be construed as delivery of a controlled substance," Matthew West, director of enforcement, wrote in a five-page letter to Missouri Police Chief Mike Berezin on Jan. 22. The penalty for felony charges of delivery of a controlled substance ranges from six months to 99 years in prison, according to state law. City officials so far say they are not pursuing criminal charges. Volunteers withdraw support Over the last three years, the Friends of the Missouri City Animal Shelter has donated approximately $40,000 to the care of shelter pets and more than 60 area residents have volunteered their time to the shelter. Volunteers continue to deny the city's allegations that dangerous drugs were brought to the shelter and organizers now say the non-profit organization is withdrawing its financial support. "We are understandably upset and dismayed that the city would choose to attack people who had given so selflessly to the animal shelter for almost four years now, but we also are very concerned about the well-being of the animals at the shelter," volunteer coordinator Valerie Tolman said. "I worry that the city is trying to run the volunteers off so there will be no witnesses to what is happening to the shelter dogs and cats. Right now, when the city spreads lies and misinformation about the treatment the animals are getting, we can stand up for the animals because we are at the shelter every day and we know that what they are saying is untrue. "Perhaps it is time for the city of Missouri City to find out what it takes to properly care for the animals at the shelter, without using the volunteers as both their crutch and their punching bag," she said. According to volunteers, the city launched a smear campaign last December after volunteers organized an email campaign to lobby for more resources for the shelter. City officials said the city's budget is strained by Hurricane Harvey repairs and other expenditures. "At some point, we may need to do that, but right now we don't have the money," Owen said during a Dec. 4 council workshop. Since then, city officials have installed security cameras at the animal shelter and say city staffers are visiting shelters at other cities to develop new policies and procedures. On Thursday, Michelle Griffin, attorney for the Texas Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners, confirmed the agency's enforcement director had traveled to Missouri City for an onsite inspection of the animal shelter after city officials contacted them. Their goal was to assist city officials and the follow-up letter was for informational purposes only. "The letter sent to the police chief was to offer guidance that was specifically requested by city officials," Griffin said. "Our agency has no jurisdiction over the shelter and we are not investigating the volunteer program or the shelter." City officials say the alleged controlled substances will remain with police officials until the investigation is complete. A Houston nurse on Friday was ordered not to contact her estranged husband or his alleged mistress after being accused of pretending to be the alleged mistress in order to post fake Craigslist ads requesting sex from married men. Tamantha Johnson, 47, is charged with felony online impersonation, accused of creating the Craigslist ad on July 14, court records show. She is free on $5,000 bail and appeared before state District Judge Jan Krocker, who issued a no-contact order prohibiting Johnson from contacting her estranged husband and the victim. She is also barred from using drugs or alcohol or accessing the internet without court-ordered internet monitoring software. The monitoring software allows court personnel to see what she is doing online. Johnson and her attorney refused to stop for questions from reporters as they left the courtroom. The victim allegedly received "about 100 inquiries to her personal cell phone about a Craiglist ad requesting sex from married men that she did not post," the arrest affidavit states. "Complainant received several unwanted naked pictures from unknown men due to this ad." Johnson also allegedly wrote about the affair her husband, who is the victim's divorce attorney, was having on "cheater sites," the court documents stated. Houston police investigators were able to track Johnson down using an IP address registered to Baylor College of Medicine, where she worked for several years, court documents state. She has worked for Baylor as a quality nurse since September 2013. She is now on paid administrative leave, pending further review, officials said. In an earlier incident, Johnson was charged with misdemeanor harassment after sending a series of text messages and photos to a woman with whom she believed her husband was having an affair. Johnson was told by police to not contact the woman in the August incident. "Because you are unable to control your behavior, you have made it necessary for me to help you control your unacceptable behavior," Johnson allegedly texted to the woman, according to court documents. " You are a very evil person. And you will suffer the consequences of this behavior." Police have released the name of the 35-year-old suspect who died after shooting a deputy Wednesday during a late-night standoff. The Harris County Sheriff's Office said they found the body of Matthew Vincent Cobb in the upstairs bathroom of his home. Police did not detail how Cobb died. Authorities attempted to arrest Cobb Wednesday night on a charge of deadly conduct. After he was handcuffed, Cobb pulled out a pistol from his waistband and opened fire, hitting one of the four deputies at the scene and nearly striking another, HCSO said. MORE DETAILS: Suspect found dead after shooting deputy in north Harris County After allegedly shooting at police, Cobb ran into his home, which he shared with his wife and a male roommate, who was injured during the original exchange of gunfire, according to previous Chron.com reporting. When hostage negotiators arrived at the scene of the standoff, they were unable to make contact with Cobb, police said. HCSO then used a robotic camera to investigate the home and found Cobb's body. It is unclear if Cobb committed suicide or died as a result of gunfire with police. The Harris County Institute of Forensic Science will be investigating the cause of death, police said. VIDEO: PetSmart groomer fired for violently handling a dog Cobb had two previous arrests, records from the Texas Department of Public Safety show. He was arrested in 2002 for evading arrest and in 2016 on a charge of terroristic threats. The wounded deputy who police said was shot in the arm by Cobb has since been released from Memorial Hermann Hospital at The Woodlands. Cobb's male roommate, who was struck multiple times by gunfire, was transported to Memorial Hermann Hospital-Downtown in critical but stable condition, according to police. This is developing story. Fernando Ramirez is a reporter for Chron.com and the Houston Chronicle. You can read more of his stories here and follow him on Twitter at @fernramirez93. A former Spring ISD substitute teacher is facing sexual assault charges after being accused of performing oral sex on a student while he slept. According to court documents from the Harris County Clerk's Office, Manuel Gamboa, 35, was a substitute teacher at Dekaney High School during the alleged June 3 assault on a 17-year-old student. DEATH ROW: Dallas man who killed 2 daughters put to death in nation's 3rd execution of 2018 The student told police that Gamboa is like a mentor to him and helps him his homework, since he doesn't speak English, according to ABC13. The student also told police that he works side jobs cleaning pools with Gamboa. Court documents state that Gamboa gave the victim beer while the two were working together on June 3; the student also admitted that he consumed several beers and became dizzy, later falling asleep on Gamboa's couch. The student said he woke up with Gamboa laying next to him on the sofa bed and that the teacher slapped his behind when he got off the bed; the student also said he went into the bathroom and felt some minor pain while urinating, according to court documents. TEXAS CRIME: Plantersville man who raped 3-month-old sentenced to life without parole Court documents state that the victim asked Gamboa to borrow his phone, and he noticed 10 videos on the phone of the teacher performing oral sex on him while he was asleep. The student told police that he did not remember the sexual assault; he deleted the video and called his father, telling him what happened and asked what he should do, according to court records. The victim later was transported to Memorial Hermann Hospital and underwent a sexual assault examination. Test results confirmed evidence of DNA on the victim that didn't belong to him. Gamboa is out on bond. Spring ISD said Gamboa is no longer a substitute teacher at the school district. Spring ISD issued the following statement to KHOU 11 News: Immediately upon notification by Harris County of potential pending charges against Mr. Gamboa, a substitute teacher in the district, he was removed from our substitute pool. The safety of our students is our highest priority. The criminal history and references of job applicants, including those who apply to serve as substitutes, are routinely checked before they are hired. Will Axford is a digital reporter for Chron.com. Read more of his stories here and follow him on Twitter. A College Station man will spend the rest of his life in prison thanks in part to the efforts of the Child Abuse Division of the Fort Bend County District Attorney's Office. Christopher Shane Art, 46, was sentenced to life in prison after being found guilty of continuous sexual assault of a young child. Because of the nature of the offense, officials report he will not be eligible for parole. The sentence was handed down on Dec. 8 after a three-day trial in Judge Chad Bridges' 240th District Court in Fort Bend County. Artz plead not guilty to the first-degree offense and requested a jury trial. The state, represented by Assistant District Attorneys Claire Andresen and Ashley Earl, presented evidence in the form of witness testimony, photographs and a recorded interview of the defendant speaking with detectives. Artz was represented by attorney James L. Mount. It took the jury just 20 minutes to find Artz guilty. When the trial began the punishment phase, the state used additional witness testimony with experts explaining the potential effects Artz's acts could have on the victim throughout her life. In his defense, Mount presented expert witness testimony and argued that Artz would not re-offend. On Dec. 8, the jury returned a sentence of life in prison. Under Texas law, Artz must serve every day of the sentence without the possibility of parole. Andresen and Earl, both assigned to the Child Abuse Division of the Fort Bend County District Attorney's Office, presented evidence that between 2011 and 2014 Artz engaged in repeated acts of aggravated sexual assault of a child younger than 14 years of age and indecency with a child. According to the evidence, the acts occurred in Sugar Land and in another state. The investigation was conducted by former detective and current Sgt. Jarret Nethery of the Fort Bend County Sheriff's Office. Andresen commended the witness who revealed the abuse she had suffered. "No matter the strength of the evidence, these are always difficult cases to prosecute," Andersen said. "There is no statute of limitations for sex crimes committed against children because it is rare for a child to immediately disclose abuse. The child involved in this case was incredibly brave to come forward, face her abuser, and tell the jury what happened to her. I'm glad to see that justice has been served." Earl also praised the child. "She's a courageous young lady who stood up to her abuser of so many years," Earl said. "This verdict also sends a message to the community that there are severe consequences for those who abuse children in Fort Bend County." The defendant, who did not testify during any phase of the trial, gave a statement to Nethery and Detective Ricky Holdsworth during the investigation in which he admitted to some of the assaults that were alleged. Andresen commended the efforts of the investigating officer, saying "a diligent investigation on the part of Sergeant Nethery and the Fort Bend County Sheriff's Office played a large part in the state's ability to obtain a conviction. Fort Bend County is also very fortunate to have the Children's Advocacy Center, which is a part of the Child Advocates of Fort Bend organization. The services for abused children provided by the Children's Advocacy Center staff and Program Director Fiona Remko help ensure that children heal from the abuse they have suffered." Witnesses called by the defense during the punishment phase of the trial did not believe that the defendant had committed the offense, even after hearing his confession. "Child sexual abuse is a secret crime," Andresen said. "Most often, individuals who know the abuser would never suspect they were capable of committing such a crime." An expert called by the defense noted that this was a "horrific" crime. From folk music to the traditional lion dance, students with the Art Troupe of The High School Affiliated to Renmin University of China (RDFZ) gave a stellar performance during the Chinese New Year Celebration held at The Woodlands High School on Jan. 30. The Woodlands Chinese Cultural Center (TWCCC) collaborated with The Woodlands Township to bring the Art Troupe from Beijing to give local residents a glimpse into Chinese culture. The Art Troupe includes a symphony orchestra, a boys' dance team, a martial arts team, an aerobics team, a Chinese folk dance and a Chinese traditional music team, for a total of 81 performers. Veronica Bai, president of TWCCC, said the troupe is an internationally award-winning team and is from the No. 1 ranked arts high school in China. "Their performance is very, very good. They're just like a professional," Bai said. "They got a lot of awards not only from China but also in the international (field). They have already received the Gold Prize in (Orchestra Category at) the Vienna International Youth Festival." The orchestra performed several songs for the approximately 400 attendees on Jan. 30. High lilting tunes and deep bass notes resonated throughout the auditorium. The conductor even encouraged the audience to participate by clapping with the beat of "Rusty March." The orchestra performance was followed by routines from two dance teams, a martial arts team, an aerobics team and a folk music ensemble. The bright colors and fluid movements of each group culminated in a seamless display of Chinese culture. Officials with the TWCCC announced at the event that it has made a $200 donation to the Chinese Club of The Woodlands High School, which encourages the learning of Chinese language and culture, to express gratitude and show support. "We really want to support some organizations who already love the Chinese culture, love the Chinese language," Bai said. "The Chinese Club did a very good job and they support us and support the art team a lot." Bai said that TWCCC functions as a bridge for cultural exchange between China and America. "I just try to bring the performance teams, the artists from China directly. I really want to present them to The Woodlands," Bai said. "I've found that The Woodlands has a very good art environment." While past events have featured local Chinese artists and performers, this was the first time TWCCC was able to bring a group from China. "I really want to bring the Chinese culture to The Woodlands," Bai added. "This really also benefits The Woodlands people and enriches their life to see the global art and performance." Bai also explained that China and America have had a long relationship with each other and it's important for citizens of both countries to learn more about one another. American culture is prevalent in China with iPhones and hip hop being very popular, according to Bai, but Chinese culture isn't seen as much in the United States. "That's the question. How many American people know Chinese culture?" Bai asked. Bai said that TWCCC will continue to bring more Chinese culture to The Woodlands as well as try to send American artists and performers to China to help facilitate a more equal cultural exchange. "We invited a Chinese traditional orchestra to perform at ExxonMobil on Sept. 25, 2017. The orchestra consisted of 19 professional musicians; 10 of them are ranked as 'First Class National Artist' in China," Bai said. "Their performance resonated profoundly with the audience, who applauded and stood up in ovation for each show. We will continue to bring such acclaimed Chinese professional art and performance groups into the Woodlands area to enrich the local people life, and encourage cultural exchanges between China and the United States in the future." A family of bald eagles seems to be thriving as they make their home in a nest just a bird's-eye view from the busy shops and restaurants of Hughes Landing in The Woodlands Township. When one of the eagles leaves the nest, which is high in a pine tree overlooking Lake Front Circle, and virtually in the shadow of a massive Hughes Landing parking garage, it puts on quite a show as it spreads its impressive wings and majestically soars above the roadway below. A longtime observer of the raptors, retiree Randy Scott of The Woodlands is a regular visitor to the site. Scott has turned into a sort of a guardian of the birds and has been keeping an eye on the eagles for years, including the time they spent in a different nest in The Woodlands. "At least 14 years, it may be 16 because the first I saw these eagles it was on East Shore before it was developed," Scott said of his keeping watch on the birds. EAGLES PUT ON IMPRESSIVE DISPLAY AS THEY FLY ABOUT Standing in a nearby parking lot watching the eagles soar aloft Thursday morning, Feb. 1, Scott noted how one adult appeared to be flying off in search of food for the couple's two young birds, while the other eagle remained nearby, apparently to protect their babies, possibly from hawks, which are known to prey on young eagles. Scott and others believe the two young birds have hatched about a month ago. As for protecting the eagle family from the disturbances generated by humans, Scott has started the Facebook page "Save The Woodlands Eagles." The page has etiquette tips for how to watch the eagles, while not disrupting their peace and quiet. "The idea here is to protect the eagles, not to have people running around getting all excited," Scott said. Only a handful of Woodlands residents knew the eagles had found a home and built a nest in the township until word spread a few years ago. There are also additional eagle families in The Woodlands Township. Donna Anderson, a biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said there are four nests in the township. "They're all pretty well established on private land and we don't disclose their locations," Anderson said. In all, the service is monitoring about 35 nests in the Houston area, with the agency getting reports weekly of new nests, she noted. Scott said he was aware of additional nests in The Woodlands, but would not reveal their exact locations. 'PROTECTION ZONE' KEEPS PEOPLE AT A DISTANCE As for the eagles living near Hughes Landing, a fence put up to establish a "protection zone" keeps onlookers from getting too close. The fence, which is several feet high, stretches across an area that encloses about 4 acres, according to the environmental manager for The Woodlands Development Co., Fred LeBlanc. Of course people can still see the raptors from the adjacent street. "The birds have been very tolerant of people throughout their whole history," LeBlanc said, adding the development company has been coordinating protection of the birds with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service since the birds first showed up in the area, which he said was in 1999. On week day mornings, a few people-some of them photographers equipped with especially long lenses-gather in the parking lot of the adjacent Loft Church in the hopes of getting a glimpse of the bald eagles. Casual observers also come by. On one morning, a mother pointed out the nest to her young son as both watched in apparent awe of the birds. A regular visitor to the site is professional photographer Isabelle Lataste, who moved to the Houston area from France a few years ago. Having shot a series of stunning photos of the birds, Lataste admits to being awestruck by the creatures. "I'm an eagle-holic," Lataste confessed. "I spend all my day here to take pictures and video of them," she added. "I call them Martha and George Washington [the adult birds] because it was Martha Washington who decided the bald eagle would be the emblem in America." But Lataste said she stays away from the site on weekends because of the number of people who gather in the church parking lot and walk along the adjoining sidewalk to take a look at the birds. "Weekends you have a lot of people and it's too noisy," she said. BALD EAGLES BACK FROM NEAR EXTINCTION The bald eagle, which was chosen 1782 as the emblem of the United States, was once in danger of becoming extinct, with pesticide contamination in fish, the birds' preferred meal, being blamed for decimating its population. After the number of eagles had dwindled to less than 500 nesting pairs in 1963, the raptor was placed on the he endangered species list. That protection resulted in what Fish and Wildlife Service officials describe on its website as a "remarkable recovery." With its population rebounding, the eagle was taken off the list in 2007, but still has special federal protections under Migratory Bird Treaty Act and the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act. Anderson said The Woodlands Township and the region, with its lakes and pine forests, provides an ideal habitat for the eagle population to continue its recovery. "Locally its seems to be a very robust population, at least for the Houston area," Anderson said. Meanwhile, although photographers and others are thrilled by the daily show put on by the eagle family, bird lovers remain saddened by the death of a bald eagle found injured in the Village of Panther Creek in October, 2017. The Courier of Montgomery County reported that the bird was taken to an animal rescue hospital in Conroe, but had to be euthanized because veterinarians felt its injuries were too severe for it to recover. Though eagles typically feed on fish, they sometimes eat roadkill, leading to the belief that eagle was hit by a car. Scott speculated that bird may have been the previous mate of the male eagle near the Hughes Landing site. "You can't identify them, but during the normal nesting time in November the birds were not seen here at the nest," Scott said. "So it's my speculation that the male went and a found a mate." Texas prison officials and lawyers reached a tentative settlement in a landmark class action lawsuit Friday, agreeing to provide air conditioning at a geriatric prison outside of Houston and resolving lawsuits involving inmates who died or were injured by excessive heat during oppressivesummers in other state lockups. The proposed agreement at the Wallace Pack Unit in Navasota could have lasting ramifications for thousands of inmates at more than 100 prisons statewide, the majority of which do not provide air conditioning on the housing units. Texas prison officials have acknowledged nearly two dozen inmates have died of heatstroke in prison units since 1998. State Sen. John Whitmire, D-Houston, a longtime advocate for updating the aging infrastructure at prisons, called the deal "a game changer" for top brass at the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, and especially for inmates and employees who live and work in torrid Texas weather. "It's certainly a departure from the position that TDCJ and the state has taken as long as I can remember," he said. Whitmire said installing cooling systems will be expensive, but the prison's leaders have shown they are willing to invest in making the Pack Unit safer. "I'm certain there will be discussions as we go forward as to what would be the next logical step to see what other units can be made safer and more habitable for people who have been placed there and for the workers." Court must approve U.S. District Judge Keith Ellison, who has overseen the Pack case and several wrongful heat death cases from the start, offered "enormous congratulations all around" at an impromptu hearing Friday in Houston via teleconference with a team of lawyers from state Attorney General Ken Paxton's office, Edwards Law and the Texas Civil Rights Project who were involved in lengthy settlement negotiations this week. The settlement will have to be presented to the court for approval. "The case literally raised life-or-death issues," the judge told them. "It's a triumph all the way around for the state, the inmates and the lawyers, and I feel enormously lucky to have been a small part of it." Jason Clark, a TDCJ spokesman, said the deal resolves the 2014 class action lawsuit over air conditioning as well as individual lawsuits involving eight heat deaths and one injury during heat waves in 2011 and 2012. "The agreement would end the protracted legal proceeding and provide additional safeguards for offenders at the Pack Unit who may be susceptible to extreme heat," Clark said. Jeff Edwards, lead attorney for a group of Pack inmates who launched the class action suit, said he was gratified by the state's willingness to come to the negotiating table and thrilled for his clients. "Six inmates took on a state system with $3 billion in resources and accomplished what they sought out to do from the very start," he said. "Unless we provide the same basic rights to inmates in terms of dignity, safety and medical care, everybody's rights are at risk." LAWSUIT: Heat-related prison deaths at issue in lawsuit Ellison said the proposed settlement was "nothing less than fundamental change in the daily existence of hundreds of men transformative change." 'A civil rights movement' For the inmates, a resolution would mark significant progress. Shanda Carter said the settlement was startling news for her 39-year-old husband Michael, a diabetic former Pack resident who was among of busloads of inmates transferred to Leblanc Unit under the judge's order last summer protect him from the heat. He called her Wednesday when rumors of a deal began to circulate. Carter, 51, of Seabrook, said the settlement means she no longer has to fear that his life is in danger. "I worried that he'd tell them he was sick and they would ignore him and tell him to go back to his bunk and he'd end up dying," she said. She said she hoped the deal would have a ripple effect. "It's like a civil rights movement, you accomplished something new to history," she said. The comprehensive deal calls for temporary cooling systems to be installed at the Pack Unit dormitories for all inmates with permanent systems to be installed with approval from the Texas Legislature. The cost of the systems is still being assessed. The state also agreed to transport heat-sensitive inmates from Pack in air-conditioned buses. Other claims settled In addition to air conditioning at the Pack Unit, the state has agreed to settle claims over eight deaths and one injury related to heat exposure. Experts testified that heat deaths were preventable, a finding echoed by Dr. Tyson Pillow, an emergency physician at Ben Taub and director of the emergency medicine residency program at Baylor College of Medicine. Indoors or outdoors, the most important factor in preventing heat exhaustion and heat stroke is prevention, rather than treatment, he said. "Heat in a room will lead to your body compensating, sweating, dehydration, heat exhaustion and, at the extreme heat stroke," he said. "A very hot room could lead to the same symptoms and disease process." Elderly people and people who take certain medicines are especially at risk, he said. At an emergency injunction hearing in June, inmates testified they became dizzy and vomited from the heat. Texas prison officials provided documentation that 22 inmates had died from heat stroke at 15 Texas prisons since 1998. This threat compelled Ellison to order air conditioning for heat-sensitive inmates. RELATED: Moonlight ride: Transfers begin for 1,000-plus prison inmates Ellison ruled in July that the indoor heat at Pack was life-threatening for vulnerable inmates, writing in a scathing opinion that the summer conditions amounted to "cruel and unusual punishment." He ordered the prison to provide cool housing units during the summer months for medically sensitive inmates, but he gave TDCJ officials the flexibility to fulfill his order as they saw fit. Citing the prohibitive cost of installing air conditioning, officials opted to ship more than 1,000 inmates from the Pack Unit to prisons that already had air conditioning. Additional inmates were transferred to make room for the Pack evacuees. But Ellison's ruling was only temporary, and the case had been set for trial in March. That trial has now been canceled. Gabrielle Banks covers federal court for the Houston Chronicle. Send her tips at gabrielle.banks@chron.com and follow her on Twitter. A Houston chemical container company and two of its principals face felony environmental charges after using a hidden storm drain to dump benzene and other highly toxic liquids into waterways near homes and schools over a period of at least months, injuring their employees in the process, prosecutors said Friday. The indictments by a Harris County grand jury are rare. Though unpermitted hazardous materials facilities have been allowed to flourish in the city's unzoned sprawl, catching chemical waste dumpers or merely getting an inventory of all the haz-mat sites around town has proven difficult for the Houston Fire Department. Prosecutors said they want this case to institute a new era of accountability for environmental crimes, relying on new lines of communication with the community to ferret out wrongdoers. "If you're operating without a license and handling hazardous waste, discharging hazardous waste, disposing of it, we're going after you," said Alex Forrest, chief of the environmental crimes division of the Harris County District Attorney's Office. RELATED VIDEO: At Wright Containers, named in the indictments Thursday, the injured employees turned into whistleblowers, Forrest said. They complained that the chemicals burned through their gloves and irritated their eyes. The company refused to pay for their medical care, they told investigators. Police officers searching the site with a warrant smelled strong chemical odors and felt more nauseous the closer they got to the drain, he said. "Some of the chemicals would burn the skin off your bones," he said. Owner Ronald F. Wright, 50, and general manager Gregory B. Hance, 41, each face two counts of intentional water pollution and one count of improper disposal and storage of hazardous materials. If convicted, they could face up to 10 years in prison and fines of up to $250,000 per violation. The company is also named as a defendant. No one answered the phone at the business on Friday afternoon and an attorney for the men did not immediately return messages. They turned themselves into authorities Friday and were released without bail, Forrest said. He did not know why, but said neither man has a criminal record, neither was deemed a flight risk and a court barred them from handling chemicals while the case is pending. READ MORE: A Chronicle investigation in 2016 found problems with chemical storage Wright Containers, in the 6600 block of Lindbergh Street in southeast Houston, is a few blocks away from Seguin Elementary School and hundreds of homes. Two other schools are nearby. It deals in hefty industrial-strength containers, made of thick plastic, holding up to 330 gallons of liquid and encased in metal cages mounted on pallets. Workers stacked the chemical "totes" around the property's central storm drain to block it from public view, Forrest said. The company offered recycled totes to industrial customers. "Wright Containers will pick up your dirty and empty" totes, the company's website says, adding that Wright's relatively small size allows it to undercut the competition. Forrest said there was no evidence that companies sending totes to Wright Containers knew how the waste was being disposed. "When you are receiving dirty totes for free ... and if you're not paying fees associated with properly collecting and disposing of hazardous waste ... then obviously when you're refurbishing that tote you're going to sell it at a much cheaper price," he said. The website indicated the company uses "a proprietary chemical treatment" to recondition used totes. But Forrest said the company had its employees cut the containers into pieces to be thrown away, then re-outfitted the metal cages with other totes. The company opened in 2017 and had plans for a second location in Sulphur, Louisiana. It has customers from Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma and other states. A whistleblower provided video of chemicals being dumped into the drain, which ultimately leads to Sims Bayou and then Galveston Bay, Forrest said. "We depend on our law-enforcement agencies, concerned citizens and whistleblowers to develop and communicate the intelligence and information we need to shut down these hazardous operations," he said. "The community truly is our eyes and ears, and we want the public to know we are here." A 2016 investigation by the Houston Chronicle found that the fire department had no idea where most hazardous chemicals are, that less than a quarter of hazardous materials facilities with permits had been inspected, and little effort was being made to find ones skirting the rules. Chemical facilities are sprinkled across neighborhoods and aren't always obvious. A fire at a chemical warehouse in Spring Branch in 2016 triggered evacuations of schools and homes, and caught neighbors and the fire department off guard. Updating the city database of hazmat facilities has been slow. READ MORE: A year later Houston is still in dark on chemical stockpiles The extent of any environmental damage at Wright Containers was unclear Friday. State and local environmental officials couldn't immediately be reached for comment about any cleanup efforts. The dumped chemicals included benzene, ethylbenzene, butylbenzene, dichloromethane, ethylbenzene and toluene, among others. Some are carcinogenic and highly flammable. It was impossible for investigators to estimate how much had been dumped into the drain over several months, Forrest said. Wright Containers did not have the required permits for handling hazardous waste, he said. An online Texas Commission on Environmental Quality database of regulated companies shows nothing under the company's name. District Attorney Kim Ogg said the indictments come as the result of a joint investigation with the Houston Police Department's Environmental Crimes Unit. "Polluters who intentionally poison our environment with toxic and corrosive substances, who disregard the health of our people, and who cut corners on the handling of hazardous waste to make an extra buck are on notice," Ogg said. "We will prosecute aggressively and resolutely when the evidence justifies it." To contact HPD's Environmental Investigations Unit, to report acts of pollution to air, water or land, call 713-525-2728. In a serendipitous twist of fortune caused by Harvey, Houston cultural institutions have landed preservation grants unavailable before the hurricane while the plight of a celebrated local painting has inspired a new federal funding opportunity. The John Biggers mural at the Blue Triangle community center in Third Ward - long-imperiled by the lack of funds to fix a leaky roof and now peppered with mold - prompted the National Endowment for the Humanities to announce last month a new infrastructure grant program to support building upgrades at the nation's cultural institutions. "Absolutely, the Biggers mural played a decisive role in creating this new category at the agency," said Jon Parrish Peede, who leads NEH. "It's such an uncommon work for its time." COMMITMENT: National Endowment for the Humanities pledges support for Houston's cultural institutions Biggers is considered one of the foremost artists to capture the black experience of the 20th century. When Harvey swept through southeast Texas in August, rains seeped through the already compromised roof and left mold on his 1953 painting depicting the strength of black women. "Without the impact of Hurricane Harvey, we would not have had the infrastructure grants created at the agency so quickly and so comprehensively," Peede said. "If we stabilize these artifacts but do not protect the physical structure, then we are not fully securing them for the future." The application deadline for this money is March 15 and eligible institutions, such as the Blue Triangle, could receive grants of up to $750,000. On Wednesday, in another development, the Texas Historical Commission released the first grants in the Texas Preservation Trust Fund's history allocated solely to places affected by natural disaster. Under this program, the Biggers mural received a $30,000 preservation grant and three archaeological collections owned by The Heritage Society at Sam Houston Park received $15,000. A third grant program, also from NEH, has provided $30,000 grants to cultural institutions impacted by hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria under an emergency funding program that will add up to about $2 million and will not require recipients to have matching funds, Peede said. The Biggers mural also received one of those grants. With the state money, that's $60,000. "Both are earmarked for conservators for the mural," said Charlotte Kelly Bryant, the Blue Triangle Multi-Cultural Association's executive director and the group's founding president. Leaders have received mural restoration estimates in the $100,000 range. As for the roof and other critical building repairs, there are "nothing but promises," Bryant said, but the group members are in talks with FEMA and the city of Houston for funding. After Harvey, the cost of a new roof alone will be at least $300,000, said Lucy Bremond, who chairs the Blue Triangle Friends organization. The National Endowment for the Humanities, an independent federal agency founded in 1965, has become one of the nation's largest funders of humanities programs. Grants are usually awarded to museums, libraries, archives, universities, public broadcasting outlets and individual scholars. For most of its first five decades, NEH offered some sort of funding for facility upkeep, but that ended in recent years, Peede said. The endowment's new Infrastructure and Capacity-Building Challenge grants of up to $750,000 can be used for construction and renovation, but must be matched with private or other non-federal funds. "These are going to, in general, be larger grants, and we do think it's important to have local buy-in to make sure it's a sustainable vision," Peede said. "We look at NEH's funding as catalytic. We can be the first money in, and that can be so important." HISTORIC HOME: Houston building that housed Latino rights group named National Treasure The program gives special encouragement to historically black colleges and universities, tribal colleges and universities and two-year colleges. On Wednesday, the Texas Historical Commission announced preservation funding of $165,000 for six Harvey-affected projects. Four other sites each received a $30,000 emergency preservation grant: the Mary Christian Burleson Homestead in Elgin; the Recreation Hall at Goose Island State Park in Rockport; the Lee County Courthouse in Giddings; and the Refugio County Courthouse in Refugio. This emergency funding does not have to be matched, commission spokeswoman Leah Brown said. "It's a reimbursement grant once they complete their project," she said. Of the three storm-impacted archaeological collections owned by The Heritage Society at Sam Houston Park, one set dates back to the Civil War and another is possibly old enough to coincide with Houston's founding in 1836. The storm-drenched cardboard boxes were stored at a historic home in Sam Houston Park. The house had been raised 14 feet after 2001's Hurricane Allison to avoid future flooding and still took on nine inches of water in Harvey, according to Ginger Bernie, the society's curator of collections. Caretakers of the Biggers painting have pleaded publicly for two years to secure contributions for a patch job on the roof or a complete restoration, which was estimated at $200,000 before the storm. That help didn't come in time to avoid water damage to the mural. The painting, called "Contribution of Negro Women to American Life and Education," now has hundreds of bursts of black mold growing amid its vibrant colors. The work featuring Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth and Phillis Wheatley was created when the building operated as the Blue Triangle YWCA. Biggers, who died in 2001 at 76, founded the art department at Texas Southern University and mentored several generations of Houston artists. Also this week, the National Trust for Historic Preservation declared the LULAC Council 60 Clubhouse in Houston's Midtown a National Treasure. The designation came with a $140,000 disaster recovery grant - another financial windfall and preservation accelerator for a local cultural institution. Earlier this week in Corpus Christi, a major hurdle was cleared for a project that would bring the largest cross in the Western Hemisphere to the Sparkling City by the Sea. Almost five years since the project was announced, and nearly two years since a lawsuit nearly derailed it, it appears that work on the 230-foot cross has begun. An engineering contract between Abundant Life Fellowship Church Foundation and Ambrose Construction, Ltd. for $189,000 has been signed, according to the Corpus Christi Caller-Times. RELATED: Lawsuit against proposed towering Corpus Christi landmark cross thrown out Pastor Rick Milby of Abundant Life has said the idea for Corpus' cross came to him after seeing the sizable cross near Houston's own Sagemont Church near I-45 and the south side of the Beltway. That cross, erected in Feb. 2009, is 170 feet tall. Soon after seeing that cross in June 2013 and entering into talks with Sagemont Church, Pastor Milby began work on his own cross, on a site off Interstate 37 in Northwest Corpus Christi. At 230 feet, the cross in Corpus will tower over it. The project hasn't been without its drama. Milby said in the beginning that the price tag for the cross would be $1 million, which raised more than a few eyebrows although its coming from private donors. The price tag has since increased to nearly $2.5 million. Some in the Corpus community have complained that it is a gross misuse of church funds, while those who support it say that it will be a monument to the goodness of Christ and bring tourism to the area. RELATED: Trump in Corpus Christi: 'Texas can handle anything' In addition, the Federal Aviation Administration had to approve the size of the cross. According to KRIS-TV Milby is asking the city to waive the permit fees, which would save them nearly $10,000. The reason for the cross - equivalent of a 22-story building - is made clear on the project's website. "We are raising the TALLEST CROSS in the Western Hemisphere, the second tallest cross in the world to proclaim with the loudest voice possible, that Jesus died to redeem you from your sin and to give you eternal life. ...that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life." Texas has a love affair with giant crosses it appears. There are others in Groom and Ballinger, 190 feet and 100 feet respectively. Corpus' cross won't be the tallest cross in the world, though, as that cross is located in Madrid, Spain and is 495 feet tall. Craig Hlavaty is a reporter for Chron.com and HoustonChronicle.com. He's an intolerable native Texan with too much ink in his skin and too much brisket stuck in his teeth. Officials with the McLennan County Sheriff's Office announced Wednesday they have identified the man who killed a 17-year-old Axtell teen in 1982, according to a report from the Waco Tribune. On Aug. 10, 1982, Beth Bramlett's body was found near railroad tracks outside Axtell by a fisherman, according to the report. She appeared beaten had gunshot wounds to her head and chest. The case went unsolved for 35 years, but thanks to help from the office's newly established cold case unit, they were able to determine the murder suspect was one of the initial people of interest in the homicide investigation. RELATED: Friends remember mentally ill S.A. mom who was shot by police as loving, troubled The Cold Case Unit pinned the homicide on Talmadge Wayne Wood, who died in 2014 at the age of 74, according to the report. Bramlett left a house party near Tradinghouse Lake at about 1 a.m. with Wood's daughter and another friend, according to the report. The friend said he didn't have enough gas and that he needed to go home, so Bramlett got out of the car and started walking, planning to get a ride from someone else. Wood's daughter and the friend returned to the party. Wood was allegedly upset to see his daughter there and told her she had better beat him home. Wood allegedly left the party five minutes before his daughter did, and though the daughter traveled the same route, she didn't see her dad at home. Investigators believe Wood had an ongoing dispute with Bramlett, who waved him down for a ride home that night. They believe that's when Wood killed her. "He made statements that he knew his daughter was at the party and that she better not be with Beth. What his beef with Beth was, we can only imagine.," detective Terry Fuller was quoted as saying in the report. RELATED: Victoria capital murder suspect arrested in San Antonio while reportedly visiting girlfriend Investigators found out later that Wood had come home that night around 4:30 a.m. covered in blood. But crucial evidence didn't come out until after his death, according to the report. "People were scared to death of (Wood)," Fuller said. Another deputy, Capt. Steve January, said the same thing. "We had people who told us that the only reason they went to his funeral in 2014 was to make sure he was dead. People were terrified of him and they wouldn't have talked if he was still alive." Wood was convicted on two counts of attempted murder in an unrelated case in 1982 and setenced to 10 years of probation. Two years later, according to the report, he was sentenced to 10 years of prison for a carjacking. Fares Sabawi covers crime in San Antonio and Bexar County for mySA.com. Read more of his stories here. | fsabawi@mysa.com Space station astronaut Norishige Kanai's exclamation last month that he grew 3.5 inches in space was a miscalculation but a small amount of growth in space is not a new concept to NASA. In fact, the space agency has been studying this phenomenon for decades, most recently from 2013 to 2017 with nine astronauts aboard the International Space Station (Kanai was not one of them). "Spinal elongation occurs due to the effect of weightlessness while orbiting, resulting in a reduced compression on the spinal column," said Sudhakar Rajulu, Ph.D., with Johnson Space Center's Human Health and Performance Directorate, who conducted the most recent study. "This allows for the straightening of the natural spinal curve." This happens with all genders and ages (the amount varies and can be up to 3 inches), Rajulu added, but it could cause problems for future, deep space travel. RELATED STORY: Why can't male astronauts see in space? NASA, Texas researchers aim to find out. Rajulu said its possible that astronauts may not be able to fit in their space suits if their height changes significantly, for example, or in their seat during re-entry on the Soyuz (a Russian spacecraft that transports astronauts to and from the space station) or, eventually, Orion (the spacecraft being built to transport astronauts to deep space). This is exactly what Kanai was worried about when he tweeted last month about a growth of 9 centimeters, or 3.5 inches. "In only three weeks I've really shot up, something I haven't seen since high school," he tweeted Jan. 8. "This makes me a little worried that I might not be able to fit in the Soyuz seats for our return." The next day, he corrected himself, saying that he measured again and found that he'd only stretched two centimeters, or .7 inches, from his original height. He did not explain how he made the miscalculation. "It appears I can fit on the Soyuz, so I'm relieved," he tweeted Jan. 9. NASA scientists studied height changes for astronauts both on Skylab in the 1970s and the Space Shuttle from 2009 to 2011 before its most recent experiment. After the Skylab study, NASA recommended that a 3 percent change in height be anticipated. They got even more specific after the Space Shuttle study, concluding that crewmembers would experience roughly a 6 percent increase in their seated height, with a corresponding 3 percent increase in stature. But those studies only examined a body's stature and seated height changes. Rajulu's study examined overall body shape and size changes, including stature, circumference, chest width and arm and leg length. Data from Rajulu's study still is being analyzed, which likely will take three months, he added. He hopes the study's findings help NASA develop a model that can predict changes in height and body shape. It's important, he said, so NASA can make plans for these changes as deep space travel becomes more of a reality. "The projections of seated height will provide data on the proper positioning of the seats within the vehicle, adequate clearance for seat stroke in high acceleration impacts, fit in seats, correct placements of seats with respect to each other and the vehicle and the proper orientation to displays and controls," a June post on NASA's website stated. "Additionally," the space agency said, "data concerning the effects of spinal elongation on seated height would aid in the design of suit components, habitation requirements and tool specifications of future long-duration space expeditions." Alex Stuckey covers NASA and the environment for the Houston Chronicle. You can reach her at alex.stuckey@chron.com or Twitter.com/alexdstuckey. AUSTIN -- U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson used a stop at his alma mater on Thursday to continue to put more heat on Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro and reminded the audience that historically in South America when conditions get so bad the military often "handles that." Speaking at the University of Texas, where he graduated in 1975, Tillerson stressed that the Trump administration has not advocated for regime change, but said the best thing for Venezuela would be for Maduro to go. "President Maduro could choose to just leave," Tillerson, 65, said. "That'd be the easiest." Tillerson said the country needs to get back to its constitution. "I think there will be a change," said Tillerson, a native Texan who attended high school in Huntsville. "We want it to be a peaceful change." With a laugh, Tillerson said if Maduro left, "I'm sure that he's got some friends over in Cuba that could give him a nice hacienda on the beach." Tillerson's comments were part of a speech entitled U.S. Engagement in the Western Hemisphere at the Blanton Auditorium on the Edgar A. Smith Building at the University of Texas campus. He delivered on the same day he was scheduled to fly to Mexico City to meet with President Enrique Pena Nieto as part of a five nation trip that will also include Argentina, Peru, Colombia and Jamaica. Tillerson also used his speech: To call for "modernizing" the North American Free Trade Agreement that he says was drawn up before the digital economy had completely disrupted supply chains. To advocate for expanding access to American energy supplies in Central and South America because energy connectivity can lift regions out of poverty. And warned that Latin America needs to be wary of Chinese involvement in the hemisphere. He said China's offers for help always comes at a price that can hurt countries. "Latin America does not need another imperial power," Tillerson said. Tillerson also stressed the U.S.'s efforts to work with Mexico to help strengthen that nation's southern border. Tillerson's speech came on the one year anniversary of him becoming President Donald Trump's Secretary of State. His tenure in the Trump administration has been bumpy at times. Last summer, NBC reported that Tillerson called his boss "a moron," leading some to question if Tillerson would lose his position. Tillerson, former CEO of ExxonMobil, had never held public office before his appointment last February. Unlike many of Trump's other top appointments, Tillerson had no formal role in Trump's presidential campaign. Tillerson acknowledge the anniversary at the start of his speech "It's been a very busy whirlwind year," Tillerson said during the mid-day speech. Jeremy Wallace writes about state politics and government for the Chronicle. Follow him on Twitter at @JeremySWallace. Dreamstime/TNS/TNS Bitcoin whipsawed investors, falling below $8,000 for the first time since November before recovering most of today's losses, as a miserable 2018 continued for cryptocurrencies, with investors confronting a mounting list of concerns about the future of the industry. Since reaching a record high of $19,511 on Dec. 18 shortly after the introduction of regulated futures contracts in the U.S., Bitcoin has wiped out more than half its value amid waves of negative news. Setbacks included escalating regulatory threats from authorities around the world including India, South Korea, China and the U.S., a record $500 million heist at Japanese exchange Coincheck Inc., fears of price manipulation and Facebook's ban on cryptocurrency ads. We're always interested in hearing about news in our community. Let us know what's going on! Go to form We attempted to send a notification to your email address but we were unable to verify that you provided a valid email address. Please click here to update your email address if you wish to receive notifications. Otherwise, you may click here to disable notifications and hide this message. Apel de exprimare a interesului privind intentia de participare la serviciile de suport la formarea/consolidarea grupurilor de femei pentru accesarea granturilor din cadrul Proiectului de Rezilienta Rurala AKRON, Ohio - The once glorified high-level bridge between Akron and Cuyahoga Falls is nearing the end of its life. Once referred to as "Ohio's Niagra," the old bridge doesn't get much attention from drivers any more, but the Summit County Engineer's office thinks it about fairly frequently. The 69-year-old structure, the highest in the county standing 220-feet above the Cuyahoga River, has allowed us to pass between the two cities, zipping over the gorge below since the 1940s. And, until the '90s, with its deck made of a steel grid, it even sang to us as we drove. "'Singing,' or 'crybaby' bridges are rare enough to have their own Wikipedia," said Heidi Swindell, director of administration and government affairs at the Summit County Engineer's office. It's completely safe, with annual inspections, and even deeper bi-annual inspections, show the bridge is fine, said Joe Paradise, deputy director of engineering services The steel grate was replaced with asphalt in 1994, and the concrete anchors that once kept the steel from warping at the center are also structurally sound. "It's probably the most inspected bridge in the county," he said. At the dedication parade for the high-level bridge opening in 1949, a contest took place to crown a bridge queen. The winner was Nancy Crites, 21, of North Hill. But keeping the bridge in shape comes at a cost. Annual maintenance runs about $100,000 per year. To completely repaint and repair the bridge would run about $10 million. That's because the paint likely contains lead, which means removal entails special remediation to keep toxic dust from floating into the valley below, he said. The current asphalt deck, or driving surface, was installed in 1994 and has a 25-30 year lifespan. "If I'm looking into a crystal ball, I'd say five, six, seven years from now I'm going to need to put a lot of money into this bridge," he said. Rather than continue making expensive repairs the county wants to replace it. Estimates to replace the bridge run about $38 million. That number is based on predictions of construction costs 10 years from now. That's because that's how long it will take to line up the support, find the money and complete the engineering work, he said. So, the county began late last year presenting the case to replace the bridge to officials in Akron, Cuyahoga Falls and Summit County and will soon meet with ODOT, Swindell said. "Do we rehab or replace? It's like a used car that has a tremendous amount of mileage on it," Paradise said. "We're trying to build consensus." When the bridge opened in July 1949, it replaced a similar bridge, also called the high-level bridge, that ran over the gorge from North Howard Street to State Road. The old bridge, built in 1914, was torn down in July 1950. The new bridge was built with the steel to make maintenance easier during Ohio winters. "We thought we wouldn't have to plow throw salt," Paradise said. "In the /40s, we didn't have a lot of snow removal equipment." It also was built to accommodate increasing truck traffic, as Akron at the time produced about 50 percent of the rubber in the world and had grown to a population of 245,000. As an industrial center, the city was home to 19 trucking firms that hauled an estimated 76 million pounds of freight per day in and out of Akron, according to a document written for the county engineer in 1995 titled "Akron's Singing Bridge: A history of North Akron's High Level Cantilever bridge." When the new bridge opened in 1949, Summit County threw a parade, with the Akron Beacon Journal's headline reading, "Yep, Bridge Is Still Ohio's 'Niagara'!" The newspaper reported an estimated 100,000 people attended the dedication, and many came in the days following the event. Against police directives, people parked on the bridge drove over it slowly to get a look down through the grating, jamming up traffic for miles. Want more Akron news? Sign up for cleveland.com's Rubber City Daily, an email newsletter delivered at 5:30 a.m. Monday through Friday. AKRON, Ohio - On Thursday, the University of Akron Muslim Students Association honored World Hijab Day with an event that allowed students to try on a hijab, the head scarf worn by many Muslim women around the world. The overall mission of World Hijab Day is to create a more peaceful world, and fight bigotry, discrimination and prejudice against Muslim women, according to its website. In the Quran the word "hijab" represents a spatial partition or curtain. Traditionally. the veil is worn as a symbol of modesty and privacy, but for Muslim women it can mean many different things. Interested students met at the Student Union Piano Lounge to learn more about the hijab and celebrate its meaning. Freelance photographer Shane Wynn and her husband, Akron videographer Josh Gippen, captured the reactions of some of the women who tried a hijab for the first time today. Want more Akron news? Sign up for cleveland.com's Rubber City Daily, an email newsletter delivered at 5:30 a.m. Monday through Friday. Theft-criminal damaging; Ledgestone, Yellowstone, Ridgestone, Pebble & Marble courts: At least seven vehicles were entered and rummaged through -and cash and belongings were stolen from some vehicles - late Jan. 27 or early Jan. 28 in the Sandstone Ridge subdivision. Two Ledgestone residents called police at 8:40 a.m. Jan. 28 after finding that windows in their vehicles had been smashed. Someone had rummaged through the vehicles, but nothing was reported missing. As officers investigated, a Yellowstone resident approached and said that someone had entered his unlocked car overnight. The resident didn't believe anything was missing from the car. Police found a purse and wallet in the grass south of Ridgestone. The purse contained the name of the owner, and officers returned the purse to the victim, who lived on Ridgestone. The victim said that about $100 was missing from the purse and wallet. She said she thought she had locked her vehicle overnight, but there were no signs of forced entry. Officers found a wallet, containing the owner's name, in grass on Marble. Police visited the victim, who said the wallet had been stolen from his wife's car. On Pebble, officers noticed an unlocked vehicle with its center console open. A GPS was missing from its holder inside the vehicle. Police talked to the vehicle's owner, who confirmed that the GPS had been stolen. On Yellowstone, police saw an unlocked vehicle. The center console and glove compartment were open, and items were spread across the seats. The owner said nothing of value had been taken from the vehicle. Police noticed two or three sets of snowy footprints leading from the vehicles on Ledgestone southbound to a mound that parallels railroad tracks south of Stone Ridge Way. The footprints led to Yellowstone, Ridgestone, Pebble and Marble, all of which run off Stone Ridge. In the mound, police found several wallets and purses, a GPS, black gloves and a black headlamp. The owners were identified and the belongings returned. Fleeing & eluding-destroying evidence, Depot Street: A Berea woman, 34, was arrested at about 1:30 a.m. Jan. 28 after police caught her with crystal methamphetamine and other drugs. The woman was driving a Chevrolet Impala 50 mph on southbound North Rocky River Drive near Riveredge Parkway, a 35-mph zone. Police tried to pull the car over, but the woman didn't stop. An officer sounded his air horn several times, but the woman kept driving. Finally, she turned onto Depot and stopped. The woman told police she didn't stop right away because she was nervous and looking for a good place to park. She didn't have a driver's license, and admitted possessing a small amount of marijuana in her purse. Police asked the woman to step out of her car so they could search her and the vehicle. The woman said the marijuana was in her bra. Police asked the woman to pull her bra away so that the marijuana would fall out. The woman complied, and a clear plastic bag dropped to the ground. The woman stepped on the bag, trying to smash it into the cement. Police grabbed the bag and found crystal meth inside. A second bag, containing a marijuana joint, fell out of her bra. Police then found three "bindles," possibly containing crack cocaine, in the woman's purse and two white pills, which police believed were homemade, in the car. Operating a vehicle under the influence, Prospect Street: A Strongsville man, 33, was arrested at about 9 p.m. Jan. 28 after police saw his Honda Accord swerve in front of another vehicle without signaling while southbound on Prospect near Westbridge Street. The man failed field sobriety tests. Police found two open cans of beer under the car's driver's seat. They also found a 12-pack of beer with two beers missing, marijuana, a marijuana pipe and several additional open containers of alcohol in the car. Fire, Prospect Street: Police helped firefighters respond to a fire at about 8:30 a.m. Jan. 31 in an apartment at 750 Prospect. When police arrived, they made sure all tenants were evacuated from the building. A woman who was living in the apartment where the fire originated said it happened because she was burning incense at the foot of her bed. Marijuana possession, Lincoln Avenue: A Cleveland man, 20, was arrested at about 8:15 p.m. Jan. 26 after police caught him with marijuana. Police stopped the man's Chevrolet Impala on Lincoln near Columbus Street because the car's temporary license plate was covered in dirt. The inside of the car smelled like marijuana. The driver admitted that marijuana was in the center console. Police also found a digital scale, marijuana shake and plastic baggies in the car. Operating a vehicle under the influence, Front Street: A Strongsville woman, 40, was arrested at about 3:30 a.m. Jan. 27 after police saw her vehicle straddling two southbound lanes on Front near Thacker Street. She failed field sobriety tests. Marijuana possession, West Bagley Road: An Olmsted Falls man, 27, was arrested at about midnight Feb. 1 after police checked his license plate number and learned that he was wanted in Olmsted Falls. Police stopped the man's car on West Bagley near Lewis Road. Olmsted Falls police arrived and placed the man in handcuffs. Berea police found two glass pipes, both with burned marijuana, and marijuana rolling papers in his car. Marijuana possession, Front Street: A Brook Park man, 26, was arrested at about 8:05 p.m. Jan. 27 after police caught him with marijuana. The man was driving a Dodge Neon northbound on Front near Thacker Street. Police randomly checked his license plate number and determined that his driver's license had expired. Police smelled marijuana in the car and noticed marijuana shake sprinkled on the man's pants. The man admitted smoking marijuana earlier, but not while driving. A 17-year-old Berea girl was a passenger in the man's car. Police found a marijuana pipe containing burned marijuana and half a pill in her purse. In the car, police found an empty plastic bag containing marijuana residue and marijuana shake. Police notified the girl's mother. To comment on this story please visit Thursday's crime and courts comments page. Felonious assault, Snow Road: A North Ridgeville man, 22, called police at about 3:15 a.m. Jan. 20 and said he had just been assaulted outside AMF Brookgate Lanes, 14950 Snow. The victim said a car pulled up and four males jumped out. They punched the victim in the face and kicked him. The victim was taken to Southwest General Health Center with a broken jaw and hand injury. The victim knew one of the attackers, a 20-year-old Brook Park man. Police said the four males "had an issue" with the victim's brother. An arrest warrant has been issued for the Brook Park man. Drunkenness, Brookpark Road: A drunk Cleveland woman, 32, was arrested at about 2:30 a.m. Jan. 20 after she misbehaved at Amber's Cabaret, 13311 Brookpark. The woman, an Amber's employee, was trying to start fights with other workers. Bar management asked the woman to leave, but she refused, so they called police. When police ordered the woman to leave, she yelled and shouted profanities at them. Breaking & entering, Starlite Drive: Someone broke into a vacant house between October and January. The house's back door was forced open but nothing was missing. Grand theft vehicle, Glenway Drive: A 2007 Scion tC was stolen at about 9 p.m. Jan. 19 from a parking lot. The victim said he had started the vehicle's engine and left the door unlocked. He walked to his garage and grabbed tools. When he walked back to his vehicle, it was gone. Theft of motor vehicle, Engle Road: A 2011 Toyota Corolla was stolen at about 10:15 p.m. Jan. 21 from the parking lot of Circle K, 6300 Engle. The victim was driving with a woman he didn't know very well. He parked his Toyota outside Circle K and walked inside the store to make a purchase, leaving the keys inside the car. The woman stole the vehicle. Drunkenness, Engle Road: A Pontiac, Michigan, man, 42, was arrested at about 7 a.m. Jan. 19 after police found him drunk and unable to care for himself outside NodeOne, 5775 Engle. Someone called police about the man, whom they believed was suspicious. The man thought he was at a hotel and was trying to enter what he believed was his room. Theft, Snow Road: A Cleveland man, 62, was arrested at about 1:30 p.m. Jan. 21 after he stole 29 twelve-packs of soft drinks from Giant Eagle, 14650 Snow. The man had filled up a shopping cart with the soft drinks and pushed the cart out of the store without paying. A Giant Eagle worker saw the man load the merchandise into his car and called police. The worker must have known the man, or jotted down his license plate number, because police visited the man's house and left a note on his door, asking him to call them about the theft. The man turned himself in two days later. Theft, Snow Road: Police are looking for a man who wheeled a cartload of groceries out of Giant Eagle, 14650 Snow, without paying for them. It happened at about 1 p.m. Jan. 6. Two store workers tried to stop the man, but he ran away, jumped into a pickup truck and drove away. He left the cartload of groceries behind. The workers wrote down the man's license plate number. Police are still trying to identify the man. Theft, Snow Road: A purse was reported stolen at about 2:45 p.m. Jan. 24 from a car parked outside Athens Pastries & Frozen Foods, 13600 Snow. The victim, an Athens worker, said she had locked the vehicle, but there were no signs of a break-in. The purse contained cash, credit cards and identification cards. If you would like to comment on this story, please visit the crime and courts comments section. ELYRIA, Ohio -- Two teens charged in a deadly robbery solicited the help of a man now charged with killing an Elyria man. Kajaun Anderson, 18, appeared at a preliminary hearing Thursday on charges that accuse him of the Jan. 23 killing of Cody Snyder over a half-pound of marijuana. His case was bound over to a Lorain County grand jury which will decide whether to charge him in the case. Lorain County Prosecutor Dennis Will is also seeking to try the juvenile co-defendants as adults. Anderson and the teens have since confessed to the crime, Elyria police Det. Robert Whiting said. The two teens set up a drug deal with Snyder and planned to rob him, Whiting said. They went to get help from Anderson who was told to bring a gun. He also provided a pellet gun to one of the teens, Whiting said during the hearing. Anderson and the two teens, 16 and 17, walked to meet with three people in a car, including Snyder, on Clinton Avenue near Lake Avenue, Whiting said. The teens got into the car and discussed the drug transaction. Anderson walked to the driver side back door, opened it and pointed a gun inside the car, police said. He shot Snyder in the chest, Whiting said. A police officer later saw a car pull up to the emergency room doors of University Hospitals Elyria Medical Center a short time later, police said. A man in the car yelled for help and said a man was shot, police said. The officer ran to the car and found Snyder unresponsive and covered in blood in the passenger seat, police said. Emergency room staff took him inside the emergency room where he was pronounced dead a short time later. If you'd like to comment on this story, visit Thursday's crime and courts comments section. CINCINNATI (AP) -- A federal appeals court has upheld the constitutionality of Ohio's lethal injection method two weeks before a scheduled execution. The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati says two inmates challenging the three-drug method haven't proven the process poses an unacceptable risk of pain and suffering. Raymond Tibbetts The court on Thursday upheld a judge's ruling last year on arguments brought by condemned killers Alva Campbell and Raymond Tibbetts. Prison officials stopped Campbell's execution in November after they couldn't find a usable vein. He remains on death row. Tibbetts is scheduled to die Feb. 13 for killing a Cincinnati man in 1997. GOP Gov. John Kasich (KAY'-sik) is considering Tibbetts' request for mercy. A juror who recommended death for Tibbetts asked Kasich this week to spare the inmate. COLUMBUS, Ohio - A bail reform bill introduced in the Ohio General Assembly by two Republicans is drawing interest from politically unlikely bedfellows and one sponsor believes meaningful change could come by the end of the year. House Bill 439, co-sponsored by Republicans Jonathan Dever of Madeira and Tim Ginter of Salem, has already received two open hearings and a private meeting of interested parties. Input is coming from across the political spectrum, as both conservatives and liberals are advocating for greater fairness in the way Ohio courts set bail. Dever, a lawyer, said during a recent interview that several Democrats in the House told him they would have gladly co-sponsored the bill if asked. But Dever said he isn't inclined to seek more co-sponsors, fearing too many could stall progress. What would the bill do? The bill is intended to address the way suspects are treated in the first 72 hours following arrest, when bail amounts are often pre-set based solely on the nature of the crime and don't reflect the likelihood of a suspect not showing up later in court, Dever said. Current language in the bill would eliminate the use of pre-determined bail schedules and require judges to consider a data-based assessment of whether a suspect is a flight risk or would commit crimes if released. It also would have the Ohio Supreme Court come up with a model for supervising defendants who have been freed while awaiting trial. Another component in the bill calls for courts to collect data on defendants in order to analyze the effectiveness of the reforms. The goal of the bill is to bring fairness and consistency to bail decisions and to save communities money by reducing unnecessary jail stays, Dever said. What are the hurdles? Creating uniform bail reforms will take some doing, Dever said, largely because the criminal justice system in Ohio is so fractured, with 88 counties and multiple courts within some counties. For example, there are 13 municipal courts in Cuyahoga County. Such reforms also will cost money. Determining where the funding might come from will also be part of the legislative deliberations. Long-term savings could result from bail reform, Dever said, but implementing the reforms will require upfront costs for such things as computer hardware, software and personnel necessary to provide the pretrial risk assessments and the supervision that would be necessary to keep more people out of jail. Dever said it costs anywhere from $60 to $80 a day to keep a suspect in jail while awaiting trial, far less than the cost of risk assessment and supervision of freed suspects. If we can find a way to send some of those folks home . . . then that's what we should be doing," he said. What makes Dever optimistic? Dever said he is bringing a lot of opinions to bear on the legislation, from prosecutors and defense attorneys to the bail bond agents whose livelihoods are threatened by reforms. What bodes well for eventual passage is that parties that are often on opposite sides of a political issue see the value in bail reform. The American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio, for example, is pushing for changes, as is the conservative Buckeye Institute. ACLU lobbyists testifying to the House Criminal Justice Committee described HB 439 as a "meaningful start" to bail reform," but that it doesn't go far enough in some areas. For instance, the bill would only subject misdemeanors suspects to pretrial risk assessment, according to the ACLU, and it believes use of risk assessment should be applied to those charged with felonies, too. Written testimony from representatives of the conservative Buckeye Institute came on the heels of its recently published "Money Bail: Making Ohio a More Dangerous Place to Live," a report on bail abuses that calls for the end of for-profit bond agents. "The goal of a pretrial system should be to release as many defendants as safely possible before trial, and for defendants to show up for court," the Buckeye lobbyists' statement reads. ". . . Policies like those found in House Bill 439 would make our system fairer and our communities safer." Meanwhile, the Ohio Public Defender, which provides legal representation to indigent defendants, views HB 439 as a "good first step towards moving to a fair and balanced judicial system where an individual's economic status does not dictate their treatment and potentially the outcome of their case." Testimony by the legislative liaison of the Ohio Public Defender states that the bill should require courts to "only use the least restrictive bail conditions and only order monetary bail when absolutely necessary." Such a change would be similar to reforms implemented in New Jersey, according to the testimony. Bail reform advocates hold up New Jersey as the gold standard for states to emulate. Dever said he is not wedded to any particular group's ideas, and that he only wants to bring more fairness to the system. "This things fluid," Dever said. "We're going to work hard to get the best results we can." Are others talking about bail reform? Yes. Cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer have been advocating for bail reform through its ongoing series, Justice for All. After after the launch of the series, John Russo, chief judge of the Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court, created four committees look at various aspects of bail reform. A report on their findings and recommendations is expected later this month. CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The Cleveland man believed to be the first person charged under Ohio's anti-bestiality law made his first court appearance on Wednesday. Scott Turner, 48, pleaded not guilty Wednesday to the second-degree misdemeanor charge of having sexual contact with an animal. He was released after posting $2,500. His case is assigned to Cleveland Municipal Judge Michelle Earley and a pretrial is scheduled for Feb. 5. He is being represented by a public defender. The new law went into effect on March 21. That charge carries a maximum penalty of 90 days in jail. Turner was taking care of a woman's dog, named Athena, on May 13 when he gave the dog oral sex, Cleveland Animal Protection League President Sharon Harvey previously said. Turner wrote a letter admitting what he did. Harvey declined to say who received the letter. But that letter was turned over to APL investigators, Harvey said. Turner admitted to APL investigators that he wrote the letter and abused the dog, according to court records. He was charged in the case on Sept. 21 and issued a summons to appear in court but didn't do so until Wednesday, court records say. Turner was released from prison in 2015 after serving 12 years and eight months in prison, according to state prison records. Turner on July 25, 2003 was babysitting five boys between the ages of 6 and 12 when he paid a 9-year-old boy $1 to fondle another boy while he watched. Police investigated the case and later learned that he had also performed a sex act on a 9-year-old boy while they watched a pornographic video in 2002, according to court records. Investigators also found that Turner repeatedly sexually assaulted a 12-year-old girl and had attacked her as many as 10 times. In the three cases, Turner pleaded guilty to 16 counts of rape, including six with sentencing enhancements for being a violent sexual predator, 11 counts of disseminating matter harmful to juveniles, five counts of kidnapping with sexual motivation, five counts of importuning three counts of compelling prostitution, three counts of complicity to gross sexual imposition and one count of gross sexual imposition. Turner must register his address with the county sheriff every 90 days for the rest of his life. He is on post-prison release supervision until September 2020. If you would like to comment on this story, please visit Thursday's crime and courts comments section. CLEVELAND, Ohio -- A former social services worker has pleaded not guilty to engaging in a food-stamp bribery scheme with a Cleveland woman who is now charged with killing and burying her son. Nancy Caraballo, 45, on Friday made her first court appearance since a grand jury handed up an 18-count indictment charging her and Larissa Rodriguez with bribery, illegal trafficking in food stamps and tampering with records. Rodriguez is also accused, alongside her boyfriend Christopher Rodriguez, with murder and other charges in the death of her 5-year-old son, Jordan Rodriguez. Caraballo was ordered jailed on $100,000 bond, and her case was randomly assigned to Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court Judge Nancy Margaret Russo. Caraballo's lawyer, Kevin Spellacy, was not immediately available for comment. Caraballo worked as a parent educator for Catholic Charities, which was contracted by Bright Beginnings, a publicly-funded agency under the umbrella of the county's Educational Services department, and was assigned to Larissa Rodriguez's family. Rodriguez had nine children, and the organization focused on connecting families with young children to educational services. Caraballo was suppose to make monthly home visits and had a mandatory requirement to report abuse or neglect to authorities, Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Michael O'Malley said at a news conference this week. She and Rodriguez hatched a plan where Caraballo bought a certain amount of stamps off the mother each month at half-price, and in return, would not report her to authorities, O'Malley said. Investigators say the scheme began in 2015 and continued through November, and Caraballo bought more than $10,000 in food stamps from Rodriguez. She also falsified at least 11 reports to make it look like she had visited the home, when in fact she didn't, investigators said. Rodriguez's son, Jordan, was last seen alive in September, and police found his body buried in Rodriguez's back yard on Dec. 19, after someone called in a tip from Pakistan. Caraballo visited the home on Dec. 10, and did not report the boy missing. After investigators found the boy's body, they search Rodriguez's home and found it infested with bed bugs and cockroaches, O'Malley said. Both Bright Beginnings and Catholic Charities said they were shocked to hear of the allegations against Caraballo and are cooperating with investigators. Catholic Charities said they fired Caraballo when they first learned of the allegations. O'Malley said his office may seek additional charges against Caraballo if investigators can prove that malnourishment played a role in Jordan's death. To comment on this story, please visit Friday's crime and courts comments page. LORAIN, Ohio -- A missing woman was found dead Thursday afternoon at a home in Lorain, police said. The 44-year-old woman was found on the kitchen floor of a home on Packard Drive, Lorain police said in a news release. The woman was found next to a 74-year-old man. Police said the man, who was alive but unresponsive, is the homeowner. Investigators were called to the home after the woman was reported missing Wednesday. The woman and the man had not been seen for several days, police said. The case is being investigated as a homicide, police said. No criminal charges were filed in the case as of 5 p.m. Thursday. No additional information was available. If you would like to comment on this story, please visit Thursday's crime and courts comments section. COLUMBUS, Ohio -- State regulators awarded a $1 million, three-year contract this week to a New Jersey-based company to operate a toll-free help line for patients, caregivers and doctors accessing Ohio's new medical marijuana program. Direct Success Inc.'s Ohio subsidiary Extra Step Assurance will operate the help line from a call center in Bellefontaine. The call center opened in February 2017 and has since been operating a national toll-free medical marijuana help line. Direct Success CEO Cheryl McDaniel said the center offers fact-based information but does not give medical or legal advice. McDaniel said the company has pharmacists on call 24/7 to answer questions about drug interactions. "Our job is not to convince people if medical cannabis is appropriate for them. Our job is to give them the information so they can talk with their physicians. They have to decide what's right for them," McDaniel said. Ohio's medical marijuana law required the state Board of Pharmacy to establish the help line, believed to be a first among the 29 states with medical marijuana programs. The help line must be staffed from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday, per the Ohio State Board of Pharmacy contract. McDaniel expects the The help line could expand to answer questions via text message, social media, an app and online chat, which would cost an additional $89,500 over three years. Extra Step Assurance, under the business name Cannabis Expertise, is also one of three companies that has been approved to offer continuing education credits to Ohio physicians who want to register to recommend marijuana to patients. Extra Step Assurance also plans to help dispensaries establish compliance procedures, but McDaniel said the help line won't refer callers to specific physicians or dispensaries. McDaniel, an Ohio native, started the Extra Step Assurance subsidiary after offering similar services in the pharmaceutical and medical fields for 20 years. She said the Bellefontaine center will expand from three to four or five employees in the coming months. The company was chosen over four other bidders: Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Advocate Consulting Group, Automated Systems Inc. and Diversity Search Group. Ohio is still in the process of setting up its medical marijuana program, which will serve patients who have one of 21 qualifying medical conditions and a doctor's recommendation to use medical marijuana. The program is supposed to be fully operational by Sept. 8. The state awarded licenses for marijuana growers late last year and is in the process of choosing companies to make medical marijuana products and sell marijuana at dispensaries. CLEVELAND, Ohio - The Cleveland Orchestra's Miami residency will remain a two-week affair in 2019. On Thursday, on the eve of its second Miami weekend of 2018, the group unveiled the portrait of its next South Florida season, its 13th, and the picture remains essentially unchanged. Much as it's doing in 2018, the orchestra in 2019 will give concerts at Miami's Adrienne Arsht Center on two consecutive weekends and spend the intervening week engaged in a range of outreach and educational activities. Last year, in an effort to cut costs, the group reduced its presence in South Florida from four weeks to two. "Here in Miami, we are excited to continue and build on our efforts across the past dozen years to offer extraordinary musical experiences and to inspire future generations through the power and passion of music," said executive director Andre Gremillet, in a statement released Thursday afternoon. The overall format of the residency may not be changing, but the musical lineup for 2019 is noteworthy. In artistic terms, the orchestra appears poised to make the most of its two weeks in Miami. On the first program, Friday and Saturday, Jan. 25 and 26, music director Franz Welser-Most will lead performances of Mahler's "Resurrection" Symphony No. 2, with soprano Joelle Harvey, mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke, and the Cleveland Orchestra Chorus. The following weekend, Friday and Saturday, Feb. 1 and 2, renowned soprano Barbara Hannigan will make her U.S. debut as a conductor, leading the orchestra in an eclectic program featuring Debussy's "Syrinx" (with principal flutist Joshua Smith), Haydn's Symphony No. 86, Berg's "Lulu" Suite, Gershwin's "Girl Crazy" Suite, and "Luonnotar," by Sibelius. Hanningan will also sing in the latter. In addition to these public concerts, the orchestra also will give a formal educational concert for area school students and make an array of informal appearances at South Florida schools, colleges, and neighborhood community centers. Details of those events will be announced at a later date. Two-concert tickets go on sale in March. Individual tickets will be released in September. For more information, go to clevelandorchestramiami.com. Former U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich, a Democrat running for governor, stood by previous comments he's made about the "deep state" during a more than hour-long, indepth interview on the Ohio Matters podcast. Kucinich's interview touched on a wide range of topics, including his childhood, his time as mayor of Cleveland, the assassination contracts put out on him during the battle over Muny Light and his time in political exile before returning to Congress. Ohio Matters is the weekly politics podcast from cleveland.com. Every Friday, Andrew Tobias, Mary Kilpatrick and Seth Richardson sit down with political figures from around the state for indepth interviews and discussions. Ohio Matters has invited all of the gubernatorial candidates to appear on the show. Kucinich previously said during a segment on Fox News that the deep state - the idea of government and intelligence officials working clandestinely to influence policy - was trying to undermine President Donald Trump by throwing his nascent administration into upheaval. "They're the government within the government," Kucinich said during his interview on Ohio Matters. "Does it exist? You bet it does. And anyone who says it doesn't, doesn't know anything about Washington, never served in Congress and has no clue." Kucinich, who served eight terms in Congress and twice ran for president, pointed to the Patriot Act signed shortly after 9/11, which gave broad authority to the intelligence and defense communities for surveillance. Kucinich was one of only 66 U.S. House members to vote against the Patriot Act. "Unlike most people in government, I never bought into the idea that whatever happens out of the Pentagon is right for the American people," Kucinich said. Kucinich said the Patriot Act is just one example of how a sprawling network of bureaucrats have led the United States astray at times, getting the country involved in needless foreign conflicts. "Now when Donald Trump came in, was there a power struggle to try to take control of his administration? Absolutely," Kucinich said. "Are you kidding? It happens in every administration." Previous episodes of Ohio Matters can be found here, with past guests including FiveThirtyEight senior politics reporter Clare Malone and former Ohio Republican Party Chairman Matt Borges. WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump will pay a visit to Cincinnati, Ohio, Monday. The White House says the president's trip is aimed at highlighting the impact of the GOP tax plan he signed into law at the end of last year. Numerous companies have announced bonuses for their workers as a result of the plan. Trump and the White House have been trying to publicize those announcements as they try to swing public opinion in the overhaul's favor. The visit comes days after the State of the Union address and as attention begins to turn to the 2018 midterm elections. COLUMBUS, Ohio - Two Republican Ohio lawmakers are accused of making offensive jokes about women during a GOP gathering last week, just days after they underwent training about sexual harassment. Cincinnati Rep. Bill Seitz and Lima Sen. Matt Huffman made the distasteful comments at a Jan. 23 farewell event for a longtime GOP staffer. During the "roast," Seitz joked about the Senate resignation of Cliff Hite, who was accused of repeatedly propositioning a state employee for sex, saying if a song could narrate Hite's departure, it would be Bob Dylan's "Blowin' In The Wind," said a lawmaker who was present. He also called Republican Rep. Candice Keller a "nut job" and compared her to a conservative former lawmaker, also a woman, who he joked had a tin-foil hat. Huffman told a joke that included a veiled reference to a four-letter word degrading to women, while telling a story about a woman who was considering running for office. Both men have apologized. They remain in the General Assembly. They are influential: Seitz is the House's majority floor leader, the third Republican in leadership. Huffman is leading GOP efforts on congressional redistricting changes. Women from both sides of the aisle have called on them to step down. The jokes from last week's roast are the latest in about six months of accusations of sexual harassment and inappropriate behavior. In January, senators, representatives and staff from both parties participated in mandatory sexual harassment training. What do you think? Should Seitz and Huffman resign? Let us know what you think in this moderated conversation Friday from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Comments on this topic will be reviewed by a moderator before they are published. In our Talk it Out pre-curated conversation, comments are published after they are reviewed -- promptly -- to ensure they adhere to our community rules, which prohibit indecent, hateful, abusive or harassing comments, personal attacks, vulgar nicknames, personal information including telephone numbers and addresses, email addresses belonging to others, anything inciting criminal behavior and copyrighted material for which you do not own the rights. Ex-Ohio Supreme Court Justice Bill O'Neill, a Chagrin Falls Democrat, is running for governor. That's fine. That's his right. What isn't right is how O'Neill exploited loopholes in Ohio's Code of Judicial Conduct and in high-court oversight procedures to stay in his powerful judicial job for 13 weeks after announcing he intended to run for governor. That didn't just enable O'Neill to continue to rule on pending cases -- cases that could amass possible campaign contributions or votes for him if he ruled right. It also, thanks to the state Supreme Court's random-draw procedures for determining who writes opinions, included at least one case in which O'Neill wrote the majority opinion - upholding FirstEnergy Corp.'s right to squirrel away $43 million in refunds rather than repay them to overcharged customers. That opinion was released Jan. 24, two days before O'Neill's resignation took effect. After that opinion went out, the justice tweeted: "We have lift off. On October 30 I had 99 cases to decide. Today I have zero." We have lift off. On October 30 I had 99 cases to decide. Today I have zero. Thanks to a wonderful staff and colleagues. William Michael O'Neill, Justice, Supreme Court of Ohio, RETIRED. Bill ONeill (@BillONeillOH) January 25, 2018 That is, O'Neill helped decide as many as 99 cases as a lame-duck justice and candidate for governor. Yet the state Code of Judicial Conduct says, "Upon becoming a candidate in a primary or general election for a nonjudicial elective office, a judge shall resign from judicial office." O'Neill, however, did not resign. In a Nov. 2 letter to the Supreme Court clerk, O'Neill wrote, "On Oct. 29, 2017, [I] announced [my] intention to become a partisan candidate for the Office of Governor of Ohio." Yet the letter added that he would continue to vote on pending cases while recusing himself from new cases. Maybe, in the annals of hair-splitting, there's a difference between intending to run for nonjudicial office and filing paperwork. To most Ohioans, though evidently not to O'Neill, that's a distinction without a difference. Chief Justice Maureen O'Connor, in a Nov. 2 email to fellow justices, said she'd told O'Neill she didn't agree with "his interpretation of his duties under [the canon]. I think that he should have resigned 10/29/17." O'Connor was correct. But she also wrote that the Supreme Court has "no mechanism in place to remove a justice when one becomes a partisan candidate. Going forward, should we revisit some of our Rules of Judicial Conduct? I think that's a definite yes." O'Connor's correct again. In November, our editorial board declared O'Neill "unfit for any public office" after his crude and tone-deaf Facebook post boasting of intimate relations with "approximately 50 very attractive females." But O'Neill should have resigned from the Ohio Supreme Court as soon as he announced his "intention" to run for governor. No way should he have remained on the court till it was convenient for him to leave. Though surely unintentional, O'Neill's Jan. 24 "lift off" tweet was suggestive. Lift offs begin on launching pads - which, convenient though it may have been for O'Neill, is not what Ohio's Supreme Court is supposed to be. About our editorials: Editorials express the view of the editorial board of cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer -- the senior leadership and editorial-writing staff. As is traditional, editorials are unsigned and intended to be seen as the voice of the news organization. Have something to say about this topic? * Use the comments to share your thoughts, and stay informed when readers reply to your comments by using the Notification Settings (in blue). * Send a letter to the editor, which will be considered for print publication. * Email general questions about our editorial board or comments on this editorial to Elizabeth Sullivan, director of opinion, at esullivan@cleveland.com. PARMA, Ohio - Despite promoting 21st century education, Dentzler Elementary School teachers recently turned back the clock for students in kindergarten through fourth grade with what amounted to an old-school pen pal program. Around the holiday season, the Dentzler Road building received more than 150 cards and letters from more than 30 states, as well as Canada, Puerto Rico and Portugal. "We have a teacher who did this at another building she was at, so she put the idea out to other staff, and the teachers just hopped on it," Principal Renee Dzurnak said. "I thought it was a great idea, because we always try to do any type of learning activity that reaches beyond our school walls. Outreach to the community is something we work very hard on here, just for the students to learn about something that's going on at another school in the states and out of the country," she said. To facilitate the program, the school reached out to the international Holiday Card Project. At Dentzler Elementary, nine teachers participated, with roughly 150 students sending out letters that included their name, school enrollment, climate information and three exciting things about their buildings. "It's a whole lesson in geography, weather and letter writing, so it was very cross-curricular," Dzurnak said. "The one big thread in common to all of them was how we have an iPad for every student. So the technology piece was really big with our students." In return for sending out letters, the teachers received correspondence, which oftentimes was from a different grade level than their class. Dzurnak said the kids were very excited to receive mail from another state. "I think it was pretty cool, because we got a card from Green Bay, Wisconsin," said a second-grader named Joey. "That's where the Packers play. I like the Packers." Added second-grader Madison: "I don't know where all these places are. I liked seeing them on our classroom map." Kindergarten teacher Tiffany Hallis said this was her fourth year taking part in the project. "Every year, my students get so excited to receive mail from other schools," Hallis said. "It's nice to compare our school to theirs, and sometimes I even get new ideas to incorporate in my classroom." Looking ahead, Dzurnak said she plans on bringing back the letter-writing program next year with even greater participation. "I think the teachers that opted to not do it really saw how it took off and what a great learning opportunity it was," Dzurnak said. "I have a feeling we'll get more participation." CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Several years ago, an in-depth study of pizza demographics by the data company, Infogroup, revealed that Cleveland came in an astonishing 4th place in the country for most pizza restaurants per capita. With at least seven cheese-draped dispensaries for every 10,000 people, that beats New York and Chicago by far and is bested only by Cincinnati, Pittsburgh and....Orlando? Maybe people need a slice of relative reality after spending all day being Disney Whirled. Differential stats aside, that's a whole lotta pizza consumed in this town. There's thick, thin, and every increment in between, slices, squares, very personal size and...monster wedges. The latter is courtesy of Crust Tremont, the long-time upscale pizza place of record in, yes, Tremont, that just recently moved to more capacious and scholarly digs, but we'll talk more about that later. Their one pound-plus behemoths are hewn from a Paul Bunyan-size 32-inch diameter pizza and custom accessorized from an extensive list that spans the usual props of pepperoni, sausage and roasted red peppers, to the more unexpected pleasures of white truffle oil, fennel-scented fiocchiona (cured Tuscan salami), smoked mozzarella and garlic-roasted potato. A life-affirming choice of baby arugula and spinach toppings provides a virtuous salad and pizza partnership. Though a slab bacon and fried egg combo is pretty compelling, for all the wrong reasons, as well. These prodigious slices are served on equally hefty 2-inch thick wedge-shaped wooden boards that add an even more Bunyanesque sensibility to the proceedings. For those interested in a more curated pizza experience, Crust has its own specialty offerings in non-giant lumberjack sizes. There are many splendors among the 12- and 16-inch pies. Try the addictive Spanish Chorizo pie that flatters the smoky salami-like sausage with a multi-faceted flavor base of goat cheese, sweet, roasted red peppers, smoked mozzarella, rosemary and garlic. The delight-filled Mixed Mushroom pizza melds earthy tones with caramelized onions, goat and pecorino cheeses, then brightens the proceedings with balsamic reduction and gilds it all with white truffle oil. I would be remiss not to mention the pizza base, particularly at a place called Crust. There are two options available. The thicker, hand-tossed version is a beautiful bread-baker's pie. With dough made every morning in-house, the resulting pizza has a full-flavored, lovingly raised crust baked in a good old-fashioned deck oven. Crisp and golden brown, with an excellent chewy interior, it would be good all by itself, the ultimate test for a superlative pizza. For my money, avoid the thin crust variety at all costs. It may be the same dough, but the resulting crust came out like cardboard. DOA sounds overly dramatic, but there was no sense of the vibrant life of the yeast in this crust, in contrast to its thicker counterpart. Though traditional pizza is the mainstay of the menu, I would be remiss not to mention the guiltiest of pleasures: Fried Pepperoni Mozzarella Bites. A nugget of pepperoni-wrapped mozzarella inside a pizza dough ball is cooked in oil until crisp outside and soft and melty inside, then dusted with pecorino and served in a bowl of marinara. If you've ever wondered what deep-fried pizza tastes like, wonder no more. This is a pretty good approximation. Have at it. The Burrata Antipasto is a more refined pleasure. Buttery mozzarella is beautifully supported by some excellent European sausage and a sprightly arugula, artichoke and red pepper salad. If you're lucky and the timing is right, you'll also get a perfect accompaniment, fresh-from-the-oven garlic flatbread. There is also quite a fleet of sub sandwiches made on good, fresh house-made buns and overstuffed with wonderful things. The Portabella Sub, with lots of meaty mushrooms, goat cheese, roasted red pepper, arugula and maybe not quite enough of the excellent tomato basil mayo, is definitely a two people-plus dish. One small disappointment was lack of desserts. Crust is currently between dessert chefs, but perhaps a little gelato and maybe even an after-dinner espresso would be a nice interim gesture. We mentioned Crust Tremont's big move earlier. Several months ago, they departed the vest-pocket pizza place they had occupied for over five years, to take over the former Komorowski's Funeral Home. This allowed owner, Mike Griffin, to not only expand operations to include the spacious bar with a fine selection of local brews and air-conditioning, but also to share the building with his cousin, Dave Ferrante, who moved his legendary and recently shuttered Visible Voice book store into the second floor. The move also gained Griffin a dedicated 25-space parking lot, the Holy Grail for destination diners coming to Tremont, and lots of wall space to showcase local artists. We rarely get a chance to talk about art here, but a word or two must be said about the work currently on display at Crust Tremont. Mike Sobeck's canvases, celebrating all things pizza, from surreal renditions of individual slices to haute couture to the less savory intersection of culinary and dermatological studies is well worth a visit to Crust. It's another cultural bonus, along with the bookstore, and some mighty fine pizza. By the way, for anyone questioning the veracity of the Infogroup pizza study above, their research also revealed that Cleveland did even better in another category, third place in bars per capita....I rest my case. TASTE BITES Where: 2258 Professor Ave. Cleveland, OH 44113 Call: 216-583-0257 Online:crusttremont.com Hours: 11 a.m.-11 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday, 11 a.m.-12 p.m. Friday-Saturday, closed Sunday and Monday Prices: Appetizers $6-$13; Subs $9-$11; Pasta $8-$12; Pizza Slices $4.50 + $1 per topping; Specialty Pizzas $16-$18. Reservations: Accepted. Credit Cards: All major cards accepted. Kid-friendliness: No children's menu, but lots of tyke-friendly pizza and good fries. Bar Service: Full bar with a lovable affinity for local beers, on tap and bottled. A few well-priced wines, with a broader selection at the bookstore's wine bar upstairs. Feel free to bring your pizza with you for a more intellectual dining experience. Accessibility: Wheelchair ramp on the side of the building, easy access in the restaurant. Bonus for Destination Diners: Crust has free parking onsite, nothing says nirvana in Tremont quite like a 25-car lot right in back of the restaurant. Grade: *** CLEVELAND, Ohio - Multiple low-pressure systems and a shot of cold air will breed snow showers this weekend in Northeast Ohio, but the snow won't amount to anything Clevelanders can't handle. Scattered showers are on track across Northeast Ohio already, thanks to a passing arctic front, the culprit behind the dropping temperatures. Scattered light snow is possible through the evening, but most areas will see less than an inch. Some higher elevation areas in Northeast Ohio could see up to 3 inches. Snowfall totals through late Friday night. (National Weather Service in Cleveland) As an Alberta clipper approaches on Saturday, some light snow and flurries will pop up during the day. But the heavier, accumulating snow isn't expected to start until after midnight as a second, stronger low-pressure system advances. So, less than an inch should stick on Saturday. Snow chances are high most of Saturday night and last into early Monday morning. Including the possible flurries Saturday, the snow overnight Saturday and all day Sunday into Monday morning, a widespread 2 to 3 inches of snow is possible, with the higher amounts most likely in the extreme northeast corner of the state. Sunday snowfall totals. (National Weather Service in Cleveland) Check out the forecast: Temperatures Temperature forecast. Precipitation chances Precipitation forecast. Winds Wind speed and direction forecast. Live radar: Keep checking cleveland.com/weather for daily weather updates for Northeast Ohio, and don't forget to submit any weather questions you may have! Kelly Reardon is cleveland.com's meteorologist. Please follow me on Facebook and Twitter @KellyRWeather. Questo comunicato e stato pubblicato piu di 1 anno fa. Le informazioni su questa pagina potrebbero non essere attendibili. Martin's Gates. The walls were maintained until the buy rs3 gold late 18th Century when the gateways were demolished to allow for road widening. Now only fifteen sections of the wall survive above ground level, including Cow Tower, most of which can be seen on Roy Abigail's interesting walk. "I love the kind of nonchalant ness of the song," said Underwood, who got it from Nashville hitmakers Zach Crowell, Ashley Gorley and Hillary Lindsey. "It's so laid back. It's not like 'Before He Cheats,' where she's taking some sort of aggressive payback kind of thing. 7. 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The main html page has a size of . This CoolSocial report was updated on 2021-09-11, you can refresh this analysis whenever you want. Hewlett Packard Enterprise partners said new HPE CEO Antonio Neri is set to drive what they are calling the 'Next' era of channel sales growth. Neri, the architect of the HPE Next initiative to make the company more agile and nimble, officially took over as CEO on Thursday. [Related: CRN Exclusive: Incoming HPE CEO Neri On Delivering Public Cloud Economics On-Prem, 'Everything As-A-Service' And Why HPE's 'Channel First' Model Will Never Change] Raymond Tuchman, CEO of Experis Technology Group, a Potomac, Md., HPE partner, said the entire HPE partner community is excited about Neri taking the CEO job because of his iron clad partner commitment. "Antonio has experience in the field working with the partners," said Tuchman. "He knows what we face everyday and he is out there ready to help partners any way he can. We are very excited about the future with Antonio taking over as CEO. He understands both the power of technology and the channel. He has done a great job architecting the software defined road map with great acquisitions." Experis is seeing exceptional sales of sales of the Simplivity hyperconverged product line which HPE acquired one year ago for $650 million as a result of Neri's leadership. "We believe we are going to do $1 million in Simplivity sales in February," said Tuchman. Tuchman said he expects his HPE sales to be up about 20 percent this year. That's on top of the 18 percent HPE sales growth the company reported last year, said Tuchman."The HPE products we are offering today are second to none," he said. Neri, a 22 year HPE veteran who started as a customer service engineer for the company in EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa), celebrated the first day of what he called his "dream job" with a blog post on LinkedIn called "Living The Dream." "Its not the first time a dream has come true for me in my 20 plus years at HP and HPE," said Neri. "This also happens to be the place where I met my dream girl my wife, Caroline (who also worked in the EMEA call center in Amsterdam), in 1995. In the years that followed, we have shared, along with our two children, countless adventures all over the country from Boise to Houston to Palo Alto." Neri said HPE will win because its razor sharp focus on keeoing "customers and partners" at the "core" of the company. Borrowing the HPE Aruba mantra of "Customers First, Customers Last," Neri said enterprises of the future will require "intelligent and autonomous IT systems" that seamlessly connect data from the edge to the core to the cloud. "At HPE, we will be focused on powering them by building the worlds best infrastructure solutions intelligent, state-of-the-art technologies and services that provide them with the tools to harvest, analyze and store critical data from across their business," said Neri. "By quickly turning data into insights, enterprises will drive new business models, create new customer and workplace experiences, and increase operational efficiency." Kelly Ireland, founder and CEO of Orange, Calif.-based CB Technologies, an HPE Platinum partner and No. 245 on the 2017 CRN Solution Provider 500, said Neri's channel interaction is second to none. "Antonio is known for making sure that he has a high touchpoint with partners," she said. "The channel can count on Antonio. With his leadership, I think we can continue to lead the market with the most innovative technology solutions for our customers. Antonio's knowledge and interaction with the channel and partner ecosystem is going to allow us to stay ahead in this ever changing industry of providing heterogenous solutions." Dan Sytsma, vice president and general manager of Melillo Consulting, a long-time HPE partner that is celebrating its 30th anniversary, said he sees Neri as a "hands on" leader moving the company forward with next generation hybrid IT offerings like Synergy, Simplivity and Nimble. :"Those products are really resonating with customers," he said. "We see HPE embracing the new directions that customers are going in. We could not be more thrilled that Antonio is on board as CEO. He has been with HPE for 22 years and is very responsive to partners." Melillo Consulting was one of the first partners in the Mid-Atlantic region to sell and support the new software defined product offerings like Synergy, Simplivity and Nimble. "We have a lot of good deals in the pipeline with products that Antonio has brought into the HPE family," he said. Neri, for his part, used the LinkedIn blog post to call on HPE partners and customers to "dream big" with a pledge to make HPE a "safe place to take risks, adapt fast and "push the boundaries of what is possiblewhether that is product innovation, business process innovation, or even a new approach to running efficient meetings." With technology moving at "lightning like speed," Neri said HPE is "better positioned than ever to take advantage" of the market opportunities that exist now and in the future. "Our employees are the ones who enable us to go to market with more of the state-of-the-art innovations on which our stellar reputation has been built so they must always feel empowered to take risks, to seek novel and original ways to solve problems or capitalize on opportunities. All our employees must be strivers, not simply survivors. To go further, faster. To accelerate whats next for our customers and partners. And to achieve their dreams. Just as I am doing." As for former CEO HPE Meg Whitman, who officially steps down as CEO today, she ended her six years at the helm by singling out Neri's "unparalleled passion" for the company and dedication to customers. "Im absolutely confident that he is exactly what the company needs to take its next step," said Whitman in a tweet. "Good luck, my friend!" Working hand-in-hand with over the past six years, I have seen his unparalleled passion for and dedication to our customers first-hand. Im absolutely confident that he is exactly what the company needs to take its next step. Good luck, my friend! A woman who was reported as missing in Humboldt County was found this week in a rather visible place the reality series "The Bachelor." Rebekah Martinez, 22, of Fresno, was reported missing on Nov. 18 by her mother, who told the Humboldt County Sheriff's Office that her daughter had gone to the area to work on a marijuana farm. The North Coast Journal included Martinez in a cover story featuring images of the 35 people listed as missing in Humboldt County on the California Department of Justice's website. The story titled "The Humboldt 35: Why does Humboldt County have the highest rate of missing persons reports in the state?" was published on Facebook on Thursday in a post that asked readers if they recognized anyone. Amy Bonner O'Brien of Trinidad was the first to respond on the Facebook post and identify Martinez as a contestant on the current season of "The Bachelor." "My sister always calls me Sherlock Holmes," O'Brien said. "I was just scrolling through the 35 missing people and I recognized some of them from news stories. When I got to her, I was like wait a minute, she looks so familiar and I instantly thought of 'The Bachelor.'" O'Brien doesn't regularly tune into "The Bachelor," but on a recent visit to see her sister they watched this season's first episode together. The North Coast Journal reached out to the Humboldt County Sheriff's Office, who contacted Martinez over the phone and promptly removed her from the missing person's list. "(The mother) had phone contact with Bekah via a friend on November 12th," said Public Information Officer Samantha Karges. "Bekah had told her she was coming to Humboldt County to work on a marijuana farm and she wouldn't be able to contact her for a week or so." On "The Bachelor," Martinez got attention for her 14-year age difference with the lead Arie Luyendyk Jr. She has been actively posting on Instagram and Twitter since she was reported missing and often posts about appearing on the show. When her bizarre story was reported by media on Feb. 2, she tweeted a message referring to the photo used in the missing person's report. "Honestly the scariest thing about this story is that my efforts to conceal The Worst Drivers License Photo Of All Time have been thwarted," she wrote. Find more of her Tweets in the gallery at the top of the story. STAMFORD The speakers who led the meeting Thursday night at the Marriott hotel agreed on a way to strengthen financial markets without the need for any new legislation or spending: more investor education. At the investor forum hosted by the nonprofit Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, U.S. Rep. Jim Himes, the FINRA head, and the state Banking Departments director of securities all underlined their belief in investors doing extensive research and thinking critically to reduce risks with their financial allocations. Within the government whether its the state government or federal government we can help the regulators, we can do regulation well hopefully, we can balance regulation, we can give the SEC and FINRA the resources they need to go after the bad guys, Himes, a member of the House Financial Services Committee and a former Goldman Sachs banker, told an audience of 430. But there is no substitute in healthy markets for educated investors. Himes, a Democrat who has represented Fairfield Countys Fourth Congressional District since 2009, also cited a proposal he has sponsored, the Senior Safe Act. Backed by FINRA, the bill would allow financial institutions and professionals to reach out to government agencies if they have concerns about senior citizens being financially exploited. Sadly, a lot of exploitation, a lot of the predatory behavior is aimed at our senior citizens, who quite frequently, through diligence and care and prudence, have amassed retirement funds, and they are looking forward to decades partly relying on those funds, Himes said. It is in that moment sadly that people are exploited or taken advantage of. And the Senior Safe Act should help with that. Lynn McKenna-Krumins, the state Department of Bankings director of securities, also highlighted the importance of investor education. It offers the best protection against fraud, especially since recouping swindled funds is often impossible, she said. If it sounds too good to be true, it is too good to be true, she said. Your greatest ally is a healthy dose of skepticism. FINRA plays a crucial regulatory role. Based in Washington, D.C., the nonprofit is authorized by Congress to protect investors by ensuring the broker-dealer industry operates fairly and honestly. The challenges for regulators and investors have grown as technological advances have produced a proliferation of investing options, said FINRA President and CEO Robert Cook. Just because its automated, dont give up your skepticism; treat it like you would as though youre dealing with a person face to face, Cook said. Make sure you get the same types of questions answered, as you would if someone were trying to sell you a product over the phone or in person. Cook and Christine Kieffer, senior director of the FINRA Investor Education Foundation, suggested caution in investing in cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin. Virtual currency markets are highly speculative, Kieffer said. The Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission theyre looking closely at virtual currencies themselves and also products associated with them. But it still really remains unclear if and how these products will be regulated and by whom. In the forums closing section, McKenna-Krumins and Hearst Connecticut Media personal-finance columnist Julie Jason held an audience Q&A. The questions included a query about whether investors could negotiate mutual fund fees. The fact of the matter is all this information is in the prospectus, and you can look up exactly what share classes are charging, Jason said. FINRA has a wonderful resource that allows you to check and compare different share classes and different funds. So thats the route to go. Negotiation is not part of the deal. pschott@scni.com; 203-964-2236; twitter: @paulschott Even the most determined and motivated entrepreneurs will come up with excuses as to why he or she cannot do something. Obstacles arise and then self-doubt enters the mind -- making an excuse is the easy way out. I made excuses in the past -- several times. Looking back, those excuses resulted in missed opportunities and ultimately failure. It doesn't matter if you want to lose weight, get an online MBA, hit a specific revenue milestone or start a business -- excuses will be the cause of failure. Here are five excuses to remove from your mindset immediately -- they are complete BS. Related: 10 Things Successful People Tell Themselves Every Day 1. "I don't have time." Time is our most valuable asset. While we only have 24 hours in a day, we make time for things we want -- people we want to see, activities we want to do, etc. The only thing getting in the way are excuses. Have you ever been in a relationship and the other person dropped the "If you really wanted to see me, then you would make time" line? I know I have heard it several times in the past, and guess what? None of those relationships worked out because I didn't want to put in the effort. The same applies to entrepreneurship. Want to start a business but you are working a nine-to-five? Get up earlier or stay up late -- if you want it bad enough you will make the time. 2. "There aren't enough opportunities for me." If there are walls or barriers standing in your way you need to figure out how to get around them, or simply plow right through them. There is nothing easy about being an entrepreneur. There is never going to be a simple straight line from point A to point B. Saying there aren't enough opportunities is an excuse that allows you to quit before you even start. Create your own opportunity -- figure out how to solve a problem and you can write your own ticket. Related: 10 Quotes to Help You Not Suck and Be Awesome, According to an Awesomeness Expert 3. "I don't want to risk disapproval from family and friends." You need thick skin to play this game and not let the opinions of others influence your decisions. If your friends aren't supportive, then you need new friends. While you can't get a new family, you can remove yourself from their negative energy. I was lucky to have had very supportive parents growing up. My dad was my biggest support system when I was just starting out, and the reason I became an entrepreneur. He passed away several years ago, but still remains my number one source of motivation -- I bust my butt daily because I know how proud he would be. The odds are very high that there will be family and friends telling you that the chances of succeeding are slim and that you should take a more secure or stable path -- ignore them. It's easy to agree with them, because it gives you an easy way out. Use their disapproval as motivation and wake up each day hungry to prove them wrong. 4. "I should be content with where I am and what I have." Life is very short -- the average lifespan in the U.S. is 78 years -- that's 28,470 days. Not very long when you think of it that way, right? You should never be content and always strive for more. I have been going to night runs lately, taking advantage of the cooler weather this time of the year in Miami. The other night while running I was paying attention to the cars driving by -- Phantom, Lamborghini, Ferrari, etc. -- all the exotics were well represented. Now, material possessions like cars don't necessarily translate to happiness, but they do indicate one thing: the people driving them -- or the people that bought them -- were not content with average. Saying you are content is the equivalent of saying you don't want to work any harder. Related: 10 Podcasts That Can Change How You Think About Life 5. "I'm scared of the risks involved." No risk, no reward. It's as simple as that. You have to accept that fact that every entrepreneurial venture or opportunity comes with risk, and a lot of it. Take a look at some of the most successful entrepreneurs and companies and you will see that there was always a lot of risk involved. Elon Musk received $180 million from the PayPal acquisition and he put $100 million in SpaceX, $70 million in Tesla and $10 million in Solar City. He then had to borrow money for rent. Was he scared of the risks involved? Not a chance. Very few people would take $180 million dollars and roll it into new ventures -- they would be on a permanent vacation. The risk was well worth it, as Musk is worth about $21.5 billion today. Related: 5 Lame Excuses That Unsuccessful People Always Make How to Stop Making Excuses. (It's Not What You Think It Is.) The 3 Keys to Overcoming Resistance Copyright 2018 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved This article originally appeared on entrepreneur.com TRUMBULL - A man acting suspiciously in the Sitting Duck Restaurant has been arrested for breaking into several vehicles and taking several items. The manager of the restaurant called police on Tuesday morning that a male had entered the Madison Avenue restaurant and was acting very suspiciously, Lt. Keith Golding said in a release. He was moving from seat to seat and looking out the windows. He said at one point, when police were walking by, he became very nervous and went into the restroom. He exited a short time later without his hat and jacket. When the manager checked the restroom, he found that the male had hidden items in the toilet tank and his hat and jacket were stuffed in a corner. Officers who were actively investigating the car thefts, went to the restaurant and detained Vincent Dermano, 41, of East Main Street in Bridgeport. Officers on the scene were able to identify the items hidden in the bathroom as some of the things that were taken from the motor vehicles. Dermano, who police say was recently released from jail, was charged with two counts of third-degree burglary, third-degree larceny and sixth-degree larceny. He was also found to have three active arrest warrants for failure to appear in court from New Britain, Monroe and Trumbull police. Dermano is held on $100,000 bond and is scheduled to appear in court on Feb. 7. Deutsche WelleFebruary 1, 2018Notes on door-to-door visits made by members of Jehovah's Witnesses breach EU data privacy law, according to the advocate general of the EU's top court. His finding backs the view of Finland's data protection commission.The Luxembourg-based Advocate General Paolo Mengozzi on Thursday rejected a lawsuit filed by the Jehovah's Witness movement that asserts its members' notes are gathered only individually and do not breach the EU's privacy directive.Instead, the report by the advocate general, whose findings often carry weight in the European Court of Justice, concluded that the Jehovah's Witnesses (JW) are centrally organized and the people visited by the group must give permission for note-taking.As evidence, Mengozzi said that prior to the legal dispute the movement had provided printed forms for note-taking to its members.Lawsuit origin in FinlandJW brought the case after a Finnish data protection commission ruled that the religious group could only record and process information on people its members spoke to within the confines of EU and Finnish privacy laws.Finnish authorities found that JW members took notes on family members and the religious orientations of those visited without the individuals' permission for use in later visits.Based in the US state of New York, the movement formed in the 19th century and has more than 8 million members worldwide. It preaches door-to-door, seeking to convert "outsiders" to its literal view of the Bible and belief that the end of the world is near.Followers object to military service. During World War Two, members were widely persecuted.Privacy cases frequentAdvocate general reports typically provide the basis for rulings by the Luxembourg court. Its verdict on the Finnish case is likely in several months.The court has made a string of rulings on privacy issues, including its dismissal last week of a bid by an Austrian activist to bring a class action against Facebook.In a related 2015 ruling, the court forced the EU and the United States to replace their "Safe Harbor" data sharing arrangement with a new system supposed to better safeguard personal data that firms in the US hold about Europeans. BEN WINSLOW FOX 13 NewsFEBRUARY 1, 2018SALT LAKE CITY -- The state of Utah will launch its own investigation into members of the Fundamentalist LDS Church and whether they violated rules on food stamps, FOX 13 has learned.The Utah Department of Workforce Services said it would conduct a review into individual members of the polygamous church who are recipients of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits following the federal prosecution of FLDS leaders, including Lyle Jeffs."We expect them to use those properly, but if we find out theyre not using whether it be this particular community or anybody, any citizen in Utah, we will pursue disqualification," said Dale Ownby, the director of eligibility for Utah's Department of Workforce Services.The state will review evidence the FBI gathered last year, including hundreds of hours of surveillance video showing FLDS faithful using their SNAP benefits cards at church-run stores. Welfare recipients may also be questioned."Well need to look at each one of those individuals, case by case," Ownby said in a recent interview with FOX 13.The state uses a "clear and convincing" standard to determine violations. If anyone challenges their determinations, an administrative law judge gets involved.Federal prosecutors indicted 11 FLDS church members and leaders in what became the nation's food stamp fraud case. Church leaders were accused of ordering members to hand over their SNAP benefits to the Bishop's Storehouse to do with what they wished. The U.S. Attorney's Office at one point claimed taxpayers were bilked out of more than $11 million (a judge reduced that amount significantly to about $1.5 million). FLDS leader Lyle Jeffs, the brother of imprisoned polygamous leader Warren Jeffs, is currently serving a 5-year prison sentence for his role in the scheme.The state, which administers the federal government's SNAP program, can now conduct its own review since the case has been adjudicated. But some who work with those in the FLDS Church fear the state may be persecuting rank-and-file members."Dont paint every FLDS person that you see with the crimes of the bad guys," said Christine Marie Katas of Voices for Dignity, a group in Hildale that works with FLDS members on everything from jobs and education to evictions.Katas said she feared the DWS review would harm families who legitimately need assistance and cause a reclusive community to retreat further from help."I work hard to try to convince them the outside world loves them and try to reduce the stigma against them," she told FOX 13 on Friday. "But every time theres an investigation and its associated with the word FLDS, the entire population and you paint them all with the crimes of a few."The FLDS claimed a religious right to consecrate all they have to their church. The judge handling the federal case allowed that to be raised as a defense, should the case go to trial. But the defendants took plea deals (a case was dismissed against one).Esther, an FLDS woman who asked FOX 13 not to use her last name, said she did not believe rules were broken."I dont know how they can prove it. You purchase food for your family and make a pot of soup for your family and share it with your neighbors, theres nothing wrong with that," she said.Ownby said the religious claim would be evaluated as they conducted the review, which could wrap up in a few months. Potential punishments would mean the head of household could see individual benefits cut off. (For example, a family of four would have the benefits reduced to three.)He insisted the Utah Department of Workforce Services would not let children go hungry."You'll feel a sting, but the parents will still have the resources to feed their kids," he said. With Theresa May away in China, and the B-team on parade in the Commons, I was tempted to give this weeks Prime Ministers Questions a miss. But Im so glad I surrendered to the call of journalistic duty and tuned in to watch. For what I witnessed was the hugely gratifying demolition of one of my least favourite politicians, who was defending one of the stupidest of Jeremy Corbyns policies (which is saying something). Now, I was brought up to believe its very wrong to take pleasure in the humiliation of a fellow human being particularly when that fellow happens to be a lady. But I think we all have to make an exception when the lady in question is Emily Thornberry, who was standing in for Mr Corbyn. Emily Thornberry was standing in for Jeremy Corbyn at Prime Minister's Questions this week Theres something about her insufferably patronising voice and aura of seemingly indestructible self-satisfaction that would make even the most gentlemanly of saints yearn to see her taken down a peg or two. And on Wednesday, thats just what befell her. Up against her was the Prime Ministers new understudy, David Lidington a weedy looking chap, who had hardly crossed my radar before he was promoted in January to the job previously occupied by the hapless Damian Green (whose hand may or may not have brushed fleetingly against a young womans knee many years ago). I admit I had very low expectations of this obscure 61-year-old. So, clearly, did Lady Nugee to give Miss Thornberry her married name. Indeed, she seemed even more pleased with herself than usual when she set about bowling him a googly, obviously believing it would send his stumps flying and earn her applause from her party. Instead of questioning him on one of the great issues of the day, such as Brexit or the collapse of the outsourcing giant Carillion subjects on which he would be well briefed she tried to catch him unprepared by attacking him over the Governments refusal to reduce the voting age to 16. Why, she wanted to know, did every party in the Commons support enfranchising schoolchildren, with the lonely exceptions of the Conservatives and the Democratic Unionists? Why was the Government opposed to forward-thinking change? Instead of attacking the Government over the great issues of the day, Thornberry raised the issue of giving 16-year-olds the vote She had even dreamed up a sound-bite for the occasion, delivering it with a self-congratulatory smirk as if it were a pearl of wit worthy of Oscar Wilde. They are not the coalition of chaos, Mr Speaker, they are the coalition of cavemen. She then sat down and waited for Mr Lidington to make a blustering fool of himself. How she (and I) misjudged him. Far from being caught on the hop, he appeared voluminously informed on the question of young peoples voting rights. He pointed out that 26 of our 27 EU partners deny the vote to under-18s, as do the U.S., Canada, New Zealand and Australia. Unless she is going to denounce all of those countries as somehow inadequate to her own particular standards, he went on, quite honestly she should grow up and treat this subject with a greater degree of seriousness. As if this wasnt enough to make Ms Thornberry look foolish, he had another argument in his armoury, more devastating still. Gently, he remarked that her own party had legislated to ban 16-year-olds from buying cigarettes, kitchen knives or fireworks and even from using a sunbed. How could Labour now claim they were grown-up enough to vote? It was Ms Thornberry who was left blustering. These were health and safety issues, she said, quite separate from democratic rights. Thus, she cornered herself into defending the ludicrous proposition that while 16-year-olds are too immature to use a sunbed sensibly, they are qualified to select Her Majestys Government. Instead of the applause she had expected, she was greeted with contemptuous laughter, richly deserved. But there was one obvious truth Mr Lidington omitted to point out. Either because he was too polite, or too merciful, he failed to mention Labours blatantly hypocritical motive for demanding a reduction in the voting age. Mr Corbyn and Ms Thornberry back votes for 16-year-olds not because they honestly believe school-age children have enough experience of life to weigh up political arguments and reach a mature judgment on who should govern the country. If they really thought that, any parent of grunting teenagers and my wife and I have had four of them through our hands could quickly put them right. No, it is because they calculate the younger the electorate, the more likely it will be to vote Labour. After all, wasnt Mr Corbyns unexpectedly strong showing in last years election attributed to a surge in voting by 18 to 24-year-olds prompting the Oxford English Dictionary to declare as its word of the year youthquake, meaning a political awakening among millennial voters? Cabinet Office Minister David Lidington, standing in for the Prime Minister, 'appeared voluminously informed on the question of young peoples voting rights' In fact, a fascinating report this week by members of the British Election Study team, the recognised authority on the subject, suggests no such surge took place. On the contrary, the groups face-to-face surveys show there was little change in turnout by age group between 2015 and 2017. Young people were still much less likely to vote no matter how enthusiastically they sang Oh, Jeremy Corbyn at Glastonbury. When polling day came, they couldnt be bothered. And what was true of the under 24s, I strongly suspect, would be even more so of the under-18s. But what nobody disputes is that those younger voters who did crawl out of bed and tear themselves away from social media to get to the polling station were more likely than their elders to vote Labour. It has always been true that the young tend to lean to the Left as suggested by the old saying: Any man who is not a socialist at age 20 has no heart; any man who is still a socialist at 40 has no head. But from my own experience of bringing up four bolshie boys, I would venture that this Left-wing bias has become stronger than ever not least among the under-18s, the great majority of whom have never suffered the pain of paying taxes. As for why this should be, I reckon it has a lot to do with the Lefts takeover of education. Young people were still much less likely to vote, no matter how enthusiastically they sang Oh, Jeremy Corbyn at Glastonbury In my own schooldays, back in the Sixties and Seventies, Conservative-voting teachers were two-a-penny. These days, there are many schools in which youd be hard pushed to find a single Tory on the staff, while the favourite reading matter in the average common room is the Guardian. True, some will argue that teachers and those who set the curriculum strive to keep their political views out of the classroom. But, inevitably, their personal prejudices filter through into impressionable young minds. Why else would the head of Ofsted, in her fine speech yesterday, be so justly exercised about religious extremists in British schools, who actively undermine fundamental British values? To a lesser extent, cant the same charge be levelled against teachers who, consciously or otherwise, feed their pupils the drip, drip, drip of Left-wing propaganda? For example, we were taught at school to look at the history of our country with pride. As for my young, they were taught more about the sins of colonialism than the glory of the British empire more about the evils of the slave trade than its abolition, in which Britain led the world. I also know, from dipping into their schoolbooks, that todays students learn far more about Martin Luther King and Americas civil rights movement than about Martin Luther and the Reformation, more about the suffragettes than the War of the Spanish Succession and far more about the theory of man-made global warming than about the artesian wells and mountain ranges that were the stuff of my own geography lessons. Is it any wonder that Ms Thornberry is so keen to give 16-year-olds the vote, when only the naive, the indoctrinated and those, like her, who never grew up are dumb enough to swallow her bosss half-baked Marxism? Meghan Markle attended her first evening event as a royal-to-be last night at the venue where a shy Lady Diana Spencer had done exactly the same thing in 1981. It was a black-tie event in aid of the Royal Opera House that saw Diana turn heads much to her embarrassment in a low-cut Emanuel gown that exposed her cleavage as she stepped from her car. Meghan too wore black last night with a version of a mans tuxedo teamed with a crisp white shirt with a bow by Tuxe costing 285 and an Alexander McQueen suit priced at 1,245. During the evening thirty-seven years ago, all 19-year-old Lady Diana Spencer hoped for was to get through the evening without making any terrible faux pas or embarrassing her prince. But it was not to be. As she stooped down to step out of the Rolls-Royce, her low-cut, borrowed dress slipped down to reveal an ample but decidedly un-royal mass of cleavage. Meghan Markle in black at the Goldsmiths' hall last night and Diana at the same venue in March 1981 Unusually, since she isn't yet a member of the Royal Family, Meghan introduced and handed out the second award of the night, to the winner of 'celebrating excellence' On March 9, 1981, Shy Di as she had been dubbed was attending a black tie event with Prince Charles at Goldsmiths Hall in London in aid of the Royal Opera House developmental appeal. Their appearance had been much-anticipated, with the public eager to catch a glimpse of the bashful young blonde whod won the heart of the heir to the throne, last seen in those staid engagement portraits, posing outside Buckingham Palace in a blue two-piece suit and pussy-bow blouse. And Diana defied expectations. As one breathless royal commentator put it: When she stepped out of that limousine, it was the best sexual theatre since Cinderella traded in her scuffed scullery clogs for Prince Charmings glass slippers. But she, a meek teenager, didnt see it that way. And no one could have predicted how disastrously the evening would go, or quite how indelibly it would mark her for years to come. Embarrassed by her outfit, scared she would humiliate herself (or him), Diana later described the evening as a horrendous occasion. She admitted: I was terrified, really at the time everything was all over the place. I remember that evening so well. I was nearly sick. The first thing to go wrong, even before Diana reached the venue, was her dress. Shed borrowed a strapless, black taffeta ballgown from Elizabeth and David Emanuel, the chic young design duo who would go on to make her wedding dress. Meghan applauds veteran soldier Daniel Claricoates after she presented him with the Celebrating Excellence Award during the Endeavour Fund Awards at Goldsmiths' Hall Thirty-seven years ago five months before Meghan Markle was even born Diana carried out her first evening engagement at the very same venue where her sons fiancee dazzled last night A sample originally lent to the TV actress Liza Goddard, the dress according to Elizabeth just happened to be hanging on a rail when she came into the designers Mayfair studio. It wasnt made for her, but she didnt mind one bit, Elizabeth explains. We went through all the options and in the end we thought black was the best. It was formal. What Diana, and indeed the Emanuels, didnt realise was that black was a royal no-no only worn in mourning and entirely unsuitable for a celebratory occasion. Diana told royal biographer Andrew Morton: I thought it was OK because girls my age wore this dress. I hadnt appreciated that I was now seen as a royal lady, although Id only got a ring on my finger as opposed to two rings. I remember walking into my husband-to-bes study, and him saying, Youre not going in that dress, are you? I replied, Yes, I am. And he said, Its black! But only people in mourning wear black! And I said, Yes, but Im not part of your family yet. On March 9, 1981, Shy Di as she had been dubbed was attending a black tie event with Prince Charles at Goldsmiths Hall in London in aid of the Royal Opera House developmental appeal Black, to me, was the smartest colour you could possibly have at the age of 19. It was a real grown-up dress. Elizabeth Emanuel remembers receiving letters from angry members of the public, chastising her and then-husband David for allowing Diana to make such a mistake. We had no idea black wasnt really done, that it was only for funerals, she recalls. We were very young and we had no press adviser. We didnt get any advice from the Palace. She trusted us and we did our best. We thought she looked perfect young and beautiful and elegant. But the colour was the least of Dianas problems. Then a healthy size 12 she would shrink to a six, with a 23.5-inch waist, by her wedding in July she had a full bust which strained against the low-cut ruffles on the neckline. As she stepped into the rainy March evening, one royal photographer who was in the press pack that night remembers Charless rather gauche reaction. Beaming from ear to ear, he told me, Wait until you see whats coming next! Diana was clearly uncomfortable in the gown, repeatedly tugging it up at the front and shielding her cleavage with her hands and bag. I was quite big-chested then, she said later, and they [the photographers] all got frightfully excited. Indeed, some deliberately chose a vantage point at the top of the stairs, in order to catch a mortified Diana at her most revealing angle. One picture shows her emerging from the car, apparently cleavage first, with the camera lens pointing directly down the front of her dress. Her jewellery a diamond necklace borrowed from her mother, which trailed down to her decolletage only served to draw attention to her bust. Lady Diana Spencer And Prince Charles At Goldsmiths Hall In London In March 1981 Because we were all so green about everything, we didnt anticipate that she was going to be getting out of a low car, explains Elizabeth Emanuel. Dianas body language that night spoke volumes; as did Charless. While he stood tall and straight, his bride-to-be slouched. Archive footage from the event shows her hunching forwards and hanging her head, as if trying to disappear from view. Keen not to dwarf her husband, who was the same height, Diana had steered clear of heels, choosing instead to wear a thoroughly Sloane Ranger pair of frumpy flats. She was unsure, too, of how to juggle her many possessions her bag, shawl, a programme from the event and, later, a single red rose given to her by a patron. As she told Andrew Morton: I didnt know whether to go out of the door first. I didnt know whether your handbag should be in your left hand or your right hand. Unlike Meghans Hollywood hair and immaculate make-up meticulously applied by a Palace-approved make-up artist Diana had no help with her beauty regime and wore her trademark blue kohl eyeliner, pink lipstick and her cropped, un-highlighted hair in a simple blow-dry. She felt so out of her depth, and so fearful about what this woeful evening meant for her future as a princess, that she sought solace in Princess Grace of Monaco, then 51, with whom she was pictured chatting conspiratorially. Noticing how frightened she was, Princess Grace whom Diana later described as wonderful and serene whisked her off to the ladies for a pep talk. The young Diana poured her heart out, confessing her fears about what lay ahead, and in reply Princess Grace said: Dont worry. It will only get worse. Her words would prove all too true. Anxiety clearly got the better of Diana, who, at the end of the evening, left with her shawl wrapped firmly around her, covering both her cleavage and the red stress rash that had developed across her chest. The following morning, photographs of the princess-to-be were splashed on the front pages of every newspaper in the country. Diana, downcast, refused to look at a single one. The Queen Mother was said to have comforted her following her nightmare evening, adding a kindly word in her ear about the blunder of wearing black on public engagements. Diana returned her dress to the Emanuels studio, where it ended up in storage until 2010 and was eventually sold at auction to a Chilean museum for 192,000. Sometimes, I wonder if I am being too harsh about William and Kate. Is it just me? Do I expect too much? Should we leave these uninteresting young people to go about their taxpayer-funded business without comment or criticism? Then I get a letter from a reader that encapsulates exactly how I feel. Like this one from Connie Wilson, who is, just like me, a royalist with issues, but considering the issue from a very different perspective. She writes: I have been a subscriber to the Mail for over 60 years and am now aged 88. I empathise with most of your opinions so am wondering if you can help me with my problem, which is that I just dont understand the fashions that some people find acceptable nowadays or the prices they are willing to pay for them. Sometimes, I wonder if I am being too harsh about William and Kate. Is it just me? Do I expect too much? Should we leave these uninteresting young people to go about their taxpayer-funded business without comment or criticism? For instance, in Wednesdays Mail, the Duchess of Cambridge was wearing the most appalling Erdem silk dress, price nearly 2,000. Even worse, it almost matched the hideous carpet she was standing on. It reminded me of when Julie Andrews pulled down the curtains in The Sound Of Music to make play-clothes for the children. On the same page, Kate was shown wearing a very smart, 3,000 Burberry coat. I bought my youngest daughter an almost identical coat at Christmas from the Joe Brown catalogue, which cost less than a third of the price. Even more worrying was another Erdem dress in Thursdays Mail, which would be more suitable on someone my age. Are these clothes provided by a stylist? Surely someone as shapely and beautiful as Kate could make better choices herself. Jan, it really is time to speak out against these appalling styles. The Duchess is on tour to represent us but she might as well be wearing a black plastic sack! What can be done? For my part, I certainly cant argue with this excellent style digest of William and Kates official visit to Sweden and Norway. My favourite pair of Premier Inn Royals trundled around Stockholm and Oslo looking like they had dived into the bargain bin of a Seventies charity shop and fought over the polyester hand-me-downs at the bottom of the pile My favourite pair of Premier Inn Royals trundled around Stockholm and Oslo looking like they had dived into the bargain bin of a Seventies charity shop and fought over the polyester hand-me-downs at the bottom of the pile. Dodgy fur, foul prints, murky colours, glum expressions, Queen Mum shoes what was going on? Even by their own dire standards, this was a new low for the Duke and Duchess of Frump, who seem to have taken it upon themselves to dress exactly like Charles and Camilla, but only worse, right down to Kates boots and Cossack hat. Why are they so old before their time, so darned middle-aged and dull? Dodgy fur, foul prints, murky colours, glum expressions, Queen Mum shoes what was going on? Why are they so old before their time, so darned middle-aged and dull? To be fair, the Duchess is seven months pregnant. Wearing something flattering and impressive to have drinkies with Crown Prince Wotsisname and Crown Princess Thingy must be last on her list of favourite things to do. Did she even look at those Erdem dresses before they were packed? Perhaps she thought the frilly blue velvet one was a travel rug. And that weird, mustardy full-length granny wrapper seemed so far removed from her usual minimalist style and so much more like something Margo Leadbetter from TVs The Good Life would covet instead. Even by their own dire standards, this was a new low for the Duke and Duchess of Frump, who seem to have taken it upon themselves to dress exactly like Charles and Camilla, but only worse, right down to Kates boots and Cossack hat Unbelievable as it may seem, Kate does, indeed, have stylists selecting outfits for her. And also a hairdresser who travels with the team to pile her hair up into the kind of cottage loaf buns that were once popular with minor Victorian royals attending the Balmoral ghillies ball. By choosing to herd em into Erdem, I suppose the Duchess and her team were being patriotic, feeling that they should fly the flag for British designers but, quite honestly, an actual flag would have been an improvement. And, like millions of readers, I dont understand the price of fashion, either. Its insane! Nowadays, it seems commonplace for a pair of strappy sandals to cost more than a car. How can an ordinary everyday gabardine mac be worth a four-figure sum? The only charitable explanation for this latest sartorial dis-as-tah is that Wills and Kate were kindly dressing down because their Nordic hosts idea of cosy winter style is even worse than theirs; a jumper over a jumper. Unbelievable as it may seem, Kate does, indeed, have stylists selecting outfits for her. And also a hairdresser who travels with the team to pile her hair up into the kind of cottage loaf buns that were once popular with minor Victorian royals attending the Balmoral ghillies ball When they were all togged up in their evening worst, the four of them looked as if they were leaving a works-do in Bolton town hall. Reader Connie is right. The Cambridges are representing us, and they need to try harder. But there is a glimmer of hope for the queenly future. Last night, when all was nearly lost, the Duchess pulled a sheer, pale-pink evening gown out of her little shop of horrors and turned on the style taps at last. It was regal, classy and even had a supergirl cape, which bathed her in a heroic glow. It was almost too little too late but well done, my old Duch. Love Ann, but Shane gets my vote Ann Widdecombe is in the final of Celebrity Big Brother on Channel 5 it seems that miracles can happen! The last time that we saw a Right-of-centre, older woman hogging so much screen time, it was either Hyacinth Bucket organising one of her candlelight suppers while avoiding the lower orders, or Margaret Thatcher speaking at the Despatch Box. Can Widdy, 70, actually win CBB? And, if so, does that mean we can look forward to seeing a wider variety of women represented on telly instead of a million Emma Watson clones? Dont hold your breath. Yes, Widdy making it to the final is incredible, but there wont be a sea-change in the endless tide of the Leftie luvvies the Emmas, Mariellas, Lilys, Maxines, Jodies and Keiras who wash up on our screens most nights of the week. However, Anns relative triumph shows that if you are authentic and true to yourself, then the public will respond positively to your honesty, even though they might not agree with some of your unfashionable opinions such as hers on topics including abortion and gay marriage. Ann is a straight bat, but surely no one can beat the double appeal of drag queen finalist Shane Jenek/Courtney Act, who is lovely inside and out, as both a man and a woman. Shane gets my vote tonight. Advertisement Time to switch off these whingeing Beeb-ettes Where are we with the BBC gender pay gap now? Not at a pretty juncture. Carrie Gracie, the BBCs former China editor who has resigned over the issue, blew a fuse over her employers report this week, which concluded there was no systemic gender bias at the Beeb. BBC women, with Carrie at their head, claim the report is a whitewash, even though it was compiled by independent accountants. All this frenzied fuss seems to have resulted in more women getting more money and a lot of men getting less money. If thats what equality and feminism have achieved, I want nothing to do with it. Carrie Gracie now seems unreasonable and loving her moment in the spotlight a little too much. Why is she still there I thought she had resigned? Perhaps she can work anywhere she wants and will turn up on The Archers next. Or get a job clearing the ham sandwiches off Jeremy Vines desk, so that any vegan guests on his Radio 2 show wont be mortally offended. If these women hate the BBC so much and find the management so despicably fraudulent and untrustworthy, then they should take their plummy, dulcet tones, their sense of entitlement, their pension pots and reheated grievances and go get a job in the real world, where reading out typed sheets of double-spaced news paragraphs does not carry a premium or mean a cushy position for life. Id like to be supportive of the Beeb-ettes, I really would, but this is a complicated problem that cant be solved overnight to everyones satisfaction. The better solution would be to work together, instead of huffing. A new report claims that the best way to get to sleep is to listen to the sound of sizzling bacon. Impossible! Most of us would have to get up and make a bacon sandwich, if not two, when faced with that aural torture. Or placate our vegan friends, who might need to be soothed by the rustle of rocket leaves instead. Sizzling bacon is the one thing guaranteed to get lazy teenagers out of bed at the weekend, but surely it has its streaky limits as a sleep aid. Looks cant kill, but when facing a baddie with a Walther PPK in his hand, Daniel can Daniel not a Bond hunk, I'm shaken... Bulbous nose? Thin lips? I blame myself for this new scientific study naming Daniel Craig as the least attractive James Bond in 007 history. If I didnt spend so much time on these pages explaining to everyone, at length, just how lovely he truly is, then perhaps a Harley Street plastic surgeon wouldnt have started wondering if Craig really was quite as devilishly handsome as previous Bonds. To prove a point, Dr Julian De Silva minutely analysed the Bond actors faces using something called the Golden Ratio of Beauty Phi and decided Daniel was the ugliest of all due to his very wide face. Sean Connery came in first, thanks to his beautiful facial symmetry. Yes, but have you seen his knuckles? They are as hairy as mice. Who wants a pretty boy Bond, anyway? I thought wed got over that with Roger Moore and Pierce Dimples Brosnan. Over or under-attentive waiters? Is Jennifer Saunders right that over-attentive waiters are the worst thing about restaurants? No. Under-attentive waiters are much, much worse. They forget to bring the bread until your soup is stone-cold; they have no idea who ordered the veal; they serve your wine to another table without giving a damn. However, celebrities like Jen are always made a fuss of and have no idea how the rest of us must suffer. Advertisement Craig has rugged good looks but they dont accord with the Greeks idea of beauty, says Dr De Silvas report. Who cares what the ancient Greeks think? Did Socrates see darling Daniel in Casino Royale winning that last hand of poker while making Eva Green almost dissolve into her cocktail? I dont think so. And since when were plastic surgeons any judge of good looks, given the monstrosities they churn out, naming no celebrity names? Looks cant kill, but when facing a baddie with a Walther PPK in his hand, Daniel can. Perhaps I should get in touch with him to say that there are some awful pictures of him out there with hideous long hair. He and I should team up on a top-secret mission to clean up his internet profile and thus boost his golden ratio listing. No, Daniel, dont argue, its no trouble, Im on my way over now. Madison Ashton, the former Penthouse pet and mistress of the late cardboard billionaire, Richard Pratt, made headlines when she outed herself as an escort and attempted to sue the baron's estate for $10 million in 2012. The now 43-year-old claimed that Pratt, who died in 2009, promised to set up a $5 million trust fund for her two children and pay her a retaining fee of $500,000 to stop working as an escort and become his mistress. Although the Supreme Court agreed the pair had the conversation, it was found that Ashton's acceptance of $100,000 and the transfer of a car into her name was done in full satisfaction of the trust claim. Ashton lost the case - but her profile skyrocketed to national infamy. Escort Madison Ashton (pictured) skyrocketed to national infamy when she attempted to sue billionaire Richard Pratt's estate 'When you are on the top 20 feed of Sky News for a week straight, with pixelated nipples and outrageously hot photos lying on the beach, cranking it at 55 kilos with an oiled body and beaded water, you kind of have to own it at the school gates,' the mother-of-two laughs. She describes the reaction from other mums as hushed silence, claiming that when she was underground, she had experienced moral outrage, but once she became a notorious poster girl for the industry she became a curiosity. 'School becomes a weird red carpet. My daughter was in Catholic boarding school in rural NSW. I attended her deb ball after just dodging prison in Dubai [after accidentally spending artificial currency]. People fly in on their crop dusters to this shindig. I walked in with my massive cleavage and the whole room literally fell dead silent. Who am I, Mick Jagger? I thought, I don't care if you're judging me - but you all want to get in my pants, that I do know.' Once she broke the ice with the other mothers, some were dying to know what her life was like. 'They corraled me with deck chairs and asked me about my box of sexual tricks that keep men coming back, while the more conservative mums looked on, horrified.' Billionaire Richard Pratt died in 2009 Her younger son has banned her from school pickup, like any other self-respecting teenager who hates being embarrassed by their mum. 'I have picked up heaps of Twitter followers from his college though. They'll probably all book me when they hit their twenties,' she says. To those who see her as a threat who services a married clientele which may include, god forbid, their husbands, Ashton says: Sorry ladies, I don't want your bloke. 'Women get paranoid about having their husbands near sex workers, but they are overestimating their guy's appeal. Most workers are only too happy to send their clients back. I get hired to help men convince themselves of their attractiveness, not steal them away.' Sex work is a double-edged sword that can attract not just moral finger-wagging but feminist ire - some women are uncomfortable about a profession that is at its core about pleasing men. Others, like Ashton, see sex work as a service that empowers women by giving them agency over their own sexuality, and letting them monetize their own erotic power. But as the business of selling sex comes out of the shadows and the neon-splashed streets of urban red light districts, and reality shows, memoirs and social media showcase women who choose to get paid for sex, does society still judge them for it? Madison Ashton leaving the Supreme Court in 2011. Although she quit the escort business for a period of time, she is back working in the sex industry You bet claims Ashton, 43 - and she says some of the worst offenders are other women. 'I am seen as a threat and too sexy; a white witch of some description,' says Ashton, who has seen plenty of girl-on-girl action during her lifetime - not just the kind that she charges $1,500 for, but judgement and gossip from one woman to another as well. 'I get a lot of drama - what's more I always have.' Ashton was one of the first Australian sex workers to not only go public, but to unapologetically turn herself into an identity known as Christine McQueen. She titillates her 33,000 global twitter followers @ChristineMqueen with highly lascivious tweet-teases and campy, digital pin-up imagery. 'Women get paranoid about having their husbands near sex workers, but they are overestimating their guy's appeal,' says Ashton Many find offence at the glamourising of her profession, but Ashton maintains that she was a trigger long before she courted notoriety in Australia. 'It started back when I was a pre-teen; I just developed this really intense sexual aura, before I even understood it. Men came out of the woodwork and they all wanted to f*** me. I realised that I was different, unique and rare - but could also see that other girls didn't trust having me around. I felt cold disapproval from my friends' mothers, and my peer group treated me as someone to be watched. The other girls seemed to think 'If I can't be this, either get rid of it or pretend to make friends and copy it'. But embrace it? Not a chance.' After drifting into full-time sex work, Ashton worked her way through the X-rated ecosystem, from rural to urban brothel, then overseas in Singapore and Europe, where she discovered high-end escorts clad in Chanel earning the equivalent of executive salaries, and realised that she had been selling herself short. Ashton left the industry for a few years when she married and subsequently tried 'civilian' life as a wife and mother. Ashton turn herself into an identity known as ''Christine McQueen'' When she was with her second partner in her late twenties - 'in love, with the rose-coloured glasses on' she says rumours percolated about her former life. But in the end, life as a domestic goddess didnt suit her and she returned to sex work post-motherhood, remaining cynical about marriage as an institution. 'Women give away a hell of a lot of free labour in marriage. If you presented the terms as simple work conditions, any union would throw them out and marriage would be outlawed. But we buy into the dream early.' Even in the unusual, very intense atmosphere of professional sex, Ashton claims it can still be handbags at dawn. 'Oh sex workers judge each other - instead of sex, the issue becomes "your filler is crap" or "your drug use is worse than mine".' Ashton points out that cosmetic filler use is so rife in the industry ('we jam it in like there is no tomorrow because we'll work more') that it replaces fashion sense and style as a lightning rod for criticism and judgement from colleagues. In the brothels Ashton was also deemed a business threat on a slow day: 'There was always drama. The other girls would give me shade, "oh look who's busy". I also saw girls undermine each other by revealing the real life identity of other sex workers all the time.' Although the women were competing for business in a hothouse atmosphere, there was some reprieve. 'There would inevitably be some nice, supportive chicks in the group that would say, "Don't worry, I was hot as a pistol like you back in the day so come and hang with us."' Ashton believes that the best way for sex workers to shrug off the age-old stigma of their profession is to out themselves Ashton's claims that her own life did change profoundly with the support of one woman - a female magistrate. Ashton says she was self-represented during a court case. The female magistrate asked me, ''why didn't you file anything?'' I said, 'What's the point? The system is screaming that the sky is falling because I do sex work - although it's a legal job. All my life I had been slagged off, and the threat of exposure had been used to smash, brutalise and legally coerce me.' Ashton says that the magistrate stated very clearly that the court welcomed parents who are sex workers in this state and she would give her a fair hearing. 'It was the first time that someone had declared that I had human rights, just like anyone else. It literally blew my mind and from that moment I was ready to live and die by that principle; I was done with pretending,' she says. So Ashton outed herself, all guns blazing. 'Christine McQueen' was born - flagrantly, defiantly in-your-face. 'A lot of sex workers hide what they do from their family and children. I understand why: all through my twenties I bought into hiding it,' says Ashton Ashton believes that the best way for sex workers to shrug off the age-old stigma of their profession is to out themselves. 'A lot of sex workers hide what they do from their family and children. I understand why: all through my twenties I bought into hiding it and cowered under threats of legal exposure from my exes. But it's far better to show your family how to stand up for your own choices.' To this end, Ashton appeared on SBS's The Feed in 2016 with both her daughter and doctor father. 'When dad agreed to show the world that he supports me he did one of the greatest, most spiritual things you can do: lift consciousness to a higher level. It showed people a whole other narrative, my parents are tertiary educated and love me unconditionally, I own two apartments - there isn't a trailer park in sight.' Ashton says she hopes her mission to overwrite the blueprint of prostitution and its associations of 'tragic hot mess', with her own 'awesome, badass' persona - and launch of her upcoming, eponymous website - will be supported, not derided by other women. 'Whenever you gain ground by white-anting women like me - or even just anyone who plays up being sexy - you are letting a sister down. There is a bit of the whore in all women - we have all manipulated our feminine wiles to some extent to get ahead in life. The crux of the matter is that my sex life is consensual and no one else business - whether it's commercialised or not.' But Ashton, a divisive, crowd-parting figure, says that it has taken her a long time to feel this good in her skin. There are certainly some who disapprove of her but to those who applaud her 'MILF-flavoured' moxie she says, 'welcome to your beautiful new judgement-free life goddess - you just got a whole lot sexier.' A dangerously premature baby who was born while her parents were on holiday has finally arrived home, after eight weeks in an Italian hospital. Matilda Challoner, who at eight weeks old is still six weeks away from her March 2018 due date, arrived unexpectedly during her parents' 'babymoon' on December 3, weighing less than an iPad at 1lb 6oz. But the youngster is finally home after arriving at Doncaster Sheffield Airport in Doncaster, south Yorkshire, late on Thursday. Their journey marks the end of a harrowing ordeal for her parents after the infant, born just a week after the legal abortion limit at 25 weeks, was 'stranded' in hospital. Early arrival: Matilda arrived unexpectedly during her parents' 'babymoon' on December 3, weighing less than an iPad at 1lb 6oz Relief: This week spells the end of a harrowing ordeal for her parents after the infant, born just a week after the legal abortion limit at 25 weeks, was 'stranded' in hospital Mother Jordan Wilson, 26, a nurse from Sheffield, South Yorkshire, said: 'We are over the moon. I can't believe she is coming home. It's all we have hoped for.' Jordan was accompanied by a pilot, and specialist health staff as she took off from Verona Villafranca Airport by air ambulance on Thursday while her fiance, Ashley Challoner, 27, drove home the day before. Their homecoming follows a tumultuous few months for the couple, who flew to Italy for a 'babymoon' a pre-baby holiday in Lake Garda and Venice in November. The couple, who chose the name Matilda because it means 'battler,' recalled how their baby was immediately hooked up to of tubes and machines after arriving in December as she was unable to breathe unaided. But, a few weeks ago, she was taken off her ventilator and finally took her first gulps of air unaided. More good news followed earlier this week. Unexpected arrival: just a day and a half into their break, disaster struck when Jordan's waters broke at 4am in their hotel room and the couple rushed to hospital at Trento (Matilda pictured with her mother Jordan here on Christmas Day) The tiny youngster has also suffered from other ailments, including jaundice, low haemoglobin, meaning she needed blood transfusions, and infections 'We got a call from the insurance people, who said the doctors had been in contact with them and said Matilda was well enough to fly,' said Jordan. 'This was the first we knew of it. The news was amazing.' With help from the British Consulate, Jordan and Ashley made the five-hour return trip from Trento where Matilda was in hospital, to Milan, where they were provided with an emergency passport for her. They had feared this could take up to six weeks - the standard wait time on getting a passport under normal circumstances. 'Finally, we're on our way home,' said Jordan. 'The doctors are preparing Matilda for the flight. They're making sure all her tubes are safe and secure. Matilda's parents sat by her bed every day, including on Christmas Day - when medics presented her with a a cast of her hand and foot, and a hat, as a gift - and on New Year's Eve 'On arriving in Doncaster, we will be met by an ambulance and she will be taken to Rotherham General Hospital. We don't know how long she will need to be there for yet.' While they are glad to be flying back to England, Jordan said she and Ashley plan to take Matilda back to her birthplace - Osperdale Santa Chiara in Trento when she is older, to show her where the whole drama happened. 'The Italian medics have been brilliant,' she smiled. 'And this is where she experienced her first Christmas and New Year.' When the couple who got engaged in Budapest, Hungary, in 2016, after four years of dating - booked their Italian break, they thought it would be a final fling, before their lives as parents began. When they had discovered Jordan was pregnant in June 2017, the 'surprised but delighted' couple enjoyed a straightforward pregnancy with no complications -giving them no reason to expect an early delivery. But just a day and a half into their break, disaster struck when Jordan's waters broke at 4am in their hotel room and the couple rushed to hospital at Trento. A scan indicated she was in labour, which was slowed by drugs, but, on December 3, after a 50-minute delivery, Matilda arrived. Small but relatively healthy, considering she was so early, the infant was whisked to neo-natal intensive care. Jordan Wilson, 26, a nurse from Sheffield (pictured with fiance Ashley), said: 'We are over the moon. I can't believe she is coming home. It's all we have hoped for' 'Thankfully, we had insurance and that has paid for her treatment and our apartment,' explained her mum. 'Otherwise, I dread to think of the cost. But it has been incredibly stressful.' Just a few weeks after her birth which Jordan learned was caused by an unexplained infection in her placenta - Matilda's weight slipped to 1lb 3oz. She has also suffered from other ailments, including jaundice, low haemoglobin, meaning she needed blood transfusions, and infections. Her parents sat by her bed every day, including on Christmas Day - when medics presented her with a a cast of her hand and foot, and a hat, as a gift - and on New Year's Eve. 'We intended to be in Italy for just a few days, to mark the end of our life as a family of two,' smiled Jordan. 'We never thought we would still be in Italy in February.' A date has been set for the wedding of Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank later this year. The wedding will take place on October 12, in St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle, according to the Duke of York's official Twitter account. The father of the 27-year-old princess today tweeted: 'The marriage of Her Royal Highness Princess Eugenie to Mr Jack Brooksbank will take place on 12th October 2018. 'As previously announced, the wedding will take place at St. Georges Chapel, Windsor Castle.' The date of the wedding falls on a Friday, breaking with royal tradition of holding marriage ceremonies on the weekend. Princess Eugenie will marry Jack Brooksbank on October 12 at St George's chapel in Windsor Last month it was revealed that Eugenie, eighth in line to the throne, had to push back her wedding to new fiance Jack Brooksbank due to a slew of royal engagements, including a possible high-profile foreign tour for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. After seven years of dating, the couple are keen to walk down the aisle as soon as possible, and had indicated to the Queen and the Royal Family they would have ideally had an Indian Summer wedding at Windsor in September. The monarch has very little in the way of public commitments that month, given that she will still be on her extended summer break at Balmoral, her Scottish residence. But other royals plan their diaries more than six months ahead and already have commitments pencilled in. This includes a potential foreign tour mooted for Prince Harry and his new bride, Meghan Markle, who will also tie the knot at St Georges Chapel on May 19. Eugenie and Jack are keen to tie the knot quite quickly, and there certainly wouldnt be any issue as regards the booking of the chapel given who her grandmother is, the source said. But the issue is that some members of the Royal Family already have commitments in the diary. There is talk of a number of foreign tours for Prince Harry and Miss Markle this year, and September is a date that has been mooted. There is nothing concrete yet, but it looks as if Eugenie and Jack will go for October instead. The pair had wanted to wed in September but due to a busy royal calendar, including a possible tour for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, the date was pushed back They are fine with it. I dont think anything will overshadow how deliriously happy they are. Asked on Monday when his daughters wedding might take place, Prince Andrew said: Its now about finding the time and the date and getting it all organised, I think probably in the autumn some time, is the time every is looking at. We cant fix a date yet, weve got to look at everybodys diaries its a bit more complicated than that. That was confirmed by Mr Brooksbanks maternal grandmother, Joanna Newton, 91, who confirmed to the Mail that the happy couple wanted the wedding in September but were unable to, so will have it a month later. She said: It will be down in Windsor and it will be in October. I do know that theyre now not going to get married in September. He (Jack) said We cant get married in September now so we will have to get married in October. Jack Brooksbank's grandmother has revealed to the Mail that her grandson will marry Princess Eugenie at St George's chapel in October They ([the Royal family] have got something else going on then I think so they couldnt. So he (Jack) just said that if they cant get married in September they will have to get married in October. She added: Of course I shall be going to the wedding, Im granny. Its very exciting because Im a massive fan of the Royals and it will be lovely to meet them. I dont see why it should rival Meghan and Harrys wedding. Mrs Newton, who had lunch with her grandson and the princess a few weeks ago, added amusingly but very affectionately - that she never dreamed her ordinary, not the most intelligent grandson would marry into the royal family. She said: Im thrilled about it. Its amazing. I would never have thought it for a moment that it was going to happen and we are all very happy. I never thought he would get married to a Royal. Hes a charming boy and all that but not the most intelligent and I would never have thought this would happen. I just never thought it would go this far her being a member of the Royal family. But Jack has always had lovely manners and has always been a good egg. I would call him ordinary, I wouldnt say there is anything special about him, hes a good-looking, nice chap and I think it says a lot about Eugenie that its him she wants and its lovely. I have just met her the once when I went up to London with them for lunch and she was just a very nice, ordinary girl, nothing pompous about her or even Royal about her. A family friend told the Mail that Mr Brooksbanks proposal had been very traditional, despite the fact that they have been dating for so long. Jack went and asked the Dukes permission for his daughters hand in marriage beforehand, they said. He was absolutely delighted as they all love Jack. Hes a good man and he and Eugenie are so happy together. Tyra Banks is encouraging women who wear wigs and hair pieces to pose without their 'fake' hair, after she learned a teenage girl was bullied because of her hair loss. Taking to Twitter, Tyra wrote: 'Hey LuLu, it's TyTy. I'm not wearing my wig either, and I want everyone reading this to post pics without their fake her too! But I want to let you know how unbelievably fierce you are.' The former model and America's Next Top Model host was referencing Lauren 'LuLu' Williams in her post, a 16-year-old student from Franklin, Tennessee, whose wig was cruelly snatched off her head by one of her classmates for a $5 bet. One-to-one: Tyra took to Twitter to voice her concern Attacked: Lauren 'LuLu' Williams who suffers from a scalp condition and bald patches was attacked by one of her classmates for a $5 bet and had her wig snatched off her head Honest: Tyra posing in 2015 without a hair piece The bullies recorded the incident and posted the video to Snapchat with the caption, 'weave snatchin'. Lauren has a scalp condition that causes extreme dryness and hair breakage and wears wigs to conceal her bald patches. However, after the incident happened at her school, Lauren's mom, Myckelle expressed her concern and outrage over what happened to her daughter on Facebook. She wrote: 'Yesterday I received a call from my youngest daughter screaming and crying on the phone, for me to come and get her from school. Apparently, some boys had taken a $5 BET about pulling her wig off in front of everyone. 'Lulu has a scalp condition that causes severe dryness and hair breakage and loss, and had been so ashamed of her appearance that she had taken to wearing wigs in an effort to still feel beautiful. 'We all know how easy it is to feel insecure at age 16. These kids not only tore her wig off in the middle of school, but video taped it. They followed her to the bathroom as she screamed and cried and proceeded to tape her OVER the stall as she cried and begged for her wig.' Viral: Lauren's mom Myckelle voiced her anger over what happened to her daughter in a lengthy Facebook post that has since gone viral, pictured Lauren after the attack Evidence: The bullies videoed the attack and posted the evidence to Snapchat under the caption, 'weave snatchin' Painful: Lauren had to be hospitalized after the incident as her wig had been fixed to her head with glue and is now embracing a shaved head look to inspire others Support: Tyra has called LuLu 'brave' and 'fierce' and has told her girls around the world need 'warriors' like her to look up to Myckelle's post has since gone viral. Lauren also had to be taken to hospital to be treated for cuts and whiplash as she used to secure her wig in place with glue. And after the attack, Lauren decided to shave her head and embrace her baldness, and has proudly posted several pictures of her new image on social media. Speaking out about the incident on her Twitter account, Tyra added: 'Someone momentarily lacking judgement & kindness pulled off your wig & another felt the need to chase you down & capture it on camera. 'But what they fail to realize is those moments changed you forever...for the better!!! Like you said when you shaved your head - you took BACK the power! LuLu, you are strong and you are FIERCE and I want you to continue to be courageously LOUD!' She also called LuLu a 'queen' and told her other girls around the world need 'warriors' like her to look up to. Conservative pundit Tomi Lahren has apologized after insulting Democratic Representative Joe Kennedy III on Twitter, calling him a 'little limp d**k' and a 'nast little ginger'. Lahren, 25, took to Instagram earlier this week after watching Kennedy's response to President Donald Trump's State Of The Union's address. Kennedy, 37, argued in his speech that soaring stock prices under Trump have helped investor portfolios and corporate profits but have not eased the economic anxieties of middle-class families. The multimillionaire was mocked for the lip gloss he wore, which received far more attention than what he said. Scroll down for video Message: Tomi Lahren has apologized after insulting Democratic Representative Joe Kennedy III on Twitter, calling him a 'little limp d**k' in an Instagram video (pictured) Names: Lahren, 25, took to Instagram earlier this week after watching Kennedy's response to President Trump's State Of The Union's address, and also called him a 'little ginger nerd' His comments were not to the taste of Lahren, a vocal Trump supporter, who took to Instagram Stories to post a clip of a computer screen on which Kennedy's speech was playing, writing on top of the image: 'Cannot wait to shred this little ginger nerd.' 'Just listen to this little nasty ginger,' she says in the video. 'No no no no no.' In another Instagram Story update, Lahren doubled down on the insults, telling her 1.2 million followers: 'If you haven't yet had the displeasure of watching that little limp d**k's response to President Trump's State Of The Union, I suggest you take some Pepto-Bismol or some Midol or whatever you need to do to get through it, because it was pathetic and it was embarrassing. Oh my God.' Lahren's comments sparked backlash on Twitter, with Kassy Dillon, the founder of a platform for conservative college students, writing: 'Tomi Lahren is not a good representative for conservatism.' Maria Shriver, Kennedy's cousin and the ex-wife of former Republican California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, also took Lahren to task on the social media platform. Opinion: Lahren's comments sparked backlash on Twitter, with IJR editor Josh Billinson ironically calling her remarks 'some very insightful and professional political commentary' Feedback: Kassy Dillon, the founder of a platform for Conservative college students, wrote: 'Tomi Lahren is not a good representative for conservatism' 'Open your heart': Journalist Maria Shriver, the ex-wife of former Republican California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, also took Lahren to task on the social media platform Statement: Lahren eventually apologized on Twitter, calling her own remarks 'inappropriate' 'Wow, wow Tomi. As a young woman, people pay attention to what you say,' Shriver wrote. 'I sure hope you can get your kindness on. I know you have it in you. Joe is a wonderful young man. Do yourself a favor, open your heart.' Meanwhile, Josh Billinson, an editor at the Independent Journal Review, a news and opinion website founded by former Republican Governors Association digital director Alex Skatell, wrote: 'Here's Fox News contributor @TomiLahren referring to a Democratic congressman as "that little limp d**k." Some very insightful and professional political commentary.' Lahren eventually apologized on Twitter, calling her own remarks 'inappropriate'. 'My comments on my personal Instagram about Kennedy's response were inappropriate and I take full responsibility for that,' she wrote. 'I got too upset. I sincerely apologize.' In his State Of The Union response, Kennedy called on Americans to reject the 'chaos' of the Trump era, and outlined a Democratic vision that promises a 'better deal for all who call this country home'. Democrats support a higher minimum wage, paid leave for employees and affordable child care, among other priorities, Kennedy said. Speech: Kennedy, 37, argued in his speech that soaring stock prices under Trump have helped corporate profits but have not eased the economic anxieties of middle-class families 'We choose pensions that are solvent, trade pacts that are fair, roads and bridges that won't rust away, and good education you can afford,' he said in a speech from a vocational high school in Fall River, Massachusetts, a onetime manufacturing hub now struggling with high unemployment and other problems. Kennedy, a three-term congressman and grandson of former Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, has argued that Democrats should focus on the economic concerns of working-class voters who bolted the party in the 2016 elections. Fall River, home to many blue-collar workers, 'has faced its share of storms,' Kennedy said. 'But people here are tough. They fight for each other. They pull for their city.' In an apparent reference to Trump, Kennedy said that 'bullies may land a punch' and leave a mark but that they have 'never managed to match the strength and spirit of a people united in defense of their future.' In a hard-hitting speech for a political newcomer, Kennedy decried a rollback of civil rights protections, noting proposals that target Muslims, transgender people and others. The Trump administration 'isn't just targeting the laws that protect us - they are targeting the very idea that we are all worthy of protection,' Kennedy said. Trump's record is 'a rebuke of our highest American ideal: the belief that we are all worthy, we are all equal and we all count - in the eyes of our law and our leaders, our God and our government,' Kennedy said. The red-haired Kennedy was elected to the House in 2012, returning the family to Congress two years after the retirement of Rhode Island Rep. Patrick Kennedy, the son of Joe Kennedy III's great-uncle Ted. Known mostly for his famous last name, Kennedy's selection has been criticized by some as tone-deaf at a time when sexual harassment of women and the Black Lives Matter movement are at the forefront of American politics. Speaking without a suit coat in front of a rebuilt car and an enthusiastic audience, Kennedy tried to defuse that Tuesday by citing the #MeToo movement and declaring, 'Black lives matter.' Reacting: His comments were not to the taste of Lahren, who is a vocal Trump supporter In a nod to 'Dreamers,' the 700,000 young immigrants brought here as children and now here illegally, Kennedy spoke in Spanish as he said Dreamers are a part of America's story and promised that Democrats will not walk away from them. Kennedy said Trump and his administration were breaking a core promise of America - that everyone will be treated equally under the law. He accused the administration of 'callously' appraising Americans' worth and deciding 'who makes the cut and who can be bargained away.' Under the leadership of Trump and congressional Republicans, Americans are 'bombarded with one false choice after another,' Kennedy said. 'Coal miners or single moms. Rural communities or inner cities. The coast or the heartland.' Democrats 'choose both,' Kennedy said. A former Peace Corps volunteer, Kennedy was an assistant district attorney in two Massachusetts districts before being elected to Congress. He has focused on economic and social justice in Congress and has advocated on behalf of vocational schools and community colleges and championed issues such as transgender rights and marriage equality. To illustrate that message, Kennedy invited US Army Staff Sergeant Patricia King, a transgender woman, as his guest to the State of the Union. King, an infantry squad leader at Fort Lewis, Washington, was the first person to have gender reassignment surgery paid for by the military. Kennedy's speech was one of several Democratic responses. Elizabeth Guzman, one of the first Latinas elected to the Virginia House of Delegates, delivered a Spanish-language response, while former Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders spoke on Facebook Live and Representative Maxine Waters, of California, spoke on BET. Kennedy's father, Joe Kennedy II, also served in Congress, but is probably better known for obtaining an annulment for his first marriage - to Joe Kennedy III's mother which would have allowed him to marry again in a Catholic church. Joe Kennedy II was the second son of Robert F. Kennedy and his wife Ethel, and named for Joseph Kennedy, RFK and JFK's father, and the patriarch of the Kennedy clan. As one of the most influential women in fashion the inspiration behind the Duchess of Cambridge's style often comes into question - however, it is unlikely to have come from here. In a bizarre tweet the City of London Police compared an outfit worn by Kate, during her tour of Sweden, to a Sergeant's uniform. The duchess turned heads in a red houndstooth coat by royal favourite Catherine Walker on her second day of engagements in Stockholm on Wednesday. In a bizarre set of tweets the City of London Police compared a coat worn by the Duchess of Cambridge during her tour of Sweden to a Sergeant's uniform But the person behind the police force's Twitter account spotted similarities between the bespoke coat and an officer's hat. The City of London Police tweeted two photos, the first being of Kate with the caption: Who wore it best? #redandwhite Kate...' In the next tweet they shared a picture of an officer writing: '...or our sarge #ProjectServator'. The force appeared to be comparing the red and white check on the royal's coat to the Sillitoe Tartan seen on the police forces' hat. The dicing is normally black and white but the London police's is unique in that it uses distinctive red and white chequers. The tweets appeared to compare the red and white houndstooth check to the Sillitoe Tartan seen on the police forces' hats The London police's is unique in that it uses distinctive red and white chequers rather than the traditional black and white Sillitoe MailOnline has contacted City of London Police for a comment. While the police force's comparison is a little far-fetched, the Duchess of Cambridge's outfit was likened to a more likely inspiration. The coat appeared to be a subtle nod to William's mother, Princess Diana, who wore a strikingly similar look to Sandringham nearly three decades ago. Diana turned heads in her houndstooth jacket by luxury fashion house Moschino as she joined senior royals for Princess Eugenie's Christening in December 1990. She layered her jacket over a high-neck black blouse and paired it with a black and white skirt in the same houndstooth pattern. The ensemble was finished with low black and red pumps and a red wide-brimmed hat trimmed with a black satin ribbon. The policeman's hat is not the only thing that Kate's bespoke coat has been compared to The bold red and white look is strikingly like one worn by Princess Diana, pictured with a young Prince William, when she attended Princess Eugenie's Christening at Sandringham in 1990 One style expert notes that while the looks are very alike, Princess Diana's styling of the print is more daring than the Duchess', who teamed her coat with a quilted maroon bag and fringed leather pumps from Italian label Tod's. Hannah Eichler, Senior Brand Stylist at Oasis, explained: 'From polkadots to red coats and floaty pastel gowns, Kate Middletons wardrobe choices have long drawn inspiration from Princess Diana. 'Her latest outing in Norway has proved The Duchess Of Cambridges looks continue to be synced with her late mother in law in the sartorial department. 'Choosing a punchy red houndstooth coat which she teamed with matchy matchy burgundy accessories, it appears The Duchess isnt the only one who was a fan of the iconic print Princess Diana sported a similar look back in 1990. 'Whilst Princess Diana might have opted for more fashion forward styling by mixing colours instead of going tonal like Kate, it certainly proves that real style never goes out of fashion. From 1990 to 2018, houndstooth prints are a fashion mainstay.' Ian Bostridge continued February 4, he and pianist Julius Drake will perform the work at Lydia Mendelssohn Theater. It is unlikely that anyone has ever devoted more time and lifeblood to Winterreise than Bostridge or matched his ability and willingness to step away from traditional concert protocol into more radical experimentation with it. In 1997 Bostridge and Drake collaborated with filmmaker David Alden in a haunting adaptation, filmed inside a carefully constructed replica of an abandoned English madhouse. Crouched in a corner, sprawled on the floor, or wandering about, he seemed to be singing while trapped between the pages of a Henry James novel. In 2012, Bostridge's performance of Winterreise was well received at the first International Samuel Beckett Festival in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland. Beckett, it seems, was uncommonly fond of the work as a tuneful exercise in absurdity and existential alienation. In 2016, Bostridge sang in Hans Zender's multimedia chamber ensemble adaptation of the Schubert cycle at London's Barbican Theatre. In light of all this, it seems appropriate that Bostridge, also an accomplished historian and educator, has written a book called Schubert's Winter Journey: Anatomy of an Obsession. If you're looking for the perfect fragrance to buy your significant other, best friend or even yourself for Valentine's Day, don't think it has to be expensive. Influenster, a product discovery and reviews platform, combed through over 250,000 fragrance reviews from its users to determine the buzziest scents in the United States. Your wallet will be pleased to learn that many of the top titles can be found at mass retailers like Victoria's Secret and Bath & Body Works. And of course if you want to splurge, plenty of designer eau de parfums made the list, too. Big on Bombshell: The Victoria's Secret scent, seen here held by models Stella Maxwell (left) and Josephine Scriver (right) is one of the 'most buzzed-about fragrances' in the U.S. The state of fragrance: Influenster, a product discovery and reviews platform, analyzed 250,000 reviews to find the most popular scent in each state in time for Valentine's Day With 15,000 reviews on Influenster, Victoria's Secret's classic Love Spell Fragrance Mist (currently on sale for $7) is the most talked-about scent. The site found that it's especially popular in California, Alaska and North Carolina. The fragrance named 'the most buzzed-about' in the most number of states was a tie between Victoria's Secret Bombshell Fragrance Mist (Connecticut, Illinois, Iowa and Nebraska) and Bath & Body Works Pink Chiffon Eau de Toilette (South Carolina, Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee). Including Bombshell and Love Spell, various Victoria's Secret scents claimed victory in 13 states. The analysis found that 'Midwesterners embrace affordable scents [like those from the lingerie retailer], more than the rest of the nation'. Did your favorite make the cut? Prestige scents from brands like YSL, Chanel and Gucci and mass scents from Bath & Body Works, Taylor Swift and Clinique made the map In the prestige category, DKNY's Big Apple-inspired Be Delicious is a favorite in three states (Maine, Delaware and Wyoming), but surprisingly not in New York itself where Viktor & Rolf's Flowerbomb reigns. Also earning multiple spots on the map were Juicy Couture Viva La Juicy (Oklahoma, Missouri and Pennsylvania) and Yves Saint Laurent Black Opium (Montana and Massachusetts) and Mon Paris (Washington and Idaho). The only celebrity fragrances to make the list were Taylor Swift Wonderstruck (Wisconsin) and Kat Von D Sinner (New Hampshire and Colorado). Shop five buzzy fragrances to gift or treat yourself with this Valentine's Day below: I could assure you that every single life has real value, and that John Donne was sublimely correct when he said, in that famous sermon: Any mans death diminishes me. Dear Bel, I have a debilitating brain disorder called Multiple System Atrophy. The proteins in the brain build up and attack the autonomic nervous systems. That means all the things your body does automatically are affected. Right now, my bladder has quit working, I have neuropathy in my legs extreme pain to the point where no drugs can give me relief. All my kids are grown up, two of them are in college. But theyre not coming home when they finish and only talk to me when I call them. At the weekends, my brother comes to get me at the assisted-living place where I stay. Because of this disease, I have lost my house, my wife and what I know of life. My dad has only visited me once since Ive been here. My sister has never called or texted to see how Im doing. I have nothing to look forward to, but suffering and eventual death. I wouldnt wish this on my worst enemy. It could reach a point where I can see and hear everything thats going on around me, but will not be able to speak or move to express what I want or need. I am so very lonely, I crave intimacy and affection and I dont think I will ever see it again. So tell me Bel, what is the point of living if you cant enjoy life? If you can answer that one, Ill stick around. Be careful with your words. It could end now. DAVID Since many readers will find your email as distressing as I did, I just want to make something clear. After it arrived, I got in touch with you immediately and discovered that you live in the U.S. and sent your letter to more than one person, to see what they would say. This I understand. But it does serve to make me feel less responsible. You asked me to publish because you want people to know about MSA. Believe me, your simple, heartfelt truth will have moved readers to tears and to deep thought, too. THOUGHT OF THE DAY Although the wind/ Blows terribly here,/ The moonlight also leaks/ Between the roof planks/ Of this ruined house. Izumi Shikibu (967-1030, Japanese Poet) Advertisement You are asking for honesty, so I mustnt flinch complex and dark though it is. On the one hand, listening to one part of my brain, I could wax eloquent about the glory of life, about never losing hope, about waiting for the spring flowers to show their beauty. I could say that the fact that you wrote your email and sent it out to various people you had identified as intelligent and compassionate demonstrates that you do see a reason for living. If not, why would you ask the question? I could pick out uplifting passages of verse and prose in the hope that they might give you a few seconds respite. And, of course, I could suggest you seek help from a therapist or a priest because I do believe either or both might be useful. Above all, I could assure you that every single life has real value, and that John Donne was sublimely correct when he said, in that famous sermon: Any mans death diminishes me. On the other hand, Ill be frank and admit that in your position I think I would want to die. Many people will disagree for deeply held moral reasons, yet I adhere to the equally valid (in my opinion) moral position that assisted dying (in the right circumstances with all due supervisory care) should be the compassionate right of the terminally ill who wish their suffering to cease. I use the word compassionate deliberately even though many sincere opponents of assisted suicide will disagree. I would like the time to come when true kindness is enshrined within the law and the terminally ill or dying are allowed to choose peace and dignity. My reverence for the meaning and value yes, the sanctity of life is deeply held. That is why Ive always believed (first as a humanist, now as a Christian) that those who can no longer bear terminal agony should have the God-given right to cry: enough! Many years ago, I did one of the most moving television interviews of my career, with the acclaimed actress Zoe Wanamaker. Her father, the great actor and director Sam Wanamaker, had died the year before, after a long battle with prostate cancer. On camera, Zoe talked of how unbearable it was to watch his terrible torment, and described the unimaginable moment when she longed for the strength to place a pillow over her beloved fathers face. The pleading in his eyes was the worst thing of all. No wonder Wanamaker is one of the distinguished patrons of the charity Dignity In Dying. Having written extensively about death and bereavement, I should flag up the work of non-medical people who believe that the dying can be supported spiritually, with tender care, as they approach the end. In the U.S., I talked to Megory Anderson of the Sacred Dying Foundation, and in England to Felicity Warner of The Soul Midwives Movement both wonderful women who train compassionate helpers in traditional skills and rituals, to ease the passage of people into death. Imagine if there was a soul midwife in every hospital, to support the dying and their families . . . how good that would be? However, even those who look after the spiritual and holistic needs of people at the end of life will admit their ministrations cannot cope with the worst kind of pain. And that is what you are suffering, David, every day. Two friends of mine, husband and wife, chose Dignitas because both were terminally ill and neither wanted to outlive the other. The news was a shock, yet I understand why they made that decision and so did their loving adult son and daughter who held their hands until the end. T he most painful aspect of your letter, in one way, is your loneliness. It sounds as though what you need most in the world is somebody to hold your hand and I wish you had more support from your family. Have you told your children you need them or are you trying to spare them? Sometimes we need to say to those we love: Help me, please. I hope you will find as much support as possible, from your family and any friends who may have stayed the course recognising the fact that most people are terrified of illness and death. What is to be done? I would want the right outcome for you (and not those who opine with well-meaning fervour on suffering they do not have to endure) and pray that you have the courage needed to face your life as it is, as well as its ending, when that comes. Is common sense the best therapy? Last weeks main reply to Jason drew praise from readers for its bluntness but made Dr JG furious. An accredited EMDR therapist, she is qualified to attack the lack of expertise I admitted. She points out that eye movement desensitization and reprocessing is a therapy which has been widely researched for approximately 30 years now . . . one of only two treatments proven to be effective for the treatment of trauma in the UK . . . recommended by NICE guidelines and the World Health Organisation. She says: Your ill-informed comments not only rubbish a whole group of highly trained and dedicated professionals, but also give the message that this is some sort of hocus pocus treatment which is not valid. Well, I did say: I am prepared to be shot down! But I wish Dr JG had looked at the bigger picture. Jason seemed to have become obsessed with therapy, because of the trauma of his wifes single act of infidelity 14 years ago, before they married and while she was drunk and incapable. (One reader suggested that situation was tantamount to rape.) I often counsel readers to seek a talking cure, whether with Relate or another charity, or by consulting the list on the British Association of Counselling & Psychotherapys website. But when I looked this time, I was flummoxed to see there were 30 therapies to choose from and cant help being concerned that if the wrong one was selected, it could do harm. That, Dr JG, is a perfectly valid concern. And do therapists ever tell people that maybe they dont need further to stoke their alleged trauma, but put it in perspective? Twice, I sought therapy for acute stress. Both times it was useless. Dr JG seeks an apology and I do regret she felt her work devalued. But I will not apologise for questioning a culture of therapy which sometimes leaves common sense out of the equation and should always be held up to scrutiny. The bank of mum is overdrawn! Dear Bel, My son (24) has mental health issues, although you wouldnt always know. He spent some months in prison a couple of years ago. Now hes striving to make a life for himself and has a partner however, he has no intention of seeking work. He gets by through fixing things, mainly computers, but uses the mental health card to justify his unwillingness to be in the rat race. Im 48 and have supported him all his life, including after prison (establishing him in a flat), but Im sick of being the bank of mum. Hes had to move from one rental property to another and hasnt the deposit, so I am obliged again. He buys and sells things, but when PayPal takes a lump out of my account (joined to his to help him manage money) he always has a reason why he cant quickly pay me back. I work from 8am to 5pm and have little money because of him. When will it end? Im torn between being ultra strict and asking for money back (such as for a phone bill of over 60) and worrying Im not helping him out when he needs it. I resent working when he doesnt do much, but worry if I dont pick up the pieces his mental health will deteriorate. Am I doing the right thing, being strict, keeping on his case about paying me back every penny? ANNIE Personally, I think youre doing exactly the right thing, but I can understand why you feel so torn. Most mothers would feel the same wanting to continue being supportive yet exasperated their son or daughter isnt doing enough to help themselves. The good news is that he has a partner and is working even if that work is freelance. His skills need to be praised and encouraged every inch of the way, and perhaps you can gently suggest that working hard does not equate with becoming part of the rat race! Since he is good with computers it may be that at some time in the future you spot a part-time job with a relevant company and persuade him to apply. The trouble is many young people, unused to getting up in the morning, find buckling down to proper work very tiresome. I think you should stop this terrible shared PayPal arrangement right away. It does him no good to think he can just eat into your bank account whenever he needs to. When he requires financial help for a special reason, he should come to you, so that together you can weigh the situation and decide what to do. If you are no longer waiting for him to raid your account, you will feel a little less stressed about the situation and he, in turn, will have to think, rather than just returning to his bad old, irresponsible ways. Do you have friends and family on whom you can offload your troubles? Your son has caused you much heartache, perhaps not all of it his fault. It sounds as if youve been a marvellous parent, but have reached the stage when you need to stand up for yourself. The bank of mum is overdrawn and you need to sit down with him and explain why. Her long, chestnut hair was her crowning glory. But its been revealed that the Duchess of Cambridge has donated seven inches of those famous, shiny locks to the Little Princess Trust, a charity that provides wigs for children who have lost their own hair through illness or other conditions. It was sent using someone elses name, so that the trust didnt know it was from a royal source they just thought it was from a female donor in Kensington, says a royal insider. Its lovely to think that somewhere, a little girl is happily wearing a wig made from the hair of a real-life princess. Hair donation has become increasingly popular in the UK with children as young as two donating their locks, says Matt Denning, founder of Matts Mission Childrens Charity, which fundraises for sick children. So far, 330 children have donated more than 3,000 inches of hair via our charity, and were planning our ninth event soon where another 30 have pledged to donate. They tell us they want to do it because their siblings are going through cancer, or they want to make other children feel like a princess. Children who lose their hair lose so much confidence so it makes a real difference to have a wig made from real hair. But what about the children who receive the hair? Here, JILL FOSTER meets five fabulous little princesses whose confidence has been restored thanks to the kindness of others . . . ITS DONE WONDERS FOR HER CONFIDENCE Jody Davis, seven, is in remission after having treatment for a brain tumour last year. She lives with her mother, Joanne, 43, a dog exhibitor, in Walsall, and has two elder brothers Nathan, 21 and Ryan, 19. Joanne says: Last March, Jody was diagnosed with a rare kind of diabetes that stems from the pituitary gland in the brain. Wed noticed shed been drinking loads of water and this seemed to explain it, but I knew instinctively something else was wrong and thankfully the doctors agreed, so she had more tests. On April 11 last year, she had an MRI scan which found a mass growing on her brain. Within weeks, further tests confirmed she had a brain tumour. We were all terrified about what the future held. She started chemo on May 15 and has been terribly unwell. We almost lost her in June, and she spent 11 days in intensive care. It was after this that she lost almost all her hair and was devastated. She didnt want anyone to see her, not even her cousins. Jody Davis, seven, is in remission after having treatment for a brain tumour last year. Her mother says the wig has done wonders for her confidence She hated the thought of anyone mistaking her for a boy and refused to go to school. She was scared of being bullied and one time got called baldy so it was pretty soul-destroying. We heard about Matts Mission (which arranges hair-cutting events and supplies the Little Princess Trust) and were invited to an event where young girls donated their hair. It was an incredible thing to see. One of the mums said to me: I was in bits about my daughter donating her hair, but now Ive seen your daughter and what shes been through, Im more than happy for her to donate it. The wig is very much like Jodys own hair and has done wonders for her confidence. She looks gorgeous. Shes now in remission but has regular blood tests and three-monthly MRI scans, the latest of which will be next week. We remain hopeful the cancer wont come back but its constantly on our minds. IT MAKES HER FEEL NORMAL AGAIN Chelsi Harris, seven, is having treatment for leukaemia. She lives with mother Amanda, 46, a club manager, and father Stuart, a driver, in the West Midlands. Amanda says: When Chelsi started feeling really tired in January 2017, I didnt worry too much. I took her to the GP, who thought it might be anaemia and took some blood. A few hours later I had the phone call no parent ever wants. Chelsi had leukaemia. Days later, I remember sitting in the hospital before chemo was about to begin and seeing a little girl whod lost her hair. Chelsi asked: Am I going to be like that? It broke my heart, but I couldnt lie to her. I said: Yes. But it will grow back. Within two weeks of starting treatment her hair started to fall out. She always had such beautiful, long blonde hair, it was so sad to watch it disappearing. Eventually, as more clumps fell out, she asked me to shave her head. It absolutely killed me doing that. She looked like a cancer patient which, of course, she was. I just hated seeing it confirmed. Chelsi Harris, seven, is having treatment for leukaemia. She has to have chemotherapy once a month There have been a few comments. Children may say things, but at least theyre innocent. Its the adults who stare that really get on my nerves. I totally lost it with one woman who kept gawping at Chelsi. Its OK, she wont hurt you, shes got cancer! I shouted. Still she carried on staring. One day, Chelsi overheard a comment from someone thinking she was a boy, and asked if she could get a wig. We got in touch with the Little Princess Trust who provided us with a strawberry blonde wig, just like Chelsis natural hair colour. The wig has become like a safety net, something she can wear when she wants to look normal. Its been a very rough 12 months and were still not through it. Chelsi has to have chemotherapy once a month and lumbar punctures every three months. She has good days and bad, but shes incredibly resilient. With or without the wig, shes beautiful. SHE ADORES HER NEW LOCKS Erin Blackwell, eight, suffers from alopecia areata. She lives with her mother Nadine, 33, father Neil, 38, an insurance broker and sisters Evie, six, and Elodie, two, in Basildon, Essex. Nadine says: We noticed Erins hair was thinning in December 2016, and by March of last year she had several 2-3cm bald patches on either side of her head. I was incredibly worried and took her to the GP, who did blood tests. He found nothing seriously wrong and suggested it was alopecia. When the patches got bigger, Erin was more distressed. Her school friends could not have been kinder, but I wanted to do something to help her. Erin Blackwell, eight, suffers from alopecia areata. She loves the wig and really likes the fact you can style or curl it. Shes so confident and resilient that sometimes she doesnt even wear it I contacted the Little Princess Trust and before we knew it, Erin had been fitted for a beautiful brown, wavy wig. It didnt cost a penny, although weve been told shes only allowed to have one because the charity is first and foremost for children with cancer. To make the wig fit better, we shaved off her remaining hair. Erin took it all in her stride. She loves the wig and really likes the fact you can style or curl it. Shes so confident and resilient that sometimes she doesnt even wear it shes happy to go without. The other day I heard her friend, Tilly, tell her: It doesnt matter whether you wear the wig or not, Erin, youre beautiful with or without it. I thought that was wonderful. ITS HER FAVOURITE DRESSING UP OUTFIT! Evana Philp, nine, has alopecia universalis. She lives with her mum Sandy, 40, an events co-ordinator, father Nick Philp, 42, a BMW service manager, and sister Isabella, six, in Ongar, Essex. Sandy says: Alopecia runs in our family my brother-in-law has it but even so, when Evanas first patch of baldness appeared when she was two, I was very dismissive. A year later, in the space of two weeks everything came out eyelashes, eyebrows, hair the lot. It was devastating, not so much for Evana as she had no self-awareness at that age, but Nick and I really struggled. Nick knew what lay ahead because hed seen his brother grow up with it. Evana hasnt been bullied, but there have been some thoughtless comments. Once, an old man patted her on the head and said: Your mums cut that a bit short, boy. Evana Philp, nine, has alopecia universalis. Evana has two wigs: a natural-looking one, and one with turquoise at the ends. She saves them for special occasions, when she wants to dress up Most of the time, shes pretty laidback about it. Its me who gets upset. You can feel very isolated as the parent of a child with alopecia, so I found the support from Alopecia UK very helpful. The Little Princess Trust supply at least one wig free, to all children, no matter what their condition. Alopecia is an expensive business a human hair wig costs at least 500 and only lasts about six months. Evana has two now: a natural-looking one, and one with turquoise at the ends. She saves them for special occasions, when she wants to dress up. Shes such a confident little thing, shes quite happy to go bald most of the time. She says she wants to show other children like her that its fine to have no hair. Im incredibly proud of her. SHE CAN FACE THE WORLD WITH JOY Freya Hill, eight, has lymphoblastic lymphoma cancer of the lymph glands. She lives with her mum Helen, 40, and brother Zachy, five, in Solihull, West Midlands. Helen says: I took Freya to the doctor in July 2016 because she had a bit of a cough, and was feeling tried. After listening to her chest, the GP could tell something was wrong and told us to go straight to the hospital. Even then, I wasnt too worried. I thought she might just need antibiotics. But tests revealed a huge tumour pressing on her windpipe. Had I left it even a few days before I took her to the GP, she could have simply collapsed, unable to breathe and no one would have been able to save her. When treatment started, it took about four months for her long, blonde hair to fall out. I had warned her it might happen but nothing can prepare you for when it does. I remember one morning, she walked into my bedroom and a whole lot of it had fallen onto the pillow. Her little face was distraught and we both cried. Freya Hill, eight, has lymphoblastic lymphoma cancer of the lymph glands. When treatment started, it took about four months for her long, blonde hair to fall out Tests revealed a huge tumour pressing on her windpipe. Had her mother left it even a few days before she took her to the GP, she could have simply collapsed, unable to breathe A hairdresser friend cut her hair short, like mine, but it kept on thinning. But we didnt have a choice the fact is, we lose the hair or we lose her. Freya became very self-conscious. To help her cope, we made a game up. Wed guess how many people we would see staring at her, or wed stare them out ourselves. Shes usually very happy and confident, but some days I can see she is emotionally broken. We got her a wig through the Little Princess Trust and the difference it made to her was incredible. We chose a colour very close to her normal hair, and when she tried it on for the first time, she beamed. Suddenly she looked normal again! Were trying to see the positive in everything and the wig is part of that. Its only a small thing, but it means she can face the world. Visit littleprincesses.org.uk or mattsmission.co.uk. For information on alopecia, see alopeciaonline.org.uk. Dresses kindly donated by Monsoon. CHELSI, JODY AND FREYA WERE ALL HELPED BY MATT'S MISSION CHILDREN'S CHARITY Many people derive more joy from biting into a delicious piece of chocolate than they do countless other things in the world, and this is the same for everyone's favourite chocolate spread, Nutella. So chocolate fans will be happy to know that this coming Monday, February 5, is World Nutella Day. Brunetti Cafe in Melbourne will be slinging free treats to celebrate and there will be an entire menu dedicated to the spread that everyone knows and loves. Chocolate fans will be happy to know that this coming Monday, February 5, is World Nutella Day Customers will be able to feast on Italian doughnuts stuffed with Nutella, Nutella piadiana and croissants. The day wouldn't be complete without Nutella cannolis and pancakes drizzled in the chocolate spread, which also feature on the menu. You will have to be quick if you want to get your hands on one of their sugary baked-goods as they will only be given to the first 1,000 customers through the door, starting at 7.30am. Brunetti Cafe in Melbourne will be slinging free treats to celebrate and there will be an entire menu dedicated to the spread that everyone knows and loves Customers will be able to feast on Italian doughnuts absolutely stuffed with Nutella and cannolis You will have to be quick if you want to get your hands on one of their sugary baked-goods as they will only be given to the first 1,000 customers through the door The cafe is a chain with multiple locations and sadly it will only be the Flinders Lane store that will be handing out custom, Nutella-focused Italian classics. If you miss out on one of the hazelnut spread desserts no one will judge you if you instead eat Nutella out of the jar by the spoonful. The day dedicated to celebrating Nutella was launched back in 2007 by American blogger Sara Rosso, who was living in Italy at the time. The cafe is a chain with multiple locations and sadly it will only be the Flinders Lane location that will be handing out custom, Nutella-doused Italian classics The day dedicated to celebrating Nutella was launched back in 2007 by American blogger Sara Rosso She absolutely loved the mouth-watering product so thought the spreadable treat deserved its own day of recognition. Nutella fans from across the world embraced the day and shared their celebrations across the world. Since the idea was such a resounding success transferred World Nutella Day to the makers of Nutella, Ferrero, in 2015. Three mothers are speaking out after claiming a 'poisonous' epilepsy drug has left their children with autism, learning difficulties and incontinence after doctors failed to warn them of its risks during pregnancy. Sodium valproate controls electrical functions in the brain to prevent life-threatening seizures, with Epilim typically being a go-to brand in the UK and Ireland. Around 20,000 children in the UK have been affected by the drug, according to campaigners. NICE data reveals the drug raises the risk of babies suffering serious developmental disorders by up to 40 per cent and malformations, such as cleft palates or lips, by 11 per cent, if it is taken during pregnancy. In September last year, campaigners presented evidence to a hearing of the European Medicines Agency in London, revealing that drug regulators knew of the problems as far back as 1973 but did not add warnings to packaging until 2015. Last week it emerged a professor from the University of Liverpool is studying a boy affected by sodium valproate syndrome to determine if he developed the condition as a result of his grandmother taking the drug during pregnancy. FACS Aware, which campaigns for sufferers of foetal anti-convulsant syndromes, is fighting for all drugs containing sodium valproate to have a picture warning against their use during pregnancy on their packaging, as well as increased support for sufferers and better awareness among healthcare professionals. In an exclusive for MailOnline, three women discuss how their children's conditions have affected their daily lives and their anger towards drug regulators. Mother-of-two Samantha Luton-Hughes has battled depression and spent years blaming herself after both of her children (pictured with daughter Phoebe, five) suffer severe learning difficulties, which she believes is due to her taking sodium valproate during her pregnancies Louise Duffy (right), 35, is furious after sodium valproate has left her daughter Kerry (left) with autism, learning difficulties and incontinence (pictured with her son Harry, now two) Mother-of-one Natasha Mason (pictured with her son Alfie, now three, and his father John Salwood, 28) wants to see sodium valproate banned after believing it has left Alfie with severe autism and learning difficulties, as well as being unable to speak Mother-of-two spent years blaming herself after both of her children battle severe learning difficulties, which she believes is due to the 'poison' drug A mother-of-two has battled depression and spent years blaming herself as she believes both of her children suffer severe learning difficulties due to her taking sodium valproate during her pregnancies. Samantha Luton-Hughes, 41, from Worcestershire, claims she was given no information from her doctor on the medications risk of serious disabilities during either of her pregnancies, resulting in her children Logan, six, and Phoebe, five, enduring ADHD, heart murmurs and hernias. Unsure of her childrens future, Ms Luton-Hughes, a self-employed beauty therapist, is fuming at the drug regulators who reportedly knew of sodium valproate's risks for decades. She said: I have gone through hell. As a mother I blamed myself for taking the medication.' Despite the havoc sodium valproate has wrecked on Ms Luton-Hughes life, she is still forced to take the medication to control her epilepsy. She said: Every single day I feel like Im taking poison but if I know if I dont take it I will have a seizure and I cant run that risk. Ms Luton-Hughes claims she was given no information from her doctor on the risk of serious disabilities during her pregnancies, causing her children (Logan, six, and Phoebe, five, pictured with their father) to suffer ADHD, heart murmurs and hernias She claims an epilepsy consultant has since told her not to take valproate in pregnancy HOW MANY CHILDREN SUFFER? Out of around 35,000 women aged 14-to-45 taking sodium valproate between 2010 and 2012, at least 1,125 were pregnant. If 450 babies are born every year to mothers taking the drug, up to 45 could have a physical disability and up to 180 may suffer from learning difficulties. Between 1993 and 2008, there was a 20 per cent reduction in the number of women aged 15-to-55 who were taking sodium valproate due to new treatments being available. The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency says sodium valproate should not be given to women of a childbearing age or during pregnancy unless alternative treatments are ineffective or not tolerated. Yet, in 2016, around 450 babies were born to mothers taking the drug during pregnancy. Source: Epilepsy Society Advertisement 'You must come off this medication if you want children' When Ms Luton-Hughes became pregnant, she claims doctors only warned her about sodium valproates association with cleft palates or lips, without mentioning any mental side effects. Her specialist epilepsy consultant has since said to her: 'you must come off this medication if you want more children. 'I have to apologise to people for their behaviour' As well as having to cope with life-threatening epilepsy, Ms Luton-Hughes struggles to manage the demands of raising two disabled children, which often makes her feel trapped in her own home. She said: They have no awareness of safety, they arent very good in social situations, they have meltdowns. I feel I have to apologise to people for their behaviour so we tend to stay in a lot. Ms Luton-Hughes is also concerned about her childrens future as doctors are unable to give her any sort of prognosis, saying: Its very worrying. I have no idea of their life expectancy. 'I feel like I'm taking poison' Amid claims drug manufacturers and regulators knew of sodium valproate's risks, Ms Luton-Hughes, said: I have gone through hell. As a mother I blamed myself for taking the medication. Every single day I feel like Im taking poison but I know if I dont take it I will have a seizure and then Im not going to be at my best for my children; I cant run that risk. Ms Luton-Hughes claims her children have meltdowns and struggle to cope in social situations Despite Logan being born with a heart murmur, she was not told of the condition's link to sodium valproate and therefore continued taking the drug while pregnant with Phoebe TIMELINE OF EVENTS FIGHTING TO STOP THE PROBLEM In 2014 The European Medicines Agency agreed to strengthen warnings and restrictions on sodium valproate's use in women and girls. The Medicines and Healthcare Regulatory Agency (MHRA) advised healthcare professionals not to prescribe the drug to females unless other treatments are ineffective or poorly tolerated. On February 8 2016, the MHRA launched a toolkit to help healthcare professionals talk to women with epilepsy about sodium valproate's risks during pregnancy. Prominent written warnings were also added to the drug's packaging in 2016. On April 6 2017, NHS Improvement and the MHRA sent a Patient Safety Alert through the central NHS system to further highlight sodium valproate's risks during pregnancy. A public hearing was held in London on 26 September last year by the European Medicines Agency's Pharmacovigilance Risk Assessment Committee where EU citizens spoke of their experiences of the medication. Advertisement Mother-of-one, 28, wants to see sodium valproate banned after believing it has caused her son, 3, to have severe autism and left him unable to speak A mother-of-one wants to see sodium valproate banned after believing it has left her three-year-old son with severe autism and learning difficulties, as well as being unable to speak. While pregnant, Natasha Mason, 28, claims she was warned by doctors she would risk her babys health if she stopped taking the medication. Unaware of the risks and with scans coming back clear, Ms Mason, who is a full-time carer for her son and autistic fiance John Salwood, 28, took sodium valproate twice a day for every stage of her pregnancy until her son Alfie Salwood was born nine weeks premature with breathing difficulties. A paediatrician later diagnosed Alfie with sodium valproate syndrome as he had the classic facial features of small lips, a long forehead and no nose bridge. Ms Mason, who is on antidepressants, blames herself for Alfies complications, adding his future is unclear as the youngster is still in nappies and is unable to feed himself. Ms Mason says changing any routine is 'the end of the world' as Alfie throws tantrums She took sodium valproate every day of her pregnancy until Alfie was born nine weeks early WHAT IS FOETAL VALPROATE SYNDROME? Foetal valproate syndrome occurs when babies are exposed to the drug during the first three months of their mothers' pregnancies. Symptoms can include autism, developmental delay, neural tube defects, heart abnormalities, limb problems and distinctive facial features, such as a long forehead, small lips and no nose bridge. Treatment may involve paediatricians, surgeons and physiotherapists, depending on the individual sufferer's symptoms. Source: National Organization for Rare Disorders Advertisement 'If I change a routine it's the end of the world' After Alfie was born he was immediately rushed to intensive care, however, it was not until he failed to gain weight or hit his milestones that doctors properly recognised he was suffering. Now a toddler, Alfie, who requires one-to-one support at nursery, throws tantrums and struggles to make friends. Ms Mason said: He doesnt want to interact with people. If I change a routine its the end of the world. 'He has meltdowns; he whacks the TV when adverts are on as hes so frustrated. 'I blame myself' Struggling to cope, Ms Mason finds it to difficult to stay upbeat. She said: Its very hard. There are time when I feel quite low and depressed. It has got on top of me. I blame myself.' Fighting for justice, Ms Mason wants sodium valproate to no longer be available. She said: I want to see it taken off the shelf. I feel failed by the Government. When he arrived, Alfie had breathing difficulties and was unable to control his temperature A pediatrician later admitted Alfie had sodium valproate syndrome, as he was born with the classic facial features of small lips, a long forehead and no nose bridge His condition was not taken seriously until he failed to gain weight or hit his milestones Now a toddler, Alfie (pictured with his parents) cannot talk or eat and still wears nappies Mother-of-two, 35, is 'furious' as she believes sodium valproate has caused her daughter to suffer from learning difficulties, autism, delayed speech and incontinence A mother-of-two is furious as she believes sodium valproate has left her 15-year-old daughter with learning difficulties, autism, delayed speech and urinary incontinence. Louise Duffy, 35, from Southampton, took sodium valproate every day of her first pregnancy after being reassured by doctors her baby was growing well. Now a teenager, Ms Duffys daughter Kerry is unable to live the life of a normal adolescent as her mother panics her poor speech and autistic symptoms leave her vulnerable during evenings out. Ms Duffy, a part-time retail assistant, said: She wants to do what normal teenagers do but I have to tell her no. She thinks Im a horrible mum. Despite Kerry, 15, suffering ill health as a baby, the teenager was only diagnosed with foetal valproate syndrome last year, resulting in her missing the vital support she needed as a child. Now predicted under Cs in her GCSEs, Ms Duffy is forced to take medication to combat her stress as she struggles to come to terms with what Kerrys future may be. Kerry is unable to live the life of a normal teenager as her mother panics her delayed speech and autistic symptoms leave her vulnerable during evenings out with friends After being born three weeks early, she suffered breathing difficulties and a hole in her heart WOMEN LEFT IN THE DARK OVER SODIUM VALPROATE'S RISKS The risks of pregnant women taking sodium valproate were kept from patients for 40 years, a hearing was told. In September last year, campaigners presented evidence to a hearing of the European Medicines Agency in London, revealing that regulators knew of the problems as far back as 1973. Even the drugs manufacturer Sanofi was open about the risks. Yet documents show UK officials decided at the time not to put the warnings on the packets for fear it could give rise to fruitless anxiety, the hearing was told. It was not until 2015 that clear warnings were published. Catherine Cox, from the Foetal Anti-Convulsant Support Association for the UK, said: These warnings could have and should have been given in 1974. A decision was taken not to publish them despite warnings by the manufacturer.' Health professionals were told at the time: This compound has been shown to be teratogenic in animals, meaning it could harm the human foetus.; Yet the Committee on Safety of Medicines, which existed before the MHRA, said the warning should not go on the package inserts, so that there would be no danger of patients themselves seeing it, according to documents seen by Sky News. Dr Eric Teo, who is in responsible for drug safety at Sanofi, told the hearing: Sanofi had always provided the most up to date scientific information, with the approval of the health authorities. There is a consent form for doctors to review with patients, there are patient cards to take home and there is also a prominent warning on the outside of the box. He also added that for some women valproate is the only option. Dr Teo said: Switching or discontinuing treatment before or during pregnancy carries the risk of recurrent seizures which could lead to brain damage or death. Advertisement EPILEPSY DRUGS APPROVED IN THE US AND THEIR SIDE EFFECTS Sunovion's Aptiom is linked to suicidal thoughts, liver problems and allergic reactions. Vimpat, manufactured by UCB, is associated with worsened depression and anxiety, as well as panic attacks and insomnia. Eisai's Fycompa can cause psychiatric problems, including believing things that are not true, seeing or hearing things that are not there, and extreme change in behvaiour. Briviact, also manufactured by UCB, is known to cause dizziness, nausea and vomiting, as well as co-ordination problems. Advertisement 'It's affected her whole future' During her first pregnancy, Ms Duffy was warned sodium valproate could cause her baby to suffer from spina bifida or Downs syndrome, however, she felt reassured when all her scans came back clear. After Kerry was born three-and-a-half weeks early, the warning signs appeared almost immediately when she was rushed into intensive care with breathing difficulties and a hole in her heart. Kerry did not crawl until she was one-year-old, with the average being seven to 10 months, and only stood at two, while most babies stand between nine and 12 months old. After years of back-and-forth with doctors, she was finally diagnosed last year. Ms Duffy said: Its affected her whole future. It makes me so angry and frustrated. She wants to do what normal teenagers do but I have to tell her no. She cant go to town on her own, shes too vulnerable. She thinks Im being a horrible mum. 'I have to take drugs to reduce my stress' Ms Duffy said: Kerry will never be able to live alone; she cant get by. As well as affecting Kerry, Ms Duffys mental health has also been battered by her daughters condition. She said: I have to take drugs to reduce my stress. I get stressed out thinking about her future.' Ms Duffy claims Kerry's symptoms were not taken seriously until she did not hit her milestones Despite her ill health as a baby, Kerry was only properly diagnosed last year What the manufacturer says Michael Szumera, head of communications at Sanofi, told MailOnline: 'Valproate has at all times been supplied by Sanofi in the UK with a warning of the risk of malformations in babies born to mothers with epilepsy who take the product during pregnancy. 'The product information for valproate (including the addition of warnings on the package labelling) has at all times been approved by the regulatory authorities as properly reflecting current scientific and medical knowledge before being put into circulation. 'In the UK, product information for Sanofis valproate products has been updated regularly based on current scientific knowledge and as approved by the regulatory authorities. 'As scientific knowledge about the risks associated with the use of valproate has increased, particularly during pregnancy, Sanofi has demonstrated full transparency to health authorities and initiated the updating of medical information for doctors and patients. 'Sanofi has systematically reminded patients via the information document that they should consult their prescribing physician in case of pregnancy or desire for pregnancy so that their physician can act accordingly.' A 53-year-old man in Minnesota has died of a fatal overdose of the painkiller oxycodone administered to him by a nurse at a care home, according to a state investigation released Tuesday. State investigators say a nurse mistakenly gave a short-term resident at a New Hope, Minnesota, nursing home a dose of oxycodone that was 20 times stronger than he should have received, the Star Tribune reports. Gary Schmidt, of Plymouth, Minnesota, died within a few hours of being given the drug on April 2 2017 at North Ridge Health and Rehabilitation. As the opioid epidemic rages in the US, many care providers are being held to higher standards, but the investigation attributed Schmidt's death to the nursing home's poor monitoring and dosage system. Gary Schmidt, 53, allegedly died of an overdose of oxycodone after a care home nurse in Minnesota mistakenly gave him 20 times the appropriate dose Schmidt was residing temporarily at New Ridge Health while he was in post-chemotherapy and radiation rehab. He allegedly saw a nurse at 2am on the morning of April 17, complaining of pain at a level '10,' the Star Tribune reported. She administered oxycodone, and the man returned to his room. When the same nurse checked on Schmidt two hours earlier he seemed to be sleeping, according to the Star Tribune. What neither she nor Schmidt realized was that instead of 30 milligrams, she had given him 30 milliliters, which amounts to 20 times more of the potent drug, the Schmidt family's attorney, Joe Smith told the Star Tribune. The investigation by the state Department of Health found that North Ridge had no system to detect changes in how powerful painkillers and other high-risk medications are administered. The nurse also was blamed for giving the resident the incorrect dosage. She reportedly told a state investigator that 'she did not verify the concentration and dose of the oxycodone administered because she was very busy with multiple patients.' The Mayo Clinic advises that for adults with severe pain should be started on nine milligrams of oral oxycodone every 12 hours, to be taken with food. The Minnesota Health Department investigated the North Ridge nursing home in New Hope, Minnesota, following Schmidt's death Oxycodone solution is a liquid can be much more concentrated, intended to be diluted in another solution and delivered by IV, though it is unclear if this was the case in Schmidt's death. Schmidt had reportedly died by around 7:30 am when another nurse checked on him. The state health department fined North Ridge an undisclosed amount. Research from 2010 indicated that as much as half of nursing home attendants acknowledged that they had neglected or abused patients. Another review of research, conducted in 2015, estimated that 10 percent of elders in nursing homes experience some kind of abuse. Many nursing homes and other elder care facilities are facing increasing staff demands, as the American population ages. In 2010, people over 65 made up 13 percent of the US population, and the number of people in that age group is expected to double by 2050. Diane Willette, an administrator with North Ridge reportedly told the Star Tribune that the facility is 'confident that we have systems in place to help prevent something like this from ever occurring again.' North Ridge did not respond to a request for comment. Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt has said expectant mothers who suffer a late miscarriage could be given new rights to register their baby on official records Expectant mothers who suffer a late miscarriage could be given new rights to register their baby on official records, Jeremy Hunt has said. Currently, if a woman loses her baby before 24 weeks there is no formal process for her to register the loss if she wishes. But if the loss occurs after 24 weeks, it counts as a stillbirth and mothers have a right to register the babys name and receive a certificate of registration. A late miscarriage is usually classed as between 14 and 24 weeks of pregnancy. Currently, NHS trusts are encouraged to develop a system of hospital-based commemorative certification for foetuses that are not classified as stillbirths. The Health and Social Care Secretary has ordered a review to establish whether the existing laws should be changed. It will also look at whether NHS staff should undergo more training in how to care for couples who suffer miscarriages. Doctors believe as many as a quarter of women who have a positive pregnancy test suffer a miscarriage. Most are thought to be caused by genetic abnormalities in the foetus which means that it fails to properly develop. But certain lifestyle factors have been linked to higher rates of miscarriage including smoking, strenuous exercise and obesity. Mr Hunt said: There is nothing more agonising than losing a child. I am passionate about our national mission to reduce stillbirths and neonatal deaths. But we also want to take a fresh look at what more we can do as a health service and Government to help support families who do face this devastating loss particularly for those who lose babies through late miscarriage or neonatal deaths under 24 weeks. Of course, nothing can take away that pain, but we think there is more to be done to guarantee the sensitive and compassionate care we would all want for our families at this most distressing time. The review was prompted by Tim Loughton, Tory MP for East Worthing and Shoreham, who raised the matter in the Commons in 2014. A constituent called Hayley had approached him after losing two of her babies before 24 weeks, and explained how she had suffered in silence. Currently, if a woman loses her baby before 24 weeks there is no formal process for her to register the loss if she wishes. But if the loss occurs after 24 weeks, it counts as a stillbirth and mothers have a right to register the babys name and receive a certificate of registration (file photo) She told him of her despair over how neither loss could be registered even though she had carried the babies for two-thirds of a full pregnancy term. Mr Hunt paid tribute to the MP for bringing this important issue to Parliaments attention. Another woman, Ursula, said she was nearly 20 weeks pregnant when she lost her baby, Tobias, in March last year. She said the language used by staff was cold and clinical and she was made to feel as though Tobias was a by-product rather than a baby. Many NHS trusts provide women or couples with a certificate recording a pregnancy that was lost before 24 weeks of gestation, if they choose to accept it. Speaking at the time, Mr Loughton said: Losing a child is a traumatic experience at the best of times but giving birth to a stillborn child whose existence is effectively not acknowledged is particularly harsh and I think the law needs to be changed. Whilst there is an informal system where a hospital can issue a certificate to acknowledge a stillbirth has taken place, it is not the same as the state acknowledging the existence of a baby who may have missed out on registration by a matter of days due to the current threshold. The NHS estimates that one in six pregnancies end in miscarriage. Many occur before a woman is even aware she is pregnant. Women who take ibuprofen in the first six months of pregnancy may harm their daughters future fertility, a study suggests. Scientists found the common painkiller can halve the number of egg cells in girls ovaries. This suggests girls exposed to ibuprofen in the womb may struggle to have a family, as their body makes fewer eggs. Women who take ibuprofen in the first six months of pregnancy may harm their daughters future fertility, a study suggests. Scientists found the common painkiller can halve the number of egg cells in girls ovaries Women are born with all the eggs they will ever have, unlike men who increasingly produce sperm. It means females could go through menopause earlier, running out of time to have a child, or struggle with infertility in later life. A study led by the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research exposed tissue from human ovaries to ibuprofen. The amount was the same as two to seven days of a woman taking the drug in pregnancy. They found egg cells either died or failed to grow and multiply at the normal rate. Study co-author Dr Severine Mazaud-Guittot said: The development of the follicles in the foetus has not been completed by the end of the first trimester, so if the ibuprofen treatment is short then we can expect the ovarian reserve to recover to some extent. However, we found that two to seven days of exposure to ibuprofen dramatically reduced the germ cell stockpile in human foetal ovaries during the first trimester of pregnancy and the ovaries did not recover fully from this damage. This suggests girls exposed to ibuprofen in the womb may struggle to have a family, as their body makes fewer eggs. Women are born with all the eggs they will ever have, unlike men who increasingly produce sperm NHS should offer three cycles of IVF The NHS should offer women three courses of single embryo IVF to reduce the rate of risky pregnancies with twins and triplets, experts have said. Three in five NHS trusts offer only one course, leading many couples to seek treatment at private clinics or abroad. But these clinics, unlike the NHS, usually implant two or more embryos into the womb to boost chances of pregnancy. This practice greatly increases the chance of twins or triplets, leading to a higher risk of miscarriage, premature birth and a fatal condition for the mother. The NHS usually recommends single embryo transfers. Multiple pregnancies put extra strain on maternity units and cost the NHS thousands of pounds more. The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists has now published a report urging the NHS to offer three IVF cycles. Lead author Tarek El-Toukhy said: Multiple pregnancy is the greatest avoidable risk of IVF. He added: The health and financial burden it places on women, families and the NHS cannot be overstated. Advertisement This suggests that prolonged exposure to ibuprofen during foetal life may lead to long-term effects on womens fertility and raises concern about ibuprofen consumption by women during the first 24 weeks of pregnancy. These findings deserve to be considered in light of the present recommendations about ibuprofen consumption during pregnancy. The NHS recommends that women avoid taking ibuprofen in the first 30 weeks of pregnancy, unless the benefits outweigh the potential risk of your unborn baby. It is estimated around three in ten pregnant women take the painkiller in the first three months. The study involved researchers from the universities of Edinburgh and Copenhagen. Professor Hans Evers, editor of the journal Human Reproduction, said: These are important findings that require further investigation. However, at this stage it is not possible to say whether the reduced numbers of follicles in tissue samples from baby girls might translate into reduced fertility 30 years later. At present this is speculation and requires long-term follow-up studies of daughters of women who took ibuprofen while in their first three months of pregnancy. Last month scientists from the University of Edinburgh carried out similar tests on paracetamol and found that mothers taking the drug during pregnancy could wipe out 40 per cent of their unborn daughters egg cells. John Smith, chief executive of the Proprietary Association of Great Britain, the trade association which represents manufacturers of over-the-counter medicines, said: This study looks at the use of ibuprofen in pregnancy, however pregnant women are advised to avoid taking ibuprofen during pregnancy, unless it is on the advice of a doctor. The researchers themselves acknowledge this. Britain's first three-parent babies are set to be born to women with incurable genetic diseases who have been given the go-ahead for IVF. Two women have received approval to each have a baby using the DNA of a separate healthy female donor. It means their children will both technically have two mothers, in the biggest leap forward for fertility treatment since IVF was invented. The two women who have been given the go-ahead have not been named but minutes from the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority reveal they carry mutations in a gene which cause Merff syndrome Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust was given the green light to carry out IVF using the DNA of two women last March The technique is controversial over fears it could pave the way for designer babies, but is a lifeline for up to 3,000 women in danger of passing on deadly diseases like muscular dystrophy. Now the first candidates have been given permission to go ahead with IVF. The women have not been named but minutes from the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority reveal they carry mutations in a gene which cause Merff syndrome. The neurological condition, which affects only around one in 100,000 people, can cause seizures and muscle weakness, often leading to early death. The HFEA, which made the decision, stated twice in the case of each woman: The committee considered the patients family history and the manifestation of the disease, along with her medical history, which shows that it is likely that any child conceived by her may be affected with this serious multi-systemic and progressive disease which severely impacts on affected individuals quality of life, often resulting in high morbidity and early death. Critics fear mitochondrial donation could become a slippery slope eventually used by couples in the UK in order to change characteristics such as personality and eye colour in their children. IVF babies would receive a tiny amount of DNA from a third person besides their mother and father But its use in infertile couples is banned, with the method allowed only for women with genetic diseases at risk of passing them on to their children. The technique was first made legal by parliamentary vote in 2015, before the Newcastle centre was granted a licence to perform the treatment. It is not known when IVF will begin in the two women now selected to go ahead, but if treatment were to start straight away, the first three-parent babies in the UK could be born by Christmas. Up to 25 women across the country are eligible for treatment in the first 12 months and every year after that. They will follow the first woman to give birth to a three-parent baby in Mexico in 2016 and a second who had a baby boy in the Ukraine early last year. Controversially, in the last case, the child was born to a 34-year-old woman who could not get pregnant, but was claimed to have reversed her infertility using genetic material from a second woman. Up to 25 women across the country are eligible for treatment in the first 12 months and every year after that Last year it was reported there were three British women lined up to have three-parent babies, under the age of 40. It is possible Britains first three-parent baby could be born to two mothers who know each other, with eligible women understood to have asked female friends to be egg donors. But while the baby will technically have two mothers, the second will contribute only 0.1 per cent of her DNA, making them scarcely related. The HFE asked the centre for consent to check up on the health and development of the babies born using the new technique. Dr Simon Fishel, president of CARE Fertility, said: This clearly is a big step, and hopefully it will prove to be a positively momentous technology to help families, but there will inevitably remain many medical science questions to be answered. They can only be answered by using the technology. It is brilliant it is under regulation, which quells any general criticisms seen elsewhere in the world in an unregulated environment. Loud snorers may be three times more likely to develop dementia, scientists have warned. Sleep apnoea - a common sleep disorder that cuts off oxygen supply and can cause snoring - can kill brain cells. Australian researchers are now launching the first study of its kind to discover if treating the condition can prevent dementia. Professor Elizabeth Coulson, of the Queensland Brain Institute at the University of Queensland, said: 'Treating sleep apnoea may reduce dementia risk. 'People who suffer from sleep apnoea are two to three times more likely to develop Alzheimer's disease. Sleep apnoea - a common sleep disorder that cuts off oxygen supply and can cause snoring - can kill brain cells 'This could be because hypoxia - lower levels of oxygen in the blood from poor breathing - causes nerve cell death.' Sleep apnoea is the most common sleep disorder, affecting about 1.5 million people in Britain and more than 22 million in the US. The condition is caused when the muscles and soft tissue in the throat relax, causing a blockage of the airways. It interferes with breathing, often stopping it altogether for short periods many times a night leading to lack of oxygen, restless sleep and heavy snoring. Twice more common in men than women, it can begin at any time, including childhood. Many sufferers are unaware they have it. It can be treated by wearing a mask in bed, called a Continuous Positive Airways Pressure (CPAP), that blows air into the back of the throat. And now Professor Coulson and colleagues are enrolling sleep apnoea patients aged 55 to 75 to see if wearing the mask can stop, or slow, brain damage. WHAT IS SLEEP APNOEA AND DOES IT LEAD TO SNORING? A disturbed night is often caused by a the disorder sleep apnoea, which causes snoring and dangerous pauses in breathing. Pregnancy and the menopause increase a womans risk of suffering from the disorder. If left untreated it could lead to more serious health problems such as stroke or heart attack. Some 1.5 million adults in Britain are thought to suffer with sleep apnoea, yet many do not talk to a doctor about the problem. It is estimated to strike more than 22 million in the US. As well as snoring and insomnia, symptoms include restless legs, fatigue, depression, headaches and muscle pain. The condition is caused when the muscles and soft tissue in the throat relax, causing a blockage of the airways. It interferes with breathing, often stopping it altogether for short periods many times a night leading to lack of oxygen, restless sleep and heavy snoring. Advertisement The team have already found inadequate oxygen levels during sleep can harm neurons and raise the risk of developing Alzheimer's - which slowly kills brain cells. Professor Coulson explained people sleep apnoea results in lower levels of oxygen in the blood, known medically as hypoxia. This can triple the risk of Alzheimer's. The researchers have been investigating the mechanisms by which this occurs, finding hypoxia leads to the degeneration of an area of the brain important for attention and learning. CPAP consists of a plastic mask that fits over the nose and mouth and is connected to a machine that blows air under low pressure continually into the throat. Professor Coulson said this keeps the airway open, helps maintain correct oxygen levels and, ultimately allows for a better quality sleep. The response is immediate and obvious after only a few hours or one night. She said: 'The next stage of our research involves following patients with sleep apnoea over an extended period of time to determine whether CPAP protects against cognitive decline.' Sleep apnoea is a serious condition which can lead to other problems such as high blood pressure, which in turn can lead to strokes and heart attacks. Professor Pankaj Sah, director of the Queensland Brain Institute, said the research could lead to initiating early intervention in patients. He added: 'Sleep disturbances can occur up to 10 years prior to Alzheimer's disease. 'Considering that Alzheimer's affects roughly one third of the elderly population, this important research may inform preventative public health measures in the future.' Sleep apnoea causes excessive sleepiness and tiredness during the day so that people often fall asleep at work, during meals or even standing up. In drivers or people working with heavy machinery, the dangers are clear. There is good evidence to show that the incidence of road accidents is high in individuals with the condition. It also means that people become depressed or bad tempered and lacking in concentration, disrupting their social lives and relationships. Dementia affects more than 850,000 people in the UK - a figure expected to triple by 2050. And in the US, more than five million are affected. By now, many of you who sat for your SPM exams early this year which was postponed from November 2020 due to the pandemic may be shopping for the right... The ever-growing desire for a 'designer vagina' has soared by almost 50 per cent over the course of a year, new figures show, Industry figures reveal a 45 per cent jump in the number of labiaplasties - which involves trimming back the inner lips, like 'Barbie' - across the world. Leading names in the plastic surgery field have said the vaginal surgery, one of the most sought-after, is officially the 'fastest growing procedure'. Dr Renato Saltz, president of the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ISAPS), told AFP that 'vaginal rejuvenation is the new trend'. IMCAS figures also show spending on cosmetic surgery has jumped by eight per cent in a year, now totalling 7.5 billion ($10.7bn). A form of cosmetic vaginal surgery, called labiaplasty, was one of the most sought-after procedures because of the desire for a 'Barbie vagina', statistics revealed Spending on equipment and products used for nips, tucks and lifts is only expected to increase by another nine per cent next year. On the back of the IMCAS figures, Dr Saltz added the 'fastest growing procedure' was the labiaplasty, which 100,000 people underwent in 2015. Porn has repeatedly been blamed for the thousands of women going under the knife for a labiaplasty, which has soared in recent years. Dr Saltz added: 'The demand for cosmetic procedures is stronger than ever.' IMCAS, short for the International Master Course on Aging Science, released its statistics at its own beauty industry conference in Paris yesterday. Sales of equipment such as lasers for hair removal, 'pharmaceutical compounds and 'active' cosmetics were monitored and added up. Purchases of fat-sucking devices, muscle-freezing toxins such as Botox, wrinkle 'fillers' and breast implants were some of the other items tracked. The figure spent during 2016 is the equivalent of the total annual exports of Costa Rica, the world's 75th biggest economy. WHAT IS A LABIAPLASTY? A labiaplasty is surgery to reduce the size of the labia minora the flaps of skin either side of the vaginal opening. Some women consider having a labiaplasty because they don't like the look of their labia, or because the labia cause discomfort. But it's natural and normal for a woman to have noticeable skin folds around her vaginal opening. A labiaplasty can be expensive and the operation carries a number of risks. There's also no guarantee it will provide the result expected or make a woman feel better about her body, according to NHS Choices. In 2015, nearly 100,000 across the world underwent a labiaplasty, figures from the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery show. Advertisement And Asia is the fastest-growing market, and is expected to overtake Europe for the first time in 2018 in terms of cosmetic spending. IMCAS said the market should reach 8.2 billion ($11.6bn) next year, and is likely to more than double in the seven-year period from 2014 to 2021. A similar rise in spending has been seen for clients, according to separate figures from the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ASAPS). More than $15 billion (10.6bn) was spent on beauty procedures by customers in 2016 - an 11 per cent jump on the year before. Daniel Mills, president of the ASAPS, credited a healthier economy and pioneering technology for the boom in cosmetic surgery. And he added 'a desire on the part of baby-boomers and their offspring to remain competitive in a youth-centric workforce' may also be to blame. ISAPS statistics, released last year, reveal that 23.6 million face or body-boosting procedures were performed in 2016. Of these, 10.4 million required clients going under the knife, the rest were injections or non-invasive treatments, those figures showed. The top five countries - the US, Brazil, Japan, Italy, and Mexico - accounted for 41.4 per cent of the world's cosmetic procedures. Breast augmentation remained the most popular procedure in 2016, accounting for 15.8 per cent of all beauty operations. It was followed by liposuction with 14 per cent, eyelid surgery with 12.9 per cent, and nose jobs with 7.6 per cent. Penis enlargement was reportedly the least popular cosmetic procedure in 2016, and the category with the biggest drop - 28 per cent. After being diagnosed with a disease that kills most children by the time they are teenagers, Abby Wallis, 22, is trapped with 'one foot in childhood and one in the adult world,' her mother says. Abby, of Houston, Texas, has Sanfilippo syndrome, a neurodegenerative disease that wreaks the kind of havoc on children's brains that Alzheimer's does to the elderly. The disease has robbed the once-precocious girl of nearly all of her speech, and will likely someday leave her unable to walk. Sanfilippo syndrome, also called 'childhood Alzheimer's,' arises from a genetic mutation that causes toxic compounds to build up in the brain where they slowly choke cognitive and motor functions. Most children with the disease - which affects one in every 7,700 children born - are diagnosed young and do not survive into their twenties. Abby's family is now watching her speech slip away from her as they are forced to care for her new diagnosis without hope of a cure. Abby Wallis, 22, was diagnosed with Sanfilippo syndrome last year. The rare disease prevents the brains of children from getting rid of cellular waste, eventually killing most before 10 There are a few things about Abby that have not changed. She still loves Disney movies, and listening to music lights her up, moving her to dance and sing along. But where she was once a force of personality with a mischievous streak - 'a mastermind,' her mother says - Abby now spends long stretches of her days sitting on the couch, scanning the room for something unknowable. For 22 years, Abby's parents, Jeff and Kelly, had no idea this was happening in her brain. Children born with Sanfilippo syndrome either do not have or have much less of an enzyme that allows the body to break down to break down a sugar molecule called heparan sulfate. Without that enzyme, heparan sulfate builds up like sewage in the cells. The molecular waste drowns the cells, eventually killing them, leading to the degradation of the brain similar to Alzheimer's affects on the elderly. There is a heartbreaking difference between animated Abby at four (right) and Abby at 22 (left), from whom even her beloved caretaker Aly (pictured left) can coax a smile Jeff, Kelly, Emily and Abby Wallis (left to right) pull together to support one another through Abby's decline and Kelly's stage four cancer Abby's parents had known that she had some form of autism since she was about four years old. She had been a hyper child, and Jeff and Kelly struggled to find a daycare that could handle their daughter. 'Over the years we questioned whether she was declining or whether the gap between where she was and where she should be was just growing,' Jeff says, 'but in hindsight, we know she was probably declining.' Around the time she graduated high school in 2016 - the same year as her younger sister, Emily - Abby started to have new symptoms: frequent diarrhea, and difficulty speaking. Kelly remembers wondering: 'Am I crazy? I swear she used to say x amount of words, and now she can't.' Two neurologists later, Kelly and Jeff got at least cursory proof that they were not crazy. MRIs confirmed that Abby's brain showed signs of atrophy and that the cells there were dying, suggesting either early-onset Alzheimer's or another neurodegenerative disorder. The doctor recommended genetic testing. Abby (top) has loved music since she was a child, and her favorite songs can still bring her back to her mother - a music therapist herself - father, and younger sister, Emily (pictured) 'At that point, we knew it wasn't going to be good,' Jeff says. By pure chance, Kelly met the mother of a boy with Sanfilippo at a summer camp last year. Her conversation with Valerie Byers helped to inspire Kelly to make a Facebook page called Abby's Alliance. 'We didn't know who would know someone who might know someone who might know something' about Abby's condition, Kelly says. While at a Sanfilippo conference, Valerie showed videos of Abby from the Facebook page to a neurologist there. Without hesitation, the stranger said Abby needed to be tested for Sanfilippo. What is Sanfilippo Syndrome? Sanfilippo is an enzyme disorder. People born with it lack an enzyme that breaks down complex sugar molecules. The result is a build up of waste material in cells that causes irreparable damage. Both parents must have the recessive gene that causes Sanfilippo for a child to inherit it. Symptoms of Sanfilippo include developmental and learning delays, trouble communicating, hyperactivity and behavior problems, loss of sight and hearing, and eventually dementia and inability to walk. Advertisement When the doctor called with the results of Abby's urine screening, 'she was literally reading from an article [about Sanfilippo] that I'd read the night before,' Jeff says. Sanfilippo syndrome is unknown 'not just in the general public, but in the medical field,' he says. None of the three neurologist he and Kelly took Abby to had previously heard of it, and the condition is not taught in medical schools.Abby has an attenuated - or more slowly progressing - Sanfilippo type A, meaning that she has the sugar molecule-busting enzyme, but it only operates at about 10 percent. Kelly and Jeff are glad that they know what is happening to Abby now, but they are also grateful that they didn't find out sooner. 'We live under a magnifying glass now...but I can't imagine finding out when she was three, four years old and still hanging on, that's just no quality of life,' Kelly says. Before Abby's decline really accelerated, she went to church nearly every Sunday with Jeff while Kelly played organ, and the family was able to go to Disney World to see the movies Abby so adores come to life. Now, they can't really take her anywhere, for fear that strangers will her Abby's loud babbling or occasional shrieks and think that her parents are hurting her. Kelly was also diagnosed with rectal cancer in 2015. After chemo, radiation and surgery, the Wallis family thought she had beat it. But they found out last spring that the cancer had metastasized into Kelly's lungs. With her stage four cancer, Kelly gets regular chemotherapy to manage, but not cure, her cancer. While Abby continues to be the family's first priority, Kelly has been disheartened by how quickly friends, family and especially the church where she plays organ every Sunday seem to have forgotten her daughter. 'People always ask about me, but no one ever asks about Abby,' Kelly says. 'That was a big part of her life but it's almost like she's gone [for them], but for us she's still here.' Abby's parents (far left, second from right) knew that they needed a better diagnosis for Abby (far right) after she graduated high school graduation in 2016 - the same year as her younger sister, Emily (second from left) The Wallis family enjoyed Christmas together at their home in Houston last year, despite Kelly's cancer and Abby's continuing decline As Jeff works full-time as an educational materials salesman and Kelly works as a music therapist for special needs children - while battling her own disease - the family has had to reach out for help, hiring a caretaker, Aly, who spends most days with Abby. Together, the three do their best to keep Abby comfortable and engaged, with movies and puzzles, but especially music. Most of the time 'she's kind of lost in there, but music will bring her out,' Kelly says. They thrill at the word 'yes,' or even at the nonsensical 'onton' Abby sometime swill repeat, because they're signs that she is still there, but 'at this point she has very little personality...she's still affectionate, but the old Abby is just not there any more,' Kelly says. Kelly and Jeff don't know what to expect from the coming years, or even months. There is no cure and little research or funding for Sanfilippo Syndrome, like most rare diseases. Alongside other families, Abby's parents hope to raise awareness through groups like the Cure Sanfilippo Foundation. Last week, another boy whose family takes part in the foundation passed away. He was the same age as Abby, and his death hit home for the Wallis family, Jeff says. 'As Christians, we believe that when she dies she'll be healed, while on earth she's only going to deteriorate,' Kelly says. 'Selfishly, we love to have her here...it's hard to watch, but considering a lot of what I see, we're doing okay here, just day-by-day,' she adds. What Im about to say will irritate a number of readers. Specifically, it may not go down well with women of a certain age. But here goes. The menopause might be all in the mind. Now, of course, theres no doubt that there is a biological phenomenon whereby a womans reproductive cycle stops. But the associated symptoms that make up what we call the menopause are not as clear-cut as you might imagine. Before Im inundated with angry letters from those of you plagued by hot flushes, let me reassure you: Im in no doubt that your symptoms are real. Its just that theres no clear biological basis for them, making many doctors, scientists and anthropologists question whether there is something else going on. The associated symptoms that make up what we call the menopause are not as clear-cut as you might imagine. What causes such problems and other associated physical complaints such as hot flushes, sleep disturbance and mood changes is not understood (stock photo) Theres no doubt that menopausal symptoms can be crippling. This week, Yasmin Le Bon made the news after speaking out about how the menopause affected her memory and weight, and how upsetting this was. You ache all over, youre tired and fractious and you develop a layer of padding all over, the supermodel told a magazine. These are very common complaints. When I worked in a memory clinic, wed often see menopausal women referred to us because they were convinced they had dementia, when in fact memory problems are common in this group and can be linked to the change. Yet what causes such problems and other associated physical complaints such as hot flushes, sleep disturbance and mood changes is not understood. While theres no clear biological mechanism that neatly explains them, one interesting theory is that the menopause is a result of the Wests obsession with youth. I read the horror in this week's Good Health that the NHS is to stop funding services that help people hooked on prescription pills such as benzodiazepines. This group of drugs, which include diazepam (also known as Valium), were once dished out to anyone with anxiety or sleep problems. They're highly addictive, meaning many became inadvertently dependent. I worked in a drug rehab clinic and saw the battle these people have coming off these drugs: they're harder to get off than heroin. That is why I fully support the Daily Mail's campaign for a national helpline for such patients. Nor should we stop there: these people need their own, dedicated detox services, run by experienced drug workers and doctors. It's the least the NHS can do. Advertisement Hear me out on this. There is a group of illnesses that in the UK few outside of medicine know about. Even within medicine, they are confined to a few footnotes in medical textbooks. And yet around the world, millions of people suffer from them. The thing that sets them apart from other illnesses is that they only occur in specific cultures or societies and are known as culture-bound syndromes. They are often regarded as types of mental illness and yet they are not like any mental illnesses wed recognise. The bizarre symptoms can seem unbelievable to us, but to those affected, theyre very real. Dozens have been reported, but one example is Koro. This occurs in Asia and is a condition in which men suddenly believe that their genitals are shrinking inside their body and they are going to die. It can occur in epidemics, with whole villages and towns succumbing, overwhelming A&E departments. What is interesting is that while for years Western doctors viewed these conditions as exotic anomalies, we have our own versions. Hysteria, agoraphobia, Gulf War syndrome, ADHD, multiple personality disorder and the response to traumatic stress, such as PTSD, have all been considered Western culture-bound syndromes. In fact, the flashbacks reported in PTSD are actually a relatively new phenomenon and first started being noticed shortly after filmmakers began using flashback sequences to represent past events in films. Thats not to say that these things arent real, but it does show the power the culture that surrounds us has on how we experience illness. Certainly women stop having periods after a certain age, regardless of their culture. But academics have realised that many of the typical physical symptoms the hot flushes, the mood changes, the night sweats are not universally experienced (stock photo) So what does this have to do with the change? Well, as amazing as it sounds to us, not all cultures have the menopause. At least, not in the way that women in the West experience it. Certainly women stop having periods after a certain age, regardless of their culture. But academics have realised that many of the typical physical symptoms the hot flushes, the mood changes, the night sweats are not universally experienced. In-depth research by medical anthropologist Margaret Lock has described how in Japan, where the elderly are held in high-esteem, women did not describe the same physical symptoms of the menopause. For Japanese women, entering old age is a positive experience because of the respect they will attract. The negative symptoms Western women experience are unheard of. Some of the physical changes associated with decreased female sex hormones, such as dry skin, were still experienced, but were not felt to be as troublesome. In sharp contrast to our culture, the women rejoice in the fact that they are ageing. Its not a reason to dismiss womens experiences of the menopause and it doesnt mean that what they experience isnt real. It simply means that the underlying mechanism is far more complicated than being simply a biological process. For me, this shows the power of the mind and how little we really understand the interaction between it and the body. My crazy night ion A&E - thanks to a full moon The supermoon this week made me think of my colleagues working in A&E, as staff there tend to be superstitious about full moons. Early on in my training in A&E, I was put on the front line dealing with all the acutely mentally unwell patients who walked through the door. Ready for tonight, then? smirked a nurse as I arrived one night. What do you mean? I asked. Its a full moon tonight, she whispered conspiratorially. This irrational fear of a full moon is thanks to the ancient Greeks, who thought that madness was caused by too much moisture in the brain. Just as the moon affects the tides, they believed it was linked with mental illness, too. The Romans shared this theory. In fact, it was commonly accepted by the medical profession until very recently that the phases of the moon exacerbated madness. By 3am that particular night, Id seen eight patients and admitted four and there were many more waiting. Just as dawn began to break, I came to my last patient. Hello, Mrs Armstrong, sorry about the wait, I said. Its because of the full moon, I added. Oh, dont tell me you believe that? she scolded. Walking home, I reminded myself that I was a man of science. Some nights are busy and others less so: Id just had a bad shift, thats all. Even so, I was mindful not to let any black cats cross my path. Just in case. Be wary of booze if you're retired and bored When we think of people who have a problem with alcohol, what tends to come to mind is the binge-drinking teenager or the dishevelled figure on a park bench. In reality, its middle-class, retired people who are most likely to be problem drinkers. Alarming figures this week show the full extent of the problem. For people in their 50s and 60s, alcohol is now the sixth most common cause of disability in later life, with alcohol-related dementia a particular concern. Dr Tony Rao, a consultant old age psychiatrist at Kings College London, who highlighted the figures in the British Journal Of Psychiatry, blamed a culture of drinking wine at home. For people in their 50s and 60s, alcohol is now the sixth most common cause of disability in later life, with alcohol-related dementia a particular concern Of course, people can develop a problem with drink at any time, but retirement does seem to be a particularly critical point. The fact is that, for some, retirement isnt quite what they were planning. The sudden change of pace and the loss of structure and routine leaves people feeling directionless and afraid. The ready-made group of friends and daily contact is suddenly gone. For many, it also represents a loss of identity. They feel theyve lost their place in society and everything they deemed important is gone. For years, hobbies have been put on the back burner, so they arent even sure what they enjoy any more. And retirement coincides with other big changes in peoples lives, such as children leaving home and physical health starting to falter and fail. All of this can mean people reach for the bottle in an attempt to fill the void. It usually starts slowly. Perhaps the odd glass as a treat with lunch. Then a few glasses turns into a bottle. Or perhaps that mid-morning G&T becomes more gin than tonic. And then you pour yourself another one. Wealthy, retired and bored is a lethal combination when it comes to alcohol. Research has shown that the higher someones income, the more at risk they are of developing a problem with drink. So before you next reach for your favourite tipple, remember: problems with alcohol can creep up on anyone. Cell phone radiation could pose a risk of certain cancers to some, the preliminary findings of two new major studies from the National Institutes Health suggest. Six percent of male rats exposed to the same kind of radiation our cell phones emit - though in much larger quantities - developed a type of cancer called a schwannoma in their hearts. The pair of studies are the largest the National Toxicology Program has ever conducted about the carcinogenic effects of cell phone radiation. The authors caution that while much more research is needed to find out whether or not the ways that average people use cell phones could raise cancer risks, the findings highlight an 'area of concern'. The NIH published the preliminary findings from its first-ever large study on cell phone radiation and cancer on Friday, finding an increased risk at least one kind of cancer in rats Over the course of the last two years, researchers at the National Toxicology Program (NTP) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) have been exposing rats and mice to varying levels of cell phone radio frequency radiation. In 2016 - early days in the research timeline - the NIH scientists released preliminary data warning that it seemed there was a very possible link between cell phone radiation and cancer. That early release prompted a spate of related research, which, in turn, prompted the state of California and former NIH toxicologists, among others, to issue warnings in the last year. Smartphones and other wireless devices put out small amounts of low frequency microwave radiation when they connect networks and transmit information. This energy is not nearly as strong as ultraviolet radiation or X-ray energy, but the new studies add to the mounting evidence that even microwave radiation, in high doses, can pose some health risks. In their multi-million dollar study, the NTP researchers exposed rats and mice to high levels of radiation over the course of 18 hours each day, alternating 10-minute exposures with 10-minute periods without exposures. Radiation surges when cell phones are trying to connect to faint network signals or transmit large amounts of information. Experts warn that it is these inconsistent exposures that make the devices particularly risky. 'Our ultimate findings are about the same as we put out in 2016,' says study co-author Dr John Bucher. What they found, both early on and at the end of the study, was that there were 'statistically significant' differences in the incidence of heart schwannoma tumors in rats. The incidences of other cancers were not higher, statistically speaking, than the researchers would have expected to see in rats as they aged in general. Schwannomas develop from peripheral nervous cells, called Schwann cells. They develop inside the sheath that covers nerves, wrapping and interfering with nerves themselves. In humans, these tumors are usually benign. These noncancerous schwannomas are most common in the vestibular nerve that connects the brain and the ear. Malignant schwannomas can start anywhere, but seem to be most common in the leg, arm or lower back, sometimes causing a bump, pain, muscle weakness or tingling. Though they are not common in human hearts, cardiac tissue is a good target for cell phone radiation, Dr Bucher says. Schwannomas are tumors that begin to grow around nerves, inside their protective sheaths (left). The new research linked high levels of cell phone radiation exposure to schwannomas in the hearts of male rats, a rare condition in humans (right) Microwave radiation works by heating water. Muscle tissue - like the heart - is 75 percent water, while fat, for example, is only about 10 percent water. That means that muscular tissues are especially affected by cell phone radiation, which my explain why the nerve tumors were most likely to form in a highly muscular organ. Counter-intuitively, bigger animals are more sensitive to radiation. So, the higher rate of tumors in males 'was probably due to the fact that male rats simply absorb more radiation than females as a function of the size of the animal,' Dr Bucher explained. Similarly, cancer risks for mice were negligible, and female rats that were pregnant - and therefore larger - were also more sensitive to radiation. Though Dr Bucher says the levels of microwave radiation the animals were exposed to were much higher than we encounter from our cell phones, humans are, of course, considerably larger than rats. It is also worth note that radiation exposures in the study would still comply with federal regulations on heat microwave heat generated by cell phones, and still there were increased risks of at least one cancer for rats. Dr Joel Moskowitz, director of the Center for Family and Community Health at the University of California, Berkeley said that 'the federal radio frequency radiation limits should be re-assessed and strengthened in light of these findings.' The NTP findings have not been peer-reviewed yet, but Dr Bucher said that they are 'important because they give us an area of concern, and we now have a starting place where we might know where to look' for potential cancer risks from cell phones. There are two main types of investors: those who prioritise growth at all costs and those who want an income return. Income funds might not seem as exciting as their growth cousins, but dividends can generate significant returns in the long run - and investors who receive payouts year after year get a serious boost to their wealth. With this in mind, investment firm Sanlam has released the latest instalment of its half-yearly report revealing the best and worst UK equity income funds. The Sanlam Income Study, which has been running for more than 30 years, reveals the best all-rounders within the UK equity income sector It provides a useful pointer for those sifting the wheat from the chaff in all of the income fund options on offer. But why equity income? In the past, bond investments have generated a higher level of income than dividend paying shares, but the pendulum has swung the other way in recent history. According to FE Analytics data, funds in the Investment Association's global and UK equity income sectors have paid out considerably more on average than those in any of its bond-focused sectors since 2009. Fittingly for those who want to look to active fund managers investing in shares for their income, the Sanlam study is focussed solely on UK equity income funds. How the fund ratings work The study, which has been running for over three decades, reviews and tracks the performance of all funds in the the Investment Association UK Equity Income sector over a six-month period to the end of June and splits them into three categories: the White List, the Grey List and the Black List. The White List comprises of an exclusive group of 14 funds deemed, by the investment firm, to have established superior performance over a five-year period. The Grey List is home to propositions that invest in a style that is currently unpopular, or have shown an early warning signal for a fund in decline. The Black List is for consistent underperformers and could indicate that investors should dump these propositions for a better prospect. If you have a fund on this list it is time to review it. The best income funds It is important to flag that the list should not be treated as a forecast or advice to buy or sell any particular investment. It is, however, solid research into the funds on offer. The majority of the highest-ranking funds in its The White List have remained stable - with only three of the lower funds moving out in January 2018. There has been a slight shuffle in the top half of the list but the top nine funds have remained unchanged since the previous study. LF Miton UK Multi Cap Income fund, has retained first place for the third consecutive study, while AXA Framlington Monthly Income has climbed seven places to occupy the second spot and Marlborough Multi Cap Income has jumped one spot into third. The Unicorn Income fund, which holds a number of smaller and medium-sized companies - has once again dropped out of the White List of funds with superior performance into the Grey List of funds that have an out-of-favour style or could be in decline. That comes despite it recording a very strong year in terms of performance - ranking third out of peers within the study. However, the fund, with its distinct small/mid cap bias, was weighed down by its underperformance in 2016 as a result of the UK referendum, according to Sanlam. Meanwhile, the Threadneedle UK Equity Income fund has been relegated from the top tier into the Grey List having dropped 18 places. The Black List of underperformers continues to be populated by the same repeat offenders, with the exception of the Ardevora UK Income fund and UBS UK Equity Income. The former has plunged 28 places into the bottom tier from a solid position in the middle of the Grey List, while the latter's maiden appearance in the study is tarred by its lowly ranking. The largest mover is the Santander Enhanced Income fund, which has climbed 21 places from the bottom of the Grey List to the top of it. On the other end of the scale, the Schroder Income fund has suffered the biggest fall from grace - tumbling 24 places from fourth to the foot of the Grey List. The fund produced a respectable amount of income in the previous study period but has since become one of the poorest income payers, according to the report. The best performing income funds Funds on the top band White List have demonstrated they can deliver strong total returns over the last five years 1. LF Miton UK Multi Cap Income Ongoing charges: 0.81 per cent Transaction costs: 0.01 per cent Yield: 4 per cent Volatility: 7.8 per cent The LF Miton UK Multi Cap Income fund has held onto the number one spot since qualifying for entry in the study three years ago. Run by Gervais Williams and Martin Turner, the fund invests mainly in UK shares - although the fund has little exposure to other assets including European shares and UK bond. Sanlam commends the managers for its high-ranking dividend yield against its peers, along with excellent and consistent performance. On a 1,000 investment, the fund would have earned you 295 over the past five years (to 31 December 2017) HOW THE RANKINGS WORK To determine the best and worst performing funds, the study looked at the capital growth of each fund, absolute income - or income after the fund's costs are taken into account - and volatility on a five-year basis. It calculates volatility by looking at how much a fund's return each month for five years differs from its overall average return. This is known as five-year standard deviation and the figure is provided to Sanlam by investment research firm Morningstar. The figure is not annualised and is based upon monthly total return figures over five years. 2. AXA Framlington Monthly Income Ongoing charges: 0.84 per cent Transaction costs: 0.08 per cent Yield: 4.3 per cent Volatility: 7.7 per cent The AXA Framlington Monthly Income fund has climbed nine positions since the last iteration of the study (July 2017). George Luckraft heads up the fund that aims to pay out a monthly income with potential for long-term growth of capital. Among its top holdings are staple dividend stocks including Royal Dutch Shell, BP and British American Tobacco. The fund would have generated 276 on a 1,000 investment over five years. 3. Marlborough Multi Cap Income Ongoing charges: 0.80 per cent Transaction costs: 0.45 per cent Yield: 4.3 per cent Volatility: 10.1 per cent Siddarth Chand Lall holds the reins to the Marlborough Multi Cap Income, which seeks to generate an attractive and growing level of dividend income in addition to long-term capital growth by investing in a diversified portfolio of equities predominantly listed in the UK. The fund has moved up a position since the last study despite recording a 0.1 percentage point reduction in dividend yield to 4.3 per cent. The fund is a fairly diversified portfolio with 141 holdings, including WH Smith - which is its second biggest holding. You would have received 302 income on a 1,000 investment over five years. 4. Slater Income Ongoing charges: 0.80 per cent Transaction costs: none (although this could change next year) Yield: 4.5 per cent Volatility: 9.4 per cent The Slater Income fund has dropped two positions from second in the last study. The fund is run by no fewer than four managers: Barrie Newton, Mark Slater, Ralph Baber and Nigel Milton. It targets increasing levels of income in addition to seeking long-term capital growth. Its top 10 holdings include familiar dividend-paying stocks including Rio Tinto, Legal & General and Imperial Brands. A 1,000 investment over five years would have generated an income of 290. 5. Royal London UK Equity Income Ongoing charges: 0.81 per cent Transaction costs: 0.14 per cent Yield: 3.9 per cent Volatility: 9.4 per cent The Royal London UK Equity Income fund has held onto fifth spot for the second consecutive study. It invests solely in high yielding UK stocks, with a particular skew to companies that generate a lot of cash after covering operation costs to fund sustainable dividend payments. Its top ten holdings comprise of popular income stocks including Astrazeneca, GlaxoSmithKline and HSBC. Managed by Martin Cholwill, the fund would have generated an income of 261 from a 1,000 investment over five years. 6. SLI UK Equity Income Unconstrained Transaction charges Fund managers are being forced to disclose these hidden costs on top of the OCF under new rules introduced on the start of 2018 under a European Union directive, Mifid II, short-form for the second Markets in Financial Instruments. These charges aren't new, but they must now be declared by fund managers. Read are comprehensive article on the topic here. Ongoing charges: 1.15 per cent Transaction costs: 0.21 per cent Yield: 3.8 per cent Volatility: 11.6 per cent The Standard Life Investments UK Equity Income Unconstrained fund has moved two places into sixth position since the last income study, despite experiencing the highest volatility of the funds in the White List. It typically invests in a portfolio of shares but has the remit to hold a proportion in bonds to supplement the income of the fund. A 1,000 investment over five years would have generated an income of 258. 7. MI Chelverton UK Equity Income Ongoing charges: 0.88 per cent Transaction charges: 0.19 per cent Yield: 3.8 per cent Volatility: 11.4 per cent The MI Chelverton UK Equity Income fund has dropped from third in the last study to rank seventh. The fund seeks to unearth stocks in the UK AIM sector with the potential to pay out a growing level of income. Its top ten holdings are notably different from the other funds in the White List. Games Workshop is the largest holding, ahead of McColl's Retail Group and electronics supplier Discoverie Group in second and third. An investment of 1,000 over five years would have generated 314 in income. 8. Majedie UK Income Ongoing charges: 0.77 per cent Transaction costs: 0.33 per cent Yield: 4.7 per cent Volatility: 10.2 per cent Managed by Chris Reid and Yuri Khodjamirian, the Majedie UK Income fund has dropped three positions since its last outing. The fund seeks to root out undervalued companies with a focus on those that are able to provide a growing level of income. The fund's top three holdings are comprised of the usual suspects for income: Royal Dutch Shell, BP and Legal & General. On a 1,000 investment, the fund would have given you 297 over five years. 9. Premier Monthly Income Ongoing charges: 0.88 per cent Transaction costs: 0.39 per cent Yield: 4.5 per cent Volatility: 9.7 per cent The Premier Monthly Income ranks in the top tier for the second study in a row, having been promoted from the Grey List. It aims to give investors a rising level of dividends paid monthly. The bulk of the fund is comprised of FTSE 100 conglomerates that are renowned for delivering increasing levels of income. These include Royal Dutch Shell, HSBC and BP. You would have received 279 income on a 1,000 investment over five years. 10. RBS Equity Income Fund Ongoing charges: 0.81 per cent Transaction costs: N/A Yield: 4.1 per cent Volatility: 8.9 per cent The RBS Equity Income Fund was inaugurated into the study as recently as January 2017. The fund dropped 14 places before moving back up by 13 places from the Grey list into the top band this time. The fund aims achieve a yield higher than the FTSE Actuaries All Share Index, with the prospect of rising income and growth in the value of shares. It would have generated income of 252 over the past five years on a 1,000 investment. 11. JOHCM UK Equity Income Ongoing charges: 0.79 per cent Transaction costs: -0.04 per cent Yield: 4.2 per cent Volatility: 10 per cent The JOHCM UK Equity Income fund, long-term capital and income growth by investing in UK shares, has jumped two places since the last study. Its top ten holdings comprise of the usual suspects for dividends including Royal Dutch and Shell as well as ITV. A 1,000 investment over five years would have earned an income of 270. 12. Premier Income Ongoing charges: 0.84 per cent Transaction costs: 0.37 per cent Yield: 4.6 per cent Volatility: 9.9 per cent Its more of the same for the Premier Income fund, which has clung onto 12th position for the second consecutive year. The fund aims to provide income that increases over time while growing investors' original investment over the long term. It has produced an income of 283 on 1,000 invested over five years. 13. Man GLG UK Income Ongoing charges: 0.90 per cent Transaction costs: 1.05 per cent Yield: 5.3 per cent Volatility: 10.6 per cent The Man GLG UK Income fund is a new entrant to the top tier, after moving up 32 places from the Black List to the Grey in the last study. Sanlam said: 'This is quite remarkable given that the fund entered our universe in July 2016 and was initially placed at the bottom of the Black List; Henry Dixon [who manages the fund] appears to have turned the fund around considerably since becoming lead manager in November 2013.' The fund seeks to achieve a level of income above the FTSE All Share Index, together with some capital growth through investing, directly or indirectly, primarily in UK shares or in stocks that derive a substantial part of their revenues from activities in the UK. It would have produced income of 275 on a 1,000 investment over five years. 14. Lazard Multicap UK Income Ongoing charges: 0.80 per cent Transaction costs: 0.15 per cent Yield: 4.1 per cent Volatility: 8.8 per cent The Lazard Multicap UK Income fund has crept into the White List, having moved from its position towards the top of the Grey List, due to a lower volatility than many of its peers. Its top holdings include Vodafone, Prudential and Unilever. A 1,000 investment over five years would have generated an income of 243. Funds on the Grey List may invest in a style that is currently unpopular. They may have fallen out of the White List or may be even be future contenders for the black list of poor performers Defence titan GKN has slammed as derisory a 7.4billion hostile bid from turnaround specialist Melrose. New boss Anne Stevens said Melrose was trying to pick up GKN on the cheap and insisted her own plan would give its profits a boost. Melrose is battling to win support from shareholders for its 430p per share offer, amid fears from unions and MPs it could damage the firm. Takeover target: GKN claims asset stripper Melsrose does not have the experience to run a high technology business It marks the first major hostile takeover in the UK since Krafts swoop for Cadbury in 2006. The Government is understood to have held talks with both sides. GKN employs around 6,000 in the UK and more than 58,000 around the world, with clients including UK and US militaries, and Airbus. Melrose sells firms on at a profit within three to five years of taking them over, having so far sold most of Leicestershire-based FKI, manufacturers Dynacast and McKechnie, and German firm Elster. ASSET STRIPPERS AXE 270 JOBS Investment giant Melrose is planning to cut 270 jobs as it continues its bid to buy engineering firm GKN. Union officials said workers at the Brush turbogenerator business in Loughborough which Melrose bought in 2008 faced losing their jobs. The firm blamed lower global demand for equipment which provides electricity for the oil and gas industry. Unite union national officer Linda McCulloch said: Unite is far from convinced of the case behind this move and will be challenging the rationale during the consultation. Yesterday chairman Christopher Miller, 66, said Melrose planned to declutter GKN, slash staff and speed up decision-making. But GKN said Melrose was not the right owner for the engineering firm and its offer is more like a 10.4 per cent premium, not the 28 per cent claimed. It added: It lacks experience in relevant high technology business. GKN is a more complex business than anything acquired by Melrose in the past. Stevens, 69, was promoted to the top job at GKN after incoming chief executive Kevin Cummings stepped down following a profit warning and US accounting scandal that hit shares. She said: This offer is derisory. Melrose is trying to buy GKN on the cheap when our company is beginning to reap the benefits of its long-term investment. Unite unions Steve Turner said: GKN is one of the last UK manufacturing powerhouses. The Government has to intervene, to say it cannot let it be picked off by the private capital vultures. The hunt for the next blockbuster brand has led Unilever to splash out billions on boutique labels. Where once it was known for household staples, such as Dove, Marmite and Ben & Jerry's ice cream, it has staged a series of swoops, such as its 2billion takeover of Korean skincare brand Carver Korea last year, and new labels of dry shampoo, vegan mayonnaise and low-calorie ice cream. It has enjoyed significant success from mail-order men's grooming service Dollar Shave Club, which it bought for 760million in 2016. It now has 3m members in the US and has just launched in the UK. Attractive offer: Unilever paid 2bn for Korean skincare brand Carver Korea last year And it built six brands from scratch last year, including personal care range Love, Beauty and Planet in the US, and Red-Red, a Ghanaian gluten-free and vegan snack pot in the UK. And it's doing its best to stoke demand for brands like Magnum with stores that allow customers to design their own ice cream. The brand's sales have tripled in 10 years. Chief executive Paul Polman said he did not expect any slowdown in the pace of change. He said: 'There remains plenty of opportunities, particularly as economies improve and new markets are opening up. It is certainly not a no-growth environment.' Unilever has launched an ambitious turnaround since it turned down a hostile takeover bid by Kraft-Heinz a year ago, buying back shares, pledging to improve its margins, and selling its spreads business, which includes Flora margarine. Taste test: Unilever brand Red-Red is a Ghanaian gluten-free and vegan snack pot It is also looking to end its dual Anglo-Dutch structure and is in talks with the respective governments. An announcement is expected within three months. The strategy appears to be paying off, with a 3.1 per cent increase in sales last year, while profits jumped by 16.9 per cent to 5.7billion. Sales in emerging markets outperformed its businesses in developed economies which fell 0.6 per cent over the year to grow almost 6 per cent in the same period. 'The improvement shows that we are reaping the benefits of investments made over the past few years and it has not come at the expense of growth,' Polman said. Despite the bullish update, Unilever's share price failed to recover after plunging by around 12 per cent following a disappointing trading update in October. Credit rating agency Moody's said that while it expected margins and revenue to improve over the next 18 months, debt is expected to grow at a faster pace than earnings. Charlie Huggins, fund manager at Hargreaves Lansdown, said Unilever still had a lot of work to do to keep up momentum. He said: 'The world for all consumer goods companies is becoming tougher, with the internet having opened the way for smaller brands to reach a larger audience. 'Consumers can compare prices at the click of a button and gain access to brands they never knew existed. 'Unilever is in the fortunate position of attempting this transition from a position of strength, benefiting from well-loved brands and a formidable geographic footprint, with almost 60 per cent of sales generated in emerging markets.' Dominic Chappell has been hit with a 10m bill to pump up the failed retailers pensions Former BHS owner Dominic Chappell has been hit with a 10million bill to pump up the failed retailers pension schemes. The Pensions Regulator watchdog confirmed it served a determination notice on Chappell last month, seeking money owed. The entrepreneur has 28 days from receiving the notice to effectively appeal against the determination, by referring it to the Upper Tribunal. If he does not appeal, that will trigger enforcement of the order to pay, with the sum pursued by the Pension Protection Fund on behalf of the trustees of the pension schemes, which had 19,000 members. The watchdog declined to comment on the exact amount sought. Chappell, 51, was not available for comment. He was convicted last month of failing to give information about BHSs pension schemes to investigators after it fell into administration. He has pledged to appeal against the verdict. Chappell was the director of Retail Acquisitions, which bought BHS for 1 from billionaire Sir Philip Green in 2015. BHS collapsed in 2016, leaving a 571million pension deficit. Green later agreed to pay 363million towards the deficit. Purplebricks has hit back at criticism from the City after its shares were hit by a broker's claim that listing with the online estate agent is like 'a 1,000 coin toss'. The spat revolves around what proportion of properties listed with the web-based estate agent are sold by 10 months in. A claim yesterday by analysts at Jefferies that the figure was barely more than 50 per cent and in line with traditional estate agents sent Purplebricks' share price tumbling 7 per cent. Michael Bruce: Founder and CEO of Purplebricks The stock slid another 2-3 per cent this morning despite a strong dismissal of the allegation by Purplebricks, which said that more than three-quarters of homes listed with it were sold within 10 months. Purplebricks charges a one-off fee that of around 1,000 although its latest results shows average revenue per customer at more than 1,100. That fee is kept whether the property is sold or not - whereas traditional agents charge a percentage of the price only if the home is sold. Jefferies said the company does not disclose the number of homes it sells and questioned a claim the company made on BBC Radio of selling 88 per cent of listed homes within 10 months. The research note authored by Anthony Codling and Sam Cullen, read: 'Our research sample found that it had sold 51.6 per cent of the homes listed in November 2016 within 10 months, a similar success rate to the overall market, but below the company's claim of 88 per cent. 'A review of Purplebricks' accounting policies raises concerns to us that either its contractual obligations to its customers end with their home being listed on the major property portals or that revenue may have been overstated and deferred income provisions understated in its audited accounts. 'Should the model stumble, the share price may do likewise.' Purplebricks has hit back at the analyst and said it 'firmly refutes the criticism'. Lee Wainwright, Purplebricks UK CEO said: 'Jefferies latest analysis is a marked improvement on its previous estimate of 14%, which it later conceded was wrong. Todays analysis is still wrong. 'The reason this analysis is incorrect is that its based on just one months data and excludes sales that have completed but have not yet been uploaded to the Land Registry, which can take several months. 'Additionally it does not include properties which have exchanged, have reached sold subject to contract, or are on marketing breaks (ultimately we will market properties for as long as it takes to sell). There will still be and there are also those properties that are still available for sale which will sell after the 10 month period. A spokesperson for the company added: 'With a few key months remaining, the Board of Purplebricks is pleased with progress and confirms trading is in line with the Boards expectations for the year ending 30 April 2018,' it said. Purplebricks reiterated its most recently published sales conversion rate from instruction to sale agreed of 78 per cent, which it said more accurately reflects its sales performance. Shares were down 2.8 per cent in morning trading to 440.4p. Stellar Diamonds was by far and away the top riser in London this week after the junior miner told investor investors it is in advanced negotiations over a possible takeover offer from Newfield Resources. AIM-listed Stellar said the possible bid, as it currently stands, would see each shareholder receive approximately 0.76 of a Newfield share for each Stellar share held. Given Aussie-quoted Newfields stock closed at A$0.29 on Wednesday, the offer would represent a whopping of 452 per cent premium to Stellars closing price of 2.3p the day before the bid. Stella Diamonds is in advanced negotiations with Newfield Resources over take-over bid The offer is conditional on Newfield securing underwriting for a A$30 million rights issue, the funds from which would be used to advance Stellars Tongo-Tonguma project in Sierra Leone into production. Stellar wheeled out the usual there can be no certainty of any offer line, but investors still poured in. Shares surged 150 per cent to 5.75p across the week. It can sometimes be tricky, to put it politely, for foreign companies operating in Russia to get a mining licence for their projects in the country. There is a whole host of governmental bodies involved in the process and it can be laborious and time-consuming maze to navigate. Eurasia Mining is faring far better than most, though. The junior miner which, importantly, has experience of successfully gaining a mining permit in Putins playground is well on its way to securing another, this time for its Montechundra project on the Kola peninsula which is estimated to be host to 2 million ounces of palladium equivalent. Eurasia revealed on Friday that things are coming along even quicker than expected, with Russias mining body, Rosnedra, having approved a draft of the permit. That has now been forwarded on to the ministry of defence and Federal Security Service to get their go-aheads. The market cheered the quick progress, with shares up more than a quarter to 0.37p. Given all of the column inches devoted to data hacks recently Yahoo, Equifax and the WannaCry bug that brought down the NHS youd think cyber security companies would be coining it. Defenx provides protection for smartphones, desktop PCs and laptops Not at Defenx. The company which has offices in London, Switzerland and Rome plummeted back in October when it said revenues for the year to December 31 would be materially below those generated in prior year and that it would record a significant full-year loss. That warning was due to delays to a few high value contracts, while the delivery of product updates to address certain performance issues also took longer than expected. On top of that, several customers owe it money and Defenx said on Monday that it has struggled to recoup what it is owed over the past two months or so, despite going down the legal route on some occasions. Should this cash collection remain weak and new orders fail to materialise, the firm wont be able to draw down any of the funds from its various debt facilities and thus may be required to seek additional funding in the next quarter. That sparked a bit of a sell-off, with shares plunging 23 per cent to 18.1p, although a slight rally on Friday helped to pare the weekly losses to 7 per cent with the stock changing hands for 22p. Defenx was more reflective of the overall junior market this week, as the AIM All Share dipped 0.4%, or 4.7 points, to 1,068.6. That was still significantly better than the blue chips though, with the FTSE 100 slumping 2.5%, or 197.4 points, to 7,468.5 as a result of the strengthening pound and rising bond yields. One of those holding the junior market back was Image Scan Holdings which saw more than a third wiped from its value. The x-ray screening systems supplier told investors only in December that it had started its new year with a record order book, although it did note that delivery dates for some of those had yet to be confirmed. Image Scan Holdings is a supplier of x-ray screening systems Well, one of those deliveries still hasnt been confirmed by the customer so Image Scan is now negotiating terms for the cancellation of the order. Unfortunately for the company and its shareholders, that deal was worth around 1 million an awful lot of money for a company now valued at just over 5 million. As a result, bosses said its results for the current year would fall materially below current market expectations. While bosses reckon theyll still be able to sell the portable X-ray products that made up the order, theyre not convinced they can do this in the current year. The shares plunged 38 per cent to 4.4p. January is rarely a good month for alcohol companies, what with Dry Jan and empty wallets after Christmas. Bargain Booze owner Conviviality reported its interim results at the end of the month, and margin pressure had the share price going down swifter than a can of Special Brew. Bargain Booze owner Conviviality Results were mixed with the wholesaler and off-licence stores operator reporting a 9.2 per cent year-on-year increase in revenue to 836.3 million and a 1.7 per cent increase to 23.2 million in adjusted underlying earnings (EBITDA). But the gross margin ebbed to 12.5 per cent from 12.8 per cent due to an increase in sales to large national account customers in the period, leading to a 1.6 per cent fall in pre-tax profits which came in at 12.3 million. The interim dividend was given a slight uplift to 4.5p and full-year guidance was maintained, but the stock still sunk 13.5 per cent across the week to 308.5p. A statue of Hungarian-born U.S. Rep. Tom Lantos, the only Holocaust survivor ever to serve in the U.S. Congress, was unveiled Thursday in Budapest as those attending praised the man known for his advocacy of democracy and human rights around the world., Bloomberg reported quoting AP. February 2, 2018, 09:22 Armenian becomes author of statue of U.S. Lawmaker STEPANAKERT, FEBRUARY 2, ARTSAKHPRESS:The bronze statue with a special red patina, depicting a slightly larger-than-life Lantos sitting on a bench with his favorite dogs, was created by Mamikon Yengibarian, a Budapest-based Armenian sculptor. It was placed on Tom Lantos Promenade in Budapest's 13th district, near his high school, the Berzsenyi Daniel Gimnazium. Yengibarian said he wanted to show "a magnificent, brilliant man who is not afraid ... and fights for justice and humanity until the end." "During his whole life, his heart was in Hungary," said his widow Annette, speaking at the unveiling ceremony on what would have been Lantos' 90th birthday. A California Democrat was in office from 1981 until his death in 2008. Advertisement The seven illegals had been abandoned in the 30 degree heat just 200 yards from the border. Their lips were blue and one, dressed only in a hoodie, was dangerously cold. The reason for their abandonment? The 'coyotes' who smuggled them across had in reality used them as a distraction for their more lucrative trade: Drugs. As the Border Patrol rushed to detain the four men, two women, and a boy who said he was 16, the 'coyotes' - a nickname for the ruthless people smugglers - were rushing to secure their cargo of bales of marijuana, hoping law enforcement would pay attention to saving lives and let them get on with their trade. The migrants' brush with death was ended by the Border Patrol agents of the Rio Grande division - a routine day on America's most dangerous border where just across the valley is Tamaulipas, a part of Mexico the State Department says is so unsafe that U.S. citizens should simply never go there, like Syria or Afghanistan. DailyMailTV has had unprecedented access to the Rio Grande Valley in South Texas, spending three days on the ground with agents who serve on foot, in pick-ups and on horseback - and in the air with some of the 3,000 agents who try to keep it safe. Left to die: These seven migrants were dumped just 200 yards from the border by smugglers who were using them in a bait-and-switch to get drugs across. DailyMailTV has obscured the face of one who claimed to be 16. One had blue lips when he was found by Border Patrol agents in 30f conditions, crossing from the most dangerous part of Mexico Round-up: Illegal immigrants found by the Border Patrol had been shivering by a levee just 200 yards from the Rio Grande. The smugglers had let them there despite conditions below freezing, which his very rare on the eastern edge of the Texas southern border Daily struggle: Agent Robert Rodriguez is one of the 3,000 personnel in the Rio Grande division - as well as its K-9 units Find: The seven illegals had been hidden by a levee - but nearby was the real prize for the smugglers, bales and bales of marijuana. The people they smuggled were a bait-and-switch, as the 'coyotes' hoped that by dumping the people, the drugd would be undetected Haul: Border agents were able to take away $160,000 worth of marijuana - some indication of the payday the smugglers were expecting. Destruction: The bales of marijuana were taken for disposal. Last year agents in the Rio Grade division recovered 130 tons of the drug smuggled across the border Illegal trade: The drugs were intended for sale in the United States. Although marijuana is legal in some states, none allow its free import from Mexico, and it is illegal in Texas Something to say: Despite arriving illegally, this man said in Spanish of the president: 'I don't agree with the immigration laws I think that what President Trump is saying about Hispanics is insulting.' Off to detention: Illegals caught at the border are taken for processing by the Border Patrol at detention facilities Watching: Every move of this - and just about every other - Border Patrol operation was under surveillance from the cartels' and coyotes' operatives on the south side of the Rio Grande The Rio Grande is not just America's most dangerous border, however; it is also a key battleground for President Donald Trump to make good on his promises to cut illegal migration. The sector covers 188 miles of the border from west of Rio Grande City to east of Brownsville where the Rio Grande meets the Gulf of Mexico - a square area bigger than South Carolina. In 2017 agents seized more than 130 tons of marijuana were seized - 30 per cent of the national total - and 137,562 people were caught, 42 per cent of the total trying to come across the US. During the days DailymailTV spent there, we witnessed 19 migrants - including two members of the MS-13 gang - being apprehended; 200lbs of marijuana worth $160,000 being seized; and a boatload of illegal migrants turned back after seeing a Border Patrol agent - all captured in dramatic pictures filmed by Air and Marine Operations, Border Patrol's sister agency in the office of Customs and Border Protection. Every day it is men like Agent Robert Rodriguez who hold the thin line on America's border. The routine of the day is patient surveillance, 'tire drags' to smooth over paths to make it easier to see footprints, and careful attention to the radio. As DailyMailTV joined him, the weather was freakishly cold by Texas standards - 30f - and it was snowing in McAllen for only the third time on record. Border Patrol agents normally deal with extreme weather in the summer, when the heat index can be 120f in the shade, but now the fear was that migrants may be dangerously cold after a night out in the open. The first call in the chilly morning was to a group of five illegals detained by other agents near the city of Mission. The four men and a teenage boy had spent the last two days in the wilderness in the cold with no food and no water. They got one mile into the US before giving up and walking along a levee until they were picked up. Their stories illustrated just one of the many problems the agents deal with every day: who are the people they arrest? One man, who appeared to be in his 50s, first told DailyMailTV he was from Mexico and said this was his third time coming into the US. The last time he was thrown out for a domestic violence charge. Then he changed his story and said he was from Nicaragua and had gone home on his own. But he did have one clear thing to say - about President Trump. 'He wasn't a factor in my decision to come here. To me it doesn't really matter how he thinks,' he said. 'He's the president and I have come to fight for my family. He's fighting for his.' Another of the migrants said that this was his second time trying to get into America and Trump's election had not put him off either. 'I don't agree with the immigration laws,' he said. 'I think that what President Trump is saying about Hispanics is insulting.' The next call was just 200 yards from the Rio Grande, where the seven illegals had been found by a levee and already arrested by other agents. The four men, two women and a teenage boy were scared and cold; one man who was handcuffed to a woman had blue lips and was shivering severely. Little wonder: he was wearing just a hoodie for warmth. The migrants, from Guatemala and Mexico, were told to turn out their pockets in case they were carrying weapons. One of the women said that they were smuggled into the US early that morning before daylight had broken. They had reached the levee but the coyote told them he had seen a Border Patrol agent and would be right back - then abandoned them. Air power: An Air and Marine Operations AStar helicopter above the Rio Grande River during a patrol near La Grulla - just part of the aerial assets which Border Patrol has access to in the battle to defeat the smugglers Proof of air superiority: This is the scene from hundreds of feet above the Rio Grande where a raft has been spotted by the crew of an AStar helicopter - allowing them to alert a Border Patrol agent to its presence and get ready to arrest them Illegal cargo: As the helicopter stayed overhead the raft turned round and headed for the Mexican shore of the river, taking the at least ten packed on board back Short crossing: Rafting the Rio Grande involves crossing just 200 yards of water some of it so shallow it can be waded. This time the illegals turned back Deterrent: As the helicopter circled, the raft went back to the vegetation opposite - but Border patrol agents know that the illegals will try again Sweeping scale: The vast Rio Grande valley is split by the river, which makes it an easy target for border crossers Up in the air: Air and Marine Operations has light planes for spotting from a greater altitude, as well as AStar and Black Hawk helicopters Powerful tool: The tiny AStar helicopter is a significant deterrent, allowing its pilot and he agent accompanying them not just to see below, but prompting illegals to turn back Watching eye: On board the AStar its pilot and a Border Patrl agent have a strategic view of the Rio Grande valley On the ground reality: Agents during a search for illegals face bush, thorns and thick vegetation - with these two agents involved in trying to find a group of immigrants as they flee Difficulty: Border Agents are confronted by cactus and thorns as they search for illegals - one of the factors making this border so tough to enforce Looking for clues: Border Patrol agent Marcelino 'Alex' Medina takes part in a searches for a group of fleeing migrants near Roma Hounding illegals: K-9 units are regularly deployed by Border Agents in the search for illegals Thirsty work: One Border Patrol K-9 gets water after a fruitless search in the scrubland for a group of illegals As the detainees squatted by the roadside, the rest of the story became clear. A snowbird in Texas for the winter told a Hildago County Constable he had seen five men in camouflage walking with bundles of marijuana in Anzualdas State Park. It was just a few hundreds yards from the detainee and Rodriguez joined a team of agents including a K-9 unit to form a perimeter. The dog found the first bundle of marijuana hidden under 3ft of thick grass. Within 10 minutes he had found another four bundles totalling 200lbs with an estimated street value of $160,000. It was clear what had happened, Rodriguez said: 'It appears they were willing to sacrifice the aliens to try and smuggle the drugs in but they were spooked after they were reported. 'Border agents maintained their discipline and stayed in their area and didn't all rush to deal with it. In this case it paid off. 'This shows how the cooperation between the public and different law enforcement agencies works but more than anything it was the K-9 which did it. Without him we would might never have found the narcotics.' In fact, Border Patrol agents had been tracking the smugglers since 7am, and found the marijuana at 2.30pm. One of them said: 'Every day out here it's like playing chess.' The smugglers, for once had lost: Their drugs were taken for destruction and the illegals they used as decoys were in custody. But it was one battle in the war and during the whole operation a man could be seen 300 yards away on the Mexican side, simply watching. 'It's freezing cold, what do you think he's doing down the beach?' Rodriguez quipped. The 200 yards of the Rio Grande are in place so shallow that it is possible to wade across. In some spots in summer illegals are taken over on water skis behind people smugglers' speedboats, dropping off them to get to American soil. One spot on the Mexican side has tracks that are heavily worn out from people and boats that are brought down to the river. Rodriguez told how that coyotes became so fed up with Border Patrol taking their boats that they began tying one end to a long rope and attaching it to a truck that was positioned on the Mexican side. If the coyote saw a Border Patrol agent on the land or in a boat he made a signal and the truck sped off, pulling the boat violently back to shore. The coyote inside would hold on because he knew what was happening but the migrants inside had no idea and would be thrown out into the water. Rodriguez says: 'You have to be pretty special, and not in a good way, to take off and leave people to die.' Hi-tech deterrent: A Border Patrol Rapid Aerostat Initial Deployment (RAID) tower first saw service in Iraq - but now it is used to monitor the border by camera and infrared technology. The operator sits inside the bullet-proof shelter Watching eye: Border Patrol have a network of cameras on the ground and in the air, with blimps used to keep a constant presence above the valley Not all hi-tech: Border Patrol regularly deploys on horseback to deal with the challenging terrain On alert: Agent Lupe Pena looks out toward an island in the Rio Grande where illegals are waiting in a raft to try to make the crossing On the trial: From high above, a helicopter watches as a Border Patrol agent sprints through the undergrowth in search of an illegal What happened next: The Border Patrol Agent (1) catches up with an illegal (2) - just as further away (3) a second illegal manages to get away Caught: The agent reaches an illegal who is already getting on to the ground as the armed law enforcement officer approaches On the ground: The agent detains the illegal, who was fleeing through the undergrowth and has him lie on the ground Off to detention: Border Patrol agents caught this illegal near Mission - last year they made 200,000 such detentions Captured: Border Patrol agents handcuff detainees to each other to stop them fleeing, and give them a bag for their possessions It is hardly the only tactic caretls use which treat human life as just another commodity. For a time, Rodriguez said, smugglers were moving ATV vehicles over the river on small boats and loading them with drugs on the US side. They waited until around 3pm when schools were ending for the day before setting off at speed on a route which took them past the school gates. The hope was that the Border Patrol and police officers would be unable to go as fast because they were worried about hitting a child crossing the road - a horrific calculation that paid off: the ATVs got through. Now Border Patrol has put up dozens of what they call 'mitigation gates' - steel barriers to stop the cartels from driving cars right up to the river and loading up their drugs or human cargo, or offloading them from boats. It is a constant war of attrition. Even the equipment is military with the latest innovation RAID towers which are bulletproof elevated platforms fitted with cameras that were re-purposed from the Iraq War to monitor large flat areas. Inside is a border agent who uses an Xbox controller - they are cheaper than the official one - who works eight hour shifts with a camera that can see up to 13 miles away and has infrared vision. But not every area is flat: in another patrol zone, between Rio Grande City and the river are private ranches meaning Border Patrol agents must carry around large bundles of keys to get through the dozens of gates they encounter during each shift. Further west the historic district of the city of Roma goes right up to the bluff that overlooks the Rio Grande. Easy crossing: This is one of the spots where Mexican cartels and coyotes can make a short crossing into the United States Path to a new life: Illegals make their way own this bank of the Mexican side of the Rio Grande - and then onto rafts to get across the water Evidence of success: These inflatables made it across, directly under one of the legal crossing points. They can be packed with a dozen illegals each Trail: Once the immigrants have made it across in the raft they simply run to evade the Border Patrol The thins they carried: Discarded items litter the area immediately around the Rio Grande, from a toothbrush to a child's shoe. Supplies: Migrants discard bottles as they move through the bush - but gangs also leave the water supplies ready for them to be found Traveling light: Illegals often leave clothes behind as they pick up speed across the scrubland. Although when DailyMailTV was there conditions were freezing, usually it is heat which presents the danger to illegals Frequent path: Agent Robert Rodriguez looks at signs of disturbance showing where illegals make their way further into U.S. territory Deterrent: Border Patrol have out up metal barriers at locations along the river to stop cartels and coyotes bringing vehicles down to pick up the people and drugs they have brought across And in the rough terrain, the backroads are rarely paved, proving a difficulty for the four wheel drive trucks driven by the Border Patrol. It is one area, says agent Marcelino Alejandro, where Trump's wall cannot be built because - as th epresident says - the landscape makes it impossible. The challenges are vividly illustrated when the call comes out for a group of migrants seen running through an area of brush to the West of Roma. HOW TO BEAT THE GANGS - WITH TIRES One of the most successful - if tedious - tactics for Border Patrol agents is to keep the paths near the river smooth. They use old tires for 'tire drags' where they drag them along the main tracks to smooth them over, making it easier to show up footprints. The smugglers try to get around this by putting down items of clothing and getting migrants to walk on them. Another tactic is to brush over the footprints with a leaf, but this still leaves a trail. Particularly crafty coyotes get migrants to walk backwards to make it look like they are going toward the river. Agent Robert Rodriguez said: 'That's why you really have to get down and look at the heel digs because they show you the front of the foot is going in first.' Advertisement On our way there the one of the Border Patrol trucks hits a pothole on a dirt track that causes its front end to dip down and the rear tires to go high in the air. Other Border Patrol agents have already arrived and fan out around the brush to create a perimeter while a K-9 unit searches for scents. The agents push through sharp thorns and cactus spikes in two groups, one from the north, the other from the south, but there is no sign of the migrants. Alejandro said the migrants must have headed back to Mexico because there was no way they could have slipped through the perimeter. 'Although we did not apprehend them it was a successful operation because we forced them back,' he said. Forcing back and deterring is part of the everyday routine, and just as the search in the brush ends, a radio message warns about a raft hiding in thick vegetation in one of the small islands in the middle of the river. Legally they are no-man's land and the smugglers use them as a hide out. A watching agent has seen the raft make the 20-yard trip towards the American side and Alejandro races to the spot. By the time he is there, there is nothing: Agent Lupe Pena tells us that two men had been paddled over by a smuggler and when they got to the American side they tried to run up the bank but saw a Border Patrol agent and headed back to the island on the raft. Pena says: 'We turned them back so they're going to try again, but not today.' It is is painstaking work of watching, and not just for the agents: on the other side the radio says is a 'monkey in the tree', a cartel scout watching the Border Patrol just as they watch him. But where the Border Patrol have a clear edge is in the air: in the sky it has helicopters and planes at its disposal. Steve Jones, chief air interdiction agent at the McAllen Air and Marine Operations office, oversees AStars, Black Hawks and light planes. When DailyMailTV is on patrol with an AStar, with a pilot and an agent, it was flying high in the skies just outside the town of Mission when it spotted a raft crossing the river. Within minutes the aircraft was over the raft just outside the town of Mission and by that point it was midway across the Rio Grande river, clearly visible in broad daylight. A Border Patrol truck and some agents were positioned near the bank of the river on the US side and, after seeing them, the raft slowly turned and made its way back over to Mexico. The craft was heavily weighed down and nine migrants could be seen huddled together. Slowly, the craft turned back to Mexico - a small victory for the interdiction effort. 'That's the precarious thing about working this area because there's no physical barrier, it's so easy to get across,' Jones said. 'Just 300 yards after they get into Texas they could be in a house or a vehicle and they have vanished. 'In this instance with the raft they probably saw that the helicopter was there and decided to go back home.' Air operations are not all so successful: another search for a group of six migrants in an area of thick brush who were evading border agents saw the air crew use their thermal imaging camera to track the illegals.A Border DailyMailTV pictures show an agent approaching a migrant who is surrendering - but in the top corner another illegal flees. 'One of the things that the helicopter does is that if you have fleeing folks is it lays them down because they know they're not going to get away once that helicopter is on scene,' Jones said. Search for clues: Volunteer Brooks County Sheriff's deputy Don White and Sheriff Urbino 'Benny' Martinez on patrol near Falfurrias, Texas. Although they are 80 miles from the border, Brooks County has the grimmest record in the U.S. for illegals being found dead Thin line: Don White is a retired police recovery diver who aids his local sheriff's department as a volunteer. His two-day patrols take him through the desert land here dozens of corpses are found each year Trail of tears: Eighty miles from the border,illegals try to evade the Border Patrol by trekking through the desert, leaving behind a trial of evidence of the lives they led - and for some, the evidence of their last days Uncertain fate: Sheriff Benny Martinez says that those who pass through Brooks County risk dying in the desert, gnawed before they die by animals. 'You're looking at the coyotes, the buzzard, the hogs, the rats eating off the soft tissue,' he said. Mission: White says that migrants usually stay close to the road because they can get a phone signal and because they know where they are going. But some are walking as much as 10 miles from the highway to avoid detection, even though the undergrowth is much denser. But the border and the problems it brings, does not stop at the valley. Eighty miles to the north of the Rio Grande, lies Brooks County, which has the grim record of being the deadliest county for immigrants in the nation. Last year 52 illegals were found dead in its territory - almost a fifth of all those found dead crossing the border. They use Brooks County as a route on foot to avoid a ring of checkpoints run by the Border Patrol on roads from the Rio Grande, crossing desert where summer temperatures reach 110f. 'We have on this particular roadway, the 281, a checkpoint that is there for a reason, it serves its purpose, no argument there,' county sheriff Benny Martinez told DailyMailTV. 'What the smugglers are doing is giving false hope for these people and saying it's easy to go across, and it's not easy. They're stashed at a house on the river for two or three days at a time, they're not getting the food to sustain themselves. 'They are driven north and told it's just a quick walk around the checkpoint, well it's not. It turns into two or three days. They're not equipped, they get hurt, they get injured, they're not well, and they're left out there.' Rather than Border Patrol, it is Martinez and his single officer on each shift who have to deal with the resulting carnage in an area of nearly 1,000 square miles. He is assisted by volunteer patrol officers like Don White, a former police recovery diver who spends days out on the trails hunting for migrants. White routinely carries an AR-15 rifle, and a 40lbs backpack with four spare magazines, snake gators to stop the rattlesnakes from biting him, and two days supply of water. White says that migrants usually stay close to the road because they can get a phone signal and because they know where they are going. But some are walking as much as 10 miles from the highway to avoid detection, even though the undergrowth is much denser. It isn't just people either; White says that a rancher once told him he once saw 14 mules carrying drugs with six armed men. On one patrol he points out light tracks in the sand which were caused by migrants; heavier ones are caused by boots which are worn by the coyotes who are better prepared for the walk. In the brush White finds multiple water bottles that have been discarded by migrants moving North. In one area where the brush has been flattened by people sleeping is a sweater, a ski mask and some long underwear. Martinez told DailyMailTv that heat and animals take an horrific toll, often on people who have collapsed and cannot move. 'You're looking at the coyotes, the buzzard, the hogs, the rats eating off the soft tissue,' he said. 'The coyotes will tear the body apart so they will scatter the whole body within 500ft from the original site. 'There are times when a body is located and the helicopter is looking around and they see coyotes just tearing into something, and it's another body. 'It's not a good sight, it's not a good way to die because I can just imagine them knowing they are dying, it's a slow death. 'It's a bad death...that's what we deal with.' A French mountaineer rescued in a dramatic night-time operation from Pakistan's 'killer mountain' has opened up about the agonising decision to leave her weak and bleeding climbing partner and descend the peak alone in darkness. Elisabeth Revol, 37, a teacher, returned to France after she was rescued Sunday from Nanga Parbat - the world's ninth-highest peak at 8,126 metres (26,660 feet). Revol and her climbing partner Tomasz Mackiewicz, a 43-year-old Polish national living in Ireland who was also known as Tomek, called for help on Friday. It was her fourth attempt, her third with Mackiewicz, to scale Nanga Parbat during the winter season, but the pair ran into trouble amid frigid temperatures and high winds. Speaking from a hospital in France's Haute-Savoie region - where doctors are assessing whether her hands and feet will need to be amputated due to frostbite - Revol said rescuers urged her to leave Mackiewicz behind. They promised they could reach her by helicopter if she climbed down to 6,000 metres and would travel up to find Mackiewicz after. She described the decision to leave him as 'terrible and painful'. Elisabeth Revol opened up about the agonising decision to leave the climbing partner Tomasz Mackiewicz behind on Pakistan's 'killer mountain.' The pair are pictured together on the summit of Nanga Parbat in a photo shared on Tomasz' Facebook page on January 29 French mountaineer Elisabeth Revol had to leave her climbing partner behind, a decision she described as 'terrible and painful' Revol, 37, spoke from a hospital in France's Haute-Savoie region - where doctors are assessing whether she will require amputations due to frostbite in her hands and left foot The elite group of Polish climbers, on a separate expedition to scale the K2 peak, volunteered for the rescue, braving high winds and nighttime temperatures of around minus 35 degrees Celsius (minus 31 F) to scale the slippery mountain wall and bring her down. The Pakistani military sent a helicopter after a crowdfunding campaign for the pair raised almost 150,000. But they were unable to get to Mackiewicz, a father-of-three, who was stranded further up the Himalayan mountain, due to poor weather. They made the decision to leave him behind after Revol reported the poor condition he was in when she last saw him. She said Mackiewicz, who turned 43 this month, had frostbitten hands and legs and face, no sense of time or space, was snow blind, and unable to move unassisted. Revol, who weighed just 43kg (6st 10lbs) following her ordeal, left France on December 15 and began her adventure with Mackiewicz on January 20. A few days later, as they approached the summit, she says they 'felt good'. An elite group of Polish climbers managed to reach Revol, but were unable to get to Tomasz (Tomek) Mackiewicz (pictured in 2014), who was stranded further up the Himalayan mountain Members of the Polish K2 expedition rescue Elisabeth Revol in Nanga Parbat on January 28 By early evening, they finally reached the peak - making Revol the first woman to scale the mountain in winter, without oxygen or sherpa. But their joy was shortlived. 'Tomek told me 'I can't see anything any more,'' Revol recalled. 'He hadn't used a mask because it was a bit hazy during the day and by nightfall he had ophthalmia (an inflammation of the eye). We hardly had a second at the top. We had to rush to get down.' Mackiewicz clung to Revol's shoulders and they began the long, difficult descent in darkness. 'At one point, he couldn't breathe,' Revol said. 'He took off the protection he had in front of his mouth and he began to freeze. His nose became white and then his hands, his feet.' They huddled overnight in a crevasse, trying desperately to shelter from the biting wind. But Mackiewicz no longer had the strength to continue the descent and by sunrise, his condition had deteriorated further. Revol recalls that he had 'blood streaming from his mouth', a sign of oedema - a buildup of fluid in the body and the ultimate stage of acute mountain sickness, which can be fatal without urgent treatment. The mountaineer alerted everyone she could that they needed help but certain messages were lost in transmission. Eventually, instructions came through from her rescuers. 'They told me, 'If you go down to 6,000 metres, we can pick you up, and we can get Tomek at 7,200 metres.'' She added: 'It wasn't a decision I made, it was imposed on me.' Russian climber Denis Urubko, Elisabeth Revol, and Polish climber Adam Bielecki pose for a picture at the base of the Diamir Face of Nanga Parbat, after her rescue on January 28 Nanga Parbat, in northern Pakistan, is the world's ninth highest mountain at 8,125 metres An elite group of climbers saved a French mountaineer in a daring high-altitude rescue mission on Pakistan's Nanga Parbat Members of the Polish K2 expedition heading to take part in the rescue of the French climber To Mackiewicz, she remembers simply saying: 'Listen, the helicopter will arrive late afternoon. I must go down, they'll come to get you.' 'We had to choose,' Denis Urobko, one of the rescuers, told The Times. 'Either we helped Elisabeth survive, or we continued up with very little chance of finding Tomek.' Sending her GPS coordinates to rescuers and convincing herself that she would survive, she took nothing with her for the remainder of her journey. 'Not a tent, not a duvet, nothing,' she said. Revol had thought the rescuers would arrive late that afternoon, but when they didn't turn up, she was forced to spend another night down a crevasse. But she said: 'I knew I was getting out. I was in my hole and I was freezing cold but I wasn't in a desperate situation. I was more worried for Tomek, who was much weaker'. It was then that she began to have altitude-induced hallucinations, imagining that people were bringing her hot tea - and that to thank them, she had to give them her shoe. She was barefoot for five hours, and developed frostbite. How dangerous is Nanga Parbat? Pakistan's 'killer mountain' has claimed more than 80 lives Nanga Parbat, in northern Pakistan, is the world's ninth-highest mountain at 8,125 metres (26,660 feet) and one of the most dangerous. Its name means naked mountain in Urdu, but locals call the peak Diamir which translates to king of mountains. But it earned the nickname 'killer mountain' after 31 climbers died trying to climb it before the first successful summit by Austrian climber Hermann Buhl in July 1953. The first attempt was in 1895 by Alfred Mummery. He and two Gurkha climbers reached an elevation of 6,1000 metres on the Diamir Face but died in an avalanche during a reconnaissance of the Rakhiot Face. In 1934, nine members of one expedition died during their climb. Nanga Parbat earned the nickname 'killer mountain' after 31 climbers died trying to climb it before the first successful summit By 1968, at least 68 climbers had perished trying to scale Nanga Parbat, which is considered the second hardest 8,000-metre peak after K2. In 1970, Reinhold Messner one of the greatest Himalayan climbers and his brother Gunther scaled Nanga Parbat. But Gunther was killed in an avalanche as the pair descended, and his remains werent found until 2005. The mountain was first summited in the winter in February 2016 by Italian alpinst Simone Moro and his team - Alex Txikon of Spain and Pakistani climber Ali Sadpara - who overcame frostbite and pummelling winds to reach the peak. In June 2013, 11 people 10 climbers and a Pakistani cook were killed in a terrorist attack at Nanga Parbats base camp. Taliban soldiers stormed the camp in the middle of the night, before robbing and shooting the victims. In July last year, a Spaniard and an Argentinian were presumed dead after they went missing while trying to summit Nanga Parbat. Advertisement Exhausted at 6,800 metres, Revol decided to stay put to preserve her strength and keep warm. Her hopes were raised by the whirring noise of a helicopter overhead, but the wind was gathering strength and the rescue team was unable to land. After realising she would have to spend a third night in the open, 'I started to question whether I would survive', she says, adding that she had not received a message sent by the Polish climbers telling her they were coming. Finally, she began her final descent, with wet gloves and frozen feet, and managed to reach one of the camps at around 3am. 'And then I saw two headlamps arriving. So I started to yell. And I said to myself, 'OK it's going to be ok. 'It was incredibly emotional'. Revol was later flown to Islamabad and on to Switzerland on Thursday, before being transported across the border. She stopped climbing for four years after losing her rope partner, Martin Minarik, in 2009 after he vanished on Annapurna, another mountain in the Himalayas. But this time, she plans to return to climbing again soon. 'I think I will,' she said. 'I need this.' While millions of Chinese people are making their way to Europe and America to see the outside world, many of them also enjoy visiting the fake Western-style towns within the country - to pretend to be abroad. One of the most popular places as such is Tianducheng, an elaborate town in eastern China that is supposed to look like Paris. Chinese people apparently love the 420 million French-style development so much as they gushed about its 'authentic' European atmosphere to a reporter from Pear Video. Tianducheng, in eastern China's Zhejiang Province, has been built to look like Paris Just like the French capital city (pictured), the Chinese knockoff town has an Eiffel Tower One of them, a resident, was quoted saying: 'After I came here, I feel there is no need to go to France anymore.' While another person, also a resident, told the reporter: 'Maybe I won't be able to go to Paris, but after I came here and personally experienced the atmosphere, I really feel the authentic European flavour.' A third resident, who claimed to have lived there for 10 years, said many tourists would come to visit the town during the weekend. The Eiffel Tower in Tianducheng, measuring 108 metres (354 feet) tall, is illuminated at night The picture taken from Montparnasse shows the Eiffel Tower in Paris during sunset One Tianducheng resident expressed her love for the town: 'There is no need to go to France' Another person said: 'After I came here, I really feel the authentic European flavour' Situated near cosmopolitan Hangzhou, Tianducheng was built about 15 years ago by a property group. The 164-acre area, dubbed 'Paris of the East', is designed to house 10,000 people in French neoclassical-style buildings. All buildings are centred around a mini Eiffel Tower, the town's crowned jewel. The Tianducheng Eiffel Tower is about one-third the size of the original 324-metre-tall (1,063-foot-tall) landmark in Paris, which was constructed for the 1889 World Expo. Situated near cosmopolitan Hangzhou, Tianducheng was built about 15 years ago The 164-acre area is designed to house 10,000 people in French neoclassical-style buildings The French capital is by no means the only city which has got a wacky Chinese cousin. In Shanghai, which is about two hours from Tianducheng by car, there are an English town, a German town, an Italian town and a Dutch town. In Huizhou, Guangdong, the authority has built an exact clone of Hallstatt, a UNESCO World Heritage site in Austria. The city of Fuzhou city in Jiangxi province is planning to build a copy of Shakespeare's hometown, Stratford-upon-Avon, to express their love for the English writer. Moreover, a new district, inspired by the old town of Hannover in Germany, has been built in the city of Changde in Hunan Province. Many of these developments, however, later became 'ghost towns' - a sign of China's real estate bubble. English-style Thames Town (pictured) was built on the outskirts of Shanghai 20 years ago Thames Town has the most British elements, such as the red phone box in London (pictured) A 330mn town styled after Hannover (pictured) was unveiled in China's Changde in 2016 The German town in Changde has been inspired by the historic centre of Hannover (pictured) The blueprints of Sanweng town, which is supposed to be a copy of Shakespeare's hometown An Oklahoma prosecutor has resigned after negotiating a lenient sentence for a legally blind man who raped a Texas girl, 13, at church camp. David Pyle, the assistant prosecutor who handled the case, resigned on Wednesday. He negotiated a sentence of 15 years' probation for Benjamin Lawrence Petty, 36, after he pleaded guilty to first-degree rape and other charges. Resigned: Prosecutor David Pyle resigned Wednesday after negotiating a lenient sentence On January 19 Petty, who is legally blind, was sentenced to 15 years probation instead of facing jail time and will be required to wear an ankle monitor for 24 months. He also has to register as a sex offender and seek treatment. On Monday, Pyle said a major reason he did not insist on prison time in the Sulphur, Oklahoma case was because the defendant was legally blind. Murray County District Attorney Craig Ladd said he disliked the way the case was handled. 'I want it to be known that I strongly disagree with the lenient manner in which the Benjamin Petty case in Murray County was prosecuted in many respects,' Ladd said. Pyle is now facing backlash for his prosecution. 'Failure to hold perpetrators accountable regardless of their disabilities sends the wrong message to victims of crime,' said Candida Manion, executive director of the nonprofit Oklahoma Coalition Against Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault. 'There is a lack of knowledge about sexual assault within the criminal justice system, and what we know about violent offenders is that they will reoffend,' she added. Benjamin Lawrence Petty, 36, who is legally blind, will face 15 years probation after pleading guilty to the rape of a Texas girl, 13, in 2016 while she was attending a church camp Petty attacked the Texas girl in 2016 while she was attending the Falls Creek church camp in southern Oklahoma. Petty, who was a cook at the camp, lured her into his bedroom saying he would show her how to do tricks on a device, according to KFOR. He then tied a rope around the girl's wrists, raped her and threatened to hurt her if she told anyone, according to investigators. Pyle said the girl's family agreed to the plea deal and that they 'didn't want to make all the travels back and forth'. However, the family's attorney, Bruce A. Robertson, disputed that statement. 'Contrary to statements made by the Murray County Assistant District Attorney David Pyle, our client and her family never expressed reservations about traveling to Oklahoma for the criminal case against Benjamin Petty,' Robertson said in a written statement. Locals say they feel betrayed by the sentence that will put the offender back on the streets. 'We feel betrayed, I believe. No child molester should be out on the streets,' local resident Bobby McKinney to KXII. 'I do feel like the 15 years of probation is too light. Even though it is 15 years, what happened was wrong, and blind or not, you shouldn't just get 15 years,' another resident, McKayla Arrington, said to KXII. A desperate search is underway for a 13-year-old girl who disappeared from her Sydney home in the early hours of the morning four days ago. Janna Almajzoub was last seen at her family home in Denman Road, Georges Hall. Police believe she left the home between 3am and 6am on Monday 29 January. Janna Almajzoub (pictured) was last seen at her family home on Denman Road in Georges Hall, Sydney, before leaving between 3am and 6am on Monday She has not been heard of since and family are extremely concerned for her welfare due to her young age. Bankstown Police have asked for the assistance of the public to help locate the missing teenage girl. Family believe she may be travelling in the south-west areas of Sydney. Janna is described as being Mediterranean/Middle Eastern appearance with a slim build. She has long dark brown hair with brown eyes. It is not known what clothes she was wearing when she left the house. Anyone who knows there whereabouts of Janna is urged to contact crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000. New CCTV footage has been released in a bid to catch a murderer who broke into the home of a great-grandmother and beat her to death for her wedding ring. Eileen Blane, 87, was brutally kicked and punched in her own home after answering the door to a late-night caller. She suffered two broken ribs and a broken vertebra, while a wedding ring she had not taken off for 63 years was ripped from her finger. The widow spent two months in hospital recovering for her injuries but died just hours after being discharged. A year on from the attack in Stretford, Greater Manchester, police have released an e-fit and CCTV footage of two men they wish to speak to as they hunt the murderer. Scroll down for video Eileen Blane, 87, was kicked and punched to the ground by a vicious robber who forced his way into her home, in Stretford, Greater Manchester in February last year. She died two months after the attack, just days after being released from hospital The widow spent two months in hospital recovering for her injuries but died just hours after being discharged. Her son David Blane said: 'He took 30 and my mum's wedding ring. My mum's wedding ring was on her finger 63 years. 'And that was one of the most heart-rending things that could have happened to my mum - and that alone could have killed her.' Despite a 50,000 reward, a widespread investigation and appeals to the public, officers have yet to find the killer, who hurled her beloved dog against a wall. Eileen escaped when the thief went upstairs. She grabbed her pet Jack Russell and ran out of the house to the safety of a neighbour who rang the police. Her attacker is described as white, aged in his 20s, about 5ft 8ins tall, slim build and he was wearing a dark coloured jacket with the hood covering his face. The substantial reward still stands for anyone with information that leads to the successful conviction of the offender. Detective Inspector John Mulvihill from GMP's Major Incident Team said: 'We have three key sightings on the day Eileen was brutally attacked and we are desperate to hear from the public. An e-fit of one of Ms Blane's attackers (left). The widow lost husband David (pictured right, on their wedding day) 13 years ago and had never removed her wedding ring for 63 years 'Firstly, we have an e-fit of a man seen between 1.30pm and 1.45pm on Chatsworth Road - just five minutes away from Eileen's home. 'He was described as white, about 25-years-old, clean shaven and wearing a dark hooded top with the hood up. 'Secondly, we have CCTV of a young man in Co-Op on the Barton Road at 2.30pm where Eileen had been earlier that day. 'And lastly, a man was witnessed on Castleton Avenue about 3pm near to the junction with Bradwell Avenue. Again this man is described as white, in his late teens to early 20s and he was wearing a dark coloured puffa-style jacket. 'This man had gaunt facial features and sandy/ginger coloured hair which was short at the sides and slightly longer on top. A year on from the attack in Stretford, Greater Manchester, police have released an e-fit and CCTV footage of two men they wish to speak to as part of the investigation The widow spent two months in hospital recovering for her injuries but died just hours after being discharged 'I implore anyone who recognises these men to get in touch or if you believe this is you please contact us immediately. It is vital that these three men are eliminated from our enquiries. 'Even the smallest piece of information could be crucial in helping us find the person responsible for Eileen's murder and hopefully give her family the answers and closure they deserve.' Following the death of Ms Blane, her granddaughter Hayley Blane, 26, said: 'The cause of this is obvious to us as a family. She was a fit and healthy, strong-willed lady and this really knocked the wind out of her sails. 'I don't think for one second she would have died if it wasn't for that awful attack. 'As a family, we are all heartbroken that this is the reason for nanna's death. We are all trying to come to terms with the fact that she was attacked at all and now we have lost our nanna.' Despite a 50,000 reward, a widespread investigation and appeals to the public, officers have yet to find the killer, who hurled her beloved dog against a wall (pictured: Ms Blane with family) Eileen's family released a shocking picture of the injuries she had suffered in the aftermath of the robbery in February last year. During the attack, the robber dragged her along her hallway after she answered a knock on her door. He then pushed her into the kitchen where he forced her against a hob. He told her she 'wouldn't get out of the house alive' unless she handed over gold and cash. Following the attack, well-wishers set up a JustGiving page which raised hundreds for a replica ring but Eileen died before it was given to her. Det Chf Insp Paul Parker, of Greater Manchester Police, branded the attack 'disgusting and intrusive'. A woman narrowly avoided being hit on the head when a pair of kangaroo balls fell from the sky. Amy Ravenhall was putting the bins out along her driveway in Alice Springs on Monday when the sack landed by her feet. She was walking back up to her house when the testicles fell through the trees landing just centimetres away from her. Skippy's nuts lying on the floor where they fell just centimetres away from Amy Ravenhall Nail technician Amy Ravenhall (pictured) said she was just putting the bins out on Monday 'I was out the front and heard something fall through the trees and nearly land on my head,' Mrs Ravenhall said. 'What is it? It's a pair of kangaroo balls.' A group of kites were circling and squabbling over the sack overhead when they fell near her. She believes one of the birds dropped its prize package during the birds' dogfight above her. 'There was a whole bunch of them, so they were probably fighting over the balls,' she told NT News. Mrs Ravenhall first thought the furry sack was an itchy grub nest until showing her husband Mrs Ravenhall posted a picture of the balls on the ground and shared it on Facebook. She added: 'Can't wait to see what the rest of the day throws at me. Thought you all needed a giggle for your Monday.' At first Mrs Ravenhall, a nail technician who has lived in Alice Springs for 25 years, said she thought the missile was an itchy grub nest, NT News reports. But it was her husband who, after 'kicking them around a bit', confirmed they were in fact the nether regions of a kangaroo. The post on Facebook which Mrs Ravenhall said she hoped would bring a giggle to everyone Mrs Ravenhall is now said to be considering selling the balls on eBay. A range of souvenirs and unusual gifts can be made out of kangaroo testicles. Skippy scrotum gifts available online include bottle openers, coin pouches, key chains, corkscrews from a range of different species. A kangaroo scrotum bottle opener could set you back around $35 - including postage and packaging. A man who fatally shot two workers at separate Detroit-area businesses was armed with an AK-47 assault rifle and had more than 200 rounds of ammunition, authorities said. The 45-year-old suspect from Sterling Heights, Michigan appeared to have a 'hit list in his mind' and was on a 'planned killing spree,' Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard told reporters Thursday. One worker was slain Thursday morning at a trucking company in Taylor, southwest of Detroit. Another man was fatally shot in Pontiac, just over 30 miles north of Taylor. The suspect used to work at both locations, and both victims were reported to be his former bosses. Scroll down for video A 45-year-old man from Sterling Heights, Michigan is accused of fatally shooting two of his former bosses on Thursday at separate Detroit-area businesses; Victim Eriberto Perez, 58, is pictured at left; Victim Keith Kitchen is pictured at right The suspect is believed to have planned at least one more shooting at a trucking firm in nearby Waterford Township, but police and witnesses said he left when he could not find the person he was looking for. The suspect, who has not been named, walked into BSD Linehaul at around 10.30am Eastern on Thursday and fired shots, Taylor Police Chief John Blair told WDIV TV. The suspect was reportedly arrested, and was on probation, after showing up at the trucking company with a gun in November. The suspect, who has not been named, walked into BSD Linehaul at around 10.30 am Eastern on Thursday and fired shots Police believed the killing spree was planned, and that it also included a potential third victim A man named Keith Kitchen was killed in the attack, after suffering multiple gunshot wounds in an alleged targeted assault by the suspect. 'Prayers for my family as we have lost an amazing man and a big, loving part of our family today,' Kitchen's niece shared on Thursday in a post on social media. 'We are heartbroken.' Kitchen was a manager at the trucking company, where the suspect was fired in November, Blair said. After Kitchen was shot, the suspect then ran outside and carjacked a semi-truck cabin The suspect was armed with an AK-47 assault rifle and had more than 200 rounds of ammunition, authorities said A third shooting is believed to have been planned, but did not take place The suspect, who has not been named, walked into BSD Linehaul at around 10.30 am Eastern on Thursday and fired shots, Taylor Police Chief John Blair told WDIV TV 'He was a disgruntled employee who had had problems previously at the location,' Taylor Police Chief John Blair said. 'It appears today he came back for some sort of vengeance.' The suspect then ran outside and carjacked a semi-truck cabin without a trailer, Blair said. The suspect then drove the semi cab just over 30 miles north to Pontiac, where 58-year-old Eriberto Perez was shot to death at the aluminum stamping business where he was at work, with his back to the window. The suspect drove the stolen semi cab just over 30 miles north to Pontiac 58-year-old Eriberto Perez was shot to death at the aluminum stamping business where he was at work, with his back to the window, in Pontiac Perez was also a former boss of the suspect, at Aluminum Blanking Co on West Sheffield Avenue in Pontiac 'He went right to an office window and shot the individual at his desk,' witness Bouchard said. Perez was also a former boss of the suspect, at Aluminum Blanking Co on West Sheffield Avenue in Pontiac. The suspect is believed to have planned at least one more shooting at a trucking firm in nearby Waterford Township called Assured Trucking, but police and witnesses said he left when he could not find the person he was looking for. The suspect crashed the semi cabin into at least one other car in Waterford The crash injured two women, who reporters said were not seriously hurt After the suspect left the third location, he engaged with police in a chase. The suspect crashed the semi cabin into at least one other car, and injured two women, who reporters said were not seriously hurt. The suspect engaged in a shootout with Waterford law enforcement, at Williams Lake and Van Zandt roads. The suspect appeared to have a 'hit list in his mind' and was on a 'planned killing spree,' Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard told reporters Thursday The suspect engaged in a shootout with Waterford law enforcement, at Williams Lake and Van Zandt roads. The suspect was eventually shot and wounded by police, arrested and then taken to a nearby hospital. The suspect had surgery Thursday afternoon and is expected to recover, police told a reporter with WDIV TV. He currently remains in police custody at the hospital. Doctors have warned that people who indulge in more than one glass of wine per night may be suffering from 'chronic alcoholism'. According to Sunrise, 27 per cent of Australians aged 55-64 in New South Wales consume alcohol at 'risky levels' and medical professionals are reportedly concerned about the Aussie 'drinking culture'. At least a couple of days every week should be alcohol-free with two glasses a day being the 'upper limit', medical professionals say. People who indulge in more than one glass of wine a night may suffer from 'chronic alcoholism' 'The problem I see frequently is couples who share a bottle of wine between them every night,' AMA NSW president Dr Brad Frankum told 7NEWS on Friday. 'They don't associate binge drinking with the cultured act of a glass of wine at night.' He added that people who drink daily are at a increased risk of pancreatitis, liver disease, obesity and 'alcoholic dementia'. Speaking to ABC in 2017, Professor Tanya Chikritzhs, from Curtin University's National Drug Research Institute slammed the idea that a drink at the end of a long day is good for you. 'From the very first sip, even at very low levels of less than half a drink a day, you can experience an increased risk for a range of cancers,' Professor Chikritzhs revealed. She added that because alcohols is technically a carcinogen, your risk of developing cancer increases with your intake. 'The problem I see frequently is couples who share a bottle of wine between them every night' Older people are much less aware of alcohol units and how much it is safe to drink,' said Dr Rao, a consultant old age psychiatrist Kings College London. With plenty of older couples suddenly finding themselves with more money as children fly the nest, they often spend their newfound disposable income on alcohol. Katherine Brown, chief executive of the Institute of Alcohol Studies, said that the report confirm recent data that shows substance misuse rising as the population ages. Its worrying because alcohol harm is often mistaken as being a problem for drunken teenagers on the streets,' she said. 'However, we know most of the harm is done...behind closed doors. The accessibility of cheap supermarket drink has had a huge impact on the rise in alcohol related health problems amongst baby boomers.' Ms Brown added that 'much more needs to be done to address the burden' alocholism takes on our bodies, families and health system. Older couples and 'empty nesters' often spend their newfound disposable income on alcohol Sticking to the 'no more than two standard drinks per day' rule means that 'your lifetime risk of death from alcohol-related disease or injury below one in 100'. But drinkers should also be aware that most alcohol drinks equate to more than one standard drink - most full-strength beers will equate to around 1.5 standard drinks, and the average restaurant serve of red wine is 1.6. It should also be noted that the limit is not an average - you can't consume 10 standard drinks in a single night and then nothing the rest of the week and still 'kid yourself you're still within the guidelines'. A former police officer investigating the Beaumont children disappearance has revealed the prime suspect's son told him the location of their final resting place. The revelations come as police said they were 'hoping for the best' as they began excavation on Friday at an Adelaide factory which is at the centre of a renewed search for the missing trio. Former policeman Bill Hayes said that in the years following their disappearance he spoke with the son of prime suspect - and former owner of the factory - Harry Phipps. Mr Hayes said Hayden Phipps told him that his father was a paedophile and that he had buried the children in a sandpit at the North Plympton industrial site. 'He told me [Phipps] was taking [the Beaumont children] to a place, a factory, that the father owned,' Mr Hayes told A Current Affair. 'His exact words were, ''they are in the sand pit, Bill''.' Two brothers told police in 2013 they spent the 1966 Australia Day weekend digging a large hole at the Adelaide factory at the request of owner Harry Phipps (pictured) Former policeman Bill Hayes said that in the years following their disappearance he spoke with the son of prime suspect in the Beaumont children disappearance Former policeman Bill Hayes said Hayden Phipps (pictured), the son of the prime suspect, told him that his father was a paedophile and that he had buried the children in a sandpit The sand pit is now a car park covered in concrete. Phipps died in 2004, but his son, who accused his father of years of sexual abuse, believed he had a part in the crime. He also bore a resemblance to an identikit picture prepared at the time, and lived close to Glenelg Beach, where the children were last seen. Attention is focused on a small section of ground at the North Plympton site where recent scientific tests revealed the possible presence of a large hole dug there. The trio never returned after leaving their parents' Glenelg home for an afternoon at the beach on Australia Day, 1966 A digger is seen at the site of a factory in North Plympton in Adelaide on Friday morning The excavation at the North Plympton site commenced at 8am on Friday morning Detective Superintendent Des Bray inspects the dig site at a factory in North Plympton Two brothers revealed in 2013 they had spent the 1966 Australia Day weekend - when the children vanished - digging a hole at the request of Harry Phipps. Detective Chief Inspector Greg Hutchins said there are innocent explanations for the anomaly, but it could also be a major breakthrough in Australia's most enduring cold case. 'We have our fingers crossed, we hope for the best but we do want to temper expectations,' he said at the site on Friday. 'Clearly we have an anomaly which we need to investigate.' Police said they were 'hoping for the best' as they began excavation on Friday at the Adelaide factory The industrial site in Adelaide is at the centre of a renewed search for the missing trio The Beaumont children never returned after leaving their parents' Glenelg home for an afternoon at the beach on Australia Day, 1966. Their disappearance sparked a wide-scale search operation, but nine-year-old Jane, seven-year-old Arnna and four-year-old Grant were never found. An initial excavation at the North Plympton site proved fruitless, but police now believe they may have been digging in the wrong spot. Insp Hutchins said police had been in regular contact with the parents of the children, Jim and Nancy Beaumont, and had informed them of Friday's activity. There is currently a police presence at the North Plympton site that is the focus of renewed investigations Nine-year-old Jane, seven-year-old Arnna and four-year-old Grant have never been found A range of experts will be present on Friday while the site 9pictured) is dug up 'Clearly the parents of the three Beaumont children have suffered significantly over the last 52 years,' he said. A range of experts are present at the site including a forensic anthropologist, a criminologist, crime scene examiners and officers from the major crime division. The dig is expected to continue for at least several hours on Friday. Argentinas Armenian Prensa Armenia news agency has tried to find out the reasons of cancellation of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogans visit to Latin America. February 2, 2018, 11:47 Reason for Erdogans cancellation of Latin America trip revealed Uruguay denies security measure request STEPANAKERT, FEBRUARY 2, ARTSAKHPRESS:According to Prensa Armenia, the tension began earlier on January 26, when the Turkish Ambassador to Uruguay, Argentina and Paraguay Meral Barlash contacted the foreign ministry just two weeks ahead of the planned visit - to specify if the president can hold a meeting with Erdogan. In response, it was known that President Tabare Vazquez has declined to host the Turkish president with a complete agenda, agreeing only for a short meeting, which the Turkish diplomacy found to be not enough. In addition, Uruguay refused to take extraordinary security measures as requested by Turkey, which implied nearly 100 bodyguards, snipers and special buildings. The foreign ministry of Uruguay was first informed about Erdogans cancellation of the visit on January 30 from the news. The G20 summit will be held for the first time in Argentine from November 30 to December 1 in 2018. It is expected that Erdogan will first visit Uruguay and then to Argentina. The Turkish president had cancelled a visit to Argentina earlier in 2010 also, when he was serving as prime minister. Erdogan had to visit Buenos Aires for the inauguration of an Ataturk statue in a park, but local authorities had cancelled the erection of the statue upon pressure from the Armenian community Advertisement Troy Fornaciari (pictured) is facing gun and drug charges after police seized a loaded .22 calibre pistol with a silencer, ammunition, a stolen car and Finks paraphernalia from a unit in North Wollongong A heavily-tattooed senior Finks bikie who is facing gun and drug charges is a father, workout fiend and motorcycle enthusiast who enjoys posting pictures of his lavish lifestyle on social media. Troy Albert Fornaciari appeared in Wollongong Local Court on Thursday after police seized a loaded .22 calibre pistol with a silencer, ammunition, a stolen car and Finks paraphernalia from a unit in North Wollongong, south of Sydney. The 34-year-old, who lashed out at his lawyer and the judge during his hearing, is quite vocal about his affiliation with the Finks and can be seen wearing a Finks vest and t-shirt on his Facebook page, which is also littered with images of guns and bullets. He has published pictures of his motorcycles and flashy cars, as well as himself standing in front of a helicopter he appears to have chartered to a beach. In one picture, Fornaciari can be seen sitting under an umbrella with a drink in his hand. In another image, knives and guns have been placed around a table, which has also been set with plates and drinks. Extensive tattoos cover most of Fornaciari's body, including the works 'tuff luck' on his eyelids and 'not guilty' on his cheek. Fornaciari, a senior Finks bikie, is a father, workout fiend and motorcycle enthusiast who posts pictures of his lavish lifestyle on social media (pictured) The heavily-tattooed bikie's Facebook page is also littered with images of guns and bullets He has published pictures of his motorcycles and flashy cars (pictured) In another image, knives and guns have been placed around a table, which has also been set with plates and drinks (pictured) On Thursday, Fornaciari was denied bail after Magistrate Shane McAnulty found he was too hostile to apply for bail, The Sydney Morning Herald reported. As his charges were read out to him via video-link, some involving alleged threats made at the scene of a motorbike crash in Dapto in August last year appeared to send him into a spin. In an attempt to explain why he disagreed with the charges read out, he soon launched into a tirade against police, before directing the insults to his Legal Aid lawyer, David Ryan. Extensive tattoos cover most of Fornaciari's body, including the works 'tuff luck' on his eyelids and 'not guilty' on his cheek (pictured) In an outburst during his appearance in Wollongong Local Court via video link, Fornaciari (pictured) called investigating police officers and his Legal Aid lawyer 'f***ing c***suckers' Pictured is one of the luxury cars seen on the 34-year-old's Facebook - a modified Mazda RX-7 built between 1992 and 2002 Pictured are two Finks vests uploaded online by Fornaciari Fornaciari (pictured) was arrested alongside gang associate Jake Smith, 20, on Thursday Magistrate McAnulty cautioned Fornaciari against his profanity multiple times before the bikie turned on him too. 'What are you going to do? Are you going to come down here and personally do it yourself? If not, shut your f***ing mouth you f***ing dog,' he said. The Magistrate cut his video feed after the outburst, thus taking away the 34-year-old's chance at bail. Fornaciari is accused of a string of offences including possessing an unauthorised pistol, intimidating police, knowingly directing the activities of criminal group, recruiting another to assist in carrying out criminal activity and supplying a prohibited drug. Fornaciari is seen standing in front of a helicopter he appears to have chartered to a beach Fornaciari (pictured) is accused of a string of offences including possessing an unauthorised pistol, intimidating police, knowingly directing the activities of criminal group, recruiting another to assist in carrying out criminal activity and supplying a prohibited drug Police allegedly seized a loaded .22 calibre pistol with a silencer and ammunition from the North Wollongong unit (pictured) The Magistrate cut off Fornaciari's video feed when he continued on his obscene outburst He was arrested, alongside gang member Jake William Smith, after detectives raided a unit in North Wollongong on Thursday morning as part of an investigation into a fight at the scene of the August motorcycle crash. Inside, they discovered the premises were being renovated, which the police believe was to be used as a bikie clubhouse. Smith, 20, has been charged with participating in a criminal group and two counts of driving whilst disqualified. Neither man applied for bail and it was formally refused in Wollongong Local Court on Thursday. Fornaciari is due to reappear in the same court on March 21 while Smith will do likewise on March 13. Andrej Uspenski, 38, targeted Tatjana Novitjenko after she ended their relationship when he became possessive A Royal Ballet photographer sent his ex-girlfriend a sex toy and a photo of her dog 'drowning' during a three-month campaign of harassment, a court heard. Andrej Uspenski, 38, targeted Tatjana Novitjenko after she ended their relationship when he became possessive. Russian-born Uspenski had been dating the dancer for eight months when she dumped him in June last year. After the split, former ballet star Uspenski sent his ex a number of aggressive texts, Westminster Magistrates' Court heard. She became 'very anxious' about his behaviour and got a court order to stop him getting in touch. But the ruling made no difference and he continued to bombard her with texts, emails and flowers. Later, on her birthday, he hand-delivered an 'odd-shaped package' to her flat in Chelsea, west London. She was in Thailand at the time and a friend took in the gift and, on her request, opened it and found it was a sex toy. Prosecutor Katie Bryan told magistrates: 'Initially she thought it was a joke from another friend messing around, but then discovered a note with the defendant's hand writing. 'It said, 'Life is that serious, oh yes, life is that serious, but not really'. 'Attached to the card was a photo of her dog, photo-shopped to make it look like the dog was drowning.' Uspenski admitted harassment without violence and will be sentenced in three weeks. Uspenski danced at the Royal Ballet for over a decade until an injury forced him to retire Uspenski danced at the Royal Ballet for over a decade as First Artist until an injury forced him to retire. He continues to work as photographer within the Royal Opera House and in an interview in 2016, he said: It sounds strange, but when I see somebody dancing, I know who they are - dancers are naked on stage. Its an inside knowledge from years of dancing myself. Chief Magistrate, Maeve Bromwich told him: We are going to adjourn this matter today so that we can have some presentence reports about you. You are not to contact Tatjana Novitjenko, youre not to contact her either directly or indirectly, no telephone calls, text messages, not through social media. If you see her on the street you cross over and walk the other way. No flowers, no packages - nothing. Uspenski, of Hampstead, was bailed with the conditions not to contact Ms Novitjenko or go to her address. He will appear for sentencing at Westminster Magistrates Court on February 22. Crimes were labeled as 'arrogant' and he was sentenced to at least two years jail $271,000 from Riding For the Disabled Queensland in 2015 and 2016 Kerry Charles McLean, 68, pleaded guilty to two charges of fraud in January A 68-year-old failed businessman will spend at least two years in jail, after he stole over $270,000 from a Queensland charity which provides riding therapy for disabled children. Kerry Charles McLean pleaded guilty to two charges of fraud in Brisbane District Court on January 24, after stealing $271,000 from Riding For the Disabled Queensland in 2015 and 2016. He used $154,000 to fund his passion for horses and the rest of the money went towards paying his bills and enabling a gambling habit, Courier Mail reports. Kerry Charles McLean pleaded guilty to two charges of fraud, after stealing $271,000 from Riding For the Disabled Queensland in 2015 and 2016 (pictured: a child during a riding therapy session) The 68-year-old was initially asked by the charity to help it apply for government grants. The charity board then asked Mr McLean to become treasurer, as they were unaware he had convictions for similar offending in New South Wales, Gympie and Brisbane. Crown prosecutor Sarah Klemm said the role was unpaid, but Mr McLean accepted. Defence barrister Chris Minnery told the court Mr McLean stole the money as he felt it was 'unfair' that he was not being paid. Ms Klemm described his actions as 'arrogant', after revealing Mr McLean duped board members into signing blank cheques which he later filled and deposited into his own bank account. Mr McLean was given access to accounting protocols and, once new software was rolled out, restricted access to other administration staff (pictured: the Queensland riding school) 'You wrote and deposited 44 cheques for your own purposes,' Judge Brian Devereaux said during the sentencing. 'You completely gained the trust of others in the organisation and you had total control over its affairs. 'Your contribution to the organisation has been negative, causing disruption and a loss.' Judge Devereaux sentenced Mr McLean to six years in jail with parole eligibility in January 2020 (pictured: a child during a therapy session at the riding school) Mr McLean's crimes were only revealed when a book-keeper raised suspicions with other board members. After he was confronted, the businessman only admitted to stealing half the amount. Judge Devereaux sentenced Mr McLean to six years in jail with parole eligibility in January 2020. Advertisement It's legendary chef Julia Child like you've never seen her before. Previously unreleased portraits of the culinary master, taken by her husband Paul Cushing Child, have just been published in a new book, titled France is a Feast: The Photographic Journey of Paul and Julia Child. France is a Feast captures the two lovers' journey, eating and adventuring throughout Europe, and mostly France, from 1948 to 1954, before she returned to the US in 1961 and revolutionized home cooking in America. Previously unreleased portraits of the culinary master, Julia Child, taken by her husband Paul Cushing Child, have just been published in a new book, titled France is a Feast: The Photographic Journey of Paul and Julia Child; Julia Child is seen here in Cassis in 1950 France Is a Feast features 225 black and white photographs, taken by Paul. Readers can expect to see rare, private moments in the endearing personality's life, like a casual 'roofnic' in 1950 at 81 Rue de l'Universite in Paris, where she and Paul lived. Their home, which Julia referred to as 'Rue de Lue,' was the site where she began testing recipes for Mastering the Art of French Cooking, her debut cookbook which put her on the map and eventually launched her into countless American kitchens, by way of her own cooking show, The French Chef, in 1963. Paul Cushing Child, husband to the legendary chef, is seen here with Julia in Marseille, France in 1950 France Is a Feast features 225 black and white photographs, taken by Paul Julia looks down at Paul from the top of a spiral staircase in France in 1955 The couple originally moved to France for her husband Paul's career, as he was assigned to the US Information Service at the American Embassy in Paris. While there, America's soon-to-be sweetheart chef attended the world-famous Le Cordon Bleu cooking school, and founded one of her own. One photo from France is a Feast shows Julia with her fellow co-founders of Les Trois Gourmandes (translated to mean 'The School of the Three Hearty Eaters'), Simone Beck and Louisette Bertholle. Julia has a 'roofnic' in 1950 at 81 Rue de l'Universite in Paris, which she referred to as 'Rue de Lue,' and is the site where she began testing recipes for Mastering the Art of French Cooking Les Trois Gourmandes (translated to mean 'The School of the Three Hearty Eaters') is seen here, which was a cooking school founded in Paris during the 1950s by Julia (left), Simone Beck (center), and Louisette Bertholle (right), in Julia's kitchen at 81 'Rue de Lue' Julia props up one leg while chatting away on the telephone in Aubazine, France in 1952 The three women ran the school for Americans in Paris out of Julia's kitchen at 81 'Rue de Lue.' But Julia didn't spend her entire time in a French kitchen, while overseas. She and Paul, who were married for over 50 years, also spent a good deal of their stay cavorting amongst the locals in London. Another image from the series shows the bustling scene in the United Kingdom, as seen through the lens of Paul, with Julia in 1952 The bustling scene in London is shown here, as seen through the lens of Paul, with Julia in 1952 Julia is seen here preparing food in a kitchen in London in 1952 A young lady and a dog are seen outside the Salon Leo in France in 1954 The photo collection was curated by the Child's family friend, Katie Pratt, with text by Pauls great-nephew, Alex Prudhomme. Prudhomme co-authored My Life in France, which was Julia's firsthand account of her experience living in the City of Lights. Prudhomme helped her gather her memories and notes in the eight months leading up to her death in August of 2004, and their book was first published in 2006. My Life in France was the basis for the 2009 movie, Julie & Julia, starring Meryl Streep and Amy Adams. Of all the qualities a soldier needs, youd imagine that being a fearless hand-to-hand fighter might come top of the list. Worryingly, though, some British squaddies appear to have lost their killer instinct. In fact, the Grenadier Guards have been forced to take martial arts classes because they are not aggressive enough, it emerged last night. Top brass decided to call in a kung fu master to teach the troops close- quarter fighting skills after officers noticed that the intensity of combat exercises had fallen. The Grenadier Guards (pictured) have been forced to take martial arts classes because they are not aggressive enough Regimental Sergeant-Major Martin Howlin, of 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards, said: This all came about after the commanding officer and I went to watch an exercise in Albania. We were chatting about an attack that we felt lacked aggression, and started discussing ways we could help the blokes improve on that and then channel it in the right way. So we looked at martial arts. I knew a civilian instructor who has been doing this for years. He loves the military lifestyle and was the perfect man for the job. A two-week trial followed and the reaction was so positive that the sessions have become a regular fixture at Lille Barracks in Aldershot, Hampshire, where the Guards are based. The martial arts classes are taught by civilian instructor Neil Webster, who runs the Kung Fu Tai Chi Academy in Epsom, Surrey. His sessions focus on developing technical skills rather than simply attacking a punching bag, and the troops have progressed from learning basic strikes and holds to thwarting a knife attacker while dressed in full combat kit. The Grenadier Guards are one of the most senior infantry regiments in the British Army, and its troops must be ready to deploy anywhere in the world at short notice Army sources said expertise was often brought in to mix up training and develop skills. Warrant Officer Howlin told Soldier magazine: We are not doing this to enhance our capability it is more of a mental exercise. It is learning about how to build aggression and turn it on when needed. This training has helped to create a particularly effective battalion. The Grenadier Guards are one of the most senior infantry regiments in the British Army, and its troops must be ready to deploy anywhere in the world at short notice. Mr Webster said he had to tailor the training he gives his civilian students to teach the soldiers effectively, adding: I really had to give it some thought, and it has been a learning curve. Queen Elizabeth II poses with Grenadier Guards after inspecting The Queen's Company before presenting New Colours to Nijmegen Company in the gardens of Buckingham Palace in London in 2013 The end result is these guys may actually have to kill someone, and that is obviously very different. The focus has been on developing power, how to strike properly, hit hard and look for effective targets. One of the key things is not to remain static, so we have concentrated on footwork and keeping balanced. Ive been getting some really nice feedback. It is fun and good for team cohesion. Mr Webster said the drills had also given the servicemen something different to do that builds team spirit and confidence. The news comes after General Sir Nick Carter, the head of the Army, was forced to defend a recent advertising campaign that was criticised for making the Armed Forces look weak and soft by telling potential recruits it was okay to cry. The Army was accused of bowing to political correctness in its 1.6million This Is Belonging 2018 campaign last month after the radio, TV and online ads focused on recruits anxieties and sexuality. The Grenadier Guards cheer Queen Elizabeth II after she presented the regiment with new colours in the garden of Buckingham Palace in 2010 Former soldiers said the campaign to create more diversity would not appeal to traditional recruits who are the backbone of the Forces. However, an Army source said the kung fu training was not part of any perceived trend of troops losing their aggression, adding: It is ridiculous to suggest they are soft. The sergeant-majors threshold for aggression will be a lot higher than the man on the street. He wants his troops to be super-aggressive. An Army spokesman said: The Grenadier Guards demand the very highest standards of their soldiers in all they do. Close-quarters combat is an essential skill for the infantry. It requires more than just aggression, it demands strength, speed, skill and bravery. Lorraine Wall, 38, was horrified to get a mouthful of spider eggs after buying the banana from her local Lidl in Birkenhead, Merseyside A mother-of-six said has vowed never to look at a banana again after chomping into one from Lidl and finding the fruit infested with spider eggs. Lorraine Wall, 38, was horrified to get a mouthful of arachnid eggs after buying the banana from her local Lidl in Birkenhead, Merseyside. She took a bite into the fruit and felt a 'crunch', leaving her so disgusted that the threw up. Ms Wall said: 'I am already paranoid about spiders in bananas, so I broke both ends off and then bit into it. 'I felt it crunching and crunching, and then I swallowed. At first I thought it was just not very ripe but then I looked and it was full of brown goo and what look like spider eggs. 'It's embarrassing but I was sick everywhere, it was disgusting, it turned my stomach.' Although she's now able to joke about the incident, Lorraine says she was worried the eggs would hatch inside her. Ms Wall added: 'I called 101 because I panicked, they sent a paramedic because it could be toxic in my system. I had low blood pressure because of a heart condition and they wanted to admit me to hospital but I said ''I can't, I've got six kids here''. 'They called a doctor and he said he'd check medical books and then told me that my stomach acid would kill 'most' of the eggs - that is not what I wanted to hear. 'I keep having visions of them hatching out inside me.' She took a bite into the fruit (pictured) and felt a 'crunch', leaving her so disgusted that the threw up Ms Wall wrapped the piece of fruit in a piece of tinfoil and took it back to the store where she was offered a new bunch of bananas. However, she says she'll 'never go near one again' - and has even took the extreme step of banning them from her house. Ms Wall added: 'It knocks me absolutely sick. I can't eat anything now, I managed a piece of toast on Monday and I've been drinking cappuccinos because they're just coffee and powdered milk. I know I'm safe with those. 'There's no way I'm having another banana in this house. I can't even look at them. I can't face it. 'I had another banana set to one side for my daughter, she's five months and she's just started with some mashed banana in her porridge. The spider infested banana that left mother-of-six Ms Wall throwing up after she took a bite 'I don't want to think about what would happen if I'd have given it to her.' A Lidl spokesperson said: 'We were very sorry to hear of this matter, as it is never our intention for a customer to be dissatisfied in any way. We work very closely with our suppliers, both in the UK and abroad to ensure that the fresh fruit and vegetables available in our stores are of the highest possible quality for our customers. 'Whilst it is evident that this was not a spiders nest, we were nevertheless disappointed that our expected high standards were not met on this occasion. The matter was immediately escalated to our Quality Assurance department, who are investigating with the supplier and will continue to keep the customer updated.' Women have been wrongly given the all-clear following blunders with NHS cervical cancer tests. At least 17 patients were told their results were normal when they had abnormal cells which could develop into cancer. The mistake happened in a lab in Basildon, Essex, called Pathology First, which is run by Southend University Hospital and Basildon and Thurrock University Hospitals. At least 17 patients were told their results were normal when they had abnormal cells which could develop into cancer (file photo) Yet they were only identified by the Screening Quality Assurance Service - the Government regulator - which said 2,500 negative samples taken between April 2016 and September 2017 needed to be retested. So far 900 samples have been retested and among these, 17 women were found to have abnormal results. The total number affected is likely to rise once all the samples have been re-tested. These women will need to have their tests redone and some may be found to have cancerous cells. The error was uncovered by Pulse magazine and GPs in the area were sent letters on Wednesday. Robert Music, chief executive of Jos Cervical Cancer Trust said: It is a concern that this error has happened and led to some women incorrectly being given negative results. The mistake happened in a lab in Basildon, Essex, called Pathology First, which is run by Southend University Hospital and Basildon and Thurrock University Hospitals (file photo) It is imperative these women are contacted as soon as possible to ensure there are no delays in any required treatment. For women waiting to hear if they have been affected this may be an anxious time, however it is important to remember that five million women are invited for cervical screening every year in the UK and the majority of tests come back as normal. Earlier this month research by the charity found that women were shunning the tests because they were ashamed about their bodies. A third of the 2,017 women surveyed said they had delayed attending their smear test appointment because they were embarrassed. Smear tests are offered to all women aged 25 to 49 every three years and they check for abnormal cells in the cervix, earlier this month research found that women were shunning the tests because they were ashamed about their bodies Smear tests are offered to all women aged 25 to 49 every three years and they check for abnormal cells in the cervix. Women with abnormal cells dont necessary have cervical cancer but these cells could become cancerous if they arent removed. A spokesman for the hospitals said: The re-screening of 900 tests to date has identified that 17 women need to be seen again. These women have been contacted and will be invited for further assessment. Women whose negative result has been confirmed after re-screening will not be contacted as their result has not changed. We would like to reassure all women covered by this cervical screening programme that NHS England and Public Health England Screening Quality Assurance Service are supporting Pathology First and clinicians at Basildon and Southend Hospitals to ensure they receive safe, high-quality screening. There have been changes to local processes, and update training for staff involved in screening. This is one of several 'sexually suggestive' photographs on Christie Whelan Browne's Instagram which Craig McLachlan has included as part of his lawsuit Embattled Gold Logie winning actor Craig McLachlan has claimed his Rocky Horror Show accuser Christie Whelan Browne 'expressed interest in deviant sexual practices' - as he sues the actress and two media organisations for defamation. In an explosive statement of claim filed to court, McLachlan made a series of accusations about lurid behaviour on the set of the Rocky Horror Show where he played transvestite Frank-N-Furter and Ms Browne, Janet. The lawsuit claims Ms Browne spoke about the Rocky audience seeing her genitalia, called co-accuser Erika Heynatz a 'talentless c***' who she 'hated because (Heynatz) had a better dressing room' and that Ms Browne would pinch and poke his bottom, perform 'wedgies' and 'release his knicker elastic'. McLachlan alleged at one point she reached to grab his boxers and joked about his penis size, saying 'you've probably got more than Rob Mills', her former Australian Idol star ex-boyfriend. In another alleged incident, McLachlan claims she poked him in the groin with a prosthetic leg. He also claims Ms Whelan-Browne showed her photos of her faeces and referred to one Rocky staffer a 'useless c**t', and another as simply a 'c***'. The lawsuit comes after Ms Browne last year claimed McLachlan touched and kissed her inappropriately during a sex scene in the 2014 production of the Rocky Horror Show. Scroll down for video 'I slapped his hand away': Christie Whelan Browne alleged she had been indecently assaulted by Craig McLachlan in a TV interview - an opening salvo in the claim-and-counter-claim stoush A publicity still from The Wrong Girl - which starred Ms Browne (centre) and McLachlan. An outtake from the program where she jokingly said the words 'gobbler and blumkin' has appeared in McLachlan's statement of claim McLachlan's lawyers have honed in on several images on Ms Browne's instagram account to claim she posted sexually suggestive material. She captioned this photo: 'Someone from The Age caught this pic out of context. It really looks like I'm going for the grab' She was one of three women to come forward with allegations about McLachlan's behaviour in a joint ABC/Fairfax investigation. In a tearful interview with the ABC, Ms Browne said 'he (McLachlan) traced the outline of my vagina with his finger (during a scene) and I slapped his hand away'. McLachlan's defence claims his allegations show Ms Browne is being dishonest when she implies she was offended by McLachlan's apparent conduct. He argues she knew she was making false claims about him. McLachlan's lawsuit alludes to video - obtained by Daily Mail Australia - where she jokingly describes her and McLachlan's characters on Channel 10 show The Wrong Girl as 'gobbler and blumkin', described as 'deviant' sex acts. The actor also claimed Ms Whelan-Browne littered her Instagram with 'sexually suggestive material' including a monkey performing oral sex on itself captioned 'what's your party trick'. Other photos alluded to include Ms Whelan-Browne posing with a giant pink penis toy and uploading a photo of a tower of cracked eggs that resembled a penis, along with the joke: 'I hope someone made you eggs this morning!' The statement of claim was filed to the NSW Supreme Court on Thursday. McLachlan has engaged prominent barrister Stuart Littlemore QC and prominent defamation lawyer Mark O'Brien. The lawsuit comes after a Fairfax Media and ABC joint investigation reported several cast members of the Rocky show accused McLachlan, 52, of touching them or exposing himself to him. A woman and a man who worked as part of the crew have also gone to Victoria Police which is investigating the allegations. McLachlan alleges that in addition to backstage behaviour, Whelan Browne's social media accounts contain multiple sexual references Craig McLachlan (right) is suing Christie Whelan (left) for defamation after she publicly accused him of sexually inappropriate behaviour McLachlan is accused by three women of sexual assault and bullying during the 2014 run of the Rocky Horror Picture Show McLachlan strenuously denies the claims and has previously described the allegations of bullying and sexual assault by Whelan Browne, Erika Heynatz and Angela Scundi as 'baseless', insisting they were 'all made up'. He had vowed to fight the allegations. 'By God, I will fight this,' he told News Corp Australia during a glammed-up photoshoot recently. Browne claimed that during Rocky Horror in 2014, McLachlan indecently assaulted her on stage during a sex scene. In a tearful interview with the ABC's 7.30 program, Ms Browne said: 'He was directed to kiss down my neck, down my arm and go down out of sight. 'But he would always kiss down my breasts and continue to kiss all the way down until I would have to sort of move and wriggle away 'One night ... he traced the outline of my vagina with his finger and I slapped his hand away'. She tweeted that she has received rape threats since the interview. 'The people who have tweeted me to say they hope I get raped, hope I never work again &that they wish to spit in my face are incredibly hard to ignore. 'But the amount of love is drowning them out. So I thank you. Rising above is hard, but Im trying.' The case will go before the Supreme Court for argument on March 16 Ms Browne is one of three women who have come forward alleging McLachlan's behaviour in the 2014 production of The Rocky Horror Picture Show was inappropriate After the allegations were aired McLachlan withdrew from the current production of the Rocky Horror Show in Adelaide. McLachlan, meanwhile, has been cleared of sexual harassment claims made by some colleagues on the set of popular TV series the Doctor Blake Mysteries. Cast and crew reportedly made complaints about the actor's on-set behaviour which allegedly included holding a banana to his crotch and thrusting it into the faces of cast and crew, according to the ABC and Fairfax. But an investigation by workplace consultant Fiona Bigelli, who was hired by the show's production company December Media, has cleared McLachlan of sexual harassment, sexual misconduct and workplace bullying claims. McLachlan previously described the allegations of bullying and sexual assault by Whelan (pictured) Browne, Erika Heynatz and Angela Scundi as 'baseless', insisting they were 'all made up' However, Ms Bigelli found many of the show's cast and crew had described the workplace culture and humour on the Doctor Blake set as 'Benny-Hill- esque' for its sexual, lewd, bawdy and crude humour. 'Some of the behaviour relating to this humour may be offensive to people regardless of the fact no formal complaints have been received,' December Media said in a statement. Fairfax Media and the ABC on Thursday told the Australian Associated Press they wouldn't be commenting on the legal action. Mr Littlemore said he would 'absolutely not' be commenting. Ms Browne declined to comment through a representative. Spy agencies in Britain will risk having their methods revealed if Donald Trump stays true to his word and forces through the release of an explosive FBI memo. President Trump is expected to authorise the publication of the classified document, which would have to be agreed by Congress, despite the FBI raising 'grave concerns' about the decision. The memo is said to centre on a former MI6 agent and the ongoing investigation into Russian meddling and surveillance on the President during the 2016 presidential election campaign. But it also includes sensitive information about how the likes of MI5, MI6 and the NCA operate, and an insider has said if the information is made public by Trump, the secret services would be less likely to come forward with their information in the future. President Trump is expected to authorise the publication of the classified document despite the FBI raising 'grave concerns' about the decision President Trump flew to West Virginia Thursday, where he will address House Republicans The source told the Telegraph the document was based on the ex-spy Christopher Steele and his dossier against Trump. 'British intelligence is likely to be rankled because they view Christopher Steele as one of their own,' the insider said. A number of experts on both sides of the Atlantic have said the release would hurt UK-US relations, but Trump appears set on giving it the go ahead. A senior administration official said Trump hoped the memo would be published 'probably tomorrow'. The staffer said Trump was 'OK with it' being released and doubted there would be any redactions. Trump reviewed the memo and the White House made the decision, despite agency pleas, that it 'doesn't give away too much in terms of classification'. California Rep. Adam Schiff (right) sent a letter to House intelligence committee chairman Devin Nunes (left) late Wednesday that charged the memo containing classified information about supposed surveillance of the Trump campaign was 'altered' by Republicans Adam Schiff, ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, wants the memo to remain under lock and key amid concerns over its release. But the Republicans want it released with critics claiming it will take the heat off the political party as the Russian probe deepens. Writing in the Washington Post, talking about Britain, Schiff said: 'They will be far more reluctant to share their secrets with us in the future. 'Moreover, sources of information that the agencies rely upon may dry up, since they can no longer count on secrecy when the political winds are blowing. 'This is a grave cost for short-term political gain.' Schiff wrote to House intelligence committee chairman Devin Nunes regarding the issue - saying the Republicans had altered the memo. A spokesman for Intelligence chairman Rep. Devin Nunes of California said Democrats were 'complaining about minor edits to the memo, including grammatical fixes and two edits requested by the FBI and by the minority themselves. A taxi driver will be sentenced after he ran over a man who tried to dodge a $23 fare. Trevor Charles Fitzpatrick was found guilty by a jury at Cairns District Court after the incident last year and is due to be sentenced on Friday. He had denied charges of driving dangerously and cause grievous bodily harm after fare dodger Frank Charlie suffered a broken ankle during the incident in Cairns. Taxi driver Trevor Fitzpatrick was found guilty of dangerous driving after incident in Cairns Fitzpatrick was granted bail while the court decides on his sentence after being convicted for dangerous driving, the Cairns Post reports. He was granted bail but crown prosecutor Nigel Rees objected to the application saying Fitzpatrick had shown no remorse for his actions, calling for him to serve a jail sentence. The incident took place after Mr Charlie tried to run off from the car during a taxi ride from the a shopping mall in central Cairns to the south of the city at 8am on February 21. Mr Charlie had no money on him when he attempted to make off without paying Fitzpatrick. Fare dodger tried evading $23 fine but it was the taxi driver who ended up in court after attack As he tried to make an escape, Fitzpatrick mounted the footpath and grass verge hitting Mr Charlie. Mr Rees said he wanted Fitzpatrick to serve actual time in jail after 'rolling the dice' by taking the case to trial, according to the Cairns Post. Defending, Bebe Mellick said his client had always honoured his bail. Judge Dean Morzone was expected to pass sentence on Friday morning. Armenian Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan on February 2 held a private meeting with his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev on the sidelines of the session of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council in Almaty, Kazakhstan, the government said. February 2, 2018, 16:39 Armenian PM holds private meeting with Russian counterpart in Almaty, Kazakhstan STEPANAKERT, FEBRUARY 2, ARTSAKHPRESS:The two PMs discussed a number of issues of the Armenian-Russian economic agenda, the trade turnover volumes of the two countries, as well as issues relating to the development of economic ties and implementation of investment programs. A Utah girl, who was shot in the head by a teenage boy and left in a ditch to die at 14 years old, faced her attacker in court as he was sentenced. 'You shouldn't have messed with me, because I am tougher than a bullet,' Deserae Turner said Thursday at a hearing where Colter D. Peterson, 17, was sentenced. Peterson was given at least 15 years in prison after pleading guilty to aggravated attempted murder and robbery. 'Welcome to hell. I have been here for a year now,' Turner said to Peterson as he wiped tears from his eyes. Utah teen, Deserae Turner (pictured with her mother April Turner), now 15, who was shot in the head by Colter D. Peterson and left in a ditch to die, faced her attacker in court as he was sentenced to at least 15 years in jail on Thursday Peterson (right) was given at least 15 years in prison after pleading guilty to aggravated attempted murder and robbery 'Welcome to hell. I have been here for a year now,' Turner (center with her parents) said to Peterson as he wiped tears from his eyes Turner told a judge she considered Peterson a friend before the shooting, when she did karate, rode horses and played the saxophone. Now 15, she struggles to walk, dress herself and function through seizures and debilitating headaches, she said. 'There are times I wish I could give the gun back to Colter and tell him to try again and put me out of my misery,' Deserae said. The crime has likely ruined his life, he said at the hearing, but it pales in comparison to what happened to Turner. Defense attorney Mike McGinnis said Peterson is not a monster but was depressed at the time of the shooting Defense attorney Mike McGinnis said Peterson is not a monster but was depressed at the time of the shooting and gave in to peer pressure. 'I think Colter is a good kid who did something really horrible,' the lawyer said. Prosecutors, though, said Peterson had threatened to kill another girl in 2014 and tried to lure her to a cemetery at night because he thought she was annoying. Peterson and another teen friend concocted a plan in February 2017 while playing video games and discussing their desire to 'get rid' of Turner, who was messaging Peterson, prosecutors said. The pair lured her to a dry canal bed, where she was shot and then left near Smithfield, about 90 miles north of Salt Lake City, prosecutors said. Turner was found alive after an overnight search. She was hospitalized for two months and has had hundreds of appointments with doctors since her release. The second boy, Jayzon Decker, has also pleaded guilty to attempted aggravated murder and felony obstruction of justice. Decker will be sentenced on February 7. Peterson (pictured in court in October) and another teen friend concocted a plan in February 2017 while playing video games and discussing their desire to 'get rid' of Turner, who was messaging Peterson, prosecutors said The pair lured Turner (left and right, before the shooting) to a dry canal bed, where she was shot and then left near Smithfield, about 90 miles north of Salt Lake City, prosecutors said Ministers should raid the overseas aid budget to end the stealth tax of hospital car parking charges, a senior MP demanded yesterday. MPs lined up in the Commons to criticise the scandal of vulnerable patients being forced to pay up to 4 an hour to visit their local hospital. Rob Halfon, an ex-minister and chairman of an influential select committee, revealed that families with cancer-stricken children are being forced to pay 37 a week on average, with some spending 10 a day. Ministers should raid the overseas aid budget to end the stealth tax of hospital car parking charges, a senior MP demanded yesterday (stock image) Some parents are having to pay 250 if their baby stays in a neonatal unit for eight weeks; and kidney dialysis patients are having to pay large amounts. MPs hit out at private parking companies who used sick patients as cash cows and said many NHS trusts were unable to stop charges because of restrictive private finance initiative deals. Mr Halfon said it was time to provide free parking by looking at sacred cows such as overseas aid. While Britain spends 13.4billion on international development, Mr Halfon pointed out that it would cost less than 200million to fund free car parking at hospitals. He told the Mail: It may be time to look at sacred cows like the overseas aid budget, which currently stands at over 13billion a year. I am passionate about overseas aid but, temporarily, while the economy remains difficult and our public sector employees are struggling with the cost of living, maybe a proportion of this huge budget could be siphoned to fill the relatively tiny gap opened up in clinical care budgets by abolishing hospital car parking charges. Mr Halfon, who has successfully campaigned for successive reductions in fuel duty, called a debate in the Commons on the scandal of NHS parking charges which he branded a stealth tax on drivers. As well as patients, their visitors and even NHS staff are affected. Rob Halfon, an ex-minister and chairman of an influential select committee, revealed that families with cancer-stricken children are being forced to pay 37 a week on average, with some spending 10 a day (stock image) In Parliament yesterday, Mr Halfon said some parents cannot afford to see their premature children. Its time to end this car parking rip-off once and for all, the chairman of the education select committee said. The NHS is supposed to be free at the point of access. Instead, patients and visitors are charged to access health services. Nurses, doctors, porters and cleaners are charged to go to work. Hospital car parking charges affect the most vulnerable: parents with sick children, patients suffering from long-term illnesses, staff without access to public transport. They are a cause of major social injustice. I am calling on the Government to look into the most efficient way to scrap them. Mr Halfon, who has successfully campaigned for successive reductions in fuel duty, called a debate in the Commons on the scandal of NHS parking charges which he branded a stealth tax on drivers (stock image) Mr Halfon said his research found that the average cost of a hospital car park was 53.41 for a weeks stay. He said 47 per cent of hospitals had increased charges last year, while almost a half charge blue badge holders. He said Government guidance on the issue which lets trusts set their own charges encourages a postcode lottery. Tory Sir Mike Penning, a former minister, said: Its a regressive tax: it is a tax on everybody that needs the NHS. Health minister Stephen Barclay said it was up to trusts how they set their charges a response Mr Halfon called disappointing. Marks & Spencer has been accused of transphobia after a customer was allegedly told they could not use a changing room. Disability rights activist and Silent Witness actress Liz Carr and her wife hit out at the retailer yesterday after revealing their transgender friend was at the centre of the row. The unnamed customer who identifies as male was said to have been refused entry to the fitting room by three staff, with one saying its not like Europe. A transgender customer who visited the Marks & Spencer store on Oxford Street (pictured) was refused entry into the changing room An M&S spokesman last night insisted transgender people are encouraged to use whatever changing rooms they feel comfortable in. Miss Carrs wife Jo Church wrote to the company on Twitter after visiting its Oxford Street store with her trans friend, writing: Shocked & disgusted as workers @marksandspencer refused entry to #trans friend in changing room. Told its not like it is in Europe yknow. What does that even MEAN?!?? She added: There were 3 different people that told us that 2 of varying different managerial levels as we asked to see the manager when refused entry. There is no place for #transphobia in our society. Canadian anthem goes gender neutral CANADA is poised to re-write its national anthem to make it gender neutral. Politicians backed a law to amend the English language version of the anthem to remove a reference to sons. Instead of the phrase in all thy sons command, patriotic Canadians will sing in all of us command providing the bid is approved by the countrys governor general. Canadas Senate passed the legislation to make O Canada reflect modern attitudes towards language that is regarded by some as sexist. The bill had stalled in the Senate as the opposition Conservatives fought its passage. But after years of passionate debate, it finally won Senate approval on Wednesday. The change was proposed by late Liberal MP Mauril Belanger, who was diagnosed with motor neurone disease and did not live to see the measure passed. O Canada dates from 1908 and was officially adopted as the national anthem in 1980. Twelve previous attempts to remove the reference to sons from the anthem had failed. Big corporations like @marksandspencer should lead by example. Miss Carr, 45, who married Miss Church in 2010 and stars in the BBCs Silent Witness, posted the remarks to her 16,000 followers on Twitter, adding: Sigh I bloody love @marksandspencer normally but this happening to a friend of ours is just rubbish. A friend of Silent Witness actress Liz Carr and her wife is at the centre of the row M&S please look at your staffs actions and question your offensive treatment of trans customers using changing rooms. #ItsAlwaysYourFight #SilentWitness. The row comes six months after M&S was forced to change its lavatory signs following complaints of sexism. A customer had complained on Facebook that the female toilet sign showed a woman with a baby, whilst the male one showed only a man. The resulting change prompted ridicule from many older shoppers. In November, Topshop was forced to remove gender-specific changing rooms after complaints from trans customers. But it then received hundreds of complaints from women saying they would not feel comfortable undressing in front of the opposite sex in mixed fitting rooms. An M&S spokesman said: Our changing rooms are available for all customers to use with respect to other customers privacy. We urge the customer to contact our customer services team so we can investigate this as a priority. An Idaho police officer burst into tears as he signed off as an officer for the very last time. Officer Buc Rogers couldn't contain his emotions on Sunday evening as he sat in his patrol car preparing to bid the Idaho Falls Police Department farewell. Rogers, who served on the force for 27 years, picks up his radio as he chokes back tears and says: 'Dispatch, local units, city and county. 8B-81. 10-42. Thank you for the years.' Officer Buc Rogers burst into tears as he signed off as an officer for the very last time. Rogers couldn't contain his emotions on Sunday evening as he sat in his patrol car preparing to bid the Idaho Falls Police Department farewell Rogers, who served on the force for 27 years, picked up his radio as he choked back tears and said: 'Dispatch, local units, city and county. 8B-81. 10-42. Thank you for the years' The heartwarming moment was captured by the 56-year-old patrolman's wife, Gail Birdsong, who posted the touching video on Facebook. As of Thursday morning, the video had more than 26,000 views and had been shared more than 300 times. Just moments after Rogers signed off, several officers and dispatch wished him well over the radio. 'Good luck,' one officer is heard telling Rogers. 'Have fun, from dispatch,' another voice says over the radio. 'Take care of yourself,' one officer said as another added: 'We'll miss ya man.' Rogers told EastIdahoNews.com that leaving the force meant 'leaving a family'. Rogers breaks down as several officers wish him well. 'Good luck,' one officer is heard telling Rogers. 'Have fun, from dispatch,' another voice says over the radio. 'Take care of yourself,' one officer said as another added: 'We'll miss ya man' 'When you become a police officer, it's for life. Your friends become your family,' Rogers said. 'You always have your fellow officers and their families no matter what.' Rogers became an officer of the Idaho Falls Police Department in 1991 after serving in as a policeman in the US Army for 11 years. Rogers (pictured) became an officer of the department in 1991 after serving in as a policeman in the US Army for 11 years He told the news site that he decided to retire so that he could spend more time with his family. Rogers said being a police officer is a 'young person's game' and it has become more difficult over the years given the negative publicity police often receive. 'It's not publicized as much when an officer does something really good,' Rogers said. 'We go through a lot of different training and do a lot of good. But that's often ignored.' Rogers, who is originally from Massachusetts, has held a variety of positions within the department including patrol officer, school resource officer and traffic officer. He spent the last three years at Idaho Falls Airport with TSA officers. 'All of the jobs were really enjoyable,' Rogers said. 'It's always been nice being able to help somebody,' he added. Under-informed sorts recently attacked Sir Desmond Swayne for falling asleep in the Commons during a pro-EU speech by Kenneth Clarke (Con, Rushcliffe). They said he was a silly old fool, disgrace to his station, etc. This was unfair on at least two counts. First, Ken Clarke long ago became a broken record. Second, Sir Desmond is the most succinct person at Westminster. He is the very opposite of a droner and by jingo, we have those. Take the Scots Nats Joanna Cherry. Stickiest of stultifiers. It is a testament to Scots stoicism that her fellow SNPers have put up with her so long. Or take Bob Neill (Con, Bromley and Chislehurst), who combines prosaic burbling with an insistent Europhilia. It is a deadly combination. Members of his local Tory association must go into the airline emergency-landing position when Bob the Bore starts his after- dinner speeches. Under-informed sorts recently attacked Sir Desmond Swayne for falling asleep in the Commons during a pro-EU speech by Kenneth Clarke While other MPs throw forth blizzards of words, Sir Desmonds questions are rarely longer than ten words. Jab jab. They leave ministers dizzy, seldom able to think of waffle in reply. Like the late Tam Dalyell, Sir Desmond has worked out that the deadliest two questions you can ask in the Commons are why? and why not?. He was at it again yesterday. The day had begun with Questions to Brexit Ministers David Davis and his young trio of suave Robin Walker, the estimable Steve Baker and newcomer Suella Fernandes. Sir Desmond, a vigorous Leaver, has for some time been probing the proposed transition period which will occur after we legally gain our liberation from the European Empire in 13 months time. He suspects who is to say that he is wrong? that this is an untrustworthy political wheeze, established either to placate procrastinators or to give Remainers a sliver of an opportunity to reverse Brexit. In the middle of a verbose Commons debate at the start of the week, Sir Desmond snapped to his feet he has the rigid knee joints of a flamingo and briskly asked: What negotiations, if any, will continue into the implementation period? He has been berated but Sir Desmond is one of the most succinct people in the Commons With that he resumed his seat as fast as a deckchair collapsing. The whole question had taken perhaps four seconds. Thats shorter than one of Sir Keir Starmers pauses. The minister at the despatch box that day was young Walker plausible if still a bit bum-fluffed. Hes not all bad, Mr Walker. He has weathered prolonged and hyperbolic assaults from Blairites and pro-Brussels Tories such as Anna Soubry over recent weeks. But he does have a tendency to the opaque. Startled by Sir Desmonds brevity, he had to blurt out a flaccid reply which began with the words we have always been very clear. That is invariably a signal that a minister is flailing. Yesterday Sir Desmond returned to this dubious matter of the transition period which, we keep being told, will last for some two years (and will effectively chain us to the wreck of the EU during that time, even though we will no longer be members). In the middle of a verbose Commons debate at the start of the week, Sir Desmond snapped to his feet he has the rigid knee joints of a flamingo and briskly asked: What negotiations, if any, will continue into the implementation period? This time the minister at the despatch box was Mr Davis whose opening sally had begun with the words as I have said before. That means I have tried to flog Hon Members this before but it has not been believed. He said the transition period might last 21 months. Sir Desmond, with a quivering boing, was found to be on his feet. He opened his mouth and spat out four words: Could it be shorter? End of question. Mr Davis clambered back to the despatch box and replied with almost equal brevity: If I accept the European Commission proposal, then yes. Mr Davis could make himself a lot of friends in the country and in the parliamentary Tory party, which will at some point select the candidates for the next party leadership election if he pushed for a shorter transition. The sooner we are shot of Brussels, the sooner our currently unhinged political elite will recover its equilibrium. The family of Jahi McMath, who has been on a ventilator for four years ever since doctors declared her brain dead, say they will continue fighting for the teenage girl for as long as she wants them to. Jahi has become the center of a national debate over brain death ever since her mother Nailah Winkfield refused to take her off life support when doctors said the then-13-year-old had died following routine tonsil surgery in December 2013. Doctors at Children's Hospital in Oakland, California declared that Jahi had irreversible brain damage and a coroner signed the teenager's death certificate the following month. But Jahi's family disagreed with the decision and have been fighting an uphill, and costly, battle ever since in a bid to have Jahi's death certificate rescinded. In an interview with the New Yorker this week, the girl's mother said she will never give up unless that's what Jahi wants. Scroll down for video Jahi McMath has become the center of a national debate over brain death ever since her mother Nailah Winkfield refused to take her off life support when California doctors said she had died in 2013 'I know that things change - people change. If Jahi has given up and doesn't want to be here anymore, I'm just going to go with what she wants,' Winkfield said. Jahi remains connected to a ventilator and has been receiving 24-hour medical care in New Jersey for several years now. She was moved there in 2014, with the help of crowdfunding, because it is the only state where families can reject a brain death ruling if it goes against their religion. In a win for the family, a California judge ruled last September that Jahi may technically still be alive, which has allowed a malpractice lawsuit against the hospital to move forward. A jury will now be tasked with deciding whether Jahi is in fact still alive. That trial date has not yet been set, but an initial hearing with the judge, family and hospital is scheduled to take place on March 18, according to court records. The family are seeking the unprecedented verdict from a jury so they can move Jahi back to California where doctors would be compelled to care for her. Doctors say Jahi had irreversible brain damage from a lack of oxygen and suffered cardiac arrest following surgery to remove her tonsils in December 2013 Jahi remains connected to a ventilator and has been receiving 24-hour medical care in New Jersey for several years now after being moved from California in 2014 Jahi's family disagreed with the decision and have been fighting an uphill battle ever since in a bid to have Jahi's death certificate rescinded. They are currently trying to win a lawsuit that allows them to move Jahi back to California where doctors would be compelled to care for her 'I am planning this big-ass welcome-home party in my head,' Winkfield told the New Yorker. 'I know my city really, really loves us.' When ordering the case to trial, the judge relied on the testimony of a well-known critic of the way experts diagnose brain death, Dr Alan Shewmon, who examined Jahi over several hours. The retired neurologist also examined dozens of videos shot by the girl's mother from 2014 to 2016 that showed her moving certain parts of her body. Winkfield has publicly released some of those clips, which show Jahi's fingers twitching and her toes wiggling. Shewmon said in court documents that the videos showed that Jahi was still alive. He described her as 'an extremely disabled but very much alive teenage girl'. The retired neurologist also said that while Jahi may have fulfilled the requirements to be declared brain dead back in 2013, over time 'her brain has recovered the ability to generate electrical activity, in parallel with its recovery of ability to respond to commands.' Winkfield said almost every day she asks her daughter if she is okay or if she is suffering to make sure she definitely wants to keep fighting Winkfield has released video clips of Jahis fingers twitching and toes wiggling in the past. She says she often communicates with her and Jahi will respond by squeezing her hand A doctor who examines Jahi every three months for the family has testified previously that Jahi had reached puberty. Her family say she got her period for the first time about seven months after moving to New Jersey. While Winkfield acknowledges that Jahi's brain is severely and irreparably damaged, she doesn't believe her daughter is dead. Winkfield said almost every day she asks her daughter if she is okay or if she is suffering to make sure she definitely wants to keep fighting. Jahi answers her questions by squeezing her mother's hand, according to Winkfield. 'When I see that I think, who am I to not want to live? Because many days I do want to die. But then I see her every day, trying her best,' Winkfield said. She told the New Yorker that she often thinks back to a conversation she had with Jahi and her other children about 12 months prior to the operation. Winkfield said she had been joking that she would run their lives forever but her son said that he would outlive her. She said she joked that she would be put on a ventilator, but Jahi didn't know what the word meant and she had to explain that it was a 'machine that keeps you alive'. 'I'll never forget: the rest of the kids laughed, and Jahi said, 'Well, if something ever happens to me, make sure you keep me on one of those.' A heroin mule who spent years locked up in a foreign jail has revealed Bali Nine ringleader Andrew Chan threatened her from his Indonesian prison cell. Rachel Diaz claims Chan, who was executed in 2015 over his role in a drug smuggling operation from Indonesia to Australia, told her to 'keep her mouth shut' when she was jailed in Hong Kong in 2005, according to News.com.au. Diaz, who was a teenager at the time, and a 15-year-old boy from Sydney were arrested at a hotel in the city's Tsim Sha Tsui district as the pair prepared to swallow 114 condoms filled with $1 million worth of heroin. Heroin mule Rachel Diaz (pictured) claims Bali Nine ringleader Andrew Chan threatened her from his Indonesian prison cell after she was arrested and jailed in Hong Kong for her role in the syndicate Diaz claims Chan (left) told her to 'keep her mouth shut' in smuggled letters soon after her arrest in 2005 Diaz was sentenced for 10 years and eight months at Tai Lam women's prison but spent six years and eight months behind bars before her release. Diaz was one of 17 Australians were jailed for their roles in the drug syndicate, Crescent Moon At the same time, Chan, Myuran Sukumaran and seven other Australians were in Bali preparing to smuggle 8.3kg of heroin. The group in Bali were arrested just five days after police burst into Diaz's hotel room and handcuffed her. A total of 17 Australians were jailed for their roles in the drug syndicate, Crescent Moon. Diaz was sentenced for 10 years and eight months at Tai Lam women's prison but spent six years and eight months behind bars before her release. Soon after her arrest, Diaz told News.com.au Chan smuggled threatening letters to her from his cell at Bali's notorious Kerobokan prison warning her not to talk about their drug bosses to police. Pictured is the hotel room where Diaz and the 15-year-old boy were arrested Diaz and a 15-year-old boy from Sydney were preparing to swallow 114 condoms filled with $1 million worth of heroin (pictured) Diaz has 'endurance' tattooed on her neck and 'death' tattooed on her arm Chan and Myuran Sukumaran (left) were executed in 2015 over his role in a drug smuggling operation from Indonesia to Australia Before boarding her flight from Sydney, Diaz said she changed her mind about swallowing the drugs and tried to back out of it despite the $6,000 profit she stood to earn. 'I didn't want to go, but they threatened me. I didn't want to [swallow the drugs] but they said I had to,' she said. Diaz, who has 'endurance' tattooed on her neck and 'death' tattooed on her arm, said she is still dealing with the effects of being incarcerated. 'I'm thinking about suing the AFP. I'm still affected, you can see.' 'They knew even before I did that it was happening. They listened to our conversation and didn't stop us,' she said. John Osborne, 73, said he was devastated when he realised his child (pictured) had been behind the wheel of the van Darren Osbornes father has told of his horror upon discovering his estranged son was responsible for the Finsbury Park carnage. John Osborne, 73, said he was devastated when he realised his child had been behind the wheel of the van. The former RAF electrical engineer, who lives in the Home Counties, said he had not been in Darrens life for 42 years, after he left his mother. But in his first public comments, he said he recognised Osborne in footage from the attack. I am absolutely devastated by the whole bloody mess. It is terrible, Mr Osborne said. In my civilian life I have lived abroad 90 per cent of the time, mostly in Middle East, Arabic countries. I have a lot of Arabic friends so you can imagine what this has done it is horrible. My whole life has just turned upside down. The Daily Mail can now reveal the full extent of the unemployed drug addict and alcoholics chaotic upbringing and 30-year history of violence. Born in Singapore where his father was temporarily based, Osborne attended primary school in Lincolnshire before his family settled in Somerset. Relatives described him as never normal and a loose cannon who was sent to borstal at the age of ten after stealing money from his blind grandfather. Osborne became notorious in Weston-super-Mare as a street-fighting thug. He was regularly beaten up in pub fights and developed a limp after breaking his ankles in one confrontation. Friends said he also struggled to use one hand after severing tendons in two fingers in another incident. His longest prison term was two years for assault. An elderly former neighbour said Osborne smashed her cars with a brick after she stood up to his behaviour. The former RAF electrical engineer, who lives in the Home Counties, said he had not been in Darrens (pic in court) life for 42 years, after he left his mother She said: He was a drug addict, on everything. After he went for treatment he was a perfectly reasonable person, but he moved away to Wales then. He hadnt lived with his mother for years and years because he gave her a lot of trouble. He was a problem child and caused a lot of unhappiness. As an adult, he was basically unemployable. By the time of the mosque attack, Osborne was sleeping on sofas as his wife Sarah Andrews, 42, mother of his four children, struggled to kick him out of her life. Over the previous two months he tried to kill himself at least twice, tightening cable ties around his neck while drunk in woodland and a cemetery. His sister Nicola, 50, who remains in Weston-super-Mare with his mother, Christine, 72, said he was taking antidepressants and suggested he was mentally ill. She said: Darren was never normal. He has been in and out of jail since he was a boy. He was sent to borstal when he was ten or 11. And he has never been right since. He was sent away over a little bit of money. He never should have been sent to jail for that. And because he was sent away, it all went wrong from there. He stole ten quid from our Grandpy. And it was our mum who called the police. I suppose he just succumbed to temptation. Grandpy was old, about 90 and blind. We used to come to Weston to see him and he had this wallet full of bank notes. And Darren was tempted to take a 10 note out. He has been in jail so many times that Ive lost track of them. Most of the time it has been for violent behaviour. He has hit people, attacked their cars all sorts. He has been sent down about five or six times that I know of. It could be more. The longest he served in jail was two years. That was when he was living in Cardiff... about ten years ago. There was some bloke at his house and he wouldnt leave. And then the man said something about his daughter and he lost it. Its always been in his nature to react, rather than to keep the peace. Makram Ali, who was killed in the Finsbury Park terror attack Mr Osborne added: I havent been in Darrens life for 42 years. We had very intermittent contact until 30 years ago. Christine and I split up when he was six and it was decided then that I should not really have any further contact with the children. Whether that was the right decision, I dont really know. But obviously it was just shattering news, it is just horrible. I saw him on the television and recognised him. I have no idea other than what I have read in the newspapers, I have absolutely no idea why it is horrific. I cant comment on his motivation, I have not been part of that family for well over 30 years. This has turned my life upside down. We live quite close to a large Muslim community so we are worried about any hate crime problems. Commander Dean Haydon, who led the police inquiry, said: I would describe Darren Osborne as a troubled, vile, hate-fuelled individual with a history of violence, history of alcohol abuse and drug abuse, and a history of depression. You put the background together with his radicalisation path in the three to four weeks leading up to the attack, and we believe thats why he attacked in the way he did. Referring to Osbornes family, he added: None of them could foresee what he was about to do. There were no indicators, if you like, that he was going to hire a van and come to London and attack people from the community. A former SAS soldier who stormed the Iranian Embassy in 1980 has found a home after being left penniless and homeless. Bob Curry, 64, was hailed as a war hero having served as a sergeant in the elite force, but claims he was left without somewhere to live as Herefordshire County Council failed to find him housing. The authority said he had 'not provided all the documentation needed to legally register for housing', and has turned down accommodation which has been offered, but top-selling author Andy McNab picked up on his plight and launched a petition. After 400,000 signed it, the local authority put the veteran on the housing list, and has now been given a bungalow in Hereford. Bob Curry, 64, was forced to ask for help from the SAS after Herefordshire Council failed to provide any accommodation SAS hero Bob Curry is pictured in his SAS days, during which he saw action in the Falklands War and Northern Ireland Former SAS soldier Andy McNab, pictured, has urged Herefordshire County Council to find a suitable home for Bob Curry who is currently living in B&B paid for by the regiment Mr Curry, who is registered disabled, told The Sun he accepted the house immediately and added: 'Im over the moon. The bungalow is perfect for me.' McNab, himself a former SAS serviceman, started the petition on Charge.org calling for a suitable, permanent property to be given to Mr Curry. It garnered thousands of signatures an hour and on the fundraising page the author said: 'After his small business failed, this proud veteran lost his home and his way. He is not getting the help he needs from the authorities. 'Instead he is reliant on handouts from the SAS Regimental Association who are paying for him to live in a B&B.' Mr Curry was part of the team that brought the six-day siege to an end after a group of six men stormed the embassy and took 26 people hostage. The 64-year-old said he was B&B after he split up with his partner of 25 years and his business collapsed last year. He said he was told by Herefordshire Council to fill in forms for a council house in November but is still waiting to hear if he meets the criteria, The Sun reported. Mr Curry told the newspaper he hated going 'cap in hand' to his local authority to ask for help, but he had 'no choice'. In a statement the council said it was continuing to work with Mr Curry to help him 'secure appropriate housing'. 'Unfortunately, to date the individual has not provided all the documentation needed to legally register for housing,' the authority said. 'However, regardless of this, the council's housing team has found and offered two different forms of accommodation, in areas which were agreeable to the individual, but which have subsequently been turned down.' But the local authority has now found a suitable home for Mr Curry. Mr Curry stormed the Iranian Embassy during the iconic 1980 raid but is now living in a B&B because the council cannot find him a home Former sergeant Trevor Coult, who was awarded the Military Cross in 2006 for his bravery in a machine-gun ambush involving suicide bombers and gunmen in Baghdad, was made aware of his plight. He earlier told the Mail: 'This hero abseiled in and went through one of the windows with a charge and cleared rooms. 'He eliminated targets in the Iranian embassy. 'It is a disgrace this veteran is not being looked after. If we can't sort out these veterans in Hereford, where they lived, then what hope is there for other heroes?' It is understood the regiment had been paying for the B&B for around a month. In 2015 the SAS veteran put his medals up for sale for 25,000 so they could be enjoyed by collectors. Fellow veteran Trevor Coult, a recipient of the Military Cross, revealed the soldier's plight in a tweet today, provoking the anger or many other social media users He was one of the first to break into the besieged London building in May 1980 after 26 people were held hostage by six armed Iranian dissidents. The special forces soldier, aged 27 at the time, was watched by millions of TV news viewers as he smashed open a window with a sledgehammer, allowing his colleagues to sensationally storm the building. The 11-minute mission, which became a seminal moment in SAS history, was ordered by home secretary William Whitelaw on the sixth day of the siege after the terrorists shot dead a member of staff before dumping his body outside the embassy. As millions of Britons watched the drama unfold, Curry ran towards the building, despite the risk that a failed explosive which was due to blow open a way into the embassy could still go off. He then kicked the charge out of the way, smashed the window and was the first to climb inside. The Iranian embassy siege: The day the SAS emerged from the shadows The siege began when a group of six gunmen stormed into the Iranian embassy in South Kensington, London, on April 30th 1980. They took mostly embassy staff hostage but among them was BBC sound recordist Sim Harris who was at the embassy to get a visa. PC Trevor Locke, a member of the diplomatic protection squad and on duty at the building, was also among those held at gunpoint. The terrorists demanded the release of prisoners in Khuzestan Province in southern Iran during a series of tense negotiations with the police who sealed off the embassy and surrounding streets. The gunmen also demanded safe passage out of the Britain. The veteran was among those who took part in the famous SAS raid of the Iranian embassy in 1980 After becoming frustrated with the lack of progress over five days they shot one of the hostages and threw his body out of the embassy. The death was the signal for the SAS - motto Who Dares Wins to be sent in. The SAS teams, who had arrived secretly in London from their Hereford base, were given permission by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher to carry out a rescue mission given the code name Operation Nimrod. On the evening of May 5th TV news cut into normal programming to broadcast the beginning of the end of the siege as the SAS soldiers all clad in black abseiled down the front of the building. Millions watched in awe as they tossed stun grenades into the building to begin their assault. BBC cameraman Sim Harris was captured scurrying to safety, jumping over a balcony, while smoke billowed from the building after a curtain caught fire. What was unseen by cameras were the other teams including Horsfall and Firmin - sweeping through the building in a race to free the hostages before they were shot. The raid lasted just 17 minutes and all but one of the six gunmen were shot and killed. A second hostage was shot dead by the gunmen and two others seriously wounded. The televised raid was the first time the British public had ever seen the Special Forces soldiers in action and elevated them to superstar status. Fawsi Najad, the surviving gunman, was jailed for life and freed in 2008 after serving 27 years. He was granted leave to remain in the UK. Advertisement His heroic actions allowed a crack squad of four SAS soldiers to enter the rear of the building in South Kensington and clear the ground floor and the cellar. Five gunmen were killed and one was arrested. Although one hostage died, 19 were freed. Afterwards, one SAS hero was awarded the George Medal and four others were given the Queen's Gallantry Medal but Curry was not one of them. He did however earn campaign medals for his service in Northern Ireland and the Falklands War. It is understood he was made homeless after he split from his wife last year and contacted the council asking for accommodation. He asked five times, it was claimed, but they offered him two homes which allegedly he claims were not suitable. The televised raid was the first time the British public had ever seen the Special Forces soldiers in action and elevated them to superstar status Mr Curry was born in Cambridgeshire in 1953 and enlisted in the Royal Anglian Regiment as a 15 year-old junior soldier in 1968. After serving in Northern Ireland, he passed the tough selection course for the SAS in 1979, training as an assault team member specialising in storming buildings held by terrorists. After the Iranian Embassy siege he served with the SAS in the Falklands War and Northern Ireland. Discharged in 1985, he spent three years working for the Al Fayed family, including one year as the personal bodyguard of Dodi Al Fayed, later killed alongside Diana, Princess of Wales in a Paris car crash. Fifty boys at an elite boarding school struck down with a gastro bug are recovering but feeling 'tired' and drained'. The ill boarders are being looked after by doctors and nurses in an isolated assembly hall and school hospital at The Southport School on the Gold Coast. In an email to parents, Headmaster Greg Wain said Queensland Health has advised the school to isolate the boys for 48 hours. 50 students at the elite Southport School on the Gold Coast are recovering within the school 'The boys are tired and somewhat drained of energy but resting up well and housed in camp beds in the assembly hall and school hospital to keep them away from the other boys,' he said in the email seen by Daily Mail Australia. 'All the boarders are under the doctors' care and we have registered nurses with the ill and recovering boys at all times. 'They remind us that washing hands regularly in such circumstances is important, and that people with such symptoms should see their doctor.' The school is being cleaned with disinfectant regularly to keep the bug under control Queensland Health has inspected the boarding houses and kitchen. 'All is in order and being cleaned with disinfectant regularly,' he said. 'The school is not closed and we do not envisage that being necessary.' The primary school across the road from the boarding house has not been impacted by the outbreak. John DeFrancisco didn't have to look far for his first endorsement since entering the race for governor. The Onondaga County Republican Committee endorsed the Syracuse-area Republican Thursday. DeFrancisco, the deputy majority leader of the New York State Senate, launched his gubernatorial campaign Tuesday. DeFrancisco is seeking the GOP nomination to challenge Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat who is running for a third term. "Andrew Cuomo is a bully whose failed policies are contributing to a mass exodus from communities all across this state," said Onondaga County Republican Chairman Tom Dadey. "If we truly want to make New York the Empire State once again we need a new governor who will put the people first, not put himself first. John DeFrancisco will make a fantastic governor." Onondaga County accounts for 3.4 percent of the weighted vote at the state Republican convention, which will be held this spring. DeFrancisco anticipates more support for his candidacy as the convention approaches. For months, he visited several counties to meet with Republicans and gauge interest in a gubernatorial bid. A text message sent by a jailed former Sydney private school teacher for having sex with a 17-year-old boy asked the teenager if she would be sent to prison. The 34-year-old woman was jailed for 15 months on Friday at the New South Wales District Court. In a series of messages, she asks the boy: 'Am I going to gaol?' to which the teenager simply replies: 'No, you're not.' A former teacher at an elite Sydney school will give birth in jail after being sentenced on Friday But the ex-teacher, who also texted the boy about her fears of the story getting out, was told by a judge she would spend at least seven months in prison. The pregnant former teacher at Sydney Grammar School will give birth to her child behind bars when she is due in May. She pleaded guilty to five counts of sexual intercourse with a person under her care during a three month period in 2016. The text messages revealed how the two of them talked about what had happened. The teacher says she could not eat, sleep or breathe and despised herself 'for having hurt you', she wrote. The judge said he considered there was no other alternative but a full-time prison term as he gave her a 15-month sentence She later described herself as a 'f***ing monster' in messages to the teenage boy and speaks of her terror of the story 'getting out'. 'I'm absolutely terrified the story of us will get out, and you're the only one with any control over that,' she wrote. 'And lastly, of course, because I love you. I loved you so much it is killing me.' She then goes on to express her concerns about the teenager telling someone creating a rumour getting back to 'parents and staff' leading to a police investigation. During a heated exchange between the pair, the boy replies he would not forget they both loved each other 'for some time'. He added: 'This isn't a gesture of friendship because while not distancing myself I shan't make attempts towards the opposite either.' The 34-year-old woman, who is pregnant, was found guilty and jailed after having sex with boy Judge Paul Lakatos in the New South Wales District Court sentenced the woman to at least seven months in jail. He told the teacher he considered there was no other alternative but a full-time prison term as he gave her a 15-month sentence. Gasps were heard from the gallery and one woman bent forward and started crying as the court was told she would be going to prison, news.com.au reported. The father of the baby is the woman's husband and not the 17-year-old boy. The teacher cannot be named to protect the identity of the student. The court was told the pair started meeting in relation to a school activity at first but started messaging Earlier, the court was told the pair started meeting in relation to a school activity at first but subsequently began messaging each other. They then had oral sex together on the school grounds before having sex at her own home. After the relationship turned sexual, she started sending gifts to the boy and encouraged him to write sexual fantasies for her. Judge Lakatos said: 'It was her duty to care for her student's welfare and exercise proper regard for his welfare in circumstances where he could not. 'I consider no other alternative to full custodial term.' He described the case as a tragedy because of the teacher's previous standing as a well respected professional. Fidel Castro's eldest son has committed suicide at the age of 68, Cuban state-run media has reported. Fidel Castro Diaz-Balart is said to have taken his own life on Thursday morning following a long period of hospital treatment for depression. Diaz-Balart, a nuclear physicist, had been released from care after several months and had been continuing treatment outside hospital when he died. Fidel Castro Diaz-Balart (pictured) killed himself on Thursday morning after being treated for months for depression , Cuban state-run media reported 'Diaz-Balart, who had been attended by a group of doctors for several months due to a state of profound depression, committed suicide this morning,' state official website Cubadebate said. The son of the late Cuban revolutionary leader was known as Fidelito (Little Fidel) due to his stark resemblance to his father. Diaz-Balart, Castro's eldest son, was the most educated of the president's children and became one of the country's top nuclear scientists before his father sacked him. Castro Diaz-Balart had been working as a scientific counselor to the Cuban Council of State and Vice-president of the Cuban Academy of Sciences at the time of his death. The now-deceased leader's son had a troubled upbringing amid his father's adultery and reign of power in Cuba. Diaz-Balart was also known as Fidelito (Little Fidel) because of how much he looked like his father, and was admitted to hospital over the severity of his mental illness Former Cuban leader Fidel Castro (right) and his son Fidel Castro Diaz-Balart (second left) attend a meeting with others, in Havana, Cuba August 23, 2010 Castro's elder son, former nuclear physicist Fidel Castro Diaz-Balart (right), next to his father, Cuban leader Fidel Castro, during the Havana Book Fair opening in 2002 Castro, who died in November 2016, cheated on both his wives. His first, Mirta Diaz-Balart, whom he wed when he was still a law student, gave him a son, Fidelito. Through his mother, Fidelito was the cousin of some of his father's most bitter enemies in the Cuban American exile community, US Representative Mario Diaz-Balart and former US congressman Lincoln Diaz-Balart. However, after she divorced him, Castro cruelly engineered for the boy to visit him in Mexico and never let his ex-wife have the child back. Born on September 1, 1949, Fidelito was educated in Moscow and graduated from the Higher Institute of Science and Technology in the former USSR. He was the most educated of Castro's children, and became a top Cuban nuclear scientist and an adviser to the Council of the State of Cuba. From 1980 to 1992, he was head of Cubas national nuclear program, and spearheaded the development of a nuclear plant on the Caribbeans largest island until his father fired him. Who was Fidel Castro? Revolutionary leader Fidel Castro, a towering figure of the 20th century who built a Communist-run state on the doorstep of the United States and defied U.S. efforts to topple him, died aged 90 on November 25 2016. The Cold War icon formally ceded the presidency to his younger brother, Raul Castro, in 2008 due to ill health. Cubans say his death changed little on the island. By the time of his death, Castro had been out of the public limelight since an intestinal ailment nearly killed him in 2006, occasionally writing columns and receiving foreign dignitaries at his home. His death plunged Cuba into nine days of national mourning. A funeral cortege carried his ashes on a three-day journey from Havana to his final resting place in the east of the island, where he had launched the Cuban revolution. 'I am Fidel' became a nationwide chant, as many Cubans pledged to stay faithful to the revolution he led that in 1959 overthrew a U.S.-backed dictator. In keeping with his wishes to avoid a personality cult, no statues have been made of Fidel or public places named after him in Cuba. Even his tomb is a sober affair, a large granite boulder in Santiago de Cuba's Santa Ifigenia Cemetery with a plaque simply reading 'Fidel'. Advertisement Cuba halted its plant plans that same year because of a lack of funding after the collapse of Cubas trade and aid ties with the ex-Soviet bloc and Castro Diaz-Balart largely disappeared from public view, appearing at the occasional scientific conference. His death came just over a year after that of his father on Nov. 26, 2016, aged 90. After Fidel Castro's death, his brother, Raul, assumed the presidency. Raul Castro, 86, was originally set to step down in February after two consecutive terms, ending nearly 60 years of Castro brothers rule and marking a transition from the leaders of the 1959 revolution to a new, younger generation. But the Communist-run government extended the term of its current leadership to April, signaling a two-month delay in the historic handover from Raul Castro to a new president The National Assembly, however, said that devastation wrought by Hurricane Irma in September had caused a delay to the start of the political cycle in which voters and electoral commissions pick delegates of municipal, provincial and national assemblies who then select a Council of State and president. Fidelito's death came just over a year after that of his father on Nov. 26, 2016, aged 90. An urn carrying the ashes of Fidel Castro is seen above in Santiago, Cuba on December 4, 2016 After Fidel Castro's death, his brother, Raul (center), assumed the presidency. Raul Castro, 86, will step down in April after two consecutive terms, ending nearly 60 years of Castro brothers rule in Cuba As a result, the assembly, which is holding one of its twice-yearly meetings, extended its term through to April 19. 'When the National Assembly is constituted, I will have concluded my second and last mandate, and Cuba will have a new president,' Castro said, according to state-run media. 'All that is left for me is to wish you and our people a happy new year,' he said. Castro, who officially took over the presidency from Fidel in 2008, is set to remain head of the Communist Party, the only legal party in Cuba and its guiding force. His heir apparent, First Vice President Miguel Diaz-Canel, 57, was born the year after the revolution but has argued for the need to defend its achievements and provide continuity. A SECRET WEDDING, TWO WIVES AND AT LEAST 10 CHILDREN: CASTRO'S WOMANIZING WAYS Castro was known to be a womanizer who fathered as many as 10 children, telling an interviewer once that they formed a 'tribe.' Throwback to May 2006: A political rally in Havana sees several members of Castro's family attend. Identified by their respective numbers, they are: #1: Alejandro Castro, son, computer expert; #2: Antonio Castro, son, orthopedist, Cuban baseball team doctor; #3: (no name available), grandson, son of Angel Castro; #4: Angel Castro, son; #5: Dalia Soto del Valle, wife and family administrator, teacher; #6: Mirta Castro, granddaughter, daughter of Fidel Castro Diaz-Balart; #7: Alexis Castro, son, mechanic, Mercedes-Benz specialist. The remaining people are friends and bodyguards Castro married his first wife Mirta (Myrta) Diaz-Balart in 1948 after they met at college. They had one child together - a boy named Fidelito (or Little Fidel) in 1949. They later divorced in 1955 reportedly because of him cheating on her. Reports say she went on to marry 'one of his sworn political enemies', a man named Emilio Nunez Blanco, and lived with him in Spain leaving their son in Cuba with Castro. Castro pictured with his son Fidelito in Havana circa 1960 He is thought to have married second wife Dalia Soto del Valle in a secret wedding in 1980. She was his companion since 1961 and they had five boys together between 1962 and 1974. Del Valle was a teacher and the couple were not often seen in public together. She appeared on Cuban TV for the first time in 2001. Fidel Castro's son Alejandro Castro Soto del Valle (L), and his mother, Dalia Soto del Valle (R), Castro's second wife, and another unidentified woman Former Cuban President Fidel Castro (R) talks with his wife Dalia Soto del Valle, during a special session of the Cuban Parliament, on August 7, 2010 in Havana Castro had a daughter, Alina Fernandez, with mistress Natalia Revuelta in 1956. Revuekta was an aristocrat who Castro met while married to his first wife. She donated money and aided Castro and his opposition movement. Alina left the Cuba in 1993 using false papers and now lives in the US. Alina Fernandez Revuelta (L), daughter of Cuban leader Fidel Castro, and her daughter Alina-Maria Salgado-Fernandez (R) toast the New Year with champagne, after being reunited in the United States after Alina-Maria left Havana early December 31 1993 for Miami In excerpts of The Double Life of Fidel Castro by Juan Reinaldo Sanchez in the New York Post it was reported that he cheated on both of his wives. 'He cheated on the first with the very beautiful Havanan Natalia Revuelta and on the second with 'comrade' Celia Sanchez, his private secretary, confidante and guard dog for 30 or so years,' said The Post. Still grab from a video taken on January 8, 2014 of former Cuban president Fidel Castro (C) and his wife Dalia Soto (L) during the inauguration of the nonprofit cultural center Kcho Romerillo, Laboratory for Art in Havana Source: Heavy.com Advertisement For confidential support call the Samaritans in the UK on 116 123, visit a local Samaritans branch or go to www.samaritans.org for details. Ian Hughes is genuinely funny as the Harry Hill-style villain Evil Lord Hector, as is Shaun Dalton (pictured) with his Arnie impersonation as Tough Man Eugenius (Other Palace Theatre, London) Verdict: Formulaic Eighties comic-book romp Rating: The joys of tinnitus-inducing High School sci-fi musical spoofs are perhaps lost on me as they were on some of the target audience of young people who left at the interval. But many more were roused to a standing ovation by this high-decibel, formulaic romp about a teenage American geek of the Eighties whose comic book creations get snapped up by Hollywood. Ben Adamss and Chris Wilkinss plot is so generic it could have been invented on the way back from the pub as producer Warwick Davis assures us in the programme it was. Our hero Eugene is a bashful geek oblivious to the devotion of equally bashful girl-geek Janey. But when a talent scout sees his cartoons about superhero Tough Man and Super Hot Lady, Eugene falls into the hands of megalomaniac film director Lex. Eugene duly sees through the sham of tinsel town, searches for the hero inside himself, finds true love and saves the planet. You could write it in your sleep. But its not just the plot thats predictable pastiche. The music lurches cheerfully from one tribute song to another just about evading plagiarism The joys of tinnitus-inducing High School sci-fi musical spoofs are perhaps lost on me as they were on some of the target audience of young people who left at the interval But its not just the plot thats predictable pastiche. The music lurches cheerfully from one tribute song to another just about evading plagiarism. The best is a Grand Master Flash-style rap, but were also treated to a Celine Dion-style torch song delivered to a wind machine tousling our heroines hair. No cliche is left unturned. But thats not to say that Ian Talbot doesnt deliver a lively production. An exuberant young cast competes vigorously with the deafening music thanks to Aaron Renfrees choreography and Hannah Wolfes boob-hugging, muscle-toning Lycra costumes. An exuberant young cast competes vigorously with the deafening music thanks to Aaron Renfrees choreography and Hannah Wolfes boob-hugging, muscle-toning Lycra costumes Ian Hughes is genuinely funny as the Harry Hill-style villain Evil Lord Hector, as is Shaun Dalton with his Arnie impersonation as Tough Man. Liam Forde and Laura Baldwin are, meanwhile, perfectly likeable as our two love birds. But to warrant our time and money, Eugenius needs to be more original. President Donald Trump made the resist movement his punching bag on Thursday evening as he addressed Republican Party officials at their winter meeting in Washington. All Democrats do is 'obstruct' and 'resist,' Trump said of the minority party. 'I don't know if they're good at it. They can't be too good at it, because we're passing a lot of things,' he said to laughter from the friendly audience, 'so I wouldn't say their resistance is extremely successful.' Jabbing the other side for its opposition to his immigration reform platform in the opening moments of his speech, Trump said, 'You know the Democrats are AWOL. They're missing in action. We're saying, where are they? We have a proposal, we never hear from them.' Scroll down for video President Donald Trump made the resist movement his punching bag on Thursday evening as he addressed Republican Party officials at their winter meeting in Washington Earlier on Thursday, at another Republican Party function, Trump gave Democrats an ultimatum when it comes to making reforms to the immigration system. The president who is now in his second year in office said the other party could accept his immigration compromise or they'll get 'nothing at all.' Speaking at the GOP's annual retreat in West Virginia, Trump said Democrats might as well 'come on board' with his plan to build a border wall and give 1.8 million illegal immigrants who came to the U.S. as children a pathway to citizenship because 'we are not going to improve it.' 'We have to get help from the other side, or we have to elect many more Republicans. That's another way of doing it, really that's another way of doing it,' Trump said. 'They talk a good game with DACA but they don't produce.' The president also said that it was a 'trap' to refer to the illegal immigrant youth he's offering to protect as 'Dreamers' in another slap at Democrats. 'It's not Dreamers. Don't fall into that trap,' he stated. 'Its much different than Dreamers.' Democrats were low-hanging fruit for Trump on Thursday as traveled to West Virginia for lunchtime remarks to lawmakers, then flew back to Washington for the evening address to Republican National Committee members. Trump took slaps at another favorite target, the media, at the RNC gathering, where he bashed the networks just before the White House had journalists escorted out. 'Did anybody not see the State of the Union, because even the haters back there gave us good reviews on that one,' Trump said, referring to reporters covering the event from the back of the room. 'They came up with fake polls, you know they had fake polls, but even fake polls were good.' Moments later feeds of the event went dead as reporters were booted from the nighttime event that was taking place at Trump's Washington, D.C. hotel. President Donald Trump told Democrats Thursday that they can accept his immigration compromise or they'll get 'nothing at all' as he addressed GOP lawmakers at their annual retreat in West Virginia Trump began his day his day as he ended it: zeroing in on Democrats and the fight over the status of the illegal immigrant youth. 'March 5th is rapidly approaching and the Democrats are doing nothing about DACA,' Trump tweeted first thing in the morning. 'They Resist, Blame, Complain and Obstruct - and do nothing.' Trump urged his massive social media following to 'start pushing Nancy Pelosi and the Dems to work out a DACA fix, NOW!' In another message Trump said he was heading to 'beautiful' West Virginia, where he would be meeting with the 'great members of the Republican Party.' 'Will be planning Infrastructure and discussing Immigration and DACA, not easy when we have no support from the Democrats,' Trump said, articulating his plans for the retreat, taking place at luxury resort The Greenbrier. The president told the party faithful in his afternoon remarks 'one of the strengths' of the GOP is that 'we're a big tent with lots of diverse views.' 'We want an immigration policy that's fair, equitable but that's gonna protect our people,' he said. 'We want people coming into our country based on merit and based on the fact that they are going to love our country and they respect our people and our country.' Mimicking a lotto worker Trump said, 'We don't want visa lottery, pick a lottery ticket, pick a lottery - we don't want that. So, we want it based on merit.' President Trump pressured Democrats to work out a deal on DACA in a Thursday morning tweet He also said that he would be talking DACA at the Republican retreat in West Virginia Thursday as Trump addresses a lunchtime session Last week, the White House rolled out a four-pillar framework for an immigration deal. Trump said he would grant a pathway to citizenship to 1.8 million illegal immigrants who arrived in the U.S. in their youth - which the president says was 'generous' because it would go beyond the people who were eligible for DACA - in return for the $25 billion he requested for his border wall and for border security. The White House also wants chain migration contained to just the nuclear families of green card holders and wants to end the visa lottery program. 'Either they're going to have to come on board, because they talk a good game with DACA but they don't produce,' Trump told Republican lawmakers on Thursday, 'or we're just going to have to really work to get more people, in a much easier fashion legislation.' In early September, President Trump's Justice Department announced the phasing out of the DACA program, which stands for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, an Obama-era ordered that allowed the so-called 'Dreamers. DACA permits begin expiring on March 5, the date that Trump kicked the can down the road to Congress to figure out a fix. The plight of the 'Dreamers' has been central to drama on Capitol Hill. On Tuesday evening Trump stirred the pot in his State of the Union speech when he said, 'Americans are dreamers, too.' Touching on the remarks today he said, 'We have dreamers in this country, too. We cant forget our dreamers. I have a lot of dreamers here.' The 'Dreamers' reference was one of the most talked about from Trump's Tuesday night State of the Union address. 'I am extending an open hand to work with the members of both parties Democrats and Republicans to protect our citizens of every background, color, religion and creed,' he said Tuesday, with 'citizen' being the vital word. The 'dreamers' line drew praise from white nationalist leader David Duke, many Democrats, on the other hand, had brought 'dreamers' as their guests. Last month, the president rejected a bipartisan proposal from a group of centrist senators, which led to a three-day government shutdown. He and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer also had a back-and-forth over DACA and the president's proposed border wall, but when negotiations broke down the White House quickly dubbed the government's closure the 'Schumer shutdown.' Next week there's yet another government funding deadline on Friday, Feb. 8, which means the government could shut down again. House Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows said Thursday while speaking to reporters at the Republican retreat that he did not anticipate another lapse in federal funding. The leader of the House conservatives did add a caveat: 'I didn't anticipate one last time.' 'I think the president has probably been out there leading on immigration more so than most presidents,' he added, preparing to hear from Trump at the retreat later Thursday. 'I mean, he set four pillars, he's, you know, outlined what he would like to see, it's now incumbent upon Congress to work.' 'I mean the fact that we do not have a plan, here on February 1, five months into a six-month timeline is troubling,' Meadows said. Speaker to reporters first thing in the morning on Thursday, Sen. John Thune, head of the Republican Conference in the Senate, suggested that the four-pillared White House plan may have to be shaved down to two: DACA and the border wall. A two-prong solution, 'may be the best we can hope for,' Thune said. But proving just how far lawmakers are away from a deal, even within their own party, Meadows immediately dismissed the South Dakota senator's position. 'To suggest that we're going to give, in my mind, a clean DACA for a few billion dollars, that will not really secure our border is a non-starter,' Meadows said. Sen. David Perdue of Georgia, a co-author of legislation that Trump has endorsed that would reorient the immigration system around skills-based labor, said Thursday afternoon that he would 'absolutely' support a bill based off the president's demands that combined illegal and legal immigration measures. 'I absolutely support that framework and would be proud to vote for that framework and I'm one of the more conservative members of the Senate,' Perdue pledged, saying it was his sense that lawmakers were coming around to Trump's position. Standing beside him House Budget Chairman Steve Womack pointed that no such legislation currently exists, however. 'Look, I don't vote on frameworks, I vote on legislation as it's presented,' he stated. A man accused of a tomahawk attack and leading police in a pursuit in the NSW Riverina region is in hospital under police guard. The rampage started in a Narrandera home about midday on Thursday when the 25-year-old man had a domestic dispute with his 28-year-old partner, police say. Ten hours later the man returned to the home, allegedly hitting a 47-year-old man in the head with a tomahawk while also suffering a stab wound himself. A man, 25, accused of a tomahawk attack is in hospital under police guard with 'a stab wound' He then drove off to a Newel Highway service station to refuel, where he allegedly threatened a worker and demanded cash before fleeing. A police chase was terminated and the man was later arrested at another Narrandera home at 1am on Friday. The older man suffered head and facial injuries and is in a serious but stable condition at a Wagga Wagga hospital, while the 25-year-old is in Narrandera hospital. Jimmy Kimmel was involved in a car accident on Sunset Strip in Los Angeles Thursday morning. Kimmels BMW suffered damage to its front after a collision with another vehicle, an Audi, that forced air bags in both cars to deploy. Nobody was injured. Kimmel is set to host the Academy Awards next month in Hollywood. The accident took place in front of the Chateau Marmont Hotel in West Hollywood. According to a witness who spoke to TMZ, the late night host made an errant left turn onto Sunset Strip even though there was a right turn only sign at the intersection. Video footage captured at the scene shows Kimmel making a telephone call while standing on the sidewalk next to the driver of the other vehicle. Jimmy Kimmel was involved in a car accident on Sunset Strip in Los Angeles Thursday morning. Kimmel is seen on the left talking on his cell phone while the driver of the other vehicle involved in the crash stands a few feet away from him (second from right) The accident took place in front of the Chateau Marmont Hotel in West Hollywood Kimmels BMW (above) suffered damage to its front after a collision with another vehicle, an Audi, that forced air bags in both cars to deploy Witnesses said Kimmel made an errant left turn onto Sunset Strip even though there was a right turn only sign at the intersection A fire department official and a police officer were also at the scene after the collision A fire department official and a police officer were also at the scene. Kimmel will return to helm the 2018 Academy Awards after the late night host artfully handled the biggest blunder in Oscars history last year. Kimmel hosted the Oscars for the first time last year in which an embarrassing on-stage mix-up led to presenters Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway mistakenly being given the wrong envelope and announcing La La Land as the winner of best picture, the top award of the night. The actual winner, announced minutes later, was Moonlight. Kimmel, host of Jimmy Kimmel Live! on ABC, the same network that airs the Oscars ceremony every year, said hosting the Oscars 'was a highlight of my career.' 'If you think we screwed up the ending this year, wait until you see what we have planned for the 90th anniversary show!' Kimmel added. Kimmel is set to host next month's Academy Awards in Hollywood. He hosted the Oscars for the first time last year in which an embarrassing on-stage mix-up led to presenters Warren Beatty (seen right with Kimmel) and Faye Dunaway mistakenly being given the wrong envelope Earlier this week, Kimmel tried to coax a porn star into confirming that she had an extramarital affair with Donald Trump. Stormy Daniels appeared on Kimmel's show on Tuesday night just hours after Trump's first State of the Union address. The porn star, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, has been on a publicity tour in recent weeks after it was alleged she had sex with Trump back in 2006 just four months after his wife Melania gave birth to their son. Though it was reported that Trump's lawyer arranged for a six-figure payment to Daniels in exchange for her silence about the affair, she denied that any such encounter took place. Just hours before her appearance on the show, a statement was issued in Daniels' name denying the affair with Trump ever occurred, saying: 'I am not denying this affair because I was paid 'hush money'... I am denying this affair because it never happened.' But when Kimmel asked her about the denial letter on the show, Daniels seemed to deny she had even signed it. A woman accused of deliberately driving off a Hawaii cliff and killing her identical twin sister was acquitted of murder Thursday. A judge found Alexandria Duval, 39, not guilty after a trial that started Monday. Duval opted to have a judge instead of a jury decide the case. Authorities described the 2016 crash that killed Anastasia Duval as a hair-pulling fight over the steering wheel. The sisters were seen arguing on the narrow, winding Hana Highway on the island of Maui before their SUV plunged 200 feet over a cliff. Alexandria Duval (pictured in court on January 31, 2018), who was accused of deliberately driving off a Hawaii cliff and killing her twin sister, Anastasia Duval, has been acquitted of murder, a judge ruled on Thursday Duval was seen wiping tears from her face as she stood to exit the courtroom on Thursday Alexandria (right) was charged with second-degree murder and pleaded not guilty to killing her twin Anastasia (left) in 2016 The sisters were seen arguing on the narrow, winding Hana Highway on the island of Maui before their SUV (pictured) plunged 200 feet over a cliff The crash was a tragic accident, Alexandria's defense attorney, Birney Bervar said in his opening statement. Authorities said Alexandria was behind the wheel of a Ford Explorer when witnesses saw the sisters arguing on the perilously narrow, twisting route along a scenic stretch of coastline. A witness cleaning a family gravesite on the highway shoulder told police that he heard a woman screaming in the vehicle and that the passenger was pulling the driver's hair and the steering wheel. Anastasia was in the passenger seat and was killed, and her sister Alexandria Duval was arrested. A judge later ordered Alexandria released after finding no probable cause for a murder charge. She traveled to upstate New York and was arrested months later in Albany after a grand jury indicted her. On Wednesday, it was revealed in court that Alexandria had dressed up in her dead sister's clothes and flirted with her boyfriend shortly after the fatal crash. Anastasia's boyfriend Federico Bailey testified in court on Tuesday on the second day of the murder trial, revealing details of Alexandria's behavior in the days after the crash. A judge later ordered Alexandria (left in June 2016 and right in November 2016) released after finding no probable cause for a murder charge. She traveled to upstate New York and was arrested months later in Albany after a grand jury indicted her On Wednesday, it was revealed in court that Alexandria (pictured in November 2016) had dressed up in her dead sister's clothes and flirted with her boyfriend shortly after the fatal crash 'She began cuddling up on me, it seemed like she was flirting with me... she sat down beside me really close and lay her head on my shoulder,' Bailey said, according to the New York Post. 'She put on Anastasia's clothes. I started talking to her about what happened, she avoided answering any of my questions. 'When I saw her in Anastasia's dress it was disturbing. Anastasia had just worn that dress a few nights earlier.' Bailey, who had been living with the twins, told the court he was on a camping trip with the sisters at the time. He said the twins started arguing after Alexandria showed up unexpectedly on their trip. Bailey told the court the two sisters drove off, still fighting, while he was in the bathroom. The sisters, born Alison and Ann Dadow in the Utica, New York, area, operated popular yoga studios in Florida before they changed their names They moved to Hawaii in 2015 from Utah. Anastasia is pictured left and Alexandria Duval is seen right Witnesses also described seeing the women fighting and pulling each other's hair as they drove on the highway in the lead up to the crash. Alexandria did not testify. Joseph Toleafoa, 17, said he saw the SUV stopped in the middle of the road with its hazard lights on. 'First they were arguing. It escalated,' he said, according to the Maui News. He said he saw 'a lot of gestures, like they were going at it' and 'hair-pulling and punching'. Toleafoa told the court that he heard the engine of the SUV rev before it 'sped up and then it jerked to the left' before plunging over the cliff. Maui resident Chad Smith testified on Monday that while the women were passing him on the highway he could see them arguing. Smith, who was headed to a church, said he couldn't hear anything but the women looked angry. He said he had to swerve out of their way. 'I'm disappointed,' Maui County Prosecuting Attorney J.D. Kim said after the verdict. 'The facts clearly show it was at least reckless behavior.' The sisters, born Alison and Ann Dadow in the Utica, New York, area, operated popular yoga studios in Florida before they changed their names. They moved to Hawaii in 2015 from Utah. Frances Abbott has flashed something sparkly on her ring finger as she celebrated with her two aunts. The 26-year-old stunned the country with her surprising engagement to former Olympic rower Sam Loch after two weeks together. The daughter of former Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott shared a photo to her Instagram story of herself flaunting her left hand donning a ring as she stood between her two aunts. Frances Abbott (centre) has flashed something sparkly on her ring finger as she celebrated with her two aunts, Christine Forster (right) and her partner Virginia Edwards (left) The 26-year-old stunned the country with her surprising engagement to former Olympic rower Sam Loch after two weeks together (pictured together) Ms Abbott shared a photo of a sparkly ring on her left hand to Instagram late last year Christine Forster, who is Mr Abbott's sister, has been engaged to Virginia Edwards for four years and is set to tie the knot on Friday. The happy snap of the three excited women was captioned 'the brides to be'. 'Sending love to Chris and Virg on their big day,' Ms Abbott captioned the photo of the three brides. Ms Forster, a Sydney councillor, and Ms Edwards planned to have a summer wedding on February 2, according to AAP. 'I can marry this woman I've treasured for ten years, on Australian soil ... in front of my friends and family,' Ms Abbott said in December. In the lead up to the same-sex wedding, Ms Forster shared a number of wedding preparation photos to social media including a snap of the rings in small black boxes. Ms Forster (right), who is Mr Abbott's sister, has been engaged to Ms Edwards (left) for four years and is set to tie the knot on Friday Ms Forster, a Sydney councillor, and Ms Edwards planned to have a summer wedding on February 2 While Mr Abbott strongly opposed legalising same-sex marriage, his body-building daughter supported the campaign along with his sister. 'Tony and I have a great relationship as brother and sister that transcends our political differences,' Ms Forster previously said. The wedding guest list is thought to consist of a number of Sydney drag queens and Liberal politicians. 'Sending love to Chris and Virg on their big day,' Ms Abbott, a body builder, captioned a photo of the three brides on her Instagram story Police say a shooting inside a Los Angeles middle school classroom that left four children injured was accidental. A 12-year-old girl was arrested after gunfire erupted at Salvador Castro Middle School on Thursday morning. Los Angeles police spokesman Josh Rubenstein says the girl has since been charged with negligent discharge of a firearm on school grounds. The charge comes after one of the girl's classmates, also 12, revealed he spoke to her moments after the gun went off and said she was sobbing and repeatedly saying: 'I didn't mean it.' She told him the gun was in her backpack and that it accidentally went off when she dropped the bag. Another classmate also said the girl didn't mean to hurt anyone, saying she thought it was a toy gun. The shooting left one teenager critically wounded and three other children injured. The 12-year-old girl arrested over a shooting at Salvador Castro Middle School on Thursday morning has now been charged with accidentally firing the gun A 15-year-old male who was shot in the temple is in a stable condition and doctor have said he 'was extremely lucky'. A girl, also 15, is in a fair condition after suffering a gunshot wound to her wrist. An 11-year-old boy and a 12-year-old girl were grazed and were treated and released from the hospital. A woman, 30, was also injured and treated in hospital. Police arrested the girl and recovered the gun immediately after the shooting. News footage showed a dark-haired girl in a sweatshirt being led from the school in handcuffs as anxious parents and family members gathered on a street corner. It comes as parents and officials question how the student was able to get access to a gun and bring it to the school. 'We do not know yet... how our young person on this campus ended up having the ability to have access to a firearm and bring it onto campus,' Los Angeles School Police Chief Steve Zipperman said. 'We have laws that mandate that parents who own guns, any adult who owns a gun, any gun owner, has an obligation to ensure that gun is locked inside a home. 'One of the main missions we will have and we will continue to enforce is the issue of finding out how a young person had access to a weapon, and I assure you, if we find out it came from an adult from a home, that the proper prosecutorial procedures will occur.' News footage showed a dark-haired girl in a sweatshirt being led from the school in handcuffs as anxious parents and family members gathered on a street corner One of the victims is seen being loaded into an ambulance after the morning shooting. A 15-year-old boy was shot in the head and is in stable condition while a girl, also 15, was shot in the wrist and is in fair condition Concerned parents lined up near the school on Thursday morning after the shooting as they waited for news on their children Students at the school are seen evacuating with the help of police after the gunfire erupted The district itself has a policy requiring every middle and high school campus to conduct daily random searches by metal-detector wands at different hours of the school day for students in the sixth grade and up. A 13-year-old student, Melanie Valencia, said the school did a random security search on Thursday but she has never been searched. 'It's crazy because I don't know how she got the gun,' she said. The school's campus was placed on lockdown but most classes continued. The school has about 365 students in grades 6-8 and almost all are Hispanic and many are from low-income families. At the end of the school day, children were escorted individually out of the school. Many were crying as they were embraced by emotional parents. Authorities said earlier in the day that the call came in from Salvador Castro Middle School, which brought confusion seeing as the two most injured victims were of high school age. NBC LA later reported that the shooting took place in a mixed-grade elective class. It is possible that students can take the same electives if the high school and middle school is on the same campus. The school building used to be used by Belmont High when more students attended. After police secured the school, classes went back on as usual, but parents were allowed to pick their children up early if they wanted to Elizabeth Acevedo and her son Andres, three, are pictured waiting for news of her son, Jose, an 8th grade student at the high school Another parent reacts while crossing the street past police vehicles outside a roadblock to Salvadore Castro Middle School in Los Angeles on Thursday As soon as news of the shooting broke, parents rushed to the school to confirm their children were safe Diego Salinas said he had just dropped his 12-year-old sister at the school and was stunned when she called minutes later to say there had been a shooting. 'There were so many things crossing my mind,' said Salinas, who was still shaking hours later. 'I wanted to cry. I wanted to scream. I wanted to run. I wanted do so many things.' Claudia Anzueto said her 12-year-old son was crying when he called her from a borrowed cellphone. He said he heard a gunshot in the next classroom and knew the suspect. 'Not safe, very insecure,' said Anzueto, who said there were no metal detectors at the school. 'I fear for my son's life. You know what I mean, you really hear about things like this in the news, and just to hear that something like that happened so close to home, it scared the life out of me.' Above, another look at concerned parents waiting for word from police at the school Parents and officials have questioned how the student was able to get access to a gun and bring it to the school The Los Angeles Unified School District has been conducting daily random searches for weapons using metal detective wands ever since 1993, when two students were killed in back-to-back shootings. However, an audit last April of 20 schools found that some schools failed to do the searches daily and that a quarter of them didn't have the right metal-detecting wands. FEMALE SCHOOL SHOOTERS: A RARITY One of the first school shooters was female - Brenda Spencer The fact that a female student was taken into custody was surprising since females do not usually commit school shootings or mass shootings in general. However, they aren't unheard of. One of the first modern school shooters was a girl. In 1979, 16-year-old Brenda Spencer shot and killed the principal and custodian at Cleveland Elementary School in San Diego, a school across the street from where she lived. When a reporter asked why she did it, Spencer said 'I don't like Mondays'. When it comes to traditional school shootings, involving a perpetrator who attends the school that is targeted, men have always been the shooter in the U.S. In general, women are less violent than men - accounting for just 10 to 13 per cent of all homicides. And in the rare situations in which women do commit violent crimes, they are less likely to use a gun. Advertisement Jocelyn Lopez told KTLA that her 13-year-old younger sister, a 7th grader, was in the classroom where the shooting took place. She said her sister was fine and had been texting with her. The fact that a female student had been taken into custody was surprising for many since it is historically more common for males to be behind school or mass shootings in general. But in saying that, one of the first modern school shooters was a girl. In 1979, 16-year-old Brenda Spencer shot and killed the principal and custodian at Cleveland Elementary School in San Diego - the school across the street from where she lived. When a reporter asked Spencer why she did it, she said 'I don't like Mondays'. There are a few other examples including 30-year-old Laurie Dann. She shot and killed a boy and injured five other students at an elementary school in Winnetka, Illinois in 1988. Jillian Robbins, a 19-year-old Army-trained sharpshooter, shot and killed one 21-year-old student and wounded three more at Penn State University in 1996. Two students at Louisiana Technical Institute were shot and killed by 23-year-old nursing student Latina Williams in 2008. In 2010, a biology professor at the University of Alabama shot six of her colleagues. In 2014, a 17-year-old girl in Pennsylvania was arrested after cops discovered she was planning an attack on her high school and wanted to be 'the first female shooter'. In another troubling incident in 2016, two teens at a high school in Arizona died from the same bullet, in an apparent murder suicide. But when it comes to traditional school shootings, involving a perpetrator who attends the school that is targeted, men have always been the shooter in the U.S. In general, women are less violent than men - accounting for just 10 to 13 per cent of all homicides, according to LiveScience.com. And in the rare situations in which women do commit violent crimes, they are less likely to use a gun. Women perpetrators account for just eight per cent of firearm crimes, while taking up a more predominant 40 per cent of poisonings. A former police officer investigating the Beaumont children disappearance has revealed the prime suspect's son told him the location of their final resting place. The revelations come as police said they were just 80cm from an anomaly in the ground as they excavate land at an Adelaide factory which is at the centre of a renewed search for the missing trio. Police said the excavation will slow down when they reached the anomaly, which is expected to be late on Friday afternoon. Former policeman Bill Hayes on Thursday revealed that he spoke with the son of prime suspect - and former owner of the factory - Harry Phipps. Mr Hayes said Hayden Phipps told him that his father was a paedophile and that he had buried the children in a sandpit at the North Plympton industrial site. 'He told me [Phipps] was taking [the Beaumont children] to a place, a factory, that the father owned,' Mr Hayes told A Current Affair. 'His exact words were, ''they are in the sand pit, Bill''.' Two brothers told police in 2013 they spent the 1966 Australia Day weekend digging a large hole at the Adelaide factory at the request of owner Harry Phipps (pictured) Former policeman Bill Hayes said that in the years following their disappearance he spoke with the son of prime suspect in the Beaumont children disappearance Former policeman Bill Hayes said Hayden Phipps (pictured), the son of the prime suspect, told him that his father was a paedophile and that he had buried the children in a sandpit Phipps died in 2004, but his son, who accused his father of years of sexual abuse, believed he had a part in the crime. Phipps also bore a resemblance to an identikit picture prepared at the time, and lived close to Glenelg Beach, where the children were last seen. A woman recently came forward saying she was indecently assaulted by Phipps in a vacant lot near the factory in 1979. 'He just walked me across the road and was saying 'you're a really pretty girl, I've seen you around' and I just went with him,' the woman told the Seven Network. 'He sort of started getting really slimy, really dirty talk and things like that.' The trio never returned after leaving their parents' Glenelg home for an afternoon at the beach on Australia Day, 1966 A digger is seen at the site of a factory in North Plympton in Adelaide on Friday morning The excavation at the North Plympton site commenced at 8am on Friday morning Detective Superintendent Des Bray inspects the dig site at a factory in North Plympton Attention is focused on a small section of ground at the North Plympton site where recent scientific tests revealed the possible presence of a large hole dug there. Two brothers revealed in 2013 they had spent the 1966 Australia Day weekend - when the children vanished - digging a hole at the request of Harry Phipps. Detective Chief Inspector Greg Hutchins said there are innocent explanations for the anomaly, but it could also be a major breakthrough in Australia's most enduring cold case. 'We have our fingers crossed, we hope for the best but we do want to temper expectations,' he said at the site on Friday. 'Clearly we have an anomaly which we need to investigate.' Police said they were 'hoping for the best' as they began excavation on Friday at the Adelaide factory The industrial site in Adelaide is at the centre of a renewed search for the missing trio The dig got under way on Friday morning and by early afternoon had come within about 80 centimetres of the area of most interest. Insp Hutchins said work had proceeded as planned but might slow as more earth was exposed, and police would be guided by forensic experts on site. 'This is a slow and methodical search. Currently, we've excavated to a depth of about a metre,' he said at the scene. 'I can't have a guess what they might find but now it's methodical digging, looking. 'The good thing is it's very sandy and it's very easy for them to see or identify any strange object, thing, rubbish, clothing. 'As they get further down, that's when we obviously need to be closely observing what's happening within the dig site.' HOW DID THE BEAUMONT CHILDREN DISAPPEAR AND WHAT LED POLICE TO THE ADELAIDE FACTORY? JANUARY 26, 1966 The Beaumont children got on a bus near their home at about 8.45am They travelled together to Glenelg Beach, to swim at an area between Jetty Road and the Anzac Highway The trio were due home about 2pm, but failed to return At about 7.20pm, their father reported his children missing An extensive search of the area was conducted by police that night, but the children were not found NOVEMBER 8, 1966 World-renowned Dutch clairvoyant Gerard Croiset is flown to Adelaide by local real estate developer Con Polites He declared to crowds gathered on the beach that the Beaumont children had not been kidnapped, and were rather trapped beneath freshly laid concrete Mr Croiset indicated the children were at a building site in North Plympton The public raised $40,000 to demolish the building in their search for the children About 30 years later, when the site was being partially demolished, the owners reportedly allowed for a full excavation, but nothing was found MAY 20, 2013 The Satin Man by Alan Whiticker is released The book investigates one theory about the Beaumont Case, which alleges a prominent businessman was behind the murder of the children In the book, the businessman's estranged son says he saw the Beaumont children in his father's backyard - just metres from Glenelg Beach The man was identified as Harry Phipps in a segment on the book aired on Today Tonight As a result of the report, two men came forward to police and said they had been asked to dig a trench on the grounds of Mr Phipps' factory in North Plympton AUGUST 2013 Police announce allegations made against Harry Phipps have been discounted, and he is not a suspect in the investigation into the missing Beaumont children NOVEMBER 2013 Police dig up a small area of the land surrounding the factory The dig does not uncover any new information relating to the disappearance Officers are criticised for not inviting the two men along to the dig, and some claim they dug in the wrong spot JANUARY 2018 Tests on the soil at Mr Phipps' former factory reveal an area of soil measuring about one metre wide, two metres long and two metres deep has been disturbed Following new information from witnesses and the soil tests, police declare a section of land at the rear of the factory a crime scene FEBRUARY 2, 2018 Police begin excavation at the site in the hope they finally uncover the final resting place of the Beaumont children Advertisement There is currently a police presence at the North Plympton site that is the focus of renewed investigations Nine-year-old Jane, seven-year-old Arnna and four-year-old Grant have never been found A range of experts will be present on Friday while the site 9pictured) is dug up The Beaumont children never returned after leaving their parents' Glenelg home for an afternoon at the beach on Australia Day, 1966. Their disappearance sparked a wide-scale search operation, but nine-year-old Jane, seven-year-old Arnna and four-year-old Grant were never found. An initial excavation at the North Plympton site proved fruitless, but police now believe they may have been digging in the wrong spot. Insp Hutchins said police had been in regular contact with the parents of the children, Jim and Nancy Beaumont, and had informed them of Friday's activity. 'Clearly the parents of the three Beaumont children have suffered significantly over the last 52 years,' he said. A range of experts are present at the site including a forensic anthropologist, a criminologist, crime scene examiners and officers from the major crime division. The dig is expected to continue well into Friday afternoon. Howell, of Seneca Falls, said it was all part of a 165th anniversary project celebrating her great-great-great-grandfather. Support Local Journalism Your membership makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}} How Oscar favorite '12 Years a Slave' came from Auburn For the second year in a row, the frontrunner for the Best Picture Oscar has roots in Auburn. "This is a significant period in the timeline of the Northup legacy ... a legacy of a free man turned slave turned free yet again," she said. Northup who was born a free man in Minerva in 1808 earned a living as a farmer and professional violinist in New York before he was drugged and sold into slavery in the early 1840s. At that time, he was sent to Louisiana, where he lived in captivity for nearly 12 years. Then, in 1853, Howell said Northup finally regained his freedom and returned to New York to begin his work as an abolitionist. He wrote a memoir, "Twelve Years a Slave," that was published by Derby and Miller, of Auburn. The memoir inspired the 2013 historical drama of the same name that won the Academy Award for Best Picture that year. "Auburn is a key focus of our project," Howell said. "(The city) has been incredibly supportive. ... By recognizing these specific dates and events and people whose lives were intertwined with Solomon, I think we're giving a voice to a much greater story." The 'staggering sum' being paid out by the NHS as compensation in clinical negligence claims is 'unsustainable', the Justice Secretary Niall Dickson has been warned Compensation payments to victims of clinical negligence by the NHS should be slashed to prevent their 'disastrous effect' of bankrupting the health service, it was claimed last night. In a letter to the Justice Secretary Niall Dickson, the chief executive of the NHS Confederation said the health service could not continue to support the current payments being handed to patients in compensation cases. Officials from NHS Confederation, which represents all health trusts, the British Medical Association and the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges wrote to David Gauke expressing their concerns over the current methods of calculating compensation. Calling for 'fundamental reform' of the British legal system, they claimed that doctors were subjecting patients to needless tests because they were 'frightened of being sued'. While they said that those who have suffered medical blunders should receiving compensation payments, they believe the amount of money needs to be 'balanced' against the NHS's ability to pay. The development comes as some hospitals were revealed to be spending more than 2 per cent of their income on negligence claims. Too much is being paid out in compensation claims against the NHS, medical groups have said In the letter, published in the Telegraph, Mr Dickson wrote: 'We fully accept that there must be reasonable compensation for patients harmed through clinical negligence. 'Yet this must be balanced against society's ability to pay. This is money that could be spent on frontline care: the rising cost of clinical negligence is already having an impact on what the NHS can provide.' Negligence payments have rocketed in recent years. In 2014/15 the bill for liability claims stood at 29billion but has now doubled to 65billion. The groups said that changes in the law have had a 'disastrous effect' on the amount paid out by the NHS in compensation claims. A new way of calculating payments meant East Lancashire Hospitals was forced to increase its payout to a girl who was left with cerebral palsy following mistakes during her birth from 3.8million, to pay 9.3million 'Individual claims can amount to well over 10million,' Mr Dickson said. 'And the value of these claims against the NHS is rising year after year. 'It is because the current system, government policy (or lack of it) and the courts' interpretation of their responsibilities have taken us to a terrible place.' Mr Dickson pointed out that if the government spent every penny of the extra 5billion a year on the NHS which is being called for by Boris Johnson it would still take 13 years to cut off the liability bills. The letter added that medical professionals had expressed concerns in a change over the way payments were calculated. Under the new rules, East Lancashire Hospitals trust was forced to increase its payout to a 10-year-old girl who was left with cerebral palsy following mistakes during her birth. The trust was initially due to pay 3.8million, but under the latest formula, were forced to pay 9.3million. Changes are also being considered to cut to amount being spent on lawyers after it emerged that fees accounted for 37 per cent of payouts, with legal costs dwarfing the figure paid out in some minor cases. Australia's uniforms for this year's Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast have been revealed with a bright golden focus. The competition and ceremonial wear for Australia's 470-strong team was revealed on the Gold Coast on Friday. While the uniforms for the opening ceremony feature grey pants and skirts and green blazers, the competition wear has a heavy focus on Australian gold. Scroll down for video (L-R) Australian athletes Dom Bedggood, Matt Hauser, Britany Elmslie and Torita Blake pose during the Australian Commonwealth Games Team Uniform Launch 2018 The ceremonial uniforms are adorned with Indigenous artwork throughout designed by Brisbane-based artist Jenna Lee The latest uniforms are a cut above the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games Australian team uniforms (pictured) The uniforms, which are partially made up of recycled plastic, have been crafted by clothing company Diadora, who created the uniform for the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. The jackets in the Glasgow kits were labeled as having a 'Captain Kirk from Star Trek' look, while the colours were blasted as 'contradictory' and the sweaters 'homemade'. Diadora designer Adele Walters said at the time the mismatched uniforms were designed with the cooler Glasgow temperatures in mind. Organisers went with the woolen scarf and jumper combo in a bid to push the 'creative boundaries while maintaining the core integrity and pride of athletes.' This year's uniforms (right), unveiled on Friday, deliver a strikingly modern look when compared to the 2014 Glasgow kits (left) Diadora designer Adele Walters said at the time the mismatched uniforms were designed with the cooler Glasgow temperatures in mind (pictured: the 2014 Australian team) The competition and ceremonial wear for Australia's 470-strong 2018 team was revealed on the Gold Coast on Friday For this year's games, Netballer Gabi Simpson said she couldn't be happier with how the team's netball uniforms have come out, believing the bright yellow kit will be a boost on the court. 'The more gold and bright the better in my eyes,' Ms Simpson said. 'That just brings that extra intimidation factor on court and that's what we want. 'We want when someone has the ball in their hands that all they can see is yellow.' John Steffensen, Ryan Gregson and Genevieve Lacaze of Australia pose in the 2014 team uniforms at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow The jackets in the Glasgow kits (worn by swimmer Mack Horton, left) were labeled as having a 'Captain Kirk from Star Trek', while the 2018 ceremonial wear (worn by triathlete Matt Hauser, right) has a distinctive modern look Netballer Gabi Simpson (far right) said she couldn't be happier with how the team's netball uniforms have come out Commonwealth Games Australia chief executive Craig Phillips described the uniforms as 'fun and fresh' at Friday's unveiling. 'We really feel that we have created a uniform that befits the honour of representing Australia on the world stage but has a casual, contemporary twist that is at home on the Gold Coast,' Mr Phillips said. Diadora produced the competition wear, while Australian brand R.M. Williams delivered the uniforms for the opening and closing ceremonies. Commonwealth Games Australia chief executive Craig Phillips described the uniforms as 'fun and fresh' at Friday's unveiling 'We really feel that we have created a uniform that befits the honour of representing Australia on the world stage,' Mr Phillips said (pictured: Para-triathlete Nic Beveridge) Diadora produced the competition wear, while Australian brand R.M. Williams delivered the uniforms for the opening and closing ceremonies (pictured, from left to right, Nic Beveridge, Georgia Godwin, and Gabi Simpson) The ceremonial uniforms are adorned with Indigenous artwork throughout designed by Brisbane-based artist Jenna Lee. Ms Lee said it was fitting for Australian athletes to wear outfits featuring designs from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures. 'To have athletes coming from different backgrounds, different sports, different places and families, coming together represent Australia, also proudly wearing Aboriginal culture I think is incredibly important and meaningful for these Commonwealth Games,' she said. John David Battaglia, a 62-year-old former Dallas accountant, received the lethal injection on Thursday night for the 2001 killings of his 9-year-old daughter, Faith, and her 6-year-old sister, Liberty A Texas accountant who murdered his two young daughters taunted their mother as she watched him being executed last night. John David Battaglia was put to death by lethal injection at the Texas State Penitentiary in Huntsville for killing his nine-year-old daughter Faith and her six-year-old sister Liberty as their mother listened helplessly on the phone in 2001. In the moments before he died, Battaglia smiled as the mother of his slain children, Mary Jean Pearle, and other witnesses to his lethal injection walked into the death chamber viewing area. Asked by the warden if he had a final statement, the inmate replied: 'No,' then changed his mind. 'Well, hi, Mary Jean,' he said, looking and smiling at his ex-wife. 'I'll see y'all later. Bye.' After that, he told the warden: 'Go ahead, please.' Battaglia then closed his eyes and looked directly up. A few seconds later he opened his eyes and lifted his head. 'Am I still alive?' he asked. When the powerful sedative pentobarbital began to take effect, he said: 'Oh, I feel it'. He gasped twice and started to snore. Within a few more seconds, all movement stopped. The time of death was 9.40pm - 22 minutes after the lethal dose began. Pearle turned away from an execution-viewing window after Battaglia stopped breathing and walked to the back of the witness area. 'I've seen enough of him,' she said before returning minutes later to watch as a physician examined Battaglia and pronounced him dead. Battaglia brutally shot his two daughters Faith, 9, and Liberty, 6, at his Dallas apartment in May 2001. He had earlier picked the girls up for his court ordered visit following his separation from their mother Mary Jean Pearle (above at her ex-husband's 2002 murder trial) was present at his execution on Thursday. Battaglia smiled and said 'Well hi Mary Jean' when he spotted her Battaglia, who had separated from his wife, had picked up his daughters in a shopping center parking lot for his court ordered visit with the girls. Prosecutors said Battaglia became enraged that Pearle had notified police that he was harassing her and he used the visit with their daughters to act on his anger. Pearle, who had gone to dinner, returned a call from one of her daughters and heard Faith pleading with her father, who had put the call on speakerphone. 'No, daddy, please don't, don't do it!' Faith begged. Pearle yelled into the phone for the children to run, then heard gunshots. 'Merry... Christmas,' Battaglia told Pearle, the words of the holiday greeting derisively divided by an obscenity. After hearing more gunshots, Pearle called 911. At the time of the shootings, Battaglia was on probation for a Christmas 1999 attack on Pearle. His profanity-laced Christmas greeting to Pearle was an apparent reference to that. Faith was shot three times and Liberty five. Hours later, Battaglia was arrested outside at a tattoo shop where he had two large red roses inked on his left arm to commemorate his daughters. It took four officers to subdue him. A fully loaded revolver was found in his truck and more than a dozen firearms were recovered from his apartment. Battaglia, who has been on death row since 2002, told The Dallas Morning News in 2014 that his daughters were his 'best little friends' and that he had photos of them displayed in his prison cell. 'I don't feel like I killed them. I am a little bit in the blank about what happened,' he said. Faith was shot three times and Liberty five. Their mother heard them screaming 'No, daddy, please don't, don't do it!' over the phone just moments before Prosecutors said Battaglia became enraged that Pearle had notified police that he was harassing her and he used the visit with their daughters to act on his anger His was the nation's third execution this year, all in Texas. The 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals earlier in the day rejected an appeal that argued a lower court improperly refused his lawyers money to hire an expert to further examine legal claims of his mental competency. The Supreme Court has ruled that prisoners can be executed if they're aware the death penalty is to be carried out and have a rational understanding of why they're facing that punishment. Attorneys for Battaglia contended he didn't have that understanding and that the state's highest court, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, misapplied the Supreme Court's guidance when it ruled that Battaglia is competent. State attorneys said the Texas courts ensured proper legal standards were followed and that Battaglia had been provided expert help and a court hearing in accordance with Supreme Court precedents. Another unsuccessful appeal challenged the effectiveness of the pentobarbital Texas uses as its execution drug. Attorneys contended the state's supply was outdated and Battaglia was at risk for unconstitutionally cruel punishment. A state judge and the state appeals court described Battaglia as highly intelligent, competent, not mentally ill and faking mental illness to avoid execution. Testimony at a hearing showed Battaglia used the prison library to research capital case rulings on mental competence and discussed with his father during a phone call from jail the 'chess game' of avoiding execution. State Judge Robert Burns, who found him competent, said Battaglia's intelligence and education - he has a master's degree - shows he's not a 'typical inmate' and has the 'motive and intellectual capability to maintain a deliberate ploy or ruse to avoid his execution.' A police officer who persuaded a pregnant homeless woman he busted using heroin to let him adopt her unborn child has revealed that she is now 40 days sober. Officer Ryan Holets, 27, came across an eight-month pregnant Crystal Champ and her partner shooting up heroin when he was on patrol in Albuquerque, New Mexico last September. The father of five made headlines a few months later when it was revealed that he and his wife Rebecca had officially adopted the baby girl named Hope after Crystal gave birth. In addition to adopting Hope, Holets took it upon himself to raise money to help Crystal and her partner Tom Key get off the streets and rid themselves of their drug addiction. Scroll down for video Albuquerque police officer Ryan Holets and his wife Rebecca adopted a baby from a homeless drug addict he found last year shooting up heroin. They are pictured above at President Trump's State of the Union address on Tuesday Holets, who was praised by President Trump at his State of the Union address on Tuesday, told CNN this week that Crystal and Tom are now roughly 40 days sober. 'I lose track of time with everything that's going on... I was recently talking to Crystal on the phone and she was saying she's excited because their 40 days mark is coming up,' he said. 'So I don't know if it's past 40 days or just about there. But 40 days sober, that's incredible. Holets said he always had faith that they would get to this point and that they plan to let Crystal see her biological child. 'At this point, as they are in recovery, we're sending them pictures we're giving them updates,' Holets said. 'We want them to be able to continue to see her and be in their life. I think she's going to know how much they loved her. And that's never going to be in question.' Holets came across an eight-month pregnant Crystal Champ and her partner Tom Key as they were shooting up heroin when he was on patrol in Albuquerque, New Mexico last September The officer made headlines a few months later when it was revealed that he and his wife Rebecca had officially adopted the baby girl named Hope after Crystal gave birth Holets says Crystal and Tom are now roughly 40 days sober after they were admitted to a live-in rehabilitation center for drug treatment Holets first encountered Crystal and Tom behind a convenience store in Albuquerque when he was responding to a possible theft. He spotted the pair sitting on the grass shooting up heroin in broad daylight. 'You're going to kill your baby,' Holets could be heard saying on his bodycam. 'Why do you have to be doing that stuff? It's going to ruin your baby.' When Crystal told him that she had hoped someone would adopt her unborn child, Holets showed her a pictured of his wife and their four children before offering to raise the baby for her. Crystal gave birth to the little girl on October 12. Holets said baby Hope had to suffer through detoxing and withdrawals and even endured methadone treatment after her birth. Holets said baby Hope had to suffer through detoxing and withdrawals and even endured methadone treatment after her birth Holets said he always had faith that they would get to this point and that they plan to let Crystal see her biological child In December, Holets said Crystal and Tom had finally agreed to get help after a live-in rehabilitation center came forward and donated their services after hearing of their plight. Holets set up a GoFundMe page that he is in charge of to raise money for 12 months worth of housing and living expenses once Crystal and Tom finish their treatment. During President Trump's address on Tuesday, he recalled Holets story and praised him for 'breaking down walls between drug addicts and police officers to help save lives.' 'As we have seen tonight, the most difficult challenges bring out the best Americans,' Trump said. 'Ryan and Rebecca, you embody the goodness of our nation. Thank you.' A Queensland man has been sentenced to life behind bars for the shooting murder of his girlfriend. A Brisbane Supreme Court jury took two hours on Friday to find Christopher Charles Koani, 34, guilty of murder for the second time, after the High Court had quashed his original conviction. His girlfriend Natalie Leaney, 26, was found with a gunshot wound to the head in the driveway of their home south of Brisbane in March 2013 and died a short time later in hospital. The court heard victim impact statements from Natalie Leaney's family. 'The world as we knew it has gone and it will never be the same,' her mother Deborah Leaney said. Christopher Charles Koani, 34, was found guilty of murder for the second time, after the High Court quashed his original conviction Koani told police she'd been shot by burglars but was charged with murder two days later. He was found guilty of murder in November 2015 but appealed against the conviction in the Queensland Court of Appeal, which was unsuccessful. He took the case to the High Court, which unanimously ruled last August that the appeal should be allowed and ordered his conviction be quashed and the matter re-tried. Koani admitted the manslaughter of Ms Leaney on the opening day of the new trial on Monday, but the Crown did not accept his plea and continued with the murder charge. He had also tried to plead guilty to the lesser charge during his initial trial. This week, Koani's barrister, Bruce Mumford, urged the jury to keep an open mind and pointed to evidence that the gun had a faulty mechanism, the Courier Mail reported. Natalie Leaney was shot dead in the driveway of her home south of Brisbane in 2013 'The issue in the trial is whether the shot that killed Natalie Leaney was fired deliberately,' Mr Mumford said. 'The prosecution have to prove the existence of that intent.' The court also heard victim impact statements from Ms Leaney's family. 'The world as we knew it has gone and it will never be the same,' her mother Deborah Leaney said. 'It has been four years, 10 months and 23 days since you destroyed our family and stole our daughter Natalie's life. 'And here we are, still sitting, waiting for justice to be heard. 'It takes it back to that time again and the horrific pain and heartache we suffer and continue to suffer. Ms Leaney's family gasped and burst into tears when the unanimous decision was read out, the ABC reported. Koani did not show any emotion as he stood standing in the dock. Outside court, Ms Leaney's family told reporters that they were glad justice had been served, but have been warned Koani could appeal again. A high school student in Alabama was suspended earlier this week after asking her girlfriend to be her prom date during a talent show. Jeanise Ross-Walton told the Associated Press on Thursday that her daughter Janizia Ross was given in-school suspension by officials at Alexandria High School after she set up a promposal to ask her girlfriend to the school dance. She said she believes her child was disciplined because it was a same-sex promposal. 'This was harmless,' she said. 'They hugged and walked off stage. That was it.' Ross-Walton said the 17-year-old girl made a rainbow-colored poster with the word 'prom' on it and had a teacher carry it onstage during Tuesday's talent show so she could ask her girlfriend to be her date. Janizia Ross (pictured) was given in-school suspension after she asked her girlfriend to the prom during a high school talent show, Ross' mother said Ross-Walton said the promposal was initially approved by the talent show sponsor, but they later withdrew their permission. A female friend of Ross' who was acting as a master of ceremonies during the fake proposal was also given in-school suspension. Ross' girlfriend, who was in the talent show, was not disciplined. Calhoun County School District told the Associated Press that reports of what happened are creating a 'misimpression' about the incident, but did not elaborate on why Ross and her friend were suspended. High school senior Ashley Fadely told AL.com that she and other students may boycott the prom if Ross and her girlfriend are not allowed to be each other's dates. 'I was there when it happened. It was right after her performance. No words were spoken by them. They just got happy, hugged and that was it,' Fadely said. According to the student, school officials called Ross' promposal a 'disruption'. She also said school was dismissed shortly after the incident. Alexandria High School in Alabama reportedly called the promposal a 'disruption' and apologized to students if they were offended. Students said they would boycott the prom if Ross and her girlfriend can't go to the prom together 'If it was a male and a female student, nothing would have been done,' Fadely told the outlet. 'I don't think it was right that they might not be allowed to go to prom. I've decided... I'm not going to prom. Some students have been trying to get refunds for prom.' Ross-Walton told Fox News that shortly after the incident, principal Mack Holley got on the school's public address system and reportedly said that Alexandria High School is a 'Christian school' and apologized to anyone who was offended. Holley told the Anniston Star the suspensions were related to breaking a rule against making prom proposals at school events. The search for the remains of the missing Beaumont children has been called off after only 'non-human' bones were found at the suspected grave site of the three siblings. Excavation at the North Plympton site in Adelaide, South Australia, once owned by prime suspect Harry Phipps, began on Friday morning as part of a fresh investigation into the 52-year-old mystery. After a full day of digging - and with the entire country waiting with bated breath - diggers and anthropologists were only able to identify animal bones, thought to be from a horse, and a large amount of rubbish. Scroll down for video The Beaumont children (pictured) never returned after leaving their parents' Glenelg home for an afternoon at the beach on Australia Day, 1966 The excavation at the North Plympton site (pictured) commenced at 8am on Friday morning but has now been called off Detective Chief Inspector Greg Hutchins said only a number of 'non-human bones' had been discovered in the western section of the dig site, where two brothers had told police they had dug a hole for Phipps, who died in 2004. 'There's been a number of non-human bones found. From the anthropologist, they are non human, most likely from a large animal,' Mr Hutchins said. 'But clearly she will take them back and have further examinations. 'All we had was an anomaly, we know the brothers dug a hole, no question, a hole has been dug on the site. This anomaly is approximately in the area where the two brothers [dug].' The morbid excavation has now been called off for the day after hours of combing through the New Castalloy site. Investigators sifted through a large portion of virgin soil before stumbling upon what they believed to be 'disturbed' soil, finding only suspected animal remains and old rubbish. Police have been in contact with the Beaumont children's elderly parents during this stage in the investigation. A digger is seen at the site of a factory in North Plympton in Adelaide on Friday morning Police said they were 'hoping for the best' as they began excavation on Friday at the Adelaide factory Nine-year-old Jane, seven-year-old Arnna and four-year-old Grant have never been found A former police officer investigating the Beaumont children disappearance revealed the prime suspect's son told him the location of their final resting place. The revelations came as police said they were just 80cm from an 'anomaly' in the ground as they excavated land at the Adelaide factory. Former policeman Bill Hayes on Thursday revealed that he spoke with Harry Phipps - the prime suspect - about the Beaumont children's final resting place. Mr Hayes said Hayden Phipps told him that his father was a paedophile and that he had buried the children in a sandpit at the North Plympton industrial site. 'He told me [Phipps] was taking [the Beaumont children] to a place, a factory, that the father owned,' Mr Hayes told A Current Affair. 'His exact words were, ''they are in the sand pit, Bill''.' Two brothers told police in 2013 they spent the 1966 Australia Day weekend digging a large hole at the Adelaide factory at the request of owner Harry Phipps (pictured) Former policeman Bill Hayes said that in the years following their disappearance he spoke with the son of prime suspect in the Beaumont children disappearance Former policeman Bill Hayes said Hayden Phipps (pictured), the son of the prime suspect, told him that his father was a paedophile and that he had buried the children in a sandpit Phipps died in 2004, but his son, who accused his father of years of sexual abuse, believed he had a part in the crime. Phipps also bore a resemblance to an identikit picture prepared at the time, and lived close to Glenelg Beach, where the children were last seen. A woman recently came forward saying she was indecently assaulted by Phipps in a vacant lot near the factory in 1979. 'He just walked me across the road and was saying 'you're a really pretty girl, I've seen you around' and I just went with him,' the woman told the Seven Network. 'He sort of started getting really slimy, really dirty talk and things like that.' Detective Superintendent Des Bray inspects the dig site at a factory in North Plympton The industrial site in Adelaide is at the centre of a renewed search for the missing trio Two brothers revealed in 2013 they had spent the 1966 Australia Day weekend - when the children vanished - digging a hole at the request of Harry Phipps. Mr Hutchins initially said there are innocent explanations for the anomaly, but it could also be a major breakthrough in Australia's most enduring cold case. 'We have our fingers crossed, we hope for the best but we do want to temper expectations,' he said at the site on Friday. 'Clearly we have an anomaly which we need to investigate.' HOW DID THE BEAUMONT CHILDREN DISAPPEAR AND WHAT LED POLICE TO THE ADELAIDE FACTORY? JANUARY 26, 1966 The Beaumont children got on a bus near their home at about 8.45am They travelled together to Glenelg Beach, to swim at an area between Jetty Road and the Anzac Highway The trio were due home about 2pm, but failed to return At about 7.20pm, their father reported his children missing An extensive search of the area was conducted by police that night, but the children were not found NOVEMBER 8, 1966 World-renowned Dutch clairvoyant Gerard Croiset is flown to Adelaide by local real estate developer Con Polites He declared to crowds gathered on the beach that the Beaumont children had not been kidnapped, and were rather trapped beneath freshly laid concrete Mr Croiset indicated the children were at a building site in North Plympton The public raised $40,000 to demolish the building in their search for the children About 30 years later, when the site was being partially demolished, the owners reportedly allowed for a full excavation, but nothing was found MAY 20, 2013 The Satin Man by Alan Whiticker is released The book investigates one theory about the Beaumont Case, which alleges a prominent businessman was behind the murder of the children In the book, the businessman's estranged son says he saw the Beaumont children in his father's backyard - just metres from Glenelg Beach The man was identified as Harry Phipps in a segment on the book aired on Today Tonight As a result of the report, two men came forward to police and said they had been asked to dig a trench on the grounds of Mr Phipps' factory in North Plympton AUGUST 2013 Police announce allegations made against Harry Phipps have been discounted, and he is not a suspect in the investigation into the missing Beaumont children NOVEMBER 2013 Police dig up a small area of the land surrounding the factory The dig does not uncover any new information relating to the disappearance Officers are criticised for not inviting the two men along to the dig, and some claim they dug in the wrong spot JANUARY 2018 Tests on the soil at Mr Phipps' former factory reveal an area of soil measuring about one metre wide, two metres long and two metres deep has been disturbed Following new information from witnesses and the soil tests, police declare a section of land at the rear of the factory a crime scene FEBRUARY 2, 2018 Police begin excavation at the site in the hope they finally uncover the final resting place of the Beaumont children. The search is called off at 5pm after only 'non-human bones', believed to be from a horse, and rubbish were found in the soil Advertisement The Beaumont children never returned after leaving their parents' Glenelg home for an afternoon at the beach on Australia Day, 1966. Their disappearance sparked a wide-scale search operation, but nine-year-old Jane, seven-year-old Arnna and four-year-old Grant were never found. An initial excavation at the North Plympton site proved fruitless, but police now believe they may have been digging in the wrong spot. Insp Hutchins said police had been in regular contact with the parents of the children, Jim and Nancy Beaumont, and had informed them of Friday's activity. 'Clearly the parents of the three Beaumont children have suffered significantly over the last 52 years,' he said. A range of experts are present at the site including a forensic anthropologist, a criminologist, crime scene examiners and officers from the major crime division. There is currently a police presence at the North Plympton site that is the focus of renewed investigations Australian prime minister Malcolm Turnbull is set to meet with Donald Trump at the White House later this month. The pair will sit down on February 23 to talk terrorism, economic growth and expanding security and defence cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region, the US President's press office confirmed on Friday. 'President Trump looks forward to further enhancing our partnership and alliance, and demonstrating our shared commitment to the democratic values that underpin peace and prosperity around the world,' Mr Trump's press secretary said in a statement. Malcolm Turnbull (left) is set to meet with Donald Trump (right) at the White House later this month The meeting of the two leaders was confirmed by Mr Trump's press secretary in a statement on Friday The confirmation of the visit comes a year after details of a robust phone call between the two leaders (pictured) was leaked to US media The confirmation of the visit comes a year after details of a robust phone call between the two leaders was leaked to US media. During their first official telephone conversation last February, Mr Trump hit out at a 'bad deal' made by the Obama administration to accept refugees from Australian detention centres. 'I hate taking these people. I guarantee you they are bad,' Mr Trump told Mr Turnbull, according to a call transcript. Mr Turnbull tried to clarify the detainees on Manus Island and Nauru were in fact economic refugees and not criminals, before Mr Trump labelled the pair's exchange as 'ridiculous'. 'I have been making these calls all day and this is the most unpleasant call all day ... Putin was a pleasant call,' he said, before honouring the deal. It's expected Mr Turnbull will raise the issue of the US taking part in the revised Trans-Pacific Partnership, after Mr Trump signalled he could re-engage in the trade pact if it was in his nation's interests. During their first official telephone conversation last February, Mr Trump hit out at a 'bad deal' made by the Obama administration to accept refugees from Australian detention centres It's expected Mr Turnbull will raise the issue of the US taking part in the revised Trans-Pacific Partnership The leaders held a face-to-face meeting in New York in May (pictured), at which Mr Trump declared he and Mr Turnbull 'get along great' The White House also flagged a celebration of '100 years of mateship through war, peace, and prosperity, charting the course for the coming century of partnership'. The leaders held a face-to-face meeting in New York in May, at which Mr Trump declared he and Mr Turnbull 'get along great'. Mr Trump also addressed the phone call during the meeting, saying it 'was a little bit of fake news' and that they 'weren't babies'. 'You guys exaggerated that call. That was an exaggeration,' Mr Trump said. He added: 'We get along great. Always do.' A teenager has died suddenly on Cyprus after being taken to hospital with breathing problems. Aimee Sweeney moved to the Mediterranean island with her family 18 months ago. But the 'beautiful, lovely, funny' 18-year-old, originally from Motherwell, Lanarkshire, Scotland, passed away on Tuesday evening. Aimee Sweeney, 18, died suddenly on Cyprus after being taken to hospital with breathing problems It is thought the teenager went on a walk in the west coast resort town of Peyia after eating at 4.30pm, returning one hour later feeling sick. Reports on the island said she was taken to an ambulance station where doctors found she had a low pulse and difficulty breathing. She was then taken to the emergency department of Paphos General Hospital, where doctors pronounced her dead. It is understood that the cause of her death is still under investigation by medical examiners and that her family have yet to be informed of the official results. However, emotional tributes were last night paid to the youngster, thought to have been training to join her father Mark's new island-based roofing business. Mr Sweeney posted a heart-rending message on his firm Peyia Roofing Specialists' social media, outlining the impact of the tragedy on him, his wife Amanda and their other children. He said: 'I cannot believe I'm writing this, but here goes. 'On Tuesday evening our baby Aimee grew her angel wings after falling ill. Our baby is lost to us forever. 'Our hearts are broken and will never be repaired. Rest easy our beautiful baby... forever young.' She had been out walking her dog when she suffered the intense attack The cause of Sweeney's death is still under investigation and her family have yet to be informed of the results Friend Heather Shaw posted a picture montage chronicling the years in which the pair were 'inseparable'. It included images of the girls in school uniform, on days out and preparing for prom in Scotland. She wrote: 'I can't comprehend what happened this week. On Tuesday my beautiful, lovely, funny Aimee passed away. I met Aimee at primary school, from the day I met her we were inseparable. 'From primary school, to high school to the day she left for Cyprus, I had the pleasure to watch her grow into a beautiful, caring, lovely, funny lady. 'I will always cherish the moments we spent together, but also our last moments, especially on FaceTime on Monday. 'We spent what we didn't know was our last FaceTime together recollecting memories. We all have amazing memories with Aimee and for that she will be with us forever, her positive vibes will follow us through the day. 'Aimee I love you to the moon and the stars and back, you will be with me for the rest of my life, rest easy my beautiful angel.' A Foreign and Commonwealth Office spokesman said: 'We are supporting the family of a British woman following her death in Cyprus, and are in contact with Cypriot authorities.' A passenger was stabbed in front of horrified rush hour commuters this morning after a fight broke out at London Bridge station. Police and paramedics raced to the southbound Northern Line platform just before 7am today to reports of a fight. When they got there they found a man with stab wounds. Three men have been arrested on suspicion of affray. The incident is not thought to be terror-related and the victim's injuries not life-threatening. The altercation is believed to have broken out after two people got into an argument on a train, before it spilled out onto the platform. A man was allegedly stabbed after a fight broke out on a train and onto the platform at London Bridge Station (pictured) this morning Police and paramedics raced to the southbound Northern Line platform just before 7am today to reports of a fight There were reports of blood on the platform after the incident. The southbound Northern Line platform was closed 'at the request of the police' just after 7am, but re-opened half an hour later, a Transport for London spokesman told MailOnline. Londoners took to social media to express their shock at what happened. A witness wrote: 'There was a fight on the northern line, unfortunate witness to it all! Scary stuff, I pulled the alarm then they got off and carried it on through the station.' One Twitter user said: 'What a city we live in. Someone's been stabbed at London Bridge tube station at 7 in the morning.' Another added: 'How can there be a stabbing at SEVEN AM at London Bridge Station? Honestly I don't understand this world.' A spokesman for British Transport Police said: 'We were called at 6.48am this morning to reports of a fight on the southbound platform of the Northern Line at London Bridge. 'One man received injuries consistent with having being stabbed, but his injuries are not believed to be serious at this time. 'We have arrested three people on suspicion of affray, in connection with this incident. They are currently in custody.' Anyone who witnessed the incident is asked to contact BTP by calling 0800 40 50 40 or text 61016 with reference 88 of 2 February. Also in court: A level two sex offender will spend six months in Cayuga County Jail and five years on probation for failing to provide authorities an updated photograph. Following a conviction for first-degree attempted sexual abuse in 2007, Wesley Percy, of 166 Canaan Heights, Locke, was required to send police an updated picture of himself every three years. However, the 42-year-old said he failed to do so in 2016. In December, Percy pleaded guilty to first-degree failing to verify a photograph as a sex offender, a class E felony, and on Thursday, he appeared before Judge Leone for sentencing. In court, Percy apologized and requested straight probation, but the judge ultimately ordered him to serve the first six months in jail. Leone said Percy had failed to keep several appointments with the probation department and had a substantial criminal history. He also said it appeared Percy had been "hiding behind his elderly parents" in an effort to avoid incarceration. A 16-year-old boy who attacked an Auburn police officer last summer was granted youthful offender status Thursday. Theresa May today insisted Brexit will go ahead even if Whitehall analysis says it could harm the economy. The Prime Minister said she would look at forecasts for the impact of leaving the EU but it was crucial the government 'does what the British people want us to do'. Mrs May also dismissed criticism of her leadership and handling of negotiations, saying she believed a transition deal will be negotiated by March and repeating that she had no intention of quitting. The defiant stance came amid a huge row over a leaked study that suggested the economy will take a hit whatever deal is done with Brussels. UK plc would be up to 9 per cent smaller in 15 years time than if it remained in the bloc, according to the assessment. Mrs May was show the Yuyuan Garden in Shanghai after spending the trip pushing for more trade with the guant economy The Prime Minister, pictured meeting schoolchildren with husband Philp in Shanghai today, said she would look at forecasts for the impact of leaving the EU but it was crucial the government 'does what the British people want us to do' Mrs and Mr May did a walkabout in Shanghai today as the three day visit drew to a close But the document sparked a furious backlash from Eurosceptics who condemned it as the latest tranche of Project Fear. Brexit minister Steve Baker was forced to apologise last night after delivering a veiled jibe about civil servants producing evidence in a bid to stop Brexit. In a round of broadcast interviews as she wrapped up her trip to China this morning, Mrs May made clear that the economy was not the only consideration in Brexit. 'It's important of course that the government looks at the analysis that is available,' she told ITV News. 'But of course it's also important that the government does what the British people want us to do the British people want us to leave the European Union and that is what we will be doing.' Mrs May said she did not believe Britain had to choose between the EU and the rest of the world. 'I don't believe that those are the alternatives,' she said. 'What the British people voted for is for us to take back control of our money, our borders and our laws and that's exactly what we are going to do. 'We also want to ensure that we can trade across borders.' Mrs May, pictured with husband Philip at the Yu Yuan Temple garden today, is heading for home after the three-day trip to China Brexit minister Steve Baker (pictured in Parliament yesterday) apologised after issuing a thinly-veiled hint that Treasury civil servants are drawing up purposely gloomy economic forecasts in a bid to keep the UK in the EU customs union. Allies of Mr May (pictured with husband Philip in Shanghai today) have been fighting to quell anxiety that she is 'going soft on Brexit' She added: 'What I favour is a deal, an arrangement for trading with the European Union which is going to be good for trade between the UK and the European Union and good for jobs in Britain.' Mrs May also backed Mr Baker after he was forced to retract comments in the House of Commons yesterday about the actions of civil servants. Mr Baker told MPs he had heard an 'extraordinary' claim from Charles Grant of the respected Centre for European Reform think-tank that evidence was being manipulated in Whitehall. But Mr Grant hit back insisting that he had not said the Treasury was deliberately concocting dire warnings to keep Britain in the customs union. Mr Baker retracted his remarks after a recording of the exchange emerged with Mr Grant stating that the Treasury is 'determined' to stay in the customs union - but not going further. PM DENIES 'DODGING' HUMAN RIGHTS IN TALKS WITH XI Downing Street has denied claims in the Chinese media that Theresa May 'sidestepped' human rights during her three-day visit to the far eastern giant. The Global Times applauded Mrs May for supposedly resisting 'radical' pressure at home to raise concerns over the treatment of democracy protesters in Hong Kong, in order to focus on improving trade and investment links with the world's second largest economy. But a senior Number 10 source insisted that Mrs May had raised the issue of Hong Kong - where more than 100 activists were detained in protests over alleged encroachment by Beijing on the former colony's partial autonomy - and broader human rights in her discussions with both President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang. An account of the talks with Xi released by Downing Street said that both leaders had restated their commitment to the 'One Country Two Systems' arrangements in place since the UK handed Hong Kong back to China in 1997. The Global Times, which is largely viewed as a mouthpiece for the Beijing regime, said in an editorial that Mrs May was right to resist 'radical' pressure to highlight human rights concerns, and instead to confine herself to 'enthusiastic and positive remarks about China'. 'For the prime minister, the losses outweigh the gains if she appeases the British media at the cost of the visit's friendly atmosphere,' said the newspaper. 'China's robust development has instilled impetus for Europe to overcome its prejudices against Beijing.' Advertisement The row erupted as Theresa May's allies fought to quell anxiety that she is 'going soft on Brexit' and getting ready to change her position and keep the UK in the EU customs union. Eurosceptics have warned that they will not accept BRINO - Brexit In Name Only - and leadership chatter has been rising. Other backbenchers are also unhappy about the government's 'timid' domestic policies, and are demanding that Mrs May becomes more bold or makes way for someone else. Mrs May set a collision course with Brussels yesterday by promising to reject calls for EU citizens who come to the UK during a transition phase to have permanent residency right. Tory MP Johnny Mercer today gave conditional support to the PM, saying she is the 'best and the only option' to lead the Tories 'at the moment'. He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that Mrs May was 'in a very difficult position' over Brexit. 'This is what people voted for, people did know there was going to be a period of uncertainty,' he said. 'Like anybody else, I would like to see a vision on it.' There are 'fundamental questions' she needs to answer but 'there is no point going into a negotiation saying 'this is what I want from it' and showing all your cards straight away,' he acknowledged. The Plymouth Moor View MP insisted that Brexit was 'not the defining issue' of the Conservative Party. With an eye on May's local elections, he said: 'We need to see more vision, we need to give people something to vote for.' Advertisement With vendors selling enormous watermelons, boisterous children playing games, and actors performing at the roadside, the streets of 1960s New York were bustling and vibrant. When Jonathan Brand returned from the US Army inGermany, he decided there was no better place to become a street photographer than the city's Lower East Side and Upper West Side. His best photos are showcased in a fascinating new book titled Lower East and Upper West . To mark its release, the photographer's daughter Ulrika wrote in huck magazine: 'The photographs document my father's appreciation of the everyday, from family life to incidents that he encountered on the streets of New York City. 'His quickness with the camera enabled him to capture gestures and interactions that might escape the casual observer. He loved the quirky juxtapositions and moments of humor that the city offered. 'He accepted and loved what he saw. Now eighty-four years old, he has chosen the photographs in this book as a means to share his vision and experience of life in New York during a vital period.' With vendors selling enormous watermelons, boisterous children playing games, and actors performing at the roadside, the streets of 1960s New York were bustling and vibrant. This image shows boys on East Houston Street. It was taken in 1960 by Jonathan Brand a New York street photographer who captured the spirit of the city between 1957 and 1968. A census taker and later an advertising copywriter, Brand chronicled life as he encountered it on his walks through the city When John Brand returned from the US Army in Germany, he decided there was no better place to become a street photographer than the city's Lower East Side and Upper West Side. Left: A New York resident named Mark Berghash on his bike, taking a break from his painting studio. The photo was taken in 1964. Right: A woman named Monika poses for the camera in a dress and sunglasses during the summer of 1963. The top of a girl's head can be seen at the bottom of the portrait Brand's best photos are showcased in a fascinating new book titled Lower East and Upper West. This photo is titled Two young men waiting at the corner. It was taken in 1965 and shows one man sitting on a trash can and another standing next to a mail box. In the background a boy walks past the two men and looks straight down the lense of the camera. Across the street, a man stands on the side of the road, possibly waiting for a taxi as traffic passes by This image taken in 1963 shows a threatre street performance. A group of children sit in the front row watching as an actress raises her arm and appears to shout while an actor sits still with his arms folded on a chair. Today street performers are commonplace in the city. for example, by walking into any subway station you're more than likely to find a subway performer. Brand's daughter said of her father: 'His quickness with the camera enabled him to capture gestures and interactions that might escape the casual observer. He loved the quirky juxtapositions and moments of humor that the city offered' Making a living: This photo shows a street salesman transporting giant watermelons in trolleys. He looks at the camera as he lifts one up as if to show how heavy it is. Street vending has long been popular in New York with foods from falafel to oysters being sold on the city's streets. Today more than 10,000 people make a living by street vending in the city. The bottom right of the photo shows the back wheel of a bike which has just gone past, reflecting the pace of life in the city This image, titled Pontiac Bonneville and its proud owner, was taken in 1965. It shows a New Yorker standing outside his new car with one hand in his pocket and one by his side holding a cigarette. He smiles directly at the camera. The Pontiac Bonneville was built from 1957 to 2005. The General Motors brand was introduced as a limited production performance convertible in 1957 Brand captured a range of New Yorkers of all classes, genders and backgrounds. The image on the left shows a woman posing for the camera with her hand on her hip. She holds in a cigarette in this hand and places her other palm on a railing for balance as she smiles while looking directly into the camera. The image was taken in 1963. The picture on the right shows four girls posing for the camera. One in the background is holding a cat to her shoulder as she looks into the near distance This image shows a man riding a motorcyle as his passenger makes preparations before setting off. It was taken in 1957. The top right of the photo shows and elderly man and four children watching on. To mark the release of Brand's book, the photographer's daughter Ulrika wrote in huck magazine: 'The photographs document my father's appreciation of the everyday, from family life to incidents that he encountered on the streets of New York City' This image was taken in 1960. It shows a family walking with their dog along a street in New York City. The father wearing a suit and hat holds his young child in his arms as puffs on a cigarette which protrudes from his mouth. The woman walking next to him pushes the child's pram with one hand while holding her dog's lead in the other hand, making sure the mutt can't run away. Neither the man nor the woman looks at the camera as they make their way through the city This photo titled Orange Juice Stand was taken in 1960. It shows a man in a hat and coat waiting for some freshly squeezed orange juice. He holds his chin and looks into the distance with one arm on the stall. In the back ground, a man behind the stall rests him elbow on the surface with his fist on his cheek. A pile of oranges is to his left and the machines for manually crushing the oranges sit infront of him This is one of Brand's photos which does not contain and humans. It shows a cat urinating next to a dairy shop. A trickle of urine runs down the pavement from the cat which sits next to a 7up advertisement board on the front of the shop. In the window of the shop there is an advertisement for Dolly Madison ice cream as well as a sign offering salads and other foods This image on the left shows a man resting at the side of a building. It was taken in 1967. The man wearing a hat and suit complete with a bow tie smiles as he sits cross legged while holding his walking stick on one hand. The image on the right shows a window dresser striking a pose for the camera. It was taken in 1960. The man lifts his leg into the air with one hand on his hip and the other against the window of the shop as another man looks on Cocaine possession charges have been dropped against Australian cross-code star Karmichael Hunt. The 31-year-old's lawyer Adam Magill confirmed on Friday that police prosecutors are no longer pursuing the charge after finding insufficient evidence. He is still accused of carrying anxiety medication Xanax and failing to give his fingerprints to police, Nine News reported. Scroll down for video Cocaine possession charges have been dropped against Australian cross-code star Karmichael Hunt (pictured) The 31-year-old's lawyer Adam Magill confirmed on Friday that police prosecutors are no longer pursuing the charge after finding insufficient evidence The Wallabies playmaker appeared briefly in Brisbane Magistrates Court on Monday charged with two counts of possessing dangerous drugs and a single count of contravening a police direction. His lawyer requested the matter be adjourned until February 19 to give him time to look over the police material. Hunt was charged after officers allegedly found him carrying a white powder in a car park in the inner-city Brisbane suburb of Fortitude Valley on December 30. It is alleged the 31-year-old dropped a bag of the substance as police approached. The former NRL and AFL star was 'inconsolable' after his latest arrest, that saw him stood down from all training and playing responsibilities in his current sport of rugby union. 'He is very upset, as anyone would expect, and pretty much inconsolable,' Hunt's lawyer Adam Magill told Fairfax Media following his arrest late last year. Hunt was charged after officers allegedly found him carrying a white powder in a car park in the inner-city Brisbane suburb of Fortitude Valley on December 30 'He is sticking with his family. He's got concerns and his manager is taking care of him.' It was the second time Hunt has been charged with drug-related offences after he was fined $2,500 after pleading guilty to four counts of drug possession in March 2015. Hunt, who was playing for the Gold Coast Suns when caught in possession of the substances, was then fined a further $30,000 and suspended six weeks by the Australian Rugby Union, as he was contracted with the Queensland Reds from 2015. A 'suicidal' California woman deliberately drove into oncoming traffic killing an aspiring doctor, a court heard. Wheelchair-bound Grace Elizabeth Ward appeared in court in a wheelchair on Thursday after the crash on the Interstate 5 last month, which killed father-of-two Ryan Folsom. She is now facing one charge of second-degree murder, three counts of attempted murder, three counts of assault with a deadly weapon and one count of vandalism. Wheelchair-bound Grace Elizabeth Ward, appearing on court Thursday, told investigators that she deliberately carried out the maneuver because she wanted to kill herself Ryan Folsom (above) had two sons aged four and two with his wife expecting their third child in January She reportedly told investigators that she deliberately carried out the maneuver because she wanted to kill herself,Krcrtv.com reported. Folsom, a college football star, was just starting a medical career and was preparing to welcome his third child when he was killed by Ward's car near Redding on the night of January 7. Ward, 28, is alleged initially to have unsuccessfully tried to cross the center median where she collided with the cable barrier. She was eventually able to get her vehicle through the cable by finding an opening meant for emergency vehicles. Ward is then alleged to have stopped her vehicle, facing in a south-westerly direction between the northbound and southbound lanes. Officials say she waited in that area for about seven minutes before accelerating her vehicle into oncoming traffic by traveling northbound in the southbound lanes. Three vehicles narrowly managed to avoid collisions with Ward before she struck Folsom's car. The 'suicidal' California woman deliberately drove into oncoming traffic killing an aspiring doctor, a court heard (pictured is victim Ryan Folson's smashed up car) Ward crashed into him with such force that his car ended up in the ditch adjoining the freeway Ward's car was also damaged and appears to have flipped after colliding with Folsom Pictures show the severe damage that was inflicted on his Honda Accord when Ward crashed into him Ward is now facing murder charges over the crash on the Interstate 5 in California A witness at the scene told KDRV she tried to save Folsom's life. She said she felt for his pulse, which was there, but he was unable to speak. 'It was really faint but it was there,' she said of his pulse. 'We were just talking to him telling him help was on the way, we're here, you are not by yourself. we got no response it was just nothing.' Folsom, 29, from San Antonio, Texas, was rushed to hospital but died a short time later. The father-of-two, whose wife Lauren was pregnant with their third child, was a former walk-on running back with the Cougars from 2010-11. A GoFundMe page set up for the Folsom family stated that he was traveling to an interview for a residency position as a doctor when Ward crashed into him. The interview was one of many that he'd set up. 'He loved the Avengers and anything superhero related, perhaps because he loved the idea of filling that role in any capacity,' stated the GoFundMe page, which has already raised more than $300,000. Folsom, (pictured with his wife) a college football star, was just starting a medical career and was preparing to welcome his third child when he was killed by Ward's car near Redding on the night of January 7 Folsom was a father of two and his wife was pregnant with their third child 'He loved being the superhero for his two boys, he loved the idea of being a doctor and saving lives.' Folsom was all-state in football and wrestling as a senior. He had 10 carries for 97 yards while with the Cougars. He was the offensive player of the year in the Southern Oregon Conference and earned second-team all-state accolades as running back and linebacker in the Les Schwab Bowl for senior all-stars. Coach Rod Rumrey, of North Medford High's Black Tornado, told the Mail Tribune that Folsom was the 'heart and soul of the team.' 'I cared about all my players,' he said, 'but Ryan was special.' Ward (above) is alleged to have hit Folsom's car with such force that it ended up in the ditch adjoining the freeway - he died in hospital and she suffered a broken leg 'I don't think it mattered what the situation was,' said his teammate Tim Endecott, 'or who we were playing or how bad of a practice we had or how much Rumrey yelled at us, I don't think he ever frowned or got down on anybody.' Jason Slowey, another former teammate of Folsom's, added: 'He was one of those guys who was successful in everything he did. And he did it the right way. He was a really good role model. 'I think it's rare, especially in high school, when someone your age can be a true leader and someone everyone looks up to. He was that person.' Folsom was killed when Ward crashed into him with such force that his car ended up in the ditch adjoining the freeway. He died in hospital and she suffered a broken leg. One driver told Krcrtv that she seemed determined to cause a collision and that it was only a question of time before she did so. Investigators who arrived at the scene of the accident say they found a cell phone on the ground near Ward's vehicle which she used to call her mother prior to the crash. She is reported to have told her that she wanted to kill herself and ended the conversation shortly before she accelerated towards oncoming traffic. Folsom was a husband, father, and aspiring doctor who was on his way to attend interviews as part of his training. He had two sons aged four and two with his wife expecting their third child in January. Folsom pictures provided by redaspenphotography.com. Darren Osborne has been given a minimum 43-year life sentence after he drove a van into a crowd of Muslim worshippers Finsbury Park terror attacker Darren Osborne has been jailed for at least 43 years for his 'suicide mission' van attack on a group of Muslim worshippers near a London mosque. Osborne, 48, murdered Makram Ali and seriously injured 12 others when he ploughed into a crowd in Finsbury Park last June. He was handed a life sentence today and will likely die in jail as he won't be able to apply for parole until he is 91. Victim Mr Ali's daughter, Ruzina Akhtar, branded her father's killer a 'narrow-minded, heartless being'. In a heartbreaking statement outside court, she said: 'Our father, like the victims of most terrorism, was entirely innocent, which makes his death, in this violent way, all the more hurtful. 'We cannot imagine the trauma he felt in his last few minutes but we choose to remember our father with happier thoughts. 'He will never be forgotten, he will always stay in our hearts, his laughter will echo the walls of our home, his smile will be reflected in our eyes and his memory will be alive in our conversations.' Ruzina Akhtar (left), the daughter of victim Makram Ali (right), branded her father's killer 'a narrow-minded, heartless being'. She said her father was a 'peaceful and simple man with no bad thoughts for anyone' Ms Akhtar, standing with her family, said outside court that her father was entirely innocent and they would remember him for his smile and laughter In a victim impact statement read to the judge, Ms Akhtar had said: 'The scene of the incident is near to our house. We walk past this most days, and are constantly reminded. The image of him lying there will always stay with me.' She said her mother is now afraid to go out for fear she will be attacked, while Mr Ali's five-year-old grandson wonders when he will play football with his grandfather again. Ms Akhtar said of her father: Throughout his life he lived without any enemies. He never hurt or upset anyone. His life was taken in a cruel way by a very narrow minded, heartless being.' Jailing Osborne, Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb said: 'This was a terrorist attack... Yours was a suicide mission. You expected to be shot dead by the police.' She told the killer: 'You have been convicted on overwhelming evidence by an intelligent British jury who saw through your pathetic list ditch attempt to deceive them by blaming someone else for your crimes. She added: 'The streets were busy with people of many races going about their normal lives. 'The diversity of the group you tried to kill is striking - there were young people, old people, a group of deaf people. 'But the reason you attacked them is that you identified them as Muslims from their mode of dress.' The trial has seen shocking footage of the moment Osborne swerved his van into the crowd Osborne has a long criminal record of 102 offences, including theft, burglary, fraud, assault, public disorder and drug offences. He first appeared a court in his home town of Weston Super Mare aged 15 in 1984. Before the terror attack, he was last in court in 2014. He had planned to drive into crowds attending a pro-Palestinian march inLondon in June last year, and he claimed he hoped to kill Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and London mayor Sadiq Khan. But road closures meant he couldn't get near the march and, after driving around London looking for Muslim targets, he drove at a group of people outside the Muslim Welfare House in Finsbury Park. Father-of-six Mr Ali was being helped by others after he collapsed on the pavement when Osborne struck. He died after the van passed over him. Witnesses said he shouted 'I want to kill all Muslims' as he jumped out the vehicle, and he blew kisses and taunted victims as he waited in the back of a police van Osborne was detained thanks to a local Imam, Mohammed Mahmoud, who calmed angry crowds gathering around the attacker. The out-of-work former painter-decorator has been accused of 'playing it for laughs' at his trial, where he claimed 'a man called Dave' was driving the van, but vanished 'like magician Dynamo'. The jury took less than an hour to see through his claims and he was convicted of murder and attempting murder yesterday, in a case which prosecutors must be seen as terrorism-related. Victim's devastated daughter says her family have to walk by the scene of her father's death every day Locals lay flowers near the scene of Mr Ali's death last summer In a victim impact statement, Mr Ali's daughter Ruzina Akhtar explained how he left behind his wife, six children, and two grandchildren. She said: 'In the immediate aftermath to the incident my family and I found it to be a long, agonising and exhausting 48 hours. 'We had to wait to formally identity my father's body. In our hearts, we knew it was him that was involved, and that he was gone straight after the attack. 'We found the delay in confirmation extremely difficult to deal with. We were all devastated. 'The scene of the incident is near to our house. We walk past this most days, and are constantly reminded. The image of him lying there will always stay with me. 'My mother now feels scared to sleep on her own. She also feels scared to be alone. She still sees my father around the house all the time. 'He was very much a family man. He lived with his wife, children and grandchildren. He was with his family in his final moments, before he left the house. This is how he will be remembered. 'I see my mother constantly having nightmares. This is agony to watch. I feel totally helpless. I would love to make things better for her, but I don't know how.' Pictured, a vigil held in Mr Ali's memory after the terror attack last summer Mrs Akhtar went on: 'My father would take my five-year-old son to the park. They both loved this outing and time together. They would play football together. 'My son is always asking where his granddad is, and why he cant go to the park and play. This is heartbreaking. 'Everyday while waiting at the bus stop to go to work, I see the images and emotion of that night. I picture my father lying on the floor, not responding to our cries. 'This agony, desperation and helpless can never be forgotten. Every day I question myself - was there something I could have done differently to help him? I don't think these thoughts will ever leave me. 'My mum is scared to go out in case she is attacked, because she is visibly Muslim and wears a head scarf. She worries about her safety.' The victim's daughter said her family have to pass the scene of the attack almost every day. Pictured: Locals at the scene after the attack She added: 'As the eldest child, I have had to share the responsibilities of making sure my siblings and my son were able to resume their normal lives. I also had to prepare myself emotionally and physically for going back to work. 'As the eldest child, I feel the need to stay strong. It has taken immense strength for me to remain at the forefront. I can't describe to you the pain that I held.' She added: 'My father will never be forgotten. He will always stay in our hearts. His laughter will echo the walls of our home, and his smile will be reflected in our eyes. 'His memory will be alive in our conversations. My father was the most sincere and warmest person I know. He was full of life. 'Throughout his life he lived without any enemies. He never hurt or upset anyone. 'His life was taken in a cruel way by a very narrow-minded, heartless being.' Advertisement Anti-terror police have been shocked at how quickly the father-of-four turned from alcoholic out-of-work decorator into a man determined to kill as many as possible. He spent the weeks before the attack obsessively reading neo-Nazi material online after setting up a Twitter account and following far-Right leaders Tommy Robinson and Jayda Fransen. It emerged today that he searched Robinson's name more than 30 times in less than two weeks in June. The trial heard he received general 'round-robin' emails from former EDL leader Robinson and a similar message from Britain First deputy Fransen. Osborne was known as a thug is his home town of Weston-Super-Mare, Somerset, and had served two years for attacking a fellow drinker with a bicycle lock in 2005. He was also banned from Toys R Us after trying to steal Lego. Relatives and locals said he was unpredictable and violent, but he never had strong political views until he watched BBC drama Three Girls, which was about Asian grooming gangs in Rochdale. Osborne crashed the van he used in the attack into bollards and he was apprehended by locals Osborne's ex-partner, Sarah Andrews, told police: 'That caused Darren to go onto the internet to research further. We may have watched a couple of those episodes back to back on catch-up. She said he was soon 'non stop' on the internet, obsessively going over the perverse catalogue of extremist material it had to offer. Ms Andrews added: 'He started watching Tommy Robinson stuff on the internet. He had been reading Tommy Robinson posts on Twitter. 'I think he was a ticking time bomb. I should have realised what was going on'. Finsbury Park attacker has 102 offences to his name and a criminal record going back to when he was a teenager Osborne was known as a thug in his hometown but nobody suspected he was capable of carrying out a terror attack Finsbury Park killer Darren Osborne is a career criminal with a record spanning more than 30 years. The unemployed decorator has appeared in court 33 times for a total of 102 offences, including assault, theft, burglary and fraud, a court heard today. His first appearance was as a 15-year-old in December 1984 before Weston-super-Mare juvenile court. His most recent, before carrying out his murderous rampage last June, was in 2014. The 'large part' of the offences were for dishonesty, theft, burglary and fraud, the sentencing hearing was told. Osborne has nine offences recorded against him for offences against the person, such as assault. He also has convictions for public disorder and drug offences. During his teenage years he committed dishonesty and theft offences, as well as assault and public disorder, Woolwich Crown Court heard. At the age of 17 he was sentenced to a month's detention for dishonesty, driving and criminal damage. In October 1989, aged 19, he was handed three months in a young offenders institution for two assault offences. Osborne was 'constantly before the courts' in his early to mid-30s, the hearing was told today His first drugs conviction - for possession of Class B amphetamines - was in January 1996, when he was handed a probation order. In April 1997, at Bristol Crown Court, he was handed a 12-month probation order for three offences of assault occasioning ABH. Osborne was jailed for five months in July 1998, aged 28, for assault occasioning ABH. He was 'constantly before the courts' in his early to mid-30s, the sentencing hearing was told. In April 2006, at Swindon Crown Court, aged 36, he was jailed for two years for wounding with intent to do GBH and criminal damage, and handed a extension period of 18 months. Jonathan Rees QC, prosecuting, said: 'There was a period of something like eight years where, relatively speaking, he was trouble free, save for a few relatively minor offences.' His most recent conviction, aged 44, was in October 2014 for attempted theft, theft and shoplifting in South Wales, and he was handed a community order with an unpaid work requirement. The entire country was left wondering what the First Lady was thinking as president Trump delivered his first State of the Union address earlier this week. And now, Melania Trump is finally sharing her thoughts, thanks to Laura Benanti's hilarious impersonation of the mysterious First Lady. The actress' version of Melania returned to Late Night with Stephen Colbert on Wednesday to deny that her husband had an affair with a porn star, and unknowingly, or perhaps purposely, support the Time's Up movement. Laura Benanti's Melania Trump returned to Late Night with Stephen Colbert on Wednesday The real Melania made headlines when she stayed seated as her husband discussed family values during his State of the Union address on Wednesday The interview began with Melania stating her life is a 'sea of loneliness', before clarifying that the phrase is actually the name of her new fragrance, which has a 'hint of "I live in a prison of my own making.'" Host Stephen Colbert, who could barely contain his laughter as the 'First Lady' sprayed the fragrance in her mouth, then asked if the white suit she wore to Trump's address to Congress was in support of women's rights and suffragettes. 'Yes, every day I'm suffraging,' Benanti's Melania replied. After Colbert informs her the word refers to voting, the faux First Lady cheekily said: 'I know, I cannot wait to vote in next presidential election.' The interview then moved to the main topic, the president's State of the Union Speech. 'I was glued to my seat,' said 'Melania,' who made headlines for staying seated with a stony expression as her husband made remarks about the importance of family values. The interview began with Melania stating her life is a 'sea of loneliness', before clarifying that the phrase is actually the name of her new fragrance Host Stephen Colbert could barely contain his laughter at Benanti's Melania impersonation 'I was literally glued to my seat; that general Kelly is quite a prankster, huh?' she said, as her laugh turned into hysterical crying. 'I laugh because it's true,' she added as she quickly composed herself. The always-posing 'First Lady' then discussed her husband's alleged affair with porn star Stormy Daniels, which is said to have taken place right after Melania gave birth to their only child, 11-year-old Baron. Taking a cue from her husband, the faux First Lady called reports of the affair 'fake news.' 'I do not believe my husband slept with this woman, Spanky Banjos,' she said, botching the porn star's name. 'I mean what kind of disgusting pig monster would cheat on his wife with porn star right after she gave birth and then pay hush money to this Cranky Ponchos?' Benanti's Melania then said that everyone in the White House believes the reports are a lie, so she does as well. 'Hashtag, me too,' she said, seemingly unaware that the hashtag is used in support of the movement against sexual assault. Denying Colbert's assumption that she seemed upset for someone who didn't believe the allegations that her husband cheated on her with a porn star, 'Melania' then had a message for her husband. Time's Up! The 'First Lady' assured Colbert she was only referring to her anniversary present to president Trump, a cheeseburger 'Melania' sported a a pink cat ear-shaped knitted hat like the ones worn at the woman's march 'If my husband's watching, I have a message. Donald, time's up,' she said, striking a pose and pointing at her watch. But when Colbert asked her to clarify her statements, the faux First Lady assured him she was only referring a cheeseburger, her anniversary present to her husband's. She then produced the president's anniversary gift to her, followed by a pink cat ear-shaped knitted hat like the ones worn at the woman's march. The hats have become a symbol of resistance, and have been dubbed the 'pussyhat' after the president's 'grab 'em by the pussy' comment on the Access Hollywood tape. 'He got me a lovely hat. Well, he paid for it, but I picked it,' the faux first lady admitted. Prince Albert II of Monaco stunned locals in Cornwall when he turned up at a seaside resort for some go-karting at the St Eval Kart Circuit. The Crown Prince of Monaco flew in on a private jet on Wednesday to celebrate the birthday party of a friend that lives in the area. The 59-year-old is the only son of Rainier III of Monaco and American film star Grace Kelly, becoming ruler of the Mediterranean principality in 2005. The Crown Prince of Monaco, Albert II (pictured) stunned locals after he turned up for some go-karting at St Eval Kart Circuit in Cornwall He is one of the wealthiest royals in the world with assets valued at more than $1 billion which include land in Monaco and France. But Prince Albert swapped the glamour of Monaco for St Mawgan, a village in Cornwall. He came in on a private jet on Wednesday to stay with his friend Tom De La Hunty, who is a Winter Olympic athlete and trainer living in Newquay. They are firm friends, having bonded through their shared love of winter sports. Prince Albert II came in on a private jet on Wednesday to celebrate the birthday of his friend Tom De La Hunty, who he also stayed with After touching down in Cornwall, Formula 1 enthusiast Prince Albert headed over to the St Eval Kart Circuit for a private race event Prince Albert has visited Cornwall before, in July 2006, when he attended Mr De La Hunty's 50th birthday party. Prior to his marriage, Prince Albert was known as one of the world's most eligible bachelors, having dated several fashion models and actresses, including Claudia Schiffer. But the trip to Newquay gave him a chance to relax in a more informal setting. After touching down in Cornwall, Formula 1 enthusiast Prince Albert and his entourage headed to St Eval Kart Circuit for a private race event on Wednesday afternoon. Prince Albert swapped the glitz and glamour of the Monaco Grand Prix for a day of go-karting in Cornwall, stunning locals Craig Broad, the manager at St Eval Kart Circuit, said the Prince and his entourage were in a 'party mood' during their surprising visit The group then went on to a party at Captain Jack's restaurant on Marcus Hill, owned by Mr De La Hunty's brother-in-law, Robin Foster. While in Newquay, Prince Albert is believed to have stayed at Mr De La Hunty's home. Craig Broad, manager at St Eval Kart Circuit, said the Prince and his entourage were in a 'party mood'. He said: 'Prince Albert came over for a friend's birthday, who lives in Newquay. Prince Albert II, pictured with his wife Princess Charlene, is one of the wealthiest royals in the world with assets valued at more than $1 billion 'We had about 48 hours' notice for him to come down and there was a security inspection. 'He came over on Wednesday afternoon, there were about 14 people in the party. Prince Albert II is an avid and well-known Formula One fan, regularly visiting the glamorous Monaco Grand Prix 'I can't give names, but there were some high up there people including film producers. 'He was here for about an hour and a half. 'It was a slight shame because they got caught in the hail. 'But the group was in quite the party mood, playing games among themselves. 'It was an upbeat group. 'The Prince didn't talk about Newquay, or Cornwall, but he was very approachable and a really nice guy. 'He chatted to us, shook our hands and said thank you.' Mr Broad said the circuit is no stranger to celebrity visits, but not on this level. 'We get celebrities popping in quite often, I must admit, but it's the first time we've had royalty here,' he added. 'Normal it will be celebs who are on TV; we get Nick Knowles popping in quite a bit, we've had Gordon Ramsay and other chefs, and EastEnders stars among others. 'It's a crazy, crazy world.' A British imam has allowed cameras into his mosque to reveal how he carries out Islamic 'exorcisms' - ridding a woman of evil spirits for 60 by quoting the Quran and spitting holy water in her face. Footage shows one of thousands of ceremonies carried out every year in the UK, where imams seek to rid people of evil spirits or 'jinn' they believe to be inside them. Imam Ayoub Tayeb, 42, charges 60 for his 'exorcisms' at his mosque in the Burngreave area of Sheffield. Footage shows one young Muslim woman dressed in a burqa trying to get rid of evil spirits she believes are caused by black magic. Imam Ayoub claims the 29-year-old has become the victim of spirits that claim to be in love with her and are causing her a long list of medical problems. Footage shows Imam Ayoub Tayeb from a mosque in Sheffield carrying out an Islamic 'exorcism' on a young Muslim woman to rid of her of evil spirits inside her Imam Ayoub Tayeb (pictured), 42, charges 60 for his 'exorcisms' at his mosque in the Burngreave area of Sheffield Her symptoms included vomiting, pain in her womb, insomnia, headaches, back pain and poor memory, which she says cannot be cured by doctors. She also said she was easily angered and would scream for no reason. In the video the woman dressed in a burqa can be seen rocking backwards and forwards as the imam chants verses from the Quran to banish the demonic entity. She can be heard panting and retching as he shouts deafeningly into his microphone at the jinn. He can be heard repeating 'Can you find God, can you find him?' As Imam Ayoub shouts verses more aggressively, the woman, of Bradford, West Yorkshire, is seen fleeing to the other side of the couch - seeking to escape. Footage shows one young Muslim woman dressed in a burqa trying to get rid of evil spirits she believes are caused by black magic The 29-year-old woman sought help claiming the curse was causing her a range of medical problems, which she said conventional doctors could not cure What is an Islamic exorcism? Islamic exorcism is the practice of ridding someone of evil spirits or 'jinns' trapped inside their bodies. Belief in jinns is widespread in Islam. The word jinn literally means 'to hide' or 'concealed from the senses'. Muslims believe jinns can possess humans and inanimate objects. They are not always evil, but do eliminate an element of free will. They can enter human bodies physically or mentally, haunting their mind. The practice of exorcism to remove jinns, known as Ruqyah, is relatively rare in the UK, but more common in Islamic countries across Africa and Asia. Those capable of ridding believers of evil spirits do so by chanting verses from the Quran and using holy water to cleanse the victim of the jinn. Sheffield imam Ayoub Tayeb is pictured carrying out an Islamic exorcism on a young Muslim woman claiming to be in pain and distress because of the jinns inside her Those possessed are believed to show a variety of symptoms, including laziness, recurring aggression and nightmares, sleepwalking and physical pain. People are inhabited by evil spirits for a number of reasons, sometimes because they have unintentionally harmed or killed one of them. Other jinns are then believed to take revenge on that person, causing them mental distress or physical pain. There are testimonies of women who claim jinn have fallen in love with them and even tried to have sexual interactions with them from inside their bodies. Some jinns are believed to work on behalf of a sorcerer or just simply want to do harm. Advertisement She then screams out uncontrollably while thrashing around on the sofa before picking up a nearby table. At this point the imam grabs the table from her and spit spits holy water in her face to bring the jinn under control as part of the Imam Ayoub, originally from Kurdistan, but now leader of the Masjid Mohammed, said: 'She has black magic and the jinn that brought the magic is also in love with her. 'But this is not real love as love does not cause pain and this jinn has caused many ailments. 'The information about the magic was given by the jinn when I was speaking to it but it did not say who caused the magic. 'We only operate in the healing and helping to cure them from these evil practices - but magic practicing is widespread. In the video the woman dressed in a burqa can be seen rocking backwards and forwards as the imam chants verses from the Quran to banish the demonic entity The mosque leader is seen shouting aggressively at the woman as she cowers on the sofa The ceremony sees the imam chanting verses from the Quran while the woman is flat out on the couch from the effects of the 'exorcism' 'A simple Google search would reveal how easy it is to buy or find a spell.' The woman shown in the video is now following a home treatment plan and said to be feeling better - with many of her symptoms having disappeared. The exorcism in the footage is one of around 3,000 performed by Imam Ayoub over the past three years. As well as serving the community in Sheffield patients come from far afield as Germany, Norway, USA, Sweden and Iraq to be treated by him. He said: 'Most of our patients come from the Islamic faith. 'However we have also helped Christians, Sikhs, Hindus and atheists - we do not differentiate between religions or non-religion. Imam Ayoub, originally from Kurdistan, but now leader of the Masjid Mohammed, said: 'She has black magic and the jinn that brought the magic is also in love with her.' The woman, 29, has her head in her hands as she tries to rid herself of the demons she claims have been making her ill The woman is seen trying to rid herself of the evil spirits or 'jinn' that have caused her pain The woman shown in the video is now following a home treatment plan and said to be feeling better - with many of her symptoms having disappeared 'I treat unexplained illnesses that doctors cannot explain or cure such things as period or menstrual issues or excessive behaviours such as gambling, drugs or alcohol. 'We use a diagnosis in a way similar to what you may find at a doctor's surgery. 'We list common symptoms in either jinn possession or magic and through those answers we can diagnose the problem by Allah's will.' Imam Ayoub (pictured) says he has carried out 3,000 'exorcisms' over the past three years The imam learned his skills by watching others perform the ritual and through reading. He said: 'I enjoy helping people - it is my passion and I enjoying serving God in this way. 'I like using the Quran to heal and witnessing the power of the Quran gives me satisfaction - to heal and see people healed. 'It can make me tired at times and very busy - continuous recitation can give me a sore throat.' But the healer insists he has nothing to fear from the jinn. He said: 'I only fear God and God is more powerful than the jinn he created so I believe God will protect me. 'Jinn like to incite fear in humans buy they cannot attack me because I am not scared of them and God is on my side. 'I protect myself by reading morning and evening supplications. 'I pray five times a day with obligatory prayers and supplementary prayer and I also pray in the night when the world sleeps for God to protect me.' He insists no one is turned away if they do not have the 60 charge are still in need of treatment. A Brazilian couple have accused an international fast food chain of serving them a burger crawling with maggots, even though managers claimed the lunch had been thoroughly cooked in the grills. In a video shot by the couple, dozens of larvae are seen swarming all over the snack which was apparently sold on January 28 at a Burger King restaurant in Brasilia. According to Edmagno Silva Maguinho, who posted the video online, he was out with his wife when they decided to buy two cheese burgers. Mr Maguinho claimed when he chowed down on his sandwich the morsels tasted strange and he felt something moving around in his mouth. He spat out the mouthful and took a closer look at what he was eating. To his horror he discovered his nosh was a stomach-churning meal infested with grubs. A chunk of chewed and spewed out food is filmed lying on the tray as the camera pans across the evidence. While the shocked diner holds the revolting food, alive with worms, his wife says: 'I'm going to film the wrapper and brand name to show this has been brought from Burger King.' Brizilian Edmagno Silva Maguinho and his wife visited a branch of Burger King in Brasilia on January 28 They were served a burger crawling with hundreds of tiny larvae The stunned customer anxiously asks his companion if her burger is okay and she replies that her food is fine. A photo of the receipt with the address of the bar and the date allegedly shows the pair paid 13 reais (2.90) by credit card for the two sandwiches. The customers lodged a complaint immediately with the Burger King manager but due to work commitments, could only make a formal complaint to health inspectors at the Health Surveillance Department on Tuesday. A spokesperson at the Federal District department said: 'We received the complaint on the case and conducted an inspection into the restaurant on the same day.' The store, a franchise run by Emperor Alvim Alimentos de Alimentos, based in the north of the Brazilian capital, was closed for several hours during the investigation. It was reopened with the approval of the inspectors after no 'irregularities' were found. In a statement the franchisee said: 'Health technicians conducted an inspection in the unit and the report certified that the restaurant is suitable for all hygienic-sanitary conditions, and fully complies with health legislation.' Burger King also issued a statement saying it was aware of the case and that it has launched its own investigation. Mr Maguinho claimed when he chowed down on his sandwich the morsels tasted strange The company added that it 'requires the highest degree of quality and conformity of its products, which are frequently subjected to international audits.' The official statement said: 'We use a reputable international company, specialising in food safety to regularly visit our establishments, and we did a complete and thorough inspection of this restaurant in our last visit (December 2017). 'We know from our experts that our cooking process prevents the survival of the larvae. 'This is an isolated and atypical case. We are bringing in an international research company to investigate [the franchise] and clarify what happened.' The video, posted on social networks went viral, racking up over a million shares within a couple of days. Some critics questioned whether the story was true and accused the pair of 'adding the bugs' and trying to get 'publicity and money'. However, this is not the first case where customers have complained of finding foreign bodies in their fast food meals. In August last year, a McDonald's store in Curitiba, north Brazil, was ordered to pay 10,000 reais (2,250) compensation to a client who found a cockroach inside a sandwich. The case occurred in March 2013. In another incident in October 2017 at a diner in Niteroi, a metropolitan city in Rio de Janeiro, a manager found a stray bullet in a hamburger bun shortly after gunshots were fired close to where the snack bar is located. Militant vegans have targeted a dairy farmer and his children with 'five solid days of death threats' after he posted a picture of his new triplet calves on Facebook. Activists have sent hundreds of chilling threats on social media to parents Jonathan, 37, and Dulcie Crickmore, 35, who run Fen Farm Dairy in Bungay, Suffolk. The vegans became enraged after seeing a post about the eco-friendly couple's new calves and even targeted their two young children. It comes in the context of increased threats by vegans, with one trainee farmer Alison Waugh telling how protesters had called farmers 'murderers and rapists. Activists have sent hundreds of chilling threats on social media to dairy farmer Jonathan Crickmore (pictured), who runs Fen Farm Dairy in Bungay, Suffolk The vegans have also targeted Dulcie Crickmore (pictured) and the couple's two children But the onslaught has backfired as the award-winning farmers have been backed by nearly 1,000 five-star reviews - and sales have soared. Mr Crickmore said: 'We have had some really horrible comments. It kicked off from a post we put on Facebook and Twitter when we had calf triplets born. 'We put a message out and some vegans found it and posted it onto these activist groups in America - and within a few hours last Thursday it escalated.' Speaking to the East Anglian Daily Times, he added: 'They sent loads of questions across to us but we didn't reply to any of them. It just got worse and worse.' The vegans became enraged after seeing a Facebook post about the eco-friendly couple's new calves, which has since been deleted. However a similar Instagram post is still live (above) The award-winning farmers have been backed by five-star reviews - and sales have soared Mr Crickmore, who is committed to green environmentally-friendly farming, said he was forced to block hundreds of vegans after being overwhelmed by the abuse. He also reported the attacks to Suffolk Police and an officer went out to see them. 'I'm quite thick-skinned but my wife didn't like it at all. We have been careful to lock all our doors, etc. We have never had nasty things like this said about us before. 'A few of our customers even got abuse back as well,' said Mr Crickmore, whose 880-acre farm produces natural whole raw milk and cheese. We chose to delete the post. Mr Crickmore won the Best Artisan Producer award at last year's Great British Cheese Awards The threats appear to have now disappeared from social media, but earlier this week another vegan supporter criticised the dairy farm Mr Crickmore, who is committed to green environmentally-friendly farming, said he was forced to block hundreds of vegans after being overwhelmed by the abuse 'We wrote a new post explaining to everyone who had seen this what we do at our farm and off the back of that this post got shared over 400 times.' He said they had been thrilled and reassured by a massive positive online response from both customers and the wider public. 'We went from 30 five-star reviews to over 850,' said Mr Crickmore. 'Our sales are up and people have found us through all this nasty stuff.' A Vegan Society spokesman said: 'Veganism rejects violence and encourages compassion towards living beings and this incident is not representative of the vegan movement as a whole. Mr Crickmore posted on Facebook that he was trying to keep up with the abusive messages Vegan activists have posted a series of negative reviews on the farm's Facebook page 'We certainly condemn any threats of violence and encourage vegan activists to share their messages peacefully and positively. Vegans rely on farmers for food. 'We are not against them. But we do want to see an end to animal agriculture as a whole and a transition to a more sustainable, healthier and compassionate farming system.' Mr Crickmore won the highly-coveted Best Artisan Producer award at the Great British Cheese Awards last October. He was given the prize just days after scooping Farmer's Weekly prestigious Diversification Farmer of the Year Award. A Suffolk Police spokesman told MailOnline today: 'We received a report on January 30 and we are currently looking into the matter.' A new artisan retail shop on Thursday became the tenant of the 4 Jordan St. storefront in Skaneateles formerly occupied by F. Oliver's. Syracuse natives Mackenzie and Blaine Vossler, a husband-and-wife artisan maker duo, plan to open their first brick-and-mortar shop for their business, The Local Branch, this spring. The Vosslers established The Local Branch in 2009 as a creative outlet while still dating, and then in 2013 while living in San Francisco they turned it into a full-time venture by purchasing a 1978 Airstream trailer off of Craigslist for $3,000 with the help of a Kickstarter crowdfunding project. They self-renovated the Airstream to double as both a home and a workshop and toured the country for two years while selling their wares in different pop-up shops, music festivals and craft shows. The couple specializes in crafting apparel and leather goods, and they also showcase a collection of other locally made goods, antiques and relics from around the country, Mackenzie said in an email to The Citizen. Five military personnel from a flight training school were confirmed dead today after their two Gazelle helicopters crashed into each other in the south of France. Local security sources said a total of five people were killed in the shocking incident which happened at about 7.30am (GMT) over Lake Carces, 50 kilometres north of the Riviere resort Saint-Tropez. 'The helicopters collided. There were three army personnel in one and two in the other. All are dead,' police said in the nearby town of Brignoles. The cause of the collision was still unclear. Five people have been killed after two French Gazelle military helicopters crashed into each other this morning Gendarmes - French paramilitary police - block the road near the site where two French military helicopters crashed this morning All the people on board were officers, a source close to the inquiry said. 'One of the helicopters broke up and crashed onto a road, the second crashed about 150 to 200 metres away and burned,' said Jean-Luc Videlaine, prefect of the Var region. All were from the French Army's School of Light Aviation (EALAT) in the nearby town of Cannet des Maures. More than two dozen Gazelles are stationed in Cannet des Maures, along with Fennec and Puma choppers. Four of the bodies were found in the crumpled wreckage of the Gazelles, while a fifth was found in nearby trees. None of those killed have yet been named. Var prefect Jean-Luc Videlaine said: 'It's not known what caused the crash. There will be a full investigation.' There were around 20 soldiers supported by police and emergency services workers looking for evidence, said Mr Videlaine. Debris scattered across two large zones, but the area is uninhabited and no one on the ground was hurt, said local law enforcement. The crash occurred near Lake Carces (pictured) in the southeastern Var region of France Debris scattered in two large zones across the uninhabited area between Marseille and Cannes A number of helicopters have been drafted it to assess the crash site Both aircraft were from the Army's School of Light Aviation based in nearby Cannet des Maures 'An emergency operation has been launched, with other helicopters looking for possible survivors,' said the spokesman. Defence Minister Florence Parly, who was en route to the site and the training base, expressed 'great sadness' in a Twitter post, while President Emmanuel Macron hailed the 'commitment of these officers who were preparing themselves for future missions.' The helicopters involved were both Aerospatiale Gazelles - a model favoured by the French military. EALAT includes a joint training program with German military pilots and its pilots are sometimes used for firefighting operations in the area. The five-seater Gazelles are made by Britain and France through a joint agreement with Westland Aircraft. French gendarmes walk through the crash site which has been cordoned off Some 20 police and armed forces personnel are reportedly attending the scene They are often used for light transport, scouting and attack missions, and in this case were being used to train military pilots. The British Army was the first military unit to use Gazelles in 1974, and since then they have also been used extensively by the RAF and Royal Navy. They are also widely used across all French military units, including in many large scale overseas operations. There have been no immediate details on what caused the tragic crash. The economic analysis has reportedly been drawn-up with the support of Home Secretary Amber Rudd (pictured) The Government's Brexit plans are unlikely to bring net migration below its 100,000 a year target, a leaked study suggested today. Rules being considered by the Home Office would mean EU workers would need to earn at least 20,500 to come to the UK. That could reduce inflows from the bloc 40,000 fewer EU migrants coming to the UK annually, according to an impact assessment obtained by the Telegraph. A tougher system is also being mooted for a 'no deal' scenario with the EU that would mean migrants need to have degrees, a job offer and earn at least 30,000. Those are the current visa requirements for non-EU workers, and would cut numbers by 90,000 a year. However, neither option would be likely to bring net migration down to the 'tens of thousands' as pledged by Theresa May. The most recent figures showed it running at 230,000 a year. The economic analysis has reportedly been drawn-up with the support of Home Secretary Amber Rudd. The first option is described as 'flexible migration', and the 'midway point between strict policy and continued Labour mobility'. The emergence of the study could fuel the row over gloomy analysis of the prospects for Brexit. A cross-government study leaked earlier this week suggested the economy will take a hit whatever deal is done with Brussels. UK plc would be up to 9 per cent smaller in 15 years time than if it remained in the bloc, according to the assessment. But Theresa May today insisted Brexit will go ahead even if Whitehall analysis says it could harm the economy. The Prime Minister said she would look at forecasts for the impact of leaving the EU but it was crucial the government 'does what the British people want us to do'. Mrs May also dismissed criticism of her leadership and handling of negotiations, saying she believed a transition deal will be negotiated by March and repeating that she had no intention of quitting. Robert Crawford, 72, has been jailed after embezzling 600,000 from Scottish Widows. He blew the cash on exotic holidays A low-ranking clerk was jailed yesterday after embezzling 600,000 from a financial company to splash out on lavish holidays, including a trip on the Trans-Siberian Railway. Robert Crawford even kept diaries of his thefts as he stole the money from Scottish Widows over 14 years to fund a series of opulent trips abroad. The 72-year-old spent some of the cash on a luxury journey on the Trans- Siberian Railway in 2010, a nine-week trip to the Far East, Australia and New Zealand in 2006, two trips to Argentina and a number of cruises in the Caribbean and the US. He also invested a large sum of the stolen funds, meaning he is able to make full repayment of the sum involved, Livingston Sheriff Court heard yesterday. But a sheriff sentenced Crawford to two years in prison and branded his long campaign of embezzlement a gross betrayal. The court was told how Crawford kept meticulous records of his thefts in diaries kept in a folder at his home in Broxburn, West Lothian. The diaries contained entries describing what Crawford did each day, including his lavish holidays. Crawford funded a lavish lifestyle with the ill-gotten money, and went on a number of cruises in the Caribbean (file photo) Assistant procurator fiscal Deborah Demick said: He has taken on average three significant holidays per year since 2002 including two trips per year to Thailand and Indonesia and a luxury journey on Trans-Siberian Railway in 2010. In addition to these long-haul trips, the accuseds bank statements show regular payments to numerous hotels throughout the UK, which appear to be weekend or overnight trips. Crawford took 600,000 from policies which had not been claimed between May 2001 and December 2014. Miss Demick said Crawford was able to identify policies where payments had been returned or where it was suspected that the policy holder had died and complete cheque requisition forms. The embezzlement was eventually discovered when colleagues noticed that such payments only stopped when Crawford was off work. Miss Demick added: By requesting the cheque be made payable to a financial institution rather than a named policy holder, the accused was able to conceal his involvement from his colleagues. Crawford even went on the Trans-Siberian Railway (file photo). A sheriff told him his scam was a 'gross betrayal' Iain Bryce, defending, said: Much of this money was invested and thats how Mr Crawford has been able to make full repayment of the sum involved. Crawford pleaded guilty to embezzlement at Livingston Sheriff Court in September last year and returned to the dock yesterday to be sentenced. Sheriff Peter Hammond told him: This was a gross betrayal of the position of trust you held with that organisation. It appears you were comfortably off and this was carried out as a result of greed and not need. I give you credit for repaying the sum you embezzled. Thats an important factor. Theresa May said she will not sack a minister who was forced to apologise after suggesting civil servants are deliberately drawing up gloomy forecasts to push for a soft Brexit. Steve Baker told MPs yesterday that he had heard the 'extraordinary' claim from Charles Grant of the respected Centre for European Reform think-tank. But he has furiously backtracked and apologised after a recording of the meeting emerged which showed the think-tank chief had not made the comment. The row has sparked questions a bout whether Mr Baker would be sacked as Brexit Minister. Speaking on a visit to China, the Prime Minister stood by him saying he had apologised at the earliest opportunity. Meanwhile, Jacob Rees-Mogg - the leading Brexiteer who sparked the row by asking the question in Parliament yesterday - doubled down saying either 'the Chancellor or his officials are deliberately trying to frustrate Brexit'. Scroll down for video Theresa May (pictured with her husband Philip on her trip to China this morning) said she will not sack Brexit Minister Steve Baker who was forced to apologise after suggesting civil servants are deliberately drawing up gloomy forecasts to push for a soft Brexit Steve Baker apologised to MPs today for misleading them claiming that 'extraordinary' Charles Grant of the respected Centre for European Reform think-tank to him Treasury civil servants were trying to mislead people She said: 'The ministerial code says that the minister should take the earliest opportunity to amend the record that has given to Parliament and apologise to Parliament. He will do that. 'What I understand the minister did was to reflect what he thought somebody else had said at a meeting. 'He has now recalled that was not right, he is going to apologise, he is going to ensure that the record in Hansard is correct so that Parliament is not misled when that record is read in the future. 'That's what the ministerial code asks him to do and that is what he will be doing.' And this morning Mr Baker apologised to MPs in the House of Commons for misleading them. THE TRANSCRIPT OF CHARLES GRANT'S COMMENTS ON THE CUSTOMS UNION Here is a transcript of a recording of what Charles Grant told Steve Baker about the Treasury forecasts on staying in the EU customs union: 'We are all assuming that Britain is going to leave the customs union, I think that is likely but not certain. 'I think it is certain we are going to leave the EU, it is certain we are going to leave the single market, it is not certain we will leave the customs union for two reasons. 'Firstly, I'm not sure there is a majority in Parliament for that. 'The Labour Party is in favour of us staying in a customs union, you just need a fairly small number of Tory rebels and we stay in the customs union. 'And secondly the Treasury is determined to stay in the customs union. 'In private, Treasury officials say they know they are staying in the transition period and they hope that when we leave the transition people will understand the economic costs of leaving are rather high. 'And there are these unpublished papers sitting in the Treasury.(mumbled) showing that the economic cost of leaving the single market and customs union are much greater that the economic benefits of trade with every other country in the world. 'So I am not certain we will leave, but I am told that the Prime Minister very much thinks we should leave.' Advertisement He said: 'In the context of that audio, I accept I should have corrected or dismissed the premise of my honourable friend's question. 'I have apologised to Mr Charles Grant, who is an honest and trustworthy man. 'As I've put on record many times, I have the highest regard for our hard-working civil servants. 'I'm grateful for this early opportunity to correct the record and I apologise to the House.' The row erupted yesterday morning when Mr Baker was asked by Mr Rees-Mogg if Mr Grant had told him the Treasury was producing purposely gloomy economic forecasts to try to keep the UK in the EU customs union. Mr Baker - a leading Eurosceptic - said he had and warned the allegation appeared 'extraordinary'. His response prompted shocked gasps and cries from the opposition benches as he appeared to suggest civil servants were flouting impartiality rules to push for a soft Brexit. But Mr Grant denied the claim, saying he told Mr Baker he was ware of the research but did not hint it was politically motivated. He said: 'I did not say or imply that the Treasury had deliberately developed a model to show that all non-customs union options were bad, with the intention to influence policy.' And last night a recording of the exchange was put online which backed up Mr Grant's denial. In it the think-tank chief says the 'Treasury is determined to stay in the customs union' but does not hint that it was manipulating its economic forecasts about the impact of leaving. Mr Baker last night took to Twitter to issue a grovelling apology as he tried to hang on to his job. He wrote: 'This morning in Parliament, I answered a question based on my honest recollection of a conversation. 'As I said, I considered what I had understood to be implausible, because of the impartiality of the civil service. 'The audio of that conversation is now available and I am glad the record stands corrected. In the context of that audio, I accept that I should have corrected the premise of the question.' Meanwhile, Jacob Rees-Mogg - the leading Brexiteer who sparked the row by asking the question in Parliament yesterday - doubled down saying either 'the Chancellor or his officials are deliberately trying to frustrate Brexit' In a Twitter thread the Brexiteer re-voiced his concerns about Treasury forecasts The Tory darling has repeatedly voiced his concern that the Chancellor Philip Hammond is freelancing and not sticking by the PM's Brexit vision Mr Rees-Mogg heads the powerful European Research Group of Brexiteer MPs and He risked the wrath of Remainers by re-iterating his concerns that civil servants are pushing for a soft Brexit Speaking in the House of Commons today, Tory darling Jacob Rees-Mogg raised the warning about Treasury officials and their gloomy Brexit forecasts But Mr Rees-Mogg said on Twitter: 'The recording of Charles Grants Prospect lunch raises more questions about the Treasurys behaviour #TreasuryGate. He added: The Treasury is determined to keep us in the Customs Union does he mean the Chancellor or officials? If the Chancellor, it is a breach of collective responsibility, if officials, against their duty to implement Government policy #TreasuryGate. He went on: 'When Mr. Grant refers to unpublished papers on the Customs Union, who commissioned these and authorised him to be told? 'Again, if officials, improper for them to tell a partisan think-tank leader before most of the Government or Parliament 'Mr Grant refers to private conversations with Treasury officials. Have these been authorised by Ministers or are officials freelancing. 'The conclusion must be either the Chancellor or his officials are deliberately trying to frustrate Brexit. Ultimately, Ministers must take responsibility.' A former crossbencher has made a shocking defection to Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's government. Kenyan-born lawyer Lucy Gichuhi, 55, will now be a Liberal Party senator for South Australia, the Sydney Morning Herald reported. Ms Gichuhi's move was made public on Friday night, and comes as Cory Bernardi hoped to sway her to his Australian Conservatives party. Kenyan-born lawyer Lucy Gichuhi, 55, will now be a Liberal Party senator for South Australia Her defection to the Liberals restores the coalition's membership after Mr Bernardi left the party. Malcolm Turnbull said Ms Gichuhi was an 'inspiration' for other Australians. 'Her story is a remarkable tale of perserverance, selfless sacrifice for family and achievement over adversity,' he said. 'She chose to come to Australia because she knew it was the best country in the world to realise her dream, and now she is in the Australian Senate working to ensure that Australia remains a land of opportunity. 'She is a true Australian success story and we are honoured that she has chosen to join the Liberal Party.' Lucy Gichuhi made a shocking defection to Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's government Ms Gichuhi entered parliament in April with the Family First party, but when the party folded into the Australian Conservatives she decided to sit as an independent. She said the Liberal Party was 'the closest in its core foundational values and principles to those that I aspire to in my own life'. 'The enemy of the best is the good. Independence can be very good, however in my view, interdependence is much better and I've chosen to join the Liberal Party team.' Bella and Gigi Hadid's architect father has strenuously denied allegations made by another model that he date raped her. Mohamed Hadid, 69, said that he met Miranda Vee, 23, several years ago because she claimed to be a fan, but at no point did anything untoward happen. 'When we met it was not a date and not once did I touch her,' he was quoted by Tmz.com as saying. Scroll down for video Miranda Vee in her Instagram post said that she met fashion designer Paul Marciano at his Guess headquarters where ' he sexually harassed me' and then passed her on to 'his friend Mohammed Hadid' - both men strongly deny sexual harassment allegations Mohamed Hadid (above) has described the allegations against him as totally untrue Gigi Hadid (left) Mohamed Hadid and Bella Hadid attend the Victoria's Secret After Party at the Grand Palais on November 30, 2016 in Paris, France Vee included messages she says Hadid sent her before they met She was replying to a message from Kate Upton accusing Guess founder Paul Marciano of sexual harassment The model also included a selfie Hadid sent her during their exchange Mr Hadid, who has been engaged to Shiva Safai since 2014, described Vee's claims - made in a lengthy Instagram post - as 'totally untrue'. He said that if she wanted to make such serious accusations against him she should have gone to the police instead of using social media. Mr Hadid said that he is in contact with his attorney with the intention of filing a defamation suit against Vee. In her Instagram post Vee said that she met fashion designer Paul Marciano at his Guess headquarters where 'he sexually harassed me'. Marciano - like Hadid - has strongly denied all allegations of sexual impropriety. Vee accused Marciano of 'passing me on to his friend Mohammed [Hadid] who was going to meet me for 'coffee'. Paul Marciano appears to address Vee's claims in another message. Marciano and Hadid have denied the claims Miranda Vee said in her Instagram post: 'Why should we have to stay quiet because they have the power?' Mr Hadid, who has been engaged to Shiva Safai (above) since 2014, described Vee's claims as 'totally untrue' Kate Upton has publicly accused Guess co-founder Paul Marciano of sexually harassing women in the fashion industry in a series of social media posts on Wednesday Paul Marciano (above) has also strongly denied sexual misconduct claims, urging Kate Upton to go to the police or take him to court 'I thought it was a professional meeting but It was just me, him & champagne where he date raped me in an apartment. 'All to get a test shoot for Guess.' She said that when she tried to speak out about the incident last year 'they found out & made me sign a non-disclosure agreement'. 'Why should we have to stay quiet because they have the power?' Vee's claims follow sexual harassment allegations made against Guess by actress Kate Upton. 'It's disappointing that such an iconic women's brand @GUESS is still empowering Paul Marciano as their creative director,' she said tweet using the 'Metoo' hashtag. 'He shouldn't be allowed to use his power in the industry to sexually and emotionally harass women.' The 'MeToo' hashtag has been used throughout the internet to highlight allegations of rape, sexual assault and harassment in the wake of the exposure of fallen film producer Harvey Weinstein, who has denied string of sexual misconduct claims. Marciano has said that he is so confident that Upton's allegations are untrue he has urged her to take him to court to set the record straight. He told TMZ that he cannot figure out what she claims to have against him. and that he won't apologize because he's done nothing wrong. Marciano insisted he had never touched Upton, and has never even been alone with her. 'If she has a claim, there's one place to tell the truth and that's in court or to the police,' he said. Shocking images from one of the Islamic State's terrorist training camps for children show pre-teen boys being awarded AK47 assault rifles for good behaviour and firing machine guns. The children are so-called 'Cubs of the Caliphate' - the name given to children who have been brainwashed with ISIS ideologies and trained to fight and kill for the terror group. Since their early days of power, the all-but obliterated terrorist organisation has been using children as front-line soldiers and suicide attackers, and these images indicate that the practice is ongoing despite their recent defeats in Iran and Syria. Smile of a new terrorist: The boy, in his pre- or early teens is handed an assault rifle by his teacher in front of smiling adult ISIS fighters ISIS propaganda chiefs - desperate to show their regime is still functioning despite the loss of 30,000 fighters and virtually all its lands - released the pics of the 'Cubs' at their training camp. The youngsters are shown carrying out gruelling physical exercises and handling weapons. One lad laying prone on the ground aims a machine gun that is virtually the same length as the tiny recruit. Others are shown receiving copies of the Koran and pledging their allegiance to the murderous regime. The chilling catalogue of pictures are said to be from a camp in Syria's Damascus province where ISIS still has pockets of land. Small boy, big gun: A 'Caliphate Cub' fires a machine gun at the training camp, believed to be in Damascus, Syria Terrorist in training: More than a dozen boys hold up their finger in an ISIS salute while wearing balaclavas Point and shoot: The pre-teens are seen aiming assault rifles and machine guns The pictures come as the UK's leading counter terrorist police officer warned children trained by Islamic State monsters could return to the UK to 'commit atrocities'. The head of the Met's Counter Terrorism Command, Commander Dean Haydon, said that as a result of the growing threat, all those returning to Britain from Iraq and Syria are assessed on a case-by-case basis. Commander Haydon said: 'A child in a war zone would have seen some pretty horrendous things. 'Some terror groups are training children to commit atrocities. 'We need to not just understand the risk the mother poses but the risk that any child poses as well. We look at them on a case-by-case basis and they may be arrested.' Preaching hate: A boy stands before the ISIS fighters and speaks to the gathering Stretching: The young fighters appear to be taking part in a gymnastics session His chilling warning comes after a suspected jihadi bride became the first to return to the UK with a baby born under ISIS in Syria last month. The unnamed 27-year-old was arrested at Heathrow Airport in London after arriving back in the country with her child. The terror suspect landed on a flight from Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa nine days ago, in an apparent attempt to cover her tracks But cops from Scotland Yard's counter-terror squad were waiting for her when she landed. Her toddler son, whose nationality is unclear, has been taken into care. She was reportedly released on bail while police inquiries continue. A woman whose twisted mother left her to be raped by a stranger when she was 16 has slammed her mum's 12-month jail sentence and says she would appeal it 'in a heartbeat'. In an interview with Daily Mail Australia, the now 27-year-old revealed new details of her own depraved mother's extraordinary betrayal about a decade ago in Toowoomba, west of Brisbane, Queensland. The Ipswich mother, who cannot be named for legal reasons, took her daughter on a 'girl's trip' to the regional city in 2006 so her internet boyfriend 'Thommo' could have sex with 'a younger version of herself'. The vile mother, now 47, was sentenced to four years' jail suspended after 12 months by the state's District Court on Monday. She screamed insults at her child throughout the sentencing. 'If she had shown remorse and accepted her sentence without threatening and abusing me then yes I would have been content with the the sentence,' the daughter said. A woman (pictured) whose twisted mother left her to be raped by a stranger when she was 16 has slammed her mum's 12 month jail sentence The Ipswich mother (pictured), who cannot be named for legal reasons, took her daughter on a 'girl's trip' to the regional city in 2006 so her internet boyfriend 'Thommo' could have sex with 'a younger version of herself' 'But she didn't show any remorse. She just retaliated. 'So I would have to say "no", I'm not happy with the sentence and if the chance came up on my end I would appeal in a heartbeat.' The young woman, now a mother of her own with a loving partner, mustered the courage to come forward to police with details of the crime only two years ago. Family, including her father, were shocked when she finally came forward with the allegations. Police charged the mother with procuring a child for carnal knowledge. But the rapist, 'Thommo', has never been found. Prosecutors this week sought a head sentence of up to four years' imprisonment for the mother. The defence sought three years' imprisonment. The prosecution got their wish but the sentence was suspended after a year, with Judge Dennis Lynch QC condemning the mother's actions as an 'appalling breach of trust', according to local newspaper the Ipswich Queensland Times. 'If she had shown remorse and accepted her sentence without threatening and abusing me then yes I would have been content with the the sentence,' the daughter (pictured) said 'You were to protect her yet you are the one who procured her to be available for sexual intercourse,' Judge Lynch reportedly said. The woman had already served 108 days behind bars - meaning she will be released within months. The daughter said that was unfair - and she feels like she is the one serving the life sentence. 'I have to live the rest of my life betrayed by my biological mother and live with the event,' she said. 'So for me I'm the one serving a life sentence whereas she walks out on 12th October 2018 which is less than 8 months away. Victims of crime advocate Howard Brown told Daily Mail Australia he thought the court's decision was 'appalling' and like being 'beaten around with a feather'. 'It is sending exactly the wrong message to victims of sexual assault,' he said. 'Why would you put yourself through that criminal process for such a pathetic outcome?' However, the daughter did admit she felt at least some closure. 'To a certain degree justice has been served but my reason for coming forward was not revenge. 'It was for my self closure and to help myself move forward and it was a step by step process which took me a decade to build strength'. '[I'm] feeling content and relieved due to me being able to close that door'. She said if her story could help one person come forward about their own horrific experiences 'then my job is somewhat done'. 'I would hate to see this be the norm for any future sentences like this one'. Advertisement They were Hitler's equivalent of the Dirty Dozen and known as the 'worst of the worst' - an entire SS division made up entirely of psychopaths, murderers and rapists and led by a child molester. The 36th Waffen SS Grenadier Division, commanded by Oskar Dirlewanger, was initially created to wage war against resistance fighters in Poland, but soon became a weapon of terror used indiscriminately against civilians and armed combatants alike. Over the course of the war the unit was implicated in campaigns of rape, mass murder and poisonings including injecting Jews with strychnine and watching as they died in agony. The first men invited to join the 36th were convicted poachers on the grounds that they could use their skills as woodsmen to track down guerrilla fighters in their countryside hideaways. Each man was offered a pardon for his crimes should he survive the dangerous tasks he was to undertake, which in Hitler's Germany also meant earning their citizenship back. 55 men signed up for the job. Members of the 36th Waffen SS Grenadier Division execute Soviet partisans, date unknown. The 36th were a German penal battalion, made up of criminals sent on virtual suicide missions in order to win back their citizenship and being sent to a work camp. But this division were known as the worst of the worst, made up entirely of psychopaths, murderers and rapists and used to wage a campaign of terror against anyone who dared defy the Nazis Members of the 36th fighting to suppress the Warsaw uprising. The division was initially created to fight against the Polish resistance, but were effectively turned loose on the civilian population wherever they served, allowed to perpetrate war crimes as they pleased. Throughout the war they were implicated in campaign of rape and mass killings against civilians that saw other SS commanders try, and fail, to have the unit disbanded The division was created on the orders of Heinrich Himmler (left), and led by Oskar Dirlewanger (right), a devoted Nazi who was awarded Iron Cross 1st and 2nd class for his actions during the First World War. He was subsequently convicted of the statutory rape of a 14-year-old girl and sexual assault against another, but used his connections to the Nazi party to secure release before being appointed as head of the 36th But the missions were so dangerous, and Dirlewanger so given to executing his men for infractions, that he quickly ran out of recruits. It was then that the offer was opened up to all manner of criminals. While offenders were typically banned from wielding firearms in the army, they were welcomed by Dirlewanger who amassed a band of several hundred murderers, rapists and those deemed criminally insane. In one of their most infamous exploits, his men were asked to put down the Warsaw Uprising. What followed was the Wola Massacre, in which 40,000 civilians in that district were slaughtered in two weeks. Dirlewanger's men went after everyone, including all hospital patients and staff, and even butchered 500 children found hiding in one building. A soldier serving in the area later said Dirlewanger that ordered his troops to conserve ammunition by finished the youngsters off with rifle butts and bayonets. The 36th did not emerge from the uprising unscathed, however. It went into Warsaw with just over 800 men, and lost 2,700 during the fighting including reinforcements, a casualty rate of 315 per cent. Dirlewanger did survive, however, and was recommended for an Iron Cross for his efforts. The 'heroics' of the men also saw their then-regiment upgraded to a division for the first time, and reinforce to a strength of 4,000. But as the war dragged on and defeat became more of a possibility, desertion became more and more common and the division began to fall apart. On 1 May 1945, the Soviets all-but wiped the divison out in the Halbe Pocket. Fritz Schmedes, who was then in command after Dirlewanger was wounded in an earlier battle, marched the remaining 700 men to the US Army, where they surrendered on May 3. SS troops watch as houses burn during the Warsaw Uprising. Alongside a notorious Russian militia led by Bronislav Kaminski, Dirlewanger's men were charged with putting down the uprising. While the perpetrated atrocities against civilians, they also suffered heavy losses themselves. During this one conflict alone, Dirlewanger lost 2,733 men of an initial unit strength of just 865 men - a 315% casualty rate SS troops watch houses burn during the Warsaw Uprising. Dirlewanger's actions during the conflict saw him nominated for the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross, and saw the 36th upgraded from a regiment to a division and then an SS combat brigade. It was then reinforced to its full combat strength of 4,000 men Not all German penal divisons were as notorious as the 36th, however. The 999th Light Afrika Division (pictured) was another unit in which criminals could attempt to win back their freedom. They largely fought in Tunisia and Greece, though hundreds of men deserted over to the enemy, having been convicted of political crimes and disobeying the Nazi regime The 500th Infantry Battalion was another made up of criminals, largely conscripts who had broken military rules. In order to avoid prison camps and to win back their rights as civilians, they volunteered to join the unit that was often sent on suicide missions. Members of the unit were forced at gunpoint to clear a minefield by walking over it. But if they survived their time here, then their crimes would be forgotten Strafbattalion: Hitler's Penal Battalions by author Walter S. Zapotoczny is published by Fonthill Media, and can be purchased here At least 90 people are feared dead on Friday after a smuggler's boat carrying mostly Pakistani migrants capsized in the Mediterranean, off the coast of Libya. A majority of the migrants on board the boat were Pakistanis, who form a growing group making the dangerous crossing to Europe, the UN migration agency said. Ten bodies have washed ashore near the Libyan town of Zuwara following the tragedy early Friday morning, the International Organization for Migration said. Dangerous journey: At least 90 people died after a smuggler's boat capsized in the Mediterranean on Friday. Pictured are more than 320 migrants and refugees who had to be rescued trying to cross the Mediterranean from Libya Eight were believed to be Pakistani, and two Libyans. IOM spokeswoman Olivia Headon said initial indications were that the boat had become unbalanced. She said Pakistani nationals have been taking an increasing share among the number of migrants attempting to cross the Mediterranean to Italy and Europe via Libya. The incident took place one day after the European Union's border agency Frontex launched a new Mediterranean operation called Themis, removing the obligation of the previous mission to bring rescued migrants only to Italy. Italy has repeatedly lamented a lack of EU solidarity in managing immigration. The previous Frontex operation, called Triton, required all those rescued at sea to be brought to Italy even if another EU country, such as Malta, was closer. Some of the 240 illegal migrants from Arab and African countries rescued off the coast of Zuwara west of the Libyan capital, arrived at a naval base on Wednesday 'Triton said that whomever rescued would be taken to Italy,' said Izabella Cooper, a spokeswoman for Frontex. 'Themis leaves the decision on disembarkation to the (country) coordinating a particular rescue.' Since Italy coordinates the vast majority of sea rescues between North Africa and its southern coast, the new rule is unlikely have a large impact on arrivals, though it does send a political message to Mediterranean neighbours like Malta. Last year, as many as 3,100 migrants drowned as they attempted to make their way from Africa to Europe via boat. And so far this year, more than 190 are believed to have died trying to cross the Mediterranean. Some are seeking refuge from armed conflicts, while many others, particularly from sub-Saharan Africa, are economic migrants likely to be found ineligible for asylum in Europe. The grant term begins on March 1 and the city has two years to complete the repairs. Jensen speculated the first year will be "mostly fact gathering" and some work in areas that are already being worked on through the road program "so we're digging up and doing disturbances on streets that are already being serviced." He said the "vast majority" of the work will be done next year. Jensen and Gabak both said the public should not be concerned about any health risks associated with the older lead pipes because the portion of pipe that is made of lead is very small. Jensen said the city tests for lead levels in the water and according to the city's 2016 Water Quality Report, lead levels in the city's drinking water did not exceed the state health department's maximum limits. "We're replacing lines from the early 1900s," Gabak said. "To my knowledge, nobody has ever gotten sick." Gabak said the water does not sit in the lead portion of the pipes for very long, but if people are concerned about their drinking water, they should let their tap run for a few minutes to flush out any contamination. Residents can have their water tested by contacting the city's water filtration plant at (315) 253-8754. Joshua McMurtry (pictured outside court) bombarded his ex-girlfriend with calls, emails and letters A student has been banned from Essex after he bombarded his model ex-girlfriend with messages after she dumped him for being too 'controlling'. Joshua McMurtry deleted photos from Leah Brignall's Instagram and subjected her to months of unwanted calls, emails, letters and recorded a chilling audio message threatening to kill himself. The 22-year-old was spared jail at Colchester Magistrates' Court but banned from Essex - Ms Brignall's home town - for a year. The court heard how the couple, who were together for three years, split abruptly following a trip to Paris in May last year. The retail manager later accused his ex-girlfriend of infidelity before making an audio message saying he 'did not want to live anymore'. Louise Maples, mitigating, said it was McMurtry's first relationship. She told the court he was in his last year of university, 'and the breakup coincided with his final exams so his stress levels were already quite high.' Joshua McMurtry and Leah Brignall, who were together for three years, split abruptly following a trip to Paris in May last year The court heard McMurtry's (left) relationship with Ms Brignall (right) was his first 'and the breakup coincided with his final exams so his stress levels were already quite high' Prosecutor Kathy Wilson told magistrates: '[The victim] described alterations being made to her email accounts like passwords and some of her social media accounts were deleted. 'A work email account was deleted and on Instagram there were modelling photos deleted.' In an impact statement read out to the court, the victim described how her mental health had been severely affected. She said: 'When I go out with friends, I put on a brave face but when I get back home, I crumble.' Ms Maples, McMurtry's defence, said: 'The relationship came to an abrupt end and he struggled. It was very devastating for him that it ended without any real explanation. 'He'd never been through a breakup and felt particularly awful and was seeking answers, but also to relay how he was feeling. 'It was also his last year of university and the breakup coincided with his final exams so his stress levels were already quite high.' In an impact statement read out to the court, Ms Brignall (pictured with McMurtry) described how her mental health had been severely affected Ms Brignall said: 'When I go out with friends, I put on a brave face but when I get back home, I crumble' McMurtry, from Nottingham, pleaded guilty to harassment without violence at at Colchester Magistrates' Court (pictured). He was ordered to complete 160 hours of unpaid work and banned from Essex for a year McMurtry, from Nottingham, pleaded guilty to harassment without violence between May and August last year, at Colchester Magistrates' Court on Thursday. Magistrates ordered him to complete 160 hours of unpaid work and banned him from Essex for a year. He must also pay 170 in court costs. An 80-year-old pensioner has been hailed a 'supernan' after she bravely intervened in a moped robbery. Grandmother-of-three Rosemary Bodger was so 'incensed' when she witnessed two men on mopeds trying to steal another man's Vespa that she sprang into action - grabbing the scooter's handlebars. She had been shopping near her home in Crouch End, north London on Monday morning with husband Hugh, 80, when she rushed into action. Grandmother-of-three Rosemary Bodger (pictured with her husband Hugh) was out shopping in Crouch End, north London, when she spotted the helpless motorist being chased and trapped by the gang Rosemary, also 80, said: 'I was looking for a cobbler and [my husband] Hugh had gone off somewhere else, and I just saw this scooter come towards me. 'There were two lads on it and they pushed the Vespa towards the pavement. 'This little chap jumped off the back and ran towards the man on the Vespa, so another old lady and I started shouting for people to call the police. 'I was so incensed that it was happening but I work on impulse and these things shouldn't happen - why would I let them take that poor man's scooter? 'I heard the boys on the moped had been stealing mobile phones so I just wanted them to be caught. 'Then I heard the two men jump out the white van with what looked like scaffolding poles and the robbers rushed off in the other direction. 'The poor chap on the Vespa was very shaken up, he couldn't ride home because he had no keys so he had to push his bike to the police station - luckily he had a spare set at home though. 'I just carried on with my day as normal after that, I mentioned to Hugh it was unusual but I didn't think it would be a big deal.' This is the moment an 80-year-old former Wren stepped in to save a scooter rider who was being ambushed by two moped thugs Despite carrying two bags of shopping, she bravely grabbed the handlebars as the thugs tried to steal the scooter away But this wasn't the mother-of-two's first act of bravery - she served in the Women's Royal Naval Service for four years in the 1950s. She followed in her war hero father's footsteps, working on aircraft in Malta, after he died in World War Two. After the war, Rosemary worked for Oxfam, before moving to Canterbury, Kent, and completing a mixed humanities degree while working in the university library. Rosemary added: 'My father died in the war, he was awarded a Distinguished Service Cross. 'When I was in the Navy in Malta, we saw such poverty in Libya and Tangier that when I came back, I worked for Oxfam. 'I met Hugh in 1961 when he was at university in Oxford training to be a doctor, and we married in 1965.' The retired librarian added: 'I saw this man being chased right near me and I thought 'oh crumbs I better do something'. I started shouting 'police!' as loud as I could' She added: 'We moved to Canterbury and I got a degree in mixed humanities and I worked part-time in the library until I retired at 65. 'I've always been busy, so this is nothing really - I'm very proud of having the bus stop near our home replaced for the disabled women who live in the flats up the road.' Busy Rosemary also volunteers at Kew Gardens and Kenwood House, and helps look after her grandchildren, aged 14, ten and eight. She added: 'I'm a keen feminist and I want people to see that there are 80-year-olds out there doing things with fighting spirit, not just in hospital living off the NHS. 'We're on so many committees and look after our grandchildren, we're very busy.' Following Mrs Bodger's intervention, two builders brandishing poles ran after the men forcing them to flee Rosemary added: 'When I was young, women were expected to get married and have a husband to support them. 'My brother got to go to a fancy school, but because I didn't show enough interest in my studies I was sent to a home economics college in Edinburgh. 'I was more interested in Meccano than in cooking. 'During the war, we went up to Scotland to get away from Plymouth, where my father was stationed. 'After I left school, I went to France for six months to live with a family my brother knew - he had a pen pal there so I went off to help them with things. 'I was the same age as their daughter so I stayed there for six months. 'After that, I joined up to the Navy and it was great - we got paid, we had friends, we were fed. 'I didn't get to go to university until after we'd had our daughters, and I got it half price because I was working in the library.' An IT expert fed up with the slow internet connection in his rural home built a new broadband network for the whole village - and is now looking for someone to take it over. Rob Anderson lives in the village of Iken in Suffolk and was frustrated by the slow internet speeds that made it impossible to browse the internet or work from home. So, he decided that the best thing to do was to install his own superfast broadband, increasing speeds in the village from 0.25Mbps to 25Mbps. Rob Anderson with wife Melita and son Bill pictured in front of his transmitters that give superfast broadband to 29 out of 40 households in Iken, Suffolk Since then 29 out of the 40 households in Iken have signed up to Mr Anderson's service, which they say is much quicker and cheaper than what was being provided by the big communication companies. But now, he is selling his house and is also looking for somebody to take over Bootstrap Broadband, the name of his network. He has put his 575,000 house, called Boot Cottage, on the market. One of the village transmitters in Iken that relay superfast broadband to the houses that have purchased Bootstrap Broadband Mr Anderson began rebooting his village when he discovered the neighbouring hamlet of Snape was able to receive good WiFi through underground cables. With permission, the 47-year-old, a chief technical officer for a financial services firm, installed a connection to Snape's fibre broadband and then got the two pubs there, the Plough and Sail and the Crown, to act as the base station and relay transmitter. This allowed him to beam the WiFi to Iken via point-to-point links. That was in 2014 and since then 75 per cent of the homes in Iken have signed up to Bootstrap Broadband. Each property has a WiFi transmitter fitted to their roof, which have to be in sight of each other for the connection to work, and then a wireless router in their house. A picture of the routers that are used to help spread the wi-fi network from house to house with Mr Anderson hoping that every house is eventually online Mr Anderson fields calls when neighbours have IT problems and fixes or replaces the equipment if it stops working. Unlike big broadband companies no-one is tied into the service, they have no minimum contract and can cancel or change their package at any time. He charges 90 for installation and then offers them different packages from 25 to 45 a month for speeds of up to 25Mbps but said he barely makes any profit from it. Villager Dominic Kilburn said Mr Anderson has transported the village into the 21st century. Mr Kilburn, 52, runs a kayak and canoe business from his home, as well as holiday cottages, all of which rely on the internet for people to make bookings. He also has three children who need access to the internet to be able to do their homework. He said: 'We used various companies - Sky, TalkTalk and BT - but whoever we were with and whatever they promised we never got more than 0.5Mbps. It was hopeless. Mr Anderson, 47, is now looking for someone to take over Bootstrap Broadband as he is selling his 575,000 house, called Boot Cottage 'When Rob started to talk about his system we jumped at it. It transformed our internet use. 'We can use the internet like anybody else, it's fantastic. The system is reliable and it's cheaper than the big companies. 'It's bizarre how it works but everybody in the village walks around with a smile on their face now. 'Everyone depends on it now and other remote villages near us are very envious so long may Rob's system last.' Mr Anderson began setting up the broadband in his village when he discovered the neighbouring hamlet of Snape was able to receive good WiFi through underground cables Mr Anderson, a married father of one, said: 'When we moved in the broadband was awful, it made it very difficult to work from home. 'I read about a villager in Scotland who had done something similar so I got in contact with him and he told me what he'd done and I thought 'I can do this'. 'I've got a lot of network and IT skills in my day job but I didn't know much about WiFi so it was a bit of a learning curve but there is lots of help out there. 'Everyone in the village was very supportive and very keen, which was great because the network needs a clear line of sight to work so people are relying on their neighbour to bounce the signal for them. Villager Dominic Kilburn praised the broadband network and said Mr Anderson has transported the village into the 21st century 'You just wouldn't be able to do that with a bigger company. 'Now the internet is fast and people can download, everything works great. The transmitters we use are even reliable in bad weather. 'I've been contacted by a few other villages interested in doing it.' He has now put his four bed house on the market with estate agents Bedfords and Suffolk Coastal, who both say good broadband makes his house more desirable. Tim Day, of Suffolk Coastal, said: 'Speed of broadband now forms a significant part of the attractiveness of a property. In fact, I've had purchasers who have got in touch and that's been one of their first questions. 'So for estate agents, broadband speed can be the difference between having a viewing and not having a viewing. What's more, we now have a screen grab of the download and upload speed of broadband available printed in the details. 'An innovation like this is about re-booting the community.' Michael Bedford, from Bedfords, said: 'Beautiful rural surroundings can have a downside in that they are sometimes located in areas with poor broadband coverage. In our experience, it's certainly something which has put potential buyers off in the past. 'So something like this makes a real difference as far as desirability is concerned: buyers get the best of both worlds - all the attractions of village life, with the broadband speed of a town.' Professor Green filmed his friend ripping 'anti-homeless' bars off a park bench after Bournemouth council installed them to deter rough sleepers. The rapper felt compelled to travel to the seaside town yesterday to take a stand against the authority's treatment of those living in the streets. The authority hit the headlines last month when they demolished a homeless community camp which had a library, functioning kitchen and campfire. Pro Green, real name Stephen Manderson, recorded his TV upcycler friend Max McMurdo on Thursday as he removed one of the iron bars from a town centre bench. Scroll down for video Taking a stand: Rapper Professor Green (left) travelled to Bournemouth to protest against the council's methods of reducing rough sleepers. He filmed his friend (right) creating a temporary shelter out of a park bench In its place, the pair fitted a much larger curved bar, that cost 18.50, to the bench and draped a waterproof tarpaulin over it to turn the seat into a makeshift tent for the homeless. They showed their creation to passers-by and homeless people who approved. The public protest drew the attention of the police but no action was taken as the pair returned the bench to how they found it. Professor Green said: 'Bournemouth - we hope we've helped you realise the full potential of your benches. Professor Green, real name Stephen Manderson, visited Bournemouth on Thursday with TV upcycler Max McMurdo to remove one of the iron bars from a town centre bench (pictured) 'At a cost of 18.50 they can become something that provides shelter for people who don't otherwise have it, rather than pushing them out and making them feel even less welcome than they already do. 'Why don't you think of solutions for homelessness instead of solutions for pushing them further out and for hiding the problem?' Earlier this week Professor Green, 34, took to social media to criticise Bournemouth Borough Council after they modified their benches in a 'hostile' move against the homeless. The Read All About It star said: 'Anti Homeless benches in Bournemouth. What's the message here? 'Hey you poor sods with no safety net - you better really hope life doesn't throw any s**t at you now! And god forbid you make a bad life decision! Cause you won't have the 'comfort' of this bench to sleep on! Ha!' Bournemouth council has recieved widespread criticism for the bench bars but still maintain the fitted them in response to complaints from shop owners about customers being unable to sit down as people were lying on them 'Again, nothing done to tackle the problem, just something to make it more invisible so we can pretend it isn't happening.' A spokesman for Dorset Police said although officers were called to the protest no criminal offence had taken place. Bournemouth council has recieved widespread criticism for the bench bars but still maintain the fitted them in response to complaints from shop owners about customers being unable to sit down as people were lying on them. A council spokesman said: 'We are disappointed that musician Professor Green declined to meet our Housing Services Team whilst on his visit to Bournemouth. 'We would have welcomed the opportunity to speak to him about the multi-agency work that goes on to prevent homelessness, and the support we provide to rough sleepers. 'This service is a key part of our homelessness provision and has been in place for many years. The team engage with rough sleepers to encourage take up of support services and accommodation to help move forward in their lives. 'We would also like to clarify the work carried out on the benches was undertaken in response to multiple complaints made by residents, visitors and businesses concerned over the use of the benches.' A Russian man has revealed he survived for five days and nights in temperatures of minus 30C after getting lost in a forest - thanks to his smoking habit. Woodcutter Andrey Anufriev, 31, lost his way near Snezhinsk in the Chelyabinsk region, after wandering off the relieve himself during a shift. Anufriev was 'delirious' and 'an hour from death' when he was finally found by rescuers after eating snow to survive. Survivor: Andrey Anufriev, 31, pictured with his daughter Milana, ended up spending five days and nights in a forest near Snezhinsk in the Chelyabinsk region, The father of one wandered away from his follow woodcutters to relieve himself in the thick snowy forest. His fellow workers searched for him but in vain, then called the emergency services. 'I did see human footprints but no proper path,' he said. 'The forest is like an anthill, lots of paths. 'But whichever one you take it leads only to the next crossing of paths, it is an endless labyrinth. 'Sometimes I had to walk in snow that was up to my waist.' Grateful: Mr Anufriev is seen meeting some of his rescuers at the hospital Bad move: Anufriev lost his way after wandering off from his colleagues during a shift cutting wood in the forest Keeping the wolves out: He ate snow and pine needles and lit a fire with cigarette lighter Darkness fell, he had no mobile, but the smoker had a cigarette lighter in his pocket, and so was able to light a fire that saved his life and kept the local wolves at bay. 'I only had a small lighter in my pocket,' he said. 'I remembered how we went camping in my childhood. I set up a fire and added branch by branch to it. 'I ate snow. Then I found a metal can and melted snow in it to drink. 'I chewed pine tree needles. I tried not to sleep but to keep walking around the fire.' It was the fire that saved his life. It took five days for rescuers to locate the lost logger who had inadvertently wandered far from where he had gone missing. Staying alive: The 31-year-old said that he tried not to sleep for as long as possible 'Days thee to five felt like one endless day,' he said. He became weak, hungry and dehydrated. 'I was losing my mind. When I was found, I was lying on the snow not wearing my hat and coat. 'I just cuddled myself. 'Then I remember only vaguely people around me, being in a jeep, I was holding a thermos with tea then doctors, ambulance, on the way to hospital'. A rescuer said: 'When a human is in agony and, dying from the cold, he gets a false feeling that he is hot. 'If a person throws away his clothes as he did, it means he is about to die in an hour or two' Astonishingly, doctors found the divorcee - who has a daughter Milana, five - had frostbite on only one hand and didn't even catch a cold, let alone pneumonia. A newborn baby girl has been saved in China after her mother threw her into a litter bin on the street, according to reports. The woman allegedly gave birth in public in Guilin before abandoning the baby girl in cold weather on January 30. The child was saved by medics from a nearby clinic after one of the doctors saw the woman deserting the child. A woman in China has reportedly throwing away her baby after going into labour on the street. Yang Jin'e, a doctor from a nearby clinic, witnessed the scenes and saved the child Dr Yang (pictured) and her colleagues went to check the bin and brought back the baby girl The newborn has been taken to the hospital to be treated. Police are looking for her mother. The baby's mother reportedly went into labour at around noon on Huancheng Bei Lu in Guilin in southern China. Dr Yang Jin'e, who works at the nearby clinic, told Pear Video that she saw a woman squatting down near a number of litter bins. Dr Yang said she only saw the woman's back, not her face. The newborn has been taken to the hospital and is being looked after by the nurses 'I thought she was relieving herself at first, but then I saw her throwing something into the bin,' the doctor said. Dr Yang and her colleagues went to check the litter bin and found a baby whose body had turned 'purple'. Dr Yang said the baby was not crying. They immediately brought the newborn into their clinic using a cardboard box. Then they took her to a hospital. In another interview with the local Guangxi Internet Broadcast Station, Dr Yang described the mother to be around 30 years old. Bo'ai Hospital said the child was born prematurely, but checkups showed she was healthy The broadcast station said the temperature in Guilin was around two degrees Celsius that day. Dr Wei Yi, from the Bo'ai Hospital, said the girl had been born prematurely. Dr Wei said the girl was healthy after initial examination. The baby is being treated in the Bo'ai Hospital. Police are investigating the case. Russell Bishop, 51, is to stand trial at the Old Bailey accused of the murders of two girls A roofer is to go on trial for the murders of two nine-year-old schoolgirls more than 30 years ago, it was revealed today. Russell Bishop, 51, is accused of killing friends Karen Hadaway and Nicola Fellows in Brighton, East Sussex, in 1986. The girls went missing from their homes in the city and their bodies were found hidden in bushes in Wild Park, near the Moulscoomb estate, the following day. Bishop appeared in custody via video link before Mr Justice Edis for a plea hearing at the Old Bailey. Bespectacled Bishop wore a black and white striped T-shirt. The balding defendant sat with his muscular arms crossed resting his head in his hand. He spoke to confirm his name and when asked to enter pleas to the two murder charges, replied: 'Not guilty ma'am.' Balding defendant Bishop sat with his muscular arms crossed resting his head in his hand Nicola Fellows (left) and Karen Hadaway (right) were found dead in a park in Brighton in 1986 The senior judge has set a trial at the Old Bailey for October 15. The case is expected to go on for six to eight weeks. Bishop was remanded back into custody. Mr Justice Edis authorised some matters discussed at the hearing to be published. The federal court has thrown out a case against Crown Resorts and Australia's biggest pokies manufacturer claiming their machines were deceptive and encouraged addiction. Justice Debbie Mortimer found the allegations against pokies manufacturer Aristocrat Leisure and James Packer's Crown Resorts had not been proven. The companies had been fighting the lawsuit by Shonica Guy, 41, who said the design of the 'Dolphin Treasure' machine encouraged addiction. Scroll down for video The companies had been fighting the lawsuit by Shonica Guy (pictured), 41, who said the design of the 'Dolphin Treasure' machine encouraged addiction The federal court has thrown out a case against Crown Resorts and Australia's biggest pokies manufacturer (Crown Casino in Melbourne pictured) She said she had lost 14 years of her life to pokie machines. In the lawsuit, it was claimed 'Dolphin Treasure' used design features including the uneven spread of symbols and making losses feel like near-misses were deceptive. The lawsuit also claimed overall loses were misrepresented as wins. Ms Guy's lawyers argued the machine's advertised return rate of 87.8 per cent implied someone who used the machine would keep 87.8 per cent of the money they gambled - but that figure was calculated including jackpots which were rarely won. Justice Mortimer agreed that the 'theoretical return to player' advertisement may be confusing. However she said it would only be a 'fleeting' impression. Justice Mortimer agreed that the 'theoretical return to player' advertisement may be confusing (stock image) 'Any such impression would be dispelled as soon as she or he actually starts gambling and the randomness of the operation of the machine and returns become apparent,' she said. She found Crown and Aristocrat had not engaged in deceptive, misleading or unconscionable conduct. Ms Guy said she was grateful to have been before the court 'on behalf of all Australians who have been hurt by the pokies'. 'I managed to get on top of my addiction but the sad reality is many people right across Australia can't do this, and the impacts are devastating.' Thieves have stolen thousands of rare artefacts including Anglo Saxon beads, rare coins and bones from an archaeological trust's archive. The crooks ransacked the storage area while looking for treasure at the Canterbury Archaeological Trust's headquarters. Trust director Paul Bennett - who received an MBE from Prince Charles yesterday - has compared the theft to Isis's destruction of ancient archaeological sites in Syria and Iraq. Devastation: Rare artefacts have been stolen from the Canterbury Archaeological Trust's HQ, leaving the Trust in a state The Trust's director Paul Bennett was awarded an MBE yesterday by Prince Charles, but he said he was thinking about the nightmare break in during the ceremony Police are now investigating the break in. Around 850 rare beads from the Anglo Saxon period were taken along with quantities of historic coins, replica metal axes, pins and an assortment of bone objects. A bust of Queen Victoria was also taken in the raid on the building in Canterbury, Kent. Archaeologists are now urging the public and antiques dealers to be on the look out for the items if they are contacted to buy them. Mr Bennett, Director of Canterbury Archaeological Trust, said: 'It is one of the biggest thefts of archaeological artefacts in the world. So much has been stolen it is an utter disaster. So much work has been violated. Anglo Saxon beads were stolen in the break in. The ancient beads were often worn as jewellery by Anglo Saxon women, and men sometimes wore them as a necklace too 'It is almost like in Syria, Iraq and the archaeological sites there and Libya, where I also work. 'It ranks with the theft of the Benghazi treasure in 2011 [in Libya] at the end of the revolution. 'I spoke to Prince Charles yesterday as I was given an MBE at the Palace yesterday, and my mind was thinking about this. 'They have left such chaos it is difficult to determine what has been stolen. It is as bad as the Viking Sacking of Canterbury in 1011.' Around 850 rare beads from the Anglo Saxon period (between the 5th and 11th century in the UK) were taken along with quantities of historic coins, replica metal axes, pins and an assortment of bone objects Three break-ins took place over the space of a week, says Bennett, with the perpetrators suspected to be two young men. The artefacts stolen were taken from finds over 40 years. The stolen items date from the Iron Age to the present day and include medieval Anglo Saxon bone combs and a huge haul of ancient coins. 'The combs are so fragile that in their hands they will disintegrate,' said Bennett. 'They may end up on Ebay or car boot sales for pennies whereas their real place is in a museum. They are our legacy for future generations. 'These two people have been allowed to run rampant and steal our material. They are a couple of low lives who live local. They must have a huge swag bag. 'One of them has been seen on a video being accosted by a security guard having broken into a shop and stolen some beer. 'We need to notify all these people who are now likely to be approached. Forty years of work has been destroyed. It is the equivalent of a bank vault theft. Kent Police are currently investigating the break-ins at the Trust's Headquarters, and said there are no suspects identified at the moment 'It is the heritage of Canterbury trampled and trodden on by a pair of thieves. We have been caught up in a whirlwind of thievery.' Mr Bennett told MailOnline he will pursue the culprits: It is a unique collection of material that we can identify. Sooner or later, I will find them. I will pursue them unmercifully until we get the material back, or until they are put before a court of law and sentenced for this heinous crime. Bennett also claims the Trust alerted Kent County Council following each break-in but no extra security was provided. The thieves also stole electric cables from the building during their rampage. Bennett added: 'They have made the place uninhabitable. It is knee-deep in finds. A single find has to carefully curated and special chemicals to keep them dry. 'It is a disaster for us.' Medieval Anglo-Saxon bone combs were also stolen, with Bennett saying: 'The combs are so fragile that in their hands they will disintegrate' Bennett is urging local scrap metal dealers to be on guard in case the thieves try to sell the finds, which include a large number of replica bronze axes. A spokesman said on the Trust's Facebook page: 'We are sad to announce that there has been a very serious break-in and theft from our main archive in Canterbury. 'Apart from causing considerable damage and chaos, the thieves got away with over 850 Anglo-Saxon glass beads, large quantities of coins and metal artefacts, and an assortment of bone objects. 'They also ransacked our educational loans collection, disturbing 90 per cent of the 200 loan boxes, and stealing replica metal axes, pins, coins and other items, including a plaster bust of Queen Victoria. 'Please spread the word, and look out for any of these items being offered for sale.' A Kent Police Spokesman said: 'Officers from Kent Police are appealing for information after historical artefacts were stolen by burglars. 'The items are reported to have been stolen from the Canterbury Archaeological Trust, in Kingsmead Road, overnight on 22 and 23 January and again on 23 and 24 January. 'Among the items taken were a variety of tools, Anglo Saxon beads, replica metal axes, coins and copper piping. 'At present no suspects have been identified.' One day fifteen years ago, a father-of-three set off on a journey from his village home, hoping to find work as a security guard in the city. What he did not expect was he would not be able to see his wife or children for the next 15 years. Without a map, Wu Jiacai, who was then 55 years old, nearly walked across China from Guangxi to Beijing to look for a job. But after reaching the Chinese capital city seven months later, penniless Mr Wu became stuck - until volunteers helped him reunited with his family last week. 70-year-old Wu Jiacai (in red jacket) poses with his family in Xiangzhou, China's Guangxi Province. Pictured are his eldest son (right), his wife (second right), his daughter (left), his son-in-law (second left), his second son (third left) and his grandson (middle) Mr Wu went missing for 15 years after spending seven months walking to the capital city Seeing his wife, children and grandchildren after 15 years, Mr Wu broke down in tears on January 26 at his home in Xinzhai Village, Baixiang Township, Xiangzhou County. The man, now 70, vowed to spend every day happily with his family from now on. According to Chinese media, Mr Wu can still remember the fateful day in March, 2003, when he decided to leave home to look for work. He said all of his family members had gone out to the field that day, so he took a pig from the pigsty and sold it to a neighbour for 400 yuan (45). However, he didn't bring the money with him. Instead Mr Wu, who had been sick, used the 400 yuan to pay for his debts to a local clinic before setting off on his job-seeking journey. The man claimed he wanted to earn money so he could continue his medical treatment. Welcome home: Mr Wu's eldest son (right) holds Mr Wu's arm to help him get off a mini van Mr Wu said he did not choose to go home for over a decade because he felt ashamed The Wu family's house in Xiangzhou remains the same as the day Mr Wu left 15 years ago He first walked to nearby Liuzhou city along the motorway. He tried to look for a job there, but failed. He then decided to go to Beijing after taking advice from the locals. Without realising that the capital city was 2,171 kilometres (1,350) away, Mr Wu left Liuzhou bringing just a duvet, a bag of rice and an aluminium lunch box. Mr Wu said he followed the railway tracks and kept walking up north. One time, Wu fell and broke his right arm by the railway in the dark. He fainted in pain and found himself in a hospital when he woke up. Doctors told him an onlooker found him lying beside the tracks. The fractures on his right arm made him disabled, but he walked out of the hospital after staying there for a month to carry on his journey. 'I abandoned the tracks and walked on small roads through cities and towns. I begged for food whenever I felt hungry,' Mr Wu told local reporters. Mr Wu thanks charity workers who helped him find his family again after so many years Mr Wu stands in front of his home (left) after volunteers helped him return to his home village. He is also catching up with life as the man is pictured holding a phone for the first time (right) Mr Wu finally arrived in Beijing in October, seven months after he had left home. He admitted that he was feeling 'confused and lost' when he was in Beijing. He also said he suddenly stopped feeling like finding a job. Mr Wu never got a job during the past 15 years. In Beijing, Mr Wu stayed in a shelter which provided him with food, drinks and a place to sleep. He said he stayed there for 13 years, but often got bullied. One day in 2016, Mr Wu decided to leave the shelter and went back on the street. After sleeping rough in Beijing for a while, he was found and helped by another charity group, which took him to Hengshui in Hebei Province. The charity group recorded Mr Wu's voice and sent the recording to 'Back Home With Love', a non-governmental organisation. The recording was uploaded to several social media chat groups in China, before being spotted by kind-hearted people from Xiangzhou, Mr Wu's home county. Mr Wu's youngest son serves food for his long-lost father after 15 years of separation With the help of volunteers, the 70-year-old finally has finally returned to his home village In 2003, Wu spent seven months walking 1,350 miles from his home in Xiangzhou to Beijing In January, Mr Wu's story caught the attention of Huang Weiliu, the Chief Secretary of Mr Wu's village. Secretary Huang found that Mr Wu's information matched a missing person's file from the village. The civil authorities of Hengshui, where Mr Wu was staying, and Laibing, the supervising city of Mr Wu's hometown, compared his records to the missing person's records. They confirmed that Mr Wu was indeed the person the village had been looking for. Mr Wu was brought back to his village on January 26. After more than a decade, the 70-year-old finally met his wife, three children and grandchildren. It is said that Mr Wu's family and neighbours thought that he might have passed away throughout the years. Mr Wu explained to his family that he felt he had 'let his family down', so he did not choose to go home throughout the years. Mr Wu said he promised to be a good husband, father and grandfather from now on. HIT: To women who make a difference. The Auburn/Cayuga branch of the NAACP honored several area women with the Coretta Scott King Unsung Heroes Award at a recent luncheon in Auburn. Branch president Eli Hernandez said the award honors not only Coretta Scott King but also women who work "tirelessly to make the world a better place." Susan Gibides, upon being inducted into the local NAACP Hall of Fame, challenged those in attendance to "find your gifts" and use them to help others. MISS: To a critical shortage of blood and platelets needed to restock hospital shelves. The American Red Cross said that more than a dozen blood drives have been canceled in the New York-Penn Region because of January's winter storms. Widespread flu has also cut down on the turnout at blood drives. Because blood is perishable, it must continually be resupplied to help those in need. Several blood drives have been scheduled in Cayuga County. To find out how you can help, visit redcrossblood.org or call (800) 733-2767. HIT: To wider recognition for area businesses. A guide to Finger Lake wines in Vogue magazine says that the region is "very quickly becoming" the place for Riesling. Specifically, the writer suggests that a visit to this area should include lodging at the Inns of Aurora and a visit to nearby Heart & Hands Wine Co. to check out the Riesling and pinot noir. For a wide selection of wines at dinnertime, the article says that The Krebs restaurant in Skaneateles has "one of the best wine lists in upstate New York." Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Jeremy McConnell could be sent back to prison after he was accused of breaching his restraining order and contacting his ex Stephanie Davis. It is understood that Merseyside Police are investigating reports that the 27-year-old sent several messages over social media to the mother of his child. The former model was only released from jail 37 days ago after serving time for breaching his community service order. Jeremy McConnell could be sent back to prison after he was accused of breaching his restraining order and contacting his ex Stephanie Davis (pictured together in 2016) It is understood police are investigating reports that the 27-year-old (shown left, in London this week) sent several messages to Ms Davis (appearing on This Morning last year) Earlier this week, McConnell put on an elaborate display of his new love with glamour model flame Charlotte Huntley He is believed to have written to Ms Davis about her new boyfriend Jacob Gill through fake social media accounts, according to The Mirror. McConnell was originally sentenced to 200 hours community service and a 20 week suspended sentence last August over a physical and mental attack on his ex. But he was dragged back before Cardiff magistrates and sentenced to 18 weeks in prison for missing eight community service sessions while jetting off to Turkey for a hair and beard transplant. Jeremy who launched his TV career aged 23 on MTV's Beauty School Cop Outs - served just a month behind bars at HMP Cardiff before he was freed on December 27. A Merseyside Police spokesperson told MailOnline: 'Police has received an allegation that a restraining order has been breached by a 27-year-old man. 'A report was received on 12 January that the man had contacted a former partner. 'Enquiries are ongoing to establish whether or not the order has been breached and appropriate action will be taken.' Earlier this week, McConnell put on an elaborate display of his new love with glamour model flame Charlotte Huntley. Jeremy (pictured left, with new girlfriend Charlotte Huntley) served just a month behind bars at HMP Cardiff before he was freed on December 27 after his attack on Ms Davis (right) Jeremy McConnell and Stephanie Davis put on a loved up display on Loose Women in 2016 Jeremy McConnell and Stephanie Davis at the ITV studios in 2016. He was jailed last year following his attack on Ms Davis The Irish model was given a suspended sentence after the high-profile trial where he was found guilty of attacking Stephanie at her home in Merseyside in March. Moving on from his woes, Jeremy has been getting up close with Page 3 model Charlotte, who bares a striking resemblance to Stephanie. Far from blending into the background, the brunette beauty jumped on to Jeremy's back for a piggyback before they danced around in the street. During proceedings in August, a judge said Jeremy had shown no remorse for the attack on his ex-girlfriend or the impact it must have had on Caben. He then missed eight work appointments in the 200-hour order and the court activated the sentence for failing to comply with his punishment. Sentencing him at Liverpool Magistrates Court, District Judge Wendy Lloyd said she tried to rehabilitate McConnell with a suspended sentence to protect women from future violence. She added: 'Your enthusiasm for co-operation has been short lived and there's nothing to show in the future things will change.' One of Perth's major hospitals faces a multi-million dollar payout after a toddler with burns ended up with irreversible brain damage. Sunday Mabior was 18 months old when she was rushed to Princess Margaret Hospital for Children in 2005 after she was scalded by hot water from a bath tap. The Sudanese toddler suffered burns to almost 20 per cent of her body. Sunday ended up the intensive care unit, where she suffered lung failure and two heart attacks and developed cerebral palsy. Scroll down for video Sunday Mabior and her family outside court on Friday after the judge ruled in their favour Today, Sunday, 13, is confined to a wheelchair and has lifelong injuries. The Mabior family sued the Child and Adolescent Health Service, claiming hospital staff didn't properly monitor Sunday's condition. On Friday, District Court Judge Anthony Derrick ruled in the family's favour. The payout amount is yet to be settled. Outside court, lawyer Phil Gleeson read out a statement on behalf of the Mabior family. 'The reason we have pursued this case is because our daughter, Sunday, is growing up and she always asks the reason for her disability,' he said. 'Since 2005 it has been very tough on us as her parents and her carers because of the injuries she sustained it has caused only one of us parents being able to work as she needs all-day care. 'We do not see the whole of PMH as responsible for our daughter's injuries, only those who [were] there in ICU on the night.' Today, Sunday Mabior, 13, has irreversible brain damage and is confined to a wheelchair Princess Margaret Hospital for Children is Western Australia's only dedicated paediatric hospital and major trauma centre Mr Gleeson added: 'Like all parents, Mr and Mrs Mabior expected that their daughter would return home full of beans after a short stay in the hospital for scald burns. Instead, Sunday must now live with the consequences of significant brain injury for the rest of her life.' Health Minister Roger Cook vowed his department would work closely with the family to get a fair outcome. 'Occasionally we get it wrong but what is important is that we learn from those experiences,' he told the ABC. A CAHS spokesperson said the board acknowledged the family's distress and would review the judge's findings. 'We recognise the continued commitment of all our staff to deliver the highest possible standard of care to our patients, the statement said. A council clamping down on 'Monopoly board style investments' has thrown out plans to convert a terrace of student houses into luxury mansions. York Terrace East, based in the exclusive residential area surrounding London's Regent's Park, was designed by John Nash, the celebrated architect behind Buckingham Palace. Westbourne Capital Partners applied for permission to transform a row of houses into 13 townhouses and mansions which were up to 15 times the size of the average property. In total, the development would be worth more than 250million. But Westminster Council rejected the proposals and has told the developers they need to 'wake up'. York Terrace East, based in the exclusive residential area surrounding London's Regent's Park, was designed by famed architect John Nash Hot property: York Terrace East is located just south of Regent's Park It warned them that 'golden postcodes must not be used as Monopoly board-style investments for oligarchs and the most wealthy'. The exclusive area has been popular with the rich and famous for centuries with celebrated Austrian composer Joseph Hayn buying a home in a nearby terrace in the 18th Century. In recent years the area can count the likes of Gwen Stefani, artist Damian Hirst and Kate Moss among its populace. But the council's planning committee felt they did not want the area to continue to serve the super rich. Councillors deferred the decision - meaning the developers must revise their plans - on the grounds the development did not meet its policy to create more housing across the city. Cllr Richard Beddoe, Westminster City Council chairman of planning, said: 'Developers need to wake-up before bringing forward schemes which don't make the most of the space available. The exclusive area has been popular with the rich and famous for centuries with celebrated Austrian composer Joseph Hayn buying a home in a nearby terrace in the 18th Century Exclusive: The rich and famous have chosen to live in Regent's Park for centuries and the area can count model Kate Moss, Austrian composer Joseph Hayn and artist Damian Hirst (his home above) among its residents 'Our city's golden post codes must not be used for Monopoly board-style investments to cater only for oligarchs and the most wealthy. 'The council is committed to creating more homes in the city and we have been clear that if you build in Westminster, you must build affordable. WHICH FAMOUS PEOPLE LIVE IN REGENT'S PARK? The terraces surrounding London's Regent's Park were designed by famed architect John Nash, who is best remembered for designing Buckingham Palace. Apartments and houses in the terraces have attracted the rich and celebrated over the past three centuries, counting everyone from Austrian composers to Qatar royalty among its residences. Musician Joseph Haydn moved into London especially to live in Regent's Park in the late 18th Century while the peace and quiet saw composer R. Vaughan Williams chose to spend the rest of his life in Hanover Terrace 200 years later. The terraces are also popular with celebrities. Gwen Stefani, Kate Moss and Jamie Oliver have all lived in the exclusive area. Advertisement 'These luxury town houses do not offer any benefit to our local community.' York Terrace East, which currently boasts more than 100,000sq ft of floor space, was built between 1821 and 1826, largely by James Burton, and remained in use as houses until the World War Two. It was a key part of John Nash's masterplan for Regent's Park but during WW2 it was badly damaged. There were plans to demolish it after the war but, following public outcry, the decision was made to preserve the terrace. The buildings were Grade I listed in 1970 but internally the terrace has lost its grandeur following years of use as student accommodation, a private school for 3-8 year olds and a rotary club. Westbourne Capital Partners submitted its plan to convert the terrace back into residential properties in August, 2017. They wanted to add a further 34,000 sq/ft to the terrace by excavating a new basement into the development. The largest home on the terrace would boast 17,000sq/ft - making it 18 times the size of the average home - and be worth more than 40 million. Historic England, when consulted on the plans in May, 2017, said it 'welcomed the approach to restored these highly significant Grade I listed buildings back to single family dwellings as they were originally designed'. However, Westminster Council took a different view. They said not only did the development not provide enough individual housing units, the houses were considered too large and the developers must come back with a plan that would include more homes as well as affordable housing on site Ammar Kahrod, 17, has been jailed for at least 17 years for murdering James Brindley. A judge has ruled Kahrod can be identified The heartbroken sister of a budding fitness entrepreneur has paid tribute to her brother as a judge named his teenage killer and told him he will spent at least 17 years in prison. Victim James Brindley, 26, was knifed in the heart not far from his parents' home in Aldridge, West Midlands, messaging his girlfriend Lauren Wong: 'I've just been stabbed.' Ammar Kahrod, 17, who can now be identified after a successful press application to lift restrictions, denied murder but was unanimously convicted by a jury at Birmingham Crown Court on Thursday. Sentencing the killer on Friday for detention at Her Majesty's pleasure, judge Patrick Thomas QC, told him: 'James Brindley died because you carried a knife', branding his crime a 'terrible tale'. Kahrod's mother was heard shouting 'they've got it wrong', as the verdict was announced, before collapsing in the public gallery. Mr Brindley's 22-year-old sister Charlotte described her brother in court as 'best friend and confidante', saying the killer had 'destroyed everything' dear to her family. James Brindley, 26, suffered a single stab wound to the chest before collapsing in a pool of blood and dying in front of his parents just yards from his home Mr Brindle's sister, Charlotte (pictured) said teenage killer Ammar Kahrod, 17, who can now be identified, 'destroyed everything' dear to her family James' parents Mark and Beverley are pictured following their son's tragic death. Today, a judge ruled his teenage killer could be named She paid emotional tribute to her 'well-loved, respected and highly thought-of' sibling reading her victim impact statement to a court packed with both Kahrod and Mr Brindley's family and friends. She added: 'One of the worst parts is because James was so loyal, if the tables were turned - if he'd witnessed the defendant in trouble, he'd have done everything in his power to help them.' As she did, Mr Brindley's mother Beverley broke into tears telling Kahrod's family sat in front of her in the public gallery: 'That is absolutely true - and you need to know that.' The victim's father told how their last words to Mr Brindley, as he went for a night out with friends, were 'have fun, Jim, take care'. He told how his popular, intelligent son was at a 'pivotal moment' in his life, ready to set up a health and fitness business in the September of that year. But those plans were shattered by Kahrod's 'calculated, cold-blooded, and cowardly' actions, with Mr Brindley describing his daughter bursting into her parents' room at midnight 'screaming, James had been stabbed'. Rushing to the nearby police cordon, they were kept back for what 'felt like an eternity' as medics desperately tried to save their mortally-wounded son. A group of teenagers on their way home from their school prom bravely tried to perform CPR before paramedics arrived. Killer Ammar Kahrod will serve at least 17 years in prison A torn coat, found in a bin on The Croft, revealed traces of James' DNA and that of others. A surgical type mask was also found in the pocket. The items helped convict the guilty teenager He said: 'We were helpless and we desperately wanted him to know that we were there, so we called to him 'we love you James'.' He added: 'Eventually, we were told that he had died and were escorted to his body, lying in his own blood on the pavement where he fell, his chest opened-up by the medics, to allow open heart surgery and direct heart massage.' Judge Thomas, sentencing, told Kahrod, who wept as he was unanimously found guilty: 'There is no good reason for carrying a knife. 'You claim it was for self-defence. I do not accept that explanation from you, given the series of lies you have told throughout this case, but even if it were true it would not amount to an excuse for carrying a knife on the streets.' Addressing Kahrod, who remained sat and head-bowed in the dock before him, the judge said: 'The courts, like the police, and public, are deeply concerned about what we know is a large and growing trend among young men and boys to carry knives. 'If you carry a knife, for whatever reason, there is a real and present risk that something will cause you to take it out; a misunderstood word, a moment of anger, a perceived threat. Despite medics performing open heart surgery on the pavement outside a row of shops James died at the scene in Aldridge, West Midlands, at about 1.05am 'Once a knife is out, anything can happen - here the death of a totally innocent and unsuspecting young man.' Earlier, Judge Thomas, lifting the restriction on the naming of a youth in court following a successful Press Association application, said: 'He (Kahrod) has been convicted of a very serious crime, of great and proper concern to the public. 'It seems to me in the interests of the public and open justice. 'Perhaps I hope by making this order it may deter one person bringing his family name into such a state by carrying a knife. 'It's right that his name should be published.' A group of teenagers on their way home from their school prom bravely tried to perform CPR on Mr Brindley before paramedics arrived. The youth had claimed he acted in self defence but was later heard telling his dad 'if we say the truth we're going to get done'. During the conversation, the teen was also heard saying: 'We made a joke about about him talking to his girlfriend. 'He came over and one of us pulled out a thingy, thinking that he would run away. 'He went into me and ran off. He was running away. We saw blood on the knife and said: 'Oh s**t'.' The court heard how Kahrod came from 'a strong, united and loving family' with the judge saying the youth had no excuse for what he did, with a 'promising future' ahead and 'solid family support'. On Thursday, the jury had also unanimously acquitted the youth's older brother Aaron Kahrod of murdering Mr Brindley. An ex-bikie who shot to notoriety after posting a video with NRL star Jarryd Hayne has been jailed for four years after threatening to kill a man over a $16,000 drug debt. Former Hell's Angel Christopher Bloomfield pleaded guilty to extortion, assault, stealing and making threats to kill after bashing and extorting two other men involved in a drug deal. Bloomfield made national headlines in 2016 when he appeared in a controversial Snapchat video with Jarryd Hayne waving a wad of cash and saying: 'Sweet. Haynesy just gave me five grand.' Scroll down for video Former Hell's Angel Christopher Bloomfield (pictured) pleaded guilty to extortion, assault, stealing and making threats to kill after bashing and extorting two other men involved in a drug deal The ex-bikie (pictured outside court) was sentenced to four years and three months jail Hayne later denied knowing who Bloomfield but was warned against associating with criminals by the NRL, which cleared him of wrongdoing. The court also fellow bikie Rhys Mirki had attempted to extort money out of a man in 2014. It was found a drug user had failed to pay a $16,000 debt for at least an ounce of methamphetamine provided by the pair. Prosecutors are unsure how much methamphetamine Bloomfield and Mirkin supplied but estimate it was an ounce, leaving their victims with a $16,000 debt after the deal in late 2013. Over the next six months, they pursued the man Mirkin had sold the drugs to, with Bloomfield acting as an enforcer trying to recoup the debt, Brisbane Supreme Court heard. Bloomfield (left and right) made national headlines in 2016 when he appeared in a controversial Snapchat video (left) with Jarryd Hayne waving a wad of cash and saying: 'Sweet. Haynesy just gave me five grand The former Hell's Angel bikie sent threatening texts to the man (pictured) It was found a drug user had failed to pay a $16,000 debt for at least an ounce of methamphetamine provided by the pair (Bloomfield pictured) Bloomfield, a former under 20s Gold Coast Titans junior, bashed the man in a park, punching him several times before pulling a knife and cutting his victim's hand. 'You got carried away while trying to enforce the drug debt for Mirkin,' Justice Debra Mullins said. When the man the drugs were sold to didn't pay, Bloomfield turned on another man who had introduced them and said the debt was now his responsibility. One way Bloomfield tried to encourage repayment was by taking the second man's BMW convertible and using it for four weeks. He gave it back to the man so he could have it serviced but then reclaimed it for another two weeks, Justice Mullins said. Bloomfield, (Pictured outside court) a former under 20s Gold Coast Titans junior, bashed the man in a park, punching him several times before pulling a knife and cutting his victim's hand Bloomfield (pictured) was sentenced to four years and three months jail but will be eligible after 11 months Bloomfield's next move was to text the man in January 2014, warning him off contacting police and saying that he knew where his family lived. The content of the chilling text messages were revealed by 9News, which read: '...U wanna go to the cops I know where your f***ing family lives and I'll shoot every single one of those motherf***ers til I find you!!' 'You said that you would shoot every single one of them until you found him,' Justice Mullins said. Months later, Bloomfield went to the man's home and punched him in the mouth. Both Bloomfield and Mirkin nodded as Justice Mullins said they now regretted their previous associations and the period of life during which they offended. Bloomfield was sentenced to four years and three months jail, but will be eligible for parole after serving 11 months. Tehran police have arrested 29 women for appearing in public without a headscarf as protests against the dress code in force since the Islamic revolution of 1979 intensify, Iranian media reported Friday. Those arrested were accused of public order offences and referred to the state prosecutor's office, Iranian news agencies reported without elaborating. Chief prosecutor Mohammad Jafar Montazeri had played down the escalating protests on Wednesday, saying they were 'trivial' and 'childish' moves possibly incited by foreigners. Arrested: Journalist and campaigner Masih Alinejad posted this picture of a woman called Shima Babei, who she claims was arrested yesterday in Tehran The original: Vida Movahed, 31, was arrested after taking off her hijab in public and standing on a telecoms box in Tehran in December - inspiring others to do the same He had been asked about a woman detained earlier this week for standing on a pillar box in a busy street waving her headscarf on the end of a stick. Unprecedented images more than a dozen women of protesting the same way had been widely shared on social media. Montazeri said those flouting 'hijab' rules - which require headscarves and modest clothing - must have been encouraged by outsiders. But even religiously conservative Iranians have voiced support for the protests, with many saying that religious rules should be a personal choice. At least two photos shared on Twitter on Wednesday showed women in traditional black chador robes, standing on pillar box with signs supporting freedom of choice for women. One held a sign reading: 'I love my hijab but I'm against compulsory hijab.' Together: Two young women hold hands as they copy Vida Movahed in holding their headscarves out on sticks Brave: A woman stands on a snowy street, holding her white scarf out in protest Unexpected support: A woman wearing the chador is seen holding out a scarf in front of her in solidarity with women protesting the compulsory headscarf On Monday, a woman named locally as Nargess Hosseini, was arrested after standing on an electricity box in central Tehran, waving her head scarf in front of her. Journalist and campaigner Masih Alinejad, the founder of the White Wednesdays and My Stealthy Freedom movements, which fights the compulsory hijab in Iran, has claimed that Ms Hosseini's bail has been set at a record-high level to detain others from protesting. 'While the law imposes a maximum of $12 or two months of jail time, the court has recently asked for a bail of $125,000 to release one of the newly detained women,' Ms Alinejad tweeted Thursday. A prominent human rights lawyer told AFP on Tuesday that one of the detained women had her bail set at more than $100,000 (80,000 euros). Ms Hosseini was copying the brave stance of Vida Movahed, a 31-year-old mother-of-one whose protest and subsequent arrest a month ago is thought to have started the movement. A video showing her calmly waving her white hijab tied to a stick above the crowds in the Iranian capital, went viral on social media. Ms Movahed, who became known as The Girl In Enghelab Street, was released over the weekend, after spending a month in custody with her 20-month-daughter. Movement: This woman stood on the same pillar box as Ms Movahed, on Enghelab Street in Tehran, Iran Being brave: Another Iranian woman with bright turquoise hair has taken off her head scarf and holds it out while standing in silence A young woman filmed during her protest revealed that she was encouraged by passersby, who later helped her and stopped police from arresting her Two for one: Two young women are seen holding out their headscarves at an unknown location in Iran this week Copying: A woman as an unidentified street in Iran holds her white hijab out on a stick, mimicking the stance of Ms Movahed in solidarity and to protest enforced headscarves Thousands of social media users shared messages of support after her disappearance, dubbing her the 'Girl of Enghelab Street' after the area in central Tehran where she staged the protest. Iranian activists started a Twitter campaign using the hashtag #WhereIsShe, demanding that the government reveal what happened to her. The campaign eventually went global both on and offline, with protesters at the recent Women's March in the U.S. waving placards with the slogan. Ms Movahed was protesting Iran's Islamic law, which requires women to wear a headscarf and long clothes that cover the arms and legs. The Islamic dress code, in place since the 1979 revolution, considers veiling obligatory for any female above 13 in Iran and says they should cover themselves from head to toe while disavowing any figure-hugging dress. Breaking the rules can result in fines of up to 500,000 rials (17) and up to two months in prison. An unidentified woman stands on a snowy street holding her headscarf in the air using a stick All for one: A woman stands on a concrete bench holding out her hijab as other women, with their heads covered, walk past behind her The 31-year-old was praised after a video of her protest went viral on social media, but she was reportedly arrested shortly afterwards Join the force: After initially being shared by human rights campaigners in Iran, the fight to find out the fate of the Girl of Enghelab Street went global Support: Two participants in the Women's March in Boston, US hold up placards with the campaign slogan Reformist lawmaker Soheila Jelodarzadeh said the protests were a reaction to the harsh policies of the past. 'Once upon a time we imposed restriction on women and put them under unnecessary pressure and that provoked these protests with women taking off their headscarves in the streets,' she told ILNA. 'It's the result of our mistakes.' President Hassan Rouhani, who came to power in 2013 promising a more moderate stance, has previously said it is not the job of police to enforce religious rules such as those forcing women to cover their hair. But in April 2016, officials said there were 7,000 undercover morality police reporting on things like 'bad hijab' - a blanket term usually referring to un-Islamic dress by women. Figures are rarely given, but Tehran's traffic police said in late 2015 they had dealt with 40,000 cases of bad hijab in cars, where women often let their headscarves drop around their necks. These cases generally led to fines and a temporary impounding of the vehicle. President Donald Trump said Friday that Justice Department and FBI officials have 'politicized' their investigations in order to help embattled Democrats. Trump is expected to approve the release of a controversial classified memo later in the day that outlines alleged bias and wrongdoing by senior officials as they pressed their Russia probe forward. 'The top Leadership and Investigators of the FBI and the Justice Department have politicized the sacred investigative process in favor of Democrats and against Republicans - something which would have been unthinkable just a short time ago," Trump tweeted. 'Rank & File are great people!' President Donald Trump tweeted Friday that the nation's top law enforcers have been biased against Republicans in their investigations FBI Director Christopher Wray could quit his post on Friday after Trump declassifies and releases a controversial Republican congressional memo that reportedly outlines wrongdoing at the DOJ and FBI Trump was sure to insist that the FBI's 'rank and file are great people,' even as he goes after the ledaership with his acid tongue The memo, written by Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee, is expected to point fingers of blame at senior FBI officials who the White House says are biased against Trump. Trump is expected to release it without any redactions. The FBI said Wednesday in a stinging statement that it had 'grave concerns about material omissions of fact that fundamentally impact the memos accuracy.' Kellyanne Conway said in a wind-swept 'Fox & Friends' interview on Friday that Trump doesn't think Wray will quit But Trump has been determined to green-light its public unveiling from the beginning, according to a presidential adviser who spoke to The Washington Post. 'There was never any hesitation,' the insider said. 'The president was resolved on this. He was not going to be persuaded [otherwise]. He wanted it out.' FBI director Christopher Wray is dead-set against the memo's release, with some observers saying he might resign when it is made public. But the president has not expressed that concern at all,' White House aide Kellyanne said Friday morning on 'Fox & Friends' as powerful winds buffeted her hair outside a West Virginia resort where Republican lawmakers are holding an annual retreat. House Intelligence Committee chairman Devin Nunes, a California Republican, wrote the memo along with aides Trump also tweeted a summary of the state of play from Judicial Watch president Tom Fitton Trump also tweeted a quote from Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton, who appeared on 'Fox & Friends' on Friday morning. '"You had Hillary Clinton and the Democratic Party try to hide the fact that they gave money to GPS Fusion to create a Dossier which was used by their allies in the Obama Administration to convince a Court misleadingly, by all accounts, to spy on the Trump Team." Tom Fitton, JW,' Trump wrote. Fitton's contention is that the Justice Department used an unproven anti-Trump dossier paid for by the president's political opponents in order to apply for federal wiretap warrants targeting former Trump adviser Carter Page and others during the 2016 election season. A young mother was found dead - just days after posting online: 'Goodnight world, I'm turning myself off'. Friends paid tribute to 'beautiful angel' Mollie Horton, 22, from Pembrokeshire, after the mum-of-one was found dead at her terraced home on Wednesday. Police say they are not treating her death as suspicious and were called to her address after 'concerns about her welfare'. Mollie Horton, 22, was found dead at home - just days posting online: 'Goodnight world, I'm turning myself off' 'Beautiful angel': Friends have paid tribute to the mother-of-one. Police say they are not treating her death and suspicious Friends of Mollie - a keen horse rider - paid tribute to her online, with some saying they hoped she was now 'at peace' On January 20 animal lover Mollie posted a picture of herself online with a cartoon halo above her head, and wrote: 'Goodnight world, I'm turning myself off'. Mollie, of Milford Haven, Pembrokeshire, leaves behind her three-year-old daughter. A spokeswoman for Dyfed Powys Police said officers tried to contact Mollie after worried friends called in fear. Mollie, of Milford Haven, Pembrokeshire, leaves behind her three-year-old daughter In tribute, Kelsie Daines wrote: 'I feel like my heart has been ripped from my chest. Sleep well you beautiful angel, I love you to the moon and back' She said: 'Dyfed-Powys Police received a call reporting concerns for the welfare of a woman in Howarth Close, Milford Haven. 'Sadly, a 22-year-old woman was found deceased.' Police confirmed they are not treating Mollie's death as suspicious. Friends of Mollie - a keen horse rider - paid tribute to her online, with some saying they hoped she was now 'at peace'. A spokeswoman for Dyfed Powys Police said officers tried to contact Mollie after worried friends called in fear Zoe Howard wrote: 'R.I.P Beautiful Mollie Horton, can't believe what you've done but I hope you're at peace now baby girl.' Kelsie Daines wrote: 'I feel like my heart has been ripped from my chest. Sleep well you beautiful angel, I love you to the moon and back.' Sian Baxter called Mollie a 'beautiful angel' after learning of her death. Pembrokeshire Coroner's office confirmed an inquest into her death is due to be opened and they are awaiting reports. For confidential support call the Samaritans in the UK on 08457 90 90 90, visit a local Samaritans branch or click here for details. Tarana Burke, founder of the #MeToo movement, has landed a book deal with Simon & Schuster. The book, called 'Where the Light Enters,' is scheduled to come out early next year, the publishing company told The Associated Press on Friday. Burke, who will co-write the book with Asha Bandele, will tell her own 'ordinary, extraordinary journey from victim to survivor to thriver' and explain why #MeToo was so necessary. Tarana Burke, founder of the #MeToo movement, has landed a book deal with Simon & Schuster The book, called 'Where the Light Enters,' is scheduled to come out early next year, the publishing company told The Associated Press on Friday. Burke is the founder of the #MeToo movement. She attended the Golden Globes with Michelle Williams in January 'The book will also help readers understand the often overlooked historical connections of the role sexual violence plays in communities of color, specifically black communities, even today, while exploring ways the same communities have been both complicit and resilient,' Burke said in a statement. 'More than anything, this memoir will provide survivors across the spectrum of sexual abuse a road map for healing that helps them understand that the "me too" movement is more about triumph than trauma and that our wounds, though they may never fully heal, can also be the key to our survival.' Burke started #MeToo a decade ago to raise awareness about sexual violence. After women last fall began speaking out against Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein and others, actress-activist Alyssa Milano followed on a suggestion from a friend of a friend on Facebook and tweeted: 'If you've been sexually harassed or assaulted write "me too" as a reply to this tweet.' Burke, who will co-write the book with Asha Bandele, will tell her own 'ordinary, extraordinary journey from victim to survivor to thriver' and explain why #MeToo was so necessary 'The book will also help readers understand the often overlooked historical connections of the role sexual violence plays in communities of color, specifically black communities, even today, while exploring ways the same communities have been both complicit and resilient,' Burke said in a statement. She is pictured with Meryl Streep at the Golden Globes The hashtag was tweeted nearly a million times in 48 hours. Milano has said she wasn't aware of Burke's contributions when she made her initial tweet and has since publicly credited her. Burke and Milano appeared on the 'Today' show last month after Time magazine named 'The 'Silence Breakers' - those who have shared their stories about sexual assault and harassment - Person of the Year. At the Golden Globes ceremony in early January, Milano attended as the guest of Michelle Williams. On the red carpet at the event Williams introduced Burke to Ryan Secrest as someone who gives her hope for the future of the world. 'Really, the most exciting thing is I thought I'd have to raise my daughter to learn to protect herself in a dangerous world,' Williams explained. She said that 'because of Tarana' she now has hope for the future. 'We actually have the opportunity to hand our children a different world,' Williams continued. 'I am honored beyond measure to be standing next to this woman. I have tears in my eyes and a smile on my face.' The parents of murdered student Blaze Bernstein say the white supremacist accused of killing him targeted him because he was gay and Jewish. Samuel Woodward, who was a former classmate of Blaze's from Santa Ana, California, is accused of stabbing Blaze 19 times then burying his body in a shallow grave last month. Since his arrest, he has been linked to neo-Nazi Facebook groups and graphic, sexual and race-charged internet posts that he wrote have been revealed. Woodward is due to be arraigned in California on Friday. On Friday, Blaze's parents told Today that they believe his allegiance to the hate group may have driven him to kill their son. Asked if they think Blaze could have been targeted because he was Jewish, the teen's lawyer mother Jeanne said: 'Absolutely. He was also a gay man so he was also not a very big person. '[He was] a potential target for any crime.' Scroll down for video Michele and Gideon Bernstein, the parents of murdered student Blaze Bernstein, said on Friday that they believe he could have been targeted because he was gay and Jewish Blaze Bernstein, 19, was killed on January 2. His body was discovered a week later. He had been stabbed more than 20 times Police have not yet offered any official motive for the murder. Blaze was reported missing on January 2. His last known whereabouts was with Woodward at the Borrego Ranch Park. Initially, Woodward told police they had gone together to the park, late at night, in his rented car. He claimed Blaze wandered off into the park and that when he did not return later, he left. A week later, Blaze's body was found in a grave in the park after heavy rainfall unearthed much of the ground. The teenager had been stabbed 19 times. Woodward was arrested shortly afterwards. Samuel Woodward, 20, is accused of murdering Blaze who he briefly attended school. He is due to be arraigned on Friday Woodward has been linked to neo-Nazi groups like the Atomwaffen Division He regularly made right-wing social media posts including this one where he defended the Confederate flag On Friday, Blaze's parents said they are determined to learn why their son was murdered. 'I want answers, I want to know what happened. I want to know the truth,' his mother Michele said. 'It's sad that a young person is so filled with hate that they need to collaborate with other people of like mind and they could be doing something good. 'Whether or not that has something to do with Blaze's death has not been determined,' she said. Gideon, his father, added: 'We ask ourselves every day. Why did this happen? We don't have an answer.' Among Woodward's social media posts were repeated references to the Confederate flag. Blaze's parents said he was 'not a very big person' which made him more vulnerable 'I want answers': Blaze's lawyer mother Jeanne said she still does not know what happened on the night her son was murdered On Ask FM, he boasted about his religion and said he would want a gun and a bible with him if he was ever stranded on a desert island. His now-deleted posts on iFunny were particularly anti-semitic, according to fellow users who viewed his profile. 'Anti-Semitism and homophobia were certainly aspects of his ideology,' one told The New York Post. In one disturbing comment, written beneath a photograph of him posing with an Indian teacher, he wrote: 'I would vigorously bone the living hell out of my English teacher, like holy f**k. 'I dont care if its miscegenation [interbreeding]. 'That babe would be pregnant as f**k year after year, around the clock, acting as a hub of genetic imperialism and giving life to half arab Saboteur-offspring to further my conquest and aims.' Law enforcement sources previously suggested that Woodward may have attacked Blaze after he tried to kiss him. The pair had studied together years ago at a performing arts school in Orange County. Blaze went on to gain acceptance to the University of Pennsylvania. He was at home for winter break when he was murdered. PSA, Dongfeng Electric Vehicle set up JV to deploy mobility service Shanghai (Gasgoo)- PSA, Dongfeng Electric Vehicle and Wuhan EV Demonstration recently signed a contract to jointly establish a JV in Wuhan, Hubei Province. According to the source from Dongfeng Motor Corporation, the new JV will explore new commercial operation modes for NEVs to promote the development of NEVs. In the meantime, the JV will further enhance the forward-looking research and cooperation in car-sharing, mobility service and new ecology of auto industry, collaboratively deploying in the construction of intelligent cities and transportation. Dongfeng Motor Corporation and PSA boast strong vehicle resources and influential brand images, while Wuhan EV Demonstration is China's first EV operator owning 14-year EV demonstration operation experience. The cooperation will not only help PSA to facilitate the progress of its global time-sharing rental business and strategy, but also help Dongfeng to create new commercial operating modes of NEVs. The JV's mobility service brand will be dubbed Free2Move, which will establish an open and shared ecological platform of auto industry including sharing mobility service, extended and value-added services of mobility, with the latest internet and connected vehicle technologies. Starting from Wuhan, the JV will proactively expand the mobility business, enrich service categories and optimize service quality to gradually expand its presence in other Chinese cities and Southeast Asia regions. Meanwhile, the company will promote the electrification, intelligence and sharing of urban transportation based on customer scenarios and elaborate operation. A disabled veteran's service dog was found dead having been shot in the head and was dumped nearby railroad tracks in Boone County, Kentucky, according to family. Bryan Vallandingham's dog Gunner, 3, was vital in his survival as he alerted family in the Richwood, Kentucky, area when the veteran was having a seizure. 'He would tell us by sitting in front of him by laying across him or just barking randomly at Bryan so he would notify us and give us time to get him in a safe situation so he wouldn't hurt himself,' Vallandingham's wife, Kimberly, told Fox 19. Bryan had served 14 years in the Army. Bryan Vallandingham's (right) dog Gunner was vital in his survival as he alerted family in the Richwood, Kentucky, area when the veteran was having a seizure 'He would tell us by sitting in front of him by laying across him or just barking randomly at Bryan so he would notify us and give us time to get him in a safe situation so he wouldn't hurt himself,' Vallandingham's wife, Kimberly, told Fox 19 The family assert that the Siberian Husky was stolen more than two week ago from their yard, reported Fox 19. Gunner was found dead two blocks from Bryan's home near a railroad by Dixie Highway. One member stated that they had been receiving text messages from a person who demanded money, but they refused. The person had wanted the money to be put on a gift card. The family assert that the Siberian Husky was stolen more than two week ago from their yard, reported Fox 19 Gunner was found dead two blocks from Bryan's home near a railroad by Dixie Highway Boone County Sheriff's Office is looking into the case to determine if extortion was a part of Gunner's death. Gunner became a part of the family, three years ago, and was a fierce caretaker of Bryan. The family has set up a GoFundMe to cremate the dog and get Bryan another service dog with proper training, as soon as possible. So far, the page has gained just under 1,500 of its 5000 goal. Pedophile Glee actor Mark Salling looked disheveled and 'agitated' as he bought a packet of cigarettes just hours before he took his own life. In an exclusive video obtained by DailyMailTV Salling is seen visiting a convenience store near his home in Sunland, California at around 12.40pm on Monday. The once well groomed actor was seen wearing scruffy dark blue tracksuit bottoms, flip flops and a black long sleeved shirt. He wore a thick, untidy beard and appeared pale and twitchy as he paid for the Marlboro Lights with a credit card. Mark Salling looked disheveled and 'agitated' as he bought a packet of cigarettes just hours before he took his own life A worker at the store said Salling had little to say as he bought the smokes, but looked 'on a different planet' 'He seemed agitated, not really there, you could tell he was depressed or something, he asked for Marlboro Lights but didn't say thanks,' the worker said A worker at the store said Salling had little to say as he bought the smokes, but looked 'on a different planet'. 'He seemed agitated, not really there, you could tell he was depressed or something, he asked for Marlboro Lights but didn't say thanks,' the worker said. Salling was best known for his role as Noah "Puck" Puckerman on the television series Glee. Less than 24 hours later Salling's body was found in a riverbed in a remote area roughly six miles from his home. The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner confirmed the death was a suicide and that Salling died in the early hours of Tuesday. According to the coroner's report obtained by DailyMailTV his death was caused by asphyxia from hanging. Salling had previously attempted to take his own life in August by slitting his wrists as he awaited trial on federal child pornography charges. He told the judge he was on medication for depression at his next court hearing, two months after that incident. The actor's career came crashing down in 2015 after he was arrested for possession of appalling child pornography showing victims as young as three. Investigators found 50,000 images and videos on his computer, more than 4,000 on a thumb drive and tens of thousands more on an encrypted hard drive. Update: Mark Salling (above in October) died on Tuesday and his body was found in a riverbed his corner's report confirms Scene: An autopsy revealed that the actor committed suicide and his cause of death was asphyxia from hanging(riverbed where Salling's body was discovered above) Transport: The disgraced actor's body is removed from the scene by coroners and members of the LAPD Prepaing to move: Half a dozen officers assisted as the body was put inside the coroner's van. The official cause of death has not yet been revealed but it is believed the disgraced star hanged himself He was due to be sentenced by a judge on March 7 and faced between four and seven years after taking a plea deal in December. Salling's death means he will avoid the $250,000 fine he was ordered to pay as part of his plea in addition to the $50,000 he would have to hand over to each victim seeking restitution in the case. The Supreme Court ruled in 2014 that children who are featured in child pornography are victimized twice - first by the abuser who films them and a second time by the person who views those images. As a result, it was ordered that individuals who are charged with viewing child pornography are liable for restitution in an amount equal to the victims out-of-pocket losses for things such a treatment, loss of work and attorney's fees. The actor, who was 35 at the time of his death, had been reported missing by a concerned family member in the early morning hours of Tuesday. His body was discovered just before 9am by Big Tujunga Creek near the Starwood Riding club, an equestrian facility. Salling's car was found parked on the side of the road approximately 500ft from where his body was found. A man has denied murdering his 94-year-old grandmother by stabbing her at the care home where she lived. Antony Jennings, 33, entered a not guilty plea to the murder of Ruby Wilson at Forest Place Nursing Home in Essex, on November 29. Emergency services were called to the home in Buckhurst Hill, Essex, at around 1.20pm after Mrs Wilson was found with a stab wound to her neck. The great-great-grandmother's death was confirmed by paramedics at 5.45pm that day. Antony Jennings (pictured left) entered a not guilty plea to the murder of Ruby Wilson (right) at Forest Place Nursing Home in Essex, on November 29 On November 30, a forensic post-mortem found the cause of death was given as an incised wound to the neck. Jennings, from Ilford, appeared via video link at Chelmsford Crown Court today wearing a grey jumper and spoke to confirm his name, date of birth and nationality. He denied the charge of murder but entered a separate plea of guilty to manslaughter by virtue of diminished responsibility. Prosecutor Stephen Rose said the crown did not accept the guilty plea and said Jennings would face a murder trial. The trial, presided over by Judge Charles Gratwicke, is due to start on May 14. In a statement, Rubys family said: As a family we loved Ruby, who will be remembered for her creativity and love of crocheting, dressmaking and bingo She always brought the family together and loved spending time with her many grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great grandchild. She was together with her husband Leslie for 75 years and always had a song to sing for every occasion. She will be dearly missed by all of us, her loving family. A far-right German party chief was forced to apologise after he posted a picture of Adolf Hitler's own elite SS unit in a group chat. Nikolaus Kramer, the chief of the far-right Alternatives for Germany (AfD) party in the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, shared the picture on an internal chat with his AfD colleagues. The picture shows marching SS soldiers dressed in their infamous black uniforms, with overlaid text saying: 'A 'black bloc' is not principally bad.' According to historical experts, the photo doesn't show an ordinary SS unit, but the so-called Leibstandarte, Adolf Hitler's elite bodyguard division. Nikolaus Kramer (pictured), the chief of the far-right Alternatives for Germany party in the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, shared the picture on an internal chat with his colleagues They were responsible for numerous war crimes such as the Malmedy massacre in Belgium, in which 84 American POWs were killed. Kramer, who is a police officer by profession, told reporters he had accidentally posted the picture in the wrong chat group. He claimed he had wanted to write an explanatory and critical comment with the picture, but was interrupted. He said the picture was not meant to glorify the Nazis but said it must be seen in its context as a contribution to a discussion on the riots at the G20 summit in Hamburg last year, which he accidentally posted in the wrong chat group. The picture shows marching SS soldiers dressed in their infamous black uniforms, with overlaid text saying: 'A 'black bloc' is not principally bad' According to historical experts, the photo doesn't show an ordinary SS unit, but the so-called Leibstandarte, Adolf Hitler's elite bodyguard division The name 'black bloc' is often given to groups of far-left activists who don themselves in all-black clothing, scarves and masks. During the G20 protests in Hamburg, several far-left groups set fire to hundreds of cars, looted stores and injured dozens of cops. Kramer also said he apologised for the SS picture as soon as he realised he had made the mistake. He emphasised that he does not see the SS in a positive light. The SS stand for the German word Schutzstaffel, which means 'protection squadron'. The paramilitary Nazi organisation was run by Heinrich Himmler, one of Hitler's most infamous and cruel henchmen. The stylised lightning bolts of the SS insignia, based on ancient German rune symbols, are now forbidden under Germany's strict anti-Nazi laws. An Islamic State attack on Australian soil is more likely as the jihadist group nears defeat in the Middle East, a meeting of defence ministers has heard. Stopping southeast Asia becoming 'a new frontline' for terrorism was the focus of the first sub-regional defence ministers' meeting on counter-terrorism in Perth. Defence minister Marise Payne met with her counterparts from Singapore, Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei, Thailand and Indonesia. An Islamic State attack on Australian soil is more likely as the jihadist group nears defeat in the Middle East, a meeting of defence ministers has heard (pictured is Marise Payne) Stopping southeast Asia becoming 'a new frontline' for terrorism was the focus of the first sub-regional defence ministers' meeting on counter-terrorism in Perth (pictured are Islamic State fighters in Syria) The Philippines endured the bloody five-month long Marawi insurgency involving ISIS-affiliated fighters last year. 'Marawi was a clarion call for decisive measures to deal with and anticipate new threats in our region,' Ms Payne told reporters. 'Foremost among those must be stopping terrorism groups from expanding their global franchise.' Militants in Marawi used similar and, in some cases, enhanced tactics and techniques to their Middle East Islamic State counterparts and communicated with them, she said. The Philippines endured the bloody five-month long Marawi insurgency involving ISIS-affiliated fighters last year (pictured is a building in Marawi) That could include appalling atrocities such as the use of innocent men, women and children as human shields or sowing misleading views about society and Islam on social media. 'With the destruction of the so-called, proclaimed caliphate by Daesh (IS) there is the potential for returning foreign fighters coming back to this region,' Ms Payne said. 'There are many who are battle hardened, highly experienced, filled with a fairly perverse ideology that led them to engage in their activities.' The seven countries would work together to make sure they were aware of such people coming to the region and how best to prevent attacks or defend themselves, she said. Other examples of collaboration would be the Australian military sharing its knowledge of engaging ISIS in Iraq, the Philippines forces doing the same about Marawi, training exercises as already occurred between Australian and Filipino troops and maritime patrols. Flu season for this set of twins means double the trouble. Georgia mother Kristina Watters was touched when she found her two sick boys hugging it out while battling the flu and shared the clip of their brotherly love online. The footage shows the two-year-olds Kylan and Kolby Rucker dismayed from their sickness, but sharing a sweet embrace to comfort each other. Brotherly love: Two-year-old twins Kylan and Kolby Rucker were filmed when sick with the flu Supportive: The brothers shared a sweet embrace to comfort each other in their suffering The mother got the shock of her life when the video spiraled into viral fame, racking up two million views and over 42,000 shares. 'When the flu has hit and we have to get through this thing together. #BruthaLuvin #TwinCam #FluTimesTwo,' Watters captioned her video. The video sees the boys sitting on the ground in diapers with long, sorrowful faces. One then begins to comfort the other by holding his face. The boys look sleepy and tired, drowsy from having the flu. The pair then wrap their arms around each other for comfort from the sickness. The video filmed of the boys in their home in Rome, Georgia was shot last Saturday. 'Not even cold symptoms, just a fever, and as the days have gone by they developed a cough and runny nose,' Watters said to 11Alive. High five! The boys share a co-working moment on their Instagram page Ruckdoubles Watters shared this image of the boys as newborns with the caption 'Best friends since birth' Friends forever: The identical twins flash a toothy smile from when they weren't sick with flu 'We were very concerned. I took Kylan to Floyd Medical Center's emergency room. The whole day he didn't eat or drink anything. No wet diaper. Both of them have by lying down since Saturday. I mean, they are two years old, I (usually) have to make them take naps,' she added. Her third son, eight, also is sick with the flu. However as of yesterday, the boys seemed to be recuperating. Little did they realize that a silver lining of their illness would be enjoying internet fame. 'I'm feeling shocked. I post about them all the time. I love my babies of course,' Watters said. The boys now have multiple social media pages for fans of their twin adventures including an Instagram and YouTube page called Ruckdoubles. Their other social media pages videos depict the twins in matching clothing mischievously climbing into a play pen and hilariously nodding off to sleep while sitting in their high chairs. Watters, a photographer, also shares sweet photos of the two boys such as the pair swaddled after birth to images jostling around the couch. A controversial Republican memo charging bias in the FBI finally saw daylight Friday after President Trump overruled top career law enforcement officials to order its release. President Trump reviewed the controversial memo along with his advisors and sent it to the House Intelligence panel, which immediately put it out Friday afternoon. 'Congress will do whatever they're going to do,' Trump said shortly before the memo came out. He added: 'A lot of people should be ashamed.' 'I think it's a disgrace, what's happening in our country,' Trump added. 'Whatever they do is fine. It was declassified,' he said. Trump also suggested that he believes heads in his own administration should roll over the what is contained in the memo. Scroll down for video Shame: In the Oval Office Friday Trump said: 'A lot of people should be ashamed.I think it's a disgrace, what's happening in our country,' Shamed: The memo reveals that James Comey signed an application for a warrant to surveil Carter Page, a Trump campaign aide, despite knowing that the dossier it was based on was politically-funded - by the Hillary Clinton campaign and without telling the judge that fact Trump hater: Christopher Steele, the ex-British spy who wrote the 'minimally corroborated' dossier accusing Trump of paying for prostitutes to perform 'golden showers' in a Moscow hotel. But a senior DoJ official knew the British man was 'passionate' about Trump not being president Listened to: Carter Page was the subject of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance court warrant which the Nunes memo says was obtained without disclosing all the facts Link: Glenn Simpson, the 'principal' of Fusion GPS commissioned Steele - but he also employed the wife of Bruce Ohr. Ohr was Christopher Steele's contact at the Department of Justice 'The memo was sent to Congress. It was declassified. Congress will do whatever they're going to do but I think its a disgrace what's happening in our country ... a lot of people should be ashamed of themselves and much worse than that,' he said. Asked if he still had confidence in deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein, Trump who has gone after Rosenstein publicly before responded: 'You figure that one out.' Rosenstein supervises special counsel Robert Mueller, who is heading the Russia probe. FBI Director Christopher Wray sent a statement to the agency's employees on Friday saying he stands with them after the document was made public. 'I stand by our shared determination to do our work independently and by the book,' Wray said in a statement to FBI staff, excerpts of which were seen by Reuters. 'Talk is cheap. The work you do is what will endure,' he added. He also told employees to 'keep calm and tackle hard.' The memo's explosive findings center on how warrants from the were obtained on former Trump campaign advisor Carter Page, who had been approached in the past by a Russian intelligence operative. It reveals a key omission of fact - that the FBI and DoJ knew the that the dossier had 'political origins' but did not tell the court that. The 'political origins' were its funding: Fusion GPS commissioned Steele, who was paid $160,000 through Fusion GPS by law firm Perkins Coie - who were acting for Hillary Clinton's campaign. In particular, it blasts ex-British Intelligence officer Christopher Steele for having 'anti-Trump financial and ideological motivations' that were concealed when his work was used to bolster a warrant application for Page. According to the memo's authors: 'It raises "concerns with the legitimacy and legality of certain DOJ and FBI interactions with the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC)", and represents "a troubling breakdown of legal processes established to protect the American people from abuses related to the ISA process."' 'IS THAT IT?' SNEERS COMEY AS HIS REIGN AT THE FBI IS SHAMED Former FBI Director James Comey scorned the memo that was released by House Republicans after being declassified Friday by President Donald Trump, saying it doesn't add up to much. 'That's it?' Comey said on Twitter. 'Dishonest and misleading memo wrecked the House intel committee, destroyed trust with Intelligence Community, damaged relationship with FISA court, and inexcusably exposed classified investigation of an American citizen. For what?' Comey wrote, adding: 'DOJ & FBI must keep doing their jobs.' The tweet was the latest in a series from Comey this week as Trump clashed with the FBI over the release of the GOP-written memo. On Thursday, Comey stood up for the bureau's position against the document's disclosure and took aim at unnamed people he calls 'weasels and liars.' 'All should appreciate the FBI speaking up. I wish more of our leaders would,' Comey tweeted Thursday night amid news that the FBI had lobbied the White House to block the release of a partisan memo on the Russia investigation. On Friday morning, the president continued his verbal attacks against the FBI, writing on Twitter, 'The top Leadership and Investigators of the FBI and the Justice Department have politicized the sacred investigative process in favor of Democrats and against Republicans - something which would have been unthinkable just a short time ago. Rank & File are great people!' Advertisement The memo lays out who signed off on surveillance warrants for former Trump foreign policy advisor Carter Page. It maintains that the government 'omitted' information that would have been 'potentially favorable' to Page the target of the surveillance warrant being sought. It says FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe the target of online ridicule by President Trump testified no surveillance warrant would have been sought without the 'Steele dossier information.' Fired FBI Director James Comey signed three. Recently resigned Deputy Director Andrew McCabe signed one. Former acting attorney general Sally Yates, who left early in the Trump administration in protest, then-acting attorney general Dana Boente, and Rosenstein each signed one or more, according to the memo. 'The 'dossier' compiled by Christopher Steele (Steele dossier) on behalf of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and the Hillary Clinton campaign formed an essential part of the Carter Page FISA application. Steele was a longtime FBI source who was paid over $160,000 by the DNC and Clinton campaign, via the law firm Perkins Coie and research firm Fusion GPS, to obtain derogatory information on Donald Trump's ties to Russia,' according to the memo. The memo goes on to describe those warrants as in effect tainted. 'Neither the initial application in October 2016, nor any of the renewals, disclose or reference the role of the DNC, Clinton campaign, or any party/campaign in funding Steele's efforts, even though the political origins of the Steele dossier were then known to senior DOJ and FBI officials.' Steele's research was funded through Clinton campaign and DNC payments that went through a campaign law firm. The initial work by political intelligence firm Fusion GPS, who hired Steele, was funded by a conservative publication during the GOP primaries. Referring to the FISA warrant application, the memo states: 'The application does not mention Steele was ultimately working on behalf of-and paid by-the DNC and Clinton campaign.' The memo repeatedly blasts Steele, a former Moscow station chief for British intelligence, as a source of information. 'Steele should have been terminated for his previous undisclosed contacts with Yahoo and other outlets in September-before the Page application was submitted to the FISC in October-but about those contacts,' according to the memo. It states that Steele was 'suspended and then terminated as an FBI source for what the FBI defines as the most serious of violations-an unauthorized disclosure to the media of his relationship with the FBI in an October 30, 2016, article by David Corn' the article that revealed the existence of the dossier. The president said people should be 'ashamed' of themselves, without explanation Asked if he still had confidence in deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein, Trump responded: 'You figure that one out' 'That's it?' Comey scoffed at the newly declassified memo that was released to the public on Friday The memo also maintains that Steele's 'desperate' belief that Trump not get elected president, based on information traced to top Justice Department official Bruce Ohr, was not disclosed to the FISA court judge. 'Steele admitted to Ohr his feelings against then-candidate Trump when Steele said he 'was desperate that Donald Trump not get elected and was passionate about him not being president,' according to the memo. 'This clear evidence of Steele's bias was recorded by Ohr at the time and subsequently in official FBI files - but not reflected in any of the Page FISA applications.' But Ohr's wife was also working for Fusion GPS - and that fact was never disclosed to the judge either. The memo was released Friday accompanied by a letter from White House counsel Don McGahn. 'The President understands that the protection of our national security represents his highest obligation. Accordingly, he has directed lawyers and national security staff to assess the declassification request,' he wrote. He added: ''[Existing standards] permit declassification when the public interest in disclosure outweighs any need to protect the information. The White House review process also included input from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Department of Justice.' The memo's fourth and final page brings up former Trump foreign policy advisor George Papadopoulos. It says there is 'no evidence of any cooperation or conspiracy' between Page and Papadopoulos. It then mentions that information from Papadopoulos triggered an FBI counterintelligence investigation in July 2016 head by Peter Strzrok who got reassigned for 'improper text messages with his mistress.' The memo does not mention any other material about Papadopoulos whose contacts with a professor in London with Moscow connections prompted him to learn that the Russians had dirt on Hillary Clinton, according to charging documents relating to his guilty plea of lying to the FBI. According to a statement from Nunes: 'The Committee has discovered serious violations of the public trust, and the American people have a right to know when officials in crucial institutions are abusing their authority for political purposes.' House Intelligence Committee Republicans drafted the memo and pushed through its release on a party-line vote, putting the issue in the hands of Trump to give the final go-ahead. CNN reported that Trump read the memo along with his advisors. According to a summary of the memo, it concludes former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe confirmed that the bureau would not have sought a surveillance warrant without information in the dossier of information compiled by ex British intelligence officer Christopher Steele, the Washington Examiner reported. High level Justice Department Bruce Ohr, who met with Steele in 2016, provided information about Steele's alleged bias, according to the report. He said Steele was desperate to keep Trump out of office and was passionate about him not succeeding. The summary also states that Justice Department and FBI officials knew about the political origins of the dossier, but this information was not included in FISA warrant applications. Democrats howled about the release of the memo, arguing it cherry picked information and distorted the full picture. Trump weighed the issue for days, as FBI Director Wray and top Justice Department officials argued against the release, concerned that it could undermine intelligence and present an incomplete narrative. But Trump made his own priorities known with a Friday tweet blasting the 'top leadership' even though it was Trump who appointed Wray and elevated deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein after firing FBI Director James Comey. 'The top Leadership and Investigators of the FBI and the Justice Department have politicized the sacred investigative process in favor of Democrats and against Republicans - something which would have been unthinkable just a short time ago,' Trump tweeted Friday, after his administration had already said he would allow the House panel to release the memo. 'Rank & File are great people!' he added. Central to GOP complaints is the belief that Trump advisor Carter Page came under surveillance under a judge's warrant that was influenced by the infamous Steele Dossier, a series of memos containing unverified information about Trump that concludes Russia had potentially compromising information on him. Republicans argue that since Hillary Clinton's campaign, through a law firm, helped fund the dossier, that the origins of the Russia probe lie in information Clinton helped obtain. 'It's clear that top officials used unverified information in a court document to fuel a counterintelligence investigation during an American political campaign,' said Intelligence chair Rep. Devin Nunes of California in a statement this week as the blowup over the document escalated. What does the Intelligence Committee memo say? What does it mean? Republican Rep. Devin Nunes, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, was the driving force behind the controversial memo's declassification and release A memo released on Feb. 2, 2018 by the House Intelligence Committee was written by Republican aides who had seen classified documents about government surveillance of a Donald Trump campaign adviser. The four-page document itself does not appear to allege that anyone violated federal law, but it does outline a pattern of improper conduct by a list of high-ranking FBI and Justice Department officials during the Obama administration. Republicans will use it to justify complaints that top law enforcement agencies had an anti-Trump bias during an election year. These were the same agencies that cleared Hillary Clinton of wrongdoing in her classified email scandal, a subject that President Trump railed about consistently as he campaigned for the White House. Democrats complain that the memo left out important facts and 'cherry-picked' information in order to present a one-sided view of what the FBI and DOJ did to persuade a judge to grant surveillance powers. WHAT DID THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT DO? A Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) judge granted the Justice Department a warrant to spy on Carter Page, a Trump foreign policy adviser, partially on the basis of an anti-Trump 'dossier' compiled by an opposition research group funded by Democrats. Using a law firm as a middle-man, the Hillary Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee paid the firm, Fusion GPS. Fusion then paid former British spy Christopher Steele more than $160,000 to dig up Russia-related dirt on Trump. The Republican memo concludes that Steele himself was biased, since he 'was desperate that Donald Trump not get elected and was passionate about him not being president.' But the FBI continued using him as a confidential source anyway, even after he violated the most basic rule of working with a government intelligence service by telling a reporter what he was up to. The warrant application also relied on a news article by a Yahoo reporter without telling the judge that leaks from Steele himself were at its center. When the Justice Department asked the court for permission to spy on Page, it didn't disclose Steele's bias. It also never mentioned that it was asking for a warrant based on materials that were paid for by Trump's political opponents. WHY IS THE STEEL DOSSIER SO IMPORTANT? FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe testified before the House Intelligence Committee in December 2017 that 'no surveillance warrant would have been sought .... without the Steele dossier information.' The dossier itself was full of bombshell claims about Trump, most notably that he cavorted with prostitutes in a Moscow hotel room that the Kremlin had rigged with recording devices. Critics say Steele uncritically used information from Russian sources determined to compromise Trump or gain leverage over him the exact opposite of the Democratic 'collusion' narrative that suggests Trump worked hand-in-hand with Moscow. WHO IN THE GOVERNMENT IS ACCUSED OF WRONGDOING? FISA warrants have to be renewed every 90 days; then-FBI Director James Comey, later fired by President Donald Trump, signed three of them. FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe signed another one. Others to sign off included then-Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates, another official fired by Trump; then-Acting Deputy Attorney General Dana Boente; and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. Another official implicated in the memo is then-Associate Deputy Attorney General Bruce Ohr. Ohr's wife was employed by Fusion GPS at the same time, but the FBI never told the FISA court about it. Ohr was reassigned and is no longer in a position to impact the other major Russia investigation one helmed by special counsel Robert Mueller. But the fate of Rosenstein and McCabe is up in the air. Republicans on the Intelligence Committee may have given Trump a reason to fire them both. DOES THIS CHANGE ANYTHING FOR THE MUELLER PROBE? In a word, no. The memo doesn't say anything that suggests Mueller or his current team are engaged in anything illegal or unethical. But the appearance of impropriety at the Justice Department, though unconnected, will give Trump supporters ammunition to claim Mueller's investigation is also suspect. The president has consistently called the multiple investigations a collective 'witch hunt' and insisted he never colluded with Russians to tilt the 2016 election in his favor. HOW WILL THIS AFFECT THE 'FISA' COURTS? Judges empowered by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) grant more than 99 per cent of the warrant applications presented by the federal government. This episode suggests that the process can be compromised by officials who are willing to hide material facts or provide courts with one-sided accounts of what they know and how they came to know it. The flip side is that if FISA courts begin to scrutinize warrant applications more carefully, they might act too slowly in cases where there are urgent terrorism-related circumstances that require quick action. WHAT'S NEXT? Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee have written their own counterpoint, a memo that they say fills in important facts the Republican majority omitted. That document is winding its way through the same process the GOP's memo went through: committee votes to allow the full House of Representatives to see it, and then to release it to the public. If that happens, the White House will again have five days to reject a request to declassify the Democrats' version. The White House has signaled that it will treat the two versions of history equally. Advertisement Trump was sure to insist that the FBI's 'rank and file are great people,' even as he goes after the ledaership with his acid tongue Trump also tweeted a summary of the state of play from Judicial Watch president Tom Fitton However, in 2015 the government already knew that Page had passed information on to a Russian intelligence operative believed to be part of a spy ring. Page was an investment banker in Russia during the 1990s. A Russian spy tried to recruit him in 2013, the Wall Street Journal reported. Page had met with the Russian consular official, Victor Podobnyy, meeting with him over coke or coffee, according to Page's later testimony. In the fall of 2016, investigators obtained a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court order to monitor Page. The Russia probe has gone on to ensnare top Trump associates, including former campaign chair Paul Manafort and his deputy, Rick Gates, who have been charged with money laundering and conspiracy based on earlier work. Trump campaign advisor George Papadopoulos has pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his own Russia contacts. In May 2016, Papdopoulos told Austrailia's ambassador to Britain in a boozy encounter that the Trump campaign had dirt on Hillary Clinton, the New York Times reported. Kellyanne Conway said in a wind-swept 'Fox & Friends' interview on Friday that Trump doesn't think Wray will quit In a March 2016 interview, Trump named Page in an interview with the Washington post as one of a handful of foreign policy advisors to his campaign. Page told the House intelligence committee he traveled to Russia twice during the campaign. Comey blasted the release of the memo in a tweet Friday afternoon. 'Thats it?' he wrote. 'Dishonest and misleading memo wrecked the House intel committee, destroyed trust with Intelligence Community, damaged relationship with FISA court, and inexcusably exposed classified investigation of an American citizen. For what? DOJ & FBI must keep doing their jobs.' Wrote House minority leader Nancy Pelosi: 'Trump has surrendered his constitutional responsibility as Commander-in-Chief by releasing highly classified and distorted intelligence. By not protecting intelligence sources and methods, he just sent his friend Putin a bouquet.' 'He just sent his friend Putin a bouquet,' said House minority leader Nancy Pelosi in a statement 'Lets be absolutely clear. The release of this Republican staff memo is a blatant attempt by House Republicans and the White House to disrupt the critically important investigation into Russias interference in the 2016 election and the possible collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign,' wrote Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. A joint Democratic leadership letter to Trump that also includes the top Democrats on the House and Senate Intelligence Committees called the release a 'transparent attempt to discredit the hard-working men and women of law enforcement who are investigating Russias interference with our Presidential election and that nations ties to your campaign.' The added: 'We are alarmed by reports that you may intend to use this misleading document as a pretext to fire Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, in an effort to corruptly influence or impede Special Counsel Bob Muellers investigation.' The lawmakers, led by Pelosi and Senate minority leader Charles Schumer, add: 'We write to inform you that we would consider such an unwarranted action as an attempt to obstruct justice in the Russia investigation. Firing Rod Rosenstein, DOJ Leadership, or Bob Mueller could result in a constitutional crisis of the kind not seen since the Saturday Night Massacre.' Advertisement Vladimir Putin today presided over a number of commemorations ceremonies marking the 75th anniversary of the end of the Battle of Stalingrad during World War II. The German defeat in the 200-day long battle was a pivotal moment in the war and is glorified by Russia as the event that saved Europe from Adolf Hitler and as a symbol of the country's resilience. Putin flew to Volgograd, the current name of the city, where he laid flowers and a wreath at the city's war memorial Mamayev Kurgan, as well as posed with a group of young women dressed in historic World War II-era uniforms. President Vladimir Putin, center, poses for a picture alongside women dressed in historic Red Army uniforms during commemorations of the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Stalingrad, in the southern Russian city of Volgograd In honour: Young women dressed in the uniforms of World War II-era traffic control officers are lined up during a wreath-laying ceremony at the Mamayev Kurgan memorial complex in Volgograd attended by President Putin Paying respects: Russian President Vladimir Putin holds a bunch of red roses as he attends a wreath laying ceremony at the eternal flame during an event to commemorate the 75th anniversary Commemoration: The Motherland Calls statue dominates the landscape at Putin lays flowers at the grave of Soviet Marshal Vasily Chuikov Remembrance: President Putin lays flowers at the grave of Soviet Marshal Vasily Chuikov at the Mamayev Kurgan memorial complex commemorating the Battle of Stalingrad Pride: Putin later told a crowd of veterans that there has been 'no other such battle in the history of mankind' He also attended a military parade in Volgograd, involving about 1,500 troops, armoured vehicles and jets flying over a crowd of spectators bundled up to protect against the sub-zero temperatures. 'There was no other such battle in the history of mankind,' Putin told a crowd of veterans he met at the Volgograd philharmonic for a concert commemorating the event. 'The unified resistance and readiness for self-sacrifice were truly undefeatable, incomprehensible and frightful for the enemy.' 'Defenders of Stalingrad have passed a great heritage to us: love for the Motherland, readiness to protect its interests and independence, to stand strong in the face of any test,' he said, calling on Russians to measure up to their ancestors' example. Russia on Friday marked 75 years since the Soviet Union's victory in the major World War II Battle of Stalingrad, extolled as a symbol of the country's resilience Russian servicemen take part in a military parade marking the 75th anniversary of the victory in the Battle of Stalingrad Russian Second World War veterans, dressed in replica uniforms of the conflict, attend the parade marking the victory at Stalingrad On the campaign trail: Russian President Vladimir Putin walks through the Hall of Military Glory of the Mamayev Kurgan ahead of attending several memorial events at a time when he campaigns for his fourth term More floral arrangements: Putin also laid a wreath at the eternal flame at the Battle of Stalingrad State Historical and Memorial Museum-Reserve on Mamayev Kurgan in Volgograd Busy schedule: After laying down roses and the wreath, the President also attended a military parade in Volgograd Taking a moment: The President looked pensive as he reviewed the other wreaths laid down at the eternal flame To mark the occasion, traffic controllers in the city of a million people, one of the poorest in Russia, were dressed in Red Army winter uniforms, complete with felt boots. Viktoria Rybakova, a 31-year-old dancer performing in the concert, said: 'In everyone, there is gratitude for our future, for the fact that we are living today.' Soviet victory and sacrifice in the war has been increasingly upheld by Moscow in recent years to stoke patriotism, which 'has practically become a state ideology,' said political analyst Konstantin Kalachev. Moscow needs positive symbols while ties with the West are at a post-Cold War low, so dates like war victory anniversaries are used to 'promote the image of a country capable of accomplishments and defeating all of its enemies,' Kalachev said. What happened at the Battle of Stalingrad? The battle for Stalingrad was the turning point of the Second World War. After the German invasion of Russia codenamed Operation Barbarossa, which began in June 1941 the Wehrmacht continued to head eastward, destroying whole Soviet armies and capturing two million prisoners, most of whom they starved to death. In Washington and London, leaders wondered gloomily how long the Russians could stave off absolute defeat. In the spring of 1942, Hitler's legions drove deeper into the Russian heartland, besieging St Petersburg, over-running the Crimea, and threatening the oilfields of the Caucasus. German soldiers use the evening light to approach a Russian outpost on the outskirts of Stalingrad The Fuhrer was convinced the Russians were at their last gasp. He was exultant when in June 'Operation Blue' enabled his armies to occupy new swathes of central Russia. Scenting final victory, Hitler deputed General Friedrich Paulus, a staff officer eager to prove himself as a fighting commander, to lead a dash for the city on the Volga that was named after Stalin, and secure a symbolic triumph, while another German army group swung southwards to grab the oilfields. Hitler's top soldiers were appalled by the perils of splitting the Wehrmacht merely to capture Stalingrad, which was strategically unimportant. Their protests were ignored: the Fuhrer insisted. Likewise in Moscow, when the German objective became plain, Russia's dictator Josef Stalin gave the order that 'his' city must be held at any cost. Thus the stage was set for one of history's most terrible clashes of arms, in which on the two sides more than a million men became locked in strife between the autumn of 1942 and the following spring. On September 12, the first German troops entered Stalingrad. From the Kremlin came a new order to the Red Army: 'Not a step back . . . The only extenuating circumstance is death.' The first German air attacks killed between 10,000 and 40,000 people almost as many as died in the entire London blitz. Shellfire and bombs rained down on the city, day after day and week upon week. Stuka pilot Herbert Pabst wrote: 'It is incomprehensible to me how people can continue to live in that hell, but the Russians are firmly established in the wreckage, in ravines, cellars, and in a chaos of twisted skeletons of factories'. Two German soldiers hold their ground and take cover as they fire from a derelict building General Vasily Chuikov, commanding Stalin's 62nd Army in the city, wrote: 'The streets of the city are dead. There is not a single green twig on the trees; everything has perished in the flames.' The Russians initially held a perimeter 30 miles by 18, which shrank relentlessly as Paulus's men thrust forward to within a few hundred yards of the Volga. Each night, up to three thousand Russian wounded were ferried eastward from the city, while a matching stream of reinforcements, ammunition and supplies reached the defenders. New units were thrust into the battle as fast as they arrived, to join duels in the ruins that often became hand-to-hand death grapples. Both sides were chronically short of food and water. The few surviving civilians suffered terribly, eking a troglodyte existence in cellars. Some soldiers were reduced to cannibalism in order to stay alive in the ruins of the city as the mercury plunged to -40C. The bloodiest battle in Second World War came to an end on January 31, 1943 when Field Marshall Paulus surrendered, disobeying the orders of his Fuhrer to kill himself. Of the 110,000 Germans who surrendered, only 5,000 would survive Stalin's gulags to return to a defeated Germany. The battle cost the German army a quarter of everything it possessed by way of material - guns, tanks and munitions. It was a defeat from which it never recovered and for days afterwards in Berlin all shops and restaurants were closed as a mark of respect. Advertisement Servicemen take part in a military parade marking the 75th anniversary of the victory in the WWII Battle of Stalingrad March on: Servicemen seen as Russian Preside Putin lays a wreath in the Hall of Military Glory of the Mamayev Kurgan Headliner: Russian President Vladimir Putin makes a speech during a concert to mark the 75th anniversary The main man: Putin walks off stage after making the speech during the commemorative concert in Volgograd It will be his second World War II-associated trip in two weeks. On January 18, Putin took part in an event marking the 75th anniversary of the lifting of the Siege of Leningrad outside Saint Petersburg. The battle of Stalingrad is regarded as the bloodiest war battle in history. The death toll for soldiers and civilians was about 2 million. Most of the city was reduced to rubble before Nazi German troops eventually capitulated on February 2, 1943, in the first surreder by the Nazis since the war began. The city was completely rebuilt after the war and renamed Volgograd in 1961, eight years after the death of Joseph Stalin, following de-Stalinisation reforms aiming to dismantle the dictator's cult of personality. In 2014, local lawmakers voted to rename the city back to Stalingrad on major war-related occasions six times a year. Russia Today presenter Polly Boiko (pictured) received a stream of messages from infatuated fan Jody Lakin, a court heard A TV journalist was forced to get a restraining order after an infatuated viewer sent her flowers, a watch and an expensive jacket, a court heard. Russia Today presenter Polly Boiko received a stream of texts and social media messages from Jody Lakin for nearly two years. A court heard Lakin, of Derbyshire, refused to stop contacting her despite her pleas with him to stop and a harassment warning from police. Today, the 37-year-old was given a five-year restraining order preventing him from contacting Miss Boiko or visiting a half-mile area surrounding her Westminster office. After sending a message in early March 2015 to Miss Boiko on Twitter, she replied with her Gmail address, to which Lakin saw as a chance to invite her for dinner. Miss Boiko responded on Twitter declining the invite, saying she was in a relationship. But three months later he sent flowers and a watch to the Russia Today offices in Millbank Tower in June and August respectively. Then in July, he emailed her saying he had visited a place where he thought she had come from and the journalist replied saying the contact was making her uncomfortable. But this did not deter Lakin, agreed facts presented at the City of London Magistrates' Court revealed. Lakin was given a five-year restraining order preventing him from contacting Miss Boiko (pictured outside the Ecuadorian embassy) or visiting her Westminster office He was told to stop contacting Miss Boiko in September but less than a year later he sent more flowers to her offices and a Canada Goose jacket to her mother's home. She again told him to stop in December 2016 but in March 2017 he sent her a shot of an Uber journey he had taken after seeing a news report she had produced. A month later Lakin was issued with a harassment warning by police but Miss Boiko continued to receive his messages. At City of London Magistrates Court Lakin was handed a five year restraining order not to contact Miss Boiko of go near the Russia Today offices. The prosecution offered no evidence to the two charges of stalking after agreeing with the defence to impose a restraining order. After an appearance on January 8, the CPS were ordered to pay 666 in court costs after failing to properly serve evidence to Lakin's defence counsel. Jonathan Brian, prosecuting, told magistrates: 'We contacted the defence yesterday to discuss the matter. They were quite clear in their position. 'During the course of that discussion the issue of a restraining order was raised and agreed to. 'Her primary concern is to put an end to the unwanted communication that she has received from the defendant, a restraining order would be an effective way to do that. 'The Crown offers no evidence on the charge and seeks a restraining order on acquittal.' Lakin of Swadlincote, Derbyshire, was acquitted of two counts of stalking and an additional harassment charge was dropped. A married father who told police God instructed him to kill his 18-month-old daughter so he'd be executed and resurrected has been indicted. Mark Hambrick, 46, was charged Thursday with first-degree murder and second-degree cruelty in the October 17 death of Amina Hambrick in New Orleans, Louisiana. First-degree murder carries a sentence of death or life in prison. District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro says prosecutors have not decided whether to seek the death penalty. Unthinkable crime: Mark Hambrick, 45 (left), has been charged with murder for the stabbing and strangulation death of his 18-month-old daughter (pictured right with both her parents) The coroner removes the 18-month-old victim's body in a small black body bag from her parents' home in Bywater, Louisiana Hambrick reported the killing to 911, and told investigators he stabbed the toddler, waited nearly five hours for her to die and then suffocated her. A judge set bond Thursday at $1.5 million. When officers entered Hambrick's house in October, they found the 18-month-old child lying on a bed, suffering from multiple stab wounds. She was pronounced dead at the scene. Upstanding citizen: Hambrick, who has a Master's degree, works as an internal audit analyst at the Sewerage and Water Board The investigators also recovered a knife from the scene, believed to be the murder weapon. Under questioning, Hambrick allegedly said that he stabbed and strangled his daughter overnight, then waited until after 7am to call police. His wife was not home at the time of the killing. Neighbors described Hambrick, his wife Monika Gerhart and their only child as 'sweet people.' A woman who knows the family said the 18-month-old girl had just started talking. New Orleans Police Superintendent Michael Harrison said that when asked about his mental health, Hambrick said he did not suffer from mental illness, reported Nola.com. But according to Harrison, police 'reasonably suspect' that either mental illness, or drugs, or a combination of the two, played a role in the child's slaying. Hambrick, a graduate of Jackson State University with a Master's degree in public policy and administration, has worked as an internal audit analyst at the Sewerage and Water Board since August 2016. Phone confession: Police say Hambrick called 911 Tuesday and told the dispatcher he stabbed his child (pictured) because 'God told him' to put her out of her misery In the wake of his arrest, he has been placed on leave without pay. According to a Facebook post, his wife is a prominent equal housing advocate. Her LinkedIn page indicates that last January, she was appointed director of Office of Community Development for the City of Baton Rouge. Prior to that, Gerhart had worked for more than five years for the Greater New Orleans Fair Housing Center, a non-for-profit organization. A friend has launched a GoFundMe campaign to help the grieving mother, which has drawn more than $29,000 in donations. Monroe Mills is not like any other normal five-year-old, but she wants to be. The brave youngster from Nambucca Heads on the New South Wales Mid North Coast has a rare form of eczema The five-year-old can't go outside in the sun or into a room with fluorescent lighting unless she is completely covered from head to toe to protect her sensitive skin. Born a happy and healthy baby, Monroe soon developed a painful, red rash doctors initially thought was 'newborn rash'. Her condition got worse and was rushed to hospital at five months old with a severe staph infection from severe eczema. 'Monroe is often covered head to toe and even with full protection can spend her nights in pain,' her mum Sarah Mills said. The only place on her tiny body doctors could place an IV in was her scalp. Monroe was eventually diagnosed with being allergic to UV exposure, which causes joint pain, headaches, stomach aches and anaphylactic reactions. 'Monroe has spent years being a guinea pig to a rare condition, she's had everything from antihistamines to chemotherapy medications and her body and mind has suffered from it all,' her mum Sarah Mills posted online. 'Living with this condition in Australia is extremely difficult, Monroe is often covered head to toe and even with full protection can spend her nights in pain.' Monroe achieved a big milestone this week when she started school. 'School will be such a huge step for Monroe,' Ms Mills told the Coffs Coast Advocate. Monroe Mills is allergic to UV exposure, which causes joint pain, headaches, stomach aches and anaphylactic reactions. Monroe has a form of eczema so rare that she can't go outside in the sun or into a room with fluorescent lighting or unless she is completely covered 'She is now enrolled at Urunga Public School, who have been amazing. They have changed the lights and tinted the windows in her classroom ready for Monroe. 'She is such a bubbly, energetic kid and has been so lonely. School is going to be fantastic for her, although the idea is a bit daunting.' A single mum to three kids, Ms Mills recently started a GoFundMe page to raise money for a special body suit to allow her daughter to do all activities with the other children. She has already raised more than $1200 towards the $10,000 goal. 'Our first goal is to purchase Monroe two suits to enable her to be safe at school and not excluded from anything her friends may do,' Ms Mills posted on the fundraising page. 'From there we'd love 2018 to be the year we find Monroe's Miracle. I don't know what that will be yet, but I want to be able to try a more holistic approach and see if we get any success that way. 'Every single dollar counts and helps put us closer to reaching our goals. Monroe has spent years home bored and alone, please help us get Monroe into school and living the life she deserves.' A California man has successfully sued Tinder, claiming its policy to charge over 30s more money for its bonus features is ageist. Allan Candelore, 33, launched his lawsuit in Los Angeles in May 2015 when he was 31. He complained that it was ageist for the dating app to charge over 30s $19.99-a- month for Tinder Plus but allow under 30s to use it for $9.99. Tinder Plus gives users bonus features like the ability to unswipe someone if they accidentally reject them. The basic version of the app is free. Tinder has been deemed 'ageist' for its pricing tiers which charged over 30s $19.99 a month for special features while under 30s paid just $9.99 In its response to Candelore's suit, Tinder argued that it was fair to charge under 30s less to use the premium service because younger people are generally more strapped for cash. But Candelore, who works as a realtor and is an advocate for men's rights who has previously sued women's groups before for not letting him into events, said that outlook was unfair. Initially, a judge agreed with Tinder and dismissed Candelore's complaint. He appealed it in Los Angeles' Supreme Court and won on January 28. It is not clear from available court records whether or not he ever used the app himself or if he launched his lawsuit out of principle. He did not immediately respond to DailyMail.com's request on Friday morning. The court ruled in his favor either way. In their decision, the judge ruled: 'No matter what Tinders market research may have shown about the younger users relative income and willingness to pay for the service, as a group, as compared to the older cohort, some individuals will not fit the mold. We swipe left and reverse Los Angeles Supreme Court judges 'Some older consumers will be more budget constrained and less willing to pay than some in the younger group. 'Accordingly, we swipe left, and reverse.' Candelore will have his legal fees paid by the company as a result. Tinder introduced the bonus features in March 2015, two months before Candelore's suit. They said the $10 discount was necessary to encourage under 30s to 'pull the trigger' to buy the service. It also allows users to 'swipe around the world' through a Tinder 'passport', removing the radius-driven restrictions that apply to the free version. Tinder Gold is the next step up and lets users see who has liked their profile or swiped right for them. It is available to Tinder Plus users for an additional $4.99, meaning they pay a total of $25 or $15, depending on their age. Tinder has not revealed what the new price will be. A representative for the dating app did not immediately return a request for comment. Charlene Sarieann Harriott, 36 (pictured), was arrested after her flight from Dallas landed in Charlotte, North Carolina on Wednesday A 36-year-old had to be restrained with duct tape and zip ties after she tried to storm the cockpit of a flight while it was landing Wednesday morning. American Airlines Flight 1033 from Dallas, Texas to Charlotte, North Carolina was just moments from landing around 10:15am when passenger Charlene Sarieann Harriott got out of her seat and sprinted toward the cockpit. Flight attendants had already taken their seats for touch down and at first ordered her to go back to her seat. When she refused their orders, they chased after her and tackled her to the ground. She proceeded to bite, kick and hit the crewmembers as they used duct tape and zip ties to restrain her. One of the flight attendants told WSOC-TV that the woman had an eerie 'blank stare' that she had never seen before. Scroll down for video Flight attendants on the American Airlines flight said that Harriott tried to storm the cockpit as the plane was landing. They restrained her with duct tape and zip ties. Above, a stock image of an American Airlines plane And a law enforcement officer who responded to the plane when it got to its gate said the woman refused to answer his questions about whether she needed medical attention. He said she had 'a confused look and appeared to be on drugs'. Federal investigators still don't know why Harriott ran to the front of the plane. Harriott was taken off the airplane in handcuffs, while the three flight attendants she attacked - two women and a man - were treated for minor injuries at an on-site health care center. On Thursday, a judge ordered Harriot held without bond at the Mecklenburg County Jail on three counts of assault and battery. She is due back in court on February 6. Meanwhile, a spokesman for the Association of Flight Attendants released this statement: 'More and more, flight attendants have to deal with conflict onboard. Often, we're targeted by disruptive passengers. Airlines need to back up Flight Attendants by increasing staffing to deal with these issues. It is never acceptable for a passenger to assault a crew member.' This is the moment a trainee priest was snared by paedophile hunters as he tried to meet an underage schoolboy for sex - before being jailed for a year. James Leigh had already sent an intimate picture and boasted that he liked 'sweaty teen lads' to a Grindr profile he believed belonged to a 14-year-old virgin. But when he turned up to meet 'the boy' at a quiet leisure centre car park after dark, the 30-year-old learner clergyman was confronted by Guardians of the North. When James Leigh (left) turned up to meet 'the boy' at a quiet leisure centre car park after dark (right), the 30-year-old learner clergyman was confronted by Guardians of the North He arrived at the illegal liaison in a black Hyundai car where he was greeted by the undercover organisation who pose as children online to snare perverts. Leigh, of Great Broughton, Cumbria, who muttered 'Dear God' when he was caught, had been living with a Catholic priest in Newcastle as part of his training at the time. He pleaded guilty to attempting to meet a child after sexual grooming and now has a ten-year sexual offences prevention order and sex offender registration requirement. Emma Dowling, prosecuting, said that Leigh had set up a profile on gay dating site Grindr under the name 'Chris' and was quickly told his new interest was underage. Miss Dowling said: 'He told the teen he was horny.' Leigh, of Great Broughton, Cumbria, who muttered 'Dear God' when he was caught, had been living with a Catholic priest in Newcastle as part of his training at the time Leigh, who has never been in trouble with the law before, was confronted by the group, who had alerted the police, when he arrived at the meeting place The court heard Leigh was told that the teenager had no sexual experience and asked him 'what he felt comfortable doing' then discussed the possibility of sex acts. Miss Dowling added that he sent the boy a picture of his genitals, and asked the boy if he had any pictures of his. She said: 'The defendant said he liked sweaty teen lads.' The court heard when Leigh arranged to meet the youngster at Gateshead leisure centre car park after dark, he asked about the seclusion of the area, whether there were CCTV cameras and what the street lighting was like. Leigh, who has never been in trouble with the law before, was confronted by the group, who had alerted the police, when he arrived at the meeting place. A bishop had prepared a reference to his ordinarily good character, which the judge read at the sentencing hearing. Mr Recorder Tahir Khan told Leigh: 'You were training to be a priest at the time that this offence I have to sentence you for occurred. Leigh told the 'boy' he liked 'sweaty teen lads' and asked if he was OK with him being aged 28 'You made contact with someone who did not exist in reality, using a website called Grindr. 'This came about because a group calling themselves Guardians of the North had created a fake profile of a 14-year-old boy with the express intention of catching people who might be tempted to seek out sexual activity with under age boys. 'You sent a photo of yourself and it is clear from the communication that followed that you were clearly aware that the person you were engaging with was purporting to be a 14-year-old boy. 'Ultimately, the interaction resulted in an arrangement for you and this so-called 14-year-old boy to meet. 'There was some discussion about the purpose of the meeting and, if there was any doubts as to what that was, you discussed the possibility that you might engage in (a sex act). 'There was talk about where the meeting would take place. You were clearly keen to meet what you thought was a 14-year-old boy for the purposes of sexual activity which as an intelligent man, you knew would be unlawful.' Leigh asked the 'boy' when he turned 14, and also wanted to find out if the area was 'quiet' The judge told Leigh he had considered the testimonial from the bishop and medical records which prove he has sought help through psychotherapy. But he added: 'This was a serious offence in which your intention was to meet a 14-year-old boy and to engage in penetrative sexual activity. 'In my judgement, the only sentence that can be properly imposed is one of immediate custody.' Jonathan Cousins, defending, said Leigh has been candid with the authorities and the church since his arrest and will comply with any future restrictions he faces. Speaking after the court case, he said: 'We had no idea he was a trainee priest before today. 'I am over the moon that we caught him before he entered the priesthood and had the opportunity to abuse a real child.' Advertisement HMS Queen Elizabeth sailed out of Portsmouth earlier today to conduct more sea trials - but this time with several helicopters on board. The 65,000 tonne aircraft carrier made its way into the Solent at lunchtime with after a pair of CH-47 Chinooks and some Royal Navy Merlin Mk2's from 820 Naval Aviation squadron landed on her flight deck. This latest sea trial will involve the the first flight operations from on board the 3.1billion vessel. Hundreds of people braved the cold this lunchtime as HMS Queen Elizabeth left Portsmouth for her latest sea trial Royal Navy Merlin Mark 2 helicopters from 820 Naval Aviation Squadron landed on the vessel's four-acre flight deck today They are joined by a pair of twin rotor CH-47 Chinooks which will also train onboard HMS Queen Elizabeth this month The trial was delayed after sprinklers onboard the vessel started operating because of a computer glitch. Naval divers have also repaired a leaking stern shaft seal which began weeping during an earlier sea trial. Today's departure will see Queen Elizabeth at sea for the next month for rotary wing trials involving helicopters taking off and landing on the four-acre flight deck while at sea. There is also the possibility the vessel will visit Gibraltar during this sea trial. Later this year, the UK's F-35s, the world's most advanced fighter jet, will undertake flight trials from the deck of the aircraft carrier while it is at sea off the east coast of the US. The UK is currently embarked on a 9.1 billion programme to buy 48 by 2025 of the F-35Bs from American aviation giant Lockheed Martin. Britain currently has 14 of the warplanes being tested and flown in the US. The two Chinooks are from the Aircraft Test and Evaluation facility at MOD Boscombe Down. The four aircraft will all be carrying specialist testing equipment. Queen Elizabeth's departure had been slightly delayed after a technical glitch with its computerised sprinkler system Helicopters will operate from the vessel's four-acre flight deck over the next month to train alongside her crew HMS Queen Elizabeth, pictured, will spend the next month performing flight operations with four helicopters The carrier's commander Captain Jerry Kyd said: 'After the excitement of our commissioning ceremony in December, my ships company and our industry partners are looking forward to taking the ship to sea to conduct first of class rotary wing flying trials. 'These trials will involve operating different types of helicopter from the ship in all weather conditions and fully testing the myriad of on board systems that are designed to support aviation. This is an important milestone in the ships progression towards embarking the F35-B Lightning jets later this year, and ultimately the achievement of carrier strike capability.' The Chinooks also carried Royal Navy, Royal Marines and Royal Air Force personnel. This sea trial will test the ability of the helicopter crews to operate during different conditions The Queen Elizabeth, pictured, may pay a visit to Gibraltar during its month-long sea trial Commander Matt Grindon, Royal Navy co-pilot of one of the aircraft said: 'It is a tremendous honour to have been part of the first deck landing on HMS Queen Elizabeth by Chinook. 'I am really looking forward to the opportunity to take part in the forthcoming trials. I have landed on previous carriers, but this flight deck is so much bigger it certainly made for an easy landing on a very impressive ship.' According to the Royal Navy, the trials will assess the conditions which the aircraft can safely operate while at sea. A spokesperson said: 'They will collect data about the landings, take-offs and manoeuvres in different wind and sea conditions, before processing the information and ultimately declaring that the ship can safely operate the aircraft.' HMS Queen Elisabeth may stop in Gibraltar during her latest month-long sea trial HMS Ocean, right, arrived in Portsmouth head of Queen Elizabeth's departure this lunch time The massive aircraft carrier was escorted from its berth by several tugs until she reached open water Helicopters will take off and land on Queen Elizabeth's four-acre flight deck during this latest month-long sea trial President Donald Trump's approval rating jumped to a seven-month high on Friday following a State of the Union address that was widely received as a success. The Rasmussen Reports daily tracking poll shows 49 per cent of likely U.S. voters believe Trump is doing a good job in the White House. The same number disagree. The last Time the poll put Trump's number so high was in mid-June of last year. The 49 per cent number puts him above his performance level in the 2016 election, when 46.1 per cent of voters chose him over Hillary Clinton and a handful of minor candidates. President Donald Trump's approval rating is up to 49 per cent in a new Rasmussen poll, his best showing since last June Rasmussen also calculates an 'approval index' based on the numbers of voters who say they 'strongly' approve of disapprove of the president. Thirty-five per cent were in the 'strongly approve' column, and 38 per cent told pollsters they 'strongly disapprove' of Trump. The difference, -3, is Trump's best showing since the beginning of March 2017. The Rasmussen poll shows a spike this week (at right), the highest level in more than seven months Rasmussen was among the few national polls that accurately predicted the election outcome which vaulted Trump to power. Unlike other polls that ask questions in live telephone interviews, it relies on push-button phone calls meaning voters who like Trump's performance in office aren't required to say so out loud to another person. Some political scientists have called the result 'The Trump Effect,' a phenomenon that explained how social distaste for the president might depress his numbers in polls that use live operators. The 49 per cent number puts him above his performance level on Election Day in 2016, when 46.1 per cent of voters picked him The poll also measures an 'approval index' which now shows only a 3-point gap between voters who 'strongly disapprove' and 'strongly approve of the president It's possible that Monday's overall approval will climb even higher than 49 per cent. The Rasmussen poll is a three-day rolling average published on weekdays; Friday's release only includes two days' polling after Trump's State of the Union triumph. A CBS poll conducted Tuesday evening showed that 75 per cent of Americans who watched the speech liked what they heard. Earlier in the week when Rasmussen asked voters whether Trump would keep the promises he made in his address, a majority said he was more likely to do so than other presidents. Argentinian police are seeking big game shooter Jorge Nestor Noya after discovering the bodies of two pumas in a freezer at one of his reservations Police are hunting an Argentinian big game shooter after discovering the bodies of prohibited animals during raids on his reserves. Officers found the bodies of two pumas stuffed into a freezer at a reserve belonging to Jorge Nestor Noya in the province of Santa Domingo. Three out of four of Noya's reserves were raided, during which officers found more than 100 animal trophies and pieces of taxidermy. The living room of one property was flanked by two elephant tusks measuring more than 1.5m (5ft) tall alongside a full family of deer, that were also stuffed. At a second property officers found South African springbok, oryx and impala, the skin of zebra, and a stuffed elephant's foot, as well as a marsh deer, which is an endangered species, Infobae reports. In a third property was tapir taxidermy, lizard leather, coat hangers made with deer antlers, puma skulls, pieces of dik-dik deer, and skulls of 18 peccaries, a kind of hog. The remains of the pumas, which are illegal to hunt, were discovered during a raid this week after officers were given a tip-off Also on the wall of one of the reservations was a full elephant's head complete with tusks There was even a whole elephant head, complete with tusks, hanging from the wall, and a golden cardinal, one of Argentina's most endangered birds. More than three thousand shotgun shells were also retrieved from the properties. Noya was not arrested because he was not at home at the time. When questioned by reporters, Noya's wife said: 'Jorge is travelling.' Noya owns four hunting reserves across Argentina. He offers clients the possibility to hunt water buffalo and deer, guaranteeing a 'trophy' on every trip. Clients are offered all-inclusive stays, and Noya's company, Caza & Safaris, even offer optional chartered flights to the reserves. In the living room of the property were two more tusks, each measuring 5ft high, along with a family of deer arranged in a diorama Officers found a total of 100 trophies and pieces of animals across the three properties, including coat hangars made from deer horns Included in the haul were taxidermy elephant feet and the heads of springbok, oryx and impala The raid came after a year-long police investigation, which involved surveillance and the use of drones to check which animals were being kept in the reserves. Having the bodies of the pumas violates wildlife protection law in Argentina. Federal judge Guillermo Molinari began the investigation over one year ago after receiving a tip-off from a member of the public. The Federal Police will continue with their investigation along with the Operational Division of the Department of Environmental Crimes. Noya was not at home during the raids and is now being sought by officers. His wife told reporters that he was 'traveling' A couple who booked a luxury one-night stay at a world-famous Champneys spa resort were horrified to find filthy conditions which ruined their stay. Claire Goodwin-Hill and husband James booked the night away expecting to be relaxing in the lap of luxury and surrounded by sumptuous decor for the restorative break. The couple booked the luxury accommodation after an emotionally charged Christmas period where 34-year-old Mrs Goodwin-Hill's grandfather died, and her pet dog was put to sleep. Claire Goodwin-Hill and husband James (pictured left), booked the night away expecting to be relaxing in the lap of luxury at a Champney's spa in Kent (right), but were left hugely disappointed The couple were greeted with peeling wallpaper when they got to their room for their 750 getaway at Champneys spa The pair booked the luxury accommodation after a difficult Christmas period where 34-year-old Mrs Goodwin-Hill's grandfather died, and her pet dog was put to sleep Booking a series of treatments and dinner at the Eastwell Manor in Ashford, Kent, the couple arrived on Saturday only to be shown to a room that was not in keeping with the glossy photographs on the spa website. Mrs Goodwin-Hill said: 'We decided that this would be our New Year's Eve as the past few months had been tough and we treated ourselves and booked the treatments that we wanted. 'But when we got to the room it was really dirty. The sofa, armchair, bed, curtains and carpet were filthy and stained,' said Mrs Goodwin-Hill. 'The sofa, armchair, bed, curtains and carpet were filthy and stained': Mrs Goodwin-Hill and her husband booked the trip after a difficult time when she had lost her grandfather and her dog The stains on the carpeted floor. Mrs Goodwin-Hill said: 'We decided that this would be our New Year's Eve as the past few months had been tough and we treated ourselves' 'Paintwork was peeling off the ceilings in several places, the grouting around the bath was badly repaired and dirty and the ripped curtains were not hung properly. My husband actually re-hung them so the daylight didn't come in over the top of them. There was thick dust on the pole.' Other problems with the room included wallpaper peeling off, a discoloured mattress and light bulbs not working. Mrs Goodwin-Hill, an account manager in the facilities industry, said she was very aware that older materials could be hard to clean but that it could be done and it appeared the room had not been deep cleaned for a long time. The curtains in the room were ripped and not hung properly, and there was a 'thick layer of dust on the pole' Wallpaper peeling off the wall at the luxury spa getaway at the Eastwell Manor in Ashford, Kent The bathroom in the couple's room. Disappointed Mrs Goodwin-Hill said: 'The grouting around the bath was badly repaired' Mrs Goodwin-Hill, an account manager in the facilities industry, said she was very aware that older materials could be hard to clean but that it could be done and it appeared the room had not been deep cleaned for a long time In addition to a cold hydropool and very little seating in the spa area to relax in, there were not enough locker keys to be handed out to guests with male member of staff having to go into a unisex changing room to lock personal items away. Mrs Goodwin-Hill said: 'This was fine until we finished our treatments at the end of the day and there was a lady getting changed in there who didn't want men - my husband or one of the waiters who was needed to unlock the locker in there. We had to get a waiter from the restaurant as there was no-one on reception. She added that other areas of the spa were not of a high standard she was used to, compared with ones near her home in Wokingham, Berkshire. Peeling paint on the ceiling. Mrs Goodwin-Hill said that other areas of the spa were not of a high standard she was used to The 34-year-old admitted that the food was 'exceptional' and the treatments were top notch at the manor 'In total the bill came to 750 pounds - you can get a whole week in Dubai per person for that,' said Mrs Goodwin-Hill. She admitted that the food was 'exceptional' and the treatments were top notch at the manor but said she did not get a reasonable response when she asked to speak to a manager about the room with an offer of just 10 per cent taken off the total bill. A spokesman for Champneys said that the couple stayed in one of the rooms which was yet to be updated after the company bought the manor in November 2016. A spokesperson said: 'We would like to apologise that we did not meet the expected standards on this occasion' A stained and grimy shaving socket at the luxury Kent spa, where the couple had booked as a treat after a difficult Christmas period 'We are sorry that Ms Goodwin-Hill was disappointed with her recent visit to Eastwell Manor,' said the spokesman. 'The hotel is currently undergoing a huge renovation programme since Champneys purchased it from the previous owner in November 2016, including the total refurbishment of the bedrooms. 'Ms Goodwin-Hill was staying in one of the non-refurbished rooms which does display signs of age, but will be updated to Champneys high standards over the coming months, as are all the bedrooms in the hotel. 'We would like to apologise that we did not meet the expected standards on this occasion.' A warring couple locked in what has been dubbed 'Britain's most toxic divorce' have spent a third of their wealth on the long-running legal battle. A judge said Barbara Cooke, 58, and Michael Parker, 55, have 'completely lost touch with reality' as they slug it out over an estimated 6.6million fortune. Mr Justice Holman said the dispute is a 'scandalous waste of court time' and urged them to settle the case before more of their money is gone. The couple are behind a Buckinghamshire-based firm who provide luxury bathrobes and towels to top hotels and spas across the UK and Europe. Michael Parker and Barbara Cooke have spent a third of their wealth fighting what has been dubbed 'Britain's most toxic divorce' A High Court judge previously ruled the businessman arranged for his wife's 1million house to be burned in a failed insurance job in 2009. No criminal prosecution was brought and Mrs Cooke, who was found to have had no part in either the arson or the fraud, walked out on her husband shortly after a ruling on the fire in 2012. They have since been battling over assets estimated to be worth 6.6million. At a hearing of the Family Division of the High Court today, Mr Justice Holman said the couple were heading for a 'catastrophe' and urged them to negotiate. 'They have spent a third of their wealth,' he said. 'These people have completely lost touch with reality. I don't know where the responsibility lies. It's probably shared.' The couple's marriage fell apart after fire hit their home and Mr Parker was later blamed The judge estimated that about another 200,000 would be spent on lawyers if agreement was not reached and a trial took place. The pair first met when Mrs Cookes sons were at the same school as Mr Parkers sons. Both Mrs Cooke and Mr Parkers marriages had recently ended and they began a relationship in 2004. The couple once shared a house has its own gym and a heated pool, which Mr Parker named after Mrs Cooke She later moved into his state-of-the-art seven-bedroom home complete with library, swimming pool, cinema, six-car garage block and detached staff bungalow, and both had high-flying business careers. Property developer Mr Parker also ran a company specialising in equipment for obesity surgery, while his wife supplied luxury towels. But after the fire at Mrs Cooke's 1million bungalow in 2009, the marriage fell apart. A judge found that, on the balance of probabilities, there was no explanation for the fire 'other than it was set by persons on the direction of Mr Parker'. They are now arguing over the towel company BC Softwear. Mr Parker insists it was a family business, while a source close to Mrs Cooke has previous said she insists she built it up. Louise Edwards has been jailed for three years after blackmailing her ex-husband Christopher Gash A piano teacher who attempted to blackmail her ex-husband out of 100,000 and threatened to burn down his house has been jailed for three years. Louise Edwards waged a bitter campaign against Christopher Gash because she felt 'cheated' after their acrimonious divorce ten years ago. In the settlement she was awarded their matrimonial home, a holiday home in Porthmadog, Wales and a BMW. Mr Gash, a builder, kept a plot of land at Ruabon and his Ferrari. The 46-year-old piano tutor and bank worker enlisted three accomplices in a bid to blackmail him out of 100,000, a court heard. The mother-of-two and three men subjected Mr Gash to a terrifying plot, and he and his family were forced to move home as they feared for their lives. They phoned Mr Gash and told him they knew where his children went to school and what car his wife drove. They also threatened to burn down his home and workplace. Edwards and her accomplices Neil Houghton, 43, from Liverpool, Clay McGowan, 42, from Runcorn and Robert Gladwin, 43, from the Wirral, all denied blackmail. But after a six-day trial at Caernarfon Crown Court in December, a jury unanimously found them guilty of the charge. The four showed no emotion as Judge Huw Rees handed down sentence today, but members of the defendants' families were in tears in the public gallery. Robert Gladwin, 43, from the Wirral (left) and Neil Houghton, 43, (right) from Liverpool were also jailed for three years for their part in the plot Clay McGowan, 42, from Runcorn (left), denied blackmail but was jailed alongside Edwards (right) The judge described Gladwin as a 'facilitator' and the other men as ready to assist. He told her: 'You had tasted the good life when you were with your husband and out of sheer greed you wanted some more.' Edwards believed Mr Gash had cheated her out of money from a land sale by not disclosing the sum to court authorities during the divorce process. She went police in 2012 and accused him of committing a fraudulent act, but she was advised it was a civil matter and told officers would not be investigating. The jury heard how Neil Houghton and Clay McGowan turned up at Mr Gash's workplace in November 2015 and threatened him. They gave him 24 hours to pay 100,000 or they would burn his house down. They then rang him and made more threats from a Liverpool phone box, before police moved him and his family into a safe house for several days. In a victim statement Mr Gash said was left 'nervous and anxious' and suffered financially, losing tens of thousands of pounds as a result of the plot. Clay McGowan (right) turned up at Mr Gash's workplace along with Neil Houghton in November 2015 and threatened him After the call from the Liverpool phone box, Neil Houghton rang Robert Gladwin who said he had been told by Edwards about threatening letters and was advising her of security steps, the court heard. He later claimed Houghton and McGowan were simply carrying out 'background checks' on Mr Gash. In addition to the jail term, Edwards was handed an indefinite restraining order preventing her from contacting Mr Gash by any means. Brett Williamson, for Edwards, described the offence as a 'true aberration of her character'. He said: 'Those who know her are most surprised at her involvement in this matter.' He noted it was a case where no actual violence had been used and the matter only lasted a short period. Robert Gladwin, an Airbus worker who also ran a security business, 'had to take morphine' after his health 'collapsed' during the case, his lawyer told the court The defence for Neil Houghton (pictured) said there had been a 'lack of sophistication and no violence was used' Trevor Parry-Jones, for Gladwin, said his client 'bitterly regretted' his actions. Mr Jones also described the crime 'as almost a comedy of errors.' Mr Parry-Jones asked the judge to bear in mind Gladwin's poor health when sentencing. Barristers for McGowan and Houghton said both were 'hard working, industrious family men'. It was accepted they would not be able to work in the security business in future. As he jailed the gang to three years in jail, the judge told them: 'Although you played different roles the four of you were in this together, each played an effective part. I see no basis to differentiate between you.' Sudip Sarker (pictured) has been convicted of fraud after lying to a panel of experts so he could land a lucrative job A surgeon has been convicted of fraud after he lied about the number of operations he had completed by himself so he could land a 74,000-a-year hospital job. Sudip Sarker duped an panel of experts by telling them he had performed 51 out of 85 keyhole operations while working solo, when in fact he had only completed six. As a result of his deception, Sarker got a lucrative job with Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, working at the Alexandra Hospital in Redditch, on a salary band advertised between 74,000-100,000 a year. But on starting the role in August 2011 and tasked with helping build a surgical team, he struggled with the responsibilities of the position and ceased practising in July 2012. A court heard how another candidate, from Australia, had performed 35 laparoscopic procedures but was rejected in favour of the fraudster. At his Worcester Crown Court trial, Sarker, 48, denied lying to get the job, telling the jury he had taken a 'guesstimate' at how many procedures he had carried out. He was convicted by the jury on Friday in less than two hours, with Judge Robert Juckes QC lifting legal restrictions so the trial could be reported for the first time. Prosecutor Jacob Hallam said: 'In truth, he had performed perhaps six of these operations independently. 'His assertion was a lie, told to further his own career. And it worked. He got the job. 'There is no dispute that the defendant struggled with the job he had obtained, and he subsequently ceased to practice as a doctor in 2012. 'A review of the defendant's work was carried out by medical bodies and then finally by the police. The jury at Worcester Crown Court took just two hours to convict Sudip Sarker of fraud after her lied to a panel of experts to get a lucrative job 'The defendant was first interviewed by the police under caution on the 18th September 2015. 'He said that he did not consider himself an expert in laparoscopic surgery. 'When asked why he had applied for a job that required expertise, he suggested that having expertise was different to being an expert.' In evidence, Sarker, who graduated in medicine from Glasgow University and worked previously at the Royal Free Hospital and Whittington Hospital, London, claimed he was 'very nervous' ahead of his job interview. Sarker (pictured last January) said he had performed 51 out of 85 keyhole operations while working solo, when in fact he had only completed six He said that in preparation, he refreshed his memory about his 26 years of clinical expertise by 'quickly' looking in his professional logbook 'just to see some numbers'. Sarker, of Botany Road, Broadstairs, in Kent, claimed to have simply 'misunderstood' the question when asked how many keyhole surgeries he had performed. Instead, he told the panel, including senior medics, he had performed 85 keyhole - or laparoscopic - sigmoid colectomies, either by himself or assisting other surgeons. Under cross-examination, Jacob Hallam QC, prosecuting, asked: 'You did English, maths, chemistry, biology and physics Scottish Higher qualifications. 'Then you went to do medicine at university, and then a PhD. 'But you didn't understand the question that you were being asked?' Sarker replied: 'The figures I gave reflected both open surgery and laparoscopic (procedures).' The Crown QC asked: 'As a doctor, you know it's important to be honest about your experience and qualifications - part of that is accuracy. Sarker is to be sentenced on Monday with a spokesman for Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust saying they welcome today's verdict 'You would have known the figures you were giving, even on your version of events, were not accurate - they weren't precise?' Sarker replied: 'It was a guesstimate.' A spokesman for Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust said: 'Mr Sarker worked at the Trust for 14 months, until his suspension in October 2012, which led to his later dismissal. 'We have co-operated fully with West Mercia Police throughout their investigation and welcome today's verdict.' Sarker, who graduated in medicine from Glasgow University and worked previously at two hospitals in London, will be sentenced on Monday. A German couple have won a landmark court victory to silence Islamic calls to prayer from a mosque almost a mile from their home. And the decision to stop the use of a loudspeaker being used to summon the faithful was not based on noise levels, but on its rightful place in a Christian community. Authorities in the town of Oer-Erkenschwick in the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia granted the local mosque the right to use the loudspeakers for Friday prayers in 2014. The following year, Hans-Joachim Lehmann, 69, and his wife - who live nearly 1km (0.62miles) away, won an injunction. A German couple have won a landmark court victory to silence Islamic calls to prayer from a mosque almost a mile from their home. Above, the Administrative Court of Gelsenkirchen The local Christian couple had argued that the call to prayers violated their own religious rights. But the Mu'adhin - the person appointed to lead and recite the call to prayer - continued his work. On Thursday, the Administrative Court of Gelsenkirchen finally ruled they had to cease. It found the town had not assessed the local Muslim community's request properly in 2013, but a court spokesman said on Friday that this did not prevent the mosque making a new application. 'It's a singsong in a key that's annoying for us. But we are mainly concerned with the content of the call,' Mr Lehman said. 'This represents Allah over our God of Christians. And I cannot accept that as a Christian who grew up here in a Christian environment.' His lawyer told the court: 'The prayer, the Adhan, contains phrases like: 'Allah is great. I testify that there is no deity but Allah.' This is an exclusively Islamic claim at the expense of other religions.' A representative of the local council refused to revoke the permit and instead claimed 'socio-critical and political motives' were at play in the complaint. It refused a request by the judge to sit down and talk with Mr Lehman and others who backed him. Because 'nothing had been researched on the ground' in terms of how the loudspeaker calls to prayer affected people, the judge in the case decided to revoke its right to summon the faithful in such a manner. It is understood to be the first such ruling of its kind in Germany which is home to millions of Muslims and numerous mosques that use loudspeaker systems to call people to worship. Huseyin Turgut, a senior official with the affected mosque, said the court's decision was disappointing. 'The call to prayer lasts for two minutes, just around 1pm, but only on Fridays,' he said. 'We've never had any complaints and we have German neighbours who are much closer - just 10 metres away.' Anti-Muslim sentiment and support for anti-immigration policies are growing in many parts of Germany after the influx of well over a million migrants from Iraq, Syria and other mostly Muslim countries, beginning in 2015. Advertisement A striking collection of colourised photographs from the Battle of Stalingrad (1942-1943) reveal the intense brutality of one of the Second World War's most pivotal military events. The pictures render the critical confrontation between Nazi and Soviet Union troops with a new, vivid immediacy. The battle for Stalingrad was a major turning point of the Second World War. The German invasion of Russia began in 1941. Codenamed Operation Barbarossa, the Wehrmacht forced eastward into the Soviet Union. Their momentum seemed to only grow: after taking the Crimea, German forces lay siege to Leningrad - now St Petersberg. Felling victory was close, Hitler ordered General Freidrich Paulus, a mid ranking staff officer eager to prove himself as a military leader, to march on a major city on the river Volga - Stalingrad. To take the city named after the Soviet dictator Stalin would be a symbolic victory. When the Soviet forces finally broke through the German ranks in 1943 they left behind a city in ruins. These colourised photos depict that city - left hollow after five months of constant shelling, fire and famine. This photo, originally from the German Federal Archive, shows a skirmish in the street against the backdrop of a burning apartment block In Washington and London, leaders wondered gloomily how long the Russians could stave off absolute defeat after the Germans launched their invasion of the Soviet Union. In the spring of 1942, Hitler's legions drove deeper into the Russian heartland, besieging St Petersburg, over-running the Crimea, and threatening the oilfields of the Caucasus A Russian soldier, armed with a PPSh-41 submachine gun, stands guard over wounded German solider. The down-trodden prisoner-of-war has a bloodied face. The photo, originally from the German Federal Archive is thought to have been taken in January 1943, in the final weeks of the Stalingrad onslaught Northwest of Stalingrad, tank borne infantry leap from their carriers to attack Nazi troops on the retreat. After five months of defensive maneuvering the Red Army leaped into action in January 1943 and began to push back against the German 6th Army. Tanks were as useful as moving cover as they were for their offensive capabilities Hitler proclaimed that after Stalingrad's capture, its male citizens were to be killed and all women and children were to be deported. His justification: its population was 'thoroughly communistic' and 'especially dangerous'. In fact, Stalingrad was not a large city, nor a especially influential one. A 1939 census indicated a population of 445,000. By 1921, however, Stalingrad's population had swollen with the arrival of refugees fleeing the Wehrmacht. As many as two million men died during the confrontation, which lasted five months, one week and three days. Much of the fighting was done in close quarters, with men at time using bayonets and their bare hands to repel the enemy. The Nazis suffered 728,000 casualties and the Soviets over a million in gruesome street fighting that descended into savagery and starvation as soldiers fought hand-to-hand and froze in the Russian winter. Political officers assigned to the Red Army boosted fighting morale by convincing the ordinary soldier that their's was a struggle for the civilians behind the lines who the Nazis wanted to enslave. Pictured: a Russian officer leading an offensive armed with a pistol The Fuhrer was convinced the Russians were at their last gasp. He was exultant when in June 'Operation Blue' enabled his armies to occupy new swathes of central Russia The first German air attacks killed between 10,000 and 40,000 people almost as many as died in the entire London blitz. Shellfire and bombs rained down on the city, day after day and week upon week The sniper Anatoly Chechov told of his despair when he shot his first German. He said: 'I felt terrible. I had killed a human being. But then I thought of our people - and I started to mercilessly fire on them. I've become a barbaric person, I kill them. I hate them.' When he was interviewed, he had already killed 40 Germans - most of them with a shot to the head. Pictured: a Russian sniper There are images that show whole districts of the city ablaze, as soldiers fight in close quarters in the street below. A young sniper, apparently still in his teens, grips his sniper rifle as he glances down the barrel ready to fire. In another, a group of Russians take cover in a ditch created by the incessant German shelling, using a tank for extra cover. Some of colourised photos are taken from a Nazi propaganda film and show German 'victories'. Others depict Russian triumphs. In one a captured Nazi, his face bloodied, kneels as a Russian soldier looms over him. Many of the other photos show Stalingrad in the grip of non-stop German shelling. Streets are lined with derelict, crumpled buildings, many of which are seen smoldering. What happened at the Battle of Stalingrad? The battle for Stalingrad was the turning point of the Second World War. After the German invasion of Russia codenamed Operation Barbarossa, which began in June 1941 the Wehrmacht continued to head eastward, destroying whole Soviet armies and capturing two million prisoners, most of whom they starved to death. In Washington and London, leaders wondered gloomily how long the Russians could stave off absolute defeat. In the spring of 1942, Hitler's legions drove deeper into the Russian heartland, besieging St Petersburg, over-running the Crimea, and threatening the oilfields of the Caucasus. German soldiers use the evening light to approach a Russian outpost on the outskirts of Stalingrad The Fuhrer was convinced the Russians were at their last gasp. He was exultant when in June 'Operation Blue' enabled his armies to occupy new swathes of central Russia. Scenting final victory, Hitler deputed General Friedrich Paulus, a staff officer eager to prove himself as a fighting commander, to lead a dash for the city on the Volga that was named after Stalin, and secure a symbolic triumph, while another German army group swung southwards to grab the oilfields. Hitler's top soldiers were appalled by the perils of splitting the Wehrmacht merely to capture Stalingrad, which was strategically unimportant. Their protests were ignored: the Fuhrer insisted. Likewise in Moscow, when the German objective became plain, Russia's dictator Josef Stalin gave the order that 'his' city must be held at any cost. Thus the stage was set for one of history's most terrible clashes of arms, in which on the two sides more than a million men became locked in strife between the autumn of 1942 and the following spring. On September 12, the first German troops entered Stalingrad. From the Kremlin came a new order to the Red Army: 'Not a step back . . . The only extenuating circumstance is death.' The first German air attacks killed between 10,000 and 40,000 people almost as many as died in the entire London blitz. Shellfire and bombs rained down on the city, day after day and week upon week. Stuka pilot Herbert Pabst wrote: 'It is incomprehensible to me how people can continue to live in that hell, but the Russians are firmly established in the wreckage, in ravines, cellars, and in a chaos of twisted skeletons of factories'. Two German soldiers hold their ground and take cover as they fire from a derelict building General Vasily Chuikov, commanding Stalin's 62nd Army in the city, wrote: 'The streets of the city are dead. There is not a single green twig on the trees; everything has perished in the flames.' The Russians initially held a perimeter 30 miles by 18, which shrank relentlessly as Paulus's men thrust forward to within a few hundred yards of the Volga. Each night, up to three thousand Russian wounded were ferried eastward from the city, while a matching stream of reinforcements, ammunition and supplies reached the defenders. New units were thrust into the battle as fast as they arrived, to join duels in the ruins that often became hand-to-hand death grapples. Both sides were chronically short of food and water. The few surviving civilians suffered terribly, eking a troglodyte existence in cellars. Some soldiers were reduced to cannibalism in order to stay alive in the ruins of the city as the mercury plunged to -40C. The bloodiest battle in Second World War came to an end on January 31, 1943 when Field Marshall Paulus surrendered, disobeying the orders of his Fuhrer to kill himself. Of the 110,000 Germans who surrendered, only 5,000 would survive Stalin's gulags to return to a defeated Germany. The battle cost the German army a quarter of everything it possessed by way of material - guns, tanks and munitions. It was a defeat from which it never recovered and for days afterwards in Berlin all shops and restaurants were closed as a mark of respect. Advertisement A long and harsh Winter followed, stretching suppliy chains on both sides. But with scant munitions and food, the city held out against the Nazi forces. In January 1943 Soviet forces launched a decisive push back, decimating the German 6th Army and expelling German forces from the Caucasus, reversing their gains from the first Summer of Operation Barbarossa. German troops of Marshal Friedrich Paulus eventually capitulated on February 2, 1943, in the first surrender by the Nazis since the war began. Paulus was captured alive and became a critic of the Nazi regime. In 1944 the Allies invaded France and forced the Germans to retreat from the west. Later, on February 2, 1943, the Axis armies would be forced to surrender. These striking photos comes just as Russia celebrates 75 years since the culmination of that cruel conflict. The battle cost the German army a quarter of everything it possessed by way of material - guns, tanks and munitions. It was a defeat from which it never recovered German Air Force troops armed with MP 40 submachine guns would secure areas taken by regular Army troops. When the Wehrmacht were on the offensive the Air Force was responsible for consolidating territory. Here, heavily armed troopers can be seen searching through bombed out houses Some soldiers were reduced to cannibalism in order to stay alive in the ruins of Stalingrad as the mercury plunged to -40C Both sides were chronically short of food and water. The few surviving civilians suffered terribly, eking a troglodyte existence in cellars Initially, the German forces were bolstered by 3,000 artillery pieces which they used to bombard the city German soldiers carrying a MG 34 machine gun prepare to assault a Soviet position in Stalingrad. The can be seen wearing Stahlhelm - German for 'steel helmet'. These became standard issue during World War 1 when the Imperial German Army began to replace the traditional boiled leather Pickelhaube (spiked combat helmet) in 1916 The city's famous fountain - 'Children dance' - was at the time situated on the Station Square. Here it is seen against the backdrop of a burning municipal building in the aftermath of a Nazi air raid A lone German lieutenant sits among the ruins of a Stalingrad factory. On August 23rd 1942, the German 16th were tasked with destroying the Stalingrad Tractor Factory - which had been refitted to manufacture tanks History brought to life: How colouriser Royston Leonard restored the black and white photos Colouriser Royston Leonard, 55, from Cardiff spent hours painstakingly restoring the photos to colour. He says that the battle brings to mind a certain 'never-say-die' attitude that was pivotal in shifting the momentum on the eastern front. 'The photos show the Russians starting to fight back, holding their ground in their city, and most importantly never giving up hope,' he says. 'This battle within that city was the turning point in the war on the eastern front, and showed the world that Stalingrad was a city that did not give up even when they had almost nothing left to fight with. 'The whole thing took me about two weeks to complete, mostly working in the evenings. The poor quality of the photos made some very hard to work with, but when you look at the finished product I think it's all worthwhile.' Advertisement No longer called Stalingrad, Volgograd was the site of a major celebration this week. The Battle of Stalingrad is now extolled as a symbol of the country's resilience at a time when President Vladimir Putin campaigns for his fourth term. Putin flew to Volgograd, the current name of the city, which staged a military parade involving about 1,500 troops, armoured vehicles and jets flying over a crowd of spectators bundled up to protect against the sub-zero temperatures. 'There was no other such battle in the history of mankind,' Putin told a crowd of veterans he met at the Volgograd philharmonic for a concert commemorating the event. 'The unified resistance and readiness for self-sacrifice were truly undefeatable, incomprehensible and frightful for the enemy.' 'Defenders of Stalingrad have passed a great heritage to us: love for the Motherland, readiness to protect its interests and independence, to stand strong in the face of any test,' he said, calling on Russians to measure up to their ancestors' example. Volgograd is now a city of one million and one of the poorest in Russia. Putin's posse: Russian president poses with women dressed in historic Red Army uniforms as he marks the 75th anniversary the Battle of Stalingrad Vladimir Putin today presided over a number of commemorations ceremonies marking the 75th anniversary of the end of the Battle of Stalingrad during World War II. Putin flew to Volgograd, the current name of the city, where he laid flowers and a wreath at the city's war memorial Mamayev Kurgan, as well as posed with a group of young women dressed in historic World War II-era uniforms. He also attended a military parade in Volgograd, involving about 1,500 troops, armoured vehicles and jets flying over a crowd of spectators bundled up to protect against the sub-zero temperatures. 'There was no other such battle in the history of mankind,' Putin told a crowd of veterans he met at the Volgograd philharmonic for a concert commemorating the event. President Vladimir Putin, center, poses for a picture alongside women dressed in historic Red Army uniforms during commemorations of the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Stalingrad, in the southern Russian city of Volgograd In honour: Young women dressed in the uniforms of World War II-era traffic control officers are lined up during a wreath-laying ceremony at the Mamayev Kurgan memorial complex in Volgograd attended by President Putin Remembrance: President Putin lays flowers at the grave of Soviet Marshal Vasily Chuikov at the Mamayev Kurgan memorial complex commemorating the Battle of Stalingrad 'The unified resistance and readiness for self-sacrifice were truly undefeatable, incomprehensible and frightful for the enemy.' 'Defenders of Stalingrad have passed a great heritage to us: love for the Motherland, readiness to protect its interests and independence, to stand strong in the face of any test,' he said, calling on Russians to measure up to their ancestors' example. To mark the occasion, traffic controllers in the city of a million people, one of the poorest in Russia, were dressed in Red Army winter uniforms, complete with felt boots. Viktoria Rybakova, a 31-year-old dancer performing in the concert, said: 'In everyone, there is gratitude for our future, for the fact that we are living today.' Soviet victory and sacrifice in the war has been increasingly upheld by Moscow in recent years to stoke patriotism, which 'has practically become a state ideology,' said political analyst Konstantin Kalachev. Moscow needs positive symbols while ties with the West are at a post-Cold War low, so dates like war victory anniversaries are used to 'promote the image of a country capable of accomplishments and defeating all of its enemies,' Kalachev said. Paying respects: Russian President Vladimir Putin holds a bunch of red roses as he attends a wreath laying ceremony at the eternal flame during an event to commemorate the 75th anniversary Pride: Putin later told a crowd of veterans that there has been 'no other such battle in the history of mankind' United Airlines have announced changes to their policy on comfort animals after a passenger last weekend attempted to board an internal flight with a peacock named Dexter. The changes - similar to those made by Delta Air Lines - will require owners to confirm that their animal is trained to behave in public, in addition to having a vaccination form signed by a veterinarian, CBS News reported. The vet will have to confirm that the animal is not a health or safety threat to other people. Scroll down for video Fowl play: This is Dexter the peacock, whose owner, a Brooklyn artist, attempted to take him on board a United Airlines flight as an emotional support animal - but was denied United says that it has witnessed a 75 percent year-over-year increase in customers bringing emotional support animals on board In last weekend's incident a prominent Brooklyn artist ruffled feathers at Newark Liberty International Airport when she was refused permission to board a United Airlines flight to Los Angeles with Dexter, her emotional support animal. The passenger, identified by DailyMail.com as the critically acclaimed Bushwick-based photographer and performance artist Ventiko, reportedly offered to pay for a second seat to accommodate Dexter. She is said to have argued that she had a right to bring him on board as her emotional support animal. But the airline says that it has witnessed a 75 percent year-over-year increase in customers bringing emotional support animals on board, which has in turn led to a significant increase in onboard incidents involving animals. In the name of art: Ventiko told a paper in 2015 that she bought Dexter and a peahen on Craigslist to be used in her art installation in Miami 'We understand that other carriers have seen similar trends,' a United statement said. 'The Department of Transportation's rules regarding emotional support animals are not working as they were intended, and we need to change our approach in order to ensure a safe and pleasant travel experience for all of our customers.' United already bans exotic animals and non-household birds - the fact that a passenger tried to bring a peacock on board 'helped illustrate why we needed to revise our policy,' company spokesman Charles Hobart said. While guide dogs have been occasional flyers for years, there have recently been a surge of emotional-support animals. Federal regulations allow them, as long as they are not too big or exotic - but airlines can ask for a doctor's note verifying that the passenger needs the animal. Airlines are convinced that some emotional support animals abuse the rules, especially when most passengers often have to pay $125 or more each way to bring a small pet on board. The crackdown by Delta has been criticized by the Guide Dog Foundation for the Blind. It is upset that the airline will require service-dog owners to file a health form at least 48 hours before a flight. That could make emergency trips impossible. 'I don't think I've ever filled out a form for assistance. Now my animal is going to have to be verified every time,' one passenger said. Ground transportation: The peacock's owner, who calls herself Ventiko, later posted this selfie on the bird's Instagram page, posing with her family and Dexter in Indiana Creative: Ventiko, who adopted Dexter in late 2014 or early 2015, is a prominent photographer and artist living in Bushwick, Brooklyn A spokeswoman for the airline told DailyMail.com that Dexter's owner had been repeatedly told in advance that she would not be able to have the peacock accompany her on the plane. 'This animal did not meet guidelines for a number of reasons, including its weight and size,' Andrea Hiller said in a statement. 'We explained this to the customer on three separate occasions before they arrived at the airport.' According to the US Department of Transportation's policy concerning 'unusual service animals,' they should be evaluated on a case-by-case basis, and airlines are urged to consider each animal's size, weight, state and foreign country restrictions, and whether or not the animal would pose a direct threat, or cause a disruption on a flight. Feathered friend: After Dexter lost his female mate, Ventiko adopted him. She said there was an instant bond between her and the peafowl Ventiko on Sunday addressed the incident in a post on Dexter's own Instagram page, which boasts 825 followers, writing from the bird's perspective: 'spent 6 hours trying to get on my flight to LA. Tomorrow my human friends are going to drive me cross country!' On Monday, she was in Indianapolis to visit her family, who posed for a selfie with her and Dexter. In an earlier post, which included a short video of Dexter grooming his feathers, Ventiko wrote that her bird had been cleared to travel to Los Angeles with her 'to make 'Art'.' According to a 2015 profile of Ventiko published in the Bushwick Daily, she bought Dexter and a peahen named Etta through Craigslist in December 2014 for $200 because she wanted to incorporate live birds in her art installation at Select Air Fair in Miami. She told the paper that she and Dexter bonded right away -'he gave me kisses and put his head in my mouth' - but at the conclusion of the art show she handed both birds to another artist, who lived in Florida. Dexter and Etta mated and had chicks, but some time later the mom and baby birds had vanished, and Dexter turned aggressive. After learning that the peacock's new owner had him living in a garage, an outraged Ventiko said she 'had to intervene' and ended up adopting him. Avant garde: Ventiko (left and right) is a critically acclaimed artist whose works in various media have been exhibited around the world The vibrantly hued bird currently lives with the artist and her two cats in Bushwick, where she often can be seen walking Dexter on a leash. Although exact figures aren't available, airline employees say dogs and cats are the most common animals on planes, but there have been sightings of pigs, snakes and turkeys too. The airlines also complain that they have no way to verify that doctors who sign off on comfort animals are qualified to decide if someone needs the emotional support. A funeral home is under investigation for allegedly selling gold teeth taken from a dead body so the owner could go to Disneyland. Megan Hess runs both Sunset Mesa Funeral Directors and Donor Services, a company selling body parts to laboratories, out of the same building in Montrose, Colorado. It is thought to be the only case in America of a body parts broker and funeral home sharing a building. The FBI is now investigating the businesses, which have an unusually high number of complaints against them, following a report by Reuters. Megan Hess (pictured) runs both Sunset Mesa Funeral Directors and Donor Services Former employees told Reuters about some of the worrying practices at the funeral home. Kari Escher said Hess's mother, Shirley Koch, who embalmed and dismembered bodies, would allegedly pull teeth from the corpses to extract the gold in crowns or fillings. 'She showed me her collection of gold teeth one day,' said Escher, who said that Koch had told her she'd sold one batch to pay for a trip to Disneyland. She said Koch told her: 'She had sold a different batch a year prior, and they took the whole family to Disneyland in California on the gold that they cashed in.' Sunset Mesa Funeral Directors and Donor Services, a company selling body parts to laboratories, are based out of the same building in Montrose, Colorado (pictured) Hess made the process of donating easy, with a drop down option on her website Both Hess and Koch declined to speak to reporters. It is not against the law to buy or sell human body parts for scientific research and education. It is also legal for funeral homes to sell items recovered from dead bodies, such gold teeth and fillings. But it does pose an ethical problem. 'The conflict of interest of having a side business in body parts just leads to problems,' said Steve Palmer, a funeral director in Cottonwood, Arizona, and a former member of the policy board at the National Funeral Directors Association, told Reuters. 'There are no ethics there when you do that. You are not looking at the full disposition (of a body). You are looking at how to make money.' Hess would charge $1,000 for torsos, $1,200 for a pelvis and upper legs and $500 for a head, price lists showed Another ex staff member said they never heard Hess tell donors that their loved ones' bodies would be sold for profit. Colorado state funeral regulators are also investigating Sunset Mesa. A spokesman revealed the funeral home had a 'higher than average' number of complaints against it - nine open complaints currently. Hess told Reuters she took orders for body parts via Hotmail and would charge $1,000 for torsos, $1,200 for a pelvis and upper legs and $500 for a head, price lists showed. Meanwhile, the funeral home charged $695 for cremation and $1,995 for a basic burial, although if someone chose to donate the body to Donor Services, the charge was dropped to $195, according to Reuters. Hess made the process of donating easy, with a drop down option on her website. Her funeral home site listed her credentials, including a PhD in mortuary science. After being questioned by Reuters, she removed the 'Add to Cart' donation page and the mention of the mortuary science degree from her online biography. A beloved elementary school teacher in San Francisco has been arrested after authorities say he 'cradled a student over a second floor balcony.' San Francisco Police said award winning, bilingual kindergarten teacher, Andres Tobar, 47, turned himself in on Tuesday after the December 19 incident at Marshall Elementary School. He was charged with child endangerment. San Francisco School District Chief Communications Officer Gentle Blythe told KPIX Tobar 'was seen cradling a student and holding the student over the balcony on the 2nd floor of Marshall Elementary School.' Andres Tobar (pictured), a beloved and award winning bilingual kindergarten teacher was arrested Tuesday after authorities say he 'cradled a student over a second floor balcony' Parents and students were crying outside of Marshall Elementary School after learning the news of the teacher's arrest- they say he was crucial to helping families who speak Spanish communicate with the school 'The school immediately contacted the parent of the involved student and SFUSD placed Mr. Tobar on paid administrative leave while the district conducted a thorough investigation,' Blythe said. Tobar, who won the mayor's teacher of the year award for being a community liason for Latino families in 2012 and an award for teacher of the month in 2013, has left the school's community reeling. 'He is a dearly loved teacher, and this will be a real challenge for the school to overcome,' Lloyd Rath, who worked with Tobar, told the San Francisco Examiner. 'I hope that Mr. Tobar is exonerated.' Before the teacher's arrest, more than 100 families 'signed a petition in support of Tobar.' On Wednesday over 60 parents and supporters gathered outside the school to press the administation for answers and show support for Tobar. One former student, Victor Mul, 17, told the Examiner, 'He would never mistreat his students. He was just playing with the kid, like he does with all his students. He treated his students like they were his own kids.' 'We are a Latino community that is divided in so many ways. We are divided because sometimes a father is not the home because of immigration issues,' said Christine Pineda, whose husband is currently living in El Salvador. Sh e said Tobar taught her daughter last year and 'made it a point to kind of take my daughter in as his own daughter.' The language divide in Mission's School District, where 80 per cent of the families are Hispanic, is an issue within the school, according to parents. Tobar, who taught at Marshall Elementary School (pictured) for 20-years, had won awards for his teaching and being a liaison for Hispanic families in the community 'Our own principal doesn't speak Spanish. There is a big divide, and we feel like [Tobar] has been getting pushed out of the school for the last four to five years because he has a very strong presence here,' said a parent of one of the children at the school. She adds that she believes there is video of the incident. 'We want answers. We want to see the video. Our kids are traumatized. It's just a huge mess. And no one is talking to us,' she said. Tobar was released on bail and is expected in court for his arraignment on February 5. A GoFundMe has been set up to help in his defense. Advertisement A map has been produced that shows how religious people are across the United States. Compiled by Alex Egoshin of Vivid Maps, the Faithland map reveals the percentage of people in a given area that believe in a higher power. The results have been given a particular color which when projected onto a map of the country gives it a strange new typography which shows a solid strand of believers from the northern plains down through Texas with a cluster of islands in the nation's eastern half. A map shows how religious people are across the United States which reveals the percentage of people in a given area that believe in a higher power The state of Utah stands out on its own as an island in the west of the country. With more than 60% of Utah residents Mormon, it is unsurprising that the state makes up such a large contiguous area of red. In the northeast of the country, the tri-state area appears to be relatively religious with the region hovering around 50-60% of residents believing in a deity. In the south east, Florida, perhaps surprisingly, seems to have very few believers of of any one religion with the state polling in the low 30s. The northeast of the country has a few centers of region including the tri-state area in the top right, yet West Virginia, center, seems to have remarkably few religious followers Jesus is alive, but it depends where you look. There are huge discrepancies across the country when it comes to religious devotion In the Midwest and especially in the north plains, observance heads up into the mid-70s to low-80s with the Dakotas showing to be strongly religious. The nation's heartland essentially make up the backbone of the country with the belief in God stretching from the Canadian border all the way through to the Gulf of Mexico. As one moves further west, Godliness begins to fall with a small patch of religiosity in central California and almost zero religious observance along the border with Oregon. There are some surprises however with West Virginia and eastern Kentucky that are depicted in a deep blue color suggesting that they are among the least religious places in the country. However one correspondent on Reddit explained the strange depiction as a result of the map being based upon the attendance of religious services. 'Lots of rural Americans self-identify as Christian, and often evangelical, but almost never actually go to church. It goes against stereotypes, but suburban/urban and middle/upper-class self-identified Christians are more diligent churchgoers than rural and poor self-identified Christians are,' they wrote online. Utah stands out like an island in a sea of non-believers thanks to the devout following of Mormons. 61% of Utahns are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Religion seems to straddle the country like a backbone as cities and states show religious oberserance from the northern plains down to the Gulf of Mexico and Great State of Texas Analyzing congregations, members, adherents and attendance, the study found of metropolitan areas, having over one million residents, Utah's Salt Lake City is the most religious city in the U.S. The state of Utah stands alone out west as a mountain of divine devotion on the map which brands it 'Utah Island' thanks to its Mormon followers coupled with their strong beliefs. The map was created by Alex Egoshin who is an environmental scientist. He makes maps in his free time and calls mapping his hobby. 'I've always enjoyed viewing maps and geography of real and fictional worlds. I always had a desire to bring elements of the imaginary world into the real world. It would seem at first sight this is impossible, but it is not,' he said to DailyMail.com. 'This visualization allows you to better understand the processes taking place in the country. The brain perceives geographical objects such as mountains lakes, etc rather than just colors. Such information is better perceived by the brain. In addition, this map echoes the idea of a biblical flood.' The data used here was compiled in 2010 and comes from the ARDA - the Association of Religion Data Archives. Stephen King has apologized for a 'thoughtless' tweet in which he called Wednesday'a deadly train crash 'karma' for the Republican Congressmen on board. An Amtrak train chartered to take the Congressmen to their annual retreat in West Virginia crashed into a truck carrying trash Wednesday morning - leaving one dead and a handful injured. 'A trainload of Republicans on their way to a pricey retreat hit a garbage truck. My friend Russ calls that Karma,' King wrote a day after the crash. Stephen King is under fire after saying the Amtrak crash this week was 'karma' for Republicans Within twenty minutes of writing his first tweet, King went back to Twitter and said that he was 'OF COURSE sorry the truck driver died' Nearly four hours later, King released a longer apology for his first comments The Amtrak train was chartered by the party to take Congressmen and their families to their annual retreat in West Virginia on Wednesday Christopher Foley, 28 (right), a passenger in the truck, was killed in the accident and multiple others injured Social media users quickly criticized King for the tweet - some even threatening to stage a burning of King's books. 'Unbelievable. And to think I enjoyed his stuff for many years! Well not anymore! I think it's time to start a Stephen King book burning in our backyards!' one Twitter user named Aric Cee wrote. DailyMail.com Editor-in-Large Piers Morgan was among those who called King out for the tweet. 'A man died in that crash, you despicable man,' he wrote. Within twenty minutes, King tweeted again saying he was 'OF COURSE sorry the truck driver died'. DailyMail.com Editor-at-Large Piers Morgan was among the many to criticize King's comment But the criticisms continued to pile on, many pointing out the fact that King himself was hit by a minivan in 1999. 'In '99 Steven King was hit by a van while walking along a road. Pre-Karma?' a Twitter user named John Rankin wrote. Twitter user Cecile chimed in: 'One man was killed, six injured. When did Steven King delete his soul? Careful when it comes to karma Mr King, it goes both ways.' Nearly four hours after his initial tweet, King issued a longer apology. 'A rather thoughtless tweet form me concerning the train-truck crash, for which I apologize (if one is necessary). It should be pointed out, too, that those Republican politicians, who can be heartless when they vote, immediately got out to help,' he said. NTSB investigators are still looking into what caused the crash Above, an aerial photo from the scene on Wednesday near Crozet, Virginia On Thursday, the National Transportation Safety Board held a briefing about the crash, and revealed that the train was traveling 61 mph when the engineer applied the brakes in a failed attempt to avoid the truck crossing the tracks. The NTSB said in a briefing that the maximum speed limit at the grade crossing was 60 miles per hour and that the engineer in Wednesday's crash applied the brakes 20 seconds before the train came to rest, according to preliminary information downloaded from one of the train's event data recorders. A passenger on the garbage truck, 28-year-old Christopher Foley, was killed and two others on the truck were injured, according to police. The NTSB has not been able to interview the 30-year-old driver of the truck. U.S. Senator Jeff Flake talks with reporters at the scene. He was one of the first Congressmen off the train to help the injured U.S. Sens. Jeff Flake (L) and Bill Cassidy (right) listen to Rep. Phil Roe (center) speak during a news briefing to discuss the train accident on Wednesday No lawmakers were seriously injured but a Minnesota representative, Jason Lewis, was taken to a hospital as a precaution and released. The train had hundreds of passengers onboard at the time of the accident, NTSB board member Earl Weener said. The NTSB has not yet downloaded the forward locomotive video camera or event data recorder. The board said that when it reviews the video data it should be able to determine if the signals at the crossing were working or if the truck was moving. The train was taking lawmakers to the annual retreat in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, just west of the Virginia state line. Amtrak said the collision occurred at 11:18 a.m. in Crozet, a tiny town between the college town of Charlottesville, Virginia, and White Sulphur Springs. The Virginia Department of Transportation said the intersection where the crash occurred had flashing signals and gates to prevent motorists from getting on the tracks as trains approach. A Roman Catholic deacon who killed at least five people including his own mother by injecting air into their veins has been jailed for 27 years. Ivo Poppe, a former nurse dubbed the 'Deacon of Death,' committed his first act when he was 22 years old, smothering his great-uncle to death with a cushion. The 61-year-old Belgian was arrested in 2014 after confessing to his psychiatrist that he had 'actively euthanised dozens of people.' A Roman Catholic deacon (pictured) who killed at least five people including his own mother by injecting air into their veins has been jailed for 27 years Public prosecutors demanded life in prison but a judge accepted that there were mitigating factors such as Poppe's bad health, difficult youth, previously clean record and small risk of re-offending. A jury in Bruges, Belgium found Poppe guilty of the murders of his 90-year-old mother, his 80-year-old father-in-law, two great-uncles aged 79 and 81 and another patient aged 79. He was acquitted of a sixth murder charge. Poppe said that his victims had not asked for help dying. But he said that his only motivation was to make their deaths less painful. He told his court that he was 'very sorry' for what he had done. Poppe's lawyer said he acted out of 'boundless empathy' with his victims. Ivo Poppe, a former nurse dubbed the 'Deacon of Death,' committed his first act when he was 22 years old, smothering his great-uncle to death with a cushion The case first came to light in 2013, when Poppe told a psychiatrist that he had performed euthanasia on several people while working as a nurse. He said it was a maximum of 20. The court case only concerned the six cases, and no exact death tally is known. None of the victims or possible victims were named publicly. Poppe was a nurse in a hospital in Menen, also in West Flanders, in the 1980s and 1990s. He said he carried out the killings by injecting air into the patients' veins. The method was also used in wartime Nazi Germany to execute mental patients in a way that was hard to detect. Poppe may be eligible for early release in just six years. In Belgium, convicts can ask for an early release on probation after serving a third of their sentence, nine years in his case. Given Poppe has already spent more than three years in pre-trial detention, he may attempt to ask for an early release in under six years from now. Given Poppe has already spent more than three years in pre-trial detention, he may attempt to ask for an early release in under six years from now. Pictured: Bruges In the trial last week, prosecutors rejected Poppe's claims to have euthanised his victims, saying that he 'clearly enjoyed his power of life or death'. Most of the victims were people nearing the end of their lives, and he said he decided to put them out of their physical or mental pain by injecting air into their veins, causing fatal embolisms. Poppe told investigators that he was stressed at the time that many of the murders were carried out because his house was under renovation and his wife was sick. His lawyers had argued that a long sentence would serve no purpose because he was suffering from cancer and would shortly need to have an operation. 'Having cancer is terrible but having cancer in prison is a nightmare,' one of the lawyers argued. Most of the victims were elderly people suffering from physical or psychological ailments at the clinic. Poppe worked there in the 1980s and 1990s but continued to act as a pastoral visitor until 2011 after he was ordained as a deacon. An Oregon State University's student government member is facing felony charges for allegedly posting racist bumper stickers on cars outside a food co-op last year. Andrew Oswalt was indicted Tuesday in Benton County, Oregon for two counts of intimidation and two counts of criminal mischief. Oswalt, 27, was arrested the same day, although in lieu of $157,000 bail, according to Oregon Live. Andrew Oswalt was indicted Tuesday in Benton County, Oregon for two counts of intimidation and two counts of criminal mischief Oswalt placed bumper stickers - with racist African Americans slurs- on social activist's cars parked outside the First Alternative Natural Foods Co-Op. The stickers were used to cover messages on the cars that were in support of immigrants and refugees, Faith Reidenbach, co-founder of the Corvallis chapter of Showing up for Racial Justice, said The intimidation charges are listed under hate crimes under Oregon statute. Court documents detail that bail was raised to $250,000 on Wednesday and that the man pleaded not guilty. He still remains in custody. 'This is a hate crime inspired by ignorance, fueled by racism and aimed at people of color,' Ryan Joslin, a deputy district attorney for Benton County, said. The man, 27, was arrested the same day, although in lieu of $157,000 bail Photos then surfaced of Oswalt giving a Nazi salute from a highway overpass and holding a flag with a swastika 'It was his intent to terrorize both individuals and a group of people.' Police detail that Oswalt and another person placed bumper stickers - with racist slurs for African Americans - on two cars belonging to social activist parked outside the First Alternative natural Foods Co-Op in Corvallis, Oregon. The stickers were used to cover messages on the cars that were in support of immigrants and refugees, Faith Reidenbach, co-founder of the Corvallis chapter of Showing up for Racial Justice, said. The chemistry doctoral student is prohibited from going on OSU's campus and can not contact members of Showing Up for Racial Justice. He also has to turn over four firearms that were found in his home by police The group works to mobilize white people to aid folks of color and take action on issues pertaining to social justice. An employee also found anti-Semitic leaflets on every car's windshield in the parking lot, according to co-op general manager, Cindee Lolik. Photos then surfaced of Oswalt giving a Nazi salute from a highway overpass, holding a swastika covered flag on Holocaust Remembrance Day outside the home of a man who praises the extermination of Jews and marching in Portland at a white nationalist rally in April. Oswalt was stopped by officers - along with three white nationalist - on the University of Oregon campus in Eugene. They had staplers, a ladder and fliers with Ku Klux Klan propaganda that said: 'diversity means fewer white people' and other slogans. Oswalt wore a mask while others had scarves on their faces, according to a UO police report and the signs praised the notorious neo-Nazi website, the Daily Stormer. He was found not guilty of a concealed weapons charge in Eugene for an alleged stiletto knife he carried. The chemistry doctoral student is prohibited from going on OSU's campus and can not contact members of Showing Up for Racial Justice. He also has to turn over four firearms that were found in his home by police. The parliamentary leader of Germany's far-right AfD party has accidentally helped a pro-refugee bill to pass a vote in parliament. Bernd Baumann, the party's parliamentary manager, was the only one of its 90 ministers to vote in favour of the bill on Thursday. A spokesman for the AfD, which won its first ever seats in the Bundestag on an anti-immigrant platform, admitted Baumann cast the vote, but said it was a mistake. Bernd Baumann, parliamentary manager of the AfD, accidentally voted in favour of a bill allowing temporary refugees to bring their families to Germany The bill allows those with temporary refugee status to bring relatives into Germany, but imposes a strict cap of 1,000 people per month, The Local reports. The policy is part of compromise efforts as Angela Merkel attempts to build a coalition government with the left-wing SDP. Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said the bill was 'a compromise between humanity and responsibility... between generosity and realism'. The AfD opposed the move outright, instead putting forward their own bill saying that all family reunification should be abolished. As one the part rejected the government's bill and backed their own, except for the lone figure of Baumann. 'The mistaken way in which he voted naturally does not reflect his political opinion,' a spokesman told The Local. Advertisement The Winchester House in San Jose, California, is no ordinary home. Whispers seem to come from the walls, staircases that lead to nowhere, doors that open to nothing and a groundskeeper whose work is never done. What started as a farmhouse continued to be built 24 hours a day, 365 days a year for 38 years by a mysterious widow named Sarah Winchester who, after her husbands death, inherited a gun company fortune worth more than $515 million today. When Sarah died in 1922, the home remained empty, save for the spirits that are rumored to lurk in the 160-room, 24,000 square foot mansion. It has such a complex layout that the housekeepers were said to need maps just to navigate it so they could do their daily chores and among its many quirks is a staircase leads to a ceiling after Mrs Winchester decided to have a hallway built over it. Its no wonder that this peculiar story has caught the attention of Hollywood. Winchester, starring Helen Mirren, hits theaters today. The movie takes a classic horror twist, but many dont know the very true story of Sarah Winchesters sad and strange life. The Winchester Mystery house was built by widowed millionaire Sarah Winchester over the course of three decades in San Jose, California from 1886 until her death in 1922 Helen Mirren will play Sarah Winchester in a new horror film, Winchester, that hits theaters today. Mirren said there are many false interpretations of her muse, many believed she was crazy or possessed. She's pictured here during filming on the grounds of the Winchester house It is said that It's said that she had construction going on 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year, for 38 years Born Sarah Lockwood Pardee in 1840, she married into a weapons dynasty 22 years later when she wed William Winchester. Four years into their 1862 marriage they had a daughter, Annie Pardee Winchester, who died just six weeks after she was born from marasmus an extreme protein deficiency. It usually occurs due to poverty, but can sometimes be caused by viral or bacterial infections, or chronic diarrhea. The couple never had another child, and the tragedy didnt stop there for Mrs Winchester. Her husband William passed away from tuberculosis in March of 1881, after working with his wife to build their expansive home in New Haven, Connecticut. When William died, Mrs Winchester, at the age of 41, inherited half of the fortune from the company his father founded, the Winchester Repeating Arms company. Suddenly, she was one of the wealthiest women in America, having acquired $20 million, the equivalent of more than $515 million today. She took the money and went west, eventually settling in San Jose, California then a small area known for its agricultural lands. She purchased an eight-room farmhouse, and immediately set to work on reparations. Then, the rumors began circulating. Her relentless efforts to make the biggest, most lavish mansion she could confused her family and neighbors. Her silence and reclusiveness only served to intensify suspicions about her. It fed all the legends and rumors she wouldnt talk about herself so people made things up, Winchester house historian Janen Boehme told DailyMail.com. The only known picture in existence of Sarah Winchester, left, and a portrait of her likeness, right. Born Sarah Lockwood Pardee in 1840, she married into a weapons dynasty 22 years later when she wed William Winchester. Four years into their 1862 marriage they had a daughter, Annie Pardee Winchester, who died just six weeks after she was born. A few years later, her husband died as well When Mrs Winchester inherited her husbands multi-million dollar fortune, she moved to San Jose and bought an eight-room farmhouse on 40 acres of land. Over time, she continued to expand the house and land Eventually, the house ballooned into a 160-room mansion, with 13 bathrooms, rounded turrets, towers, and was eventually painted bright yellow and red It's said that she had construction going on 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year, for 38 years. One legend says that a Boston psychic named Adam Coons told her that if she ever stopped building the house, she would die like her husband and daughter. This story was never confirmed, and Boehme said she believes it was simply her way of coping with loss and that Mrs Winchester was trying to recreate the happiness she felt building her New Haven home with her husband years before. 'I think Sarah was trying to repeat that experience by doing something they both loved,' she said. Regardless of her reasons the result was jarring. The eight-bedroom farmhouse ballooned into a 160-room mansion, with 13 bathrooms, rounded turrets, towers, and was eventually painted bright yellow and red. Occasionally, rather than tearing something down that got in the way, she'd simply build around it. Hidden within the Winchester house is an old farm bell and a giant water tower, which once resided in the back yard, but as building expanded were simply covered up with walls and swallowed into the home. For the 38 years that the house was under construction, it cost an estimated $5 million (about $73 million today). One legend says that a Boston psychic named Adam Coons told her that if she ever stopped building the house, she would die like her husband and daughter Winchester house historian Janen Boehme said she believes it was simply her way of coping with loss and that Mrs Winchester was trying to recreate the happiness she felt building her New Haven home with her husband years before Occasionally, rather than tearing something down that got in the way, she'd simply build around it. Hidden within the Winchester house is an old farm bell and a giant water tower, which once resided in the back yard, but as building expanded were simply covered up with walls and swallowed into the home For the 38 years that the house was under construction, it cost an estimated $5 million (about $73 million today) After building this chimney three stories high, bricklayers tired and quit work on it just short of the roof. Only the most expensive materials were used in all construction Mrs Winchester lived there for most of her life, and for 15 years was joined by her favorite niece, who kept her company and staved off con men trying to swindle the elderly widow out of her vast fortune. As the years went on, the construction got more and more bizarre. There remains a staircase that leads to nowhere, doors that open into walls, and rooms left unfinished. It eventually became so complex that it's been said the mansion's staff needed a map just to navigate their daily routine. The creation was entirely her own she cut ties with contractors within the first few years of construction. 'She had her own men here and they would try these various ideas. If they liked them, great, if they didn't, they would just tear them down,' Boeme said. In 1906, disaster struck again. This time, an earthquake ripped through northern California, with an estimated magnitude of 7.8. It caused fires in nearby San Francisco, where approximately 3,000 people died. The Winchester house, about 50 miles away, wasn't hit nearly as hard but still experienced the earthquake's effects. More than a century later, many rooms remain unrepaired from the damage. Mrs Winchester was terrified as rumor has it, she became trapped in one of the many rooms she rotated as her bedroom, and the mansion's staff had to pry open the door with a crow bar to rescue her. At one point, Mrs Winchester built a staircase that leads nowhere, having decided to place a hallway over it The creation was entirely her own she cut ties with contractors within the first few years of construction After several years spent in ill health, Mrs Winchester died in her bedroom, pictured here, of heart failure in 1922 Sarah Winchester died in her sleep at the home on September 5, 1922, of heart failure. There was a small ceremony in Palo Alta, California, and she was buried next to her husband and infant daughter at Evergreen Cemetery in New Haven, Connecticut. A fiercely private person for her entire life, there is little to remember her by apart from her now famed home. To this day, there is only one known photograph of her. No doubt a difficult task, Academy-Award winning actress Helen Mirren will portray the mysterious Winchester in the feature film under the same name. She herself described the movie not as a horror flick, but a 'ghost story'. Of her muse, she told the LA Times: 'There are many understandings of her. Was she haunted? Was she crazy?' That question has puzzled historians for decades as they've attempted to decode the woman with an appetite for architecture. The Winchester House's historian Janen Boehme theorizes that instead of being possessed or mad, the widow was reclusive because of her debilitating rheumatoid arthritis that left her hands disfigured, and her gnarled teeth which required her to wear dentures. One thing she does know for sure is that Mrs Winchester's home is full of secrets. 'I've heard things I can't explain footsteps, voices, you'll hear whispers and stuff sometimes,' she said. 'But I think whatever is here has always been positive. She was such a good person.' Sometimes visitors tell her they've spotted what she calls the 'wheelbarrow ghost' - a spirit trotting around the property in overalls, carrying a toolbox, and pushing a wheelbarrow. No doubt a difficult task, Academy-Award winning actress Helen Mirren will portray the mysterious Winchester in the feature film under the same name Boeme thinks giving tours of the home is, in a way, allowing Winchester to be philanthropic from beyond the grave The Winchester House became one of San Jose's more prominent tourist attractions, and to this day visitors pay $40 per tour. The family who owns the home now has expressed their desire not to be named, and declined to disclose how many visitors the house draws annually. Surprisingly, according to the Santa Clara County assessor's office, the home is only worth about $1.5 million. Boeme thinks giving tours of the home is, in a way, allowing Winchester to be philanthropic from beyond the grave. 'She had a social conscience and she did try to give back,' Boeme said. 'This house, in itself, was her biggest social work of all.' George Fay (pictured) raped a woman as she slept in a luxury New York apartment The son of a British barrister has been found guilty of raping a university student as she slept at a luxury Manhattan apartment. George Fay, 23, bowed his head and cried as the jury read out the verdict after just hours of deliberation. He now faces up to 25 years in prison. His QC father Michael, who sits as a deputy high court judge in the Caribbean, sat stony faced in the public gallery as did his mother Sofia, a public relations executive. Fay had been accused of getting into bed with the 20-year-old victim after she had consensual sex with his friend who was asleep next to her. The jury at New Yorks Supreme Court did not believe his account that she woke him up and initiated sex. Fay had denied rape, sex abuse and a criminal sexual act while the victim was physically incapable of giving consent. He was convicted on all three counts and was remanded in protective custody until his sentencing on February 27. Judge Melissa Jackson also said she wanted the Fay put on suicide watch. The two week trial included claims that Fay was driven by a desire for sex and had tried to call prostitutes shortly before the incident, all of which was a jarring contrast to his life of wealth and privilege. Rapist George Fay pictured stands in the corridors of New York's Supreme Court before his trial this afternoon George Fay, center in dark jacket, flanked by his parents Sofia (left) and Michael (right in brown jacket and green tie) Fay, who was born in London, is a former star lacrosse player at his US prep school and was brought up in the British Virgin Islands, where his family live. After the verdict was read out Fay, who was wearing an expensive gray suit, had his hands handcuffed behind his back by three security guards. His mother tried to get up and see her son but was held back by a security guard. As Fay was escorted from the court he waved to his mother who blew a kiss at him. He could be heard sobbing as he was led away into the cells. Fays mother then put her head in her hands and said: Jesus Christ. His mother and father declined to comment after the case, as did their attorney Daniel Bibb. Fay and a group of friends had been out drinking on July 9 last year when his best friend Jack Slye brought the woman back to the apartment where they had consensual sex. Fay arrived home shortly before 4am when the student and his Slye were fast asleep in Fay's bed, the bottom rung of a bunk bed. Assistant District Attorney Sara Sullivan said that Fay could have slept on one of the two couches or the top bunk, but instead he chose to get in bed with them. George Fay, right with his father Michael, who happens to be a top lawyer She said: 'The defendant didn't get into bed because he thought he deserved to sleep in his own bed, he got into bed because there was and undressed sleeping girl in that bed and he wanted to touch her'. Sullivan said that Fay made a sexual advance on the woman while she was sleeping because he was 'testing the waters' and 'seeing what he could get away with'. When she did not wake up he carried on and began what the DA called a 'nightmare'. Sullivan said: 'She wakes up and she sees a face she has never seen before. She looks next to her and sees Mr Slye sleeping and that's when her world falls apart. Now she's awake' Sullivan said that the student had a good memory and been 'consistent' in her account. The only blank spot was that she did not recognise Fay - which proved she was asleep at the time he raped her. Sullivan said that Fay lied about the attack on the night and has been lying ever since - and she dismissed his story that the student started having sex with him as 'ridiculous'. Fay had been staying at the apartment owned by family friends on Manhattan's Upper East Side last summer while he did a summer internship with the city's Parks and Recreation Department. In his closing speech his defence lawyer Stephen Saracco denied that he had a 'sexual craving' on the night of the incident. Nor did not see the student as a 'sleeping target of opportunity'. Using an incorrect age for his client, Saracco said: 'As a healthy 20-year-old man he probably has sex on his mind all the time.' Addressing the jury, Saracco said: 'Was it a poor choice for George Fay to climb into that bunk on July 9? George Fay, right, with his father Michael. Private school educated Fay was spending the summer at the Manhattan home of family friends. He'd been drinking into the early hours of the morning when the alleged attack happened 'It probably was but we are not making a determination if he made poor choices or bad judgement, we are making a judgement of if he was guilty of rape'. According to Saracco Fay's defence witnesses described him as laid back, not violent and 'simply not the type of person to do this'. Saracco said that it Fay would have to be a 'contortionist' to have forced his penis into the student's mouth while she was sleeping given she was in the lower bunk. Doing so did not offer 'much gratification and he ran the risk of getting bit', he said. Saracco attacked the student's testimony and said: 'It is the defence's contention that the woman lacks the clarity, consistency and reasonableness you you can rely on to convict the defendant of rape in the first degree'. If there was anyone who 'put things in motion' it was the student by going home with Slye, he said. Saracco said: 'I don't know what was going on in her head but she probably regretted what she did.' Fay, a university dropout, was raised in the British Virgin Islands and educated at boarding schools in the US including the $58,900-a-year Avon Old Farms in Connecticut. His father's law practice is based on Tortola in the British Virgin Islands but he remains an honorary member of London's Radcliffe Chambers. Fay's mother Sofia is a partner in a public relations company in the Caribbean. The wealthy couple, who also have homes on Jersey in the Channel Islands and in Massachusetts, have attended court every day with Fay, who is their eldest son. Heterosexual couples could be given the right to have civil partnerships in the biggest marriage shake-up in 200 years under proposals being considered by the Government. Tory former minister Tim Loughton has been pushing for a change in the law to end the 'unfair' inequality and give straight couples the same rights as gay people. He has warned the discrepancy is unfair to heterosexual couples who want to seal their relationship in the eyes of the law but not through the institution of marriage. They are the first changes to marriage registration since 1837 - with records being maintained in churches since the 16th-century reign of Henry VIII. Tory MP Nigel Huddlestone said that in 'trying to eliminate one form of discrimination' and passing gay marriage Parliament had 'unintentionally created another'. Mr Loughton today brought forward a Bill which would let heterosexual coupes have civil partnerships too. Rebecca Steinfield (left) and her partner Charles Keidan (right) went to the Court of Appeals for the right to enter into a civil partnership. They lost that appeal in February 2017 Tory former minister Tim Loughton has been pushing for a change in the law to end the 'unfair' inequality and give straight couples the same rights as gay people And ministers - who back other parts of the Bill which cover registering stillbirths - said they would launch a consultation into how civil partnerships work. It is expected this will look at whether to change the law and allow all couples, regardless of sexuality, the right to have a civil partnership. Outlining why he was bringing forward the Civil Partnerships, Marriages and Deaths Bill in Parliament this morning, Mr Loughton said he wants to tackle an accidental inequality in the law. He said: 'The Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013 gave rise to an unintended new inequality. 'And it is surely time for equal civil partnershipsa natural extension that was supported across all parties when the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill was introduced and that has just as much support now. 'In the consultation that the Government conducted before the introduction of that Bill, 61 per cent of respondents were in favour of extending civil partnerships to opposite-sex couples. 'Alas, for some inexplicable reason, the proposal never made it into the Act. If it had done, the Act would have been better; that is why change is necessary today.' Under current laws only single-sex couples can have a civil partnership - which gives couples the same legal rights as married couples. But now they can also get married after the law was changed, giving them more legal options than mixed sex couples. Mr Huddleston, Conservative MP for Mid Worcestershire, gave his backing to the law change. Tim Loughton has warned the discrepancy is unfair to heterosexual couples who want to seal their relationship in the eyes of the law but not through the institution of marriage He told the Commons: 'Although civil partnerships were introduced to extend the rights available to same sex couples, rather than as an alternative to marriage, it has had the unintended consequence of creating an inherent inequality on the basis of sexual orientation. 'By trying to eliminate one form of discrimination, we have unintentionally created another.' He added: 'I hope the Government listen carefully to the arguments made today and act accordingly, because Britain has changed, attitudes have changed and it is time that the law caught up.' Home Office minister Victoria Atkins said the Government will 'undertake further review of the operation' of civil partnerships and bring forward proposals about how the law ought to be changed 'so the difference in treatment in the current system is resolved'. The Bill passed its second reading, but will have to return to Parliament to be debated again before it becomes law. How a couple fought the law Charles Keidan and Rebecca Steinfeld have taken the Government to court over the fact that the law does not allow them to enter into a civil partnership. The couple, who have two children, say they have deep-rooted and ideological objections to the patriarchal baggage of marriage. Charles Keidan (left) and Rebecca Steinfeld (right) pose outside of the Royal Courts of Justice in London. They lost their court appeal to enter a civil partnership But they want to enter a civil partnership to secure legal recognition of their eight-year relationship. Last February the Court of Appeal ruled that Miss Steinfeld, 36, and Mr Keidan, 41, had established potential violation of Article 14 of the European Convention on Human Right, which relates to discrimination, and Article 8, which safeguards family life. But a panel of three judges then said the Government should have more time to evaluate the future of civil partnerships before declaring them incompatible with human rights laws. The couple, from Hammersmith, West London, are fighting on and their case is next listed to be heard in the Supreme Court in May. Renee Rockefeller has been accused of trying to shoplift a pair of earrings from a store in the Four Seasons during a trip to Mexico New York socialite Renee Rockefeller was been caught shoplifting a pair of earrings from a store within a luxury Mexican resort during a getaway with her well-heeled friends, it has been claimed. According to Page Six, the 50-year-old socialite, who is the daughter-in-law of former Vice President Nelson Rockefeller, was on a trip with designer stars including Tory Burch and Jamie Tisch when, she was caught trying to steal earrings from the store of the Four Seasons hotel in Punta Mita. It was over Martin Luther King weekend to celebrate their friend Crystal Lourd's birthday. Crystal is married to Blaine Lourd, the brother of Hollywood mega-agent Bryan Lourd who was once married to Carrie Fisher. Monique Lhuillier was also there and excitedly shared photographs as did Full House star Lori Loughlin. The group were all staying at the St Regis but visited the Four Seasons on one of the days. It is there where Renee allegedly tried to swipe the earrings after buying a $500 dress. When confronted by store staff, she is said to have handed the earrings back and was spared an arrest. Sources cited by Page Six claimed Burch and Tisch, who were with her at the time, were mortified. Rockefeller was in Mexico with a group of well heeled friends to celebrate Crystal Lourd's birthday. Crystal is pictured in the front row of this group in an orange dress posing with designer Monique Lhuillier (right), Tory Burch (to her left), actress Lori Loughlin (far left), Jamie Tisch (at the back) The alleged incident happened at the Four Seasons in Punta Mita (above) over Martin Luther King weekend in January 'Renee was stopped by security and told that she was caught stealing on security camera. 'She denied it, then she realized shed been caught and handed back the stolen items. 'She wasnt arrested, but it did cause a big scandal within her group. Those with her, particularly Tory and Jamie, were horrified,' one said. It did cause quite a big scandal within her group... Tory (Burch) and Jamie (Tisch) were horrified Renee, who is married to Mark Rockefeller and lives with him on Park Avenue, denied the story. In an email, she threatened to 'get lawyers involved'. 'Not true...the whole thing is nothing...FALSE. We are going to get our lawyers involved,' she was quoted as replying. Renee has been married to Mark Rockefeller since 1998. The pair have four children and regularly feature in the society pages. Their home was profiled in The New York Times in 2013 under the title 'Reinventing Beige' where Renee, the daughter of a real estate investor, talked about it being 'cosy' and 'like a boat'. President Donald Trump signaled Friday that he expects heads to roll at the Department of Justice after reviewing a classified memo alleging FBI misconduct. Trump said 'it's a disgrace what's happening in our country' as he formally announced his decision to declassify the document that quickly made its way into the hands of news outlets. 'A lot of people should be ashamed of themselves and much worse than that,' he added during the meeting with North Korean defectors in the Oval Office. Asked directly if he wanted Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein gone, Trump would only say, 'You figure that one out.' President Donald Trump signaled Friday that he expects heads to roll at the Department of Justice after reviewing a classified memo alleging FBI misconduct The controversial Republican memo charging bias in the FBI that finally saw daylight on Friday after President Trump overruled top career law enforcement officials to order its release accuses Rosenstein of shoddy oversight of the Russian meddling investigation. Rosenstein, who's a Trump appointee, approved a request to continue surveillance on Carter Page, an unpaid foreign policy adviser to Trump in 2016, the memo says. A previous warrant for surveillance had been granted on the basis of his contacts with Russian officials after the FBI obtained a dossier put together by an ex spy that claimed the Kremlin had compromising information on Trump, then a Republican candidate for president. The dossier had been discredited by the time that officials asked to renew the surveillance on Page, the declassified memo indicates, and should not have been used as probable cause for a new warrant. Just as the memo was making its way to the public, Attorney General Jeff Sessions was introducing Rosenstein at a Justice Department event on human trafficking. Sessions said that Rosenstein represents 'the kind of quality and leadership that we want in the department.' Ahead of the memo's release on the Friday the White House withheld judgement on Rosenstein, who had played the role of fall guy at the Department of Justice after Trump decided to can James Comey. It was a memo that Rosenstein wrote on the FBI's investigation into Hillary Clinton's secret server that the White House used to prop up Trump's decision. Relations with Rosenstein soured after he approved the appointment of Robert Mueller as special counsel, handing over complete control of the Russian meddling case to an independent team that has been probing allegations of collusion between Trump's campaign under the banner of Justice Department. In June, Trump tweeted his fury at Rosenstein. 'I am being investigated for firing the FBI Director by the man who told me to fire the FBI Director! Witch Hunt,' Trump said. Asked directly if he wanted Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein gone on Friday, Trump would only say, 'You figure that one out.' Rosenstein is seen during a human trafficking summit at the Justice Department on Friday A CNN report on Wednesday said that Trump asked Rosenstein in December to confirm that he was on 'my team,' and the law enforcement official did. White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Monday as she was questioned about the public pressure that Trump had applied to Rosenstein and other DOJ officials, 'The only thing that the President has applied pressure to is to make sure we get this resolved so that you guys and everyone else can focus on the things that Americans actually care about. 'That is making sure everybody gets the Russia fever out of their system once and for all; that youre all reminded once again there was no collusion' she asserted, 'and that we can move forward to focus on things like national security, the economy, and solving the immigration crisis that we have here in our country.' Sanders was subsequently pressed to give Rosenstein a confidence assessment. 'As Ive said, when you guys ask this question about a number of individuals, when the President no longer has confidence in someone, youll know,' she said. Monday was the last time the White House took questions from reporters on camera. Press officers made themselves scare on Friday as it tossed the memo back into Congress' lap. Trump all but confirmed Friday that Rosenstein was on his way out when he told journalists to use their judgement. IS ROSENSTEIN NEXT? FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, acting Attorney General Sally Yates and FBI Director James Comey have all been dismissed since Trump took office Rosenstein is twice mentioned in the controversial memo that has divided Democrat and Republican lawmakers on the House Intelligence Committee - once in passing another time in the revelation that he authorized a request for surveillance on Page. 'The FBI and DOJ obtained one initial FISA warrant targeting Carter Page and three FISA renewals from the FISC. As required by statute ... a FISA order on an American citizen must be renewed by the FISC every 90 days and each renewal requires a separate finding of probable cause. 'Then-Director James Corney signed three FISA applications in question on behalf of the FBI, and Deputy Director Andrew McCabe signed one. Then-DAG Sally Yates, then-Acting DAG Dana Boente, and DAG Rod Rosenstein each signed one or more FISA applications on behalf of DOJ.' Yates departed the Justice Department early last year over differences with Trump. McCabe just announced that he would be on terminal leave through his March retirement. Trump fired Comey in May. Trump reviewed the controversial memo along with his advisors and sent it to the House Intelligence panel for release. He told reporters in the Oval Office Friday he has authorized its release. The declassified memo now goes back to Congress for release. 'Congress will do whatever they're going to do,' Trump said. 'Whatever they do is fine. It was declassified,' he said. President Donald Trump tweeted Friday that the nation's top law enforcers have been biased against Republicans in their investigations House Intelligence Committee Republicans drafted the memo and pushed through its release on a party-line vote, putting the issue in the hands of Trump to give the final go-ahead. CNN reported that Trump read the memo along with his advisors. According to a summary of the memo, it concludes former FBI deputy director McCabe confirmed that the bureau would not have sought a surveillance warrant without information in the dossier of information compiled by ex British intelligence officer Christopher Steele, the Washington Examiner reported. High level Justice Department Bruce Ohr, who met with Steele in 2016, provided information about Steele's alleged bias, according to the report. He said Steele was desperate to keep Trump out of office and was passionate about him not succeeding. Democrats howled about the release of the memo, arguing it cherry picked information and distorted the full picture. Trump weighed the issue for days, as FBI Director Christopher Wray and top Justice Department officials argued against the release, concerned that it could undermine intelligence and present an incomplete narrative. What does the Intelligence Committee memo say? What does it mean? Republican Rep. Devin Nunes, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, was the driving force behind the controversial memo's declassification and release A memo released on Feb. 2, 2018 by the House Intelligence Committee was written by Republican aides who had seen classified documents about government surveillance of a Donald Trump campaign adviser. The four-page document itself does not appear to allege that anyone violated federal law, but it does outline a pattern of improper conduct by a list of high-ranking FBI and Justice Department officials during the Obama administration. Republicans will use it to justify complaints that top law enforcement agencies had an anti-Trump bias during an election year. These were the same agencies that cleared Hillary Clinton of wrongdoing in her classified email scandal, a subject that President Trump railed about consistently as he campaigned for the White House. Democrats complain that the memo left out important facts and 'cherry-picked' information in order to present a one-sided view of what the FBI and DOJ did to persuade a judge to grant surveillance powers. WHAT DID THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT DO? A Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) judge granted the Justice Department a warrant to spy on Carter Page, a Trump foreign policy adviser, partially on the basis of an anti-Trump 'dossier' compiled by an opposition research group funded by Democrats. Using a law firm as a middle-man, the Hillary Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee paid the firm, Fusion GPS. Fusion then paid former British spy Christopher Steele more than $160,000 to dig up Russia-related dirt on Trump. The Republican memo concludes that Steele himself was biased, since he 'was desperate that Donald Trump not get elected and was passionate about him not being president.' But the FBI continued using him as a confidential source anyway, even after he violated the most basic rule of working with a government intelligence service by telling a reporter what he was up to. The warrant application also relied on a news article by a Yahoo reporter without telling the judge that leaks from Steele himself were at its center. When the Justice Department asked the court for permission to spy on Page, it didn't disclose Steele's bias. It also never mentioned that it was asking for a warrant based on materials that were paid for by Trump's political opponents. WHY IS THE STEEL DOSSIER SO IMPORTANT? FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe testified before the House Intelligence Committee in December 2017 that 'no surveillance warrant would have been sought .... without the Steele dossier information.' The dossier itself was full of bombshell claims about Trump, most notably that he cavorted with prostitutes in a Moscow hotel room that the Kremlin had rigged with recording devices. Critics say Steele uncritically used information from Russian sources determined to compromise Trump or gain leverage over him the exact opposite of the Democratic 'collusion' narrative that suggests Trump worked hand-in-hand with Moscow. WHO IN THE GOVERNMENT IS ACCUSED OF WRONGDOING? FISA warrants have to be renewed every 90 days; then-FBI Director James Comey, later fired by President Donald Trump, signed three of them. FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe signed another one. Others to sign off included then-Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates, another official fired by Trump; then-Acting Deputy Attorney General Dana Boente; and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. Another official implicated in the memo is then-Associate Deputy Attorney General Bruce Ohr. Ohr's wife was employed by Fusion GPS at the same time, but the FBI never told the FISA court about it. Ohr was reassigned and is no longer in a position to impact the other major Russia investigation one helmed by special counsel Robert Mueller. But the fate of Rosenstein and McCabe is up in the air. Republicans on the Intelligence Committee may have given Trump a reason to fire them both. DOES THIS CHANGE ANYTHING FOR THE MUELLER PROBE? In a word, no. The memo doesn't say anything that suggests Mueller or his current team are engaged in anything illegal or unethical. But the appearance of impropriety at the Justice Department, though unconnected, will give Trump supporters ammunition to claim Mueller's investigation is also suspect. The president has consistently called the multiple investigations a collective 'witch hunt' and insisted he never colluded with Russians to tilt the 2016 election in his favor. HOW WILL THIS AFFECT THE 'FISA' COURTS? Judges empowered by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) grant more than 99 per cent of the warrant applications presented by the federal government. This episode suggests that the process can be compromised by officials who are willing to hide material facts or provide courts with one-sided accounts of what they know and how they came to know it. The flip side is that if FISA courts begin to scrutinize warrant applications more carefully, they might act too slowly in cases where there are urgent terrorism-related circumstances that require quick action. WHAT'S NEXT? Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee have written their own counterpoint, a memo that they say fills in important facts the Republican majority omitted. That document is winding its way through the same process the GOP's memo went through: committee votes to allow the full House of Representatives to see it, and then to release it to the public. If that happens, the White House will again have five days to reject a request to declassify the Democrats' version. The White House has signaled that it will treat the two versions of history equally. Advertisement But Trump made his own priorities known with a Friday tweet blasting the 'top leadership' even though it was Trump who appointed Wray and elevated Rosenstein after firing Comey. 'The top Leadership and Investigators of the FBI and the Justice Department have politicized the sacred investigative process in favor of Democrats and against Republicans - something which would have been unthinkable just a short time ago,' Trump tweeted Friday, after his administration had already said he would allow the House panel to release the memo. 'Rank & File are great people!' he added. Central to GOP complaints is the belief that Page came under surveillance under a judge's warrant that was influenced by the infamous Steele Dossier, a series of memos containing unverified information about Trump that concludes Russia had potentially compromising information on him. Republicans argue that since Hillary Clinton's campaign, through a law firm, helped fund the dossier, that the origins of the Russia probe lie in information Clinton helped obtain. 'It's clear that top officials used unverified information in a court document to fuel a counterintelligence investigation during an American political campaign,' said Intelligence chair Rep. Devin Nunes of California in a statement this week as the blowup over the document escalated. House Intelligence Committee chairman Devin Nunes, a California Republican, wrote the memo along with aides Trump was sure to insist that the FBI's 'rank and file are great people,' even as he goes after the ledaership with his acid tongue Trump also tweeted a summary of the state of play from Judicial Watch president Tom Fitton The memo argues that the infamous Steele Dossier was used to secure surveillance of former Trump campaign foreign policy advisor Carter Page However, in 2015 the government already knew that Page had passed information on to a Russian intelligence operative believed to be part of a spy ring. Page was an investment banker in Russia during the 1990s. A Russian spy tried to recruit him in 2013, the Wall Street Journal reported. Page had met with the Russian consular official, Victor Podobnyy, meeting with him over coke or coffee, according to Page's later testimony. In the fall of 2016, investigators obtained a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court order to monitor Page. The Russia probe has gone on to ensnare top Trump associates, including former campaign chair Paul Manafort and his deputy, Rick Gates, who have been charged with money laundering and conspiracy based on earlier work. Trump campaign advisor George Papadopoulos has pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his own Russia contacts. In May 2016, Papdopoulos told Austrailia's ambassador to Britain in a boozy encounter that the Trump campaign had dirt on Hillary Clinton, the New York Times reported. In a March 2016 interview, Trump named Page in an interview with the Washington post as one of a handful of foreign policy advisors to his campaign. Page told the House intelligence committee he traveled to Russia twice during the campaign. The parents of a woman have told of their anguish after her fiance nearly decapitated her because he did not beleive she was a virgin. Arben Rexha, 32, almost decapitated 25-year-old Elidona Demiraj in a frenzied attack at their home in Islington, north London, on 31 January 2016. Ms Demiraj, who lived at home with Rexha had only come to the UK from Albania three months before her death after they were married in Albania. She was found by police with 27 lacerations in a crime scene described by Judge Richard Marks QC as one of absolute devastation. In a statement read to the court, Mrs Demiraj's parents said: 'We saw her off as a bride and she returned to us dead. We are distraught by our daughters death at his hands. Arben Rexha, 32 (left), almost decapitated 25-year-old Elidona Demiraj (right) in a frenzied attack at their home in Islington, north London , on 31 January 2016 Be in no doubt that our pain is the same as the day we received the news of her death. He isolated her for three months and didnt let her meet people. She was a model girl, with exemplary manners and politeness. She was respected by everyone, at school, as a student and work life, everywhere. Job Centre worker Rexha had become obsessed about his wifes her virginity and whether she had an abortion during a previous relationship, the Old Bailey heard. He researched online how to tell if someone was a virgin and began suffering from psychotic symptoms, telling her he could not cope. The court heard Rexha had a history of possessive and abusive behaviour towards women, once hitting his ex, and accusing her of sleeping with fellow passengers on the bus and shoving his hand down her trousers to check. Rexha complained that Ms Demiraj was not giving him enough respect, and began to think she was poisoning him. He sobbed in court throughout the sentencing today, as barristers argued over his mental state at the time. Richard Christie QC, prosecuting, said: Of course he had a catastrophic collapse, but that is after the event and at the time he was functioning well. Rexhas defence, Anthony Berry QC said that he had suffered from a schizophrenic episode in the attack. He was initially charged with murder, but then admitted to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility. Judge Marks told him: Its clear that she was a greatly loved daughter and her family are devastated by her death. You killed your wife at the home you shared together in Islington. It was in my view a sustained attack on a small, slightly built young woman. It was a killing of considerable brutality. You inflicted at least 27 incision injuries to her head, neck, sides and chest. There can be no question but that you intended to kill her. The scene that greeted officers was one of absolute devastation. Im of the view that its a trait of your personality, not your illness, that you are prone to extreme possessiveness and jealousy. Judge Marks gave Rexha an extended license period of five years upon his release. Rexha wept as he was led down from the dock to the cells. Describing the run up to her death, Prosecutor Richard Christie QC said: She had been with him, they were married and were living together - an arranged marriage has been contemplated and that is why she came here. Rexha sobbed in the Old Bailey (pictured) throughout the sentencing today, as barristers argued over his mental state at the time The events that occurred took place in their home address. In the days leading up to her death he said the victim had been arguing with Rexha and chose to go and stay with two friends in Luton. But he travelled to see her and they both come home together on the 29 January. Describing his mental state, the prosecutor said: He had not sought medical help and although he was quite capable of holding down a job, he was a job centre worker for a number of years, he did not seek help. He thought that she was seeing someone else and it made him a bit jealous. Mr Christie added: Their relationship was becoming extremely fractious at this point, he held the belief that she had betrayed him in some way - the full context of that is not absolutely clear. Rexha called the emergency services after the frenzied attack before officers arrived and cautioned him on the suspicion of murder. When Rexha was taken for questioning he admitted that he was obsessed with the idea of her previous relationships and whether or not she had an abortion. The issue of pregnancy was raised in interview, the prosecutor said. He also agreed that he believed that she had been raped by another man. He acknowledged that he kept on asking her about it. He recalled that he became obsessed with her virginity and tried to find information on the internet about how to tell if someone was a virgin. After killing his wife Rexha called the emergency services and told them that he had slashed her throat. Police found victim was lying on her back on her bed. Her head was resting on a pillow and there was also a three-inch slash injury on her arm and she was partially decapitated, Mr Christie said. There was various injuries that she sustained, multiple stab wounds - this is not just one wound this is something that has obviously been going on for some time. Rexha, of Jessop Court, Islington, was jailed for ten years, with an extended license period of five years after admitting manslaughter by diminished responsibility. A controlling boyfriend has become the first person ever to be convicted of coercive behaviour without a victim statement. Steven Saunders, 31, was jailed for 18 months for 'aggressive and manipulative' behaviour against his pregnant partner. The case is the first the crime of coercive and controlling behaviour has led to a prison sentence without the need for a victim statement or involvement from an already vulnerable and terrified victim. Steven Saunders, 31, was jailed for 18 months for 'aggressive and manipulative' behaviour against his pregnant partner Saunders, of no fixed abode, manipulated his partner to such an extent that he removed her from supported accommodation and forced her to live on the streets where he would hold her bank card, spend her benefits and even force her to shoplift. He was finally brought to justice when medical professionals including the woman's midwife intervened and informed the police. Guildford Crown Court heard that he would not want her to be seen by any professionals alone and displayed aggressive jealousy regarding the couple's unborn child. These incidents evidenced his controlling behaviour and the fear she disclosed to the professionals, which meant that charges could be brought against him without the victim. Detective Constable Seb Valentine, of Surrey Police, who led the investigation, said: 'Steven Saunders was placing his vulnerable partner and unborn child in great danger. 'He was aggressive and manipulative and wanted to retain full control over her. 'Securing a conviction on hearsay evidence is unusual, and this is the first example of it for this crime. 'I am pleased to say that the victim has now been relocated and is determined to re-build her life away from Saunders.' District Judge Ashworth, who heard the case at Staines Magistrates Court, commented on the use of hearsay evidence during the trial. He said: 'The hearsay evidence I have admitted is very clear - you were controlling and overbearing to her. 'That evidence has not come from her and I still have to decide what weight to give to them. 'When assessing that I see it said again and again by the professionals that you control her, push her around and won't let her see her family.' Guildford Crown Court heard that Saunders would not want her to be seen by any professionals alone and displayed aggressive jealousy regarding the couple's unborn child As well as the 18-month sentence, Saunders also received an additional three months for failing to fulfil a community order from a previous case and an indefinite restraining order. Detective constable Seb Valentine, who led the investigation, said: 'Steven Saunders was placing his vulnerable partner and unborn child in great danger. He was aggressive and manipulative and wanted to retain full control over her. 'Such coercive and controlling behaviour has been a criminal offence since 2015, but securing a conviction on hearsay evidence is unusual, and this is the first example of it for this crime. 'I am pleased to say that the victim has now been relocated and is determined to re-build her life away from Saunders.' Police and Crime Commissioner David Munro said: 'This case marks a really significant milestone in the ongoing battle against domestic abuse and is a testament to the sheer hard work and determination of those agencies in Surrey working together to tackle it. 'More importantly, this is a great outcome for the survivor in this case who is now able to rebuild her life away from the clutches of a clearly manipulative and controlling abuser. 'I hope this case sends out a clear message to those who believe they can use control and fear to silence their partners that there is no longer any hiding place for those that perpetrate domestic abuse.' A waterfowl hunter is in stable condition after a dead goose fell from the sky and knocked him unconscious. Robert Meilhammer, 51, of Dorchester County was hunting with three other people when one of them fired at a flock of Canada geese overhead in Easton, near the Miles River on Maryland's Eastern Shore. One of the geese they shot fell and hit Meilhammer, knocking him unconscious and causing head and facial injuries. A dead goose knocked Robert Meilhammer, 51, unconscious when it fell from the sky while he was hunting Meilhammer was in stable condition and awaiting more tests at a Baltimore trauma center When he came to, he knew who he was, but 'little else,' according to a Natural Resources police officer. Emergency responders described his head injury as 'severe'. The goose also knocked out two of his teeth. The agency tweeted Friday that Meilhammer was in stable condition and awaiting more tests at a Baltimore trauma center. The House Intelligence Committee released a memo on Friday that was written by Republican aides based on classified documents about government surveillance of a Donald Trump campaign adviser. The four-page document itself does not appear to allege that anyone violated federal law, but it does outline a pattern of improper conduct by a list of high-ranking FBI and Justice Department officials during the Obama administration. Republicans will use it to justify complaints that top law enforcement agencies had an anti-Trump bias during an election year. These were the same agencies that cleared Hillary Clinton of wrongdoing in her classified email scandal, a subject that President Trump railed about consistently as he campaigned for the White House. Democrats complain that the memo left out important facts and 'cherry-picked' information in order to present a one-sided view of what the FBI and DOJ did to persuade a judge to grant surveillance powers. Former FBI Director James Comey (left) and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein (right) are among the federal officials implicated in an explosive House Intelligence Committee memo that was declassified on Friday The memo explains how federal law enforcement used unreliable information to obtain surveillance warrants against Carter Page, then a Donald Trump campaign adviser Former British spy Christopher Steele (left) was paid $160,000 by an opposition research firm to dig up dirt from Russians about Trump; the money was part of a larger payment made through a law firm by the Democratic Party and the Hillary Clinton (right) campaign WHAT DID THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT DO? A Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) judge granted the Justice Department a warrant to spy on Carter Page, a Trump foreign policy adviser, partially on the basis of an anti-Trump 'dossier' compiled by an opposition research group funded by Democrats. Using a law firm as a middle-man, the Hillary Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee paid the firm, Fusion GPS. Fusion then paid former British spy Christopher Steele more than $160,000 to dig up Russia-related dirt on Trump. The Republican memo concludes that Steele himself was biased, since he 'was desperate that Donald Trump not get elected and was passionate about him not being president.' But the FBI continued using him as a confidential source anyway, even after he violated the most basic rule of working with a government intelligence service by telling a reporter what he was up to. The warrant application also relied on a news article by a Yahoo reporter without telling the judge that leaks from Steele himself were at its center. When the Justice Department asked the court for permission to spy on Page, it didn't disclose Steele's bias. It also never mentioned that it was asking for a warrant based on materials that were paid for by Trump's political opponents. WHY IS THE STEEL DOSSIER SO IMPORTANT? FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe testified before the House Intelligence Committee in December 2017 that 'no surveillance warrant would have been sought .... without the Steele dossier information.' The dossier itself was full of bombshell claims about Trump, most notably that he cavorted with prostitutes in a Moscow hotel room that the Kremlin had rigged with recording devices. Critics say Steele uncritically used information from Russian sources determined to compromise Trump or gain leverage over him the exact opposite of the Democratic 'collusion' narrative that suggests Trump worked hand-in-hand with Moscow. Republican Rep. Devin Nunes, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, was the driving force behind the controversial memo's declassification and release WHO IN THE GOVERNMENT IS ACCUSED OF WRONGDOING? FISA warrants have to be renewed every 90 days; then-FBI Director James Comey, later fired by President Donald Trump, signed three of them. FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe signed another one. Others to sign off included then-Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates, another official fired by Trump; then-Acting Deputy Attorney General Dana Boente; and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. Another official implicated in the memo is then-Associate Deputy Attorney General Bruce Ohr. Ohr's wife was employed by Fusion GPS at the same time, but the FBI never told the FISA court about it. Ohr was reassigned and is no longer in a position to impact the other major Russia investigation one helmed by special counsel Robert Mueller. But the fate of Rosenstein and McCabe is up in the air. Republicans on the Intelligence Committee may have given Trump a reason to fire them both. DOES THIS CHANGE ANYTHING FOR THE MUELLER PROBE? In a word, no. The memo doesn't say anything that suggests Mueller or his current team are engaged in anything illegal or unethical. But the appearance of impropriety at the Justice Department, though unconnected, will give Trump supporters ammunition to claim Mueller's investigation is also suspect. The president has consistently called the multiple investigations a collective 'witch hunt' and insisted he never colluded with Russians to tilt the 2016 election in his favor. HOW WILL THIS AFFECT THE 'FISA' COURTS? Judges empowered by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) grant more than 99 per cent of the warrant applications presented by the federal government. This episode suggests that the process can be compromised by officials who are willing to hide material facts or provide courts with one-sided accounts of what they know and how they came to know it. The flip side is that if FISA courts begin to scrutinize warrant applications more carefully, they might act too slowly in cases where there are urgent terrorism-related circumstances that require quick action. WHAT'S NEXT? Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee have written their own counterpoint, a memo that they say fills in important facts the Republican majority omitted. That document is winding its way through the same process the GOP's memo went through: committee votes to allow the full House of Representatives to see it, and then to release it to the public. If that happens, the White House will again have five days to reject a request to declassify the Democrats' version. The White House has signaled that it will treat the two versions of history equally. This is the astonishing moment a camper wakes up to find an enormous Russian icebreaker ship just outside his tent. The surprised camper shared the clip on Instagram with the caption: 'What's the view from your window?' The campers were sleeping in tents on the ice of the Yenisei River, which flows from central Siberia into the Arctic Ocean. At the start of the clip the bright orange interior of the tent can be seen as one of the campers lies with his feet towards the entrance. At first only the ice and the sky are visible outside, but as the woken man slowly gets up the tip of a vessel can be seen outside the canvas. And as he pulls himself into a sitting position the imposing sight of the huge atomic icebreaker comes into view as it ploughs through the layer of ice. Called the Taymyr, the vessel is one of two Russian icebreakers with single-reactor nuclear facilities for power, according to Russia's state atomic energy corporation. The camera then turns to the tent, a vehicle parked on the ice nearby, and then to one of the campers, dressed for the cold, who gives a thumbs-up. The footage was shared on Instagram, with the caption saying that the beeping of the ship had woken the campers. As the camper pulls himself into a sitting position the imposing sight of the huge atomic icebreaker comes into view as it ploughs through the layer of ice Called the Taymyr, the vessel is one of two Russian icebreakers with single-reactor nuclear facilities for power, according to Russia's state atomic energy corporation Alpha Oumar Diallo, 42, was charged with reckless driving that caused death and given six to 15 years with zero days served A trucker was jailed for up to 15 years for causing a fatal crash in Michigan while on his phone at the wheel taking a personality quiz on Facebook. Alpha Oumar Diallo, 42, was charged with reckless driving that caused death and sentenced to six to 15 years with zero days served. Diallo also has five other counts that will run at the same time and include lesser prison time. The crash in Pittsfield Township, Michigan, killed 83-year-old motorist Edyth Ellsworth and injured Kenneth Revoir. Revoir told M Live . 'You want to talk about prison. I think I'm living in one myself. 'I lost everything I had, pretty much.' The 75-year-old was seriously injured when Diallo crashed into stalled traffic on U.S. 23 near Willis Road in York Township on July 8, 2015. Jury in the Washtenaw County Trial Court heard that Diallo never hit the breaks when he was taking the quiz on his phone. He hit several vehicles that had been stopped in a construction zone. Revoir added that he had to stay in the ICU for 33 days and spent months recovering, after. Diallo crashed into stalled traffic on U.S. 23 near Willis Road in York Township on July 8, 2015 He claims to have lost his new home and having to cancel a trip to Alaska with his wife. 'You want to hear the worst of it,' he added. 'I can't even take a shower anymore by myself.' Ellsworth's daughter, Carol Darnielle, had been driving the Toyota Camry that was hit by the truck, and was seriously injured. 'When you drove your truck into our cars, the damage to me was a minor brain injury, a broken neck, broken back, broken ribs and a shattered leg,' she said. 'That was just a list of my physical injuries, not even the worst part. The injury that will never heal is my broken heart that you caused when you murdered my mother.' The woman's son, Russ Falkner, railed on Diallo for being on his phone when the crash occurred. 'How many times do you hear people say, 'Don't text and drive? Don't text and drive?'' Falkner said. 'You weren't just texting, you were taking surveys. "What County Best Suits My Personality to Live In." Really? That's what my mother died for?' Defense attorney Michael Rex shared how Diallo had experienced loss when his father and brother died in his native Sierra Leone. Diallo shared that he understood loss and that he was sorry, needing to gather himself occasionally overcome with emotion. "I have lost people dear to me," he said. "All I can tell you is, I'm sorry. If there was a way I could go back in time and change something, I would, but I can't. I'm very sorry." Rex motioned to keep Diallo free on bond but Judge Brown denied the motion. The sister of Hollywood actress Natalie Wood has said she believes police are 'close' to finally solving the mystery behind her sibling's death now brother-in-law Robert Wagner has been named a 'person of interest'. In an exclusive interview with DailyMail.com Lana Wood, 71, said she is 'frustrated' that the LA District Attorney's Office has still yet to press charges against anyone after all these years. She said: 'I feel we're so close to finding out what happened to my sister, but it's very frustrating, they have moved the case forward and made substantial inroads, but still haven't pressed charges.' In the past Lana has said she believes Natalie's husband Robert Wagner, in her mind, is the prime suspect, a claim she is less vocal about today. But she cites Wagner's power in Hollywood, comparing the shadow of suspicion hanging over him to the allegations against another powerful Hollywood figure: Harvey Weinstein. Lana Wood told DailyMail.com that she is 'frustrated' that the LA District Attorney's Office has yet to press charges against anyone for her sister's murder In the past Lana has said she believes Natalie's husband Robert Wagner, in her mind, is the prime suspect, a claim she is less vocal about today 'One is about sexual harassment, and the other is murder. But they are both the perfect example of the power people have in Hollywood. 'RJ still has a lot of power in Hollywood. I was blacklisted after Natalie's death. I had people high high up in the business confirm that. But what could I do? RJ was powerful, and he still is.' Wagner's Hollywood royalty status has not shielded him from scrutiny by the Los Angeles Sheriff's department, however, who in 2011 reopened their investigation into Natalie's death and confirmed on Thursday that Hart to Hart star Wagner is a 'person of interest'. West Side Story actress Natalie was found washed up on an island off the coast of California in 1981 amid mysterious circumstances following an alleged blazing row with her husband, Wagner, on their yacht. The case captivated the public and Wagner has been dogged by intrigue ever since. 'I just want the truth,' says Lana, who claims her former brother-in-law still has lots of questions to answer. Lana had previously told DailyMail.com that she had no choice but to believe Wagner was somehow involved. 'I've always believed Natalie was killed, nothing has come up to change my mind on that,' she said. West Side Story actress Natalie was found washed up on an island off the coast of California in 1981 amid mysterious circumstances following an alleged blazing row with her husband, Wagner, on their yacht Lana said she has confronted Wagner in the past about her sister's death but the encounter made her feel 'sick to my stomach.' Natalie and Robert were married twice Police in Los Angeles say they want to speak to Wagner, who is now 87, about Wood's death. The actor is pictured in April 2017 'It's easier for me to believe RJ (Wagner) has nothing to do with it, because the other possibility is heart-breaking, heart-wrenching, horrendous, horrific, that this man that she had known and was married to twice, might be responsible, it's horrendous for me to even imagine that. 'I would prefer to believe the other, but unfortunately it doesn't point that way.' A few years ago Lana was filmed confronting Wagner in a hotel hotel lobby and asking him: 'Why won't you speak to the detectives?' In video released on Radar Online, Wagner appears furious, saying to his former sister-in-law that she accused him of murder. 'Lana, why would you even bring up anything like that?' said Wagner. 'Do you realize what you've done? ...You have accused me! You have accused me of murdering her! 'I can't believe that you'd do something like that. I'm amazed that you even talk to me.' 'I don't accuse you of anything,' Lana replied, 'but RJ [Wagner's nickname] you've changed your story... You never for one minute stopped and said, "this is what happened.'' 'Of course I did!' snarled Wagner, before leaving while muttering, 'I can't do this.' Lana said the encounter made her feel 'sick to my stomach'. 'I was nervous beyond belief and the whole moment was surreal,' she said. 'I felt sick to my stomach. It was also a very jarring experience because I realized in that moment that I wasn't talking to the same RJ I once knew. 'I've made it very clear over the years what my thoughts are about what happened that night.' Looking back Lana says the whole affair has caused her no end of trouble in her life. Wood drowned near her yacht, the Splendour, off the coast of Catalina in southern California in November 1981 Wagner said they had argued and that she took off in the rubber dinghy and somehow must have fallen into the water An autopsy report showed that Wood had suffered a cut to her face which police say may show she was assaulted before she died The former actress, best known for her role as bond girl Plenty O'Toole in Diamonds Are Forever, claims that after the death of her sister Wagner made sure nobody in Hollywood would give her a job. 'I have been blacklisted from Hollywood for years, and I have had to live with the tirade and the aftermath of this whole event for years' she said. 'It has had a huge affect on me, my family, my life, my health and career. I just want the truth to come out for everyone's sake.' Last year Lana, who lives in Fillmore, California, was evicted from her flat where she lived with her lymphoma-suffering daughter, son-in-law and three grandchildren. With no financial help from Wagner's side of the family, Wood was left homeless and living out of a motel, until generous fans of the former bond girl donated $38,000 (26,600) via a GoFundMe page for her rent. But tragedy haunted her family still, as two weeks later her daughter succumbed to her illness and died of a heart attack aged 42 just a year younger than Natalie when she died in 1983. Actor Robert Wagner bends over to kiss flower covered casket of his wife, actress Natalie Wood, during graveside ceremonies for her at Westwood Memorial Park Cemetery 'I'm surviving by the skin of my teeth,' said Lana. 'Things are tough, but I'm just grateful to have a roof over my head. 'I needed shelter, a place for my family to live. It was all the wonderful wonderful people that donated their hard-earned money that saved me. 'Sadly, my story is all too familiar in the world of Hollywood and I want to start a foundation for the people that find themselves in these desperate situations like I did.' Three-time Oscar nominee Natalie, who starred in Miracle on 34th Street and Rebel Without a Cause, drowned aged 43 after going missing during a boat trip to Santa Catalina Island off the coast of California. She was with her husband Wagner, actor Christopher Walken and the boat's captain, Dennis Davern on the evening of November 28, 1981. Natalie's death was originally ruled 'an accidental drowning' by a coroner at the time. But the case was reopened in 2011 when the captain of the yacht, from which she fell to her death, came forward with new evidence. Skipper Dennis Davern had originally told detectives in 1981 that Natalie got in a dinghy and rowed away, despite the actress being famously petrified of dark water. Lana Wood said she's 'always believed Natalie was killed, nothing has come up to change my mind on that' Natalie's death was originally ruled 'an accidental drowning' by a coroner at the time, but the case was reopened in 2011 But in a sworn statement in 2011 he claimed he saw Wagner having a blazing row on deck with Natalie before she fell, and that Wagner had bullied him into keeping quiet. Davern was alone in his claim, but now two new witnesses who were in a nearby boat at the time have told detectives Lt John Carina and Ralph Hernandez that they also saw or heard the two Hollywood stars fighting on the deck of their yacht. Lana said this new evidence will be revealed in a documentary by US broadcaster CBS to be aired on Saturday night [UK 1PM/2PM]. 'I am literally telling my story [in the documentary] and I am a part of the jigsaw,' she said. 'However, I feel there will be a big reveal on Saturday night. I don't know who the witnesses are or what the new evidence is, but I think we will all be in for a surprise on Saturday night.' Wagner has always vehemently denied any involvement in Natalie's death. Advertisement The mansion in Oregon where Von Trapp relatives performed in 2016 is for sale for $3.75million. The Colonial-style 12,088-square-foot estate was built on 0.69 acres in 1951 by architect Roscoe Hemenway. The Portland home has six bedrooms, five full bathrooms and two partial bathrooms, according to Oregon Live. And apart from the magnificent architecture, the home has an impressive rap sheet of people who have visited and performed there over the years. The mansion in Oregon where Von Trapp relatives performed in 2016 is for sale for $3.75million The Colonial-style 12,088-square-foot estate was built on 0.69 acres in 1951 by designer Roscoe Hemenway Apart from the magnificent architecture, the home has an impressive rap sheet of people who have visited and performed there over the years Descendants of the Von Trapp family - which the movie Sound of Music was based on - performed at the home in 2016, listing agent Suze Riley explained, as did Thomas Lauderdale of 'Pink Martini' Pictured are the Von Trapp children in the movie about their life, Sound of Music, starring Julie Andrews Descendants of the Von Trapp family - which the movie Sound of Music was based on - performed at the home in 2016 alongside Thomas Lauderdale of 'Pink Martini', listing agent Suze Riley explained. 'In its earlier history, members of the Kennedy family have been known to visit,' she added. Before it's current owner, the home was owned by the Episcopal and Catholic Churches at different points. It was built initially for industry tycoon Theodore B Wilcox Jr and his wife, Ruth by Hemenway, who considered it his finest work. The home was built initially for industry tycoon Theodore B Wilcox Jr and his wife, Ruth by Hemenway, who considered it his finest work. It also still has its original elevator, which comes to three of the four floors In addition to the numerous bedrooms, the home also has a large 475-square foot dining room with French doors, paneled wainscoting and crown molding The Portland home has six bedrooms, five full bathrooms and two partial bathrooms, according to Oregon Live The expansive living room is perfect for entertaining, according to the realtor. People who live in the area refer to the home as 'The Bishop's house,' because the Catholic Archdiocese of Portland once lived there Wilcox was a second-generation millionaire who already had built three or four homes for his family before the recession hit. In 1961 the Wilcox family gave the home to the Episcopal Diocese of Oregon, who later sold it to the Catholic Archdiocese of Portland. People who live in the area refer to the home as 'The Bishop's House,' according to Oregon Live. In addition to the numerous bedrooms, the home also has a large 475-square foot dining room with French doors, paneled wainscoting and crown molding. The home also still has its original elevator, which comes to three of the four floors. The master suite on the second floor is a whopping 625-square-feet and comes equipped with a fireplace, a dressing room and a marble bathroom. And a glass-enclosed sun room with a skylight was added to the property in 2008, extending the kitchen and family room area The master suite on the second floor is a whopping 625-square-feet and comes equipped with a fireplace, a dressing room and a marble bathroom The balcony from the master bedroom looks out onto the back yard, which has a gazebo and minimalist landscaping The home is on the market for the first time in 25 years. Pictured is the winding staircase, which has artistic crown molding details on each step French doors open onto a balcony at the back of the mansion, which has a hot-tub and connects to a bathroom at the other end of the home. On the top floor there are multiple rooms for entertaining - including a library, a wet bar, a theater and a powder room. And a glass-enclosed sun room with a skylight was added to the property in 2008, extending the kitchen and family room area. 'This house, by all accounts is the best of the best and a family looking for both a fabulous entertainer and a very comfortable home should look no further,' Riley explained. The home is on the market for the first time in 25 years. On the top floor there are multiple rooms for entertaining - including a library, a wet bar and a powder room A Norwegian woman has had her licence taken away from her after police stopped her while driving with an almost completely iced up front windscreen. Police in the northern city of Tromso, which is inside the Arctic Circle, tweeted a picture of the woman's opaque front window as a warning to other motorists. 'In this case the patrol assessed the [offence] as so serious that it was cause for confiscation of her driving licence. It was a danger to traffic,' operation leader Karl Erik Tomassen of Tromso Police District told Nordlys. Police tweeted a picture of the woman's windscreen after the stopped her and took her licence The incident happened in the city of Tromso, picture, in the north of Norway Police confirmed via a Twitter post that the woman's licence had been confiscated and encouraged other drivers to 'scrape windscreens sufficiently'. The unnamed women, who is in her twenties, was the third driver in five days to be stopped for having an iced up windscreen According Nordlys, Tromso police traffic coordinator Jan-Ove Fossli said several options are available to police when motorists fail to ensure their windows are cleared. 'There is no blueprint for what the limit is. It is the patrol on the scene which makes the decision, since it is they who observe vehicles in traffic,' he explained. 'The patrol can instruct [drivers] to scrape their windows verbally or issue a fine of 2600 kroner (237). 'The final response could be a report and driving licence confiscation. We have seen examples where a hole has been scraped in the middle of the windscreen.' Bill Carter's life was torn asunder on June, 19, 2015, when he walked into the kitchen of his family's home in rural Iowa and found his wife of 52 years lying dead on the floor with a gunshot wound. The bereaved husband and father of three grown children, 71, blamed his youngest son, Jason for killing his mother and filed a wrongful death lawsuit against him, which he won in late December, just days before his son's arrest. Jason Carter, 45, on Wednesday pleaded not guilty to a murder charge stemming from the grisly killing of his mother Shirley Carter, which is the subject of a new episode of Dateline airing on NBC on Friday night. Widowed in tears: Bill Carter, 71, broke down in tears talking about the killing of his wife of 52 years Shirley, on Dateline. His son Jason, 45 (right), has now been charged with the crime Happier times: Bill and Shirley Carter lived in rural Iowa with their three children Mr Carter is seen during his sit-down interview with Dateline presenter Dennis Murphy In the latest Dateline installment, titled The Farm, an emotional Bill Carter recounts for host Dennis Murphy the moment he got a call that something happened to his wife and raced to their house outside of Pleasantville, Iowa. Bill says he got out of his truck and made his way to the front door, running past his son Jason, who was pacing in circles while talking on the phone. As he entered the kitchen, he saw his wife, dressed in bluejeans and a T-shirt, lying motionless next to the wooden dinner table. 'She looked like she was asleep,' Bill recalled with tears running down his face. 'I couldn't get a pulse, and I kissed her forehead, and it was cold, and I knew she was dead.' At first, Bill could not figure out how Shirley died, but then he says his son walked into the house and pointed out to him a bullet hole in the refrigerator and another in the floor. Jason also told his grief-stricken father that their house has been burglarized, with papers and personal belongings littering the master bedroom and the office. Crime scene: Bill recounted the moment in June 2015 when he walked into his kitchen and saw Shirley dead on the floor (pictured) Bill Carter said: 'I kissed her forehead, and it was cold, and I knew she was dead' Clues: Jason Carter pointed out to his father this bullet hole in the refrigerator Bill said his son told him their house has been robbed; Carter's office is seen after having been ransacked The Carters' master bedroom (pictured) was also in disarray after Shirley's killing When paramedics arrived on the scene, they found Bill hunched over his wife's body in the kitchen. 'He [EMT] said, 'Bill you got to come out outside,"' the widower said. In an interview with the local station WHO-TV in 2016, Bill said that the last time he saw Shirley alive, he had just dropped her off at the house after getting coffee and told her that he would see her at around 11 or 11.30am. As months went by after Shirley's shooting death and no arrest was made, Bill decided to take matters into his own hands and hired a private investigator who turned up evidence that allegedly implicated Bill and Shirley's son Jason in her killing. Bill Carter's attorney Ron Danks said at the time that Jason's motive was to cover up an alleged affair that would have led his father to stop supplying him with money if he found out. A private investigator whom was hired by Bill has turned up evidence that allegedly implicated Bill and Shirley's son Jason in her killing In custody: Jason Carter, 45, was arrested in December 2017 on a charge of first-degree murder in his mother's killing 'Jason was having an affair. We know that his dad didn't know about the affair and his dad would have been very upset. We also believe that Jason was in financial difficulties and would need his dad to bail him out as he did in the past and his dad would not have bailed him out if he had known about the alleged affair,' Danks told WHO-TV. In January 2016, Bill and his two other children, Jana Lain and Billy Carter, filed a civil lawsuit accusing Jason Carter of wrongful death, but Jason blamed his father for the crime. His lawyer argued in court that it was Bill who killed his wife because she wanted to leave him and for financial gain. A criminal investigator testified during the lawsuit that the home had been ransacked to look like a robbery, but police noted Shirley Carters purse, prescription drugs and some checks were found near her body. On December 15, 2017, a Marion County jury found in the plaintiffs' favor, ordering Jason to pay $10million to his mother's estate, and two days later the 45-year-old man was arrested on a count of first-degree murder. Jason entered his not guilty plea in writing on Wednesday. A trial date has not been set as of yet. The Dateline episode exploring the Shirley Carter murder is airing Friday at 10pm Eastern Time on NBC. Community members have banded together to raise more than $400,000 for the 13 children who were abused for years by their parents at a 'House of Horrors' in Perris, California. Two weeks ago, David and Louise Turpin's 17-year-old daughter escaped the home and brought police back to rescue her 12 siblings - some of whom were chained to their beds as punishment by their ultra-religious parents. Except for the youngest child, the rest of the children (who range in age from two to 29) were malnourished and had to be hospitalized. Scroll down for video More than $400,000 have been raised for the 13 Turpin children who were found living in horrible conditions at their parents home in Perris, California last month The case shocked the nation, even more so those who lived near the Turpins and never guessed the torture that was happening inside the respectable-looking home. It inspired many in the community to band together to raise money for the children, who will no doubt struggle to deal with the abuse for the rest of their lives. Two main funds have been set up to collect money for the children, one with the Riverside University Health System Foundation and the other with the Corona Chamber of Commerce. Eventually the funds will be merged and put into a single account. As of Wednesday, the foundation had collected $249,365 and the Chamber of Commerce had collected $178,000. The foundation said their donations came from as far away as Germany and Singapore. Bobby Spiegel (pictured), president of the Corona Chamber of Commerce, helped organize a 'dine out' fundraiser on Wednesday, where 40 local restaurants agreed to donate 15 to 20 percent of their proceeds to the children That number is expected to grow since the Chamber of Commerce organized a 'dine out' fundraiser on Wednesday involving 40 local restaurants. The restaurants who participated in the fundraiser agreed to donate 15 to 20 percent of each bill to the children, with diners' permission. DailyMail.com reached out to the Chamber of Commerce to learn how much they had made in the fundraiser, but did not immediately receive a response on Friday. The Chamber of Commerce hoped to raise $10,000 during the event. While the total amount certainly is a large number, it's not nearly enough. 'We're talking about 13 lives. $400,000 is not going to be much in the long scheme of things, so that's why we did this dine out event,' Corona Chamber of Commerce President Bobby Spiegel told ABC 7. According to a 2010 study by the Centers for Disease Control, the average lifetime cost for a victim of child maltreatment is $210,000 when you figure in the costs of healthcare, productivity losses, child welfare, criminal justice and special education. The children's medical bills alone are going to be astronomical, since they are still recovering from their years of abuse in the hospital. The adults are being cared for at one hospital, and the minors at another. Meanwhile, the children's parents remain behind bars, awaiting trial. The couple face 12 charges of torture, 12 charges of false imprisonment, seven charges of abuse on a dependent adult and six charges of child abuse. David Turpin faces an additional charge of a lewd act on a child under 14 years old. They face the possibility of spending the rest of their lives in prison if convicted. Astonishing footage shows a 200kg crocodile being petted, washed and played with at a family's home in Indonesia. The enormous beast, named Kojek, guzzles 1.5kg of goldfish a day and has become an unlikely star after being welcomed into the Iwan family as a pet. Muhammad Iwan, 41, bought the estuarine crocodile when he was a newborn for just 1.31 from fishermen who caught him in Pangandaran Beach in 1997. More than two decades later, Kojek's love of fish has seen him balloon to such a huge size that he has become notorious in his homeland. Incredible footage shows Muhammad bathing the 8ft 8in crocodile in the yard of his home in Sempur Sub-District, West Java, as his young children, aged two and 10, play just metres away. But Muhammad insists the 21-year-old beast is completely tame and would never attack him or his youngsters. Muhammad Iwan, 41, (pictured) bought estuarine crocodile Kojek when he was a newborn for just 1.31 from fishermen who caught him in Pangandaran Beach in 1997 The enormous beast guzzles 1.5kg of goldfish a day and has become an unlikely star after being welcomed into the Iwan family as a pet When Muhhamad first bought Kojek, he measured just 25cm long and could live comfortably in a medium-sized aquarium. He only fed carp to his unusual pet to begin with, but now forks out roughly 2.61 a week on fresh goldfish, feeding Kojek between 1.5kg and 5kg of the fish every day. Because of his online stardom, tourists from as far away as America, Australia and Europe have travelled to see the gargantuan reptile for themselves. Incredible footage shows Muhammad bathing the 8ft 8in crocodile in the yard of his home in Sempur Sub-District, West Java, as his young children, aged two and 10, play just metres away But Muhammad insists the 21-year-old beast is completely tame and would never attack him or his youngsters 'When he was little Kojek had a fierce nature and even bit my finger, but he soon grew tame when I took him into my home,' he said. 'Kojek looks like a beast, but he loves to interact with humans. 'I love crocodiles and I care a lot about Kojek, and I think he sees me as his father. He's a good pet. 'His treatment is not too special. I clean his water once a week and give him skin care and brush his teeth.' The dad-of-two claims some tourists have offered him up to 52,300 for Kojek, but he sees the crocodile as part of the family The dad-of-two claims some tourists have offered him up to 52,300 for Kojek. But Muhammad sees his pet as part of the family. He changes the water in his pond once a week to keep him healthy and even brushes his enormous teeth. A confident thief was captured on surveillance camera as he ran off with a $60,000 gold chain draping from his neck. Police in Broward, Florida, are searching for a teenager who stole the chain from a vendor at the Oakland Park Flea Market on December 17. Footage shows the booth's owner taking the necklace, which has a large San Lazaro charm, out of its case to show to the thief. The thief then tries on the necklace, and pauses for a moment to look at himself in the mirror before taking off. Police in Broward, Florida, are searching for a teenager who stole the chain from a vendor at the Oakland Park Flea Market on December 17 Footage shows the booth's owner taking the necklace, which has a large San Lazaro charm, out of its case to show to the thief. Police said the young man ran off wearing the necklace through the parking lot of the flea market. The booth's owner, Eli Chlvany, said he tried to chase the young man down but said he couldn't catch him. 'This showcase is on wheels, so I tried to push it and block him,' Chlvany told ABC 10. He said that he and a security guard both attempted to chase down the man, but he was able to dodge them and disappear. He also said he had second thoughts about letting the young man try on the necklace, but that those were put to rest after he showed him his license. 'When he want to see the big piece, I wasn't really comfortable, but then he showed me the ID and I was comfortable, and then he took off,' Chlvany said. The Broward Sheriff's Department said the thief left behind an identification card, but that it was the ID of another person. The thief then tries on the necklace, and pauses for a moment to look at himself in the mirror before taking off Police said the young man ran off wearing the necklace through the parking lot of the flea market He is pictured from a different vantage point as he takes off away from the booth with the necklace dangling from his neck Chlvany said that he's not going to take his bigger items out of the case when he's working at flea markets anymore. 'Now I'm not going to show heavy stuff anymore,' he said. 'I'm going to stand from here. You want to see it? There you go.' Anyone with information is asked to call Detective Eric Versteeg or the Broward Crime Stoppers at 954-493-TIPS. A man has been charged in the slaying of a 63-year-old church deacon in Alabama. Brahnsen Tray Burton, 20, was booked into the Jefferson County Jail Wednesday, after police said he likely killed Sylvester Poole inside of his own truck in 2017. Authorities say the deadly shooting happened in broad daylight at around 3pm in Birmingham, and Poole's vehicle was still running when police arrived. Police say Brahnsen Tray Burton (left) killed Sylvester Poole (right) inside of his own vehicle in November, and they believe he was trying to rob the deacon Local media reports Poole was a deacon at New Hope Baptist Church (pictured) Neighbors who gathered outside the scene said a man got out of Poole's truck after the shooting and walked down the street, however police were unable to confirm those accounts. They believe that the shooting happened inside of the vehicle. After finding shattered glass and considering the direction of the gunfire detectives say they think the shots were fired within the truck, according to AL.com. Investigators believe Burton's intention was to rob Poole. He is currently being held without bond in the Jefferson County Jail. Sylvester leaves behind his wife of 44-years, Gwendolyn Poole (pictured together) Poole also, leaves behind two children. He worked for Piggly Wiggly and served in the US Army Poole's obituary says he worked with the New Hope Baptist Church, and left behind his wife Gwendolyn Poole, after 44-years of marriage. They had two children together Tomika and Antonio. He was also a driver for Piggly Wiggly for 20-years and was served in the US Army. Nicole Eggert is speaking up about the recent allegations she made about Scott Baio and whether a police report will be filed in the case. The actress was out in Los Angeles on Friday morning where she also revealed that she has received messages from 'five to six' on-set witnesses who could help corroborate her allegations. In addition, Eggert said that am appointment had been made with special units in Los Angeles so that she could file a report. She then took a dig at Baio for saying earlier this week that Eggert should stop spreading rumors for the sake of his daughter. 'I would like to see him come clean for the sake of his daughter,' said Eggert. 'I would to see him be a good parent.' Scroll down for video Nicole Eggert said on Friday she had scheduled an appointment with special units to file a report against Scott Baio Calling out Charles: The actress, 46, also revealed that 'five or six' on-set witness who could back her molestation allegations against Baio had reached out to her this week Eggert was also asked what it was like to get the support of Rose McGowan. The actress and director posted a tweet on Wednesday in which she applauded Eggert for coming forward and said: 'We hold you in our light.' Eggert was quick to point out however that McGowan was just one of many women in the industry who have been subjected to sexual assault, before giving an update in her own case. 'I woke up to messages from five or six more on-set witnesses,' said Eggert. When asked if she believed there might be other victims though, Eggert became a bit cryptic. 'I can't comment, but if there are I hope they have the courage to come forward and I will stand by them.' Eggert detailed the difficulty she has been having while she tries to come to terms with Baio's alleged molestation of her, which began when she was just 14, on an episode of The Dr Oz Show this weel. 'Its, you know...strange. It makes sense...to me it makes sense, but as Im going through this process, Ive never talked about this so much before, you know?' said Eggert of her emotional state during an interview with Dr. Oz on Wednesday. 'This is something thats...you know, Im also working through it and other memories are coming up for me. Its been a long time.' Eggert then became emotional, fighting back ears as she said: 'So, you know, to say I have everything down and I have it perfect wrapped up in this tiny little box, its just not...reality. I was 17, Ive always said I was 17, and that still doesnt change the fact that everything happened up until then.' When asked about the alleged abuse, Eggert said: 'I knew it was wrong, I knew all along all of it was wrong, because I was constantly reminded that it had to be a secret and whenever anybody asks you to keep a secret its wrong, yet being a teenager and going through puberty and all of that it... you...I sort of stayed in it and just keep quiet.' It wasn't me: Scott Baio appeared on Good Morning America (above) to deny the allegations being made by Nicole Eggert, who says the actor sexually abused her as a minor All good: Baio is seen leaving the studio after he taped GMA on Wednesday morning (above) Baio appeared on Good Morning America to deny allegations that he sexually abused his Charles in Charge co-star Nicole Eggert. The actor did not offer any proof to discredit Eggert's claims, but did demand that she stop with her allegations for the sake of his family. 'Why somebody would come after me, my reputation and stop me from doing something that I love doing ... and more important than that is my wife and I have a 10-year-old daughter,' said Baio, who showed no hint of emotion during the interview. 'And my 10-year-old daughter does not need to be hearing about this from friends at school, these false allegations. Her job is not to defend me. My job is to defend my daughter. Her job is to be 10 years old and that's why this has got to stop.' He also shared a tweet from January 2017 of Eggert responding to a fan asking where Baio was during a Charles in Charge cast reunion by writing: 'Yes - we were missing Scott!' Buffy the Vampire Slayer star Kristy Swanson also took to Twitter to share her thoughts, writing: 'Shame on you @NicoleEggert to stab @ScottBaio honey you are driven by politics its SO obvious! Stop it now! You are ridiculous!' Baio, who appeared on GMA alongside his lawyer, began the interview by denying that Eggert was 17 on the one occasion the two both admit to having sex. The actor says that Eggert herself confirmed this initially in an interview with The Dirty - having said was 18 at the time. Amy Robach then pushed back on Baio, stating: 'Now she says that she lied at the time to protect the show because that's what she thought she needed to do.' Baio responded by saying: 'So I'm trying to figure out which time she's lying and which time she's not lying because the story seems to change quite a bit. And I can't keep up with her quite honestly.' Then Robach again pressed Baio, pointing out the statement given by the founder of The Dirty, who revealed Eggert had broken down and told him all about the alleged assaults after that interview. 'What happened with you and Nicole when she was 14, 15, 16?', asked Robach. 'Absolutely nothing,' said Baio. 'And I find it interesting, Amy, that the moment that her first allegation that we had sex when she was 17 - which is not true - as soon as that was proven to be 100 percent false, she comes up with a new story where something happened once a week for years.' Baio went on to say a weekly assault would have been impossible on the set of a sitcom, where 'there's teachers, parents, family, crew, producers' and the actor's own father 'I don't know how anybody can believe what she's saying when her first allegation of having sex when we were 17 had been proven to be 100% false and her story keeps changing,' said Baio. 'She makes up new things. And by the way, I'm not the first person she's done this to.' Robach then went through each of Eggert's claims and Baio categorized them all as false, but offered up nothing more than a denial. Then, Robach pointed out that people on set did say they noticed something between Eggert and the sitcom's leading man. 'Alex [Polinsky] who played Nicole's brother reportedly said he witnessed inappropriate cuddling between you and Nicole on the set and then Adam Karl who is credited with one appearance on the show tweeted he remembers her crying about you. Why do you think they're saying that? Are they lying too?', asked Robach. 'I don't know what they're saying. I have no idea. I don't know why they're saying it. I don't - there were so many people on that set,' said Baio. 'Nicole and I were friends after our only sexual encounter. She aggressively sought me out because she wanted me to be her first so that she would be good for her boyfriend, those are her words.' Allegation: The actress claimed she was just 14 when Scott Baio, then 25, 'penetrated me with his finger' (Baio and Eggert above on the show) Speaking out: Eggert (above) spoke with Megyn Kelly on Tuesday about the alleged sexual abuse she suffered for two years while filming Charles in Charge The actress said the sexual abuse began when she was 14 back in 1986 on the set of Charles in Charge, the television show she worked on with Baio, who was then 25. 'He immediately took to me and befriended me and earned my trust. And then he started expressing his love for me. And talking about marriage in the future,' said Eggert on Megyn Kelly Today. 'And then I was still 14, before my 15th birthday, we were at his house in his car in his garage. And he reached over and he penetrated me with his finger. And that is when the sexual touching and abuse started after that.' She went on to claim that these incidents 'probably happened once a week' until she was 16, along with kissing and groping that she believes the pair's co-stars on the program saw at the time. 'I had never experienced anything like that before either, so he was playing on not only my emotions but my hormones and all of those things,' said Eggert, now 46. 'And the issue with him is that he was our boss. And he was telling me, you know, 'You can't tell anybody, this is illegal, I'll go to jail. The show will be over. Everybody will be sued," you know? "You'll be out of a job, you'll ruin everybody's life.' Eggert then added: 'It's scary. It's intimidating, especially when you're that young.' As for the producers and other actors on set, Eggert said they had to be aware of the kissing and groping but she does not think they knew about the sexual abuse. 'There was a bit of like -- this person loves me. I trust this person. And that he cares about me and I'm safe,' said Eggert of her feelings for Baio at the time. 'And it wasn't until, you know, getting a little bit older that I started to realize this not -- this is not love.' She said that the two did not have sexual intercourse until she was 17 and Baio was 28, and that she only told a few close friends at the time of the initial abuse. Baio disputes this as well and says Eggert was 18, which is the legal age of consent in the state. He provided proof of that in the form of an interview that Eggert did with The Dirty, in which she said that it was long after the show wrapped in 1990 when she and Bario had sex. Eggert explained why she had kept this a secret for so long, and why she stressed in the past that she had never had sexual contact with Baio until she was of age. 'But my truth is I wasn't ready to tell my story and for me it was protecting the show and protecting that whole legacy that nothing happened there,' Eggert told Kelly. 'That was my delusion and that was my cover-up always. And, you know, that's not the first time I covered it up. I always lied about it.' Now, Eggert wishes she could go back and tell her younger self to not be ashamed of what had happened, and let her know it was not her fault. 'Shame plays a weird part and a strong voice. You lie,' said Eggert. 'I didn't want anybody to look at me and think I was weak. I didn't think anybody to think, oh, victim. It's not until now that I see other people coming forward and how many women I talk to that this has happened to. It's more common than not, unfortunately.' Eggert said that her interactions and conversations with these women have also helped her realize her alleges assault is not 'gross or embarrassing.' Kelly then asked Eggert to explain why if she had endured this abuse she agreed to go on Baio's reality show back in 2007, and giving the impression that the two were friends. 'Well, the reality show was about him having therapy for womanizing. That's what people don't understand. I went on there to call him out on some of the women he mistreated on our set,' said Eggert. 'That's what that appearance was about. So, you know, yeah, I appeared on it. But it wasn't a positive oh, let's go, you know, have ice cream. It was about the women.' She then was asked about why she denied underage relations with Baio while being interviewed by The Dirty. 'I'm good at covering up. I got really good at it. Really good at bearing it and putting it away in a box and saying, no, that's not me. That didn't happen to me,' said Eggert. It was then revealed that Nik Richie, the founder of The Dirty who conducted that interview, had released a statement backing up Eggert's claim. Kelly read it on air, pointing out beforehand that the two do share a manager. 'I remember the day that Nicole Eggert did the interview, and she was distraught after the interview. She was an emotional wreck. She said it was much worse than she had described on air,' read the statement. 'She said, he molested as a child and I didn't know any better.' Kelly then asked Eggert: 'When you left that radio interview, is that true? Were you distraught? What are you feeling?' Eggert responded by saying it was at that moment she realized she need to tell the truth and stop protecting other people, She later spoke about the first time she had intercourse with Baio, revealing: 'It was in my house, and in my spare bedroom and he laid down a towel and it happened there.' The bloom is off the rose: Eggert appeared alongside her lawyer Lisa Bloom (above) later in the show Baio told a different story in a video posted to Facebook over the weekend. 'I remember her calling me and asking me to come over and coming in my house one time, and seducing me,' said Baio. 'Any normal heterosexual, red-blooded American guy, the outcome would have been the same.' That video was posted along with what Baio claims is evidence of Eggert's deception on his Facebook account, where he wrote: 'Nicole Eggert has been claiming I had sex with her before she was 18 at least since 2013. She is provably wrong, and because we have been telling her that since last year without results, our only conclusion is that she is deliberately lying.' Baio's evidence consisted of highlighted dates meant to show that Eggert is lying based on the comments she made to The Dirty and a large number of legal letters demanding silence from Eggert and fellow Charles in Charge castmate Alex Polinsky. Polinsky said that he saw Baio acting affectionate with Eggert on set together on set in a tweet that was since deleted. He also said that he was abused on set, but not by Baio. 'I dont know what else to put out there,' said Baio in his Facebook video. 'Shes my best friend in the world, then all of a sudden Im the bogeyman.' No red flags: Douglas Haig, a 55-year-old aerospace engineer who sold ammunition to Las Vegas gunman Stephen Paddock told reporters on Friday that his one-time customer was polite and raised no suspicions An Arizona man who sold 720 rounds of ammunition to Las Vegas gunman Stephen Paddock has been charged with manufacturing armor-piercing bullets. A complaint filed Friday in federal court in Phoenix said ammunition dealer Douglas Haig's fingerprints were on armor-piercing bullets found inside the Las Vegas hotel room where the attack - which claimed the lives of 58 people - was launched on October 1. Haig, from Arizona, didnt have a license to manufacture armor-piercing ammunition, according to the complaint. Haig, a 55-year-old aerospace engineer who sold ammunition on the side for 25 years, said on Friday that his one-time customer was well-dressed, polite and didn't raise suspicions that he was planning to carry out the deadliest mass shooting in modern US history. Haig said at a press conference in Phoenix that he met Paddock at a gun show just a few weeks before the October 1 shooting on the Vegas strip that killed 58 people and injured hundreds more. Scroll down for video Haig (pictured) said on Tuesday that he told ammunition to Stephen Paddock before the lone gunman shot 58 people dead in Las Vegas in October Haig didn't have the quantity of tracer ammunition on hand that Paddock was seeking, so Paddock contacted him a few days later and arranged a sale at Haig's home in the Phoenix suburb of Mesa. Tracer bullets contain a pyrotechnic charge that illuminates the path of fired bullets so shooters can see whether their aim is correct. Haig said he was shocked and sickened when a federal agent informed him of the massacre 11 hours after it unfolded. It's unknown whether the ammunition he sold to Paddock was used in the attack. 'I had no contribution to what Paddock did,' Haig said, adding that there was nothing unusual about the type or quantity of ammunition Paddock bought. 'I had no way to see into his mind.' Haig, pictured with his attorney on Friday, said he was shocked and sickened when a federal agent informed him of the massacre 11 hours after it unfolded Damage control: Haig's lawyer said the press conference was a bid to protect his reputation after he was revealed earlier this week to be a 'person of interest' in the investigation Haig said Paddock told him that 'he was going to go out to the desert to put on a light show, either with or for his friends. I can't remember whether he used the word "with" or "for." But he said that he was going out at night to shoot it with friends.' Haig appeared before a gaggle of reporters on Friday in what his lawyer said was a bid to protect his reputation after he was revealed earlier this week to be a 'person of interest' in the investigation. Haig's identity emerged by mistake after his name was not redacted in court documents. But a law enforcement official has since told the Associated Press that investigators don't believe Haig had any involvement or knowledge of the planned attack when he sold ammunition to Paddock. Video courtesy of ABC 15. He said he has received unwanted media attention and death threats since his name was released. Still, Haig, who has closed his ammunition business, said he doesn't expect to take any legal action as a result of his name being publicly revealed. A law enforcement official told the AP in October that Paddock bought 1,000 rounds of tracer ammunition from a private seller he met at a Phoenix gun show. The official spoke anonymously because they weren't authorized to disclose case information. It was not immediately clear if that person was Haig. Haig was one of a handful of gun dealers who sold ammo to Paddock. Paddock killed 59 people and injured hundreds more when he opened fire at a music festival, from a sniper's nest in the Mandalay Bay hotel on October 1. He killed himself as a SWAT team gathered outside his door Investigators first sought to question Haig because the Amazon box he recycled to package Paddock's purchase had his name and address on it and was found in the Mandalay Bay hotel room Paddock used to carry out the attack. He gave the box to Paddock to carry the 720 rounds of tracer ammunition from the sale. Haig said earlier there was nothing in Paddock's behavior that would have hinted at what he was planning. 'I couldnt detect anything wrong with this guy. Usually folks that have bad intent or they say something wrong, or just imply theyre going to do something illegal or against the law, I refuse service,' he said this week. While nothing tipped Haig off to what Paddock was planning, he said he felt so guilty over selling ammunition to the shooter that he closed his side business, Specialized Military Ammunition LLC. The company's website says it sold tracer and incendiary ammunition but is now 'closed indefinitely.' Haig's main job is at the aerospace firm Honeywell. Haig also spoke to Newsweek in October, shortly after he was interviewed by investigators. 'They asked me a bunch of questions,' he told the magazine on October 4, 'and after about 20 minutes they left. Havent heard from them since.' 'I have to think that if it was really, really serious or there was something that they thought I did that was wrong, [the agents] would have been kicking my door down,' Haig said then. At the time, he said he had 'no link' to Paddock. 'I didnt even know who this guy was,' he said. In October, Haig told Newsweek he used to sell ammunition reloading components but hadn't 'for a long time'. Above, a look at some of the hundreds of spent shells in Paddock's hotel room Haig says investigators first spoke to him because they found an Amazon box with his name and address on it in Paddock's hotel room. He says he recycled the box to package tracer ammunition he sold to Paddock in the weeks before the shooting More than a dozen firearms were found in Paddock's hotel room after the shooting He speculated that Paddock may have had his business card. 'It could have been a business card from a year ago, two years ago, who knows?' he said. 'He might have had one of my cards and wrote something on the back of it that they found in his house.' Haig appeared worried for his family after the shooting. 'I have a family to take care of and feed,' he said, adding: 'Ive been interviewed, and thats as far as it went. They were following up on a lead, and obviously it went nowhere.' The documents that emerged on Tuesday and inadvertently identified Haig did not disclose why authorities considered Haig a person of interest in the massacre. The documents show that early in the investigation, police believed Paddock must have had help. Above, a look at the Las Vegas Village where Paddock rained down bullets on October 1 Bodies are removed from the concert venue en masse the day after the shooting 'Given the magnitude of the incident, it is reasonable to believe multiple suspects and months of planning were involved in this premeditated massacre,' said one search warrant request submitted to a judge nine days after the shooting. However, Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo released a preliminary report on January 19 saying police and the FBI believe Paddock acted alone before he killed himself as police closed in. It did not answer the key question: What made Paddock stockpile a cache of assault-style weapons and fire for about 10 minutes out the windows of the Mandalay Bay hotel-casino into a crowd of 22,000 people? Haig's name was blacked out in the more than 270 pages of search warrant records released by a Nevada judge to the Associated Press, but remained on one page of documents provided to the Las Vegas Review-Journal. The newspaper published the name online. Clark County District Court Judge Elissa Cadish later ordered the full document not be published without redactions, but she acknowledged she couldn't order the newspaper to retract the name. Authorities previously said an unnamed person could face unspecified federal charges in shooting that also injured more than 800 other people. The warrants show that investigators found 23 rifles and a handgun in Paddock's 32nd-floor hotel suite and an adjoining room. Police also found five suitcases, five rifle cases, binoculars, a spotter scope, portable solar generator and 1,050 empty bullet casings. Police reported finding just $273 in cash in the room of the 64-year-old retired accountant who amassed a millionaire's fortune, owned homes in Reno and Mesquite, Nevada, and earned casino perks wagering thousands of dollars on high-stakes video poker. This October 2017 file photo shows the kitchenette in Paddock's hotel room with guns and ammo scattered around Authorities previously characterized Paddock as a gambler on a losing streak who was obsessed with cleanliness, may have been bipolar and was having difficulties with his live-in girlfriend. The name of Paddock's girlfriend, Marilou Danley, was not redacted from documents released Tuesday in response to a public records lawsuit filed by media companies including AP and the Review-Journal. Danley was in the Philippines at the time of the attack and is cooperating with investigators. She was initially considered a person of interest but authorities later said she is not likely to face criminal charges. Separately, Clark County District Court Judge Timothy Williams ruled Tuesday that the coroner in Las Vegas should release autopsy records of Paddock and the people killed by gunfire, with victims' names blacked out. Those documents were not immediately made public. County Coroner John Fudenberg later released a statement, promising victims' autopsy reports 'as soon as possible.' But Paddock's autopsy report is not yet finalized and would not be released until it is, the coroner said. Fudenberg maintains the records are confidential, and restricts release to families and to police investigating deaths. The coroner and county attorneys didn't immediately say whether they would appeal Williams' ruling to the Nevada Supreme Court. Margaret McLetchie, an attorney representing AP and the Review-Journal in the autopsies case, noted in court that Nevada state public records law does not directly address autopsies and that a deceased person has no legal right to privacy. In Nevada, records are public unless the law says otherwise, she said. A woman was sexually assaulted while sleeping in a hospital corridor because of a lack of beds. Sarah Jane Palmer, 31, woke to find she was being molested by another patient as she lay on a bench. The registered nurse had been taken in by ambulance after mixing alcohol with her prescription medicine but was told there were no beds and to take a pillow and sleep in the hallway. She now plans to sue University College Hospital for failing to keep her safe after David Cabero put his hand on her breast and his tongue in her mouth. Sarah Jane Palmer, pictured, was sexually assaulted while she lay on a bench in hospital after she mixed medication with alcohol during a mental health crisis The 26-year-old was found guilty of sexual assault on Wednesday and admitted he had been on a two-day bender drinking wine, beer and vodka. He was found lying in the street in central London by a member of the public who phoned for an ambulance which took him to the same casualty unit. Miss Palmer, who has waived her right to anonymity, said: A hospital is somewhere you should feel safe and be looked after. I was clearly vulnerable but was left alone to be sexually assaulted under the watch of staff including nurses and security. It felt like I had been abandoned. She had been suffering from depression and had mixed alcohol with her medication, including a beta-blocker and an anti-depressant. A concerned friend phoned for an ambulance in the early hours of May 9 last year. I know I should never have taken alcohol while on medication but I was in a mental health crisis at the time, said Miss Palmer, a Kings College London graduate. I am completely abstinent from alcohol now and fortunately my mental health is much better. CCTV footage showed Cabero getting up from his seat to sit next to Miss Palmer, holding her hand, stroking her and moving his face to hers. Cabero, pictured arriving for his court case, had been on a two-day bender when he assaulted his sleeping victim The startling video shown during his trial showed nurses, patients, security guards and a police officer walking past oblivious. One nurse paused only to drain her coffee and put the cup into a bin. Miss Palmer stirred at least twice to push Cabero away before falling back to sleep. I told him to leave me alone, she said after the trial. But I was in a deep sleep due to the medication and alcohol plus it was in the middle of the night. He was putting his hands on my face, forcing his tongue into my mouth as I was lying there helpless in a place in which I should have been protected. Watching the CCTV in court made me sick. I couldnt believe his hands were on my face and he was trying to touch me in full view of anyone who walked past but nobody did anything to stop him. Bolivian-born Cabero, of Islington, North London, was arrested after she reported his behaviour to staff. He told police he believed her name was Olivia and said: Some parts of her eyes were open, some were closed. If she had told me Dont I would have been, like, okay, of course. Im a gentleman. Cabero, who is unemployed but has previously worked as a cleaner, fell asleep in the dock during his trial at Blackfriars Crown Court after getting drunk during the lunch break. His Honour Judge Michael Simon remanded him in custody overnight following the trials first day and Cabero apologised to the court for having a few cans of strong cider when I left for the break. Sarah Jane Palmer plans to sue the hospital, pictured, after she was sexually assaulted there while being forced to sleep in a corridor Prosecutor David Povall said: David Cabero took advantage of a young woman while she was intoxicated and unconscious in a hospital accident and emergency ward in order to sexually molest her. Clearly Miss Palmer wasnt consenting to that and couldnt consent to it. If somebody is out cold then nobody could believe they are consenting. Cabero, who has eight previous convictions for non-sexual crimes, admitted kissing Miss Palmer on the forehead but denied any touching was sexual. He will be sentenced next month. A hospital trust spokesman said: We reiterate our apologies to the victim. We notified the police as soon as the allegation was made and assisted with their investigation, as well as undertaking our own. We would like to reassure our patients that this was an isolated incident. Miss Palmer said she had not been given a formal written apology or any information about the hospitals investigation. It was a Tuesday so the staff shouldnt have been that stretched they couldnt have stopped this from happening, she said. The NHS continues to struggle to cope with unprecedented winter pressures. In January, leading doctors warned the crisis was so serious that patients were dying in the corridors of overcrowded A&E units. When the infamous Jungle camp was dismantled, many hoped the chaos that had plagued Calais would be over for good. But now migrants are returning to the city in their hundreds, leading to what officials have described as the worst violence ever seen in the French port. Five migrants were shot in one day amid three clashes involving people smugglers. Gunshots rang out as hundreds of Eritrean asylum seekers clashed with Afghans hoping to reach the UK. Five migrants were shot in one day amid three clashes involving people smugglers. Gunshots rang out as hundreds of Eritrean asylum seekers clashed with Afghans hoping to reach the UK - officials have described as the worst violence ever seen in the French port Gangs of young men clutched makeshift weapons including iron bars, stones and planks of wood as they marched the streets of Calais, where almost 1,000 migrants have converged since the Jungle was torn down in 2016. Frances interior minister Gerard Collomb said: This is a level of violence that hasnt been seen before. We have reached an escalation of violence that has become unbearable for people from Calais and migrants. He said the unprecedented violence was being instigated by gangs attempting to control the lucrative trade in smuggling migrants to Britain on trucks, trains and ferries. Speaking outside a police station near the scene of the clashes, he said: There will be people here at their wits ends faced with this increasingly violent presence among a certain number of migrants, who it is plain to see are organised in gangs. I have come here to reaffirm our mobilisation against the smugglers who feed daily violence and brawls. A 37-year-old Afghan was among the armed people smugglers being hunted by police last night for causing the violence that put 22 migrants in hospital, including five with gunshot wounds. Four Eritrean teenagers, who were shot in the neck, chest, abdomen and spine, were in a critical condition. Confrontations occur regularly between groups of different nationalities in Calais, but tensions have spiralled in recent weeks. In November, five were shot in a fight between rival Afghan groups. Gangs of young men clutched makeshift weapons including iron bars, stones and planks of wood as they marched the streets of Calais, where almost 1,000 migrants have converged since the Jungle was torn down in 2016 The violence comes two weeks after President Emmanuel Macron visited Calais with a message of zero tolerance on migrants setting up camps like the Jungle. He later travelled to Britain, where Theresa May agreed to pay an extra 45million for security fencing, carbon dioxide detectors, CCTV cameras, heartbeat monitors and scanners to find stowaways in Calais. Dover MP Charlie Elphicke said: We cannot have a return to the Calais chaos which made life hell for tourists and truckers. It is shocking that guns are being used in violent brawls just 22 miles across the English Channel. President Macron urgently needs to get a grip. The French need to get these migrants out of Calais and help them back to their home nations and arrest the ruthless people traffickers causing such mayhem and misery. The violence comes two weeks after President Emmanuel Macron visited Calais with a message of zero tolerance on migrants setting up camps like the Jungle. The riot started at around 3.30pm on Thursday, close to the Central Hospital in Calais The riot started at around 3.30pm on Thursday, close to the Central Hospital in Calais, when about 100 Eritreans and 30 Afghans started fighting in a charity food queue. An armed Afghan smuggler is said to have blasted four teenage Eritreans with a shotgun. At 4pm, a second brawl took place at an industrial estate about three miles away, in the suburb of Marck, when up to 200 Eritreans armed with iron rods and sticks clashed with about 20 Afghans. Two hours later further violence erupted at another industrial estate in an area of Calais near the site of the old Jungle. As the situation deteriorated around the town, a fifth Eritrean was shot by a suspected smuggler. About 100 Eritreans and 30 Afghans started fighting in a charity food queue. An armed Afghan smuggler is said to have blasted four teenage Eritreans with a shotgun. Later, up to 200 Eritreans armed with iron rods and sticks clashed with about 20 Afghans At least three migrants were taken to an emergency ward in Lille for immediate surgery. The rest of those with gunshot wounds, and others with injuries caused by clubs and knifes, were taken to the hospital in Calais. It remains unclear who had carried out the shooting. Although people smugglers occasionally have pistols, they are also carried by some of the migrants themselves. The rioting went on until around 6pm. Police used tear gas and baton charges to restore order. Two officers were injured during the clashes and security reinforcements were deployed. There were no reports of incidents during the night. Calais mayor Natacha Bouchart reacted with fury to the clashes, saying such violence was absolutely unacceptable. Exodus from Eritrea Eritreans have been fleeing their homeland in record numbers. Astonishingly for a country of fewer than 5million, the East African nation is one of the key contributors to the European migrant crisis. The United Nations has estimated as many as 5,000 are fleeing the country every month. They are escaping the repressive regime of President Isaias Afwerki, a freedom fighter turned dictator who was described as cruel and defiant in leaked US diplomatic cables. He has clung on to power since leading the nation to independence from Ethiopia in 1991 through the use of secret police, extrajudicial killings and censorship. Reports suggest only 1 per cent of Eritreans have access to the internet, while job prospects are poor and the cost of living high. Eritrea denounces those fleeing as economic migrants, while border guards allegedly shoot dead those trying to get away. Some 34,000 Eritreans claimed asylum in Europe in 2016. The true number who reached the continent could be even higher. Advertisement The serious incidents multiplied from this afternoon, she said. This was fighting between migrants, these were turf wars. She added: There are more and more guns, iron bars and other weapons being used. We have to clear the area. This is a security issue. The public cant carry on accepting this situation. Tensions have been running high in Calais since the Jungle was destroyed. More than 1,130 French security forces have been posted in Calais to keep migrants out of the port and Eurotunnel and to stop them from setting up camps. The notorious Jungle, once home to about 10,000, was demolished in October 2016, with some 8,000 men, women and children relocated to other parts of France but hundreds more migrants have since descended on the city. Calais officially became a migrant-free zone afterwards, but now an estimated 800 have returned. Gangs now frequently fight over smuggling routes to Britain, and sites where they can pitch their tents while waiting to get to the UK. People smugglers make huge profits charging as much as 2,200 to get migrants on to trucks heading for Britain, via ferries or the Channel Tunnel. President Emmanuel Macron has vowed to stop Calais being a back door to Britain Hundreds still flocking to port Despite the demolition of the sprawling Jungle, migrants continue to descend on Calais. The port remains a magnet for those determined to reach the UK, with human traffickers offering to sneak people on to trucks crossing the Channel by ferry or through the tunnel for a charge of thousands of pounds. Eighteen months ago more than 9,000 migrants were living in the makeshift Jungle camp close to the border, using it as a springboard for illegal UK entry. At the height of the crisis migrants were caught trying to sneak into Britain at a rate of one every six minutes with 84,088 detentions at our borders last year. Most were caught at Calais effectively Britains frontier on foreign soil. The shanty town was demolished in October 2016, but French authorities have reported a growing build-up of foreign nationals who are hoping to reach Britain. Some are fleeing humanitarian disasters, but others are seeking to reach the UK for purely economic reasons. Local charities put the number of migrants living in Calais at around 800, while the authorities say there are between 550 and 600. Mainly young African and Afghan men, they hide from the police in camps in the woods, emerging at night to board passing trucks. President Emmanuel Macron has vowed to stop Calais being a back door to Britain as long we stump up more cash. The UK has spent 200million over the past four years on security at Calais. A newly released House GOP-drafted Intelligence Committee memo focuses on a Justice Department official who was in contact with an ex-British intelligence officer and whose wife worked for a political intelligence firm researching Donald Trump. Bruce Ohr, a senior DOJ official, 'worked closely' with former assistant attorney general Sally Yates and later deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein, the authors note, bringing up one official fired by President Trump and another who the president has lost confidence in. He also had contacts with former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele, both before and after the election, according to the memo that came out Friday after President Trump authorized it. Justice Department official Bruce Ohr (center) had contacts with both Glenn Simpson and retired British intelligence officer Christopher Steele The memo says Ohr was interviewed by the FBI after the election, and 'documenting his communications with Steele.' The memo states that in September of 2016 Steele 'admitted to Ohr his feelings against then-candidate Trump when Steele said he 'was desperate that Donald Trump not get elected and was passionate about him not being president.' The memo cites this as 'clear evidence of Steele's bias,' and says it was 'recorded by Ohr at the time and subsequently in FBI files.' But it was 'not reflected in any of the ... FISA applications' used to get surveillance on Trump foreign policy advisor Carter Page. Also during this period, Ohr's wife, Nellie, did work for Fusion GPS, the political intelligence firm that contracted Steele to research Trump, ultimately culminating in the dossier. Nellie Ohr, the wife of Bruce Ohr, did work for Fusion GPS researching Donald Trump, according to the memo 'The Ohr's relationship with Steele and Fusion GPS was inexplicably concealed from the [foreign intelligence court],' according to the memo. Ohr ran an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force. He was demoted from another role, as associate deputy attorney general, after it was revealed he had not disclosed his meetings with Simpson and Steele, Fox News reported. Nellie Ohr was listed as a Russia specialist at the Wilson Center, where she worked a decade ago. According to the New York Times, she is a specialist in open source research and did open source research at the CIA. She didn't have classified information and her work for Fusion GPS was 'relatively minor,' according to the New York Times. Glenn Simpson of Fusion GPS testified about Ohr when he appeared before the House Intelligence panel. He said Steele hooked them up. By his telling, he met with Ohr at Steele's request after the election, following a period when the FBI said it was investigating but the government failed to respond after Steele handed over information he collected about Trump. 'It was not clear to us whether anyone at a high level of government was aware of the information that Chris had gathered and provided to the FBI,' Simpson testified. 'Chris told me that he had been talking to Bruce, that he had told Bruce about what happened, and that Bruce wanted more information, and suggested that I speak with Bruce' after the election,' in Simpson's telling. Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the Intelligence panel, called the memo 'misleading' and said it 'cherry picked' information to 'help support the president' and 'discredit the Mueller investigation' into Russian election interference. Link: Glenn Simpson, the 'principal' of Fusion GPS commissioned Steele - but he also employed the wife of Bruce Ohr. Ohr was Christopher Steele's contact at the Department of Justice Trump hater: Christopher Steele, the ex-British spy who wrote the 'minimally corroborated' dossier accusing Trump of paying for prostitutes to perform 'golden showers' in a Moscow hotel. But a senior DoJ official knew the British man was 'passionate' about Trump not being president Simpson continued: 'A very surprising thing had happened, which is that Donald Trump had won. There was -- we were -- by that time, we were enormously concerned about rapidly accumulating indications that the Russian Government had mounted a massive attack on the American election system and that, you know, Donald Trump or his associates might have been involved.' 'And there was a lot of alarming things happening, including Donald Trump saying things about Vladimir Putin that didn't really make any sense, weren't ordinary things for a Republican to say, and, you know-- anyway. So we had also. by this time given this information to the FBI, and they had, you know, told - indicated to Chris that they were investigating it, and then told - apparently told The New York Times they weren't,' he added. 'And so it was not clear to us whether anyone at a high level of government was aware of the information that Chris had gathered and provided to the FBI. And, you know, so we were, frankly, you know, very scared for the country and for ourselves and felt that if we could give it to someone else, we should, higher up. And so Chris suggested I give some information to Bruce, give him the background to all this. And we eventually met at a coffee shop, and I told him the story,' Simpson said. A 50-year-old man has been charged over the horrific crash which claimed two lives and injured 10 others in the New South Wales Central West. The man was arrested on Friday evening after being discharged from Liverpool Hospital, where he was being treated for leg fractures suffered in the crash, Daily Telegraph reports. Police will allege the driver of the semi-trailer hit the other vehicles, two trucks and a sedan, while they were stopped at roadworks on the Newell Highway, in Dubbo, on January 16. A 50-year-old man has been charged over the horrific crash (pictured) which claimed two lives and injured 10 others in the New South Wales Central West Police will allege the driver of the semi-trailer hit the other vehicles, two trucks and a sedan, while they were stopped at roadworks on the Newell Highway, in Dubbo, on January 16 The man is due to face Parramatta Bail Court on Friday, facing 10 charges, including two counts of dangerous driving occasioning death and three counts of dangerous driving occasioning grievous bodily harm. The driver has also had his driving privileges suspended in New South Wales. A teenage university student and her boyfriend were identified as the victims of the horror seven-vehicle crash, which was described by police as 'absolute carnage'. Charles Sturt University student Hannah Ferguson, 19, died after the semi-trailer slammed into her car. Ms Ferguson's 19-year-old boyfriend, Reagan Skinner, was also killed in the crash. Charles Sturt University student Hannah Ferguson (pictured), 19, died after the semi-trailer slammed into her car on the Newell Highway Ms Ferguson's 19-year-old boyfriend, Reagan Skinner (pictured) was also killed in the crash Hannah Ferguson (pictured) was one of the victims of the tragedy near the NSW town of Dubbo A total of 11 others were harmed - including a two-year-old girl - with injuries ranging from broken limbs to suspected spinal injuries. The impact reportedly threw at least one commuter from their vehicle. An 18-year-old man in another car suffered burns and was taken to Concord Hospital. In a third car were the driver - a 43-year-old woman who suffered a broken arm - a 52-year-old woman and a 25-year-old man who suffered minor injuries. A two-year-old girl named Jalirah was travelling with her family and was freed from the wreck by her uncle (pictured) The fourth car contained a 26-year-old woman who suffered facial injuries, a 24-year-woman who was taken to hospital with a suspected spinal injury, a two-year-old girl and a 19-year-old who suffered minor injuries. A 39-year-old man driving a utility, and the driver of a B-double, a 27-year-old man, suffered minor injuries and were taken to Dubbo Base Hospital. The two-year-old girl named Jalirah was travelling with her family and was freed from the wreck by her uncle, 9 News reported. The horror smash happened near the town of Dubbo - about 400km north-west of Sydney 'I was pulled out by a passer-by. As I got out I heard bub crying,' her uncle told 9 News. 'I grabbed her out, then tried to get the other passenger and the driver. But I wasn't able to grab them because they needed to be cut out.' NSW roads minister Melinda Pavey told the ABC a road worker collapsed after witnessing the crash. 'It is an absolute horror... We had a worker collapse with shock. This is a terrible, terrible crash,' she said. A new initiative to prevent cyber-bullies targeting teenagers online could see abusers banned from social media. The idea would ban trolls from contacting their victims through platforms including Facebook and Instagram. Anti-bullying charities have utilised a powerful parliamentary inquiry to encourage criminalising the unnecessary and harmful use of technology. The idea to prevent cyber-bullies from accessing social media follows the tragic death of Amy 'Dolly' Everett, 14, (pictured) who ended her life after bullies targeted her online In 2016 Kodi (pictured right with sister Tayla), 16, saw no other way out but to end his life after nasty bullies online and at school tormented him The proposal follows the tragic death of Amy 'Dolly' Everett, 14, who ended her life after bullies targeted her online, the Daily Telegraph reported. Child cyber-bullies could likely be issued a 'social media order' - an online version of an apprehended violence order as part of the radical plan to stop cyber-bullying. The recommendation has been backed by The Carly Ryan Foundation who believe the federal government have a responsibility to create a similar process around online targeting as what exists for domestic violence. The cyber-safety charity was established after 15-year-old Carly was killed by a paedophile in 2007. In a submission, supported by online-safety campaigners, families who have lost children and lawyers, Carly's mother cited police should have the ability to block proven bullies altogether for decided amounts of time. Tayla Pearson and her family honour the memory of her brother, Kodi, who died in 2016 Libby Bell (pictured) 13, took her own life after she became the victim of bullying. 'Something like this would put youth on notice and give them the opportunity to do the right thing,' she said. Ms Ryan would like to see prevention methods introduced so no child ever gets to the point where they feel like they have no other way out. She believes obligatory education programs would be included in the program. In 2016 Quentin Pearson's son Kodi, 16, saw no other way but to end his life after nasty bullies online and at school tormented him. Mr Pearson supports the introduction of the social media ban for trolls. 'Something needs to be put in place so they will think twice before they post a horrible message,' he said. A father broke down in court clutching his baby girl as the woman who admitted to killing his girlfriend and cutting the child from her womb was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Ashton Matheny was seen sobbing during the victim impact statements, clutching Haisley Jo - his and Savanna Greywind's baby - who is now in his custody. North Dakota woman Brooke Crews, 38, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit kidnapping and murder and lying to law officers in the August death of Greywind, 22, of Fargo. Crews did not have a plea deal with prosecutors, but hoped that admitting responsibility at a December hearing would help her at Friday's sentencing. Prosecutors asked for a sentence of life in prison with no parole, saying Crews admitted to cutting out the baby while Greywind went in and out of consciousness. Greywind bled to death, according to Assistant Cass County State's Attorney Leah Jo Viste. Brooke Crews, who killed a pregnant neighbor so she and her boyfriend could keep the baby, was sentenced to life without parole for the gruesome slaying (pictured Friday) Heartbreaking: Savanna's boyfriend Ashston Matheny holds their daughter, Haisley Jo, as victim impact statements are read during Crews' sentencing Savanna Greywind, 22, was gruesomely murdered by Crews, who sliced out her baby and left her to die The boyfriend of the slain Fargo woman, Ashton Matheny, now has full legal custody of their baby girl, Haisley Jo (pictured together) Defense attorney Steven Mottinger asked for a sentence of life with parole. 'Acceptance of responsibility is important,' Mottinger said. 'It has to mean something.' Crews appeared in court in orange prison clothing, cuffed at the wrists, and read a statement of apology. 'There is no excuse. There is no rationalization. There is nothing,' she said. She had no visible reaction when State District Judge Frank Racek handed down the sentence. Greywind was eight months pregnant when she disappeared in August, sparking extensive searches. Kayakers found her body wrapped in plastic in a river. The baby was found alive in the apartment Crews shared with her 32-year-old boyfriend, William Hoehn. Hoehn has pleaded not guilty and is scheduled for trial in March. The baby (pictured left and right) was found alive in the apartment Crews shared with her 32-year-old boyfriend, William Hoehn Ashton Matheny is pictured here with Haisley Jo, who he now has sole custody of Greywind (pictured with her boyfriend) was eight months pregnant when she disappeared in August, sparking extensive searches Greywind's mother, Norberta LaFontaine-Greywind, said during the sentencing hearing that what Crews did was 'beyond evil' and that 'I don't feel there is any court sentence that would ever be strong enough.' Fargo Police Chief Dave Todd earlier called Greywind's death a 'cruel and vicious act of depravity.' Crews initially claimed that Greywind gave up her newborn daughter, but she later admitted taking advantage of the woman to get the child, according to court documents. Hoehn told police he came home on August 19 to find Crews cleaning up blood in their bathroom. Hoehn said Crews presented him with an infant girl and said: 'This is our baby. This is our family.' Hoehn told police he took garbage bags containing bloody shoes and his bloody towels and disposed them away from the apartment complex. The baby was found alive in the apartment Crews (left) shared with her 32-year-old boyfriend, William Hoehn (right) A bill in Congress aimed at protecting Native American women and girls from violence, abduction and human trafficking is named for Greywind. Savanna's Act, introduced by Democratic Sen. Heidi Heitkamp would improve tribal access to certain federal crime information databases and create standardized protocols for responding to cases of missing and murdered Native Americans. It also would require an annual report that would include statistics on missing and murdered Native American women. A GoFundMe page has been set up to help Matheny raise his daughter. Headteacher Neena Lall was vilified online and accused of Islamophobia when she introduced a ban on hijabs Neena Lalls success as a headmistress stems from a simple mantra: Every child can, she says. And: If they cant, why cant they? Its a philosophy which has turned St Stephens in Newham, East London, into one of the best primary schools in Britain. At seven, pupils at St Stephens, which tops national league tables, know all their times tables. By ten, they have routinely finished the national curriculum a year early. At 11, SATs results prove they are the best in England at reading, spelling and maths. Such achievements are all the more remarkable because St Stephens is in one of the poorest parts of London, where most youngsters have English as a second language. The school was judged outstanding in the most recent Ofsted report. The leadership and management was outstanding. The capacity for sustained improvement was outstanding. Overall effectiveness was outstanding. Outstanding is a description that almost everyone who has met Miss Lall particularly parents whose children have flourished under her headship would also apply to her. Until now, it seems. Over the past few weeks, a deluge of poisonous emails totalling several thousand have swamped her personal inbox. One was headed You horrible vile rat. Another was signed: Yours disrespectfully and may you never be happy. Others have branded her a paedeophiliac person, the scum of the earth, and an Islamophobe and racist who deserved what was coming. So what had Miss Lall done to have her good name and professional reputation trashed so publicly? Last September, she had stopped pupils under eight wearing the Islamic headscarf. The hijab is usually only worn by young women after puberty. Even Muslim clerics have argued that there is no religious obligation for girls to cover their heads before then. Nevertheless, the campaign of intimidation against Miss Lall culminated with her even being compared to Adolf Hitler in a video uploaded to YouTube. St Stephens in Newham, East London, is one of the best primary schools in Britain The subtitles of a short clip from the 2004 German film Downfall, which focuses on Hitlers final days, have been edited to portray the dictator as the head of St Stephens, ranting: This is my primary school. But they want their scarves. Why dont they just go and join Isis? It should not come as a surprise to learn that there have been times, according to those who know Miss Lall, when she has feared for her safety and been reduced to utter despair. The hounding of Miss Lall, 50, a British-born Sikh, follows a disturbing but all-too-familiar pattern: someone challenges an aspect of Muslim culture and is, invariably, accused of bigotry and racism and forced to backtrack. Miss Lall has now been bullied into reversing the hijab policy and apologising to parents. The Department for Education allows schools to set their own uniform policy and yet, instead of speaking up for the beleaguered head, there has been a deafening silence from its officials. Meanwhile, conservative voices within the Muslim community have exploited the situation to shut down debate and traduce her good name. It goes much further than that, though. Head of Ofsted Amanda Spielman said this week that religious extremists are perverting education to isolate and segregate, and in the worst cases, to indoctrinate impressionable minds with extremist ideology. She said the sustained abuse Miss Lall has been subjected to was a matter of deep regret. These individuals would have you believe that the campaign against Miss Lall resulted in a victory for parents and the local community: but some of the signatories to an online petition opposing the hijab ban were from outside the catchment area. Started by Hafsah Dabiri, a TV presenter with the Islam Channel (available on satellite TV), signatories lived in places such as Bradford, Oldham and Northampton. Many lived outside the UK with signatures from people based in Malaysia as well as Pakistan and Bangladesh, where the majority of families with children at St Stephens originally come from. Moreover, our own inquiries have established that hundreds of emails sent to Miss Lall possibly as many as 700 were identical; only the name of the sender was different. This is unfair and has nothing to do with education, they all began. If pupils choose to wear the hijab, it should be their freedom of choice . . . Providing copy and paste letters and messages propaganda many would say is a popular tactic of the hardline Islamic group Muslim Engagement and Development (MEND), which claimed credit for the hijab U-turn. An organisation repeatedly accused of extremism, MEND gloated on Twitter that their hijab victory was an important step towards resolving concerns about structural Islamophobia. The organisation insists it champions Muslim involvement in public and political life while fighting Islamophobia, but it has links to speakers who have promoted jihad, anti-Semitism and homophobia. At least one former official has legitimised the killing of British troops in Iraq. A group of Labour councillors, including three who attended a MEND event in 2016, played an instrumental part in the campaign against Neena Lall. They are unlikely to face censure from the party for any ties with MEND. Last year, Jeremy Corbyn spoke at a Commons meeting staged by MEND an organisation which attacks Israeli zionists on social media. Just 24 hours earlier, he had turned down an invitation to attend a formal dinner with the Israeli Prime Minister. The Mail names those councillors today along with other agitators who vilified Miss Lall, including the individual who posted the video portraying her as Hitler. Salim Mulla, a serving Labour councillor in Blackburn some 240 miles away is accused of being part of a campaign that led to Miss Lall caving in It is hard to think of any one less deserving of such shameful treatment than the inspirational Miss Lall, who has devoted her life to St Stephens Primary School. Shes worked at the school for 20 years, first as a teacher then as deputy head, before being appointed headmistress in 2011. Miss Lall, whose family arrived in Britain from the Indian state of Punjab in the Sixties, was privately educated her father ran a construction business and is a graduate of Goldsmiths, University of London. Among the allegations levelled against her was that she failed to consult parents about the new hijab policy. In fact, we have been told that before the ban was introduced in September last year, a meeting was held in the school assembly hall to inform families; just one father is understood to have complained. Either way, tensions only arose much later after Miss Lall gave a filmed interview to the Sunday Times in January, explaining a host of changes at St Stephens and in which she also highlighted her obligation to teach British values. A couple of years ago I asked the children to put their hands up if they thought they were British, she said. Very few put their hand up. They thought they were Indian, they thought they were Pakistani, but very few thought they were British. The hijab was banned mainly for health and safety reasons because of the risk that very young children could get tangled up in their headscarfs when they played on climbing frames or took part in other outdoor activities. One St Stephens pupil who wore a headscarf was just three years old. Fasting on school premises during Ramadan was also stopped in case children became ill. Within days of the interview, published on January 14, nearly 20,000 people signed Hafsah Dabiris petition against the new policies. It claimed St Stephens was in breach of the UN Convention on the Rights of Children by denying their right to religious freedom. Why, though, if parents were so concerned about these new polices, did it take them more than four months and the intervention of Miss Dabiri, who does not have a child at the school, to kick up such a fuss? The petition was immediately followed by a letter in the local paper slamming St Stephens and trotting out the same argument about undermining religious freedom, which set a dangerous precedent. The letter, titled we must trust parents, was penned by, among others, Newham councillors Firoza Nekiwala, Zuber Gulamussen, Idris Ibrahim, Mas Patel and his brother Salim Patel. Idris Ibrahim and the Patel brothers were at a MEND event at Manor Park Library in Newham in 2016 to publicise Islamophobia Awareness Month. Salim Patel is also a trustee of the Plashet Grove mosque, where many St Stephens pupils attend after-school classes in the madrasah (where Islamic studies take place)attached to the mosque. In December, a number of those children were due to attend the schools annual residential trip to an activity centre in Essex. One morning, shortly before they were supposed to leave, some children arrived at the playground in tears, having been told by their parents that they were no longer joining their friends on the trip. The Plashet Grove madrasah had told children that if they missed any after-school Islamic classes, they could be suspended. The threat was spelled out in a letter to their parents. Dearest Parents and Guardians, wrote headteacher and imam Maulana Abdul Wahhab. We are writing to you with regards to taking leave from the madrasah. Kindly note, no form of leave is permitted during term-time . . . Any students who are determined to take unauthorised absences will most likely lose their position in the madrasah . . . It is absolutely crucial to provide ones child/children with an Islamic education. As such, it is important that they attend lessons regularly and fulfil this obligation. Two pupils did not go on the trip. Maulana Abdul Wahhab has met Neena Lall. Staff at the school said he declined to shake her hand, allegedly on the grounds that it was un-Islamic because she was a woman. Imam Wahhab epitomises the conservative voices Neena Lall was up against when she and the then chairman of the governors, Arif Qawi, 54, took the decision to change the schools hijab policy. They are the same conservative elements the head of Ofsted was referring to in her speech a few days ago about the threat to British values in some of our schools. Head of Ofsted Amanda Spielman said this week the sustained abuse Miss Lall has been subjected to was a matter of deep regret Another of the countless outraged members of the so-called community who opposed the hijab ban was Salim Mulla, a former mayor and serving Labour councillor though not in Newham but 240 miles away in Blackburn. He called Miss Lall an evil racist on Facebook. Mr Mulla says he stands by the racist element but, with hindsight, would probably retract branding her evil. A photograph of Salim Mulla handing over two new dialysis machines to a local hospital appeared on the MEND website three years ago. Mr Mulla is a controversial figure. In 2006, while sitting as a councillor, he gave a character reference to a man accused, and convicted, of sexual assault and inciting a child under 13 to engage in sexual activities. He said the man, also called Salim Mulla but who was no relation, lived in the same street and was not a bad lad. In 2016, he was suspended by the Labour Party over alleged anti-Semitic posts online. Zionist Jews, he said, were a disgrace to humanity. After an investigation, Salim Mulla was cleared of the allegations and reinstated to the Labour Party last year. The orchestrated campaign against St Stephens paid off last month. Miss Lall apologised to parents, the hijab policy was reversed and Arif Qawi resigned as chairman of governors after days of relentless trolling. He said he did so against every fibre in my body in the hope that it would lay the matter to rest. It didnt. A few days later the now notorious Hitler video emerged depicting Neena Lall as the Fuhrer and Arif Qawi as Stalin. It has been viewed more than 4,000 times on YouTube. The person responsible for posting it is Zahid Akhtar from Walsall. An IT professional, he founded a group called DOAM (Documenting Oppression Against Muslims). Speaking from his terrace home, Akhtar was unapologetic. Theres nothing illegal about putting up the video, he said. Its a joke and many people who clicked on it thought it was funny. Akhtar then asked rhetorically: What do you think happened to the Jews before the genocide? They were dehumanised so that people thought of them as sub-human. This is what is happening to Muslims across Europe today. But not at St Stephens, where thousands of Muslim children down the years have benefited from the special environment Miss Lall has created at the school. In her speech, Ofsted boss Amanda Spielman called on headteachers to tackle those who actively undermine fundamental British values, facing them down using muscular liberalism rather than being afraid of causing offence. Neena Lall did just that and was hung out to dry by a Department for Education who should have bent over backwards to support her. When Val Marks showed off her 60-year-old cooker in the Daily Mail last month, we asked if she had the oldest working oven in Britain. But you responded in your droves to contest the title. Here, six readers tell Xantha Leatham just how long their ovens have been going strong 1927: OLD AS THE QUEEN Kim Downs, of Warlingham, Surrey, believes her 91-year-old New World oven may be the oldest in the land. The same age as the Queen, it was installed in the same year that car tax discs were introduced, the first Poppy Day was held and Charlie Chaplins The Kid was released. Mrs Downs, 59, came to own the oven when she and her husband bought their house six years ago. She uses it every day and can even take it apart to put in the dishwasher. Old faithful: Kim Downs, 59, still cooks with her 91-year-old New World Oven, which is the same age as the Queen She said: This New World oven was part of the original house which was built in 1927. Its so well designed and weve never had any problems with it. 'I once managed to cook Christmas dinner for 20 people using it, so Ive got no complaints. 'Weve actually gone through two new ovens which have broken while this one keeps ticking away. When I first moved in, my mum said she remembered having the very same oven when she was a little girl, and we get lots of visitors saying the same thing. She added: I absolutely love it. Id hate it if it died. New World ovens have been in homes for more than 100 years. The simple original design featured a large oven, grill and hob without any of the fuss of modern appliances. To buy a new cooker in the 1960s would have set you back 38 840 in todays money. The company says it doesnt have a pricing structure for older appliances, but buying a brand new one before the Second World War would have been considered a luxury. Their latest launch, the New World Suite 60MF oven, boasts nine functions and starts at 319. 1950: ITS STILL IN PERFECT CONDITION Reader Jayne Tingey uses her gorgeous 68-year-old oven every day much like Val Marks who we featured last month. She fell in love with it after spotting it on eBay six years ago and the owners gave it to her for free. Kitchen staple: Jayne Tingey uses her GEC oven daily and reckons a modern replacement would just look weird It used to belong to an elderly couple, Ruby and Ben Clover, Mrs Tingey, 53, from Cambridgeshire, said. It was put on eBay when Ruby went into a nursing home, and she was overjoyed someone was going to continue to use it. I never buy anything new and my house is full of second-hand and vintage things, so I knew I had to have it. Its in perfect condition and cooks beautifully. The oven came with an original GEC cookbook containing a range of traditional recipes. She has no plans to upgrade any time soon, since a modern cooker would look weird in her house. 1953: COOKER CAME WITH OUR CARAVAN Gill Dickens used her 65-year-old gas oven to cook haggis, neeps and tatties on Burns Night last week. She came to own the New World 33 cooker when her husband bought a showmans caravan 30 years ago and has no intention of replacing it. Running perfectly: Gill Dickens still uses the oven that came fitted to her showmans caravan The oven came with the caravan and its always served us well, she said. Im not having a new one while this is still running perfectly fine I dont see the point. The pair live in a caravan park in Oakham, Rutland, but drive up to Wales and other parts of the country. We used to use the caravan to go on holiday but we live in it permanently now and use the cooker every day, Mrs Dickens, 52, said. Its served three generations as our grandchildren now come over and we cook for them. 1954: SPARE PARTS? ONLY IN A MUSEUM Richard Rakowski has many fond memories of his mother preparing family meals on their electric cooker. He was only a young boy when his family moved over to the UK from Poland in 1955 and bought a house in Slough. Family meals: Tatiana Rakowski, 91, has banished a newer cooker to the garage in favour of her trusty 64-year-old model The property came with a one-year-old electric cooker. His mother Tatiana, now 91, refuses to get rid of the 64-year-old appliance. She is so attached to it that when we bought her a new cooker she refused to throw this one out, Mr Rakowski said. The new one has been in the garage for the last 20 years as we wait for this English Electric cooker to fail, which it probably wont do for a long time. I once tried to look up spare parts and the only ones I could find were in a museum. I think Mum worries that when the cooker goes shell go too so lets hope it keeps running for a long time. 1955: OURS HAS FED FOUR GENERATIONS Working on a farm can be exhausting, and Juliana Stevens family look forward to meals cooked on the Aga at suppertime. It was installed in the main farmhouse by her mother-in-law in 1955 and has been heating the water and cooking dinners since. Why change it? Juliana Stevens Aga has served four generations on her dairy farm near Bristol and has never needed repairing Its seen four generations, Mrs Stevens, 49, said. My mother-in-law and her family used it and now my children do as well. Weve never had to touch it or repair it in any way. Its still going very well and were happy with it why would we ever change it? The family run a dairy farm in Stanton Drew, near Bristol, and often work long hours. We saw the story in the paper and knew our Aga could beat it, its now 63 years old and is still as good as the day it was put in, Mrs Stevens added. 1956: 54 WAS PRICY BACK IN THOSE DAYS Christine Joslin, from Welling in Kent, still has the receipt for her 62-year-old Cannon A130/S gas cooker. It was bought by her husband for 54 in 1956 more than 900 in todays money. Good investment: Christine Joslin still has the receipt for her 54 Cannon cooker We have continued to use it since day one, the 81-year-old said. My late husband serviced it every year so it was kept in great condition. Weve stayed in the same house and the cooker has stayed with us. I still have the receipt for it it was a lot of money in those days so we had to pay it off monthly. 'Ive even got all the maintenance cards and original cookbook. Its an extremely sturdy oven and has served all three of us very well. She added: Ive never felt the need to replace it. Its perfect. In order to maintain this blog I have to pay for its upkeep including a hosting company, support services, virus and other malicious hackers. If you appreciate what I write please make a donation. Groundhog Day is probably more synonymous with the Bill Murray movie of the same name than the actual celebration itself. But its origins date back to the 1800s in the US when it was brought over from Europe by German immigrants who later became known as Pennsylvanian Dutch. But what exactly is Groundhog Day, who is Punxsutawny Phil, and does it have anything to do with inexplicably having the same day over and over again? What is Groundhog Day? Groundhog Day is a popular tradition in the US and more recently Canada. During this day, the groundhog Punxsutawny Phil emerges from his burrow to predict what the weather will be like for the rest of winter. If it is sunny, and Phil sees his shadow, then the superstition goes that the US will have to endure six more weeks of winter. If there is no shadow, then an early spring is on the horizon. When is Groundhog Day? Groundhog Day is always on February 2. What is the history of Groundhog Day? The ancient German custom of Candlemas, the point midway between the winter solstice and the spring equinox, is what inspired what we now know as Groundhog Day. Germans used a badger to predict the weather but when the tradition came to the US, a groundhog was used. German folklore said: 'If the badger sunbathes during Candlemas week, for four more weeks he will be back in his hole.' The first official Groundhog Day in the US was in 1887 though it is thought to have been celebrated before then when a group of people made the trip to Gobbler's Knob in Puxsutawny to consult the rodent about the weather. People have been gathering at the same spot ever since. How is Groundhog Day celebrated? Just after daybreak on February 2, men wearing top hats and suits pull Punxsutawny Phil from his burrow in front of a crowd of up to 40,000 people, who gather every year to see him predict the weather. Revelers bear frigid cold temperatures and gather at Gobbler's Knob from as early as 1am that morning, waiting for the appearance of the furry critter. Back-to-back events take place all through the night which include banquets, a Times Square-esque 'Phil drop' at midnight and fireworks. And that's all before Phil even makes an appearance. Though it is not an official American holiday, it is largely observed throughout the country and celebrations are common. Where is Punxsutawney? Punxsutawney is a borough in Jefferson County, Pennsylvania, which lies 84 miles northeast of Pittsburgh. It has a population of less than 6,000 and was founded in 1818. Groundhog Day the movie Before the 1993 Bill Murray movie was released, only 2,000 people traveled to Punxsutawney every year to join in the celebration. Since then, up to 40,000 people flock to the tiny borough annually. In the movie, which grossed $70 million, Bill Murray plays a cynical weatherman who is sent to Pennsylvania to report on Groundhog Day for the fourth year in a row. He and his news team get caught in a blizzard and must stay in town overnight. But when he wakes up the next morning, he discovers it is Groundhog Day again, and he ends up inexplicably living it over and over again, though no one else knows. Andie MacDowell stars as Murray's love interest and producer Rita. This year marks the 25th anniversary of the film and it will be screened in a number of theaters throughout the US on February 2, as well as a special edition release on Blu-ray in 4K Ultra HD The battle for Stalingrad was the turning point of the Second World War. After the German invasion of Russia codenamed Operation Barbarossa, which began in June 1941 the Wehrmacht continued to head eastward, destroying whole Soviet armies and capturing two million prisoners, most of whom they starved to death. In Washington and London, leaders wondered gloomily how long the Russians could stave off absolute defeat. In the spring of 1942, Hitler's legions drove deeper into the Russian heartland, besieging St Petersburg, over-running the Crimea, and threatening the oilfields of the Caucasus. German soldiers use the evening light to approach a Russian outpost on the outskirts of Stalingrad The Fuhrer was convinced the Russians were at their last gasp. He was exultant when in June 'Operation Blue' enabled his armies to occupy new swathes of central Russia. Scenting final victory, Hitler deputed General Friedrich Paulus, a staff officer eager to prove himself as a fighting commander, to lead a dash for the city on the Volga that was named after Stalin, and secure a symbolic triumph, while another German army group swung southwards to grab the oilfields. Hitler's top soldiers were appalled by the perils of splitting the Wehrmacht merely to capture Stalingrad, which was strategically unimportant. Their protests were ignored: the Fuhrer insisted. Likewise in Moscow, when the German objective became plain, Russia's dictator Josef Stalin gave the order that 'his' city must be held at any cost. Thus the stage was set for one of history's most terrible clashes of arms, in which on the two sides more than a million men became locked in strife between the autumn of 1942 and the following spring. On September 12, the first German troops entered Stalingrad. From the Kremlin came a new order to the Red Army: 'Not a step back . . . The only extenuating circumstance is death.' The first German air attacks killed between 10,000 and 40,000 people almost as many as died in the entire London blitz. Shellfire and bombs rained down on the city, day after day and week upon week. Stuka pilot Herbert Pabst wrote: 'It is incomprehensible to me how people can continue to live in that hell, but the Russians are firmly established in the wreckage, in ravines, cellars, and in a chaos of twisted skeletons of factories'. Two German soldiers hold their ground and take cover as they fire from a derelict building General Vasily Chuikov, commanding Stalin's 62nd Army in the city, wrote: 'The streets of the city are dead. There is not a single green twig on the trees; everything has perished in the flames.' The Russians initially held a perimeter 30 miles by 18, which shrank relentlessly as Paulus's men thrust forward to within a few hundred yards of the Volga. Each night, up to three thousand Russian wounded were ferried eastward from the city, while a matching stream of reinforcements, ammunition and supplies reached the defenders. New units were thrust into the battle as fast as they arrived, to join duels in the ruins that often became hand-to-hand death grapples. Both sides were chronically short of food and water. The few surviving civilians suffered terribly, eking a troglodyte existence in cellars. Some soldiers were reduced to cannibalism in order to stay alive in the ruins of the city as the mercury plunged to -40C. The bloodiest battle in Second World War came to an end on January 31, 1943 when Field Marshall Paulus surrendered, disobeying the orders of his Fuhrer to kill himself. Of the 110,000 Germans who surrendered, only 5,000 would survive Stalin's gulags to return to a defeated Germany. The battle cost the German army a quarter of everything it possessed by way of material - guns, tanks and munitions. It was a defeat from which it never recovered and for days afterwards in Berlin all shops and restaurants were closed as a mark of respect. Amazon has repeatedly come under fire over working conditions in its warehouses. Staff at one of the delivery giant's warehouses were pictured sleeping on the job in Tilbury, Essex in November 2017. Workers claimed it was because they were tired from having to meet punishing warehouse targets. Staff at one of the delivery giant's warehouse were photographed sleeping on the job in Tilbury, Essex (pictured) Some staff members were being taken away in ambulances after struggling to deal with the pressure of processing up to 300 items an hour, claimed an investigation by the Sunday Mirror. An Amazon spokesperson said after the reporting of the incident: 'Amazon provides a safe and positive workplace with competitive pay and benefits. We are proud to have created thousands of roles in our UK fulfilment centres. As with most companies, we expect a certain level of performance. 'Targets are based on previous performance achieved by our workers. Associates are evaluated over a long period of time.' And in December 2016 t he Mail on Sunday went undercover at one of the company's 'fulfilment centres' at Gourock, near Glasgow, over the Black Friday period. Taking a job as a 'picker' employed to collect items from shelves before they are boxed and sent to customers the undercover reporter worked up to 11-and-a-half hours a day for nine days at one of Amazon's huge warehouses. The race against the clock: Amazon's buzzing warehouse relies on a monitoring system that tracks every item for sale and all staff movements The investigation discovered: Staff faced relentless time targets for every task, with disciplinary action taken against those who could not keep up; Workers faced disciplinary action if they were deemed to have taken too long during bathroom breaks; Handheld scanners tracked workers' whereabouts, plus CCTV cameras monitored the warehouse, and there were airport-style security checks. Staff were left with blistered feet after walking up to 14 miles a day At the time, Amazon defended its working practices, saying: 'We provide a safe and positive workplace. The safety and wellbeing of our permanent and temporary associates is our number one priority. 'One of the reasons we've been able to attract so many people is we offer great jobs and a positive work environment, with opportunities for growth.' Republican Rep. Devin Nunes, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, was the driving force behind the controversial memo's declassification and release A memo released on Feb. 2, 2018 by the House Intelligence Committee was written by Republican aides who had seen classified documents about government surveillance of a Donald Trump campaign adviser. The four-page document itself does not appear to allege that anyone violated federal law, but it does outline a pattern of improper conduct by a list of high-ranking FBI and Justice Department officials during the Obama administration. Republicans will use it to justify complaints that top law enforcement agencies had an anti-Trump bias during an election year. These were the same agencies that cleared Hillary Clinton of wrongdoing in her classified email scandal, a subject that President Trump railed about consistently as he campaigned for the White House. Democrats complain that the memo left out important facts and 'cherry-picked' information in order to present a one-sided view of what the FBI and DOJ did to persuade a judge to grant surveillance powers. WHAT DID THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT DO? A Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) judge granted the Justice Department a warrant to spy on Carter Page, a Trump foreign policy adviser, partially on the basis of an anti-Trump 'dossier' compiled by an opposition research group funded by Democrats. Using a law firm as a middle-man, the Hillary Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee paid the firm, Fusion GPS. Fusion then paid former British spy Christopher Steele more than $160,000 to dig up Russia-related dirt on Trump. The Republican memo concludes that Steele himself was biased, since he 'was desperate that Donald Trump not get elected and was passionate about him not being president.' But the FBI continued using him as a confidential source anyway, even after he violated the most basic rule of working with a government intelligence service by telling a reporter what he was up to. The warrant application also relied on a news article by a Yahoo reporter without telling the judge that leaks from Steele himself were at its center. When the Justice Department asked the court for permission to spy on Page, it didn't disclose Steele's bias. It also never mentioned that it was asking for a warrant based on materials that were paid for by Trump's political opponents. WHY IS THE STEEL DOSSIER SO IMPORTANT? FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe testified before the House Intelligence Committee in December 2017 that 'no surveillance warrant would have been sought .... without the Steele dossier information.' The dossier itself was full of bombshell claims about Trump, most notably that he cavorted with prostitutes in a Moscow hotel room that the Kremlin had rigged with recording devices. Critics say Steele uncritically used information from Russian sources determined to compromise Trump or gain leverage over him the exact opposite of the Democratic 'collusion' narrative that suggests Trump worked hand-in-hand with Moscow. WHO IN THE GOVERNMENT IS ACCUSED OF WRONGDOING? FISA warrants have to be renewed every 90 days; then-FBI Director James Comey, later fired by President Donald Trump, signed three of them. FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe signed another one. Others to sign off included then-Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates, another official fired by Trump; then-Acting Deputy Attorney General Dana Boente; and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. Another official implicated in the memo is then-Associate Deputy Attorney General Bruce Ohr. Ohr's wife was employed by Fusion GPS at the same time, but the FBI never told the FISA court about it. Ohr was reassigned and is no longer in a position to impact the other major Russia investigation one helmed by special counsel Robert Mueller. But the fate of Rosenstein and McCabe is up in the air. Republicans on the Intelligence Committee may have given Trump a reason to fire them both. DOES THIS CHANGE ANYTHING FOR THE MUELLER PROBE? In a word, no. The memo doesn't say anything that suggests Mueller or his current team are engaged in anything illegal or unethical. But the appearance of impropriety at the Justice Department, though unconnected, will give Trump supporters ammunition to claim Mueller's investigation is also suspect. The president has consistently called the multiple investigations a collective 'witch hunt' and insisted he never colluded with Russians to tilt the 2016 election in his favor. HOW WILL THIS AFFECT THE 'FISA' COURTS? Judges empowered by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) grant more than 99 per cent of the warrant applications presented by the federal government. This episode suggests that the process can be compromised by officials who are willing to hide material facts or provide courts with one-sided accounts of what they know and how they came to know it. The flip side is that if FISA courts begin to scrutinize warrant applications more carefully, they might act too slowly in cases where there are urgent terrorism-related circumstances that require quick action. WHAT'S NEXT? Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee have written their own counterpoint, a memo that they say fills in important facts the Republican majority omitted. That document is winding its way through the same process the GOP's memo went through: committee votes to allow the full House of Representatives to see it, and then to release it to the public. If that happens, the White House will again have five days to reject a request to declassify the Democrats' version. The White House has signaled that it will treat the two versions of history equally. Advertisement Egypt's Antiquities Ministry says archaeologists are starting radar scans of the tomb of famed pharaoh Tutankhamun in the southern city of Luxor. The ministry said the scans will be carried out over a week to check for the existence of any hidden chambers behind the tomb. Egypt carried out previous scans as part of the quest but the findings were inconclusive. The news follows more than two years of speculation after British Egyptologist Dr Nicholas Reeves said he found signs of a hidden doorway in King Tut's tomb. At the time, he said one of the secret rooms could be the burial place of the Pharaoh's stepmother Queen Nefertiti. Scroll down for video Egypt's Antiquities Ministry says archaeologists are starting radar scans of the tomb of famed pharaoh Tutankhamun (pictured) in the southern city of Luxor The tomb of King Tut, who ruled Egypt more than 3,000 years ago, was discovered in 1922 in the Valley of the Kings, located on the west bank of the Nile river in Luxor. For many, Tut embodies ancient Egypt's glory because his tomb was packed with the glittering wealth of the rich 18th Dynasty, which ruled from 1569 to 1315 BC. Researchers are using ground penetrating radar (GPR) to scan the pharaoh's chamber for the existence of two chambers rumoured to be hidden behind its walls. The search is being led by the Polytechnic University Turin, Italy, and will be the third time in the past two years researchers have looked for the lost chamber. I'm privileged to be given this opportunity, and I'm privileged to be coordinating such a great team, Professor Franco Porcelli, the project's director and a physics researchers at the Polytechnic University in Turin, told National Geographic in an exclusive interview. He told Seeker last year: 'It will be a rigorous scientific work and will last several days, if not weeks. 'Three radar systems will be used and frequencies from 200 Mhz to 2 GHz will be covered.' Mamdouh Eldamaty, Egypt's former antiquities minister, has said there is a '90 per cent' chance the tomb has hidden chambers. The ministry said the scans will be carried out over a week to check for the existence of any hidden chambers behind the tomb. Pictured are scientists setting up radar equipment for the new study WHO WAS KING TUTANKHAMUN AND HOW WAS HIS TOMB DISCOVERED? The face of Tutankhamun was an Egyptian pharaoh of the 18th dynasty, and ruled between 1332 BC and 1323 BC. Right, his famous gold funeral mask Tutankhamun was an Egyptian pharaoh of the 18th dynasty, and ruled between 1332 BC and 1323 BC. He was the son of Akhenaten and took to the throne at the age of nine or ten. When he became king, he married his half-sister, Ankhesenpaaten. He died at around the age of 18 and his cause of death is unknown. In 1907, Lord Carnarvon George Herbert asked English archaeologist and Egyptologist Howard Carter to supervise excavations in the Valley of the Kings. On 4 November 1922, Carter's group found steps that led to Tutankhamun's tomb. He spent several months cataloguing the antechamber before opening the burial chamber and discovering the sarcophagus in February 1923. When the tomb was discovered in 1922 by archaeologist Howard Carter, under the patronage of Lord Carnarvon, the media frenzy that followed was unprecedented. Carter and his team took 10 years to clear the tomb of its treasure because of the multitude of objects found within it. For many, Tut embodies ancient Egypt's glory because his tomb was packed with the glittering wealth of the rich 18th Dynasty from 1569 to 1315 BC. Egypt's antiquities chief Zahi Hawass (3rd L) supervises the removal of the lid of the sarcophagus of King Tutankhamun in his underground tomb in the famed Valley of the Kings in 2007. Advertisement Previous investigations of the tomb suggest it hides two hidden chambers (pictured), including the resting place of Tutankhamun's stepmother Queen Nefertiti He claimed that finding them would be the 'discovery of the century'. The search began in 2015 following a claim by Dr Nicholas Reeves, an Egyptologist at the University of Arizona. Based on Dr Reeves' works, Japanese radar expert Hirokatsu Watanabe said he had evidence of two hidden chambers in the King's tomb. 'There is, in fact, an empty space behind the wall based on radar, which is very accurate, there is no doubt,' he said at the time. This prompted Egyptian antiquities minister Mamdough al-Damaty to issue a statement claiming he was almost certain there was a chamber behind the walls. The news follows more than two years of speculation after British Egyptologist, Nicholas Reeves, said he found signs of a hidden doorway in King Tut's tomb (pictured) The new scanning project is the third to look into the possibility of hidden chambers in the tomb, following two unsuccessful attempts in 2015 and March 2016 (pictured) WHO WAS QUEEN NEFERTITI? Queen Nefertiti was famed for her beauty as depicted in the famous bust now in Berlin (pictured) Queen Nefertit was one of ancient Egypt's most influential Queens, ruling during the empire's prosperous 18th Dynasty. Nefertiti, who ruled Egypt 3,300 years ago from 1353 to 1336 BC, was either the mother or stepmother of the boy-pharaoh King Tutankhamun. Her full name, Neferneferuaten Nefertiti, means 'Beautiful are the Beauties of Aten, the Beautiful One has come'. Her power and charms in 14th-century BC Egypt were so great that she collected many nicknames, too from Lady Of All Women, to Great Of Praises, to Sweet Of Love. Nefertiti lived during the richest period in ancient Egypt's history from around 1370BC to 1330BC. As well as marrying a king - Pharaoh Akhenaten - she was probably born the daughter of another pharaoh, and possibly ruled alongside Tutankhamun. There is even a suggestion that she ruled Egypt alone after her husband's death, meaning she ruled Egypt from cradle to grave. Nefertiti and Akhenaten had six daughters, although it is thought that Tutankhamun was not her son. DNA analysis has indicated that Akhenaten fathered Tutankhamun with one of his own sisters making Nefertiti his step mother. Her beauty and power were depicted in a number of temple images. Sometimes she is shown walking behind her husband, but is also often shown on her own, in positions of pharaoh-like power. Her own death is shrouded in mystery. She is thought to have died about six years after her husband, possibly from the plague that struck Egypt at that time. In 1331BC, Tutankhaten changed his name to Tutankhamun and moved the Egyptian capital to Thebes, where he died in 1323BC. Advertisement The search is being led by the Polytechnic University Turin, Italy, and will be the third time in the past three years researchers have looked for the lost chamber. Pictured are the results of previous radar scans of the tomb, which were inconclusive 'We said earlier there was a 60 per cent chance there is something behind the walls,' he said at the time. 'But now after the initial reading of the scans, we are saying now its 90 per cent likely there is something behind the walls.' However, experts raised doubts about the claim after radar images from Mr Watanabe's scans were released. The National Geographic Society conducted a second series of radar scans in the hope of finding clearer evidence of a tomb. Mamdouh Eldamaty, Egypt's former antiquities minister, has said there is a '90 per cent' chance the tomb has hidden chambers. Pictured are scientists taking radar scans of the tomb's walls in 2016 Some have theorised Tutankhamun's tomb was in fact Nefertiti's, and when the boy king died unexpectedly at a young age, he was rushed into her tomb's outer chamber in Luxor's Valley of Kings in southern Egypt They scanned the walls in question at five different heights, switching between two radar antennae with frequencies of 400 and 900 megahertz, respectively. 'One was for depth perception, and one was for feature perception,' said Eric Berkenpas, an electrical engineer at National Geographic who was accompanied by Alan Turchik, a mechanical engineer. But results came up up blank. Egypt's antiquities ministry refused to accept the new results. Previously, researchers had said they believe there is a 90 per cent chance King Tutankhamun's tomb contains at least one, if not two, hidden chambers. The announcement followed infrared thermography tests (pictured) that revealed one area of the northern wall was a different temperature to others (marked) The search began in 2015 following a claim by Dr Nicholas Reeves, an Egyptologist at the University of Arizona. Based on Dr Reeves' works, Japanese radar expert Hirokatsu Watanabe said he had evidence of two hidden chambers in the King's tomb. Later, scientists took radar scans in 2016 (pictured), though the results were inconclusive WHAT IS EGYPT'S VALLEY OF THE KINGS? The Valley of the Kings in upper Egypt is one of the country's main tourist attractions and is the famous burial ground of many deceased pharaohs. It is located near the ancient city of Luxor on the banks of the river Nile in eastern Egypt - 300 miles (500km) away from the pyramids of Giza, near Cairo. The majority of the pharaohs of the 18th to 20th dynasties, who ruled from 1550 to 1069 BC, rested in the tombs which were cut into the local rock. The royal tombs are decorated with scenes from Egyptian mythology and give clues as to the beliefs and funerary rituals of the period. The majority of the pharaohs of the 18th to 20th dynasties, who ruled from 1550 to 1069 BC, rested in the tombs which were cut into the local rock. Pictured are statues of goddesses at the site Almost all of the tombs were opened and looted centuries ago, but the sites still give an idea of the opulence and power of the Pharaohs. The most famous pharaoh at the site is Tutankhamun, whose tomb was discovered in 1922. Preserved to this day, in the tomb are original decorations of sacred imagery from, among others, the Book of Gates or the Book of Caverns. These are among the most important funeral texts found on the walls of ancient Egyptian tombs. The Valley of the Kings in upper Egypt is one of the country's main tourist attractions. The most famous pharaoh at the site is Tutankhamun, whose tomb was discovered in 1922 Advertisement 'Other types of radar and remote-sensing techniques will be applied in the next stage. Once they are determined, we shall publish the updates,' the ministry said in a statement. For many, Tut embodies ancient Egypt's glory because his tomb was packed with the glittering wealth of the rich 18th Dynasty from 1569 to 1315 BC At a conference discussing the claims in 2016, archaeologists sitting on each side of the fence clashed over the controversial theory and plans to drill a hole in the wall. Experts even disagreed about how the search for the chambers was handled, with the former antiquities minister Zahi Hawass claiming the project lacked any real science. The researchers who conducted the radar survey were not allowed to present their research at the conference. Speaking at the conference, the famed Egyptologist Hawass rejected the theory undiscovered chambers lie behind the tomb. 'In all my career ... I have never come across any discovery in Egypt due to radar scans,' he said. At the time, he said the technology would be better used to examine existing tombs that are known to contain sealed-off chambers. Dr Reeves meanwhile defended the theory he put forward last year. Preliminary results of successive scans suggested the tomb contains two open spaces, with signs of metal and organic matter lying behind its western and northern walls. At a 2016 conference in Egypt, experts clashed over how the search for Tut's chambers was handled with the former antiquities minister Zahi Hawass claiming the project lacked any real science. Pictured are scientists at the site in 2015 'I was looking for the evidence that would tell me that my initial reading was wrong,' he said. 'But I didn't find any evidence to suggest that. I just found more and more indicators that there is something extra going on in Tutankhamun's tomb.' Damati inspected the tomb in September 2016 with the theory's proponent, Dr Reeves. His theory and the attention paid to it came as Egypt struggles to revive its key tourism industry after years of political turmoil. However, experts disagreed over how the search for the chambers was handled. 'Handling the project wasn't done scientifically at all,' said former antiquities minister Zahi Hawass. Damati himself said more tests were needed. 'The infrared scan said we need to repeat it because we have something that we cannot be sure what it is exactly,' he said. Reeves theorised Tutankhamun's tomb was in fact Nefertiti's, and when the boy king died unexpectedly at a young age, he was rushed into her tomb's outer chamber in Luxor's Valley of Kings in southern Egypt. Hawass suggested the current antiquities minister hire an autonomous committee of experts to handle the investigation. 'We have to stop this media presence, because there is nothing to publish,' he said. A National Geographic team scanned the walls in question at five different heights, switching between two radar antennae with frequencies of 400 and 900 megahertz, respectively, in 2016 (pictured). Their results came up blank, but Egypt's Minister for Antiquities refused to accept the results Nefertiti was famed for her beauty as depicted in a famous bust, now in Berlin. She, Tutankhamun and Akhenaten ruled during a turbulent time, and were one of ancient Egypt's most controversial ruling families. Nefertiti was married to Akhenaten, who tried and failed to force Egypt to convert to monotheism. DNA evidence has shown that Akhenaten was Tutankhamun's father, but Egyptologists do not agree on who his mother was. Egyptologists rely on a mix of DNA evidence as well as information documented in ruins and historical calculations to map the pharaohs' family tree. Most tombs contain more information about the passage to the afterlife rather than solid information about the deceased's biological lineage. New research from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology has provided clues as to where residents of present-day Scandinavia originated from. The scientists found that Scandinavians came through Germany and Denmark to Norway about 11,500 years ago. A second wave came from the northeast about 1,000 years later, traveling along present-day Norway's west coast. Scandinavia was among the last regions of Europe that became habitable. This happened after glaciers gave way to the land 10,000 years ago. At that point, the area attracted hunter-gatherers because of the ocean's resources. The researchers looked at seven individuals that had been excavated and compared their genetic makeup with that of people from different parts of Europe. Anne-Marian Snaaijer, from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, studying some of of the bone samples For the study, Norwegian and Swedish researchers analyzed DNA samples from the Norwegian coast and Swedish islands Stora Karlso and Gotland. The researchers looked at seven individuals that had been excavated and compared their genetic makeup with that of people from different parts of Europe. Author Torsten Gunther said: 'People from the Norwegian south and west coast were genetically similar to populations east of the Baltic sea that came from today's Russia. 'People from eastern Scandinavia - present-day Sweden - were more genetically similar to populations from central and western Europe.' Another author named Birgitte Skar said: 'To understand the migration routes, it was essential to obtain data from the Norwegian individuals.' The two groups of people who migrated to Scandinavia during this time were 'genetically distinct', according to study author Mattias Jakobsson. Jakobsson said: 'People from the south probably had blue eyes and dark skin, while those from the northeast had various eye colors and light skin.' The study said: 'The new immigrants that came from the northeast learned new boating and fishing skills to access marine resources, which offered their main source of food. 'These researchers discovered that these immigrants also introduced new tools and innovative ways to produce them. This shift in material culture can now be linked to a particular migration wave.' HOW DO RESEARCHERS CONFIRM ANCIENT MIGRATION PATTERNS? A new study from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology has looked at Scandinavian migration patterns. Researchers analyzed bone samples for the study that were 9,500 years old. They correspond with the Mesolithic Stone Age. The samples were from Swedish islands and the Norwegian coast. The study said: 'The Norwegian skeletal remains from southern Norway are the oldest of the individuals studied.' The scientists looked at other archaeological findings alongside the genetic data, considering aspects such as climate models that might have influenced migration routes and settlement patterns. The scientists found that Scandinavians came through Germany and Denmark to Norway about 11,500 years ago. A second wave came from the northeast about 1,000 years later, traveling along present-day Norway's west coast Advertisement The researchers concluded that lighter eye color and skin tone variations that are present in Scandinavia today were present at the time of the migrations. 'We can assume this to be an indicator of climate adaptation,' the study said. The scientists behind the research said the new data will help them fill in the picture of Scandinavia's history and also tell them much about the people who live there now. 'Now we can explore more closely how the relationship between the original and new populations evolved,' Skar said. She added: 'The original inhabitants were highly skilled and adventurous seafaring hunters, whereas the new population was originally an inland people.' Advertisement More than 60,000 previously unknown Mayan structures - including pyramids, palaces and causeways - have been revealed under jungle foliage in Guatemala in what has been hailed as a 'major breakthrough'. Researchers used laser technology to look beneath the forest canopy in northern Peten - an area close to already-known Mayan cities. The lasers revealed the 'breathtaking' remains of a sprawling pre-Columbian 'megalopolis' that was far more complex than most specialists had ever believed. The discovery suggests that Central America supported a civilization that was, at its peak 1,500 years ago, more advanced than ancient Greek and Chinese cultures. The landscape may have been home to up to 15 million individuals and the abundance of defensive walls, ramparts and fortresses suggests that warfare was rife throughout their existence and not just at the end. Scroll down for video Thousands of previously unknown ancient Maya structures including pyramids, palaces and causeways have been revealed in Guatemala. The ground-breaking research used so-called LIDAR technology (pictured) that utilises light from lasers to construct a detailed survey of buried structures 'I think this is one of the greatest advances in over 150 years of Maya archaeology,' said Stephen Houston, Professor of Archaeology and Anthropology at Brown University told the BBC. 'I know it sounds hyperbolic but when I saw the [Lidar] imagery, it did bring tears to my eyes.' Scientists made the discovery using Lidar technology, which is short for 'light detection and ranging', Aircraft with a LiDAR scanner produced three-dimensional maps of the surface by using light in the form of pulsed laser linked to a GPS system. This technique allowed researchers to map outlines of what they describe as dozens of newly discovered Maya cities hidden under thick jungle foliage centuries after they were abandoned by their original inhabitants. As well as previously unknown structures, the images show raised highways that linked together urban centers and quarries. They also found advanced irrigation and terracing systems that supported agriculture in for a civilisation that was one of the most advanced to arise in Mesoamerica. Mayans are known for their sophisticated mathematics and engineering that allowed it to spread throughout present-day Central America and southern Mexico. 'Now it is no longer necessary to cut through the jungle to see what's under it,' said Marcello Canuto, one of the project's top investigators. Researchers believe it was home to a sophisticated civilisation that peaked 1,200 years ago and could have been as advanced as the ancient Greek and Chinese. Their findings revealed a pyramid in the heart of the ancient Maya city of Tikal (pictured), a major tourist destination in northeastern Guatemala This new technique allowed researchers to map outlines of what they describe as dozens of newly discovered Maya cities hidden under thick jungle foliage centuries after they were abandoned by their original inhabitants 'The fortified structures and large causeways reveal modifications to the natural landscape made by the Maya on a previously unimaginable scale,' said Francisco Estrada-Belli of Tulane University. These findings are a 'revolution in Maya archaeology,' said Dr Canuto. The team of archaeologists surveyed more than 810 square miles (2,100 sq km) of the Peten jungle which borders Mexico and Belize. They found some 60,000 structures were found over the past two years. The new discoveries include urban centres with sidewalks, homes, terraces, ceremonial centres, irrigation canals and fortifications. The ancient Maya civilisation was one of the most advanced to arise in Mesoamerica. It was marked by sophisticated mathematics and engineering that allowed it to spread throughout present-day Central America and southern Mexico LiDAR remote sensing technology allows archaeologists to hunt for sites of interest from a distance LiDAR (light detection and ranging) is a remote sensing technology that measures distance by shooting a laser at a target and analysing the light that is reflected back. The technology was developed in the early 1960s and uses laser imaging with radar technology that can calculate distances. It was first used in meteorology to measure clouds by the National Center for Atmospheric Research. The term lidar is a portmanteau of 'light and 'radar.' Lidar uses ultraviolet, visible, or near infrared light to image objects and can be used with a wide range of targets, including non-metallic objects, rocks, rain, chemical compounds, aerosols, clouds and even single molecules. A narrow laser beam can be used to map physical features with very high resolution. This new technique allowed researchers to map outlines of what they describe as dozens of newly discovered Maya cities hidden under thick jungle foliage centuries after they were abandoned by their original inhabitants. Aircraft with a Lidar scanner produced three-dimensional maps of the surface by using light in the form of pulsed laser linked to a GPS system. The technology helped researchers discover sites much faster than using traditional archaeological methods. Advertisement The new discoveries include urban centres with sidewalks, homes, terraces, ceremonial centres, irrigation canals and fortifications. Their findings revealed a pyramid in the heart of the ancient Maya city of Tikal, a major tourist destination in northeastern Guatemala Their findings revealed a pyramid in the heart of the ancient Maya city of Tikal, a major tourist destination in northeastern Guatemala. Also discovered in Tika were a series of pits and a 14 kilometre-long wall. The pyramid measures nearly 100 feet (30 meters) tall and was previously thought to be a small mountain. The earliest Maya settlements were constructed around 1,000 B.C., and most major Maya cities collapsed by 900 A.D. The civilisation reached its height in what is present-day southern Mexico, Guatemala, and parts of Belize, El Salvador and Honduras between 250 and 950 AD. The earliest Maya settlements were constructed around 1,000 B.C., and most major Maya cities collapsed by 900 A.D. They found some 60,000 structures were found over the past two years The civilisation reached its height in what is present-day southern Mexico, Guatemala, and parts of Belize, El Salvador and Honduras between 250 and 950 AD. Lidar is a remote sensing technology that measures distance by shooting a laser at a target and analysing the light that is reflected back Lidar was developed in the early 1960s and uses laser imaging with radar technology that can calculate distances. Researchers now believe that the Maya had a population of 10 to 15 million, which is 'much higher' than previous estimates. Hidden deep in the jungle, the newly-discovered pyramid rises some seven stories high Researchers now believe that the Maya had a population of 10 to 15 million, which is 'much higher' than previous estimates, Dr Canuto said. The cause of the collapse remains the focus of intense academic debate. 'The LiDAR images make it clear that this entire region was a settlement system whose scale and population density had been grossly underestimated,' Thomas Garrison, an Ithaca College archaeologist and National Geographic Explorer told National Geographic. Also discovered in Tika were a series of pits and a 14 kilometre-long wall. The pyramid measures nearly 100 feet (30 meters) tall and was previously thought to be a small mountain. Pictured is a researcher looking at their finds Lidar uses ultraviolet, visible, or near infrared light to image objects and can be used with a wide range of targets, including non-metallic objects, rocks, rain, chemical compounds, aerosols, clouds and even single molecules. Pictured is a researcher Researchers say a climate reversal and drying trend between 660 and 1000 AD triggered political competition, increased warfare, overall sociopolitical instability, and finally, political collapse - known as the Classic Maya Collapse. Pictured is the temple of the Jaguar, archaeological site of Tikal WHAT CAUSED THE COLLAPSE OF THE MAYAN CIVILISATION? For hundreds of years the Mayans dominated large parts of the Americas until, mysteriously in the 8th and 9th century AD, a large chunk of the Mayan civilisation collapsed. The reason for this collapse has been hotly debated, but now scientists say they might have an answer - an intense drought that lasted a century. Studies of sediments in the Great Blue Hole in Belize suggest a lack of rains caused the disintegration of the Mayan civilisation, and a second dry spell forced them to relocate elsewhere. The theory that a drought led to a decline of the Mayan Classic Period is not entirely new, but the new study co-authored by Dr Andre Droxler from Rice University in Texas provides fresh evidence for the claims. The Maya who built Chichen Itza came to dominate the Yucatan Peninsula in southeast Mexico, shown above, for hundreds of years before dissappearing mysteriously in the 8th and 9th century AD Dozens of theories have attempted to explain the Classic Maya Collapse, from epidemic diseases to foreign invasion. With his team Dr Droxler found that from 800 to 1000 AD, no more than two tropical cyclones occurred every two decades, when usually there were up to six. This suggests major droughts occurred in these years, possibly leading to famines and unrest among the Mayan people. And they also found that a second drought hit from 1000 to 1100 AD, corresponding to the time that the Mayan city of Chichen Itza collapsed. Researchers say a climate reversal and drying trend between 660 and 1000 AD triggered political competition, increased warfare, overall sociopolitical instability, and finally, political collapse - known as the Classic Maya Collapse. This was followed by an extended drought between AD 1020 and 1100 that likely corresponded with crop failures, death, famine, migration and, ultimately, the collapse of the Maya population. Advertisement Researchers have found complex irrigation and terracing systems that suggest there was intensive agriculture in the area which could have fed masses of workers. At its peak in the Maya classic period (around 250 AD to 900 AD) the civilisation covered an area twice the size of medieval England, researchers say. The causeways are also connected, suggesting they were heavily trafficked and used for regional trade. The survey is the first part of the PACUNAM LiDAR Initiative that will eventually map more than 5,000 square miles (14,000 square kilometres) of Guatemala. Lost Cities of the Maya: Revealed will be aired on Sunday 11th February at 8pm on Channel 4. The ancient Greeks could have reached Canada in 56 AD - almost a millennium before the Vikings. This is according to a controversial study that claims Hellenistic Greeks had such detailed knowledge of astronomy that they were able to pinpoint Atlantic currents that would propel them west. This idea is based on a study of the text 'De Facie' by Greek biographer and essayist Plutarch, who lived between 46 and 119 AD. A character in the texts recounts meeting a Greek stranger who had recently returned from a 'great continent' - and scientists say this may have been Canada. Powered by sails and oars, they may have regularly visited Newfoundland, mined gold and set up colonies that thrived for centuries, the study claims. However, there is no concrete evidence of these trips and many historians and maritime archaeologists have dismissed the work as 'unfounded'. Scroll down for video The ancient Greeks could have reached North America in 56 AD - almost a millennium before the Vikings, according to new research. Pictured is the route they might have taken 'Our intention is to prove, with modern science, that it was possible for this trip to be made,' Ioannis Liritzis, an archaeologist from the University of the Aegean told Hakai Magazine as part of an in-depth feature on his research. These early settlers may have travelled for the sake of finding new lands or riches, researchers say. They believe some travellers would return home after a brief stay but for others the trip was one way. Researchers acknowledge that they do not have evidence that these trips were made but believe they were possible, as suggested by the writings of Plutarch. Plutarch wrote more than sixty in-depth biographies of famous Romans and Greeks, detailed in his writings of Parallel Lives. This theory is based on evidence from Plutarch's work De Facie, also known as On the Face Which Appears in the Orb of the Moon. In this work, which became familiar to classicists during the Renaissance, characters discuss whether the moon is another Earth, whether it has life, and other philosophical questions. One character recounts meeting a stranger who had recently returned from a 'great continent'. This idea is based on close examination of the work of Greek biographer and essayist Plutarch (pictured), who lived between 46 and 119 AD HOW DID THE ANCIENT GREEKS NAVIGATE AT SEA? The first Western civilisation known to have developed the art of navigation at sea were the Phoenicians, around 4,000 years ago in 2,000 BC. Phoenician sailors navigated using primitive charts and observations of the sun and stars to determine directions. It would take many centuries before global navigation at sea became possible. By the second millennium BC, accumulated knowledge of stars and constellations began to facilitate more direct travel across the Mediterranean. As increasing knowledge of astronomy began to spread and became more precise, navigation across open water became more possible and less risky. Detailed knowledge of the constellations, eclipses, and moon movements made navigation during day and night much easier. Other developments include the use of sounding weights, which helped sailors determine the depth of water in given locations. Weights would be lowered from a boat and would inform on the locations depth. This knowledge could help with regards to how far ships were from land, as shallower seas could indicate that land was nearby or approaching. By the late first millennium BC, new developments facilitated further navigation capabilities. This included the development of navigational charts and information passed down to sailors. These charts include types of notes and descriptions that likely assisted sailors over generations. Farther ventures were enabled by the development of scientifically and mathematically based methods and tools. It seems the Ancient Greeks did develop early incarnations of these instruments, perhaps including the Antikythera mechanism. Found in 1900 near the Greek island of Antikythera, this metal contraption appears to be a mechanical device with gears and wheels. Some experts believe it may have been used to aid navigation and understand the movements of celestial bodies in the third or second century BC. Advertisement Dr Liritzis and his colleagues believe this content was in fact North America, specifically Newfoundland. This is not the first time that this theory has been proposed. Johannes Kepler, a German mathematician and astronomer who was a key figure in the 17th-century scientific revolution, also believed that this reference was in relation to North America. The stranger recounts how travellers made the trip every 30 years when Saturn appeared in the constellation Taurus. The ancient Greeks closely followed astronomical phenomena associated with Saturn, which was called Kronos at the time. The suggestion is these trips could have occurred every 30 years for centuries. Unfortunately the first few chapters of De Facie have been lost so no one knows on what date these conversations happened so researchers had to date the story themselves. Powered by sails and oars, Hellenistic Greeks may have regularly visited Newfoundland, mined gold and set up colonies that thrived for centuries. Pictured is a Greek trireme (artist's impression), which is the boat they could have used WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT THE GREEK HISTORIAN PLUTARCH? L Mestrius Plutarchus, better known as Plutarch, was a Greek writer and philosopher who was born around 45 to 50 AD and died between 120 and 125 AD. Much of what is known about the ancient world comes from Plutarch, who wrote more than sixty in-depth biographies of famous Romans and Greeks, detailed in his writings of Parallel Lives. Of the fifty that have survived, nine feature main characters who lived at the same time, knew many of the others, and participated in many of the same events. As a result, Plutarch narrates the same stories numerous times. This provides historians with a rare opportunity to compare how the same author, often having used the same sources, narrates the same stories differently. Plutarch was a prolific writer who, according to one fourth-century inventory, wrote 227 works. This also included an eclectic array of writings known as his Moralia. Most of Plutarch's writings have been lost to history, but a number have survived and been heavily scrutinised by scholars down the centuries. Among them is On the Face Which Appears in the Orb of the Moon, commonly referred to as De Facie. In this work, which became familiar to classicists during the Renaissance, characters discuss whether the moon is another Earth, whether it has life, and other philosophical questions. In this story, one character recounts meeting a stranger who had recently returned from a 'great continent'. One study produced by archaeologists from the University of the Aegean in Mytilene, Greece, in January 2018 argued that the continent described was North America. This is not the first time that this theory has been proposed. Johannes Kepler, a German mathematician and astronomer who was a key figure in the 17th-century scientific revolution, also believed that this reference was in relation to North America. Advertisement They focused in on a reference one of the characters made about a solar eclipse that happened at around midday. Dr Liritzis and his colleagues then looked through 5,000 years of eclipses and found one that matched the description in Plutarch's writings. It took place in 75 AD. Next they looked at the decades surrounding the eclipse for evidence of Saturn appearing in Taurus and found it happened on three occasions - 26 to 29 AD, 56 to 58 AD, and 85 to 88 AD. They decided the trip was most likely to have occurred during 56 AD as this was the one when Saturn was most recently in Taurus. Travellers would have stayed one year and then sailed out in 58 AD when Saturn was no longer in Taurus, they claimed. 'By applying modern scientific data, the present reappraisal of the astronomical and geographical elements within this dialogue has produced a novel interpretation of the date and place of the meeting and a journey to the northern Atlantic Ocean', researchers wrote in their paper published in the Journal of Coastal Research Online. They looked at the Gulf Stream current, as well as other known sea currents in the northern Atlantic Ocean and estimated speed for the ship. Ioannis Liritzis, an archaeologist from the University of the Aegean believes Hellenistic Greeks had such as detailed knowledge of astronomy they were able to pinpoint Atlantic currents that would propel them west. Pictured is the ancient Greek theatre of Segesta on Sicily WHY DO HISTORIANS BELIEVE THE VIKINGS DISCOVERED CANADA? They are infamous for terrorising the coastlines of Europe in their distinctive longships, but the Vikings may be able to claim another victory over their medieval neighbours. Evidence uncovered in 2016 suggests the Vikings may have discovered North America nearly 500 years before Christopher Columbus made his famous journey to the New World. Scientists claimed to have uncovered what they believe to be a Viking settlement on the Canadian island of Newfoundland that appears to have been built between 800 AD and 1300 AD. It is only the second known Viking site to be discovered in North America and suggests that they were the first Europeans to reach the New World. This site, discovered in an area called Point Rosee in southern Newfoundland, is 400 miles (643km) south west of a Viking settlement found in L'Anse aux Meadows during the 1960s. Archaeologists said the discovery potentially opens 'a new chapter' in history by showing the Vikings had explored far further into the New World than previously believed possible. The Vikings are well known to have been adept seafarers, using the sun and the stars to help pick their way across open stretches of ocean away from the coastline. It is thought the Vikings first discovered America by accident in the autumn of 986 AD, according to one historical source, the Saga of the Greenlanders. It tells how Bjarni Herjolfsson stumbled across North America after being blown off course as he attempted to sail from Norway to Greenland, but he did not go ashore. Inspired by his tales, however, another Viking Leif Ericsson then mounted his own expedition and found North America in 1002 AD. Finding it a fertile land, rich in grapes and berries, he named it Vinland. Eriksson also named two further 'lands' on the North American coast - one with flat stones, which he called Helluland, and one that was flat and wooded, named Markland. The discovery of the settlement at Point Rosee suggests that these legends were in fact true. Advertisement The 'great continent' lined up with a bay on the same latitude as the Volhga River delta, the northern entrance to the Caspian sea. Using Google Earth, they predicted that Greek settlers would have been able to make it to St. Lawrence Gulf and Newfoundland island. 'Other unnamed islands mentioned in this dialogue are identified with Norway's islands, Azores, Iceland, Greenland, and Baffin islands', researchers found. They claim the Greeks had good knowledge of sea currents and astronomy meaning that this would be a 'plausible event'. However, other experts have widely disputed the claims. 'While it is clever and interesting I don't think the Greeks reached Canada', Dr Hector Williams from the University of British Columbia told MailOnline. 'Indeed the authors themselves admit there is no archaeological or other historical evidence for the Greeks ever having crossed the Atlantic', he said. 'Such a crossing might theoretically be possible--there are numerous examples of Japanese fishing boats making it across the Pacific when caught in storms and carried by currents that run west-east, for example--but the Greeks rarely even made it out into the Atlantic (unlike the Romans who of course colonized Britain).' Brendan Foley, an underwater archaeologist at Lund University in Sweden told Hakai Magazine there is no way that first millennium BCE Mediterranean sailors would have any concept of Atlantic Ocean currents. 'They certainly did not possess the navigational technologies and knowledge (a la Polynesian sailors) to position themselves in the open Atlantic Ocean to ride them', Dr Foley said. He also says there are no ancient Greek artefacts that contain gold traced to North America. Also, the paper claims the boats travelled at 10 knots, but this would be fast for even modern ships. Great state: Florida's tranquil coastline on the way from Orlando to Miami As the lead horse exited the oak trees of Amelia Island State Park, our first view of the vast white-sand beach was like an epic theatrical production, curtain up on several miles of pristine Atlantic coastline. We had the place to ourselves, along with the eight other members of our Kelly Seahorse Ranch trail ride. It was the most unexpected destination of our Sunshine State circumnavigation, courtesy of Hertz and its new USA Road Trip Planner. Driving from Orlando to Miami, it covered 905 miles. In our spacious Chevrolet Malibu, we travelled in comfort, and, with petrol at $2.30 (1.70) a gallon, we paid just $65 (48) for gas on the journey. While much of the route showcased Floridas natural charms, we couldnt resist a day of Harry Potter theme-park fun at Universal Orlando to start, but then it was off to Crystal River to go kayaking in search of manatees. Turning north-east took us on the excursions longest leg, 167 miles to Fernandina Beach on Amelia Island, where we enjoyed the Civil War-era Fort Clinch, went on a sunset cruise, stayed at the Blue Heron Inn, and took our first horse-ride of the trip. From there it was south along the scenic A1A, visiting historic St Augustine (Americas oldest city founded 1565), Daytona Beach with its speedway race track, and the unmissable modern history of the Kennedy Space Center. Stuart, at the mouth of the Indian River, boasted eco-tours, shipwreck coastline and an unspoiled downtown. As part of the route, you can experience the unmissable history of the Kennedy Space Center West Palm Beach offered the uber-chic shopping of Worth Avenue before we reached Miami, where we spent time among the beautiful people of Ocean Drive as well as the culture vultures at the Vizcaya Museum. Finally, we pottered 90 minutes south to Key Largo. If Stuart was laid-back, this gateway to the Keys was positively horizontal. Our final dinner at Snooks Bayside restaurant concluded things in the way only Florida can: an epic sunset, sensational seafood and a sense of the great outdoors with the accent on the great. Theres no shortage of places to stay in the Portuguese capital, whether you opt for the trendy Baixa-Chiado area with its happening nightlife or the other-worldly fairy tale atmosphere of Alfama, theres something for everyone, and these compact boutique hotels many of which are in historic buildings bring out the charm of the city. Take in the beautiful view of River Tagus from your suite at LX Boutique Hotel LX Boutique Hotel Rating: With its sky blue terraced exterior and position on a steep street with trams chiming their bells early in the morning, and a view of the spectacular suspension bridge, you may be forgiven for thinking youre in San Francisco rather than Lisbon. LX Boutique Hotel is great for young couples, as designers have really thought outside the box when designing rooms, with cool guitar wallpaper, spaceship-like glass bathrooms and funky design furniture in a multitude of chintzy fabrics. The hotel is ideally located next to Cais do Sodre a rail and ferry terminal with great connections all over the city. Metro: Cais do Sodre Book LX Boutique Hotel for an unforgettable trip to Lisbon Santiago de Alfama Rating: In a former 15th century palace, the refurbished Santiago de Alfama is the newest kid on the Lisbon boutique hotel block, after a loving restoration by starchitect Luis Rebelo de Andrado. The 19 rooms are in a rabbit warren of corridors, some overlooking Roman ruins and all decked out in a pleasing Portuguese colour scheme of brilliant white and deep jet blue. The hotel is peppered with modern art throughout and you can eat a custard tart for breakfast sitting at the hotels terrace cafe on the cobbled street. Rooms are also excellent value for money this is boutique within a budget. Metro: Terreiro do Paco Solar dos Mouros is a charming escape from the hustle and bustle of the city Solar dos Mouros Rating: Staying here youll be a literal stones throw from the magnificent Castelo de Sao Jorge an 18th century building that used to be one of the castles towers. Inside Solar dos Mouros, the design is bright and bold with poster-paint statement walls, clashing colours and Modern art. Theres no restaurant as such, but the hotels secluded rooftop terrace has a view of the river, the sliver of blue peeking out from terracotta tiles. With only 13 rooms, you wont be scrambling for a table and can watch the sunset in peace with a glass of vinho verde. Metro: Cais do Sodre Figueira Rating: The quirky interiors of Figueira are all modelled on nature from ruby red fig tree washbasins to wide leaf plates and massive murals behind headboards all the work of interior designer Nini de Andrade e Silva. Theres hardly a straight edge in sight think smooth, rounded chrome edges and curvy walls that mirror the geometric patterns of nature. The hotels spa is the perfect place to indulge in a treatment that uses natural plant extracts. When it comes to sightseeing, youll be right on Figueira Square close to the buzzing bars and restaurants on Rua das portas de Santo Antao and the pedestrian Rua Augusta with its terrace restaurants. Metro: Rossio Figueira offers a unique experience and why not pamper yourself with a treatment at the rooftop spa York House Lisboa Rating: For a slice of peace and quiet on the tram route between the atmospheric Time Out food market and the historic area of Belem, bed down at York House Lisboa. Youll find calm at the spacious outdoor courtyard terrace, with walls dripping with ivy. Fun fact: the boutique hotel used to be a 17th century convent and later transformed into a hotel run by two women from Yorkshire owing to the hotels name. Lisbon is a foodie paradise, but the upmarket restaurant here rivals the best in the city order the bacalao its a portuguese speciality. Train: Santos Stay just a 10-minute walk from central Lisbon at York House Lisboa Altis Belem Hotel and Spa Rating: This boutique hotel has a reputation for being one of the chicest in the city and is the most high-end option on the list. Its also the most spacious, far from being in a converted historic building like many boutique hotels in Lisbon, Altis Belem Hotel and Spa is a sprawling structure of glass and steel, with floor-to-ceiling windows looking out on the harbour. The spa is as much of a draw here as the hotel, and facilities include Turkish hammam, oxygen therapy treatments and a menu of soothing treatments to choose from. Metro: BelemT Treat yourself to a suite at the jaw-dropping Altis Belem Hotel and Spa H10 Duque de Loule Rating: Huge blue and white azulezos murals of Portuguese noblemen dominate the lounge area of H10 Duque de Loule a traditional boutique hotel with clean white rooms with traditional panelling. Its main draw though, is its stunning rooftop bar and sun terrace attracting well-heeled locals and tourists alike. Its blue and white tiles are given a very modern makeover in geometric patterns, providing an Instagram-friendly backdrop and view to match. Metro: Marques de Pombal Birthday wishes Call 281-422-8302 or email david.bloom@baytownsun.com to wish someone a happy birthday. We will print your birthday wish on Page 2 of The Sun. Happy Birthday Wishes Advertisement Fancy a little glamour for the old homestead? From bathtubs to beds, decorative sofas to minibars, Paris's glitzy Ritz hotel is auctioning off some 10,000 pieces of furniture and decorative objects emblematic of the luxury it offers its wealthy clients. Founded in 1898, the Ritz reopened two years ago after four years of renovation, which cost an estimated 140million euros (110million). The objects going on sale don't fit anymore in the new setup, said Artcurial, the auction house in charge of the sale taking place from April 17 to 21. From bathtubs to beds, decorative sofas to minibars, Paris's glitzy Ritz hotel is auctioning off some 10,000 pieces of furniture and decorative objects emblematic of the luxury it offers its wealthy clients Artcurial is the auction house in charge of the sale, which will take place from April 17 to 21 Among the items is the first bathtub installed at the hotel, estimated to fetch between 800 and 1,200 euros (700-1,057). According to the auction house, the Ritz was the first hotel to install telephone lines in all rooms, and individual bathrooms. A gold sofa set from a salon named after the writer Marcel Proust is expected to fetch more than 1,200, while a pair of black lacquered decorative Chinese junk sailboats from the Coco Chanel suite will be on offer at 2,000 euros (2,202). Artcurial said the 10,000 pieces in the catalog have been separated into 3,500 lots. Artcurial said the 10,000 pieces in the catalog have been separated into 3,500 lots Many of the objects in the sale follow a gold theme, including this eye-catching sunburst clock There are even bathroom products included in the sale, like this salmon-coloured towel embroidered with the Paris Ritz emblem The Ritz in Paris has housed such famous names as Ernest Hemingway and Coco Chanel and was the last place Princess Diana stayed before her fatal 1997 car crash in a Paris tunnel. The hotel, founded by Swiss entrepreneur Cesar Ritz in 1898, is storied as the lodging of choice of Charlie Chaplin, too, who has a small bar named after him. 'When I dream of afterlife in heaven, the action always takes place in the Paris Ritz,' Hemingway once said of the hotel that inspired the word 'ritzy'. The American writer famously rallied a group of Resistance fighters to go and liberate his beloved hotel, which had been requisitioned in June 1940 by the Nazis and occupied by German brass including on occasions Hermann Goering and Joseph Goebbels. However, he was too late as the Nazis had already left, so he took to the bar where he is said to have run up a tab for 51 dry Martinis. The Ritz in Paris has housed such famous names as Ernest Hemingway and Coco Chanel and was the last place Princess Diana stayed before her fatal 1997 car crash in a Paris tunnel The hotel, founded by Swiss entrepreneur Cesar Ritz in 1898, is storied as the lodging of choice of Charlie Chaplin, too, who has a small bar named after him The refurbishment of the hotel, estimated at 140million euros (110million) in 2012, was aimed at sprucing up the ageing hotel to cater to the tastes of its mega-rich clientele In more recent history however, the Ritz has become known as the place where Britain's Princess Diana spent her last hours before a car accident in a tunnel in the French capital while being pursued by paparazzi. The refurbishment of the hotel, estimated at 140million euros (110million) in 2012, was aimed at sprucing up the ageing hotel to cater to the tastes of its mega-rich clientele. It now boasts a summer restaurant under a movable glass canopy, a larger ballroom and the latest technology in its rooms. It's located in the prestigious Place Vendome neighborhood. Advertisement One hundred miles from the nearest road and with no telephone, a luxury Alaskan wilderness retreat pegs itself as the ultimate great escape. Ultima Thule Lodge - located around 350 miles east of Anchorage - is run by the Claus family and set in a remote valley with brown bears, wolves and wild birds being some of the only other inhabitants. Because of its isolated nature, and the need to travel via helicopter or private plane, stays at the resort don't come cheap and rates start at around 1,400 per night. Ultima Thule Lodge - located around 350 miles east of Anchorage - is set in a remote valley with brown bears, wolves and wild birds being some of the only other inhabitants Grandpa John Claus, a keen pilot, apparently fell in love with the area in the late 1950s and he decided to build a lodge there. He staked a claim under the Alaskan Homestead Act, and was granted five acres if he could make any use of it. He now runs the remote resort with his children and grandchildren All of the buildings were crafted from locally-sourced timber, giving the place a rustic feel However, the price does include all food - in the form of 'Alaskan gourmet cuisine' - unlimited access to a cedar sauna and wood-fired hot tub, laundry service and a selection of house wines and local Alaskan craft beers to relax with after a long day in the wilds. Guests also get to choose a unique adventure each day. If you fancy a spot of trout fishing, all the gear is at your disposal to use. Or if you're looking for something a little more active, river rafting or glacier walking might fit the bill. Ultima Thule Lodge is owned by the Claus family, who were the first to settle in the valley. Because of its isolated nature, and the need to travel via helicopter or private plane, stays at the resort don't come cheap and rates start at around 1,400 per night The rooms include cosy sheepskin rugs and soft blankets to keep guests warm in the frosty Alaskan weather Room rates include all food, unlimited access to a cedar sauna and wood-fired hot tub, laundry service and a selection of house wines and local Alaskan craft beers to relax with after a long day in the wilds If guests at the lodge are lucky, they might be treated to a spectacular display from the Northern Lights The lodge serves up Alaskan gourmet cuisine, with fish being a staple ingredient on the menu Grandpa John Claus, a keen pilot, apparently fell in love with the area in the late 1950s and he decided to build a lodge. He staked a claim under the Alaskan Homestead Act, and was granted five acres if he could make any use of it. Armed only with axes, John and two Eskimos built the first log cabin by the shore of the Chitina River. Over the years the river flooded twice, and the settlement moved further up the side of the mountain. The resort is now run by John's family and his children and grandchildren have all grown up in the area learning how to hike, fish and live off the land. The only way to navigate the area is via private plane and it can sometimes be tricky to find a suitable place to land Many of the Claus family members are trained pilots, as that's the only way they can travel around The true scale of this gaping glacier can be seen as a small plane soars over it Plane passengers are rewarded with breathtaking views of the icy Alaskan scenery Armed only with axes, Grandpa Claus and two Eskimos built the first log cabin by the shore of the Chitina River in 1960. Over the years the resort has moved slightly due to flooding in the valley basin Today the resort includes a number of different lodges intersected by beautiful flower beds Brown bears are regularly sighted in the area and many visitors go specifically to see the wildlife around Ultima Thule Lodge A hiker stops to survey a crystal-clear pool of water coming from some glacial ice Explaining what makes Ultima Thule Lodge so unique, John's daughter-in-law, Donna, said: 'People come alone, and they connect. People come here with friends and family, and they go away with memories they will literally never forget. 'Every soul yearns to explore. To see new places and do new things - something so unique you cant even explain it to other people. When you come here, this is the real thing.' Trips to the lodge can be booked directly and via tour operators such as Scott Dunn. Grant Holmes, the founder of luxury travel site LuxuryBARED, told MailOnline Travel that Ultima Thule Lodge is 'like nowhere else on the planet'. He added: 'Its all about discovery - be it discovering yourself (this can be tricky, but being in the middle of nowhere helps!) or the incredible scenery and wildlife on your doorstep - this is rustic luxury at its very best. Where else in the world does almost every experience you undertake, start and end with a plane ride. Its wild, its pristine and its utterly incredible.' The lodges have terraces so guests can sit out and admire the scenery and soak up the silence The Alaskan scenery changes dramatically throughout the year and the landscape is known for its vivid wash of colour Visitors to Ultima Thule Lodge can go on various excursions, which include walking in ice tunnels A trio navigate a bed of ice as they traverse the Alaskan wilderness - it's a walk you could do if you book at the lodge Travelling by plane lets passengers view wildlife from a breath-taking different perspective Ultima Thule Lodge has fishing gear on hand for guests and there are abundant trout and salmon stocks in the area Trips to the lodge can be booked through travel firm Scott Dunn. The site says: 'Ultima Thule is a luxurious, family-run lodge which benefits from an enviable location in Alaska's Wrangell St. Elias National Park' The Claus family built their hotel from scratch, making use of local materials and flying appliances in Gwyneth Paltrow might be engaged to Emmy winner Brad Falchuk, but that didn't keep her from celebrating the launch of female-centric app Bumble's Hive pop-up for LA singles on Wednesday. The 45-year-old bride-to-be - who relies on stylist Elizabeth Saltzman - paired turquoise cowboy boots with green drop-crotch pants and a midi-sleeve top as she posed with 28-year-old Bumble CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd. The Oscar, Golden Globe, and Emmy winner is very 'excited' to throw her first real wedding having originally eloped with first husband, Coldplay frontman Chris Martin, way back in 2003. Scroll down for video Betrothed: Gwyneth Paltrow might be engaged to Emmy winner Brad Falchuk, but that didn't keep her from celebrating the launch of female-centric app Bumble's Hive pop-up for LA singles on Wednesday 'So even though I'm 45, I sort of feel like a 21-year-old,' Gwyneth confessed to PeopleStyle this week. '[We] haven't really started making any formal plans...It's kind of fun to talk about with my girlfriends. They send me pictures of dresses - they're as excited about it as I am. It's pretty cute.' Paltrow has known the 46-year-old executive producer as far back as 2010 when she filmed her first of five guest stints as substitute teacher Holly Holliday on Fox's Glee, which Brad co-created with Ryan Murphy. Woman of the hour: The 45-year-old bride-to-be paired turquoise cowboy boots with green drop-crotch pants as she posed with 28-year-old Bumble CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd (L) 'I feel like a 21-year-old!' The Oscar, Golden Globe, and Emmy winner is very 'excited' to throw her first real wedding having originally eloped with first husband Chris Martin back in 2003 'It's pretty cute': Paltrow has known the 46-year-old producer (R) as far back as 2010 when she filmed her first of five guest stints on Fox's Glee, which Brad co-created with Ryan Murphy 'Back in the chair!' On January 3, Gwyneth shared a make-up trailer snap of herself becoming Stark Industries CEO Pepper Potts for Avengers: Infinity War, which hits UK theaters April 27 and US theaters May 4 On January 3, the Goop founder shared a make-up trailer snap of herself becoming Stark Industries CEO Pepper Potts for Avengers: Infinity War, which hits UK theaters April 27 and US theaters May 4. The preppy Brentwood mother-of-two was on hand to co-moderate a panel discussion with 'The Food Therapist' Shira Lenchewski about putting healthy intention into action. Also on the mic at the Bumble Hive LA debut were Barely Famous stars Erin and Sara Foster who, like Gwyneth, grew up in fame and privilege thanks to their 16-time Grammy-winning hitmaker father David Foster. Casamigos Tequila cocktails were served throughout the event. Dietitian: The Goop founder was on hand to co-moderate a panel discussion with 'The Food Therapist' Shira Lenchewski (R) about putting healthy intention into action Barely Famous duo: Also on the mic at the Bumble Hive LA debut were Erin (L) and Sara (R) Foster, who are the daughters of 16-time Grammy-winning hitmaker David Foster 'Officially open for business. And so am I': 35-year-old Erin and 36-year-old Sara (an alum of The CW's 90210) both wore black sweaters and clingy pants for their panel 35-year-old Erin and 36-year-old Sara (an alum of The CW's 90210) both wore black sweaters and clingy pants for their panel. After pop-ups in London and Manhattan, the West Hollywood iteration opens to the general public this Thursday at noon through March 25 at 8441 Melrose Place. Admission to Bumble Hive LA is free only for active users, age 21+, and no reservations or tickets are required - according to Los Angeles Magazine. Lovely ladies: After pop-ups in London and Manhattan, the West Hollywood iteration opens to the general public this Thursday at noon through March 25 at 8441 Melrose Place The trailer kicks off with Rachel Weisz, who plays the main character Ronit Krushka, returning home after father dies. Upon arrival to her Orthodox Jewish community in London, her character reunites with her ex lover, played by Rachel McAdams, who is now married to her cousin. Ronit and Rachel's character, Esti Kuperman, soon find themselves back into each other's arms and exchanging steamy kisses in the film Disobedience. Scroll down for video Back together: Ex lovers Ronit and Rachel's character Esti soon find themselves back into each other's arms and exchange steamy kisses in the film Disobedience Ronit was exiled once before for their romance by her father, who was a powerful rabbi in their community. She was living in New York after her exile and had to return to London following her dad's death. Ronit headed to her cousin Dovid Kuperman's house after his passing; he asked her if she's back for her dad. 'Why else would I be here?' she responded. Catching up: Upon arrival to her Orthodox Jewish community in London, her character reunites with her ex lover, played by Rachel McAdams, who is now married to her cousin Together again Ronit and Rachel's character Esti Kuperman soon find themselves back into each other's arms and exchange steamy kisses in the film Disobedience Reunited: Ronit was exiled once before for their romance by her father, who was a powerful rabbi in their community She sees Esti upon arriving to Dovid's house - the first time since she was exiled for their romance; she is now married to him. 'Your wife, she won't be distracted by Ronit's return?' Dovid was asked by a friend. While at dinner, another guest told Ronit that they forgave her for 'everything she did' and that they assumed they would never see her again. 'Sorry to disappoint you,' she retorted back. Can't stay away: The characters can't seem to stay apart in the film, based on the book by Naomi Alderman Home again: Ronit headed to her cousin Dovid's house after his passing; he asked her if she's back for her dad Pleasant surprise: She sees Esti once at Dovid's house for the first time since she was exiled for their romance; she is now married to him Ronit and Esti soon find themselves drawn to each other and can't deny their attraction. 'I can't believe you're here,' Esti said to Ronit. She asked Esti why she chose to get married during a solo together through the city to which she responded;: 'I think he felt that marriage would cure me.' Not feeling it: She asked Esti why she chose to get married during a solo together through the city to which she responded;: 'I think he felt that marriage would cure me' Going through the motions: Esti can't stop thinking about Ronit even when she's with her husband Dovid They were shared a passionate kiss outside in an alley way, but were caught by members of their community. The reunited lovebirds continue their affair, which soon turns even more steamy. 'We need to stop this,' Esti whispers while in the arms of Ronit. Dovid realizes something suspicious is going on and confronts her, which causes Esti to break down and say: 'Look at me. I have always been this way.' She added that she wants freedom from their marriage. Disobedience, which is based on the book by Naomi Alderman, hits theaters on April 27, 2018. The drama, directed by Sebastian Lelio, also stars Alessandro Nivola. Putting two and two together: Dovid realizes something suspicious is going on and confronts her Not discreet: They were seen sharing a kiss together, but were caught by members of their community Awkward: Disobedience, which is based on the book by Naomi Alderman, hits theaters on April 27, 2018 Thinking of Ronit: The drama, directed by Sebastian Lelio, also stars Alessandro Nivola Dean Wells couldn't resist praising his bride's 'big, delicious melons' after their wedding night on Married At First Sight. But it's not the first time Tracey Jewel's spellbinding assets caught the attention of the public. The 34-year-old put her cleavage on display in a photoshoot from April 2016 while promoting her dating advice book, Don't Mess With The Goddess. Scroll down for video Busty: Married At First Sight's Tracey Jewel flaunts her eye-popping cleavage in a glamourous photo shoot from April 2016 - after her 'husband' Dean Wells praised her 'delicious melons' Tracey, who underwent a boob job after splitting with her ex-husband four years ago, posed in an elegant floor-length gold gown with a plunging neckline. For the glamorous shoot, she styled her brunette locks in soft waves and opted for a smoky and seductive makeup look. After smouldering for several close-up shots, Tracey then posed suggestively while lying down - rather appropriately - in a bed of jewels. Dolled up: Tracey, who underwent a boob job after splitting with her ex-husband four years ago, posed in an elegant floor-length gold gown with a plunging neckline Bedroom eyes: For the glamorous shoot, she styled her brunette locks in soft waves and opted for a smoky and seductive makeup look Describing herself as 'high maintenance', Tracey has said she decided to overhaul her look after getting divorced four years ago. 'Becoming single again I thought, "I want to look the best that I ever have,"' she revealed on Monday's episode. 'The first thing I did was book into to get my boobs done and I started getting a little bit of Botox because prevention is better than the cure. 'I got my boobs done': Describing herself as 'high maintenance', Tracey has said she decided to overhaul her look after getting divorced four years ago All eyes on her! After smouldering for several close-up shots, Tracey then posed suggestively while lying down - rather appropriately - in a bed of jewels 'It's just part of looking after myself,' Tracey concluded. The self-proclaimed relationship expert - who has written two books on dating - was paired with 'alpha male' Dean Wells on MAFS. Married At First Sight continues Sunday night at 7pm on Channel Nine He's one of the most awarded radio stars in the world. And now Christian O'Connell has been announced as the replacement for Gold FM's popular breakfast duo Jo and Lehmo. The 44-year-old was announced as the predecessor for the longtime morning duo on Friday. Scroll down for video Making moves: Christian O'Connell has described leaving the United Kingdom for Melbourne as the new host of Gold FM 's breakfast show as 'the hardest decision of my life' Christian described leaving the United Kingdom for the new role as 'the hardest decision of my life', in an ARN Network statement. 'The chance to move to Melbourne was an opportunity just too good to pass up because, well, who wouldnt want to move to the worlds most liveable city?' he stated. 'My family and I chose Melbourne for the lifestyle, comedy and arts culture, and, obviously, the coffee. And the wine. Did I mention the wine?' he continued. 'My family and I chose Melbourne for the lifestyle, comedy and arts culture, and, obviously, the coffee. And the wine. Did I mention the wine?' he continued 'The decision to leave the UK has been the hardest of my life, but we cant wait to start this new adventure,' he added. The youngest radio presenter to ever be inducted into the UK Radio Hall of Fame, Christian is also the winner of more Radio Academy Awards than any other person. His appointment at Gold FM signals the end of Jo Stanley and Anthony 'Lehmo' Lehmann's breakfast show run at Gold FM after joining forces in early 2016. Changes: His appointment at Gold FM signals the end of Jo Stanley and Anthony 'Lehmo' Lehmann's breakfast show run at Gold FM after joining forces in early 2016 This is despite the Melbourne radio duo securing the station's best ever breakfast results in a decade late last year, making them the city's most popular morning team. Lehmo published a book, This Shirt Won't Iron Itself, in 2017 and also has also appeared on Channel 10 panel show, The Project Jo has also co-hosted The Project and the network's morning show, Studio 10. She married AFL star Jimmy Bartel in a lavish ceremony in 2014. And despite looking picture perfect on her wedding day, Nadia Bartel has revealed there was one very weighty downside to her bridal gown. Taking to Instagram on Thursday, the 33-year-old shared a glamorous throwback from her wedding day with a close-up of her 'bloody heavy' pearl couture gown by designer to the stars, J'Aton Couture. Scroll down for video 'It was bloody heavy!' AFL WAG Nadia Bartel reveals the weighty downside that came with wearing the wedding 'dress of my dreams' Flaunting her lithe figure in the fitted gown, the brunette beauty gave fans a close-up shot of her perfectly coiffed hair, which framed her face in light curls. 'I still pinch myself to have the talented duo that is @jaytoncouture design two wedding dresses for me four years ago,' she captioned the photo. 'I just wasnt the type of bride to have a big princess style dress-as amazing as they are, that style just didnt suit me as my style isnt pretty enough. Model bride! Nadia Bartel wore two custom-designed gowns on her big day, the bronzed WAG saying she chose to not have a princess-style dress No expense was spared! The couple said 'I do,' at Curlewis' exclusive Baie Wines before moving on to Point Campbell House for the reception 'I love that JAton got me as soon as they met me and designed the dress of my dreams.' However Nadia revealed there had been a downside to her designer dress, adding:'It was bloody heavy though.' The brunette beauty also included the hashtags #hundredsofpearlbeads and #allonjerseyfabric. Bronzed goddess: The AFL WAG took to Instagram earlier this week to share a sizzling snap of herself with adorable two-year-old son Aston on her hip It's been a big week for the Melbourne-based leggy beauty, who shared another bikini snap in the coastal town of Sorrento earlier this week. Nadia has been spotted in the two piece, made up of a bandeau top and high-cut bottoms, a number of times. In the snap, likely captured by her husband Jimmy, the Melbourne socialite can be seen gazing adoringly at her little boy who looks out to the glistening shallow waters. The couple share two-year-old son, Aston. Former reality TV star, Zana Pali, 26, is far from issuing a mea culpa. Instead shes unapologetically embracing her new Melbourne Italian cafe, Culpa Espresso. On Thursday, the MKR star shared a photo with her 94,300 Instagram fans offering them a glimpse of her new Italian cafe, located in central Melbourne. 'Were already giving businesses a run for their money: My Kitchen Rules Star, Zana Pali poses in her new Melbourne cafe Posing in front of her cafe counter, Zana looks quietly confident in the photo and wrote an equally self-assured caption. Its hard not to smile when we are the new kids on the block and already giving the others a run for their money,' she wrote. Only a new little baby yet so proud! Culpa Espresso. Thank you to Perinitiles for supplying us with the most beautiful floor and wall tiles. As soon as I saw them I knew we had to have them!!!! Brava! Many Instagram followers praised Zana for her styling of the new Melbourne cafe The snap reveals an assortment of artisan Italian desserts and pastries, a luxe coffee machine and friendly wait-staff in the background. The cafe was decked out with marble bench tops and hand-painted tiles imported from Italy. Last December the 26-year-old revealed told Daily Mail Australia she was opening an Italian cafe in Melbourne. Former high-flying lawyer, Zana Pali courted controversy with her no-holds-barred criticism on My Kitchen Rules 'It'll be my first hospitality venture with more to come,' she said. Zana is a lawyer by profession but stepped back from law to work at Lygon Street restaurant 400 Gradi, earlier in the year. 'Ive left Gradi to pursue my own hospitality dreams,' Zana explained, 'I have a business partner who is also a lawyer and we are both opening espresso bars around Melbourne.' Team Romano! Zana and her husband Gianni competed on the 2016 series of My Kitchen Rules Zana is married to Gianni Romano, who is of Italian heritage, which may have inspired the coffee shop. 'It's Italian themed/ Florence style with marble bench tops and the tiles all being hand crafted and painted in Italy,' she divulged. 'Its called Culpa Espresso Latin for guilty as it's near the courts.' 'It's Florence style' Zana's husband Gianni Romano is of Italian heritage, which may have inspired her coffee shop's interiors and cuisine The fare that will be on offer at Culpa will certainly fulfill the guilty pleasures of some. 'It'll be high end, proper stuff from Italy,' reveals Zana. 'Desserts and pastries are all from little artisan Italian paticcieria and there will be handmade Italian panninis and the like.' 'Its called Culpa Espresso Latin for guilty as it's near the courts' Zana's coffee shop will be located on Melbourne's William Street Although Zana and her husband are a tight unit, this will be her project. 'Gianni is staying in law this is more my dream but hes always there helping and supporting me,' she said. Late last year, Zana treated fans to a full look at both the interior and the exterior of their jaw-dropping abode in City of Port Phillip, which she claims is 'built the way Gianni and I like it!' She shared images of the four bedroom property, which features a lap pool and a self-contained studio above a double garage to her blog. The couple previously lived in a $2 million pad in the Melbourne suburb of Brighton. 'Gianni is staying in law this is more my dream but hes always there helping and supporting me' Although Zana and her husband are a tight unit, this will be her project She relocated from her Malibu home in California to Byron Bay in New South Wales back in 2015 with heartthrob husband, Chris Hemsworth. And Elsa Pataky has certainly embraced the coastal towns relaxed bohemian style to enviable degrees ever since. On Friday, the model took to Instagram stories to flaunt her outfit ahead of a date night with Chris, twirling to a boomerang with bohemian flair. Boho babe! Elsa Pataky flaunts signature bohemian style in paisley print harem pants ahead of date night with heartthrob husband Chris Hemsworth The Spanish model opted for a cropped white lace turtleneck and blush-coloured, paisley-printed harem pants. To accessorise, Elsa paired the look with a 70s inspired cream fringed cross bag and beige wedges. Keeping her hair low-key, the beauty's hair was tied back in a loose bun, leaving the shorter front pieces out to roam free. The mother-of-three is no novice when it comes to mastering bohemian-style outfit. Harem queen! The Spanish model opted for a cropped white lace turtleneck and blush-coloured, paisley-printed harem pants Buckle up, baby! Elsa's a seasoned veteran when it comes to perfecting 'boho chic' Chris and Elsa, who married in 2010, are frequently snapped roaming the coastal towns local hot spots. Whether it be venturing to the local markets or relaxing beach-side, Elsas style is never shy of perfectly mix-matched items. The couple are settled in Byron Bay and have no intention of heading back to America. Chris told Channel Nine Today show that while he 'loved' living in Los Angeles, it never felt 'like home' in the way Australia does. He added that choosing to live in a coastal town was similar to his upbringing 'Which I think is essential to what we want to give [the children].' Spellbound! The mother-of-three features in a video clip for Bryon Bay local designer, Spell & Gypsy Collective Couples that gym together! Chris and Elsa have no intention of heading back to America or leaving their Byron Bay home in Australia Blue Peter has celebrated its 5,000th episode with the launch of a new diamond badge designed by Henry Holland. The badge was unveiled ahead of the show's 60th anniversary in October. The first Blue Peter badge was launched 55 years ago, and the special edition version, the first time the badge has not taken a shield shape, will only be awarded during the 60th year. To earn the anniversary pin young fans must complete a list of tasks, including telling the programme about an amazing experience they've had, inspiring others to think about the world around them, explaining how they help other people, speaking to their friends and family about what they remember about Blue Peter, and what they will do to celebrate Blue Peter's birthday. Blue Peter celebrated its 5,000 episode by revealing its 60th anniversary badge. The popular children's programme will celebrate 60 years in October Holland said: 'I don't know a single person who didn't grow up with Blue Peter as their cultural reference point and backdrop to their childhood. 'It's a British institution and I'm so thrilled to be a part of the story with this project. 'As the badge design is in honour of the diamond year I wanted to reflect this in the design, creating something that was extra special and perfect for everyone's inner magpie!' During the 5,000th episode a string of celebrities spoke about their own Blue Peter badges, with animator Nick Park saying: 'Throughout my childhood I watched Blue Peter and I loved the way the presenters were always making things and inspiring you to be creative.' Liam Neeson added: 'Keep your Oscars ... Blue Peter badge.' The 60th anniversary episode will air on October 16. Pictured is The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge during their visit to the show when they were awarded the Gold Blue Peter badge Leila Williams, who was a presenter on the first episode of Blue Peter, celebrated the anniversary saying: 'What an achievement to reach such a milestone, it is stupendous and mind boggling. 'The memory of walking into that little office in Shepherd's Bush after the first broadcast went out, to be met by John, Gilly and Chris shouting 'we are a success!' will always stay with me. 'Looking forward I can only say how exciting it is that Blue Peter will reach 60 years in October. 'It is a huge tribute to the teams past and present who have worked so hard to keep her afloat.' Ewan Vinnicombe, editor of the show added: 'We've got such an exciting year ahead with many treats in store for our audience, across all generations, to celebrate the special place that Blue Peter holds within the UK.' Blue Peter will celebrate its anniversary on October 16. It airs on CBBC every Thursday at 5.30pm. Hoping its not blasphemous to say so, theres something spectacular about Mary Mary Magdalene the movie, that is, starring Rooney Mara in the title role. The saint, whose image has been repeatedly contorted and contradicted, is the subject of a new picture superbly directed by Garth Davis (maker of the Oscar-nominated drama Lion, which also featured Mara) and surprisingly soothing. Also, interestingly, the lone woman among Jesus of Nazareths disciples has not been depicted as a harlot. Some people have regarded her as a fallen woman, but there are no such suggestions in this movie. Hoping its not blasphemous to say so, theres something spectacular about Mary Mary Magdalene the movie, that is, starring Rooney Mara in the title role Screenwriters Helen Edmundson and Philippa Goslett capture Mary of Magdala, the village on the shore of the Sea of Galilee where she was raised, as a strong, soulful woman who is seen helping a sibling who is giving birth, and tending nets on the shore. Although theres no record of her parentage or marital status, the film shows her fighting against the rigid conventions of the day. She breaks from her close family when she hears a sermon by Jesus, whom she initially refers to as that man. Mary is transfixed by the charismatic leader, portrayed with a sense of awe by Joaquin Phoenix. But her family is startled by her behaviour and believe her to be possessed. In one gripping scene, shes dragged from her bed and her brother plunges her into the sea, chanting: Leave her, leave her, in an exorcism to rid her of her demons. But shes not bedevilled, she simply wants to lead a different life following the Son of God. Mary Magdalene is a fascinating, invigorating movie and a lot of it is down to Maras passionate performance. The breakthrough, I think, is to ground the characters as ordinary, yet extraordinary, people as well as the decision not to depict Mary as a woman of loose morals. Theres no evidence in the Bible that Mary was a prostitute, insisted Iain Canning, who produced the film with Emile Sherman, his partner at See-Saw Films. We wanted to set the record straight and about time, Canning added. The project got going when Katherine Bridle, head of development at See-Saw, was tasked with coming up with ideas for films led by women. Her list of historical female figures happened to include Mary Magdalene. Canning added: I think so often in film-making, women are defined by their sexual relationship with a man and we decided that we were absolutely clear that wasnt the case here. Mary Magdalene is a fascinating, invigorating movie and a lot of it is down to Maras passionate performance. The breakthrough, I think, is to ground the characters as ordinary, yet extraordinary, people as well as the decision not to depict Mary as a woman of loose morals Canning told me how he and colleagues travelled to the former site of Magdala and met historians to help piece together an approximation of Marys upbringing. We gathered what we could from an anthropological historical study and tried to bring to life the information we discovered, Canning explained. And, I believe, theyve succeeded magnificently. Even so, people with knowledge of the Scriptures will find much to discuss. The film has been beautifully shot by Greig Fraser, while production designer Fiona Crombie and costumier Jacqueline Durran (up for two Oscars for Beauty And The Beast and Darkest Hour), root the picture in its period. We wanted to be clear about what a Jewish world was like at that time, said Canning, adding that it was also important to portray Jesuss humanity in his role as God made man. Canning, who made the movie with Film4 and Focus Features, said the picture, which shows Jesuss Crucifixion, will be released on March 16, well in time for Easter. O'Connor gets her skates on for a role in The Rink Caroline OConnor is putting her skates on to star in a rare revival of musical The Rink in South London Caroline OConnor is putting her skates on to star in a rare revival of musical The Rink in South London. The actress (pictured), currently appearing as a savvy countess in Anastasia on Broadway, will take on the role of Anna Antonelli the owner of a fading Coney Island seaside roller rink. Just as the old building is being readied for demolition, Annas estranged daughter Angel returns after seven years hiding away in California. Chita Rivera created Anna in New York and Josephine Blake played her in London back in 1987. Ms OConnor has a sort of six degrees of separation connection to The Rink, which has music and lyrics by John Kander and Fred Ebb with a book by Terrence McNally. She understudied Diane Langton who played Angel in London. I was so young then. For me it was so exciting to be part of it, the award-winning OConnor told me from New York where shes playing Countess Lily and injecting vigour into Anastasia which also has a script by McNally. It puts OConnor at a great advantage. She noted that itll be very interesting to understand Anna from the get go, and having listened so often to The Rink soundtrack, she feels she understands the show very well. The show fits into the gender equality discussions, too. This woman being left alone suddenly trying to run a business and going through upheavals, but we just didnt talk about it. Women used to just get on with it, OConnor said. But Annas a strong woman. I remember seeing Rivera with Liza Minnelli as Angel in New York. As OConnor observed, its a big, demanding, challenging role. One, in fact, that OConnor was born to play. Shes an indefatigable star who knows how to lift a show. As producer Jack Maple commented: Caroline brings a clout to our production. Just as she has to shows Ive seen her in, from Mabel in Mack and Mabel to Velma Kelly in Chicago, plus concerts, one-woman shows and movies such as Baz Luhrmanns Moulin Rouge. The Rink will run at the Southwark Playhouse from May 25. Maple joked that he spent several nights at Sardis in NY wooing OConnor, wondering whether shed leave Broadway for Elephant and Castle, where the Southwark Playhouse is located. She could put The Rink on a roll. Jumping for joy as Broadway shouts out Hello, Charlie! Charlie Stemp who made his name in Half A Sixpence has been leaping to new heights on Broadway. The South Londoner was cast by Cameron Mackintosh in Half A Sixpence, which enjoyed runs in Chichester and at the Noel Coward in London. That was followed in quick succession by a Christmas season showing off his comic chops as the eponymous Dick Whittington in the panto at the Palladium. Charlie Stemp who made his name in Half A Sixpence has been leaping to new heights on Broadway Soon after, he was in a rehearsal room in Manhattan with Bernadette Peters (replacing Bette Midler), Victor Garber and Gavin Creel rehearsing numbers for Jerry Zakss glorious revival of the Jerry Herman and Michael Stewart musical Hello, Dolly! Stemp, 24, started preparing last autumn when he spent a week watching Midler in the show paying particular attention to the actor Taylor Trensch, whom he replaced, on January 20, as innocent young store assistant Barnaby Tucker. However, director Zaks, choreographer Warren Carlyle and producer Scott Rudin had an idea to shake things up. Normally they say: You stand there because thats what they did the last time, said Stemp. But everyone from the team has said: Lets try out new things and What do you want to do? Its all so fresh. Also, Im about a foot taller than Taylor and there are a lot of new dance steps, Stemp told me as he described how he performed the leap, shown in the photograph above, for the first act number Dancing he performs with Peters, Creel and Kate Baldwin. He added that hes being treated as part of the family, which is great when you come to a country where you really dont know anyone. Hes getting used to the New York audiences who crowd into the Shubert Theatre. They cheer when you come onto the stage, whereas we earn applause back in London. I have this fear that they wont cheer at the end, said Stemp, who has a 12-month contract. Zaks declared that Stemp lights up the stage. I was gripped by the breathtaking performances of Jeremy Irons and Lesley Manville (pictured and at her most luminous as a morphine addict), Matthew Beard and Rory Keenan who play the troubled Tyrone family in Richard Eyres splendid Bristol Old Vic production of Eugene ONeills Long Days Journey Into Night at Wyndhams. I hope there are affordable seats for young people to catch this play! Antony Cotton was rushed to hospital during Dancing On Ice rehearsals after he fractured his ribs on the rink while practising with skating partner Brandee Malto. The 42-year-old actor, best known for playing Sean Tully in Coronation Street, was injured on Wednesday after he fell backwards with Brandee, resulting in the pair crashing into the ice. It is not yet known if the pair will be able to compete in Sunday's live show after the shock incident, but Antony has vowed to 'do his best' to compete. Ouch: Antony Cotton was rushed to hospital during Dancing On Ice rehearsals after he fractured his ribs on the rink while practising with skating partner Brandee Malto Speaking to MailOnline about the horrific incident, Antony revealed: 'Luckily, Brandee was uninjured but I was taken to hospital where I discovered I had fractured a couple of ribs, front and back. 'I'd like to thank the staff at Silver Blades ice rink in Widnes, the doctor and nurse at The Alexandra Hospital in Cheadle, and Brandee, who never left my side throughout. 'But the show must go on and as such, we are going to do our best to continue in the Dancing on Ice competition this Sunday. Hopefully the painkillers and sequins will see us through.' Stumbled: The 42-year-old actor was injured on Wednesday after he fell backwards with Brandee, resulting in the pair crashing into the ice A Dancing On Ice spokesperson told MailOnline: 'Antony fell on the ice during training and as a precaution was taken to a nearby hospital. 'He has since been released and is now resting ahead of the live show this weekend.' The horrific incident came just days after another member of the team was hospitalised after sustaining an injury on the rink. The show must go on: It is not yet known if the pair will be able to compete in Sunday's live show after the shock incident, but Antony has vowed to 'do his best' to compete During his rehearsals on Saturday night, Max Evans was forced to look on in horror as he dropped his skating partner Ale Izquierdo, resulting in her being admitted to A&E. Max and their aide were seen rushing to her side to try to help her back up, before a paramedic arrived to tend to Ale - who grimaced and appeared to be in a lot of pain. The professional skater was taken to hospital after the fall and told to rest for 24 hours, an ITV spokesman said. Shock: During his rehearsals on Saturday night, Max Evans was forced to look on in horror as he dropped his skating partner Ale Izquierdo, resulting in her being admitted to A&E Ale's injury is the latest in a string of casualties to hit the competitors in the notoriously dangerous skating show. Love Island star Kem Cetinay was seen tending to a painful-looking wound on his thigh during training last week. A representative for the star confirmed to Metro: He has been injured during training he has a cut on his leg. They've been linked together for more than one year. But Kristen Stewart and Stella Maxwell looked like a new couple in love as they enjoyed dinner with friends at a trendy French restaurant in Los Angeles on Wednesday evening. The 27-year-old gal pals seemed to be in great spirits as they cuddled up together before leaning in for a quick kiss while they sat side-by-side below the stars on a warm winter night. Scroll down for video Cuties: Kristen Stewart and Stella Maxwell looked like a new couple in love as they enjoyed dinner with friends at a trendy French restaurant in Los Angeles on Wednesday evening Kristen kept cozy wearing an over-sized denim jacket with massive red patchwork emblazoned on her back. She followed through with the denim theme with a pair of tight jeans as she crossed her legs at the table. Pieces of platinum blonde hair popped from underneath her short brunette hair as the Twilight star seemed to be nearly makeup-free. Sweethearts! The 27-year-old gal pals seemed to be in great spirits as they cuddled up together before leaning in for a quick kiss while they sat side-by-side below the stars on a warm winter night Kristen's Victoria's Secret Angel girlfriend Stella looked positively smitten next to her lady love. Maxwell's long blonde hair cascaded down past her shoulders as she cozied up to her girlfriend of more than one year. Their relationship was officially sealed with a kiss when they were spotted smooching in the back of a taxi in Milan in January 2017. Beauty: Maxwell's long blonde hair cascaded down past her shoulders as she cozied up to her girlfriend of more than one year Lots of love: Kristen admitted during an interview with Harper's Bazaar magazine that she has been 'deeply in love' with all of her suitors; seen in November Dating rumors plagued the loved-up couple in 2016 before they went public months later in Italy. Kristen admitted during an interview with Harper's Bazaar magazine that she has been 'deeply in love' with all of her suitors. 'I've been deeply in love with everyone I've dated,' Kristen told the publication back in September 2017. 'Did you think I was faking it? I've always really embraced a duality. And really, truly, believed in it and never felt confused or struggling. I just didn't like getting made fun of.' Stella has ruled the Victoria's Secret runway for two years and recently starred in the popular LOVE advent calendar. She received an Oscar nod for her spell-binding depiction of American figure skater Tonya Harding's fall from grace in I, Tonya. And Margot Robbie's return to the silver screen has garnered another kind of attention, as eagle-eyed fans spotted the 27-year-old's uncanny similarity to American actress Jaime Pressly. Film buffs went wild over Margot's secret Hollywood twin, with many declaring that the Australian beauty is a 'younger version' of the 40-year-old My Name Is Earl star. Seeing double: Margot Robbie's uncanny similarity to American actress Jaime Pressly (right) has sent fans into a frenzy With their full lips, striking bone structure and golden tresses, their similarity is undeniable - prompting fans to flood Twitter with memes comparing the two. One baffled fan penned: 'But like, Margot Robbie and Jaime Pressly are the same person just in different lighting right?' Another added: 'Oh my god it just hit me that Margot Robbie is young Jaime Pressly I feel like my eyes have been opened to the Hotness Matrix.' 'Has anyone CONFIRMED that Jaime King and Margot Robbie are different people?' a third user asked. Secret twin: With their full lips, striking bone structure and golden tresses, their similarity was undeniable - prompting fans to flood Twitter with memes comparing the two Baffled: Film buffs went wild over Margot's secret Hollywood twin, with many declaring that the Australian beauty is a 'younger version' of the 40-year-old My Name Is Earl star Meanwhile, film buffs keen to watch I, Tonya were left baffled after realising the figure skater was played by Margot and not Jaime. 'I got halfway through I, Tonya before realizing that it was Margot Robbie and not Jaime Pressly tbh,' one fan confessed. 'Margot Robbie was incredible as Jamie Pressly as Tonya Harding,' another quipped. A third wrote: 'I had to explain to someone this weekend that Margot Robbie & Jamie Pressley are not the same person. They really wanted to see that I Tonya movie with the lady from My Name is Earl.' 'My eyes have been opened!' The two actresses bore an uncanny likeness - despite Jaime being 13 years Margot's senior Mother-of-three Jaime has previously addressed their similarity in 2016, joking that Margot looked like her - not the other way around. When photographers asked whether she'd noticed the likeness, she quipped: 'Right, right, well that would be she looks like me!' The Not Another Teen Movie star added that she was a fan of Margot's work, revealing: 'I think she's great yeah, I've loved everything she's done.' Meanwhile, Margot's acting credentials were cemented last week when she received a Best Actress Oscar nomination for I, Tonya, alongside Hollywood heavyweights Meryl Streep and Frances McDormand. They're in the same room! Margot and Jaime met at the I, Tonya premiere in Hollywood in December (pictured with actress Allison Janney) Quite the character: Jaime shot to fame as Joy in the Americans sitcom My Name Is Earl Film star: Meanwhile, Margot has flexed her acting muscles in Focus (pictured) opposite Will Smith, The Wolf Of Wall Street alongside Leonardo Di Caprio and gave an epic turn as figure skater Tonya Harding in I, Tonya The blonde beauty admitted she would be happy to let the other nominees take home the title however, revealing to Australian radio hosts Jonesy and Amanda that she doesn't want to win the coveted gong just yet. During an interview in Sydney on Wednesday, the 27-year-old star admitted to the breakfast duo that she has a fear of making speeches. 'The ideal situation is to be nominated and not actually win cause then it's lovely to be nominated and then you don't have to make the speech,' she joked. The former Neighbours actress confessed she sat in fear at the recent Screen Actors Guild, Critics Choice and Golden Globes award shows, anxious that she would have to make a speech. 'If I have to get on stage right now I'll just, I'll die, I don't know what to say,' she said. 'And oddly enough I find public speaking really terrifying.' She recently stunned fans with a dramatic new blonde look onInstagram - only to reveal it was just an experimental wig. But Jessica Wright was back at her best on Thursday as she attended the star-studded Pure Package Wellness Awards, showing off her curvy frame. The 32-year-old former TOWIE star flaunted her figure in a fitted silver midi-dress and rose gold overcoat, as she made her arrival at the event in London. Stunning: Former TOWIE star Jessica Wright, 32, flaunted her incredible curves on Thursday as she arrived at The Wellness Awards in London Jessica continued with the metallic inspiration for the look at the event, sporting a matching studded clutch bag and silver strappy heels. Letting her dramatic ensemble do the talking, the beauty kept her brown tresses tied back, rocking a simple smoky eye and dramatic brows for the look. Jess has been showing off the results of her new health and fitness regime, after recently confessing to finally feeling confident about her body again after a series of unflattering bikini snaps. 'I have struggled with my weight and fitness regime for my entire life. I had a lack of motivation and determination which made me feel like I never achieved my true fitness potential,' she told MailOnline. Gorgeous: Jess flaunted her figure in a silver threaded dress and taupe silk overcoat, along with matching metallic accessories Transformed: Jess recently told MailOnline that she was finally feeling confident in her body after overhauling her diet and fitness regime Stunning: Jessica looked stunning in her slinky look Amazing: Jessica kept her brunette tresses tied back to allow the look to make even more of a statement Looking good: Jess has been showing off the results of her new health and fitness regime Also spotted arriving at the awards show were Love Island duo Gabby Allen and Marcel Somerville, who were as loved-up as ever. Gabby showed off her toned physique in a flapper-style dress and black lace jacket, along Marcel who looked dapper in an all-black look. Gabby was also seen braving the blustery London weather as she made her arrival at the event, trying to keep her coiffed blonde bobbed locks in place. Struggles: 'I have struggled with my weight and fitness regime for my entire life. I had a lack of motivation and determination which made me feel like I never achieved my true fitness potential,' she told MailOnline New routine: She recently confessed to finally feeling confident about her body again after a series of unflattering bikini snaps Happy couple: Love Island duo Gabby Allen and Marcel Somerville were as loved-up as ever upon arriving at the bash in London's BAFTA Piccadilly Adorable: Gabby flaunted her toned physique in a silver flapper-style dress and black lace bomber jacket Happy: The pair appeared in good spirits at the event Flawless: Gabby kept her blonde bobbed tresses slicked back in a typically coiffed hairstyle Showstopping: Gabby also flashed a hint of her toned legs as she exited the awards event Incredible: Gabby has been keeping fans up to date with her health and fitness exploits on social media The event was a star-studded affair, with plenty of celebrities in attendance, including songstress Sinitta, who sported a white dress and funky leather shoe boots as she exited her vehicle. Model Amber Le Bon put on a leggy display in a 60s-inspired bow tie dress, while Piers Morgan looked as dapper as ever as posed with wife Celia Walden. Chloe Meadows showed off her slender figure in a navy blue jumpsuit, while Daisy Robbins sported a funky dress with cut-out detailing. Matching: Debbie Douglas and Lydia Bright (R) matched in their gothic looks Chic: Sinatta wowed in her ribbed knit dress I'm here! Songstress Sinitta was also seen exiting her vehicle after arriving at the event Out of control: Sinitta's look struggled to do battle with the capital's blustery weather Leggy: Model Amber Le Bon was 60s chic in a monochrome dress with a pink bow tie Dapper: Piers Morgan was suited and booted as he arrived at the event with wife Celia Walden Heading home: Piers sported a smart blue suit as he headed home after the awards ceremony Ladies night: Chloe Meadows (L) showed off her slender figure in a navy blue jumpsuit, while Daisy Robbins rocked a funky dress with cut-out detailing (R) Party people: Sarah posed with Lady Weymouth at the event Pretty: Sarah-Jane Crawford was a vision in a floral midi dress with her dark tresses in a side-swept look Vision: DJ Alexis Knox glowed in a white minidress with her blonde tresses in a high ponytail Smart: TV presenter Angela Rippon and Olympic gold medallist Amy Williams were also seen arriving at the bash Relaxed: Dance legend Arlene Phillips rocked a simple shirt and trousers look as she made her arrival Cosy: Arlene also rocked a classic checked coat as she arrived for the awards event Sisters night: Jo Wood was also seen at the event with her sister Leah, as they celebrated the best and brightest in British Health and Wellness industry The stars came out in force to celebrate the best in the British Health and Wellness industry. Several celebrities were also seen bracing the chilly weather as they made their arrival. Olivia Cox's blonde tresses were blowing everywhere, as the beauty sported an all-black ensemble to arrive at the awards bash. On point: Dr Hazell Wallace flashed the flesh in a thigh-high split blush pink dress that sat off-the-shoulder Hometime! Robert Pires was seen heading for home after the awards show A bit windy? Olivia Cox sported an all-black ensemble as she struggle to tame her locks against the windy weather Time to go! Several of the stars were also seen heading out of the awards bash after the Wellness Industry was honoured Married At First Sight star Davina Rankin's bridesmaid has slammed the show's producers over her friend's unflattering portrayal. Gillian Godwin even blamed the 'strategically edited' episodes for a torrent of 'cyber bullying' against the busty Instagram model. Sharing a photo of herself with Davina, 26, to social media, Gillian told producers they had 'wasted an opportunity'. Scroll down for video 'Shame on you': Married At First Sight star Davina Rankin's bridesmaid Gillian Godwin (right) has slammed the show's producers over her friend's unflattering portrayal 'You struck gold with this incredible woman and it is SO unfortunate that you wasted an opportunity to showcase a truly genuine beauty inside and out,' she wrote. Gillian went on to accuse the producers of 'strategically editing and typecasting' Davina by going down 'a totally unoriginal stereotypical avenue'. 'Boring, old news!' she added. 'If you bank on creating hate and encouraging online bullying to bring in the ratings then you need to re-think your sad strategy.' She ended her post with the hash tags: 'Just sayin', 'Shame on you', 'Unoriginal,' and 'Irresponsible'. 'Sad strategy': Gillian accused the producers of 'strategically editing and typecasting' Davina by going down 'a totally unoriginal stereotypical avenue' 'I have cried because our beautiful friend has been portrayed in the most horrible manner': Mutual friends of Gillian and Davina praised the fashion designer for speaking out Mutual friends of Gillian and Davina praised the fashion designer for speaking out. 'I have cried because our beautiful friend has been portrayed in the most horrible manner,' read one comment. Another wrote: 'It makes me sick to think that other human beings would take the time to write such nasty comments with no other intention than to hurt you girls.' Bridesmaid: Gillian appeared on MAFS as part of the bridal party, and confessed that in the 15 years they've known each other, Davina has had no luck with men Husband and wife? Davina and Ryan Gallagher (left) haven't been getting along on their honeymoon, despite being scientifically matched by the show's relationship experts Aside from being best friends, Gillian and Davina are also business partners and co-own the swimwear brand Soleil Luna. Gillian appeared on MAFS as part of the bridal party, and confessed that in the 15 years they've known each other, Davina has had no luck with men. After her wedding episode was broadcast, Davina was targeted by online trolls who described her appearance as 'plastic' and labelled her the 'Botox queen'. Louis Zorich, best known for his role as Paul's father on Mad About You, passed away on Tuesday. The 93-year-old actor, who was married to Oscar winner Olympia Dukakis, 86, 'died in his home' according to THR. His death comes amid reports that Helen Hunt, 54, and Paul Reiser, 60, are in talks to revive their hit NBC show. Veteran: Louis Zorich, best known for his role as Paul's father on Mad About You, passed away on Tuesday at age 93. He's seen here in 2005 Zorich appeared as Paul Reiser's father Burt Buchman in 70 episodes of Mad About You during the comedy's extremely successful run from 1992-1999. The veteran stage actor earned a Tony nomination in 1969 but lost out to Al Pacino. The Brooklyn Bridge star is survived by three children -Christina, Peter and Stefan - and four grandchildren. Ratings hit: Zorich appeared as Paul Reiser's father Burt Buchman in 70 episodes of Mad About You during the comedy's extremely successful run from 1992-1999 It's been over 18 years since Mad About You left our screens. But the sitcom might be about to get a second life, with original stars Helen Hunt, and Paul Reiser engaged in "informal talks" about reprising their roles, according to TVLine. According to the site, Sony, who produced the original Golden Globe winning show, 'has begun informal talks with leads Helen Hunt and Paul Reiser about bringing the series back for a limited run.' Still mad: 90s sitcom Mad About You might be about to get a second life, with original stars Helen Hunt, 54, and Paul Reiser, 60, engaged in "informal talks" about reprising their roles An insider told the news site that the story for the new series would be about Paul and Jamie coping with their daughter moving out of home. The plot for the present day set season will involve the couple 'grappling with empty-nest syndrome in the wake of now-17-year-old daughter Mabels admission to college,' claim the site. 'If we can find the story to tell, and anybodys interested, Id be open to it,' Reiser told People in October. The final frontier? An insider told news site TVLine that the story for the new series would be about Paul and Jamie coping with their daughter moving out of home The Stranger Things actor admitted to the gossip site that until recently he had been skeptical of returning to the show he co-created. 'For years, I wouldve said, Absolutely no. We never would do it, because I was very proud of how we ended it really well.' But the veteran actor slowly warmed to an eighth season of the NBC hit, saying: 'To me, its interesting when I see my kids are growing and leaving the house. Its like, Oh. Its like that moment when you get married. Its like were in a new world that we dont know the rules of.' Undecided: The Stranger Things actor admitted to People that until recently he had been skeptical of returning to the show he co-created And on Wednesday, his co-star was seen enjoying the waves in Hawaii. The As Good As It Gets actress was snapped in Maui on a vacation, enjoying the holiday season in the Aloha State just four months after her split with Matthew Carnahan, her boyfriend of 16 years. The Oscar-winning star of As Good As It Gets wore a pink bikini top with black surfing leggings and sandals as she enjoyed a day in the islands surfing. It was reported that she was 'struggling' ever since splitting from her boyfriend of 18 months George Alsford. And now Georgia May Foote's ex beau Sean Ward, 29, has thrown shade online at the former Coronation Street star in the wake of her recent heartbreak. The Our Girl actor split from then girlfriend Georgia, 26, in 2015 following her Strictly Come Dancing stint, before she quickly moved on with her professional dance partner Giovanni Pernice, 27. Scroll down for video Hitting out: Georgia May Foote's ex beau Sean Ward, 29, has thrown shade online at the former Coronation Street star in the wake of her recent heartbreak Georgia and Giovanni went on to enjoy a seven-month long romance after they were spotted kissing on a New Year's trip to Disney following the breakdown of her romance with Sean. Georgia and Sean ended their eight-month romance shortly after the Strictly final a few weeks ago amidst the actor's 'insecurity' over their relationship, according to the Daily Mirror at the time. Sources on the BBC reality show at the time claimed Sean struggled with Georgia's closeness with her partner Giovanni with the pair spending most of their time together in rehearsals. Now three years on from their split, the screen star cryptically shared on his Twitter feed on Wednesday after news broke: 'Karma is a patient b****' alongside a cry face emoji, which left some of his followers replying in support: 'Sure is'. Heartbroken: The Our Girl actor split from then girlfriend Georgia, 26, in 2015 following her Strictly Come Dancing stint, before she quickly moved on with her professional dance partner Giovanni Pernice, 27 Shade: Now three years on from their split, the screen star cryptically shared on his Twitter feed on Wednesday after news broke: 'Karma is a patient b****' alongside a cry face emoji, which left some of his followers replying in support: 'Sure is' In the past: Georgia and Giovanni went on to enjoy a seven-month long romance after they were spotted kissing on a New Year's trip to Disney following the breakdown of her romance with Sean The ominous Tweet comes after it was reported that the actress is reportedly 'struggling' after a split from boyfriend George Alsford, following 18 months together. The brunette beauty and her now ex called it quits after repeated arguments, a source told The Sun newspaper. The split came just days after Georgia left fans worried with a slew of downcast snaps and cryptic Instagram posts, hinting all was not well in her love life. Called it off: Georgia split from her boyfriend George Alsford The source said: 'They tried to make it work but called it quits after a series of arguments. 'Georgia has been left devastated, as she really thought he was The One. She's been struggling.' A representative for Georgia had been contacted for comment at the time. The former Strictly Come Dancing left fans speculating whether her and George had called it quits earlier this week, after posting a series of cryptic snaps on social media. Break-up? The split came just days after Georgia left fans worried with a slew of downcast snaps and cryptic Instagram posts, hinting all was not well in her love life Fans first fuelled the speculation when Georgia posted a moody snap alongside a sad face emoji last week. Failing to raise a smile, the former Coronation Street star looked close to tears as she covered up her gym-honed figure in a fluffy white dressing gown. And the former Strictly star seemed in a reflective mood on Friday as she penned: 'I never thought my best memories would make me feel this way. Or that people could so easily forget. But here's to making more. More that i will never forget.' Happier times: The 26-year-old actress hasn't uploaded a picture of herself with her beau since December, when they enjoyed a romantic holiday in Amsterdam She posted the musing quote alongside a shot of her posing in front of an idyllic sea. The model showcased her lithe limbs in a blue shirt dress and pink trainers and styled her brunette tresses in soft waves. In other snaps, the star has uploaded a series of quotes including 'Lie Lie Land' and 'keep your head high and your middle finger higher'. Thinly-veiled dig? The former Strictly champion seemed in a reflective mood on Friday as she penned: 'I never thought my best memories would make me feel this way. Or that people could so easily forget. But here's to making more. More that i will never forget.' Pensive mood: She posted the musing quote alongside a shot of her posing in front of an idyllic sea Fans of the couple took to social media to voice concerns about Georgia's low mood. One follower wrote: 'Proud of you beautiful, here if you need anything or someone to talk to.' Another fan added: 'Everything happens for a reason Porge keep ya chin up girl x' While another penned: 'U ok Georgia have u and George split hope ya ok Hun xx thinking of you xx' Concern: Fans of the couple took to social media to voice concerns about Georgia's low mood Down in the dumps: In other snaps, the star has uploaded a series of quotes including 'Lie Lie Land' and 'Keep your head high and your middle finger higher The former Strictly Come Dancing star has previously flooded Instagram with pictures of herself with her 26-year-old hunky boyfriend, who is signed to Select Model Management - the same agency she is signed to. However, Georgia hasn't uploaded a picture of herself with the model since December. The romance came after her split with Strictly professional Giovanni Pernice, who she began dating shortly after her relationship with her Coronation Street co-star Sean Ward. Georgia made her name in Coronation Street, but her character left in 2015 after five years amid promises that the door was always open. Phantom Thread (15) Verdict: A stitch in time Rating: Nobody should be at all surprised that Daniel Day-Lewis, who says this is his valedictory bow as an actor, has already been honoured with an Academy Award nomination for his performance in writer-director Paul Thomas Andersons exquisite period drama Phantom Thread. The smart money says next months Oscar for Best Actor will go to Gary Oldman, for his vivid portrayal of Winston Churchill in Darkest Hour. But if I had a vote, I wouldnt hesitate to bestow the coveted statuette on Day-Lewis, already a three-times Oscar winner, and not just to mark his regrettable withdrawal from the spotlight. What a loss he will be to the acting profession. He is simply spellbinding as Reynolds Woodcock, a celebrated couturier in Fifties London, who lives in stucco splendour with his old so-and-so, his sister Cyril (Lesley Manville), and whatever woman happens to be currently in his thrall and his favour. At the start of the film, he has become bored with his latest female companion. Cyril, who manages his affairs with icy efficiency, pays the woman off with a frock. But Reynolds is a serial monogamist and cant be alone for long. Soon, while staying at his house in the country, he has fallen headlong for a pretty foreign waitress and she for him. This is Alma (Luxembourg actress Vicky Krieps, perfectly cast), whose nationality, like the year in which the story is set, is never revealed. We assume her to be German. We are also led to believe that she is the fly and Reynolds the spider in this burgeoning affair, but Anderson feeds us intriguing hints that it might not always be so. Daniel Day-Lewis should win an Oscar for his performance in Phantom Thread, says Brian Viner If you want to have a staring contest with me, you will lose, she says, only half-playfully, as he gazes at her on their first date. Initially, they bond over breakfast. She takes his order for a vast spread, and swoons over his enormous appetite while he swoons over her. But, after she becomes his model and muse, breakfast begins to symbolise the fissures in their relationship. He cant bear noise and she butters her toast too loudly. Reynolds is charismatic, debonair and brilliant, but also prissily effete and monstrously controlling. He is said to be inspired partly by the discreetly gay royal dressmaker Norman Hartnell, although Reynolds appears to be entirely heterosexual. Day-Lewis, in that singular Day-Lewis way, doesnt just play him but entirely inhabits him, just as he did the ruthless oilman Daniel Plainview when he last worked with Anderson, in 2007s There Will Be Blood. At the beginning, as Reynolds gets ready for his day, pulling on his pink knee-length socks and fastidiously plucking his nasal hair, we really could be settling down to a documentary. Instead, Phantom Thread is a riveting psychological study of which Hitchcock might have been proud (indeed, Reynolds has a fixation with his dead mother more than a little reminiscent of Psychos Norman Bates). It is also a love story but, perhaps above all, its a finely nuanced comedy of manners. Ive seen it twice and relished its subtle wit even more the second time. There are some wonderful laugh-out-loud moments, such as when Reynolds throws a tantrum at mention of the word chic, a ghastly import from across the Channel. The film is impeccably observed throughout. Anderson is Californian through and through, and not yet 50, but he has an extraordinary eye and ear for posh, post-war Englishness. And Jonny Greenwoods classical score, by turns jaunty, plaintive and intense, is exactly right. Day-Lewis has obviously done his homework, too. Reynoldss voice, the way it lacks inflexion and emotion, is somehow like a distillation of the era. And he has certainly learned how to pin a hem. In fact, from the small battalion of stout, ageing seamstresses who arrive every morning at Reynoldss house, to the close-ups of needles and tape-measures, of silk and satin, the film is like a love-letter to old-fashioned couture. I wouldnt want to encroach on Reynoldss dead-mother fixation, but I wish my own late mother, an elegant woman who made her own clothes when times were hard during my childhood, had lived to see it. Day-Lewis has obviously done his homework, too. Reynoldss voice, the way it lacks inflexion and emotion, is somehow like a distillation of the era. And he has certainly learned how to pin a hem Phantom Thread wont delight everyone; its not what youd call a crowd-pleaser. But for my money it deserves every plaudit it gets, and that also goes for Manville. She matches Day-Lewis step for step with an enthralling performance as Cyril, who watches over her brother with adoration, spiked with just a little revulsion. Manville has an Academy Award nomination, too. If he doesnt win, I really hope she does. Romand J. Israel, Esp (12A) Verdict: Flawed but watchable Rating: Also in the running for an Oscar is Denzel Washington, for his committed turn as the titular veteran attorney in Roman J. Israel Esq., a shambling, shambolic man, but fiercely principled and with an incredible legal mind. Roman has worked for decades for the same small criminal defence practice in Los Angeles, but when a heart attack fells his partner, he finds himself reliant on the patronage of a slick, big-city lawyer (Colin Farrell) invited to save the business by subsuming it into his own. Denzel Washington stars as Roman J. Israel in the Hollywood blockbuster Roman J. Israel is written and directed by Dan Gilroy, whose last picture was 2014s excellent Nightcrawler. That was the story of a man with no moral compass, whereas here, Romans moral compass gleams with virtue. He doesnt always know when to stop talking, but that seems like his only professional frailty at least until he succumbs to a temptation that throws both him, and us, right off kilter. It is as if, half-way through the movie, he has had a personality transplant. I didnt believe in it. Nevertheless, Washington does a great job of suppressing any notion we might still have of him as an action hero. Its a fine, often moving performance in a flawed, but thoroughly watchable, film. They were seen leaving the Britain's Got Talent auditions on Wednesday night flanked by security, after reports of heightened fears that the show could be the target of a potential acid attack. And crowd control was quite the focus on Thursday as Simon Cowell, 58, exited the London Palladium theatre, along with his fellow BGT stars who were ushered into their waiting cars. A spectator could be seen being held back amongst a sea of others by security as Simon headed to his waiting cars, amid reports security had been heightened following a spate of acid attacks in the British capital. Pushed up: A Britain's Got Talent fan was seen being moved by security as the judges were ushered out of the London Palladium on Thursday Simon looked slightly perplexed at the commotion going on beside him, yet still managed to pose for a snap with a fan before jumping in his waiting car. Hosts Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly, both 42, were also seen jumping into their waiting car, as bodyguards pushed to get them away from the venue as quickly as possible. Alesha Dixon, 39, and David Walliams, 46, were also seen making a swift exit from the venue flanked by bodyguards. Time to go: Simon made a swift exit from the venue heavily flanked by bodyguards, amid reports security had been stepped up due to heightened acid attack fears Hometime: Host Ant McPartlin was also seen making a quick exit into his waiting car Blending in: Ant attempted to slip out of the theatre unnoticed, keeping his head down and sporting a baseball cap Low profile: Despite the slew of waiting fans, the stars were ushered out of the area amid reported worry the show could be a target for an acid attack Out of here: Ant's co-host Declan Donnelly also made a quick exit to his waiting car, sporting a casual ensemble Taxi! Dec was also ushered into his waiting car by heavy security outside the theatre Guards at the live auditions are said to be 'on high alert', The Daily Star reports, while 'show chiefs are not taking any risks.' An audience member wrote about added security measures on Twitter: 'London Palladium are stopping people taking opened bottles of water/drink in, then theyre selling 500ml bottles of water to audience members for 2.50. 'Presumably due to risk of acid attacks? They didnt do this a year ago. How sad theyve decided to profit from the situation!' Making moves: Alesha Dixon was among the stars seen leaving the Palladium Theatre in London after another day of watching acts, with the group surrounded by bodyguards Flanked: It's alleged that Simon, along with the rest of the BGT team have been given more security in light of the recent spate of acid attacks across the capital No risks: Guards at the live auditions are said to be 'on high alert' while 'show chiefs are not taking any risks'. An audience member also tweeted that open bottles are prohibited A Britains Got Talent spokeswoman told MailOnline: 'We take the safety around the show very seriously. We continually review security procedures to ensure they meet our needs.' MailOnline has contacted BGT for further comment. Assaults using acid have more than doubled in England since 2012 - up from 183 five years ago to 504 in the year to March 2017. The majority have been in east London. Last year there was the high profile case of Ferne McCann's boyfriend Arthur Collins who was handed a 20-year prison sentence for hurling a corrosive liquid across a crowded dancefloor in an east London nightclub. Chirpy: Whilst they may have been flanked by security, the team looked in good spirits on the outing as they polished off another action-packed day of auditions Busy schedule: Simon and the rest of the of the BGT crew have been having auditions in London since Saturday, after travelling to Blackpool earlier this month Simple style: Simon stayed true to his traditional style sense as he donned a plain white T-shirt with bleached denim jeans Dapper: David Walliams appeared relaxed in a blue suit as he also made his exit Protected: David was still smiling despite the security fears, as he continued the journey to find the next big star Whilst they may have been flanked by security, the BGT team looked in good spirits on the outing as they polished off another action-packed day of auditions. Alesha, 39, put on a busty display as she left the auditions in an olive green military-inspired look. She donned a plunging vest beneath an oversized jacket, whilst she showed off her lean legs in a tiny embellished black mini skirt. Simon stayed true to his traditional style sense as he donned a plain white T-shirt with bleached denim jeans. Chic: Alesha looked as stylish as ever in a military green ensemble as she made her exit Busty: Alesha flashed a hint of her ample cleavage as she made way out of the Palladium, again flanked by security Got her back: Alesha was joined by her security as she made her way home after another day of auditions After another successful series in 2017, Britain's Got Talent has been travelling round the country again in a bid to find the next big star. The show has been having auditions in London since Saturday, after travelling to Blackpool earlier this month. BGT's cast and crew will head to Manchester next week for the final round of auditions, with the series set to return in the spring. Quick stop: Despite the heavy security, Simon did make time to pose for a selfie and sign an autograph Still a legend: Simon sported his ever-casual look of light wash jeans and a white t-shirt Animals With Cameras Rating: Everybody loves a meerkat. Like a spaniel crossed with a squirrel, that thinks its a kitten, this adorably inquisitive creature has been a natural telly star ever since a delightful wildlife documentary on BBC1 in the early Nineties called Meerkats United. But over the years weve seen them from every angle from studies of their family dynamics in David Attenboroughs Africa, to breeding programmes in captivity on The Secret Life Of The Zoo. Surely TV has nothing new to tell us about meerkats? Naturalist Gordon Buchanan found a revolutionary way to reveal their habits and personalities, in Animals With Cameras (BBC1). Clipping minuscule video devices around the necks of two young animals, nicknamed Eve and Fat Boy, in a wild meerkat colony that is used to humans, he was able to show us exactly how they see the world. BBC1's Animals With Cameras revolutionized how to film meerkats. Gordon Buchanan clipped a minuscule video device around the necks of two meerkats to show us how they see the world That was entertaining enough when meerkat Fat Boy got into a dust-up with a teenage cousin and rolled around in the Kalahari sand while sensible Eve went digging for grubs to feed her hungry nieces and nephews. But it became extraordinary when Eve dived into her burrow and the camera switched to night vision. This piece of military-grade tech weighed just 38g or an ounce and a bit . . . about the same as a household light bulb. WEIRD HANG-UP OF THE NIGHT: Why the obsession with facial scars in Britannia (Sky Atlantic)? The king's forehead is tattooed, a Roman prisoner's cheeks are covered in welts, and now the heroine's dad has no eyes. The scriptwriters need a therapist. Advertisement We saw the little meerkat treading daintily around the dung beetles in the labyrinthine tunnels of her den. The insects are tolerated because they keep the place tidy. When I interviewed Buchanan about the series late last year, he was hopping with excitement about the potential of these cameras. This is a man who has lived rough for months to get close to wolf packs, and risked his life diving in the South Seas with sharks. But the footage to come in the next two parts, he promises, is some of the most spectacular of his career and its all filmed by animals. Theres a very high bar with wildlife documentaries these days, he told me. Blue Planet II leapt over it with a good bit of clearance and blew people away. Animals With Cameras does that, too, by revealing aspects of life that it simply was not possible to see before. Fat Boy and Eve, the names of two meerkats, were the ones to don the small video devices One of the biggest challenges was to make the equipment robust enough to withstand attention from its furry camera crew. Four-year-old Kim Bang, an orphaned chimpanzee in Cameroon, delivered a wonderful tree-top sequence in the opening episode but not before she had trashed one camera harness after another. The clever chimp even worked out how to switch the camera off. Shell be joining the broadcasters union next. Wartime Crime Rating: All this innovation costs money a resource plainly absent from the detective documentary Wartime Crime (Yesterday channel). By the look of it, the budget barely ran to a pack of biscuits. Three or four re-enactment clips, just a couple of seconds long, were repeated endlessly, in this story of sex maniacs on the prowl in World War II Berlin and London. A woman in a Forties hat threw her hand over her face, a policeman under a bare light bulb picked up the phone. Its a pity, because the first investigation in particular was a shocking tale. On the S-Bahn, Berlins suburban railway, an employee stalked lone female passengers and murdered them horribly. He was hunted down by commissioner Wilhelm Ludtke, an anti-Nazi who faced exile to the Russian front if he didnt solve the case. His secret weapon? Policemen in drag. This was a great tale, rather wasted. Winchester (15) Verdict: A misfire Rating: Horror is one of the few genres that Dame Helen Mirren, in her long and remarkably prolific career, has not really explored. Until now. Here, in a film set in San Jose, California, in 1906 and inspired by actual events, she plays Sarah Winchester, the spooky widow of the man who built the Winchester rifle fortune. The directors of the Winchester company hope to have her certified as mentally unfit to head the business, so she agrees for a Dr Price (Jason Clarke) to test her sanity. Here, in a film set in San Jose, California, in 1906 and inspired by actual events, she plays Sarah Winchester, the spooky widow of the man who built the Winchester rifle fortune But she has hand-picked him, for reasons that become clear. Sarah believes that her house is haunted by all the people that have been killed by Winchester rifles and, on the advice of a medium, keeps on extending it to accommodate them. The building is still there, apparently. A silly concluding caption tells us solemnly that it is the most haunted house in America. Still, Sarah Winchesters story is intriguing, the more so for its factual foundation. Unfortunately, directors and co-writers Peter and Michael Spierig, instead of weaving it into the creepy psychological thriller it could have been, go all guns blazing for full-on haunted-house horror, with the entire complement of jump-scare cliches from sudden breezes extinguishing bedside candles to hideous apparitions popping up when they are least make that most expected. A waxy-faced Mirren is as good as ever, but the film is a misfire. Journey's End (12A) Verdict: Powerful and timely Rating: This is an irreproachably solid adaptation of R.C. Sherriffs 1928 play about the physical and psychological realities of life in the World War I trenches. It is very well-acted by an excellent cast and while it never manages to pull away from its theatrical roots, its still a powerful drama. Powerfully-timed, too. Give or take a month or so, it arrives in cinemas 100 years after the week in which it is set, just before the Germans launched their so-called Spring Offensive of 1918. Sam Claflin plays Captain Stanhope, whose dash and charisma have been sucked away by the horrors of war. He is still a brave, committed soldier, but increasingly reliant on the contents of a whisky bottle, and on the wise support of his second-in-command, Lieutenant Osborne (Paul Bettany). Stanhope has a sweetheart at home, whose younger brother, Second Lieutenant Raleigh (Asa Butterfield), arrives to join his company. Stanhope is horrified; not least because he thinks Raleigh will write to his sister and tell her what her beau has become. Wounded: Sam Clafin as Stanhope With these heady emotions swirling, the company is ordered by an absent brigadier to make a suicidal charge at the Germans, who are only the width of a rugby field away. Journeys End is partly an exploration of the notion that the British went into battle as lions led by donkeys in Stanhopes case, a particularly wounded lion. The scene in which he is effectively commanded to sacrifice his men reminded me strongly of the classic Beyond The Fringe sketch in which Peter Cooks RAF officer orders Perkins (Jonathan Miller) to lay down his life, as a futile gesture to raise the tone of the war. Its not entirely irreverent to watch Journeys End and think of a comedy sketch. Director Saul Dibb and screenwriter Simon Reade make the most of Sheriffs playful dialogue about food, with Toby Jones in fine, lugubrious form as Private Mason, the reluctant, rather Baldrick-like company cook. Tom Sturridge plays the company coward, compounding his reputation as the go-to actor for weaselly soldiers. All the acting is top-notch (Bettany in particular stands out, as the heartbreakingly decent Osborne). And while its a stretch to believe that only three years separate the world-weary Stanhope and Raleigh, who looks about 14, maybe thats the point. Wars do that to people, then as now. Platinum blonde Kim Kardashian West finally ditched her controversial 'Bo Derek braids' in favor of a straightened, middle-parted bob on the Malibu set of Keeping Up with the Kardashians on Thursday. Joining the 37-year-old Yeezy 6 model was her big sister Kourtney, who flashed her black lacy bra beneath a sheer green tank top and black sweatpants selected by stylist Dani Michelle. The Calabasas socialite sparked outrage over cultural appropriation due to her rocking the plaited and beaded fulani hairdo once prominently featured in Blake Edwards' 1979 philandering flick, 10. Scroll down for video Action! Platinum blonde Kim Kardashian West finally ditched her controversial 'Bo Derek braids' in favor of a straightened, middle-parted bob on the Malibu set of Keeping Up with the Kardashians on Thursday Mali-boob: Joining the 37-year-old Yeezy 6 model was her sister Kourtney, who flashed her black lacy bra beneath a sheer green tank top selected by stylist Dani Michelle That same day, Kim announced that she was 'so close to selling out' of her three limited-edition KKW Kimoji Hearts Fragrances - Bae, BFF, and Ride or Die - mere hours after they were released. 'OMG you guys!' Kardashian - who boasts 194.8M social media followers - tweeted. 'I am so excited! We aren't making these again so get them now! We won't be restocking!' This, after the half-Armenian beauty revealed she sent several of her chocolate- encased perfume bottles to her 'haters' including Taylor Swift, Pink, Bette Midler, Blac Chyna, Chelsea Handler, and Wendy Williams. Scandal prone: The Calabasas socialite sparked outrage over cultural appropriation due to her rocking the plaited and beaded fulani hairdo Hours after release: That same day, Kim announced that she was 'so close to selling out' of her three limited-edition KKW Kimoji Hearts Fragrances - Bae, BFF, and Ride or Die How sweet: This, after the half-Armenian beauty revealed she sent several of her chocolate- encased perfume bottles to her 'haters' including Taylor Swift, Pink, and Blac Chyna Family of five: With all of the filming and the fragrances, it's hard to believe the Selfish author has time to dote on her yet-to-be-seen third child - 17-day-old newborn daughter Chicago - with third husband Kanye West '2018 is looking good!' On Wednesday, rapper Talib Kweli shared a mysterious snap of the 40-year-old rapper- turned-designer scribbling notes alongside rapper Yasiin Bey (M) and comedian Dave Chappelle (R) in what might prove to be an exciting future collaboration With all of the filming and the fragrances, it's hard to believe the Selfish author has time to dote on her yet-to-be-seen third child - 17-day-old newborn daughter Chicago - with third husband Kanye West. On Wednesday, rapper Talib Kweli shared a mysterious snap of the 40-year-old rapper-turned-designer scribbling notes alongside rapper Yasiin Bey and comedian Dave Chappelle in what might prove to be an exciting future collaboration. Meanwhile, 37-year-old Kourtney allegedly 'freaked out' after having a 'pregnancy scare earlier this month' because her toyboy Younes Bendjima comes from 'a strict family' - according to Hollywood Life. The avid lifestyle blogger has been reportedly romancing the 24-year-old boxer-turned-model as far back as October of 2016 when they met in Paris. False alarm: Meanwhile, 37-year-old Kourtney allegedly 'freaked out' after having a 'pregnancy scare earlier this month' because her toyboy Younes Bendjima comes from 'a strict family' He dips! The avid lifestyle blogger has been reportedly romancing the 24-year-old boxer-turned-model (R) as far back as October of 2016 when they met in Paris Fertile: The University of Arizona grad already has her hands full with her three children (from L-R) - Mason, 8; Penelope, 5; and Reign 3 - with babydaddy Scott Disick 15-year age gap: Kardashian finally split with the hard-partying 34-year-old in 2015 and, after flings with a bevy of beauties, Scott found love with Lionel Richie's 19-year-old daughter Sofia in September (pictured Tuesday) The University of Arizona grad already has her hands full with her three children - Mason, 8; Penelope, 5; and Reign 3 - from her on/off nine-year relationship with babydaddy Scott Disick. Kardashian finally split with the hard-partying 34-year-old in 2015 and, after flings with a bevy of beauties, Scott found love with Lionel Richie's 19-year-old daughter Sofia in September. Catch more of Kim and Kourtney on the 14th season of Keeping Up with the Kardashians, which resumes February 11 on E! They have been happily married since walking up the aisle in 2013. And it appeared that Patrick Stewart, 77, was once again completely enamoured by his other half Sunny Ozell, 38, as they arrived for the UK Americana Awards at the Hackney Empire on Thursday, when he was captured glancing at her buxom bust. The X-Men actor - who is 38 years his wife's senior - couldn't help but take a peak at his love's ample cleavage as they posed for photos at the music event, despite being caught pulling the same manoeuvre in January at the Critics' Choice Awards. Scroll down for video Cheeky: Patrick Stewart, 77, was once again completely enamoured by his other half Sunny Ozell,38, as they arrived for the UK Americana Awards at the Hackney Empire on Thursday, when he was captured glancing at her buxom bust His other half looked sensational in a striking black form-fitting dress which highlighted her toned midriff as she wrapped her arm around him for photos. Sunny teamed her slinky look with a contrasting navy blue blazer which did little to tear Patrick's eyes away from her busty appearance, and accessorised her ensemble with a snakeskin handbag. Complementing her glamorous display, Patrick donned a black three-piece suit and white shirt for the occasion which saw him present Breakthrough Album of the Year. Strikes twice: The X-Men actor - who is 38 years his wife's senior - was caught pulling the same manoeuvre in January at the Critics' Choice Awards Picture perfect: His other half looked sensational in a striking black form-fitting dress which highlighted her toned midriff as she wrapped her arm around him for photos Their night on the town no doubt came as a welcome break from the madness of awards season, which has seen the pair attend both the Golden Globes and the Critic's Choice Awards, where Patrick has been among the Best Supporting Actor nominees. The Logan actor was nominated for his performance as a frail Professor Charles Xavier in the film, which Patrick confirmed would be his last time playing the character after 17 years. Despite losing out to Sam Rockwell for both awards, fans have hoped this could lead to an Oscar nomination for the actor. Award-winning: Complementing her glamorous display, Patrick donned a black three-piece suit and white shirt for the occasion which saw him present Breakthrough Album of the Year Slinky: Sunny teamed her slinky look with a contrasting navy blue blazer and accessorised her ensemble with a snakeskin handbag Patrick and Sunny first began dating in 2008, after meeting during the actor's run in Macbeth at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. The pair then moved in together four years later and cast aside their 38-year age gap to marry in 2013 - with Sir Ian McKellan performing the wedding ceremony. The legendary thespian was born in West Yorkshire but lives in Brooklyn with his spouse - who is the stepmother to his two children Daniel and Sophie Alexandra Stewart. He was previously married twice before - first to Sheila Falconer [19661990], then to Wendy Neuss [20002003]. Love: Patrick and Sunny first began dating in 2008, after meeting during the actor's run in Macbeth at the Brooklyn Academy of Music She welcomed her first son Hayes Alba Warren on New Years Eve. And Jessica Alba was feeling wistful on Thursday night as she shared a throwback to her pregnancy. '1 month ago 9.5 months pregnant,' the Sin City captioned a photo of her pregnant belly. Bumping along: Jessica Alba posted a throwback photo of her pregnant belly on Thursday Alba has been spending a lot of time with her little boy including time in front of the television catching up on the Netflix series Grace and Frankie. The actress-turned-businesswoman has also been entertaining family and friends who are visiting with their new bundle of joy. Hayes is her third child with husband Cash Warren. They are also parents to Honor Marie, 9, and Haven Garner, 6. Milestone: The proud mom shared a photo of her son to mark his age of month on Friday Glam time: Alba got her hair and makeup done for the first time since having baby Hayes on December 31 Fresh face: 'A little more than the makeup no makeup look,' she told her Instagram followers while breastfeeding her newborn The busy mom excitedly shared another post-baby milestone on Thursday: first time getting glammed. She sat for a session with celebrity hairstylist Chad Wood and celebrity makeup artist Andre Sarmiento. Her newborn wasn't left with nannies while Alba got her hair and makeup done. You can see him making an appearance underneath his moms shirt while breastfeeding. Baby love: Hayes Alba Warren is the first son for the power couple that have been married since 2008 Little prince: Hayes has two older sisters, Honor Marie, 9, and Haven Garner, 6 Her acting career has taken a backseat to her role as founder of The Honest Company, which she founded in 2011 with friend Chris Gavigan. They sell safe and effective products including cleaning supplies, diapers, baby formula, beauty products, vitamins and more. 'I want people to live healthy, happy lives,' Alba told Fast Company in their February 2018 issue. 'That's all that matters to me.' On Friday, Jasmine Yarbrough all but confirmed her engagement to Karl Stefanovic after flashing her diamond ring during a celebratory lunch in Woolloomooloo. And alleged new details about the proposal have now surfaced, with New Idea claiming that Karl popped the question at the Kokomo Island Resort in Fiji on January 14th. After asking Jasmine to be his wife while on holiday, the couple returned to Sydney to celebrate with family and friends at a 'nine-hour party' held at Karl's brother Peter's house. Scroll down for video Alleged new details about Karl Stefanovic's (L) proposal have surfaced, with New Idea claiming that he asked Jasmine Yarbrough (R) to marry him while on holiday in Fiji on January 14th After Jasmine said 'Yes' in Fiji, the newly-engaged couple returned to Australia on January 19th, the magazine reported. They subsequently headed to the Double Bay home shared by Peter Stefanovic and his wife Sylvia Jeffreys to celebrate the news. Let's celebrate! After asking Jasmine to be his wife while on holiday, the couple returned to Sydney to celebrate with family and friends at party held at Peter Stefanovic's house All smiles! In pictures from the 'engagement celebration' last month, Karl and Jasmine couldn't wipe the smiles off their faces while arriving at what was described as a 'nine-hour party' In pictures taken last month, Karl and Jasmine look jubilant while arriving at what was described as a 'nine-hour party'. At the time, photographers were unable to get that all-important shot of Jasmine's engagement ring as she had carefully concealed it. A source said: 'When Karl and Jasmine arrived at the party and saw photographers had gathered, she awkwardly positioned a ring on her thumb while hiding behind a wheelie bin.' Later in the evening, it was claimed that guests were overheard congratulating the couple as they left the soiree. Keeping cool: Karl was dressed casually in white linen shorts and a navy polo shirt Something to celebrate! Jasmine's business partner Tamara Ingram also attended the event Blushing bride-to-be! At the end of the festivities, it was claimed that guests were overheard congratulating the couple as they left the soiree 'When Jasmine left the engagement party, she was heard saying ''thanks'' when offered congratulations. Karl also said, ''Thanks guys'',' the source alleged. Jasmine was given a Swarovski bag from Karl's friend Steve Marshall, which was apparently an 'engagement gift', New Idea claimed. She reportedly nearly forgot to take the present home with her - but it was rushed out to her as she sat in an Uber waiting to leave. Beaming: 'When Jasmine left the engagement party, she was heard saying ''thanks'' when offered congratulations Confirming it? Karl also said, ''Thanks guys'',' the source alleged New Idea's claims of a Fiji proposal is in conflict with reports from other media outlets. Claims Karl has popped the question first surfaced in a Fairfax report over the summer holidays. The publication claimed the couple's 'wide circle of friends' received loved-up text messages that confirmed the engagement. On Friday, The Daily Telegraph quoted a friend who confirmed the engagement,and claimed it was 'very new'. Engagement bling! It comes as Jasmine appeared to confirm the engagement while at a boozy lunch in Sydney's Woolloomooloo on Friday afternoon (pictured) It comes as Jasmine appeared to confirm the engagement while at a boozy lunch in Sydney's Woolloomooloo on Friday afternoon. She flashed her huge diamond ring on her wedding finger while posing for an Instagram photo with Karl and a group of glamorous female friends. The Sydney Morning Herald's Private Sydney column previously reported that the couple's engagement was not a secret among their social circle. 'Their pals started receiving text messages featuring a shot of the couple kissing and, for all intents and purposes, announcing their engagement,' it was claimed. Expensive taste: Jasmine was given a Swarovski bag from Karl's friend Steve Marshall, which was apparently an 'engagement gift', New Idea claimed Don't forget it! She reportedly nearly forgot to take the present home with her - but it was rushed out to her as she sat in an Uber waiting to leave When the couple celebrated Jasmine's birthday on Australia Day, it was also widely reported that the event had doubled as an engagement party. Karl split from his wife of 21 years, former ABC journalist Cassandra Thorburn, in September 2016. He later met Jasmine at a boat party in December that year. Daily Mail Australia has contacted Karl's representatives for comment. A family affair! Also at the party was Jasmine's sister Jade Yarbrough (left) Reports: When the couple celebrated Jasmine's birthday on Australia Day, it was also widely rumoured that the event had doubled as an engagement party She's set to tour Australia and New Zealand in October this year. And pop diva Mariah Carey proudly took to Instagram on Friday, announcing tickets are now on sale. Back in December, the 47-year-old had fans furious for postponing the original February date, with many having already purchased flights and accommodation. One Sweet Day! Mariah Carey's Australian and New Zealand concerts go on sale after the pop diva had fans FURIOUS for postponing February tour dates A promotional image for the October tour sees the songstress barely covering her ample assets with a glittering strip of gold fabric. Mariah is dripping in jewels and has her curly hair extensions framing a glamorously made-up complexion. The pop star's tour begins on the 7th of October in Auckland, followed by the 10th in Melbourne, the 12th in Sydney and the 14th in Brisbane. On sale: The pop diva will commence the tour in Auckland, followed by Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane The Honey hitmaker proudly captioned the image: 'Australia & New Zealand! Tickets for my shows in October are on sale now!' Mariah's fans were left furious back in December when the mother-of-two postponed the original February tour dates. Taking to Instagram at the time, Mariah revealed she would be pushing the tour back. The star credited a 'necessary realignment of her international engagements for 2018' as the reason behind the shift, but the excuse wasn't enough to appease many ticket buyers. Schedule change: In December, Mariah left fans furious after announcing she would be postponing her February Australian tour to October 'This lady cancels and postpones more tour dates than anyone else in the history of tour dates. If we called into work as much as she does we wouldn't ever keep a job. It's ridiculous,' one fan commented. Although ticket holders were guaranteed seats for the new shows, Perth fans were left devastated when they learnt Mimi had cancelled their concert altogether and wouldn't be giving back their booking fees. 'Perth cancelled, not even rescheduled, thanks,' wrote one disappointed 'lamb'. Not happy: 'This lady cancels and postpones more tour dates than anyone else in the history of tour dates,' one fan commented She's the country's most famous indigenous model, whose partner was released from prison in 2016. And Samantha Harris, 27, pulled out all the stops to celebrate her husband Luke Hunt's second birthday out from behind bars. Taking to Instagram on Friday, the catwalk queen shared a happy snap from the yacht the couple chartered on Sydney Harbour to celebrate her man's 32nd birthday. Scroll down for video Jailhouse rock! On Friday, Samantha Harris shared a snap of herself on a yacht in Sydney Harbour celebrating her husband Luke Hunt's 32nd Birthday In the happy snap, the indigenous model cut a glamorous figure in a cleavage-baring white top and mirrored shades as she posed with two friends. Meanwhile, the short clip posted to the model's Instagram story shows about nine of the couple's friends drinking together on the boat, with Sydney Harbour Bridge in the background. The rowdy group cheers as the camera pans across them. Earlier this month, stunning Samantha spoke to Daily Mail Australia about her secret wedding, adding she has no plans for 'babies at the moment,' but added things are going 'really well.' The Indigenous model secretly married Luke in 2014, two months before he began serving a a prison sentence for his involvement in a fatal car crash that killed a 78-year-old man. Luke was behind the wheel in a tragic accident that killed grandfather Kenneth Lay in May 2012. The couple's Commodore crashed into Kenneth's Hyundai Lantra in Narraweena, on the Northern Beaches, when Luke was driving above the speed limit and changing lanes. "It's great": Model Samantha Harris, 27, has said to Daily Mail Australia that married life was Luke was a hoot Samantha only revealed they were wed in April 2016, after her husband had finished serving his term out of respect for the crash victim's family. Meanwhile, this is not the first time that the brunette beauty has shared details on life with Luke, following his release. In August last year, Samantha told Daily Mail Australia at the Myer Spring Social that she couldn't be any happier with married life, gushing 'It's great!' Content: Recently Samantha opened up on her marriage to Luke, telling Daily Mail Australia: 'No (plans for) babies at the moment, but things are going really well, so (I'm) very happy' She added: '[We will have kids] one day, not anytime soon, [there's] no rush.' Samantha rose to fame after placing second in Girlfriend magazine's model search in 2004. She has since gone on to feature in campaigns for David Jones and Miu Miu, along with her ambassador role for Priceline Pharmacy. Private: The brunette beauty secretly married Luke in 2014, two months before he began serving a a prison sentence for his involvement in a fatal car crash that killed a 78-year-old man Producers cast a contestant who made a name for himself on Kyle & Jackie O's 'Dating Naked'. But it seems Married At First Sight's camera crew didn't get the 'Ryan Gallagher loves to sleep with his "duds off"' memo. In what may have been an act of revenge, they leaked the 29-year-old Maroubra local's on-set nude footage to MAFS companion show Talking Married this week. Old habits die hard! MAFS crew leaks footage of contestant Ryan on-set NAKED after having to put up with 'seeing his wedding tackle just about every day' (pictured on Kyle & Jackie O's Naked Dating, L and MAFS, R) Ryan was then called onto the post-show discussion program to face questioning from a panel led by Shelly Horton and former contestant Cheryl Maitland. 'I have been given some inside goss, and its basically that you dont mind stripping down!' Shelly probed, as the accused - who'd found some clothes for the occasion - sat with his head slumped. She continued: 'And the poor crew had to deal with seeing your wedding tackle just about everyday. Is this true?' What did you expect? Producers cast a contestant who made a name for himself on Kyle & Jackie O's 'Dating Naked' - but it seems the disgruntled MAFS crew didn't get the memo 'Aww' he said, looking to the sky for a way out, before realising the same cast and crew were in charge of overhead stage lights and he should perhaps tread carefully. 'It is true, yeah. I dont sleep with any duds on so' he confessed. Next minute, the footage was queued-up and played, as the - quite literally - cheeky contestant joked: 'I don't think that's me!' Get what you pay for! In what may have been an act of revenge, they leaked the 29-year-old Maroubra local's on-set nude footage to MAFS companion show Talking Married this week Fans of KIIS FM's controversial radio segment that sees two strangers meeting for the first time, completely nude, could attest that it certainly was him. Ryan was seen hopping out of bed with fellow contestant Davina Rankin, his bare buns on full display as he made tracks for the bathroom. He lazily covered his 'tackle' with one hand as he strolled around the apartment, the hard-working crew valiantly tracking his every movement. Ryan was then called onto the post-show discussion program to face questioning from a panel led by Shelly Horton and former contestant Cheryl Maitland Inside goss: 'I have been given some inside goss, and its basically that you dont mind stripping down!' Shelly probed, as Ryan later confessed After he'd found some striped Y-fronts, Ryan treated the crew to an impromptu runway show down a narrow hallway. He wasn't in the clear yet though, the reality star yelling 'oh there we go! There's cheeks up close, I think I'm smiling there' when another of his nude romps played. The Sydney tradie first bared-all on the Kyle & Jackie O Show back in February 2017, telling his potential date he was looking for 'KFC and a root'. Davina doesn't mind! Ryan was pictured hopping out of bed with fellow contestant Davina Rankin, his bare buns on full display as he made tracks for the bathroom Modern Family's Ariel Winter passionately kissed her live-in love Levi Meaden during a seaside double date Thursday night at the Santa Monica Pier. Perhaps the 20-year-old actress had miraculously recovered from the 'stomach flu' she came down with two days earlier. The four-time SAG Award winner could not keep her hands off her vaping Canadian boyfriend who, at 30, is a full decade older than her. Scroll down for video PDA alert! Modern Family's Ariel Winter passionately kissed her live-in love Levi Meaden during a seaside double date Thursday night at the Santa Monica Pier 'Hooray!' Perhaps the 20-year-old actress had miraculously recovered from the 'stomach flu' she came down with two days earlier Ariel flashed just a hint of sideboob in her otherwise conservative-looking halter jumpsuit, sandals, and favorite $1,650 Yves Saint Laurent cross-body bag. The Dick Clark's New Year Rockin' Eve guest frequently finds herself defending her scantily-clad attire against haters and body-shamers, much to the amusement of her 4.5M social media followers. And the War for the Planet of the Apes star sported a classic bomber jacket with his jeans and Adidas Yeezy Boost 350 sneakers. Winter (born Workman) and Levi were joined by another couple as they checked out the 109-year-old tourist landmark containing Pacific Park - which has a carousel, roller coaster, and solar-paneled ferris wheel. Smoker: The four-time SAG Award winner could not keep her hands off her vaping Canadian boyfriend who, at 30, is a full decade older than her Putting on a sideshow: Ariel flashed just a hint of sideboob in her otherwise conservative-looking halter jumpsuit, sandals, and favorite $1,650 Yves Saint Laurent cross-body bag Haters gonna hate: The Dick Clark's New Year Rockin' Eve guest frequently finds herself defending her scantily-clad attire against body-shamers All-black: And the War for the Planet of the Apes star sported a classic bomber jacket with his jeans and Adidas Yeezy Boost 350 sneakers The Campbell Hall School grad and her squad later enjoyed dinner on the patio of the Red O Restaurant, which serves Mexican fare and cocktails. The black-clad couple have been dating for nearly 15 months, and he gushed Sunday that she was 'the most intelligent, beautiful, fierce woman I have ever known.' Ariel currently takes undergraduate pre-law classes at UCLA so she can eventually become a federal prosecutor. 'I'm studying political science,' Winter explained on the November 29 episode of Steve Harvey's talk show. Two pairs: Winter (born Workman) and Levi were joined by another couple as they checked out the 109-year-old tourist landmark containing Pacific Park Chips and salsa time: The Campbell Hall School grad and her squad later enjoyed dinner on the patio of the Red O Restaurant, which serves Mexican fare and cocktails Blond beau: The black-clad couple have been dating for nearly 15 months, and he gushed Sunday that she was 'the most intelligent, beautiful, fierce woman I have ever known' 'My goal is to be a lawyer one day. I would love to continue acting, I mean that's definitely my goal. But I've been doing acting for so many years I feel like it's important for me to learn about something else. To have another goal as well, to have knowledge in something else.' In the meantime, the Sherman Oaks homeowner will continue her role as wholesome Caltech student Alex Dunphy in the 22-episode ninth season of the mockumentary series, which resumes February 28 on ABC. And Levi will next portray Ilya in Steven S. DeKnight's sci-fi kaiju sequel Pacific Rim Uprising - hitting US/UK theaters March 23 - alongside John Boyega, Scott Eastwood, and Rinko Kikuchi. 'My goal is to be a lawyer': Ariel currently takes undergraduate pre-law classes at UCLA so she can eventually become a federal prosecutor Resumes February 28! In the meantime, Winter will continue her role as wholesome Caltech student Alex Dunphy in the 22-episode ninth season of ABC's mockumentary series They are Australian-born models who share a close friendship. And Jordan Barrett and Cheyenne Tozzi are enjoying a 'road trip' together on the west coast of the United States. Cheyenne, 27, shared a snap of the genetically-blessed pair to Instagram on Friday, hash-tagged with 'road trip' as they visited popular eatery In-N-Out in Los Angeles. Scroll down for video BFFs: Models Jordan Barrett and Cheyenne Tozzi are enjoying a 'road trip' together on the west coast of the United States The grainy photo of the high-profile duo featured Jordan, 21, holding one of the restaurant's famous burgers while he and Cheyenne guzzled down their drinks. 'Straw suction at level 100,' joked one follower in the image's comment section. Cheyenne also tagged a mutual friend of the twosome's, film director Alvaro Colom, who wasn't seen in the picture. Pals: They are Australian-born models who share a close friendship Jordan and Cheyenne are close associates, with the Australia's Next Top Model judge often spotted hanging out with the Byron Bay-raised 'bad boy' fashion model. They have co-starred in numerous photo shoots and campaigns together, including for Australian menswear brand Calibre late last year. The pair are known to be just pals, although Jordan has been romantically linked to the likes of Paris Hilton, Kate Moss, and Lara Stone. Genetically-blessed: The pair are close associates, with Cheyenne often spotted hanging out with the Byron Bay-raised 'bad boy' fashion model. Pictured with Marlon Teixeira Cheyenne split with her businessman boyfriend Jon Adgemis in March 2017 and was linked with Jordan's friend and fellow model Marlon Teixeira from August that year. Brazilian-born Marlon, 26, is one of the world's leading male models. The hunk has starred in campaigns for Roberto Cavalli and Balmain, and parties with fashion's A-list including Olivier Rousteing and Irina Shayk. Joel Kinnaman revealed he wasn't surprised about his co-star Kevin Spacey's allegations while making an appearance on Swedish talk show Skavlan. And just a few days after his revelation, the House of Cards actor, 38, and his wife Cleo Wattenstrom attended the Altered Carbon premiere in Los Angeles on Thursday. The Sweden native appeared in high spirits while celebrating his new Netflix series with his cast mates. Cute couple: Joel Kinnaman and his wife Cleo Wattenstrom attended the Altered Carbon premiere in Los Angeles on Thursday Joel sported a sleek dark gray suit, a Hawaiian shirt, and brown loafers. The Suicide Squad actor finished off his look with a brown leather belt and a silver chain necklace. Joel's tattoo artist wife looked radiant in a red dress that showcased her extensive body art. Cleo teamed her ensemble with black leather knee-high boots, a silver metal clutch, and a chain belt that cinched at her waist. His moment: The Sweden native appeared in high spirits while celebrating his new Netflix series with his cast mates Red hot! Joel's tattoo artist wife looked radiant in a red dress that showcased her extensive body art Meanwhile, 38-year-old Kinnaman, who stared alongside disgraced actor Spacey in House Of Cards, admitted on Monday the accusations of sexual misconduct 'wasn't a big shock.. 'I have five or six friends I know who have told stories about Kevin about when they were young and had just arrived in Hollywood,' he revealed on Swedish chat show Skavlan. Laughing as he struggled to phrase his next revelation he said: 'And he tried to... he gave me a very warm welcome in Baltimore.' Elegant: Actress Kristin Lehman stepped out to the Altered Carbon world premiere in a plunging silver gown that featured cut-outs at the torso Stars of the night: The new Netflix show is based on the 2002 science fiction novel of the same name by British author Richard K Morgan He added: 'But later, when you learnt that he had supposedly behaved this way with 14-year-olds then it's like "thank you and goodbye."' On seasons four and five of the hit Netflix drama, Kinnaman played Will Conway, political rival of Spacey's Frank Underwood. Spacey was fired from the show - and all his other Netflix commitments in the wake of the allegations. Women on the screen: Tamara Taylor, Dichen Lachman, Martha Higareda, Kristin Lehman and Renee Elise Goldsberry attended the Altered Carbon premiere The gaze: Lexi Atkins shows off her toned pins while inside the premiere event Meanwhile at the premiere on Thursday night, actress Kristin Lehman stepped out to the Altered Carbon world premiere in a plunging silver gown that featured cut-outs at the torso. Bones star Tamara Taylor also made an appearance while strutting her stuff in a black sheer mini dress. The new Netflix show is based on the 2002 science fiction novel of the same name by British author Richard K Morgan. The Sci-Fi show depicts prisoner, Takeshi Kovacs, who returns to life after 250 years and is forced to solve a murder. Series one of Altered Carbon is available to stream on Netflix. It was his birthday on Wednesday but it's the fans who are getting the gift. Justin Timberlake, 36, dropped his newest album on Man Of The Woods on Thursday and his wife Jessica Biel, 35, makes an appearance in the music video for the titular song. While Biel is lead by her longtime love on the dance floor, the Neptunes thump out a funky beat that'll make everyone get on their feet. Scroll down for video... It takes two: Jessica Biel made an appearance in husband Justin Timberlake's new music video Man of the Woods on Thursday And since the father-of-one dedicated the album to The Sinner star, it was only appropriate that she be his leading lady in the video. Man of the Woods is Timberlake's fifth studio album but it's the first time he collaborates with the Neptunes duo of Pharell Williams and Chad Hugo since 2002's Justified. The former 'Nsync frontman has evolved a lot, both musically and personally since his debut album. And the change has never been so drastic as it has been with his latest release. Let's dance: Justin twirls his wife around the dance floor while wearing a red flannel shirt and jeans Up close: Jessica and Justin have been married since 2012 and have one son named Silas Jessica and Justin married in Italy on October 19, 2012 and welcomed their son Silas in the spring of 2015. He told Beats 1 interviewer Zane Lowe that this may not be the last time the pair collaborates together. 'You hear all these stories about people who work together that are you know bonded otherwise and it was so easy,' he told Lowe. Let's do it again: Justin admits he'd love to collaborate with The Sinner star again in the future My girl: You can see Jessica in the mirror wearing her backless white dress He continued, 'I actually hope we get to work together again on more stuff. You know because having her around, she's such an influence on the album and so in that song being so special it just felt like a great moment for us to share. 'And I just wanted it to be honest. There are other songs on the album, videos that I feel require a different level of performance but that one was the first song written for the album that was written specifically about her. 'There's two love letters on the album. 'Man of The Woods' is my love letter to her and 'Young Man' as my love letter to my son. And so it just felt like nothing else would do.' She's the Victoria's Secret angel known for striking a balance between motherhood and modelling. And Elyse Taylor showed fans she hasn't lost her touch with a good pose as she donned a silky pyjama look at the MAAS Centre For Fashion Ball on Thursday. The 31-year-old turned heads in a Michael Lo Sordo number worth over $1,200, which accentuated her tiny waist and revealed a generous glimpse of cleavage. Sensational! The extra long sleeves and wide-brimmed pants were a standout on the night, with the mother-of-one pairing her eccentric look with a pair of nude heels The extend sleeves and wide-brimmed trousers were a standout on the night, with the mother-of-one pairing her eccentric look with a pair of nude heels. Her trademark blonde hair was left out and styled in beach waves with a blunt centre parting for the special occasion. Elyse and her ex-husband Seth Campbell were married in August 2014 in the US before splitting two years later. Red hot! Model Elyse Taylor slips into a slinky pantsuit at the annual Fashion Ball in Sydney's Powerhouse Museum They share a daughter, Lila Louise, who is now three. During her big wedding day, the runway sensation was the picture of elegance as she sashayed along a makeshift aisle at Seth's family's farm outside New York City. The couple exchanged vows in front of approximately 200 guests on the manicured grounds at The Campbell Farm. Star power! During her big wedding day, the runway sensation was the picture of elegance as she sashayed along a makeshift aisle at Seth's family's farm outside New York City Elyse's stunning bridal gown was designed by Zac Posen and featured a plunging neckline, a flowing white veil and sweeping train. After giving birth to daughter Lila in March 2014, Elyse soon after returned to work as one of Australia's most successful international beauties. Kisses: Elyse's stunning bridal gown was designed by Zac Posen and featured a plunging neckline, a flowing white veil and sweeping train Discovered at age 18, she moved to New York where she was immediately booked by major labels such as Dolce & Gabbana, Bottega Veneta, Tommy Hilfiger, Moschino and Trussardi. Since then she has featured in campaigns for Estee Lauder and Victorias Secret, having also starred in the lingerie brand's highly coveted annual fashion show with the likes of Miranda Kerr. More recently, the model has been appointed as the global face of Nude by Nature, as well as the face of new Seafolly brand Milea swimwear. She has also collaborated with Witchery for the Witchery in Motion campaign. Selma Blair was the headliner at a fashion event in Beverly Hills on Thursday night. The actress, 45, was among the guests at Edie Parker's LA Dinner Party. Selma wore a black camisole top with matching tailored slacks and carried a black 'Time's Up' clutch purse. Stylish: Selma Blair, 45, headlined the Edie Parker's LA Dinner Party in Beverly Hills Thursday wearing a black camisole top with tailored slacks and a black 'Time's Up' clutch purse Selma left her dark blonde hair loose and was made-up with black mascara, a hint of blush and dark red lip color. Joining Selma at the event was model and actress Molly Sims, 44. The mother-of-three wore a shiny black tailored jacket over a black top and a pair of wide-legged black trousers. Her blonde hair was left loose with a center parting and she carried a contrasting white mother-of-pearl clutch. Sleek: Joining Selma at the event was model and actress Molly Sims, 44. The mother-of-three wore a shiny black tailored jacket over a black top and a pair of wide-legged black trousers Pals: Molly posed for photos inside the restaurant with Tobey Maguire's ex-wife, jewelry designer Jennifer Meyer Sibling style: Also at the event were sisters Erin, 35, and Sara, 36, Foster, the daughters of prolific music producer David Foster On hand, too, was Tobey Maguire's ex-wife Jennifer Meyer and sisters Erin and Sara Foster, the daughters of prolific music producer David Foster. Also on the guest list was actress Ashley Tisdale. Edie Parker is a collection of acrylic clutch handbags and designer clutches, founded and designed by Brett Heyman and are very popular with Hollywood stars. Social circle: The Foster sisters posed with Selma She's finally got some free time on her hands after hanging up her Angel wings. And recently-retired Victoria's Secret model Alessandra Ambrosio, 36, was spotted meeting a friend at Brentwood Country Mart in Los Angeles on Wednesday. The star was dressed down in a loose camel colored sweater and and ripped blue jeans. Retirement looks good on her! Alessandra Ambrosio, 36, was meeting a friend at Brentwood Country Market in Los Angeles on Wednesday She embellished the simple look with a delicate choker and a pair of cat eye sunglasses with nude rims, slinging a light brown saddle purse on one shoulder. Alessandra completed her casual outfit with white loafers featuring silver buckle detailing. Brentwood Country Mart is a favorite of the model's, who was also spotted getting ice cream there earlier in the week with her son Noah, five. The 36-year-old and longtime fiance Jamie Mazur have two children together, Noah and Anja Louise, nine. Keeping it simple: The former Victoria's Secret model wore a camel colored sweater over light blue jeans The model announced in November that she would be retiring from her longtime gig with Victoria's Secret. She told her followers on Instagram that after 17 Victoria's Secret Fashion Shows she would not be retiring her wings. 'Words cannot describe how grateful I am to have been working for this amazing brand that inspires me and women all over the world,' she wrote on Instagram. End of the road: The mother-of-two announced in November that she would be retiring from her longtime gig with Victoria's Secret Proud: 'It gives me great pride to be part the Victorias Secret movement,' she wrote on Instagram in November when she announced her retirement Though she may be retired, the model was seen showing off her iconic figure on a Malibu beach on Monday. With her Victoria's Secret days behind her there's rumors she's looking at taking on the silver screen. Last year she played Karen in Daddy's Home 2 starring Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg. She's the iconic shoe designer engaged to her beau of just over a year, Karl Stefanovic. And Jasmine Yarbrough certainly won't be complaining about her incredible diamond sparkler, which she brandished on her ring finger during lunch at Otto in Sydney on Friday. At first glance the ring is a princess-cut diamond on a four-prong setting with smaller gems hidden on the band. What a rock! Jasmine Yarbrough shows off incredible diamond 'engagement' ring during lunch at Otto restaurant in Sydney While the designer of the jaw-dropping ring is yet to be announced, the jewel is likely to have set Karl back a pretty penny. The Today show host is said to earn over $2 million a year. Meanwhile, the blonde beauty had her nails painted for the joyous occasion, choosing a rosy red shade to offset the no doubt gleaming sunlight streaming from her expensive diamante. You could poke an eye out with that ring! Jasmine's weighty bling was hard to miss as it sparkled on her ring finger Sparkler! At first glance the ring is a princess-cut diamond on a four-prong setting with smaller gems hidden on the band The bridal party? Claims Karl and Jasmine were engaged first emerged in a Fairfax report over the summer holidays Someone's a lucky girl! While the designer of the jaw-dropping ring is yet to be announced, the jewel is likely to have set Karl back a pretty penny She posted a picture to Instagram of her lunch party, which included Karl, with many of her fans deciding this was more than just a celebration of Fri-yay. 'What? Is someone engaged? Did I miss something,' one of her friends, who is actually in the photo, wrote. 'Love the ring! Wedding/Bridal party talk over lunch?' Another added. Hooray! Then, on Monday night, Jasmine appeared on Instagram in what was seemingly just a normal image from her 34th birthday party Claims Karl and Jasmine were engaged first emerged in a Fairfax report over the summer holidays. The publication claimed the couple's 'wide circle of friends' received loved-up text messages that confirmed the engagement. Then, on Monday night, Jasmine appeared on Instagram in what was seemingly just a normal image from her 34th birthday party. Is it true? The publication claimed the couple's 'wide circle of friends' received loved-up text messages that confirmed the engagement She was seen crouching down on the grass in her backyard, posing for a happy snap. But eagle-eyed fans were quick to notice: 'There's a rock on her finger!' triggering a wave of congratulatory messages on the post. It was later claimed the event may have actually been an engagement party. Social snaps showed the former runway model posing alongside a set of big neon lights that spelled out her name. Smiles all round! It was later claimed the event may have actually been an engagement party Rockin' it! But eagle-eyed fans were quick to notice: 'There's a rock on her finger!' triggering a wave of congratulatory messages on the post Hours later, images surfaced of an '&' symbol being wheeled into the venue by staff, despite the symbol not being seen in social snaps from the event. It was unclear why Jasmine would have a '&' symbol at her solo birthday party, unless the sign was actually meant to spell 'Jasmine & Karl'. Fairfax have also claimed the pair are remaining silent in public to protect a 'media deal.' The publication alleged: 'the couple have struck a (paid) media deal and intend to make a "big splash" with the news in the very near future'. Advertisement She enlisted the help of the dating experts at the Celebs Go Dating agency after the failure of her 18-month romance with Brooklyn Beckham. And Tallia Storm showed she was hot on the dating scene as she joined Jade Jones at the Celebs Go Dating pool party when the star-studded cast filmed in Cape Verde on Thursday. The Scottish songstress, 19, paraded her envy-inducing figure in a slinky swimsuit and she put the emphasis on her cleavage thanks to the ribcage neckline. Storm-ing the party: Tallia Storm paraded her envy-inducing figure in a slinky swimsuit as she joined Jade Jones (pictured right) at Celebs Go Dating pool party in Cape Verde on Thursday Glamorous Tallia also put her slender legs on display in the tiny one-piece as she added to her height in sky-scraper platform sandals featuring metallic straps that snaked around her ankle for a hint of sparkle. On the look out for love, the Still In Love hitmaker accessorised with huge sunglasses with a white frame to polish off her ethereal appearance all in white. The Glasgow native scraped her long golden tresses into a low bun to keep cool in the sweltering climes in Cape Verde, which in turn best showcased her eye-catching silver hoop earrings and youthful facial features. Despite spending the last three years mending her heartache, Tallia proved she had bounced back with poise ready to take on the dating sphere. Stealing the spotlight: Despite spending the last three years mending her heartache, the singer proved she had bounced back with poise ready to take on the dating sphere (pictured with Mike Thalassitis and Sam Thompson) In her element: Glamorous Tallia also put her slender legs on display in the tiny one-piece as she added to her height in sky-scraper platform sandals featuring metallic straps that snaked around her ankle for a hint of sparkle Tallia's co-star Jade was also on the scene in her skimpy sapphire blue one-piece costume which showed off some serious skin thanks to its cutaway details. Keen to keep her poolside look glamorous, the Celebs Go Dating star donned a floral beach wrap to bring a touch of elegance to her pool party ensemble. The gold medalist added to her petite height of 5'4" in towering platform sandals as she sashayed through the glitzy party where she was joined by a whole host of reality stars. Storm-ing the bar: The Scottish songstress commanded attention when she hit the bar in her sexy swimsuit to grab some iced beverages to keep cool in the sizzling temperatures Cosy group: Showing off her social prowess, Tallia took control of the conversation when she rubbed shoulders with Tom Read and Made In Chelsea's Ollie Locke at the glitzy pool party London Hughes was hot on their heels in her neon orange halterneck bikini which showcased her sizzling curves when she made her presence known at the pool party. The comedian showed off her quirky sense of style when she headed to the sun-drenched scene in her peep toe sandals, fastened to her ankles a huge bow. For her sexiest look yet, the Celebs Go Dating star wore a shade of red lipstick and let her raven tresses down in bouncy curls. Keen to keep her poolside look glamorous: The Celebs Go Dating star donned a floral beach wrap to bring a touch of elegance to her pool party ensemble Here come the girls! Jade, Tallia and London were in high spirits as they headed to the poolside party together, out in full force Determined not to let the contestants steal all the limelight, Lady Nadia Essex burst onto the scene with her own very eye-popping display. The dating guru struggled to contain her gravity-defying cleavage in her strapless swimsuit which clung to every inch of her phenomenal curves. Every inch the dazzling diva, Nadia accessorised with a sparkling costume jewellery necklace and huge heart earrings to bring out the glittering studs in her sky-scraper sandals. Sensational woman: London Hughes was hot on their heels in her neon orange halterneck bikini which showcased her sizzling curves when she made her presence known at the pool party Topic of conversation: Ollie, London and Jade were engrossed in conversation as they soaked up the incredible sunshine when they filmed scenes for the dating show Dazzling diva: Determined not to let the contestants steal all the limelight, Lady Nadia Essex burst onto the scene with her own very eye-popping display Star-studded contestants Love Island's Mike Thalassitis as well as Made In Chelsea's Ollie Locke and Sam Thompson were delighted to join their swimsuit-clad Celebs Go Dating co-stars. Although she has been sharing a slew of sun-drenched social media snaps during the trip, Gemma Collins appeared to be missing out on the bash. Ahead of her trip to Cape Verde, Tallia insisted she is 'so over' the aspiring photographer after she dragged out her heartache for three years in an exclusive interview with MailOnline. The songstress, who hasn't been spotted with a new man since, claimed suitors are 'threatened' by the eldest son of David and Victoria, 18, who is now dating actress Chloe Moretz, 20. Hopeless romantics! Tallia, Ollie, London and Jade joined forces at the party as they shared their hottest dating tips while filming the pool party for the E4 reality show Charming conversation: Tallia looked sizzling in her one-piece as she kept cool with her iced beverage while Ollie showed off his cheeky personality and sense of fun at the party Cheers! The star-studded Celebs Go Dating cast toasted their beverages in the hopes of dating success following their appearance in the show 'I'm SO over Brooklyn Beckham. I'm sure he's so over seeing my name with his,' she told MailOnline. 'So I'm sure it's intimidating for a guy that all people ever talk about with me is Brooklyn Beckham. 'That somebody from ages ago has continued to be brought up. Nobody wants to be compared to an ex. Nobody wants to even be in the same sentence as an ex because what's the point? 'That's a chapter of my life is gone. I've dragged my heartache from the relationship with Brooklyn in my songs over three years. Now my past relationships are in the past and I need a new man.' Hot tips: Celebs Go Dating receptionist Tom joined forces with singer Tallia and reality star Ollie at the private bash Leading man: Made In Chelsea's Sam swapped the luxury Kings Road haunts for the sun-drenched Cape Verde as he filmed Celebs Go Dating with his co-star Ollie and dating guru Nadia Party dress: Tom went shirtless to lap up all the sizzling rays of sun while Ollie donned a casual striped shirt which teased a glimpse of his muscular frame The best time! The group were seen larking about as they lounged on the comfortable cream sofas at the venue Tallia channelled the emotional pain from the split into her debut album Teenage Tears album, which she dropped late last year. The Still In Love hitmaker has burst back onto the dating scene with confidence - thanks to the Celebs Go Dating team. On the lookout for love, the Glasgow-born beauty divulged she had her eyes peeled for tall, dark and handsome men. Despite being excited, the reality star also confessed she felt 'rusty' after three years out of the dating circuit. Last minute tips! Eden and Nadia took Sam aside for a few words to give him some last minute tips on finding love, his appearance on the show follows his failed on/off romance with Made In Chelsea co-star Tiffany Watson Missing someone? Gemma Collins, also known as the GC, who has been filming with her co-stars, was not seen at the party Team trip: The reality stars and dating hopefuls have been filming the last segment of the E4 reality series in Cape Verde Tallia gushed: 'Im so excited. Its obvious bizarre as I havent dated a guy in three years! Its so mad that Im going into this room with young boys who genuinely want to date me. 'Ive gone from zero to like a million in ten minutes. Im 19, Im in my prime, I should be dating guys. I should be getting myself out there. 'Celebrity Go Dating contacted me. They said, Is this something you want to do? and I said, God is it that obvious Im single? I think its going to be epic and who knows, I might just get my Prince Charming by the end of it.' Heart on your sleeve: The reality series sees celebrities who are unlucky in love hit the dating scene with the help of dating gurus Best in the business: The dating gurus advise the whole host of reality stars on how to get a second date, how to dress, how to flirt and how to behave on a date She's the convicted drug smuggler who recently returned home to Australia following a lengthy stint in Bali's Kerobakan Prison. And after reinventing herself as an aspiring pop star, Schapelle Corby has now added a brand new look to boot. On Friday, the 40-year-old felon flaunted a new fringe as she took to Instagram to share behind-the-scenes footage from her time at a Gold Coast hair and beauty salon. Fringe benefits! Aspiring pop star and social media sensation Schapelle Corby gave fans a glimpse of her brand new look after spending the day at a salon on Friday 'Sometimes a girl needs a little pick-me-up', Schapelle captioned the upload, thankfully referring to a legal stimulant: a trip to the beauty parlour. Adding her favourite photo filter over the top of her clip, the Instagram sensation listed off the treatments she had done, including a 'spray tan, olaplex and a haircut'. The bubbly beauty then shared a second upload- a photo of her long, dark locks which was taken from behind. Bangs! The 40-year-old felon flaunted a new fringe in a short clip, which featured a bizarre photo filter Sleek! Schapelle shared a second upload- a photo of her long, dark locks which was taken from behind It's possible Schapelle drove herself to the beauty salon, given that she successfully acquired her L-plate licence earlier in the week. However, the one-time boogie board rider would have had to be accompanied by a fully qualified driver, according to Queensland's road rules. 'Driving around with the old 'L' plates on now,' she captioned a jubilant snap, that showed her holding her bright yellow plates and Queensland drivers licence. Now she can get her own Mercedes!Schapelle looked jubilant in celebratory snap as she FINALLY gets her L plate drivers licence Her ride to work is about to get WAY easier: 'Driving around with the old 'L' plates on now,' she captioned the jubilant snap, that showed her holding her bright yellow plates and Queensland drivers licence Under Queensland law, she'll have to wait twelve months until she can take a practical driving test. But it will go by like the wind for the Gold Coast based babe, who learned all about long, boring waits in the nine-years she spent in Bali's Kerobokan Prison for drug trafficking. Because she's over 25, Schapelle will not need to submit a log book - a boon for both her and mother Rosleigh Rose, who is expected to be her driving instructor. Her sister Mercedes was overjoyed upon hearing the news, taking to the post's comments section to write: 'Yewwwwwww.' Don't need THIS Mercedes anymore: Her sister Mercedes was overjoyed upon hearing the news, taking to the post's comments section to write: 'Yewwwwwww' Schapelle has been productive since she's been back in the country, already releasing a fresh, club-ready track, called 'Palm Trees.' After the media turned her heavily auto-tuned debut single into a viral sensation, news of an LP, or preferably double LP intriguingly did not eventuate. But finally, after a nail-biting few weeks, she recently appeared to hint a follow-up single is on the way, sharing a clip of the chorus to Instagram on Saturday. The long wait: Under Queensland law, she'll have to wait twelve months until she can take a practical driving test It seems critics of her first single - a collaboration with unknown pop wunderkind Nat. Z - for its heavy use of pitch modulation, will be pleased this time around. In what looked to be a short (unofficial) teaser trailer, Schapelle's un-doctored vocals could be heard in a hand-held video of a kookaburra in a tree. The songstress' familiar dulcet tones rang out to the tune of classic track 'Kookaburra (sits in the old gum tree),' originally sung by Marion Sinclair in 1932. She recently treated herself to a bubble bath following her split from ex-boyfriend Guy Vasey. And it looks like Tziporah Malkah week of indulgence has continued with the former model sneaking a scrumptious treat with her into bed, on Friday. The 44-year-old took to Instagram to share a snap of herself devouring a vanilla slice to her legions of followers. Friday night delight! Tziporah Malkah's week of indulgence continues with the former model sneaking a scrumptious treat with her into bed, on Friday 'Banilla Snice! (Vanilla slice. My fave pudding. Old Aussie style with very chemically solid custard. None of this w*g sh**!),' she wrote in the caption. Followers of the socialite, formerly known as Kate Fischer, praised her for treating herself: 'Yum. I hope u are feeling better.' 'The icing looks so thick on that,' another enviously commented. 'Nothing like a bubbly spa bath': She recently documented her bubble-bath in Thursday night by posing for a soapy selfie and sharing the cheeky snap to her legions of followers Her sweet Friday night delight comes after she treated herself to a warm bubble-bath on Thursday. Taking to Instagram in the late hours, Tziporah shared a nude selfie as she posed with a pile of soapsuds on her head. 'Nothing like a bubbly spa bath,' she wrote next to the smiley snap. Moving on: Tziporah claims she will be leaving South Australia and hopes to relocate to Sydney (pictured last year on I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here!) Fans couldn't help but notice the elated expression plastered on the former model's face, with one commenting: 'Now that's a smile! Great to see.' The care-free post comes after Tziporah made shocking allegations of mistreatment at the hands of South Australia Police. In an Instagram post shared last Saturday evening, she posted a photo that showed bruises on both her arms. Shock allegations: On Saturday evening, Tziporah took to Instagram revealing bruises on her arms that she claims were caused by police following her on Friday evening for biting boyfriend Guy Vasey She accompanied the picture with explosive claims, revealing that she had been arrested for assault after biting her on-off boyfriend, Guy Vasey. 'About 48 hours ago I bit my partner Guy Vasey. 24 hours later, as I was quietly on screen in my room, he called the police and had them come over, arrest me for assault, handcuff me and throw me into the paddy wagon,' Tziporah began her post. She continued: 'I was finally taken to the ... cop shop where amongst other things I was dragged along the floor, pushed and shoved and made to lie in my own urine in a cold room with no blanket. They would not allow me to take my medication or see a Dr.' South Australia police confirmed to Daily Mail Australia that a '44-year-old woman from Port Elliot was arrested and charged with aggravated assault following a domestic incident at a Port Elliot home last night (26 January).' Turbulent story: One of Australia's most prominent models of the 1990s, Tziporah suffered a dramatic fall from grace following the end of her five-year relationship to James Packer in 1998 They stated that: 'She was also issued with a Police Interim Intervention Order and was bailed to appear in Victor Harbor Magistrates Court on 5 February.' Police made no further comment in relation to Tziporah's accusations of mistreatment and are 'not aware of any official complaint having been made'. In her post, Tziporah also added that she will leave South Australia, where she has been living in part since she began her relationship with Guy last year. 'Once I have organised moving vans and a police escort, Ill be packing my stuff & leaving Port Elliot. Ill most likely relocate to Sydney. Edgecliff, Double Bay hopefully,' the former model claimed. 'As for Guy Vasey, I wish him all the best', she concluded. They are the doting parents of Nelly, aged three, and 10-month-old Arthur. But Billie Faiers and her fiance Greg Shepherd took some time off their parenting duties when they headed out for a romantic lunch, in Essex on Friday. The Mummy Diaries star, 28, ensured she secured the adoring gaze of her lover, 29, with her most fashionable ensemble yet as she made the cobbles her catwalk. Day off Mummy (Diaries) duties! Billie Faiers caught the adoring gaze of her fiance Greg Shepherd in a trendy ensemble as they headed out to lunch, in Essex on Friday Former TOWIE star Billie looked bold in her plaid trousers which best showcased her slender waistline, just ten months after giving birth to her second child. The reality star draped her furry jacket over her shoulders in a trendy fashion and she completed her look with a stylish baker boy hat, which drew framed her curls. Meanwhile, Greg dressed his figure in a biscuit coloured jumper and skinny blue jeans for their low-key lunch date. Making the Essex cobbles her catwalk: The ex-TOWIE star looked bold in her plaid trousers which best showcased her slender waistline, just ten months after giving birth again The lovebirds grabbed a bite to eat at Alec's Restaurant where they spent some quality alone time together. Sparks flew when they met for the first time in 2011 and Greg popped the question during a sun-drenched holiday to the Maldives in 2014. The pair recently returned to the Maldives with their brood and Billie's mother Suzanne Wells, 48. Fabulous figure: The reality star draped her furry jacket over her shoulders in a trendy fashion and she completed her look with a stylish baker boy hat, which drew framed her curls Billie and Sam first appeared in TOWIE before they embarked on their own reality series project The Mummy Diaries. While Sam's pregnancies take the central focus of the screen time, Billie and her brood make appearances on the reality show. The mother-of-two defended her decision to put her daughter Nelly in front of the camera at a young age in an exclusive interview with MailOnline's FEMAIL section. Cosy couple: The lovebirds grabbed a bite to eat at Alec's Restaurant where they spent some quality alone time together Billie insisted her little girl will tell her if she doesn't want to star in the Faiers' family television show. 'I think for us we kind of feel like we've got the best home movies ever, so much is there. She's now getting used to seeing herself,' she told FEMAIL. 'The other day I was showing her a magazine and there were pictures of her and she's so intrigued it's hilarious. "I can't believe I'm in this book mummy!'' 'It was really funny. I think when she's older and if she doesn't want to be filmed, I'm not worried because she's definitely very vocal.' Anthony Mundine wants to ask Danny Green for a third fight, 'not in the jungle... but where people can pay money' to see it. But it takes two to tango, and Danny, 44, certainly didn't give any indication that he's going to hold back when he enters I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here on Sunday. 'I am not in any way intimidated by that meek and mild little fella. He is acting like a spoiled child and sometimes a spoiled child needs a smack,' he told BW this week. 'Sometimes a spoiled child needs a smack': Danny Green signals a 'rumble in the jungle' when he enters I'm A Celeb as he insists 'I'm not afraid by that meek and mild little fella' When pressed further on his thoughts on his longtime rival, Danny continued: 'Anthony Mundine is just fairly meek and mild, he is not a strong character and therefore that lack of strength shows in his behaviour.' Danny isn't too pleased about some of the orders Anthony's been barking since he entered the jungle last week - a week ahead of him. And while he didn't confirm he intends to fight high rival when he comes face-to-face with him once again in the coming days, he didn't rule anything out. Danny said: 'He has already started speaking some untruths so I guess I will play it be ear'. Not for me: Meanwhile, Anthony plans to to ask Danny for a third fight, 'not in the jungle... but where people can pay money' to see it Two to tango: But it takes two to tango, and Danny, 44, certainly didn't give any indication that he's going to hold back when he enters I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here on Sunday Meanwhile, BW also asked Anthony for his opinions on Danny, and the controversial former NRL star surprisingly said the pair could one day be mates- on one condition. 'Give me that third fight and we can be cool for life. We can go fishing, we can hang out, we can be great mates but I wont respect you unless you give me that third fight,' he declared. Recognising a good business decision when it hits him in the face, Anthony insisted there's no point 'getting it on' for free, when the public 'pay money to see that sort of stuff.' Here we go! 'I am not in any way intimidated by that meek and mild little fella. He is acting like a spoiled child and sometimes a spoiled child needs a smack,' he told BW this week The pair famously faced off in two pay-to-view fights which saw Anthony win in 2006 and Danny in 2017. No doubt millions of fans will be keen to see how the two react when they meet in the South African jungle on I'm A Celebrity's gripping live show due to screen on Sunday night. Anthony, who is already in the jungle, has been appointed team leader, meaning Danny will technically be under his thumb. However, speaking to hosts Doctor Chris Brown and Julia Morris on Thursday night, defiant Danny said he'd be playing by his own rules. Not pleased: Danny isn't too pleased about some of the orders Anthony's been barking since he entered the jungle last week - a week ahead of his entrance this Sunday Kylie Jenner has reportedly chosen a name for her baby girl. And fans went nuts on Twitter trying to guess what that moniker could be, from Kouture to Storm to Jessie to Christ. The Keeping Up With The Kardashians star is expecting her first child this month with rapper Travis Scott. Name game: Kylie Jenner has reportedly chosen a name for her baby girl. And fans went nuts on Twitter trying to guess what that moniker could be, from Storm to Jessie to Christ; seen in May Daddy: The Keeping Up With The Kardashians star is expecting her first child this month with rapper Travis Scott; seen in April On Friday People said that a name has definitely been selected, but no hints were dropped. In January, one tweeter said that they heard the name could be Storm. But now other named have been added, including Jessie and Christ. One favorite is Kouture Jenner. The name she for sure won't be choosing is Dream; that's what Blac Chyna calls her daughter with Rob Kardashian. Ky crib: The star prefers to stay at her Hidden Hills, California home than go out; and People has claimed she often spends the night at mom Kris Jenner's mansion when she is lonely Chyna had son King Cairo with Kylie's ex Tyga. The site also claimed Kylie will not be selling the baby photos and she will be staying out of the public eye after the child is born. The star prefers to stay at her Hidden Hills, California home than go out; and People has claimed she often spends the night at mom Kris Jenner's mansion when she is lonely. The same outlet reported in late January that the Lip Kit mogul, who is 'anxious' about expecting the child, wants a pain free birth and is ready to use medicine to make it easier. Baby's arrival: She has less than four weeks to go, according to People; seen in September As far as how the youngest Jenner feels about having a baby so young, the insider says that she is certainly apprehensive. 'She is nervous about the birth and anxious about pain,' noted the insider. 'She wants to have an easy birth and is open to pain medicine.' It was also added that her nursery is for her little girl is 'pink, pink and pink.' And sister Kourtney has been telling her what organic food and diapers to buy. As far as Scott, 25, he is 'around and supportive' but he won't be popping the question anytime soon. 'They have no plans to get married, or even engaged. Kylie expects to rely mostly on her family for help and she seems fine with that,' said the source. Kylie had not been spotted for months until she was seen with her mother Kris Jenner and best friend Jordyn Woods at a construction site in Hidden Hills, California last week. Advice queen: Sister Kourtney has been telling her what organic food and diapers to buy She showed off barely a hint of bump as she wore a black sweat suit leading many to believe she may have already had her baby. The siren also covered her tummy when she appeared in a Calvin Klein ad shared last week. She was with Khloe, Kim, Kourtney and Kendall but it is not known when the shoot took place. Meanwhile, the fashionista is putting her birthing plans into action as she prepares for the impending arrival of her child by taking on a discreet Lamaze class online. TMZ reported that the elusive reality starlet has taken to the web to help with the soothing birthing techniques, with Woods as her partner. Sources told the site that Kylie has enlisted her best friend to help her through the process, buying up baby books to get them both get clued up. The gossip website also suggested that Kylie wanted her lamaze to remain under the radar, so instead of taking part in a class, she will instead take lessons off the internet. Lamaze is a birthing technique that includes breathing, stretching and changing positions throughout childbirth. She has gone under the knife to enhance her God given beauty. So of course Katie Price shocked her fans when she shared a rare throwback to her youth on Instagram on Friday to celebrate her natural looks. The glamorous television personality, 39, looked worlds away from her cosmetically-enhanced looks in the extreme close up. Throwing it right back A post shared by Katie Price (@officialkatieprice) on Feb 2, 2018 at 4:30am PST Famed for her curves, Katie looked beautiful when she put the focus on her stunning facial features by sharing the cropped picture. In the rare snap, the model highlighted her youthful beauty with deftly touches of make-up to bring out her features. Katie's legion of loyal fans went into a frenzy when they flooded the post with gushing compliments about her looks. 'Throwing it right back': Katie Price (pictured in London, November 2017) was unrecognisable in her rare throwback snap as her fans celebrate her natural beauty Impressed: Katie's legion of loyal fans went into a frenzy when they flooded the post with gushing compliments about her looks Leading the way, one fan wrote: 'This is the best you ever looked.' Another agreed: 'Best version of you.' Others remarked: 'Beautiful! we all hate getting older but please leave your face alone now'; 'natural beauty'; 'look how pretty you used to be'; 'absolutely stunning'; 'you were so beautiful Katie' as well as 'no need to ever have changed that face'. (sic) Ever since then, the businesswoman has undergone rhinoplasty, teeth veneers, bottom lifts and liposuction. 'Best version of you': Others remarked 'Beautiful! we all hate getting older but please leave your face alone now' as well as 'don't even look like u' (sic) Revealed: Ever since then, the businesswoman has undergone rhinoplasty, teeth veneers, bottom lifts and liposuction The glamorous reality television star also has regular Botox and dermal filler regime. Back in 1996, Katie first rose to fame when she appeared as a Page 3 girl for The Sun at the tender age of 18. Katie is mum to Harvey, 14, from her relationship with Dwight Yorke, and Junior, 11, and Princess, 9, from her marriage to Peter Andre, Jett, 4, and Bunny, 3, with husband Kieran Hayler, 30. The brunette beauty adopted the alter ego Jordan when she posed for an array of topless shoots for lads' mags including Nuts, FHM and ZOO. She went from a size 32B to a 32FF in her first breast augmentation and the model went onto have a further seven boob jobs, with her latest operation in 2017. People used to think Jennifer Aniston and Ellen DeGeneres might have been more than just 'friends.' The actress surprised the host for her 60th birthday on Friday, where she admitted she was once believed to be gay. The 48-year-old was reminiscing about the early 90s when she first met Ellen, and about the people she used to hang out with and music she was into. Scroll down for video Happy birthday! Jennifer Aniston looked stunning as she surprised Ellen DeGeneres for her 60th birthday on Friday 'The Indigo Girls, Melissa Etheridge, kd lang, my best friend Dre was with me always,' she recalled. 'And I do think there was a moment were people might have not known if I was possibly on your team or not.' Ellen surmised 'a lot of people had crushes on you and they were hoping', and she didn't let her guest live it down when she asked 'how do "you guys" ever know?' 'What are the clues? I don't know how it works,' The Friends star admitted. Hot: Jen looked amazing for her surprise appearance, clad in a plunging top and figure-hugging leather pants 'Anything is possible': During the chat she also give a spark of hope for the Friends reunion fans have been baying for over a decade 'Play for your team': The actress, who was one of Ellen's first ever guests 15 years ago, said people used to think she was gay Jen looked amazing for her surprise appearance, clad in a plunging top and figure-hugging leather pants. She was just one of the famous face delivering a pre-recorded birthday message to the new sexagenarian, including Bono, Taylor Swift, Tom Hanks, Hillary Clinton, Chris Pratt, Meryl Streep. However Aniston was revealed to be only pretending to pre-record, as a screen pulled back to reveal she was just feet away. Surprise! She had pretended to be delivering a pre-recorded birthday message, but then revealed she was backstage Boo! Ellen tried the old gag of scaring her guest, this time with a clown Ninja: But Jen sensed his approach, and turned to give chase instead During the chat she also give a spark of hope for the Friends reunion fans have been baying for over a decade. 'Anything is a possibility Ellen... Anything. Right?' she responed when asked if the six would ever re-unite. 'I mean, George Clooney got married!' she added. Charming: Channing Tatum also arrived with a bouquet of flowers Magic Mike: He had been 'suspended in a box above the audience for two hours' Kim Kardashian has taken her baby Chicago out in public for the first time two weeks after the child was welcomed via gestational carrier on January 15. On Friday the 37-year-old beauty was seen pushing the little girl in a baby stroller as she ran errands in Los Angeles without husband Kanye West or their two older children North, aged four, and Saint, aged two, in tow. Though the baby's face could hardly be seen as she was bundled up in blankets, her eyes, nose and lips could be slightly glimpsed. Scroll down for video First sighting: Kim Kardashian has taken her baby Chicago out in public for the first time two weeks after the child was welcomed via gestational carrier There she is! On Friday the 37-year-old beauty was seen pushing the little girl in a baby stroller as she ran errands in Los Angeles Sweet: Though the baby's face could hardly be seen as she was bundled up in blankets, her eyes, nose and lips could be slightly glimpsed The bundle of joy appeared to be sleeping as Kim looked down at her third child while in a red-and-white lobby. The stroller was black and light grey with a white cover and a large storage area below. Kim was dressed up for the occasion as she wore a nearly sheer beige tank top and grey Yeezy sweatpants with six-inch snakeskin boots. The third one: The stunner moved some blankets around but was careful not to wake Chicago Her look: Kim was dressed up for the occasion as she wore a tank top and grey Yeezy sweatpants with five-inch snakeskin boots Sleep tight: The Calabasas native lifted the top to check on the baby, who has been nicknamed Chi, which is pronounced Shy Now all covered up: Later she pulled down the white cover Kim wore her blonde hair down and stick straight and didn't seem to have a purse with her. After being seen in the building, Kim and Chi were in a parking lot as one of her bodyguards looked on. The KKW Beauty mogul struggled to detach the car seat from the stroller and get into the back seat of her SUV. This comes just as the star has been frantically hawking her new perfume line which comes in heart shaped bottles and is called Bae as well as Ride Or Die. On Thursday she was sending out bottles to her family like Khloe and Kourtney as well as her enemies like Chloe Grace Moretz and Pink. Hands on: Kim spoke to a bodyguard when she got into the garage But she did all the work: The guard opened the back of the SUV while Kim saw to Chicago Toned as always: The Vogue cover girl showed off her tiny waistline Not easy: The daughter of Kris Jenner appeared to be taking the car seat off the stroller And over the weekend Kim shared several provocative photos from a beach shoot where she was wearing Bo Derek style braids from the 1979 movie 10. But Kim has said she has been spending a majority of her time nesting inside her new Hidden Hills mega mansion, which was just remodeled for the second time. Chicago was welcomed on January 15 at 12:47 am weighing 7lb 6oz. Strong: She didn't need help as she worked the black and grey stroller Looking out for his client: The guard just looked on as Kim had a tough time The reality TV siren shared the news in a message on her website titled, 'She's here! We're so in love.' She wrote: 'Kanye and I are happy to announce the arrival of our healthy, beautiful baby girl. 'We are incredibly grateful to our surrogate who made our dreams come true with the greatest gift one could give and to our wonderful doctors and nurses for their special care. North and Saint are especially thrilled to welcome their baby sister. Love, Kim Kardashian West.' There she goes! The TV star finally got the car seat detached as she hoisted it into the back seat of the car Kim and Kanye were both in the delivery room with the carrier, although the rapper was behind a curtain until after the baby was born, according to TMZ. Kim was the first person to hold the baby girl for skin-to-skin bonding, but the surrogate was allowed some contact with the child after the birth. Her sisters Kourtney, Khloe and mother Kris were also at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in L.A., where the family's doctor Dr. Paul Crane oversaw the delivery. Their decision to go through a gestational carrier for their third child came after Kim suffered complications with her two pregnancies, experiencing early-onset preeclampsia with North and further troubles during labor with Saint. The fam: Her husband Kanye West and her two older children North, aged four, and Saint, aged two, were not there Kim previously admitted that she's found the experience to be very stressful. She shared: 'Anyone that says or thinks it is just the easy way out is just completely wrong. I think it is so much harder to go through it this way, because you are not really in control. 'And, you know, obviously you pick someone that you completely trust and that you have a good bond and relationship with, but ... knowing that I was able to carry my first two babies and not my baby now, it's hard for me. 'So, it's definitely a harder experience than I anticipated just in the control area.' She also admitted she had trouble explaining the process to her children. Big digs: The Selfish author has said she has been spending a majority of her time nesting inside her new Hidden Hills mega mansion, which was just remodeled She chose not to invite the carrier to her lavish baby shower in November to avoid confusing her little ones. Kim said at the time: 'I, um, I did not [invite the carrier]. I did introduce her to my family. I introduced her to my family earlier that day. And, you know, I just thought, I don't know, it was like a weird decision to have to make. 'Of course, I would've wanted her to be there and be a part of it, but I hadn't really gone that far in explaining it to my kids yet. 'So I have to figure that out first before they really see and then if we're celebrating, you know, her, I just want to celebrate the baby. I think I have to explain it to my kids first and figure out how I'm going to explain it to them.' Naughty gal: And over the weekend Kim shared several provocative photos from a beach shoot where she was wearing Bo Derek style braids from the 1979 movie 10 Kim and Kanye started dating in 2012 shortly after the end of her 72-day marriage to Kris Humphries. They wed in 2014 in a lavish ceremony in Italy. Their relationship hit a rough patch after they both endured a traumatic end to 2016, with Kim being robbed at gunpoint in Paris, France, in October, and the Famous rapper being hospitalized after suffering a breakdown just one month later. Meanwhile, two of Kim's sisters are pregnant. Khloe is seven months along while her half-sister Kylie Jenner is eight months along. He has been enjoying a romance with 19-year-old star Sofia Richie. But Scott Disickwas spotted flirting it up with another woman on his latest night out. The 34-year-old reality star was spotted getting close to a pretty blonde while in the VIP section of the Concierge Club in Toronto late Thursday night. Getting flirty: Scott Disick was spotted getting close to a pretty blonde while in the VIP section of the Concierge Club in Toronto late Thursday night Out of sight, out of mind? Not seen on the outing was Scott's 19-year-old girlfriend Sofia Richie who was visiting a luxury resort in Tucson, Arizona on the same day Scott and the mystery woman were spotted drinking and sharing some laughs together as they partied it up together. He even grabbed her hand at a certain point. Not seen on the outing was Scott's 19-year-old girlfriend Sofia Richie who had posted sultry swimsuit snaps from her luxury resort in Tucson, Arizona on the same day. The blonde stunner showed off her cleavage in a very low cut clinging black dress. Chatting it up: It certainly seemed to be a fun evening out Charming: Scott and the mystery woman were spotted drinking and sharing some laughs together as they partied it up together Feeling it: Scott even grabbed her hand at a certain point She also sported a thick black choker while holding onto a huge glass of wine. Her blonde locks were worn down in a middle-part as her evening make-up was completed with smokey eye. Scott looked handsome in a black sweater as his hair was slicked back and sported a considerable amount of scruff. Having a good time: The two certainly seemed flirtatious toward one another Wow factor: The blonde stunner showed off her cleavage in a very low cut clinging black dress Showing her style: She also sported a thick black choker while holding onto a huge glass of wine Homesick? Sofia made sure to show off what Scott was missing back at home as she posted a sultry midriff baring selfie on Instagram Pals: Though his younger girlfriend was not there he was joined by a companion as his best friend Alec Monopoly was also there He was in attendance at the event to celebrate the five year anniversary of The Concierge Club at The Globe and Mail Centre. Though his younger girlfriend was not there he was joined by a companion as his best friend Alec Monopoly was also there. Sofia made sure to show off what Scott was missing back at home as she posted a sultry midriff baring selfie on Instagram. The 31-year-old artist attempted to keep a low-profile as he had the bottom half of his face covered with a black surgical mask. Cool guy: Scott was certainly prepared for the harsh Toronto cold as he sported a green fur-lined parka Pose off: The two certainly seemed to be the life of the party Showing his style: He sported a black sweater with matching trousers and white Nike trainers Hanging out: He was interviewed by ET Canada Host Sangita Patel Dynamic duo: The 31-year-old artist attempted to keep a low-profile as he had the bottom half of his face covered with a black surgical mask Alec even showed off his skill as hew hand-painted his signature piece which is an illustration of Rich Uncle Pennybags from the Monopoly board game with 'Alec' painted by it. Scott and Sofia went public with their romance in September, although they were linked as far back as May. Flaunting it: Alec rocked a denim Supreme x Louis Vuitton parka before shedding it during the party Talent: Alec even showed off his skill as hew hand-painted his signature piece Artful dodger: The finished product was an illustration of Rich Uncle Pennybags from the Monopoly board game with 'Alec' painted by it Tremendous trio: Scott and Alec were more than happy to pose with the presenter Fantastic four: Avery Andon, Scott , Monica Gomez and Alec - pictured from left to right - happily posed together Hanging out: Scott and Avery shared a laugh at the event Party people: Scott and Alec were surrounded by several beauties for a snap He shares co-parenting of his three children - Mason, eight, Penelope, five, and Reign, three - with his ex-girlfriend Kourtney Kardashian. After nine years together, Scott and Kourtney called it off in 2015. Since they broke up however, the PrettyLittleThings designer has been besotted with boxer Younes Bendjima, 24. Wow factor: Sofia seemed to enjoy some alone time As a high-flying human rights lawyer, Amal's life was already exceptional when she met her future husband. Now, as the wife of Mrs George Clooney, the 39-year-old has been welcomed into the inner world of the Hollywood elite. On Friday, Amal was busy spending time with one of the new friends she has made since marrying her actor husband - Isla Fisher. Amal's life in Hollywood! Mrs Clooney enjoys a hike with actress pal Isla Fisher as the two catch up in LA on Friday Plenty to talk about: The two are perhaps natural friends, with both mothers of small children The Oxford graduate and her Australian actress pal took a hike together at Los Angeles' popular hiking trail Runyon Canyon, with both women wearing suitable leggings and sneakers for their walk. Isla paired hers with a cozy Wildfox sweater and Sunday Somewhere shades, while Amal opted for a black T-shirt, Linda Farrow sunglasses and kept a Mr & Mrs Italy jacket around her waist in case of any cold weather. It was clear the two were close, with Isla laughing as Amal chatted. The two are perhaps natural friends, with both mothers of small children. Checking in: The Oxford graduate and her Australian actress pal took a hike together at Los Angeles' popular hiking trail Runyon Canyon Isla, 41, has two daughters - ten-year-old Olive, and six-year-old Elula - and a son, two-year-old Montgomery. Meanwhile Amal and her husband have twins Ella and Alexander, who will turn one in June. The friends were also both adults when they moved to America. Part of the elite: 39-year-old Amal has been welcomed into the inner world of Hollywood Well traveled: Amal and her young family currently split their time between properties in England, Los Angeles, Lake Como, Italy, and Los Cabos, Mexico Isla, who is married to British actor Sacha Baron Cohen, was born in Oman to Scottish parents, but moved to Australia at the age of six. Amal was born in Lebanon, but raised in England from the age of two. Amal and her young family currently split their time between properties in England, Los Angeles, Lake Como, Italy, and Los Cabos, Mexico. This week actor George opened up about his first meeting with Amal - saying they felt an instant attraction. Oh he didn't! This week actor George opened up about his first meeting with Amal - saying they felt an instant attraction Explaining how they first met, George told David Letterman on his My Next Guest Needs No Introduction Netflix show: 'A mutual friend of ours said, "Im stopping by and can I bring my friend?" And I was like, "Of course." 'And the funniest thing was my mom and dad were visiting, so my parents were there, and we just talked and we stayed up all night talking and then, you know, I got her email address cause she was going to send me some pictures of my parents and then, we started writing and I didnt really, I didnt know if she wanted to go out with me. 'I just thought, you know, we were buddies.' Keeping fit together: The two have plenty in common Fans have recently noticed her uncanny likeness to My Name Is Earl actress Jaime Pressly. But on Friday, 27-year-old Margot Robbie was in a class of her own when she attended a Peter Rabbit photo call in West Hollywood. The Australian beauty rocked a light blue shirt dress adorned with cute pictures of bunnies for the promotional event. Scroll down to see video Unique: On Friday, 27-year-old Margot Robbie was in a class of her own when she attended a Peter Rabbit photo call in West Hollywood The Suicide Squad actress' thigh skimming garment showed off plenty of Robbie's slim pins. The breakout star of The Wolf Of Wall Street paired the cute item with a pair of orange ballet-style flat shoes. The Focus star wore her blonde tresses pinned back in a high, loose bun. Shapely gams: The Suicide Squad actress' thigh skimming garment showed off plenty of Robbie's slim pins Blonde bombshell: The Focus star wore her blonde tresses pinned back in a high, loose bun Pals: Here the stunner is seen with (L-R) Elizabeth Debicki, James Corden, Rose Byrne, Domhnall Gleeson, and Will Gluck Recently, eagle-eyed fans spotted Robbie's uncanny similarity to 40-year-old actress Jaime Pressly. Film buffs went wild over Margot's secret Hollywood twin, with many declaring that the Australian beauty is a 'younger version' of the Mom star. With their full lips, striking bone structure and golden tresses, their similarity is undeniable - prompting fans to flood Twitter with memes comparing the two. Seeing double! Recently, eagle-eyed fans spotted Robbie's uncanny similarity to 40-year-old actress Jaime Pressly. Seen together in December 2017, with Allison Janney Separated at birth: With their full lips, striking bone structure and golden tresses, their similarity is undeniable - prompting fans to flood Twitter with memes comparing the two One baffled fan penned: 'But like, Margot Robbie and Jaime Pressly are the same person just in different lighting right?' Another added: 'Oh my god it just hit me that Margot Robbie is young Jaime Pressly I feel like my eyes have been opened to the Hotness Matrix.' 'Has anyone CONFIRMED that Jaime King and Margot Robbie are different people?' yet another user asked. What the? Fans were left baffled by the similarities Denial: Some fans refused to believe they weren't the same person Australia and Indonesia have upgraded defence ties. Defence Minister Marise Payne and her Indonesian counterpart Ryamizard Ryacudu signed the agreement on the sidelines of a meeting in Perth with South East Asian ministers. Senator Payne said strengthening defence cooperation would help both countries counter mutual security threats, including maritime and terrorism. She will continue discussions with defence ministers from Singapore, Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei, Thailand and Indonesian on Friday. With the so-called Islamic State caliphate mostly crushed in Iraq and Syria, the countries are making sure they're ready to keep returned foreign fighters at bay. Thousands of babies resulting from the rapes of Rohingya women in Myanmar will start arriving in the Bangladesh refugee camps in the next few months. Since late August, the exodus of Rohingya Muslims crossing the border has ballooned to an estimated 688,000 including 399,000 children. Villagers were massacred, homes slashed and burned, women raped and babies thrown on fires and burnt alive, according to refugee accounts. Labor senator Lisa Singh and Nationals MP Andrew Broad have just returned from visiting the camps near Cox's Bazar where they saw the work of UNICEF Australia. The pair visited a "child friendly space" at one of the camps where kids were doing art work. Among the innocent pictures of flowers and trees were sinister depictions of what had happened in children's home villages. "Burning houses, Army helicopters shooting fire at the houses, people hanging from trees," Senator Singh told AAP. "It was just really raw and brought the conflict to life." The politicians met with medical teams and were briefed on the plight of pregnant rape victims. "There are concerns what will happen with those children - will they be abandoned?" Senator Singh said, adding that it was too late for a termination. Around the same time, rape babies will start being born, the refugee camps will be hit monsoon rains around April and May. An estimated 80,000 tents will have to be repositioned to avoid flooding and landslides. "The problem at the moment is they need more land," Senator Singh said, adding there were negotiations going on between aid groups and the Bangladesh government. Mr Broad said the visit was confronting and put into perspective so-called "first world problems" in Australia. "Me being a farmer, I put my very practical hat on and looked at one of the water systems they put up in the camp and it's so similar to the stock and domestic water system I put up at my own farm," he told AAP. Since coming home Mr Broad, who has an eight-year-old foster daughter, has spent a lot of time thinking about children he met in the camps who were around the same age. "When she was complaining the other day about having to unpack the dishwasher, I showed her a video of a girl her age who was hauling water out of a well and carrying it up to do the washing," he said. He's doubtful people will be repatriated back to Myanmar any time soon. The Australian government has donated $31.5 million to deal with the crisis. "I think post-February we're going to have to do some more," Mr Broad said. More indigenous students are staying on until Year 12 than ever before, new figures show. The Australian Bureau of Statistics' annual report card on schools, released on Friday, shows the retention rate of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students rose from 59.8 per cent in 2016 to 62.4 per cent in 2017. "These new figures show us that more students than ever, who identify as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, are staying at school until Grade 12," ABS spokesman Stephen Collett said. The retention rate was 47.2 per cent a decade ago. The non-indigenous retention rate for 2017 was 86 per cent, up from 85.5 per cent in 2016. The share of students enrolled in government schools has also risen from 65.4 per cent in 2016 to 65.6 per cent in 2017. It reverses the shift towards non-government schooling seen over the past two decades, Mr Collett said. The data showed there were 9444 schools in Australia, down from 9562 a decade ago, with 3.85 million students enrolled across the country. The proportion of students in independent schools was 14.5 per cent, with 19.9 per cent in Catholic schools. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said in his first major speech for the year, delivered in Toowoomba on Thursday, 2018 would be a year of school funding reform. "We have delivered the biggest reform to school funding in our nation's history including an extra $23.5 billion to schools nationally," Mr Turnbull said. "And now (consultant) David Gonski's second review will make sure the extra money improves results and gives our kids the world-class education that they need." Malcolm Turnbull has his sights set on passing company tax cuts to boost jobs and welfare reforms to balance the budget when federal parliament resumes for the year next week. The prime minister and Opposition Leader Bill Shorten will start Monday on their knees at the traditional church service to open the parliamentary year in Canberra. The reflective tone will continue later in the morning with a memorial service for former Labor government minister Barry Cohen. Mr Turnbull and Treasurer Scott Morrison have talked up the government's aim of bringing a second tranche of corporate tax cuts to parliament in the opening weeks. The bill, which has no introduction date yet, is key to building on already-strong jobs growth and business confidence levels, they say. In the upper house, the Liberals' Jim Molan will become the latest senator to be sworn in, replacing the NSW Nationals' Fiona Nash who was disqualified due to her dual citizenship. One Nation senator Fraser Anning is set to make a short statement indicating his resignation from Pauline Hanson's party and intention to sit as an independent, representing rural and regional Queensland. Senator Anning has written to the Senate President Scott Ryan saying he feels "unable to comply with the conditions that the (One Nation) party has attempted to impose on me". Senator Hanson has also written to Senator Ryan recommending Senator Anning be referred to the High Court over his alleged "bankrupt" status. But the major parties won't be supporting the referral and Senator Anning - who had a bankruptcy petition against him withdrawn last year - denies having any eligibility problems. With NSW Labor senator Sam Dastyari having resigned from parliament on January 25, the Senate will withdraw a motion to refer him to the privileges committee. Labor has chosen former NSW premier Kristina Keneally to replace him, but the timing of her swearing-in will depend on when the NSW parliament's two houses can formally endorse her. The government is edging closer to a win on its welfare reform bill in the Senate with the backing of One Nation and the Nick Xenophon Team. Drug testing of welfare recipients will be dumped from the bill, which seeks to toughen compliance measures and streamline payments. Also on the government's priority list is the passing of laws to set up the Regional Investment Corporation, which could be derailed due to arguments over senator pairs in the wake of the resignation of independent Jacqui Lambie last year. Leader of the House Christopher Pyne has threatened to refer a number of Labor MPs to the High Court over citizenship issues if the opposition does not act first. But Labor - which has lost Batman MP David Feeney over the citizenship fiasco - won't make the referrals unless coalition MPs with doubts over their heads are included in a "prisoner swap", which the government initially voted down in the final days of parliament last year. NXT member Rebekha Sharkie won't be referring herself to the court over her citizenship issues unless the "job lot" is agreed. Meanwhile, reports are due from inquiries into the implications of recent High Court decisions and a bill to make the ABC "fair and balanced". Victoria's attorney-general Martin Pakula has defended the implementation of stricter bail laws, saying the government won't rush the "extremely complex" changes. The government had been accused of dragging its feet on the bail reforms, scheduled to come into effect on July 1, after they were passed by parliament last June in the wake of the fatal Burke Street attack. "These are the most profound bail changes in Victorian history and they're extremely complex," Mr Pakula told 3AW on Friday, insisting there were good reasons for the delay. WHO IS LABOR'S CANDIDATE, GED KEARNEY? * Ged (Geraldine) Kearney has been formally announced as Bill Shorten's star candidate for the Batman by-election. * She has been President of The Australian Council of Trade Unions since 2010. * As president, Ms Kearney has spoken out in favour of a Royal Commission into the banks and wants avenues for the public to tell their stories of bank misdeeds. She's also campaigned against penalty rate cuts and argued for the provision of paid family violence leave. * She became a registered nurse in 1985 and has worked in numerous roles across the public and private sectors. * She lives in Melbourne and grew up in the city's inner suburb of Richmond. * She's the mother of four children. * And Director of CBUS Super Fund. * Ms Kearney describes herself as a "tragic" fan of the Richmond Tigers. A NSW woman will give birth in jail after being sentenced for sexually abusing a 17-year-old student when she was a teacher at an elite Sydney private school. The 34-year-old pregnant woman - who's due to give birth in May - pleaded guilty to five counts of sexual intercourse with a person under her care over three months in 2016 when she worked at Sydney Grammar School. Judge Paul Lakatos in the NSW District Court on Friday sentenced the woman to at least seven months in jail saying he considered there was no other alternative but a full-time prison term. The mother of a NSW man, who was hog-tied, bashed and fatally stabbed by his half-brother, says she's haunted by images of her son's final hours when he was "begging for his life". Trent Errington, 31, and his then-girlfriend, Rhiannon Lisa Bloodsworth, 24, were in October found guilty of the manslaughter of Jay Cerin while staying at his Sydney home in August 2015. "I couldn't even kiss my son goodbye because you both ran and left him to rot," Fiona Cerin told the NSW Supreme Court during a sentence hearing on Friday. In a victim impact statement, Ms Cerin says she still gets nightmares, depression and anxiety thinking about "how scared the poor boy must have been and the pain he must have suffered during that time by someone he trusted". "All while begging for his life and you still didn't care. I hope that you are both haunted by those images as I am," she said. Errington poured bleach over his sibling's face and down his throat when he found him purple-faced and not breathing after the attack. He and Bloodsworth later concocted a false cover story that Errington had walked in on his then 26-year-old half-brother attempting to rape Bloodsworth. Relatives and friends cried in the courtroom as Ms Cerin slammed the duo's lack of remorse, stating life for her small family ended the day her son died. "My daughter suffers from panic attacks and my mother's health has deteriorated from the stress," she said. "This heartbreak and mental torture is for life. Then you continue to dismiss his character by false accusations of rape." Errington showed no emotion as Ms Cerin questioned why she hadn't seen him shed a tear for her son, but noted he now had a teardrop tattoo under his eye. "Imagine how sickened I felt when I was told that this was a tough symbol to show that you have killed someone," she said. "That is another insult towards Jay and my family." Ms Cerin said the former lovers "walked all over" her big-hearted and caring son, when the drug addicts stole his lizards, clothes and never paid rent. "All that, and he continued to want you in his life and loved you as a brother," she said. A former Hell's Angel who featured in a social media video with rugby league player Jarryd Hayne has been jailed with another ex-bikie for bashing and extorting two other men involved in a drug deal. Prosecutors are unsure how much methamphetamine Christopher Bloomfield and Rhys Mirkin supplied but estimate it was an ounce, leaving their victims with a $16,000 debt after the 2013 deal. Former Gold Coast Titans junior Bloomfield, who featured in a controversial video with Hayne in 2016, was sentenced to at least 11 months behind bars while Mirkin well spend a minimum nine months behind bars. Is it a car? Is it a boat? No, it's a 1960s Amphicar which has left local Sydney residents stunned after driving effortlessly down a ramp and into the harbour for a cruise. Almost 60 years after being first launched into Sydney Harbour, the amphibious vehicle made a splash on Friday before heading to the Gosford Classic Car Museum, which has purchased the 1966 Amphicar 770. An estimated 4000 Amphicars were made back in the 1960s with only about 100 remaining in the world. Three or four of those are thought to be in Australia, says the museum's head mechanic Jason Fischer, who is delighted to have one of the unique and rare automobiles in NSW. "We've just imported it from the United States. We buy some weird and wonderful cars at the museum and this is definitely one of them." He explains that the vehicle is built like a boat with wheels, with rubber seals that line the edges of the doorframes, and a four-speed gearbox to make the transition from road to water seamless. "You literally drive it like a car, then to go in the water you drive it down the boat ramp, select neutral, select the propellers, and then you're away," Mr Fischer told AAP. The automobile can travel 11km/h on water and 110 km/hr on land, with drivers requiring both a boat and car licence to operate it. Before many of today's bridges were built, Rod Radford was one of the first Australians to purchase an Amphicar, with the NSW Central Coast pharmacist using it for dropping off medical supplies to patients. "From his house in Wagstaff, he would drive his Amphicar in the water across to Umina, dropping prescriptions off to people, all in a normal day's work," Mr Fishcer told AAP. Meanwhile, a favourite pastime of former US president Lyndon B Johnson was to plunge his Amphicar headfirst into a dam, proclaiming the brakes on what appeared to be a regular road car had suddenly failed. Startled friends would soon find out that particular car was designed for driving on land and in the water. The Gosford Classic Car Museum is home to more than 400 classic cars with a value of $70 million. Dropping in to a clean South Pacific wave from a near-empty lineup, after a lunch of crayfish and a morning of scuba diving, is just one day in the Solomon Islands. When thinking "tropical surf trip", many Australians dream of Fiji, the Maldives and Indonesia, without realising an unspoiled paradise is just three hours from Brisbane. Papatura Island, off the larger Santa Isabella Island, was my first stop. Lying at the north of the country, the area accepts uninterrupted swell from the Pacific Ocean. Peter and Margie Blanche began building Papatura Island Retreat more or less on their own in 2008, living in a converted shipping container during the first few years. Nestled into the trees on the beach, the peaceful retreat is made up of several wooden cabins joined together by a series of walkways just metres from the water. A short boat ride from the resort, you've got the choice of several breaks - the best being Sardines - aptly named after the gleaming schools of fish that burst out of the water, putting on a spectacular performance as you wait for your wave. Given the Solomons' are made up of hundreds of islands with fringing reefs and winding underwater channels, you're spoiled for choice when it comes to wave selection no mater what the wind, tide and swell direction is doing. In saying that, a flat day is a flat day, and that's more or less what we encountered on our first morning. While the waves weren't going off, there were moments when I watched the shape of the small swell move over the reef and realised we were in the right spot. The place had good bone structure, we'd just caught it on a bad day. While there were a few fun waves to be had, we settled for a relaxing afternoon back on the island. A few of the crew decided to doze off in a hammock over the water while others SUP'd in the lagoon. I got myself well acquainted with the resort dogs Kumma and Zoli, named after two other local breaks. They trot up and down the beach inspecting small hermit crabs or washed up coconuts, cool off in the water and sleep under the shade of palms in the cool sand. While it was tempting to live like a resort dog for the week, the group was anxious to find some waves and our second day delivered some fun. The right tide and wind meant the Sardines was clean, and with only a few other surfers from our island in the water, there were plenty of nice right-handers to go around. Another day of surfing off Papatura and we set off for Gizo in the Western Province. Fatboys Resort was our home for three nights, though I ate enough crayfish at the resort's beautiful over-water restaurant to last me a year. Similarly to Papatura, empty lineups are just a short boat ride away. We surfed at Paelonghi, a long right that breaks a few hundred metres off a near-deserted beach. After a quick takeoff, the wave drains over the shallow reef, producing a clean, hollow ride. While I'd spent the morning scuba diving on Gizo's stunning reefs, I wasn't exactly thrilled to be reacquainted with the coral for a few violent seconds after mistiming a drop. As with most tropical surf destinations, booties are recommended as the reef is sharp in areas and getting washed over it can leave a lasting impression. While I jumped at the chance to leave my wetsuit in Sydney for some clean Pacific waves, I didn't realise what else the islands would offer. The diving and snorkelling in the Solomons' is world class, offering some amazing experiences to surfers on a flat day or even as an alternative after a week of paddling. Whether you've travelled to the "happy isles" for the surf, the diving or a tropical getaway, it's also impossible to avoid the history scattered across the some 900 islands that make up the country. Rusted relics of World War Two are dotted around the place - sunken ships and bullet ridden aircraft lie beneath the warm water, sharing the colourful reef with stunning marine life. The grass airstrips your surfboard-laden light plane lands on were most likely built by Japanese forces, while spent shell casings fired in anger more than 70 years ago have been repurposed as flower pots and ashtrays. The solid waves on offer throughout the country mean the Solomon Island's could easily be classified as an amazing "surf destination," but that would be selling it short. IF YOU GO GETTING THERE: Honiara, the capital of the Solomon Islands, is just over a three hour flight from Brisbane. Most smaller islands and resorts are within an hour's flight on a light aircraft. Solomon Airlines flies between Brisbane and Honiara four times a week for around $A500 or $A550 return. STAYING THERE: Papatura Island Retreat: The retreat is about an hour's flight from Honiara. It offers a range of standard, surfing or fishing packages. The surf package is $A65 per day and includes fuel, driver for two surfs per day. For more, visit papatura.com Fatboys Resort: Fatboys Resort, on Babanga Island, is a 10-minute boat ride from Gizo airport. A couples bungalo costs around $A220 per night. For more, visit solomonislandsfatboys.com.au PLAYING THERE: Most resorts or retreats offer surfing or fishing options for guests. It's important to bring your own surfboards and gear, as many resorts don't have a lot on offer. Dive Gizo is the only PADI certified facility on Gizo Island. Friendly staff will guide you through a fantastic variety of dives and also provide an authentic seafood lunch. For other activities in the Solomon Islands, check out visitsolomons.com.sb Outspoken UFC heavyweight Mark Hunt is looking forward to fighting battles inside the octagon rather than outside, as he seeks a world title shot in what could be his final year. Fifth-ranked Hunt takes on ninth-rated Curtis Blaydes of the United States on the Perth card on February 11. The 43-year-old Sydney based fighter last fought in June 2017 and some of his comments have put him at loggerheads with the organisation's administration. He has frequently called for a level playing field in the popular MMA brand, slamming the "cheaters" in the organisation, who have tested positive for illegal drugs. Hunt missed out on the Sydney card last November due to a medical suspension. He is adamant some of his comments to Player's Voice about slurring his speech and forgetting things were taken out of context. Hunt hopes to have all of the three remaining fights on his contract this year. He ultimately wants another crack at world champion Stipe Miocic, who stopped him in a non-title fight in Adelaide in 2015. "I'm looking forward to getting back to work, it's been a long time," Hunt told AAP on Friday. "I cannot look past Curtis Blaydes and I've got to beat this guy to keep going. "If I beat Curtis Blaydes I get a fighter above him, a top three guy, and then fight for the title. "Fight three more times globally then probably hang them up. There's a lot of other options I feel like I've got to do with fighting. "I want to finish my career on a high and enjoy fighting, not make it such a struggle battling with my employers."' Hunt hasn't softened his stance or mellowed on the subject of drug cheats. 'People will think I'm just whinging, but I've come through the era where they were allowed to cheat and dope," Hunt said. "I've endured that era and fought in that era and come out the other side to this era, with a cleaner sport." Hunt has nothing but praise for Miocic, who he said was a great role model. "I think he's a great champion, because he's clean, he works hard, he's battled in the trenches and he's earned his stripes,' Hunt said. "He deserves all my respect, he's got it. he beat me up when we fought.' Southeast Asia is at risk of becoming a new frontline for terrorism as foreign fighters head to the region, Defence Minister Marise Payne warns. While the so-called Islamic State caliphate has been mostly defeated in Iraq and Syria, the violent Marawi insurgency in the Philippines showed the region was threatened by Islamic terror, she said on Friday. "Marawi was a clarion call for decisive measures to deal with and anticipate new threats in our region," Ms Payne said at a special meeting in Perth with Southeast Asian counterparts focused on counter-terrorism and foreign fighters. South Australians will head to the polls in 43 days, but SA Best party leader Nick Xenophon has shied away from policy and power commitments during much of the debate between party leaders in Adelaide. Facing off against Premier Jay Weatherill and opposition leader Steven Marshall on Friday, the former senator said it would be the "height of arrogance" to decide which side of politics his party would support should it win the balance of power at the March election. "We will have to see what the final vote is, composition of the parliament and the policy commitments Labor and Liberals make during the campaign," he said. He said a list of SA Best's priorities would also play a part in the negotiation process. Among them would be a royal commission into the state's health system, with a focus on cost blowouts in the construction of the newly opened Royal Adelaide Hospital, patient waiting times and ambulance ramping at different hospitals across the state. "We have had scandal after scandal, a politicised health system, waste and cost overruns," Mr Xenophon said during the debate. When asked whether they would approve the commission to form a partnership with SA Best, Mr Weatherill refused while Mr Marshall did not answer. But beyond the commission, voters knew little of Mr Xenophon's policies, which he said would be announced within the fortnight. "We will be marked down if we don't have enough substantial policies out there before people start casting their votes," he said. Mr Xenophon's party announced candidates in 26 of the 47 Lower House seats in the South Australian parliament. He shirked recent polling suggesting he was a chance to form government with a majority of at least 24 seats, and refused to say whether he would lay claim to the premier's job if he won more seats than either major party. Referring to himself as a "political realist", Mr Xenophon said he expected to be outgunned by the major parties with bigger campaign budgets. "The realistic expectation is to win a handful of seats and nothing more than that but we'll do our best to shake it up," he said. Over 17 years after winning an Olympic wrestling medal in Sydney, UFC superstar Yoel Romero has his sights set on more sporting success in Australia. The 40-year-old Cuban fights American Luke Rockhold for the UFC interim middleweight title in Perth on February 11. It will be Romero's first fight since losing to Australian Robert Whittaker on points for the interim title in Las Vegas last July. Sydneysider Whittaker was upgraded to outright champion after Georges St-Pierre vacated that title and the Australian was scheduled to make his first defence against Rockhold in Perth. But with Whittaker injured and unable to fight, No.1 contender Romero has been drafted in to fight No.2 ranked former middleweight world champion Rockhold. It is Romero's first visit to Australia since he won a sliver medal in the 85kg freestyle wrestling event at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. "I'm very happy, I feel a lot of of good memories from when I came here the last time," Romero told AAP through an interpreter on Friday at the UFC gym in Sydney. "It's almost a feeling like the first time you fall in love." If he beats Rockhold, Romero will qualify for another crack at Whittaker. "I learnt a lot from that fight, but a loss definitely doesn't break me," Romero said. "You learm more about yourself and you get even better." Tony Abbott's sister and vocal marriage equality campaigner Christine Forster is getting married to her long-term partner at a ceremony in Sydney. Ms Forster and her partner of 10 years, Virginia Edwards, both said they were "very excited" to be tying the knot with the former prime minister's sister telling reporters on Friday "it's been a long time coming". Mr Abbott, who opposed to same-sex marriage, is attending the ceremony and said he was "very happy" for the couple. "I'm looking forward to having a new sister-in-law," he told reporters. Ms Forster, a City of Sydney councillor, played a prominent role in the campaign for gay marriage which was legalised after 62 per cent of participants in a national postal survey backed the move in mid-November. Health, abortion, public transport and poker machines made up a mixed bag for Tasmania's two major parties in their first week on the campaign trail. And there was some discontent from former Senator Jacqui Lambie for good measure. After calling a March 3 election on Sunday, Premier Will Hodgman spent the majority of the week in the state's north and northwest He spruiked the construction of a $190 million timber mill at Burnie and on Friday revealed plans to upgrade roads in the northwest region. Both he and Labor leader Rebecca White pushed the line they intend to govern in majority or not at all, ruling out deals with minor parties such the Greens or Jacqui Lambie Network (JLN). It earned the ire of Greens leader Cassy O'Connor and Ms Lambie. "What are they doing in politics if they can't adapt?" Ms Lambie said of the Liberal and Labor parties. "It's just stupidity." Ms White declared health her number one priority, unveiling a $560 million six-year package and plan to hire 500 staff to fix the state's health "crisis". But abortion took the headlines. Tasmania's only dedicated surgical abortion clinic in Hobart closed in December, meaning women have to travel interstate for the procedure. The Liberals ruled out funding abortions through the state's health system, saying the services offered to women hadn't changed. Ms White though vowed to make surgical abortions part of the public health system if elected, drawing the backing of women's groups. The issue of poker machines reared its head late in the week when the president of a suburban RSL club claimed Anzac Day services would be cancelled if Labor's plan to remove gaming machines from pubs and club was implemented. The state's RSL president Terry Roe distanced himself from the comments while Ms White labelled them "distasteful". Ms Lambie meanwhile backed JLN Lyons candidate Rodney Flowers who is accused of riding a quad bike in a wilderness area closed to protect Aboriginal heritage. He'll appear in court late in February, three days before Tasmanians vote. The driver of a semi-trailer has been charged over a seven-vehicle crash on the Newell Highway that killed a young couple. A man and a woman, aged 21 and 19 respectively, died at the scene north of Dubbo on January 16 when the semi-trailer allegedly ploughed into cars stopped at roadworks. At least 10 others were injured, including a two-year-old girl, in the accident involving two trucks, four sedans and a ute. NSW Ambulance superintendent Kathy Golledge at the time described the crash as "absolute carnage". The driver of the semi-trailer, a 50-year-old man, suffered leg fractures and suspected internal injuries and was taken to hospital. He was discharged on Friday evening and arrested by police. He faces 10 charges including two counts of dangerous driving occasioning death. The man was refused bail to appear at Parramatta Bail Court on Saturday. Police will continue searching a national park for the bodies of two men last seen alive in central Queensland 25 years ago. A team of 10 police officers, 60 SES volunteers and a cadaver dog on Friday scoured a section of the Kroombit Tops National Park for the remains of Robert Grayson, then 26, and Derek Van Der Poel, then 23. The pair, last seen alive in Gladstone in May 1993, had been minding marijuana crops for Russell James Williams, 51, who was charged on Monday over the murders. It was not the first time authorities had focused their attention on the park, with new information leading them to search the crop area and adjoining land once again. "Since the arrest of Mr Williams we have received some information from members of the public," Det Insp Shadlow told reporters on Friday. "Some people have stated they have come forward since the arrest, they do feel more comfortable. "We just ask that people look inside themselves and look at their conscience." The area carefully combed over by authorities included land where the crops were grown as well as adjoining bush. Det Insp Shadlow said a police investigation had identified multiple persons of interest in the case, but refused to elaborate on what roles they were suspected of playing in the men's disappearance. Williams faced Gladstone Magistrates Court on Tuesday and the matter was adjourned to April 10. He was charged with two counts of murder and drug production. A $250,000 reward remains in place for more information. An elderly woman assaulted and left for dead in a Melbourne driveway remains in a critical condition in hospital. The 77-year-old was found in a neighbour's yard by a passer-by at St Albans about 7pm on Thursday. "For anybody to have received those types of injuries, clearly a significant altercation has occurred," Homicide Squad Detective Inspector Tim Day said at the scene on Friday. A 30-year-old St Albans woman was arrested late on Friday morning and remained in police custody overnight. Anyone who saw the victim or the alleged attacker has been urged to come forward. ABC/Paula LoboX Ambassadors have offered another preview of their forthcoming album, Joyful, with a new song called "Don't Stay." The track is available now on digital platforms. "'Don't Stay' is a song about letting go," says frontman Sam Harris. "And all the doubt, anger, pain, and guilt that comes with it. But as intimate, sad, and confessional as it is lyrically, it still makes me wanna dance when I listen to it. Which is why I love it so much." Joyful, the follow-up to 2015's VHS, is due out in the spring. X Ambassadors kick off a North American tour in support of the album February 13 in Montreal. Copyright 2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. The hunt for clues into the death of a Gold Coast man will continue over the weekend. The body of Edward James Lockyer, 46, was located at his unit in Coolangatta on Thursday morning after an associate raised concerns about his welfare to police. Police aren't sure but believe Mr Lockyer died several days before his remains were found, with reports suggesting his body could have been lying in the home since Monday. Detective Inspector Marc Hogan said police were yet to determine a cause of death but said the body showed "signs of injury". He said the crime scene at Mr Lockyer's unit was quite complex and would take forensic teams days to fully search. "The crime scene is very involved," Det Insp Hogan said. "I expect we will be there for several days. We're not leaving soon, because of the complexity of the crime scene." Mr Lockyer lived alone at the unit and Det Insp Hogan said there was nothing in his history to suggest he was involved in any criminal activity. He leaves behind an elderly mother and an adult daughter. Police are urging anyone with information to come forward. Hamish Stewart admits there is considerable pressure on his shoulders after Brad Thorn's decision to choose him over Quade Cooper as Queensland's chief playmaker. But the Reds' new all-for-one, one-for-all ethos under Thorn means he isn't feeling it - not yet, anyway. Stewart played every minute of Friday night's internal trial at Ballymore, calling the shots in a mostly first-choice XV that fought out a tough 14-14 draw in slippery, sloggy conditions. The 19-year-old Toowoomba product showed glimpses of the talent that has convinced Thorn he doesn't need the services of long-time stalwart Cooper in Super Rugby. He provided the highlight of the night, beating two defenders on a neat 15m run to score what looked to be the winning try, while also steering the play with authority. "There's obviously a lot of pressure," Stewart said plainly of Thorn's call to back him instead of Cooper. "But the squad we have now, everyone's just a single person. "If everyone does their job, it makes everything a lot easier at the end of the job. "We're in this as a squad - there's no individuals." Thorn will have other options, like the injured Jono Lance and Ben Lucas, but Stewart looks likely to get first crack at the No.10 jersey in Queensland's season opener away to the Melbourne Rebels. He'll resume his partnership with halfback James Tuttle, who he played with during Queensland Country's run to the NRC premiership last year. "We've got to lift our standards to be the best," Stewart said. "(Our combination is) going along well but there's always room for improvement and that's what we strive for." There were a couple of other surprises in the Red team with Brandon Paenga-Amosa chosen at hooker, Chris Feauai-Sautia at outside centre and Sef Fa'agase preferred over Taniela Tupou at tighthead. Thorn only has two more opportunities to fine-tune his selections - at next weekend's Brisbane Global Rugby Tens, and then a final trial against the Fiji Warriors. "Ideally, you'd play Super Rugby teams," Thorn said. "I'm not going to hide that, that's what I'd prefer, but that's what we have and that's what it is. "Full respect to the Fijian guys ... that will be a good hit-out for us." "Winchester" stars Jason Clarke, seen here at the International Film Festival in September 2017, as Eric Price, a fictional psychiatrist summoned in 1906 by the heiress to gun company who insists she be evaluated for her mental fitness On a once-isolated stretch of land in the Californian city of San Jose stands a bizarre-looking Victorian mansion that, according to legend, is the most haunted house in the world. Commissioned by Sarah Winchester, the heiress to the Winchester Repeating Arms Company, the 160-room manor was constructed piecemeal, with no overall masterplan, by crews toiling 24 hours a day for decades. To many it stands as a bizarre monument to a woman's madness but Winchester herself saw it as a kind of astral holding cell for the hundreds of spirits seeking revenge after being killed by her company's rifles. It seems incredible that such perfect horror fodder has never been made into a movie but directors Michael and Peter Spierig, the Australian twins behind "Daybreakers" and "Jigsaw," are about to rectify that. "Winchester" stars Jason Clarke as Eric Price, a fictional psychiatrist summoned in 1906 by the real-life Sarah Winchester, played by Helen Mirren, when her company insists she be evaluated for her mental fitness. On the surface, "Winchester" works as a taut haunted house story. But to Clarke, it also serves as an allegory for the gun control debate, which has been raging in the United States for decades but gained impetus after the 1999 Columbine High School massacre. "Gun control, profiteering from arms, is an ongoing debate: responsibility for where you're at because of what came before you or what you did," Clarke, 48, told AFP in an interview ahead of the movie's release on Friday. "You've got a woman who is able to live in this world (only) because of what she did. And if you put it in the time -- the West was won, I guess, we'd reached the coast -- there was just blood and slaughter and destruction the whole way across." - Stairways to nowhere - In the movie, Clarke's character is an opium addict with his own demons, who thinks the task of declaring Winchester insane will be straightforward -- until things go bump in the night and he realizes it is he who is being manipulated. Horror is often dismissed by critics as the least worthy of cinematic genres but, says Clarke, acting in tense, frightening movies requires a technical discipline not always apparent in other forms of acting. "I enjoyed learning and being taught by both the brothers how to be in a scary movie," he told AFP, listing aspects of body language and timing which are part of the visual language of horror cinema. "They are where a lot of directors cut their teeth and learn their craft... I prefer films like this that have intelligence behind them. They're not just slasher films or gratuitous, everyone's getting massacred." The most bizarre features of the so-called Winchester Mystery House -- now a popular tourist attraction -- include a maze of confusing halls, stairways to nowhere, 2,000 doors, several of which open into blank walls, 47 fireplaces, trap doors, turrets, towers and a seance room. Much of the house was destroyed by the historic 1906 San Francisco earthquake. Clarke recalled two months of physically demanding filming in a replica of the house in Melbourne, getting beaten up by "ghosts" and thrown around by the simulated quake before decamping for a final few days to the real-life property in San Jose. "To then walk onto it a couple of days later on the other side of the world was very strange. There's nobody in the house. I was setting up when I got there and I went for a wander and got lost," Clarke told AFP. - 'Lazy and bloated' - "It's a very disorienting strange place -- stairways to nowhere and just the way that it's built. Even though every room is completely different it's hard to get your bearing." Clarke -- who, for the record, says he doesn't believe in ghosts -- has built up a reputation for critically acclaimed independent films and blockbusters that make you think. It's not that he's averse to the odd brainless action movie -- see Roland Emmerich's "White House Down" or the much-maligned "Terminator: Genisys" -- but Clarke speaks passionately about the need for actors to take responsibility for their output. In recent years the Australian actor has been a CIA torturer in Kathryn Bigelow's "Zero Dark Thirty" and starred in sci-fi actioner "Dawn of the Planet of the Apes," Baltasar Kormakur's true-story survival epic "Everest" and Baz Luhrmann's adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby." At a Q&A in Los Angeles for one of his most recent projects, Dee Rees's multiple Oscar-nominated racial drama "Mudbound," the actor lamented the "lazy and bloated" ubiquity of blockbuster franchises, calling on actors to commit to projects that teach audiences something about the world. "Hopefully there's a whole world out there that you can show them and I think in films, if all we make is sausage all people will want is sausage," Clarke tells AFP, asked his view on the proliferation of superhero movies. "Yes, films need to make their money back -- it's an expensive business and people need to be paid for what's involved -- but just because you can, it doesn't mean you should." FBI Director Christopher Wray is in the eye of a political firestorm following the release of a controversial memo Christopher Wray, President Donald Trump's hand-picked FBI director, told senators during his confirmation hearing not to be put off by his soft-spoken manner. "No one should mistake my low-key demeanor as a lack of resolve," Wray told the Senate Judiciary Committee. "Anybody who thinks that I would be pulling punches as the FBI director sure doesn't know me very well." Just six months into the job, the 50-year-old Wray is having that resolve tested as he squares off with a president who has already fired one head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Ignoring Wray's objections, the White House approved the release on Friday of a memo which it claimed reveals abuse at the FBI and Justice Department in connection with surveillance of a member of Trump's 2016 presidential campaign who had ties to Russia. According to CNN, the White House was worried Wray may quit to protest the release of the memo drafted under the authority of Devin Nunes, the Republican chairman of the House Intelligence Committee. On the contrary, the FBI director sent an internal message to the bureau's 30,000 employees on Friday that contained no suggestion he would step down. "Let me be clear: I stand fully committed to our mission," Wray said in the message obtained by AFP. "I stand by our shared determination to do our work independently and by the book. "Talk is cheap; the work you do is what will endure," he said. "And know that I consider it an incredible privilege to work beside you -- and that I am determined to defend your integrity and professionalism every day." Wray has mostly flown under the radar since replacing James Comey at the head of the FBI, which has been the target of Trump's ire since taking office. Wray was overwhelmingly confirmed by the Senate in August, three months after Trump sacked Comey amid an FBI probe into whether members of the president's campaign had colluded with Russia help him get elected. That investigation, which Trump has denounced as a "witch hunt," is now in the hands of special counsel Robert Mueller, himself a former FBI director. Democratic lawmakers are claiming the memo is part of a broader campaign aimed at discrediting the Mueller probe and protecting Trump. - 'Strict independence' - Wray put himself in the eye of the memo firestorm when the FBI issued an unusual public statement this week expressing concerns about the document. "We have grave concerns about material omissions of fact that fundamentally impact the memo's accuracy," the FBI said. While the statement was unsigned, it was clear that it would not have been issued without a green light from the new FBI director. Wray was confirmed by a 92-5 vote in the Senate, winning bipartisan backing after telling lawmakers he would resign rather than bow to political interference. "There is only one right way to do this job, and that is with strict independence," the former Department of Justice official said during his confirmation hearing. "You can't do a job like this without being prepared to either quit or be fired at a moment's notice" if "you're asked to do something or confronted with something that is either illegal, unconstitutional or even morally repugnant," Wray said. Born on December 17, 1967 in New York, Christopher Asher Wray attended the Phillips Academy boarding school before going on to Yale University. He was executive editor of the Yale Law Journal and obtained a law degree from the university in 1992. He joined the Justice Department in 1998 and in 2003 became assistant attorney general in charge of the criminal division, where he worked under then deputy attorney general Comey. Wray mostly oversaw fraud investigations, including that of Enron, the Texas energy firm that imploded with billions of dollars of losses. In 2005, Wray resigned and went into private practice as a partner at the law firm King & Spalding. Wray represented major companies in litigation but also worked for Trump ally Chris Christie in the so-called "Bridgegate" political scandal in New Jersey. Wray's pledge to act independently is being tested now, but his standoff with the White House is not his first encounter with political pressure. In 2004, Wray's then-boss Comey was made acting attorney general due to the illness of attorney general John Ashcroft. When aides to president George W. Bush tried to take advantage of Ashcroft's illness to push through an extension of a controversial warrantless eavesdropping program, Wray, Comey and then-FBI director Mueller put their jobs on the line and opposed the move. The Miryang hospital fire started on the ground floor and spread upstairs quickly, sending toxic fumes sweeping through the six-storey building The death toll from a devastating hospital fire in South Korea rose to 40 after an elderly man died on Friday, officials said. The 81-year-old died at a nearby hospital in Miryang where he had been in critical condition, a city government spokeswoman said. He had been on the second floor of the Sejong hospital and inhaled toxic smoke when fire ripped through the building a week ago, she added. The death brought the toll level with a 2008 warehouse blaze in the city of Icheon, east of Seoul. The hospital fire started on the ground floor and spread upstairs quickly, sending toxic fumes sweeping through the six-storey building. Authorities are still investigating the exact cause but preliminary inspections have suggested possible defects in wiring in the ceiling of what used to be an office pantry. Fingers have also been pointed at cheap but flammable construction materials, inadequate fire-blocking doors, illicit addition of rooms and a lack of staff. While South Korea has risen to become the world's 11th-largest economy, some of its infrastructure was built rapidly and it has a history of preventable disasters. The hospital had 95 beds but no sprinkler system as it was not large enough to be required to do so under fire-prevention regulations. "Tree Man" Abul Bajandar, who has been unable to work for years and whose young family lives in the hospital, says he fears he will never be cured A year ago Abul Bajandar, a Bangladeshi rickshaw-puller dubbed "tree-man" for the bark-like growths that once covered his body, appeared to have made a full recovery from the rare condition that has afflicted him for a decade. But twelve months after doctors declared him all but cured following 24 surgeries, Bajandar's hands are once again covered in the growths that characterise his rare condition. Surgeon Samanta Lal Sen, who last year hailed his cure as a milestone in medical history, now admits Bajandar's case may be more complicated than first thought. His patient, who has been unable to work for years and whose young family lives in the hospital, says he fears he will never be cured. "I am scared to have any more surgeries. I don't think my hands and feet will be okay again," the 27-year-old told AFP at the Dhaka hospital where he first came for treatment in January 2016. Bajandar suffers from epidermodysplasia verruciformis, an extremely rare genetic condition known as "tree-man disease". Abul Bajandar suffers from epidermodysplasia verruciformis, an extremely rare genetic condition known as "tree-man disease" Intrigued by his condition, doctors at the Dhaka Medical College Hospital treated him for free, surgically removing more than five kilos (11 pounds) of growths from his hands and feet. He has been there ever since with his wife and family, who live together in a small room in the hospital. "We thought we had achieved (a cure). But now it seems to be a time-consuming case," surgeon Sen told AFP. "We will keep on investigating to reach the ultimate success, though it's tough to say how long it will take." This week Bajandar underwent his 25th surgery to remove some of the growths from his hands. - Fewer than half a dozen cases - For his wife Halima Khatun, life is on hold as she tends to her husband and looks after their four-year-old daughter. Abul Bajandar, with his family at a Dhaka hospital, worries about money and how he will pay for his daughter's education "We're grateful for the free treatment, we couldn't have afforded to pay for it," said Khatun, who passes her time in the ward making jewellery for a little cash. Fewer than half a dozen people worldwide have epidermodysplasia verruciformis, according to Sen. Last year the Dhaka Medical College Hospital treated a young Bangladeshi girl suffering from the condition. Doctors declared surgery to remove the growths a success, but her father later said they had grown back in even greater numbers. Dhaka doctors had surgically removed more than five kilos (11 pounds) of growths from Bajandar's hands and feet He withdrew her from treatment, saying he did not want to watch her grow up in a hospital ward. "Nobody deserves to be in a hospital forever," said a nurse working in the plastic surgery unit. "Unfortunately, he (Bajandar) may have to stay here for a while." Meanwhile Bajandar worries about money, and how he will pay for his daughter's education. "She's growing up so fast," he said. "I always wanted her to become a doctor. But if my condition worsens, how can I even send her to pre-school, let alone a medical college?" No caption Worried about militants sneaking into a restive Chinese region from war-torn Afghanistan, Beijing is in talks with Kabul over the construction of a military base, Afghan officials say, as it seeks to shore up its fragile neighbour. The army camp will be built in Afghanistan's remote and mountainous Wakhan Corridor, where witnesses have reported seeing Chinese and Afghan troops on joint patrols. The freezing, barren panhandle of land -- bordering China's tense Xinjiang region -- is so cut off from the rest of Afghanistan that many inhabitants are unaware of the Afghan conflict, scraping out harsh but peaceful lives. However they retain strong links with neighbours in Xinjiang, and with so few travellers in the region local interest in the Chinese visitors has been high, residents told AFP on a recent visit there. China's involvement in the base comes as President Xi Jinping seeks to extend Beijing's economic and geopolitical clout. The Chinese are pouring billions of dollars into infrastructure in South Asia. With Afghanistan's potential to destabilise the region, analysts said any moves there would be viewed through the prism of security. Beijing fears that exiled Uighur members of the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM) are passing through the Wakhan into Xinjiang to carry out attacks. It also worries that Islamic State group militants fleeing Iraq and Syria could cross Central Asia and Xinjiang to reach Afghanistan, or use the Wakhan to enter China, analysts say. China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi (C) with Afghanistan's Foreign Minister Salahuddin Rabbani (L) and Pakistan's Foreign Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif (R) at a joint press conference in Beijing on December 26, 2017 Afghan and Chinese officials discussed the plan in December in Beijing, but details are still being clarified, Afghan defence ministry deputy spokesman Mohammad Radmanesh said. "We are going to build it (the base) but the Chinese government has committed to help the division financially, provide equipment and train the Afghan soldiers," he told AFP recently. A senior Chinese embassy official in Kabul would only say Beijing is involved in "capacity-building" in Afghanistan. NATO's US-led Resolute Support mission in Afghanistan declined to comment. But US officials have previously welcomed China's role in Afghanistan, noting they share the same security concerns. - Joint patrols - Members of the Kyrgyz ethnic minority in Wakhan told AFP in October they had been seeing Chinese and Afghan military patrols for months. "The Chinese army first came here last summer and they were accompanied by the Afghan army," said Abdul Rashid, a Kyrgyz chief, adding that he had seen vehicles flying Chinese flags. Afghan Wakhi nomad families travelling on yaks in the Wakhan Corridor in Badakhshan province of Afghanistan The Afghan army arrived days earlier "and told us that the Chinese army would be coming here", he said, adding: "We were strictly told not to go near them or talk to them and not to take any photos." Rashid's account was confirmed by other Kyrgyz, including another chief Jo Boi, who said the Chinese military spent almost a year in Wakhan before leaving in March 2017. Both Chinese and Afghan officials deny the claims, with China's defence ministry telling AFP that the "Chinese army is not engaged in any military operation in the Wakhan Corridor". With little access to the corridor, Kabul provides almost no services to those who live there -- but the Chinese, Boi said, have been bringing "a lot of food and warm clothes". "They are very good people, very kind," he told AFP. After their March visit, he said, they returned in June for roughly a month. "Since then they come every month... to distribute food." - Economic interests - China fears militancy could threaten its growing economic interests in the region, Ahmad Bilal Khalil, a researcher at the Kabul-based Center for Strategic and Regional Studies, told AFP. "They need to have a secure Afghanistan," he said, estimating Beijing had provided Kabul with more than $70 million in military aid in the past three years. Beijing recently flagged the possibility of including Afghanistan in the $54-billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) linking western China to the Indian Ocean via Pakistan It recently flagged the possibility of including Afghanistan in the $54-billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) linking western China to the Indian Ocean via Pakistan. "The anti-terrorism motivation is an important one but it's not as important as the bigger move to boost the CPEC," said Willy Lam, a political analyst in Hong Kong. Kabul is also keen for Beijing to have a "more active role", Andrew Small, author of The China-Pakistan Axis, told AFP. It hopes China will use its "special relationship" with Islamabad to encourage the Pakistani military, who wield significant influence over Afghanistan's insurgents, to "force the Taliban into peace talks", Small said. "In the end China has vastly greater financial power than anyone else. So having them engaged... may end up being critical to the country's basic economic viability," he said. burs-ga-ds-amj/st/kaf/amz Ukrainian artists Daria Marchenko (R) and Daniel Green adjust their portrait of US President Donald Trump, made of US pennies, nickels, dimes and poker chips They shot to fame in 2015 with a portrait of Vladimir Putin made of bullet shells from the killing fields of eastern Ukraine. Now, the two Ukrainian artists are back with a portrait of Donald Trump made from coins and poker chips. Threats forced Daria Marchenko, 35, and Daniel Green, 34, to leave their homeland in November 2016. They now lead an itinerant life, traveling and exhibiting their work in the United States and Latin America. The Trump portrait, finished one month ago, is made of nearly 4,000 one cent and five-cent pieces. Poker chips are used for the US president's shoulders. The artists are now searching for a place for a public unveiling. As with their "Face of War" portrait of the Russian leader, the Trump version, called "Face of Money" plays in the light revealing different expressions. Marchenko's favorite? The one in which "he is very proud of himself," she tells AFP in New York. Ukrainian artist Daria Marchenko, pictured in 2015 in front of a portrait of Russian President Vladimir Putin made out of 5,000 bullet shells, had to leave her home country They came up with the idea of the enormous portrait -- nearly eight foot by five foot (2.4 meters by 1.7 meters) -- last summer when Putin ordered the United States to reduce its diplomatic footprint in Russia by 755 employees. Trump responded by thanking Putin, saying it would allow the United States to cut down its payroll and "save a lot of money." "I thought, 'oh my God, you are so cheap, how can you be American president'?" says Green. "At that moment, I thought coins is the best way to show his portrait." The duo deliberately chose one cent and five-cent pieces, the smallest denominations of US currency, to illustrate their point, Green explains. Coins darkened with fire are used for the pupils, eyebrows and to emphasize the chin. The poker chips are a nod to the casinos the billionaire once ran in Atlantic City, New Jersey -- but also, in Green's words, to his brand of international diplomacy. "He does international politics like he's playing. Sometimes he wins, sometimes he loses big," says the artist. - 'Make waves' - Poker chips in the Trump portrait are a nod to the casinos the billionaire once ran in Atlantic City, New Jersey -- but also, in artist Daniel Green's words, to his brand of international diplomacy Green singles out the US president's announcement in December that he was recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, and preparing to relocate the US embassy from Tel Aviv. "When only eight countries follow you, it shows America has lost all power," he says. The artists left Ukraine following the backlash over their Putin portrait, and after a kidnap attempt against Marchenko. "We had threats by email. When you are walking on the street, somebody comes to you and tells you something," says Marchenko, her dreadlocks tucked into a beanie. "Mostly not direct threats but 'Guys, don't hurry to create... be in a hurry to leave," she carries on. "We became tired of this. Morally it was very difficult. So we left." But the Trump portrait isn't making things easier for them. They offered it for exhibition at New York's Ukrainian Art Institute of America, which is already exhibiting their work on Putin and the war in Ukraine. The institute however was reluctant "to make waves," between Kiev and Washington, Green said. The two artists now hope to show their Putin and Trump portraits together, perhaps in Las Vegas, Los Angeles or San Francisco. "They will be face-to-face, they will have a dialogue," says Marchenko dryly. She and Green, who both took part in the pro-European uprising of 2013-14, now consider themselves political refugees without a fixed home, traveling in the United States and Latin America at the invitation of benefactors. Their next project is a portrait of Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, even if that could complicate their return one day to Ukraine, Marchenko says. For Poroshenko's portrait the artists may use chocolate wrappers -- a reference to the chocolate company where he made his fortune. It has been a rollercoaster week for virtual currencies like bitcoin A hacking theft that netted $530 million, a ban on Facebook advertising, regulation even in Russia and more wild price swings: despite another stomach-churning week for cryptocurrencies, analysts say they are here to stay. While headline-grabbing hacks like that suffered by Japan's Coincheck are likely to attract the attention of regulators, experts say the "Teflon" crypto boom is now part of the economic landscape. Cryptocurrencies have "been down numerous times, but always able to get off the canvas," Stephen Innes, head of Asia-Pacific trading at OANDA, told AFP. Virtual currencies have certainly taken some hefty blows recently. In the dead of night, hackers stole $530 million in Japanese virtual currency from Coincheck, sending prices plunging and underlining the vulnerability, and volatility, of cryptocurrencies. The January 26 hack appears to be the largest cryptocurrency theft ever, exceeding even the $480 million stolen in 2014 from another Japanese virtual currency exchange, MtGox. Bitcoin In the wake of the MtGox theft, Japan's government introduced regulations requiring exchanges to obtain a government-issued licence. And the news from Coincheck again piqued regulators' interest, with Finance Minister Taro Aso admitting this week that the government "needs to strengthen our supervision." Coincheck "did not store the important things separately. I think they lacked fundamental knowledge or common sense," he said. Regulators have already clamped down in South Korea and China and even in Russia, where a draft law was drawn up last week aimed at controlling the production and creation of virtual money. On Thursday India's Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the government did not consider cryptocurrencies legal tender and would "take all measures to eliminate" their use as part of a payment system and in funding illegitimate activities. Innes said such regulatory oversight was long overdue, as the current framework was "far too lax given investors' vulnerabilities from both market volatility and cybercriminals." "In general, the regulatory framework in Asia was terrible, which offered criminals mouth-watering targets," he added. - 'Systemically important' - Crypto regulation was also on the minds of the global elite at this year's World Economic Forum, with British finance minister Philip Hammond urging governments to be "cautious." "Possibly we do need to look at the way we regulate this environment before the amount of outstanding bitcoin becomes large enough to be systemically important in the global economy," he told Bloomberg TV. Tech giant Facebook then got in on the act, banning all ads related to cryptocurrencies in an effort to fight scams. All this has taken its toll on the value of bitcoin -- the best-known virtual currency -- which soared to nearly $20,000 before dropping back to less than half that value with wild daily swings. But despite the negative publicity and the growing attention of regulators, enthusiasm for cryptocurrencies does not appear to be waning. Coincheck executives were suitably apologetic after hackers stole hundreds of millions of dollars in digital assets BitFlyer, Japan's main bitcoin exchange, told AFP it had actually seen increased interest after the Coincheck hack was revealed. "Many people got interested in cryptocurrencies. On our platform, the number of new account applications increased," bitFlyer CFO Midori Kanemitsu said. And Innes said virtual currency had "a sort of Teflon persona." He said he expected to see dips down to around $6,000 "before the market irons out." "Given recent trading patterns, I suspect $10,000-$15,000 will be the sweet spot, and as more traditional market makers enter the fray... volatility will decrease." - 'More selective' - Industry professionals say there is no stopping the technology behind virtual currencies and while some cryptocurrencies may disappear, others will likely pop up in their place. "All kinds of new ideas are emerging," said lawyer Ken Kawai, an expert in financial regulation and the blockchain technology behind cryptocurrencies. "Hacks occur. People who choose to use this technology must be aware of the danger associated with it," he told AFP. "I expect to see users becoming more selective when choosing exchanges." To ensure client safety and improved use of the technology, virtual currency exchanges should face strict regulations like banks and brokerages, he suggested. Banks and e-commerce firms could use the most stable cryptocurrencies among themselves, while others could be traded as alternative assets, Kawai said. Is bitcoin for mugs? With investor interest apparently insatiable, regulators are likely to introduce a range of tighter checks, including requiring exchanges to verify the identity of their clients. They could also impose outside cyber audits to protect against the kind of security loopholes that appear to have led to the Coincheck theft. Cryptocurrency trading is also likely to come under the scrutiny of tax authorities, potentially cooling investor appetite if particularly steep new tariffs are rolled out, analysts say. Kanemitsu said bitFlyer would welcome "good and reasonable regulation" as "an opportunity." Hikaru Kusaka, co-founder of blockhive, an innovation incubator, said consumers will eventually weed out the weak virtual currencies and only the best will survive. "To put it dramatically, maybe not all the cryptocurrencies will disappear, but new ones will emerge, and there will be a process of picking and choosing," said Kusaka. Ho Chi Minh City People's Court House, where doctor Ho Van Hai was sentenced to four years in jail for 'anti-state propaganda' A doctor in Vietnam has been sentenced to four years in jail for "anti-state propaganda", state media reported, as part of a fresh wave of convictions in the one-party state accused of waging a crackdown on critics. Bloggers, activists and lawyers are routinely jailed in communist Vietnam, where a hardline leadership in place since 2016 is accused of tightening its grip on dissidents. At least 24 activists were convicted last year, with another 28 arrested, according to Human Rights Watch, making 2017 one of the worst years for activists in the country. The latest to be jailed is Ho Van Hai, 54, a doctor who was arrested in November 2016 over a series of blog posts criticising the government. He was sentenced to four years in prison after a one-day trial in Ho Chi Minh City on Thursday, state-controlled VNExpress reported. "Of the 75 articles posted online and stored in Hai's computer, the authorities identified 36 articles that violated the regulation on management, provision and use of internet services and information on the internet," according to the VnExpress report. Hai is also accused of calling for public protests against Taiwanese steel giant Formosa, which dumped toxic waste into the ocean killing tonnes of fish along Vietnam's central coast in 2016. The disaster hit livelihoods hard and sparked rare nationwide protests. Hai is the fourth person jailed in Vietnam this week, after three men were convicted Wednesday also under Article 88 of the criminal code -- anti-state propaganda, which rights groups say is vaguely worded and used to curb dissent. The US embassy in Vietnam on Friday said it was concerned over the fresh convictions, saying it "supports the right of people to freely express their opinions". "We call on Vietnam to release these individuals and all other prisoners of conscience immediately, and to allow all individuals in Vietnam to peacefully express their political views without fear of retribution", the embassy said in a statement. At least eight dissidents have been jailed so far this year, after four Buddhist activists were convicted last month for flying the flag of the defeated southern regime loathed by the ruling communists. Federal Court judge Debra Mortimer said the case raised important issues, including on the relationship between slot machine design and gambling addiction Casino giant Crown and slot machine maker Aristocrat did not mislead or deceive players about their chances of winning, an Australian court found Friday as it dismissed a landmark case brought by a former gambling addict. Law firm Maurice Blackburn had brought the case on behalf of Shonica Guy, an ex-addict who suffered significant losses playing slot machines. The case alleged the design of "Dolphin Treasure" electronic gaming machines -- which allow players to win cash if they line up matching symbols on a row of spinning reels -- misrepresented the chances of winning. But Federal Court judge Debra Mortimer told the court as she handed down her judgement that the machines were "not misleading or deceptive as the law defines those concepts". Mortimer said Guy's claims that Crown and Aristocrat engaged in "unconscionable conduct" by taking advantage of vulnerable gamblers was also not founded, with the two firms already complying with a "detailed and comprehensive regulatory regime". "That includes assessments about the fairness of the way an EGM (electronic gaming machine) operates, prohibits certain kinds of features, but not others, and includes approval of particular machines ... such as the 'Dolphin Treasure'." While dismissing the claims, the judge said the case did raise important issues such as expert views that more research should be done into the relationship between the design of such machines and gambling addiction. Aristocrat welcomed the decision and said it took its obligations to comply with regulations "extremely seriously". There was no immediate comment from Crown, which has "Dolphin Treasure" machines at its flagship Melbourne casino. Gambling addiction is a major problem in Australia. Advocates for reform estimate that people lose around Aus$12 billion (US$9.6 billion) a year -- with losses spiralling since the first machines were built in 1953. A public inquiry in 2010 disclosed there were 115,000 "problem gamblers", whose habit can lead to serious health, family and financial issues. Another 280,000 were categorised as at "moderate risk". An elderly Cameroonian, Emila Ayo, is among the influx of people who have fled violence for the safety of Bashu, a remote village in southeast Nigeria John Osang arrived in Nigeria at dawn on the verge of collapse, wearing just shorts and flip-flops after two fevered days running through the jungle from Cameroonian soldiers. He said he had no other choice. The soldiers were on the hunt for English-speaking separatists. People were being killed. Since December, troops had occupied Bodam, located on the border with Nigeria, pushing ahead with a crackdown on an independence movement that has taken up arms against the Cameroon state. "The soldiers are looking everywhere for Ambazonia fighters," said the exhausted 19-year-old, referring to the name the separatists have given their putative state. "They looted the houses, broke the doors, took our mattresses, televisions and generators. There's nothing left," said Osang, his arms lined with deep scratches from the bush. For two months, Osang hid in a cassava plantation a few kilometers (miles) from home with his sick mother and older brother. But as the situation deteriorated he decided he had to escape. He found sanctuary in Bashu, a remote village in the lush mountains of Cross River State in Nigeria that has seen its population triple to 4,500 because of the Cameroonian influx. The mud-brick houses of peaceful Bashu are just five kilometres (three miles) from the Manyu River that represents the border with Cameron. But the tranquility is an illusion. Residents say they regularly hear helicopters in the sky and "intense exchanges of fire" at night. Many of the displaced Cameroonians are in shock. Joseph Mbia Ndem said he had to leave behind the bodies of his wife and brother, who were shot dead on December 24 when soldiers surrounded his village of Dadi. "They didn't say anything, they just started shooting," the former plantain farmer said, his eyes brimming with tears behind small, square-rimmed glasses. "I've never been interested in politics," said the 74-year-old. "I don't know why they're killing us." - Gunfire - Pro-independence supporters have mounted attacks against symbols of the state in Cameroon's two anglophone regions, which are home to about 20 percent of the country's 23 million people. The independence movement developed from a strike in late 2016 by teachers and lawyers against perceived marginalisation by the French-speaking majority. Yvonne Ndep, an 18-year-old pregnant Cameroonian, breastfeeds her child at a house in Bashu. Thousands have fled to the remote Nigerian village after Cameroon launched a crackdown on anglophone separatists But, little by little, the crisis has developed into a low-level but brutal armed conflict. Twenty-two soldiers and police have been killed since November last year, according to an AFP tally. Yaounde has responded to the separatist movement with massive force, notably around the border with Cross River state. According to the Cross River state emergency management agency, more than 33,000 people, including many farmers and civil servants, have arrived in the last four months. Cameroon's army has refused to say how many troops it has on the ground in the country's troubled anglophone region. But Hans De Marie Heungoup, a researcher with the International Crisis Group, estimates that 5,000 to 6,000 men from all security forces have been deployed in anglophone areas. - Multiple incursions - Cameroon's authorities have labelled the separatists "terrorists" and say they are hunting down rebel training camps. They have repeatedly dismissed videos on anti-Yaounde social media accounts purporting to show attacks on villages and the massacre of civilians. English-speaking Cameroonian refugees who have fled to dozens of Nigerian villages along the border remain concerned after several incursions by soldiers. Security sources and aid workers said dozens of Cameroonian soldiers -- on foot and not in uniform -- caused panic when they turned up in the Cross River village of Danare last week. The head of the Cross River state emergency management agency, John Inaku, said: "It is not the first time. The first time was in the district of Akamkpa in December." Tony Kajang, 22, says Cameroonian soldiers came across the border into Nigeria to say it was safe for people to return -- but troops started shooting as his group neared their home village Several people have also been taken back to Cameroon, he added. Cross River's governor, Ben Ayade, complained about "violations of international laws" to senior figures from the defence ministry and army who came from Abuja to assess the situation, according to one Nigerian official. In Danare, refugees said the Cameroonian soldiers were not hostile but believed they were trying to lay a trap for them. "Last week, 50 to 70 Cameroonian soldiers came to Danare to tell us our village was safe now and that we could go back home," said Tony Kajang. A group of about 30 youths then crossed back across the border to verify the claim, according to the 22-year-old. "When we got near the village the soldiers started shooting," he said. "They killed several of us, I don't know how many exactly. But only 16 of us came back." Coincheck president Koichiro Wada bows in apology at a news conference last weekend after hackers stole hundreds of millions of dollars in digital assets from the Tokyo-based firm Japanese authorities on Friday raided virtual currency exchange Coincheck, a week after the Tokyo-based firm lost $530 million in cryptocurrency to hackers. The raid comes as bitcoin dipped below $9,000 for the first time since November after India said Thursday it would take measures to prevent the use of cryptocurrencies. The search of Coincheck's headquarters in Tokyo's Shibuya district was carried out by the Financial Services Agency, which had already slapped the company with an administrative order following the hack. "We have launched an on-site inspection to ensure preservation of clients' assets," Finance Minister Taro Aso said at a briefing. Japanese officials have suggested Coincheck lacked proper security measures, making itself vulnerable to theft. The January 26 hack, which saw thieves syphon away 523 million units of the cryptocurrency NEM, exceeds the $480 million stolen in 2014 from another Japanese virtual currency exchange, MtGox. Earlier this week, Japan's FSA gave Coincheck until February 13 to investigate the cause of the incident, "properly" deal with clients, strengthen risk management and take preventive measures. Coincheck has said it will use its own funds to reimburse all 260,000 customers who lost holdings, at a rate of 88.549 yen per NEM. The refund, which will be paid in yen, not virtual currency, will set the firm back about 46.3 billion yen ($422 million). In the wake of the MtGox scandal, Japan passed a law on cryptocurrencies that requires exchanges to be regulated by the FSA. The law went into effect in 2017. Coincheck had submitted an application to the FSA for a licence and was allowed to continue operating while it awaited a decision, the agency said. Japan is a leading market for cryptocurrencies, with nearly a third of global bitcoin transactions in December denominated in yen, according to specialist website jpbitcoin.com. Virtual currencies are popular elsewhere in Asia, including South Korea and China, but India's government on Thursday said it would crack down on their use. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, in his annual budget, said New Delhi would "take all measures to eliminate use of these crypto-assets in financing illegitimate activities or as part of the payment system". Bitcoin, which soared to nearly $20,000 a unit in December, was down at $8,800 on Friday, while other digital units such as Litecoin and Ethereum have also suffered massive losses from their recent peaks. The MV22 Osprey tilt-rotor transport aircraft can move faster than a helicopter The US Marines have sacked the commander of its Japan-based Osprey squadron "due to loss of trust," US officials said Friday, following a series of accidents involving the hybrid aircraft in recent months. Bryan Swenson was relieved of his duties last week "due to loss of trust and confidence in his ability to lead his command," III Marine Expeditionary Force told AFP in a statement. Christopher Denver, executive officer for the Okinawa-based tilt rotor squadron, has been assigned as interim commanding officer, the statement said, without further details. The sacking comes six months after US Marines were forced to mount a major search and rescue mission when an MV-22 Osprey crashed off the east coast of Australia. Twenty-three of the crew of 26 were rescued but the search for the remaining three was eventually called off. And in December, five crew members aboard a US Marine MV-22 Osprey were injured after what the Pentagon described as a "mishap" resulting in the plane landing in shallow water off Okinawa in southern Japan. The MV-22 -- a hybrid helicopter-turboprop with a checkered safety record -- has two engines positioned on fixed wingtips that allow it to land and take off vertically. It can travel much faster than a helicopter. However, residents in Okinawa -- which hosts the bulk of some 47,000 American troops in Japan under a decades-long security alliance -- have protested against the deployment of Ospreys in the country following the accidents. An injured person lies on the ground after a van caught fire and ploughed into pedestrians in Shanghai A van packed with pressurised gas tanks and bottles full of petrol caught fire and ploughed into pedestrians in front of a Starbucks in Shanghai on Friday, leaving at least 18 people injured, authorities and witnesses said. The incident occurred at People's Park in the heart of the Chinese financial hub during morning rush hour, when crowds of people were on their way to work. A Shanghai police statement said the incident has been ruled a "traffic accident" saying it occurred when flammable materials inside the car burst into flames, causing the van's 40-year-old driver to lose control of the vehicle. Van hits crowd in Shanghai It said the driver, who was seriously injured, had been smoking a cigarette and using his phone while driving the van, which contained seven gas tanks used to fuel stoves and three plastic bottles filled with petrol. Zhang Sai, a security guard at an adjacent building, told AFP the van was on fire when it veered out of control and mounted the curb near a cross-walk, striking pedestrians and sending others scurrying to get out of the way. "It happened around 8:50 am (0050 GMT). The van was on fire before it crashed on the sidewalk," Zhang said. Xu Xin, a 23-year-old restaurant employee, came upon the immediate aftermath during his morning jog to find injured people on the ground and bystanders calling emergency services. Police officers stand in front of a Starbucks in Shanghai after a van caught fire and ploughed into pedestrians on the crowded pavement outside "The fire department carried gas tanks from the van, like those used in restaurants," Xu said. Nine people were still in hospital as of Friday evening, including the driver, who worked for a local metals company, the police statement said. AFP journalists who arrived at the site found it had been quickly cleared by authorities. A small police presence remained on hand standing watch. Damage to fencing in front of the Starbucks could be seen, but otherwise there was little evidence of an accident. An injured person lies trapped between a van and a fence after the vehicle caught fire and hit pedestrians in Shanghai However, amateur video clips shot earlier and which circulated on Chinese social media showed several people sprawled on the pavement receiving medical treatment from fire and rescue personnel. Other images showed a fire ablaze inside the van, which had come to a stop in front of a tree near the entrance to the Starbucks. After the incident, the coffee shop was locked and a notice was taped to the door saying it had been closed, advising customers to go to other nearby outlets. In 2013, two tourists were killed when a car rammed into bystanders on Beijing's iconic Tiananmen Square before bursting into flames. Three attackers also died in the incident, which Beijing blamed on separatists from the restive western region of Xinjiang. Former President of the Maldives Mohamed Nasheed was among nine convicted political dissidents cleared by the country's top court, triggering overnight clashes The exiled former leader of the Maldives vowed Friday to run for president after the Supreme Court quashed his conviction, dealing a major blow to the ruling regime. Mohamed Nasheed, the country's first democratically elected president, has urged the government to respect the top court's shock decision to quash the convictions of nine dissidents and order the release of those serving jail sentences. On Friday he told AFP the decision cleared the way for him to return to the Maldives, a south Asian atoll nation known as a honeymooners' paradise. "I can contest and will contest," he told AFP in Colombo. "We must set up proper procedures for inclusive, free and fair elections with full international observation." Nasheed was barred from contesting any election in the Maldives after the controversial 2015 conviction on a terrorism charge widely criticised as politically motivated. He has urged the government to respect the top court's shock decision to quash the convictions of nine dissidents and order the release of those serving jail sentences. The court said the "questionable and politically motivated nature of the trials of the political leaders warrant a retrial". The ruling brought opposition activists onto the streets in celebration, sparking clashes with police who fired tear gas to disperse the crowd. It threatens to isolate President Abdulla Yameen, who has faced previous unsuccessful opposition attempts to impeach him for alleged corruption. The Maldives' popular image as an upmarket holiday paradise has been severely damaged by a major crackdown on dissent under Yameen, who has overseen the jailing of almost all the political opposition. Nasheed's Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) welcomed the court's ruling, which it said "effectively ends President Yameen's authoritarian rule". Nasheed, a charismatic and high-profile campaigner against climate change, was convicted in 2015 on a terrorism charge and sentenced to 13 years in jail. In 2016 he was granted prison leave for medical treatment in London, where he secured political asylum. A UN panel has ruled that his imprisonment was illegal and ordered the regime to pay him compensation. The UN's rights agency on Friday urged the Maldives government to respect the court's decision and release those still in jail. The court also annulled the expulsion of 12 legislators who had defected from Yameen's party and restored their seats, giving the opposition a majority in the 85-member parliament. Police have said they will implement the court's decision that those political prisoners being held in jail should be freed pending retrials, although it remains unclear when this will happen. In a sign of mounting tensions, the government sacked the country's police chief overnight, saying Yameen had been unable to contact him. "If the situation gets out of hand, the government could declare a state of emergency," a military source told AFP Friday on condition of anonymity. Streets in the Maldives, a nation of 340,000 Sunni Muslims, was relatively empty on Friday. Witnesses said police had stopped dozens of activists from gathering in the main square of the capital Male after Friday prayers. One of South African miners waves from a bus window after being rescued from the Beatrix gold mine shaft #3, in Theunissen, on February 2, 2018 All 955 gold miners who were trapped underground for more than a day in South Africa following a power cut resurfaced unharmed on Friday, the mine's owner Sibanye Gold said. "Everybody's out," mine spokesman James Wellsted told AFP, adding that there were "cases of dehydration and high blood pressure but nothing serious". The miners were stuck in the Beatrix gold mine, in the small town of Theunissen near the city of Welkom, for around 30 hours after a massive power outage caused by a storm prevented lifts from bringing workers on the night shift to the surface. After several hours engineers were able to restore power, allowing the hoist to bring up the miners -- who had been trapped since Wednesday evening -- in batches. The workers were all brought to the surface within two hours. "It was stressful, there was not enough ventilation," said mineworker Mike Khonto. "Thankfully our management managed to send us food and water." Asked if there had been any casualties, Wellsted said there was "no indication so far that anyone has been in distress" although it had been a "traumatic experience". Several ambulances arrived on-site overnight, said AFP reporter at the scene. - 'Utterly unacceptable' - The Beatrix gold mine shaft #3 where nearly 1,000 miners were trapped underground following a power outage, in Theunissen, on February 2, 2018 At sunrise the workers left by bus after undergoing medical check-ups. Nervous family members had earlier gathered along the road to the shaft, kept at a distance by security guards as they waited for news. The accident at Beatrix mine in Free State province, 290 kilometres (180 miles) southwest of Johannesburg, has reignited safety concerns at South African mines. The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) has called on mineworkers to refuse to work in "dangerous conditions". "Major multinational corporations like Sibanye-Stillwater which should be industry leaders in creating a safety culture are doing far too little to prevent accidents," the union said in a statement overnight. A parliamentary committee on mining expressed outrage at the incident, calling for "drastic" action against the mining company. It blasted as "utterly unacceptable" that the mine had no backup plan to bring the workers to the surface. Last August five mineworkers died after sections of a gold mine collapsed outside Johannesburg. The country possesses rich mineral reserves and has some of the world's deepest gold mines. Gold was for many decades the backbone of South Africa's economy, but production has declined sharply due to depletion of reserves. US President Donald Trump (L) listens to Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull before a meeting on board the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum in New York, in May 2017 US President Donald Trump is set to host Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull at the White House on February 23 to "celebrate 100 years of mateship" according to a statement issued Thursday. The pair held an infamously bad-tempered telephone call early on in Trump's presidency, when the US leader reportedly exploded and hung up after he was told about a Barack Obama-era deal to move refugees from Australia to America. But the affair appeared to have been smoothed over after Turnbull visited Trump for a patch-up summit in New York last May. "President Trump looks forward to further enhancing our partnership and alliance, and demonstrating our shared commitment to the democratic values that underpin peace and prosperity around the world," the statement said. It added: "The President and Prime Minister will discuss a range of shared bilateral, regional, and global priorities, including fighting terrorism, promoting economic growth, and expanding security and defense cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region. "The leaders will celebrate 100 years of mateship through war, peace, and prosperity, charting the course for the coming century of partnership," it continued, referencing an Australian idiom. Despite outward bonhomie, the advent of Trump has invigorated a debate over Australia's place in the world and whether its future lies with an unpredictable United States or a closer relationship with China, its top trading partner. Several former senior Australian diplomats have urged Canberra to rethink ties with the United States in light of China's rise. Sri Lanka's Dhananjaya de Silva (L) plays a shot as Bangladesh's Liton Das looks on, on the third day of the first Test Kusal Mendis and Dhananjaya de Silva piled on the runs to put Sri Lanka in a comfortable position on the third day of the first Test against Bangladesh in Chittagong on Friday. Birthday boy Mendis just missed out on a double century, hitting an impressive 196, while de Silva added 173 as Sri Lanka reached 504-3 at stumps trailing Bangladesh's first innings total by just nine runs. Roshen Silva was unbeaten on 87 alongside skipper Dinesh Chandimal, 37 not out, when stumps were drawn at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium. Left-arm spinner Taijul Islam gave Bangladesh a rare occasion for joy on an arduous day when he removed Mendis just before the tea break. Pace bowler Mustafizur Rahman earlier broke Mendis' 308-run second wicket stand with de Silva, who added 69 runs to his overnight 104. De Silva and Mendis dominated the Bangladesh bowlers for nearly two sessions after Sri Lanka resumed their innings on 187-1. The hosts had to wait for the second new ball to get their first success as Mustafizur got a leading edge from de Silva and wicketkeeper Liton Das took a high catch. De Silva faced 229 balls and hit 21 fours along with a six in his fourth Test century and the second in as many Tests. Mendis, who faced 327 balls for his career best innings as he turned 23, added another 107 runs with Roshen Silva for the third wicket before he gave a catch to Mushfiqur Rahim at midwicket. "I think he is so disappointed," said Sri Lanka batting coach Thilan Samaraweera. "The bigger picture is that if he had scored those two double-hundreds, it would have been very special for a 23-year old," Samaraweera said of Mendis, whose previous career best was 194 runs. Mendis survived a run-out when he had a mix-up with Silva in the middle of the pitch after crossing the 150-run mark. But an awkward throw from Mehidy Hasan from extra cover allowed him to return to safety before Das could break the stumps. Bangladesh team director Khaled Mahmud admitted that Sri Lanka were now in the driving seat. "(It) is very important for us to see how quickly we can bowl them out (tomorrow) and then bat well in the second innings," he said. Bangladesh were also unlucky in the morning when de Silva survived a strong lbw appeal on 119 off Taijul when the ball hit him on his toe before going to the slips. Having already used both their reviews, the hosts had no choice but to accept the decision of the on-field umpire. Mendis hit left-arm spinner Sunzamul Islam for a boundary to bring his fourth Test hundred off 200 balls. De Silva reached his 1,000 runs in Tests on 154, joining Roy Dias as the quickest Sri Lankan to achieve the feat in his 23rd innings. Iranian women attend a reformist campaign rally in Tehran ahead of parliamentary elections in February 2016 Tehran police have arrested 29 women for appearing in public without a headscarf as protests against the dress code in force since the Islamic revolution of 1979 intensify, Iranian media reported Friday. Those arrested were accused of public order offences and referred to the state prosecutor's office, the Fars, ILNA and Tasnim news agencies reported without elaborating. Chief prosecutor Mohammad Jafar Montazeri had played down the escalating protests on Wednesday, saying they were "trivial" and "childish" moves possibly incited by foreigners. He had been asked about a woman detained earlier this week for standing on a pillar box in a busy street without the mandatory headscarf. Unprecedented images of at least 11 women protesting the same way had been widely shared on social media. A prominent human rights lawyer told AFP on Tuesday that one of the detained women had her bail set at more than $100,000 (80,000 euros). Montazeri said those flouting "hijab" rules -- which require headscarves and modest clothing -- must have been encouraged by outsiders. But even religiously conservative Iranians have voiced support for the protests, with many saying that religious rules should be a personal choice. At least two photos shared on Twitter on Wednesday showed women in traditional black chador robes, standing on pillar box with signs supporting freedom of choice for women. One held a sign reading: "I love my hijab but I'm against compulsory hijab." Female activist Azar Mansouri, a member of the reformist Union of Islamic Iranian People party, said attempts to control female clothing had failed over many decades. "Women show their opposition to such forceful approaches by their very clothing, from resisting covering their hair to wearing long boots and leggings," she wrote in a series of tweets this week. Women have increasingly flouted the Islamic republic's clothing rules in recent years and often let their headscarves fall around their necks. Morality police once rigidly enforced the rules, but are a much less common sight since President Hassan Rouhani came to power in 2013, promising greater civil liberties. The protests appear to mirror that of a woman who stood in Tehran's busy Enghelab (Revolution) Street in December without a headscarf and waving a white scarf on a stick. She was reportedly kept in detention for nearly a month and has since kept a low profile. Cambodia's government on Friday approved the country's first lese majeste law handing a five year sentence to anyone found guilty of insulting the king, a move rights groups fear will be used to target dissent. Unlike neighbouring Thailand where royal defamation often results in decades in jail, Cambodia's largely symbolic monarchy was not until now shielded from criticism. The law was adopted during a cabinet meeting chaired by premier Hun Sen, an authoritarian leader who is poised to extend his tenure at elections in July after dissolving the opposition and driving many of his critics into self-exile. Cambodia's government on Friday approved the country's first lese majeste law handing a five year sentence to anyone found guilty of insulting King Norodom Sihamoni (pictured) The new law, which bans insulting Cambodia's constitutional monarch King Norodom Sihamoni, was added to the criminal code to 'uphold and to protect the reputation and royal name,' government spokesman Phay Siphan wrote in a Facebook post. 'Insults to the King shall be punished between one to five years in prison' plus a $2,500 fine, the post said. The power of the Cambodian monarchy has waned significantly in recent decades under Hun Sen, a domineering premier who has amassed tight control of the kingdom during his 33 years in office. King Sihamoni, who took the throne in 2004, is considered a purely symbolic head of state whose quiet, unflashy life stands in stark contrast to that of his politically ambitious father, who publicly clashed with the premier before abdicating. Cambodia has passed a new law banning insulting the country's constitutional monarch (pictured) in a bid to 'uphold and to protect the reputation and royal name,' government spokesman Phay Siphan wrote in a Facebook post King Sihamoni is well-respected among Cambodians and largely seen as above the political fray. But rights campaigners warned the lese majeste law is likely to be wielded as a political weapon in a country where the courts are routinely accused of doing Hun Sen's bidding. There is a 'real risk that lese-majeste would be added to the arsenal of laws currently being misused by the Cambodian government to silence dissent,' said Kingsley Abbott from the International Commission of Jurists. The law is a 'heavy blow against freedom of expression' added Brad Adams of Human Rights Watch, accusing Hun Sen of concocting 'false threats' in an election year. Cambodia's cabinet also approved amendments to a string of constitutional articles intended to block 'interference from abroad', according to the government spokesman Phay Siphan. The opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) was disbanded in a controversial court hearing in November. Western democracies and rights groups slammed the verdict as Hun Sen's last-ditch effort to clear out rivals ahead of the July poll. Many of the CNRP's senior figures have fled the country, while their leader Kem Sokha is on remand facing trial for 'treason'. The US and EU have pulled support for the election. After their rescue, the workers left by bus following medical check-ups All 955 gold miners trapped underground for more than a day in South Africa after a power cut were rescued unharmed on Friday, to the joy of waiting relatives. "Everybody's out," mine spokesman James Wellsted told AFP, adding that there were no deaths or serious injuries. There were "cases of dehydration and high blood pressure but nothing serious", he said. The miners were stuck in the Beatrix gold mine, near the central city of Welkom, for around 30 hours after a massive power outage caused by a storm prevented lifts from bringing workers on the night shift to the surface. After several hours, engineers were able to restore power, allowing the hoist to bring up the miners -- who had been trapped since Wednesday evening -- in batches. "It was stressful, there was not enough ventilation," mineworker Mike Khonto told AFP. "Thankfully our management managed to send us food and water." The National Union of Mineworkers has called on miners to refuse to work in "dangerous conditions" Wellsted said there was "no indication so far that anyone has been in distress", although it was a "traumatic experience". "We are relieved," a young woman, who spent the night anxiously waiting near the mine for news of her uncle, told AFP, without giving her name. She had been among miners' relatives who gathered along the road leading to the shaft, kept at a distance by security guards. Several ambulances arrived on-site overnight, said an AFP reporter at the scene. Neal Froneman, chief executive of the Sibanye-Stillwater mining company, said in a statement the operation was a "significant rescue effort". - 'Utterly unacceptable' - At sunrise the rescued workers, still in their workwear and helmets, underwent medical check-ups and left by bus. They had been trapped at a depth of between 1,000 and 1,500 metres (3,300 and 5,000 feet), the company said. The incident at the mine in Free State province, 290 kilometres (180 miles) southwest of Johannesburg, has reignited safety concerns in the sector. "We could have prevented it," said one mineworker who asked not to be named. "They should have had some generators that were working. Security is the least of their worries. They only care about production." Sibanye had said it hoped to resume operations on Monday, but trade unions said it should stay shut until a safety probe is completed. The National Union of Mineworkers instructed employees to refuse to work in "dangerous conditions". "Major multinational corporations like Sibanye-Stillwater, which should be industry leaders in creating a safety culture, are doing far too little to prevent accidents," it said. A parliamentary committee on mining, called for "drastic actions to such acts of carelessness, including exploring possibilities of laying criminal charges against the management." It condemned as "utterly unacceptable" the lack of a working back-up plan to bring the workers to the surface. "We will investigate the issues of negligence and generator (failure)," said mines minister Mosebenzi Zwane. But Sibanye-Stillwater spokesman Wellsted told AFP that "this was a very unusual event. The generators were affected by the storm." - Depleting reserves - Last August five mineworkers died after sections of a gold mine collapsed outside Johannesburg. In 2016 three workers stationed on the surface of a coal mine were buried when ground caved in. They were never found. The country possesses rich mineral reserves and has some of the world's deepest gold mines. Gold was for many decades the backbone of South Africa's economy, but production has declined sharply due to depletion of reserves. Sibanye-Stillwater was created five years ago and is now South Africa's largest gold producer, after embarking on a string of acquisitions. In May 2017 it bought America's Stillwater mining company to become Sibanye-Stillwater. The Johannesburg Stock Exchange and NYSE-listed firm is also involved in platinum mining, and in December 2017 announced plans to buyout Lonmin, the world's third largest producer. Peatlands are fragile ecosystems formed over thousands of years that when drained or burned release greenhouse gases into the atmosphere A plan to use satellite imagery and aerial mapping to protect Indonesia's peatlands -- a vast carbon sink and source of much of the country's greenhouse emissions -- was awarded a $1 million prize on Friday. The cutting-edge technology will be used by authorities to clamp down on illegal clearance of the land for plantations, helping to prevent a repeat of annual forest fires that plague the region while also reducing the country's carbon footprint. The government, with the support of international partners, came up with the idea of a competition two years ago to help achieve its commitments under the Paris Agreement on climate change. The winning entry from the International Peat Mapping Team was recognised by the judges for offering "the most accurate, timely and cost-effective methodology for mapping peatlands". Bambang Setiadi, an Indonesian member of the winning team, told reporters that Indonesia has the largest tropical peatland area in the world. "We need technology to measure the depth of peat domes and water levels," said Setiadi, whose team also included scientists from Indonesia, Germany and the Netherlands. Peatlands are fragile ecosystems formed over thousands of years by the accumulation of dense wet plant material. When drained or cleared by fire to make way for commercial plantations, such as for palm oil or pulpwood, the carbon is released into the atmosphere. In 2015, Indonesia experienced its most serious fires in some years, worsened by dry weather caused by an El Nino phenomenon, and cloaked large stretches of Southeast Asia in choking smog for weeks. A moratorium on conversions of new peatlands was established in 2011 to improve management and reduce fires. But poor spatial data and overlapping forestry maps are a major hindrance for authorities trying to enforce regulations governing them. Indonesia's geospatial agency, which oversaw the internationally funded competition, said the new mapping technology would be deployed this year. The winning technology combines satellite and aerial LiDAR mapping with on-the-ground measurements to find the depth and extent of wetlands and peat bogs. The former head of Sri Lanka's central bank, Arjuna Mahendran, a Singapore national of Sri Lankan origin, was named in court Friday as a key suspect in a multi-million dollar bond scam The former head of Sri Lanka's central bank was named in court Friday as a key suspect in a multi-million dollar bond scam. Arjuna Mahendran, a Singapore national of Sri Lankan origin, was ordered to present himself to police before February 15 to respond to charges under the state property act. He and his bond-dealer son-in-law Arjun Aloysius are accused of manipulating of bond auctions in 2015 and 2016, causing losses of over $11 million to the state. Mahendran was not present for the hearing and is believed to be in Singapore. A damning presidential report into the high-profile bond scandal accused him of insider trading and recommended the state recover its losses from Mahendran and his son-in-law. The bond scandal has deepened acrimony between President Maithripala Sirisena and his coalition partner Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, who handpicked Mahendran to head the central bank in 2015. Sirisena has publicly accused Wickremesinghe's United National Party (UNP) of being more corrupt than the previous regime they toppled together in 2015 after cobbling together an alliance. The allies ended the 10-year rule of strongman president Mahinda Rajapakse, whose regime had been accused of graft and nepotism. The bond scandal has shaken the union and called into question their pledge to clean up governance. Sections of the 1,154-page report released last month recommended prosecuting Ravi Karunanayake, finance minister at the time of the scandal, for graft and perjury over his links with Aloysius. He resigned as foreign minister in August last year after his association with the controversial bond dealer went public. The investigation also recommended a forensic audit of the central bank during the Rajapakse era, saying insider trading had occurred under his rule. British Prime Minister Theresa May, at the end of a three-day trip to China, says she is "doing what the British people want" and is going nowhere despite growing pressure from her party over her leadership and Brexit strategy Prime Minister Theresa May insisted Friday she was "doing what the British people want" and going nowhere despite growing pressure from her party over her leadership and Brexit strategy. In a BBC interview at the end of a three-day trip to China, May declined to detail exactly what she wants from negotiations on future ties with the European Union, which begin in April. Asked whether she would favour a deal that limited disruption to trade, or one that emphasised Britain's power to forge its own path, she said: "These are not the options we have before us. "The option that we have before us is to go in there with the EU and negotiate a good trade deal." May has faced growing public calls from across her Conservative party this week to set out her vision for Brexit more clearly, amid media reports of increasing discontent with her leadership. Tensions were fuelled by a leaked internal government assessment suggesting that the options on the table so far for a trade deal with the EU would all leave Britain worse off. The prime minister also sparked concern in Brussels by questioning the rights of EU citizens who arrive in Britain during a post-Brexit transition period. "What the British people voted for is for us to take back control of our money, our borders and our laws and that's exactly what we are going to do," May said in Shanghai. "We also want to ensure that we can trade across borders. "We're at the start of a negotiation. At the end of the negotiation a deal will be presented to parliament and parliament will have a meaningful vote on that deal." Asked if she wanted to be leader in the next election in 2022, May repeated what she said at the start of the trip. "I'm not a quitter... I am doing what the British people want, which is delivering on Brexit, but also getting out around the world ensuring that we bring jobs back to Britain," she said. Referring to business deals struck during the China trip worth 9 billion, ($12.7 billion), she said: "There will be more people in jobs in the UK as a result of this trip. That's global Britain in action." The crude tanker Sanchi went under in a ball of flames last month, sparking concerns it could lead to a massive environmental catastrophe "Oil-like" blobs are washing up on the beaches of several southern Japanese islands, officials said Friday, raising fears they could be from a tanker that sank in the area nearly three weeks ago. The Iranian tanker Sanchi -- carrying 111,000 tonnes of light crude oil -- went under in a ball of flames on January 14 in Japan's economic waters in the East China Sea, sparking concerns it could lead to a massive environmental catastrophe. Japan's government is analysing the origin of the "oil-like" substance, and has dispatched the coast guard to help with clean-up, top government spokesman Yoshihide Suga said. Local officials have reported the substance washing up along a seven-kilometre (four-mile) stretch of the island of Takarajima in recent days. "It is still uncertain whether this is related to the Sanchi. We are currently collecting and analysing samples," Suga told a regular briefing in Tokyo. "We are taking measures to contain (contamination) and dispatching patrol vessels and planes while working closely together with China and other nations." Officials on other southern Japanese islands also reported the substance washing up on their shores. "You can see that it is greasy sludge," said Wataru Higo, an official in Toshima, a village on Takarajima island. "Our fear is that it might increase over time, depending on directions of the tide and wind," he told AFP. "Flying fish lay eggs in our port in April and May. I wonder what kind of impact this will have on that." The Sanchi caught fire after colliding with a bulk freighter in early January, setting off a desperate rescue mission by authorities. The bodies of only three of its 32 crew have been found so far. Environmentalists and some scientists had warned that the spill could affect Japanese beaches. Greenpeace scientist Paul Johnston urged authorities to boost clean up efforts and monitoring of regional waters. "Cetaceans and birds are at high risk of exposure, and fish may be contaminated as well," he said in a press statement on Friday. "In order to confirm that (the substance) is from the Sanchi, it would need to be analytically 'fingerprinted' against a sample of the fuel oil taken from the site where the tanker went down." Japanese and Chinese authorities played down the risk of environmental damage in the wake of the spill, saying efforts were being made to break up the fuel at sea and that it was also evaporating. The type of condensate oil carried by the Sanchi does not form a traditional surface slick when spilt, but is nonetheless highly toxic to marine life and much harder to separate from water. Afghans walk near the Intercontinental Hotel as smoke billows during a fight between gunmen and Afghan security forces in Kabul on January 21 -- 11 people have been detained over the recent spate of deadly attacks President Ashraf Ghani said Friday Eleven people have been detained over a spate of deadly attacks in Afghanistan, President Ashraf Ghani said Friday, as he vowed to take revenge for the bloodshed. The government is under growing public pressure to improve security in the Afghan capital after three major attacks in the past two weeks demonstrated the ability of militants to strike at the heart of the country. Since January 20, militants have stormed a luxury hotel, bombed a crowded street and raided a military compound in Kabul, killing more than 130 people. A British charity in the eastern city of Jalalabad was also attacked. Officials said five people were killed. "People will not forget. Even if it takes a hundred years, the Afghans will take their revenge," Ghani said in a televised address to the nation after Friday prayers. He gave no further details about the 11 detained. Officials would submit a new security plan for Kabul on Sunday, Ghani said, speaking inside the heavily fortified presidential palace -- eight months after a devastating truck bomb in the city triggered a similar move. Afghans "demand" peace and wanted "practical actions (from Pakistan)", he added. His remarks came a day after Afghan officials said they had handed "undeniable" evidence to Pakistan that they claimed showed the recent attacks were planned on Pakistani soil. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack on the Intercontinental Hotel on January 20 and the street bombing last Saturday. The Pakistani embassy in Kabul said the information was "being examined for its authenticity". Kabul, along with Washington, has long accused Islamabad of providing safe havens to leaders of the Taliban and other militant groups. Pakistan denies the charges, insisting it has eradicated safe havens in the tribal region along the border with Afghanistan. The area is largely inaccessible to foreign journalists. But Islamabad is widely believed to retain links to the Taliban as a bulwark against arch-nemesis India, which it rivals for influence in Kabul. US President Donald Trump has ratcheted up the pressure on Pakistan in 2018 with a freeze on aid. But some analysts warn there may be no real way to pressure Islamabad, which believes keeping Kabul out of India's orbit is more important than clamping down on cross-border militancy. The Philippine government is concerned about the potential for epidemics because of lower immunisation rates Widespread fears over a controversial dengue vaccine that some blame for child deaths are wreaking havoc on the Philippines' war on preventable diseases, with many parents refusing to get their children immunised, a senior health official said Friday. Immunisation rates for polio, chicken pox, tetanus and other diseases are significantly down from previous years since the government suspended the sale and distribution of the Dengvaxia vaccine in December, Health Undersecretary Enrique Domingo told reporters. The government is also investigating Dengvaxia's alleged role in the deaths of at least 14 children who were among the 830,000 who got the vaccine as part of the world's first public dengue immunisation programme in 2016-2017. "Our programmes are suffering... (Filipinos) are scared of all vaccines now," Domingo said, adding that immunisation rates for some diseases are down to 60 percent, significantly lower than in recent years and below the target of 85 percent. The Philippine government is concerned about the potential for epidemics because of lower immunisation rates, he said. Dengue -- a mosquito-borne disease -- infects 400 million people each year and kills 9,000 globally, the health department said, citing World Health Organization data. The Philippines has one of the highest dengue fatality rates in the world, with 732 deaths last year, it added. Dengvaxia's manufacturer Sanofi disclosed in December, two months after the vaccination campaign was completed, that it could worsen symptoms for people who had not previously been infected with the virus. The disclosure sparked nationwide panic, with some parents alleging the vaccine caused the deaths of their children. "When you go to the communities, all the paediatricians are really heartbroken because all the patients -- the parents (and) the children -- feel that they are going to die," Domingo said. Sanofi says no one has been proven to have died from the vaccine, but last month the French pharmaceutical giant agreed to reimburse the Philippine government for leftover doses. The health department said Friday an inquiry into the deaths of 14 children injected with Dengvaxia found no direct proof it had caused any of the fatalities. "(Three children) died from dengue even though they were given Dengvaxia -- vaccine failure was the possible cause in two of them," the department said in a statement. Nine others died of reasons unrelated to dengue, while the cause of two other deaths could not be determined. Asked if the vaccine itself caused the three deaths, Juliet Sio-Aguilar, the head of the inquiry, told reporters on Friday that while it could be possible, "we cannot categorically say." Further studies on tissue samples are needed, she added. The Vatican is closing in on an historic agreement with China over the stumbling bloc of who ordains bishops, a source has told AFP, with seven Beijing-appointed bishops due to earn recognition The Vatican is moving closer to a historic agreement with China over the major stumbling bloc of who ordains bishops, a source close to the matter told AFP Friday, with seven Beijing-appointed bishops due to earn recognition. "Things are moving," the source said, confirming a Wall Street Journal report about what would be a significant concession by the Vatican to legitimise the Beijing bishops. The Holy See "hopes (the concession) will lead Beijing to recognise his authority as head of the Catholic Church in China," the Journal said quoting a "person familiar with the plan". AFP's source could not offer a date for an official accord, saying it could still take some time as complex negotiations launched three years ago continue. The Vatican has in the past officially ex-communicated three of the seven bishops to be recognised by Pope Francis, said an expert on the Catholic Church in China. China's roughly 12 million Catholics are divided between a government-run association, whose clergy are chosen by the Communist Party, and an unofficial church which swears allegiance to the Vatican. The situation is however complex because the Vatican has previously accepted several bishops appointed by Beijing, officially an atheist regime. The issue flared up again after two underground Chinese bishops, recognised by the pope, were asked by a top Vatican diplomat to resign in favour of state-sanctioned prelates, including one who was ex-communicated by the Vatican in 2011. That was first reported in January by the Vatican-linked AsiaNews website and confirmed Monday by Cardinal Joseph Zen, bishop emeritus of semi-autonomous Hong Kong, who is a staunch opponent of any rapprochement between the Vatican and Beijing. The long-stalled negotiations finally seem to be close to solving the issue of who ordains the bishops. Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican number two, noted Wednesday in an interview with the Vatican Insider: "In China there are not two Churches, but two communities of faithful called to follow a gradual path of reconciliation towards unity." The search for unity, at the core of the Holy See's diplomatic drive, clearly includes the "crucial" question of the bishops, he added, saying some people may be asked to make "sacrifices ... for the good of the Church." Beijing and the Vatican severed diplomatic relations in 1951, and although ties have improved in recent years as China's Catholic population grows, they have remained at odds over which side has the authority to ordain bishops. The question of Taiwan also looms large over hopes of China and the Vatican one day resuming relations. England spin bowler Adil Rashid dives to field the ball played by Australia's Prime Minister's XI batsman Gurinder Sandhu David Willey slammed five consecutive sixes off one Nathan Lyon over to spearhead England to a convincing eight-wicket win over the Prime Minister's XI in a Twenty20 match in Canberra on Friday. Opening the innings, Willey pounded 79 runs off 36 balls to steer England to 139 for two and chase down the PM XI's 136 for eight after winning the toss at Manuka Oval. Willey, who was coming off a Big Bash League stint with the Perth Scorchers, plundered 34 runs off one over from the Australia Test off-spinner as England careered to the target off just 12.4 overs. He capped a fine all-round match with three for 32 in the PM XI innings, removing both openers Nic Maddinson (8) and Peter Nevill (6) along with Gurinder Sandhu (19). Opening partner James Vince hit 26 off 14 balls while Dawid Malan (21) and Eoin Morgan (8) remained unbeaten. It was England's sole lead-up match to the T20 tri-series with Australia and New Zealand, starting on Saturday. Australia Test discard Peter Handscomb hammered seven fours in his topscoring 43 off 29 balls in the PM XI innings before he was bowled by left-arm spinner Liam Dawson. Dawson was the pick of the tourists' bowlers with three for 16 from his four overs. Dawson claimed a brilliant return catch to dismiss Kurtis Patterson (11 off 15) and had Daniel Hughes stumped on 11 from 12 deliveries. Sebastian Gotch (22 off 22) and Sandu (19 off 14) put on 28 for the seventh wicket to boost the PM XI's total after they were 90 for six. Sam Billings took an outstanding boundary catch to dismiss James Faulkner for two off nine balls. Billings avoided falling over the boundary by flinging the ball skyward before reclaiming it mid-air and landing inside the rope to give spinner Adil Rashid the wicket. Indian actress Deepika Padukone stars as a legendary Hindu queen in the Bollywood epic 'Padmaavat' Malaysia on Friday banned "Padmaavat", a Bollywood epic that has enraged Hindu radicals in India, saying that it portrayed Islam in a bad light. The national censorship board said it took the tough measure "because the plot of the movie gave a bad image about Islam through the role played by a (Muslim) sultan," it said in a statement. Authorities turned down an appeal by the local distributor against the banning of the hit Indian film directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali. In India, the movie has fuelled anger among hardline Hindu activists over its portrayal of a legendary Hindu queen which led to the film sets being vandalised. Muslims make up 60 percent of multi-ethnic Malaysia's 32 million population. The country has previously banned movies that it feared could hurt religious sensitivities, including Hollywood biblical epic "Noah" and "The Passion of the Christ". It has also occasionally pulled the plug on live shows by foreign artists out of fear of angering conservative Muslims. Conservatives cry foul over concerts by Western artists whom they accuse of promoting promiscuity, corrupting young people or offending religious sensitivities. China's leading microblogging website Sina Weibo already uses automated scans and censorship teams to remove inappropriate content China Friday ordered the country's microblog operators to establish mechanisms to remove false information, in the latest move by authorities to tighten policing of the web. The Cyberspace Administration of China said the Twitter-like microblog platforms have allowed the spread of pornographic, vulgar and fraudulent content. In addition to making sure to remove such content, companies should also keep a copy of what users post for at least six months, the CAC said in an online statement. "Microblogging service providers shall play an active role in promoting economic development and serving the general public by promoting the core values of socialism," it said. The statement did not go into any detail on what any new mechanisms should include. China tightly controls the internet through a censorship system known as the "Great Firewall" and closely monitors social media networks for sensitive content. Regulations in force since 2000 say websites are responsible for "ensuring the legality of any information" posted on their platforms. China's leading microblogging website by far, Sina Weibo, already uses automated scans and censorship teams to remove inappropriate content, but has not disclosed how many employees are involved in the work. Last month, popular news aggregation app Jinri Toutiao announced it would hire 2,000 more "content reviewers" after authorities shut it down for 24 hours in December over alleged breaches of regulations. New regulations that came into force last June require online platforms to get a licence to post news reports or commentary about the government, economy, military, foreign affairs, and social issues. A life-size 4th century BC white marble bull's head , part of five ancient scultures looted during Lebanon's civil war on display February 2, 2018 at Beirut National Museum after they were returned by United States Lebanon's national museum on Friday unveiled five ancient sculptures, including a Phoenician bull's head returned by the United States, that were looted during the civil war. The life-size 4th century BC white marble bull's head, the star artefact among the works that were all looted in 1981, had been loaned to New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art (Met). The five pieces were discovered on the Phoenician site of Eshmun, near the southern port city of Sidon, during excavations carried out in the 1960s and 1970s. "We are committed, as much as we can, to repatriating pieces stolen during the war," Lebanese Culture Minister Ghattas Khoury said during a ceremony at the National Museum of Beirut. Lebanon's civil war lasted 15 years from 1975 to 1990. The five statues were stolen from a storeroom in Byblos and later surfaced "on the international antiquity market", the culture ministry said in a statement. They were repatriated over the past two months. The bull's head had been exhibited at the Met and was spotted as part of a drive by Manhattan district attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. The return of the artefacts to Lebanon capped months of cooperation between authorities in Beirut and the United States The official has made it a priority to track stolen artwork and the repatriation of the Lebanese sculptures capped months of cooperation between Beirut and the US authorities. The repatriated works unveiled on Friday also included a 6th century BC marble statue that had ended up in the same private collection as the bull's head. The other pieces were a 4th century BC statue that had been in the possession of a private New York collector, a 5th century BC marble torso that turned up in Germany and a statue of a young boy which customs seized at the northern port of Tripoli. Wong, Law and Chow shot to prominence as leaders of the 2014 pro-democracy Umbrella Movement Hong Kong activists Joshua Wong, Nathan Law and Alex Chow Friday said they were honoured to be nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by a group of US lawmakers at a time when the city's freedoms are "under serious attack by China". A bipartisan group of four senators and eight members of the House announced Thursday that they had nominated the activists "in recognition of their peaceful efforts to bring political reform and self-determination to Hong Kong." Wong, Law and Chow -- who shot to prominence as leaders of the 2014 pro-democracy Umbrella Movement -- said they were honoured by the nomination, but warned that Beijing was targeting the freedoms enjoyed by residents of Hong Kong as a semi-autonomous part of China. The city's administration -- handpicked by Beijing -- has "criminalised people for their speech, deprived people of their right to stand in elections, ousted elected lawmakers and punished dissenters by jailing them," the activists said in a statement. "At this critical juncture, we need to join hands with the international community and together defend Hong Kong as a bridgehead for democratic movements." Hong Kong has been governed under a "one country, two systems" deal since 1997, when Britain handed the territory back to China, and its residents have rights unseen on the mainland, including freedom of speech. But there are growing concerns that these liberties are being eroded. Wong, Law and Chow said Friday the system is "under serious attack by China". Officials at the foreign ministry in Beijing did not respond to requests for comment on Friday. Tens of thousands of protesters paralysed parts of Hong Kong during the Umbrella Movement, demanding fully free elections for the city's leader. The rallies failed to win concessions and since then, Wong and other leading activists have been charged over their involvement. A Turkish-backed Syrian rebel fighter gestures as he holds Free Syrian Army flag next to Syrian children holding the Turkish national flag Turkish authorities on Friday detained 13 people for supporting the country's main medical association whose top members are in custody for criticising Ankara's offensive against a Syrian Kurdish militia. Police this week detained 11 members of the Turkish Medical Association's (TTB) central council after the body said that "war is a man-made public health problem". The TTB has more than 83,000 members representing 80 percent of Turkey's doctors. A TTB official said three doctors of the 13 held Friday were later released in Ankara under observation. The co-founder of Ankara-based gay rights group Kaos GL Ali Erol was also detained. "While there was no clear information on the grounds for Ali Erol's detention, the lawyers said his social media posts were included in the detention warrant," Kaos GL said in a statement. Erol repeatedly expressed support for the TTB on his Twitter account, sharing its official statements and tweeted using the hashtag #WeAreWithTheTBB (#TTBninYanindayiz in Turkish). Turkey on January 20 began a cross-border offensive, supporting Syrian rebels with ground troops and air strikes against the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) militia in its western enclave of Afrin in Syria. Turkey sees the YPG as a "terrorist" offshoot of outlawed Kurdish militants in Turkey. The YPG has been working closely with the US against the Islamic State group in Syria, capturing swathes of territory from the extremist group last year. - 'Worrying developments' - The TTB was among many critical of the operation and in a statement on January 24, said: "No to war; peace now and everywhere!" The members had been accused of "legitimising the activities of a terrorist group", "inciting hatred" and "praising crimes and criminals", local media said. Sinan Adiyaman, a doctor released on Friday, was defiant in a video shared on social media. "We did our duty as doctors, and after this, we will continue our duty as doctors," he said. "We will always be in favour of life, we will not be in favour of war." The interior ministry on Monday said 311 people had been detained over disseminating "terror propaganda" against the offensive on social media. The number is likely to be higher after police detained 12 people in the western province of Bursa on Friday over spreading "terror propaganda". The detentions come after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called for national unity over the offensive. The EU's diplomatic chief Federica Mogherini and Enlargement Commissioner Johannes Hahn said the TTB detentions was one of the latest examples of "worrying developments undermining the rule of law and independence and impartiality of the judiciary". "Concrete and lasting improvements in the area of rule of law and fundamental freedoms remain essential to the prospects of EU-Turkey relations," they said. US President Donald Trump told reporters he authorized the release of a Republican-drafted memo on the FBI's probe into his campaign Donald Trump and his Republican allies unleashed a controversial memo accusing the FBI of bias and abuse of power Friday, intensifying a high-stakes fight between the White House and prosecutors investigating the president's campaign team. Trump defied his own FBI director and the Justice Department to declassify the four-page Republican document, which implies malfeasance and partisanship at the very top of American law enforcement. "I think it's a disgrace. What's going on in this country, I think it's a disgrace," a visibly tense Trump said as he announced his decision to release the memo. "A lot of people should be ashamed of themselves and much worse than that." Democrats and some Republicans have cried foul over the document, dismissing its release as little more than a stunt, and another thinly veiled effort to undermine the investigation into the Trump campaign's ties with Russia. They claim the document -- drafted by Devin Nunes, a Trump transition official, Congressman and House Intelligence Committee chairman -- has glaring holes. The FBI itself said it had "grave concerns" over its accuracy. The memo claims that Democrat-funded research prompted the FBI to spy on a former Trump campaign aide, Carter Page. In a subsequent statement, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said the document "raises serious concerns about the integrity of decisions made at the highest levels of the Department of Justice and the FBI." Trump's son Don Jr tweeted that it should be "game over" for the Russia investigation. Trump's one-year-old presidency has been dominated by allegations that multiple aides, including Don Jr and his son-in-law Jared Kushner, may have coordinated with the Kremlin to defeat Democrat Hillary Clinton. Special counsel Robert Mueller has already indicted two officials including Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, and two more campaign officials have admitted lying to investigators -- including onetime national security advisor Michael Flynn. The 71-year-old president has decried the allegations as fake news and a Democratic plot. Mueller is soon expected to ask him to testify under oath about what he knows. - 'Talk is cheap' - The memo's release sent shockwaves across Washington, calling into question the future of Trump's hand-picked FBI Director Christopher Wray. But he shrugged off attacks on the FBI's independence and pledged to defend his agents in an internal letter sent to staff on Friday and obtained by AFP. "Talk is cheap; the work you do is what will endure," Wray wrote. FBI Director Christopher Wray has shrugged off attacks on the agency's independence and vowed to defend his agents "Let me be clear: I stand fully committed to our mission... I stand with you." The FBI had previously issued an extraordinary public warning against the memo's release, saying it contained "material omissions of fact that fundamentally impact the memo's accuracy." But perhaps the biggest question hung over deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein. Rosenstein oversees the Russia investigation and has the power to fire special counsel Mueller, because his boss, Attorney General Jeff Sessions, recused himself. He was the only law enforcement official named in the memo who has not already been fired by Trump or moved from their post. Trump, when asked if he has confidence in Rosenstein, told journalists in the Oval Office: "You figure that one out." But the president faced intense pushback from Democrats in Congress, who warned that any attempt to fire Rosenstein or Mueller would be seen as obstruction. "We write to inform you that we would consider such an unwarranted action as an attempt to obstruct justice in the Russia investigation," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, House Minority Nancy Pelosi and eight other key Democrats said in a statement. The Trump-Russia probe "Firing Rod Rosenstein, DOJ Leadership, or Bob Mueller could result in a constitutional crisis of the kind not seen since the Saturday Night Massacre," they said, referring to disgraced president Richard Nixon's orders to fire justice officials during the Watergate scandal. Several senior Republican senators also weighed in to show their displeasure. "Our nation's elected officials, including the president, must stop looking at this investigation through the warped lens of politics and manufacturing partisan sideshows," said Senator John McCain. - 'That's it?' - As he prepared to declassify the document, Trump took a swipe at the FBI and Justice Department. "The top Leadership and Investigators of the FBI and the Justice Department have politicized the sacred investigative process in favor of Democrats and against Republicans," he tweeted. The president called the alleged bias "something which would have been unthinkable just a short time ago," adding: Rank & File are great people!" The FBI issued an extraordinary statement warning against the release of a Republican memo on the Russia investigation, saying it contained "material omissions of fact" The explosive Republican memo was based on the highly classified, much larger record of the application to obtain a so-called FISA national security warrant in 2016 to surveil Page. Democrats have sought approval for the release of their own counter-memo that argues Nunes simplified and "cherry-picks" facts to distort what happened. But Republicans have not agreed to that. Paul Ryan, the top Republican in the House of Representatives, supported the memo's release as an act of transparency while also calling Friday for the Democrat memo to be approved for release. Former FBI head James Comey, who was fired by Trump last year after refusing to pledge loyalty to the president, tweeted after the memo's release: "That's it?" "Dishonest and misleading memo wrecked the House intel committee, destroyed trust with Intelligence Community, damaged relationship with FISA court, and inexcusably exposed classified investigation of an American citizen," he wrote. "For what? DOJ & FBI must keep doing their jobs." Illegal migrants from Arab and African countries arrive at a naval base in the capital Tripoli after being rescued off the coast of Zuwara At least 90 people were feared dead on Friday in the latest migrant tragedy in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Libya, the UN migration agency said. The tragedy happened off the coast of Zuwara in the early hours Friday, International Organization for Migration (IOM) spokeswoman Olivia Headon told reporters in Geneva by phone from Tunis. "At least 90 migrants are reported to have drowned, when a boat capsized off the coast of Libya this morning", the IOM said in a statement. The agency said that "10 bodies are reported to have washed up on Libyan shores", including those of two Libyans and eight Pakistanis. Two survivors from the disaster had swum to shore, while another was rescued by a fishing boat, it added. The agency has repeatedly issued warnings over the extreme dangers facing migrants who try to reach Europe via the so-called central Mediterranean route, which connects Libya to Italy. IOM said Friday that more than 6,600 migrants and refugees had already entered Europe by sea this year, with central Mediterranean route crossings to Italy accounting for nearly 65 percent of the entries. It voiced surprise that Libyans were among the dead, pointing out that only 29 Libyan nationals were rescued or intercepted trying to cross the Mediterranean in all of 2017, with no Libyan deaths recorded last year. Asked if it was common to see Libyans among the migrants trying to cross to Europe, IOM spokesman Joel Millman said "we haven't (really) seen that before." "They could have been smugglers," he told AFP. The large number of Pakistanis found dead could meanwhile hint at a shift in migration trends. IOM pointed out that Pakistanis made up the 13th largest group trying to cross the Mediterranean to Europe last year, with 3,138 of them arriving in Italy in 2017, and no recorded sea deaths. But they have already climbed to third place this year, with an estimated 240 Pakistanis reaching Italy in January, compared to just nine during the same month last year. - 16,000 drowned - Drownings in the Mediterranean began surging in 2013 as Europe's worst migration crisis since World War II began picking up speed, with hundreds of thousands of people fleeing war and poverty in the Middle East and elsewhere. Over the past five years, more than 16,000 people have died trying to make the perilous crossing to Europe, according to IOM numbers. Excluding Friday's tragedy, 246 migrants and refugees have already died trying to cross the Mediterranean since the beginning of the year, compared to 254 casualties during the first month of 2017. Two hundred and eighteen of the deaths this year occurred on the central route, IOM said, while 28 happened on the western route that links North Africa to Spain. No deaths have been reorded this year on the eastern Mediterranean route that connects Turkey and Greece, used by 1,089 migrants so far in 2018. The EU last year reached controversial agreements with chaos-wracked Libya to stem the flow of migrants from that country, following a more comprehensive deal with Turkey in 2016, which sharply reduced the numbers crossing to Greece. Casualties in the eastern Mediterranean have dropped dramatically since then. In the 22 months since the deal with Turkey was reached in April 2016, fatalities on that route have fallen to an average of 6.75 per month, from 96.25 per month during the year prior to the agreement, IOM said. A Turkish flag hangs from a window damaged by a rocket on Wednesday in the Reyhanli district, near the Turkey-Syria border Two people were killed and 16 were wounded in a Turkish border town Friday by rockets fired from Syria, local authorities said, as Turkey continues its offensive against a Syrian Kurdish militia. Three rockets hit neighbourhoods of Reyhanli in southern Turkey and 68-year-old Rifat Sinirli died in hospital, the state-run news agency Anadolu reported. Reyhanli mayor Huseyin Sanverdi said on Twitter that a man was killed by a rocket fired from Syria's Afrin region, a Kurdish enclave where the Turkish army has launched its offensive against the YPG militia deemed "terrorists" by Ankara. Later in the afternoon, he announced a second man was killed in another attack by "treacherous terrorists." The Hatay governor's office said 16 people were injured. Sinirli's funeral was attended by dozens of people including Hatay governor Erdal Ata standing in front of a coffin covered with a Turkish flag. His weeping relatives screamed: "Let the terrorists be cursed!" Two rockets also hit the nearby border town of Kilis, one landing on a street and the other on an empty field near the state hospital, according to Anadolu. There were no casualties in Kilis and the Turkish artillery fired in response, the agency reported. Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said earlier that 82 rockets have hit the Turkish border provinces of Kilis and Hatay, including the town of Reyhanli, since the start of the Turkish operation on January 20. Seven people have been killed so far in mortar fire. Turkey says the YPG is an offshoot of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) which has waged a three-decade insurgency against the Turkish state. But the YPG has been working closely with the United States against the Islamic State extremist group in Syria. A Tunisian man sets up deck chairs on the beach of the Imperial Merhaba Hotel in Port El Kantaoui on April 21, 2017 which reopened under the name "Kantaoui Bay" two years after a gunman killed 38 tourists, most of them Britons in a shooting spree Britain's security minister, Ben Wallace, on Friday praised efforts by Tunisia to boost security and said he expects a return of tourists from his country, two-and-a-half years after a terror attack on a beach in which 30 Britons were killed. "It's been really impressive what I've seen over the last few days," Wallace told reporters in Tunis. "I look forward to the fact there's gonna be lots more British people coming in the next few weeks." Wallace has been in Tunisia since Wednesday for talks with officials on the security situation. In June 2015, a gunman killed 38 people, including 30 British tourists, in a shooting spree at a beach resort at Port El Kantaoui near Sousse. The attack, one of three that shook Tunisia that year, was claimed by the Islamic State jihadist group. It prompted Britain to impose a warning against "all but essential travel" to Tunisia. Last July, Britain lifted the travel warning for virtually all of Tunisia's Mediterranean coastline following "security improvements" in the North African country. However, it continues to advise against travel to southern Tunisia, along the border with Libya, and advises against all but essential travel along the western border with Algeria. In August last year, British travel group Thomas Cook, one of the world's biggest tour operators, said it would resume organising holidays to Tunisia. Tunisian Foreign Minister Khemaies Jhinaoui said London's decision to ease the travel ban "has had a positive impact". "God willing, the next season will see an influx of British tourists in Tunisia," he said, speaking to reporters alongside Wallace. Tunisia's economy is heavily dependent on tourism. Before the beach attack, more than 400,000 British tourists visited Tunisia annually. But in 2016, just 20,000 British visitors were recorded, official Tunisian figures show. Patents received by Amazon could enable the US online giant to monitor warehouse workers and deliver electronic pulses via wristband to guide their tasks Amazon has received patents for electronic systems that could enable warehouse monitoring through electronic pulses that guide employees by location. The patent filings, first reported this week by the news site Geekwire, come amid concerns over workplace conditions for the company, which has seen rapid growth in its warehouses or "fulfillment centers" key to its logistics. The publicly available patent documents show how wrist-worn devices could deliver ultrasonic pulses that could direct employees to the location of bins for packages being sought. "Ultrasonic tracking of a worker's hands may be used to monitor performance of assigned tasks," according to one of the documents. "The ultrasonic unit is configured to be worn by a user in proximity to the user's hand and to periodically emit ultrasonic sound pulses... The management module monitors performance of an assigned task based on the identified inventory bin." In a statement to AFP, Amazon said it files numerous patents on new technologies that may or may not be implemented. "The speculation about this patent is misguided," the Amazon statement said. "Every day at companies around the world, employees use handheld scanners to check inventory and fulfill orders. This idea, if implemented in the future, would improve the process for our fulfillment associates. By moving equipment to associates' wrists, we could free up their hands from scanners and their eyes from computer screens." Any deployment of such systems would likely trigger a backlash over labor conditions and heighten fears over workplace surveillance. In the patent document, Amazon said the system is designed to help with "time-consuming acts" to locate items in warehouses. Amazon's growth has been fueled by technologies that help it speed shipments to enable deliveries in one or two days. It has invested heavily in automated technology and robotics. On Thursday, Amazon reported its quarterly profit doubled to $1.9 billion, compared with $749 million a year earlier. In 2015, a New York Times article described Amazon's workplace culture as a "hurtful," Darwinian setting in which employees were pitted against one another to the point of tears to improve productivity. At the time, Amazon chief executive and founder Jeff Bezos said he did not recognize what he called the depiction of "a soulless, dystopian workplace." Former USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar, seen here at a sentencing hearing in Charlotte, Michigan, has pleaded guilty to sexually abusing young female athletes The father of three sexual abuse victims lunged at Larry Nassar in court Friday, bringing the former USA Gymnastics doctor's final sentencing hearing to an abrupt halt while order was restored. Randall Margraves suddenly hurled himself towards Nassar after two of his three daughters had testified in a court in Charlotte, Michigan to their abuse at Nassar's hands. Three sheriff's deputies tackled Margraves, and Nassar was taken out of the courtroom. "I want that son of a bitch!" Margraves yelled as he was being handcuffed. "What if this happened to you guys?" he said while being escorted out of the courtroom. The hearing later resumed with an appeal for calm by Judge Janice Cunningham. The disruption came on the second day of Nassar's final sentencing hearing as dozens of women waited for their turn to confront Nassar and tell the court of the abuse they suffered in the guise of medical treatment. At least 265 young female athletes -- including several Olympic medalists -- have identified themselves as having been abused by Nassar. He was sentenced on January 24 to between 40 and 175 years in prison, and was back in court this week for sentencing on yet more sexual abuse charges. Madison and Lauren Margraves had just spoken Friday, when their father asked the judge to "grant me five minutes in a locker room with that demon." The comment at first elicited chuckles from the courtroom, and the judge replied, "I can't do that." At that point Margraves lunged toward Nassar, bringing the proceedings to a halt. "You cannot behave like this," lead prosecutor Angela Povilaitis admonished Margraves. "You have not lived through it, lady!," he yelled back. The hearing resumed approximately 20 minutes later. In appealing for calm, the judge acknowledged the intense emotions the case has aroused. "I recognize that Mr Margraves had three daughters that he has had to watch go through the pain and the hurt," Cunningham said. "I can't imagine what it is like for a parent." Approximately 30 women were heard from in written and in-person accounts Wednesday, during the first day of Nassar's final sentencing. Another 35 were expected to speak Friday. Under a plea agreement, Nassar could get a minimum 25 to 40 years in prison. He also has been sentenced to 60 years for child pornography possession. Punxsutawney Phil being held by his handler after the groundhog saw his shadow on Groundhog Day, considered a prediction of six more weeks of winter Bundle up America, the world's furriest weather forecaster says six more weeks of winter are in store. In an annual February 2 tradition, a groundhog named "Punxsutawney Phil" emerged from winter hibernation in his burrow to test the weather. According to his handlers at the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club, established in 1887, the rodent saw his shadow on Friday and scurried back inside, auguring six more weeks of winter. No shadow and it would have been an early spring. A number of towns in the United States and Canada celebrate "Groundhog Day" but "Punxsutawney Phil," named for his hometown in Pennsylvania, is the most celebrated of the rodent weather prognosticators. "Groundhog Day" is also the title of the 1993 cult classic movie featuring Bill Murray in which he wakes up and experiences the same day again and again. South Africa's under-pressure leader, Jacob Zuma, pictured at the African Union summit in Addis Ababa last Sunday South African lawmakers will vote on February 22 in a fresh no-confidence motion against President Jacob Zuma, who is under pressure from within his own party to step down. Zuma has survived numerous no-confidence votes in recent years, but could be more fragile as some former loyalists are pushing for Cyril Ramaphosa, the new head of the ruling ANC party, to replace him as president. The no-confidence vote was called after a request from the radical leftist Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) opposition party. Zuma is due to deliver the annual state of the nation address on Thursday, despite the political manoeuvrings to unseat him. "It's useless to have the no-confidence motion after the state of the nation address," EFF's deputy president, Floyd Shivambu, told reporters. "Why listen to Jacob Zuma on the 8th when he is going on the 22nd?" Senior ANC officials are due to meet with Zuma on Sunday to discuss the transfer of power, according to the public broadcaster SABC. No comment could be obtained from ANC officials. Some Zuma loyalists have said that the president should complete his second and final term in office, which would end when elections are held next year. But opposition parties are adamant that Zuma, 75, resign. The main opposition Democratic Alliance said that "South Africans simply cannot be subjected to (an address) delivered by a discredited president." Zuma's presidency has been dominated by corruption scandals. He faces several court cases, including over 783 payments he allegedly received linked to an arms deal before he came to power in 2009. His hold on the ANC was shaken when his chosen successor -- his former wife Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma -- lost out to Ramaphosa in the closely-fought race to be party leader. Zuma could leave office either by resigning, through losing a motion of no-confidence in parliament or impeachment proceedings. He could also be recalled by the ANC, forcing him to step down. A picture taken on February 1, 2018, shows members of the civil defence removing the remnants of a rocket reportedly fired by regime forces on the outskirts of the rebel-held besieged Syrian town of Douma in Eastern Ghouta region.According to the Syrian observatory for human rights, rockets were fired on the outskirts of Douma, and three people suffered respiratory problems, with local inhabitants speaking to the Syrian observatory of a chemical attack. Bombardment by the Syrian regime killed at least 11 civilians Friday in the rebel-held enclave of Eastern Ghouta, east of Damascus, a monitoring group reported. The bloodshed came a day after the latest suspected chlorine attack by the regime of President Bashar al-Assad on Ghouta, which has been besieged by government forces since 2013. Senior US administration officials on Thursday said President Donald Trump did not rule out military action, such as the cruise missiles fired at a Syrian airfield in April 2017. On Friday, at least three civilians, including two children, were killed in air strikes on the town of Arbin, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. The Britain-based war monitor, which relies on a network of sources on the ground across Syria, said shelling killed another eight civilians, including in Ghouta's main town of Douma. The Observatory could not confirm local reports of a chlorine attack on the Eastern Ghouta region on Thursday but it reported at least two likely uses of chlorine in attacks in January. US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis said Friday that chlorine gas was known to have been weaponised "repeatedly" in attacks in Syria lately. "We are even more concerned about the possibility of sarin use, and we are looking for the evidence," he said. Syria's war has killed more than 340,000 people and displaced millions since it began in March 2011 with the brutal repression of anti-government protests. A picture taken on February 2, 2018 shows an undated image picture of late 23-year-old Syrian Kurdish fighter Barin Kobani, after Syria's Kurds accused Turkey-backed rebels of mutilating then filming her dead body Syria's Kurds on Friday accused Turkey-backed rebels fighting them of mutilating then filming the body of one of their female fighters, after a video emerged of her corpse. Turkey and allied Syrian rebels have since January 20 pressed an offensive against the Kurdish enclave of Afrin in northern Syria, whose Kurdish fighters Ankara views as "terrorists". A Kurdish official identified the young woman as Barin Kobani, who took part in a US-backed campaign to drive the Islamic State jihadist group from the northern town of Kobane. The Kurds in a statement blamed the "terrorist allies of the enemy Turkish state" for mutilating the body of Kobani, who was a member of the all-female Kurdish Women's Protection Units. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitor, said it received the video from a Syrian rebel fighting with Turkish forces in the Afrin offensive. The rebel told the Observatory the footage was filmed on Tuesday after rebels found the young woman's corpse in the village of Qurna near the Turkish border in the north of the enclave. In the footage, a dozen men, some armed, gather around the badly mutilated body of a woman lying on the ground. The Kurdish community reacted with outrage and social media users shared online a portrait of Kobani smiling next to another shot of her brutalised body. "Barin did not surrender, she fought to the death," said Amad Kandal, an official with the Women's Protection Units, vowing to avenge her comrade's brutal murder. "This kind of behaviour will only serve to reinforce our determination to resist until victory," said Kandal. Syrian Kurds take part in a funeral for Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) militia fighters and civilians who died in clashes with Turkish-backed rebels and in air strikes respectively in Afrin on January 27, 2018 YPG male and female fighters have taken part in the battle by the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) to expel IS from large parts of Syria. SDF spokesman Mustefa Bali said the video of the fighter's body was reason to continue fighting back against Turkey and its allies. "Imagine the savagery of these invaders with the bodies of our daughters. How would they behave if they took control of our neighbourhoods?" he wrote on Facebook. "All this hatred and barbarity leaves us with a single option: to continue the resistance," he said. Afrin resident Hussein Cheikho, 65, said he was "deeply pained" when he saw pictures of Kobani's mutilated body but said her death will not be in vain. "The death of a young man or a young woman will not weaken us. Out strength will be bolstered every day," he said. In a statement, the Syrian National Council, the main opposition body in exile, condemned the "criminal acts" and called for "the opening of an immediate investigation" to punish those responsible. Cameroon police officers on patrol in one of the country's English-speaking regions Unrest has spread in Cameroon's English-speaking regions since October as a secessionist movement has pushed for independence. Dozens of people have been killed and tens of thousands have fled the violence. But the tensions can be traced back to events a century ago, when Britain and France occupied Cameroon, taking over Germany's major colony in West Africa. - World War I split - Cameroon was a Germany colony until 1916, when British and French troops forced the Germans out. The two countries divided it into separate spheres of influence that were later formalised by the League of Nations, the forerunner to the UN. The much larger French colony gained independence in 1960. A year later, the British colony also gained independence. Some of the English-speaking areas choose to join newly-formed Nigeria, others to become part of the federation of Cameroon. - English-speaking regions - The two mainly English-speaking southern provinces are home to around a fifth of Cameroon's 23 million population. Named the Northwest Region and Southwest Region, they jut into southeastern Nigeria. The English-speaking areas were allowed some self-governance. But many English-speakers complained of discrimination at the hands of the francophone majority in areas such as education and the justice system, and alleged national wealth was not shared fairly. - Disputed 'unity' - In 1972, the original federal structure was scrapped in a national referendum that approved the creation of one state. Calls for a breakaway English-speaking state mounted in the 1990s, with demands for a referendum on independence accompanied by low-level unrest. In 2001 banned protest rallies turned violent. Several people were killed when security forces moved in and secessionist leaders were arrested. The separatist Southern Cameroon National Council (SCNC) set up a "government" in Britain and leaders moved into exile. - 2016 flare-up - Lawyers in the English-speaking regions, which are also strongholds for the political opposition, went on strike in late 2016 to demand the right to use Anglo-Saxon common law. Teachers followed, protesting at the appointment of francophones in the region's education system. Tensions rose in December, when the national flag was torched at protests and a separatist version hoisted. Clashes in some areas left several people reported dead. Prime Minister Philemon Yang, himself an anglophone, ruled out secession -- "Unity is the bedrock of our country." - 'Independence' declared - In January 2017 senior secessionist activists were arrested and charged with terrorism and rebellion. New protests brought several cities to a standstill, but the government hit back by cutting off internet access to flashpoint areas for several weeks, alleging the spread of "fake news". In an apparent effort to calm the situation, President Paul Biya halted the secessionists' trials in August and some were later freed. In October, several thousand defied a ban on protests to mark the anniversary of the country's October 1961 unification. Separatist leaders issued a symbolic declaration of independence. "We are no longer slaves of Cameroon," said Sisiku Ayuk Tabe, the self-declared "president" of a new republic called "Ambazonia". Biya, in power since 1982 and standing for reelection in 2018, branded the secessionists "a band of terrorists" and ordered a crackdown with curfews, raids and other restrictions. At least 17 people were killed in clashes the following weekend. Nearly two dozen members of the security forces have also been killed since the flareup, according to a toll compiled by AFP. - Nigeria role - Since January 2018, much of the focus has shifted to Nigeria, which the Cameroon authorities suspected was being used as a safe haven for separatists. The two neighbours have experienced tensions in the past over various issues, but forged cooperation on fighting the Boko Haram jihadist insurgency. On January 29, Nigeria extradited 47 anglophone separatists, including Tabe, which was followed by fresh unrest English-speaking regions of Cameroon, in which three policemen and at least one civilian died. Cameroon security forces, according to local sources, have also been seen among the estimated 30,000 people who have fled the violence to southeast Nigeria. French judges have been investigating indirect money transfers by Lafarge's Syrian subsidiary to IS and other militant groups in Syria Did French diplomats know that cement group Lafarge was paying the Islamic State group to keep its Syria factory open? A former executive has claimed this was the case, prompting fresh scrutiny from investigators. Lafarge is accused of paying around $15 million (12 million euros) between 2011 and 2015 to armed groups including IS so that its factory in Jalabiya, northern Syria, could continue to operate despite the war. The payments were allegedly routed through middlemen. The revelations are particularly embarrassing for a country which has suffered the heaviest losses among European countries struck by attacks claimed or inspired by the Islamic State. Paris is also the second-largest contributor to the US-led coalition formed in 2014 to drive the jihadist group out of Syria and Iraq. For two years after most French companies had left Syria, Lafarge hung on to the site until September 2014, when it was seized by IS. Since June, three French judges have been investigating indirect money transfers by the company's Syrian subsidiary to IS and other militant groups in Syria. Former CEO Bruno Lafont, along with the group's former Syria director Christian Herrault and Eric Olsen, who took over as CEO when Lafarge merged with Switzerland's Holcim, have been charged with financing a terrorist organisation and endangering the lives of others. On January 9, investigators questioned Herrault in the presence of France's former ambassador to Syria, Eric Chevallier, a source close to the inquiry told AFP. Chevallier, who arrived in Damas in 2009, closed the embassy in March 2012 but remained ambassador, stationed in Paris, until 2014. Herrault said he had met several times with Chevallier, who "knew about the shakedown," saying "'You should stay, these problems won't last long'." Chevallier told the investigating judges that "he did not remember these meetings," the source said. - 'Urged to stay' - Former Lafarge CEO Bruno Lafont has been charged with financing a terrorist organisation and endangering the lives of others In total, six former Lafarge executives have been charged, including the factory chief Bruno Pescheux, who has also claimed that "contacts" were made with the French embassy in Damascus. Jean-Claude Veillard, the group's former security boss, has said he regularly informed French intelligence services about its operations in the region. Investigators have also found evidence of meetings between Lafarge and diplomats, including a note suggesting that one took place in Paris on January 29, 2013. "Did they push Lafarge to stay in Syria to prepare the post-Bashar Al-Assad era, to the point of endangering its Syrian workers, the only ones at the factory after 2012?" a source close to the case said. "Were diplomats aware of the illicit payments? If so, did they wait too long to sound the alarm?" In a report by Herrault on the Syria situation from 2012 to 2015, which has been found by investigators, he writes: "We have always been urged to stay (and) the only worry expressed (by French authorities) was not to do anything that might 'annoy' the Turks." "We tried to tell them that the Turks had the same goals on the ground as the most extreme Islamists which later became Daesh (Islamic State) but they couldn't understand that in Paris, at least not at the time," he wrote. Chevallier called the report "a complete lie", a source said, saying the foreign ministry had warned all French individuals and businesses to leave Syria in 2012. - Written proof? - "That applied only to French workers, who were indeed brought home in 2012. They were never asked to close the factory; otherwise they would have done so," said Herrault's lawyer Solange Doumic. And a diplomatic memo obtained from September 2014 acknowledges that Lafarge was at the mercy of the "balancing act between the Damas regime, Kurdish forces and the Islamic State," though it notes that the cement factory's boss claimed it had "paid nothing" to IS. "Proving a potential implication of the French authorities could be hard because nothing was ever written down," Doumic acknowledged. "But Paris needs to assume the stances it took at the time." Sherpa, an NGO representing about a dozen former Syrian employees at the site, has asked judges to question Laurent Fabius, foreign minister from 2012 to 2016 under the former Socialist government of president Francois Hollande. "They tell us that Lafarge was never brought up with him. But it's astonishing that he wouldn't have paid attention to the only French company working in a strategic country," Doumic said. A foreign ministry source told AFP that it "has not been accused in any way" as part of the inquiry. "No collusion with terrorist groups is condoned in any form, in Syria or anywhere else in the world," the source said. Former USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar, seen here at a sentencing hearing in Charlotte, Michigan, has pleaded guilty to sexually abusing young female athletes A father whose three daughters say they were sexually abused by Larry Nassar lunged at the disgraced former USA Gymnastics doctor in a Michigan courtroom Friday, bringing his sentencing hearing to an abrupt halt while order was restored. The disruption came on the last day of victim impact statements before Nassar -- already condemned to spend dozens of years behind bars on child sex abuse and pornography charges -- hears his final sentence on Monday. At least 265 female athletes -- including several Olympic gold medalists in gymnastics -- have claimed the 54-year-old Nassar abused them over a period of two decades. The disruption came as dozens more women confronted Nassar and told the Charlotte court of the sexual abuse they suffered under the guise of medical treatment. Randall Margraves hurled himself toward Nassar after two of his daughters spoke about their abuse. A third daughter had given a statement in a separate hearing about a week ago. Margraves asked the judge to "grant me five minutes in a locked room with this demon." The comment at first elicited chuckles in the courtroom, but Margraves then lunged towards the defense table. Three sheriff's deputies tackled him and Nassar was removed from the courtroom. "I want that son of a bitch!" Margraves yelled as he was being handcuffed. The hearing later resumed with an appeal for calm from Judge Janice Cunningham. Margraves was arrested but quickly released. "I'm embarrassed. I'm not here to upstage my daughters," he told the judge. "I lost control. I apologize a hundred times." Under a plea agreement over the final set of charges, Nassar could receive an additional 25 to 40 years in prison from Cunningham. - 'My heart goes out to you' - Cunningham, expressing sympathy, did not impose a fine or jail sentence on Margraves. "My heart goes full out to you and your family, because of what you've gone through," the judge said. Margraves explained that he did not know in advance what his daughters were going to say in court and was overcome with emotion. "I gotta hear that and I look over here and Larry Nassar is shaking his head 'no,' like it didn't happen," he said. Within hours, an online fundraiser had raised more than $12,000 for Margraves. - 'Her quiet tears' - Several other parents also addressed the court, speaking of their anguish at failing to protect their children. A father who asked to remain anonymous said his daughter had initially refused to come forward "because she did not want me to feel sorry for what happened." "I'm so sorry, my princess," he said. Lynn Erickson said her daughter Ashley was treated by Nassar for 17 years until August 2016, when assault accusations first became public. "When I see her quiet tears, it breaks my heart," Erickson said as her daughter stood crying behind her. The victim statements ended, as they had during the first sentencing, with the words of Rachael Denhollander -- the first to publicly accuse Nassar of abuse. "He devastated children and he devastated families," she said, asking the judge for the maximum sentence possible. - Gymnastics team coordinator out - The Nassar case has triggered a wave of upheaval in the gymnastics world. Valeri Liukin -- the father of 2008 US gold medalist Nastia Liukin -- on Friday became the latest to exit USA Gymnastics, abruptly resigning as coordinator of the US national women's team. The "present climate causes me, and more importantly my family, far too much stress, difficulty and uncertainty," he said. Also Friday, the Michigan attorney general's office said state investigators entered Michigan State University unannounced, looking for "physical items assigned to William Strampel," the former head of the department where Nassar worked. No caption Jerusalem city council has launched a fresh bid to end what it says are huge property tax exemptions wrongly given to church-owned properties in the city. A council letter seen Friday by AFP said international agreements only exempt places of worship, but for years churches have been excused charges on their huge commercial property portfolios. Director General Amnon Merhav wrote that debts on 887 properties stood at 657,180,520 shekels (over $190 million, 150 million euros), without specifying the timeframe that covered. The letter was addressed to the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as well as the finance, foreign and interior ministries. It also said that the tax-free status enjoyed by several United Nations agencies with offices in the city was worth around 93 million shekels. The letter cited a legal opinion by an Israeli international law professor that the exemption for churches applied only to properties used "for prayer, for the teaching of religion or for needs arising from that." The Israel Hayom freesheet, which is close to Netanyahu, reported Friday that the religious institution with the biggest tax bill was the Roman Catholic Church, owing nearly 12 million shekels. It was followed by the Anglicans, Armenians and Greek Orthodox. The Vatican owns the imposing Notre Dame of Jerusalem hotel, restaurant and conference complex facing the walls of Jerusalem's Old City. Negotiations with Israel over the status of its Jerusalem holdings have been going on since the establishment of diplomatic relations in 1993. The Greek Orthodox Church owns residential and commercial property in both west Jerusalem and the mainly-Palestinian but Israeli-annexed east side. It is under fire from Palestinians for allegedly allowing controversial sales of its property in east Jerusalem to groups aiding Jewish settlement there. Tel Aviv daily Haaretz reported in October that the Greek Orthodox Church was also selling off vast swathes of real estate in west Jerusalem and across Israel. "In recent years the patriarchate has been quietly selling off its properties in various parts of the country to companies hidden in tax shelters, for sums so low one wonders whether the church is trying to get rid of its assets at any cost," it wrote. AFP was not able to contact church officials, while the United Nations declined to comment. Tomasz Mackiewicz died on his seventh expedition to Nanga Parbat Polish mountaineer Tomasz Mackiewicz, whom France's Elisabeth Revol was forced to leave behind weak and bleeding on a Himalayan peak nicknamed "killer mountain" to save her own life, made a name for himself as a free spirit. "We've lost one of the most free and independent men out there," Polish mountaineer Wojciech Kurtyka said. Revol was facing death on Pakistan's Nanga Parbat when Polish elite climbers Adam Bielecki and Denis Urubko scaled part of the 8,125-metre (26,660-foot) mountain in darkness last month to rescue her. But they were unable to save Mackiewicz. "Were we to have left Eli and gone looking for Tomek, she would have died. We couldn't leave her, she wouldn't have survived the night," Urubko told Polish daily Gazeta Wyborcza. Polish climbing legend Leszek Cichy described Mackiewicz, 43, to AFP as "a character, different from others, very fascinating". Map of Pakistan locating Nanga Parbat "Kind, warm, open, he was a man from another planet for whom material goods didn't matter and who wanted to experience mountains in the humblest way possible," said Cichy, known for achieving the world's first summit of Everest in winter with fellow countryman Krzysztof Wielicki. Long before he devoted himself to the Himalayas, Mackiewicz battled a heroin addiction in the 1990s that he kicked after two years in rehab. He then bought a small yacht and sailed around the Masurian lakes in northern Poland, before hitchhiking to India to teach English to children afflicted with leprosy for six months. - At home in the Himalayas - Though he did some hiking and spelunking when he was younger, it was only in Asia that he first saw the massive mountains that he would later go on to climb. Members of the Polish K2 expedition rescued French climber Elisabeth Revol in Nanga Parbat on January 28, 2018 An elite group of climbers saved a French mountaineer in a daring high-altitude rescue mission on Pakistan's Nanga Parbat, one of the highest mountains in the world, as officials called off the search for a second missing alpinist on January 28. Next, he travelled around Ireland, then returned to Poland and notably earned a living by installing wind turbines. His first major mountaineering expedition took him and fellow free spirit Marek Klonowski to Mount Logan, Canada's highest peak at 5,959 metres. The six-week journey, during which they braved temperatures that sometimes dropped to minus 40 degrees Celsius, earned them a Polish travel award in 2008. Mackiewicz then summited Khan Tengri (7,010 metres) in Kazakhstan on his own, before reuniting with Klonowski to take a stab at Nanga Parbat. The idea was to climb the mountain in winter, which no one had yet done before, and to "show that anyone could dream, that the Himalayas were accessible to anyone," Klonowski said. Mackiewicz would end up heading to Nanga Parbat a total of seven times. He always brought along bags of stuff for the locals. "He'd show up at the villages at the foot of Nanga and everyone knew him. He felt at home there," said Cichy. - Outsider - During one of their early expeditions, Mackiewicz and Klonowski set off with ropes meant for agricultural use that they had bought online for a discount. They had so little money on them that they were forced to sell all their equipment and clothes to pay for their flight home, returning to wintertime Warsaw in T-shirts. They had neither official support nor recognition from Poland's climbing elite, which considered them outsiders for a long time. Though they returned with their heads down, they did not give up. On yet another attempt they managed to reach the 7,200-metre mark. Later he began climbing with Revol. On their second expedition together -- and Mackiewicz's sixth -- the conditions were so extreme that they experienced real fear and had to turn back. "'Eli, it's impossible,'" Mackiewicz later recalled saying. "For the first time I saw her afraid. And when you're afraid, you lose your motivation," he told reporters in 2016. "You have the option of continuing and seeing how it goes. But that's insanity because you don't want to die. What will happen to your kids? I'm happy to have turned back. Life is beautiful," said the twice-married father-of-three. He returned one last time with Revol to finally conquer the mountain -- and he stayed. "He really wanted to summit that mountain, and he did," Revol told AFP. A rolling series of demonstrations against President Faure Gnassingbe, seen in January 2018, has been unfolding for several months, and the country has been rocked by striking teachers and health workers Mediators announced Friday that Togo will enter talks on controversial constitutional reform February 15, in a move aimed at ending a crippling political stalemate. However, opposition supporters said they would push ahead with a protest march, scheduled for Saturday. A rolling series of demonstrations against President Faure Gnassingbe has been unfolding for several months, and the country has been rocked by striking teachers and health workers. West African leaders in November called for both sides in Togo to enter talks mediated by President Nana Akufo-Addo, from neighbouring Ghana, and Guinea's Alpha Conde. The opposition coalition demanded "measures for de-escalation", including the release of detained prisoners and the withdrawal of security forces. "The opening of the dialogue will take place on February 15 in Lome," Ghana and Guinea said the statement. According to the statement, signed by Ghana's security minister, Albert Kan-Dapaah, and Guinea's state minister, Tibou Kamara, the date was set after "exchanges and consultations" during meetings on January 31 and February 1. "The concerns of the 14 party coalition regarding people in custody in connection with the Kara and Lome market fires will be given priority, in a spirit of appeasement," said the statement. "The case of other people still in detention for acts committed during public demonstrations going on since August 19, 2017... will be examined in the same spirit." All the actors "agree on the suspension of the public demonstrations" during the course of the talks. The 14-party opposition, in a statement sent to AFP, said it took note of the announcement and thanked Ghana and Guinea for their commitment. However, it said some issues needed "clarification" and it would go ahead with Saturday's demonstration to maintain the pressure. The opposition parties want to restrict presidents to a maximum of two, five-year terms of office, and introduce a two-round voting system. Gnassingbe has been in power since 2005. He took over from his father, who ruled the country for 38 years. Former political prisoner and amputee Ji Seong-ho was among six North Korean defectors hosted in the Oval Office Friday US President Donald Trump welcomed six North Korean defectors to the Oval Office on Friday, a high profile and potentially provocative show of support. The group -- whose stories Trump described as "incredible and truly inspirational" -- included a banker with knowledge of the regime's overseas operations, a former political prisoner and amputee Ji Seong-ho. Seong-ho escaped from North Korea in 2006 and was given a place of honor just seats away from First Lady Melania Trump at Tuesday's State of the Union address. Since coming to office Trump has made a series of bellicose remarks on North Korea and vowed to never let Pyongyang develop nuclear weapons that could hit the continental United States. But his embrace of North Korean defectors could enrage the regime as much as any verbal barbs. The meeting comes at a particularly sensitive time, as the Winter Olympics are about to get underway in South Korea. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un -- who Trump has dismissively dubbed "rocket man" -- has so far pressed ahead with weapons programs and shows little sign of backing down. Trump has pushed for an oil embargo against North Korea, a measure that could significantly dent the country's military operations and the broader economy. But, according to diplomats, that effort has run into opposition from Chinese leader Xi Jinping, who believes it could cause the country's collapse. Trump addressed the standoff in separate calls with the leaders of Japan and South Korea on Friday. In a call with Japan's Shinzo Abe, the White House said both leaders agreed to "intensify the international maximum pressure campaign to denuclearize North Korea." In his call with South Korean President Moon Jae-in, Trump wished "him and the Korean people a successful Winter Olympic Games." House Intelligence Committee chairman Devin Nunes, a Republican from California, is in the US political spotlight for writing a classified memo alleging abuse of power at the FBI, and then pushing for its release US congressman Devin Nunes, at the heart of a dramatic tug of war over a classified memo, is a staunch Donald Trump supporter, a young Republican who defends the president at all costs. His aggressive pursuit of allegations of misconduct by the FBI and Department of Justice amid an escalating Trump-Russia scandal has led Democrats to accuse him of seeking to discredit the investigations, while some fellow Republicans have taken swipes at him as a graceless "Inspector Clouseau" sleuth. The California lawmaker, 44 years old and in his eighth term in Congress, served on Trump's presidential transition team. He has written a memo that he says outlines "surveillance abuses" at the agencies but that Democrats -- and some Republican critics -- charge is a political smear. Trump declassified the memo on Friday. The Justice Department had warned it would be "extraordinarily reckless" to do so, and the FBI expressed similar concerns. Critics say it contains material that could give the president cover to fire officials such as Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein or even special prosecutor Robert Mueller. As the memo became public, Nunes insisted he was serving the public good. "The American people have a right to know when officials in crucial institutions are abusing their authority for political purposes," he said in a statement, adding that he hoped the committee's actions "will shine a light on this alarming series of events so we can make reforms" to government institutions. Democratic leaders have fumed over Nunes's handling of the case, and accuse him of altering the memo itself after his committee voted along party lines to release it and before it was presented to the White House for review. On Thursday, an outraged House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said Nunes had been "deliberately dishonest" about the document and the changes he made, and demanded Speaker Paul Ryan remove Nunes from his powerful post. Ryan called the demand a "political distraction." He insisted the fracas over the memo would not discredit Mueller's Trump-Russia probe or the country's top law-enforcement departments. "This memo is not an indictment of the FBI, of the Department of Justice," Ryan said. "It does not impugn the Mueller investigation, or the deputy attorney general." - White House 'agent' - But several critics have blasted Nunes as a Trump lapdog. "Nunes is an agent of the White House instead of an independent investigator," House Democrat Mike Quigley, a member of the intelligence panel, told CNN. Nunes has been in a hot spotlight for much of the past year. In March, two months into Trumps term, he made a trip to the White House to inspect classified executive documents that he said showed that American citizens were being improperly "unmasked" in intelligence reports. He then briefed the president on what he had discovered, raising alarms in some quarters that he was actually warning Trump about elements of the investigation into Russian interference in the US election and possible coordination between Trump and Moscow. The issue caused such a furor that Nunes was forced to step down from his role heading the intelligence committee's Russia probe, although he maintained his committee chairmanship. Republican Senator Lindsey Graham expressed alarm at the time about Nunes suggesting impropriety about surveilling the Trump campaign. "He's gone off on a lark by himself, sort of an Inspector Clouseau investigation here," he said, referring to a movie character seen as an incompetent bungler. Democrat Adam Schiff, blasted Nunes for seeking to release a memo "that cherry-picks facts, ignores others and smears the FBI and the Justice Department." Nunes has raised eyebrows on other fronts. During a California drought in 2014 when then-president Barack Obama met with farmers in Fresno, near Nunes's district, the lawmaker scoffed that "global warming is nonsense." Displaced Libyans from the city of Tawergha that backed ousted dictator Moamer Kadhafi in the 2011 uprising wait by their cars inthe desert to enter their city on February 1, 2018 after armed groups set up roadblocks to prevent their return The United Nations expressed "grave concern" Friday over the breakdown in a deal to allow thousands of displaced to return to a town that backed Libya's leader Moamer Kadhafi in its 2011 revolution. "For too many people displacement becomes more protracted every day, as insecurity and fear of persecution are making it impossible for them to return to their homes," the UN special rapporteur on the human rights of Internally Displaced Persons, Cecilia Jimenez-Damary, told a news conference in Tripoli. "Many efforts have been made for the planned return of the Tawergha people on February 1 after seven years of displacement," she said at the end of a visit to Libya. "I'm alarmed by reported threats that have barred their return. When I spoke to families, many wanted to return, others were afraid," she said, expressing "grave concern over the protracted displacement facing many Libyans". Armed groups on Thursday blocked thousands of displaced from returning to their homes in the town of Tawergha. Libya's UN-backed unity government had announced that the displaced from Tawergha would return under an accord struck by its representatives and of Misrata in eastern Libya that runs the town. But armed groups from Misrata set up roadblocks outside Tawergha to prevent the return of hundreds of families. Misrata's local council urged the Government of National Accord (GNA) to intervene and delay the operation for security reasons. The GNA, for its part, called in a statement for "reason and patriotism to prevail... to put an end to the suffering of the displaced and allow them to return home". The 35,000 residents of Tawergha, a town which sided with Kadhafi's forces right up to his fall, have for the past seven years been kept in camps on the outskirts of Tripoli or scattered across the country. Living in wretched conditions, they are the frequent target of attacks by militiamen, especially from Misrata, 200 kilometres (120 miles) from the capital. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will pay an official visit to South Korea next week for talks with leaders in Seoul and to attend the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in Pyeongchang UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Friday that it was "absolutely essential" for key players to hold "serious" talks on North Korea's nuclear crisis to build on a thaw in relations between Pyongyang and Seoul. Guterres will pay an official visit to South Korea next week for talks with leaders in Seoul and to attend the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in Pyeongchang. "Our objective remains the peaceful denuclearization of the Korean peninsula," Guterres told reporters at UN headquarters. "For that, it is absolutely essential that serious discussion take place among the key actors in this process and the UN will do everything possible to encourage them in that regard," he said. After a series of threatening missile tests, North Korea last month agreed to hold talks with the South and send its athletes to the Winter Olympic Games, easing tensions. The United States, however, dismissed the moves as a distraction and pressed on with a campaign to pressure North Korea to abandon its nuclear ambitions. Led by the United States, the Security Council has imposed three sets of tough economic sanctions on North Korea to cut off revenue to its military programs. After offering to hold unconditional talks with Pyongyang, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson stepped back from the offer, telling the Security Council last month that North Korea must earn its place at the negotiating table. Guterres said the unity of the council in unanimously agreeing to slap sanctions "has created the conditions" for addressing the North Korean nuclear threat "through diplomatic engagement." North Korea's Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho wrote to Guterres this week to ask him to help keep the momentum for improved relations by opposing plans for US-South Korea military drills to be held after the Olympics. Spokesman Stephane Dujarric has not ruled out that the UN chief could meet with a North Korean official during his visit to South Korea. The new weapons envisioned by the Pentagon would not add to America's nuclear horde, and would instead repurpose existing warheads, but critics say the Pentagon would be going against the spirit of non-proliferation agreements The US military wants to revamp its nuclear arsenal and develop new low-yield atomic bombs, largely in response to Russian actions in recent years, the Pentagon says in a policy statement released Friday. The so-called Nuclear Posture Review outlines the Pentagon's nuclear ambitions under President Donald Trump and is the first time since 2010 that the military has spelled out how it foresees nuclear threats in the coming decades. It marks a sobering break from the vision for America's atomic future under Barack Obama, who during a famous speech in Prague in 2009 called for the elimination of nuclear weapons. While the document underscores the administration's concerns about North Korea, Iran and China, the focus falls largely on Russia. "This is a response to Russian expansion of their capability and the nature of their strategy and doctrine," Defense Secretary Jim Mattis wrote in the introduction to the 75-page document. "These developments, coupled with Russia's seizure of Crimea and nuclear threats against our allies, mark Moscow's decided return to Great Power competition," he also wrote. The Pentagon worries Russia assumes America's regular, large-yield weapons are essentially too big to ever be detonated, as their use would likely result in large-scale retaliation and wipe much of humanity off the map. "There are strong indications that our current strategy posture and capabilities are perceived by the Russians as potentially inadequate to deter them," Greg Weaver, the deputy director of strategic capabilities for the military's Joint Staff, told reporters. "The US and NATO require a wider range of credible low-yield nuclear options to do a very specific thing: to convince the Russian leadership that if they initiate limited nuclear use, in a war with the alliance, our response will deny them the objective they seek and impose costs that far outweigh those benefits they can achieve," he added. The document, an earlier version of which was leaked last month, says that by having more, smaller nukes the Pentagon can counter adversaries' "misperceptions" that the United States would not respond to another country using its own low-yield bomb. The new strategy calls for a continuation of the nuclear modernization program ordered by Obama that encompasses all pillars of the "triad" -- ground-based intercontinental ballistic weapons, submarine-launched rockets and bombs delivered by plane. But unlike the Obama strategy, which stressed reducing the role of nuclear weapons, the new policy has a more assertive tone. Low-yield nuclear weapons, also known as "tactical" nukes, are still extremely powerful and can pack as much destructive punch as the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of World War II. America already has a massive nuclear arsenal at its disposal, including 150 B-61 nukes stored across multiple European countries that can be configured for low-yield options. The new weapons envisioned by the Pentagon would be launchable from submarines or ships, so would not need to be stockpiled in Europe. They could also get around Russian air defenses more easily. The bombs would not add to America's nuclear horde, and would instead repurpose existing warheads, but critics say the Pentagon would be going against the spirit of non-proliferation agreements. "We are on the cusp of a new era of nuclear proliferation," warned Barry Blechman, co-founder of the Stimson Center, a nonpartisan anti-nuclear proliferation think tank in Washington. "This is the great nuclear danger raised by the new" nuclear policy. Weaver disputed media accounts that the nuclear posture review lowered the threshold for America to use nuclear weapons. "The purpose of these capabilities is to make a US response to nuclear use more credible, not to make US first use more likely," he said. Mourners keep vigil for a miner who died in an accident in a disused coal mine in the northeastern Moroccan city of Jerada on February 1, 2018 Thousands of people staged a protest Friday in an impoverished Moroccan city over the latest fatality in the region's "mines of death", the third such victim since December, witnesses said. The protest was staged outside the morgue of the hospital in the northeastern town of Jerada, where security forces were deployed to keep order in the wake of Thursday's deadly accident. Shops stayed shuttered as the crowd accompanied the body of the latest "martyr" of the area's abandoned coal pits, Abderrahman Zakaria, 32, to the cemetery for his funeral. The government said a ministerial delegation would soon visit the region to look into the grievances of local residents. Mass protests against economic marginalisation broke out in the city in December after two brothers died in a tunnel accident. Each day hundreds of people risk their lives to extract coal by hand from the shuttered pits. YouTube has started labelling news broadcasts that get government money as it vows to be stricter about content. A feature currently being rolled out in the US displays notices below 'propaganda' videos uploaded by news broadcasters that receive government or public money. The move is likely to affect videos from services such as Russia-backed RT, which critics call a propaganda outlet for Moscow. The flagging may also apply to state-chartered news organisations such as the BBC and AFP, and US-based public broadcasters. Scroll down for video YouTube has started labelling news broadcasts that get government money as it vows to be stricter about content (stock image) 'Our goal is to equip users with additional information to help them better understand the sources of news content that they choose to watch on YouTube', according to a blog post by YouTube News senior product manager Geoff Samek. 'News is an important vertical for us and we want to be sure to get it right.' The blog post included a screen shot with a disclaimer about the US government-funded Radio Free Asia. Notices displayed with state-sponsored news broadcasts will include links to Wikipedia online encyclopedia so viewers can find out more about agencies behind the reports, according to Mr Samek. The feature is nascent and will be refined based on feedback from users. It follows a series of changes made last year by YouTube intended to 'better surface authoritative news,' according to Mr Samek. YouTube priorities for this year include tightening and better enforcing rules at the service, according to chief executive Susan Wojcicki. 'The same creativity and unpredictability that makes YouTube so rewarding can also lead to unfortunate events where we need to take a clear, informed, and principled stance,' Ms Wojcicki said in an online post. A feature being rolled out in the US displays notices below videos uploaded by broadcasters which receive government or public money, such as Radio Free Asia (RFA) (pictured) 'We realise we have a serious social responsibility to get these emerging policy issues right.' Solutions being worked on include enhanced software smarts and more human review of videos uploaded to YouTube, according to Ms Wojcicki. The number of workers at YouTube and Google focused on content that might violate policies was to increase to more than 10,000. 'We're also currently developing policies that would lead to consequences if a creator does something egregious that causes significant harm to our community as a whole,' Ms Wojcicki said. 'As part of our ongoing efforts to provide greater transparency to viewers around news sources on YouTube, we're rolling out notices on the watch page for each video uploaded by news broadcasters that receive public or government funding', a YouTube spokesperson told MailOnline. The company declined to comment on whether it would be rolled out outside the US. WHAT'S THE CONTROVERSY OVER YOUTUBE'S CONTENT? YouTube has been subject to various controversies since its creation in 2005. It has become one of Google's fastest-growing operations in terms of sales by simplifying the process of distributing video online but putting in place few limits on content. However, parents, regulators, advertisers and law enforcement have become increasingly concerned about the open nature of the service. They have contended that Google must do more to banish and restrict access to inappropriate videos, whether it be propaganda from religious extremists and Russia or comedy skits that appear to show children being forcibly drowned. Child exploitation and inappropriate content By the end of last year YouTube said it had removed more than 50 user channels and has stopped running ads on more than 3.5 million videos since June. In March last year, a disturbing Peppa Pig fake, found by journalist Laura June, shows a dentist with a huge syringe pulling out the character's teeth as she screams in distress. Mrs June only realised the violent nature of the video as her three-year-old daughter watched it beside her. Hundreds of these disturbing videos were found on YouTube by BBC Trending back in March. By the end of last year YouTube said it had removed more than 50 user channels and has stopped running ads on more than 3.5 million videos since June. One of the deleted videos was the wildly popular Toy Freaks YouTube channel featuring a single dad and his two daughters All of these videos are easily accessed by children through YouTube's search results or recommended videos. YouTube has been getting more stringent about deleting videos. One example is the wildly popular Toy Freaks YouTube channel featuring a single dad and his two daughters that was deleted last year. Although it's unclear what exact policy the channel violated, the videos showed the girls in unusual situations that often involved gross-out food play and simulated vomiting. The channel invented the 'bad baby' genre, and some videos showed the girls pretending to urinate on each other or fishing pacifiers out of the toilet. Adverts being shown next to inappropriate videos There has been widespread criticism that adverts are being shown on some clips depicting child exploitation. YouTube has now tightened its rules on who qualifies for posting money-making ads. Previously, channels with 10,000 total views qualified for the YouTube Partner Program which allows creators to collect some income from the adverts placed before their videos. But YouTube's parent company Google has announced that from February 20, channels will need 1,000 subscribers and to have racked up 4,000 hours of watch time over the last 12 months regardless of total views, to qualify. This is the biggest change to advertising rules on the site since its inception - and is another attempt to prevent the platform being 'co-opted by bad actors' after persistent complaints from advertisers over the past twelve months. In November last year Lidl, Mars, Adidas, Cadbury maker Mondelez, Diageo and other big companies all pulled advertising from YouTube. An investigation found the video sharing site was showing clips of scantily clad children alongside the ads of major brands. One video of a pre-teenage girl in a nightie drew 6.5 million views. Issues with system for flagging inappropriate videos Another investigation in November found YouTube's system for reporting sexual comments had serious faults. As a result, volunteer moderators have revealed there could be as many as 100,000 predatory accounts leaving inappropriate comments on videos. Users use an online form to report accounts they find inappropriate. Part of this process involves sending links to the specific videos or comments they are referring to. Investigators identified 28 comments that obviously violated YouTube's guidelines. According to the BBC, some include the phone numbers of adults, or requests for videos to satisfy sexual fetishes. The children in the videos appeared to be younger than 13, the minimum age for registering an account on YouTube. Advertisement Last month YouTube agreed to manually review all videos in its preferred section so advertisers are sure they are not promoting harmful videos. The move comes amid criticism that adverts are being shown on some clips depicting child exploitation. As well as manual reviews, YouTube has tightened its rules on who qualifies for posting money-making ads. Previously, channels with 10,000 total views qualified for the YouTube Partner Program which allows creators to collect some income from the adverts placed before their videos. But YouTube's parent company Google has announced that from February 20, channels will need 1,000 subscribers and to have racked up 4,000 hours of watch time over the last 12 months regardless of total views, to qualify. This is the biggest change to advertising rules on the site since its inception - and is another attempt to prevent the platform being 'co-opted by bad actors' after persistent complaints from advertisers over the past twelve months. In November last year Lidl, Mars, Adidas, Cadbury maker Mondelez, Diageo and other big companies all pulled advertising from YouTube. An investigation found the video sharing site was showing clips of scantily clad children alongside the ads of major brands. One video of a pre-teenage girl in a nightie drew 6.5 million views. By the end of last year YouTube said it had removed more than 50 user channels and has stopped running ads on more than 3.5 million videos since June. One of the deleted videos was the wildly popular Toy Freaks YouTube channel featuring a single dad and his two daughters. Though it's unclear what exact policy the channel violated, the videos showed the girls in unusual situations that often involved gross-out food play and simulated vomiting. The channel invented the 'bad baby' genre, and some videos showed the girls pretending to urinate on each other or fishing pacifiers out of the toilet. President Donald Trump says the upadated US nuclear strategy, which calls for the development of new low-yield weapons, makes atomic war less likely, but critics contend that so-called "tactical" nukes might be more tempting to use The US military wants to revamp its nuclear arsenal and develop new low-yield atomic weapons, largely in response to Russian actions in recent years, the Pentagon said in a policy statement released Friday. The so-called Nuclear Posture Review outlines the Pentagon's nuclear ambitions under President Donald Trump and is the first time since 2010 that the military has spelled out how it foresees nuclear threats in the coming decades. "The strategy develops capabilities aimed at making use of nuclear weapons less likely," Trump said in a statement. "It enhances deterrence of strategic attacks against our Nation, and our allies and partners, that may not come in the form of nuclear weapons." "And, importantly, it reaffirms our commitment to arms control and nuclear non-proliferation, maintains the moratorium on nuclear testing, and commits to improving efforts to prevent, detect, and respond to nuclear terrorism," he said. The document marks a sobering break from the vision for America's atomic future under Barack Obama, who during a famous speech in Prague in 2009 called for the elimination of nuclear weapons. While it underscores the administration's concerns about North Korea, Iran and China, the focus falls largely on Russia. "This is a response to Russian expansion of their capability and the nature of their strategy and doctrine," Defense Secretary Jim Mattis wrote in the introduction to the 75-page document. "These developments, coupled with Russia's seizure of Crimea and nuclear threats against our allies, mark Moscow's decided return to Great Power competition," he also wrote. The Pentagon worries Russia assumes America's regular, large-yield weapons are essentially too big to ever be detonated, as their use would likely result in large-scale retaliation and wipe much of humanity off the map. "There are strong indications that our current strategy posture and capabilities are perceived by the Russians as potentially inadequate to deter them," Greg Weaver, the deputy director of strategic capabilities for the military's Joint Staff, told reporters. "The US and NATO require a wider range of credible low-yield nuclear options to do a very specific thing: to convince the Russian leadership that if they initiate limited nuclear use, in a war with the alliance, our response will deny them the objective they seek and impose costs that far outweigh those benefits they can achieve," he added. - More reliance on subs and ships - The document, an earlier version of which was leaked last month, says that by having additional smaller nukes, the Pentagon can counter adversaries' "misperceptions" that the United States would not respond to another country using its own low-yield bomb. The new strategy calls for a continuation of the nuclear modernization program ordered by Obama that encompasses all pillars of the "triad" -- ground-based intercontinental ballistic missiles, submarine-launched weapons and bombs delivered by plane. But unlike the Obama strategy, which stressed reducing the role of nuclear weapons, the new policy has a more assertive tone. Low-yield nuclear weapons, also known as "tactical" nukes, are still extremely powerful and can pack as much destructive punch as the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of World War II. America already has a massive nuclear arsenal at its disposal, including 150 B-61 nukes stored across multiple European countries that can be configured for low-yield options. The new weapons envisioned by the Pentagon would be launchable from submarines or ships, so would not need to be stockpiled in Europe. They could also get around Russian air defenses more easily. The bombs would not add to America's nuclear horde, and would instead repurpose existing warheads, but critics say the Pentagon would be going against the spirit of non-proliferation agreements. "We are on the cusp of a new era of nuclear proliferation," warned Barry Blechman, co-founder of the Stimson Center, a nonpartisan anti-nuclear proliferation think tank in Washington. "This is the great nuclear danger raised by the new" nuclear policy. Weaver disputed media accounts that the nuclear posture review lowered the threshold for America to use nuclear weapons. "The purpose of these capabilities is to make a US response to nuclear use more credible, not to make US first use more likely," he said. WASHINGTON (AP) - The Latest on efforts to reach a deal on immigration in Congress (all times local): 11:45 a.m. President Donald Trump is calling on Senate Republicans to bring his immigration framework to a vote. President Donald Trump boards Air Force One at Andrews Air Force Base, Md., Thursday, Feb. 1, 2018. Trump is traveling to speak at the House and Senate Republicans' annual legislative planning conference at the Greenbrier Resort in West Virginia. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik) Trump plans to urge lawmakers at a GOP retreat in West Virginia to back his plan for a pathway to citizenship for nearly 2 million young immigrants, in exchange for $25 billion for his border wall and major restrictions in legal immigration. That's according to excerpts of his remarks released by the White House. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says he'll hold a vote on immigration as soon as next week, but it's unclear which legislation would make it to the floor. ___ 7:26 a.m. President Donald Trump's State of the Union offer of a "down-the-middle compromise" on immigration did nothing to move Republicans and Democrats closer to a deal, as Democrats accused the president of lacing his speech with racially charged remarks and Republicans dug in on their demands. The reaction to Trump's high-profile overture suggested both parties were settling into a protracted tug-of-war. The standoff leaves serious doubt whether the two parties can reach an election-year deal to protect hundreds of thousands of young immigrants from deportation, sharpen border security and take other steps to curb immigration. The two parties have not even settled on a deadline for an agreement - a bad sign in an institution that rarely acts unless under pressure. Trump complained early Thursday on Twitter that "the Democrats are doing nothing about" immigration. HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - The federal government has withdrawn its appeal and agreed to pay $42 million to the parents of a young Pennsylvania boy left disabled from brain injuries apparently caused by the use of forceps during his birth, the parents' lawyers and the government announced Thursday. "The government recognized that their issues on appeal were without merit and that the verdict was just and appropriate," said Regan Safier, of Kline & Specter, a Philadelphia law firm. "The judge recognized the catastrophic injuries suffered by this child and awarded the money necessary to care for him over his lifetime." In a statement, U.S. Attorney David J. Freed said, "We respect the court's decision in this matter, and wish nothing but the best for the minor child and his parents." The verdict last year by U.S. District Judge Sylvia Rambo in Harrisburg came after a six-day trial in 2016 on claims by the parents, Christiana Late and Nathan Armolt. The Chambersburg couple's 5-year-old son, identified only as D.A. in court documents, understands language but can't speak, read or write and eventually will have to use a motorized wheelchair. The couple sued the federal government for errors allegedly made by an obstetrician for Keystone Women's Health Center, a federally-supported facility. An obstetrician, who was not sued, delivered the child Feb. 21, 2012, at Chambersburg Hospital. The parents said the doctor used forceps to grab the boy's head, causing skull fractures, brain bleeding and damage, even though the boy and his mother weren't in distress and such a drastic measure wasn't necessary. The judge noted that the doctor began using forceps after Late pushed just one time during her delivery and that he was "straining, red-faced and sweaty" trying to extract the baby, even though the child's and mother's vital signs were normal and indicated no distress at that point. Most of the verdict - nearly $33 million - is to cover the boy's future medical care and assisted living. The judge agreed with the couple that their son "will be too difficult for his parents to handle" by the time he's 22, and likely will need institutionalized care. The verdict also includes $5 million for the boy's pain and suffering, roughly $3.5 million for his loss of future earnings and fringe benefits, and $104,000 to cover past medical expenses. Keystone officials have expressed sadness for the boy's injuries and have said the hospital system has taken all the necessary quality assurance steps so that this does not happen again. MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - A man who held police at bay for 38 hours in a standoff at a hotel on the University of Minnesota campus is facing felony charges. Hennepin County prosecutors say 46-year-old Lincoln Bowman, of Woodbury, Minnesota, is charged with kidnapping and false imprisonment. He's scheduled to appear in court Friday. Police initially identified him as Rashad Bowman. Authorities say police received a call late Sunday saying Bowman was suicidal, threatening to harm family members and had a warrant for a nonviolent crime out of Maricopa County, Arizona. When officers responded, Bowman allegedly said he would hurt any officer who came through the door and would set the hotel on fire. A woman who was with Bowman was able to leave the room late Monday. A SWAT team stormed the room Tuesday to end the standoff. MALE, Maldives (AP) - The exiled former president of the Maldives said Friday that he will mount a fresh challenge for the presidency this year after his conviction for abducting a judge was overturned by the country's supreme court. Government opponents in the archipelago nation's capital mounted a second straight night of street protests demanding the release of political prisoners whose convictions were also overturned. President Yameen Abdul Gayoom had been set to run for re-election this year virtually unopposed, with all of his opponents either jailed or exiled. But ex-President Mohammed Nasheed told The Associated Press in an interview that the court's ruling means he will be eligible to challenge Yameen, who has rolled back many democratic reforms since coming to power five years ago. Former Maldives President Mohamed Nasheed poses for a photo following an interview with Associated Press in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Friday, Feb. 2, 2018. The Maldives' Supreme Court ordered the release of imprisoned politicians, including exiled ex-President Mohamed Nasheed, saying their guilty verdicts had been politically influenced. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena) "I can contest and I will contest and hopefully we will win it again," Nasheed said from Sri Lanka's capital, Colombo. Nasheed was jailed in 2015 but received asylum in Britain later that year after traveling there on medical leave from prison. He has lived in exile ever since. Nasheed also called for reforms in the country's security services, telling the AP that "a small element within the military and police want to prop up the dictatorship" of Yameen. Thursday night's court ruling ordered the release and retrial of politicians opposed to Gayoom , saying their guilty verdicts had been influenced by politic. It was not immediately clear how retrials would affect the upcoming elections, but the opposition alliance declared that the ruling "effectively ends President Yameen's authoritarian rule." Protesters late Friday and early Saturday converged on a prison in the capital of Male where the politicians are being held, demanding their immediate release, but police forced them to leave. They then moved to another location for a sit-in protest that was also broken up. Journalists were kept away from both events by police. The demonstrations marked the second night of protests in the Maldives. After the court's ruling was mad public Thursday night, street celebrations by government opponents transformed into three hours of clashes with police, who used tear gas and their batons to break up the gatherings. Maldives Attorney General Mohamed Anil said he raised government concerns about the ruling with the court's chief justice because the imprisoned politicians were convicted of offenses including terrorism, corruption, embezzlement and treason, said a government statement issued Friday. "The attorney general stated that the administration has highlighted concerns over the consequences that may be presented in the immediate implementation of the court's ruling," the statement said. The prosecutor general is examining cases to determine how best to comply with the ruling, the statement added. The country's opposition alliance expressed fears that the non-implementation of the court order "could escalate to unrest and incite violence across the country." It called on the United Nations, European Union and neighboring countries to impress upon the government and security services to respect the Supreme Court ruling. "The government of Maldives immediately resorted to using undue force against demonstrators celebrating the apex court's verdict. Opposition supporters were met with tear gas, arrests and direct police violence while calling on the government to implement the ruling," the opposition said in a statement. Atul Keshap, the U.S. ambassador to the Maldives, welcomed the Supreme Court order. "I urge the government and security services to respect this ruling, which bolsters democracy and rule of law for all Maldivians," he wrote on Twitter. Human rights group Amnesty International said the court decision should be a turning point for the nation. The group's South Asia director, Biraj Patnaik, said the ruling must be implemented and the government's "witch-hunt against the political opposition and other critics" must end. He said retrials of the opposition leaders must be conducted in line with international standards, and authorities must restore judicial independence. Known for its luxury tourist resorts, the Maldives became a multiparty democracy 10 years ago after decades of autocratic rule by the current president's half-brother, strongman Maumoon Abdul Gayoom. But the nation lost much of its democratic gains after Yameen was elected in 2013. He has maintained a tight grip on power, controlling institutions such as the judiciary, police and the bureaucracy. The court also reinstated 12 lawmakers who had been ousted for switching allegiance to the opposition. When those lawmakers return, Yameen's Progressive Party of the Maldives will lose its majority in the 85-member Parliament. The government has said it is trying to "vet and clarify" the court's ruling and "will work to engage, and consult with, the Supreme Court in order to comply with the ruling in line with proper procedure and the rule of law." Nasheed in 2105 was sentenced to 13 years in prison after he was convicted of the abduction charge under the Maldives' anti-terror laws in a trial that was widely condemned by international rights groups. Yameen's former deputy, Ahmed Adeeb, who had been jailed on accusations of plotting to kill the president, was also ordered released. Adeeb was sentenced to 33 years in prison in 2016, charged with corruption, possession of illegal firearms and planning to kill Yameen by triggering an explosion on his speedboat. However, FBI investigators said they found no evidence of a bomb blast. ___ Palipane reported from Colombo. ___ This version corrects that former President Mohammed Nasheed was sentenced in 2015, not 2013. Maldivian opposition supporters scuffle with security forces officers during a protest demanding the release of political prisoners in Male, Maldives, Friday, Feb. 2, 2018. The exiled former president of the Maldives said Friday that the government must abide by a Supreme Court ruling to free a group of political prisoners, hours after clashes erupted in the Indian Ocean archipelago's capital in the wake of the surprise verdict. (AP Photo/Mohamed Sharuhaan) A Maldivian opposition protestor demanding the release of political prisoners engulfed in tear gas fired by police during a protest in Male, Maldives, Friday, Feb. 2, 2018. Political opponents of the Maldives government clashed with police on the streets of the capital early Friday after the Supreme Court ordered the release of imprisoned politicians, including an ex-president living in exile in Britain.(AP Photo/Mohamed Sharuhaan) Maldivian police officers detain an opposition protestor demanding the release of political prisoners during a protest in Male, Maldives, Friday, Feb. 2, 2018. Opponents of the Maldives government clashed with police on the streets of the capital Friday as they demanded the release of imprisoned politicians whose convictions were overturned by the Supreme Court.(AP Photo/Mohamed Sharuhaan) A Maldivian opposition protestor reacts as he attends a protest demanding the release of political prisoners in Male, Maldives, Friday, Feb. 2, 2018. Supporters of political parties that oppose the Maldives government have clashed with police on the streets of the capital after the country's supreme court ordered the release of imprisoned politicians.(AP Photo/Mohamed Sharuhaan) Maldivian police officers stand guard blocking a road during an opposition protest demanding the release of political prisoners in Male, Maldives, Friday, Feb. 2, 2018. Political opponents of the Maldives government clashed with police on the streets after the Supreme Court ordered the release of imprisoned politicians, including an exiled ex-president. Hundreds of people celebrated in the capital by waving the country's flag after the court overturned guilty verdicts against ex-President Mohamed Nasheed and an ex-vice president that the court said had been influenced by the government.(AP Photo/Mohamed Sharuhaan) Maldivian opposition protestors shout slogans demanding the release of political prisoners during a protest in Male, Maldives, Friday, Feb. 2, 2018. Supporters of political parties that oppose the Maldives government have clashed with police on the streets of the capital after the country's supreme court ordered the release of imprisoned politicians.(AP Photo/Mohamed Sharuhaan) Former Maldives President Mohamed Nasheed smiles during an interview with Associated Press in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Friday, Feb. 2, 2018. The Maldives' Supreme Court ordered the release of imprisoned politicians, including exiled ex-President Nasheed, saying their guilty verdicts had been politically influenced. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena) TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) - In a ruling that could have reverberations on this year's crucial elections, a federal judge Thursday ruled that Florida's current ban on former felons voting is unconstitutional and needs to be changed as soon as possible. U.S. District Judge Mark Walker issued a blistering ruling that says the state's current process to restore voting rights - which can take years - is flawed. The lawsuit was filed last year against Gov. Rick Scott by a voting rights organization on behalf of several people who had completed their prison sentences but had their request for voting rights turned down. Walker, who was appointed by President Barack Obama, said he will decide soon what Florida should do to fix the process. His 43-page ruling blasted Scott and state officials for the current system in place. "A person convicted of a crime may have long ago exited the prison cell and completed probation," Walker wrote. "Her voting rights, however, remain locked in a dark crypt. Only the state has the key - but the state has swallowed it." John Tupps, a spokesman for Scott, defended the process and suggested that an appeal was likely. "The governor believes that convicted felons should show that they can lead a life free of crime and be accountable to their victims and our communities," said Tupps. "While we are reviewing today's ruling, we will continue to defend this process in the court." The ruling comes just months before Florida voters will be asked to alter the current ban. Backers of a constitutional amendment last week won a place on the November 2018 ballot. If sixty percent of voters approve, most former prisoners would have their rights automatically restored. For decades, Florida's constitution has automatically barred former felons from being able to vote once they leave prison. The state's clemency process allows the governor and three elected Cabinet members to restore voting rights, although the governor can unilaterally veto any request. Walker said in his ruling that the automatic ban is legal, but added the process can't be arbitrary, or swayed by partisan politics. He noted for example that Scott and the Cabinet restored voting rights to a white man who had voted illegally but told Scott that he had voted for him. Walker also pointed out that others who acknowledged voting illegally - but were black - had their applications turned down. Florida's current process for restoring voting rights to felons who have completed their sentences is a slow one. It requires a hearing, and applicants are often denied. Shortly after taking office in 2007, then-Republican Gov. Charlie Crist convinced two of the state's three Cabinet members to approve rules that would allow the parole commission to restore voting rights for non-violent felons without a hearing. Within a year, more than 100,000 ex-felons were granted voting rights. But Gov. Rick Scott and Attorney General Pam Bondi pushed to end automatic restoration of voting rights as one of their first acts upon taking office in 2011. Most former felons have to wait at least five years before they can even apply to have their rights restored. Over the last seven years less than 3,000 former prisoners have had their rights restored. "Today a federal court said what so many Floridians have known for so long - that the state's arbitrary restoration process, which forces former felons to beg for their right to vote, violates the oldest and most basic principles of our democracy," said Jon Sherman, an attorney with the Fair Elections Legal Network. "While the court has yet to order a remedy in this case, it has held in no uncertain terms that a state cannot subject U.S. citizens' voting rights to the limitless power of government officials." Florida's ban on ex-felon voting - along with a voting list purge that took some non-felons off voting rolls - likely cost then-Vice President Al Gore the 2000 presidential election. Republican George W. Bush won Florida that year, and thus the White House, by 537 votes in an election that took five weeks to sort out. Before the 2000 election, then-Secretary of State Katherine Harris hired a company to purge felons from the state's voting lists. But the process was flawed and many eligible voters were removed from rolls because of mistaken identity. Others were convicted of misdemeanors and not felonies. SHANGHAI (AP) - The driver of a minivan hauling gas canisters in Shanghai set fire to his vehicle while smoking a cigarette and plowed into pedestrians Friday, leaving 18 people injured in the heart of the Chinese financial hub, police said. Police ruled out the possibility of a deliberate attack and described the crash as an accident. The 40-year-old minivan driver, whom police identified only by his surname Chen, lost control after a fire erupted in his van, which held several plastic bottles of gasoline as well as six canisters of liquid gas. A cigarette butt found by investigators in the van likely started the fire, Shanghai police said in a statement Friday evening. They said Chen had been alone in the vehicle. In this image taken from cellphone video provided to the Associated Press, firefighters put out a blaze after a minivan carrying gas tanks plowed into pedestrians along a street in Shanghai, Friday, Feb. 2, 2018. A minivan plowed into pedestrians on a sidewalk in downtown Shanghai on Friday, sending more than a dozen people to hospitals. (AP Photo) Chen was being treated for severe smoke inhalation and was in a coma, and nine other people were still hospitalized, police said. Chen works for a Shanghai metals company and had no criminal record but is now under suspicion for transporting dangerous materials. The incident, which took place during a morning commute period near Shanghai's People's Park and a vast plaza that is also home to the headquarters of the municipal government, provided a brief scare for a city that was hosting British Prime Minister Theresa May. Vehicle attacks by extremists have killed scores globally in recent years, including some in Chinese cities. The minivan veered onto a sidewalk and burst into flames around 9 a.m. on busy Nanjing West Road in the heart of Shanghai, a metropolis of almost 25 million people that is widely regarded as China's most cosmopolitan city. "It couldn't stop, crashed into the corner and caught fire," said a cleaner who works in a building across the street from the crash site. Like many Chinese, she asked only to be identified by her surname, Xu. She told The Associated Press she saw smoke coming out of the van as it drove down the street before careening out of control. The website of the local Xinmin Wanbao newspaper and other local news media said the van struck five to six people waiting for a light change at a busy pedestrian crossing. Videos on social media showed injured people lying on the pavement next to a Starbucks cafe and others pinned under the tires of the van. Firefighters were seen trying to put out a blaze inside the vehicle. Xu, the cleaner, said she saw two men struggling to pull a person out of the van. "Other people told them to stop. Then the police and ambulance arrived," she said. A man who witnessed the crash on his way to People's Park said in a video interview carried by Chinese media that the minivan seemed to be moving fast as it veered across the road. "The minivan did not slow down. The driver must have been in a panic at the time. He didn't slow down and just directly crashed," said the witness, who wasn't identified. "It was on the other side of the road and made a turn over to this side. People saw it and quickly tried to get away but a lot of people were still hit." The man said firefighters removed liquefied gas canisters from the vehicle. At the nearby Changzheng Hospital, Shanghai resident Liu Axing told AP that his daughter, Liu Jianying, was crossing the street on her way to work when she was struck by the van. She was undergoing surgery for a broken shoulder and pelvis, Liu said as he pulled up a picture on his phone of his daughter pinned under the vehicle's front wheel, seemingly unconscious. Three people were more seriously injured than her, Liu added. A relative of one patient in the emergency room, who declined to be identified, said at least five or six crash patients were being treated there. Before police declared the crash an accident, there were fears of a repeat of 2013, when five people, including three attackers, were killed when a four-wheel drive vehicle plowed into a crowd in front of Tiananmen Gate in the center of Beijing. The attack was blamed on separatist extremists from the Turkic Muslim Uighur ethnic group native to northwestern China. Vehicle attacks have also taken place in Europe and the United States, most recently in October, when eight people in New York City were killed by an attacker claiming allegiance to the Islamic State group. Friday's crash occurred just as the British prime minister was speaking at a business event in Shanghai. May's speech was at a forum in the Lujiazui district on the opposite side of the Huangpu River from People's Park. Other speakers at the event included Li Shufu, the chairman of Chinese carmaker Geely, and Nobel Prize-winning physicist Kostya Novoselov. May on Thursday met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing as part of her three-day visit aimed at establishing a new trading relationship after Britain leaves the European Union. The crash came at the start of the Lunar New Year travel period, when hundreds of millions of people return to their hometowns for the most important family holiday of the year. During the weeks-long travel period, authorities emphasize safety on the road and aboard planes, trains and ferries. Li Jing, a professor of disaster management at Beijing Normal University's School of Social Development and Public Policy, said the incident also points to the need for increased safety awareness in China, where gas canisters and other highly dangerous objects are sometimes transported on flatbed tricycles even in major cities such as Beijing. "Because of his complete ignorance of safety rules, his action has amplified harm and risk to the public resulting in such casualties," Li said of the driver. "It indicates how urgent it is for the government to step up promotion of public safety knowledge and awareness." Hours after the crash, Shanghai police posted a social media message warning drivers to "never, ever smoke" - or toss cigarette butts in proximity of flammable objects. ___ Shih reported from Beijing. Associated Press researchers Fu Ting and Si Chen contributed to this report. In this image taken from cellphone video provided to the Associated Press, a minivan involved in an accident rests on the sidewalk along a street in Shanghai, Friday, Feb. 2, 2018. A minivan plowed into pedestrians on a sidewalk in downtown Shanghai on Friday, sending more than a dozen people to hospitals. (AP Photo) In this image taken from cellphone video provided to the Associated Press, a man tends to an injured person after a minivan carrying gas tanks plowed into pedestrians along a street in Shanghai, Friday, Feb. 2, 2018. A minivan plowed into pedestrians on a sidewalk in downtown Shanghai on Friday, sending more than a dozen people to hospitals. (AP Photo) In this image taken from cellphone video provided to the Associated Press, firefighters put out a blaze after a minivan carrying gas tanks plowed into pedestrians along a street in Shanghai, Friday, Feb. 2, 2018. A minivan plowed into pedestrians on a sidewalk in downtown Shanghai on Friday, sending more than a dozen people to hospitals. (AP Photo) In this image taken from cellphone video provided to the Associated Press, firefighters put out a blaze after a minivan carrying gas tanks plowed into pedestrians along a street in Shanghai, Friday, Feb. 2, 2018. A minivan plowed into pedestrians on a sidewalk in downtown Shanghai on Friday, sending more than a dozen people to hospitals. (AP Photo) Police officers stand outside of a Starbucks cafe near the site where a minivan carrying gas tanks plowed into pedestrians in Shanghai, Friday, Feb. 2, 2018. A minivan plowed into pedestrians on a sidewalk in downtown Shanghai on Friday, sending more than a dozen people to hospitals. (AP Photo) EDS NOTE: GRAPHIC CONTENT In this image taken from cellphone video provided to the Associated Press, rescuers attend to victims after a minivan carrying gas tanks plowed into pedestrians along a street in Shanghai, Friday, Feb. 2, 2018. A minivan plowed into pedestrians on a sidewalk in downtown Shanghai on Friday, sending more than a dozen people to hospitals. (AP Photo) CHICAGO (AP) - When 86-year-old Carol Wittwer took a taxi to the emergency room, she expected to be admitted to the hospital. She didn't anticipate being asked if she cooks for herself. If she has friends in her high-rise. Or if she could spell lunch backward. "H-C-N-U-L," she said, ruling out a type of confusion called delirium for the geriatrics-trained nurse who was posing the questions in a special wing of Northwestern Memorial Hospital's emergency department Wittwer's care is part of a new approach to older patients as U.S. emergency rooms adapt to serve the complex needs of a graying population. That means asking more questions, asking them earlier and, when possible, avoiding a hospital stay for many older patients. Nurse practitioner Dwayne Dobschuetz, left, visits patient Marvin Shimp, at Shimp's home in Chicago on Jan. 10, 2018. Shimp has lost much of his vision to macular degeneration and Dobschuetz's house calls help him stay out of the hospital with regular visits to check vitals and answer questions. Dobschuetz sees several patients in their homes each day, traveling by bicycle. He works at Northwestern Medicine in Chicago, which is taking a new approach to helping older patients stay healthier. (AP Photo/Teresa Crawford) The surprising truth? Hospitals can make older patients sicker. Infections, incontinence and weakening muscles from bed rest can cascade into delirium, frailty and death. More than 30 percent of older adults go home from a hospital stay with a minor or major health problem they picked up at the hospital. But for an ER doctor, sending an elderly patient home sometimes feels risky. "The doctors are not comfortable sending you home unless you're safe," said Northwestern Medicine's Dwayne Dobschuetz, a nurse practitioner who started making house calls by bicycle a year ago for the health system's geriatrics department. "It's easier to admit older patients than to send them home." One of his patients, Marvin Shimp, 87, has lost much of his vision to macular degeneration, but lives independently. Dobschuetz helps him stay out of the hospital with regular visits to check vitals and answer questions. "He becomes quite a helper," Shimp said. Emergency rooms have been called the hospital's front door, so that's where reformers are starting. "The emergency department is not designed with older adults in mind," said Dr. Scott Dresden, who heads the Geriatric Emergency Department Innovations program at Northwestern. "You've got really thin stretchers. You've got patients in the hallway. There's mechanical noise all around." Early research at Northwestern and other hospitals shows care from geriatrics-trained nurses in the ER can reduce the chances of a hospital stay after a patient's emergency visit and for a month afterward. About 100 hospitals in the United States have opened geriatric emergency departments or trained ER teams in geriatrics care. These teams can arrange home services such as light housekeeping or a break for a caregiver. In June, for instance, a man in his 90s arrived at the emergency department at University of California, San Diego's La Jolla medical campus. His left arm and shoulder hurt. He couldn't stand because of weakness and pain in his left foot. Geriatric emergency nurse Tom Crisman learned the man was a veteran who had outlived his wife and son. The man was eager to get home because he now cared for a daughter with Alzheimer's disease. Crisman identified caregiver strain, weight loss and swallowing difficulties. His patient was in danger of falls and malnutrition. But the man was lucky in a way, Crisman said. "He was not alone like many seniors," Crisman recalled. He told Crisman he had social ties "and some basic care provided by his church fellowship." Crisman organized home physical therapy for the man, connected him with a nutritionist and speech therapist and invited church members to help with the resource planning. "They were treated like family," Crisman said. This kind of emergency medicine is only about a decade old. An influential 2007 article described the emergency department of the future, designed to prevent confusion and falls in the elderly and to increase their comfort. It would have windows and skylights instead of windowless spaces with glaring bulbs. Pressure-reducing mattresses instead of thin ones. Soundproofing. Above all, it would hire nurses trained to untangle the complex complaints of aging, slowing down the frenetic pace of the ER enough to fully evaluate each patient. Physical therapists and pharmacists would be ready to help out. Now, the ideas are catching fire. Northwestern's geriatrics ER has soundproofed rooms with comfortable beds and windows. Hospitals in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Wisconsin, Illinois and Georgia formed a collaborative to share ideas. The latest nudge is an accreditation program, launched this year. "We want to have at least 50 certified hospitals by the end of 2018," said Dr. Kevin Biese of University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine, who leads the accreditation push for the American College of Emergency Physicians. With Medicare penalizing health care systems for unneeded care, hospitals have financial incentives to change. Older adults in the emergency room use more resources and are admitted to the hospital more frequently than other age groups. Northwestern's GEDI team - it's pronounced "Jedi" like in "Star Wars" - regularly works beyond the scope of a traditional emergency department. Last March, the team helped sort out guardianship issues for a woman in her 70s with severe dementia whose caretaker daughter was severely sick. In November, they organized hospice care for a man in his 70s who was dying of pancreatic cancer. In December, they helped a woman in her 80s get a spot at her preferred rehabilitation facility, first making sure that Medicare would cover the cost. Wittwer, the Northwestern ER patient, might have been admitted to the hospital before the GEDI program. Instead, the team set her up with home visits from a nurse and a physical therapist. "They were great," Wittwer said of the nurses a few days later from her high-rise apartment. "It looks like an army of people are going to be coming over here today. I'll be OK." ___ Follow AP Medical Writer Carla K. Johnson on Twitter: @CarlaKJohnson Nurse practitioner Dwayne Dobschuetz, rides his bicycle to visit an elderly patient at home in Chicago on Jan. 18, 2018. Dobschuetz makes several home visits a day for Northwestern Medicine to check vitals and answer questions with the goal of helping seniors stay healthier and out of the hospital. (AP Photo/Teresa Crawford) WASHINGTON (AP) - Hours after her friend and colleague at the Republican National Committee had been accused of sexual misconduct, Ronna McDaniel was on the phone with President Donald Trump for a difficult conversation. Casino magnate Steve Wynn, the RNC's finance chairman and a mutual friend, had to step aside, she explained to a man who also has faced accusations of sexual misconduct but refused to be derailed by them. McDaniel, Trump's choice for RNC chairwoman a year ago, says the president listened, and ultimately agreed. Wynn had to go. "There's a personal element to this, that Steve is a friend," she said in an interview with The Associated Press. "But the allegations were serious. The president took them seriously. We needed to move forward." FILE - In this Nov. 8, 2017, file photo, Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna Romney McDaniel speaks to reporters before the Republican Party of Iowa's annual Reagan Dinner in Des Moines, Iowa. Hours after her friend and colleague at the Republican National Committee had been accused of sexual misconduct, Ronna McDaniel was on the phone with President Donald Trump for a difficult conversation. Casino magnate Steve Wynn, the RNC's finance chairman and a mutual friend, had to step aside, she said to a man who also has faced accusations of sexual misconduct but refused to be derailed by them. McDaniel, the RNC's chairwoman, says the president listened, and ultimately agreed, Wynn had to go. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall, File) And so McDaniel demonstrated the delicate candor and discretion that have served her well in first year as a top political lieutenant to a man who prizes loyalty and plays by his own rules. McDaniel has proved a shrewd navigator of the president's swirling currents, but not a sycophant. She has kept Trump's confidence in a way other top advisers haven't, certainly by posting a robust financial bottom line for the party, but also by being candid with him in private and discreet when she's disagreed. McDaniel's place in the circle of trust wasn't necessarily expected. A niece of one of Trump's fiercest Republican critics during the campaign - 2012 GOP nominee Mitt Romney - McDaniel has sought to establish a political identity separate from her famous family. She recently dropped Romney from her name in RNC communications and her Twitter handle. Trump had ribbed her about her name during the campaign, but the change was a nod to her husband and to signal her independence, aides and confidants said. McDaniel now readies for her biggest test as chairwoman: protecting congressional majorities in the November elections while facing political headwinds fanned by the president's low approval ratings and - more immediately - fallout from her finance chief's departure. "My job is to be truthful," she said. "My job is to share with him my recommendation." She added: "We may have a dialogue about it. We may disagree. But ultimately I'm going to support the president." "I've lasted a year," she said with a chuckle. "I'm still here." Before last week's resignation by Las Vegas casino mogul Wynn over claims published in The Wall Street Journal that he sexually harassed several women, McDaniel had largely steered clear of the drama that has ensnared the White House. When the allegations surfaced, McDaniel called Trump in Europe but it was late Friday there and they reconnected the next morning. Given the nature of the allegations, she said, "we came to a conclusion and Steve submitted his resignation." It was awkward because Wynn had helped raised more than $107 million for Trump's inauguration last year as well as to score record totals for the RNC. What's more, Wynn had denied the accusations, just as Alabama Republican Roy Moore had last year before Trump reversed himself to side with him in the special Senate election. That conversation wasn't the first difficult one Trump and McDaniel have had in their year of working together. In December, McDaniel argued to Trump that the RNC should not resume sending money to the Moore campaign after she had cut ties with it a month earlier, with Trump's consent, over the allegations against the candidate. But Trump reversed her decision on not sending money in December when some thought Moore had a chance at the seat in the narrowly divided Senate. Moore lost. "There are times when she's going to walk the line with what the president demands," said Ron Kaufman, a veteran Republican National committeeman from Massachusetts. "I think she understands that." Though McDaniel is from a long line of prominent Republicans, as granddaughter of former Michigan Gov. George Romney as well as niece of Mitt Romney, she owes her new post solely to Trump. As Michigan GOP chairwoman in 2016, McDaniel impressed Trump over Washington-based operatives bucking for the RNC post. Neutral through the 2016 primaries, McDaniel later supported Trump, no small thing given her uncle's criticisms of Trump. She was at Trump's side in working-class Macomb County outside of Detroit days before an election and watched him campaign across the upper Midwest, carrying once-reliably Democratic working-class suburbs. "One reason she seems to connect with Trump is because she reflects what it is to be a Trump voter," said Margaret Metcalf, the RNC committeewoman from Guam. "Ronna recognizes the will of the people." McDaniel, 45, greeted Metcalf with a hug and a squeal at the Washington Hilton before an RNC reception Wednesday. Gregarious in a group, McDaniel is also a fierce fundraiser, boasting $132.5 million raised in 2017, the most of any party in a post-election year. She shuttles between Washington and her home in Northville outside of Detroit, meets weekly with Trump and his political team in the Oval Office and talks to Trump by phone at least weekly. She often spends six hours a day fundraising. She's both a devotee to Trump the outsider and a figure of the Republican establishment; and a team player with a keen sense of her duty to one person, the president. Some party members have complained that she's been less accessible than predecessor Reince Priebus, who lavished attention on members. But she has a higher-priority constituent, the president. "It's not glamorous, it's a grind," Mark Shields, who was chief of staff to Priebus, said of the job. "It's to raise money, and to support the president. And Ronna's a machine." Still, McDaniel has injected personal ideals into sensitive national debate. She's just done it carefully. Without criticizing Trump, McDaniel insisted in August, over some quiet protests, that the RNC pass a resolution condemning white supremacist groups after violence at a demonstration by such groups in Charlottesville, Virginia. Trump had condemned the groups, only to say later there was blame on "both sides" of the deadly clash. While praising Trump for condemning the hate groups, McDaniel added during an ABC interview, "I don't think comparing blame in this situation works." With a light touch, McDaniel insisted the RNC speak up, without publicly crossing Trump, said Mississippi RNC committeeman Henry Barbour, whom McDaniel occasionally consults. "I think it speaks to her leadership," Barbour said. "And sometimes that means leading in a way it's clear she's taking her own path and not just following." MILWAUKEE (AP) - U.S. Speedskating needed an altitude adjustment after getting shut out in Sochi. Maybe the change will help the United States reclaim golden glory this month at the Pyeongchang Olympics. The U.S. team was left off the medal stand in 2014 after training too long at altitude even though those games were held near sea level in Russia. FILE - In this Jan. 5, 2018, file photo, Jonathan Garcia competes in the men's 500 meters during the U.S. Olympic long track speedskating trials in Milwaukee. Americans have adjusted their preparation routine to spend more time training at the Pettit National Ice Center in Milwaukee, one of the sport's important venues, ahead of the Pyeongchang Games. Like Pettit, the speedskating venue in South Korea is at sea level. (AP Photo/Morry Gash, File) Fast forward four years and the Americans have adjusted their preparation routine to spend more time training at the Pettit National Ice Center, one of the sport's important venues, ahead of the Pyeongchang Games . Like Pettit, the oval in South Korea is at sea level. "Having them be here is going to give them a similar (feel) on the ice once they get over to Korea," said Bonnie Blair Cruikshank, a vice president of the Pettit's board of directors. She's also speedskating royalty as a five-time Olympic gold medalist who spent much time training at the big rink on the outskirts of Milwaukee. "It's a perfect place for them to train and know what they're going to be feeling like" in South Korea, Blair Cruikshank said. The Pettit had been overtaken by the Utah Olympic Oval, which is about 4,600 feet above sea level, as the home for top speedskaters in recent years. The U.S. Olympic trials were held in Utah four years ago ahead of Sochi. A lack of familiarity with high-tech skins suits was among other factors contributing to the embarrassing outcome for the United States in what had been its most successful Winter Olympics sport. U.S. Speedskating held its pre-Sochi camp at a frigid outdoor rink in the mountains of Italy. This time, the Americans held their camp indoors at the Pettit, where the Olympic trials also were held for the first time since 1998. Another camp at the Pettit in January 2017 sandwiched a visit typically held each year in September. "Four years ago when we selected our team in Salt Lake, there was a lot of pushback - the Milwaukee people were upset," said Guy Thibault, U.S. Speedskating's high performance director. "Sochi is a slower rink, and people were wondering why we're picking a team at altitude." Logistics played a role, too, Thibault noted, with NBC needing the selections to take place in Utah. The short-track trials immediately followed the long-track trials in 2014, and television coverage is good for publicity for a sport that draws the most attention in Olympic years. The move to Milwaukee worked out this year. "It's better for the sport overall," Thibault said. At higher altitudes, "there's less air slowing you down" because the density is thinner, Thibault said. A skater can glide a little more. "So you're cutting through the air a lot faster in Salt Lake, hitting a lot higher speeds, a lot less resistance," said Brittany Bowe , a 2014 Olympian and medal contender this year . Bowe and fellow American Heather Bergsma have dominated the 1,000 and 1,500 distances internationally. At sea level, it takes a little more energy to cut through the thicker air. "Therefore the times are slower," Bowe said. "You just have to adjust the way that you're skating a little bit, you have to adjust your mental tactics and capacity and realize you're not going to be hitting those speeds in Salt Lake." Olympian Jonathan Garcia said team members have probably spent about eight weeks in Milwaukee in each of the last two years. He feels good heading into South Korea after reaching personal bests at sea level. "I just think it's like training with a weight vest for another sport. It gives you that extra resistance that you wouldn't have in Salt Lake," Garcia said. "So it's not so much as a shock to the body." Milwaukee offers added comfort because of its speedskating roots . The Pettit is celebrating its 25th anniversary. Before the Pettit opened in 1992, the location was home to the outdoor Wisconsin Olympic Ice Rink, where five-time gold medalist Eric Heiden trained. Blair Cruikshank and another gold medalist, Dan Jansen, trained at the Pettit ahead of the 1994 Winter Games in Lillihammer, Norway. The return of the Olympic trials in early January drew sold-out crowds, a sign that it may not take another two decades for the most important speedskating event in the United States to return to Wisconsin. "For the sport, I'm excited for the Olympic trials and the excitement it created," Blair Cruikshank said. "Now it's nice that this is the facility where they were (training) in for their final preparations." ___ More AP Olympic coverage: https://wintergames.ap.org FILE - In this Jan. 5, 2018, file photo, Former Olympic speedskating star Bonnie Blair cheers for her daughter Blair Cruikshank, who was competing in the women's 500 meters during the U.S. Olympic long track speedskating trials at the Pettit National Ice Center in Milwaukee. Americans have adjusted their preparation routine to spend more time training at Pettit, one of the sport's important venues, ahead of the Pyeongchang Games. Like Pettit, the speedskating venue in South Korea is at sea level. "Having them be here is going to give them a similar (feel) on the ice once they get over to Korea," said Blair Cruikshank, a vice president of the Pettit's board of directors. She's also speedskating royalty as a five-time Olympic gold medalist who spent much time training at the big rink on the outskirts of Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Morry Gash, File) SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) - A Southern California man pleaded not guilty Friday to the murder of a University of Pennsylvania student whose body was found buried in a shallow grave at a park not far from his family's home. Samuel Woodward, 20, of Newport Beach was ordered held on $5 million bail with conditions including GPS monitoring, a curfew and a protective order for the victim's family if he is released. Woodward is charged in the killing of 19-year-old college sophomore Blaze Bernstein, who was home visiting his family on winter break in Lake Forest. Authorities said the two attended the same high school but did not know if they were friends at the time. FILE--This undated file photo provided by the Orange County Sheriff's Department shows Blaze Bernstein. A 20-year-old California man charged with the murder of a University of Pennsylvania student is due in court. Samuel Woodward of Newport Beach is scheduled to be arraigned on Friday, Feb. 2, 2018, in Santa Ana. Authorities say Woodward killed 19-year-old sophomore Bernstein and buried his body in a shallow grave at a neighborhood park not far from the Bernstein family home in Lake Forest. (Orange County Sheriff's Department via AP, File) Bernstein was missing for a week after going out with Woodward the night of Jan. 2. Police searched for him with drone pilots and found his body at a park in the community 50 miles (80 kilometers) southeast of Los Angeles after rain partially exposed it. Bernstein was killed with a knife. He was gay and Jewish and authorities are investigating the possibility of a hate crime. During a brief hearing on Friday, defense attorney Edward Munoz sought a lower bail for his client, arguing that he was interviewed several times by sheriff's investigators before his arrest and didn't attempt to hide information. But prosecutors opposed, noting that Woodward dyed his hair and changed his appearance after Bernstein disappeared and tried to evade surveillance by authorities before he was taken into custody. "It's a horrific crime," said Steve McGreevy, senior deputy district attorney for Orange County. McGreevy said authorities found a knife in Woodward's car and multiple knives in his home, but could not say if any were the murder weapon. In a statement, Bernstein's family said it appreciated efforts to require the maximum bail and "meaningful" restrictions for Woodward. "It gives us some measure of comfort to know that, should he be released, he will not be able to come near our family," the statement said. "Nevertheless, we are still concerned for the public's safety." Woodward, who is currently held in jail in Santa Ana, is due back in court March 2. At the hearing, he smiled upon seeing his lawyer and then sat out of view of the more than a dozen journalists gathered in the courtroom. Munoz declined to comment after the hearing. At college, Bernstein was studying psychology and was recently chosen to edit a campus culinary magazine. According to a court filing obtained by the Orange County Register, Woodward told investigators that he became angry after Bernstein kissed him the night they went to the park. Earlier on Friday, Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas declined to say whether authorities believe Bernstein was killed because he was gay, but said the case showed the need to change California law to include sexual orientation and gender as motivating factors for more serious murder charges that can carry the death penalty. State Sen. Janet Nguyen said she was proposing legislation to make the change. The murder rocked the community of Lake Forest - which had not seen a killing in at least four years - and prompted an outpouring of support for Bernstein's family, who have urged community members to do acts of kindness in their late son's name. Hundreds of people attended a candlelight vigil for Bernstein and his funeral. CANBERRA, Australia (AP) - A former Australian prime minister who was a leader of the national campaign against gay marriage has attended the same-sex marriage of his lesbian sister in Sydney. Tony Abbott joined his sister Christine Forster when she married her partner Virginia Flitcroft in a civil ceremony overlooking the Sydney Opera House on Friday. Abbott told reporters it was a "great family occasion" and that he was "looking forward to having a new sister-in-law." In this image made from Australia Broadcasting Corporation video, Christine Forster, right, sister of former Australian prime minister Tony Abbott, looks at her partner Virginia Edwards, Friday, Feb. 2, 2018, in Sydney, Australia. Tony Abbott joined his sister Christine when she married her partner Virginia Edwards in a civil ceremony overlooking the Sydney Opera House on Friday. While Abbott vehemently opposes gay marriage, he has long said he would attend his sister's wedding if the same-sex marriage ban was ever lifted. (Australia Broadcasting Corporation via AP) Almost 62 percent of voting Australians who took part in a postal survey last year opted for marriage equality and Parliament in December overwhelming supported legislation lifting the same-sex marriage ban. While Abbott vehemently opposes gay marriage, he has long said he would attend his sister's wedding if the same-sex marriage ban was ever lifted. In this image made from Australia Broadcasting Corporation video, Christine Forster, right, sister of former Australian prime minister Tony Abbott, walks with her partner Virginia Edwards, Friday, Feb. 2, 2018, in Sydney, Australia. Tony Abbott joined his sister Christine when she married her partner Virginia Edwards in a civil ceremony overlooking the Sydney Opera House on Friday. While Abbott vehemently opposes gay marriage, he has long said he would attend his sister's ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - A ballet academy founder accused of sexual misconduct will not be charged, the Anchorage District Attorney's Office said Thursday. The 50-year-old founder of the Anchorage Classical Ballet Academy, Michelangelo Canale, has been accused by at least two ex-students of systematic sexual misconduct in an environment that permitted his behavior, KTVA-TV reported . The state "will be unable to prove this case beyond a reasonable doubt," Assistant District Attorney Andrew Grannik said. Two ex-students went public with the TV station, one of which said that since sharing her experience on Dec. 14, others have approached her with their own stories about Canale. "This is someone you pay to correct your body," the ex-student told the TV station in December. "You're used to them touching you." The ex-student said she was intoxicated and accepted a ride home from Canale and another female dancer when he assaulted her. She said Canale started performing oral sex on her in the vehicle without consent and only stopped after two requests to do so. The former student said she has since resigned from the academy. Another ex-student that went public with the TV station said she took her concerns about Canale to the Anchorage Classical Ballet Academy Board of Directors months ago, but she said nothing was done. That ex-student said Canale partially exposed himself to her, made sexual comments to her when she was 17 years old and touched other minors in sexually inappropriate ways. The board in December placed Canale on administrative leave when Anchorage police announced an investigation. The board said it is conducting an independent investigation as well. The Associated Press does not identify alleged victims of sexual assault. Grannik said the decision not to prosecute Canale in no way implies that his "conduct is not of concern," but he said prosecutors can't prove three required elements for first-degree sexual assault. The TV station reported that Canale hung up the phone on Thursday when questioned by a reporter. The academy's board President Ed Barrington said the school has lost 25 to 30 percent of its enrollment since the allegations were made public. Barrington said Friday that he would not be making a statement without consideration of the Board of Directors. A formal statement will be made later, he said. SHANGHAI (AP) - British Prime Minister Theresa May said Friday she discussed with Chinese President Xi Jinping the importance of removing barriers to commerce, especially for British food, drink and financial services, as the two countries move toward a future trading arrangement for after the United Kingdom leaves the European Union. May said the two leaders in their Thursday discussions agreed on a "trade and investment review" as a first step to future bilateral arrangements. "As President Xi, quoting Shakespeare, said to me yesterday, what's past is prologue. And I wholeheartedly agree. The U.K. and China are opening a new chapter in our golden era," May said. In this photo released by China's Xinhua News Agency, British Prime Minister Theresa May speaks at the China-UK Business Forum in Shanghai, Friday, Feb. 2, 2018. Chinese President Xi Jinping touted the advantages of his "Belt and Road" mega-plan for trade and infrastructure links across Asia in a meeting Thursday with British Prime Minister Theresa May, whose government has been slow to endorse the initiative. (Fan Jun/Xinhua via AP) May discussed her meeting with Xi at a conference in Shanghai where she was introduced by the founder of Chinese online shopping giant Alibaba, Jack Ma. She is to fly home later Friday, capping a three-day, three-city visit to China. May's meeting with Xi also included discussion of cooperation under China's "Belt and Road" mega-plan for trade and infrastructure links across Asia. May has been hesitant to endorse the trillion dollar-plus initiative, although on Wednesday she expressed conditional support for British involvement as long as such projects adhere to established global business practices. Business deals worth more than 9 billion pounds ($13 billion) were to be announced before her visit ended, May earlier announced. Bolstering ties with China became more urgent after Britain voted in 2016 to leave the EU, compelling it to forge new trade agreements outside of the 28-nation bloc. British exports to China are up 60 percent since 2010, and China is expected to be one of the U.K.'s biggest foreign investors by 2020. May's visit coincided with the crash of a minivan into pedestrians in downtown Shanghai Friday morning in which 18 people were injured. Police ruled the crash an accident caused when the driver set the vehicle on fire by smoking then lost control. In this photo released by China's Xinhua News Agency, British Prime Minister Theresa May and her husband Philip hold paper cuttings they made while visiting the Yuyuan Garden in Shanghai, Friday, Feb. 2, 2018. Chinese President Xi Jinping touted the advantages of his "Belt and Road" mega-plan for trade and infrastructure links across Asia in a meeting Thursday with British Prime Minister Theresa May, whose government has been slow to endorse the initiative. (Fan Jun/Xinhua via AP) MOSCOW (AP) - A court in Moscow has convicted a former provincial governor of taking a 400,000-euro ($500,000) bribe and sentenced him to eight years in prison. Lawyers for former Kirov regional Gov. Nikita Belykh said they would appeal the verdict delivered late Thursday. Belykh has been in custody since he was arrested in June 2016 while accepting the money at a Moscow restaurant. He rejected the charges as provocation. In this photo taken on Thursday, Feb. 1, 2018, former Kirov regional Gov. Nikita Belykh, who has been in custody since his June 2016 arrest while accepting money at a Moscow restaurant, stands in a cage in a court room in Moscow, Russia. A court in Moscow has convicted a former provincial governor of taking a 400,000-euro ($500,000) bribe and sentenced him to eight years in prison. (Andrey Nikerichev, Moscow News Agency photo via AP) Belykh's case was among a series of arrests of regional and federal officials intended to showcase Kremlin efforts to combat corruption. Prior to his appointment to the governor's job, Belykh led a liberal party, an untypical track record untypical for Russia's provincial leaders. Liberal politicians and commentators have questioned the charges against him, describing them as part of infighting in the Russian elite. FILE - In this file photo taken Monday, Feb. 1, 2016, Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, meets with Kirov regional governor Nikita Belykh in the Novo-Ogaryovo residence outside Moscow, Russia. Belykh has been in custody since his June 2016 arrest while accepting money at a Moscow restaurant. A court in Moscow late Thursday Feb. 1, 2018, has convicted Nikita Belykh of taking a 400,000-euro ($500,000) bribe and sentenced him to eight years in prison. (Alexei Nikolsky/Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP, File) BEIJING (AP) - China on Friday criticized U.S. Congress members who nominated Hong Kong's 2014 pro-democracy protest movement and three of its most prominent student leaders for the Nobel Peace Prize. The 12 lawmakers, in a letter this week to the nominating committee in Oslo, said they were naming Joshua Wong, Nathan Law and Alex Chow and the "Umbrella Movement" for the prize in recognition of their "peaceful efforts to bring political reform and self-determination to Hong Kong." In a statement Friday, the Foreign Ministry in Beijing urged the U.S. lawmakers to "stop meddling" in Hong Kong and China's internal affairs, saying the 2014 protests were "downright illegal." In this Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2018, file photo, pro-democracy activists, from left, Joshua Wong, Nathan Law and Alex Chow, walk out of the Court of Final Appeal in Hong Kong. China on Friday criticized U.S. Congress members who nominated the three student leaders of Hong Kong's 2014 "Umbrella Movement" along with the city's broader pro-democracy movement for the Nobel Peace Prize. (AP Photo/Vincent Yu) The letter was signed by four Democrats and eight Republicans, including Sen. Marco Rubio and Rep. Christopher Smith, who lead the Congressional-Executive Commission on China. They said last year they intended to nominate the three. The three activists had prominent roles in the protest movement, in which tens of thousands of people blocked streets for 79 days. They were protesting Beijing's decision to restrict elections for the semiautonomous Chinese city's leader by screening out candidates unfriendly to the country's communist leaders. The protests ultimately fizzled out after Beijing refused to back down. The activists "demonstrated civic courage, extraordinary leadership, and an unwavering commitment to a free and prosperous Hong Kong that upholds the rule of law, political freedoms and human rights," the Congress members wrote. Wong, 21, Law, 24 and Chow, 27, spent time in prison last year for convictions stemming from the protests, as part of what activists say are efforts by Hong Kong's Beijing-backed government to clamp down on dissent in the aftermath of the protests. The Nobel Peace Prize will be announced in December. NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) - It's Round Two for Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades and his leftist challenger, Stavros Malas, who will battle it out in Sunday's presidential runoff. It's a repeat of five years ago, when Anastasiades trounced Malas, riding a wave of voter anger over a near economic meltdown many blamed on the errors of the previous president, whose communist-rooted party AKEL backed Malas' candidacy. Five years later, Malas, 50, is hoping to turn the tables on Anastasiades, 71, presenting himself as the youthful leader who'll give crisis-squeezed households a break. But earlier opinion polls showed he faces tough odds. Here's a brief look at the two candidates: THE INDEPENDENT: Presidential candidates Cyprus' President Nicos Anastasiades, left, and Stavros Malas, who is backed by the left-wing AKEL party, talk and smile before their live televised debate in capital Nicosia, Cyprus, Wednesday, Jan. 31, 2018. Cypriots will vote on Sunday Feb. 4, for the second round in presidential elections with critical topics including the reunification of the divided island and economic recovery. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias) Stavros Malas grew up in Paphos where his family moved after fleeing their village of Ayios Sergios in 1974 when Turkey's invasion split Cyprus along ethnic lines. He earned a doctorate in genetics from University College in London and later worked as a researcher. After 14 years in the U.K., he moved with his wife and four children to Cyprus in 2001 and continued his work at the Cyprus Institute of Genetics and Research. His involvement in the country's politics started in 2011 when he was appointed health minister in the administration of President Demetris Christofias. He resigned his post in October 2012 when he decided to run for the presidency. He managed to achieve 43 percent of the vote in the 2013 runoff with Anastasiades, a respectable number given the strong public backlash against the Christofias government. Malas' appeal is that he's a relative outsider who's not a product of Cyprus' political machine that many voters - particularly younger ones - derisively view as corrupt and ineffectual. A mild-mannered politician, he's running as a straight-talking independent. His left-leaning, pro-welfare state policies resonate with many. But his relative inexperience showed through at the last televised debate when he was browbeaten by Anastasiades on the complex politics of the island's reunification talks. ___ THE VETERAN: Nicos Anastasiades has for decades been a mover and shaker on Cyprus' political scene. He has honed his political instincts as leader of Cyprus' second-largest political party, the right-wing Democratic Rally, over a 10-year tenure, having been re-elected five times. He was elected to parliament in 1981 and held a seat there until 2013 when he fulfilled his ultimate ambition of becoming president with a 57.4-percent share of the vote. His lengthy leadership of parliamentary groups has allowed him to build a wide network of contacts with foreign political leaders, which his supporters say undergirds his skills at statesmanship. He credits his conservative, pro-business outlook for helping to turn the economy around after a 2013 economic crisis rivaled only by the economic contraction that ensued after the 1974 war. Anastasiades is known for his short fuse, but he surrounds himself with capable counsellors and advisers who buff his image. Detractors accuse him of being short on credibility and saying whatever is politically expedient to achieve his aims. Anastasiades studied law at the University of Athens and earned a post-graduate degree in maritime law from the University of London. He is married and has two daughters. ___ Some 550,000 people are eligible to vote. Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. (0500 to 1600 GMT), with results expected a couple of hours later. ___ This version has been corrected to show the independent candidate's name is Stavros Malas, not Nicos Malas. WASHINGTON (AP) - The Latest on President Donald Trump and the FBI (all times local): 12:10 a.m. The lawmaker who pushed the release of a previously classified memo that some Republicans say shows there is FBI abuse of surveillance says there's "no evidence of collusion" between President Donald Trump and Russia. House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes told Fox News that Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and FBI Director Christopher Wray "have work to do" rooting out problems at the FBI. Nunes would not say if they should be fired. Attorney General Jeff Sessions speaks with Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, during the opening of the summit on Efforts to Combat Human Trafficking at Department of Justice in Washington, Friday, Feb. 2, 2018. President Donald Trump, dogged by an unrelenting investigation into his campaign's ties to Russia, lashes out at the FBI and Justice Department as politically biased ahead of the expected release of a classified Republican memo criticizing FBI surveillance tactics. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana) ___ 6:30 p.m. House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes says there's "no evidence of collusion" between President Donald Trump and Russia. Nunes is leading a House investigation into that subject, but the panel has yet to issue its report. The California Republican was speaking on Fox News about a previously classified memo released by his committee today. The memo was designed to expose what Republicans say is FBI abuse of surveillance warrants. Nunes says Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and FBI Director Christopher Wray "have work to do" rooting out problems at the agency but haven't been willing to admit they have a problem. He is not saying whether he thinks any of them should be fired. __ 5:20 p.m. Two White House officials say President Donald Trump is not considering firing Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. Earlier Friday, Trump declined to express confidence in the Justice Department's second-in-command. The officials say there is no consideration or expectation for Rosenstein to leave the job. They were not authorized to discuss internal deliberations publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. Trump cleared the way - over Rosenstein's objection - for the release of a GOP memo that alleges misconduct by the Justice Department and the FBI. Rosenstein oversees special counsel Robert Mueller, and has been a growing target for the president's frustration with Mueller's ongoing probe into potential collusion by Trump affiliates with Russian nationals during the 2016 presidential campaign. - Zeke Miller __ 4 p.m. Vice President Mike Pence is giving no hint of the controversy engrossing Washington as he campaigns for a congressional candidate in Pennsylvania. Pence is urging supporters to "have faith" in President Donald Trump and other elected leaders "who are out there standing with the president." But the vice president isn't mentioning the ongoing investigation of the Trump campaign's ties to Russia. He is saying nothing about a House Intelligence Committee memo intended to cast doubt on the FBI's inquiry. Republican lawmakers on Friday released a memo they wrote alleging surveillance abuses at the FBI. Trump declassified the memo earlier Friday. Pence is in the Pittsburgh area Friday to tout Republican congressional candidate Rick Saccone and to highlight the tax overhaul Trump signed in December. __ 2:45 p.m. Attorney General Jeff Sessions says he'll make sure Congress' concerns are examined about the FBI investigation into possible cooperation between Russia and the Trump campaign. Sessions issued a statement Friday after Republican lawmakers released a memo they wrote alleging surveillance abuses at the FBI. President Donald Trump declassified the memo earlier Friday. Sessions says he will "forward to appropriate DOJ components all information I receive from Congress regarding this." Sessions did not elaborate, but the Justice Department's inspector general is tasked with investigating employee misconduct. Sessions says he has faith in department employees but that "no department is perfect." He says he'is "determined that we will fully and fairly ascertain the truth." Sessions has recused himself from the Russia probe, citing his own ties to Trump's campaign. ___ 2:30 p.m. The White House says a newly released GOP memo raises "serious concerns" about the Department of Justice and the FBI's handling of the Russia investigation. Press secretary Sarah Sanders sent out a statement saying, "The memorandum raises serious concerns about the integrity of decisions made at the highest levels of the Department of Justice and the FBI to use the Government's most intrusive surveillance tools against American citizens." Trump allowed the memo to be released over the objections of the FBI and Justice Department. While she's critical of the FBI's leadership, Sanders says President Donald Trump "is especially grateful to the hardworking rank-and-file public servants" at the agencies. Sanders says the White House "stands ready" to work with Congress to consider allowing the release of a memo prepared by Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee. ___ 2:10 p.m. Former FBI Director James Comey says a newly released Republican-written memo doesn't add up to much. Comey asks on Twitter, "That's it?" He calls the memo "dishonest and misleading" and not worth the damage it's done to public trust in U.S. intelligence agencies. The memo was declassified by President Donald Trump and released Friday by House Republicans. It claims the FBI abused its surveillance powers in the Russia investigation. Trump fired Comey last May. The White House initially said the firing was due to Comey's handling of the investigation into Democrat Hillary Clinton's email. But Trump later indicated it was about the FBI's Russia probe. Special counsel Robert Mueller has been scrutinizing Comey's firing as he investigates possible obstruction of justice. ___ 2 p.m. The top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee is challenging the accuracy of a memo released Friday by House Republicans. President Donald Trump declassified the memo Friday, and Republicans released it in an effort to prove surveillance abuses at the FBI. Virginia Sen. Mark Warner says he read the classified documents that formed the basis for the memo, and "they simply do not support its conclusions." Only two members of the House intelligence panel, one Republican and one Democrat, have read those underlying documents. Warner says the act of declassifying information could make it harder for the intelligence committees to conduct oversight and could endanger Americans overseas. North Carolina Republican Sen. Richard Burr chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee. A spokeswoman says he's not commenting comment on the memo. ___ 1:20 p.m. House Democrats are angry about the release of a classified GOP memo intended to show surveillance abuses at the FBI. They say it's an underhanded effort to protect President Donald Trump and discredit the investigations into Russian election meddling. Democrats on the House intelligence panel had tried to block the memo's release. They say it mischaracterizes the motivations behind a 2016 surveillance warrant on Trump campaign official Carter Page. They also criticized House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes for not having read the classified material that formed the basis for the memo. House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi says that by disclosing classified information, Trump had "sent his friend Putin a bouquet." She's referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Democrats on the House Judiciary committee said House Republicans are "accomplices" to obstruction of justice. ___ 12:50 p.m. Attorney General Jeff Sessions is defending his deputy in the face of criticism from the president. Sessions broke from prepared remarks in a speech Friday on human trafficking. He praised Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein (ROH'-zen-styn) as well as the department's No. 3 official, Rachel Brand. Sessions says both are experienced lawyers and "represent the kind of quality and leadership that we want in the department." That's a departure from President Donald Trump, who was asked Friday whether he has confidence in Rosenstein. Trump said, "You figure that one out." The criticism stems from a newly declassified GOP memo alleging the FBI abused surveillance powers in its investigation into possible cooperation between Russia and the Trump campaign. Trump said, "A lot of people should be ashamed of themselves." ___ 12:45 p.m. The White House says President Donald Trump declassified the controversial GOP memo alleging FBI impropriety because the public interest outweighs any classification concerns. The White House counsel says in a letter, "In light of the significant public interest in the memorandum, the President has authorized the declassification of the Memorandum." The FBI and Department of Justice both opposed the memo's release, and the FBI says it has "grave concerns" about the memo's accuracy. ___ 12:40 p.m. House Intelligence Committee Republicans say they found "serious violations of the public trust" by intelligence and law enforcement agencies investigating Russian interference in the 2016 campaign. That's according to committee chairman Devin Nunes (NOO'-nehs). The California Republican sent out a statement after his committee released a controversial memo detailing what he says are abuses of power at the FBI and Department of Justice. Nunes says he hopes the release "will shine a light on this alarming series of events" and spur "reforms that allow the American people to have full faith and confidence in their governing institutions." The FBI had warned against releasing the memo. Democrats say the allegations are made solely to discredit the investigation. ___ 12:25 p.m. The Republican-led House Intelligence Committee has released a memo based on classified information that alleges the FBI abused U.S. government surveillance powers in its investigation into Russian election interference. President Donald Trump cleared the way for publication of the controversial memo despite objections from the FBI. The four-page memo was drafted by Republicans on the committee chaired by Rep. Devin Nunes of California. The FBI, Justice Department and Democrats have furiously lobbied Trump to stop the release. They say it could harm national security and mislead the public. Republicans on the committee have said they believe they've uncovered serious misconduct that needs to be made public. ___ 12:02 p.m. President Donald Trump says a newly declassified GOP memo alleging FBI abuses shows, "A lot of people should be ashamed of themselves." Trump tells reporters Friday: "The memo was sent to Congress, it was declassified. Congress will do whatever they're going to do. But I think it's a disgrace what's happened in our country." Trump's decision to declassify the memo clears the way for the public release of the document. The memo was prepared by Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee based on classified information and alleges the FBI abused U.S. government surveillance powers in its investigation into Russian election interference. The FBI says it has "grave concerns" about the memo's accuracy. ___ 11:55 a.m. The White House says it has declassified a GOP-authored memo on the Russia probe. That clears the way for the House Intelligence Committee to release the document, which is based on classified information and alleges the FBI abused U.S. government surveillance powers in its investigation into Russian election interference. Principal Deputy Press Secretary Raj Shah says President Donald Trump cleared the way for publication of the controversial memo, despite objections from the FBI. The four-page memo was drafted by Republicans on the committee chaired by Rep. Devin Nunes of California. The FBI, Justice Department and Democrats have furiously lobbied Trump to stop the release. They say it could harm national security and mislead the public. Republicans on the committee have said they believe they've uncovered serious misconduct that needs to be made public. ___ 7:12 a.m. President Donald Trump is lashing out at Democrats, as he criticizes the FBI over the investigation of potential ties between Russia and his 2016 campaign. Trump tweeted a quote from the head of the conservative group Judicial Watch Friday morning. He tweeted: "'You had Hillary Clinton and the Democratic Party try to hide the fact that they gave money to GPS Fusion to create a Dossier which was used by their allies in the Obama Administration to convince a Court misleadingly, by all accounts, to spy on the Trump Team.' Tom Fitton, JW" Fitton appeared on "Fox and Friends" Friday. Trump is expected to clear the way for the publication of a classified memo on the Russia investigation that Republicans say shows improper use of surveillance by the FBI. ___ 6:45 a.m. President Donald Trump is accusing the FBI and Justice Department of playing politics "in favor of Democrats and against Republicans." Trump tweets: "The top Leadership and Investigators of the FBI and the Justice Department have politicized the sacred investigative process in favor of Democrats and against Republicans - something which would have been unthinkable just a short time ago. Rank & File are great people!" White House officials say President Donald Trump will allow the publication of a classified memo prepared by Republicans accusing the FBI of abusive surveillance tactics in the Russia investigation. The memo is said to allege FBI misconduct in the initial stages of its investigation of potential ties between Russia and Trump's 2016 campaign. ____ 12:19 a.m. White House officials say President Donald Trump will clear the way for the publication of a classified memo on the Russia investigation. The memo, prepared by Republicans on the House intelligence committee, is said to allege FBI misconduct in the initial stages of its investigation of potential ties between Russia and Trump's 2016 campaign. Trump's Justice Department furiously lobbied Trump to stop the release, saying it could harm national security and mislead the public. A White House official said Congress would probably be informed of the decision Friday. A second official said Trump was likely to declassify the congressional memo but the precise method for making it public was still being figured out. The officials were not authorized to be quoted about private deliberations and spoke on condition of anonymity. Vice President Mike Pence, right, stands with congressional candidate Rick Saccone after a fundraising event Friday, Feb. 2, 2018 in Bethel Park, Pa. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic) Attorney General Jeff Sessions listens to the national anthem during the opening ceremony of the summit on Efforts to Combat Human Trafficking at Department of Justice in Washington, Friday, Feb. 2, 2018. President Donald Trump, dogged by an unrelenting investigation into his campaign's ties to Russia, lashes out at the FBI and Justice Department as politically biased ahead of the expected release of a classified Republican memo criticizing FBI surveillance tactics. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana) President Donald Trump waves as he leaves the White House in Washington, Friday, Feb. 2, 2018, en route to the Customs and Border Protection National Targeting Center in Sterling, Va. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta) FILE - In this June 8, 2017 file photo, former FBI director James Comey speaks during a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on Capitol Hill, in Washington. Comey defended the agency Thursday, Feb. 1, 2018, on Twitter, writing, "All should appreciate the FBI speaking up. I wish more of our leaders would. " President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans have been attacking the FBI for its investigation of potential ties between Russia and Trump's 2016 campaign. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File) Attorney General Jeff Sessions accompanied by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and Associate Attorney General Rachel Brand, listen the national anthem during the opening ceremony of the summit on Efforts to Combat Human Trafficking at Department of Justice in Washington, Friday, Feb. 2, 2018. President Donald Trump, dogged by an unrelenting investigation into his campaign's ties to Russia, lashes out at the FBI and Justice Department as politically biased ahead of the expected release of a classified Republican memo criticizing FBI surveillance tactics. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana) Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., attends a speech by President Donald Trump at the 2018 House and Senate Republican Member Conference at The Greenbrier, in White Sulphur Springs, W.Va., Thursday, Feb. 1, 2018. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik) BANDA ACEH, Indonesia (AP) - Muslims in Indonesia's conservative and semiautonomous Aceh province protested an investigation into local police who rounded up and publicly humiliated transgender women. Several hundred people rallied outside the Baiturrahman Grand Mosque in the provincial capital after Friday prayers, carrying banners the read "LGBT is not Aceh local wisdom" and "Free Aceh from transvestites." Videos circulated online showed that police forced the 12 transgender women to dress as men, shaved their heads and berated them about not being masculine. They were rounded up last weekend in raids on hair salons in North Aceh's Lhoksukon neighborhood. Parents claimed they had harassed or seduced their teenage sons, according to police. Muslim protesters pray as they burn an effigy during an anti-LGBT rally in Banda Aceh, Indonesia, Friday, Feb. 2, 2018. Several hundreds of people staged the rally to protest against an investigation into local police who rounded up and publicly humiliated transgender women. (AP Photo/Hendri Abik) Social media in Muslim-majority Indonesia have exploded with criticism of the police's behavior. National Police spokesman Mochammad Iqbal said an internal police unit is investigating officers including North Aceh police Chief Untung Sangaji. The rally, which was attended by Aceh Gov. Irwandi Yusuf, was mostly peaceful. "We do not hate LGBT people, but what we hate is their behavior," Yusuf told the crowd, which chanted Sangaji's name. "We cannot blame the actions of the North Aceh police," Yusuf said. Aceh is the only province in Indonesia to practice Shariah law. Its implementation by religious police and local authorities, allowed by an autonomy deal with the central government that ended a separatist war, has become increasingly harsh. Calls to the mobile numbers of some of the transgender women were answered by activists or relatives. "They are still very traumatized by the bad treatment against them, they're afraid to talk to anyone in this situation, please understand," said rights activist Fais Ichall. Amnesty International Indonesia Executive Director Usman Hamid said the raids on beauty salons are just the latest example of the authorities arbitrarily targeting transgender people simply for who they are. "Cutting the hair of those arrested to 'make them masculine' and forcing them to dress like men are forms of public shaming and amount to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment," he said in a statement. Sangaji told reporters earlier this week that the police actions were discussed beforehand with Islamic scholars and police were acting according to Aceh's laws. "We helped them to return to their nature as men," Sangaji said. Iqbal said the 12 were released late Monday. He said they can return to work and would be given training to improve their skills as long as they dress as men. ___ Karmini reported from Jakarta, Indonesia. LONDON (AP) - A man who drove into worshippers near a London mosque, killing one man and injuring a dozen others, was sentenced Friday to at least 43 years in prison for what a judge called a crime driven by "malevolent hatred." Judge Bobbie Cheema-Grubb said Darren Osborne's mind had been "poisoned" by far-right ideas, and he had shown no signs of remorse. "Your mindset became one of malevolent hatred," the judge told the prisoner in the dock at Woolwich Crown Court. "This was a terrorist attack. You intended to kill." FILE - In this file photo dated Monday, June 19, 2017, forensic officers move the van which struck pedestrians near a Mosque at Finsbury Park in north London. A Crown Court on Thursday Feb. 1, 2018, found Darren Osborne guilty of murder and attempted murder in the June 2017 attack in the city's Finsbury Park neighborhood. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein, FILE) She sentenced 48-year-old Osborne on Friday to life with no chance of parole for 43 years. A jury convicted Osborne on Thursday of murder and attempted murder for the June 2017 attack in London's Finsbury Park neighborhood. A 51-year-old man, Makram Ali, was killed and 12 people were injured when Osborne drove a rented van into people leaving evening prayers during Ramadan. Prosecutors said Osborne was motivated by a hatred of Muslims and had been radicalized by online far-right and Islamophobic propaganda. Ali's family watched from the public gallery as sentence was handed down. The judge said the victim had "lived his life without enemies - until, unknowingly, he met you." Ali left a wife and six children. His daughter Ruzina Akhtar said in statement read in court that "his life was taken in a cruel way by a very narrow-minded, heartless being." BRUSSELS (AP) - The European Union says it's worried about the rule of law in EU candidate country Turkey after the jailing of Amnesty International's chairman and Turkish Medical Association members there. EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini and Enlargement Commissioner Johannes Hahn said Friday that the detentions are the latest "worrying developments undermining the rule of law and independence and impartiality of the judiciary in Turkey." They warned that improvements in these areas "remain essential to the prospects of EU-Turkey relations." Amnesty's Turkey chairman, Taner Kilic, was arrested again on Thursday after a prosecutor appealed another court's decision to free him pending a verdict in his trial on terror-related charges. Turkey started its EU accession negotiations in 2005 but the talks are at a virtual standstill, with some countries opposing membership. SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AP) - Hundreds of travelers were stranded in the Dominican Republic's main international airport on Friday after authorities suspended the country's principal airline for not paying debts. Officials announced Jan. 27 that they were suspending Pawa Dominicana's operations at the Santo Domingo airport for at least 90 days because the company owes $3 million in taxes and airport fees to the government and $5 million to private contractors. Some 1,300 passengers arriving in Santo Domingo on other airlines for connections with Pawa over the last week have found themselves without a way to reach their final destinations and many are sleeping in the airport due to the high prices of nearby lodging. Stranded Pawa Dominicana passengers argue with an airline representative after their flight to Cuba was suspended, at Las Americas International Airport in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Thursday, Feb. 1, 2017. Hundreds of travelers are stranded sleeping in the Dominican Republic's international airport after authorities suspended the country's main airline for non-payment of debts. (AP Photo/Tatiana Fernandez) "We're sleeping on suitcases or the floor," said Katherine Flores, a Venezuelan who has slept in the airport one night since her flight to Curacao was canceled. She and her friends said they had already spent all their vacation money on food at the airport. Since 2015, Pawa Dominicana has been offering flights from Santo Domingo to Antigua, Aruba, Curacao, Caracas, Havana, Miami, St. Martin and Puerto Rico. The company declined to comment, but has told passengers to wait two to three weeks for refunds. It has not offered to help with food or lodging. "I need my money now, not in 21 days, so I can buy another ticket," said Lourdes Tabar, who lives in Curacao and has been stuck in the airport for five days. "The airline hasn't even shown its face," said Luis Francico Balbuena, who has slept in the airport for two nights since his Curacao flight was canceled. Dominican officials have managed to put about 600 passengers on other flights since Jan. 27. Some 7,000 others have seen flights canceled that were scheduled for later this month. Stranded Pawa Dominicana passengers gather around the Civil Aviation Board information desk, at Las Americas International Airport in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Thursday, Feb. 1, 2017. Hundreds of travelers are stranded sleeping in the Dominican Republic's international airport after authorities suspended the country's main airline for non-payment of debts. (AP Photo/Tatiana Fernandez) Grounded Pawa Dominicana airplanes are shown parked at Las Americas International Airport in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Thursday, Feb. 1, 2017. Hundreds of travelers are stranded sleeping in the Dominican Republic's international airport after authorities suspended the country's main airline for non-payment of debts. (AP Photo/Tatiana Fernandez) Luis Francisco Balbuena, a stranded Pawa Dominicana passenger, sits on his luggage at Las Americas International Airport in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Thursday, Feb. 1, 2017. Hundreds of travelers are stranded sleeping in the Dominican Republic's international airport after authorities suspended the country's main airline for non-payment of debts. (AP Photo/Tatiana Fernandez) The Pawa Dominicana ticket counter sits empty at Las Americas International Airport in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Thursday, Feb. 1, 2017. Hundreds of travelers are stranded sleeping in the Dominican Republic's international airport after authorities suspended the country's main airline for non-payment of debts. (AP Photo/Tatiana Fernandez) NEW YORK (AP) - The leader of a Caribbean-to-New York cocaine ring that included a U.S. postal worker has been sentenced to 20 years in prison. U.S. Attorney Richard P. Donoghue says Luis Bello's operation distributed more than 1,000 kilograms of cocaine from 2011 to 2013. Drugs obtained in the Dominican Republic were shipped through Puerto Rico to New York. A Bronx mail carrier intercepted packages made out to addresses on his route, then delivered them to drug-ring members. The group also used post office boxes in New York and New Jersey. Prosecutors say at least $620,000 in cash exchanged hands. Drug proceeds were smuggled back to the Caribbean in soap bottles and the pockets of jeans packed in luggage. Nine other defendants have pleaded guilty. The mail carrier was sentenced in October. WASHINGTON (AP) - The Republican National Committee is confirming billionaire Todd Ricketts as its next finance chair, replacing casino magnate Steve Wynn, who resigned last week over sexual misconduct allegations. At the RNC's winter meeting, the committee is approving the recommendation by Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel, with President Donald Trump's blessing. Ricketts, an owner of the Chicago Cubs, was nominated last year by Trump to be deputy secretary of commerce, but withdrew from consideration over financial divestiture rules. Chicago Cubs owner Tom Ricketts attends the Major League Baseball owners meetings at the Four Seasons Hotel, Thursday, Feb. 1, 2018, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill) Ricketts' selection was prompted after allegations that Wynn, a Las Vegas billionaire, sexually harassed several women. Though Wynn has denied the claims, McDaniel accepted Wynn's resignation Saturday. While welcoming Ricketts, McDaniel says, "It's obviously deeply unfortunate that we are in this position." The RNC raised $132.5 million in 2017, a record for post-election year fundraising. YANGON, Myanmar (AP) - Myanmar's government has denied a report by The Associated Press documenting at least five mass graves containing Rohingya Muslim civilians killed by the military with help from Buddhist neighbors, saying that only "terrorists" were killed and they were "carefully buried." The AP reported on Thursday that the mass graves in the village of Gu Dar Pyin were confirmed through multiple interviews with more than two dozen survivors who had fled to refugee camps in neighboring Bangladesh, and through time-stamped cellphone videos. Satellite images and video of destroyed homes also showed that the village had been wiped out. The Myanmar government's information committee said in a statement Friday that 17 government officials including Border Guard Police went to Gu Dar Pyin to investigate the AP report and were told by villagers and community leaders that "no such things happened." This combination of May 26, 2017, left, and Dec. 20, 2017, satellite images provided by DigitalGlobe show the village of Gu Dar Pyin, Myanmar before and after destruction. The Associated Press has confirmed more than five previously unreported mass graves in the village through multiple interviews with more than two dozen survivors in Bangladesh refugee camps and through time-stamped cellphone videos. The Myanmar government regularly claims massacres like Gu Dar Pyin never happened, and has acknowledged only one mass grave containing 10 "terrorists" in the village of Inn Din. (DigitalGlobe via AP) According to the government statement, a group of Rohingya "terrorists" skirmished with security forces in the village during "clearance operations" by the military. It said about 500 villagers attacked the security forces with weapons such as knives, sticks and wooden spears, and the security forces were forced to shoot in self-defense. It said 19 "terrorists" died and their bodies were "carefully buried" by the security forces. "The Myanmar government will not deny any human rights violations and will investigate if there is strong evidence. And if there are human rights violations after an investigation, prosecutors will take actions according to the law," the government statement said. In regard to Gu Dar Pyin village, "the preliminary result of the examination has proven that AP's report is wrong," it said. "The AP stands by our reporting," spokeswoman Lauren Easton said. More than 680,000 Rohingya have fled Myanmar's northwestern Rakhine state to Bangladesh to escape a crackdown by Myanmar's military that began following attacks by a Rohingya militant group on Aug. 25. The United Nations and the United States have described the crackdown as "ethnic cleansing." The U.N. human rights chief has also suggested that it may be genocide. Many Rohingya refugees have accused Myanmar troops of a rampage of murder, rape and arson to drive them out of their homes and the country. The government has blocked international media from traveling to Rahkine state to investigate reports, and has not heeded calls by the U.N., U.S. and others for an independent investigation. Gu Dar Pyin was one of at least four large massacres that are known of in Myanmar since August, and many smaller-scale killings have been reported. Survivors told the AP that hundreds of soldiers swept into the village Aug. 27 firing weapons, including hand grenades and rocket launchers, and burning down houses. They said Buddhists from neighboring villages joined the soldiers, cutting the throats of the injured and helping to throw small children and the elderly into the fires. Community leaders from Gu Dar Pyin in the refugee camps in Bangladesh have compiled a list of 75 dead so far, and villagers estimate the toll could be as high as 400, based on testimony from relatives and the bodies they've seen in the graves dug by the soldiers and strewn about the area. Rohingya are a long-persecuted Muslim ethnic minority in predominantly Buddhist Myanmar. Myanmar's government regularly says massacres of Rohingya never happened, and has acknowledged only one mass grave containing 10 "terrorists" in the village of Inn Din. COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) - The University of Missouri is naming a new residence hall after a late journalist who was repeatedly denied admission to the school starting in the 1930s because she was black. The Board of Curators unanimously voted Thursday to honor Lucile Bluford by bestowing her name on the 279-student dorm at the Columbia campus. The board also voted to name the hall's atrium after Gus Ridgel, the university's first black graduate. Bluford was denied admission to the university's journalism school 11 times. Five decades after her first application, the university granted her an honorary doctorate degree in humanities in 1989. Bluford spent decades working at the Kansas City Call newspaper before her death in 2003. Ridgel received a master's degree in economics from the school in 1951. The 91-year-old taught, researched and worked as an administrator at the university level. He says the board's decision is "humbling." SRINAGAR, India (AP) - The Indian army said Friday that three soldiers were killed when an avalanche struck their Himalayan post in the Indian portion of Kashmir. The army said the soldiers died in the Machhil sector near the Line of Control that divides Kashmir between India and Pakistan. Mehbooba Mufti, the top elected official of the Indian portion of Kashmir, expressed deep sorrow over the deaths. One injured Indian soldier has been hospitalized, according to the New Delhi Television news channel. Avalanches and landslides are common in Himalayan Kashmir. Last month, 11 people were killed after their vehicle was hit by an avalanche in Kupwara district of the Indian portion of Kashmir. Avalanches have caused some of the heaviest tolls for the Indian and Pakistani armies camping in the region. In 2016, at least 14 Indian soldiers were killed in two avalanches in the region. In 2012, a massive avalanche in the Pakistan-controlled part of Kashmir killed 140 people, including 129 soldiers. India and Pakistan have fought two wars over control of Kashmir since they won independence from British colonialists in 1947. JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) - The Latest on the resignation of an Alaska state legislator (all times local): 11:35 a.m. An Alaska lawmaker accused of hitting a woman during a night of drinking says he's resigning to dedicate more time to "personal matters." Democratic state Rep. Zach Fansler offered his resignation Friday. It takes effect Feb. 12. In the letter, Fansler says his constituents in western Alaska need a representative who can devote his or her full time to issues affecting the district. He says he's unable to do that right now. Fansler faced pressure to resign from House leaders for nearly a week after the Juneau Empire reported that a woman had accused Fansler of hitting her shortly before the legislative session began. Fansler's attorney, Wally Tetlow, says Fansler is "completely innocent" of the allegations against him. He said the initial reporting was misleading. ___ 10:50 a.m. An Alaska lawmaker accused of hitting a woman during a night of drinking last month is resigning. Rep. Zach Fansler's resignation was announced on the House floor Friday. Fansler, a Bethel Democrat, was under pressure to resign from House leaders for nearly a week, since the Juneau Empire reported that a woman had accused Fansler of hitting her shortly before the legislative session began. House leaders had already reassigned Fansler's staff and asked that he turn in his office keys. House Speaker Bryce Edgmon told reporters he had spoken with Fansler "at least a couple of times" this week and made clear the caucus continued to seek his resignation. Edgmon says Fansler did good work as a legislator and it's been a difficult issue for Fansler, the caucus and Fansler's district. WASHINGTON (AP) - The Trump administration on Friday announced it will continue much of the Obama administration's nuclear weapons policy, but take a more aggressive stance toward Russia. It said Russia must be convinced it would face "unacceptably dire costs" if it were to threaten even a limited nuclear attack in Europe. The sweeping review of U.S. nuclear policy does not call for any net increase in strategic nuclear weapons - a position that stands in contrast to President Donald Trump's statement, in a tweet shortly before he took office, that the U.S. "must greatly strengthen and expand its nuclear capability until such time as the world comes to its senses regarding nukes." In his State of the Union address Tuesday, he made no mention of expansion, though he said the arsenal must deter acts of aggression. A 74-page report summarizing the review's findings calls North Korea a "clear and grave threat" to the U.S. and its allies. It asserts that any North Korean nuclear attack against the U.S. or its allies will result in "the end of that regime." Acting Under Secretary for Nuclear Security and National Nuclear Security Administration Administrator Steve Erhart answers a question during a news conference on the 2018 Nuclear Posture Review, Friday, Feb. 2, 2018, at the Pentagon. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin) It also cast China as a potential nuclear adversary, saying the U.S. arsenal is tailored to "prevent Beijing from mistakenly concluding" that it could gain advantage by using its nuclear weapons in Asia, or that "any use of nuclear weapons, however limited, is acceptable." The Pentagon-led review of the U.S. nuclear arsenal and the policies that govern it was ordered by Trump a year ago. In a written statement, Trump said U.S. strategy is designed to make use of nuclear weapons less likely. In an apparent reference to the threat of catastrophic cyberattack, he said the U.S. aims to strengthen deterrence of major attacks against the U.S. and its allies, including those that "may not come in the form of nuclear weapons." Known officially as a nuclear posture review, and customarily done at the outset of a new administration, the report drew blistering criticism from arms control groups. "President Trump is embarking on a reckless path - one that will reduce U.S. security both now and in the longer term," said Lisbeth Gronlund, a senior scientist at the Union of Concerned Scientists. She said the administration is blurring the line between nuclear and conventional war-fighting. The Trump administration concluded that the U.S. should largely follow its predecessor's blueprint for modernizing the nuclear arsenal, including new bomber aircraft, submarines and land-based missiles. It also endorsed adhering to existing arms control agreements, including the New START treaty that limits the United States and Russia each to 1,550 strategic nuclear warheads on a maximum of 700 deployed launchers. The treaty, negotiated under President Barack Obama, entered into force on Feb. 5, 2011, and its weapons limits must be met by Monday. The U.S. says it has been in compliance with the limits since August and it expects the Russians to comply by Monday's deadline. As of Sept. 1, the last date for which official figures are available, Russia was below the launcher limit but slightly above the warhead limit, at 1,561. "Moscow has repeatedly stated its intention to meet those limits on time, and we have no reason to believe that that won't be the case," State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said Thursday. The Pentagon's nuclear review concluded that while arms control can advance American interests, "further progress is difficult to envision," in light of what the U.S. considers Russia's aggression in Ukraine and violations of existing arms deals. Administration officials briefed Russian and Chinese officials Friday prior to the review's public release. The Trump nuclear doctrine breaks with Obama's in ending his push to reduce the role of nuclear weapons in U.S. defense policy. Like Obama, Trump would consider using nuclear weapons only in "extreme circumstances," while maintaining a degree of ambiguity about what that means. But Trump sees a fuller deterrent role for these weapons, as reflected in the plan to develop new capabilities to counter Russia in Europe. The administration's view is that Russian policies and actions are fraught with potential for miscalculation leading to an uncontrolled escalation of conflict in Europe. It specifically points to a Russian doctrine known as "escalate to de-escalate," in which Moscow would use or threaten to use smaller-yield nuclear weapons in a limited, conventional conflict in Europe in the belief that doing so would compel the U.S. and NATO to back down. "Recent Russian statements on this evolving nuclear weapons doctrine appear to lower the threshold for Moscow's first-use of nuclear weapons," the review said. The administration proposes a two-step solution. First, it would modify "a small number" of existing long-range ballistic missiles carried by Trident strategic submarines to fit them with smaller-yield nuclear warheads. John Rood, the undersecretary of defense for policy, declined to provide an estimate of the cost, saying it would be partially included in the 2019 budget that will be submitted to Congress later this month. He said the missile would be fielded "in the near term," but he refused to be more specific. Second, "in the longer term," the administration would develop a nuclear-armed sea-launched cruise missile - re-establishing a weapon that existed during the Cold War but was retired in 2011 by the Obama administration. Robert Soofer, a senior nuclear policy official at the Pentagon who helped direct the policy review, said Moscow is likely to push back on the U.S. plan for fielding those two additional weapons. "I'm sure they won't respond well," Soofer said Thursday. The press secretary at the Russian Embassy in Washington, Nikolay Lakhonin, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. __ Associated Press writer Josh Lederman contributed to this report. Under Secretary of Defense for Policy John Rood, speaks during a news conference on the 2018 Nuclear Posture Review, at the Pentagon, Friday, Feb. 2, 2018. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin) Acting Assistant Secretary of State Anita Friedt listens to a question during a news conference on the 2018 Nuclear Posture Review, Friday, Feb. 2, 2018, at the Pentagon. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin) Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Thomas Shannon, left, speaks next to Deputy Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan, and Deputy Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette, during a news conference on the 2018 Nuclear Posture Review, at the Pentagon, Friday, Feb. 2, 2018. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin) MIAMI (AP) - Ten members of the U.S. Senate have asked the State Department to pressure the Haitian government into closing an orphanage where several children being adopted by American families have been victims of alleged sexual abuse. The letter said "multiple" children at the Foyer Notre Dame de la Nativite orphanage on the outskirts of Port-au-Prince tested positive for the sexually transmitted infection chlamydia and reported that they had been victims of abuse. "While Haiti's social services agency has had an ongoing investigation into the orphanage for more than a year, nothing has been done to stop the abuse," said the Jan. 29 letter, addressed to Deputy Secretary of State John J. Sullivan. A boy stands on a tarp at the Foyer Notre Dame de la Nativite orphanage on the outskirts of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Friday, Feb. 2, 2018. The State Department is being urged by a group of U.S. senators to pressure the Haitian government into closing the orphanage where several children being adopted by U.S. families have been victims of alleged sexual abuse. (AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery) Orphanage Director Eveline Louis-Jacques said Friday that several children in her care had tested positive for chlamydia but said it hasn't been confirmed that they contracted the infection while at the home and she vehemently denied any abuse has occurred there. "The kids are very well treated," Louis-Jacques said in an Associated Press interview. "They are not in an orphanage; they are in my house, with me." The orphanage was the site of tragedy during the devastating January 2010 earthquake when nearly 70 kids died there during the disaster. There are now 60 children, from ages 1 to 16. Louis-Jacques, a former bank executive, runs it with her husband of 42 years and a mostly female staff. Andolphe Guillaume, an official with the social welfare agency, known by its initials in French as IBESR, referred questions about the situation to the executive director, who was not available Friday. But Guillaume showed AP journalists a report from December showing that at least six of 33 children tested at the orphanage, known in Haiti as a "creche," had chlamydia and recommended that authorities continue to investigate the abuse allegations. He said officials were surprised because the home had a good reputation. "This creche is one of the best in Haiti. We don't know how this happened," he said. Louis-Jacques said the children could have contracted the infection at birth from their mothers but the report said the parents of only one of the children also tested positive. The total number of children who have tested positive is not publicly known. The Senate letter does not provide details on the infections or the children it said also reported abuse. In January 2017, Nightlight Christian Adoptions, an agency based in Santa Ana, California, sent an email to parents in the process of adopting that a girl recently brought to the U.S. from the Notre Dame had been diagnosed with chlamydia and that her doctor believed it had been contracted during the time the child was at the home. The agency said in the email that it was pressing IBESR to conduct an immediate investigation and to have all children examined by an independent doctor. Nightlight President Daniel Nehrbass said some children contracted the infection while they were in the care of the orphanage but it remains a possibility that the abuse did not occur on the premises. He said he and his staff have visited the home about 16 times in recent years and he will travel to Haiti next week to meet with the director and the U.S. Embassy to discuss the situation. "There is abuse that is occurring and it has to be addressed," Nehrbass said. People in the midst of the adoption process, which can take more than two years, have been trying to get U.S. authorities to expedite the paperwork. Charlotte Gage or Richmond, Virginia, said she managed to get the two boys she and her husband are adopting out of the orphanage but are still in Haiti as they await the final documents they need to return home. She said she was stunned to learn of the alleged abuse. "I felt my soul just get crushed," Gage said. "It was just horrific to think about children being violated in that way." The Senate letter said the State Department should not only push Haiti to close the home and relocate the children but also expedite visas and passports for approved adoption cases. A spokesman for Florida Sen. Bill Nelson, one of the 10 Republicans and Democrats who signed the letter, said they had not yet received a formal response. It was signed by senators from Florida, Pennsylvania, Iowa, Minnesota and Virginia. The State Department said in response to questions that the Embassy in Haiti is aware of the reports of abuse and is "providing all Consular services" without providing details. It added that it seeks to ensure that all international adoptions take place in the best interests of the child. ___ Associated Press writer Evens Sanon contributed from Port-au-Prince, Haiti Charlotte Gage an American, who adopted two brothers from the Foyer Notre Dame de la Nativite orphanage, walks with them on the outskirts of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Friday, Feb. 2, 2018. The State Department is being urged to pressure the Haitian government into closing an orphanage where several children being adopted by U.S. families have been victims of alleged sexual abuse. Gage said she managed to get the two boys she and her husband are adopting out of the orphanage but are still in Haiti as they await the final documents they need to return home. She said she was stunned to learn of the alleged abuse. (AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery) Children play at the Foyer Notre Dame de la Nativite orphanage on the outskirts of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Friday Feb. 2, 2018. The State Department is being urged by a group of U.S. senators to pressure the Haitian government into closing the orphanage where several children being adopted by U.S. families have been victims of alleged sexual abuse. (AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery) Director of the Foyer Notre Dame de la Nativite Eveline Louis-Jacques holds on to a toddler at the orphanage, on the outskirts of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Friday, Feb. 2, 2018. The State Department is being urged by a group of U.S. senators to pressure the Haitian government into closing the orphanage where several children being adopted by U.S. families have been victims of alleged sexual abuse. (AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery) CLEVELAND (AP) - A grand jury has declined to charge two Ohio police officers in the death of a mentally ill woman who collapsed while handcuffed and struggling with police in 2014, authorities said Friday. The grand jury cleared Cleveland officers Scott Aldridge and Bryan Myers of any criminal wrongdoing in the November 2014 death of Tanisha Anderson. Authorities have said Anderson, 37, of Cleveland, agreed to accompany officers called to her home by her family in November 2014, then began struggling after getting into a cruiser. Cuyahoga County's medical examiner had found that Anderson stopped breathing after being placed on her stomach, and heart problems and mental illness contributed to her death. Ohio Attorney General Special Prosecutions Chief Matthew J. Donahue noted in a memorandum about the case to the judge and a deputy attorney general that another medical expert found "it would appear no significant chest compromise was occurring and the sudden collapse is more consistent with a cardiac event." Donahue described Anderson's death as "tragic." Cleveland settled a wrongful death lawsuit with Anderson's family for $2.25 million in 2017. The family had said that it wanted the officers to be prosecuted. An attorney for the family, David Malik, told WJW-TV that he urged the public to access the court documents to obtain the "real facts." A message seeking additional comment from Malik was left at his office Friday. Police union officials have maintained the officers did nothing wrong. "I appreciate the efforts of the special prosecutor and the service of (the) grand jury that came to the just conclusion that these officers did nothing wrong," attorney Henry Hilow, who represents the police officers, told WJW on Friday. Officials with the city and the police will determine whether the officers will face any discipline. WASHINGTON (AP) - President Donald Trump continues to warn of a looming March 5 deadline on immigration. "March 5th is rapidly approaching and the Democrats are doing nothing about DACA. They Resist, Blame, Complain and Obstruct - and do nothing," he tweeted Thursday. "Start pushing Nancy Pelosi and the Dems to work out a DACA fix, NOW!" "We have a great chance to make a deal or, blame the Dems!" he added late. "March 5th is coming up fast." In this Dec. 6, 2017, file photo, demonstrators hold up balloons during an immigration rally in support of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), and Temporary Protected Status (TPS), programs, near the U.S. Capitol in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File) THE FACTS: Thanks to a recent court ruling, the March 5th deadline is practically - if not politically - all but moot. The deadline dates back to September 5th, when Trump announced that he was ending the Obama administration's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which provided protection from deportation and work permits for about 800,000 young people who were brought to the U.S. as children and are now living here illegally. To lessen the blow, the administration announced that recipients whose status was set to expire before March 5 would be allowed to apply for renewals, so long as their applications were received within a month. Trump framed that as giving Congress six months to come up with a legislative fix. But that timeline became far less significant when a federal court judge in San Francisco blocked Trump's action on the grounds that young immigrants would suffer "irreparable harm." In response, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced that it was once again accepting DACA renewals, processing them just as they had before Trump's September announcement - including renewals for applicants whose permits expire after March 5. Asked whether that would change on March 5, USCIS said they could not speculate on any "potential outcomes," but that the agency "will comply with the federal court order and will accept requests to renew a grant of deferred action under DACA." "Until further notice," they added, "the DACA policy will be operated on the terms in place before it was rescinded on Sept. 5, 2017." Pressed on what then would change on March 5, a White House official said the administration was confident the courts would act ahead of that date. In the meantime, Trump has pressured Democrats in Congress to support an immigration proposal they say is a non-starter. The Supreme Court will meet in private on Feb. 16 and on the agenda is the administration's bid to have the San Francisco judge's order reviewed before the end of the term in June. It's a longshot strategy, but even if that succeeds, the judge's order to accept DACA renewals will remain in effect at least until the Supreme Court rules definitively. The administration has chosen not to seek a stay of the order from the Supreme Court, meaning the administration has not asked the justices to block the California judge's order as it waits. Unless there's a legislative resolution, it's unclear how the fight might be resolved by March 5, barring a surprise move by Trump. In the meantime, thousands of DACA recipients have already lost protections and work authorization since Trump announced his decision on September 5. While the court ruling allows recipients to reapply for deferred actions, those applications take months to adjudicate - months when applicants aren't allowed to work and could be detained and put in deportation proceedings. Before the judge's ruling, the nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute had estimated an average of 915 people would lose DACA protections every day after March 5. Adding to the uncertainly: Mixed messages from the administration. Trump has repeated suggestions that he might be willing to push back his deadline, telling reporters recently, saying he has the right to do that if he wants. But Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen has described that as possibly "unconstitutional" - the same argument made repeatedly by the Justice Department and by administration attorneys defending Trump's action in court. "If Trump extends DACA, he'd be undermining the reason he gave for rescinding it," said Leon Fresco, former top immigration aide to Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., who is now Senate minority leader. Fresco said administration lawyers would even be at risk of jail time if Trump took an action that those same attorneys have argued is illegal. For now, the immigration debate on the Hill appears to be at a standstill, with all sides digging in, and warning of an impending deadline that may come and go with little impact. Democrats will likely spend the next month arguing that a failure to act leaves DACA recipients vulnerable and scared, while Trump will continue to blame Democrats for failing to come to the table. But without a looming deadline, it seems doubtful there would be the same urgency to get something done. __ Associated Press writer Mark Sherman contributed to this report. ___ Find AP Fact Checks at http://apne.ws/2kbx8bd Follow @APFactCheck on Twitter: https://twitter.com/APFactCheck A new trade commissioner for China has been appointed with the aim of boosting British exports to the Asian economic giant. International Trade Secretary Liam Fox named Richard Burn for the role as he accompanied Prime Minister Theresa May on a trade mission to China. Mr Burn is the first of nine trade commissioners set to represent and promote the UK in key markets across the world. Theresa May shakes hands with Chinese leader Xi Jinping (Stefan Rousseau/PA) Dr Fox said: As an international economic department, weve moved quickly to appoint the first of these important roles. With his existing wealth of trade and investment experience, Richard will provide intelligence on the ground, deciding what tailored action is required in China, and playing a vital role in our future global trading relationships. A former Stormont department has been censured for failing to monitor the number of late-night flights at George Best Belfast City Airport. The Northern Ireland Public Services Ombudsman (NIPSO) watchdog found maladministration by the former Environment Department and called for its replacement to issue an apology and payment to nearby residents. More than 3,000 late-night flights took place over a seven-year period. Belfast City Airport campaigner Professor Mari Fitzduff said she was delighted (Mari Fitzduff/PA) A planning agreement meant the airport could only operate after 9.30pm in exceptional circumstances. Ombudsman Marie Anderson said: The department had no operational definition of the phrase for the purposes of monitoring compliance with the agreement. In response to the ombudsmans inquiries, the department stated that the 3,000-plus late flights which took place over a seven-year period were all exceptional. The ombudsman investigated a complaint brought on behalf of the group Belfast City Airport Watch Limited (BCAWL), which claimed that no action was being taken by the department in relation to flight arrivals and departures between 21.21 and 23.59. Mrs Anderson has called on the Department for Infrastructure to issue an apology within one month to the residents group and make a consolatory 1,000 payment. The ombudsman also said the department failed to gather data on a regular and systematic basis on late-flight movements from 2008 to 2011 for the purpose of monitoring the airports compliance with the 2008 Planning Agreement. It said the department failed to investigate BCAWLs complaint thoroughly and provide adequate responses to concerns raised. BCAWL member Professor Mari Fitzduff said residents were delighted. We have spent years trying to convince the authorities that they needed to take action on this issue. Our case was dismissed by the department but now, finally, we have been vindicated. We hope this will mean that long-suffering residents can finally look forward to peace and quiet in the late evening and night-time. Whats important now is that the department acts on the reports recommendations as quickly as possible. An airport spokesman said: Over the period that the Ombudsman studied, (October 2008 March 2016), the airport handled 295,629 flights. Those delayed flights between 21:30 and 23: 59 accounted for only 1.04% of all total aircraft movements at the airport. No airport in the world operates without delays. Belfast City Airport goes further and fines are paid in respect of flights that operate during these hours, with 120 local community and youth projects benefiting from 350,000 which has been dispersed via the airports award-winning Community Fund. Best-selling author and former SAS soldier Andy McNab has said he owes a lot of his success to the literacy skills he gained by joining the military. At the centre of covert operations for nine years on five continents, he shot to fame with his first book, Bravo Two Zero, which recounted his part leading an ill-fated patrol behind enemy lines during the first Gulf War in 1991. The 58-year-old was speaking to the Press Association as a national poetry competition was launched to mark the creation of the Defence and National Rehabilitation Centre (DNRC). Andy McNab said military education is incredibly important (PA/Andrew Milligan) When I joined the Army, the reason I was in the infantry and not flying helicopters, was that my numeracy and literacy was of a nine-year-old, he said. Leaving the SAS in 1993, McNab said he owes absolutely everything in terms of his success to the literacy skills he gained whilst in the Army, and described how military education is incredibly important. Even getting out the military and getting the offer of writing my first book, it wasnt as if it was the plan to do it, he said. And not having the ability to write as well, that would never have come unless I got into the military, without a doubt. A campaigner on the importance of literacy visiting workplaces, schools and prisons McNab said that even during daring operations in war zones, reading became an important escape. There was always books, he said. Youd have a paperback and then they used to do the tour so youd read anything that was about. A lot of the guys were into military history so youd read some of that, there was a period of Wilbur Smith we were all running around reading about elephants on the Savannah somewhere. At @FeatherstoneAca telling Year 10 how education changed my life. Reading gives you knowledge and knowledge gives you the power to make your own decisions in life. Thanks to @WestYorksPolice for getting us here. Andy McNab (@The_Real_McNab) November 3, 2017 Whatever was out there it was lets have a read of that which was good. Laughing, he even revealed that as the scabby paperbacks got passed around, he would sometimes take out the last four pages of a book just to annoy his colleagues. Theyd start moaning and youd give them to them a day after and say oh look what I found, he joked. The national competition called A Poem to Remember was launched by the DNRC and the Duke of Cambridge on Friday, and will see McNab featuring as a short-list judge. Pressed on the advice he would offer to budding entrants, McNab said it is exactly the same as with anything creative, just get on and do it. Having things buzzing around in your mind with the back of your hand on your forehead really does not work, he said. If you have got an idea, youve just got a line, youve just got a theme you write it down, you look at it the next day and go do you know what that is a load of old crap. If you have got something down, you can look at it and you can criticise it. As humans we are fantastic at criticising, more than we are creating. If you do that it starts the process, you dont have to be Keats, what it is with any sort of creative writing is to stir emotions it doesnt matter how that is done. What you are trying to do with a group of words is create an image in peoples heads that image then creates their emotion. The competition closes to entries on April 9, for more information on how to enter visit www.poemtoremember.co.uk Theresa May is completing her three-day trip to China with a visit to the countrys commercial centre Shanghai, where she will talk up Britain as a partner for investment and trade. Downing Street said that 9 billion worth of deals were expected to be signed over the course of Mrs Mays visit, including plans for an Eden Project attraction in the coastal city of Qingdao and a 2 billion drive to sell UK products to internet shoppers in China. In talks with President Xi Jinping on Thursday, the Prime Minister held up Britain and China as outward-looking countries resisting the tides of protectionism seen elsewhere in the world. Theresa May enjoyed a traditional tea ceremony with President Xi Jinping in Beijing (Dan Kitwood/PA) International Trade Secretary Liam Fox, who is travelling with the PM, announced the appointment of Richard Burn as trade commissioner for China the first of nine to represent and promote the UK in key markets around the world. Mrs May will address business leaders in Shanghai before returning to the UK later in the day. In her talks with Mr Xi on Thursday, the PM stressed the importance of the joint trade and investment review launched during her visit, which she hoped would act as a launchpad for ambitious future trade arrangements. However, Dr Fox cautioned that this might not involve a full free trade agreement, saying he was discussing improvements, whether its done with a gold standard free trade agreement, whether its done by a series of measures for market access and mutual recognition. And he acknowledged that the UKs membership of the EU customs union had not prevented important trade deals being sealed during the trip. Seated opposite Mr Xi in the opulent Diaoyutai State Guesthouse, Mrs May said Britain and China were enjoying a golden era in their relationship, and added that she wanted to take further forward the global strategic partnership that we have established. She said there were issues on the global stage where the UK and China could work together as permanent members of the UN Security Council and fellow outward-looking countries. During their 80-minute meeting, Mrs May and Mr Xi discussed their shared determination to end illegal nuclear activity by North Korea and agreed that denuclearisation of the secretive state was their objective. In the wake of democracy protests in Hong Kong, they restated their commitment to the one country, two systems arrangement in place since the former colony was handed back by the UK to China in 1997. They also discussed the environment and Chinas Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) to improve overland transport links to Europe and the West. In an apparent sign that Mr Xi may be willing to take on board Western concerns about access to BRI contracts for non-Chinese companies, Downing Street said they talked about the importance of international standards and transparency to ensure the initiatives success. Mrs May told the Chinese president that the trade side of her visit had been very successful. Theresa May and her husband, Philip, during a visit to the Forbidden City in Beijing And she added: The links between us go beyond trade. Im very pleased with the people-to-people links we have been able to build on in education and in culture too. Also, as you say, we are both significant players on the world stage of outward looking countries. And as we both sit together as permanent members of the Security Council of the United Nations, there are global challenges which we both face, as do others in the world. As you say, there are areas in which we can work together. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge will meet the stars of an innovative Norwegian drama as their Nordic tour comes to an end. William and Kate will visit Hartvig Nissen School on Friday to learn about the popular series Skam, which attracted a legion of fans for its portrayal of issues including mental illness, homophobia and sexual assault. Following on from the theme lines of the show, the characters started their own social media profiles to engage with the audience directly, creating an international following and fan base. At the Oslo school the royal couple will meet some of the stars and producers of Skam and chat to students to learn about the effect the hard-hitting drama had on bringing issues they faced into the open. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge during their visit to Norway (Hannah McKay/PA) After a private lunch with Crown Prince Haakon and Crown Princess Mette-Marit at their home Skaugum, William and Kate will visit Holmenkollen, the snowy hills overlooking Oslo. The couple will visit the Holmenkollen ski jump and museum and then watch a demonstration from some of Norways top under-18 ski jumpers. Before leaving for the UK, William and Kate will watch a group of local nursery children taking part in an afternoon ski lesson on the slopes and also join them for some outdoor activities such as roasting sausages on an open fire. A minivan crashed into pedestrians on a busy pavement in Shanghai on Friday morning in what police believe was an accident. A total of 18 people were sent to hospitals for treatment after the crash, with three reported to be seriously injured. Police said they believed the driver was smoking while transporting gas tanks through the heart of the Chinese financial hub. Firefighters put out a blaze after a minivan carrying gas tanks ploughed into pedestrians (AP) The van veered onto a pavement and burst into flames at about 9am near Peoples Park, the Shanghai government said. Local media reported the vehicle was carrying six people and several tanks of gas. Videos on social media showed injured people lying on the pavement next to a Starbucks cafe. British Prime Minister Theresa May was in a meeting in the city at the time of the incident. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge received a rapturous welcome from Norwegian high school students on the final day of their Nordic tour. Screams and shouts greeted their arrival at Hartvig Nissen School in Oslo where they were due to meet the stars of an innovative Norwegian drama. William and Kate, who wore a Dolce and Gabbana coat, went on an impromptu walkabout chatting to students who lined their route to the school entrance and shook many outstretched hands. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge visit Hartvig Nissen School in Oslo (Victoria Jones/PA) They were joined by Crown Prince Haakon and Crown Princess Mette-Marit who followed behind their guests and also met the teenagers who had been waiting in sub-zero temperatures. In the school William and Kate will learn about the popular series Skam, which attracted a legion of fans for its portrayal of issues including mental illness, homophobia and sexual assault. Following on from the themes of the show, the characters started their own social media profiles to engage with the audience directly, creating an international following and fan base. #SKAM @nrkp3 stars are ready to meet The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge to discuss the impact #SKAM has had on young people #RoyalVisitNorway #HartvigNissenSkole #MentalHealth pic.twitter.com/YEOuoha2qf British Embassy Oslo (@UKinNorway) February 2, 2018 The royal couple will meet some of the stars and producers of Skam and chat to students to learn about the effect the hard-hitting drama had on bringing issues they faced into the open. Later after a private lunch with Crown Prince Haakon and Crown Princess Mette-Marit at their home Skaugum, William and Kate will visit Holmenkollen, the snowy hills overlooking Oslo. Kate chats to well-wishers outside the school (Dominic Lipinski/PA) The couple will visit the Holmenkollen ski jump and museum and then watch a demonstration from some of Norways top under-18 ski jumpers. Before leaving for the UK, William and Kate will watch a group of local nursery children taking part in an afternoon ski lesson on the slopes and also join them for some outdoor activities such as roasting sausages on an open fire. Nine people have been wounded in a barrage of rockets fired at two border towns in Turkey across from the Syrian Kurdish enclave of Afrin. The state-run Anadolu Agency said three rockets targeted Reyhanli in Hatay province, hitting a house, a road close to a marketplace and the outer wall of a workplace. Six people were taken to hospital from that attack. Governor Mehmet Tekinarslan said three more rockets hit the town of Kilis, north-east of Reyhanli, where at least three people were injured. A restaurant worker wounded in a rocket attack fired from inside Syria (AP) Ankara launched a cross-border offensive into Afrin on January 20 to rout the Syrian Kurdish militia it said is linked to insurgents fighting inside Turkey. At least four people have been killed in rocket attacks on the two towns since then. The Duchess of Cambridge has compared the sub-zero temperatures in Oslo to her days as a student in freezing cold Scotland. Kate, who is six months pregnant with her third child, made the admission as she and William went on an impromptu walkabout meeting Norwegian students at their high school. The Duchess of Cambridge jokes about the freezing weather as she meets students outside an Oslo high school pic.twitter.com/NeSAJ8ReRp PA Royal Reporters (@PARoyal) February 2, 2018 Screams and shouts greeted their arrival at Hartvig Nissen School in Oslo where they were due to meet the stars of an innovative Norwegian drama. After asking one student what he was studying Kate, who wore a Dolce and Gabbana coat, said: I did physics and chemistry for A-level, no not physics biology. When the pupil asked her about her schooling she said: I went to a school called Marlborough College and then on to university which is where I met William, to St Andrews university in Scotland. Miles away, freezing cold. But I cant complain about that being here. Its much colder here. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge visit Hartvig Nissen School in Oslo (Victoria Jones/PA) She also spoke to 19-year-old Shaun Ondo and his friend Alfred Strande, 18. I told her that her coat was burgundy and she said I had very good English, said Mr Ondo. It was nice to see them in real life and nice to see they are such friendly people. The final day of The Duke and Duchess's tour begins at the Hartvig Nissen School, which was the location for the hugely successful Norwegian television programme Skam #RoyalVisitNorway pic.twitter.com/lta3RVnHUZ The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (@KensingtonRoyal) February 2, 2018 His friend Mr Strande added: We dont know much about the royal people from England. It was good that they took the time to say hello and shake hands. Kate also asked some teens if they have got exams coming up this summer? Good luck with everything. Kate chats to well-wishers outside the school (Dominic Lipinski/PA) They were joined by Crown Prince Haakon and Crown Princess Mette-Marit who followed behind their guests and also met the teenagers who had been waiting excitedly in sub-zero temperatures. In the school William and Kate learnt about the popular series Skam, which attracted a legion of fans for its portrayal of issues including mental illness, homophobia and sexual assault. The Duke and Duchess, accompanied by The Crown Prince and Princess of Norway, meet the stars of Skam to hear more about the making of the series #RoyalVisitNorway pic.twitter.com/nnu0YG8ZmC The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (@KensingtonRoyal) February 2, 2018 Following on from the themes of the show, the characters started their own social media profiles to engage with the audience directly, creating an international following and fan base. The royal couple met some of the stars and producers of Skam and chatted to students to learn about the effect the hard-hitting drama had on bringing issues they face into the open. During their visit to the school, which was the location for teen drama Skam Shame in English William and Kate heard how the show, which was streamed daily on the internet, was so popular internationally that a remake is being made in the US. TRH join students and mental health support staff to chat about the impact of Skam, and the effect it had on bringing important issues out into the open #RoyalVisitNorway pic.twitter.com/1pv5Yo72vZ The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (@KensingtonRoyal) February 2, 2018 Tarjei Sandvik Moe, who plays a character who comes out as gay and also has a mother suffering from mental problems, told William: People from China, South Korea, France and Spain come to visit this school. William, who was taking part in a group discussion with students and actors accompanied by Crown Princess Mette-Marit, asked: Does it feel that a lot of young people are afraid of the issues, and what youve done is brought it to life? Tarjei replied: The issues are hard for people to take. We live in a society where people expect you to deal with problems on your own. (Victoria Jones/PA) William also asked to what extent the actors identified with their characters. Iman Meskini said she felt a strong identity with her character, who is torn between her Muslim faith and her desire to live the life of a normal Norwegian teenager. The Duchess, who took part in another discussion with the Crown Prince, asked how the series which was broadcast in real time, with school scenes streamed during the day, and party scenes released at night had affected the school. (Dominic Lipinski/PA) The students told her it has had a big effect, with teachers picking up on the slang used by pupils in the show and incorporating it into Norwegian language lessons. The Crown Prince added that the series, which was originally aimed at a teenage audience, had changed the way different generations interacted with each other, with parents and teachers watching the show, sometimes with their children. The Scottish Parliament has banned plastic straws to help protect the environment. Until the end of 2017, about 4,000 plastic straws a year were being used in the building but now only paper straws will be provided on request. The switch comes amid rising concern about the impact of plastic waste on the environment and follows bans elsewhere in Scotland including at Glasgow City Council. Labours Kezia Dugdale and the SNPs Kate Forbes team up to celebrate plastic straws being banned at Holyrood (Scottish Parliament/PA) Labours Kezia Dugdale, who sits on the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body, which is responsible for running Holyrood said: The Parliament wasnt a big consumer of plastic straws but switching to a paper version was a no-brainer. Plastic drinking straws have been banished for good at the Scottish Parliament. @kezdugdale and @KateForbesMSP tell us why moving to biodegradables matter #environment pic.twitter.com/vPWcentfyU Scottish Parliament (@ScotParl) February 2, 2018 When staff approached our supplier at the start of the year for an alternative to plastic, we discovered they could just as easily provide paper straws for pretty much the same cost. In our public cafe, some people need straws, especially those with young children, but we make a point of having them available on request rather than simply offer them up to temptation. The parliament already provides environmentally-friendly takeaway containers, cups and cutlery. Ms Dugdale added: These are pretty small changes to make but its part of a bigger picture in thinking about our actions and protecting our environment. SNP MSP Kate Forbes, who has been leading the Final Straw campaign for an end to plastic straws, said she hoped other organisations would follow suit. Major win for the campaign as the Scottish Parliament ditches plastic straws! Sign the petition to say no to plastic straws https://t.co/5bIfhLns6a#FinalStraw #PlasticPollution #STOPthePlasticTide #DitchTheStraw #StrawsSuck pic.twitter.com/v0QQNmhcLp The Final Straw (@FinalStrawScot) February 2, 2018 She said: The Scottish Parliament has long led the way on environmental initiatives and this is obviously another way in which it is striving to drive change. I give full credit to the catering team and Sir Paul Grice, chief executive, for their rapid response to my letter asking them to consider ditching plastic straws. If the Scottish Parliament can do this, then I hope it encourages more councils and other public bodies to follow suit. Everton winger Theo Walcott returns to former club Arsenal with manager Sam Allardyce insisting he can be a pivotal player for his new side in a way he was no longer for the Gunners. The England international moved to Goodison Park last month in a 20million deal, having found opportunities limited this season under Arsene Wenger, making just six substitute appearances in the Premier League. By contrast Walcott has played the full 90 minutes twice since joining Everton, providing an assist in his first match and scoring twice in Wednesdays win over Leicester. Theo Walcott can be a pivotal player for Everton, according to manager Sam Allardyce (Nick Potts/PA). And Allardyce expects the 28-year-old to play an increasingly important part over the coming seasons. Hell be doing the team talk tomorrow, joked Allardyce ahead of the trip to London. I think he is looking forward to it. I am sure he will get a good reception when he goes back to The Emirates considering the time he spent there. Everyone can understand why he has left because now he has the opportunity to be one of the key players for Everton now. I think he saw that was going to be the case (for Arsenal) last season when he played 30-plus games and scored 19 goals. Then all of a sudden this season that hasnt been the case, but he can be a pivotal figure for us in the future. Hopefully he can go and perform as well as he did on Wednesday night. Walcott struck up an immediate partnership with right-back Seamus Coleman, playing his first match in 319 days after a double fracture of his leg. The Republic of Ireland international played the full game and his performance was second only to Walcotts, leaving Allardyce hailing his fortitude. I dont go this far normally, but it was almost super-human, said the Toffees boss. Ive never seen anyone come back after 10 months out and perform for 90 minutes. He is an inspiration from that point of view. It can be more psychological rather than physical, but it hasnt affected Seamus. Mentally he is very strong and I think it is great to have him back. Now we have to make sure we keep him fit. We have to have an assessment on where we do lie with playing him again he will say he is fine, I know that for a fact. We dont know if he will dip off because the euphoria of coming back can get you through a game, but the effect may come in two or three games time so we will have to monitor that because the last thing we want is to find he is getting re-injured. A former Australian prime minister who was a vocal leader of the national campaign against gay marriage has attended the same-sex wedding of his sister. Tony Abbott, who was replaced as prime minister in 2015 in an internal government power struggle, joined his sister Christine Forster when she married her partner Virginia Flitcroft in a civil ceremony overlooking the Sydney Opera House. Mr Abbot welcomed his sister-in-law into his family, saying: Great family occasion. Very happy for Chris and Virginia. Im looking forward to having a new sister-in-law. A former Roman Catholic seminarian, Mr Abbott angered gay rights advocates and many in his conservative government by deciding in 2015 to put the gay marriage issue to an extraordinary national vote. His explanation was to spare his government colleagues an ugly and divisive debate to resolve the issue. Critics suspected he was betting that Australias recent history of resisting change in referendums would maintain the ban on same-sex marriage. But 62% of voting Australians who took part in a postal survey last year opted for change. Parliament overwhelmingly supported legislation lifting the ban in December. Christine Forster, right, Tony Abbotts sister, and her partner Virginia Edwards (Australia Broadcasting Corporation via AP) While Mr Abbott vehemently opposes gay marriage, he has long said he would attend his younger sisters wedding if the same-sex marriage ban was ever lifted. Ms Forster, an elected member of the Sydney municipal council, recently told reporters that her brothers promise to come to her wedding was presumptuous because he had yet to receive an invitation. But she said on Friday shortly before the wedding that the couple looked forward to Mr Abbott and his wife attending. Mr Forster said: Hes been fabulous. In fact, he is the first person to ring us this morning to check in that everything was going smoothly and that there hadnt been any last-minute hitches. Ms Forster and Mr Abbott were vocal advocates on opposite sides of the debate that peaked during the two months of the postal survey late last year. Abbott was headed-butted in September by a man wearing a gay-marriage badge who has since pleaded guilty to assault but has yet to be sentenced. Hollywood star Gerard Butler is urging Scots to raise money for charity by taking part in this years Kiltwalk. The 300 actor has recorded a video message with Ross King, LA Correspondent for ITV, calling on people to sign up for the fundraising event. Last year, more than 14,000 Scots took part in the Kiltwalk helping to raise over 2.5 million for over 780 charities across Scotland. The Hunter Foundation adds an extra 40% to the fundraising, meaning that for every 100 raised by a walker, the individuals chosen charity receives 140. Paul Cooney, chief executive of the Royal Bank of Scotland Kiltwalk, said: Were thrilled that the Kiltwalk excitement has spread to Hollywood once again! We would like to say a huge thanks to the proud Scots Gerry and Ross for being so vocal with their support. We want the 2018 Kiltwalk to be bigger than ever before, raising even more money for Scotlands charities. We urge you to sign up for one of the four Kiltwalks taking place this year in Glasgow, Aberdeen, St Andrews to Dundee and Edinburgh. The start of the 2017 Kiltwalk in Glasgow (Kiltwalk/PA) This years Kiltwalks are in Glasgow on April 29, Aberdeen on June 3, St Andrews to Dundee on August 19 and Edinburgh on September 16. Each walk has three distances to choose from to suit people of all ages and abilities. In the video message, King said: Its that time again! Whats even better this year is that The Hunter Foundation is going to pledge 40% of whatever you donate. So, if you give 1 that will go up to 1.40. Butler added: Its Kiltwalk time! Go to thekiltwalk.co.uk for more information. David Willey starred with ball and bat as England tuned up for their T20 tri-series against Australia and New Zealand by demolishing a Prime Ministers XI in Canberra. The home side were billed as the PMs strongest line-up in years, boasting 239 international caps between them, but were brushed aside by eight wickets as the tourists raced home with 44 balls remaining. Willey, having already taken three wickets, hammered Englands Ashes tormentor Nathan Lyons first five balls for six in the sixth over of the chase, falling just short of a maximum haul when he stroked the final delivery for four. David Willey starred in Englands win (Richard Sellers/PA) Lyon to WIlley: 6,6,6,6,6,4......boos after the last ball... Rory Dollard (@thervd) February 2, 2018 The Yorkshire all-rounder has never batted higher than seven for England but has plenty of domestic experience at the top of the order and finished with 79 from 36 balls. With the hosts making just 136 for eight, Liam Dawson claiming three for 16, England hurried to victory at indecent pace. Having already flagged their intention to leave out Liam Plunkett, Chris Jordan and Alex Hales due to fitness niggles, England added Jason Roy to the absentee list when he reported a stiff back. Job done! We win by 8 wickets with 44 balls to spare! Top all-round performance from that man @david_willey! Scorecard: https://t.co/58mORocgGx pic.twitter.com/UsN9aLDdp1 England Cricket (@englandcricket) February 2, 2018 That led to Willeys fortuitous promotion and a first appearance at senior level for 19-year-old Sam Curran, who joined elder brother Tom in the XI. Willey took care of new-ball duties and, in his second over, both openers. Peter Nevill played on attempting to drag a ball from a yard outside off and the dangerous Nic Maddinson top-edged an abortive pull to short fine-leg. Peter Handscomb, dropped after two Ashes Tests, used an exaggerated backlift and nimble footwork to strike 43 in quick time but lacked assistance. Sam Billings thought on his feet - and in the air - to help dismiss James Faulkner. Watch PM's XI v England HERE: https://t.co/TIrLc6UxpN pic.twitter.com/BjlCayXNxK cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) February 2, 2018 James Faulkner might have fitted the bill had he not been brilliantly caught by Sam Billings, who flicked the ball up as he teetered on the rope then leapt back into play as he gathered the catch. Dawson took the next three wickets with a picknmix of dismissals Kurtis Patterson caught and bowled, Handscomb bowled slog-sweeping and Daniel Hughes stumped. At 90 for six the guts had been pulled from the innings, though 42 from the last five overs at least tipped them towards respectability. James Vince got the chase going by smashing the final ball of Gurinder Sandhus first over for six, then Willey milked Lyons first visit for nine, with little hint of the brutality to come at their next meeting. The highest Willey has batted for England in T20s before today is number seven... Rory Dollard (@thervd) February 2, 2018 The scoreboard had ticked along swiftly to 49 after five overs when Lyon returned and Willey unleashed. The first ball disappeared straight down the ground, the second over wide long-on and the next two climbing over long-off. By now even the home support were anticipating something special, cheering as Willey flogged the fifth ball on to the grass bank at mid-wicket then comically booing when he was only able to finish with four through the covers. Spinner Mitchell Swepson eventually dismissed both batsmen, Vince bowled for 26 and Willey held in the deep after adding another maximum to his collection. That left Dawid Malan (21 not out) and Eoin Morgan (8no) to seal the inevitable. Londoners living on social housing estates will be given more of a say on demolition plans in their communities under new proposals to protect homes by Sadiq Khan. Launching the first City Hall guide to regeneration on a housing estate in Barnet, the mayor of London said there would be mandatory ballots of residents for schemes where any demolition is planned as a strict condition of his funding. Mr Khan said the Better Homes for Local People guide seeks to empower tenants, leaseholders and freeholders in developing regeneration plans with landlords, although the mayor has limited sway when it comes to estate regeneration. Sadiq Khan and Jeremy Corbyn in Barnet London Mayor @SadiqKhan outlines what todays housing regeneration launch means pic.twitter.com/DnZS6p9Xlg Ryan Hooper (@RyanJHooper) February 2, 2018 Launching the guide, Mr Khan said: We need more social housing in London, not less, which is why I will use all my powers to make sure that any plans for estate regeneration protect existing social housing and take every opportunity to build more. My guide sets out how I will use my investment powers in a way they have never been used before, by requiring resident support through a ballot for new plans involving demolition where City Hall funding is involved. I want to make sure people living on social housing estates, who have the greatest interest in their future, are at the heart of any decisions from the outset. By involving residents and putting social housing first, we can make sure plans for estate regeneration help build a city for all Londoners. Ballots will apply to schemes funded by the mayors office which involve the construction of at least 150 homes. Mr Khan denied suggestions that a lack of support from residents and therefore no financial commitment from City Hall would result in developers simply sourcing the money elsewhere. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, who joined Mr Khan in Barnet, said: Regeneration must put local people first, not property speculators. Labour is committed to giving residents the right to a ballot across the country so that when were in government we can deliver real regeneration for the many not the few. Paul Scully, Conservative MP for Sutton and Cheam, said: In caving in to pressure from the hard left, Sadiq Khan has shown he is more interested in playing politics than delivering on his promises to Londoners. He promised 80,000 new homes a year, the Government has given him the money to build 90,000 affordable homes, yet he has barely started building any homes at all. This ideologically driven decision will mean fewer decent homes for Londoners. Eggborough coal-fired power station in East Yorkshire is to close as pressure to phase out the fossil fuel continues. The move follows the power plants failure to secure funding through the capacity market for 2018-2019, which pays suppliers to be available to provide electricity to ensure the lights do not go out. (PA Graphics) Eggborough Power said it would meet its obligations under its current capacity market contract, which runs to the end of September 2018. But without a contract for future years it will cease to be economically viable to continue operations at the station, which the company said supplied 5% of the power in the UK, though coal power overall declined to lows of 9% in 2016. It leaves only six dedicated coal-fired power plants in England and Wales: Cottam, Nottinghamshire; West Burton, Lincolnshire; Aberthaw, Vale of Glamorgan; Uskmouth, Newport; three units at Drax, North Yorkshire; and Ratcliffe-on-Soar, Nottinghamshire, while a seventh, Fiddlers Ferry, in Cheshire, is capable of co-firing coal and biomass. Adam Booth, managing director at Eggborough Power, said: With the age of the plant and the current Governments policy that all UK coal-fired power generation must cease by 2025, Eggborough has been under threat of closure for the past few years. Eggborough has a proud history of generation and a dedicated and skilled workforce. We will work through the consultation with employee representatives and provide support to employees throughout this process. Eggborough power station to close after failing to secure funding in latest capacity market auction. Leaves just six coal fired power plants in Britain Emily Beament (@EmilyBeament) February 2, 2018 Numbers of potential redundancies and associated timing are subject to consultation with staff representatives, the company said. But there may be a number of jobs to support decommissioning, demolition and future business opportunities beyond September 2018. There are also plans for a new 2,500 megawatt gas-fired power plant at the site, which could meet the electricity needs of around two million homes, but it is not anticipated to be operational until the early 2020s. Ministers have said they will implement limits for the amount of carbon dioxide coal plants can emit from October 1 2025, which will mean all power stations that have not invested in technology to cut their emissions will have to cease operation. The move implements a pledge originally made in 2015 to end unabated, without technology to cut carbon emissions, coal generation in Great Britain by 2025 as part of efforts to tackle climate change. Negotiations officer for the union Prospect Mike MacDonald said: Whilst we fully support a move to a low-carbon energy system, the speed of change cannot be allowed to cause hardship for those working in the industry. This is the third announcement of the rapid closure of a conventional power station since the New Year. We will continue to fight to ensure our members get the best deal. He added: This move demonstrates the need for urgent action from the Government to have an energy transition plan. Investors must be able to see a stable environment so they can prepare for a low-carbon economy and workers need to adapt their high-tech skills to equip them for the future. Around 130 jobs could be affected by the move, while some 40 staff will remain to support decommissioning, demolition and future opportunities for the business beyond September 2018. A featherless penguin made famous when it had a wetsuit custom-made to protect it from sunburn has died at the age of 19. Staff at Marwell Wildlife in Hampshire have described Ralph the Humboldt penguin as simply unique and spoken of their sadness at its death. Ralph was born on New Years Day 1999 and was moved to the UK from Germanys Nuremberg Zoo in 2006. The penguin became famous when staff created a special suit for it from the leg of an adult wetsuit to protect it from the elements because it moulted faster than other penguins leaving it with sensitive bald patches. It is with great sadness we have to announce the passing of Ralph, our much-loved Humboldt penguin aged 19. pic.twitter.com/2rXtmFE300 Marwell Wildlife (@Marwellwildlife) February 2, 2018 Then in 2013, Californian surf brand ONeill designed Ralph a custom wetsuit in a sponsorship deal. But eight months ago, Ralph was diagnosed with arthritis, an incurable degenerative age-related condition which was managed initially with medication. A Marwell Wildlife spokeswoman said: Taking all factors into careful consideration and in order to prevent any unnecessary distress or pain to Ralph, we took the difficult decision to euthanise him. James Ellis, birds team leader, said: It is very sad that we have had to say goodbye to Ralph, the oldest penguin in our colony. Ralph, left, was diagnosed with arthritis eight months ago (Marwell Wildlife/PA) Ralph was simply unique and never far from the spotlight with his mischievous antics, which will be sorely missed by everyone who knew and looked after him. Ralph had a long and happy life and everyone has wonderful memories of him. Ralph and its partner Coral raised several chicks at Marwell, including Calippo, who remains in the colony. Jan Michaelis, European marketing manager of ONeill Wetsuits, said: All of the team at ONeill Wetsuits HQ are saddened to hear of Ralphs passing. We first helped Ralph by providing him with a custom made wetsuit in 2013. He has been considered a much loved and unique member of our team ever since. Wishing him an endless supply of fish, waves and peace up in penguin heaven. Arsene Wenger has admitted he did not get everything he wanted in the transfer window and said Arsenals defensive options are too limited. The Gunners broke their transfer record for the second time in six months to recruit forward Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang from Borussia Dortmund. Henrikh Mkhitaryan also arrived from Manchester United in a swap deal with Alexis Sanchez while Mesut Ozil signed a new three-year deal with the club. In what proved to be a busy January for Arsenal, they sold Theo Walcott, Olivier Giroud, Francis Coquelin and Mathieu Debuchy as well as sending out a number of young players on loan. Despite all of that business, Wenger was not completely satisfied as he failed to add to his defensive ranks after a late move for West Broms Jonny Evans failed to materialise. West Brom defender Jonny Evans was a January target for Arsenal. (Adam Davy/PA) Everything? No, he replied when asked if he had got everything he wanted in the transfer window. What I wanted to do, we have done. I couldnt do everything. I wanted to do more. I believe we have to find an internal solution to our defensive problems, and that means everyone putting more effort in. But overall I am happy with the way things went in the transfer market. No side in the top eight of the Premier League has conceded more goals than Arsenal, their defensive frailties again clear for all to see as they lost 3-1 at relegation candidates Swansea on Tuesday night. Sam Clucas (centre right) scored twice against Arsenal (David Davies/Empics) Everton are the visitors to the Emirates Stadium on Saturday and, as their boss Sam Allardyce described Arsenal as defensively weak Wenger admits they are lacking options at the back. Asked if he regretted not signing a defender, the Frenchman conceded: Yes, because our defensive numbers are not good enough. Thats where we needed some possible strengthening as well. We have to improve our defensive numbers. We want to go in the top four. We have to improve our offensive numbers and defensive numbers. Aubameyang joined Arsenal from Borussia Dortmund but illness could see his debut delayed. (John Walton/Empics) Wenger confirmed Aubameyang may have to wait for his Arsenal debut as illness could rule him out of the Everton game, where Mkhitaryan will make his first start for the club. Aubameyangs signing broke Arsenals transfer record which was previously set by Alexandre Lacazette, another forward recruited in the summer. Lacazette has struggled for form of late, scoring just once since December 2, and Wenger offered no assurances that his position would not come under threat from Aubameyangs arrival. Lacazettes only goal since December 2 came in the recent win over Crystal Palace. (Adam Davy/PA) I dont reassure people because I think we are in a competitive world, he said. We have all chosen a job that is about competition and you have to fight for your place. You have to show them respect, and that you rate the players but as well they have to accept that we live in a competitive world. Ozils new contract is reportedly worth 350,000-a-week, shattering Arsenals previous highest deal, and Wenger has called on the Germany international to back up his contract by taking a leadership role on the pitch. He has committed his future to the club in a period where we are in a tricky position on that front, in qualifying for the Champions League, he said. You expect that he becomes the leader and takes the responsibility to lead the team to success. Despite the buzz around the new recruits, being eight points behind the top four has led to some Arsenal supporters organising a pre-match protest ahead of the Everton clash as they call on both Wenger and majority shareholder Stan Kroenke to leave. The great-granddaughter of suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst has struck a commemorative 50p coin to mark the centenary of the passing through Parliament of the Representation of the People Act. Dr Helen Pankhurst was at the Royal Mint in South Wales to mark the moment 100 years ago on February 6 1918 when women were finally given the right to vote. Servicemen over the age of 19, men over 21, and women over the age of 30 and of property were allowed to vote in elections for the first time. Emmeline Pankhurst (PA) Speaking after she had struck a coin, Dr Pankhurst said: I am really proud that this coin has come out to mark the centenary of the Representation of the People Act. It is important the coin depicts men and not just women because it wasnt just women that were franchises but younger men as well. To be able to have a coin in your pocket that commemorates that event I think Emmeline would have been really proud. #OnThisDay 1858 - Emmeline Pankhurst was born. This 2003 #50p marked 100 yrs of the Women's Social & Political Union pic.twitter.com/5hRB1DUHGJ The Royal Mint (@RoyalMintUK) July 14, 2014 There is so much to be said about coins and their value in society. The suffragettes used to deface coins and there was a penny coin they used to deface with votes for women written on it and here we are today in 2018 marking the centenary of the right to vote. I think Emmeline would be very amused and proud for how things have changed and she would be remembering those defaced coins. The coin was designed by Royal Mint graphic designer Stephen Taylor, who modelled the queuing people on his wife and children. My design uses the familiar idea of a British queue, to suggest a line of people waiting to cast their votes at the ballot box, he said. I began with the strong, celebratory pose of the woman holding her ballot aloft, followed by the soldier, the working class man and the suffragette. I paid careful attention to their poses and clothing, showing the different classes of society finally being given a political voice after years of struggling to be heard. Helen Antrobus, of the Peoples History Museum in Manchester, added: Its really great to see a Representation of the People Act 1918 50p amongst the new coin designs for 2018. I wish it were possible for all of us to carry one in our pockets to carry forward that message of equality first started by the Act 100 years ago, reminding us that we still have work to do. Coins bearing the design are likely to be seen in circulation later this year. Markus Kjaerbye Kjrbye has announced his move between Danish arch-rivals Astralis and North. The unexpected transfer between the two Danish Counter-Strike: Global Offensive giants was announced on Friday and has been met with mixed reactions. The move, for an undisclosed sum, will see Kjaerbe step in as a rifler for North. North is the official esports affiliate of F.C. Copenhagen (EMPICS) North has also recently benched Rene cajunb Borg and there is speculation they will also bench Kristian k0nfig Wienecke to make space for the signing of Kjaerbe. North is the official esports affiliate of FC Copenhagen and Nordisk Film, but has had somewhat disappointing results for a team with such investment behind them. At the recent ELEAGUE Major: Boston 2018, North could only achieve a 15-16th spot losing dismally to BIG Clan in the process. Prior to that, disappointing performances at ESL Pro League Season 6 Finals and BLAST Pro Series all left question marks over the teams future. Astralis as a team has had substantially more success. The team started 2017 in the best possible fashion by winning a Major and then moving on to victory at the Intel Extreme Masters in March. Throughout the year Astralis were the best Danish team around although their performance tailed off towards the back end of the year, with injury to AWPer Nicolai dev1ce Reedtz forcing them to play with stand-ins and not playing to the best of their ability. Less than 2 hours before the press conference, we found out Kjaerbye has signed with North. Speechless. And more motivated than ever! Lukas Rossander (@gla1ve_csgo) February 2, 2018 The roster move has not got down without comment. Astralis captain Lukas Gla1ve Rossander tweeted that he was speechless and was now more motivated than ever. Nicolai dev1ce Reedtz said: Ive had a lot of great moments with Markus and I will always enjoy his company, whether its out on the server or out shopping. I hope you will find happiness at North! Much love even though the circumstances from me. As of yet Astralis has not made any move to sign a replacement but rumours are hinting that Borg will return having last played with the likes of dev1ce, xyp9x and dupreeh back in May 2016. Liam Broady showed plenty of fight but was ultimately undone by the clay-court nous of Albert Ramos-Vinolas as Spain took a 1-0 lead over Great Britain in their Davis Cup tie in Marbella. The absence of Andy Murray and Kyle Edmund meant world number 165 Broady flew the flag for Britain in the opening rubber but Ramos-Vinolas prevailed 6-3 6-4 7-6 (8/6). Broady was broken in his second service game but responded immediately to level the set back up at 2-2 against a man ranked 21st in the world. Liam Broady was beaten in Great Britains opening rubber (Martin Rickett/PA) Not to be for @Liambroady as he falls 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 to Ramos and Spain take a 1-0 lead in the @DavisCup! #BackTheBrits pic.twitter.com/amRztaNKrG LTA (@the_LTA) February 2, 2018 The expatriate support for Britain at the Club de Tenis Puente Romano made it feel more like a home match for Leon Smiths side. Ramos-Vinolas quietened the crowd again though by once more breaking Broadys serve in the seventh game of the set and his superior clay-court game told as his opponent went long with a forehand to lose a second successive service game. Broady had two break points in the ninth game of the second set but Ramos-Vinolas saved both, the first with a punishing, nerveless forehand and ultimately held. Watch the GB Davis Cup Team take on Spain here on Facebook Live! First up Liam Broady faces Albert Ramos from 10am. Make sure you set your reminder! Posted by LTA - Tennis For Britain on Friday, February 2, 2018 Suddenly Broady was facing three set points on his own serve, but managed to recover to deuce. However, at the sixth time of asking Ramos-Vinolas sealed it 6-4. Broadys movement was impeded in the third set and after the ninth game the trainer was called to work briefly on his right leg. The Briton continued to dig in and claimed the break in the 11th game as Ramos-Vinolas dumped a backhand into the net. Tie break time as Ramos breaks straight back for 6-3, 6-4, 6-6! Watch the action live in the UK https://t.co/zUOvaLLGz5 pic.twitter.com/1VTwKjO03J LTA (@the_LTA) February 2, 2018 However, the chance to close out the set 7-5 slipped away as Ramos-Vinolas took the set to a tie-break. Broady had a set point at 6-5 up in the breaker but a sublime passing shot was too good and two points later it was all over. Cameron Norrie was next up in the second singles match against Roberto Bautista-Agut. A former Tory minister has likened passionate Brexiteers to a bunch of emotional nutcases. Lord ONeill of Gatley, who quit his post as a Treasury minister last autumn and switched to the crossbenches in the upper house, urged Leave backers to be realistic about the impact of Brexit on the economy. The ex-Goldman Sachs chief economist, who coined the acronym Bric to denote the emerging trade giants of Brazil, Russia, India and China, expressed concern about the impact of EU withdrawal on sectors like the car industry. Lord ONeill of Gatley, former commercial secretary to the Treasury, has expressed concern about how Brexit makes the UK look internationally (Stefan Rousseau/PA) He told BBC Radio 4s The World At One: Without the single market and access to this highly integrated global supply chain, that industry and many of them like it are going to have serious challenges being anything like as good as they are today. There may be other reasons why passionate Brexiteers choose to ignore, or trash those things and this ridiculous nonsense about trashing the civil service but they need to be realistic. And, perhaps, the whole argument might be better if they just acknowledge that those industries are going to have new challenges. Because, otherwise, their own arguments just dont have any credibility whatsoever. And, it also adds to other countries, sort of, thinking the UK is full of a bunch of emotional nutcases. Lord ONeill has previously described Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson as ludicrous. Two people have been killed after a barrage of rockets was fired at two border towns in Turkey from the Syrian Kurdish enclave of Afrin across the border. The Hatay governors office said at least six rockets targeted the town of Reyhanli in Hatay province damaging a home, a workplace and a road close to the marketplace and wounding 18 people, two of whom later died in hospital. Three more rockets hit the town of Kilis, north-east of Reyhanli, where at least three people were wounded, said Governor Mehmet Tekinarslan. A restaurant worker was wounded in a rocket attack, fired from inside Syria (AP) Ankara launched a cross-border offensive into Afrin on January 20 to rout the Syrian Kurdish militia group it says is linked to insurgents fighting inside Turkey. Fridays deaths have raised the death toll in a salvo of rocket attacks on the two towns since then to six. The victims include a teenage girl and two Syrian refugees. A leading Irish Catholic cleric has said his office was not consulted over a decision to deny former president of Ireland Mary McAleese access to a conference in the Vatican. The Voices of Faith group said the former head of state was one of two names not approved after a list of attendees was sent to a senior cleric in the Holy See. Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin said he first heard that Mrs McAleese had been excluded when she told him in person. Neither Archbishop Martin nor his offices were consulted by the Vatican in relation to this matter, a spokeswoman for the Archdiocese said. Archbishop Martin has consistently noted that World Meeting of Families, due to take place in Dublin later this year, will be an inclusive event, open to all families and family members. Voices of Faiths Why Women Matter conference, in its fifth year, is the only event linked to International Womens Day (IWD) ever held at the Vatican. A spokeswoman for the group said they still had no explanation about why Mrs McAleese was not cleared to take part. Chantal Goetz, executive director of Voices of Faith, said: It was disappointing to realise, on IWD of all days, these women who have accomplished so much in their communities could be turned away from respectfully sharing their stories and experiences as Catholics. This event allows us to not only celebrate the wonderful work Catholic women are doing across the globe, but also create discussion and dialogue on the current power and leadership structures of our Church today. It is understood Mrs McAleese has written to the Pope on the issue. It is not unusual for a senior Vatican official to vet a list of attendees and speakers for conferences. Voices of Faith was set up to empower and advocate for Catholic women to be involved in decision-making in the church. Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin said his office was not consulted (Brian Lawless/PA) It sent a list of names of speakers and attendees for its March 8 conference and a list was sent back with two names not included Mrs McAleese and Ssenfuka Juanita Warry, who runs a non-profit organisation in Uganda, where to be identified as gay or lesbian can be life-threatening. Voices of Faith have decided to move the conference from the Casina Pio in the Holy See to the Jesuit Curia in Rome, outside the Vatican. Mrs McAleese was originally asked to take part in a panel discussion but has since been asked to be the keynote speaker. A spokeswoman for Voices of Faith said it was in correspondence with Cardinal Kevin Farrell over Vatican approvals for attendees but that it did not receive an explanation for the two women not being on the returned list. The womens group states that it believes a key solution to many problems facing the Catholic Church lies in diversity of thought, expertise and education at the leadership level. It says women and lay people could bring these skills if they were more welcomed. The Vatican press office, the Catholic Communications office in Ireland and Cardinal Farrell, the Prefect of the Vatican Dicastery for Laity, the Family and Life, did not respond to request for comment. Suspects allegedly involved in the Kingsmill massacre should be named during an inquest in Northern Ireland, a lawyer for relatives has said. A coroner in England is to appeal against a ruling to identify suspects in the IRAs Birmingham pub bombings during inquests. Lawyers involved in the Kingsmill inquest into the shooting of 10 Protestant workmen by republicans in January 1976 said the matter would probably go to the UKs highest court, with implications for Northern Ireland. A memorial commemorating 10 protestant workmen shot dead in the Kingsmill massacre in 1976 as a lawyer calls for the suspects to be named (PA/NIall Carson) Alan Kane QC, for the families, said: Suspects in this case ought not to have the benefit of hiding behind ciphers but rather their identities should be made public. The Kingsmill inquest was told the issue around naming the Birmingham suspects was likely to end up in the UK Supreme Court. Final settlement of the matter could be some time away. Barrister for the security forces Peter Coll QC said: The issue is about removing ciphers. There is a risk that in waiting for Birmingham that does not speak to that issue but a more fundamental issue. If they consider that it is not open to consider individualisation, where does that leave us, because we have been looking at this? More legal discussions are to take place on issues surrounding suspects. The role of the On The Runs scheme and its impact on Kingsmill is expected to be discussed during a further preliminary hearing in March. Kingsmill was a sectarian atrocity by republican terrorists who ordered a group of Protestant textile workers off a bus, lined them up and shot them on a roadside in South Armagh. Ten men died. Alan Black suffered 18 gunshot wounds and survived. His 19-year-old apprentice in the factory, Robert Chambers, fell across his legs as the shooting took place. The teenager was calling for his mother as he was shot in the face. Former Sinn Fein MP for West Tyrone Barry McElduff resigned last month after he was criticised for tweeting a video with a loaf of Kingsmill bread on his head on the anniversary of the killings. A Scottish property developer has signed a 500 million joint venture with a US company to build student accommodation across the UK. Glasgow-based Structured House Group (SHG) said the agreement with Chicago-based Harrison Street Real Estate will see it build 5,000 apartments over the next five years. SHG is to source land and gain planning permission as well as developing and operating the accommodation, with sites potentially in Glasgow, Dundee, Edinburgh, Manchester and Liverpool. Work has already started on the first joint project on the site of Scotway House in Glasgow that will provide approximately 400 student beds. The development also includes plans for two restaurants, a library and study rooms, and is expected to create about 300 jobs, SHG said. Scotway House in Glasgow is the first project by SHG and Harrison Street Real Estate (SHG/PA) Craig Inglis, chief executive of SHG, said he was delighted to have agreed the joint venture. He said: This is a major moment for SHG and a great example of a Scottish company attracting major investment, giving us the scale and ability to perform on a global platform. We have spent the past 12 months negotiating the terms of this agreement and its very exciting, finally to have passed the line. This joint venture will significantly boost the amount of accommodation and living space for students, as well as bringing jobs and prosperity to every city we enter. We look forward to working with Harrison Street and to growing our partnership over the next five to 10 years. Robert Mathias, head of international at Harrison Street, said: We are excited to enter into a long-term partnership with Structured House Group to bring much-needed, high-quality student accommodation to the city of Glasgow and other attractive markets. As one of the largest investors in student housing, we look forward to bringing our significant resources and experience to bear for the benefit of our partners and investors. Two dangerous drivers have been jailed over the death of a much-loved 78-year-old grandfather who was knocked down and killed by a speeding BMW. Mohammed Muqtadir had just left morning prayers when he was hit as he crossed the A12 in east London at a pelican crossing on April 7 2016. Judge Zoe Smith, sitting at the Old Bailey, said the respected family man who had been enjoying his retirement would have had time to have safely got over the crossing if those at the wheel had been driving at the speed limit instead of at incredible speed. Picture Night-shift workers Stephen Richards, 43, and Glenn Donovan, 34, both of Romford, north-east London, had been going at twice the 40mph limit before the crash. The judge spoke of how Mr Muqtadirs relatives described him as a pious, sincere and generous man and that his family are devastated by his loss and inconsolable in their grief. Mr Muqtadir son said, in statement, that the tragic, unfathomable manner of his death has shattered my familys lives forever. Richards, who works at a fire alarm-making company, had pleaded guilty to causing Mr Muqtadirs death by dangerous driving, but Tube points technician Donovan had denied it, although he admitted dangerous driving. The jury found Donovan not guilty of causing the pensioners death. Richards was sentenced to three years in prison and disqualified from driving for three and a half years while Donovan was sentenced to eight months and disqualified for two years and four months. Donovan had been seen driving his Volkswagen Scirocco erratically, changing lanes and tailgating Richards BMW on the eastbound carriageway, the Old Bailey was told. When they reached the Redbridge roundabout, Donovan pulled out in front of Richards and swerved just before the BMW ploughed into Mr Muqtadir at a crossing, jurors heard. Donovan was then seen to drive off at speed. Prosecutor Sarah Przybylska had said the signal for pedestrians was red at the time, but Mr Muqtadir must have believed he had time to cross safely before the oncoming cars. When police tracked down Donovan, he told them he had left work in Stratford, east London, at about 5.40am and did not notice anything out of the ordinary as he drove home. Richards told jurors he did not realise he was driving so fast and denied he was racing with fire alarm engineer Richards 3 Series BMW. After the hearing Patrick Maguire, lawyer from Slater and Gordon, which represents the family, said: The reckless, irresponsible and dangerous actions of the two defendants has devastated a close-knit family, shattering their lives forever. Mr Muqtadir was a popular, generous, humble and dedicated family man whose loss has been deeply felt by his loved ones, friends and the wider community. We are disappointed by todays sentences and feel that the punishments do not reflect the seriousness of these crimes that have caused so much pain. HMS Queen Elizabeth has sailed out of her home port for her first voyage at sea since being commissioned into the Royal Navy. The 3.1 billion aircraft carrier squeezed out of Portsmouth Naval Base on Friday to begin the next phase of trials with two Chinook helicopters on her deck. Sailing out of the harbour guided by a tug, the behemoth passed the helicopter carrier and amphibious assault HMS Ocean the current fleet flagship which arrived the same morning. With the Ensign flying high we say goodbye. #QNLZAtSea pic.twitter.com/LhaeB0cO42 HMS Queen Elizabeth (@HMSQNLZ) February 2, 2018 The rotary wing trials will involve the Chinooks and two Merlin helicopters set to join the ship later taking off from and landing on the four-acre flight deck at sea. Commanding officer Captain Jerry Kyd said following the excitement of the commissioning ceremony in December, attended by the Queen, the ships company is looking forward to the trials. These trials will involve operating different types of helicopter from the ship in all weather conditions and fully testing the myriad of on-board systems that are designed to support aviation, he said. A fantastic view of HMS Ocean and @HMSQnlz side by side this morning from the poop deck of HMS Victory. An amazing sight for all to enjoy at @PHDockyard. #Portsmouth pic.twitter.com/dqumNMF3qj Historic Dockyard (@PHDockyard) February 2, 2018 This is an important milestone in the ships progression towards embarking the F35-B Lightning jets later this year, and ultimately the achievement of carrier strike capability. The aim of the trials is to work out the conditions aircraft can operate in at sea on the carrier, the Royal Navy said. Data about the landings, take-offs and manoeuvres in different wind and sea conditions will be collected and processed, before it is declared that the ship can safely operate the aircraft. Crowds wave off HMS Queen Elizabeth as she leaves Portsmouth (Steve Parsons/PA) As part of the next batch of tests, expected to last a month, the Royal Navy said there is also an option for the carrier to visit the British overseas territory of Gibraltar. Later this year the UKs F-35s, the worlds most advanced fighter jet, will undertake flight trials from the deck of the carrier while it is off the east coast of America. A killer is facing jail for an unprovoked, vicious and protracted stabbing over a trivial dispute in the street. Alando Bolt knifed Andrew Thompson, 30, 11 times during the attack in broad daylight in Brixton, south London. The pair met in the street and were seen talking before Bolt launched at his victim with a blade, before running away and leaving him for dead. The killer was caught on CCTV fleeing the scene (Metropolitan Police) Bolt, 45, was found guilty at the Old Bailey on Friday of murder and possession of an offensive weapon, according to the Metropolitan Police. Detective Inspector Garry Moncrieff said: It is incredible that a trivial dispute could apparently lead to murder and so much despair. Bolt deliberately armed himself with a knife and then carried out an unprovoked, vicious and protracted assault. This attack was in broad daylight and in a busy street. I do not doubt that this day will haunt those who saw what happened and I am glad the jury has seen through Bolts spurious claim of self-defence. Alando Bolt was seen on CCTV armed with a knife (Metropolitan Police/PA) I hope this conviction will now bring some comfort to Mr Thompsons family and friends. Mr Thompson was not armed with any weapons and did not strike Bolt at all, police said. He suffered a number of injuries in the attack in Atlantic Road on August 18, including a fatal stab wound which pierced his heart. Mr Thompson was pronounced dead just after 2pm, less than 90 minutes after the stabbing. Bolt, of Lambeth, south London, said he knifed his victim in self-defence because he thought he was going to be attacked, a claim which was rejected by the jury. He will be sentenced on March 12 at the same court. Theresa May has made clear she will continue to resist pressure to remove overseas students from immigration figures. Critics argue that the inclusion of students most of whom return home after their studies has made it impossible for the Government to meet its self-imposed target of reducing net migration below 100,000 a year. They also warn that it undermines efforts to boost an increasingly vital source of income for the higher education sector. Theresa May has made clear she will continue to resist pressure to remove overseas students from immigration figures (Stefan Rousseau/PA) A new Immigration Bill this year will allow MPs to force a vote on the issue, which Home Secretary Amber Rudd is reported to have told the PM privately she will lose. I was delighted to visit Wuhan to celebrate the close educational ties between the UK and China. The agreements we signed will enable more young people than ever to share ideas about our two great nations. https://t.co/htJYbsli48 #PMinChina pic.twitter.com/9wqwxXayVu Theresa May (@theresa_may) January 31, 2018 Mrs May herself left no doubt during this weeks trade mission to China that she sees education as a key part of her Global Britain strategy to boost commercial links around the world after Brexit. Her first destination on the three-day trip was Wuhan in central China, little-known to most Britons but home to one of the countrys most prestigious universities and the largest number of students of any city in the world. There, she spoke to students about her ambitions to increase numbers of Chinese students in the UK at about 150,000, currently the biggest contingent from outside the EU. But she told reporters travelling with her that she had no plans to change the policy of including students in migration statistics, which she has maintained through six years as Home Secretary and 18 months as Prime Minister, despite reported pressure for change from within her own cabinet. You wont get a different answer from what Ive said over the years, she said. The reason students have been in the numbers is because its an international definition of a migrant. It was important to look at what was happening with students in the UK when I was Home Secretary. There was a lot of abuse taking place in colleges. Something like 900 colleges can no longer bring in overseas students because all too often they were being brought in to work rather than for education. Once you see that abuse out of the system, students coming in for the period of their education and then leaving actually wash through the numbers they dont have a long-term impact on the numbers. Jeremy Corbyn will hail the rebirth of municipal socialism as Labour councils move to reverse years of town hall outsourcing and take services back in house. In a speech to Labours local government conference in Nottingham, Mr Corbyn will call for an end to Conservative policies of austerity and privatisation which were dismantling our civilised society. He will also defend a call by the partys ruling national executive committee for Labour-controlled Haringey council in north London to halt plans for a controversial housing development in partnership with the private sector. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn speaks in Nottingham (Labour Party/PA) The bitter row over the Haringey Development Vehicle (HDV) saw the resignation last month of the councils long-standing leader Claire Kober, complaining of sexism, bullying, undemocratic behaviour and outright personal attacks by hard left supporters of the Labour leader. Mr Corbyn will acknowledge that faced with the urgent need for regeneration the council believed it got the best deal it could for the boroughs residents. However he will say the NECs decision to step in reflected the deep concerns which the project had caused locally. HDV is highly controversial, with local people worried that they could lose their homes and not get a new one in return, he will say. Thats why 40% of Labour councillors opposed the proposals, as did the majority of party members in both CLPs (constituency Labour parties), both Labour MPs and local unions. It has been a unique situation, which is why the NEC unanimously asked the council leadership to put their plans on hold and take part in a mediation process to bring everyone together. More broadly, he will say the collapse of the outsourcing giant Carillion and the bail-out of the East Coast Mainline franchise had brutally exposed the flaws in the privatisation agenda. Austerity and privatisation are dismantling our civilised society and causing misery, he will say. We must urgently move on from Tory austerity and the failed privatisation obsession that has allowed services for the many become cash cows for the few. The whole edifice of the private good, public bad dogma has crumbled. We have seen what privatisation means: services get worse or are lost, jobs get cut, workers pension funds are left to wither while the boardroom executives get huge bonuses on top of eye-watering salaries and private shareholders dine off public services. Police are investigating after Jacob Rees-Mogg was caught up in a scuffle at a university campus. The fracas broke out after the Tory MP tried to talk down protesters who interrupted his speech at the University of the West of England in Bristol, witnesses said. Video footage posted to social media captured the scenes as Mr Rees-Mogg, who has been tipped as his partys next leader, appears to step in to separate rivals as onlookers call for them stop. Jacob Rees-Mogg caught in the scuffle (@chloekayex/PA) Avon and Somerset Police launched an investigation and appealed for anyone to come forward with mobile phone footage to help the inquiry. The force said in a statement: We were called to the University of the West of Englands Frenchay campus at about 6.30pm today following a report of a public order incident. No arrests were made and an investigation is under way to see if any criminal offences were committed. Mr Rees-Mogg, the MP for North East Somerset, had been speaking at the Universitys Politics and International Relations Society. Following the scuffle, Mr Rees-Mogg told the Telegraph he was a complete weed, but insisted he was absolutely fine. They shouted no platform for Tory scum and other insults, but Im of the sticks and stones school of thought, he told the paper. I wanted to stop anyone being hit because the whole thing would have degenerated. I didnt think anyone was going to hit me so I felt quite safe intervening. An investigation is under way following a public order incident at @UWEBristol earlier this evening. Please call us if you have mobile phone footage of the incident which could help our inquiry. More details below. pic.twitter.com/7YvBswYsCm Avon and Somerset Police (@ASPolice) February 2, 2018 A post advertising the event on the groups Facebook page said: This will be a chance to talk to an experienced parliamentarian about the issues of the day, what its like to be an MP and how you can get there, or perhaps how exactly one pronounces Floccinaucinihilipilification. The society declined to comment on the incident. The MPs spokesman has been contacted for comment. UWE Bristol said it was believed a small group of protesters, who were not students at the university and did not have tickets to the event, broke into the lecture theatre through the back doors, before police and security were called. Mr Rees-Mogg went ahead with his speech and was escorted back to his car after the event finished, a university spokesman said. We are absolutely appalled by the conduct of a small number of attendees, a statement said. We support the democratic right of free speech and peaceful protest. However, we strongly condemn the actions of protesters who disrupted normal debate and behaved in this way. There is no place for such action on a university campus or in a civilised society. We are delighted that Mr Rees Mogg was able to speak and debate with our legitimate student body in a respectful manner. We would like to thank him for his composure and actions to diffuse what must have been a challenging and unprovoked incident. We will work with the police to identify the individuals involved and take appropriate action. BBC Somerset reporter James Craig told the broadcaster: Just a few minutes after he started speaking, a group of protesters came into the back of the lecture theatre and started shouting anti-Conservative rhetoric at Jacob-Rees Mogg very loudly, a group of them, and sort of trying to shout him down, basically. But rather than halting the event, or ignoring them, Mr Rees-Mogg approached them and walked up to the back of the theatre where they were and tried to talk them down. But at that point various other members of the audience got involved as well and thats when this scuffle happened and a lot of people got involved. It looked to me like Jacob Rees-Mogg himself got pushed and shoved, although he insists he wasnt. But it was a really aggressive and unexpected scene. My politics are not those of @Jacob_Rees_Mogg however l utterly condemn the behaviour of those tonight who tried to attack him whilst he was due to speak at an event he was invited to. It's extremely intimidating for any MP who travels alone to an event to be treated like this Angela Rayner (@AngelaRayner) February 2, 2018 Mr Rees-Moggs fellow MPs went on Twitter to offer him their support and condemn the protesters behaviour. Conservative MP Conor Burns wrote: Free speech is the corner stone of a free society. That and exchange of ideas should thrive on any University campus. What was done to @Jacob_Rees_Mogg today by masked moronic hoodlums was an attempt to silence free speech and should be condemned by all in politics. Labours Angela Rayner posted: My politics are not those of @Jacob_Rees_Mogg however l utterly condemn the behaviour of those tonight who tried to attack him whilst he was due to speak at an event he was invited to. Its extremely intimidating for any MP who travels alone to an event to be treated like this. The Colombo High Court today dismissed the petition filed by former defense secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa asking that he and the seven others be discharged from the Avant Garde Case. The Bribery Commission (BC) had filed 19 charges against Mr. Rajapaksa and seven others for causing a Rs.11.4 billion loss to the government by permitting Avant Garde Maritime Services (Pvt) Limited to operate a floating armoury. The Colombo High Court yesterday made an order extending the freeze of all bank accounts of the Perpetual Group associated with Arjun Aloysius by one month, sources said. Following an application made by the Attorney General on behalf of the CID, the High Court extended the order made last week by the Director of the Financial Intelligence Unit of the CBSL freezing the operations of bank accounts of all 24 companies within the Perpetual group. Earlier, on January 24, the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) issued a directive that none of the 24 companies within the group can carry out financial business of any sort using the funds in their bank accounts. Among the companies in the group are Perpetual Treasuries (Pvt) Ltd, Perpetual Asset Management (Pvt) Ltd, Perpetual Capital Holdings (Pvt) Ltd, W. M. Mendis & Co Ltd and Integrated Media Networks (Pvt) Ltd. (Shehan Chamika Silva) The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is in the process of restructuring its foreign missions and as a result several key positions in Sri Lankas vital and influential diplomatic hot spots would be changed, the Daily Mirror learns. A senior government source said on condition of anonymity that our Head of the Mission in Geneva, Mr. Ravinath Aryasinghe would be called back to the Foreign Office (Colombo) and he would be replaced by Mr. A.L.A.Azis who was the Director General of the EU affairs, Multilateral Treaties and the Commonwealth. Mr. Aryasinghe will serve as an additional Secretary at the Foreign Ministry. "In addition, new appointments will be made to Sri Lankas embassiies in Washington DC, UN mission in New York, Moscow, Pretoria in South Africa and Brasilia in Brazil among other appointments. All new appointments will be made soon after the LG polls, the spokesman said. He said Mr. Sunil Silva, High Commissioner to South Africa has already been sent to Kenya as Sri Lankas new envoy there. Sri Lankas foreign policy and restructuring of our foreign missions will be based on the policy articulated by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe in his speech delivered at the Second Indian Ocean Conference in September last year in Colombo with emphasis on the Indian Ocean rim countries. In that speech, Mr. Wickremesinghe said Sri Lanka would continue to take a leading role in bringing her partners in the Indian Ocean together to deliberate on issues of importance to all of them. Sadly, the Indian Ocean region including the Bay of Bengal remains low. For example, South Asia remains the least economically integrated region in the world. Unlike the European and Pacific nations, there is an absence of political will to promote Indian Ocean Economic Cooperation more specifically, trade liberalization and connectivity. Therefore, our objective is to improve on these sectors through economic diplomacy, he emphasized. The rise of violent extremism, growing incidents of piracy in and around the Horn of Africa loom over our region. Given the rising conflicts in the Middle East and West Asia, worlds major powers have deployed substantial military forces in that part of the Indian Ocean Region. Sri Lanka would offer its fullest corporation and logistical help to keep sea piracy at bay. The cabinet approval was granted on Tuesday (30) to a proposal made by President Maithripala Sirisena to further strengthen the surveillance by Sri Lanka in the Indian Ocean to ensure security in international sea lanes running passing Sri Lanka, he said. (Sandun A Jayasekera) The tension between the United States and Turkey strangely did not find mention in Donald Trumps first State of the Union address on Tuesday, though the events on the ground are as worrisome as the North Korean missile-and-nuclear issue is. As emotions run high in Turkey, the question that looms is: Will there be a war between the United States and Turkey? Both the US and Turkey are founder members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato). The war of words in recent weeks between the US, a world power, and Turkey, a rising regional power, has stoked fears of yet another gate of hell being opened in the Middle East, where virtually every country is either involved in a war or in a state or war preparedness. Relations between the US and Turkey have been under strain since the United States, some three years ago, allied with Syrias Kurdish rebels, whom Ankara has branded terrorists. Washington found Kurds as natural allies in its delayed fight against the ISIS. The emphasis on the word delayed is because the US and its allies such as Saudi Arabia were initially reluctant to take on the ISIS while the terror outfit was making rapid territorial gains in the war against Syrian government troops. It was only after Russias entry into the Syrian civil war in September 2015 that the US launched a serious campaign against the ISIS in Syria and Iraq, in the backdrop of rising world opinion against ISIS. In both countries, the Kurds were US allies. Turkey, which has been fighting a Kurdish separatist rebellion for the past four decades, was alarmed over the growing military relationship between the US and the Kurds. The Kurds form one fifth of Turkeys population. The Turkish separatist group, the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), maintains close ideological and military links with the Syrian Kurdish group, YPG, which the US has been arming, training and protecting. For Turkey, the redline came when the US last month set up Kurdish safe zones in Syria, ostensibly as a strategic measure to keep the ISIS on the run. But Turkey, sensing that the US move could be a step towards creating an independent Kurdish state, sent troops to Afrin, a US-protected Kurdish safe zone in Syrias north. But it is here that the problem really started between the two Nato allies. Last week, President Trump urged Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to halt the military operation, codenamed Operation Olive Branch. Trump warned against actions that could risk conflict between Turkish and American forces. But Turkey, sensing that the US move could be a step towards creating an independent Kurdish state, sent troops to Afrin, a US-protected Kurdish safe zone in Syrias north Further east from Afrin, the United States maintains some 2,000 troops in the Syrian Kurdish enclave of Manbij. Turkey, which has deployed some 13,000 troops in Syria, wants to extend the campaign to Manbij a move that could provoke US counteraction. According to a White House statement, Trump phoned Erdogan to tell him that the Turkish operation risks undercutting our shared goals in Syria. But such warnings had no bearing on the Turks, who see any attempt at creating an independent Kurdish state anywhere in the region as an existential threat. For Turks, the Kurdish question evokes memories of their War of Independence in 1920. Turkeys war of independence had its origins in attempts by the victorious allied forces to set up an independent Kurdish state from the territory of the defeated Ottoman empire. In terms of the 1920 Treaty of Sevres, a referendum was to be held in the Kurdish region for an independent Kurdish state. The Ottoman emperor concurred, but the Turks opposed it. Military chief Mustafa Kemal Ataturk who had set up a rival government in Ankara declared that, if the Allies wanted to scissor up the Anatolian Peninsula, then theyd have to fight to do it. The war with the Allies went on for two years and ended in victory for Turkey. The Ottoman government was overthrown and the republic was proclaimed. But since then, the Kurds have remained a minority in Turkey, Iraq, Syria, Iran and Armenia, and they have been dreaming of a separate state. The closest they came to a separate state was when, in September last year, Iraqs Kurds held a referendum for secession, only to suppress the victory in the face of military threats from Iraqs central government. The Kurds in Iraq, however, enjoy a good measure of autonomy with their own parliament and president. Since Erdogans rise to power in Turkey more than a decade ago, the country has been dreaming the Ottoman dream of becoming a regional power. Erdogan came to Qatars rescue last year, when Saudi Arabia and its Arab allies laid an economic siege on the tiny but rich Gulf state. The war in Syria is so complicated that allies turn enemies and vice versa overnight. Turkey is no friend of Syrian President Bashar al Assad, who is also fighting the Kurds. But Assad has opposed the Turkeys military adventure in Syria. All are, however, supposedly united in their war against the ISIS. But in Syria, ISIS and al Qaeda take many forms. Some, with the sobriquet moderates, are allied with the US troops and are armed and funded by one Gulf state or another. Turkey is no friend of Syrian President Bashar al Assad, who is also fighting the Kurds There were no permanent allies or friends in the Syrian conflict. Every nation involved in the conflict tries to achieve its own national interest. Russia, for instance, at one point was supportive of the PKK when Turkish-Russia relations suffered a nosedive after Turkey shot down a Russian war plane in November 2015. But the following year, Turkey became Russias ally with President Erdogan accusing the US of having a hand in the failed military coup in August 2016. Since then, Turkey has supported efforts by Russia to find a solution to the Syrian crisis, much to the chagrin of the US. Turkey has also shown interest in Chinas Belt and Road Initiative. Relations between the US and Turkey took a further beating when Turkey arrested a US embassy staff member and the US refused to accede to Turkeys request for the extradition of a popular Turkish scholar and religious leader, whom Ankara has accused of orchestrating the 2016 coup. However, in this US-Turkey eyeball-to-eyeball game, the US has apparently blinked. But a victory for Turkey is wishful thinking. For the past three years, the Syrian Kurds, with the US military help, have been running a separate state of sorts in areas under their control. But they are deeply frustrated with the US, for it has abandoned the Kurds in the face of the Turkish offensive on Afrin. The US behaviour raises a question of trust: Help is there as long as it serves the US interest. This is a key lesson in realpolitik. Well, the ultimate winners in this game will be Assad and Russian President Vladimir Putin. They cant be happier at the prospect of two Nato allies in combat. The ultimate losers, as usual, will be the people. More wars mean, more civilian casualties and displacements. A prominent administrator after reading my column last week wrote to me and said, Push has come to shove. Sirisena is breathing fire. A drastic change of direction is needed after February 10. We all know a country cannot progress unless you have leaders who have both the passion and competence and the will to promote good governance. A country cannot attract the right talent and foreign direct investment (FDI) into a country without a decent leadership offering. In business, a competent CEO can generally deliver more than 40 percent than an average CEO. In a government, it is very much more, as clearly demonstrated by Deng Tsiao Ping, the late Chinese leader and Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore. Wickremesinghe and Sirisena despite many weaknesses have tried hard to push through genuine reform. Take a long hard look at what the Yahaplanaya government set out to do and look at the issues that were confronting our country pre-2015. That will literally convince us, that we are missing the woods from the trees. Fast forward to November 21, 2014. Sirisena on that day stated that leaving the then government was a vital move in order to save the country from being steered towards a total dictatorship. He pledged to abolish the executive presidential system within 100 days of his election and to restore complete media freedom in the country. The presidency was partially reformed and media freedom restored. Some more remains to be done together. The Rajapaksa years rebuilt Sri Lankas confidence but sapped its soul. The unity government to their credit has tried very hard to promote a kinder, gentler country. The Sirisena-Wickremesinghe combination has helped to reawaken the generosity of our civil society. Sirisena, unlike Wickremesinghe, understands that the local issues are every bit as important as the national or global issues. On the other hand, Wickremesinghe understands the country has a long road ahead and one can only get there together. This is why we need to find a genuine political solution for the North and East. Reality Part of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and opposition are predominated by the loyalties to the previous president. They seem to be hell bent on either challenging their mandate or shooting the holes Sirisena-Wickremesinghe have taken to bring the country and economy to an even keel, without realizing what these initiatives are and what favourable outcomes they will bring to the country. For Sirisena, working with Wickremesinghe is the best option for him and the country. On a personal level, Wickremesinghe is a gentleman, a man who believes, even when he is under fire, not to react negatively, a respecter of the rights of all ethnicities and often to a fault. As prime minister, he has given the incumbent president all the respect despite friendly fire against him. Many people in politics dont see the value of working towards or arriving at a consensus of values. It was Pope Francis who said, We all need each other. None of us is an island, an autonomous, an independent I, separated from the other. We can only build a future by standing together, including everyone. We all need to be afraid of the future if we fail to understand this. Improving competitiveness As a country, today one of the biggest challenges we have is improving our countrys competitiveness. The resistance we have when services are included in an FTA is a classic case in point. We need to clearly understand what competitiveness is and have leaders who believe in a conducive business environment, where every entrepreneur, big or small, has the ability to move up the business hierarchy on his or her own merit. We need leaders who understand what is necessary, to improve our skills, including attracting FDI at a minimum of 30 percent of GDP, in order to maintain a 6 percent plus growth target that the country needs, besides improving the doing business index to strengthen investor confidence. In this direction, we need to adopt the core business values such as integrity and transparency in doing business by making sure political interference is totally removed from the decision-making process. In addition, the capital market needs to be run according to the ethical standards to encourage genuine investors to invest. We need more opportunities for a broader group of investors to benefit by investing in the stock market. The current checks and balances we have within the two-party system can only facilitate that. All this requires is bipartisanship all round. Good signs The Sirisena government in the last 36 months has made a huge effort to rebuild international confidence amongst international leaders and investors, both locally and internationally, particularly with the US and EU (where are our major markets remain) is paramount. Through a well-orchestrated foreign policy, the Yahapalanaya has and continues to succeed in this direction. The government has largely restored the independence of the judiciary and public service, which not only will boost the confidence of investors but also generate a positive climate in the country. The results of their efforts will come slowly but surely. Meanwhile, for the remaining period of this government, our hope is that Sirisena-Wickremesinghe will overcome the many political challenges and deliver what they both promised together on January 8, 2015. Fortunately, despite many hiccups and the occasional outbursts from the duo, there is much hope that Sri Lanka can become a nation defined by values rather than a land of sink or swim with no discipline. (Dinesh Weerakkody is a thought leader) THE HINDU, 02nd FEBRUARY, 2018-In a surprise ruling Thursday evening, the Supreme Court of the Maldives ordered the immediate release of exiled former leader Mohamed Nasheed and eight others, terming their trials a violation of the constitution and international law. The apex court has ordered new trials, citing the questionable and politically motivated nature of the trials of the political leaders, according to a news report of the AFP. The government has said the administration is currently working to vet and clarify the ruling, and sources in Male indicate that the order is yet to be implemented. While the ruling makes significant implications on various points of constitutional import and criminal justice procedures, it was issued without representation of the State from either the Attorney General or the Prosecutor General, international spokesperson at the Presidents office Ibrahim Hussain Shihab said in a statement. Tweeting on the development, former President Nasheed said late Thursday: Welcome tonights SC ruling calling for the immediate release of political prisoners and the restoration of their civil and political rights. President Yameen must abide by this ruling and resign. Urge all citizens to avoid confrontation and engage in peaceful political activity. Even as the Male administration has said it will work to engage, and consult with, the Supreme Court in order to comply with the ruling, the police have reportedly clashed with dissidents on the streets of the capital early Friday, as they demanded the release of politicians whose convictions were overturned. The police pepper-sprayed many of us there. The Foreign Affairs Ministry and the British High Commission today said the document which is currently being circulated purporting to be a guide in royal etiquette issued by a Welcome Committee of British Royals, was false. In a joint statement, the ministry and the High Commission said no such committee has been constituted by either. A document with the heading Welcome Committee of British Royals which stipulated 18 guidelines to be followed when welcoming the visiting Earl and Countess of Wessex, is being circulated in social media. The document has been signed by one D.F.P de Mel who is the supposed committees secretary. The document which is being circulated THE HINDU, 01st FEBRUARY, 2018-A petrol bomb was thrown at the lakeside Yangon compound of Myanmars leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Thursday while she was away from her home, a government spokesman said. It was a petrol bomb, spokesman Zaw Htay confirmed to AFP, without giving further details on a possible motive for a small but rare attack targeting the Myanmar democracy heroine. The petrol bomb caused minor damage. But the attack on the villa where Ms. Suu Kyi was held for long years of house arrest by the former junta is hugely symbolic. Ms. Suu Kyi has increasingly attracted the ire of the international community over her perceived failure to speak up on behalf of Myanmars Rohingya Muslim community. Nearly 7,00,000 Rohingya have fled a brutal military crackdown in northern Rakhine state into refugee camps in Bangladesh since August, bringing with them testimony of murder, rape and arson. But inside Myanmar, Ms. Suu Kyi, who swept elections in 2015, is still widely regarded as a heroine by the majority-Buddhist population, who fondly dub her The Lady. Many inside Myanmar regard the Rohingya as illegal Bengali immigrants.Ms. Suu Kyi was in Naypyidaw at the time of Thursdays incident and is due to address parliament to mark the second anniversary of her NLD government coming to power. Our forefathers fought to gain independence from the British colonial rule. That was for the sake of all the Sri Lankans irrespective of all differences, social, political, economic, age, sex, colour and such others. Those who are rich and influential often do not like to share the benefits of independence with the unprivileged group. This means that many citizens of this country have been deprived of the benefits of economic independence. However, there were heroes in our country who strived to extend the benefits of independence to the unprivileged group. They forced the rich to release part of their riches to the poor. Utuwankande Soora Saradiel is was one such hero, who robbed the money from the rich, especially the colonial rulers and their henchmen and made them available to the unprivileged. Robin Hood of Ceylon Saradiel was a Ceylonese gang leader, who became legend in Sri Lanka known as the Robin Hood of Sri Lanka. Some scholars place him in the context of insurgencies against the British colonial rule rather than a manifestation of local lawlessness or economic justice. He was believed to have possessed the power of hiding without getting caught and attacking the rich people especially the British colonial rulers and their local henchmen, including Police officers, who attempted to arrest him. Rulers and the Police believed that he could not be shot at because he was believed to be bulletproof.It was believed that he had had a mantra which gave him such powers. He took to thievery and although he was branded as an outlaw, he distributed the robbed items amongst the poor villagers irrespective of whether the receivers were his followers, relatives or friends. Utuwankande Utuwankande is a beautiful rocky mountain peak situated strategically between Kegalle and Mawanella facing the Colombo - Kandy main road. It is a beautiful rock peak from where he could observe anything happening in the vicinity and anyone passing the place. It is a strategic point from where he could operate and distribute his loots among poor villagers. His father, Adis Appu who did not approve Saradiels criminal acts was not prepared to come to his rescue. In spite of his fathers reluctance to help Saradiel could have evaded the Police if he lived in Chilaw but he came back to Utuwankande, where he had his gang. There are also hiding places in the peak and elsewhere in the vicinity to keep away from his enemies. There were relatives and friends to provide information about any impending danger. On the top of the peak, there is a cave which Saradiel used as his hiding place and stayed secretly without the risk of being getting caught. This rock boulder is covered with a cluster of trees. There is a tunnel dug by Saradiel to escape. About 15 to 20 metres ahead of the main tunnel branches off to three tunnels. One branch tunnel leads to Bo-Ella about two Kilometres away. Presumably, the other branch tunnels lead to two other safe places which are not traceable today. Family Saradiel was the eldest son of Adis Appu, a tobacco merchant, a carter hailing from a family at Haldanduwa in the Chilaw district. His mother was one Pitchohamy from Utuwankande. Pitchohamy owned a roadside coffee boutique. Before reaching Pahala Kadugannawa hills almost all the carters stopped at this coffee boutique because they and their buffaloes need a rest. An intimacy had been built between Pitchohamy and carter Adis Appu during the course of the latters visits to Utuwankande. Later they got married and their eldest son was Saradiel. Saradiel was born more than one and a half centuries ago, on March 25, 1832. The full name of Saradiel is Deekirikewage Saradiel but he is widely known as Utuwankande Soora Saradiel. During this short period of life, he had done much for the sake of the poor man and has earned good fame to be remembered as a hero on this Independence Day. Saradiels earliest schooling to read and write was at Etulgoda Vihare. He continued his studies at the Beligammana Temple and Ilukwatte Temple. He had to leave school when he assaulted a boy from a rich family. By nature, he was mischievous, stubborn and he wanted to do things on his own. at Army barracks After leaving school, Saradiel came to Colombo and was employed as a domestic servant of an army officer in the army barracks. He often quarrelled with his master and at last, he stole some silver spoons belonging to his master. He was apprehended for the offence and was severely warned not to repeat. He was a barrack boy in the Ceylon Rifle Regiment in Slave Island where he learnt to use guns and other weapons from Malay Soldiers. However, one day he got caught in the midst of a theft and he was dismissed. Life of crime He returned to Utuwankande and started a life of crime with his accomplices; Mammal Marikkar, Muhammad Suwath, Nasardeen, Sirimala, Ukkinda and Modara Tanne Handa and got involved in crime and robbery. Since Police were all out to arrest him Saradiel fled to Chilaw to find shelter under his father, whose permanent residence was there. However, his father, Adis Appu who did not approve of Saradiels criminal acts was not prepared to come to his rescue. In spite of his fathers reluctance to help Saradiel could have evaded the Police if he lived in Chilaw but he came back to Utuwankande, where he had his gang. However, while he was living at Utuwankande he was arrested at Pillawatte by Modara Police on a tip-off from an informant. However, before he was caught Saradiel had fatally stabbed a Police Constable who attempted to arrest him. In July 1862 he was produced before Justice of the Peace, Negombo and was sent to fiscal custody in Colombo. He was detained in jail for trial in the Supreme Court for robbery, assault and stabbing. However, in November in the same year Sardiel, had jumped from the prison roof and had escaped. His friend, Martin Singho, who was in the same prison presumably had helped him to escape. Martin Singho was sentenced to six months rigorous imprisonment. Saradiel meanwhile came back to Utuwankande but was arrested again by the village Constable Baba Saraon on this occasion. While he was being taken to Colombo he again escaped from the Police officer and several fiscal peons, who were on guard in spite of the fact that he was pinioned and handcuffed whiled the party had been given strict instructions not to un-pinion him, even to take meals and to spend the nights only in police stations. Saradiel had escaped with his handcuffs on. It was disclosed that Saradiels fathers brother had joined the party and presumably he had planned for Saradiels escape. A reward of five pounds was offered to anyone who could arrest Saradiel. This notice was published in the Government Gazette Extraordinary on January 10, 1863. At Aranayake Later Saradiel shifted his operations to Aranayake where villagers witnessed a widespread crime. Later the offered reward to arrest Saradiel was increased to 100 Pounds and for each individual in his gang to 20 pounds. Arrest and execution At last Saradiel had taken shelter in a house at Mawanella. Mammalay Marikkar was with him. A Police team had gone there to arrest Saradiel. Saradiel who was shot at by Sergeant Alawatte was wounded. Immediately Mammalay Marikkar shot at Constable Shahan and killed him. There was only one door in that house and Sergeant Alawatte stood guard on the door. Assistant Government Agent F.R. Saunders soon arrived with a detachment and Saradiel surrendered with his companion Mammalay Marikkar. They were taken to Kandy and were produced before Justice Thompson and were sentenced to death. Thus, this hero, friend of the poor ended his life on May 7, 1864, at the age of 32 years. DPA, 02nd FEBRUARY, 2018-The southern Russian city once known as Stalingrad is celebrating 75 years since one of the bloodiest battles of World War II that ended with a pivotal Soviet victory. Russian President Vladimir Putin is due to attend the events in the city, now known as Volgograd. A parade featuring 75 tanks, one for each year since the victory, as well as 1,500 military personnel and 50 aircraft, is set to take place in the city centre. The city, on the Volga River, was renamed in the early 1960s during the political thaw that followed the death of Soviet dictator Josef Stalin. In the winter of 1942-43, Nazi German troops had for months occupied most of Stalingrad when more than 300,000 of them were encircled by the Red Army. The Soviet victory came arduously, with an estimated death toll of 700,000, and is considered a turning point in the war. Sadaharitha Plantations Ltd ended 2017 by encouraging the children of employees working in the companys commercial forestry projects to aspire to achieve academic excellence in the new school year. All the children from kindergarten to Advanced Level were presented with a set of stationery items appropriate for the age group. This valued CSR project was carried out for the fourth consecutive year distributing 330 sets of stationery items. Having reached 15 years of successfully engaging in commercial forestry, with over 2000 acres of sustainable forestry lands and over 28,000 customers and 32 branch offices across the country, Sadaharitha has provided a large number of eco-friendly job opportunities for villagers who lives in the vicinity of the plantation locations in different parts of the country. In addition to quality human resource management practices Sadaharitha is able to encourage its people to achieve personal development across all employment categories. We take great pride in engaging in this CSR activity that benefits our own workers, inspiring their children to aim for excellence. Whilst contributing to preserve Mother Nature, we believe we should play a supporting role for the betterment of the education of these children as they will one day become the future of this country, said Sadaharitha Plantations Ltd People Development and Operations Director Sakunthala Nawarathne. We also focus strongly on paving the way for an upwardly mobile career path for those who appreciate contributing to creating a greener world, she added. At Sadaharitha, employees are encouraged and assisted to achieve professional development. The company volunteers to meet the entire cost or part of the fee of a diploma or postgraduate or any other accepted course at a recognised institution such as the Sri Lanka Institute of Marketing (SLIM). Sadaharitha Plantations is the pioneer in commercial forestry in Sri Lanka carrying out extensive research and creating awareness about the advantages of investing in Agarwood project which will generate a high income within a short span of eight years. Compared to other forestry products such as Teak and Sandalwood, Agarwood is considered to be the ideal species for commercial forestry and will be a prospective export surpassing the foreign revenue from traditional exports of Sri Lanka. Agarwood is a fragrant resinous substance that is used to manufacture expensive perfumes, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals around the world. Given the raucous cacophony of strident cries of race and religion, it does seem unlikely that this polyphony of voices can ever be blended into a harmonious symphony. A significant section of the Tamils was in the vanguard of a freedom struggle against the British. The nearest to an anti-British, pro-freedom struggle, in the country came from the north The south...was generally quiet during British rule The dominant Sinhala political class preferred to cooperate with rather than confront the British By D.B.S. Jeyaraj Three score and ten years have passed since Sri Lanka, then known as Ceylon, gained Independence from Britain on February 4, 1948. The Island nation had been under colonial bondage for a very long period. The Portuguese rule came first in 1505, followed by Dutch rule in 1658. Finally came the British rule in 1796 that lasted until 1948. It was the British who unified the Island under a single administration in 1833. They also introduced universal franchise and electoral representation through the State Council in 1931. Sri Lanka will celebrate her seventieth anniversary of Independence tomorrow February 4th, 2018. Completing 70 years of freedom is indeed a significant milepost. Independent Sri Lanka, or Ceylon, has faced many challenges and problems in the past 70 years. We have had military coup attempts, communal riots, pogroms, armed revolts, external military intervention, assassinations of Heads of State, terrorist violence and above all a long secessionist war that threatened to tear apart the country. What Sri Lanka can be proud of as Asias oldest democracy is the fact that despite many formidable challenges and crises the country continues to be democratic. Flawed but Democratic! More importantly, perhaps Independent Ceylon/Sri Lanka has succeeded tremendously in improving the quality of life for her people in areas such as education, higher education, healthcare, nutrition, infant mortality, life expectancy, family planning, rural electrification, roads, transport facilities, housing and worker rights. An illustrative example of the progress made would be life expectancy. When Independence dawned life expectancy for a male was 46 years and 44 for a female in Sri Lanka. After 70 years of Independence, it has risen to 72 years for a male and 78 years for a female. While Sri Lankas post-independence record is certainly impressive, what is saddening -and somewhat maddening - is the realisation that we could have achieved much, much more but for political mismanagement. Had our post-independence governments ruled wisely, Sri Lanka could have been an economic power in Asia. Our political class -selfish and short-sighted - has through various acts of omission and commission reduced the country to a sorry state. Looking at the prevailing political situation of today, it appears that no effective lessons have been learnt even after seven decades of independence. An example of the progress would be life expectancy. When Independence dawned life expectancy for a male was 46 years and 44 for a female. After 70 years, it has risen to 72 and 78 years for a female. As stated earlier Sri Lanka has certainly progressed in many directions. However, it has failed in the key area of nation-building. Ethnic relations between the Sinhala and Tamil people deteriorated due to a series of blunders by politicians on either side of the ethnic divide resulting in what was termed as South Asias longest war. The separatist war waged by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) is now over and the country has been unified militarily but whether the country has been united politically remains an unanswered question. Notwithstanding optimistic assertions by those in power the stark reality today is that of the Sri Lankan Tamil people being alienated from the State and estranged from mainstream consciousness. Archipelago of Communities Paradoxical as it may seem, I have in the past often referred to Sri Lanka as both an Island nation and archipelago of communities. Given the raucous cacophony of strident cries of race and religion, it does seem unlikely that this polyphony of voices can ever be blended into a harmonious symphony. It is against this backdrop that this column intends to focus reflectively on the recent past of post-independence Sri Lanka and ponder over its future while drawing extensively from earlier writings of a similar nature. For anyone being free of colonial bondage, Independence Day would be a day of joy and happiness. But that has not been so for the Tamils of Sri Lanka for many, many years. They remain estranged and alienated from the Sri Lankan state still. Many Tamils are not part of the freedom day festivity emotionally and spiritually. To many Tamil people whether in Sri Lanka or abroad the future for Tamils in Sri Lanka seems bleak and dreary. This despondency is not one which envelopes sympathisers and supporters of the LTTE alone. It is prevalent more widely, regardless of political affiliation. There was a time when Independence Day on February 4th was observed as a day of mourning by many Tamils. The advent of the Ilankai Thamil Arasuk Katchi (ITAK/Federal Party) and the rise of Tamil nationalism in the fifties and sixties of the last century, saw the Tamil polity being asked to treat Freedom Day as a day of mourning. The rationale was that independence from British had only resulted in bondage under Sinhalese. There was only a change of masters. So, Independence Day was nothing to celebrate, but only to be observed as a black day, it was argued. These symbolic protests underwent a change after the Republican Constitution of 1972. Thereafter, May 22nd too was observed as a black day. February 4th lost a little of its significance. The symbolism of black flags on Independence Day however continued. The escalation of the conflict and resultant suffering made the very concept of independence meaningless to Tamils. Years of perceived oppression and suppression had inculcated among Sri Lankan Tamils a feeling of alienation in the land of their forefathers. The dominant Sinhala political class preferred to cooperate rather than confront the British. They worked for self -rule through negotiation rather than agitation. As a result of this nation never had an anti-colonial struggle as what was conducted in India by Mahatma Gandhi or Netaji Subash Chandra Bose. Tamil Political Psyche The Tamil political psyche too had changed over the decades. Tamils saw themselves as being on par with the Sinhalese as a founding race of this nation during the Ramanathan-Arunachalam era; the G. G. Ponnambalam period saw Tamils thinking of themselves as the premier all island minority; S. J. V. Chelvanayagam years saw the Tamils regarding themselves as a territorial minority of the north-east; the Amirthalingam years and the emergence of the TULF saw Tamils perceiving themselves as a distinct nationality with a separate homeland and the right of self-determination. Veluppillai Prabhakaran and other Tamil militant organisation leaders led an armed struggle to liberate this homeland on the basis of the mandate for Tamil Eelam obtained by the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) at the July 1977 elections. Tamil perception of sovereignty too differed. The Jaffna Kingdom had lost its sovereignty on the battlefield to the Portuguese in 1619. It was then ceded to the Dutch in 1658; the British took over from the Dutch in 1796. It was only in 1833 after the Colebrooke Reforms of 1832 that pre-dominantly Tamil territories were integrated into a unified Ceylon. Until then they were administered separately. In 1948, the British transferred power to the Sinhala majority. It was the Tamil position that the 1947 Dominion Constitution that paved the way for Independence in 1948, the 1972 and 1978 Constitutions were imposed on Tamils without the consent of the majority of their elected representatives. Tamil sovereignty, therefore, lies within the Tamil nation still and the Sinhala majority has no right to dominate. This position often stated on political platforms was argued brilliantly by Murugeysen Tiruchelvam in courts at the Amirthalingam trial-at-bar case of 1976. However, Post-independence political problems should not blind us to the fact that a significant section of the Tamils was in the vanguard of a freedom struggle against the British. Sadly the pioneering role played by Tamils in the quest for Independence is now forgotten. From Sir Ponnambalam Arunachalams famous lecture on Our Political Needs which laid the foundation for the National Congress to the activities of the Jaffna Youth Congress, Tamil efforts have been commendable in this regard. The south after the heroic and historic 1818 and 1848 rebellions was generally quiet during British rule. The dominant Sinhala political class preferred to cooperate with rather than confront the British. They worked for self -rule through negotiation rather than agitation. As a result of this nation never had an anti-colonial struggle as what was conducted in India by Mahatma Gandhi or Netaji Subash Chandra Bose. Jaffna Youth Congress The nearest to an anti-British, pro-freedom struggle, in the country came from the north. It emanated from the now forgotten Jaffna Youth Congress led by the likes of Handy Perinbanayagam, Orator Subramaniam, C. Ponnambalam. Fired by the ideals espoused by Mahatma Gandhi the Youth Congress demanded Poorana Swaraj (Complete Independence) and urged a boycott of the first State Council elections in support. It was the Jaffna Youth Congress which called first for Poorana Swaraj or complete self-rule from the British and rejected the limited reforms proposed by the Donoughmore Commission. It is recorded that hundreds of Jaffna youths ran about the town streets shouting Swaraj after listening to a lecture by Kamaladevi Chattopadhyaya. The 1931 boycott was observed only in Jaffna. The rest of the country did not follow suit and the boycott ultimately ended in failure. British scholar Jane Russell compared the Jaffna boycott to parallel developments during the Indian freedom struggle and observed that it was like the turkey-cock trying to imitate the dance of the peacock. Later, southern historians tried to distort the boycott call and depicted it as a communal cry. That, however, was untrue. The Youth Congress boycott was inspired by nobler motives. So praiseworthy was the impact of the Youth Congress, that Philip Gunewardena, the Father of Marxism in Sri Lanka, wrote glowingly in the Searchlight journal that Jaffna had given the lead and asked the Sinhalese to follow suit. Prof. Wiswa Warnapala reviewing the book written by Santhaseelan Kadirgamar on the Jaffna Youth Congress expressed his admirataion of the Jaffna Youth Congress openly and chastised Sinhala political leaders of the colonial period as Bootlickers of Imperialism. The Youth Congress also conducted several meetings and satyagraha, in support of freedom. Two noteworthy feats were the boycott of a visit to Jaffna by then Prince of Wales and the hoisting of the Nandhi (Crouched Bull) flag in place of the Union Jack. It was in Jaffna that the erstwhile Jaffna Kingdoms Nandhi flag was hoisted defiantly instead of the Union Jack on the Empire Day. It was Jaffna that boycotted the visit of the then Prince of Wales during colonial rule. Tragically, political vicissitudes in the post-independence years compelled Tamils to demonstrate with black flags on Independence Day. The roots of this development and the emotive background to it are understandable. It is to be hoped that a satisfactory resolution of the Tamil national question would bring about a remarkable change in Tamil attitudes towards Independence from the British in the future. National Anthem In Tamil The singing of the national anthem in Tamil at the official Independence Day Celebration was made possible by the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe Government. After several decades Namo, Namo Thaayae was sung at an official Independence Day Celebration. It was a highly commendable move and welcomed by most Tamils. Yet it was only a silver lining in a dark cloud. What is important to note is that unequal relations between the numerical majority community and other numerical minority communities still exist. The nearest to an anti-British, pro-freedom struggle, in the country came from the north. It emanated from the now forgotten Jaffna Youth Congress led by the likes of Handy Perinbanayagam, Orator Subramaniam ... This is particularly so in the case of the Sri Lankan Tamils who have been struggling to achieve equality on the Island for decades. The Tamil Eelam demand was a desperate manifestation of the Tamil state of mind. This state of mind is likely to continue until genuine unity is achieved through the creation of a plural and egalitarian society. The tragedy of independent Sri Lanka has been majoritarian hegemony. Majority rule is a democratic principle. Here it has been interpreted as the majority of the numerically largest ethnicity. Sri Lanka is a modern State with an ancient civilisation, but the attempt to define Sri Lanka as a modern Nation State has led to conflict and strife. Power is concentrated with the majority ethnicity leaving the others out in the cold. It is a case of Maha Jathiyata Kiri, Sulu Jathiwalata Kekiri. (Cream for the majority, bitter-fruit for the minorities) The idea of Ceylon was a colonial construct. The British unified the country into a single administration. Sri Lanka was not the only one in this respect. Most countries ruled by the British were their creations in a modern sense. Ethnic conflict and strife erupted in many countries after the British left. From the Indian sub-continent to Fiji Islands and from Nigeria to Malaysia, there are many instances of this. Sri Lanka too can be classified as an example of post-independence conflict within pre-independence boundaries. Some ex-colonies have reduced and managed ethnic tensions by evolving new forms of power sharing. They have reinvented themselves as new nations on the basis of equality and forged a strong sense of common identity. In the final analysis, the unity and integrity of a nation do not depend on its military strength or structures of governance but on the will of its people. The nation-state is essentially a state of mind. Some ex-colonies have reduced and managed ethnic tensions by evolving new forms of power sharing. They have reinvented themselves as new nations on the basis of equality and forged a strong sense of common identity. The idea of a single Sri Lankan nation has been under severe threat. In reality, we are a divided nation today and military conquest and domination by itself is no answer. If we are to resolve these divisions and create a strong nation on the basis of equitable power-sharing, the structure of the state needs to be radically transformed. There is no consensus on that so far. Sensible and Pragmatic The need of the hour is for Tamils to evolve a sensible and pragmatic approach to the situation they are in. What is necessary now is not confrontation but cooperation. Cooperation is not submission. Conciliation is not surrendered. Those continuing the old politics of sabre-rattling must realise there is no sword or blade in the scabbard or sheath to scare the enemy. Instead, these vocal warriors make laughing stocks of themselves without perhaps realising it. This inability or unwillingness to recognise the tragic plight of the Tamil people and adopt a practical approach rather than continuing with an unrealistic confrontational mode is not something which evolved in a vacuum. There is a history behind this emotive content in Tamil politics. It has been prevalent ever since the Tamil polity began experiencing political anxiety over the perceived threat of Sinhala majoritarian hegemony. What is required now is the creation of a just, egalitarian and plural society. There must be equitable power-sharing based on principles of devolution. If one were to simplify the ethnic crisis in Sri Lanka and its potential solution one may say that it is a contest between three ideas. Broadly, three schools of thought have been clashing, namely hegemonism, secessionism and pluralism. The Sinhala hardliners want Sinhala-Buddhist domination and look upon this country as theirs alone, excluding or reducing others to subservient status in this Chinthana. They interpret numerical superiority as a divine right to dominate other ethnicities who are treated as children of lesser Gods. Their numerical strength has afforded them the ability to exercise this control through democratic procedures. They want a Unitary State where the pecking order is clearly established. The Tamil hardliners want a separate State for the North-East known as Tamil Eelam. Just as Sinhala hawks say Sri Lanka is for the Sinhalese, these Tamil hawks say Tamil Eelam is for the Tamils. The Tigers may have been destroyed militarily but the ideology of tigers still exists. It is fuelled by funds from tigerish elements in the global Tamil Diaspora. A state for the dominant ethnicity within excludes by definition, other ethnicities living within these real or imaginary borders. Both these Sinhala and Tamil hawkish ideas have brought about disunity, violence and destruction. The nation bled profusely and the country diminished drastically. Amity and Fraternity The third idea is that of establishing an egalitarian and plural society where all children of this country can live together in amity and fraternity. It incorporates a vision where no one will claim superior rights on the basis of belonging to the majority race/religion or claim exclusive rights to their historic habitat. Power will not be confined to Colombo but shared with the periphery. All people regardless of race, religion, caste or creed will have their say and have a role to play. Sri Lanka will belong to its people from Paruthithurai to Devinuwara and Mannar to Mullaitheevu. At present, this vision seems unrealistically impossible and Utopian! In spite of the adverse politico-military environment, this is the vision that should ultimately triumph..Visionaries of this nature are an endangered species. They are under attack by hawks on either side of the ethnic divide. They are dubbed derisively as jokers and traitors. It is, however, this vision that will ultimately salvage Sri Lanka. Hegemonic and secessionist dreams have turned into cruel nightmares. The call for the third option between the hegemonistic one-State and secessionist two-State schools of thought is a voice of sanity and sensibility. It is presently inaudible amidst the raucously divisive cries. I, however, firmly believe that it will be heard and heard effectively one day. Sri Lanka will then be alive with the sound of concord. In the clash of ideas, it is the superior one that will triumph. Dialogue and discussion, not bloodshed and destruction, will prove to be final arbiters of our destinies. The current situation is depressing but there is certainly a light at the end of the dark tunnel. Our Destiny Is Inter-twined However, estranged and alienated the Tamil people may feel at present, there is no denying the fact that we are an integral part of the Sri Lankan nation. Our destiny is intertwined with those of others living on the Island. The future lies not in pursuing unrealistic political goals but in struggling together with people seeking justice and peace to forge a brave, new, inclusive nation. It is up to right-thinking members of the majority community to extend their hand of friendship in a spirit of fraternal amity towards like-minded others. When India gained freedom at midnight, Jawarhalal Nehru spoke of its tryst with destiny. Indias southern neighbour has been awaiting its true destiny for 70 years. The Sri Lankan State needs to be re-structured and the Sri Lankan nation re-invented for its inevitable tryst with destiny. Sri Lanka at 70 faces the unfinished yet challenging task of building a NEW nation! Let me conclude with three verses from the poem Call to Lanka which is one of my favourites. It is by Rev. W.S. Senior. Walter Stanley Senior was a scholar, pastor, teacher and poet who served in Sri Lanka for many years as Vice Principal of Trinity College, Kandy and Vicar at Christ Church, Galle Face. Inspired by the landscape and people of the Island then called Ceylon, W.S. Senior poetically envisaged a future Lanka of unity and tranquillity where the races had blended and marched to a single drum. Call To Lanka Here are three verses from his Call to Lanka- But most shall he sing of Lanka In the bright new days that come When the races all have blended And the voice of strife is dumb. When we leap to a single bugle, March to a single drum. March to a mighty purpose, One man from shore to shore; The stranger becomes a brother, The task of the tutor oer, When the ruined city rises And the palace gleams once more. Hark! Bard of the fateful future, Hark! Bard of the bright to be; A voice on the verdant mountains, A voice by the golden sea. Rise, child of Lanka, and answer Thy mother hath called to thee D.B.S.Jeyaraj can be reached at dbsjeyaraj@yahoo.com Sri Lankas 2017 apparel performance has matched the recent forecast made by the Minister of industry and Commerce. We expect that the final total apparel exports for entire 2017 would clearly exceed the exports of 2016, and expect it to be in the range of $ 4.7 billion forecasted the Minister of industry and Commerce Rishad Bathiudeen on 16 January. Minister Bathiudeen was addressing the launch event of an Apparel Industry Suppliers Exhibition in Colombo on 16 January. Apparel export revenue data issued by both Joint Apparel Association Forum (JAAF) and Sri Lanka Apparel Exporters Association (SLAEA) confirmed Minister Bathiudeens forecast. According to these latest data, the total Sri Lankan apparel exports for the year 2017 was US $ 4.818 billion, an increase of 3.06 percent from 2016s US$ 4.67 billion. This is the highest annual export revenue to be recorded for Lankan apparels. Only for the month of December 2017, the exports were at US$ 452 million, a 21 percent increase in comparison to 2016 Decembers US$ 374 million. Interestingly, December 2017 monthly exports too were the highest ever exports for any December. Forty five percent of apparel exports in 2017 (at US$ 2.163 billion) went to US while 42 percent headed to the EU. Year-on-year (YoY) exports to the US showed a 2 percent increase in 2017 from 2016s US$ 2.121 billion. Still, YoY exports to EU surged by a larger 4.13 percent to US$ 2.02 billion in 2017, from 2016s US$1.944 billion. Sir Don Baron Jayatilaka was born on February 13, 1868, in Waragoda, a village in Kelaniya as the eldest son of Don Daniel and Elisa Jayatilaka (nee Weerasinghe), the former being from Paththalagedara in Veyangoda, who was a contractor and a founder member of the Vidyalankara Pirivena in Kelaniya. Mrs Elisa Jayatilaka (nee Weerasinghe) a devoted Buddhist, was a descendant of the highly respected, wealthy Weerasinghe family of Waragoda. His initial education was at Vidyalankara Pirivena where he learnt Sinhalese, Pali, Sanskrit and Buddhist literature under scholars such as Ven. Rathmalane Sri Dharmaloka. This very success ironically proved to be detrimental to Sir Jayatilaka as the British Governor felt that his continued assistance would be required to obtain food aid from the neighbouring country with dangers lurking in the high seas from enemy naval ships to cargo vessels. Elementary education in the English medium was commenced at a Baptist School in Kelaniya. Secondary education was at Wesley College, Colombo. The siblings were Muhandiram Don Simon Jayatilaka and Mudliyar Don Abraham Jayatilaka. Marriage to Mallika Batuwanthudawa, daughter of Pandith Batuwantudawa of Warahena Bentota took place in 1898. Sir Baron Jayatilaka was also a scholar of high intellect, who revised Buddhist literature in Sinhala, Palli, Sanskrit and English and also Sinhala literature (which had been denied under colonial rule), the founding Chief Editor of the monolingual etymological Sinhala dictionary, an influencer for the publishing of the Dinamina Newspaper of Lake House Publications, a great Buddhist leader, founder and first president of the Young Mens Buddhist Association (YMBA), which position was held for 46 years until his death, President of the All Ceylon Buddhist Congress, President of the Vidyalankara Sabha, initiated Dhamma Schools (Daham Pasal), President of the Royal Asiatic Society of Ceylon, a leading personality of the Temperance Movement, first Buddhist & Sinhala Principal of Ananda College, Colombo also being the first OBA President of the Collage, Founder Principal of Dharmaraja College Kandy and first Manager of Visakha Vidyalaya Colombo. He commenced and managed several Buddhist schools, held the position of General Manager and Secretary of the Buddhist Theosophical Society, one of the founders of Sri Dharmaloka Maha Vidyalaya Kelaniya-now one of the most reputed National School in the Gampaha District in his village at Waragoda, Kelaniya. Sir D.B Jayatilaka was a barrister qualified with a BA and MA from the University of Calcutta and the University of Oxford respectively, an advocate of the Supreme Court of Ceylon, a very well-respected diplomat, who was the representative for Ceylon in India and represented Ceylon in many International conferences. The Second World War in the early 1940s created a severe food shortage threatening starvation in the country. He was a well-respected personality in the country by both the eminent and the common public, therefore, was instrumental in the revival and upgrading of the religious, national and cultural values of the nation that had deteriorated due to colonial rule Sir Baron Jayatilaka had close relationships with intellectual and eminent personnel such as Ven. Rathmalane Sri Dharmarama, Anagarika Dharmapala, Henry Steel Olcott, F.R. Senanayake, Pandith Batuwanthudawa, Sir Ponnambalam Arunachalam, D.S. Senanayake, S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike, C.W.W. Kannangara and T.B. Jayah. He also understood the pulse of the common man and was a noble personality who spent time with the general public. Sir Baron Jayatilaka was an outstanding politician and Statesman who towered above his contemporaries. He was a freedom fighter, patriot and leader of the Independence Movement of Ceylon. He was appointed as President of the Ceylon National Congress in 1923 and was elected to the Legislative Council of Ceylon from the Colombo District, holding the position of Vice President which was the highest position a Ceylonese could hold (British Governor was the President). Constitutional reforms of the Donoughmore Commission led to universal franchise. Sir Baron Jayatilake was elected to the newly formed State Council of Ceylon from the Kelaniya electorate and became Leader of the House and Minister of Home Affairs in 1931. It must be emphasised that he was the first elected leader of Ceylon/Sri Lanka through the voting rights of the people of this country and was the Leader of the House in the State Council a position equivalent to that of Prime Minister. This is a fact that has not been appreciated adequately. Being a remarkable administrator with good governance, immense popularity among all nationalities and the towering personality as compared to his peers led to Sir Baron Jayatilake being re-elected uncontested to represent the Kelaniya electorate and continue as the undisputed leader of the State Council of Ceylon. Sir Baron Jayatilaka was the first Ceylonese to prepare the Budget speech for Ceylon as the Leader of the State Council and under his administration as the Leader of the House not only the Ministry of Home Affairs that was led by him, especially the Ministers of Agriculture, Education and Health were supported to perform with outstanding results to serve the public of the country. He also was the Buddhist and State leader who was most instrumental in the renovations of the Ruwanweli Maha Seya and was the State leader at the pinnacle laying ceremony of the Stupa in 1941. As the Leader of the State Council Sir Baron Jayatilaka was the greatest strength of C.W.W Kannangara, the Minister of Education to overcome barriers to pass the Free Education Bill. Rightfully, and most deservedly he was conferred Knighthood for the services rendered to Ceylon. This great man was the Guru of most pre and post-independence leaders of our country, including some leaders who later became Prime Ministers of Independent Ceylon. He sacrificed his personal wealth to fund the independence movement but also donated most of his assets to the State. The Public Trustee Offices at Bauddhaloka Mawatha, Colombo 07 (Thurban House- A palatial building) was gifted to the State. The Sir D.B Jayatilaka Trust presently is the richest State-owned Trust comprising of a range of revenue generating assets. The Second World War in the early 1940s created a severe food shortage threatening starvation in the country. The British Colonial administration and the then Ministers of Agriculture, Trade and Commerce with officials were unsuccessful in negotiations with the Government of India as India too were suffering similar shortages. Sir Baron Jayatilaka being the first Ceylonese to be the President of the Indian Students Association at the University of Oxford at the time he read for the MA and later having closely associated with the Indian National Congress leaders during their Independence struggle, had developed personal friendships with the Indian leaders. The British Governor made a desperate request to Sir Baron Jayatilaka, who went to India and requested food aid. As a result of the respect and tremendous regard that the Indian leaders had for Sir Baron Jayatilaka, food aid was provided to Ceylon. This very success ironically proved to be detrimental to Sir Baron Jayatilaka as the British Governor felt that his continued assistance would be required to obtain food aid from the neighbouring country with dangers lurking in the high seas from enemy naval ships to cargo vessels. Sir Baron Jayatilaka hence sacrificed his position at the State Council in 1942 to comply with the request of the Governor and undertook to function as the Representative (High Commissioner) of the Government of Ceylon in India. The position of Leader of the House in the State Council was then filled by D. S. Senanayake, whom the vast majority in the country regarded as being his deputy and who later became the first Prime Minister of Ceylon. Sir Baron Jayatilake fell ill in 1944 whilst in India and decided to undergo medical treatment in his motherland, in stark contrast to the high and mighty of today. However, he passed away in the aircraft allocated by the Viceroy of India on May 29, 1944. The last words uttered were Are we in Ceylon and breathed his last whilst the plane was over Indian territory. Don Baron Jayatilaka the great Philosopher was spoken of as Uncrowned King by the Ceylonese of all walks of life and the highest respect was paid to Sir Jayatilaka by the State of Ceylon with an Official State Funeral attended by a large number of people from all parts of the Country. Sir Jayatilaka was declared an outstanding National Hero produced by Mother Lanka. A group of 19 locals and Sri Lankan Canadians have been stolen of cash and jewellery while on holiday at the heavily fortified - Command Headquarters- Eastern Naval Area, Trincomalee, on Tuesday night, the Daily Mirror learns. The rogues had broken into the Bungalow located within the premises at which 19 persons including 11 females were staying. Initial observations of the group had revealed stolen cash and jewellery amounting to over 300,000 rupees. We were completely devastated when we found out early next morning, one of the tour group members told the Daily Mirror. According to the holiday makers which included family and extended family including Canadian citizens they had immediately informed the Naval Police upon discovery early morning on Wednesday. The holiday makers had been staying at the Forest Side Holiday Resort located within the premises and under the supervision of the Navy when the incident had occurred. From the time they ( the naval Police) walked in at 5.45 am they seemed to not want to find out what happened. Instead they checked our entire group and went in circles. Frustrated by this I asked them to secure the location and obtain finger prints to which they said there was no need, Jayalath Samarakkody told the Daily Mirror. Navy Spokesperson Commander Dinesh Bandara confirmed the incident and said it was being investigated. We dont take a theft of this nature lightly. A separate investigation into the theft is ongoing by the Navy and the Police have also been informed. The Holiday makers had said they wanted to leave for Canada and decided not to make a complaint to the Police. However, we are taking this incident very seriously and investigations are ongoing he said. The group of tourists had arrived had the Eastern Command Naval base on Monday, January 29 as a part of a family outing. The entire family included a group of 46 people stayed at 3 different bungalows within the command. 19 of us stayed at the Forest Side Holiday Resort at which the incident occurred Samarakkody said. According to those present, they had slept at around 11.30 pm on Tuesday night after securing all entrances to the Bungalow. They had all slept in 3 rooms due to the in operation of one of the Air Conditioners in one of the rooms. We woke up between 4.30 and 5 the next morning because we were to leave back to Colombo. Then we realized some of the belongings were missing. Upon further inspection we saw that a window and doors were opened. We immediately informed the Naval Police who arrived at the Bungalow Lalitha Padmini said. She said that they were perturbed by the reactions of the officers. We were shocked. The main thing they shouldve done was to either immediately call the Police or take over and investigate. Instead they wanted our group checked which they did and found nothing. And thereafter nothing else was done she said. Relating the experience, Samarakkody, a Canadian citizen said: There were 19 of us and none of us woke up. We were staying at a heavily fortified area and they rouges knew the dimensions of it in detail. Thats how they entered. I cant understand why the scene wasnt secured and finger prints not taken or the fact that the Police were not called in he said. Instead Samarakkody said that they were asked to proceed with a Police complaint by the Naval Police at around 12.00 Noon after the group was searched for 6 hours. We had already spent our entire morning and afternoon undergoing this .We just wanted to leave the place. Some of us had flights to catch the next day ( today) so we wanted to leave the place as fast as possible he said. However Samarakkody said that the Naval Police had refused to let them leave the premises without signing a statement which said that they did not require further investigation into the issue. We were told to sign that our complaint was only made for the purpose of informing and not for the purpose of investigation- which is ridiculous. But we had to abide by it because we wanted to leave he said. Samarakkody further said that he was informed by the Officer in Charge of the Naval Police that a bus had left the premises at 5 am that morning. I told him to stop the bus or search it. They could have at least found some clue. But they didnt seem interested he said. (Hafeel Farisz) Watawala Plantations PLC (WATA), a subsidiary of the diversified Sri Lankan conglomerate Sunshine Holdings PLC, handed over hospital furniture, essential medical equipment and medicine to the National Cancer Institute in Maharagama (Apeksha Hospital). The donations were handed over by Watawala Plantations PLC Chief Executive Officer Binesh Pananwala to National Cancer Institute Deputy Director Dr. Buddika Kurukulasuriya who upon receiving the items thanked the local plantations company profusely for their generous contribution. The contribution was arranged with the money collected by WATA employees on their Friday Casual Wear Day, coupled with a generous contribution from Watawala Plantations PLC itself. Among items donated were trolleys, chairs, tables, fans, an air condition unit and other furniture items as well as medical equipment like oxygen stands and regulators that the hospital had been short of for a long period. Inj Colistine, syringes, Filgen and Meranam were among the drugs that were donated to the hospital. All the donated equipment will be now used at the new Endoscopy Unit of the hospital as well as in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). At the official handing over of the items, Watawala Plantations Chief Executive Officer Binesh Pananwala said: We think as a local company we have a responsibility towards the country and its people. This donation was made as a part of our CSR initiatives and we hope to continue empowering the countrys health sector as we believe health is wealth. Commenting on the initiative, Dr. Buddika Kurukulasuriya said: We welcome this donation with open arms and we would like to commend Watawala Plantations for fulfilling their duty towards the country as a responsible and an exemplary business. Watawala Plantations PLC (WATA) is a diversified Agri products company with interests in Tea, Oil Palm and Cinnamon. Watawala Plantations has been Sri Lankas largest producer of oil palm for several consecutive years. Watawala teas are world renowned for their quality and are Rainforest Alliance and Fair trade certified. The company has diversified into the Dairy sector as well, with a joint venture with Duxton Asset Management, Singapore. Oops....! We couldn't find that... 404 error Unfortunately the page you were looking for could not be found. It may be temporarily unavailable, moved or no longer exist. Check the URL you entered for any mistakes and try again. Alternatively, search for whatever is missing or take a look around the rest of our site. There is always a landmark, a place or a sight-seeing site that characterized every place on earth. There are also some times that due to physical conditions or to mans intervention, are threatened to be disappeared. Even the global organization of UNESCO characterizes them as risk places or monuments. Lets discover the most famous of those. Old City of Jerusalem and its walls Jerusalem is the holy city of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, with the Old City hosting 220 historical memorials, including great travelers' sights, such as the Vatican Dome where Abraham was sacrificed and the Cup of the Tears. Unescos concern lies in the Israeli illegal diggings in the Old City, which destroy historic monuments. In addition, Unescoblames Israel of blocking restoration works. Everglades National Park, Florida Florida can be renowned for nightlife, parties and beaches, but among all of this, Everglades adds its own littoral, swamps, nature and rare, endangered animal species such as the Florida Panther and the sea elephant on an area of 2,357 square meters. According to Unesco, environmental pollution and reduced water flows contribute to the loss of marine life while efforts are made to reduce the damage. Coral reef of Belize The Great Blue Hole, the North Response to Australias Great Coral Reef, seems to be heading for the danger list, hosting a lot of rarekinds of animals, including the sea turtle, the American marine crocodile, the sea elephant, . Threats are identified by overexploitation of oil resources and oil exploitation, but if we think about 15% of Belizes Gross Domestic Product comes from the reef, surely it will have to be taken to protect it so that nature can be saved and the economy. Tropical forest, Sumatra, Indonesia Indonesia is not only spending some great time in one of the 5 stars hotels in Bali . This tropical forest, a heritage of the wild Indonesian island of Sumatra, covers3 national parks and is a protected area that hosts a lot of rare animals and plants, including Sumatra's endemic orecot. Besides, however, the island provides biogeographically evidence of the evolution of the island, which is significant. The risk is now found in road expansion plans, illegal classification and illegal animal hunting. Abu Mena, Egypt This Christiandivine city, an important part of the travelers in the Middle Ages, includes churches, castles, monasteries, houses, public places and many others built on the tomb of theMinas of Alexandria, one of the most famous saints in Egypt. Farming work in the area, however, has led to an increase in groundwater, causing volatility and collapse of buildings, with many underground cracks being constantly created. The local specialists were forced to fill the cracks with sand to save the buildings, including the Abu Mena crypt, which includes the saint's tomb. Tropical forests of Atsinanana, Madagascar The island of bizarre and beautiful Madagascar, has been divided from all the other terrestrial masses more than 60 million years ago, so its plants and animals have evolved into totalseparation. The unique biodiversity of the place, however, depends on the tropical forests of Atsinanana, which make up 6 national parks. Prohibitedkindling and hunting, however, are a main problem for the region. Archaeological zone Chan Chan, Peru Chan Chan's capital, Chimu, before passing to the Incas, is a massive, collapsed society, divided into 9 castles, with churches, squares and cemeteries still distinct. Unfortunately, however, this excellent example of architecture is at risk due to the extreme ecological events of the area, including those caused by the El Nino phenomenon. Unfortunately, those are only some of the places that are threatened to be disappeared. A lot of people all over the world are making efforts for saving those monuments. They think that it is a pity for all the upcoming ages not to see all these spectacular landmarks. And they should be honored for that. Updated Date: 02 February 2018, 15:24 per the approval from its board of directors and shareholders, the bank has permission to raise funds up to Rs 20,000 crore in one or more tranches. (Photo: PTI) New Delhi: Private sector lender Yes Bank on Friday said it will raise USD 600 million (approx Rs 3,830 crore) through issuance of fixed term notes under its USD 1 billion Medium Term Note (MTN) programme. "The Capital Raising Committee of the board approved the issuance and allotment of fixed term notes for an aggregate principal amount of USD 600 million under the USD 1 billion Medium Term Note Programme of the bank," Yes Bank said in a BSE filing. In December last year, Yes Bank had established a Medium Term Note Programme to raise USD 1 billion (over 6,400 crore) by issuing debt securities on private placement basis. On November 29 last year, the Capital Raising Committee of the board of the bank had approved its proposal to set up the MTN programme. The bank can raise money, in Indian or foreign currency through various means, including issuance of debt securities such as non-convertible debentures, MTNs, tier I/II bonds, as well as long-term infrastructure bonds. As per the approval from its board of directors and shareholders, the bank has permission to raise funds up to Rs 20,000 crore in one or more tranches on private placement basis from time to time. Shares of Yes Bank were trading 1.70 per cent lower at Rs 353.05 on BSE. Budget has pegged fiscal deficit at 3.5 per cent of GDP in current year ending March, higher than 3.2 per cent targeted earlier. (Photo: PTI/File) New Delhi: Fitch Ratings today said high debt burden of the government constrains India's rating upgrade, a day after Finance Minister Arun Jaitley projecting a fiscal deficit of 3.5 per cent of GDP against the earlier target of 3.2 per cent. The 2018-19 Union Budget unveiled on Thursday contains a number of policy measures with the potential to support economic demand and social well being. These include those leading to rise in agricultural income and the ambitious health insurance plan while setting up new medical colleges. "If implemented well, spending on such measures would likely reach a large part of the electorate, which is not insignificant with general elections coming up," Fitch Ratings Director and Primary Sovereign analyst for India Thomas Rookmaaker said. He said weak public finances "constrain India's sovereign ratings, given a high general government debt burden of around 68 per cent of GDP and a wide fiscal balance of 6.5 per cent of GDP if states are included. The Budget has pegged fiscal deficit at 3.5 per cent of GDP in current year ending March, higher than 3.2 per cent targeted earlier. For the next fiscal, the deficit is projected to be 3.3 per cent of GDP. "The government has kicked out its steady 3 per cent fiscal deficit target further to 2020-21, well beyond its term. This compares to its initial medium-term fiscal plan of 2014, when it first announced to postpone the 3 per cent target by one year from 2016-17 to 2017-18," Rookmaaker said. The government's commitment to embrace the recommendation of the FRBM committee to adopt a ceiling of 40 per cent of GDP for central government debt is positive, even though the temporary delay in consolidation makes it unlikely that this debt level will be reached by 2022-23, as recommended by the committee last year, Rookmaaker said. Citing weak fiscal position, US-based agency Fitch in May last year had kept India's sovereign rating unchanged at 'BBB-', the lowest investment grade with stable outlook. Imposition of a 25 per cent corporate tax on MSMEs with turnover of less than Rs 250 crore is yet another step in the right direction. Mumbai: The UK India Business Council (UKIBC) on Friday welcomed the Budget proposals and said that the government's Rs 80,000 crore disinvestment and 3.3 per cent of fiscal deficit targets for 2018-19 are achievable. "The governments success in its disinvestment programme should give the markets confidence that the Rs 80,000 crore disinvestment target for 2018-19 is achievable and that a fiscal deficit target of 3.3 per cent of GDP can be met," UK-India Business Council group CEO Richard Heald said in a statement here. The UK India Business Council, is a membership-based organisation works with businesses in both countries, as well as the UK and Indian governments, to promote bilateral trade. In his initial reaction on the Budget, Heald said, in mid-January, employment, investment and alleviation of rural poverty were announced as the three pillars of the Budget handed down on Friday. The imposition of a 25 per cent corporate tax on MSMEs with turnover of less than Rs 250 crore is yet another step in the right direction and statements around infrastructure - particularly the expansion of airport capacity - as well as private investment/ involvement in the defence sector are encouraging measures. However, the failure to grasp the opportunity to simplify the overall tax regime, the introduction of yet another slab within corporate tax and the introduction of LTCG tax while retaining STT being two examples, risk perpetuating two key negatives surrounding progress on ease of doing business. Perhaps most impressive is the the message to domestic and foreign investors, namely the government is not being deflected from continuing structural reforms ahead of a general election within the next 15 months, he said. The focus on populist measures such as a 150 per cent rise in the minimum support price for kharif crops, the encouragement of farmer-producer companies, the ring fencing measures on the saving of the elderly and the governments contributions for new employees into the employee provident fund and most importantly the new medicare provisions to cover as many as 100 million families were carefully calibrated for maximum effect to the various audiences, he added. Mumbai: Actor Aditi Rao Hydari says she is extremely happy that veteran actor Jaya Bachchan recommended her name to filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali for 'Padmaavat'. Hydari features in the recently released period drama as Alauddin Khilji's wife Mehrunissa. "It felt so amazing that she had suggested my name to him. I have never had that kind of support or backing in the industry. So, when people who I love and respect so much stand up for me, or encourage and appreciate me, it means a lot," Hydari told PTI in an interview. Also read: Had to tell makers I wont do certain things: Aditi Rao Hydari on Bhoomi debacle Asked if she knows what prompted Bachchan to suggest her name, Hydari saif she read it in newspapers that it was her eyes which impressed the senior actor. "When you get a blessing, you don't ask questions. She did mention (the reason) why to Sanjay sir, but I read somewhere that she said there is some purity in my eyes and 'noor' on my face," she said. As Mehrunissa, the actor played the perfect antithesis to Ranveer Singh's aggressive portrayal of Khilji. Also read: Aditi Rao Hydari joins alleged ex-beau Farhan Akhtar on musical tour Describing her character as the perfect "yin to Ranveer's yang", the 31-year-old actor said she completely followed Bhansali's vision, and is overwhelmed with the response she has received. "The girl is beautiful inside out. She speaks very little, but there is a beautiful layering to her character where she is vulnerable, delicate, but there is strength, dignity," she said. "Khilji has a towering presence; he is temperamental, intimidating, but she has the courage to look him in the eyes and tell him the truth. I loved that about the character," Hydari said. 'Padmaavat' is based on the saga of the historic 13th century battle between Maharaja Ratan Singh, played by Shahid Kapoor, and his army of Mewar and Sultan Khilji of Delhi. While the film has three principal characters - Ranveer Singh, Shahid Kapoor and Deepika Padukone - jostling for her own space was not an issue for Hydari, who said she does not look at films by the length of her role. "I derive a lot of inspiration and strength. Like there was a scene with Shahid and Deepika, I really respect and admire them as people and actors. Also read: No Aditi Rao Hydari in Venkateshs film "I have immense faith in the directors I work with, that they have put me there (in the film) for a reason, and they will bring out the best in me. I don't think about anything else (referring to length of role). It's possibly a very naive way of looking at things," she said. The 'Wazir' actor along with Shahid were sort of 'newcomers' on the sets as Deepika and Ranveer had already worked with Bhansali in 'Ram-Leela' and 'Bajirao Mastani.' For Hydari though, being on a film set of the National Award-winning filmmaker was an experience of a lifetime. "He (Bhansali) creates a world with such passion, every single element in that world has love, passion and honesty in it. His direction is so musical, so rhythmic, may be because of his knowledge of music, art and dance. "He is a hard task master, he will challenge you, he keeps adding layers to your performance and watches it very minutely. At the end of the day, you are exhausted, but it's such a high because there is so much love you get eventually from everyone," she said. Mumbai: Amitabh Bachchan is currently busy shooting for YRFs Thugs Of Hindostan with Aamir Khan, Katrina Kaif and Fatima Sana Shaikh. Post this movie, Big B will start shooting for Nagraj Manjules Jhund, confirmed the megastar on his blog. Most of the day is spent in getting the spine and shoulder to be somewhat functional so that when work starts tomorrow and it starts at night till morning on Thugs Of Hindostan. There is some mobility for me to be able to perform, he wrote. So, this schedule lasts till mid-February and then on to the next film called Jhund in Hindi, which for those language challenged, means a bunch of people, he added, calling the film on a bunch of slum children. The people here are a bunch of slum kids who meet the guy who takes them from a life of misdeeds to one of responsible nature and character. A biography in a sense. It is the life of a living human who actually did this and its in Pune from. Yeah, as I said, mid-February, he concluded. Amitabh Bachchan has also been roped in for the trilogy Brahmastra directed by Ayan Mukerji. The movie stars Ranbir Kapoor and Alia Bhatt. Mumbai: The Juhu police on Thursday evening arrested city-based business Sarfaraz Mohammed (aka Aman Khanna) for allegedly harassing and stalking actor Zeenat Aman. The complaint has been registered under sections 304 D (stalking) and 509 (insulting modesty of a woman) of the Indian Penal Code. Also read: Unlucky in love and emotionally conned: Yet another man cheats Zeenat Aman The police said the two had known each other for a while, however, the relationship soured over some issues. After their break-up, Ms Aman stopped talking to Mohammed. But an irate and dejected Mohammed kept calling Ms Aman and following her. Also read: Zeenat Aman molestation complaint: Businessman claims they were in relationship After failing to convince Mohammed, the veteran actress approached the Juhu police and filed a complaint against him. He alleged that she registered a complaint against him because she did not want to return the money he asked for after the relationship turned sour. I was in love with her but she was not serious. I did not approve of her other male friends but she would never listen and continued to be with them, he said. Mumbai: Nana Patekar might not be seen much in Bollywood these days, but his presence is quite strong. The actor did voice-over for 2017s grosser Golmaal Again, and now he will be seen in the Marathi movie Aapla Maanus which happens to be Ajay Devgns venture into production for a Marathi film. The actor revealed to Mumbai Mirror that he had approached Deepika Padukone with a script, but he cannot go ahead with her anymore. When asked about plans to write and direct a love story with his son Malhar as your assistant, Nana said, Thats written and we will start work on it soon. Im not sure if I will act in it too. I had narrated the script to Deepika (Padukone) but since my female protagonist is 18-19 years old, she doesnt fit the part anymore. Further speaking about his sons career in acting, Nana added, I dont know, right now he is busy with production. He might produce my next. He is a really nice guy and Im really proud of him. Someday, he will direct a film too. Thrissur/ Thiruvananthapuram: An actress who was harassed by a co-passenger in the AC compartment of a train in the wee hours of Thursday was rescued by two Good Samaritans who were travelling in the next compartment. Actress Sanusha, who was travelling from Kannur to Thiruvananthapuram in the MangaloreThiruvanathapuram Maveli Express, said those in her compartment pretended to sleep while she raised her voice as the man reached out from the opposite berth and touched her lips while she was sleeping around 1.10 am. However, two persons in the next compartment screenwriter R. Unni and a man named Ranjith came to her rescue and alerted the railway police. The incident happened a few minutes after the train left Shornur. The accused Anto Bose, 40, a gold ornament manufacturer from Kanyakumari, was arrested by the railway police in Thrissur and slapped with IPC 354 for using criminal force with the intention to outrage the modesty of a woman. He was presented before the JFCM-3 court in Thrissur and remanded in judicial custody. The actress in her statement to Thrissur railway police said that around 1.10 a.m, she felt something moving on her face and as she woke up she found that the accused was moving his hands over her face. She turned the lights on, twisted the offenders arm and reprimanded him in a voice loud enough to attract the attention of the co-passengers. But they slept right through, according to her. Among them were also women, but no one even sat up to empathise with her, she told DC. Mr Unni called the TTR, who rang up the railway police officials, who arrived after some time. Anto eventually pleaded for mercy, but she said he will not be allowed to move until the police came. I have decided to go forward with the case and ensure that he is punished to deter other similar offenders, she said. After the incident, many shared how they had faced similar incidents. Most are afraid to speak up. I would be happy if this encourages more women to react to sexual harassment, she said. Railway officials told DC that women police personnel were deployed in local trains, not in express trains at night. Following the death of Soumya in a rape attempt on a train a few years ago, the railway officials had recommended that more police personnel should be deployed in women compartments between 4 p.m. and 12 midnight, including in local trains. Other recommendations included deployment of additional security personnel at stations, placing womens compartment either in the front or mid region of the train, displaying helpline numbers prominently in women compartments, educating engineering staff, guard and supportive staff on the safety aspects and ensuring internal link between women compartments and other bogies. Some of these have been implemented. Actor Nani is producing the film Awe, which is being directed by debutant Prashanth Varma. I met Prashanth when I was working on Ninnu Kori and liked his story. I told him to wait for some time to get a good producer, but finally decided to produce it myself. Many cautioned me about my decision to produce, but after this film, my respect towards all producers has gone high. Whatever I have earned till now, I am ready to put the same back into films, says Nani. The actor recently released the trailer of the film and invited bigwigs like Rajamouli, Anushka and others for the event. Regina, Kajal Aggarwal, Nithya Menen and Eesha Rebba are the four actresses working on this film. Nani adds that he wants to support innovative scripts. I turned producer to encourage new talent. So I decided to encourage Prashanth and his new subject, he says. According to experts, crabs boiled alive for eating can remain conscious for more than two minutes. (Photo: Pixabay) In a move of solidarity, more than 50 high profile campaigners and celebrities recently called for protection to stop lobsters and crabs being boiled alive for consumption. Wildlife presenter Chris Packham and comedian Bill Bailey are among those who have signed an open letter to Environment Secretary Michael Gove in the UK. According to the, there is clear scientific evidence that lobsters can feel pain, and call for the crustaceans to be classed as sentient creatures in a new Animal Welfare Bill. The letter says decapods, the group of crustaceans including lobsters and crabs, are crammed together in brightly lit tanks within restaurants. It states that there is no economic or culinary reason why decapods cannot be humanely dispatched, yet killing is sometimes preceded by breaking off the legs, head or tail, and is often accomplished by boiling alive. Switzerland last month banned the practice of boiling lobsters alive, stipulating that they must now be stunned before being killed. According to experts, crabs boiled alive for eating can remain conscious for more than two minutes. Furthermore, there is also evidence that crustaceans exposed to painful substances and mild injury rub the affected parts of their bodies, suggesting they are in pain. According to a story published in The Daily Mail, the letter states that these is a growing global unease about the extreme treatments these animals are routinely subjected to in the food industry. The letter, circulated by animal welfare organisation Crustacean Compassion is also signed by wildlife presenter Michaela Strachan, Dr Julia Wrathall, chief scientific officer for the RSPCA, and prominent neuroscientist Professor Anil Seth. ALAPPUZHA: Keralites, especially the communist followers, seem to be obsessed with Russian names like Lenin, Stalin, Krushchev, Brezhnev, Pushkin, Gagarin, Tereshkova and Pravda. A documentary about this phenomenon is being made by a Kerala origin American, Kavita Pillay, which will be released later this year. Kavita, who has roots in Thiruvananthapuram, is based in Ohio. She is a graduate of Tufts and Johns Hopkins and has studied film at the Prague Film School. She started the work on the documentary titled 'Stalin, Lenin and other tales from South India' in 2009 and has travelled to Kerala many times to conduct a research into the topic. She also interviewed many Keralites who embraced non-Indian names and the documentary profiles them. The idea of the documentary was born during her family trips to Kerala in her childhood and she was struck by the communist iconography and the prevalence of non-Indian names. The documentary says the caste discrimination played a role in making Russian names popular, though there are non-Russian, non-communist names too like Mussolini, Kennedy, Lincoln, Nixon and Hitler. "The communists have built monuments for martyrs and conduct annual observances, but still religion is strong in the social life of communist Kerala. The backward class people believe that by giving such names to their children they can reject the system that has denied them their rights. They hope their children would stand up against the system," she says. She has found that communism in Kerala is kept alive by capitalism. "Lakhs of Keralites go to the oil-rich countries in West Asia and send money back home. That's how communism works in Kerala," the documentary says. Kavita has received documentary-related grants and fellowships from the WGBH Boston Filmmaker in Residence programme, Fulbright Fellowship programme, Flaherty Film seminars, Sundance Institute and the Sundance Creative Producing Fellowship and Lab. Sukkanya Ramgopal has been consumed by rhythm as far back as she can remember. Refusing to be cowed down by the many rules of the Carnatic music tradition in Chennai, she began learning the mridangam and moved to the ghatam at age 15 through the benevolence of her gurus. Since then, she has emerged as Indias first woman ghatam player bringing the instrument, percussion and the rhythmic prowess of women to the fore. She talks to Ralph Alex Arakal about stereotypes, the beauty of percussion and her Ghata Tharang... Sukkanya Ramgopal's household was filled with the sights and sounds of Tamil classical culture, with a family full of trained musicians and scholars. Little Sukkanya fell in love with the damaru, a small, two-headed drum played like a rattle. She would covet these drums every year during pongal and Sukkanya learned to train it, along with her two sisters. As is customary in most conservative households in Chennai, Sukkanya began to learn Carnatic music. She would head out to the intitute for vocal training and violin lessons but as much as she loved music, neither of these seemed to fit right. Instead, she would strain to hear the sounds of the mridangam played in the room next door. One day, she mustered the courage to approach mridangam master,Hari Hari Sharma, who owned the Sri Jaya Ganesh Talavadya Vidyalaya in Chennai, requesting him to add her to his disciple list. "He agreed and took me in, without any gurudakshina. I performed my first katcheri when I was 15," she says. Sukkanya was soon accompanying a number of musicians on the mridangam but was intrigued beyond measure at the sight of T.H. Vikky Vinayakram play the ghatam. She approached him too, asking for training but to her disppointment, his response was "neither positive nor convincing." Fate intervened, however and Vidwan Vinayakram departed on a foreign tour as her first guru, also Vinayakram's father, took the leap and taught her how to play the ghatam as well. Nothing could stop her after and at the age of 15, Sukkanya set off to live her dreams. The audacity of a female ghatam player wasn't likely to sit too well with Chennai's conservative circles. Sukkanya Ramgopal took on a slew of stereotypes to make her presence felt and holds the significant distinction of being India's first female ghatam artist - "Even my ghatam can sing songs." Her audiences were thrilled to see a woman play the ghatam and Sukkanya found herself greetted with many a standing ovation and word of support. "It has given me a responsibility to better myself, improvise and innovate my performances," she says. The youngest of five children born into an orthodox Brahmin family, Sukkanya had two battles to confront: One outside and one at home. "My mother and sister were supportive of me taking ghatam lessons but my father was always concerned and reluctant about me taking on a percussionist's role. I was going against set norms! Deciding not not to contribute to a rise in his BP levels, I kept the ghatam classes to myself!" In 1980, Sukkanya moved to Bengaluru after she married former BHEL employee V. Ramgopal. Her loyalties to Chennai aren't easily forgotten, however and she believes her hometown to be best location for a musician. "Chennai might be the musical hub but Bengaluru has been catching up, playing host to numerous music and art festivals around Ram Navami, the Ganesha Utsava and the like." She might be a celebrated musician but the struggle of making it in a man's world is far from over. "Little has changed in people's attitudes towards percussionists, as they are seen as mere accompanying musicians. Many musicians, irrespective of gender, think twice before allowing the ghatam any stage space and I have been rejected at the last minute because of these prejudices," she says. These challenges have made her think, too, leading to innovation slike the Ghata Tharang, which she conceptualised herself. The Ghata Tharang is an exploration into the melodic aspects of the percussion instrument. With over five decades of finding beats and synchronizing with various genre of music, be it Carnatic, Hindustani, Western or fusion styles, she also popularised the instrument across the world performing by alongside the best of the industry in more than 10 countries. Overseas audience are more impressed with the rhythms of classical music and appreciate percussionists as much as or more than melodists. That the ghatam could sing was a revelation to them, she says. Also the winner of the prestigious 2017 TTK Award constituted by the Madras Music Academy, her book, Sunaadam contains fundamental lessons for learners, in four major thalas Adi, Rupaka, Misra Chapu and Khanda Chapu. Learning from more than five stalwarts of the industry and being a guru herself to more than 15 aspiring percussionists, Sukkanya is concerned that only one of her students is female. With that being a start and other such artists being encouraged all around, even though minimal, she looks at herself as a student more than a guru anytime. Honoured with the Sangeet Natak Akademi Awardee in 2014 for her contribution to Carnatic Instrumental Music, Mrs Ramgopal has also been instrumental in setting up an all-women ensemble named Stree Tal Tarang (STT) in 1995 with the basic objective of encouraging more female percussionists to follow their aspirations breaking patriarchal stereotypes. The STT will have their biggest ever performance with nine artists on stage together while they improvise cinematic songs on March 8 at Rasika Ranjana Sabha, Trichy as part of their International Womens Day celebrations. 23-year-old man Delhi photographer, Ankit was stabbed to death by the family of his Muslim girlfriend in Delhi on Thursday night. (Photo: Twitter | @Fatima_Arya) New Delhi: A 23-year-old man, who was working as a photographer, was stabbed to death by the family of his Muslim girlfriend in Delhi on Thursday night in full public view. The woman's mother, father and uncle have been arrested, according to an NDTV report. The man, Ankit, had been dating the 20-year-old woman for the past three years, against the wishes of her family, according to the police. Around 9 pm on Thursday night, Ankit was on his way home from work when he was attacked by his girlfriend's parents, uncle and brother in West Delhis Khyala area. At a crossing not far from Ankit's home, they allegedly beat him before slashing him with a sharp weapon. Ankit's mother reportedly ran out of her home on being alerted by people, and saw her son being stabbed. The woman's underage brother, who had also attacked him, is missing. According to a report in The Indian Express, DCP (West) Vijay Singh said three of the accused from the family have been apprehended. The fourth accused is a minor and is yet to be traced. The police have shifted the body of the deceased to a local hospital where his postmortem is underway. The woman is a second year student in a correspondence course. She had become close to Ankit when they were neighbours a few years ago. She continued the relationship even after her family moved away, said the police. "During the investigation, we found that they caught and stabbed Ankit in the neck. The woman's family was against their relationship as they belonged to different communities and had warned Ankit against associating with her," the senior police official said. The police have registered a case of murder at Khyala Police station and the questioning of the accused is underway. Basanthapu Ramyasri, 15, died, while her friend, Rakonda Gayatri, is undergoing treatment. Hyderabad: A Class 10 girl student was mowed down by a speeding car in the school premises in Mahabubnagar district on Thursday. Basanthapu Ramyasri, 15, died, while her friend, Rakonda Gayatri, is undergoing treatment. Her condition is said to be critical. Akshara High School is located in Jadcherla town and is operating from a rented building. On Thursday, the students were returning to their classes after the assembly. School correspondent Murali noticed a car blocking their way and wanted to move it to a different place. While moving the car, instead of applying the brake, he inadvertently pressed the accelerator pedal and the car hit the students. We were walking to the classroom when we saw the car suddenly headed towards us, said a student. Everything happened in a second and we found kids in a pool of blood crying for help, an eyewitnesses said. Jakkula Balaraju, Jadcherla SI, said that Murali had a valid driving licence. A case of accidental death is registered against Murali, he said. It is likely that the murder could be related to the rare cosmic occurence of super blue blood moon on Wednesday. (Representational Image) Hyderabad: A three-month-old infants head was cut off from the body and was thrown on the terrace of an independent house on Wednesday night. The police suspect that the toddler might have been killed on the occasion of super blue blood moon. The severed head of an infant was found on the terrace of a house in Chilkanagar, owned by Rajashekar Goud, an Uber driver, said Dr Tarun Joshi, joint commissioner of police, Rachakonda,. It is likely that the murder could be related to the rare cosmic occurence of super blue blood moon on Wednesday. We have gathered some clues, said the joint commissioner. On Thursday morning, Gouds mother-in-law went to the terrace of the single-storied house and noticed the head of an infant, said the official. The baby might be aged three months old. The house has been cordoned off, said P. Venkateswarlu, inspector of Uppal. According to Rajashekar Goud, who called the cops, the incident might have happened on Wednesday night after 2 am. We closed our doors around 12.30 am on Wednesday. A few months ago, someone had left lemons and turmeric powder inside the premises of the house on a lunar eclipse day. KOZHIKODE: The nomads and beggars, especially women, are at the receiving end in the wake of the reports about black stickers appearing on windows of houses and child trafficking gangs operating in the state. Some nomads were beaten up by locals in Malabar on three occasions recently suspecting them to be child lifters. Though the reports were false, the attacks have continued. On Wednesday, two gypsy women, who came in an autorickshaw at Seethamgoli near Kumbala, were stopped by a mob, alleging that they were child lifters. The police found that the women were poor residents of Bengaluru who had come to Kerala in search of jobs. They had started begging to make a living and were mistaken by the locals as 'child lifters'. A few weeks ago, a Tamil woman was similarly stopped by the locals at Alampadi, and she was later rescued by the police. She was also found innocent. The women who go out begging with their kids are also facing similar threats, including racist attacks against their complexion. Women's Commission chairperson M.C. Josephine said there was a belief that all the beggars are part of a mafia and that the kids they carry do not belong to them. "There is a misconception that a dark-complexioned person cannot have a fair-complexioned baby. There are instances where these poor women who come with their kids are attacked. Migrant women also deserve justice. The commission will discuss the matter and initiate separate cells for them," she added. Bhopal: Congress MLA Hemant Katare, a loyalist of partys heavyweight and Guna MP Jyotiraditya Scindia, has been booked for rape and illegal confinement of a girl following a complaint by the alleged victim. The development comes in the wake of the seizure of the mobile phone of the legislator on late Thursday night. The alleged victim, who is currently in judicial custody for allegedly trying to blackmail the legislator, lodged the complaint at the womens police station. The legislators phone, that was seized, established his link with the alleged victim, a police officer said on condition of anonymity. I have been raped many times by the MLA. I have also been raped in a running car in Bhopal, the girl alleged, also accusing a woman police officer of framing her in a false case. This development is a culmination of an issue that surfaced earlier when the alleged victim, a journalism student, was seen in a video accusing the Congress leader of sexually exploiting her. Hyderabad: The Hyderabad High Court on Thursday told Telangana state and AP governments to prepare for a hearing if they do not find an amicable solution to the distribution of employees of power utilities between themselves. A division bench comprising Justice C.V. Nagarjuna Reddy and Justice M.S.K. Jaiswal was dealing with the case of 1,200 electricity employees challenging their allocation to AP by the TS government. Earlier the bench, in an effort to give a final conclusion to the dispute, directed both governments to invite options from 1,200 employees. Mr Krishna Prakash, counsel for AP, submitted that out of 1,200 employees 596 had opted for AP and 501 for Telangana state 22 were yet to give their options. He urged the court to grant two weeks to settle the issue. While agreeing, the bench said if the issue was not resolved the governments should prepare for the arguments. The avalanche struck two days after a government agency issued 24-hour avalanche warning for several districts of Jammu and Kashmir. (Photo: File) Srinagar: Three Army jawans died and another was injured when swept by an avalanche at Machil sector along the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmirs Kupwara district on Friday. The police and Army sources said a forward post of the Armys 21 Rajput at Sona Pindi Gali in Machil sector was hit by an avalanche at around 4:30 pm. Four soldiers were swept by the avalanche and a rescue operation was quickly started, the sources said. However, one soldier was found dead beneath moulds of snow by the rescuers whereas two others succumbed while being taken to the Armys 92-Base Hospital in Srinagars Badami Bagh Cantonment, the sources said. The deceased have been identified as Havaldar Kamlesh Kumar, Naik Balbeer and Sepoy Rajinder. The condition of the injured soldier Sepoy Bipin is stated to be stable. The incident occurred two days after the Jammu and Kashmir authorities had on the basis of a report received from the Snow and Avalanche Study Establishment (SASE) issued a medium danger avalanche warning of level-3 for higher reaches of Baramulla district and low danger warning of level-2 in Kupwara, Bandipore, Shopian and Kargil districts of the State. Also, a low danger warning of level-1 was issued for Poonch, Rajouri, Reasi, Ramban, Doda, Kishtwar, Udhampur, Anantnag, Kulgam, Budgam, Ganderbal and Leh district. The people living in higher reaches of these districts had been asked to avoid movement in the avalanche-prone areas and slopes. On January 18, a Swedish skier identified by his first name Daniel was killed while another was rescued in injured condition by police and tourism officials after an avalanche struck Kashmirs primer ski resort of Gulmarg, 54-km west of summer capital Srinagar. Earlier on January 6, eleven persons including a junior engineer of Border Roads Organization (BRO)s BEACON project were killed and two others wounded when swept by three successive avalanches in along Sadhna Top mountain pass in Kupwara. Five soldiers died after being swept in avalanches or caught in snow storms at different locations in Kupwara and neighbouring Bandipore district in second week of December 2017. Troops of India and China were locked in a 73-day-long standoff in Doklam last year after the Indian troops stopped construction of a road in the disputed area by the Chinese Army. (Photo: PTI/Representational) New Delhi: To ensure faster movement of troops in Tawang, a strategically located town in Arunachal Pradesh bordering China, the government plans to build a tunnel at an elevation of 13,700 feet. The tunnel will go through the Sela Pass, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley announced on Thursday while presenting the Union Budget. Jaitley said the government was developing connectivity infrastructure in border areas to secure the country's defence. Also Read: Rs 2.95 lakh crore allocated for defence budget for 2018-19 "Rohtang tunnel has been completed to provide all weather connectivity to the Ladakh region. Contract for construction of Zozila Pass tunnel of more than 14 kilometres is progressing well. I now propose to take up construction of tunnel under Sela Pass," Jaitley said. The proposal to build the Sela Pass comes amid concerns over Beijing's growing assertiveness along the nearly 4,000 km-long China-India border. The Sela Pass is located between the Tawang and West Kameng districts of Arunachal Pradesh and considered crucial from strategic perspective. Troops of India and China were locked in a 73-day-long standoff in Doklam last year after the Indian troops stopped construction of a road in the disputed area by the Chinese Army. Bhutan and China have a dispute over Doklam. The face- off ended on August 28. The Indian Army has been pressing for speedy development of infrastructure along the border with China. Army Chief General Bipin Rawat in Januray had said that the time has come for India to shift focus from its border with Pakistan to that with China. He had also said that the army was focusing on improving border infrastructure to ensure speedy movement of ammunition and troops. In 2005, the Delhi High Court quashed all charges against the accused people in the politically-sensitive Rs 64 crore Bofors pay-off case. (Photo: MoD | File) New Delhi: The CBI on Friday filed a petition in the Supreme Court challenging a 2005 order of the Delhi High Court quashing all charges against accused persons in the politically sensitive Bofors pay-off case. The filing of the appeal assumes significance as Attorney General KK Venugopal had recently advised the agency against moving a petition against the high court verdict after a delay of 12 years. Sources, however, said that after consultations, law officers were in favour of the appeal as the CBI came out with "some important documents and evidence" to challenge the high court order. The Central Bureau of Investigation filed the appeal against the May 31, 2005 decision of the high court by which all accused, including Europe-based industrialists Hinduja brothers, were discharged from the Rs 64-crore pay-off case. Earlier, the attorney general had advised the CBI to make out a case as a respondent in the petition filed by BJP leader Ajay Agarwal, who had challenged the 2005 high court order after the agency had failed to file a special leave petition (appeal) within the mandatory limitation period of 90 days. Also Read: Explain your locus in filing appeal in 'sensitive' Bofors case: SC to BJP leader Agarwal, who contested the 2014 Lok Sabha election from Rae Bareli against the then Congress president Sonia Gandhi, has been pursuing the case for over a decade in the apex court. Justice RS Sodhi (since retired) of the Delhi High Court on May 31, 2005, had quashed the CBI case in the Bofors pay-off scam. Before this, another judge of the high court, retired Justice JD Kapoor, had on February 4, 2004, exonerated late prime minister Rajiv Gandhi in the case and directed the framing of charge of forgery under section 465 of the Indian Penal Code against Bofors company. The Rs 1,437-crore deal between India and Swedish arms manufacturer AB Bofors for the supply of 400 155mm howitzer guns for the Indian Army was entered into on March 24, 1986. Swedish Radio on April 16, 1987, had claimed that the company had paid bribes to top Indian politicians and defence personnel. The CBI on January 22, 1990 had registered the FIR for alleged offences of criminal conspiracy, cheating and forgery under the IPC and other sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act against Martin Ardbo, the then president of AB Bofors, alleged middleman Win Chadda and the Hinduja brothers. It had alleged that certain public servants and private persons in India and abroad had entered into a criminal conspiracy between 1982 and 1987 in pursuance of which the offences of bribery, corruption, cheating and forgery were committed. The first charge sheet in the case was filed on October 22, 1999, against Chadda, Ottavio Quattrocchi, the then defence secretary SK Bhatnagar, Ardbo and the Bofors company. A supplementary charge sheet was filed against the Hinduja brothers on October 9, 2000. A special CBI court in Delhi on March 4, 2011, had discharged Quattrocchi from the case saying the country could not afford to spend hard-earned money on his extradition which had already cost Rs 250 crore. Quattrocchi, who had fled from here on July 29-30, 1993, never appeared before any court in India to face prosecution. He passed away on July 13, 2013. The other accused persons who died were Bhatnagar, Chadda and Ardbo. However, Manmohan said that he did not blame the budget for 'being motivated by scoring points in elections'. (Photo: PTI/File) New Delhi: Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday said that he was "worried" about the "fiscal arithmetic" of the Union budget terming that the fiscal arithmetic could be at fault. Opposition tore into Prime Minister Narendra Modi government's last full Budget before the 2019 elections presented on Thursday, with most voicing concerns over the mounting fiscal deficit. The main focus of the budget was agriculture and rural sector with little for the middle class. Also Read: Union Budget 2018: Key highlights Reacting to Jaitley's budget, Manmohan Singh said the "fiscal arithmetic is at fault," adding that "reform budget was a much misused word", according to a report in NDTV. However, he said that he did not blame the budget for "being motivated by scoring points in elections". Opposition parties have called the budget as "election budget" terming it as a complete failure of the Modi government. Senior Congress leader and former finance minister P Chidambaram too spoke on the same lines. "The Finance Minister has failed fiscal consolidation test, this failure will have serious consequences," he said. Also Read: Budget 2018: Chidambaram says Jaitley failed, consequences will follow Presenting the budget, the minister said that demonetisation was an 'Ockhi' on the economy. (Photo: PTI/File) Thiruvanathapuram: Finance Minister Thomas Issac presented the LDF governments state budget in the Kerala Assembly on Thursday. Presenting the budget, the minister said that demonetisation was an 'Ockhi' (cyclone) on the economy. "End consumers are not getting the actual benefits of GST as corporates are making the most out of this," he said. Kerala Budget 2018 comes at a time when the state is reeling under a severe financial crisis. Fulfilling the promise of a women-friendly budget, Issac announced Rs 1267 crore for women-safety projects in the state. He also announced special emolument for single mothers. He said that lawyers, judiciary and police were all stakeholders in ensuring womens welfare, safety and should work together for initiatives such as crime mapping. The state government allocated Rs 1685 crore for public health services. The govt proposed the introduction of Uber-type ambulance services across the state. The goverment allocated Rs 80 crore towards welfare of NRIs and Rs 16 crore for those stuck in difficult or perilous situations in foreign countries. The finance minister also announced a Rs 2000-crore package for coastal area development as a relief from the destruction caused by Cyclone Ockhi. The government increased tax on alcohol in the state. The tax on Indian-Made Foreign Liquor costing over Rs 400 has been increased 200 per cent in the budget. The state currently receives an annual revenue of Rs 12,000 crore from liquor sales. Kochi: Cochin University of Science and Technology (Cusat) vice-chancellor Dr J. Letha on Thursday constituted a three-member committee to probe into the allegation of forcing non-veg students of Cochin University College of Engineering Kuttanad (CUCEK) to eat beef cutlet at a function on the campus last month. She issued the order after another round of talks the VC had with the agitating North Indian students on Thursday. Cusat Syndicate member Dr M. K. Jayaraj will head the committee which has School of Engineering former principal Dr G. Madhu and fire and safety department professor Dr T. K. Sahoo as members. The students are understood to have accepted the decision of the VC, and they will hold talks with teachers of the CUCEK Pulinkunnu campus on returning on Friday. The VC stuck to her stand that any action against the principal N. Sunil Kumar was possible only on the basis of the panels report. The VC said that she hoped to reopen the campus next week. The VC accepted the demand of students that students who could not appear for the internal exams be allowed to do it. She also agreed to their demand that the internals should be stopped for the time being. The students belonging to the Pulinkunnu campus and a section from the main campus held forte till noon in front the main gate of Cusat on Thursday following which they were again called for talks by the VC around noon. Police arrest CPM activists, when they were protesting against the Union Budget at Besant Road in Vijayawada on Thursday (Photo: DC) Vijayawada: Wtih no special package or funds allocated to Andhra Pradesh in the Union Budget presented in the Parliament on Thursday, people in Vijayawada were disappointed. G. Umakanth, a private employee, said, Why is the Centre neglecting AP? As polls are round the corner in Karnataka, metro rail project has been sanctioned for that state but no allocation was made for Amaravati Metro rail. There is no clarity regarding Polavaram, Capital building, revenue deficit from them. It would be better if petrol is taken under the purview of GST. A homemaker, L. Prameela, said: Previously, people used to know about rise or fall in price through Budget. Now, there is no such thing as GST is applicable on all products. All the prices have risen and the government is not able to check them. What is the use of Budget then? S. Chinna, a farmer in the city, said: The minimum support price policy is good. The authorities promised to give 150 pc price. We need not worry if it is implemented strictly. But it is the middlemen who procure foodgrains from us. The middlemen are the most influential in the market. They should be removed from the system. Else, the benefits of MSP will be in their pockets, instead of us. Vakkalagadda Bhaskar Rao, president, Vijayawada Chamber of Commerce & Industry, said Budget 2018-19 has disappointed the trade and industries sector. No encouragement has been given for the industries despite not according special status to the state. There is no action plan to revive sick industries, he said. Not increasing the individual income tax limit is also not a good sign, he added. Dr Suresh, convener, Prajarogya Vedika, said: The government allotted only Rs 5,447 crore to rural health. However, the finance minister announced Ayushman Bharat, under which 10 crore families will get health insurance, each of `5 lakh. Instead of funding the rural hospitals, the government is benefitting corporate hospitals through insurance policy, he said. HAQ, Centre for Child Rights, said: Despite inclusion of new schemes in the list, there is a fall in the overall share for children in 2018-19 Budget. Surya Kumar Shukla, a 1982 batch officer of the UP cadre, allegedly raised his hand to pledge with others for the 'early construction of Ram temple in Ayodhya' on Jan 28. (Photo: Screengrab) Lucknow: A senior Uttar Pradesh police officer has landed in controversy for pledging for the early construction of Ram temple in Ayodhya. In a video being widely shared, the director general (home guards), Surya Kumar Shukla, a 1982 batch officer of the UP cadre, allegedly raised his hand to pledge with others for the early construction of Ram temple in Ayodhya on January 28. Shukla was attending an event organised by Akhil Bharatiya Samagra Vichar Manch at the Lucknow University campus. The video of the pledge has surfaced and is being shared widely on social media. "Hum sab Ram-bhakt, aaj ke karyakram ke dauraan, yeh sankalp letey hain, ki jald se jald Ram mandir ka bhavya nirman ho. (We, Ram bhakts, in this programme, pledge that a grand Ram temple will be built soonest. Jai Sri Ram)," said Shukla and others in unison. Shukla, wearing a grey blazer, is seen in the video standing to the left of the man who administered the pledge. Shukla and others, in unison, are seen saying in the video: (We all Ram-devotees, during this event, pledge for early construction of the Ram temple). "Shukla is a public servant, and he is not supposed to take such a pledge at a public function," said Samajwadi Party spokesperson Rajendra Chaudhary. The Yogi Adityanath government is learnt to have sought a report on the incident and the state home department has asked Shukla, who is due to retire next year, for an explanation. Shukla admitted to participating in the event and taking the pledge, but said his words were misinterpreted. "I was taking a pledge to create an atmosphere of harmony. The video that has gone viral is an edited version and portions have been deleted deliberately to create mischief," the senior officer said, adding, "The matter related more to creating a peaceful environment for the construction of the temple rather than construction itself." Speaking to the news agency ANI, Shukla said: "I had clearly said Ram Mandir issue is sub-judice, it wont be appropriate to speak on it. The pledge was for communal harmony and not Ram Mandir." The event was held in the auditorium of the department of public administration, Lucknow University, and was titled Ram Mandir nirmaan: Samasya evam samadhaan (Ram temple construction: Problem and solution). The partners in the event were Rashtriya Muslim Manch, Bhagwa Raksha Vahini, Sanatan Mahasabha, Bajrangbali Samajik Seva Samiti, Karyasevak Muslim Manch and Bhrashtachar Mukti Andolan. The event in Lucknow was held days before a three-judge Supreme Court bench headed by the Chief Justice of India starts final hearings to decide whether a temple to Lord Ram can be built in Ayodhya at the site where the Babri Masjid was razed in 1992. The court has said it will hold daily hearings from February 8 on petitions challenging a 2010 high court verdict on the Ayodhya title suit. The Allahabad High Court had divided the disputed site in three parts -- one each for Hindu group Nirmohi Akhara, the Ram Lalla or infant Lord Ram represented by the Hindu Mahasabha, and the Sunni Waqf Board which handles properties owned by Sunni Muslims. Bengaluru: In a setback for the state government, its transfer for three deputy commissioners, including the controversial shunting of Hassan Deputy Commissioner Rohini Sindhuri out of the district, has been struck down with the Election Commission of India (ECI) insisting that district magistrates involved in revision of electoral rolls cannot be shifted till the completion of the exercise. Speaking to reporters here at the end of a two-day visit to Karnataka to consult all stakeholders in preparation for the coming Assembly elections on Thursday, Chief Election Commissioner, Om Prakash Rawat said its advice on the transfer of the Deputy Commissioners, who served as district magistrates during the revisions of electoral rolls, would be binding on the state government. But once the model code of conduct was declared for the elections, the state government must transfer the officers with three years service in once place, he clarified. Mr. Rawat said all political parties were in favour of a one phase election and one day polling. The political parties have also suggested an election schedule, but the commission will take an appropriate decision on this considering the previous elections in Karnataka, he added. While admitting that political parties had raised doubts about the use of EVMs and VVPAT for the elections, he ruled out the possibility of replacing them with ballot papers and announced that upgraded M-2 and M-3 EVM machines would be used for the polls this time . The officer revealed that the final publication of electoral rolls would be on February 28. As many as 23 lakh applications have been received and action is being taken to verify them, he said. But for service electors, the final electoral roll was published on January 30. The state had 56,994 polling stations , but their number could increase if the number of voters rose, he explained. Hyderabad: Andhra Pradesh had expected the Union Budget this year to be unlike other budgets. The state has lined up a slew of infrastructure projects and a new capital to be built for which it had pinned hopes on getting commensurate financial assistance from the Centre this time. But a huge disappointment it got from the Union finance minister Arun Jaitelys Budget on Thursday. The TD is highly disappointed at the snub and in the mood to make its displeasure known to the Centre. Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Thursday expressed his unhappiness over the Budget allocations to the state. Soon after the Budget presentation, Naidu held a tele-conference with party MPs and instructed them to put pressure on the Central government in Parliament over the injustice done to Andhra Pradesh. The state government had expected a lot from the Budget but the allocation was just for the Central and tribal universities, with the fund allocation for these also being very poor. The Centre has allotted Rs 10 crore to each university. No funds were allotted to various national institutions set up in AP which are running out of private and temporary accommodations. More importantly, the Central government did not allot any funds for Metro Rail projects in Vijayawada and Visakhapatnam, when Bangalore Metro Rail project was allotted a massive Rs 17,000 crore. No funds have been allotted for the construction of APs capital city Amaravati. The Central government is still to release Rs 1,000 crore balance funds to the state, but was not mentioned in the Budget. The Polavaram project is being financed through off-budget allocations. So in effect, the Central government did not allot any funds for Polavaram. Besides, in the recent meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Naidu had specifically asked for sanction for the Duggirajupatnam port in Nellore district as assured in the AP Reorganisation Act. That too was ignored in the Budget. Also, industrial corridors in some other states have been allotted funds, but APs Vizag-Chennai industrial corridor did not find favour in the Budget. There was no mention either of the establishment of an integrated steel plant at Kadapa, the Grey Hounds training centre and many other initiatives that had given assurance of financial assistance in the AP Reorganisation Act. In lieu of Special Status to AP, the Central government had announced special financial package but funds for it were not allotted in the Budget. Edappadi K. Palaniswami has commended the Union Budget saying Jaitleys first budget post-GST is fairly balanced, growth-oriented that focuses on development of agriculture, rural development and health sector. CHENNAI: Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami has commended the Union Budget saying Jaitleys first budget post-GST is fairly balanced, growth-oriented that focuses on development of agriculture, rural development and health sector. Pointing out that it is the last full budget for the current government at the Centre, Mr Palaniswami said, We welcome the decision to give a big push to agricultural and allied sector. Enhancement of the minimum support price for all crops to cover at least 1.5 times that of the production cost will benefit the farmers in a big way. However implementing this is a big challenge. The constitution of the Fisheries & Aquaculture Infrastructure Development Fund and Animal Husbandry Infrastructure Development Fund with a total corpus of Rs 10,000 crore will provide a significant impetus to the agriculture and allied sector. I hope that these funds will be operationalised immediately, along with the Micro Irrigation Fund and Dairy development Fund, which were announced in last budget, the CM said and appreciated the launching of Operation Green with initial allocation of `500 crore and Bamboo Development Fund with allocation of Rs 1,290 crore. While welcoming the proposed liberalisation of exports of agricultural commodities, he expressed the hope that Tamil Nadu will benefit from the Mega Food Parks scheme that the Union Finance Minister alluded to in his speech. Doubling the allocation to the agro processing industry will bring more stability and enhance farmers income, he said and added overall there are many initiatives in the agricultural sector, which will benefit the farming community. He however noted that the Budget has left out Chennai, which is expanding faster and needs strengthening of its suburban train system. The expectations of the MSME are far greater and they need to be supported more. On the standard deduction of `40,000 for salaried, he expressed we feel that this falls short of the expectations of the public. Noting that the budget should give a boost to increase investment, generate more jobs, he exuded hope that this budget will bring fiscal stability to the country and accelerate economic growth. The TD is highly disappointed at the snub and is in the mood to make its displeasure known to the Centre. (Photo: File) Hyderabad: A "frustrated" Chandrababu Naidu-led Telugu Desam Party after the Union Budget presentation on Thursday called for an "emergency meeting" with party leaders on Sunday. BJP's biggest ally in the south, TDP expressed its unhappiness over the Budget allocations to the state. The state had lined up a slew of infrastructure projects and a new capital to be built for which it had pinned hopes on getting commensurate financial assistance from the Centre this time. The TDP is highly disappointed at the snub and is in the mood to make its displeasure known to the Centre. Union Budget 2018: Andhra Pradesh CM frustrated, to discuss with MPs Soon after the Budget presentation, Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu held a tele-conference with party MPs and instructed them to put pressure on the Central government in Parliament over the injustice done to Andhra Pradesh. "We are going to declare war. We have three options - one is to try and continue, two is our MPs resign and the third is to end the alliance. We will decide in the meeting with the chief minister on Sunday," TDP parliamentarian TG Venkatesh told media. The chief minister said that he was highly disappointed with the Governement at the Centre, stating that no funds were alloted for various institutions and projects in the state and also for the construction of APs capital city Amaravati. He said that various issues including the Polavaram project and the Duggirajupatnam port in Nellore district were ignored in the Budget. In lieu of Special Status to AP, the Central government had announced special financial package but funds for it were also not allotted in the Budget. Chandrababu Naidu had last week hinted at breaking alliance with the BJP. Addressing a press conference in Amaravati at state secretariat, Naidu said, "If the BJP does not want to continue alliance then the TDP will on its own." Also Read: Will go our own way if alliance not needed: Chandrababu Naidu warns BJP The allotment was increased less than 4% (`3,142 crores) compared to the revised estimate of current financial year. CHENNAI: The central government, which has marginally increased budgetary allocation for the education sector to Rs 85,010 crore in 2018-19 budget has attracted criticism from the educationists for lack of vision in improving the quality of a school and higher education in the country. Finance minister Arun Jaitley has announced a mega scheme for building infrastructure in educational institutions to the tune of `1 lakh crore, which will be invested in the course of next four years and 1000 scholarships for B. Tech students in the budget. But, the allotment was increased less than 4% (`3,142 crores) compared to the revised estimate of current financial year. There is nothing new in this budget. There are a few announcements like 24 new medical colleges and Navodaya pattern schools for tribal children. There is no investment made for any structural reforms in education, said Professor Krishna Kumar, former director of NCERT. The amount of money being offered for SSA was almost the same as last year. It is disappointing as implementing the Right to Education act requires considerable additional funds from the centre, especially in northern states where we are quite bad. In the context of our rural schools, we have multiple problems like maintenance, the appointment of teachers. But the budget doesnt even recognise or acknowledge issues of RTE which requires more support from the centre, he pointed out. He further said the allocation of funds for teacher training is inadequate where there is the shortage of trained teachers and working teachers quality has to be greatly improved, he added. On higher education, he said, There is no attempt to recognise the crisis in public universities. UGC funds were cut last year and there is no attempt to compensate that cut. Anna Universitys former Vice-Chancellor E. Balagurusamy has called for a relook in the fund's allotment to the education sector in the budget. The allotment of `35,000 crore to higher education is very low. In our country, higher education quality is very poor as the universities are lacking basic infrastructures like laboratories and classrooms. The allocation has to be increased at least three times more for improving higher education, he said. He further said 1000 scholarships for B. Tech students will not make any improvement as the number is very small. There is no vision to convert our universities into world-class universities. The quality of school education and higher education is very bad throughout the country. The education was completely neglected in the budget, he stressed. However, IIT Kanpur former chairman M. Ananthakrishnan said the central government has not neglected education in the budget. They have announced a new scheme to the tune of `1.2 lakh crore to improve the infrastructure at educational institutions. There are other schemes like scholarships to B. Tech students, which improve the research, he said. Senior educationist S.S. Rajagopalan said, the RTE Act came into effect seven years ago. But the act is yet to be fully implemented. There is no major announcement regarding education in this budget. Hyderabad: Irrigation minister T. Harish Rao on Friday lashed out at the central government for presenting a disappointing Budget, which would not serve any purpose. Speaking at a public meeting at Nallavagu in Sangareddy district, he said the funds allocated for irrigation, agriculture and farmers in the Union Budget were discouraging. The people of Telangana state pay huge taxes to the Centre. Its the responsibility of the Centre to remain accountable to them, he said. He said GDP was not about calculating on papers sitting in Delhi. The real GDP is about seeing happiness in the eyes of farmers and people in remote villages. The Centre denies assistance to states on the pretext of their good GDP growth. They calculate GDP on papers sitting in Delhi, which is not correct, he said. Mr Rao alleged that the Union Budget was against the interests of farmers. He demanded that the Centre give priority to the irrigation sector and allocate more funds. Earlier, the minister launched three pump stations at Singur project for Mission Bhagiratha. Mr Harish Rao said that efforts are being made to supply water from the project to all districts by July 15. Medak, Sangareddy and Nizamabad districts would soon receive safe and purified drinking water through taps in each household with the installation of the pumps, he said. Hyderabad: In a major setback to the Telangana state government and its power utilities, the High Court on Friday set aside the allocation orders issued by the TS Southern Power Distribution Company Limited (TSSPDCL), allocating more than 1,200 employees working in TS Transco, TS Genco and TSNPDCL, to Andhra Pradesh, based on their nativity. A division bench of Justice C.V. Nagarjuna Reddy and Justice M.S.K. Jaiswal dismissed the appeal by the TS government and TSSPDCL and declared the staff allocation to AP unconstitutional. HC: Nativity-based transfers void The bench declared that the Rules framed by TSSPDCL for allocation and as adopted by other utilities, was illegal, null and void ab initio. Referring to the judgement of the Supreme Court quashing an Act which was made in 1957 to provide special concessions to the people of Telangana in employment, the bench ruled that the very basis of discriminating of employees based upon their nativity and place of birth was illegal and unconstitutional and violated Articles 14 and 16 of the Constitution of India. The bench directed that all the employees who were allocated to Andhra Pradesh based on the Rules should be allowed to work in TS power utilities with continuity of service, salaries, and all increments due to them. The bench directed that the Telangana government shall reimburse to the AP government any salaries that may have been paid by it pursuant to the earlier interim directions of the High Court. The bench directed the transmission and power generation companies of both states, and both state governments, to work out mo-dalities with the existing joint committee or to constitute fresh committee and finalise modalities without reference to the nativity of employees, within two months, and complete the entire allocation within four months from today. The bench directed the TS government and its power utilities to ensure that there will not be any discrimination towards employees of AP till the process for division is completed. The case of the petitioners was that in April 2015, TSSPDCL issued orders allocating more than 1,200 employees (engineers) in different cadres in power utilities of TS to AP. Aggrieved by this, they had moved the HC and a single judge had stayed the allocation and directed that the employees be allowed to continue in service and salaries be paid to them. Deputy chairman P.J. Kurien conducts the proceedings as Rajya Sabha members protest over communal clashes at Kasganj, on Friday. (Photo: PTI) Lucknow: The family of Chandan Gupta, who was killed in Kasganj during the Republic Day riots, has reportedly been threatened by some elements. Chandans father, Sushil Gupta, told reporters on Friday that some people came to his house on motorbikes and told him not to go deep in to the case of his sons murder. They said that some have gone to jail but others are still outside. This enmity can cost you more, they said. Gupta said he feared a threat to his family and requested Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath to provide him with security. Reacting to Guptas plea, ADG (law and order) Anand Kumar said that he had asked the local police officials to immediately contact Chandans family and provide security. Later, security was deployed at Mr Guptas house. It may be recalled that Salim, the main accused in the murder of Chandan Gupta has already been arrested but his two brothers Waseem and Naseem, also wanted for the same crime, are absconding. Teenagers are not inclined to take up agriculture as a profession despite the initiatives taken by the governments of the two Telugu states to instil confidence in the farming community. HYDERABAD: Teenagers are not inclined to take up agriculture as a profession despite the initiatives taken by the governments of the two Telugu states to instil confidence in the farming community. Even those whose families have been into agriculture for generations prefer opting out. As part of the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER), a survey has been regularly done for the last eight years, New Delhi-based Pratham organisation spoke to 35,000 rural teenagers in Nizamabad (TS), Srikakulam (AP) and 24 other districts nationwide in the age group of 14-18 years. Asked about their ambitions, not even one per cent expressed any interest in agriculture. Instead they spoke about wanting to work in the Army, police or even get a job in a private organisation. According to Prathams Nazmal Shaikh, survey teams spoke to more than 1,000 teenagers each in the two Telugu districts. Not even one out of the 100 youth wanted to pursue farming or agriculture for a living. Mr Kiran Kumar Vissa of Rythu Swarajya Vedika said that this situation could be attributed to the governments attitude towards agriculture for the last several decades. Those in power only focused on increasing productivity in agriculture, but never bothered to ensure financial security of the farmers. As a result, the next generation of farmers is definitely not looking at farming as an occupation. Even 30 to 40 per cent young farmers are not happy and are shifting to new occupations, he said. It may be mentioned here that various schemes and initiatives like loan waiver, continuous power supply, subsidised seeds and fertilisers and minimum support price for a few crops are being extended to farmers in the two Telugu states. Hyderabad: Mr Venkateswarlu, circle inspector of Nalgonda II town police station, is missing since Friday morning. He was the investigating officer in two sensational murder cases in the town, including that of MLA Komatireddy Venkatreddys close aide and Congress leader Boddu Srinivas and that of Palakuri Ramesh, who was killed and beheaded. The Nalgonda police said that teams have been formed to trace him. Pressure from higher-ups seems to be the reason behind the police officers vanishing act, without informing his wife in Hyderabad. On Friday morning, Venkateswarlu asked his driver to go to the station with his official vehicle. He deposited his weapon in the station and walked out. After an hour, he handed over his official SIM at the Madgulapally police station. Srinivass wife and Congress leaders blamed him for improper investigation in the case. Even during the press meet at the time of the arrest of suspects in the Srinivas murder case, the inspector could not answer many questions from the media. Subsequently, higher officials also expressed dissatisfaction. Analysis of CCTVs showed that Venkates-warlu was driving along with one person in a car and was heading towards Miryalaguda. NIZAMABAD: Gandhi Gunj, situated in the heart of Nizamabad town, and one of the most important market yards in India, has completed 111 years. To mark 111 years, the market committee has decided to celebrate with a special function. The clock tower in the market yard is the main attraction for visitors. Sirnapally samsthan ruler Sheelam Janaki Bai donated five acres to construct the clock tower along with two welcome arches in 1905. Prior to Independence, Nizamabad market yard was called Mahabub Gunj, which was then renamed Gandhi Gunj. Sales and purchases of agricultural produce were conducted based on the alarm bells of the clock tower. The people of Nizamabad town would use the chimes of the clock tower to set their timings and daily routine. For the last few years, the clock was abandoned as there was no one to repair it. After the construction of Shraddanand Gunj, the main market was shifted from Gandhi Gunj. Recently, the wholesale vegetable market was also shifted from here. Presently, the retail vegetable market is continuing in Gandhi Gunj premises. When contacted, Nizamabad agriculture market committee chairperson, K. Divya Dinesh Kumar, said that the beautification of Gandhi Gunj was proposed to protect this historical monument. We are planning to illuminate the clock tower along with repairs to the welcome arches, she said. Water fountains will be set up to make it an attraction for visitors, she concluded. Standard set by the World Health Organisation (WHO) at 20 g/m remains distant dream for all 230 cities mentioned in the report. (Photo: AFP/File) HYDERABAD: Nearly 580 million people in 280 cities do not have access to the air quality data of their cities, says the second Airpocalypse report released by Greenpeace recently, leaving them clueless about the air they breathe. Andhra Pradesh ranks high on the list of providing real-time data although the particulate matter in at least 15 of its cities is higher than the permissible limit. The report which outlines air pollution levels across over 230 Indian cities paints a grim picture for TS. The state has over 39 air quality monitoring systems spread out in over 11 cities and districts but mostly concentrated in Hyderabad. Telangana was also found to have the worst pollution levels from January to February 2017 and then from October to December. This variation was clearly noted in Hyderabad and Medak where the PM 10 levels spiked in October and then remained constant till December. The highest PM levels in Hyderabad were recorded at 117 in November 2016 17 per cent higher than the daily standard and almost twice as high as the annual standard. P. Veeranna, chief scientist officer in TSPCB, said, We installed air quality monitoring stations to ensure that the data is available to the public and are working on installing more. Some cities do exceed the annual average, but we are trying to maintaining the average. It has been decreasing consistently for the past two years. PCB officials said that the increase was probably because of the many festivals in October. The report also stressed on the number of children living in polluted areas. Over 47 million children under the age of five live in areas where pollution has exceeded the permissible limits, and 17 million children live in areas where the air pollution levels are higher than stipulated standards by more than twice. Dr T. Unnikrishnan, a senior general physician, said, Children will be most affected by particulate matter. Regular exposure to pollution can lead to chronic lung diseases even in a young age. Regular breathlessness, asthma and bronchitis are common symptoms experienced by children in polluted areas. The particulate matter which can enter ones lungs is very harmful to even adults. The report recommends the setting up of institutes for robust monitoring of air quality all over the country and make the data available to public in real-time, coupled with a health advisory and red alerts for bad-air days so that the public is able to take steps to protect themselves from the environment. The report reads, Measures like shutting down schools, reduction of traffic, shutting down power plants and industries etc should automatically come into force as soon as air quality deteriorates beyond a level and takes alarming proportions. Pollution experts stated that Red Alert Days will help in increasing awareness about the decreasing quality of air. Sandeep Naigani, an expert said, This measure will at least make sure that every citizen knows about the air quality in his/her city. It will hopefully instil a sense of responsibility among citizens to ensure that they do not take out their vehicles and use public transport and stop burning garbage, bursting crackers and others. Having a red alert day after a festival will open the eyes of the public. AP is slightly better off with marginal increase in pollution in Visakhapatnam and Vizianagaram. along with a slight decrease in Guntur, Kurnool, Vijayawada and Eluru. Vizianagaram recorded the highest PM10 levels for a given month in the state with values breaching the 130 g/m3 level in October 2016. About 400 residents on Friday blocked traffic, demanding the municipal engineers to visit the spot and explain why the four-km road is not re-laid. (Representational image) Chennai: Police officers attached to Pallavaram limit are now shuttling between the local municipal offices and the state highways department pleading with the government officials to speed up the relaying of the four-km Pallavaram Dargah road, an arterial road that connects three municipal areas with GST road. The police is now caught between the public and the local body authorities over the inordinate delay in laying the road for the past three years. About 400 residents on Friday blocked traffic, demanding the municipal engineers to visit the spot and explain why the four-km road is not re-laid. When the police pacified the agitators not to block the road, the public demanded police to negotiate between them and the civic authorities, giving a one-month ultimatum. "Lack of coordination between the state highways and the Pallavaram municipality has delayed the construction of a state highway connecting GST road for three years. Upset over the delay the residents of Pallavaram had planned a series of protests against state authorities", said Union carbide colony residents' welfare association general secretary N. Senthil Kumar. Meanwhile, residents on Friday decided to intensify their protest if there were no visible civil works by next week. If the road is not re-laid within this month, as many as 500 people are ready to block the traffic along the GST road by next month. On Friday, we withdrew the protest as the police assured that the engineers have agreed to relay the road, said M. Krishnamurthy, convener, Residents Welfare Association. MIM is led Mr Asaduddin Owaisi, an outspoken politician, who is a three-time Member of Parliament and represents the Hyderabad constituency in the Lok Sabha. Bengaluru: The Congress, which recently accused the BJP of holding talks with the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) for the coming state assembly polls, seems to have itself reached out to it and the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) to avert a division of Muslim votes in the elections. Going by sources in the party, Congress leaders recently held talks with the two outfits with the help of some Muslim leaders and heads of a few major mosques and convinced them not to upset its prospects in the elections. The MIM had once contested the Bengaluru corporation polls but miserably failed to win over voters in the city. This time, it is reportedly planning to concentrate on the Hyderabad-Karnataka region, which has high concentration of Muslim voters. The SDPI too is similarly planning to focus more on coastal Karnataka, besides other Muslim dominated areas, according to sources. The leaders representing the two parties reportedly agreed in principle at the meeting with the Congress representatives to field dummy candidates in the poll and support it instead. They were afraid the BJP could benefit from a split in the Muslim vote, claim sources. Interestingly, a few days ago, Home Minister, R. Ramalinga Reddy had claimed he had credible information that the BJP had held talks with MIM leaders in Hyderabad for the coming assembly poll in Karnataka and questioned its decision to align with such divisive forces. MIM is led Mr Asaduddin Owaisi, an outspoken politician, who is a three-time Member of Parliament and represents the Hyderabad constituency in the Lok Sabha. Finance minister Arun Jaitley has presented a realistic and pragmatic Budget aimed at striking the right chord with all segments of society and successfully delivering on the nations expectations. A well-balanced Budget, the first after the implementation of GST, it provides a compelling template for lifting growth and investment even while providing a fillip to employment generation and removing rural stress. The two-pronged approach adopted by the government to provide a boost to the economy while taking measures to enhance welfare expenditure for the poor speaks volumes about the sagacity and vision articulated in the Budget. Under the circumstances, the Budget has adopted just the right approach for catalysing growth with social inclusion. A well-rounded Budget, it seeks to strengthen the major growth drivers which would rev up economic activity in the medium term. It takes forward the landmark reform measures like GST, Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code and bank recapitalisation taken by the government through the last three years. At the same time, the FM has announced a slew of measures for better management of the food economy, developing human capital through better educational opportunities and skill development, game-changing measures to improve health outcomes, social security, intensifying infrastructure investment, continuing reforms in the financial sector, incentives for startups and MSMEs, encouraging Make in India, digitisation and e-governance initiatives to improve the ease of doing business, among others. In doing so, the FM has deftly managed the daunting task of reviving the growth and investment cycle while addressing the expectations caused by social and demographic changes. The Budget offers a bold agricultural and rural thrust to give a stimulus to equity and economic growth. There is a jump in expenditure on agriculture, which is critical for improving farm productivity, creating farm and non-farm employment and augmenting farmer income. Accordingly, the FM provides for raising the minimum support price for all unannounced kharif crops, strengthening irrigation and agri-infrastructure, enhancing credit support to farmers, facilitating agriculture marketing through the e-nam network, liberalising agro-exports, focused incentives in areas such as horticulture, organic farming, fisheries, bamboo, among others. The FM rightly recognised that substantial investment in human capital through education and skill development is vital for sustainable economic progress and for building a prosperous future. The education sector sees a new initiative of Revitalising Infrastructure and Systems in Education, that would hike research investments and infrastructure in higher education institutions with a significant outlay of Rs 1,00,000 crores over the next four years. This is in line with CIIs recommendation to encourage research in academia. A most striking feature of the Budget is the provision on healthcare and social protection. The launch of the National Health Protection Scheme, which is anticipated to cover 50 crore beneficiaries, is a game-changer in that it would be the worlds largest government-funded healthcare programme which would provide security to low-income households. The provisions on healthcare such as reducing the cost of healthcare including seeking private sector involvement in health and wellness centres through CSR reflects the Narendra Modi governments commitment towards according a vanguard position in our development agenda. Acknowledging the immense contribution made by the MSME sector towards growth and job creation, the Union Budget 2018-19 has announced a major tax reduction for these enterprises by lowering the corporate tax rate for enterprises with an annual turnover of up to Rs 250 crores to 25 per cent. The lowering of the rate would provide more cash to units to grow faster and create more jobs. Additionally, addressing the financing needs of this sector, special treatment to venture capital funds, addressing NPAs, promoting startups, etc, are noteworthy. Expanding of the Mudra Yojana, online loan sanctioning and use of fintech are positive steps for the sector. CII welcomes these initiatives by the government to MSMEs which are the drivers of growth, employment generation and equitable development across the country. Mr Jaitleys Budget has also accepted the demand of industry and raised customs duty on select items to provide a fillip to Make in India. CII also welcomes the extension of fixed term employment to all industries. The move towards a flexible employment policy that protects the interests of both the employer and the employee would go a long way to boost investment and promote jobs. Continuing with the focus on job creation, the Budget has made the right moves by further announcing measures such as extending government contribution to EPF of 12 per cent of wages for all new employees for the next three years and reducing the contribution for women to eight per cent. The relaxation in the conditions for claiming tax deduction on additional employment will help to boost new job creation in the formal sector, which was the need of the hour. The reintroduction of standard deduction for the salaried class is a welcome measure and it would provide a much-needed relief to individual taxpayers, raise their disposable incomes and boost consumption demand in the economy. The Budget sends a strong message towards the continuity of fiscal prudence despite the economy being buffeted by domestic and global challenges. Overall, the Budget reflects a pragmatic approach and displays a vision to drive the economy back to the path of inclusive growth. By raising the minimum support price (MSP) to 1.5 times the input cost in agriculture and allocating Rs 14.34 lakh crores for rural livelihood creation and infrastructure in the Union Budget 2018-19, finance minister Arun Jaitley has signalled the governments recognition of the agrarian distress in the country. Whether this will attract rural voters or not, the fact is that the Narendra Modi government appears jittery. Its nervousness is couched both in trying to hold simultaneous elections to state Assemblies and Parliament in the name of efficiency and in projecting the Budget as pro-farmer. The former means that the government is reluctant to go into the general election in early 2019 hobbled after possible setbacks in the state elections. And the latter, of course, indicates its eroding rural support. In the Gujarat elections last year, the ruling BJP won less than 40 per cent of the rural constituencies. On February 1, in Rajasthan, the party lost three byelections the Alwar and Ajmer Lok Sabha seats and the Mandalgarh Assembly seat. These results may point to the mood in the adjoining states as well Alwar abuts Haryana and Mandalgarh is next to Madhya Pradesh. Eight states Nagaland, Tripura, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Karnataka will go to the polls this year. In the first three, which go to the polls this month, the budgetary signals may have little electoral impact. More worrying are the polls ahead in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, where the BJP is incumbent, and Karnataka, which it wants to wrest from the Congress. The BJP had won 85 per cent of the parliamentary seats in these four states in 2014. These states have also seen farmer suicides and widespread agrarian protests. High levels of debt and crop failure are the most common causes of farmer suicides. In Karnataka alone, an estimated 70 per cent of the farmer suicides were due to indebtedness. The agrarian crisis, therefore, can impact the BJPs fortunes in not only these states but nationally as well. The Economic Survey admits that the promise of doubling farm incomes by 2022 is a distant dream. In the last four years, real agricultural revenues have stagnated and the medium term prospects are also dim. The Survey predicts that climate change may reduce farm incomes by up to a quarter. Mr Jaitley seems to have achieved two immediate outcomes though. He has given campaign talking points to his party. The party will now get a political opening in rural areas. He may have also succeeded in dividing the broadly homogeneous farmers movement. The big farmers may stay away from agitations assuaged by the carrot of an enhanced MSP. Others may not gain from the promised bounty. Mr Jaitley himself has noted that 86 per cent of Indian farmers are small or marginal. Clearly, the number of those who can effectively participate in the market remains small. The governments credibility on enhanced MSP is also not very high. The claim that the enhanced MSP which has been announced was already offered in the last rabi season seems false it was less than even the production cost. Calculating the cost of production remains a contentious issue. The agriculture ministry had appointed a panel to examine the calculation of MSP. It pointed out several lacunae in the process, ranging from the sampling of villages for collection of cost data, undervaluing the time of the farmer, valuing it as unskilled labour, not projecting fixed costs for the year for which the MSP is announced, to underestimating land rents. None of this has been corrected. The other issue is of procurement. Under adverse market conditions, state agencies like Food Corporation of India and NAFED are supposed to buy the harvest to support the price. There are 24 crops, including cereals, sugarcane, cotton, pulses and oilseeds that have official MSPs, but the state procures only about six of them. In addition, small farmers are forced to make distress sales to aartiyas (local trader-cum-moneylenders) at rock bottom prices. The procurement is also skewed. In the recent past, due to enhanced MSP year after year, the procurement of rice and wheat far exceeds the minimum buffer stocks needed. On the other hand, there are crops like pulses and oilseeds that are procured only inadequately either due to insufficient production or inefficiency of the agencies. The budgetary provision of `200 crores for the governments market-intervention-cum-price-support-scheme also seems inadequate. At best then, the enhanced MSP announcement seems like a lollypop but with no lolly on it. The infrastructure projects announced are also unlikely to have full impact by election time. Although the target for institutional credit has been increased by 10 per cent to Rs 11 lakh crores, the fact is that only one-third of small and marginal farmers access it. They lack the ability to either buy or lease more land or invest in irrigation, farm machinery and power to increase productivity. Those small farmers who do take loans often cannot repay them. Their vulnerability to risk factors beyond prices is also increased by climate change and rising temperatures, weak or unpredictable rainfall, falling soil fertility, pests and crop diseases. The cattle economy, which used to be the insurance of the small and marginal farmers against failed crops, has been ruined by the government with its cattle market rules to prevent cow slaughter. It is estimated that about 70 per cent of the livestock market in India is owned by 67 per cent of small and marginal farmers, and by the landless. They are scared stiff by cow vigilantes and afraid of buying or selling cattle. Once the mainstay of the rural poor against crop failure and inured against unpredictable climatic conditions, the cattle economy has become a risky business. It seems unlikely, therefore, that in the run-up to the state Assembly elections, or even the Lok Sabha elections ahead, the political mood in the rural areas will change drastically because of the budgetary moves. What could change it, however, is the invocation of time-tested communal frenzy on the eve of the elections. The pathbreaking Budget that finance minister Arun Jaitley presented on Thursday stands out for its heavy tilt towards the revival and development of rural Indias economy. Earlier, agriculture usually got a passing mention as the focus was on industry. While India may no longer live in its villages, as Mahatma Gandhi once said, its a fact that 60 per cent of the population still lives in villages and small towns. Bharat, as rural India is often called, has long been neglected and deprived of facilities like healthcare and education in favour of urban India, which became a magnet for young village youth seeking employment. Whether the change of heart was brought about by the large number of farmers suicides or its a considered policy to make amends for the devastation caused to cash-reliant rural India by the hare-brained demonetisation move, the tilt was long overdue. There are several advantages to developing roads and rural electrification as these would not only provide jobs but also increase rural productivity and boost the overall economy. More purchasing power in rural areas will boost consumption of healthcare, consumer and white goods produced in urban India. Its a fact that in areas where theres no electrification life comes to a standstill after sunset. There are 40 million households that still dont have electricity. This will hopefully be remedied if the rural electrification and sanitation programmes are implemented sincerely, specially in the last mile that is, actually reaching peoples homes. But Mr Jaitleys real game-changer was the National Health Protection Scheme, covering 10 crore poor families or 50 crore people. This could help bring a sheen to Indias global image, where it ranks 154 out of 195 countries on healthcare access, according to the UKs prestigious Lancet. India, which prides itself in being the fastest growing economy, lags behind Nepal, Bangladesh, Ghana and Liberia on this front. The NHPS, or Modicare, as some analysts called it, will be the largest such scheme worldwide, covering five lakh families annually for hospitalisation care. This is good news for hospitals and it must be ensured hospitals dont hike their charges. There are a few negatives in the Budget like the status quo on individual income-tax, where some concessions were expected. Perhaps the finance minister has a good reason for this, and may reveal it soon. Interestingly, the Budget will boost private investment as customs duty has been imposed on items like mobile chargers and TVs. Manufacturing, which is a low 24.2 per cent of GDP compared to the world average of 30.5 per cent, may get a much-needed push due to the reduction in corporate tax. This is a silver lining for private investment, languishing due to lack of incentives. Finally, its a Budget with a heart, with something for everyone: from infrastructure to the small and medium industries to salaried people, women, retirees and senior citizens. Shocking byelection defeats for the BJP at the hands of its arch-rival Congress in Rajasthan, two of them for Lok Sabha seats and one for the state Assembly, on the same day that the Union Budget was being rolled out, were of such a magnitude as to cause the saffron party disquiet, taking away any feelgood element the Budget may have inspired in the partys ranks. The political situation in Rajasthan is particularly important as the state is due to hold Assembly polls towards the end of the year, one among seven forthcoming state polls leading up to the Lok Sabha election in 2019. The states going to the polls include BJP-held Madhya Pradesh, contiguous to Rajasthan, and Chhattisgarh, which was carved out of MP. Gujarat, where the BJP just scraped through, also sits nearby, making a clutch of four BJP-run states together. Such was the scale of the BJP defeat on Thursday, in the backdrop of the party having won three-fourths of the Assembly seats in 2013 and all Lok Sabha seats in the state in 2014, that questions are apt to arise over not only the Chief Ministers leadership but also the combined organisational effectiveness of the BJP and RSS and the Hindutva ploys they have adopted to keep the flock together. The ruling party lost all 16 Assembly segments that comprise the two Lok Sabha seats of Alwar and Ajmer, which are in two different regions of the state. A more comprehensive defeat is hard to visualise. Alwar was lost by nearly two lakh votes. The Congress also won the Mandalgarh Assembly seat by a very comfortable margin despite the presence of a party rebel in the fray. The compliment was returned in full measure and more for the Congress trouncing in 2014. In West Bengal, where chief minister Mamata Banerjees Trinamul Congress held complete sway in the bypolls for a Lok Sabha and an Assembly seat, the BJP came second, pushing the CPI(M) to third spot and relegating the Congress to the status of an also-ran. But is this sufficient to cut the sting of the reverse in Rajasthan? It would be self-delusionary to answer the question in the affirmative. The BJPs vote is so far behind the TMCs that to call it a challenger to Ms Banerjees party will be a severe distortion of reality. The message from West Bengal is really for the Communists, whose fortunes have dived so low as to invite ridicule, specially when former revolutionaries hold intra-party debates on matters of little interest to the people. Recently, both President Ram Nath Kovind and Prime Minister Narendra Modi called for simultaneous national and state elections. After the recent Rajasthan rout, and uncertain prospects in other states where elections are due, will the BJP advance the Lok Sabha polls? The fiscal deficit for 2017-18 is pegged at 3.5 per cent of GDP. This is 0.30 per cent higher than the budgeted estimate for this year. The Union Budget 2018-19 appears an honest and judicious construct when conveyed aurally. The biggest relief is that there has been no substantive deviation from the path of fiscal discipline. The fiscal deficit for 2017-18 is pegged at 3.5 per cent of GDP. This is 0.30 per cent higher than the budgeted estimate for this year. But it is well within the 0.50 leeway recommended by the N.K. Singh Committee report on Fiscal Responsibility and Budgetary Management. With the disruptions caused by GST still lingering and the need to recapitalise banks and push public investment in an environment where the private sector is still sitting on its funds, the stage seems set for losing the leeway in the interest of growth and jobs. More reassurance comes from the fiscal deficit target for 2018-19 set at 3.3 per cent of GDP. This re-establishes the declining trend for fiscal deficit towards the magic number of three per cent of GDP, which has eluded us so far. On the expenditure side, agriculture and rural development takes centrestage. This is more than welcome against the backdrop of agrarian distress and farmer suicides. Ajay Jhakkar of the Bharat Krishak Samaj points out that an Indian farmer commits suicide every 40 minutes. No wonder then that Mr Jaitley outlined, in great detail, many of the specific measures proposed to reverse this trend. One popular, but possibly ineffective step is an assurance that all the crops notified for the kharif cycle will be covered under the minimum support price (MSP) scheme. Basically, this means that if market prices fall below the cost of production plus 50 per cent as margin for the farmer, the government will stand committed to make good the difference (as is being done in Madhya Pradesh now) or to physically procure the produce. But representatives of farmers interests are not satisfied. They assert that the manner in which costs are to be determined should be spelt out in a participative manner first to ensure that a meaningful MSP is assured. The downside of an MSP type of production incentive is that it kills innovation and crop diversification away from those covered under MSP. This way of assuring farmer incomes also privileges the traditional Green Revolution areas in the North, which unfortunately are not well endowed with the natural resources water, for example to sustain intensive modern farming, at the expense of Eastern India, which has all of natures bounties except that it is very far from the national capital-oriented policy structure. Other big-ticket items in agriculture are a more than doubling of the outlay for agro-processing industries to Rs 14 billion and assurances that the export of agri products would be liberalised to boost their exports threefold to their potential of around $100 billion. For the Northeast, a Bamboo Mission was announced with an outlay of Rs 13 billion. Two new infrastructure funds are to set up one for fisheries and aquaculture infrastructure and another for animal husbandry infrastructure at a total outlay of Rs 100 billion. Crop credit would increase by 10 per cent to Rs 11 trillion and lessee farmers would be facilitated to access crop credit from banks something which they cannot do today and have, instead, to rely on private moneylenders. The budgetary outlay for rural roads, affordable houses, toilets and electricity extension of Rs 2.4 trillion will leverage five time more funds from other sources and generate work for 10 million people, as per the Budget documents. Big changes were also announced in healthcare. A new flagship scheme will provide in-hospital medical insurance to 100 million poor families with an insurance cover of Rs 5 lakhs. Compare this with the measly cover now available of Rs 30,000 only under the Rashtriya Swastha Bima Yojana. The outlay on health, education and social protection increases by around 13 per cent over the 2017-18 spend to Rs 1.4 trillion. To boost employment in manufacturing, the government proposes to extend the existing scheme under which it meets the cost of a contribution of 12 per cent per year towards the Employees Provident Fund contribution in the medium, small and micro enterprises to all the manufacturing sectors. The idea is to increase the attractiveness of employing young job seekers by reducing their cost to the employer for three years, by which time it is expected the skills they acquire will make their value addition viable on its own. The highlights for new projects in infrastructure are that 99 smart cities have been selected with an outlay of Rs 2.4 trillion, against which projects worth around 10 per cent of the outlay are ongoing and projects worth one per cent of the outlay have been completed. The government expects to complete 9,000 km of highways in this year. Bharat Net, the fiber connectivity programme, is also proceeding apace. The Railways will spend Rs 1.48 trillion on capital investments, mostly in new works in 2018-19. Six hundred railway stations are to be upgraded. The total expenditure next year is around 10 per cent higher than the estimate for 2017-18 of Rs 22.2 trillion. The nominal GDP in 2018-19 is estimated to be 11.5 per cent higher than in the current year. On the revenue side, the big increase is an estimated increase of 12 per cent in GST revenues next year by around Rs 2.6 trillion to a level of Rs 4.4 trillion, and Rs 20,000 crores from the new capital gains tax of 10 per cent on equity sold after holding it for one year. This makes sticking to the 3.3 fiscal deficit target a bit dodgy in 2018-19. But who knows, maybe the finance minister has some artillery hidden up his sleeve.. Disinvestment has been assessed conservatively in 2018-19 at Rs 80,000 crores, against the achievement this year of Rs 1 trillion. The bank recapitalisation support of Rs 80,000 crores is expected to leverage new lending capacity of Rs 5 trillion. But one cannot but het the feeling that some of the expenditure estimates are a bit conservative relative to the ambition embedded in the programmes. The good news is ending 2018-19 with a fiscal deficit equal to this years at 3.5 per cent is no big deal. But for the Narendra Modi government, which takes targets seriously, it could be a bit of a come down. Narcissus was a bloody fool He saw his face in the rippling pool And fell for it as lovers do With selfies and on Snapchat too Imagery on phones has turned A generation to unearned Self regard like Narcissus Hai Bhagwan, deliver us From The Case of the Ashamed Vahu by Bachchoo Amanda Spielman, Englands chief inspector of schools, has issued a strong warning against schools being used to radicalise young minds. Her team of inspectors reported overt and subtle forms of Islamist indoctrination in schools across England. This is not to say that mad mullahs are entering schools and recruiting suicide bombers but that some practices under the guise of religion are alienating youngsters from integrating into the society in which they live. She chose the moment to speak in order to support the head teacher of St Stephens, a state-owned school in the East End of London. St Stephens, whose head is Neena Lall and whose chair of governors was Arif Qawi, was named by the Sunday Times as the best primary school in England. The school is almost 100 per cent ethnic, with the pupils from the ages of 4+ to 11 mostly from third or even fourth-generation Bangladeshi and Mirpuri immigrant families. With the support of Mr Qawi and the governing body of St Stephens, Ms Lall ruled that girls should not wear hijabs in the classroom and that children under eight should not keep the Ramzan fast during school times to prevent them feeling unwell. Her ruling stimulated a severe backlash. Fundamentalist activists began preaching in the mosques and community gatherings against it and 20,000 people from the largely Bangladeshi community signed a petition against these school rules. The issue was taken up on social media and Ms Lall was portrayed, absurdly, as Hitler and Mr Qawi as a satanic Stalin. The victimisation of these two reached such a pitch that Mr Qawi offered his resignation from the governors and Ms Lall was compelled by the protesters, who had put in place a new governing body, to retract the rule. Girls would wear hijabs in class and children under eight would, if their parents wanted them to, observe religious fasts during school hours. The attack against Ms Lall and Mr Qawi was led by five Muslim councillors, the elected local government officials of Newham. It is yet to be seen whether this weeks intervention in support of Ms Lall by the chief inspector of schools results in any action by any higher authority the education ministry or even the freshly created Commission for Countering Extremism. This new body has as its first chief officer Sara Khan, who is a renowned activist and the founder in 2008 of Inspire, an organisation to counter extremism and promote female equality, both noble aims which led to her appointment. She hasnt had time to get her feet under the table yet but it is hoped that Ms Khan will use her publicly proclaimed ambition to inculcate proper integration into the society in which Britains three million Muslims live. She could even recommend legislation to support the liberal perspectives of Ms Lall and Mr Qawi for all schools. Ms Khans appointment has already drawn, even before announcing any policy, the antagonism of the Labour Party. Labour MP Naz Shah, elected from Bradford, a constituency with an electorally-determining Mirpuri population, is the vice-chair of the British Muslims all-party group. She has expressed her disapproval of Ms Khans appointment. She claims that Ms Khan does not accept the concerns in the community. I choose to read between the lines of this objection. What Ms Shah means is that Labour MPs such as herself have been elected on a pro-Islamist ticket by a substantial section of Pakistani or Bangladeshi immigrants who retain the rural prejudices of their origins and are swayed by fundamentalist preachers and by attitudes in their communities. This same Naz Shah was last year reprimanded by, but not dismissed from, the Labour Party for attempting to spread anti-Semitic nonsense. The present British Parliament has 13 Muslim MPs. Nine of them are Labour, three are Conservative and one is from the Scottish Nationalist Party. All these Labour MPs have been elected from constituencies in which large numbers of Muslims vote Labour because they identify with the working classes and support the selection of Muslim candidates whose appeal is very often the espousal of trans-national Muslim positions such as an anti-Israeli stance or denunciation of Britains role in the Iraq war. The Tory MPs are elected from constituencies that dont have significant numbers of Muslims but are safe Conservative seats, which inevitably vote for professionals, of whatever race or colour, who profess ideological leanings towards capitalist values. In a sense this distinction between Labour and Conservative constituencies, which elect Muslim MPs, is a reflection of the history of immigrants to this country. All 13 MPs are the progeny of immigrant families, eight of them women. All of them have, through education and the determination to rise above the station of their parents, gone into the professions, almost all through the law. Most of the three million Muslims in Britain live in relatively enclosed communities and remain a class within the working class. They elect the likes of Ms Shah who dare not support the appointment of Ms Khan or the attempt by Ms Lall and Mr Qawi to preserve secularity and express concern for the health of their very young pupils. No doubt the Labour leadership will count, not its ambivalent blessings, but its Muslim votes and back Ms Shah in her attack on the new counter-terror commissioner and the Muslim councillors who initiated the attack on Ms Lall. So, regretfully, one has to perhaps look to the three Conservative Muslim MPs to initiate practical even legislated support for the perspectives that Ms Lall and Ms Khan represent. God knows Theresa Mays government needs some popular domestic initiatives, and propositions by Muslim MPs along these lines would be one. Moderate Palestinian Peace Negotiator Outraged Over U.S. Designation of Hamas Terrorist | Main | Los Angeles Times Errs on Commercial Imports to Gaza February 02, 2018 New York Times, and the Continuous Mischaracterization of BDS So maybe the image above is a bit of an overstatement. But for some reason, the New York Times can't seem to get it right when explaining BDS activism to readers. BDS stands for boycott, divestment, and sanctions, and the self-styled "BDS Movement" we tend to hear about today focuses squarely on Israel, aiming to batter the Jewish state with those tools until it ceases to exist. But in an article yesterday, the Times referred to a "movement in the United States, Europe and elsewhere to boycott, divest from and sanction Israel primarily in protest against its settlement and security practices in the West Bank. The movement is known as B.D.S." But these are hardly the "primary" motivations of BDS advocacy. The BDS Movement's own website lists three central demands, which include an Israeli withdrawal, not only from the West Bank but also from the Golan Heights, along with the Jewish Quarter and other parts of Jerusalem. It calls for the "dismantling" of Israel's security barrier, which was built to prevent suicide bombers from reaching Israeli towns and which for much of its rout lies in Israel and not the West Bank. It insists on a change to Israel's alleged treatment of Arabs living withing Israel. And it calls for an influx of Palestinian refugees and their descendants to Israel, which is widely understood as a way to demographically eliminate the Jewish state. Despite what the Times told its readers, not one of the three demands refers to settlements, and each of them focus focus on more than the West Bank, and on more than "settlement and security practices." The takeaway is clear. The AMCHA Initiative, a group that combats antisemitism on campus, states that BDS "aims to demonize, delegitimize, and destroy the Jewish nature of Israel, with the result of denying to Jews their right of national self-determination." J Street, a group largely devoted to criticism of Israeli policies, agrees that "the Global BDS Movement does not support the two-state solution, recognize the right of the Jewish people to a state, or distinguish between opposition to the existence of Israel itself and opposition to the occupation of the territory beyond the Green Line. Further, some of the Movement's supporters and leaders have trafficked in unacceptable anti-Semitic rhetoric." And a vice chair of Americans for Peace Now has written that "BDS's prime motivation, if their messaging is to be believed, is not to end the occupation at all; rather, it is to end Israel." Not that we need to take it from them. Omar Barghouti, whom the New York Times correctly describes as a founder of the BDS movement, has admitted that his goal is to replace Israel with "unitary state, where, by definition, Jews will be a minority." Prior instances of the New York Times downplaying BDS goals this is far from the first time have been criticized by all sides: Tablet Magazine's Yair Rosenberg has slammed the newspaper for having "dramatically misrepresented [BDS's] stated aims and implicit goals, whitewashing the movement's radicalism." And Omar Barghouti has written to the Times to protest its softening of his movement's aims, saying in a published letter that "the goal of the global Palestinian-led B.D.S. movement (boycott, divestment and sanctions) is not only to end the 'occupation of the West Bank.'" Previously, the newspaper has asserted that BDS merely is "critical of Israel's policies toward the West Bank," that it simply "advocates Israel's withdrawal from disputed territories where Palestinians live," and that it called only for Israel "to end its occupation of the Palestinian territories." New York Times readers don't want to be misinformed. Those concerned with Israel's security don't want the country's enemies to misrepresented. And even BDS leaders don't want their extreme aims to be whitewashed. So why does the the newspaper repeatedly cast BDS goals as more moderate than they really are? Posted by GI at February 2, 2018 12:32 PM Guidelines for posting This is a moderated blog. We will not post comments that include racism, bigotry, threats, or factually inaccurate material. Post a comment Apple said its earnings in the final three months of last year set new records, with sales of its flagship iPhone X topping its expectations. The California-based technology giant reported that profit climbed to $20 billion on revenue that increased 13 per cent to $88.3 billion during the period. "We're thrilled to report the biggest quarter in Apple's history, with broad-based growth that included the highest revenue ever from a new iPhone lineup," said Apple chief executive Tim Cook. "iPhone X surpassed our expectations and has been our top-selling iPhone every week since it shipped in November." However, Apple reported that overall iPhone sales in the quarter of 77.3 million were about a million fewer than the same period a year earlier. Dont miss: iPhone X review, iPhone 8/8 Plus review But iPhone revenues rose 13 per cent from a year ago, suggesting its newer models were gaining traction. The earnings -- for the first quarter of Apple's financial year -- come amid concerns over weak demand for the newest and most expensive iPhone X, the 10th anniversary edition of the iconic smartphone. Revenue growth from iPhone sales rose in all regions, and it was the top-selling smartphone overall in mainland China, according to Cook. "It was a stellar quarter for iPhone," Cook said. "iPhone X was the most popular." Apple also forecast revenue of between $60 billion and $62 billion in the current quarter, an outlook less rosy than analysts had expected. Apple shares dipped and then rose more than three per cent to $173.40 in after-market trades that followed release of the earnings figures. Spotlight off iPhone Despite Apple's spectacular trajectory in the decade since the introduction of the iPhone, the California technology titan is facing challenges on whether it can continue growth. Apple's image has been bruised by revelations that it updated its mobile software to slow the performance of old iPhones as batteries weaken from age. While the iPhone delivered the bulk of revenues, $61.6 billion in the quarter, the key segment of services saw revenue growth of 18 per cent to $8.5 billion. The "other product" segment which includes the Apple Watch and Apple TV, increased 36 per cent to $5.5 billion. Cook spent much of an earnings call with analysts playing up increasing revenue from Apple services, digital content, subscriptions, and products other than iPhones. The number of Apple devices being used in the world as of January is at an all-time high of 1.3 billion, the ranks having grown 30 per cent during the past two years, according to Apple. "That number speaks to the strength of the product; the loyalty of the customer, the strength of the ecosystem; it also obviously fuels the services business," Cook said. While iPhone sales are at the heart of Apple's money-making machine, the company has taken to spotlighting revenue from the App Store, iCloud, Apple Music, iTunes and other content and services people tap into using its devices. Where's the wow? Neil Saunders, managing director of research firm GlobalData Retail, saw "worrying trends" behind Apple's record-breaking quarterly earnings. The number of iPhones sold declined, and people overall seem to be waiting longer to upgrade to new smartphones, the analyst noted. He saw the slowdown in iPhone sales as a sign that Apple isn't coming up with the kind of innovations that "wow" consumers. "We believe that the clear blue water that once existed between Apple and rivals is much diminished," Saunders said. "The company has time to reopen the gap, but to do so, it needs to pull something new and unique out of its hat sooner, rather than later." Apple said its cash pile grew to $285 billion, with much of that stashed overseas. The company said last month it would bring back most of its profits from abroad to take advantage of a favorable tax rate in legislation approved by Congress last year. The repatriation will result in a tax bill of about $38 billion, but also would free up big chunks of money for investment. Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter. Donald Trump, in a New Years Day tweet, accused the country of giving nothing to the US but lies and deceit and providing 'safe haven' to terrorists in return for USD 33 billion aid over the last 15 years. (Photo: File) Washington: The United States is not contemplating military action inside Pakistan, the Pentagon has said, refuting such reports appearing in Pakistani newspapers. Instead, the US seeks Pakistans cooperation and assistance in various operations under its new South Asia strategy, Lt Gen Kenneth F McKenzie told reporters at a news conference on Thursday. We actually dont contemplate military operations inside Pakistan. On the other hand, we recognise, because the strategy is inherently regional and Pakistan is geographically located at a critical nexus of a lot of different things, Pakistan is a fundamental part of the strategy, said McKenzie. Through a variety of measures, we look to gain Pakistani cooperation and assistance as we pursue operations in Afghanistan. But were not planning to conduct military operations inside Pakistan, he told Pentagon reporters in response to a question. Under the new South Asia strategy, Pakistan has an opportunity to be a partner in fight against terrorism, Pentagons chief spokesperson Dana White said. It (Pakistan) has been a victim of terrorism, and it has supported terrorism. We are looking for Pakistan to actively join -- it can do the things we need them to do to confront terrorism, said White. So its an inflection point, its an opportunity, and we hope Pakistan will take it, she said in response to a question. The US has recently suspended about USD 2 billion in security aid to Pakistan for failing to clamp down on the Afghan Taliban and the Haqqani Network terror groups and dismantle their safe havens The freezing of all security assistance to Pakistan came days after US President Donald Trump, in a New Years Day tweet, accused the country of giving nothing to the US but lies and deceit and providing safe haven to terrorists in return for USD 33 billion aid over the last 15 years. White refuted impression that there is connection between the recent attacks in Kabul and the US decision to suspend aid to Pakistan. The Taliban is desperate. Theyre murderous and they attack innocent civilians. As the general said, these were flashy but it shows their disparity, she said. For every attack thats carried out, many, many, many are stopped, many are prevented from occurring. So to think that youre going to have exquisite timing on when an attack occurs is probably a bridge too far for the Taliban to have, White said. What is clear is that no country on this planet is immune from the scourge of violence against women, violence against girls. We see it in all country, north, south, east and west, Dujarric said. (Photo: AP) United Nations: The recent incidents of sexual assault on young girls in India and Pakistan are "heart breaking", the spokesperson of the UN chief said, underlining that the world body is trying to address the issue through access to education and women empowerment. He was responding to questions on recent incidents of rapes in India and Pakistan. In India, an eight-month-old baby girl was raped last week by her 28-year-old cousin in New Delhi, a shocking incident that outraged the nation. While in Pakistan in December, a seven-year-old girl was brutally raped and murdered allegedly by a serial killer, triggering a national outcry. "I think these two cases you referred to are heart- breaking," Stephane Dujarric, the spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, said while answering a question on UN's advice for the two countries on this "vicious cycle". "What is clear is that no country on this planet is immune from the scourge of violence against women, violence against girls. We see it in all country, north, south, east and west," Dujarric said. Through various programmes, through UN-Women, UNFPA [United Nations Population Fund], UNICEF [United Nations Children's Fund] and others, the UN is working with governments to try to get messages through to communities to respecting girls, to respecting women, he said. "It's about equal rights. It's about access to health. It's about access to education. It's about empowerment of women. Through a number of its development programmes, the UN is trying to face the issue," said the spokesperson of the UN Secretary General. Fiscal discipline has taken a backseat in the latest annual Indian budget which contains many tinges of populism, noted Indian economist Eswar Prasad said today. Prasad, a professor of trade policy at the prestigious Cornell University, said there were no major measures in the budget that could stimulate private investment. "Fiscal discipline has taken a backseat in this budget, which contains many tinges of populism, as was to be expected in the run-up to a national election cycle," Prasad told PTI. "There are no major measures that could stimulate private investment, which has been notably weak even during the recent period of high growth," Prasad said. However, the proposed new health insurance scheme and other measures that will in principle directly benefit the poor are welcome, Prasad said. "Although it is unclear how exactly some of these programs will be funded within the budget envelope," he said. US India Business Council (USIBC) president Nisha Desai Biswal said the Indian government has displayed its commitment to areas that will benefit India's growth and prosperity for many years to come. "Infrastructure development, access to health care, affordable housing, energy, and education for all citizens form the backbone of any growing economy... American industry is committed to growing, strengthening, and sustaining these areas of collaboration with India," Biswal said. In the last three years, Biswal said, India has been on a robust path to growth, backed by a strong economic reform agenda. Karun Rishi, president of USA-India Chamber of Commerce, said the budget carefully balances the essentials of accelerating growth and fiscal prudence. Focus on agriculture and health is a game changer, he said. "We commend Finance Minister Arun Jaitley for his ambitious, out of the box thinking by covering the bottom 40 per cent of all households under the health insurance scheme - 'Ayushman Bharat'," Rishi told PTI, adding that this "bold and pragmatic" step will help the poor and low income families. 'Ayushman Bharat' -- the world's largest government- funded health care programme, is aimed at benefiting 10 crore poor families by providing coverage of up to Rs 5 lakh per family per year for secondary and tertiary care hospitalisation. An outlay of close to 10 per cent of the GDP in the agro-rural sector will boost rural and farmers' incomes, leading to a rise in consumption and consumer durables demand, he said. Rishi lauded Jaitley for making a pitch for the 'technologies of the future' in his Budget speech. "India can be a significant player in Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and Blockchain technologies. The use of Blockchain can add muscle to the digital economy especially in the BioPharma and Healthcare sector," Rishi said. According to Richard Rossow, Wadhwani Chair in US-India Policy Studies at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the budget did meet analysts' expectations in terms of having specific programmes to appeal to farmers and rural voters. "Included among these are a new health care insurance programme for the poor, expanded programmes to deliver subsidised cooking gas and electric power connections, and escalated programs to build homes and toilets," Rossow said. Barriers to the export of agriculture items will be relaxed, and the Minimum Support Price (MSP), a floor price the government pays to farmers for staple crops, will see a hefty increase, he said. A minivan today crashed into pedestrians after veering onto a crowded sidewalk in China's financial hub Shanghai, injuring 18 people, three of them seriously, according to media reports. Police, however, believe the crash was not intentional and it was an accident and not an attack, state-run Xinhua news agency reported. The 40-year-old driver was identified by police as a man surnamed Chen. The champagne-coloured minivan was moving from Xinchang Road to West Nanjing Road when it went out of control and crashed into the sidewalk right infront of Starbucks store, the report said. According to an initial investigation, he is thought to have been illegally transporting gas bottles and was smoking at the time of the crash. Security was tight in the city in view of British Prime Minister Theresa May's visit. Police also said that the vehicle was carrying six persons, the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post reported. The injured people were shifted to a nearby hospital for treatment, a statement by the local government said, adding that the fire in the minivan had been put out. A video posted by the Post showed the van was on fire and some of the gas bottles exploded, creating panic among the passers-by. The vehicle was on fire before crashing into the sidewalk in front of the cafe around the Shanghai People's Park, local media reported. Eighteen people were injured in the incident. Three of those injured are said to be in a serious condition, the report said. A video posted by the report said the van was on fire and thick smoke emanated from it. Photos posted on the Weibo, Chinese version of Twitter showed several people lying on the ground and fire fighters trying to put off the fire. A witness, identified only by her surname Qian, said that immediately after the incident, some passers-by broke the vehicle window with stones to get to the driver, Shanghai- based news portal The Paper reported. "I think the driver had passed out. People had to break the window to save him," Qian was quoted as saying by the Post. Another witness, who was not identified, said: "There were gas bottles in the vehicle. The van was burning but the bottles did to catch fire". "There were six persons in the van. A woman whom rescuers pulled out was badly burnt," the witness said. A passer-by wrote in a WeChat post that a few people were trapped under the van after the incident. A 9th standard student committed suicide, by hanging herself to death at her residence after she was denied to write exam in school for not paying fees. The incident occurred on Thursday evening in Hyderabad's JLS Nagar under the Malkajgiri police station. Sai Deepti, who had pleaded with school authorities to allow her to write the ongoing unit tests, felt ashamed after she was denied for not paying school fees. According to Malkajgiri police, Sai Deepti is the second daughter of Mr Balakrishna a painter and Sunitha who works in Taruni Supermarket at Bowenpally. Balakrishna said that he had met the school authorities on Wednesday and assured them of depositing Rs 2000 fees on first week of February. On Thursday the girl returned home from school at around 4.30 pm and committed suicide. She had left a suicide note. Her mother who returned home from work found her hanging from a ceiling fan. However, the school management has denied allegations and said that all those students who have not yet paid were cautioned but they have not barred any one from writing the examination on Thursday. They alleged that the girl had sought permission to go home early on the day as she was suffering stomach ache. Telugu Desam Party (TD P), on Thursday expressed dissatisfaction over allocations for Andhra Pradesh in Union budget 2018 and hinted at taking a crucial decision soon. While the Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu is expected to discuss the impact of the budget on the state's precarious financial situation at the party coordination committee meeting and then at the cabinet meeting on Friday, the meeting of party MPs is slated for Sunday. Talking to media in New Delhi party MP T G Venkatesh has said that the party has no option left than withdrawing support to NDA. "First we will be withdrawing our ministers from the union cabinet and protest inside the house. Breaking away from alliance will be done if none of these have any impact on the government," he said. Meanwhile, Naidu is said have sought the opinion of the MPs through teleconference as pressure is mounting on him to deliver the promises made by the NDA to the state which include hand holding of AP till completion of Polavaram project, construction of capital Amaravati, special package in-lieu of special category and new railway zone with coastal city Vizag as its headquarters. Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu who had made personal representation to PM Modi and FM Jaitley last month, is disappointed. "The Congress has divided the state without giving any thought about survival of AP. So we were forced to seek refuge under NDA. We thought that they would help us," Naidu said to have commented at the emergency meeting with MP's on Thursday. Budget has widened the gap the at a time when there was a talk about strained relations between the TDP and the BJP. Left parties and the YSRCP say that the budget allocations indicate the BJP's stand. " This is a union budget meant for all the states. There is no point in blaming the center about state level allocation, which will be available in finer print," said BJP leader and former union minister D Purandeswari. Two young boys, who lost their parents and minor sister in a road accident involving a rashly driven truck, have been awarded Rs 1.25 crore compensation by a Motor Accident Claims Tribunal (MACT) here. MACT Presiding Officer Raj Kumar Chauhan directed that the amount is paid to the parents and the minor sons of a CRPF constable who was riding a bike, with his wife and nine-year-old daughter sitting pillion, when a rashly driven truck hit them, killing them on the spot. The MACT directed the National Insurance Company Ltd, the insurer of the offending truck, to pay the amount to the grandparents of the two boys, who were four-year-old and seven-year-old at the time of the accident in 2016, for the kids' education and other expenses. According to the petition, on December 13, 2016, Raj Kumar was coming to Delhi from Aligarh on a bike with his wife Seema and daughter Ritu (9) while his sons remained in Aligarh with their grandparents. The incident took place near Kalindi Kunj in south-east Delhi when a truck drove in a rash and negligent manner came from behind and hit them due to which they suffered grievous injuries and died on the spot. The tribunal decided the petition in their favor while relying on the FIR, charge sheet against the driver under sections 279 (rash driving) and 304A (causing death by negligence), mechanical inspection report of the victim and other documents filed before it. The petitioners, Yad Ram and Bhagwati, claimed that their son was a CRPF constable and their daughter-in-law was a designer who was running a boutique. During the proceedings, the driver and the owner of the truck as well as the insurance company denied the allegations and blamed the victim of contributory negligence. The insurance company also blamed the victim for triple riding on the bike, more than the permissible number of riders on a two-wheeler. In a shocking incident, a 19-year-old girl was allegedly raped by her boyfriend at a cinema hall in Secunderabad while Sanjay Leela Bhansali's 'Padmaavat' movie was being screened on January 29. The incident came to light on Thursday after the culprit was arrested by the police. He was presented before the court and was remanded to judicial custody. According to Market police station inspector M Mattaiah, the victim met the culprit Kandakatla Bhikshapathi (23) a JCB operator from Nermetta of Janagaon district in Telangana on Facebook two months ago and both became friends. In January they met for the first time at the Swathi hotel near Secunderabad railway station. They then went to Bhikshapathi's sister's place located in Jagadgirigutta area. Again they met at the same hotel on January 29, and on the same day they went to Indira Park. Later they decided to watch Padmavat movie at Prashant Theater in Secunderabad. " As there were very few audience in the balcony and the culprit took advantage of the situation and raped the girl in the balcony of the theater," Mattaiah said. The girl who was bleeding profusely immediately rushed home and complained the matter to her parents and also submitted a written compliant against Bhikshapati. The Market police registered a case under section 376 IPC against Bhikshapati . He was arrested on 1 February. The police is also mulling to book cinema hall management for negligent behavior and lack of security for women in their theater. Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama's proposed visit to Sikkim next month stands cancelled on his doctors' advice to cut down on his travels in view of his advancing age. Tenzin Taklha, the Secretary at the office of the Dalai Lama, in a mail to Sikkim's Ecclesiastical Affairs Secretary Samten Dolma, yesterday said that the spiritual leader's proposed visit to the Himalayan state from March 20 to March 29 stands cancelled. The Dalai Lama's doctors' have advised to him to cut down on his travels and not to exert himself, Dolma said. It will be too much for him to undertake another visit too soon as he has been showing signs of exhaustion given his advanced age, he said. The 82-year-old Buddhist spiritual leader had returned to Dharamshala on January 31 last after a two-month travel to various parts of the country. The CBI has filed a charge sheet against former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and 33 others in the Manesar land deal case, officials said here today. The agency has filed the charge sheet under IPC sections related to criminal conspiracy and cheating, and relevant provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act, they said. Former UPSC member Chattar Singh, who was a senior officer in the Haryana government at that time, has also been named in the charge sheet as an accused, they said. The CBI has alleged in its FIR that land measuring about 400 acres, whose market value at that time was above Rs 4 crore per acre, was allegedly purchased by private builders and others from innocent land owners for only about Rs 100 crore in collusion with government officers. The CBI had said that a loss of Rs 1,500 crore was allegedly caused to the land owners of Manesar, Naurangpur and Lakhnoula villages of Gurgaon. The agency registered the case in September 2015 on allegations that private builders, in conspiracy with public servants of the Haryana government, had purchased the land at meagre rates showing the threat of acquisition by the government, during the period between August 27, 2004 and August 24, 2007. In this process, the Haryana government had initially issued a notification under the Land Acquisition Act for acquisition of land measuring about 912 acres for setting up of an industrial model township, it had said. After the land had allegedly been grabbed from their owners by private builders under the threat of acquisition at meagre rates, the government issued a fresh notification in 2007 and put the land out of the acquisition process, the agency had said. Veteran filmmaker Shyam Benegal would be conferred with the coveted V Shantaram Lifetime Achievement Award of the Mumbai International Film Festival for Documentary, Shorts & Animation Films (MIFF) 2018. The award carrying a trophy, a shawl, citation and cash prize of Rs 1 million (Rs 10 lakhs) will be presented to the 83-year-old Benegal by the Maharashtra Governor CH Vidyasagar Rao at the MIFF 2018 Valedictory Function at NCPA on Saturday. An independent committee comprising Rahul Rawail, Kiran Shantaram, Prasoon Joshi, Bharathi Pradhan and Vinod Anupam unanimously recommended the name of Benegal, taking note of his significant contribution to the growth and sustenance of documentary movements in India. One of the leading and widely respected filmmakers of India, Benegal is known for making thought provoking films centre around contemporary Indian experience. He is credited with pioneering new cinema in the country. While Benegal has made 28 feature films including landmark films like 'Ankur', 'Nishant', 'Mandi' and 'Junoon', his filmography also includes 41 documentaries covering a wide variety of subjects including cultural anthropology, sustainable growth, biopic, art and culture. His 1982 documentary 'Satyajit Ray' won the National Award for Best Biographical Film, while his 1985 film 'Nehru' won the award fro Best Historical Reconstruction. His work on television consists of several popular series including the 53 part series Bharat Ek Khoj, first broadcast on Doordarshan in 1988. He also made the much acclaimed 'Samvidhaan - The Making of the Constitution of India". Born in 1934 in Hyderabad, Shyam Benegal completed his M.A. in Economics from the Osmania University and began working in an advertising agency, before venturing into film making. He made his first documentary film 'Gher Behti Ganga' (Ganga at Doorstep) in Gujarati in 1963. The police today arrested four members of a gang of dacoits, hailing from Madhya Pradesh and notorious for burgling several homes in at least four states, after a pre-dawn firefight at their hideout in Bengaluru. The gang members had attacked two constables on patrol duty in the city and decamped with their .303 bore assault rifle a fortnight ago, the police said. During the raid today, the dacoits fired from the rifle and threw stones on the police team to resist arrest. Three gang members - Azam Bhai Singh Moher, Jiten Ram Singh Palashe, Suresh Kodriya Moher - suffered bullet injuries during the raid and have been admitted to Victoria Hospital. Another member was identified as Abu Bhai Singh Moher. Three policemen were also injured during the firefight. The police said that they had formed a team to bust the gang after the constables were attacked two weeks ago. The team found that Rai Singh Mahel, a resident of Bhagoli village in Dhar district of Madhya Pradesh, was among those who had attacked the constables and robbed the rifle. Mahel was arrested and brought to Bengaluru yesterday. During interrogation, Mahel told the police that his accomplices were hiding near Yelahanka New Town. A police team stormed their hideout in Kempanahalli area and arrested them. Bengaluru Police Commissioner T Suneel Kumar said the gang from Madhya Pradesh had burgled many homes in Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and other parts of the country. In Karnataka, they had targeted residences in Mysuru, Mangaluru, Udupi, Tumakuru and Bengaluru. The police seized 100 grams of gold jewellery from their possession. A special team has been formed to arrest the other gang members, Kumar added. Pune girl Shruti Shrikhande has emerged as the national topper among girls in the Combined Defence Services (CDS) examination. Shruti is the daughter of Brigadier Vinod Shrikhande and Ujjwala Shrikhande and is currently a law student at ILS, Pune and an alumnus of the Army Public School, Pune. "It was my dream to join the armed forces and I took up CDS and cleared it," Shruti, who was accompanied by her parents, told a TV channel. Shruti is all set to join the Officers Traning Academy (OTA). The exam was held for admission to the OTA 107th short service commission course (for men) and 21st short service commission women (non-technical) course, commencing from April, 2018. Brigadier Shrikhande, said being from a army family she was aware of the traditions and work culture. "Since childhood, she was focused, she was studious," said her mother Ujjwala. "We were sure that she would be in the merit list but we were surprised when she stood first," she added. Regulator Sebi has banned Swasata Cement and its eight present and former directors from securities market for at least four years in a matter related to illegal fund raising from investors. The present directors of the firm are Prasanta Chatterjee, Joydeb Biswas, Manas Kumar Dan, Jeba Parween and Renu Singh, while the former ones are Satya Ranjan Chaudhari, Swapna Chaudhuri and Chandrani Dan. According to a Sebi order dated February 1, Swasata Cement Ltd (SCL) had issued and allotted secured redeemable non-convertible debentures (NCDs) to at least 11,013 investors during the financial years 2008-09 and 2009-10 and raised around Rs 6.63 crore. Since the securities were issued to more than 50 people, the offer of NCDs qualified as a public issue and required their compulsory listing on a recognised stock exchange. However, SCL did not comply with the provision. Among other requirements, the firm was required to register a prospectus with the Registrar of Companies (RoC) under the Companies Act, which it failed to do. Apart from being banned from the securities market for at least four years, the eight directors have also been restrained from associating themselves with any listed public company for the same duration. SCL and five of the eight directors have also been directed to refund the money collected by the company with an annual interest of 15 per cent to the investors. Even though Prasanta Chatterjee, Joydeb Biswas, Manas Kumar Dan were appointed as directors only after the period of issuance of NCDs, Sebi said since the three are on the board they were obligated to ensure refund of investors' money. Since the three failed to discharge the liability of ensuring refund, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has barred them from the securities market. India today said it was imperative for "all organs" of the Maldivian government to abide by the country's Supreme Court order to release all political prisoners "in the spirit of democracy". In a statement, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said it was "closely monitoring" the evolving situation in the Maldives and also hoped that the safety and security of Indian expatriates in the island nation would be ensured by the Maldivian authorities under "all circumstances". The Maldivian Supreme Court, in a significant development yesterday, ordered the immediate release of the former president Mohamed Nasheed and other opposition leaders. "We have seen last nights order of the Supreme Court of Maldives releasing all political prisoners. In the spirit of democracy and rule of law, it is imperative for all organs of the Government of Maldives to respect and abide by the order of the apex court," the MEA said. It said that as a close and friendly neighbour, India wishes to see a stable, peaceful and prosperous Maldives. "We are closely monitoring the evolving situation," said the MEA. The island nation has witnessed political unrest and street protests since Nasheed was convicted in 2015 on terror charges and sentenced to 13 years in jail. There were reports of clashes between supporters of Nasheed and police in the capital city Male today where hundreds of policemen were deployed to restore peace. Nasheed was earlier granted asylum by the UK after he was authorised to seek medical treatment there amid mounting foreign pressure. The leader, who is currently in Sri Lanka, welcomed the court order and said President Abdulla Yameen must resign in the wake of the ruling by the apex court. "Welcome tonight's SC ruling calling for the immediate release of political prisoners and the restoration of their civil and political rights. President Yameen must abide by this ruling and resign. Urge all citizens to avoid confrontation and engage in peaceful political activity," Nasheed tweeted. Cryptocurrencies plunged on Friday, with several of the largest falling by more than 20 percent and bitcoin sliding below $8,000 and headed for its worst week since 2013, as worries about a regulatory clampdown globally sent investors scrambling to sell. The slump in prices this week means the total market value of cryptocurrencies is down to $385 billion, less than half the high it reached in January, according to industry tracker Coinmarketcap.com. The market value of cryptocurrencies is calculated by multiplying the number of digital coins in existence by their price, although many question whether that is the right way to value them. Bitcoin, the biggest and best-known cryptocurrency, fell 12 percent on Friday to a two-month low of $7,910 on the Luxembourg-based Bitstamp exchange. It is down more than 30 percent this week. The second and third largest virtual currencies, Ethereum and Ripple, have plunged 23 and 31 percent respectively in the past 24 hours, Coinmarketcap.com said. "The regulatory pressure is extremely strong and that is creating a bad environment for cryptos. In the short term, it's shaking out a lot of investors," said Naeem Aslam, a London-based analyst at Think Markets who holds positions in cryptocurrencies. Retail investors have poured money into digital coins, enticed by the huge run-up in prices, but regulators who say cryptocurrencies are highly speculative and dangerous investments are wrestling with what to do. India on Thursday vowed to eradicate the use of crypto-assets, joining China and South Korea in promising to ban parts of the nascent market where prices have boomed in recent years. Social media website Facebook said this week it would ban cryptocurrency advertising because many were associated with misleading or deceptive promotional practices, while U.S. regulators have sent a subpoena to two of the world's biggest cryptocurrency players, Bitfinex and Tether A massive $530 million hack of a Japanese cryptocurrency exchange last week has also renewed concerns about the security of the industry. Supporters of cryptocurrencies say short-term price volatility is to be expected and does not undermine the power and value of the blockchain technology underpinning them. The run-up in prices, however, has largely been driven by speculative investment. Going back to 2011 and including the current selloff, bitcoin's price has been halved nine times on the Bitstamp exchange before it recovered. The last time was from November 2014 to January 2015. * Bitcoin slides below $8,000 * Total crypto market value less than half of peak * Fears of regulatory clampdown spark selling Electronics and Information Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Friday said that there has not been a single case of data breach from the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) database till today. Replying to a question in the Rajya Sabha, the minister said the Aadhaar data was fully safe and secure. The minister claimed that a media report saying that Aadhaar data was available to anyone for a sum of Rs 500 was a case of "misreporting and completely false". "UIDAI, for the purpose of grievance handling, has provided a search facility to state government officials, which provide demographic information of the person whose enrolment ID or Aadhaar is provided. The reported case was a misuse of the said facility," Prasad said. The minister said the UIDAI had filed a complaint on January 4 with full details of the incident, on which an FIR was registered by the Crime Branch in the cyber cell of Delhi Police against unknown persons under several sections of the Aadhaar Act and the IT Act. The news report had said that Aadhaar details of thousands of people could be accessed by paying Rs 500 to a private person. The Delhi High Court has asked the police to run on a trial basis for two weeks a facial recognition software (FRS), developed by a private entity, which can help trace and rescue missing children. A bench of justices S Muralidhar and I S Mehta said the test run of the FRS by the Delhi Police should start from February 20 and not later. The software is expected to help trace and rescue the missing children. The high court's direction came after the Centre expressed its inability to immediately put into motion such a software. The government had said that the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (CDAC) was developing an FRS in West Bengal, but did not give a timeline as to when it would be completed and put into operation. To this, the bench had said, "Waiting for the perfect software to be developed with an open-ended time line does not serve the purpose of addressing the issue of missing children on an urgent basis. "Given the possibility of the tender process taking a considerable amount of time, the MWCD will inform the court on affidavit the concrete time line within which it proposes to procure and test an FRS to track missing children." The Ministry of Women and Child Development (MWCD) had also informed the court that a proposal of NGO Bachpan Bachao Andolan (BBA) to give the software free of cost had some technical drawbacks. To this the bench said, "Even if the software does not perfectly match the requirement of the MWCD, an FRS which substantially serves the purpose must be procured and made operational at the earliest." Senior counsel H S Phoolka and advocate Prabhsahay Kaur, appearing for the NGO, submitted in the court that Vision Box, the software developer, has offered the FRS free of cost for one year, provided it is used only for tracing missing children. The bench, thereafter, in its order said, "BBA shall ensure the provision of the FRS to the Delhi Police forthwith for the above purpose. The trial runs of the FRS by the Delhi police should commence not later than February 20." The bench was hearing a plea regarding missing children in which it has been examining ways and means to address the issue of tracing them and restoring them to their families. A senior Uttar Pradesh IPS officer has kicked up a huge controversy after a video of him taking pledge along with many others to build Ram Temple in Ayodhya surfaced on social media. Currently DG, Homeguard, Surya Kumar Shukla reportedly took the pledge at a seminar, which was organised by Muslim Karsevak Manch, at Lucknow University a few days back. The matter came to light, when a video purportedly showing Shukla and some others, including the Manch president Azam Khan, taking the pledge, went viral on the social media on Friday. Khan had a few months back visited Ayodhya and sought support of the Muslims in building Ram Temple. ''We take pledge that we will build a grand Ram Temple,'' Shukla and others said at the seminar. Taking a serious note of the matter, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has sought an explanation from the IPS officer. The video also contained speeches given by the speakers at the seminar with Shukla in attendance. One of the speakers is heard saying that the disputed structure at Ayodhya had been demolished despite there being no orders from the courts. ''Why then are we waiting for the court orders now?'' the speaker is heard saying. Shukla, when queried about the tape, denied having taken any such pledge. ''There was a discussion on Ram Temple at the seminar...no pledge was taken...I said that the matter was pending in the court...we all talked about finding an out of court solution through mutual consent,'' he clarified. The Opposition Samajwadi Party (SP) and Congress demanded stern action against the IPS officer. Barely a few days back a senior IAS officer and district magistrate of Bareilly had embarrassed the state government by virtually blaming the saffron outfits for stoking communal tension in the state. The Bombay High Court today refused to grant any interim protection from arrest to Milind Ekbote, a key accused in the case related to the January 1 violence at Bhima-Koregaon in Pune district. A bench of justices S C Dharamadhikari and Bharati Dangre rejected Ekbote's argument that a sessions court in Pune had erred in rejecting his anticipatory bail plea last month. The bench instead said that the Pune court's observations made against the right-wing leader in rejecting his plea, could not be ignored. Ekbote, who heads a trust called the Samast Hindu Aghadi, has been booked by the Pune Police in three separate FIRs for inciting violence under the Indian Penal Code, and sections of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. He had approached the high court after the Pune court refused to grant him any relief. In his plea in the high court, Ekbote had argued that the police erred in filing charges against him since he was not present at the site of the incident. Therefore, there existed no question of him having incited any violence, or committed any act of atrocity, he had said. Ekbote had contended that the ground situation in the area had been "simmering" for about 10 days prior to the January 1 violence. "However, it was a failure of intelligence on part of the authorities since they could not assess that the situation will get so bad," the right-wing leader had said. He had also said the events preceding the violence at Bhima-Koregaon, particularly the Elgar Parishad event where JNU student leader Umar Khalid and Gujarat MLA Jignesh Mevani gave speeches, were the real cause of the violence which had caste overtones. "Khalid and Mevani made provocative speeches," he had alleged. The Maharashtra government, however, had told the court that the police had evidence that on December 30 (just ahead of the violence), Ekbote was present at a hotel about 4 km away from Bhima-Koregaon. His call data records (CDR) showed he had been in contact with several other accused persons in the case, they had said. Ekbote had 17 previous cases of atrocities registered against him, the prosecution said, adding public property worth Rs 9 crore was vandalised during the violence. Ekbote, however, argued he had been planning to go to Bhima-Koregaon on December 30 to "appeal to the public to maintain peace". "However, the police advised me against going there and so I stopped at a hotel about 4 km away. I held a press conference there and distributed a press note which was in no way provocative," he said. Ekbote also said that the mere fact that he had been in touch with four of the 49 people (charged under SC/ST Act) was not adequate evidence against him. The bench, however, observed since the police were still in the process of collecting evidence, the court need not comment on the relevance of the CDR at the present stage. "The probe is still on. The police is still recording statements of victims and collecting evidence. "Therefore, it will be totally unsafe to express any opinion on the evidence and also on the complicity, even prima facie, of the appellant (Ekbote)," the bench observed. "We, however, can not ignore the averments made by the trial court (in Pune) against the appellant. Therefore, we find no merit in this plea and are inclined to reject it," it said. The bench also observed that the entire incident could have been avoided if the local leaders, as well as the general public, had "shown some discipline". On January 22, the Pune court had rejected Ekbote's anticipatory bail application, observing he was accused in a "grave matter" and had "very serious charges" against him. One person was killed and several others were injured in the violence which erupted after right-wing outfits opposed the 200th-anniversary celebration of the Bhima-Koregaon battle, in which forces of the East India Company defeated Peshwa's army. People belonging to the Mahar community among Dalits had fought for the British, while the Peshwas were Brahmins. Dalit groups celebrate the victory as a symbol of their resurgence. 'Padmaavat' makers will hold a special screening of the controversial film for a Rajasthan High Court judge on Monday, in a bid to convince him to quash a case filed against director Sanjay Leela Bhansali and two lead actors of the movie. The screening for judge Sandeep Mehta and a few other judicial staff will be held in pursuance of a request by Bhansali to quash the case filed against him, Deepika Padukone and Ranveer Singh in March last year. Virendra Singh and Nagpal Singh had filed the case at Deedwana police station, alleging the film distorted history and hurt the image of Rajput queen Padmavati, on whom the film is based. Bhansali had then moved the court urging it to quash the case. The court had stayed the FIR but allowed the investigation to continue. During a hearing today, the filmmakers agreed for a discreet screening of the epic drama for the court, provided adequate security is put in place by authorities. "The court enquired if the film could be screened on the screen of the Rajasthan State Judicial Academy. But given the low resolution there, we expressed our wish to screen the film on any multiplex screen of the city," Bhansali's counsel Nishant Bora said. Bora said the film would now be screened on Monday at the INOX Ansal Royal Plaza in the city. Earlier during the hearing, the court summoned the Jodhpur police commissioner, who assured the court on security issue but sought two weeks time to make the arrangements. Judge Mehta expressed displeasure on the request. He told the police commissioner that the Supreme Court has given a go-ahead for the nationwide screening of the film, and asked him: "Weren't you committing contempt of the court's order." After this, Bora said, the court ordered for screening the film on Monday. The court listed the case for hearing on February 6, when it will decide if the case against Bhansali should be quashed. Rajasthan was among the four states that had either issued orders or notifications prohibiting the screening of the film after protests by fringe Rajput groups. The Supreme Court last month cleared the decks for the nationwide release of the film on January 25. Farmers' organisations, led by Swaraj India president Yogendra Yadav, today slammed the BJP-led Union government's last full fledged budget before Lok Sabha polls next year and announced a mass agitation against it from March. Yadav, addressing reporters here, said Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, while proposing to increase the minimum support price (MSP) to 1.5 times the cost of crop production, had levied his own formula instead of going by the recommendations of the Swaminathan Commission report. "While the Finance Minister has increased the MSP to 1.5 times, he has done so using his own formula and not according to the Swaminathan Commission recommendations. According to the government's formula, it will not have to spend anything from its pockets," he said. Yadav added that a Budget's relevance could not be gauged by the number of times the word "farmer" was invoked but by substantial allocations for schemes. "The Economic Survey has said that in the last 4 years, the agricultural growth rate has been the lowest in the last 20-25 years. Farmers' income has remained stagnant," he added. He said the allocation for the agriculture sector had seen a mere rise of 11 per cent, while overall budget outlay had increased by 13 per cent. "This is at a time when the Chief Economic Advisor has warned that farmers' income can decrease by 20-25 per cent due to climate change," Yadav said. Claiming that the government had duped farmers, Yadav said 180 farmers' organisations from across the country would protest from March. Also present were Swabhimani Shetkari Sangathana (SSS) representative Ravikant Tupkar and Lok Sangharsh Morcha leader Pratibha Shinde. SSS representative Ravikant Tupkar said while increasing the MSP, the government did not make its formula clear and also did not specify how the production cost would be calculated. "No policy for long term crops has been announced. How many farmers would be able to use credit cards at a time when nationalised banks don't even give loans to farmers? Also, farmers have to sell their produce at less than the MSP because they do not have place to store grains. However, nothing was announced on this front," he said. Tupkar added that there was no substantial contingency fund in case of fall in market prices of crops. Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar today paid an unscheduled visit to GD Goenka School, Sohna, a bus of which was recently pelted with stones by some miscreants protesting the release of the movie "Padmaavat". Khattar interacted with teachers and students and lauded them for showing courage in the face of an adverse situation. "Since I saw this incident on the television, what kept boggling my mind was why it should have happened to the little children. Though I am not feeling well, I decided to meet you all," he told the students. When stones were being thrown at their bus, the children not only showed courage but also braved the situation with poise and calm, he said. The chief minister assured the students that adequate arrangements would be made by the state government to prevent re-occurrence of such incidents. He said that in a democratic system, every citizen had the right to express his views but if a protest is to be registered, it should be done peacefully. He lauded the teachers for acting sensibly during the incident and saving the students from being hurt. A teacher told the chief minister that the students, upon being instructed, lied down between the seats of the bus and covered themselves. Five woman teachers were accompanying the students in the bus. After giving the students and teachers a patient hearing, the chief minister asked the students to forget the incident. He also interacted with bus driver Ramesh who told the chief minister that three buses of GD Goenka School were in the queue on that day. Out of these, two buses were provided safe passage by the Gurugram Police by pacifying the people but someone from the crowd threw stone on the front glass of his bus. It was followed by another stone which hit the driver's side glass window, he told the CM. Welcoming the chief minister, Principal Nita Bali said he was quite concerned about the students and had taken time out meet them. If you have only 10 rupee coins and you need to buy something from hawkers or small shops, it's better not to try. They may say that they have stopped accepting the coin since demonetisation or that the coin is not in use. On Friday, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) sent a bulk SMS informing people that all Rs 10 coins are valid. "Rs. 10 coins have been issued both with rupee symbol and without it. Both are valid. Accept them without fear. To know more, give missed call to RBI at 14440," the message says. What is the issue? The 10 rupee coin's bad luck started soon after the government demonetised higher denomination notes on Nov. 8, 2016. One story claims that during the demonetisation process, one person went to a bank to deposit his collection of 10 rupee coins. But the bank did not accept them. Later, there was information that the bank's storage was full after accepting the demonetised notes and there was an RBI directive to ensure that lower denomination currencies remain in circulation. This incident spread through social media, especially on WhatsApp. People stopped accepting the coin soon after and some shops put notices claiming that the coin is not accepted. On Nov. 20, 2016, the RBI put out a press release saying that the public should accept Rs. 10 in all transactions. The press release also said, "some less-informed or uninformed persons who suspect the genuineness of such coins are creating doubts in the minds of ordinary people, including traders, shopkeepers, etc., impeding the circulation of these coins in certain pockets of the country causing avoidable confusion." Still not accepted Despite the notices from the RBI and others, the coin's run of bad luck did not end. Hawkers and small shops were not ready to accept them. However, larger shops and government offices are accepting them. A shopkeeper in Bengaluru's Shivaji Nagar said that he completely stopped receiving the coin. However, now he has begun accepting them since he can exchange the coins with BMTC conductors. "Now, I accept the coins from people if they give me one or two," said Salim, who owns a small tea and snacks shop. "I don't accept if they give more than two coins. Whenever it gets 10 or 20, I exchange with BMTC bus conductors, since the customers are hesitating to accept it," he said. Even shopkeepers with RBI ads on their walls are clueless and complain that the government has created confusion among people and are not doing anything to clarify it. Most of the people the reporter spoke to are not aware of the latest RBI statement. They still think the Rs. 10 coins have been recalled. Some people said that there are different versions of the coins. One version has the inscribed rupee symbol and some do not. Some have 10 bars around the number 10 and some have more than 10 bars. What if the coin is not accepted? Refusing to accept currencies in circulation is considered sedition in India. If somebody lodges a complaint, it can lead to a lifetime prison sentence. IPC 124A states that, "whoever, by words, either spoken or written, or by signs, or by visible representation, or otherwise, brings or attempts to bring into hatred or contempt, or excites or attempts to excite disaffection towards, the Government established by law in 103 [India], shall be punished with 104 [imprisonment for life], to which fine may be added, or with imprisonment which may extend to three years, to which fine may be added, or with fine." If a person or shop does not accept the 10 rupee coin, you can file an FIR at the police station in the jurisdiction concerned. You should show the rejected coin along with the details of the person or shop and the RBI communication. What is the issue? The 10 rupee coin's bad luck started soon after the government demonetised higher denomination notes on Nov. 8, 2016. One story claims that during the demonetisation process, one person went to a bank to deposit his collection of 10 rupee coins. But the bank did not accept them. Later, there was information that the bank's storage was full after accepting the demonetised notes and there was an RBI directive to ensure that lower denomination currencies remain in circulation. This incident spread through social media, especially on WhatsApp. People stopped accepting the coin soon after and some shops put notices claiming that the coin is not accepted. On Nov. 20, 2016, the RBI put out a press release saying that the public should accept Rs. 10 in all transactions. The press release also said, "some less-informed or uninformed persons who suspect the genuineness of such coins are creating doubts in the minds of ordinary people, including traders, shopkeepers, etc., impeding the circulation of these coins in certain pockets of the country causing avoidable confusion." Still not accepted Despite the notices from the RBI and others, the coin's run of bad luck did not end. Hawkers and small shops were not ready to accept them. However, larger shops and government offices are accepting them. A shopkeeper in Bengaluru's Shivaji Nagar said that he completely stopped receiving the coin. However, now he has begun accepting them since he can exchange the coins with BMTC conductors. "Now, I accept the coins from people if they give me one or two," said Salim, who owns a small tea and snacks shop. "I don't accept if they give more than two coins. Whenever it gets 10 or 20, I exchange with BMTC bus conductors, since the customers are hesitating to accept it," he said. Even shopkeepers with RBI ads on their walls are clueless and complain that the government has created confusion among people and are not doing anything to clarify it. Most of the people the reporter spoke to are not aware of the latest RBI statement. They still think the Rs. 10 coins have been recalled. Some people said that there are different versions of the coins. One version has the inscribed rupee symbol and some do not. Some have 10 bars around the number 10 and some have more than 10 bars. What if the coin is not accepted? Refusing to accept currencies in circulation is considered sedition in India. If somebody lodges a complaint, it can lead to a lifetime prison sentence. IPC 124A states that, "whoever, by words, either spoken or written, or by signs, or by visible representation, or otherwise, brings or attempts to bring into hatred or contempt, or excites or attempts to excite disaffection towards, the Government established by law in 103 [India], shall be punished with 104 [imprisonment for life], to which fine may be added, or with imprisonment which may extend to three years, to which fine may be added, or with fine." If a person or shop does not accept the 10 rupee coin, you can file an FIR at the police station in the jurisdiction concerned. You should show the rejected coin along with the details of the person or shop and the RBI communication. More than 70 lakh foreign cigarettes worth Rs 9 crore were seized at the Chennai Port Trust here, recently. Acting on a tip-off, the Special Intelligence and Investigation Branch, Chennai Customs department intercepted a consignment of nine containers at the port here which were declared as "gypsum powder", an official release said. The declared goods were allegedly imported by a Dindigul-based firm from Iran. Initial investigations revealed that 490 brown cartons were concealed along with gypsum powder bags in the containers. On opening the cartons, officials found it contained 60 boxes of cigarettes, each containing 20 units under the brand 'Gudang Garam International Indonesia". A total of 70.56 lakh cigarette sticks, approximately valued at Rs nine crore, were seized under the provisions of Customs Act 1962, the release said. According to Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodity) rules 2011, name and address of the manufacturer or importer, the quantity of the product, month and year of manufacturing are mandatory. However, the seized cigarette packets did not have any such details on the cover, it said. The "Gudang Garam" brand of cigarettes are made up of crushed clove, clove oil and tobacco which gives the cigarettes a clove flavour and are popular among the youth. Since the mandated pictorial warnings on the pack were less than the mandated 85 per cent, smokers believe they smoke safer cigarettes than Indian cigarettes, it added. Contrary to her earlier stand, Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Friday said the situation is not conducive for revocation of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) in Jammu and Kashmir. "The situation on the ground does not allow revoking AFSPA," Mehbooba said while winding up discussion on grants to the home department in the Legislative Assembly. Elaborating further, she said, "In the past, when there was any encounter, people were seen fleeing some five kilometres away from the site. (But) nowadays the case is reversed. People are seen rushing towards the encounter sites to hamper the operations." "We want to reduce footprints of police and security forces in the Valley, but is the situation feasible to revoke the AFSPA?" the chief minister questioned. Earlier this week Army Chief General Bipin Rawat had said time has not come for any rethink on the AFSPA or diluting some of its provisions. His comments came a day after J & K police registered an FIR against Indian Army's 10 Gharwal unit based in Shopian for the death of three Kashmiri youth in army firing. The AFSPA which is in vogue in Kashmir since 1990 gives sweeping powers and immunity to the armed forces during anti-militant operations. The ruling Peoples' Democratic Party (PDP) headed by Mehbooba, diluted its stand on revocation of the AFSPA after forming an alliance government with the BJP in March 2015. During the 2014 Assembly polls campaign in the state, the PDP leaders had promised that if voted to power, the party will ensure that the AFSPA is withdrawn from the state. The BJP, on the other, had opposed any withdrawal of the Act. Mehbooba's predecessor and Opposition National Conference leader Omar Abdullah had in 2012 expressed confidence that "the day was not far" when the AFSPA will be withdrawn from the state during his government's tenure. However, after failing in his attempt, Omar blamed then coalition partner Congress and Opposition PDP for not supporting him in his endeavour to get AFSPA revoked. The Act has remained a bone of contention between the regional parties PDP and NC and national parties BJP and the Congress. While the regional parties in favour of revoking the Act, the national parties want the AFSPA to remain to provide legal cover to the security forces operating in anti-militancy operations in the state. The Supreme Court on Friday refused to widen the scope of its hearing on a plea for independent probe into the death of Mumbai's special CBI judge B H Loya to include BJP president Amit Shah. Shah was an accused in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh encounter case, which was being heard by the judge at the time of his death on December 1, 2014. Shah was subsequently discharged in the case. "We are only concerned with the death of the judge. That's all. Let it be clear," a three-judge bench, presided over by Chief Justice Dipak Misra, said after a two-hour long hearing on a batch of petitions for an SIT probe into the judge's demise. The court's observation came after a counsel, representing Mumbai-based lawyer Dr Jayshri Laxmanrao Patil, sought issuance of a notice to Shah, among others. The court, however, allowed the counsel to argue the matter on the next date of hearing - February 8. Appearing for Bombay Lawyers Association, senior advocate Dushyant Dave asked why even if it was assumed that Loya's was a natural death, why there can't be an independent probe after suspicion has been raised by the sister, father, wife and son of the judge. The family members should be called by the bench to ascertain the truth, he urged. The counsel also named former high court chief justice over the claim that he had told the family members about "offer of Rs 100 crore bribe to Loya by Shah". Besides, claiming "glaring contradictions" in the case records, Dave said the CBI did not file an appeal against the discharge of Shah and some police officers, but preferred to challenge it in case of other officers like N K Amin, who wanted to turn approver in the case. "Why is the state (Maharashtra) shying away from the probe? We are not against anybody. But we would be doing great disservice to the institution if we don't protect our judges," he said. He also questioned the discreet inquiry ordered by the chief justice of the Bombay High Court after the news reports. All the four judges who recorded their statements in the inquiry by the state intelligence chief must be called for cross examination, he contended. Dave also read out case records to contend that Justice Loya was not taken to any of the best hospitals in Nagpur, where he had gone to attend the marriage of his colleague's daughter, and why the accompanying judges did not immediately ring up his wife to inform about his death. On this, Justice D Y Chandrachud said, "Individuals react differently in the face of calamity. Somebody cannot now say they should have acted in a different way. Their conduct does not determine the truth behind the case". Senior advocates Mukul Rohatgi, along with Harish Salve, countered Dave that he was trying to malign the judiciary. Senior advocate Indira Jaising, appearing for an intervenor, sought direction to bring all original records of the case, to which the state counsel agreed. Appearing for Congress sympathiser Tehnseen Poonawalla, senior advocate V Giri submitted there were allegations of interpolation in the case records, which required investigation. Three soldiers were killed and another injured after an avalanche hit an army post near the Line of Control (LoC) in Machil sector of North Kashmir's Kupwara district on Friday. Reports said the avalanche struck an army post of 21 Rajput around 4:30 pm at Sona Pandi Gali in Machil sector in which four soldiers went missing. "A search operation was started immediately and all the four soldiers trapped under snow were evacuated," an army official said. However, one died on the spot and two others succumbed while being shifted to 92 Base Hospital Badamibagh, he said. The deceased soldiers have been identified as Havaldar Kamlesh Kumar, Naik Balbeer, and Sepoy Rajinder while Sepoy Bipin is said to be stable. The Snow and Avalanche Study Establishment had warned of avalanches in higher reaches of the Valley after a 6.2 magnitude earthquake struck Afghanistan on Wednesday. Last month, 11 people, including a BEACON officer, died when multiple avalanches struck three vehicles near Sadhna Top in Kupwara. Earlier, in December last year, five army personnel died after avalanches, triggered by heavy snowfall, struck two forward posts in Gurez and Nowgam sectors of north Kashmir's Bandipora and Kupwara districts respectively. Last January in a series of four avalanches 24 people, including 20 soldiers and four civilians had died. Almost every winter, dozens of Indian and Pakistani soldiers are killed by avalanches along the LoC. In 2012, a massive avalanche in the Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir killed 140 people, including 129 soldiers. The Karnataka Legislative Assembly and the Council are moving towards eliminating use of paper at all levels. Work has started on e-Vidhaan, a project aimed at making the Assembly and the Council sessions paperless. The Union government has chosen eight states, including Karnataka, for the paperless project under the 'Digital India' initiative. Council Chairman DaHaShankaramurthy told reporters in Bengaluru on Friday that the representatives of political parties had recently attended the 18th All India Whips Conference at Udaipur where deliberations were held on paperless Parliament and state legislatures. E-Vidhaan is to make the functioning of legislature paperless, transparent, productive and more accountable to the public and economise the entire legislative process, he said. Shankaramurthy said a plan was prepared by legislature officials after visiting Himachal Pradesh Assembly in May 2015. Himachal Pradesh is the first state to fully adopt E-Vidhaan. Shankaramurthy said Governor Vajubhai Vala will address the joint session of the legislature on February 5. The legislature will then take up motion of thanks to the address till February 10. After a brief break, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah will present the budget proposals for 2018-19 on February 16. The legislature session will conclude on February 28. With election heat intensifying, AICC social media chief Ramya conducted a day-long workshop for Youth Congress members here Friday on how they should counter the BJP on social media platforms. Karnataka Pradesh Youth Congress president Basanagouda Badarli said the workshop had representatives from all the 224 Assembly segments, district coordinators and state-level coordinators. "We have appointed 11 social media coordinators for the state. The workshop focussed on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Telegram platforms," he said. Ramya, who was appointed as the Congress' social media head in May last year, trained the Youth Congress cadre on tackling the BJP. "The focus was basically on busting the lies the BJP is spreading on social media. At the same time, we have to highlight the achievements of the State government," Badarli said. Chidambaram takes stock Former Union Minister P Chidambaram, who is AICC in-charge of block and district committees, took stock of the party's organisation during his brief visit to the city on Friday. The state Congress unit has moved toward becoming a cadre-based party through booth-level committees. "He asked us to focus on micro-level management and gave suggestions. He said block-level workers should not change their phone numbers till elections so communication can be uninterrupted. Also, he asked workers to switch to smartphones in order to use WhatsApp," KPCC vice-president B L Shankar said. The BJP is on an overdrive ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Bengaluru on Sunday, leaving no stone unturned in reaching out to software professionals, who form the party's core urban support base. More than 10,000 techies have registered to attend Modi's rally at Palace Grounds, and the party cadre has been carrying out registration drives outside tech parks and malls. A separate enclosure has been made for techies at the venue, with a seating capacity of about 5,000. The party hopes to cash in on Modi's popularity among urban voters. "Registration drives were conducted outside the International Tech Park Bangalore (IPTB), Manyata Tech Park, Ecospace, Phoenix and Mantri malls. We have crossed 15,000 registrations, online and offline," Karnataka BJP's social media cell convenor Balaji Srinivas said. The techie community has traditionally supported the BJP, Srinivas. "The techie community played a big role in the BJP's victory in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. So, the party's association with this community has always been there," he added. The effort to get as many software professionals as possible is being helmed by the BJP leader Aravind Limbavali, who represents the Mahadevapura constituency, which houses the city's software nervecentre. The venue has been decked up for the prime minister's rally, with elaborate arrangements - 20 LED screens, a mini hospital, 250 urinals and 75 e-toilets, 250 food counters and so on. BJP state president BS Yeddyurappa inspected the arrangements on Friday. More than 100 volunteers, all IT professionals, have been roped in to popularise Modi's visit. They will work towards making the hashtags #ModiInBengaluru and #WeekendWithModi trend on Twitter. "The volunteers will take time between their work to volunteer," Srinivas said. Those who have registered online have been classified constituency-wise and personalised invitations are being sent to them. To counter Modi's much-anticipated rally, the Congress is pushing out a digital campaign with hashtags #ModiLies, on the Union Budget 'disappointing' the salaried middle-class, and #RajasthanRejectsModi, on the BJP's defeat in the Rajasthan bypolls. The BJP expects 3-4 lakh people to show up at Modi's rally. Preempting possible attempts by the state government to scuttle the rally by preventing people from reaching the venue, coupled with a bandh call given by pro-Kannada outfits over the Mahady issue, the BJP will hire only private buses to ferry attendees. The ruling Congress has prepared a major, technology-driven assault on the BJP as part of its Assembly polls campaign strategy. The campaign is likely to intensify after the Congress president Rahul Gandhi's visit to Karnataka on February 10 all the way up to the polls. The party has already assigned booth-level tasks for all leaders - right from Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to a grassroots worker. A central command will be set up at the state-level to define and execute campaign strategy, monitored by Rahul's AICC team. The Congress' poll preparation runs contrary to the BJP, whose national president Amit Shah's team is yet to visibly get cracking, whereas the JD(S) state president HD Kumaraswamy's campaign is yet to heat up. The Congress plan seems meticulous, with responsibility fixed across the party rank and file, including what a candidate is required to do after the tickets are announced. The party also plans to use data analytics and mobile technology to sharpen campaign focus. At the booth-level, party workers are to list 10 positive points about the candidate and negatives of the opposition, take ownership of specific voter list pages, identify key influencers among voters, create WhatsApp and social media communication channels. A candidate has to make a 15-minute video of his/her personal story, live Facebook video feed of campaign rallies and run SMS, WhatsApp and IVR call campaigns. Aiding the candidate's rally will be three LED vans in every district. "We will fight a very energetic election using technology," said MLC Rizwan Arshad, who is a member of the campaign committee. "Urban candidates are mostly tech-savvy, so they will not have a problem. Rural candidates will get support from the campaign committees that will be formed in every booth." A booth-level mobile app will be used to undertake voter-profiling by mapping their likes and dislikes. Congress Campaign Committee chief and Energy Minister D K Shivakumar hopes this can ensure the party's overall campaign strategy will "fully match voters' desire." This will also lead to a constituency-specific campaign messaging. All this dovetails with the party's effort to become a cadre-based unit. A paper presentation on this strategy was made by Shivakumar, who heads the 70-member campaign committee, earlier this week. BJP worker Santosh was murdered as he took objection to Waseem (the prime accused) smoking ganja in public, an eyewitness has told the police. According to the police, Ashok (27), who is also the complainant in the case, has mentioned this in his complaint to the J C Nagar police. The summary part in the FIR registered by the police corroborates Ashok's claims. Ashok, in the complaint, said Santosh's birthday was on January 30 and, the next day his (Santosh) sister had delivered a baby boy. He was very happy and hosted a party on January 31. He along with Santhosh, Rajesh and Ravichandra were returning from a local bar and restaurant after the party around 6.15 pm. They found Waseem and his friends smoking ganja in front of his bakery. Waseem had already nurtured a grudge against Santhosh for filing a police complaint against him in this regard. On seeing Santhosh, Waseem picked a fight with him. Meanwhile, Waseem's associates Umar and Irfan attacked Ashok and Rajesh and tore their shirts. While Ashok was trying to separate them, Waseem pulled out a screwdriver and stabbed Santhosh in his left thigh, the complaint stated. Santhosh sustained a deep cut and collapsed, bleeding profusely while Waseem and others fled in an autorickshaw. Ashok and others rushed Santhosh to a nearby hospital from where he was shifted to Mahaveer Jain hospital where doctors declared him brought dead, he stated. In his complaint, Ashok has neither mentioned Santhosh's affiliation with the BJP nor that there was a fight over putting banners and flex hoardings in the area that led to the murder, as claimed by the BJP, a senior police officer said. SweepSmart, a Dutch company has proposed to partner with Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) to upgrade 10 existing dry waste collection centres in the city. Representatives of the company met Bangalore Development and Town Planning Minister, K J George on Friday to discuss the proposal. The company offered to upgrade the 10 dry waste collection centres at a cost of Rs 4.75 crores. The company and the Dutch government will contribute Rs 70 Lakh each for the project. According to reports, the company also requested the Minister to allot Rs 1.95 crore for the project to cover the remaining costs. The BBMP Commissioner N Manjunath Prasad and BDA Commissioner Rakesh Singh were present. Box Mega job fair inaugurated George, Mayor R Sampath Raj and other officials of the Karnataka Vocational Training and Skill Development Corporation inaugurated the mega job fair at Shalini Grounds in Jayanagar 5th block on Friday. Speaking at the event, George said,"Our Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has developed a Koushalya Abhivruddhi programme to provide training for skilled and efficient people in the state." More than 162 companies participated in the event and 11,150 people took part in the event out of which 274 got placed immediately. Local residents have accused the state government of misleading the National Green Tribunal on the action taken to protect Bellandur Lake. They have demanded the NGT undertake a surprise check on the ground, citing several inconsistencies in the report presented to the green panel and state Chief Secretary Ratna Prabha, which DH has accessed. A major point of contention is the claim by the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike that it posted nine home guards around the lake and placed Prahari vigilance vehicles with gangmen for night vigil. "Why should there be fire on the lake twice if there are guards?" asked A Lokesh, a local resident. "Or why should the chief secretary ask the Bangalore Development Authority to tie-up with defence personnel for watch and ward? The NGT should do a surprise check to get the real picture." The report - signed by BDA Commissioner Rakesh Singh on January 27 - also stated that all encroachments have been cleared, except for the one near Ambedkar Nagar. While the lake's periphery is 12.26 km, 5.20 km is covered by defence area, where no fencing is required. The BDA had claimed that a mere 1.5-km area of the periphery needed to be fenced, which is disputed by the Karnataka Lake Conservation and Development Authority (KLCDA) officials. "Encroachment and garbage dumping have continued in various forms," a KLCDA official said. "Laying roads, undertaking civil works and placing boundaries have been happening. The fact that people throw garbage is proof enough that fencing hasn't been done properly," he added. Shonali Singh, local resident and a member of the Citizens Watch Group, cited repeated admissions by BDA officials that they are financially constrained to post guards to secure the lake. "That's why they agreed for watch and ward with the defence department," she said. The KLCDA chief has also said his agency would deploy security guards to protect the lake. Shonali also questioned the government's stand on building Sewage Treatment Plants. "While the BWSSB is seeking time till 2020 to build STPs, it is asking 99 apartments, constituting just 1% of the polluters, to install the plants by December 2018," she said. Installing STPs may solve the existing problem, but the government does not seem to consider issues that may occur in future and take mitigating action. "This should also be brought before the NGT," she said. The Union government is likely to pay an annual premium of less than Rs 1,200 per family for the ambitious national health protection scheme, for which approximately Rs 12,000 crore is required every year. For 2018-19, the government has made an initial provision of Rs 2,000 crore and an extra Rs 800 crore is expected from the states, when they join the scheme. Some money is also expected from the enhanced health and education cess. Taken together, the resources are adequate to launch the scheme, most probably on October 2, say government officials. Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Friday said the scheme, dubbed as the world's biggest health cover plan that provides medical insurance to 50 crore individuals, would be cashless and not a reimbursement scheme. There are two routes to implement the scheme - buying insurance from a private company or involving a government-supported trust to provide the insurance cover. It would be left to the state governments to decide which model they would like to adopt. "The scheme takes care of hospitalisation, secondary and tertiary care. Obviously, it will involve various state hospitals and selected private hospitals. It can be on trust model, it can be on insurance model. It's not on a reimbursement model since there are too many complaints about this model," Jaitley said. Asked whether the scheme would provide a profiteering opportunity for insurance companies, health ministry sources told DH that insurance firms would be asked to keep their administrative cost and profit collectively below 20%. Currently, 24 states run health insurance schemes for the poor. The officials hoped that most of these schemes would be merged with the new programme. The Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojna too would be subsumed into it. The ambitious scheme that is being hailed as Modi-care by the ruling dispensation, is yet to be approved by the Expenditure Finance Committee under the Union Finance Ministry and by the Cabinet. "We have just circulated an EFC note," said health ministry sources. Union Health Minister J P Nadda said the Union government would provide 60% money for the scheme and the balance would come from the states. It would provide cover to the geriatric population. Though the scheme would be Aadhaar linked, eligibility would not be denied to those not having the unique identification card. "The scheme would change India's socio-economic scene by preventing bankruptcy of many families due to healthcare costs. It will improve India's economic productivity," Nadda said. The rising out-of-pocket expenditure on health is one of the biggest ills facing millions of Indians. It adversely impacts the finances of 62% of the population, according to the Economic Survey. The Bengaluru Bandh on Sunday was called off soon after the Karnataka High Court declared it unconstitutional and illegal. Vatal Nagaraj of Kannada Okkuta, which had called for the bandh, said on Friday, "We welcome the court order. But we have decided to observe Sunday as a black day. The Okkuta will take out a protest march from Freedom Park to Palace Grounds demanding Prime Minister Narendra Modi's intervention on the Mahadayi issue." He accused the BJP of conspiring against Kannada activists and preventing them from staging protests on the Mahadayi issue. Earlier in the day, the high court directed the state government and law enforcement agencies to take preventive measures to ensure that commerce, industry, public transport and the common man are not affected by the bandh. A division bench of acting Chief Justice H G Ramesh and Justice P S Dinesh Kumar issued the directions while hearing a public interest litigation filed by Shraddha Parents Association seeking directions to restrain the proposed bandh called by Kannada Chaluvali Vatal Paksha, a pro-Kannada outfit. They had called for the bandh seeking Prime Minister Narendra Modi's intervention to settle the Mahadayi water dispute. The PM is expected to arrive in Bengaluru on February 4. The high court referred to a ruling of the Supreme Court which had declared bandhs as illegal and unconstitutional and had observed that they violate the constitutional rights of citizens. The petitioner had also sought for directions to Vatal Nagaraj and similar protesting groups to deposit Rs 500 crore as security. Catholic churches are working for the development of the poor and have good relations with them, said Myanmar Bishop Cardinal Charles Maung Bo SDB. Speaking at the conference of Catholic bishops here, he said India is facing a challenge from the rightwing ideology. "India, under the rightwing ideology, today is standing against the oppressed. We all need to unite and fight against the ideas that sow hatred," he said. Apostolic Nuncio to India and Nepal, Archbishop Giambattista Diquattro, said Catholic churches have been rendering yeoman service in the field of education and medicine, and stressed the need for continuing that tradition. Bengaluru Archbishop Bernard Moras was present at the event. What began as a bomb threat to the Kempegowda International Airport turned out to be a clash between two women married to a jailed businessman, sending the airport police into a tizzy. At 11 pm on January 24, sub-inspector Maregowda of the International Airport police received a phone call from a man, identifying himself as Prakash Rathod. The caller said a woman named Madhu from Vodeyerahalli, part of the naxal group, has planted a bomb at the airport with her associates. The police passed on the information to the airport authorities, who asked security personnel to conduct a combing operation, and tightened security. When the police received the same information from different phone numbers, they traced the calls to a woman, named Veena. They later learnt that Veena is the wife of a businessman Prakash Rathod, who is doing time in jail for a cheating case. Rathod was earlier married to Madhu, a homemaker from Vodeyerahalli, who has two children with him. Madhu was shocked when the police questioned her on the bomb hoax. The police probe revealed that Veena conspired to fix Madhu, and asked an accomplice to make the hoax call. Rathod had dumped Madhu and lived with Veena during his arrest. Madhu, however, began visiting him in jail and got closer to the man, who stopped talking to Veena. The police detained Veena for questioning and are looking for the caller. The Vidyaranyapura police are further probing the incident. The officials of Customs Air Intelligence Unit have arrested seven people since January 24, 2018, in separate cases and recovered 2.2 kg of gold worth Rs 69.3 lakh from them. The officials said that they apprehended a passenger, Shafnas Malayil Aboobaker (21), as he landed at the Kempegowda International Airport from Dubai on January 25. After the passenger profiling and on a detailed examination of his baggage, it was found that he had concealed mercury coated gold wires in his trolley bags. The gold weighed 332 gm and was valued at Rs 10.35 lakh in the international market. The other cases are: n Venkataraman Hariprasad (23) and Ramachandra Venkatesh (21) had concealed 215 grams of gold in wax and hair cream boxes worth Rs 5.33 lakh. n Anees Ahmed (35) was apprehended for concealing 344.6 gm of gold in his underwear. The gold was worth Rs 10.76 lakh. n Mohammed Nusrath (27), who arrived at KIA from Sri Lanka, was concealing three cut pieces of gold in his rectum. The gold weighed 204 gm worth Rs 6.4 lakh. n Mohammed Mustafa (39), who landed at KIA from Dubai, was caught for concealing silver-coated gold wires in his trolley bag. Gold weighing 582 gm is worth Rs 18.27 lakh. n Malajil Babesh, who flew to Bengaluru from Qatar, was concealing gold in the form of dust mixed with paste in hair gel cream. The seized gold weighed 644.38 gm worth Rs 18.24 lakh. Probing the recent assault of a policeman and rifle snatching in Kodigehalli, the Northeast police busted an interstate gang of thieves belonging to the Bhill tribe in Madhya Pradesh. They arrested five of the gang members - Rai Singh (35), Ajambai Singh (25), Chethan Remasingh (19), Suresh Khodria Meher (19), and Abubai Singh Meher (21) - from Bagoli village in Madhya Pradesh's Dhar district. A team of city police officers is still camping in the village to arrest three more of the gang members, including a booty receiver. The police learnt that prime accused Rai had snatched the rifle from the constables and discarded it at an isolated place in Yelahanka New Town. Four police personnel were suspended for dereliction of duty over the incident. In the early hours of January 18, special teams, headed by S Girish, DCP Northeast, were formed to capture the thieves. Gathering clues from CCTV footage, the probe team traced the gang to Bagoli village. The police also learnt that the gang belonged to the Bhill tribe, known for criminal activities. While women, children and the elderly belonging to the tribe stayed at home, men - including teenagers - travelled to metro cities by bus and robbed homes in extension layouts and the outskirts. Finding them proved challenging since the gang would stay in bus stops and railway stations. They survey the area in the morning, identify locked houses and rob them in the night. They would lock neighbouring houses from the outside before the theft. The gang also raided houses in Mysuru, Tumakuru and Kadapa in Andhra Pradesh, some areas in Punjab, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh before heading home. The police team that went to Bagoli had a tough time arresting Rai, as the tribe got together and launched a protest. But they somehow managed to bring Rai to Bengaluru for interrogation, when he disclosed the names of the other gang members. When another team visited the village to arrest the gang members, the tribe gheraoed the police, threw stones at them with catapults and assaulted them with weapons resembling bows and arrows, a senior official said. The Madhya Pradesh police, Indore range, arrested four other robbers by shooting three of them in the legs. OCEAN SPRINGS, Mississippi -- It wasn't exactly the equivalent of riding the Jurassic Park ride at Universal Orlando, but students arriving for school Friday at Ocean Springs Upper Elementary were greeted by an unusual sight. There, in the car drop-off line, was a bright green dinosaur. More Barney than T-Rex, inside the costume was OSUE computer science teacher Jason Quaregna. "One of the (school) officers said there was a lot of traffic this morning because so many people were stopping to take pictures," Quaregna said of the reaction. "People were waving, kids had their mouths open, looking awestruck." The idea was hatched after Quaregna saw a social media post about a father who had embarrassed his kid by greeting him at the bus stop in a dinosaur outfit. "I shared the post and a couple of people thought it would be fun to do that in the car rider line," Quaregna said. "I just happened to have access to a dinosaur costume, so, of course, the gauntlet was laid down to do it. So I decided on Friday." The upper elementary encompasses grades 4-6, so perhaps it's not surprising the that Quaregna said there were "no tears" from the students, "which was a good thing." Some of the kids, in fact, were wise to the dinosaur's identity. "The students, every time they walked by me later, asked where the costume was," Quaregna said. "I said `What costume? There was a dinosaur out there.' Some of the kids bought into it, some said `We know it was you.'" But the children weren't the only ones amused -- or in some cases bemused -- at the sight of a green dinosaur on campus. "Parents were sharing it on social media," Quaregna said, "and as I walked through the hallway (in the costume), other teachers were stopping me for pictures. We did a couple in the library with me holding some books." Superintendent Bonita Coleman was asked for her reaction later Friday morning. "Clearly we are just happy people," she said, laughing. The Pat Vergne fiasco will have its day in court. Culminating months of speculation over the most divisive controversy to grip Del Mar in decades, the citys former chief lifeguard and director of community services filed suit in San Diego Superior Court last week after city leaders declined to settle a $5 million claim for damages he submitted in December. Meanwhile, county prosecutors have decided not to bring charges against Vergne or the two city employees with whom he was fired last year for alleged financial wrongdoing. Based on the investigation submitted, there is not proof beyond a reasonable doubt that crimes were committed, Capt. John Maryon wrote Feb. 2 in an email. Vergnes lawsuitwritten on Jan. 23 and entered on Jan. 30individually accuses City Manager Scott Huth and all five city councilmembers of defamation, civil conspiracy, intentional infliction of emotional distress, age discrimination and wrongful termination. Vergne has asked Judge Kenneth J. Medel for a jury trial and will seek punitive damages in an amount to be determined at trial, as well as general damages, compensation for lost earning capacity, past and future earnings and benefits, attorneys fees, court fees and any other relief the court deems fit. Vergnes 37-year career with Del Mar met a shocking end in August when he and two of his subordinates were fired after a four-month internal investigation catalogued 95 allegedly improper transactions between 2015 and 2017 relating to waived rental fees at the Powerhouse Community Center, payroll records and use of a city credit cardcombining, officials say, to deprive city coffers of more than $200,000. Treading similar ground as his December claim, Vergnes lawsuit describes a pattern of harassment that goes back several years while depicting his suspension and the citys investigation as a fraudulent campaign designed to justify his ouster. The Defendants knew that [Vergne] had simply been following previously-established protocols and procedures that the City itself had been approving for years, but chose to use these claimed violations as pretext to wrongfully terminate and discredit him, according to the lawsuit. Huth and the city council knowingly made false statements that depicted Vergne in a criminal light, according to the lawsuit, including Huths claims to this newspaper in August that Vergne had interfered with the investigation, colluded with another employee on erroneous overtime claims, and allowed a third employee to double-bill the city as a private contractor. The lawsuit also alleges that city officials fraudulently induced Vergnes cooperation in their investigation by promising to keep his statements private, knowing all along that they were going to give their findings to the San Diego County Sheriffs Department, which launched a criminal investigation that concluded last week with no charges brought. Del Mar also violated state law that protects municipal employees from discrimination, according to the lawsuit, which claims city officials fired Vergne because he was 56 years old so they could replace him with younger, less qualified candidates. Defendants conspired against and terminated [Vergne] because he had resisted and reported past harassment and retaliation by Defendant Huth, and because [Vergne] was over the age of 40, according to the lawsuit. The Defendants had no legitimate basis on which to terminate [Vergne], as he had been an exemplary employee and was an involved member of the Del Mar community for decades. A few days before Vergne filed his lawsuit, the city announced it had promoted 44-year-old Jon Edelbrocka 25-year veteran of the departmentto fill the position. Vergnes lawsuit departs from the December claim on one key point: it says city officials targeted Vergne, in part, because of his prior reporting of unlawful conduct. Court documents filed so far offer no information on what unlawful conduct Vergne had reported. Reached by phone on Jan. 30, Michael P. Lewis, one of Vergnes Los Angeles-based lawyers, declined to comment. City Attorney Leslie Devaney did not respond to a request for comment. The city had not filed a response to the lawsuit as of Feb 6. A case management conference is set for Aug. 3. Throughout the controversy, the city council has stood its ground as scores of longtime residents rallied to Vergnes defense, hailing him as the most loyal and well-regarded employee Del Mar has ever known and blasting councilmembers for exposing the city to such a large financial risk. Speaking at the councils Feb. 5 deliberations to renew Huths contract, Mayor Dwight Wordena retired lawyer who served as Del Mars city attorney three decades agoremained unfazed by the looming legal battle. Pat has chosen to take this to court, and thats not a bad thing. A court is the forum where we do resolve these kind of things ... and it happens in an environment where facts matter and circumstances are controlled, he said. Ive reviewed this in detail. Ive been a lawyer for 30 years. Ive worked for every city around. I have every confidence in the citys legal position. But just like you, Ive got to wait for that process to unfold. In the meantime, he said, the focus in Del Mar needs to shift toward repairing the damage that has been done. I can just tell that for a lot of you, no matter what we say about the Pat Vergne affairwe know facts you dont know, or this is wrong and this is rightits not working, the trust is impaired, Worden said. To heal that, I think, take that concern you have and say, OK, its going to be resolved in court. Lets trust that that process will be fair and start preparing all of ourselvesyou and meto accept the outcome. WASHINGTON D.C., 25 January 2018 (AGU) Man-made phosphorus pollution is reaching dangerously high levels in freshwater basins around the world, according to new research. A new study published in Water Resources Research, a journal of the American Geophysical Union, estimated the global amount of phosphorus from human activities that entered Earths freshwater bodies from 2002 to 2010.Phosphorus is a common component of mineral and manure fertilizers because it boosts crop yields. However, a large portion of phosphorus applied as fertilizer is not taken up by plants, and either builds up in the soil or washes into rivers, lakes and coastal seas, according to the studys authors.The results of the new study show global human activity emitted 1.47 teragrams (1.62 million U.S. tons) of phosphorus per year into the worlds major freshwater basins, four times greater than the weight of the Empire State Building.The study also assessed whether human activity had surpassed the Earths ability to dilute and assimilate excess levels of phosphorus in fresh water bodies. The authors found phosphorus load exceeded the assimilation capacity of freshwater bodies in 38 percent of Earths land surface, an area housing 90 percent of the global human population.In many areas of the world either theres not enough water to assimilate the phosphorus or the pollution load is so huge that the water system cant assimilate everything, said Mesfin Mekonnen, a post-doctoral research associate at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln and co-author of the new study.The studys results indicate freshwater bodies in areas with high water pollution levels are likely to suffer from eutrophication, or an excess level of nutrients, due to high phosphorus levels, said Joep Schyns, a researcher in the field of water management at the University of Twente in Enschede, the Netherlands, who was not connected to the new study.Eutrophication due to phosphorus pollution causes algal blooms, which can lead to the mortality of fish and plants due to lack of oxygen and light, Schyns said. It also reduces the use of the water for human purposes such as consumption and swimming. Breaking down phosphorus load The authors of the new study examined agricultural activity to calculate the total amount of man-made phosphorus entering Earths surface water from 2002 to 2010. They gathered data on how much fertilizer is applied per crop in each country, and estimated domestic and industrial phosphorus production by looking at protein consumption per capita per country. Other studies have calculated global phosphorus loads, but we went farther because we broke down the phosphorus load by various categories such as different crops, countries, and economic sectors, which no one has done, Mekonnen said.The new results show human activity released 1.47 teragrams (1.62 million U.S. tons) of phosphorus into the worlds freshwater bodies each year. China contributed 30 percent of the freshwater phosphorus load, followed by India at 8 percent and the USA at 7 percent.The largest contribution to the global Phosphorus load came from domestic sewage at 54 percent, followed by agriculture at 38 percent and industry at 8 percent.The authors found the phosphorus load from agriculture grew by 27 percent over the study period, from 525 gigagrams (579,000 U.S. tons) in 2002 to 666 gigagrams (734,000 U.S. tons) in 2010. Can Earths freshwater bodies cope? The study also estimated the water pollution level (WPL) of Earths major river basins by comparing the amount of fresh water needed to dilute the excess phosphorus to an allowable concentration compared to the basins actual river runoff. If a freshwater basin has a WPL above one, water quality standards are being violated and the basin is receiving more phosphorus pollution than it can assimilate, Mekonnen said. The results show freshwater basins with a WPL above one cover 38 percent of Earths land surface, excluding Antarctica. These basins often pertain to densely populated areas or regions with intensive agriculture, according to the authors.The most severely polluted freshwater areas include Aral drainage basin, the Huang-He (Yellow) river in China, the Indus and Ganges rivers in India and the Danube river in Europe.Less-populated regions such as Australia and northern Africa also suffer from high water pollution levels, according to the new study. These regions have smaller phosphorus loads compared to areas like China and Europe, but they have much less water available to accommodate their excess phosphorus, Mekonnen said. Contact Mesfin Mekonnen, mmekonnen2@unl.edu, +1 (402) 472-5392.Lauren Lipuma, +1 (202) 777-7396, llipuma@agu.org Phosphorus pollution reaching dangerous levels worldwide, new study finds ABSTRACT: We estimate the global anthropogenic phosphorus (P) loads to freshwater and the associated grey water footprints (GWFs) for the period 20022010, at a spatial resolution of 5 5 arc min, and compare the GWF per river basin to runoff to assess the P-related water pollution level (WPL). The global anthropogenic P load to freshwater systems from both diffuse and point sources is estimated at 1.5 Tg/yr. More than half of this total load was in Asia, followed by Europe (19%) and Latin America and the Caribbean (13%). The domestic sector contributed 54% to the total, agriculture 38%, and industry 8%. In agriculture, cereals production had the largest contribution to the P load (31%), followed by fruits, vegetables, and oil crops, each contributing 15%. The global total GWF related to anthropogenic P loads is estimated to be 147 1012 m3/yr, with China contributing 30%, India 8%, USA 7%, and Spain and Brazil 6% each. The basins with WPL > 1 (where GWF exceeds the basins assimilation capacity) together cover about 38% of the global land area, 37% of the global river discharge, and provide residence to about 90% of the global population. Global Anthropogenic Phosphorus Loads to Freshwater and Associated Grey Water Footprints and Water Pollution Levels: A High-Resolution Global Study Save my User ID and Password Some subscribers prefer to save their log-in information so they do not have to enter their User ID and Password each time they visit the site. To activate this function, check the 'Save my User ID and Password' box in the log-in section. This will save the password on the computer you're using to access the site. Note: If you choose to use the log-out feature, you will lose your saved information. This means you will be required to log-in the next time you visit our site. Last Hawaiian princess' battles for her millions By JENNIFER SINCO KELLEHER Associated Press HONOLULU (AP) Every day, tourists flock to a downtown Honolulu palace for a glimpse of the way Hawaii's royal family lived, marveling at its gilded furniture, lavish throne room and grand staircase made from prized koa wood. But few know Iolani Palace America's only royal residence has relied in part on the generosity of a descendant of that family while the relic of the monarchy's rule now serves as a museum. Multimillionaire heiress Abigail Kinoiki Kekaulike Kawananakoa, considered by many to be Hawaii's last princess, has paid the palace's electric bills for the past six years. But the intensely private Native Hawaiian, whose $215 million fortune includes race horses and real estate, is no longer in a position to fund her pet charities, including the palace and various Native Hawaiian causes. A court struggle is playing out for the 91-year-old's fortune. Her longtime lawyer persuaded a judge to appoint him trustee, arguing a stroke over the summer left the heiress impaired. She claims she's fine, and has since fired that lawyer and married her girlfriend of 20 years. Since the court battle began, the electricity payments have stopped, Iolani Palace Executive Director Kippen de Alba Chu said. Officials who run the palace completed in 1882 have relied on a backup plan to pay the light bill and stay open. Also disrupted, according to court documents, were funds earmarked for a Native Hawaiian nursing student's scholarship and materials to repair a damaged crypt at the Royal Mausoleum, where members of Hawaiian royalty are buried. Over the years, Kawananakoa has used her money to fund protesters fighting a giant telescope on a mountain some Native Hawaiians consider sacred; to challenge a contentious Honolulu rail project; and to support the Merrie Monarch Festival, a prestigious hula competition. She also has donated items owned by King Kalakaua and Queen Kapiolani for public display, including a nearly 14-carat diamond from Kalakaua's pinky ring. Kawananakoa is the granddaughter of the late Prince David Kawananakoa, who was named an heir to the throne. She has no official title or real power in the state, but that doesn't matter to many Native Hawaiians, who see her as a link to when Hawaii was its own nation before American businessmen, backed by U.S. Marines, overthrew the Hawaiian kingdom 125 years ago. She was always called princess among Hawaiians because Hawaiians have acknowledged that lineage, said Kimo Alama Keaulana, assistant professor of Hawaiian language and studies at Honolulu Community College. Hawaiians hold dear to genealogy. And so genealogically speaking, she is of high royal blood. Some note that Prince David has other living descendants and say the heiress is held up as the last tie to the monarchy simply because of her wealth. Kawananakoa's riches come from being the great-granddaughter of James Campbell, an Irish businessman who made his fortune as a sugar plantation owner and one of Hawaii's largest landowners. But Kawananakoa's supporters say she is the closest connection to the throne because, although they were already related, the prince's widow formally adopted her as a daughter. Last princess or not, Kawananakoa's inheritance wields tangible power and some worry about it falling into the wrong hands. In July, her longtime attorney James Wright filed an emergency petition seeking to be named successor trustee to all of her trust assets, saying in court documents that Kawananakoa is impaired as a result of an acute stroke. Two days later, a judge granted the request. In August, attorney Michael Lilly wrote a letter to the judge saying he now represents Kawananakoa and he strongly contests any contention she is incompetent. Lawyers for the heiress dispute she had a stroke, saying in court papers it was a transient ischemic attack, which has similar symptoms but caused no permanent damage. Wright's court filings also raise allegations that Veronica Gail Worth, Kawananakoa's 64-year-old wife, physically abused her. Neither Kawananakoa nor Worth responded to requests for comment from The Associated Press. However, Kawananakoa's attorney said in court papers the abuse claims are false and that Kawananakoa fell and struck furniture, which caused the bruising, which is not uncommon at someone her age. A judge in September appointed a special master to independently investigate the heiress's mental capacity and the abuse allegations. Kawananakoa largely avoids airing her personal life, and some who know her say even her Oct. 1 wedding at the home of a retired state Supreme Court justice came as a surprise. But she has occasionally drawn attention over the years, including in 1993, when one of her horses won $1 million in New Mexico's All American Futurity. Five years later, furor erupted after Kawananakoa sat on a palace throne for a Life magazine photo shoot. She damaged some of its fragile threads, but repairs were made and the throne was returned to the palace throne room. Still, the uproar led to Kawananakoa's ouster as president of Friends of Iolani Palace, a position she held for more than 25 years. Some Hawaiians, such as well-known activist Walter Ritte, aren't interested in revering her genealogy or wealth. Hawaiians, especially those who live in poverty, can't relate to her, Ritte said. She has given some money here and there, he said. She could have done a lot more for Hawaiians. The court battle focusing on Kawananakoa's age and health has others reflecting on her as a final living reminder of Hawaii's monarchy and as a symbol of a proud Hawaiian national identity that has endured. It is fair to say that Abigail Kawananakoa is the last of our alii, said Keaulana, using the Hawaiian word for royalty. She epitomizes what Hawaiian royalty is in all its dignity and intelligence and art. Palace officials will be watching the case. A hearing is tentatively scheduled for Feb. 8. ___ Associated Press researcher Rhonda Shafner in New York contributed to this report. Subscriber content preview LONDON (AP) Visitors to London will soon be able to enjoy the golden age of ocean travel at the Victoria and Albert Museum. The Ocean Liners: Speed and Style exhibit is billed as the first ever to explore the design and cultural impact of the great passenger ships that linked the United States and Europe. . . . "You're cleared. You're good to go, Rob. Congratulations." Those are the words that fans all across New England have been waiting to be uttered heading into Super Bowl LII this weekend against the Philadelphia Eagles. The announcement has resulted in a big sigh of relief as Rob Gronkowski has officially cleared concussion protocol and will be set to play Sunday. But for Gronkowski and the Patriots, there was no big dramatic moment. They knew this was coming "It was a process," Gronkowski said. "I knew eventually I'd get cleared. It's nothing too serious." Thursday's news came as big news outside the Patriots locker room. But the way Gronkowski described it, there was no sudden reveal. Gronkowski said he'd been slowly worked back into practices this week. He'd been reintroduced to contact throughout the week. After monitoring how he responded to that contact, he eventually got the OK from trainers to go back to a fully active status. "I'm cleared. I'm ready to roll," Gronkowski said. "I'll be full speed, taking on hits, blocking, running routes, whatever it will be." Thursday was the last media availability for the Patriots before Super Bowl LII. The next time we see Gronkowski, it will be on the field against the Philadelphia Eagles. There will be no game-time decisions for the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LII against the Philadelphia Eagles. The Pats removed Rob Gronkowski, Malcolm Butler, Deatrich Wise, and Brandon King from the injury report on Friday. All four players are good to go for the Super Bowl. The Eagles also did not list any players with a game status (questionable or doubtful) for Sunday. Gronkowski cleared concussion protocol on Thursday and was a full participant in practice. Butler arrived late in Minnesota due to an illness. While the Patriots flew in on Monday, Butler didn't leave Boston until Tuesday. He participated fully in Thursday's practice and was taken off the injury report on Friday. The idea of ??unilaterally and militarily resolving a countrys situation is a misconception, he said to the Tunisian parliamentarians applause. I do not forget that many decided that we had to finish with the Libyan leader without there being any project for the continuation, he added, implicitly referring to Nicolas Sarkozy, who had engaged France in an intervention aimed at dislodging Muammar Gaddafi from power. We have collectively plunged Libya since those years into anomie without being able to resolve the situation, he added. While the security risks posed by political instability and violence in Libya are now also weighing on Tunisia, the speech of Emmanuel Macron has taken a particular resonance. But it is undoubtedly the situation in Syria, which many Western chancelleries have called for the resignation of President Bashar al-Assad in recent years, that the French head of state thought when he said: Whatever One thinks of a leader, [one can not] imagine that [one] can substitute for the sovereignty of a people to decide its future. Libya has been plunged into chaos since Western intervention and the fall of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. Two authorities are fighting for power today. On the one hand, the national unity government, recognized by the international community and based in Tripoli. On the other hand, an authority exercising power in the east of the country, with the support of Marshal Khalifa Haftar who holds his legitimacy for his military success on the ground. Macron hails Tunisia's 'democratic revolution' on state visit Eric Feferberg, AFP | French President Emmanuel Macron prepares to address the Tunisian parliament in Tunis on February 1, 2018. Text by FRANCE 24 Latest update : 2018-02-02 http://www.france24.com/en/20180201-macron-hails-tunisia-democratic-revolution-arab-spring By Chandler Magann, Founder, Next Exit Logistics As of October 2017, 83% just a bit over four-fifths of all shippers outsource their domestic transportation needs, according to the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals. In the councils 2018 22nd Annual Third-Party Logistics Study, researchers also found that a quarter of all shippers are using a 3PL to plan and manage transportation logistics, both foreign and domestic. So consider, for just a short moment, what a world without freight brokers would look like for your bottom line, employee retention, and indeed for the long-term well-being of your organization. No doubt, it would not be a season of The Walking Dead, but a world without freight brokers would be slower, more expensive, and populated by a horde of very grumpy and dissatisfied customers, who are not zombies. Put aside the fact that planning and managing transportation would be an additional logistics position. Instead imagine using your current personnel to take on the additional responsibility that is outside of their current expertise. The individual or team will need to learn a whole new set of required skills; they will need time to find, create and foster relationships with multiple carriers; and understand efficient routing, permitting, and more. That person must remain continuously read-in to what freight is available when and to what location. That staffer then must harmonize those data points to your supply chain processes, or else shipments will sit at the loading dock. If your employee cannot execute the transportation and delivery of your products, the result will be delays the third rail in the age of e-commerce. Without freight brokers, overhead costs will definitely increase. Remembering that 83% of shippers outsource their domestic transportation needs, same report states that current transportation expenditures cost roughly 11% of revenue. Whats more, shippers are spending just over half of their transportation budget on outsourced transportation services. So, lets reverse-engineer this equation. A single logistics planners annual salary, before benefits, according to Glass Door, averages $57,105 but can run as high as $80,000. If your needs dictate building out a transportation department, the overhead costs will exponentially grow, and encompass hiring costs, space, and management systems to incorporate tasks into the overall supply chain operation. Shippers will also need to invest in a routing and scheduling software solution that can find and communicate with carriers; track and organize pick-up and delivery windows, truck capacities, and various load configurations (LDL, intermodular, etc.), and provide access to the carriers current safety records. This is important to reduce fuel costs, to negotiate the best rate possible, and to mitigate legal vulnerabilities through compliance, on top of getting the cargo to its destination on time. I recently stumbled across a blog describing freight brokers as close cousins to the Devil himself. Funnily enough, at the top of the freight brokers Seven Deadly Sins was lowering costs. As a freight broker myself, I am not ashamed in the least about finding transportation efficiencies for my clients, because my job is to represent the interests of my clients. That said, there is a balance to be struck. The best freight brokers work with shippers and carriers to promote close, dependable and cross-functional relationships, wherein the outsourced services are integrated into the supply chain, just more efficiently and at a lower cost. Chandler Magann opened a Texas sales office of his fathers company and worked out of a spare bedroom in his house. In January 2009, Chandlers father sold his entire business to investors. It was then that Chandler founded the freight brokerage Magann Texas, LLC, which later changed to Next Exit Logistics in July 2009. President Donald Trump talked about infrastructure spending in his state-of-the-union address. So far, it doesnt look like school construction will be part of the package. But any infrastructure bill will need bipartisan support, and new resources for school facilities are something Democrats are definitely in favor of. No one may be watching the outcome of this debate more closely than the Impact Aid community. Impact Aid, which has been around since the 1950s, helps school districts make up for revenue lost thanks to a federal presence, such as a military base or Native American reservation. Federal property is not subject to state and local taxes.The program, which has broad bipartisan support, is currently receiving about $1.3 billion. That includes $17.4 million for school construction, a number thats barely budged for years, said Jocelyn Bissonnette, the director of government relations for the National Association of Federally Impacted Schools. (For context, that amount wouldnt even build one school in many districts.) Bissonnette is hoping an infrastructure push could mean a federal investment in school construction for federally impacted districts. Congress has been reluctant to provide grants for general school construction. A proposal for school construction grants didnt even make it into the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, which passed when Democrats had huge margins in both chambers of Congress and controlled the White House. But the legislation did include $100 million for federally impacted districts. Bissonnette is hoping Congress will single out Impact Aid districts yet again. Federally impacted districts are in unique situation, she argued. Many dont have much taxable property, or a lot of taxpaying residents. These school districts are at a unique disadvantage because of the presence of federal property, Bissonnette said. Many have no practical capacity to issue bonds and raise resources. And, she said, the need is clear. In fact, last summer, NAFIS surveyed 218 districts in 37 states and found that they had a collective $4.2 billion in pressing construction needs and $13.2 billion in overall construction needs. More than a quarter of districts reported facilities that their were more than 80 years old, and 65 percent said their facilities were in either fair or poor condition. Problems ranged from leaky roofs to lead and mold in buildings. Curt Guaglianone, the superintendent of Mt. Adams school district #209, which sits on the Yakima Native American reservation in central Washington State, has been trying for years to replace an 80-year-old elementary school. The building is too small, not necessarily safe, and isnt on par with what facilities in nearby districts, Guaglianone said. Everything leaks. Even the bricks leak. Every year something goes out in a building this old. The student body has long since outstripped what the aging facility can handle. Some students are stuffed into portable classrooms, some of which are 50 or 60 years old themselves. And other children are currently learning in a converted bus barn. The district would need at least $28 million to build a new school, but it cant raise much more than a quarter of that locally because of the rules governing federally-impacted lands, Guaglianone said. The state has passed some extra construction funds for small districts, which will help. But it would, be really nice if the federal government [lent a hand] because we are on federally impacted lands, he said. Other districts have taken on debt to cover construction costs. The Klamath-Trinity Joint Unified School District, which sits near tribal land in northwestern California and serves a largely low-income, Native American population launched a major makeover of its schools beginning in 2014. Before the overhaul, the facilities were in Third World condition, said Jon Ray, the superintendent of the roughly 1,000-student district. The buildings, first constructed in the 1950s and 1960s, had rot and decay, peeling lead paint, and asbestos. Now Klamath-Trinity is about three-quarters of the way through its construction plan. Test scores and attendance have jumped in the made-over classrooms, he said. But its come at a cost. State and local money covered roughly 85 percent of the first phases of the project. With little new construction money from Impact Aid, Ray had to borrow to make up the rest. Thats meant annual payments that have cut into the districts general operating budget. The district is struggling to pay for the last round of projects without making cuts that would impact the classroom. If Ray borrowed the remainder of the money, Ill have nice facilities, but I wont have teachers to run the classrooms, he said. Hes hoping Congress is able to help. Everybody has chipped in, except the federal government. Photo: Buildings in the Klamath-Trinity Joint Unified School District had rot and decay, peeling lead paint, and asbestos. Used with permission from the Klamath-Trinity Joint Unified School District. Follow us on Twitter at @PoliticsK12 . Slavery on U.S. soil underpinned virtually every aspect of life in the Antebellum South. The North, too, depended on the wealth it generated, and its profits fueled westward expansion. Racist ideology grew up to justify slavery. It is the central cause of the bloody Civil War, and its legacy reverberates throughout public policy today. Those are core, fundamental aspects of American history, ones that virtually all U.S. historians agree on. But most students are not being taught them in school, a damning report from the Southern Poverty Law Center , a civil rights and advocacy organization, concludes. Instead, what students are taught about slavery is fragmentary, without context, and worst of all, glossed over or sanitized, says the report, which was released this morning. Slavery, it says, is taught generally without appropriate context, especially in the early grades, by focusing on resistance or escape, rather than the violence it wrought on black bodies and families. Its taught as a Southern phenomenon. Slavery is virtually never considered alongside white supremacist ideology, which was explicitly created to justify slavery, the report asserts. In textbooks, the voices and varied experiences of slaves are generally excised; and, connections to topics like the Great Migration and the civil rights movementor indeed, to recent events, like the 2017 white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Va.,are missing. In all, the report comes as a stunning indictment of how the U.S. education system has approached the teaching of this important subject. One of its core themes is that American history is taught as a story of unstoppable progress and rights that have been wrongeddespite troubling recent events, such as the rollback of portions of the Voting Rights Act, discrimination in the criminal justice system, and the continuing segregation of schools and neighborhoods. The most troubling finding is that usually there is no systematic approach to teaching this topic, said Maureen Costello, the director of Teaching Tolerance. They learn about Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, or Frederick Douglass, very early on as heroes who oppose slavery and they are not taught what slavery is, until 4th or 5th grade, and often in surprising ways. State standards are accepting of the premise that slavery is about property and is about a political controversy; they dehumanize it from the get-go. Ten Concepts The report is based off of 10 key concepts drawn from the SPLCs Teaching Tolerance project, as well as surveys of high school seniors, social studies teachers, an analysis of state content standards, and a review of about a dozen high school history textbooks. It was shaped in part by an advisory panel of history and education scholars, who provided feedback on several drafts. The 10 core concepts were crafted by historian Ira Berlin in his forward to the book Understanding and Teaching American Slavery, which were later used by Teaching Tolerance as the basis for thinking through this report. They are: Slavery, which predated European settlement, was important to all of the colonial powers and existed in all of the European North American colonies. Slavery and the slave trader were central to the development and growth of the economy across British North America and later, the United States. Protections for slavery were embedded in the founding documents; enslavers dominated the federal government, the U.S. Supreme Court, and the U.S. Senate from 1787 through 1860. Slavery was an institution of power, designed to create profit for the slaveholder and break the will of the enslaved and was a relentless quest for profit abetted by racism. Enslaved people resisted the efforts of their enslavers to reduce them to commodities in both revolutionary and everyday ways. The experience of slavery varied, depending on time, location, crop, labor performed, size of slaveholding, and gender. Slavery was the central cause of the Civil War. Slavery shaped the fundamental beliefs of Americans about race and whiteness and white supremacy was both a product of, and legacy of, slavery. Enslaved and free people of African descent had a profound impact on American culture, producing leaders, and literary, artistic, and folk traditions, etc., that continue to influence the nation. By knowing how to read and interpret the sources that tell the story of American slavery, we gain insight into some of what enslaving and enslaved Americans created, thought, aspired to, and desired. Students Arent Learning What Teachers Say They Teach Most of those key tenets do not seem to be reaching students, the SPLCs survey of students shows. In all of the concepts, less than 8 percent of students knew why Southern states seceded from the union; only 12 percent knew about the economic importance of slavery to the North; and only 18 percent could name an important result of Nat Turners 1831 slave revolt. See also: The Old South Rises Again in History Class Yet a survey of teachers found that, for nine of the 10 key concepts, at least half of teachers surveyed said they covered that topic. There is one caveat to this finding: The student survey is nationally representative, but the teacher one is a sample formed mostly of teachers who have used Teaching Tolerance in the past, so its possible that the Teaching Tolerance teachers do better overall in teaching about slavery than the average teacher. Nevertheless, the findings suggest that teachers often have an overly rosy idea of what their students have learned compared to what they taught on slavery. In interviews with teachers, many expressed deep uncertainty about the topic. Some said they wanted to spare children its brutality or were concerned about age-appropriateness; others focused on stories of resistance. Teachers often worried about potentially terrifying black children or inducing guilt or defensiveness in white children, or generally having the topic becoming a racial flashpoint in their classrooms. On the other hand, the report said, too many teachers reported still using simulations to teach about slaveryone New York teacher simulated the Middle Passage; others have held mock slave auctions in the class. Stories like these pop up not infrequently in the news, too, despite longstanding concerns that they can be traumatic for students. State Standards and Textbooks Fall Well Short The SPLC also reviewed 15 states social studies standards and their content on slavery, deeming them, politely, timid. None of the 15 states explicitly addressed white supremacy and how the ideology rose to justify slavery, and many were missing other important content. Standards matter since these goals are generally what textbook manufacturers must align their texts with when they are crafting them. They are often quite puzzling in their incoherence: California requires students to learn about Harriet Tubman in grade 2 but doesnt specifically mention slavery until grade 4, the SPLC says. Alabama lists sectionalism before slavery as the cause of the Civil War in two grades. North Carolina describes slavery as a political issue or cultural conflict. Of the 15 states, the SPLC deemed New Mexicos the flimsiest. Heres a map showing how many of the 10 indicators each state lacks. The report goes into greater detail on which specific features were missing. The authors also took a crack at the textbook industry, while acknowledging that that there is no public database listing the most commonly used history texts. It looked at about 12 books in all, aimed at secondary students. It rated each textbook on a 1-3 scale on each of the 10 principles. All the books fell short in some areas, the group concluded; the strongest text, from W. W. Norton, met 70 percent of the criteria. Worst of all were two state-specific textbooks, from Texas and Louisiana. Both got a score of 7 percent (which works out to between 3 to 4 points). The SPLCs recommendations on how to correct this are easy to list and difficult to put in place. They are: to improve instruction to align to the 10 key concepts, use historical documents to represent a diverse array of experiences of enslaved people, improve textbooks and standards, and strengthen curriculum. All of those will take significant pressure from policymakers. And a big challenge to giving students an accurate accounting of slavery and its place in U.S. history is that it up-ends a powerfully convincing narrative. You think about the preamble of the Constitution, a more perfect union'it describes the way we teach American history. We were perfect at the beginning, and have become even more perfect since then, Costello said. These standards say that what we really have to remember is that we resisted it and overcame. But one of the big points is that slavery and racism grew up together. We ended slavery, but we did not end those racist ideas. They are here today. Image: The interior of a slave traders holding cells in Alexandria, Va., c. 1861. Credit: Library of Congress. Related stories: For news on standards, curriculum, and testing, And sign up here to get alerts in your email inbox when stories are published on Curriculum Matters. (Photo: Peter Kenny / Ecumenical News)Rev. Olav Fykse Tveit, general secretary of the World Council Churches (L) and World Evangelical Aalliance general secretary, Bishop Efraim Tendero taking notes during a Nov. 4, 2015 meeting in Tirana, Albania. For some European alliances, Evangelical-Catholic unity is going too far, getting too ecumenical for them. Last month, the national evangelical alliances of Italy, Spain, and Malta - all members of the World Evangelical Alliance - wrote an eight-page open letter, Christianity Today reported Jan. 30. In the letter they charged their parent organization with "moving away from its historic position" of holding the line against Catholic and liberal Protestant theology. "In recent years we have sensed that the leadership of WEA has moved away from the outlined historic position of the Alliance on unity by endorsing a more 'ecumenical' attitude," the three alliances stated in December, in the year that the 500th anniversary of the Reformation was commemorated. On October 31, Radio Vatican had noted the date marked the 500th anniversary of the day on which German theologian Martin Luther published his 95 theses, "setting in motion the events of the Protestant Reformation." To mark the occasion, the Vatican's Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity and the Lutheran World Federation issued a joint statement, "giving thanks for the spiritual and theological gifts received through the Reformation and recalling the commemorative events that have taken place over the past year." But the LWF is not part of the WEA alliance, and its member churches are often viewed as traditional or "mainline" Protestants. 'UNITY A BLURRED TERM' The Italian, Spanish and Maltese evangelicals wrote in their open letter, "Unity has become a blurred term to refer to any relationship even beyond the principles that have always characterized evangelicals. "Leaders have become less cautious in talking about unity with the Catholic Church as such and have tended to bypass the historic boundaries." Christianity Today said in its report that "during last year's 500th anniversary of the Reformation, many groups examined or asked: Is it over?" The paper noted, "The loudest "no" has come from the conservative Protestants closest to Rome." The growing closeness of the WEA and the Catholic Church - emphasized by a joint Reformation commemoration in 2016 that Thomas Shirrmacher, chair of the European Evangelical Alliance's theological commission, called a sort of "peace treaty" between Catholics and Lutherans - has caused "growing concern," the Spanish alliance stated. "It seems, therefore, that WEA is about to sign a statement with the WCC (World Council of Churches) and the Roman Catholic Church on unity, even on 'great oneness'!" the December letter from the three European alliances stated. "We are puzzled by what is happening. We see a radical shift taking place." "We therefore plead with you to stop the process," the alliances wrote. "Doing so will cause immense damage in the evangelical constituency worldwide." The WEA responded to the charges of the three European member bodies that it has an "ecumenical agenda" inconsistent with its historic evangelical roots in a statement it posted on its website. The statement placed on the WEA's website followed meetings between its secretary general Bishop Efraim Tendero and the alliances of Italy and Spain, Christian Today reported. WEA says: "Although we have not resolved our disagreements, we have achieved greater understanding through this interaction." 'WEA HAS WORKED CLOSELY WITH POPE FRANCIS' It says, "The WEA has worked closely with Pope Francis and the Vatican on many issues, such as responses to the worldwide persecution of Christians. "We do not believe that we have changed, betrayed, or compromised the WEA's theological principles in doing so. However, we acknowledge the deep concerns expressed by these and other evangelicals from Catholic-majority countries." WEA says, "We recognize that evangelical-Catholic relations are a highly sensitive issue for evangelicals in many parts of the world, especially those with majority Catholic populations. "We know that our evangelical brothers and sisters in Italy, Spain, Malta, and elsewhere have had difficult and at times painful experiences in their interactions with the RCC. These realities are not overlooked in our ongoing discussions with the Vatican." Christian Today said in its Jan. 17 story, "Conservative evangelicals have long been suspicious of anything that looks like too-close engagement with the WCC (World CCouncil of Churches) and the Roman Catholic Church by the WEA and mainstream Protestants. "A new evangelical grouping, Covenant Christian Coalition, is seeking to position itself as a conservative alternative umbrella group for evangelicals globally." Editors Note: Sarah Applegate, Junior/Senior Seminar and Elementary Technology Teacher at the Dalian American International School in Dalian, China, spent four months studying school libraries and information literacy instruction in Finland in 2011 as part of the Fulbright Distinguished Awards in Teaching program. Here are some of her thoughts on ideas we could borrow from the Finnish model to improve US education. I returned from Finland and became a bit of a crusader for truth, justice, and the Finnish way. Many people felt that my enthusiasm, while quaint and rather excessive, was unrealistic, misguided, or just impossible. They are such a homogenous country, they would say. Nothing like us in the US. Their population is so small, I would frequently hear. They can do things we could never do. Despite this frequent skepticism from my American counterparts, as I traveled throughout Finland, interviewing teachers and students about their experiences with school libraries, I became fascinated and inspired by some of the basic structures of the school system that went far beyond information literacy. What I observed are four basic system approaches, especially at the elementary level, that seemed to provide a foundation for the professionally supportive and student-centered teaching and learning I saw consistently across the country. These are four approaches that I believe we can implement at relatively low cost in many schools across the United States. Outside Breaks Students get 15-minute outside breaks after every 45 minutes of instruction. As one teacher told me, Students cant focus for more than 45 minutes on a topic and we both need a break. They get to play outside and come back ready to learn. Teachers and students alike felt that this one, simple, scheduling choice provided them both the opportunity to recharge. Teachers had a chance to get a cup of coffee (Finland does have one of the highest per capita coffee consumption rates in the world), and students got to use their pent-up energy. I loved watching the scramble and chaos of students pulling on their snowsuits, grabbing their boots, gloves, hats, and sometimes skis, and racing outside to play. One caveatif it was colder than -25C, they didnt go outside). COST: Little to none. Teachers could change current duty location and times. Looping Students often have the same teacher for some or all of their elementary experience. Teachers said to me: I am an elementary teacher not a grade level teacher, and, Knowing the students well over time helps me teach them better because I dont have to get to know them each year. I already know their skills and who they are. In the United States, I have spoken with colleagues who are in favor of implementing a similar model. The first month of school would be spent catching kids up and getting to know them again. This model allows us to see ourselves as teachers of students versus teachers of a grade level and would allow for us to more easily meet the differentiated needs of our students. American elementary educators already have the broad knowledge that could help them be more holistic in their teaching. A kindergarten through 2nd grade and a 3rd grade through 5th grade model may be more approriate in the U.S. context, given the different skill sets needed to teach these grades. COST: Nothing. Teaching Principals Many elementary principals teach a regular class as part of their school day. The principals I talked to felt that being in the classroom helped them stay connected to the work their teachers did every day and helped them be better school leaders. They had a better understanding of the challenges teachers faced in their daily work and they had a stronger sense of the needs and strengths of teachers and students by staying connected to the daily teaching and learning. Teachers admired the principals willingness to stay in an instructional role and felt that their instructional leadership was validated by being classroom teachers not just building administrators. Administrators also felt that it was important to keep their instructional skills sharp. COST: Zero. Utilize Already Existing Public Resources to Supplement Needed School Resources I went to Finland initially to figure out how the Finnish schools teach information literacy skills without having a teacher librarian, and often, without having a school library at all. What I discovered is that the public libraries are well integrated into the community, are close to many peoples homes, and are very responsible to the needs and interests of the citizens, with outreach to infants (a library card early in life is an expectation) along with senior citizens (libraries were charged with teaching seniors how to use cell phones when they first were on the market). This investment was appreciated by students in public schools, so much so that they didnt see much value in school libraries if they had one. Students learned, from an early age, that the public libraries could supply the print resources they needed and wanted for school and personal research, and the schools dont try to duplicate or replicate what was offered there. Teachers provided the instruction that wasnt available at the library (research models, responsible use of information, supervised research projects), and, in many instances, worked with the public libraries to use their resources. In some Helsinki schools, the public librarians even came in to reorganize, refresh and reinvigorate old, outdated, and underused school libraries that had become bookrooms. Communities in the US could learn from this approach of using and sharing public resources to supplement school needs. In my home community, for example, the public library system is collaborating with the school library to provide library cards (and thus, database and resource access) to all students in the local school districts. District teacher librarians are teaching students how to effectively use the public library resources and teachers are able to assign learning projects that benefit from the more expensive and dynamic products available through public library buying power. Schools save money and libraries expand their patron usage while increasing their community value and impact. COST: Minimal. Cost isnt the biggest hurdle to consider implementing some of these ideas, rather, we need to shift mindsets. Moving from I am a 2nd grade teacher, to I am an elementary teacher;" or moving from We have to get X number of hours of math in, to Our students will learn math better if we give them more outside break times. These are low-risk ideas with high potential payoffs. The quality of life for both teacher and student could be improved with both the regularly scheduled breaks and the looping model. Instructional leadership could be deepened within a building with teaching principals, and both cost savings and community collaboration could occur with increased school and school district connection with public libraries. These are just a few of the short and sweet ideas we can gain from Finland. Next, my dream is that we could continue to move toward their model of whole child support through free school lunch and health care for all. But until then, we can also start small, with baby steps. Image caption: Teen section in the Turku Public Library. Image taken by and used with permission of the author. Quote image created on Pablo . chinadaily.com.cn Updated: 2018-02-02 The English website of Hainan province (http://www.ehainan.gov.cn) was launched on Feb 2 to mark the 30th anniversary of the establishment of the province and Hainan provincial special economic zone. The launching is a significant moment in those celebrations which will come to a height in April. Sponsored by the Publicity Department of the CPC Hainan Provincial Committee, the site is expected to become a greeting and business card for Hainan in international communications and play an active part in accelerating its international development. The page design of the website integrates worldwide popular designs with local features, with HD slideshows of unique Hainan elements such as the sea, beaches and coconut trees making a strong visual impact. Social and economic news, and information on tourism services, are its core elements and are especially highlighted. The portal offers seven first-level columns, namely About, Government, Media Center, Travel, Business, Culture and Services, and 31 second-level columns providing up-to-date news about the countrys only tropical province developing as an international tourism destination, as well as in-depth knowledge about it as a place to do business, travel or live. The website will help people around the world understand Hainan in a convenient and effective way. Hainan is China most southern province and has the countrys largest maritime territories. A variety of international expos and conferences, including the Boao Forum for Asia, the BRICS Summit and the Roundtable Conference on China-Africa Cooperation have put Hainan front-and-center on the world stage. Blessed with a pleasant climate and abundant tourism resources backed with well-developed infrastructure, and home to rich ethnic customs and culture, Hainan has become an ideal habitat and tourist resort. The homepage of the English website. Scan the QR code to browse the website. 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Released this week, the study shows that 34 percent of the 2,758 students who graduated from D.C. high schools in 2017 got those diplomas only because teachers violated district rules or policies, giving the students unearned stamps of approval. The city commissioned the study in the wake of an investigation by Washington public radio station WAMU , showing that one D.C. school, Ballou High, graduated many students whod been chronically absent from class. The district has pulled Ballous principal and vice principal from their jobs. A study released last month focused on practices at Ballou; the new one expanded the investigation and found similar problems districtwide. As it was being finalized, the district removed its chief of secondary schools from her position. The district has pledged to better enforce policy, and institute new centralized controls to monitor whether graduation requirements are being met. This is indeed tough news to deliver, but very necessary to right the ship, Mayor Muriel E. Bowser said when the study was released. Two types of rule-breaking emerged as central in the study of D.C.'s graduation practices: awarding passing grades to students who had missed too much school to earn those grades, and misusing credit recovery programs to award course credit. District policy specifies that credit recovery should be used only when students have failed a course, but many D.C. schools were allowing students to earn credits in those programs at the same time as they were taking the course. The districts absenteeism policy requires teachers to lower a students grade after five unexcused absences per term, and fail them after 10. More than 30 unexcused absences during the year requires a failing grade and loss of credit for the course. Those grading policies were rarely followed in D.C. schools, the report found. Teachers told the researchers that policies were unclear and contradictory. They cited a heavy burden of documentation thats necessary if they wanted to fail a student. They reported feeling pressure from administrators to pass students so their schools graduation rate wouldnt suffer in accountabilty reports. They had their own evaluations on the line, too: teachers in D.C. are evaluated in part on their students success. All of this created a culture in which passing and graduating students is expected, sometimes in contradiction to standards of academic rigor and integrity, the report concludes. Teachers also cited compassion as a reason for failing fewer students than was required by district rules. Teachers stated that deviations from [district] policies were influenced by institutional expectations ... to increase graduation rates and by empathy for student circumstances that make regular attendance difficult, such as homelessness, work and child-care responsibilities, and being involved in the court system, the study said. That portion of the report pointed up some agonizing choices many educators face when students miss a lot of class. At what point have they gone too far in offering second chances to students? How do they balance the pressures to help their schools look good with the responsibility to report accurately on students progress? Teachers across the country shared those pressures in Facebook comments about the report . Chronic absenteeism is a problem that dogs districts nationwide. Seven million children in the United States are considered to be chronically absent , which federal officials define as missing 15 days of school per year. At 11 percent of the nations schools, though, the problem is more intense: 30 percent of students lose 15 or more days of school to excused and unexcused absences and suspensions, according to an analysis by Attendance Works. The organization reported that one-quarter of U.S. high schools struggle with extreme chronic absence. No surprise: Researchers have found that absence affects learning. Studies have found that absenteeism correlates with the likelihood of lower test course and higher course-failure rates. The way districts count attendance often obscures the problem. Typically, schools calculate average daily attendance. That provides a good snapshot of a given day, but it doesnt capture a key dynamic: the students who miss a lot of school over time. Experts say that problem is only now coming into clearer focus. Nearly three-quarters of the states are now embracing a new practice: measuring chronic absenteeism. That shift has come about largely because of the Every Student Succeeds Act, which requires states to report on chronic absence. The Cleveland public schools offer one example of a district thats trying to improve attendance . District leaders learned that more than half of their nearly 40,000 students were missing 18 or more days of school each year. Kindergarten and 9th grade were the two places in the pipeline with the worst absenteeism. But the district has cut that absenteeism rate to 30 percent in the past two years. Cleveland schools launched a huge attendance campaign, with phone banks and parent outreach. They redoubled efforts to meet the needs that sometimes interfere with school attendance, providing emergency shelter, bus passes, clean school uniforms. The district has also begun celebrating students for regular school attendance, not just perfect attendance. Schools in other states are trying to fight back against absenteeism, too. My colleague Evie Blad reports that Oregon, Hawaii, and New Jersey are at the forefront of that battle to boost attendance . Additional reporting by Education Week correspondent Kavitha Cardoza. See also: We Can Fix Chronic Absenteeism (commentary) Get High School & Beyond posts delivered to your inbox as soon as theyre published. Sign up here . Also, for news and analysis of issues that shape adolescents preparation for work and higher education. By Sujata Bhatt with Carolyn de Jesus Martinez, Deina da Costa Lopes, and Panion Tase, Boston Public Schools There is great interest in redesigning classrooms for next gen learning but its often difficult to know how to proceed. Boston International Newcomers Academy (BINcA), a high school that embraces recent immigrant English language learners and their families, is trailblazing new learning environments in Boston Public Schools (BPS). This is the story of one 11th grade classroom at BINcA in school year 2017-18. Problem-Finding In 2017 several BINcA rising juniors, including Carolyn de Jesus Martinez, originally from the Dominican Republic, and Deina da Costa Lopes of Cabo Verde, were participating in a Girls Who Code Summer Immersion Program at TripAdvisor through the support of Andrew Flye, BINcAs Physics/Exploring Computer Science teacher. The young women, both of whom had arrived in Boston from their homelands two years earlier, were fascinated by the design of TripAdvisors work environment --an open office plan with flexible working and meeting spaces, adjustable tables, and a huge number of whiteboards where groups could brainstorm and collaborate. According to Deina: Everyday we would start by listening to the teacher explaining how a computer language works, such as Python, HTML, and show us examples and tell us to try on our own. It was frustrating how I never understood for the first time when she explains it just by talking, while some of the girls did. But, it's fascinating how, whenever we separate into teams to work as a group, where we would discuss the coding together and use the board to explain the things we didn't understand or to share our ideas, I would understand everything, because everything would just become so easy, and make sense. So, I figured that, having a big board to work together and explain things at the same time was really helpful, and it's a better way of learning." As they proceeded through their summer learning journey, they found themselves continually contrasting TripAdvisors high tech open work style with the physical and social learning environment of their school, which was built before World War II. That same summer, their teacher, Panion Tase, who teaches computer science to 9th, 11th and 12th graders at BINcA, was embarking on a learning journey of his own. He had recently become a father and was observing how his baby acquired knowledge and skills not from direct teaching but from exploring, trying, failing, and trying again. As part of a summer professional development course, Panion also took an information technology problem-solving course that failed to live up to its own promise; instead of enabling problem-solving, it consisted of individuals responding to video lessons. The lack of collaboration and interactivity frustrated him as a learner. Contrasting the learning path of his son, his own summer learning, and how he designed his classroom, he realized he had found a problem. Panion, himself an immigrant from Albania, is a deeply dedicated teacher who wants to support his English Language Learner (ELL) students in rigorous academic courses. His solution to the complexities of designing high rigor, technical, high school-level courses for recent immigrants to the U.S. for whom English is a new language had, up until now, been to create detailed Powerpoints for conveying information and prompting discussion. But now, for school year 2017-18, he decided to take a risk and try something new. He decided to take the problem he--and Carolyn and Deina--had found, and bring his students into the process of solving it. He chose to structure his entire class around a challenge: Re-imagine and re-invent this space as a 21st century classroom, where collaboration and teamwork are encouraged and where technology is used seamlessly. Carolyn and Deina, along with their other classmates, were intrigued and delighted. Carolyn wanted to design a flexible table that moved up and down to meet her classmates collaboration and comfort needs, and Deina wanted to solve the whiteboarding problem. Their classroom had whiteboards but because it also had many computers and outlets below the whiteboard walls, it was currently configured with tables along the walls blocking access to the existing whiteboards. She and her peers needed brainstorming and co-teaching space to enable the sort of collaboration she had experienced that summer with Girls Who Code at TripAdvisor. Taking the Leap: From Content to Process The students excitedly embarked on finding solutions for an authentic real-world problem that impacted them. Panion structured the experience so that, along the way, they would learn and practice academic, technical, and collaboration skills including: Math Engineering and Modeling Project Management Microsoft Word (to create a written report) Excel (to keep track of expenses, Gantt chart, daily progress) Presentation Skills (they did a presentation to Tony King, BINcAs headmaster) Tinkercad/Sketchup (to create their designs) Adobe Premiere (to create a fundraising video) Whereas in the past Panions slide decks were content- and question/discussion-prompt heavy, this time he created process-oriented scaffolding, like the examples below, which served to guide students along the pathway of project management. He gave students choice on what academic and agency skills they wanted to be assessed on. And he gave them strengths-based evaluation options to enable choice in the calculation of final grades as well as a roadmap for what was being assessed. Through all this process-based scaffolding, students learned to organize themselves. They applied content skills and learned the importance of precision and persistence. Things often did not go smoothly. As Deina recounts with her experience with mounting the whiteboard she built, I set everything up, and then realized that the measurements were off by of an inch over a 21 foot wall span, and the frame that I built with the plastic did not fit. We had to take everything off again (and again) to try. But these mistakes led to learning and grew a desire to learn more. Students became deeply invested in the outcome of their work, and became innovative in trying to achieve what they wanted to achieve. They began exploring hacking processes. For example, the table group wanted the aesthetic of frosted plexiglass but it was beyond their budget. Instead of settling for another option, they experimented with creative workarounds. They sanded down clear plexiglass to make it seem frosted. They tried different grit sandpaper, both dry and in water. All term they were constantly juggling competing design criteria, from aesthetics to cost to complexity of fabrication. Through grappling with these criteria and variables, they learned how to make decisions: how to define, research, test, analyze, and execute on options. The City of Boston and Boston Public Schools have recently launched a new College, Career, and Life Readiness Definition , the competencies all graduating students need in order to successfully navigate the innovation economy into which they will enter. This definition goes beyond content knowledge to add in wayfinding skills young people need to move successfully into a productive, satisfying, and sustaining adulthood. It has five components: set a vision, choose a course, change course, build competence, and work with others. Through their collaborative project in Panions class, our BINcA students have been living all of these components. Down The Rabbit Hole: Deep Learning What had begun as problem-finding led to a deep exploration of how learning could be made authentic. In Panions words, I wanted this project to mimic real life, where problems arent created in a lab and have a formulaic solution; rather each set of solutions brings up new questions and the need for more solutions. I was not aware of how deep down the rabbit hole we would get. The rabbit hole is where the deepest learning happened, the type of learning that impacts the learners core sense of self. This was equally true for the teacher and his students. For Panion the rabbit hole redefined his understanding of what learning could be and grew his comfort with taking risks. He went through a series of doubts and uncertainties which he and his students overcame batch by batch. First off were operational issues: I had some hopes of what the project would look like, but there were a lot of unknowns. Would the administration be ok with what we were doing? Would it turn into a simple research/present your findings, or something more exciting that would allow the students hands-on activities. Would it be too much and a source of frustration for the students to the point of giving up? Would finances be an issue? Could someone get hurt? When could we do the work? One hour of classroom time was not enough to allow us to complete these projects, and the building was closed on weekends. We had to clean up after each class, to prepare for the next class which took a lot of time." Next were implementation/learning redesign issues. This way of teaching and learning was vastly different from anything Panion had been accustomed to: Each step and day brought in new challenges and issues. The more the students explored their problems, the more creative, and complex the solutions would become. We used any and all types of materials and employees at Home Depot would give us the craziest looks: "You are trying to do what with the toilet flange?" or "What crazy project are you working on today?" We visited a wholesale plexiglass commercial shop to look at the variety of extruded plastics and plexiglass. The front yard of my house became a workshop, as I would take the measurements that the student would give me (wood/plastic) and cut them at home as to avoid injury. When things would break (and many did), we would try to use it as a lesson (we ruined 3 LED strips the first time that we put on the board, causing one of the students to be emotionally distraught--but it was awesome to see the students try to put a positive spin and try to fix things)." This new way of learning that blurred the boundaries between school and the outside world, between class and life, impacted the students as well. Carolyn explains what it felt like to her: When Mr. Tase...told me that he was planning on a project of redesigning our classroom, the first thing that came to my mind was, this will be an easy project. We just have to design the way the classroom looks like, change its appearance but not its components. But this project proved me wrong. It was more complex than I thought it would be, it required more research, independency, and teamwork that I really didn't expect. The more deep I went into the project, the more unknowns, and learning occurred. Being faced with a challenge and not having the answers and solutions to it, in addition to figuring out extra time to work on my project was my rabbit hole. Time in class was never enough to produce anything because most of our work required cutting wood, plexiglass, and making things that were almost impossible to do in a classroom during a class period. Figuring out a time to come during the weekends was really difficult because as a group we needed to make decisions together and have a consensus, but we were always unable to meet all of us during the same day. At the end, we decided to be communicating every progress we did to each other through the phone. The more time we spent into this project the more tricky it got because it started requiring skills that I didn't have. Many times, I stopped to reflect on the progress that I have made; but then I started to think of all the challenges lying ahead and how I didn't have certain skills to solve it, like using a drill, jigsaw, sander, and radial arm saw. But I still persevered, the more I worked, the more I learned. And the more I practiced those skills the better I got at them. I went from just having an idea of how I wanted a table to look like to designing it, researching, comparing prices, creating fundraising letters, and actually building it." Ideally, schools should be places that help young people discover and create senses of self, capable of making--and knowledgeable enough to make--an impact on the world. Authentic learning experiences like the one described above, where academic, technical, and social skills are embedded in the excitement and urgency of creating something real, foster the type of growth that leads to deep learning. They are emergent, problem-finding and problem-solving experiences rather than classrooms with predictable hierarchies, pathways, and outcomes, and for these reasons they are often boundary-blurring and messy. They are, however, well worth the risk and the effort--for our students and for our educators. Updated. Police arrested a 12-year-old girl suspected of shooting two students in the classroom of Salvador Castro Middle School in Los Angeles Thursday morning. Later that evening, they said they believed the shooting was unintentional and that the student had been booked on charges of negligent discharge of a firearm, the Los Angeles Times reported. But before police shared details of the shooting or the suspects motive, her gender stood out in news reports. School shooting suspects are almost always male. Why is that? And what does it mean for school safety? Los Angeles School Shooting For much of the day Thursday, the incident seemed like a typical school shooting, apart from the gender and young age of the suspected shooter. A 15-year-old boy was in critical but stable condition with a gunshot wound to the head, and a 15-year-old girl was in fair condition after she was shot in the wrist, police said in a press conference Thursday afternoon. Three others, an adult and two students, suffered more minor abrasion injuries, the Los Angeles Times reported. Police later said they believed the girl discharged the semiautomatic handgun unintentionally. Someone decided to bring a gun, I guess someone was accidentally playing around with it, a student told the Times. They thought it was a fake gun. Police arrested the suspect and evacuated students from the school before launching an investigation. Officials had not named the suspect by Thursday evening. Most Shooting Suspects Are Male While it is rare, there have also been female suspects in intentional school shootings. Theres a common misconception that school attackers are all young, white, socially isolated men who play too many violent video games. But school safety experts have said that profile is far too narrow and that schools need to be responsive to the safety concerns and social and emotional needs presented by all students to create a safe environment. But it is striking that most school shootings, and most mass shootings in general, are perpetrated by male suspects. An Education Week analysis of news reports found four incidents where at least one person was injured as the result of a shooting at a K-12 school or school-related event in 2018. Of those incidents, only the Los Angeles shooting involved a female suspect. The trend is even starker looking back through years of data collected by other organizations; only a handful of identified suspects are women or girls. Most violent crime is perpetrated by males, said Peter Langman, a psychologist who studies school shootings and has authored several books about them. The fact that school shooters are typically male is part of the overall phenomenon of violence being a predominantly male phenomenon. In the case of rampage shootings, perpetrators often have a sense of damaged masculinity, which Langman defines as a sense of failure or inadequacy in parts of their life that they have linked to male identity, like sexuality or physical strength, he said. Some bullying researchers have also said concerns about heterosexual, masculine gender norms can feed bullying problems among male students. Theyve urged schools to adopt bullying policies that prohibit harassment on the basis of real or perceived sexual orientation and gender identity. Still, mass shootings at schools are a rare phenomenon that cannot be accounted for by simplistic explanations, Langman concluded in a journal article on male school shooters . While damaged masculinity may be a contributing factor for many, its not the only cause. (You can read more of Langmans work on prevention on his website .) There Is No Such Thing as a Typical School Shooter There is actually no stereotype, Dewey Cornell, the director of the Youth Violence Project at the University of Virginia said in 2014. There is a human tendency to look for predictive factors, but if we apply those to the general population, we will find many false positives. Cornell spoke with Education Week after a Native American student shot five students in the cafeteria of his Washington state high school before turning the gun on himself. As I wrote at the time: A 2002 report by the U.S. Secret Service National Threat Assessment Center, prepared after the agency analyzed 37 school attacks that occurred between 1974 and 2000, concluded that "there is no accurate or useful 'profile' of students who engaged in targeted school violence." Acts of school violence have been carried out by attackers of all races, ages, disciplinary histories, and family backgrounds. And, though perpetrators are typically male, women have also played roles in mass attacks, experts on such incidents say. In the events analyzed, attackers fell all along the social spectrum, from popular students to "loners," the Secret Service report said. While the agency didn't find common demographic threads, it did note some psychological trends among attackers: Many "felt bullied, persecuted, or injured by others prior to the attack," many had a history of suicide attempts or feelings of depression or desperation, and most had no history of criminal behavior. And, in 31 of the 37 events studied by the Secret Service, shooters told at least one person about their plans beforehand, the report said. Threat-assessment experts say that such "leakage" is common, and that attackers often leave more subtle clues that they are distressed, even if they don't explicitly detail their plans in conversations." Prevention Efforts So, while most shooters are male, schools should seek to be aware of the needs of all students, working to create a supportive environment and reduce social isolation, safety experts said. Thats because school shooters dont usually just snap, and often hint at their plans in advance. Addressing school climate concerns is important for the educational success of all students, even if they dont have a violent intent, researchers say. Police provided very few details about the circumstances behind the Los Angeles shooting Thursday, and they did not say if the school had any previous concerns about the student they arrested, how she obtained the weapon, or how she came to fire it in school. Cornell has worked to develop a threat-assessment model that schools can use to respond to such concerns. Education Weeks Lisa Stark recently interviewed Cornell for this piece she did for the PBS Newshour about preventing school violence. Photo: Elizabeth Acevedo and her son Andres, 3, wait for news of her son, an 8th grade, after a school shooting in Los Angeles on Feb. 1. Two students were shot and wounded inside a Los Angeles middle school classroom, and police took a female student into custody, authorities said. --Damian Dovarganes/AP Related reading on school shootings and school safety: Follow @evieblad on Twitter or subscribe to Rules for Engagement to get blog posts delivered directly to your inbox. Turkish Armed Forces captured strategic peak Darmik Mountain in Afrin Turkish soldier planted Turkish flag at Darmik Mountain in Syria's Afrin after the area cleared from PKK/YPG terrorists following last week's Mt. Bursaya with Operation Olive Branch. Turkish Army had launched Operation Olive Branch on Jan. 20 to clear Afrin from YPG/PKK and Daesh terrorists to free locals from terrorist groups' oppression and secure Turkey's border provinces. Throughout Wednesday, Turkish air and land units bombarded PKK/YPG elements on Darmik Mountain which is featuring a giant poster of the PKK's jailed founder and leader Abdullah Ocalan on its rooftop. Turkish armed drone had destroyed monument dedicated to PKKs jailed leader Ocalan. Turkish Armed Forces captured strategic peak Darmik Mountain in Afrin WATCH Turkish soldiers mopped up the mountain from PKK/YPG terrorists and planted its national flag on mountains peak. Rose McGowan had given her first daytime interviews on Good Morning America and The View where she promoted her new book, Brave, and her new docu-series, Citizen Rose. Following this, McGowan also appeared recently on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and Nightline where she gave more startling comments and bizarre antics that left viewers a bit puzzled. McGowan Strikes Back During her interview with host, Stephen Colbert, the actress stated that she was spoke out against Harvey Weinstein a year ago contrary to what everyone else believes. "Here's the thing about you. Six months ago, before you and other people had the courage and bravery to come out and talk about Harvey Weinstein..." Colbert started. "Mine was a year ago. I was the architect.... But I didn't talk...I wanted them to have a voice," McGowan interrupted. The actress, wearing a large orange hoodie, sat comfortably on Colbert's chair while discussing whether she ever thought she lost her sanity after claiming Weinstein was spying on her. "No, I always knew it was everybody else. I see things," McGowan replied. McGowan also appeared on ABC's Nightline with Juju Chang where she spoke on her relationship with former co-star Alyssa Milano, who has been credited for reviving the #MeToo movement. The 44-year-old actress blatantly stated that she did not like Milano and that she was "a lie." This wasn't the first time McGowan publicly insulted Milano. McGowan also slammed Milano in 2017 for her relationship with Weinstein's estranged wife, Georgina Chapman. McGowan later tried to backtrack her statement about Milano by stating "the system" was a lie, "not an individual." .@rosemcgowan on former co-star Alyssa Milano's #MeToo work: 'She's a lie.' But Milano tells @ABC News' Nightline, "I am and always have been completely supportive of Rose." Tonight on Nightline with @JujuChangABC pic.twitter.com/2wZt2jXdaE - Nightline (@Nightline) February 1, 2018 Many social media users have begun to question McGowan's state of mind after the interviews, saying that McGowan was "out of her mind" and that the interview with Colbert was "weird." The Scream star claimed that she was raped by Weinstein at the 1997 Sundace Film Festival. The actress has been one of Weinstein's most active accusers and would consistently voice her opinions on her social media accounts. McGowan also spoke out against several other actors and actresses, including Ben Affleck and Meryl Streep who claimed they were "unaware" of Weinstein's sexual crimes. YouTube vlogger Logan Paul sat down with Good Morning America's Michael Strahan for his first sit-down interview since he uploaded his controversial video. One On One With Michael Strahan "It's been tough because ironically, I am being told to commit suicide myself. Millions of people hate me and go tell me to go die in a fire," Paul to ABC. Throughout the seven-minute conversation, Paul talked to Strahan in a candid interview how he went to being one of the most talked about YouTube creators with 16 million subscribers to one of the most hated men on the planet. Paul stated to Strahan that he wanted to go to Japan's Aokigahara section to create another fun vlog. He explained that at the forest, Paul and his friends would film their usual antics and show his audience what it was like camping in Japan. However, Paul explained that they found a deceased body 100 yards away from the campground's parking lot. Paul added that there was a reason why it happened. "I believe that it happened for a reason. That reason was that I could take this experience, learn from it and spread the message the right way about suicide prevention and suicide prevention awareness," said Paul. Strahan asked the YouTube creator if he knew the age of his audience. Paul added that he is not making content for children as he spoke about the mature elements in his videos. "I am much more aware of the impact that my actions have on myself and others," said Paul. He also encouraged parents that they should be monitoring what their kids watch. Paul also revealed that he does not care about his bottom line, but also added that making content which makes his audience happy makes him smile. Logan Paul's New Mission During his interview with Strahan, Paul spoke about his latest mission in increasing suicide prevention and awareness. By partnering with both the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline in New York City and the Alo House Recovery Center in California, Paul learned more about suicide prevention as he met with survivors. Paul also promised that he would donate $1 million to various suicide organizations. YouTube Cuts Business Ties One of the challenges that Paul faces as he continues his next chapter is rebuilding trust amongst the YouTube community. The social media network cut business ties with Paul as they disconnected him from their Google Premium program and put the sequel to the YouTube Original film The Thinning on hold. YouTube faced a backlash from both its creators and consumers for not responding to the Paul controversy until 11 days after the incident. Paul apologized for his actions last month. Briana DeJesus and Javi Marroquin reunited in Florida earlier this week, and shortly thereafter, the Teen Mom 2 star and mother of two went under the knife. According to a new report, DeJesus traveled to Miami, Florida, which isn't far from her hometown, and received a number of procedures from Dr. Michael Salzhauer, who is also known as Dr. Miami. On Feb. 1, Radar Online shared a report revealing that DeJesus arrived at Dr. Salzhauer's office on Thursday morning with her on-again, off-again boyfriend, Marroquin, in tow. As the news outlet revealed, DeJesus was in town just seven months after welcoming her second child, daughter Stella, to receive a three-part plastic surgery procedure. During the procedure, she reportedly received a butt reshaping, a tummy tuck, and a breast lift. Were going to reshape the booty, because with the pregnancy, some of the pregnancy weight went to the booty. So its a little too big for your frame. So were going to balance that all out, Dr. Salzhauer explained in the video taken during the surgeries. As Teen Mom 2 fans may recall, DeJesus also paid a visit to Dr. Salzhauer's offiice two years ago and received a mommy makeover, which included a butt lift, a breast augmentation, liposuction, and labiaplasty. Earlier in the day, a separate Radar Online report revealed that DeJesus had confirmed she and Marroquin were together in Miami on her Snapchat account. DeJesus and Marroquin previously announced their split midway through last month. At the time, the couple seemed to call it quits due to the distance between them, but many believed they would ultimately reconcile. That said, not many believed their reconciliation would come so soon after their online feud. Prior to DeJesus' surgeries in Miami, Kailyn Lowry and her son, five-month-old Lux Russell, traveled to Miami for her own set of surgeries. However, after thinking her surgeries through, Lowry decided that she did not want to go through her procedures and instead told fans that she would put her money toward a nutritionist and begin exercising again. To see more of Briana DeJesus, Javi Marroquin, and their costars, including Jenelle Evans, David Eason, Jeremy Calvert, Leah Messer, Jo Rivera, Corey Simms, Kailyn Lowry, Cole DeBoer, and Chelsea Houska, don't miss the upcoming season of Teen Mom 2 when it premieres on MTV later this year. Former Glee star Mark Salling's death is officially ruled a suicide in a coroner's report that comes two days after the actor died. Salling, 35, was found dead near a river in the Sunland-Tujunga neighborhood of Los Angeles, California on Tuesday, Jan. 30. Earlier that day, a family member reported him missing. An autopsy was conducted on Salling's body by the Los Angeles Coroner Office. The report confirmed that the actor's cause of death is asphyxia by hanging with suicide as the manner of death. "The case is now closed and the body is ready for pick up," Ed Winter, a rep of the Coroner Office says to Us Weekly. Salling's Child Pornography Case The former Glee actor was awaiting sentencing in a child pornography case that he signed a plea deal for. Sentencing was supposed to be scheduled on March 7. Investigators recovered over 25,000 photographs and 600 videos of child pornography in the actor's personal computer and hard drive. Some of the material included children as young as 3 years old. In mid-December 2017, the actor pleaded guilty for possession of child pornography that involves prepubescent children. The plea deal states that he will get jail time of four to seven years along with getting registered as a sex offender and enrolling in a rehabilitation program. Victim Restitution Among the stipulations of the deal is a $50,000 compensation to each victim. A source who's close to the case says to Us Weekly that the actor's estate might not even have to pay the victims now, since restitution is part of sentencing, which was supposed to take place in March. Now that Salling is dead and cannot be sentenced, the source reveals that it follows that no restitution order can be reached as well. "I am unclear as to how anyone feels that they could go into court to enforce an order which has not been entered," the source explains. "I'm not saying that there isn't some lawyer out there willing to file suit on behalf of someone claiming to be a victim. But I am saying, that there is no order to be enforced, for $50,000 or any other amount on behalf of anyone." Troy Slaten, a criminal defense lawyer who's not involved in the actor's case, argues that victims can instead sue Salling's estate in a civil court. Financial awards for the damages can potentially go up to millions, but it has to be done quickly to keep the assets from being redistributed. Slaten pointed out that since Salling pleaded guilty, proving liability is no longer necessary and the amount in damages is the only thing that has to be determined. The Lemon/Grimes family are in mourning following the death of L'Tanya "Leisa" Lemon Grimes, the sister of CNN anchor Don Lemon, from drowning on Wednesday. No Foul Play Officers were called to identify the body of an unidentified woman off Iberia Drive in the Livingston Trace subdivision, south of the Juban Road exit on I-12 on Wednesday. They arrived at the scene at around 4 p.m. Christal Jones, the spokeswoman for CNN, later confirmed that the body belonged to Lemon's sister. Officers at the Livingston Parish Sheriff's Office confirmed on Thursday that there was no foul play involved in the death of the 58-year-old Grimes. The police ruled the cause of death as accidental drowning. She reportedly died after she tripped and fell into the water while fishing in the neighborhood pond in Denham Springs, Louisiana. The Lemon/Grimes family has since released a statement asking for privacy in this time of mourning. They also thanked those who expressed their condolences. "The Lemon/Grimes family would like to thank everyone for their condolences and prayers at this time. Our family has suffered the tragic loss of L'Tanya "Leisa" Lemon Grimes and we are leaning on each other for strength at this time. We appreciate privacy as we grieve the loss of our loved one," reads the statement. Lemon's Response Lemon has also sent a message in response to Grimes's death on his Twitter. He added a photo of his sister to his tweet. Thanks everyone for your words of sympathy. Please keep my family in your prayers. Leisa was my oldest sister & partner in crime growing up. Always had my back. #RIPbigSis pic.twitter.com/9k1IVtqukQ Don Lemon (@donlemon) February 1, 2018 Lemon's friends and colleagues have also expressed their sympathy to the Lemon/Grimes family. "So sorry for your loss. Sending love," Savannah Guthrie, NBC news anchor, tweeted. "Oh no! I am so sorry for your loss,@donlemon. Please know you have a strong circle of folks upon whom you can lean today and always," Valerie Jarrett, civic leader and Senior Advisor to former U.S. President Barack Obama, replied to Lemon's tweet. Lemon has taken a leave of absence from work to return to New Orleans and be with his family in this time of sorrow. He will not appear on the cable news network Thursday evening for his prime-time show CNN Tonight with Don Lemon. The network has yet to announce what they would air instead. In the wake of James Franco's sexual misconduct allegations, his alma mater is removing all the artworks by the actor found on the campus. The Disaster Artist director and actor visited Palo Alto High School to paint two murals and display over 20 of his artworks in 2014. After three years and five women accusing Franco of sexual misconduct, the school is scrubbing the last of his works from their walls. Artworks Were Meant To Be Temporary, Says School In a statement by Palo Alto Unified School District superintendent Karen Hendricks to Hollywood Reporter, she confirms that the last mural by Franco has been painted over last week. The superintendent explains that the works were not meant to be permanent in the first place. "Related to this, district staff recently considered the best interests of our students in the light of our educational mission, and decided to remove and return the remaining artwork," Hendricks continues. One of the two murals was removed in 2016. Hendricks reveals that the school took down the second at the school's Student Center last week. A new concept is being worked on by the Latinos Unidos group in collaboration with the Paly ASB and VAPA department. While the official statement did not mention the allegations against the actor, the campus newspaper revealed that the Hollywood scandal was the reason behind the removal of the mural. Kimberly Diorio, the principal of Palo Alto High School, tells Paly Voice that she chose to remove the mural in the student center due to its visibility to the community. She adds that the decision to remove his artistic contributions was controversial because the Golden Globe winner hasn't been convicted and has denied all allegations. "I can't even say it [the decision to replace the mural] is based on fact because he's denied those allegations and hasn't been charged with a crime," Diorio says. Franco Faces Repercussions Of Allegations Palo Alto High School's decision to remove his artworks from campus is only the latest in a string of effects the sexual misconduct allegations brought Franco. Vanity Fair decided to digitally remove the Best Actor winner from the star-studded cover of their Hollywood Issue. A rep confirms that the alteration was due to the scandal surrounding Franco. Sources say that the actor was already photographed and interviewed for the Annie Leibovitz spread when the decision was made. The controversy surrounding Franco also reportedly cost the actor an Oscar nomination. Macedonia is working on its European future and joining the West but before it can do so, everybody needs to agree on its name. The former part of Yugoslavia, the country adopted the shortened version of its former name Macedonia when it became independent 27 years ago. That triggered a dispute with neighboring Greece, which is home to a region called Macedonia called after the ancient kingdom of Alexander the Great. The two countries have been in a disagreement over the naming ever since and Athens used its veto to keep Macedonia out of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the European Union. The naming dispute that is 2 millennia old is, however, nearing its resolution. Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras met with Macedonian counterpart Zoran Zaev in Davos and they announced confidence-building measures. Both sides have committed to compromise on a new name before the next NATO meeting in mid-July the options on the table include: New Macedonia, Upper Macedonia, or North Macedonia. We either make this region stable with strong institutions, with functional democracies, or we have a region in a permanent state of crisis, said Nikola Dimitrov, Macedonias foreign minister, adding that Europe and the region will be much better off with the first option. More than 70% of Macedonians are in favor of EU membership, according to a September study by the Washington-based International Republican Institutes Center for Insights. The European Union is getting concerned by the potential risk of political instability in the Balkans. Macedonia is the only country whose hope of EU membership is being blocked by self-defeating squabbles, as some EU leaders call it. In a separate but similar development, Serbia does not recognize Kosovo and neither can join the EU until this issue is sorted out. China has become more influential within the European Union since the first 2009 Power Audit of the European Council on Foreign Relations. Chinas position of power is, however, no longer just a matter of trade surplus. It is much broader than that it is a factor of investment, lending, and financial power which all help Beijing to pursue its public diplomacy. Still, what has not changed in nine years is Chinas insistence that it is a developing country, even though it has reached the highest ranks in the global economy. Beijing is picky in its relations with the European Union. Its focus is purely on its direct interests, often ignoring EU norms in its proposals. China has strengthened its relations with member states, while putting special emphasis on Europes periphery. Beijing even holds its own summit with Central and Eastern European countries, called 16+1. The Asian dragon saw an opportunity in the euro crisis for a massive takeover in Europes south. Interestingly, the terms of doing business with southern European countries are not much different from those of Africa or other developing countries: numerous projects creating competition among recipients, loans at commercial rates, and a strong insistence on identical statements and agreements. China is already in Europe. Chinese soft power diplomacy relies on repetitive and positive communication and many European entities, including many companies, media groups, and educational institutions, seek to protect their access to the Chinese market. The EUs learning process of this experience has been difficult. New deals are not in place, not even on trade and the economic issues, which are at the core of European interest. The agreed Agenda 2020 for political and security cooperation with China is fulfilled only to a minimal extent and human rights and humanitarian issues remain to be the most disappointing areas. The challenge with China can be partly explained by opportunistic behavior of some EU member states. Climate and environment are emerging as promising areas of cooperation but at the 2017 EU-China summit, China held a joint statement on climate hostage to its dispute on market economy status. Europe does not link together different issues but it does seek engagement with Beijing on peacekeeping and support for fragile states. Europe is therefore embarking on a realistic engagement with China, getting over the mirage of cash from Beijing. China, on its part, is boosting its command economy, turning to full state-led industry including applications of technology and military. For Europeans, this means the danger of acquisition of critical technologies by China, scientific cooperation agreements mirroring Chinas 2025 goals and other massive plans. The European Commission has come up with new trade instruments and expanded the initiative on investment screening by three core member states. Brussels should further seek engagement but also gear up for a China that is currently not very responsive to EUs requests. This could be done by various means such as replacement of dispersion with strategies, completion of an EU-wide system of investment screening, prevention of new investment from affecting other parts of the mutual relationship and the leveraging of Europes like-minded partners in Asia. China at the Gates: A New Power Audit of EU-China Relations Study by Francois Godement & Abigael Vasselier European Council on Foreign Relations / ECFR) (The Study can be downloaded here) Asian Spirit said: I think if I were a wealthy local or expat I would spread my money around into several {good} local banks and open several accounts in each. Depositing in each just enough to still be covered by the PDIC in the event something happened. Sometimes I'm glad on just a low pension and don't have to worry about such things-Hahaha.. Click to expand... The deposit insurance is for a bank going under. It is not for fraud on your accounts.I don't know about here but in Canada and the US the deposit insurance is per bank not per account so you would need to open accounts an a great number of different banks. This is not as much of a problem in the US where there are literally thousands of small individual banks but in Canada and in the Philippines there are less (but bigger) banks and so as many to make deposits in.Personally I keep the bulk of my cash in my Canadian account back home and transfer about 6 months of expenses at a time to here. It goes over the local insurance limit for a while but since I am dealing with the local affiliate of my Canadian bank the convenience of making fewer transfers is more than the slight risk of losing it.Wealthy people in any country will diversify their wealth. They will have funds and investments in multiple countries not for reasons of bank failures but for reasons of risk avoidance through diversification.Also truly wealthy people do not keep a lot of money in ready cash. They have it invested in something that produces more money for them not in idle cash except when they are moving money around for additional investment purposes. JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding. San Antonio-based iHeartMedia Inc. failed to make a $106 million bond payment due Thursday, giving itself 30 days to work out an agreement with investors to restructure its debt or face bankruptcy. The radio and billboard giant said it made a conscious decision not to make the payment as active discussions continue among its lenders, noteholders, and financial sponsors regarding a comprehensive debt restructuring. The company said the move wont automatically trigger a default on its bonds as it used a grace period that gives it 30 more days to make the interest payment. The companys been teetering on the edge of insolvency for much of the last year. It launched an offer almost a year ago on March 15 to try to restructure $14.6 billion of its more than $20 billion in debt by exchanging it for bonds with longer maturities and higher yields. The company hasnt had much luck in negotiations with some of its bondholders and lenders on a possible prepackaged bankruptcy deal. Some investors have reportedly been reticent to give the company any concessions, figuring they will recover more money if iHeart files for bankruptcy. The investor group, in fact, rejected its latest distressed debt exchange offer, the company said in a December filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. They probably have the cash to maybe make the payment, but since theyre restructuring all the bonds and the loans it makes no sense to make it and have that money go out the door,said Seth Crystall, a senior credit analyst at Debtwire, a subsidiary of Acuris. The decision not to pay the bond, he said, is the trigger to get to negotiating a final resolution. Though iHeart has been negotiating for months, Crystall said often its at the eleventh hour that something gets done. Following this as long as we have, and the evolution of the concessions each side has made to get to this point, it seems a little difficult for me to think that they cant come to some agreement, Crystall said. Now it still might be done in bankruptcy. iHeart will most likely file for bankruptcy within the next 30 days, said Philip Brendel, senior credit analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence. The company would also try to get as many of the junior creditors to sign on to an agreement with the larger group of investors as soon as possible, he said. Anything is possible including that iHeart could make the payment during the grace period and file later, Brendel said. But its most likely the company will file during the grace period, he said. iHeart should continue to operate just fine in bankruptcy, Brendel said. Given the debt the company is in its a testament to how strong the cash flow is in the operating business that theyve been able to stay out of bankruptcy as long as they have, he said. iHeart has continued to service its debt despite facing obstacles that mightve put other companies under, Brendel said. So did they have the liquidity to pay $106 million? Probably, but for them to actually decide to go into the grace period on this coupon was a strategic decision that is definitely a change in course for the company. iHeart employs roughly 19,500 workers and owns more than 850 radio stations in 150 U.S. markets. It also owns 90 percent of billboard giant Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings Inc. in San Antonio. iHeart has seven stations locally, including WOAI-AM and FM stations 96.1 KXXM top 40 and 101.9 KQXT soft rock. The company also syndicates Rush Limbaugh, Ryan Seacrest and Steve Harveys radio shows across the U.S. iHeart lost $248.2 million in the third quarter its 29th loss over the previous 30 quarters. State Sen. Carlos Urestis legal team Friday sought to discredit the governments star witness in his criminal fraud trial by questioning her about a sexual relationship she had with the CEO of the bankrupt oilfield services company prosecutors say was a Ponzi scheme. Denise Cantu, who testified that she had a sexual relationship with Uresti on Thursday, acknowledged Friday that she also had sex and exchanged numerous steamy text messages with Stan Bates, the CEO of FourWinds Logistics. Their affair began shortly after the two met in 2014, she acknowledged during cross-examination by Michael McCrum, one of Urestis defense laywers. Uresti, a Democrat, was indicted last year on 11 felony charges, including conspiracy to commit wire fraud, securities fraud and money laundering in connection with his role in FourWinds. Co-defendant Gary Cain, a FourWinds consultant, was charged with nine felonies. They both have denied the charges and Uresti has denied having a sexual relationship with Cantu. Jurors, however, didnt get to see or hear any of the racy messages between Cantu and Bates. McCrum tiptoed around the graphic nature of the text messages, reading redacted versions of the texts that were displayed on courtroom monitors. The censored messages made the proceeding tamer than Thursdays, when Cantu described having sex in the bathroom shower at Urestis work and prosecutors blew up on a screen for jurors a text exchange between Uresti and Cantu where he posed the question: U want to see my big ? Cantu explained Thursday that she understood that Uresti was referring to his genitals. She also told jurors that Uresti once sent her a picture of his penis while he was on a shopping trip with his wife. McCrum said he wasnt a liberty to say why he was using sanitized versions of the text messages when asked during the lunch break if Senior U.S. District Judge David Ezra prohibited using the unexpurgated texts between Cantu and Bates. McCrum spent the entire 10th day of the trial cross-examining Cantu and will resume questioning her on Monday morning. Cantu invested $900,000 of a legal settlement with FourWinds on Urestis advice, losing all but about $100,000. She said Uresti, who was serving as the companys outside legal counsel, didnt tell her at the time that he was making a $27,000 commission on her investment and receiving a cut of her profits. FourWinds bought and sold sand used in fracking. Prosecutors say the company was a Ponzi scheme, with some investors money including Cantus going to pay other investors. Four company officials already have pleaded guilty, including Bates, who was accused of misspending investors money to support his lavish lifestyle and to pay child support and his sons college tuition, among other expenses. Cantu told jurors Thursday that Uresti, who represented her in a wrongful-death case after two of her children were killed in an auto accident in 2010, was her friend and lover. She received $2.5 million from the settlement. Uresti collected $946,000 in fees on the case. McCrum focused on graphic texts Cantu and Bates exchanged just a few weeks after they first met, including some the day she signed paperwork to invest with FourWinds. Do you remember saying to him (Bates) he made you sexually aroused, McCrum asked. She answered yes. Do you remember saying it affected your body in a certain way? he then asked. She again said yes. McCrum wanted to know what caused Cantu to have such familiarity with Bates so soon after first meeting. I dont know. Maybe flirting. I dont know how it got like that, she answered. He showed Cantu one stream of text messages between her and Bates, asking Do you remember Bates texting you on Aug. 28, in very graphic, explicit way the sexual acts he was going to perform with you? Yes, she replied. Did that include oral sex? McCrum asked. Cantu replied Yes, but I didnt do that when I got to his house. Later in the day, McCrum attacked Cantus credibility by bringing up the number of times shes changed her story about her relationship with Uresti. McCrum noted how in 2015 bankruptcy court testimony she denied having dated Uresti. Then, in early 2016 she denied to FBI investigators about having sex with Uresti as well as Bates. She later said she lied to investigators because she was ashamed. McCrum also questioned Cantu about what she may have told a friend, who is related to Uresti through marriage. For instance, McCrum asked Cantu if she remembered telling the friend that federal investigators were pressuring Cantu so much to say bad things about Mr. Uresti that she finally gave in. Cantu at first said she did recall the pressure, but didn't recall saying she caved in. I dont remember what I told her, Cantu testified. McCrum tested Cantus recollection of how many times she and Uresti had sex from 2011 through 2017, writing her answers on a big white pad on an easel facing the jury. Cantu was hazy about the number of times, leading McCrum to write maybe more than 1 for 2012 and 2013. I didnt write down the dates, she said during the exchange. She also couldnt remember when they stopped having sex. McCrum wanted to know what other explicit texts Cantu received from Uresti, other than the U want my big? She didnt know of any others. Prosecutors have portrayed Uresti as a man under tremendous financial strain whose bank accounts were often overdrawn. They said he groomed Cantu before defrauding her gaining her trust over time, seducing her and persuading her to invest in a startup oilfield services company he knew was a sham. McCrum, though, tried showing jurors that Uresti was looking out for her interests. Uresti had contacted Cantu by text and phone messages instructing her not to sign any documents before he spoke with her. Cantu went ahead and signed some paperwork but said she would only have done so if Uresti said it was OK. Contrary to the governments contention that Uresti pressured Cantu to invest, McCrum cited numerous texts Bates sent her wanting to know when shed be investing even more money. A representative from the Securities and Exchange Commission was in court to hear Cantus testimony. The SECs Fort Worth office opened an investigation in August 2016, two days after the Express-News first reported on FourWinds collapse and allegations by some investors that the company had defrauded them. The agency revealed the probe in a court document last summer seeking to quash a subpoena from Uresti, who had asked it to turn over documents it had provided to the Justice Department, the FBI and the Internal Revenue Service. Cantu testified Thursday that her relationship with Uresti became intimate during the wrongful-death case, after he told her she looked sexy when she was dressed for a deposition. I knew he was married, but we would still be intimate at times. He was a good friend. We could talk about anything. They would send sexually explicit text messages to each other and sometimes had sex in the bathroom shower at his law office, she said. One time he told me he was at the mall with his wife. He was going to go into a bathroom stall and take pictures of his penis and send them to me. pdanner@express-news.net | gcontreras@express-news.net Mexicos head of private-sector negotiations on NAFTA said significant progress was made during talks in Montreal that wrapped up this week. Finally, the balls starting to move, Mexican businessman Moises Kalach said at a Thursday luncheon of the Association of Mexican Entrepreneurs in San Antonio. Kalach was tapped by the Mexicos Consejo Coordinador Empresarial, an umbrella organization for private-sector lobbying groups, to participate in negotiations and promote the 24-year-old pacts benefits to businesses in all three countries. While not at the table, Kalach said hes been in the room next door, or a consultation room, and must support any provisions Mexico agrees to. We have a deal, he said. Every major decision has to come through here. The sixth round of negotiations of the North American Free Trade Agreement ended Monday with more optimism than any prior round, Kalach said, adding there was a sense of relief that President Donald Trump did not repeat calls for the United States to pull out of the free trade agreement during the State of the Union address Tuesday. The next round of talks kicks off Feb. 26 in Mexico City. Trump campaigned heavily on free trade agreements benefiting trade partners at the cost of U.S. jobs. On Jan. 18, he sent out a tweet that ended with NAFTA is a bad joke! But calls to preserve an agreement that in Texas has amounted to some $94 billion annually in exports south of the border have increased since Trumps election. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott last week sent the Trump administration a letter urging consideration of the trade benefits NAFTA has brought to Texas and other states. As you continue the work of modernizing this mutually beneficial trade agreement, I hope you will continue to recognize the true value of the decades of trade relationships we have built with Mexico and Canada, Abbott said. Kalach said more than half a dozen of the less controversial NAFTA chapters were ready to close. He said Mexicos private sector was particularly proud to see an anti-corruption chapter pushed that will give U.S. and Canadian companies more confidence about doing business in Mexico. We want this to be part of our legacy in the new NAFTA, he told the gathering. It could really change the way your companies operate in Mexico. If a company in Mexico is beating you to a contract because they are using corruption as a facilitator, you can actually take that to court. While there are still U.S. proposals Mexico considers toxic, such as the U.S. stance on dispute settlement and a seasonality component that would tax Mexican produce during times when U.S. crops compete, Kalach said the key factor was that talk was ongoing. Mexico supports the idea of a five-year review of the agreement, but not a sunset with sudden death. Canada has come up with a complex framework for determining rules of origin, he said, as even U.S. automobile manufacturers say the proposal for 85 percent NAFTA country content and 50 percent U.S. content isnt workable. U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer on Monday said no compromise had been reached on rules of origin. We find that the automobile rules of origin idea that was presented, when analyzed, may actually lead to less regional content than we have now and fewer jobs in the United States, Canada and likely Mexico, Lighthizer said. So this is the opposite of what we are trying to do. But overall, he said, Some real headway was made here. Trumps election initially had Mexican business entities that depend on cross-border trade a little lost and a little afraid, Kalach said, but within 30 days they had embarked on a strategy of engaging U.S. business interests. Theyve since had more than 200 meetings with the U.S. private sector, U.S. governors, U.S. members of Congress and the Trump administration. U.S. Rep. Kevin Brady, R-The Woodlands, and Republican U.S. Sen. John Cornyn are among Texas politicians who have been vocal in supporting NAFTA, as have governors of red states with a lot of exports to NAFTA countries. The Texas Alliance of Energy Producers on Thursday issued an analysis of the growing oil and gas trade between the U.S. and Mexico. Petroleum economist Karr Ingham in the report said natural gas and crude oil exports to Mexico have increased 445 percent and 320 percent, respectively, since 2010. NAFTA is important to Texas, and if renegotiated, its impact on our markets for oil and gas needs to remain positive and profitable, Alliance Chairman Bob Osborne said. Farmers who supported Trump have been quoted as saying that no NAFTA will mean no re-election. We think after the year, the cost of withdrawing from NAFTA has really come up for Trump, Kalach said. Even drawn-out negotiations, which he called a zombie NAFTA, are better than an abrupt U.S. withdrawal, he said. Zombie NAFTA keeps dragging along, which is not that bad. At some point, markets will just turn around and say, OK, its uncertain but even if its dragging along, NAFTA is taking place. Theres been a push to reach an agreement before Mexicos presidential election in July, he said. Mexico has a provision that requires a majority vote in its Senate before a new administration can withdraw. So that gives us some space on the political side, he said. If some crazy politician comes to Mexico and wants to withdraw from NAFTA, hes going to have a hard time playing ball with us, and hes going to have to meet us in the Senate. Gerald Schwebel, executive vice president of Laredo-based IBC Bank, has been at every round of the NAFTA negotiations as part of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and U.S.-Mexico Business Council. I know weve been focusing a lot on the substance and the speed, but we want to make sure that its going to be the best agreement, he said. This has been the most encouraging round to date, definitely. Tony Garza, former U.S. ambassador to Mexico and Texas secretary of state, said he felt encouraged after the fifth round. In spite of the sharp kind of words that were exchanged between Lighthizer and (Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs Chrystia) Freeland, it still seems as though theres a general commitment to movement and a process, Garza said. lbrezosky@express-news.net Attorneys for the University of the Incarnate Word were back in court Thursday, reiterating the private universitys argument that immunity from liability enjoyed by police departments should protect it from a lawsuit stemming from the fatal shooting of one of its students. A three-judge panel of the Fourth Court of Appeals heard the arguments but made no immediate ruling on the claim, the universitys first line of defense in a lawsuit brought by the family of Cameron Redus, a 23-year-old senior who was killed by a campus police officer in 2013. The state appeals court had previously rejected the claim that UIWs police department was a public agency but had been overruled by the Texas Supreme Court, which sent the case back for a decision on whether the designation was enough to grant the university immunity in the case. The Legislature granted UIW the privilege of commissioning its own law enforcement agency and it performs a uniquely government function, so it makes no sense to exclude the campus police from immunity, UIW attorney Amy Warr told the judges Thursday Exposing such police forces to lawsuits could have a chilling effect, potentially resulting in the disbandment of university law enforcement agencies across the state, she said. If they alone are denied immunity among all other law enforcement agencies of the state, and theyre subject to litigation and judgments, theres a huge financial disincentive to continue operations, Warr said. The burden of policing campuses would shift back to local police departments, she said, and thereby local taxpayers. Brent Perry, attorney for parents Valerie and Mickey Redus, said that as a private university, UIWs payment of a judgment in the case would not directly impact taxpayers because no public funds are at stake. He added that UIW could pursue any number of remedies short of shuttering its police department. The fact is, no one has ever shut down a private police department over a fear of a lack of immunity, he said. Perry said the officer, former UIW Cpl. Christopher Carter, had exercised independent discretion by acting in the heat of the moment in attempting to arrest Redus off campus on suspicion of drunk driving, a circumstance he argued should invalidate an immunity claim. The judges seemed skeptical of UIWs theory that universities would dissolve their police forces as a direct result of the case. We dont have anything before us to say that if immunity is not extended, then Incarnate Word will dissolve its police department, rather than continue forward, said Justice Irene Rios. It wasnt the first time the court had heard the case, in what has become a protracted legal battle. The hearing came more than a year after the case was heard by the Texas Supreme Court, which ultimately ruled that UIW was a governmental unit when it came to its state-licensed police force. The lawsuit was initially filed in 2014. The following year, a Bexar County grand jury chose not to indict Carter, who is no longer employed by UIW. The encounter outside the students off-campus apartment, in which Carter alleged that Redus temporarily gained control of his baton, ended with Carter shooting Redus five times, including once in the back. An autopsy confirmed Redus blood alcohol content was nearly twice the legal limit to drive, and an audio recording of the struggle captured Carter ordering Redus to stop resisting arrest dozens of times. Redus parents have maintained that UIW bears culpability in the honor students death, citing autopsy results and differences between the recording and university statements. The family alleges excessive force and accuses UIW of failing to properly train Carter. With the case bogged down in appeals over the immunity claim, virtually no discovery of evidence surrounding the shooting has occurred, Perry said. If the court rules in UIWs favor on the question of immunity, Perry asked that the case be remanded to the trial court so that the plaintiffs can have an opportunity to submit an amended complaint. Warr said a ruling of immunity should result in the cases dismissal. Lauren Caruba is a San Antonio Express-News staff writer. Read more of her stories here. | lcaruba@express-news.net | @LaurenCaruba The Air Force has grounded one of its principal training planes, the T-6A Texan II, after finding that some had problems related to their cockpit oxygen systems. The Air Education and Training Command said all of its 444 T-6s at six bases, including Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph and Naval Air Station Pensacola in the Florida Panhandle, were affected by an operational pause that took effect Thursday. The action was to ensure aircrew safety after a cluster of unexplained physiological events occurred at Columbus AFB, Mississippi; Vance AFB, Oklahoma; and Sheppard AFB, Texas within the last week, the command said. It didnt identify a specific problem, saying the matter was under investigation, but a source familiar with the situation said 30 hypoxic incidents had occurred over the past year, more than a dozen of them taking place over the past 13 days. Hypoxia is a potentially fatal condition caused by oxygen deprivation, with symptoms ranging from odd tastes in a pilots mouth to loss of consciousness. The training command confirmed that 10 recent events occurred at Columbus, two at Vance and one at Sheppard. More Information T-6A Texan II The Beechcraft T-6 Texan II is a single-engine, two-seat turboprop designed to train novice pilots in the Air Force and Navy. Built by Raytheon Aircraft Co., it replaced the T-37B Tweet used by the Air Force and the Navy's T-34C Turbo Mentor. Maximum speed: 364 mph Cruising speed: 320 mph Ceiling: 31,000 feet Wingspan: 33.5 feet Length: 33.4 feet Height: 10.7 feet Range: 1,036 miles Characteristics: Aerobatic, can climb 3,100 feet a minute, reaching 18,000 feet in less than six minutes. Engine: Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6, 1,100 horsepower Cost: $3.9 to $6 million per plane See More Collapse Some instructor and student pilots experienced symptoms of a UPE, AETC spokeswoman Tracy Bunko said, using an acronym for unexplained physiological events. Problems with cockpit oxygen delivery at high altitudes previously have been reported with the Air Forces F-22 and F-35 fighters and a Navy fighter-bomber and training plane, but not with the Texan II. The Air Force said Maj. Gen. Patrick Doherty, 19th Air Force commander, grounded the planes to examine the root causes of the incidents, educate and listen to aircrew, develop and deliver mitigation solutions. An AETC news release said a general officer-led team had been created early this year to address the events. A physiological event occurs when aircrew experience symptoms that can result from a variety of factors, including hypoxia, hypocapnia, hypercapnia or disorientation, the Air Force said, whose symptoms can hinder their ability to fly safely and effectively. Hypocapnia is a state of reduced carbon dioxide in the blood. Hypercapnia is excessive carbon dioxide in the bloodstream, usually caused by inadequate respiration. These events are by their nature unexplained, so, while one such symptom could be hypoxia, there are a litany of other possible circumstances that could meet the criteria for a pilot, at his or her discretion, to initiate an emergency checklist, Bunko said. The issue appears to be new to the T-6A, a propeller aircraft that came to Randolph in 2000 and replaced the T-37 Tweet, but it has been a recurring problem in Air Force and Navy jets. A June 21, 2017, Congressional Research Service brief noted that hypoxia cases have occurred at a slow but steady rate due to system failure and maintenance problems but became national news after an F-22 Raptor went down, killing the pilot, in 2010. Oxygen loss was the suspected cause. At least 12 hypoxia-like incidents occurred in the F-22 between 2008 and 2011, triggering the aircrafts grounding and an investigation. Two Raptor pilots who refused to fly the jet, then the newest in the Air Forces inventory, were profiled in a CBS 60 Minutes segment. The two-page Congressional Research Service brief said the Air Force learned that the problem wasnt the oxygen system but a combination of factors that included a valve controlling the pilots pressure vest. It occasionally caused the vest to inflate unnecessarily, restricting the pilots ability to breathe. Titled, Out of Breath: Military Aircraft Oxygen Issues, the report said the Air Force grounded 55 F-35A Lightning II fighters at Luke AFB in Arizona for 11 days in June 2017 after five incidents resembling hypoxia and the service revealed 10 other physiological events occurred going back to 2011. The onboard oxygen generation systems used in those jets were the same as those in other Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps planes. The brief said the Navy told Congress that the rate of incidents possibly linked to oxygen issues in the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet had risen steadily since 2010, with 297 cases from 2010 to 2015. The deaths of four Navy aviators in that period may have been due to oxygen system woes. Last May, the Navy grounded 197 of its T-45 Goshawk aircraft carrier-capable trainers, some of them flown at Naval Air Station Kingsville, to address concerns of instructor pilots who refused to fly the jet because of a rise in oxygen-related physiological incidents. Unexplained physiological effects are rare, but a release issued last month by the Air Force stated that heightened awareness has increased aircrew reporting of it. Calling the historic rate of UPEs incredibly low, Brig. Gen. Bobbi Jo Doorenbos, who is leading the Air Forces unexplained physiological events team, said in a prepared statement that the probability that a pilot will experience a physiological event is less than 1 percent per year. Still, she added, we are aggressively addressing these events and communicating with aircrew so they remain confident in their aircraft and weapon systems. Sig Christenson is a San Antonio Express-News staff writer. Read more of his stories here. | sigc@express-news.net | @saddamscribe Top Homeland Security Department officials want Congress to pass stricter asylum laws that would remove what President Donald Trump labeled deadly loopholes in the immigration system during his State of the Union address. For years, immigration agents and those who want to restrict immigration to the U.S. have criticized Obama-era policies that they say wouldn't let them enforce the laws on the books. Ronald Vitiello, the acting deputy commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection and Trumps pick to head the Border Patrol, said changing immigration laws is one of the pillars of the presidents immigration plan. He and Tom Homan, the acting eeputy director for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the nominee to permanently head the agency, said they need to be able to more quickly deport children and detain families. Existing laws have legal loopholes that often encourage illegal immigration, Vitiello said. The officials, who were in San Antonio this week to speak at the Border Security Expo, echoed the positions laid out in recent months by Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, who have called on Congress to tighten asylum laws and ease restrictions on how the federal government treats children who are in the country illegally. Advocates for immigrants said such changes to existing laws would deny those fleeing persecution and violence in their home countries due-process protections. Vitiello and Homan set their sights on the Trafficking Victims Prevention Act, a piece of 2008 legislation known as the TVPRA that allows the Border Patrol to quickly deport unaccompanied children from Canada and Mexico, but requires agents to release children from other countries to the Department of Health and Human Services within 72 hours. I think children from Central America should be treated like children from Mexico, Homan said. They shouldnt get extra rights, extra hearings. If theyre not a victim of trafficking, if they dont have an asylum claim, we need to treat them like everybody else. Of course, let me caveat this, they get their due process if theyre a victim of trafficking or if they have a claim to credible fear. He also called on Congress to pass laws that would allow ICE to hold immigrant families for extended periods of time. After a federal judge in 2015 round that two family detention centers in South Texas violate a settlement between the federal government and immigration activists, most families are released after 20 days in detention. Immigration courts are backlogged, Homan said, and it can take years for asylum cases to be heard. This encourages immigrants to come here, knowing theyll be released into the country pending the outcome of their court case. If theres an illegal alien parent who hires a criminal organization, smuggles a child from Central America, first of all shame on them, they put children in hands of a criminal organization, weve seen some bad things happen to children, he said. Second of all, I think a parent decides to do that when the storys out there that theyll be released in three days to them, and they can play the system for six or seven years and when they get the final order they dont have to comply with it because no ones looking for them. Laura Lichter, a Denver attorney and a former president of the American Immigration Lawyers association, said in the rush to deport children back to Mexico, legitimate asylum claims are lost in the shuffle. Its difficult to determine if someone has a legitimate claim, Lichter said, particularly children who might be traumatized and fleeing violence. We see a lot of kids who have not just viable but good asylum cases never being able to present them because they do not have access to counsel or theyre misled about the process, she said. And it basically drives people back to the shadows. Using pretrial detention as a deterrent is unconstitutional, and difficult conditions in detention centers encourage immigrants who have valid asylum cases to throw in the towel and return home, said Sara Ramey, the executive director for the Migrant Center for Human Rights in San Antonio. If someone has to stay in detention through the whole asylum process, its incredibly difficult for them to prepare their case, Ramey said. For one, a lot of people dont speak English. A lot of these detention centers are outside populated areas so they dont have access to counsel because of the nature of being in detention, outside of these areas. They cant work. They can take volunteer jobs, but thats not going to help them earn money to hire a lawyer. Homan also said the bar needs to be raised for determining credible fear, the first step in the asylum process. Foreign nationals who claim asylum at the border are first interviewed by officials from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the agency that handles legal immigration. If they are found to have credible fear of returning to their home countries, theyre given a notice to appear in immigration court. The number of people who get a credible fear finding by USCIS is far higher than the number of people granted asylum by an immigration judge, he said. So theyre here, theyre in the country, they made it, so what Im saying is youve got to raise that bar, the USCIS bar, closer to the immigration court bar, he said. So if theyve got a frivolous claim, they shouldnt be entering the country. Lichter said immigrants with valid asylum claims often lose at the immigration court level. Some immigration judges, who unlike other federal judges are employees of the executive branch, are hostile to asylum seekers, she said, and mounting asylum claims are costly affairs requiring large amounts of resources to hire lawyers and expert witnesses and compile documents and other evidence. Unlike criminal defendants, immigrants facing deportation are not given court-appointed counsel. Its not that our asylum law has gotten more generous. If anything, theyve gotten progressively more difficult, she said. Thats really been the goal of this administration, taking control of immigration courts and the immigration court system to really change the law and make it difficult for any case to get through. That kind of attitude completely ignores the fact that credible fear is difficult to pass. The fact that the grant rate might be different has a lot to do with what happens to the case, where it happens and how its presented. Many people seeking asylum from Central America are fleeing violent countries where the governments are unable or unwilling to combat organized crime, Lichter said. This has nothing to do with loopholes or weaknesses in the system, she said. This is about just keeping people out, even when it means that keeping somebody out might end up with them dead. jbuch@express-news.net The Democratic primary race for Bexar County district attorney intensified this week via video, mailers and a robocall as both candidates Nicholas Nico LaHood, the incumbent, and his challenger Joe Gonzales attacked each other without coming face to face. The recent charges set up an increasingly nasty race between a pair of former business partners who once feuded in court and now are engaged in a head-to-head primary battle. LaHood, three years and change into his first term, has lambasted Gonzales for specializing in defending clients accused of various forms of child abuse, including sexual and pornographic. Gonzales then proudly advertises his success in those cases, LaHood said, claiming that paints a stark contrast between the priorities of the two candidates. A similar attack was launched at Gonzales in a recent robocall, though LaHood political consultant Colin Strother denied the campaigns involvement in the call. Gonzales has noted that defending sex crimes was part of his job as a defense attorney, just as his previous role as a prosecutor led him to put sex offenders behind bars. He said LaHood is a loose cannon unfit for the office because, due to his insufficient prosecutorial experience, hes spent his first term learning on the job. He also has accentuated a few episodes from LaHoods sometimes tempestuous first term, from a controversial video he released in 2016 claiming vaccines are linked to autism, to an episode where LaHood reportedly threatened to destroy Gonzales legal practice - an incident corroborated by a judge who was present. LaHood denied making the threat. He ran on the promise that he was going to bring change to the office, Gonzales said. Ive been waiting for three years to see the change. I supported Nico, not only in 2010 but in 2014 to replace (Republican DA) Susan Reed. What I have seen is he has become Susan Reed. As a matter of fact, frankly, I think hes worse than Susan Reed. The candidates at first jabbed at each other behind the scenes, but a series of events this week brought the charges and counter-charges into public light. Notably, a political action committee backing Gonzales campaign sent a glossy direct mail piece to voters, replete with accusations that LaHood is prejudiced and intolerant, and a crude cutout of LaHoods head on a shrugging body. The mailer, paid for by a PAC funded by liberal billionaire George Soros, prompted LaHood to release a video from his office Tuesday, in which he accused Gonzales of resorting to political and personal attacks in an attempt to steal the DAs office. Soros, LaHood added, has purchased other DAs offices around the country. Heres the bottom line, LaHood said in the video titled Your DAs Office is Not For Sale. This is what it all boils down to. You have to ask yourself, what does a rapist, a child molester and a billionaire by the name of George Soros all have in common? They all want Joe Gonzales to be the district attorney of Bexar County. As LaHood spoke, a graphic appeared onscreen, featuring the faces of Harvey Weinstein, the film producer brought down by sexual abuse allegations, Larry Nassar, the USA gymnastics doctor who pleaded guilty to child pornography and sexual assault of minors, and Soros. Those three people, the equation purported, add up to Gonzales. Candidates in contested Bexar County elections must release updated campaign finance reports by Monday, but at last count, LaHood reported $136,547 cash on hand after raising $244,576 during the six-month reporting period from July 1 to Dec. 31. Gonzales, in a much shorter period, brought in $13,401 including $6,000 from Soros PAC and lent himself $50,000, maintaining $35,359 at the end of 2017. The $6,000 does not include the cost of the mailer, which was sent out after the reporting period. In 2014, LaHood had his own wealthy benefactor in his successful takedown of Reed, receiving more than $1.2 million from the personal injury attorney Thomas J. Henry. LaHoods reports from the most recent cycle do not list Henry as a donor. The attacks Tuesday didnt end with LaHoods video: that evening, a debate had been scheduled between the two candidates at the Cadillac Bar downtown. Gonzales declined to attend due to a prior family obligation, he said in a text message. Bexar County Democratic Party Chairman Manuel Medina held the debate anyway, saying Gonzales confirmed his availability Jan. 10, when both candidates were notified of plans for the debate. Joe confirmed that day, Medina said. (Democratic Party candidate liaison) Lydia Martinez spoke to him personally, and they actually discussed a couple issues. Gonzales denied Medinas account, saying he didnt recall speaking to anyone from the Democratic Party. His campaign released a statement containing screenshots of a text from Gonzales campaign staffer Laura Barberena to Medina that reads: Right now Joe has a scheduling conflict. Gonzales has also noted that debates scheduled in February will provide other chances to face off. Nonetheless, the Democratic Party televised what became a campaign event of sorts for LaHood, who answered a series of questions from Medina and made opening and closing statements. He wants to pick and choose when he's going to talk to you, the voters, his employers, LaHood told the Cadillac Bar crowd. What would you do with someone who is trying to try out for a job, or interview for a job, and they said, Hey, I'll tell you when I'm going to show up? The bad blood began spilling out to the public on Sunday when, at a candidate forum held by the Stonewall Democrats of San Antonio, Gonzales said LaHoods faith precluded him from accepting same-sex marriage. He also accused LaHood of opposing sanctuary cities and gun control, tying into a previous argument made by Gonzales about LaHoods conservative tendencies. Referencing a Bible verse that says to Love your neighbor as yourself, LaHood denied that he opposes same-sex marriage. He wants to distract from the issue of what he does for a living, LaHood said. He gets very uncomfortable when you talk about him trying to get child pornographers back on the street. He's very embarrassed of what he does. LaHood has acknowledged accused sex offenders deserve court appearances, taking issue instead with Gonzales active promotion of his work until he changed his website to feature those cases less prominently, he said. Despite LaHoods disapproval of Gonzales promotion of his work, an ad from the website for LaHoods former practice shows he also offered to represent clients accused of, among other charges, Indecency with a child and Internet sex crimes like child pornography and solicitation of a minor. In a text, LaHood said his law partner had handled SEO and marketing for the site, and that the post appears to be a boiler plate advertisement used by law office marketing companies. LaHood added that he took less than 14 sex cases or cases against children, out of roughly 2,200 cases as a defense attorney. I have always said I defended anyone I believed was innocent, but did not make a career or specialize in sex cases or cases against children. Unfortunately, Joe cannot say the same, LaHood said. In a Facebook comment Tuesday, however, LaHood said he intentionally turned away business relating to certain offenses, including physical and sexual child abuse cases. For his part, Gonzales has estimated a little more than a quarter of his cases deal with sex crimes, saying he is proud to represent people who are accused of crimes and make sure the system works, just like it worked for LaHood an allusion to LaHoods 1994 arrest for selling Ecstasy to an undercover agent outside a gentlemens club while possessing a firearm. Since receiving deferred adjudication with a probated fine and community service, LaHood has openly addressed the incident, acknowledging his mistake but saying hes proud of who he has become. The voters are getting upset at the wrong person. If cases are getting dismissed, its because the DAs office is not doing a good job of protecting kids, Gonzales said. Theyre condemning me for doing my job. They ought to be upset at the prosecutor for not doing his job. Columnist Brian Chasnoff contributed to this story. jscherer@express-news.net | @jaspscherer U.S. Rep. Will Hurd, in his bid for a third term in Texas most competitive district, raised $412,000 in the final three months of 2017, nearly double the sum of any of the Democrats running in the primary, bringing his war chest to a total of $1.1 million. Two Democrats seeking the nomination to oppose Hurd, Jay Hulings and Gina Ortiz Jones, raked in more than $200,000, with Jones slightly edging Hulings, $213,000 to $210,000. Hulings, however, reported $281,000 cash on hand, to Jones $169,000. The updated totals bring into sharper focus the state of the race in a swing district that was one of the few to go for Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election while also electing a GOP representative. Hurd won the race with 48.3 percent of the vote, beating Democrat Pete Gallego by a 1.3 percent margin. About one-third of Hurds funding last period, from Oct. 1 to Dec. 31, came from an assortment of 72 committees, including ones representing defense electronics contractors and the health industry. Several Republican leadership PACs, along with a $5,000 contribution from the Koch Industries PAC controlled by billionaire GOP donors Charles and David Koch produced Hurds total of about $133,000 in committee-raised funds. The bulk of Hulings fundraising about $162,000 came from individual contributions, with $38,500 coming from various committees. Notably, he received $5,000 from End Citizens United, a political action committee that bills itself as a grassroots-funded committee focused on electing campaign finance reform-minded candidates. Rick Trevino, a high school teacher and former City Council candidate also running in the Democratic primary, was dubious about the groups progressive message, and about its endorsement of Hulings. I think its hilarious that the man who is by far the leading fundraiser in this race is also the guy whos going to be the vanguard against big money in politics, Trevino said. So Im pretty skeptical about that. Trevino raised about $18,000 last cycle, maintaining nearly $3,000 on hand. He received $6,000 in committee money, most of which came from Justice Democrats, a PAC that supports candidates who dont take corporate PAC or corporate lobbyist money. Hulings, a former federal prosecutor, received backing from the Blue Dog PAC, which represents the common-sense, moderate voice of the Democratic Party, its website says. In September, the PAC endorsed eight Democrats including Hulings in districts mostly won by Trump. Of the 14 committees contributing to Hulings campaign, 12 list Washington D.C.-area addresses. One San Antonio-based committee contribution, for $1,000, came from Bexar County Commissioner Tommy Calvert, who worked with Hulings on one of Julian Castros mayoral campaigns. Hulings campaign declined to comment for this story. Meanwhile, Jones, a former Air Force intelligence officer, took in $23,750 from 10 committees, raising $180,000 from individual contributions. Seven of the committees list Washington, D.C. addresses, with the others based in Seattle, Virginia Beach, Virginia, and Salem, Massachusetts. A few of Jones contributions came from committees that back LGBT candidates, or those supporting LGBT rights, including LPAC and the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund. Jones, a lesbian who would be the first openly LGBT congressional candidate elected from Texas, also received $5,000 from EMILYs List, a PAC that supports pro-choice Democratic women. Gina doesnt come from personal wealth, nor from a profession known for its deep pockets, said Lauren Coffee, Jones campaign manager. So the vast majority of money has come from Gina calling people, introducing herself, and talking to people about her potential in the race. Judy Canales, an Eagle Pass resident and former Agriculture Department administrator, raised about $17,000 last quarter and reported about $7,000 cash on hand, with no contributions coming from committees. Her campaign, which she described as grassroots, has received funding from friends, family members and colleagues, she said. My two opponents in that regard have received special interest funds, and thats their prerogative, she said, when asked about Hulings and Jones. I do not worry about what they do. What I do is prepare myself, as the best qualified candidate with a true deep knowledge of the district, to keep educating people about the U.S. Congress and what it does. Trevino saw Jones endorsements, and the groups subsequent campaign contributions, as affirmation of her status as a mainstream candidate, arguing those groups routinely shut out alternative candidates in favor of establishment Democrats. EMILYs List is nothing but a very establishment part of the Democratic Party, Trevino said. A lot of examples of the DCCC (the campaign arm of House Democrats) and EMILYs List they ultimately pick candidates who will toe the party line and evolve in an appropriate manner. Its kind of part of that incremental change. Coffee, Jones campaign manager, disagreed with Trevinos characterization of her candidate. I would push back on the idea that were just pushing the mainstream, Coffee said. Gina is endorsed by Democracy for America (a PAC founded by former DNC chair Howard Dean) and the Congressional Progressive Caucus (PAC) . I absolutely believe we have the best chance to win, but (those groups) are endorsing her because they see Gina as the representative that people of the 23rd District need, Coffee added. Hurds primary opponent, Alma Arredondo-Lynch, raised about $11,000 and maintained $5,000 on hand. jscherer@express-news.net Twitter: @jaspscherer Its been a rough month for the states scandal-plagued juvenile lockups. The string of shake-ups at the top. The flurry of concern over moving youths to adult prison. The cloud of concern from the sex abuse scandal. And on Thursday, the Texas Department of Public Safety announced the arrest of four current and former juvenile justice employees accused of tampering with records and using excessive force in handling jailed teens. The arrests came just a day after the surprise replacement of the independent watchdog who some reformers credited with exposing the sex abuse in the first place. After seven years on the job, chief ombudsman Debbie Unruh was ousted this week and, in her place, Gov. Greg Abbott appointed retired Texas Ranger J.D. Robertson to handle oversight of the Texas Juvenile Justice Department. The arrests came amid a governor-ordered probe by the Texas Rangers, touched off by last years revelations about alleged sexual relationships between employees and youths at the Gainesville State School. Following more than a month of investigation, 56-year-old Derrick Goodman and 41-year-old Shannon Hoaglen both were arrested at the Gainesville facility where they were employed. Theyve since been booked into Cooke County Jail. Meanwhile, former employee Derrick Day, 39, was picked up elsewhere in Gainesville and 31-year-old Morsello Hooker was taken into custody in Brownwood. A fifth suspect still was at large and may have fled the state, officials said. We are grateful for the valuable assistance of the Texas Rangers in the joint effort to bring these people to justice, juvenile justice Executive Director Camille Cain said in a statement Thursday. There is no room among us for those who dishonor themselves and violate the public trust. These arrests improve the safety of the youth we serve. Meanwhile, Abbotts decision to appoint Robertson to oversee the TJJD brought mixed reactions from juvenile justice advocates. I think that this new appointment is going to present him with a challenge, said Lindsey Linder, a policy attorney with the Texas Criminal Justice Coalition. The independent ombudsman to me is not so much a law enforcement position as it is a service provider position. Michele Deitch, an attorney and criminal justice consultant who teaches at UT-Austins LBJ School of Public Affairs, echoed her concerns. I worry that this may reflect a misunderstanding about what the ombudsman is supposed to be, she said, noting the role was never intended to be investigative and was instead created to provide oversight and monitor conditions in the wake of previous TJJD scandals. But some expressed optimism about working with the new appointee from Hays County, who is a former special ops commander with experience in special weapons and tactics, bomb squad, reconnaissance, crisis negotiations and border security. We look forward to getting to know the new ombudsman and talking with him, said Deborah Fowler, executive director of Texas Appleseed. I hope to have the same kind of working relationship we had with Debbie Unruh. A few hours after news of the replacement made the rounds online, Abbott took to Twitter to address the changes. If theres a problem at a state agency Im going to clean house & shake things up like I have by appointing a Texas Ranger to help fix things at the Juvenile Justice Department, he wrote in response to news coverage. Robertson will finish out the term set to expire in February 2019. Just two days earlier, Abbott announced the appointment of a new juvenile justice board chairman, Wes Ritchey, whos taking over for Scott Fisher. And earlier this month, Cain took the reins as the agencys new executive director following the retirement of former leader David Reilly. Though she came in without any apparent background working directly with incarcerated youths, state Sen. John Whitmire, D-Houston, said he had confidence in her. The acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement says he doesnt expect a repeat of a December incident when 12 undocumented immigrants were released after San Antonio police charged a tractor-trailer driver with human smuggling. The decision by Police Chief William McManus to use a state charge against the driver, 58-year-old Herbert Nichols, sparked controversy because the 12 people found in Nichols truck were released and allowed to leave the city. McManus said ICE agents could have taken them into custody at any time. The agency said the chief waved them off. I think theres a better understanding now of each agencys roles, said Thomas Homan, the acting ICE director who is President Donald Trumps nominee to head the agency. I dont think thats a reflection of San Antonio being a sanctuary city, at least I hope not. I just think people made decisions, if they had to do it over again they wouldnt make those same decisions. I think were in a better place now after numerous discussions after the incident. San Antonio police have said they long have cooperated with immigration officials. Attorney General Jeff Sessions did not include San Antonio in a list of 23 cities he recently threatened to subpoena if they fail to provide documents to show whether local law enforcement officers are sharing information with federal immigration authorities. When asked if the city erred in bringing state charges against Nichols, Homan responded: Yeah. I think Homeland Security Investigations are experts in human trafficking, alien smuggling. We certainly can bring the weight of the federal government against these organizations that smuggle people. Homan spoke about the incident Thursday while attending the Border Security Expo in San Antonio. McManus has shifted blame to ICE. Speaking to reporters last month, he said agents chose not to take the immigrants into custody. An ICE agent was on the scene, and they had every opportunity to do their job and it didnt get done, he said. The incident drew criticism in Austin, where Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick criticized McManus and Attorney General Ken Paxton launched an investigation into whether the city violated Texas sanctuary cities law. The AGs office received complaints about the incident from a dozen people, one as far away as California. During his San Antonio visit, Homan struck a largely conciliatory tone. I think it was a mistake, he said. I dont know if was intentional. I wont judge on that because I dont know, I wasnt here, and I have not spoken to the San Antonio police myself. But the special agent in charge for ICE here did and he feels like were in a better place now for the next incident, if there is one. jbuch@express-news.net He clawed frantically at the earth around him. The sound. The awful sound. It was everywhere. Inescapable. Eternal. The wheezing, shrieking nightmare permeated every fiber of his being. His soul vibrating in unwelcome sympathy with this hellish choir. Threaded throughout was the mocking laughter, the frenzied clapping. He saw it. A pinprick of light. It seemed so far away. He reached for it hungrily. Desperately. Hopefully. The darkness gave way. He squinted his eyes against the light's assault. Crowds pressed in on all sides. He felt it. A prickling on the back of his neck. A chill that no sun could warm. He turned slowly, but he knew what he would find. What was always there. What was always waiting for him. It was what they came to see. What they celebrated. What they cheered. "Hello." His voice was ice. His voice was gravel. His voice was oil. Could they not see it? Could they not feel the existential dread that coated everything around them? Were they blind to the darkness in their midst? His shadow stepped toward him. He fled. As he always did. Down into the darkness. Down away from the shadow. Down where the sound died. Down from the worst part of himself. He cursed them all. May Winter linger. Her frozen fingers caressing their skin begging for warmth. May they find none. For six weeks more she would rule. Digging down, pushing into darkness, he couldn't see the shadows. But they were there. Inside. With his curse Punxsutawney Phil became that which he feared. Lost to shadow. *** At least that's how I'd write the traditional Groundhog Day story, otherwise known as the morning writers all over the country make their annual pilgrimage to Google to look up how to spell Punxsutawney. And yes, Phil, held aloft by escapees from a Great Gatsby costume party, did see his shadow, which means that we're looking at another six weeks of winter. Other groundhogs didn't see their shadows, predicting an early spring, and are writing stern letters to their representatives because they don't get the kind of attention that Phil does. But it's Phil's world. We're just all paying rent. The reality is that six weeks of winter isn't a threat to Texans. It's a promise. That's six more weeks of 60s and 70s around here with an occasional sojourn into the 50s if only to be able to use the word sojourn. And sometimes some 80s. Because Summer wants to make sure that you know it's a nice state you have here and it would be a shame if something was to happen to it. So this weekend we start off Saturday with some cloudy skies and a high in the lower 60s and transition right into partly cloudy and lower 80s. Carrot and stick, both in one weekend. No significant rain chance, so if you've got something to do, go do it. If you don't have anything to do, go help some people that do. If you go outside and your shadow says hello? Go back inside and lie down. Chris Lykins writes the almost-daily weather posts on the Express-News Facebook page as well as the weekly Weekend Weather column. Sometimes he writes about other things. Like Pina Coladas and getting caught in the rain. Re: Wolff pens letter of contrition to Sculley, Brian Chasnoff, Jan. 25: Since City Manager Sheryl Sculley makes more money than God, Methuselah, Abraham and Moses combined, it might behoove her either to find or buy herself a sense of humor. Trust me, shes going to need one if she continues to get $100,000 bumps in pay as she meets or exceeds expectations. Does Ms. Sculley really think that making an annual salary of almost half a million dollars would cloister her from criticisms and jests? Does it take a guy like Christian Archer to explain to us commoners that rather than being upset, the poor dear was simply confused? While I think Sheryl Sculley is the best city manager San Antonio ever had, I think shes awfully thin-skinned if she cant take a salary joke. Its my opinion that Nelson Wolff made an entirely appropriate jest to possibly torque down symphony member resentment. I mean, really, give me a break. Mark A. Hall Cant justify salary Re: Wolff pens letter of contrition to Sculley, Brian Chasnoff, Jan. 25: At last, Nelson Wolff has said something credible and sensible. I mean, what does a city manager do that is worth us paying that exorbitant amount of money? And getting a bonus wow. Its not enough to have a council and a mayor? We need more chiefs? And not more workers or fair housing costs? How on earth do you justify that kind of salary for an administrator? Steven Hess No safe haven There is no longer any safe haven for children at school. They are robbed of childhood innocence as they are now forced to go through school drills on lockdown procedures for the next shooting that is guaranteed to happen over and over again. The NRA and gun enthusiasts dont care. Also, there is too much money to be made as a result of all the deaths and funerals, such as: More gun sales, of course, and more jobs for employees at gun manufacturers. More balloon sales. More candle sales. More flower sales. More sales of gravestone markers. More jobs for trained psychiatrists to counsel the traumatized children who survive. More jobs for security personnel instead of teachers at schools. I hope its never your child or grandchild. Chuck Mire Feb. 2 won't ring a bell for anyone except perhaps historians and Chicano activists, who'll know el segundo de Febrero commemorates the biggest boundary dispute in the nation's history. Better known as the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, it not only ended the Mexican American War but extended U.S. boundaries to Colorado and Utah and all the way west to the Pacific, setting the southern border at the Rio Grande. In one fell swoop, a great, big chunk of land, 525,000 square miles, became the southwestern United States in 1848. It was a real-estate transaction forged by Santa Anna and Nicholas Trist, a U.S. diplomat. Mexico lost the war and 55 percent of its territory. At the time of the treaty, American Indians were at war to protect it as their own, and not so surprisingly, were considered hostile by both Mexico and the United States. Our southern neighbor got $15 million out of the deal, a sum some historians view as just. That was a lot of money then, said Trinity University scholar Aaron Navarro. It's a lot of money now. Others, such as economist Steve Niven of St. Mary's University, scoffed a bit and called it a pretty good deal for the United States, given California gold, Texas oil and other subsequent riches. More Information Segundo de Febrero Exhibit Central Cultural Aztlan's 40th annual Segundo de Febrero exhibit commemorating the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo of 1848 opens Friday at 6 p.m. at 1800 Fredericksburg Road, Suite 103. The annual exhibit seeks to preserve Mexican-American history and culture and commemorates the 170th anniversary of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, ending the U.S.-Mexican War. The exhibit that features 30 artists is free and open to the public from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, through the month of February, including the On & Off Fredericksburg Road Studio Tour Feb. 17 and 18. More information: centroaztlan.org. Other activities: Open mic/poetry session: 4-8 p.m., Saturday at Sabinas Coffee House, hosted by Radio Aztlan and the Jazz Poets of San Antonio. 2303 W. Commerce St. Segundo Mass and Blessing of the Seed Ceremony: 8 a.m. Sunday Segundo de Febrero documentary: 11 a.m. at the Christ the King Church Hall, 2610 Perez St. See More Collapse For the largest Latino group in the United States, Feb. 2, commemorates the beginning of Mexican American history, the story of a people who are, at once, of one nation and another. That duality has defined and confused them and has confounded their fellow Americans. It's easy to feel angry about what happened to Mexican Americans in the years right after 1848, when the treaty was signed. In Texas, they became U.S. citizens automatically and were assured that their Mexican and Spanish land grants would be honored. They weren't. Many were cheated out of their lands by legal and illegal means, and some continue to fight to get them back. They've got colorful words for some of the state's most hallowed ranchers. Thieves might be the mildest. A generation or two after the treaty, there were more Mexican American laborers than landowners. Historian Patrick Kelly of the University of Texas at San Antonio calls the treaty one of the great unknown, understudied events in U.S. history, especially on the East Coast, where Southwestern borders may still be seen as Manifest Destiny. Few groups mark el segundo de Febrero. More should, to better remind us of our past and how it has shaped our future. Since 1978, Centro Cultural Aztlan has led the way. Through the years, Centro Cultural Aztlan has chosen not to disparage the treaty as much as honor what it created. It gave birth to this dual identity, says executive director Malena Gonzalez-Cid, and a new political entity. For 165 years, in fits and starts, this new entity not only has been trying to grapple with its duality, but bridge it. And it remains our inheritance. eayala@express-news.net This column by Elaine Ayala originally ran in the Express-News in 2013. SHAFTER By one account, Milton Faver in the 1840s was headed for the gold fields of California, but took a detour and ended up in the Big Bend. Another story had him fleeing Missouri after killing a man there in a duel. Still another historical piece described Faver as apparently a New Yorker with tuberculosis whose doctors advised him to go west to die. In the almost 130 years since his death, the first great American cattle baron west of the Pecos remains largely a mystery. Visitors to this frontier described him as an Englishman, a Frenchman and even a fugitive from justice who had taken refuge in the wilds of the Big Bend to avoid recognition and detection, wrote Leavitt Corning Jr., in Baronial Forts of the Big Bend. Moreover, they credited him with fluency in four languages French and German, in addition to English and Spanish and in descriptive accounts representing his style of living as baronial. He also dressed as an aristocrat, wearing fine clothing tailored for him in Chihuahua in the latest European styles, he added, but even this fanciful description seems suspect. While colorful and contradictory stories about Faver abound, few hard facts are known. Even the date and place of his birth are unclear. Most accounts have him turning up in the state of Chihuahua, Mexico, sometime in the 1830s. He married a Mexican woman, and eventually became a freighter on the Chihuahua trail, hauling goods to Santa Fe, and perhaps San Antonio. He later sent his son Juan there for schooling. In Presidio del Norte, now known as Ojinaga, Mexico, Faver was a successful farmer and merchant, trading with Indians, Mexicans and travelers from the north. But around 1857, he made the bold move that won him frontier immortality. Leaving the safety of the border, he moved about 25 miles north into the heart of hostile Indian country and staked a claim to a fertile site once occupied by a Spanish mission. In a sea of grass below the Chinati Mountains, he eventually took control of three free-running springs long used by native people. He brought in Mexican cattle and later sheep and goats, built thick-walled adobe forts, stone walls and corrals, planted orchards and crops, and made his F brand known far and wide. He persevered, despite repeated deadly attacks and cattle thefts by Apaches and bandits, and eventually amassed vast herds of long-horned cattle that roamed on tens of thousands of acres of open range. In one Indian raid on the La Morita site, Favers brother in-law Carmen Ramirez was killed, and several others were kidnapped or slain. In another attack, an Indian brave was caught crawling through a hole dug beneath a forts adobe wall. Efforts to pull him back to safety by those outside the wall were futile, for a reason explained later. One of my men, a big stout Mexican, ran him through with a sword and pinned him to the ground, Faver was quoted as saying. And for three decades, Faver, known as Don Meliton, was the unchallenged ruler of his vast, isolated domain. His chosen tongue was Spanish and his word was law. I am monarch of all I survey. My rights there are none to dispute, he is reported as saying, and no one contradicted him. An untimely death Viewed from a high ridge west of Cibolo Springs, where Apache scouts likely once prowled, the modern structures built on the ruins of Favers old fort are the picture of tranquility. Shetland ponies stroll the grounds, wild ducks bob on the ponds and in the quiet mornings, elk come to graze the alfalfa. From another high peak nearby, one can look south, past the haze of Presidio and Ojinaga, deep into Mexico. John Poindexter, 73, a Houston industrialist with an appreciation for the regions past, created the Cibolo Creek Ranch in the early 1990s, and owns about 30,000 surrounding acres. The historical record of the property was important to me, said Poindexter, who believes the area has been occupied by humans, off and on, for thousands of years. Indian mounds and pictographs support the theory. For those in the know, the ranch also serves as sort of a memorial to its enigmatic founder. A portrait of Milton Faver presides over the dining room, and on the walls are other large oils that vividly depict imagined scenes from 19th century ranch life. The most engaging is a painting of Favers funeral in 1889, as his casket is being carried from the fort to the hilltop burial site. The procession is led by priests, accompanied by a throng of mourners including his widow and son. They are joined by Mexican ranch peons, mounted cavalry and vaqueros, and important regional citizens. He was an extraordinary pioneer, the first to settle in the interior north of the Rio Grande, and not in the vicinity of Fort Davis. He struck out on his own and it was at colossal risk, said Poindexter. Poindexter said he relied on old photographs as well as contemporary 19th century descriptions and modern archaeological findings to rebuild the fort as authentically as possible, down to the use of locally-made adobe bricks, and the reconstruction of the two round, ported gun towers. Since it opened in 1994, the resort, a half hour south of Marfa, has been a getaway for bird hunters and for well-heeled tourists with a taste for privacy and the romance of the Old West. The resort decor runs to old wagon wheels, thick adobe walls, heavy wooden doors, Saltillo tile and colonial Mexican furnishings. Scattered around the grounds are bronze sculptures, including an enormous buffalo, an armed Chiricahua Apache warrior and a mountain lion. Guests can also linger in a museum that contains numerous artifacts including 19th century firearms, old cowboy gear and even a small replica cannon. About a year ago, the ranch made national headlines after Supreme Court Justice Anton Scalia died here, apparently of a heart attack. The sudden death triggered fantastic online conspiracy theories and intense press coverage. Since then, some guests ask to see Scalias room while others pointedly request they not to be booked there when making their reservation. Tour guide Aaron Aguilar avoids the subject: I get a lot of questions about Scalia, but I dont go there. I think that its private. A nation unto himself At the height of his prominence in the early 1880s, Faver owned thousands of head of longhorn cattle, supplying beef for soldiers at Fort Davis. He had more than 80 employees, most of them Mexican, who lived and worked at his three ranch settlements, and were dependent on their patron for safety and sustenance. To visitors, he was a gracious host, if distrustful of Americans, who dispensed peach brandy made in a large copper still. And although he never owned more than a few thousand acres of land, Faver had no serious rivals as a cattleman in the wide open Big Bend, where marauding Apaches remained a menace until Chief Victorio was finally defeated in 1880. He was almost a nation unto himself. He had a fort and had it manned by soldiers that he either hired or drafted. His business at that time was freighting by ox teams from San Antonio to Chihuahua, Mexico, read an article published in the Alpine Avalanche in 1931. The article went on to describe some of Favers peculiar behaviors. He was as eccentric as he was mysterious A few years before his death, it was necessary for him to take a trip to San Antonio. The railroad by this time had been built from San Antonio to El Paso, but he refused to ride it, and with his escort, he made the trip on horseback, the article stated. He did not trust the banks and never deposited any money in them. Mexican legends have it that he made a great deal of money and that it was buried around the fort, it continued. A confluence of events, including the end of the Apache menace, the arrival of the transcontinental railroad and the fencing of the open range quickly brought an end to Favers frontier world. Other cattlemen came to the Big Bend with blooded cattle and money, and began buying up the rangeland that Faver had long used without expense. Others just took his cattle, according to an account in the Southwestern Historical Quarterly written by Robert Utley in 1966. Rustling and mavericking of Milton Favers cattle became so widespread and so chronic that the old pioneer, by then a patriarchal figure with a flowing white beard, was driven in desperation to close out his business, Utley wrote. But the arrangement to have someone else operate his ranch proved unprofitable for both parties, and in 1889, Faver disposed of most of the rest of his herd. He died two days before Christmas that year. His death marked the end of an era. For more than three decades he had personified the open range livestock industry of the Big Bend. At the time of his death in 1889, forces had already taken shape that soon destroyed the open range and the Texas Longhorn of the Big Bend, the article concluded. jmaccormack@express-news.net chinadaily.com.cn Delegates attend an e-commerce training in Alibaba's Xixi Park in Hangzhou, the capital of Zhejiang province, Jan 29, 2018. [Photo/VCG] An Indonesian delegation organized by the country's second-largest logistic firm J&T visited the Xixi Park of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd in Hangzhou from Jan 29 to 30. The 147 delegates from Indonesia's local e-commerce platforms such as Tokopedia and Bukalapak also took part in an e-commerce training designed to gain a better understanding of promoting new brands via e-commerce , warehousing, team setup and management. Jack Ma, executive chairman of Alibaba, is an idol among Indonesia's local small and medium entrepreneurs. Some Indonesian startups and online sellers look forward to learning and bringing China's experience to Indonesia. Fairfield resident Dan Walsh has been promoted to vice president of support services and facilities at Bridgeport Hospital. He was previously director of patient experience there and at the Park Avenue Medical Center in Trumbull. Walsh joined Yale New Haven Healths Greenwich Hospital in 2006, moving to Bridgeport Hospital in 2013 as associate director of patient relations. He is a SUNY Purchase graduate with a masters degree in public health policy and management from New York Medical College. The Connecticut Department of Banking approved Laurel Road Bank as the new name of Darien Rowayton Bank, with the company to adopt the brand of its online lending division. Headquartered in Darien, the bank has additional branches in Norwalk and Fairfield, along with a student loan office in Bridgeport. Darien Rowayton Bank had about 165 employees as of September, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., an add of nearly 70 people over the intervening year. The company listed $535 million in deposits on Sept. 30 and $498 million in loans, reporting a net loss of $1.7 million over the first nine months of 2017. Thomas Parrino and Laura Shattuck have formed the new law firm Parrino|Shattuck PC in Westport, focused on divorce and other matrimonial conflicts. A resident of New Canaan, Parrino previously was a partner in Nusbaum & Parrino PC in Westport, which dissolved in December, as was Shattuck. He is a past president of the Connecticut chapter of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers. He has an undergraduate degree from the University of Connecticut and a law degree from the University of Bridgeport. Shattuck, a Fairfield resident, is a graduate of ABA-NITA Family Law Trial Advocacy Institute. Connecticut had the fifth highest rate of home foreclosures in the nation last year, with about eight of every thousand homes in the state undergoing a foreclosure proceeding, according to Attom Data Solutions. New Jersey had the worst foreclosure rate in the United States last year, with 1.61 percent of housing units under foreclosure at some point in 2017, compared to 0.78 percent in Connecticut. Foreclosures nationally were down 20 percent to an all-time low of 383,700 homes. A Harris Poll survey sponsored by CareerBuilder found that 72 percent of workers surveyed did not report instances in which they felt vitimized by secual harassment while on the job. Just under half of those surveyed indicated they confronted individuals over sexual advances or other harassing behaviour, and of that group, 22 percent said the situation stayed the same or got worse. Harris Poll queried more than 800 people over a three-week period. This past year, the Fairfield Economic Development Commission completed work on a long-range economic development strategy and plan. While the plan rightfully focuses on ways in which the town can work to support its existing business base and help Fairfield companies prosper and grow, it also examines actions the town can take to attract new business investment to expand its commercial Grand List. Why the focus on the Grand List? Well, as any property owner well knows, Connecticut towns and cities rely almost exclusively on the collection of local property taxes to fund municipal services including public schools. In the case of Fairfield, property taxes account for more than 92 percent of total revenues in the current fiscal year. Absent some new, as-yet-unforeseen revenue source, that percentage is likely to go up in the face of ongoing state budget woes and municipal aid cuts. To be sure, Fairfield is in a more advantageous position than most communities. Fairfields Grand List, or the value of all taxable property, is roughly $10.8 billion, which ranks it fifth-highest in the state, after Greenwich, Stamford, Norwalk and neighboring Westport. But, the commercial share of the Grand List in Fairfield is only 10 percent, compared to 24 percent in Stamford, 20 percent in Norwalk, 14 percent in Greenwich and 12 percent in Westport. Still, that figure is not too bad when one considers that less than 4.5 percent of the towns land mass is zoned for commercial and industrial uses. Unfortunately, that share is likely to erode further, given the acquisition of the former GE campus by Sacred Heart University, which is tax-exempt. So what to do to reverse this trend and increase the commercial share of the Grand List? Well, there are several approaches. One would be to look at increasing the acreage devoted to commercial uses. But as a fairly mature community, that would mean converting some properties that are zoned for other uses, like residential, to support new commercial development. While theoretically possible, that seems unlikely, save perhaps for a few rare instances. In fact, the recent trend has been exactly the opposite. Another approach would be to focus on the few remaining undeveloped or underdeveloped commercial properties, or by allowing greater density in areas of town where the infrastructure is in place to support it, particularly around transit nodes to incentivize new development. Recently, the town secured a $200,000 state planning grant to evaluate opportunities for so-called transit-oriented development. Part of this effort will be to conduct a detailed market assessment, as well as a build-out analysis, intended to identify potential commercial sites and gauge their development potential based on existing land-use regulations. Both were action steps identified in the Economic Development Plan and are expected to help frame the towns future business recruitment efforts. Additionally, the study will enable town officials and the public at large to take stock of emerging development patterns to determine whether a course correction is needed to reach the towns overarching goals. The Economic Development Plan also identified the need to update the economic development portion of the towns website so it can be better deployed as a marketing tool to attract new companies. I am pleased to report this effort is already well underway, as is the development of a companion marketing plan to cultivate and engage business prospects. Of course, these plans will be for naught if we cannot help businesses swiftly navigate the local permitting process and give them assurance that their investment will be welcomed. To that end, the Economic Development Commission is also looking at best practices to ensure that our regulatory process is as straightforward, efficient and predictable as possible. Fairfield is blessed in so many ways, but is incredibly fortunate to have a highly educated and productive workforce, along with a pipeline to young talent from our two local universities that should give companies the confidence that they can find the workers they need to prosper, grow and succeed. This wealth of talent, particularly in knowledge-based fields, is the key to securing Fairfields economic future. Mark Barnhart is the director of Community and Economic Development for the town of Fairfield, and is the treasurer of the Connecticut Economic Development Association. In partnership with the National Park Service, the Fairfield Museum is leading an exciting research project to discover details of the Battle of Pequot Swamp (also known as Munnacommock Swamp) which occurred in 1637 in present day Southport, Connecticut. The battle was the last engagement of the Pequot War and was an important catalyst for English settlement of Fairfield and Southport. The Fairfield Museum was awarded a multi-year National Park Service American Battlefield Protection Program grant to identify the probable locations of the battle site, conduct historical research and locate any archeological artifacts that might remain from the battle. The project is part of the state-wide Battlefields of the Pequot War project that is identifying and preserving similar battlefields associated with the Pequot War (1636-1637) across Connecticut. INDIA says it will give advanced notice on any future tariff increases following talks to try to resolve a recent trade dispute over grains. But concerns remain over about $65 million in stocks left in limbo and under contract when the shock 30 per cent tariff was imposed on chickpeas and lentils virtually overnight in late December, threatening the local industrys profitability. In a statement last week, new federal Agriculture and Water Resources David Littleproud who has held urgent talks with Indian officials on the trade dispute said the result of early negotiations had seen Indias government give a concession by agreeing to provide forward notice to the Australian grains industry of future tariff increases. He said the agreement showed the Indian government recognises the importance of their relationship with Australias grain farmers and was a win for grains, chickpea and pulse farmers going forward. The meetings held with Indian ministers in Delhi have been positive and there is strong support for an enduring and mutually beneficial trade relationship, he said. In two separate meetings I requested India respect contracts entered into prior to the raising of tariffs on December 21, 2017, better transparency of grain stocks, including chickpeas and pulses and a suitable lead-in time for any future tariff impositions. Im pleased to get a commitment our grain, chickpea and pulse farmers will receive advance notice of any tariff changes in future. Growers invest when they have certainty and we thank India for providing greater certainty. Indias Minister for Commerce and Industry Suresh Prabhu acknowledged concerns raised by Australian grain exporters and has indicated these will be discussed with Indias Central Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Krishna Raj, to improve reliability for the trade with India in future. Mr Littleproud said Ms Raj gave a commitment that India would consider the affects on Australian suppliers in future and if a similar event unfolded, would give forward notice of stocks, before the imposition of tariffs. He said the outcomes of the trade discussions built on the positive feeling for the long-term economic relationship between our two countries at the Australia-India Leadership Dialogue, also held in Delhi. Indias shock 30pc tariff came into effect immediately, effecting shipments already on the water and catching farmers off guard. India is a key market for Australian pulses, accounting for about 80pc of Australian chickpea exports. Ahead of the visit to India, Mr Littleproud who replaced Barnaby Joyce in the farm portfolio following a cabinet reshuffle in December said India was within its rights under the WTO to raise its tariffs but it makes life extremely tough for farmers when the returns change after a crop is planted. Grain Producers Australia chairman Andrew Weidemann said Australian growers had noted the outcome of the trade talks but the issue of stocks in transit remained unresolved. The proof will be in the pudding on whether the Indians will provide advanced notice on any future tariff changes but our concerns remains that there needs to be more pressure applied on these countries in future trade negotiations, he said. Were still worried about the financial impact on the grain traders and exporters of any grain stocks left on the water or in transit at the time the 30pc tariff was imposed and were still unsure if it will have any detrimental impacts, which we were quite vocal on prior to Mr Littleproud leaving for these talks. The Indians, to be honest, dont have any concern about the impact of such decisions on Australian farmers and in a global market its becoming clearer we need to look after ourselves in terms of future export decisions. If other markets offer more stability and security, then Australian growers and traders will need to take that into consideration. Mr Weidemann said about 100,000 tonnes was estimated by Pulse Australia to be potentially in limbo between contract and delivery at the time the 30pc tariff was imposed and at $650 per tonne, he believed $65m worth of trade was in limbo. On those numbers its about $19.5m thats potentially at risk, he said. Thats still unresolved so someone is going to have to meet the shortfall unless that grain can be moved to another market. National Farmers Federation chief executive officer Tony Mahar said his group commended the government and Mr Littleproud for acting swiftly and arranging a trip to India to discuss the new tariffs imposed late last year. He said the Indian market holds enormous promise for Australian producers but the countrys recent trade decisions place us at a significant disadvantage. The NFF will continue to call for reduction and where possible, elimination of tariffs and non-tariff barriers in all markets to level the playing field for Australian farmers, he said. GrainGrowers welcomed the Australian governments swift action on Indias decision to raise tariffs from zero to 30pc on Australian chickpeas and lentils and early progress achieved, with Mr Littleproud securing the Indian governments commitment to provide forward notice to the Australian grains industry of future tariff spikes. The national grains representative group said the advanced notice would help provide greater certainty for pulse trade into India, where Australia exported $1.1 billion worth of chickpeas, $197m worth of lentils and $29m worth of mung beans in 2016-17. The Victorian Farmers Federation welcomed Mr Littleproud making some headway in his official trade talks with India and was pleased with the concession but said it was imperative the Australian and Indian governments continued free-trade agreement negotiations. Australian producers compete in an international market without any government support and therefore ensuring positive trade protocols with our trading partners is essential, VFF grains president Ross Johns said. The VFF said India must consider the long-term market distortion the tariff created and that sudden changes, such as the tariffs introduction, created uncertainty and a disincentive for Australian farmers to choose to plant pulses. Mr Johns said Australian growers needed a stable trade environment with a reasonable expectation that the market conditions, when they make their planting decisions, would be reflective of the conditions at harvest. The increased potential for sudden and unpredictable drops in profitability will dampen the international supply of pulses, he said. When Indias domestic supply has a harder year, it is vital that there is a sufficient international supply to meet the shortfall. It is in Indias interest, as well as Australias, for our two countries to have an open and unencumbered trade relationship. We urge our government to resume free-trade negotiations with renewed vigour. Could not establish database connection. DB: bostonimc and SQL: --> The administrator has been notified and will resolve the problem ASAP. AGRICULTURE sector complaints to and contact with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) on trading issues jumped 25 per cent in the second half of 2017. The ACCC said it was contacted by 255 agricultural traders with complaint reports and inquiries in the July-December period last year compared to 204 in January-June. The latest edition of the ACCCs Small Business in Focus report showed the significant jump in agri-sector complaints and contacts was in line with a jump in complaints and contacts from small business generally. Main complaint or contact from the agri-sector was about misleading conduct or false representation by competitors or in dealings between growers or producers with traders or processors. They comprised 30pc of total agri-sector contact with the ACCC, the same as for small business generally, and jumped 30.5pc in the last half of the year, compared to a 52pc increase for the small business sector overall. Next most frequent cause of agri-sector contact, at 8pc, was consumer guarantees. Those contacts jumped 41pc in the second half of 2017, compared to the first half, and were similar to a jump of 46pc for small business generally in what appears to be a growing trend, according to the ACCC, of complaints about warranty or guarantees. The biggest percentage increase in agri-sector contact with the ACCC was over wrongly accepted payments, with the number doubling from five in the first half of last year to 10 in the second half, That was more than double the increase for the small business sector on the same issue. Small Business in Focus also revealed other significant differences between the cause of complaint from the agri-sector and from other small businesses. For example, agri-sector contact about misuse of market power dropped 40pc in the past six months while contacts from small business generally on the same issue went up 36pc. Similarly, agri-sector contacts about exclusive dealings dropped by 80pc in the second half of the year while contacts from small business were up 10pc. Agri-sector contacts over product safety also dropped 80pc in the past six months while those from small business rose by 5pc. Deputy chairman Dr Michael Schaper, who will leave the ACCC in May, said the Small Business in Focus report highlighted recent changes affecting small businesses including competition law reform, the ban on excessive payment surcharges and new laws for unfair contract terms. Many (a third) of the businesses contacting us are at least 10 years old (and 63pc employ four or fewer staff), Dr Schaper said. Despite being well established, there is an obvious need for up-to-date information and advice to deal with various competition and consumer challenges, he said. As business regulation continues to evolve, small businesses are encouraged to learn more about their rights and responsibilities. The ACCC is always working to ensure that information and advice is readily available for business. While the report did not give specific reasons for the jump in complaint reports and contacts from the agri-sector, the ACCCs agriculture unit had a busy year. Publicity about its activities, new legislation and moves against high profile corporate targets is believed to have made farmers more aware of their rights and introduction of an agri-sector anonymous hotline has made it easier for them to dob in a competitor or trading partner they believe is not operating honestly or fairly. The ACCC addressed horticulture and dairying in 2017, two major areas of concern regarding misuse of market power, exclusive dealings and unfair negotiations between smaller suppliers and larger companies. A mandatory revised horticulture industry code of conduct was introduced in April and its phase-in period ends in two months. Also, 15 compliance check notices were issued to horticulture traders across the wholesale central markets last year. The dairy industry review got underway early last year and will be completed by the end of April and in a separate move the ACCC initiated Federal Court action against Australias largest milk processor Murray Goulburn over farmgate price information provided to farmers. As well, the ACCC completed a cattle and beef market study last March. Its Small Business and the Competition and Consumer Act publication is a comprehensive guide to the law for small business and provides information on pricing, unfair contract terms, treating customers fairly, selling safe products and resolving disputes. The ACCC has also recently published a guide for dairy producers and processors on how it will interpret new country of origin food labelling laws as they apply to products like cheese and yoghurt. For further information visit accc.gov.au. PLAUDITS are due to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) for highlighting inequities in the agriculture sector, WAs representative on its advisory committee has said. For the past two years former WAFarmers president and Badgingarra producer Dale Park has been the sole WA representative on the ACCCs 24-member Agriculture Consultative Committee. His term ends this year and the ACCC is seeking a replacement. I think the ACCC is due some plaudits for the work it has been doing raising awareness (about unfair competition or unconscionable conduct) within the agriculture sector, Mr Park said. What people have to realise is it gets far more complaints than it has the financial resources to possibly deal with, he said. When it does investigate an allegation it is a very labour intensive and very expensive operation. Also, particularly in relation to contracts, what many people consider unfair and what is actually legally unfair, can be two different things entirely, he said. Mr Park said he thought the ACCC agriculture divisions two big reviews last year into the cattle and horticulture industries, and the flow-on impact of its subsequent activity and publicity about them, was a significant factor in increased contact with farmers in the second half of last year. When we saw the results for the cattlemen we thought these blokes are up against it (trading issues not in their favour), he said. But then we saw the horticulture review results and growers in that industry faced far greater issues. A big part of it was the system they operated under with a product that generally has a limited life and no checking. At least with cattle you can trace where they went. p The ACCC is reviewing membership of its Agriculture Consultative Committee for 2018 and 2019. Expressions of interest for appointment close tomorrow, Friday. 2020 was a year marked by hardships and challenges, but the Fauquier community has proven resilient. The Fauquier Times is honored to serve as your community companion. To say thank you for your continued support, wed like to offer all our subscribers -- new or returning -- 4 WEEKS FREE DIGITAL AND PRINT ACCESS. We understand the importance of working to keep our community strong and connected. As we move forward together into 2021, it will take commitment, communication, creativity, and a strong connection with those who are most affected by the stories we cover. We are dedicated to providing the reliable, local journalism you have come to expect. We are committed to serving you with renewed energy and growing resources. Let the Fauquier Times be your community companion throughout 2021, and for many years to come. Daniel Day-Lewis doesn't "understand" his own decision to quit acting. Daniel Day-Lewis The 60-year-old actor announced last year that he would be retiring after 40 years in the industry, and he is now looking forward to "exploring the world" differently. Speaking during a screening for his final film 'Phantom Thread' at the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Centre in Athens, Greece, he said: "I don't fully understand it, but it came to me with a sense of conviction and so I chose to move forward in acceptance of that rather than struggling with it. [Acting] saved me from myself when I was a kid. But I just feel it's time to explore the world in a different way." Daniel previously admitted he no longer "believes in the value" of acting. He said: "I need to believe in the value of what I'm doing. The work can seem vital. Irresistible, even. And if an audience believes it, that should be good enough for me. But, lately, it isn't. I've been interested in acting since I was 12 years old, and back then, everything other than the theatre - that box of light - was cast in shadow. When I began, it was a question of salvation. Now, I want to explore the world in a different way ... I knew it was uncharacteristic to put out a statement But I did want to draw a line. I didn't want to get sucked back into another project. All my life, I've mouthed off about how I should stop acting, and I don't know why it was different this time, but the impulse to quit took root in me, and that became a compulsion. It was something I had to do." Conde Nast International has created a code of conduct for "all who work with its brands". Bella and Gigi Hadid The American media firm - which is the owner of a number of world-famous fashion magazines, including Vogue, Glamour and Vanity Fair - has developed its new guidelines in response to the allegations made against two of its frequent collaborators, Mario Testino and Bruce Weber. Conde Nast has been working on the changes since October, when the Hollywood sex scandal first erupted. The company - which has worked with the world's top models, including the likes of Gigi and Bella Hadid -consulted more than 150 industry professionals to help create the guidelines, according to British Vogue magazine. The guidelines state: "All models on set must be 18 years old. Where exceptions need to be made - such as when children are essential a story - they must be accompanied by an agency-provided chaperone. "Any shoot requiring nudity, sheer clothing, lingerie, swimwear, animals, simulated drug or alcohol use or sexually suggestive poses must be signed off in advance by the subject. No shoot participant may be under the influence of alcohol or illegal drugs. "A private dressing space must be provided to every subject on set. At all other times, subjects should not be left alone with a photographer, makeup artist or any other participant any time during a shoot." Meanwhile, Jonathan Newhouse, chairman and chief executive of Conde Nast International, said the company is determined to tackle sexual harassment. He added: "By adopting these recommendations all those involved in the creative process will be doing their part to ensure a safe and respectful work environment." Danai Gurira enjoyed being bald for her role in 'Black Panther'. Danai Gurira The 39-year-old actress stars in the Marvel Cinematic Universe movie as Okoye - a member of the team of women who serve as special forces soldiers in the fictional African nation of Wakanda - and for the role, Gurira had to shave off her hair. Although lacking locks means your head gets cold, Gurira appreciated not ever being able to have a "bad hair day". Speaking on 'Jimmy Kimmel Live', Gurira said: "It's cold. This was in November, this was late November. It was a little cold. You just roll out of bed and cannot have a bad hair day. There's some ease with that, I'll tell you right now. I've had a short cut for a long time, but there's a big difference between a short cut and dolphin-smooth bald. "At first, I was like, 'OK, this is good', but then the astounding Mr. Ken came in, who did my design on my head and he needed to get the mould of my skull, and he said, 'Oh no. No, no, no. That's not short enough.' And he started to do a little shavey-shave." Gurira also said shaving her hair with the other women on the set of 'Black Panther' provided them with a "solidarity" with one another because there aren't that many bald women in the world. She said: "Day by day, all my wonderful women in my army, started to come in with long hair one day and like me the next. We just started to have some solidarity. You don't see a lot of bald women walk around all the time." Black Panther was created by legendary Marvel Comics writer Stan Lee and the equally iconic artist-and-writer Jack Kirby and first appeared in 'Fantastic Four #52' back in 1966. The motion picture is expected to expand on the storyline that was first introduced in 'Captain America: Civil War' of how T'Challa - played by Chadwick Boseman - becomes the superhero. T'Challa's father T'Chaka is king of Wakanda and has the ceremonial title Black Panther as the chief of the Panther Tribe, but is killed when a bomb goes off at the UN making his son the Black Panther. Octavia Spencer is set to reunite with 'The Help' filmmaker Tate Taylor in the new psychological thriller 'Ma'. Octavia Spencer The 45-year-old actress - who is currently receiving critical acclaim for her role in 'The Shape of Water' - has joined Juliette Lewis and Luke Evans in the new film which is set to be produced by Jason Blum's Blumhouse Productions. Director Taylor told Variety: "It's dark material, but it's also really fun. "Octavia is so damn likeable that we usually see her in certain roles. But she's such a good actress and this is such a complex character that if I do my job right, people in the audience are going to want to push pause and say, 'Can we please take you out for coffee so you don't do what you're about to do.' " Production is set to start this month with some of the shooting taking place on Taylor's own 100-acre home and Greek Revival mansion. Spencer has been nominated for the Best Supporting Actress Oscar in Guillermo del Toro's latest movie and admitted she felt she was "living in a bubble" on the set. She said: "I don't really venture into the real world, because you know it is hard to play a woman from this era and then have all of these things you're able to do now. So it is kind of like living in a bubble. So I spent a lot of time with Sally Hawkins." In the movie, Hawkins plays a mute cleaner who stumbles on an amphibious man and Spencer admitted the film had an "even deeper meaning" for her because her brother is mute. She added: "I know this very well. My brother is mute. So it has an even deeper meaning for me. "It's more beautiful because I understand the beauty of not being able to say words but still convey feelings." Parklife festival has banned potato peelers after they were inundated with requests from Liam Gallagher fans. Liam Gallagher The former Oasis frontman got a fan to sheer the skin of the vegetable at his gig last year as a double-edged joke towards his bitter brother Noel. The 45-year-old rocker - who has feuded with sibling since the guitarist quit the Britpop group after a backstage bust-up at a concert in Paris in 2009 - often calls Noel a potato in his Twitter jibes and since the 'Some Might Say' songwriter performed tracks from his LP 'Who Built The Moon? with the assistance of a woman playing a pair of scissors on UK music show 'Later... With Jools Holland', Liam has joked he is going to have equally odd DIY instruments accompany his band. And the Manchester extravaganza has been forced to warn punters not to bring the knife-like tool with them after the 'Wall of Glass' hitmaker was confirmed as as headliner for the Heaton Park weekender, which is held on June 9 and June 10. The festival's boss Sacha Lord-Marchionne told Manchester Evening News: "We've been blown away by this week's launch and the demand for tickets. "But even more blow away at how many people have asked to bring potato peelers for Liam's main stage performance! "In case you're wondering - the answer is most definitely not." Addressing the frenzied potato-peeling during his rendition of 'Greedy Soul', Liam tweeted previously: "To the peeler who peeled his little heart out last night you my friend are truly out there, psychedelic even, as you were King Parka Monkey x (sic)" Footage also appeared of a male fan in the front row snipping a pair of scissors as Liam sung, leading his Twitter followers to ask for some praise for the guy who was dubbed "Scissor Monkey". Category Select Category Apparel/Garments Textiles Fashion Technical Textiles Information Technology E-commerce Retail Corporate Association Press Release SubCategory Select Sub-Category Man-made earthquakes in Oklahoma, USA, are strongly linked to the depth at which wastewater from the oil and gas industry are injected into the ground, according to a new study led by the University of Bristol. Oklahoma has been a seismic hotspot for the past decade, with the number of damaging earthquakes including the magnitude 5.8 Pawnee earthquake in 2016 regularly impacting on the lives of residents, leading to litigation against well operators. The man-made, or induced, earthquakes pose an increased risk to critical infrastructure such as a major commercial oil storage facility at Cushing, making them a national security threat. The connection between seismicity the frequency of earthquakes and deep fluid injection into underground rock formations is well established, but scientists, policymakers, and the oil and gas industry have been bewildered by the unprecedented surge in earthquake activity. At its peak, there has been an approximately 800-fold increase in the annual number of earthquakes in Oklahoma since 2011. Oklahomas well operators have injected on average 2.3 billion barrels of fluids per year into the ground since 2011. Wastewater is routinely disposed of typically at depths one to two km below the ground surface, well below the level of fresh ground water supplies. Also, saltwater is injected deep underground to enable recovery of oil and gas. Now a major study by the University of Bristol and involving the University of Southampton, Delft University of Technology and Resources for the Future, published today in the journal Science, shows conclusively that Oklahomas seismicity is strongly linked to fluid injection depth. Lead author of the study, Dr Thea Hincks, Senior Research Associate at the University of Bristols School of Earth Sciences, said: Our new modelling framework provides a targeted, evidential basis for managing a substantial reduction in induced seismicity in Oklahoma, with extensive possibilities for application elsewhere in the world. This marks a step forward in understanding the evolution of seismicity in the Oklahoma region. Using a powerful computer model incorporating injection well records and earthquake data from the US Geological Survey, the team examined the connections between injection volume, depth, and location, as well as geological features, over a six-year period. The study used innovative new software, Uninet, which was developed by co-author Professor Roger Cookes group at Delft University of Technology and is freely available for academic users from LightTwist Software. Uninet has previously been used to develop causal risk models for the aviation industry. The team found that the jointeffects of depth and volume are critical, and that injection volume becomes more influential and more likely to cause earthquakes at depths where layered sedimentary rocks meet crystalline basement rocks. This is because deeper wells allow easier access for fluids into fractured basement rocks that are much more prone to earthquakes. Dr Tom Gernon, Associate Professor in Earth Science at the University of Southampton, and co-author on the study, said: The underlying causes of Oklahomas induced earthquakes are an open and complex issue, not least because there are over 10,000 injection wells, with many different operators and operating characteristics, all in an area of complex geology. Thanks to an innovative model capable of analysing large and complex data sets, our study establishes for the first time a clear link between seismicity and fluid injection depth. The study also shows how raising injection well depths to above the basement rocks in key areas could significantly reduce the annual energy released by earthquakesthereby reducing the relative likelihoods of larger, damaging earthquakes. Current regulatory interventions include requiring operators to either reduce injection or raise wells above the basement, often by an unspecified amount. Professor Willy Aspinall, of the University of Bristol and Aspinall & Associates, who conceived the study, added: This new diagnostic finding has potential implications for scientists, regulators and civil authorities concerned about induced seismicity, both in the US and internationally. The research addresses a growing need for a broader understanding of how operational, spatial and geologic parameters combine to influence induced seismic risk. Our analysis allows regulatory actions to be evaluated on a rational, quantitative basis in terms of seismic effects. Thea Hincks and Willy Aspinall were supported in part by the CREDIBLE consortium (NERC Grant NE/J017299/1). "We are seeking to grow all areas of the business but Shariah-compliant home finance will be a particular focus. " Gatehouse Bank says it is targeting 'significant growth' in the Shariah-compliant home finance market with a new customer service centre in Milton Keynes. The Bank says its new office is 'integral' to its growth plans and new strategy which will focus more on home finance plans in addition to its current buy-to-let products and development/build-to-rent division. Charles Haresnape, CEO of Gatehouse Bank, commented: We have big plans for Gatehouse Bank and our new Milton Keynes office will be key in helping us to achieve them. We are seeking to grow all areas of the business but Shariah-compliant home finance will be a particular focus. We believe this is a hugely untapped market and one that, being fundamentally ethical, will resonate with Muslims and non-Muslims alike. Fahed Boodai, Chairman of Gatehouse Bank and Group, added: As Chairman, I applaud the choice of location and am delighted to see the continuing inward investment from Kuwait into the UK. I see more opportunity in the future to work together, whether it be build-to-rent, commercial financing or the development of the Shariah-compliant home finance market. (1) Performance results are presented on a gross and net-of-fees basis. Net returns reflect the deduction of, among other expenses, management fees, brokerage commissions, administrative fees, and accrued and/or crystallized performance fees, if any, and include the reinvestment of all dividends, interest, and capital gains. Net returns reflect the performance of the Company's Public Shares. Depending on the timing of an individual investor's specific investment, net performance for an individual investor may vary from the net performance as stated herein. Gross returns reflect the performance of the Company's shares in the aggregate and are presented before the deduction of management fees and performance fees, if any. On May 2, 2017, the Company began its share buyback program whereby its buyback agent began to repurchase Public Shares subject to certain limitations. Any positive impact on performance due to these share buybacks is reflected herein. Performance data and other information contained herein are estimated and unaudited. Net performance is a geometrically linked, time-weighted calculation. (2) Reflects the number of positions in issuers in which the Company has previously publicly disclosed an investment, which occurs after the Company has completed its accumulation. Cash, cash equivalents, direct or indirect currency or other hedges and income/expense items are excluded. Multiple financial instruments (for example, common stock and derivatives on common stock) associated with one (1) issuer count as one (1) position. A position that is included in the number of positions will be removed from the table only if the investment becomes 0.0% of the portfolio. (3) For the purpose of determining the equity and debt exposures, investments are valued as follows: (a) equity or debt is valued at market value, (b) options referencing equity or debt are valued at market value, (c) long call options and short put options (or vice-versa, short call options and long put options) held on the same underlying issuer and with the same strike and same expiry are grouped together and treated as synthetic equity positions, and are valued at the market value of the equivalent long equity position (or vice-versa, the equivalent short equity position), and (d) swaps or forwards referencing equity or debt are valued at the market value of the notional equity or debt underlying the swaps or forwards. Whether a position is deemed to be long or short is determined by whether an investment has positive or negative exposure to price increases or decreases. For example, long puts are deemed to be short exposure. (4) Includes all issuer equity, debt, and derivatives related to issuer equity and debt, and associated currency hedges. Cash, cash equivalents, direct or indirect currency or other hedges and income/expense items are excluded. The market values of associated currency hedges are included as part of the associated investment. In the event that there is a change in market cap category with respect to any non-publicly disclosed position, this information is not updated until such position is publicly disclosed. (5) Portfolio composition is reflective of the publicly disclosed portfolio positions as of the date of this report. A position in an issuer is only assigned to a sector once it has been publicly disclosed. (6) "Pershing Square Holdings, Ltd. AUM" equals the assets under management of Pershing Square Holdings, Ltd. Any performance fees crystallized as of the end of the year will be reflected in the following period's AUM. (7) "Total Strategy AUM" equals the aggregate assets under management of Pershing Square, L.P., Pershing Square International, Ltd., Pershing Square II, L.P. and Pershing Square Holdings, Ltd. (collectively, the "Core Funds"). Redemptions effective as of the end of any period (including redemptions attributable to crystallized performance fees/allocations, if any) will be reflected in the following period's AUM. (8) "Total Firm AUM" is the aggregate of Total Strategy AUM and the assets under management of Pershing Square VI Master, L.P. which operates as a co-investment vehicle investing primarily in securities of (or otherwise seeking to be exposed to the value of securities issued by) Automatic Data Processing, Inc. ("PSVI") without double counting investments by any Core Fund in PSVI. Tsukuba, Japan, Feb 1, 2018 - (ACN Newswire) - Chemists are working to synthesize the next generation of super materials for high-performance electronics, solar cells, photodetectors and quantum computers. While they have made progress with compound materials, they have not yet succeeded in developing unaltered or "freestanding" materials for such devices, according to a review published in the journal Science and Technology of Advanced Materials.Graphene is a carbon material derived from graphite, the same type of material found in pencils, but it is arranged in a one-atom-thin honeycomb lattice. Discovered in 2004, graphene's two-dimensional arrangement gives it "extraordinary" properties, including extreme strength and "marvelously high" electron conductivity.However, the tight lattice lacks a semiconducting bandgap, which is essential for electronic devices. Therefore, scientists have been hunting for alternative materials that have bandgaps, but still have a graphene-like structure.Much focus has been placed on graphene quantum dots, which are small segments of graphene, about 10 to 100 nm carbon hexagons across and less than 30 atomic sheets thick. To make the dots behave more like 2D graphene, research teams have added other molecules to change the structure and function of the material.For example, one team attached molecular groups containing nitrogen to graphene quantum dots. They found that different molecular combinations altered the electronic structure of the quantum dot in unique ways. This shifted the color of light the material produced when exposed to electricity, which is useful for light emitting diodes and photodetectors. Several teams have built and tested photodetectors using graphene quantum dots with success. The material has also been shown to improve the performance of dye-sensitized solar cells.Researchers are also investigating silicon and germanium analogs of graphene, called silicene and germanene, and their respective hydrogenated forms, silicane and germanane. They are testing how different preparation methods and structures, such as multiple layers and added molecules, affect performance for potential electronic or photonic devices.While silicene and germanene have not been prepared without added molecules so far, the modified materials strongly resemble the 2D materials theoretically predicted. Understanding the properties of the modified materials is a "good starting point" for developing future nanomaterials, according to the paper authors.Ultimately, the reviewers, led by Hideyuki Nakano of Toyota Central R&D Labs in Japan, are optimistic that electronic devices and energy storage materials could be developed using these materials in the near future.Article information:Hideyuki Nakano et al."Chemical modification of group IV graphene analogues"Science and Technology of Advanced Materials, 2018; 19:1, 76-100.http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14686996.2017.1422224For further information please contact:Hideyuki Nakano,Toyota Central R&D Labs, Yokomichi, Nagakute, Aichi, Japanhnakano@mosk.tytlabs.co.jpAbout Science and Technology of Advanced MaterialsOpen access journal, STAM publishes outstanding research articles across all aspects of materials science, including functional and structural materials, theoretical analyses, and properties of materials. Website: http://tandfonline.com/stamFor more information about STAM, contact:Mikiko TanifujiSTAM Publishing DirectorTanifuji.Mikiko@nims.go.jpPress release distributed by ResearchSEA for Science and Technology of Advanced Materials.Source: Science and Technology of Advanced MaterialsCopyright 2018 ACN Newswire . All rights reserved. 2017 Sales Total 5.1 Billion ($6.6 Billion) Global Sales Increase 26% with Auction sales up 38% Market Share Across All Key Category Groups 7 of 10 Top Works of Art Sold Globally Were Sold at Christie's including the world record for any work of art sold at auction Leonardo da Vinci's Salvator Mundi and the Top Collection Fujita Digital Sales (Online, Christie's LIVE and Online Absentee) Total 165.6 million 31% of All Buyers Were New To Christie's Christie's announces total global sales increased 26% in 2017 to 5.1 billion ($6.6 billion, up 21%), led by the record breaking sale of Leonardo da Vinci's Salvator Mundi, selling for $450.3 million (342.2 million) in November in New York. Increased supply at masterpiece level met continued demand as global auction sales increased 38% to 4.6 billion ($5.9 billion, up 33%). Sales in the Americas increased to 2.5 billion, up 68% ($3.2 billion, up 62%), sales in Asia totalled 582.9 million, up 11% ($754.9 million, up 7%), and sales in Europe and the Middle East totalled 1.5 billion, up 16% ($2 billion, up 11%). Auction sales led the growth, totalling 4.6 billion, up 38% ($5.9 billion, up 33%), with online sales reaching 55.9 million, up 12% ($72.4 million, up 8%) reflecting clients' increasing interest in this platform during 2017. New buyers over 1 million increased by 40%, with the number of works sold over 10 million rising from 26 in 2016 to 65 in 2017. Private sales realised 472.4 million, down 32% ($611.8 million, down 35%). Continued focus on quality and fair estimates ensured sell-through rates increased to 81% from 78% in 2016. New buyers accounted for 31% of all buyers with spend by those new to the company increasing by 26%. Online sales remained the top entry point for new buyers (37%). In the traditional and online auctions the top two categories for attracting new buyers were Luxury (28%) and Decorative Arts (18%). Guillaume Cerutti, Chief Executive Officer, Christie's commented: "2017 has been a year to remember for Christie's, both for its record growth of 26% and some unforgettable moments, notably the sale of Leonardo's Salvator Mundi in New York, and also because of decisive action we have taken to prepare for the future. In 2018, we will focus on continuing to expand our global client base and improving services to our customers, especially online. 2018 Spring sales are promising, especially with the prospect of the sale of the Rockefeller collection Christie's has been entrusted with, and we are therefore looking forward to the year ahead with confidence." Asia: Growth Continues The continued growth in the Asian client base underpinned an increase in buying from the region (up 39%) to represent 31% of global spend. Asian client spend increased at the higher price levels (works over 1 million), rising 63%. 52% of the spend of the Asian client base was outside the Asian Art sales category, both in online and traditional auction sales. Buyers from Asia in online sales rose by 23%, driven by purchases of Asian Art and Luxury goods. There were 15 Asian art sales held online last year, including the 'Art of China' series, which averaged a 92% sell-through rate by lot and the value of Asian Art sold online increased by 32%. Americas: Ongoing success in New York and Expansion in Los Angeles In Spring 2017, Christie's opened a new flagship space in Los Angeles hosting multiple exhibitions during the year. In New York, an increase of 68% in auction sales (62% in $), reflects the world record sale of Salvator Mundi by Leonardo da Vinci. Additional successes included the record-breaking sale of the Fujita Museum Collection in March which totalled $262.8 million (215.3 million), the highest single-owner collection result of the year. Other major highlights were Constantin Brancusi's La muse endormie ($57,367,500, a world auction record for the artist), Vincent van Gogh's Laboureur dans un champ ($81,312,500), Fernand Leger's Contraste de formes ($70,062,500, a world auction record for the artist) and Cy Twombly's Leda and the Swan ($52,887,500). American buyers accounted for 32% of global spend, having spent 22% more at auction at Christie's than in 2016. European Highlights European and Middle Eastern clients spent 52% more at auction at Christie's than in 2016, representing 37% of client spend globally. London King Street auction sales were up 23% (18% in $), with a significant increase in new buyers, up 33% on 2016. Highlights of the year include the record breaking sale of Max Beckmann's Holle der Vogel (Birds' Hell), which sold for 36,005,000 in June. The October sales held during Frieze week were highlighted by Jean-Michel Basquiat's Red Skull (1982), which sold for 16,546,250. The Post-War and Contemporary Art evening sale achieved 134,076,500, the highest figure for an evening sale in the category in Europe. The fashion crowd gathered for the September pre-sale exhibition of the Collection of Audrey Hepburn, and launching the new Christie's Lates access program, a public after-hours events initiative in London and New York. The Paris saleroom increased auction sales by 49% (44% in $), having embraced a diversity of categories, led by a series of significant private collections. The first was held in March when works by Giacometti from the Hubert de Givenchy collection were 100% sold. In September, the two-day sale of the Alberto Pinto collection of almost 1,000 lots across categories, totalled more than treble its pre-sale estimate. During FIAC week in October Alberto Giacometti's Grand Femme II realised 24,907,500 in the Avant-Garde sale, the most expensive work of art sold in France in 2017.The Prat collection closed FIAC week, with Jean-Michel Basquiat's painting Jim Crow realising 15,007,500. Sales in Geneva in November totalled CHF144,007,100, attracting over 4,600 visitors to view lots including the Art of de Grisogono, the largest flawless D-colour diamond ever to come to auction, which set a new world auction record when it realised CHF33,500,000, and the 7th edition of Only Watch charity sale, which was 100% sold and raised CHF10,776,500. Digital Innovation and Engagement Total sales of art online reached 165.6 million ($214.5 million) against 161 million ($217 million) in 2016. 109.7 million ($144.5 million) was via Christie's LIVETM (online bidding in auction sales) and online absentee bidding. Increased focus and curation of online sales meant that while there were fewer sales 85 in 2017, compared to 118 in 2016 online sales were up to 55.9 million, an increase of 12% ($72.5 million, up 8%). Sell through rates by lot online averaged 82%, up from 77% in 2016. This platform continues to be the largest entry point for new buyers to Christie's (37%), with the value of lots in online sales averaging $7,305 (up from $6,047 in 2016). The ratio of buyers and bidders to lots offered for online sales is double that of offline auctions. The top online lot for 2017 was a Rolex Submariner 6538 which sold for $324,500 in October and the top lot sold via Christie's LIVETM (online bidding in auction sales) was Alexander Calder's Sans Titre, which realised $1,568,972 during the Paris Avant-Garde sale in October. The highest grossing sale online this year was the First Open Picture sale in July in New York which totalled $3,833,375. 12 million unique visitors came to Christies.com in 2017, and those who visited the website and the app came from over 190 countries. New innovations included the launch of augmented reality allowing enhanced viewing of leading lots. Compelling content and social media programmes have increased visitors to the website, with the editorial team generating over 800 stories. Continued investment in Instagram led to a 200% rise in engagement with Facebook Likes up 29%, encouraged by more regular Facebook Lives of our 'Lates', Sales and Specialist Tours around the saleroom. Our live-stream direct from our sale of Leonardo's Salvator Mundi from New York, in November, reached over 470,000 people. Christie's Leads All Key Categories The Impressionist and Modern Art category (including Modern British Art, American Paintings, and Latin American Paintings) increased 60% to 1.2bn ($1.6bn, up 53%). During New York's November Impressionist and Modern evening sale six world auction records were made, with Vincent van Gogh's Laboureur dans un champ realising $81,312,500 and Fernand Leger's Contraste de forms realising $70,062,500. The sale totalled $479,320,250, a 95% increase over the November 2016 evening sale. The Post-War Contemporary department realised total sales of 1.2 billion, up 25% ($1.6 billion, up 20%). Highlights from the year include Francis Bacon's Three Studies for a Portrait of George Dyer ($51,767,500), Cy Twombly's Leda and the Swan ($52,887,500) and Andy Warhol's Sixty Last Suppers ($60,875,000). Sales of Asian Art increased 50% globally to 704.6 million ($912.4 million, up 44%), highlighted by a magnificent pair of famille rose 'butterfly' vases sold for 14,725,000 in London in May, and our Hong Kong sale season in November, which totalled HK$3.43 billion, during which a world auction record price for an oil painting by any Asian Artist was set for Zao Wou-Ki's 29.01.64 (HK$202,600,000). Sales in Decorative Arts Design increased 20% to 191.4 million ($247.8 million, up 15%), including the Robert de Balkany sale in London in March, which totalled 15,441,313, and the Collector series across the London, New York and Paris salerooms, totalling 13,249,836 $17,504,746 14,828,992. Old Master Paintings, 19th Century and Russian Art sales totalled 547.6 million, up 137% ($709.2 million, up 127%), with one of the highlights of the year including Francesco Guardi's The Rialto Bridge with the Palazzo Dei Camerlenghi, which realised 26,205,000 in London's July Classic Week. Luxury (including Jewellery, Watches, Wine and Handbags) sales totalled 530 million, down 5% ($686.3 million, down 9%). One of the top lots for 2017 included Le Grand Mazarin, a light pink diamond of 19.07 carats, and one of the most famous and important Golconda diamonds in history, which sold for CHF14,375,000 in Geneva in November. Overall sales in World Art and Science Books were 123.6m, up 3% ($160.1m, down 1%), with highlights including a world auction record for an enigma cipher machine that sold for $547,500 to an online bidder during New York's June Books and Manuscripts sale, and Albert Einstein's telescope, which sold for $432,500 in New York in December, setting a world auction record for any scientific object owned by Einstein offered at auction. Christie's Education Expands Online Last October Christie's Education launched new Online Courses, to make the study of art history and the art market more accessible to students around the world. Providing weekly lectures enhanced with immersive video content and a behind-the-scenes access into the art world, the first five-week online course 'Inside the Global Art World', was launched in English, Mandarin, and Arabic. In June of this year at Christie's in New York the Education team will host a two-day conference entitled 'Celebrating Female Agency in the Arts', which will cover the contribution women have made and make in the arts. 2018 Outlook During the first half of 2018, the personal collection of Peggy and David Rockefeller will be touring globally, with exhibitions including London (21 February-8 March), Beijing (6-7 April), Los Angeles (6-12 April) and Shanghai (10-11 April). The tour and exhibitions are sponsored by VistaJet and a special collection preview issue of Christie's magazine is now on sale. 20th Century Art Week at Christie's King Street in February will include Abstraction Beyond Borders, a collection of works tracing Abstraction across Europe in the 20th Century, with artists including Georges Braque, Frantisek Kupka, Francis Picabia, Kurt Schwitters And Georges Vantongerloo. Also in February Christie's New York will offer the JF Chen Collection of over 300 lots spanning Asian art, decorative objects, and contemporary design. During Drawing Week in Paris in March, Christie's will offer the collection of art historian, art critic and previous President of the Academy of Fine Arts, Count Arnauld Doria. Asian Art Week in New York in March will include the final auction of a three-part sale series from an important private Japanese collection, The Classic Age of Chinese Ceramics: The Linyushanren Collection, Part III Notes to Editors *In accordance with standard accountancy practice, Christie's uses a sales weighted average to account for exchange rate fluctuations. During the 2017 please note that all cumulative sales figures are reported in and US$, using a sales weighted average (SWA) of 1: 1.295. The prices for individual lots for 2017 are reported as when sold. All auction sales figures include premium. They do not reflect costs or financing fees. All market share totals are based on publicly available competitor information. Please note when quoting estimates above that other fees will apply in addition to the hammer price see Section D of the Conditions of Sale at the back of the sale catalogue. About Christie's Christie's, the world's leading art business, had global auction, private and digital sales in 2017 that totalled 5.1 billion $6.6 billion. Christie's is a name and place that speaks of extraordinary art, unparalleled service and international expertise. Christie's offers around 350 auctions annually in over 80 categories, including all areas of fine and decorative arts, jewellery, photographs, collectibles, wine, and more. Prices range from $200 to over $100 million. Christie's also has a long and successful history conducting private sales for its clients in all categories, with emphasis on Post-War Contemporary, Impressionist Modern, Old Masters and Jewellery. Alongside regular sales online, Christie's has a global presence in 46 countries, with 10 salerooms around the world including in London, New York, Paris, Geneva, Milan, Amsterdam, Dubai, Zurich, Hong Kong, and Shanghai. *Estimates do not include buyer's premium. Sales totals are hammer price plus buyer's premium and are reported net of applicable fees. Images available on request View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180201006758/en/ Contacts: Christie's London: Cat Manson, +44 207 389 2664 cmanson@christies.com or New York: Erin McAndrew, +1 212 484 4816 emcandrew@christies.com or Hong Kong: Lavina Chan, +852 2978 9919 lavinachan@christies.com Redevco Iberian Ventures, the joint venture between real estate funds managed by global alternative asset manager Ares Management, L.P. (NYSE:ARES) and pan-Europeanretail real estate investment management company Redevco, has acquired more than 70% of the gross leasable area in the Parque Corredor Shopping Center, one of the largest retail centers in Madrid. The majority stake was acquired through transactions with Sareb, a fund advised by Aermont Capital, and various other co-owners of the property for approximately 140 million. With more than 123,000 square metres of retail and leisure area, Parque Corredor is the main shopping destination in Madrid's east corridor, known as Corredor del Henares, attracting more than 10.5 million visitors annually. This acquisition follows Redevco Iberian Venture's successful 2017 activity, which included the sale of a portfolio of nine retail parks across Spain for 193 million in June as well as the acquisition of the Mercado San Miguel in Madrid for 70 million in July. Bill Benjamin, Partner of Ares Management and Head of the Ares Real Estate Group, said: "This investment adds another exciting asset to our joint venture with Redevco. The acquisition of more than 70% of Parque Corredor is representative of our strategy across Europe to acquire quality assets that are in need of investment and repositioning to unlock their value. Parque Corredor attracts more than 10 million visitors a year, making it one of the top 25 retail locations in Spain by footfall, and we believe that through active management and investment, we can further improve consumer traffic and tenant mix before returning this asset to institutional ownership." Andrew Vaughan, Redevco's CEO,said: "With this transaction, the joint venture was able to consolidate a significant majority position in Parque Corredor, which will allow us to fully refurbish the asset. We expect to invest more than 40 million to fully renew the shopping environment, adapting and extending existing shops to meet and exceed tenants' and shoppers' requirements, which is a core component of the JV's value-add strategy. The refurbishment plans were already approved by the community of co-owners in July 2017 and have the full support of the center's longstanding fashion tenants, which are highly committed to the future of Parque Corredor." Parque Corredor currently offers a variety of food, fashion, services and leisure tenants that include a 24,000-square-metre Alcampo Hypermarket (Auchan Group), one of the largest hypermarkets in Spain, top fashion brands like Primark, Inditex Group, H&M, Mango, Kiabi and C&A, as well as a Cinesa movie theatre. The property fits the investment strategy of Redevco Iberian Ventures that was created by Ares and Redevco in September 2015 to target 500 million of value-add and opportunistic investments in retail properties on the Iberian Peninsula. Advising on the transaction were Cushman Wakefield, Deloitte and Simmons Simmons. ABOUT ARES MANAGEMENT, L.P.: Ares Management, L.P. is a publicly traded, leading global alternative asset manager with approximately $106 billion of assets under management as of September 30, 2017 and more than 15 offices in the United States, Europe, Asia and Australia. Since its inception in 1997, Ares has adhered to a disciplined investment philosophy that focuses on delivering strong risk-adjusted investment returns throughout market cycles. Ares believes each of its three distinct but complementary investment groups in Credit, Private Equity and Real Estate is a market leader based on assets under management and investment performance. Ares was built upon the fundamental principle that each group benefits from being part of the greater whole. For more information, visit www.aresmgmt.com. ABOUT REDEVCO: Redevco is an independent, pan-European real estate investment management company specialised in retail property. It has more than 400 assets under management which are spread across the strongest retail concentrations throughout Europe. Our highly-experienced professionals purchase, develop, let and manage properties, ensuring that the portfolios optimally reflect the needs of our clients. We believe in long term investments where quality and sustainability are key. For further information about Redevco please visit www.redevco.com. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180201005972/en/ Contacts: For Ares Management: Media: Bill Mendel, +1 212-397-1030 Mendel Communications bill@mendelcommunications.com or Investors: Carl Drake, 800-340-6597 cdrake@aresmgmt.com or For Redevco: Priscilla Tomasoa, +31 20 599 6262 Head of PR Corporate Communications priscilla.tomasoa@redevco.com 2 February 2018 Altona Energy Plc ("Altona" or "the Company") MoU with Joint Venture Partners Altona (AIM: ANR), a coal exploration company focused on South Australia, is pleased to report that a non-binding Memorandum of Understanding ("MoU") between the Company and its Joint Venture Partners, Wintask Group Limited ("Wintask") and Sino-Aus Energy Group Limited ("Sino-Aus") has been signed. Under the terms of the MoU, Wintask, Sino-Aus and Altona, have confirmed their intention to co-operate to assess the potential for a conventional coal mine in the Westfield tenement. In addition, both Wintask and Sino-Aus have confirmed to the Company that the level of funding committed in the 2014 Joint Venture Agreement can be made available to develop the project (AUD$3.3 million and AUD$29.7 million, respectively). It is expected that these amounts would be sufficient to complete all exploration and also the bankable feasibility study. Initial investigations by consulting engineers indicate that there is a coal seam in the south west of the Westfield tenement that may be sufficiently shallow, dry and disconnected from the Great Artesian Basin to be economically extractable. There has been much exploration throughout the Arckaringa Basin generally, but the area that the Company is now focused on has never been explored. Previous exploration activities by various companies have focused on the significant coal deposits elsewhere in the Arckaringa Basin that were too deep and too connected to the Great Artesian Basin to be economically extractable. Altona's Joint Venture Partners are particularly encouraged by the current macro-economic conditions for coal demand, particularly in relation to China. Currently, the price of thermal coal ex-Newcastle, the main exporting port in Australia is FoB ("free on board") AUD$128 per tonne. Although the Company cannot estimate the FoB cost for Westfield until after further exploration, large scale coal miners elsewhere in Australia typically are quoting FoB costs of less than AUD$60 per tonne. This support from Sino-Aus and Wintask encourages the Company to immediately commence its engagement of a reputable geological consultant firm to deliver an initial exploration plan for Westfield. Nick Lyth, CEO of Altona, commented, "I am delighted that our partners have expressed a willingness to develop the Company's coal project. This level of funding would represent more than twice the Company's current market capitalisation. The economics of conventional coal mining in Australia are at their strongest level for several years with a number of thermal coal mine companies, such as Whitehaven Coal, showing significantly higher share prices and exceptional profits. "I look forward to reporting progress on our exploration to shareholders, along with further updates on our tenement licence renewals and third-party agreements." This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of Regulation (EU) 596/2014. -ends- For further information, please visit www.altonaenergy.com or contact: Altona Energy plc Nicholas Lyth, Chief Executive Officer +44 7769 906 686 Leander (Financial PR) Christian Taylor- Wilkinson +44 7795 168 157 Northland Capital Partners Ltd (Nomad and Broker) Matthew Johnson / Gerry Beaney (Corporate Finance) John Howes (Corporate Broking) +44 20 3861 6625 About Altona Energy Altona is listed on the London Stock Exchange's AIM market. Its principal focus is on the evaluation and development of the Company's flagship Arckaringa Project to exploit the significant coal seams contained in three exploration licences covering 2,500 sq. kms in the northern portion of the Permian Arckaringa Basin in South Australia. The Project has an historic resource exceeding 7.8 billion tonnes of coal (1.3 billion tonnes historic under JORC 2004). Posted 2/2/18 What drives a woman in her 80s to spend countless hours researching and writing history? Im afraid the history of certain parts of Dallas County will be lost if somebody doesnt gather the WIMBORNE MINSTER (dpa-AFX) - Cobham plc (COB.L) announced a conditional agreement to divest its AvComm and Wireless test and measurement businesses to Viavi Solutions Inc. for an all-cash consideration of $455 million, payable on completion. Cobham's AvComm business is based in Wichita, Kansas and provides synthetic test, monitoring and control solutions for radio and avionics test, with the Stevenage, UK based Wireless business providing advanced validation tools for mobile and IP networks. Cobham's distributed antenna systems business, based in Chesham, UK is not part of the transaction. The Board intends to use the net divestment proceeds to strengthen the balance sheet and, coupled with existing cash, to pay down approximately 440 million pounds of debt. The transaction will be slightly dilutive to the Group's underlying operating profit margin. David Lockwood, Cobham CEO, said: 'This is a good deal for Cobham shareholders, as we can now focus on delivering value-add technology and capabilities to our defence, aerospace and space customers, supported by a more resilient balance sheet.' Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann. Provident Financial Group has made Malcolm Le May its permanent chief executive, with the banking veteran having last year been appointed executive chairman on temporary basis. Le May, a former head of banking for Barclays in New York and head of investment banking for UBS in Europe, had been running the company after the death of then-chairman Manjit Wolstenholme in November. Having consulted with several major shareholders and the financial regulator, Provident's board said they believe Le May ... Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann. WePower hits its $40 million hard-cap with 22,933 contributors, making it the largest ICO in the energy space of all time, supporting energy transition towards a sustainable future via blockchain technology. WePower, the blockchain-based green energy trading platform, announces today that it has successfully raised $40 million from the 22,933 contributors during its ICO, making it one of the most demanded blockchain projects of the year. The successful ICO will further WePower's goals of driving global green energy adoption and promoting sustainable living. With the whitelisting closed at about 50,000 confirmed participants and registrations nearing 300,000 people, WePower has shown that green energy and sustainability are some of the most supported challenges by communities across the globe that blockchain can solve. During its presale, WePower raised $30 million, $11 million of which came from a public presale round in October of 2017 and $19 million from strategic investors and funds. Some of the committed partners and investors from the presale include: Galaxy Investment Partners, DNA Fund, BlockchainIL, LDJ Capital, Science, OGroup Kryptsu, PrimeBlock Capital, AlgoLedge, Connect Capital, and Everblue Capital. WePower creates opportunities for green energy developers, such as solar or wind plant builders, to raise capital by selling future energy production upfront in the form of energy tokens. Unlike other similar projects, WePower is strongly focused on partnerships with utility companies. The company has already announced strategic agreements with Elering AS, an independent electricity and gas system operator in Estonia, the Ministry of Energy of the Republic of Lithuania, 220 Energia, and Spanish/Italian energy companies such as Conquista solar, Civitas project and Novacorex. These energy providers will work with WePower to develop a new generation energy ecosystem where green energy financing is global, lean and economically beneficial to all parties involved. Aside from a smart contract-based financing mechanism, WePower's technology also creates an opportunity for a transparent green energy accounting. WePower operates a distributed open ledger, which records when and in what volumes green energy financed on the platform was produced and supplied into the grid. At the moment, such accounting is based on instruments as paper certificates. With WePower technology a whole new level of transparency in green energy account becomes possible that does not exist today, to make investing in green energy producers easier and a reality for anyone. WePower was also selected to join Australia's Startupbootcamp Energy Australia Accelerator (STBC). SBC is the second largest accelerator program globally, and the first to invest in a company driving innovation through token economics. As part of the SBC Energy Australia program, WePower will be supported by some of the biggest energy companies in Australia, including Energy Australia and Spotless. "We are absolutely thrilled and thankful for the success that WePower has achieved in both its presale and token sale," said Nikolaj Martyniuk, Co-Founder and CEO. "The interest that we've gotten both from our community and potential investors shows the viability of bringing green energy onto the blockchain. Our successful fundraising is just the first step in making the smart grids greener and moving towards a more sustainable future." About WePower: WePower is a blockchain-based green energy trading platform. It helps renewable energy producers to raise capital by issuing their own energy tokens. WePower connects energy buyers (end users and investors) directly with the green energy producers and creates an opportunity to purchase energy upfront at below market rates. WePower has developed Ethereum Smart Energy contract tokens to standardize, simplify and globally open currently existing energy investment ecosystem. Energy tokenization ensures liquidity and extends access to capital. WePower wants to help build an infrastructure to bridge renewable energy producers output and traditional energy grid operators thus making the grid a little greener. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180202005170/en/ Contacts: Company Media: Blonde 2.0 for WePower Molly Winik, +972-58-443-3219 molly@blonde20.com or Media: WePower Geoffrey Riggs geoffrey@wepower.network Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann. BRUSSELS (dpa-AFX) - At 4.30 am ET Friday, IHS Markit releases UK construction PMI for January. The indicator is forecast to drop slightly to 52.0 in January from 52.2 in December. Ahead of the data, the pound traded mixed against its major rivals. While the pound fell against the franc, it rose against the euro. The franc held steady against the greenback and the yen. The pound was worth 0.8782 against the euro, 1.3200 against the franc, 1.4223 against the greenback and 156.19 against the yen. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann. BARCELONA, Spain, February 2, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- April 23 to 29, 2018 http://www.barcelonabridalweek.com Born in Lebanon and living in New York, Reem Acra is one of the most prominent bridal and eveningwear designers in the world. Responsible for the look of international celebrities such as Angelina Jolie, Taylor Swift, and Jennifer Lopez, Acra will participate in this year's Barcelona Bridal Fashion Week. The event will take place April 23 to 29 at the Barcelona Montjuic de Fira venue. Ms. Acra will present her spring 2019 bridal collection at Barcelona Bridal Night, the gala event of Barcelona Bridal Fashion Week. (Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/636096/Barcelona_Bridal_Fashion_Week_Logo.jpg ) (Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/636127/Fira_de_Barcelona.jpg ) Discovered by a fashion editor while studying at the American University of Beirut, Acra decided to dedicate herself to design and continued her education at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York, and later at the Ecole Superieure des Arts et techniques de la Mode (ESMOD) in Paris, France. In 1997 she launched the Reem Acra New York brand, and in 2001 her ready to wear line. Since then, members of royalty, heads of state, and celebrities such as Angelina Jolie, Beyonce, and Halle Berry have worn her designs on the red carpets of the Oscars, Grammys, and Golden Globes, among other events. Her carefully crafted creations, of delicate lines and impeccable embroideries, are sold in the most exclusive stores in the world, such as Bergdorf Goodman, Neiman Marcus, and Saks Fifth Avenue in the United States, as well as more than 20 countries. "I am thrilled to show my Spring 2019 bridal collection in Barcelona, a place of beauty and culture like the women who embody my designs," says Acra. The fashion show, which will present a total of 30 outfits, will take place during the hall's gala evening on April 25. Barcelona Bridal Fashion Week, organized by Fira de Barcelona, thus continues its strategy for reinforcing its brands and contents at an international level, and for attracting creators, companies, and purchasers from the main bridal fashion global markets. Barcelona Bridal Fashion Week is preparing its first major and most international edition with the fashion shows of some 25 wedding and gala fashion companies, and with the presence -according to projections- of more than 300 exhibitors, 60% of them international exhibitors, who will show the 2019 collections to purchasers, media, and guests from all over the world. First year of the LCV offensive in the region Groupe PSA sold more than 44,000 LCVs in Latin America, up 13% This reflects the focused attention given to this market by the Group, which also boasts record-high sales and market leadership in Europe, with a market share of 20.2% in 2017 Regulatory News: Groupe PSA (Paris:UG) broke its own sales record in Latin America in 2017, the first year that the offensive of the Push to Pass Plan was staged on the LCV market. A total of 44,000 units were sold during the period, up 13% on 2016. The 2017 launches boosted the Group's performance significantly. The Peugeot Expert and Citroen Jumpy, assembled in Uruguay in partnership with Nordex and launched in Brazil and Argentina in the second half of 2017, are key components in the Group's campaign this year. Other growth drivers for the Group were the Argentinian launch of the new European-manufactured Jumper and Boxer models and the outstanding performance delivered by Peugeot Partner in Brazil, where volumes have tripled since 2016. This offensive also owes its success to the hard work of the Peugeot and Citroen brands and their dealer networks, which have tailored their sales approach to customers' needs in this segment. "Having top-of-the-line products is no longer enough," said Frederic Chapuis, Groupe PSA's LCV Vice-President in Latin America. "We must also have strong brands that are attuned to customers' needs and allied with performant dealer networks.The Peugeot Total Care Pro and Compromisso Citroen Pro programmes reflect our commitment to offering our BtoB customers high-quality sales and after-sales servicesThis is a key factor that sets us apart, as demonstrated by the outstanding performance delivered last year." On the strength of its success in 2017, the Group projects that LCV sales will increase in Latin America in 2018. "We are aiming for growth of over 20% compared with 2017.We are set to launch several major models that will enable us to offer our customers a comprehensive range of compact, medium and large-sized utility vehicles across all our markets in the region.Lastly, we are going to develop our networks further by adding new specialised sales outlets for BtoB customers and fleets.As the leader in the LCV segment in Europe, we are strategically pursuing a similar path in Latin America," Frederic Chapuis said. In 2017, Groupe PSA record high achievement of selling 476,500 units worldwide, up 15% on the prior year. This figure climbs to 658,000 units when passenger car models such as Peugeot Traveller and Citroen SpaceTourer are factored in. The Peugeot and Citroen brands strengthened the Group's leadership status in Europe, where its market share in light commercial vehicles grew to 20.2% (1.3 point market share gain). The Group also captured more than 50% of the LCV market's growth in Europe with the success of the new Peugeot Expert and Citroen Jumpy models. About Groupe PSA The Groupe PSA designs unique automotive experiences and delivers mobility solutions to meet all client expectations. The Group has five car brands, Peugeot, Citroen, DS, Opel and Vauxhall, as well as a wide array of mobility and smart services under its Free2Move brand, aiming to become a great car maker and the preferred mobility provider. It is an early innovator in the field of autonomous and connected cars. It is also involved in financing activities through Banque PSA Finance and in automotive equipment via Faurecia. Find out more at groupe-psa.com/en. Media library: medialibrary.groupe-psa.com / @GroupePSA Communications Division www.groupe-psa.com/en - +33 6 61 93 29 36- @GroupePSA View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180202005211/en/ Contacts: Media: Groupe PSA + 33 6 61 93 29 36 psa-presse@mpsa.com PUNE, India, February 2, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The report"Silicone Surfactants Marketby Application (Emulsifiers, Foaming Agents, Defoaming Agents, Wetting Agents, Dispersants), End-Use Industry (Personal Care, Construction, Textile, Paints & Coatings, Agriculture), and Region - Global Forecast to 2022" published by MarketsandMarkets', the market is estimated to be USD 4.19 Billion in 2017 and is projected to reach USD 5.73 Billion by 2022, at a CAGR of 6.5% from 2017 to 2022. The growth of the Silicone Surfactants Market can be attributed to increasing demand for silicone surfactants from the personal care and other end-use industries. Stringent environmental regulations against the use of conventional surfactants provide a prospect for growth to the Silicone Surfactants Market. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160303/792302 ) Browse 111 market data Tables and45 Figures spread through 140 Pages and in-depth TOC on"Silicone Surfactants Market" https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/silicone-surfactant-market-192476281.html Early buyers will receive 10% customization on this report Based on application, the emulsifiers segment is projected to lead the Silicone Surfactants Market during the forecast period The emulsifiers application segment is estimated to lead the Silicone Surfactants Market in 2017, and this trend is expected to continue during the forecast period as well. The growth of this segment can be attributed to the increasing use of silicone surfactants in the personal care, construction, and paints & coatings industries. Features such as spreadability and softness make silicone surfactants preferable for use as emulsifiers in personal care products, polyurethane foams, and coatings, among other applications. Get PDF Brochure @ https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/pdfdownload.asp?id=192476281 Based on end-use industry, the personal care segment is projected to lead the Silicone Surfactants Market during the forecast period Based on end-use industry, the personal care segment is estimated to lead the Silicone Surfactants Market in 2017, and this trend is expected to continue in the coming years. The growth of the personal care segment can be attributed to the increasing use of silicone surfactants in skincare, haircare, and personal hygiene products. Growing demand for personal care products from the emerging economies, such as China and India, is fueling the growth of the personal care industry. Asia Pacific is the largest market for silicone surfactants The Asia Pacific region is estimated to lead the Silicone Surfactants Market in 2017 and is expected to continue its dominance in the near future. The upsurge in the number of working women and increasing e-commerce activities have led to the rise in demand for personal care products in this region. The high demand for silicone surfactants from the personal care industry in countries, such as China and India, is a key factor driving the growth of the Asia Pacific Silicone Surfactants Market. Key players operating in the Silicone Surfactants Market include Evonik Industries (Germany), Dow Corning (US), Momentive Performance Materials (US), Wacker Chemie (Germany), Innospec (US), Shin-Etsu Chemical (Japan), Siltech (Canada), Ele (US), Elkem (France), Supreme Silicones (India), Silibase Silicone (China), Jiangsu Maysta Chemical (China), Elkay Chemicals (India), Hangzhou Ruijiang Performance Material Science (China), Harcros Chemicals (US), and SST Australia (Australia). Inquiry before Buying @ https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Enquiry_Before_Buying.asp?id=192476281 Browse Related Reports Biosurfactants Market by Type (Glycolipids (Sophorolipids, Rhamnolipids), Lipopeptides, Phospholipids, Polymeric Biosurfactants), Application (Detergents, Personal Care, Agricultural Chemicals, Food Processing), and Region - Global Forecast to 2022 https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/biosurfactant-market-163644922.html Natural Surfactants Market (Bio-based Surfactants) by Product Type (Anionic, Nonionic, Cationic, and Amphoteric), Application (Detergents, Personal Care, Industrial & Institutional cleaning, and Oilfield Chemicals), and Region - Global Forecast to 2022 https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/natural-surfactant-market-25221394.html Know More About our Knowledge Store @ http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Knowledgestore.asp About MarketsandMarkets' MarketsandMarkets' provides quantified B2B research on 30,000 high growth niche opportunities/threats which will impact 70% to 80% of worldwide companies' revenues. 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MarketsandMarkets' is determined to benefit more than 10,000 companies this year for their revenue planning and help them take their innovations/disruptions early to the market by providing them research ahead of the curve. MarketsandMarkets' flagship competitive intelligence and market research platform, "RT" connects over 200,000 markets and entire value chains for deeper understanding of the unmet insights along with market sizing and forecasts of niche markets. Contact: Mr. Rohan MarketsandMarkets' INC. 630 Dundee Road Suite 430 Northbrook, IL 60062 USA: +1-888-600-6441 Email: sales@marketsandmarkets.com Visit Our Blog @ http://www.marketsandmarketsblog.com/market-reports/chemical Connect with us on LinkedIn @ http://www.linkedin.com/company/marketsandmarkets SAN DANIELE DEL FRIULI, Italy, February 2, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- LimaCorporate has appointed Mr. Michele Marin as the new CFO of LimaCorporate effective 1st of March 2018. He will replace Giorgio Negri, Interim CFO, previously announced in 2017. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150417/739765 ) After having earned a Business Degree from the Ca' Foscari University of Venice, Michele started his career at PriceWaterhouseCoopers in 1995 and worked in different multinational companies until becoming CFO for Salmoiraghi & ViganA, the Italy-based optical retailer, in 2013. Following the acquisition of the company by Luxottica, he assumed to the role of Chief Accounting Officer for Luxottica in April 2017. As CFO for LimaCorporate, Michele will be responsible for the Global Finance, Controlling, IT departments as well as Legal and Compliance. He will become a member of the Italian Board of Directors of LimaCorporate. "I am excited Michele will join Lima starting March as new Chief Financial Officer. He will be a strong addition to the management team based on his vast experience as CFO," said Luigi Ferrari, CEO of LimaCorporate. "On behalf of all employees, I would like to welcome Michele," concluded Luigi Ferrari. About LimaCorporate LimaCorporate is a global medical device company providing reconstructive orthopedic solutions to surgeons who face the challenges of improving the quality of life of their patients. Based in Italy, LimaCorporate is committed to the development of innovative products and procedures to enable surgeons to select ideal solution for every individual patient. LimaCorporate's product range includes large joint revision and primary implants and complete extremities solutions including fixation. For additional information on the Company, please visit: limacorporate.com Posted 2/1/18 Continued from last week. Following high school, he entered Springfield Teachers College, now MSU. He was still working for Cotters Drug, and driving Mr. McDaniel to Carthage, Kansas City AerCap Holdings N.V. ("AerCap") (NYSE: AER) has announced today that Vincent Drouillardwill assume the position of General Counsel, effective June 1, 2018. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180202005250/en/ (Photo: Business Wire) Mr. Drouillard is currently the Head of Legal Leasing at AerCap, a position he has held since 2015. He joined ILFC in 2004 and last served as Head of Legal EMEA, prior to the acquisition of ILFC by AerCap. Mr. Drouillard practiced law at the law firm Gibson, Dunn Crutcher, before joining ILFC. "Vincent's extensive experience and deep knowledge of the industry will be of great value to AerCap in his new role as General Counsel," said Mr. Kelly. Chief Operating Officer Erwin den Dikken will leave AerCap at the end of May 2018. He has held the position of Chief Operating Officer since 2010, and has also served as Chief Legal Officer since 2005. Mr. den Dikken joined the company in 1998. "Erwin has played a crucial role in the success of the company that AerCap has become. We thank him for his outstanding service over the past 20 years and wish him well in the future," said Aengus Kelly, Chief Executive Officer of AerCap. About AerCap AerCap is the global leader in aircraft leasing with, as of December 31, 2017, 1,531 owned, managed or on order aircraft in its portfolio. AerCap has one of the most attractive order books in the industry. AerCap serves approximately 200 customers in approximately 80 countries with comprehensive fleet solutions. AerCap is listed on the New York Stock Exchange (AER) and has its headquarters in Dublin with offices in Los Angeles, Shannon, Fort Lauderdale, Singapore, Amsterdam, Shanghai, Abu Dhabi, Seattle and Toulouse. Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains certain statements, estimates and forecasts with respect to future performance and events. These statements, estimates and forecasts are "forward-looking statements". In some cases, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "may," "might," "should," "expect," "plan," "intend," "estimate," "anticipate," "believe," "predict," "potential" or "continue" or the negatives thereof or variations thereon or similar terminology. All statements other than statements of historical fact included in this press release are forward-looking statements and are based on various underlying assumptions and expectations and are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and assumptions, and may include projections of our future financial performance based on our growth strategies and anticipated trends in our business. These statements are only predictions based on our current expectations and projections about future events. There are important factors that could cause our actual results, level of activity performance or achievements to differ materially from the results, level of activity, performance or achievements expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements. As a result, we cannot assure you that the forward-looking statements included in this press release will prove to be accurate or correct. In light of these risks, uncertainties and assumptions, the future performance or events described in the forward-looking statements in this press release might not occur. Accordingly, you should not rely upon forward-looking statements as a prediction of actual results and we do not assume any responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of any of these forward-looking statements. Except as required by applicable law, we do not undertake any obligation to, and will not, update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180202005250/en/ Contacts: AerCap Holdings N.V. For Media: Gillian Culhane, +353 1 636 0945 Vice President Corporate Communications gculhane@aercap.com or For Investors: Joseph McGinley, +353 1 418 0428 Head of Investor Relations jmcginley@aercap.com DUBLIN, Feb. 2, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Global and China Mobile Payment Industry Report, 2017-2021" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. Mobile payment transactions approximated RMB294.97 trillion in China in 2017, an upsurge of 41.4% from RMB208.6 trillion in 2016, and are expected to hit RMB793 trillion in 2021. Mobile payment has spread rapidly, from online to offline, supermarkets to restaurants, taxis to high-speed railways, and even snack stands and vegetable markets, being applied everywhere. Regulatory policies were introduced frequently, access to payment license was tightened and requirements on renewal became more stringent. The number of non-bank payment institutions was reduced to 247 in China; 24 institutions were deprived of licenses; and some players were fined because of operation violations. To strengthen supervision and management, the People's Bank Of China formulated and issued the System of Centralized Custody of Clients' Reserves of Payment Institutions, set up what is called "China Nets Union Clearing Corporation", built real-name management mechanism and made more efforts for clean-up of payment without license and for anti-money laundering in 2017, laying a solid foundation for sound and orderly development of mobile payment in China. Against the backdrop of tighter access to payment license, M&As among payment enterprises still remained more frequent. DiDi acquired 19Pay, Nexgo (JLPay), 51 Credit Card (YACOL), Gome (Yinyingtong), IELPM (Guangdong Xinhui E-payment), and China Innovationpay (Youzan) in 2017. A number of banks strategically partnered with Internet firms to accelerate payment layout in 2017, such as China Construction Bank (CCB) with Alibaba, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) with JD.com, Agricultural Bank of China (ABC) with Baidu, and Bank of China (BOE) with Tencent. In the future, integration or joint development of enterprises will be a trend. Thanks to favorable policies like the "Belt and Road" Initiative and booming outbound tourism, overseas mobile-payment markets have been the apple of enterprises' eye. By the end of 2017, Alipay had obtained payment licenses in 36 countries/regions and WeChat Pay in more than 20 countries/regions; China UnionPay NFC QuickPass could be used on over 600,000 POS terminals in 16 countries/regions. Expanding presence in overseas markets will remain a priority of mobile payment firms in 2018. Transportation is also a key sector where Chinese mobile payment giants made their presence in 2017. Alipay launched e-bus card function in over 30 cities where users get on buses via code-sweeping; Tencent launched "bus-taking code" in cities like Guangzhou, Chongqing, Qingdao, Sanya, Foshan and Zhuhai. In addition, some enterprises launched unmanned supermarket concept in 2017, which is predicted to be a hotspot of mobile payment in 2018. Technologically, as QR code was approved and regulations on barcode payment industry were issued, QR code payment technology will continue to take a lead. Cloud QuickPass products introduced in 2017 quickened the development of NFC payment. Moreover, biometric applications like fingerprint recognition and face-scanning payment have sprung up as well. With more demanding on payment security, NFC, HCE, Token and biometrics technologies will grow more mature. Key Topics Covered: 1 Overview 1.1 Definition 1.2 Classification 1.3 Industry Chain 2 Global Mobile Payment Market 2.1 Overview 2.2 Market Size 2.3 Regional Development 2.3.1 United States 2.3.2 Japan 2.3.3 India 2.4 Competitive Landscape 2.5 Development Trend 3. Chinese Mobile Payment Market 3.1 Overview 3.2 Regulatory Policies 3.2.1 Industry Access 3.2.2 Main Polices 3.2.3 Payment License 3.3 Market Size 3.4 Market Structure 3.5 Enterprise Pattern 3.6 Mobile Payment Overseas Layout 3.7 Development Trend 3.7.1 Tougher Regulation on and Tighter Access to Payment Market 3.7.2 Security Issue Is Taken Seriously 3.7.3 Industry Trend 4 Mobile Payment Market Segments 4.1 Third-party Mobile Payment 4.1.1 Overview 4.1.2 Market Size 4.1.3 Market Structure 4.1.4 Competitive Landscape 4.2 Mobile Banking 4.2.1 Overview 4.2.2 Market Size 4.2.3 Competitive Landscape 4.2.4 Development Trend 4.3 Operators' Mobile Payment 4.4 Barcode Payment 4.4.1 Technology 4.4.2 Status Quo 4.4.3 Presence of Enterprises 4.5 NFC Payment 4.5.1 Technology 4.5.2 Market Size 4.5.3 Presence of Enterprises 4.5.4 HCE Cloud-based QuickPass 4.6 Biometric Identification Payment 5 Mobile Payment Users in China 5.1 Overview 5.2 Characteristics of Mobile Payment Users 5.3 Using Behaviors of Mobile Payment Users 5.4 Attributes and Behavior Preferences of Mobile Payment Users 6 Mobile Payment-related Industry Chain 6.1 Mobile Netizens 6.2 Consumer Terminal Devices 6.3 Intelligent POS Machine 6.3.1 Overview of Products 6.3.2 Market Size 6.3.3 Trend of Products 7 Major Global Mobile Payment Users 7.1 PayPal 7.2 Paytm 7.3 Stripe 7.4 MobiKwik 7.5 Adyen 8. Major Chinese Mobile Payment Enterprises 99Bill Adyen AliPay CHINAUMS IPS Lakala LianLianPay MobiKwik PayPal Paytm PinganPay Qiandai Smartpay Stripe TenPay UMPay YeePay For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/5q84ns/global_and_china?w=5 Media Contact: Research and Markets Laura Wood, Senior Manager press@researchandmarkets.com For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470 For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630 For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900 U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907 Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716 Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - February 2, 2018) - Canadian Silver Hunter Inc. (TSXV: AGH.H) (Canadian Silver Hunter" or the "Company") releases positive drill results from the 2017 drill program, conducted by option partner First Cobalt Corp. (TSXV: FCC) (the "Company") intersecting 25 metres of fracture-controlled silver mineralization on Silver Hunter's Keeley-Frontier property. Highlights 106.2 g/t Ag over 13.7m, including 445 g/t Ag over 3.0m , near the Keeley Shaft. Anomalous silver also occurs over 4.0m above the interval as well as 7.0m below, up to 11.3 g/t over 1.0m. Suggests metal zoning pattern of silver-rich and cobalt-rich areas of mineralization at the mine-scale to guide future drill targeting. Length of intercept supports bulk mining strategy of a style of mineralization that was not mined historically in the Cobalt Camp. Drilling near the historic Keeley mine intersected a significant interval of 13.7 metres grading 106.2 g/t silver along the Woods Vein. Anomalous silver (up to 11.3 g/t Ag over 1.0m) was also encountered over an additional 4.0m above this interval and 7.0m immediately below, indicating the presence of a broad style of mineralization in material historically considered insignificant (Table 1). Within the interval, background cobalt values of up to 0.03% Co are present but base metals are generally low. Cobalt was intersected 200m further south along the Woods Vein with grades of 0.12% Co over 5.5m as well as in veins to the west containing up to 1.15% Co and 0.55% Ni over 0.42m (see December 19, 2017 press release). This suggests a possible metal zoning pattern of cobalt-rich and silver-rich mineralization may be present. This zonation can be predicted and applied to future drill targeting. Trent Mell, President & Chief Executive Officer, FCC, commented: "These results are very encouraging as further validation of our view that the Cobalt Camp material previously believed to be barren does in fact host disseminated material amenable to a bulk tonnage operation. We are in the early days of our drill campaign and these results demonstrate the potential for long cobalt and silver drill intercepts outside the historically mined vein systems." The 2017 drill program focused on the areas around the Keeley and Frontier mines, including the Woods and Watson veins. These two accounted for over 80% of the silver production in the southern end of the Cobalt Camp area known as Silver Centre. To date, the drilling campaign by First Cobalt has identified cobalt-silver-nickel veins that are considered to be an extension of the Woods Vein to the north and parallel structures to the Woods vein in the southern portion of the Keeley Mine (see November 2 and December 19, 2017 press releases). First Cobalt commenced its maiden dill campaign in late 2017 and has received assays from approximately half of its 6,500m program. In 2018, the Company has planned a 26,500 metre program to test 13 mineralized areas throughout the Cobalt Camp with known historical production of cobalt and silver. These areas include the Kerr, Drummond, Juno, Ophir, Hamilton, Silver Banner and Silverfields mines in Cobalt North, the Caswell mine in Cobalt Central, along with the Bellellen, Keeley and Frontier mines in Cobalt South. For a table of drill hole assay results to date, visit https://firstcobalt.com/projects/greater-cobalt-project. Qualified person Dr. Frank Santaguida, PGeo, vice-president, exploration for First Cobalt, is the qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 who has reviewed and approved the contents of this news release. Shareholders of Canadian Silver Hunter Inc. are reminded to view the filings of First Cobalt Corp. on www.sedar.com for further information regarding the activity of First Cobalt Corp. with respect to the Keeley Frontier South Lorrain Project. About Canadian Silver Hunter Inc. Canadian Silver Hunter Inc. is a Canadian exploration company focused on the exploration of silver-cobalt deposits on its flagship Keeley Frontier Project. For more information please visit the Canadian Silver Hunter Inc. website at www.canadiansilverhunter.ca. CAUTIONARY STATEMENT: Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. We seek safe Harbor. Canadian Silver Hunter Inc. Jeffrey Hunter President and CEO (416) 707-4230 info@cshi.ca www.canadiansilverhunter.ca Bob Dench, the chairman of Paragon Banking Group, will be stepping down from the board after 14 years at the company to take up a new position as chairman of the Co-operative Bank. Paragon said it has "well developed" succession plans and a search for his replacement, both internally and externally, is already underway. Dench will join the Co-operative on 14 March and will stay on as chairman of Paragon until his successor has been appointed. Dench said: "It has been a great joy and a privilege ... Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann. Financial services company IFG Group updated the market on its trading on Friday, reporting ongoing positive progress progress in the implementation of its strategy of developing its two first class, client-centric businesses. The London-listed firm said its James Hay business added more than 6,000 new clients in 2017 - an increase of over 30% compared to 2016 - and had 25.5bn in assets under administration, up from 22.1bn. Attrition within James Hay was 6.2%, slightly down from 6.3%, while ... Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann. LAGOS, Nigeria, February 2, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The Governor of Bayelsa State, Honourable Henry Seriake Dickson, on Thursday led a high powered delegation of Ijaw leaders to former President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan to deliberate on the All Progressives Congress Committee's report on Restructuring. (Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/637074/ijaw_leaders_bayelsa.jpg ) Jonathan, the Governor and the top Ijaw leaders called on President Muhammadu Buhari and the leadership of the All Progressives Congress to be sincere with the implementation of the recommendations of the party's committee led by Governor Nasir El Rufai of Kaduna State. The former President and the group said that, a holistic and sincere implementation of the recommendations of the report on restructuring would encourage inter-ethnic harmony and development in the country. A statement by the Special Adviser to Governor Dickson on Media Relations, Mr. Fidelis Soriwei, on Thursday quoted Jonathan as having said that, the issues which fell under the purview of the committee were exhaustively treated during the 2014 National Conference whose sincere implementation would definitely move the nation forward. He said that, it was a good idea that the APC was able to set up a committee to look into the same grey areas, which featured prominently in the deliberations of the 2014 Conference. Jonathan commended Governor Dickson for playing the leadership role of coordinating the thoughts of the Ijaw people on the sensitive issue of restructuring. He said that the Governor must be appreciated for ensuring that the Ijaw Nation did not speak with discordant tones on the issue of restructuring. He stressed that he was pleased that Governor Dickson was performing the leadership role in accordance with his expectations by coordinating the Ijaw Nation on the topical issue. He said, "I am pleased with the caliber of people who came with the Governor to brief me on the issue of the recommendations of the APC Committee on restructuring. "I must say that I am happy with the role being played by the Governor on this issue of restructuring. Ethnic nationalities must not speak with discordant tones on such pertinent issues. I am pleased that Dickson is coordinating the Ijaw Nation. "I am also pleased that the APC set up a committee to look into the grey areas to come up with these recommendations. When we were in government, we came up with a confab and several issues were addressed which if sincerely implemented would encourage relationship in the country. A sincere implementation of the recommendations on these grey areas will make the country to move forward." Speaking also, Governor Dickson said that, he led the delegation of the Ijaw leaders to the former President on a consultative meeting and to brief him on the steps the Ijaws had taken to build bridges of understanding in the pursuits of what is right in the country. He explained that, the meeting focused on the issue of restructuring and the moves being made to bring about a just, fair and egalitarian Nigerian society. Dickson noted that, the recommendations contained in the report of the APC committee were the same as those contained in the 2014 National confab. He said, "As you all can see, this is a high-powered delegation of Ijaw elders and leaders from all the zones from Ijaw nation. I am leading them to meet and consult with our respected leader, the former President and also to brief him on steps we are taking; steps we will continue to take to unify our people to build bridges of understanding and to support all that is right and good, not only in this region, but across the nation. "As you are aware, there is a raging issue of restructuring and moves made to bring about a fairer, egalitarian, stable and prosperous Nigeria. And here, in this state and in this region, we are proud to have our leader, the former President and so today we came to brief him about the steps we are taking to study all the reports, including, the reports of the 2014 Confab which was rightly empanelled by Mr. President and it is gratifying to note a number of the recommendations given by the APC panel are the same conclusions that the 2014 Confab arrived at." The meeting was a follow up to an earlier meeting of top Ijaw leaders at Kiagbodo, the country home of Pa Edwin Clark on January 20, 2018. The meeting, which had in attendance, the Governor of Bayelsa, Pa Clark, Alabo Graham Douglas affirmed that the 2019 general elections would be a referendum on restructuring across Ijaw land. The meeting also called on President Buhari and the APC to ensure that the recommendations contained the report of the APC Committee on restructuring were sincerely implemented. This release is being issued on behalf of the Governor's Office, Bayelsa State In an event at its new branch office attended by key customers and business associates, Vetter's senior management representatives presented the company's service portfolio along with its growth strategy for South Korea and the Asia Pacific (APAC) region. In addition, attendees were introduced to Mr. Michael Yi who will manage the office in his role as Business Development Manager for Vetter Pharma International GmbH, South Korea. Mr. Yi, who is based in Songdo, has pharmaceutical experience in responsible business development roles at several companies. He reports to Ms. Chervee Ho in her role as Director Key Account Management Asia Pacific. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180202005304/en/ During Vetter's customer event in the new branch office: Jong Hyun Kim, Director Supply Chain Management Department at Celltrion, Inc. (3rd from left) with Vetter's Chervee Ho, Peter Soelkner, Michael Yi and Oskar Gold (from left to right). (Photo: Vetter Pharma International GmbH) A rapidly growing local economy, combined with a regulatory environment conducive to the industry is a strong incentive for doing business in the country. And, because the population is aging rapidly with corresponding needs for adequate medication, South Korea demonstrates strong commitment to the pharmaceutical market through investing and supporting campaigns in R&D that contribute to innovative healthcare products. With its branch office, Vetter is well positioned to support its existing South Korean business as well as that of new local and global customers, helping them to meet stringent development, manufacturing and packaging requirements of their injectable drugs. "As a leading contract and development manufacturing organization in prefilled drug delivery systems with a vast amount of experience in business development, we are well aware that being physically close to our customers and their ongoing projects is one of the keys to good client relationships," said Vetter Managing Director Peter Soelkner. "Our event today acts as an additional signal of our strategy to build on our local presence and activities in this market," highlights Oskar Gold, Vetter's Senior Vice President Key Account Management, Marketing/Corporate Communications and Customer Project Management. "Vetter's entry into the Korean pharmaceutical market represents an important recognition of the progress our nation has made in this segment," said Javier Camposano, Celltrion's Managing Director for Drug Product. "South Korean companies such as ours are in need of the services Vetter offers, to help us bring our innovative products to local and global markets. With its long history of qualitative resources, combined with its state-of-the art technology, Vetter can support us in competing on a level playing field and achieving our goals on a global scale. We wish Vetter a successful future in Korea." Find the Vetter press kit, additional press releases, high-resolution pictures and more background information in our Download Center About Vetter Headquartered in Ravensburg, Germany, Vetter is a global leading contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) with production facilities in Germany and the United States. The company has long-term experience offering services ranging from early development support including clinical manufacturing, to commercial supply and various packaging solutions for vials, syringes and cartridges. Vetter's customers range from small and midsize to the world's top 20 pharmaceutical and biotech companies. As a leading solution provider, the CDMO recognizes its responsibility in supporting the needs of its customers in developing devices that contribute to increased patient safety, convenience, and enhanced compliance. Learn more about Vetter at www.vetter-pharma.com. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180202005304/en/ Contacts: Vetter Pharma International GmbH Markus Kirchner Corporate Spokesperson Media Relations Phone: +49 (0)751-3700-3729 E-mail: PRnews@vetter-pharma.com Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - February 2, 2018) - Blackrock Gold Corp. (TSXV: BRC) (the "Company") is pleased to announce a non-brokered private placement (the "Private Placement") of up to 8,000,000 units (the "Units") at a price of $0.10 per Unit, for gross proceeds of up to $800,000. Each Unit is comprised of one common share and one-half of one share purchase warrant. Each whole warrant will entitle the holder to acquire one additional common share in the capital of the Company at a price of $0.20 per share, for a period of two years from the date the Units are issued. If during the exercise period of the warrants, but after the resale restrictions on the shares have expired, the Company's shares trade at or above a weighted average trading price of $0.40 per share for 15 consecutive trading days, the Company may accelerate the expiry time of the warrants by giving written notice to warrant holders that the warrants will expire 30 days from the date of providing such notice. A portion of the Private Placement may be completed in accordance with the exemption set out in BC Instrument 45-536 (Exemption from prospectus requirement for certain distributions through an investment dealer) (the "Investment Dealer Exemption"). In accordance with the requirements of the Investment Dealer Exemption, the Company confirms there is no material fact or material change related to the Company which has not been generally disclosed. The proposed financing is required to meet certain of the conditions for acceptance by the TSX Venture Exchange (the "Exchange") for the proposed transaction announced by the Company on October 31, 2017. The Company announced at that time that the Company had entered into a lease agreement with Pescio Exploration LLC with respect to 552 unpatented lode mining claims situated in Elko, County, Nevada, known as the Silver Cloud Project. The Exchange has conditionally accepted the proposed property transaction subject to, among other things, Company completing an equity financing of at least $800,000. Assuming the Private Placement is fully subscribed, the Company plans to allocate the gross proceeds of the Private Placement as to: (i) mineral exploration work and option payment ($500,000) on the Silver Cloud Project (if and when the Company receives final acceptance from the Exchange for the property transaction) and (ii) general working capital ($300,000). If the Private Placement is not fully subscribed and the Company does not receive final acceptance from the Exchange for the property transaction, all proceeds from the Private Placement will be allocated to general working capital. The Company may pay finder's fees on a portion of the offering in accordance with applicable securities laws and the policies of the Exchange. If the Private Placement is not fully subscribed, the Company will apply the proceeds to the above uses in priority and in such proportions as the Board of Directors and management of the Company determine is in the best interests of the Company. Although the Company intends to use the proceeds of the Private Placement as described above, the actual allocation of proceeds may vary from the uses set out above, depending upon future operations, events or opportunities. The Private Placement is subject to the approval of the Exchange. The Private Placement securities have not been and will not be registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "1933 Act"), or under any state securities laws, and may not be offered or sold, directly or indirectly, or delivered within the United States or to, or for the account or benefit of, U.S. persons (as defined in Regulation S under the 1933 Act) absent registration or an applicable exemption from the registration requirements. This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation to buy such securities in the United States. The Company also announces that it has granted 200,000 incentive stock options to an Officer of the Company subject to the terms and conditions of the Company's stock option plan and the policies of the Exchange. The options are exercisable at a price of $0.08 per share for a term of five (5) years. For further information, please contact: Greg Schifrin, Chief Executive Officer Blackrock Gold Corp. Email: minexexploration@yahoo.com Phone: 1 - 208-290-1180 The TSX Venture Exchange has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the accuracy or adequacy of this release. Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Service Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO UNITED STATES NEWS WIRE SERVICES OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES New York, New York--(Newsfile Corp. - February 2, 2018) - CannabisNewsAudio announces the Audio Press Release (APR) titled "Fired-Up Cannabis Players Ride into 2018 on Year-End High," featuring Global Payout, Inc. (GOHE). To hear the CannabisNewsAudio version, visit http://cnw.fm/I11pi To read the original editorial, visit http://cnw.fm/B9IYp Global Payout's majority-owned MoneyTrac Technology, Inc. ("MTRAC") subsidiary offers a wide array of services to help businesses in high-risk industries (notably cannabis enterprises) efficiently and effectively manage their operations. MTRAC's technology equips business owners with the tools they need to meet compliance regulations, improve electronic payment processing and, in general, create an operational structure that will boost growth. Global Payout kicked-off 2018 with the announcement (http://cnw.fm/cQ2yC) that its MTRAC subsidiary is moving forward with the co-launch of its regulation-compliant token offering, the M-Token, which is on track to be launched during the first quarter of this year. This has been made possible through various key strategic partnerships. The token is aimed at providing cannabis businesses with an effective decentralized payment system. About Global Payout, Inc. Since the company's inception in 2009, Global Payout, Inc. has been a leading provider of comprehensive and customized prepaid payment solutions for domestic and international organizations distributing money worldwide. In 2014, Global introduced its first online payment platform called the Consolidated Payment Gateway (CPG), which allowed its enterprise clients to transfer money to international bank accounts, mobile accounts, and prepaid card accounts. The development of the CPG became the foundation for the introduction of its new, state of the art FINTECH payment system in 2017, for both online and mobile applications to allow account holders to maximize an expanded suite of financial services and minimize operational costs. Global will continue to offer their FINTECH payment system to many vertical markets for support of foreign currency exchange and digital currency, including ongoing support of the banking industry and international governments. For more information, visit www.GlobalPayout.com. About CannabisNewsWire (CNW) CannabisNewsWire ("CNW") is a specialized information service that (1) aggregates cannabis news, (2) provides CannabisNewsBreaks that quickly updates investors in the space, (3) enhances corporate press releases, (4) helps companies with distribution and optimization of social media, and (5) delivers comprehensive corporate communication solutions. CNW is uniquely positioned in the cannabis market with a strong team of journalists and writers who can help private and public companies reach a wide audience of investors, consumers, journalists and the general public through our ever-growing dissemination network of more than 5,000 key syndication outlets. CNW is bringing unparalleled visibility, recognition and content to the cannabis industry. For more information please visit https://wwwCannabisNewsWire.com Please see full terms of use and disclaimers on the NetworkNewsWire website applicable to all content provided by NNW, wherever published or re-published: http://CNW.fm/Disclaimer Forward-Looking Statements This release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. All forward-looking statements are inherently uncertain as they are based on current expectations and assumptions concerning future events or future performance of the company. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which are only predictions and speak only as of the date hereof. In evaluating such statements, prospective investors should review carefully various risks and uncertainties identified in this release and matters set in the company's SEC filings. These risks and uncertainties could cause the company's actual results to differ materially from those indicated in the forward-looking statements. Corporate Communications Contact: CannabisNewsWire (CNW) Denver, Colorado www.CannabisNewsWire.com 303.498.7722 Office Editor@CannabisNewsWire.net WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - With a Republican memo alleging misconduct by the FBI expected to be released later in the day, President Donald Trump lashed out at officials at the agency and the Justice Department in a post on Twitter on Friday. Trump claimed in the tweet that the FBI and the Justice Department have shown a pro-Democratic bias in their investigations. 'The top Leadership and Investigators of the FBI and the Justice Department have politicized the sacred investigative process in favor of Democrats and against Republicans - something which would have been unthinkable just a short time ago,' Trump tweeted. 'Rank & File are great people!' The tweet from Trump comes as he is expected to approve the release of a controversial memo alleging misconduct by the FBI in the investigation of Russian meddling in the 2016 election. The memo commissioned by House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif., reportedly alleges abuses of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act in the FBI's monitoring of a former Trump campaign adviser. However, the FBI released a statement on Wednesday expressing 'grave concerns about material omissions of fact that fundamentally impact the memo's accuracy.' Democrats have claimed the memo selectively cherry-picks classified information intended to discredit the work of the FBI and special counsel Robert Mueller. The top Democrats in the House and Senate have also called for Nunes to be removed from his position amid allegations that he secretly altered the memo before sending it to be reviewed by the White House. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., both sent letters to House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., on Thursday calling for Nunes to be removed from his position. Democrats have also criticized Republicans for prohibiting the release of a memo they crafted to respond to the GOP's document. A report from CNN said top White House aides are worried FBI Director Christopher Wray could resign if the Republican memo is released, although White House counselor Kellyanne Conway has downplayed those concerns. 'The president has not expressed that concern at all,' Conway said in an interview on Fox News on Friday, noting that Trump has respect for the 'rank and file' employees at the FBI. (Photo: Gage Skidmore) Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - A non-profit group for South Asian Americans said in a report that South Asian, Muslim, Sikh, Hindu, Middle Eastern, and Arab communities are the target of increasing levels of hate violence and xenophobic political rhetoric in the United States. There were record number of attacks on these communities since the election of President Donald Trump, South Asian Americans Leading Together (SAALT) said in a report released Thursday. SAALT says it documented 302 incidents of hate violence and xenophobic political rhetoric on minority communities, most of which were motivated by anti-Muslim sentiment. This is a more than 45 percent increase from the year leading up to the 2016 election cycle, levels not seen since the year after September 11. The report, 'Communities on Fire,' draws a direct line between the Trump administration's anti-Muslim agenda and increasing attacks. One in five perpetrators invoked President Trump's name, his administration's policies, or his campaign slogans during attacks, it claims. The report notes that women who wear hijab or head scarves are particularly vulnerable, accounting for 63 percent of the documented hate incidents targeting women. 'Deadly shootings, torched mosques, vandalized homes and businesses, and young people harassed at school have animated an acutely violent post-election year,' said Suman Raghunathan, Executive Director of SAALT. She called on the government to 'break eye contact with white supremacy if our nation is to live up to its highest ideals of religious freedom'. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann. Alytus, Lithuania, 2018-02-02 16:57 CET (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Gediminas Ceika, the Director General of AB Snaige, appears to be surprised by the violations identified by the Director of the Supervision Service of the Bank of Lithuania and the decision to impose a fine against the company. "In our opinion all resolutions of the company's management and the board, the receivables and other possible uncertainties have been adequately disclosed in the annual audited reports and reassessed in the course of implementation of the order of the Supervision Service of the Bank of Lithuania," stated Ceika. "It is possible that this decision is stemming only from the difference in evaluation of the information that has been disclosed. Thus, we intend to scrutinise the decision of the Bank of Lithuania, and as the last resort, we might consider the possibility of lodging a claim," added he. According to Gediminas Ceika, the company's management acts in conformity with all legal acts in force and duly represents the interests of the company and its shareholders. "The dividends have been paid out to all our shareholders, not only to the large one," continued Ceika. "Therefore, there are no reasons to claim that the interests of the smaller shareholders have been infringed." The company's financial position is stable and it conducts regular activities. The fine imposed by the Bank of Lithuania will not exert any significant influence on neither the company's financial situation nor its results. This year, the company is expected to introduce two new lines of refrigerators. The company's export comprised 90% in the first three quarters of 2017. The main export markets were Germany, France, Ukraine, Poland and Czech Republic. AB Snaige market positions are particularly strong in Lithuania, where it is the top selling refrigerator brand and holds the largest share of the market (22%, according to data collected by GFK). According to the unaudited consolidated data, the company's proceeds reached an EBITDA of 1.6 million euro in the three quarters of the past year, amounting to 30 million euro in turnover. The cause of the unaudited unconsolidated loss (EUR 0.244 million) was the global increase in prices of the raw material relevant to the company. Director General of AB Snaige Gediminas Ceika +370 315 56206 Regulatory News: Carmila (Paris:CARM) pursues its development strategy with the signing of an agreement with Klepierre for the acquisition of two shopping centres; Grand Vitrolles (in the commune of Vitrolles, Greater Marseille) and Gran Via de Hortaleza in Madrid. These acquisitions, totalling Euro 212.2 million, will enable Carmila to further strengthen its portfolio with two leading large or regional shopping centres, both anchored by powerful Carrefour hypermarkets Following the completion of nine extensions in 2017, Carmila continues to implement its investment strategy presented at the IPO, with the acquisition of two powerful, market-leading complexes that display strong value-creation potential: a Regional Shopping Centre1 in Vitrolles and a Large Shopping Centre2 in Madrid. Carmila, a specialist in the value creation and transformation of shopping centres adjoining Carrefour stores in France, Spain and Italy, integrates into its portfolio two assets belonging to its core target and allowing the implementation of its key skills. These acquisitions will be financed through a combination of available cash and bank or bond debt. For the record, the LTV3 at 30 June 2017, proforma for the capital increase carried out in July of the same year, was 29.4%. About Grand Vitrolles Grand Vitrolles is a Regional Shopping Centre comprising: a powerful Carrefour hypermarket with retail space of 20,500 m, owned by the Carrefour Group (part of Carrefour hypermarkets top 15 performers in France); a shopping centre with 84 shops over 24,350 m (subject of this acquisition); 4,709 parking spaces. Opened in 1970, Grand Vitrolles quickly established itself as a major shopping destination in Marseille, boasting three large anchor stores (Carrefour, Boulanger and Castorama), located within a commercial business district also including a Retail Park whose main tenants are Decathlon, IKEA and Toys'R'Us. The shopping centre welcomes approximately 5.2 million visitors each year with a strong level of loyalty and has a catchment area of more than 600,000 residents. Carmila has already obtained the administrative authorisations (CDAC and building permit) required for the 11,700 m extension it intends to build as part of its plan to modernise and enhance the centre. Once the extension is complete, this shopping centre will encompass approximately 130 retail units. About Gran Via de Hortaleza Located in a highly urban catchment area in the northeast of the city of Madrid, Gran Via de Hortaleza is a Large Shopping Centre constructed in 1992 over two levels, comprising: a Carrefour hypermarket with retail space of 10,950 m, owned by the Carrefour Group (part of Carrefour hypermarkets top 5 performers in Spain); a shopping centre with 69 shops over 6,300 m (subject of this acquisition); 1,700 parking spaces. It welcomes over 6.3 million visitors per year and is the leading shopping centre in this part of Madrid. It has a catchment area of 263,000 residents and a penetration rate of 54%. This site is also home to a large number of popular retail brands including Mango, Promod, Okaidi, Calzedonia, Primor Fosco, Rodilla, 100 Montaditos, Alain Afflelou, Burger King, etc. Carmila plans to carry out renovation works on this site based on the Air de Famille concept, which will boost value creation to be implemented through the improvement of the merchandising mix and the increase of the occupancy rate, today at 92.7%. Next events and publications: February 14, 2018 (After market close):2017 Annual Results February 15, 2018 (8:30 Paris time):2017 Annual Results Investors and Analysts meeting April 19, 2018 (After market close):Q1 2018 activity May 16, 2018 (8:30 Paris time):Shareholders' Annual General Meeting July 27, 2018 (After market close):2018 Half Year Results July 30, 2018 (9:00 Paris time):2018 Half Year Results Investors and Analysts meeting October 24, 2018 (After market close):Q3 2018 activity About Carmila Carmila was founded by Carrefour and large institutional investors in order to develop the value of shopping centers anchored by Carrefour stores in France, Spain and Italy. Its portfolio after the merger with Cardety effective as of June 12, 2017, consists of 205 shopping centers in France, Spain and Italy, mostly leaders in their catchment areas, and was valued at Euro 5.6 bn as at June 30" 2017. Inspired by a genuine retail culture, Carmila's teams include all of the expertise dedicated to retail attractiveness: leasing, digital marketing, specialty leasing, shopping centre management and portfolio management. Carmila is listed on Euronext-Paris market under the ticker CARM and benefits from the "SIIC" real estate investment trust (REIT) tax status. 1 According to the CNCC definition, a shopping centre of more than 40,000m and at least 80 retail units 2 According to the CNCC definition, a shopping centre of more than 20,000m and at least 40 retail units 3 Loan to value: ratio of net debt to the value of the asset, including transfer taxes View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180202005483/en/ Contacts: Carmila Investors and analysts: Marie-Flore Bachelier, +33 6 20 91 67 79 marie_flore_bachelier@carmila.com or Press: Morgan Lavielle, +33 1 58 33 63 29 morgan_lavielle@carmila.com DUBLIN, Feb. 2, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Global Agricultural Machinery Market - Industry Trends, Opportunities and Forecasts to 2023" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. Agricultural machinery refers to the machinery used at various stages in farming and other agricultural production activities. Increasing demand for food and supplies to support the rapidly increasing worldwide population is driving the need for agricultural equipment on a global level. Favourable government policies such as the promotion of FDI in the agriculture sector in the developing countries is further adding to the demand for agricultural machinery. Moreover, government subsidy, spread, and adoption of microfinance and low- interest loans facilitate the use of agricultural machinery by providing additional capital to farmers to ensure an increase in productivity by effective utilisation of all factors of production, making the process cost-effective. Competitive Landscape of the agricultural machinery is promoting investment in the agricultural machinery market. By the use of agriculture machinery, processes like manual seeding, irrigation, crop scouting and other activities can be done by the help of agricultural machinery saving time and resources of the farmers. However, an increase in the cost of raw materials, such as rubber, steel, and iron has increased the cost of production for the manufacturers. Furthermore, continuous fluctuations in the prices of raw materials make it difficult for manufacturers to deliver quality goods at reasonable prices, which restrain the growth of agricultural machinery market. Despite the restraint, the global agricultural machinery market will grow at a substantial rate during the forecast period. The global agricultural machinery market is highly competitive due to ahuge consumer base and presence of well-diversified international, regional, and local players. There is a growing need for adoption of existing technology and further investment on technological upgrades to increase yield per hectare, which is attracting more players in the market. Intense competition in the agricultural machinery market is paving the way for mergers & acquisitions and other strategies to augment their market share. Competitive landscape details products, strategies, and investments being done by key companies to boost their market presence. Some of the major players discussed in this report are AGCO Corporation, CLAAS Agricultural Machinery Pvt. Ltd., CNH Industrial, Kubota Corporation, and Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd., among others. Segmentation By Application: Soil Cultivation Irrigation Traction and Power Harvesting Pest Control Others By Product: Tractors Harvesters Automatic Sprayer Shredder Parts and Attachments Others Companies Mentioned Tractors and Farm Equipments Limited Escorts Group KUHN S.A. Kverneland Group Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. Kubota Corporation Deere & Company CNH Industrial CLAAS Agricultural Machinery Pvt. Ltd. AGCO Corporation For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/b6lzkj/global?w=5 Media Contact: Research and Markets Laura Wood, Senior Manager press@researchandmarkets.com For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470 For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630 For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900 U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907 Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716 WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Despite objections by law enforcement and intelligence officials, the Republican-controlled House Intelligence Committee has released a memo alleging misconduct by FBI and Justice Department officials in the investigation of Russian meddling in the 2016 election. The memo commissioned by House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif., was publicly released Friday after President Donald Trump agreed to declassify the document. The four-page document accuses the FBI and the Justice Department of omitting material and relevant information when seeking an order authorizing electronic surveillance of Trump campaign adviser Carter Page. Republican members of the committee said the findings detailed in the memo 'raise concerns with the legitimacy and legality of certain DOJ and FBI interactions with the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court,' which authorized the surveillance. The findings also represent a 'troubling breakdown of legal processes established to protect the American people from abuses related to the FISA process,' the GOP members said. The memo claims the essential part of the FISA application was a dossier compiled by former British Spy Christopher Steele alleging cooperation between Trump's presidential campaign and the Russian government. While the dossier was compiled on behalf of the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign, the memo states the application did not mention that political actors were involved. The Republican memo also highlights comments Steele made to then-Associate Deputy Attorney General Bruce Ohr admitting his feelings against then-candidate Trump. Steele purportedly told Ohr he was 'desperate that Donald Trump not get elected and was passionate about him not being president.' 'This clear evidence of Steele's bias was recorded by Ohr at the time and subsequently in official FBI files - but not reflected in any of the Page FISA applications,' the memo says. The FISA application did extensively cite a Yahoo News article focused on Page's July 2016 trip to Moscow, although the memo claims the article was derived from information leaked by Steele. 'Steele's numerous encounters with the media violate the cardinal rule of source handling--maintaining confidentiality--and demonstrated that Steel had become a less than reliable source for the FBI,' the memo states. The FBI expressed concerns about releasing the memo, but Nunes argued that the American people have a right to know when officials in crucial institutions are abusing their authority for political purposes. Nunes said in a statement he hopes releasing the memo will shine a light on an alarming series of events so lawmakers can make reforms. In remarks ahead of the release of the memo, Trump called the alleged bias a 'disgrace' and said certain people should be 'ashamed of themselves.' However, many of the claims in the memo are being disputed by the Democratic members of the House Intelligence Committee. The Democrats argued that the memo makes several serious mischaracterizations about the FISA application and criticized Republicans for refusing to allow the release of their response. 'The premise of the Nunes memo is that the FBI and DOJ corruptly sought a FISA warrant on a former Trump campaign foreign policy adviser, Carter Page, and deliberately misled the court as part of a systematic abuse of the FISA process,' the Democrats said in a statement. 'As the minority memo makes clear, none of this is true,' they added. 'The FBI had good reason to be concerned about Carter Page and would have been derelict in its responsibility to protect the country had it not sought a FISA warrant.' The Democrats called the release of the GOP memo a 'shameful effort' to discredit the FBI and the Justice Department and undermine special counsel Robert Mueller's ongoing Russia investigation. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de LOS ANGELES, CA / ACCESSWIRE / February 2, 2018 / The Schall Law Firm, a national shareholder rights litigation firm, announces the filing of a class action lawsuit against Kobe Steel, Ltd. (OTC PINK: KBSTY) ("Kobe Steel" or "the Company") for violations of 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 promulgated thereunder by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Investors who purchased the Company's shares between May 29, 2013 and October 12, 2017, inclusive (the "Class Period"), are encouraged to contact the firm before February 26, 2018, the lead plaintiff motion deadline. If you are a shareholder who suffered a loss during the Class Period, click here to participate. We also encourage you to contact Brian Schall, or Sherin Mahdavian, of the Schall Law Firm, 1880 Century Park East, Suite 404, Los Angeles, CA 90067, at (424)-303-1964, to discuss your rights free of charge. You can also reach us through the firm's website at www.schallfirm.com, or by email at brian@schallfirm.com. The class, in this case, has not yet been certified, and until certification occurs, you are not represented by an attorney. If you choose to take no action, you can remain an absent class member. According to the lawsuit, Kobe Steel repeatedly misrepresented the quality of its products and the integrity of its operations during the Class Period by emphasizing that it offers "excellent products and services" with "special attention to product safety" as it has "an organizational culture that is highly sensitive to compliance issues." Defendants' statements pertaining to Kobe Steel's products and performance of its operations were materially false and misleading because Kobe Steel had intentionally falsified data on many of its aluminum, copper, iron and steel products, and knowingly sold products that failed quality control tests. The Schall Law Firm represents investors around the world and specializes in securities class action lawsuits and shareholder rights litigation. This press release may be considered Attorney Advertising in some jurisdictions under the applicable law and rules of ethics. CONTACT: The Schall Law Firm Brian Schall, Esq., Sherin Mahdavian, Esq., Schallfirm.com SOURCE: The Schall Law Firm WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Following the release of a controversial memo alleging misconduct by FBI and Justice Department officials, top Democratic lawmakers have warned President Donald Trump against using the document as a pretext to fire either Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein or Special Counsel Robert Mueller. The top House and Senate Democrats sent a letter to Trump on Friday warning that firing Rosenstein or Mueller would be considered an attempt to obstruct justice and spark a constitutional crisis. 'We are alarmed by reports that you may intend to use this misleading document as a pretext to fire Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, in an effort to corruptly influence or impede Special Counsel Bob Mueller's investigation,' the Democrats wrote. 'We write to inform you that we would consider such an unwarranted action as an attempt to obstruct justice in the Russia investigation,' they added. 'Firing Rod Rosenstein, DOJ Leadership, or Bob Mueller could result in a constitutional crisis of the kind not seen since the Saturday Night Massacre.' The Saturday Night Massacre refers to former President Richard Nixon's attempt to shut down the Watergate investigation by ordering the firing of special prosecutor Archibald Cox. Trump was asked if the memo made him more likely to fire Rosenstein but would only tell reporters, 'You figure that one out.' The memo released by Republican members of the House Intelligence Committee notes Rosenstein signed at least one application for a warrant targeting Trump campaign adviser Carter Page. The document commissioned by House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif., accuses the FBI and the Justice Department of omitting material and relevant information when seeking the warrant. However, Democratic members of the committee argued that the memo makes several serious mischaracterizations about the applications. The letter to Trump was signed by House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer, D-Md. Assistant Senate Democratic Leader Patty Murray, D-Wash., and House Democratic Caucus Chair Joe Crowley, D.N.Y., also signed the letter along the top Democrats on the Senate and House Intelligence Committees and the Senate and House Judiciary Committees. The Democrats argued the memo was meant to discredit the FBI and Rosenstein in order to protect Trump and undermine Mueller's Russia investigation. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - February 2, 2018) - TNR Gold Corp. (TSXV: TNR) ("TNR" or the "Company") is pleased to report that we have successfully finished a transitional year whereby the Company continues to work toward building a green energy metals royalty Company. To this end, the board agreed to abolish the position of Deputy Chairman after due consideration as it was considered unnecessary in the context of achieving the Company's current objectives. John Wisbey, a director of the Company who has held the role of Deputy Chairman since its inception on May 25, 2017, subsequently announced his resignation as a director. "The Board thanks Mr. Wisbey for his support and assistance during the Company's significant transitional year," commented Kirill Klip, Executive Chairman of TNR. "Now our turn-around at TNR is completed and we are looking forward to achieving our strategic goals and increasing value for all shareholders." During our 2017 transitional year, we strengthened the TNR team of dedicated professionals who cover all aspects of our operations, and we have improved our controls and operational systems. Our portfolio of assets represents participation in several projects in lithium, copper and gold. Our partners include global industry leaders including McEwen Mining Inc. and Jiangxi Ganfeng Lithium International Co. Ltd. Our priority for 2018 is to repay our long-term debt with a focus on establishing access to strategic sources of capital in order to advance our business plan. We plan to achieve our strategic goals by optimizing our portfolio of assets, strengthening our capital structure and extending our shareholder base. Los Azules Copper Project Royalty Update As stated in the Company news release of November 2, 2017, McEwen Mining announced that the technical report supporting the preliminary economic assessment ("PEA") disclosure in its news release dated September 7, 2017 was published. McEwen Mining stated, "The PEA, dated September 1, 2017, is entitled 'NI 43-101 Technical Report - Preliminary Economic Assessment Update for the Los Azules Project, Argentina,' and was prepared by independent 'Qualified Persons' (as that term is defined in NI 43-101) at Hatch Ltd." The technical report, which includes the results of PEA, is available on the McEwen Mining website and under the profile of McEwen Mining on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. The Company holds a 0.36% royalty on the net smelter return ("NSR") of the entire Los Azules copper project in Argentina. TNR summarized the PEA results in a news release issued on October 10, 2017. Strategic Stake in International Lithium Corp. Update TNR holds a significant shareholding in International Lithium Corp. ("ILC"), a green energy metals company that was created through the spinout of TNR's energy metals portfolio in 2011. After the recent ILC financing, the post-closing ownership in ILC by TNR, before conversion of warrants and debentures, is 8,692,390 shares, equivalent to approximately 8.86% of the outstanding common shares of ILC. Should the convertible debenture and warrants held by TNR be exercised, its holdings would be 14,042,390 shares, equivalent to approximately 13.74% of the issued common shares. ILC holds interests in lithium projects in Argentina, Ireland and Canada. ILC has announced that it has activated its JV operations on three continents of Argentina, Canada and Ireland. JV partners of ILC include Ganfeng Lithium (China) and Pioneer Resources (Australia). TNR retains a 1.8% NSR royalty on the Mariana lithium property in Argentina. ILC has a right to repurchase 1.0% of the NSR. On exercise of the repurchase right, TNR would receive $900,000. The project is being advanced in a joint venture between ILC and Ganfeng Lithium Co. Ltd., a leading lithium product manufacturer seeking to secure its raw materials supply. Shotgun Gold project Update TNR provides significant exposure to gold through its 90% holding in the Shotgun gold porphyry project in Alaska. The project is located in South-Western Alaska near the Donlin Gold project. Alaska's attractiveness is rising according to the investment index of the Fraser institute's "Annual Survey of Mining Companies". TNR published a resource estimate on the Shotgun in 2013. TNR reported an inferred resource of 20,734,313 tonnes at 1.06 grams per tonne ("g/t") gold for a total of 705,960 ounces gold ("Au") using a 0.5 g/t Au cut-off grade (news release issued on April 22, 2013 and technical report titled, "Technical Report on the Shotgun Gold Project", dated May 27, 2013 and filed on SEDAR). The Company's strategy with Shogun is to attract a joint venture partner with one of the gold major mining companies. The Company is actively introducing the project to interested parties. ABOUT TNR GOLD CORP. TNR Gold Corp. is working to become an energy metals royalty company. Over the past twenty-two years, TNR, through its lead generator business model, has been successful in generating high quality exploration projects around the globe. With the Company's expertise, resources and industry network, it identified the potential of the Los Azules copper project in Argentina and now holds a 0.36% NSR royalty on the prospect. TNR is also a major shareholder of International Lithium Corp. ("ILC"). After the recent financing the post-closing ownership in ILC by TNR, before conversion of warrants and debentures, is 8,379,890 shares, equivalent to approximately 8.86% of the outstanding common shares of the Company. Should the convertible debenture and warrants held by TNR be exercised, its holdings would be 13,729,890 shares, equivalent to approximately 13.74% of the issued common shares. ILC holds interests in lithium projects in Argentina, Ireland and Canada. TNR retains a 1.8% NSR royalty on the Mariana Lithium property in Argentina. ILC maintains a right to repurchase 1.0% of the NSR royalty on the Mariana Lithium property of which 0.9% relates to the Company's NSR interest. The Company would receive $900,000 on execution of the repurchase. The project is currently being advanced in a joint venture between ILC and Ganfeng Lithium International Co. Ltd. At its core, TNR provides significant exposure to gold, copper and lithium through its holdings in Alaska (the Shotgun gold porphyry project) and Argentina, and is committed to continued generation of in-demand projects, while diversifying its markets and building shareholder value. On behalf of the Board of Directors, Kirill Klip Executive Chairman www.tnrgoldcorp.com For further information concerning this news release please contact +1 604-700-8912 Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Information Except for statements of historical fact, this news release contains certain "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities law. Forward-looking information is frequently characterized by words such as "plan", "expect", "project", "intend", "believe", "anticipate", "estimate", "will", "could" and other similar words, or statements that certain events or conditions "may" or "could" occur, although not all forward-looking statements contain these identifying words. Specifically, forward-looking statements in this news release include, but are not limited to, statements made in relation to: TNR's corporate objectives, changes in share capital, market conditions for energy commodities, the results of McEwen Mining's PEA, and improvements in the financial performance of the Company. Such forward-looking information is based on a number of assumptions and subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties, including but not limited to those discussed in the sections entitled "Risks" and "Forward-Looking Statements" in the Company's interim and annual Management's Discussion and Analysis which are available under the Company's profile on www.sedar.com. While management believes that the assumptions made and reflected in this news release are reasonable, should one or more of the risks, uncertainties or other factors materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described in forward-looking information. In particular, there can be no assurance that: TNR will be repay its loans or complete any further royalty acquisitions or sales; debt or other financing will be available to TNR; or that TNR will be able to achieve any of its corporate objectives. Given these uncertainties, readers are cautioned that forward-looking statements included herein are not guarantees of future performance, and such forward-looking statements should not be unduly relied on. In formulating the forward-looking statements contained herein, management has assumed that business and economic conditions affecting TNR and its royalty partners, McEwen Mining Inc. and International Lithium Corp. or its joint venture partner, Ganfeng Lithium International Co. Ltd. will continue substantially in the ordinary course, including without limitation with respect to general industry conditions, general levels of economic activity and regulations. These assumptions, although considered reasonable by management at the time of preparation, may prove to be incorrect. Forward-looking information herein and all subsequent written and oral forward-looking information are based on estimates and opinions of management on the dates they are made and are expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. Except as required by law, the Company assumes no obligation to update forward-looking information should circumstances or management's estimates or opinions change. Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - February 2, 2018) - GB Minerals Ltd. (TSXV: GBL) (the "Company") is pleased to announce that further to its news releases of December 28, 2017 and January 2, 2018 it has received an additional advance from Itafos in the amount of US$4,500,000 (the "Advance") evidenced by a promissory note that is pre-payable, in whole or in part, at any time, bears interest at a rate of 15% per year and matures on July 31, 2018 (the "Promissory Note"). The Company will use the proceeds of the Advance for expenses and development of its Farim phosphate mineral property and to meet its financial obligations and operational commitments. Itafos is a "related party" to the Company under Multilateral Instrument 61-101 Protection of Minority Security Holders in Special Transactions ("MI 61-101") by virtue of indirectly holding more than 10% of the Company's issued and outstanding share capital. Accordingly, the issuance of the Promissory Note is a "related party transaction" under MI 61-101. The Advance is exempt from (i) the formal valuation requirements under Section 5.4 of MI 61-101 pursuant to Subsection 5.5(b) of MI 61-101; and (ii) the minority approval requirements under Section 5.6 of MI 61-101 pursuant to Subsection 5.7(1)(f) of MI 61-101 as the Advance consists of a loan obtained by GB Minerals from Itafos on reasonable commercial terms that are not less advantageous to GB Minerals than if the loan were obtained from a person dealing at arm's length with GB Minerals and is not convertible into, or repayable in, equity or voting securities of GB Minerals. A material change report with respect to the Advance will be filed less than 21 days prior to the closing of the transaction. This time period is reasonable and necessary in the circumstances as the Company wished to complete the transaction in a timely manner. ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD Luis da Silva President and Chief Executive Officer For further information please contact: Luis da Silva President and Chief Executive Officer Telephone: + 1 (604) 569-0721 Angel Law Chief Financial Officer and Corporate Secretary Telephone: +1 (604) 569-0721 ABOUT GB MINERALS LTD. On September 14, 2015, the Company announced the results of, and filing on SEDAR, of a new feasibility study on its Farim phosphate project entitled "NI 43-101 Technical Report On the Farim Phosphate Project" (the "2015 Feasibility Study"). The Farim phosphate project is located in the northern part of central Guinea-Bissau, West Africa, approximately 25 kilometres south of the Senegal border, approximately 5 kilometres west of the town of Farim and some 120 kilometres northeast of Bissau, the capital of Guinea-Bissau, on a 30.6 km2 mining lease license granted by the Government of Guinea-Bissau to the Company's wholly owned subsidiary, GB Minerals AG, in May 2009. The Company also holds a mining license in relation to the Farim phosphate project. The Farim phosphate project consists of a high grade sedimentary phosphate deposit of one continuous phosphate bed which extends over a known surface area of approximately 40 km2. It is estimated to contain measured and indicated resources of 105.6 million dry tonnes at a grade of 28.4% P 2 O 5 and additional inferred resources of 37.6 million dry tonnes at 27.7% P 2 O 5 . The measured and indicated resources include 44.0 million dry tonnes of reserves based on a 25 year mine plan at 1.75 million tonnes per annum ("mtpa") of mine production at the following run of mine grades: 30.0% P 2 O 5 , 2.6% Al 2 O 3 , 41.0% CaO, 4.7% Fe 2 O 3 , and 10.6% SiO 2 . The phosphate ore will be beneficiated for a final phosphate rock concentrate production of 1.32 mtpa at a 34.0% P 2 O 5 grade at 3% moisture. The 25 year mine plan also assumes a beneficiation process that involves scrubbing (both drum and attrition) followed by particle sizing to remove the fraction under 20 m. This new beneficiation process will result in a 34.0% P 2 O 5 product grade, mass recovery of 75.5% and 78.4% P 2 O 5 recovery confirmed by a pilot scale test on a one tonne sample that took place in May 2015. After passing through the process plant, the final production of phosphate concentrate, based on 1.75 mtpa of run of mine feed, will be 1.32 mtpa. The life of mine operating costs are approximately US$52.13 per tonne of final concentrate. The initial capital cost for the project is estimated at US$193.8 million and does not include owner's costs which amount to US$11 million and include items such as project insurance, resettlement and owner's team costs. Owner's costs have been included in the financial analysis. For additional information, please visit us at www.gbminerals.com. QUALIFIED PERSON The Company's Qualified Person is Dan Markovic, P. Eng., who has reviewed and approves this press release. FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS Certain information in this news release relating to the Company is forward-looking and related to anticipated events and strategies. When used in this context, words such as "will", "anticipate", "believe", "plan", "intend", "target" and "expect" or similar words suggest future outcomes. Forward-looking information contained in this press release includes, but may not be limited to, the use of the proceeds of the Advance, the business plans, statements or information relating to the anticipated development activities of the Company, the Farim phosphate project (including the quantity and quality of mineral resource and mineral reserve estimates), the potential to upgrade inferred mineral resources, the ability of the Company to develop the Farim phosphate project into a commercially viable mine and the proposed new plans relating thereto regarding operations and mine design, estimates relating to tonnage, grades, recovery rates, future phosphate production, future cash flows, life of mine estimates, expectations regarding production and estimates of capital and operating costs. By their nature, such statements are subject to significant risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results or events to differ materially from current expectations. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking information as actual results could differ materially from the plans, expectations, estimates or intentions expressed in the forward-looking information. Forward-looking information speaks only as of the date on which it is made and, except as may be required by applicable law, the Company disclaims any obligation to update or modify such forward-looking information, either as a result of new information, future events or for any other reason. Disclosure herein of exploration information and of mineral resources and mineral reserves is derived from the 2015 Feasibility Study. Information relating to "mineral resources" and "mineral reserves" is deemed to be forward-looking information as it involves the implied assessment based on certain estimates and assumptions that the mineral resources and mineral reserves can be profitable in the future. Such estimates are expressions of judgment based on knowledge, mining experience, analysis of drilling results and industry practices. Valid estimates made at a given time may significantly change when new information becomes available. By their nature, mineral resource and mineral reserve estimates are imprecise and depend, to a certain extent, upon statistical inferences which may ultimately prove unreliable. If such estimates are inaccurate or are reduced in the future, this could have a material adverse impact on the Company. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. Mineral resources that are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. Due to the uncertainty that may be attached to inferred mineral resources, it cannot be assumed that all or any part of an inferred mineral resource will be upgraded to an indicated or measured mineral resource as a result of continued exploration. NEITHER THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER (AS THAT TERM IS DEFINED IN THE POLICIES OF THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE) ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit. IN RE: OHIO EXECUTION PROTOCOL LITIGATION. Alva E. Campbell, Jr.; Raymond Tibbetts, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. John Kasich, et al., Defendants-Appellees. No. 17-4221 Decided: February 01, 2018 Before: BATCHELDER, ROGERS, and THAPAR, Circuit Judges. ARGUED: Erin G. Barnhart, OFFICE OF THE FEDERAL PUBLIC DEFENDER FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF OHIO, Columbus, Ohio, for Appellants. Peter T. Reed, OFFICE OF THE OHIO ATTORNEY GENERAL, Columbus, Ohio, for Appellees. ON BRIEF: Erin G. Barnhart, Allen L. Bohnert, David C. Stebbins, Adam M. Rusnak, Carol A. Wright, OFFICE OF THE FEDERAL PUBLIC DEFENDER FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF OHIO, Columbus, Ohio, James A. King, PORTER, WRIGHT, MORRIS & ARTHUR LLP, Columbus, Ohio, for Appellants. Peter T. Reed, Eric E. Murphy, Michael J. Hendershot, Hannah C. Wilson, Jocelyn K. Lowe, Zoe A. Saadey, Charles L. Wille, OFFICE OF THE OHIO ATTORNEY GENERAL, Columbus, Ohio, for Appellees. OPINION Two death-row inmates, Raymond Tibbetts and Alva Campbell, moved to enjoin their pending executions, claiming that Ohio's midazolam-based, three-drug execution protocol presents a constitutionally unacceptable risk of pain and suffering. The district court considered the proffered evidence, determined that the inmates had not met their burden, and denied the requested injunctions. We AFFIRM. To obtain a preliminary injunction, a plaintiff must meet a four-factor test, Glossip v. Gross, U.S. , 135 S.Ct. 2726, 2736-37, 192 L.Ed.2d 761 (2015), though the likelihood of success on the merits factor is determinative here. The merits determination in this case is based on a two-part test in which Tibbetts and Campbell must first show that Ohio's execution protocol presents a risk that is sure or very likely to cause serious pain and needless suffering. In re Ohio Execution Protocol (Fears v. Morgan), 860 F.3d 881, 886 (6th Cir. 2017) (en banc), cert. denied, U.S. , 137 S.Ct. 2238, 198 L.Ed.2d 761 (2017) (quotation marks and citations omitted). If they can satisfy that first part, they must also prove that an alternative method of execution is available, feasible, and can be readily implemented, among other things. Id. at 890 (citing Glossip, 135 S.Ct. at 2737 (quotation marks omitted)). [P]risoners cannot successfully challenge a State's method of execution merely by showing a slightly or marginally safer alternative[;] [they] must identify an alternative that is feasible, readily implemented, and in fact significantly reduces a substantial risk of severe pain. Glossip, 135 S.Ct. at 2737 (quotation marks, editorial marks, and citation omitted). Because this appeal arises from the Fears remand, we can begin by recognizing that the Fears plaintiffs (which included Tibbetts but not Campbell) had shown some risk that Ohio's execution protocol may cause some degree of pain, at least in some people, though Fears noted that some risk of pain is inherent in any method of execution[,] no matter how humane[,] [a]nd the Constitution does not guarantee a pain-free execution. Fears, 860 F.3d at 890 (quotation marks and citation omitted). But in Fears we held that the plaintiffs had fallen well short of proving a risk that Ohio's execution protocol is sure or very likely to cause serious pain and needless suffering and they, therefore, failed to demonstrate a likelihood of success on their claims. Id. at 890, 892. Facing this new motion after remand, the district court considered whether Tibbetts and Campbell had added sufficient evidence to reach the level of certainty of sure or very likely, which the Fears plaintiffs had failed to meet. See In re Ohio Execution Protocol (Campbell), No. 2:11-CV-1016, 2017 WL 5020138, at *12 (S.D. Ohio Nov. 3, 2017). After carefully recounting their new evidence, the court concluded that they had not. The court also evaluated their proposed alternative method of execution and found that it was lacking. The court denied the motion. In this appeal, Tibbetts and Campbell claim that the serious pain and needless suffering at issue in the Fears standard includes psychological pain and suffering, but that the district court permit[ted] relief only in cases of severe physical pain and refused to consider the significant evidence of mental and psychological suffering. To be clear, in that part of its opinion the district court was considering psychological pain unaccompanied by physical pain, and explained: Psychological pain or mental suffering is a likely result of being sentenced to death and anticipating the execution, but that experience of psychological suffering could not by itself make a method of execution unconstitutional. Presumably all death row inmates suffer that pain, but the death penalty is not per se unconstitutional. Unless accompanied by serious physical pain, the mental suffering associated with being under a sentence of death is not material to the Eighth Amendment inquiry under Baze and Glossip.[1] It is not clear to this Court how a plaintiff could segregate anxiety from anticipated execution in general from anxiety about execution by a particular method. In any event, no evidence was offered to support a claim that either Campbell or Tibbetts suffers particular psychological pain associated with the Execution Protocol. Campbell, 2017 WL 5020138, at *9 (citations omitted). We agree with this assessment and find that Tibbetts and Campbell do not actually contest it. Instead, they urge us to consider psychological pain accompanied by at least some physical pain, arguing that: This suffering is not mere generalized anxiety in the face of impending death; it is the specific and acute suffering arising from the choking attendant to the administration of Ohio's Execution Protocol [due] to an inmate['s] [being] insufficiently rendered unconscious, unaware, and insensate to pain. So Tibbetts and Campbell are not urging us to consider some type of separate psychological pain. They urge us to consider more pain: physical and psychological. Recall that Tibbetts and Campbell must prove that Ohio's protocol presents a risk that is sure or very likely to cause serious pain and needless suffering. Fears, 860 F.3d at 886. More importantly, we accepted in Fears that the protocol's second and third drugs would cause severe pain to a person who is fully conscious, id. We did not hold, or even suggest, that there was a need to prove any more pain (or suffering); the physical pain alone was already serious enough. Rather, the relevant question was whether the plaintiffs met their heavy burden to show that an inmate who receives a 500-milligram dose of midazolam is sure or very likely to be conscious enough to experience serious pain from the second and third drugs in the protocol. Id. (quotation marks and citations omitted). The relevant question now, as it was then, concerns the likelihood that the inmate is conscious enough to experience that serious pain, whether physical or psychological. Tibbetts and Campbell's claim that the possible pain is far more (and more serious) than previously anticipated is immaterial, given that we had already accepted that the physical pain alone was sufficiently serious. That they anticipate more pain does not mean that they are sure or very likely to be conscious, such that they would even feel that pain. The question that nevertheless remains is whether Tibbetts and Campbell met their heavy burden to show that an inmate who receives a 500-milligram dose of midazolam is sure or very likely to be conscious enough, Fears, 860 F.3d at 886. Tibbetts and Campbell contend that they can prove this level of certainty (that an inmate who receives a 500-milligram dose of midazolam is sure or very likely to be conscious enough) by showing uncertainty, and argue: Of course, to show that a method is very likely to not protect an inmate from pain, inmates could point to enough uncertainty as to midazolam's effectiveness to add up to that very likely level of risk. If this were correct, it would mean that Ohio must produce enough proof of midazolam's effectiveness to overcome their assertions of uncertainty as to midazolam's effectiveness. That is, they would have us reverse the burden of proof set out in Fears, which we cannot do. Regardless, Tibbetts and Campbell argue that they did, in fact, prove their claim and the district court was mistaken in finding that they did not. We review such findings of fact for clear error, by which we may reverse only if the evidence, taken from the entire record, produces a definite and firm conviction that the district court was mistaken. Fears, 860 F.3d at 896 (quotation marks and citation omitted). Even if we were to find an appellant's version of the facts more persuasive, we could not reverse under this standard, as it is expressly not enough that we would have decided the case differently. Id. (quotation marks and citations omitted). Tibbetts and Campbell's theory is that if an inmate given only midazolam can feel any pain, then they will feel all the pain from the second and third drugs, which are known to be excruciatingly painful and deeply psychologically traumatic. Relying on this theory, they argue that they proved three key facts: (1) that midazolam[ ] is incapable of rendering an inmate impervious to this painor to ameliorate it or diminish it even slightly; (2) that even if midazolam could induce such a state, the haste with which Ohio administers the paralytic [second drug] [makes it] impossible for midazolam to have reached full effectiveness before the painful second and third drugs are administered, regardless of the massive dose [of midazolam] that Ohio uses; and (3) that the empirical evidence shows that inmates are feeling pain in spite of the midazolam, as proven by witness accounts of Gary Otte's struggle to breathe (air hunger) and tears, and Torrey McNabb's body movements, such as raising his arm, contorting his face, and turning his head. With regard to the third point, the district court did not agree that these involuntary bodily responses (i.e., air hunger, tears, and movement) necessarily proved that the inmates were feeling serious pain in spite of the midazolam. Campbell, 2017 WL 5020138, at *14-16. Note that, despite recognizing that these witness accounts were not beyond dispute and were subject to some observer bias, id. at *15, the court analyzed the claim on the premise that these bodily responses occurred as described, i.e., that Otte struggled to breathe and had tears, and that McNabb moved his arm and head. But the court did not agree with the meaning that Tibbetts and Campbell attributed to these responses. Regarding Otte's struggle to breathe, the court found that [t]hese observations were consistent with [testimony] heard in January, id., which Fears, 860 F.3d at 889-90, held to be insufficient to prove the claim. Similarly, the court found the testimony about McNabb's movements to be essentially cumulative of the testimony from the prior hearings and, therefore, insufficient pursuant to Fears. And regarding Otte's tears, the court said: It is of course a commonplace of human experience that people cry when they are in physical pain, but they also cry for many other reasons. Plaintiffs were careful to elicit testimony from eyewitnesses that they did not see Mr. Otte cry during his last statement, hymn, and prayer. But there was no scientific evidence to tie the tear production to the experience of severe pain. Campbell, 2017 WL 5020138, at *16. While their experts opine[d] that Mr. Otte would not have been tearing if he were under General Anesthesia, id., the Eighth Amendment does not require General Anesthesia before an execution, id. at *17; Fears, 860 F.3d at 890. This leads back to Tibbetts and Campbell's first asserted factthat midazolam does not protect against the serious pain of the second and third drugs. This was already well-worn ground as we had rejected this claim based on the evidence produced in Fears, 860 F.3d at 887 (holding that evidence insufficient to show that a 500-milligram dose of midazolam is very likely to leave an inmate conscious enough to feel serious pain), and the Supreme Court had held that the fact that a low dose of midazolam is not the best drug for maintaining unconsciousness during surgery says little about whether a 500-milligram dose of midazolam is constitutionally adequate for purposes of conducting an execution, Glossip, 135 S.Ct. at 2742. The district court framed the question now before [it] [a]s whether Campbell and Tibbetts have added sufficient evidence to the case to now show the Execution Protocol is sure or very likely to cause them severe pain and needless suffering. Campbell, 2017 WL 5020138, at *12. As mentioned, Tibbetts and Campbell's experts opined that midazolam is not capable of producing General Anesthesia, [which is] defined as that state of human consciousness in which the subject is unconscious, unaware, and insensate to pain, meaning that an inmate given that drug is not completely insensate to pain. Id. But, as the court explained later, the fact that [an inmate] was not insensate to pain does not prove he was experiencing pain or what level of pain he was experiencing. Id. at *16. More importantly, General Anesthesia, particularly in the sense of rendering a subject completely insensate to pain, is not constitutionally required. Id. at *18. These experts offered no new evidence to overcome the prior rejections of this approach. Tibbetts and Campbell's expert pharmacologist testified that midazolam has no analgesic (painkilling) properties. Id. at *17. But this expert acknowledged that his opinion disagreed with that of the State's expert and also acknowledged on cross-examination that there are no clinical studies of the effects of midazolam in doses anywhere near the 500 mg Ohio uses; that dose is so far above any clinical dose ever used that experimentation with such doses would be unethical. Id. at *12. The court found the evidence insufficient to support the contention: [T]he dose of midazolam in use here, a multiple of the highest recommended clinical dose, appears to be sufficient to suppress consciousness to the extent that an inmate will not respond to the consciousness checks used by emergency medical technicians and used by Ohio, most recently on Mr. Otte. There is literature to which [the expert pharmacologist] testified that shows a rank ordering of responses to such consciousness checks (i.e., some will elicit responses that others would not elicit). Ultimately, however, the presented science does not prove conclusively the inference Plaintiffs' experts drew that it was certain or very likely Mr. Otte experienced serious or severe pain. Id. at *17 (footnote omitted). To summarize: because Tibbetts and Campbell could produce no scientific evidence about the unseen effects of a 500-mg dose of midazolam, they could only speculate but could not prove that its use is sure or very likely to fail to prevent serious pain, and hence, they could not prove that its use presents a risk that the protocol as a whole is sure or very likely to cause serious pain. Finally, Tibbetts and Campbell insist that even if the 500-mg dose of midazolam would render the inmate insensate to serious pain, Ohio administers the painful second drug before the midazolam has sufficient time to take effect. The court explained that, while the scientific documentation reports that midazolam takes effect within minutes, regardless of dose, id. at *13, the Ohio protocol does not operate on strict time frame; it operates on consciousness checks. The court then cited four prior iterations of this case in which it had rejected plaintiffs' claims that the consciousness checks were inadequate, and repeated that attempting to regulate those checks would involve the Court in micromanagement of the execution process. Id. at *18. We agree with this determination and find that, as with the prior claim, Tibbetts and Campbell's inability to produce scientific evidence about the unseen effects of a 500-mg dose of midazolam leave them unable to prove that the execution protocol as a whole is sure or very likely to cause serious pain. Tibbetts and Campbell have not shown that the district court's findings were mistaken, let alone proven that the district court committed clear error in deciding that they had failed to satisfy the first part of the test. Even if Tibbetts and Campbell could prevail on the first part of the test by proving the risk of serious pain and needless suffering, they must still satisfy the second part, which is to identify an available, feasible, and readily implemented alternative that will significantly reduce that risk. Glossip, 135 S.Ct. at 2737; Fears, 860 F.3d at 890. Tibbetts and Campbell proposed a two-part alternative that would involve (1) omitting the paralytic second drug and (2) using additional medical monitoringblood pressure, heart rate, EKG, EEG, and bispectral index (BIS) measurementsto determine, before administering potassium chloride, the painful third drug, whether the midazolam had rendered the inmate sufficiently insensate to serious pain. Fatal to this alternative is that it contradicts their argument with respect to the first part of the Glossip and Fears test. This proposed alternative would be viable only if, in fact, midazolam actually protects the inmate from feeling the serious pain caused by the potassium chloride. More to the point, this alternative would be viable only if Tibbetts and Campbell are wrong about their claims that midazolam does not work. If midazolam works, then this is just an example of a slightly or marginally safer alternative the Court expressly denounced in Glossip, 135 S.Ct. at 2737. But if Tibbetts and Campbell were correct that midazolam would not protect them from feeling serious painas would have been necessary for them to prevail on the first part of the testthen this alternative method of execution would do nothing to reduce the risk of serious pain and needless suffering that was established in the first part, but would instead ensure it. This led the district court to comment that [i]t is difficult to credit this proposal as being in good faith. Campbell, 2017 WL 5020138, at *23. As the State points out in its brief, this is not actually an alternative method of execution, it is an additional harness on the current method. Beyond this conceptual problem with this proposal, the district court actually rejected it because Tibbetts and Campbell had failed to support it, explaining, for example, that: The Court had expected a good deal more testimony on the use of monitoring devices and particularly on interpretation of their output by persons not members of the medical professions. Although [their experts] testified about the standard, indeed professionally required, use of such devices in a clinical setting, neither testified that the results of using those devices could be readily interpreted by an EMT or anyone else not prohibited ethically from participating in executions. Id. at *22 (footnote omitted). Tibbetts and Campbell argue here, with some citation to select testimony, that the proposed monitoring devices are not difficult to use, that even a person with no medical experience could be taught easily to operate and read them, and that they often involve little more than reading a number from a display. But Tibbetts and Campbell have not produced evidence to show, at a minimum, that non-medical personnel could necessarily be trained to: interpret and apply the cumulative readings from all of those devices, including inconsistent or contradictory readings; troubleshoot or adjust for varying conditions or circumstances; apply the readings in the execution setting; or determine from all of this that the inmate is sufficiently unconscious that he would not feel serious pain or needless suffering, even if he would feel some (constitutionally acceptable) pain. Tibbetts and Campbell bore the burden of proof on this issue and they have produced nothing on appeal to convince us that that the district court was mistaken, let alone prove to us that the district court committed clear error in deciding that they failed to satisfy this second part of the test. For all of the foregoing reasons, we AFFIRM the judgment of the district court. FOOTNOTES . Baze v. Rees, 553 U.S. 35, 128 S.Ct. 1520, 170 L.Ed.2d 420 (2008); Glossip v. Gross, U.S. , 135 S.Ct. 2726, 192 L.Ed.2d 761 (2015). . Ohio's eyewitnesses differed in their observations of Mr. Otte's breathing, id. at *15, and ODRC staff who were present saw one tear or maybe only a wetness' or moisture at the corner of the left eye. id. at *16. . The district court also addressed the fact that Otte's struggle to breathe may have been due to or affected by his morbid obesity, which would have warranted a medical accommodation if it had been requested. Such an accommodation (a wedge-shaped pillow to elevate the body) has been offered to Campbell, thereby disproving any claim that Ohio's protocol includes a prohibition on or refusal to make reasonable accommodations. ALICE M. BATCHELDER, Circuit Judge. Crepeaffaire, a UK multi-site creperie brand, secured an over 2m investment from Business Growth Fund. BGF has become a long-term, minority investor in the business. The company intends to use the funds to accelerate its new site rollout across the UK and internationally. Set up in 2008 by chief executive Daniel Spinath, Crepeaffaire provides an all-day offering, serving sweet and savoury crepes, waffles, coffees and smoothies for food-to-go and sit in customers. It operates 10 company owned sites and has a growing franchise in the Middle East. Starting from a single London site, the quick service group has opened new sites across London and other parts of the UK, including Birmingham, Newcastle, Leeds and most recently Chester. The business generated more than 5m in revenue in 2017, with system sales approaching the 10m mark. Earlier this year, Crepeaffaire appointed Andrew Guy as non-executive Chairman to support the groups expansion plans. FinSMEs 02/02/2018 Flagship Pioneering, a Cambridge, MA-based life sciences innovation enterprise, appointed two new partners. They are Rob Rosiello, executive partner and chief operating officer, and Jason Pontin, senior partner and chief editor. Rob Rosiello will be involved in all aspects of Flagships processes for originating and developing new companies. He will also play an important role in Flagships strategic planning, talent acquisition and development, and growth management initiatives. In addition, Rosiello will provide operating and strategic support to key Flagship companies. He joins the firm after a long tenure at McKinsey & Company, where he was a senior partner emeritus. For more than 30 years, Rosiello advised the CEOs and boards of health care, technology, and consumer companies on corporate strategy, M&A, and improved business unit performance. He has worked in McKinseys Cleveland, London, New York, and Stamford offices and was also a member of McKinseys Partner and Senior Partner Review Committees, as well as the Partner Compensation and Client Risk Committees. Rosiello has also served as EVP and CFO of Valeant Pharmaceuticals. Jason Pontin joins Flagship as senior partner and chief editor. In this role, he will lead strategic communications for both Flagship Pioneering and the enterprises ecosystem of pioneering ventures, originate and develop new companies, and help develop the enterprises strategy for expanding its domains of innovation. As the framer of Flagships narrative and an architect of the value creation plan for each VentureLabs company, Pontin is also the point of connection between Flagships ecosystem and governments, NGOs, academia, foundations, and industry. From 2004 to 2017, he was CEO, editor-in-chief, and publisher of MIT Technology Review. Pontin has written for The New York Times, The Economist, The Financial Times, and Wired. Before joining MIT Technology Review, he was the editor of Red Herring, a business magazine popular during the dot.com boom. At MIT, Jason was the founder and curator of Solve, MITs open innovation platform, and the chairman of the MIT Enterprise Forum, the Institutes global community of entrepreneurs; and he reorganized MITs news and communications as a senior advisor to President Susan Hockfield. Led by Noubar Afeyan, Ph.D., founder and chief executive officer, Flagship Pioneering conceives, creates, resources, and develops first-in-category life sciences companies. Its institutional innovation foundry, Flagship VentureLabs, systematically evolves enterprising ideas into new fields or previously undiscovered areas of science into real-world inventions and ventures. Since its launch in 2000, the firm has applied its hypothesis-driven innovation process to originate and foster more than 100 scientific ventures, resulting in over $20 billion in aggregate value, thousands of patents, and more than 60 clinical programs for novel therapeutic agents. FinSMEs 02/02/2018 Talmundo, a The Hague, The Netherlands-based HR startup, completed 1.3M funding round. The round was led by TIIN Capital with participation from some angel investors. The company intends to use the funds to ill strengthen its position in its home markets as well as in the UK and France and further invest in product development such as AI. Led by Belgian CEO Stijn De Groef, Talmundo provides an onboarding app, a mobile-friendly cloud software which creates a pre-boarding and onboarding experience for new hires by keeping key HR metrics like retention, productivity and employee engagement in mind. The company works with multinationals like Deloitte, Bacardi, ArcelorMittal, KPMG, BNP Paribas Fortis, Sodexo, Engie, SAS, Swisscom and Coty, which have onboarded more than 26,000 new hires. FinSMEs 02/02/2018 By taking a lower cost as the baseline for computing minimum support price, the government is resorting to sleight of hand, moreover one that most farmers are unlikely to miss. On the 2014 campaign trail Prime Minister Narendra Modi promised farmers that he would implement the recommendation of the M.S. Swaminathan committee on minimum support price (MSP), namely to pay 50 percent over the cost of production of growing crops incurred by farmers. That promise was seemingly met on Thursday by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in his Budget 2018-19 speech. But hold on, there is more to this than meets the eye. When it comes to cultivation there are two definitions of cost. The Agriculture Ministry calls them A2+FL and C2 and defines them this: Cost A2 "insides all actual expenses in cash and kind incurred in production by owner and rent paid for leased in land". FL is family labour. Cost C2 "includes all actual expenses in cash and kind incurred in production by owner, interest on value of owned fixed capital assets (including land), rental value of owned land (net of land revenue), rent paid for leased in land and imputed value of fixed capital assets". Shorn of jargon, A2 is the paid out costs on inputs such as seeds, fertilisers, pesticides and other inputs plus rent on leased land. C2 includes A2 costs plus the rent that a farmer would have charged by renting out his assets (plough, tractor, threshing shed etc) to another farmer. It also includes 'managerial cost': the imputed value of the time spent on farm management (planning when to cultivate, going to the market to purchase inputs, time spent planning and executing marketing activities post harvest). C2 is a higher cost of production/cultivation than A2 or even A2+FL. The difficulty is that these are imputed values which rely on the concept of revenue foregone, or opportunity cost as it is called in economics. If a farmer owns a tractor, he could either use it himself or rent it out. If the former, then his capital asset is not yielding any revenue to him. Put another way, livestock breeding is an important stream of non-farm revenue. The milk from cows and buffaloes yields income and when they grow old they are sold to abbatoirs. However, with the rise of Gau rakshaks, cows have virtually become a useless asset. They cannot be transported or sold for fear of attracting the wrath of the cow protectors. The farmer has to spend money on the cow, but the revenue it generates has diminished significantly. Below is a cost list picked at random from 'Agricultural Statistics at a Glance 2016' an Agriculture Ministry document Cost of cultivation (Rs/hactare) in 2013-14 Crop State A2+FL C2 Paddy Andhra Pradesh 46,781 72,087 Madhya Pradesh 24,626 39,698 Tamil Nadu 55,479 71,512 Wheat Punjab 30,220 54,846 Haryana 34,596 60,357 Maize Karnataka 31,683 43,542 Arhar Uttar Pradesh 22,398 41,944 In each case, the A2+FL price is lower than C2. Though these are the values for cost of cultivation, the values for cost of production will also exhibit the same tendency. M.S. Swaminathan and all farmer organisations in India wanted the MSP to be fixed at 50 percent above C2 cost. However, the Modi government, aided by the NITI Aayog, has chosen to benchmark it to A2+FL. The rationale of the government is that since land rent is already included in A2 there is no need to take C2 into consideration. However, cost is calculated as an average value. In Telangana for instance, the cost of production is taken from 90 locations across the state and computed as a simple average. This method ensures that some farmers get a lower remuneration and some get a higher one. Moreover, the managerial cost, which should be computed as part of C2, could be fixed at 10 percent of the total cost of production. By taking a lower cost as the baseline for computing MSP, the government is resorting to sleight of hand, moreover one that most farmers are unlikely to miss. Fiddling with MSP was probably the only sop the government had in its arsenal in a pre-election year because doubling of farmers income is too intangible and the government itself seems unsure how to do this. The fine print will have to be read before reaching any definite conclusions about where the farmer vote is headed next year. Click here for full coverage of Union Budget 2018. (The writer tweets @DharaShukoh) Former prime minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday said it is not possible to double farmers' income by 2022 until the agricultural growth is 12 percent. New Delhi: Former prime minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday said it is not possible to double farmers' income by 2022 until the agricultural growth is 12 percent. "The government says farmers' income will be doubled by 2022. But it's not possible until the agricultural growth is 12 percent. Until we achieve that ... It is just a hollow assurance," Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad quoted Singh as saying after a meeting of Opposition parties in New Delhi. "The fiscal deficit seems to have increased," the former prime minister said. Earlier in the day, Singh said it was to be seen how the government would fulfill its promises. "I do not think I can blame the budget for being motivated by scoring points in elections, but what worries me is that the fiscal arithmetic is at fault," he told NDTV. When questioned if the budget was reform-oriented, the former prime minister said the word reform has been used and abused too many times. "I dont want to comment on it," he said, asking whether the farm crisis is a thing of the past and if not, what is the strategy to deal with it. Centre presented its last full Budget before the Lok Sabha Elections next year. Expectations were understandably high as in the election year budgets are usually loaded with sops and freebies for all classes and there is an inkling of tax relief for the salaried middle class on the horizon. On Thursday, the Narendra Modi government presented its last full Budget before the Lok Sabha Elections next year. Expectations were understandably high as in the election year budgets are usually loaded with sops and freebies for all classes and there is an inkling of tax relief for the salaried middle class on the horizon. However, Union Budget 2018 was, largely, an exercise in nothing re-iteration of old schemes, cosmetic announcements and a lack of vision. But more importantly, the state of Delhi continued to be marginalised in the budgeting exercise, much like previous years. This neglect is significant because the Centre controls and runs a majority of governance functions in Delhi through the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) handling key areas like police, law and order, land, urban local bodies (MCD) and allied items. The treatment meted out to Delhi in the 2018-19 Union Budget rankles and is distressing, to say the least: Delhi fails to get its adequate share in central taxes and duties Union Budget 2001-02 allocated Delhi Rs 335 crore as its share in Central Taxes and Duties while Union Budget 2018-19 allocated Delhi Rs 325 crores a marked stagnancy during the past two decades. On the contrary, during this period, Delhi government's budget has increased by 450 percent from Rs 8,739 crores to Rs 48,000 crores with a corresponding increase in tax collection from Rs 4,400 crores to Rs 48,000 crores, a jump of 991 percent a clear reflection of the aspirations of a rapidly growing capital city. It is startling, then, that there has been no commensurate increase in Delhis share in Union Taxes, given the fact that Delhi has a decadal population growth rate averaging almost 50 percent and is the nerve centre of trade, commerce and tourism in North India. Additionally, the 14th Finance Commission in February 2015, recommended that the share of all states in the Union tax revenues should increase from 32 percent to 42 percent a substantial jump in the devolution of funds from Centre to state and a major boost to federalism and autonomy. However, Delhi was not considered for this increase on the pretext of being a Union Territory (UT). This is an anomaly that the present day BJP-led government has been remiss in correcting, for Delhi, unlike other UTs, has its own budget and all its undertakings and transactions are fulfilled from its own resources similar to full states. Central Assistance to Delhi fairs poorly compared to Puducherry The Union Budget defines Delhi and Puducherry as the only two Union Territories with legislatures. It is, thus, instructive to compare total central assistance, for the past three years, for both against key demographic metrics: A perfunctory analysis of the above data betrays the fact that Delhi has been given a lesser assistance (Rs 790 crore) compared to Puducherry (Rs 1,476 crore), even when Puducherry is a significantly smaller with low levels of population compared to the sprawling metropolis that is Delhi. Union Budget fails to protect Delhis Women and Children Delhi, where law and order and the Delhi Police come directly under the jurisdiction of the Centre and not the state, witnessed yet another appalling crime when just three days ago, an eight-month-old baby was raped and is currently fighting for her life. As per Delhi Police data, the number of rapes reported each year in Delhi, has registered an increase of almost 277 percent from 572 in 2011 (when the Jyoti Singh incident happened) to 2,155 incidents in 2016. That's not all. As per NCRB data, even though the average rate of crimes reported per 100,000 children in India is 21.1, Delhi reported a staggering 169.4 cases per 100,000 children. It is then surprising that the Centre saw it fit not to allocate separate monies for women and child protection in Delhi. A look at this year's budgetary estimates for the Ministry of Women and Child Development reveals that the funds for bodies like NCW, NCPCR have stagnated for the past few years. Also, there has been no increase in or structural reformation of the Nirbhaya Fund. Even Delhi Polices budgetary allocation sees a mere jump of 6 percent (from Rs 6,553 crore in 2017-18 to Rs 6,946 crore in 2018-19) at a time when Delhi Police is in crying need for urgent reforms like sprucing up of Delhi's traffic management and intensive capacity building. No concrete steps for resolving Delhis air pollution problem Apart from a passing mention in the budget speech that a special scheme will be implemented by the Centre to address the problem of Air Pollution and Stubble Burning in the Indo-Gangetic Plains, there is no budgetary allocation or concrete timeline of the same in the Demand for Grants. Also missing is a special package as demanded by the Delhi government for purchasing 2,000 electric buses to alleviate Delhis pollution problem. Paltry provision for protection from natural calamities For the past three years, the Union Budget has allocated a meagre Rs 5 crore to the Disaster Response Fund for Delhi which enables Delhi to meet any exigency, in case of natural calamities, without waiting for approvals from the Centre. However, most of the governments at the Centre have kept the allocation for disaster relief and response astonishingly low and static when one considers the fact that Delhi is located in Zone IV which portends a dangerously high chance of seismic activities and earthquakes. Centre's cold shoulder to Delhi continues Delhi government has not been provided any extra funds for the Urban Local Bodies (MCD) which are suffering from severe financial crisis and have not been able to pay salaries of sanitation workers for months together. This and an abject absence of any impetus to the Delhi government for important infrastructure projects makes this years Union Budget a party pooper for Delhi. The author works with the AAP and the Delhi government on key issues. He tweets @pranavj142 The Bombay High Court on Friday refused to grant any interim protection from arrest to Milind Ekbote, a key accused in the case related to the 1 January violence Mumbai: The Bombay High Court on Friday refused to grant any interim protection from arrest to Milind Ekbote, a key accused in the case related to the 1 January violence at Bhima-Koregaon in Pune district. A bench of justices SC Dharamadhikari and Bharati Dangre rejected Ekbote's argument that a sessions court in Pune had erred in rejecting his anticipatory bail plea last month. The bench instead said that the Pune court's observations made against the right-wing leader in rejecting his plea, could not be ignored. Ekbote, who heads a trust called the Samast Hindu Aghadi, has been booked by the Pune Police in three separate FIRs for inciting violence under the Indian Penal Code, and sections of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. He had approached the high court after the Pune court refused to grant him any relief. In his plea in the high court, Ekbote had argued that the police erred in filing charges against him since he was not present at the site of the incident. Therefore, there existed no question of him having incited any violence, or committed any act of atrocity, he had said. Ekbote had contended that the ground situation in the area had been "simmering" for about 10 days prior to the 1 January violence. "However, it was a failure of intelligence on part of the authorities since they could not assess that the situation will get so bad," the right-wing leader had said. He had also said the events preceding the violence at Bhima-Koregaon, particularly the Elgar Parishad event where JNU student leader Umar Khalid and Gujarat MLA Jignesh Mevani gave speeches, were the real cause of the violence which had caste overtones. "Khalid and Mevani made provocative speeches," he had alleged. The Maharashtra government, however, had told the court that the police had evidence that on 30 December (just ahead of the violence), Ekbote was present at a hotel about 4 kilometer away from Bhima-Koregaon. His call data records (CDR) showed he had been in contact with several other accused persons in the case, they had said. Ekbote had 17 previous cases of atrocities registered against him, the prosecution said, adding public property worth Rs 9 crore was vandalised during the violence. Ekbote, however, argued he had been planning to go to Bhima-Koregaon on 30 December to "appeal to the public to maintain peace". "However, the police advised me against going there and so I stopped at a hotel about 4 kilometer away. I held a press conference there and distributed a press note which was in no way provocative," he said. Ekbote also said that the mere fact that he had been in touch with four of the 49 people (charged under SC/ST Act) was not adequate evidence against him. The bench, however, observed since the police were still in the process of collecting evidence, the court need not comment on the relevance of the CDR at the present stage. "The probe is still on. The police is still recording statements of victims and collecting evidence. "Therefore, it will be totally unsafe to express any opinion on the evidence and also on the complicity, even prima facie, of the appellant (Ekbote)," the bench observed. "We, however, can not ignore the averments made by the trial court (in Pune) against the appellant. Therefore, we find no merit in this plea and are inclined to reject it," it said. The bench also observed that the entire incident could have been avoided if the local leaders as well as the general public had "shown some discipline". One person was killed and several others were injured in the violence which erupted after right-wing outfits opposed the 200th anniversary celebration of the Bhima-Koregaon battle, in which forces of the East India Company defeated Peshwa's army. People belonging to the Mahar community among Dalits had fought for the British, while the Peshwas were Brahmins. Dalit groups celebrate the victory as a symbol of their resurgence. The BMC will present its Budget for the year 2018-19 on Friday, a day after finance minister Arun Jaitley presented the Union budget Auto refresh feeds BMC chief Ajoy Mehta has begun the presentation of the civic body's budget for 2018-19. The BMC has presented a budget of Rs 27,258 crore this year. This amounts to an increase of 8.42 percent from the previous financial year. This is the first budget of India's richest civic body after the rollout of the Goods and Services Tax. This is crucial as octroi, which was abolished after GST came into force, was a major source of income for civic bodies. The revenue expenses for 2017-18 were Rs 15,866 crore. This figure was 1.18 percent lower than financial year 2016-17 Ajoy Mehta has not announced any tax increase in this year's budget. The BMC is to receive aid as GST reimbursement from the Centre and state to the tune of Rs 8,401 crore. The coastal road project, which is expected to significantly ease travel from south Mumbai to the northern suburbs, has been allocated a sum of Rs 1,500 crore in 2017-18. The BMC has allocated an amount of Rs 2569.35 crore for education in 2018-19. This is an increase of Rs 257 crore from the previous financial year. The BMC has allocated a sum of Rs 180 crore for fire safety. This comes a month after the fire at the Kamala Mills compound in Lower Parel. The Mumbai civic body proposes to install 381 sanitary napkin vending machines in schools, BMC chief Ajoy Mehta announced. BMC to set up sanitary napkin vending machines in schools The Mumbai civic body plans to deploy floating trash brooms to stop floating garbage from the sea. These will be installed at Dahisar, Poisar, Oshiwara and the Mithi river. Ajoy Mehta said this will prevent beaches from being littered with garbage. BMC plans to use floating trash brooms to stop floating garbage from sea "It gives me great pride to state that 97 female fire brigade officers have completed their training, and will join the service soon," BMC chief Ajoy Mehta said. The BMC has allocated Rs 11.69 crore for disaster management in 2018-19. The BMC has set aside Rs 538 crore for setting up 7 sewage treatment centres. This is significant as a large amount of sewage is currently dumped into Mumbai's Mithi river, leading to its pollution. BMC to set up seven sewage treatment centres The civic chief is now detailing sources of revenue for the BMC. The BMC estimates that it will collect Rs 5,180 crore as tax on water and sewage, Ajoy Mehta said. The BMC has proposed Rs 1 crore for setting up e-libraries, which will be started on an experimental basis. BMC to set up e-libraries on experimental basis. The Mumbai civic body proposes to install 381 sanitary napkin vending machines in schools, BMC chief Ajoy Mehta announced. BMC to set up sanitary napkin vending machines in schools The Mumbai civic body plans to deploy floating trash brooms to stop floating garbage from the sea. These will be installed at Dahisar, Poisar, Oshiwara and the Mithi river. Ajoy Mehta said this will prevent beaches from being littered with garbage. BMC plans to use floating trash brooms to stop floating garbage from sea "It gives me great pride to state that 97 female fire brigade officers have completed their training, and will join the service soon," BMC chief Ajoy Mehta said. The BMC has allocated Rs 11.69 crore for disaster management in 2018-19. The BMC has set aside Rs 538 crore for setting up 7 sewage treatment centres. This is significant as a large amount of sewage is currently dumped into Mumbai's Mithi river, leading to its pollution. BMC to set up seven sewage treatment centres About 17,000 suits involving the BMC are currently pending in courts in Mumbai, Ajoy Mehta has said. The civic chief is now detailing sources of revenue for the BMC. The BMC estimates that it will collect Rs 5,180 crore as tax on water and sewage, Ajoy Mehta said. A provision of Rs 13 crore has been made for working women's hostels. According to the BMC,these hostels will help 175 working women. The BMC will spend Rs 590 crore on mastic and asphalt roads and Rs 434 crore on cement concrete roads in 2018-19. Rs 590 crore on mastic and asphalt, Rs 434 crore on cement concrete roads The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) will present its Budget for the year 2018-19 on Friday, a day after finance minister Arun Jaitley presented the Union budget. The BMC is unlikely to throw any surprises, civic sources told The Times of India. Citizens are hoping that the BMC allocates funds wisely and utilises them completely, especially for roads department. A senior civic official from roads department on Wednesday told The Free Press Journal that in this fiscal year, the civic bodys road budget is likely to be increased by Rs 100 crore. The roads department budget for year 2017-18 was Rs 1,078 crore and prior year 2016-17 was Rs 2,886 crore, added The Free Press Journal. According to Hindustan Times, this years budget is expected to focus on civic amenities and administrative reforms. The corporation earns a lot from property tax and electricity tariffs. It also gets state funds. So, it should be able to afford all the amenities it promises, Hansel Dsouza of Juhu Citizens Welfare Group was quoted as saying by Hindustan Times. The total size of the 2017-18 Budget was Rs. 25, 141 crore, significantly lesser compared to previous year's financial budget, which was Rs. 37,052 crore. Last year the BMC for the first time in its history, had reduced annual budget estimates by nearly a third, The Indian Express had reported. Kolkata Police has arrested two members of banned terror outfit Jamat-ul Mujahideen in connection with a low-intensity blast that hit Bihar's Bodh Gaya on 19 January, when Dalai Lama was in the spiritual temple town The Kolkata Police has arrested two members of banned terror outfit Jamat-ul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) in connection with a low-intensity blast that hit Bihar's Bodh Gaya on 19 January. The blast took place when Buddhist spiritual leader Dalai Lama was in the temple town. A low-intensity blast was reported at a kitchen set up at the Kaalchintan Ground in Gaya, causing panic among the devotees who had gathered to hear the Dalai Lama's discourse. It took place shortly after the Dalai Lama completed his discourse and retired for the day at the Tibetan monastery. Shortly after this, two more bombs were recovered from the pilgrimage centre. The two bombs, which turned out to be of high intensity, were deactivated two days later at a secluded spot by the bomb disposal squad of National Security Guard (NSG). A report on India Today said 50 kilogrammes of ammonium nitrate explosives were recovered from the two agents who were arrested from Murshidabad and Darjeeling respectively. The report quoted Kolkata Police officials as saying the duo was planning to plant improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in Bodh Gaya to coincide with Dalai Lama's visit to the holy site. The arrested accused will be produced before the Bankshal Court in Kolkata and the police will seek their custody for further interrogation, the report added. The two have been identified as 24-year-year-old Paigamber Sheikh and 31-year-old Jamirul Sheikh, a report on The Indian Express said. "Apart from 50 kilogrammes of explosive Ammonium Nitrate, one laptop and other materials used to make explosives have been recovered. In primary interrogation, the two accused revealed their links with the group that had planted IED at Bodh Gaya during Dalai Lama's visit," Murlidhar Sharma, deputy commissioner of police (STF), was quoted as saying by the report. The officials added that Paigamber is a resident of Murshidabad, and he was arrested from Kankuria Gram in Murshidabad on Wednesday after the police conducted a raid at his residence. Jamirul, also a resident of Murshidabad, was nabbed from Phansideva in Darjeeling on Wednesday. "The two accused were arrested with the help of Murshidabad, Siliguri and Darjeeling Police," Sharma added. Meanwhile, Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar promised strict action against the accused. "Agencies of the Centre and the state areinvestigating the planting of bombs. The guilty will be found out and given stern punishment. They will not be spared," Nitish said, while inaugurating the 'Bauddh Mahotsav' on Thursday, at the Kaalchakra Maidan, the same venue where the two bombs were found. With inputs from PTI United States Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit. UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Joshua VAN HAFTEN, Defendant-Appellant. No. 17-1508 Decided: February 01, 2018 Before Wood, Chief Judge, and Easterbrook and Sykes, Circuit Judges. Jeffrey M. Anderson, Attorney, Office of the United States Attorney, Madison, WI, Steven L. Lane, Attorney, Department of Justice, National Security Division, Counterterrorism Section, Washington, DC, for PlaintiffAppellee. Joseph Aragorn Bugni, Attorney, Federal Defender Services of Wisconsin, Inc., Madison, WI, for DefendantAppellant. Joshua Van Haften is a Wisconsin native who was caught travelling to Turkey in an attempt to join ISIS, a designated terrorist organization. In some ways, Van Haften fits the typical profile of a terrorist: he believes that ISIS is fighting a holy war against Americaa war that will culminate in the establishment of a global caliphate. But this view is just one strand in a web of bizarre, mystical beliefs Van Haften holds. He also believes, for example, that Britain's Prince William is the Antichrist, that people can use numerology to predict the future, and that most Western political leaders are closet Satanists. And Van Haften has a personal vendetta against the United States government that has nothing to do with religion: when he was 18 years old, Van Haften was convicted of statutory rape for having sex with his 15-year-old high school classmate. Van Haften's status as a sex offender made it difficult for him to live a normal life in America, and he greatly resents the godless laws that, in his view, destroyed his life. After he was apprehended in Turkey, Van Haften pleaded guilty to attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization. 18 U.S.C. 2339B(a)(1). At the sentencing stage, the district court concluded that the terrorism enhancement, U.S.S.G. 3A1.4, applies to Van Haften, because his crime was calculated to influence or affect the conduct of government by intimidation or coercion, or to retaliate against government conduct. 18 U.S.C. 2332b(g)(5)(A). The enhancement produced an advisory guidelines range of 292365 months, capped at a 15-year statutory maximum. After hearing testimony about Van Haften's delusional beliefs and his willingness to reform, the court gave Van Haften a below-guidelines sentence of ten years. Without the terrorism enhancement, Van Haften's range would have been 5771 months. The sole issue in this appeal is whether the district court clearly erred in applying the enhancement. We conclude that it did not. The record contains overwhelming evidence that Van Haften sought revenge against the U.S. government. He wrote on Facebook and in various private notes that he despised America because the county betrayed him and Muslims everywhere by refusing to follow divinely guided law, otherwise known as Shari'ah. He described Presidents Obama and Bush as Kuffar disbelievers and defenders of the antichrist, and said that he wanted to travel to Syria to fight against them and their armies. On one occasion, Van Haften asserted that, once he arrived in the Middle East, he would help ISIS enslave Americans and kill Bush and Obama, [whose] children and grandchildren will be sold as slaves at our markets. Van Haften also opined that, by placing him on the sex offender registry, the government had fuck[ed] me for life from age 18. Because of this, Van Haften said that he wished death to [Americans] and their little children and proclaimed that he would show [them] who [they're] really fuxkin wit [sic]. Van Haften's writings establish a direct causal link between his hatred of the U.S. government and his desire to join[ ] my brothers for the war against American liars and kill me some American soldier boys. These statements persuaded the district court that Van Haften sought to join ISIS, at least in part, because he wanted to retaliate against the government for its treatment of Muslims in general and specifically for its treatment of [Van Haften] as a designated sex offender. It is true, as defense counsel points out, that Van Haften's motivations fluctuated over time and that his worldview was not always consistent. In one conversation with his mother, for example, Van Haften described his anti-U.S. rants as mere vent[ing]. And in a Facebook exchange with a friend, Van Haften wrote that he was travelling to Syria to build roads [and] help the helpless. Further muddying the waters, Van Haften also liked links to stories suggesting that ISIS, rather than being comprised of Islamic holy warriors, was actually a CIA front. The defense highlights these and similar inconsistent statements to argue that Van Haften's motivations were too incoherent to support a finding that he attempted to join ISIS as a rational act of retaliation. Even if this is one way of looking at Van Haften's behavior, however, it is by no means the only one. Van Haften undoubtedly holds many false beliefsand the strength with which he has held those beliefs has fluctuated over timebut his actions are not irrational. As the district court saw it, Van Haften's decision to join ISIS's war against America was a rational act of retaliation, even if the factual predicates that motivated his decision are false or absurd. Put another way, it is unimportant why Van Haften wanted to retaliate against the government. All that matters is that he did, in fact, commit a crime calculated to retaliate against the government. 18 U.S.C. 2332b(g)(5)(A); United States v. Christianson, 586 F.3d 532, 539 (7th Cir. 2009). The district court did not err, much less clearly err, when it concluded that the record does not support Van Haften's contention that he wanted to join ISIS solely to help the helpless or to seek shelter from an impending holy war. A desire for safety and Islamic fellowship may have contributed to Van Haften's decision to travel to Syria, but this innocent desire was not Van Haften's sole, or even primary, motivation for attempting to join ISIS. The terrorism enhancement applies so long as the defendant's conduct was calculated to retaliate against government conduct, even if it was also calculated to accomplish other goals simultaneously. 18 U.S.C. 2332b(g)(5)(A); United States v. Wright, 747 F.3d 399, 408 (6th Cir. 2014). Because Van Haften's own statements demonstrate that he sought to join ISIS to take up arms against America and Americans, we Affirm the decision of the district court to apply the terrorism enhancement to his sentence. Wood, Chief Judge. CJI Dipak Misra put in place a roster system for allocation of cases in the SC in what could be a move to address the grievances by four-senior most judges. Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra on Thursday put in place a new roster system for allocation of cases in the Supreme Court in what could be a move to address the grievances by four senior-most judges. Justice Misra has kept to himself the public interest litigation (PIL) cases under the roster system that will come into effect from 5 February. Previously, the cases in the apex court were assigned by the CJI in his capacity as master of the roster. The CJI also allocated to the bench headed by him the petitions based on letters, election cases and matters pertaining to contempt of court and constitutional functionaries. He will also deal with cases related to commissions of enquiry, statutory appointments and appointment of other law officers, habeas corpus (a writ requiring a person under arrest to be brought before a court) matters and social justices cases. The Indian Express reported that sources close to the four senior-most judges, who had virtually revolted against the CJI, said that the move was an acknowledgement that something was amiss and that this was a moral victory for their stance. However, they also said that the substance of the solution proposed does little to assuage the concerns of the judges. The sources also pointed out that the roster only named the presiding judge and not the entire composition of the benches. The order of Justice Misra was made public on the official website of the apex court. The 13-page notification said a roster of the work for fresh cases notified under the order of the CJI will come into effect from 5 February till further orders. The decision to make public the roster system assumes significance as the four senior-most judges Justice J Chelameswar, Justice Ranjan Gogoi, Justice MB Lokur and Justice Kurian Joseph in their 12 January press conference had questioned the allocation of sensitive PILs and important cases to judges junior in seniority and sought transparency. The notification has given the category of matters that would be allocated to the benches headed by the CJI and 11 other judges Justice Chelameswar, Justice Gogoi, Justice Lokur, Justice Joseph, Justice AK Sikri, Justice SA Bobde, Justice RK Agrawal, Justice NV Ramana, Justice Arun Mishra, Justice AK Goel and Justice RF Nariman. Four senior-most judges assigned important cases The four senior-most judges of the Supreme Court have been allotted important cases in the new roster. As per the roster, the bench headed by Justice Chelameswar, the senior-most judge after the CJI, would deal with matters related to judicial officers, employees of Supreme Court, high courts, district courts and tribunals for hearings. The bench will also deal with matters like labour, indirect tax, land acquisition and requisition, compensation, criminal matters, etc. Justice Gogoi, who, during the press conference, had answered in affirmative the concern over the allocation of the PILs relating to the late special CBI Judge BH Loya to a bench headed by a particular judge, has been allocated matters relating to labour, indirect tax, company law, MRTP, TRAI, SEBI, RBI, criminal matters, contempt of court, personal law, religious and charitable endowments, mercantile laws, commercial transactions including banking etc. He will also hear matters related to judicial officers, state excise-trading in liquor-privileges, licences and distilleries and breweries. Similarly, a bench headed by Justice Lokur has been allocated matters including service, social justice, personal laws, land acquisition, mines and minerals and consumer protection. He will also hear matters related to ecological imbalance: protection and conservation of forests throughout the country, protection of wild life, ban on felling trees and falling of underground water level. Justice Jospeh's bench has been assigned to deal with matters including labour, rent act, family law, contempt of court, personal law etc. He will also hear matters related to religious and charitable endowments and all land laws and agriculture tenancies. Justice Arun Mishra to hear medical admission matters The roster has assigned to Justice Arun Mishra matters related to admission and transfer of candidates in engineering and medical colleges which recently saw a sitting and a retired high court judge caught on the wrong foot. Justice Mishra, who heads a bench, has been divested of the PIL matters. He had recently recused himself from hearing the PILs related to the death of special judge Loya, who was dealing with the Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case. The four senior-most judges had in their press conference had questioned, among other issues, the allocation of PILs on Loya to him. As per the new roster, Justice Mishra will hear matters related to all admissions/transfers to engineerings and medical colleges, allocation of 15 percent all-India quota in admissions/transfers to medical colleges and estalishment and recognition of educational institutions. The assignment of engineering and medical college matters to Justice Mishra assumes significance as it was in a similar case related to a private medical college that a three-judge in-house panel appointed by CJI Misra had found wrongdoing on part of Allahabad High Court judge SN Shukla. The alleged anomaly committed by Justice Shukla with regard to a private medical college, which was restrained by apex court in enrolling students in 2017-18 academic year, led to a CBI probe in the medical education scam matter. Former Orissa High Court judge IM Quddusi was arrested as part of the same probe. Besides these matters, Justice Mishra will also hear labour, land acquisition, service, criminal, family law and ordinary civil cases. 12 January press conference In the unprecedented 12 January press conference at Justice Chelameswar's residence, the four senior-most judges had raised a litany of problems, including assigning of cases in the apex court, and said there were certain issues afflicting the country's highest court. They had also made public a letter written by them to the CJI two months ago expressing their grievances, which, they claimed, were not addressed by the CJI. "There have been instances where cases having far-reaching consequences for the nation and the institution have been assigned by the chief justices of this court selectively to the benches 'of their preference' without any rationale basis for such assignment. This must be guarded against at all costs," the letter said. After the press conference, there were hectic parleys involving judges of the Supreme Court, the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) and the Bar Council of India (BCI) to defuse the crisis. The SCBA, headed by its president Vikas Singh, had come out with a resolution that the apex court should follow a roster system for the allocation of matters to the judges as was prevalent in the Delhi High Court. According to sources, some of the judges had also suggested to the CJI to examine the roster system prevalent in the Bombay High Court. With inputs from PTI. Three minors have been apprehended in connection with the mysterious death of a Class XI student in northeast Delhi's Karawal Nagar, police said on Friday. New Delhi: Three minors have been apprehended in connection with the mysterious death of a Class IX student in northeast Delhi's Karawal Nagar, police said on Friday. Tusshar (16) was found unconscious by some students in his school bathroom and was taken to a hospital on Thursday. He was later referred to the GTB Hospital where he was declared brought dead. CCTV footage revealed that he had a fight with some students near the washroom. Three of the students with whom he had a fight have been apprehended, said a senior police officer, adding that they were minors. One more student is on the run. Family members of the deceased alleged that he was thrashed by the students. On the basis of a complaint by the boy's family, a case was registered. A medical board will conduct postmortem on the body later on Friday. A fire broke out at a shoe factory in Peeragarhi and one fireman was injured during an operation to put out the blaze, the Delhi Fire Services said. New Delhi: A fire broke out at a shoe factory in Peeragarhi and one fireman was injured during an operation to put out the blaze, the Delhi Fire Services said. A call was received around 2.50 am about the fire and 20 fire tenders were rushed to the spot, said an official from the DFS. One fireman, Kuldeep, sustained minor injuries to his fingers during the operation. The fire was doused by 10.20 am, he added. The cause of the fire is yet to be ascertained. Last month, a fire ripped through a firecracker unit in Bawana killing 17 people, including 10 women. An IAF officer was taken into custody on the basis of surveillance and the action was not taken in a hurry, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said. New Delhi: An IAF officer was taken into custody on the basis of surveillance and the action was not taken in a hurry, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Thursday. A Group Captain, posted at the IAF's headquarters, was taken into custody by the force for alleged involvement in espionage and possible attempt to access sensitive documents. Sitharaman has already been briefed about the action against the officer, officials said. There were enough reasons to detain him, the defence minister told reporters when asked about the issue. The investigators are probing whether the officer was a victim of honey trap, sources said on Wednesday. The officer was indulging in certain "unwanted activities" through unauthorised electronic devices which is against existing orders, they said. Apparently, he was in touch with a woman through social media whose identity has not yet been established. A team of the IAF's central security and investigation took the officer into custody, and he is being interrogated, said the sources. The "unwanted" activities by the officer were discovered during routine counter intelligence surveillance, the sources said, adding he attempted to posses sensitive documents. The IAF officially did not comment on the matter. The identity of the officer has been kept secret as investigation into the case is going on, the sources said. The investigators are also examining whether the officer has passed on any sensitive information to anyone. Naveen Patnaik cannot flaunt his award of 'Best Administrator' or 'Ideal CM' unless he acts swiftly and gives justice to the 14-year-old rape victim. 'Best Administrator', 'Ideal CM' are just some of the awards conferred upon the long-serving chief minister of Odisha Naveen Patnaik in the recent past. In fact, the 'conferment' of the 'Ideal CM' award was splashed all over national dailies, published from Delhi, with full front page advertisements. However, happenings in the state over the past few months shows that Patnaik is neither the 'Best Administrator' nor an 'Ideal CM'. Had it been the case, a 14-year-old tribal girl belonging to one of the poorest districts of the state the victim of an alleged gang rape by four men in uniform, that came to limelight 10 October last year would not have committed suicide. The girl committed suicide on 22 January, just a day after Patnaik was conferred with the 'Ideal CM' award by a Pune-based institute. What is more worrying is that for four long months, the police department which is under the chief minister, who is also the home minister of the state miserably failed to give justice to the girl. According to the deceased tribal girl, a class IXth student, while returning from school on 10 October in Kunduli of the Koraput district, she was waylaid by four persons in uniform and raped. Though the police registered a case of rape and put it in the "red flag" category, as is done for heinous offences like rape, little progress was made in unearthing the case. The victim was examined in four different hospitals and if allegations are to be believed, she underwent treatment as well. However, nothing came about. Once the issue gained traction, a complaint was filed before the State Human Rights Commission (SHRC). The body directed the DG police to submit a report and directed that a payment of Rs 50,000 be paid as interim compensation. Subsequently, the state government scurried and handed over the case to the crime branch in the month of November. The ordeal of the tribal girl didn't end though and bizarrely the Human Right Protection Cell (HRPC) of the Odisha Police said that there was no truth to the allegation made by her and denied any evidence of gangrape. Faced with uncertainties and denial of justice, the deceased attempted suicide on 18 November last year, prompting Patnaik to order a judicial probe. However, what is interesting is that till date, such inquiry has not seen the light of the day and doubts have been raised if such an order was in consonance with the extant law or if it was a mere eyewash. In the meantime, on being directed by the NHRC to file an 'action taken' report, the State Crime Branch in its 14 December response submitted that in a bid to hide her affair with a minor boy, the deceased had levelled false allegations of gang rape by four uniformed personnel. The report further went on to say that the deceased had demanded of the minor boy to marry her and on being refused tore her school uniform and threatened the boy that she would level rape charges. The report further said that the minor boy agreed to marry the deceased and in order to hide the fact about her torn uniform, the tribal girl hatched the theory of gang rape by men in uniform. The report also says that the tribal girl was examined in four different hospitals that ruled out any sign of rape. However, the report of the State Crime Branch is not beyond pale of doubt in view of the findings of the State Forensic Laboratory, which in its preliminary report found traces of semen in the undergarments of the victim, now deceased. However, the case took a curious turn when in its final report, the same laboratory denied such findings and all these twists and turns have given rise to more questions than answers. What makes the entire episode murkier is the allegation levelled by the now deceased tribal girl's family member that the police had threatened them to withdraw the case or face dire consequences. The suicide of the tribal girl sparked widespread protests, with the BJP and Congress giving separate bandh calls on 25 January. They demanded that the case is handed over to the CBI. However, Patnaik seems to be non-committal and despite his tall claims of "work and safety" for women of the state, he has not lived to the expectations of the people. Rather than providing succour to the family of the deceased, his party, as alleged by his opponents, expelled a sitting Member of Parliament in a bid to divert attention from the suicide of the tribal girl. However, the demand for an impartial enquiry and handing over the case to CBI has risen in the past week putting the state government in a peculiar situation where its options are seemingly limited. Cases of this nature are not new to the state. Not in the distant past, during 1999, another rape had shaken the then ruling Congress government and the state police found itself in an embarrassing situation when the CBI faulted its officials for manipulating forensic reports. This had led to the fall of the then ruling establishment. Whether this incident will snowball into an issue of change of establishment is a question that would be answered in the next elections. But one thing is now certain, Patnaik, for all practical purposes, cannot flaunt his award of 'Best Administrator' or 'Ideal CM' unless he acts swiftly and gives justice to 'Nirbhaya' of Odisha. The author is a practising Supreme Court lawyer and former president JNU Students' Union. The government on Friday made it clear in Parliament that it will keep away from the tussle between the Chief Justice of India and the four senior-most judges of the Supreme Court, saying the judiciary is capable of handling its 'internal matters'. New Delhi: The government on Friday made it clear in Parliament that it will keep away from the tussle between the Chief Justice of India and the four senior-most judges of the Supreme Court, saying the judiciary is capable of handling its "internal matters". Responding to three separate questions in the Rajya Sabha on the "rift" in the higher judiciary, the government said it has not received any information about it from the Supreme Court. Minister of State for Law PP Chaudhary replied in a negative when asked whether the government has "assessed the impact of the rift" in the apex court. "Judiciary, being an independent organ under the Indian Constitution, is capable of handling its internal matters. The government is committed to the independence of judiciary," he said in a written reply to one of the questions. Four senior-most judges of the Supreme Court had virtually revolted against CJI Dipak Misra in January, raising several issues, including assigning of cases in the apex court. Justices J Chelameswar, Ranjan Gogoi, MB Lokur and Kurian Joseph have now been allocated important cases as per the new roster made public by the apex court. Now Student Federation of India, Maharashtra is also organising meets for educated unemployed youth under Yuva Vidyarthi Jagar Jatha from 4 February across Maharashtra. Pune: Vinod Kate, a 24 years old engineer from Shivali village in Beed district has been trying to find a job that would suit his educational qualification for two years, but with no luck. When he heard of Educated Unemployed Meet being held at Beed he made sure to attend it with the hope that he might get a direction in his endeavour to search for a job. But he met over 500 youth like him who despite holding degrees, remain unemployed. They had held the Educated Unemployment Meet in Beed district in Maharashtra on 27 January, seeking employment either in public or private sector, or at least the benefit of unemployment allowance for educated unemployed youth. More such meets are lined up at other districts of Maharashtra, including Latur, Nanded and Pune. As the state has not been filling existing vacancies and no jobs are being created in private sector, more and more number of youths are becoming jobless despite having qualification. And hence, a few social workers under the umbrella of Surajya Sena have started organising such meets to highlight the issue. Subhash Ware, a social activist from Pune, explained the need to highlight the need to increase employment opportunities. "We have been interacting with youth across the state while working for anti-corruption campaign. And during our interactions, we learnt that they are in dire need of jobs either in government or private sector. No new jobs are being created and the posts that exist, are also being cut down. Economy of any nation depends on job creation," he said. Yogesh Jadhav, social activist from Mumbai, said, "There are 1.75 lakh vacancies at different posts in all government department in state, as per information I received under RTI filed a month ago. Number of vacancies in state police force is more than a lakh. And since 2012, state government has stopped recruitment for various posts, citing lack of funds to pay salaries. More number of permanent vacancies are being converted to contractual posts. Recently, the state has decided to cut down a few thousands government posts. What will the youngsters do without jobs?" Last year more than seven lakh students appeared for Maharashtra Public Service Commission exam to fill just 69 posts. When asked why youth should depend on government jobs only, when government schemes like MUDRA and Skill India are launched to promote self-emplyment and job creation in private sector, Jadhav said, "We dont claim that only government jobs are the answer to unemployment. But in USA there are 72 government employees per 1,000 people while in India the ratio remains at 14 government employees every 1,000 citizens. So the government cannot push away its responsibility and has to fill vacancies for better administration. Of course job creation in private sector is equally important." Vasishtha Bade, one of the organisers of the meet held at Beed, put focus on how the schemes like Pradhan Mantri MUDRA Yojana and Skill India are utter failure on ground level. "I have been in social work for over five years. When I applied for loan under PMMY, I was asked for security amount and guarantee of three people having account in that banks. Though government is making claims about the success of the scheme showcasing huge numbers, in reality youth find it extremely difficult to get loans from the bank under the scheme," he said. Kate said, "despite submitting all documents required by the State Bank of India in Beed, my loan under MUDRA scheme was not approved. As far as Skill India training is concerned, it's of no use. The training is insufficient to get jobs even in Beed, forget places like Pune or Mumbai. I have done a course at one of the Skill India training centre in Beed as well. My parents are farmers and toil at our small patch of land. They have been hoping that I would secure a job once I finish my college. But I have not been able to do it and I cannot see them working hard at the farm. But it is not ending anywhere. You will find many of the youth like me here in Marathwada." Subhash Ware said, "Our major demands are give jobs to unemployed or give Rs 10,000 per month as unemployment allowances. Regularise those who are working on contract and also fill all vacant posts immediately. Exam fees should be lowered as per central government standards like Rs 50 or so. Recruitment in government posts should be transparent. We also want 50 percent reservation for youth from the state for central government posts that are based in Maharashtra. Everybody who applies for loan should get a loan under MUDRA scheme, and Skill India should be made more effective so that youth would get work with these skills." Bade said, "we are asking such youth to fill forms with details of their qualification and we are going to send them to Chief Minister Office. We got 1,000 forms in Beed meet and we expect over 10,000 in three more meets. Then we will approach the state." Now Student Federation of India, Maharashtra is also organising meets for educated unemployed youth under Yuva Vidyarthi Jagar Jatha from 4 February across Maharashtra. It would have served this government well to have announced realistic and permanent structural changes in the Budget that would reduce, if not entirely eliminate, the generation of black money. With analysis of the recently released Budget pouring in this week, the one thing this government should keep in mind is to learn from the mistakes of its previous economic decisions. Particularly in the case of demonetisation, not only were the consequences of the decision disastrous, but they were exacerbated by the kneejerk and haphazard execution. The most widely touted justification for demonetisation was the eradication of black money in the economy -- which largely seems to have failed. Here are three pointers that the government should keep in mind to move closer towards achieving that goal. The first way is to restructure and simplify tax policies. Because the tax laws in our country are so opaque and ambiguous, theyre fuelling a culture where Indians are choosing to set up their businesses overseas in countries like Dubai and Singapore. These countries offer very benign, transparent and efficient tax regimes with little or no tax. An ambiguous and complicated tax regime contributes to corruption and the generation of black money, abets the drain of Indian resources and makes the country uncompetitive. A significant reason that America is simplifying its tax policies is to boost its competitiveness. An important step towards eradicating black money, therefore, is to make the tax regime more efficient with clear tax slabs and unambiguous laws, beneficial for the taxpayer, the exchequer, and the economy. GST is a crucial policy for the simplification of indirect taxes, and the same fundamentals can be applied to income tax. The second is to restructure election financing. The current system is opaque and lacks any accountability, making corruption and black money very easy to proliferate. There is a dire need to introduce transparency into the system, and find a way to dampen the inflow of the hordes of unaccounted cash that enters campaign finance. One way the government can do this is to revise election limits, which are currently unrealistically low, both in terms of expenditure and how much a candidate can receive as donations during her campaign. The third way is to usher in reforms in real estate. For the last few years, income tax on earnings from real estate is charged based on the state governments ready reckoner rates. This is a healthy economic policy, because regardless of the transaction value, the government is entitled to a certain percentage of the profits as tax, and this, in turn, dissuades individuals from transacting in cash. As a consequence, not only does this policy reduce the generation of black money, it also does away with litigation. However, there are certain anomalies in this system. There are some states, and some regions or areas within those states, where the governments ready reckoner rates are artificially inflated or deflated, and do not reflect current market prices. In South Mumbai for instance, where commercial real estate prices are on a downward trajectory, the governments reckoner rates continue to go up. The philosophy behind this is that a drop in real estate prices shouldnt hamper governments revenue from tax. However, reckoner rates higher than the actual market price tend to dissuade transactions from happening altogether because individuals are unwilling to sell and overpay tax, and this is much more detrimental for the economy and for government revenues. What the government can do to rectify this anomaly is to incentivise states to fix their reckoner rates at prices that are reflective of the market at that point. That is the only way to yield the positive benefits of the aforementioned policy. The Real Estate Regulatory Act (RERA) puts the onus on developers to complete projects in a timely and efficient manner, granting consumers the right to hold developers accountable. Developers, on their part, are happy to oblige and to deliver what has been promised. However, in order for them to honour their end of the deal, they necessarily require a way to hold bureaucrats and politicians accountable, who can often hold up their projects due to political reasons, bureaucratic red-tapism, and bribe-seeking. Developers are often forced to pay bribes what they call speed money in order to see their projects through, thereby generating black money in the economy. To hold bureaucrats accountable, states must have clear, concise and unambiguous guidelines for real estate development, and punitive measures for any officials who delay developments for illegitimate reasons. The real estate business is a massive employer in India, and when it does well, not only does construction boom, but also cement, steel, furniture, and other allied industries. RERA is, after all, a Central law, and the government at the Centre must intervene and put pressure on states to ensure that its provisions are adequately implemented. It would have served this government well to have announced realistic and permanent structural changes in the Budget that would reduce, if not entirely eliminate, the generation of black money. Unfortunately, rhetoric and post truths took precedence over hard facts. The author is a former member of Parliament and has served as minister for communication and IT, and shipping and ports. A radiologist of the Nair hospital was arrested in connection with the death of Rajesh Maru in a freak MRI machine accident at the facility on 27 January, police said Mumbai: A radiologist of the Nair hospital was arrested in connection with the death of a man in a freak Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) machine accident at the facility on 27 January, police said on Friday. Agripada police said Dr Siddhant Shah was arrested on Thursday after the family of the 32-year-old victim, Rajesh Maru, told them that the radiologist was also present when the accident occurred. Shah was charged with dereliction of duty, police said, adding he was released on bail. Shah's was the fourth arrest in the case. Earlier, police had arrested three hospital staffers Dr Saurabh Lanjekar, ward boy Vitthal Chavan and attendant Sunita Surve for negligence causing death. Maru had accompanied a relative to the hospital for an MRI examination. When he entered the room carrying a liquid oxygen cylinder, the strong magnetic field got activated, pulling him violently towards the machine. The oxygen cylinder burst on impact and he died after inhaling copious quantities of the gas. Metal objects are not allowed inside rooms having MRI machines. As per an RTI query filed, Firstpost found that 1,782 cases of fake encounter were registered in India between 2000 and 2017 Sohrabuddin Sheikh, Ishrat Jahan, Kuldeep Singh, Salim a common thread binding all four of them is that they are among people who were allegedly killed in fake encounter cases in India. Of the four names mentioned, one may have come across the former two which turned into high-profile cases involving political leaders. The latter two were one of the many human rights violation cases mentioned in one of the annual reports of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC). As per an RTI query filed, Firstpost found that 1,782 cases of fake encounters were registered in India between 2000 and 2017, of which only 1,565 cases have been disposed of so far. Fake encounters are essentially staged confrontations between the police or military forces and victims who the security officials believe to be "culprits". According to data received from the NHRC, based on the complaints and intimations it received, Uttar Pradesh accounted for an alarming 44.55 percent (794 cases) of the cases registered across all states. Following Uttar Pradesh, the next five states which account for the highest number of fake encounter cases are Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Assam, Jharkhand and Manipur. However, each of them registered less than six percent of all the cases registered since 2000 - Andhra Pradesh (94 cases; 5.27 percent), Bihar (74 cases; 4.5 percent), Jharkhand (69 cases; 3.87 percent), Assam (69 cases; 3.87 percent) and Manipur (63 cases; 3.53 percent). The National Capital reported 40 cases while Jammu and Kashmir reflects 22 cases during the same period. The RTI reply did not reflect any data for Goa, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Lakshadweep. The most number of cases registered since 2000 was in the year 2012 with 226 fake encounter incidents reported, of which only 195 were disposed with 31 cases pending. In the last seven years alone, NHRC recorded 725 cases between 2010 and 2017. Fake encounter cases in this decade alone account for 40.68 percent of the total number since the dawn of the 21st century in India. Over the last five years, states registered less than 60 cases per year, except for in 2015, when the number shot up to 140 cases. In 2017, 19 fake encounter cases were registered, of which only 10 have been disposed of till now. In 2016, the Union home ministry identified 106 districts in 10 states affected by left-wing extremism (LWE) which included Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh. An analysis of the fake encounters cases in these states shows that after Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh showed the next highest number of registered cases (94). While Uttar Pradesh has 51 of 794 cases pending, Andhra Pradesh has 54 pending cases from the 94 registered in the state. Monetary relief recommended The NHRC does not provide any financial relief, but recommends it to government agencies involved. As per Section 18 of the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993, the commission is empowered to recommend compensation, damages, or interim relief to the families of the victim or complainant. Between 2013 and 2017, the NHRC recommended financial relief of Rs 60.07 crore to the affected parties in fake encounter cases. During this period, the top five states where the human rights body recommended monetary relief are Andhra Pradesh (Rs 71.3 lakh), Assam (Rs 5.8 crore), Bihar (Rs 2.38 crore), Jharkhand (Rs 3.2 crore), Manipur (Rs 3.54 crore) and Uttar Pradesh (Rs 13.23 crore). After Uttar Pradesh, Assam received the highest monetary recommendation of Rs 5.8 crore for 64 cases in the past five years. United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit. UNITED STATES of America, PlaintiffAppellee, v. Marcus Kalani WATSON, AKA Kiki Seui; Rogussia Eddie Allen Danielson, DefendantsAppellants. No. 16-15357 Decided: February 01, 2018 Before: J. Clifford Wallace and Paul J. Watford, Circuit Judges, and W. Louis Sands,* District Judge. Peter C. Wolff Jr. (argued), Federal Public Defender, Office of the Federal Public Defender, Honolulu, Hawaii; Alvin Nishimura, Kaneohe, Hawaii; for DefendantsAppellants. John P. Taddei (argued), Attorney, Appellate Section; SungHee Suh, Deputy Assistant Attorney General; Leslie R. Caldwell, Assistant Attorney General; Criminal Division, United States Department of Justice, Washington, D.C.; Thomas J. Brady, Assistant United States Attorney; United States Attorney's Office, Honolulu, Hawaii; for PlaintiffAppellee. Mia Crager, Assistant Federal Defender; Heather E. Williams, Federal Defender; Office of the Federal Public Defender, Sacramento, California; David M. Porter, Administrative Office of the United States Courts, Washington, D.C.; for Amici Curiae Ninth Circuit Federal Public and Community Defenders and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. OPINION We must decide whether armed bank robbery under federal law is a crime of violence under 18 U.S.C. 924(c). We hold that it is. The government charged Marcus Watson and Rogussia Danielson with armed bank robbery committed by force, violence, and by intimidation, in violation of 18 U.S.C. 2113(a) and (d), after they robbed an American Savings Bank while armed with handguns. The government also charged them with using or carrying a firearm during a crime of violence (namely, the armed bank robbery), in violation of 18 U.S.C. 924(c)(1)(A). Watson and Danielson pleaded guilty to both offenses. The district court sentenced Watson to 192 months and Danielson to 182 months in prison. Watson and Danielson did not appeal. But less than a year after entry of judgment, they filed motions under 28 U.S.C. 2255 challenging the validity of their 924(c) convictions. They argued that their convictions for using or carrying a firearm during a crime of violence are unlawful because the predicate offense for that chargearmed bank robberyno longer qualifies as a crime of violence. The district court denied the motions but granted certificates of appealability. On appeal, the government does not raise any procedural barriers to our consideration of this collateral attack. Section 924(c) imposes a mandatory consecutive term of imprisonment for using or carrying a firearm during and in relation to any crime of violence. 18 U.S.C. 924(c)(1)(A). The term crime of violence is defined as an offense that is a felony and (A) has as an element the use, attempted use, or threatened use of physical force against the person or property of another, or (B) that by its nature, involves a substantial risk that physical force against the person or property of another may be used in the course of committing the offense. 18 U.S.C. 924(c)(3). Clause (A) of this definition is known as the force clause and clause (B) is known as the residual clause. We need not address the residual clause because we conclude that the relevant offense of armed bank robbery is a crime of violence under the force clause. See United States v. Gutierrez, 876 F.3d 1254, 1256 (9th Cir. 2017) (per curiam). To qualify as a crime of violence under the force clause, the element of physical force must involve violent physical forcethat is, force capable of causing physical pain or injury. Johnson v. United States, 559 U.S. 133, 140, 130 S.Ct. 1265, 176 L.Ed.2d 1 (2010). Although Johnson construed the force clause of the Armed Career Criminal Act, 18 U.S.C. 924(e)(2)(B)(i), the Johnson standard also applies to the similarly worded force clause of 924(c)(3)(A). Gutierrez, 876 F.3d at 1256. The question, then, is whether bank robbery in violation of 2113(a) meets the Johnson standard and thus qualifies as a crime of violence. We use the categorical approach to make that determination. See Mathis v. United States, U.S. , 136 S.Ct. 2243, 2248, 195 L.Ed.2d 604 (2016). Under this approach, the sole focus is on the elements of the relevant statutory offense, not on the facts underlying the convictions. Id. An offense is categorically a crime of violence only if the least violent form of the offense qualifies as a crime of violence. See Moncrieffe v. Holder, 569 U.S. 184, 19091, 133 S.Ct. 1678, 185 L.Ed.2d 727 (2013). The federal bank robbery statute provides, in relevant part: Whoever, by force and violence, or by intimidation, takes, or attempts to take, from the person or presence of another, or obtains or attempts to obtain by extortion any property or money or any other thing of value belonging to, or in the care, custody, control, management, or possession of, any bank, credit union, or any savings and loan association [shall be punished according to law]. 18 U.S.C. 2113(a). Watson and Danielson argue that bank robbery by force and violence, or by intimidation does not constitute a crime of violence. They do not dispute that committing bank robbery by force and violence necessarily entails the use of violent physical force as Johnson requires. But they argue that the least violent form of the offensebank robbery by intimidationdoes not meet the requirements for a crime of violence for two reasons. First, they contend that bank robbery by intimidation does not necessarily involve violent physical force as required under Johnson. We recently confronted this exact argument in Gutierrez and rejected it. See 876 F.3d at 125657. In Gutierrez, we held that intimidation as used in 2113(a) requires that the defendant take property in such a way that would put an ordinary, reasonable person in fear of bodily harm and that a defendant cannot put a reasonable person in fear of bodily harm without threatening to use force capable of causing physical pain or injury. Id. at 1257 (internal quotation marks omitted). We concluded that bank robbery qualifies as a crime of violence because even its least violent form requires at least an implicit threat to use the type of violent physical force necessary to meet the Johnson standard. Id. In so holding, we joined every other circuit to address the same question. See United States v. Ellison, 866 F.3d 32, 3940 (1st Cir. 2017); United States v. Brewer, 848 F.3d 711, 71516 (5th Cir. 2017); United States v. McBride, 826 F.3d 293, 296 (6th Cir. 2016); United States v. McNeal, 818 F.3d 141, 153 (4th Cir. 2016). Second, Watson and Danielson argue that bank robbery by intimidation does not meet the mens rea requirement for a crime of violence. In Leocal v. Ashcroft, 543 U.S. 1, 125 S.Ct. 377, 160 L.Ed.2d 271 (2004), the Supreme Court held that a crime of violence requires a higher degree of intent than negligent or merely accidental conduct. Id. at 9, 125 S.Ct. 377. Watson and Danielson contend that a defendant who negligently intimidated a victim could be convicted of bank robbery because intimidation is defined from a reasonable victim's perspective. See Gutierrez, 876 F.3d at 1257. But a defendant may be convicted of bank robbery only if the government proves that he at least possessed knowledge with respect to the taking of property of another by force and violence or intimidation. Carter v. United States, 530 U.S. 255, 268, 120 S.Ct. 2159, 147 L.Ed.2d 203 (2000); see also Ellison, 866 F.3d at 39. Thus, contrary to Watson and Danielson's contention, a defendant may not be convicted if he only negligently intimidated the victim. Carter, 530 U.S. at 269, 120 S.Ct. 2159. The offense must at least involve the knowing use of intimidation, which necessarily entails the knowing use, attempted use, or threatened use of violent physical force. The Ninth Circuit Federal Public and Community Defenders and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, as amici curiae, raise one additional argument. They contend that even if bank robbery by force and violence, or by intimidation is a crime of violence, the statutory offense of bank robbery contained in 2113(a) still does not qualify as one. They argue that 2113(a) prohibits one indivisible offense of bank robbery with three alternative means of committing it: (1) by force and violence; (2) by intimidation; or (3) by extortion. And, they assert, the least violent form of that offensebank robbery by extortiondoes not qualify as a crime of violence. See Moncrieffe, 569 U.S. at 19091, 133 S.Ct. 1678. Their argument fails because 2113(a) does not contain one indivisible offense. Instead, it contains at least two separate offenses, bank robbery and bank extortion. See United States v. Jennings, 439 F.3d 604, 612 (9th Cir. 2006); see also United States v. Eaton, 934 F.2d 1077, 1079 (9th Cir. 1991); 9th Cir. Crim. Jury Instr. 8.162. Because 2113(a) is divisible with respect to these two offenses and Watson and Danielson were convicted of the first offense, we need not decide whether bank extortion qualifies as a crime of violence. Because bank robbery by force and violence, or by intimidation is a crime of violence, so too is armed bank robbery. A conviction for armed bank robbery requires proof of all the elements of unarmed bank robbery. United States v. Coleman, 208 F.3d 786, 793 (9th Cir. 2000); see 18 U.S.C. 2113(d). Thus, an armed bank robbery conviction under 2113(a) and (d) cannot be based on conduct that involves less force than an unarmed bank robbery requires. For that reason, armed bank robbery under 2113(a) and (d) qualifies as a crime of violence under 924(c) as well. AFFIRMED. FOOTNOTES . Section 2113(a) also prohibits entering a bank with intent to commit a felony affecting the bank. 18 U.S.C. 2113(a) (second paragraph). Although that offense is not a crime of violence, it is irrelevant to our analysis because it is divisible from the 2113(a) bank robbery offense of which Watson and Danielson were convicted. See United States v. Selfa, 918 F.2d 749, 752 n.2 (9th Cir. 1990). . Section 2113(d) provides:Whoever, in committing, or in attempting to commit, any offense defined in subsections (a) and (b) of this section, assaults any person, or puts in jeopardy the life of any person by the use of a dangerous weapon or device, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than twenty-five years, or both. PER CURIAM: Omar Abdullah demanded the constitution of a high-level special investigation team (SIT) to probe the killings of three people in firing by security forces in Shopian. Jammu: Leader of Opposition in Jammu and Kashmir Assembly Omar Abdullah on Friday demanded the constitution of a high-level special investigation team (SIT) to probe the killings of three people in firing by security forces when a convoy was attacked by stone-pelters in Shopian district. "It will be my humble request to you to constitute high-level special investigation team (SIT) to probe both the FIRs (in Shopian incident). Please give orders to set up a high-level SIT and leave it to them to investigate," Omar said in Assembly. He was speaking on the grants of home, general administration, planning departments moved by Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Friday. Omar said that there was now a "battle" over two separate FIRs filed by the police and the army, and that it would be difficult for a station house officer (SHO) to probe the matter. He said that the magisterial probe, ordered by the state government after incident, would continue separately. The army has submitted its version of the 27 January incident, when its convoy was attacked in Shopian district, to the Jammu and Kashmir Police and explained its reasons for opening fire at the stone-pelting mob, officials said today. According to the army's narrative, submitted on Thursday, the force's convoy was attacked by a group of stone-pelters and its personnel resorted to firing to save themselves, the officials said. The army's version comes after the state police registered an FIR about the incident in Ganovpora area of Shopian in south Kashmir in which three youths were killed. The FIR filed by the state police does not name any accused but states that a company of 10 Garhwal Rifles led by Major Aditya was on its way for official duty when it was attacked by an unruly mob with stones. The Shopian incident became a bone of contention between the state's ruling alliance partners PDP and BJP. A BJP legislator demanded on the floor of the House that the FIR against the army be cancelled. This was, however, turned down by Mufti, who said the FIR would be taken to its logical conclusion. Taking a dig at the chief minister, Omar asked why no action had been taken in previous FIRs registered against security forces. "You have assured the people of the state that FIR will be taken to conclusion. It is good. But till now, there has been no action on FIRs (registered against security forces in the past)," Omar said. He said that since 2000, the state government had forwarded 50 requests to the Centre to give permission for prosecution of central security forces, particularly the army, where "we have seen human rights violations". "Forty-seven requests were rejected and three are still pending...This is our track record," the former chief minister said. Omar said that the security situation was getting worse in the state. He batted strongly for the grant of compensation to Farooq Ahmed Dar, who was tied to an army gypsy and paraded through nine villages on the day of bypoll to the Srinagar Lok Sabha constituency. "The army officer who tied him got award but this youth who voted in elections does not deserve even the compensation?" he wondered. The former chief minister asked Mufti to advise her counterparts in New Delhi not to take decisions for the state from there and to consult the state leadership. The Supreme Court on Friday asked the Madhya Pradesh High Court chief justice to constitute a dedicated bench to hear matters related to Bhopal gas tragedy victims. New Delhi: Modifying its 2012 order, the Supreme Court on Friday asked the Madhya Pradesh High Court chief justice to constitute a dedicated bench to hear matters related to relief, rehabilitation and treatment of the Bhopal gas tragedy victims. A bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and justices AM Khanwilkar and DY Chandrachud said that the dedicated bench should comprise judges having "reasonable tenure" of service. Advocate Wills Mathew, appearing for the petitioner, Bhopal Gas Peedith Mahila Udyog Sangathan, said that the apex court had in its order on 9 August, 2012, passed various directions and transferred petitions related to relief and rehabilitation of the gas tragedy victims to the high court. He submitted that the top court had said in one of its directions that the petitions should be dealt with by a bench presided over by the chief justice of the high court. Mathew said in the past five years, various chief justices of the high court, who heard the matter, were transferred to other high courts or elevated to the apex court. He said that the transfer or elevation of different chief justices had affected the hearing of the cases as also the proper implementation of the relief measures. On 9 August, 2012, the apex court had transferred the petitions to the high court for better and effective control in the matter. "All applications filed henceforth shall be dealt with and disposed of by the bench concerned of the high court, in line with the various orders passed by this Court, so as to ensure proper functioning of the relief and rehabilitation programme, working of the expert bodies and utmost medical care and treatment to the gas victims", the apex court had said. It had passed a slew of directions such as the state should provide necessary infrastructure to the monitoring committee. by putting in place a judges' roster a 'subject-wise' roster shows what type of cases will be listed before benches headed by the 12 senior-most judges of the apex court which is meant to come into effect from 5 February, Misra has ostensibly made an effort to show that he has risen to the challenge, but once one digs deeper, it shows that this is not the case. The extraordinary and unprecedented press conference by the four senior-most judges of the Supreme Court, where they trenchantly criticised Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra's functioning regarding the allocation of sensitive cases only to certain handpicked benches had set in motion a wave of speculation as to how India's top judge was going to react to what was the judiciary's biggest crisis since the Emergency. Now, by putting in place a judges' roster a 'subject-wise' roster shows what type of cases will be listed before benches headed by the 12 senior-most judges of the apex court which is meant to come into effect from 5 February, Misra has ostensibly made an effort to show that he has risen to the challenge, but once one digs deeper, it shows that this is not the case. In fact, it is clear that he has only given impetus to further, stronger criticism his functioning. Concentration of Power At the 12 January press conference, the four dissenting judges - Justice Jasti Chelameswar, Justice Ranjan Gogoi, Justice Madan B Lokur and Justice Kurian Joseph were unanimous in stating that the Chief Justice of India was "the master of the roster" but is "only the first amongst the equals - nothing more or nothing less." Convention recognised "the privilege of the Chief Justice to form the roster and assign cases to different members/benches of the court" and it was also "well settled in the jurisprudence of this country that the chief justice is only the first amongst the equals - nothing more or nothing less," the judges said. This means that when it comes to judging cases, he does not have any greater power than any other Supreme Court judge. Moreover, even though he is the master of the roster, it doesnt mean that he will concentrate all powers in his own hands. But one look at the roster shows that this is precisely what CJI Misra has done. As the master of the roster, he will hear all fresh Public Interest Litigation (PILs) and Letter Petitions filed in the Court. He will also hear Election Matters, Social Justice Matters, Contempt of Court Matters, matters dealing with appointment of Constitutional functionaries and law officers, and matters related to Commissions of Enquiry, among others. Justice Chelameswar's assignment includes Labour Matters, Land Acquisition, Consumer Protection, Compensation Matters, etc. Justice Gogoi will hear Personal Law matters, cases related to state excise and trading in liquor, among others. Justice Lokur will hear Environmental Law matters, Social Justice matters, cases related the Armed Forces etc, while Justice Josephs assignment includes Family Law Matters and Service Law Matters, among others. As per the Supreme Court's Practice and Procedure and Office Procedure, 2017, the roster of cases is prepared by the Registrar (Judical) of the apex court under the orders of the Chief Justice. "The roster shall be prepared by the Registrar (J-I) under the orders of the Chief Justice. It may contain general or special instructions regarding assignment/allocation of work to a Bench and includes allocation of work of a Bench, on account of non-availability, to another Bench," it says. In order to meet contingencies, the Chief Justice may, from time to time, direct the Registrar (J-I) to prepare roster instructions or amendments for re-allocation of judicial work, the top court's latest Practice and Procedure Rules say. Considering the main complaint of the four judges on 12 January was that they were not being allocated sensitive cases despite their seniority, the new roster may serve to only aggravate the crisis which the apex court is already staring at. Particularly, the case pertaining to investigating the death of CBI Judge BH Loya who was presiding over the Sohrabuddin Sheikh staged encounter trial which, in Justice Gogois words at the press conference, was the case which acted as a catalyst for joint protest against the CJI. It is also pertinent to know that in the week following the judges press conference, when CJI Misra had formed the Constitution Bench consisting of five judges who were to decide a slew of cases of seminal importance, he deliberately kept out the four judges who had spoken out against him. What escaped nobodys attention was that it could easily be construed as an act of vendetta against dissent. Missing Institutional Mechanism The Second Judges Case of 1993, which laid the foundations of the collegium system, is is also premised on the idea that all power, even administrative, in such an important court, must not rest on the discretion of just one node, or the Chief Justice. But this is exactly what has happened with the present mechanism of the roster. It is also a mystery as to why the roster is only about the presiding judges, and is silent about the other judges who would constitute the benches. This is unlike the system present in the Delhi High Court and other courts where each judge is allocated particular types of cases. As was widely reported in the media, the four senior-most dissenting judges had suggested the formation of a committee comprising those who would be CJIs in future, to suggest an institutional mechanism for marking cases. The latest allocation, according to the new roster, does not address that suggestion at all. It might even be construed that CJI Misra has pulled rank to ignore the serious contentions that the dissenting four, his brother judges, had raised against him. The Supreme Court on Friday sought the Centre's response on a plea by the CPM and its general secretary Sitaram Yechury against the government's decision on issuing electoral bonds. New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday sought the Centre's response on a plea by the CPM and its general secretary Sitaram Yechury against the government's decision on issuing electoral bonds. The plea claimed that government's decision entitles political parties to receive unlimited donations without recording its source. A bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and justices AM Khanwilkar and DY Chandrachud issued notice to the government on the plea and said it will be tagged along with a pending petition. Challenging the Centre's decision, the CPM said that the amendments in the Finance Act, 2017, jeopardise the very foundation of Indian democracy and it would lead to greater political corruption. The petition claimed that the introduction of electoral bonds by the Finance Act by which details of donations made to political parties are not reported or recorded by the parties and whose purchasers' identity remains hidden from the public realm is the creation of an "obscure funding system" which is unchecked by any authority. "The requirement of disclosure of such bonds and the names and addresses of their contributors in the account statement of political parties is omitted by the amendment to the Representation of the People Act," the petition, filed through advocate Shadan Farasat, said. It sought striking down of amendments made through the Finance Act, 2017 and the 2 January, 2018 notification issued by the Ministry of Finance, whose cumulative effect is that political parties are entitled to receive unlimited donations from individuals and corporations, including loss-making and foreign corporations, without having to record or report the sources of such funding. It sought to declare certain provisions of the Finance Act and the corresponding amendment in the Reserve Bank of India Act, the Representation of the People Act and the Companies Act as "arbitrary", "unconstitutional, illegal and void". "The system of corporate donations has been made correspondingly secretive by removing the requirement of disclosure of the names of political parties to whom contributions have been made by amendment to the Companies Act," it said, adding that, at both ends of the transaction, neither the contributor nor the recipient of funds is required to be disclose the identity of the other. The petition contended that quid pro quo arrangements, not unknown to Indian polity, will only be strengthened. It said that the intention of government in introducing the 'Electoral Bond Scheme, 2018' has been stated by the finance minister for introducing transparency and reducing the use of black money in the financing of political parties. However, the plea claimed that neither of these objectives is achieved by the provisions of the scheme. The NDA government had announced electoral bonds in the previous budget, claiming that the scheme would clean up political funding. The move was resisted by Opposition parties. The Election Commission of India had also expressed its reservations initially. Sushma Swaraj held one-on-one meeting with KP Sharma Oli and the two leaders discussed ways to take the special relationship between India and Nepal forward. Kathmandu: External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Thursday held one-on-one meeting with the Left alliance leader and CPN-UML chairman KP Sharma Oli and the two leaders discussed ways to take the special relationship between India and Nepal forward. Oli, who is likely to be the next prime minister, called on Swaraj at Hotel Soaltee Crowne Plaza in Kathmandu on Thursday. In her first engagement, EAM @SushmaSwaraj met Mr K.P Sharma Oli, Chairman of CPN-UML and congratulated him on his Party's victory in the recent elections. The two held wide ranging discussions on ways to take the special relationship between India and Nepal forward pic.twitter.com/uWC9BJ5RLT Raveesh Kumar (@MEAIndia) February 1, 2018 The two leaders held wide ranging discussions on ways to take the special relationship between India and Nepal forward, Kumar said. Swaraj congratulated the Nepalese people and the government for successful conclusion of the elections, senior CPN-UML leader Pradeep Gyawali said. She also congratulated Oli for the clear mandate received by the Left alliance in the Parliamentary elections, he said. She said Nepal and India enjoy cordial relations and government of India is eagerly looking to work with the new Left alliance government. After successfully conducting elections Nepal has attained political stability which will be instrumental in attaining economic prosperity for the country, she said. On his part, Oli said his party is eager to work in collaboration with neighbouring countries and would forge partnership with India to move forward the country towards the path of economic prosperity. According to CPN-UML sources, the meeting lasted for 45 about minutes. Oli also hosted a dinner in honour of Swaraj, who arrived today on a two-day official visit to Nepal. Swaraj also met with leaders of Rastriya Janata Party Nepal, including Rajendra Mahato and Mahanta Thakur, and Federal Socialist Party Nepal president Upendra Yadav. She is the first senior Indian minister to visit Nepal after the conclusion of elections to local bodies, provincial assemblies and federal Parliament. Her visit is being considered significant in the political circles in Nepal. Nepal successfully concluded three phase of provincial, local and parliamentary elections as part of its efforts to implement the new Constitution that was promulgated in September 2015. The Left alliance of CPN (UML) and the CPN (Maoist Center) won a majority of the seats in parliamentary polls. The alliance is preparing to form a new government which is expected to be headed by Oli. Oli, through a letter, had congratulated Modi on the 69th Republic Day of India. Earlier, Swaraj was welcomed at the Tribhuvan International Airport by Deputy Finance Minister Udaya Shumsher Rana and Foreign Secretary Shanker Das Bairagi. "I have come to meet friends here and there is no fixed agenda for discussion," Swaraj told reporters at the airport. Swaraj will call on President Bidhya Devi Bhandari and Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba on Friday. She will also meet CPN-Maoist Centre Chairman and former prime minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda' over breakfast. The clear victory to the Left alliance CPN-UML led by Oli and the CPN-Maoist led by Prachanda was not seen as a positive development for India given that Oli had publicly criticised New Delhi for interfering in Nepal's internal matters and accused it of toppling his government in 2017. Rembrandt's copies of Mughal paintings are a testament of not only to how highly this Indian art form was regarded by the Dutch, but also of how globalised the 17th century art world was | #FirstCulture Dutch painter Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn better known simply as Rembrandt is one of the Netherlands' most important art figures. His work spans across the 17th century, and his subjects vary from landscapes to allegorical and historical scenes, and portraits, with a large number of them being self-portraits. He was also an avid collector of art, which oftentimes came to him rather than him travelling in search of it. In an era when artists from across Europe visited Italy to sharpen their skills and learn about great masters, Rembrandt is known to have made Italy come to him, in the form of sketches and prints. A little known fact about him is that he was also deeply interested in Mughal miniature paintings. Trade exchanges between the East India Company and the Dutch meant that along with other goods, art from India in particular the Mughal empire also found its way into the homes of art connoisseurs in the Netherlands. Rembrandt too, became enraptured by them; we know this because of the sheer number of paintings he has made inspired by them 23 to be precise. His copies of Mughal art outnumber the copies he made of paintings by European painters like Raphael and da Vinci. However, it remains unclear whether he actually owned any of them. Dr Stephanie Schrader, a curator of drawings with the J Paul Getty Museum who is an expert in Rembrant's work, says that it is not surprising that Rembrandt was fascinated by this Indian art form, because he was deeply interested in portraiture and depicting the inner soul of his subjects rather than their physiognomies. He drew Akbar, Shah Jahan and Aurangzeb, but he seemed most interested in Shah Jahan, who he portrayed in his youth and old age. The opulence and grandeur of these monarchs' clothes and their regal dispositions are evident in the Dutch master's renditions. He used high quality, expensive Asian paper for his Mughal paintings. Though he does borrow concepts such as the shallow depth of field from Mughal art, he manages to infuse his own learning about movement and perspective into the copies. To an Indian, they may seem very unlike their inspiration, but to a Rembrandt expert, they are a marked deviation from the rest of his work. Why he chose to portray these subjects, who he had never seen and whose culture was so different from his own, remains a mystery, because he has left no written account about this series of paintings. His copies of Mughal miniatures are a testament not only to how highly Mughal painting was regarded by the Dutch in the 17th century, but also of how the world of art was globalised and inclusive, even 300 years ago. While it is still too early to predict which party would gain the most out of the sealing issue, it will certainly be an important issue in a possible Delhi bypoll. The three-day Delhi bandh called by traders on Friday against the sealing drive initiated by the Supreme Court indicates that the issue has taken a political turn. The party which is going to derive political benefit out of the sealing drive in Delhi would either be the Aam Admi Party (AAP) or the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), depending on the efficacy of the strategies they implement. Since the Congress has mostly stayed silent on the issue from the very beginning, it is unlikely to either benefit or harm the party. Announcing the shutdown, the Chamber of Trade and Industry said that the sealing drive is causing an atmosphere of fear and panic among traders and market associations. It also said that all the markets in Delhi would remain shut during the bandh. There is no denying the fact that the recent issue faced by Delhi traders because of the sealing of illegal construction is primarily legal as it emerged out of an order passed by the Supreme Court. There is hardly anything in the matter for political parties to get involved. In December 2017, the apex court revived its committee to seal unauthorised constructions in Delhi, according to The Times of India. The court observed that "Invaders have pillaged Delhi for hundreds of years, but for the last couple of decades it is being ravaged by its own citizens and officials governing the city - we refer to unauthorised construction and misuse of residential premises for industrial purposes. The court has focused on these illegal activities in several decisions and has issued directions from time to time to try and bring some sanity to urban living but to little or no effect." From then onward, the committee has sealed off hundreds of illegal constructions across the city. KJ Rao, a member of the committee told Firstpost that there are still many more structures to seal. "The number of buildings to be sealed run in the thousands as all the zones in the capital have such premises in them," he said. Despite the fact that the issue around the sealing was mainly legal, AAP spotted a political opportunity in it. Giving the issues a political spin, AAP directed its rhetoric against the BJP. The sealing drive was followed incessantly with protests by AAP. The drive that was meant to curb construction of illegal constructions was portrayed as a mischief carried out by the party ruling at the Centre. Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal said in a press conference that had the centre wanted, not a single building would have been sealed. "It was a matter of 24 hours for the Centre to increase the Floor Area Ratio and make the conversion charges zero to stop sealing. But this was not done," he said. In order to make the plot against the BJP more convincing, AAP also equated the sealing drive with the Centre's move to allow 100 percent FDI in single brand retail trading and alleged that both the moves were against small traders. Nevertheless, the protests which were a textbook example of the saying Repeat a lie a thousand times and it becomes the truth' were seen more as attempts to solve AAPs internal political crisis rather than the problems faced by Delhi traders. Delhi is likely to witness a mini Assembly election within six months after the President gave his assent to the Election Commission's recommendation to disqualify 20 AAP MLAs for violating the norms of office of profit. In the face of rising anti-incumbency against AAP, the ruckus over sealing is seen more as a smokescreen than a real concern for the grievances of the traders. Though AAP has completed three years in power in Delhi, it still has a long way to go in the direction of fulfilling its promises. Let alone fulfilling the tall promises the party made before elections, the schemes which it has been claiming as successful are yet to bring about desired impact. The promise of opening 1,000 mohalla clinics is still far from complete as it is stuck in a tussle with the Lieutenant Governor and the Delhi government. In the education sector, reforms are yet to take off as digitisation of classrooms are stuck while the battle with the Lieutenant Governor continues. In the face of growing discontent among voters, the protests were seen as a move to distract public attention from the parties failures. Even the courts have observed that illegal construction in Delhi is an outcome of the massive corruption in civic bodies. For a party that rose to power with its tirade against corruption, standing for sealing of illegal premises would have been seen as a normal response. However, the AAP took a U-turn from its earlier grandstanding against corruption and came out against the sealing instead. The reason behind this was not difficult to see. Since the number of illegal constructions in Delhi would run in the thousands, the number of people who are affected or would be affected by the sealing drive runs in the lakhs. This makes a good voter base for AAP to bank upon before a mini election. The BJP also seems to have decided to not let AAP drive away its voters. Apart from constant politicking on the issue, the Centre has decided to make the required changes in the concerned laws to minimise the impact of sealing. The Urban Development Ministry announced last week that the centre would make the necessary changes in the Delhi Master Plan to stop the sealing, reported Hindustan Times. "We have proposed the amendments to the DDA. The citizens of Delhi are subjected to considerable amount of uncertainty. These measures are aimed at addressing these issues and reducing their pain, said Union Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri. While it is still too early to predict which party would gain the most out of the issue, it will certainly be an important issue in a possible bypoll in Delhi. Elections in Chhattisgarh have traditionally been a two-horse race between the Congress and BJP, and it's likely to remain so this time as well Chhattisgarh, the 26th state of India, came into being on 1 November, 2000, when 16 eastern and southern districts of parent state Madhya Pradesh were partitioned under the Madhya Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2000. The state came into being following accusations that the region, despite providing the then Madhya Pradesh with income and natural resources, was neglected by Bhopal. As this India Today article from 2001 points out, energy sharing topped the list of disputes between the two states, given that Chhattisgarh was a power-surplus region generating 35.66 percent of the undivided state's power but consuming only 23.86 percent while Madhya Pradesh continued to reel under power shortage. The aim was also to provide the native speakers of Chhattisgarhi language their own independent state, and to ensure the regions large Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes population are represented adequately. Nearly one-third of the states population are Scheduled Tribes while a further 11.6 percent are Scheduled Castes. But statehood, it appears, has done little to improve the lives of the states poorest people. A report by the Rangarajan Panel had found that nearly half of Chhattisgarhs population 47.9 percent of its people were below the poverty line, the highest among all Indian states, and significantly more than parent state Madhya Pradesh, for which the corresponding figure was 44.3 percent. Chhattisgarh faces myriad challenges, some of which are detailed below Naxalism Other than poverty, it would appear that Naxalism is the biggest issue impacting the state. After a period of lull, the Maoist ultras have intensified attacks on security forces, with an attack on CRPF jawans in the states Sukma district that accounted for 25 lives highlighting the perilous nature of the operation. The Financial Express article cited above mentions how Chhattisgarh remains a death trap for security personnel, who have faced a series of encounters and deadly ambushes over the years. Previous incidents of attacks carried out against security personnel and subsequent investigation reports have often revealed that these acts were "pre-planned" and executed with deadly accuracy. And in what could be a sign of the situation worsening, the report further added, the Naxals were armed with AK-47s and even a rocket launcher. This in addition to the knowledge of the geography and topography they possess, which gives them an edge. A report on India Today said construction of infrastructure is the prime concern for the state administration, which is trying to ensure that connectivity improves. The Naxals too, perhaps realising what the construction of newer roads could mean for the situation on the ground, have increased attacks on the under-construction roads to disrupt the activity. As per government records, more than 10 incidents of gunfire and nearly 20 incidents of IED explosions have occurred in areas where roads are being constructed in Chhattisgarh's Naxal-infested regions. Corruption Though the BJP has been in power in Chhattisgarh for three straight terms, the government of Raman Singh has remained untarnished by any major scams for the majority of that period. It was only in the last three years that some scams have raised their head against the government. Way back in 2007, the state government had allegedly struck a deal with Italian helicopter company AgustaWestland, for the purchase of Agusta 109 Power-E helicopter, as alleged by Swaraj Abhiyan. The social activism group led by former Aam Aadmi Party leader Prashant Bhushan questioned the state government's role in awarding the tender to the Italian company, and claimed Raman Singh's son Abhishek was a possible beneficiary in the deal. As reported by The Indian Express, Bhushan found "at least" 10 other firms which could have qualified and sold the choppers at a cheaper rate. But the state government still paid over 30 percent commission to a dealer, through a tendering process that led to a single vendor situation. They alleged that barely six months after all the payments were made, two companies with Abhishek Singh as director sprung up in British Virgin Islands (BVI), a renowned tax haven. And that wasn't the only scam in which Raman Singh found his name involved. The chief minister is also allegedly involved in the Rs 1,50,000 crore Public Distribution System (PDS) scam. As reported by DNA in July 2015, the Congress leveled allegations that commissions were paid by millers to ensure adulteration of rice meant for distribution under PDS. The alleged scam came to light in 2014 when the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) conducted raids across the state and seized cash and documents showing coded diary entries of massive pay-offs to officials and politicians. However, in an affidavit filed in the Chhattisgarh High Court on 30 August, 2016, the Raman Singh government trashed the charges, saying, "It is wrong to disparage the state government's policy of distribution of subsidised food grains... based on conjectures, surmises, politically motivated allegations and extrapolations, and to calculate an imaginary loss to the public exchequer due to an alleged PDS 'scam'. This has been deliberately done by the petitioner to denigrate the state government, its agencies and functionaries, and to mislead the honourable high court into believing that there is indeed a PDS 'scam' as alleged." Political history Chhattisgarh has only had two chief ministers in its history, and only Raman Singh has had a full five-year tenure (of which he has had three). Ajit Jogi of the Congress was the state's first ever chief minister, but he was in power for only three years from 2000 to 2003. In the 2003 Assembly election, the BJP led by Raman Singh, stormed to power by winning 50 out of the state's 90 seats. The Jogi-led Congress could claim only 37. The party has since never been able to mount a comeback. In subsequent elections in 2008 and 2013, the BJP has held on to its grip on power, winning 50 and 49 seats respectively. However, while the BJP may be reveling in a hat-trick of victories in Chhattisgarh, a closer look at the manner of victories would paint a slightly different picture. As pointed out by a report on Hindustan Times, the voteshare gained by BJP and Congress in both 2008 and 2013 had been near identical. In 2008, Congress claimed 40.16 percent of all votes cast in Chhattisgarh, while the BJP managed less than two percent more, at 41.96 percent. Five years later in 2013, the gap was even narrower. The BJP claimed 41.06 and Congress got 40.29 percent of votes tallied. Even Independent candidates and other parties like BSP, which claimed two seats in both elections, polled a significant proportion of votes, at 17.88 percent and 18.65 percent in 2008 and 2013 respectively. So in terms of popular vote share, the results are nail-bitingly close, and there is certainly enough of a difference there to make the BJP feel confident. Key players in the fray Elections in Chhattisgarh have traditionally been a two-horse race between the Congress and BJP, and it's likely to remain so this time as well. The term of the current Assembly is due to expire in December 2018, and while 11 months is a long time in politics, and much may still change between now and December, the Assembly election is likely to be a battle between the incumbent BJP government of Raman Singh and the Congress. Former chief minister Ajit Jogi, who quit the Congress to float his own party, the Janata Congress, back in June 2016, is likely to be the third wheel, and may prove to be kingmaker. At the time of quitting the Congress, Jogi had said he was forced to form the new outfit as the state Congress was incapable of taking on the Raman Singh government. "It appears that the main Opposition Congress is working like a supporter of the ruling BJP instead of fighting against its misrule. The state needs a strong Opposition. My supporters and well-wishers want me to take a decision to free this State from the corrupt governance," Jogi said. Jogi has considerable influence over the Satnami SC community and tribals who comprise nearly 50 percent population of the state's population, and he may damage the prospects of both BJP and Congress. If he succeeds in garnering support of SC voters, it could harm the BJP, which is currently holding 9 out of 10 SC reserved seats in the Assembly. Jogi, a seasoned politician, knows the minds of Chhattisgarh's electorate well. As senior journalist Anal Prakash Shukla told Firstpost earlier, "Ajit Jogi floating a new party will positively affect the Congress votebank. It will cause damage, as Jogi has a strong arithmetical understanding of the 90 constituencies in the state and a strong hold among a large section of sub-castes and OBCs. He's known as a master manipulator. Moreover, with his son Amit by his side, he has built a strong team of young voters. A section of sitting Congress MLAs is in a dilemma, whether to side with Jogi or not, but some of the ex-MLAs will definitely join Jogis new outfit." At the very least, the BJP has 15 years of trouble-free governance to cite. It also has the relatively clean image of Raman Singh as chief minister on its side. There is also a strong RSS cadre in the state, which it inherited from the parent state of Madhya Pradesh, another state that the saffron party has won for four straight terms. Jogi has his electoral machinations and caste arithmetic on its side. It's the Congress that may yet prove to be laggards in the central state. As mentioned by DNA earlier, Jogi can still manage to draw crowds in the thousands, something none of the current Congress leaders seem capable of. "On the traditional test of drawing crowds, Jogi remains ahead of the Congress leaders Bhupesh Baghel and T S Singhdeo. On any given day there are scores of people thronging Jogis house unlike those of the Congress leaders," it said. And if that's a test of popularity, it is not good news for the Congress. Can it reverse this trend in time for December's elections? With inputs from agencies Congress hailed the victory of party candidates in two Lok Sabha and one state Assembly seats in Rajasthan bypolls New Delhi: The Congress on Thursday hailed the victory of party candidates in two Lok Sabha and one state Assembly seats in Rajasthan bypolls, with Rahul Gandhi terming the results as "rejection of ruling BJP by the people". The Congress president took to Twitter to congratulate his partymen, saying that he was proud of each one of them. "Well done Rajasthan Congress! Proud of each and every one of you. This is a rejection of the BJP by the people of Rajasthan. #RajasthanByPolls," he tweeted. Well done Rajasthan Congress! Proud of each and every one of you. This is a rejection of the BJP by the people of Rajasthan.#RajasthanByPolls Office of RG (@OfficeOfRG) February 1, 2018 Congress leaders P Chidambaram and Randeep Surjewala also congratulated the party leaders and people of the desert state for the stupendous victory of Congress. "People of Rajasthan have given their stamp on four years of Modi government and the budget presented by it. Congratulations to the people of Rajasthan for breaking the arrogance of the Modi government. Today Rajasthan, tomorrow the entire country," Surjewala said. At the Congress headquarters in New Delhi, party workers danced to the beating of drums. The Congress thumped the ruling BJP in Rajasthan, clinching all the two Lok Sabha and one state Assembly seats in bypolls in the key cow belt state where the saffron party is eyeing a second straight term when Assembly elections are held around December this year. After making a remarkable turnaround in its electoral fortunes in neighbouring Gujarat late 2017, the Congress put up a muscular performance in Rajasthan where its candidates wrested Alwar and Ajmer Lok Sabha and Mandalgarh Assembly seats from the BJP by impressive margins. Karan Singh Yadav of the Congress trounced his nearest BJP rival Jaswant Yadav by a whopping 1,96,496 votes in Alwar, while the main opposition party's nominee for Ajmer Raghu Sharma beat BJP's Swaroop Lamba by an impressive margin of over 84,414 votes, the state election office said. The Congress's Vivek Dhakad won the Mandalgarh Assembly seat, defeating his nearest BJP rival Shakti Singh Hada by nearly 13,000 votes. A delegation of Congress leaders from Madhya Pradesh met Chief Election Commissioner OP Rawat and urged him to take steps to ensure free and fair by-elections in the state, including transfer all officials with 'dubious' track record New Delhi: A delegation of Congress leaders from Madhya Pradesh on Friday met Chief Election Commissioner OP Rawat and urged him to take steps to ensure free and fair by-elections in the state, including transfer all officials with "dubious" track record. The Congress delegation comprising Jyotiraditya Scindia and Vivek Tankha provided a list of state officials who they claimed had a record of favouring the BJP government in the state and urged the Election Commission to transfer them out of the area where by-elections will be held. By-elections for Kolaras and Mungaoli assembly constituencies will be held on 24 February and results will be declared on 28 February. The last date for filing of nominations is 6 February. "It is the BJP's conspiracy...through officials to create an atmosphere of fear and favouritism. We have made a plea before the Election Commission to ensure that the elections are held in a free and fair manner," Scindia told reporters after the meeting. He said the delegation has provided an entire list of such officials and also their past record citing instances when they have allegedly "favoured" the government. The Congress leaders also handed over a memorandum to the Election Commission. "We urge the Election Commission to take all such actions as are necessary in law to for holding free and fair by-elections to Mungaoli and Kolaras constituencies of Madhya Pradesh," the memorandum said. It urged the EC to take actions including directions for registration of offences against persons indulging in "blatant violation of model code of conduct, abuse of government machinery and misuse of power, irrespective of such persons being in high positions of power and authority". United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit. AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA; Asian Law Caucus; San Francisco Bay Guardian, Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION, Defendant-Appellant. No. 16-15178 Decided: February 01, 2018 Before: Sandra S. Ikuta and Andrew D. Hurwitz, Circuit Judges, and James S. Gwin,** District Judge. August E. Flentje (argued) and H. Thomas Byron III, Appellate Staff; Brian Stretch, United States Attorney; Civil Division, United States Department of Justice, San Francisco, California; for Defendant-Appellant. Angela Elaine Kleine (argued), Jacob P. Ewerdt, and Somnath Raj Chatterjee, Morrison & Foerster LLP, San Francisco, California; Christina Sinha, Asian AmericansAdvancing JusticeAsianLaw Caucus, San Francisco, California; Lynda Lye and Julia Harumi Mass, American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Northern California Inc., San Francisco, California; for Plaintiffs-Appellees. OPINION This case requires us to once again construe Exemption 7 of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(b)(7), which governs disclosure of records or information compiled for law enforcement purposes. In analyzing FOIA requests to law enforcement agencies for disclosure of investigatory materials, we have long held that the government need only show a rational nexus between enforcement of federal law and a withheld document to invoke Exemption 7. See, e.g., Rosenfeld v. U.S. Dep't of Justice, 57 F.3d 803, 808 (9th Cir. 1995). But, we have not yet decided whether the same standard governs requests for more generalized records, such as training manuals and guidelines. We today hold that for such records, the government's burden under Exemption 7 of demonstrating that withheld materials were compiled for law enforcement purposes can be satisfied without linking the documents to the enforcement of a particular statute. I. Concerned about alleged surveillance of Muslim-Americans, the ACLU of Northern California, the Asian Law Caucus, and the San Francisco Bay Guardian (collectively, the ACLU) submitted two FOIA requests to the FBI in 2010. The first sought disclosure of documents and data about surveillance and infiltration, including records of [t]raining for FBI agents regarding Islam, Muslim culture, and/or Muslim, Arab, South Asian, or Middle Eastern communities in the United States. The ACLU also sought records of FBI investigations and assessments of mosques; Islamic centers; Muslim community centers; members of mosques, Islamic centers or Muslim community centers based on their membership or affiliation with such centers; Muslim leaders; and imams. The second request sought information regarding the FBI's mapping of communities and businesses based on race and ethnicity. After receiving no disclosures, the ACLU filed this suit. The FBI then released over 50,000 full or redacted pages, but withheld 47,794 pages under various FOIA exemptions, agreeing to provide Vaughn indexes for a designated sample of the withheld documents. The parties then filed cross-motions for summary judgment, centered on whether the FBI could withhold documents under Exemption 7. The district court held that the FBI had not shown a rational nexus' between the enforcement of a federal law, and the documents it claims are exempt from disclosure, and granted summary judgment to the ACLU. In its summary judgment order, the district court acknowledged that Ninth Circuit cases requiring a nexus between withheld documents and a specific federal law arose from the withholding of solely investigatory records, and therefore differ meaningfully from the present instance, which also concerns policy and training documents. But, the court found no indication in the statute or case law permit[ting] the drawing of such distinctions. The district court entered final judgment in favor of the ACLU, and the FBI timely appealed. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. 1291 and review the district court's summary judgment de novo. Animal Legal Def. Fund v. FDA, 836 F.3d 987, 990 (9th Cir. 2016) (en banc) (per curiam). II. The Freedom of Information Act seeks to ensure an informed citizenry, vital to the functioning of a democratic society. Tuffly v. U.S. Dep't of Homeland Sec., 870 F.3d 1086, 1092 (9th Cir. 2017) (quoting NLRB v. Robbins Tire & Rubber Co., 437 U.S. 214, 242, 98 S.Ct. 2311, 57 L.Ed.2d 159 (1978) ). Accordingly, the Act requires that federal agencies make records within their possession promptly available to citizens upon request. Id. But, this command is not absolute. Id. Rather, because Congress recognized that transparency may come at the cost of legitimate governmental and privacy interests the Act provides for nine specific exemptions. Id.; see 5 U.S.C. 552(b). Exemption 7 protects records or information compiled for law enforcement purposes from disclosure, but only to the extent that the production of such law enforcement records or information would cause one of six enumerated harms. 5 U.S.C. 552(b)(7)(A)(F). Thus, a court must first decide whether a document was compiled for law enforcement purposes before turning to whether an enumerated harm exists. In considering FOIA requests for information collected through investigations of individuals or groups, we have stressed that [a]n agency which has a clear law enforcement mandate, such as the FBI, need only establish a rational nexus' between enforcement of a federal law and the document for which an exemption is claimed, Church of Scientology of Cal. v. U.S. Dep't of Army, 611 F.2d 738, 748 (9th Cir. 1979), overruled on other grounds by Animal Legal Def. Fund, 836 F.3d at 990; see also Rosenfeld, 57 F.3d at 808, or a rational nexus' between its law enforcement duties and such documents, Binion v. U.S. Dep't of Justice, 695 F.2d 1189, 1194 (9th Cir. 1983); see also Wiener, 943 F.2d at 985 (same). For example, in Binion we found that withheld documents pertaining to an FBI investigation of a presidential pardon were subject to Exemption 7 because FBI pardon applicant investigations are authorized by federal regulation and are part of the duties of this law enforcement agency. 695 F.2d at 1194. Our precedents rest on the premise that Exemption 7 cannot be used as pretext to withhold documents related to generalized monitoring and information-gathering that are not related to the [agency's] law enforcement duties. Rosenfeld, 57 F.3d at 809 (quoting Lamont v. Dep't of Justice, 475 F.Supp. 761, 775 (S.D.N.Y. 1979) ). Thus, when the government collects information on individuals and groups, Exemption 7 is available only when the investigation has a rational nexus to a law that the agency is authorized to enforce, see id. at 81011 (involving UC Berkeley's Free Speech Movement and other individuals); Church of Scientology, 611 F.2d at 74849 (involving the Church of Scientology and founder L. Ron Hubbard), or a rational nexus to law enforcement duties, see Wiener, 943 F.2d at 98586 (involving John Lennon). In light of these decisions, the district court held that, with respect to investigatory materials, the FBI was required to identify a nexus to federal law that the agency sought to enforce, and that ruling is not at issue on appeal. But, the ACLU sought more here; it also requested documents compiled for general law enforcement purposes and not linked to a particular investigation. The district court held that our precedents also controlled the analysis in this distinct context. We disagree. [L]aw enforcement agencies such as the FBI should be accorded special deference in an Exemption 7 determination. Binion, 695 F.2d at 1193. Given such deference, the FBI can surely compile documents for law enforcement purposes without a pre-existing nexus to the enforcement of a specific federal law. For example, an FBI policy about when to seek warrants to search religious institutions and how to conduct searches of such locations would plainly be a document compiled for law enforcement purposes. However, the document would not have a nexus to the enforcement of a particular statute until a search is conducted. It would instead apply to the enforcement of all or many of the statutes the FBI is charged with enforcing and to the FBI's law enforcement duties in general. Exemption 7 applies on its face to records or information compiled for law enforcement purposes. 5 U.S.C. 552(b)(7). It would be anomalous to deny the benefit of the Exemption to documents that plainly meet its facial requirements because, although they apply to the FBI's law enforcement duties, they are not yet tied to a particular investigation conducted pursuant to a particular federal law. Nor does FOIA require us to do so. Although Exemption 7 originally applied only to investigatory records, a 1986 amendment broadened it to cover records or information. Freedom of Information Reform Act of 1986, Pub. L. No. 99-570, 1802(a), 100 Stat. 3207, 3207-4849. This amendment was intended to resolve any doubt that law enforcement manuals and other non-investigatory materials can be withheld under [Exemption 7]. S. Rep. No. 98-221, at 23 (1983); see Tax Analysts v. IRS, 294 F.3d 71, 79 (D.C. Cir. 2002) ([T]he legislative history makes it clear that Congress intended the amended exemption to protect both investigatory and non-investigatory materials, including law enforcement manuals and the like.). At the same time, Congress amended Exemption 7(E) to allow withholding of records or information compiled for law enforcement purposes to the extent production would disclose guidelines for law enforcement investigations or prosecutions if such disclosure could reasonably be expected to risk circumvention of the law. 5 U.S.C. 552(b)(7)(E). Thus, the statutory scheme plainly contemplates that guidelines and similar general documents will be evaluated under Exemption 7(E). Exemption 7(E) perforce comes into play only after the government meets its threshold burden to qualify for Exemption 7. Congress surely would not have specifically protected the type of information described in Exemption 7(E) from disclosure if the Exemption 7 threshold always precluded the government from seeking this protection. The Supreme Court's opinion in Milner v. Department of the Navy, 562 U.S. 562, 131 S.Ct. 1259, 179 L.Ed.2d 268 (2011), supports this conclusion. Before that opinion was issued, we had read FOIA Exemption 2, 5 U.S.C. 552(b)(2), which protects documents related solely to the internal personnel rules and practices of an agency, as applying not only to mundane employment matters (Low 2 matters), but also to rules and practices the disclosure of which may risk circumvention of agency regulation (High 2 matters). Milner v. U.S. Dep't of Navy, 575 F.3d 959, 96364 (9th Cir. 2009) (citing Dep't of Air Force v. Rose, 425 U.S. 352, 369, 96 S.Ct. 1592, 48 L.Ed.2d 11 (1976) ). In applying Exemption High 2, we had found various guidance and training materials protected from FOIA requests. See id. at 961 (ammunition storage information); Dirksen v. DHHS, 803 F.2d 1456, 145859 (9th Cir. 1986) (internal Medicare Policy Guidelines); Hardy v. ATF, 631 F.2d 653, 65455 (9th Cir. 1980) (law enforcement manual Raids and Searches). But, the Supreme Court held in Milner that Exemption 2 only protects Low 2 materials. 562 U.S. at 56465, 131 S.Ct. 1259. In so holding, the Court reasoned that it cannot think of any document eligible for withholding under Exemption 7(E) that the High 2 reading does not capture. Id. at 575, 131 S.Ct. 1259. Similarly, it is difficult to imagine non-investigatory documents eligible for withholding under Exemption 7(E) that could pass through the Exemption 7 threshold under the district court's interpretation. Thus, were we to deny the application of Exemption 7 to generalized law enforcement documents simply because the government could not link them to enforcement of a specific law, the additional protections that Congress provided to those very documents in Exemption 7(E) would be nullified. Indeed, we have implicitly adopted this approach by analyzing documents under Exemption 7(E) without questioning whether they were compiled for law enforcement purposes. See Hamdan v. U.S. Dep't of Justice, 797 F.3d 759, 77778 (9th Cir. 2015) (upholding the FBI's withholding of documents containing law enforcement techniques for surveillance and credit searches under Exemption 7(E) ); see also ACLU of N. Cal. v. U.S. Dep't of Justice, F.3d , 2018 WL 455857 (9th Cir. Jan. 18, 2018) (analyzing a FOIA request for law enforcement techniques and guidelines under Exemption 7(E) ). We therefore hold that when a FOIA request seeks guidelines and other generalized documents compiled by a law enforcement agency not related to a particular investigation, the government need not link the document to the enforcement of a particular statute in order to claim the protection of Exemption 7. Rather, the agency need only establish a rational nexus between the withheld document and its authorized law enforcement activities. If such a showing is made, the district court can then determine whether disclosure would cause any of the specific harms identified in Exemptions 7(A)(F), 5 U.S.C. 552(b)(7)(A)(F). There is no one-size-fits-all test for the required demonstration. For example, the FBI could easily meet the threshold Exemption 7 burden for a document that gives guidelines for searches incident to arrest because its general law enforcement duties routinely involve such searches. But it would be more difficult to prove, and require greater evidence to demonstrate, a nexus between an FBI investigation into a highly controversial figure in California education whom the FBI was attempting to have removed from office and a plausible law enforcement purpose. Rosenfeld, 57 F.3d at 809. And, for some records, it may be impossible to prove a rational nexus to valid law enforcement purposes. This approach is similar to that of the District of Columbia Circuit. When considering investigatory materials, that court requires that an agency invoking Exemption 7 show that the investigatory activity that gave rise to the documents is related to the enforcement of federal laws and there is a rational nexus between the investigation at issue and the agency's law enforcement duties. Pratt, 673 F.2d at 42021. But, that court did not require such a showing when considering requests for non-investigatory materials, instead holding that IRS internal agency material relating to guidelines, techniques, and procedures for law enforcement investigations and prosecutions outside of the context of a specific investigation facially meet the Exemption 7 threshold and require further analysis under Exemption 7(E). Tax Analysts, 294 F.3d at 78. See Sack v. U.S. Dep't of Def., 823 F.3d 687, 69394 (D.C. Cir. 2016) (holding reports on the efficacy of polygraph examinations were compiled for law enforcement purposes); Morley v. CIA, 508 F.3d 1108, 112829 (D.C. Cir. 2007) (holding CIA clearance and investigatory processes and related law enforcement techniques and procedures exempt under Exemption 7(E) ); PHE, Inc. v. Dep't of Justice, 983 F.2d 248, 251 (D.C. Cir. 1993) (finding manual exempt under Exemption 7(E) ). III. We express no opinion as to whether the documents at issue in this case meet the Exemption 7 threshold, nor whether those that do are protected from disclosure under Exemptions 7(A)(F). Rather, we remand for the district court to make such determinations in the first instance. The judgment of the district court is VACATED and this case is REMANDED for further proceedings consistent with this opinion. FOOTNOTES . A Vaughn index identifies each document withheld and the FOIA exemption claimed, and explains how disclosure would damage the interests protected by the claimed exemption. See Wiener v. FBI, 943 F.2d 972, 977 (9th Cir. 1991); Vaughn v. Rosen, 484 F.2d 820, 827 (D.C. Cir. 1973). . The Third and District of Columbia Circuits employ versions of the rational nexus test when analyzing FOIA requests for investigatory materials. See Abdelfattah v. U.S. Dep't of Homeland Sec., 488 F.3d 178, 184 (3d Cir. 2007) (per curiam); Pratt v. Webster, 673 F.2d 408, 42021 (D.C. Cir. 1982). Other circuits apply a per se rule, under which documents compiled by law enforcement agencies are inherently records compiled for law enforcement purposes within the meaning of Exemption 7. Jordan v. U.S. Dep't of Justice, 668 F.3d 1188, 1193 (10th Cir. 2011) (citation and internal quotation marks omitted); see Jones v. FBI, 41 F.3d 238, 24546 (6th Cir. 1994); Williams v. FBI, 730 F.2d 882, 88386 (2d Cir. 1984); Kuehnert v. FBI, 620 F.2d 662, 66667 (8th Cir. 1980); Irons v. Bell, 596 F.2d 468, 47376 (1st Cir. 1979). The government does not ask us today to adopt the per se test. . The amendment to Exemption 7(E) was intended to address some confusion created by the D.C. Circuit's en banc holding in Jordan v. U.S. Dep't. of Justice, 591 F.2d 753 (D.C. Cir. 1978), denying protection for prosecutorial discretion guidelines under [FOIA Exemption 2]. S. Rep. No. 98-221, at 25 (1983); see also Tax Analysts, 294 F.3d at 79 (quoting 5 U.S.C. 552(b)(7)(E) ) (Congress also amended Exemption 7(E) to permit withholding of guidelines for law enforcement investigations or prosecutions if such disclosure could reasonably be expected to risk circumvention of the law, thus giving further indication that the statutory threshold was not limited to records or information addressing only individual violations of the law.). . We consider today the FBI, an agency with a clear law enforcement mandate. See Church of Scientology, 611 F.2d at 748. We express no opinion as to the application of Exemption 7 to mixed agencies with both administrative and law enforcement functions. See id. . The Third Circuit has taken a similar approach. See Frankenberry v. FBI, 567 Fed.Appx. 120, 124 (3d Cir. 2014) (holding that records concerning polygraph examination procedures and other law enforcement techniques are protected from disclosure under Exemption 7(E) ). HURWITZ, Circuit Judge: Disappointed with BJP over the lack of allocation of funds to Andhra Pradesh in the Union Budget 2018-19, TDP has called for an emergency meeting on Sunday. Disappointed with the BJP over the lack of allocation of funds to Andhra Pradesh in the Union Budget 2018-19, TDP is reconsidering its alliance with the saffron party and has called for an emergency meeting on Sunday in Amaravati, according to several media reports. On Thursday, Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu had voiced his displeasure over the "raw deal" meted out to the state to fulfil the commitments made in Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act. The Indian Express reported that the TDP chief might also hold a meeting soon, possibly this Sunday or in the coming week to review the party's alliance with BJP. According to the The Times of India, he also held a teleconference with party leaders and TDP MPs in Delhi on Friday over its ties with BJP."The allocations are very dissatisfactory and it is for BJP to explain how it will address this. In the meantime, we will take the message to the people as to how Andhra Pradesh was completely ignored in the budget," the report quoted Naidu as saying at the meeting. There is a "strong mood" among TDP leaders to break away from the alliance with the BJP, PTI quoted sources as saying. There was no formal communication about what transpired at the meeting, but some senior TDP leaders said off the record that almost everyone, including many district unit chiefs, wanted the TDP to end the alliance with the BJP after the budget "ignored" the state. The party sources said that Naidu apparently dissuaded his senior party colleagues from speaking about the fate of the alliance with BJP and dwelt on the Rajasthan bypoll results where the BJP tasted defeat. The TDP sources said that, according to Naidu, the bypoll results are a clear example that people will be unsparing if governance is not good. Naidu also reportedly expressed "serious displeasure" over the Union budget and wondered why the Centre ignored the state. "Bengaluru, Mumbai and Ahmedabad got a substantial allocation for various projects but none of our projects, including the Vijayawada and Visakhapatnam Metro rail, got anything," one of the sources quoted Naidu as saying at the meeting. "At the time of the state bifurcation, I was the only one who demanded equal treatment to both the states. Though gross injustice was done to Andhra on account of bifurcation, I aligned with the BJP only because having good relations with the Centre could undo the injustice," Naidu apparently told the TDP leaders. Some ministers and senior leaders present at the meeting said Naidu told them that all important issues would be discussed in detail at the meeting with TDP MPs on Sunday. After the Thursday meeting, Cabinet minister S Chandramohan Reddy had told reporters they will convey their dissatisfaction to the Centre and the party leaders authorised the Andhra Pradesh chief minister to take an appropriate decision. He had said the TDP had been waiting for four years for the BJP to help the state come out of the difficult situation created by its division. Party leader and Union Minister of State for Science and Technology Y Sujana Chowdhary had said that the budget has let down the people of Andhra Pradesh. We are disappointed with the Union Budget presented today. Many pressing state issues like Railway Zone, Polavaram project funding, Funding for capital Amaravati and other pending issues of Andhra Pradesh are not addressed in the budget: YS Chowdary, MoS Science&Technology, TDP ANI (@ANI) February 1, 2018 Stating that there will be no compromise on the state's interests, he said the future course of action would be decided by Naidu. TDP MP Rammohan Naidu said they were even ready to resign for the sake of the state. We're very disappointed with the budget. One of the major issues was special status. Nothing was said by FM for Andhra Pradesh. If you take states like Telangana, Tamil Nadu they have huge budget but Andhra has deficit budget. People feel cheated: RM Naidu, TDP MP #Budget2018 pic.twitter.com/qsYu09sfZq ANI (@ANI) February 1, 2018 Miffed with its alliance partner over the budget, TDP MP TG Venkatesh even declared "war" on BJP on Friday. We are going to declare war, have three options, 1 is to try and continue, 2 is our MPs resign and 3rd is breaking of alliance. Will decide in meeting with CM on Sunday: TG Venkatesh,TDP MP #UnionBudget2018 pic.twitter.com/XbbW9cz7z3 ANI (@ANI) February 2, 2018 In January, the TDP chief had called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi to request him to take steps to fulfil the commitments made to the state at the time of state's bifurcation. He had demanded that the Centre do the handholding to help the state overcome revenue deficit and ensure level playing field at par with other states. With inputs from IANS Political parties in poll-bound Karnataka urged CEC Om Prakash Rawat to restrain ruling Congress govt from announcing new schemes in a bid to woo voters Bengaluru: Political parties in poll-bound Karnataka on Thursday urged the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Om Prakash Rawat to restrain the ruling Congress government from announcing new schemes in a bid to woo voters. "Some political parties have demanded the EC to restrain state government from making any announcement and sanction of new schemes ahead of state assembly elections," the Election Commission said in a statement after reviewing the readiness of the state machinery for the 15th Assembly poll. The polls in the southern state are due in late April-early May. The parties had also urged the poll panel to ask the ruling Congress party to remove its hoardings in public offices, the statement said. "Political parties demanded that the transfer policy of those officials, who are connected to the electoral process, be implemented strictly," it said. Last week, the the state government was asked to withhold the transfers of seven Indian Administrative Service (IAS) rank officers in the state as the poll panel was not consulted. Rawat, as part of his two-day visit to the state, held meetings with the representatives of political parties, income tax officials, Deputy Commissioners (DCs), superintendents of police (SPs) and police commissioners among other officials. "Political parties were assured that the EC would put into place an effective mechanism to ensure free, fair, transparent and inclusive elections," the statement asserted. The state administration and the police have also been instructed to maintain the law and order across the state ahead of the polls, it said. "Police observers will be deployed after the announcement of the election dates." The poll panel, however, has not indicated in its statement about when the election dates are likely to be announced. As per the draft electoral rolls as of 30 November last year, there are a total of 4.9 crore voters in the state, which has 224 assembly constituencies. The National People's Party (NPP), an ally of the BJP at the Centre, said JD(U) president Nitish Kumar was the only person who could unseat the saffron party from power and not Rahul Gandhi Shillong: The National People's Party (NPP), an ally of the BJP at the Centre, on Friday said JD(U) president Nitish Kumar was the only person who could unseat the saffron party from power and not Rahul Gandhi. The NPP and the BJP, although allies at the Centre and in Manipur, where the two are running the governments together, are contesting the 27 February Meghalaya Assembly polls separately. The NPP, headed by Conrad P Sangma, son of former Lok Sabha speaker PA Sangma, is a constituent in the BJP-led North-East Democratic Alliance (NEDA), a coalition that was formed in 2016. "The way I am looking at it from the North East, the only person who can unseat the BJP is Nitish Kumar," state NPP president WR Kharlukhi told reporters in Shillong. "I am telling you, may be in 2019, Nitish Kumar will be the prime minister. Mark my words," he added. Kharlukhi, however, said, "I will leave it to the intelligence of the Congress...But the way I am assessing the political situation in India, that is the only solution for them, not Rahul Gandhi." Bihar chief minister Kumar had severed his ties with the RJD and Congress in the Grand Alliance last year and joined hands with the BJP to form a coalition government in the state. Once considered a potential political rival of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Kumar's JD(U) is now part of the ruling NDA at the Centre. The NPP has released the names of 52 candidates in poll-bound Meghalaya, while the BJP made public its first list of 45 candidates in the north-eastern state on Friday. The poll results for the 60-member Meghalaya Assembly will be declared on 3 March, along with the outcome of the Tripura and Nagaland Assembly polls. According to Kharlukhi, there was nothing unusual in the two parties parting ways for the Meghalaya polls. He pointed out that the NPP was part of the UPA, when party MP Agatha Sangma was made a minister, but the party fought against the Congress in the 2013 Meghalaya election. "We are very clear that we are a party of our own. We have our own ideology. The NPP is the National People's Party, while the BJP is the Bharatiya Janata Party," Kharlukhi said. Reacting to the allegation of Chief Minister Mukul Sangma that the NPP was funded by the BJP, he said, "The chief minister said it as if he was the treasurer of the BJP. Only the treasurer will know how much money is coming in and going out of the BJP." Alleging that Meghalaya had suffered under the Congress rule, the NPP leader said the ruling party was levelling false allegations, hoping that it would not have to show to the people what they had done in all these years. "It is a real pity that Meghalaya is ranked at the bottom of all the small states in every sector today. In general, it is on number 10 out of 10 states. In law-and-order, it is ranked 9, if you take tourism, it is ranked 10, in the states' economy, it is ranked 9, in health, it is ranked 8, except for agriculture where it is ranked 4," he said. Stating that states like Nagaland were doing better than Meghalaya, Kharlukhi said the state had performed badly in education as well, even though it was known as an education hub. The Chief Electoral Officer of Nagaland, Abhijit Sinha, said no candidate had filed nominations for the election so far. The last date of filing of nominations is 7 February Kohima: No candidate filed papers on Friday, the third day of filing of nominations for the 27 February Nagaland Assembly election, officials said. The filing of nominations in the northeastern started following the issuance of the poll notification by the Election Commission (EC) on 31 January. The Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Nagaland, Abhijit Sinha, said no candidate had filed nominations for the election so far. The last date of filing of nominations is 7 February. In a significant development on Thursday, the BJP, after backing out of a joint declaration signed by all the parties in Nagaland to boycott the polls, announced that it would contest the election. The media cell convener of the BJP's Nagaland unit, K James Vizo, had on Thursday said that after a thorough deliberation, "it was agreed upon that the BJP would contest the election as scheduled for the cause of a solution in the state." The BJP, an ally of the ruling Naga People's Front (NPF), is yet to finalise its candidates, while both the parties have not come to any conclusion on seat-sharing for the election to the 60-member state Assembly. Vizo said the party leaders were holding discussions with the national leaders to finalise the candidates, while talks were also going on with the NPF over seat-sharing. Rajya Sabha member and NPF secretary general KG Kenye said the party had entrusted its president, Shurhozelie Liezietsu, and Chief Minister TR Zeliang with the task of finalising the candidates and taking a decision on seat-sharing with the BJP. Except for the BJP, no political party in Nagaland, including the NPF and opposition Congress, has made any official statement on contesting the polls. But they have said they will file nominations if any party does so first. "The NPF, as a party, has solemnly pledged its allegiance to the principle of socialism, secularism and democracy. However, our commitment towards a solution to the Naga political issue shall continue as in the past," a party statement said. Nagaland Congress secretary Moa Imchen told PTI that the first list of the party's candidates was approved by the All India Congress Committee (AICC), but the party would stand firm on its commitment that unless the other parties filed nominations, it would not do so. Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party's (NDPP) working president Nuzota Swuro said, "We are mentally and physically prepared to contest the election, but everything depends on the filing of nominations by the other political parties." JD(U) Nagaland convener Senchumo NSN Lotha said the party was preparing to contest from at least 10 seats if the polls were held. The Core Committee of Nagaland Tribal Hoho and Civil Organisation (CCNTHCO) has asked the presidents and office-bearers of all the apex tribal bodies and civil society organisations to attend a meeting in Kohima on Saturday to chart the future course of action. A joint declaration was signed by all the political parties in the state on 29 January not to contest the polls, in solidarity with the call of the Naga tribal organisations and civil society. But the BJP backed out the next day, stating that the final call on the issue would be taken by its central leaders. The Union Budget 2018 seems to be a document torn between twin impulses: laying the framework for a 'new India' and extinguishing the fires of the old. Right from the day he took oath as the prime minister in 2014, Narendra Modi seemed a man in a hurry. He believed that his mandate was not to just tinker at the edges but trigger systemic changes. He outlined his vision and set forth on his mission with all the zeal of a missionary. The 2018 Union Budget is the first sign of hesitancy in that zeal. Modi still retains the audacity of his vision (consider the sweep, expanse and boldness of his flagship health protection scheme) but the budget is also a reflection of the prime minister's realisation that it is tough to bulldoze through these systemic changes and shape behavioural upheavals in absence of institutional capabilities. The infirmity isn't of Modi's making but he must own it, and gets no allowances on that count. To a certain extent, the budget catches this tense interplay between the strength of his conviction, his frustration at the lack of a stable delivery framework, the resultant erosion of his political capital and his belated attempt at recalibration. It seems a document torn between twin impulses: laying the framework for a 'new India' and extinguishing the fires of the old. In the bargain, the underlying theme of the budget becomes one of crisis management instead of hope. Its biggest statement of intent is ironically the most opaque. The world's biggest government-funded healthcare programme that proposes to provide social security to 10 crore economically weak families (potentially 50 crore citizens) and firewall them from ailments at an annual coverage of Rs five lakh per family, may forever transform half-a-billion Indians, and subsequently, India. It is a magnificently ambitious step, more so for India's developmental economy. These are also families where one ailment or an infirmity might be the difference between a decent life and destitution. It manages to focus on an area that has remained long ignored at India's peril and criminally neglected by governments both at the Centre and the states. Better health means increased productivity and greater social mobility: If properly implemented, Modi's plan to give half a billion people free health careincluding access to private hospitalswill transform the health sector and yield major socioeconomic benefits in years ahead Brahma Chellaney (@Chellaney) February 1, 2018 It may also have a huge impact on the BFSI (banking, financial services and insurance) sector. Yet, in absence of a budgetary outlay or even a clear fiscal allocation roadmap and given India's chronic weakness in delivery mechanism the transformative scheme has been criticised as high on hope and low on specifics and derided as mere poll rhetoric. This seems unfair. However, leaving aside habitual cynicism from political rivals or the government's detractors, well-meaning critics too have raised questions over the practicality of the scheme. "The Rashtriya Swastha Bima Yojana has a Rs 365 a year premium for coverage of Rs 30,000. With near 17-fold increase in coverage, where will the cost of premiums come from? Will these be borne by the beneficiaries in some ratio? Or will the state governments be asked to cover part of these costs?" asks Aashish Chandorkar in OpIndia. Former secretary for the health ministry Shailaja Chandra notes in The Print that 'ModiCare' places a fair bit of onus on states that automatically scales up the difficulty level in implementation given their poor professionalism: "Judging from the implementation of the much smaller Central Government Health Scheme, the payouts by the government have been chronically slow and cumbersome, and many hospitals have opted out. It is precisely because of the track record of delayed payments that one is concerned. The management of the programme would have to devolve on the states, which do not function at the same level of professionalism," she writes. Union finance minister Arun Jaitley has remained evasive on the question of funding. He has allocated a token amount and pledged to raise funds (which according to some estimates may cost the exchequer $1.71 billion a year through the CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) route. It is not clear whether corporate or philanthropic contributions will be enough to cover the expenses of setting up the planned 15,000 'wellness centres'. Jaitley has also talked about the possibility of raising the funds required for both health care premiums and MSP by taxing the gains on equities. "I think both minimum support price and healthcare can be supported only out of the long-term capital gains taxation," he said on Thursday. The finance minister's math seems improbable, given the fact that revenue secretary Hasmukh Adhia told the media on the same day that the government expects no more than a modest Rs 20,000 crore in the first year and a figure double of that from the second year. This gap between ambition and reality runs as a persistent trope through the budget. Pratap Bhanu Mehta calls it "sleepwalking into delivery architectures without serious regulatory capacity" in The Indian Express. The prime minister and his generals correctly diagnose the issues but sadly seem incapable of finding new ideas to address the issues. Be it a proposed hike in minimum support price, reintroduction of long-term capital gains tax (LTCG), hiking up of customs duties on a wide-range of imports or missing the fiscal deficit target, Jaitley's budget dips into the tattered, old bag of the 1980s era socialism. The budget document reads: "I propose to increase customs duty on mobile phones from 15 percent to 20 percent, on some of their parts and accessories to 15 percent and on certain parts of TVs to 15 percent. This measure will promote the creation of more jobs in the country." The strategy of imposing customs duties on imported goods to "create jobs" is a questionable one. This plan has failed in the past. Instead of boosting the economy it has encouraged crony capitalism and forced consumers to opt for substandard goods. This focus on import substitution and protectionism not only goes against Modi's declarations on the Davos platform where he equated protectionism with terrorism but also threatens to undo the gains achieved by our economy through liberalisation. As Mihir Sharma writes in NDTV: "There may be excellent reasons for the government to reverse the long trend towards openness in India's economy. Some have argued it has led to de-industrialisation. But let us state openly then that this is what we are doing. To claim we are a beacon of openness and then work in the opposite direction leads to questions about the government's sincerity." The moves, taken together, betray a hesitation in Modi and a rare wavering of confidence. It could be that the recent political trend arising out of BJPs narrow win in Gujarat and reversals in Rajasthan is forcing him to be circumspect. India is a restive, responsive democracy. Even the most popular of leaders (and Modi remains one) must face crises of trust. So far, Modi had responded to challenges with a boldness of vision, confidence and audacity. This budget makes him look shaky. Jubilant over the BJP's drubbing in the recent bypolls in West Bengal and Rajasthan, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday said the 'farewell bell' had started ringing for the saffron party. Howrah: Jubilant over the BJP's drubbing in the recent bypolls in West Bengal and Rajasthan, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday said the "farewell bell" had started ringing for the saffron party. "No trace of the saffron party will be found even through a telescope after the Lok Sabha election in 2019," Banerjee, whose Trinamool Congress (TMC) won a Lok Sabha and an Assembly seat in the by-election in West Bengal by convincing margins on Thursday, said at the party's student-youth convention. "It is because of its failure in the recent bypolls that the ruling party at the Centre has placed the budget out of fear, panic and frustration...The farewell bell has started ringing for the BJP," she said, claiming that the budget had failed to fulfil the people's aspirations and dismissing it as "anti-people, a total bluff and a super flop show". "I am disheartened with the Union Budget. This is a hopeless, negative, super flop and big bluff budget. I think this anti-people BJP government is not fit for governance," the chief minister said. Hitting out at the opposition parties in the state, she said, "The CPM and the BJP have already entered into an understanding, while the Congress is still a friend of the Marxist party and has lost its own identity." The CPM and Congress should take a lesson from the Uluberia Lok Sabha and Noapara Assembly bypoll results, the TMC supremo added. In both the seats, the BJP emerged as the second party, the CPM finished third and the Congress fourth. The Congress candidate lost his deposit in Noapara, a seat the party had won in the 2016 state Assembly polls. "Both the CPM and Congress are shameless even after their unprecedented defeat in the bypolls. The more they oppose the TMC, the deeper they will sink into the oblivion," Banerjee said. Stating that a political party should appear before the electorate and have a friendly image with a lot of development activities behind it, she added that the TMC believed in amity and communal harmony, democracy and humanity. Hitting out at her former lieutenant Mukul Roy, who has joined the BJP, the TMC chief without naming him said, "One or two traitors were there in our party. Thanks to the almighty that they are not there now. My life is dedicated to the people and the TMC is working for their welfare." Claiming that West Bengal was the number one state as far as rural economy, small scale industries and several other sectors were concerned, the chief minister called upon the people of the state to vote for the TMC again in the upcoming panchayat polls. She also asked the TMC workers to be friendly with the people in their areas and become assets of the party. "I give priority to my party workers over the leaders. The party workers are my invaluable assets," Banerjee said. The 18 February Assembly polls were important not only for Tripura, but entire India, as it would show which way the country would move, CPM politburo member Prakash Karat said in Belonia on Friday. Belonia : The 18 February Assembly polls were important not only for Tripura, but entire India, as it would show which way the country would move, CPM politburo member Prakash Karat said in Belonia on Friday. All the earlier elections in the north-eastern state were fought between the Left Front and the Congress but this time, it was a contest between the BJP and the Left Front as the Congress leaders and supporters had joined the saffron party, he said. "It is like old wine in a new bottle. But I have no doubt that the conscious voters of the state will again support the Left Front to form its eighth government under Chief Minister Manik Sarkar," Karat said, addressing an election rally in Belonia in South Tripura district. He alleged that the Indigenous People's Front of Tripura (IPFT) was the mask of the insurgents, who had killed the people of the state a decade-and-a-half ago. The BJP forging an alliance with such a party was tantamount to sedition, the senior CPM leader said. Karat further alleged that the BJP-IPFT alliance had hatched a conspiracy, so that the Left Front could not return to power. But he expressed confidence that the people of the state, who were zealously guarding the Left Front government, would foil all such conspiracies. Karat said there had been riots in the BJP-ruled states of Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan and alleged that the saffron party was harassing people in the name of cow protection. He asserted that the Left Front government in Tripura was the most clean and pro-people and that it always tried to protect the harmony between the tribals and non-tribals. This Left Front government had formed the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council to safeguard the interests of tribals and provided land rights to the landless people, the former CPM general secretary said. Claiming that the BJP-led central government had failed on all fronts, he alleged that this year's budget was an attack on the working class as all of its provisions were aimed at protecting the interests of the corporates. Now that the Congress has beaten the BJP under Sachin Pilot's leadership, it should end the hush-hush campaign run by a section of the Congress that the party can't take on Vasundhara Raje without Ashok Gehlot. Soon after results of bypolls in Rajasthan's Ajmer Lok Sabha constituency were announced, the victorious Congress candidate Raghu Sharma appeared on a TV news channel where Sachin Pilot was being interviewed and fell at his feet. Then, when the interviewer turned to Sharma, the Congress candidate bent his back again to touch Pilot's feet on live TV. This act of seeking Pilot's aashirwaad sums up what the Congress has achieved through its 3-0 win in the elections to Alwar, Ajmer and Mandalgarh on Wednesday. It has finally sealed the leadership question in Rajasthan. For months, voters in Rajasthan had been talking about a huge anti-incumbency wave against the incumbent BJP government. This was backed by solid evidence on Wednesday when the BJP lost the by-polls to Ajmer and Alwar Lok Sabha seats and Mandalgarh Assembly seat. The drubbing is significant for several reasons. One, the margin of loss was huge -- nearly two lakh in Alwar, 90,000 in Ajmer and 13,000 in Mandalgarh. Had a Congress rebel in Mandalgarh not polled more than 30,000 votes, the BJP would have lost by an even bigger margin in the Assembly constituency. Two, the bypolls covered 40 lakh voters in 17 Assembly segments. These Assembly segments were rural, semi-rural and urban. Some of them like Ajmer (north) were BJP bastions. The BJP trailed in each of these segments with huge margins. This 17-0 lead to the Congress across demographic and geographic divides looks ominous ahead of Assembly elections scheduled for November 2018. Three, the BJP had stretched its every sinew in the election. It had launched its campaign by inviting Prime Minister Narendra Modi to inaugurate the Barmer refinery project, which, incidentally, had been already inaugurated by the previous Congress government. At the re-inauguration, Modi had reached out to Rajasthan's voters with promises of more jobs and better days. He had also tried to strike an emotional chord with the Rajputs by invoking the names of their heroes. During the campaign, the entire Rajasthan cabinet camped in the three constituencies. The chief minister herself made many trips and concluded the campaign with road shows. But, all the chief minister's horses and all her men could not save the BJP from a precipitous fall. Four, the BJP tried everything from Hindutva to sympathy. In Alwar, where cow vigilantes vitiated the atmosphere by frequently attacking the local Meos, the BJP maintained an uncomfortable silence. During the campaign, its candidate Jaswant Yadav argued that Hindus should vote for him and those who are Muslim should support the Congress. In Ajmer, the BJP chose Ramswaroop Lamba, son of former minister Sanwarlal Jat whose death had led to the by-election. But, nothing worked. In December 2013, the BJP had swept the Assembly polls, reducing the Congress to just 21 seats in the 200-member Vidhan Sabha. In May 2014, it had won the 25 Lok Sabha seats in the state. Four years later, the voter appears to be in a mood to root the BJP out. It is for the party to figure out the root cause of the problem and an appropriate solution before the big battle in November this year. Since it has lost in both Lok Sabha and Assembly constituencies, it is difficult to say if the verdict against the Centre or the state government. Since 2014, the BJP has lost six by-polls out of eight and has suffered huge losses in elections to panchayats and municipalities. So, it is clear there is huge resentment among voters at every level. The BJP will have to soon decide if the current leadership is capable of taking on a resurgent Congress or, like in Gujarat, drastic measures are required. That brings us back to Raghu Sharma and Pilot's aashirwaad to him, and the significance of this public feet-touching. Let us deconstruct. Sharma is a Congress veteran. He was perhaps active in Rajasthan's politics while Sachin Pilot was pursuing a management degree at Wharton. For years, Sharma was known as former chief minister Ashok Gehlot's trusted lieutenant. That he has dumped his former mentor and become Pilot's follower could be a metaphor for the Congress. Now that the Congress has beaten the BJP under Pilot's leadership, it should end the hush-hush campaign run by a section of the Congress that the party can't take on Vasundhara Raje without Gehlot. It is obvious that Pilot has the ability to lead the Congress and Gehlot isn't what his followers claim him to be -- indispensable. It now looks certain the Congress will pass on the baton to Pilot and, in case it is required, deal with Gehlot's ambitions with an iron fist. One month is a long time in politics. Around the time dates for these by-polls were announced, the question on everybody's mind was who would lead the Congress against Vasundhara Raje. The 3-0 win has ensured that the BJP will now have to deal with this tricky question. The Congress, like Sharma, appears ready to fall at Pilot's feet. Noisy protests by Samajwadi Party (SP) members over communal clashes at Kasganj in Uttar Pradesh forced the adjournment of the Rajya Sabha on Friday morning New Delhi: Noisy protests by Samajwadi Party (SP) members over communal clashes at Kasganj in Uttar Pradesh forced the adjournment of the Rajya Sabha on Friday morning. The newly-elected members of Aam Aadmi Party too were seen raising slogans against sealing drive in the national capital in the Well of the House, along with the SP members. Congress member KVP Ramachandra Rao also entered the Well holding a placard with the slogan 'Help Andhra Pradesh', though he did not utter a word. Soon after the obituary reference was made for those killed in a road accident in Murshidbad district of West Bengal and the laying of the listed papers, Ram Gopal Yadav (SP) raised the Kasganj issue. "Atrocities are being perpetrated against minorities in Kasganj...they are being supressed...(their) houses are being vandalised," Yadav said, as his party colleagues joined him in vociferously raising the issue. Deputy Chairman PJ Kurien asked the party to give a notice to raise the issue. However, the SP members kept raising the issue from their benches and then troooped into the Well. In the meanwhile, Kurien asked Rao to vacate the Well and return to his seat, but the latter remained unmoved. Then Kurien asked Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad to call Rao back to his seat. "What is he (Rao) doing? Can somebody do like this? Has he gone mad? Please call him (back to seat)," Kurien said and even threatened action against Rao. Referring to the Kasganj issue, Kurien again asked the party to give a notice on the issue. "I cannot ask the government (to reply on the issue). It is upto them," he said. He said 15 members wanted to raise issues during the Zero Hour which are to be taken up. As the protests by SP and AAP members continued in the Well, he said "this is unbecoming of members to come and shout slogans instead of giving notice". Following this, he adjourned the House till noon as the slogan-shouting continued unabated. Communal violence had erupted in Kasganj on 26 January leading to the death of one person. Friday was the third day of the Budget Session. On 29 January when the session commenced, the House was adjourned after the Economic Survey was laid. The House was adjourned yesterday after the Union Budget was tabled. The arguments pitched for 'One Nation One Election' are not based on some high principle it is supposed to help 'save money' for the government that can apparently be better spent elsewhere and it is claimed that the non-stop election cycle gets in the way of 'good governance' (whatever that is supposed to mean). Editor's Note: Prime Minister Narendra Modi had convened an all-party meeting on Wednesday, where only 21 out of 40 of the invited political parties showed up. One of the main agendas of the meeting was to discuss 'One Nation One Poll'. According to defence minister Rajnath Singh, Modi will set up a committee for "time-bound" suggestions on the issue. This article, which was originally published in February 2018, is being republished in view of the meeting. *** Is India headed towards a system of simultaneous state Assembly and Lok Sabha elections every five years? There seems to be gathering momentum for the proposal. Prime Minister Narendra Modi said it in 2017. An RSS think tank has said it. President Ram Nath Kovind also referred to it in his speech that opened the Budget Session of Parliament last year. The arguments pitched for it are not based on some high principle it is supposed to help 'save money' for the government that can apparently be better spent elsewhere and it is claimed that the non-stop election cycle gets in the way of 'good governance' (whatever that is supposed to mean). Neither of these are particularly convincing arguments in and of themselves there are no strong and reliable numbers on what it can cost (not just to the exchequer but to the candidates) to hold simultaneous elections. Further, only the Union government might be conceived of being affected by the endless election cycle but even then, that's a conscious choice being made by the party in power that winning a particular state Assembly election is more important than whatever 'good governance' measures are needed. The argument against is much stronger: That the holding of simultaneous elections dramatically shrinks the choices of the electorate. It advantages national parties over regional or local ones and might privilege 'national issues' over local ones. It's perhaps no surprise that the leaders of a dominant national party that has largely suffered defeat only at the hands of strong regional parties in the recent past are pushing for simultaneous elections. That said, there is little by way of a draft or any coherent plan on how to legally ensure simultaneous elections. If it is to be taken as a serious measure of constitutional reform, the constitutional amendments are going to be no mean feat, requiring as they do a fundamental re-structuring of the way in which parliamentary democracy works in India. Simultaneous elections to all state Assemblies and the Lok Sabha have only ever happened in the first four General Elections that took place in India between 1952 and 1967. Since then, the cycle has repeatedly been broken given the nature of India's constitutional democracy. It's important to understand that the absence of simultaneous elections is not a bug, but a feature of India's form of government. In the Westminster form of parliamentary democracy, the government lasts only so long as it enjoys a majority in Parliament (Assembly or Lok Sabha). Unlike the American system where the legislature (Senate and House of Representatives) does not decide who the Head of Government is, in India, it is the legislature that decides. It is the way that the party system is intended to work in India (as it does in the United Kingdom, Australia, and other countries that follow a similar system), and the result is therefore that when the government of the day loses the majority in the legislature, it is forced to seek the mandate of the people once again. Unless the Constitution is fundamentally and irretrievably altered to replace this form of parliamentary democracy with a purely presidential one, along the lines of the United States model, simultaneous elections are simply not possible. A government that loses majority in the legislature would be unable to govern at all until the next election. Simultaneous elections are only possible if the link between majority in legislature and government is broken as in the American model. Assume that the Government drafts such a constitutional amendment, radically changing the Constitution, would the change survive the Supreme Courts scrutiny? Probably not. As the Supreme Court has held in its 13-judge bench decision in Kesavananda Bharati versus State of Kerala, a parliamentary form of democracy is a basic feature of the Constitution of India and cannot be completely removed by amendment. Even assuming that they did not mean to rule out a presidential form of government entirely, it would still require a 13-judge bench of the Supreme Court to definitively rule on the matter. Even leaving aside the possibility that the Supreme Court may strike down attempts to change the basic features of the Constitution, there are other questions that arise, which have clearly not been thought through: What is the implication of this presidential form of democracy? What will be the role of the legislature? Will it have any meaningful role in checking the powers of the president? What happens to the 10th Schedule that is supposed to prevent defection of legislators? None of these questions have even been raised, let alone engaged with by anyone who is propounding 'simultaneous elections'. A much larger question also arises: If all state Assembly elections are going to be decided on 'national issues', what of federalism? Will the presidential system be reflected at the state-level with a similarly-structured gubernatorial system? In the absence of any real debate or discussion about the implications, difficulties and challenges with holding simultaneous elections, one gets the feeling that what is being proposed is a one-off early election, with the possible voluntary and coordinated dissolution of BJP and NDA-ruled state legislative Assemblies. This would require parliament to be dissolved early a move that has not always had a successful outcome for the party dissolving it. Whatever the government proposes, it is hard to see any real upside to simultaneous elections while the downsides continue to mount. Have you ever doubted yourself? A decision that you made? Have you ever felt all alone? Has your faith ever been weak? Have you ever wondered if your big mouth said too much? Have you ever felt persecuted? Have you ever passed through a long dark, dark, dark valley? In the pitch black did you wonder where Jesus was and what He was doing? Did you wonder why you were still in the darkness? If you must answer yes to any of these questions, you are in pretty good company. The one whom Jesus declared to be the greatest among men had these very same doubts. Those doubts led him to turn to the only one who could ease the pain and put an end to the merciless worrying. John the Baptist, the very one who announced the identity of Jesus Messiah to the world, found himself in a very dark place. He, who was the prophesied forerunner of the Christ, found himself wondering if he was mistaken. Those doubts drove him to ask a most important question that every man, woman, and child ought to ask, Are you the Expected One or should we look for another? (Luke 7:19) Actually John had to send the question by others because he was locked in a dungeon for condemning Herod Antipas for stealing his brothers wife. The free man of the wilderness was being held in an underground prison. Is it any wonder that John was doubting himself and his Master? When Johns disciples asked the question of Jesus, His answer was immediate, decisive, and miraculous. Luke 7:20-23, When the men came to Him, they said, "John the Baptist has sent us to You, to ask, 'Are You the Expected One, or do we look for someone else?'" 21 At that very time He cured many people of diseases and afflictions and evil spirits; and He gave sight to many who were blind. 22 And He answered and said to them, "Go and report to John what you have seen and heard: the BLIND RECEIVE SIGHT, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the POOR HAVE THE GOSPEL PREACHED TO THEM. 23 "Blessed is he who does not take offense at Me." (NASU) The healings and the good news being preached are an explicit fulfillment of at least three Old Testament prophecies about the Promised Messiah, the Expected One. Jesus answered the heartbreaking cry of John immediately and lovingly in word and deed. Jesus is not offended by the sincere cries for help and assurance from sincere seekers. When we wind up in a dungeon of doubts, we ought to realize that we hold the key, and no one is guarding the door. Turning to Jesus is the key. If we will only turn to Him and cry out for help, He will answer. He is indeed the Expected One. Blessed is he who does not take offense at Him. Jesus is the line upon which the whole world is divided. Either we are in Christ or we are not. Jesus is the Cornerstone, the sure foundation, for those who have trusted Him. Jesus is the Stumbling Stone, which will crush those who have rejected Him. If you have doubts about the meaning of life, your circumstances, heaven, hell, etc. cry out to Jesus in prayer. He will answer. Also, read about Him in the Bible. He will not disappoint. Your doubts and fears will be appeased. He is the Expected One, in fact I am expecting Him soon. A contentious bill to ban cow slaughter and ensure stabilisation of the population of the Indian breed of bovines was on Friday withdrawn by BJP member Subramanian Swamy. New Delhi: A contentious bill to ban cow slaughter and ensure stabilisation of the population of the Indian breed of bovines was on Friday withdrawn by BJP member Subramanian Swamy in the Rajya Sabha, after the government urged him to do so. While withdrawing his Cow Protection Bill 2017 during the private members' business, Swamy said he would like the government to put a voluntary cess to ensure that the cows are looked after they cease to give milk. During a 2-hour discussion on the bill, the Upper House witnessed heated exchanges when members of the Opposition objected to Railway Minister Piyush Goyal standing up and saying that such an important issue was being "made fun of", after Samajwadi Party member Javed Ali Khan spoke on it. Khan said cow should be immediately declared the national animal and provisions made whereby the government is held responsible for rearing and nourishment of cows. He also said India must end its diplomatic ties with countries which trade in meat. Intervening in the debate, Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh said over the past 3.5 years, the government has been working on various schemes related to cow welfare. "We have been taking steps for the protection and promotion of the cow. I want to assure Swamy that we are working in the same direction. With these words I request you to withdraw the bill," the Minister said. In response, Swamy said "I wanted a law to come, but want the government to seriously consider putting a voluntary cess for the purpose of ensuring that cows are looked after they cease to give milk." He said 'gaushalas' (cow sheds) should be set up and scientifically run. An authority to ensure stabilization of population of cows (Bos Indicus) should also be set up and the people would not hesitate to contribute. "So the only thing that remains is the law. But since the minister has said that in consulation with me, he will proceed in this matter. I would like to give government one more chance so that I don't have to come back again with another bill. ... Therefore, permit me to withdraw the bill," Swamy told the Chair. During the debate, Congress member Rajeev Shukla asked Swamy, "Why doesn't the BJP discuss the matter of cow slaughter with Goa chief minister Manohar Parrikar?" The Goa CM had recently backed beef traders and warned vigilante groups attacking them. Ananda Bhaskar Rapolu (Congress) observed that Swamy was earlier the Commerce Minister and the present-day Ministry has a separate Committee to promote export of beef. "We are not addressing the real issues. We are just giving an emotional tinge to the aspects with which we can polarise, we can exploit, we can divert," Rapolu said. When D Raja of the (CPI) was speaking, the Railway Minister stood up and alleged that SP's Javed Ali Khan had used some derogatory language and sought that these remarks be expunged. There were heated exchanges between the opposition and treasury benches as Congress leader Jairam Ramesh alleged that Goyal had used a derogatory word. But Kurien said the Minister had made a casual remark. Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi defended Goyal, saying the Railway Minister did not say anything against anyone. In his speech, Raja said he opposed to the Bill and took a dig at Swamy, saying some Tamilian friends referred to him as a "Buddhi Pishaach". Raja said the cow was being used as a weapon of hate, either in the name of religion or law alleging that the legislation would legitimise cow vigilante groups and encourage mob lynching. He asked the government to make its position clear. Raja also took a jibe at Swamy saying he should advise Finance Minister Arun Jaitley that instead of going for health protection scheme, he should go for cow protection, adding "I don't know whether the Finance Minister listens to you". In his response, Swamy claimed that prohibition of cow slaughter is included in the Directive Principles of the Constitution. "Cow eating was not prevalent during the Mughal period. The last empire was in 1857 when the first thing Bahadur Shah Zafar declared was a ban on cow slaughter...There is anecdotal information that Babur had told his son Humayun not to allow the slaughter of cows. It is a sentimental issue. It is the British who made the cow cutting a part of our regular fashionable cuisine and that is how it became prevalent in our country," Swamy said. He claimed that patents have been given for cow urine because the urea that is produced is used in modern medicine. Attacking the Congress, he said "the first anti-cow sluaghter bill passed was in Madhya Pradesh ...all these Congress people including Dr Rajendra Prasad were in the forefront saying that cow should be give a special place and its killing should be banned," Swamy said. The CPM had said in its petition that the move undermined democracy and it would lead to greater political corruption New Delhi: The Supreme Court has sought the Centre's response on a plea by the CPM challenging the government's decision on issuing electoral bonds. A bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices AM Khanwilkar and DY Chandrachud issued a notice on the plea and said it will be tagged along with a pending petition. Challenging the Centre's decision, the CPM said in its petition that the move undermined democracy and it would lead to greater political corruption. Yechury said the party was left with no choice but to move the apex court. He said they had taken up the matter in Parliament and sought amendments to the bill when the government moved the proposal. "Using their majority in Lok Sabha, the government overturned the Rajya Sabha's recommendations. The no disclosure clause in electoral bonds will create opacity in funding and is bad for democracy," he claimed. The NDA government had announced electoral bonds in the previous Budget, claiming that the scheme would clean up political funding. The move was resisted by Opposition parties. The Election Commission also expressed its reservations initially. It is rare for a political party to approach the Supreme Court in such matters. TDP is simmering with discontent over the manner in which Arun Jaitley's 2018 Union Budget treated Andhra Pradesh, leaving Chandrababu Naidu in a dilemma. Chandrababu Naidu is caught in a Hamletian dilemma to be or not to be in the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA). The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) is simmering with discontent over the manner in which Arun Jaitley's 2018 Union Budget treated Andhra Pradesh. It's holding crucial meetings on Friday and Saturday, yielding speculation in the political circles on the fate of the ruling alliance in the state. Naidu has openly displayed his anger and frustration over the raw deal meted out to the residuary state of Andhra Pradesh despite NDA ruling in both the state and the Centre. Prime Minister Narendra Modi was also party to the promises made by Naidu to the people of the truncated state in the run-up to the elections in 2014. In fact, the present finance minister, who was then the Opposition leader in Rajya Sabha, had vociferously defended the interests of the state along with the present vice-president, M Venkaiah Naidu, when the state bifurcation act came up for debate in the House. Yet, not just the ruling TDP, there is a widespread sentiment in the polity and society of Andhra Pradesh that the state is not getting its due under the Modi dispensation. Naidu personally submitted the state's wish list to the finance minister during his pre-budget discussions with him. But, the budget speech has not even mentioned the state. The TDP leadership strongly feels that this is nothing but undermining the political stature of their leader who was the cynosure of national politics much before Modi was elevated to the national political stage. The key demands of the state like funds for the Polavaram Project, filling the revenue deficit as prescribed by the bifurcation act, railway zone for Visakhapatnam, steel plant for Kadapa district, special assistance measures in lieu of promised special category status that shall allow for greater central share in the development schemes, fiscal support for the construction of capital Amaravati, etc. Surprisingly, none of them figured in the budget speech, creating a massive hostile perception among the electorate that the state is getting step-motherly treatment under the NDA dispensation. Naidu is seriously wary of the possible political fallout of such a perceived discrimination in the Union Budget 2018. Sources close to Naidu feel that Modi is personally suspicious of the chief minister's national political credentials. The electoral trends reveal that Modi's popularity is waning while Rahul Gandhi is yet to fully capitalise on this. This throws up the possibility for a non-BJP and non-Congress leader to compete for the top political post in the country. With the re-entry of Nitish Kumar into the NDA fold, the demise of J Jayalalithaa and the decline of Mayawati, Naidu and Mamata Banerjee remain the contenders from the so-called federal front, if it evolves. It is not that such a possibility is around the corner. But, a leader like Modi cannot even accept remote chances of any competition for him within the party, alliance or outside. The TDP sources also state that Naidu too has prime ministerial ambitions. He is more acceptable and has better national stature than any other regional satraps. He had not accepted the offer during the United Front regime. But now, with his son and the heir apparent ready to take over, Naidu has no inhibition to move to Delhi politics, opine leaders who have been close to him for decades. This political possibility is behind the lack of proper chemistry between Modi and Naidu. Meanwhile, the BJP is pursuing a policy of dual containment of regional parties. While sailing with TDP, the saffron brigade has also reached out to the Opposition leader YS Jaganmohan Reddy. The YSR Congress has lent an unconditional support to BJP-led NDA nominees in both the presidential and vice-presidential elections, despite the presence of its arch-rival TDP in the alliance. The BJP is in a love-hate relationship with the TDP, though the two parties share power in the state and at the Centre. Even as the party shares ministerial berths in Naidu's Cabinet, a section of state BJP leaders never misses an opportunity to criticise the TDP regime. Jaganmohan Reddy is certainly an option for BJP if it is to estrange Naidu. The acquittal of DMK leader in 2G spectrum case, the lack of any progress on the cases in regard to Reddy and the conviction of BJP adversary Lalu Prasad Yadav and BJP stalwart Subramanian Swamy calling Rajini, whom the party is wooing, as corrupt reveal the big picture in Indian politics, though, it is technically wrong to make a political reading of the judicial process. The fact that the Andhra Pradesh BJP leaders never criticise Reddy even while some of them attack their ally Naidu is a clear indication of BJP's policy of dual alignment with regional parties to derive maximum political mileage. The BJP, in fact, hoped to embrace the matinee idol Pawan Kalyan, who campaigned for the TDP-BJP combine in 2014. Pawan himself revealed recently that BJP president Amit Shah had requested him to merge his Jana Sena Party into BJP. No BJP leader so far denied these claims of the Jana Sena chief. As the BJP is shrewdly doing its political maths, Naidu cannot remain silent. Alliance with Modi was the critical factor in reaping the mandate in 2014 as the margin between TDP and YSR Congress was a mere two percent. Naidu is unable to come to a firm conclusion on the cost of severing ties with the BJP, especially when the Assembly elections are coterminous with Lok Sabha elections and the possible impact of the national political mood cannot be completely denied. That too with the opposition YSR Congress ready to have a tacit understanding with the BJP, Naidu is doubly cautious. However, with the recent decline of BJP, evident from the Gujarat polls and more so in the recent Rajasthan bypoll, the TDP leadership is toying with the idea of estranging BJP. The author is a former MLC of Telangana and editor of The Hans India. tech2 News Staff It has been a year coming and Toyota is finally ready to launch its Vios sedan at Auto Expo 2018 in Noida, which begins next week. The sedan was launched last year in a number of South Asian countries including Thailand, and could be launched soon after it is announced in India. Toyota has not announced a facelifted 2018 version of the Vios yet, therefore it is expected to launch its existing 2017 version, the specifications of which we already know about. The design of the Toyota Vios is quite similar in certain ways to the company's more premium Camry sedan. It features a protruding nose, projector headlamps and LED DRLs which make it look sporty like the Honda City. The version of the compact sedan launched in Thailand last January features a 1.5-litre petrol engine which produces 107 bhp of power and 141 Nm of peak torque. The engine is mated to a new 7-Speed 'Super-CVT' transmission. India will probably also get a separate variant with a 5-speed manual gearbox as well as the CVT transmission. A 1.4-litre diesel version is also expected to be announced in India. We do not have pricing details yet but the sedan is expected to be launched at the Rs 11 lakh range. Once launched, the Toyota Vios will be the Japanese carmaker's entry to rival compact sedans like the Hyundai Verna, Honda City and also the Maruti Suzuki Ciaz. Reuters Bitcoin, the worlds largest cryptocurrency, skidded 11 percent on Thursday to its lowest since November, as a Facebook ban on cryptocurrency adverts and a growing regulatory backlash against the nascent market frightened investors. Thursdays drop to as low as $9,022 on the Luxembourg-based Bitstamp exchange left bitcoin trading at less than half the peak price of almost $20,000 it reached in December. It slid more than 26 percent last month, in its worst monthly performance since January 2015. Other cryptocurrencies, including Ripple, the third-largest by market value, and Bitcoin Cash, have also racked up double-digit declines in the last 24 hours, according to Coinmarketcap.com, which tracks the industry. Ethereum was up slightly on the day. Last years explosive rise in the value of digital coins and the flood of new retail investors drawn to the market have rattled global regulators nervous about a sector used largely for speculation. Officials have said cryptocurrencies are used by criminals to launder money. India, which has likened the market to a Ponzi scheme, on Thursday vowed to eliminate their use. The Indian finance minister said his government would take all measures to remove crypto-assets in financing illegitimate activities or as part of the payment system, Arun Jaitley told parliament. Sentiment towards cryptocurrencies is turning sour with negative headlines pouring out from left, right and centre, said Fawad Razaqzada, an analyst at FOREX.com Concerns that Facebook is banning ads and major crypto exchanges shutting down have really silenced the hype and some people are probably having second thoughts about investing their hard-earned cash into digital currencies. Facebook said in a post on its website this week that it was banning all advertising that promote financial products and services that are frequently associated with misleading or deceptive promotional practices, such as binary options, initial coin offerings and cryptocurrency. It was not clear whether the ban would affect all cryptocurrency adverts on the social media site. Facebook could not immediately be reached for comment. Regulatory crackdown A $530 million hack of Japanese cryptocurrency exchange Coincheck late last week has also weighed on the market, along with a subpoena US regulators sent to two of the worlds biggest cryptocurrency players, Bitfinex and Tether. In a development welcomed by cryptocurrency investors, the finance minister of South Korea, a major hub for digital coin trading, said on Wednesday there was no plan to outlaw their buying and selling after regulators had earlier pledged to do so. Critics call cryptocurrencies a speculative mania that will end in tears for thousands of retail investors. Supporters say the price volatility is a distraction from the value of the underlying technology. Those backers believe cryptocurrencies and the blockchain technology underpinning them will transform the way money is stored and transferred, upending the conventional banking system. Short-term pessimism misses the point that it [regulation] could make the ecosystem thrive in the long term, said Charles Hayter, founder of London-based Cryptocompare. International regulators are set to debate how to address the risks posed by the market at the next G20 meeting in March. Bank of England governor Mark Carney said this week that the G20 needed to consider how easily digital coins should be converted into other central-bank issued currencies, as well as the role of anonymity, as a lot of the underlying use of these currencies has been illicit activity. Bitcoin rallied more than 1,000 percent last year as speculators piled in. The price was less than $500 as recently as early 2016. IANS With Finance Minister Arun Jaitley announcing that virtual currencies are no legal tender and that the proliferation of its use for illegitimate financing will be curbed, industry experts urged him to regulate, not curb, cryptocurrencies. "Cryptocurrencies are no legal tender and the government discourages its use. However, the government will look at the utilisation of Blockchain (a distributed digital technology that supports cryptocurrencies)," Jaitley said in his Budget speech in Parliament. Bipin Preet Singh, Co-founder of e-wallet MobiKwik, said that "the government should consider regulating cryptocurrencies than curbing their use entirely". Neither the government nor the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has authorised any virtual currency as a medium of exchange till date but the momentum for such virtual currencies is catching up rapidly in India like other countries. "The announcement on the cryptocurrency should not be misinterpreted. The intention is more likely to regulate the circulation to avoid its usage for illegal transactions," noted Rashmi Deshpande, associate partner, Khaitan & Co, a leading law firm. "In addition, the government has recognised the viability of blockchain technology that powers cryptocurrency. Efforts should be made to bring in regulations at the earliest to achieve this aim," Deshpande added. According to Sapan Gupta, National Practice Head-Banking & Finance at law firm Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas, capitalising on the Blockchain technology could open new ways of securing peer-to-peer lending transactions, boosting trade finance, fintech and information repository sectors. "By segregating the use of Blockchain from cryptocurrencies reflects the government's intention to use the technology in a gradual and safer manner, before it gets into concepts like replacing currencies," Gupta said. DD Mishra, research director at Gartner, said that rather than restricting cryptocurrencies, they can be regulated to prevent any adverse impact and risks while exploring Blockchain side by side. "It is a clear indication of how important and widespread this technological innovation has become in India. BACC welcomes the statement and reaffirms its unstinting assistance to the government, and all regulators, in helping evolve a robust ecosystem for cryptocurrencies," said Ajeet Khurana, head, the Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Committee of India (BACC). tech2 News Staff A 26-year-old software engineer in the city was in for a rude shock when the e-tailing major Flipkart delivered a detergent bar instead of an iPhone 8 which he had ordered and paid for. After he approached the Byculla police in central Mumbai, a case of cheating was registered against Flipkart. Tabrej Mehaboob Nagrali, the complainant, said he had ordered an iPhone 8 on the shopping portal and made the full payment of Rs 55,000. On 22 January, he alleged, the package delivered at his house in Panvel in neighbouring Navi Mumbai had a detergent bar inside instead of the premium mobile phone. "Nagrali approached us with a complaint yesterday, and an offence of cheating was registered against Flipkart," Avinash Shingte, senior police inspector at the Byculla police station, told media. A Flipkart spokesman told the media that the company is conducting an inquiry into the incident. But this isn't the first instance where a customer has got soap in place of a phone from Flipkart. Back in May 2017, a Mumbai-based customer on ordering a phone, got a soap and a packet of washing powder instead. Then again, a complaint had been filed against Flipkart. Back in 2014, a Snapdeal customer who ordered a Samsung Duos smartphone got a soap and a brick inside the box. This was again a case that happened with a Mumbai resident. With inputs from PTI tech2 News Staff While Hollywood, sports, and Silicon Valley are thriving with stories of #MeToo and #TimesUp movement, the latter not so much maybe; the gaming world either has been oblivious to the situation or it chooses to be one. But, finally, taking cognisance of the situation, Game Developers Conference (GDC) has withdrawn the Pioneer award which Nolan Bushnell was due to receive for his contribution to the gaming industry. Known as the father of video gaming industry he has applauded GDC's decision and has apologised for inappropriate behaviour in the past. According to The Verge, Nolan was due to receive the award. This created a host of criticism coming out from Twitteratis. #NotNolan was the trending hashtag. @ubm This is not the time to turn a blind eye and say "Oh things were different then, it was a different time". If it's in fact a different time now, then why are we rewarding someone who's behavior is now deemed inappropriate and unacceptable? #NotNolan Nick Bermes (@nick_joebgen) January 30, 2018 UBM: dont give the Pioneer award to anyone this year. Or rather, award it symbolically to all of the women who built this industry and are no longer here, in large part due to men like this.#notnolan. Elizabeth Sampat (@twoscooters) January 30, 2018 This is wrong. And if anybody who claims to care about us is actually willing to do the hard work of actually standing with us, it has to be #notnolan Its time we do the hard work beyond only saying that we care about the women in this industry. Jennifer Scheurle (@Gaohmee) January 30, 2018 I love all the men popping in to tell me to wait to hear both sides on #notnolan. The problem with that is we happen to have an inside source: Nolan Bushnell himself. There arent any women involved in these allegations, were just quoting all the sexist **** he said. Brianna Wu (@Spacekatgal) January 31, 2018 Reportedly, Bushnell had created an environment in Atari, the company he co-founded, which was nothing short of impenetrable bro-culture. Pervasive sexism was not only rampant in the way they dealt, but also the way they treated women in the company. A statement from me pic.twitter.com/OfsrgaCmgW Nolan K Bushnell (@NolanBushnell) January 31, 2018 So much so, that when talking about a female employee named Darlene, whose name was used for a gaming code as well, Bushnell had reportedly said in a Playboy interview that Darlene was stacked and had the tiniest waist. This has created a crack in the video-gaming industry which has seen maximum representation by men over the years. Reuters Stronger iPhone prices and hints by Apple Inc on 1 February that it could return more than half of its $285 billion in cash to shareholders eased concerns among investors, even as the worlds biggest technology company gave a disappointing revenue outlook for the current quarter. Apple also reported it sold fewer iPhones over the holiday quarter than Wall Street had expected. But the revenue outlook for the first three months of 2018 was not as bad as some feared, said Jun Zhang of Rosenblatt Securities Inc. Apples comments about plans for its $163 billion in net cash helped boost shares 3.3 percent to $173.48 in after-the-bell trading. Over time, we are trying to target a capital structure that is approximately net neutral. We will have approximately the same level of cash and debt on the balance sheet, Apples chief financial officer, Luca Maestri, told Reuters in an interview. Were going to take that balance down from $163 billion to zero, Maestri said, referring to Apples current level of cash net of debt. He did not say whether the reduction in net cash would come in the form of returning capital to shareholders, capital expenditures or acquisitions. The cash plans are a pleasant surprise, Brian Colello, an analyst at Morningstar Inc, said. This goes a bit against Apples historically conservative capital structure. Trip Miller, a managing partner at Gullane Capital Partners and an Apple investor, said the move to a level balance sheet was good news. Lets face it, this cash has been doing nothing for us over the last six years, he said. Apple forecast revenue of $60 billion to $62 billion and gross margins of between 38 percent and 38.5 percent for its fiscal first quarter ending in March. Analysts were expecting $65.7 billion in sales and a gross margin of 38.9 percent for the March quarter, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S, though some had forecast sales as low as $60 billion. Thrivent Financial analyst Peter Karazeris said the low revenue forecast had been expected by many analysts and investors following a string of credible reports that Apple had cut parts orders. Im happy weve gotten the bad news that I was expecting guided into the stock. It was probably a little overbaked, he said. Now were focusing on metrics that really matter like free-cash generation and shareholder returns. Thrivent holds Apple shares. Bright spots in the fiscal first quarter ended on 30 December included average selling prices for the iPhone that topped Wall Street predictions, at $796 versus expectations of $756. The strong prices offset unit sales of iPhones that missed Wall Street expectations, coming in at 77.3 million units versus estimates of 80 million. It was really driven by the success of the iPhone X and also the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus, Maestri told Reuters of the pricing strength. The new lineup has done incredibly well. The company posted revenue of $88.3 billion and profit of $3.89 per share, from $78.4 billion and $3.36 per share a year earlier. The results beat analyst expectations of revenue of $87.3 billion and profits of $3.86 per share. Apples services business, which includes Apple Music, the App Store and iCloud, grew 18 percent to $8.4 billion, missing analyst expectations of $8.6 billion. Maestri said the lower services revenue was because the holiday quarter was only 13 weeks rather than 14 weeks. The services revenue was down slightly from $8.5 billion the quarter before. Thats something to watch as we roll further into 2018, said Miller of Gullane Capital. Does that continue to stagnate, or was that a one-time bump in the road? Maestri also said Apples installed base of active devices reached 1.3 billion, 30 percent higher than two years ago and represents an expansion of potential customers for the services business. Apple said it expected its tax rate for the March quarter to be 15 percent following changes in US tax law. The company said last month it plans to make a one-time tax payment of $38 billion on its overseas cash and has a five-year, $30 billion U.S. capital expenditure plan. The company did not say how much of its overseas cash it would bring back to the United States in the short term and gave no new information about its capital return program, which it typically updates each April. tech2 News Staff Augmented reality powered smart glasses is a piece of technology of which every major technology company wants a pie. So it comes as no surprise that Intel is indeed looking to launch smart glasses this year. According to a report in Bloomberg, Intel is reportedly looking to sell a majority stake in an augmented reality company which it had bought. The plan is to eventually launch smart glasses for consumers this year. The smart glasses codenamed 'Superlite' are expected to be made by Taiwanese manufacturer Quanta Computer, the same company that also helps make Apple Watch. They should pair with your smartphone using Bluetooth and a laser projector will display the information in the wearer's field of view. The new company, to be called Vaunt, will comprise former employees of Recon Instruments which was the AR wearables company that Intel acquired in 2015 and eventually shut down last year. This is not a first for Intel, as it has worked with industrial AR headset company called Daqri and has launched a merged reality headset design named Project Alloy. But this too was discontinued last year. With the smart AR glasses, Intel wants to showcase what's possible even if consumers are not too excited about it. According to The Verge, the prospect of Intel getting into the consumer AR glasses space is interesting as many companies who expressed interest in AR glasses also downplayed the short-term importance of this technology. Amazon is expected to be working on Alexa-powered glasses. Apple, Facebook and Google are known to work on phone-based AR for now. Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park, in partnership with the Bessie Smith Cultural Center, invites the public to participate in a free, 45-minute program on Tuesday, Feb. 13 at the Bessie Smith Cultural Center, 200 East Martin Luther King Blvd. The doors open at 5:30 p.m., and the formal program begins at 5:45 p.m., focusing on the important role that the African American soldiers, who were formed and trained in Chattanooga, had in the decisive Battle of Nashville in December 1864. "Fighting racism and stereotypes on both sides, the men of Chattanoogas USCTs (United States Colored Troops) were finally brought into action in December 1864 during the Battle of Nashville. Not only participating in the battle, but playing a huge role in the Union victory there, they forever silenced those who criticized their ability to fight. "Join a park ranger to hear this story and learn about the importance of the men from Chattanooga in this struggle," organizers said. For more information about upcoming programs at Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park, contact the Lookout Mountain Visitor Center at 423-821-7786 or the Chickamauga Battlefield Visitor Center at 706-866-9241. tech2 News Staff Leaked photos of batteries and their mounting mechanism suggest that the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+ will have the same capacity batteries as the previous model. Given previous rumours that the phones are also identical in design to the previous model, this isnt much of a surprise. The leaked images, posted on Slashleaks, indicate that the two phones will come equipped with 3,000 mAh and 3,500 mAh batteries. GizmoChina notes that the photos indicate the model numbers SM-G9600 and S9-G965F, which are the rumoured model numbers for Samsungs upcoming flagships. Given the state of batteries in current flagships, Samsungs offering is actually quite reasonable. With budget phones offering capacities in excess of 4,000 mAh, Samsungs offering might seem low, but to put the numbers in perspective, Apples iPhone X offers a 2,716 mAh battery and the Google Pixel 2 XL offers a 3,520 mAh battery. The smallest iPhone offers an 1,821 mAh battery and the Pixel 2 only manages to offer 2,700 mAh battery. The more notable point here is the fact that the new phones are expected to be powered by Samsungs own Exynos 9810 in Europe and Asia and the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 in the US. GizmoChina reports that the 845 will reduce power consumption by 15 percent when compared to the 9810, making it a better choice for those leaning towards battery life. The Galaxy S9 and S9+ are expected to feature a design thats nearly identical to the previous model. Exceptions include rumours that the fingerprint sensor might be more ergonomically placed below the rear camera and that the Plus model will include a dual-camera setup on the rear. The phones are scheduled to debut at MWC next month. Reuters A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket blasted off from Florida on 31 January carrying into orbit a Luxembourg-made communications satellite designed in part to expand NATOs surveillance reach and its capability to deter cyber attacks on alliance members. The liftoff at 4:25 pm EST (2125 GMT) from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station followed a technical glitch that prompted a 24-hour flight delay. It marked the second rocket launch this year for billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk and his privately owned Space Exploration Technologies. It comes a week before the California-based company is slated to conduct its highly anticipated first test flight of the much larger and more powerful Falcon Heavy rocket, which packs three times the thrust of the Falcon 9. The payload on 31 January, was a communications satellite built for LuxGovSat S.A., a public-private joint venture between the Luxembourg government and Luxembourg-based telecommunications company SES, in part to fulfill that nations growing defence obligations to NATO. The so-called GovSat-1 satellite will provide, among other things, greater cyber protection for Luxembourgs European Union partners and NATO allies, including the United States, Luxembourg Defense Minister Etienne Schneider told a news conference on 30 January. GovSat-1 also will serve civilian telecommunications security functions. Thirty-four minutes after liftoff, the satellite was successfully released into a highly elliptical parking orbit, according to SpaceX. It will eventually settle into a round orbit 22,370 miles (36,000 km) high, where it will circle the Earth for 15 years. A spokesman for Schneider said the $279 million satellite, which weighs about 4-1/2 tons, is part of a broader policy of doubling the countrys contributions to NATO. Citing new security threats, a senior NATO official told Reuters in March that the alliance planned to spend more than $3 billion on defence technology, a third of which would go toward satellite communications. Unlike many recent SpaceX launches, the company had not initially planned on retrieving the rockets reusable main-stage because the payload had to be carried to such a high orbit that the booster was left without sufficient fuel to fly back to Earth for a return landing. However, the booster amazingly survived its ocean splash-down intact, Musk said in a Twitter message posted later with a photograph of the vehicle floating at sea. We will try to tow it back to shore, he said. This rocket was meant to test very high retrothrust landing in water so it didnt hurt the droneship, but amazingly it has survived. We will try to tow it back to shore. pic.twitter.com/hipmgdnq16 Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 31, 2018 The same Falcon 9 booster was used last year in a mission to launch a top-secret payload into space for the U.S. government. Eleven people have been detained over a spate of deadly attacks in Afghanistan, President Ashraf Ghani said on Friday, as he vowed to take revenge for the bloodshed. Kabul: Eleven people have been detained over a spate of deadly attacks in Afghanistan, President Ashraf Ghani said on Friday, as he vowed to take revenge for the bloodshed. The government is under growing public pressure to improve security in the Afghan capital after three major attacks in the past two weeks demonstrated the ability of militants to strike at the heart of the country. Since 20 January, militants have stormed a luxury hotel, bombed a crowded street and raided a military compound in Kabul, killing more than 130 people. A British charity in the eastern city of Jalalabad was also attacked. Officials said five people were killed. "People will not forget. Even if it takes a hundred years, the Afghans will take their revenge," Ghani said in a televised address to the nation after Friday prayers. He gave no further details about the 11 detained. Officials would submit a new security plan for Kabul on Sunday, Ghani said, speaking inside the heavily fortified presidential palace eight months after a devastating truck bomb in the city triggered a similar move. Afghans "demand" peace and wanted "practical actions (from Pakistan)", he added. His remarks came a day after Afghan officials said they had handed "undeniable" evidence to Pakistan that they claimed showed the recent attacks were planned on Pakistani soil. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack on the Intercontinental Hotel on January 20 and the street bombing last Saturday. The Pakistani embassy in Kabul said the information was "being examined for its authenticity". Kabul, along with Washington, has long accused Islamabad of providing safe havens to leaders of the Taliban and other militant groups. Pakistan denies the charges, insisting it has eradicated safe havens in the tribal region along the border with Afghanistan. The area is largely inaccessible to foreign journalists. But Islamabad is widely believed to retain links to the Taliban as a bulwark against arch-nemesis India, which it rivals for influence in Kabul. US President Donald Trump has ratcheted up the pressure on Pakistan in 2018 with a freeze on aid. But some analysts warn there may be no real way to pressure Islamabad, which believes keeping Kabul out of India's orbit is more important than clamping down on cross-border militancy. Fiscal discipline has taken a backseat in the latest annual Indian Budget which contains many tinges of populism, noted Indian economist Eswar Prasad said Washington: Fiscal discipline has taken a backseat in the latest annual Indian Budget which contains many tinges of populism, noted Indian economist Eswar Prasad said on Friday. Prasad, a professor of trade policy at the prestigious Cornell University, said there were no major measures in the Budget that could stimulate private investment. "Fiscal discipline has taken a backseat in this Budget, which contains many tinges of populism, as was to be expected in the run-up to a national election cycle," Prasad told PTI. "There are no major measures that could stimulate private investment, which has been notably weak even during the recent period of high growth," Prasad said. However, the proposed new health insurance scheme and other measures that will in principle directly benefit the poor are welcome, Prasad said. "Although it is unclear how exactly some of these programs will be funded within the Budget envelope," he said. US India Business Council (USIBC) president Nisha Desai Biswal said the Indian government has displayed its commitment to areas that will benefit India's growth and prosperity for many years to come. "Infrastructure development, access to health care, affordable housing, energy, and education for all citizens form the backbone of any growing economy... American industry is committed to growing, strengthening, and sustaining these areas of collaboration with India," Biswal said. In the last three years, Biswal said, India has been on a robust path to growth, backed by a strong economic reform agenda. Karun Rishi, president of USA-India Chamber of Commerce, said the Budget carefully balances the essentials of accelerating growth and fiscal prudence. Focus on agriculture and health is a game changer, he said. "We commend Finance Minister Arun Jaitley for his ambitious, out of the box thinking by covering the bottom 40 per cent of all households under the health insurance scheme - 'Ayushman Bharat'," Rishi told PTI, adding that this "bold and pragmatic" step will help the poor and low income families. 'Ayushman Bharat' -- the world's largest government- funded health care programme, is aimed at benefiting 10 crore poor families by providing coverage of up to Rs 5 lakh per family per year for secondary and tertiary care hospitalisation. An outlay of close to 10 per cent of the GDP in the agro-rural sector will boost rural and farmers' incomes, leading to a rise in consumption and consumer durables demand, he said. Rishi lauded Jaitley for making a pitch for the 'technologies of the future' in his Budget speech. "India can be a significant player in Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and Blockchain technologies. The use of Blockchain can add muscle to the digital economy especially in the BioPharma and Healthcare sector," Rishi said. According to Richard Rossow, Wadhwani Chair in US-India Policy Studies at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the Budget did meet analysts' expectations in terms of having specific programmes to appeal to farmers and rural voters. "Included among these are a new health care insurance programme for the poor, expanded programmes to deliver subsidised cooking gas and electric power connections, and escalated programs to build homes and toilets," Rossow said. Barriers to the export of agriculture items will be relaxed, and the Minimum Support Price (MSP), a floor price the government pays to farmers for staple crops, will see a hefty increase, he said. Click here for full coverage of Union Budget 2018. The eldest son of the late Cuban president Fidel Castro has committed suicide, State media reported. He was 68 years old Havana: The eldest son of the late Cuban president Fidel Castro has committed suicide, State media reported. He was 68 years old. "Fidel Castro Diaz-Balart, who had been treated by a group of doctors for several months due to deep depression, took his life this morning," Cuba's official newspaper Granma reported. 'Fidelito', as he was known on island nation, had initially been hospitalized for his condition and then continued with outpatient follow-ups. Born on 1 September, 1949, he was the son from Castro's first marriage to Mirta Diaz-Balart. A scientist trained in the former Soviet Union, Fidel Jr helped usher in the development of a nuclear power programme in the Communist-ruled country. At the time of his death, he had served as a scientific adviser to the Cuban government and was vice-president of the country's Academy of Sciences. Funeral arrangements will be made by the family, State media said. The Maldives' top court ordered the release of nine key political prisoners on Friday, clearing the way for exiled former leader Mohamed Nasheed to run for president Male: The Supreme Court of the Maldives on Thursday ordered the immediate release of former president Mohamed Nasheed and eight other opposition leaders, saying their trials had violated the constitution and international law but it also ordered new trials. The country has been mired in political unrest since Nasheed, its first democratically elected leader, was ousted in 2012. He was later sentenced to 13 years in jail on terrorism charges after a trial denounced as hasty and unfair by the United Nations human rights chief. In its ruling on Thursday, the Supreme Court said it found that prosecutors and judges had been unduly influenced to conduct politically motivated investigations into the allegations leveled at Nasheed, former vice president Ahmed Adeeb and the other opposition leaders who had challenged President Abdulla Yameen. It ordered fresh investigations and trials to be held. It also nullified a ruling in which 12 legislators lost their parliamentary seats for defecting last July from Yameens ruling party. Yameen lost his majority in the 85-member legislature after the defections. Ibrahim Hussain Shihab, a spokesman for the Presidents Office, said in a statement that the government had questions about the ruling but would comply with it. The Administration will work to engage, and consult with, the Supreme Court in order to comply with the ruling in line with proper procedure and the rule of law. Attorney General Mohamed Anil said however that Yameen had dismissed the chief of police following the ruling after he had been unable to reach him to ensure law and order. After the ruling, hundreds of opposition supporters cheered and waved national flags outside the main opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) campaign center. Islamic prayers were also recited at the opposition rally, and people chanted: The government is over. Maldives police said their commissioner - prior to his sacking by Yameen and deputy commissioner had decided to enforce the ruling after seeking legal advice. Police have started work to enforce the ruling, they said on Twitter. President Yameens official website said the defense minister had called on the Maldivian people to put on a united front and work together to maintain peace and stability. US Ambassador for Maldives Atul Keshap welcomed the Supreme Court decision. I urge the government and security services to respect this ruling, which bolsters democracy and rule of law all Maldivians, Keshap tweeted. Nasheed, who has been in exile in the United Kingdom but wants to contest a presidential poll this year, had sought UN help to restore his political rights. The joint opposition in a statement welcomed the rulings and called for the immediate resignation of President Yameen. The Supreme Courts verdict effectively ends President Yameens authoritarian rule, it said in a statement. In a statement, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said it was 'closely monitoring' the evolving situation in the Maldives and also hoped that the safety and security of Indian expatriates in the island nation would be ensured by the Maldivian authorities under 'all circumstances' New Delhi: India on Friday said it was imperative for "all organs" of the Maldivian government to abide by the country's Supreme Court order to release all political prisoners "in the spirit of democracy". In a statement, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said it was "closely monitoring" the evolving situation in the Maldives and also hoped that the safety and security of Indian expatriates in the island nation would be ensured by the Maldivian authorities under "all circumstances". The Maldivian Supreme Court, in a significant development on Thursday, ordered the immediate release of the former president Mohamed Nasheed and other opposition leaders. "We have seen last nights order of the Supreme Court of Maldives releasing all political prisoners. In the spirit of democracy and rule of law, it is imperative for all organs of the Government of Maldives to respect and abide by the order of the apex court," the MEA said. It said that as a close and friendly neighbour, India wishes to see a stable, peaceful and prosperous Maldives. "We are closely monitoring the evolving situation," said the MEA. The island nation has witnessed political unrest and street protests since Nasheed was convicted in 2015 on terror charges and sentenced to 13 years in jail. There were reports of clashes between supporters of Nasheed and police in the capital city Male on Friday where hundreds of policemen were deployed to restore peace. Nasheed was earlier granted asylum by the UK after he was authorised to seek medical treatment there amid mounting foreign pressure. The leader, who is currently in Sri Lanka, welcomed the court order and said President Abdulla Yameen must resign in the wake of the ruling by the apex court. Welcome tonights SC ruling calling for the immediate release of political prisoners and the restoration of their civil and political rights. President Yameen must abide by this ruling and resign. Urge all citizens to avoid confrontation and engage in peaceful political activity. Mohamed Nasheed (@MohamedNasheed) February 1, 2018 "Welcome tonight's Supreme Court ruling calling for the immediate release of political prisoners and the restoration of their civil and political rights. President Yameen must abide by this ruling and resign. Urge all citizens to avoid confrontation and engage in peaceful political activity," Nasheed tweeted. Myanmar's government has told the Security Council that this month was 'not the right time' for a visit by the top UN body to see first-hand the Rohingya refugee crisis United Nations: Myanmar's government has told the Security Council that this month was "not the right time" for a visit by the top UN body to see first-hand the Rohingya refugee crisis, the council president said on Friday. Kuwait's Ambassador Mansour al-Otaibi said Myanmar authorities were not opposed to such a visit, which could take place in March or April. "They just think that this is not the right time for a visit," Otaibi, who holds the council presidency for February, told reporters at UN headquarters. The council has demanded that hundreds of thousands of Muslim Rohingya who were driven out of Rakhine state during an army crackdown be allowed to return. The ambassador said Myanmar authorities were trying to organize a visit for diplomats based in the country, and had emphasized that "tensions are high in Rakhine state at the moment." Nearly 700,000 Rohingya have crossed into Bangladesh and are living in refugee camps since August following the campaign that the United Nations has said was tantamount to ethnic cleansing. Last month, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution calling on UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to name a special envoy for Myanmar, but that appointment has yet to be made. China, a supporter of Myanmar's former ruling junta, and Russia voted against the resolution He said Pakistan had one of the highest officer-to-soldier casualty rates globally. Islamabad: Pakistan said on Friday that it had killed more than 17,600 militants in counter-terrorism operations started after the 9/11 terror attacks and destroyed their training camps in the restive tribal region bordering Afghanistan. Foreign Office spokesman Mohammad Faisal said at the weekly briefing that Pakistan had also cleared more than 46,000 km of land from terrorists. "Counter-terrorism operations within Pakistan have cleared 46,378 km of land and eliminated 17,614 terrorists, ensuring that our soil is not used against any other territory; we expect the same from our neighbours," he said. US President Donald Trump has asked Pakistan to take "decisive action" against terror groups operating from its soil. Unveiling his first National Security Strategy (NSS), Trump said Pakistan has to intensify its counter-terrorism efforts and help in eliminating terror sanctuaries as America was making "massive payments" to it every year. Faisal said the ongoing counter-terrorism operation Raddul-Fassad which was launched by Pakistan military last year eliminated terrorists especially those belonging to Tehreek-i-Taiban Afghanistan (TTA) and Haqqani Network (HN). "Actions against HN include rooting out of terrorist camps in Waziristan, blocking medical assistance to terrorists & breaking their financing & training camps," he said. Faisal said Pakistan continued to prevent suspected TTA and HN elements from using its soil for any terrorist activity in Afghanistan. He said that 27 individuals suspected of belonging to TTA and HN were handed over to Afghanistan in November 2017. Faisal also alleged that "tensions and escalation by India at the Eastern border adversely impact our counter-terrorism efforts". Pakistan has deployed 202,000 troops for action against militants, the largest counter-terrorism deployment. Faisal said effective border management remained one of Pakistan's prime objectives in preventing cross-border terrorism. "Pakistan has 975 border posts to man Pak-Afghan border; Afghanistan has 218," he said. He said Pakistan was keen to assist the Afghan government while highlighting that on the southern side of the border, "a stretch of 648 km has no check post on the Afghan side". "Large swathes of ungoverned spaces in Afghanistan are leaving a vacuum for safe havens and terrorist sanctuaries to flourish and launch attacks on Pakistan. Incidence of cross-border terrorist attacks from Afghanistan has increased since 2016, and peaked to 417 in 2017," he said. The spokesman also said that "Pakistan continues to share intelligence with more than 70 countries" and has lost 75,000 civilians and 6000 soldiers to the scourge of terrorism. He said Pakistan had one of the highest officer-to-soldier casualty rates globally. Faisal also said his country had suffered economic losses worth $123 billions in the war against terrorism. "We reject any allegation of support to the Haqqani network or the Taliban and of them using our soil. Pakistan has been taking action against all terrorist groups in its territory. It is our commitment to eradicate terrorism in all its forms and manifestations," he said. Faisal said the Afghan representatives had shared information with Pakistan during their recent visit to the country. "We will look into it and revert soon. Let me reiterate that there are no sanctuaries or any organised presence of terrorist safe havens in Pakistan," he said. Faisal said the first meeting of the Pakistan-Afghanistan Joint Working Groups will be held in Kabul on Friday. "Our proposal (to Afghanistan) is for formulation of five working groups for ensuring comprehensive engagement in the areas of counter-terrorism, intelligence sharing, military, economy, trade and transit interaction, refugees repatriation and connectivity. "The first meeting of the working groups is in Kabul tomorrow and Foreign Secretary (Tehmina Janjua) will lead the delegation," he said. Faisal also mentioned the recent fatwa jointly issued by 1,829 highly qualified religious scholars, condemning terrorism and declaring it contrary to the teachings of Islam. "The fatwa outlaws the use of force by individuals or groups to take up arms against state for imposition of Sharia. The Fatwa also prohibits Pakistani citizens from violating territorial boundaries in the name of helping other armed groups and struggles outside Pakistan, offering intellectual and practical training and recruitment of terrorists," he said. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani accused neighbouring Pakistan of failing to move against the Taliban and pledged a new security plan for Kabul after hundreds of people were killed and wounded in two deadly attacks on the capital last month Kabul: Afghan President Ashraf Ghani on Friday accused neighbouring Pakistan of failing to move against the Taliban and pledged a new security plan for Kabul after hundreds of people were killed and wounded in two deadly attacks on the capital last month. Afghanistan has long accused Pakistan of aiding terrorists by giving shelter and aid to leaders of the Taliban insurgency, a charge denied by Pakistan, which points to the thousands of its own citizens killed by militant violence over the years. We are waiting for Pakistan to act, Ghani said in a televised address after weekly prayers, in which he accused Pakistan of being the Taliban centre. A recent attack on the Intercontinental Hotel in Kabul and a suicide bombing on a crowded city street a week later have stoked public anger in Afghanistan and stepped up pressure on Ghanis Western-backed government to improve security. The attacks, which killed more than 130 people and wounded hundreds more, were claimed by the Taliban, which is fighting to drive out international troops and re-establish its form of strict Islamic law in Afghanistan. Afghan and US officials say the Haqqani network, a militant group affiliated with the Taliban and believed to be based in Pakistan, was responsible. A Pakistani foreign ministry spokesman said Pakistan and Afghanistan were both victims of terrorism and needed to work together to fight the common threat. Pakistan affirms solidarity with the people and government of Afghanistan in fighting the menace of terrorism, he said in a statement. We feel the pain of our Afghan brothers and sisters. Pakistan had taken strong action to counter terrorism, including operations against Haqqani network camps in mountainous Waziristan. Ghani said 11 arrests had been made and a list of individuals Kabul believed to be behind the attacks as well as the networks that supported them was given to Pakistani authorities. The attack is not against our men, women or children but against the Afghan nation and it requires a national, comprehensive response, Ghani said, adding that security officials would present a new plan on Sunday. But it was unclear what steps would be taken to improve the last major security plan in Kabul, which established a string of extra checkpoints and heavy vehicle controls after a truck bomb killed 150 people in the city last May. Pakistans embassy in Kabul said on Thursday that officials in Islamabad were assessing the evidence presented during a visit by Afghan Interior Minister Wais Barmak and the head of the NDS intelligence service, Masoom Stanekzai. It said Pakistan had given no commitment to take any action. The attacks came at a time of already heightened tension in the region after the United States said it would cut security aid to Pakistan, complaining the South Asian nation was not doing enough to fight terrorist groups sheltering there. green|spaces will host a lunch and learn on Wednesday, Feb. 14 from 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. at their office, 63 E. Main St., to show why local businesses should consider becoming a B Corp, and how in doing so, can put Chattanooga on the map for investors and attracting talent. B Corps are for-profit companies certified by the nonprofit B Lab to meet rigorous standards of social and environmental performance, accountability and transparency. "B Corp is to business what Fair Trade certification is to coffee or USDA Organic certification is to milk," officials said. "Today, there is a growing community of more than 2,100 Certified B Corps from 50 countries and over 130 industries working together toward one unifying goal: to redefine success in business. But of the 2,100, only three are located in the state of Tennessee, and one in Chattanooga." Kevin Christopher, a local attorney at Christopher Intellectual Property Law, will explain how this emerging model of enterprise allows businesses to emphasize sustainability and social principles, along with the difference of a benefit company and B Corp in the State of Tennessee. Attendees will also learn how they can get started in the process for free through the B Impact Assessment, a program offered by green|spaces, who is one of only nine organizations in the country piloting the program. The event is free for green|spaces members or $15 for non-members, and includes lunch. To RSVP for the event, click here. A senior minister in Pakistan's Sindh province, whose bullet-riddled body was found in his house along with that of his wife, first killed her and then used the same weapon to commit suicide, police said on Friday. Karachi: A senior minister in Pakistan's Sindh province, whose bullet-riddled body was found in his house along with that of his wife, first killed her and then used the same weapon to commit suicide, police said on Friday. Mir Hazar Khan Bijarani, 71, and his former lawmaker wife, Fariha Razzaq were found lying in a pool of blood in the bedroom in their posh Defence Housing Authority residence in Karachi on Thursday. According to police, both were shot dead at close range. An initial post-mortem report suggests Bijarani killed his wife before committing suicide, the deputy inspector general police, South Zone Karachi said in a statement. "On the basis of available crime scene or circumstantial evidence and initial post-mortem report, it appears that Mir Hazar Khan Bijarani killed his wife and then committed suicide with the same weapon," the statement said. The examination of the crime scene and dead bodies indicated that the death was caused by firearms, the DIG said, adding that Bijarani received one gunshot in the head while his wife three bullets one on head and two on abdomen. "According to initial forensic/ballistic report of Forensic Science Laboratory, all the empty bullet casings collected from the crime scene has been fired from the same weapon," the statement added. During the initial investigations, police secured the crime scene and photographed properly, also the DVR of CCTV cameras installed at the house has been seized, the DIG said. "Relevant evidence" - blood samples, bullet empties, fingerprints - were as also collected from the scene. While police are yet to ascertain the reason behind the deaths, they had interviewed six individuals - including two police guards and four domestic servants - in which it was revealed that the couple was having altercations over the past few days. The house was locked from inside and the door was forcibly opened by Bijarani's son and servants, the statement said. A year after President Donald Trump won the election, there has been a substantial increase in hate violence against South Asian communities. Washington: A year after President Donald Trump won the election, there has been a substantial increase in hate violence against South Asian, Muslim, Sikh, Hindu, Middle Eastern, and Arab communities in the US, a report said on Thursday. Between 9 November, 2016 and 7 November, 2017, the not-for-profit group South Asian Americans Living Together (SAALT) said in a report that it recorded 302 incidents of hate violence and xenophobic political rhetoric aimed at these communities. This is an over 45 percent increase from its previous analysis in just a year, SAALT said adding that this has not been seen since the year after the attacks of 11 September, 2001. This breaks down further into 213 incidents of hate violence and 89 instances of xenophobic political rhetoric of which 248, or an astounding 82 percent, were motivated by anti-Muslim sentiment, it said. One in five perpetrators of hate violence incidents referenced President Trump, a Trump policy, or a Trump campaign slogan, underlining a strong link between the president's anti-Muslim agenda and hate violence post-election, SAALT said. Suman Raghunathan, executive director of SAALT alleged that through its policies and rhetoric, the Trump administration's incessant demonisation of Islam has created an environment of hate and fear-mongering for Muslims and those perceived to be Muslim. "Deadly shootings, torched mosques, vandalised homes and businesses, and young people harassed at school have animated an acutely violent post-election year. This administration must break eye contact with white supremacy if our nation is to live up to its highest ideals of religious freedom," Raghunathan said. The report, among other things, underlines the way intersectionality informs hate both the identities of victims targeted and the systems that criminalise communities. Women who identify or are perceived as South Asian, Muslim, Sikh, Hindu, Middle Eastern, or Arab were the targets of attack in 28 percent of the 213 documented hate incidents post-election, it said. Of the 213 incidents of hate violence documented, one in five perpetrators invoked Trump's name, his administration's policies, or his campaign slogans during attacks, it claims. Women who wear hijab or head scarves are particularly vulnerable, accounting for 63 percent of the documented hate incidents targeting women. The report discusses the intersection of immigration, racial profiling, surveillance, and criminal justice policies that compound against communities. "The growth of white supremacist hate groups and mounting attacks on our communities are proof positive that this administration's anti-Muslim agenda is not making America great, it's making Americans afraid," Raghunathan said. The US said it was 'deeply troubled' by new reports of mass graves in Myanmar's Rakhine, where the military has been accused of atrocities against Rohingya. The US State Department said on Thursday that it was "deeply, deeply troubled" by new reports of mass graves in Myanmar's Rakhine State, where the military has been accused of atrocities against minority Rohingya Muslims. The Associated Press reported earlier it had confirmed the existence of more than five previously unreported mass graves in the Myanmar village of Gu Dar Pyin, through interviews of survivors in refugee camps in Bangladesh and through time-stamped cellphone videos. "We are deeply, deeply troubled by those reports of mass graves," State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert told a regular news briefing. "We are watching this very carefully. We remain focused on helping to ensure the accountability for those responsible for human rights abuses and violations." Nauert said the reports highlighted the need for authorities in Myanmar to cooperate with an independent, credible investigation into allegations of atrocities in northern Rakhine state. In December, Myanmar's army had said that the security forces had discovered a mass grave on the edge of a village in Rakhine State, and had launched an investigation. A violent crackdown by the security forces in response to attacks by militants in the state has caused around 650,000 Rohingya Muslims to flee to Bangladesh in recent months. Tehran police have arrested 29 women for appearing in public without a headscarf as protests against the dress code in force since the Islamic revolution of 1979 intensify, Tehran: Tehran police have arrested 29 women for appearing in public without a headscarf as protests against the dress code in force since the Islamic revolution of 1979 intensify, Iranian media reported on Friday. Those arrested were accused of public order offences and referred to the state prosecutor's office, the Fars, ILNA and Tasnim news agencies reported without elaborating. Chief prosecutor Mohammad Jafar Montazeri had played down the escalating protests on Wednesday, saying they were "trivial" and "childish" moves possibly incited by foreigners. He had been asked about a woman detained earlier this week for standing on a pillar box in a busy street without the mandatory headscarf. Unprecedented images of at least 11 women protesting the same way had been widely shared on social media. A prominent human rights lawyer told AFP on Tuesday that one of the detained women had her bail set at more than $ 100,000 (80,000 euros). Montazeri said those flouting "hijab" rules which require headscarves and modest clothing must have been encouraged by outsiders. But even religiously conservative Iranians have voiced support for the protests, with many saying that religious rules should be a personal choice. At least two photos shared on Twitter on Wednesday showed women in traditional black chador robes, standing on pillar box with signs supporting freedom of choice for women. One held a sign reading: "I love my hijab but I'm against compulsory hijab." Female acti,vist Azar Mansouri a member of the reformist Union of Islamic Iranian People party, said attempts to control female clothing had failed over many decades. "Women show their opposition to such forceful approaches by their very clothing, from resisting covering their hair to wearing long boots and leggings," she wrote in a series of tweets this week. Women have increasingly flouted the Islamic republic's clothing rules in recent years and often let their headscarves fall around their necks. Morality police once rigidly enforced the rules, but are a much less common sight since President Hassan Rouhani came to power in 2013, promising greater civil liberties. The protests appear to mirror that of a woman who stood in Tehran's busy Enghelab (Revolution) Street in December without a headscarf and waving a white scarf on a stick. She was reportedly kept in detention for nearly a month and has since kept a low profile. UK is trying to reinvent itself as a global trading nation after a 2016 referendum decision to leave the European Union, and China, the worlds second-largest economy, is high on the list of countries that Britain wants to sign a free trade agreement with Shanghai: British Prime Minister Theresa May left China on Friday with deals worth more than 9.3 billion pounds ($13.26 billion), at the end of a three-day trade mission where President Xi Jinping pledged to upgrade their golden era in relations. Britain is trying to reinvent itself as a global trading nation after a 2016 referendum decision to leave the European Union, and China, the worlds second-largest economy, is high on the list of countries that Britain wants to sign a free trade agreement with. Speaking at a business summit in Chinas commercial capital Shanghai, May said Britain was keen to help bring Xis vision for globalisation and a more open Chinese economy to life. Meanwhile, the UK is preparing to leave the European Union. Were seizing the opportunity to become an ever-more outward-looking global Britain, deepening our trade relations with nations around the world including China, she said. Chinese investment is helping Britain develop infrastructure and create jobs, with some 50,000 British businesses importing goods from China and more than 10,000 sell their goods to China, she added. Weve agreed on moves to bring more of the UKs internationally renowned food and drink to China, to open up the market to some of Britains world-class financial services providers, May said. The 9.3 billion pounds in deals will create over 2,500 jobs across the United Kingdom, the British government said. Britains financial services firms alone secured deals worth more than 1 billion pounds and market access, that would lead to 890 jobs, it said, without giving details. China sees Britain as an important ally in its call for more open global markets, despite widespread concerns in the foreign business community about the difficulty of operating in China, and both countries refer to a golden era in relations. Meeting in Beijing late on Thursday, Xi told May the two countries should add new meaning into the bilateral ties so as to forge an enhanced version of the golden era, according to state-run media. China has also been appreciative of Britains enthusiasm for the China-backed Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and Xis Belt and Road initiative to build a new Silk Road. In a front-page commentary on Friday, the overseas edition of the Peoples Daily said Britain had shown intelligence and pragmatism in supporting Belt and Road. It is a model for other Western nations, it said. But Brexit has unnerved Beijing, concerned about losing an important voice supporting free trade in the European Union and what it may mean for market access to Europe for Chinese firms which have invested in Britain. Still, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang told May on Wednesday that Chinas relations with Britain will remain unchanged through Brexit. Trump administration on Friday accused President Bashar Assad's govt in Syria of producing and using 'new kinds of weapons' to deliver deadly chemicals Washington: The Trump administration on Friday accused Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government of producing and using "new kinds of weapons" to deliver deadly chemicals despite committing to abolish its program in 2013, and said the world must find a way to stop it. President Donald Trump has not ruled out additional military action to deter attacks or punish Assad, administration officials said, although they did not suggest any action was imminent. They emphasized that the United States was seeking a new way to hold chemical weapons-users accountable and wanted cooperation from Russia, Assad's patron, in pressuring him to end the attacks. Raising the alarm about the continued threat, US officials said it was "highly likely" that Assad kept a hidden stockpile of chemical weapons after 2013 that he failed to properly disclose. They said information gathered from recent alleged attacks also suggested that Assad retained a "continued production capacity" - also banned under the 2013 deal. There were no indications that the Syria government, after seven years of civil war, had developed new, deadlier chemicals. Rather, the officials said Assad's forces are using the same chemicals - chlorine and sarin - but in more sophisticated ways, potentially to evade international accountability by making the origins of attacks harder to trace. Barrel bombs used earlier in the war to disperse chemicals indiscriminately, for example, have been replaced by ground-launched munitions, officials said. More recent attacks have involved both chlorine, which has nonchemical uses and is easier to acquire, and the more sophisticated chemical sarin, the officials said. The officials weren't authorised to speak on the record and briefed reporters on condition of anonymity. Though evidence-collection is different in the middle of a war zone, the officials said the US has a firm understanding of the extent of chemical use in Syria through a combination of intelligence, sample testing by third countries, and social media and other open-source information, the officials said. Assad's government has denied using chemical weapons. Syria's chief ally, Russia, has claimed that the reports are false attempts to pressure Syria's government or provocations perpetrated by opposition groups. Syria and Russia have dismissed the conclusions of the Joint Investigative Mission, an expert body set up by the United Nations and Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, that Assad's government used chlorine gas in 2014 and 2015, and sarin in April 2017. Late last year, Russia used its UN Security Council veto to prevent the investigative body from being renewed, arguing it had been discredited. That led the US and other nations to accuse Moscow of covering for chemical use by Assad's forces. Use of such widely deplored weapons comes with great risk for Assad, raising questions about why he would take the chance. But the officials said the US believes Assad's government sees chemical attacks as an effective way to terrorize rebels and sympathetic populations into fleeing, therefore altering the demographic balance in the Alawite heartland where Assad is trying to consolidate control. Assad is a member of the Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shiite Islam that forms a minority of Syria's population. Yet Syria's government isn't the only chemical weapons threat in the region, according to the officials. The Islamic State group continues to use them, they said, although the militants' arms are said to be more rudimentary. Though IS no longer controls large parts of Syria or Iraq, the officials said the extremist group continues to use sulfur mustard, via artillery shells, and chlorine, delivered by improvised explosive devices. The officials noted that the underlying chemicals are easy to acquire or produce, and said the US does not believe IS has gotten ahold of military stockpiles in either Iraq or Syria. Rotary Club of Chattanooga Hamilton Place celebrated another rotary club member who achieved the Paul Harris Fellow recognition. Paul Harris Fellow recognition acknowledges individuals who contribute, or who have contributions made in their name, of $1,000 to The Rotary Foundation of Rotary International. Roseanne Apyan was honored with a first time Paul Harris Fellow recognition. "During the past 100 years, the Rotary Foundation has spent $3 billion on life-changing, sustainable projects, such as efforts towards the eradication of polio, training future peacemakers, supporting clean water and strengthening local economics," officials said. The Club also hosted Dr. Larry Shears, a heart surgeon at Erlanger Hospital, as speaker. Dr. Shears discussed the medical advances and Erlanger's reach within the region. "There is a remarkable difference in recovery time with the robotic bypass surgeries Dr. Shears performs, versus the traditional bypasses. The robotic version allows patients to return home usually within 48 hours, and return to most activities within 2 weeks," officials said. . , . ... : . , , . : - , ? . : , . . , . , . . . : ? : , , - . , , , , , . : ? : , . , . : ? : . , , , , , . . . . : ? : . , , , . , , . - , . Microsoft launcher for Android gets a new beta update with version number V4.6 adding Cortana support and it works exactly how does in the Cortana app eliminating the need for installing the dedicated app. Using Cortana, you can find answers, makes calls, and more. However, Cortana integration is not just the only change, the update also brings the ability to share launcher via NFC & QR code, support for Arabic/RTL languages, Intune integration supports remote data-wiping. It also lets you choose what contacts to display on your People card, Place widgets into the dock and pin searched app or contact to the home screen. Other Cortana abilities include schedule meetings, change the wallpaper, Continue on PC or read the latest headlines. Microsoft has been very actively pushing out timely updates to its Android apps suite showing its commitment towards the App platform. However, since it is a beta update, you will have to sign up for the best testing on Google Play Store. Then you will get the update, on the other hand, if you wish to not sign up for the beta testing, you can manually download the APK here and side-load it. Honor recently confirmed the list of phones that will be getting the Android 8.0 Oreo update which also included the Honor 8 Pro. Today Honor 8 Pro and the Honor 9 phones started receiving the Oreo update with EMUI 8.0 in the UK. While the Honor 8 Pro is the first one to the Oreo update with EMUI features, the Honor 9 will follow slightly later in the region. There is no word on the international roll out yet, but if the initial roll out yields positive results, it shouldnt be long before the stable roll out begins. Android Oreo features including Picture-in-Picture mode, notification dots, new emojis, and much more, are accounted for. Honor claims that the EMUI 8.0 will result in improved boot times and more efficient handling of background activity. Smart tips also get boosted with more accurate user recommendations based on usage. The company earlier clarified that EMUI 8.0 based Oreo update for the Honor 6X is currently under evaluation. On the other hand, Honor 7X is slated to get the Oreo update bringing features like Face Unlock, and more. EMUI 8.0 will bring AI-powered Real-Time Scene and Object Recognition, Smart Tips, and AI Accelerated Translator on supported phones. Other features include Smart Resolution, dynamic wallpaper, navigation bar customizations, intelligent split-screen interface, navigation dock, simplify one-hand operation and smart view on the landscape, easy switch and more. Other phones in the Honor brand set to receive the Oreo update include Honor 7X, Honor 9i, Honor 8 Pro, Honor 8 Lite, Honor 8 Youth Edition, Honor 9, Honor 9 Youth Edition, Honor Note 8, Honor V8, Honor V9, and Honor V10. Since few phones from the list are meant for China, the global Oreo availability might vary. The update for Honor 8 Pro and Honor 9 just started rolling out in the UK, so, it might be a while before it rolls out to everyone. Source Gig economy workers arent expected to see a major benefit from recent GOP-backed tax reform until next year, but independent contractors can still help their cause this tax season by being diligent about their business expenses. The rise of companies like Uber and TaskRabbit has stoked a major expansion in the number of Americans working in the gig economy, which is expected to grow from 3.9 million workers at present to 7.7 million by 2020, according to Intuit. Rather than typical employees, independent contractors and freelancers are considered sole proprietors, or operators of a one-person small business. They receive a 1099-MISC form documenting their income from the business that hires them, not a W-2. Independent contractors should keep close records of their business expenses throughout the year to maximize their deduction when filing taxes in 2018, according to Lisa Lewis, a CPA and tax expert for TurboTax. Costs related to business supplies, computer equipment, marketing software, home office gear and advertising are all deductible. One out of five people become self-employed every year and about one-third dont deduct the business expenses they deserve, Lewis told FOX Business. Make sure you get the business deductions you deserve. Signed into law by President Donald Trump last December, the GOP-backed tax reform package slashed the corporate tax rate to 21% from 35%. The package also carried a benefit for independent contractors, who, starting next year, will be able to deduct 20% of their business-related income before paying a lowered individual tax rate. In a hypothetical case proposed by the Los Angeles Times, a single Uber driver who earns $40,000 per year and makes use of the 20% deduction would save $960 in federal income tax. The biggest change for tax year 2018 [taxes filed in 2019] for independent contractors/freelancers is the 20% business deduction on qualified business income for self-employed, S-Corps, and partnerships, Lewis said. Some changes made in the reformed tax code will apply to filings this year. The medical expense deduction was lowered to 7.5% from 10%, and independent contractors are also able to expense property they acquired and used after Sept. 27, 2017. Aside from keeping a close eye on business expenses, Lewis recommends that independent contractors keep clear records throughout the year to minimize their stress. Gather your business income, expenses, and deductible mileage in one place so you have it together when you sit down to file, Lewis said. For more tax tips and insights, click here. Steve Wynns $7.5 million payment to a former employee that he was accused of assaulting involved a paternity claim against the casino mogul, according to a Bloomberg report. People familiar with the situation told Bloomberg that Wynn shelled out the large payment in 2005 because he didnt want the allegations to be a distraction to a newly opened hotel in Las Vegas as well as the construction of a resort in Macau. But sources added that there is no evidence Wynn has fathered a child in the encounter either. A Wynn Resorts spokesperson told FOX Business that neither the company nor Wynn could comment on this matter. News of the payout first came to light nearly two years ago in a court filing by Wynns ex-wife, Elaine, who alleged it was made to a hotel manicurist he forced into sexual relations. His ex-wife, who filed for divorced in 1986, is suing the billionaire to regain control of her stake in Wynn Resorts (NASDAQ:WYNN). Last week, The Wall Street Journal published a story on the real estate businessman that detailed inappropriate sexual misconduct with more than 150 people who currently work for Wynn or have in the past. Wynn has denied any wrongdoing. In a statement following the report, he said the idea that I ever assaulted any woman is preposterous. We find ourselves in a world where people can make allegations, regardless of the truth, and a person is left with the choice of weathering insulting publicity or engaging in multi-year lawsuits, he wrote. In a new report released by The Journal on Friday, the founder and chief executive officer of Wynn Resorts has been trying to rally current employees to stand behind him in recent days, saying that staff members are family and need to stick together. Wynn Resorts shares were down nearly 1% on Friday. Up more than 12% in 2017, the rise in the price of gold could be attributed to a number of factors, such as the political uncertainty that permeated Washington this past year. And though some of those issues -- like the revised tax legislation -- have been settled, the fog of uncertainty still lingers suggesting gold may continue climbing higher in 2018. Now, consequently, seems like an ideal time to turn our attention to two popular gold miners: Yamana Gold (NYSE: AUY) and Eldorado Gold (NYSE: EGO). Although the market writ large had an increased appetite for the yellow stuff in 2017, both Yamana and Eldorado lost some luster in the eyes of Wall Street; analysts downgraded the former three times and the latter seven times throughout the year. But that doesn't mean Main Street's investors should also forsake the companies, so let's weigh the two against each other to see which presents the better buying opportunity. A brief meet and greet Maintaining a portfolio of assets solely located in the Americas, Yamana relies primarily on the production of gold -- from one mine in South America and five in Canada -- though silver and copper also contribute to the company's top line. According to the company's most recent annual report, gold accounted for 82.4% of revenue in fiscal 2016, while silver and copper accounted for 6.3% and 11.3%, respectively. Conversely, Eldorado operates only two gold-producing mines, both of which are located in Turkey. In addition, the company operates an iron ore mine in Brazil and a silver-lead-zinc mine in Greece. The companies' footprints, though noteworthy, pale in comparison to their financials; therefore, let's compare the companies on some important metrics to gain better insight. Company Market Cap Revenue Earnings per Share Operating Margin Return on Equity Eldorado Gold $1.0 billion $405 million ($0.04) (0.7%) (0.60%) Yamana Gold $3.2 billion $1.81 billion ($0.39) (26.2%) (7.74%) From this brief look, it seems that neither company glitters too brightly, so let's grab our pickaxes and dig even deeper. The case for Yamana Gold The initial look at Yamana may suggest that it's less than attractive. This conclusion, however, is misguided, for the company offers some compelling reasons for investment. For one, Yamana is nearing the commencement of gold production at its Cerro Moro mine in Argentina. The project, which remains on schedule and on budget, is expected to begin operations in the coming months; moreover, management forecasts fiscal 2018 gold and silver production of 80,000 ounces and 4.5 million ounces, respectively. As operations ramp up, management foresees gold production rising to 130,000 ounces and silver to 9.9 million ounces in fiscal 2019. Besides promising growth prospects, management's commitment to securing the financial health of the company strengthens the argument in support of Yamana. The company (which hasn't reported fiscal 2017 earnings yet) reduced its total debt more than 22% from fiscal 2014 to 2016. During an investor presentation from last October, however, management estimated it would end fiscal 2017 with a net debt-to-EBITDA ratio of 2.8; in addition, it identified a short-term ratio of less than 2.0 and a longer-term ratio of less than 1.5. Lastly, the stock's price tag represents a compelling opportunity for bargain hunters. Both in terms of sales and cash flow, Yamana's shares are much more attractively priced than those of Eldorado. The case for Eldorado Gold It's not easy to substantiate the claim that Eldorado offers a better opportunity than Yamana. There's a cloud of uncertainly lingering around Eldorado at the moment: The company is in arbitration proceedings with the Greek government regarding the company's Skouries project. Successful execution of the project, which is located in northern Greece, is important to the company's future growth. Management estimates Skouries could have a mine life of 25 years, during which time it could produce 3.1 million ounces of gold and 1.47 billion pounds of copper. Eldorado expects the proceedings to conclude in early April. Another troubling factor is the company's gold production. According to preliminary results, Eldorado will report gold production of 286,000 ounces for fiscal 2017, but looking ahead, there's cause for concern as management forecast fiscal 2018 gold production to be between 160,000 ounces and 190,000 ounces. The trouble in Greece and lackluster gold production, in addition to the stock's steep price tag, suggest there's plenty of reason to watch this company's story unfold from the sidelines. The gold medal goes to. . . Between these two companies, Yamana Gold represents the clear winner. That's not to say that intrigued investors should rush out and grab some shares. Instead, they should rush out and grab a shovel, preparing to dig deeper into the company's financials. Investors should still monitor the progress at Cerro Moro. Failure to execute the project could compromise the company's near-term growth, since the company has eschewed acquisitions and opted for growth through organic means. 10 stocks we like better than Yamana GoldWhen investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.* David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy right now... and Yamana Gold wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys. Click here to learn about these picks! *Stock Advisor returns as of January 2, 2018 Scott Levine 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. Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) on Thursday reignited concerns over waning demand for the iPhone, even as the Silicon Valley behemoth revealed its best-ever quarterly smartphone revenue. Analysts have raised questions over consumer demand for new iPhones and whether Apple has become too reliant on its venerable device. The iPhone, which comprises about two-thirds of Apples overall sales, buoyed the company in the latest quarter. But Apple offered a disappointing forecast for the current quarter, even after Wall Street dampened its expectations amid reports that the new iPhone X has struggled to win over customers. During the three-month period ending Dec. 30, the number of iPhones sold dipped 1% to 77.3 million devices. Analysts had called for quarterly iPhone sales of 80 million units. Apple projected overall revenue of $60 billion to $62 billion for the current quarter, missing an already lowered estimate of $65.7 billion. Apple shares reversed their losses in after-hours trading, rising 3.5% to $173.70. The Cupertino, California-based company benefited in its fiscal first quarter from the November launch of its newest smartphone. At a starting price of $1,000, the iPhone X helped push smartphone sales 13% higher to $61.58 billion. Total revenue also climbed 13%, hitting $88.29 billion and meeting Wall Streets estimate. Profits jumped 12% to $20.07 billion. Earnings rose to $3.89 on a per-share basis, three cents better than the consensus estimate. Earlier this week, the Wall Street Journal reported that Apple is cutting production of the iPhone X in half during the first three months of 2018. Apple initially planned to make 40 million devices. It now plans to make 20 million iPhone Xs, reflecting weaker demand than expected. CFRA analyst Angelo Zino maintained a bullish view on Apple in the wake of iPhone X cuts, saying higher-priced devices will boost the companys revenue in the long run. Apple is also seen benefiting from tax reform. The company recently disclosed plans to pay a $38 billion tax bill to repatriate cash from overseas. Although we are reducing our shipment outlook for the iPhone X in the coming quarters, we believe tax reform/repatriated usage of cash will drive upside to [Apples] earnings potential, Zino wrote in a note to clients this week. We're all told we're supposed to maintain a budget that covers our various living expenses. And while having that budget in place is a good start, it's pretty clear that a large number of Americans are underestimating their healthcare costs, and by a pretty sizable margin. Specifically, only 46% of adults budget more than $50 a month for medical costs, according to new data from Amino. But the most recent data available from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services tells us that the average American spends $9,596 annually on healthcare, which translates into a need for roughly $800 a month. It's no wonder, then, that 37% of adults claim they couldn't cover a medical bill greater than $100 without going into debt. If you're not budgeting properly for healthcare, you're doing yourself a huge disservice and it's time to stop the madness. You need to be prepared The problem with budgeting for healthcare is that aside from your health insurance premium, it can be difficult to estimate how much you'll wind up spending month after month, particularly if you're a generally healthy person. But if you don't carve out some wiggle room in your budget for medical bills, they can quickly come back to bite you. Amino estimates that the cost to treat a broken arm without surgery is $1,100. If you encounter that sort of expense and are subject to a deductible of that size or greater, you'll be on the hook for that entire bill. Ouch. Of course, chances are you won't break a bone in your body every single month of the year, or even have a need to go to the doctor every month. But you should still build some flexibility into your budget so that when such a bill does arise, you won't need to resort to debt. Furthermore, it pays to take a look at your deductible (which will vary from one insurance plan to another) and aim to have at least that much available in savings. Remember, your insurance coverage won't kick in until you've met your deductible in full, so if your savings can't cover whatever that sum is, work on setting enough money aside to get there. That said, don't confuse your deductible with your annual out-of-pocket maximum, which is the most you'll have to pay in a given year before your insurance plans covers all of your medical costs, including copays and the like. Your out-of-pocket maximum will generally be substantially larger than your deductible, and while saving that much will certainly serve as a solid safety net, it may end up being overkill. Budgeting for healthcare So how exactly do you budget for healthcare on a monthly basis? Once you've socked away enough cash to cover your deductible, you'll need to figure out how much you're spending on a monthly premium. Now if you get insurance through your employer, that sum probably gets deducted from your paychecks automatically, which means you don't have to worry about it. But if you're responsible for writing out a check each month, be sure to factor that cost into your monthly expenses. From there, take a look at your healthcare spending from previous years to see how often you tend to need a doctor. Is it once every other month? Four times a year? Take that number, multiply it by the copayment you're subject to, and divide it by 12. In other words, if you typically see the doctor six times a year, and at a cost of $50 per visit, you'll need to set aside $25 per month. Remember, that's on top of the amount you should be saving for your deductible. Another thing you'll need to account for are prescription costs. If you take a certain drug regularly, figuring out its cost should be fairly simple. But you'll also want to leave yourself some wiggle room for new prescriptions that could pop up. Saving money on healthcare costs Though budgeting properly for medical care will help you avoid debt and better manage your cash flow in the face of healthcare expenses, there are things you can do to lower your costs across this rather pricey spending category. For one thing, get ahead of medical issues before they escalate and become more expensive to treat. This means going to the doctor after three days of incessant coughing before that bronchial infection lands you in the hospital with pneumonia. Additionally, see about bulk ordering certain prescriptions through your provider rather than renewing them month after month. You'll often snag a discount for 90-day supplies. Along these lines, don't be shy about requesting samples from your doctor. Medical offices receive samples all the time, and you never know how much a free month of drugs could save you. Finally, try signing up for a flexible spending account, which lets you use pre-tax dollars on eligible healthcare expenses. You might also look into a health savings account if you qualify. There's no question about it: Healthcare costs are a burden for Americans of all ages. But don't make the mistake of thinking you'll get away with spending less than $50 a month for all of your medical needs. You're better off setting extra money aside and thanking your lucky stars if you do manage to survive the year without any major injuries or illnesses to speak of. The $16,122 Social Security bonus most retirees completely overlook If you're like most Americans, you're a few years (or more) behind on your retirement savings. But a handful of little-known "Social Security secrets" could help ensure a boost in your retirement income. For example: one easy trick could pay you as much as $16,122 more... each year! Once you learn how to maximize your Social Security benefits, we think you could retire confidently with the peace of mind we're all after. Simply click here to discover how to learn more about these strategies. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. President Donald Trump said Thursday he "really didn't care" about opening a portion of Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling but insisted it be included in tax legislation at the urging of others. Addressing fellow Republicans at the House and Senate Republican Member Conference in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, mentioned the wildlife refuge known as ANWR in Alaska's northeast corner as he recounted accomplishments in the last year, including the tax bill passed by Congress in December. Trump said he "never appreciated ANWR so much" but was told of its importance by others. "A friend of mine called up, who's in that world and in that business, and said, 'Is it true that you're thinking about ANWR?' I said, 'Yeah, I think we're going to get it, but you know.' He said, 'Are you kidding? That's the biggest thing, by itself.' He said, 'Ronald Reagan and every president has wanted to get ANWR approved." The comment had a major impact, Trump said. "I really didn't care about it, and then when I heard that everybody wanted it for 40 years, they've been trying to get it approved, and I said, 'Make sure you don't lose ANWR,'" Trump said. Oil in the refuge, Trump said, is one of the great potential fields anywhere in the world. "That by itself is a big bill," he said. Most Alaska elected officials supported drilling in the refuge, home to polar bears, muskoxen, wolves and grizzlies. But drilling is strongly opposed by environmental groups and Gwich'in Natives in Alaska and Canada who depend on the Porcupine Caribou Herd for their subsistence lifestyle. The 200,000-animal herd migrates 200 miles (320 kilometers) annually from Canada's Yukon Territory to the refuge, where females give birth to calves on the coastal plain, a strip of flat tundra between the mountains and Arctic Ocean. The director of the Alaska Wilderness League in a statement condemned Trump's comments. "It's clear from President Trump's remarks that jamming Arctic Refuge drilling in the tax bill was always about politics and not a thoughtful energy policy," said Adam Kolton. He called it a retreat from the GOP great conservation legacy stretching back to Theodore Roosevelt and Dwight Eisenhower. Millions of Americans do not want to see the country squeeze every drop of oil out of national parks and refuges just to increase exports, he said Best Buy Co., the nation's largest consumer electronics retailer, says it will be handing out bonuses to more than 100,000 employees, joining a list of companies sharing a portion of their windfall from the corporate tax reform law with employees. The Minneapolis-based chain says that this month it will pay one-time bonuses of $1,000 to full-time workers and $500 to part-time employees. Company spokesman Jeff Shelman said full-time salaried employees on a bonus plan will not get the extra funds. Best Buy joins a list of others including Walmart Inc., Walt Disney Co. and Starbucks Corp., adopting measures such as giving out bonuses, enhancing maternity benefits and raising wages in the wake of the tax overhaul. The Best Buy bonuses were first reported by the Star Tribune in Minneapolis. Another day and another sell-off for bitcoin with prices down nearly 20%, hovering just above $7,500. The cryptocurrency has seen consistent, steep sell-offs this year, which have erased a big chunk of the rally that pushed prices toward $20,000 in December. Contributing to the latest sell-off is concerns of a global, regulatory crackdown. India this week joined and China and South Korea in pledging to crackdown on the use of cryptocurrencies. Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) also announced this week that it would ban cryptocurrency advertisements because many were associated with misleading or deceptive promotional practices. Bitcoin is now trading at the same price as it was in mid-November, before prices embarked on a steep rally that pushed them to Decembers record. The cryptocurrency is headed for its worst weekly performance since 2013, as reported by Reuters. Bitcoin isnt the only cryptocurrency experiencing a sell-off. Friday morning, ethereum and litecoin were both down over 20%, while ripple fell more than 30% British Prime Minister Theresa May said Friday she discussed with Chinese President Xi Jinping the importance of removing barriers to commerce, especially for British food, drink and financial services, as the two countries move toward a future trading arrangement for after the United Kingdom leaves the European Union. May said the two leaders in their Thursday discussions agreed on a "trade and investment review" as a first step to future bilateral arrangements. "As President Xi, quoting Shakespeare, said to me yesterday, what's past is prologue. And I wholeheartedly agree. The U.K. and China are opening a new chapter in our golden era," May said. May discussed her meeting with Xi at a conference in Shanghai where she was introduced by the founder of Chinese online shopping giant Alibaba, Jack Ma. She is to fly home later Friday, capping a three-day, three-city visit to China. May's meeting with Xi also included discussion of cooperation under China's "Belt and Road" mega-plan for trade and infrastructure links across Asia. May has been hesitant to endorse the trillion dollar-plus initiative, although on Wednesday she expressed conditional support for British involvement as long as such projects adhere to established global business practices. Business deals worth more than 9 billion pounds ($13 billion) were to be announced before her visit ended, May earlier announced. Bolstering ties with China became more urgent after Britain voted in 2016 to leave the EU, compelling it to forge new trade agreements outside of the 28-nation bloc. British exports to China are up 60 percent since 2010, and China is expected to be one of the U.K.'s biggest foreign investors by 2020. May's visit coincided with the crash of a minivan into pedestrians in downtown Shanghai Friday morning in which 18 people were injured. Police ruled the crash an accident caused when the driver set the vehicle on fire by smoking then lost control. A top Trump administration official is traveling to the Carolinas for meetings with two governors opposed to plans to expand offshore drilling. The U.S. Interior Department confirmed to The Associated Press that Secretary Ryan Zinke was meeting Friday with South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster and Saturday with North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper. Brian Symmes, a spokesman for McMaster, confirmed to AP that the South Carolina Republican and Zinke were meeting at the Governor's Mansion in Columbia on Friday afternoon. "They had a good productive conversation," Symmes told the AP Friday. "We're not going to be discussing the details of the conversation, but no final decision was made." Zinke and Cooper planned to meet Saturday in Raleigh, the governor's office said, adding that Cooper planned to speak with reporters after the meeting. Both McMaster and Cooper are seeking exemptions from the Trump administration's proposal to vastly expand offshore oil drilling from the Atlantic to the Arctic and Pacific oceans, including in more than a dozen states where drilling is now blocked. The five-year plan would open 90 percent of the nation's offshore reserves to development by private companies. The plan has drawn bipartisan opposition by coastal state governors from California to New Hampshire, with at least 11 governors formally asking Zinke to remove their states from the plan. McMaster was an early supporter of President Donald Trump but said last month that the risks associated with drilling pose too great a threat to South Carolina's lush coastline, which much of the state's $20 billion tourism industry is based. Cooper has promised to sue if the administration goes ahead with its plans. Both governors want the same promise already made to Gov. Rick Scott. Last month, standing alongside the Florida Republican, Zinke said that the state would be exempted from the administration's expansion plans. Scott is a friend and ally of Trump, who has urged him to run for the Senate. Democrats have said the exemption smacked of playing politics. Since then, Interior officials have said Zinke's promise to Florida was not a formal action and will instead be part of the department's analysis as it completes its plans. Dustin Cranor, spokesman for conservation group Oceana, said that, given Zinke's previous statements about the importance of considering "local voices," the group hoped the visit to the Carolinas "is an indication that the Trump administration is listening to the widespread opposition to offshore drilling in the Carolinas and along the entire East Coast." ___ Gary Robertson in Raleigh, North Carolina, contributed to this report. ___ Kinnard can be reached at http://twitter.com/MegKinnardAP. Read more of her work at https://apnews.com/search/meg%20kinnard. By Chris Konstantinos, CFA, RiverFront Investment Group With the upcoming Italian parliamentary elections set for March 4, Italys fragile political system may create uncertainty about the countrys future and its place in the Eurozone. We think economic momentum in both Italy and across Europe means that the elections are not a major risk factor for the Eurozone but this is not to say that March will lack for drama or complexity. talys importance here has less to do with its size within European stock indices (which is suprisingly small at only ~4% of MSCI Europe*), but rather its position as the current weak link in the Euro area political chain. Investors should prepare themselves for increasing headlines surrounding the potential for anti-Euro parties to gain a majority in Italy as we move towards March. The anti-establishment Five Star Movement (M5S) is now the countrys most popular party according to recent polls. While we find it unlikely that M5S could govern as a majority given Italys complex parliamentary system (more on this later), its possible they could offer their support to other Euroskeptic parties such as the anti-immigration Northern League and the center-right Forza Italia, headed by once-disgraced former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi (did we mention Italys politics are bewildering?). This event could, as the theory goes, result in a Brexit-like referendum in Italy on Eurozone membership. We note that despite similar uncertainty associated with UK, Spanish, German and French politics over the past 18 months, European stocks and the Euro currency have been able to break out to the upside, as both the economy and corporate earnings have continued to positively surprise. Will Italy be the political straw that breaks the Eurozones proverbial back in 2018? We think not, for a number of reasons. First, most Italian voters want to remain in the Euro: according to the November Eurobarometer poll, over 65% of Italian voters support the Euro (excluding undecided votes). We suspect that issues surrounding immigration and taxation are actually more crucial for Italian voters than Euro area membership. Politicians have implicitly acknowledged this in recent months, with key members of both M5S and Forza Italia backing down from threats to subject Italy to a referendum on Euro membership. We also believe that, as Italys economy continues to rebound, the appeal of an anti-establishment party like M5S will begin to wane. Despite unemployment above 11%, job creation is starting to get back on track in Italy. Indicators of Italian business and consumer confidence, manufacturing output and non-performing loans in the banking system are all improving significantly, contributing to the rebound in Italian GDP (see chart, right). We think all of this dampens the appeal of a vote to leave the Euro, which would immediately plunge the country back into the type of deep economic uncertainty that they have just now started to emerge from after the devastating double-digit recession from 2009-2015. Lastly, its important to note that, pragmatically, it would be problematic to actually hold an Italian referendum on Euro area membership. The reason is simple; the Italian constitution doesnt allow referendums on international treaties. The country instead would first have to hold a referendum on changing the Italian constitution. Lawmakers in Italy might look to the ongoing political legitimacy issues that UK Prime Minister Theresa May is experiencing with regards to Brexit, and think twice before subjecting Italy to a similarly polarizing and disruptive event. WHAT WILL HAPPEN IN MARCH? HUNG PARLIAMENT THE MOST LIKELY RESULT, IN OUR VIEW The complicated nature of Italys new electoral law known as Rosatellum bis, a combination of a majoritarian and proportional representation would make it very difficult for any one party to gain majority. While this certainly doesnt preclude any number of Eurosceptic parties from forming a coalition government, the hostility of M5S toward other parties probably makes a coalition with M5S less likely, in our opinion. At the time of this writing, support still appears pretty evenly split between a more centrist partly like the Democratic Party (PD), M5S, and some sort of center-right coalition of Forza Italia, National League and possibly others. At this point, the highest probability outcome in March still seems to us to be a hung parliament no obvious majority followed by months of coalition talks and political posturing. What will be the eventual outcome of all this? Our best guess at this point is most likely a fragile coalition between the center-left and center-right parties. WHAT WILL HAPPEN IN MARCH? HUNG PARLIAMENT THE MOST LIKELY RESULT, IN OUR VIEW The complicated nature of Italys new electoral law known as Rosatellum bis, a combination of a majoritarian and proportional representation would make it very difficult for any one party to gain majority. While this certainly doesnt preclude any number of Eurosceptic parties from forming a coalition government, the hostility of M5S toward other parties probably makes a coalition with M5S less likely, in our opinion. At the time of this writing, support still appears pretty evenly split between a more centrist partly like the Democratic Party (PD), M5S, and some sort of center-right coalition of Forza Italia, National League and possibly others. At this point, the highest probability outcome in March still seems to us to be a hung parliament no obvious majority followed by months of coalition talks and political posturing. What will be the eventual outcome of all this? Our best guess at this point is most likely a fragile coalition between the center-left and center-right parties. While a hung parliament and subsequent political gridlock is hardly the best-case outcome for a country struggling to enact lasting reforms, this result does not mean economic disaster for either Italy nor, more importantly, does it mean the dissolution of the Eurozone. Recall that Italy is a country that has learned how to muddle along through chronic political instability 65 governments in 71 years, by some counts. RIVERFRONT RISK MANAGEMENT IN THE AGE OF POLITICAL RISK Interestingly enough, neither a major monitor of Italy sovereign risk Italian credit default spreads (CDS) nor one of a Eurozone breakup risk like the EUR/USD currency cross are indicating heightened risk at this time. In fact, wed argue just the opposite: Italian CDS spreads are near multi-year lows (see chart below), suggesting the cost to hedge sovereign default is increasingly cheap, and the EUR/USD cross just broke out to a new multi-year high on Thursday at around 1.25. While both are encouraging, we also acknowledge it may suggest some level of complacency around European risks. We will continue to monitor fundamental and technical risk indicators closely and will consider action if our process suggests it. Read more at ETFtrends.com > The Latest on a marijuana summit convened by U.S. Attorney Billy Williams in Oregon (all times local): 11 a.m. Oregon Gov. Kate Brown says the top federal prosecutor in Oregon has assured her that he will not target legal marijuana business in the state. Brown made the remarks Friday at a summit convened by U.S. Attorney Billy Williams on how to address a surplus of marijuana that's winding up on the black market. Williams announced the unprecedented meeting of nearly 80 federal, state, local and tribal leaders in law enforcement and the marijuana industry last month. Attorney General Jeff Sessions recently rescinded a memo on how states with legalized cannabis could avoid federal scrutiny. Friday's summit was attended by 14 other U.S. attorney's offices, Oregon Gov. Kate Brown, the FBI and other federal agencies. Brown says Williams told her "lawful Oregon businesses" remain "stakeholders" in the conversation and not targets. ____ 9:15 a.m. Oregon's top federal prosecutor says the state has a "formidable" problem with marijuana overproduction that winds up on the black market and he wants to work with the state to do something about it. U.S. Attorney Billy Williams said Friday at a summit he convened in Portland, Oregon that he needs a "bottom-line answer" on how much excess pot is being produced and how much is smuggled out. Williams announced the unprecedented meeting of nearly 80 federal, state, local and tribal leaders in law enforcement and the marijuana industry last month. Attorney General Jeff Sessions recently rescinded a memo on how states with legalized cannabis could avoid federal scrutiny. Friday's summit was attended by 14 other U.S. attorney's offices, Oregon Gov. Kate Brown, the FBI and other federal agencies. ___ 12:30 a.m. Oregon's top federal prosecutor will hold a marijuana summit to hear how the state, law enforcement, tribal and industry leaders plan to address a pot surplus that he says has wound up on the black market in other states and is fueling crime. U.S. Attorney Billy Williams laid out his plans for the unprecedented Friday event in a recent newspaper column , saying Oregon has a "massive marijuana overproduction problem" that is attracting cartels and criminal networks and sparking money laundering, violence and environmental woes. The column came shortly after Attorney General Jeff Sessions last month rescinded an Obama administration memo that outlined the steps states with legalized cannabis could take to avoid scrutiny under federal law, where marijuana remains illegal. Oregon's top federal prosecutor said Friday the state has a "formidable" problem with marijuana overproduction that winds up on the black market and that he wants to work with state and local leaders and the pot industry to do something about it. U.S. Attorney Billy Williams convened the unprecedented summit of influential federal law enforcement representatives, state officials and marijuana industry scions after Attorney General Jeff Sessions withdrew an Obama administration memo that had guided states with legalized weed on how to avoid federal scrutiny. The meeting included representatives from 13 other U.S. attorney's offices, the FBI, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the U.S. Forest Service and U.S. Customs and Border Protection. U.S. attorneys from California, Washington, Colorado, Idaho, Alaska and Montana attended in person. Gov. Kate Brown, a Democrat, told guests that Williams has assured members of her administration that "lawful Oregon businesses remain stakeholders in this conversation and not targets of law enforcement." The marijuana industry has been watching federal prosecutors in states with legalized weed like Oregon closely since Sessions rescinded the so-called Cole memo. U.S. attorneys in states where marijuana is legal under state law now face the delicate question of how to do their jobs and hew to the federal ban. Williams sought to calm fears among pot growers, but said the market has a problem that must be addressed. Everyone needs a "bottom-line answer" on how much excess marijuana is being produced and how much of it winds up on the black market, he said. Williams last month wrote a guest column in a newspaper in which he said the surplus attracts criminal networks and generates money laundering, drug violence and draws down water supplies in rural communities. "Here's what I know in terms of the landscape here in Oregon, and that is, we have an identifiable and formidable marijuana overproduction and diversion problem," he said Friday. Williams added: "And make no mistake about it, we're going to do something about it." There is general agreement that marijuana from Oregon does wind up in other states where it isn't legal. Still, it's hard to say if pot smuggling has gotten worse in Oregon where illicit pot farmers were thriving long before recreational legalization or how much of the marijuana leaving the state filters out from the legal side. Williams has previously said law enforcement in 16 other states have reported seizing marijuana from Oregon and postal agents have intercepted more than 2,600 pounds of pot in outbound packages and over $1.2 million in associated cash. Advocates dismiss the idea that legalization has caused a spike in black markets sales. It's just that now, because it's legal, it's much easier to track it back, they said. "When I moved to Oregon in 1979, cannabis was a billion-dollar crop then, so the notion that this is somehow caused by legalization or by the medical program is something that's misplaced," said Leland Berger, an attorney who specializes in marijuana cases. Oregon did not cap the number of recreational pot producers, virtually guaranteeing an overproduction problem, said Seth Crawford, a former Oregon State University professor who's an expert on marijuana economics and cannabis policy. He estimated Oregon growers produce up to three times the amount of marijuana that the state can absorb legally each year. "You created this huge industry that has nowhere to put its product," Crawford said. "If you were an investor and you had just dropped $4 million into a (marijuana) grow and you had thousands of pounds of flower that was ready to go but you had nowhere to sell it ... if you want any of your money back, the only thing you can do is sell it on the black market," he said. "It was a system designed for failure." Oregon voters approved the sale of recreational marijuana in 2014, and it became legal the following year. The state has allowed medical marijuana since 1998. It now has about 900 licensed recreational growers, with more than 1,100 licenses awaiting approval. Another roughly 25,600 growers in the state produce cannabis for medical marijuana patients. More than 500 retailers are licensed to sell recreational weed, with nearly 250 applications pending. ____ Follow Gillian Flaccus on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/gflaccus ___ This version corrects that 13, not 14, U.S. attorney's offices were represented and removes Massachusetts, Hawaii and Nevada from the list of states that sent U.S. attorneys because those states sent lower level officials. Like many of its banking industry peers, Alabama-based Regions Financial (NYSE: RF) recently released its fourth-quarter and 2017 results. On average, analysts were expecting the company to show double-digit growth in net profit on a year-over-year basis, and total revenue growth of 4%. The bank more or less came in on target. Here's a look at its quarterly and annual figures. Cut and save For the quarter, Regions Financial's adjusted total revenue climbed 6% to $1.47 billion, while its net profit advanced by 14% to $319 million ($0.27 per share). The company delivered a modest surprise on the top line, as analysts were expecting $1.44 billion. Net profit was broadly in line with expectations. Throughout the year, the bank did a good job limiting growth in expenses, which for the entirety of fiscal 2017 only rose by 1% from 2016. This contributed to net profit growth of 8% to $1.16 billion on an increase in total revenue of 4% to almost $5.87 billion. What didn't rise, on the other hand, was Regions' total deposits and its loan book: Both declined by around 1.5% across the one-year period ended Dec. 31. Much of the saving-and-profiting dynamic comes down to rationalizations. The company has closed branches and laid off workers since being burned in last decade's financial crisis; like other prominent regional lenders such as PNC Financial Services and SunTrust, it required a multibillion-dollar government bailout to stay solvent. At the end of last September, Regions' branch count stood at 1,489, well below the 2,100-plus it operated in 2007. The company had planned to cut around $400 million in annual expenses through these closures, workforce reductions, and related measures. Going forward, the company plans to continue the efficiency drive with its recently announced "Simplify and Grow" initiative. In addition to improved efficiency, it plans to grow by making its services easier to use for its customers and finding ways to increase revenue growth. Keeping pace Regions' quarterly and annual results didn't blow anyone away -- no wonder the stock basically traded sideways in the days after they were announced. But investors shouldn't lose heart. It's encouraging that the bank keeps managing to squeeze more profit out of what it has. And although its 64% efficiency ratio for Q4 might seem high at first blush, it actually beats PNC's latest quarterly figure (72%) and is a shade better than SunTrust's (66%). Regions also has a sensible and, in my opinion, achievable plan for future growth. It's attractively priced, if not a screaming bargain: Its one-year forward P/E is basically in line with both PNC's and SunTrust's. It's only marginally more expensive when we compare the five-year PEG ratios of the three banks. 10 stocks we like better than Regions FinancialWhen investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.* David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy right now... and Regions Financial wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys. Click here to learn about these picks! *Stock Advisor returns as of January 2, 2018 Eric Volkman 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. The percentage of small businesses planning to boost pay is at a 28-year high as a shortage of qualified workers becomes the biggest concern for owners, according to the National Federation of Independent Business. Only an increase in the labor force and an increase in the participation rate can provide relief from the impact of labor shortages, Bill Dunkelberg, the federations chief economist, said Thursday in a press release on the groups survey findings. Twenty-four percent of employers plan to raise worker compensation, the highest reading since December 1989, according to the federation. Twenty-two percent of owners cited the difficulty of finding qualified workers as their single most pressing business problem, exceeding taxes and the cost of regulation. President Donald Trump said Tuesday in his State of the Union address that the tax cut he signed in December provided relief for small businesses. The next day, the Federal Reserve said in its statement following a two-day policy meeting that the U.S. economy will expand at a moderate pace and the job market will remain strong. The Labor Department reported Friday that employers in the U.S. added a higher-than-expected 200,000 jobs in January. The median forecast of economists surveyed by Thomson Reuters was for 180,000 new positions.The unemployment rate held at a 17-year low of 4.1%. During the State of the Union address, Trump mentioned two of his guests, Steve Staub and Sandy Keplinger, the brother-and-sister team who run Staub Manufacturing Solutions in Dayton, Ohio. They have increased the number of people on their payroll to 37 from 23 over the past year and sweetened their Christmas bonuses. They are having their best year in their 20-year history, Trump said in his address. They are handing out raises. This story has been updated. Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) is teaming up with some of its biggest big-rig customers to build charging stations at their facilities, according to a report released Friday. The Palo Alto, California-based electric car maker, which unveiled the Tesla Semi big rig last year, has received pre-orders from nine major corporations. Anheuser-Busch (NYSE:BUD), PepsiCo (NYSE:PEP) and UPS (NYSE:UPS), three of the firms that pledged to buy hundreds of the battery-powered trucks, are working with Tesla on the charging stations, Reuters said. Tesla is also said to be developing plans to build its own truck charging stations. The news may ease investor concerns that Tesla would be unable to follow through on its plan to launch the Semi in 2019. Teslas Model 3 has been hampered by delays since its launch last summer, forcing the company to scale back its production forecast. Pepsi told Reuters that it could explore sharing facilities and costs with other companies. UPS and Budweiser maker Anheuser-Busch also said they are interested in building their own charging terminals. Pepsi reserved 100 Tesla Semis. UPS made a pre-order for 125 of the trucks, while Anheuser-Busch plans to buy 40 Semis. Tesla shares fell 1.57% to $343.75 amid a broader market selloff Friday. General Motors (NYSE: GM) said that its U.S. sales rose 1.3% in January, powered by strong sales of pickup trucks and its new line of crossover SUVs. The gain outpaced both of GM's old Detroit rivals: Ford Motor Company's (NYSE: F) U.S. sales fell 6.6% in January, while Fiat Chrysler Automobiles' (NYSE: FCAU) fell 13%. Crossovers, crossovers, and more crossovers Right now, crossover SUVs are in huge demand. And it's an old axiom in the auto business that buyers are drawn to -- and willing to pay up for -- the freshest new products. Naturally, you'd expect the automaker with the newest lineup of crossovers to be doing quite well right now. That would be General Motors, and it is indeed doing quite well. With a couple of exceptions, all of GM's crossover models are all-new models introduced in the last two years, and sales of the group have been brisk. January's sales numbers suggest that some of GM's crossovers, notably the Equinox and Traverse, are winning sales away from rivals. Consider that sales of FCA's vaunted Jeep lineup were up just 2%, while sales of Ford and Lincoln crossovers as a group fell almost 8%. GM is also doing well with pickups -- but not with sedans Right now, GM offers four pickup models: The full-size Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra, and the midsize Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon. Sales of the group rose 7.5% in January. A good chunk of that sales volume came from the Silverado and Sierra (up 5.4%), which compete directly with FCA's Ram trucks and Ford's vaunted F-Series line. The Ram had a tough month, with sales down 13% -- but an all-new Ram will begin arriving at dealers in a few months. Meanwhile, sales of Ford's F-Series sales rose just 1.1%, trailing the GM twins' gain. But on this front at least, Ford may be winning the greater war: While GM appears to have been offering heavy discounts on the Silverado, the average transaction price paid for the Ford trucks in January was up about $1,400 from a year ago to $47,800, a record. Both GM and Ford had little to brag about when it came to sedans, though. The sedan market has been weak for a couple of years, as more buyers have been trading in sedans for crossovers -- and many of the buyers who did want sedans in January opted for Toyota's Camry, which is all-new (and much-improved) for 2018: The Camry outsold GM's Chevrolet Malibu and Ford's Fusion combined last month. The upshot: GM is making money in a sluggish market Essentially, right now GM is trading sedan sales for crossover sales. That's a pretty good trade in a sluggish market: Crossovers are more profitable, generally speaking, than sedans, and GM's new crossovers were designed to deliver more profit than their predecessors. GM won't report its full-year 2017 earnings until next Tuesday, but it appears that the crossovers played a big part in keeping GM's profits strong in a so-so market in 2017. GM is hoping they can do the same in 2018, until its all-new Silverado and Sierra arrive at the end of the year. It's early yet, but so far, so good. 10 stocks we like better than General MotorsWhen investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.* David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy right now... and General Motors wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys. Click here to learn about these picks! *Stock Advisor returns as of January 2, 2018 John Rosevear owns shares of Ford and General Motors. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Ford. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. During an interview with FOX Business Liz MacDonald, Sheriff Richard Jones and Sheriff Thomas Hodgson weighed in on the dangers of the MS-13 gang. Weve had 20 or 30 of them at a time in our jail, just in one jail. We have them in Columbus, Ohio. They have just done a raid recently in Ohio, we rounded up like 20 or 30 of them [for] extortion, murder, RECO status. Weve had people killed in our own county and its the most dangerous gang in the world. They recruit, they murder [and] they bring drugs in, said Sheriff Jones on Risk & Reward. During Tuesdays State of the Union address, President Trump referred to the gang as savage and told the story of how two teenage girls were killed by MS-13, while their parents were in the audience for the speech. However, MSNBC host Joy Reid criticized the president for talking about the gang, claiming that Trump shouldnt have made the gang sound like the biggest issue in the United States and that the only people who have heard of MS-13, were people who watch Fox News. The mother of the two girls who were murdered said that she had no words for the MSNBC hosts remarks. I know not what planet [Joy Reid] been on, but its a fight that were all fighting and thank god that our president of the United States is bringing this issue up and is helping local law enforcement and federal law enforcement, Jones said. According to the National Gang Intelligence Center, MS-13 has more than 10,000 members in at least 40 states in the U.S. Sheriff Thomas Hodgson said that MS-13 is the most vicious gang in America and explained why he isnt surprised by Reids comments. They are the most vicious gang in the United States, weve had 64 in our custody in the last 10 years, these are cop killers. Obviously she has no understanding of whats going on out there and this is, not surprising as the president has said many times, fake news, its an attempt to try to deflect things for their political purposes opposed to telling the people, their views and the people of this country the honesty truth, said Sheriff Hodgson. Yolanda Hadid is loving her daughters Gigi and Bellas nude hugging photoshoot in British Vogue. The supermodels mother was all smiles on Wednesday when TMZ asked her what she thought about the photo that fans labeled as creepy, weird and disturbing. I love it, Hadid told TMZ. Love the skin youre in, baby! When asked what she thought about people calling the photo incestuous, the 54-year-old said: No comment. GIGI AND BELLA HADID'S NUDE HUGGING PHOTOSHOOT CALLED 'DISTURBING,' 'CREEPY' Despite the proud mothers approval, many fans ripped the photo released in British Vogues March 2018 issue. The sisters, who will be featured in dual covers, were pictured in a provocative photo, nude with their legs wrapped around each other. Many Twitter users said the photos were just weird and creepy, while others said it crossed the line. Some also laughed at the magazines apparent Photoshopping, referring to Bella Hadid who critics claimed didnt even look like herself. Despite the backlash, the Hadid sisters celebrated the magazine covers. Gigi said she was very honored to be on the cover while Bella shared a lengthier message thanking Versace as well as the hair and makeup team for putting the ensembles together. Yolanda Hadid also wrote on Instagram that the covers were "stunning." Hadid, a former member of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, told Fox News earlier this month her daughters authentic and good personalities were the secret to their successes. Like I always say to my girls, there [are] a million girls who are as beautiful as you are and deserve success as much as you do, Hadid said. So how are you going to set yourself apart? And in my opinion, thats to be a good person, be kind to everybody, be the hardest working girl on set and be authentic. And it has worked for them." A coroner's official in Los Angeles says former "Glee" actor Mark Salling's death has been ruled a suicide. Los Angeles coroner's spokesman Ed Winter said Thursday an autopsy determined that Salling died from asphyxia after hanging himself. The 35-year-old's body was found Tuesday in a riverbed area in northeast Los Angeles. Salling's death came a few weeks after he pleaded guilty in federal court to possession of child pornography. He was due to be sentenced in March and could have faced four to seven years in prison. Prosecutors say a search of Salling's computer found more than 50,000 images of child porn on Salling's computer and a thumb drive. He played bad-boy Noah "Puck" Puckerman on the long-running Fox series, which concluded in 2015. After being rushed to a hospital Wednesday night, legendary comic book artist Stan Lee confirmed Thursday that he was back home and doing well. "All I really want to do is tell you that I'm feeling great," Lee told KABC-TV in Los Angeles. "I'm glad I spent that evening in the hospital. It did me a lot of good. It probably did my fans a lot of good. It kept me off their backs for the evening. But I'm feeling good now and I can't wait to get in there and tangle with all the competition." The 95-year-old had been rushed to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles on Wednesday after having shortness of breath and an irregular heartbeat, TMZ reported Thursday. A day earlier, Lee appeared to be in good spirits as he attended the premiere of Marvel's "Black Panther" movie, but has faced reports of poor health in the past. The co-creator of Marvel canceled appearances at Salt Lake City Comic Con and Big Apple Comic Con last year, reportedly due to health issues. In March 2017, Lee took to Facebook to write that he had "Been feeling almost back up to snuff. So time to send out the battle cry: EXCELSIOR!" his oft-used catchphrase. The Marvel magnate recently made headlines after being accused of sexual harassment by nurses who take care of him at his home in Los Angeles. According to a January report by the Daily Mail, nurses alleged Lee repeatedly groped and harassed them, asked for oral sex while showering and would walk around naked. Lee denied the allegations, according to a statement from his rep published by the Mail, and "intends to fight to protect his stellar good name and impeccable character." Lee, a U.S. Army veteran, "is celebrated as the creative tour de force behind Marvel's Silver Age," according to Marvel's website, and is "the co-creator of beloved characters like Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, Hulk, Thor and the X-Men." Doesn't everyone know not to mess with Chuck Norris? The action hero has hit CBS and Sony Pictures Television with a $30 million lawsuit for allegedly failing to pay him his share of the profits from his hit '90s series "Walker, Texas Ranger." According to the lawsuit, CBS failed to pay Norris' production company, Top Kick Productions, 23 percent "of the profits earned from any, and all, exploitations of 'Walker.'" Top Kick alleges in the suit that "CBS was among the networks that were fully aware of Chuck Norris success, history, brand and image, which resulted in CBS agreeing to become the primary distributor of 'Walker.'" A rep for CBS had no comment when reached by Fox News. A rep for Sony did not return Fox News' request for comment. The lawsuit alleges CBS and Sony promoted the series through on-demand services instead of TV and DVD to avoid paying Norris his fair share. Top Kick says in the suit it is owed millions of dollars in "past and future license fees." Norris starred as Texas Ranger Cordell Walker in the hit series that ran on CBS for eight seasons, from 1993 to 2001. At age 71, Hayley Mills is getting ready to hit the road. The former child star, who charmed audiences in Disney films like Pollyanna and The Parent Trap, is looking forward to working again. And this time, her latest project will involve her sister, fellow actress Juliet Mills. Were going to do a play, which is marvelous, the British star told Closer Weekly Friday. Juliet, 76, added, Its a national tour in England. LINDSAY LOHAN CHANNELS HER 11-YEAR-OLD SELF IN 'PARENT TRAP' While some fans might expect the two actresses to compete against each other on stage, Hayley insisted sibling rivalry shouldnt be expected. Theres five years [age difference] between us and when I started acting she was already doing very well in the theater, explained Hayley. Our careers have always been very different. And Hayley is eager to entertain audiences. Back in 2012, the daughter of late actor John Mills told Good Housekeeping she was diagnosed with breast cancer on her birthday in 2008. It was an enormous shock, she recalled, as reported by The Telegraph. Suddenly, I looked out at the world as if Id never seen it before. Everything felt clearer and sharper. And when you hear that diagnosis, you realize, Now Im going to find out what Im actually made of.' Hayley, who had cancer in both breasts, had surgery very quickly. She credited the support of her family for helping her fight the illness. I was told two years ago that there was no sign of cancer anymore, and I dont think I can put into words how that news made me feel, she said. Every year I have a full scan and check-up, and I truly believe its a combination of everything I did surgery, chemo, alternative treatment and the love of my family that helped. Hayley later told UKs Express she was grateful to still be able to work as an actress, even if it means not living in Hollywood. I loved playing twins Sharon and Susan in Disneys The Parent Trap, but there was never any question of our family moving to Hollywood for me, she reflected. Thats probably how I coped with the fame it didnt go to my head because I had a normal childhood. "Making movies was just something I did in the holidays I feel terribly lucky to still be working at my age, after all these years. Lifes pretty wonderful. Elaine Stevens will never forget the day that Hollywood actress Jayne Mansfield, along with her lawyer Samuel S. Brody and driver Ronald B. Harrison, were killed in a 1967 car crash in Louisiana. Mansfield was just 34 at the time of her death. While the adults in the vehicle met a sudden death, three of Mansfields children, including Law & Order actress Mariska Hargitay, were sleeping on the rear seat and survived. VINTAGE HOLLYWOOD FLASHBACK: THE GOLDEN GLOBES IN THE '50S, '60S & '70S Rumors have existed for decades about the horrific accident, including that the blond bombshell was decapitated. Her undertaker Jim Roberts dismissed the myth to the New York Times in 1997. Mansfields death also sparked gossip that the star was reportedly the victim of a curse placed by Church of Satan founder Anton LaVey. As the world mourned the beloved pinup, Stevens, who was 17 at the time, was devastated by the death of the driver, Harrison, her high school sweetheart and the father of her unborn child. The Hollywood Reporter recently revealed Stevens is planning a memoir titled Mermaid in the Window to address the extremely painful memories that have haunted her for years. Stevens told Fox News she is still working on the book. Ronnie was a young man I loved, the 69-year-old told Fox News. We were planning to be married in 72 hours. My wedding dress was hung in the closet. A little orange crepe dress. And I was pregnant with my daughter. We went to high school together. We graduated together. It was young first love. My sweetheart. Stevens explained how her father Gus Stevens was the owner of Biloxis Gus Stevens Restaurant & Supper Club, which was frequently attended by stars on tour. Mansfield, who was reportedly struggling to find work in Hollywood after Marilyn Monroes death in 1962, had completed a nightclub tour at the venue. Dad brought in many stars, claimed Stevens. He brought in Jerry Van Dyke, Mel Torme, Andy Griffith, Tex Ritter, Dave Gardner, Mamie Van Doren, Mickey Gilley it went on and on. "He was always booking really top acts. And Jayne was on a nightclub circuit toward the end of her so-called stardom. She was making the rounds. But she had fallen in love with Biloxi after her first trip and daddy brought her a total of three times if Im not mistaken. And while Stevens wasn't fazed by Mansfields popularity, she was in awe of her beauty. I thought she was sexy, said Stevens. I thought she was the epitome of that brand that she so shamelessly pushed over the years. But she was very beautiful. And she was soft-spoken and a very smart lady. I thought she was a good mother. I heard tales about how she allegedly used her children for publicity purposes. "But to me, she was very gracious. She loved my dad. People down here loved her. They really gave her great, great Southern hospitality. [And] you never saw the downside of her. Even if she imbibed quite heavily. But she was a really good mom. However, Stevens didnt have time to develop a close bond with the actress. When the lovers found out Stevens was expecting, Harrison, then 19, proposed. The pair had planned to elope in a small Alabama town in secret. But when Mansfield needed a chauffeur to ensure she would make it to her television appearance, it was Harrison who volunteered. Daddy was unable to find someone who could take her, claimed Stevens. They had somehow lost their Rolls Royce due to lack of payment. They were in financial difficulty at the time. And they had several automobile accidents prior to this one. In fact, I heard Sam [Brody] had an injured foot at the time. "But Ronnie ended up going. We needed the money to buy our marriage license He said, Ill make the extra money.' And he was one of those industrious young men that held down three jobs. Stevens added Harrison believed driving Mansfield would also boost his chances of earning her fathers approval. He was a hard-working American boy, she said. But [my parents] wanted me to marry Greek. She still vividly remembers the last conversation they shared that fateful night. He was pulling out of the driveway, she recalled. They wouldnt let him come in. He looked at me and said, Will you always love me? I said, Of course I will always love you. I will always love you. And he took off. That was the last time I saw him. During the dawn hours of June 29, Stevens woke up to a nightmare. The New York Times reported the car slammed into the back of an 18-wheeler that had slowed down on a highway barely south of the Mississippi border. It was shrouded in a dense fog from an anti-mosquito spray truck. The phone rang, she said. I heard people screaming and crying in the hallway. I put on my little denim smock because I think at the time I was three or four months pregnant. I ran to daddy and mommas bedroom. "There was just a lot of hysteria. I was pacing. Daddy had to go identify the bodies. They told me Ronnie had died I thought he walked away from that thing. He was tall and lanky They couldnt even find him at first. Stevens woes didnt end with the loss of her love. When her parents discovered she was with child on the day of the accident, Stevens said she was forced to give up her baby for adoption after she gave birth on January 3, 1968, to avoid public scandal. Stevens admitted it bothered her over the years how Mansfields death overshadowed Harrisons passing. We were considered collateral damage, she explained. And no one really got my side of the story. He was just some vagabond young man who parked cars for dad. An unknown. But it left a streak of sadness and heartache. And it was extremely painful to hear him be referred to as the boy [by the press]. Or the chauffer. Without a name. Without a face. Without a place in time with the woman who loved him. And the child that came into the world. However, Stevens would later discover a sense of happiness again. Stevens said in 1999 she was reunited with her daughter, who had been attempting to learn about her birth mother. She said they still stay in touch. Stevens also claimed to no longer feel any resentment toward Mansfield. We still have her G-string, she chuckled. She left it behind. Mother kept it in the safety deposit box. She was glamorous up until the very end. Stevens also found love again and married her current husband in 2011. They live in Jackson County, Mississippi. I found true love with my husband Jim, she said. And he acknowledges my sorrows and my loss. I dont think youre ever completely healed, but Im on the way. The mainstream media didnt get its way on Friday when the controversial memo detailing alleged government surveillance abuses was released. But instead of focusing on the contents, the liberal media members who had reservations about the document's release are harping on negative reactions to President Trumps decision to make it public. The House Intelligence Committee released the memo about alleged abuses involving FISA, or the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, dn Friday afternoon after news organizations such as The New York Times and The Washington Post criticized the decision to do so. The polarizing memo had liberal media members howling that its release would pose a risk to national security less than 24 hours ago, but the same pundits are now calling it a "dud" and mocking conservatives for overhyping its content. It falls well short of what some Republicans promised: to cast doubt on the origins of the Russia investigation, a prominent bullet point on The Times website said shortly after the release. The home page of The Washington Post featured a trio of headlines that played down the content of the memo, Ongoing battle between White House and FBI intensifies after memos release, Sentence buried in GOP memo may undercut Trump efforts to discredit Russia probe, and an opinion piece, The White Houses laughable spin that releasing the memo is all about transparency, were all prominently displayed. The Associated Press wire was packed with angry reaction to the memo and offeref very little about what the document actually said. AP pieces about the memo led with lines including Attorney General Jeff Sessions is defending his deputy in the face of criticism from the president, House Democrats are angry about the release of a classified GOP memo and The top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee is challenging the accuracy of a memo. A giant headline across the HuffPost page simply stated, "Meh-morandum: This thing's a dud!" Former FBI Director James Comey blasted the dishonest and misleading memo, saying it inexcusably exposed classified investigations. Several news organizations used Comeys reaction as their hook in stories playing down the memo, with splashy headlines using the former FBI chiefs negative reaction. Meanwhile, reporters from both CNN and MSNBC have been accused on social media of misleading viewers regarding the content of the memo. NBC News Katy Tur fixed an inaccurate tweet after critics called her out, while CNNs Jim Sciutto has been criticized for saying that Republicans first paid for the disputed Steele dossier. Others have picked on the way the memo was written. NBC News Andrea Mitchell said the language in the memo is mischievous, while Vox founder Ezra Klein said it read like a Breitbart article. Media Research Center President Brent Bozell issued a statement ridiculing the media coverage of the memo, saying it deserved Watergate-like media coverage. Now that the memo is public, the media owe it to the American people to report this story fairly and truthfully," he wrote. "We have witnessed over a year of an unparalleled, deliberate effort by the press to remove a president they despise, and it is time they are held accountable." The media industrys decades-old crusade for transparency ended this week as liberal pundits from a variety of news organizations called for the controversial memo on alleged FBI abuses to stay private. Talking heads on both CNN and MSNBC, as well as editorial boards from the prestigious New York Times and Washington Post have all come out against the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence memo that potentially reveals the FBI abused spying authorities and paints government officials as anti-Trump. Ironically, the mainstream media wanted to keep the memo private even as Steven Spielbergs The Post, a story about the Washington Posts fight to release the Pentagon Papers, is playing in theaters across the nation. Hollywood royalty Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep portray newspaper legends Ben Bradlee and Kay Graham as they challenge the government to release the controversial documents. Most Hollywood liberals presumably consume the same mainstream media that is attempting to do the exact opposite of the characters the famous actors portray in The Post. The real-life, current version of the Washington Post isnt exactly a champion of transparency at the moment. The papers editorial board wrote on Thursday that its not in the business of opposing the release of information of potential public value, but then spends a few hundred words contradicting that statement. Discrediting law enforcement is the memos transparent purpose and why it has been embraced by President Trump, Post editors wrote before claiming that House Speaker Paul Ryan and GOP colleagues want to help Trump impede an investigation into whether or not Russia attempted to influence the 2016 election. Mediaite columnist Joseph Wulfsohn thinks the paradox surrounding the memo controversy is quite remarkable as major publications take a stand against transparency. Apparently the Washington Post has already forgotten their Trump-era motto Democracy Dies in Darkness. Mediaite columnist Joseph Wulfsohn The purpose of a free press is for them to shed light on what's been going on in our government no matter which political party benefits, Wulfsohn told Fox News. Apparently the Washington Post has already forgotten their Trump-era motto Democracy Dies in Darkness. The New York Times editorial board took the call for opaqueness even further, calling it a partisan witch hunt and saying that releasing the memo would be a demonstration of unbridled self-interest and bottomless bad faith. The Times published a scathing piece that accuses Republicans of undermining the credibility of the law enforcement community and pushing misleading propaganda from people who are terrified by the Russia investigation and determined to derail it by any means necessary. The Times mocks House Intelligence Committee chairman Devin Nunes memo as a cut-and-paste job and told readers theres so much deception and obfuscation going on here that its hard to know where to start. The Times questioned whether there are any adults left in the GOP and implied Republicans would turn their back on America to win a political fight. It would be nice to treat Mr. Trump, Mr. Nunes and their cohort as the junior high school pranksters they resemble, but what theyre doing -- cynically undermining the nations trust in law enforcement, fostering an environment of permanent suspicion and subterfuge -- is far more dangerous, Times editors wrote. CNNs Anderson Cooper called talk of releasing the memo a source of phony drama, while focusing on the grave concerns of FBI Director Chris Wray in a monologue seemingly intended to paint Trump as irresponsible for the foregone conclusion that the memo will be released. The majority of pundits on liberal cable news seemed to be against the memos release and MSNBC John Heilemann even claimed Speaker Ryan is No longer on Team USA. Jimmy Kimmel even came out against the memo being released on Thursdays edition of his late-night show. All of these anti-transparency hot takes make it fair to ponder what a 1970s-era Ben Bradlee would think about the behavior of the media in 2018. However, Media Reseach Center Vice President Dan Gainor doesn't think it would make a difference. "I doubt Ben Bradlee would have been an iconic supporter of transparency either," Gainor told Fox News. "He made his mark attacking a Republican president... traditional journalists are protective of their liberal allies more than they are the tenets of a free press." The Fourth Estate has spent decades fighting for transparency, but it appears disdain for President Trump and the Republican Party has taken priority. Nearly 40 years after Hollywood actress Natalie Wood died at age 43, a Los Angeles County sheriffs official said her fatal drowning is now being investigated as a suspicious death as new witnesses have emerged. Following Thursday's bombshell "48 Hours" report that husband Robert Wagner was a "person of interest," sheriffs spokeswoman Nicole Nishida said new witnesses interviewed since the case was reopened in 2011 have given statements that portray a new sequence of events on the boat that night. Wood, the Oscar-nominated actress who starred in Miracle on 34th Street, West Side Story and Rebel Without a Cause, was on a yacht with Wagner, actor Christopher Walken and the boat captain on Thanksgiving weekend in 1981. After a night of drinking, her body was found floating in the waters off Southern Californias Catalina Island. While investigators initially ruled it an accident, the case was reopened to see whether Wagner or anyone else possibly played a role after the boats captain said he heard the couple arguing the night of her disappearance. The coroners office amended Woods death certificate the next year to include drowning and other undetermined factors. A rep for Wagner, now 87, declined to comment. According to Nishida, one of the witnesses described hearing yelling and crashing sounds coming from the couples stateroom. Soon after that, other witnesses claimed they heard a man and woman arguing on the back of the boat. They believe the voices belonged to Wood and Wagner, added Nishida. While the sheriffs department said Wagner is considered a person of interest, Nishida noted there isnt enough evidence to make an arrest at this moment. The police statement comes after CBS News aired an interview with Los Angeles County sheriffs Lt. John Corina, who said he doesnt believe Wagner has told the whole story about what happened that fateful night. Corina told 48 Hours the new witnesses are very credible. They have no reason to lie, he insisted. Investigators said Wagner has not been interviewed since the probe was reopened. They said they tried to interview the actor at least 10 times in 2013, but he refused. Wagner has denied any involvement in his wifes death and no charges have been filed. In 2008, Wagner admitted in a memoir that he and Walken argued that night. He wrote that Walken, now 74, went to bed and he stayed up for a while, but when he went to bed, he noticed that Wood and a dinghy that had been attached to the yacht were missing. Los Angeles County sheriffs investigators told CBS 48 Hours they would like to speak to Wagner. As weve investigated the case over the last six years, I think [Wagners] more of a person of interest now, said Corina. I mean, we know now that he was the last person to be with Natalie before she disappeared. Captain Dennis Davern, who first spoke to 48 Hours back in 2011, revealed the night was a tension-filled weekend that was allegedly fueled by alcohol and Wagners jealousy of Woods co-star, Walken. It just kept getting more tense every minute of the day, claimed Davern. I opened a bottle a wine and Natalie and Christopher had continued to giggle. And then Robert Wagner picked up the bottle of wine and smashed it Natalie, she said, I cannot take this, and she went into her room. And then RJ went into the room Natalie and RJs room and started arguing, yelling things being thrown about. "The fighting continued. And then to the back of the boat. I was concerned that something really bad was going down, because of the fighting, the arguing was so intense. While its been noted Davern has reportedly sold his story to tabloids for money and collaborated on a tell-all book over the years, Corina said his version of events fit. Makes more sense of what happened and is corroborated by other people, he said. Back in 2016, Wagner told Fox News he still has fond memories of his late wife. Oh God, I do have many, he explained. You know, Natalie was such a special, marvelous woman How lucky I was. I just had such wonderful times with her. We have our daughter and we were very lucky to have that happen to us. She was just a marvelous, marvelous light. My light and the light for our children. She was just a special person. Wood and Wagner married in December 1957. The two began dating when she was 18 and he was 26. They divorced in April 1962 and re-married in 1972. Wagner once recalled a time when he argued with Walken over his wifes career, People reported. Wagner claimed in his memoir he did not know what happened to Wood on the night of her death. Nobody knows. There are only two possibilities: either she was trying to get away from the argument, or she was trying to tie the dinghy. But the bottom line is that nobody knows exactly what happened, Wagner wrote. He expressed regret for Wood's death, writing he would have done something. Did I blame myself? he wrote. If I had been there, I could have done something. But I wasnt there. I didnt see her. The door was closed; I thought she was belowdecks. I didnt hear anything. But ultimately, a man is responsible for his loved one, and she was my loved one. Detective Ralph Hernandez also told the news show Wood's case still mattered. Because somebody died, he said. And no matter what, ultimately, thats our job. To find the truth. Fox News' Kathleen Joyce and the Associated Press contributed to this report. Sarah Jessica Parker said she was just heartbroken after Kim Cattrall said she never considered her Sex and the City co-stars friends. Parker told Andy Cohen on his show Watch What Happens Live that she did not recall her experience working on the hit HBO series the way Cattrall did. In October, Cattrall, who portrayed sex-crazed Samantha Jones on the long-running series, told Piers Morgan that she never developed a close relationship with her Sex and the City co-stars. Weve never been friends, Cattrall said. Weve been colleagues and in some ways its a very healthy place to be because then you have a clear line between your professional life and relationship and your persona. SEX AND THE CITY STAR KIM CATTRALL CLAIMS SHOW PREVENTED HER FROM HAVING CHILDREN "They all have children and I am 10 years older and since specifically the series ended, I have been spending most of my time outside of New York so I dont see them. The common ground that we had was the series and the series is over. Cattrall also said she turned down the chance of portraying Samantha Jones in the rumored Sex and the City 3 movie. Not for me, Cattrall said. That was part of turning 60 I feel that the show is the best when it was the series and the bonus was the two movies. I havent killed Samantha. I have released Samantha. Parker said she found it upsetting that Cattrall felt that way despite working together on the show for years. I found it very upsetting because thats not the way I recall our experience, Parker said. Its sad, but I always think that what ties us together is this singular experience, she continued. It was a professional experience, but it became personal because it was years and years of our lives, so Im hoping that that eclipses anything thats been recently spoken. That many years spent doing something so special that people had a connection with, it is such a privilege. SARAH JESSICA PARKER SAYS TIME APART FROM MATTHEW BRODERICK BENEFITED THEIR MARRIAGE The HBO series ran from 1998 to 2004 and spurned two hit films in 2008 and 2010. Parker remained silent on the possibility of a third movie sequel sans Cattrall, who suggested the movie plans continue without her, the Los Angeles Times reported. I think once everybody has thoroughly experienced the grieving process, then Michael Patrick [King, the executive producer,] can go back and ponder what he might want to do and how he might want to proceed, Parker said. Thats the most clear answer Ive given yet." Employees at Whole Foods Market say the companys new policies have thrown their workday into chaos, with one supervisor saying its not uncommon to see stressed-out employees crying on the job. Workers for the Austin-based supermarket chain tell Business Insider that the stores new order-to-shelf inventory system has been taking a toll on the staff since the guidelines were implemented last year. WHOLE FOODS CUSTOMERS ANGRY OVER SHORTAGES, EMPTY SHELVES "I wake up in the middle of the night from nightmares about maps and inventory, said one Whole Foods employee who spoke with Business Insider. The stress has created such a tense working environment. Seeing someone cry at work is becoming normal." Under the new procedure, store managers and employees are instructed to display the stores inventory mostly on its shelves, rather than hold a larger inventory in a back room and constantly restock a practice that leads to stores constantly running out of products, according to one employee. This order-to-shelf system, or OTS, is also the same system that was recently blamed for the empty shelves spotted at Whole Foods locations across the country, but employees have claimed that the militaristic inventory system prevented them from doing much to correct the problem. SAN JOSE MARKET EMPLOYEE SPOTTED WHEELING IN CART FULL OF RAW MEAT Making matters worse are the new scorecards that managers are expected to grade their employees with. According to Business Insider, these scorecards record how an employee stocked a certain shelf, or managed the storage area for their department. Supervisors are also expected to quiz employees on the best-selling items or sales goals for that particular week, and deduct points for unsatisfactory results, if necessary. "Every item in our department has a designated spot that is labeled or marked," another employee told the publication. "If that item is even an inch outside of its designated spot we receive negative marks." Any employee who scores below an 89.9 is possibly subject to termination, say workers. And while lower-scoring employees have been terminated under the new scorecard system, an anonymous employee said store leaders and even one regional vice president have quit because they consider OTS to be absurd. Other employees say they hope that Amazon, which recently acquired Whole Foods, will come to their rescue. (The implementation of Whole Foods' OTS system predates Amazons acquisition of the company.) But as Gizmodo notes, Amazons own delivery drivers are working under similar conditions and struggling to finish their routes on time. FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK FOR MORE FOX LIFESTYLE NEWS A representative for Whole Foods was not immediately available for comment. A hunter in Easton, Md., was knocked unconscious by a goose that that had been shot out of the sky by a member of his hunting party, WBAL reports. Robert Meilhammer, 51, was out with three other hunters shortly before 5 p.m. on Thursday when they noticed a flock of Canada geese overhead. The group fired at the flock from a blind, striking one of the geese and sending it plummeting directly into Meilhammer. LOST HUNTING DOG SAVED AFTER IT RETURNS DUCK TO SURPRISED HUNTER One of the members of the hunting party shot and killed the goose, Maryland Natural Resources Police spokeswoman Candy Thomson confirmed, according to The Baltimore Sun. It is unclear which one it was. The fowl knocked Meilhammer unconscious, causing injuries to his face and head, and reportedly knocking out two of his teeth. Thompson also told WBAL that when he finally came to, he didnt know too much besides his name. MISSISSIPPI WOMAN KILLS DEER RIGHT BEFORE 100TH BIRTHDAY Emergency responders soon transferred Meilhammer to a hospital, where he was then airlifted to the Maryland Shock Trauma center. Its a really unusual, freaky accident, said Thompson, who estimated that the bird who hit Meilhammer was the size of a small turkey one might cook at Thanksgiving. "He's lucky," she added. Those birds weigh a lot, and falling back down to earth, theyre going to pick up a lot of speed. Its gonna leave a mark. FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK FOR MORE FOX LIFESTYLE NEWS Mailhammers condition was unknown as of Friday morning. An adorable 5-year-old girl developed vitiligo, a condition characterized by patches of the skin losing its pigment, as a consequence of meningitis and the stress that ensued during treatment. Aria Ellisons doctors believe her vitiligo was brought on by stress after her battle with bacterial meningitis, which she beat as a 16-month-old. At the time, her mother Alicia was very concerned because meningitis attacks the brain and Aria has cerebral palsy. BRIDE SAYS STRESS TRIGGERED SKIN CONDITION AHEAD OF WEDDING DAY Aria survived the deadly disease after undergoing a mastoidectomy, a procedure to scrape out diseased cells, which left Aria partially deaf in her right ear. After being discharged from a hospital in Miami, her mother noticed white patches developing on Aria's dark skin. "They said it was initiated by the stress on her body from the meningitis and from all the tests they had been doing, the 34-year-old mother of two told news service SWNS. UMASS AMHERST DECLARES MENINGITIS OUTBREAK AFTER 2 CONFIRMED CASES "Soon after that it started to appear everywhere - on her back, chest and face," she added. "When I look back at photos from last year the difference is huge, but the most important thing is that Aria is healthy and striving." "She lights up every room and so long as she is smiling and giggling, I'm happy." At age 2, Aria was diagnosed with cerebral palsy, a congenital disorder which permanently affects body movement. The little girl uses a wheelchair, is unable to talk and has the mental age of a 1-year-old. Doctors recommended Aria undergo light therapy for the vitiligo to restore some pigment to her skin, but Alicia decided against it and instead chose to have her daughter do music therapy. "With the meningitis it was life or death for a moment, but Aria beat the odds," said Alicia, who runs the Instagram page Arias Planet for her daughter. Eli Snook's parents didn't want to take any risks when their 5-year-old son spiked a high fever and showed other signs of the flu. They took him to an urgent care center in Marietta, Ga., where a doctor gave him antibiotics and prescribed him Tamiflu, his parents told WSB-TV. After spending about a week resting and taking his medication, Snook appeared to be better and his parents took him back to day care. Three days later, on Jan. 27, they said they were asked to pick him up early because he had a temperature of 101 degrees. They brought him back to the walk-in clinic. Doctors ran some more tests and confirmed he tested negative for the flu, but they told his parents they were concerned about a rash they noticed across his body, CBS News reports. A mom from Blair, Neb. recently warned in a viral Facebook post that parents should be on the lookout for rashes, specifically hives, which she says her son developed before testing positive for Influenza B. "He had no symptoms. No fever, no cough, and no runny nose. He only [had] hives. Please keep watch on your children so if they develop hives...call your pediatrician," said Brodi Willard, a registered nurse. While the American Academy of Dermatology says allergic reactions or infections could be a cause of hives, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) does not list hives as a common flu symptom. They do, however, say a fever with a rash is an "emergency warning sign" of a flu-related illness. Due to the combination of a fever and rash, doctors transferred Snook to Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, where he later died from a brain infection that had developed while he had the flu. Doctors told Snook's parents the flu weakened his immune system and a virus "quickly attacked" his brain. "We prayed for a miracle," Snook's father, Aaron, told WSB-TV. "He got an infection in the brain. His brain swelled past the point of no return, and he went brain dead." "It was a shock to me. It was shock," Snook's mother, Leota, said. Snook's parents said the 5-year-old was going to get a flu shot this year, but doctors said to hold off until he fully recovered from a previous sickness, according to CBS News. The CDC said Friday this has been a "high-severity" flu season. There have been 53 pediatric deaths reported so far, according to the CDC's latest data. Georgia has been hit particularly hard this season, with 25 confirmed flu-related deaths this winter, a report from the Georgia Department of Public Health shows. But Snook's mom says it's not just the flu that's killing people. "It's the after-effects of the flu that's killing these babies," Leota said. A family friend started a GoFundMe account in the boy's name, raising $10,350 in just five days. The money went toward Snook's funeral. "Thank you to everyone who has donated anything," the friend posted on the GoFundMe page. The funeral was held [Wednesday] morning and it was everything the family could have hoped for." With a single bite, a silent fly one-third the size of a mosquito can create ulcers on the skin and face so large one doctor described them as craters. It can basically eat you alive, said Dr. Rosa Maldonado, who is trying to create a vaccine for Cutaneous Leishmaniasis at the University of Texas at El Paso. The parasite is transmitted by the bite of a sand fly. The bite starts small but slowly grows. It can be treated with drugs Maldonado said are so toxic they require hospitalization and constant monitoring. But even successful treatment will leave extraordinary scarring. Any place in the body will look like a crater and you will suffer secondary infections that will make it even worse, said Maldonado. According to the CDC, some people have silent infections without any signs or symptoms. But people who develop symptoms can start with a small bump that develops into ulcers and can be painful. The disease affects about 1.2 million people each year in 88 countries, including Mexico, South America, Southeast Asia, the Horn of Africa and the Middle East. Its even affected U.S. troops in Iraq. Sand flies live in warmer areas with high humidity, which allows them to breed. According to the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control, sand flies can live in urban areas and dwell in cool, dark areas. There have been some cases in the United States in Texas and Oklahoma, but mainly in animals. However, Maldonado thinks that could change. The problem is were expanding our cities. So were invading their space. So I think its a matter of time that we see more and more infections here in the area, said Maldonado. Shes spent five years working on the vaccine with a team at UTEP. Theyve used antibodies from previously infected patients and worked to create a series of lipids, proteins and carbohydrates that won't give the body an adverse reaction. Maldonado said theyve had an 86 percent success rate in mice and hope to move on to two years of primate testing next. Eventually theyll test on humans but that is years away, and Maldonado said it will be at least eight years before the vaccine is ready for production. But Maldonados efforts, although long, are motivated by a love of the craft. I love parasites. When you see the parasite in the microscope you fell in love forever if you like research, said Maldonado. Meghan Markle made her first official evening debut as a soon-to-be royal, attending the Endeavor Fund Awards in London with fiance Prince Harry Thursday night. While the actress has been known to turn heads for her unlikely fashion choices in the past, her outfit for the evenings formal event sparked debate for breaking customary royal protocol. KATE MIDDLETON SAYS SHE HAS IKEA FURNITURE IN KENSINGTON PALACE The former Suits star wore none other than a suit to a gala at Goldsmiths Hall celebrating the achievements of wounded, injured and sick servicemen and women who have taken part in remarkable sporting and adventure challenges over the last year, according to The Royal Foundation. Markles tailored separates surprised many, who were expecting her to wear a more traditional dress for the occasion. Instead, she chose a tuxedo-inspired black Alexander McQueen blazer and cropped trousers, along with a Tuxe Bodysuit blouse, Manolo Blahnik heels and Prada clutch, Vogue U.K. reported. Many people took to social media to express their disappointment in Markles outfit choice, calling it underwhelming. However, others applauded her for staying true to her style and even compared her to Princess Diana. Markle hasnt been shy about eschewing tradition and doing things her own way as she plans her upcoming royal wedding. Earlier this week it was reported that the bride-to-be plans to give a speech to her husband after tying the knot in front of 800 guests at St. George's Chapel. FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK FOR MORE FOX LIFESTYLE NEWS Meanwhile, on the same night as the Endeavor Fund Awards, the Dutchess of Cambridge went the more traditional route with her fashion choice while attending a gala in Oslo, donning a floor-length blush gown, also by Alexander McQueen. Fast fashion retailer Zara is in hot water for one of its newest designs, which is being called out on social media as an example of cultural appropriation. PRO GOLFER PAIGE SPIRANAC CLAIMS SHE GETS DEATH THREATS FOR SHOWING HER CLEAVAGE The store came under fire this week for selling a plaid check mini skirt, which the website describes as a flowing skirt with draped detail in the front. However, many were quick to point out on Twitter that the garment suspiciously resembles a lungi, or lungyi, longyi, sarong, etc., traditionally worn by people in India and other South and Southeast Asian countries. Elizabeth Segran, a reporter for Fast Company who grew up in Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia, described the lungi as a popular item worn by many people, mostly men, who wanted something casual, cool and relaxed to wear in the equatorial heat of Southeast Asia. Theyre the garment of the masses, a great equalizer, worn by both royalty and day laborers. The reporter also noted that an everyday sarong typically costs under $3, which is a stark contrast to Zaras $90 price tag. And while people clearly took issue with the hefty price tag, they were also upset by the fact that Zara failed to credit the lungi as inspiration for the piece. FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK FOR MORE FOX LIFESTYLE NEWS Zara did not immediately respond to Fox News request for comment. NEW You can now listen to Fox News articles! With the release of the House Republican memo Friday accusing the FBI and Justice Department of improperly using their surveillance authority against the Trump presidential campaign, I have a number of serious concerns. Like most, I am concerned that the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) Court relied on a partisan political document known as the Steele dossier that was funded by the Hillary Clinton presidential campaign and the Democratic National Committee to arrive at its judgment to permit surveillance of a former Trump campaign adviser. I am certain many will weigh in on this aspect of the issue. My greatest concern, however, is more fundamental. I worry about the consequences that the release of this memo has on the integrity and independence of our criminal justice system. No doubt there are issues with the operations of both the FBI and the Justice Department throughout the course of the 2016 presidential election and during the course of the investigation by Special Counsel Robert Mueller in Russian meddling in the election. But I would be deeply disturbed and worried if the result of the release of this memo led to the resignation or replacement of either FBI Director Christopher Wray or Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. For the stability and the integrity of our system it would be deeply destructive to both the FBI and the Justice Department for their top leadership to depart, despite allegations of misconduct in the Republican memo. Many Democrats in Congress have sharply criticized the conclusions of the Republican memo. The Justice Department and the FBI need to be independent. But of course, we need to get to the bottom of any problems with their conduct. For these reason, I believe that we now need to release of the Democrats rebuttal memo that I understand Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif. and his staff have prepared. I will understand that as with the Republican memo prepared by staffers for the House Intelligence Committee, chaired by Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif. there will be concerns for national security with the release of the Democratic memo. But the best and indeed only way to determine potential inaccuracies or misleading statements in the Nunes memo is the release of the Democratic counter-memo and a full discussion and public debate on the entire subject. Again, there are many competing concerns here, not the least of which is national security. But for me as an American and a patriot who puts his pride in America ahead of partisan identity I am much more concerned today with the stability and integrity of our criminal justice system than I am with playing gotcha politics. Sen. John McCain. R-Ariz., was exactly right Friday when he stated that the Republican memo serves no American interests no Partys, no Presidents, only (Russian President Vladimir) Putins. The threats posed by Russia to our democratic system and values could not be more real. At times like this, we must embrace transparency and the democratic values that unite us. Only then can we get to the bottom of the issues examined by the Republican congressional memo and can our leaders move forward with the business of governing NEW You can now listen to Fox News articles! As the Republican governor of Maryland and the Democratic governor of North Carolina, our job is to protect the families and businesses that call our states home. And as leaders, we expect that the concerns, priorities, and needs of our constituents are taken seriously when we communicate them to the president and his administration. Thats why were working across party lines to call on the Trump administration to take our states off the table in its plan to open most U.S. coastal waters to offshore drilling for oil and natural gas. Now, just days after the public comment period opened on the Trump administrations five-year offshore drilling plan, weve seen this administration seemingly lift the concerns of one governor and one state above others. These decisions are too important for our federal government not to give careful thought to the concerns of those put at risk by this plan. After briefly speaking with Florida Republican Gov. Rick Scott, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke announced that Florida will be exempt from the offshore drilling plan. In removing Florida from the five-year plan, Zinke and the Trump administration have admitted that offshore drilling poses great risks to coastal economies. Zinke cited opposition from local and state voices, but Gov. Scott isnt the only state leader to voice concerns about the economic and environmental damage offshore drilling would cause to the Atlantic coast. We came out early and strong, asking for the administration to remove our states from this plan six months ago. Since opposition from state and local voices and the tourism economy are the reasons for dropping Florida from the offshore drilling plan, the rest of the Atlantic states, including North Carolina and Maryland, should be exempt as well. More than 140 local communities have already passed resolutions opposing offshore drilling in the Atlantic. Theyve been joined by businesses, trade groups, tourism associations and legislators from across the political spectrum. When drilling was proposed off the coasts of our states just a few years ago, overwhelming opposition to the plan from our coastal communities convinced the previous administration to remove the Atlantic coast from consideration, and thats exactly what should happen now. As Secretary Zinke acknowledged, the tourism industry is an important consideration when determining where to allow offshore drilling. Tourism and fishing are economic engines across coastal towns and cities on the entire Atlantic seaboard not just in Florida. These industries bring billions of dollars in revenue to our states, supporting countless local businesses and thousands of good jobs. In North Carolina alone, coastal tourism generates $3 billion annually, and it supports more than 30,000 jobs up and down the 300-mile coastline and along 22 barrier islands. In Maryland home to the United States largest estuary, the Chesapeake Bay the seafood and tourism industries generate more than $18 billion annually, supporting 150,000 direct jobs that depend on healthy and productive waterways along a 1,400-mile coastline. A major oil spill like the one that took place in the Gulf of Mexico less than a decade ago would have devastating consequences for beachside hotels and restaurants, recreational and commercial fishing, and real estate in our states. There would also be dangerous health consequences for residents living in coastal communities, from Ocean City, Maryland to Ocean City, North Carolina. As governors from two different parties, we may not agree on everything, but when it comes to growing the economy of our states, creating jobs, and keeping our constituents safe and our waters clean, we stand together. Thats why, like Gov. Scott in Florida, we have both requested that our states be granted exemption from this offshore drilling plan. Now its time for the Trump administration to listen. Our coasts are too valuable to be put at risk. NEW You can now listen to Fox News articles! Human trafficking is a terrible crime that we must all work to end. Traffickers force their victims to work without pay, imprison them against their will, or force them to perform commercial sex acts. Sometimes they do all three. Through violence, fraud, threats, and other forms of coercion, human traffickers turn human beings into profit centers against their will. They view their victims as commodities commodities that can be sold not just once, but over and over again. Human trafficking is big business. Its believed to be the third-largest criminal activity in the world. By one estimate, traffickers make over $9.5 billion annually in the United States alone. This is not a crime that affects just one region of the country; it is a nationwide problem. Many of the victims are brought into the country from abroad, but the vast majority of victims trafficked in the United States come from our own communities. They are often young girls from foster homes, runaway youth, or adults who are vulnerable due to disability, drug dependency or a history of abuse. If everyone from hotel clerks to flight attendants to emergency room doctors learn how to spot the signs of human trafficking, we will rescue more victims and bring more traffickers to justice. Just a few weeks ago, a defendant in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, was sentenced to 21 years in prison for sex trafficking. After recruiting young women and girls to dance at clubs using false promises of money and a better life, he used a combination of physical violence, isolation, emotional manipulation, sexual assault, and threats to harm the victims families to force them into commercial sex acts. On one occasion, he used a heated wire hanger to brand a P on a victims buttock to demonstrate his ownership of her. When another victim considered leaving, he put a gun in her mouth and threatened to blow her head off. Bringing traffickers like this one to justice is one of the top priorities of the U.S. Department of Justice. We are using every tool at our disposal to eradicate human trafficking. We vigorously investigate and prosecute offenders. We fund training for local law enforcement officers in how to identify trafficking victims. We provide millions of dollars in grants to organizations that assist trafficking victims. And we take every opportunity to raise public awareness of the problem. But we know that law enforcement cannot win this fight alone. We rely on the help of other government agencies, nonprofit victim services providers and industry. On Friday we are hosting a summit on this issue, where all representatives from all of these fields will share perspectives on how we can all better engage in our fight against trafficking. We also need the help of the public. If everyone from hotel clerks to flight attendants to emergency room doctors learn how to spot the signs of human trafficking, we will rescue more victims and bring more traffickers to justice. Those signs could include, for example, an older man traveling with young girls not related to him, or a young woman carrying many hotel keys. If youre a teacher or a parent, look for a sudden drop in school performance or the sudden appearance of expensive things that a child simply could not afford. We urge everyone to be vigilant, particularly in places frequented by traffickers, such as hotels, casinos, truck stops, and major sporting events like this weekends Super Bowl. If you see something suspicious, you should immediately contact local law enforcement. You can also contact the National Human Trafficking Hotline toll-free at 1-888-373-7888 or at https://humantraffickinghotline.org/ where specialists are available at any time to answer trafficking-related questions. It will take only a few minutes of your time. And it might just set someone free. NEW You can now listen to Fox News articles! The White House looks set to release the House Intelligence Committee memo on 2016 government surveillance abuses, which means the attacks on the document by Democrats, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the media are going to get wilder. To help navigate through the spin, heres a handy guide for what to look for, and what to ignore: Rationale. Did the FBI have cause to open a full-blown counterintelligence probe into an active presidential campaign? Thats a breathtakingly consequential and unprecedented action and surely could not be justified without much more than an overheard drunken conversation or an unsourced dossier. What hard evidence did the FBI have? Tools and evidence. Government possesses few counterintelligence tools more powerful or frightening than the ability to spy on American citizens. If the FBI obtained permission from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to monitor Trump aide Carter Page based on information from the Christopher Steele dossier, that in itself is a monumental scandal. It means the FBI used a document commissioned by one presidential campaign as a justification to spy on another. Ignore any arguments that the dossier was not a basis for the warrant or only used in part. If the FBI had to use it in its application, it means it didnt have enough other evidence to justify surveillance. Look to see what else the FBI presented to the court as a justification for monitoring, and whether it was manufactured. Mr. Steele and his client, Fusion GPS, ginned up breathless news stories about the dossiers unverified accusations in September 2016 in order to influence the election. The FBI sometimes presents news articles to the court, but primarily for corroboration of other facts. If the FBI used the conspiracy stories Mr. Steele was spinning as actual justificationevidenceto the court, thats out of bounds. Keep reading Kimberley Strassel's column in the Wall Street Journal. NEW You can now listen to Fox News articles! The information contained in the memo released by House Republicans on Friday that accused FBI and Justice Department officials of improperly obtaining permission to surveil a former Trump campaign adviser shows a tragic failure of leadership on the part of former FBI Director James Comey. But importantly, the memo does not in any way reflect on the outstanding work of the more than 35,000 dedicated men and women of the FBI. It pains me as a former FBI executive who loves and respects the organization to say that Comeys short tenure at the FBI has proven to be the worst thing to happen to the agency since L. Patrick Gray withdrew his nomination for FBI Director and resigned from the Bureau during the Watergate scandal. If the facts stated in the memo are true despite the highly political nature of congressional committees then there was either incompetent or deliberate manipulation of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) Court to get approval of the surveillance. Even new agent trainees at the FBI Academy know better than to use paid opposition research and newspaper articles to support use of one of the most sensitive and intrusive surveillance techniques in the investigative toolbox. If they do use such information, the FISA judge should have been apprised of the origins of the research. FBI agents are also taught to never mislead any court of law. Its unlikely the surveillance warrant would have been issued if the FISA judge was aware that political opponents (the Hillary Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee) had financed the information used to obtain approval of the surveillance. FISA applications go through extensive reviews at multiple levels of executive management at the FBI and Justice Department. They are signed by the most senior FBI and Justice Department executives before they are presented to the FISA court for approval. The 2016 FISA approvals in question were signed by none other than FBI Director Comey and Deputy Director Andrew McCabe. The buck stops there. They were the top two officials in the FBI at the time. McCabe, enabled by Comey, created an attitude among his inner circle that flaunted well- established laws and regulations. Comey usurped the role of the Justice Department in publicly exonerating Hillary Clinton from wrongdoing in her handling of government emails when she was secretary of state. At the same time, Comey took highly conflicted Attorney General Loretta Lynch off the hook to formally recuse herself from the Hillary Clinton probe as a result of Lynchs own inexcusable and inept conduct in meeting former President Bill Clinton while his wife was under Justice Department and FBI investigation. With his conduct, Comey set in motion a cascading set of events that resulted in the FBI becoming a pawn in a political firestorm. He justified making up his own rules because he felt righteous. Comey permitted leaks and allowed bias to infect two of the most important investigations ever conducted by the FBI. He clearly permitted his lead investigative agent to predetermine the outcome of the Clinton investigation, while allowing the agents biased actions and anti-Trump texts to complicate the role of Special Counsel Robert Mueller in actually getting to the truth of Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election. FBI agent Peter Strzok and FBI lawyer Lisa Page who were carrying on a romantic affair when they traded numerous text criticizing then-candidate Trump are now star witnesses for the defense in any indictments that come out of Muellers office. Mueller is an honest, fair and non-political professional who took a bullet for his country as a Marine in Vietnam. He is our best chance to learn the truth. And the truth should be good enough for everyone. He served for 12 years as FBI director with many accomplishments, no terrorist attacks on his watch and not a hint of controversy. Current FBI Director Chris Wray has now taken the helm and is trying his best to right the ship. This is no time for him to resign. He has a lot to overcome in a very difficult task. He must maintain his independence from the president while navigating political controversy coming at him from every direction. Wray is very deliberately cleaning out the remnants of the Comey cabal on the FBIs 7th Floor. He has apparently been given a preview of the Department of Justice inspector generals investigation of the conduct of several FBI officials during the Clinton investigation. This inspector general is the same person who outed the Strzok and Page texts. Now information is circulating that the Republican memo made public is just the tip of the iceberg. Ex-FBI Agents are picking up information that the inspector generals report will be far more graphic in detailing the misconduct of McCabe, Strzok and others more serious that what is in the memo released Friday. The Republican congressional memo outlines potentially serious misconduct on the part of the Comey leadership team. Going forward, the FBI should err on the side of transparency. Director Wray should make every effort to declassify the documents and affidavit supporting surveillance approved by the FISA Court. Such information has been released before. It is better for the FBI to release the information than to have it come from a political body like Congress. Let the public decide for themselves without political spin. The American people, Congress and the president should sit back and allow Special Counsel Mueller to do his work. This nation has an interest in making sure that Russian President Vladimir Putins intelligence thugs and mobbed-up oligarchs do not influence our political processes. Its time to find out what really happened. A previous version of this column mistakenly stated that L. Patrick Gray had been fired as FBI Director during Watergate. He withdrew his nomination to be director and resigned from the FBI instead. NEW You can now listen to Fox News articles! Democrats have mounted a full-scale partisan attack against the release of a congressional memo that reportedly accuses the FBI of surveillance abuses and political bias in actions that led to the investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. According to the Washington Post, the memo suggests that the origins of special counsel Robert Mueller IIIs probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election were tainted by political bias. It alleges that the FBI, when obtaining a surveillance warrant, relied in some part on a dossier of allegations against then-candidate Donald Trump that was underwritten by the Hillary Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee. President Trump is expected to approve public release of the memo Friday, according to multiple media reports. In a Friday morning tweet he wrote: The top Leadership and Investigators of the FBI and the Justice Department have politicized the sacred investigative process in favor of Democrats and against Republicans something which would have been unthinkable just a short time ago. The memo comes from Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee, headed by Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., and has been dubbed the Nunes memo. The FBI has joined Democrats in attempting to proactively undermine the Nunes memo and urged President Trump not to release it on national security grounds. So at what point did we decide that the bureaucracy was divorced from congressional oversight and accountability? All the ins and outs of this issue are hard for the average American who doesnt spend all day keeping up with this very complicated story to follow. So now maybe its time for the American people to step back and consider some fundamental questions about what is taking place in this entire situation. There are many in the left and the media decrying Republicans for attacking the institution of the FBI. To which I ask: at what point did institutions, full of imperfect human beings, become infallible? At what point did we somehow decide that protecting institutions is better than protecting the Constitution and the civil liberties of the American people? We should be asking ourselves very basic, fundamental questions, such as who rules who? The very foundations of our institutions are the constitutional ideals of rule of law and the belief that the law is king, in addition to all the rights given to Americans by our Constitution and Declaration of Independence. In a republic, there is no one, no institution, above We, the People. The Founders believed that power flows from the people. We elect our representatives, who then in turn represent us and then, with the power given by the people, fund and manage the various governmental agencies. So at what point did we decide that the bureaucracy was divorced from congressional oversight and accountability? It was not so long ago that many civil libertarians were screaming from the ramparts about National Security Agency abuses of almost limitless FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act) warrants to collect anonymous data from U.S. citizens' landline communications. They warned us about the abuses such data collection might engender with federal intelligence and law enforcement agencies. The current questions about the quality and accuracy of the information used to gain a sweeping FISA warrant against the Trump presidential campaign, and how that warrant was used should be of great import to any and all who claim to support our nation's fundamental rights. Because that is what this entire issue of the Nunes memo is about: demanding accountability and transparency from our Justice Department and FBI as to their actions over the last several years. Did the FBI and Justice Department in fact use a piece of partisan propaganda, infused with information from Russian intelligence operatives, to secure a FISA warrant to spy on U.S. citizens? Did they in fact turn the awesome power of the surveillance state against U.S. citizens, not necessarily for national security reasons, but for political ones? In the tradition of every banana republic around the globe, did the U.S. government become weaponized against an opposing political party? I believe all of these things, and likely more, took place. Add to it that the mainstream media, wittingly or unwittingly, helped inject Russian misinformation into the American bloodstream. So there should absolutely be a crisis of faith and trust in our institutions. Perhaps we are coming to the ultimate realization of what the end result of a massive Administrative State looks like. Over the last 100 years there has been a dramatic shift away from our Founders form of government. Progressives envisioned the Administrative State as a massive bureaucracy of the educated elite that would accelerate progress. This today is comprised of millions of federal employees and over 430 departments, agencies and sub-agencies. While some are under the illusion that we are experiencing the ideals of the Founders, we are in fact living the Administrative State dreams of the progressives. So what if some in the Administrative State, resistant to oversight, shirking off the idea that they somehow work for the people and their representatives, actually became heavily politicized and struck back? What if they decided that Donald Trump who potentially is an existential threat to everything progressives, bureaucrats and the mainstream media hold dear should be destroyed? These are fair questions that need answers. They address who we are as a country, what we actually believe, the roles of power in this country and what our future looks like. We must understand that the Founders were optimistic realists about what they could accomplish. They believed that human beings were endowed with rights by their creator, yet they were fully aware of the imperfections of human nature. They knew we are capable of great good but incapable of sustained good. Confronted with this conundrum, the Founders knew they must create a government that protected God-given rights. But this is also why a separation of powers within the federal government exists because of a deep-rooted mistrust of human nature. The Founding Fathers never wanted a consolidation of power that might endanger our rights. The progressives, in their utopian statist views, naively believed that human nature was essentially good. They believed that a utopian society could in fact be created in this world by endowing a state with massive power to encourage accelerated progress. The problem with a massive state run by bureaucrats is that it eventually becomes the enemy of life and freedom, of privacy and civil liberties. So while many on the left will continue with their irrational drivel on why the Nunes memo is so detrimental to our institutions, I would argue that it is in fact the behavior of those within those institutions that has been so devastating. The only way that we will ever get the facts on what has taken place is for transparency and declassification, for accountability and oversight to take place. And that is precisely what is happening at this moment. Former FBI Director James Comey lashed out at unnamed "weasels and liars" on social media late Thursday, hours before President Trump was expected to declassify a controversial memo about purported surveillance abuses over the objections of Democrats. "All should appreciate the FBI speaking up. I wish more of our leaders would," Comey wrote on Twitter. "But take heart: American history shows that, in the long run, weasels and liars never hold the field, so long as good people stand up. "Not a lot of schools or streets named for Joe McCarthy," Comey added, a reference to the Wisconsin senator who claimed high-ranking government officials were Soviet spies in the 1950s. Comey appeared to be referencing an FBI statement released Wednesday that objected to the release of the memo, authored by House Intelligence Committee chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif. That statement said the FBI had "grave concerns about material omissions of fact that fundamentally impact the memos accuracy." TRUMP TO DECLASSIFY MEMO, SOURCES SAY -- AS PELOSI SEEKS NUNES OUSTER Sources told Fox News Thursday that the version of the memo Trump plans to declassify contains "technical edits" made at the FBI's request. The sources said the edited version was shown to five FBI officials at the White House on Tuesday afternoon and the officials were satisfied that the edits addressed concerns they had about an earlier version of the memo that was reviewed on Monday. The memo purportedly is critical of the FBI's use of surveillance during the 2016 presidential campaign, particularly in the initial stages of its investigation into alleged collusion between Russia and Trump's campaign. Special counsel Robert Mueller is investigating whether the Trump campaign improperly coordinated with Russia and whether Trump sought to obstruct the inquiry by, among other actions, firing Comey. The Associated Press reported Thursday that Trump has told confidants in recent days that he believes the document will validate his concerns that the FBI and Justice Department conspired against him and bolsters his claim that the collusion accusations are false and part of a conspiracy to discredit his election. COMEY TWEETS 'JUSTICE' BIBLE VERSE AFTER FLYNN PLEADS GUILTY Comey has not been shy about using Twitter to comment on the ongoing Russia investigation. In December, he posted a Bible verse after news broke that former national security adviser Michael Flynn would plead guilty to lying to the FBI and would cooperate with the Mueller probe. "But justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream," Comey tweeted, quoting the prophet Amos. On Monday, Comey defended recently removed FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, saying he "stood tall ... when small people were trying to tear down an institution we all depend on. "I wish Andy well. I also wish continued strength for the rest of the FBI," Comey wrote. "America needs you." Fox News' John Roberts, Catherine Herridge and The Associated Press contributed to this report. Florida is unconstitutionally enforcing its ban on voting by ex-felons, an Obama-appointed federal judge ruled Thursday in a decision that could potentially upend this years elections. In a scathing ruling that included a sharp rebuke to Republican Gov. Rick Scotts administration, U.S. District Judge Mark Walker said the state's current process to restore voting rights which can take years is unconstitutional primarily because it is handled unfairly. "A person convicted of a crime may have long ago exited the prison cell and completed probation," Walker wrote. "Her voting rights, however, remain locked in a dark crypt. Only the state has the key but the state has swallowed it." John Tupps, a spokesman for Scott, defended the process and suggested that an appeal was likely. "The governor believes that convicted felons should show that they can lead a life free of crime and be accountable to their victims and our communities," Tupps said. "While we are reviewing today's ruling, we will continue to defend this process in the court." "The governor believes that convicted felons should show that they can lead a life free of crime and be accountable to their victims and our communities." John Tupps, spokesman for Florida Gov. Rick Scott Walkers 43-page ruling does not mean that Floridas automatic ban on voting by ex-felons which has been enshrined in the states constitution for decades is itself improper. In fact, Walker said in his ruling that the automatic ban is legal, but added the process can't be arbitrary, or swayed by partisan politics. He noted, for example, that Scott and the Cabinet restored voting rights to a white man who had voted illegally but told Scott that he had voted for him. Walker also pointed out that others who acknowledged voting illegally but were black had their applications turned down. Florida's current process for restoring voting rights to felons who have completed their sentences is a slow one. It requires a hearing, and applicants are often denied. Shortly after taking office in 2007, then-Gov. Charlie Crist, a Republican, convinced two of the state's three Cabinet members to approve rules that would allow the parole commission to restore voting rights for non-violent felons without a hearing. Within a year, more than 100,000 ex-felons were granted voting rights. But Scott and state Attorney General Pam Bondi pushed to end automatic restoration of voting rights as one of their first acts upon taking office in 2011. Most former felons have to wait at least five years before they can even apply to have their rights restored. Over the last seven years less than 3,000 former prisoners have had their rights restored. Walkers ruling does not set out a remedy for Floridas violation. The judge said he will decide soon what Florida should do to fix the process. A voting rights organization sued Scott last year on behalf of several people who had completed their prison sentences but had their request for voting rights turned down. The ruling comes just months before Florida voters will be asked to alter the current ban. Backers of a constitutional amendment last week won a place on the November 2018 ballot. If 60 percent of voters approve, most former prisoners would have their rights automatically restored. The Associated Press contributed to this report. U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley made clear Thursday night to congressional Republicans that Russia is no friend of America and doubled-down on President Trumps recent request that Congress help stop giving money to countries that dont support the United States. Russia is not our friend, Haley said at a dinner at the Greenbrier resort, where the Republicans are holding their annual retreat. There may be some things we can work with them on, and we should do that where we can. But Russia will not be our friend as long as their government has the values that it has, and as long as it conducts itself the way it does internationally. Haley spoke amid the roughly one-year-long, politically charged Justice Department investigation into whether associates of Trump colluded with Russian operatives during the 2016 presidential race or during the transition period before the administration moved into the White House. Trump has suggested that he understands Russian President Vladimir Putins leadership style, but insists that he never colluded with Russian officials, and that he understands Russias involvement in Syria and its intrusion into neighboring Ukraine. Haley on Thursday evening cited several examples that suggest the administration is tough on Russia including that it sent weapons to Ukraine, conducted a military strike on Russian allies in Syria and expelled Russian diplomats in the U.S. That fact is this: In the last year, this administration has been tougher on Russia than any American administration since Ronald Reagan, she said to applause. I have no idea what Russia expected from the American elections. But I have to tell you, they are not happy with what they ended up with. Still, the administration recently said it would not impose new, congressional-imposed sanctions on Russia for meddling in the 2016 elections. California GOP Rep. Ed Royce, in introducing Haley, called her a rising star in the Republican Party and a force in the United Nations. Haley, a former GOP South Carolina governor, on Thursday night also asked Congress to pass legislation to help ensure American foreign-assistance dollars always serve American interests, and only go to Americas friends. Her request echoes Trump saying Tuesday night during his State of the Union address that he wants to restrict billions in U.S. foreign aid to American friends. His request follows the U.N. General Assembly voting last month to rebuke the U.S. for Trump recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, a decision unanimously endorsed by the Senate. This is hugely important, said Haley to the congressional Republicans, whom she also thanked for their public service. Its outrageous to see so many countries who we support go against us at the U.N. In many cases, its just that we have not told them we expect them to have our backs at the U.N. That needs to stop. The president and I are now telling all countries were watching their votes, and were taking names. We need your help to send the same message. Haley also suggested that the lawmakers, in this big congressional election year, feel confident that the U.S., under the new administration, is moving things right along. What a difference a year makes, said Haley, who touted such first-year successes for the administration as dismantling the Islamic State terror group and enforcing chemical-weapons restrictions in Syria. She also said in her roughly 20-minute speech that North Korea recently reaching out to South Korea is a promising sign that the regime is feeling the impact of the sanctions imposed on it for pursuing a nuclear weapon. Fox News Ben Evansky contributed to this report. When President Trump was candidate Trump, he called climate change a hoax. Since taking the Oval Office, hes said very little about greenhouse gasses and their impact on the planet. But he did issue a statement that he plans to pull the U.S. out of the Paris Climate Agreement, which aims to reduce emissions as a way to stop global warming. But West Coast states are driving in the opposite direction, with designs of erecting a green wall built on taxing carbon. This is both an economic benefit for the state of Washington and a job creator, said Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, a Democrat. Jobs in the clean energy sector are growing twice as fast as the rest of the economy. In Inslees State of the State address, he announced his plan to put a tax of $20 per ton of carbon emitted. The tax would go up 3.5 percent every year. The result will be taxing residents every time they fill up their tanks at the gas pump, every time they turn the heat on at their home and even when they plug in their electric vehicles. Businesses, like Boeing that compete internationally, would be exempt from the tax. The hit to residents and small businesses is expected to be $3.3 billion over the first four years. The money would go to so-called green jobs. Critics see it as a money grab that wont have any impact on climate change. Youre not just subsidizing clean energy or help to the environment, said Todd Myers of the Washington Policy Center, a libertarian think tank, youre also subsidizing a big expansion in government bureaucracy, which does nothing to help the environment. British Columbia was the first in North America to tax carbon in 2008. The results are mostly viewed as good. Emissions are slightly down even as the population and the economy grow. But BCs policy has actually been more of a tax shift thats revenue neutral. Higher energy costs to individuals and businesses have been offset by lower income and business taxes. California already has a cap-and-trade system, while Oregon lawmakers are considering what Democratic sponsors call Cap and Invest. Its all an attempt to change behavior. When you have pollution going up into the atmosphere for free, thats a market failure, said Kristin Eberhard of the Sightline Institute, And a carbon tax corrects for the market failure within the market. The fate of the carbon tax bills is uncertain in the Pacific Northwest. Meantime, theres a similar movement forming in the Northeast. A bill in Massachusetts would also tax energy use, but residents would get a rebate at the end of the year, making it revenue neutral. Congressional Republicans closed ranks Thursday behind the push to release a controversial memo that purportedly reveals government surveillance abuses, as the raging debate overshadowed policy discussions on tax cuts and infrastructure at the GOPs annual retreat. In the past 24 hours, right here in West Virginia, weve had some very productive discussions on what our 2018 agenda will be -- on everything from infrastructure to national security, began House Speaker Paul Ryan, before fielding a flurry of reporter questions about the memo. Ryan, like others at the retreat, at the Greenbrier resort, stood behind House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes drive to release the document, which purportedly speaks to how a top-secret court was used to get a surveillance warrant in the Russia investigation and other issues. If Americans civil liberties were abused, then that needs to come to light so that doesnt happen again, Ryan said, amid speculation that the memo, which could be released in a matter of hours, will be damaging to the FBI and the Justice Department. What this is not is an indictment on our institutions or our justice system, he also said. This memo is not an indictment on our FBI or Department of Justice. While Republicans appear to be rallying around fellow party member Nunes, who is under heavy attack from congressional Democrats, GOP Rep. Jeff Duncan is still expressing concerns about the possible repercussions of the memos release. Having read The Memo, the FBI is right to have grave concerns - as it will shake the organization down to its core - showing Americans just how the agency was weaponized by the Obama officials/DNC/HRC to target political adversaries, the South Carolina lawmaker tweeted Thursday. California Rep. Adam Schiff, the intelligence committees top Democrat, is alleging Nunes made material changes to the memo after the committee voted Monday to release it. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., in response called on Ryan to remove Nunes from his committee post, saying his deliberately dishonest actions make him unfit to serve as Chairman. And Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., called on Ryan to put an end to this charade once and for all. The GOP-controlled House Intelligence Committees vote to release the memo triggered a White House review process. President Trump has the right to object to the publication of the four-page memo. But sources say he is expected to sign off on declassifying it, with a release expected on Friday. While Schiff raised concerns about the edits, Nunes and other Republicans downplayed the changes as minor. Ryan also said Thursday that his understanding is Nunes made the changes before the vote and they were made to protect national security and under the aegis of the FBI. The show of support for Nunes, whose staff purportedly wrote the memo, follows days of uncertainty among the GOP about whether to release the document and potentially jeopardize national security or damage the Justice Department. In a rare rebuke, the FBI said Wednesday that it had grave concerns about material omissions of fact that fundamentally impact the memos accuracy. The memo could end up fueling GOP criticism over the broader Russia investigation into whether Trump associates colluded with Russian during the 2016 presidential race. Democrats argue that Republicans are using the memo to do exactly that -- undermine the special counsel probe. Ryan, R-Wis., suggested Thursday that Democrats were just playing politics and looking for a political distraction. Virginia GOP Rep. Bob Goodlatte, the House Judiciary Committee chairman, told reporters at the retreat that he didnt think Nunes made substantial changes to the memo, which he has read, and also urged its release. I want the memo to come out, he said. Its not good to speculate. Republicans have indicated the classified memo focuses on whether the FBI use unsubstantiated information to obtain a warrant from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court on then-Trump campaign adviser Carter Page. As President Trump boarded Air Force One to the Republican retreat in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia Thursday morning, by his side was Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, a man who has outlasted predictions of his imminent demise. Tillerson is at the one-year mark of his tenure as secretary of state and appears to have cemented a stable working relationship with Trump and a reasonable expectation he will remain the administrations chief diplomat. It was not always so. As recently as October, Washington was rife with speculation that Tillerson was on the verge of a forced resignation. Press reports indicated he had called the president a moron in a private conversation. At the time, Tillerson addressed the reports, but never unequivocally denied them. Im not gonna deal with petty stuff like that. I mean, this is what I dont understand about Washington, he told reporters. Even then, he reaffirmed his intention to stay put. My commitment to the success of our president and our country is as strong as it was the day I accepted his offer to serve as secretary of state, he said. Policy differences between the two, such as Tillersons strong belief in the U.S. commitment to the Paris climate accord, and a less hawkish approach to North Korea, remain. That divide may be reflected in the recent decision to abandon the nomination of Victor Cha as ambassador to South Korea. Cha reportedly was opposed to the administrations hardline approach to North Korea, including alleged plans for a so-called bloody nose preemptive strike against the rogue state to compel Kim Jong Un to abandon his nuclear program. But those differences appear to be outweighed by begrudging acceptance that Tillerson, along with Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, serve a valuable role as a counterbalance to the more aggressive wing of the Trump cabinet, the national security wing of advisors headed by National Security Advisor, H.R. MacMaster and CIA Director Mike Pompeo. Tillerson also appears to see eye-to-eye with the president on the economic threat posed by Chinas unfair trading practices. Thursday, just hours away from his first ever weeklong multination trip to Latin and South America, Tillerson gave a crowd at the University of Texas at Austin a preview of his message to Latin America. Today China is getting a foothold in Latin America. It is using economic statecraft to pull the region into its orbit. The question is at what price, he said. He noted that China does more trade with South America than any other nation, and he warned of potential predatory actors and imperialists in the hemisphere that threaten to reduce incomes and put wage earners out of work. Tillerson is also expected to shore up concerns among the U.S. southern neighbors about Trumps tough immigration policies and his dislike of the North American Free Trade Agreement, which he believes has extracted American wealth and jobs. Tillersons trip includes stops in Mexico, Argentina, Peru, Colombia and Jamaica. Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin on Thursday faced the fury of 100 Harvard University students who were angry that Democrats caved in to Republicans demands to reopen the government last month without a deal on DACA. The Illinois Democrat was set to speak on immigration to multiple Harvard affiliates at the John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum. But the evening was disrupted as hundreds of students protested despite his previous support for giving amnesty to so-called Dreamers. Demonstrators bearing signs We Are Not Your Bargaining Chip were shouting Say it loud, say it clear immigrants are welcome here! and If we dont get it? Shut it down! outside the venue while accompanied by a live band, the Harvard Crimson reported. The chanting started shortly before Durbins speech and continued until the end. Several people sneaked into the building where the event was held and raised signs during the speech. Durbin was among nearly three dozen Democrats who voted to reopen the federal government following a three-day shutdown over immigration. Republicans needed some Democrats votes to pass a bill continuing the funding of the government. Durbin also co-sponsored a bill called the Dream Act that would have made the Obama-era DACA program permanent, though it would have included certain Republican demands such as ending the visa lottery and chain migration. But the protesters on Thursday told the Crimson that the eliminations were unacceptable and Democrats should focus on guaranteeing rights to DACA recipients without any changes to the immigration policies. When we needed them to hold the line down for us, they werent doing that, Hyo-won Esther Jeon a DACA recipient told the paper, noting that Democrats must use government shutdowns as leverage to pass progressive legislation. Every time they kick the can down the road, all theyre doing is making people more vulnerable to deportation. I know that if the Dream Act passes and its not a clean Dream Act, I would feel nothing but guilt that this is what it took for me to become a U.S. citizen, student Laura S. Veira said at the event. TRUMP TO DEMOCRATS: STOP DRAGGING YOUR FEET ON DACA Durbin rejected the proposal, saying a clean Dream Act is not viable because it would never pass the GOP-controlled Senate. The top Democrat also said at the event that immigration is the civil rights issue of our time and addressed the concerns of the protesters that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., will not work on a bipartisan immigration bill. Im going to hold [McConnell] to that promise and I believe hell keep that promise, Durbin said. I hope he doesnt break my heart. A volunteer Tennessee State Guard sergeant is reportedly being counseled after joking on Facebook about running over Antifa members. Casey Gillespie allegedly posted the remarks during a conversation with another individual about the anti-government groups Jan. 3 gathering in downtown Nashville, the Tennessean reported, citing screenshots posted by Nashville Antifa. The anti-fascist organization was reportedly distributing food and clothing at the event. Antifa in downtown Nashville on Capital Blvd., Gillespie wrote. Theres not many of them. Stay Safe! Another Facebook user replied, Man I wish I could drive my deuce and a half LOL, referring to a heavy military truck. I wouldnt be counter protesting Ill be looking for blocked streets LOL. Gillespie then remarked, [t]hat deuce could drive on through! The Tennessee Department of Military confirmed that Gillespie was still a volunteer sergeant, but he has been reprimanded for violating social media guidelines, the Tennessean reported. Its completely unacceptable, and its not reflective of the organization or the Tennessee Department of Military as a whole, Randy Harris, director of joint public affairs for the Tennessee Department of Military, told the newspaper. Harris added that Gillespie has been "counseled" and "disciplined" for his post. Click here for more from the Tennessean. He was the spy who couldn't keep his mouth shut. Christopher Steele, the former British spook behind the discredited dossier the FBI used to get a warrant to spy on an adviser to Donald Trump, comes off as more blabbermouth than Bond in the bombshell House memo released Friday. The report, compiled by the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and greenlighted for release by the White House against the wishes of Democrats and the Justice Department, painfully details Steele's disclosures to the press. It even states that the FBI cut ties with him after he blew his own cover. Steele was suspended and then terminated as an FBI source for what the bureau defined as the most serious of violations an unauthorized disclosure to the media of his relationship with the FBI. In an Oct. 30, 2016 Mother Jones article written by David Corn, Steele leaked his involvement with the FBI. Steele should have been terminated for his previous undisclosed contacts with Yahoo and other outlets in September before the Page application was submitted to the [Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court] FISC in October but Steele improperly concealed from and lied to the FBI about those contacts, the memo read. HOUSE MEMO STATES DISPUTED DOSSIER WAS KEY TO FBI'S FISA WARRANT TO SURVEIL MEMBERS OF TEAM TRUMP Steeles numerous encounters with the media violated the cardinal rule of source handlingmaintaining confidentialityand demonstrated that Steele had become a less than reliable source for the FBI. HPSCI memo The memo also said that Steeles numerous encounters with the media violated the cardinal rule of source handlingmaintaining confidentialityand demonstrated that Steele had become a less than reliable source for the FBI. Steele was hired by research firm Fusion GPS to compile details for the now-infamous anti-Trump dossier, containing salacious allegations against Trump. The dossier was published by BuzzFeed News in January 2017. Fox News learned in the fall of 2017 that the dossier was paid for by the Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee through law firm Perkins Coie in an effort to conduct opposition research against the Trump campaign. According to the memo released Friday, the FBI and Justice Department were aware of the political origins of the dossier, but were not included in FISA warrant applications to surveil Trump foreign police adviser Carter Page. The Page FISA application did cite, however, a Sept. 23, 2016 Yahoo News article by Michael Isikoff, which focused on the former Trump campaign advisors July 2016 trip to Moscow. According to the memo, the article did not corroborate the Steele dossier as the article was derived from information leaked by Steele himself to Yahoo News. The Page FISA application incorrectly assesses that Steele did not properly provide information to Yahoo News, the memo read. Steele has admitted in British court filings that he met with Yahoo Newsand several other outlets in September 2016 at the direction of Fusion GPS. The memo said that Perkins Coie was aware of Steeles initial media contacts because the firm hosted Fusion GPS and Steele for a meeting in Washington D.C. where the matter was discussed. Another item that was not included in the Page FISA warrant application was the fact that even after his termination, Steele remained in close contact with DOJ official Bruce Ohr whose wife, Nellie Ohr, was employed by Fusion GPS, where she assisted in the compilation of materials for the dossier. That relationship with Steele and the Ohrs was inexplicably concealed from the FISC. Steele told Bruce Ohr in September, 2016 that he was desperate that Donald Trump not get elected and was passionate about him not being president. Steeles bias, according to the memo, was recorded by Ohr, but not reflected in the Page FISA applications. (Photo: Democrat files) In a landmark ruling with far-reaching implications, U.S. District Judge Mark Walker has found Florida's scheme for restoring the voting rights of felons unconstitutional. Walker, in a 43-page order issued today, found that Florida "automatically disenfranchises" any individual who has been convicted of a felony and wishes to vote. "Florida strips the right to vote from every man and woman who commits a felony," Walker wrote. "To vote again, disenfranchised citizens must kowtow before a panel of high-level government officials over which Florida's governor has absolute veto authority. No standards guide the panel. Its members alone must be satisfied that these citizens deserve restoration." Florida and Felon Voting Rights: The ruling came as part of a lawsuit brought by James Michael Hand and eight other felons who completed their sentences, including probation, but were not deemed eligible to vote. "In Florida, elected, partisan officials have extraordinary authority to grant or withhold the right to vote from hundreds of thousands of people without any constraints, guidelines or standards," Walker continued. "The question now is whether such a system passes constitutional muster. It does not." Walker, who sits on the bench in the Northern District of Florida in Tallahassee, took aim at Gov. Rick Scott, whom the nine plaintiffs sued along with Floridas Executive Clemency Board. The board consists of the governor, the attorney general, the chief financial officer and the agriculture commissioner. We can do whatever we want, the governor said at one clemency hearing, Walker wrote. One need not search long to find alarming illustrations of this scheme in action. Walker highlighted a 2010 case, in which Steven Warner, a white man, cast an illegal ballot. Three years later, he sought the restoration of his voting rights before the states Clemency Board. Gov. Scott asked him at the time about his illegal voting. When the man said he voted for Scott, the governor laughed. A few seconds later, Scott granted the man his voting rights. "The question is whether the Clemency Board's limitless power over plaintiffs' vote restoration violates their First Amendment rights to free association and free expression. It does," Walker wrote. "This should not be a close question." The Governor's Office responded to the order by noting that the Clemency Board has been in place for decades and overseen by multiple governors. "The process is outlined in Florida's Constitution, and today's ruling departs from precedent set by the United States Supreme Court," said John Tupps, a spokesman for Scott. "The Governor believes that convicted felons should show that they can lead a life free of crime and be accountable to their victims and our communities. While we are reviewing todays ruling, we will continue to defend this process in the court. The Fair Elections Legal Network and Cohen, Milstein, Sellers & Toll, which has offices in Florida, filed the lawsuit in March on behalf of a proposed class of nearly 1.5 million felons, according to a news release from the voting rights group and the law firm. Today a federal court said what so many Floridians have known for so long that the states arbitrary restoration process, which forces former felons to beg for their right to vote, violates the oldest and most basic principles of our democracy, said Jon Sherman, senior counsel for the Fair Elections Legal Network. Tallahassee attorney Reggie Garcia, who represents felons who seek restoration of their rights, said any federal court ruling that interprets Floridas constitution and the application of clemency power and rules will increase awareness of the states felons. This is very timely with last weeks decision by the Division of Elections to put Amendment 4, granting automatic voting rights to most felons, on the November 2018 ballot, he said. Walker noted several instances "of former felons who professed political views amenable to the board's members, who then received voting rights, while those who expressed contrary political views to the board were denied those same rights." He went on to say that "viewpoint discrimination is deeply antithetical to the Constitution and our nation's longstanding values." Hand, a resident of Cutler Bay in South Florida, was convicted of a felony in state court and released from prison in 1986, according to court records. He completed his sentence in 2002 and later applied to get his voting rights back. During a Clemency Board hearing in 2011, his application was denied. Gov. Scott cited his record of traffic tickets and said, Congratulations on turning your life around. Congratulations on your business. In light of the significant issue you know, traffic violations and your inability to comply with the law in that manner, Im going to deny you restoration of civil rights at this time," court records stated. Walker also found the lack of time limits in processing and deciding vote restoration unconstitutional. He noted the Clemency Board may defer restoration of rights for years or forever." "Indefinite can-kicking is not some Floridian fairy tale like a line-less Space Mountain," he wrote. "The board regularly invokes some unknown future date as the appropriate time to revisit a restoration denial. He cited one case in which Gov. Scott told a 54-year-old man he would have to wait 50 years before he could reapply for his voting rights to be restored. The judge also detailed the case of Virginia Kay Atkins. Ten years after her release from prison, Scott informed her he did not feel comfortable restoring her rights. Walker's order notes that 154,000 citizens had their voting rights restored during the last four years of former Gov. Charlie Crist's administration. He said that number plummeted to fewer than 3,000 people since Scott took office in 2011. "The context of these numbers is not lost on the court," Walker wrote. "More than one-tenth of Florida's voting population nearly 1.7 million as of 2016 cannot vote because they have been decimated from the body politic. More than one in five of Florida's African American voting-age population cannot vote." Walker did not offer a remedy but set a Feb. 12 deadline for both sides to provide additional briefs on how to fix the unconstitutional voter-restoration scheme. Check back with Tallahassee.com for more on this story. The grave concerns expressed by top Democrats and Justice Department officials in a ferocious and failed campaign to block the release of a memo highlighting alleged intelligence abuses appear to have been unfounded, and the document revealed none of the sources and methods the memos opponents claimed would be compromised. The four-page memo, released Friday by the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and written by committee Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif., and his staff, alleged a deeply flawed investigative process that included using unverified opposition research originally paid for by the Hillary Clinton campaign as part of a warrant application to the secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. But prior to the highly anticipated memos release, the FBI cautioned Congress and the White House against posting the document. As expressed during out initial review, we have grave concerns about material omissions of fact that fundamentally impact the memos accuracy, the bureau said in a highly unusual statement. Assistant Attorney General Stephen Boyd also wrote to Nunes that releasing the memo would be extraordinarily reckless and could harmnational security andongoing investigations. Rep. Adam Schiff, the Democratic ranking member on the Intelligence Committee, mounted a fierce campaign to keep the memo from being released. In exchange for the intelligence communitys willingness to reveal closely guarded national secrets to a select group of members and staff for the purposes of oversight, the committees and the congressional leadership pledged to handle that information responsibly and without regard to politics, Schiff wrote in an op-ed for The Washington Post. That contract has now been spectacularly broken by the creation of a partisan memo that misrepresents highly classified information that will never be made public. But the actual memo doesnt seem to give away any sources and methods that were previously unknown. The memo mostly goes into detail on the pursuit by the FBI and DOJ for a FISA probable cause order and several FISA extensions for Trump campaign associate Carter Page. The FISA application itself is barely detailed beyond the use of the controversial and salacious Clinton-ordered dossier prepared by former British spy Christopher Steele. Even FBI officials told the Intel Committee that the document had not been vetted at this point and no surveillance warrant would have been sought from the FISC without the Steele dossier information. The only other application material that is revealed is a Yahoo! News article which, it turns out, was also based on Steeles information. The article, however, was presented to the court at the time as a separate piece of corroborating information. On Friday, even as detractors mocked the memos release for being misleading or containing no new information, some continued to hit the Intel Committee and White House for somehow also disclosing important information. Thats it? former FBI Director James Comey, who is named in the memo, tweeted. Dishonest and misleading memo wrecked the House intel committee, destroyed trust with Intelligence Community, damaged relationship with FISA court, and inexcusably exposed classified investigation of an American citizen. For what? DOJ & FBI must keep doing their jobs. The controversial memo purportedly detailing federal surveillance abuses was declassified and released Friday following approval from President Trump. Compiled by the House Intelligence Committee leadership, the memo states that surveillance warrants used on an American citizen was largely requested due to controversial dossier produced by Fusion GPS, a firm that was at one point hired by the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clintons presidential campaign. The dossier contained colorful but unverifiable information about Trump. Democrats, the FBI and the Department of Justice objected to the release of the memo. In part, Democratic lawmakers suggested that the memo was selectively edited by Republicans to push an agenda of derailing the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election. Intelligence officials have stressed the memo is incomplete. The day after the memo was released, Trump tweeted that the "memo totally vindicates 'Trump' in probe." Here is what the newly released memo contained: The dossier was key to warrant requests Christopher Steele, who compiled the controversial dossier containing colorful but unverifiable claims about Trump, confirmed to former associate deputy attorney general Bruce Ohr that he was desperate that Donald Trump not get elected and was passionate about him not being president. FISA warrants are not easy to obtain, but the memo suggests that intelligence officials relied heavily on the dossier as well as a 2016 report from Michael Isikoff to obtain the warrants. Isikoffs Yahoo News report, according to the memo, was derived from information leaked by Steele himself. The FBI and DOJ officials were able to obtain a FISA warrant to electronically target Carter Page, a former foreign policy adviser to Trump. Former deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe told the House Intelligence Committee in December 2017 that a surveillance warrant would not have been sought without the dossier and what it purportedly revealed, the memo stated. The dossiers funding was not recorded in surveillance warrant requests The surveillance warrants and renewals did not mention that the dossier was paid for, at least in part, by the Democratic National Committee and the campaign for Hillary Clinton. The memo says the DOJ was aware at the time of the initial FISA application that political actors were involved with the Steele dossier. Neither the initial application in October 2016, nor any of the renewals, disclose or reference the role of the DNC, Clinton campaign, or any party/campaign in funding Steeles efforts, even though the political origins of the Steele dossier were known to senior DOJ and FBI officials, the memo alleged. Instead, according to the memo, the FISA application said Steele was working for a "named U.S. person" but did not specifically include Fusion GPS, the firm behind the project, or its co-founder, Glenn Simpson. Fusion GPS was hired by law firm Perkins Coie, which represented the DNC and Clinton campaign. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Former FBI Director James Comey slammed the dishonest and misleading memo released by the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and the White House on Friday, saying it inexcusably exposed classified investigations. The fired-FBI director didnt seem to be impressed with the long-awaited Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) memos contents. Thats it? Comey tweeted. Dishonest and misleading memo wrecked the House intel committee, destroyed trust with Intelligence Community, damaged relationship with FISA court, and inexcusably exposed classified investigation of an American citizen. For what? DOJ & FBI must keep doing their jobs. The memo showed alleged government surveillance abuse, and included testimony from former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, who stepped down Monday, that said the FBI and Justice Department would not have sought surveillance warrants to spy on a member of the Trump team without the infamous anti-Trump dossier. FISA MEMO: STEELE FIRED AS AN FBI SOURCE FOR BREAKING 'CARDINAL RULE' --LEAKING TO THE MEDIA The memo stated that on October 21, 2016, the Justice Department and the FBI sought and received a FISA probable cause order authorizing electronic surveillance on Carter Page from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC.) At the time, Page was a volunteer advisor on the Trump campaign. The Page warrant application required certification from either Comey or McCabe. According to the memo, the FBI and DOJ obtained one initial FISA warrant targeting Page, and three FISA renewals from the FISA court. The statute required that every 90 days, a FISA order on an American citizen must be renewed. The memo stated that Comey signed three FISA applications for Page and McCabe signed one. Trumps current Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein also signed at least one FISA application for Page along with former Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates and former Acting Deputy Attorney General Dana Boente. The memo stated, however, that information on the now-infamous anti-Trump dossier compiled by Christopher Steele was omitted when seeking a FISA warrant for Page. Neither the initial application in October 2016, nor any of the renewals, disclose or reference the role of the DNC, Clinton campaign, or any party/campaign in funding Steeles efforts, even though the political origins of the Steele dossier were then known to senior DOJ and FBI officials, the memo released Friday read. Republicans on the committee released the memo, and addressed their concerns with the legitimacy and legality of certain DOJ and FBI interactions, involving FISA. HOUSE MEMO STATES DISPUTED DOSSIER WAS KEY TO FBI'S FISA WARRANT TO SURVEIL MEMBERS OF TEAM TRUMP Attorney General Jeff Sessions said Friday that he has great confidence in the men and women of this Department. But no Department is perfect. I will forward to appropriate DOJ components all information I receive from Congress regarding this. I am determined that we will fully and fairly ascertain the truth, Sessions said in a statement to Fox News. We work for the American people and are accountable to them and those they have elected. We will meet that responsibility, Sessions added. President Donald Trump said Friday that K.T. McFarland has withdrawn from consideration to be ambassador to Singapore. Trump expressed his "disappointment" and said McFarland served the administration "with distinction." He said Democrats "chose to play politics rather than move forward with a qualified nominee for a critically important post." McFarland is a former deputy national security adviser in the Trump administration and former Fox News analyst. She was first nominated in May, but her nomination was in doubt amid questions about her communications with ex-national security adviser Michael Flynn. Flynn was fired by Trump in February for misleading senior administration officials about his contacts with Russia's ambassador to the U.S. He pleaded guilty to one count of making false statements to FBI agents and is now cooperating with Mueller's investigation. McFarland's nomination was not taken up by the Republican-led Senate by the end of last year, leading to a re-nomination in January. According to two former transition officials, McFarland was referenced in court papers as an unnamed Trump transition team member who spoke with Flynn in 2016 about what, if anything, to say about sanctions that had just been imposed on Russia by the Obama administration in response to election meddling. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to publicly discuss the matter. McFarland did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment. The House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence released on Friday a controversial four-page memo claiming to show improper use of surveillance by the FBI and Justice Department during the 2016 presidential campaign. The news comes after the House Intelligence Committee voted on Monday night to release the memo. President Trump then had five days to review the document and choose whether to release it to the public. Trump, who was overheard telling a Republican lawmaker at his first State of the Union address on Tuesday that he was 100 percent in favor of releasing the memo, officially authorized its release on Friday. WHAT IS NUNES FISA MEMO? 6 THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT THE SECRET DOCUMENT Most Republicans and Democrats are divided on the memo, which was written by House Intelligence Committee chairman Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif. In addition to the FBI, many Democrats condemned its release and argued it could threaten national security. Others said it was selectively edited by Republicans to push a narrative that the Russia investigation is biased against Trump. But Republicans who supported the memos release argued it was in the interest of transparency. The audience of this document should not be limited to Members of Congress the American people deserve to know the information it contains, Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., said in a letter signed by 65 other lawmakers. Additionally, former FBI Director James Comey tweeted that the memo was "dishonest and misleading," and "destroyed trust with (the) Intelligence Community." And President Trump has spoken out since the memo's release. On Saturday, Trump tweeted that "this memo totally vindicates 'Trump' in probe." Check out some of the reactions to the memo below. Republicans react Democrats react Fox News' Kaitlyn Schallhorn and The Associated Press contributed to this report. The top 10 most popular governors in America are Republican and 12 GOP governors running for re-election in 2018 enjoy positive approval rankings, according to newly released data. Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker, a Republican, is leading the poll as the most popular governor in the U.S. with 69 percent of surveyed people approving his job, while only 16 percent say he is a lousy governor, according to the latest Morning Consult quarterly poll. Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan and Alabamas Kay Ivey are the second and the third most popular governors in the country, with less than a fifth of the people opposing their leadership. The rest of the top 10 most popular governors based on their approval rankings were: Phil Scott, R-Vt., 63 percent; Matt Mead, R-Wyo., 63 percent; Brian Sandoval, R-Nev., 61 percent; Gary Herbert, R-Utah, 60 percent; Asa Hutchinson, R-Ark., 59 percent; Greg Abbott, R-Texas, 59 percent; and Dennis Daugaard, R-S.D., 59 percent. The GOP continues to dominate the governors field with 33 Republicans, while only 16 Democrats and one Republican-turned-independent currently hold the office of governor in the U.S. The poll shows 12 Republicans who are up for re-election this year also enjoy significant support in their respective states potentially thwarting any grand Democrats plans to capitalize on the energized voting base due to the Trump administration. But not all is rosy for the GOP: In two states Wisconsin and Illinois Republican governors have negative approval rating, according to the survey. The two state leaders are facing an uphill battle to retain the office in 2018. Wisconsins Scott Walker is being viewed negatively by 50 percent of surveyed people, putting him underwater by 7 points. As a sign of the troubles ahead, Democrat Patty Schachtner flipped a state Senate seat last month that had been held by Republicans since the start of the century. Bruce Rauner of Illinois, meanwhile, has the negative approval ranking of 24 points. Despite the unpopularity, he is running for another term as the governor. As well as the possible troubles for the Republicans in the looming 2018 elections, eight out of 10 least popular governors are Republican. Now-former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, whose reign finished last month following the election of Democrat Phil Murphy, is viewed negatively by more than three-quarters of people. Only a fifth of respondents to the poll admitted they approved Christies job. The rest of the bottom 10 governors based on their disapproval rankings were: Dan Malloy, D-Conn., 68 percent; Sam Brownback, R-Kan., 64 percent; Mary Fallin, R-Okla., 61 percent; Susana Martinez, R-N.M., 57 percent; Bill Walker, I-Alaska, 55 percent; Bruce Rauner R-Ill., 55 percent; Paul LePage, R-Maine, 53 percent; Scott Walker, R-Wis., 50 percent; and Rick Snyder, R-Mich., 47 percent. It was late December. Congressional Republicans had just basked in a celebration at the White House after votes to approve their tax bill. Then it was back to reality. A dour mood set in as Republicans hustled back to Capitol Hill. There was a nighttime meeting in the basement of the Capitol about a temporary spending bill to avoid a government shutdown at Christmas. Implicit in that conversation was an understanding that Super Glued to the stopgap plan was an interim renewal of the controversial Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA. It was set to expire at the end of 2017. FISA Section 702 is a rabbit warren of controversy. Many lawmakers fretted the U.S. could lose a key weapon to fight terrorism should Congress fail to reauthorize the program. Section 702 permits the government to sweep up the communications of foreign nationals in the U.S., sans a warrant. But civil libertarians worry about the warrantless aspect of the operation. Theres concern the program also siphons communications of everyday Americans who may be in contact with people outside the U.S. Congress voted to fund thje government and leave for the holidays, simultaneously giving the thumbs up to FISA. There was some outcry from civil libertarians from both sides of the aisle. But few wanted to shutter the government at Christmas. Lawmakers latched the FISA component of the legislation to the spending package as an afterthought. Section 702 didnt go dark at the end of the year as homeland security officials warned. Come mid-January, FISA defenders and Congressional leaders knew they couldnt affix another extension of the spy system to the next spending plan. Doing so could drag down the appropriations measure by itself, pitching the government into a shutdown. Well, that happened anyway. But not because of FISA. In mid-January, the House voted 256-164 to reauthorize FISA Section 702 for six years. However, that wasnt without a fire drill. President Trump sent some confusing tweets on the morning of the vote, denigrating FISA and alleged surveillance of his campaign. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., the top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, both suggested GOP brass yank the FISA bill from the floor. But after some tense moments, the bill moved ahead. Things were on edge in the Senate a few days later. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., appeared to be two votes shy of halting a filibuster to finish debate on the bill. But after an hour of negotiations and arm-twisting, Sens. John Kennedy, R-La., and Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., voted yes. The Senate vaulted the filibuster threat 60-38. The Senate then re-upped the FISA program 65-34. President Trump signed the FISA measure into law. Then all hell broke loose. House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif., and other GOPers on the panel authored a four-page memo supposedly revealing FISA abuses and improper reconnaissance of Mr. Trumps 2016 campaign. The supposition is that law enforcement authorities went to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to get a warrant to spy on the Presidents campaign. Its believed the evidence presented to the court to justify the FISA warrant stems from a dossier written by Democrats to perhaps smear Mr. Trump and those around him. The GOPs memo tactics ignited a firestorm. One can debate the merits and demerits of Nuness gambit. But one thing is clear: FISA is a controversial program. FISA supporters struggled to renew the program after former National Security Agency employee Edward Snowden swiped gobs of secrets in 2013. Snowdens revelations spurred a debate over the Constitutionality of the nations mass surveillance techniques. Multiple sources familiar with the GOP memo claim the purported transgressions arent linked to privacy and Section 702. However, support for FISA is fragile. The House and Senate may have faced a challenge to renew Section 702 had the memo come out prior to the vote to extend the spying efforts. That was part of our consideration, said one House GOP source familiar with the memo. In other words, get the program reauthorized, then publicize the memo. House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., talked with Trump the morning of his questionable tweets which threatened the FISA vote. Ryan supports FISA as a tool to fight terrorism. Ryan backs releasing the memo. Yet the Speaker defended the memo as a means to guard against putative FISA abuses. What it is is the Congresss legitimate function of oversight to make sure the FISA process is being used correctly, said Ryan at the GOP retreat in White Sulphur Springs, WV. If it wasnt being used correctly, that needs to come to light and people need to be held accountable so this doesnt affect our civil liberties. Those are virtually the same arguments that members of the privacy caucus make about FISA all the time. Ryans language could have come as easily from liberals like Sens. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., or conservatives such as Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ken., or Rep. Justin Amash, R-Mich. All hold reservations about FISA. FISA supporters rarely addressed civil liberties concerns when the program faced renewal in December and in January. But according to Ryan, those issues are paramount when it comes to the memorandum. Were there problems with FISA before? Or are there only problems when presented in the context of a controversial memo and the Presidents campaign? Why werent those civil liberties concerns aired before the House and Senate votes on FISA? This is why some are suspicious about motives behind releasing the memo. Theres always a challenge when making a case for intelligence-related programs on Capitol Hill. Much of it is steeped in secrecy so its hard to know whats right or not. Take our word for it, both sides say. FISA is supposed to protect Americans from terrorism and enhance law enforcement. Thats what supporters want you to think. Detractors see FISA Section 702 as an affront to civil liberties. Maybe it is. Maybe it isnt. But the program would have faced additional scrutiny had concerns outlined in the memo appeared before the House and Senate reauthorization votes. After all, timing is everything. The Trump administration announced Friday that it was slapping fresh sanctions on Hezbollah-linked individuals and businesses in Africa and the Middle East -- a move to limit not only the operations of the terrorist group, but also Irans influence in the region. The Treasury announced that it is targeting a network of companies and individuals in Lebanon, Sierra Leone, Ghana, Liberia and other countries linked to Hezbollah financier Adham Tabaja. The sanctions freeze assets in the U.S. and prevent Americans from doing business with any of the six individuals and seven companies. The U.S. has designated Hezbollah a terrorist organization that also plays a major political role in Lebanon. Senior officials told the Associated Press that it is the first wave of a campaign to put pressure on the Iranian-linked organization. In a statement, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin described the group as responsible for the deaths of hundreds of Americans. It is also Irans primary proxy used to undermine legitimate Arab governments across the Middle East," he said. "The Administration is determined to expose and disrupt Hezballahs networks, including those across the Middle East and West Africa, used to fund their illicit operations." Experts say that there is a sense that the administration is attempting to re-invigorate global efforts to push back against Hezbollah, while walking a fine line so it does not destabilize Lebanon. There is a position by the adminstration that they want to do it so as not to destabilize Lebanon's economy and banking sector and do it in a way that targets global aspect of Hezbollah and in a way that minimizes Lebanons exposure, Tony Badran, a research fellow at the Washington-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies and the author of The Third Lebanon War told Fox News. The U.S. estimates Iran sends Hezbollah about $700 million a year and officials say that Hezbollah has become Irans main proxy in the Arabic-speaking world. The U.S. is particularly concerned about Hezbollahs presence in Syria and Yemen. Badran warned against making an artificial distinction between Hezbollah and Iran, arguing that it is largely an extension of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. Most of the individuals targeted had not been publicly known to be financiers of Hezbollah, nor are they prominent names in Lebanon. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, February 2) A wave of Valentine's Day tearjerkers by a fast food giant are tugging at people's heartstrings. Jollibee Foods Corp., which is famous for its series of digital shorts on love called #KwentongJollibee, has released three films trended on Twitter again. On Friday, the campaign has drawn 9,652 tweets. WATCH: Jollibee's 2017 viral videos turn up the Valentine's feels Joel Ruiz comes back with a sequel to his 2017 Jollibee short, Crush. This time around, Ruiz tells us the Homecoming story of how two lovebirds overcame all obstacles. Vince, Kath and James director Theodore Boborol joins the roster of #KwentongJollibee directors this year, with his short entitled Signs. The short has more than 102,000 shares as of posting. Meanwhile, Ianco dela Cruz's Status glimpses into how people find love in all the wrong places. Dela Cruz directed last year's Vow, which won the hearts of social media users. 'Feels' with fries, part 3 Netizens took to social media to express their feelings over the new digital shorts, with the hashtag #BelieveInThePowerOfLove. Some were motivated to find a love of their own. The ads also made love gurus out of some. Do not settle for someone because of his physical attributes nor his financial status. Fall for someone who never gets tired of saving you from your own chaos. Nothing is nicer than having someone whos with you in highs and in lows. A concept from Jollibee pic.twitter.com/qA5AEGCxW5 Tresha B. (@tresha1994) February 1, 2018 Signs director Boborol thanked online users for their social engagement over his film. A new Valentine tradition Assistant Vice President for Brand Communications, Public Relations and Digital Marketing of Jollibee Foods Arline Adeva said there has been an online clamor for more stories. "We love the reactions cause it's as if people are looking forward to it," Adeva told CNN Philippines. She added the use of popular love songs were intentional, as it is a venue to popularize classics. "It helps tell the story. Of course finding the perfect music will tell your stories," she explained. With millennials as Jollibee's main market, and drawing from their reactions, Adeva said they get more real-life love stories to base the films on. "People keep on submitting. We have many stories in our bank," she added. Adeva added that Jollibee is planning to make the digital shorts annually, making it part of social media's Valentine tradition. President Donald Trump late Thursday tweeted that top Democrats are not calling about DACA and indicated that Sen. Chuck Schumer and Rep. Nancy Pelosi, two top-ranking Democrats, will be to blame if no deal is made by next months deadline. The president is turning up the heat on Democrats, who forced a government shutdown last month over the lack of deal on Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA recipients illegal immigrants who came to the U.S. as children. The Democrats just arent calling about DACA. Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer have to get moving fast, or theyll disappoint you again, Trump tweeted. We have a great chance to make a deal or, blame the Dems! March 5th is coming up fast. Trump tweeted earlier Thursday urging Democrats to act on DACA. They Resist, Blame, Complain and Obstruct - and do nothing. Start pushing Nancy Pelosi and the Dems to work out a DACA fix, NOW! he wrote. The White House last week released an immigration plan offering a path to citizenship for nearly 1.8 million of the so-called Dreamers in exchange for a $25 billion investment in border security, including a wall along the Mexico border. The plan was aimed to find a permanent legal solution to the issue of Dreamers after Trump rescinded the Obama-era program created through an executive order that offered deportation reprieve to illegal immigrants. It gave a six-month window to come up with a legislation. During Trumps first official State of the Union address Tuesday night, he said Americans are dreamers, too and talked about his four pillars of immigration reform that included provisions for DACA recipients and others who came to the country illegally. West Virginia GOP Rep. Evan Jenkins on Friday jumped into the partisan scrap between Vice President Mike Pence and Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia over the Republicans recent tax-cut plan. Thank you vice president, he said, for telling Americans that Manchin voted against the plan. The exchange between Pence and Manchin started Wednesday when Pence went to White Sulphur Springs, where congressional Republicans are holding their annual policy retreat, to visit a truck dealership and tout the tax plans benefits to households and businesses. I was there, Jenkins said Friday, the final day of the retreat. Thank you Vice President Pence for looking at the cameras, looking at the crowd, looking at press and saying Joe voted no to the tax cut. They need to know that Joe voted no. The GOP-controlled Senate passed the tax-reform bill in December in a 51-49 vote, with no support from the chambers Democratic senators. Manchin is in a tough re-election bid this year in conservative-leaning West Virginia. The website FiveThirtyEight shows Manchin has voted for Trump priorities roughly 58 percent of the time since Trump won West Virginia in 2016 by a 42 percent margin. At Trumps State of the Union address on Tuesday night, Manchin frequently stood up and applauded when the president touted his first-year successes, to the apparent displeasure of fellow congressional Democrats, who largely sat through the presidents roughly 80-minute address. On Wednesday, Pence told employees at Worldwide Equipment Inc., People of the Mountain State, you deserve to know, when it came to cutting your taxes, Joe (Manchin) voted no. Joe voted no to giving working families more of your hard-earned money. Joe voted no on tax cuts for job creators. But its not just the tax cuts. Sen. Joe Manchin has voted no time and again on the policies that West Virginia needs, Pence added. Manchin responded with a statement saying: The vice presidents comments are exactly why Washington sucks. Pence also said at the event that taxes and federal regulations prompted Worldwide Equipment chief executive Terry Dotson to give bonuses to all the companys 1,100 employees and move ahead with plans for a new dealership in Charleston, South Carolina. Jenkins said Friday that The vice president just simply told the facts, and Manchin then (responded) with some pretty odd language. Joe doesnt like being held accountable for his voting record in Washington. The vice president said it straight and said it right. And the people of West Virginia needed to know. Manchin also said in response to Pences attack on him, I am shocked that after the vice president worked for almost a year in a divisive and partisan way to take healthcare away from almost 200,000 West Virginians, bankrupt our hospitals, and push tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans and huge corporations that he would come to West Virginia and continue his partisan attacks. Fox News Peter Doocy and the Associated Press contributed to this report. It may be the most powerful court you have never heard of -- operating out of a bunker-like complex just blocks from the U.S. Capitol and White House, sealed tightly to prevent any eavesdropping. The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court deals with some of the most sensitive matters of national security -- terror threats and espionage. Its work for the most part cannot be examined by the American public, by order of the Congress and the President. It is a tribunal that is completely secret (or supposed to be), its structure largely one-sided, and its members unilaterally chosen by one person. A rotating panel of federal judges at the FISC decides whether to grant certain types of government requests -- wiretapping, data analysis, and other monitoring for "foreign intelligence purposes" of suspected terrorists and spies operating in the United States. Members of Congress worry the FISC -- at the unilateral urging of current and past administrations-- is interpreting the surveillance law way too broadly, something lawmakers say they did not intend. The FISC court was created in 1978, part of a congressional overhaul to ensure broader oversight into the use of warrants for certain national security operations. It is made up of 11 judges who sit for seven-year terms. All are sitting federal district court judges who agree to take on the additional FISC duties and it is a rotating bench. Typically that means one in every 11 weeks, if you are one of the judges, you come to Washington and sit for a week. It's just a single judge and the most typical thing that they do is hear applications from the government for surveillance on targets that are related to national security or foreign intelligence information. The courtroom -- and government sources say it is a courtroom complete with a judge's bench, tables for lawyers, and support staff -- is in a windowless, secure area of the U.S. District Court on Constitution Avenue. Besides the courtroom, there is nearby office space and chambers for the visiting judges. Exactly where in the building it is located, officials will not say. Even getting a picture of the empty courtroom is a no-go. In another unusual twist, the 11 judges are appointed exclusively by the Chief Justice of the United States, without any supplemental confirmation from the other two branches of government. John Roberts has named every member of the current court, as a well as a separate three-judge panel to hear appeals of FISC orders, known as the Court of Review. The Supreme Court would theoretically have the power to hear any subsequent challenges, but the justices never have-- at least not that we know. But the Electronic Privacy Information Center last week directly asked the high court to review the NSA collection of telephone communication data. Roberts himself expressed some reservations about this judicial concept -- also known by the acronym FISA -- during his 2005 confirmation, one of the few times a federal judge has talked publicly about that court. "I'll be very candid. When I first learned about the FISA court, I was surprised," he told senators. "It's not what we usually think of when we think of a court. We think of a place where we can go, we can watch, the lawyers argue, and it's subject to the glare of publicity. And the judges explain their decision to the public and they can examine them. That's what we think of as a court." Because it an "ex-parte" body -- hearing only the government's side -- it has been criticized as a kangaroo court that too easily accedes to any government request. In order to collect the information, the government has to demonstrate to the judge that it is "relevant" to an international terrorism investigation. But the original Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act lays out exactly what the special court must decide when it comes to public scrutiny: "A judge considering a petition to modify or set aside a nondisclosure order may grant such petition only if the judge finds that there is no reason to believe that disclosure may endanger the national security of the United States, interfere with a criminal, counterterrorism, or counterintelligence investigation, interfere with diplomatic relations, or endanger the life or physical safety of any person." Revisions in the law in 2008 give the attorney general and the director of national intelligence greater authority to order "mass acquisition" of electronic traffic, if it is related to a terror or espionage investigation. The administration says amassing a telecom's entire phone records database is relevant to counterterrorism, and something a FISC judge can authorize. The law previously required the government to justify a national security interest before any monitoring of phone calls and e-mails originating in another country. That has morphed to allow metadata collection of electronic communications of Americans. Privacy advocates say the courts in a sense have had their authority dictated by congressional and executive decree, with little judicial resistance. Nearly a decade after retiring from Britain's Secret Intelligence Service, Christopher Steele stepped into the world of politics and what an entrance he made. The ex-spy, who spent two decades working as an agent in various countries overseas, is now best known in the U.S. for compiling a dossier on President Trump. Here's what you need to know about Steele, the infamous Trump dossier and a recently released GOP memo that mentions Steele several times by name. Who is Christopher Steele? Christopher Steele served as an intelligence officer with MI6, Britains equivalent to the CIA, for more than two decades. He joined as soon as he graduated from the University of Cambridge in 1986. He had a variety of roles within M16. He worked as a field agent and the head of M16s Russia desk in Moscow in the early '90s, spent four years in Paris and transitioned to adviser to the British Special Forces on capture-or-kill ops in Afghanistan," Variety reported. After his retirement from M16 in 2009, Steele moved to Farnham, England, and co-founded Orbis Business Intelligence, a London-based corporate intelligence consultancy, with other retired colleagues. According to a profile of Steele in The New Yorker, the company "grossed approximately $20 million in its first nine years." "The team...draws on extensive experience at boardroom level in government, multilateral diplomacy and international business to develop bespoke solutions for clients," according to a description on the company's website. He has not been back to Russia or any other Soviet States since his retirement, The New Yorker reports. Steele may have had an extensive career, but these days, the former spy is best known for compiling a dossier on Trump for private Washington research firm, Fusion GPS. What is his connection to Fusion GPS? Fusion GPS was hired in 2015 by an anti-Trump Republican donor to research then-presidential hopeful Donald Trump. But as Trump continued to climb the political ladder, winning the Republican nomination, the donor told the firm to drop the project, according to a report from The New York Times. A year later, in the spring of 2016, Fusion GPS convinced Democrats to invest in the project. Fox News learned in the fall of 2017 that the Clinton campaign and Democratic National Committee (DNC) paid for Steele's research through the law firm Perkins Coie. Fusion GPS hired Steele to investigate allegations that Trump had ties to Russia during the 2016 campaign. Steele drafted a memo, now known as the infamous Trump dossier, that was published by BuzzFeed News in January 2017, and quickly made its way into the hands of FBI officials. Fusion GPS founder Glenn Simpson told the House Intelligence Committee in a private interview in November that his firm asked Steele "to figure out what Trump's been up to" in Russia "because he's gone over a bunch of times" and "said some weird things about [Russian President Vladimir] Putin." Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., strongly implied to Fox News on Feb. 6 that Sidney Blumenthal, a longtime associate of the Clintons, leaked information to Steele that helped create the controversial dossier. "When you hear who...one of the sources of that information is, you're going to think, 'Oh my gosh, I've heard that name somewhere before,'" Gowdy said in an interview with Fox News' "The Story." When asked if he was referring to Blumenthal, Gowdy answered, "That'd be really warm. You're warm, yeah." What did we learn about Steele in memos released by the House Intelligence Committee? A memo released by the House Intelligence Committee on Feb. 2 says the dossier "formed an essential part" of applications by the FBI and DOJ to spy on onetime Trump campaign adviser Carter Page. The memo claims then-FBI director Andrew McCabe testified before the Committee in December 2017 that no surveillance warrant would have been sought from the FISA court without the Steele dossier information. On Oct. 30, 2016, Steele was cut off as a source for the FBI for what the FBI defines as the most serious of violations an unauthorized disclosure to the media of his relationship with the FBI," the memo states, mentioning an interview with Mother Jones. "Steele should have been terminated for his previous undisclosed contacts with Yahoo and other outlets in September before the Page application was submitted to the FISC in October but Steele improperly concealed from and lied to the FBI about those contacts," the memo states. But even after his termination from the FBI, Steele remained in close contact with then-Associate Deputy Attorney General Bruce Ohr, a senior DOJ official. Ohrs wife Nellie began working for Fusion GPS, the firm behind the dossier, as early as May 2016. "While the FISA application relied on Steele's past record of credible reporting on other unrelated matters, it ignored or concealed his anti-Trump financial and ideological motivations." - FISA memo According to the memo, Steele told Ohr he was desperate that Donald Trump not get elected and was passionate about him not being president. Steele's conversations revealed "clear evidence of Steele's bias," the memo says, but they were not disclosed in any of the Page FISA applications. "While the FISA application relied on Steele's past record of credible reporting on other unrelated matters, it ignored or concealed his anti-Trump financial and ideological motivations," the memo continues. The House Intelligence Committee later released the Democrats' 10-page rebuttal memo with heavy redactions that outlined alleged government surveillance abuses during the 2016 presidential campaign. The memo redacts information related to compensation that the FBI considered giving to Steele. And outlines additional information obtained through multiple independent sources" that corroborated Steeles reporting. It then provides three bullet-pointed paragraphs, almost all of which are redacted. The application to warrant Carter Page was not based on the Steele dossier, Connecticut Rep. Jim Himes, the second-ranking Democrat on the committee, told Fox News Sunday. The dossier was just a small part of the application. Himes also argued that Steele was unaware of who was paying for the opposition research he was compiling. Fox News' Adam Shaw, Brooke Singman and The Associated Press contributed to this report. Fifteen years after the space shuttle Columbia and its crew of seven were lost returning home from a 16-day mission, pieces of the winged orbiter are still being found and the debris is now being used by NASA to educate and inspirea new generation of space workers. On Feb. 1, 2003, Columbia broke apart during its re-entry into Earth's atmosphere after sustaining damage during its launch. A strike from a piece of insulating foam that fell off the shuttle's external fuel tank left a hole in the orbiter's left wing leading edge that went unaddressed during the flight. On Columbia's return, hot plasma entered through the hole and tore the wing apart. The resulting loss of control led to Columbia's disintegration over the state of Texas. The tragedy claimed the seven lives of the STS-107 crew, including commander Rick Husband, pilot William McCool, mission specialists David Brown, Kalpana Chawla, Laurel Clark and Michael Anderson and Israeli payload specialist Ilan Ramon. [Columbia Space Shuttle Disaster Explained (Infographic)] To learn what happened, NASA joined with other federal agencies, as well as state, county and local authorities, for what became the largest ground search in United States history. After recovering the remains of the astronauts, attention turned to the melted and mangled fragments of the orbiter that were strewn over miles of forest- and swamp-covered land. Some 84,500 pieces of Columbia were located, identified and ultimately delivered to NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, where they were first used in a reconstruction of the vehicle to help investigators determine the cause of the disaster. They were then moved into an archive located on the 16th floor of the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB), the same facility where Columbia had been prepared for its 28 launches. From the day it was founded, the Columbia Research and Preservation Office was established to conserve the debris and support loans of the material to government, academic and scientific organizations to further the research on how to build safer components for future spacecraft and further knowledge about the effects of re-entry. But in the last couple of years, the program has grown to fulfill another mission to teach and inspire. Lessons learned "It's a brand new program," said Michael Ciannilli, who has served for years as the project manager for the Columbia Research and Preservation Office and now leads the new Apollo, Challenger, Columbia Lessons Learned Program, or ACCLLP. "The program's mission is to innovatively and effectively share the lessons of the past to make the future more successful." The ACCLLP encompasses NASA's lessons learned from Columbia with those from its earlier spaceflight disasters: the Apollo 1 launch pad fire that claimed three astronauts' lives in 1967 and the 1986 loss of the shuttle Challenger with seven STS-51L crew members 73 seconds into flight. The new program also looks at the agency's near losses, like Apollo 13, and some of its successes, like STS-1, the first launch of the space shuttle in 1981. "The world is so different than it was 15 years ago, and so we are trying to take those lessons before they are lost to history and say, 'here is the mistakes we made in the past, here's what we learned from those, here's the great things we did in the past, you may want to share some of those with your workforce to build upon, and together we will be more successful.' It's the mission statement for what we're trying to do," Ciannilli told collectSPACE in an interview. In addition to the ACCLLP organizing periodic panels and discussions about the fallen missions, the program is also expanding the prior Columbia office to become a place for learning. "One aspect of it is greatly increasing the tours inside the Columbia room," Ciannilli said. "Where before employees might tour the artifacts for 20 minutes, now it is a full hour or longer discussion, getting deep into Columbia." And where before the room had a somewhat clinical look, with tile floors and metal racks, renovations are making the space more conducive to learning, with wooden floors and furniture, museum-like pedestals and multimedia displays. "It's going to have much more of a learning center feel. Still with Columbia and the artifacts, but they will be shown with reverence, respect and with a strong sense of feeling for a learning center," Ciannilli explained. Though the room is closed to the general public and media (press were only allowed in once, on Feb. 1, 2004, when it formally opened), expanded access is being made to more than just NASA employees. "We've been reaching out to NASA folks, contractor folks, having SpaceX and Blue Origin, and the other [commercial spaceflight] companies come over, getting their teams over to see and hear the stories of our lessons," said Ciannilli. "We are also reaching out to academia with MIT, Columbia University and others, bringing their students down." Active archive Though the Columbia Research and Preservation Office is no longer an independent entity within NASA, having been folded into the ACCLLP, it is still being called upon to serve its original purpose. "One was delivered last week," said Ciannilli of a possible piece of Columbia. "A suspected piece, right, so that's a piece of inquiry, so to speak. It has to go through testing to see if it is or not." Ciannilli estimates that there have been a couple hundred pieces of Columbia turned in since the investigation ended in August 2003. The largest piece was a round aluminum tank that held cryogenic hydrogen for Columbia's fuel cells that was discovered in 2011 when a drought exposed it on the bed of Lake Nacogdoches in Texas. The most recent confirmed piece was found in last spring. Ciannilli fields about two to three reports each month, but many of those turn out to be something other than debris. Research is also continuing. To date, NASA has made 63 loans of Columbia material for studies into boundary-layer effects and to improve re-entry and spacecraft technology. A 64th loan, to the U.S. Air Force, is currently in work. "We have actually got the largest loan in the history of the program that is out right now," Ciannilli told collectSPACE.com. "It's still in progress at the University of Texas El Paso, and one of our former astronauts still is involved with that. He's one of the key researchers in it and it's actually over half a ton of material, so it's our largest loan." To date, three graduate students have based dissertations on subjects related to the debris, using Columbia as their research vehicle to earn their Ph.D. Leading a bright path forward "There are some beautiful rays of light that have come out of it. To see now Columbia educating a new generation of young people, people getting advanced degrees because of Columbia, advancing science because of Columbia, that is what really inspires," said Ciannilli. When I see NASCAR drivers or submarine commanders come through the room, or engineers with Blue Origin Jeff Bezos, himself, he's been in there when I see them impacted by Columbia, and the crew, their story can help all of us do better and be more successful." Ciannilli said he sees this as a "beautiful new chapter" led by the STS-107 astronauts. "I really truly mean that they are leading their story is leading a bright path forward, and hopefully a safer one as well," he said. "I see these folks every day coming through and I see how they're changed; when they leave the room they're slightly different." "It's because of Columbia and because of the crew that leaves them a little bit different." Follow collectSPACE.com on Facebook and on Twitter at @collectSPACE. Copyright 2018 collectSPACE.com. All rights reserved. A US appeals court has rejected an effort to hold Twitter liable for the death of two Americans in an ISIS-linked shooting. The court on Wednesday upheld an earlier ruling, which dismissed the lawsuit for neglecting to show a direct connection between the shooting and ISIS's presence on Twitter. The case concerns the 2015 killings of two US government contractors, Lloyd Fields and James Creach, who were gunned down in Jordan. The shooter, Anwar Abu Zaid, was part of a secret terrorist cell associated with ISIS, which later claimed responsibility for the attack. Widows of the victims contend Twitter played a role in the killings, by giving ISIS a platform to recruit new followers. The lawsuit claims the terrorist group created at least 79 official ISIS accounts on Twitter by December 2014. In addition, ISIS used Twitter's direct messaging feature to raise funds and plan operations. All of which helped the terrorist group attract over 30,000 foreign recruits, the lawsuit added. ISIS's presence on Twitter has indeed been a problem. The company itself has removed hundreds of thousands of terrorist-linked accounts over the years, many of which have related to ISIS. Twitter disagreed, of course, and in 2016, a federal district court dismissed the case; "There are no facts indicating that Abu Zaid's attack was in any way impacted, helped by, or the result of ISIS's presence on the social network," it said. On Wednesday, the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit agreed. At most, the lawsuit merely accuses Twitter of providing "material support" to ISIS to help the terrorist group grow and plan attacks, according to the opinion from one of the judges. The lawsuit requested damages under the Anti-Terrorism Act, which forbids anyone from providing material supports to groups like ISIS. But the judges concluded that the law wasn't designed to remedy every "ripple" a terrorist act can trigger. A lawyer for the widows said they're disappointed in the ruling. "ISIS used Twitter accounts to amass the resources needed for carrying out numerous terrorist attacks, including the November 9, 2015 shooting in Amman, Jordan," Joshua Arisohn said in an email. The plaintiffs are weighing other legal options, he added. So far, Twitter hasn't commented on the ruling. Others parties such as the Electronic Frontier Foundation also argued against the lawsuit, saying it would prevent Twitter and internet companies from hosting controversial topics from unpopular speakers. This article originally appeared on PCMag.com. As the Trump administration plans new U.S. nuclear firepower, leaked Pentagon documents reveal that Russia is building and developing a nuclear torpedo that would leave a country's coastline uninhabitable for years. It's been called a "doomsday" torpedo. According to a report in Popular Mechanics, the weapon was cited in a leaked draft of the forthcoming Nuclear Posture Review. It's known as Kanyon to the Pentagon and "Ocean Multipurpose System Status-6" to Russia. The torpedo is part of Russia's underwater nuclear arsenal according to the draft Review. Washington Free Beacon was the first to report of its existence in September 2015. The torpedo was also mentioned on Russian television in November of that year. The Pentagon's new Nuclear Posture Review will be rolled out on Friday. It is the first review of its kind since 2010 and is among several studies of security strategy undertaken since Trump took office. The Huffington Post published online a draft of the nuclear policy report last month, and The Associated Press independently obtained a copy. Asked for comment at the time, the Pentagon called it a pre-decisional, unfinished document that was yet to be reviewed and approved by Trump, who ordered it a year ago. TRUMP'S NUCLEAR STRATEGY SEEKS NEW WEAPONS TO COUNTER RUSSIA In the draft document Russia, and to a degree China, are outlined as nuclear policy problems that demand a tougher approach. The administrations view is that Russian policies and actions are fraught with potential for miscalculation leading to an uncontrolled escalation of conflict in Europe. It specifically points to a Russian doctrine known as escalate to de-escalate, in which Moscow would use or threaten to use smaller-yield nuclear weapons in a limited, conventional conflict in Europe in the belief that doing so would compel the U.S. and NATO to back down. The administration proposes a two-step solution. First, it would modify a small number of existing long-range ballistic missiles carried by Trident strategic submarines to fit them with smaller-yield nuclear warheads. Secondly, in the longer term, it would develop a nuclear-armed sea-launched cruise missile re-establishing a weapon that existed during the Cold War but was retired in 2011 by the Obama administration. WHAT IS THE NUCLEAR ARSENAL AVAILABLE TO PRESIDENT TRUMP? Potential impact and the response Nonetheless, Kanyon could pose a significant threat to the U.S. Described as a "new intercontinental, nuclear-armed undersea autonomous torpedo," Kanyon could have devastating consequences if ever launched. Its range is approximately 6,200 miles and can reach a maximum depth of 3,280 feet, while traveling at 100 knots, or roughly 115 mph. Kanyon is described as a 100-megaton thermonuclear weapon. At that payload, it could wipe out a city the size of New York, killing 8 million instantly and injuring 6 million more, Popular Mechanics noted. Due to its massive size, it would also trigger an artificial tsunami, spreading nuclear material alongside the tsunami. It also reportedly contians a warhead "salted" with the radioactive isotope Cobalt-60, which would make affected areas off-limits for up to 100 years. For comparison purposes, Little Boy, the atomic bomb that was droppoed on Hiroshima, had a blast yield of 15 kilotons. Fat Man, the code name for the A-bomb that was dropped on Nagasaki, had a blast yield of 21 kilotons. Kanyon is also designed to get around American ballistic missile defenses, especially the Ground-Based Interceptor missiles based in Alaska and California. NORTH KOREA: WILL MINI NUKES BECOME AN OPTION FOR TRUMP? The Trump nuclear doctrine is expected to be followed by a related policy on the role and development of U.S. defenses against ballistic missiles. Where the Trump doctrine splits from Obamas approach is in ending his push to reduce the role of nuclear weapons in U.S. defense policy. Like Obama, Trump would consider using nuclear weapons only in extreme circumstances, while maintaining a degree of ambiguity about what that means. But Trump sees a fuller deterrent role for these weapons, as reflected in the plan to develop new capabilities to counter Russia in Europe. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Follow Chris Ciaccia on Twitter @Chris_Ciaccia A passenger was taken into custody Wednesday after landing in Charlotte, NC, for attacking three airline crew members during the flight. Charlene Sarieann Harriott, 36, was aboard an American Airlines flight from Dallas/Fort Worth to Charlotte on Wednesday morning. As the flight began its descent, Harriott, who was seated at the rear of the plane, reportedly ran from her seat toward the cockpit. MAN CLAIMS HE WAS PUNCHED AND BOUND ON EMIRATES AIRLINES FLIGHT TO CHICAGO Flight attendants had taken their seats when Harriott bolted from the last row and ordered her to stop. When Harriott did not, the flight attendants gave chase down the aisle. The crew restrained her with duct tape and zip ties in the first-class section of the plane, the Charlotte Observer reports, but Harriott became more aggressive and physically violent toward the flight crew. According to the criminal complaint, she bit one attendant on the right forearm, puncturing the skin and causing bleeding. She also hit a second attendant in the right forearm and kicked a third attendant in the leg and abdomen, the Charolotte Observer reports. FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK FOR MORE FOX LIFESTYLE NEWS All three of the flight attendants were taken to American Airlines onsite medical clinic for treatment of their injuries once the plane touched down. The FBI has charged Harriott with three counts of assault and battery for interfering with a flight crew member and attendants. She is being held in the Mecklenburg County Jail in Charlotte. On Thursday a federal judge reportedly ordered her to remain in custody until a detention hearing next week. Well, that didnt fly. In the wake of a now-viral story about a woman and her emotional support peacock being denied entry on a United Airlines flight departing Newark Liberty International Airport, which Fox News first reported on Jan. 31, the airline has officially tightened up its policy for traveling with emotional support animals, a move that they say has been months in the making. Company spokesman Charlie Hobart told Fox News that the Newark airport peacock incident had absolutely nothing to do with" the new measures. 'SERIAL STOWAWAY' HAS OUTBURST DURING COURT APPEARANCE AFTER LATEST ARREST AT CHICAGO AIRPORT [The new policy] had been in the works for quite some time. The peacock incident was completely coincidental, and it did help illustrate to a wider audience the need for clarification and greater enhanced regulations, Hobart said. He added the new policy does not affect Uniteds rules for traveling with service animals. Year over year, we have seen a 75 percent increase in customers bringing emotional support animals on board and as a result have experienced a significant increase in onboard incidents involving these animals. We understand that other carriers are seeing similar trends, the company said in a press release. The Department of Transportation's rules regarding emotional support animals are not working as they were intended to, prompting us to change our approach in order to ensure a safe and pleasant travel experience for all of our customers. Apparently, the number of comfort animals flying United leapt from 43,000 in 2016 to 76,000 in 2017, Hobart confirmed to USA Today. The news coincides with the Jan. 28 incident, in which United refused to let Dexter the peacock on board a flight from Newark to Los Angeles, though his owner offered to purchase an extra ticket for the bird on the spot. The old policy was in place and that policy prevented Dexter the peacock from boarding the aircraft. The policy worked as intended, Hobart said of the matter. With all of the commotion regarding the peacock, that has sort of crystallized to our employees and customers why we need to further enhance this policy. UNITED HONORS PLANE TICKET MAN FOUND FROM 19 YEARS AGO Effective March 1, Uniteds new restrictions require customers flying emotional support animals to give the airline 48 hours' notice in addition to a letter from a mental health professional, confirmation of the animal's training and a clear record of health for the animal from a veterinarian, the press release states. Taking effect on the same day as Deltas similar regulations, the airline's controversial crackdown on emotional support animals cited an 84 percent increase in ill animal behavior such as urinating, defecating, biting and attacks on flights as impetus for the change. As the topic of emotional support and service animals continues to make headlines, Dexter the peacock has not let the incident slow his journey. The bird, who resides in Brooklyn with an artist named Ventiko, boasts over 12,000 followers on Instagram and is currently driving cross-country to the West coast no airline wings needed. FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK FOR MORE FOX LIFESTYLE NEWS An Arkansas couple was sentenced on Thursday to five years in prison after their newborn daughter suffered more than 100 rat bites in her first two weeks of life. Erica Shryock and Charles Elliott pleaded guilty in Columbia County Court in Magnolia to a felony charge of permitting the abuse of a minor, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported. The couple reportedly woke up on May 14, 2017 to discover their daughter, who was just 15-days-old, covered in more than 100 rat bites all over her body. The baby reportedly needed to have facial reconstruction surgery because the rodent bites left a one-inch-wide gash on her forehead which exposed the skull. Shryock, then 17, and Elliott, then 18, told police different accounts of what happened that morning. Elliot said he heard the baby screaming around 5 a.m., but Shryock said it wasnt until around 7:30 a.m. that she noticed something was wrong. They reportedly waited to take the baby to the hospital until Elliotts mother arrived at their home. A doctor at the Arkansas Childrens Hospital said the baby was most likely distressed for hours, and that the parents were absent to have not noticed their child suffering, KARK-TV reported. BERKELEY ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PUNISHED CHILD WITH WEIGHTED COMPRESSION VEST, PARENT CLAIMS In a search of the home where the family and another roommate lived officers found a blood-soaked hat and blanket in the bloody bassinet, and spotted bloody rat footprints in the home and rodent droppings near a nightstand. Shryock reportedly admitted to authorities that she had used both synthetic marijuana and marijuana, methamphetamine, and Tylenol mixed with codeine which was prescribed in the week their baby was found bloodied. Elliott said he smoked marijuana before he was arrested, and had used crystal meth and synthetic marijuana during the previous year. The two, who said they were aware their home had a rat issue, were reportedly found to fit to stand trial despite mental diseases, and childhoods which allegedly included rape and physical abuse. Elliott's foster mother told KARK that he grew up jumping from foster home to foster home, and has multiple personality disorder, and said that while she's not sure who to place blame on, "something broke" in the system. WOMAN, LIVE-IN GIRLFRIEND CHARGED WITH FORCING CHILDREN TO EAT DOG FECES IN NEW 'HOUSE OF HORRORS' Shryock and Elliott will be eligible for parole after 304 days, and will start their sentences with 293 days of jail credit. It was reported by KARK that the couple also has two other children, all of whom were taken into custody by the Arkansas Department of Human Services. While its unclear where the other two children are located, their youngest child has since been adopted. Manila (CNN Philippines Life) Emiliana Kampilan covers her face with a box-shaped bayong that she wears over her head. Two round holes blacked out by mesh, allowing her to see through it, and a misshapen heart below it, making her look like shes perpetually beaming a warm smile to you. The mask serves a purpose: to separate her identity from her work, the way Batman hides his billionaire status or V leads a revolution with a Guy Fawkes mask. But shes no superhero. As a comic artist, her work and her characters dont hide behind masks, costumes, and capes. In Dead Balagtas Tomo 1: Mga Sayaw ng Dagat at Lupa, she creates a world much like the one were living in right now with characters living, breathing, and longing for the same things that we all do. At its core, it is a sprawling graphic novel about love four stories that link the history of our land to the lives we lead today. The book kicks off the creation of the universe based on the perspective of the Babaylans in Visayas and then shuffles back and forth through time, completing three romantic narratives about separation, reconciliation, and indignation with the deft use of scientific and historical information. Nothing quite like it has ever been done in Philippine comics. This is why the first volume of Dead Balagtas topped CNN Philippines Lifes Best Philippine Comics of 2017 and why, upon its wide release last January, Eisner award nominee Gerry Alanguilan noted in his tweet that Philippine comics has just leveled up big time with Kampilans book. Dead Balagtas is a massive achievement and a massive book. Kakaiba yung size and format nung libro, Kampilan tells us. And it would not have been possible if Anino [Comics] wasnt insane enough rin to go along with me! Sold at 550 with part of the proceeds going to internally displaced persons in Marawi, its a crime not to purchase this graphic novel. A panel from Emiliana Kampilan's 'Ang Karagatan' chapter from the book "Dead Balagtas." Photo from DEAD BALAGTAS/FACEBOOK Before it was big, it started out small. Dead Balagtas began as a series of bite-sized comics uploaded through social media. Her knack for blending humor and history helped her steadily grow a cult following. Her reflections on our past mixed with the zeitgeist of today are more than the clickbait pop pieces that litter most timelines. Kampilan has molded her understanding of our history with the current status of our culture. In one strip, Jose Rizal feels objectified by Seiko Usui. Another shows the nature of the equation tragedy + time = comedy as Ramon Magsaysay is triggered by a paid ad featuring a smiling airplane offering low airfare deals. Transitioning from the smallness of web comics to the vastness of her latest work might seem daunting, but Kampilan was up to the challenge. Balak ko naman talaga gumawa ng mga long form later. It was a matter of determining kung saang punto ng kasaysayan tayo magsisimula; tapos nagpasya ako na magsimula sa simulang-simula. Even yung strips ay may sinusundang narrative which would be apparent pag na-compile na sila sa book. In his Pulitzer Prize-winning book about the comic industry The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, Michael Chabon writes: Every universe, our own included, begins in conversation. Dead Balagtas begins with the conversation between the land and the sea, how movements and tides placed and displaced the ground from which we stand today. Anumang disenteng history book ay magsisimula sa overview ng teritoryo ng Pilipinas, says Kampilan. And for good reason: ito ang magiging setting ng mga mangyayari sa next chapters, at it explains a great deal kung bakit nanyari ang mga pangyayaring iyon. Ang atake sa isa, atake sa ating lahat. Ang pagdurusa ng iba, pagdurusa ng lahat. Walang tunay na kalayaan hanggat may isang hindi malaya. Kampilan relates how important our location is to the history of those that surround us: Ginawa tayong port dahil sa lokasyon natin malapit sa Tsina at sa iba pang trading nations, malusog ang lupa for farming kaya ginawang source ng cash crops ng mga kolonyalista, sporadic ang early revolutions dahil pinaghihiwalay ng mga anyong tubig ang mga isla natin. When discussing history, one should tread lightly. The proliferation of fake news, alternative facts, and revisionism is something that Kampilan took in consideration when creating her work. Discussing history without having it fall into the trappings of an academic discussion is just one of her many goals. History, after all, shapes our future. Yung kawalan natin ng disenteng sense of history ang dahilan rin ng pagkaka-watak natin. Ultimo sa pagiging diktador at mamamatay-tao ni Marcos, torn apart tayo? Iyon ay historical fact na dapat nakadikdik na sa Filipino consciousness. Sa pag-alam ng kasaysayan nakikilala rin ang sarili, nalalaman kung saan dapat tumungo, at napapaliwanag kung bakit andito at ganito tayo ngayon. She could easily have created a book that talks about the mechanical recollection of terms dead and undead to the reader, enumerating concepts like volcanic plume, opholite creation, obduction. A panel from the book's third part "Palawan-PMB-Mindanao." Photo from DEAD BALAGTAS/FACEBOOK Pero nagpasya ako with a different approach, without sacrificing that common theme: na importante ang mga islang ito. Importante ang mga dagat na ito. They are part and parcel of our humanity and identity. Hindi lamang sila bastang lupang nagkabangaan. Gusto ko maramdaman ng reader ang geologic phenomena to get its significance, to feel the connection natin sa lupa at dagat natin. Dead Balagtas connects and endears because it tells of stories of love that are familiar to us all. In Ang Daigdig, she writes: Ang pag-ibig ay parang plate tectonics. What follows is a story between two childhood friends, growing up on shared interests built upon video games, Pokemon, and the need to create something out of nothing. As time goes on, the lands shift, progresses, and molds into something different. Kampilan makes you understand this concept through the pain of separation, how the person you once knew shifts gear and turns into a whole other being with different interests and inclinations. Ang Karagatan tells of the violent crashing of waves and where it can lead us. It also speaks of religion and sexuality through Rahman, a Muslim stock exchange employee and Ramon, a hulking contractual worker for a massive chain of malls. The two clash during an eventful, cramped ride on the MRT. Their differences are greatly amplified: Rahman has money but remains in the closet, fearing condemnation from Allah; Ramon barely gets by his minimum wage, but his homosexuality is welcomed by his family who expects him to send money every payday. Ramon accidentally rips Rahmans jacket and their casual meetings to resolve their initial issue grows from resentment to something built out of shared respect and romance. In the volumes final story, Lupang Hinirang, Kampilan talks about class and the struggle to fight for what you believe in through Anais, a factory worker, and Dylan, a student-activist who pushes her to strive for more after theyve met in a female empowerment forum by Gabriela. They fall deeply as one learns from the other, but in a classic twist of Pinoy romances, Dylans mom disapproves of her daughters lesbian relationship with a girl from the slums. The two defy the odds and decide to be together, struggling with the success of one over the other and eventually learning how forgive, forget, and move on hand in hand amid all of their adversities. We all seek belongingness, naghahanap tayo ng pakikipag-kapwa. Dito nagmumula ang hugot. Ang hugot mismo ay cry against this alienation. Ang hugot ay pag-amin mismo na may mali sa akin, sa kapwa, sa buhay. Hugot remains a huge part of Filipinos; a driving force, an emotion that unites us and informs our actions when we relate. Kampilan sees the importance of hugot in our culture. Alienated tayong mga Pilipino in so many ways dahil sa samut-saring pwersa sa bansang ito na naghihiwalay sa atin. Be it actual geography, yung mga cubicles sa ating opisina, yung rigid class system na napakahirap takasan, o yung trapik na nagkumo-konsume ng napakalaking bahagi ng buhay natin kaya literal na di tayo maka-unsad gaano. In a way, we just want to relate. We all seek belongingness, naghahanap tayo ng pakikipag-kapwa, she says. Dito nagmumula ang hugot. Ang hugot mismo ay cry against this alienation. Ang hugot ay pag-amin mismo na may mali sa akin, sa kapwa, sa buhay. Used properly, it can transcend. And it can be properly directed sa tunay na sanhi ng alienation natin sa lipunan na ito. Dahil sabi nga ni Bonifacio, walang pag-ibig na hihigit pa sa pag-ibig sa tinubuang lupa. But can hugot unite a nation? Can it help lead us to freedom? In creating Dead Balagtas, Kampilan hopes so. Ang kwento ng isa ang nagpapalusog rin sa kwento ng iba; at tayo ang bayan. Ang atake sa isa, atake sa ating lahat. Ang pagdurusa ng iba, pagdurusa ng lahat. Walang tunay na kalayaan hanggat may isang hindi malaya. Magkaka-kabit tayo without realizing it and without us needing to affirm it; at gusto ko maramdaman din iyon dun sa book. The medium of comics exists to show how people and things, be it real or imagined, move through a space, changes over time. The panels and the spaces that exist between it remains empty, but our minds and experiences fill in the details missing on those gaps. In Understanding Comics, Scott McCloud discussed how comic panels fracture both time and space. These jagged, staccato rhythms of unconnected moments are built upon in our minds to create a continuous, unified reality. An excerpt from Chapter 2 of "Dead Balagtas" about Tamblot and their babaylan companions: "Pinag-isa nila ang Isla ng Bohol at lumaban sila sa kultural na pagbabagong dala ng imperyalismo. Napalaya nila ang isla nang mahigit isang taon." Photo from DEAD BALAGTAS/FACEBOOK The strength of Dead Balagtas lies in how Kampilan weaves her own version of our own reality. It goes through her eyes, through her mind, and what she presents to us, the readers, is something that makes us truly understand how our shapes are molded, how objects crash into one another, how waves are formed and tamed by the land underneath it. Ang kwento natin, ang pakikibaka natin ang bumuo sa bansang ito. At kahit magpapalit-palit tayo ng gobyerno, tayong tao ang gumagawa ng kwento natin; tayo ang bayan. Nasa atin ang kapangyarihan. Atin ang lupa, at tayo ang lupa. Kaya nating sipain paalis sa atin paalis dito ang mga sanhi ng pagdurusa natin kurap na pulis, mamamatay taong diktador, mga imperyalista, mga haciendero, she says. We shape the land. We are the land. Tayo ang bulkang bumubuo ng bagong matutuntungan. Tayo ang nagpapabangon sa kapwa at sarili. Tayo ang dagat na gumagawa ng alon para kumonekta sa iba pang isla. *** Dead Balagtas Tomo 1: Ang Sayaw Ng Dagat at Lupa by Emiliana Kampilan can be purchased online through the Adarna House website. Visit the Dead Balagtas Facebook page for more information. A yoga instructor who was accused of deliberately driving off a cliff in Hawaii and killing her twin sister after a hair-pulling argument in 2016 was acquitted of murder Thursday. A judge in Honolulu found Alexandria Duval, 39, not guilty. Duval, whose trial began Monday, chose to have a judge decide the case, rather than a jury. Duval was charged with second-degree murder in the death of her sister, Anastasia Duval, who was 37 when she died on May 29, 2016. Prosecutors had made salacious claims about the suspect's actions, saying that she dressed as her dead sister after the crash, and flirted with the woman's boyfriend. Authorities said the twin sisters were involved in a fight as Alexandria drove down the winding and narrow Hana Highway on the island of Maui, with Anastasia riding as passenger. YOGA TEACHER DRESSED AS TWIN, 'FLIRTED' WITH SISTER'S EX-BOYFRIEND AFTER KILLING HER, PROSECUTORS SAY A witness on the highway's shoulder told police he heard a woman screaming in the vehicle, and that Anastasia was pulling the driver's hair and steering wheel. Others said they saw the SUV accelerate, then take a "sharp left" turn onto a rock wall, before it plunged 200 feet off a cliff. Court documents stated the vehicles air-bag control module showed that the driver did not attempt to brake before accelerating, making a hard left and hitting the wall. Blonde hair was reportedly found in Anastasia's hands after the crash. TRIAL BEGINS FOR YOGA INSTRUCTOR ACCUSED OF KILLING HER TWIN SISTER IN 'HAIR PULLING PLUNGE' OVER HAWAII CLIFF Anastasia Duval's then-boyfriend, Federico Bailey, testified that Alexandria put on Anastasias clothes. I started talking to her about what happened, she avoided answering any of my questions. Bailey continued, When I saw her in Anastasias dress, it was disturbing. Anastasia had just worn that dress a few nights earlier. Alexandria's defense attorney called the crash a tragic accident. Maui County Prosecuting Attorney J.D. Kim said she was "disappointed" in the acquittal. "The facts clearly show it was at least reckless behavior," he said. The sisters, born Alison and Ann Dadow in the Utica area of New York, operated popular yoga studios in Florida before they changed their names. They moved to Hawaii in 2015 from Utah and at one point were considered to appear in a reality show, Maui News reported. Fox News' Kathleen Joyce and The Associated Press contributed to this report. A man accused of ambushing a Philadelphia police officer with a hail of gunfire in the name of the Islamic State group was convicted Thursday of attempted murder. Edward Archer also was found guilty of aggravated assault and other charges stemming from the January 2016 shooting of Officer Jesse Hartnett in his patrol car. The verdict came after the panel deliberated for less than three hours. Hartnett, who returned fire, spent two weeks in a hospital. His arm was broken, and he suffered nerve damage. When questioned by police, Archer repeatedly pledged his allegiance to the Islamic State and said he acted out of religious inspiration. But authorities have said there is no indication Archer had coordinated the attack with a terrorist organization. He also was never charged with a terrorism-related offense. Archer's court-appointed attorneys had unsuccessfully sought last year to have him ruled incompetent to stand trial. Archer's mother said after the shooting that her son had been hearing voices and acting strange, but Archer declined to submit to mental health evaluations while awaiting trial. A judge later determined that he was aware of his situation and was simply refusing to cooperate. During the trial, jurors watched a surveillance video that shows a person in an all-white gown unloading a handgun into the driver's side of a squad car. The gunshots, pointed out by a detective who noted the small flashes of light from the muzzle of the firearm, are let off in rapid succession as the person approaches closer and closer until the person's hands appear to be inside the shattered window of the vehicle. The shooter flees and is followed on foot by a wounded Hartnett, the video shows. Archer was arrested a few blocks away, authorities said. Archer faces several decades in prison when he's sentenced later this year. A 12-year-old girl was taken into custody last week after police said the gun she brought to Salvador B. Castro Middle School in Los Angeles accidentally discharged in her backpack. A bullet tore through a girl's wrist before it hit a boy in the head, according to authorities. Doctors said both students are expected to recover, and the 12-year-old girl was booked in a juvenile detention center. While female shooters are not as common, there have been a series of violent incidents in the past involving children, teens and adult women. Read on for a look at other some school shootings involving female shooters. 2016 Dorothy Dutiel, 15, shot and killed her 15-year-old girlfriend May Kieu at Independence High School in Glendale, Ariz., before shooting herself, KPNX reported. She hasnt loved me like that for a long time, the station quoted Dutiel as saying in a note. That shes been iffy about us for years. This week has been the worst in my life. 2015 Sunghee Kwon, 46, reportedly killed her 45-year-old professor ex-husband Raja Fayad and took her own life at the University of South Carolina. They had continued in a relationship after their divorce, including sharing a home, until just recently, Richland County Coroner Gary Watts was quoted by Reuters as saying in a statement at the time. 2010 Professor Amy Bishop killed three people and hurt another three in a shooting at the University of Alabama in Huntsville, the FBI said in a report. She was in a biology department meeting for a half-hour before she stood up and began firing, it said. Bishop was sentenced in 2012 to life without parole after she pleaded guilty to capital murder and attempted murder charges. Bishop has filed numerous appeals in the case, WAFF reported in 2015. 2008 Teah Wimberly was 15 years old when police said she fatally shot 15-year-old Amanda Collette at Dillard High School in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, in November 2008. Wimberly later was convicted of second-degree murder and received a 25-year prison sentence, WTVJ Miami reported. I will never forgive myself for what I have done, and I don't expect you to forgive me, she reportedly told Collettes family in court. "You have no idea how sorry I truly am. 2008 Latina Williams, 23, killed two students in a Louisiana Technical College classroom before killing herself, according to the FBI report. She fired six rounds, then reloaded and committed suicide before police arrived, the report said. Killed were Karsheika Graves, 21, and Taneshia Butler, 26. After the shooting, Baton Rouge police reportedly said Williams had been exhibiting signs of paranoia and losing touch with reality. 2001 Elizabeth Bush, 14, was accused of shooting 13-year-old Kimberly Marchese in the shoulder at a parochial school in Williamsport, Pa. Bush told a judge in 2001 that she initially planned to shoot myself and show everybody how much (teasing) hurts so they could see, The Associated Press reported at the time. "It just happened, sir. I don't know, Bush later said when the judge inquired about her changed decision. I just wanted to scare her." The judge said he thought Bush intentionally sought to cause her death and sentenced Bush to a juvenile psychiatric facility, the AP reported. Marchese survived the shooting. 1996 Jillian Robbins, 19, was accused of opening fire at Penn State University with a rifle and killing 21-year-old student Melanie Spalla, The Collegian reported. Robbins, who was mentally ill, pleaded guilty to third-degree murder and attempting to kill another four people, the AP reported in 1998. She was sentenced to 30 to 60 years behind bars. 1988 Laurie Dann, 30, killed 8-year-old Nicky Corwin and hurt five other children in a shooting at Hubbard Woods School in Winnetka, Illinois, as part of a crime spree, WMAQ Chicago reported. Dann took off and held a family hostage in a home, the report added. She shot one of the family members, a 20-year-old college student who survived, and ultimately killed herself. 1979 California teenager Brenda Spencer carried out an attack on Cleveland Elementary School in San Diego. The 16-year-old opened fire at an elementary school, killing the principal and a custodian and wounding eight children and a police officer, according to an NYPD report on active shooters. Spencer fired the shots from her house across the street from the school. Spencer purportedly said it was because she didn't like Mondays. She pleaded guilty to charges and remains behind bars, History.com reported. The Associated Press contributed to this report. A former Dallas accountant condemned for fatally shooting his two young daughters while their mother listened helplessly on the phone was put to death Thursday night in Texas but not before taunting her one last time. John David Battaglia was executed for the May 2001 killings of his 9-year-old daughter, Faith, and her 6-year-old sister, Liberty. Battaglia and his wife had separated, and he shot the girls at his Dallas apartment during a scheduled visit. Battaglia smiled as the mother of his slain children, Mary Jean Pearle, and other witnesses to his execution walked into the death chamber viewing area. Asked by the warden if he had a final statement, the inmate replied: "No," then changed his mind. "Well, hi, Mary Jean," he said, looking and smiling at his ex-wife. "I'll see y'all later. Bye." Battaglia then closed his eyes and looked directly up. A few seconds later he opened them back up and lifted his head. "Am I still alive?" he asked. The powerful sedative pentobarbital began to take effect. "Oh, I feel it," he said. He gasped twice and started to snore. Within the next few seconds, all movement stopped. The time of death: 9:40 p.m., local, 22 minutes after the lethal dose began. Pearle turned away from an execution-viewing window after Battaglia stopped breathing and walked to the back of the witness area. "I've seen enough of him," she said. She returned several minutes later to watch as a physician examined Battaglia and pronounced him dead. Pearle declined to be interviewed afterward. His lethal injection was the nation's third this year, all in Texas. The punishment was delayed more than three hours until the U.S. Supreme Court rejected appeals from his lawyers to review his case. They contended the 62-year-old was delusional and mentally incompetent for execution and that a lower court improperly refused Battaglia's lawyers money to hire an expert to further examine legal claims regarding his mental competency. The Supreme Court has ruled that prisoners can be executed if they're aware the death penalty is to be carried out and have a rational understanding of why they're facing that punishment. Another unsuccessful appeal challenged the effectiveness of the pentobarbital Texas uses as its execution drug. Attorneys contended the state's supply was outdated and Battaglia was at risk for unconstitutionally cruel punishment. A state judge and the state appeals court described Battaglia as highly intelligent, competent, not mentally ill and faking mental illness to avoid execution. Testimony at a hearing showed Battaglia used the prison library to research capital case rulings on mental competence and discussed with his father during a phone call from jail the "chess game" of avoiding execution. State Judge Robert Burns, who found him competent, said Battaglia's intelligence and education -- he had a master's degree -- showed he had the "motive and intellectual capability to maintain a deliberate ploy or ruse to avoid his execution." According to prosecutors, Battaglia became enraged that Pearle notified police about his harassment of her and he used a visit with their daughters to act on his anger. Pearle returned a call from one of her daughters and heard Faith pleading with her father, who put the call on speakerphone. "No, daddy, please don't, don't do it!" Faith begged. Pearle yelled into the phone for the children to run, then heard gunshots. "Merry ... Christmas," Battaglia told Pearle, the words of the holiday greeting derisively divided by an obscenity. There were more gunshots. Pearle called 911. At the time of the killings, Battaglia was on probation for a Christmas 1999 attack on Pearle. His profanity-laced Christmas greeting to Pearle was an apparent reference to that. Faith was shot three times, Liberty five. Hours later, Battaglia was arrested outside at a tattoo shop where he had two large red roses inked on his left arm to commemorate his daughters. It took four officers to subdue him. A fully loaded revolver was found in his truck and more than a dozen firearms were recovered from his apartment. Battaglia told The Dallas Morning News in 2014 his daughters were his "best little friends" and that he had photos of them displayed in his prison cell. "I don't feel like I killed them," he said. "I am a little bit in the blank about what happened." The Associated Press contributed to this report A disabled Army veterans service dog was found this week shot in the head and dumped by railroad tracks in Boone County, Ky. The dog, Gunner, had belonged to Bryan Vallandingham, a 14-year U.S. Army veteran in Richwood, Ky., who relied on the service animal for safety, Cincinnati's Fox 19 reported. Gunner would alert Vallandinghams family members whenever the disabled veteran was having a seizure. He would tell us by sitting in front of him by laying across him or just barking randomly at Bryan so he would notify us and give us time to get him in a safe situation so he wouldnt hurt himself, Vallandinghams wife, Kimberly, told Fox 19. The family said Bryan wasnt doing well after learning of Gunners death, and has been having repeated seizures. The family suspected Gunner had been stolen from their yard more than two weeks ago. One family member said they received text messages from a person who claimed to know where the dog was and demanded money, but the family refused. Authorities are investigating if extortion is involved with Gunners disappearance and death. A Florida man faces DUI and child neglect charges after being caught driving drunk while dropping a kid off at school, police say. The Lake County Sheriffs Office said 47-year-old Christopher Beauchemin was arrested Wednesday morning after driving erratically in Fruitland Park. Sgt. Fred Jones told Fox 35 that one of the many 911 calls the department received about the incident described a kid in the car that looked petrified. He said he saw a young juvenile male in the back seat and he could tell that the kid was afraid," Jones said. One witness told police that he watched the suspect and he almost ran into two or three other people head on, Jones added. Police say Beauchemin dropped the child off at the Holy Trinity School and then fell asleep in the car. The suspect was passed out behind the wheel, and so the officer tapped on the glass, the guy woke up and he threw the car into drive and went into [a] fence, Jones told Fox 35. The Lake County Sheriffs Office said Beauchemin had a blood alcohol level of nearly three times the legal limit when he was arrested. Graphic autopsy and crime-scene photos will be shown to the jury in an upcoming rape-and-murder trial in Jacksonville, Fla., a judge ruled Thursday. Donald James Smith, 61, is accused of raping and killing 8-year-old Cherish Perrywinkle in June 2013. Medical Examiner Valerie Rao went to the crime scene after the childs body was discovered and conducted the autopsy, the Florida Times-Union reported. After Smiths arrest June 22, 2013, Rao examined and photographed the suspect's genitalia, the report said. Computer monitors were turned away from the public and the media during the initial hearing on the autopsy photos last week, the paper reported. Rao explained that the images depicted broken blood vessels as a result of strangulation, hickeys on part of the child's body and the impact of the rape on her lower body. The defense team argued that the photos not be shown because they were unnecessary and would be shocking to the jury, the newspaper reported. Its part of justice, dont you think? Rao said. It is shocking, but it is a fact. Judge Mallory Cooper denied the defense's motion on Thursday, a week later. The night before the girls body was found, her mother Rayne Perrywinkle called 911 to report her daughter missing. She said she last saw her with a man named Don, the report said. Prosecutors said earlier that day, Smith had befriended the mother and persuaded her and her three children to go to Walmart with him so he could buy the family food and clothes. Smith faces the death penalty as jury selection begins Monday. Click here for more from the Florida Times-Union. Its a century-old tradition that people cant get enough of Punxsutawney Phil, America's most famous groundhog, will come out of hibernation on Feb. 2 and predict whether we'll see six more weeks of winter weather. Every year, if the rodent sees its shadow, then it will retreat back to its burrow and winter will continue, according to legend. But if it doesnt see a shadow, due to overcast skies, then spring will allegedly arrive early. The top hat and tuxedo-wearing members of the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club's Inner Circle decide the forecast ahead of time and reveal the prediction on Feb. 2. PUNXSUTAWNEY PHIL AND 7 OTHER FAMOUS GROUNDHOGS YOU SHOULD KNOW Heres what you need to know about the big day. How accurate are Punxsutawney Phil's predictions? Phil may be the most famous groundhog in the U.S., but he isn't the most accurate. The four-legged creature only has a 39 percent accuracy, according to Stormfax Almanac's data. Phil sees his shadow about 85 percent of the time. A look at records dating back to 1887, when the tradition started, show Phil has seen his shadow 103 times and hasn't seen it just 18 times. There are nine years that weren't reported. "If Punxsutawney Phil is right 39 percent of the time, that's much, much worse than a climatological prediction," Tim Roche, a meteorologist at Weather Underground, told LiveScience. "Even if you flip a coin, you'll still be right close to half of the time that's a 50 percent accuracy rate. So you'll be better off flipping a coin than going by the groundhog's predictions." The groundhog's handler, however, maintains that Phil's predictions are always "100 percent correct." "Unfortunately, there have been years where the president has misinterpreted what Phil said," Ploucha told PennLive in 2017. "Because Phil's never wrong...we blame the variants on the president's interpretation of Phil's prediction." Here's a look at Phil's predictions over the past 12 years, according to the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club's records. 2019: No shadow 2018: Shadow 2017: Shadow 2016: No shadow 2015: Shadow 2014: Shadow 2013: No shadow 2012: Shadow 2011: No shadow 2010: Shadow 2009: Shadow 2008: Shadow How did Groundhog Day get started? The Groundhog Day celebration started when Germans Pennsylvania's earliest settlers introduced Candlemas Day, a Christian holiday celebrated on Feb. 2, to the state. On Feb. 2, the halfway point between the winter solstice and spring equinox, Germans turned to badgers to predict the future of the weather. But when they moved to Pennsylvania, they found another creature to take its place. PUNXSUTAWNEY PHIL 'WANTED' BY PENNSYLVANIA POLICE FOR DECEPTION "The settlers found that groundhogs were plentiful and were the most intelligent and sensible animal to carry on the legend of Candlemas Day," according to the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club. How did the tradition in Punxsutawney become so popular? The tradition grew in popularity in 1993 with the release of the comedy "Groundhog Day," starring Bill Murray. Murray, who plays a weatherman in the film, gets trapped in a time warp and has to relive the day over and over again until he gets it right. Before the movie premiered, Phil was lucky to have a couple hundred people attend the event. Now thousands of people from across the country travel to the small town of Punxsutawney, located 84 miles northeast of Pittsburgh. The leader of a Caribbean-to-New York cocaine ring that included a U.S. postal worker has been sentenced to 20 years in prison. U.S. Attorney Richard P. Donoghue says Luis Bello's operation distributed more than 1,000 kilograms of cocaine from 2011 to 2013. Drugs obtained in the Dominican Republic were shipped through Puerto Rico to New York. A Bronx mail carrier intercepted packages made out to addresses on his route, then delivered them to drug-ring members. The group also used post office boxes in New York and New Jersey. Prosecutors say at least $620,000 in cash exchanged hands. Drug proceeds were smuggled back to the Caribbean in soap bottles and the pockets of jeans packed in luggage. Nine other defendants have pleaded guilty. The mail carrier was sentenced in October. Uh-oh! It could be you, or it could be us, but there's no page here. Less than a month after federal immigration officials raided nearly 100 7-Eleven stores nationwide, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents conducted another sweep this week in Northern California, officials said Thursday. This time, ICE agents searched 77 businesses in the San Francisco and Sacramento areas in what was believed to be the largest localized raid since President Donald Trump took office, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. The raid underscores ICE acting director Thomas Homans call for a 400 percent increase in agency operations focusing on workplaces, the paper reported. Unlike the 7-Eleven raids in January, which resulted in 21 arrests, ICE didnt identify the businesses hit this week, nor did the agency make any immediate arrests, the paper reported. However, federal immigration officials issued notices of inspection, and ordered the businesses to provide proof their employees are legally allowed to work in the U.S. -- giving them three days to comply, the paper reported. Democratic lawmakers and California Attorney General Xavier Becerra had been on edge since a report in the Chronicle last month that federal officials were planning such a raid. "We will, as always, work with our federal partners in every respect to go after drug dealers, human traffickers, potential terrorists," Becerra said in January. "We're not in the business of deportation. We're in the business of public safety." The Associated Press contributed to this report. The father of three Larry Nassar sex assault victims won't be charged after he lunged at the disgraced doctor in a Michigan courtroom Friday, just moments after yelling he wanted "one minute with that b------!" After two of his daughters spoke, the father, Randall Margraves, asked the judge to grant him five minutes in a locked room with this demon. The judge denied the request, so the man asked for one minute and then lunged at Nassar. Court officers almost immediately subdued the man and he was not able to reach Nassar, who is accused of abusing hundreds of young girls. I want that son of a b----! Give me one minute with that b------! Margraves yelled as he was handcuffed. Two of Margraves' daughters gave statements to the court and said their other sister had also been molested by Nassar. Crying could be heard in the courtroom as Nassar was escorted out. Assistant Attorney General Angela Povilaitis told families in the courtroom to "use your words" and that violence "is not helping your children." ATTORNEY GENERAL ANNOUNCES PROBE INTO MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITYS HANDLING OF LARRY NASSAR SEX ABUSE CLAIMS A few hours following the incident, Margraves apologized to the courtroom and told Judge Janice Cunningham, I lost control. The judge said there was no way she would punish the father. Cunningham said a punishment isn't appropriate based on the crimes committed by Nassar and the anguish felt by families. But she also says it's wrong to "combat assault with assault. Nassar was in court awaiting his third and final sentencing for sexual assaults under the guise of medical treatment. The charges in this case focused on his work with Twistars, an elite Michigan gymnastics club headed by an Olympic coach. Last week, the disgraced doctor was sentenced to 40 to 175 years in prison for sexually assaulting young female athletes. The former USA Gymnastics doctor and Michigan State University trainer pleaded guilty to the sexual assaults. Nassar was expected to hear from more victims who said he molested them. The proceedings were expected to extend into next week. On Wednesday, Judge Janice Cunningham said a total of 265 victims came forward alleging Nassar abused them. USA GYMNASTICS SAYS IT WILL COMPLY WITH OLYMPIC COMMITTEES DEMAND FOR FULL BOARD TO RESIGN The scandal rocked the gymnastics world. Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette announced Saturday an investigation has been launched into Michigan State Universitys handling of sexual abuse allegations against Nassar. Following the outcry over the schools handling of Nassars sexual abuse allegations, MSU President Lou Anna K. Simon resigned and Mark Hollis, the schools athletic director, retired. The entire USA Gymnastics board of directors resigned Wednesday amid the fallout. A report by The Wall Street Journal alleged the U.S. Olympic Committee didnt intervene in USA Gymnastics handling of sexual abuse allegations against Nassar and found evidence of possible criminal behavior by the disgraced doctor. The USOC declined to comment on the report. The Associated Press contributed to this report. The Latest on the killing of a 19-year-old University of Pennsylvania student in California (all times local): 3:10 p.m. A Southern California man has pleaded not guilty to killing a gay University of Pennsylvania student in a trial that's prompted calls to change state murder laws. Twenty-year-old Samuel Woodward entered the plea on Friday in Santa Ana. A judge set his bail at $5 million with special conditions that he must wear a monitor. Authorities say the Newport Beach man stabbed 19-year-old sophomore Blaze Bernstein early this month and buried his body at a neighborhood park near the Bernstein family home in Lake Forest. Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas says he doesn't know whether Bernstein was killed because he was gay. But the killing has prompted a push to change state law to include sexual orientation and gender as motivating factors for more serious murder charges. ___ 12:20 p.m. The killing of a 19-year-old University of Pennsylvania student in California has prompted a push to change state law to include sexual orientation and gender as motivating factors for more serious murder charges. Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas said Friday that he didn't know and wouldn't discuss if Blaze Bernstein was killed because he was gay. But he says the investigation brought the issue to his attention. State Sen. Janet Nguyen says she's proposing legislation to make the change. Rackauckas said a first-degree murder charge carries a sentence of 25 years to life, while a murder charge with special circumstances is eligible for the death penalty or a sentence of life without parole. Authorities have charged 20-year-old Samuel Woodward with the killing. He is scheduled to be arraigned Friday. ___ 11:45 p.m. A 20-year-old California man charged in the killing of a University of Pennsylvania student is due in court. Samuel Woodward of Newport Beach is scheduled to be arraigned on Friday in Santa Ana. Authorities say Woodward killed 19-year-old sophomore Blaze Bernstein and buried his body in a shallow grave at a neighborhood park not far from the Bernstein family home in Lake Forest. Authorities say he was missing for a week after leaving the house with Woodward the night of Jan. 2. Woodward is charged with murder and an enhancement for use of a knife. He is being held without bail. Bernstein was gay and Jewish and authorities are investigating the possibility of a hate crime. He was home in California visiting his family for winter break. The young female student who allegedly opened fire inside a Los Angeles middle school classroom Thursday reportedly thought the gun was a toy. The shooting suspect who police confirmed is 12 years old is accused of opening fire inside Salvador B. Castro Middle School. She was taken into custody almost immediately after the incident. The Los Angeles Police Department interviewed the girl and later confirmed the shooting was an accident. Benjamin Urbina, who was in the classroom at the time of the incident, told reporters the suspect thought the gun was a toy. GIRL, 12, OPENS FIRE INSIDE LOS ANGELES MIDDLE SCHOOL, POLICE SAY; 4 WOUNDED "They thought it was a toy gun, but then it shot," Urbina said. He told reporters the suspect didnt mean to shoot a 15-year-old girl in the wrist. A 15-year-old boy was also shot in the head. Doctors said the bullet didnt hit anything vital or life-threatening. Three other people had minor face or head injuries, some from broken glass, but werent shot, officials said. Jordan Valenzuela, 12, told The Associated Press he was in class when he heard the bang and screaming. Valenzuela said the suspect told him it was an accident. He said the sobbing girl told him: "I didn't mean to. I had the gun in my backpack and I didn't know it was loaded and my backpack fell and the gun went off," the seventh-grader said. Valenzuela said the girl asked him to hide the backpack with the gun inside. "I said 'No,'" he said. "Then I moved away from her because I was a little bit scared." SCHOOL SHOOTINGS WITH FEMALE SHOOTERS But, he said, "she doesn't do bad things, she just stays quiet." Shallin Lopez, a seventh-grader, was in the room at the time of the shooting. She said she never saw a gun. "I just saw something pop," Lopez said. "It was loud. I didn't see her shoot." It was not immediately clear where the girl got the semi-automatic handgun or why she brought it to the schools campus. The girls grandmother told ABC 7 her granddaughter was loving and caring. She also alleged the girl was bullied at school by another girl and she did not have a lot of friends. The Associated Press contributed to this report. The suspect arrested in connection with the gruesome death of a young Oregon woman, whose dismembered body was found last week, pleaded not guilty Thursday. Jeremiah "Jeremy" Johnston, 35, was arrested last week, shortly after authorities discovered the remains of Sara Zghoul stuffed in suitcases in an abandoned black BMW in Aloha, Ore. He was charged with homicide and abuse of a corpse and was booked Wednesday into the Washington County Jail, where he was being held without bail, the Oregonian reported. Not long after Zghoul was slain, police located Johnston near a ravine. He had tried to commit suicide by slashing his throat and cutting his wrists, authorities said. Johnston appeared in court in a wheelchair wearing a lime green jail uniform that indicates he is on suicide watch, the newspaper reported. He was recently released from prison on probation following a drug arrest, and was living with his mother. Investigators connected the vehicle with Johnston, but wouldnt clarify whether he owned the vehicle, the paper reported. The BMW was found near his mothers home. Chase Haverfield, who became friends with Johnston while both were in prison, told Fox 12 Johnston was acting quiet and a little weird when they met up just two days before Zghouls body was found. It was really weird because he usually has a black BMW. I know he cherished that car, he really liked it, said Haverfield. Haverfield knew Zghoul as they were both recovering addicts and lived near each other, according to the station, however, he had no idea Johnston knew her. Police havent said whether Johnston was acquainted with Zghoul, and a probable cause affidavit has been sealed for 180 days at the hands of a circuit court judge, the Oregonian reported. Johnston is scheduled to return to court Feb. 8. A Maryland police chase led to officers uncovering 9,000 rounds of ammunition hidden inside a suburban home, with bullets ranging from shotgun shells to rifle rounds. Police in Aberdeen said they found the stash after pursuing Brandon Tyre Jones, 37, who raced away on Wednesday night minutes after his Mercedes Benz was stopped for a window tint violation. Officers caught up to Jones and arrested him and evidence found in his car led police to a home on New County Road, where a SWAT team burst through the door early Thursday morning, authorities said. Inside they found a loaded .45 caliber handgun, gun magazines, gun parts, and over 9,000 rounds of ammunition, a police statement said. The ammunition included numerous different calibers to include 7.62 rifle and 12 gauge shotgun ammunition. Police arrested a second man, 36-year-old Andre Evans-El, of the same address, after serving the warrant. Evans-El was charged with illegal possession of ammunition, illegal possession of a regulated firearm, and firearms possession with a felony conviction, and was released from jail Thursday after being held on $5,000 bond, the Baltimore Sun reported, citing court records. Jones who is being held without bond was hit with several counts of illegal possession of ammunition, concealed dangerous weapons, assault, reckless endangerment and more than two dozen traffic charges related to the police chase. Authorities said Jones was arrested while being out on bail from a Jan. 14 arrest, in which he faces numerous weapons charges. A Massachusetts high school canceled the screening of Disneys Cool Runnings this week after the principal said she received complaints that the 1993 film was racially insensitive. The film is based on a true story about a bobsled team from Jamaica qualifying for the 1988 Olympics. The PG-rated movie follows the athletes' journey to the Olympic Games. The student council at Wayland High School announced the institution would watch Cool Runnings Wednesday during their winter week, FOX 25 Boston reported. "Winter week," a school tradition, follows midterm exams and was dedicated as a relaxing time for students. Following the student councils announcement, the principal, Allyson Mizoguchi, sent an email to students canceling the films viewing. STEVE WYNNS NAME STRICKEN AT U OF IOWA; MASS. CASINO REGULATORS SAY $7.5M SETTLEMENT WAS HIDDEN Mizoguchi wrote in the statement: Following the recent announcement that Cool Runnings would be the movie shown this year, I received concerns from members of our community that raised my awareness about elements of the movie that could be viewed as culturally and racially insensitive. The principal wrote that after researching the movies plot more, she decided it was best to cancel the screening. While disappointing for students, I want to emphasize that this experience has inspired productive, honest conversation about stereotypes in the media, the nature of narrative, and subtle, racially insensitive messages as compared to overt racism, Mizoguchi wrote. However, students were not pleased with the cancellation of the viewing. FOX 25 Boston reported students began a chain email with some 150 replies from teens who were outraged by the canceled screening. "It's a PG movie for kids 8 and above... we are 8 and above, one student wrote. Other students said they would watch the film on Netflix instead. "I'm gonna go home and watch it on Netflix, another student wrote. JUDGE GRANTS BAIL TO MAN SUSPECTED OF HIDING DEAD BODY The student paper, Wayland Student Press Network did a survey asking what the teenagers thought of the principals decision. The survey, in which 115 students participated, showed only two teenagers supported Mizoguchis conclusion. Mizoguchi told Metrowest Daily News the movie was not overtly racist but the films subtlety of stereotypes was a problem. The movie is not really overtly racist, Mizoguchi said. It is the subtlety of stereotypes in the movie. Every dog has its day. A German Shepherd in Michigan received a letter last week confirming that he was approved for $360 every week in state unemployment benefits from a restaurant he was supposedly working at. The letter from the State of Michigan Unemployment Insurance Agency was addressed to a Michael Ryder, WZZM-TV reported. Ryder is the name of dog owned by Michael Haddock, an attorney. Not sure what he is going to do with the money, but it should be interesting. I knew he was clever, but he surprised me this time, Haddock wrote in a Facebook post. Haddock told the station the employer listed on the letter was from a Detroit restaurant. Haddock resides in Saugatuck, which is located on the other side of Michigan. Unfortunately for Ryder, the chances of collecting some extra money for bones or squeaky toys did not pan out. The agency told WZZM-TV that the claim was flagged as suspicious in the next step of the process. "Unfortunately, Michael Ryders claim will not be allowed. I know first-hand it is rare for 'mans best friend' to contribute financially to the household and that will continue in this instance, Tim Kolar, the states administrator of investigations, told the station. The Associated Press contributed to this report. The number of businesses seeking active shooter training is increasing as the frequency of these incidents nationwide has risen over the last 15 years. The Saratoga County Sheriffs Office in upstate New York has been providing training in its community of 225,000 people for the last two years. In that time, the number of coordinated trainings theyve led at local schools, churches and businesses is up from one or two a month to 15. The increased requests for trainings comes at a time when active shootings are generally on the rise. According to an FBI study, from 2000 to 2006 there was an annual average of 11.4 incidents a year. From 2007 to 2013, there was an annual average of 16.4 incidents. The Trump administration has taken notice to the trends as well. In October, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions awarded a $5.4 million grant to the ALERRT Center in Texas the preeminent active shooter training facility responsible for teaching some 300,000 law enforcement members and citizens nationwide how to respond to active shooter situations. I think we have to get out of the mindset of if its going to happen, Saratoga County Sheriffs Deputy Kenneth Cooper said of shootings. Its when is it going to happen and am I prepared? Their latest active shooter drill took place at the DeCrescente Distributing Company in Mechanicville, New York. The realistic drill was requested by the beverage distribution company and it involved live blank gunfire, mock exploding pipe-bombs, nearly two dozen police officers, and 50 employees of the family-owned business, many of whom barricaded themselves in their offices during the 40-minute workplace exercise. Without a doubt everybody should be doing it, Carmine DeCrescente III, vice president of DDC, said about active shooter drills in the workplace. We want to make sure our employees are safe, weve been in business for 40 years, and these employees are part of my extended family. They have to be safe. Seven months ago, the Saratoga County Sheriffs Office gave classroom training to DeCrescente employees on how to survive a workplace active shooting. The curriculum can be summed up in three words: Run. Hide. Fight. During a shooting, people are advised to avoid the shooter and run, barricade themselves and hide, or as a last resort confront and fight off the shooter. The DeCrescente drill was designed to be as real world as possible. Its one thing to be told what to do its another to put that plan into action as gunshots ring outside your office door. In the drill, an officer posing as a shooter shot a salesman outside the distribution center. Wounded, the salesman called 911 and police were dispatched to the building. The warehouse went into lockdown 50 employees scrambled to take cover as an intercom voice warned them of an active shooter. The shooter fired shots and threw pipe bombs. Unable to take cover quickly enough, an employee played by an officer was shot in the hallway. The shooter was taken down and apprehended within 5 minutes as a second police-response team tended to the wounded and evacuated the building. Employees were surprised by how anxious they were during the drill. We knew about the drill, and youd think you can prepare for this. But you see the shooter come in, you hear the shots being fired, it starts going through your mind, heart starts to race and you go into overdrive, Russ Teplitzky, general manager of DDC, said after the drill. I had no idea I would feel that way. Like I said, we knew it was coming. Cooper, the lead trainer, said thats the idea of the exercise. We want to make sure their anxiety is up, he said. If you freeze for 10 to 12 seconds youre going to put yourself in harms way You need to respond accordingly and its getting yourself into a location where you can get the door locked or barricaded. Moments after the drill, Teplitzky said it was important for companies to follow suit. Make sure your employees fully understand. Dont shy away from this, he implored to business leaders. Theyre doing this in schools. So when you go home, youre able to have the same conversation your kids are having. Nearly 200 people from Mexico and Central America were stuffed inside large trucks and caught trying to enter the United States illegally during three huge January smuggling busts that occurred in just nine days. Officials in southern California said 77 people, including 5 children, were found near the Mexico border Monday packed inside a sweltering truck that had been painted to resemble a UPS truck. The San Diego Union-Tribune reported a U.S. border patrol agent in Boulevard, Calif., noticed the truck was riding low and could smell body odor mixed with a distinct type of pungent soap which is commonly used in Mexico. Inside the truck's cargo area, officials found people sweating and standing shoulder-to-shoulder. A similar scene greeted authorities last week in Laredo, Texas, where border patrol agents found 76 immigrants, including 13 children, from Mexico, Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala lying on the floor or crouching against the walls of a tractor-trailer rig. A week earlier, also in Laredo, border agents stopped a tractor-trailer with 29 illegal immigrants from Mexico and Guatemala crossing into the U.S. Laredo and southern California are home to two of the largest trade and transportation ports along the U.S.-Mexico border, and hundreds, if not thousands, of tractor-trailers move goods between the two countries. Smugglers are taking advantage and carrying human cargo that can be easily transported across country lines without easy detection. Jessica Vaughn, director of policy studies for the Center for Immigration Studies, told Fox News on Thursday that these locations are funnels for an enormous volume of international trade, making them easy targets for smugglers. There is no way that all of them are screened [as closely as they should be], she said, adding the financial incentive from smugglers and drivers is just too high to discard. In the case out of Boulevard earlier this week, the driver was identified as Shawn Lee Seiler, a U.S. citizen who told authorities he was an alien smuggler who expected to get paid $100 per immigrant that he got across. According to court documents, Seiler was surprised to learn there were 77 people in the truck as he was only expecting 50. [This] is only a fraction of what the smugglers [who are putting them on the trucks] are getting, Vaughn said. Its a couple thousand I believe the going rate was around $3,000 a person. She continued: The cartels that control the flow are making a huge amount of money...Its a multi-million dollar business. Miguel Contreras, the special operations supervisor for U.S. Border Patrol in Laredo, told Fox News Thursday that the cost is more around $5,000 to $8,000 that people pay the criminal organizations from point of origin to point of destination. All of the immigrants swept up during the three January busts were in good condition when they were found -- but this is not always the case. Last July, 10 people died as they were being smuggled through Texas. Thirty-nine immigrants were found packed into a semitrailer in the parking lot of a San Antonio Walmart. Eight were already dead when officials opened the trailer's door and two more died at hospitals. The truck's refrigeration system wasn't working and the day's temperature had climbed to 101 degrees. The truck driver, identified as 60-year-old James Mathew Bradley Jr., of Clearwater, Fla., later pleaded guilty to conspiracy and to transporting immigrants resulting in death. These criminal organizations view these individuals as mere commodities without regard for their safety, Gabriel Acosta, assistant chief patrol agent for the Laredo Border Patrol sector, said about the recent incidents. The blatant disregard for human life will not be tolerated. Its unclear how many tractor-trailers cross the border filled with human cargo and go undetected. Contreras said they have seen an increase of tractor-trailer cases within the last few months. He said when spring hits, they expect to see an uptick. In Laredo, border patrol are working to raise awareness among drivers that even though moving human cargo is a quick buck that there are consequences including jail time and losing their commercial drivers license for life. Vaughn believes law enforcement are seeing more immigrants crossing illegally into the U.S. in these conditions because it has become tougher to move in between the ports of entry. She said under the Trump administration, agents have shifted to patrolling the actual border, especially places where there is no actual border wall. We were missing a lot of people crossing the border, she added. The Trump administrations hardline rhetoric and ongoing crackdown on illegal immigration does not appear to be deterring people from making the arduous trek across the southern border mostly because the incentives awaiting them appear to outweigh the challenges or cost. They dont know the details of the U.S. programs and the law; they just hear that there is going to be amnesty, Vaughn said, adding that many believe they can work illegally once they make it to the U.S. We have a moral duty to crackdown on this. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, February 1) Prepare yourself for an inspirational weekend as Humans of New York (HONY) tells its story to Manila fans. Brandon Stanton, creator of online blog HONY, will be holding back-to-back talks at the University of the Philippines Diliman Cine Adarna Saturday. The announcement was made on the official Facebook page of HONY Thursday. The site has over 17 million followers. HONY is a photography blog that originally featured portraits of New Yorkers with a caption about their encounters with Stanton. According to the post, Stanton prepared a one-hour multimedia presentation about the history of HONY, for presentation at 9 a.m. and again at 11 a.m. "Not sure if this is the best or worst idea I've ever had. Guess we'll find out," the announcement read. Entrance is free for the first 800 attendees for each show. In January, HONY also called for an interpreter to accompany Stanton on his Manila trip HONY has evolved since 2010 to feature people from over 20 countries, with some of the stories published in bestselling books 'Humans of New York' and 'Humans of New York: Stories.' A doctoral student at Oregon State University faces felony hate crime charges after being arraigned Tuesday for allegedly placing racist bumper stickers on cars last June. Andrew Joseph Oswalt, 27, was indicted on four criminal counts, including two counts of criminal mischief and two counts of intimidation, which is a hate crime in Oregon, the Oregonian reported. "This is a hate crime inspired by ignorance, fueled by racism and aimed at people of color," Ryan Joslin, a deputy district attorney for Benton County, told the newspaper. "It was his intent to terrorize both individuals and a group of people." "This is a hate crime inspired by ignorance, fueled by racism and aimed at people of color. It was his intent to terrorize both individuals and a group of people." Ryan Joslin, a deputy district attorney for Benton County, Ore. Oswalt and another person plastered bumper stickers containing a racist slur for African-Americans on two cars belonging to social activists parked outside a local food co-op, authorities said. The bumper stickers covered messages on cars that supported immigrants and refugees, Faith Reidenbach, co-founder of the local chapter of Showing Up For Racial Justice, told the newspaper. Oswalt was arrested Tuesday and jailed in lieu of $157,000 bail, but that was raised to $250,000 Wednesday, the newspaper reported, citing court records. He remained in custody, but if he posts bail, he will be banned from the OSU campus and prohibited from having any contact with the local chapter of Showing Up For Racial Justice, a group designed to mobilize support for people of color and social justice issues. Oswalt is part of the student goverment, but now faces recall efforts to remove him, Willamette Week reported. Oswalt pleaded not guilty to all charges on Thursday. Punxsutawney Phil, America's most famous groundhog, saw his shadow Friday morning, predicting six more weeks of winter. A rival groundhog, Staten Island Chuck, predicted spring will be coming early after he did not see his shadow in New York on Friday. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio was not in attendance for the shadow reveal after he "dropped" Charlotte, a stand-in rodent for Groundhog Day in 2014. Charlotte sadly passed away a few days after the fall. De Blasio has not attended a Groundhog Day since the fatal fall. But Phil typically gets top billing. The groundhog came out of hibernation Friday morning in Pennsylvania to forecast the weather for the next six weeks. Legend has it if the furry rodent casts a shadow on Groundhog Day, Feb. 2, expect six more weeks of winter-like weather. If not, expect spring-like temperatures. HOW TO WATCH GROUNDHOG DAY FESTIVITIES, AND A LOOK AT THE ACCURACY OF PUNXSUTAWNEY PHIL However, Phil's prediction was decided ahead of time by the top hat and tuxedo-wearing members of the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club's Inner Circle. The group makes the announcement on Gobbler's Knob, a tiny hill just outside of Punxsutawney, Pa. The small community is about 65 miles northeast of Pittsburgh. Records dating back to 1887 show Phil predicting more winter 102 times while forecasting an early spring just 18 times. No records exist for the remaining years. People gathered at Gobbler's Knob at 3 a.m. ET to await the decision announced around 7:25 a.m. ET. PUNXSUTAWNEY PHIL AND 7 OTHER FAMOUS GROUNDHOGS YOU SHOULD KNOW The tradition grew in popularity in Punxsutawney following the release of the comedy "Groundhog Day," starring Bill Murray. Murray, who plays a weatherman in the film, gets trapped in a time warp and has to relive the day over and over again until he gets it right. Before the movie premiered, Phil was lucky to have a couple hundred people attend the event. Now thousands of people from across the country travel to the small town of Punxsutawney, located 84 miles northeast of Pittsburgh. Fox News' Jennifer Earl and the Associated Press contributed to this report. During the last year, multiple schools across the U.S. have been impacted by shootings, which have resulted in the deaths of both students and faculty members. Read on for a look at school shootings that have taken place within the last year. Noblesville West Middle School, Indiana A male student fired shots at Noblesville West Middle School in Indiana on May 25, critically injuring another student and a teacher at the school. The alleged shooter, who has not yet been identified, was taken into custody shortly after the incident occurred at roughly 9 a.m. Sources told FOX 59 the suspect walked into a science classroom with a gun and opened fire, hitting a female. A science teacher was able to tackle the student who fired shots inside the classroom, student Ethan Stonebraker told The Associated Press. The victims were taken to a local hospital. The extent of their injuries is unclear. Santa Fe High School, Texas At least eight people were killed and several others were injured following reports of an active shooter at a Texas high school on May 18, local affiliate KTRK reported. The suspected shooter was taken into custody. "Personnel treating the injured. Info is still preliminary, but there are multiple casualties," Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez confirmed. Police officers responded to Santa Fe High School around 8 a.m. CDT after reports that a shooter opened fire inside a first-period art class. Details of the incident were not immediately available. "Details will be released as we receive updated information. Law enforcement will continue to secure the building and initiate all emergency management protocols to release and move students to another location," the school district said in a statement. Highland High School, California A 14-year-old student was taken into custody after allegedly shooting a classmate at Highland High School in Palmdale, California on May 11. The suspected gunman shot a fellow student in the arm, police said. The shooting stemmed from a dispute between the shooter and the victim, according to authorities. The injured student is expected to make a full recovery. Forest High School, Florida A suspected gunman, later identified as 19-year-old Sky Bouche, allegedly opened fire at Forest High School in Ocala, Florida, on April 20. The shooting occured on the 19th anniversary of the Columbine school shooting. At least one student was injured after the gunman shot through a classroom door, hitting a 17-year-old student in the ankle, authorities said. The student was later taken to a local hospital with a non-life-threatening injury. A school resource officer, James Long, was hailed a hero after arresting Bouche just three minutes after he opened fire. Bouche, a former student at the school, allegedly carried the weapon in a guitar case inside the school, authorities said. Great Mills High School, Maryland On March 20, a gunman, identified as 17-year-old Austin Rollins, shot 16-year-old sophomore Jaelynn Willey at Great Mills High School in Lexington Park, Maryland, authorities said. Willey died days later from her injuries. Investigators believe the shooting was not random as the gunman and Willey had recently ended their relationship. Rollins was fatally wounded during a confrontation with Deputy Blaine Gaskill, an armed school resource officer who doubles as a SWAT team member. "Our school resource officer...pursued the shooter, engaged the shooter, fired a round at the shooter," St. Mary's County Sheriff Tim Cameron said. "The shooter fired a round as well. In the hours and days to come, we'll be able to determine if our school resource officer's round struck the shooter." Gaskill was praised because he reportedly contained the situation in under a minute, Cameron said. Willey's parents announced on March 22 that their daughter was brain dead and that they would be taking her off of life support. She died later that night. Jaelynn's mother, Melissa, told reporters her daughter had "no life left in her." "On Tuesday ... our lives changed completely and totally forever. My daughter was hurt by a boy who shot her in the head and took everything from our lives," she said. A 14-year-old boy, later identified as Desmond Barnes, was also injured in the shooting. Authorities said he was shot in the thigh but was later released from a local hospital. Police are still investigating if the boy was shot by Rollins or Gaskill while the two exchanged gunfire. Huffman High School, Alabama A 17-year old girl is dead and one other person was left injured from a March 7 shooting at Huffman High School in Birmingham, Alabama. Courtlin Arrington, 17, was killed when shots were fired in a classroom, Birmingham Police Chief Orlando Wilson told WBRC. A 17-year-old male student was wounded. He was taken to the hospital and released. Birmingham Police Department announced March 8 that a student was taken into custody in the investigation into the deadly shooting. Police said evidence, surveillance video and statements were reviewed throughout the night. Police initially called the shooting accidental, but later reviewed a video that captured the deadly incident. "We're not saying he shot her, we're not saying he didn't shoot her," the chief said. "We're asking those questions ourselves so we can determine exactly what happened." Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, Florida Police responded to reports of shots fired at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., around 3 p.m. on Feb. 14. Seventeen people lost their lives and 17 others were injured. The day after the shooting, the suspected gunman, 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz, told authorities he arrived at the school with an AR-15 rifle, adding that he shot "students that he saw in the hallways and on school grounds," according to an arrest affidavit. Cruz may plead guilty to avoid the death penalty, his lawyer reportedly said Feb. 16. Cruz was formally charged March 7 with 17 counts each of premeditated murder and attempted murder. A 12-year-old girl was taken into custody after police said the loaded gun she brought to Salvador B. Castro Middle School in Los Angeles accidentally discharged on Feb. 1, shooting a 15-year-old boy in the head and a 15-year-old girl in the wrist. Police interviewed the 12-year-old student and agreed the shooting was accidental. She was booked in a juvenile detention center on suspicion of negligently discharging a firearm on school grounds. It is unclear where the girl got the gun or why she decided to bring it to her school. Doctors said both students who were shot are expected to recover. Additionally, an 11-year-old boy and a 12-year-old girl were treated at the hospital and released while a 30-year-old woman, who is a school staff member, had only minor injuries, Los Angeles city police said in a statement. Marshall County High School, Kentucky A shooter opened fire at Marshall County High School in Benton, Ky., on Jan. 23, killing two people. Students Bailey Nicole Holt and Preston Ryan Cope, both 15 years old, died. Suspected shooter Gabriel Ross Parker, 15, was arraigned on Feb. 16, according to Kentucky State Police. "A Marshall County Grand Jury returned an indictment on Tuesday, charging Parker with two counts of Murder and fourteen counts of First Degree Assault," KSP said. Marshall County Circuit Clerk Tiffany Griffith told Reuters a judge entered a not guilty plea on the teen's behalf. Italy High School, Texas A 15-year-old girl was hurt in a Jan. 22 shooting at Italy High School in Italy, Texas. A 16-year-old male student was taken into custody, Ellis County police told Fox News. In the school's cafeteria, the suspect "engaged the victim" and fired several shots with a semi-automatic handgun, Ellis County Sheriff Chuck Edge said during a press briefing. The suspect was confronted by an Italy Independent School District staffer in the school cafeteria and took off, Edge said. Law enforcement later apprehended the suspect on school grounds. The suspect was charged with two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, the Ellis County district attorney's office announced. Aztec High School, New Mexico Gunman William Atchison, 21, disguised himself as a student to get inside Aztec High School in Aztec, N.M., on Dec. 7, 2017, according to authorities. Atchison was also a former student. State police said that Atchison killed students Francisco I. Fernandez and Casey J. Marquez. Officials said Atchison eventually shot himself, adding that the students killed were not targeted, but were at the "wrong place at the wrong time." Rancho Tehama Elementary School, California A man in Northern California went on a random shooting rampage on Nov. 14, 2017, killing five people and wounding at least a dozen adults and children before authorities shot and killed him. The gunman, who was later identified as Kevin Neal, 44, rammed a car into the gates of Rancho Tehama Elementary School and shot at its portable classrooms. He repeatedly tried to get into a kindergarten classroom but quick-thinking staff locked the school down, and he eventually stormed off. Neal reportedly targeted the elementary school as part of a long-running feud with neighbors. Mattoon High School, Illinois A male student shot and injured a fellow student at a central Illinois high school on Sept. 20, 2017. The shooting unfolded in Mattoon High Schools cafeteria around 11:30 a.m., officials said at the time. One female teacher intervened and successfully subdued and disarmed the gunman -- a move Mattoon Police Chief Jeff Branson said at the time was pivotal. The gunman was taken into custody shortly after the incident. Freeman High School, Washington A 15-year-old student opened fire on fellow classmates at a Washington state high school on Sept. 13, 2017, killing one, investigators said. Caleb Sharpe, the suspected gunman, said the student who died had bullied him. The slain student tried to stop the teen's rampage when the gun jammed, according to The Associated Press. A school janitor was hailed a hero after he was able to subdue the alleged shooter. Three other students were wounded in the attack. According to court documents, Sharpe told officials that he brought the two guns to school to teach everyone a lesson about what happens when you bully others. North Park Elementary School, California A special needs teacher and a child, 8, were killed in what police said was a murder-suicide at North Park Elementary School in San Bernardino, California. Police said Cedric Anderson walked into the school on April 10, 2017, and shot his estranged wife, Karen Elaine Smith. Two other students were also struck before Anderson killed himself, although law enforcement officials said they do not believe they were intended targets. Jonathan Martinez was identified as the 8-year-old killed at the elementary school. A 9-year-old was injured. Liberty-Salem High School, Ohio Two high school students were injured after a fellow student allegedly fired a shotgun inside Liberty-Salem High School in Ohio on Jan. 20, 2017. Logan Cole, who was 16 at the time, was shot twice but survived. Another student was grazed by a bullet. Champaign County Sheriff Matthew Melvin said the gunman intended to harm more students than he did. Ely Serna, the accused gunman, was 17 at the time of the shooting but is being tried as an adult in Champaign County court. He has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. Fox News' Nicole Darrah, Kaitlyn Schallhorn, Elizabeth Zwirz, Katherine Lam, Lucia I. Suarez Sang, Samuel Chamberlain, Kathleen Joyce, Shira Bush and The Associated Press contributed to this report. A white New York City teacher is under fire after she reportedly singled out black students and told them to lie on the floor during a lesson on U.S. slavery. The teacher, identified as Patricia Cummings from Middle School 118 in the Bronx, then allegedly stepped on the back of at least one black student to show her what slavery felt like. Cummings pulled the stunt during multiple seventh-grade social studies classes about two weeks ago, the New York Daily News reported. It was a lesson about slavery and the Triangle Trade, the newspaper was told by one of Cummings' students, who said the teacher instructed three black students to lay on the floor in front of the class. She said, You see how it was to be a slave? She said, How does it feel? BLACK LIVES MATTER FLAG FLIES OVER VERMONT SCHOOL DESPITE BACKLASH When one of the students said she felt fine, Cummings stepped on her. She put her foot on her back and said How does it feel? the student said. See how it feels to be a slave? Another student said the lesson followed a showing of a video of slaves being beaten, tortured and thrown over the side of a ship. The student told the Daily News that Cummings measured the length and width [of the students on the floor] to show how little space slaves had in the ship. It was strange. TEACHER MISSPELLS HILLARY CLINTON'S NAME, LEADING FAMILY TO DEMAND APOLOGY Cummings, who has worked in city schools since 2016, was reportedly removed from her post for a couple days following the incident but returned to class on Thursday. She was assigned to a task that kept her away from children later that day after the city Education Department was contacted by reporters regarding the history lesson. While the investigation has not been completed, these are deeply disturbing allegations, and the alleged behavior has no place in our schools or in society, Toya Holness, a spokeswoman for the Education Department, told the Daily News. STUDENT SUSPENDED AFTER VIRAL ANTI-BULLYING VIDEO HURTS FEELINGS OF PRINCIPAL AND TEACHERS MS 118 Principal Giulia Cox declined to comment. The student body at Middle School 118 is 81 percent black and Hispanic and just 3 percent white. A man in Texas has been charged with selling his 14-year-old daughter for sex. Jail records show Steve Marks, 31, has been charged with purchasing or selling a child for sex. His wife, Lila Miller, has been charged for her alleged involvement. According to arrest warrant affidavits, Marks sold the girl to a family in Illinois who intended for the girl to be in a common-law marriage to a male subject believed to be about three years older. The family did not pay the full $17,500 originally agreed upon for the girl, so Marks and Miller resold her to another family in Florida, the Dallas Morning News reported. The girls disappearance last September prompted the Department of Public Safety to launch an investigation to find her. When police interviewed Marks parents Davey and Dorothy marks Dorothy reportedly called a fifth person assisting with harboring the girl, to warn police were coming. As the man was leaving the location with the girl, she escaped and called 911 from a nearby McDonalds, according to police records. Marks, who has seven children ages 1 to 14, told WFAA-TV anyone who would sell a child for sex, needs to be put away for the rest of their life. I dont think a father who loves his children, fights for custody for his children. I love them, I would die for them, I have no reason to sell my children. Some of his children were removed by Child Protective Services from his care because they tested positive for marijuana, WFAA reported. Marks told WFAA he believed his daughter escaped CPS custody and went to Chicago with her boyfriend. He claimed he went to look for her and notified authorities. Marks and his wife were being held at Rockwall County Jail on $1 million bail. Investigators have not released much information about the case because of the involvement of a minor. Steve Wynns imprint on the Las Vegas strip is undeniable. The moguls name is emblazed on his signature hotel at the end of the Strip and hes had a hand in building the Golden Nugget, The Mirage and the Bellagio, some of Vegas best known hotels. But now Sin City, which Wynn helped put back on the map two decades ago, is reeling a week after an explosive report by the Wall Street Journal that alleges Wynn committed multiple sexual improprieties directed at his subordinates over the years. The Wynn Resorts brand could suffer in the fallout and many casino industry insiders, Wynn investors, and local Las Vegans alike are wondering if Wynn and his multibillion dollar enterprise can weather the scandal. His company said there has not been a decline in reservations or an increase in cancellations. Company stocks dropped 20 percent but then rebounded. But the city as flashy as the entrepreneur that helped revitalize it is now trying to figure out whether the sexual harassment will impact its future. Many in the community have mixed feelings about the allegations since Wynn has been such a philanthropic force in the city. Wynns impact on Las Vegas and the strip, its hard to measure because its so great, said prominent Nevada journalist John L. Smith. He is the guy who is the innovator, hes been very successful and controversial. No one can argue the success hes enjoyed. But, Smith added, the allegations dont exactly come as a surprise. It certainly has been something thats been out there, Smith said. So in that regard, I dont think its all that surprising. Smith wrote a 1995 book about Wynn entitled, Running Scared: The Life and Treacherous Times of Las Vegas Casino King Steve Wynn. Wynn has denied all the allegations against him and even blamed his ex-wife Elaine for the story. They have been embroiled in court over a company-sharing agreement since their divorce was finalized in 2010. Smith says time will tell if the scandal has any staying power. Before the allegations broke, he said he was surprised Vegas hadnt had its own Harvey Weinstein moment. He acknowledged that since the stock has gone up investors may have cooled to the shock of the first allegations. No other women have come forward since the initial report. Groups are distancing themselves from the casino magnate. Universities have stripped Wynns name from buildings he endowed including at the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Iowa. He has also since resigned as the RNC finance chair. On Wednesday, a womens rights group, Ultra Violet, chartered a plane and flew it over the Wynn Hotel with a banner reading, Wynn is a sexual predator#FireWynn. It is the most high profile example to have affected the largely male-dominated casino industry in the upstart #metoo movement. Multiple probes and investigations have since been launched into his alleged improprieties. His own board also is investigating and in a statement to Fox News said: The Board of Directors of Wynn Resorts immediately formed a Special Committee comprised of independent directors of the Board and chaired by Patricia Mulroy, upon learning about the recent allegations. That Committee has begun working and will be assisted by independent outside counsel. The Committee will undertake a thoughtful process. The body of a Cincinnati woman has been in a mortuary for more than a year, in part because Ohio doesn't officially track "indigent" cases like hers, a report said. Nancy Jo Roberts health was declining, and she had no family living in Cincinnati to check on her regularly, Cincinnati's Fox 19 reported. The family said nobody reached out to them at the time. Several month earlier, Joe Stenger, her court-assigned guardian, had moved Roberts to a Hamilton County nursing home that later informed her nephew, Dave Lord, about her death. After Roberts died, Stenger was no longer responsible for her, so her body was taken first to a Colerain Township, Ohio, funeral home. "Once they realized she was going to be an indigent case for Colerain Township, they did not want to handle that case anymore, so Colerain Township told them to send her to us," said Casey Liston, owner of Premium Mortuary Services in Carlisle, Ohio. But Poul Lemasters, a death care attorney who represented Liston, told Fox 19 that Premium Mortuary was limited by law on how it could handle the body. Legally because we have no other choice," Lemaster said. All they (Premium Mortuary) can do is accept a body. ... Can't cremate. Can't bury. You hold her and keep her in the most dignified way you can." "We have no other choice. ... Can't cremate. Can't bury. You hold her and keep her in the most dignified way you can." Poul Lemasters, death care attorney Liston says becoming a holding facility has grown his business thats how it became a dumping ground for bodies that funeral homes don't want to deal with. Premium Mortuary has offered to give Roberts a proper funeral, while Lord and his family are considering other options. Fox 19 cautioned that those who don't live near loved ones or check on them regularly could end up in a similar situation. Many workers nationwide are noticing extra money in their pay checks this week after instructions from December's tax overhaul went into effect. I just checked my paycheck and I have $100 extra dollars! That money will go to my church and help pay a bill, Michael Diaz, of Houston, Texas, tweeted on Friday. Thank you @tedcruz and @POTUS for the #TaxCuts $200 extra per month is not crumbs in my house! The "crumbs" remark made by Diaz and others referred to a remark from House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat who opposed the bill. Pelosi, in a widely mocked comment, said bonuses relating to the tax cut amounted to "crumbs" for workers. The bigger paychecks started Feb. 1 as employers began implementing the new withholding guidelines from the IRS, which dictate how much employers withhold from pay for federal taxes. ECONOMY ADDED 200,000 JOBS IN JANUARY; WAGE GROWTH BEST SINCE 2009 However, those whose checks remained the same shouldnt fret employers have until Feb. 15 to make the changes. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has estimated the new rules will mean more take-home pay for about 90 percent of American workers. Looked at my paycheck today, took home $130 more than last paycheck. #Ilikecrumbs @NancyPelosi, Rick Lovett, a Marine veteran from New Hampshire, tweeted Friday. Julia Ketchum, a secretary at a public high school in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, said she was pleasantly surprised her pay went up $1.50 a week. She didn't think her pay would go up at all, let alone this soon. That adds up to $78 a year, which she said will more than cover her Costco membership for the year. Todd Anderson of Texas and his fiance, who are both educators, got an extra $200 in their paychecks combined that they plan to use to cover the costs of a second baby on its way. Wayne Love, who works in managed care in Spring Hill, Florida, got an extra $200 in his paycheck last week, which he said will help offset a $300 increase in the cost of his health insurance. "I have heard time and again that the middle class is getting crumbs, but I'll take it!" Love said by email. FAKE TAX RETURNS? HOW EQUIFAX, DATA BREACHES INCREASE THE RISK OF FRAUD According to the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, a middle-income household would on average get a tax cut of $930 this year, lifting their after-tax income by about 1.6 percent. That increase won't be perfectly reflected in their paycheck though. That's because lower tax withholding on paychecks is just a piece of a complicated set of changes to tax law that the GOP pushed through in December. And what your employer withholds is based on an estimate of your tax obligation that includes many complex factors, but it's not a perfect measure. As a result, taxpayers may find they are unintentionally over- or underwithholding for their taxes if they don't do some legwork. Experts suggest that all taxpayers take a look the new IRS calculator when it becomes available later in February to ensure they are having the correct amount withheld. And they should update the information on their W-4 after the IRS releases a revised version later this year. The IRS said the new withholding tables should produce an accurate withholding amount for people with simpler tax situations. But tax experts say those who will still itemize, have larger families or more complicated tax situations may want to take a closer look. "If they haven't done it before, this is a really good year to talk to your tax professional," said Pete Isberg, vice president of government relations for ADP, a payroll provider. The IRS, payroll and tax professionals have been scrambling to react to the passage of the new tax law. And the IRS says it plans to make further changes involving withholding matters in 2019. Many in the industry say they expect the IRS to update the W-4 form in 2019 in a more dramatic fashion to fully reflect the scope of the law. No worker should anticipate a negative impact from the new withholding table if their pay remained the same, said Joseph Rosenberg, a senior researcher at the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center. SMALL BUSINESSES PLANNING PAY BOOSTS RISE TO 28-YEAR HIGH "It's tough to be upset about more money in my pocket," said Jefferey Snively, an aerospace engineer who got a 4 percent bump in his last paycheck due to the lower tax rate. Still, not everyone was pleased with the pay bump. "Everyone is talking about getting more money in their paycheck because of the tax bill and I got $7 more than usual. Reaping the benefits man, totally proportional to the cuts the top 1% got," a user named Matt tweeted. In addition to the higher paychecks, the Labor Department said Friday that U.S. employers added a robust 200,000 jobs in January and that wages rose at the fastest pace in more than eight years. The Associated Press contributed to this report. The oldest son of the late Cuban dictator Fidel Castro committed suicide at the age of 68, Cuban state media announced on Thursday. Fidel Fidelito Castro Diaz-Balart is the oldest son of Castro and his first wife, Mirta Diaz Balart. Diaz-Balart was said to have killed himself Thursday morning after receiving months of treatment for a "deeply depressed state," according to official website Cubadebate. He reportedly "required a hospitalization regime then outpatient follow-up" as part of his treatment. Fidel Castro died in November 2016 at age 90. His brother, Raul, took over as Cuba's leader in 2008. Before his death, Diaz-Balart was a scientific adviser to the Council of State and was the vice president of the Cuban Academy of Sciences. Of all Castro's offspring, only Diaz-Balart, the angel-faced, blond boy from revolution-era photographs, was publically recognized. He bore a striking resemblance to his father, which earned him the nickname Fidelito, or Little Fidel. Diaz-Balart was born in 1949 and brought to the United States in the 1950s after his parents divorced. His mother's family had ties to the Batista government, which Castro would eventually overthrow. As a result, the former Cuban leader wanted his son kept from his ex-wife's family, leading to an ongoing custody battle over the boy. "I refuse even to think that my son may sleep a single night under the same roof sheltering my most repulsive enemies and receive on his innocent cheeks the kisses of those miserable Judases," Castro wrote to his half-sister Lidia in 1956. While Castro was in Mexico preparing for the guerrilla war, he convinced his ex-wife to send Fidelito to visit him for two weeks. Once the boy was there however, Castro refused to send him back. Later, while the boy was out for a walk with Castro's sisters, three armed men in a car grabbed Diaz-Balart so he could be reunited with his mother. As an adult Diaz-Balart rose to the top post at Cuba's Atomic Energy Commission before his father removed him for unpublicized reasons in the early 1990s. The Associated Press contributed to this report. France is looking to sidestep U.S. sanctions by offering export credits to Iranian buyers later this year, according to the head of a state-owned investment bank, Bpifrance. The banks chief executive Nicolas Dufourcq said Wednesday that the new loans will be financed entirely without any U.S. currency. This is a completely separate flow (of money), he said. There is no (U.S.) dollar in this scheme ... no one holding a U.S. passport. By leaving the U.S. out of the equation entirely, France is able to avoid violating U.S. economic sanctions placed on Iran while still negotiating profitable trade deals. There are currently about 1.5 billion euros invested in potential contracts from French exports, Reuters reported citing Dufourcq. The move could be risky as President Donald Trump has voiced his disappointment over the Iran nuclear deal, an agreement that France is a major partner in. Trump has threatened to withdraw the United States from the deal unless France, Britain and Germany agree to strengthen the terms of agreement. France and other European countries have made the argument that they should increase trade with Iran since the country has complied with all the parameters of the 2015 agreement. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson announced last week that Americas European counterparts agreed to look at the agreement and see where changes could be made. Sidestepping U.S. sanctions, however, could push the president to pull out of any negotiations, collapsing the deal entirely. Updated story to include Tatad's statement Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, February 2) The owner of an import company allegedly behind the multibillion-peso shabu smuggling was arrested Friday morning. Eirene Mae Tatad of EMT Trading was nabbed in Iloilo early Friday, the National Bureau of Investigation said. View image on Twitter She is one of the accused in the P6.4-billion drug cases filed by the Justice Department. The 604-kilogram shabu shipment, one of the biggest hauls of smuggled drugs in the country, slipped through the Bureau of Customs on May 17, 2017. Tatad denied involvement in the shabu smuggling. She added she did not go into hiding, but only left Manila because of stress. "Kiniclear ko po yung sinasabi po ng iba na nagtago po ako. Hindi po ako nagtago. Actually kahapon ko lang po nalaman na may warrant of arrest ako," Tatad said. [Translation: "I want to clear what others said that I went into hiding. That's not true. Actually, I only learned yesterday I had a warrant of arrest."] Tatad, a licensed teacher, earlier told congressional hearings she worked with Customs fixer Mark Taguba as "consignee for hire" in exchange for a 1,500 fee per container. This makes Taguba the real importer, using EMT Trading as front, according to the House Committee on Ways and Means. Taguba, who was ordered detained at the Manila City jail, has repeatedly denied the drug shipment came from his container vans. READ: Customs fixer Mark Taguba ordered detained at Manila City Jail The Manila Regional Trial Court issued an arrest warrant against Tatad, Taguba, and six others over the importation, transportation and delivery of dangerous drugs. If convicted, they will face a lifetime in prison and a fine of up to P10 million. CNN Philippines' Anjo Alimario and Eimor Santos contributed to this report. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad may be developing new chemical weapons in addition to keeping some of the countrys stockpile that was supposed to be handed over and destroyed under a 2014 deal brokered by the United States and Russia, senior U.S. officials told reporters on Thursday. Officials said that Assad may have secretly kept part of Syrias stockpile, and recent attacks by Damascus have led them to believe that Syria may be developing new weapons entirely, Reuters reported. Declining to give further information, officials said Syria may be developing a new delivery method that would make it harder to trace the origin of the attacks. President Donald Trump ordered a missile strike against a Syrian airbase last April after Assad used chemical weapons to attack dozens of civilians, including women and children. However, a senior official said the Trump administration is hopeful this time that more sanctions and diplomatic pressure will help eliminate Assads chemical weapon program, Reuters reported. It will spread if we dont do something, the official warned. The State Department said Thursday that the U.S. was extremely concerned over reports of another chemical attack in the opposition-controlled region of Damascus. We will continue to seek accountability through all available diplomatic mechanisms, including the United Nations Security Council and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, for the confirmed use of chemical weapons by any party, the State Department said in a statement. Russia recently has been singled out for allowing Syria room to maneuver. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has said that Russia bears responsibility for the attacks for failing to enforce the weapons ban. Cambodia's Cabinet has endorsed a law making insulting the king a criminal offense punishable by monetary fines and up to five years in prison. After Friday's endorsement, the law must go to both houses of Parliament for approval. A government statement says the law is needed to protect the honor and reputation of the monarch. The 64-year-old King Norodom Sihamoni is a constitutional monarch who maintains a low profile and plays a minimal role in public affairs, while Prime Minister Hun Sen exercises almost absolute control over politics. Neighboring Thailand has the world's strictest lese majeste law, carrying up to 15 years in prison. Critics say the law is often wielded for political reasons. A cousin of the Canadian billionaire who was found murdered with his wife in their home has bizarrely claimed to have had fantasies about decapitating Barry Sherman and rolling his bloody head around a parking lot. The startling admission, made during a TV program set to air on CBC Friday, came after Kerry Winter reportedly failed a lie detector test about his past claim that Sherman approached him and asked him to kill his wife, Honey. The Shermans were found dead in their mansion near Toronto on Dec. 15, and police last week ruled the deaths a double homicide, ending weeks of speculation. "I would talk about killing Barry, and it was very graphic," Winter told CBC, recalling conversations he said he had with a psychiatrist. "He would come out of the parking lot of Apotex, and I'd be hiding behind a car, and I'd just decapitate him. I wanted to roll his head down the parking lot, and I'd sit there and wait for the police." Winter, who told the Toronto Sun that he is a recovering addict, said on the day the Shermans were last seen alive, Dec. 13, he had left a Cocaine Anonymous meeting and went home to fall asleep. "Very easy for me to have left work at any time because I'm not on the clock I could easily have driven over to [the Sherman home] and did the deed, he told CBC. "I admit to that, but I didn't, I didn't, and that's why I'm not nervous." Winter also said he was told by police he was not a suspect and is planning to meet them for an interview. Authorities who said the Shermans were found hanging by belts from a railing that surrounded an indoor pool at their home have declined to discuss possible suspects. Sherman founded Apotex in 1974 with two other employees and it has grown to become the largest Canadian-owned pharmaceutical company. The family said last week that they continue to support the Toronto Police Service in their efforts to seek justice for their parents and pursue those responsible for these unspeakable crimes. Winter and other Sherman family siblings in September lost a lawsuit seeking a piece of Barrys Apotex fortune. As a part of an Ontario court decision which they have since appealed Winter was ordered to pay Sherman back $8 million and he and his cousins were also told to pay Sherman $300,000 in legal fees, CBC reported. Winter then surfaced this week and said Sherman asked him twice in the past to kill Honey. "He said, 'I want you to whack my wife,'" Winter told CBC. "I called him and said: 'You know, there's no turning back, Barry, if I push the button.' But Winter and his lawyer agreed to take a lie detector test over the claim as part of the CBC program, and failed it, the station said, citing a former Quebec police officer and polygraph expert who commissioned the test. Winter then, according to the CBC, told the officer he embellished and fabricated parts of his story. He also said he is going public now with such claims because he wanted to hurt Barrys legacy. "This was a tragedy no matter how you slice and dice it," Winter said. "This was a terrible thing that happened, even though my cousin and I had an extreme falling out." In a separate interview with the Toronto Sun, Winter insisted that the Shermans deaths were a murder-suicide despite statements from police and Brian Greenspan, the family's lawyer, saying otherwise. You will see I am not a kook, I am not a nut, he said. But when Brian Greenspan starts spinning this yarn, I am not going to keep my mouth shut anymore. Greenspan did not respond to a request for comment from the newspaper. Spain says it has extradited to the United States a Russian citizen who is suspected of being one the world's most notorious spammers. Pyotr Levashov, a 37-year-old from St. Petersburg, was arrested in April while vacationing with his family in Barcelona. U.S. authorities had asked for him to be detained on charges of fraud and unauthorized interception of electronic communications. A statement from Spain's National Police said officers handed Levashov over to U.S. marshals on Friday. The extradition was approved in October by Spain's National Court, which rejected a counter-extradition request from Russia. Authorities in the U.S. say they have linked Levashov to a series of powerful botnets, or networks of hijacked computers capable of pumping out billions of spam emails. Levashov's lawyers allege the case is politically motivated. More than a month after he was allegedly tortured by members of Uganda's secret service, Rwandan citizen Fidel Gatsinzi is still limping from his injuries. Gatsinzi claims he was arrested by security agents after visiting his son at a Ugandan university in December and that 12 days of being hooded and beaten left him in a wheelchair for days after his release. "They were accusing me of being a Rwandan spy and a killer. That I was in Uganda to hunt down Rwandan refugees living in Uganda to harm them," Gatsinzi told The Associated Press, denying the accusations. He said he saw another Rwandan who had been tortured and was "really in a bad shape." The neighboring East African countries have faced years of uneasy relations over Uganda's refusal to forcibly repatriate Rwandan refugees, including some who are suspected of involvement in Rwanda's genocide in 1994. People like Gatsinzi claim they are caught in the middle, suspected by one country or the other. Now some are taking their claims to court. For Rwanda's government, the continuing existence of refugees challenges its narrative of peace and stability after years of recovery from the genocide. But many of those refugees worry they would be jailed on trumped-up charges if they returned home. As Uganda pursues Rwandans it suspects of hunting down refugees, some are subjected to torture in the process, said Gawaya Tegulle, a Ugandan lawyer who has visited Rwandan nationals in detention. "I visited Gatsinzi and the kind of torture he was subjected to is inhumane. He could not speak," Tegulle said. He plans to file a case with the High Court against Uganda's government claiming illegal detention and torture. After such claims were made public in recent weeks, Rwandan President Paul Kagame chaired a meeting last month between the two countries to discuss the issue. The Jan. 5 meeting in Rwanda's capital, Kigali, addressed, among other things, "arrests and disappearances of Rwandan citizens in Uganda," Rwandan Foreign Minister Louise Mushikiwabo said on Twitter. Uganda's state minister for international relations, Henry Okello Oryem, has said tensions will not escalate. "Rwanda is a historical strategic ally of Uganda and both countries work for peace," he told the AP. Uganda army spokesman Brig. Richard Karemire declined to comment on the allegations of detention and torture of Rwandan citizens. Rwanda's president has long been accused by critics and human rights groups of plotting the assassination or disappearance of former allies and dissidents, including in other countries. He has denied it. Late last year, Ugandan police officers and a retired Rwandan army officer, Rene Rutagungira, were arrested and charged by a military court in Uganda's capital, Kampala, in the kidnapping of a Rwandan refugee and his transfer to Rwandan authorities. They are charged with conspiracy with Rwanda to carry out the abduction. They are accused of kidnapping Lt. Joel Mutabazi, a former bodyguard of Kagame who fled the country in 2011 while alleging persecution, and forcefully taking him back to Rwanda in 2013. Mutabazi was sentenced to life in prison for involvement in terrorism and other charges, which he denied. It is not clear how Mutabazi, who was in the care of the U.N. refugee agency, ended up in the hands of Ugandan police and then Rwandan authorities. "It's unconscionable that they handed him over summarily to the police force of the country whose persecution he fled," Daniel Bekele with Human Rights Watch said at the time. The group has long urged Uganda's government to protect Rwandan critics now living in the country. The return of refugees must be voluntary, a U.N. refugee agency spokeswoman in Rwanda, Nana Heltberg, told the AP, saying about 250,000 Rwandan refugees are still in exile today. Meanwhile the lawyer for the former Rwanda army officer who faces charges told the AP that he was held in Ugandan custody for longer than the permitted 48 hours and subjected to beatings, electric shocks, water immersion and solitary confinement while accused of being a spy. The lawyer, Eron Kiiza, said a case has been filed with the High Court seeking damages and Rutagungira's unconditional release. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, February 2) Commission on Higher Education (CHED) Executive Director Karol Mark Yee has resigned, Palace confirmed on Friday. Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said President Rodrigo Duterte will decide if he will accept Yee's resignation. Roque said he is unaware of reports the CHED official resigned because of threats to his life. The spokesperson advised Yee to consider going to the police with a complaint. Yee's resignation comes weeks after Duterte dismissed CHED Chairperspon Patricia Licuanan. She has been questioned for various issues, including accusations of foreign travel without the President's approval. CNN Philippines' Ina Andolong contributed to this report. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, February 2) A senator said a former poll official will shed light on allegations of poll fraud by ex-senator Ferdinand Marcos against Vice President Leni Robredo. Senator Francis "Chiz" Escudero said the Joint Congressional Oversight Committee on the Automated Election System will will look into the allegations. "May print out kaming nakuha, pero mas maganda manggaling sa testigo mismo na nagsasabing hindi mirror image 'yung back up drive ng main drive. Ang tanong, ilan ba sa back-up drive 'yung pinadala nila at nasan ba 'yung record ng back-up drive, apparently walang ganoong uri ng record ang Comelec kung kaya't hinihiniling namin na maibigay yung sa kumite para makumpara at mapagusapan namin ng husto," he said. [Translation: We received a print out but it would be better it came from a witness who said the back up drive to the main drive is not a mirror image. The question is, how many of the back up drives were sent and where is the record of back up drives. The Comelec apparently has no such record so we ask that it be given o the committee so we can discuss it thoroughly.] Earlier this week, Marcos said his camp discovered alleged proof of cheating after they reviewed some of the soft copies of ballot images from clustered precincts in some towns of Camarines Sur and Negros Oriental. READ: Marcos: New evidence shows Robredo cheated in 2016 polls Marcos said then-vice presidential candidate Robredo conspired with the Comelec and electronic voting technology provider Smartmatic. But Comelec Acting Chair Robert Lim brushed off the allegations. "I can't really comment on that in an official capacity whether may merit ba o tama ba yung sinabi niya o hindi totoo. Ang magdedesisyun diyan kase sa PET (Presidential Electoral Tribunal). Of course, sa akin kung ako tanungin mo based on what I know hindi ako naniniwala. Pero hindi ko yun pwedeng sabihin bakit hindi ako naniniwala kasi sub judice yan ngayon eh nasa PET. The COMELEC is just waiting if the PET will order us to investigate the matter or to give an explanation on why this is happening then we are ready to explain that," he said. [Translation: I can't really comment on that in an official capacity whether or not what he said has merit or if it's not true. The PET will have to decide on that. Of course, if you ask me based on what I know, I don't believe it. But I cannot say why I don't believe it because it's subjudice, it's with PET. Comelec is just waiting if the PET will order to us to investigate the matter or to give an explanation why this is happening then we are ready to explain that.] The PET deliberates and decides on poll cases against the president and vice president. The Joint Congressional Oversight Committee on the Automated Election System held a hearing on the 2016 elections Thursday morning, where they brushed upon Marcos' allegations. CNN Philippines' Correspondent Cecille Lardizabal contributed to this report. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, February 2) A local court has ordered the detention of Customs fixer Mark Taguba at the city jail of Manila amid charges filed against him for his alleged involvement into the multi-billion peso shabu smuggling. The Manila Regional Trial Court's Branch 46 on Friday denied Taguba's motion for the court to allow him to remain detained at the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) headquarters, and said he should be jailed instead. Judge Rainelda Estacio-Montesa said Taguba failed to prove his life was in danger - the reason he cited for surrendering to the NBI. Montesa added it is not part of NBI's mandate to place suspects under its custody. The judge said she is open to reconsidering her decision if Taguba's camp can present evidence to prove threats to Taguba's life. Taguba's arraignment, where he will plead guilty or not guilty to his drug charges, has been set to February 9. Taguba has been placed under NBI custody after the Manila RTC issued an arrest order against him and seven other suspects in the smuggling of the P6.4-billion shabu shipment from China. The 604-kilogram drug shipment slipped through the Customs Bureau last May 2017. Taguba has repeatedly denied the drug shipment came from his container vans. He said on Thursday he is considering applying to be a state witness. READ: Customs fixer Taguba considers turning state witness He is facing charges over the importation, transportation, and delivery of dangerous drugs. If convicted, he faces life in prison and a fine of up to P10 million. CNN Philippines' Eimor Santos contributed to this report. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, February 2) In the wake of the spread of misinformation online, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said declaring fake news as illegal is a threat to freedom of expression. Roque on Thursday said any form of content-based restriction is unconstitutional and a form of restraint. "It's very important to uphold freedom of expression by having the free marketplace of idea. Simply declaring illegal fake news, in my mind, will have a very heavy presumption of unconstitutionality," he said in a media briefing. He added, "Any content-based restriction is heavily presumed to be unconstitutional." President Duterte's spokesman said people should not be hindered from expressing themselves online. He said the spead of misinformation online can help the public differentiate truth from false.. "Even false information may have an impact on this public debate. Because after all, we have the capability to discern truth from falsity and as the case said, sometimes you don't know what the truth is, unless you read something that is falsity," Roque said. The Filipino online community bashed Roque for what he said on January 28: "Kung walang fake news, hindi natin malalaman kung ano iyong true news. Hindi natin malalaman kung anong kasinungalingan, hindi rin natin malalaman kung anong katotohanan." Roque's statement comes days after a Senate panel held its second hearing on the spread of fake news. In a hearing on January 30, senators slammed Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) officials, Assistant Secretary Mocha Uson and Undersecretary Lorraine Badoy, for their personal posts that spread misinformation. Senator Manny Pacquiao also floated the idea of media regulation by requiring licenses for bloggers. Related: Senators condemn PCOO officials for spread of misinformation PCOO and investigative news group Vera Files both agreed there is no need to regulate social media, and also agreed on the need to advance media literacy. Related: PCOO, Vera Files agree: No to social media regulation, yes to media literacy Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, February 2) Another judge from the Muntinlupa Regional Trial Court (RTC) inhibited herself from hearing a drug case of detained Senator Leila de Lima. In her order dated January 23, Muntinlupa RTC Branch 203 Judge Myra Quiambao recused herself given her "very close relationship" with a prosecutor in the drug case. Quiambao said Senior Assistant City Prosecutor Leila Llanes was her classmate in law school, and the godparent of her two children. "In fact, when (my) husband State Prosecutor Nolibien Quimbao died last February 2017, SA City Prosecutor Llanes was with (me) at the hospital and throughout (my) bereavement, to date. She is like family to (me)," Quiambao explained. She added that majority of the prosecution panel members were her late husband's colleagues in the Department of Justice. Quiambao is the second judge to inhibit from De Lima's drug case. Branch 204 Judge Juanita Guerrero was the first one to recuse herself to avoid possible doubts on her integrity and impartiality. The case in her branch was raffled off to Quiambao. READ: Judge inhibits from De Lima's drug case "Let the records of this case be immediately forwarded to the Office of the Clerk of Court-Regional Trial Court for re-raffle," Quiambao said in her order. Meanwhile, Muntinlupa RTC Branch 205 Judge Amelia Fabros-Corpuz and Branch 206 Judge Patria Manalastas-De Leon are still handling De Lima's other cases. De Lima is facing charges of attempt or conspiracy to trade illegal drugs when she was Justice Secretary. But that theory never sat right with Henikoff. Previous studies, including some from his own lab, had suggested that the DNA sequence does have a role to play. To get a grasp on whether DNA features might play a significant role at the centromere after all, the researchers surveyed the genetic sequences of centromeres which were only very recently captured in a way scientists could analyze them from a variety of different living creatures, from humans to monkeys to mice to microscopic budding yeast. Using a computer algorithm that predicts DNA shape, they saw evidence for this strangely bent DNA at centromeres across evolutionary history. Animals and other living things seem to have evolved two different ways to get their DNA into these weird twists, the researchers found. Either the DNA letters are strung in an order that naturally tends toward kinks, as in certain monkeys and the human Y chromosome, or the creatures rely on a protein known as CENP-B that helps the DNA bend which is how mice and humans (other than the human Y) manage their centromeres. Researchers hadnt previously understood what CENP-B is doing at the centromere. This study provides an intriguing theory, that maybe the protein is bending the DNA into a new shape. This was a totally different way of looking at the problem, Henikoff said. Why the Y is different Researchers had previously noted that the human Y chromosome didnt have DNA sequences where CENP-B is known to bind, unlike the rest of our chromosomes, but they didnt have a good explanation for that, Kasinathan said. Their study provides a possible rationale: Maybe the Y chromosome doesnt need CENP-B. The Y chromosomes weirdness is not limited to its centromere. Its also much smaller than the rest of our chromosomes, including the X, our other sex-defining chromosome. Its got far fewer genes only about 50, as compared to the X chromosomes 1,600. Its even slowly shrinking. But even if the similarities between the male-defining Y chromosome and monkey DNA might make for a fun cocktail party conversation, this computational prediction actually makes sense when viewed through the lens of chromosome evolution, said Dr. Ben Black, a biochemist at the University of Pennsylvania who studies centromeres. Its been framed that the Y lost the CENP-B protein and that makes it weaker, said Black, who was not involved in the Fred Hutch study. This proposal would say the Y is a little stronger than we thought before, because its compensated by getting more monkey-like. Possible gene therapy advances but first more tests If their theory holds up, it could lead to improvements in making human artificial chromosomes, laboratory-made chromosomes that could be used in gene therapy. Scientists have succeeded at making artificial chromosomes from simpler species such as bacteria and yeast. Mammalian versions have proven a tougher nut to crack, and thats mainly due to the size and complexity of our centromeres, Kasinathan said. A more streamlined centromere could lead to better, more efficient human artificial chromosomes, although Kasinathan and Henikoff pointed out that more basic experiments need to be conducted first. So far, much of their theory of centromere identity is based on computational predictions of how the DNA is likely to bend. But a few recent studies from other groups lend credence to their theory that the DNA is oddly shaped at centromeres. The studies used a laboratory technique to identify and quantify all the DNA in mouse and human cells not twisted into a double helix. Those datasets backed up the Hutch researchers theory, Henikoff said. It turned out when Siva looked, half of their signal in humans half of it! was from centromeres, he said. Those studies dont prove that the centromeres are marked by little X-shaped DNA. But they strongly suggest that at least for mice and humans, DNA bends into unusual forms at these regions. Henikoff is hoping other centromere scientists will be inspired to start testing the model he and his colleagues have introduced. Black agrees that the study offers an appealing theory but more experiments need to be done to shore it up. Its definitely a provocative proposal, he said. It opens up the idea for myriad molecular tests that will support or deny the model. It does what a lot of great science does and opens up the door for that. The study was funded by the ARCS Foundation and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. This story was updated to include statements from Lumad school ALCADEV. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, February 2) Youth groups are unfazed by President Rodrigo Duterte's threat to replace protesting students with "smart" Lumads from Mindanao. In a statement posted on Facebook on Friday, KABATAAN Party-list Rep. Sarah Elago hit Duterte's statement against student activists, and made clear that despite Duterte's warning, more students will hold protests in the future. "Duterte can only shake at the growing resistance to his attacks on the youth. Duterte's knee-jerk reaction only proves that the youth has successfully registered their indignation against his anti-people policies and increasing fascist inclination," Elago said in a strongly-worded statement. She warned of bigger protests to come on the "National Day of Walkout" set by student activists on February 23. Elago said this after Duterte on Thursday warned he would give the slots of student protesters to Lumads instead. He singled out students from the University of the Philippines, which had participated in protests held on the day of his speech. "Okay, fine. To those who don't want to study, then drop out because I'll bring the smart Lumads here," said Duterte. He said he would just enroll Filipinos who are not fortunate enough to have access to quality education in their place. "They'll get it for free there," he said. But in her statement, Elago slammed Duterte's for supposedly showing the "true nature" of what she called his "free education scam." "Not all will benefit; instead of guaranteeing the right of every child to education, he dangles it around every time there is opposition to his fanatical dictatorship," she said, referring to the free tuition law signed during Duterte's term. READ: Duterte signs free tuition bill into law Elago pointed out despite the law, there are still "skyrocketing" school fees, which cause "growing discontent and rage among the youth." This statement was echoed by U.P. Diliman left-leaning political organization The Student Alliance for the Advancement of Democratic Rights in UP (STAND UP), which was one of the groups that had organized the February 1 walkout Duterte called out in his speech. "If there is anyone who needs to give up his slot, it is none but Rodrigo Duterte himself," STAND UP said on Facebook. "He and his allies can only expect bigger and bigger protests," it added. Both groups, in addition to Lumad school ALCADEV, also called out how Duterte offered slots to Lumads, when last year he, threatened to bomb their schools operating without permits. READ: Duterte threatens to bomb Lumad schools "Duterte has the gall to say that he will provide university slots to Lumads, yet only months prior he has unabashedly threatened to bomb Lumad schools in Mindanao, along with sending military troops to their communities, harassing them and causing them to evacuate from their ancestral lands," STAND UP said. Lumads schools are established in areas that are not accessible to traditional educational institutions. In 2016, Duterte told Lumads to leave the schools as they had been accused of sustaining close ties with communist rebels. ALCADEV, in a Twitter post on Thursday, hit Duterte's turnaround on the issue. It said the Lumad school had already established an education system relevant to their own needs and culture. "If you want quality education for us, pull out your military troops in our areas!" ALCADEV said. Veterans Last Patrol honors Joe Buice Serving in the U.S. Navy changed the rest of Joes life. Korean War veteran Joe Buice almost lost his life on the USS Princeton aircraft carrier when a fire broke out after a plane missed his landing and crashed into the... Students encouraged to fill out college applications Blacksburg and Gaffney High seniors will start figuring out their post graduation plans with the start of college application month events in South Carolina. Gaffney High has planned a college... WHATS UP Blood Drive A blood drive in honor of Traci Ervin will be held Saturday, Sept. 11 from 12-5 p.m. at Workout Anytime, 108 Wilkinsville Highway, Gaffney. All donors will receive... $66,000 up for grabs Its Christmas in September for local nonprofits in need of some extra spending cash. The Cherokee County Local Accommodations Tax Advisory Committee is now accepting applications until Friday, Sept. 30... Galveston, TX (77553) Today Some clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low around 80F. Winds E at 10 to 15 mph.. Tonight Some clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low around 80F. Winds E at 10 to 15 mph. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, February 2) It was the National Housing Authority (NHA) who supposedly framed a member of Kadamay into selling an unoccupied unit, the urban poor organization said Friday. Kadamay members began residing without authorization in unoccupied government housing units in Pandi, Bulacan last year. In April 2017, President Rodrigo Duterte allowed them to live in the houses, which were originally built for police and military personnel. But the NHA alleged Kadamay was renting out their units as seen in a Facebook video post on January 29. The man in the video, Jerry Lavado, explained he was not selling his unit, but helping a neighbor who needed money to pay for his son's hospital bills. This is why they pawned an idle housing unit nearby to a buyer named Leo Bautista, who no longer surfaced after giving them the down payment. Lavado apologized, but he also said the NHA, through Bautista, set him up to make Kadamay look bad. "Hindi po namin alam na yung Leo Bautista na nagbigay sa amin ng pera eh isa lang pong pain, hindi po namin alam na ganito ang mangyayari," he said. "Naframe up lang kami ng NHA." [We didn't know this Leo Bautista who gave us money was just bait. We didn't think this would happen. NHA framed us.] Palace: Unfair for Kadamay to accuse gov't Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque on Saturday called it "grossly unfair" for any Kadamay member to accuse the government of setting them up. "I don't think it is the President's intention to evict them because he has in fact given them title to their homes already," Roque told CNN Philippines' Newsroom Weekend. Lavado has claimed it was the NHA who framed them up. The NHA has yet to respond to the allegations. Roque is, however, convinced Lavado is guilty of selling his unit, "regardless of the justification." "To me the statement of the person caught on video confirms that he pawned the house. It's very clear he attempted to sell the house as well," he said. He said those found to be selling their housing units will be evicted. "I think they will be deprived of their individual units but there will be no public condemnation (over the supposed sale) as far as the rest of the Kadamay members are concerned," he said. Related: Malacanang to study actions on alleged sale of Pandi units by Kadamay He added, Kadamay members should not make profit from the houses given to them by the President. The group on Tuesday said selling units was prohibited and they would take measures to prevent such transactions. Kadamay Chairperson Gloria Arellano said Lavado will face disciplinary action. Kadamay decries harassment Tension was evident in the community as a Kadamay officer followed the CNN Philippines crew when they took shots of the community. They said this was to prevent authorities from harassing them or maligning their name. "Minsan nahaharass po kami... lalo po yung mga ano ng gobyerno na tinatakot, panggigipit po dito," said Pat Tupaz, Chairperson of Kadamay's Pandi, Bulacan chapter. "Kaya po para hindi matrauma ang mga tao kung bakit namin hinihigpitan." [We're sometimes harassed... especially by those from government who scare us here. That's why we're tightening security so people don't get traumatized.] Arellano also slammed the government for manufacturing allegations as part of a plan to evict them in favor of beneficiaries from the police and military forces. "Alam ho natin gumagawa ng paraan ang gobyernong ito dahil alam ho natin benggador ho ang pangulo natin ngayon," Arellano said. "Hanggang sa kasalukuyan, wala man lang naitutulong ang gobyerno sa mga maralitang tulad namin lalo na dito sa relokasyon," she added. [Translation: We know the government is making a way, because we now our President is vengeful... They still haven't done anything for the poor here in the relocation site.] Roque on Saturday hit Kadamay for saying the government is not helping them. "Binigyan na nga sila ng libreng pabahay wala pa bang tulong yun, wag naman tayong ingrato (They were already given free housing, isn't that considered help? Let us not be ingrates)," he said. The long-awaited new cryptocurrency rules take effect in South Korea. The rules start to work on Thursday, February 1, 2018. The South Korean government sets these rules early. The government announces the presence of the rules on January 23. Above all, this is a time the government releases a document detailing the rules. During the releasing of the rules, the government says that the rules will start work on January 30. According to the government, the laws aim to tackle anonymity issues. There is also the money laundering question. South Korea has a vast digital currency market. Perhaps, the ICT infrastructure is aiding the trade. South Korea has one of the fastest and reliable internet connections in the world. The cryptocurrency business solely depends on the internet. Now that there is the fast and reliable internet, it is easy to do the business. When introducing the rules last week, the government says many things. Among them, it means that it wants to tackle the issue of anonymity. Many cryptocurrencies enjoy this. You will not know who sends or withdraws the money. Because of this digital coin nature, it is easy to use this mode of payment to do illegal business. Remember, when the Bitcoin enters the market in 2009, many associates it to the black market. It was until recently when a few people started to approve it. However, it is again facing opposition for different reasons. The Korean government also mentions something like money laundering. According to the government, many foreigners are using the anonymity feature to launder money. A lot of Korean won goes out of the country easily, the government claims. Advertisement" Find the best online casinos accepting Bitcoin at EasyMobileCasino.com. But, when releasing the new cryptocurrency rules, the government is transparent. It states that it does not seem intent to ban cryptocurrency business. It, however, says that it can do so if it is the only way to safeguard its people. Last week, the government, through an agency, fines eight cryptocurrency exchanges for breaking the law. The exchanges fail to protect clients by not able to erase data even after completing transactions. Some of the cryptocurrency exchanges have clients data for more than 12 months. Also, this is also after the client stops using the service. Speaking on the new rules, Blockchain Momentum managing partner says that it is a good thing. The digital currency markets are missing protocols for protecting investors. Above all, this is what the South Korean legislation wants to implement, John Sarson says. Johns company invests in digital coins as well as blockchain-related enterprises. He adds that it is a commendable step the government is taking. It is a good thing anytime an investment exchange knows their client. When it does this, it will make sure that their clients are doing things that are above board. Not things that are in contravention of the law. These rules help to achieve a greater scale and legitimacy, John adds. Trade in bitcoin in Korean won is low on Tuesday. According to CryptoCompare, it stands at 4 percent. Also, this is far much low when you compare with Japanese yens 40 percent. The USD comes in at 30 percent. The new cryptocurrency rules will change everything. Long Beach may soon take next step to transfer Queen Mary to Harbor Department Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, February 2) National Press Club (NPC) President Paul Gutierrez shrugged off claims that the media group, which supports the Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) ruling to revoke the business registration of online news outlet Rappler, has close ties with the Duterte administration. "I'm also being bashed for being a puppet of the Palace," he told CNN Philippines "On the Record" on Thursday. "It's because maybe I go against the general sentiment of various media groups in the country." On Jan. 18, the NPC issued a statement expressing its support for the SEC decision on the Rappler case, which it said is no threat to press freedom. Read: National Press Club supports SEC ruling vs. Rappler "Responsible journalism also means complying with the law," Gutierrez said in the statement. "To say that the fate of one media entity found to have run afoul with the law translates to media repression in the country is stretching the argument a bit too much." The SEC said Rappler engaged in fraud and circumvented the constitutional ban on foreign ownership in media by accepting over $1 million (around P50 million) from a foreign investor, Omidyar Network, in the form of Philippine Depositary Receipts or PDRs. Read: SEC cancels Rappler's license to do business However, Rappler CEO Maria Ressa said on Jan. 15 that Omidyar's PDRs did not give it voting rights, ownership nor control of the company, but only financial returns. Ressa and other media groups claim the SEC decision is an attack on press freedom. Read: Media, human rights groups slam SEC closure order vs. Rappler But Gutierrez said it is just a matter of Rappler violating the law. "I'm really surprised because some media groups are suddenly saying that what happened to Rappler is a violation of press freedom," he said. "As far as I'm concerned, it's not. If one media entity is found to be at fault with the law, then how can that be a violation of press freedom when there are thousands of media entities in the Philippines?" Gutierrez added that when President Rodrigo Duterte blamed media killings on corrupt journalists, the NPC was among the first groups to condemn the President. Read: Duterte blames corrupt journalism for media killings Statement 'too fast' But Melinda Quintos De Jesus Executive Director of non-profit media group Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility, which supports Rappler told "On the Record" that the NPC's statement on Rappler may have been premature. "There was no attempt, Paul, it seemed to me, to have reflected the side of Rappler and how they were trying to address the issues that were raised with them with the SEC," she said. "So I thought that was a little too fast, perhaps, on your part." De Jesus noted how Rappler and other media outlets critical of the government have been targeted by Duterte. "The threatening of journalists, the calling out against journalists, the name-calling, the insults," she said. "Things were always being found where the organizations that were being targeted could not present their side because it is difficult to present their side once you have created an environment of hostility." Besides Rappler, Duterte has singled out newspaper Philippine Daily Inquirer and media conglomerate ABS-CBN, which have both been critical of the administration. Related: Sociologist: Duterte's media criticism has grave implications on news practice On Jan. 16, the President threatened to file a plunder case against the Prieto family, the former owners of the Inquirer, for allegedly failing to pay billions of pesos in taxes. Meanwhile, the President has frequently criticized ABS-CBN for allegedly biased coverage and for not running his ads during the 2016 presidential campaign. De Jesus said the so-called environment of hostility is a result of Duterte's great popularity, particularly the "avid support" he gets on social media. "Social media, however, that has been used to troll the press, to question the credibility of the press," she said. Meanwhile, Ressa told "On the Record" that the issue goes beyond Rappler's legal troubles. "I echo Melinda that I think, it's the pattern," she said. "Forget Rappler. Let's just look at the pattern of online, State-sponsored hate that has actually plagued us since mid-2016." bohlah at 2-02-2018 06:30 AM (3 years ago) (m) Former President Olusegun Obasanjo on Thursday revealed why he decided to Following his scathing letter to President Muhammadu Buhari, former President Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, has revealed he wrote Buhari out of his deep concern for the situation in the country. Former President Olusegun Obasanjo on Thursday revealed why he decided to write a letter to President Muhammadu Buhari. Following his scathing letter to President Muhammadu Buhari, former President Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, has revealed he wrote Buhari out of his deep concern for the situation in the country. Speaking on Thursday at the secretariat of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, Oke Ilewo area of Abeokuta, shortly after the Coalition for Nigeria Movement was inaugurated in Ogun State, Obasanjo said he was surprised that many Nigerians were worried that he had exchangec pleasantries with President Buhari at the African Unity summit at Addis Ababa, capital of Ethiopia, few days after he wrote the open letter to him (Buhari). He noted that he never condemned the Buhari-led administration in totality, as he explained he gave him commendation in areas where it had performed well. Obasanjo, however, spoke in parable, hinting that big masquerades have taken the centre stage, and the small masquerades must quit the stage. He said,:- Quote Last week, I issued a statement which I did not do lightly or frivolously but out of deep concern for the situation of our country. I wonder why some Nigerians were worried why I had to pay respect to the Nigerian President at Addis Ababa. Thats my own upbringing as a well-born and bred Yoruba boy. That doesnt mean that what I have said about the President, which I did not say out of bitterness and hatred. It is evidence that the President has performed, in some areas, good enough. In other areas not good and a proper advice which he may take and he may not take. I didnt do that out of malice or out of bad belle; I did it out of my respect for that office and my interest and I hope in your interest and the interest of Buhari in Nigeria. Speaking on Thursday at the secretariat of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, Oke Ilewo area of Abeokuta, shortly after the Coalition for Nigeria Movement was inaugurated in Ogun State,Obasanjo said he was surprised that many Nigerians were worried that he had exchangec pleasantries with President Buhari at the African Unity summit at Addis Ababa, capital of Ethiopia, few days after he wrote the open letter to him (Buhari).He noted that he never condemned the Buhari-led administration in totality, as he explained he gave him commendation in areas where it had performed well.Obasanjo, however, spoke in parable, hinting that big masquerades have taken the centre stage, and the small masquerades must quit the stage. Post Reply I have been reporting on latest news from Nigeria for almost 10 years now. I report on every possible news area I come across, but always ensure my reports are compiled with dignity and fact to uphold my personal values and duty as a journalist Posted: at 2-02-2018 06:30 AM (3 years ago) | Addicted Hero bohlah at 2-02-2018 07:01 AM (3 years ago) (m) Pop star Rihanna is due to appear at a high-level summit in Senegal tomorrow but a group of thirty different religious associations have declared her persona non grata. Pop star Rihanna is due to appear at a high-level summit in Senegal tomorrow but a group of thirty different religious associations have declared her persona non grata. Rihanna is billed to visit Senegal with French president Emmanuel Macron as part of a charity that provides funding for girls education. But the group known as No To Freemasonry And Homosexuality is protesting her visit claiming that shes a member of the Illuminati. Rihanna will be visiting the West African nation in her role as an ambassador for the Global Partnership for Education (GPE). The organisation aims to help fund the teaching of millions of children and young people in developing countries. However, Senegals interior minister has been quoted as saying he will ensure the safety of all conference attendees. Rihanna is billed to visit Senegal with French president Emmanuel Macron as part of a charity that provides funding for girls education. But the group known as No To Freemasonry And Homosexuality is protesting her visit claiming that shes a member of the Illuminati.Rihanna will be visiting the West African nation in her role as an ambassador for the Global Partnership for Education (GPE). The organisation aims to help fund the teaching of millions of children and young people in developing countries.However, Senegals interior minister has been quoted as saying he will ensure the safety of all conference attendees. Post Reply I have been reporting on latest news from Nigeria for almost 10 years now. I report on every possible news area I come across, but always ensure my reports are compiled with dignity and fact to uphold my personal values and duty as a journalist Posted: at 2-02-2018 07:01 AM (3 years ago) | Addicted Hero The content you are looking for has either been removed or requires you to login to view Please login below or register for an account With Naijapals.com felicilin at 2-02-2018 01:11 PM (3 years ago) (f) At least 90 people are feared dead on Friday after a smuggler's boat carrying mostly Pakistani migrants capsized in the Mediterranean, off the coast of Libya. At least 90 people are feared dead on Friday after a smuggler's boat carrying mostly Pakistani migrants capsized in the Mediterranean, off the coast of Libya. A majority of the migrants on board the boat were Pakistanis, who form a growing group making the dangerous crossing to Europe, the UN migration agency said. Ten bodies have washed ashore near the Libyan town of Zuwara following the tragedy early Friday morning, the International Organization for Migration said. Eight were believed to be Pakistani, and two Libyans. IOM spokeswoman Olivia Headon said initial indications were that the boat had become unbalanced. She said Pakistani nationals have been taking an increasing share among the number of migrants attempting to cross the Mediterranean to Italy and Europe via Libya. The incident took place one day after the European Union's border agency Frontex launched a new Mediterranean operation called Themis, removing the obligation of the previous mission to bring rescued migrants only to Italy. Italy has repeatedly lamented a lack of EU solidarity in managing immigration. The previous Frontex operation, called Triton, required all those rescued at sea to be brought to Italy even if another EU country, such as Malta, was closer. 'Triton said that whomever rescued would be taken to Italy,' said Izabella Cooper, a spokeswoman for Frontex. 'Themis leaves the decision on disembarkation to the (country) coordinating a particular rescue.' Since Italy coordinates the vast majority of sea rescues between North Africa and its southern coast, the new rule is unlikely have a large impact on arrivals, though it does send a political message to Mediterranean neighbours like Malta. Last year, as many as 3,100 migrants drowned as they attempted to make their way from Africa to Europe via boat. And so far this year, more than 190 are believed to have died trying to cross the Mediterranean. Some are seeking refuge from armed conflicts, while many others, particularly from sub-Saharan Africa, are economic migrants likely to be found ineligible for asylum in Europe. A majority of the migrants on board the boat were Pakistanis, who form a growing group making the dangerous crossing to Europe, the UN migration agency said.Ten bodies have washed ashore near the Libyan town of Zuwara following the tragedy early Friday morning, the International Organization for Migration said.Eight were believed to be Pakistani, and two Libyans.IOM spokeswoman Olivia Headon said initial indications were that the boat had become unbalanced.She said Pakistani nationals have been taking an increasing share among the number of migrants attempting to cross the Mediterranean to Italy and Europe via Libya.The incident took place one day after the European Union's border agency Frontex launched a new Mediterranean operation called Themis, removing the obligation of the previous mission to bring rescued migrants only to Italy.Italy has repeatedly lamented a lack of EU solidarity in managing immigration. The previous Frontex operation, called Triton, required all those rescued at sea to be brought to Italy even if another EU country, such as Malta, was closer.Since Italy coordinates the vast majority of sea rescues between North Africa and its southern coast, the new rule is unlikely have a large impact on arrivals, though it does send a political message to Mediterranean neighbours like Malta.Last year, as many as 3,100 migrants drowned as they attempted to make their way from Africa to Europe via boat.And so far this year, more than 190 are believed to have died trying to cross the Mediterranean.Some are seeking refuge from armed conflicts, while many others, particularly from sub-Saharan Africa, are economic migrants likely to be found ineligible for asylum in Europe. Post Reply Posted: at 2-02-2018 01:11 PM (3 years ago) | Hero Maryland's Attorney General Brian E. Frosh announced plans Thursday to file a lawsuit challenging the legality of part the new federal tax law that disproportionately hurts high tax states like Maryland.Frosh said he intends to join a New York-led lawsuit challenging the new $10,000 cap on deducting state and local taxes, which Frosh said "disrupts the longstanding balance of taxing power between the states and the federal government."That deduction, known as SALT, was previously uncapped and allowed Maryland residents to reduce their taxable bills by accounting for all the money paid in state and local income and property taxes.With the cap in place, 554,000 Maryland residents will lose an average of $11,800 in deductions, according to a recent report from the Maryland comptroller.New Jersey and Connecticut have also announced planes to join the lawsuit, which Frosh said he expects to be filed within weeks.Frosh said the suit will make several arguments, but the primary one is the cap violates state sovereignty."Essentially what they've done is make it harder for states to support themselves," Frosh said.He quoted framer Alexander Hamilton, architect of the state's financial system and the country's first treasury secretary, from The Federalist Papers saying that "states should possess an independent and uncontrollable authority to raise their own revenues for the supply of their own wants. ... an attempt on the part of the national government to abridge them in the exercise of it, would be a violent assumption of power."Frosh said that this state sovereignty idea "is something that the framers had in mind from the beginning."Frosh, a Democrat, has initiated or joined more than 20 lawsuits against the federal government since last year, when the General Assembly expanded his powers and allowed him to file suits without the governor's approval.Republican Gov. Larry Hogan told reporters Thursday Frosh has not discussed this latest suit with him."I have no idea what the legality of that is," Hogan said. "I don't think it has much of a chance." Fish River Rural Health is a community health center thats about as frontier as it gets: It serves the population in northernmost Maine, along the border of Canada. According to Heather Pelletier, its executive director, "the people here are really friendly, but its really rural and really remote."That's not uncommon among the 1,400 organizations funded by the Community Health Center Fund, which was created by the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and has faced an uncertain future since Congress let it expire more than four months ago. These clinics serve 27 million mostly low-income people -- half of whom live in rural areas where options for medical care are limited.Fish River also benefits from the National Health Service Corp, which pays doctors' medical school debt if they work in medically underserved areas. That, too, was allowed to expire in the fall.The federal government released enough money to keep both programs running through March, but advocates say many places are getting down to the wire. About 70 percent of community health centers' funding comes from the federal government. Without a guaranteed cash flow, community health centers around the country are struggling. If the next federal budget deadline comes and goes on Feb. 8 with no funding, a lot more may close their doors, reduce services and lay off staff.The uncertainty of future funding is already having an impact.Aspreviously reported, one community health center was already forced to closed in Delaware. According to a new survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation , 3 percent have taken action toward closing and another 36 percent are considering shutting their doors. Four percent of community health centers have already laid off staff and another 53 percent might. And roughly a third of respondents said they may reduce some services, including addiction treatment, mental health and dental.At Fish River, after the long-time dentist on staff announced his retirement, the clinic found a replacement and was working through the logistics of his contract when Pelletier got bad news: The candidate had received an email that Service Corp money was no longer secure. He decided not to take the job.For the last few months, most of the conversation about the budget gridlock in Congress was aimed at the Childrens Health Insurance Program (CHIP). But after the Jan. 22 government shutdown, CHIP has been fully funded for six years. Health care experts, however, say the programs still in limbo are just as vital to the social safety net as CHIP.Everybody in Congress, all the way up to House Speaker Paul Ryan, tells us that theyll move on it as soon as they can, says Dan Hawkins, senior vice president of public policy and research at the National Association of Community Health Centers. Our message though, loud and clear, is they cant leave us hanging any longer. You cant run a business like this.While state health officials have been lobbying their members of Congress to fund these programs, states themselves aren't offering these clinics any financial relief.Hawkins says states gave a total of $700 million to community health centers last year, which may be why they aren't scrambling right now to move money around. Right now, the uncertain fate of community health centers doesn't appear to them to be as much of a code-red situation as ending children's health insurance.John Mengenhausen, CEO of Horizon Health Care, a community health center organization in South Dakota, had a meeting with Gov. Dennis Daugaard and Health Secretary Kim Malsam-Rysdon back in December to discuss worst-case scenarios.I told them that were seeing your Medicaid patients, so if we go away, good luck in those emergency rooms," he says. "But we heard that theres no state money, that theyre operating on an already tight budget. So we arent seeing any help from the state, no."In Maine, the state allotted an extra $23,000 to community health centers in 2014, and Pelletier says shes under the impression it was considered extraordinarily generous and something unlikely to be replicated -- even under these circumstances.Hawkins, however, says hes heard from lawmakers in California and New York who said their states will provide some stopgap funding if Congressional inaction continues or clinics start closing. It's unclear how much money they would offer or when.If community health centers' federal funding is ultimately not renewed, its estimated that up to 160,000 jobs across the country could be lost.So if were talking about closing doors, were also talking about a major economic impact, says Mengenhausen.Patients are starting to ask questions.I dont know if theyve reached the point of panic, but they are getting curious," says Pelletier. "People thought when CHIP was reauthorized, so would community health centers."In the meantime, she faces a retiring dentist and no easy way to replace him.It went from being this guaranteed program to wow, this could go away," says Pelletier, "and it did." A group of LGBT activists launched an ad campaign Thursday to demand that Amazon.com Inc. locate its second headquarters in a state that protects LGBT people from discrimination.While the City of Philadelphia -- one of 20 finalists in Amazon's search -- has an ordinance that offers such protections, Pennsylvania does not."Employees, their families, and customers may work within a city, but they may live in a neighboring community," said Conor Gaughan, campaign manager for the "No Gay? No Way!!" campaign. "Without statewide protections, we are asking these LGBT citizens to give up their rights and protections on their commute beyond the city line. And without a statewide nondiscrimination law, there is no guarantee that a city ordinance won't be struck down by a discriminatory state law."Amazon declined to comment Thursday, instead referring to its wish list for contenders, which includes populations of more than one million, an international airport, good transit systems, and "the presence and support of a diverse population."Of Pennsylvania's 2,562 municipalities, just 44 -- or almost 2 percent -- have laws banning discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity, or both, according to the LGBT rights group Equality Pennsylvania. Those municipalities, though, account for nearly half the state's population.Besides Philadelphia, those municipalities include Harrisburg, Pittsburgh, and, nearby, Upper Merion and Haverford Townships, and Doylestown Borough.A nondiscrimination bill amending the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act to include sexual orientation and gender identity was introduced in the legislature more than a decade ago, but nothing has been passed.The lack of a statewide protection "sends an all-too-clear message to LGBTQ individuals and families -- you are not equal here," said John Dawe, Equality Pennsylvania's managing director."If businesses want to have as many options for hiring the best talent, they would certainly think twice before they locate to a place where some of that talent pool is intentionally targeted and driven away simply because of who they are and who they love," Dawe said.Zach Wilcha, who leads the Independence Business Alliance, Greater Philadelphia's LGBT Chamber of Commerce, is not part of the campaign but said it proves the importance of statewide LGBT protections."This is a great example about how having LGBT protections when it comes to the workplace and public accommodations is not only the right thing to do morally," Wilcha said, "but also makes the most business sense."Ajeenah Amir, a spokeswoman for the city, said Philadelphia has been at the forefront of protecting the LGBT community and is one of only three cities in the nation with an office of LGBT affairs."When the city submitted its bid for Amazon HQ2, we touted Philadelphia's welcoming environment, including our perfect 100 on [the Human Rights Campaign's] Municipal Equality Index," Amir said. The city is advocating for protections on a statewide level, she said, "but we believe that Amazon would find Philadelphia a welcoming city for all."Unlike Pennsylvania, New Jersey prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation. Newark, the state's largest city, is among the Amazon finalists.A decision on the winning location is expected this year. No Election Safe Democratic Likely Democratic Lean Democratic Tossup Safe Republican Likely Republican Lean Republican Safe Republican Likely Republican Lean Republican Tossup Lean Democratic Likely Democratic Safe Democratic Democratic state attorneys general have been at a bit of a disadvantage this past decade: They hold 22 seats to the Republicans' 27, with one AG appointed by Alaska's independent governor. But come November, could their fortunes turn?Judging by our first attempt to handicap the AG seats that are being contested in 2018, that's a distinct possibility. Republican AGs are on the hot seat this year, with several term-limited out or running for higher office.In fact, of the 30 elected seats that are up this cycle, 18 are held by Republicans and 12 by Democrats. More critically, of those 30 seats being contested, we consider nine to be "in play," meaning they are rated tossup, lean Democratic or lean Republican. (Seats rated likely or safe for one party or the other are not considered in play at this point.) Of those nine in play seats, the Republicans currently hold seven.Furthermore, six of the seven contests that we consider to be tossups are currently in GOP hands. They are the open AG offices in Colorado, Florida, Michigan, Nevada and Ohio, plus the seat held by a Republican incumbent in Wisconsin. The one Democratic-held seat in the tossup category is an open seat in Connecticut.In a neutral environment, this would suggest the Democrats could expect to gain a couple of seats on election night. But if there's a Democratic wave -- which is harder to predict than a wave in congressional races -- the Democrats might win even more than that, perhaps enough to turn an overall Republican lead in AG seats into a Democratic one.As usual, we are rating the seats as safe Republican, likely Republican, lean Republican, tossup, lean Democratic, likely Democratic and safe Democratic.In total, 43 seats are popularly elected and seven are either appointed by the governor, the legislature or state supreme court. We do not rate the appointed seats.In the handicapping below the map, the seats within each category are rank-ordered from most likely to go Republican to most likely to go Democratic.With his first term under his belt, Peterson is almost ensured to see a second one. He doesn't have any serious opponents yet, either in the primary or the general election.Although Stenehjem hasn't announced whether he's running again, he is widely expected to do so. North Dakota leans strongly Republican and Stenehjem is popular, so if he runs he should easily win a sixth term.Wasden also hasn't announced whether he'll run for a fifth term. But like North Dakota, Idaho is a Republican state. So if Wasden does, he should be able to survive a primary and defeat any Democratic candidate.Marshall was appointed to the office by former Gov. Robert Bentley after his predecessor, Luther Strange, was tapped to fill a U.S. Senate vacancy. But Marshall, a former Democrat who was previously a county prosecutor in northern Alabama, is not getting a free pass in June's Republican primary. The field is headed by Troy King, who himself was appointed to the attorney general post before being defeated in a primary by Strange. The GOP field also includes former chief deputy attorney general Alice Martin and attorney Chess Bedsole, who worked on Donald Trump's Alabama presidential campaign. Any Democrat would be an underdog in this race, even one named Chris Christie. The attorney is no relation to the former Republican New Jersey governor.Democrats have not found a candidate so far to challenge Rutledge, who would be favored in this strongly Republican state.Hunter was appointed to succeed Scott Pruitt, who was tapped by President Trump to head the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Hunter is a policy veteran, who previously served as a state legislator, secretary of state and top aide to former Republican U.S. Rep. J.C. Watts. Hunter is running for a full term, and in a state as solidly red as Oklahoma, he should be able to win without much trouble.Despite two controversial terms under outgoing GOP Gov. Sam Brownback, don't expect the attorney general election to be a nail-biter. Schmidt, a leading moderate Republican in Kansas, is popular and well positioned to win a third term.Carr was appointed to the post when Sam Olens was named president of Kennesaw State University. Carr is running for a term of his own, and while Democrats may be competitive in other Georgia races this year, there's no clear Democratic candidate yet for AG.In South Dakota, several Republicans are seeking the nomination for the open AG position. Whoever gets the nod -- they'll to be picked at a party convention -- would be a heavy favorite over the Democratic nominee, given the state's strong Republican leaning. One of the potential Democratic candidates, though, has an intriguing background: Tatewin Means is a former attorney general of the Oglala Sioux Tribe and daughter of the late American Indian activist Russell Means.While Wilson has more than $1 million in cash on hand, he has taken flak for his management of an ongoing statehouse corruption investigation. In his bid for a third term, Wilson faces two credible GOP primary opponents: State Rep. Todd Atwater and attorney William Herlong. There is no Democrat in the race yet. The best chance for Democrats would be to find a credible candidate and then run against a weakened Wilson in the fall.Superficially, Paxton should be vulnerable: He is facing a trial for securities fraud. But this is solidly Republican Texas, and a final conviction by Election Day is unlikely. Meanwhile, Paxton, who doesn't have a primary challenger, has portrayed the prosecution as a liberal witch hunt, an argument that should resonate with the GOP base. For their part, the Democrats have a credible candidate -- trial lawyer Justin Nelson -- who has raised nearly $1 million, but that doesn't go too far in a statewide race in Texas. Ultimately, it looks like Paxton, despite his legal troubles, is positioned to ride Gov. Greg Abbott's coattails to reelection this year.Brnovich, who won his office in 2014 after defeating a Republican incumbent in the primary, starts with a money edge against former assistant attorney general and Obama administration official January Contreras. The question is whether an energized Democratic and Latino vote can deliver the office to Contreras, or whether Brnovich has demonstrated enough independence to win some crossover voters. He's pursued litigation against the Arizona Board of Regents over the cost of tuition at Arizona's three state universities. That said, there are a number of high-profile races in Arizona this election cycle, and the AG race is not one of them. So the result could be affected by trends further up the ballot.On the GOP side, state Auditor David Yost has a clear shot at the nomination. But former U.S. Attorney Steve Dettelbach, a Democrat, should be able to run a credible race. This race will likely be influenced by top-of-the-ballot contests, including the open gubernatorial seat and a competitive U.S. Senate race; either AG nominee could get a boost from how those races develop, leaving us to rate this a tossup for now.The Republican field includes state House Speaker Tom Leonard and state Sen. Tonya Schuitmaker, while the Democrats have attorney Dana Nessel and former U.S. Attorney Pat Miles. The nominees will be chosen at state party conventions this summer, so it's premature to move this race -- an open seat in a swing state -- out of the tossup category.Schimel is seeking a second term; he faces Democrat Josh Kaul, a former federal prosecutor and first-time candidate who is the son of former Wisconsin AG Peg Lautenschlager. Both Schimel and Kaul should have enough money to be competitive. Wisconsin is one of the most politically polarized states. If the Democrats do as well as they did in a recent special election race -- one considered an early referendum on Trump's presidency -- this could be a strong pickup opportunity.The GOP field is led by former Tampa Circuit Judge Ashley Moody, who has Bondi's endorsement; other candidates include state Reps. Jay Fant, Ross Spano and Frank White. The Democratic field is headed by state Rep. Sean Shaw, the son of Leander Shaw, the first black chief justice of the Florida Supreme Court. Another Democratic name being floated is Fort Lauderdale Mayor Jack Seiler, who is term limited. The open seat AG race will compete for attention with, and likely be affected by, other major races in Florida this cycle, including an open gubernatorial seat and a hotly contested U.S. Senate race.The faceoff is all but set: state Senate Majority Leader Aaron Ford, a Democrat, against former state Assemblyman and Deputy Attorney General Wes Duncan, a Republican. This is another open seat race in a swing state, with two credible candidates. We're rating it a tossup.The only Republican candidate right now is George Brauchler, a well-known district attorney who prosecuted the Aurora mass shooting and a former gubernatorial candidate. The Democrats, meanwhile, have multiple candidates, including University of Colorado law school dean Phil Weiser, who previously held several Justice Department positions and clerked for Supreme Court Justices Byron White and Ruth Bader Ginsburg. In a neutral political environment, Brauchler has the profile and the credibility to have a strong shot at winning, but if there's a national wave, the Democrats could have the edge.Unexpectedly, Jepsen is not running for another term. That leaves in the Democratic field: state Senate Judiciary Chair Paul Doyle, state House Judiciary Chair William Tong, state House General Law Chair Mike D'Agostino and former Assistant U.S. Attorney Chris Mattei. There is no clear frontrunner yet. On the Republican side, former state Rep. John Shaban is running. Connecticut is a historically blue state, the Democratic base is energized nationally and the last Republican AG left office in 1959. On the other hand, Democratic Gov. Dannel Malloy is finishing with low approval ratings, and the AG race could move in tandem with the race to succeed him, aiding Republican chances of flipping the seat.With the departure of Madigan -- a political powerhouse from a dynastic family -- the field of AG hopefuls has swelled, mostly on the Democratic side. The Democratic field includes former Gov. Pat Quinn, who was ousted by Republican Bruce Rauner in 2014; state Sen. Kwame Raoul, who holds Barack Obama's former legislative seat; state Rep. Scott Drury; former Chicago Independent Police Review Authority Chair Sharon Fairley; Chicago Democratic Ward Committeeman Aaron Goldstein; Highland Park Mayor Nancy Rotering; Chicago Park District Board President Jesse Ruiz; and attorney Renato Mariotti. If a Democratic wave develops, it should benefit whoever the party's nominee is. That said, the Republicans have an intriguing frontrunner, former Miss America Erika Harold, a social conservative from downstate Urbana who graduated from Harvard Law School. If Harold gets past DuPage County Board Member Gary Grasso in the primary, as is expected, and if she draws a weaker Democratic nominee, she could have a shot.Swanson has decided against running for governor, meaning she's likely to clear what had been a budding Democratic field to succeed her, and probably enable her to win reelection. If she'd vacated her seat, it would have a target for national Republicans; now, less so. Former state Rep. Doug Wardlow is in the hunt on the Republican side.On the Democratic side, at least, there should be an energetic primary for this open seat. The field includes Deputy AG LaKresha Roberts and two former New Castle County officials, Kathleen Jennings and Tim Mullaney Sr. Both have experience in the AG's office. For her part, Jennings prosecuted the state's only known serial killer earlier in her career. The only candidate on the GOP side is attorney Tom Neuberger. In this solidly blue state, the Democrats will have a strong leg up.With the exception of 1991 to 1995, Miller has been Iowa's attorney general since 1979. His last race in 2014 was relatively close by his standards: He bested Adam Gregg, who is now acting lieutenant governor, by 11 points. Barring something unforeseen, though, Miller should be good for another term.The Republicans have a challenger in attorney Michael Hendricks, but political observers are expecting a good year for Democrats in New Mexico. Balderas should benefit.The only contender so far is Peter Neronha, a former U.S. attorney for Rhode Island who stepped down when Obama left office. He's considered popular with voters for his efforts to fight political corruption in the state, and as a nonpartisan until 2017, he should have a measure of cross-partisan appeal. Others may eventually join the Democratic field, but Neronha's stature will be a deterrent. There is no Republican candidate yet.Frosh hasn't yet filed for reelection, but he is aggressively raising money and is expected to run. He also seems likely to avoid a primary. While there have been some strains between Republican Gov. Larry Hogan and Frosh, Hogan will have his hands full getting himself reelected in this solidly blue state. As a result, he's considered unlikely to spend political capital taking aim at Frosh.Schneiderman has run his office aggressively, including investigating Trump's personal businesses. There is no Republican candidate inside, and even if one emerges, Schneiderman is popular within all factions of his own party and with many swing voters. His reelection bid is being seen as a tune-up for the 2022 gubernatorial race; his two predecessors, Eliot Spitzer and Andrew Cuomo, used the AG post as a launching pad for the governorship.Healy is popular and is expected to face only token opposition. Massachusetts has not elected a Republican to the AG office since 1966.Donovan is completing his first term and should be safe. No one has indicated interest in the GOP nomination yet, and Donovan will have a big edge in this solidly blue state.Although a fellow Democrat is running -- State Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones -- Becerra should be well-positioned to win a first full term. If he does, Becerra, who was appointed to succeed newly elected U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris, could become California's first appointed statewide official in decades to win the office to which he was appointed. Either way, California has become so strongly Democratic that the AG seat should be safe for the party. A law firm hired by the government of Turkey is lobbying state officials across the U.S. about what it alleges is a suspicious network of American charter schools run by a dangerous Turkish opposition leader.Federal records show Turkeys lawyers requested meetings in January 2018 with politicians in 26 states and the District of Columbia, including attorneys general, influential legislators and at least one governor Michigans Rick Snyder.The legal team has already sat down with an official in the Arizona attorney generals office, worked on legislation in Texas and attended school board meetings in California, Louisiana and Massachusetts.Its the latest move in a curious propaganda war playing out in Americas state capitals between Turkeys ruling party and a secretive religious movement that the Center for Public Integrity previously revealed has funded scores of international trips for state lawmakers from places such as Texas and Tennessee. Description GIS - 02 February, 2018: Government will not tolerate those causing prejudice and infringing the fundamental rights of the citizens and severe sanctions will be taken against such offenders. The rights of citizens should be well preserved and respected and it is the responsibility of the elders to instil better moral values in the future generations which in turn will collaborate for the progress and prosperity of the country. Government will not tolerate those causing prejudice and infringing the fundamental rights of the citizens and severe sanctions will be taken against such offenders. The rights of citizens should be well preserved and respected and it is the responsibility The Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Energy and Public Utilities, Mr Ivan Collendavelloo, made this statement yesterday at Le Morne Village during the official ceremony marking the 183rd Anniversary of the Abolition of Slavery in Mauritius, commemorated on 1 February each year. He lauded the contribution of the slaves in the socio-economic development of the country adding that we must recognise their struggle to make of Mauritius where it stands today. He further expressed the determination of Government to eradicate absolute poverty and fight against social exclusion which he added is mostly associated to the descendants of slaves and recalled the various projects in the pipeline to achieve this endeavor. Furthermore, the Deputy Prime Minister spoke of the setting up of the Intercontinental Slavery Museum, at the Ex-Labourdonnais Military Hospital in Port Louis, as recommended by the Truth and Justice Commission. The Museum, he said would give more visibility to slavery and the slave trade in the Indian Ocean, promote slave history, and emphasise the contribution of the African Diaspora in the world development. For his part, the Minister of Arts and Culture, Mr Prithvirajsing Roopun, lauded the contribution of the slaves in the socio-economic development of the country while adding that they have marked history with their imprints being engraved in every sphere of the economy. He further dwelt on the inscription of Le Morne Cultural Landscape on the list of UNESCOs World Heritage sites which represents a symbol of slaves fight for freedom, their suffering, and their sacrifice through the 18th and early years of the 19th centuries. Moreover, he called for each and every one to demonstrate a sense of responsibility by preserving the authenticity and the exclusivity of the cache of Le Morne Mountain and appealed to hotel operators to promote Le Morne as cultural destination for tourists. To mark the 183rd Anniversary of the Abolition of Slavery, a series of activities were organised. They comprised of: an official programme at Le Morne Village; a wreath laying at the International Slave Route Monument; an exhibition and a cultural programme. Description GIS - 02 February, 2018: A total of 210 Temporary Police Constables (TPC), out of which 23 are women, took their oath of allegiance on 30 January 2018 at Line Barracks in Port Louis to serve the nation and execute and perform their duties as Police Constables. The ceremony was held in the presence of the Commissioner of Police, Mr Mario Nobin. A total of 210 Temporary Police Constables (TPC), out of which 23 are women, took their oath of allegiance on 30 January 2018 at Line Barracks in Port Louis to serve the nation and execute and perform their duties as Police Constables. The ceremony was held in the presence of the Commissioner of Police, Mr Mario Nobin. In his address to the new recruits, Mr Nobin pointed out that the young constables have joined the Mauritius Police Force, an organisation which has been at the service of Mauritius for the last 250 years. He stated that they have crossed an important milestone in their professional career and they now have to look forward to the important service that lies ahead. The Commissioner of Police highlighted that at the dawn of its 50th independence anniversary, Mauritius requires police officers who are not only experts in law enforcement but also to have the skills of a trained psychologist, a lawyer, an educator and a community organiser. He exhorted the TPC to live by the core values and ethical principles and to ensure that Mauritius is a safe and secure place to live and work. He appealed to each and every one to take back control of the society and to return to the core values of good citizenship, good manners, love for one another, good neighbourliness, respect for one another and preservation of the environment. Recruit Foundation Course The TPC, who joined the Mauritius Police Force on 28 September 2017, are currently undergoing a 30-week training at the Beau Bassin and Vacoas Police Training Schools and the Special Supporting Unit Training School. The Recruit Foundation Course comprises theoretical and practical sessions. The modules are: general police duties; interview techniques; officer safety; physical education and physical training; first aid; human rights and code of conduct; disaster management; weapon training; IT awareness; foot and rifle drill; field duties; social aspect in policing; defensive driving; and anti-corruption and integrity training by the Independent Commission against Corruption. After the training, the new recruits will be awarded a certificate in Police Duties after having followed two Top-Up modules at the University of Mauritius namely Criminal Law of Evidence and Principles and Practice of Police Management. After the oath taking ceremony, the TPC are entitled to enforce the law as per section 9 of the Police Act. Alaskas gov tech ecosystem has taken steps forward, driven by projects from several different entities, including the state, the Anchorage municipal government and the Anchorage Code for America brigade. Starting at the state level, Alaska recently activated its open data portal , which contains public-facing financial information. The creation of this platform dates back to a bill first introduced in the states Legislature in 2014, aimed at centralizing open data that was previously being published on individual agency websites. So far, the portal includes information about operating and capital budgets dating back to 2015, but, according to the bill that led to its creation, the plan is to add more data moving forward. In other Alaska news, Code for Anchorage , which is one of Code for Americas brigades , has teamed with the Alaska Court System to beta test an SMS court hearing reminder system that may launch soon . This type of SMS system is often valuable for government because it fosters increased digital equity, in that SMS notifications do not require Internet access or the same type of data plan that emails do. The Anchorage creation is based on projects done by other Code for America brigades in Tulsa, Okla., and Atlanta. To emphasize the potential effect of this project further, its important to note that a recent study found text message notifications are likely to lead to increased court attendance and less open warrants. Finally, speaking of Alaska and Code for America brigades, Anchorage CIO Brendan Babb points out that developers have created a new game designed to spread awareness of where such groups are located, excluding those in Alaska and Hawaii for visibility reasons . Its currently in Alpha, and Babb encourages users to contact him with corrections. San Francisco announces Internet as a utility effort San Francisco has started the process of creating a citywide municipal fiber network that officials said will prioritize net neutrality and privacy protections, while bringing fast and affordable online access to constituents. The city issued a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) on Wednesday, Jan. 31 to find teams capable of designing and delivering a citywide fiber network in San Francisco. The announcement of the RFQ came from Mayor Mark Farrell, the city administrators office and the department of technology. It also noted that any Internet service provider that used the network would be required to follow strict net neutrality protections, including commitments to transparency, the free flow of information, equal treatment of traffic, no paid prioritization and unobstructed access to lawful websites. Additionally, any internet service provider must follow robust privacy and security standards. In some areas of the country, including San Francisco and much of California, the local government response to the FCCs decision in December to roll back net neutrality was a ferocious one, with public servants vowing to do all they can to preserve a free and equitable Internet. The announcement of this RFQ even points out that the related guidelines are in stark contrast to the standards of the Trump administration, which has repeatedly rolled back popular net neutrality and privacy protections, allowing personal internet use to be dictated by the highest bidder. The RFQ is ostensibly seeking teams that can design, build, operate, finance and maintain a citywide fiber-optic network. This comes after city officials met last year with industry leaders to gather feedback on such a project. The RFQ will identify up to five qualified groups by the end of April, and, afterward, the city expects to award a contract to build, operate and manage an open access fiber network for 15 years. NYC announces three finalists for its NYCx Governors Island Connectivity Challenge In other high-speed Internet connection news, New York City has announced three finalists for its NYCx Governors Island Connectivity Challenge , which seeks to bring high-speed low-cost Internet service to Governors Island this year. City officials describe the group of three finalists as a broad range of start-up companies and entrepreneurs, one they hope will inform how to deliver next generation network infrastructure for 5G cellular connectivity across New York Citys parks and neighborhoods. The finalists are Neutral Connect Networks LLC of West Palm Beach, Fla.; Fiberless Networks of Quincy, Mass.; and Edge FiberNet, which is based in New York City. All three will spend the coming months working with the city to test and build connectivity solutions on Governors Island. This challenge was first announced in October, with a stated goal of encouraging global entrepreneurs to offer bold solutions that would ultimately help with New York City Mayor Bill de Blasios goal of giving all residents and businesses in his jurisdiction access to affordable and reliable high-speed broadband Internet by 2025. Governors Island is an atypical and interesting part of the city, one that is a popular seasonal destination for merrymaking that includes acres of park space. In announcing the finalists, the city noted that the area is undergoing a transition into a year-round commercial, cultural and educational hub, and that the Connectivity Challenge winner will ideally bring much needed service to hundreds of thousands of seasonal visitors, as well as to dozens of cultural organizations, groups producing public programming and future year-round tenants. Louisville, Ky., hundreds of others, apply for pilot program to use drones to respond to shootings Louisville, Ky., hopes to be one of the first cities in the country capable of responding to shootings with drones, having recently submitted an application for the Federal Aviation Administrations new pilot program for drone innovation, according to reports from local media Such drone use is unprecedented, and, if approved, Louisville would be the first American city that could fly drones to shooting scenes, subsequently using the citys ShotSpotter application , which would allow drones to take images, potentially before 911 has even been called. Louisville, however, is not alone in this effort, as 300 other cities have also applied for the U.S. Unmanned Aerial System Integration Pilot Program, which was created under the direction of an executive memorandum from President Donald Trump in October. Although, Louisville may very well be the lone city with a proposal related to gunshot detection and drones. Louisville is perhaps uniquely positioned for this work because of its ShotSpotter app, which was implemented by Louisville Metro Police after getting funding by the Metro Council, with support from Mayor Greg Fischer. The city expects a reply to its application within the next 90 days. Although Louisville has not officially retailed the specifics of its hopeful drone program, local media is reporting that drones would only be in the air once shots are detected, and, in order to allay potential privacy concerns, all footage would go directly to Louisville police. Memphis, Tenn., launches open data portal Memphis, Tenn., has launched an open data portal that gives users access to performance-related data for more than 30 city functions. In a tweet announcing the launch, Mayor Jim Strickland noted that, This is the same data that we use on a daily basis to guide government decisions and investments. In addition to the portal, Strickland signed an executive order that formalizes the citys commitment to open data and also creates a data-driven governance committee to implement such work moving forward. This has been in the works for some months in Memphis. In October, the city hired CIO Mike Rodriguez, who told Government Technology at that time that he was making enhancing open data efforts an early priority. An open data portal such as the one launched by Memphis is, of course, a massive step for cities looking to be more transparent as well as to use open data effectively. (TNS) STAMFORD, Conn. Imagine buying an income-generating three-family home and later learning only two of the units are legal.Or finding out your house isnt zoned for an existing in-law apartment.Its not uncommon.But a database in the works would make it easier for the public and city officials to identify illegal dwellings.Land Use Bureau Chief Ralph Blessing has asked city legislators for a $150,000 capital appropriation to create a digital database of 240,000 tax cards dating back 70 years.The cards exist in several forms on paper or as microform images, or in an obsolete computer database depending on their age, Blessing told city legislators. This adds to the challenge of investigating complaints about illegal housing, he said.We get a zoning complaint about illegal use of a building and then we have to go to the tax assessors office to pull the records in whatever form they are in. Then we have to reconstruct the history of that dwelling based on the tax records from the 1950s moving forward, Blessing told Board of Representatives members this month. Its a very time-intensive process.A single request can take up to a week, according to Laura Burwick, a special assistant in the mayors office who works closely with the building and zoning departments.She added that many micofiche records are becoming worn.Theyre starting to fall apart, she said, so we came up with the proposal to get a company to digitize them.Many believe illegal housing homes that dont conform to zoning regulations or building codes, often making them dangerous to live in is a problem across Stamford. To help address the issue, the city has a housing task force comprised of zoning, building, health and fire department officials who inspect homes suspected to be in violation.The idea is to get all the information, scan it, index it and make it available not only to my staff, but also to staff from other departments who have to do with illegal housing or housing issues in general, Blessing said.The records are most important for determining whether an older property has been granted a pre-existing use for example, a two-family dwelling in what is now a single-family zone.The essence of this is both for safety violations, but also in zoning enforcement there are a lot grandfather situations, Mayor David Martin said. Before we can enforce something, we have to check the records.In a neighborhood where all the buildings were built after the 1980s, its less of a problem, Blessing told the Board of Finance during its review of the request. A neighborhood built before 1951 is where youre going to have a lot of legal nonconforming buildings.Accurate historical information is also critical for buying and selling homes, getting a mortgage and assessing taxes. Buyers may go into a sale not having all the data in front of them.What weve heard from people is they buy a house thinking its a three-family house and its really a two-family house. Now theres less rental income and theyve gotten a mortgage based on that wrong information, Blessing said.The idea is for the information to be available to the public online, in a database similar to an existing one managed by Vision Government Solutions that provides assessment data.Weve talked about zoning enforcement issues for some time now, Blessing said. I think the municipal search is an important aspect of that.The Board of Representatives will vote Monday on Blessings proposal. Improving connectivity and generating data-driven internal management decisions may land Louisville, Ky., with training from experts and services worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.The city is one of nine finalists for the 2018 Smart Cities Council Readiness Challenge Grants . Five city, county or state governments will be selected in March to receive a year of mentoring as well as workshop support.Albuquerque, N.M.; Aurora, Ill.; Birmingham, Ala.; Cary, N.C.; Fairfax County, Va.; Los Angeles; Las Vegas; and the state of Virginia are the other finalists. Also, Puerto Rico, which is recovering from devastation left by Hurricane Maria, will be awarded a separate Readiness Challenge Grant.Louisville hopes to use the expertise that comes with receiving a Challenge Grant to grow some of the smart city efforts already on the drawing boards.Weve got an internal rough draft or what we want to do, and kind of a playbook weve been operating with, said Ed Blayney, Louisville's innovation project manager in the Office of Performance Improvement and Innovation. One key project the city is currently involved with is installing more than 100 miles of fiber-optic cable.Right now, were really interested in building out our fiber infrastructure and kind of building the foundation for our smart cities, he added.Wed like to get more coming from the performance side of the house. As we get more sensors and data coming in, to really make sure were improving our services, and integrating our smart city work with the LouieStat program, said Blayney, referring to the citys data-driven management system, put in place to improve internal efficiencies.Birminghams smart city efforts are focused on improving the citys economic development competitiveness and growing social equity. Las Vegas is also exploring a citywide fiber network. Aurora wants to develop a stronger open data portal a feature that can improve how the city interacts with its residents as well as improve departmental efficiencies. In addition to improving public engagement, the portal could also help to grow economic development, ovver added insight into public safety and city finances, said Adrienne Merced-Holloway, Chief Innovation Officer in Aurora.The open portal data concept really allows us to achieve all of those objectives, she said. But this expands beyond that. When we think of open data portals we actually are looking for the public and private sector to help us, in a sense, identify ways we can achieve those goals."The idea, said Merced-Holloway, is to put data out into the public realm to allow people with different perspectives and different ideas, asking different questions about data, and be able to respond from that perspective and deliver, either solutions that are beneficial to our decision-making, or solutions that are going to be instrumental in engaging our citizenry.So it really becomes this kind of informal partnership, she added.Roughly 150 jurisdictions turned in applications for the Readiness Challenge, with 21 selected as semi-finalists, said Jesse Berst, chairman of the Smart Cities Council.We seek cities that will use our programs as a jump start towards better livability, workability and sustainability that will build off our work, said Berst.The finalists proposals stood out in several key areas, said Berst. Namely, those that worked to broaden integration among different public departments, by possibly sharing costs, data and infrastructure.In 2012 Louisville launched its LouieStat program as a way to review the performance of some 26 different city departments to gather use data and then use this information to make decisions about what gaps we want to close, said Daro Mott, chief of performance improvement in Louisville.The goal is to measure what matters, identify where we have gaps and then take action to improve those gaps, and then learn what happens over time, said Mott.Also, the Smart Cities Council looked for proposals with impact. Were looking for things that genuinely provide benefits to a wide swath of citizens and that help the city become more globally competitive, said Berst. Were much less interested in pilots or experiments.Another criteria is inclusiveness. We want cities to design programs that also help those less fortunate, including low-income, underserved neighborhoods, homeless, handicapped, elderly, etc., said Berst. Last year , Austin, Texas; Indianapolis, Ind.; Miami; Newport News, Va.; Orlando, Fla.; and Philadelphia were selected to participate in the Readiness Challenge Grant program (TNS) - Hawaiis monthly test of its statewide outdoor warning sirens and the live audio broadcast segment of the emergency alert system will resume as scheduled at 11:45 a.m. today.It is only a test, with no exercise or drill accompanying it, and the first one since a false missile alert went out Jan. 13, officials with the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency said Wednesday.During this monthly test, HI-EMA says all warning sirens will sound a one-minute attention alert signal (steady tone) followed by a one-minute attack warning signal (wailing tone). The tests are routinely run on the first business day of every month.The attention alert signal informs residents to turn on a radio or television for information and instruction for an impending emergency, or to evacuate to higher ground if in a coastal inundation area, officials said. The attack warning signal directs residents to seek immediate shelter and remain sheltered in place until an all-clear message is broadcast over radio or television.Oahu residents in areas surrounding Campbell Industrial Park including Kalaeloa, Makakilo, Nanakuli, Kapolei, and Ewa Beach also may hear a whooping tone following the siren test. The whooping tone is a test of the Hazardous Materials siren that will be activated in the event of a hazmat incident requiring emergency notification of businesses, schools and residents within the vicinity of Campbell Industrial Park.The outdoor warning sirens are one part of a three-component emergency notification system. A simultaneous test of the emergency alert system is conducted with the siren system, in cooperation with Hawaiis broadcast industry. In the event of a real emergency, warning sirens and emergency alert broadcasts would be joined by alerts via the wireless emergency alert system, which delivers sound-and-text warnings to mobile telephones and compatible devices.On Jan. 13, a HI-EMA warning officer mistook a drill for a real emergency and sent out a cellphone alert statewide that warned of an incoming ballistic missile threat. The false alarm caused widespread panic and confusion as the state took 38 minutes to send out a corrected cellphone alert.HI-EMA officials say that in the event of a real threat, emergency management and disaster preparedness information can be found at the front section of telephone directories in all counties.2018 The Honolulu Star-AdvertiserVisit The Honolulu Star-Advertiser at www.staradvertiser.comDistributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. See the news release below. This is not your local quad-copter used by real estate agents and most television news organizations. The mission capabilities of various drones are about to explode (in a positive way)."January 30, 2018 Camarillo, CA Sabrewing Aircraft Company announced that it has raised 140% of its initial angel funding goal, according to Ed De Reyes, CEO of Sabrewing Aircraft Company. We will close this round shortly, and cap this round at just under $1 million, said De Reyes. De Reyes stated that they raised the funds from The Drone Fund, Integro LTD and two other investors. Due diligence ended at the end of December and funded at the first of the year.Sabrewing Aircraft Company, Inc. is building a large-scale, long-endurance, high cargo capacity demonstrator UAV that is a 65% scale of their full-size drone. The demonstrator will also be used to compete in the Pacific Drone Challenge, and as a demonstrator for both commercial and US Department of Defense sectors. According to De Reyes, testing is expected to begin in May of 2018 and will focus on system function, endurance and operations in preparation for a historic flight from Japan to Silicon Valley. The air vehicle, dubbed The Draco-2 is a 65% scale demonstrator air vehicle designed to fly up to 5000 miles (9200 km) for up to 50 hours at altitudes reaching 22,000 feet (6700 meters).According to Sabrewing, the full-scale version of their demonstrator aircraft will be able to fly for a similar distance but carry a greater payload than the demonstrator. Sabrewings full-scale UAV will be about the size of the Cessna-208 (Caravan) or Quest Kodiak, with similar acquisition costs and operational speed, but with almost double the payload of either aircraft. Sabrewings UAV is primarily meant to serve both military and civilian cargo operations, and is priced well below the Caravans or Kodiaks operating and maintenance costs yet provides with greater range and payload.The Drone Fund was the lead investor in this round of funding. Once this round closes, Sabrewing will conclude the design phase of the Draco-2. The funding raised will be used to complete several scale wind tunnel models for testing of the final design, and to start building the Draco-2 air vehicle that will be tested within the Pan Pacific UAV Test Range Complex in Alaska, Oregon and Hawaii.One of the key investors, Mr. Kazunori Saito, CFO of the Japanese drone company iRobotics, stated, We are excited with the new technologies that Sabrewing is developing and bringing to the market. It is opening new possibilities that are amazing.Work on a heavy-lift, long distance UAV has been progressing over several years, we have designed and built several UAVs since 2002, said De Reyes. Our team been working together on a Group 5 UAV specifically to fill the need for a UAV that can carry cargo in the range from 2000 to 4000 lbs.Sabrewings drone can carry cargo to and from the most remote areas on Earth in any weather without pilots aboard, and with greater safety, economy and efficiency than a manned cargo air vehicle. To date, other aircraft such as the RQ-4 Global Hawk have flown over the Pacific but is not commercially available and not designed to carry any cargo. Its mission is strictly for surveillance, reconnaissance and intelligence gathering.Were building a drone that can fill the role of a mid-altitude, long-endurance cargo UAV. Our team has previously built a large-scale, manned air vehicle about the size of our demonstrator; now were taking the data and experience that weve gathered and building a UAV that can incorporate autonomy, economy, endurance and reliability, De Reyes said.For more information on Sabrewing Aircraft, contact inquiries@sabrewingaircraft.com or visit Sabrewing Aircraft Companys https://www.sabrewingaircraft.com/ (TNS) The New York State Broadband Program on Thursday announced the final round of funding for broadband expansion. The total investment is $341.8 million and none of that funding went to vendors seeking to expand internet service in Niagara or Orleans counties.Thus far, none of the program's $500 million has gone toward expanding broadband in the neighboring rural counties.However, those unserved residents are not being left out of the state's push to expand broadband internet.In 2016, the state Public Service Commission required Spectrum Internet formed by the Time Warner Cable-Charter Communications merger to significantly boost internet speeds upstate and also expand broadband service to 145,000 residential units that currently dont have it. In Niagara and Orleans counties, Spectrum pledged to expand broadband to 95 percent of residential units.Spectrum says its build-out is ahead of schedule, as it expanded broadband service to more than 42,000 homes and businesses between January 2016 and mid-December 2017, exceeding its commitment by 6,000.In a Jan. 8 report to the Public Service Commission, Spectrum says it has expanded broadband to 669 users in Niagara County, and states those are focused in the "City of Niagara" (sic) and towns of Wheatfield, Lewiston and Pendleton.Updates from Spectrum show they were ahead of the FCC requirements for the buildout, but we find in most cases those are in metropolitan areas where they just expanded," Niagara County Legislator David Godfrey, R-Burt, said.Before the buildout, more than 4,000 households across the two counties were identified as unserved. After Spectrum's buildout is complete, about 1,000 households in the counties may still lack high-speed Internet, including swaths of the towns of Lockport, Lewiston, Wilson, Somerset, Hartland and Royalton.Those households may be the hardest to reach, because it's often not profitable to build miles of optic cable to reach only a few properties.The answer, Godfrey said, is to utilize existing infrastructure to offer wireless internet.We've always looked at the last mile as a fixed wireless solution," Godfrey said.Godfrey added he is hopeful that wireless vendors will be attracted by recent federal initiatives, including proposed legislation that would direct creation of a federal registry for communication infrastructure and a $170 million allocation for upstate broadband expansion through the Federal Communication Commission's Connect America Fund. A home run, says Border Patrol We hope it drives industry, Manaher said. Texas still cool to biometrics (TNS) U.S. Customs and Border Protection has long sought a way to identify the millions of travelers who leave the country each year through land border crossings into Mexico and Canada.The logistical hurdles have been monumental: At the U.S.-Mexico border in particular, setting up an exit checkpoint could cause disastrous traffic backups and disrupt trade. When Congress ordered the agency to use biometrics to identify travelers leaving the country, the technology was in its infancy.But thanks to quantum leaps in facial recognition technology, especially over the past year, the future is arriving sooner than most Americans realize. As early as this summer, CBP will set up a pilot program to digitally scan the faces of drivers and passengers while they are in moving vehicles at the busy Anzalduas Port of Entry outside of McAllen, the agency announced Thursday.The agency will use the results of the South Texas effort to set the stage for a wider rollout along the southern and northern borders, where the technology someday could be used to identify fugitives or wanted terror suspects. Customs and Border Protection already operates facial recognition exit programs at nearly a dozen international airports, including Houstons, aimed at making sure travelers are who they say they are.Traveler acceptance is really high, and we can thank the Apples and the Googles for that, said Colleen Manaher, CBP executive director of planning, program analysis and evaluation, in an interview at the Border Security Expo in San Antonio, where she revealed the Anzalduas project. Its a game-changer.While agency officials say facial recognition technology has the potential to transform how we travel, possibly doing away with the need for passports, boarding passes and other travel documents, some critics foresee more dystopian outcomes. Analysts at the Electronic Frontier Foundation and Georgetown Universitys Center on Privacy and Technology have argued the program could lead to mission creep in the form of additional, unauthorized government scanning. At least two members of Congress have questioned whether the agencys program illegally spies on American citizens.In a December letter to Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, U.S. Sens. Edward Markey, D-Mass., and Mike Lee, R-Utah, requested that the programs expansion be halted until the agency can demonstrate its legality.While Congress has repeatedly voted to authorize biometric entry-exit scanning of foreign nationals, it has never authorized biometric exit scanning for U.S. citizens, the senators wrote . In fact, Congress has pointedly neglected to authorize biometric exit scanning for U.S. citizens.Homeland Security Department officials say U.S. law allowing customs agents to check citizenship when travelers leave the country permits the agency to conduct facial recognition scans. The authorities are clear and fundamental, Manaher told a crowd of vendors, government contractors and officials Thursday at the Border Security expo.Last year, researchers at Tennessees Oak Ridge National Laboratory, which is sponsored by the U.S. Energy Department, began to crack the challenges that make facial recognition technology so difficult to apply to moving vehicles.Tinting and sun glare can make car windows impenetrable to normal cameras and to be effective the facial recognition cameras need to identify both drivers and passengers, even those riding in the back seats. Faces will be at different heights; some surely would be angled away from the camera.Manaher said the Oak Ridge researchers have developed technology that lets cameras penetrate glare and tint so strong that she couldnt see through the vehicle with the naked eye. She said that even if cameras at Port Anzalduas are able to identify only 50 percent of travelers driving over the bridge, thats a home run. Right now, I dont have anything.Customs and Border Protection has challenged tech firms in Silicon Valley and beyond to refine the technology and make it ever more accurate. In November, the agency held an industry day at Menlo Park, Calif., (home to Facebook) to spur interest in tackling the problem.But academics at Georgetowns Center on Privacy and Technology said the facial recognition program currently used at airports needs an urgent overhaul even before the land program begins. We found it to be riddled with technical and legal problems, said Harrison Rudolph, an associate at the center.The Georgetown centers report argued that even its 96 percent accuracy rate means that a handful of travelers on nearly every flight could expect to be misidentified (the agency compares photos taken at the airport departure gate to passport photos and other official documents). The researchers further said the agency hadnt done enough to ensure personal biometric data doesnt end up in the hands of third parties.Shortly after the report was released in late December, the International Biometrics and Identity Association issued a lengthy rebuttal (copies of the 20-page, glossy magazine-style publication were a hot commodity at the expo this week) affirming CBPs legal authority to scan all travelers, noting that the latest accuracy rate had increased to 98 percent and insisting that the technology would not lead to data breaches or foster wider government surveillance.The inclusion of U.S. citizens in the implementation of the Biometric Exit pilots is highly important to deter claims of U.S. citizenship by imposters to bypass the checks, the trade group wrote. The agencys program, it added, relies on the same facial recognition technologies that are used worldwide.Countries such as Russia and China are using face recognition technology on a scale beyond what the Homeland Security Department is proposing. According to Bloomberg News , Moscow officials are adding facial recognition technology to the citys 170,000 surveillance cameras to compare images to photos of wanted suspects in police databases. The same Russian company behind that effort, Ntech.Lab, previously released a mobile app allowing users to look up a strangers social media accounts by taking a photo.China is building a national database of all its 1.3 billion citizens aimed at allowing authorities to match a persons face to their ID, a massive, 13-terabyte data set that could also be connected to camera surveillance systems.The 2020 Tokyo Olympics will employ facial recognition technology to prevent imposters from penetrating secured areas. Casinos are beginning to use the technology to identify banned players and known card counters. In the U.S., the Caliburger company in California is linking the technology to its loyalty program, allowing customers to pay with their faces Texas, however has more reservations about the new technology. It is one of two states (along with Illinois) with laws banning the use of biometric data like face scans for commercial purposes. Thats why Texans havent been able to use a popular Google app that allows users to compare their faces to famous works of art.Texas strong libertarian streak also means the state has been hot and cold on the idea of southbound checkpoints for travelers leaving the state and entering Mexico. In 2011, a bill calling for southbound checkpoints to look for drugs and money died in the Legislature and wasnt reintroduced in 2013.But the pendulum swung somewhat in 2015 , when, as part of a push to bolster border security spending by $800 million, the Legislature authorized the Department of Public Safety to assist federal agencies at southbound checkpoints. Niki Lauda has slammed Liberty Media's decision to ban grid girls. The F1 legend and Mercedes team chairman told Austria's Der Standard newspaper that the move is "completely incomprehensible". "How dumb can someone be? Women have emancipated themselves and do very well at it," he said. "So this is a decision against women." Indeed, many actual grid girls have taken to Twitter and the media in the past days to express their disappointment about losing their jobs. Lauda said: "I think it's a great pity to break a tradition such as this, which does formula one but above all women no favours at all." He said he therefore hopes there is a "way to reverse the decision". "I would not mind seeing grid boys next to the girls. Why not?" Lauda added. He slammed the notion that the existence of 'grid girls' makes it harder for women to succeed in other areas of motor racing. "I want to encourage rather than diminish women," he said. "But once again it is men who have decided over the heads of women." Kolner Express newspaper also quoted Sebastian Vettel as calling Liberty's grid girls decision "ridiculous". And former F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone told British media: "These girls did nothing harmful to anybody. "I don't remember any of the girls being forced to do anything." Vicky Valdazo, boss of a Spanish modelling agency that has supplied 'grid girls' to promoters in the past, told Marca newspaper: "It's stupid. It's a job like any other. "It's like removing the miners from the mine. Someone has to do it." (GMM) PRESS RELEASE Starmus V announces a star-studded 2019 line-up, featuring five original members of the Apollo Mission crew May-Britt Moser, Brian Cox and Arthur McDonald will join Tim Peake, Gennady Padalka and Nicole Stott at the fifth world-famous festival of science and art in Bern, Switzerland. Starmus has announced a stellar line-up of Nobel Prize Winners and prominent figures from science and art for its fifth festival, next year. Timed to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the moon landings, Starmus V will take place in Bern, Switzerland from June 24-29, 2019, and is set to be the biggest yet, featuring Brian May, Emmanuelle Charpentier, Richard Dawkins, Elizabeth Blackburn, Chris Hadfield, Sir Martin Rees and Helen Sharman. Founder Garik Israelian said the fifth festival will also welcome Bill Anders, Charlie Duke, Rusty Schweickart, Al Worden and Walt Cunningham, five of the original Apollo Mission crew, and is designed to provoke tough questions about our place in the universe. Next year marks the 50th anniversary of one of sciences most important milestones, said Israelian. Its the right time to question the value of space discovery and how a growing understanding of the cosmos helps humanity to progress. Starmus V will welcome 11 Nobel laureates to the stage, as well as luminaries from the worlds of art and music, for discussion, debate and engagement across a broad body of science, from microbiology and biochemistry to astrophysics and neuroscience. The Starmus board (Stephen Hawking, Brian May, Peter Gabriel, Richard Dawkins, Alexei Leonov, Jill Tarter, Robert Williams, David Eicher, Jack Szostak and founder, Garik Israelian) has devised a 2019 programme that brings together the most intelligent, creative and artistic people on the planet. Starmus is a celebration of scientific collaboration and retains a strong sense of purpose, added Israelian. Humanitys biggest and best achievements are a result of scientific collaboration. In the same year in which we celebrate the milestone achievement of the Apollo crew we should remember that the trend towards isolationism takes us further away not only from further scientific discovery but also from the essence of what makes us human. At Starmus we hope to inspire a new generation of scientists who can help to answer societys most difficult and pressing questions, from how to reverse the environmental decay of our planet, to finding new planets to colonise. The Starmus board will announce a further line-up of speakers from art and music later this year. Tickets will go on sale from 15 June 2018 and can be purchased at www.starmus.com. For more information visit www.starmus.com. About Starmus Since the very first Homo Sapiens looked up at a star-filled sky we have been awestruck by the vastness of the cosmos. Even today we remain humbled by the sheer immensity of space, especially as through our progress in physics and astronomy, we are now aware of the tremendous distances involved even to our closest neighbouring stars. Created by Garik Israelian, researcher at the Institute of Astrophysics of the Canary Islands (IAC), the Starmus Festival is a combination of science, art and music that has featured presentations from Astronauts, Cosmonauts, Nobel Prize Winners and prominent figures from science, culture, the arts and music. The Starmus conferences join Nobel laureates, eminent researchers, thinkers, men and women of science, culture, arts and music to share their knowledge and experiences in the common search for answers to the great questions of today. . ENDS Press Contacts Patrick Harrison Weber Shandwick for Starmus pharrison@webershandwick.com +44 207 067 0500 This blog is dedicated to the understanding of the current Greek (but also European) economic, political and institutional crisis. It was created by Prof. Aristides Hatzis of the University of Athens , after many requests by his students who seek a source of reliable analysis on the Greek current affairs. Its aim is to post commentary and reports published mainly in the major U.S. and European media and to encourage a rigorous discussion. Also participating are new investors Allen & Company, AME Cloud Ventures, and Ron Conway, as well as existing investors Capricorn Investment Group, 8VC, Sky Dayton and Paul Sciarra. With its previously-unannounced Series A financing led by Capricorn in 2016, this brings the companys total funding to more than $130 million. Venture-backed startup Joby Aviation has secured $100 million in Series B financing to take its all-electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) passenger aircraft into pre-production and certification. The financing was led by Intel Capital, and includes strategic investors Singapore-based EDBI, JetBlue Technology Ventures, and Toyota AI Ventures. Joby Aviation has designed, built and flight-tested a fully-electric, vertical take-off and landing passenger aircraft prototype that is optimized for local and regional air-transportation-as-a-service. The company is now focused on developing a commercial version of that design, and preparing that vehicle for certification. Joby Aviations 5-seat vehicle will be faster than existing rotorcraft, fly at least 150 miles on a charge, and be 100 times quieter than conventional aircraft during takeoff and landing, and near-silent in flyover, according to the company. People waste billions of hours sitting on roads worldwide each year. We envision a future where commuting by eVTOL is a safer, faster, and cost-competitive alternative to ground transportation. We have spent the last ten years developing the technologies that have made our full-scale technical demonstrator possible and are now ready to build a commercial version of the aircraft. Were excited to have attracted the backing of leaders in auto manufacturing, data intelligence, and transportation sectors. Joby Aviation founder and CEO JoeBen Bevirt In addition to focusing on product development and flight certification, the company plans to expand its teamincluding experts in structural engineering, electrical engineering, power electronics, battery electrochemistry, certification, flight controls, and software. A3 by Airbus also recently announced the successful first flight of its full-scale Alpha One autonomous, electric eVTOL prototype Vahana. (Earlier post.) Scania and Haylion Technologies will join forces in the field of non-fossil fuel powered, mainly electrified, vehicles, autonomous driving and urban bus transport. The common aim is to expedite the commercialization of autonomous driving applications and sustainable transport. Scania, a member of the Volkswagen Group, will collaborate with Haylion Technologies, which focuses on solutions for the Chinese transport industry in the areas of autonomous driving, electrification and connectivity. For Scania, this partnership provides unique opportunities to contribute to as well as to learn from the rapid technology development now taking place in China in these strategic areas. We look forward to combining our knowledge and global perspective with the expertise and ambitions of Haylion Technologies. Mats Harborn, Executive Director of Scania China Strategic Office Gaining excellence in skills through collaboration has always been our principle. We recognize Scanias leading position in the worlds commercial vehicle industry. I believe that our cooperation will further promote and accelerate Chinas development of intelligent vehicles and the Internet of Vehicle (IoV). Dr. Jimmy Hu Jianping, founder and Chairman of Haylion Technologies Haylion Technologies has, together with Gortune Investment Co. Ltd., established a team of specialists in artificial intelligence, automotive manufacturing, communications and public transport. This team focuses on autonomous driving technology, concept verification and its industrialization. Haylion Technologies main focus is developing comprehensive solutions for public transport by electrified, autonomous and connected buses. Haylion Technologies, together with the Shenzhen Bus Group, is currently conducting trials with intelligent buses on public roads. Haylion currently offers two main ADAS products: alphaba-AS001 and alphaba-AS002. Alphaba-AS001 offers forward collision warning, lane departure warning, front vehicle warning, front vehicle moving warning and a driving recorder. Alphaba-AS002 adds pedestrian collision warning to that suite. A More Beautiful and Terrible History: The Uses and Misuses of Civil Rights History By Jeanne Theoharis Beacon Press. 253 pp. $27.95 --- "A More Beautiful and Terrible History" is a critique of what its author derides as the ascendant fable of the civil rights movement - the black protests that challenged the racial status quo between the 1950s and the 1970s. Brooklyn College professor Jeanne Theoharis contends that influential shapers of public memory have attempted with considerable success to whitewash and truncate recollections of the movement. The culprits include academics, journalists and politicians. What they have done, she charges, is depict a movement devoid of unsettling militance, with narrow aims that were accomplished on account of an attentive citizenry that only needed to glimpse injustice in order to respond nobly. The fable, she argues, is complacently triumphalist, offering a distorted mirror that misleadingly celebrates observers. She makes her argument tellingly, offering example after revealing example. She notes, for instance, the trajectory of President Ronald Reagan's stance toward the most prominent episode of civil rights movement iconography - the creation of a national holiday honoring Martin Luther King Jr. Initially Reagan opposed the King holiday. Then, when pressure for it became overwhelming, he adopted a strategy of co-optation. When he signed the King holiday legislation, he asserted that "we can take pride in the knowledge that we Americans recognized a grave injustice and took action to correct it" - as if King's aspirations had been attained. She notes a troublingly similar exaggerated sunniness in Barack Obama's remarks, starting with his campaign for the presidency in 2007, when he declared at the historic Brown Chapel in Selma, Ala., that the movement generation "took us 90 percent of the way there" - a perceived propinquity to the racial promised land that Theoharis rightly finds preposterous. Even those specifically charged with educating the public about King's life have repeatedly avoided the very forthrightness that is part of what made him so outstanding. Objecting to various aspects of the King memorial in Washington, Theoharis notes that "fourteen quotes are inscribed on it. Not one of them uses the word 'racism' or 'segregation' or 'racial inequality.' Not one." Noting that President Trump gave a piece of granite from the King memorial to Pope Francis, Theoharis asserts that such homages do little to productively honor the memory of the movement. To the contrary, "these often bipartisan acts of memorialization whitewash the history ... becoming a veil to obscure enduring racial inequality, a tool to chastise contemporary protest, and a shield to charges of indifference and inaction." Repeatedly, Theoharis reveals facts or recollects statements that are instructive, albeit painful to consider. Emphasizing the extent to which King was disparaged while alive, she notes that in 1966 a Gallup poll found that 72 percent of white Americans had an unfavorable opinion of the civil rights leader. Stressing the extent to which political authorities in the 1960s denied the obvious reality of deep and pervasive societal racism, she quotes Gov. Edmund Brown declaring in 1965 (just as the Watts section of Los Angeles was literally going up in smoke) that "California is a state where there is no racial discrimination." Insisting that racial prejudice was a nationwide malady and not a pathology limited to the Jim Crow South, she quotes William O'Connor, the incoming head of the Boston School Committee. "We have no inferior education in our schools," O'Connor declared, abjuring any suggestion that evident racial biases and unfair allocations of resources had anything to do with glaring differences in the educational milieus experienced by white and black pupils in the public schools. "What we've been getting is an inferior type of student," by which he meant, of course, inferior black students. Theoharis' systematic debunking is a useful antidote to sentimental narratives that are, as she persuasively argues, all too smug, all too easy, all too lacking in the conflict and dread, tragedy and defeat that suffused the most consequential American reform effort of the 20th century. But Theoharis' account is also problematic. Ideological rigidities prevent it from illuminating more fully the messy complexity of the movement's history, legacy and lessons. She denounces wholesale internal culturalist explanations for African-American difficulties, as if such diagnoses are in principle erroneous and reactionary. Yet in the deservedly iconic "Letter From Birmingham City Jail," one encounters King sternly lecturing complacent "Negroes who, as a result of long years of oppression, have been so completely drained of self-regard and a sense of 'somebodiness' that they have adjusted to segregation." Was King, too, guilty of the "polite racism" that Theoharis attributes to others who highlight the significance of cultural and psychological maladaptations to external challenges? Theoharis implicitly urges students of the second reconstruction to review it anew, unbound by inherited inhibitions. But with respect to certain subjects, she is conspicuously silent. She keeps to herself, for instance, whether she believes that her heroes in the Black Power wing of the movement ever committed any strategic or moral errors. Decrying the derogatory reputation that burdens the memory of the Black Panther Party, she maintains that it ought to get credit for wholesome but frequently overlooked initiatives such as its provision of medical care and free breakfast programs for children. Given her demand for realism, one might have thought that she would also confront the fact that the Black Panthers repeatedly referred to police as "pigs" and discuss what lessons ought to be drawn from the consequences of the Panthers' rhetorical strategies. Theoharis rails against conservative and liberal depictions of the civil rights movement and in the course of doing so offers many useful criticisms. One wonders, though, whether she fundamentally opposes mythologizing or merely the mythologizing of intellectuals to her ideological right. She observes that the "recounting of national histories is never separate from present-day politics." Does she mean that all histories are thus merely projections of present-day politics? I hope not. But the way she advances her argument sometimes suggests a conflation of historical analysis with political exhortation. I wish that she would heed her own call for realism. Responding appropriately would mean upending fables of all sorts. --- Kennedy is the Michael R. Klein professor of law at Harvard Law School. GREENWICH Greenwich High School said goodbye to five seniors who concluded their high school education in an intimate mid-year graduation ceremony Thursday afternoon. Seniors Martin Garcia, Reina Cartagena, Michael Scarano and Josephina Espinosa received their diplomas in the culminating event. Julia Sposito was unable to attend. Each of you has unique reasons for graduating mid-year, some of you take a little longer, some of you take a little less, Headmaster of Greenwich High School Chris Winters told the students. We love you just the same. Smiling families, school administrators, teachers and Board of Education members clapped in the audience. I am proud of you Martin, Reina, Michael, Julia, Josephina, so proud of your accomplishments and know we are going to hear all of the best of your successes today, tomorrow and for your entire lifetime, said Superintendent of Schools Jill Gildea. She called the ceremony a milestone moment. A mid-year ceremony is recognition that youve managed to accomplish one more step in your education and prepared yourselves for lives outside Greenwich High School, said Peter Bernstein, chairman of the Board of Education. There is nothing like getting an education in and out of the classroom. House administrators, Brigid Barry of Sheldon House, David Walko of Clark House and Dana Tulotta of Folson House, spoke of the five graduates future plans. All the students plan to attend college starting this spring or fall, they said. Some will work to save money before college this spring. Two Garcia and Espinosa plan to return to their native Chile for an extended stay or college. President of the Senior Class Alissa Landberg offered her congratulations to the first members of the class of 2018 to graduate. All the nights we crammed for tests the next day. All the books we read, all the essays we wrote, all the lessons we learned from our teachers and our friends, all the relationships we began, ended and mended and all the best and worst experiences from high school have led us up to this day, she said. I now urge you to enjoy your new and well deserved freedom. The students are invited to walk in the June graduation ceremony as well, Winters said. GREENWICH With the field for the governors race growing ever larger, Greenwich resident Guy Smith got a chance to make his case for the office to potential supporters Thursday night. The Democratic businessman and former Clinton adviser pressed the flesh and talked issues at Blackstones Steakhouse. Were very encouraged and very energized by the reaction weve been getting from everybody, said Smith, who announced his candidacy last month. Ive been in churches and muni halls and candidate forums all over the state. Ive taken some pretty strong positions like not raising taxes and on tolls. Gov. Dannel Malloy, who is not seeking re-election, has called for the return of tolls, in electronic form, to state highways to raise money for transportation infrastructure. Many Democrats in the Legislature have expressed openness to the idea, Republican leaders were flatly opposed. Smith backs a different plan. He said a deal could be struck with a major credit card company like MasterCard that would provide an account to everyone in the state with a license on file or who files a state tax return. Money would be deducted electronically without booths as people used state roads, and then they would get the money back as a tax credit on state returns. Tolls annoy people, Smith said. Im not going to run a government that annoys people. Smith, 68, said he is against any tax increases. We collect enough tax money, Smith said. Weve got to find a way to use it more efficiently and effectively. That goes for the gas tax too, he said. Because the gas tax is so high here, trucking companies tell their drivers not to buy gas in Connecticut, he said, adding the Legislature should lower the gas tax instead. The companies will tell their drivers, You must stop in Connecticut and buy gas, and those drivers are going to fill up those 18-wheelers with 100 gallons of gas and while the tank is being filled theyre going to buy something at the store and pay sales tax, Smith said. The people of Connecticut are going to benefit without having another tax. He decried the poor relations between the governor and both parties in the General Assembly, citing last years budget impasse that dragged on for months. Thats no way to run a government in 2018, he said. Several candidates with Greenwich ties are part of the early race for governor. In addition to Smith, Ned Lamont, who defeated former U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman in a 2006 Democratic primary, is seeking the partys nomination, as is town native and current Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin. Additionally, town resident Dita Bhargava is exploring a run for governor as a Democrat but has not made an official announcement. Smith is a former executive at Diageo North America, a branch of the global liquor company based in Norwalk, and also worked as a director for AmeriCares, the disaster-relief and medical nonprofit organization based in Stamford. He worked in the White House as an adviser to President Bill Clinton and served as a special adviser to Hillary Clinton on her presidential run in 2016. The fundraiser was put together by Greenwich resident and criminal defense attorney Phil Russell, who has known Smith for years, through the group Greenwich Friends of Guy Smith. Russell said he was eager to help Smiths candidacy by introducing him to potential new supporters. Guy is an exciting and refreshing change, Russell said. Unlike a lot of the other people who are putting their names in the hat now, Guys had a lifetime in crisis management and dealing with political leaders and dealing with Washington. Hes very, very good at it. Hes respected by corporate leaders. Hes respected by other governors. Hes respected by people throughout this milieu who he is going to need if he is governor. kborsuk@greenwichtime.com Steve Wynn's secret $7.5 million payment to a former employee involved a paternity claim against the casino mogul, according to people familiar with the situation. Wynn made the payment in 2005 because he didn't want the allegations to be a distraction for his company, said the people, who asked not be identified discussing private information. Wynn Resorts had just opened the Wynn hotel in Las Vegas and was building one in Macau at the time. There's no evidence Wynn fathered a child in the encounter. The settlement has become a key element of the controversy surrounding Steve Wynn, who was the subject of a Wall Street Journal expose on Jan. 26 that detailed various allegations of sexual harassment and coercion against the casino magnate. He has denied any wrongdoing. The paternity claim may help explain why Wynn, now 76, paid the former employee such a large sum, a question his ex-wife's lawyers and gaming regulators have had trouble answering because the terms of the settlement are private. A Wynn Resorts spokesman said neither the company nor Wynn himself would comment. Wynn shares climbed less than 1 percent to $170.90, erasing earlier declines in New York trading. Wynn paid the settlement out of his own pocket. The arrangement first came to light two years ago in a court filing by Wynn's ex-wife Elaine. She is suing to regain control of her 9.4 percent stake in Wynn Resorts, which she previously granted to Steve Wynn. The Wall Street Journal said that the woman who received the settlement, a manicurist who worked at the Wynn Las Vegas resort, had told people she was pressured into having intercourse with him. The article included allegations from other women of sexual harassment by Steve Wynn stretching over decades. "The idea that I ever assaulted any woman is preposterous," he said in a statement. The founder and chief executive officer of Wynn Resorts accused his ex-wife of orchestrating a media campaign against him, something Elaine Wynn has denied. The manicurist didn't respond to multiple attempts to reach her by phone, mail and third parties. Since the allegations were published, Wynn Resorts shares have lost more than 17 percent of their value. The company's board launched an independent investigation and regulators in Nevada, Macau and Massachusetts have said they're also looking into the matter. The University of Pennsylvania and the University of Iowa have taken Steve Wynn's name off a common area and an eye institute respectively. The settlement and the reason it wasn't previously disclosed will be part of the Massachusetts Gaming Commission's investigation, officials there said at a hearing Wednesday. Regulators could suspend or revoke Wynn Resorts' license to operate in the state, jeopardizing the company's $2.4 billion casino under construction in the Boston area. Massachusetts officials said they were told by the company that its legal counsel did not believe the settlement required disclosure during the license vetting process. "The people of Massachusetts have a right to know what the hell happened here," Commission Chairman Stephen Crosby said at the hearing. The settlement has become a focus of Elaine Wynn in her suit because her lawyers said it was connected to a report of sexual harassment and raises questions of "reckless" behavior at Wynn Resorts. "We're getting bits and pieces of how this matter was addressed," Elaine Wynn's attorney, Mark Ferrario, said at an October hearing in Las Vegas, adding later: "Why was it handled different than every other type of claim like this within the company?" The French consume 100 million jars annually. Photo: Damien Meyer/AFP/Getty Images Last week, Paris was scandalized by reports of shoppers rioting at Intermarche, one of Frances biggest supermarket chains. Stores had temporarily discounted jars of Nutella by 70 percent, and it resulted in what was essentially the Franco version of Black Friday just check out the viral clips of hysterical customers prying Nutella from each others hands, and trying to hoard four or five jars at a time. Witnesses described fellow shoppers as animals, and reported a scene that sounds, frankly, terrifying: A woman had her hair pulled, an elderly lady took a box on her head, another had a bloody hand. It was horrible. Suffice it to say that the situation has sparked an existential crisis among the French. The paper Le Parisien interviewed a sociologist, who declared that the Nutella brawls prove that solidarity no longer [has] a place in France, and that these scenes couldnt have happened in Germany, where common sense exists more. The government responded earlier this week by launching an investigation into the incident. And now Reuters reports that French lawmakers have introduced a bill that would ban steep markdowns on food: It would banish buy-one-get-one-free bargains, and forbid supermarkets from offering excessive discounts of more than 34 percent. The wire service adds that the Macron administration is taking things pretty seriously. On Wednesday, Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire even called Intermarches CEO for a little tete-a-tete, in which he explained that Nutella riots cant happen again, and that they cant let Intermarche normalize this sort of behavior. To throw dismayed bargain-hunting grocery shoppers a bone, the governments agriculture minister also adds that this bill will help lower Frances food waste. The week that was By Jo Gilbert In case you missed some of the headlines this week on harpers.co.uk, we have put together a review of the top online news, Q&As, and opinion stories. Top Stories: Conviviality started off the week with a bumper set of trading results. Sales at the distribution giant surged yet again by 9.2% to 836.3m in the 26 weeks to October 29 2017 thanks in part to 1,408 new on trade accounts, including new long term contracts with Stonegate Pub Co, JD Wetherspoon and a 10-year wine supply deal with 339 Wadworth pubs. We also reported from Hallgartens tasting where there was a major push revisiting the classic French regions of Bordeaux, Burgundy and Champagne, plus the new listing of wines from Macedonia, and a whole range of new wines from Spain among a fresh line up. Catch up with more from Richard Billett, managing director of MMD the UK office of Louis Roederer Enotria & Coe and more on the links below. Movers and shaker: A number of key appointments happened across the wine and spirits world this week, ranging from Burgundy, where organic winemaker Francois Labet and Louis-Fabrice Latour became co-presidents of the BVIB, to Gemma Gowers who took on the role of as CFO and company secretary at Cult Wines, taking over from David Main. Analysis and Insights: This week Anne Krebiehl MW looked at how New Zealands unsullied image and premium focus is widening its quality appeal. And despite the premium gin and Japanese whisky assault, Tom Bruce-Gardyne found that single malt Scotch is riding high in a market driven by exploration. People and Opinion: This week columnist Jerry Lockspeiser asked the question weve all been wondering: what wine would you drink in an igloo? And super-somm and private members wine club buyer Ronan Sayburn MS talked shop with Andrew Catchpole Rose, port and boozy gifts drive Virgin Wines 15% festive growth By Rob Brown British drinkers knocked back significantly more rose, port and Eastern European wine last Christmas as the nations drinking habits continue to change. Thats according to figures released by online retailer Virgin Wines, which saw a 15% year-on-year sales spike in the four weeks to 22 December last year. Sales of rose, a drink usually associated with the summer, were up 40%, while fortified wine grew 50%, driven chiefly by Virgin Wines new exclusive label port, the company said. With supplies of western European wines squeezed by last years poor harvest, sales of Hungarian, Bulgarian and Romanian wines more than tripled after the company expanded its range of Eastern European wines. Gifting business Sendagift.co.uk contributed 1.6m to revenues in the eight weeks before Christmas. The business sold more than 13,000 wine advent calendars and said Christmas crackers filled with bottles of wine, prosecco and gin & tonic proved popular. The company shifted 150,000 cases of wine and achieved sales of 8.7m, with profit hitting 828k during the period. Virgin Wines CEO Jay Wright said the performance smashed targets across the board. The launch of our new website has given a significant lift in conversion rates for both new and existing customers whilst the continued focus on product innovation, category expansion and new marketing initiatives has seen both the core business and the gift business grow at an unprecedented rate, he said. It is a huge accolade to every member of the Virgin Wines team who work so hard all year round to be able to grow sales at 15% year on year at a time of great volatility and cost pressure in the UK wine market. He added that the companys expansion into larger formats such as magnums and 187.5ml bottles had delivered unprecedented sales. Meanwhile the expansion of Virgin Wines premium range resulted in 45% boost to the companys fine wine sales. Sichels sales to China surge by 15% Bordeaux winemaker Sichels exports to China surged 15% in 2017 as Chinese demand for French wine continues to explode. Strong sales of Sichels Grand Cru wines were a key driver of the growth, with mature vintages performing particularly well, said the company. The companys contract winemaking business, which accounts for 20% of overall sales, performed particularly well in China following investment in Sichels Bel Air winery. Our capability at Bel Air and the fact we work with long-standing partners year-round means we can produce wines to certain styles and price points, said export director Charles Sichel. In spite of sterlings plummeting value and ongoing uncertainty around Brexit, Sichel also noted a strong performance in exports to Britain. We can smooth out vintage variations, he added. I think some of the UK buyers who have been down recently have been pleasantly surprised at the quality of the 2017. The boom in Sichels exports to China reflects growing demand for French wines in the Far East. According to figures from wine competition Concours Mondial de Bruxelles, Chinese wine imports passed $2 billion last year, up 37% since 2014. China is the largest export market for Bordeaux wines by a good margin, said a spokesman. Wine consumers in China number 38 million, offering real opportunities for winegrowers - 40% of Chinese enthusiasts are aged between 18 and 29. Sichels growth in the UK defies current trends, with supermarkets increasingly turning to New World producers. According to sales figures from IRI, value sales of French wine fell by 5% last year, while sales of Argentinian and New Zealand wine were up in double digits. Time running out for wine & spirits free trade warns WTSA By Rob Brown Representatives from the UK and European drinks industries have called on politicians to ensure the cross border free trade of wine & spirits remains post Brexit. The Wine & Spirit Trade Association met with members of the EU Commissions Brexit negotiating team yesterday in Brussels to discuss the future of the drinks trade between Britain and the Union. The EUs top Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier did not attend. Representatives from the WSTA, the Scotch Whisky Association, Spirits Europe and Comite Europeen des Entreprises Vins joined forces to lobby for the flow of wine and spirits to continue unfettered after Brexit. Their case was outlined in a joint paper. The Brexit position paper makes clear that partners in the wine and spirit trade right across Europe strongly support the UK and EU securing a comprehensive trade agreement, said WSTA chief executive Miles Beale. All of us want a solution that enables us to continue to do business after Brexit and to ensure UK and EU consumers will be able to continue to enjoy the full range of products. The next step is to bring the politicians onboard and that is what the meeting with the Brexit taskforce aims to achieve. Beale also referred to the leaked UK Exit Analysis report, which made headlines this week for suggesting that the UK economy will be damaged by all three of the exit options currently on the table. The contents of the leaked document, which suggest that every part of the UK economy would suffer, reinforces the urgent need for trade associations to secure future trade and provide business with certainty as soon as possible, said Beale. Time is running out and the economic importance to businesses on both sides of the channel to get this right cannot be over emphasised. It is a fact that humanity cannot afford to lose our planet. For a long time people thought that there is unlimited room up there in the atmosphere, as tens of billions of tonnes of carbon dioxide ends up there every year. It is getting cramped, and it shows, he said in his inauguration speech on Thursday. Mitigating climate change will be the single most important challenge we will face in the years to come, says President Sauli Niinisto. Niinisto pointed out that crises place enormous demands on the international community at a time when geopolitical interests seem to be outweighing the desire for peace and reducing the likelihood of succeeding with traditional peace building processes. Few of the crises in this decade have been solved, he reminded. He estimated that there are two ways to address the situation: strengthening organisations such as the United Nations and European Union, and fostering dialogue between the east and the west. The EU is an organisation with plenty of desire for peace, but it continues to punch below its weight. We need a union which is also a security community with a unified voice that is heard. Finland has an active role in this, we are not a mere observer, told Niinisto. The dialogue between the east and the west, he underlined, should not be limited to Nato, the United States and Russia, but it should also include the European Union and China. Maintaining dialogue is the first step towards building peace, he said. While the primary focus of his speech was on global issues, he also drew attention to the importance of fostering an inclusive society in Finland. Hearing and listening to each other is valuable. We need different viewpoints and opinions. And, most of all, we also need to appreciate people who think differently, stated Niinisto. Niinisto was re-elected as the President of the Republic of Finland on Sunday, 28 January, after winning 62.7 per cent of the over 2.9 million votes cast in the elections. Aleksi Teivainen HT Photo: Markku Ulander Lehtikuva iStock/Thinkstock(WASHINGTON) -- A Wisconsin judge has sentenced the second of two teenage girls accused of the 2014 attempted homicide of their friend by stabbing her in the woods to please the fictional character Slender Man. Morgan Geyser, 15, was sentenced to 40 years under a mental health institution's supervision. While she may periodically petition for release from the hospital in the future, she will be under institutional supervision for that time. I just want to let Bella and her family know that Im sorry, Geyser told the court after arguments, breaking into tears. I never meant this to happen. I hope that shes doing well. Bella is the nickname Geyser had given the victim, Payton Leutner, when they were younger. Geyser and Anissa Weier were arrested May 31, 2014, after attacking Leutner with a knife and leaving her behind in the Waukesha woods. All three girls were 12 years old at the time. Leutner was stabbed 19 times, but able to crawl to a nearby road where a passing bicyclist stopped to help her. Now 15, she survived her life-threatening injuries. Prosecutors have said that both Geyser and Weier were obsessed with Slender Man, a character often depicted in fan fiction online as a horror figure who stalks children. During the sentencing hearing, both prosecutors and Geysers defense attorneys called on mental health professionals who had evaluated Geyser to testify. Psychologist Dr. Brooke Lundbohm and psychiatrist Dr. Kenneth Robbins both testified that Geyser had made progress in her mental health treatment. But Lundbohm, who was court-appointed, testified that Geyser was still hearing voices near the time of her October 2017 evaluation. She had reported that she had last heard an auditory hallucination that she calls Maggie just a few weeks before our contact, Lundbohm said. Geysers attorneys also called on Jessie Andrews, the director of forensic services at Winnebago Mental Health Institute where Geyser now lives. Andrews testified that Geyser does not present with psychotic symptoms at this time. Geyser, according to Andrews, has been held with adults at Winnebago Mental Health Institute because her case was in adult court. She is the youngest patient in her living unit. I would estimate it was August or September 2017 when [Geysers] psychotic symptoms were gone, Andrews said. When asked, court-appointed psychologist Dr. Kent Berney concurred with a report he submitted that he believed Geyser is appropriate for consideration for a less-restrictive setting than in-patient psychiatric care and that residential treatment would be optimal. Prosecutors asked for the maximum sentence of 40 years under institutional supervision, while Geysers attorneys asked for a length of time similar to Weiers sentence. In December 2017, Weier, now 16, was sentenced to 25 years under a mental health institution's supervision, after a jury found her not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect after she had pleaded guilty to second-degree attempted intentional homicide, party to a crime. Geyser pleaded guilty last year to attempted first-degree intentional homicide, party to a crime. However, she agreed to a plea deal with prosecutors in which the court also found her not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect, despite her guilty plea. "Please take into consideration everything my daughter and family has endured when deciding your sentence for Morgan," Josef Leutner, Payton Leutner's father, wrote in a victim impact statement to Judge Michael Bohren ahead of Geyser's sentencing. "Payton should not have to spend the remainder of her youth with her curtains closed, looking over her shoulder every day and praying that they will not come after her again." Josef Leutner wrote in his statement that the incident took away many of the things his family once enjoyed doing together. "My family used to spend a lot of time together taking road trips to hike different areas, camp, or just take our pup to the dog park," he wrote. "They have all become a distant memory for us because Payton refuses to go back in the woods and sleeping there is completely out of the question." In the statement, Josef Leutner also wrote about the hours and days after his daughter was stabbed. "Daily care was an immense process as she healed because she could not bend or stand up on her own," he wrote. "She spent many nights sleeping next to [her mother] Stacie so she would not have to be alone, while I slept in her bed. Between follow-up visits to the doctor, court dates, and emotional care, we have not had a chance to find a new normal. But here we are, for better or worse, we are together." Stacie Leutner also wrote a victim's impact statement that was given to the judge before Weiers sentencing. In it, she wrote that her family accepted the plea deals for both Weier and Geyser to keep her daughter from testifying. "Traumatizing her further didn't seem worth it," Stacie Leutner wrote. "[Payton] has never talked about her attack so asking her to testify and relive her experience in front of a courtroom of strangers felt cruel and unnecessary." Stacie Leutner also wrote that her daughter felt a mental health facility was best for her attackers. Morgan Geyser's mother Angie Geyser told "20/20" she often thinks about Payton Leutner and her family. "I'm so sorry for what Payton went through and for what they must have gone through, and I would take it back if I could," Angie Geyser said. "I hope that they can understand that it wasn't the Morgan that they knew who did this to their daughter. That Morgan was sick, she wasn't in control of her brain and I hope that maybe someday they can forgive her." "When you send your child to another family's home, you trust that family to keep your child safe while she's there," Angie Geyser said, "and I'm sorry that we didn't." Treading lightly on Tanna We go on a new ecotourism adventure tour in North Tanna Rodney Philemon (L) with SMART Sistas girls and supporters in Washington, DC at the FIRST Global Robotic Challenge in 2017. 1 / 9 Landon Bunderson, Ph.D. and chief science officer, looks through rows of tomato plants at Aqua-Yield Operations on Thursday, Feb. 1, 2018, in Draper. Isaac Hale, Daily Herald Isaac Hale, Daily Herald 2 / 9 Loblolly pines are pictured at Aqua-Yield Operations on Thursday, Feb. 1, 2018, in Draper. Isaac Hale, Daily Herald Isaac Hale, Daily Herald 3 / 9 Landon Bunderson, Ph.D. and chief science officer, feels different varieties of turf grasses at Aqua-Yield Operations on Thursday, Feb. 1, 2018, in Draper. Isaac Hale, Daily Herald Isaac Hale, Daily Herald 4 / 9 From left, Mike Bullock, president and COO, Warren T. Bell, executive chairman, Landon Bunderson, Ph.D. and chief science officer, and Clark T. Bell, CEO, pose for a portrait at Aqua-Yield Operations on Thursday, Feb. 1, 2018, in Draper. Isaac Hale, Daily Herald Isaac Hale, Daily Herald 5 / 9 Landon Bunderson, Ph.D. and chief science officer, looks through rows of pumpkin plants at Aqua-Yield Operations on Thursday, Feb. 1, 2018, in Draper. Isaac Hale, Daily Herald Isaac Hale, Daily Herald 6 / 9 Pepper plants are pictured at Aqua-Yield Operations on Thursday, Feb. 1, 2018, in Draper. Isaac Hale, Daily Herald Isaac Hale, Daily Herald 7 / 9 Britney Hunter, research agronomist, checks out a plant at Aqua-Yield Operations on Thursday, Feb. 1, 2018, in Draper. Isaac Hale, Daily Herald Isaac Hale, Daily Herald 8 / 9 Soy bean plants are pictured at Aqua-Yield Operations on Thursday, Feb. 1, 2018, in Draper. Isaac Hale, Daily Herald Isaac Hale, Daily Herald 9 / 9 Landon Bunderson, Ph.D. and chief science officer, explains the characteristics of loblolly pines at Aqua-Yield Operations on Thursday, Feb. 1, 2018, in Draper. Isaac Hale, Daily Herald Isaac Hale, Daily Herald One Utah agriculture company is using nanotechnology to spur better harvests, and they are getting noticed for their work. Aqua-Yield in Draper made it to the 100th spot on the 2017 Entrepreneur 360 list of the best entrepreneurial companies in America. It was one of the only businesses addressing agriculture on the list and the only Utah agriculture company. They are tackling plant growth from the microscopic level, hoping to improve the worlds food production. According to nano.gov, nanotechnology deals with the manipulation of atoms and molecules. Landon Bunderson, chief science officer at Aqua-Yield, explained that the medical research field has been exploring nanotechnology for many years, and Aqua-Yield is following that lead, but targeted to plant health. Using a nano particle, we can deliver nutrients more efficiently to the plant and leaves. This is a more targeted delivery system, Bunderson said. This results not only in a healthier plant, but one that requires less water and fertilizer. Clark Bell, Aqua-Yield CEO, said during their first trials on sod grass, the bluegrass sod grew six months faster than normal bluegrass. Bell said at this point, Aqua-Yield has also been applied to apples, alfalfa, cabbage, cilantro, citrus, corn, cotton, greenhouse hay, melons, onions, parsley, pecans, peppers, pistachios, spinach, tomatoes, turfgrass and vegetable starts. Theyve seen success with Aqua-Yields nano products in Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, New Mexico, North Carolina, Texas, Utah and Wisconsin. They are currently working with onion growers in Texas and watermelon farmers in Florida. They believe watermelons will mature about three weeks earlier with Aqua-Yield nanotechnology. Courtesy Aqua-Yield Thats three weeks less water, and that makes a big difference on large acreage, Bunderson said. Were definitely reducing the amount of water through the crop cycle and harvest. Bell started the company with his father, Clark Bell, and Fraser and Mike Bullock. The Bells own Biograss, a sod farm, and explored nanotechnology to more efficiently grow their product. They launched Aqua-Yield in 2014, and have expanded their reach every year since. By the end of 2018, Bell said they expect to be in 40 states and six different countries: Norway, Australia, Japan, Bulgaria, South Africa and Canada. We want to impact feeding the world, Bell said. While they look globally, they also are focused locally especially in Utah County. Bell said Aqua-Yield has been partnering with peach and apple growers in Utah County to run trials. Clark Burgess is a peach and apple farmer and owner of Burgess Orchards in Alpine. Burgess is in trials with Aqua-Yield, and said he hopes to see results during this years harvest. If Aqua-Yield is successful for farmers all over Utah County, Bell believes they will reduce the fertilizer runoff that ends up in Utah Lake. Bell said Aqua-Yield mitigates the need for loads of fertilizer because the nanotechnology delivers the fertilizers nutrients more efficiently and directly to the plants, resulting in less waste and run off. Our goal is that farmers will be able to add four ounces of Aqua-Yield to each acre on a local, national and global scale, Bell said. This equals better crops and less environmental impact. To learn more about Aqua-Yield, visit aquayield.com. I didnt watch R-rated movies, as a rule, until I was in my mid-20s. It had to do with private, deeply held religious views, which evolved as I was baptized into the supplemental religion of film as art and cultural reflection. As I started to watch R-rated films, I didnt watch them all at once. I started out with dramas, then war dramas, then films from the 1970s. The last group of explicit movies for my gradually desensitizing brain to allow in through my eyes and ears were R-rated comedies. I didnt immediately see the value of watching a comedy that was rated R, because unlike the other groups, I saw no larger value that they could contribute. If a war film had violence, or a drama about coming of age had sex, or a film from the 1970s had just about anything, I could justify it. But a comedy that indulged in raunch for no other reason? I saw no value in that. That has changed to a degree I now appreciate raunchiness when its done in a way that celebrates silliness and anarchy, and when it doesnt put down or objectify others. As an example, Bridesmaids is a delightful comedy that wouldnt be the same without its all-out raunch. Even the recent PG-rated Captain Underpants is a movie I would describe as a PG R-rated comedy, and I loved that film for exactly that. Filled to the brim with jokes that push boundaries (just smaller-scale boundaries), the film is a great deal of outrageous fun. Its now been many years since Ive been watching pretty much anything, and I pay less attention now to the ways in which the films I see match or diverge from my own personal sense of morality. This change, I must say, has made the experience of filmgoing much less stressful for me, and I think it has allowed me to be a more open audience member, more able to critique a film on its own terms. But last week at Sundance, I saw a film that made me think about how it might not just be me that has changed. And I wonder now if debaucherous films especially comedies have actually gotten better as the social forces of the last few decades have shaped what they have become. The film, which is available now on Netflix but which I would not recommend, despite it being one of my most anticipated films before the festival started, is A Futile and Stupid Gesture. I was looking forward to director David Wains film because I always enjoy how he applies a free-wheeling zaniness to his work (including Wet Hot American Summer and They Came Together). But the film a biopic of National Lampoon founder Doug Kenney, who wrote Animal House and Caddyshack before tragically dying young never quite justifies its claim that Kenney was a comedic genius. There may be those who take that claim for granted (Wain seems to, and his huge cast filled with alt-comedy greats indicates others do as well). But I couldnt get past how limited Kenneys worldview was including his artistic and comedic worldview. He was a straight, white man who lacked curiosity about other points of view, and whose entitled sense of himself allowed him to abuse women on-screen and off. Wains film makes some winking attempts to laugh away the whiteness and maleness of the Lampoons hiring trends, but falls completely in line with Kenneys sexism. The film includes female nudity in much the same way that Kenneys work did decades ago. Thats not great. Of course, American film in 2018 still exists in a patriarchal, homophobic, racist context, and raunchy comedies will still reflect those cultural realities, especially if they are made by people who hold any kind of power. But Im struck by how much less patriarchal, homophobic and racist American culture is now compared to in 1980, and I think its interesting and refreshing how films today reflect those positive changes. I look at Saturday Night Live, and I see evidence of women and people of color having more of a voice on that program than they did in the early days, when it was a white boys club (and everybody was constantly on cocaine). I see that as a positive change. I dont hold a nostalgic reverence for the characters portrayed in A Futile and Stupid Gesture. The whole time, I just kept thinking about how glad I am that jokers like these are not the only voices that are able to be heard anymore. And it made me think: Maybe 30 years ago, the advice to avoid R-rated movies while still being a bit of an overgeneralization was better advice than it is now. Maybe in those days, cinematic raunch was interested in subjecting oppressed groups, whereas now, its a little bit flipped. I like that trajectory. I have argued for a few weeks now that House Intelligence Committee members have committed misconduct in office by concealing evidence of spying abuses by the National Security Agency and the FBI. They did this by sitting on a four-page memo that summarizes the abuse of raw intelligence data while Congress was debating a massive expansion of FISA. FISA is the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978, which was written to enable the federal government to spy on foreign agents here and abroad. Using absurd and paranoid logic, the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, which only hears the governments lawyers, has morphed foreign intelligence surveillance into undifferentiated bulk surveillance of all Americans. Undifferentiated bulk surveillance is the governmental acquisition of fiber-optic data stored and transmitted by nearly everyone in America. This includes all telephone conversations, text messages and emails, as well as all medical, legal and financial records. Ignorant of the hot potato on which the House Intelligence Committee had been sitting, Congress recently passed and President Donald Trump signed a vast expansion of spying authorities an expansion that authorizes legislatively the domestic spying that judges were authorizing on everyone in the U.S. without individual suspicion of wrongdoing or probable cause of crime; an expansion that passed in the Senate with no votes to spare; an expansion that evades and avoids the Fourth Amendment; an expansion that the president signed into law the day before we all learned of the House Intelligence Committee memo. The FISA expansion would never have passed the Senate had the House Intelligence Committee memo and the data on which it is based come to light seven days sooner than it did. Why should 22 members of a House committee keep their 500-plus congressional colleagues in the dark about domestic spying abuses while those colleagues were debating the very subject matter of domestic spying and voting to expand the power of those who have abused it? The answer to this lies in the nature of the intelligence community today and the influence it has on elected officials in the government. By the judicious, personalized and secret revelation of data, both good and bad here is what we know about your enemies, and here is what we know about you the NSA shows its might to the legislators who supposedly regulate it. In reality, the NSA regulates them. This is but one facet of the deep state the unseen parts of the government that are not authorized by the Constitution and that never change, no matter which party controls the legislative or executive branch. This time, they almost blew it. If just one conscientious senator had changed her or his vote on the FISA expansion had that senator known of the NSA and FBI abuses of FISA concealed by the House Intelligence Committee the expansion would have failed. Nevertheless, the evidence on which the committee members sat is essentially a Republican-written summary of raw intelligence data. Earlier this week, the Democrats on the committee authored their version based, they say, on the same raw intelligence data as was used in writing the Republican version. But the House Intelligence Committee, made up of 13 Republicans and nine Democrats, voted to release only the Republican-written memo. Late last week, when it became apparent that the Republican memo would soon be released, the Department of Justice publicly contradicted President Trump by advising the leadership of the House Intelligence Committee in very strong terms that the memo should not be released to the public. It soon became apparent that, notwithstanding the DOJ admonition, no one in the DOJ had actually seen the memo. So FBI Director Chris Wray made a secret, hurried trip to the House Intelligence Committees vault last Sunday afternoon to view the memo. When asked by the folks who showed it to him whether it contains secret or top-secret material, he couldnt or wouldnt say. But he apparently saw in the memo the name of the No. 2 person at the FBI, Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, as one of the abusers of spying authority. That triggered McCabes summary departure from the FBI the next day, after a career of 30 years. The abuse summarized in the Republican memo apparently spans the last year of the Obama administration and the first year of the Trump administration. If it comes through as advertised, it will show the deep state using the governments powers for petty or political or ideological reasons. The use of raw intelligence data by the NSA or the FBI for political purposes or to manipulate those in government is as serious a threat to popular government to personal liberty in a free society as has ever occurred in America since Congress passed the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798, which punished speech critical of the government. Whats going on here? The government works for us; we should not tolerate its treating us as children. When raw intelligence data is capable of differing interpretations and is relevant to a public dispute about, for example, whether the NSA and the FBI are trustworthy, whether FISA should even exist, whether spying on everyone all the time keeps us safe and whether the Constitution even permits this the raw data should be released to the American public. Where is the personal courage on the House Intelligence Committee? Where is the patriotism? Where is the fidelity to the Constitution? The government exists by our consent. It derives its powers from us. We have a right to know what it has done in our names, who broke our trust, who knew about it, who looked the other way and why and by whom all this was intentionally hidden until after Congress voted to expand FISA. Everyone in government takes an oath to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution. How many take it meaningfully and seriously? Yes. I will do my part to conserve household energy usage, even if I'm uncomfortable in my home. No. It is too hot to conserve household energy usage. I already conserve, even before ERCOT requested it. Maybe, depending on the reason ERCOT provides and whether or not I am home during that time. Vote View Results A blog about life under, and resisting, a dictatorship A Chicago man accused of sexually assaulting two six-year-olds and an eight-year-old on repeated occasions, told police officers that he's really "a 9-year-old trapped in an adult's body," prosecutors revealed on Wednesday. Thirty-eight-year-old Joseph Roman is charged with repeated predatory criminal sexual assault. The numerous attacks began in 2015 and continued until earlier this month. Roman has reportedly confessed to some of the attacks to authorities. His victims were the daughters of his friends. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, center, flocked by Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer on his left and Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell on his right at the U.S. Capitol, Feb. 17, 2017. NEW YORK (JTA)-The share of Democrats who sympathize more with Israel than the Palestinians is falling fast, while Republican sympathy for Israel over the Palestinians is spiking. So says a new poll by the Pew Research Center. But experts are divided on what it means, and whether pro-Israel activists, and Democrats, should be worried. Do the results indicate that Democrats are abandoning Israel en masse? Is it another sign of political polarization, which makes it harder for one party to support an issue associated with the other? Or, as some analysts suggest, was it a badly worded question? The Pew poll, released Tuesday, shows that partisan polarization around the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is starker than ever in the United States. While 79 percent of Republicans sympathize more with Israel than with the Palestinians, that number is only 27 percent for Democrats. Twenty-five percent of Democrats sympathized more with the Palestinians, while only nine percent of Republicans did. Overall, 46 percent of Americans sympathize more with Israel, and 19 percent with the Palestinians. Since 2001, the share of Republicans who sympathize with Israel has increased 29 percentage points, from 50 percent to 79 percent, says Pew. Over the same period, the share of Democrats sympathizing more with Israel has declined 11 points, from 38 percent to 27 percent. As recently as two years ago, 43 percent of Democrats sympathized more with Israel. And the drop for Israel this year is especially steep among liberal Democrats: 35 percent said they sympathized more with the Palestinians-nearly double the 19 percent who sympathize more with Israel. The worriers see this as another crack in the bipartisan support that Israel has long enjoyed in the United States "The numbers are worrying for anyone like me that cares about the U.S.-Israel relationship," Dennis Ross, a former American peace negotiator for presidents of both parties, wrote in an email to JTA. "Israel has been and must remain not a Democratic or Republican issue but an American issue. That is a challenge now, especially with the attitudes of the progressive side of the Democratic Party, the alienation of the majority of the Jewish community from the Trump administration, and the administration's strong symbolic support for Israel." The trend, according to one theory, was exacerbated by eight years of feuding between President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, which, according to whom you ask, showed either that Democrats couldn't be trusted on Israel or that Netanyahu stumbled in associating Israel so closely with the Republican side. It continues with the current love fest between Netanyahu and President Donald Trump, who had a typically warm meeting Thursday in Davos, Switzerland. A solidly right-wing government in Jerusalem, another theory goes, makes it harder for liberal Democrats to warm up to a country they once solidly supported. With an increasingly diverse coalition underpinning the Democrats' base, Israel needs to make its case as a liberal and open society, said Jason Isaacson, the American Jewish Committee's associate executive director for policy. That has become harder, he said, as the peace process has frozen and the government in Israel has shifted further to the right. "It's a reminder that it's essential for Israel and friends of Israel to make the case for Israel's openness and liberalism and devotion to justice and yearning for peace," Isaacson said. "I recognize that the messages of a government [in Israel] can have an effect on how that message takes hold on particular constituencies in the United States." Republican Jewish activists, meanwhile, are saying the poll proves what they've long asserted: that Republicans are the only party that's truly pro-Israel. Republicans have celebrated Trump's opposition to the Iran nuclear agreement-brokered by Obama and reviled by Netanyahu-as well as his recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital. Trump and Vice President Mike Pence both enjoyed the warmest of welcomes on their trips to Israel. "Support for Israel is strong and growing in the Republican Party, while it is declining among Democrats," Republican Jewish Coalition President Matt Brooks said in a statement. "We saw the Democrats' views on Israel implemented by the Obama administration, which put 'daylight' between the U.S. and our chief ally, Israel, while pursuing a disastrous Middle East policy." Previous administrations also sought to be "honest brokers" in the Middle East, and Democrats like to argue that under Obama the level of U.S. funding and cooperation provided to Israel was unprecedented. But Republicans assert that the Iran deal was a disaster for Israel and that Obama's pressure on Netanyahu was relentless, culminating in his decision, in the last days of his presidency, to allow the U.N. Security Council to adopt a resolution condemning Israeli settlement construction. But other experts say shifting sympathies in the conflict are a symptom of political polarization, not of Democratic opposition to Israel. Democrats "are increasingly conflating their feelings about Israel with their feelings about Trump, associating Israel with the American president," wrote Michael Kaplow, the policy director of the Israel Policy Forum, in the Forward. Trump has cast himself as vociferously pro-Israel, so for some Democrats, coldness toward Israel is one more way to protest a president whose policies they abhor, says Rabbi Jack Moline, former president of the National Jewish Democratic Council. Pew's polling has shown increasing polarization overall between Americans of the two parties. A December poll found 86 percent of Americans feel there is strong or very strong conflict between Republicans and Democrats, and the share of Democrats and Republicans who have very unfavorable opinions of the other party has doubled since the 1990s. "I think this is not a sudden surge of sympathy for Palestinians," Moline said "I think that's always been there. I don't think it's an abandonment of Israel by anybody. I think that what this is is one of the pieces of fallout from the very ugly divisiveness on all matters in this country." Recent polls show that a vast majority of Americans do support Israel. According to a February 2017 Gallup poll, 71 percent of Americans view Israel favorably, a number that has stayed relatively constant for the past 15 years. The differences in the Gallup poll among Republicans (81 percent), Independents (70) and Democrats (61) aren't as dramatic as the Pew poll. Resolutions and legislation favoring Israel routinely pass Congress and the Senate with little to no opposition. A vote recognizing Jerusalem as Israel's undivided capital passed the Senate 90-0, months before Trump issued his own recognition. Among the 18 states that have passed laws against the boycott Israel movement, half are blue states, half are red. "There remains broad, bipartisan support in Congress for the US-Israel relationship, because strengthening that relationship serves American interests," Marshall Wittman, the spokesman for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, wrote JTA in an email. "That support is demonstrated regularly in consistent, bipartisan votes on pro-Israel initiatives." Wittman's predecessor, Josh Block, told JTA that support for Israel remains robust among Democrats, and that anti-Israel feeling represents a group that is still on the party's extreme. He noted numbers from the same Pew poll showing that support for Israel is still high across ethnic groups and religious denominations. "There's been a legitimate effort of people on the far fringe of the Democratic party... to poison and undermine the legitimacy of Jewish pride and support for Israel," Block, now the CEO of The Israel Project, told JTA. "The reality is the vast majority of Americans and the vast majority of Democrats identify Israel as one of our closest allies in the world. They see Israel as a free, open, democratic society." Polls showing broad support for Israel led some observers to criticize the way Pew framed the question. Most Americans, said Tamara Cofman Wittes, a senior fellow in the Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution, don't take a side in the conflict, and that option wasn't given in the Pew poll. A poll conducted by the University of Maryland found that 59 percent of Americans don't want the government to favor either Israelis or Palestinians. Broken down by party, 77 percent of Democrats said Trump should lean toward neither side in mediating the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, compared to 38 percent of Republicans. Only 9 percent of Democrats wanted Trump to lean toward the Palestinians. Pew's question "pushes the answers to be more polarized than they may in fact be," Wittes said of the Pew survey. "I don't think this poll tells you anything useful about American support for Israel. One should not take away from this public opinion data the conclusion that there are whole segments of Americans that are getting more hostile to Israel, and I should write them off." Still, there are unmistakable signs that there are more Democrats willing to criticize Israel, especially its current government, than Republicans. In both 2012 and 2016, Democrats faced pressure from pro-Palestinian delegates to alter their party platform's planks on Israel. In 2012, boilerplate references to Jerusalem as Israel's capital were dropped from the platform but later restored. And in 2016, the party altered its platform to reflect Palestinian aspirations but rejected language calling for Israel to end its occupation of the West Bank and settlement activity. James Zogby, who was the chair of the Democratic National Committee's Resolutions Committee, was among those who wanted to add language about Israel's occupation to the 2016 party platform. Zogby, the founder of the Arab American Institute, told JTA that the Pew results show that Democrats are growing tired of Israeli actions in the West Bank and resent the mutual admiration between Trump and Netanyahu. Zogby also says Democrats are upset about Netanyahu's past efforts to undermine Obama's Iran nuclear deal-including a 2015 speech to Congress he delivered at the invitation of its Republican opponents. "This is largely the result of really bad Israeli policy, and an embrace by a president who also has a really negative agenda," he said. Wittes and others also noted that this poll isn't good news for Republican supporters of Israel, either. Pro-Israel activists have long emphasized that defending Israel is a bipartisan priority. If that support does erode among Democrats, it could hurt Israel even if Republicans continue to support the Jewish state. "Every member of Congress who supports Israel is a good thing," said Jennifer Rubin, a columnist for the Washington Post who self-identifies as center-right and has been very critical of Trump. "My conclusion is that [support for Israel] has become way too imbalanced. The challenge is to remove this from the partisan dynamic that is so fierce right now." SKOKIE, Ill. (JTA)-In an otherwise darkened theater, viewers gasped when they saw what appeared to be a seated 83-year-old man wearing a light green button-down shirt and khaki pants. Aaron Elster of Chicago seemed to be answering questions about his unbelievable escape from the Sokolov ghetto in Poland as a 10-year-old. Elster was forced to hide in a dark, filthy attic for two years during World War II. "Why didn't your sisters run away with you [from the ghetto]?" asked Suri Johnson, 11, of Wisconsin. A docent repeated the question into a microphone. "It was an impossibility," Elster responded. "There were hundreds of people guarded by Ukrainian soldiers with rifles ... There was no way they could have run. I crawled behind the people on my stomach. They didn't see me." The testimony was remarkable, moving. But Elster wasn't in the room. Instead the audience was interacting with a holographic image of the Holocaust survivor that was created two years before. The Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center, located in this suburb about 15 miles north of Chicago, is the first to permanently showcase the New Dimensions in Testimony oral history project, which has created holographic images from extensive interviews of 15 Holocaust survivors shown on rotation. Seven of the survivors are from Chicago. The images are produced by the University of Southern California's Institute for Creative Technologies, along with the USC Shoah Foundation-a nonprofit that famed director Steven Spielberg founded in 1994 to preserve Holocaust and other genocide survivor testimonies. The museum's new $5 million center, titled Take A Stand, opened in October. (The images currently on display are technically not true holograms-they are the product of two-dimensional technology and the Pepper's ghost illusion technique-but are still vivid.) At the Illinois museum, visitors can find the holographic displays in a theater dedicated to the exhibit. Before any conversation happens, viewers are shown a five-minute introductory video narrated by the featured survivor. After the video, which tells the survivor's individual story, the image leans forward and says, "But I have so much more to tell you. Now I'd like you to ask me questions." Then it switches to interactive mode. The hologram of each survivor can conceivably answer thousands of questions. Much like Apple's Siri technology, the voice-recognition system responds to audience questions by picking up on key words. After asking her question, Suri Johnson told JTA that she found the experience very "cool," partly because she had no idea how it worked. "It enables the most life-like conversational opportunity that you can possibly imagine," said the museum's CEO, Susan Abrams. The project was envisioned by Heather Maio, the managing director of Conscience Display, which specializes in exhibition design and interactive storytelling. Her company typically creates realistic combat scenes, complete with visuals and dialogue, for military personnel to drill with. Maio, who is married to Stephen Smith, executive director of the USC Shoah Foundation, thought an exhibit that allowed people to casually walk up to Holocaust survivors and ask them questions could create a powerful experience. "This kind of visual imagery and interactivity will be the norm for the next generation, and that's what we're preparing for," Smith said. The project took a toll on Elster, an insurance agency owner who has lived in Chicago since 1947. He had to fly to Los Angeles two years ago for a grueling week of interviews, in which he wore the same clothes every day and sat still in a chair for hours at a time under bright lights and cameras, answering difficult questions-2,000 in all-that brought up a painful past. "It was very emotional. I cried initially and I don't take to crying," Elster said of the first time he saw his testimony played back for him. Smith said the project could have been successful even if each survivor were asked fewer questions. But the comprehensiveness of each testimony gave each testimony extra character depth. "If you were just going to ask the question, 'where were you born, or what camps were you in, or what did you feel like when you were liberated,' we could do that quite easily in 200 questions," Smith said. "But the point to which they say, 'So tell me about the psychological consequences of slave labor,' or something like that, then you have a more nuanced question, for which [the holographic display] has an answer." Elster, now 85, is quite pleased with the final product, and is confident his testimony will resonate with younger generations. On its own, the Illinois Holocaust museum, the third largest in the world and created partly in response to an attempt by neo-Nazis to march in this heavily Jewish suburb in the late 1970s, welcomes 60,000 students and educators annually. "As survivors, we're concerned and afraid that our pain, our loss, our surviving will be forgotten or homogenized," he said. "They've created something that's going to live on much after we're gone." A New York Times documentary about the project, called "116 Cameras" and making the rounds of film festivals, shows the space-age contraption in which they film the survivors. The Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York City began piloting the project in July. Its two holograms will be on display for the public through April. Additional pilots, open to the public, are being tested at the Sarah and Chaim Neuberger Holocaust Education Centre in Toronto and the Holocaust Museum in Houston. The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., ended its pilot on Labor Day after several months. The Candles Holocaust Museum and Education Center in Terre Haute, Indiana, also has piloted the project and plans to install a permanent display that will open this fall. (JTA)-Brandeis University has received an $8.4 million bequest gift for social justice initiatives from a man who visited the Boston-area campus one time. The university announced the gift from Seymour Bluestone on Tuesday. Bluestone, a former rehabilitation doctor who lived in Clearwater, Florida, felt a strong connection to the university's social justice values, died in September at 96. Bluestone began making small gifts to Brandeis in the 1990s at the request of family friends. He visited the campus in 2000, where he learned about a number of the school's programs. Over lunch, he and Laurence Simon, the founding director of the Sustainable International Development program at the university's Heller School for Social Policy and Management, began a discussion about poverty and other global issues that remained with him. In 2001, Bluestone created the Jesse F. and Dora H. Bluestone Scholarship in memory of his parents to support students in the Sustainable International Development program, along with the Myra Kraft Transitional Year Program. Bluestone's bequest will provide financial aid for up to five students in the Sustainable International Development program in future years, and support research and program development in the Center for Global Development and Sustainability, also at the Heller School. The gift also will help students enrolled in the Kraft program. In its 50th year, the transitional year program prepares students from poorly funded high schools for a competitive liberal arts curriculum through a combination of small classes, rigorous academics and strong academic support. Bluestone, a Brooklyn native, graduated from Cornell and the New York University School of Medicine. He served as a medical officer in the U.S. Army in Korea from 1945 to 1947, reaching the rank of captain. Later he held a number of medical positions, including serving for 10 years as director of the New York State Rehabilitation Hospital, where he expanded medical and research services, and promoted staff education. Naale's outstanding Amana high school for girls, located in cool and calm Kfar Saba is one of the best Orthodox schools for girls in Israel. In 1992, when Soviet Jewish parents were looking for ways to immigrate to Israel, a school was started by the Jewish Agency and the Israeli government that provided a way for Soviet youth to study in Israel. That school is Naale Elite Academy. Since the program started 25 years ago, there have been 16,000 students and graduates from nearly 30 countries, including the U.S., U.K., France, Germany, South Africa, Australia and the former Soviet Union, among others. At the end of August, 503 arrived to start 10th grade in Israel-74 of them from North America. This isn't a one-year high school program (although if a student wishes to opt out at any time, they can). Students who participate in the Naale program have the opportunity of a lifetime to spend their high school years learning Hebrew, connecting to their Jewish identity, discovering Israel, living among their peers in youth villages (sort of like college campuses) under supervision, and graduate with an internationally recognized high school diploma. After graduation, they will be ready to move on to the next stage of their lives anywhere in the world with greater confidence, irreplaceable life-skills, and the internationally recognized Israeli 'Bagrut' matriculation. Sending your children away to study abroad is usually an extremely expensive endeavor. However, with the exception of only two payments-a one-time nonrefundable scholarship application fee of $600 and an additional $600 upon acceptance, the Naale Elite Academy is completely free. This includes full airfare to Israel at the beginning of the program, tuition, room and board, off-campus travel expenses, special trips, spending money, health insurance and laundry services is fully funded by the Israeli Ministry of Education and the Jewish Agency for Israel. Scholarships are based on average or above average academic ability and psychological tests. According to Chaim Meyers, director for the Western World Region, students are screened for their social skills, emotional stability and independence for their age. "There are a lot of challenges to living in a foreign country, away from family," Meyers stated. "Some students aren't mature enough." Einat Cohen-Nissan Glen, Southern United States representative, stated that the program has a 75 percent acceptance rate, and a 90 percent start-to-finish rating because of the screening. How does it work? Students in either ninth or 10th grade start the program in an intensive Hebrew ulpan. They learn to speak, read and write Hebrew. Those who excel in their Hebrew studies can enter mainstream Israeli classes or choose to be in English-speaking classes. After finishing the Hebrew course, they move on to studying the core academic subjects and electives. In addition to academic studies, a wide range of activities, including clubs, volunteer work, music, sports, films, etc. As there are many aspects to Jewish identity, there are eight schools across Israel in the Naale Elite program: Mosenson in Hod Hasharon offers a well-rounded education. It is coed. Nahalal (Anieres) is affiliated with Technion University and the program centers around science, technology, engineering and math. Many students who graduate from Anieres continue their education at Technion University (under scholarship). Amana is a yeshiva high school for girls. It is a religious school in Kfar Saba. Shaalvim is the yeshiva high school for boys offering academic and religious education. Beit Chana, located in Tzfat, is designed for the daughters of shluchim and offers a Kodesh curriculum with advanced studies in Nigleh and Chassidus. Beit Chaya Mushka is a Chabad high school for girls geared toward daughters of Hebrew speaking shluchim and is located in Kiryat Shmuel. Students from Na'ale Shaalvim enjoy a BBQ with their madrich and his family. Ayanot is a coed youth village based on values of tolerance, equality and social involvement. In addition to its core subjects, students focus on arts, music and agriculture. It is located in Nes Tziona. Dror Elite Academy is located in Jerusalem. It is a coed observant high school with a pluralistic approach. The program emphasizes text studies, social acceptance and an understanding of many forms of Jewish expression. Registration can be done online. Upcoming screening for Florida residents is held in Miami on Feb. 18, and on June 13. VIENNA (JTA)-If Stephan Templ's trial and imprisonment in Austria were meant to silence his criticism of the country's Holocaust restitution system, then his prosecution was clearly a failure. Templ is an Austrian-Jewish historian of the Holocaust who has written critically about his country since 1995. In 2015, he was sent to jail for nearly a year on controversial fraud charges tied to his family's own claim for compensation-and spent his time in prison diving even deeper into his area of expertise. The result is a new book that for the first time chronicles how modern-day Austria gave its seal of approval for flawed restitution practices that were overseen by former Nazis. Those practices, Templ shows, in essence validated Nazi-era policies that were used to rob Austrian Jews of what little compensation they sought to receive for vast assets that they had been forced to sell to Aryans. "The wrongly imprisoned experience a special kind of frustration: Your thoughts get into a cycle about where you are and who put you there," Templ, 57, told JTA. His sentence was decried as a miscarriage of justice by dozens of leading Holocaust historians. Templ was convicted of fraud for not listing an aunt on his survivor mother's restitution claim, which he filled out for her. Neither Templ nor his mother wrote that they were the only claimants to the property. Austria has no law requiring restitution applicants to list other relatives. In previous official correspondence about the claim, Templ did list his aunt, which he argues means he had indeed informed the Republic of Austria of her existence. The 75 historians, including Americans Deborah Lipstadt and Michael Berenbaum, suggested in a joint statement that Templ's prosecution looked like a vendetta by the Austrian judiciary, which the Freedom Barometer index of 2016 ranked as the least independent in Western Europe. The Anti-Defamation League also protested Templ's sentence, as did the human rights lawyer Robert Amsterdam and Stuart Eizenstat, a former U.S. deputy secretary of the Treasury who helped set up Austria's restitution system. Efraim Zuroff, Eastern Europe director for the Simon Wiesenthal Center, told JTA about the case: "It looks like revenge, like they wanted to get back at him for his criticism. I'm not a jurist but it looks like an injustice." Templ currently is facing a civil libel suit by Claire Fritsch, a legal adviser to the restitution authority who served as the main witness in his criminal court case. She claims she was libeled by his defense team's attempts to undermine her testimony. In Templ's English-language book-which is titled "Austria's Living Ghost" and is scheduled for publication online ahead of International Holocaust Remembrance Day on Jan. 27-he examines the work of Austria's Arbitration Panel for in Rem Restitution, a body set up in 2002 to review the restitution work done immediately after World War II on properties that in 2001 were in the state's possession. Until the 1990s, Austria had claimed that it was principally a victim, not a perpetrator, of Nazism. No one has been convicted of Nazi war crimes in Austria in more than 35 years, according to the Simon Wiesenthal Center. And whereas people with a Nazi past were removed from positions of influence in neighboring Germany, in Austria they were allowed to serve as judges, teachers and even restitution officials. (Walther Kastner, for example, was a former Nazi official who was entrusted with advising on restitution issues in the 1940s.) Austria even had a former Nazi, Kurt Waldheim, as president until 1992-the year that Austrian officials began to drop the victim attitude, which is now described as a "myth" on official Austrian government websites. But that myth has had far-reaching implications for Austria, said Templ, who in 2001 led groups around Vienna on tours of stolen Jewish property. He pointed out building after building, using a loudspeaker to name the families whose ancestors bought the assets for a fraction of their true worth from Jews fleeing for their lives. "The lack of de-Nazification is the reason Austria now has in government, for the second time already, a party that was founded by an SS officer," he said of the far-right Freedom Party, which joined the coalition last month. Austria's victim myth also tainted how the Austrian state handled the return of Jews from concentration camps, prosecuted Nazi war criminals and settled restitution issues. Concerns about this process led to a 2002 review by the Arbitration Panel, as part of a restitution treaty that Austria signed with the United States in 2001. Thanks to the treaty, Austria has paid at least $670 million in compensation. But even that may have been the tip of the iceberg in a country that had at least 200,000 Jews before the Holocaust, many of them wealthy. Templ's research shows that out of nearly 2,000 restitution cases handled in the 1940s and 1950s, the Arbitration Panel reopened and declared unjust a total of only nine cases. It intervened in another 18 cases that had not been the subject of a claim, he said. "This seemed to me like an astonishingly low number, considering the prevalence of injustice that went on in 1940s and 1950s restitution," Templ said. Take, for instance, the case of Anna Freud, the daughter of the famed Viennese psychoanalyst. Following her claim for restitution for a handsome estate that the Nazis stole from her family in 1938, she received in the 1950s a sum equivalent to $80, Templ's research shows. However, that property was not reviewed in 2002, because the estate was privately owned and therefore not in the purview of the Arbitration Panel on state-held properties. "So in prison, I set out to review for myself the claims that the Arbitration Panel had reviewed before me," Templ, a bespectacled intellectual with a wry sense of humor and a passion for carpentry, said during a rare visit to Vienna (following his release from prison in 2015, Templ is spending most of his time in his Prague home, in what he terms self-exile). The findings, he said, surprised even him. One case deemed fair by the Arbitration Panel involved an apartment building in Vienna's Alserbach Street owned by the Stianssy family. The Aryan buyers paid only 38 percent of its real worth in 1939. Of that sum, the Nazi state stole 80 percent through racist "emigration taxes" devised to defund Jewish sellers. The other 20 percent went to a frozen account and from there to the coffers of the Third Reich, his research shows. In 1951, Austrian restitution officials declined to return the "emigration taxes" to the Stianssy family, essentially validating their extraction. Yet the Arbitration Panel in its 2014 review stated that it "cannot conclude that the settlement reached in 1951 represents an extreme injustice." In so doing, Templ writes, "the Panel confirms the injustice." Leopold Stiassny died in Prague on Nov. 20, 1939. His wife, Martha Stiassny, was murdered in Auschwitz. Three of their close relatives were murdered by 1945. Among the dozens of reviews flagged by Templ is a 2012 case concerning the sale of a forest 45 miles southwest of Vienna by the Hartenstein family. It too was not found to be "an extreme injustice," even though the family by 1957 received less than half of the land's value, according to the panel. Templ's research suggests they only got 10 percent of the property's real value. "I expect that now that I've been jailed, my criticism of Austria will be seen as a vendetta," Templ said. "And I guess I have an agenda-but the numbers and the facts do not, and they tell a story that is much bigger and more important than my own." Queried by JTA on these cases, Josef Aicher, chairman of the Arbitration Panel for In Rem Restitution, stood by his organization's findings. "To assess 'extreme injustice' the Arbitration Panel has developed a complex case law," he wrote, based on "restrictions on freedom of contract and discrepancy in value: The more the two criteria are pronounced, the more likely it is that an extreme injustice exists." He added that the Arbitration Panel has so far issued 138 recommendations for restitution with an estimated total value of $59 million. According to Templ, all these recommendations pertain to only seven assets. Citing independent appraisals, Aicher said that "virtually all real estate that had been confiscated by the state was restituted in its entirety after the war" as well as 60 percent of the properties sold under duress. Crunching these numbers allowed Templ to find purpose and calm his nerves in prison, he said. But it wasn't easy. On a rare afternoon off from prison-Templ served time in a medium-security facility that allowed some inmates brief day passes-he "suddenly became very aggressive" toward a friend who came to visit him. "When you see that life goes on while you're stuck there, it releases some anger in you," he said. On one of his first days in prison, a longtime prisoner showed him around the place, he recalled. "When we reached the showers, he told me: These showers aren't for you because they have water coming out" a remark Templ believes was an anti-Semitic reference to Nazi gas chambers. Another prisoner harassed him with reference to Israel, he said. But the troubles stopped when Muslim Chechen inmates, who are known for their ruthlessness and mob connections, discovered he could speak Russian and could therefore help them with German-language correspondence, he said. "As soon as the other inmates saw me hanging out with the Chechens, suddenly the behavior toward me changed." Asked whether he considers himself a victim, Templ said: "Judge for yourself. Victim is a word with considerable resonance in modern-day Austria. And a little bit of irony, too." Israels leadership took Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas to task on Monday over his hate-filled speech in which he denied Israels right to exist and wished President Donald Trump that his house should be destroyed. Abbas on Sunday rejected Israel as a Western colonial project that has nothing to do with Judaism. Colonialism created Israel to perform a certain function. It is a colonial project that has nothing to do with Judaism, but rather used the Jews as a tool under the slogan of the Promised Land, said Abbas. Providing a warped version of history, he also suggested that European Jewry chose to remain in their home countries during the Holocaust rather than emigrating. The Jews did not want to emigrate even with murder and slaughter. Even during the Holocaust, they did not emigrate. By 1948, Jews in Palestine were no more than 640,000, most of them from Europe, he said. Netanyahu: Abbas has torn off his mask In a statement from India, where he is currently visiting, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said,I heard what Abu Mazen [aka Abbas] said. He has revealed the truth. He has torn off the mask and shown to the public the simple truth that I have been working to instill for many long years: The root of the conflict between us and the Palestinians is their steadfast refusal to recognize the Jewish state in any borders whatsoever. Israeli President Reuven Rivlin condemned Abbas for the remarks, which provided justification for dubbing him a Holocaust denier. What we heard yesterday from Mahmoud Abbas was terrible. He returned back to the ideas he expressed decades ago, when they were no less terrible, Rivlin charged. To say Israel is the result of a Western conspiracy to settle Jews in land belonging to Arab populations? To say that that the Jewish people has no connection with the Land of Israel? He forgot many things, and said exactly the things that led him to be accused years ago of anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial, he declared. Abbas attitude is precisely what blocks us. In his words he is rejecting our return to our homeland, even though Abu Mazen [Abbas] knows very well that the Quran itself recognizes the Land of Israel as our land. Without this basic recognition we will not be able to build trust and move forward in any kind of peace plan, Rivlin said. PA leader lost his senses Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman said that Abbas has lost his senses. Liberman told IDF Radio that Abbas address symbolizes his rejection of peace negotiations and opting instead for a confrontation with both Israel and the US. Indeed, Abbas also lashed out at Trump over recent policy moves, such as recognizing Jerusalem as Israels capital. Referring to the US president, Abbas uttered the Arabic phrase Yekhreb Beitak, literally translated as May your house be demolished. Israeli Education Minister Naftali Bennett said the speechs content represented Abbas swan song. Abu Mazen is at the end of his road, toward the end of his rule and the end of his life, he told IDF Radio of the 83-year-old ailing Palestinian leader. There appears to be no Palestinian partner and it is unlikely there will be. Danon demands condemnation from UN chief Israels Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon wrote to Secretary General Antonio Guterres demanding the condemnation of Abbas speech. It is unfortunate that, with his latest statements, Abbas has yet again responded negatively to serious initiatives for dialogue by Israel, the United States and other members of the international community, Danon stated. The hateful words of the Chairman of the Palestinian Authority, which seem to question the very right of a United Nations member-state to exist, are completely unacceptable and must be unequivocally condemned. NEW YORK (JTA)During a combative news conference in early August, White House adviser Stephen Miller told reporters that the United States should prioritize immigrants who speak English. Does the applicant speak English? Miller asked, describing a bill to reduce the overall number of immigrants and reform immigration requirements. Can they support themselves and their families financially? Do they have a skill that will add to the U.S. economy? But if English proficiency had been an immigration requirement a century ago, Millers own great-grandmother may not have been allowed into the country. Thats what journalist Jennifer Mendelsohn discovered that same day while working on a new project she calls Resistance Genealogy. Using public records and genealogical websites like Ancestry.com, Mendelsohn wants to show immigration hard-liners their own immigrant family trees. When you do genealogy, youre constantly confronted with the reality of our immigrant past, Mendelsohn told JTA. It appears from some of the attitudes and stances that people are taking publicly that theyre forgetting that. In Millers case, Mendelsohn tracked down his great-grandmothers line item in the 1910 census. The entry noted that four years after arriving in the United States, she spoke only Yiddish, not English. Mendelsohn has performed similar searches for the immigrant forbears of a handful of President Donald Trumps advisers and supporters, seeking hard data to support the idea that America is a nation of immigrants. Shes found out about Fox News host Tucker Carlsons great-great-grandfather, conservative pundit Tomi Lahrens great-great-grandfather and U.S. Rep. Steve Kings grandmother, who arrived in the United States from Germany at age 4. (We cant restore our civilization with somebody elses babies, the Iowa Republican tweeted in March.) On Jan. 9, Dan Scavino, the White House director of social media, called for an end to chain migration, which refers to immigrants bringing their relatives to live in the United States. But Mendelsohn discovered that the practice had brought Scavinos great-grandfather, Gildo, to the country. So Dan. Lets say Victor Scavino arrives from Canelli, Italy, in 1904, then brother Hector in 1905, brother Gildo in 1912, sister Esther in 1913, & sister Clotilde and their father Giuseppe in 1916, and they live together in NY, Mendelsohn tweeted, listing his family members. Do you think that would count as chain migration? In recent days, with Congress and the White House locked in a bitter battle over a federal funding bill and the children of undocumented immigrants, Mendelsohn published her research in Politico, was interviewed on MSNBC and was cited in Breitbart News. Miller did not respond to a JTA request for comment. But he says the reforms hes advocating would preserve blue-collar jobs for American workers while making sure the people who arrive on Americas shores will contribute to the country. We want to have an immigration system that takes care of the people who are coming here and the people who are already living here by having standards, by having a real clear requirement that you should be able to support yourself financially, by making sure that employers can pay a living wage, he said at the August news conference. Mendelsohn, a freelance journalist from Baltimore, has been an amateur genealogist for years, mostly focusing on her own family, friends and adoptees seeking their biological parents. She calls her own familys genealogy a classic Eastern European Jewish immigrant story, and disputes the idea that people need to have skills in order to be welcomed into the United States. Only one of her grandparents was born in America, and the others came as unskilled immigrants. (Her brother, the classicist Daniel Mendelsohn, wrote about their extended family in his 2006 memoir, The Lost: The Search for Six of Six Million.) Now, she says, two of those immigrants great-grandchildren have doctorates. I grew up exquisitely aware that we were proud and patriotic Americans, but we came from other places, she said. We came here seeking more opportunity and we were allowed to have that opportunity. I feel its my obligation to remind other people that thats what happens when you let the kind of immigrants people are looking down on now into this country. To trace the family trees, Mendelsohn first finds the names of public figures immediate families, then takes those names to search databases for obituaries of grandparents, great-grandparents and other relatives. She then uses paid services to track down birth, death and marriage certificates, and also searches public census data from 1940 and earlier. Censuses before that year contain personal data on nearly every person in the country. If you know your grandparents were Ida and Hyman Cohen and they lived in Milwaukee, it will pop up [and] it will show you their addresses, their ages, their places of birth, she said. Mendelsohn hasnt heard back from any of the officials shes researched, and doesnt expect to. But shes still tracing their lineages. On Sunday, she posted a revelation from one of the genealogical sites she uses. Stephen Miller is your fourth cousin thrice removeds husbands great nephews wifes second cousin twice removed, it read. Oh sh*t, she tweeted. Does this mean I have to invite him for Passover? The Jewish Pavilion's *Pearls of the Pavilion luncheon will take on a whole new luster when it is held at the home of Jewelry Designer Gay Harrison of Gay Harrison Handcrafted Couture Jewelry. Harrison is generously opening her Longwood home for the occasion, which takes place on Tuesday, Feb. 20th. Following a gourmet luncheon, the acclaimed designer will offer a sneak peak of her 2018 Spring Collection, along with a sparkling discussion of upcoming trends in jewelry. "We are so appreciative to our Pearls and to Gay Harrison for their contribution to our elder community. Pearls of the Pavilion will receive a strand of beautiful hand-knotted freshwater peacock pearls for being such a jewel to us over the years," commented Nancy Ludin, Jewish Pavilion executive director. Pearls by Gay Harrison *Jewish Pavilion Pearls are women who have donated a $500 minimum payable throughout the membership year, September-August. Your current or future "Pearl" pledge can be made in installments and will be honored with a gift to you. The Jewish Pavilion appreciates and welcomes all levels of donation. To find out more about becoming a Pearl of the Pavilion and attending the luncheon, call Jewish Pavilion Executive Director Nancy Ludin at 407-678-9363 or email: NancyLudin@ jewishpavilion.org. The Jewish Pavilion enhances the lives of residents in independent, assisted living and skilled nursing facilities throughout Central Florida by providing visitation, Shabbat services, holiday festivities, inter-generational celebrations, musical programs and educational courses. Our staff and volunteers visit seniors in over seventy independent, assisted living and long-term care facilities, helping ensure that no senior in our community grows old all alone. Learn more, volunteer, or make a donation at http://www.jewishpavilion.org. (JTA)-Former British chief rabbi Jonathan Sacks met with U.S. Vice President Mike Pence to help him frame religious and historical elements of his speech before Israel's Knesset. Sacks and Pence met in New York for 90 minutes prior to Pence's departure for a two-day visit to Israel, part of trip that also included Egypt and Jordan, the Times of Israel reported. Pence sought Sacks' guidance on the sections of the speech, which dealt with the historical connection between the Jews and Israel. He was not paid for the consultation. The meeting "centered around how best to frame elements of the speech-in particular the biblical and historical connection between the Jewish people and the land of Israel, and the American and Jewish stories," Sacks' spokesman Dan Sacker said in a statement. "Rabbi Sacks provided input and editorial suggestions on various drafts throughout the writing process," an unnamed source with knowledge of the speech-writing process told the Times of Israel. Pence has been accused of shaping his political views on Israel through the lens of his Evangelical Christian outlook. His Knesset speech earlier this week included passages from the Bible and alluded to biblical history. It also highlighted the Jewish people's connection to Israel. Sacks served as Britain's chief rabbi for 22 years until 2013 and now holds the title emeritus chief rabbi. He was named a life peer, giving him the title of Lord, in 2009. Updike said: The real crime rate among these people is likely much higher than the media allows. Click to expand... Why? If they were raised here and think like Americans, then the expected crime rate should be similar to what we see with Americans in general. Vice President Mike Pence (l) seen with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during an official welcome ceremony at the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem, Jan. 22, 2018. WASHINGTON (JTA)-When Mike Pence moved to Washington earlier this year, he and his wife took with them a framed phrase they had for years hung over their fireplace in their Indiana home, and then over the fireplace in the governor's mansion in that state. Now it hangs over the mantle at the vice president's residence at the Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C. The words, from the Book of Jeremiah, read: "For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you, and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope, and a future." The "you" is the people of Israel, and Pence, an evangelical Christian, makes that clear when he addresses pro-Israel audiences. "They're words to which my family has repaired to as generations of Americans have done so throughout our history, and the people of Israel through all their storied history have clung," Pence said last August at the annual conference of Christians United for Israel. Pence took that message to Israel this week on a trip ostensibly aimed in part at reviving the prospects for Israeli-Palestinian peace. He is seen as a key Trump administration figure when it comes to Israel policy and reportedly helped nudge the president to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital. Pence's first visit to Israel as vice president led some to ask to what degree are his views, and the administration's policies, shaped by the brand of evangelical Christianity that invests his faith? Pence, a convert to evangelical Christianity from Roman Catholicism, has spooked some liberals with his insistence on rooting his pro-Israel bona fides in faith as much as realpolitik considerations of the United States' national security. Their fear is that a messianic outlook might run riot over one of the most delicate dilemmas facing successive U.S. governments, namely stability in the Middle East. "Trump has handed Israel policy to Evangelicals," The Forward's Jane Eisner wrote last week in an editorial as Pence headed to Israel. "That's terrifying." Like many liberals, she worries that policy will be driven by evangelical beliefs that certain conditions-like Jewish control over the West Bank and sovereignty in Jerusalem-fulfill biblical prophecies. Republicans and conservatives say that it is reductive to believe that Pence shapes his views solely according to the tenets of his faith. "They always highlight the fact that he's an evangelical, as if that's a pejorative when in fact [Pence and other evangelicals] are motivated first and foremost by shared values with Israel," said Matt Brooks, the director of the Republican Jewish Coalition, who has known Pence for years. "And not just by the shared values, but the important efforts of collectively standing up to threats of Iran, pushing back on ISIS, and on radical Islam, or whether it's being a critical democratic foundation in a very dangerous place. There are so many places where U.S. and Israel's interests intersect." Pence began his speech to the Knesset by outlining the shared values Brooks described. "We stand with Israel because your cause is our cause, your values are our values, and your fight is our fight," he said. "We stand with Israel because we believe in right over wrong, in good over evil, and in liberty over tyranny." But he quickly pivoted to depict support of Israel as both biblical (Deuteronomy 30:4, to be exact) and rooted in an American strain of Christianity. "Down through the generations, the American people became fierce advocates of the Jewish people's aspiration to return to the land of your forefathers, to claim your own new birth of freedom in your beloved homeland," he said to applause. "The Jewish people held fast to a promise through all the ages, written so long ago, that 'even if you have been banished to the most distant land under the heavens,' from there He would gather and bring you back to the land which your fathers possessed." Pastor John Hagee, the founder of Christians United for Israel, described a natural trajectory for evangelical supporters of Israel from biblical belief to the more practical modern reasons for supporting the state. "The promises of the Hebrew Bible are the foundation of Christian Zionism, but our motivations for supporting Israel do not end there," he told JTA in an email. "We see in Israel a democracy that shares Western values and is a force for stability in the Middle East. While standing with Israel is a biblical mandate, it is also a moral imperative and in the national security interests of the US. I am confident that all three of these considerations inform the Vice President's approach to the Middle East and I believe that is perfectly appropriate." Pence has since the outset of his political career made it clear that his support for Israel is first grounded in biblical precepts. "My support for Israel stems largely from my personal faith," he told Congressional Quarterly in 2002, a year after he was first elected to Congress. "God promises Abraham, 'those who bless you, I will bless, and those who curse you, I will curse.'" Sarah Posner, a journalist who for years has tracked evangelicals, said Pence's faith seemed to be preeminent in his consideration of Israel. "I don't think he is thinking about that in terms of shared democracy or not shared democracy, he's thinking about it providential terms, that these missions are God's plans for Israel," said Posner, a reporting fellow at The Nation Institute's Investigative Fund. It's hard not to see Pence's belief as an impetus driving Trump's recognition of Jerusalem, said Daniel Seidemann, an Israeli expert on Jerusalem who advocates for including all the city's sects and groupings in considering its permanent status. "It would be fine for him to have those beliefs, if he weren't the vice president and shaping policy," Seidemann told JTA. "Jerusalem has been witnessing over the last 20 years the ascendancy of faith communities that weaponize religion." Pence proudly stood with Trump in the White House when the president announced the recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital, and he appears to have accelerated the planned move of the U.S. embassy. Trump last week said it would take at least three years to move the embassy, but Pence in Israel this week said it would be in place before 2019 is out. "The United States decided to go through these hollow gestures on Jerusalem rather than advancing its own interests and the interests of Israel and the Palestinians by engaging in a sober attempt to resolve the issue," Seidemann said. Pence's trip, by including only Jewish sites and skipping meetings with other faith leaders, was contributing to the weaponization, Seidemann said. Christian faith leaders declined to meet with Pence during his visits to Egypt and Israel; various reports framed their objections as a reaction to policies they feared put religious imperatives before meeting the needs of Arabs in the region, including the Christian minority. Mae Elise Cannon, the director of Churches for Middle East Peace, an umbrella group that includes most of the Christian denominations in Israel and the West Bank, told JTA that local Christians were wary of how Pence framed his support for Israel as a matter of Christian faith. "They didn't meet with him because they don't view him as an honest broker or an unbiased broker," she said. Still, some conservatives charge liberals with weaponizing religion, and using Pence's faith as a way to discredit otherwise normative policies. "That vast numbers of Americans are inspired by the Bible to support Jewish rights in their ancient homeland isn't so much a function of the left-right conflict as it is an integral part of the nation's political culture," wrote Jonathan Tobin, a former executive editor of Commentary and current editor in chief of JNS.org. "Those turned off by Pence's rhetoric need to ask what exactly it is about a desire to respect Jewish rights and demand that Palestinians give up their century-old war on Zionism that annoys them so much." Vice President Mike Pence prays at the Western Wall on Jan. 23, 2018. See other articles about the vice president's trip on page 3A. (JNS)-Vice President Mike Pence concluded his trip to Israel on Tuesday with a private visit to the Western Wall, one of the holiest sites in Judaism. Pence arrived at the holy site with a black yarmulke on his head flanked by the Chief Rabbi of the Western Wall Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz and Director of the Western Wall Heritage Foundation Mordechai "Soli" Eliav. U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman and the Trump administration's international negotiations representative, Jason Greenblatt, also accompanied the vice president. "Here, right above us, on the Temple Mount, King Solomon built the Temple," said Rabinowitz as he approached the Western Wall with Pence. "We draw our strength from our deep connection to the land of the Bible and our commitment to the words of the Prophets." Pence placed a note inside the wall and prayed, while his wife Karen prayed separately in the women's section at the holy site. Upon his departure from the Western Wall, Pence signed the official guest book, writing, "It is my great honor to pray here at this sacred place. God bless the Jewish people and God bless the state of Israel always." When approached by members of the media, Pence stated that the visit to the site was "very inspiring." Earlier in the day, Pence met with Israeli President Reuven Rivlin. During the meeting, the vice president reiterated the Trump administration's position that U.S. recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital will lead to peace between Israel and the Palestinians. Vice President Mike Pence on Monday addressed the Knesset, Israel's parliament, affirming the US' support for the Jewish state, for Jerusalem as Israel's capital, and for Israel's security. The following are excerpts from his speech: ...I am here to convey a simple message from the heart of the American people: America stands with Israel. We stand with Israel because your cause is our cause, your values are our values, and your fight is our fight. We stand with Israel because we believe in right over wrong, in good over evil, and in liberty over tyranny. We stand with Israel because that's what Americans have always done, and so has it been since my country's earliest days... In the story of the Jews, we've always seen the story of America. It is the story of an exodus, a journey from persecution to freedom, a story that shows the power of faith and the promise of hope. My country's very first settlers also saw themselves as pilgrims, sent by Providence, to build a new Promised Land. The songs and stories of the people of Israel were their anthems, and they faithfully taught them to their children, and do to this day. And our founders, as others have said, turned to the wisdom of the Hebrew Bible for direction, guidance, and inspiration. America's first President, George Washington, wrote with favor to "the children of the stock of Abraham." Our second President, John Adams, declared that the Jews, in his words, "have done more to civilize man than any other nation." And your story inspired my forebears to create what our 16th President called a "new birth of freedom." And down through the generations, the American people became fierce advocates of the Jewish people's aspiration to return to the land of your forefathers to claim your own new birth of freedom in your beloved homeland. The Jewish people held fast to a promise through all the ages, written so long ago, that "even if you have been banished to the most distant land under the heavens," from there He would gather and bring you back to the land which your fathers possessed. Through a 2,000-year exile, the longest of any people, anywhere, through conquests and expulsions, inquisitions and pogroms, the Jewish people held on to this promise, and they held on to it through the longest and darkest of nights. A night that Elie Wiesel proclaimed "seven times sealed." A night that transformed the small faces of children into smoke under a silent sky. A night that consumed the faith of so many and that challenges the faith of so many still. And tomorrow, when I stand with my wife at Yad Vashem to honor the 6 million Jewish martyrs of the Holocaust, we will marvel at the faith and resilience of your people, who just three years after walking beneath the shadow of death, rose up from the ashes to resurrect yourselves, to reclaim a Jewish future, and to rebuild the Jewish state. And this April, we will mark the day when the Jewish people answered that ancient question-can a country be born in a day, can a nation be born in a moment?-as the State of Israel celebrates the 70th anniversary of its birth. As you prepare to commemorate this historic milestone, I say, along with the good people of Israel, here and around the world: Shehecheyanu, v'kiyimanu, v'higiyanu la'z'man ha'zeh. Seventy years ago, the United States was proud to be the first nation in the world to recognize the State of Israel. But as you well know, the work we began on that day was left unfinished, for while the United States recognized your nation, one administration after another refused to recognize your capital. But just last month, President Donald Trump made history. He righted a 70-year wrong... The Jewish people's unbreakable bond to this sacred city reaches back more than 3,000 years. It was here, in Jerusalem, on Mount Moriah, that Abraham offered his son, Isaac, and was credited with righteousness for his faith in God. It was here, in Jerusalem, that King David consecrated the capital of the Kingdom of Israel. And since its rebirth, the modern State of Israel has called this city the seat of its government. Jerusalem is Israel's capital. And, as such, President Trump has directed the State Department to immediately begin preparations to move the United States Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. In the weeks ahead, our administration will advance its plan to open the United States Embassy in Jerusalem, and that United States Embassy will open before the end of next year. Our President made his decision, in his words, "in the best interests of the United States." But he also made it clear that we believe that his decision is in the best interests of peace. By finally recognizing Jerusalem as Israel's capital, the United States has chosen fact over fiction. And fact is the only true foundation for a just and lasting peace. Under President Trump, the United States of America remains fully committed to achieve a lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians. In announcing his decision on Jerusalem, the President also called, in his words, "on all parties to maintain the status quo at Jerusalem's holy sites, including at the Temple Mount, also known as the Haram al-Sharif." And he made it clear that we're not taking a position on any final status issues, including the specific boundaries of the Israeli sovereignty in Jerusalem or the resolution of contested borders. And President Trump reaffirmed that, if both sides agree, the United States of America will support a two-state solution... Now, we recognize that peace will require compromise, but you can be confident in this: The United States of America will never compromise the safety and security of the State of Israel. Any peace agreement must guarantee Israel's ability to defend itself by itself... Over the past two days, I've traveled to Egypt and Jordan, two nations with whom Israel has long enjoyed the fruits of peace. I spoke with America's great friends, President Al Sisi of Egypt, and King Abdullah of Jordan, about the courage of their predecessors who forged an end to conflict with Israel in their time. And those two leaders prove every day that trust and confidence can be a reality among the great nations who call these ancient lands home. In my time with those leaders, and with your Prime Minister, we discussed the remarkable transformation that is taking place across the Middle East today, and the need to forge a new era of cooperation in our day and age. The winds of change can already be witnessed across the Middle East. Longstanding enemies are becoming partners. Old foes are finding new ground for cooperation. And the descendants of Isaac and Ishmael are coming together in common cause as never before... Radical Islamic terrorism knows no borders-targeting America, Israel, nations across the Middle East, and the wider world. It respects no creed-stealing the lives of Jews, Christians, and especially Muslims. And radical Islamic terrorism understands no reality other than brute force. Together with our allies, we will continue to bring the full force of our might to drive radical Islamic terrorism from the face of the Earth. I'm pleased to report that, thanks to the courage of our armed forces and our allies, at this very moment ISIS is on the run, their capital has fallen, their so-called caliphate has crumbled. And you can be assured we will not rest, we will not relent, until we hunt down and destroy ISIS at its source, so it can no longer threaten our people, our allies, or our very way of life... As President Trump made clear in Saudi Arabia, we will continue to stand with our allies and stand up to our enemies. We will work with all of our partners to starve, in his words, "terrorists of their territory, their funding, and the false allure of their craven ideology." We will also support faith leaders in this region and across the world, as they teach their disciples to practice love, not hate. And we will help persecuted peoples, who have suffered so much at the hands of ISIS and other terrorist groups... The United States has already committed more than $110 million to assist Christian and other religious minorities across the wider Middle East. And we urge our allies-here in Israel, in Europe, and across the world-to join us in this cause. Let's work together to restore the rich splendor of religious diversity across the Middle East, so that all faiths may once again flourish in the lands where they were born. As we work to defeat the scourge of terrorism, and give aid to those who have suffered at its hands, we must also be resolved and vigilant to prevent old adversaries from gaining any new ground. To that end, the United States will continue to work with Israel, and with nations across the world, to confront the leading state sponsor of terror-the Islamic Republic of Iran. As the world has seen once again, the brutal regime in Iran is merely a brutal dictatorship that seeks to dominate its citizens and deny them of their most fundamental rights. History has proven, those who dominate their own people rarely stop there. And increasingly, we see Iran seeking to dominate the wider Arab world. That dangerous regime sows chaos across the region. Last year alone, even as its citizens cried out for help with basic necessities, Iran devoted more than $4 billion to malign activities in Syria, Lebanon, and elsewhere across the region. It has supported terrorist groups that even now sit on Israel's doorstep. And worst of all, the Iranian regime has pursued a clandestine nuclear program, and at this very hour is developing advanced ballistic missiles. Two-and-a-half years ago, the previous administration in America signed a deal with Iran that merely delays the day when that regime can acquire a nuclear weapon. The Iran nuclear deal is a disaster, and the United States of America will no longer certify this ill-conceived agreement. At President Trump's direction, we're working to enact effective and lasting restraints on Iran's nuclear and ballistic missile programs. Earlier this month, the President waived sanctions on Iran to give the Congress and our European allies time to pass stronger measures. But as President Trump made clear, this is the last time. Unless the Iran nuclear deal is fixed, President Trump has said the United States will withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal immediately. Whatever the outcome of those negotiations, today I have a solemn promise to Israel, to all the Middle East, and to the world: The United States of America will never allow Iran to acquire a nuclear weapon. Beyond the nuclear deal, we will also no longer tolerate Iran's support of terrorism, or its brutal attempts to suppress its own people. Last year, our administration more than tripled the number of sanctions targeting Iran and its leaders. And just this month, the United States issued tough new sanctions on Iran. But I have another message today-a better message-from the people of America to the proud and great people of Iran: We are your friends, and the day is coming when you will be free from the evil regime that suffocates your dreams and buries your hopes. And when your day of liberation finally comes, we say to the good people of Iran, the friendship between our peoples will blossom once again... Nearly 4,000 years ago, a man left his home in Ur of the Chaldeans to travel here, to Israel. He ruled no empire, he wore no crown, he commanded no armies, he performed no miracles, delivered no prophecies, yet to him was promised "descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky." Today, Jews, Christians, and Muslims-more than half the population of the Earth, and nearly all the people of the Middle East-claim Abraham as their forefather in faith Only steps from here, in the Old City of Jerusalem, we see the followers of these three great religions in constant contact with one another... Israel is like a tree that has grown deep roots in the soil of your forefathers, yet as it grows, it reaches ever closer to the heavens. And today and every day, the Jewish State of Israel, and all the Jewish people, bear witness to God's faithfulness, as well as your own. It was the faith of the Jewish people that gathered the scattered fragments of a people and made them whole again; that took the language of the Bible and the landscape of the Psalms and made them live again. And it was faith that rebuilt the ruins of Jerusalem and made them strong again. The miracle of Israel is an inspiration to the world. And the United States of America is proud to stand with Israel and her people, as allies and cherished friends. And so we will "pray for the peace of Jerusalem," that "those who love you be secure," that "there be peace within your walls, and security in your citadels." And we will work and strive for that brighter future where everyone who calls this ancient land their home shall sit "under their vine and fig tree, and none shall make them afraid." Why is it that every time a female US government official says something that the Palestinian Authority (PA) doesnt like, PA leaders respond by making a disparaging remark related to the fact that she is a woman? In his bizarre, two-hour rant before the Palestinian Central Council on Jan. 14, PA President Mahmoud Abbas declared that US Ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, wears high heels not for elegance but to use to hit anyone who attacks Israel. When Condoleeza Rice was national security advisor, an official PA newspaper, Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, called her (on June 23, 2002) the dark complexioned lady, the Black Lady and this pitiful woman. On Nov. 3 of that year, Al-Hayat Al-Jadida railed against Rice for her loose way of sitting, when she puts one leg on top of the other. The writer then alluded to Bill Clintons affair with Monica Lewinsky. Another official PA newspaper, Al-Ayyam, referred to Rice (on June 22, 2003) as a black widow, a single black lady and a black raven, and patronizingly compared her to African-American supermodel Naomi Campbell. And the PAs problem with women is not limited to Republicans. In its Oct. 3, 1997 issue, Al-Hayat Al-Jadidas editor in chief denounced Arab leaders whom, he said, would have sung love songs to then-Secretary of State Madeleine Albright were it not for her advanced age and the fact that she has passed her prime. I wonder if the PAs disturbing obsession with the physical appearance of these female US officials is a reflection of the anti-woman culture that the PA fosters in Palestinian society. According to Amnesty International, women and girls living under PA rule during the past year continued to face discrimination in law and in practice, and were inadequately protected against sexual and other violence, including so-called honour killings. Honor killings are homicides in which men murder female relatives whom they suspect of violating Islamic fundamentalist morals, such as premarital relations, dressing provocatively or being seen in the company of an unauthorized boyfriend. According to The Washington Post, even when the PA imprisons such killers, pardons and suspended sentences are common. The Palestinian womens rights group TAM reported that 18 Palestinian Arab women were murdered in honor killings in 2016. But the PAs Palestinian Public Prosecutors Office claims that there were only nine such killings. Human Rights Watch reports that the PA still allows rapists to escape punishment. It notes that during the past year, women seeking marriage and divorce suffered discrimination. For example, PA courts required Muslim women to obtain a male relatives consent to marry and to obtain the husbands consent to divorce, except in limited cases. The Times of Israel reported last year that when the PA set up its legal system, it decided to include Article 99 of Jordanian Penal Code No. 16 of 1960, which grants judges the ability to dramatically reduce sentences if the case has extenuating circumstances... [which] allows men who murder, assault and rape women in the Palestinian territories to receive significantly reduced sentences... [I]n the majority of other such cases in Jordan and the Palestinian territories, the extenuating circumstances the judges cited to lighten the sentences were that the family dropped charges against the defendantswho are part of the familysaying it was an honor killing. The United Nations has a division called UN Women. Its website reports: There are no specific laws or provisions in the [PA-ruled territories] that protect women against domestic violence and sexual violence. The PAs penal code contains discriminatory provisions for women in relation to rape, adultery, and sexual violence committed in marriage. Women who report rape risk being criminalized for adultery. According to UN Women, 30 percent of women in the PA areas have been subjected to a form of violence within the household, and 65 percent of them preferred to remain silent. Little things also reveal a lot. Palestinian women candidates who ran for office in the last PA municipal elections were prevented by the PA from putting their own names on the ballots. The PA authorities listed them only as sister of or the wife of. If that happened under any other government in the world, many Jewish progressivesincluding J Street, Jewish Voice for Peace and all the restwould be screaming in protest. But many arent actively speaking up against this now. So yes, Mahmoud Abbas has a problem with womenand some of Abbas Jewish cheerleaders have a problem of their own: theyre in denial. Stephen M. Flatow, a vice president of the Religious Zionists of America, is an attorney in New Jersey and the father of Alisa Flatow, who was murdered in an Iranian-sponsored Palestinian terrorist attack in 1995, three other daughters and nine granddaughters. States across the countryfrom Rhode Island to California, from Texas to Minnesotahave passed important anti-BDS legislation. To date, 24 states have joined the movement to reject hate, proudly standing up and saying, those who discriminate against the Jewish state are not welcome to do business in our state. This legislative process is one that has taken off over the past two years. The first states to pass these laws were Illinois and South Carolina, in 2015. For the most part, in blue states and red states, on the east coast, west coast, and in middle America, these bills have passed by either unanimous votes or by extremely wide margins, indicating a strong bipartisan consensus. We are now entering a new year, and a new election cycleall 435 seats in the US House of Representatives, a third of the Senate, and 36 governorships are up for grabs. Additionally, there are numerous statewide offices, secretaries or state, attorneys general, and more to be decided in November. State legislators are a ripe repositorythink of a farm systemfor those seeking higher political office. It is a main breeding ground for future leaders who will ultimately determine the next generation of legislation and policy. Now that anti-BDS legislation is law in almost half the states we have a good baseline by which to examine several candidates running in the 2018 mid-term elections. American state legislators and governors, Democrat and Republican alike, understand that BDS is a hateful movement focused not on human rights, but on the destruction of Israel. Taking a stand against BDS must be applauded. We should also be tracking those running for higher office who did not vote in favor of these anti discriminatory bills. Remember, these bills call out BDS efforts directed at Israel for what they area form of economic hate, warfare, and discrimination aimed at the lone Jewish state in the world. While states, foreign countries, and world leaders have rightly decided that BDS is hate, and support efforts to marginalize this discriminatory movement, some have not had the moral courage stand up. Take for example, Rep. Stacie Abrams, in Georgia. Rep. Abrams a leading Democratic contender in that state, voted against the successful anti-BDS legislative effort that became law in 2016. Rep. Abrams opposition to anti-BDS legislation clearly raised some eyebrows, and she has been criticized by her vote. Since then she issued a statement stating, ...However, I am now aware that my vote on SB 327 has led to questions about my fidelity to the existence and legitimacy of Israel. Let me be clear: I unequivocally support a two-state solution as the path to resolution of the Israel and Palestinian conflict, with Israel as the national homeland for the Jewish people. Moreover, I reject the demonization and de-legitimization of Israel represented by the BDS narrative and campaign... As a candidate for governor, I commit to pursue the actions recommended by ADL to counter the BDSs anti-Semitic narrative: know the facts; study and distribute materials on why efforts to isolate and demonize Israel are wrong; get involved and share my personal connection to Israel; gather and publicize public statements that oppose these campaigns and organize or support local initiatives to promote Israeli goods. More importantly, I will proudly continue my efforts to center Georgia as a staunch political ally, economic partner and moral defender of the state of Israel. There are more examples of legislators across the country who may soon find themselves in Congress or in the Governors mansion. Citizens of all backgrounds should be following their candidates to make sure that they support anti-discriminatory legislation. If they voted, no, why? Boycotting Israel for political purposes is unfair and creates a double standard, which the U.S. State Department has deemed anti-Semitism. Of course, there is legitimate criticism of Israel, its government, and its policies. However, the singling out of the lone Jewish nation-state for divestment and sanction under the guise of opposing occupation, while not addressing the hundreds of other territorial disputes and various issues around the world, is a form of double standard that should not and cannot be tolerated. French President Emmanuel Macron echoed this sentiment recently when he stated, We will never surrender to the messages of hate; we will not surrender to anti-Zionism because it is a reinvention of anti-Semitism. This follows U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres, who recently said that The denial of the right of the State of Israel to exist is one of the modern forms of anti-Semitism. [Israel] should be treated like any other member state. Who is elected is important. Elections matter. We should strive to elect the very best of both parties whose worldview includes the very basic understanding that double standards focused on delegitimizing only Israel is wrongheaded and discriminatory. Jacob Millner is senior policy analyst for The Israel Project. The issue the organized Jewish world has struggled most with in recent years is how to keep communal peace at a time when the debate over Israel has become increasingly polarized. The result is a dialogue of the deaf that diminishes the community. Thats why Im a firm believer in listening and reading opposing views. I know the differences between my positions and those of liberal friends are often arguments within the family about how to strengthen the Israel we all love. As a general rule, I dont back efforts to exclude those with views that differ from mine. Even in the case of the left-wing J Street lobby, whose platform I find to be, at best, irrelevant, and at worst, potentially dangerous, I dont support denying it the right to be heard at communal forums. Anyone who supports Israels right to exist as a Jewish stateas J Streets leaders say they dodeserves a place at the table. But while inclusion is an important value, it is not the only one, let alone the most important. This is why Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) doesnt deserve to be included. It should instead serve as a warning of the consequences of granting legitimacy to forces willing to spread anti-Semitic canards in order to advance their campaign against Israel. J Streets perspective is still essentially Zionist, albeit of the left-wing variety that thinks the Jewish state will be saved by failed land-for-peace deals. But JVP, which is stealing J Streets thunder on college campuses because it opposes Zionism, is an open supporter of the BDS movement that seeks to wage economic warfare on Israel. It claims to be agnostic about whether a Jewish state should exist, though in practice, it is clearly an opponent even of an Israel that would be forced back to the pre-1967 lines. Support for BDS should be a red line that Jews should never cross. One need only listen to the voices of JVPs partners like Students for Justice in Palestinethe primary engine of BDS propagandato realize that their goal is to eradicate the Jewish state, not shift its borders to bring peace. JVP has long been in league with hate groups that target Jewish students. The fact that at its most recent national conference, those in attendance cheered a convicted Palestinian terrorist murderer was just one more proof of their ill intent. But recently, JVP has started to engage in anti-Semitic invective in its own right. Its Deadly Exchange campaign opposes initiatives that promote joint training programs between U.S. police and Israeli security forces. Yet their attempt to isolate Israel isnt limited to opposing cooperation between the two allies on issues of mutual concern. JVP is blaming not only Israeli security experts, but also American Jews who back these useful exchanges for the deaths of black Americans who have been killed by the police. Many Jews were shocked when the Black Lives Matter movement adopted an anti-Israel platform. But it was part of the same intersectional mindset that causes some left-wing LGBT organizers to ostracize gay Jews from pride parades or anti-Trump resistance groups to tell Jewish liberals that they must drop support for Zionism if they want to join. But what JVP is doing with Deadly Exchange is to assert that it is the Jews who are enabling racist police to murder defenseless African-Americans. Leave aside that much of the BLM agenda is based on myths such as the one about the incident in Ferguson, Missouri. What happened there was correctly ruled a justified shooting rather than murder, but JVP blames it on the fact that years before the death of Michael Brown, Fergusons police chief took part in a trip to Israel. The main point here is that by claiming blacks are being murdered because of Israel and its Jewish supporters, JVP is engaging in a new version of the old anti-Semitic blood libel. While the communal tent should be as large as possible, there is no place in it for those who not only work for Israels destruction, but encourage hatred against Jews. Some of those who venerate inclusion have been ready to treat JVP as just another Jewish group with a point of view that deserves respect. Yet just as we deny legitimacy to hate groups that make no secret of their prejudice, an organization that would stoop to this sort of vile anti-Semitic smear deserves to be ostracized by all people of good will. Jonathan S. Tobin is opinion editor of JNS.org and a contributing writer for National Review. Follow him on Twitter at: @jonathans_tobin. In March 1979, shortly after the mullahs grabbed power and dragged Iran into theocratic dictatorship, destructive wars and terrorism, Iranian women took to the streets to protest the forced hijab. Freedom is not eastern, not western, it is universal, they chanted. Almost 40 years later, the Iranian people are still fighting the same tyrants. In the struggle for freedom, you would expect an institution like the European Union, defined by the universal character of liberty and democracy, to stand in solidarity with the oppressed against their oppressors. So far Europe has sent the opposite message. We are not going to sustain political and economic relations with a country engaged in the brutal oppression of peaceful protesters, are the words Federica Mogherini, the EUs High Representative for Foreign Affairs, never uttered. Instead, she remained silent for six days. When she finally broke her silence, Mogherinis message was tainted by moral myopia. We expect all concerned to refrain from violence, she said, after Iranian security forces had already killed at least 22 people and incarcerated more than 3,000. The EU statement echoed earlier ambiguous messages from the British, German, French and Swedish governments. The EUs cowardly reaction contrasts with the strong response from the United States. Lawmakers from the left and right of the political spectrumeveryone from President Donald Trump and Marco Rubio to Bernie Sanders and Bob Menendezresponded to the call for freedom in Iran. Last week, Mogherini invited Irans foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, to Brussels for more discussions on the Iran nuclear deal. And thats the crux of the matter: the anti-democratic effect the agreement is having on world affairs. Swedens representative to the United Nations put it bluntly, after the US had called for an emergency session in the Security Council. Human rights violations in Iran must be separated from [the Iran nuclear deal], he said. Compromised by the prospect of lucrative business deals with Iran and the delusion that President Rouhani is an agent of change, Europe has lost its way. Instead of safeguarding the Iranian people, they protected the nuclear accord and boycotted efforts by the Trump administration to hold the regime in Tehran accountable for their unspeakable crimes. It is not without reason that protesters across Iran call for an end to the mullahs military adventurism and sponsorship of terror. We dont want the Islamic Republic, they chant, Leave Syria, leave Gaza, leave Lebanon. They fight a regime that asserts theocratic domination through worldwide terrorist acts and hegemonic wars in Syria, Iraq, Lebanon and Yemen without any regard for losses. Europes unwillingness to clip Irans wings of terror and oppression makes Americas leadership more critical. Not for the first time has Washington been at odds with European governments since Trump was elected president. Whether the historical announcement to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, or courageous efforts to confront blatant anti-Semitism at the United Nations, America has sometimes stood proudest when it has stood alone. Building on its tough line on the nuclear accord and the terror designation of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, America can lead the way again. The IRGC controls most of the countrys economy and the Quds Force, the IRGCs foreign espionage and paramilitary wing, spearheads the Islamic Republics foreign operations. Yet European leaders encourage companies to invest in Iran, thus funding the IRGC and the Islamic Republics illicit activities. By linking the regimes treatment of its people to economic and political engagement, America can hit the mullah regime where it hurts most. Congress should act and cut off the financial lifelines the regime uses to fund its human rights violations: The Central Bank of Iran and EIKO, the Supreme Leaders personal business empire. Such concrete steps would also undermine efforts by the Iranians to take advantage of the rift between Washington and Brussels to lure European governments into economic deals. Its true, many of Europes businesses want a piece of Irans economy. But Europes elites are out of touch with reality if they think for a moment that European business giants will risk their stake in Americas $19 trillion economy for Irans $400 billion economy. In 2015, French banking giant BNP Paribas was slapped a whopping $8.9 billion fine for concealing billions of dollars in transactions with Iran in violation of US sanctions. Although Irans current regime has attempted to appear more moderate, they are still driven by the same ideology of clerical fascism that crushed protesters in 1979 and again in 2009 during the Green Revolution. The silence, or even complicity, of European governments shames the reputation of Europe and benefits the mullahs, who treat the Iranian people as their own private property. It is now up to America to say, no more. Joshua S. Block is CEO & President of The Israel Project. I think you are run by feelings, not reason. Caring is a feeling essential to learning. Someone who does not care to learn, maybe a concern. Perhaps that is something we should talk about. Following a man who uses fear to attract followers, and enhance his personal power, is something we should be aware of, and understanding the people who follow this leader is something we should strive for. We have a problem and it is not just one man behaving like Hitler, but the multitude that follows him. Present-day White Plains offers few reminders of the American Revolution. In this Westchester County suburb skyscrapers rise amid a bustling downtown surrounded by residential neighborhoods. Thousands live and work in the city, most unaware they do so on what was once a bitterly contested battlefield. The Battle of White Plains was part of the greater struggle for New York in 1776. After landing on Staten Island that July, a British army under Gen. William Howe drove American troops under Gen. George Washington out of New York Citythen confined to the southern tip of Manhattan Islandand environs. By October Washington still held northern Manhattan and the Bronx. Howe planned to isolate him by landing men to the east on Long Island Sound and then driving north and west through Westchester County to the Hudson River, thus cutting the Continental Army lines of supply and communication. Howe commenced his campaign on October 12 with an abortive attack on the narrow spit of Throggs Neck in the Bronx, followed up six days later by a successful landing at Pells Point (present-day Pelham Bay Park). Recognizing the threat, Washington marched the bulk of his army north to White Plains, which stood in Howes path to the Hudson. There he constructed entrenchments along the high ground north of town, from Merritt Hill west to the Bronx River. He also stationed troops atop Chatterton Hill, which commanded the west bank of the river. Howes plan was sound but poorly executed. Skirting the coast, the British commander took New Rochelle and sent advance troops to Mamaroneck (the latter just 7 miles east of White Plains), but then dithered as Washingtons vulnerable army redeployed. On October 25 Howe marched his men west to Scarsdale on the Bronx River, but not until the morning of the 28th did he advance north on White Plains. The heaviest fighting that day centered on the position atop Chatterton Hill. Hessian mercenaries initially forded the river and charged upslope, but the Americans drove them back. A second attack proved more powerful. Hessian artillery set the hilltop ablaze, prompting militia troops to run. Continental regulars stubbornly held on until the Hessians turned their right flank, forcing them to flee. Howe had taken the high ground, but at a heavy price in blood. Likely with that in mind, he waited for reinforcements before attacking the main Continental lines. Washington took advantage of the lull to withdraw his troops to a line of hilltop entrenchments farther north. Howes reinforcements arrived on the 30th, but then nature intervened, as a cold, heavy rain soaked both armies. When Howe advanced on November 1, he found only abandoned trenches. Washington had slipped still farther north to a fortified position overlooking the village of North Castle, which his soaked, freezing men dubbed Mount Misery. Howe sent harassing troops to lure the Americans from their hilltop vantage. When Washington didnt bite, Howe turned back south to tighten his grip on New York City, having missed a golden opportunity to crush the rebels at a critical moment in the war. In the ensuing decades White Plains grew by leaps and bounds, swallowing up the battlefield. Chatterton Hill (present-day Battle Hill) is dotted with homes. A park at the corner of Battle Avenue and Whitney Street presents interpretive markers and a pavilion with a battle mapthough the view is obstructedand a small monument stands at the base of the hill on Battle Avenue. The Jacob Purdy House served briefly as Washingtons headquarters. It originally stood near the junction of Water and Barker Streets, but when urban renewal threatened, the White Plains Historical Society [whiteplainshistory.org] moved it in 1973 to its present site, at 60 Park Ave., and deeded it to the city. A small monument on North Broadway marks the center of Washingtons original line, while another sliver of the battlefield remains intact on Merritt Hill, along the 200 block of Lake Street in the village of Harrison. Mount Misery, off nearby Nethermont Avenue in North Castle/North White Plains, remains largely undeveloped, and restored earthworks from Washingtons second line survive in a park off nearby Dunlap Way. The Elijah Miller House, at 140 Virginia Road, Washingtons second headquarters, opened as a museum in 1918 but fell into disrepair. The county initially balked at funding its restoration until nonprofit groups recently stepped up to cover the museums operating costs. That marked the latest chapter in White Plains cautionary tale about historic preservation. In 1926 the federal government designated the White Plains National Battlefield Site, but the National Park Service never built facilities or set aside land, instead allowing houses to sprout up at key sites. The fight to preserve the battlefield continues. Long before the United States officially entered World War II, it was the worlds biggest exporter of fighter aircraft. From early 1938 through the end of 1941, the United States, though still technically neutral in the conflict that was igniting around the world, sold more combat aircraft to foreign governments than any other nation. And fighters, because they could be built quickly and cheaply, sold in greater numbersmore than 5,600 ordered by December 1941than any other type. The surge in demand for exports not only provided a needed boost to Americas depressed aircraft industries early in World War II, it also gave the nations military planners vital information on which to base requirements for future combat planes. From 1939 onward, reports from Europe and the Far East indicated that American-made fighters were deficient in most respects performance, firepower and armor protectionwhen compared to their enemy counterparts. Consider, for instance, what U.S. Marine Captain Phillip R. White had to say following a mission during the Battle of Midway on June 4, 1942, when 12 of 19 Brewster F2A-3 Buffalos of VMF-221 were shot down by Japanese fighters: It is my belief that any commander who orders pilots out for combat in an F2A should consider the pilot as lost before leaving the ground. But for some beleaguered nations, American aircraft represented the best available defense against a seemingly overwhelming enemy. For example, Finlands top fighter ace, Sergeant Eino Ilmari Juutilainen, scored 33 of his 9416 aerial victories over Soviet aircraft while flying Brewster B-239 Buffalos sent to Finland by the U.S. in 1940. Despite the Buffalos poor reputation, Juutilainen wrote in his autobiography Double Fighter Knight: Clearly, the best fighter arriving during the temporary peace [early 1940 to mid-1941] was the American designed Brewster 239 Buffalo.They had speed, agility and good weaponry too.[We] were happy to take them anywhere to take on any opponent. The following overview of American export fighters is limited to aircraft ordered prior to December 1941. In a number of instances, however, they were delivered later or taken into U.S. service. Since many of these airplanes never received U.S. serial numbers or failed to reach their destinations, the production and delivery numbers cited must be qualified as best estimates. BREWSTER AERONAUTICAL Model 239 and 339: These airplanes corresponded to U.S. Navy models F2A-1 (Model 239), F2A-2 (Models 339B, D and E) and F2A-3 (Model 339-23). The 44 Model 239s exported to Finland in early 1940 had originally been included in the Navys 1938 contract for 54 F2A-1s, so their tail hooks and other carrier-related equipment were removed prior to shipment. In contrast to the generally poor combat record of the type, the Finnish Brewsters, flown in action from mid-1941 to mid-1944, accounted for 477 aerial victories against the Soviet air force. The Belgians ordered 40 Model 339Bs in late 1939, the first of which arrived in April 1940only to be captured by the Germans. Six other 339Bs were diverted to Martinique; the remaining 33 were taken by Britain. The first of the 170 Model 339Es purchased by Britain, which received the RAF designation Buffalo I, arrived in December 1940, but following evaluation they were deemed unsuitable for European combat. All British Buffalos were thereafter assigned to the Far East, equipping five squadrons (two RAF, two Royal Australian Air Force and one Royal New Zealand Air Force) during the defense of Singapore, Malaya and Burma in late 1941 and early 1942. Seventy-two Model 339Ds sold to the Netherlands for use in the Dutch East Indies (Java) were delivered between March and June 1941, and were in frontline service when the Japanese attacked. In combat, the British Buffalos and Dutch 339Ds were no match for Mitsubishi A6M2 Zeros and Nakajima Ki.43 Oscars, and all but a few were destroyed. The final batch of 20 Model 339-23s, ordered by the Netherlands but not completed until after the fall of Java in early 1942, were transferred to RAAF units in Australia. BELL AIRCRAFT Model 14: The Model 14 was the export version of the U.S. Army Air Corps P-39 Airacobra. A contract for 170 airplanes, which had originally been ordered by France in April 1940, was subsequently taken over by Britain in June 1940 and simultaneously increasedto a total of 675 aircraft. Very similar to the P-39D, the Model 14 differed in having a 20mm Hispano cannon in the nose in place of the 37mm, two .303-inch guns in the nose and four .303 guns in the wings. The production Model 14 (originally named Caribou but later changed to Airacobra I) began arriving in England during the summer of 1941 and equipped one Royal Air Force squadron for evaluation purposes. But after flying only one low-level operational sortie in late 1941, the British declared the type unsuitable for combat and withdrew it from frontline service. Of the original Airacobra I order, 212 were redirected to the USSR, 54 were lost at sea and the remaining 179 were taken into U.S. Army service as the P-400. Many Soviet pilots loved the Kobra, as they called it, using it for low-level aerial combat and close air support. GRUMMAN AIRCRAFT ENGINEERING Model G-36: Though the F4F Wildcat is best remembered for holding the line during the early Pacific War, the very first production model to fly (in May 1940) was in fact a G-36A export version that had been ordered for the French navy. The G-36A differed from the F4F-3 in having six 7.5mm guns and a single-row Wright R-1820 engine in place of the twin-row Pratt & Whitney R-1830, but when the British afterward assumed the French contract for 81 planes, the aircrafts armament was respecified as six .50-caliber guns. De spite the urgent need to reequip Navy and Marine fighter squadrons, production priority at Grumman was split with the British. The first G-36As, which were taken into the Fleet Air Arm as the Martlet I, began to arrive in England in October 1940. Just two months later the type was used to score its first shoot-down, a Junkers Ju-88 off Scapa Flow. Britain ordered 100 improved G-36B Martlet IIs in October 1940, and those airplanes, featuring R-1830 Wasp engines and folding wings, began reaching FAA squadrons in the spring of 1941. Martlett IIs were subsequently embarked aboard British carriers. A detachment flying from the escort carrier HMS Audacity destroyed five Focke Wulf Fw-200 Condors during the last three months of 1941. In April 1941, 30 F4F-3As (equipped with four .50-caliber wing guns) that were en route to Greece were seized by the British at Gibraltar and taken into service as Martlet IIIs. NORTH AMERICAN AVIATION Model NA-50 and NA-68: In mid-1938 the government of Peru contracted with North American to develop a scaled-down, more powerful derivative of its NA-26 (i.e., BC-1) two-place trainer. The resulting single-place NA-50which was powered by an 840-hp Wright R-1820 engine and equipped with two .30-caliber machine guns in addition to bomb racksflew in February 1939. The order for seven aircraft was completed by May 1939, and the NA-50s later saw action in Perus border war with Ecuador in 1941. Thailand ordered an improved version of the fighter, the Model NA-68, featuring a revised cowling and reshaped rudder, in late 1939. The NA-68s planned armament consisted of two .303 guns in the nose and two .303s in the wings, with the option of two 20mm cannons mounted in underwing pods. Although six unarmed examples of the NA-68 were completed in late 1940, they were commandeered by the Air Corps soon afterward and taken into U.S. service as P-64s, serving as advanced trainers. Model NA-73: This has to rank as one of the most fortuitous developments in American aviation: In April 1940, when the British Purchasing Commission approached North American to license-build Curtiss H87As for the RAF, the companys president, J.H. Dutch Kindelberger, counteroffered with a proposal to build an entirely new design around the same Allison V-1710 power plant. The British agreedbut with the proviso that a prototype of the new design must be available within 120 days. The NA-73, which made its first flight in October 1940, was destined to become what many consider the best all-around piston-engine fighter of WWII, the P-51 Mustang. In May 1940, the British placed an order for 320 aircraft (later in creased to 620) as the Mustang I, specifying armament of two .50- caliber machine guns in the nose plus two .50s and four .30s in the wings. When the U.S. government approved the sale to Britain, it specified that two of the airplanes be allocated to the Army as the XP-51, and the first example was flown to Wright Field in August 1941. Meanwhile, the first production Mustang I reached England in the late fall. The new fighter quickly demonstrated its superiority over the Spitfire and Curtiss Kittyhawk in both speed and maneuverability at low altitudes. Mustangs Is began entering operational service with the RAF in April 1942; most were issued to squadrons in North Africa as replacements for Tomahawks. SEVERSKY AIRCRAFT/REPUBLIC AVIATION Model 2PA: Developed in parallel with the Army P-35 and billed as the convoy fighter, the 2PA was a two-seat adaptation that could be armed with four fixed machine guns and one flexible gun in the rear cockpit, and was capable of carrying up to 500 pounds of bombs. In March 1938, two aircraft were delivered to the Soviets as the 2PA-A and 2PA-L, along with manufacturing rights, though none were ever produced there. Twenty R-1820-powered examples armed with one flexible and two fixed .30-caliber machine guns were secretly sold to Japan in 1938 as 2A-PBs. They went on to serve with the Imperial Japanese Navy as the A8V1, known to the Allies by the code name Dick. Sweden ordered 52 planes as the R-1830-powered 2PA-BX, though only two had been delivered before the order was seized in late 1940 by the U.S. The remaining 50 2PA-BXs went into service with the Army as the AT-12 Guardsman advanced trainer. Model AP-9: This was a military derivative of the AP-9 racer (flown by Frank Fuller and Jacqueline Cochran)essentially a P-35 airframe with inward-retracting landing gearapparently marketed to export customers along with the EP-1. No orders were received, and the sole example was sold to the Dominican Republic in 1939. Model EP-1: Identical to the Army P-35 except for two .50-caliber guns added to the wings, the single EP-1 demonstrator, like the AP-9, was sold to the Dominican Republic after unsuccessful efforts to obtain other production orders. But soon afterward 120 planes listed as the EP-106 were purchased by Sweden under two separate contracts dated mid-1939 and early 1940. Delivery of the first 60 Swedish planes began in January 1940, and was completed by June. The aircraft type entered service with the Flygvapnet as the J9. In October 1940, however, while the second batch of EP-106s was still being manufactured, they were requisitioned by the U.S. government and taken into the Army as the P-35A. In November 1941, 51 of the ex-Swedish P-35As were rushed to the defense of the Philippines, where they soon saw action against attacking Japanese forces. Within four days, all but 12 had been destroyed. A number of the P-35As not sent to the Philippines were eventually transferred to Ecuador. Model AP-4A/P-43A-1: The last P-35 on the assembly line was lengthened and modified to accommodate a turbo-supercharger plus the inward-retracting landing gear of the AP-9. Following delivery to Wright Field in February 1939, it was designated the XP-41 (AP-4). Testing of the XP-41 led to a number of refinementsthe cockpit area was lowered and the aft glazing replaced by a raised spine, and the supercharger intake was moved to the bottom of the cowlingand 13 service test examples were ordered as the YP-43. Though the Air Corps was not overly impressed with the YP-43s performance during trials conducted in late 1940, it nevertheless placed an order for 54 P-43s (with the R-1830-47, two .50-caliber and two .30-caliber guns), followed by 80 P-43As (with the R-1830-49 and four .50-caliber guns), simply to keep the struggling Republic company afloat while its XP-47 was under development (a wise move, as it turned out). The Army contracts were augmented in mid-1941 by an order for 125 aircraft, which would be Lend-Leased to China as the P-43A-1. A total of 108 of those airplanes had arrived by March 1942. In limited action against the Japanese, Chinese P-43s reportedly suffered from poor maneuverability and climb plus leakage problems with their self-sealing tanks. CURTISS-WRIGHT Hawk 75: An export version of the Air Corps P-36, the H75 was sold in both fixed- (H75H, M, N and O) and retractable-gear (H75A-1 through A-9) variants. Fixed-gear H75s were powered by 875-hp Wright GR-1820 Cyclone engines and initially armed with two synchronized machine guns in the nose, one .50-caliber and one .30-caliber. Curtiss-Wright delivered the first batch of 30 H75Ms to China in mid- 1938. The types poor showing in combat against similar Nakajima Ki.27 Nates and Mitsubishi A5M Claudes has been attributed more to inferior pilot training than to the quality of the aircraft itself. Twenty-five H75Ns delivered to Thailand during 1939-1940 differed in having two additional .30-caliber machine guns mounted in wing bays. Thai Hawks participated in action against the French in Indo china in early 1941, and briefly flew against the Japanese in December 1941. Curtiss sold 29 H75Os to Argentina in 1939 and 1940 with extra provision for two 23mm Madsen cannons under the wings. Argentina subsequently obtained a manufacturing license from Curtiss and reportedly completed another 20 of the type at its Cordoba plant. The retractable-gear 75A Hawk was very similar to the P-36A/C, with variations in armament, instrumentation and power plants. The 1,050- hp Pratt & Whitney R-1830 Twin Wasp powered the H75A-1, -2, -3 and -6, and the 1,200-hp Wright GR-1820 geared Cyclone powered the A-4, -5, -7 and -9. In May 1938, France ordered 100 H75A-1s armed with four FN 7.5mm machine guns, with deliveries commencing later that year, followed in early 1939 by an order for 100 H75A-2s armed with two more 7.5mm guns. All 200 had reached France by mid-1939. When hostilities commenced in September 1939, the A-1 and -2 could hold their own against the Messerschmitt Bf-109Dbetter, in fact, than contemporaneous French-made fighters such as the Morane Saulnier M.S.406 and Bloch MB.152but was seriously outgunned by the cannon-armed Me-109E. France ordered 285 improved H75A-3s, with 1,200-hp R-1830-17 engines, in the fall of 1939, but only 168 had arrived before the armistice with Germany in June 1940. Britain assumed the balance of the contract and put the aircraft into service with the RAF as the Mohawk III. In late 1939, France had also contracted for 285 Cyclone-powered H75A-4s, but only six had been delivered by the time French forces surrendered. Twenty-three of the A-4s already en route were diverted to French possessions in Martinique and Guadeloupe, another 30 were lost at sea and the remainder were allocated to Britain as the Mohawk IV. The only RAF Mohawks to actually see combat served in northern India during 1942 and 1943. The Cyclone-powered factory H75A demonstrator was shipped to China in early 1939 for evaluation. In addition to standard P-36A armament of one .50-caliber and one .30-caliber in the nose, it could carry a 23mm Madsen cannon mounted under each wing. The Chinese planned to license-build the type as the H75A-5 at their factory in Loiwing. One pattern aircraft built for that purpose did reach Burma in 1940; however, the factory was subsequently destroyed in a Japanese bombing raid, and the entire program, plus the pattern aircraft, was transferred to Hindustani Aircraft in India. Only five A-5s had been completed when the program was terminated in mid-1942. In September 1939, the Norwegian government ordered 24 H75A-6s, identical to the Twin Wasppowered A-1 except in small details, all of which had arrived in Norway by early 1940. But when Norway capitulated to the Germans in May 1940, at least 13 of these planes were captured and, ironically, resold to Finland in mid-1941. Altogether the Germans sold 44 H75As, mostly ex-French survivors, to the Finns, who flew them in combat against the Soviets between 1941 and 1944, ac counting for 190 victories for only 24 losses. Curtiss delivered 20 Cy clone-powered H75A-7s, armed with two .50-caliber machine guns in the nose and two in the wings, to the Netherlands in mid-1940 for its East Indies air force. Thirty-six H75A-8s, ordered by Norway in 1940 but not completed until after the surrender, were seized by the U.S. and entered Air Corps service as the P-36G. Twenty-eight of these were later transferred to Peru under Lend-Lease; others were assigned to the Norwegian training establishment near Toronto, Canada, as fighter trainers. The final export examples, 10 H75A-9s delivered to Iran in mid- 1941, were discovered by occupying British forces a year later still in their shipping crates. They were sent to Karachi, assembled and issued to RAF squadrons in northern India. Hawk 81A: This was the early export derivative of the P-40A/C series, powered by a liquid-cooled 1,040-hp Allison V-1710 engine. All the 140 H81A-1s originally ordered by France in late 1939 were taken over by Britain as the Tomahawk I and began reaching England in September 1940. The planes retained French instrumentation and were armed with two .50-caliber synchronized guns in the nose and two 7.5mm guns in the wings. The A-1s were followed by 110 H81A-2 Tomahawk IIs, which started arriving in October 1940 and differed in having four .303 guns in the wings, pilot armor and self-sealing fuel tanks. A total of 558 Tomahawk variants were delivered to England before the end of 1940, including an additional 308 H81A-3 Tomahawk IIBs armed with six .303 guns in the wings, followed by another 528 Tomahawk IIBs, which reached England during 1941. One hundred H81A-3s withheld from the British contract were earmarked for China to be used by the American Volunteer Group (soon to be better known as the Flying Tigers), 90 of which had arrived overseas by December 1941. Most of the RAF Tomahawks saw service with squadrons in the Desert Air Force (North Africa) or the Middle East, and a number of these were reportedly later transferred to the USSR and Turkey. The famous sharks mouth markings commonly associated with P-40s serving in the AVG actually originated with No. 112 Squadron, RAF, for its Tomahawks in North Africa. Hawk 87A: Yet another evolution of the outdated P-36 airframe, the H87A illustrates what can happen to an aircraft company when it is run by Wall Street financiers rather than aviation visionaries. The design, originally ordered by the British in May 1940 as the Kittyhawk I, involved installation of a 1,150-hp Allison V-1710-39 engine and modifications to the radiator and top intakes, which gave the nose a deeper contour. The canopy was enlarged to improve visibility, and more armor added to the cockpit area. Top speed was 10 mph better than the Tomahawk IIA/B, and the aircrafts useful load and range were slightly increased. The first 20 of 560 Kittyhawk Is, armed with four .50-caliber guns, were delivered in August 1941; the remainder, with six .50s, had arrived by the end of December. Most went directly to North Africa, where they replaced Tomahawks, but 72 were sent to Canada and a smaller number were reportedly shipped to Russia and Turkey. Within a similar time frame, the type began entering service with the U.S. Army as the P-40D (four guns) and P-40E (six guns). A third British contract awarded in May 1941 resulted in the eventual delivery during 1942 of 1,500 more H87As as the Kittyhawk IA, with many allocated to the Commonwealth forces of Australia and New Zealand. These H87As shared the assembly line with P-40Es destined for the Army Air Forces and included 30 more H87As shipped to China in March 1942 to reinforce the AVG. Months later, all H81As and H87As remaining in China were absorbed into the U.S. Tenth Air Force as part of the newly formed China Air Task Force. CW-21: Developed from the CW-19 advanced trainer, the CW-21 was conceived as a lightweight interceptor for the export market. The proto type, which featured landing gear that retracted into bulbous fairings on the bottom of the wings, flew in October 1938, and al though powered by a similar version of the Cyclone engine, was 25 mph faster and possessed twice the climb rate climb of the contemporaneous fixed-gear H75. The prototype was shipped to China for evaluation in early 1939, and in a move similar to the H75A-5 program, three pattern aircraft were orderedwith the plan that at least 30 more examples would be assembled from parts at the Loiwing plant. The three pattern aircraft reached Burma in 1940, only to be destroyed on the ferry flight to China. No further planes were produced. In April 1940, the Netherlands ordered 24 improved CW-21Bs featuring landing gear that retracted inward, flush with the wing, and a Cyclone engine uprated to 1,000 hp. All the airplanes arrived for service in Java by the end of 1940, and at least 17 reportedly went into action against the Japanese in early 1942. Given their comparatively light armament (one .50- caliber and two .30-caliber guns) and lack of armor and self-sealing tanks, the Dutch CW-21Bs did not last long against superior Japanese firepower. LOCKHEED AIRCRAFT Model 322-61: In April 1940, the Anglo-French Purchasing Com mittee placed an order for 667 Model 322-61 aircraft, the RAF portion of which were to be designated Lightning Is. Though similar to the Army P-38D, the export version called for 1,090- hp Allison V-1710-C15 engines lacking turbo-superchargers, with right-hand rotation of both propellers. At the time, based on combat experience thus far, French and British military officials believed the air war would be fought at medium altitudes (9,000-14,000 feet), and wanted to standardize the power plants between this airplane and the Curtiss 81A (P-40A/C). Ironically, when two Lightning Is ultimately reached England in late 1941, the RAF rated the type as unsatisfactory for air combat, which by then was being fought at altitudes above 20,000 feet. The balance of the order was canceled. The undelivered British aircraft were subsequently taken into the Army Air Forces as the P-322, and used only for training and testing. A follow-up British order for 524 Lightning IIs (with turbos and contrarotating props) was absorbed into the Armys P-38F/G contract and thus was never delivered. VULTEE AIRCRAFT Model 48: In 1938 Vultee Aircraft conceived a design scheme in which a series of aircraftfighter, advanced trainer and basic trainercould utilize the same tooling for the wings, aft fuselage and tail group. Only one of these planes, the basic trainer design that went into service as the Army BT-13/15 and Navy SNV, achieved any measurable degree of success. The Model 48 fighter, powered by a 1,200-hp Pratt & Whitney R-1830-S4, made its first flight in September 1939 under the factory name Vanguard. To reduce drag, the plane was initially built with a propeller shaft extension housed within an elongated cowl and pointed spinner, but persistent cooling problems led to the adoption of a more orthodox cowling arrangement in the Model 48X, which flew in early 1940. Further factory testing resulted in an enlargement of the tail surfaces and the addition of compound wing dihedral. Sweden placed an order in February 1940 for 144 aircraft as the Model 48C, and an armed prototype, fitted with two .50-caliber guns in the nose and four .30-caliber guns in the wings, flew in September. But in December 1940, before any of the 48Cs could be delivered, the State Department barred exports to Sweden; the planes were instead allocated to the RAF training program in Canada as the Vanguard I. Then during the spring of 1941, in an interesting twist of events, Britain released production of the 48Cs back to the U.S. so they could be redirected to the Nationalist Chinese government under Lend-Lease. According to Lend-Lease practice, the fighters were thereafter as signed Army serial numbers and given the military designation P-66. In December 1941, about 15 of these planes were hastily requisitioned by the Army and sent to the 14th Pursuit Group at March Field to aid in the defense of California. The other 129 P-66s began reaching Karachi, India, during the summer of 1942 and were subsequently dispatched to China, where they replaced the obsolete Russian-made Polikarpov fighters being flown by the Nationalists. The P-66s combat record in China is spotty. Many were reportedly caught and destroyed on the ground during Japanese attacks, and a few are said to have been shot down by friendly firedue to their resemblance to the Ki.43 Oscar. In retrospect, it is amazing that although the United States was not fully prepared for war when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor in December 1941, American manufacturers produced 324,750 air- craft by the end of 1945, of which 99,950 were fighters. Insights gleaned from the combat experience of pre-1942 exports helped in the development of new or improved fighter designssuch as the Lockheed P-38, Republic P-47, North American P-51, Vought F4U and Grumman F6Fthat would ultimately enable American forces to achieve air superiority in every theater of the war. U.S. Navy veteran E.R. Johnson, who writes from Arkansas, is a past president of the Arkansas Aviation Historical Society and a major in the Arkansas Wing of the Civil Air Patrol. The author of American Attack Aircraft Since 1926, he also recommends for additional reading War Planes of the Second World WarFighters, by William Green, and Ray Wagners American Combat Planes. Originally published in the January 2010 issue of Aviation History. To subscribe, click here. Carlo Pacini, age 89, and a resident of Half Moon Bay, went home to be with our Lord on Dec. With Daniel Day-Lewis currently lighting up screens once again in Paul Thomas Andersons Oscar-nominated Phantom Thread, Roe McDermott looks at five of his greatest performances. Among our reviews this fortnight is Phantom Thread, Paul Thomas Andersons stunning and unnerving tale of male artistry and cruelty. Starring the incomparable Daniel Day-Lewis, the film marks the Irish actors final cinematic role, as he is retiring. We take a brief look back at a selection of his greatest roles, and remember how his talent transformed cinema as we know it. A Room With A View (1985) For many viewers, this sumptuous and Oscar-winning period romance was their introduction to Day-Lewis, and what an auspicious beginning. The actor is at his most brilliantly snivelling and impeccably unpleasant as Cecil Vyse, the priggish fiance of Helena Bonham Carters heroine. Though it would have been easy for Day-Lewis to play up the arrogance of this snobbish character, he avoids cliche and manages to make Cecil multi-faceted in his loathsomeness. While he is now known for his intensity, A Room With A View shows how the actors skills can shine through subtlety. My Beautiful Laundrette (1985) Advertisement Hitting American cinemas at the same time as A Room With A View, Day-Lewis role as a bleached-blonde street punk who undergoes a huge transformation showed critics just how special this new actor was. He plays a man whose right-wing fascist past gives way to a gay epiphany. Its a tricky part that Day-Lewis nails with spiky wit and sensitive eroticism, and his performance is central to this extremely important film about the political climate of 1980s Britain, homosexuality and race. My Left Foot (1989) The film that scored the Day-Lewis his first Best Actor Oscar nomination, My Left Foot remains one of the all-time best screen depictions of a person suffering with a physical disability and, it could be argued, is simply one of cinemas greatest performances. Day-Lewis plays the cerebral palsy-affected artist Christy Brown, and its now hard to believe that his Oscar win was anything other than a sure thing (the 89 Best Actor gong was considered a tight race between Day-Lewis and Tom Cruise in Born On The Fourth Of July). With hindsight, its clear just how astonishing Day-Lewiss performance is, as he combines transformative technique with lacerating inner anguish. In The Name Of The Father (1993) Jim Sheridans 1993 film earned Day-Lewis an Oscar nomination for his intense, furious turn as Gerry Conlon, in an exceptional dramatisation of the 1974 Guildford pub bombings. Playing the Belfast native falsely convicted of being an IRA bomber, Day-Lewis performance is full of passion and emotional commitment. Though the film caused controversy for taking some factual liberties, it paints a powerful portrait of the characters involved in this historic trial. Day-Lewis captures every resilient, vulnerable and determined note of his character, while Pete Postlethwaite and Emma Thompson are also sublime. Advertisement There Will Be Blood (2007) Paul Thomas Andersons haunting period drama gave Day-Lewis the role of a lifetime. Playing the ferocious oil prospector Daniel Plainview, Day-Lewis performance is perfectly calibrated between eerie calm and explosive anger, culminating in that now iconic, demented cry of I drink your milkshake! The moment that spawned a thousand memes and rightly won Day-Lewis his second Best Actor Oscar, it is simply one of the best screen performances of the 21st century. Things don't look good for the National Broadband Plan with the surprise news that Eir has decided to withdraw from the process leaving just eNet left as the sole bidder. Fianna Fail Spokesperson on Communications, Climate Action and Environment, Timmy Dooley has said the "writing was on the wall" for the Governments National Broadband Plan as soon as SIRO deciding to pull out from the tendering process last year He told us: Some people believe that the Government has complicated the process so much that it has become next to impossible for potential bidders to respond in a commercially viable way. The question that Government need to answer is are they serious about rolling out broadband to rural communities, and are they prepared to pay for it? This represents an unmitigated failure on the part of government, and leaves over 540,000 households in serious limbo." He adds: I do not believe that the current tender process can continue with just one bidder involved. Advertisement Minister Naughten has presided 20 months of failure in terms of the National Broadband Plan since he became Minister. There is no two ways about it. Tonight theres hundreds of thousands of families, farmers and businesses wondering if they will ever get the broadband they need. The Government should collectively hang their heads in shame over the shambles that the National Broadband Plan has become. Promised in 2011 for delivery in 2016, delayed until 2023, and now in doubt the NBP is one of the greatest government failures in living memory, concluded Dooley. Steem (STEEM) is a relatively new cryptocurrency, which is used to power the Steemit platform. Steemit is a blogging and social networking website that allows publishers to monetize their content. It was founded in 2016 by Ned Scott and the Bitshares`s CEO, Dan Larimer. The platform is something like Reddit but the writers get paid in Steem for posting, discovering, upvoting, and commenting others` content as well as when their posts get upvoted. The Steem blockchain has two tokens: STEEM and Steem Dollars. There is also a vested or stored interest known as Steem Power. STEEM is the fundamental unit while the two others derive their value from the value of STEEM. The idea here is not to keep your STEEM in their cryptocurrency form but to use them to buy Steem Dollars, Steem Power or convert them into Bitcoins. Steem Dollars are pegged to the U.S. Dollar. When the content of the writes becomes popular, 50% of their pay per post is in Steem Dollars while the rest is in Steem Power units. Steem Power Units are a long-term investment as holding them entitles you to a proportionate ownership in the network. When you buy a Steem Power unit you cannot sell it for 13 weeks. This tactic aims to prevent people from dumping their units on the market and crashing the price. The current STEEM price, according to coinmarketcap.com, is $3.67 USD (it has decreased significantly since the beginning of this year). STEEM has a total supply of 265,130,786 STEEM, circulating supply of 248,156,692 STEEM, and a market cap of $909,538,945 USD. Even though the idea of being paid for creating content sounds great, Steem is being much criticized and many people are skeptical. Petar Zivkovski, director of operations for full-service bitcoin trading platform Whaleclub expressed his concerns by saying that his first impression was a 'pump and dump' crypto where accumulators (founders, early adopters) will be looking to cash out on a major pump in price (distribution). The overseas marketing manager for Bitcoin trader Richfund, Kong Gao, gave a similar opinion by saying: "Most of the articles on Steemit are promoting steem, which makes it seem like a variation of a Ponzi [scheme]. Furthermore, it is the same group of people behind Bitshares. I dont think it is sustainable and I don't take it seriously. I've also spoken with a couple of serious altcoin traders in China and they have their doubts as well. The algorithmic trader Jacob Eliosoff backed up Gao`s point that Steem might be a Ponzy scheme, predicting that it will end up the Ponzy way, namely, the currency "will grow and grow until there are no fresh users to suck in and then quickly collapse. Im skeptical about 'appcoins'/'appchains,' and Steem is very much one. The bottom line is that the majority of people think Steem is a scam. A quick look on the Internet and you will find numerous articles, screaming STEEM IS A SCAM, Where Does Steem Fit In With the Numerous Altcoin Scams?, Proof Steemit is a scam and a ponzi scheme, and many others. Be extra careful. The cryptocurrency business is risky enough as it is, without you making thoughtless and reckless decisions. Few meals are more American than a burger and fries, the combo McDonald's made globally famous. But few Americans probably realize how much the affordability of that classic meal depends on a free-trade agreement. French fries from Canada. Tomatoes from Mexico. Beef sourced from a supply chain that crosses all three countries. When it comes to dinner, there's plenty at stake in the North American Free Trade Agreement, whose future was being negotiated at a sixth round of talks in Montreal on Monday. Negotiators from Mexico, Canada and the United States expect to spend several more months working to revise the treaty after President Trump repeatedly threatened to withdraw. NAFTA has allowed billions of dollars of agricultural commodities to travel each year among the three countries. Without NAFTA, many economists say, the price of some consumer goods would probably go up. Those include a handful of foods that could face tariff increases, supply chain disruptions and new protectionist trade barriers. While no one can predict exactly how these mechanisms would play out, they underscore the enormous complexity of the North American food system. To understand the range of factors at play, consider the hamburger. There's a reason Canadian politicians have hyped the burger as an example of NAFTA's universal benefits: Ground beef is the end product of a highly efficient, integrated international system. U.S. farmers ship corn for cattle feed to Mexico and Canada. Mexico and Canada ship cattle - 1.7 million in 2016 - to the United States for slaughter. And the United States ships finished steaks and burgers back to its neighbors. While the United States both produces and processes most of the beef in this system, the supply chain is highly specialized by country and attuned to changes across the market. That's why economists fear that if NAFTA ends, the system that gives us ground beef could be disrupted by tariffs. Karen Hansen-Kuhn, the director for trade and global governance at the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, points to one figure: Under its commitments to the World Trade Organization, Mexico can tax imported corn at rates of up to 37 percent - an increase that could echo throughout the system. You can't have a burger without fries, and Canada produces tons of them. While the United States grows and processes most of the potatoes it consumes, the country has grown increasingly dependent on its northern neighbor to back-fill the growing domestic market. U.S. demand for fries is increasing, said Kevin MacIsaac, the head of the United Potato Growers of Canada. At the same time, domestic potato production is down 2 percent, and processors have been hampered by the delayed opening of several new processing plants. But Canadian fries may grow more expensive should NAFTA end and the United States fall back on the tariff rates it charges other members of the WTO. That rate is set at 8 percent for frozen potatoes. Condiments could also face tariff increases. The United States does not import many finished cucumber pickles from Mexico - but in 2016, it did buy $176 million in vinegar-preserved veggies, including jalapenos, pimentos and cactus pads, or nopalitos. U.S. farms also grow jalapeno peppers, of course. But the bulk of their production typically goes to the fresh market, according to the Vegetable Research and Information Center at the University of California Davis. When it comes to tomatoes, avocados and other fresh Mexican produce, the issues under NAFTA grow more complex. While imported fruits and vegetables don't face particularly high tariffs in the United States, there's some anxiety among U.S. importers and Mexican farming groups that the country could impose new anti-dumping and countervailing duties on them. These tariffs are meant to raise the price of imported foods that U.S. officials believe are being sold below their fair-market value. NAFTA includes special mechanisms for resolving anti-dumping conflicts and avoiding duties, said Cullen Hendrix, who heads the Project on Environment, Food and Conflict at the University of Denver - but without the agreement, Hendrix said, U.S. growers could push for measures that protect their crops against Mexican competition. Ultimately, this could affect the price and availability of Mexican produce, especially during certain seasons. "We are concerned and worried about any disruption to the supply chain," said Ramon Paz-Vega, the chairman of Avocados from Mexico, a Mexican trade association. "We believe NAFTA is an exemplary example of the benefits of trade to everyone." Last but not least, think about the mushroom. The United States grows most of the mushrooms its consumes, but Canada is also a major supplier of commodity mushrooms, such as buttons, creminis and portobellos. Should the United States withdraw from NAFTA, those mushrooms could become subject to a tariff of more than 20 percent. "Nearly 15 percent of the United States' fresh mushrooms come from Canada today," said Aaron Hamer, the chief executive of Ontario-based Highline Mushrooms, the largest exporter to the United States. "With the addition of a tariff, we expect consumers would face higher prices and lower supply," particularly for organic mushrooms, he said. Like many in agriculture, Hamer is watching the NAFTA renegotiations closely; they could have a major impact on his business. But he also believes that the outcome of the talks will have effects for consumers, and he is hopeful that U.S. voters are beginning to realize the potential fallout of a withdrawal. It's not merely mushrooms, Hamer pointed out. Without NAFTA, the future of many supply chains could be uncertain. "I can only hope," he said, "that now that [consumers] see there are consequences that will negatively impact their everyday life, they are advocating for moderation." Texas and Oklahoma lead the nation in wind power, topping the charts in total wind power capacity, capacity added last year and capacity expected to come online in the future. But in terms of political climate and industry incentives, the two states and their entrenched oil and gas cultures could not be more different. If Texas were a country, it would be a world leader when it comes to wind power capacity, which rose to more than 20,600 megawatts last fall, officially surpassing the state's coal-fired generating capacity. (One megawatt can power 200 homes on a hot Texas day.) Wind in 2017 provided more than 17 percent of the state's power, according to the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, the state's grid overseer. It's easier to permit wind projects in Texas than in places like California or New York, in large part because the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has no authority over most of Texas' electricity grid, sparing wind developers the need to gain federal permits. Large-scale wind and solar projects are eligible for state tax abatements - up to 80 percent for 10 years - while a 2005 law to extend transmission lines to rural renewable energy projects and connect them to population centers made the projects even more economically attractive. But in Oklahoma, which has the nation's second highest wind power capacity at 7,495 megawatts, all state tax incentives for the industry have been rolled back in the wake of a state budget crisis. Oklahoma is facing budget gaps of $600 million this year and $878 million next year, and lawmakers are striking deals with private industries to increase taxes and fill state coffers. Step Up Oklahoma, a coalition of political, industry and civic leaders, has targeted several industries, asking them to help erase the budget shortfall by supporting increased taxes and giving up incentives. At the top of the list are the oil and gas and wind industries. The wind industry has already agreed to let go of its tax incentives, but is now battling with its fossil fuel competitors over increasing its taxes further. The Windfall Coalition, an anti-wind power advocacy group led by oil and gas executives - including Harold Hamm, head of the oil and gas independent Continental Resources and an adviser to President Donald Trump - is promoting a plan that wind companies claim would effectively require them to pay higher taxes than the state's oil and gas industry. In the meantime, wind power continues to grow in Oklahoma despite the loss of state incentives, which expired in July. The utility Public Service Co. of Oklahoma announced it would build transmission to an 800-turbine wind project called Wind Catcher. All this could mean that Oklahoma is seeing the dawn of an interesting moment: Is the wind industry ready to compete with oil and gas without state tax incentives to help it grow? Stay tuned to see how it turns out. U.S. oil production, led by record output in Texas, averaged more than 10 million barrels a day for the first time since 1970 as oil prices rose, drillers became more efficient, and export markets grew. The Energy Department said Thursday that average crude production reached 10.038 million barrels a day in November, just below the record of 10.044 million barrels a day set in November 1970. Energy Department and industry experts expect that record to fall soon; they also expect the United States to overtake Russia and Saudi Arabia as the world's biggest oil producer by the end of next year when U.S. output is forecast to hit 11 million barrels a day. "American crude oil is a game-changer in international trade, global politics and domestic energy security," said Todd Staples, president of the Texas Oil & Gas Association, a trade group. "Crude oil imports are down 20 percent from 2006 and, today, we are competing with the Middle East in the export market. These outcomes were unthinkable a decade ago" GAINS: Shell, ConocoPhillips report strong earnings The surge in production is another milestone in the so-called shale revolution that opened vast reserves of oil and gas that were once trapped in shale rock formations. Just over half of U.S. crude comes from shale fields that include the Permian Basin in West Texas and he Eagle Ford shale in the South Texas. Texas' November production of 3.9 million barrels a day accounted for nearly 40 percent of U.S. output. The Permian Basin alone accounted for about one-fourth of the nation's oil production. After a two-year oil bust that hit bottom in 2016, U.S. production has increased as prices slowly recovered and oil companies adopted better technologies and techniques make profits at lower prices. U.S. oil prices are hovering near $66 a barrel, well below the 2014 peak of $107 a barrel, but more than $20 a barrel above the $42 in mid-2017. That combination of price and efficiency allowed oil to flow faster than anticipated, said Andy Lipow, president of Lipow Oil Associates in Houston. "The higher prices are encouraging the shale oil producers," Lipow said. "They're looking at these values and asking, 'How much more can we get out of the ground?'" The growth is good news for Houston's energy-centric economy, which suffered mightily during the oil bust. Energy companies are again reporting solid profits and hiring workers. In other words, Lipow said, so expect Houston traffic to keep getting worse. FLURRY OF FINDS: Deepwater discoveries signal life in offshore sector While there are fears that U.S. production is growing too quickly and could undermine oil prices by creating a new glut, global oil inventories are still down. That's in part because of geopolitical turmoil in countries like Venezuela where output is plummeting, as well as the ongoing accord between the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries - led by Saudi Arabia - and Russia to maintain production cuts of 1.8 million barrels a day through 2018. U.S. crude, meanwhile, is flowing into global markets. America's decades-old crude export ban was lifted in late 2015 by Congress and the country is now shipping out about 1.7 million barrels a day to foreign markets, more than triple the 500,000 barrels exported at the end of 2016. The export boom is another manifestation of the transformation unleashed by hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, which shatters shale rock to unlock oil, and horizontal drilling, which cuts across shale formations to tap into multiple reservoirs of oil and gas. As recently as 2011, the nation only produced about 5.5 million barrels a day. American production isn't only expanding in onshore shale. Offshore oil projects authorized well before the oil bust began in 2014 are producing more oil from the deepwater Gulf of Mexico. Gulf oil production rose to about 1.7 million barrels in November and it's projected to hit a record of 1.9 million barrels per day this year. In addition, Chevron, Royal Dutch Shell and French energy giant Total all announced new Gulf discoveries just this week. The Wall Street investment bank Goldman Sachs predicts that oil prices will keep climbing over the next six months, arguing that the oil glut has been drained. Goldman predicts that prices for the international benchmark Brent crude, now trading at about $70 a barrel, will increase to $82.50 in six months. That translates to at least $75 a barrel for the U.S. oil benchmark, West Texas Intermediate. As a result, U.S. consumers should expect higher gasoline prices. Gas prices are at their highest in months and expected to rise further. The average cost of a gallon of regular unleaded in the Houston area increased to $2.28, up 20 cents from a year ago, while the national average rose to $2.57 a gallon, up 31 cents over the year, according to GasBuddy, which tracks fuel prices nationwide. Houston-area builders will start construction on more homes this year, but labor shortages, increased material costs and rising mortgage rates could present challenges to the industry, according to a new forecast. The forecast by Lawrence Dean, an economist at the research firm Metrostudy, projects local housing starts will rise to 28,000 this year, a 2.5 percent increase over 2017, but a 10 percent jump over the market's 2016 trough. "It's generally positive," Dean said Thursday at a quarterly update and economic outlook breakfast. "Not gangbusters positive, but not negative." It was the second time this week where experts gave the building industry a healthy report. Dean's forecast generally agreed with those presented Wednesday to the Greater Houston Builders Association. Economists at the trade group's annual economic forecast breakfast were generally upbeat, citing record home sales in 2017 and recently enacted federal tax cuts that should put more money in the pockets of home buyers. Still, builders will be tested this year as construction labor remains tight and material costs go up in the wake of Harvey-related remodeling efforts. Affordability remains a concern, especially for millennials buying their first homes and baby boomers downsizing to less expensive abodes. Rising mortgage rates are expected to add to the sticker shock later this year. The average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage is 4.22 percent, according to Freddie Mac's latest weekly survey, slightly above where it was last year at this time. "I'm happy to hear there is enthusiasm for 2018," said Alex Kamkar, senior land acquisition analyst for Toll Brothers. "That being said, I would be mindful of elements outside of the control of industry leaders that could affect home prices and sales for 2018." Builders also face changes to building and land development regulations as a result of Hurricane Harvey and the widespread flooding and damage caused by the record storm. The rules mandate higher elevations in some areas and require that new construction be built to the stricter 500-year storm standard rather than a 100-year standard. The city of Houston has proposed changes and Harris County has already adopted some. Home building was most active last year in the $200,000 to $300,000 price range, according to Metrostudy data. New home closings exceeded starts for the third-straight quarter. "That's a good thing," Dean said. "That demonstrates to us expansionary market." Metrostudy expects builders to start 28,500 homes in 2019, though that's still not enough to satisfy expected demand. "We want it to be 32,000 a year," Dean said. Lidl has kept a low profile in Houston since confirming plans in 2016 to enter the Texas market. The German-based discount grocer quietly secured several sites across the Lone Star State, fueling speculation about the company's expansion here. Meanwhile, the grocer opened dozens of stores along the East Coast with plans to open as many as 100 stores and hire thousands of U.S. workers by this summer. RELATED: Academy Sports + Outdoors lays off 140 IT workers However, several retail brokers told the Chronicle the low-cost grocer has pulled out of some local deals, calling into question its plans for the Bayou City. The privately-held company, which operates about 10,000 stores across Europe, established its U.S. headquarters in Virginia three years ago with high hopes to replicate its success across the pond offering limited, but inexpensive grocery staples. Christie Amezquita, a broker with Houston-based commercial real estate firm Read King, was working with a client to sell property near Clay and Gessner to Lidl in late 2017 when the grocer abruptly canceled the contract. Amezquita was baffled. She had successfully closed another land deal with Lidl earlier that year. "They just terminated the contract," Amezquita said. "They didn't give us any reason." David Marshall, co-principal of Houston-based Dosch Marshall Real Estate, said Lidl pulled out of two deals his land brokerage was working on in west Houston and Kingwood last year. "We heard some rumblings Lidl was dropping, so we didn't get totally blindsided," Marshall said. "It was disappointing though. It was a compete 180." Ed Wulfe, the founder, chairman and CEO of Houston-based Wulfe & Co., said he believes Aldi -- another German grocery competitor with 1,600 U.S. stores -- beat Lidl to the punch. Aldi, which has 30 stores in the Houston area, plans to open 10 additional stores this year, Wulfe said. He estimates Lidl has five sites in the Houston area. "Aldi just outmaneuvered Lidl and established themselves here," Wulfe said. "Lidl is probably thinking it would be more profitable to enter a less competitive market. Houston is a tough supermarket world." David Littwitz, a broker with Houston-based Littwitz Investments, said he doesn't think Lidl is coming to Houston with mounting competition from the likes of H-E-B, Kroger, Walmart and Whole Foods. "I wouldn't want to come in and challenge H-E-B or Kroger," Littwitz said. Lidl spokesman William Harwood declined to comment about its sites in Texas. However, he said the company looks forward to opening more stores. "To date, we have not set any timelines for formal expansion into the state," Harwood said in an email. "Our operational focus remains along the (East) coast. As I have more to share in Texas, I will be in touch." Early in "The Great Society," the new play about Lyndon B. Johnson at the Alley Theatre through Feb. 18, a powerful old white man is talking to another powerful old white man when a woman interrupts their conversation. It's an accident, of course. She's there only to serve them cocktails. But she has the kind of skimpy outfit a 1920s cigarette girl would wear, one designed to convince any man in its vicinity that they've made it in life. The men can't help but look. The first man is Johnson, played by a stern, folksy and volatile Brandon Potter, who is chastising a congressman for his decision to spend his money on "short-skirted secretaries" instead of passing an education bill. As the woman bends down to offer them their drink, both men give her a sideways glance. The audience is painfully silent until the waitress, played by Elizabeth Bunch, reacts. As she stomps away from the men and their supposedly important conversation, her face contorts with annoyance and disgust. The audience gets it. Its members let out a sound that's halfway between a groan and chortle. In any other cultural moment, the "short-skirted secretary" scene would not be worthy of examination. The play's setting is the American political elite in the 1960s, so men treating women like Happy Meal toys would be simply an accurate reflection of the era, one that you could even argue receives a sly modern reclamation by way of Bunch's silent disgust. The play is about supposedly larger topics muscular, capital-letter themes like the Civil Rights Movement and the Vietnam War Protests, scenes of white-on-black violence, of war and protest and fallen soldiers. Surely those would be more worthy of scrutiny than an off-the-cuff sexist remark? Under any other circumstance, yes. Under any other circumstance, "The Great Society" would first and foremost be a shrewd inquisition of societal upheaval that speaks effortlessly to the era of President Donald Trump. I would have hailed Kevin Moriarty's frenetic yet controlled directing in this ambitious historical wallop. I would have noted that Robert Schenkkan's writing is measured but never timid, a wide sweep packed with volumes of factual detail and yet feels swift, poignant and specific a rare balancing act between fiction and fact, thesis and drama. WORKPLACE EXAMINATION: Alley Theatre appoints panel to examine work environment But the central theme in "The Great Society" is the human cost of progress. Images of American casualties in Vietnam are flashed before every scene in the play, showing the mounting toll of Johnson's ambitious plan for the country. Black men and women marching in Alabama from Selma to Montgomery are brutalized by Gov. George Wallace's state troopers. Revolution, the play suggests, is more than politicians shouting at each other in the Oval Office. Revolution means bodies on the line. Shoulders, faces, arms, hands and feet these are broken in the name of change. Aren't we grappling today with the fact that women, by just showing up for work, also put their bodies on the line? People protest, we see from "The Great Society," because they believe their bodies contain more than flesh and bones. They contain dignity. If bodies are weighed and slapped around like meat, the play says, a movement will come. And the movement will contain more anger and less caution than the old white men trembling in the corner offices would prefer. In other words, it's nearly impossible to look at the revolution onstage and ignore the revolution happening behind it. Early in January, the Alley Theatre unwittingly joined the country's history of social revolution when its former artistic director, Gregory Boyd, became one of the many men felled during the time of #MeToo. Boyd, who allegedly mistreated women on his staff for decades, including, allegedly, belittling former company member Emily Trask and groping her, retired during the midst of a Houston Chronicle investigation (to which I partly contributed) into his behavior. "Short-skirted secretaries" doesn't hold a candle to the allegations that have surfaced against the man in the past month. As such, Boyd haunts every scene of this production. "The Great Society" dedicates much of its runtime to the conflicts among Johnson, Robert F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr. and Black Panther Party leader Stokely Carmichael. Johnson, the brutal political pragmatist, hears complaints from the more revolution-minded men and bats them away. He dismisses revolutionary thinking as unreasonable and emotional. When mayors and governors complain about the local men and women causing trouble and shouting for change, he asks the politicians not for a compromise but the appearance of one. Johnson's mind-set is similar to the one the women of #MeToo are challenging. They are told the same things Johnson tells the revolutionaries who threaten his image and position be reasonable, quiet down, shut up. When the revolutionaries become too outraged, he punishes them by sending the CIA after them. When the women of #MeToo are too loud, they are slapped with settlements. No one should equate the struggles of black people earning the right to vote with the modern-day outrage against sexual harassment. But what "The Great Society" shows us is that, even if different issues have different stakes and contexts, the cycle of revolution, opposition and change can be disturbingly predictable, be it in 1965 or 2018. DIRECTOR FIRED: Alley dismisses "Satchmo" director following misconduct claims That puts the Alley Theatre in an untenable position. It has produced a story about social revolution the week after its own employees wore red shirts to work in protest of what they view as an inadequate response to harassment. The Alley staff's red-shirt protest went viral with #WhyWeWearRed, and theatermakers across the country posted their messages of solidarity with the Emily Trasks of the world. "The Great Society" addresses change and revolution. Meanwhile, the Alley has yet to address how much it wants to change. Under normal circumstances, the practice of consuming and analyzing art should be a kind of pure thinking. A critic should be able to evaluate a play without thinking about the private behavior of its creators. That doesn't always work for "The Great Society." When Bunch scrunches up her face, you can interpret the moment as symbolic of waitresses annoyed at sexist remarks. Or you can see it as speaking for all actresses frustrated at being used as props. It's as if that character, maybe even that actress, is saying something with her silence that transcends what is traditionally accepted in the audience-artist relationship. It's as if that face, furrowed into the shape of a woman surrounded by garbage, is yelling out to us with this advice: Don't let this play, with its Martin Luther King Jr. and Vietnam War imagery, distract you from the other revolution happening at the Alley. A famous writer publishes one of his best novels, a life-affirming work about love and courage, then a short time later commits suicide. Is it macabre to read it, and enjoy it? No. "The Kites" is still a tribute to the joy and necessity of living, regardless of what its writing took out of Romain Gary. It's a 37-year-old book that's just now appearing in the United States, translated from the French by Miranda Richmond Mouillot. If Dos Equis had been a French beer, Gary would have been a natural to play "the Most Interesting Man in the World." Born Jewish in Lithuania, he converted to Catholicism when he emigrated to France as a teenager in the 1930s. He twice won his adopted country's highest honor for literature (once under a nom de plume since the Prix Goncourt is supposed to be awarded only once to an author). Gary was good friends with fellow writer Albert Camus and was highly respected by philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre and President Charles de Gaulle. Fluent in six languages, Gary served as a diplomat in several countries and was France's consul general in Los Angeles in the 1950s and early 1960s. Along the way, he wrote much of the screenplay for the World War II movie epic "The Longest Day." His second wife was American actress Jean Seberg. When she had an affair with Clint Eastwood, Gary reportedly challenged him to a duel. Eastwood declined the challenge, a sensible reaction since Gary likely would have taken him. A real-life hero, Gary was a bombardier for a Free French squadron in the Royal Air Force during the second world war, winning many medals for bravery. More Information 'The Kites' by Romain Gary New Directions, 311 pp., $27.95 See More Collapse "The Kites" is set before and during that war, when, for a time, Nazi Germany conquered France and most of the rest of Europe. Its narrator is Ludo, a Norman youth with the gift and curse of remembering everything he sees and feels in perfect detail. An orphan, he's adopted by his uncle, a World War I veteran who experienced such horror in that conflict that he only finds relief in making and flying elaborate kites that pay homage to French history. As his uncle explains: "Obviously, a man who's dedicated his entire life to kites is a bit touched. But really, that's a matter of interpretation if you really love somebody or something, give them everything you have - everything you are, even." Ludo falls in love with an aristocratic Polish girl whose family spends its summers in Normandy. One of his rivals for her affection is a German youth, a Prussian who will soon join the military. Such obvious national symbolism ought to weigh the story down, but Gary lets it all float as gracefully as one of the novel's kites. When France falls to the Nazis, Ludo becomes a leader of the Resistance, and "The Kites" switches from a romantic fantasy to a grim fable. For Ludo, the meaning of life means the willingness to die for freedom. He sees the difference between living reasonably and keeping your reason to live, and chooses the latter. Some Americans still mock France for its rapid surrender to Germany in 1940, and indeed a sizable minority of the French population welcomed and collaborated with the Nazis. Most Frenchmen, despite hating the conquerors, kept their heads down since the survival rate for early members of the Resistance was brutally low. But more than a few French were like Gary and his fictional Ludo, who never gave up. For Ludo, the pain of the war, besides the deaths of so many of his friends, is that the Nazis' viciousness isn't abnormal. "Long ago all trace of hatred for the Germans deserted me. What if Nazism isn't an inhuman monstrosity. What if it's human? What if it's a confession, a hidden truth suppressed, camouflaged, denied, crouching deep within us, but always ready to reappear in the end? The Germans, yes of course, the Germans it's their turn in history, that's all." Seberg, Gary's estranged wife, had been harassed by J. Edgar Hoover's FBI in the 1960s and early '70s for her support of black civil rights groups. That pressure was blamed for her downward spiral that led to her suicide in 1979. About a year later, Gary wrote this note and then shot himself: "D-Day. No connection with Jean Seberg. Aficionados of broken hearts should apply elsewhere So why? I have at last said all I have to say." Rather witty for a suicide note. Maybe he should have expanded it into a short story or novel and kept on writing. But as last words go, "The Kites" is a better choice, a story that ends with hope, a condition one wishes Gary had kept for himself. It's about an hour before Aqui opens on Saturday afternoon, a quiet time of prep and concentration before diners file in to eat ponzu-kissed yellowtail and tuna-filled arepas at one of Houston's best new restaurants. Paul Qui sits in the tranquil, glass-enclosed courtyard and watches a staff meeting in progress. The James Beard Award-winning chef who once scaled the highest peaks of culinary stardom knows that the assembled workers are responsible for Aqui's day-to-day success. He also knows that his Montrose restaurant, the biggest and most expensive venture of his career, has been a lightning rod for controversy since it opened in August. "It's not about me or my redemption," he said, gesturing to the staff. "It's about them." But, in many ways, it is about Qui the fate of a high-profile restaurant so often these days is intertwined with its celebrity face. Qui, 37, is facing trial Monday for domestic assault as the conscience of the country's restaurant scene continues to reel amid sexual misconduct scandals that have embroiled famous chefs including John Besh and Mario Batali. Foodies, in Houston and beyond, are debating the morality of patronizing certain restaurants based on reported allegations. The national discourse even led the James Beard Foundation in January to ask its committee members to consider integrity when making nominations for its annual chef awards, the culinary world's biggest prize. "Award winners are held up as role models," said Emily Luchetti, interim president of the Beard Foundation, "and their character should play a part." Jonathan Horowitz, president of the Greater Houston Restaurant Association, said heightened attention and scrutiny comes with more responsibility. "Unfortunately, as we've seen, chefs are much like many other people they do things that are inappropriate," he said. "They have to understand there are consequences for bad behavior." Qui was arrested at his Austin apartment on the morning of March 19, 2016. According to a widely circulated police affidavit, Qui came home with friends and they all indulged in cocaine, marijuana and alcohol. His live-in girlfriend at the time was in bed with her young son when they arrived, but joined the party. She stated that Qui was intoxicated, grew jealous of interactions between her and his friends, kicked the friends out, then started knocking over furniture and breaking glass. The girlfriend told police she tried to leave the apartment several times with her son, and that Qui pushed her and her son away and "threw her several times against walls, doors and furniture." In his statement to police, Qui admitted to knocking over furniture and breaking glass, and to not allowing her to leave because he wanted to tell his side of the story with her there. The affidavit noted blood smeared on walls, a cut and bruising on her arms, and that her jaw was slightly puffy and swollen. Qui told the Austin American-Statesman later that he had asked a friend to call the police that morning "in an argument with my girlfriend that had escalated beyond my control." The charges of unlawful restraint and assault causing bodily injury to a family member are Class A misdemeanors that each carry a maximum penalty of $4,000 and/or up to one year in jail. Qui's Austin attorney, Christopher M. Gunter, said Qui's girlfriend has signed an affidavit of non-prosecution, a sworn statement that the alleged victim in a criminal case expresses a desire to halt prosecution. "My biggest regret is being messed up and having children around," Qui said. "That shouldn't have happened. I never thought I'd be that guy. Never in my life." Qui's mugshot pink-rimmed eyes, disheveled hair, scrapes on his cheek wound up on websites around the world. It was an astonishing departure from the smiling, boyish face that won Season 9 of Bravo's "Top Chef" with his modern interpretations of pan-Asian foods in 2012, the same year he won Best Chef Southwest at the James Beard Awards for his work at Austin's Uchiko restaurant. Qui was born in Manila, Philippines. His parents split up when he was very young and he lived with his father, who was largely absent. "I never had a mom-dad situation," he said, adding that he was raised mostly by a nanny and other relatives. At age 10 he moved to northern Virginia to live with his mother. At 15 he began spending summers in the Houston area, with his father who had moved to Missouri City. Qui moved to Houston full time in 1998 to pursue a bachelor's degree in art at the University of Houston. He eventually dropped out as his attention focused on other pursuits waiting tables, promoting clubs and partying. "I was all over the place during that time," he said. "I was doing drugs. I was selling drugs. I didn't know what I wanted to do with my life." Already familiar with the restaurant industry from his work as a waiter, he thought he'd give culinary school a shot. "I found the fastest, shortest program for the least amount of money," Qui said, referring to the now defunct Le Cordon Bleu cooking school in Austin. He moved there in 2003 for the 18-month program. Four months later, he began working at Uchi, Tyson Cole's acclaimed modern Japanese restaurant, rising through the ranks before transferring to the executive chef role at buzzed-about sister restaurant, Uchiko, in 2010. As his career skyrocketed, Qui said he felt more lost. "I was always looking for gratification wherever I could find it," he said. He found it in his restaurant family and within the food community and in alcohol and drugs. Qui remembers those years as full of conflict and emotion. The trappings of his fame came with great experiences: travel, food, people. But he was saddled by guilt from being gone from his kitchen for extended periods to do food festivals and events. The push to challenge himself was extreme, and much of it came from within. "I felt I had to work the hardest, sweat the most, party hardest," he said. "It's so selfish and self-destructive. Everyone told me to slow down, but I didn't." He went to a month-long rehab immediately after the arrest but says he remains a work in progress. "Sobriety has always been a battle for me," he said, adding that he's still trying to work out "who I am as a person." During his time at Uchiko, Qui had partnered with a friend to open a food truck called East Side King, which eventually spawned other ventures in Austin. He opened his own restaurant in 2013 with some of his winnings from "Top Chef," which closed a few months ago, and continues to operate Otoko at Austin's South Congress Hotel and Pao by Paul Qui at the Faena Miami Beach hotel in Florida. He opened Aqui last summer, a ground-up build on Lower Westheimer whose menu, overseen daily by chef de cuisine Gabriel Medina, features inventive Southeast Asian food with strong Filipino influence. Qui expected that some Houston diners would see the restaurant as tainted by association and boycott it. But he wishes that the work of his staff at Aqui was not being evaluated based on a night he regrets. "They already made their judgment. I can't change their mind," he said of people who won't eat at Aqui and who call it out because they see him as a domestic abuser. One of those people is Gwendolyn Knapp, who wrote an essay for Houstonia magazine railing against Chronicle critic Alison Cook's decision to write positively about the food and staff at Aqui. "I am not eating at Aqui because I value the lives and welfare of women and children more than I do a buzzy new restaurant experience," she wrote. Amanda Kludt, the editor-in-chief of Eater, put it more plainly in an email to the Chronicle: "I have zero interest in going to Paul's restaurants. And I don't imagine our national critic, when he comes through Houston on his next visit, will dine at Aqui given the breadth of options in town." The staff at Aqui chooses to work there despite the controversy. Pastry chef Jillian Bartolome recently spoke on the subject in an article titled, "What it's like to be an employee of a maligned restaurant." "It's a complex business," she told ChefsFeed.com. "There are people (working at Aqui) who are also victims of domestic abuse and violence; we still choose to be here. For me, this is an uncommon opportunity that I took to advance my career. It's been an incredible (experience) for me. I don't expect anybody to agree with my choice, but none of those people are standing in my shoes, or know anything about what my journey has been." Bartolome added that each situation is complex, be it Qui or other chefs, and that often conversations about them lack nuance: "Everybody wants to stand on the right side of morality, and to even acknowledge the other side sometimes opens the door to a very slippery slope." Celebrity chef/restaurateur Tom Colicchio, a longtime judge on "Top Chef" and outspoken critic of sexual harassment culture in restaurants, said Qui's arrest should not be placed in the same category as chefs who have been accused of sexual harassment Batali, for example, who allegedly groped multiple employees, or Besh, who allegedly attempted to coerce an employee during a months-long sexual relationship. "When you see issues of sexual harassment in our industry, it's a pattern. It's not one instance," Colicchio said. "With Paul, it's not a pattern." Has his opinion of Qui as a chef changed since the arrest? "Yeah, a little bit. It's hard to say," Colicchio said. "I think it's hard to look at someone and say they're not redeemable. I think we have to believe in redemption at some point. It's hard not to. Forgiveness is a part of it. But you have to earn forgiveness. You don't get forgiveness because you outlasted it. You have to own up to it." Colicchio said he still considers Qui a great chef, one of the best to ever compete on "Top Chef." "His personal issues aside, it doesn't take away from his talent. It also doesn't excuse him for what he's done," he said. "The image of the bad boy chef was OK in our industry for a long time and people were willing to look the other way because of the talent." Not so today, when the industry is working to fix itself in the wake of the Me Too movement. "The way the industry fixes this is to make sure it doesn't continue," he said. Anita Jaisinghani, the chef-owner of Pondicheri in Houston, said she's not sure if she'd give Aqui her business. Like Kludt, she questions why a Houston diner, with so many other options, would eat there in light of the allegations. Still, she said, Qui deserves compassion as much as the next man. "We've all done things in our lives that we're not proud of," Jaisinghani said. "Isn't to forgive divine? That's human nature." For his part, Qui hopes one day he can get to a point where his arrest is no longer a discussion topic. "I know it's going to take time," he said. "A lot of time." Courtesy photo Much of the nation is focused on the Super Bowl this weekend, but in our part of the world, there seems to be quite a focus on automobiles as well with two events allowing people to celebrate the classic beauty of car culture. And, if you're into trains, there's a tour about model railroading that could be perfect. And if you're into "Mike and Molly," well you're in luck, too. The University of Pennsylvania said Thursday it will revoke honorary degrees it had bestowed on casino businessman Steve Wynn and entertainer Bill Cosby, two men facing multiple accusations of sexual misconduct. Wynn and Cosby have both denied the accusations. The University of Pennsylvania's actions were largely focused on Wynn, an alumnus of the Ivy League school and former member of its board of trustees. The Wall Street Journal reported last week allegations that he pressured some employees to perform sex acts. Citing that report and others, the University of Pennsylvania said in a statement: "The nature, severity, and extent of these allegations, and the patterns of abusive behavior they describe, involve acts and conduct that are inimical to the core values of our University." The statement was issued under the names of David L. Cohen, chair of the board of trustees, and university President Amy Gutmann. The two leaders wrote that the university will remove the name "Wynn Commons" from a centrally located outdoor plaza on the campus in Philadelphia. It also will strike Wynn's name from a scholarship fund he endowed, although the scholarships will continue to be awarded. And it will revoke an honorary degree Wynn received. At the same time, the university said, it will revoke an honorary degree it had awarded to Cosby. A trial on charges of sexual assault against the comedian and television star ended in a mistrial last June after a jury deadlocked. A new trial date has been set for April. "It has been a century since the University of Pennsylvania last revoked an honorary degree, and we do not take that decision - or the decision to remove Mr. Wynn's name from the Commons and from the scholarship fund he created - lightly," Cohen and Gutmann wrote. "We view these as extraordinary and essentially unique circumstances that call for an immediate, decisive and clearly ethical response." Various schools in recent years have revoked honorary degrees awarded to Cosby. The University of Pennsylvania awarded Cosby's honorary degree in 1990 and Wynn's in 2006. Wynn earned a bachelor's degree from the school in 1963 and served on its board of trustees from 1994 to 2004. A group of Houstonians has begun distributing the book "The Hate U Give" across Katy ISD after the school district temporarily pulled the book from its shelves. Although the book has been returned to high schools and copies are available to students so long as their guardians give verbal or written consent, Houston resident Jaison Oliver said he worried the new form would limit students' ability to read the best-selling, albeit controversial, young adult novel. He volunteered with five other Houstonians to collect donated copies and distribute them across Katy. "I think it's a story and a topic that's very relevant today and presented in a way that is authentic but not overly dramatic," Oliver said. "I just think it's great material for discussion, especially because it also includes themes relevant to any young person's life." The book is no longer available at junior high school libraries, according to Katy ISD spokeswoman Maria Corrales DiPetta. The critically acclaimed book, which debuted last year at the top of the New York Times' Young Adult Books Best Seller list, follows a 16-year-old girl from a poor neighborhood who feels as if she's living a double life attending a suburban preparatory school. The balance she struck between those two lives is rocked when she sees an unarmed friend shot and killed by a police officer during a routine traffic stop. Her friend's death spurs national outrage and local protests, putting the main character under an unwanted spotlight and pushing her toward activism. In Katy ISD, where about 11 percent of students are black, the book was temporarily pulled from school library shelves after a parent complained of vulgar and sexual language within the book's first 13 pages. Superintendent Lance Hindt said the decision to pull the book from school shelves and review it was not due to its content about race but was "...based solely on its pervasive vulgarity...," especially for middle-school-aged students. Oliver disagreed. After reading "The Hate U Give," he said he didn't find any passages to be especially profane or outside the regular experiences of sixth or seventh grade students. Oliver said he wouldn't be surprised if the book's frank illustrations of race or policing made some parents uncomfortable. "Young adult fiction is really tackling a lot of the stuff right now, I'm glad children need to be able to think about what these issues mean," Oliver said. "But people tend to be reluctant to engage on issues of racial identity and racial inequity." After hearing of the book's removal and review, Oliver said, he and others were inspired to act. He and five other Houstonians set up an Amazon Gift List, where folks across the country could purchase the book and ship them to a volunteer's house. FIRST NOVEL: When a child's game takes a sinister turn Oliver and other volunteers then drove the books to Katy, where they placed them in "tiny free libraries" accessible in public places and in classrooms for when teachers request copies. Oliver said the group has delivered about 250 books to shelves across the Katy area. Oliver, who owns a tutoring company and also works in educational technology, said it's important for students to read books that are relevant to current events and present experiences they may not have considered. "I doubt those students getting a lot of exposure to works by black authors, esp contemporary black authors," Oliver said. "Exposure to literature is important, as is being able to contextualize an issue that is relevant throughout the country today." The brutal lynching of James Byrd Jr. has been chronicled in a movie and several popular songs in the 20 years since he was chained to a pickup truck and dragged to death by three white supremacists on a remote country road in Jasper, Texas. For aspiring playwright Jon-Marc McDonald, those old times of his youth in southeast Texas are not forgotten. McDonald, a former Texas political operative raised in a deeply conservative Southern Baptist family, is staging a play in the New York Theater Festival this month recalling one of the most shocking hate crimes of modern U.S. history one that left permanent scars on a sleepy town of 7,600 a little more than 100 miles from Houston. The tragedy also coincided with McDonald's brief stint on the 1998 campaign of now U.S. Rep. Brian Babin, a conservative Republican then making an unsuccessful bid to represent the rugged patch of Gulf Coast between Houston and the Louisiana state line. SCARS: 10 years later, Byrd tragedy still haunts Jasper Babin's chances were not helped by McDonald's decision, then 21, to abruptly quit the campaign with a press release announcing he was gay. "Babin abhors homosexuality," McDonald wrote. "I am a homosexual. Therefore, I can no longer work for someone who thinks that my sexuality is a disease, a sin and unnatural." Byrd's murder and McDonald's resignation unquestionably shook small-town, east rural Texas in the summer of 1998. Both episodes come back to light in McDonald's play, "Relatively Conscious." The common thread: fear and intolerance fatal in Byrd's case spaced apart by two months and a few miles country road. The memories are not happy for anyone involved, including Babin, now in his second term in Congress. He declined comment on the production other than to dispute, through a spokesman, pretty much the entirety of McDonald's account of his 1998 campaign against Democrat Jim Turner including the charge that Babin was virulently anti-gay. But the legacy of Byrd's lynching is undisputed. Dragged semi-conscious along an asphalt road until a culvert severed his right arm and head, Byrd became a catalyst for Texas' hate crimes law and, later, the federal Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, which President Barack Obama signed into law in 2009. McDonald's play picks up the story in the aftermath of Byrd's death, when the FBI, politicians, Jesse Jackson, Klan sympathizers and the state and national press corps descended on Jasper. Residents suddenly were reeling in tragedy, suspicion, and racial tension. "Byrd's murder and my resignation are what sparked the rage that gives this play its fire," said McDonald, now a 41-year-old writer, theater student, and gay activist. FALKENBERG: Another Jasper case, another pick-a-pal grand jury The semi-autobiographical play, which runs February 6,7 and 10 at the Hudson Guild Theater in New York, is set against the backdrop of the investigation into Byrd's killers, who all faced either death or life in prison. By complete coincidence, the production is being mounted as one of three men convicted in Byrd's killing, John Williams King, is still appealing his death sentence before the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans. Another participant, Lawrence Russell Brewer, was executed in 2011. The third man, Shawn Berry, is serving life in prison. Newton County Sheriff Billy Rowles, portrayed by Jon Voight in the 2003 TV movie, "Jasper, Texas," said the town has learned to live with the continuing notoriety, however painful. "Jasper got a big, old scar back in them days," said Rowles, who was the town's sheriff when Byrd was killed. "It's healing, but it's like any other scar, it's still there. You bump that old injury and it flares up again." RON JAAP Combined with King's appeal and the periodic anniversary remembrances the 20th anniversary comes up June 7 the past doesn't seem to stay in the past. "We're like everybody else," Rowles said. "When you get hurt you wish you could heal up and it would be totally gone forever. But unfortunately this has been with us for 20 years. Hopefully one day it will all be gone. But right now, it's still a problem." The action in McDonald's new play takes place in a fictitious diner in Jasper, where four disparate characters encounter each other by chance. One of them is based on McDonald, the ex-campaign manager making his way out of town after his dramatic outing and resignation. The real-life McDonald was in fact on an epic journey, running not only from Jasper, but from his roots in Fort Worth, where he was raised as a conservative Southern Baptist. He was taught to "love the sinner, but hate the sin" the two chief sins being abortion and homosexuality. "Those were the two main issues driving their thought process," McDonald said of his family, including his grandfather, the late James E. Coggin, a prominent Southern Baptist minister. In that social environment, McDonald's sexuality was clearly a problem, though he says he didn't see it at the time. Turning to alcohol, he dropped out from Baylor when he was 20. He knocked about several jobs in Washington, D.C., until his aunt, former congressional candidate Olivia Eudaly, recommended him for Babin's campaign. At the time, McDonald still identified outwardly as a Republican Christian conservative. But inside, he had a secret. That conflict culminated in his break from Babin, who he publicly accused of once having said homosexuals should be shot. Babin denied the charge. But the two never spoke about McDonald's resignation, either before or after. smiley n. pool 'Truly bizarre' In his only public remarks at the time, Babin called McDonald's departure a "truly bizarre incident." He also was quoted saying it highlighted a "major difference" between him and Turner, his Democratic opponent. Turner, as a state senator, had voted to create a hate crimes law that includes protections for gays. Babin said he opposed the "gay rights agenda." For McDonald, something about the recent Byrd killing stirred a feeling of menace. That was heightened by 3 a.m. telephone call he received one night on the campaign trail. "We know who you are," said the caller, who remains anonymous to this day. "We're going to out you." "I was 21, and I freaked out," McDonald recalls. "I sat on it for a day. The following day, I went to campaign headquarters. I was the only one there, and I issued a press release. Blast-faxed it out. At that time, we were faxing. I blast-faxed it out to the media without telling Babin." Then he left the campaign headquarters in Woodville, where Babin, a local dentist, had served a mayor and a city councilman. Intending to drive back to D.C., McDonald stopped at local gas station in Jasper, where he heard that the news of his resignation was already on the local radio. MURDER AUCTION: Online auction selling dragging-death memorabilia upsets family "I was already a story, and I freaked out," McDonald recalls. "Because all of a sudden it came to me. If they can drive a black man behind a truck in a place like this The top of my mind was what happened to Byrd." The next thought was, who was threatening to "out" him, and why? Was he in physical danger? Former Congressman Steve Stockman, a Republican who represented the district until 2014 before his federal indictment for money laundering and fraud once characterized the region as "staunchly pro-gun, pro-life and committed to smaller government." Politically, what is now the 36th Congressional District of Texas has always shown an aspect of rugged individualism, famously represented by political legends "Good Time" Charlie Wilson and "Fighting Marine" Jack Brooks. The district finally elected Babin to Congress, on his third try, in 2014. He briefly joined the conservative Freedom Caucus, before an internal dustup over an unsuccessful GOP effort to repeal Obama's Affordable Care Act. Despite McDonald's differences with the conservative politics of East Texas, he says he has no desire to cast Jasper in a bad light. "There are really good people there," he said. AP 'It will never go away' Texas, meanwhile, has tried to move on. A year after the lynching, state legislators took up new hate crimes legislation using the testimony of Byrd's family forcing them to relive their personal tragedy. "Sometimes you have to go beyond your pain for what is best," said Byrd's sister, Louvon Byrd Harris, in an interview this week. "If you don't talk about it, young people growing up now will never know what happened in our generation's time. They need to be aware so it stops." Even as the town has sought to heal, Harris said, her brother's grave has on occasion been vandalized and desecrated. "It's still alive. It will never go away," said Booker T. Hunter, the longtime head of the Jasper branch of the NAACP. "This community will never get over it." Byrd's family went on to create the James Byrd Foundation for Racial Healing. The tenth anniversary of the murder was marked by a remembrance held in Jasper's newly renamed James Byrd Jr. Memorial Park. The family also took part in another 2008 tribute organized by the San Francisco-based James Byrd Jr. Racism Oral History Project, which conducted 2,600 oral histories on racism in America. JUSTICE: White supremacist executed for Jasper dragging death McDonald's play will now take its place in a long list of cultural tributes to Byrd, including the Voight movie co-starring Louis Gossett Jr. A number or recording artists also have paid tribute, including Lori McKenna and Matthew Mayfield, Ross Durand, and Houston rapper E.S.G. McDonald credits writer James Baldwin with helping him understand the root causes of intolerance, racial or otherwise. In 2016, he wrote a school paper titled, "Relatively Conscious: The Enduring Rage of Baldwin and the Education of a White Southern Baptist Queer." The play followed. "And the play calls out a lot of people out, some of whom you wouldn't expect," he said. "This play is going to be controversial and I meant it to be. I want people walking out of the theater questioning everything, especially themselves." Houston ISD administrators announced preliminary plans Thursday to close and immediately reopen six chronically low-performing schools, a process that would force hundreds of students to leave their home campus and result in the replacement of all staff in those schools. Administrators also proposed handing over control of hiring, curriculum and governance of eight other schools to two nonprofit organizations, a concession that will allow students at those campuses to continue attending their home school. The two proposals are being made to stave off a potential state takeover of the district's school board, a possible punishment mandated under a new Texas law. If any district has a single school that fails to meet state academic standards for five consecutive years, the Texas Education Agency must now replace the district's school board or close the chronically failing school. The changes were announced during a school board meeting where district leaders also discussed early plans for tackling a projected $208.8 million budget shortfall. Ten Houston ISD schools must all meet state standards this year to avoid triggering the law, a highly unlikely proposition. To avoid a potential state takeover of the board, district administrators are proposing major changes to the 10 schools, along with four low-performing campuses. "The focus is not to close schools," Houston ISD Superintendent Richard Carranza said. "The focus is to ensure our students have incredible opportunities and that we control our destiny and nobody else controls our destiny." The proposals would need approval of the district's school board. A vote would likely occur in mid-April. In the meantime, district staff are planning to meet with community members and coordinate plans with the Texas Education Agency. The six closure-and-restart schools -- Blackshear, Highland Heights, Hilliard and Wesley elementary schools, Cullen Middle School and Woodson PK-8 would only serve limited grade levels in 2018-19. The four elementary schools and Woodson PK-8 would offer pre-kindergarten and kindergarten, while Cullen Middle School would offer sixth grade. Students in grade levels that aren't served would be transferred to nearby campuses. The six campuses would add a single grade level each year. District officials are also asking the state to allow it to serve additional grade levels in 2018-19. The eight remaining schools would all become "partnership" campuses with outside organizations, a move that would allow Houston ISD to avoid potential state intervention for at least two years. The "partnership" campuses would still serve all grade levels. PREVIOUSLY: HISD officials propose drastic changes at low-performing schools to avoid state takeover Under preliminary plans, Dogan and Mading elementary schools would partner with Children's Learning Institute at University of Texas Health. Henry Middle School and Kashmere, Madison, North Forest, Wheatley and Worthing high schools would partner with Talent Development Secondary, a Baltimore-based nonprofit. "We're at a crossroads," said Houston ISD Trustee Wanda Adams, whose district includes two of the 14 schools. "We really don't know what the solution should be, but we know what we have to do." Dealing with the law District officials selected campuses for closure-and-restart or partnerships based on academic offerings in the school's feeder pattern and recommendations from a committee analyzing magnet programming in the district. Houston ISD administrators had initially proposed making major changes to 15 schools, instead of 14. They removed Lawson Middle School from the list Thursday. The 14 schools are all in high-poverty areas, and nearly all serve predominately black or Hispanic student populations. In the past few decades, campus closures have been largely concentrated in those areas, a pattern that trustees want to avoid repeating. "This is difficult," Houston ISD Trustee Jolanda Jones said. "We're trying to save our black and brown schools, because last time we did this, those are the schools that got closed." The dramatic proposals have been forced by the new law, known as HB 1842, which passed in 2015 with support from 85 percent of the Texas Legislature. Twenty-six districts across Texas face the punishments outlined in HB 1842, including Dallas, San Antonio and Waco ISDs. Proponents of the law said it would force school districts to address the lowest-performing schools after years of neglect. Opponents in Houston have argued the punishments are draconian given that Houston ISD has about 280 schools, yet a single chronically-failing school could trigger a state takeover of the board. Houston ISD administrators had already implemented changes at all 14 schools, along with 31 other campuses, through a district program called Achieve 180. Those schools have received additional support designed to address students' non-academic needs, and some campuses have seen dramatic staff turnover. Administrators have said they're seeing progress at the 10 schools that could trigger the new state law, but "we know it's going to be hard" for all of them to meet state standards, Houston ISD Chief Academic Officer Grenita Lathan said. 'Shocking' budget cuts The proposed changes came after Houston ISD officials offered more details Thursday for how they plan to address the projected shortfall in the district's $1.9 billion budget. Teacher layoffs, a reduction in bus routes and fewer school district police officers are all among the cuts under consideration. The impact on campuses could be drastic. Almost all custodians to be cut, with schools cleaned a couple times per week rather than every day. The number of campuses with an assigned Houston ISD police officer could fall from 89 to 24. Bus routes could be drastically reduced, only sparing special education and homeless students' routes in some cases. Administrators haven't estimated the number of teacher layoffs that could occur. About 2,000 to 2,200 teachers leave the district annually, but attrition likely wouldn't cover all the needed cuts. The proposals are all preliminary and could change as the district seeks input from staff and community members. But the $208.8 million deficit is real, as will the pain closing it will likely cause. "What you're going to see today may be shocking in some ways," Carranza said. Houston ISD Chief Financial Officer Rene Barajas told the board there's an option to increase its revenues: hold a Tax Ratification Election, or TRE, to increase its property taxes from the current rate of about $1.20 per $100 of a home's value to $1.33. That would cost roughly $200 a year for property owners with a taxable value of about $200,000, and bring in an estimated $119 million for the district. CARRANZA: HISD faces changes, challenges in financial storm Houston ISD Trustee Sue Deigaard said it would likely be an uphill battle to pass such a tax. "I find it striking and frustrating that every year it's about what can we cut instead of finding efficiencies," Deigaard said. "I do not understand how we can go to the public for a TRE until we give them confidence we're been as efficient as we can be with our money." A 14-year-old Houston boy was stabbed blocks from his middle school earlier this week, police said Friday. The teenager was at Halbert Park, in the 200 block of E. 23rd St. in the Greater Heights, when an unknown assailant stabbed him in the chest around 5:20 p.m. Wednesday. The boy, reeling from the confrontation, ran to Hamilton Middle School where staff members called 911, according to Houston ISD. The boy had just left the school after class hours. Now Playing: Texas News & Crime Video: Houston Chronicle Houston ISD police initially responded to the call, but the person responsible had already fled the scene by the time officers arrived. Paramedics took the boy to Ben Taub Hospital in critical condition. Houston Police Department spokesperson John Cannon said the boy is expected to survive. Detectives with HPD's Major Assault Unit had not yet spoken with the victim as of Friday afternoon. RAID: Authorities bust alleged Aryan Brotherhood chop shop in San Jacinto County Cannon said the park is known to be a place where several students hang out. A Houston ISD spokesperson said the district's police department has increased patrol in the area as detectives with HPD work the case. Anyone with information is urged to contact Houston Crime Stoppers at 713-222-TIPS (8477). Jay R. Jordan is a breaking news reporter at Chron.com. Follow him on Twitter at @JayRJordan. Two armed suspects died in two police standoffs within a 12-hour span ending Thursday morning - dramatic incidents that also wounded an innocent bystander and a police officer, snarled rush-hour traffic on a busy Houston highway and left a Spring neighborhood shaken by a late-night SWAT standoff. The two shootings - one late Wednesday and the other hours later as commuters were driving to work - were the fifth and sixth police shootings in 10 days. Five were fatal. Law enforcement officials said the spate of shootings was unusual, but can be the outcome when dangerous criminals confront officers. "Whenever violent crimes are occurring out there, we're tasked with pursuing and apprehending those responsible," said Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez. "That's inherently dangerous, and sometimes there's an increased probability of someone getting seriously injured or killed. We just have to remain vigilant, and hopefully it's an outlier, and not a routine thing." Two of the dead suspects had serious criminal backgrounds, with one slain man having spent 15 years in prison for assaulting a peace officer. The other had threatened police with a machete seven months ago, law enforcement sources said. But the shooting victims also included 47-year-old Ulises Valladares, a bound kidnapping victim who was shot and killed by an FBI agent during a failed rescue attempt Monday. The shooting in Spring late Wednesday also left two others injured - a Harris County sheriff's deputy and a innocent bystander. The incident began when Harris County deputies responded to a call in Spring to arrest a man suspected in a potentially violent domestic dispute earlier that day. Deputies tracked the man to his home and tried to arrest him. As deputies handcuffed the man, he pulled a handgun from his waistband and started firing, according to Deputy Thomas Gilliland, a sheriff's office spokesman. The man - who had not been formally identified as of Thursday evening - shot one deputy in the forearm, narrowly missed striking another, and shot and wounded one of his roommates, Gilliland said. The Roommate did not have anything to do with the earlier incident, deputies said, and was taken by LifeFlight helicopter ambulance to a hospital in critical condition. After deputies pulled back, the gun-toting man holed up in the home - still handcuffed - and refused to come out, sparking a late-night SWAT standoff. Deputies said the man may not have realized his wife was also inside the house, hiding on another level. More Information 6 shootings Feb. 1: Man who shot sheriff's deputy is found dead after Spring standoff. Feb. 1: Armed robbery suspect is shot and killed by an HPD officer near Westpark. Jan. 29: Carjacking suspect is fatally shot by a sheriff's deputy. Jan. 25: Motorist shot after allegedly pointing a gun at an off-duty Waller County deputy. Jan. 24: FBI agent kills hostage during raid in northeast Houston. Jan. 23: Teen shot by League City officer in alleged carjacking. See More Collapse Hostage negotiators showed up shortly before 11 p.m. and helped get the woman out safe just before midnight. Meanwhile, the wounded deputy was rushed to Memorial Hermann The Woodlands. He has since been released from the hospital, Gilliland said. Deputies shut down parts of Kuykendahl Road and dozens of officers, including SWAT, the Department of Public Safety and Precinct 4 deputy constables flooded the scene as the standoff continued into the night. Eventually, SWAT officers entered the home and searched the downstairs with the help of a robot. As they scoured the second floor around 12:30 a.m., officers found the suspect dead inside. "I think he was still handcuffed," Gilliland said. Authorities did not immediately know whether the gunman had died in the shootout with deputies or killed himself. An autopsy is pending, Gilliland said. "They will determine what gunshot wounds killed, whether it was self-inflicted or came from our deputies," Gilliland said. Investigators are trying to determine how the man was able to access a weapon after being handcuffed. Asked whether deputies should have searched the suspect before handcuffing him, Sheriff Gonzalez said, "Ideally you like to do a full systematic search, but sometimes that's not possible." David Cuevas, president of the Harris County Deputies Organization, said he was still waiting to hear more about the specifics of the shooting, but had visited the hospital late Wednesday to check on the injured deputy before his release. "We're happy the deputy survived his injuries, and appreciate the fact we've been receiving a lot of public support," he said. The second officer-related shooting played out hours later in a far-different scene, a busy highway not far from the Galleria at the height of rush hour. Authorities said a man robbed a gas station on South Post Oak, shooting at a store clerk and fleeing onto the West Loop, causing "multiple crashes" and snarling traffic on the freeway. When Bellaire police - the first on scene - approached the suspect, he got out of the car armed with a revolver and started walking away, Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo said. Houston police tried to arrest the man, but he brandished his gun at officers, refused verbal commands and unsuccessfully tried to carjack people nearby, authorities said. That prompted a Houston police lieutenant - a 22-year department veteran - to shoot the man. He died in the parking lot of Boudreaux's Cajun Kitchen, just off the West Loop's feeder road. Law enforcement sources said the man, who also had not been identified Thursday evening, was a 38-year-old with a lengthy criminal background, including a May arrest for allegedly threatening a north Houston man with a machete, then using the weapon while trying to assault two Houston police officers who responded to the call. Joe Gamaldi, president of the Houston Police Officers, said the shootings underscored the need to make sure that violent criminals like the suspect in the West Loop incident remain locked up. "He only got a $60,000 bond, so for $6,000, he's able to walk the streets freely and terrorize our community like he did today," Gamaldi said, arguing that Harris County judges and the district attorney's office need to make sure violent felons receive harsher bonds. DA spokesman Dane Schiller pushed back on the criticism, pointing to the conviction earlier this week of a man who fired at HPD SWAT officers during a 2015 standoff and was sentenced Wednesday to 45 years in prison. "This is the work our prosecutors do day in and day out to keep the public safe," he said. Amanda Woog, creator of the Texas Justice Initiative, a database of officer-involved shootings across Texas, said that the number of shootings in one metropolitan area in such a short span was unusual, but that law enforcement and criminal justice professionals needed to keep working to try to prevent them in the future. "Unfortunately we're going to keep seeing these shootings in Houston and around the country, and we need start looking forward at ways to prevent them," she said, "and not focus all our attention backwards, finding ways to justify them or assign blame." Robert Downen, Jay R. Jordan, Samantha Ketterer, and Alyson Ward contributed. Note: This story and headline have been updated to correct information previously reported. She begged him not to. "No, Daddy, please don't, don't do it," 9-year-old Faith Battaglia screamed before bolting for the door. But her father didn't listen. Instead, John Battaglia opened fire, gunning down Faith and her 6-year-old sister Liberty while their mother listened on the phone in horror. "Merry f***ing Christmas," he growled. Then he started shooting again. On Thursday, after nearly four hours of delays sparked by last-minute claims of dated injection drugs and botched executions, the 62-year-old Dallas man was put to death for his crimes. Before his death at 9:40 p.m., Battaglia stared toward the viewing room to smile at his ex-wife - the mother of his slain children - and greet her by name. "Hi, Mary Jean," he said. "See y'all later. Go ahead please." He took 22 minutes to die, according to a Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokesman. Battaglia's was the third execution of the year, in Texas and across the nation. Last year, amid a long-term decline in capital punishment, Texas put to death seven prisoners, the most of any state. In the months before his death, appellate attorneys zeroed in on claims surrounding the former accountant's mental competency. His lawyers said he didn't have a rational understanding of his execution. The state said that he did. Then, just four hours before he was slated to die, Battaglia's defense counsel asked for a reprieve in light of freshly surfaced claims about the state's last two lethal injections, including one where witnesses said the prisoner appeared to be jerking in pain, and another where the inmate said the drug burned. "Oooh weee, I can feel that it does burn," Houston serial killer Anthony Shore said as the lethal dosage began coursing through his veins during his Jan. 18 execution, witnessed by a Chronicle reporter. Less than two weeks later, William Rayford grimaced and twitched on the gurney before he died, witnesses said. "William raised the upper part of his body to about 30 degrees. He was shaking and looked at me as if he wanted to say something, as if in distress, as if asking for help," witness Liliane Sticher wrote in an affidavit. "He was shaking. The upper part of his body was shaking." The Texas Department of Criminal Justice begged to differ. "This is nothing more than legal maneuvering," said spokesman Jason Clark, pointing out that both men received more than twice the lethal dose of death drugs and were pronounced dead after 13 minutes. "The executions took place without incident. To claim otherwise is not factual." The problem behind the execution drug issues, lawyers for the condemned Dallas man allege, is that the state's supplies of the lethal barbiturate sodium pentobarbital are too old, and should have been tossed close to a year ago. "It looks like Texas might have caused a botched execution by using substandard compounded drugs that they knew had passed their original beyond use date," said Maya Foa, an expert who works with pharmaceutical companies on protecting medicines from misuse in executions. "They have systematically flouted the regulations on compounding, using secrecy to hide their activities, and potentially causing enormous suffering to prisoners." But federal courts did not agree. Years of inflicting abuse Years before the killings that sent him to death row in 2001, Battaglia had a troubled history with women. He terrorized his first wife, following her, tapping her phone, blackmailing her and even landing in jail after throwing a rock through her car window, according to court records. But after he beat the woman unconscious and dislocated her jaw, she left him and fled to Louisiana. Battaglia started over, this time setting his sights on Mary Jean Pearl. The couple married in 1991 and Pearl gave birth to Faith in 1992 and Liberty in 1995. The girls were young when Pearl filed for divorce. But on Christmas of 1999, the paperwork wasn't yet final when Battaglia showed up at his ex's house to take the girls to church. He got angry and beat the woman in front of her children - so she had him arrested and he ended up on probation, records show. A little over a year later, around Easter 2001, Pearl got an obscenity-laced message on her phone. Fed up, she called Battaglia's probation officer, who had a warrant put out for his arrest. He didn't find out until May 2. That evening, he called up his girls to make dinner plans. He said he wasn't hungry because he might be arrested that night and wouldn't see them for a while. A short time later, Pearl dropped her daughters off at their father's. Afterward, she drove over to a friend's. When she arrived she found a message from her ex. When she called back, Battaglia answered and put the call on speaker, saying the girls had something to ask. "Mommy," Faith said, "Why do you want Daddy to go to jail?" Pearl pleaded with her ex, then heard her older girl begging - and screamed for her daughters to run. Next, came the gunshots - and the obscene outburst. The gunfire continued, and Pearl hung up and called 911. Police found Faith with three gunshot wounds, including one to the back of the head and another that severed her spinal cord, according to court records. Liberty was shot five times. Both girls were left face-down in puddles of blood. Chilling message Liberty had made it just 10 feet from the front door. Authorities found multiple guns, and a chilling answering machine message left just after the murders. "Good night my little babies. I hope you're resting in a different place," Battaglia said. "I wish that you had nothing to do with your mother. She was evil, vicious, stupid. You will be free of her." After the slaying, Battaglia went to a bar before stopping at a tattoo parlor - where he got inked with red roses to commemorate his daughters. Mario Batali, one of the country's most high-profile chefs and restaurant owners, is stepping away from the daily operations of his businesses and the daytime program he co-hosts on ABC, "The Chew," amid reports of alleged sexual misconduct. Batali released a statement after a report published Monday on Eater, the food website, that said four women had alleged that Batali touched them inappropriately in a pattern of behavior that appeared to span at least two decades. Three of the women worked for Batali, and the fourth worked in the restaurant industry, Eater reported. In his statement, Batali apologized and said that the accusations "match up" with his behavior: "Although the identities of most of the individuals mentioned in these stories have not been revealed to me, much of the behavior described does, in fact, match up with ways I have acted," he said in the statement. "That behavior was wrong and there are no excuses. I take full responsibility and am deeply sorry for any pain, humiliation or discomfort I have caused to my peers, employees, customers, friends and family." "I have work to do to try to regain the trust of those I have hurt and disappointed," he added. "For this reason, I am going to step away from day-to-day operations of my businesses." Batali, 57, had also recently been reprimanded because of a complaint made in October by an employee at one of the 24 restaurants in the Batali & Bastianich Hospitality Group, a company spokesman said Monday. The spokesman said that Batali had been required to undergo sexual harassment training above what is already required of employees. He then volunteered to keep away from the restaurant where the employee worked, and he has done so, said the spokesman, who declined to be identified by name. The recent allegations against Batali led ABC to ask Batali, who has been on "The Chew" since 2011, to step away "while we review the allegations that have just recently come to our attention," the network said in a statement. MEXICO CITY - To commemorate the new year, an aspiring mayoral candidate of a small Mexican town sent a Facebook message on Sunday morning asking residents to unite to improve society. "We only need maturity, seriousness, and responsibility to face the challenges that confront society," Adolfo Serna Nogueda wrote. Later that day, Serna was shot and killed outside his home in Atoyac de Alvarez, along the Pacific Coast in the western state of Guerrero. Serna, a member of the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party, was one of at least five politicians killed in the past week in Mexico on the eve of an important election year. Two days earlier, the mayor of another Guerrero town, Petatlan, about two hours north along the coast, was killed while eating with friends at a restaurant. And the day before that, a state congressman from Jalisco was gunned down while driving with his son. A former state congressional candidate and a town councilman were also killed in the past week. The spate of violence was another reminder of the grave dangers inherent in Mexican politics, particularly at the local level, where drug gangs regularly exert influence. It has also prompted politicians from different parties to call for tighter security measures and to demand justice ahead of the elections this summer. Four of the five politicians killed were affiliated with the leftist Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD). Top party officials have condemned the wave of violence and have asked to meet with federal officials to discuss the cases. "We are six months from the presidential election and of course these attacks against our members are taken as a warning against participating," Angel Avila Romero, secretary general of the PRD, said last week. The killing of politicians has been a recurring problem in Mexico in recent years. Since President Enrique Pena Nieto's administration began in 2012, 61 current or former mayors have been slain, up from 49 killed in the previous administration, according to a count by the National Association of Mayors. "We have called on the president asking for an immediate meeting to implement a security protocol for mayors," Enrique Vargas del Villar, the president of the association, said in a phone interview. "The insecurity cannot continue this way in our country." Vargas del Villar said that mayors needed direct phone lines to the Interior Ministry to report any threats against them so that federal officials could intervene. In states where drug gangs and cartels maintain a strong presence, local officials are at the greatest risk. Some have ties to criminal groups while others face extortion demands or other threats, according to security experts. "This shows the breakdown of institutions due to the penetration of organized crime groups that apparently try to influence the electoral process," said Miguel Arroyo Ramirez, a lawyer and a founding member of an anti-crime civil society group. "When someone appears who doesn't share their interests, or has different interests, these groups don't have the slightest hesitation in eliminating those who are inconvenient." The motives behind this past week's political killings remain unclear. The mayor of Petatlan and a member of the PRD, Arturo Gomez Perez, was shot at point-blank range on Friday inside a restaurant in his town in front of several witnesses, according to local news reports. Also: On Dec. 28, Saul Galindo, a PRD state congressman from Jalisco, who was president of the justice committee, was shot while driving near his ranch in Tomatlan, authorities said. He had served as mayor of Tomatlan and was reportedly planning to run for the position again. On Dec. 30, Gabriel Hernandez Arias, a town councilman in Jalapa, in the state of Tabasco, was found stabbed to death in his home, according to authorities. He was also with the PRD party. The same day, lawyer Juan Jose Castro Crespo, was shot to death in Mexicali, a city in the border state of Baja California. Castro Crespo had been a PRD candidate for state congress and a president of the local bar association. Public security secretary of Veracruz, Arturo Bermudez Zurita, earns about $3,250 (60,000 pesos) per month. So how is it that he was able to afford five homes in the Houston area, with a total value of $2.4 million? That's the question many are raising amid the discovery that he and his wife own residences scattered from Spring to Tomball and The Woodlands. House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif., who previously created a short-lived firestorm over a non-scandal about "unmasking" names from surveillance, tried his best to assist President Donald Trump by concocting and Friday releasing a memo that sought to sabotage the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election and Trump's subsequent efforts to disrupt that investigation. After a huge buildup, a scant memo of less than four pages makes the sweeping allegation that Christopher Steele's dossier was the basis for obtaining a warrant from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance (FISA) Court to conduct surveillance on suspected Russian agent Carter Page. The memo turns out to be decidedly underwhelming and at times baffling. The memo acknowledges that the FISA warrant was extended multiple times. Nunes finds fault in the application because allegedly the court was not told that Fusion GPS which commissioned Steele at one point was paid by an attorney of Hillary Clinton's campaign. Without proof, it claims he was hired to find disparaging evidence on Trump (Fusion GPS's founder disputed this under oath). It claims Steele was an FBI source, an allegation for which we have no support. It claims, again without support, that Steele was fired as a source for leaking some of his findings to the press. It also asserts in confusing fashion that the warrant contained information about George Papadopoulos but there was no evidence of cooperation between the two. A statement released by ranking member Adam Schiff, D-Calif., and other House Intelligence Committee Democrats suggests there is a connection but Nunes chose to leave that out. In any event, the memo proves something that surely does not help Nunes's conspiracy theory, namely that the FBI was first alerted to possible interference from Papadopoulos, not by the dossier. As an afterthought, Nunes then throws in reference to text-message exchanges between FBI employees Lisa Page and Peter Strzok. It's not clear why that matters or what it has to do with the special counsel's investigation. What is interesting is that an initial application and three extensions were all approved by the FISA court. We know that other materials included with the dossier to obtain the warrant were left out of Nunes account, and that a point-by-point rebuttal from Democrats has been suppressed. There is plenty else left out of the memo: --There is no explanation that FISA courts set a high bar for issuance of warrants and generally require multiple pieces of evidence. --There is no acknowledgment that Steele was a respected former MI6 agent or that some of his findings were confirmed by evidence provided from other sources. (Nunes says they were "minimally" sourced.) --There is no recognition the intelligence community already had Page on its radar screen as early as 2013. --There is no indication Steele knew who had funded the dossier (which was begun for a right-leaning publication and later financed by a Democratic associate of Hillary Clinton's campaign). --There is no proof Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein thought the dossier was unreliable. Now Playing: President Donald Trump says a newly declassified GOP memo alleging FBI abuses shows, "a lot of people should be ashamed of themselves." (Feb. 2) Video: Associated Press --There is no proof anything in the dossier was in fact false. --There is no proof that special counsel Robert S. Mueller III or FBI Director Christopher A. Wray (whom Trump hired) had anything to do with the application for the warrant or that it affected their work. Both were hired the year after the initial FISA warrant request. --There is no reason spelled out why Rosenstein, whom Trump later appointed, would have intentionally misled the court. In short, other than the memo confirming that Nunes and Trump are collectively out to discredit the intelligence community and to thereby impede the investigation into the president's alleged wrongdoing, I cannot for the life of me figure out what this proves. The media, if forthright, will explain that to Americans who must by this time be very, very confused as to why Nunes and Trump have rejected the advice of top officials who said release of the memo compromises classified information. This appears to be the second time (the first in the Oval Office with Russian officials) that Trump has handed the Russians classified material. If Trump is not a Russian agent, he surely is acting as effectively as one. Fifteen years ago, the first day of February started out like any other quiet Saturday morning. All around the Houston area, people picked up the newspapers on their front lawns, kids watched cartoons on television and their parents sipped their morning cups of coffee. Space shuttle flights had become so common most folks didn't know that seven astronauts were flying home after 16 days in orbit. RELATED: Amateur astronomer discovers long-lost NASA 'zombie' satellite ALSO: NASA, America remembers the fallen astronauts So it was a shock when Columbia disintegrated during its re-entry into the atmosphere. Just a few days after the 17th anniversary of the Challenger disaster, the nation lost another crew of seven space explorers. Rick Husband, Willie McCool, Michael Anderson, Ilan Roman, Kalpana Chalwa, David Brown and Laurel Clark died on the final flight of America's first space shuttle. SMITH, CULBERSON: Space telescopes promise a universe of discovery On the anniversary of that tragedy, it's appropriate we remember Columbia's fallen crew members. At the same time, we suspect they would also ask us to pause and seriously consider the future of the nation's space program. RELATED: Pondering the future of the space station Lawmakers and policy experts in Washington are now debating a proposal to abandon the International Space Station in 2024. The White House isn't releasing details until next month, but there are reports that the Trump administration has drafted a proposed budget that would end support for the ISS. Some serious questions have been raised by legitimate critics, who point out that maintaining the ISS will become more expensive and complicated the longer it stays in orbit. But scuttling the space station after just six more years of service would waste decades of work and investment in a unique international resource. During the last 25 years, the United States has spent about $87 billion building and operating the ISS. Congress has authorized extending the space station's operations until 2024. That's projected to cost NASA between $3 billion and $4 billion a year. Space agency officials from the United States, Russia and other international partners have floated the idea of keeping the ISS flying through 2028. Vice President Mike Pence has announced that the Trump administration plans to return astronauts to the moon, using it as a foundation for a mission to Mars. Abandoning the space station may be part of juggling the budget for that plan, but there's serious doubt whether the moon and Mars missions will ever become a reality. NASA's marching orders seem to change every time a new president moves into the White House. History has given every reason to suspect the next president will scuttle Trump's ambitious agenda, leaving the nation with no space station, no moon mission and nothing to show after decades of investment in manned space exploration but photographs and footprints. MOON PLAN: Trump's NASA promises lack necessary funding Scuttling the space station would not only be a serious blow to the fledgling private space industry - which relies on contracting opportunities with NASA - it would also essentially abandon low-earth orbit operations to other nations. The Chinese space agency plans to establish its own space station in 2023. With due respect for Beijing's ambitions, the United States should not cede the high ground of space to the Chinese. On a memorable morning in 1986, President Reagan delivered to grieving employees of the Johnson Space Center an unforgettable eulogy to the fallen crew of the space shuttle Challenger. In his tribute to the lost astronauts, he vowed "we will build your space station." The construction project in orbit began a dozen years later. Now the shuttle program has been scrapped and the space station's future is up in the air. It's as though America built the transcontinental railroad, sent trains to the frontier for a few years, then tore up the tracks. The space station can't fly forever, but grounding it after just six more years in orbit would be a waste. Our congressional delegation needs to make sure the ISS keeps flying. Bail is not intended to be a punishment; its intended purpose is to make sure that people show up for their court date. But in communities across Texas, people who are still presumed innocent are being held in jail because they can't afford to post bail. The Harris County money bail system has been challenged in court and found unconstitutional by a federal judge for precisely this reason. But in an op-ed piece in the Houston Chronicle last week, City Council Member Michael Kubosh - who also happens to be a bail bondsman - defended money bail as indispensable to the maintenance of public safety. What he failed to mention, of course, is that bondsmen like him profit from subverting the basic American principle of "innocent until proven guilty." KUBOSH: Texas can't afford to give criminals Get Out of Jail Free card Here's how: If you have been arrested and booked into jail, a judge will assign you a bail amount of, for example, $2,500. What happens next depends entirely on how wealthy you are. If you can pay in full, you go home. If you can afford to pay a bondsman 10 percent of the amount - $250 - and you agree to wear his branded ankle monitor or submit to whatever other conditions he might impose on you, then you can go home. The catch, of course, is that even if you are innocent, even if your charges are dismissed, the bondsman still gets to pocket your $250. COUNTY CASH: Politicians reveal their priorities by spending millions on outside lawyers to defend cash bonds If you don't have $250 - the most common scenario, as well as the worst - you will sit in a cell awaiting trial, possibly for months, while taxpayers foot the bill for your incarceration, your food and your medical care. You will almost certainly lose your job and possibly your home and even custody of your children. In other words, your life will be ruined; again, even if you are innocent of the crime with which you have been charged. Such a system is clearly not interested in justice. It is interested only in money. As two people involved in civil rights and community organizations advocating for bail reform, we do not suggest that everyone charged with a crime should simply be released from jail. What we are saying is that determination should not be made on as unjust, ineffective and predatory a consideration as money bail. Those few people who are truly dangerous should be detained no matter the size of their wallets, based on an adequate hearing and a transparent order that recites the reasons the person is too dangerous to let go. But studies show that nearly everyone who is detained pre-trial can be released without jeopardizing public safety, and there are a wealth of proven alternatives: text message alerts of court dates, transportation to court, pre-trial diversion programs and treatment for mental health and addiction, among others. SIMPLY INDEFENSIBLE: Time to stop fighting bail reform efforts in Harris County and statewide We've already witnessed the effectiveness of the alternatives. New Jersey, for example, once the center of the bail bond industry, recently eliminated money bail via statewide legislation that came into effect in January 2017. By June of that year, jail populations were down nearly 20 percent without any meaningful reported decline in public safety. Kubosh is right about one thing: Almost all Texas counties do rely on a money bail system to release defendants. But all that means is that almost all Texas counties have an unconstitutional system of pretrial release. This is exactly why Harris County isn't the only jurisdiction facing a challenge to its money bail system. Last week civil rights organizations filed a federal class action lawsuit against Dallas County for similar violations. Other such challenges are underway all across the country. It's time for Texas to end its twisted addiction to money bail and start using the tools to ensure that no one's liberty is contingent on the size of their pocketbooks. Texans have a #Right2Justice. Jackson and Jenkins are members of the Right2Justice Coalition. WASHINGTON - President Trump once boasted that his base was so loyal he "could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn't lose any voters." Now he's putting that claim to the test with his immigration proposal. In his State of the Union address Tuesday, Trump offered to support not just legal status, but a path to citizenship for nearly 2 million illegal immigrants - the "Dreamers" who were brought to the United States as children through no fault of their own - if Democrats would agree to fund his border wall and limit chain migration. It is a remarkable offer that goes far beyond the expected granting of legal status to recipients of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. And it has outraged many of Trump's core supporters. Breitbart declared Trump "Amnesty Don" and said that supporters were calling his proposal an act of "political incompetence, malpractice, greed, betrayal and self-mutilation." Mark Krikorian, executive director of the hard-line Center for Immigration Studies, complained that Trump "promoted his amnesty proposal as legalizing more illegal aliens than [President] Obama's DACA program, as though that's a good thing." Dan Horowitz, editor of Conservative Review, called Trump's plan "the Self-Impeachment Act of 2018." Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Tex., said, "I do not believe we should be granting a path to citizenship to anybody here illegally" and described Trump's offer as "inconsistent with the promises we made to the men and women who elected us." Heritage Action declared that his plan "should be a non-starter." In other words, Trump is doing something quintessentially presidential: He is taking on his own base in an effort to do something big and bipartisan for the good of the nation. That is what great leaders do. But far from praising Trump for an act of statesmanship and engaging him in serious negotiations, Democrats have attacked him relentlessly. During his speech, they scowled, rolled their eyes and even booed, barely masking their utter contempt for the president. Rep. Joseph Crowley of New York, chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, denounced Trump's address as "racist," while House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi complained that although Trump "presents himself as generous" toward Dreamers, he's "holding them hostage" in what she calls the "most extreme anti-immigrant agenda in generations." After Democrats shut down the government and then folded without getting anything, Trump could have rubbed their faces in it. Instead, he put a serious offer on the table that included a major concession with his support for amnesty. It was obviously an opening bid, subject to negotiation, but it showed he is serious about reaching an agreement. What did Democrats do? That same week, Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer - under fire from his left-wing base for his mishandling of the shutdown - announced that his offer to fund a border wall was "off the table." Schumer knows full well there is no chance of an agreement without funding for the wall. So this is where things stand: Trump is challenging his base while Democrats are pandering to theirs. The irony is rich. Democrats say Trump is unfit to be president, but when it comes to immigration, he is the one being presidential, while they are behaving like political hacks. Their reaction raises a question: Do Democrats even want a deal? Or is their hatred of Trump and lust for power so all-encompassing they can't bring themselves to sit down with the president, negotiate in good faith and reach a compromise - one that would allow Dreamers not only to stay but also to become American citizens, a compromise that would secure our borders and reform our immigration system? Democrats don't like some elements of Trump's proposal, such as his plan to limit chain migration to the nuclear family, which they say would drastically cut legal immigration. Fair enough. Instead of nonstop attacks, they should emulate Trump and make a serious counteroffer with concessions toward his position. For example, they could accept limiting chain migration as long as Trump agrees to expand the number of legal immigrants allowed into the country under the merit-based immigration system he has endorsed. There is no reason, with some creativity and goodwill, that an immigration deal cannot be reached. So far, it looks as if there is goodwill only on one side. If the Dreamers don't end up getting the path to citizenship that Trump has offered, it will be for one reason only: because Democrats care more about using illegal immigration to bash Donald Trumpthan they do about actually helping Dreamers. Thiessen writes for the Post on foreign and domestic policy and contributes to the PostPartisan blog. He is a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, and is the former chief speechwriter for President George W. Bush. As an existing print subscriber it is easy to get FREE access to all our online content. When you click get started below it will walk you through creating an online account to attach your print subscription number to. After your account is created it will ask you to either add a subscription for online access or click on the print subscriber button. Click the print subscriber button header and it will open a dropdown, now click on get started. The page will reload and you will be prompted to enter an account number and a zip code. IT IS VERY IMPORTANT TO USE THE NUMBER OFF OF THE MOST RECENT ISSUE OR ANYTHING AFTER JANUARY 28, 2019 TO GAIN ACCESS! OLD ACCOUNT NUMBERS WILL NOT WORK The account number and zip code are easily available on your most recent issue of the High Plains Journal or Midwest Ag Journal in the address fields as is shown here. Sometimes the account number has extra zero's in front of it, just ignore those. Subscribing to our services is a three step process. First you have to create an account and then you have to pick if you want to subscribe to digital and or print. Some people only want to be a digital subscriber to get access online and others want to also receive the print edition. If you are already a print subscriber and want online access, it is free, you simply have to create an online account and then attach your print subscription account number to the online account you create. The Humane Society of the United States announced that it has accepted the resignation of Wayne Pacelle, as president and CEO, effective immediately. Wayne has served in this capacity since 2004, and previously served for 10 years as the organization chief political and communications operative. The HSUS has named Kitty Block as acting president and CEO. Ms. Block, an attorney, is currently president of Humane Society International, the HSUSs global affiliate. The last few days have been very hard for our entire family of staff and supporters, said Rick Bernthal, Chairman of the Board of the HSUS. We are profoundly grateful for Waynes unparalleled level of accomplishments and service to the cause of animal protection and welfare. We are most grateful to Kitty for stepping forward to lead the organization as we continue to advance our mission, which has never been more important, added Bernthal. Ms. Block has served at the HSUS since 1992, first as a legal investigator to the investigations department, then to oversee international policy work related to international trade and treaties. In 2007, she was promoted to Vice President of Humane Society International, later to Senior Vice President, and last year became President of this affiliate overseeing all HSI international campaigns and programs. Ms. Block received a law degree from The George Washington University in 1990 and a bachelors degree in communications and philosophy from the University of New Hampshire in 1986. Additionally, the HSUS announced the resignation of Board member Erika Brunson. How To Land A Record Deal While many emerging artists have chosen to eschew labels, there are still a number of advantages to having the backing of a traditional label. Here we delve into how artists can refine their approach when it comes to trying to land a record deal. _________________________ Guest post by Simon Tam of Last Stop Booking Two of the best performing articles Ive ever written were Unsolicited Music Demos: How to Get in the Door of a Record Label and Record Labels That Accept Unsolicited Demos. This has consistently been the case for nearly five years. It shows that artists are still desperate in trying to unlock the secrets of getting a record deal. The points I made in those pieces are still relevant and I would suggest reading those first. If youre still wanting to work with a record label after that, continue on. It all begins with a change in perspective Finding a Record Label is Like Finding a Spouse Lets face it: desperation doesnt sell. In fact, turning down offers makes you even more desirable (just ask Chance the Rapper). Whether it is the dating market or the music industry, there are a couple of factors that make you irresistible: Confidence. Knowing what makes you special and different than anyone else will help separate you apart (instead of constantly trying to compare yourself to others). Clear direction: Know what you want, have a clear path. They want to know that you have a future and that you plan on getting there with or without them. A good pitch: Instead of using gimmicks or one-liners to get attention, you can give a compelling reason why they should take your call. If label hunting is like going for a serious relationship, then you shouldnt be using mass copy and pasted messages to everyone out there. You should be doing your research to find out who would make a good match and explain why. If youre just going for any record label, youre essentially going for none. However, if you want specific companies because you have a crossover audience and share common values, youll want to make that expressly clear. Otherwise, theyll just be swiping left. More Like a Laser, Less Like a Shotgun Too many artists are using the shotgun approach for getting a booking agent or a record label. These folks are casting a wide net, thinking that through repeated, blanket messages, they might secure a quick phone call that will lead to a deal. They think this is a shortcut, that it saves time instead of playing the long game of building relationships and extending value to others first. Its true: it is easy to copy and paste repeated messages or just to BCC everyone in a contact list. But the reality is that this shotgun approach isnt effective at hitting the target. The reality is that shotguns are only effective at close range. In other words of a deal, it requires a warm introduction, a reputation for giving to others. If you want to hit something far away, you want to use a laser, something that will save both parties time from sorting out the clutter. Answer the following: what is the goal of an A&R rep or label owner? How can working with you meet that goal? Are they able to reach that goal with another more established or well-resourced artist? Even if you had the right contact, are you ready to tour six months a year without a guaranteed income (typical for many initial deals)? If you can address some of these initial concerns while speaking with a contact, your chances of success will increase greatly. Ask not what your label can do for you ask what you can do for your label. Whether you strike a deal or not, you want to constantly find ways to bring them value, even with just an email exchange. Hone in on helping others with their goals. With the shotgun approach, it says I hope I hit you as my target. With the direct approach, youre saying lets hit your target, together. Be Methodical If youre approaching labels, youll want to track when/where you spoke to them last. Begin by having a spreadsheet where you can keep notes and follow up in regular intervals without being annoying. If youre ignored, its OK to be persistent, as long as youre giving them a unique, compelling reason to respond to you. Again, claiming that you are unique or hardworking isnt enough. Dont tell them show them. Go the Non-Traditional Route There are many stories about acts who do creative things like shipping demos with a prosthetic foot attached (with the note Now that Ive got my foot in the door). These might help you stand out initially, but if the product fails to impress, youll be forever remembered as the artist with the foot in their mouth. Instead of only relying on A&R reps to find you or paying to play at a music festival where theyre supposed to be (i.e, pay to play stages at SXSW), try doing things like working with an attorney that has solid relationships with labels. More often than not, attorneys are introducing and brokering deals for artists these days. Catch their attention by doing something press-worthy and inviting them to a cool media showcase (instead of regular show) or build up your influence in Linkedin groups where they network. You can invest money into a slick video that captures their attention, then use Facebook targeted ads to focus on employees of record labels (better use of your money than a pay to play stage). Just get creative and be sure to have a product that is worthy of mass rotation the radio now. Labels are Always Accepting Submissions. And Never Accepting Submissions. Most labels will clearly state that they are not accepting submissions. Despite this, artists will pour their demos in. I remember visiting Sony Music headquarters in New York and seeing entire shopping carts of unopened demos at the time, employees were taking them to local record stores to sell them as used discs and get credit. But the reality is that if there is a compelling enough artist, the door is always open. That begins by proving there is value in that exchange. And that only comes by demonstrating a consistent work ethic and history, solid fan base, and the unique feature that really makes an artist stand out from the rest. An open submission be it a paid opportunity through an EPK site like Sonicbids or ReverbNation will rarely demonstrate that. A demo in the mail or inbox almost never shows this. However, building up a buzz through a great press strategy, hearing about artists who are blowing up in venues across the country, or hearing about them in any other way than the submission form will almost always lead to a listen. It almost seems backwards. But again, its like finding a romantic match if someone has heard nothing but great things about you from their friends, theyre much more likely to go out with you than if you simply sent them a text saying You up? Share on: Mount Greylock Transition Committee May Back Off on Size of Tuition Hike WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. The Mount Greylock Transition Committee last week indicated it may reconsider its "take it or leave it" tuition offer to towns who send students to the preK-12 district. Chairman Joe Bergeron and committee member Chris Dodig told their colleagues at their Jan. 25 meeting that the district received some push back from officials in New Ashford and Hancock about the committee's decision to raise tuition at Mount Greylock by 23 percent and charge $17,843 per student from kindergarten through 12th grade. "It was a good meeting," Dodig said. "They were respectful of what we were doing. They were a little concerned about it. But it was a good meeting and a good group of people." Dodig, Bergeron and interim Superintendent Kimberley Grady met with representatives from New Ashford and Hancock, Bergeron told the committee. "The two challenges they cited were: One, they felt they had not received notification of it," Bergeron said. "I'm coming new to this. I'll admit. The second thing is they asked if there was any way to avoid the number shock when they went back to their townspeople with the number. Is there a way to phase that in? "We said we'd bring that back to our committee." For years, Lanesborough Elementary School and Mount Greylock have been criticized for setting tuition levels below the per-student cost published by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. The third school in the newly expanded Mount Greylock Regional School District, Williamstown Elementary School, has a negligible number of tuition pupils in any given year. At Lanesborough and Mount Greylock, on the other hand, the numbers are more significant. The schools are widely used by families in New Ashford, which lies between Lanesborough and Williamstown, and Hancock, which has its own elementary school, sends a high percentage of its middle-high school students to Mount Greylock. In response to criticism -- including from town officials in Lanesborough -- both the Mount Greylock and Lanesborough school committees moved to increase tuition in recent years. Four years ago, Mount Greylock negotiated a phased-in approach that would have set the Grade 7-12 tuition at $14,477 per student in fiscal 2019. Last year , the Lanesborough committee decided unilaterally to tie tuition for K-6 students to the DESE-published rate, as is done in some other school districts. But although New Ashford was on notice about the increase for Lanesborough School pupils, neither town (nor Stamford, Vt., which sends students to Mount Greylock) discussed the pending hike in tuition for Mount Greylock before the Jan. 2 vote at the first Transition Committee meeting since it assumed control of the expanded district's finances. "I think the takeaway message after all was said and done was their request to phase [the increase] in over two years," Dodig said on Thursday. "I say two, and that's my recollection. They'd prefer a longer phase in, but ultimately it came down to, 'Can you do it in a couple of steps?' "We did invite them to send us more information about how it will affect their budget. I have not seen any of that." Bergeron indicated the discussion with the towns is ongoing. "After tonight, I suspect I'll reach out to them with followup on that," he said in reply to Dodig's comment about not receiving budget data from the towns. On Jan. 2, the Transition Committee discussed having a dialogue with the sending towns before setting the tuition rate but ultimately decided to set a rate that tracks with the DESE figure. Three weeks later, several members of the seven-person committee indicated they might be willing to revisit the question. Steven Miller suggested that a phased tuition increase could be paired with another budget request from the regional school district. "I can see both sides in this," Miller said. "If we're going to phase it in -- we also asked them about sharing the cost of the building. How about phasing in the tuition increase but also asking them to share the cost of the [Mount Greylock building project]?" Carolyn Greene asked for clarification on the delta between the previously negotiated Mount Greylock tuition and the figure voted by the Transition Committee earlier in the month -- from $14,477 to $17,843. "Before this last contract, the rate had been significantly lower," said Greene, who was chair of the Mount Greylock School Committee when the phased-in increase was negotiated for 7-12 students. "The goal of this five-year contract was to move toward the per-pupil rate, but it was phased. That was the most recent precedent Mount Greylock set. "We have not had discussions with them similar to Lanesborough [Elementary School]. I think it's fair to consider phasing." Committee member Dan Caplinger made the point that town officials pressed the then-Mount Greylock School Committee to structure debt payment on the building project such that the impact on town finances would not come all at once. "I think as memory serves with the building project, Williamstown and Lanesborough had a similar discussion about whether to have the tax increase all in one year or to phase it in," Caplinger said. "To me, this seems like a symmetrical request on [the sending towns'] part and worth listening to." Dodig suggested to Bergeron that he put the tuition issue on the agenda for the next Transition Committee meeting and invite members from the sending towns to attend. "I think that makes sense," Bergeron said. "I'll go back to tell them what was discussed here. You can expect it to come up on Feb. 8." SVHC Foundation Welcomes Two To Its Leadership Team Bob Van Degna and William T. (Tom) Ziegler BENNINGTON, Vt. Bob Van Degna and William T. (Tom) Ziegler, both of Dorset, Vt., have joined the Southwestern Vermont Health Care Foundation Board of Directors. "The SVHC Foundation's board of directors is comprised of experienced and compassionate individuals," said Leslie Keefe, SVHC's vice president of corporate development. "Bob and Tom are exceptional additions to this group, and I know our efforts together will further the foundation's mission to engage our community to support our health system." Van Degna grew up in Niskayuna, N.Y., attended Cornell University, served in the U.S. Army, graduated from Harvard Business School and worked for Fleet Bank, where he spent 15 years as the managing director of the company's private equity group. He is an aspiring artist, working primarily as a photographer and documentarian of Turning Pages. In addition, he is a board member of the Southern Vermont Arts Center. He and his wife Mary-Anne have four children and six grandchildren. Ziegler retired after a 30-year career in commercial/corporate real estate. He worked for Texaco and GTE Corporation managing large-scale real estate projects domestically and internationally. In addition, he worked in leadership positions at Cushman & Wakefield and JLL. In addition to his professional work, Ziegler served as chair of the Salisbury School Annual Fund and helped transform the fund in ways that led to $55 million in growth to the organizations endowment. Ziegler and his wife Nancy are members of the Dorset Field Club and the Green Mountain Horse Association. The SVHC Foundation Board of Directors consists of 20 members. Directors are nominated by members of the board. The SVHC Foundation's mission is to engage in development and fundraising activities exclusively for the support of the Southwestern Vermont Health Care Corporation. New Trustee Joins MCLA Board NORTH ADAMS, Mass. Gov. Charlie Baker has appointed Frederick J. Keator, the managing partner of Keator Group, LLC, in Lenox, as the newest member of the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts board of trustees. MCLA President James F. Birge said he is delighted to welcome Keator to the board. "As managing partner of the Keator Group, Frederick has been recognized by numerous organizations as one of America's top independent financial advisors and will bring a wealth of knowledge to MCLA," Birge said. "Over the years, the Keator family has been a great supporter of the College and I look forward to working with him as we continue to advance the work of MCLA." In his position as the Keator Group's managing partner, Keator is responsible for the company's asset management, compliance and day-to-day operations. In addition, Keator was recognized on the 2018 Forbes Top State by State Advisors list; in Registered Rep Magazine as one of America's Top 100 Independent Advisors in 2011; by Barron's Magazine as a Top Advisor in Massachusetts in 2010, 2011 and 2012; and by Research Magazine as one of America's Top Ranked Family Investment Teams in 2006, 2007 and 2008. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court looked at the unconstitutional gerrymander the Republicans in the state legislature perpetrated on the citizens of the state and threw it out . The Justices instructed the Republicans not to show up for prison but to redraw the maps in time for the November midterms. Prison terms would have been more appropriate... but the Court was lenient. One of the leaders of the crooked gang, Senate president Joe Scarnati, announced Wednesday that he doesn't plan to cooperate with what the Supreme Court ordered. This is how desperate Pennsylvania Republicans are to hold onto their illegitimate and illegal power: "In light of the unconstitutionality of the Courts Orders and the Courts plain intent to usurp the General Assemblys constitutionally delegated role of drafting Pennsylvanias congressional districting plan, Sen. Scarnati will not be turning over any data identified in the Courts Orders," his lawyers wrote in a letter to the court. ...In declaring the states congressional map an unconstitutional partisan gerrymander, the state high court ordered a new map redrawn in time for the primary election in May. It gave the General Assembly less than three weeks to approve a new map, then have it signed by Gov. Wolf. If that does not happen, the justices said in their order, they would adopt their own boundaries. Days later, the court issued another order, announcing it had retained Stanford University professor Nathaniel Persily as an adviser and requesting the current municipal boundaries from the General Assembly. It also requested the parties submit maps and technical data used in expert testimony. Lawyers for the plaintiffs-- 18 Democratic voters from across the state-- submitted their maps and data Wednesday, as did a lawyer for Lt. Gov. Mike Stack. Other parties, including Wolf, said they did not have any data to provide. Scarnati and Turzai have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to block the state court ruling, arguing that the U.S. Constitution gives state legislatures the power to run elections. By saying it would intervene and draw its own map, the lawmakers wrote, the state high court takes that power from the legislature. The court has not officially agreed to consider the case, but U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. has requested a response from the plaintiffs by 4 p.m. Friday. In the meantime, lawmakers have taken the initial steps toward drawing new lines. Photo Friday: All Your Trees The Fellowship | February 2, 2018 Photo Friday: All Your Trees Sing for joy, you heavens, for the LORD has done this; shout aloud, you earth beneath. Burst into song, you mountains, you forests and all your trees, for the LORD has redeemed Jacob, he displays his glory in Israel. (Isaiah 44:23) This week, the Jewish people celebrated Gods creation on the holiday of Tu BShvat. And in this photo from 1963, Israels first Prime Minister, David Ben-Gurion, does the same, planting a new tree in the Holy Land with two Israeli children. Shabbat shalom, friends. The Central Bank of Cyprus (CBC) has released its latest analysis of data on non-performing loans in the Cyprus banking sector, covering the period to August 31 2017. The analysis shows aggregate non-performing facilities (NPFs) and related indicators for the domestic operations of credit institutions operating in Cyprus. During the month of August NPFs fell by 497 million ($598 million), a reduction of 2.2%, to 21.9 billion, against a backdrop of a smaller (1.1%) reduction in total facilities, from 49.5 billion to 48.9 billion, over the same period. As a result, the percentage of facilities classified as non-performing fell to 44.7% at the end of August 2017. Total impairment provisions made against NPFs totalled 10 billion as at August 31 2017, accounting for 45.9% of aggregate NPFs. Since the end of 2014 banks have succeeded in reducing aggregate NPFs by 20%, from 27.3 billion to 21.9 million. Total facilities fell from 57.2 million to 48.9 million in the same period, which meant that 44.7% of total facilities were classified as underperforming at the end of the period, compared with 47.8% at the beginning. While the improvement in the quality of debt appears to be marginal, the improvement in coverage by impairment provisions is more marked, with 45.9% of NPFs covered by provisions as at March 31 2017, compared with only 32.8% at the beginning of the period. Non-financial corporations (particularly SMEs) and households account for the lion (39%) share of non-performing debt. The CBC attributes the reduction in NPFs to increased repayments, restructurings successfully completed and reclassified as performing facilities, write-offs and settlement of debt through swaps with immovable property intended to be sold with the aim of faster cash collection. Recognising the effect that wholesale foreclosure and forced sale of assets pledged as security may have on the property market, the CBC continues to encourage credit institutions to make intensive efforts to restructure NPFs in cases where viable settlements are possible. Elias Neocleous 2021 Euromoney Institutional Investor PLC. For help please see our FAQs. Share this article To access our in-house intelligence please request a trial here. Read this article and more for a 30 day period. Are you already an IFLR subscriber? Login here Roxane Gay has hit back at not being invited to the premier of the new Black Panther film despite being the writer of the Marvel comic series Black Panther: World of Wakanda. Gay, who wrote the New York Times best-selling essay collection Bad Feminist, said the apparent snub had hurt her feelings but she was still excited to see the film which has received rave reviews. The feminist author wrote the Black Panther spinoff comic book series for Marvel with poet Yona Harvey back in 2016. The pair are the first two black women to author a series for Marvel. Gay tweeted: My feelings are real hurt that I didnt get an invite to the Black Panther premiere. I mean goddamn Marvel. Goddamn. The author added: Im still thrilled about the movie and cant wait to see it. Recommended Black Panther is officially the most anticipated superhero film ever She continued: And I mean. Its fine. Im not fancy. Just admitting that my lil feelings were hurt. After fellow Twitter user, Jen Lawrence, asked Gay whether to contact Marvel via Twitter, she said: There is no need. I was just lamenting. Christopher Priest and Ta-Nehisi Coates, who wrote the most notable Black Panther comic book runs, could also not be seen at the premiere night. However is not clear whether they received an invite and simply chose not to show up or were not photographed at the event. World of Wakanda traces the stories of two African women, Ayo and Aneka, who are lovers and ex members of the Dora Milaje the Black Panthers female security force. The series ran for just six issues before it was cancelled. Gay, a contributing opinion writer for the New York Times, is an associate professor of English at Purdue University and co-editor of a nonprofit literary arts collective called PANK. Black Panther hits UK cinemas on 12 February. The Independent contacted Gay, Marvel, Priest and Coates for comment. Art has always been interlinked with obsession, with control. Yet when Paul Thomas Anderson sought a home for his own tale of male genius unspun, it was the world of fashion that offered up the ideal stage; for a battleground, of sorts, between cantankerous dressmaker Reynolds Woodcock (Daniel Day-Lewis) and his muse Alma (Vicky Krieps). He is a man who stands with his greatest mastery when carefully draping silk on the female form. She seeks to find the subversion in his personality that will finally give her the upper hand. The fact that Phantom Threads tale of vicious love is set in a couture house only became fully clear to me after a visit to London College of Fashion. What began as an introduction to its basic techniques, specifically in the draping of fabric on a mannequin to first materialise the shape of a garment, slowly morphed into an awakening of just how much the craft demands of its creators. Utterly all-consuming in its nature, so threatened with unfulfilment its no surprise to discover that Reynolds may only have half a mind, and half a heart, to offer Alma. The precision is maddening. Even the simplest of dress shapes still requires a deft touch, folding woven fabrics along their bias the most elastic, malleable of edges and then carefully pinning them to a mannequin in a way that aligns with the natural curves of the body. To hug the form, but not to suffocate it. A single edge not in its correct, logical place, and the whole creation suddenly looks lopsided. Take everything apart. Start again, from the beginning. I pinned and unpinned the bodice so many times, it felt like Id no longer understand perfection if I ever even saw it. Draping at the London College of Fashion What other kind of personality other than Reynolds could actually thrive under such circumstances? thats what my parting thoughts of the day came down to. Andersons film finds the comedic in his male leads own rigorous fussiness, in his distaste for stodgy goods, or the fact that the sound of butter scraping on toast can sound like a gun going off in his brain. Reynolds, indeed, seems to operate on the same mindset both within, and outside of, his artistic works. He must have absolute control over fabric, over his environment, over the people in his life. And its a control that never really seems to subside, as theres an internal frustration to fashion that co-exists with its abundant creativity. As Jax Black, Senior Costume Technician at London College of Fashion, explains, true innovation in the business can often seem non-existent. Designers may make a determined search for the one, truly new look, yet that new look can seem utterly out of grasp in an art form so cyclical in nature. You need only to look at the flow of 20th-century fashion: the tight waists and full skirts of the 1950s are snatched straight from a largely ignored period in WWI, in which dresses looked to retain their strict femininity, while also throwing out the impractical nature of the corset since women were now flocking into employment. The 1970s called back to the slinky cuts of the 1930s through the likes of Pucci and Laura Ashley, while the 1980s took on the padded shoulder trend of the 1940s, to reflect women gaining stature in the workplace. This almost Sisyphean pursuit surely calls for only the most powerful of personalities, especially when such arduous practical demands also come into play. A couture dress, as Jax explains, can take 10 workers about six months to create; a time in which fixation and obsession seem only destined to grow. Access unlimited streaming of movies and TV shows with Amazon Prime Video Sign up now for a 30-day free trial Sign up Phantom Thread - Trailer To mutate, even, into something monstrous. And what occurs if the end result is anything less than perfect? Theres a telling scene in Phantom Thread, in fact, when Reynolds finally examines the piece created for one of his dearest, most high-profile clients. He takes one look at it, and is immediately repulsed. The troublesome genius as evident in Andersons film does, pointedly, find reflection in the biographies of some of fashions greatest luminaries. It feels no mere coincidence that the V&A recently held a screening of Phantom Thread at the very same time as its exhibition on Cristobal Balenciaga, the man described by Christian Dior as the master of us all. Mastery was as central to his life as it is to Reynolds. Balenciaga, like Reynolds, was the child of a seamstress, born in the Basque province of Gipuzkoa, and spent much of his childhood in his mothers workroom as she created dresses for her private clients. One of them was Marques de Casa Torres, and by the time Balenciaga was in his teens, she had become his first client. While women were almost always taught to sew, the skill was a rarity amongst men. If a man was taught, it was usually for a specific purpose, which must have always embedded a little sense of predestination into their heads. The designers perfectionism grew key to his talent, for his work has always been best known for its sense of absolute precision. His tulip dress, for example, consists of a single piece of fabric laid completely flat at the front, but carefully fitted with a tight corset at the back to retain the wearers curves. The tulip dress, as displayed at V&As exhibition Balenciaga: Shaping Fashion He was also famously particular about the fabrics he used, sometimes matching his own fabric colours by only utilising a few pieces of thread hed picked up off the floor. He was a demanding, but close-working client for fabric manufacturers and was known for declaring: It is the fabric that decides. Another clear source of inspiration for Andersons Reynolds is Charles James, a man also acclaimed for his eccentric personality, unorthodox methods, and structured approach to dressmaking. He lacked formal training and so relied heavily on mathematical, sculptural, and architectural concepts in his designs; his work fluctuated between close-fitting dresses that hugged the body, others that idealised it through padding and draping, and some that turned the body into something utterly fantastical. At the height of his career, he was custom-fitting gowns for some of Americas most prominent women, from heiresses to journalists to entertainers. Jamess own perfectionism was well known, and mutated often into eccentricity. He was once so unsatisfied with one of his models that he dismissed her and simply wore the gowns himself to present at Bergdorf Goodman. At other times, hed lock his staff in the studio overnight if he thought they werent working hard enough. He even refused to serve clients if he deemed them unattractive, telling one woman: I couldnt possibly make anything for a frump like you. The clients he accepted, however, adored him. But they proved not enough to sustain James career. His eccentricity became his own destruction, making him incompatible with the growing ready-to-wear industry. Like Reynolds, he probably thought the term chic was a filthy little word, but Jamess focus on couture as a deific art was simply at odds with the industrys reliance on broadening consumerism. Cyril Woodcock (Lesley Manville) examines the workroom in Phantom Thread Combined with frequent litigations spawned from his spats with the companies he worked with and a general irresponsibility with his finances, James ended up spending the last 14 years of his life working from a small studio in the Chelsea Hotel, attended by only his most loyal friends, and a beagle named Sputnik. Indeed, Phantom Threads vision of couture genius, the reclusive artist, has little place in modern fashion. Whatever may occur behind closed doors, we live now in the age of the celebrity designer; the showman, a kind which perhaps takes more cues from Christian Diors acute sense of professionalism (despite his notorious shyness). While Balenciaga believed matters like bowing at the end of runway shows to be frivolous, Karl Lagerfeld is now a face so recognisable he can print it on his companys own designs. Its hard to imagine Reynolds Woodcock would react well to such news. Phantom Thread is in UK cinemas now. It seems the next film from Quentin Tarantino will focus more heavily on the Manson Family Murders than he previously suggested. Few details are known about the filmmaker's ninth film other than the reports which claimed the brutal massacre, which ended the lives of Sharon Tate - who was eight and a half months pregnant -Steve Parent, Jay Sebring, Wojciech Frykowski, and Abigail Folger, would merely provide a backdrop to the main story of a TV actor hoping to break into the film business. According to Variety's Justin Kroll, however, Roman Polanski is set to appear as a character in what has been described as a key role in the film - a controversial decision considering the French-Polish director's troubling past; he was arrested for the sexual assault of a 13-year-old girl in 1978 and later fled the US to Europe where he has worked ever since. For the role of Polanski, who was married to Tate at the time of her murder in their home in 1969, Tarantino is said to be looking for an authentic Polish thespian" to play the role. BANNED: The most controversial films - Part II Show all 10 1 /10 BANNED: The most controversial films - Part II BANNED: The most controversial films - Part II 359062.bin BANNED: The most controversial films - Part II 359064.bin

Mikey

Opening with a boy killing his parents, the film follows Mikey, a disturbed little boy who murders his family, and moves onto his adoptive parents. Mikey had, in fact, been passed '18' uncut by the BBFC in November 1992. This fi BANNED: The most controversial films - Part II 359066.bin BANNED: The most controversial films - Part II 359068.bin BANNED: The most controversial films - Part II 359070.bin BANNED: The most controversial films - Part II 359072.bin BANNED: The most controversial films - Part II 359075.bin BANNED: The most controversial films - Part II 359076.bin BANNED: The most controversial films - Part II 359077.bin BANNED: The most controversial films - Part II 359078.bin Film fans expressed their worried thoughts on this development on social media. One actor confirmed to appear is Leonardo DiCaprio who will reportedly play a neighbour of Tate's while Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt are said to be circling the role of a prosecutor (not a stuntman as previously reported). Margot Robbie has been linked to the role of film star Tate who was 26 when she was murdered. The film will be released by Sony after Tarantino pulled the project away from longtime collaborators The Weinstein Company following the allegations of sexual harassment and assault against Harvey Weinstein. Tarantino's as-of-yet untitled film will arrive in cinemas 9 August 2019 - the 50th anniversary of the Manson Family Murders which were carried out by followers of cult leader Charles Manson. Follow Independent Culture on Facebook A powerful antibiotic described as a drug of last resort is being used on an industrial scale by farmers around the world, often on healthy animals and in a practice that poses risks to human health. Colistin is given to chickens and other farm animals to make them gain weight faster and as pre-emptive protection against disease. But the antibiotic is also used as a last line of defence in humans whose infections are not responding to other drugs. And public health experts have warned about a new colistin-resistant gene that could leave some infections untreatable. A report by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism found 2,800 tonnes of the drug were shipped to developing countries including India, Vietnam, Russia, Mexico, Colombia and Bolivia for use on animals in 2016. The bureau said the total was likely to be higher as the product could be delivered under a different name, and to countries which do not make their customs data public. India, which is regarded as one of the worst offenders for antibiotic misuse, received hundreds of tonnes of colistin for routine use in animals, particularly chickens. The south Asian nation is expected to see the highest growth in drug use in animals of any country over the next decade, with estimates suggesting as much as 4,800 tonnes of antibiotics will be used in feed by 2030 an 80 per cent increase on current levels. Research published in the journal Science showed two antibiotics tetracyclines and fluoroquinolones, which can treat illnesses including cholera and malaria were the most commonly used drugs in animal feed. Overuse of antibiotics in animals and humans is contributing to the rising threat of antibiotic resistance, with some types of bacteria already having developed resistance to most or all of the available treatments. Antibiotic-resistant infections spread through Europe Show all 4 1 /4 Antibiotic-resistant infections spread through Europe Antibiotic-resistant infections spread through Europe K. pneumoniaeis one of the toughest super-infections Alamy Antibiotic-resistant infections spread through Europe Amoxicillin, the commonest antibiotic prescribed by GPs Antibiotic-resistant infections spread through Europe Antibiotic resistance cycle Antibiotic-resistant infections spread through Europe Antibiotic-resistant infections in Europe Maryn McKenna, author of Plucked, which details antibiotic use in agriculture, said drug misuse on farms was a threat to human health everywhere, whether or not we are eating the chicken produced on those farms. She told The Independent: Pathogens cross borders with impunity, not only on meat but through the environment and in the bodies of people who have already acquired them. Ms McKenna added that farmers in Europe and North America had demonstrated that antibiotics were not needed for large-scale poultry farming, and noted that the Indian government had declined to regulate antibiotics that other countries have banned. However, the problem is not just limited to chickens, or farms outside Europe. Nearly half of all antibiotics used in the UK are given to animals, with many used in pig factory farming as poor conditions and high infection rates mean the medication is the only way to keep the animals alive. Tracy Worcester, of Farms not Factories, said: With the increase in animal factories, we are opening the door to antibiotic resistant diseases like salmonella, E.coli, campylobacter and the pig strain of MRSA that spread from the workers and neighbours, through the air and contaminated water. Roger Harrison, a senior lecturer in public health at the University of Manchester, said the issue of antibiotic resistance was also down to humans taking far too many, for far too long and mainly because we havent even needed them. Prof Harrison, who also chairs Action on Antibiotic Drug Resistance, added: We need to be concerned as tens of thousands of people die because of this, and plenty more will continue to do so until we get new antibiotics in the pipeline, improve sanitation and general infection control. The British Poultry Council has pledged to not use colistin, although the commitment does not cover all poultry producers since the BPC only accounts for 90 per cent of the UK poultry-meat industry. Coilin Nunan, of the Alliance to Save Our Antibiotics, argued that last-resort antibiotics like colistin should never be used in farming. The UK livestock industry only uses small amounts of colistin. This is mainly in the pig industry, but compared to many other countries, the quantities used of this particular antibiotic in the UK are very small, she told The Independent. Dr Awa Aidara-Kane, a scientist at the World Health Organisations Foodborne and Zoonotic Diseases Department, said there was an urgent need for prudent use of antibiotics in both human medicine and in agriculture. She added: Studies in several countries have shown that the use of antimicrobials for growth promotion is no longer considered effective or needed in food animal production. Improved hygiene, biosecurity and use of vaccines can be effective alternatives to ensure animal health without routine use of antibiotics for disease prevention. American retailer Target has been criticised for selling a sexist make-up bag in their stores. Dana Suchow, a writer, stylist and activist is the creator of a fashion blog called Do The Hotpants. She regularly posts on social media about breaking away from unattainable beauty standards that have been perpetuated by society. Earlier this week, Suchow came across a make-up bag being sold at Target with the slogan: Better late than ugly written across it. Suchow felt angered by the message this make-up bag was spreading; that women should prioritise making themselves look pretty above being punctual. This is what we want young girls and women thinking? she wrote on Instagram. That its better to arrive late than to arrive UGLY?? We live in a society that is constantly telling women that being beautiful is more important than ANYTHING. Make-up bags like this are considered cute and funny, but the underlying message that we end up internalising over and over, is that its unacceptable to be ugly. Suchow has suffered from skin issues and insecurities in the past. As a result, she spent many days taking a long time to apply make-up to conceal her acne, something that she doesnt want other girls and women to feel the pressure to do. I want to live in a world where girls dont have the same painful insecurities I grew up believing, she wrote. Target isnt the only retailer to have sold products adorned with that particular statement. However, several of Suchows followers have commented on her post to express their agreement with her opinion. I dont think theres anything silly or trivial about things like this, one person wrote. These kinds of messages are toxic. Capitalism relies on women having non-existent self-esteem and buying copious amounts of lotions, potions, cosmetics, and personal care items all designed to make them look pretty, youthful, sexy, a sum of their parts, and most importantly, attractive to the male gaze. Target has since responded to Suchows criticism to say that theyve removed the product from their stores and online. Bitcoin has plunged below $8,000 as its dramatic slump continues leaving it a long way from the heights achieved weeks ago. The value of the cryptocurrency almost reached the $20,000 mark in December, with analysts predicting its rise to continue. Experts are now suggesting that those high prices might have been the result of market manipulation. Gadget and tech news: In pictures Show all 25 1 /25 Gadget and tech news: In pictures Gadget and tech news: In pictures Gun-toting humanoid robot sent into space Russia has launched a humanoid robot into space on a rocket bound for the International Space Station (ISS). The robot Fedor will spend 10 days aboard the ISS practising skills such as using tools to fix issues onboard. Russia's deputy prime minister Dmitry Rogozin has previously shared videos of Fedor handling and shooting guns at a firing range with deadly accuracy. Dmitry Rogozin/Twitter Gadget and tech news: In pictures Google turns 21 Google celebrates its 21st birthday on September 27. The The search engine was founded in September 1998 by two PhD students, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, in their dormitories at Californias Stanford University. Page and Brin chose the name google as it recalled the mathematic term 'googol', meaning 10 raised to the power of 100 Google Gadget and tech news: In pictures Hexa drone lifts off Chief engineer of LIFT aircraft Balazs Kerulo demonstrates the company's "Hexa" personal drone craft in Lago Vista, Texas on June 3 2019 Reuters Gadget and tech news: In pictures Project Scarlett to succeed Xbox One Microsoft announced Project Scarlett, the successor to the Xbox One, at E3 2019. The company said that the new console will be 4 times as powerful as the Xbox One and is slated for a release date of Christmas 2020 Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures First new iPod in four years Apple has announced the new iPod Touch, the first new iPod in four years. The device will have the option of adding more storage, up to 256GB Apple Gadget and tech news: In pictures Folding phone may flop Samsung will cancel orders of its Galaxy Fold phone at the end of May if the phone is not then ready for sale. The $2000 folding phone has been found to break easily with review copies being recalled after backlash PA Gadget and tech news: In pictures Charging mat non-starter Apple has cancelled its AirPower wireless charging mat, which was slated as a way to charge numerous apple products at once AFP/Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures "Super league" India shoots down satellite India has claimed status as part of a "super league" of nations after shooting down a live satellite in a test of new missile technology EPA Gadget and tech news: In pictures 5G incoming 5G wireless internet is expected to launch in 2019, with the potential to reach speeds of 50mb/s Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures Uber halts driverless testing after death Uber has halted testing of driverless vehicles after a woman was killed by one of their cars in Tempe, Arizona. March 19 2018 Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures A humanoid robot gestures during a demo at a stall in the Indian Machine Tools Expo, IMTEX/Tooltech 2017 held in Bangalore Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures A humanoid robot gestures during a demo at a stall in the Indian Machine Tools Expo, IMTEX/Tooltech 2017 held in Bangalore Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures Engineers test a four-metre-tall humanoid manned robot dubbed Method-2 in a lab of the Hankook Mirae Technology in Gunpo, south of Seoul, South Korea Jung Yeon-Je/AFP/Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures Engineers test a four-metre-tall humanoid manned robot dubbed Method-2 in a lab of the Hankook Mirae Technology in Gunpo, south of Seoul, South Korea Jung Yeon-Je/AFP/Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures The giant human-like robot bears a striking resemblance to the military robots starring in the movie 'Avatar' and is claimed as a world first by its creators from a South Korean robotic company Jung Yeon-Je/AFP/Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures Engineers test a four-metre-tall humanoid manned robot dubbed Method-2 in a lab of the Hankook Mirae Technology in Gunpo, south of Seoul, South Korea Jung Yeon-Je/AFP/Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures Waseda University's saxophonist robot WAS-5, developed by professor Atsuo Takanishi Rex Gadget and tech news: In pictures Waseda University's saxophonist robot WAS-5, developed by professor Atsuo Takanishi and Kaptain Rock playing one string light saber guitar perform jam session Rex Gadget and tech news: In pictures A test line of a new energy suspension railway resembling the giant panda is seen in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China Reuters Gadget and tech news: In pictures A test line of a new energy suspension railway, resembling a giant panda, is seen in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China Reuters Gadget and tech news: In pictures A concept car by Trumpchi from GAC Group is shown at the International Automobile Exhibition in Guangzhou, China Rex Gadget and tech news: In pictures A Mirai fuel cell vehicle by Toyota is displayed at the International Automobile Exhibition in Guangzhou, China Reuters Gadget and tech news: In pictures A visitor tries a Nissan VR experience at the International Automobile Exhibition in Guangzhou, China Reuters Gadget and tech news: In pictures A man looks at an exhibit entitled 'Mimus' a giant industrial robot which has been reprogrammed to interact with humans during a photocall at the new Design Museum in South Kensington, London Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures A new Israeli Da-Vinci unmanned aerial vehicle manufactured by Elbit Systems is displayed during the 4th International conference on Home Land Security and Cyber in the Israeli coastal city of Tel Aviv Getty Bitcoin has fallen 8 per cent over the last day, and more than 21 per cent over the last month. It appeared to be recovering during the day, however, as the result of swift buying in the market. However, this is the kind of activity that is raising concern among some regulators. Other cryptocurrencies are seeing even more dramatic drops. Litecoin, once seen as the heir to bitcoins crown, has dropped by 50 per cent over the last month. Recommended Bitcoin conference rented a Miami strip club and later regretted it Connor Campbell, an analyst at Spreadex, described the decline as a horror show, and pointed to reports that the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission is investigating whether market manipulation was at play in the cryptocurrencys rise. The cryptocurrency has had a horror show week already, dragged lower by regulation changes in South Korea and news that Facebook is banning adverts for the product on its site. Already feeling delicate, Bitcoin was then dealt another major blow this Friday, plunging 10.5 per cent to $8,000 following reports that the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission is investigating the cryptocurrencys ludicrous end of 2017 rise for signs of market manipulation, he said. Along with South Korea, regulators in China, Russia and now India have expressed concern about Bitcoin. Germanys Bundesbank has also called for global regulation of Bitcoin, while Frances finance minister wants tougher rules for cryptocurrencies. However, despite its dramatic collapse, Bitcoin remains significantly higher than its $900 position recorded in January 2017. Earlier this month the US billionaire Warren Buffett ruled out a foray into cryptocurrencies, warning that the Bitcoin boom will come to a bad ending. The chairman and chief executive of Berkshire Hathaway has joined the chorus of voices criticising the digital currency. His comments came just a day after JP Morgan chief executive Jamie Dimon said he regretted calling Bitcoin a fraud. Additional reporting by agencies Weve teamed up with cryptocurrency trading platform eToro. Click here to get the latest Bitcoin rates and start trading. Cryptocurrencies are a highly volatile unregulated investment product. No EU investor protection. 75% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs. Bitcoin is plunging in part because of a report that India could ban trading in cryptocurrencies entirely. The report appears to have been misleading. The Indian government appeared to have been only announcing that it could add extra regulation to bitcoin but in an ambiguous statement that hasn't stopped it dragging the value of cryptocurrencies down. A whole host of fears have led the price of cryptocurrencies across the market to plunge. But among them was worries that Indian could ban trading entirely a decision that would immediately cut off a huge market and inevitably lead to a drop in the value of cryptocurrency. Gadget and tech news: In pictures Show all 25 1 /25 Gadget and tech news: In pictures Gadget and tech news: In pictures Gun-toting humanoid robot sent into space Russia has launched a humanoid robot into space on a rocket bound for the International Space Station (ISS). The robot Fedor will spend 10 days aboard the ISS practising skills such as using tools to fix issues onboard. Russia's deputy prime minister Dmitry Rogozin has previously shared videos of Fedor handling and shooting guns at a firing range with deadly accuracy. Dmitry Rogozin/Twitter Gadget and tech news: In pictures Google turns 21 Google celebrates its 21st birthday on September 27. The The search engine was founded in September 1998 by two PhD students, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, in their dormitories at Californias Stanford University. Page and Brin chose the name google as it recalled the mathematic term 'googol', meaning 10 raised to the power of 100 Google Gadget and tech news: In pictures Hexa drone lifts off Chief engineer of LIFT aircraft Balazs Kerulo demonstrates the company's "Hexa" personal drone craft in Lago Vista, Texas on June 3 2019 Reuters Gadget and tech news: In pictures Project Scarlett to succeed Xbox One Microsoft announced Project Scarlett, the successor to the Xbox One, at E3 2019. The company said that the new console will be 4 times as powerful as the Xbox One and is slated for a release date of Christmas 2020 Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures First new iPod in four years Apple has announced the new iPod Touch, the first new iPod in four years. The device will have the option of adding more storage, up to 256GB Apple Gadget and tech news: In pictures Folding phone may flop Samsung will cancel orders of its Galaxy Fold phone at the end of May if the phone is not then ready for sale. The $2000 folding phone has been found to break easily with review copies being recalled after backlash PA Gadget and tech news: In pictures Charging mat non-starter Apple has cancelled its AirPower wireless charging mat, which was slated as a way to charge numerous apple products at once AFP/Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures "Super league" India shoots down satellite India has claimed status as part of a "super league" of nations after shooting down a live satellite in a test of new missile technology EPA Gadget and tech news: In pictures 5G incoming 5G wireless internet is expected to launch in 2019, with the potential to reach speeds of 50mb/s Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures Uber halts driverless testing after death Uber has halted testing of driverless vehicles after a woman was killed by one of their cars in Tempe, Arizona. March 19 2018 Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures A humanoid robot gestures during a demo at a stall in the Indian Machine Tools Expo, IMTEX/Tooltech 2017 held in Bangalore Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures A humanoid robot gestures during a demo at a stall in the Indian Machine Tools Expo, IMTEX/Tooltech 2017 held in Bangalore Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures Engineers test a four-metre-tall humanoid manned robot dubbed Method-2 in a lab of the Hankook Mirae Technology in Gunpo, south of Seoul, South Korea Jung Yeon-Je/AFP/Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures Engineers test a four-metre-tall humanoid manned robot dubbed Method-2 in a lab of the Hankook Mirae Technology in Gunpo, south of Seoul, South Korea Jung Yeon-Je/AFP/Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures The giant human-like robot bears a striking resemblance to the military robots starring in the movie 'Avatar' and is claimed as a world first by its creators from a South Korean robotic company Jung Yeon-Je/AFP/Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures Engineers test a four-metre-tall humanoid manned robot dubbed Method-2 in a lab of the Hankook Mirae Technology in Gunpo, south of Seoul, South Korea Jung Yeon-Je/AFP/Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures Waseda University's saxophonist robot WAS-5, developed by professor Atsuo Takanishi Rex Gadget and tech news: In pictures Waseda University's saxophonist robot WAS-5, developed by professor Atsuo Takanishi and Kaptain Rock playing one string light saber guitar perform jam session Rex Gadget and tech news: In pictures A test line of a new energy suspension railway resembling the giant panda is seen in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China Reuters Gadget and tech news: In pictures A test line of a new energy suspension railway, resembling a giant panda, is seen in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China Reuters Gadget and tech news: In pictures A concept car by Trumpchi from GAC Group is shown at the International Automobile Exhibition in Guangzhou, China Rex Gadget and tech news: In pictures A Mirai fuel cell vehicle by Toyota is displayed at the International Automobile Exhibition in Guangzhou, China Reuters Gadget and tech news: In pictures A visitor tries a Nissan VR experience at the International Automobile Exhibition in Guangzhou, China Reuters Gadget and tech news: In pictures A man looks at an exhibit entitled 'Mimus' a giant industrial robot which has been reprogrammed to interact with humans during a photocall at the new Design Museum in South Kensington, London Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures A new Israeli Da-Vinci unmanned aerial vehicle manufactured by Elbit Systems is displayed during the 4th International conference on Home Land Security and Cyber in the Israeli coastal city of Tel Aviv Getty The worries began with reports of a speech by finance minister Arun Jaitley, which did criticise the use of cryptocurrencies. Indian lawmakers have sometimes attempted to institute formal regulation for bitcoin, while at other times arguing that its use at the moment is illegal and suggesting it could be subject to a crackdown. The government does not consider cryptocurrencies legal tender or coin and will take all measures to eliminate use of these cryptoassets in financing illegitimate activities or as part of the payment system, Mr Jaitley told parliament in his annual budget speech. Recommended Falling bitcoin price highlights new fears around digital money The ambiguous statement was reported in a range of media as a suggestion that India could ban the use of cryptocurrencies because they were illegal. But it seems that in fact Mr Jaitley was only suggesting the country would look to ban the use of cryptocurrency for illegal activity, at least according to major digital currency companies in india. India will however look to use blockchain technology which underlies cryptocurrency as part of the government, said Mr Jaitley. Mr Jaitley is far from the only world leader to have suggested such a crackdown. Leaders from the UK prime minister to Donald Trump's most senior financial policymaker have suggested that they could pursue new regulation, which they claim is an attempt to stop digital currencies being used to finance and allow illegal behaviour. New regulations are expected to arrive after the G20 meeting in March, when many of the world's most powerful finance ministers meet. France, Germany and other countries have suggested they'll bring new proposals to that discussion, and attempt to institute them at an international level. Weve teamed up with cryptocurrency trading platform eToro. Click here to get the latest Bitcoin rates and start trading. Cryptocurrencies are a highly volatile unregulated investment product. No EU investor protection. 75% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs. A pair of ballet dancers delighted their audience when they became engaged after a production of Romeo and Juliet. Last Saturday, Nikolay Maltsev and Ksenia Zakharova were performing as the titular characters of Shakespeares tragic love story at the Novosibirsk State Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre in Russia. While taking their curtain call at the end of the performance, Zakharova, who was making her debut as Juliet, wasnt expecting the surprise that Maltsev had in store for her. As the couple gracefully accepted the applause, Maltsev, who joined the company in 2014, stealthily snuck behind the stage curtain for a moment to retrieve an engagement ring. While Zakharova was taking her individual bow, Maltsev went down on one knee behind her, much to the audiences excitement. When Zakharova turned around and spotted Maltsev, she couldnt believe her eyes. Recommended Single mum in India breaks tradition to give daughter away at wedding After taking a few moments to gather her emotions, she happily accepted his proposal while the audience cheered in response. The loved-up couple continued their bows and curtseys, albeit with slightly less composure than before. Finally, Maltsev presented his new fiancee with a bouquet of red roses before they left the stage hand-in-hand. The theatre shared a video of the romantic proposal on social media, with many people commenting on how special a moment it was. One person commented: It was very unexpected, beautiful and touching! Nikolay is a real romantic! Another person wrote: How cool As in a fairy tale Maltsev and Zakharova are due to perform together again this month, with the two starring the theatres production of The Nutcracker as The Nutcracker/Prince and Masha respectively. The Labour Party said this week that it is considering plans to enforce compulsory purchase orders on undeveloped land in a bid to cut the public cost of building new council homes. The Conservative housing secretary, Sajid Javid, has suggested something that sounded similar in a newspaper interview, saying such measures could speed up private housing construction projects. The proposals come amid widespread claims that speculators are land banking for profit and blocking the delivery of badly-needed new homes. But what are compulsory purchase orders? Would these measures work in increasing housing supply? And is land banking really happening? What are compulsory purchase orders? They are a provision within the law for certain state bodies, such as local authorities, to obtain private land without the consent of the owner. Its traditionally been used when the broader public good is deemed to be served by the land being acquired to allow a new infrastructure project to go ahead, such as a motorway or public amenity. The authority has to demonstrate in court that there is a compelling case in the public interest and the landowners are able to challenge this. If the compulsory purchase order is successful the landowner has to be compensated by the state. Whats it all got to do with housing? Compulsory purchase can be used to enable new housing developments too. And this can be expensive. Agricultural or brownfield land with residential planning development approval - or the prospect of such approval - is worth many times the value of land without it, reflecting the simple fact that houses have a high market price. Labours plan is apparently to create an English Sovereign Land Trust with powers to compulsorily purchase land for housing at prices which exclude any prospective planning approval uplift value from the compensation. This would make compulsory purchase cheaper and thus reduce the cost to the public purse of building new homes on the land. Labour says it can accomplish this by altering the 1961 Land Compensation Act. Mr Javids idea is less ambitious. He says Homes England, the Governments housing agency, should simply use its existing compulsory purchasing powers more readily to speed up new developments. However, Mr Javid did also raise the idea of new charges on land to ensure the state takes a portion of that uplift to support local infrastructure and development. UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 8 September 2021 Workers cross London Bridge during the morning rush hour in London Reuters UK news in pictures Mixing it up: Painting it up press view in London A gallery employee poses for photographers next to a painting entitled Prairie by British artist, Louise Giovanelli during the exhibition 'Mixing it up: Painting it up' at the Hayward Gallery in London EPA UK news in pictures 6 September 2021 Traders in the Ring at the London Metal Exchange, in the City of London, after open-outcry trading returned for the first time since March 2020, when the Ring was temporarily closed due to the pandemic PA UK news in pictures 5 September 2021 People enjoy the warm weather on Sandbanks beach, Poole PA UK news in pictures 4 September 2021 Demonstrators from Animal Rebellion and Nature Rebellion protest in Trafalgar Square in London. PA UK news in pictures 3 September 2021 South Africa's Ntando Mahlangu (centre) wins the Men's 200 metres T61 Final ahead of second placed Great Britain's Richard Whitehead at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games PA UK news in pictures 2 September 2021 A young common seal on the beach at Horsey Gap in Norfolk, as hundreds of pregnant grey seals come ashore ready for the start of the pupping season. PA UK news in pictures 1 September 2021 Goldfinches fighting over food in a garden in Strensham, Worcestershire PA UK news in pictures 31 August 2021 Gold Medallist Sarah Storey of Britain celebrates on the podium Reuters UK news in pictures 30 August 2021 Extinction Rebellion protesters hold a a tea party on Tower Bridge in London EPA UK news in pictures 29 August 2021 A police office tussles with a demonstrator on Cromwell Road outside the Natural History Museum during a protest by members of Extinction Rebellion in London PA UK news in pictures 28 August 2021 Members of the British armed forces 16 Air Assault Brigade walk to the air terminal after disembarking a Royal Airforce Voyager aircraft at Brize Norton, Oxfordshire POOL/AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 27 August 2021 Fabio Quartararo crashes during a MotoGP practice session at the British Grand Prix, Silverstone Circuit Action Images via Reuters UK news in pictures 26 August 2021 An Extinction Rebellion activist holds a placard in a fountain surrounded by police officers, during a protest next to Buckingham Palace in London Reuters UK news in pictures 25 August 2021 Gold Medallist Great Britains cyclist, Sarah Storey, celebrates after winning the Womens C5 3000m Individual Pursuit Final at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games. It was her 15th Paralympic gold Reuters UK news in pictures 24 August 2021 A demonstrator dressed as bee during a protest by members of Extinction Rebellion on Whitehall, in central London PA UK news in pictures 23 August 2021 Former interpreters for the British forces in Afghanistan demonstrate outside the Home Office in central London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 22 August 2021 Police officers form a line in front of the entrance to the Guildhall, London, where protesters have climbed onto a ledge above the entrance during an Extinction Rebellion stage a protest PA UK news in pictures 21 August 2021 People take part in a demonstration in solidarity with people of Afghanistan, in London Reuters UK news in pictures 20 August 2021 People zip wire across the sea from Bournemouth pier towards the beach. PA UK news in pictures 19 August 2021 Supporters of Geronimo the alpaca gather outside Shepherds Close Farm in Wooton Under Edge, Gloucestershire PA UK news in pictures 18 August 2021 Former Afghan interpreters and veterans hold a demonstration outside Downing Street, calling for support and protection for Afghan interpreters and their families PA UK news in pictures 17 August 2021 Military personnel board the RAF Airbus A400M at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire, where evacuation flights from Afghanistan have been landing Reuters UK news in pictures 16 August 2021 Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer takes part in a minute's silence at Wolverhampton police station for the victims of the Plymouth mass shooting last week PA UK news in pictures 15 August 2021 2Storm, a ten-metre tall puppet of a mythical goddess of the sea created by Edinburgh-based visual theatre company Vision Mechanics, makes its way alongside the seafront at North Berwick, East Lothian, during a performance at the Fringe By The Sea festival PA UK news in pictures 14 August 2021 A woman and two young girls look at floral tributes in Plymouth where six people, including the offender, died of gunshot wounds in a firearms incident PA UK news in pictures 13 August 2021 Forensic officers in the Keyham area of Plymouth where six people, including the shooter, died of gunshot wounds in a firearms incident on Thursday evening PA UK news in pictures 12 August 2021 Children ride horses in the River Eden in Appleby, Cumbria, during the annual gathering of travellers for the Appleby Horse Fair PA UK news in pictures 11 August 2021 Stella Moris (left) reacts after talking to the media outside the High Court in London, following the first hearing in the Julian Assange extradition appeal, n London, following the first hearing in the Julian Assange extradition appeal. The US government has won the latest round in its High Court bid to appeal against the decision not to extradite Julian Assange on espionage charges PA UK news in pictures 10 August 2021 Students react after they receive their A-Level results at the Ark Academy, in London Reuters UK news in pictures 9 August 2021 The final athletes from Great Britain arrive home including Jason Kenny, Laura Kenny and Katie Archibald (front left-right) at Heathrow Airport, London following the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games PA UK news in pictures 8 August 2021 Great Britain's Laura Kenny during the closing ceremony of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at the Olympic stadium in Japan PA UK news in pictures 7 August 2021 People from the Glasgow Southside community take part in the Govanhill Carnival, an anti-racist celebration of pride, unity and the contributions immigrants have made to the community in Govanhill, at Queen's Park, Glasgow PA UK news in pictures 6 August 2021 Chijindu Ujah of Britain, Zharnel Hughes of Britain, Richard Kilty of Britain and Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake of Britain celebrate winning silver as they pose with Asha Philip of Britain, Imani Lansiquot of Britain, Dina Asher-Smith of Britain and Daryll Neita of Britain after they won bronze in the women's 4 x 100m relay during Olympic Games Day 14 Getty UK news in pictures 5 August 2021 A protester places flowers on a photograph of an executed man during a demonstration organised by supporters of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) to protest against the inauguration of Iran's new president Ebrahim Raisi in central London AFP via Getty UK news in pictures 4 August 2021 England's Joe Root looks on as India's KL Rahul doesn't make it to a catch during day one of Cinch First Test match at Trent Bridge, Nottingham PA UK news in pictures 3 August 2021 Great Britain's Laura Kenny and Jason Kenny with their silver medals for the Women's Team Pursuit and Mens Team Sprint during the Track Cycling at the Izu Velodrome on the eleventh day of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in Japan PA UK news in pictures 2 August 2021 Great Britains Charlotte Worthington competes during the Womens BMX Freestyle Final at the Tokyo Olympics PA UK news in pictures 1 August 2021 EPA UK news in pictures 31 July 2021 James Guy, Adam Peaty and Kathleen Dawson celebrate winning the gold medal in the mixed 4x100m medley relay final at the Tokyo Olympics AP UK news in pictures 30 July 2021 Great Britain's Bethany Shriever and Kye Whyte celebrate their Gold and Silver medals respectively for the Cycling BMX Racing at the Ariake Urban Sports Park on the seventh day of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in Japan PA UK news in pictures 29 July 2021 Team GB's Mallory Franklin during the Womens Canoe Slalom Final on day six of the Tokyo Olympic Games. She went on to win the silver medal Getty UK news in pictures 28 July 2021 Canoers on Llyn Padarn lake in Snowdonia, Gwynedd. It was announced that the north-west Wales slate landscape has been granted UNESCO World Heritage Status PA UK news in pictures 27 July 2021 A view of one of two areas now being used at a warehouse facility in Dover, Kent, for boats used by people thought to be migrants. PA UK news in pictures 26 July 2021 A woman is helped by Border Force officers as a group of people thought to be migrants are brought in to Dover, Kent, onboard a Border Force vessel, following a small boat incident in the Channel PA UK news in pictures 25 July 2021 Vehicles drive through deep water on a flooded road in Nine Elms, London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 24 July 2021 Utilities workers inspect a 15x20ft sinkhole on Green Lane, Liverpool, which is suspected to have been caused by ruptured water main PA UK news in pictures 23 July 2021 Children interact with Mega Please Draw Freely by artist Ei Arakawa inside the Turbine Hall at the Tate Modern in London, part of UNIQLO Tate Play the gallery's new free programme of art-inspired activities for families PA UK news in pictures 22 July 2021 Festivalgoers in the campsite at the Latitude festival in Henham Park, Southwold, Suffolk PA UK news in pictures 21 July 2021 A man walks past an artwork by Will Blood on the end of a property in Bedminster, Bristol, as the 75 murals project reaches the halfway point and various graffiti pieces are sprayed onto walls and buildings across the city over the Summer PA This could effectively achieve the same goal as Labour but through a new tax rather than a change in the law. Mr Javid also says there is definitely some hoarding of land by developers and there is speculation the Government is planning to introduce a new use it or lose it regime for planning permissions. And is there hoarding going on? This is one of the great unresolved debates of UK housing, ever since Ed Miliband campaigned on the issue in 2013. If such speculation is taking place, taxes on undeveloped land and other sanctions could incentivise builders to increase their construction rates. The threat of compulsory purchase orders could also act as a spur to sales and development. Figures do show that in tight markets such as London there is a sizeable backlog of sites with residential planning permission that have still not been built on. The homeless charity Shelter estimates that across England planning permission were granted for 1,725,382 housing units between 2006 and 2014 but only 816,450 had been completed after three years. The conclusion often drawn from such figures is that developers and speculators are sitting on the land as a fast-appreciating asset in order to book a healthy accounting profit. But the construction industry dismisses such calculations as grossly misleading, saying that it is prudent for firms to have long development pipelines, and insists developers are building out their sites as rapidly as they can. They also say the idea that they would make bigger profits from land price appreciation than building and selling more homes doesnt stand up to scrutiny. As for a tax on undeveloped land or threats of its confiscation at knock-down prices, they warn they would not hesitate to take legal action to prevent such expropriation. The evidence on land banking is patchy and inconclusive, although a report for the Mayor of London in 2014 did find that a quarter of the land in London with planning permission is owned by speculators rather than developers. Its also clear that housebuilders are wary of putting a glut of new housing on the market at any one time (which could exert downward pressure on sales prices) and thus try to feed out new units at a gradual pace (although whether this is actually land banking, as most people understand it, is a moot point). The Government last year tasked the Conservative grandee, Oliver Letwin, with investigating the whole fraught question. The combative rhetoric this week from Mr Javid suggests the Letwin review will not make comfortable reading for the industry and that a showdown is approaching. Matt Damon wants us to drink more beer and the one that really does refresh the parts that others dont reach. The Bourne Identity actor is calling on us to drink more Stella Artois because in return for every pint, bottle or can that we consume, the beer maker will provide one months supply of clean water to those in the developing world. Damons call to arms is part of a new global campaign launched today to raise awareness of how up to 700 million people in the developing world are living without clean water or sanitation. The actor, who together with Gary White co-founded water.org, said last night on the phone from Los Angeles: In the West water is so ubiquitous that people cant really relate to the global crisis. Yet there are 700 million people who do not have access to clean water. Its hard to understand the scale of the problem and our campaign with Stella Artois is to raise awareness amongst everybody. As part of the new campaign, Damon and White have created a new video - Wait For Water - which can be found at YouTube.com/StellaArtois. It is aimed at showing people how dependent we are on water in the West. The video was filmed secretly at hotels and restaurants in the UK, the US and in Uruguay and follows customers being turned down when they ask for for a glass of water or a bath, and being told they have to wait six hours before supplies are back to normal. As the video shows, the shock on peoples faces is extraordinary, and vividly demonstrates how utterly reliant we are on a constant water supply without thinking about its source. 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 Damon added: In the West we solved the water problem a hundred years ago. But can you imagine a world where we have solved cancer or Aids, but we still have not helped those in the world who do not have clean supplies? He said Stella Artois came up with the inspiring video idea as a provocative way of shocking them into realising the scale of the problem. Having businesses like Stella Artois behind us helps us with the marketing of our message. Its an issue that millennials care about deeply and we know that if they knew that every dollar consumed on beer, was helping others in the world, that would matter to them. White, who co-founded the global NGO with Damon, added that the latest water shortages in Cape Town showed the depth of the crisis and how it needed to be tackled on a local level. This is a global but local problem. The way we work is to raise funds so that we can help on a local level with micro-financing which helps individuals help themselves to better water supplies, he said. Damon explained that the inspiration behind his involvement in water.org followed a visit he made to Zambia in 2006 after meeting a teenage girl while she was walking to a local well to find water. She was telling me her dreams, that she wanted to go to Lusaka to become a nurse when she was older. It really struck home to me that if she had not had that well to provide water, then she would not have been able to have her dreams of becoming a nurse. That was the moment he decided to become more heavily engaged and set up water.org with White. Talking to her reminded me of when Ben Affleck and I used to dream about going to the big city of New York and become actors. She had her dreams too and could not have done so if she had not had access to water. That was my epiphany, he added. Since Stella Artois has been involved with Damon and White, the partnership has provided more than a million people in the developing world with access to five years of clean water. The Church of Englands opposition to the inspection of Sunday schools has made it harder to tackle extremism, the Ofsted boss claimed today. Amanda Spielman, chief inspector of the schools watchdog, said it was a matter of regret that the Church of England had resisted plans that would have allowed Ofsted to inspect out-of-school settings like Sunday schools and madrasas. Groups that promote extremism outside of school will be able to continue evading scrutiny unless the law is changed, Ms Spielman warned attendees of the Church of Englands education conference today. It was reported in 2016 that the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby had persuaded ministers to drop proposals to allow out-of-school settings to be inspected. Speaking to church school leaders today, Ms Spielman called for legislation to be altered to allow Ofsted to tackle these groups through greater scrutiny. She said: These institutions, some of which operate as illegal schools, use the opportunity to in the words of the former Prime Minister put poison in the minds, hatred in hearts of young people. They need to be tackled. That is why I am afraid to say it is a matter of regret that the church has resisted changes in the law to allow Ofsted to inspect these settings. It is understood the proposed changes to the law would have required out-of-school groups teaching under-19s for more than six hours a week to register with councils, leaving them open to Ofsted inspections. Ms Spielman added: This is not about infringing religious freedom no one is proposing a troop of inspectors turning up at Sunday schools. Instead, it is about ensuring that the small minority of settings that promote extremism are not able to evade scrutiny. If we are to protect many of the tenets that the Church holds dear, we need the power to tackle those trying to use education to undermine them. Despite the negative comments about the Church of England, the Ofsted boss did recognise in her speech the major and very positive contribution that church schools play in the sector. Responding the chief inspectors comments today, Nigel Genders, the Church of Englands chief education officer, insisted that they supported tackling potential extremism in out-of-school settings including, potentially, through targeted inspections. A Department for Education (DfE) consultation on out-of-school education settings which proposed allowing Ofsted to inspect such groups was launched in November 2015. We did have concerns over proposals in 2015 which, at the time, could have ensured that everything down to village Sunday schools might have to be registered, Mr Genders admitted. But he added: We have worked closely with Government since then, and are happy to go on working them on any proposal that would target areas of concern rather than imposing a new burden of bureaucracy across the board. UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 9 September 2021 Troops from Wiltshire based 4 Armoured Close Support Battalion Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers during final inspection at Wellington Barracks in London, ahead of providing troops for the Queens Guard PA UK news in pictures 8 September 2021 Workers cross London Bridge during the morning rush hour in London Reuters UK news in pictures Mixing it up: Painting it up press view in London A gallery employee poses for photographers next to a painting entitled Prairie by British artist, Louise Giovanelli during the exhibition 'Mixing it up: Painting it up' at the Hayward Gallery in London EPA UK news in pictures 6 September 2021 Traders in the Ring at the London Metal Exchange, in the City of London, after open-outcry trading returned for the first time since March 2020, when the Ring was temporarily closed due to the pandemic PA UK news in pictures 5 September 2021 People enjoy the warm weather on Sandbanks beach, Poole PA UK news in pictures 4 September 2021 Demonstrators from Animal Rebellion and Nature Rebellion protest in Trafalgar Square in London. PA UK news in pictures 3 September 2021 South Africa's Ntando Mahlangu (centre) wins the Men's 200 metres T61 Final ahead of second placed Great Britain's Richard Whitehead at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games PA UK news in pictures 2 September 2021 A young common seal on the beach at Horsey Gap in Norfolk, as hundreds of pregnant grey seals come ashore ready for the start of the pupping season. PA UK news in pictures 1 September 2021 Goldfinches fighting over food in a garden in Strensham, Worcestershire PA UK news in pictures 31 August 2021 Gold Medallist Sarah Storey of Britain celebrates on the podium Reuters UK news in pictures 30 August 2021 Extinction Rebellion protesters hold a a tea party on Tower Bridge in London EPA UK news in pictures 29 August 2021 A police office tussles with a demonstrator on Cromwell Road outside the Natural History Museum during a protest by members of Extinction Rebellion in London PA UK news in pictures 28 August 2021 Members of the British armed forces 16 Air Assault Brigade walk to the air terminal after disembarking a Royal Airforce Voyager aircraft at Brize Norton, Oxfordshire POOL/AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 27 August 2021 Fabio Quartararo crashes during a MotoGP practice session at the British Grand Prix, Silverstone Circuit Action Images via Reuters UK news in pictures 26 August 2021 An Extinction Rebellion activist holds a placard in a fountain surrounded by police officers, during a protest next to Buckingham Palace in London Reuters UK news in pictures 25 August 2021 Gold Medallist Great Britains cyclist, Sarah Storey, celebrates after winning the Womens C5 3000m Individual Pursuit Final at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games. It was her 15th Paralympic gold Reuters UK news in pictures 24 August 2021 A demonstrator dressed as bee during a protest by members of Extinction Rebellion on Whitehall, in central London PA UK news in pictures 23 August 2021 Former interpreters for the British forces in Afghanistan demonstrate outside the Home Office in central London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 22 August 2021 Police officers form a line in front of the entrance to the Guildhall, London, where protesters have climbed onto a ledge above the entrance during an Extinction Rebellion stage a protest PA UK news in pictures 21 August 2021 People take part in a demonstration in solidarity with people of Afghanistan, in London Reuters UK news in pictures 20 August 2021 People zip wire across the sea from Bournemouth pier towards the beach. PA UK news in pictures 19 August 2021 Supporters of Geronimo the alpaca gather outside Shepherds Close Farm in Wooton Under Edge, Gloucestershire PA UK news in pictures 18 August 2021 Former Afghan interpreters and veterans hold a demonstration outside Downing Street, calling for support and protection for Afghan interpreters and their families PA UK news in pictures 17 August 2021 Military personnel board the RAF Airbus A400M at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire, where evacuation flights from Afghanistan have been landing Reuters UK news in pictures 16 August 2021 Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer takes part in a minute's silence at Wolverhampton police station for the victims of the Plymouth mass shooting last week PA UK news in pictures 15 August 2021 2Storm, a ten-metre tall puppet of a mythical goddess of the sea created by Edinburgh-based visual theatre company Vision Mechanics, makes its way alongside the seafront at North Berwick, East Lothian, during a performance at the Fringe By The Sea festival PA UK news in pictures 14 August 2021 A woman and two young girls look at floral tributes in Plymouth where six people, including the offender, died of gunshot wounds in a firearms incident PA UK news in pictures 13 August 2021 Forensic officers in the Keyham area of Plymouth where six people, including the shooter, died of gunshot wounds in a firearms incident on Thursday evening PA UK news in pictures 12 August 2021 Children ride horses in the River Eden in Appleby, Cumbria, during the annual gathering of travellers for the Appleby Horse Fair PA UK news in pictures 11 August 2021 Stella Moris (left) reacts after talking to the media outside the High Court in London, following the first hearing in the Julian Assange extradition appeal, n London, following the first hearing in the Julian Assange extradition appeal. The US government has won the latest round in its High Court bid to appeal against the decision not to extradite Julian Assange on espionage charges PA UK news in pictures 10 August 2021 Students react after they receive their A-Level results at the Ark Academy, in London Reuters UK news in pictures 9 August 2021 The final athletes from Great Britain arrive home including Jason Kenny, Laura Kenny and Katie Archibald (front left-right) at Heathrow Airport, London following the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games PA UK news in pictures 8 August 2021 Great Britain's Laura Kenny during the closing ceremony of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at the Olympic stadium in Japan PA UK news in pictures 7 August 2021 People from the Glasgow Southside community take part in the Govanhill Carnival, an anti-racist celebration of pride, unity and the contributions immigrants have made to the community in Govanhill, at Queen's Park, Glasgow PA UK news in pictures 6 August 2021 Chijindu Ujah of Britain, Zharnel Hughes of Britain, Richard Kilty of Britain and Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake of Britain celebrate winning silver as they pose with Asha Philip of Britain, Imani Lansiquot of Britain, Dina Asher-Smith of Britain and Daryll Neita of Britain after they won bronze in the women's 4 x 100m relay during Olympic Games Day 14 Getty UK news in pictures 5 August 2021 A protester places flowers on a photograph of an executed man during a demonstration organised by supporters of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) to protest against the inauguration of Iran's new president Ebrahim Raisi in central London AFP via Getty UK news in pictures 4 August 2021 England's Joe Root looks on as India's KL Rahul doesn't make it to a catch during day one of Cinch First Test match at Trent Bridge, Nottingham PA UK news in pictures 3 August 2021 Great Britain's Laura Kenny and Jason Kenny with their silver medals for the Women's Team Pursuit and Mens Team Sprint during the Track Cycling at the Izu Velodrome on the eleventh day of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in Japan PA UK news in pictures 2 August 2021 Great Britains Charlotte Worthington competes during the Womens BMX Freestyle Final at the Tokyo Olympics PA UK news in pictures 1 August 2021 EPA UK news in pictures 31 July 2021 James Guy, Adam Peaty and Kathleen Dawson celebrate winning the gold medal in the mixed 4x100m medley relay final at the Tokyo Olympics AP UK news in pictures 30 July 2021 Great Britain's Bethany Shriever and Kye Whyte celebrate their Gold and Silver medals respectively for the Cycling BMX Racing at the Ariake Urban Sports Park on the seventh day of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in Japan PA UK news in pictures 29 July 2021 Team GB's Mallory Franklin during the Womens Canoe Slalom Final on day six of the Tokyo Olympic Games. She went on to win the silver medal Getty UK news in pictures 28 July 2021 Canoers on Llyn Padarn lake in Snowdonia, Gwynedd. It was announced that the north-west Wales slate landscape has been granted UNESCO World Heritage Status PA UK news in pictures 27 July 2021 A view of one of two areas now being used at a warehouse facility in Dover, Kent, for boats used by people thought to be migrants. PA UK news in pictures 26 July 2021 A woman is helped by Border Force officers as a group of people thought to be migrants are brought in to Dover, Kent, onboard a Border Force vessel, following a small boat incident in the Channel PA UK news in pictures 25 July 2021 Vehicles drive through deep water on a flooded road in Nine Elms, London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 24 July 2021 Utilities workers inspect a 15x20ft sinkhole on Green Lane, Liverpool, which is suspected to have been caused by ruptured water main PA UK news in pictures 23 July 2021 Children interact with Mega Please Draw Freely by artist Ei Arakawa inside the Turbine Hall at the Tate Modern in London, part of UNIQLO Tate Play the gallery's new free programme of art-inspired activities for families PA UK news in pictures 22 July 2021 Festivalgoers in the campsite at the Latitude festival in Henham Park, Southwold, Suffolk PA The Governments response to the consultation, which closed more than two years ago, has still not been published. The DfE told the Independent that the outcome of the consultation would be available in due course. A life-changing breast cancer drug will become available on the NHS after the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) approved it for routine use following a five-year assessment. Perjeta, otherwise known as pertuzumab, was previously only accessible through the Cancer Drugs Fund. However, now women who are suffering from HER2 positive breast cancer that has returned and is either inoperable or has spread around the body will be recommended treatment with the drug in combination with other medication. Recommended Breast cancer screening levels at lowest level for a decade This announcement is incredibly significant, as treating breast cancer sufferers with Perjeta can prolong their lives by as much as 16 months. Perjeta is a truly life-changing drug and we are absolutely delighted and relieved that NICE has finally been able to recommend it for routine NHS use in England, said Baroness Delyth Morgan, chief executive of Breast Cancer Now. Perjetas benefits are extraordinary, offering women with incurable metastatic breast cancer over four-and-a-half years to live nearly 16 precious months with their loved ones compared to existing treatments. While a long time coming, were thrilled that tough negotiation and flexibility by NHS England and NICE, and the willingness of Roche to put patients first and compromise on price, has again ensured thousands of women can be given more time to live. Samia al Qadi, chief executive of Breast Cancer Care, expressed her happiness in regard to the positive news. This is a watershed moment, she said. After over five years of unbearable uncertainty, access to a pioneering combination of treatments for people living with incurable secondary breast cancer has finally been guaranteed on the NHS. This innovative treatment offers women and men with incurable breast cancer the precious chance of around an extra year to live their lives with their loved ones and be there for the moments that matter. So it is frustrating that women in Scotland are now at an unfair disadvantage since the drug was rejected seven months ago. When carrying out trials of the Perjeta drug, Swiss healthcare company Roche found that patients with metastatic breast cancer who take a combination of Perjeta, Herceptin and docetaxel are more likely to live for an additional duration of around 16 months. In 2015, 55,000 new cases of invasive breast cancer were diagnosed in the UK. According to Breast Cancer Care, around 15-20 per cent of invasive breast cancers can be classified as HER2 positive. A vast, hidden network of cities, fortifications, farms and highways has been found hidden beneath the trees of the remote Guatemalan jungle. Scans of the area exposed 60,000 previously unknown structures, including a seven-story pyramid. The results suggest the region supported an advanced society that peaked around 1,200 years ago, led by a mysterious Maya dynasty archaeologists call the Snake Kings. Using a technology called LiDAR, scientists were able to strip away the tree canopy from aerial images and reveal the ancient civilisation underneath. Recommended Hidden passageway discovered under ancient Mayan temple The technique uses pulses of laser light to create 3D representations of targets. Its like a magic trick, archaeologist Tom Garrison told a National Geographic documentary about the discovery. The survey is the most important development in Maya archaeology in 100 years. Historically, archaeologists have assumed that Maya cities were isolated and self-sufficient, but this discovery provides evidence for a complex, interconnected society flourishing deep in the jungle. Earlier population estimates of the Maya have never been more than two million, but the researchers behind the PACUNAM LiDAR initiative that made the discovery suggest a figure of 20 million may be more accurate. This would mean there was around half the entire population of Europe at the time living in an area around the size of Italy. Science news in pictures Show all 20 1 /20 Science news in pictures Science news in pictures Pluto has 'beating heart' of frozen nitrogen Pluto has a 'beating heart' of frozen nitrogen that is doing strange things to its surface, Nasa has found. The mysterious core seems to be the cause of features on its surface that have fascinated scientists since they were spotted by Nasa's New Horizons mission. "Before New Horizons, everyone thought Pluto was going to be a netball - completely flat, almost no diversity," said Tanguy Bertrand, an astrophysicist and planetary scientist at NASA's Ames Research Center and the lead author on the new study. "But it's completely different. It has a lot of different landscapes and we are trying to understand what's going on there." Getty Science news in pictures Over 400 species discovered this year by Natural History Museum The ancient invertabrate worm-like species rhenopyrgus viviani (pictured) is one of over 400 species previously unknown to science that were discovered by experts at the Natural History Museum this year PA Science news in pictures Jackdaws can identify 'dangerous' humans Jackdaws can identify dangerous humans from listening to each others warning calls, scientists say. The highly social birds will also remember that person if they come near their nests again, according to researchers from the University of Exeter. In the study, a person unknown to the wild jackdaws approached their nest. At the same time scientists played a recording of a warning call (threatening) or contact calls (non-threatening). The next time jackdaws saw this same person, the birds that had previously heard the warning call were defensive and returned to their nests more than twice as quickly on average. Getty Science news in pictures Turtle embryos influence sex by shaking The sex of the turtle is determined by the temperatures at which they are incubated. Warm temperatures favour females. But by wiggling around the egg, embryos can find the Goldilocks Zone which means they are able to shield themselves against extreme thermal conditions and produce a balanced sex ratio, according to the new study published in Current Biology journal Ye et al/Current Biology Science news in pictures Elephant poaching rates drop in Africa African elephant poaching rates have dropped by 60 per cent in six years, an international study has found. It is thought the decline could be associated with the ivory trade ban introduced in China in 2017. Reuters Science news in pictures Ancient four-legged whale discovered in Peru Scientists have identified a four-legged creature with webbed feet to be an ancestor of the whale. Fossils unearthed in Peru have led scientists to conclude that the enormous creatures that traverse the planets oceans today are descended from small hoofed ancestors that lived in south Asia 50 million years ago A. Gennari Science news in pictures Animal with transient anus discovered A scientist has stumbled upon a creature with a transient anus that appears only when it is needed, before vanishing completely. Dr Sidney Tamm of the Marine Biological Laboratory could not initially find any trace of an anus on the species. However, as the animal gets full, a pore opens up to dispose of waste Steven G Johnson Science news in pictures Giant bee spotted Feared extinct, the Wallace's Giant bee has been spotted for the first time in nearly 40 years. An international team of conservationists spotted the bee, that is four times the size of a typical honeybee, on an expedition to a group of Indonesian Islands Clay Bolt Science news in pictures New mammal species found inside crocodile Fossilised bones digested by crocodiles have revealed the existence of three new mammal species that roamed the Cayman Islands 300 years ago. The bones belonged to two large rodent species and a small shrew-like animal New Mexico Museum of Natural History Science news in pictures Fabric that changes according to temperature created Scientists at the University of Maryland have created a fabric that adapts to heat, expanding to allow more heat to escape the body when warm and compacting to retain more heat when cold Faye Levine, University of Maryland Science news in pictures Baby mice tears could be used in pest control A study from the University of Tokyo has found that the tears of baby mice cause female mice to be less interested in the sexual advances of males Getty Science news in pictures Final warning to limit "climate catastrophe" The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has issued a report which projects the impact of a rise in global temperatures of 1.5 degrees Celsius and warns against a higher increase Getty Science news in pictures Nobel prize for evolution chemists The nobel prize for chemistry has been awarded to three chemists working with evolution. Frances Smith is being awarded the prize for her work on directing the evolution of enzymes, while Gregory Winter and George Smith take the prize for their work on phage display of peptides and antibodies Getty/AFP Science news in pictures Nobel prize for laser physicists The nobel prize for physics has been awarded to three physicists working with lasers. Arthur Ashkin (L) was awarded for his "optical tweezers" which use lasers to grab particles, atoms, viruses and other living cells. Donna Strickland and Gerard Mourou were jointly awarded the prize for developing chirped-pulse amplification of lasers Reuters/AP Science news in pictures Discovery of a new species of dinosaur The Ledumahadi Mafube roamed around 200 million years ago in what is now South Africa. Recently discovered by a team of international scientists, it was the largest land animal of its time, weighing 12 tons and standing at 13 feet. In Sesotho, the South African language of the region in which the dinosaur was discovered, its name means "a giant thunderclap at dawn" Viktor Radermacher / SWNS Science news in pictures Birth of a planet Scientists have witnessed the birth of a planet for the first time ever. This spectacular image from the SPHERE instrument on ESO's Very Large Telescope is the first clear image of a planet caught in the very act of formation around the dwarf star PDS 70. The planet stands clearly out, visible as a bright point to the right of the center of the image, which is blacked out by the coronagraph mask used to block the blinding light of the central star. ESO/A. Muller et al Science news in pictures New human organ discovered that was previously missed by scientists Layers long thought to be dense, connective tissue are actually a series of fluid-filled compartments researchers have termed the interstitium. These compartments are found beneath the skin, as well as lining the gut, lungs, blood vessels and muscles, and join together to form a network supported by a mesh of strong, flexible proteins Getty Science news in pictures Previously unknown society lived in Amazon rainforest before Europeans arrived, say archaeologists Working in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso, a team led by archaeologists at the University of Exeter unearthed hundreds of villages hidden in the depths of the rainforest. These excavations included evidence of fortifications and mysterious earthworks called geoglyphs Jose Iriarte Science news in pictures One in 10 people have traces of cocaine or heroin on fingerprints, study finds More than one in 10 people were found to have traces of class A drugs on their fingers by scientists developing a new fingerprint-based drug test. Using sensitive analysis of the chemical composition of sweat, researchers were able to tell the difference between those who had been directly exposed to heroin and cocaine, and those who had encountered it indirectly. Getty Science news in pictures Nasa releases stunning images of Jupiter's great red spot The storm bigger than the Earth, has been swhirling for 350 years. The image's colours have been enhanced after it was sent back to Earth. Pictures by: Tom Momary "We've had this western conceit that complex civilisations can't flourish in the tropics, that the tropics are where civilisations go to die," said Dr Marcello Canuto, an archaeologist at Tulane University. "But with the new LiDAR-based evidence from Central America and [Cambodia's] Angkor Wat, we now have to consider that complex societies may have formed in the tropics and made their way outward from there." The team mapped a 810sq-mile area around the ancient city of Tikal, a popular tourist destination located in the heart of the Guatemalan rainforest. Scans revealed that the archaeological site was in fact three to four times larger than previously thought. The discovery included raised highways that connected a network of urban centres and quarries. There were also irrigation and terracing systems, suggesting advanced agriculture and canals, dykes and reservoirs to control the movement of water around the society. On the outskirts of the site, the scans also revealed extensive defences and fortifications, supporting the idea that Maya engaged in large-scale wars. So far, the scientists have only mapped a fraction of the archaeological area and they think there is a lot more to be discovered. There are entire cities we didnt know about now showing up in the survey data, Professor Francisco Estrada-Belli, an archaeologist at Boston University, told the documentary makers. There are 20,000sq kilometres more to be explored and there are going to be hundreds of cities in there that we dont know about. I guarantee you. Barmen at The Pick and Shovel pub remember Darren Osborne as a normal man, if a bit of a loner. Adam Roach, general manager of the Pontypridd establishment, said the father-of-four would quietly drink alone and showed no sign of aggression or strong political views. He wasnt a person who looked like he was going to kill someone, he recalled. When I found out about the attack in London I couldnt believe it was Darren. I felt absolutely shocked. Recommended Finsbury Park mosque terror attacker found guilty of murder But the man he remembered was not the same man who ploughed a van into Muslim worshippers in Finsbury Park, raving that he wanted to kill more Muslims as his victims lay scattered on the ground. The Osborne seen in The Pick and Shovel had not yet watched a drama on the Rochdale grooming scandal that triggered a spiral of radicalisation his family was powerless to stop. Woolwich Crown Court heard how the unemployed father-of-four, who had not worked for a decade, became obsessed with Muslims and started gorging on far-right material. Police said the 48-year-old became radicalised in just three to four weeks, as evidence from devices he used show him reading posts by the former English Defence League leader Tommy Robinson, far-right group Britain First and other extremists. Like many terrorists, Osborne had a dysfunctional background and history of violence, having served two years in prison for assault and suffered from depression, alcohol and drug abuse. Osbornes partner, Sarah Andrews, painted a picture of a restless, troubled and unpredictable man who she described as a functioning alcoholic. He had been prescribed medication for anxiety and depression and referred to rehabilitation services, but appeared to be worsening. Bar staff in The Pick and Shovel said Osborne had seemed 'normal' (AFP/Getty Images) In the weeks leading up to the attack, Osborne threatened to kill himself twice, an urge his partner believed was borne out of a feeling that he was worthless and did not fit in. The turning point would come in May, when the couple watched the BBC drama Three Girls, which chronicled sexual exploitation in Rochdale. Ms Andrews was angry, but her partner was transformed into a man obsessed with Muslims, grooming gangs and terrorism. In relationship spanning two decades, she had never witnessed Osborne raise the issues or be openly racist, but he suddenly started accusing all Muslims of raping children and being capable of blowing people up. Ms Andrews said her partner became a ticking time-bomb as he was brainwashed by material including posts by Mr Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon. Darren has been watching a lot of Tommy Robinson stuff on the internet, she said. I have pleaded with Darren to stop watching this sort of thing, but he just wouldnt stop. Records of internet activity from 3 June a fortnight before the attack show Osborne initially perusing a range of sources including Jayda Fransen. Police bodycam video shows Darren Osborne in the moments after the Finsbury Park attack He received an automated Twitter message from the deputy Britain First leader just hours before the Isis-inspired London Bridge attack and spent the subsequent hours reading her tweets and articles. The following day he continued conducting searches for Ms Fransen and Paul Golding, while reading tweets from anonymous posters calling on people to fight and claiming that balloons and teddy bears [wont] stop Muslims killing us and our children. Shortly afterwards, Osborne searched Mr Robinsons name for the first time one of dozens leading up to his attack. The van Osborne used in the Finsbury Park terror attack (Metropolitan Police) While dotting around articles on themes including the Manchester bombing, Westminster attack, Lee Rigby, Rochdale, Sadiq Khan, Jeremy Corbyn, Labour and alleged Muslim celebrations of terror attacks, he started to focus on Mr Robinson. Osborne had signed up to emails from the activists website, with the first one arriving on 9 June urging him to join a protest against the Manchester attack. Dear Darren, it began, before claiming that Salman Abedis bombing is not the beginning and it wont be the end. There is a nation within a nation forming just beneath the surface of the UK It is a nation built on hatred, on violence, and on Islam, it added. The government and politicians refuse to take the necessary steps to keep us safe. It has now been left to us, the ordinary people of the United Kingdom to stand up to hate, to unite and in one voice say no more. On 14 June, Osborne searched for information on Mr Robinson and hit on his posts and articles seven times, before receiving another email urging him to join a campaign for a woman who was allegedly raped by Syrian and Iraqi refugees. Again beginning with the phrase dear Darren and signed off by Mr Robinson, it detailed a conspiracy theory against police and called on him to help get justice. By 16 June, Osborne had formulated his deadly plan, phoning a local company to enquire about hiring a Luton van with a tail lift. Metropolitan police release 999 call after Finsbury Park attack He spent that Friday night on the sofa before setting out early on Saturday to collect the vehicle and paying for two days. Staff did not ask what he wanted it for, seeing nothing unusual in the transaction with the polite and well-mannered man. After picking up the van, Osborne started an intense bout of online activity, repeatedly searching Mr Robinsons name and viewing his tweets alongside derogatory articles on Sadiq Khan and Jeremy Corbyn for more than two hours. When a Muslim bombed our kids we were told not to look back in anger? read one post by Mr Robinson. The words, referring to the Oasis song played frequently after the Manchester attack, were repeated by Osborne in the note he carried during the attack Another tweet by Mr Robinson read: Where was the day of rage after the terrorist attacks. All I saw was lighting candles. UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 31 August 2021 Gold Medallist Sarah Storey of Britain celebrates on the podium Reuters UK news in pictures 30 August 2021 Extinction Rebellion protesters hold a a tea party on Tower Bridge in London EPA UK news in pictures 29 August 2021 A police office tussles with a demonstrator on Cromwell Road outside the Natural History Museum during a protest by members of Extinction Rebellion in London PA UK news in pictures 28 August 2021 Members of the British armed forces 16 Air Assault Brigade walk to the air terminal after disembarking a Royal Airforce Voyager aircraft at Brize Norton, Oxfordshire POOL/AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 27 August 2021 Fabio Quartararo crashes during a MotoGP practice session at the British Grand Prix, Silverstone Circuit Action Images via Reuters UK news in pictures 26 August 2021 An Extinction Rebellion activist holds a placard in a fountain surrounded by police officers, during a protest next to Buckingham Palace in London Reuters UK news in pictures 25 August 2021 Gold Medallist Great Britains cyclist, Sarah Storey, celebrates after winning the Womens C5 3000m Individual Pursuit Final at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games. It was her 15th Paralympic gold Reuters UK news in pictures 24 August 2021 A demonstrator dressed as bee during a protest by members of Extinction Rebellion on Whitehall, in central London PA UK news in pictures 23 August 2021 Former interpreters for the British forces in Afghanistan demonstrate outside the Home Office in central London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 22 August 2021 Police officers form a line in front of the entrance to the Guildhall, London, where protesters have climbed onto a ledge above the entrance during an Extinction Rebellion stage a protest PA UK news in pictures 21 August 2021 People take part in a demonstration in solidarity with people of Afghanistan, in London Reuters UK news in pictures 20 August 2021 People zip wire across the sea from Bournemouth pier towards the beach. PA UK news in pictures 19 August 2021 Supporters of Geronimo the alpaca gather outside Shepherds Close Farm in Wooton Under Edge, Gloucestershire PA UK news in pictures 18 August 2021 Former Afghan interpreters and veterans hold a demonstration outside Downing Street, calling for support and protection for Afghan interpreters and their families PA UK news in pictures 17 August 2021 Military personnel board the RAF Airbus A400M at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire, where evacuation flights from Afghanistan have been landing Reuters UK news in pictures 16 August 2021 Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer takes part in a minute's silence at Wolverhampton police station for the victims of the Plymouth mass shooting last week PA UK news in pictures 15 August 2021 2Storm, a ten-metre tall puppet of a mythical goddess of the sea created by Edinburgh-based visual theatre company Vision Mechanics, makes its way alongside the seafront at North Berwick, East Lothian, during a performance at the Fringe By The Sea festival PA UK news in pictures 14 August 2021 A woman and two young girls look at floral tributes in Plymouth where six people, including the offender, died of gunshot wounds in a firearms incident PA UK news in pictures 13 August 2021 Forensic officers in the Keyham area of Plymouth where six people, including the shooter, died of gunshot wounds in a firearms incident on Thursday evening PA UK news in pictures 12 August 2021 Children ride horses in the River Eden in Appleby, Cumbria, during the annual gathering of travellers for the Appleby Horse Fair PA UK news in pictures 11 August 2021 Stella Moris (left) reacts after talking to the media outside the High Court in London, following the first hearing in the Julian Assange extradition appeal, n London, following the first hearing in the Julian Assange extradition appeal. The US government has won the latest round in its High Court bid to appeal against the decision not to extradite Julian Assange on espionage charges PA UK news in pictures 10 August 2021 Students react after they receive their A-Level results at the Ark Academy, in London Reuters UK news in pictures 9 August 2021 The final athletes from Great Britain arrive home including Jason Kenny, Laura Kenny and Katie Archibald (front left-right) at Heathrow Airport, London following the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games PA UK news in pictures 8 August 2021 Great Britain's Laura Kenny during the closing ceremony of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at the Olympic stadium in Japan PA UK news in pictures 7 August 2021 People from the Glasgow Southside community take part in the Govanhill Carnival, an anti-racist celebration of pride, unity and the contributions immigrants have made to the community in Govanhill, at Queen's Park, Glasgow PA UK news in pictures 6 August 2021 Chijindu Ujah of Britain, Zharnel Hughes of Britain, Richard Kilty of Britain and Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake of Britain celebrate winning silver as they pose with Asha Philip of Britain, Imani Lansiquot of Britain, Dina Asher-Smith of Britain and Daryll Neita of Britain after they won bronze in the women's 4 x 100m relay during Olympic Games Day 14 Getty UK news in pictures 5 August 2021 A protester places flowers on a photograph of an executed man during a demonstration organised by supporters of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) to protest against the inauguration of Iran's new president Ebrahim Raisi in central London AFP via Getty UK news in pictures 4 August 2021 England's Joe Root looks on as India's KL Rahul doesn't make it to a catch during day one of Cinch First Test match at Trent Bridge, Nottingham PA UK news in pictures 3 August 2021 Great Britain's Laura Kenny and Jason Kenny with their silver medals for the Women's Team Pursuit and Mens Team Sprint during the Track Cycling at the Izu Velodrome on the eleventh day of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in Japan PA UK news in pictures 2 August 2021 Great Britains Charlotte Worthington competes during the Womens BMX Freestyle Final at the Tokyo Olympics PA UK news in pictures 1 August 2021 EPA UK news in pictures 31 July 2021 James Guy, Adam Peaty and Kathleen Dawson celebrate winning the gold medal in the mixed 4x100m medley relay final at the Tokyo Olympics AP UK news in pictures 30 July 2021 Great Britain's Bethany Shriever and Kye Whyte celebrate their Gold and Silver medals respectively for the Cycling BMX Racing at the Ariake Urban Sports Park on the seventh day of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in Japan PA UK news in pictures 29 July 2021 Team GB's Mallory Franklin during the Womens Canoe Slalom Final on day six of the Tokyo Olympic Games. She went on to win the silver medal Getty UK news in pictures 28 July 2021 Canoers on Llyn Padarn lake in Snowdonia, Gwynedd. It was announced that the north-west Wales slate landscape has been granted UNESCO World Heritage Status PA UK news in pictures 27 July 2021 A view of one of two areas now being used at a warehouse facility in Dover, Kent, for boats used by people thought to be migrants. PA UK news in pictures 26 July 2021 A woman is helped by Border Force officers as a group of people thought to be migrants are brought in to Dover, Kent, onboard a Border Force vessel, following a small boat incident in the Channel PA UK news in pictures 25 July 2021 Vehicles drive through deep water on a flooded road in Nine Elms, London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 24 July 2021 Utilities workers inspect a 15x20ft sinkhole on Green Lane, Liverpool, which is suspected to have been caused by ruptured water main PA UK news in pictures 23 July 2021 Children interact with Mega Please Draw Freely by artist Ei Arakawa inside the Turbine Hall at the Tate Modern in London, part of UNIQLO Tate Play the gallery's new free programme of art-inspired activities for families PA UK news in pictures 22 July 2021 Festivalgoers in the campsite at the Latitude festival in Henham Park, Southwold, Suffolk PA UK news in pictures 21 July 2021 A man walks past an artwork by Will Blood on the end of a property in Bedminster, Bristol, as the 75 murals project reaches the halfway point and various graffiti pieces are sprayed onto walls and buildings across the city over the Summer PA UK news in pictures 20 July 2021 People during morning prayer during Eid ul-Adha, or Festival of Sacrifice, in Southall Park, Uxbridge, London PA UK news in pictures 19 July 2021 Commuters, some not wearing facemasks, at Westminster Underground station, at 08:38 in London after the final legal Coronavirus restrictions were lifted in England PA UK news in pictures 18 July 2021 A view of spectators by the 2nd green during day four of The Open at The Royal St George's Golf Club in Sandwich, Kent PA UK news in pictures 17 July 2021 Cyclists ride over the Hammersmith Bridge in London. The bridge was closed last year after cracks in it worsened during a heatwave Getty UK news in pictures 16 July 2021 The sun rises behind the Sefton Park Palm House, in Sefton Park, Liverpool PA UK news in pictures 15 July 2021 Sir Nicholas Serota watches a short film about sea monsters as he opens a 7.6 million, 360 immersive dome at Devonport's Market Hall in Plymouth, which is the first of its type to be built in Europe PA UK news in pictures 14 July 2021 Heidi Street, playing a gothic character, looks at a brain suspended in glass at the worlds first attraction dedicated to the author of Frankenstein inside the Mary Shelleys House of Frankenstein experience, located in a Georgian terraced house in Bath, as it prepares to open to the public on 19 July PA UK news in pictures 13 July 2021 Rehearsals are held in a car park in Glasgow for a parade scene ahead of filming for what is thought to be the new Indiana Jones 5 movie starring Harrison Ford PA Osborne had arranged to have dinner with his partner but she arrived home to find he had drunk half a bottle of vodka and told him to leave. When he arrived at The Hollybush pub on the summer evening, Mr Osborne immediately asked for a pen to write a letter to Parliament, which he admitted was the note found in the van. Drinkers and bar staff recalled him ranting that he was going to kill Muslims and claiming they would be getting together and marching for Isis the following day. Osborne was referring to the pro-Palestinian Al-Quds Day march in London, which he originally intended to hit before being thwarted by road closures and forced to hunt for a new target. He was thrown out of the pub after arguing with regulars including a serving member of the British Army, who told how Osborne claimed he was a soldier while calling Muslims terrorists. The sentiments, spelled out in his letter, were repeated after the attack as he raged at survivors and recorded by police in expletive-filled rants. Despite inventing a last-minute cover story claiming that a guy called Dave was actually driving the van, Osborne showed no remorse in court. Given the chance to renounce his views, he reinforced them and told the jury how he had wanted to kill Mr Corbyn at the Al-Quds march, adding that Mr Khans death would have been like winning the lottery. A lot of people are putting their fingers in their ears, Osborne said. Something needs to be done, this can't carry on. Police have warned that extremist online material could drive people to carry out terror attacks within hours as they struggle to combat the risk of self-radicalisation. The alarm was raised in the wake of the conviction of Finsbury Park attacker Darren Osborne, who became brainwashed after watching a drama on sexual abuse in Rochdale. Evidence presented to Woolwich Crown Court showed the father-of-four accessing posts and articles by far-right leaders on subjects including grooming gangs, terrorism, rape, Jeremy Corbyn and Sadiq Khan. In less than a month, he turned from an unremarkable if troubled father-of-four to a man hell-bent on killing as many Muslims as possible in a van rampage in London. Osborne, 48, faces life imprisonment after being convicted of murdering 51-year-old Makram Ali and attempting to kill Muslim worshippers who had been attempting to help the grandfather after he collapsed. The atrocity in the early hours of 19 June was swiftly condemned as a terror attack by Theresa May, who described it as every bit as sickening as those which have come before in reference to the Isis-inspired massacres in Westminster, Manchester and London Bridge. Court artist sketch of Darren Osborne in the witness box with defence barrister Lisa Wilding QC (PA/Elizabeth Cook) (PA) Police admit that the unpalatable material Osborne consumed in the run-up to the attempt would be difficult to remove or prosecute as it doesnt cross the threshold to be considered a criminal or terrorist offence. Commander Dean Haydon, of the Metropolitan Police, called on internet firms themselves to tackle dangerous content while cautioning over its possible impact. We have to be alive to the fact that people are accessing this material and they are using it to self-radicalise, and thats what happened in this case, said the head of Scotland Yards counter-terrorism command. It is out there, people can access it and as weve seen in this case it certainly affected Osborne in the way it did and certainly played a key part in his radicalisation. It came after a report by the Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation warned that remote radicalisation was driving a rising threat to Britain. Max Hill QC, the Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation, said the trend was making atrocities harder to detect, adding: Some of those who committed terrorist murders on our streets may have reached their murderous state having been influenced by what they read and what they see online, just as much as by whom they meet. Devices found at Osbornes family home near Cardiff showed frequent searches for English Defence League founder Tommy Robinson, as well as figures including Britain Firsts Jayda Fransen and Paul Golding. Police bodycam video shows Darren Osborne in the moments after the Finsbury Park attack Commander Haydon declined to call EDLs Mr Robinson a radicaliser, but said: There is material out there linked to some of the groups connected to him that quite clearly has been an influencer in this case. Police believe Osborne was radicalised in less than a month the period between him watching the Three Girls drama and launching the deadly attack on 19 June. He has become, what I would call radicalised, within a period of three to four weeks in the lead-up to the attack, Commander Haydon said. It was clear that in the space of only a few weeks, Osborne had developed a warped and twisted view to such a degree that he was prepared to plan and carry out this attack. The officer cautioned that it demonstrated that individuals can become radicalised really, really quickly, adding: To be honest, some individuals could look at material today and decide to go and do an attack later on this evening. Some of this material is easily accessible, so we have to look at the role of the internet. The neo-Nazi terrorist group National Action became the first far-right organisation to be banned in the UK in 2016, being followed by its subsidiaries Scottish Dawn and NS131. The proscription was followed by waves of arrests and several trials are ongoing, but other affiliates are believed to be operating and other less extreme far-right groups are operating unhindered. Finsbury Park attack Show all 14 1 /14 Finsbury Park attack Finsbury Park attack Police officers attend to the scene after a vehicle collided with pedestrians in the Finsbury Park, killing one person and injuring eight Reuters Finsbury Park attack The incident is being treated as a potential terror attack Reuters Finsbury Park attack A man has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder Reuters Finsbury Park attack Police cordon off a street in Finsbury Park AFP/Getty Images Finsbury Park attack A man prays in the street after the attack Reuters Finsbury Park attack Men gather and pray together in the street in the aftermath of the attack AFP/Getty Finsbury Park attack Reuters Finsbury Park attack PA Finsbury Park attack Onlookers gather near a police cordon EPA Finsbury Park attack Forensic investigators arrive at the scene PA Finsbury Park attack A forensic tent stands next to a van PA Finsbury Park attack A police officer talks with residents AFP/Getty Images Finsbury Park attack Onlookers watch proceedings at the security cordon AFP/Getty Finsbury Park attack Local residents react at the scene AFP/Getty Images Commander Haydon described the far-right as an emerging threat and said Scotland Yard was devoted to tackling all forms of extremism, which are encompassed under the Governments Contest counter-terror strategy. Campaigners are calling for security services to ensure they have anti-Islam extremism in their sights to stop online material enabling further bloodshed. Nick Lowles, chief executive of Hope Not Hate, said the Finsbury Park attack highlighted the role of far-right figures propelling anti-Muslim hatred into the mainstream. We have long argued that the authorities have not properly understood the nature of anti-Muslim extremism and rhetoric and the potential impact it can have on the Darren Osbornes of this world, he added. The speed with which Osborne self-radicalised was frightening literally in just three weeks and clearly much more needs to be done to challenge the anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant hate that exists online. In fact, its beyond time for the authorities to take online hate rhetoric seriously. Stand Up To Racism, which held a vigil at Finsbury Park Mosque following the attack, said the case should be a wake-up call. (Rex (Rex) Joint convenor Sabby Dhalu said: The far right needs a higher level of vigilance and their propaganda needs opposing by all who value our multicultural society. The Finsbury Park case was prosecuted as a terrorist offence because prosecutors said Osbornes actions aimed to advance a political purpose, citing a handwritten note found in the van and his rants to police. Tell Mama, a campaign group that records Islamophobic attacks, said hatred was being allowed to fester unchallenged. Director Iman Atta said: Osborne was consuming far right anti-Muslim hate extremist material this shows us the pervasiveness of anti-Muslim hate online which we all have a duty to challenge. Harun Khan, secretary general of the Muslim Council of Britain said the Finsbury Park attack was the most violent manifestation of Islamophobia yet in the UK. We cannot be complacent and regard this as a one-off terrorist incident, he added. The case tells us that we must all exercise caution when tempted to stigmatise any group of people, regardless of colour, creed or community. A judge has urged Britain to respond to evil with good after jailing the Finsbury Park terror attacker for life. In a powerful address to Woolwich Crown Court, Justice Cheema-Grubb cited the example of an imam who stopped survivors beating Darren Osborne after chasing him down. The judge said Mohammed Mahmoud, imam of the nearby Muslim Welfare House, showed true leadership by ordering a growing crowd of around 100 people not to harm the perpetrator and let justice take its course. His behaviour throws into sharp relief the bile spewed out online from those who aspire to lead the haters, she added. Not because his exhortation to desist from punishing the perpetrator was remarkable but because he had the strength of character to do the right thing under pressure. He chose to respond to evil with good. His response should be everyones response whether it is to the evil of child grooming and abuse in Rochdale or the evil of terrorist atrocities in our cities. Osborne had attempted to flee after ramming a van into crowd of Muslim worshippers shortly after midnight on 19 June, killing Makram Ali and injuring nine more victims. Police bodycam video shows Darren Osborne in the moments after the Finsbury Park attack Survivors told how some men beat the perpetrator while struggling to pin him down, as Osborne smiled and told them: Ive done my job, you can kill me now. Mr Mahmoud told Woolwich Crown Court he saw bodies left and right as he arrived at the bloody scene, with people trying to perform CPR on Mr Ali. About a dozen people were trying to kick and punch Mr Osborne until he approached and told them to get back and call the police, leaving him unscathed. He was immobilised, he wasnt a threat anymore, the imam added. I said he should answer for his crime in a court like he is doing now, not in a court in the streets. Theres a rule of law that must be respected and we shouldnt let our emotions and our desire to see vengeance dictate our decisions. The court heard Osborne had become brainwashed by far-right posts after watching a drama on grooming gangs in Rochdale and set out to massacre Muslims in London. Finsbury Park attack Show all 14 1 /14 Finsbury Park attack Finsbury Park attack Police officers attend to the scene after a vehicle collided with pedestrians in the Finsbury Park, killing one person and injuring eight Reuters Finsbury Park attack The incident is being treated as a potential terror attack Reuters Finsbury Park attack A man has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder Reuters Finsbury Park attack Police cordon off a street in Finsbury Park AFP/Getty Images Finsbury Park attack A man prays in the street after the attack Reuters Finsbury Park attack Men gather and pray together in the street in the aftermath of the attack AFP/Getty Finsbury Park attack Reuters Finsbury Park attack PA Finsbury Park attack Onlookers gather near a police cordon EPA Finsbury Park attack Forensic investigators arrive at the scene PA Finsbury Park attack A forensic tent stands next to a van PA Finsbury Park attack A police officer talks with residents AFP/Getty Images Finsbury Park attack Onlookers watch proceedings at the security cordon AFP/Getty Finsbury Park attack Local residents react at the scene AFP/Getty Images He denied murder and attempted murder, inventing a bizarre cover story claiming that a man called Dave was driving the van, but a jury unanimously found him guilty. Justice Cheema-Grubb sentenced him to two life sentences, with a minimum term of 43 years. Scroll down to read her full sentencing remarks: Darren Osborne you have been convicted on overwhelming evidence by an intelligent British jury who saw through your pathetic last-ditch attempt to deceive them by blaming someone else for your crimes. On 17th June 2017 you hired a big heavy van and the next day you took it from Cardiff to London intending to deploy it as a lethal weapon to drive into and murder innocent people, lawfully assembling and protesting in London. You told the jury you intended to plough through as many of them as possible. But you failed in that endeavour because you could not get your van near the march. There is no doubt at all that the detailed public safety arrangements made by the Metropolitan Police for the Al Quds Day march saved many lives. Frustrated and angry you drove around London for hours looking for an alternative target. At midnight you ended up in north London near the Finsbury Park Mosque. The streets were busy with people of many races, going about their normal lives in a vibrant part of the capital city. It was the month of Ramadan and many of those in the area had broken their fasts and were coming from prayers. Eventually you saw a crowd of people who had gathered around to help a man collapsed on the ground in the entrance to a cul-de-sac. Makram Ali, 51, a victim of the terror attack in Finsbury Park who died as a result of multiple injuries (Metropolitan Police) Many of them were wearing in distinctive Islamic dress. You had found your target. You accelerated the van towards them intending to kill as many people as you could. The fact that traffic was stopped at lights just before the side road where the crowd was and you had to cross a bus-lane meant that you were able to reach no more than about 16 miles an hour before you struck them. Over twelve innocent members of the public struck and injured. Makram Ali who was lying on the ground was run over with the tyre-marks left on his torso. He died immediately because internally his heart was severed from vital vessels. The diversity of the group you tried to kill is striking: there were young people, old people, a group of deaf people, at least one man using a wheel-chair was struck and thrown from it. You hit men and women. But the reason you attacked them was because you identified them as Muslims from their mode of dress. As is clear from their moving Victim Personal Statements, all of which I have read, the medical and emotional impact of your actions have had a severe and lasting effect on those you hit. Some sustained life changing injuries. Some spent weeks in hospital. One of those was Mr Hamid Al-Faiq who was hit by the van and trapped underneath it. When they heard his cries for help people, some of whom had also been struck in the attack, rushed to free him. He came to court presenting some of the lasting consequences of your brutal actions, having undergone major surgery for complex fractures and subsequently having to overcome a pulmonary embolism. Another victim, Mr Ibrahim Benaounda suffered spinal and pelvic fractures as well as injuries to his spleen and renal artery. Makram Alis family at Woolwich Crown Court (PA) Makram Ali was aged 51. He has been described as a sincere and warm person who was always full of laughter and immense love for his family. He lived his life without enemies until, unknowingly, he met you. He left behind a wife, six children and two grandchildren. Their hearts have been shattered by his loss and the circumstances in which he died. Many of those who have written statements speak of the fear they feel for themselves and their children of being attacked in the streets simply because they are visibly Muslims. Who are you Darren Osborne? You are 48 years of age and have four children. You have not worked for 10 years. You abused alcohol. You were described as a loner and nondescript. You took medication for depression. You have 102 criminal convictions acquired from your youth onwards. They include offences of public disorder and violence, including assaulting the police. You have experienced youth custody and sentences of imprisonment. Over the years you have been given help to reform with probation and community rehabilitation order but your response was often to breach those orders. Your record reflects a belligerent and violent character. Aged 36 for an offence of GBH with intent you received an extended sentence. Having presided over your trial I am sure of the following facts: a. During May 2017 you watched a BBC drama-documentary: Three Girls which told the true story of the grooming and sexual abuse of young girls in Rochdale by British-Pakistani Muslim men. You became incensed by what you believed to be the inadequate response of political leaders and other authorities to such criminal conduct. Your research and joining Twitter early in June 2017 exposed you to a great deal of extreme racist and anti-Islamic ideology. b. You were rapidly radicalised over the internet encountering and consuming material put out in this country and the USA from those determined to spread hatred of Muslims on the basis of their religion. The terrorist atrocities perpetrated by extremist Islamists fuelled your rage. Over the space of a month or so your mind-set became one of malevolent hatred. You allowed your mind to be poisoned by those who claim to be leaders. Darren Osborne was jailed for life for murdering Makram Ali (Central News) c. You were inspired to carry out an attack on innocent members of the public but the section of the public you chose would reflect your ideology of hate towards Muslims. Over a weekend in mid-June you acted to kill, maim, injure and terrify as many people as you could. You targeted the Al Quds march because Muslims would be congregating there and from your research you believed that the leader of the Labour Party was due to attend and the Mayor of London may also have been there. In evidence you described the prospect of killing both of those men in your attack as being like winning the lottery. d. Your plan was simple. To copy the method used by some Islamist terrorist and take a vehicle to a densely populated place and wreak as much devastation as possible as well as sowing long-lasting terror among the Muslim population. Along the way you had many opportunities to change your mind. Your partner Sarah Andrews who described you as a ticking time-bomb challenged your views, your own daughter who has Muslim school friends argued with you and, in the end stopped bringing her friends home, Sapper Callum Spence, a serving soldier challenged you when you were shouting out things like, all Muslims are terrorists, Im going to kill all the Muslims in the pub the night before you set off for London. You ignored all the good sense of those people. e. Yours was a suicide mission. You expected to be shot dead by the police, as you knew the terrorists who committed the London Bridge attack had been. You wrote a suicide note the night before driving to London. In it you set out in foul language your twisted view of Muslims. I am not going to repeat those things in court. A court sketch of Darren Osborne at Woolwich Crown Court, where he is on trial (PA) f. After your arrest you celebrated and smiled. You said while you were being restrained: Ive done my job, you can kill me now. You shouted at some of those holding you, I want to kill you, I want to kill more Muslims. You were sober as the police breath test after your arrest demonstrated but even in the police van you continued your ranting saying, At least I had a fucking proper go. You made frank admissions later, I accelerated a big van for about 20ft into people. You admitted you were on your own, to use your words, flying solo. This was a terrorist attack. You intended to kill. The sentence for murder is mandatory: it is life imprisonment. I must set the minimum term you must serve. As I have made clear this was (in the terms of paragraph 4(c) of Schedule 21 to the Criminal Justice Act 2003) a murder done for the purpose of advancing a political, religious, racial or ideological cause. Equally, and in accordance with the provisions of the Counter Terrorism Act 2008, this was a murder with a terrorist connection, which is an aggravating feature. It is accepted on your behalf that this is so. The seriousness of your offences is exceptionally high and the just requirements of punishment and retribution mean that a very substantial minimum term must be imposed. But you did not succeed in committing multiple murders and so this is not one of those rare cases in which the sentence of last resort; a whole life order, is necessary. I take a starting point of 30 years for the minimum term but it must be increased from the starting point to reflect the aggravating features I have identified and the fact that the one murder was in the context of an attempt to murder many. The maximum sentence for attempted murder is life imprisonment. (AP) As required s.172 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 I have considered the Sentencing Council Guideline for offences of Attempted Murder. To those you did not manage to kill you caused differing degrees of harm including serious and long term physical and psychological harm. I bear in mind the number of murders you intended to commit, the associated offence of murder, and the terrorist nature of the offending while avoiding double-counting and having regard to the principle of totality. This means that when sentencing for more than one offence a judge must pass an overall sentence which is proportionate and just. You attempted to kill at least a dozen people and succeeded in taking the life of a peaceful man you knew nothing about and had never met. You acted alone. You had not been radicalised over a long period of time but your rapid decline into irrational hatred of all Muslims turned you a danger to the public. The court has seen no evidence that the danger you present has lessened; indeed, your conduct and language in court exposes your unreformed attitude and lack of insight. You will pose a significant risk to members of the public of serious harm occasioned by the commission of further serious specified violent offences for a very long time: perhaps for the rest of your life. There is no mitigation in your case because although you were radicalised within a short period of time you have had much longer than that to see the error of your ways but you steadfastly refuse to do so and even in the grave atmosphere of a criminal trial, before a jury of your fellow countrymen, you repeated your perverted hatred of Muslims. Accordingly, I pass a discretionary life sentence for the offence of attempted murder pursuant to s.225 Criminal Justice Act 2003. I will pass the same minimum term on each offence to reflect the totality of your offending. I therefore pass concurrent life sentences for these two offences. The appropriate minimum term for this terrorist murder in the context of an attempt at multiple murder is 43 years. The days you have spent on remand must be deducted resulting in a minimum term of 43 years minus 224 days. The notification requirements apply to you for 30 years. The victim surcharge must be paid. I would like to commend the excellent way the evidence has been presented & the hard work of the advocates on both sides. The court also commends the officer in the case Detective Sergeant Kevin Martin whose commitment and professionalism has been evident in the way the case has been investigated, particularly when near the end of the Crowns case the defendant challenged his identification as the driver of the van at the crucial time. The agile and rapid response he led mean that the time-table of the trial was not derailed but the issue raised was properly investigated and met. He also oversaw the preparation of high quality materials for the jury. Finally, the court commends Mohammed Mahmoud, Imam of the Muslim Welfare House in Finsbury Park. Having been captured while trying to run away after the attack Darren Osborne was in some danger from an angry crowd of about one hundred people but the Imam told them to leave him alone. To not seek vengeance; to allow the law to take its course. As it has done. This was a demonstration of true leadership. His behaviour throws into sharp relief the bile spewed out online from those who aspire to lead the haters. Not because his exhortation to desist from punishing the perpetrator was remarkable but because he had the strength of character to do the right thing under pressure. He chose to respond to evil with good. His response should be everyones response whether it is to the evil of child grooming and abuse in Rochdale or the evil of terrorist atrocities in our cities. Relatives of the man killed by far-right terrorist Darren Osborne have described their agony as he attempted to deny carrying out the attack. Makram Alis daughter was among family members in Woolwich Crown Court for the gruelling nine-day trial, listening to harrowing witness statements and graphic medical accounts of his fatal injuries. But she said it was particularly hard to hear Osborne launch into a bizarre attempt to deny his crimes, claiming that a man called Dave had ploughed the van into Muslim worshippers in Finsbury Park. Ruzina Akhtar said the family was pleased the jury had dismissed the story to find him guilty of murder and attempted murder. Our father, like the victims of most terrorism, was entirely innocent which makes his death in this violent way all the more hurtful and we cannot imagine the trauma he felt in the last few minutes, she said. But we will choose to remember our father with happier thoughts. He will never be forgotten, he will always stay in our hearts, his laughter will echo the walls of our home, his smile will be reflected in our eyes, his memories will be alive in our conversations. In a statement delivered on behalf of loved ones outside Woolwich Crown Court, Ms Akhtar said her father spent the evening he died with his family before leaving for Ramadan prayers at the Muslim Welfare House. Ruzina Akhtar and relatives of Makram Ali speaking outside Woolwich Crown Court (PA) The beloved family man lived with his wife nearby and had six children and two grandchildren. He collapsed just two minutes before the van struck, with the crowd of fellow worshippers who rushed to help him becoming an unwitting target for Osborne as he hunted for a mosque. The court heard that Mr Ali died almost instantly of catastrophic internal injuries caused by being run over, and had not suffered a heart attack or any serious condition causing his fall. Among the survivors were friends of Mr Ali, who paid tribute to a quiet and gentle man who was loved and respected by all those he new. He was such a peaceful and simple man, he had no bad thoughts for anyone, said Ms Akhtar. Wed like to thank the witnesses who helped the case, family and friends who attended court and the community for the support we received. She previously told the court how she was struggling not to fall part under the weight of her grief, with her mother too afraid to go outside and five-year-old son still asking for his grandad. Justice Cheema-Grubb sentenced Osborne to two concurrent life sentences with a minimum term of 43 years on Friday, attacking his pathetic last-ditch attempt to deceive the jury. Finsbury Park attack Show all 14 1 /14 Finsbury Park attack Finsbury Park attack Police officers attend to the scene after a vehicle collided with pedestrians in the Finsbury Park, killing one person and injuring eight Reuters Finsbury Park attack The incident is being treated as a potential terror attack Reuters Finsbury Park attack A man has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder Reuters Finsbury Park attack Police cordon off a street in Finsbury Park AFP/Getty Images Finsbury Park attack A man prays in the street after the attack Reuters Finsbury Park attack Men gather and pray together in the street in the aftermath of the attack AFP/Getty Finsbury Park attack Reuters Finsbury Park attack PA Finsbury Park attack Onlookers gather near a police cordon EPA Finsbury Park attack Forensic investigators arrive at the scene PA Finsbury Park attack A forensic tent stands next to a van PA Finsbury Park attack A police officer talks with residents AFP/Getty Images Finsbury Park attack Onlookers watch proceedings at the security cordon AFP/Getty Finsbury Park attack Local residents react at the scene AFP/Getty Images Mr Ali has been described as a sincere and warm person who was always full of laughter and immense love for his family, she told the murderer He lived his life without enemies until, unknowingly, he met you. The judge said the victims injured by Mr Osborne included men and women of all ages, a group of deaf people and a man who was knocked out of his wheelchair. Many speak of the fear they feel for themselves and their children of being attacked in the streets simply because they are visibly Muslims, she added. The medical and emotional impact of your actions have had a severe and lasting effect on those you hit. One man who was left trapped under Osbornes van suffered life-changing injuries and appeared in court on crutches, while others described recurring flashbacks, nightmares and trauma leaving them unable to sleep and in constant fear. Sharif Xamza, who was struck from behind as he was kneeling next to Mr Ali giving him first aid, said it was human to try to help another human and then you too become a victim of attack. Lawyers representing 18 of the victims of the attack in ongoing civil claims said some had lost jobs because of the physical and mental toll. Grandfather Makram Ali died of catastrophic injuries caused by Osborne running him over (Metropolitan Police) This trial has been a horrendous ordeal for all those affected by the attack last June, particularly those called to give evidence in court, who had to come face to face with Osborne, said Dushal Mehta, a lawyer at Fieldfisher. This is a proud, committed community who have joined together around the injured to support them in every way possible. They are reluctant to ask for outside help. We continue to work with the insurers of the van used as a weapon by Osborne to provide vital medical rehabilitation. Khalid Oumar, a trustee of the Finsbury Park Mosque and founder of a victims forum, praised the strength and courage of those who gave evidence. The scars will stay with them forever, but the community is determined to go about daily life without fear and to stand together against victimisation and violence, he added. Commander Dean Haydon, head of the Metropolitan Polices Counter Terrorism Command, welcomed the 43-year minimum sentence handed to Osborne. His evil and cowardly attack meant a family has tragically lost a husband, father and grandfather, he added, saying some of the 12 other injured victims have still not fully recovered and could suffer from health issues for the rest of their lives. I would like to pay tribute to Mr Alis family and the local community in Finsbury Park, for their tremendous support and understanding with our investigation during what must have been an extremely difficult time for them. The Home Secretary said the Government would soon be publishing a new counter-terrorism strategy setting out its approach to tackling anyone who seeks to attack Britain, its values and way o life. Amber Rudd said: Nothing will make up for the death of Mr Ali but this conviction and long sentence will hopefully come as some solace to his family and those injured as a result of Osbornes horrific terrorist attack at Finsbury Park. This Government will continue to be unwavering in our resolve to combat all forms of terrorism, whatever the underlying motivation. Darren Osborne has been jailed for life for trying to kill, maim, injure and terrify as many people as possible in the Finsbury Park terror attack. Justice Cheema-Grubb did not give Osborne a rare full-life term for the suicide mission because he did not achieve his original aim to massacre demonstrators at a pro-Palestinian march in north London, she said. This was a terror attack, the judge added, saying police security around the Al-Quds Day rally had saved many lives. You were rapidly radicalised ... by material put on the internet by those determined to spread hatred of Muslims. Recommended Mosque terror attacker to hear fate after being convicted of murder Sentencing Osborne to two concurrent life sentences with a minimum term of 43 years, minus the 224 days already served in custody, she said his lengthy criminal record betrayed a belligerent and violent character. Justice Cheema-Grubb commended the actions of a police officer and Mohammed Mahmoud, imam of the Muslim Welfare House in Finsbury Park. He arrived at the scene of the attack to find members of his congregation among the victims, but stopped survivors beating the captured perpetrator. His behaviour throws into sharp relief the bile spewed out online from those who aspire to lead the haters, the judge said. He chose to respond to evil with good. His response should be everyones response, whether it is to the evil of child grooming and abuse in Rochdale or the evil of terrorist atrocities in our cities. Osborne showed no emotion while being sentenced, but as he was led away told the court: God bless you all, thank you. Metropolitan police release 999 call after Finsbury Park attack A jury had found the 48-year-old guilty of murder and attempted murder at the end of a nine-day trial, dismissing what the judge called a pathetic last-ditch attempt to deceive them by claiming a man called Dave was behind the wheel. Woolwich Crown Court had heard how Makram Ali, a 51-year-old grandfather, had collapsed just two minutes before the atrocity shortly after midnight on 19 June. A crowd of Muslim worshippers, several of them wearing traditional clothing, gathered around him to help and became an unwitting target for Osborne as he looped around Finsbury Park in search of a mosque. Woolwich Crown Court heard that Osborne has a criminal history spanning 30 years, which could not previously be disclosed because it could prejudice the jury. Prosecutor Jonathan Rees QC said he had appeared in court for 33 times for 102 offences dating back to when he was just 15 years old. He has served multiple prison sentences for crimes including assault and has also been convicted of drug possession, burglary, theft, fraud, vehicle crime and public order offences Mr Rees said Osborne had eight years where he was relatively trouble-free around the birth of his first child, but was later convicted for shoplifting and theft in south Wales. Lisa Wilding QC, Osbornes barrister, had urged the judge not to use a whole-life term warranted by his motivations. Although this case has been properly characterised as an act of terror, its arguably not the most grave of its type, she told the court. Finsbury Park attack Show all 14 1 /14 Finsbury Park attack Finsbury Park attack Police officers attend to the scene after a vehicle collided with pedestrians in the Finsbury Park, killing one person and injuring eight Reuters Finsbury Park attack The incident is being treated as a potential terror attack Reuters Finsbury Park attack A man has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder Reuters Finsbury Park attack Police cordon off a street in Finsbury Park AFP/Getty Images Finsbury Park attack A man prays in the street after the attack Reuters Finsbury Park attack Men gather and pray together in the street in the aftermath of the attack AFP/Getty Finsbury Park attack Reuters Finsbury Park attack PA Finsbury Park attack Onlookers gather near a police cordon EPA Finsbury Park attack Forensic investigators arrive at the scene PA Finsbury Park attack A forensic tent stands next to a van PA Finsbury Park attack A police officer talks with residents AFP/Getty Images Finsbury Park attack Onlookers watch proceedings at the security cordon AFP/Getty Finsbury Park attack Local residents react at the scene AFP/Getty Images Ms Wilding highlighted the fact that Osborne was a functioning alcoholic with a troubled past, saying the previous convictions had no racial element and he became radicalised in a short period of time. Mr Alis relatives were in court for the sentencing hearing, where his wife, six children and two grandchildren told how they were unable to fully grieve until the end of the gruelling trial. His eldest daughter, Ruzina Akhtar, said she had been struggling not to fall apart since the attack. In a statement, she described how the family faced an agonising wait for Mr Alis death to be confirmed. In our hearts we knew it was him involved and that he was gone, Ms Akhtar said. My heart was shattered when I saw my fathers body in the morgue. She told how the family live near the scene of the attack and are traumatised from passing it on a daily basis, while her mother fears leaving the house or sleeping alone. My mum is scared of going out by herself and being attacked because she is visibly a Muslim and wears a headscarf, she added. Makram Ali, 51, was killed in the attack (Metropolitan Police) Ms Akhtar paid tribute to her father as a family man, saying he spent his final moments before leaving the house on the night of his death with his wife and children, who are as young as 13. He was beloved by her five-year-old son, who is always asking where his granddad is and why he cant go to the park with him every day like they used to. Ms Akhtar said her father was the most sincere and warm person she knew, who lived his life without enemies, adding: My father will never be forgotten, he will always stay in our hearts, his laughter will echo from the walls in our home and his smile will be reflected in our eyes. Statements from the survivors of the attack told how they suffer from physical injuries as well as nightmares, flashbacks, insomnia and other effects of trauma have had a terrible impact on their personal lives and work. They described chased Osborne down after he crashed the van and stumbled out of the drivers seat, telling how he smiled and said: Ive done my job, you can kill me now. A note found in the vehicle scribbled down in a pub the night before showed Osborne raging against Muslims, grooming gangs, Jeremy Corbyn, Sadiq Khan and Lily Allen. He denied charges of murder and attempted murder but submitted no statement in his defence until Friday after hearing five days of evidence proving his guilt. Police believe Osborne was radicalised in under a month, sparking calls for internet companies and the security services to combat extremist material even if it does not violate terror laws. Close CCTV footage shows moment van swerves towards people on Seven Sisters Road, Finsbury Park Darren Osborne has been jailed for life for launching the Finsbury Park terror attack. A jury found him guilty of murder and attempted murder at the end of a nine-day trial, dismissing his absurd claim another man had ploughed the van into a crowd of Muslims and vanished. Justice Cheema-Grubb explained Osborne had not been charged with a terror offence because it was unnecessary to use specific laws in murder cases, adding: Murder is murder, whether done for terror motives or some other motive." She sentenced him to serve two concurrent life sentences with a minimum term of 43 years, telling Osborne the jury had "seen through your pathetic last-ditch attempt to deceive them". The case was prosecuted as an act of terrorism and, like the killers of Jo Cox and Lee Rigby, Osborne could have his murder sentence lengthened because of his aims. Please allow a moment for the live blog to load Woolwich Crown Court heard how Makram Ali, a 51-year-old grandfather, had collapsed just two minutes before the atrocity shortly after midnight on 19 June. A crowd of Muslim worshippers, several of them wearing traditional clothing, gathered around him to help before being spotted by Osborne as he looped around Finsbury Park in search of a target. Survivors described how they chased the 48-year-old down after he crashed the van and stumbled out of the drivers seat. He fought against those trying to pin him to the ground, then smiled and said: Ive done my job, you can kill me now. Witnesses gave the court harrowing accounts of seeing Mr Alis body on the ground and nine other victims scattered around him, including one man trapped under the van who was left with life-changing injuries. A note found in the vehicle scribbled down in a pub the night before contained Osborne's ranting against Muslims, grooming gangs, Jeremy Corbyn, Sadiq Khan and Lily Allen. He denied charges of murder and attempted murder but submitted no statement in his defence until Friday after hearing five days of evidence proving his guilt. Finsbury Park attack Show all 14 1 /14 Finsbury Park attack Finsbury Park attack Police officers attend to the scene after a vehicle collided with pedestrians in the Finsbury Park, killing one person and injuring eight Reuters Finsbury Park attack The incident is being treated as a potential terror attack Reuters Finsbury Park attack A man has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder Reuters Finsbury Park attack Police cordon off a street in Finsbury Park AFP/Getty Images Finsbury Park attack A man prays in the street after the attack Reuters Finsbury Park attack Men gather and pray together in the street in the aftermath of the attack AFP/Getty Finsbury Park attack Reuters Finsbury Park attack PA Finsbury Park attack Onlookers gather near a police cordon EPA Finsbury Park attack Forensic investigators arrive at the scene PA Finsbury Park attack A forensic tent stands next to a van PA Finsbury Park attack A police officer talks with residents AFP/Getty Images Finsbury Park attack Onlookers watch proceedings at the security cordon AFP/Getty Finsbury Park attack Local residents react at the scene AFP/Getty Images Osbornes new story claimed that he mounted the original plan to cause as much damage as possible at a pro-Palestinian march in London with two men he met in a Welsh pub. He told the court that alongside supposed co-conspirators Dave and Terry Jones, he hoped to found a Welsh far-right group called the Taffia. Osborne said he was prepared to die targeting the Al-Quds Day march on 18 June but could not reach the central London rally because of road closures, so started searching for a new target. In his mind, the defendant had cast all Muslims as criminals and decided to take matters into his own hands and punish them, prosecutor Jonathan Rees QC said, saying the atrocity was inspired by a hatred of all Muslims that had its roots in the material Osborne had watched on television and viewed online. Osbornes partner, Sarah Andrews, told the court the "functioning alcoholic" was being treated for depression and had considered suicide in the weeks leading up to the attacks. She said he had become brainwashed after watching a drama on grooming gangs in Rochdale and reading social media posts by far-right leaders including Tommy Robinson and Jayda Fransen. Police believe Osborne was radicalised in under a month, sparking calls for internet companies and the security services to combat extremist material even if it does not violate terror laws. Ministers have been accused of entirely ignoring a number of urgent recommendations for keeping children safe online which were published more than a decade ago, Britains leading childrens charity has said. The NSPCC made a series of recommendations in 2008 which it said the Government must implement in order to keep youngsters safe on the internet, as part of the Safer Children in a Digital World review commissioned by then-prime minister Gordon Brown. But a decade later, the charity reveals in a new report that of the 38 recommendations made, less than half have been implemented and nearly a third have been ignored completely. It accused the Government of dragging its feet on the issue. Ideas that were implemented include parental control software, family friendly internet filters and statutory age classification for video games. But ensuring online safety features heavily in school curriculums and encouraging schools to offer family learning courses in ICT and e-safety were two of the recommendations that the charity said were not addressed. When the initial recommendations were made, now popular social media apps Instagram, Snapchat and Whatsapp did not exist. Recommendations that have been partially implemented include calls for an independent watchdog to oversee moderation of user-generated online content and swift takedown of harmful content and for industry to work together to improve parental controls for games consoles. It comes after the NSPCC recorded a sharp jump in calls to its helpline about online sexual abuse, with 3,716 Childline counselling sessions about the issue in 2015-16 a 24 per cent increase on the 2,994 the previous year. Recommended Parents urged to discuss online safety after surge in sex abuse calls Over the past three years, the number of contacts to Childline about online sexual abuse which can include grooming, child sexual exploitation, sexting and being made to perform sex acts on webcam has surged by 250 per cent. Professor Tanya Byron, trustee and clinical psychologist at the NSPCC who wrote both the initial review and the new report, said: The Government said they want the UK to be the safest place for children to be online. Yet only now are they starting to play catch-up on recommendations I made 10 years ago, while other recommendations have been ignored entirely. The internet is absolutely ubiquitous in childrens lives today, and it is much too late for a voluntary code for social networks. The Internet Strategy must absolutely create a legally enforceable safety code to force social networks to keep children safe. The online world moves too fast for Government to drag its feet for another decade. UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 9 September 2021 Troops from Wiltshire based 4 Armoured Close Support Battalion Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers during final inspection at Wellington Barracks in London, ahead of providing troops for the Queens Guard PA UK news in pictures 8 September 2021 Workers cross London Bridge during the morning rush hour in London Reuters UK news in pictures Mixing it up: Painting it up press view in London A gallery employee poses for photographers next to a painting entitled Prairie by British artist, Louise Giovanelli during the exhibition 'Mixing it up: Painting it up' at the Hayward Gallery in London EPA UK news in pictures 6 September 2021 Traders in the Ring at the London Metal Exchange, in the City of London, after open-outcry trading returned for the first time since March 2020, when the Ring was temporarily closed due to the pandemic PA UK news in pictures 5 September 2021 People enjoy the warm weather on Sandbanks beach, Poole PA UK news in pictures 4 September 2021 Demonstrators from Animal Rebellion and Nature Rebellion protest in Trafalgar Square in London. PA UK news in pictures 3 September 2021 South Africa's Ntando Mahlangu (centre) wins the Men's 200 metres T61 Final ahead of second placed Great Britain's Richard Whitehead at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games PA UK news in pictures 2 September 2021 A young common seal on the beach at Horsey Gap in Norfolk, as hundreds of pregnant grey seals come ashore ready for the start of the pupping season. PA UK news in pictures 1 September 2021 Goldfinches fighting over food in a garden in Strensham, Worcestershire PA UK news in pictures 31 August 2021 Gold Medallist Sarah Storey of Britain celebrates on the podium Reuters UK news in pictures 30 August 2021 Extinction Rebellion protesters hold a a tea party on Tower Bridge in London EPA UK news in pictures 29 August 2021 A police office tussles with a demonstrator on Cromwell Road outside the Natural History Museum during a protest by members of Extinction Rebellion in London PA UK news in pictures 28 August 2021 Members of the British armed forces 16 Air Assault Brigade walk to the air terminal after disembarking a Royal Airforce Voyager aircraft at Brize Norton, Oxfordshire POOL/AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 27 August 2021 Fabio Quartararo crashes during a MotoGP practice session at the British Grand Prix, Silverstone Circuit Action Images via Reuters UK news in pictures 26 August 2021 An Extinction Rebellion activist holds a placard in a fountain surrounded by police officers, during a protest next to Buckingham Palace in London Reuters UK news in pictures 25 August 2021 Gold Medallist Great Britains cyclist, Sarah Storey, celebrates after winning the Womens C5 3000m Individual Pursuit Final at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games. It was her 15th Paralympic gold Reuters UK news in pictures 24 August 2021 A demonstrator dressed as bee during a protest by members of Extinction Rebellion on Whitehall, in central London PA UK news in pictures 23 August 2021 Former interpreters for the British forces in Afghanistan demonstrate outside the Home Office in central London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 22 August 2021 Police officers form a line in front of the entrance to the Guildhall, London, where protesters have climbed onto a ledge above the entrance during an Extinction Rebellion stage a protest PA UK news in pictures 21 August 2021 People take part in a demonstration in solidarity with people of Afghanistan, in London Reuters UK news in pictures 20 August 2021 People zip wire across the sea from Bournemouth pier towards the beach. PA UK news in pictures 19 August 2021 Supporters of Geronimo the alpaca gather outside Shepherds Close Farm in Wooton Under Edge, Gloucestershire PA UK news in pictures 18 August 2021 Former Afghan interpreters and veterans hold a demonstration outside Downing Street, calling for support and protection for Afghan interpreters and their families PA UK news in pictures 17 August 2021 Military personnel board the RAF Airbus A400M at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire, where evacuation flights from Afghanistan have been landing Reuters UK news in pictures 16 August 2021 Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer takes part in a minute's silence at Wolverhampton police station for the victims of the Plymouth mass shooting last week PA UK news in pictures 15 August 2021 2Storm, a ten-metre tall puppet of a mythical goddess of the sea created by Edinburgh-based visual theatre company Vision Mechanics, makes its way alongside the seafront at North Berwick, East Lothian, during a performance at the Fringe By The Sea festival PA UK news in pictures 14 August 2021 A woman and two young girls look at floral tributes in Plymouth where six people, including the offender, died of gunshot wounds in a firearms incident PA UK news in pictures 13 August 2021 Forensic officers in the Keyham area of Plymouth where six people, including the shooter, died of gunshot wounds in a firearms incident on Thursday evening PA UK news in pictures 12 August 2021 Children ride horses in the River Eden in Appleby, Cumbria, during the annual gathering of travellers for the Appleby Horse Fair PA UK news in pictures 11 August 2021 Stella Moris (left) reacts after talking to the media outside the High Court in London, following the first hearing in the Julian Assange extradition appeal, n London, following the first hearing in the Julian Assange extradition appeal. The US government has won the latest round in its High Court bid to appeal against the decision not to extradite Julian Assange on espionage charges PA UK news in pictures 10 August 2021 Students react after they receive their A-Level results at the Ark Academy, in London Reuters UK news in pictures 9 August 2021 The final athletes from Great Britain arrive home including Jason Kenny, Laura Kenny and Katie Archibald (front left-right) at Heathrow Airport, London following the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games PA UK news in pictures 8 August 2021 Great Britain's Laura Kenny during the closing ceremony of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at the Olympic stadium in Japan PA UK news in pictures 7 August 2021 People from the Glasgow Southside community take part in the Govanhill Carnival, an anti-racist celebration of pride, unity and the contributions immigrants have made to the community in Govanhill, at Queen's Park, Glasgow PA UK news in pictures 6 August 2021 Chijindu Ujah of Britain, Zharnel Hughes of Britain, Richard Kilty of Britain and Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake of Britain celebrate winning silver as they pose with Asha Philip of Britain, Imani Lansiquot of Britain, Dina Asher-Smith of Britain and Daryll Neita of Britain after they won bronze in the women's 4 x 100m relay during Olympic Games Day 14 Getty UK news in pictures 5 August 2021 A protester places flowers on a photograph of an executed man during a demonstration organised by supporters of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) to protest against the inauguration of Iran's new president Ebrahim Raisi in central London AFP via Getty UK news in pictures 4 August 2021 England's Joe Root looks on as India's KL Rahul doesn't make it to a catch during day one of Cinch First Test match at Trent Bridge, Nottingham PA UK news in pictures 3 August 2021 Great Britain's Laura Kenny and Jason Kenny with their silver medals for the Women's Team Pursuit and Mens Team Sprint during the Track Cycling at the Izu Velodrome on the eleventh day of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in Japan PA UK news in pictures 2 August 2021 Great Britains Charlotte Worthington competes during the Womens BMX Freestyle Final at the Tokyo Olympics PA UK news in pictures 1 August 2021 EPA UK news in pictures 31 July 2021 James Guy, Adam Peaty and Kathleen Dawson celebrate winning the gold medal in the mixed 4x100m medley relay final at the Tokyo Olympics AP UK news in pictures 30 July 2021 Great Britain's Bethany Shriever and Kye Whyte celebrate their Gold and Silver medals respectively for the Cycling BMX Racing at the Ariake Urban Sports Park on the seventh day of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in Japan PA UK news in pictures 29 July 2021 Team GB's Mallory Franklin during the Womens Canoe Slalom Final on day six of the Tokyo Olympic Games. She went on to win the silver medal Getty UK news in pictures 28 July 2021 Canoers on Llyn Padarn lake in Snowdonia, Gwynedd. It was announced that the north-west Wales slate landscape has been granted UNESCO World Heritage Status PA UK news in pictures 27 July 2021 A view of one of two areas now being used at a warehouse facility in Dover, Kent, for boats used by people thought to be migrants. PA UK news in pictures 26 July 2021 A woman is helped by Border Force officers as a group of people thought to be migrants are brought in to Dover, Kent, onboard a Border Force vessel, following a small boat incident in the Channel PA UK news in pictures 25 July 2021 Vehicles drive through deep water on a flooded road in Nine Elms, London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 24 July 2021 Utilities workers inspect a 15x20ft sinkhole on Green Lane, Liverpool, which is suspected to have been caused by ruptured water main PA UK news in pictures 23 July 2021 Children interact with Mega Please Draw Freely by artist Ei Arakawa inside the Turbine Hall at the Tate Modern in London, part of UNIQLO Tate Play the gallery's new free programme of art-inspired activities for families PA UK news in pictures 22 July 2021 Festivalgoers in the campsite at the Latitude festival in Henham Park, Southwold, Suffolk PA Ed Davey, Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesperson, said: This is a clear example of how the Government talks tough and postures but fails to take action. We need to give our children the right tools and education to be safe in a digital world. Of course social media platforms must do more to protect children but we have to get the balance right and education cannot be ignored. The Government has been approached for comment but had not responded at the time of publication. The Home Office is interfering with peoples right to observe Islam by subjecting immigration detainees to a lock-in regime which forces them to pray in dirty conditions, the High Court has ruled. Muslim detainees at Brook House immigration removal centre lodged a High Court challenge to the lock-in regime and living conditions, which meant they were having to pray in "unclean" conditions in "unacceptable" proximity to a toilet. The court heard detainees were locked in their rooms every night between 9pm until 8am, and again during two other lock-ins carried out during the day between 12pm and 1pm, and then again at 5pm and 6pm amounting to a total of 13 hours. Lawyers representing the claimants argued the regime and cell conditions violated fundamental human rights enshrined in European law, leaving detainees with no choice but to undertake mandatory prayers in their cells next to an inadequately screened toilet. Mr Justice Holman found in favour of the detainees, saying the Home Office had interfered with the rights, under the European Convention of Human Rights, of Muslim detainees to properly observe Islam. Handing down his judgement at the Royal Courts of Justice, Mr Justice Holman said: I accept that adherents not only of Islam but of other faiths could feel degraded at having to pray within three metres of an exposed and open lavatory pan, where there are no seats or lids, especially one which has recently been used by other people. He accused the Home Office of indirect indiscrimination which was unlawful unless justified, adding that no justification has yet been shown. Asylum seekers and other migrants are sent to immigration detention when the Government wishes to establish their identities or facilitate their immigration claims, not because they have committed criminal offences. One of the claimants, a man who shares a room with two other detainees, said he had suffered from recurring chest pains for six months, with regular headaches. During the course of the overnight lock-ins, he allegedly requested painkillers by using a buzzer, but his requests received no response. In evidence given in court, the man described his sense of shame at having to use the toilet in view of another detainee. He said this, along with the smell, was so intolerable that he forced himself to forgo using the toilet for as long as possible during the night. As a practising Muslim, the conditions mean the man said he found himself praying in unclean conditions in unacceptable proximity to a toilet. Sheroy Zaq of Duncan Lewis Solicitors, who represented the claimants, said after the ruling: The Secretary of State is legally obliged to conduct an assessment as to how the rights of Muslim detainees are interfered with as a result of her decision to force them to pray in their cells overnight. Despite conceding, as early as November 2017, that she would turn her mind to these issues, she has sat on her hands until now. There are more Muslim detainees in Brook House IRC than detainees of any other religion, and, as such, she ought to have addressed these considerations much sooner. UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 8 September 2021 Workers cross London Bridge during the morning rush hour in London Reuters UK news in pictures Mixing it up: Painting it up press view in London A gallery employee poses for photographers next to a painting entitled Prairie by British artist, Louise Giovanelli during the exhibition 'Mixing it up: Painting it up' at the Hayward Gallery in London EPA UK news in pictures 6 September 2021 Traders in the Ring at the London Metal Exchange, in the City of London, after open-outcry trading returned for the first time since March 2020, when the Ring was temporarily closed due to the pandemic PA UK news in pictures 5 September 2021 People enjoy the warm weather on Sandbanks beach, Poole PA UK news in pictures 4 September 2021 Demonstrators from Animal Rebellion and Nature Rebellion protest in Trafalgar Square in London. PA UK news in pictures 3 September 2021 South Africa's Ntando Mahlangu (centre) wins the Men's 200 metres T61 Final ahead of second placed Great Britain's Richard Whitehead at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games PA UK news in pictures 2 September 2021 A young common seal on the beach at Horsey Gap in Norfolk, as hundreds of pregnant grey seals come ashore ready for the start of the pupping season. PA UK news in pictures 1 September 2021 Goldfinches fighting over food in a garden in Strensham, Worcestershire PA UK news in pictures 31 August 2021 Gold Medallist Sarah Storey of Britain celebrates on the podium Reuters UK news in pictures 30 August 2021 Extinction Rebellion protesters hold a a tea party on Tower Bridge in London EPA UK news in pictures 29 August 2021 A police office tussles with a demonstrator on Cromwell Road outside the Natural History Museum during a protest by members of Extinction Rebellion in London PA UK news in pictures 28 August 2021 Members of the British armed forces 16 Air Assault Brigade walk to the air terminal after disembarking a Royal Airforce Voyager aircraft at Brize Norton, Oxfordshire POOL/AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 27 August 2021 Fabio Quartararo crashes during a MotoGP practice session at the British Grand Prix, Silverstone Circuit Action Images via Reuters UK news in pictures 26 August 2021 An Extinction Rebellion activist holds a placard in a fountain surrounded by police officers, during a protest next to Buckingham Palace in London Reuters UK news in pictures 25 August 2021 Gold Medallist Great Britains cyclist, Sarah Storey, celebrates after winning the Womens C5 3000m Individual Pursuit Final at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games. It was her 15th Paralympic gold Reuters UK news in pictures 24 August 2021 A demonstrator dressed as bee during a protest by members of Extinction Rebellion on Whitehall, in central London PA UK news in pictures 23 August 2021 Former interpreters for the British forces in Afghanistan demonstrate outside the Home Office in central London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 22 August 2021 Police officers form a line in front of the entrance to the Guildhall, London, where protesters have climbed onto a ledge above the entrance during an Extinction Rebellion stage a protest PA UK news in pictures 21 August 2021 People take part in a demonstration in solidarity with people of Afghanistan, in London Reuters UK news in pictures 20 August 2021 People zip wire across the sea from Bournemouth pier towards the beach. PA UK news in pictures 19 August 2021 Supporters of Geronimo the alpaca gather outside Shepherds Close Farm in Wooton Under Edge, Gloucestershire PA UK news in pictures 18 August 2021 Former Afghan interpreters and veterans hold a demonstration outside Downing Street, calling for support and protection for Afghan interpreters and their families PA UK news in pictures 17 August 2021 Military personnel board the RAF Airbus A400M at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire, where evacuation flights from Afghanistan have been landing Reuters UK news in pictures 16 August 2021 Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer takes part in a minute's silence at Wolverhampton police station for the victims of the Plymouth mass shooting last week PA UK news in pictures 15 August 2021 2Storm, a ten-metre tall puppet of a mythical goddess of the sea created by Edinburgh-based visual theatre company Vision Mechanics, makes its way alongside the seafront at North Berwick, East Lothian, during a performance at the Fringe By The Sea festival PA UK news in pictures 14 August 2021 A woman and two young girls look at floral tributes in Plymouth where six people, including the offender, died of gunshot wounds in a firearms incident PA UK news in pictures 13 August 2021 Forensic officers in the Keyham area of Plymouth where six people, including the shooter, died of gunshot wounds in a firearms incident on Thursday evening PA UK news in pictures 12 August 2021 Children ride horses in the River Eden in Appleby, Cumbria, during the annual gathering of travellers for the Appleby Horse Fair PA UK news in pictures 11 August 2021 Stella Moris (left) reacts after talking to the media outside the High Court in London, following the first hearing in the Julian Assange extradition appeal, n London, following the first hearing in the Julian Assange extradition appeal. The US government has won the latest round in its High Court bid to appeal against the decision not to extradite Julian Assange on espionage charges PA UK news in pictures 10 August 2021 Students react after they receive their A-Level results at the Ark Academy, in London Reuters UK news in pictures 9 August 2021 The final athletes from Great Britain arrive home including Jason Kenny, Laura Kenny and Katie Archibald (front left-right) at Heathrow Airport, London following the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games PA UK news in pictures 8 August 2021 Great Britain's Laura Kenny during the closing ceremony of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at the Olympic stadium in Japan PA UK news in pictures 7 August 2021 People from the Glasgow Southside community take part in the Govanhill Carnival, an anti-racist celebration of pride, unity and the contributions immigrants have made to the community in Govanhill, at Queen's Park, Glasgow PA UK news in pictures 6 August 2021 Chijindu Ujah of Britain, Zharnel Hughes of Britain, Richard Kilty of Britain and Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake of Britain celebrate winning silver as they pose with Asha Philip of Britain, Imani Lansiquot of Britain, Dina Asher-Smith of Britain and Daryll Neita of Britain after they won bronze in the women's 4 x 100m relay during Olympic Games Day 14 Getty UK news in pictures 5 August 2021 A protester places flowers on a photograph of an executed man during a demonstration organised by supporters of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) to protest against the inauguration of Iran's new president Ebrahim Raisi in central London AFP via Getty UK news in pictures 4 August 2021 England's Joe Root looks on as India's KL Rahul doesn't make it to a catch during day one of Cinch First Test match at Trent Bridge, Nottingham PA UK news in pictures 3 August 2021 Great Britain's Laura Kenny and Jason Kenny with their silver medals for the Women's Team Pursuit and Mens Team Sprint during the Track Cycling at the Izu Velodrome on the eleventh day of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in Japan PA UK news in pictures 2 August 2021 Great Britains Charlotte Worthington competes during the Womens BMX Freestyle Final at the Tokyo Olympics PA UK news in pictures 1 August 2021 EPA UK news in pictures 31 July 2021 James Guy, Adam Peaty and Kathleen Dawson celebrate winning the gold medal in the mixed 4x100m medley relay final at the Tokyo Olympics AP UK news in pictures 30 July 2021 Great Britain's Bethany Shriever and Kye Whyte celebrate their Gold and Silver medals respectively for the Cycling BMX Racing at the Ariake Urban Sports Park on the seventh day of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in Japan PA UK news in pictures 29 July 2021 Team GB's Mallory Franklin during the Womens Canoe Slalom Final on day six of the Tokyo Olympic Games. She went on to win the silver medal Getty UK news in pictures 28 July 2021 Canoers on Llyn Padarn lake in Snowdonia, Gwynedd. It was announced that the north-west Wales slate landscape has been granted UNESCO World Heritage Status PA UK news in pictures 27 July 2021 A view of one of two areas now being used at a warehouse facility in Dover, Kent, for boats used by people thought to be migrants. PA UK news in pictures 26 July 2021 A woman is helped by Border Force officers as a group of people thought to be migrants are brought in to Dover, Kent, onboard a Border Force vessel, following a small boat incident in the Channel PA UK news in pictures 25 July 2021 Vehicles drive through deep water on a flooded road in Nine Elms, London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 24 July 2021 Utilities workers inspect a 15x20ft sinkhole on Green Lane, Liverpool, which is suspected to have been caused by ruptured water main PA UK news in pictures 23 July 2021 Children interact with Mega Please Draw Freely by artist Ei Arakawa inside the Turbine Hall at the Tate Modern in London, part of UNIQLO Tate Play the gallery's new free programme of art-inspired activities for families PA UK news in pictures 22 July 2021 Festivalgoers in the campsite at the Latitude festival in Henham Park, Southwold, Suffolk PA UK news in pictures 21 July 2021 A man walks past an artwork by Will Blood on the end of a property in Bedminster, Bristol, as the 75 murals project reaches the halfway point and various graffiti pieces are sprayed onto walls and buildings across the city over the Summer PA It is regrettable that it has taken litigation of this nature to compel her to comply with her legal obligations. A Home Office spokesperson said: We respect the rights of detainees to practise their religious faith. Immigration Removal Centres are equipped with mosques and multi faith rooms for detainees to use for prayer, study and reflection. Communal prayers are available in all centres as well as facilities for prayer in the detainees rooms such as access to prayer mats. The economy of Wales could shrink by up to 10 per cent if Britain leaves the EU without a trade deal, according to new analysis released by the Welsh Government. The study, by the Cardiff Business School, found Wales will be hit disproportionally hard in comparison to other regions if Theresa Mays government takes the UK out of the EU single market and customs union. Major employers in industries such as car manufacturing, steel and aerospace will be especially hit by a hard Brexit, researchers warned. After consulting with dozens of companies, including several key employers, they found few firms identifying any positive opportunities deriving from the Brexit process. The report found that, if the UK tumbles out of the EU and reverts to World Trade Organisation (WTO) terms in the absence of a trade deal, the Welsh economy would likely shrink by between 8 and 10 per cent, equating to between 1,500 and 2,000 person in Wales. The analysis was published as Carwyn Jones, the Welsh First Minister, launched a new paper outlining his Governments vision for trade after Brexit. The plan says there must be no new tariffs imposed on the 61 per cent of Welsh exports that go to the EU and, in a move that places the Welsh Government firmly on a collision course with Whitehall, states that Wales should retain membership of the customs union and full and unfettered access to the EU single market after Brexit. While the Welsh Government cannot veto Brexit, it can cause problems for Ms May by refusing to give its consent to the legislation needed to take Britain out of the EU. This would force ministers to overrule the devolved administration, breaching a long-standing convention on devolution. Mr Jones said the new analysis showed Ms May is wrong to suggest no deal is better than a bad deal and said the Governments policy of leaving the single market and customs union would be hugely damaging for Wales. The First Minister has previously clashed with the Government over its plans to give ministers the power to amend laws in areas usually controlled by the devolved administrations. 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 The Welsh Government called on Ms May and her ministers to explain how they will replace trade lost with the EU and emphasised the need for a transition period to give businesses time to plan for Brexit. It also demanded that decisions about the future of the UKs relationship with Europe must be taken in conjunction with the devolved administration. Launching his trade plan in Cwmbran, south Wales, on Friday, Mr Jones is expected to say: Welsh exports are worth 14.6bn each year, with 61 per cent of Welsh exports and just under half of our imports going to and from the EU. Wales is currently attracting record levels of inward investment, which is largely due to our access to the EUs 500 million customers. As our trade paper highlights, moving to WTO rules and the imposition of tariffs could have a catastrophic impact on our lamb sector and on the Welsh shellfish industry, which currently exports around 90 per cent of their produce to the EU. These hard facts underline what is at stake if the UK Government fails to get the right deal for the UK or we crash out of the EU without one. He will criticise the Governments approach to Brexit and the Prime Ministers decision to leave on the table the option of leaving the EU without a trade deal. I fundamentally disagree with the Prime Ministers well-worn phrase that no deal is better than a bad deal and believe leaving the single market and the customs unions would be hugely damaging for Welsh businesses and jobs, with our agricultural, food producers and automotive sectors being particularly hard hit, Mr Jones will say. Ministers in London have yet to show us any evidence of the benefits of leaving the single market and the customs union or how new trade deals would replace the benefits of access to the EU. In fact, UK Government documents that have come to light this week chime with our own analysis of a post-Brexit economy. Mr Jones will describe his vision for Wales after Brexit as an outward looking, globally trading nation, open to the wider world while maintaining our strong trade with the EU. The First Minister is due to be quizzed by MPs from a key parliamentary committee on Monday. The Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee is carrying out an inquiry into Brexit and devolution and will hear from Welsh leaders angry at what they say is the Governments failure to fully include them in the Brexit process. Theresa May is set to meet the EU's chief Brexit negotiator in London amid fresh splits over the transition period after Britain leaves the bloc. The Prime Minister will see Michel Barnier when he attends a working lunch with David Davis on Monday ahead of the next phase of talks - in a rare example of the divorce discussions taking place outside of Brussels. It comes as Ms May faced increasing pressure to set out her position on the UK's long term relationship with the European Union in the face of growing dissatisfaction from both wings of the Conservative Party. Mr Davis posted on Twitter: "Looking forward to welcoming Michel Barnier to London on Monday. Important next step in our work to build new partnership between UK and EU." Downing Street confirmed that Ms May would also meet Mr Barnier on the trip, which comes as officials were due to begin the next phase of Brexit talks, where the UK is expected to give an update on its plans for the future relationship. What is Article 50? Tensions over Brexit have ramped up in recent days after leaked Whitehall analysis suggested that Britain would be worse off on leaving the EU under all possible scenarios. Ms May appeared to relent to pressure from Tory right-wingers by saying she would not guarantee the rights of EU citizens who arrive in Britain during the transition period, which is one of the key EU demands. The comments provoked anger from Brussels, while the European Parliament's Brexit chief Guy Verhofstadt said the rights of EU citizens up to the end of the transition in 2021 were "non-negotiable". The Prime Minister also resisted pleas to clear up confusion about her aims for the long-term relationship with the EU despite warnings that her dithering would trigger a vote of no confidence in her leadership from Tory backbenchers. Speaking to the BBC on a three-day visit to China, she refused to accept the choice between maintaining close economic ties with Brussels or making a clean break. "These are not the options that we have before us, she said and maintained it was possible to negotiate a good trade deal and also take back control of money, borders and laws. Asked which was more important, she replied: I dont believe that those are alternatives". In sign of the fraught atmosphere in Westminster, Brexit minister Steve Baker was also forced to apologise for airing a conspiracy theory that civil servants were distorting evidence in favour of a soft Brexit. Ms May said he had not broken the ministerial code because he would amend the record that has given to Parliament and apologise to Parliament". 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 The row centred on leaked Whitehall analysis, obtained by Buzzfeed News, which set out a range of potential scenarios, where even if the UK was able to negotiate a comprehensive free trade agreement, estimated growth would be down 5 per cent over the next 15 years. That would rise to 8 per cent if Britain left without a deal and was forced to fall back on World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules. Asked about the upcoming Brexit talks, a Downing Street spokesman said: "My understanding of what the EU has set out is that these talks on the future relationship will be at a technical level looking at the process and structure of how the talks on the future relationship proceed." Brexit will go ahead even if the Governments own analysis shows it will make Britain poorer, Theresa May has suggested. Interviewed before leaving China, at the close of her three-day trip, the Prime Minister vowed she would not be deflected even by stark forecasts of an economic price to be paid. Its important, of course, that the Government looks at the analysis that is available, she told ITV News. But, of course, its also important that the government does what the British people want us to do the British people want us to leave the European Union and that is what we will be doing. The pledge comes days after the Government was rocked by a leak of a Whitehall assessment suggesting an economic hit from all three mooted withdrawal options. Mrs May also rebuffed attempts to get her to set out her plans for the end state relationship with the EU, after a major speech was axed amid renewed Cabinet splits. In a separate interview, the Prime Minister said there was no question of sacking Brexit minister Steve Baker, who has apologised for airing a conspiracy that civil servants are sabotaging EU withdrawal. He had not broken the ministerial code because he would amend the record that has given to Parliament and apologise to Parliament, she argued. The end of the visit was also marred by Downing Street having to deny claims in the Chinese media that Mrs May sidestepped human rights in her determination to boost trade. This weeks leak, to Buzzfeed News, revealed an analysis authorised by the Prime Minister, but described as preliminary and partial by ministers. It predicted a no-deal Brexit, leaving Britain trading with Europe on World Trade Organisation terms, would reduce growth by 8 per cent over 15 years. 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 Leaving with a Canada-style free trade agreement would see growth cut by 5 per cent, while even staying inside the single market would reduce growth by 2 per cent. The document also warned that the gains from free trade deals with other big countries would fail to make up for the losses a boost of just 0.2 per cent from a deal with the US, for example. Meanwhile, Mrs May has rejected pleas to clear up confusion about her aims for the long-term relationship with the EU despite warnings that the dither will trigger a vote of no confidence in her leadership. Speaking to the BBC before boarding the plane, she refused to accept a choice between maintaining close economic ties with Brussels or making a dramatic clean break. These are not the options that we have before us, Mrs May said insisting it was possible to negotiate a good trade deal and also take back control of money, borders and laws. Asked which was more important, she replied: I dont believe that those are alternatives, a comment certain to provoke renewed criticism that the UK is still trying to have our cake and eat it. Asked if Mr Baker would be sacked, the Prime Minister told Channel 5 News: No. The ministerial code says that the minister should take the earliest opportunity to amend the record that has given to Parliament and apologise to Parliament. He will do that. In China, the Global Times applauded Mrs May for resisting radical pressure at home to raise concerns over the treatment of democracy protesters in Hong Kong. But a senior N0 10 source insisted she had raised the issue of Hong Kong where more than 100 activists were detained in protests over alleged encroachment by Beijing on the former colonys partial autonomy and broader human rights in her discussions with both President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang. An ex-political aide to Sir Edward Heath will be made the UKs first Trade Commissioner, tasked with boosting Britains commercial ties with China. Richard Burn advised and wrote speeches for the former Conservative Prime Minister, who established full diplomatic relations with China in the 1970s. He will now become one of nine new HM Trade Commissioners answering to the department of Cabinet minister Liam Fox. Announcing the move while accompanying Theresa May on a visit to China, International Trade Secretary Mr Fox said: With his existing wealth of trade and investment experience, Richard will provide intelligence on the ground, deciding what tailored action is required in China, and playing a vital role in our future global trading relationships. Mr Burn worked as an administrative officer to the Hong Kong government before the handover, and then in 1986 worked for Sir Edward in Westminster, advising him particularly on issues relating to China and the European Union. After three years he left and set up Batey Burn Ltd with another of Sir Edwards aides to advise UK companies trying to break into the growing Chinese market, an operation which the former PM who himself had extensive China-based business interests acted as an informal adviser to. Theresa May seeks to strengthen UK-China relations He later went on to become corporate relations director for the drinks giant Diageo in the Asia-Pacific region. He said: My role as HM Trade Commissioner for China will be to build on the strong links already in place, as we intensify the golden era of UK-China trade. My top priority will be to achieve better market access for sectors in which the UK excels. Each of the Commissioners around the world will lead on export promotion, investment and trade policy overseas on behalf of the Government. Critics have argued the jobs could be done by the existing diplomatic service, but the importance attached to the new role is reflected in the lucrative 120,000-a-year salary that each of the nine jobs will carry, along with home travel costs and private school fees paid for by the Government. Areas the nine posts will cover include Africa, Asia-Pacific, China, Eastern Europe and Central Asia, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, North America and South Asia. UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 5 September 2021 People enjoy the warm weather on Sandbanks beach, Poole PA UK news in pictures 4 September 2021 Demonstrators from Animal Rebellion and Nature Rebellion protest in Trafalgar Square in London. PA UK news in pictures 3 September 2021 South Africa's Ntando Mahlangu (centre) wins the Men's 200 metres T61 Final ahead of second placed Great Britain's Richard Whitehead at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games PA UK news in pictures 2 September 2021 A young common seal on the beach at Horsey Gap in Norfolk, as hundreds of pregnant grey seals come ashore ready for the start of the pupping season. PA UK news in pictures 1 September 2021 Goldfinches fighting over food in a garden in Strensham, Worcestershire PA UK news in pictures 31 August 2021 Gold Medallist Sarah Storey of Britain celebrates on the podium Reuters UK news in pictures 30 August 2021 Extinction Rebellion protesters hold a a tea party on Tower Bridge in London EPA UK news in pictures 29 August 2021 A police office tussles with a demonstrator on Cromwell Road outside the Natural History Museum during a protest by members of Extinction Rebellion in London PA UK news in pictures 28 August 2021 Members of the British armed forces 16 Air Assault Brigade walk to the air terminal after disembarking a Royal Airforce Voyager aircraft at Brize Norton, Oxfordshire POOL/AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 27 August 2021 Fabio Quartararo crashes during a MotoGP practice session at the British Grand Prix, Silverstone Circuit Action Images via Reuters UK news in pictures 26 August 2021 An Extinction Rebellion activist holds a placard in a fountain surrounded by police officers, during a protest next to Buckingham Palace in London Reuters UK news in pictures 25 August 2021 Gold Medallist Great Britains cyclist, Sarah Storey, celebrates after winning the Womens C5 3000m Individual Pursuit Final at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games. It was her 15th Paralympic gold Reuters UK news in pictures 24 August 2021 A demonstrator dressed as bee during a protest by members of Extinction Rebellion on Whitehall, in central London PA UK news in pictures 23 August 2021 Former interpreters for the British forces in Afghanistan demonstrate outside the Home Office in central London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 22 August 2021 Police officers form a line in front of the entrance to the Guildhall, London, where protesters have climbed onto a ledge above the entrance during an Extinction Rebellion stage a protest PA UK news in pictures 21 August 2021 People take part in a demonstration in solidarity with people of Afghanistan, in London Reuters UK news in pictures 20 August 2021 People zip wire across the sea from Bournemouth pier towards the beach. PA UK news in pictures 19 August 2021 Supporters of Geronimo the alpaca gather outside Shepherds Close Farm in Wooton Under Edge, Gloucestershire PA UK news in pictures 18 August 2021 Former Afghan interpreters and veterans hold a demonstration outside Downing Street, calling for support and protection for Afghan interpreters and their families PA UK news in pictures 17 August 2021 Military personnel board the RAF Airbus A400M at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire, where evacuation flights from Afghanistan have been landing Reuters UK news in pictures 16 August 2021 Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer takes part in a minute's silence at Wolverhampton police station for the victims of the Plymouth mass shooting last week PA UK news in pictures 15 August 2021 2Storm, a ten-metre tall puppet of a mythical goddess of the sea created by Edinburgh-based visual theatre company Vision Mechanics, makes its way alongside the seafront at North Berwick, East Lothian, during a performance at the Fringe By The Sea festival PA UK news in pictures 14 August 2021 A woman and two young girls look at floral tributes in Plymouth where six people, including the offender, died of gunshot wounds in a firearms incident PA UK news in pictures 13 August 2021 Forensic officers in the Keyham area of Plymouth where six people, including the shooter, died of gunshot wounds in a firearms incident on Thursday evening PA UK news in pictures 12 August 2021 Children ride horses in the River Eden in Appleby, Cumbria, during the annual gathering of travellers for the Appleby Horse Fair PA UK news in pictures 11 August 2021 Stella Moris (left) reacts after talking to the media outside the High Court in London, following the first hearing in the Julian Assange extradition appeal, n London, following the first hearing in the Julian Assange extradition appeal. The US government has won the latest round in its High Court bid to appeal against the decision not to extradite Julian Assange on espionage charges PA UK news in pictures 10 August 2021 Students react after they receive their A-Level results at the Ark Academy, in London Reuters UK news in pictures 9 August 2021 The final athletes from Great Britain arrive home including Jason Kenny, Laura Kenny and Katie Archibald (front left-right) at Heathrow Airport, London following the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games PA UK news in pictures 8 August 2021 Great Britain's Laura Kenny during the closing ceremony of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at the Olympic stadium in Japan PA UK news in pictures 7 August 2021 People from the Glasgow Southside community take part in the Govanhill Carnival, an anti-racist celebration of pride, unity and the contributions immigrants have made to the community in Govanhill, at Queen's Park, Glasgow PA UK news in pictures 6 August 2021 Chijindu Ujah of Britain, Zharnel Hughes of Britain, Richard Kilty of Britain and Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake of Britain celebrate winning silver as they pose with Asha Philip of Britain, Imani Lansiquot of Britain, Dina Asher-Smith of Britain and Daryll Neita of Britain after they won bronze in the women's 4 x 100m relay during Olympic Games Day 14 Getty UK news in pictures 5 August 2021 A protester places flowers on a photograph of an executed man during a demonstration organised by supporters of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) to protest against the inauguration of Iran's new president Ebrahim Raisi in central London AFP via Getty UK news in pictures 4 August 2021 England's Joe Root looks on as India's KL Rahul doesn't make it to a catch during day one of Cinch First Test match at Trent Bridge, Nottingham PA UK news in pictures 3 August 2021 Great Britain's Laura Kenny and Jason Kenny with their silver medals for the Women's Team Pursuit and Mens Team Sprint during the Track Cycling at the Izu Velodrome on the eleventh day of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in Japan PA UK news in pictures 2 August 2021 Great Britains Charlotte Worthington competes during the Womens BMX Freestyle Final at the Tokyo Olympics PA UK news in pictures 1 August 2021 EPA UK news in pictures 31 July 2021 James Guy, Adam Peaty and Kathleen Dawson celebrate winning the gold medal in the mixed 4x100m medley relay final at the Tokyo Olympics AP UK news in pictures 30 July 2021 Great Britain's Bethany Shriever and Kye Whyte celebrate their Gold and Silver medals respectively for the Cycling BMX Racing at the Ariake Urban Sports Park on the seventh day of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in Japan PA UK news in pictures 29 July 2021 Team GB's Mallory Franklin during the Womens Canoe Slalom Final on day six of the Tokyo Olympic Games. She went on to win the silver medal Getty UK news in pictures 28 July 2021 Canoers on Llyn Padarn lake in Snowdonia, Gwynedd. It was announced that the north-west Wales slate landscape has been granted UNESCO World Heritage Status PA UK news in pictures 27 July 2021 A view of one of two areas now being used at a warehouse facility in Dover, Kent, for boats used by people thought to be migrants. PA UK news in pictures 26 July 2021 A woman is helped by Border Force officers as a group of people thought to be migrants are brought in to Dover, Kent, onboard a Border Force vessel, following a small boat incident in the Channel PA UK news in pictures 25 July 2021 Vehicles drive through deep water on a flooded road in Nine Elms, London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 24 July 2021 Utilities workers inspect a 15x20ft sinkhole on Green Lane, Liverpool, which is suspected to have been caused by ruptured water main PA UK news in pictures 23 July 2021 Children interact with Mega Please Draw Freely by artist Ei Arakawa inside the Turbine Hall at the Tate Modern in London, part of UNIQLO Tate Play the gallery's new free programme of art-inspired activities for families PA UK news in pictures 22 July 2021 Festivalgoers in the campsite at the Latitude festival in Henham Park, Southwold, Suffolk PA UK news in pictures 21 July 2021 A man walks past an artwork by Will Blood on the end of a property in Bedminster, Bristol, as the 75 murals project reaches the halfway point and various graffiti pieces are sprayed onto walls and buildings across the city over the Summer PA UK news in pictures 20 July 2021 People during morning prayer during Eid ul-Adha, or Festival of Sacrifice, in Southall Park, Uxbridge, London PA UK news in pictures 19 July 2021 Commuters, some not wearing facemasks, at Westminster Underground station, at 08:38 in London after the final legal Coronavirus restrictions were lifted in England PA UK news in pictures 18 July 2021 A view of spectators by the 2nd green during day four of The Open at The Royal St George's Golf Club in Sandwich, Kent PA The announcement comes during a UK trade visit to China led by the Prime Minister in which she announced about 9bn of new deals for British companies. Trade between the two countries is at record levels, worth over 59bn annually, with British exports to China growing by more than 60 per cent since 2010. The UK is already one of the largest European recipients of Chinese foreign direct investment. On Thursday, Ms May met President Xi Jinping in Beijing in the diplomatic high point of her three-day trip. Seated opposite President Xi in the opulent Diaoyutai State Guesthouse, Ms May repeated Britain and China were enjoying a golden era in their relationship, and added that she wanted to take further forward the global strategic partnership that we have established. Deals signed on the trip are thought to include 1bn in financial services agreements, a 750m deal by energy giant BP and a scheme by a Chinese ecommerce outlet to sell 2bn of UK goods over the next two years. The PM said that once Britain leaves the EU it will be free to strike its own trade deals and pointed to the joint trade review, which will now take place with China as the first step towards a future trade agreement. Stating that he was looking forward to building on the success of the UK-China relationship, Mr Xi quoted Shakespeare, saying: Whats past is prologue. Carmakers that cheat on dirty emissions tests and try to sell the vehicles in Britain, could be punished with an unlimited fine under a strict new regime. Firms that install defeat devices, which mask the true level of noxious gasses coming from cars during lab testing, would also face criminal charges under the government proposals. The new system could see importers as well as manufacturers hit for dealing with cars that have the devices. It follows the Volkswagen emissions scandal, which saw the firm caught for fitting the defeat devices to cars, including more than 1.2 million that ended up in the UK. Transport minister Jesse Norman said: We continue to take the unacceptable actions of Volkswagen extremely seriously, and we are framing new measures to crack down on emissions cheats in future. Those who cheat should be held to proper account in this country, legally and financially, for their actions. On Thursday, ministers launched a consultation into the plans, which would see companies responsible facing criminal charges and a substantial fine for selling new vehicles containing software designed to deceive emissions tests in the UK. UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures Mixing it up: Painting it up press view in London A gallery employee poses for photographers next to a painting entitled Prairie by British artist, Louise Giovanelli during the exhibition 'Mixing it up: Painting it up' at the Hayward Gallery in London EPA UK news in pictures 6 September 2021 Traders in the Ring at the London Metal Exchange, in the City of London, after open-outcry trading returned for the first time since March 2020, when the Ring was temporarily closed due to the pandemic PA UK news in pictures 5 September 2021 People enjoy the warm weather on Sandbanks beach, Poole PA UK news in pictures 4 September 2021 Demonstrators from Animal Rebellion and Nature Rebellion protest in Trafalgar Square in London. PA UK news in pictures 3 September 2021 South Africa's Ntando Mahlangu (centre) wins the Men's 200 metres T61 Final ahead of second placed Great Britain's Richard Whitehead at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games PA UK news in pictures 2 September 2021 A young common seal on the beach at Horsey Gap in Norfolk, as hundreds of pregnant grey seals come ashore ready for the start of the pupping season. PA UK news in pictures 1 September 2021 Goldfinches fighting over food in a garden in Strensham, Worcestershire PA UK news in pictures 31 August 2021 Gold Medallist Sarah Storey of Britain celebrates on the podium Reuters UK news in pictures 30 August 2021 Extinction Rebellion protesters hold a a tea party on Tower Bridge in London EPA UK news in pictures 29 August 2021 A police office tussles with a demonstrator on Cromwell Road outside the Natural History Museum during a protest by members of Extinction Rebellion in London PA UK news in pictures 28 August 2021 Members of the British armed forces 16 Air Assault Brigade walk to the air terminal after disembarking a Royal Airforce Voyager aircraft at Brize Norton, Oxfordshire POOL/AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 27 August 2021 Fabio Quartararo crashes during a MotoGP practice session at the British Grand Prix, Silverstone Circuit Action Images via Reuters UK news in pictures 26 August 2021 An Extinction Rebellion activist holds a placard in a fountain surrounded by police officers, during a protest next to Buckingham Palace in London Reuters UK news in pictures 25 August 2021 Gold Medallist Great Britains cyclist, Sarah Storey, celebrates after winning the Womens C5 3000m Individual Pursuit Final at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games. It was her 15th Paralympic gold Reuters UK news in pictures 24 August 2021 A demonstrator dressed as bee during a protest by members of Extinction Rebellion on Whitehall, in central London PA UK news in pictures 23 August 2021 Former interpreters for the British forces in Afghanistan demonstrate outside the Home Office in central London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 22 August 2021 Police officers form a line in front of the entrance to the Guildhall, London, where protesters have climbed onto a ledge above the entrance during an Extinction Rebellion stage a protest PA UK news in pictures 21 August 2021 People take part in a demonstration in solidarity with people of Afghanistan, in London Reuters UK news in pictures 20 August 2021 People zip wire across the sea from Bournemouth pier towards the beach. PA UK news in pictures 19 August 2021 Supporters of Geronimo the alpaca gather outside Shepherds Close Farm in Wooton Under Edge, Gloucestershire PA UK news in pictures 18 August 2021 Former Afghan interpreters and veterans hold a demonstration outside Downing Street, calling for support and protection for Afghan interpreters and their families PA UK news in pictures 17 August 2021 Military personnel board the RAF Airbus A400M at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire, where evacuation flights from Afghanistan have been landing Reuters UK news in pictures 16 August 2021 Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer takes part in a minute's silence at Wolverhampton police station for the victims of the Plymouth mass shooting last week PA UK news in pictures 15 August 2021 2Storm, a ten-metre tall puppet of a mythical goddess of the sea created by Edinburgh-based visual theatre company Vision Mechanics, makes its way alongside the seafront at North Berwick, East Lothian, during a performance at the Fringe By The Sea festival PA UK news in pictures 14 August 2021 A woman and two young girls look at floral tributes in Plymouth where six people, including the offender, died of gunshot wounds in a firearms incident PA UK news in pictures 13 August 2021 Forensic officers in the Keyham area of Plymouth where six people, including the shooter, died of gunshot wounds in a firearms incident on Thursday evening PA UK news in pictures 12 August 2021 Children ride horses in the River Eden in Appleby, Cumbria, during the annual gathering of travellers for the Appleby Horse Fair PA UK news in pictures 11 August 2021 Stella Moris (left) reacts after talking to the media outside the High Court in London, following the first hearing in the Julian Assange extradition appeal, n London, following the first hearing in the Julian Assange extradition appeal. The US government has won the latest round in its High Court bid to appeal against the decision not to extradite Julian Assange on espionage charges PA UK news in pictures 10 August 2021 Students react after they receive their A-Level results at the Ark Academy, in London Reuters UK news in pictures 9 August 2021 The final athletes from Great Britain arrive home including Jason Kenny, Laura Kenny and Katie Archibald (front left-right) at Heathrow Airport, London following the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games PA UK news in pictures 8 August 2021 Great Britain's Laura Kenny during the closing ceremony of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at the Olympic stadium in Japan PA UK news in pictures 7 August 2021 People from the Glasgow Southside community take part in the Govanhill Carnival, an anti-racist celebration of pride, unity and the contributions immigrants have made to the community in Govanhill, at Queen's Park, Glasgow PA UK news in pictures 6 August 2021 Chijindu Ujah of Britain, Zharnel Hughes of Britain, Richard Kilty of Britain and Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake of Britain celebrate winning silver as they pose with Asha Philip of Britain, Imani Lansiquot of Britain, Dina Asher-Smith of Britain and Daryll Neita of Britain after they won bronze in the women's 4 x 100m relay during Olympic Games Day 14 Getty UK news in pictures 5 August 2021 A protester places flowers on a photograph of an executed man during a demonstration organised by supporters of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) to protest against the inauguration of Iran's new president Ebrahim Raisi in central London AFP via Getty UK news in pictures 4 August 2021 England's Joe Root looks on as India's KL Rahul doesn't make it to a catch during day one of Cinch First Test match at Trent Bridge, Nottingham PA UK news in pictures 3 August 2021 Great Britain's Laura Kenny and Jason Kenny with their silver medals for the Women's Team Pursuit and Mens Team Sprint during the Track Cycling at the Izu Velodrome on the eleventh day of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in Japan PA UK news in pictures 2 August 2021 Great Britains Charlotte Worthington competes during the Womens BMX Freestyle Final at the Tokyo Olympics PA UK news in pictures 1 August 2021 EPA UK news in pictures 31 July 2021 James Guy, Adam Peaty and Kathleen Dawson celebrate winning the gold medal in the mixed 4x100m medley relay final at the Tokyo Olympics AP UK news in pictures 30 July 2021 Great Britain's Bethany Shriever and Kye Whyte celebrate their Gold and Silver medals respectively for the Cycling BMX Racing at the Ariake Urban Sports Park on the seventh day of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in Japan PA UK news in pictures 29 July 2021 Team GB's Mallory Franklin during the Womens Canoe Slalom Final on day six of the Tokyo Olympic Games. She went on to win the silver medal Getty UK news in pictures 28 July 2021 Canoers on Llyn Padarn lake in Snowdonia, Gwynedd. It was announced that the north-west Wales slate landscape has been granted UNESCO World Heritage Status PA UK news in pictures 27 July 2021 A view of one of two areas now being used at a warehouse facility in Dover, Kent, for boats used by people thought to be migrants. PA UK news in pictures 26 July 2021 A woman is helped by Border Force officers as a group of people thought to be migrants are brought in to Dover, Kent, onboard a Border Force vessel, following a small boat incident in the Channel PA UK news in pictures 25 July 2021 Vehicles drive through deep water on a flooded road in Nine Elms, London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 24 July 2021 Utilities workers inspect a 15x20ft sinkhole on Green Lane, Liverpool, which is suspected to have been caused by ruptured water main PA UK news in pictures 23 July 2021 Children interact with Mega Please Draw Freely by artist Ei Arakawa inside the Turbine Hall at the Tate Modern in London, part of UNIQLO Tate Play the gallery's new free programme of art-inspired activities for families PA UK news in pictures 22 July 2021 Festivalgoers in the campsite at the Latitude festival in Henham Park, Southwold, Suffolk PA UK news in pictures 21 July 2021 A man walks past an artwork by Will Blood on the end of a property in Bedminster, Bristol, as the 75 murals project reaches the halfway point and various graffiti pieces are sprayed onto walls and buildings across the city over the Summer PA UK news in pictures 20 July 2021 People during morning prayer during Eid ul-Adha, or Festival of Sacrifice, in Southall Park, Uxbridge, London PA The new powers would go above and beyond European requirements, enabling the Government to prosecute any importer who brings a non-compliant product to the UK. In 2015, the US Government discovered Volkswagen had programmed turbocharged direct injection diesel engines to activate their emissions controls only during lab testing. It caused the vehicles noxious emissions output to meet US limits but emit some 40 times more when driving elsewhere, and it later emerged that the company had used the programming software in about 11 million cars worldwide. In Britain, the Department for Transport then set up a programme to test a range of the most popular diesel vehicles, which found that no other manufacturer tested was using a similar strategy to Volkswagen. The German firm reimbursed the British taxpayer 1.1m for the costs of the programme, but has found itself in the news again this week amid a furore over tests it carried out in which monkeys were locked in containers and exposed to toxic diesel fumes. Humans also breathed the fumes as another part of the test. Emissions Scandal 'Broke the Rules' - VW CEO The DfT also announced on Thursday plans to ensure consumer information on the fuel economy of new cars, includes results from a new more rigorous laboratory test cycle. It also brought in measures to improve the environmental performance and safety of specialist and modified vehicles, while stricter rules on the sale of vehicles that do not adhere to the latest emissions rules were also implemented. It comes alongside the Governments commitment to end the sale of conventional new diesel and petrol cars and vans by 2040. Steve Baker has apologised for refusing to dismiss suggestions that civil servants are conspiring to undermine Brexit. The Brexit minister told MPs he wanted to correct the record after being widely criticised for comments on Thursday in which he claimed he was aware of an allegation that Treasury officials deliberately produced a skewed analysis in order to influence policy in favour of the UK staying in the EU customs union. Giving a statement in the House of Commons before the start of parliamentary business on Friday, Mr Baker said he should have dismissed or corrected the rumours. He added: Yesterday I answered a question based on my honest recollection of a conversation. Recommended May justifies backing Brexit Minister amid fury at conspiracy comments "As I explained yesterday, I considered what I understood to be the suggestion being put to me as implausible because of the long standing and well regarded impartiality of the civil service. The row erupted after Jacob Rees-Mogg asked Mr Baker in the Commons whether he was familiar with a claim that officials had deliberately developed a model to show that all options other than staying in the customs union were bad and that officials intended to use this to influence policy. Mr Rees-Mogg, an influential pro-Brexit Tory backbencher, said the allegation had come from Charles Grant, head of the influential Centre for European Reform think tank. Mr Baker replied that Mr Rees-Moggs account was correct and that he was familiar with the extraordinary allegation, adding: At the time, I considered it implausible because my direct experience is that civil servants are extraordinarily careful to uphold the impartiality of the civil service. However, Mr Grant immediately denied having suggested there was a deliberate civil service plot to undermine Brexit or influence policy a claim later confirmed by the release of an audio recording of the event, at last years Conservative conference, at which he is said to have made the remark. 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 After a backlash over his comments, Mr Baker admitted on Friday that he was wrong to give credence to the allegation and mistaken in his recollection of what Mr Grant had said. He said: "The audio of that conversation is now available and I am glad the record stands corrected. In the context of that audio, I accept I should have corrected or dismissed the premise of my honourable friend's question. "I have apologised to Mr Charles Grant, who is an honest and trustworthy man. "As I've put on record many times, I have the highest regard for our hard-working civil servants. "I'm grateful for this early opportunity to correct the record and I apologise to the House." Charles Grant: The recording at the centre of the Commons Brexit storm He had earlier apologised on Twitter. Downing Street had come under pressure to sack Mr Baker but stood by him, initially insisting there was no reason to question his account and, once the audio recording made clear he was wrong, saying he had made a genuine mistake. Speaking during her visit to China, Theresa May confirmed she will not be sacking the Brexit minister. She told Channel 5 News: The ministerial code says that the minister should take the earliest opportunity to amend the record that has given to Parliament and apologise to Parliament. He will do that. What I understand the minister did was to reflect what he thought somebody else had said at a meeting. He has now recalled that was not right, he is going to apologise, he is going to ensure that the record in Hansard is correct so that Parliament is not misled when that record is read in the future. Thats what the ministerial code asks him to do and that is what he will be doing. Earlier in the week Mr Baker provoked another controversy by suggesting forecasts produced by civil servants were always wrong. US police officers carried BB guns to plant on unarmed suspects after they shot them, a corruption trial has heard. Members of Baltimore Police Departments Gun Trace Task Force, an elite squad with responsibility for taking illegal firearms off the citys streets, kept replica weapons in their cars in case they accidentally hit somebody, a former detective told a court. Maurice Ward, who served with the unit, made the claim as he gave evidence during the trial of two colleagues accused of crimes including robbery, extortion, drug-dealing and faking evidence. Recommended Former Baltimore Police Officer blows whistle on corruption Ward is one of six officers who have pleaded guilty to fraud and racketeering charges. He told the US District Court in Baltimore the units supervisor, Sergeant Wayne Jenkins, instructed officers to carry BB guns in case we accidentally hit somebody or got into a shoot-out, so we could plant them. Ward did not say if officers ever did plant a replica firearm on anyone, the Baltimore Sun reported. He is one of four officers giving testimony in the trial of detectives Daniel Hersl and Marcus Taylor, who have denied the charges. The trial has heard how the officers from the rogue unit plundered money and drugs from suspects to sell on themselves. They stopped people on the streets without probable cause, broke into homes, and executed searches without warrants, it was alleged. Officers also installed illegal GPS trackers on suspects on suspects cars to make them easier to track, the court heard. In one case, police broke into a safe without a warrant and found $200,000 (140,500) inside. They took out half the cash and closed the safe before filming themselves pretending to open it for the first time. We would create false reports to cover up the robberies we were involved in, testified Evodio Hendrix, another of the officers who has admitted the charges. Detectives Momodu Gondo and Jemell Rayam and Sergeant Thomas Allers have also pleaded guilty. Officers from the unit also fraudulently pocketed hundreds of thousands of pounds from overtime they did not work Close to 'The Wire' on the mean streets of Baltimore Show all 6 1 /6 Close to 'The Wire' on the mean streets of Baltimore Close to 'The Wire' on the mean streets of Baltimore Close to 'The Wire' on the mean streets of Baltimore Close to 'The Wire' on the mean streets of Baltimore Close to 'The Wire' on the mean streets of Baltimore Close to 'The Wire' on the mean streets of Baltimore Close to 'The Wire' on the mean streets of Baltimore Five of those who have admitted their crimes faces up to 20 years in prison. Jenkins could be jailed for up to 30 years for leading the corrupt squad. The trial has heard he carried brass knuckles, a machete and a grappling hook in case he encountered a monster dealer to rob. Jenkins has admitted writing a false report about heroin planted in a car in 2010 following a high-speed police chase that killed an elderly bystander. Two men in the car spent years in prison because of the planted drugs before the corruption emerged. The units illegal activity was uncovered in 2016 when Drug Enforcement Administration investigators heard an officer talking to a drug dealer on wiretap. Only one officer of the nine-man unit, Detective John Clewell, has not been charged with any crime. The trial continues. Violent crime rates in Baltimore have been high for decades. Last year there were 343 murders, equivalent to 56 killings per 100,000 people, the highest rate in the citys history. A Catholic priest charged with child rape has claimed that it was simply a misunderstanding and that it happened by accident. John A Sarro was charged by a grand jury earlier this week in Delaware, the first time the US state has brought criminal molestation charges against a Catholic priest. The 76-year-old is accused of first-degree unlawful sexual intercourse and second-degree unlawful sexual contact. He is accused of having oral sex with a girl younger than 16 more than 25 years ago. "I can't recall all the circumstances, but it was simply a misunderstanding," Mr Sarro told The News Journal of Wilmington. Mr Sarros indictment alleges he intentionally touched the girls breasts, and engaged in sexual intercourse and oral sex. He said: "It was a simple matter of me being involved. I wasn't really involved with anybody." He added: "It was something that happened by accident." A secret shame: Inside the latest scandal to rock the Catholic church Show all 4 1 /4 A secret shame: Inside the latest scandal to rock the Catholic church A secret shame: Inside the latest scandal to rock the Catholic church 213462.bin KALPESH LATHIGRA A secret shame: Inside the latest scandal to rock the Catholic church 213463.bin AP A secret shame: Inside the latest scandal to rock the Catholic church 213464.bin AFP/Getty Images A secret shame: Inside the latest scandal to rock the Catholic church 213465.bin Wilmington Diocese spokesperson Robert Krebs said an adult survivor made the allegations in 2011, but would not give the church permission to go to police at the time. Mr Sarro was identified by church officials in 2006 as one of 20 local priests with "admitted, corroborated or otherwise substantiated" allegations of sexual assaults against children against them, The Journal reported. The current charge is thought to be unrelated to the 2006 claims. NSPCC encourages people to say something about child abuse with 'Say Something' advert The former priest is scheduled to appear before court next week. A so-called "Cocaine Cowboy" who went on the run for 26 years before he was eventually captured, has pleaded guilty for his part in an infamous cartel that operated in Florida. Gustavo Falcon was part of the "Los Muchachos" outfit in the state that trafficked $2bn (1.41bn) worth of the drug, or an estimated 75 tonnes from Colombia into Miami in the 1980s. It opened up and ran that pipeline into the city for about a decade until the authorities smashed up its operation in 1991. Its ring leaders, including Gustavos brother Willy, were jailed for decades. Gustavo himself slipped away from justice and fell off the radar after he went on the run amid the crackdown. But his time as a free man came crashing down in April when police arrested him as he and his wife cycled home in Kissimmee, in central Florida, where they had been living under false names. The authorities tracked him down to the area near Orlando after a police sketch artist identified him after comparing his driving licence photo to a historical mug shot from his cartel days. He stood handcuffed and shackled in the dock today as he pleaded guilty in a federal courthouse in Miami to his part in the Los Muchachos drug gang, the Miami New Times reported. I understand, Falcon, 56, replied several times as U.S. District Judge Federico Moreno returned him to custody at the end of the hearing, news channel Local 10 reported. The Los Muchachos cartel earned its name after Falcons brother Willy and his childhood friend Sal Magluta opened up the trafficking network between Miami and Colombia in the early 1980s. The pair earned up to millions every month by smuggling tonnes of the drug into Miami using their own powerboats, creating one of the biggest operations on the US East Coast. Police finally closed in on the operation in 1991 and charged the pair with trafficking 75 tonnes of the drug which they said they had smuggled over the previous 13 years. 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 They were initially cleared of the claims in a 1996 trial but they were re-tried in 2001 after prosecutors learned that the two traffickers had rigged the jury in the earlier case to free them. Willy, 62, was later given 20 years in prison in the second hearing while Magluta was sentenced to 195 years. Prosecutors said Gustavo had worked behind the scenes in his brothers criminal enterprise, and was largely involved in totting up the balance sheet for their illicit multi-billion dollar trade. Falcon today plead guilty to one count of conspiring to possess cocaine with intent to distribute during his years in the Los Muchachos cartel and faces up to 20 years in prison. He was remanded to custody for sentencing on 11 April. A Wisconsin judge has sentenced a girl to 40 years in a mental hospital for her role in the 2014 stabbing that left a classmate on the brink of death in the name of Slender Man. Morgan Geyser was found not guilty by reason of mental disease after she and a friend lured a classmate into the woods before stabbing her and leaving her to die. The girls, who were 12 at the time, had indicated they were trying to kill their friend in the name of the fictional horror character Slender Man. Her mental hospital sentencing followed after prosecutors asked the judge to order institutional care for the girl, and argued that a conditional release would pose a high risk for her and the community around her. Recommended Slender Man stabber sentenced to 25 years in mental hospital A prosecutor had testified during the trial that Geyser had scored a 142 on an IQ test, and that she suffers from schizophrenia, a "major illness". "I never meant for it to happen, and I hope she's doing well," Geyser said during the hearing. Geyser and her friend Anissa Weier were the assailants in a stabbing case that shocked the nation and rattled the small town of Waukesha, Wisconsin. 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 Then 12 years old, Geyser and Weier lured classmate Payton Leutner into the woods, where they stabbed her 19 times and left her to die. They later told prosecutors that they had done it in the name of Slender Man, a fictitious horror character, whom they claimed to believe in, and who is known for stalking children. Payton survived the attack after crawling to a nearby road where she was found by a passing car. Weier was also found not guilty of the crimes she faced for reason of mental illness, and was sentenced last year to 25 years in mental health care. She has agreed to stay in a mental health facility for at least three years before she can seek release on community supervision. If she is eventually released, she will be under state supervision until the year 2039, when she will be 37 years old. The House Intelligence Committee as released the so-called Nunes memo, a document that Republicans say prove that elements of the Russia investigation are politically motivated attacks against President Donald Trump. Recommended Follow the live reaction to the release of the Nunes memo The memo, written House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes' staff, focuses on a FISA warrant against former Trump campaign aid Carter Page during the 2016 campaign. That warrant was obtained by the Department of Justice in October 2016, and the request for the warrant was reliant at least in part on a dossier compiled by Christopher Steele, which claimed that Russia may have compromising information on Mr Trump. The FBI has noted that the Steele dossier was not the sole piece of evidence used for the warrant. Mr Nunes' memo notes that Mr Steele's dossier was compiled for the Democratic National Committee and the Hillary Clinton campaign, and that the Department of Justice's applications for the FISA warrant did not note that funding source. Read the full text below, please give it a moment to load: Loading.... Reaction to the memo's release was swift and fractured. True to form, Republicans claimed that the contents of the four page document prove that the FBI and Department of Justice were biased in their quest to spy on Carter Page, while Democrats and individuals sympathetic to the American spy apparatus, said that the memo's release amounted to little more than an attempt to discredit special counsel Robert Mueller. The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Show all 17 1 /17 The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Paul Manafort Mr Manafort is a Republican strategist and former Trump campaign manager. He resigned from that post over questions about his extensive lobbying overseas, including in Ukraine where he represented pro-Russian interests. Mr Manafort turned himself in at FBI headquarters to special counsel Robert Muellers team on Oct 30, 2017, after he was indicted under seal on charges that include conspiracy against the United States, conspiracy to launder money, unregistered agent of a foreign principal, false and misleading US Foreign Agents Registration Act statements, false statements, and seven counts of failure to file reports of foreign bank and financial accounts. Getty The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Rick Gates Mr Gates joined the Trump team in spring 2016, and served as a top aide until he left to work at the Republican National Committee after the departure of former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort. Mr Gates' had previously worked on several presidential campaigns, on international political campaigns in Europe and Africa, and had 15 years of political or financial experience with multinational firms, according to his bio. Mr Gates was indicted alongside Mr Manafort by special counsel Robert Mueller's team on charges that include conspiracy against the United States, conspiracy to launder money, unregistered agent of a foreign principal, false and misleading US Foreign Agents Registration Act statements, false statements, and seven counts of failure to file reports of foreign bank and financial accounts. AP The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation George Papadopoulos George Papadopoulos was a former foreign policy adviser for the Trump campaign, having joined around March 2016. Mr Papadopoulos plead guilty to federal charges for lying to the FBI as a part of a cooperation agreement with Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation. Mr Papadopoulos claimed in an interview with the FBI that he had made contacts with Russian sources before joining the Trump campaign, but he actually began working with them after joining the team. Mr Papadopoulos allegedly took a meeting with a professor in London who reportedly told him that Russians had "dirt" on Hillary Clinton. The professor also allegedly introduced Mr Papadopoulos to a Russian who was said to have close ties to officials at the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Mr Papadopoulos also allegedly was in contact with a woman whom he incorrectly described in one email to others in the campaign as the "niece" to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Twitter The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Donald Trump Jr The President's eldest son met with a Russian lawyer - Natalia Veselnitskaya - on 9 June 2016 at Trump Tower in New York. He said in an initial statement that the meeting was about Russia halting adoptions of its children by US citizens. Then, he said it was regarding the Magnitsky Act, a US law blacklisting Russian human rights abusers. In a final statement, Mr Trump Jr released a chain of emails that revealed he took the meeting in hopes of getting information Ms Veselnitskaya had about Hillary Clinton's alleged financial ties to Russia. He and the President called it standard "opposition research" in the course of campaigning and that no information came from the meeting. The meeting was set up by an intermediary, Rob Goldstone. Jared Kushner and Paul Manafort were also at the same meeting. Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Jared Kushner Mr Kushner is President Donald Trump's son-in-law and a key adviser to the White House. He met with a Russian banker appointed by Russian President Vladimir Putin in December. Mr Kushner has said he did so in his role as an adviser to Mr Trump while the bank says he did so as a private developer. Mr Kushner has also volunteered to testify in the Senate about his role helping to arrange meetings between Trump advisers and Russian Ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak. Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Rob Goldstone Former tabloid journalist and now music publicist Rob Goldstone is a contact of the Trump family through the previously Trump-owned 2013 Miss Universe pageant, which took place in Moscow. In June 2016, he wrote to Donald Trump Jr offering a meeting with a Russian lawyer, Natalya Veselnitskaya, who had information about Hillary Clinton. Mr Goldstone was the intermediary for Russian pop star Emin Agalaraov and his father, real estate magnate Aras, who played a role in putting on the 2013 pageant. In an email chain released by Mr Trump Jr, Mr Goldstone seemed to indicate Russian government's support of Donald Trump's campaign. AP images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Aras and Emin Agalarov Aras Agalarov (R) is a wealthy Moscow-based real estate magnate and son Emin (L) is a pop star. Both played a role in putting on the previously Trump-owned 2013 Miss Universe pageant in Moscow. They allegedly had information about Hillary Clinton and offered that information to the Trump campaign through a lawyer with whom they had worked with, Natalia Veselnitskaya, and music publicist Rob Goldstone. Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Natalia Veselnitskaya Natalia Veselnitskaya is a Russian lawyer with ties to the Kremlin. She has worked on real estate issues and reportedly counted the FSB as a client in the past. She has ties to a Trump family connection, real estate magnate Aras Agalarov, who had helped set up the Trump-owned 2013 Miss Universe pageant which took place in Moscow. Ms Veselnitskaya met with Donald Trump Jr, Jared Kushner, and Paul Manafort in Trump Tower on 9 June 2016 but denies the allegation that she went there promising information on Hillary Clinton's alleged financial ties to Russia. She contends that the meeting was about the US adoptions of Russian children being stopped by Moscow as a reaction to the Magnitsky Act, a US law blacklisting Russian human rights abusers. Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Mike Flynn Mr Flynn was named as Trump's national security adviser but was forced to resign from his post for inappropriate communication with Russian Ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak. He had misrepresented a conversation he had with Mr Kislyak to Vice President Mike Pence, telling him wrongly that he had not discussed sanctions with the Russian. Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Sergey Kislyak Mr Kislyak, the former longtime Russian ambassador to the US, is at the centre of the web said to connect President Donald Trump's campaign with Russia. Reuters The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Roger Stone Mr Stone is a former Trump adviser who worked on the political campaigns of Richard Nixon, George HW Bush, and Ronald Reagan. Mr Stone claimed repeatedly in the final months of the campaign that he had backchannel communications with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and that he knew the group was going to dump damaging documents to the campaign of Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton - which did happen. Mr Stone also had contacts with the hacker Guccier 2.0 on Twitter, who claimed to have hacked the DNC and is linked to Russian intelligence services. Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Jeff Sessions The US attorney general was forced to recuse himself from the Trump-Russia investigation after it was learned that he had lied about meeting with Russian Ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak. Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Carter Page Mr Page is a former advisor to the Trump campaign and has a background working as an investment banker at Merrill Lynch. Mr Page met with Russian Ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak during the 2016 Republican National Convention in Cleveland. Mr Page had invested in oil companies connected to Russia and had admitted that US Russia sanctions had hurt his bottom line. Reuters The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Jeffrey "JD" Gorden Mr Gordon met with Russian Ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak during the 2016 Republian National Convention to discuss how the US and Russia could work together to combat Islamist extremism should then-Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump win the election. The meeting came days before a massive leak of DNC emails that has been connected to Russia. Creative Commons The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation James Comey Mr Comey was fired from his post as head of the FBI by President Donald Trump. The timing of Mr Comey's firing raised questions around whether or not the FBI's investigation into the Trump campaign may have played a role in the decision. Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Preet Bharara Mr Bahara refused, alongside 46 other US district attorney's across the country, to resign once President Donald Trump took office after previous assurances from Mr Trump that he would keep his job. Mr Bahara had been heading up several investigations including one into one of President Donald Trump's favorite cable television channels Fox News. Several investigations would lead back to that district, too, including those into Mr Trump's campaign ties to Russia, and Mr Trump's assertion that Trump Tower was wiretapped on orders from his predecessor. Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Sally Yates Ms Yates, a former Deputy Attorney General, was running the Justice Department while President Donald Trump's pick for attorney general awaited confirmation. Ms Yates was later fired by Mr Trump from her temporary post over her refusal to implement Mr Trump's first travel ban. She had also warned the White House about potential ties former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn to Russia after discovering those ties during the FBI's investigation into the Trump campaign's connections to Russia. Getty Images "Thats it? Dishonest and misleading memo wrecked the House intel committee, destroyed trust with Intelligence Community, damaged relationship with FISA court, and inexcusably exposed classified investigation of an American citizen. For what? DOJ & FBI must keep doing their jobs," former FBI Director James Comey, who was fired by Mr Trump last year at least in part because of the Russia investigation, tweeted. Meanwhile, civil rights organisations chimed in to say that the memo highlighted deeply troubling actions of the Justice Department and FBI, but said that the Nunes memo itself succeeded only in further confusing an already opaque spy practice. The completeness and accuracy of government representations to the FISA court are longstanding concerns. The Nunes memo makes serious charges of FBI and Justice Department misconduct in obtaining a warrant to surveil an American citizen, but on its own does not contain the facts needed to substantiate its charges, Christopher Anders, the deputy director of the American Civil Liberties UNion's Washington legislative office, said in a statement. Rather than one side or the other cherry-picking facts, all Americans deserve to see all of the facts, including both the minority report and the underlying documents. The goal should be more transparency, not less, particularly when a congressional committee chairman makes serious charges of abuse but does not provide the facts to either prove the charges or allow Americans to make up our own minds. The White House itself released a statement saying that the memo "raises serious concerns about the integrity of decisions made" at the top level of the Justice Department and FBI. A controversial memo alleging wrongdoing by the FBI in its Russia investigation has been declassified and released to the public intensifying a battle that has pitched the White House against both the agency and the Justice Department. The memo, written by Republican House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, raises concerns about the FBIs securing a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrant as part of the investigation into possible ties between Donald Trumps presidential campaign and Russia. The memo claims the FBI and Justice Departments actions in obtaining the warrant against former Trump campaign advisor Carter Page represent a troubling breakdown of legal processes established to protect the American people from abuses related to the FISA process. President Trump allowed the House Intelligence Committee to release the report to the public on Friday without redactions. The president, who tweeted that morning that the FBI had politicized the sacred investigative process, called the contents of the memo a disgrace. While many Republicans in Congress supported the release of the memo, Democrats claimed it represents an attempt to discredit the federal investigation by using cherry-picked classified information one which would set a dangerous precedent that would do long-term damage to the US intelligence community. Both the Justice Department and the FBI objected to the release of the memo, with the FBI releasing a statement on Wednesday detailing "grave concerns" over its accuracy. Congressional Democrats sent a letter to Mr Trump on Friday warning him against using the memo as a pretext to fire either Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who is overseeing the investigation, or Special Counsel Robert Mueller who is leading it. Firing Rod Rosenstein, [Department of Justice] leadership, or Bob Mueller could result in a constitutional crisis of the kind not seen since the Saturday night massacre, the Democrats wrote, referring to Richard Nixons firing of the Watergate special prosecutor in the 1970s. Mr Trump declined to say whether he still had faith in faith in Mr Rosenstein when asked on Friday, saying: You figure that one out. He added that a lot of people should be ashamed of the allegations made in the memo. Seemingly trying to limit the damage from such remarks, White House officials later briefed that Mr Trump is not considering firing Mr Rosenstein. The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Show all 17 1 /17 The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Paul Manafort Mr Manafort is a Republican strategist and former Trump campaign manager. He resigned from that post over questions about his extensive lobbying overseas, including in Ukraine where he represented pro-Russian interests. Mr Manafort turned himself in at FBI headquarters to special counsel Robert Muellers team on Oct 30, 2017, after he was indicted under seal on charges that include conspiracy against the United States, conspiracy to launder money, unregistered agent of a foreign principal, false and misleading US Foreign Agents Registration Act statements, false statements, and seven counts of failure to file reports of foreign bank and financial accounts. Getty The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Rick Gates Mr Gates joined the Trump team in spring 2016, and served as a top aide until he left to work at the Republican National Committee after the departure of former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort. Mr Gates' had previously worked on several presidential campaigns, on international political campaigns in Europe and Africa, and had 15 years of political or financial experience with multinational firms, according to his bio. Mr Gates was indicted alongside Mr Manafort by special counsel Robert Mueller's team on charges that include conspiracy against the United States, conspiracy to launder money, unregistered agent of a foreign principal, false and misleading US Foreign Agents Registration Act statements, false statements, and seven counts of failure to file reports of foreign bank and financial accounts. AP The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation George Papadopoulos George Papadopoulos was a former foreign policy adviser for the Trump campaign, having joined around March 2016. Mr Papadopoulos plead guilty to federal charges for lying to the FBI as a part of a cooperation agreement with Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation. Mr Papadopoulos claimed in an interview with the FBI that he had made contacts with Russian sources before joining the Trump campaign, but he actually began working with them after joining the team. Mr Papadopoulos allegedly took a meeting with a professor in London who reportedly told him that Russians had "dirt" on Hillary Clinton. The professor also allegedly introduced Mr Papadopoulos to a Russian who was said to have close ties to officials at the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Mr Papadopoulos also allegedly was in contact with a woman whom he incorrectly described in one email to others in the campaign as the "niece" to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Twitter The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Donald Trump Jr The President's eldest son met with a Russian lawyer - Natalia Veselnitskaya - on 9 June 2016 at Trump Tower in New York. He said in an initial statement that the meeting was about Russia halting adoptions of its children by US citizens. Then, he said it was regarding the Magnitsky Act, a US law blacklisting Russian human rights abusers. In a final statement, Mr Trump Jr released a chain of emails that revealed he took the meeting in hopes of getting information Ms Veselnitskaya had about Hillary Clinton's alleged financial ties to Russia. He and the President called it standard "opposition research" in the course of campaigning and that no information came from the meeting. The meeting was set up by an intermediary, Rob Goldstone. Jared Kushner and Paul Manafort were also at the same meeting. Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Jared Kushner Mr Kushner is President Donald Trump's son-in-law and a key adviser to the White House. He met with a Russian banker appointed by Russian President Vladimir Putin in December. Mr Kushner has said he did so in his role as an adviser to Mr Trump while the bank says he did so as a private developer. Mr Kushner has also volunteered to testify in the Senate about his role helping to arrange meetings between Trump advisers and Russian Ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak. Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Rob Goldstone Former tabloid journalist and now music publicist Rob Goldstone is a contact of the Trump family through the previously Trump-owned 2013 Miss Universe pageant, which took place in Moscow. In June 2016, he wrote to Donald Trump Jr offering a meeting with a Russian lawyer, Natalya Veselnitskaya, who had information about Hillary Clinton. Mr Goldstone was the intermediary for Russian pop star Emin Agalaraov and his father, real estate magnate Aras, who played a role in putting on the 2013 pageant. In an email chain released by Mr Trump Jr, Mr Goldstone seemed to indicate Russian government's support of Donald Trump's campaign. AP images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Aras and Emin Agalarov Aras Agalarov (R) is a wealthy Moscow-based real estate magnate and son Emin (L) is a pop star. Both played a role in putting on the previously Trump-owned 2013 Miss Universe pageant in Moscow. They allegedly had information about Hillary Clinton and offered that information to the Trump campaign through a lawyer with whom they had worked with, Natalia Veselnitskaya, and music publicist Rob Goldstone. Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Natalia Veselnitskaya Natalia Veselnitskaya is a Russian lawyer with ties to the Kremlin. She has worked on real estate issues and reportedly counted the FSB as a client in the past. She has ties to a Trump family connection, real estate magnate Aras Agalarov, who had helped set up the Trump-owned 2013 Miss Universe pageant which took place in Moscow. Ms Veselnitskaya met with Donald Trump Jr, Jared Kushner, and Paul Manafort in Trump Tower on 9 June 2016 but denies the allegation that she went there promising information on Hillary Clinton's alleged financial ties to Russia. She contends that the meeting was about the US adoptions of Russian children being stopped by Moscow as a reaction to the Magnitsky Act, a US law blacklisting Russian human rights abusers. Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Mike Flynn Mr Flynn was named as Trump's national security adviser but was forced to resign from his post for inappropriate communication with Russian Ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak. He had misrepresented a conversation he had with Mr Kislyak to Vice President Mike Pence, telling him wrongly that he had not discussed sanctions with the Russian. Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Sergey Kislyak Mr Kislyak, the former longtime Russian ambassador to the US, is at the centre of the web said to connect President Donald Trump's campaign with Russia. Reuters The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Roger Stone Mr Stone is a former Trump adviser who worked on the political campaigns of Richard Nixon, George HW Bush, and Ronald Reagan. Mr Stone claimed repeatedly in the final months of the campaign that he had backchannel communications with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and that he knew the group was going to dump damaging documents to the campaign of Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton - which did happen. Mr Stone also had contacts with the hacker Guccier 2.0 on Twitter, who claimed to have hacked the DNC and is linked to Russian intelligence services. Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Jeff Sessions The US attorney general was forced to recuse himself from the Trump-Russia investigation after it was learned that he had lied about meeting with Russian Ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak. Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Carter Page Mr Page is a former advisor to the Trump campaign and has a background working as an investment banker at Merrill Lynch. Mr Page met with Russian Ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak during the 2016 Republican National Convention in Cleveland. Mr Page had invested in oil companies connected to Russia and had admitted that US Russia sanctions had hurt his bottom line. Reuters The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Jeffrey "JD" Gorden Mr Gordon met with Russian Ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak during the 2016 Republian National Convention to discuss how the US and Russia could work together to combat Islamist extremism should then-Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump win the election. The meeting came days before a massive leak of DNC emails that has been connected to Russia. Creative Commons The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation James Comey Mr Comey was fired from his post as head of the FBI by President Donald Trump. The timing of Mr Comey's firing raised questions around whether or not the FBI's investigation into the Trump campaign may have played a role in the decision. Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Preet Bharara Mr Bahara refused, alongside 46 other US district attorney's across the country, to resign once President Donald Trump took office after previous assurances from Mr Trump that he would keep his job. Mr Bahara had been heading up several investigations including one into one of President Donald Trump's favorite cable television channels Fox News. Several investigations would lead back to that district, too, including those into Mr Trump's campaign ties to Russia, and Mr Trump's assertion that Trump Tower was wiretapped on orders from his predecessor. Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Sally Yates Ms Yates, a former Deputy Attorney General, was running the Justice Department while President Donald Trump's pick for attorney general awaited confirmation. Ms Yates was later fired by Mr Trump from her temporary post over her refusal to implement Mr Trump's first travel ban. She had also warned the White House about potential ties former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn to Russia after discovering those ties during the FBI's investigation into the Trump campaign's connections to Russia. Getty Images Much of the memo concerns the process by which the FBI obtained a FISA warrant to surveil Mr Page, claiming the warrant application was informed largely by a Democrat-funded opposition research dossier compiled by former MI6 agent Christopher Steele. The memo alleges that then-Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe told the Intelligence Committee that the surveillance warrant would not have been sought without this controversial dossier going further to say that the Mr Steele had already disclosed his anti-Trump bias to the FBI. Mr Page called the memo an example of brave and assiduous oversight, and said he would be updating his pending legal action against the Justice Department. The memo also briefly mentions texts between an FBI agent and lawyer who worked on the bureaus investigation into possible Trump campaign ties to Russia. The memo claims the texts demonstrate clear bias against Mr Trump and in favour of Hillary Clinton. However, the memo appears to fall short of the promises made by some Republicans namely that the evidence it contained would cast doubt on the origins of the Russia investigation. Much of the information it contained involved allegations Mr Nunes and others had previously made public. Democrats also point out that Australian officials told the FBI about another Trump campaign official, George Papadopoulos, had possible knowledge about Russias activities. The memo itself states that information about Mr Papadopoulos triggered the opening of an FBI counterintelligence investigation in late July 2016. In a statement after the release of the memo, Mr Nunes said: The Committee has discovered serious violations of the public trust, and the American people have a right to know when officials in crucial institutions are abusing their authority for political purposes. He added that he hoped the memos release would shine a light on the alarming series of events. Donald Trump overheard saying he will '100 per cent' release FBI memo Republicans and Democrats have fiercely debated the release of the memo since last month, when Mr Nunes made it available to members of the House. Adam Schiff, the ranking Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, claimed the memo mischaracterises highly sensitive classified information in order to suit Republicans political aims. Chairman Nunes decision ... to publicly release misleading allegations against the Department of Justice and Federal Bureau of Investigation is a shameful effort to discredit these institutions, undermine [special counsel Robert Muellers] ongoing investigation, and undercut congressional probes, Mr Schiff said. The congressman claimed the FISA warrant to surveil Mr Page had been properly obtained, and was not based entirely on the Steele dossier. He added that Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee would seek a vote to release their own memo, which he claimed pointed out several other factual errors in Mr Nuness. Democratic leaders sent a letter to House Speaker Paul Ryan earlier this week claiming Mr Nuness actions were illegitimate and dangerous, and asking him Mr Ryan to remove the chairman from his role. But Mr Ryan said on Friday that he supported the release of the memo, claiming it showed a possible violation of civil rights. He said he would also support the release of the Democrats response document, once sensitive details had been removed. The White House later said in a statement that the so-called Nunes memo raises serious concerns about the integrity of decisions made at the highest levels of the Department of Justice and the FBI to use the Governments most intrusive surveillance tools against American citizens. This decision was made with input from the Presidents national security team including law enforcement officials and members of the intelligence community, for whom the President has great respect, the White House added. It also signalled that Mr Trump would back the release of the Democrat memo, saying the White House was ready to work with Congress to accommodate oversight requests on the second memo. At least one Republican criticised the decision to release the memo, accusing his party of attacking the FBI and Justice Department. Our nations elected officials, including the president, must stop looking at this investigation through the warped lens of politics and manufacturing partisan sideshows, Senator John McCain said. If we continue to undermine our own rule of law, we are doing [Russian President Valdimir] Putins job for him. Mr Trump has not signalled what, if any, other steps he will take in response to the memo. Congress will do whatever theyre going to do, he said on Friday. ...Lets see what happens. Close Donald Trump says Nunes memo is declassified and Congress will "do whatever" with it A controversial memo alleging abuse of authority by the FBI in its Russia investigation has been declassified and released to the public. The memo, written by the staff of House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, raises concerns about the FBI's use of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) in relation into the investigation into possible connections between officials in Donald Trump's presidential campaign and Russia Their findings "represent a troubling breakdown of legal processes established to protect the American people from abuses related to the FISA process", the document states. Mr Trump allowed the House Intelligence Committee to release the report to the public on Friday without redactions. The president called the contents of the memo "a disgrace" and, in relation to the FBI, that "a lot of people should be ashamed of themselves". He declined to say whether he still had faith in Rod Rosenstein, the deputy attorney general overseeing the federal investigation. Scroll down to see how we covered the release of the memo live. Please allow a few seconds for the live blog to load Democrats claimed the release of the memo was an attempt to discredit this investigation one which would set a dangerous precedent that would do "long-term damage" to the US intelligence community. Much of the memo concerns the process by which the FBI obtained a FISA warrant to surveil former Trump campaign advisor Carter Page, claiming the warrant application was informed largely by a Democrat-funded opposition research dossier compiled by former MI6 agent Christopher Steele. Republicans and Democrats have fiercely debated the release of the memo since last month, when Mr Nunes made it available to members of the House. Adam Schiff, the ranking Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, claimed the memo "mischaracterises highly sensitive classified information" in order to suit Republicans' political aims. Chairman Nunes decision ... to publicly release misleading allegations against the Department of Justice and Federal Bureau of Investigation is a shameful effort to discredit these institutions, undermine the Special Counsels ongoing investigation, and undercut congressional probes," Mr Schiff said. The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Show all 17 1 /17 The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Paul Manafort Mr Manafort is a Republican strategist and former Trump campaign manager. He resigned from that post over questions about his extensive lobbying overseas, including in Ukraine where he represented pro-Russian interests. Mr Manafort turned himself in at FBI headquarters to special counsel Robert Muellers team on Oct 30, 2017, after he was indicted under seal on charges that include conspiracy against the United States, conspiracy to launder money, unregistered agent of a foreign principal, false and misleading US Foreign Agents Registration Act statements, false statements, and seven counts of failure to file reports of foreign bank and financial accounts. Getty The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Rick Gates Mr Gates joined the Trump team in spring 2016, and served as a top aide until he left to work at the Republican National Committee after the departure of former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort. Mr Gates' had previously worked on several presidential campaigns, on international political campaigns in Europe and Africa, and had 15 years of political or financial experience with multinational firms, according to his bio. Mr Gates was indicted alongside Mr Manafort by special counsel Robert Mueller's team on charges that include conspiracy against the United States, conspiracy to launder money, unregistered agent of a foreign principal, false and misleading US Foreign Agents Registration Act statements, false statements, and seven counts of failure to file reports of foreign bank and financial accounts. AP The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation George Papadopoulos George Papadopoulos was a former foreign policy adviser for the Trump campaign, having joined around March 2016. Mr Papadopoulos plead guilty to federal charges for lying to the FBI as a part of a cooperation agreement with Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation. Mr Papadopoulos claimed in an interview with the FBI that he had made contacts with Russian sources before joining the Trump campaign, but he actually began working with them after joining the team. Mr Papadopoulos allegedly took a meeting with a professor in London who reportedly told him that Russians had "dirt" on Hillary Clinton. The professor also allegedly introduced Mr Papadopoulos to a Russian who was said to have close ties to officials at the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Mr Papadopoulos also allegedly was in contact with a woman whom he incorrectly described in one email to others in the campaign as the "niece" to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Twitter The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Donald Trump Jr The President's eldest son met with a Russian lawyer - Natalia Veselnitskaya - on 9 June 2016 at Trump Tower in New York. He said in an initial statement that the meeting was about Russia halting adoptions of its children by US citizens. Then, he said it was regarding the Magnitsky Act, a US law blacklisting Russian human rights abusers. In a final statement, Mr Trump Jr released a chain of emails that revealed he took the meeting in hopes of getting information Ms Veselnitskaya had about Hillary Clinton's alleged financial ties to Russia. He and the President called it standard "opposition research" in the course of campaigning and that no information came from the meeting. The meeting was set up by an intermediary, Rob Goldstone. Jared Kushner and Paul Manafort were also at the same meeting. Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Jared Kushner Mr Kushner is President Donald Trump's son-in-law and a key adviser to the White House. He met with a Russian banker appointed by Russian President Vladimir Putin in December. Mr Kushner has said he did so in his role as an adviser to Mr Trump while the bank says he did so as a private developer. Mr Kushner has also volunteered to testify in the Senate about his role helping to arrange meetings between Trump advisers and Russian Ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak. Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Rob Goldstone Former tabloid journalist and now music publicist Rob Goldstone is a contact of the Trump family through the previously Trump-owned 2013 Miss Universe pageant, which took place in Moscow. In June 2016, he wrote to Donald Trump Jr offering a meeting with a Russian lawyer, Natalya Veselnitskaya, who had information about Hillary Clinton. Mr Goldstone was the intermediary for Russian pop star Emin Agalaraov and his father, real estate magnate Aras, who played a role in putting on the 2013 pageant. In an email chain released by Mr Trump Jr, Mr Goldstone seemed to indicate Russian government's support of Donald Trump's campaign. AP images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Aras and Emin Agalarov Aras Agalarov (R) is a wealthy Moscow-based real estate magnate and son Emin (L) is a pop star. Both played a role in putting on the previously Trump-owned 2013 Miss Universe pageant in Moscow. They allegedly had information about Hillary Clinton and offered that information to the Trump campaign through a lawyer with whom they had worked with, Natalia Veselnitskaya, and music publicist Rob Goldstone. Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Natalia Veselnitskaya Natalia Veselnitskaya is a Russian lawyer with ties to the Kremlin. She has worked on real estate issues and reportedly counted the FSB as a client in the past. She has ties to a Trump family connection, real estate magnate Aras Agalarov, who had helped set up the Trump-owned 2013 Miss Universe pageant which took place in Moscow. Ms Veselnitskaya met with Donald Trump Jr, Jared Kushner, and Paul Manafort in Trump Tower on 9 June 2016 but denies the allegation that she went there promising information on Hillary Clinton's alleged financial ties to Russia. She contends that the meeting was about the US adoptions of Russian children being stopped by Moscow as a reaction to the Magnitsky Act, a US law blacklisting Russian human rights abusers. Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Mike Flynn Mr Flynn was named as Trump's national security adviser but was forced to resign from his post for inappropriate communication with Russian Ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak. He had misrepresented a conversation he had with Mr Kislyak to Vice President Mike Pence, telling him wrongly that he had not discussed sanctions with the Russian. Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Sergey Kislyak Mr Kislyak, the former longtime Russian ambassador to the US, is at the centre of the web said to connect President Donald Trump's campaign with Russia. Reuters The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Roger Stone Mr Stone is a former Trump adviser who worked on the political campaigns of Richard Nixon, George HW Bush, and Ronald Reagan. Mr Stone claimed repeatedly in the final months of the campaign that he had backchannel communications with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and that he knew the group was going to dump damaging documents to the campaign of Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton - which did happen. Mr Stone also had contacts with the hacker Guccier 2.0 on Twitter, who claimed to have hacked the DNC and is linked to Russian intelligence services. Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Jeff Sessions The US attorney general was forced to recuse himself from the Trump-Russia investigation after it was learned that he had lied about meeting with Russian Ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak. Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Carter Page Mr Page is a former advisor to the Trump campaign and has a background working as an investment banker at Merrill Lynch. Mr Page met with Russian Ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak during the 2016 Republican National Convention in Cleveland. Mr Page had invested in oil companies connected to Russia and had admitted that US Russia sanctions had hurt his bottom line. Reuters The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Jeffrey "JD" Gorden Mr Gordon met with Russian Ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak during the 2016 Republian National Convention to discuss how the US and Russia could work together to combat Islamist extremism should then-Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump win the election. The meeting came days before a massive leak of DNC emails that has been connected to Russia. Creative Commons The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation James Comey Mr Comey was fired from his post as head of the FBI by President Donald Trump. The timing of Mr Comey's firing raised questions around whether or not the FBI's investigation into the Trump campaign may have played a role in the decision. Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Preet Bharara Mr Bahara refused, alongside 46 other US district attorney's across the country, to resign once President Donald Trump took office after previous assurances from Mr Trump that he would keep his job. Mr Bahara had been heading up several investigations including one into one of President Donald Trump's favorite cable television channels Fox News. Several investigations would lead back to that district, too, including those into Mr Trump's campaign ties to Russia, and Mr Trump's assertion that Trump Tower was wiretapped on orders from his predecessor. Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Sally Yates Ms Yates, a former Deputy Attorney General, was running the Justice Department while President Donald Trump's pick for attorney general awaited confirmation. Ms Yates was later fired by Mr Trump from her temporary post over her refusal to implement Mr Trump's first travel ban. She had also warned the White House about potential ties former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn to Russia after discovering those ties during the FBI's investigation into the Trump campaign's connections to Russia. Getty Images The congressman claimed the FISA warrant to surveil Mr Page had been properly obtained, and was not based entirely on the Steele dossier. He added that Democrats would seek a vote to release their response to the memo, which he claimed pointed out several other factual errors. The FBI cautioned against releasing the memo in a rare public statement this week, saying they had "grave concerns" about its accuracy. Former FBI Director James Comey - fired by Mr Trump last year - tweeted that the newly released Republican-written memo doesn't add up to much. Mr Comey asked on Twitter, That's it? He called the memo dishonest and misleading and not worth the damage it's done to public trust in U.S. intelligence agencies. Mr Trump did not signal what, if any, other steps he would take in response to the memo. "Congress will do whatever they're going to do," he said as he confirmed his support for the memo's release Congressman Devin Nunes has alleged "serious violations of public trust" by the FBI over their conduct in the Russia investigation in the wake of the release of a controversial memo on the subject. The statement was a response to the release of a controversial memo written by Mr Nunes' staff which had been previously classified, but released today on the President Donald Trump's authorisation. The FBI has warned that the memo leaves out crucial information that could have an impact on its accuracy. Recommended Timeline of events that led to the Nunes memo release "The American people have a right to know when officials in crucial institutions are abusing their authority for political purposes," Mr Nunes wrote as Chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. "Our intelligence and law enforcement agencies exist to defend the American people, not to be exploited to target one group on behalf of another. It is my hope that the Committees actions will shine a light on this alarming series of events so we can make reforms that allow the American people to have full faith and confidence in their governing institutions," the statement read. The memo's release is seen by many experts has another blow to the already fragile relationship between the FBI and Trump administration, which has been cause for public controversy since the firing of former FBI Director James Comey in May 2017. Donald Trump says Nunes memo is declassified and Congress will "do whatever" with it The FBI Agents Association also issued a statement to the memo release which said that agents "have not, and will not, allow partisan politics to distract us from our solemn commitment to our mission." "The American people should know that they continue to be well-served by the world's preeminent law enforcement agency," the statement read. The memo claimed that the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) only issued a warrant - called a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrant - based on a dossier authored by former UK intelligence officer Christopher Steele. The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Show all 17 1 /17 The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Paul Manafort Mr Manafort is a Republican strategist and former Trump campaign manager. He resigned from that post over questions about his extensive lobbying overseas, including in Ukraine where he represented pro-Russian interests. Mr Manafort turned himself in at FBI headquarters to special counsel Robert Muellers team on Oct 30, 2017, after he was indicted under seal on charges that include conspiracy against the United States, conspiracy to launder money, unregistered agent of a foreign principal, false and misleading US Foreign Agents Registration Act statements, false statements, and seven counts of failure to file reports of foreign bank and financial accounts. Getty The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Rick Gates Mr Gates joined the Trump team in spring 2016, and served as a top aide until he left to work at the Republican National Committee after the departure of former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort. Mr Gates' had previously worked on several presidential campaigns, on international political campaigns in Europe and Africa, and had 15 years of political or financial experience with multinational firms, according to his bio. Mr Gates was indicted alongside Mr Manafort by special counsel Robert Mueller's team on charges that include conspiracy against the United States, conspiracy to launder money, unregistered agent of a foreign principal, false and misleading US Foreign Agents Registration Act statements, false statements, and seven counts of failure to file reports of foreign bank and financial accounts. AP The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation George Papadopoulos George Papadopoulos was a former foreign policy adviser for the Trump campaign, having joined around March 2016. Mr Papadopoulos plead guilty to federal charges for lying to the FBI as a part of a cooperation agreement with Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation. Mr Papadopoulos claimed in an interview with the FBI that he had made contacts with Russian sources before joining the Trump campaign, but he actually began working with them after joining the team. Mr Papadopoulos allegedly took a meeting with a professor in London who reportedly told him that Russians had "dirt" on Hillary Clinton. The professor also allegedly introduced Mr Papadopoulos to a Russian who was said to have close ties to officials at the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Mr Papadopoulos also allegedly was in contact with a woman whom he incorrectly described in one email to others in the campaign as the "niece" to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Twitter The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Donald Trump Jr The President's eldest son met with a Russian lawyer - Natalia Veselnitskaya - on 9 June 2016 at Trump Tower in New York. He said in an initial statement that the meeting was about Russia halting adoptions of its children by US citizens. Then, he said it was regarding the Magnitsky Act, a US law blacklisting Russian human rights abusers. In a final statement, Mr Trump Jr released a chain of emails that revealed he took the meeting in hopes of getting information Ms Veselnitskaya had about Hillary Clinton's alleged financial ties to Russia. He and the President called it standard "opposition research" in the course of campaigning and that no information came from the meeting. The meeting was set up by an intermediary, Rob Goldstone. Jared Kushner and Paul Manafort were also at the same meeting. Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Jared Kushner Mr Kushner is President Donald Trump's son-in-law and a key adviser to the White House. He met with a Russian banker appointed by Russian President Vladimir Putin in December. Mr Kushner has said he did so in his role as an adviser to Mr Trump while the bank says he did so as a private developer. Mr Kushner has also volunteered to testify in the Senate about his role helping to arrange meetings between Trump advisers and Russian Ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak. Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Rob Goldstone Former tabloid journalist and now music publicist Rob Goldstone is a contact of the Trump family through the previously Trump-owned 2013 Miss Universe pageant, which took place in Moscow. In June 2016, he wrote to Donald Trump Jr offering a meeting with a Russian lawyer, Natalya Veselnitskaya, who had information about Hillary Clinton. Mr Goldstone was the intermediary for Russian pop star Emin Agalaraov and his father, real estate magnate Aras, who played a role in putting on the 2013 pageant. In an email chain released by Mr Trump Jr, Mr Goldstone seemed to indicate Russian government's support of Donald Trump's campaign. AP images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Aras and Emin Agalarov Aras Agalarov (R) is a wealthy Moscow-based real estate magnate and son Emin (L) is a pop star. Both played a role in putting on the previously Trump-owned 2013 Miss Universe pageant in Moscow. They allegedly had information about Hillary Clinton and offered that information to the Trump campaign through a lawyer with whom they had worked with, Natalia Veselnitskaya, and music publicist Rob Goldstone. Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Natalia Veselnitskaya Natalia Veselnitskaya is a Russian lawyer with ties to the Kremlin. She has worked on real estate issues and reportedly counted the FSB as a client in the past. She has ties to a Trump family connection, real estate magnate Aras Agalarov, who had helped set up the Trump-owned 2013 Miss Universe pageant which took place in Moscow. Ms Veselnitskaya met with Donald Trump Jr, Jared Kushner, and Paul Manafort in Trump Tower on 9 June 2016 but denies the allegation that she went there promising information on Hillary Clinton's alleged financial ties to Russia. She contends that the meeting was about the US adoptions of Russian children being stopped by Moscow as a reaction to the Magnitsky Act, a US law blacklisting Russian human rights abusers. Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Mike Flynn Mr Flynn was named as Trump's national security adviser but was forced to resign from his post for inappropriate communication with Russian Ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak. He had misrepresented a conversation he had with Mr Kislyak to Vice President Mike Pence, telling him wrongly that he had not discussed sanctions with the Russian. Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Sergey Kislyak Mr Kislyak, the former longtime Russian ambassador to the US, is at the centre of the web said to connect President Donald Trump's campaign with Russia. Reuters The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Roger Stone Mr Stone is a former Trump adviser who worked on the political campaigns of Richard Nixon, George HW Bush, and Ronald Reagan. Mr Stone claimed repeatedly in the final months of the campaign that he had backchannel communications with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and that he knew the group was going to dump damaging documents to the campaign of Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton - which did happen. Mr Stone also had contacts with the hacker Guccier 2.0 on Twitter, who claimed to have hacked the DNC and is linked to Russian intelligence services. Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Jeff Sessions The US attorney general was forced to recuse himself from the Trump-Russia investigation after it was learned that he had lied about meeting with Russian Ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak. Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Carter Page Mr Page is a former advisor to the Trump campaign and has a background working as an investment banker at Merrill Lynch. Mr Page met with Russian Ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak during the 2016 Republican National Convention in Cleveland. Mr Page had invested in oil companies connected to Russia and had admitted that US Russia sanctions had hurt his bottom line. Reuters The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Jeffrey "JD" Gorden Mr Gordon met with Russian Ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak during the 2016 Republian National Convention to discuss how the US and Russia could work together to combat Islamist extremism should then-Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump win the election. The meeting came days before a massive leak of DNC emails that has been connected to Russia. Creative Commons The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation James Comey Mr Comey was fired from his post as head of the FBI by President Donald Trump. The timing of Mr Comey's firing raised questions around whether or not the FBI's investigation into the Trump campaign may have played a role in the decision. Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Preet Bharara Mr Bahara refused, alongside 46 other US district attorney's across the country, to resign once President Donald Trump took office after previous assurances from Mr Trump that he would keep his job. Mr Bahara had been heading up several investigations including one into one of President Donald Trump's favorite cable television channels Fox News. Several investigations would lead back to that district, too, including those into Mr Trump's campaign ties to Russia, and Mr Trump's assertion that Trump Tower was wiretapped on orders from his predecessor. Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Sally Yates Ms Yates, a former Deputy Attorney General, was running the Justice Department while President Donald Trump's pick for attorney general awaited confirmation. Ms Yates was later fired by Mr Trump from her temporary post over her refusal to implement Mr Trump's first travel ban. She had also warned the White House about potential ties former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn to Russia after discovering those ties during the FBI's investigation into the Trump campaign's connections to Russia. Getty Images The memo said there was "clear evidence of [Mr Steele's] bias" against Mr Trump and his "anti-Trump financial and ideological motivations." It also argued that Mr Steele should have been terminated by the bureau from his role as a paid FBI source at least one month earlier than he was because of he violated confidentiality rules by speaking to the media and that senior officials within the Department of Justice (DOJ) were aware of Mr Steele's biases. However Molly McKew, an analyst of Russian influence operations and frequent commenter on the Russia investigation, told The Independent that partisan politics was not the reason for Mr Steele's apparent anti-Trump bias. "Extensive reporting, as well as accounts from sworn testimony from the Congressional investigations on Russian interference, have made it clear that [Mr Steele] came forward to present the information he gathered to the FBI because he believed there was an ongoing threat from a hostile foreign power against the US," Ms McKew explained. "This had nothing to do with 'political views," she said, adding that Mr Steele felt a duty to report the intelligence because he was concerned Mr Trump could be manipulated or used by a foreign agent. Paul Ryan rejects calls from Democrats to remove House Intelligence Committee chairman Devin Nunes The memo also appeared to stoke more partisanship by naming DOJ officials who were holdovers from the administration of Barack Obama and signed off on the FISA warrant applications - former Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates, former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, and Mr Comey. However, it also named current Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein who was promoted by Mr Trump and signed off on the warrant for Carter Page, a former campaign adviser on foreign policy. The memo claimed the only reason the warrant on Mr Page was Mr Steele's dossier, despite the former MI-6 agent's anti-Trump bias. However, CNN reported that two Democrats on the House intelligence committee said Mr McCabe had not cited the Steele dossier as a basis for the warrant during closed-door testimony. Democratic Congressman Adam Schiff also disputed that central point of the memo in a statement. "The Republican document mischaracterises highly sensitive classified information that few members of Congress have seen, and which Chairman Nunes himself chose not to review," Mr Schiff said. He also said the memo was a "shameful effort to discredit" the FBI and DOJ, during the investigation into the Trump campaign's alleged collusion with Russian officials. Despite objections from the Justice Department, Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee have voted to release the so-called Nunes memo, which alleges misconduct by FBI officials investigating whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russia. President Donald Trump, who has insisted there was no collusion, has reportedly accepted the committee's request, and the memo could be made public as early as Friday. What is the Nunes memo? The memo reportedly alleges that senior FBI and Justice Department officials relied on questionable and politically motivated sources to justify surveillance of President Trumps campaign. Donald Trump overheard saying he will '100 per cent' release FBI memo The Daily Beast reported that Devin Nunes, the chairman of the House Select Intelligence Committee, and his committee staff spent months compiling the memo, which relies upon classified information. What incriminating information does the memo contain? Recommended Democrats draft response to the Nunes memo The four-page document is said to allege that FBI and Justice Department officials abused their power under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. According to multiple news accounts, it alleges that the FBI's 2016 application for a warrant to wiretap Carter Page, a former Trump campaign adviser, was based on information in the infamous Trump dossier detailing Mr Trumps alleged connections to Russia. According to the Washington Post, some funding for the dossier came from Hillary Clintons presidential campaign and the Democratic National Committee. Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Show all 29 1 /29 Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Inauguration - 20 January 2017 US President Donald Trump acknowledges the audience after taking the oath of office as his wife Melania (L) and daughter Tiffany watch during inauguration ceremonies swearing in Trump as the 45th president of the United States on the West Front of the US capital in Washington on 20 January, 2017. Photographer Jim Bourg: "This photo was shot with one of two remote cameras. The cameras were monitored and triggered remotely and the pictures were transmitted to clients worldwide within minutes of being taken." Reuters/Jim Bourg Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Obama farewell address - 10 January 2017 US President Barack Obama wipes away tears as he delivers his farewell address in Chicago on 10 January, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "In his final days in office, Obama made a visit home to Chicago. As he spoke from the stage to his wife and daughter in the audience, he became emotional when he talked about what they had sacrificed during his time in office. I turned from photographing the Obama women embracing to find him onstage wiping away tears." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Inauguration - 20 January 2017 A combination of photos shows the crowds attending the inauguration ceremonies to swear in U.S. President Donald Trump at 12:01pm (left) on January 20, 2017 and President Barack Obama sometime between 12:07pm and 12:26pm on January 20, 2009. Reuters/ Lucas Jackson/Stelios Varias Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Liberty Ball - 20 January 2017 US President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump attend the Liberty Ball in honour of his inauguration in Washington on 20 January, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "What I see when I look at this picture is the end of a very long day, not to mention weeks and months of preparation by many photographers, editors and network experts and the beginning of everything since." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Inaugural Law Enforcement Officers and First Responders Reception - 22 January 2017 US President Donald Trump greets Director of the FBI James Comey as Director of the Secret Service Joseph Clancy (L), watches during the Inaugural Law Enforcement Officers and First Responders Reception in the Blue Room of the White House on 22 January, 2017. Photographer Joshua Roberts: "I have covered the White House for 16 years and normally either the President or the pool is in position when an event starts. In this case the President was not where anyone expected him to be. In fact, he was almost blocking the door when the pool came in. We had to scramble to find a position without bumping him or the furniture as he greeted and thanked members of law enforcement for their security efforts during the inauguration. Luckily, he greeted FBI Director James Comey a few seconds after the pool had made its way into the room." Reuters/Joshua Roberts Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Private phone calls to world leaders - 28 January 2017 US President Donald Trump, is joined by his staff, as he speaks by phone with Russia's President Vladimir Putin in the Oval Office on 28 January, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "Very early in the Trump administration, weekends were as busy as weekdays. On Trump's second Saturday the official schedule said he would be making private phone calls to a number of world leaders including Russia's Vladimir Putin. I arrived early and, before sitting down at my desk walked up to Press Secretary Sean Spicer's office. He, too, was just taking his coat off. I gingerly made the suggestion that previous administrations had sometimes allowed photos of such phone calls through the Oval Office windows on the colonnade. To my mild shock, he didn't even think about it twice. "We'll do it!" he said. In truth, I really only expected the Putin call, but we were outside the windows multiple times throughout the day as the calls went on." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Senior advisor Kellyanne Conway - 27 February 2017 Senior advisor Kellyanne Conway (L) attends as US President Donald Trump welcomes the leaders of dozens of historically black colleges and universities (HBCU) in the Oval Office on 27 February, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "We're often asked how much access we have to the Trump administration, and the answer is we have an awful lot. President Trump himself is very comfortable in the spotlight, and his aides are similarly unfazed by cameras. In this instance, senior advisor Kellyanne Conway was so comfortable in our presence she seemed not to consider the optics of kneeling on a Oval Office sofa to take pictures with her phone." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Angela Merkel heads to Washington - 17 March 2017 Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel and US President Donald Trump hold a joint news conference in the East Room of the White House on 17 March, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "Chancellor Merkel made one of the earliest important visits of any US allies to meet Trump in his first months in office. When world leaders give joint news conferences they don't always tend to give each other their full attention - but Merkel watched Trump intently at several key moments, and here seemed particularly rapt." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Trump welcomes truckers to the White House - 23 March 2017 President Trump reacts as he sits on a truck while he welcomes truckers and CEOs to attend a meeting regarding healthcare at the White House on 23 March, 2017. Photographer Carlos Barria: "The White House organised a listening session with truckers and CEO's of major American companies, regarding healthcare reform. An 18-wheeler tow truck was parked on the South Lawn of the White House and as Trump welcomed the truckers someone invited the him to come and sit in the driver's seat. Trump jumped into the cab and started yelling and pretending to drive - creating one of the most memorable pictures of the year. A lesson learned, always be prepared for the unexpected." Reuters/Carlos Barria Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Air Force One - 6 April 2017 US President Donald Trump talks to journalists members of the travel pool on board the Air Force One during his trip to Palm Beach, Florida on 6 April, 2017. Carlos Barria: "During the many trips to President Trump's residence in Florida it is usual to see the president coming to the back of the plane to chat with journalists. During one of the trips to the so called 'Winter White House', Trump had a long talk with reporters while the Air Force One entertainment system was playing one of the latest Star Wars movies. As I was listening to Trump talk I was also looking at the movie waiting for a part of the movie to frame the mood of the day. Of the many scenes, I choose the one with Darth Vader." Reuters/Carlos Barria Donald Trump's first year: in pictures 100 Days - 27 April 2017 US President Donald Trump speaks during an interview with Reuters in the Oval Office of the White House on 27 April, 2017. Photographer Carlos Barria: "A day before President Trump's hundred days in office I was part of the team that interviewed the commander-in-chief in the Oval Office. I was only allowed to photograph Trump during the last five minutes of the interview. The time was very tight so I had to move fast as I had pictures in mind that I wanted to shoot. I walked into the Oval Office and saw that the President had printed maps of the country showing areas in red where he won. I raised my hands holding my camera as high as possible to get the best view of the scene using a 16mm wide angle lens." Reuters/Carlos Barria Donald Trump's first year: in pictures 100 Days - 27 April 2017 US President Donald Trump reacts as he arrives at Harrisburg international airport, before attending a rally marking his first 100 days in office in Pennsylvania on 29 April, 2017. Photographer Carlos Barria: "President Trump travelled to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania to celebrate his hundred days in office with a victory rally. He was in friendly territory as he won with a big difference over his opponent Hillary Clinton in Pennsylvania, during the November elections. As usual when the commander-in-chief arrives local residents gather to greet him. This time a small group of military personnel attended the arrival. Surrounded by secret service agents Trump walked from the Air Force One and raised his hand in a sign of victory as the crowd cheered him on." Reuters/Carlos Barria Donald Trump's first year: in pictures White House staffers - 2 May 2017 White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer (L) and White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus watch as US President Donald Trump presents the U.S. Air Force Academy football team with the Commander-in-Chief trophy in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington on 2 May, 2017. Photographer Joshua Roberts: "Covering the White House does not just mean covering the President. White House staffers are an important part of the story and their relationship with the President and each other is an indicator of how things are going in the West Wing. The tendency is to focus exclusively on the President once an event starts but I always try to look around to see how people are reacting as things unfold." Reuters/Joshua Roberts Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Secret Service - 4 May 2017 Secret Service agents use a presidential limousine as cover from spraying water as US President Donald Trump lands via Marine One helicopter in New York on 4 May, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "The best part of any trip to New York City with the sitting US President is the helicopter ride into Manhattan. The ride out at night can be stunning. Here, Secret Service agents protect themselves from the spray from the East River as Trump lands on the helipad." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures NATO Summit - 25 May 2017 US President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump wait the arrival of French President Emmanuel Macron (unseen) before a lunch ahead of a NATO Summit in Brussels on 25 May, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "One of the best parts of travelling overseas for White House coverage is the chance to see the U.S. president in different environments and (literally) a different light. Here, Trump and his wife came out of the shadows to greet France's President Macron." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Trump meets Putin at G20 summit - 7 July 2017 US President Donald Trump meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin during their bilateral meeting at the G20 summit in Hamburg, Germany on 7 July, 2017. Photographer Carlos Barria: "On July 7, I witnessed one of the most important meetings of President Trump's first year in office. Trump met Russian President Vladimir Putin during a bilateral meeting at the G20 summit in Germany. The world's eyes were on these two leaders after speculation about Russian interference during the 2016 US elections. We entered the room for less than two minutes, where I took dozens of pictures. But there was this very interesting moment when Trump extended his hand to Putin for a handshake. Putin paused for a second and looked at Trump's hand. That was the picture that I was looking for, a little moment that seemed to say a lot." Reuters/Carlos Barria Donald Trump's first year: in pictures First lady - 8 July 2017 First lady Melania Trump chats with US President Donald Trump during their return from Germany at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland on 8 July, 2017. Photographer Carlos Barria: "After President Trump's trip to Germany he arrived back at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland. First Lady Melania Trump said goodbye to Trump as she was heading off in a different direction that day. While chatting a breeze blew Melania's hair up in the air." Reuters/Carlos Barria Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Made in America product showcase - 17 July 2017 Vice President Mike Pence laughs as President Donald Trump holds a baseball bat as they attend a Made in America product showcase event at the White House on 17 July, 2017. Photographer Carlos Barria: "This summer the White House organized an event to showcase 'Made in America' products. All kinds of exhibitors brought their products as the President and Vice President toured the event. One of the companies was Marucci Sport, a manufacturer of baseball bats based in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. As Trump approached a table full of baseball bats, photographers at the event, including me, rushed to get a good angle hoping that he would pick up a bat. As we predicted, he did. He took one and joked around as though he was hitting something hard. The only thing closer to him right there, was the media." Reuters Donald Trump's first year: in pictures White House staffers - 25 July 2017 Former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski says hello to reporters as he and White House advisors including Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci accompany President Trump for an event celebrating veterans at AMVETS Post 44 in Ohio, July 25, 2017. Jonathan Ernst: "The most visible person in any White House is naturally the President, followed by the press secretary. But there are also the staff who support them. For those of us covering the Trump administration, there seem to be more compelling figures in the West Wing than ever before. It's crucial to know who's who and why they're important. When I raised my camera and back-pedalled ahead of the group to take this image Lewandowski gave me a hello. I liked the photo, but had no idea it would go a little bit viral, especially since Scaramucci, who was the biggest mover and shaker that week, was hidden back in the pack. But I guess the image catches a glimpse of what it's like to be a West Wing staffer on the road." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Campaign rally - 3 August 2017 US President Donald Trump arrives at a rally in West Virginia on 3 August, 2017. Photographer Carlos Barria: "President Trump travelled to Huntington for one of his usual campaign rallies. While members of his family spoke to the crowd he was waiting under a black curtain to be introduced. Suddenly he walked onto the stage, one of the first frames that I took was of his hand. I set my exposure for the light on the stage hoping to create this dark background and it worked." Reuters/Carlos Barria Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Staring into the solar eclipse - 21 August 2017 Without his protective glasses on, US President Donald Trump looks up towards the solar eclipse while viewing with his wife Melania and son Barron at the White House on 21 August, 2017. Photographer Kevin Lamarque: "On a day when everyone, and I mean everyone, was told not to look at the eclipse without protective glasses, Trump, President of the United States, couldn't help himself." Reuters/Kevin Lamarque Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Hurricane Harvey - 2 September 2017 US President Donald Trump poses for a photo as he and first lady Melania Trump help volunteers hand out meals during a visit with flood survivors of Hurricane Harvey at a relief centre in Houston, Texas on 2 September, 2017. Photohrapher Kevin Lamarque: "Trump, eager to deliver the image of a hands-on response to Hurricane Harvey, made this visit to a relief centre and obliged this woman with a selfie as Melania continued to work." Reuters/Kevin Lamarque Donald Trump's first year: in pictures White House - 15 September 2017 Donald Trump welcomes 11-year-old Frank Giaccio as he cuts the Rose Garden grass at the White House on 15 September. Frank, who wrote a letter to Trump offering to mow the lawn, was invited to work for a day at the White House along the National Park Service staff. Frank was so focused on his task that he did not notice the President arrive to surprise him. He took his father jumping in to grab his attention and point Trump out. Photographer Carlos Barria said: The image of Trump shouting at a kid who is mowing his lawn might have many interpretations in today's politically polarized United States. But for me it was just a kid who loved what he was doing, to the point he almost appeared to ignore the President." Reuters/Carlos Barria Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Take a knee - 27 September 2017 A man kneels with a folded U.S. flag as the motorcade of U.S. President Donald Trump passes him after an event at the state fairgrounds in Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S., September 27, 2017. In September, soon after Trump had made comments condemning NFL players who kneel during the national anthem, he made a day trip to a rally in Indianapolis. Jonathan Ernst managed to capture a man on one knee with a tri-folded flag and was able to use a portion of the sign on the building he was kneeling in front of to track the man down and tell his story in full. US Army veteran Marvin Boatright wanted to send a message against social injustice. Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Hurricane Maria - 3 October 2017 President Donald Trump throws rolls of paper towels into a crowd of local residents affected by Hurricane Maria as he visits Calgary Chapel in San Juan, Puerto Rico on 3 October, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "During an afternoon visit to Puerto Rico for President Trump to survey damage from Hurricane Maria and greet some of its victims, Trump made a stop at a church where food and supplies were being distributed. Among the items were paper towels and Trump, apparently caught up in the moment, decided to distribute some of the rolls." Reuters Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Jared Kushner - 1 November 2017 White House Senior adviser Jared Kushner sits behind President Trump during a cabinet meeting in Washington on 1 November, 2017. Photographer Kevin Lamarque: "The role of Jared Kushner has gone through a series of changes. He began front and centre as a high profile adviser, but as time has passed and issues surrounding him have surfaced, he has become more of a background figure." Reuters/Kevin Lamarque Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Trump in China - 9 November 2017 Donald Trump and China's President Xi Jinping shake hands after making joint statements at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on 9 November, 2017. Photographer Damir Sagolj: "It's one of those "how to make a better or at least different shot when two presidents shake hands several times a day, several days in row". If I'm not mistaken in calculation, presidents Xi Jinping and Donald Trump shook their hands at least six times in events I covered during Trump's recent visit to China. I would imagine there were some more handshakes I haven't seen but other photographers did. And they all look similar - two big men, smiling and heartily greeting each other until everyone gets their shot. But then there is always something that can make it special - in this case the background made of US and Chinese flags. The first time it didn't work for me. The second time I positioned myself lower and centrally, and used the longest lens I have to capture only hands reaching for a handshake." Reuters/Damir Sagolj Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Air Force One - 10 November 2017 US President Donald Trump boards Air Force One to depart for Vietnam from Beijing Airport in Beijing, China, November 10, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "There is a Reuters photographer in the tight pool covering the US president for every appearance he makes 365 days a year. This was just one of 32 images of mine that were transmitted on the Reuters wire of President Trump visiting China and Vietnam that day. You never know when a sudden interaction, a gust of wind or a unique facial expression will lead to a striking image that grabs peoples' attention." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures ASEAN handshake - 13 November 2017 Donald Trump registers his surprise as he realises other leaders, including Russia's Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, Vietnam's Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, President of the Philippines Rodrigo Duterte and Australia's Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, are crossing their arms for the traditional "ASEAN handshake" as he participates in the opening ceremony of the summit in Manila on 13 November, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "Having covered a few ASEAN summits, I knew to expect the ASEAN handshake. Not everyone in the room knew to expect the ASEAN handshake. A lot was written about this unscripted moment, and what deeper meaning it might have. The simple truth is that sometimes in life there are unscripted moments." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst To obtain a surveillance warrant for a US citizen like Page, the government would have needed to show probable cause that Mr Page, a former Moscow-based investment banker, was an agent of the Russian government. Why is there controversy over releasing it? The memo has spurred further partisan discord among members of Congress, even though the Russia investigation is supposed to be nonpartisan. While Republicans argue that the memo shows wrongdoing by FBI officials, Democrats say the document mischaracterises intelligence and attempts to create a narrative to show the FBIs Russia investigation has been biased from the beginning. Democrats also assert that it is an attempt to divert attention away from special counsel Robert Mueller's own probe into Russia's interference in the 2016 election. The ranking Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, Representative Adam Schiff, said last week that Democrats would push to release their own memo if the committee releases the Nunes memo. Was it 'changed'? Democrats on the intelligence panel made a last-ditch effort Wednesday evening to stop the release, saying the memo had been "secretly altered" by the Republicans who wrote it, at some point after the committee voted on whether it should be released. California Rep. Adam Schiff said in a letter to the Nunes that committee Democrats had discovered changes that were made after the vote on Monday. "The White House has therefore been reviewing a document since Monday night that the committee never approved for public release," Schiff said in the letter. Schiff asked Nunes for another vote on the memo, but Republicans didn't appear to waver. Nunes spokesman Jack Langer said the committee vote was "procedurally sound." "To suggest otherwise is a bizarre distraction from the abuses detailed in the memo, which the public will hopefully soon be able to read for themselves," Langer said. What is Trump's view of the memo? No decision has been made, but a White House official said on Thursday that Congress would probably be informed of Trump's decision Friday, adding that the president was "OK" with its release. A second White House official said Trump was likely to declassify the congressional memo but the precise method for making it public was still being figured out. Mr Trump has made it clear he has never been a fan of the Russia investigations, repeatedly referring to them as a witch hunt. Trump has said he wants the memo released even after the FBI declared Wednesday that it has "grave concerns" about its accuracy. The document was written as part of an effort to reveal what Republicans say are surveillance abuses by the FBI and the Justice Department early in Russia investigation, before special counsel Robert Mueller was appointed to take it over. The Washington Post earlier reported that the President wants the memo to be released, even though his own Justice Department has said doing so would be extraordinarily reckless. Senior FBI officials have also made direct appeals to the White House, warning that it could set a dangerous precedent. But Mr Trump has been telling confidants in recent days that he believes the document will validate his concerns that the FBI and Justice Department conspired against him, advisers have told AP. The president also has told allies that he believes the memo bolsters his claim that accusations of collusion between his campaign and Russian officials are false and part of a conspiracy to discredit his election. Additional reporting by agencies Donald Trump has accused senior leadership at the department investigating potential links between his presidential campaign and Russia of developing a bias against the Republican Party. "The top Leadership and Investigators of the FBI and the Justice Department have politicized the sacred investigative process in favor of Democrats and against Republicans - something which would have been unthinkable just a short time ago," he wrote on Twitter. "Rank & File are great people!" The US President then sent a follow-up tweet - quoting American conservative activist Tom Fitton - which alleged the Democrats attempted to conceal their funding of a dossier that accused Mr Trump of personal ties to the Kremlin. "You had Hillary Clinton and the Democratic Party try to hide the fact that they gave money to GPS Fusion to create a Dossier which was used by their allies in the Obama Administration to convince a Court misleadingly, by all accounts, to spy on the Trump Team, it read. The 71-year-old's comments come despite the fact many FBI and Justice Department officials at the forefront of investigations into alleged collusion are Republicans. James Comey, the former FBI director fired by Mr Trump; Robert Mueller, the Special Counsel investigating Russian meddling in the 2016 election campaign; Jeff Sessions, head of the Justice Department; and Rod Rosenstein, Mr Sessions' deputy, are all or have been, registered Republicans. On Friday, Mr Trump is set to approve the release of a Republican-authored memo which reportedly alleges surveillance abuses by FBI officials investigating Carter Page, a former Trump campaign official. A White House official said the decision was made after examining the memo over the last few days and making sure it doesnt give away too much in terms of classification. The planned release comes despite objections from the Justice Department and the FBI, whose director, Chrisopher Wray, admitted to "grave concerns" about the accuracy of the classified document. Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Show all 29 1 /29 Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Inauguration - 20 January 2017 US President Donald Trump acknowledges the audience after taking the oath of office as his wife Melania (L) and daughter Tiffany watch during inauguration ceremonies swearing in Trump as the 45th president of the United States on the West Front of the US capital in Washington on 20 January, 2017. Photographer Jim Bourg: "This photo was shot with one of two remote cameras. The cameras were monitored and triggered remotely and the pictures were transmitted to clients worldwide within minutes of being taken." Reuters/Jim Bourg Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Obama farewell address - 10 January 2017 US President Barack Obama wipes away tears as he delivers his farewell address in Chicago on 10 January, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "In his final days in office, Obama made a visit home to Chicago. As he spoke from the stage to his wife and daughter in the audience, he became emotional when he talked about what they had sacrificed during his time in office. I turned from photographing the Obama women embracing to find him onstage wiping away tears." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Inauguration - 20 January 2017 A combination of photos shows the crowds attending the inauguration ceremonies to swear in U.S. President Donald Trump at 12:01pm (left) on January 20, 2017 and President Barack Obama sometime between 12:07pm and 12:26pm on January 20, 2009. Reuters/ Lucas Jackson/Stelios Varias Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Liberty Ball - 20 January 2017 US President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump attend the Liberty Ball in honour of his inauguration in Washington on 20 January, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "What I see when I look at this picture is the end of a very long day, not to mention weeks and months of preparation by many photographers, editors and network experts and the beginning of everything since." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Inaugural Law Enforcement Officers and First Responders Reception - 22 January 2017 US President Donald Trump greets Director of the FBI James Comey as Director of the Secret Service Joseph Clancy (L), watches during the Inaugural Law Enforcement Officers and First Responders Reception in the Blue Room of the White House on 22 January, 2017. Photographer Joshua Roberts: "I have covered the White House for 16 years and normally either the President or the pool is in position when an event starts. In this case the President was not where anyone expected him to be. In fact, he was almost blocking the door when the pool came in. We had to scramble to find a position without bumping him or the furniture as he greeted and thanked members of law enforcement for their security efforts during the inauguration. Luckily, he greeted FBI Director James Comey a few seconds after the pool had made its way into the room." Reuters/Joshua Roberts Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Private phone calls to world leaders - 28 January 2017 US President Donald Trump, is joined by his staff, as he speaks by phone with Russia's President Vladimir Putin in the Oval Office on 28 January, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "Very early in the Trump administration, weekends were as busy as weekdays. On Trump's second Saturday the official schedule said he would be making private phone calls to a number of world leaders including Russia's Vladimir Putin. I arrived early and, before sitting down at my desk walked up to Press Secretary Sean Spicer's office. He, too, was just taking his coat off. I gingerly made the suggestion that previous administrations had sometimes allowed photos of such phone calls through the Oval Office windows on the colonnade. To my mild shock, he didn't even think about it twice. "We'll do it!" he said. In truth, I really only expected the Putin call, but we were outside the windows multiple times throughout the day as the calls went on." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Senior advisor Kellyanne Conway - 27 February 2017 Senior advisor Kellyanne Conway (L) attends as US President Donald Trump welcomes the leaders of dozens of historically black colleges and universities (HBCU) in the Oval Office on 27 February, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "We're often asked how much access we have to the Trump administration, and the answer is we have an awful lot. President Trump himself is very comfortable in the spotlight, and his aides are similarly unfazed by cameras. In this instance, senior advisor Kellyanne Conway was so comfortable in our presence she seemed not to consider the optics of kneeling on a Oval Office sofa to take pictures with her phone." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Angela Merkel heads to Washington - 17 March 2017 Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel and US President Donald Trump hold a joint news conference in the East Room of the White House on 17 March, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "Chancellor Merkel made one of the earliest important visits of any US allies to meet Trump in his first months in office. When world leaders give joint news conferences they don't always tend to give each other their full attention - but Merkel watched Trump intently at several key moments, and here seemed particularly rapt." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Trump welcomes truckers to the White House - 23 March 2017 President Trump reacts as he sits on a truck while he welcomes truckers and CEOs to attend a meeting regarding healthcare at the White House on 23 March, 2017. Photographer Carlos Barria: "The White House organised a listening session with truckers and CEO's of major American companies, regarding healthcare reform. An 18-wheeler tow truck was parked on the South Lawn of the White House and as Trump welcomed the truckers someone invited the him to come and sit in the driver's seat. Trump jumped into the cab and started yelling and pretending to drive - creating one of the most memorable pictures of the year. A lesson learned, always be prepared for the unexpected." Reuters/Carlos Barria Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Air Force One - 6 April 2017 US President Donald Trump talks to journalists members of the travel pool on board the Air Force One during his trip to Palm Beach, Florida on 6 April, 2017. Carlos Barria: "During the many trips to President Trump's residence in Florida it is usual to see the president coming to the back of the plane to chat with journalists. During one of the trips to the so called 'Winter White House', Trump had a long talk with reporters while the Air Force One entertainment system was playing one of the latest Star Wars movies. As I was listening to Trump talk I was also looking at the movie waiting for a part of the movie to frame the mood of the day. Of the many scenes, I choose the one with Darth Vader." Reuters/Carlos Barria Donald Trump's first year: in pictures 100 Days - 27 April 2017 US President Donald Trump speaks during an interview with Reuters in the Oval Office of the White House on 27 April, 2017. Photographer Carlos Barria: "A day before President Trump's hundred days in office I was part of the team that interviewed the commander-in-chief in the Oval Office. I was only allowed to photograph Trump during the last five minutes of the interview. The time was very tight so I had to move fast as I had pictures in mind that I wanted to shoot. I walked into the Oval Office and saw that the President had printed maps of the country showing areas in red where he won. I raised my hands holding my camera as high as possible to get the best view of the scene using a 16mm wide angle lens." Reuters/Carlos Barria Donald Trump's first year: in pictures 100 Days - 27 April 2017 US President Donald Trump reacts as he arrives at Harrisburg international airport, before attending a rally marking his first 100 days in office in Pennsylvania on 29 April, 2017. Photographer Carlos Barria: "President Trump travelled to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania to celebrate his hundred days in office with a victory rally. He was in friendly territory as he won with a big difference over his opponent Hillary Clinton in Pennsylvania, during the November elections. As usual when the commander-in-chief arrives local residents gather to greet him. This time a small group of military personnel attended the arrival. Surrounded by secret service agents Trump walked from the Air Force One and raised his hand in a sign of victory as the crowd cheered him on." Reuters/Carlos Barria Donald Trump's first year: in pictures White House staffers - 2 May 2017 White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer (L) and White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus watch as US President Donald Trump presents the U.S. Air Force Academy football team with the Commander-in-Chief trophy in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington on 2 May, 2017. Photographer Joshua Roberts: "Covering the White House does not just mean covering the President. White House staffers are an important part of the story and their relationship with the President and each other is an indicator of how things are going in the West Wing. The tendency is to focus exclusively on the President once an event starts but I always try to look around to see how people are reacting as things unfold." Reuters/Joshua Roberts Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Secret Service - 4 May 2017 Secret Service agents use a presidential limousine as cover from spraying water as US President Donald Trump lands via Marine One helicopter in New York on 4 May, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "The best part of any trip to New York City with the sitting US President is the helicopter ride into Manhattan. The ride out at night can be stunning. Here, Secret Service agents protect themselves from the spray from the East River as Trump lands on the helipad." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures NATO Summit - 25 May 2017 US President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump wait the arrival of French President Emmanuel Macron (unseen) before a lunch ahead of a NATO Summit in Brussels on 25 May, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "One of the best parts of travelling overseas for White House coverage is the chance to see the U.S. president in different environments and (literally) a different light. Here, Trump and his wife came out of the shadows to greet France's President Macron." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Trump meets Putin at G20 summit - 7 July 2017 US President Donald Trump meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin during their bilateral meeting at the G20 summit in Hamburg, Germany on 7 July, 2017. Photographer Carlos Barria: "On July 7, I witnessed one of the most important meetings of President Trump's first year in office. Trump met Russian President Vladimir Putin during a bilateral meeting at the G20 summit in Germany. The world's eyes were on these two leaders after speculation about Russian interference during the 2016 US elections. We entered the room for less than two minutes, where I took dozens of pictures. But there was this very interesting moment when Trump extended his hand to Putin for a handshake. Putin paused for a second and looked at Trump's hand. That was the picture that I was looking for, a little moment that seemed to say a lot." Reuters/Carlos Barria Donald Trump's first year: in pictures First lady - 8 July 2017 First lady Melania Trump chats with US President Donald Trump during their return from Germany at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland on 8 July, 2017. Photographer Carlos Barria: "After President Trump's trip to Germany he arrived back at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland. First Lady Melania Trump said goodbye to Trump as she was heading off in a different direction that day. While chatting a breeze blew Melania's hair up in the air." Reuters/Carlos Barria Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Made in America product showcase - 17 July 2017 Vice President Mike Pence laughs as President Donald Trump holds a baseball bat as they attend a Made in America product showcase event at the White House on 17 July, 2017. Photographer Carlos Barria: "This summer the White House organized an event to showcase 'Made in America' products. All kinds of exhibitors brought their products as the President and Vice President toured the event. One of the companies was Marucci Sport, a manufacturer of baseball bats based in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. As Trump approached a table full of baseball bats, photographers at the event, including me, rushed to get a good angle hoping that he would pick up a bat. As we predicted, he did. He took one and joked around as though he was hitting something hard. The only thing closer to him right there, was the media." Reuters Donald Trump's first year: in pictures White House staffers - 25 July 2017 Former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski says hello to reporters as he and White House advisors including Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci accompany President Trump for an event celebrating veterans at AMVETS Post 44 in Ohio, July 25, 2017. Jonathan Ernst: "The most visible person in any White House is naturally the President, followed by the press secretary. But there are also the staff who support them. For those of us covering the Trump administration, there seem to be more compelling figures in the West Wing than ever before. It's crucial to know who's who and why they're important. When I raised my camera and back-pedalled ahead of the group to take this image Lewandowski gave me a hello. I liked the photo, but had no idea it would go a little bit viral, especially since Scaramucci, who was the biggest mover and shaker that week, was hidden back in the pack. But I guess the image catches a glimpse of what it's like to be a West Wing staffer on the road." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Campaign rally - 3 August 2017 US President Donald Trump arrives at a rally in West Virginia on 3 August, 2017. Photographer Carlos Barria: "President Trump travelled to Huntington for one of his usual campaign rallies. While members of his family spoke to the crowd he was waiting under a black curtain to be introduced. Suddenly he walked onto the stage, one of the first frames that I took was of his hand. I set my exposure for the light on the stage hoping to create this dark background and it worked." Reuters/Carlos Barria Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Staring into the solar eclipse - 21 August 2017 Without his protective glasses on, US President Donald Trump looks up towards the solar eclipse while viewing with his wife Melania and son Barron at the White House on 21 August, 2017. Photographer Kevin Lamarque: "On a day when everyone, and I mean everyone, was told not to look at the eclipse without protective glasses, Trump, President of the United States, couldn't help himself." Reuters/Kevin Lamarque Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Hurricane Harvey - 2 September 2017 US President Donald Trump poses for a photo as he and first lady Melania Trump help volunteers hand out meals during a visit with flood survivors of Hurricane Harvey at a relief centre in Houston, Texas on 2 September, 2017. Photohrapher Kevin Lamarque: "Trump, eager to deliver the image of a hands-on response to Hurricane Harvey, made this visit to a relief centre and obliged this woman with a selfie as Melania continued to work." Reuters/Kevin Lamarque Donald Trump's first year: in pictures White House - 15 September 2017 Donald Trump welcomes 11-year-old Frank Giaccio as he cuts the Rose Garden grass at the White House on 15 September. Frank, who wrote a letter to Trump offering to mow the lawn, was invited to work for a day at the White House along the National Park Service staff. Frank was so focused on his task that he did not notice the President arrive to surprise him. He took his father jumping in to grab his attention and point Trump out. Photographer Carlos Barria said: The image of Trump shouting at a kid who is mowing his lawn might have many interpretations in today's politically polarized United States. But for me it was just a kid who loved what he was doing, to the point he almost appeared to ignore the President." Reuters/Carlos Barria Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Take a knee - 27 September 2017 A man kneels with a folded U.S. flag as the motorcade of U.S. President Donald Trump passes him after an event at the state fairgrounds in Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S., September 27, 2017. In September, soon after Trump had made comments condemning NFL players who kneel during the national anthem, he made a day trip to a rally in Indianapolis. Jonathan Ernst managed to capture a man on one knee with a tri-folded flag and was able to use a portion of the sign on the building he was kneeling in front of to track the man down and tell his story in full. US Army veteran Marvin Boatright wanted to send a message against social injustice. Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Hurricane Maria - 3 October 2017 President Donald Trump throws rolls of paper towels into a crowd of local residents affected by Hurricane Maria as he visits Calgary Chapel in San Juan, Puerto Rico on 3 October, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "During an afternoon visit to Puerto Rico for President Trump to survey damage from Hurricane Maria and greet some of its victims, Trump made a stop at a church where food and supplies were being distributed. Among the items were paper towels and Trump, apparently caught up in the moment, decided to distribute some of the rolls." Reuters Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Jared Kushner - 1 November 2017 White House Senior adviser Jared Kushner sits behind President Trump during a cabinet meeting in Washington on 1 November, 2017. Photographer Kevin Lamarque: "The role of Jared Kushner has gone through a series of changes. He began front and centre as a high profile adviser, but as time has passed and issues surrounding him have surfaced, he has become more of a background figure." Reuters/Kevin Lamarque Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Trump in China - 9 November 2017 Donald Trump and China's President Xi Jinping shake hands after making joint statements at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on 9 November, 2017. Photographer Damir Sagolj: "It's one of those "how to make a better or at least different shot when two presidents shake hands several times a day, several days in row". If I'm not mistaken in calculation, presidents Xi Jinping and Donald Trump shook their hands at least six times in events I covered during Trump's recent visit to China. I would imagine there were some more handshakes I haven't seen but other photographers did. And they all look similar - two big men, smiling and heartily greeting each other until everyone gets their shot. But then there is always something that can make it special - in this case the background made of US and Chinese flags. The first time it didn't work for me. The second time I positioned myself lower and centrally, and used the longest lens I have to capture only hands reaching for a handshake." Reuters/Damir Sagolj Donald Trump's first year: in pictures Air Force One - 10 November 2017 US President Donald Trump boards Air Force One to depart for Vietnam from Beijing Airport in Beijing, China, November 10, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "There is a Reuters photographer in the tight pool covering the US president for every appearance he makes 365 days a year. This was just one of 32 images of mine that were transmitted on the Reuters wire of President Trump visiting China and Vietnam that day. You never know when a sudden interaction, a gust of wind or a unique facial expression will lead to a striking image that grabs peoples' attention." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Donald Trump's first year: in pictures ASEAN handshake - 13 November 2017 Donald Trump registers his surprise as he realises other leaders, including Russia's Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, Vietnam's Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, President of the Philippines Rodrigo Duterte and Australia's Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, are crossing their arms for the traditional "ASEAN handshake" as he participates in the opening ceremony of the summit in Manila on 13 November, 2017. Photographer Jonathan Ernst: "Having covered a few ASEAN summits, I knew to expect the ASEAN handshake. Not everyone in the room knew to expect the ASEAN handshake. A lot was written about this unscripted moment, and what deeper meaning it might have. The simple truth is that sometimes in life there are unscripted moments." Reuters/Jonathan Ernst Several national security officials have reportedly warned the White House that releasing the document could jeopardize how sensitive intelligence is collected. But Devin Nunes, the Republican senator whose office drafted the secret memo, accused the FBI and Justice Department of "spurious objections" to its release. Campaigners are fighting to stop brides from a nomadic tribal group in India being forced to take humiliating virginity tests. Women in the Kanjarbhat community, in the western Indian state of Maharashtra, are often forced to undergo a virginity test on their wedding night to prove they are virtuous, the BBC reported. The test has been a keystone of the tribal wedding ceremony, but young people in the community of roughly 200,000 people have now begun to protest the practice. The test reportedly requires couples to consummate the marriage in a hotel room on a white sheet, while village council officials and their families wait outside. If the woman does not bleed during intercourse, grooms are allowed to annul the marriage, claiming their wives have not proven their purity. The leader of the campaign to abolish the practice, Vivek Tamaichekar, said it was regressive and a complete violation of a couples privacy. The way it is done is very crude and traumatising, the 25-year-old said. They are forced to consummate the marriage with many people sitting outside the room, and the groom is often given alcohol and shown pornography in order to educate him. He added: The next day he is called for a ceremony and is asked in very derogatory terms to answer if his bride was pure or impure. World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty Mr Tamaichekar is getting married this year and has already informed the panchayat or village council in his home city of Pune, that he and his wife will not take part in the practice. He is calling for other young people to make a stand against the conspiracy of silence. Despite widespread criticism, and the obvious controversy surrounding virginity testing, the practice still exists in many parts of the world. In Indonesia, women are still required to undertake a virginity test if they want to join the army or police force. The World Health Organisation has repeatedly stated virginity testing is degrading, discriminatory, and unscientific. Iranian state TV has apologised for a segment which featured a relationship expert tell domestic violence victims to kiss their husband's feet. "Even if your husband is a drug addict, if he beats you, just do it and you will see a miracle in your life," the woman was said to have told viewers. The segment was aired last week by a state-controlled broadcaster in the central province of Yazd, US state broadcaster Radio Free Europe reported. The woman advised spouses to slowly give him a foot massage", before drying his feet and then kiss his feet. This would relieve a husbands stress, and help prevent strokes and heart attacks, she said. Her advice was mocked on social media, with some branding the comments nonsense and scary. The world progresses, and in reverse gear we go, one user wrote. Isa Saharkhiz, an Iranian dissident journalist, shared the clip on Twitter. "Establishment feminists: 'If you want your man to be energized for a month, follow the expert's advice,'" he said. "State TV expert calls on women to massage their husbands feet and kiss them." The advice led official broadcasters to apologise, the Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA) reported. Iran protests in pictures Show all 11 1 /11 Iran protests in pictures Iran protests in pictures University students at an anti-government protest inside Tehran University, 30 December 2017 AP Iran protests in pictures A university student at a protest inside Tehran University while a smoke grenade is thrown by anti-riot Iranian police, 30 December 2017 AP Iran protests in pictures University students at a protest inside Tehran University, 30 December 2017 AP Iran protests in pictures University students run away from the police during an anti-government protest inside Tehran University, 30 December 2017 AP Iran protests in pictures An image grab taken from a handout video released by Iran's Mehr News agency reportedly shows a group of men pulling at a fence in a street in Tehran, 30 December 2017 AFP/Getty Iran protests in pictures Demonstrators gather to protest in Tehran, 30 December 2017 AP Iran protests in pictures Iranians chant slogans as they march in support of the government near the Imam Khomeini grand mosque in Tehran, 30 December 2017 AFP/Getty Iran protests in pictures Iranians chant slogans as they march in support of the government near the Imam Khomeini grand mosque in Tehran, December 30 2017 Iran protests in pictures Iranian clerics take part during a state-organized rally against anti-government protests in the country, in the holy city of Qom, south west Iran, 3 January 2018 EPA Iran protests in pictures In this photo provided by the Iranian Students' News Agency, a clergyman takes a picture of a pro-government demonstration in the southwestern city of Ahvaz, Iran, 3 January 2018 ISNA via AP Iran protests in pictures Pro-government demonstrators gather at the Massoumeh shrine in Iran's holy city of Qom, some 130 kilometres south of Tehran, 3 January 2018 AFP/Getty The organisation run by student volunteers in the country, quoted the Yazd branch of Iranian state TV acknowledge complaints over fragmented comments by an expert. It also promised planning and greater attention in content delivery in the future. A North Korean delegation is heading to Moscow for talks on mutual cooperation, the Russian Embassy in North Korea has said. "The delegation flew to Moscow for consultations in the Russian Foreign Ministry on the vital issues of bilateral cooperation," the embassy wrote on its Facebook page. The sides plan to discuss joint events to be held dedicated to the 70th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries, according to Russian news agency Tass. The move comes amid rising tensions between Pyongyang and the US over the secretive state's continued development of nuclear weapons. Despite US-led international sanctions on Kim Jong-un's regime, Russian tankers have reportedly continued to supply fuel to the country. Donald Trump at the State of the Union: North Korea's reckless pursuit of nuclear missiles could very soon threaten our homeland Americans officials have warned countries that continue to maintain economic relationships with North Korea are circumventing sanctions and undermining the global effort to curb the hermit kingdom. Earlier this year, in an emergency United Nations Security Council meeting convened in response to Pyongyangs latest launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile, Americas ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley warned some countries were continuing to fund the North Korean nuclear program. North Korea South Korea relations: in pictures Show all 21 1 /21 North Korea South Korea relations: in pictures North Korea South Korea relations: in pictures Pukguksong-2 missile - 2 May 2017 A solid-fuel "Pukguksong-2" missile lifts off during its launch test in North Korea on May 22, 2017. They said that it was examining operational plans for attacking Guam, an angry reaction to UN punishment for previous North Korean intercontinental ballistic missile tests and a US suggestion about preparations for possible preventive attacks to stop the North's nuclear weapons program. Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP North Korea South Korea relations: in pictures Hwasong-12 -16 September 2017 North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un inspecting a launching drill of the medium-and-long range strategic ballistic rocket Hwasong-12 at an undisclosed location. Kim vowed to complete North Korea's nuclear force despite sanctions, saying the final goal of his country's weapons development is "equilibrium of real force" with the United States, state media reported on September 16, 2017. AFP/Getty Images North Korea South Korea relations: in pictures Donald Trump address South Korean assembly - 7 November 2017 President Donald Trump talks with South Korean President Moon Jae-In during their joint press conference at the presidential Blue House on November 7, 2017 in Seoul.Trump was the first US President to address the South Korean National Assembly since President Clinton in 1993. He addressed Kim Jong Un warning him to not underestimate the US and that for talks to materialize then Pyongyang would need to take steps into denuclearization. Getty North Korea South Korea relations: in pictures Demilitarized Zone Haean-Myeon, is a small military town near the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) and border between North and South Korea, in Gangwon province. The zone is a strip of land running across the Korean Peninsula and was created after the 'Korean Armistice Agreement'. Any negotiations between the two countries tend to take place in this zone. AFP/Getty Images North Korea South Korea relations: in pictures Declared state sponsor of terrorism by Trump - 20 November 2017 President Donald Trump speaks to the media during a cabinet meeting at the White House on November 20, 2017, where he officially designated North Korea as a state sponsor of terrorism. North Korea had previously been on the list, however was removed in 2008. Getty North Korea South Korea relations: in pictures Hwasong-15 intercontinental ballistic missile - 29 November 2017 The North Korean government launches it's Hwasong-15 intercontinental ballistic missile at an undisclosed location in North Korea on November 29, 2017. It is supposedly capable of reaching all parts of the US. Korean Central News Agency via AP North Korea South Korea relations: in pictures Hwasong-15 intercontinental ballistic missile - 29 November 2017 North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un celebrating the launch of the Hwasong-15 missile on November 29, 2017. AFP/Getty North Korea South Korea relations: in pictures Kim Jong-Un New Year's speech - 1 January 2018 North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un delivering his New Year's speech. He vowed North Korea would mass-produce nuclear warheads and missiles in a defiant New Year message on January 1 suggesting he would continue to accelerate a rogue weapons programme that has stoked international tensions. Korean Central News Agency via AFP/Getty North Korea South Korea relations: in pictures Intercontinental ballistic missile ice sculpture - 1 January 2018 Fireworks are seen above the Taedong River during New Year celebrations as visitors pose for a photo in front of an ice sculpture of an intercontinental ballistic missile at the Pyongyang Ice Sculpture Festival in Kim Il Sung Square in North Korea on 1 January, 2018. REUTERS North Korea South Korea relations: in pictures US-South Korean military drills postponed - 4 January 2018 South Korean President Moon Jae-in talks with US President Donald Trump on January 4, 2018 in Seoul. South Korea and US agreed to delay the annual "Foal Eagle" military drills until after the PyeongChang Winter Olympic Games in an effort to "de-conflict" the Games and "focus on ensuring the security" of the event. South Korean Presidential Blue House via Getty North Korea South Korea relations: in pictures North and South Korea have first official talks in over two years - 9 January 2018 Vehicles transporting the South Korean delegation, led by South Korean Unification Ministrer Cho Myoung-Gyon, drive past a checkpoint on the road connecting South and North Korea at the Unification Bridge, near the Demilitarized zone (DMZ) separating them both on January 9, 2018 in Paju. They began their first official face-to-face talks in two years. Getty North Korea South Korea relations: in pictures North and South Korea have first official talks in over two years - 9 January 2018 Members of the South Korea delegation (R) shake hands with members of the North Korean delegation (L) during their meeting at the border truce village of Panmunjom in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) dividing the two Koreas on January 9, 2018. They focused on the forthcoming Winter Olympics after months of tensions over Pyongyang's nuclear weapons programme. AFP/Getty North Korea South Korea relations: in pictures Foreign Ministers Meeting on Security and Stability on the Korean Peninsula - 16 January 2018 Foreign Ministers from twenty countries from North and South America, Asia, and Europe pose for a photo at the Vancouver Foreign Ministers Meeting on Security and Stability on the Korean Peninsula, in Vancouver on January 16, 2018. The US urged an escalation in pressure on North Korea over its nuclear missile program, despite a more cautious tone from key US ally South Korea. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, co-hosted the event with Canada's foreign minister Chrystia Freeland, and called for North Korean ships to be intercepted and for new punitive measures to be implemented every time Pyongyang tests new weapons. AFP/Getty North Korea South Korea relations: in pictures North Korea and South Korea to march together at Winter Olympics - 20 January 2018 PyeongChang 2018 Olympics President Lee Hee-beom, North Korea's Sports Minister and Olympic Committee president Kim Il Guk, International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach, South Korean Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Do Jong-hwan and South Korea's National Olympic Committee President Lee Kee-heung join their hands as they pose during a signing ceremony at the Olympic Museum on January 20, 2018 in Lausanne. North Korea will send 22 athletes to the Winter Games in the South. The two nations will also march together at the opening ceremony. AFP/Getty North Korea South Korea relations: in pictures Anti-North Korea activists protest delegation arrival - 22 January 2018 Anti-North Korea activists burn a portrait of leader Kim Jong-Un during a rally Seoul Station as a North Korean delegation arrived to check out performance venues for the Winter Olympics on January 22, 2018. Protesters led by the Korean Patriots Party gathered and complained that the talks to encourage North Korea's participation is stealing the spotlight from their country to the benefit of the regime. Donga Daily via Getty North Korea South Korea relations: in pictures Panmunjom - 7 February 2018 South Korean soldiers stand guard at the border village of Panmunjom in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) between South and North Korea on February 7, 2018. In a sign of thawing bilateral ties, North Korea today announced that Kim Yo-jong, the sister of North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, will attend the opening ceremony of the PyeongChang Winter Olympic Games. Getty Images North Korea South Korea relations: in pictures North Korean ferry arrives in South Korea - 6 February 2018 North Korean ferry Mangyongbong-92 carrying a 140-strong orchestra approaches a port in Donghae, South Korea, February 6, 2018. REUTERS North Korea South Korea relations: in pictures Anti-North Korea protest - 6 February 2018 A member of a conservative civic group tears a portrait of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during an anti-North Korea protest as the North Korean ferry Mangyongbong-92 carrying a 140-strong orchestra approached. REUTERS North Korea South Korea relations: in pictures North Korea at the athletes village - 8 February 2018 A North Korean flag is seen hanging on a building at the Winter Olympics athletes village in Gangneung, South Korea. REUTERS North Korea South Korea relations: in pictures Olympic Welcome ceremony - 8 February 2018 Democratic People's Republic of Korea Vice Sports Minister Won Gil-woo receives a gift from mayor of the Olympic Village Kim Ki-hoon during the welcome ceremony ahead of the PyeongChang 2018 Games at the Olympic Village on 8 February, 2018 in South Korea. Getty Images North Korea South Korea relations: in pictures Mike Pence meets Moon Jae-in - 8 February 2018 US Vice President Mike Pence shakes hands with South Korean President Moon Jae-in before their meeting at the presidential office in Seoul, South Korea on 8 February, 2018. REUTERS Heralding the UN for imposing the most impactful sanctions that any country has experienced in a generation, Ms Haley said there were nevertheless reports of North Korea illegally obtaining refined petroleum through ship-to-ship transfers. She urged other countries to sever all ties with North Korea, including ceasing trade and expelling North Korean workers. In December, a delegation from Russia's defence ministry visited Pyongyang. Eighteen people were injured when a van mounted a footpath before crashing and bursting into flames during rush hour in Shanghais financial centre, officials said. The vehicle struck five to six people waiting for a light change at a busy pedestrian crossing, according to reports, before it came to a stop in an area about four miles from where Theresa May was meeting with the citys mayor Ying Yong for trade talks. Police dismissed fears the crash at around 9am near the People's Park could have been a terror attack. Recommended The UK is right to want to secure trade with the EU Videos on social media showed injured people lying on the pavement next to the vehicle, with flames and smoke billowing from inside, and others pinned under its tyres. Witnesses said bystanders broke the windows of the van to try and rescue six people who were reportedly unconscious inside. Firefighters were later seen trying to put out a blaze inside the vehicle. A 40-year-old man identified only by his surname Chen had been smoking at the wheel and accidentally ignited gas canisters he was transporting inside the vehicle, police said. The driver and two other people suffered serious injuries in the crash, and all of the 18 injured in total were being treated in hospital, the authorities said. A British official travelling with Ms May in China said that Downing Street was aware of reports of the crash outside the Starbucks outlet at Nanjing West Road but had no further comment to make. The Prime Minister had been meeting with mayor Yong at Shanghai's Xingguo Hotel, about four miles from the incident. There was no indication that the accident had disrupted the appointment. A cleaner surnamed Xu said she saw smoke coming out of the van as it drove down the street before veering out of control. "It couldn't stop, crashed into the corner and caught fire," said Xu, who works in a building across the street from the crash site. "Two men were trying to pull the passenger out of the car, but failed. Other people told them to stop. Then the police and ambulance arrived." A man who saw the crash on his way to People's Park told Chinese media the minivan seemed to be moving fast as it veered across the road. "The minivan did not slow down. The driver must have been in a panic at the time, he didn't slow down and just directly crashed," said the witness, who wasn't identified. "It was on the other side of the road and made a turn over to this side. People saw it and quickly tried to get away but a lot of people were still hit." The Shanghai-based news outlet Pengpai, citing a witness, reported that the vehicle was carrying six people and several canisters of gas typically used for cooking and heating. Police officers stood guard outside the emergency room at the Changzheng Hospital in central Shanghai, where a nurse said the injured were receiving treatment. A relative of one patient, who declined to be identified, said at least five or six crash patients were being treated there. Chen works for a Shanghai metals company and had no criminal record but was now under suspicion of transporting dangerous materials, police said. While indications showed the crash was an accident, vehicle attacks have killed scores globally in recent years. 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 China, five people, including three attackers, were killed in 2013 when a 4x4 vehicle ploughed through a crowd in front of Tiananmen Gate in the center of Beijing. The attack was blamed on separatist extremists from the Turkic Muslim Uighur ethnic group native to northwestern China. Ms May on Thursday met Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing as part of her three-day visit aimed at establishing a new trading relationship after Britain leaves the EU. Additional reporting by Associated Press Tony Abbott, the former Australian Prime Minister and vocal opponent of gay marriage, has celebrated his sisters same-sex wedding. Christine Forster married Virgina Flitcroft in a civil ceremony overlooking the Sydney Opera House, less than three months after the public rejected her brothers campaign against such weddings in a referendum last year. It was great family occasion, declared Mr Abbott. Very happy for Chris and Virginia. Im looking forward to having a new sister-in-law. Recommended Australia votes to legalise same sex marriage His welcoming words were a marked change in tone from the divisive referendum campaign, during which the former Liberal Party leader warned same-sex marriage threatened religious freedom and accused pro-change campaigners of bullying and hate speech. Its time to say that political correctness has got completely out of hand and to vote no to stop it in its tracks, he wrote in the Sydney Morning Herald. Mr Abbott had been a vocal opponent of gay marriage for years before the referendum and was one of the most high-profile campaigners against change. As an opposition front-bencher in 2008, he said: However deeply affectionate or long lasting it may be, the relationship between two people of the same sex cannot be a marriage because a marriage, by definition, is between a man and a woman. Tony Abbott was one of the most high-profile campaigners against gay marriage (EPA) In September last year, Mr Abbott was headed-butted by a man wearing a gay-marriage badge as the referendum campaign turned ugly. His attacker has since pleaded guilty to assault but has yet to be sentenced. A former Roman Catholic seminarian, Mr Abbott angered gay rights advocates and many in his conservative government by deciding in 2015 to put the gay marriage issue to an extraordinary national vote. He said it would avoid a divisive debate between government colleagues to resolve the issue. Critics suspected he was betting that Australias recent history of resisting change in referendums would maintain the ban on same-sex marriage. But 62 per cent of voting Australians who took part in last years postal survey opted for change. Parliament overwhelmingly supported legislation lifting the ban in December. Australian MP Bob Katters bizarre response to gay marriage question While Mr Abbott vehemently opposed gay marriage, he had long said he would attend his younger sisters wedding if the same-sex marriage ban was ever lifted. Ms Forster, an elected member of the Sydney municipal council, recently told reporters that her brothers promise to come to her wedding was presumptuous because he had yet to receive an invitation. She had been vocal campaigner for legalisation of gay marriage and publicly clashed with her brother ahead of the referendum. But Ms Forster and her partner, who had been engaged for four years, said shortly before Fridays ceremony that they were looking forward to Mr Abbott and his wife attending. The former PM joined several prominent figures from the yes campaign at the wedding. Mr Forster said: Hes been fabulous. In fact, he is the first person to ring us this morning to check in that everything was going smoothly and that there hadnt been any last-minute hitches. Some commentators have credited Mr Abbott, one of the most high-profile campaigners against gay marriage, with influencing the yes campaigns referendum victory. Polls suggested his contributions to the debate were viewed negatively by voters. Representatives from all 16 of Germanys states have voted to cut state funding for the countrys longest-established neo-Nazi group. The states represented in Germanys upper house of parliament, the Bundesrat asked Germanys highest court to ban funding for the far-right National Democratic Party (NPD). Ours is a democracy based on debate, but it must also be defended, said Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, premier of the state of Saarland, who led the initiative. Today we bring a motion by all the [German] states that serves to prevent the NPD from getting funds from the state, which it is actively working against. Scarred by memories of the collapse of democracy in the 1930s amid the rise of Adolf Hitlers Nazis, Germany has some of the strictest laws on political extremism in the world, with rules allowing the banning of anti-democratic parties. The new initiative comes after two unsuccessful attempts to ban the NPD altogether, the most recent of which came last January. Then, the court agreed that the NPD is in favour of an authoritarian state, stating that their political concept disregards human dignity and is incompatible with the principle of democracy. Nevertheless, the judges rejected the request to ban the party. They concluded that while the its aims were unconstitutional, its limited political successes mean it posed little threat. World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty The court did note that limiting access to funding could be a method of weakening the NPD and other anti-constitutional parties. In June 2017 Germanys basic law was changed, allowing a legal process that prevents extremist parties from receiving government funds. Following the vote, this case will now be sent to the constitutional court and if that rules in favour, the NPD would have its state funding cut off for six years. German political parties receive public funding based on the number of votes they receive in regional, national and European elections. The NPDs lone member of the European Parliament made the party eligible for over 1m (881,000) of public funding in 2016. However the party, which sees immigration as a danger to the survival of the German people in its Central European Lebensraum, is no longer in any regional parliament. Germanys security services have repeatedly attempted to ban the party as unconstitutional but have always been thwarted by courts, who on one occasion found that the party was so riddled with undercover agents that it was impossible to tell what was a genuine party decision and what was not. While the NFD is still seen as the countrys most extreme active far-right party, it lost a significant portion of its voters to the nationalist Alternative for Germany in the recent national election. In that election, the Alternative for Germany (AfD) became the first far-right party to enter parliament in decades. Additional reporting by agencies. Russia has warned its citizens to rethink travelling abroad because, it claims, the US is hunting for Russians to arrest around the world. The travel warning, which was issued by Moscows foreign ministry, cautioned Russians face a serious threat of arrest by other countries at Washingtons request, after which they could be extradited to America. Despite our calls to improve cooperation between the relevant US and Russian authorities... US special services have effectively continued hunting for Russians around the world, the statement said. Considering these circumstances, we strongly insist that Russian citizens carefully weigh up all the risks when planning trips abroad. It claimed more than 10 Russians had been detained in foreign countries with US involvement since the start of 2017. It pointed to at least four Russians arrested on US cybercrime charges in Spain, Latvia and Greece. US action against suspected Russian cyber criminals surged to a record high last year. Russia opposition leader Alexei Navalny detained by police at anti-Putin protest Seven Russians were arrested or indicted in 2017 in America and abroad, compared to an average of two a year in the preceding six years. The ministry pointed to the case of Stanislav Lisov, accused of creating a computer virus that targeted customers of financial institutions, causing millions of dollars of damage, who was extradited from Spain to the US last year. It mentioned earlier cases as well, including the detention of Roman Seleznev for cybercrime in the Maldives in 2014, which it described as a kidnapping by American agents. Seleznev, who is the son of a Russian politician, was later convicted of hacking by a Seattle court. Vladimir Putin's Photo ops Russia's Man of Steel? Show all 20 1 /20 Vladimir Putin's Photo ops Russia's Man of Steel? Vladimir Putin's Photo ops Russia's Man of Steel? Vladimir Putin is pictured with a horse during his vacation outside the town of Kyzyl in Southern Siberia on August 3, 2009. Getty Vladimir Putin's Photo ops Russia's Man of Steel? Vladimir Putin aims at a whale with an arbalest to take a piece of its skin for analysis on the Olga Bay, some 240 kilometres north-east of Nakhodka on August 25, 2010. Getty Vladimir Putin's Photo ops Russia's Man of Steel? Vladimir Putin plunges into the icy waters of lake Seliger during the celebration of the Epiphany holiday in Russia's Tver region AFP/Getty Vladimir Putin's Photo ops Russia's Man of Steel? Vladimir Putin (top) takes part in a judo training session at the "Moscow" sports complex in St. Petersburg, on December 22, 2010. Getty Vladimir Putin's Photo ops Russia's Man of Steel? Vladimir Putin works out at a gym at the Bocharov Ruchei state residence in Sochi on August 30, 2015. Getty Vladimir Putin's Photo ops Russia's Man of Steel? Vladimir Putin fishes in the remote Tuva region in southern Siberia. The picture taken between August 1 and 3, 2017. Getty Vladimir Putin's Photo ops Russia's Man of Steel? Vladimir Putin (L) and the leader of the Night Wolves biker group, Alexander Zaldostanov (R), also known as the Surgeon, ride motorcycles on August 29, 2011 at a bikers' festival in the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk, Russia. Putin described leather-clad bikers as brothers and boasted of the "indivisible Russian nation" after roaring into a biking rally on a Harley Davidson. Getty Vladimir Putin's Photo ops Russia's Man of Steel? Vladimir Putin wears glasses as he visits the Technology Park of the Novosibirsk Academic Town in Novosibirsk on February 17, 2012. Getty Vladimir Putin's Photo ops Russia's Man of Steel? Vladimir Putin rides a horse during his vacation outside the town of Kyzyl in Southern Siberia on August 3, 2009. Getty Vladimir Putin's Photo ops Russia's Man of Steel? Vladimir Putin holds a pistol during his visit to a newly-built headquarters of the Russian General Staff's Main Intelligence Department (GRU) in Moscow, 08 November 2006. ?Some countries are seeking to untie their hands in order to take weapons to outer space, including nuclear weapons,? Putin said at the Chief Military Intelligence Department on Wednesday. Getty Vladimir Putin's Photo ops Russia's Man of Steel? Vladimir Putin sits inside a T-90AM tank during a visit to an arms exhibition in the Urals town of Nizhny Tagil on September 9, 2011 Getty Vladimir Putin's Photo ops Russia's Man of Steel? Vladimir Putin wears a helmet and the uniform of the Renault Formula One team before driving a F1 race car on a special track in Leningrad region outside St. Petersburg on November 7, 2010. Getty Vladimir Putin's Photo ops Russia's Man of Steel? Vladimir Putin guides a boat during his vacation in the remote Tuva region in southern Siberia. The picture taken between August 1 and 3, 2017. Getty Vladimir Putin's Photo ops Russia's Man of Steel? Vladimir Putin hunts fish underwater in the remote Tuva region in southern Siberia. The picture taken between August 1 and 3, 2017. Getty Vladimir Putin's Photo ops Russia's Man of Steel? Vladimir Putin is seen at the Russian boxing team training club after casting his vote for the Russian Presidential election, 14 March 2004 in Moscow. Putin coasted to a landslide victory with 69.0 percent of the vote in Sunday's election, according to the first exit poll aired on Russian television moments after voting ended across the country's 11 time zones. AFP/Getty Images Vladimir Putin's Photo ops Russia's Man of Steel? Russian President Vladimir Putin poses for a picture inside the Tupolev-160 strategic bomber jet at the Moscow's Chkalovsky military airport, 16 August 2005. President Vladimir Putin took off from Moscow for a supersonic flight in a cruise-missile carrying Tupolev-160 bomber jet, the latest in the Russian leader's action-packed public appearances. After a health check, Putin donned a flight suit and took the commander's position in the strategic bomber, which was piloted by Major General Anatoly Zhikharev, with a colonel and a lieutenant colonel in charge of navigation, Russian media reported. Getty Vladimir Putin's Photo ops Russia's Man of Steel? A picture released on March 6, 2010 shows Vladimir Putin look through binoculars in the Karatash area, near the town of Abakan, during his working trip to Khakassia, on February 25, 2010. Getty Vladimir Putin's Photo ops Russia's Man of Steel? Vladimir Putin measuring a polar bear on the island Alexandra Land, part of the Franz Josef Land archipalego in the Arctic Ocean. Putin, better known in the West for his tough-guy image, expressed concern for the fate of Arctic polar bears threatened by climate change. "The polar bear is under threat. Their population is currently only 25,000 individuals," Putin was quoted by Russian news agencies as saying Getty Vladimir Putin's Photo ops Russia's Man of Steel? Vladimir Putin carries a hunting rifle during his trip in Ubsunur Hollow Biosphere Reserve in Tuva Republic in this undated picture released on October 30, 2010 by RIA Novosti news agency. Getty Vladimir Putin's Photo ops Russia's Man of Steel? Russian President Vladimir Putin pilots a motorized hang glider while flying with cranes as he takes part in a scientific experiment as part of the "Flight of Hope", which aims to preserve a rare species of - cranes on September 5, 2012. At the helm of a motorized hang glider that the birds have taken as their leader, Putin made three flights - the first to get familiar with the process, and two others with the birds. AFP/Getty The statement, published on Thursday, also warns Russian citizens that upon extradition they will face biased treatment at the hands of the US justice system. The US State Department declined to comment on the Russian travel advisory. But it comes amid a number of American investigations into Russian attempts to influence or impede the 2016 presidential election. And while the US has not made an explicit link between its prosecutions of Russian hackers and the election, some of those arrested have said they were being asked by the FBI to confess to hacking the email server of the Democratic National Congress. Additional reporting by Reuters Russia has advised the US to stop sending military planes close to its border days after the Pentagon accused a Russian fighter jet of an unsafe interaction in the Black Sea. "The Aerospace Force will continue to maintain the reliable protection of Russian airspace," Moscows defence ministry said. Should American pilots, knowing this fact, fall into depression or succumb to any phobias, we advise the US side to exclude these flight routes near Russias borders in the future, or return to the negotiating table and agree on their rules. The Su-27 fighter jet came within 5ft of a US surveillance plane, forcing the aircraft, which was flying in international airspace, to end its mission prematurely, a US official said. But the Defence Ministry hit back, saying similar manoeuvres by Nato planes near Russian aircraft cause absolutely no effects on Russian crews. It maintained the Su-27s move was legal, describing its mission as an escort to the spy plane. "We would like to address the commander of the 67th Task Force of the 6th Fleet, Bill Ellis, with a reminder Crimea is an integral part of Russia," a Defence Ministry statement warned. It also suggested US pilots be given updated maps showing the correct borders of the countrys airspace, according to Russian news agency Tass. Terrifying footage shows flames and smoke on-board a Russian plane in Volgograd The comments came in response to US State Department complaints of the Russian militarys disregard for international norms and agreements. We call on Russia to cease these unsafe actions that increase the risk of miscalculation, danger to aircrew on both sides, and midair collisions, a statement said. It said the Russian jet engaged in an unsafe interaction with a US EP-3 [aeroplane] in international airspace, closing to within 5ft (1.5m) and crossing directly in front of the EP-3s flight path. A number of near-misses have taken place over the Black Sea, where Russian, US and Nato forces operate in close proximity to one another. Vladimir Putin's Photo ops Russia's Man of Steel? Show all 20 1 /20 Vladimir Putin's Photo ops Russia's Man of Steel? Vladimir Putin's Photo ops Russia's Man of Steel? Vladimir Putin is pictured with a horse during his vacation outside the town of Kyzyl in Southern Siberia on August 3, 2009. Getty Vladimir Putin's Photo ops Russia's Man of Steel? Vladimir Putin aims at a whale with an arbalest to take a piece of its skin for analysis on the Olga Bay, some 240 kilometres north-east of Nakhodka on August 25, 2010. Getty Vladimir Putin's Photo ops Russia's Man of Steel? Vladimir Putin plunges into the icy waters of lake Seliger during the celebration of the Epiphany holiday in Russia's Tver region AFP/Getty Vladimir Putin's Photo ops Russia's Man of Steel? Vladimir Putin (top) takes part in a judo training session at the "Moscow" sports complex in St. Petersburg, on December 22, 2010. Getty Vladimir Putin's Photo ops Russia's Man of Steel? Vladimir Putin works out at a gym at the Bocharov Ruchei state residence in Sochi on August 30, 2015. Getty Vladimir Putin's Photo ops Russia's Man of Steel? Vladimir Putin fishes in the remote Tuva region in southern Siberia. The picture taken between August 1 and 3, 2017. Getty Vladimir Putin's Photo ops Russia's Man of Steel? Vladimir Putin (L) and the leader of the Night Wolves biker group, Alexander Zaldostanov (R), also known as the Surgeon, ride motorcycles on August 29, 2011 at a bikers' festival in the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk, Russia. Putin described leather-clad bikers as brothers and boasted of the "indivisible Russian nation" after roaring into a biking rally on a Harley Davidson. Getty Vladimir Putin's Photo ops Russia's Man of Steel? Vladimir Putin wears glasses as he visits the Technology Park of the Novosibirsk Academic Town in Novosibirsk on February 17, 2012. Getty Vladimir Putin's Photo ops Russia's Man of Steel? Vladimir Putin rides a horse during his vacation outside the town of Kyzyl in Southern Siberia on August 3, 2009. Getty Vladimir Putin's Photo ops Russia's Man of Steel? Vladimir Putin holds a pistol during his visit to a newly-built headquarters of the Russian General Staff's Main Intelligence Department (GRU) in Moscow, 08 November 2006. ?Some countries are seeking to untie their hands in order to take weapons to outer space, including nuclear weapons,? Putin said at the Chief Military Intelligence Department on Wednesday. Getty Vladimir Putin's Photo ops Russia's Man of Steel? Vladimir Putin sits inside a T-90AM tank during a visit to an arms exhibition in the Urals town of Nizhny Tagil on September 9, 2011 Getty Vladimir Putin's Photo ops Russia's Man of Steel? Vladimir Putin wears a helmet and the uniform of the Renault Formula One team before driving a F1 race car on a special track in Leningrad region outside St. Petersburg on November 7, 2010. Getty Vladimir Putin's Photo ops Russia's Man of Steel? Vladimir Putin guides a boat during his vacation in the remote Tuva region in southern Siberia. The picture taken between August 1 and 3, 2017. Getty Vladimir Putin's Photo ops Russia's Man of Steel? Vladimir Putin hunts fish underwater in the remote Tuva region in southern Siberia. The picture taken between August 1 and 3, 2017. Getty Vladimir Putin's Photo ops Russia's Man of Steel? Vladimir Putin is seen at the Russian boxing team training club after casting his vote for the Russian Presidential election, 14 March 2004 in Moscow. Putin coasted to a landslide victory with 69.0 percent of the vote in Sunday's election, according to the first exit poll aired on Russian television moments after voting ended across the country's 11 time zones. AFP/Getty Images Vladimir Putin's Photo ops Russia's Man of Steel? Russian President Vladimir Putin poses for a picture inside the Tupolev-160 strategic bomber jet at the Moscow's Chkalovsky military airport, 16 August 2005. President Vladimir Putin took off from Moscow for a supersonic flight in a cruise-missile carrying Tupolev-160 bomber jet, the latest in the Russian leader's action-packed public appearances. After a health check, Putin donned a flight suit and took the commander's position in the strategic bomber, which was piloted by Major General Anatoly Zhikharev, with a colonel and a lieutenant colonel in charge of navigation, Russian media reported. Getty Vladimir Putin's Photo ops Russia's Man of Steel? A picture released on March 6, 2010 shows Vladimir Putin look through binoculars in the Karatash area, near the town of Abakan, during his working trip to Khakassia, on February 25, 2010. Getty Vladimir Putin's Photo ops Russia's Man of Steel? Vladimir Putin measuring a polar bear on the island Alexandra Land, part of the Franz Josef Land archipalego in the Arctic Ocean. Putin, better known in the West for his tough-guy image, expressed concern for the fate of Arctic polar bears threatened by climate change. "The polar bear is under threat. Their population is currently only 25,000 individuals," Putin was quoted by Russian news agencies as saying Getty Vladimir Putin's Photo ops Russia's Man of Steel? Vladimir Putin carries a hunting rifle during his trip in Ubsunur Hollow Biosphere Reserve in Tuva Republic in this undated picture released on October 30, 2010 by RIA Novosti news agency. Getty Vladimir Putin's Photo ops Russia's Man of Steel? Russian President Vladimir Putin pilots a motorized hang glider while flying with cranes as he takes part in a scientific experiment as part of the "Flight of Hope", which aims to preserve a rare species of - cranes on September 5, 2012. At the helm of a motorized hang glider that the birds have taken as their leader, Putin made three flights - the first to get familiar with the process, and two others with the birds. AFP/Getty Russia has increased its military presence in the area since it annexed Crimea in 2014, and the US Navy has also increased activity in the region. There have also been interactions between the US and Russia in the skies above Syria, where the nations support differing sides in the ongoing civil war. In December, two US F-33 stealth fighter jets fired warning flares after Russian Su-25 jets entered an agreed deconfliction area in Syrian airspace. The Pentagon has been contacted for comment. Low tides caused by the super blue blood moon, combined with a lack of rain, have caused water levels in Venice to drop by more than 60cm, beaching boats and gondolas. The citys canals have been turned into muddy channels by the rare weather phenomenon, which saw some waterways closed entirely. The Grand Canal, one of Venices major traffic corridors, remained open for the citys water buses, which had been diverted from smaller channels. (AFP/Getty (AFP/Getty) Venice is more often afflicted by flooding caused by high tides or acqua alta in the northern Adriatic, which leaves landmarks including St Marks Square submerged. However, this is not the first time the city has experienced a significant drop in water levels. Nor is a 60cm drop a record. In 2016, water levels fell by 66cm, while in 2008 and 1989 levels dropped by 90cm. (AFP/Getty (AFP/Getty) The record was set in 1934, when an extremely low tide saw water levels drop by 121cm. Italian forecasters were quick to correct people on social media who suggested the latest drop was down to a drought. Recommended Venice bans mega cruise ships Water levels were due to return to normal on Friday as the rain returns. Wednesdays rare super blue blood moon was visible across much of the world, with skywatchers treated to a partial lunar eclipse. The phenomenon triggered a king tide that inundated islands in the Torres Strait between Australia and Papua New Guinea, while Sydney saw tide swells of 2 metres. A report published last year warned that Venice was at risk of chronic flooding which could leave it permanently underwater by the end of the century. Researchers said the Mediterranean Sea is forecast to rise by up to 140cm before 2100, flooding 5,500sq kilometres of coastal plains. Fidel Castros eldest son "Fidelito" has taken his own life, according to Cuban state media Fidel Angel Castro Diaz-Balart, also known as Fidelito, had been treated for depression in the lead, official state newspaper Granma reported. Part of the treatment included hospitalisation. His father Fidel Castro, a revolutionary turned longserving leader of communist Cuba, died in 2016. Mr Diaz-Balart is believed to be one of several children that Mr Castro fathered with multiple different women. He was born in 1949 after his mother, Mirta Diaz-Balart, married a young Fidel Castro who was still years away from leading in insurrection that toppled the government of Fulgencio Batista. She was reportedly the only woman that Mr Castro ever married. Ms Diaz-Balart returned to Cuba over the years to visit her son after having moved to Spain. Fidel Castro funeral procession Show all 20 1 /20 Fidel Castro funeral procession Fidel Castro funeral procession The funeral procession carrying the ashes of Fidel Castro departs after a ceremony in Santa Clara, Cuba AP Fidel Castro funeral procession People line a road to watch as the caravan carrying Cuba's late President Fidel Castro's ashes passes by in Camaguey, Cuba Reuters Fidel Castro funeral procession People line a road to watch as the caravan carrying Cuba's late President Fidel Castro's ashes enters Camaguey, Cuba Reuters Fidel Castro funeral procession People line a road to watch as the caravan carrying Cuba's late President Fidel Castro's ashes goes past Reuters Fidel Castro funeral procession Daniel Hernandez, 4, salutes while awaiting the caravan carrying the late Cuban President Fidel Castro's ashes in Camaguey, Cuba Reuters Fidel Castro funeral procession A military jeep is taking the ashes of Fidel Castro on a four-day journey across Cuba, with islanders lining the roads to bid farewell to the late communist icon Getty Fidel Castro funeral procession A military jeep is taking the ashes of Fidel Castro on a four-day journey across Cuba, with islanders lining the roads to bid farewell to the late communist icon Getty Fidel Castro funeral procession A boy and a girl in their special position waiting for the arrival of the convoy carrying the remains of Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro in Cienfuegos, 240 km southeast from Havana Getty Fidel Castro funeral procession A military jeep is taking the ashes of Fidel Castro on a four-day journey across Cuba, with islanders lining the roads to bid farewell to the late communist icon Getty Fidel Castro funeral procession People wait along the Carretera Central to see the convoy carrying the urn with the ashes of late Cuban leader Fidel Castro AFP/Getty Images Fidel Castro funeral procession People watch the funeral procession carrying Fidel Castro's ashes through Santa Spiritus province in Cuba AP Fidel Castro funeral procession Cubans wait for the passage of the convoy carrying the remains of Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro Getty Fidel Castro funeral procession A woman holds an image of Cuba's late President Fidel Castro while awaiting the caravan carrying Castro's ashes Reuters Fidel Castro funeral procession Yenia Coutinio poses for a picture while waiting for the funeral procession carrying Fidel Castro's ashes AP Fidel Castro funeral procession A military jeep is taking the ashes of Fidel Castro on a four-day journey across Cuba, with islanders lining the roads to bid farewell to the late communist icon Getty Fidel Castro funeral procession A man waits for the caravan carrying the ashes of Cuba's leader Fidel Castro at a sugar cane plantation in Carlos Manuel de Cespedes, Cuba AP Fidel Castro funeral procession A student holds an image of Cuba's late President Fidel Castro while awaiting the caravan carrying Castro's ashes in Camaguey, Cuba Reuters Fidel Castro funeral procession A child reacts to the camera as he stands next to a truck used to carry people to a spot where they could watch the convoy carrying Fidel Castro's ashes in Gaspar, Cuba AP Fidel Castro funeral procession Wearing signs that read in Spanish 'I am Fidel', men sit on their horses as they wait to see the convoy carrying the ashes of Cuba's leader Fidel Castro on its way to the east of the country in Florida, Cuba AP Fidel Castro funeral procession People paint stones laid out as a tribute to Cuba's late President Fidel Castro in Las Tunas, Cuba Reuters Mr Diaz-Balart served for a time as head of Cubas nuclear power programme, according toThe Miami Herald. He was fired from that position by Fidel Castro himself, the Daily Beast reported. There was no resignation, Mr Castro reportedly said. He was fired for incompetence. We dont have a monarchy here. Mr Diaz-Balart had studied nuclear physics in the Soviet Union, a key patron and ally of Cuba after the country's Communist takeover. Cuba: Wifi means family Show all 13 1 /13 Cuba: Wifi means family Cuba: Wifi means family Doctor Alejandro Soto stands with his dog Coco as he connects to an internet hotspot in Havana Reuters Cuba: Wifi means family Gathering at a hotspot in Regla Reuters Cuba: Wifi means family A dancer uses a hotspot from inside a bus before performing at the Carnival of Havana Reuters Cuba: Wifi means family A woman sits on a vintage car as she uses a hotspot in Havana Reuters Cuba: Wifi means family A hotspot connection at the sea front at the Malecon in Havana Reuters Cuba: Wifi means family A hotspot in Havana Reuters Cuba: Wifi means family Dancers use a hotspot before performing at the Carnival of Havana Reuters Cuba: Wifi means family Tourist guide Daniel Hernandez, 26, sits on his Russian-made car as he speaks to his girlfriend who lives in Britain Reuters Cuba: Wifi means family People connecting to the internet at a hotspot in Regla Reuters Cuba: Wifi means family Claudia Espinosa (right) and her mother Maribel Sosa speak to relatives living in the United States at an internet hotspot in Havana Reuters Cuba: Wifi means family An internet hotspot at the sea front at the Malecon in Havana Reuters Cuba: Wifi means family A hotspot in Havana REUTERS Cuba: Wifi means family People make a video-call inside a car at a hotspot in Havana Reuters More recently he was a scientific advisor to the Council of State and Vice President of the Academy of Sciences of Cuba, Granma said. The paper said Mr Diaz-Balarts family would handle funeral arrangements. At least 29 women have been arrested in Iran for taking part in protests against a law forcing them to conceal their hair in public. Images of Iranian women holding their hijabs aloft in the street spread on social media as they symbolically rejected what one activist described as the wider interference of religion in their lives. "We are fighting against the most visible symbol of oppression," said Masih Alinejad, who hosts the website My Stealthy Freedom where women in Iran post photos of themselves without hijabs. Iranian police were quoted by the Tasnim news agency, which has close links to the government, as saying the women were "deceived" into taking part in an anti-hijab campaign known as "White Wednesdays". The prosecutor general, Mohammad Jafar Montazeri, reportedly dismissed the protests as "childish" and instigated "from outside the country". After Irans 1979 revolution, women were obliged by law to cover their hair with a scarf, known as the hijab, and wear long loose fitting clothes. Violators can be stopped in the street by the so-called morality police and be publicly admonished, fined or arrested. One activist said: These women are saying, 'It is enough - it is the 21st century and we want to be our true selves. The trend picked up momentum after video and images were posted online of one woman, waving a white scarf on a stick in December - a day before demonstrations erupted against economic conditions in eastern Iran, said Ms Alinejad. The focus of the protests broadened as they spread across the country, with demonstrators calling for Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, to step down. Iran protests in pictures Show all 11 1 /11 Iran protests in pictures Iran protests in pictures University students at an anti-government protest inside Tehran University, 30 December 2017 AP Iran protests in pictures A university student at a protest inside Tehran University while a smoke grenade is thrown by anti-riot Iranian police, 30 December 2017 AP Iran protests in pictures University students at a protest inside Tehran University, 30 December 2017 AP Iran protests in pictures University students run away from the police during an anti-government protest inside Tehran University, 30 December 2017 AP Iran protests in pictures An image grab taken from a handout video released by Iran's Mehr News agency reportedly shows a group of men pulling at a fence in a street in Tehran, 30 December 2017 AFP/Getty Iran protests in pictures Demonstrators gather to protest in Tehran, 30 December 2017 AP Iran protests in pictures Iranians chant slogans as they march in support of the government near the Imam Khomeini grand mosque in Tehran, 30 December 2017 AFP/Getty Iran protests in pictures Iranians chant slogans as they march in support of the government near the Imam Khomeini grand mosque in Tehran, December 30 2017 Iran protests in pictures Iranian clerics take part during a state-organized rally against anti-government protests in the country, in the holy city of Qom, south west Iran, 3 January 2018 EPA Iran protests in pictures In this photo provided by the Iranian Students' News Agency, a clergyman takes a picture of a pro-government demonstration in the southwestern city of Ahvaz, Iran, 3 January 2018 ISNA via AP Iran protests in pictures Pro-government demonstrators gather at the Massoumeh shrine in Iran's holy city of Qom, some 130 kilometres south of Tehran, 3 January 2018 AFP/Getty Ms Alinejad said the woman was arrested after the video went viral. She has since been released, according to a Facebook post by Iranian human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh. Although the wider anti-government demonstrations have ended, women across Iran are "fed up" and continue to protest against "the interference of religion in our personal lives", said Ms Alinejad.. She said she is now flooded with videos and photos of women imitating the viral video and she shares them on the My Stealthy Freedom Twitter account and Facebook page. These people are not fighting against a piece of cloth, they are fighting against the ideology behind compulsory hijab, said Ms Alinejad, who called the movement the true face of feminism. To campaign against the obligatory wearing of headscarves, Ms Alinejad last year encouraged women to take videos or photos of themselves wearing white and upload them on social media with the hashtag #whitewednesdays. The #whitewednesdays campaign is part of a larger online movement started three years ago by the journalist, who has lived in self-imposed exile since 2009. She has received death threats since her campaigning started. I wake up everyday with the voices of these women in my inbox," she said from her home in New York, I am full of hope. Civil disobedience is the first step to gain our victory. Additional reporting by Reuters Georgias on everyones minds, at the moment. With Tbilisi reigning as the hot new city break, thanks to direct flights which launched last year and new flights from Luton to Kutaisi opening up the north of the country, it feels like everyone is going. One place they arent going, though, is to Svaneti, in the far, mountainous north of the country and in particular, to the four villages that make up Ushguli, one of the regions most remote outposts and Europes highest permanent settlement. Tough and taciturn, speaking an archaic Georgian dialect and practising a version of Orthodox Christianity owing much to earlier beliefs, Svan cultural identity is distinct. Isolated by an annual six-month winter, until the early 2000s Svaneti remained a lawless place; blood feuds and banditry were widespread. Georgians even ridicule Svans as unsophisticated (although, sensibly, they do it quietly). Recommended 10 things to do in Tbilisi Stymied by its remote location, Ushguli had long endured a terminal decline, as harsh conditions combined with instability to drive depopulation. However, as Georgia has emerged from post-Soviet chaos, security has returned to Georgia, including Svaneti. Once the countrys most dangerous road, the route to regional capital Mestia has now been upgraded. Its still a journey approaching five hours from Kutaisi, but with the new flights, its at least possible to visit. In Zhibiani, one of the larger villages, ancient Svan defensive towers overlook the winding lanes and wandering livestock. Substantial stone buildings of two storeys, upper floors fronted by enclosed wooden balconies, lie in varying states of repair. The area has beautiful scenery, animals and nostalgic buildings (Nick Redmayne) Marekhi Nijharadzes house is in good order though, with Soviet symbols recalled in decorative fretwork. She invites Alex, my Georgian guide and me inside. I came here as a midwife, she laughs. Life was very different in the 1950s. I was the only medic. I had to extract teeth and even perform small surgeries. There was no money, no transport and the road to Mestia was terrible. It wasnt what I was expecting but I wanted to help. These days Marekhi runs a guesthouse; beds stand wherever theres space, while an extension to make room for more is clearly underway. In an original bedroom two significant fissures track across the wall scars from the 1987 avalanche which saw half Zhibianis residents pack up and leave. The village was primarily abandoned until sightseers returned (Nick Redmayne) Just 50 people remained everyone was trying to escape, she says. Finally, tourism has brought them back. Despite its rough and ready nature, for centuries Svaneti proved a safe and remote repository for art and learning, usually under the protection of Orthodox monasteries. On a hill overlooking Zhibiani, against the backdrop of Shkharas snowy 5,000m massif, Lammeria monastery remains home of the Bishop of Upper Svaneti. Past a shepherd dog the size of a pony is the entrance, where a bearded and robed monk appears and rings a peel of three bells. He opens the door to a tiny 10th century chapel and motions us to enter, lighting a candle before we take a seat. I was supposed to come for a month, he says. Not everyone in Ushguli is so straightforward. Surrealist artist Pridon Nijharadze also lives in Zhibiani, leading a reclusive existence and giving few interviews. Hes rumoured to be an awkward and eccentric character; but Alex knows Pridons nephew, whos willing to make an introduction. We walk along narrow alleys, past abandoned Russian trucks and silently wandering cows, to a half-stone, half-wooden building. At the top of a flight of steps, a whiskered elderly man eyes our approach Pridon, as it turns out. What do you think of the positions held by Stalin and Roosevelt after the Tehran Conference? he demands by way of introduction. Happy with Alexs reply, he invites us into his studio, to tell us about his past. In the 1970s I studied in Tbilisi, but they couldnt give me anything, he says. What I wanted to paint wasnt allowed. I demonstrated against the Soviets when they banned the Georgian language. They put me in an asylum, took my blood, gave me drugs. Ive had health problems ever since. Little by little Pridon opens more doors, allowing us further into his studios inner sanctum. This, he says, pointing at a brooding canvas detailing multiple Svan towers, is the Tower of Babel. He interprets other references for us scissors are actually a womans legs. Pridons art has always been designed to provoke. Pridon Nijharadze uses his art to encourage critical thinking (Nick Redmayne) I ask the source of his inspiration: It comes from the cosmos, he replies without a moments hesitation. As we take our leave, Pridon tells me more about the impact of new prosperity on Ushguli. Its like a resurrection, he says and picks up a particularly psychedelic canvas. This, its special. I painted it in 1999 and if it sells Ill give the money to the people of Ushguli those who stayed through the winters. Im sure his asking price will be reasonable. Travel essentials Getting there Wizz Air flies direct from Luton to Kutaisi from 50 return. Staying there Nick Redmayne travelled with TravelLocal (0117 325 7898; travellocal.com), which hooks users up with local tour operators. A Long Weekend in Svaneti tour costs from 510pp excluding flights. More information georgia.travel South Africans living outside the drought-stricken Western Cape province are being urged by charities to donate water to be taken to Cape Town, as more stringent conservation measures take effect. Day Zero, when reservoirs supplying Cape Town are deemed to be critically low and the taps are turned off, is now calculated to be 16 April; previously the date was set at 21 April, and then 12 April. If and when it happens, citizens will have to collect water from 200 standpipes around the city. Yesterday the daily limit per person using the municipal supply was reduced by 43 per cent to 50 litres. Western Cape was declared a disaster area in May 2017 after successive years of sharply lower rainfall. Reservoirs, known locally as dams, are currently at 26.3 per cent of capacity, having lost 0.9 per cent in the past week. Cape Town is running out of water. How? Simon Calder explains South Africa Tourism said: In the event of what the City of Cape Town refers to as Day Zero, there will be available water for tourists and locals critical needs. These are considered to be water for personal hygiene and consumption. We should be prepared to live with very little water for around three months, with the hope that by the end of winter, enough rain has fallen to switch the water system back on. The LifeMed charity in Pretoria is appealing for five-litre bottles of water to be taken to its head office, from where they will be shipped to Cape Town. Supply chain: an appeal from a Pretoria-based charity for water for Cape Town (LifeMed, Villieria) Out-of-city participants in the Cape Town Cycle Tour, taking place on 11 March, have been told to bring sufficient drinking water with them for their own daily consumption, according to the organisers. An upmarket resort, La Cle des Montagnes, has issued guidelines for guests, asking them to turn off taps while brushing teeth, taking shorter showers and avoiding baths. The collection of villas in Franschhoek, in the wine country about 50 miles east of Cape Town, said: Towels and linen will be refreshed upon request only and swimming pools may not be topped up at all times. Lufthansas chief executive, Carsten Spohr, told the financial news website fin24 that the water crisis has not impacted sales. Eurowings, Lufthansas low-cost subsidiary, launched a link from Cologne to Cape Town this winter. South African Airways plans to halve its flights from Heathrow to Johannesburg from 20 April, though this move is believed to be unrelated to the drought. For some people flying is an anxiety-inducing experience which requires various coping mechanisms, from slow breathing to the use of self-help manuals. For others, the experience is so fraught with difficulty a furry/scaly/feathered friend is required for emotional support. After a woman was refused permission to bring a peacock with her on board a United Airlines flight this week, we look at other examples of unusual pets people have tried to bring with them during flights. Pig In November 2014, a pig was removed from a US Airways flight after it became disruptive. A passenger on the plane told ABC News the pig was tethered to an arm rest, walking back and forth. Eventually, both pig and human owner were asked to leave the flight. Duck Carla Fitzgerald was flying between Charlotte and Asheville in North Carolina when she was papped with her feathery friend, a duck named Daniel Turducken Stinkerbutt. The PTSD sufferer had been hit by a taxi driver in 2013 and later received certification to take Mr Stinkerbutt with her on board flights as an emotional support pet. Dalmatian They may be lovable in animated form (less so in the live-action adaptation) but a passenger flying from Tucson to Chicago for a funeral was made uncomfortable by the presence of a large dalmatian. As the Huffington Post reported in 2016, Maureen Van Dorn found herself sat beside a large dalmatian brought on board as a support animal. I was shocked by the size of this dog, she said. When the traveller in seat 3A stood up, the dog was able to put his paws on the mans shoulders. Cat Donna Wiegel was on a flight between Baltimore and Chicago when she saw a passenger at the gate with a cat. The asthmatic alerted officials to her respiratory problems and allergy to cats but soon found herself sitting on board, just a few rows away from the feline passenger. The result? Wiegel was removed from the plane to avoid a medical incident, rebooked onto another United Airlines flight, driven from Baltimore to Washington Dulles and reached Chicago five hours late. Meow. Monkey In 2016, Jason Ellis found himself in trouble when he tried to fly with his emotional support marmoset. The trouble wasnt the miniature monkey, but rather Elliss failure to produce the correct paperwork. The misunderstanding was resolved when the plane landed in Las Vegas, but unfortunately Ellis was unable to fly back to Ohio after being put on Frontier Airlines no-fly list. Turkey In January 2016, a passenger was able to provide Delta Air Lines with papers proving that a turkey was their emotional support animal. The bird even received VIP treatment as it was rolled through the airport in a wheelchair. One Reddit user, who reposted the picture said, My neighbour is a flight attendant. He just posted this photo of someones therapy pet on his flight. Dog #2 At this point, it might not seem like another dog would rank among the more strange emotional support animals out there, but Akita Kal-El is no ordinary dog. The unusually named pet happens to be owned by one Henry Cavill, who was seen arriving at an airport with it in 2015. Best known as Superman from Man of Steel, a film in which he saved a plane from crashing, Cavill/Supermans ownership of a support dog was nothing if not a reminder of the innate fragility of human beings. Or that hes an actor. Appaloosa horse Cheryl Spencer, a blind woman from Jacksonville, Florida, began using a miniature Appaloosa horse after losing two guide dogs to old age. It was given to her by the JBR ranch in Christmas, also Florida, when they decided it would make a better guide horse than pet. The horse, called Confetti, was photographed flying with Cheryl and her husband in the USA. Travel industry websites do not enthral me; they are mostly utilitarian means to ends. But if you pressed me to name a favourite, it would probably be gcmap.com. Great Circle Mapper, as it is more grandly known, provides an interesting free service: calculating the shortest route between any two airports on the planet, and drawing the track on a two-dimensional map. It also tells you how far apart the airports are (in kilometres, miles or nautical miles) and the initial heading you would need to adopt in order to fly the trip. Karl Swartz is the man behind the site that calculates Great Circle routes. It appears to be a labour of geographical love, providing flight enlightenment, rather than a fast track to a fortune. Try it now, if you like: just make sure you have the three-letter airport codes for each end to hand. Enter them separated with a hyphen, eg MAD-MAN. This reveals that the Madrid to Manchester journey covers a distance of 891 miles, and that to steer a direct course from the Spanish capital to North West Englands hub you should aim just three degrees east of due north, overflying Bilbao and Bath. In the increasingly crowded skies, especially in Europe, the actual route is likely to be much more of a zig-zag, and will cover a good few more miles. But should you have to claim compensation for delay, overbooking or cancellation insurance, the shortest length of the flight is important, because the Great Circle distance defines your entitlement: 250 for up to 1,500km, 400 for the next step up to 3,500km, and 600 thereafter. (On the MAD-MAN trip youre 81km short of the 1,500km threshold.) As the days lengthen, the appeal of a high-latitude daytime flight increases, and the site shows how far north a transatlantic flight must go to fly the optimum track. Gatwick-Oakland (for San Francisco) crosses the Mull of Kintyre in south-west Scotland then grazes the coast of Northern Ireland on its way to southern Greenland a country that makes a healthy living from overflight earnings. After traversing this empty land, the most direct route from Sussex to San Francisco Bay starts to turn south and goes over Iqaluit (formerly Frobisher Bay) on Baffin Island. Go west: the shortest route between Sussex and Oakland, on San Francisco Bay (Great Circle Mapper) Even a trip to the tropics, such as the TUI flight from Manchester to Puerto Vallarta on Mexicos Pacific Coast, can go high latitude. It crosses the chilly Labrador shore of Canada, then dives across America from Detroit to Dallas. Great Circle mapping is also art, as LHR-PER demonstrates: the shortest track for next months maiden non-stop Qantas flight from Heathrow to Perth is a section from a perfect sine wave, which parallels Indias west coast and crosses Sri Lanka before the long curve (about the same distance as Heathrow-New York) over the ocean to Western Australia. London to Sydney, which is being actively discussed as a possible route, initially starts by running north of Moscow, crosses northern Kazakhstan, bisects China from north-west to south-east, then traverses the Philippines and the city of Darwin on its 10,574-mile journey. Delving deeper into Australasia, the Great Circle reveals a remarkable phenomenon. Suppose you are the pilot of an ultra-long-range Boeing 787 with no passengers and lots of fuel, and you want to show that it is possible to fly from the UK to Auckland, the biggest city in New Zealand. You could start at Prestwick or Campbeltown, both in south-west Scotland and just 44 miles apart. Each is 11,155 miles from Auckland, give or take a runways length. On a globe, the two flight paths would be close. Yet on a two-dimensional screen, the shortest route from each to New Zealand goes over different hemispheres. Both start by heading almost due north. The Prestwick route then arcs east above the Arctic coast of Russia before turning south across eastern Siberia and the Kamchatka Peninsula. Start the same journey from Campbeltown, and the Great Circle takes you west around the north of Greenland, the Canadian Arctic and Alaska. Only on the far side of the Bering Strait do you drop almost due south to Auckland. Whichever route you choose, the trip would take over 20 hours. Perhaps one day a non-stop, all-day, UK-NZ journey will become a reality. Until then, go to gcmap.com and dream. Perhaps you have seen the entertaining new Emirates ad, urging travellers to upgrade your airline? A good way to do just that: switch from an airline that squeezes in 10 economy seats abreast on a Boeing 777, eg Emirates, to one that fits only nine such as British Airways, at least from Heathrow. There is one sure-fire way to travel first class: buy a first class ticket. The trouble is, they cost far more than economy seats, and dont get you there any faster. As with planes, so with trains. Occasionally you can bag a bargain advance first class ticket for little more than standard price. But most of the time you cant. When I found a rail fare from York to London Kings Cross of just 11 (booking many weeks in advance), first class was several times more expensive. So when I stepped aboard the 2.02pm at York station, it was a treat to be in the posh seats. I had successfully used a new app called Seatfrog, which offers targeted upsell opportunities in the travel industry jargon also known as on-the-day train upgrades. You are probably familiar with Weekend First, which entices standard passengers into seats on Saturdays and Sundays which would otherwise go empty in return for 10-25, depending on the length of the journey. But Seatfrog works from Monday to Friday, which is when you really want to be in first class because lots of other stuff is included. Heres how it works. Start with an advance ticket in standard class at present only on Virgin Trains East Coast, though other operators are watching. Download the Seatfrog app. Tap the train booking reference into the app, along with your credit card details; Seatfrog promises, You only pay if you win. If your train has Seatfrog space, two and a half hours before departure you are invited to participate in an online auction. The minimum is 5, but to try to avoid having to immediately up the bid I started at 7. Initially I seemed to be in the lead, but then I was nudged down the pecking order by an unseen rival. So 9, then 11, where I stopped because the notion of paying more for an upgrade than I had for the original ticket did not appeal. Half an hour before departure I was told I had won. First class passengers arent like the rest of us. They enjoy more space than a prebooked Thomas Cook sunlounger, and seats that actually line up with windows. They have no need to type implausibly long codes or their credit-card details to get wi-fi on trains; it just flows mellifluously through the first class salon, if I might call it that. They dont queue up at the buffet to pay inflated prices, because the buffet comes to them. And its free. Juliana was dispensing hot meals even in mid-afternoon; the beef rendang was compact but tasty, and you can fill up with fruit or biscuits as you please. Complimentary drinks, too, anywhere on the water-to-wine spectrum. Half an hour into the journey I felt so calm and relaxed (a new sensation for me, at Doncaster station at least), that I went the whole wellness/yoga/mind/body/spirit distance and asked for a green tea. Juliana disappeared to fetch a bigger mug, saying that the brew was better served in a larger vessel. One aspect that wasnt brilliant: the 2.02pm was downgraded, chronologically speaking: while our train was ready to go on time, it was held up for a late-running express from Edinburgh, and as a result we got stuck behind a succession of slower services. But if youre going to be delayed, better that it happens in a spacious salon awash with green tea. What haunts any blind bidding transaction is that you could have got the same thing for less. Talking to other Seatfrog users, it seems I may have overbid: on middle-of-the-day trains some claim to have won an upgrade for as little as 7 or 8. But I underbid relative to the benefits of first class. Dont expect a bargain on a Monday morning or Friday evening train from Newcastle to London. But you might want to try Seatfrog sooner rather than later, just in case it becomes too successful and causes cannibalisation not adding human flesh to the buffet choices, but tempting passengers who would normally buy first class to take a chance on bidding instead, reducing revenue. Meanwhile Seatfrog may soon take off for flight upgrades. Iain Griffin, the chief executive, told me: Were working with a bunch of airline partners at the moment. I wonder if they include Emirates? Set against the backdrop of the Alps, most of Switzerland looks like it's straight out of a postcard. It may be a small country, but it boasts magnificent peaks, gushing waterfalls, well-preserved medieval towns, and one of the best public transportation systems in the world. It's also home to three separate regions German, French, and Italian providing visitors a glimpse into multiple different cultures. Keep scrolling to see why Switzerland is a must-visit. Taking a stroll through the Appenzell, a small village in northeastern Switzerland, is like taking a step back in time. (iStock//Mor65 (iStock//Mor65) Zurich is a more modern city. It's small but impeccably clean, well-preserved, and safe. (iStock/?RubyBalasko (iStock/?RubyBalasko) The city sits on the Zurichsee, or Lake Zurich, as well as the Limmat River. There are plenty of spots to sit along the water and enjoy the scenery. The Limmat river runs through Zurich, Switzerland (iStock//bluejayphoto) Zurich's trams make it easy to get around, though the the city is also easy to explore on foot. (iStock//Boogich ) (iStock//Boogich) Zurich isn't the only place in the country that doesn't require a car. Pretty much everywhere in Switzerland is easily accessible via the country's pristine, efficient, and comfortable public transportation system. (iStock//deimagne (iStock//deimagne) If you're in the mood for some street food, try a pretzel, or brezel as the Swiss call it. These mega snacks come plain or topped with butter, cheese, salami, or ham. (iStock//genekrebs) Located in central Switzerland, Lucerne is known for its Kapellbrucke (Chapel Bridge). The bridge was restored in the early 1990s after a fire destroyed most of it. (iStock//WEKWEK (iStock//WEKWEK) Crossing the Reuss River, it's the oldest covered wooden bridge in Europe, and the interior is filled with paintings that date back to the 1600s. The Alps run through much of Switzerland, and the country's highest peak is the Dufourspitze, which is part of Monte Rosa, a group of mountains that sit on Switzerland's border with Italy. Swiss Alps mountain range (iStock//35007) The Dufourspitze is in Zermatt, a quaint but luxurious ski resort. It's also a great spot for hikers during the warmer months. Many people travel to Zermatt just to catch a glimpse of the Matterhorn, arguably the country's most majestic mountain peak. (bozulek/Shutterstock ) (bozulek/Shutterstock) Mountain resorts are the ideal spots to cozy up and enjoy some fondue, a classic Swiss dish that features a pot of piping hot melted cheese in which to dip bread, meat, or veggies. Winter warmer recipes: Cottage pie with cheesy mash and cheesy cauliflower (Getty Images/iStockphoto) Switzerland may be a small country, but it's home to Europe's largest waterfall. The Rhine Falls are located in the Rhine River in the north of the country, and are best experienced by boat. (iStock//kontrast-fotodesign (iStock//kontrast-fotodesign) The city of Basel borders the Rhine River. It's known for its red sandstone Gothic cathedral, which dates back to the 12th century and houses the tomb of the famous Dutch scholar, Erasmus. If you've a head for heights you can climb to the top of the cathedral (Wikimedia Commons) The city's narrow streets are filled with brightly coloured buildings. . (iStock//kontrast-fotodesign) For smaller waterfalls, take a trip to Lauterbrunnen, the site of the Staubach Falls, a narrow waterfall that flows almost 1,000 feet through mountain crevices before dropping onto cliffs that hang over the Lutschine River. (iStock//LeeYiuTung (iStock//LeeYiuTung) You'll find rosti, the Swiss version of hash browns, and Zurcher geschnetzeltes, veal served in a creamy, white wine sauce, all over the country. Don't leave without trying both. (iStock//ALLEKO (iStock//ALLEKO) Located in the French part of Switzerland, Geneva has a definite French flair, from the language to the food. The city sits on Lake Geneva and is home to both the United Nations and Red Cross headquarters. (Rex (Rex) The nearby medieval city of Lausanne also borders Lake Geneva. It's where the international Olympic committee is headquartered, and where the Olympic museum is. The Pont Bessieres bridge is a well known suicide spot in Lausanne (Serge Mercier/Flickr) A visit to Switzerland's French region isn't complete without a stop in Montreux to see the island castle known as Chateau de Chillon, which dates back to the 12th century. Bern, a city built around the Aare River, is Switzerland's capital, and where the country's parliament and diplomats meet. Its old town is great for sightseeing thanks to its medieval architecture. (iStock// Anna Bryukhanova (iStock// Anna Bryukhanova) One such example is the Zytglogge, the city's famous clock tower that dates back to the first half of the 13th century. The tower has had many purposes, including a prison and guard tower. (iStock//Bumble_Dee (iStock//Bumble_Dee) In addition to Switzerland's French region, the country also has an Italian region. This is where Lugano sits, a town that's named after the glacial lake it sits on. You'll hear Italian spoken and find plenty of delicious Italian dishes here. (iStock//ablokhin (iStock//ablokhin) Monte Generoso, a big draw for hikers, hovers over the town and allows for incredible views of Lugano and its lake. The town of Locarno is also located in the country's Italian region, right on Lake Maggiore. Take the funicular up to the Santuario della Madonna del Sasso, a pilgrimage site that dates back to the 15th century that provides great views of the town along with many works of art. (iStock//EleSi (iStock//EleSi) Read more: This chart is easy to interpret: It says we're screwed How Uber became the world's most valuable startup These 4 things could trigger the next crisis in Europe Read the original article on Business Insider UK. 2016. Follow Business Insider UK on Twitter. That a further 90 migrants are feared to have drowned while attempting to cross the Mediterranean from Libya is a reminder that the great movement of humanity across and into Europe is far from over. The measures that have been put in place to deal with the flow are not working, which is why so many end up in the camps of Calais and around other Channel ports. The underlying reasons why they have been fleeing their homeland, and are still seeking a better life in the West remain. Last year some 3,000 lost their lives in the Med; the signs are that the number will rise in 2018. Indeed, there is some evidence that while migrant numbers are down from their peak during the Syrian civil war, the death rate has been increasing, as the people traffickers have even less of a financial incentive to ensure their safe crossing. So the position is, in effect, as appalling as ever. Though the numbers move around, scores of people innocent refugees and economic migrants, including children are dying every week. Details of the latest loss of life are unconfirmed, and there will never be a definitive figure for the total loss of life in this incident, as has been the case so often before. In this case it would seem, according to the only three known survivors, that most of those who drowned were Pakistani nationals, and some Libyans, an unusual feature as Libya is very much a transit point for those who have made much longer journeys across the Sahara and from the Middle East and Asia. Branded inhumane by the UN, an EU initiative to assist the Libyan coastguard intercept and return migrants has clearly not been working, even on its own terms. Why European leaders ever supposed that refugees dumped back on the Libyan coast would somehow have the will, let alone the funds, to travel back to their places of origin, is open to debate. They should also know that in many cases war, natural disaster, persecution or extreme economic hardship make return a practical impossibility in any case. The point is obvious here. Those who choose to make this journey are desperate. Many will realise all too well the risks involved, the ulterior base motives of the traffickers, the hostility of host countries, and the expense of bribing officials. They are not, on the whole, duped by the people smugglers, but understand simply that they have no choice. Introducing a more brutal regime in the Mediterranean would make little difference to these sorts of life-and-death calculations for many economic migrants and refugees. There are no penalties that can be practically applied to them; and simply returning them to Libya or other transit places for another attempt is futile just as we have discovered with the various walls and fences erected around Calais. UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 8 September 2021 Workers cross London Bridge during the morning rush hour in London Reuters UK news in pictures Mixing it up: Painting it up press view in London A gallery employee poses for photographers next to a painting entitled Prairie by British artist, Louise Giovanelli during the exhibition 'Mixing it up: Painting it up' at the Hayward Gallery in London EPA UK news in pictures 6 September 2021 Traders in the Ring at the London Metal Exchange, in the City of London, after open-outcry trading returned for the first time since March 2020, when the Ring was temporarily closed due to the pandemic PA UK news in pictures 5 September 2021 People enjoy the warm weather on Sandbanks beach, Poole PA UK news in pictures 4 September 2021 Demonstrators from Animal Rebellion and Nature Rebellion protest in Trafalgar Square in London. 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PA UK news in pictures 1 September 2021 Goldfinches fighting over food in a garden in Strensham, Worcestershire PA UK news in pictures 31 August 2021 Gold Medallist Sarah Storey of Britain celebrates on the podium Reuters UK news in pictures 30 August 2021 Extinction Rebellion protesters hold a a tea party on Tower Bridge in London EPA UK news in pictures 29 August 2021 A police office tussles with a demonstrator on Cromwell Road outside the Natural History Museum during a protest by members of Extinction Rebellion in London PA UK news in pictures 28 August 2021 Members of the British armed forces 16 Air Assault Brigade walk to the air terminal after disembarking a Royal Airforce Voyager aircraft at Brize Norton, Oxfordshire POOL/AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 27 August 2021 Fabio Quartararo crashes during a MotoGP practice session at the British Grand Prix, Silverstone Circuit Action Images via Reuters UK news in pictures 26 August 2021 An Extinction Rebellion activist holds a placard in a fountain surrounded by police officers, during a protest next to Buckingham Palace in London Reuters UK news in pictures 25 August 2021 Gold Medallist Great Britains cyclist, Sarah Storey, celebrates after winning the Womens C5 3000m Individual Pursuit Final at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games. It was her 15th Paralympic gold Reuters UK news in pictures 24 August 2021 A demonstrator dressed as bee during a protest by members of Extinction Rebellion on Whitehall, in central London PA UK news in pictures 23 August 2021 Former interpreters for the British forces in Afghanistan demonstrate outside the Home Office in central London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 22 August 2021 Police officers form a line in front of the entrance to the Guildhall, London, where protesters have climbed onto a ledge above the entrance during an Extinction Rebellion stage a protest PA UK news in pictures 21 August 2021 People take part in a demonstration in solidarity with people of Afghanistan, in London Reuters UK news in pictures 20 August 2021 People zip wire across the sea from Bournemouth pier towards the beach. PA UK news in pictures 19 August 2021 Supporters of Geronimo the alpaca gather outside Shepherds Close Farm in Wooton Under Edge, Gloucestershire PA UK news in pictures 18 August 2021 Former Afghan interpreters and veterans hold a demonstration outside Downing Street, calling for support and protection for Afghan interpreters and their families PA UK news in pictures 17 August 2021 Military personnel board the RAF Airbus A400M at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire, where evacuation flights from Afghanistan have been landing Reuters UK news in pictures 16 August 2021 Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer takes part in a minute's silence at Wolverhampton police station for the victims of the Plymouth mass shooting last week PA UK news in pictures 15 August 2021 2Storm, a ten-metre tall puppet of a mythical goddess of the sea created by Edinburgh-based visual theatre company Vision Mechanics, makes its way alongside the seafront at North Berwick, East Lothian, during a performance at the Fringe By The Sea festival PA UK news in pictures 14 August 2021 A woman and two young girls look at floral tributes in Plymouth where six people, including the offender, died of gunshot wounds in a firearms incident PA UK news in pictures 13 August 2021 Forensic officers in the Keyham area of Plymouth where six people, including the shooter, died of gunshot wounds in a firearms incident on Thursday evening PA UK news in pictures 12 August 2021 Children ride horses in the River Eden in Appleby, Cumbria, during the annual gathering of travellers for the Appleby Horse Fair PA UK news in pictures 11 August 2021 Stella Moris (left) reacts after talking to the media outside the High Court in London, following the first hearing in the Julian Assange extradition appeal, n London, following the first hearing in the Julian Assange extradition appeal. The US government has won the latest round in its High Court bid to appeal against the decision not to extradite Julian Assange on espionage charges PA UK news in pictures 10 August 2021 Students react after they receive their A-Level results at the Ark Academy, in London Reuters UK news in pictures 9 August 2021 The final athletes from Great Britain arrive home including Jason Kenny, Laura Kenny and Katie Archibald (front left-right) at Heathrow Airport, London following the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games PA UK news in pictures 8 August 2021 Great Britain's Laura Kenny during the closing ceremony of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at the Olympic stadium in Japan PA UK news in pictures 7 August 2021 People from the Glasgow Southside community take part in the Govanhill Carnival, an anti-racist celebration of pride, unity and the contributions immigrants have made to the community in Govanhill, at Queen's Park, Glasgow PA UK news in pictures 6 August 2021 Chijindu Ujah of Britain, Zharnel Hughes of Britain, Richard Kilty of Britain and Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake of Britain celebrate winning silver as they pose with Asha Philip of Britain, Imani Lansiquot of Britain, Dina Asher-Smith of Britain and Daryll Neita of Britain after they won bronze in the women's 4 x 100m relay during Olympic Games Day 14 Getty UK news in pictures 5 August 2021 A protester places flowers on a photograph of an executed man during a demonstration organised by supporters of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) to protest against the inauguration of Iran's new president Ebrahim Raisi in central London AFP via Getty UK news in pictures 4 August 2021 England's Joe Root looks on as India's KL Rahul doesn't make it to a catch during day one of Cinch First Test match at Trent Bridge, Nottingham PA UK news in pictures 3 August 2021 Great Britain's Laura Kenny and Jason Kenny with their silver medals for the Women's Team Pursuit and Mens Team Sprint during the Track Cycling at the Izu Velodrome on the eleventh day of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in Japan PA UK news in pictures 2 August 2021 Great Britains Charlotte Worthington competes during the Womens BMX Freestyle Final at the Tokyo Olympics PA UK news in pictures 1 August 2021 EPA UK news in pictures 31 July 2021 James Guy, Adam Peaty and Kathleen Dawson celebrate winning the gold medal in the mixed 4x100m medley relay final at the Tokyo Olympics AP UK news in pictures 30 July 2021 Great Britain's Bethany Shriever and Kye Whyte celebrate their Gold and Silver medals respectively for the Cycling BMX Racing at the Ariake Urban Sports Park on the seventh day of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in Japan PA UK news in pictures 29 July 2021 Team GB's Mallory Franklin during the Womens Canoe Slalom Final on day six of the Tokyo Olympic Games. She went on to win the silver medal Getty UK news in pictures 28 July 2021 Canoers on Llyn Padarn lake in Snowdonia, Gwynedd. It was announced that the north-west Wales slate landscape has been granted UNESCO World Heritage Status PA UK news in pictures 27 July 2021 A view of one of two areas now being used at a warehouse facility in Dover, Kent, for boats used by people thought to be migrants. PA UK news in pictures 26 July 2021 A woman is helped by Border Force officers as a group of people thought to be migrants are brought in to Dover, Kent, onboard a Border Force vessel, following a small boat incident in the Channel PA UK news in pictures 25 July 2021 Vehicles drive through deep water on a flooded road in Nine Elms, London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 24 July 2021 Utilities workers inspect a 15x20ft sinkhole on Green Lane, Liverpool, which is suspected to have been caused by ruptured water main PA UK news in pictures 23 July 2021 Children interact with Mega Please Draw Freely by artist Ei Arakawa inside the Turbine Hall at the Tate Modern in London, part of UNIQLO Tate Play the gallery's new free programme of art-inspired activities for families PA UK news in pictures 22 July 2021 Festivalgoers in the campsite at the Latitude festival in Henham Park, Southwold, Suffolk PA UK news in pictures 21 July 2021 A man walks past an artwork by Will Blood on the end of a property in Bedminster, Bristol, as the 75 murals project reaches the halfway point and various graffiti pieces are sprayed onto walls and buildings across the city over the Summer PA The Wests response needs to move much closer to the source of these mass movements of people. The British Government, for example, is right to want to direct aid towards hugely overcrowded refugee settlements in places such as Lebanon, Jordan and Bangladesh. The West also needs to bring ever more pressure to bear on regimes that have created needless refugee crises those ruling Myanmar and Syria are the most obvious examples today. Some governments need much more help in combating the terror that has driven citizens out of homes they have no wish to leave, such as Boko Haram in Nigeria and Mali. The lesson in all of these cases is clear. Diplomatic and political efforts, humanitarian relief, development aid and military effort, according to the circumstances of each blighted nation, will help stem the flow of people that is so difficult to control and which so many in Europe find alarming and which can sometimes lead to extreme rightist reaction and violence, as the Darren Osborne cases shows. The danger now is that people in the West lose their sense of shock and shame about such events as the deaths of 90 innocent men, women and children. The horror of the drownings has begun to be blunted by familiarity. The Independent led the world in the reporting on the death of the toddler Alan Kurdi in 2015 and it spurred a global response. The uncomfortable feeling is that it might not do the same today. It is a fact of life that the public has become inured to such events, because they keep happening, after all. That there may be an increasing number of Libyans joining the various other nationalities on rickety vessels is an important and worrying development; but it only underlines the fundamental failures of the West to deal with such a crisis in so many broken countries where earlier intervention has not worked. In the end of the migrant crisis is a simple matter of defending human rights and saving lives, and the EU, in the Mediterranean, has been found wanting. This week, students at Trinity College Dublin are surprised to find ourselves suddenly neck-deep in the no-platforming debate that has dominated UK media in recent years, owing to the fact that Nigel Farage has been invited to speak here on Friday. No-platforming is the policy of denying public platforms to those who spread harmful sentiment against vulnerable groups. While Trinity has had minor skirmishes with no-platforming in recent years, we are now facing perhaps the most direct challenge to our values thus far. Will we allow British xenophobes like Farage and Katie Hopkins to outsource their speaking gigs to Ireland? Maybe they view us as a soft touch compared to the now seasoned no-platforming campaigners in the UK if so, theyre in for a shock. The Trinity student body is firmly left-wing, as evinced by our pro-choice, pro-LGBT, pro-refugee student union mandates. We are no strangers to fighting the far right we recently won the marriage equality war against a vicious conservative contingent, and are currently locked in a ferocious battle for abortion rights. Farage was originally to be awarded a Gold Medal by the College Historical Society, honouring his contribution to public discourse. The backlash against this was so great that this was downgraded to a speaking gig. An open letter of opposition to this has already been written up by Trinity students. Many of us at Trinity believe Farages invitation should be rescinded, and we wholeheartedly endorse a no-platforming policy. No-platforming is not censorship, and to claim it is an attack on freedom of speech is an insult to that foundational principle of democracy. Nigel Farage: Donald Trump cancelled UK visit over public protests led by Jeremy Corbyn and Sadiq Khan Freedom of speech is vital not because racists deserve microphones and cameras on them at all times, but because democracy needs to remain pluralist and open to scrutiny. This freedom is not compromised when privileged public figures like Farage miss out on medals. Its compromised in countries like the Gambia, where former president Jammeh imprisoned, tortured and murdered his political opponents for 22 years. To appropriate the deadly seriousness of freedom of speech violations in order to whine about not being able to spout racist ideology to a large enough crowd is an insult to the Al-Jazeera journalists locked up in Egyptian prisons without trial. Nobody has an automatic right to a university speaking engagement. These platforms are reserved for experts and outstanding contributors to various fields. As far as we are concerned, Farages only achievements have been to incite racial tensions, to fail to win successive elections, and to lie to the UK public about Brexit. The fact that he was on the cusp of receiving a medal for public discourse is risible. In 2017, Trinity reported that 10 per cent of our students come from ethnic minority backgrounds, and so Farages rhetoric could have direct consequences for our peers. The flames of violence are fanned when anti-minority rhetoric is endorsed by respected institutions. When Donald Trump was elected, transphobic attacks shot up in the US evidence that when hateful people feel like theyre not alone, they are more likely to act on that hate. It is said that when we no-platform, we shut down debate. I certainly hope so. To enter a debate is to implicitly concede the possibility that the other person might be correct; that you might leave the debate having changed your mind. I hope I would never allow myself to consider being persuaded of Farage's objectionable views. UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 3 September 2021 South Africa's Ntando Mahlangu (centre) wins the Men's 200 metres T61 Final ahead of second placed Great Britain's Richard Whitehead at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games PA UK news in pictures 2 September 2021 A young common seal on the beach at Horsey Gap in Norfolk, as hundreds of pregnant grey seals come ashore ready for the start of the pupping season. PA UK news in pictures 1 September 2021 Goldfinches fighting over food in a garden in Strensham, Worcestershire PA UK news in pictures 31 August 2021 Gold Medallist Sarah Storey of Britain celebrates on the podium Reuters UK news in pictures 30 August 2021 Extinction Rebellion protesters hold a a tea party on Tower Bridge in London EPA UK news in pictures 29 August 2021 A police office tussles with a demonstrator on Cromwell Road outside the Natural History Museum during a protest by members of Extinction Rebellion in London PA UK news in pictures 28 August 2021 Members of the British armed forces 16 Air Assault Brigade walk to the air terminal after disembarking a Royal Airforce Voyager aircraft at Brize Norton, Oxfordshire POOL/AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 27 August 2021 Fabio Quartararo crashes during a MotoGP practice session at the British Grand Prix, Silverstone Circuit Action Images via Reuters UK news in pictures 26 August 2021 An Extinction Rebellion activist holds a placard in a fountain surrounded by police officers, during a protest next to Buckingham Palace in London Reuters UK news in pictures 25 August 2021 Gold Medallist Great Britains cyclist, Sarah Storey, celebrates after winning the Womens C5 3000m Individual Pursuit Final at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games. It was her 15th Paralympic gold Reuters UK news in pictures 24 August 2021 A demonstrator dressed as bee during a protest by members of Extinction Rebellion on Whitehall, in central London PA UK news in pictures 23 August 2021 Former interpreters for the British forces in Afghanistan demonstrate outside the Home Office in central London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 22 August 2021 Police officers form a line in front of the entrance to the Guildhall, London, where protesters have climbed onto a ledge above the entrance during an Extinction Rebellion stage a protest PA UK news in pictures 21 August 2021 People take part in a demonstration in solidarity with people of Afghanistan, in London Reuters UK news in pictures 20 August 2021 People zip wire across the sea from Bournemouth pier towards the beach. PA UK news in pictures 19 August 2021 Supporters of Geronimo the alpaca gather outside Shepherds Close Farm in Wooton Under Edge, Gloucestershire PA UK news in pictures 18 August 2021 Former Afghan interpreters and veterans hold a demonstration outside Downing Street, calling for support and protection for Afghan interpreters and their families PA UK news in pictures 17 August 2021 Military personnel board the RAF Airbus A400M at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire, where evacuation flights from Afghanistan have been landing Reuters UK news in pictures 16 August 2021 Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer takes part in a minute's silence at Wolverhampton police station for the victims of the Plymouth mass shooting last week PA UK news in pictures 15 August 2021 2Storm, a ten-metre tall puppet of a mythical goddess of the sea created by Edinburgh-based visual theatre company Vision Mechanics, makes its way alongside the seafront at North Berwick, East Lothian, during a performance at the Fringe By The Sea festival PA UK news in pictures 14 August 2021 A woman and two young girls look at floral tributes in Plymouth where six people, including the offender, died of gunshot wounds in a firearms incident PA UK news in pictures 13 August 2021 Forensic officers in the Keyham area of Plymouth where six people, including the shooter, died of gunshot wounds in a firearms incident on Thursday evening PA UK news in pictures 12 August 2021 Children ride horses in the River Eden in Appleby, Cumbria, during the annual gathering of travellers for the Appleby Horse Fair PA UK news in pictures 11 August 2021 Stella Moris (left) reacts after talking to the media outside the High Court in London, following the first hearing in the Julian Assange extradition appeal, n London, following the first hearing in the Julian Assange extradition appeal. The US government has won the latest round in its High Court bid to appeal against the decision not to extradite Julian Assange on espionage charges PA UK news in pictures 10 August 2021 Students react after they receive their A-Level results at the Ark Academy, in London Reuters UK news in pictures 9 August 2021 The final athletes from Great Britain arrive home including Jason Kenny, Laura Kenny and Katie Archibald (front left-right) at Heathrow Airport, London following the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games PA UK news in pictures 8 August 2021 Great Britain's Laura Kenny during the closing ceremony of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at the Olympic stadium in Japan PA UK news in pictures 7 August 2021 People from the Glasgow Southside community take part in the Govanhill Carnival, an anti-racist celebration of pride, unity and the contributions immigrants have made to the community in Govanhill, at Queen's Park, Glasgow PA UK news in pictures 6 August 2021 Chijindu Ujah of Britain, Zharnel Hughes of Britain, Richard Kilty of Britain and Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake of Britain celebrate winning silver as they pose with Asha Philip of Britain, Imani Lansiquot of Britain, Dina Asher-Smith of Britain and Daryll Neita of Britain after they won bronze in the women's 4 x 100m relay during Olympic Games Day 14 Getty UK news in pictures 5 August 2021 A protester places flowers on a photograph of an executed man during a demonstration organised by supporters of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) to protest against the inauguration of Iran's new president Ebrahim Raisi in central London AFP via Getty UK news in pictures 4 August 2021 England's Joe Root looks on as India's KL Rahul doesn't make it to a catch during day one of Cinch First Test match at Trent Bridge, Nottingham PA UK news in pictures 3 August 2021 Great Britain's Laura Kenny and Jason Kenny with their silver medals for the Women's Team Pursuit and Mens Team Sprint during the Track Cycling at the Izu Velodrome on the eleventh day of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in Japan PA UK news in pictures 2 August 2021 Great Britains Charlotte Worthington competes during the Womens BMX Freestyle Final at the Tokyo Olympics PA UK news in pictures 1 August 2021 EPA UK news in pictures 31 July 2021 James Guy, Adam Peaty and Kathleen Dawson celebrate winning the gold medal in the mixed 4x100m medley relay final at the Tokyo Olympics AP UK news in pictures 30 July 2021 Great Britain's Bethany Shriever and Kye Whyte celebrate their Gold and Silver medals respectively for the Cycling BMX Racing at the Ariake Urban Sports Park on the seventh day of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in Japan PA UK news in pictures 29 July 2021 Team GB's Mallory Franklin during the Womens Canoe Slalom Final on day six of the Tokyo Olympic Games. She went on to win the silver medal Getty UK news in pictures 28 July 2021 Canoers on Llyn Padarn lake in Snowdonia, Gwynedd. It was announced that the north-west Wales slate landscape has been granted UNESCO World Heritage Status PA UK news in pictures 27 July 2021 A view of one of two areas now being used at a warehouse facility in Dover, Kent, for boats used by people thought to be migrants. PA UK news in pictures 26 July 2021 A woman is helped by Border Force officers as a group of people thought to be migrants are brought in to Dover, Kent, onboard a Border Force vessel, following a small boat incident in the Channel PA UK news in pictures 25 July 2021 Vehicles drive through deep water on a flooded road in Nine Elms, London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 24 July 2021 Utilities workers inspect a 15x20ft sinkhole on Green Lane, Liverpool, which is suspected to have been caused by ruptured water main PA UK news in pictures 23 July 2021 Children interact with Mega Please Draw Freely by artist Ei Arakawa inside the Turbine Hall at the Tate Modern in London, part of UNIQLO Tate Play the gallery's new free programme of art-inspired activities for families PA UK news in pictures 22 July 2021 Festivalgoers in the campsite at the Latitude festival in Henham Park, Southwold, Suffolk PA UK news in pictures 21 July 2021 A man walks past an artwork by Will Blood on the end of a property in Bedminster, Bristol, as the 75 murals project reaches the halfway point and various graffiti pieces are sprayed onto walls and buildings across the city over the Summer PA UK news in pictures 20 July 2021 People during morning prayer during Eid ul-Adha, or Festival of Sacrifice, in Southall Park, Uxbridge, London PA UK news in pictures 19 July 2021 Commuters, some not wearing facemasks, at Westminster Underground station, at 08:38 in London after the final legal Coronavirus restrictions were lifted in England PA UK news in pictures 18 July 2021 A view of spectators by the 2nd green during day four of The Open at The Royal St George's Golf Club in Sandwich, Kent PA UK news in pictures 17 July 2021 Cyclists ride over the Hammersmith Bridge in London. The bridge was closed last year after cracks in it worsened during a heatwave Getty UK news in pictures 16 July 2021 The sun rises behind the Sefton Park Palm House, in Sefton Park, Liverpool PA I am, despite my best intentions, intimately acquainted with Farages views. We live in a media-saturated world, and every student who is protesting against Farages appearance does so with full knowledge of what they oppose. We have debated it. We have all engaged with and wholeheartedly rejected Farages xenophobia. To say we are limiting our understanding of his ideas by not hearing the same bile spewed from a well-lit podium is frankly patronising. Though Farage may view his appearance at our university as a conquered frontier, he should realise he will not export his diatribe to Irish shores so easily. As far as most Trinity students are concerned, Farage should have been no-platformed. He is not welcome here. Special counsel Robert Mueller is the ultimate target in the release of a doctored version of a classified House Intelligence Committee memo by the White House. And the dossier produced by former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele is very much in the centre of this attempt to scupper the investigation into Donald Trumps Russian connections. As the inquiry into whether Donald Trump was the Muscovite Candidate in the US presidential election continues to make progress, with Muellers team starting to look at murky business affairs as well as other Kremlin links, the Presidents supporters are increasingly desperate in their efforts to halt it in its tracks. The narrative being put forward in the three and half page memo, compiled by Republicans in the House Committee, is that a group of politically motivated Justice Department and FBI officials started a campaign to sabotage the Trump presidency. That they used the material in former MI6 spy Steeles report to obtain a wiretap order against Carter Page, a Trump campaign official with links to powerful figures in Moscow. And that in doing so they failed to disclose to the judge issuing the order that Steeles research has been part-funded by the Democrats. It should be pointed out that the Democrats in the House Committee have accused the Republicans, led by chairman Devin Nunes, of altering the content of the memo the Committee had agreed on. The Republicans admit doing so, but claim that the changes made were minor. The FBI, however, complained strongly that there are material omissions of fact that fundamentally impact on the memos accuracy. The Republican-dominated committee voted down a Democrat proposal that their rebuttal, pointing out the inaccuracies of the Republican memo, should also be made public. Michael Wolff: Trump presidency will end if Russia investigation touches on his finances To put this in context, what became the Steele report was, in fact, originally commissioned by Republican opponents of Trump during the race for the party nomination. They hired the Washington-based firm Fusion GPS, which in turn brought in Steele because of his knowledge of Russia acquired while working for British intelligence. The Republican clients had no more need for the information after Trump won the candidacy and the Democrats briefly took over the commission. They too stopped after Trumps election victory, at which point Steele continued working without pay for a while so worried was he by what was being discovered. The FBI had been receiving material from Steeles research for a while: FBI Director James Comey subsequently fired by Trump was handed the report by the Republican Senator John McCain, who had obtained it from London. The Justice Department has pointed out that the Steele report was not the only material presented to the judge to obtain the FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act) order. And that it is also the case that the allegations made in the report have been independently verified by US intelligence. The Department said in a statement: The FBI takes seriously its obligations to the FISA Court and its compliance with procedures overseen by career professionals in the Department of Justice and the FBI. We are committed to working with the appropriate oversight entities to ensure the continuing integrity of the FISA process. The White House wants to release the Republican memo as it will undoubtedly aid Trumps tale of being a victim of a mythical Deep State. Nunes, whom his hometown newspaper in California has called Trumps stooge, had refused to answer whether his staff had colluded with the White House on this. When questioned, White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said she could not rule out the possibility of collusion, saying: I just dont know the answer. This has been the latest, and the most high-profile, of Nunes attempts to save Trump. He has had to temporarily step down in the past as the chairman of the House Committee after being exposed over secret contacts with the White House over the Houses Russia inquiry. And this is not the first time he had tried to use Christopher Steele to undermine the three investigations into the matter. In August last year, two staffers from the House Intelligence Committee suddenly turned up at the London office of Steeles company, Orbis. Not finding him there, they went to the office of his lawyer and demanded to see him. The timing of the visit was of importance. Mueller and the Senate Intelligence Committee, carrying out separate Russia investigations, were making progress in their attempts to speak to the former MI6 officer. The two men had been sent by Republican members of the House Committee with the aim, it was suspected, of intimidating Steele. If the ultimate goal of the memo is to shut down the Mueller investigation, the immediate target is Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, the only official who can sack Mueller and then only if he can prove that the special counsel has been guilty of misconduct. Rosenstein has resisted pressure from Trump and his supporters to turn against Mueller, incurring their wrath. Trump has repeatedly railed against Rosenstein. Even last July he was annoyed that Rosenstein is from Baltimore: there are very few Republicans from Baltimore, if any, he is a Democrat. Rosenstein, it has been pointed out, is neither from Baltimore nor a Democrat. But Trump saw him as threat and, as the Mueller investigation grew in scope and success, it became increasingly imperative, it seems, to get rid of him. Rosenstein has been repeatedly attacked by Trumps fellow travellers. Now they are implicating the Deputy Attorney General in the Carter Page FISA because, they say, he agreed to a FBI request to renew the Page surveillance. Fox News host Sean Hannity, who often acts as Trumps mouthpiece, declared that the Nunes memo showed beyond any shadow of a doubt that the special counsel, Robert Mueller, and his band of Democratic witch hunters never should have been appointed and they need to be disbanded immediately Did Rosenstein sign off on extension of this FISA warrant? Im very interested about Rod Rosenstein in all of this. Rosenstein, declared Hannity, should be fired. Trump is said to have claimed that what comes out in the memo will give him the ammunition to fire Rosenstein. This, of course, would allow installing a replacement who may be more amenable to obey orders and, when the time comes, either hamstring Mueller or find a reason to fire him. The Mueller investigation has made good progress. Two senior members of the Trump team, former campaign manager Paul Manafort and former national security advisor Lieutenant General Michael Flynn, have been arrested and charged along with one who was more junior, George Papadopoulos, who is regarded as an important link in the alleged conspiracy. The activities of Trumps son, Donald Trump Jr, and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, are under intense scrutiny from Muellers investigators and a false alibi Trump allegedly had a hand in concocting about a meeting between Trump Jr, Kushner, Manafort and a Russian lawyer, it has been revealed, is now a focus of attention. It is because of this success that Mueller has become so dangerous for Trump and his coterie. And the release of the doctored Nunes memo may well give the President the path he has been seeking to shut down the Special Envoys Russia investigation, saving himself and those close to him. We waited. We were told it was going to be massive. Then it dropped. And, well. One of the most hotly-anticipated political documents of recent years was finally made public and it told us an awful lot, while also telling us very little. One thing it confirmed is that the environment surrounding Special Prosecutor Robert Muellers investigation into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russias alleged meddling in the 2016 election has become utterly politicised; whatever conclusions Mueller now reaches, people are likely to believe what they want to depending on their political persuasion. A second thing it underscored is that Donald Trump and the Republicans will go to any lengths and twist any situation, to undermine the investigation and distance it from the President. Some important background: the memo was drawn up by members of the House Intelligence Committee chaired by Republican Devin Nunes, a California congressman who had been forced to recuse himself from his committees own Russia probe as House investigators looked into ethics charges. Democrats claim the memo is politically-motivated and aimed at undermining Mueller. As Democrats sought to block its release, a campaign launched by conservative media pushed for it to be made public, something that was embraced by Trump. Trumps own Department of Justice said releasing it would be reckless. The FBI said it had grave concerns about material omissions of fact that fundamentally impact the memos accuracy. What then, are we left with in this highly political document of questionable accuracy? Donald Trump says Nunes memo is declassified and Congress will "do whatever" with it Much of it is taken up with what the committee says are abuses by the DoJ and FBI under the Obama administration in the way it obtained a special warrant from a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) to monitor a US citizen under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). It says that on October 21 2016, the FBI obtained a warrant to monitor Carter Page, a Trump campaign adviser. The warrant was renewed three times. Part of the information put before the court was provided by former British spy Christopher Steele, who had gathered opposition research on Trump as a sub-contractor for Fusion GPS, a Washington firm that was first paid by a wealthy Republican donor and later by Hillary Clintons campaign. The memo says at no point was Steeles involvement mentioned, or that he had been paid in part by the Clinton campaign. This may well be true. Yet, a major challenge in assessing the veracity of the memo is that we have been prevented - by the Republicans - of seeing the attendant document produced by Democrats on the committee that sought to answer the Republicans points. 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 Several other things are important. Firstly, because of these omissions, we dont know what other information may have been put before the FISA court, and the memo acknowledges the Steele information was only part of it. The Washington Post wrote last year: The governments application for the surveillance order targeting Page included a lengthy declaration that laid out investigators basis for believing that Page was an agent of the Russian government. The New York Times said that to issue a warrant, a judge must agree that there is reason to believe the target was knowingly engaging in clandestine intelligence activities for a foreign power that violate American criminal laws. It is also crucial to bear in mind FBI has already revealed it launched its Russia probe after being tipped off by an Australian diplomat about possible Russian links to another Trump campaign adviser, George Papadopoulos. That dated to May 2016 - five months before it sought the warrant for Page. (The memo even admits it was concerns about Papadopoulos that triggered the FBI probe.) Page has been questioned several times by Muellers team. Last year, he told The Independent he was guilty of no crimes and had nothing to fear. On Friday, Page said the memo was evidence of brave and assiduous overnight by congress. He is suing the DoJ. Amid all the acronyms and the cast of frequently forgettable characters, what is the American public to make of all this? Can it trust the FBI, can it trust the DOJ, can it trust Mueller? The right wing media has already decided it can not. Disgrace, yelled the main headline on the Drudge Report, beneath an FBI logo. FBI Knew Dossier Funded by Clinton/DNC, Relied on It Anyway, said Breitbart News. Fox News went with: Bombshell doc says blabbing British spys dossier paid for by Clinton, key to Trump snooping warrant. In recent weeks, it has become clear that Mueller wants to speak with Trump. It has also been reported that for all his swagger, Trumps lawyers are worried about such a scenario. They are concerned about the Presidents ability to stick to a legally-agreed script and not to say something incriminating. What we saw today was the latest attempt by the Republicans and Donald Trump to throw mud on the process, even before it has been concluded. And if the most important priority is getting to the bottom of whether or not Moscow interfered in the 2016 election - and if so, how to stop it doing so in the future - then what we saw today helped nobody. Except, perhaps, the Russians. For full functionality of this site it is necessary to enable JavaScript. Here are the instructions how to enable JavaScript in your web browser Monday evening, Stephen Clay got what he has wanted for years and he did it by selling his soul and aligning with City-County Council Republicans to oust former president and fellow Democrat Maggie Lewis. Clay was so desperate in his approach to the presidency that his deal with Republicans will reduce the strength of the Democratic majority, which was elected with a mandate of the people. This is highly likely to negatively impact key initiatives and could hurt Indianapolis most vulnerable and underserved communities, including the very east-side district that elected Clay. I am rarely surprised at anything relative to politics these days, but the depths that Clay went to assume the top seat in the Council is shameful and his tactics have been sexist, immoral and just outright distasteful. There are two sides to Clay: There is Pastor Clay who preaches the word of God before his congregation on the east side of Indianapolis, and there is an uglier, sneaky side of Clay who doesnt like to admit wrongdoings, who uses disparaging language and who is incredibly argumentative, oftentimes for no reason. I have experienced both sides of Clay. Many years ago, I was a member of his congregation, but I left because I didnt agree with some things that occurred within the church. Even though I was much younger, I am grateful I had the strength (it was hard because he was a captivating preacher) and foresight to know that I didnt want to be associated with such an entity. I came to know the other side of Clay about 10 years ago when he and I butted heads over aspects of the professional relationship between the Recorder and Messiah Missionary Baptist Church. Clay and I moved beyond our professional spat and maintained a respectable acquaintance with one another. However, I again experienced that dark side of Clay after the editorial I wrote two weeks ago about his plan to oppose Lewis on the Council. Clay didnt like my column, so he called me (and Lewis) names in conversations with others whom he probably assumed were his confidants and would keep it quiet. And rather than respond to Recorder questions regarding the claims made by Jonathan Bryant and documented in 2004 by the Indiana Department of Child Services, Clay instead chose to submit a letter to the Recorder suggesting I was one of Maggies minions. In addition, he and members of a local ministers alliance refused to allow Recorder photographers to photograph their annual Emancipation Service, an event that we have reported on and photographed nearly every year it has been in existence. Clay apparently has a problem with strong women, which is why Lewis and I have felt his wrath as of late she far more than me. When a strong woman doesnt defer to Clay, when she expresses an opinion he doesnt like or when she calls him out or puts him in his place, he pounces on her and she obtains a spot on his list of dont likes. Isnt it interesting how Clay blames Lewis for resurfacing the Bryant allegations when, in fact, Abdul-Hakim Shabazz, who is a known Republican, had the exclusive on the story and spoke with Bryant before the Recorder or any other media outlet ever did? As a matter of fact, Shabazz has been following the Bryant story for several years. On his indianabarrister.com website, there is a post from June 24, 2011, that addresses the allegations and states that Shabazz asked Clay in person if he has ever been the subject of a DCS investigation. Clay didnt respond to the question then, nor did he respond to Shabazzs texts prior to that. However, during Clays media blitz and countless conversations with people in the community these past couple of weeks, he repeatedly blamed Lewis for the story. Never has Clay referenced Shabazz. I suspect he hasnt for a few reasons: He thought blaming Lewis could benefit him politically. He pulled from Donald Trumps deck of cards and tried to deflect from the actual sexual misconduct story by claiming fake news and pitching a different story altogether. Shabazz is a Republican. Clay won the Council presidency because he sold out to Republicans. The last thing he could do especially before the big vote was attack or criticize a member of that party. Republican leader Michael McQuillen said, What will happen is, Indianapolis will now see a bipartisan committee structure in which both Republicans and Democrats will chair the committees of the (Council). McQuillen also stated there have never been bipartisan committees in the 10 years he has been on the Council and he doesnt believe committee leadership has ever been bipartisan. What has happened is something that has never been done in the history of the Indianapolis City-County Council and for good reason: It hurts the agenda of the party that is in control, the party that has a majority and mandate from the people. Clay hasnt directly admitted that, only saying, Were offering them the opportunity to discuss what a reorganized Council would look like. Shame on Clay for selling out and compromising the progress and people of his district. He is now in bed with Republicans and will be heavily influenced by them. Now that Clay has the position he has craved, we will see how he uses it. Time will tell whether he will use his presidency to heal a divided council, listen to all members of the Democratic caucus and make changes that will move this city forward. Unless Clay leads in a productive and unifying manner, his criticism of Lewis leadership will be hypocritical. My column a couple of weeks ago was far more docile than this one, yet Clay resorted to calling me names, refused to answer Recorder questions and prevented my staff from photographing an event he was part of. I can only imagine how he will respond to my remarks this week. After Mondays vote, some folks asked me if I was afraid that Clay would try to further target me or the Recorder with his newfound power. My responses were clear and direct: I am not afraid of or intimidated by Clay. I never have been, and the Recorder and I will continue to do our jobs as journalists and as community watchdogs. That means we will report on the City-County Council as we have in the past (we have information on Clays win in this weeks issue and a picture of him). We will not compromise our journalistic integrity nor the legacy of this historic newspaper. If Clay or any of his associates try to treat me, any of my staff or the Recorder unfairly or attempt to sabotage us in any way, I have no qualms about addressing him directly and informing the community of any iniquitous efforts on the part of him or others. Since Clay has now received the gavel he has wanted for so long, my suggestion to him would be to fill the stilettoes Lewis left as president and behave with a modicum of respect, fairness and decorum. Dr. Ravindra Nanda, a retired orthodontics professor at the University of Connecticut, allegedly subjected Muslim and Arab resident doctors at the school to disparaging remarks about their nationalities and retaliated against them, according to a school investigation. The Indian American professor denied all the allegations; his lawyer said he appealed the reports findings and the process ended with a confidential resolution. (LinkedIn photo) Lizette Cauich (above) is accused of murdering Mitzi Campbell and brutally stabbing parking lot attendant Amar Dahmi, believed to be of Indian origin, in incidents that began over the use of portable toilets. (San Francisco Police Department photo) Rajasthan Congress unit president Sachin Pilot celebrates after the party raced ahead of the BJP in the Lok Sabha Ajmer and Alwar constituencies, and the Mandalgarh Assembly seat in the Rajasthan by-elections, in Jaipur Feb. 1. (Ravishankar Vyas/IANS photo) A soldier cleans the name plate of the controversial Bofors gun, which was the subject of an arms deal investigation. Citing new facts, the Central Bureau of Investigation has moved the Supreme Court against the 2005 case verdict. (Deshakalyan Chowdhury/AFP/Getty Images) We now offer lithium prices and coverage free for reference. Click here to read all about it. Join our growing community of participants who want to learn more about electrification and how this market is developing. The Second Dossier By Paul Craig Roberts February 01, 2018 " Information Clearing House " - The purpose of the Second Dossier is to prevent the first one from being delegitimized by the release of the summary report of the House Intelligence Committees investigation, which found that Russiagate is a conspiracy against President Trump and American democracy by the FBI, Obama Justice (sic) Department, Hillary-controlled Democratic National Committee, and the presstitute media. As I wrote would be the case, by announcing their possession of the evidence but not releasing the evidence, the Republicans gave their formidable opponents plenty of time to discredit the evidence in advance of its release. The Republicans should have released the report simultaneously with the announcement and President Trump should simultaneously have had the conspirators arrested, indicted, and placed on trial. The presstitutes can easily shout down the House Intelligence Committee and be backed up by the Democrats on the committee. The presstitutes can portray what they call the Nunes memo in any fashion they wish. The FBI, DOJ, and CIA and various Clinton operatives can have their media whores publish endless denunciations of the evidence. Indeed, the presstitutes already are, as I have pointed out and as Stephen Lendman points out again here : Never Miss Another Story Get Your FREE Daily Newsletter MSNBC presstitute John Heilemann put into the publics mind that the Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee is a Russian agent. Presstitute Heilemann suggested on TV that we actually have a Russian agent running the House Intel Committee on the Republican side. The presstitute Heilemann went on to say: Im not the first person whos raised this. Hes behaving like someone whos been compromised, and there are people in the intelligence community and others with great expertise in this area who look at him and say, That guys been compromised. https://on.rt.com/8y5y Even the UK newspaper The Guardian, once a voice for the working class but now a PR agent for the police state, publicized the fabricated and unsubstantiated Second Dossier known to have been prepared by a Clinton operative. The print and TV media are utterly corrupt throughout the Western world and are accustomed to successfully defeating truth with lies. By sitting on the evidence while those guilty discredit it, Republicans played into the hands of the Russiagate conspirators. Dr. Paul Craig Roberts was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy and associate editor of the Wall Street Journal. He was columnist for Business Week, Scripps Howard News Service, and Creators Syndicate. He has had many university appointments. His internet columns have attracted a worldwide following. Roberts' latest books are The Failure of Laissez Faire Capitalism and Economic Dissolution of the West , How America Was Lost , and The Neoconservative Threat to World Order . - See Also - White House Declassifies GOP Memo on Russia Probe, Clearing Way for Its Release President rips FBI as biased ahead of memo release FBI expresses 'grave concerns' over Republican memo's accuracy Watch: Rand Paul : A Major Problem In The Russia Investigation, Puts The Whole Scandal Into Question Robert Mueller Requests Postponement of General Mike Flynn Sentencing Marjorie Cohn - Sometimes, White House Staff Have a Legal Duty to Disobey the President Fire and Fury' author DENIES suggesting Nikki Haley is sleeping with Donald Trump Trumps Financial Arsonists The Next Financial Crisis -- Not If, But When By Nomi Prins February 03, 2018 " Information Clearing House " - Theres been lots of fire and fury around Washington lately, including a brief government shutdown. In Donald Trumps White House, you can hardly keep up with the ongoing brouhahas from North Korea to Robert Muellers Russian investigation, while it already feels like ages since the celebratory mood over the vast corporate tax cuts Congress passed last year. But dont be fooled: none of that is as important as whats missing from the picture. Like a disease, in the nations capital its often what you cant see that will, in the end, hurt you most. Amid a roaring stock market and a planet of upbeat CEOs , few are even thinking about the havoc that a multi-trillion-dollar financial system gone rogue could inflict upon global stability. But watch out. Even in the seemingly best of times, neglecting Wall Street is a dangerous idea. With a rag-tag Trumpian crew of ex-bankers and Goldman Sachs alumni as the only watchdogs in town, its time to focus, because one thing is clear: Donald Trumps economic team is in the process of making the financial system combustible again. Collectively, the biggest U.S. banks already have their get-out-out-of-jail-free cards and are now sitting on record profits after, not so long ago, triggering sweeping unemployment, wrecking countless lives, and elevating global instability. (Not a single major bank CEO was given jail time for such acts.) Still, let's not blame the dangers lurking at the heart of the financial system solely on the Trump doctrine of leaving banks alone. They should be shared by the Democrats who, under President Barack Obama, believed, and still believe, in the perfection of the Dodd-Frank Act of 2010 . While Dodd-Frank created important financial safeguards like the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, even stronger long-term banking reforms were left on the sidelines. Crucially, that law didnt force banks to separate the deposits of everyday Americans from Wall Streets complex derivatives transactions. In other words, it didnt resurrect the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933 (axed in the Clinton era). Wall Street is now thoroughly emboldened as the financial elite follows the mantra of Kelly Clarkstons hit song: What doesnt kill you makes you stronger. Since the crisis of 2007-2008, the Big Six U.S. banks -- JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citigroup, Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs, and Morgan Stanley -- have seen the share price of their stocks significantly outpace those of the S&P 500 index as a whole. Jamie Dimon, chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Chase, the nations largest bank (thats paid $13 billion in settlements for various fraudulent acts), recently even pooh-poohed the chances of the Democratic Party in 2020, suggesting that it was about time its leaders let banks do whatever they wanted. As he told Maria Bartiromo, host of Fox Businesss Wall Street Week, The thing about the Democrats is they will not have a chance, in my opinion. They dont have a strong centrist, pro-business, pro-free enterprise person. This is a man who was basically gifted two banks, Bear Stearns and Washington Mutual , by the U.S government during the financial crisis. That present came as his own company got cheap loans from the Federal Reserve, while clamoring for billions in bailout money that he swore it didnt need . Dimon can afford to be brazen. JPMorgan Chase is now the second most profitable company in the country. Why should he be worried about what might happen in another crisis, given that the Trump administration is in charge? With pro-business and pro-bailout thinking reigning supreme, what could go wrong? Protect or Destroy? There are, of course, supposed to be safeguards against freewheeling types like Dimon. In Washington, key regulatory bodies are tasked with keeping too-big-to-fail banks from wrecking the economy and committing financial crimes against the public. They include the Federal Reserve, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Treasury Department, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (an independent bureau of the Treasury), and most recently, under the Dodd-Frank Act of 2010, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (an independent agency funded by the Federal Reserve). These entities are now run by men whose only desire is to give Wall Street more latitude. Former Goldman Sachs partner, now treasury secretary, Steven Mnuchin caught the spirit of the moment with a selfie of his wife and him holding reams of newly printed money like a couple of James Bond villains. (After all, he was a Hollywood producer and even appeared in the Warren Beatty flick Rules Dont Apply.) Hes making his mark on us, however, not by producing economic security, but by cheerleading for financial deregulation. Despite the fact that the Republican platform in election 2016 endorsed reinstating the Glass-Steagall Act, Mnuchin made it clear that he has no intention of letting that happen. In a signal to every too-big-not-to-fail financial outfit around, he also released AIG from its regulatory chains. Thats the insurance company that was at the epicenter of the last financial crisis. By freeing AIG from being monitored by the Financial Services Oversight Board that he chairs, hes left it and others like it free to repeat the same mistakes. Elsewhere, having successfully spun through the revolving door from banking to Washington, Joseph Otting, a former colleague of Mnuchins, is now running the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC). While hes no household name, he was the CEO of OneWest (formerly, the failed California-based bank IndyMac) . Thats the bank Mnuchin and his billionaire posse picked up on the cheap in 2009 before carrying out a vast set of foreclosures on the homes of ordinary Americans (including active-duty servicemen and -women) and reselling it for hundreds of millions of dollars in personal profits . At the Federal Reserve, Trumps selection for chairman, Jerome Powell (another Mnuchin pick ), has repeatedly expressed his disinterest in bank regulations. To him, too-big-to-fail banks are a thing of the past. And to round out this heady crew, theres Office of Management and Budget (OMB) head Mick Mulvaney now also at the helm of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), whose very existence hes mocked. In time, well come to a reckoning with this era of Trumpian finance. Meanwhile, however, the agenda of these men (and they are all men) could lead to a financial crisis of the first order. So heres a little rundown on them: what drives them and how they are blindly taking the economy onto distinctly treacherous ground. Joseph Otting , Office of the Comptroller of the Currency The Office of the Comptroller is responsible for ensuring that banks operate in a secure and reasonable manner, provide equal access to their services, treat customers properly, and adhere to the laws of the land as well as federal regulations. As for Joseph Otting, though the Senate confirmed him as the new head of the OCC in November, four key senators called him highly unqualified for [the] job. He will run an agency whose history snakes back to the Civil War. Established by President Abraham Lincoln in 1863 , it was meant to safeguard the solidity and viability of the banking system. Its leader remains charged with preventing bank-caused financial crashes, not enabling them. Fast forward to the 1990s when Otting held a ranking position at Union Bank NA, overseeing its lending practices to medium-sized companies. From there he transitioned to U.S. Bancorp, where he was tasked with building its middle-market business (covering companies with $50 million to $1 billion in annual revenues) as part of that lenders expansion in California. In 2010, Otting was hired as CEO of OneWest (now owned by CIT Group). During his time there with Mnuchin, OneWest foreclosed on about 36,000 people and was faced with sweeping allegations of abusive foreclosure practices for which it was fined $89 million . Otting received $10.5 million in an employment contract payout when terminated by CIT in 2015. As Senator Sherrod Brown tweeted all too accurately during his confirmation hearings in the Senate, "Joseph Otting is yet another bank exec who profited off the financial crisis who is being rewarded by the Trump Administration with a powerful job overseeing our nations banking system." Like Trump and Mnuchin, Otting has never held public office. He is, however, an enthusiastic proponent of loosening lending regulations . Not only is he against reinstating Glass-Steagall, but he also wants to weaken the Volcker Rule, a part of the Dodd-Frank Act that was meant to place restrictions on various kinds of speculative transactions by banks that might not benefit their customers. Jay Clayton, the Securities and Exchange Commission The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) was established by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1934, in the wake of the crash of 1929 and in the midst of the Great Depression. Its intention was to protect investors by certifying that the securities business operated in a fair, transparent, and legal manner. Admittedly, its first head, Joseph Kennedy (President John F. Kennedys father), wasnt exactly a beacon of virtue. He had helped raise contributions for Roosevelts election campaign even while under suspicion for alleged bootlegging and other illicit activities. Since May 2017, the SEC has been run by Jay Clayton, a top Wall Street lawyer . Following law school, he eventually made partner at the elite legal firm Sullivan & Cromwell. After the 2008 financial crisis, Clayton was deeply involved in dealing with the companies that tanked as that crisis began. He advised Barclays during its acquisition of Lehman Brothers assets and then represented Bear Stearns when JPMorgan Chase acquired it. Never Miss Another Story Get Your FREE Daily Newsletter In the three years before he became head of the SEC, Clayton represented eight of the 10 largest Wall Street banks, institutions that were then regularly being investigated and charged with securities violations by the very agency Clayton now heads. He and his wife happen to hold assets valued at between $12 million and $47 million in some of those very institutions. Not surprisingly in this administration (or any other recent one), Clayton also has solid Goldman Sachs ties. On at least seven occasions between 2007 and 2014, he advised Goldman directly or represented its corporate clients in their initial public offerings. Recently, Goldman Sachs requested that the SEC release it from having to report its lobbying activities or payments because, it claimed, they didnt make up a large enough percentage of its assets to be worth the bother. (Dont be surprised when the agency agrees.) Claytons main accomplishment so far has been to significantly reduce oversight activities. SEC penalties, for instance, fell by 15.5% to $3.5 billion during the first year of the Trump administration. The SEC also issued enforcement actions against only 62 public companies in 2017, a 33% decline from the previous year. Perhaps you wont then be surprised to learn that its enforcement division has an estimated 100 unfilled investigative and supervisory positions, while it has also trimmed its wish list for new regulatory provisions. As for Dodd-Frank, Clayton insists he wont attack it, but thinks it should be looked at. Mick Mulvaney, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Office of Management and Budget As a congressman from South Carolina, ultra-conservative Republican Mick Mulvaney, dubbed Mick the Knife , once even labeled himself a right-wing nut job . Chosen by President Trump in November 2016 to run the Office of Management and Budget, he was confirmed by Congress last February . As he said during his confirmation hearings, Each day, families across our nation make disciplined choices about how to spend their hard-earned money, and the federal government should exercise the same discretion that hard-working Americans do every day. As soon as he was at the OMB, he took an axe to social programs that help everyday Americans. He was instrumental in creating the GOP tax plan that will add up to $1.5 trillion to the countrys debt in order to provide major tax breaks to corporations and wealthy individuals. He was also a key figure in selling the plan to the media. When Richard Cordray resigned as head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in November, Trump promptly selected Mick the Knife for that role, undercutting the deputy director Cordray had appointed to the post. After much debate and a court order in his favor, Mulvaney grabbed a box of Dunkin' Donuts and headed over from his OMB office adjacent to the White House. So even though hes got a new job, Mulvaney is never far from Trumps reach. The problem for the rest of us: Mulvaney loathes the CFPB, an agency he once called a joke. While he cant unilaterally demolish it, hes already obstructed its ability to enforce its government mandates. Soon after Trump appointed him, he imposed a 30-day freeze on hiring and similarly froze all further rule-making and regulatory actions. In his latest effort to undermine American consumers, hes working to defund the CFPB. He just sent the Federal Reserve a letter stating that, for the second quarter of fiscal year 2018, the Bureau is requesting $0. That doesnt bode well for American consumers. Jerome Jay Powell, Federal Reserve Thanks to the Senate confirmation of his selection for chairman of the board, Donald Trump now owns the Fed, too. The former number two man under Janet Yellen, Jerome Powell will be running the Fed, come Monday morning, February 5th. Established in 1913 during President Woodrow Wilsons administration, the Feds official mission is to promote a safe, sound, competitive, and accessible banking system. In reality, its acted more like that systems main drug dealer in recent years. In the wake of the 2007-2008 financial crisis, in addition to buying trillions of dollars in bonds (a strategy called quantitative easing, or QE), the Fed supplied four of the biggest Wall Street banks with an injection of $7.8 trillion in secret loans. The move was meant to stimulate the economy, but really, it coddled the banks. Powells monetary policy undoubtedly wont represent a startling change from that of previous head Janet Yellen, or her predecessor, Ben Bernanke. History shows that Powell has repeatedly voted for pumping financial markets with Federal Reserve funds and, despite displaying reservations about the practice of quantitative easing, he always voted in favor of it, too. What makes his nomination out of the ordinary, though, is that hes a trained lawyer, not an economist. Powell is assuming the helm at a time when deregulation is central to the White Houses economic and financial strategy. Keep in mind that he will also have a role in choosing and guiding future Fed appointments. (At present, the Fed has the smallest number of sitting governors in its history .) The first such appointee, private equity investor Randal Quarles, already approved as the Feds vice chairman for supervision, is another major deregulator . Powell will be able to steer banking system decisions in other ways. In recent Senate testimony, he confirmed his deregulatory predisposition. In that vein, the Fed has already announced that it seeks to loosen the capital requirements big banks need to put behind their riskier assets and activities. This will, it claims, allow them to more freely make loans to Main Street, in case a decade of cheap money wasnt enough of an incentive. The Emperor Has No Rules Nearly every regulatory institution in Trumpville tasked with monitoring the financial system is now run by someone who once profited from bending or breaking its rules. Historically, severe financial crises tend to erupt after periods of lax oversight and loose banking regulations. By filling Americas key institutions with representatives of just such negligence, Trump has effectively hired a team of financial arsonists. Naturally, Wall Street views Trumps chosen ones with glee. Amid the present financial euphoria of the stock market, big bank stock prices have soared. But one thing is certain: when the next crisis comes, it will leave the last meltdown in the shade because our financial system is, at its core, unreformed and without adult supervision. Banks not only remain too big to fail but are still growing , while this government pushes policies guaranteed to put us all at risk again. Theres a pattern to this: first, theres a crash; then comes a period of remorse and talk of reform; and eventually comes the great forgetting. As time passes, markets rise, greed becomes good, and Wall Street begins to champion more deregulation. The government attracts deregulatory enthusiasts and then, of course, theres another crash, millions suffer, and remorse returns. Ominously, were now in the deregulation stage following the bull run. We know what comes next, just not when. Count on one thing: it wont be pretty. Nomi Prins is a TomDispatch regular . Her new book, Collusion: How Central Bankers Rigged the World (Nation Books), will be published this May. Of her six other books, the most recent is All the Presidents' Bankers: The Hidden Alliances That Drive American Power . She is a former Wall Street executive. Special thanks go to researcher Craig Wilson for his superb work on this piece. Follow TomDispatch on Twitter and join us on Facebook . Check out the newest Dispatch Book, Alfred McCoy's In the Shadows of the American Century: The Rise and Decline of U.S. Global Power , as well as John Dower's The Violent American Century: War and Terror Since World War II , John Feffer's dystopian novel Splinterlands , Nick Turse's Next Time Theyll Come to Count the Dead , and Tom Engelhardt's Shadow Government: Surveillance, Secret Wars, and a Global Security State in a Single-Superpower World . Copyright 2018 Nomi Prins ==== Join the Discussion The fourth batch of 465 Nigerian returnees from Libya have arrived in Port Harcourt, Mr. Martins Ejike, South-South Zonal Coordinator, National Emergency Management Agency, has said. Ejike, who received the returnees on Friday, told newsmen that the people arrived at Port Harcourt International Airport at about 12.25 a.m. on board Max Air. Ejike said that the evacuation of Nigerians stranded in Lybia had been a huge success in spite of some challenges in Lybia during the negotiations for their return. He said that the Federal Government had put every mechanism in place to fast-track the evacuation of the returnees. The coordinator said that every process needed for the evacuation was taking place step by step. He expressed joy over the response of states in picking up their indigenes at the evacuation centre after a complaint by NEMA of dissatisfaction over states not collecting their indigenes on time. I am happy that the last set of returnees at the centre were all taken back to their various states on January 15, he said. He said the agency would contact state governors for prompt evacuation of the returnees from the Port Harcourt centre. Also, Mr. Muhammad Dahiru, the Public Relations Officer of Max Air, said that the evacuation of the returnees from Libya was hitch-free. Actually, we did not have any security challenges in Lybia. We landed in Lybia about 7.30 and spent only one hour and 30 minutes before we took off from there back to Nigeria, Dahiru said. He said that so far, 1,955 returnees had been brought back to Nigeria by Max Air out of 3,138 expected to be brought back to Nigeria through Max Air. I can assure you that we can bring all the returnees back to Nigeria within 48 hours if we are invited to come and carry them, Dahiru said. Osita John, one of the returnees, thanked the Federal Government for rescuing them and fulfilling its promise of bringing Nigerians home. John described his experience in Lybia as horrible and unforgettable and advised Nigerian youths still nursing the idea of travelling out of the country illegally to drop it. John called on Federal Government to continue with the evacuation to save many youths still in different prisons in Lybia. There is no place like home but I beg our leaders to make Nigeria a better place for us, the youth, to live, he said. The Federal Government has identified 5,000 Nigerians currently trapped in Libyan detention camps. Source : ( NAN ) Isaac Chamberlain is eager to face Lawrence Okolie on Saturday, as he plans to break his glass jaw. The rival cruiserweight duo are putting their unbeaten record on the line at The O2 in a fight expected to spark. Chamberlain, however feels he has the right experience to take out his London rival. Speaking to Sky Sports, the Brixton man said: This will be an emphatic fight and dont be surprised if I totally dominate. As Kell Brook would say, hes weak around the whiskers, hes got some glass in his jaw, Im going to test that glass and it will fall like sugar. He talks too much and has started to believe his own hype. Thats the situation. Hes such a beast and vicious puncher, but he couldnt stop Blaise Mendouo at York Hall. Ive been in with big hitters, Ive sparred Deontay Wilder, Olexsandr Usyk and Mike Perez. I went to these camps to test myself and see where I stand. We have our game plan, the talking is nearly over, he could talk forever, Im not about that, Im locked in and ready to roll. He hasnt been in the trenches before and thats when I charge up. When we are tired, I will get through. I know how to handle myself when Im really fatigued. I use everything as motivation, motivation is like a shower, and you need it every day. Im so consistent with what Im doing, the motivation has become a habit. Im obsessed with my drive to succeed and better myself. African leaders decided to refrain from issuing a resolution to criticise Donald Trumps alleged reference to their nations as shithole countries because the U.S. president sent them a letter expressing respect for the continent. The leaders who met at an African Union summit in the Ethiopian capital were initially set to demand an apology from Trump over the remark reported by sources at a meeting on immigration with him this month. Trump denies making the comment. Reports of the comment touched a nerve because they come on top of decisions by the Trump administration, particularly on visa restrictions, that many Africans say unfairly penalise the continent. As the summit was being held at ministerial level, the gathering drafted a resolution calling on Trump to publicly apologise to all Africans. Anything short of that would force them to suspend a cooperation deal signed between Washington and the bloc, a draft seen by Reuters showed. African leaders are dismayed and shocked by the increasingly consistent trend by the Trump Administration to denigrate (people) of African descent thereby promoting racism, xenophobia and bigotry, the draft read. A January 25 letter sent by Trump prompted a change of tack at presidential level. One summit official said the final resolution that is yet to be released contains no reference to the issue after the leaders concluded the meeting late on Monday. I want to underscore that the United States deeply respects the people of Africa and my commitment to strong and respectful relationships with African states as sovereign states is firm, Trump said. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson would travel to Africa for an extended visit, he said. The AU Commission had taken due note of the letter, which wished the summit success, Chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat said during the closing press conference. Rwandas President Paul Kagame, who met Trump last week on the sidelines of the annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, said Trumps reported comment had no impact on the AU summit. When Americans decided to give us Trump as their president we deal with that president of the United States. It is not an issue of whether you appreciate him for this or for that, it is a job that he is doing for his country, added Kagame, who assumed the African Unions chairmanship this year. He said both he and Trump had stressed the need for more cooperation. Source: (Reuters/NAN) The Governor of Edo State, Godwin Obaseki, has ordered the immediate release of N100 million as first tranche payment for the procurement of four dialysis machines, ventilators, Personal Protective Equipment, drugs and other consumables required for the treatment of Lassa Fever patients. Mr. Obasekis order followed report of the rising number of Lassa Fever patients brought from across the country to the Institute of Lassa Fever Research and Control, in Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital (ISTH), Edo State, the only specialist facility for the treatment of the disease in Nigeria and the West Africa sub-region. The governor directed his commissioner for health, David Osifo, to deliver the equipment within 24 hours and make them available for use at the hospital. He tasked the Special Adviser on Media and Communication Strategy, Crusoe Osagie and the Commissioner for Communication and Orientation, Paul Ohonbamu, to intensify Lassa Fever awareness campaign in all nooks and crannies of the state. Earlier in the week, the Edo State Government as part of its proactive measures to curtail the spread of the disease in the state, reactivated its Rapid Response Team and commenced contact tracing for confirmed cases of the disease. The state government is also working closely with the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) for case management and disease surveillance. Meanwhile, Mr. Osifo, said that the state governments prevention and control of Lassa Fever is multisectoral involving the Ministries of Health, Environment, Agriculture, Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs and Information, who are working together to put measures in place that will stop the further spread of the current outbreak. Edo State and some other parts of the country are currently experiencing the outbreak of Lassa Fever with a significant proportion of the Local Government Areas in Edo Central and Edo North senatorial districts of the state already affected. Source: ( Punch Newspaper ) The Federal Government, through the National Institute for Educational Planning and Administration, has decried the lack of attention to the education of the girl-child in the country. Speaking during the opening of a five-day training workshop for school administrators held in Ondo, Ondo State, the Director-General of NIEPA, Prof. Lilian Salami, who conveyed the governments position, said the girl-child, in comparison to the opposite sex, was being subjected to demeaning and destabilising situations that had placed her in a disadvantaged position in the society. Salami urged stakeholders in the education sector to inject new innovations into the school system and to encourage non-gender discriminatory learning. She said, Equity education for all, irrespective of gender, is what we hope to achieve. Education is a fundamental human right that should be availed to all citizens, irrespective of age, sex and nationality. Women, like their male counterparts, have the right to choice and self actualisation. But what we see in most societies today is the other way round. The evidence is everywhere for all to see. Maybe if the girl-child was educated, she would be in a better position to apply wisdom to improve her lot. We are all stakeholders in the fortunes of education in Nigeria. So we must contribute our quota to its development. She urged the participants at the training workshop to pass on the knowledge to other colleagues, noting that this would enhance their capabilities and professionalism. The representative of the Federal Ministry of Education, Mrs. Cordelia Ajaego, said that the objective of the training was to have highly skilled and well motivated education managers and teachers. Source:( Punch Newspaper ) The Kaduna State Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Jaafaru Sani, said on Thursday that the state government has earmarked N377 million for the training of secondary school teachers in 2018. Mr. Sani made the disclosure while on a working visit to Government Girls College, Zonkwa to assess ongoing renovation and upgrade of the school facilities. He said that series of training have been outlined to equip teachers with the necessary techniques to deliver quality teaching to students. According to him, the effort has become necessary following the falling standard of education, particularly in public schools. The state is doing everything it can to ensure that teachers are well cared for to encourage them to put in their best for the development of the young ones. This is because we cannot continue to talk about quality education when our teachers are not motivated. He urged teachers in public schools in the state to be dedicated to their duties, assuring that the government has plans to improve their welfare and make the teaching profession very attractive. On the renovation, the commissioner said that the contractor would be contacted to complete the work on time to enable students resume academic activities. Responding, the Principal of the college, Dorcas Nyat, thanked the commissioner for the visit and commended the state government for ongoing effort to revamp the education sector. Mrs. Nyat assured the state government of the teachers unrelenting commitment and dedication to duty. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the ongoing renovation in the school has prevented students from resuming academic activities as most of the school hostels and classes were affected. (NAN) The Lagos State House of Assembly on Thursday confirmed Governor Akinwunmi Ambodes four commissioner nominees and one special adviser. The approval followed the adoption of the report of its 16-member ad hoc committee for the screening of the nominees and their physical appearance on the floor of the House. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Wasiu Eshinlokun-Sanni, the Chairman of the Screening Committee and Deputy Speaker of the House, had on Tuesday presented the committees report to the House. Mr. Eshinlokun-Sanni said that the commissioner and special adviser designates had been screened and passed for the House confirmation. The House approved the nominees after the Speaker of the House, Mudashiru Obasa, conducted a voice vote on each of them. Mr. Obasa directed the Clerk of the House, Azeez Sanni, to communicate the approval of the House to the governor. NAN reports that Akeem Fahm was confirmed as the Commissioner-Designate, Ministry of Science and Technology while Mr Ladi Lawanson-Akinwale was cleared as the Commissioner-Designate, Ministry of Transportation. Mr Segun Banjo was cleared as the Commissioner-Designate, Ministry of Economic Panning and Budget while Olayinka Oladunjoye was approved as Commissioner- Designate, Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Cooperatives. Hakeem Sulaiman, Ambodes choice for Special Adviser, Community and Communication was also cleared. The lawmakers also confirmed the appointment Toyin Okenla as a member of the Lagos State Sport Commission. The House adjourned its plenary session until March 19. Source : (NAN) A man, identified as Aliyu Mohammed, has cut off the manhood of his 12-year-old cousin, Farouk Ibrahim, for reasons that were not stated as at the time of this report. The incident happened in the Babana area of the Borgu Local Government Area of Niger State. It was learnt that Ibrahim was on his way to the farm to deliver food to his siblings, when Mohammed pounced on him. Mohammed, it was learnt, strangled Ibrahim and cut off his penis after the latter had become unconscious. Northern City News gathered that Ibrahim, who was left in the pool of his own blood, regained consciousness nine hours later and managed to go home where he narrated his ordeal to his parents. He was subsequently rushed to a hospital for treatment. Ibrahim explained to our correspondent on Thursday that Mohammed attacked him at about 6am. I did not know what was happening; I woke up in the afternoon and was feeling pains in my manhood. When I looked down, I saw I was bleeding and my manhood had been cut off. I had to gather some strength and struggled to get home. I walked and in some places, I had to rest because the pain was much. I never knew one could feel such pain and survive, the pain was excruciating, he narrated. The victims uncle, Usman Aliyu, explained that the incident took place late December, adding that Ibrahim was taken to the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital, where a surgery was carried out and a catheter was inserted to enable him to urinate. He asked for assistance from government and individuals to enable Ibrahim to undergo a comprehensive surgery so that he could have a functional manhood. Aliyu told Northern City News that Mohammed had been arrested by the police, and had made confessional statement to investigators about the incident. He added that Mohammed had also taken the police to the scene of the crime but had yet to give any reason for the violent attack on his cousin. Usman said that the cost of buying antibiotics for the victim and replacing the catheter every month, coupled with the expenses of transporting him from New Bussa to the hospital where the catheter was changed was gradually taking a toll on the finances of the family. He appealed for assistance from the state government and individuals. The Head of Surgery, General Hospital, Minna, Dr. Adamu Bala, who examined Ibrahim, said although the teaching hospital tried to save the situation, Farouk might never have a functional manhood unless he went for an elaborate plastic surgery which is not available in Nigeria. He said, I reviewed the case of the boy. His penis was amputated and he was taken to the teaching hospital in Ilorin, they were able to save the situation at that moment. They were able to do some kind of plastic surgery to stop the bleeding and they inserted a catheter so that the boy would be able to pass urine. The only unfortunate part was that the amputated part was not seen and could not be sutured back. He added, The situation is really sad because for this guy to have a functional penis, he will need an elaborate plastic surgery, the kind which I do not think we can do here in the country; he will have to be taken abroad where he would be assessed and examined to see how they can fashion a functional penis for him. The surgeon said the victim was undergoing psychological and physical trauma as a result of the attack, adding that the family would need assistance from the government and individuals to raise the money for the surgery. Right now, there is the psychological and physical disturbance that the young boy is going through. Before now, he would have experienced erection but no, it cannot happen again. Before the incident, he was passing urine normally but now, he is passing urine through a pipe which is very abnormal and can be depressing. He needs urgent help, Bala said. The Niger State Police Public Relations Officer, Muhammad Abubakar, confirmed the incident, saying the matter had been charged to court. Source: ( Punch Newspaper ) Unknown gunmen assassinated a politician from Sanga Local Government Area of Kaduna State, the deceased was reportedly killed at Ankwa village of Jemaa Local Government Area in Kaduna state. Yusuf Usman, the Administrator of Jemaa Local Government Council, confirmed the incident to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Kafanchan. He said that the deceased was assassinated on Wednesday night at his residence in Ankwa village in Godogodo Chiefdom of Jemaa. The assassins stormed the residence and headed straight to his room and shot at him without hurting anyone before they left. Before his death, he was also an active farmer and owned an irrigation farm at Dogon Daji Reserve close to Godogodo where he farmed hectares of soya beans, the administrator said. Mr. Usman said a formal report had been made to the appropriate authority on the unfortunate incident and urged residents to remain calm as efforts were ongoing to fish out the perpetrators. Also, Abdulmuminin Ashafa, the Administrator of Sanga Local Government Council, who regretted the unfortunate demise of the deceased told NAN that the deceased would be remembered for his meaningful contributions to the people. Yuguda Dauda, a resident of Gwantu in Sanga Local Government Area of the state, said late Banka would be remembered for single-handedly building the local government council secretariat in Gwantu asides sponsoring politicians from the area. Source: ( NAN ) Luis Suarez believes the Copa del Rey semifinal tie against Valencia, is far from over, despite going into the second leg with a win. Barcelona hold a 1-0 advantage over their rivals, with Messi providing the assist for Suarez. The Catalans dominated the fixture, but struggled to break down the packed defense of Valencia, spark of brilliance from Messi in the 67th minute made the difference. Its a minimal advantage that we have because there are 90 minutes left, Suarez told reporters. Valencia at home are always stronger and even more so in a Copa semi-final. What doesnt leave us calm is that they didnt cause us problems, this is important, it shows they respect us, the Uruguay international added. We had chances despite the little space we had, they had chances although they didnt go in. Suarez has now scored 12 goals in his past 10 matches in all competitions and he added: Its always important to help the team, today with another goal and we hope to continue like this. Ocean Storage/Bay Storage, which operates self-storage facilities in North Carolina and Virginia, has opened a new location in Norfolk, Va. The multi-story property at 801 W. Little Creek Road comprises more than 66,000 square feet of storage space in 497 units. The property offers climate control, covered loading bays, and a retail store that sells moving and packing supplies. It also contains executive offices for lease, with a shared conference room for customer use. Tenants have access to online billpay and reservations, and the management team will accept deliveries on their behalf. The company will host a ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate the opening on April 26. The 10:30 a.m. event will include property tours as well as refreshments and raffles for free storage. Members of the Hampton Roads Chamber of Commerce will attend. Locally owned Ocean Storage/Bay Storage now operates seven total facilities in Cape Charles, Norfolk, Virginia Beach and Yorktown, Va.; and Shallotte, N.C. The properties are managed by Storage Asset Management Inc., a self-storage management and consulting firm based in York, Pa. Presentation of Mikheil Saakashvili's book also canceled by "Noyan Tapan" bookstore (video) Mikayel Nahapetyan, who translated into Armenian the book "The Revival of Forces" written by Mikheil Saakashvili, informed that after the rejection by Yeghishe Charents House-Museum, the "Noyan Tapan" bookstore also canceled the book presentation, despite the prior agreement reached. Dear friends, I have to inform that the presentation of "The Revival of Forces" at the "Noyan Tapan" bookstore will not take place as well. The reasons and chronicle of the events of this ludicrous situation are presented below: After canceling the presentation at Charents House-Museum, I received offers from various non-commercial organizations for offering a presentation space. However, given the fact that it was impossible to carry out the legal sale of books in those areas, I could not take advantage of those proposals. On January 29, with the knowledge and agreement of the director of the "Noyan Tapan" bookstore, an agreement was reached on organizing the presentation in the hall of the bookstore. On January 31 I passed my passport data to prepare the contract for signing. Today, on February 1, a representative of the "Noyan Tapan" bookstore has informed me that the director has abruptly refused to organize the presentation and even sell books in their bookstore explaining that he does not want to have any problems. I do not know any other details on this occasion. In my interviews I have mentioned that the further course of the events will show whether the incident of Charents House-Museum was the result of pressures or not. Now I definitely insist that these two well-known and many unreported rejections are the result of political pressure and are directed against the dissemination of the book's content. This is an open and direct censorship. Regardless of current conditions and the current situation, I express my solidarity with the staff of Yeghishe Charents House-Museum and the "Noyan Tapan" bookstore staff, all those citizens who have suffered from this or any other person and in unknown cases disseminated words, ideas, obstruction, economic activity and other abuses of constitutional rights proclaimed in the Republic of Armenia. I beg your pardon for the situation. As a result of organizational further activities I will have to limit my time to communicate, for which I also apologize to my friends and journalists. I am hereby authorizing this statement, in its entirety, to reproduce in any Armenian language platform. Thank you. Public Storage Inc., a self-storage real estate investment trust, has reportedly agreed to buy a historical property in Huntington Beach, Calif., with the intent to develop a storage facility. Republic Services Inc., a waste-disposal and trash-pickup provider, is selling Historic Wintersburg, a 4.5-acre plot off Warner Avenue and Nichols Lane that houses six structures dating as far back as 1910. The land and buildings are revered by local residents and Japanese-Americans who believe the site is historically significant, according to the source. The transaction is controversial because Republic Services was previously working with the Historic Wintersburg Preservation Task Force to protect the site. The company indicated in May 2016 that it wasnt seeking any deals for the property that would destroy the buildings, the source reported. Redevelopment could require a zoning change, which would need approval from the city council. The council previously rescinded a zoning change to commercial and industrial use after the Ocean View School District won lawsuits against property owner Rainbow Environmental Services (now part of Republic Services) and the city. Public Storage would need an easement from the school district, which shares a property line with Wintersburg. As part of its settlement agreement, the district also is supposed to have first right of refusal on purchasing the land, according to the source. We have been working with Republic the last three years. They had confirmed to us and our city council liaisons that they were willing to work with us and our national partners on the purchase of the property for historic preservation and public park use, Mary Urashima, a representative of the preservation task force, wrote in a statement. To see a national treasure historic site and its cultural resources destroyed for self-storage is a very sad statement to those whose history is represented at Historic Wintersburg. The site dates back to the late 1800s as an agricultural community, which became an enclave for Japanese immigrants and Japanese-Americans who settled in Huntington Beach at the turn of the 20th century. Among the settlers was the Furutas Family, which sold goldfish raised on the grounds. The family was one of the few to maintain control of their property after the California Alien Land Law of 1913 prohibited Japanese-born residents from owning land, the source reported. Family members returned to the site after being held in an internment camp in Arizona during World War II. Community leaders have pressed to designate the site a heritage park. Urashima would like the six structures refurbished and made available for community meetings, a museum, student field trips and other uses. Councilmember Jill Hardy is among those who favor preserving the site. The idea they would choose storage over a park setting, when financially it would make no difference, is really surprising, Hardy told the source. Since Republic Services announced its plan to sell, the city council has been inundated with e-mails mostly supporting the sites preservation, she said. Some 700 residents signed a petition against commercial development on the property after it was acquired by Rainbow in 2004. The site was listed as one of America's 11 Most Endangered Historic Places in 2014 by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, which also named it a national treasure in 2015. Based in Glendale, Calif., Public Storage has interests in 2,358 self-storage facilities in 38 states, with approximately 156 million net rentable square feet. Operating under the Shurgard brand name, the company also has 220 facilities in seven European countries, with approximately 12 million net rentable square feet. Update 4/18/18 The amount of money King allegedly stole is higher than investigators first reported. The former manager is now accused of stealing $500,000 to $1 million, according to a source. Investigators believe King took cash payments for storage units as well as rental properties, and deposited the money into her bank account. 2/2/18 The former manager of Mount Zion Self-Storage in Mount Zion, Ill., was arrested on Wednesday under suspicion that she embezzled more than $117,000 during a five-year period. Tamme R. King, 56, received a preliminary charge of theft over $10,000 after an investigation uncovered missing business deposits and questionable deposits into Kings bank account between 2012 and 2017, according to the source. King worked at the storage facility from June 2011 through December 2017. Her job duties included accepting customer payments and depositing them into the business bank account. She also was responsible for monthly bank-statement reconciliation. The owner of the self-storage facility called police on Jan. 5, though he told investigators he first became suspicious of King in mid-November. In one instance, King allegedly insisted on depositing a customers monthly house-rental payment despite previously telling the owner she didnt like to keep large amounts of cash in the facility office, the source reported. Its unclear why the self-storage manager would have collected payment for a house rental. The owner later discovered the cash deposit was never made and determined no cash had been deposited into his business account for several years, according to the source. A police affidavit indicates $117,469.42 was missing. The total was derived from payments collected during the five-year period, minus amounts that were either deposited into the business account or repaid by King via personal check. King was released from jail after posting a $20,000 bond. Sources: Herald & Review, Former Employee Accused of Stealing More Than $100,000 From Mount Zion Business WAND17, Mt. Zion Woman Stole Hundreds of Thousands More Than Originally Thought Jeremy D. Morley concentrates on International Family Law. The firm works with clients around the world from its New York office, with a global network of local counsel. Mr Morley is the author of "International Family Law Practice", the leading treatise on international family law in the U.S., and "The Hague Abduction Convention", published by the American Bar Association. He is a Fellow of the International Academy of Family Lawyers and a former law professor. Passengers to pay once regardless to how many times he uses means f transportation again (video) The new public transport network in Yerevan is at the stage of testing. Instead of the former 115 route, the new network will include 42 routes and will be accessible in all parts of the city, Vahe Nikolyan, Deputy Mayor of Yerevan, Head of the Public Transport Reform Working Group, told journalists today. "The new network is drawn on the principle of minibus removal. The launch of the new network envisages supply of 939 large and medium-sized buses. An updated trolley park will also work with 111 trolleybuses. " As for the 18-meter buses, Nikoyan said, "Based on international experience, we have proposed a combination of 18 meter buses, from 42 to 11 routes. Exploitation of large buses is a simple calculation, allowing to reduce costs. Such buses are generally intended for routes bypassing the center." In Nikoyan's opinion, this will also help to unload the center. The new public transport will start working at 6.45 am in the morning and finish the work at midnight. At the busy times of the new network, the transport will work every 5 minutes. Referring to the drivers' questions, Vahe Nikoyan mentioned that no cuts are expected, the drivers will work with shifts. And they cannot smoke or talk on phone while driving. "As a result of the changes, the phenomenon of "route owners" will also disappear. This means that most of the powers will be taken over by one central body. As for the transport tariff, Vahe Nikoyan said, "The municipality will take all possible measures to avoid the current tariff. The passenger will pay once for the place, regardless of the number of buses he/she is changing." And what will be the ticket system, the deputy mayor said that it is still under discussion. Toronto, Ontario - February 2, 2018 (Newsfile Corp.) (Investorideas.com Newswire) RosCan Minerals Corporation ("RosCan" or the "Company") (TSX-V: ROS) is pleased to provide the following update on the Company's Dormaa Gold Project in Ghana. Option and Joint Venture Agreement - The agreement made with Pelangio Exploration Inc. ("Pelangio") has been amended and restated to provide RosCan with the right to assume operatorship in the Dormaa Project, upon RosCan earning its 50% interest. As previously announced on December 5, 2017, the payment dates were extended to compensate for the delay in receiving approvals for a 3,000 metre drill program. To earn its interest, RosCan is now required to make the following payments: (a) fund Cdn $1,700,000 in exploration expenditures, as follows: Amount Due Dates $700,000 By June 5, 2018; and, $1,000,000 By June 5, 2019 (b) cash payments to Pelangio totalling Cdn $250,000, as follows: Amount Due Dates $50,000 By June 5, 2018; and, $200,000 By June 5, 2019 Drill Program Update - As previously reported, a number of anomalous gold areas have been identified following the completion of a prospecting program and gold-in-soil geochemical surveys. A number of high priority drill targets have been defined. A 3,000 metre reverse circulation and air core rotary blast drill program has been designed to test these targets but continues to be delayed due to obtaining the necessary approvals. RosCan has provided Pelangio with funding for the drilling program. COMMENTARY Greg Isenor, President and CEO of RosCan, stated, "For RosCan in the Dormaa project area, it is important to have the option to acquire operatorship of the Dormaa Gold Project while still utilizing the experience and expertise of the Pelangio technical team who has developed extensive and invaluable knowledge by working in Ghana for many years. We are pleased we were able to negotiate this change and value our excellent relationship with Pelangio." ABOUT ROSCAN RosCan Minerals Corporation is a Canadian gold exploration company focussed on the acquisition of gold properties in West Africa. The Company is currently exploring the promising gold potential of the early exploration stage Dormaa Project in Ghana. RosCan is earning a 50% interest in the Dormaa Project from Pelangio Exploration Inc. In addition, RosCan is currently assembling a contiguous land package in the prolific gold prospective Birimian rocks of west Mali. For further information, please contact: Greg Isenor President and Chief Executive Officer Tel: (902) 832-5555 or (416) 293-8437 Email: info@roscan.ca Forward Looking Statements This news release includes certain "forward-looking statements" under applicable Canadian securities legislation that relate to the Dormaa Project. Forward-looking statements involve risks, uncertainties, and other factors that could cause actual results, performance, prospects, and opportunities to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements in this news release include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to the option to earn an interest in the Dormaa Project, the Company's proposed financing activities and its ability to satisfy its project financing and working capital needs, planned use of any proceeds or available funds, objectives, goals or future exploration plans at the Dormaa Project, the business and operations of the Company. Forward-looking statements are necessarily based on a number of estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable, are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause actual results and future events to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors include, but are not limited to: failure of Pelangio to obtain the authorizations for the assignment to it of the Prospecting License; the Company's inability to obtain financing to satisfy the payments necessary for it to earn an interest in the Dormaa Project when due; political and economic risks related to Ghana, title risks, liquidity risks related to the Company and Pelangio, general business, economic and social uncertainties; litigation, legislative, environmental and other judicial, regulatory, political and competitive developments; delay or failure to receive board or regulatory approvals; those additional risks set out in the Company's public documents filed on SEDAR at www.sedar.com; and other matters discussed in this news release. Although the Company believes that the assumptions and factors used in preparing the forward-looking statements are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on these statements, which only apply as of the date of this news release, and no assurance can be given that such events will occur in the disclosed time frames or at all. Except where required by law, the Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. 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Disclosure is posted for each compensated news release, content published /created if required but otherwise the news was not compensated for and was published for the sole interest of our readers and followers. Contact management and IR of each company directly regarding specific questions. More disclaimer info: https://www.investorideas.com/About/Disclaimer.asp Learn more about publishing your news release and our other news services on the Investorideas.com newswire https://www.investorideas.com/News-Upload/ and tickertagstocknews.com Global investors must adhere to regulations of each country. Please read Investorideas.com privacy policy: https://www.investorideas.com/About/Private_Policy.asp An August report by Endgadget claims the FBI has been meeting with companies to warn them of the threat posed by the cybersecurity firm Kaspersky Lab. In view of the cyberattacks that crippled the Ukraine's power grid in 2016, the FBI has reportedly focused its briefings on companies in the energy sector. Although, it has also supposedly met with major tech firms as well. The FBIs goal seems to be to have U.S. firms push Kaspersky out of their systems, the current and former officials say. The FBIs counterintelligence section has been giving briefings since the beginning of the year on a priority basis, prioritizing companies in the energy sector and those that use industrial control (ICS) and Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems. The revelations follow a wave of allegations against Kaspersky Lab by the U.S. government. As recently as June, a draft version of a Senate bill proposed barring the Defense Department from doing business with the company. Then, in July, a Congressional panel ordered multiple government agencies to hand over their documents and communications about the cybersecurity software provider. FBI officials also raise the issue of Russias increasingly expansive surveillance laws and what they charge is a distinct culture wherein powerful Russian intelligence agencies are easily able to reach into private sector firms like Kaspersky with little check on government power. Of particular interest are the Yarovaya laws and the System for Operative Investigative Activities, among others, which mandate broad, legally vague and permissive Russian intelligence agency access to data moving inside Russia with retention periods extending to three years. Companies have little course to fight back. U.S officials point to the FSB, the KGBs successor, as the cryptography regulator in Russia, and says it puts an office of active agents inside Russian companies. In a statement it released, the firm said: "Kaspersky Lab, and its executives, do not have inappropriate ties with any government." It's a stance the company has reiterated multiple times to no avail. On the positive side, Kaspersky has been helpful in cleaning up infections from cyberattacks like NotPetya. Still, we urge caution in using the companys products. It is unprecedented for the FBI to warn companies about a particular piece of software, and there is no need to take the risk if you can find a viable alternative. The best advice is to find a trusted advisor to help your company stay protected and to use quality, vetted hardware and software vendors. Back to Homepage Edited by Ken Briodagh The South Ballroom of the Memorial Union was packed to the brim with caucus members from the Ames precinct 4-1 on Feb. 1, 2016. By the end of the night, the precinct had 382 constituents show up to caucus. Arman Melikyan: Armen Sargsyan-RPA relations should be viewed first of all in the plane of Serzh Sargsyan-Armen Sargsyan "A1+" spoke to Arman Melikyan, former NKR Foreign Minister, on Armen Sargsyan's nomination to the Presidential candidate. -- Mr. Melikyan, do you think that Armen Sargsyan has the right to run for presidency when the RA Constitution demands that the presidential candidate must be a citizen of Armenia in the last 6 years and reside in Armenia for the last 6 years? - In this regard, we must come up with the reality that the legitimacy of the current authorities of the Republic of Armenia, in fact, is zero. This is the consequence of the fact that during the last twenty years, the governing party has kept its grip on power through fraud, digital magic and bribery in electoral processes. In other words, at large, willingly or unwillingly, we have been forced to reconcile with the idea that in Armenia there is a de facto power, not legal. That de-facto government will seek to secure enough legitimacy and one of the steps taken in that direction was the constitutional "innovation" to change the form of governance of the state, and as a result, Mr. Armen Sargsyan has received an official proposal from the Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) leader Serzh Sargsyan to run for president. It is pointless to examine the issue of whether this separate process is legitimate or not because the whole process of forming a governing system by the ruling gang in Armenia has been smashed for a very long period of time and as a result, the legitimacy of any decision taken is mildly suspicious. I attach great importance to what opportunities can be created from the perspective of forming a truly legitimate government in Armenia and whether the appointment of Mr. Armen Sargsyan to the position of the RA President may be positive in this context or not. I think he should, first of all, recognize that by accepting Serzh Sargsyan's proposal, in all cases he will become part of the de facto government and in that context his concern should be his powers and the opportunity to pay for this ultimate solution by means of a personal loan. In any case, this will be his personal decision, which he needs to harmonize with his own perceptions of his conscience and the future of the state. -- Is it possible for a non-party candidate to be the bearer of the ruling party's political line? -I do not consider the RPA structure as a group of people responsible for the political line developed jointly. The RPA is a governing organization of bureaucrats and businessmen, within which, it seems, the mechanism of decision making does not provide for collegiality in practice. Therefore, Armen Sargsyan-RPA relations should be viewed first of all in the plane of Serzh Sargsyan-Armen Sargsyan. If the relations are cloudless in this dimension, the RPA will not raise problems with Armen Sargsyan's activities and will not be dissatisfied. What I say is that this is first of all a personal matter and not a matter of the RA President-RPA relations. The rest is again the decision of Mr. Armen Sargsyan, his personal choice. -- What do you expect from Armen Sargsyan's presidency? --I am sure that Armen Sargsyan is a well-educated, stable person, and a serious attempt to make today an important decision for both Armenia and his own future. I wish him a true appreciation of his own strengths and realities. With regard to expectations, for a number of considerations, I find that he can personally play an important role, especially if Armenia enters the midst of painful internal troubles. But this opinion, of course, is theoretical. "The Power of One Dram" to overcome childhood cancer Generation A 13 your chance to be the change President of the Artsakh Republic Arayik Harutyunyan met with Russian Co-Chair of the OSCE Minsk Group Igor Khovayev "uDays" special offer at Ucom: discounts for all smartphones and accessories for 2 days only For more than 3 hours, 50 or more Azerbaijani servicemen have blocked the interstate road Call on the international community for an adequate response against azerbaijani aggresssion Transformation and trust are important for success in modern banking. Artak Hanesyan UCOMS LEVEL UP 1700 REGIONAL TARIFF PLAN USERS TO RECEIVE MORE THAN THOSE IN YEREVAN Joint statement Statement by the Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group Covid-19: 163 new cases in Armenia Armenia: Remarks by Commissioner Oliver Varhelyi at the press point with Acting Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigoryan The United States Welcomes Azerbaijans Release of Armenian Detainees and Armenias Actions to Facilitate Demining The Coronavirus-Related Situation in Armenia International aviation: Council greenlights signing of major agreements with four countries With UCOMs level up tariff plans subscribers have unlimited access to Netflix, Duolingo and Zoom Google Ad Armenia: Statement by the Spokesperson on the early parliamentary elections Armenias Parliamentary Elections PRESS STATEMENT COVID19:77 new cases Armenias early parliamentary elections were competitive and well run, but polarized and marred by aggressive rhetoric, international observers say International election observers to Armenias early parliamentary elections held press conference Drop Charges Against Rights Defender Sashik Sultanyan The Coronavirus-Related Situation in Armenia The European Union in Armenia calls all parties to contribute to a peaceful Election Day to celebrate democracy 22 ventilators to Armenia PACE to observe the early parliamentary elections in Armenia With Ucom's level up tariff plans subscribers have unlimited access to Tiktok, Spotify and Coursera PACE rapporteur welcomes Azerbaijans release of Armenian captives and Armenias handing over of mine-maps to Azerbaijan Armenia/Azerbaijan: Statement by High Representative Josep Borrell on the latest developments Today, on February 2, the Kurdish community of Armenia held a protest in front of the UN Office in Yerevan. The aim of the demonstration was to raise awareness about Turkey's crimes in Afrin. They demanded the UN and the superpowers not to keep silent under the "Terrorist Erdogan" shouting. Knyaz Hasanov, the Kurdish community representative, stated that the Turkish Armed Forces bombed the Afrin city and the peaceful population of the surrounding villages with banned weapons. "The attack is carried out with the consent of the Russian side, with the NATO Armed Forces and the UN silence that contributes to the destruction of the local civilian population," he said. Their complaint was heard by Ino Penny-Larry, the Security Officer of the UN Office in Armenia. The demonstrators handed him a letter requesting that the UN mission in Armenia and the international community be more focused on the situation. From mammals' skeletons to nature's unique anomalies (video) More than 2000 samples from mammals' skeletons to nature's unique anomalies that have been collected over 87 years. These exhibits are no longer in their places. The Anatomical Museum of the National Agrarian University of Armenia is moved to Yerevan's School after Griboyedov by the decision of the Government. Yuri Marmaryan, Vice-Rector of the Armenian National Agrarian University, did not want to comment on the government's decision. "Is it our problem? Absolutely not, absolutely not our problem. There is the government's decision, we are implementing it, we do not have the right to comment on the government's decisions." Mr. Marmaryan assured that the museum exhibits would not be damaged as a result of the relocation, "We will move to this building to organize the educational process. The same museum will fit in a larger space provided to us by the school after Griboyedov. " Scene Editor Billy Arnold covers arts and entertainment. He apprenticed as a sound engineer at the Beachland Ballroom in Cleveland, Ohio before making his way to Jackson, where he has become a low-key fan of country music. Mike has reported on the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem's wildlife, wildlands and the agencies that manage them since 2012. A native Minnesotan, he arrived in the West to study environmental journalism at the University of Colorado. remaining of Thank you for reading! On your next view you will be asked to log in to your subscriber account or create an account and subscribepurchase a subscription to continue reading. Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup. JURIST Guest Columnist Isaac Smith of the University of Cincinnati School of Law discusses the First Amendment implications of actions taken by Ohio University administrators In 2017, violent student protests made headlines nationwide. The often minimal discipline meted out afterwards inspired legislative efforts in several states to impose mandatory punishments upon students who disrupt campus events. Against this backdrop, Ohio Universitys actions last February stand out. Approximately seventy people were arrested for peacefully protesting inside the fourth-floor lobby of Baker Center, the student center on campus. The mass arrest was controversial: The building was open, and protests have taken place in Athens for decades, including in that very lobby. But the Ohio University police chief nonetheless ordered the arrest of all seventy students, alumni, and community members who sat huddled together in the middle of the lobby. One student was taken to trial first as a test case. An Athens County judge found that the fourth-floor lobby of Baker Center was a designated public forum, that the universitys actions in arresting the defendant were not narrowly tailored to serve a compelling government interest, and that ample alternative channels of communication were unavailable. So the test case defendant was acquitted at a bench trial in late March, and the charges against all the other defendants who had pleaded not guilty were dropped shortly thereafter. OU responded to the judges ruling by issuing an interim policy banning all demonstrations inside all university buildings. The interim policy is currently under review by an advisory board, and the university may make significant changes in implementing a final, permanent version. Community members have voiced strong opposition to the demonstration ban, and the policy change has received national coverage. The ACLU of Ohio expressed the opinion that the Freedom of Expression policy is facially unconstitutional. Effectively, OU took an area that a judge declared to be a designated public forum, and closed it. But can OU do that? Courts have not given a clear answer. Responses to the question within law reviews have also been few: there are only three student-written notes on the subject. In explaining the different types of public fora, the Supreme Court in Perry Education Association v. Perry Local Educators Association noted that in the case of a limited or designated public forum, a state is not required to indefinitely retain the open character of the facility. Fair enough. But following that short sentence in Perry, there hasnt been much guidance from the high court about when and how a limited or designated public forum can be closed. In Capitol Square Review and Advisory Board v. Pinette , the Supreme Court suggested that a forum could be permissively closed in its entirety to avoid discriminating on the basis of viewpoint. The Fourth Circuit embraced Pinettes broad standard in 2013. The Virginia Division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) sought to display flags on Lexington, Virginias utility poles, which the court held were a designated public forum. Following the Supreme Courts suggestion in Pinette, Lexington stopped the SCV from hanging flags by simply banning all flag displays. SCV sued, arguing that the motivation of the government was important in determining the permissibility of the closure of a designated public forum. But the Fourth Circuit wasnt persuaded, stating flatly that [a] government is entitled to close a designated public forum to all speech. The court continued, noting that the clean hands requirement suggested by the SCV would produce an absurd result, requiring the city to allow speakers with which it disagreed to use its utility poles. But this absurd result is just viewpoint neutrality by another name. To allow the city to close the forum is to allow a convenient end-run around the First Amendment. Not all courts have embraced such a permissive approach. In response to the closure of a limited public forum in an open attempt to stop a demonstration, the Middle District of Pennsylvania in ACT-UP v. Walp noted that the closure was the spitting image of an improper prior restraintan attempt to suppress speech prior to publication or dissemination. This result seems truer to the spirit of the First Amendment. Two other district courts have followed this logic. The District of Connecticut in 2017 recognized the plain disagreement between SCV and ACT-UP , and attempted to reconcile the two holdings by reading the closure in ACT-UP as temporary, compared to the permanent closure in SCV . The court reasoned that a temporary closure is more akin to prior restraint than a permanent one. Fair v. Esserman . But the district court in ACT-UP did not see the forum closure at issue there as temporary. In fact, in discussing whether there was injury sufficient to warrant an injunction, the court noted that there was no indication that the forum would ever be opened again. Unfortunately for OU students keen on protesting inside Baker Center again, and ACT-UP and its brethren are the exception, not the rule. While OUs decision to close the forum is a heavy-handed moveakin to what the court in ACT-UP noted was not the narrowest means possible, saying the government used a club instead of a scalpel, such heavy-handedness is endorsed by the Third, Fourth, Seventh, Eighth, Ninth, and Eleventh Circuits. The Sixth has yet to weigh in. But following the lead of other circuits, the Sixth could choose to read Perry broadly and give the government unchecked forum closure power. That would permit Ohio University to do exactly what it has done, and ban all demonstrations in a designated public forum, directly in response to a thwarted attempt to punish peaceful protesters. If OU exploits the ambiguity of the law and closes the forum entirely, it may win in court, but the First Amendment will certainly lose. Isaac Smith is a third-year law student at the University of Cincinnati. He is on track to graduate with both a Juris Doctor and a Master of Arts in Political Science in May 2019. In the past, he has worked for the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education and the Ohio Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. Suggested citation:Isaac Smith, Viewpoint Discrimination by Any Other Name: Ohio Universitys Retaliatory Closure of a Designated Public Forum, JURIST Student Commentary, Feb. 2, 2018, http://jurist.org/dateline/2018/02/Issac-Smith-first-amendment.php This article was prepared for publication by Sean Merritt, an Assistant Editor for JURIST Commentary. Please direct any questions or comments to him at commentary@jurist.org [JURIST] Human Rights Watch (HRW) [advocacy website] reported [HRW report] Thursday that numerous armed groups, some linked to the self-proclaimed Libyan National Army (LNA), are preventing thousands of internally displaced individuals from returning home. The LNA-affiliated groups are reportedly preventing 3,700 families from entering the city. Those affected claim that these pro-LNA forces have warned them not to enter the city and attacked some of the families to intimidate others. The groups justified these attacks by claiming that the civilians were affiliated with ISIS. LNA is reportedly justifying the act by claiming that these individuals are terrorists or supporters of terrorism. The LNA is headed by Field Marshall Khalifa Hifter, who, in May 2014, started Operation Dignity to remove alleged terroristic forces from Benghazi. As a result of Operation Dignity, an estimated 13,000 families have fled the city. HRW states that those families that have been interviewed by the organization claim that the LNA has seized their property, arrested and tortured who remained in Benghazi, and engaged in enforced disappearances. HRW states that if these allegations are true, and the acts were done with malintent, amount to war crimes. HRW wrote a letter [text, PDF] sent to Hifter last Saturday in order to discuss [their] concerns about violations allegedly being committed in Benghazi under forces linked with the LNA. At the end of the letter, HRW asked Hifter to provide more information on what measures he has taken to ensure that internally displaced people will be allowed to return home, that seized land will be returned to their rightful owners, that individuals accused of extrajudicial executions and attacks against citizens are removed from active duty and held accountable for their acts, and, lastly, why he has not released any findings into supposed investigations into such crimes. The LNA has yet to respond. MEDFORD, Ore. -- Oregon's Governor Kate Brown is arriving in Medford today to speak to local high schoolers and observe career technical education programs. It's part of a series of stops she's making to tour local high school programs. North Medford High School is the governor's third and final stop after visiting a school in Eugene and a school in Bend. North Medford High School will be showing off its CTE classes like auto shop, robotics engineering, and child development. North Medford staff says programs like CTE are geared towards getting students ready to join the workforce. "Some kids will go to college, some won't right. So those students who aren't going to a 4-year college, aren't planning on that, we need to get them ready for the workforce," said Assistant Principal Erika Wright. "They are citizens in our community. That's what our job is as a high school is to help our students be prepared to move on to whatever their next step is." Once the tour is complete, Gov. Kate Brown will be giving a modified State of the State Address before delivering it to a Joint Session of the Legislature at the opening of the 2018 session on February 5th. The speech is expected to highlight the importance of hands-on learning. She will also be discussing her vision for Oregon's future by creating lifelong learners. North Medford High School says it hopes Governor Brown will not only see how innovate programs like CTE are making a difference, but also that kids will be motivated to get involved with local government. "One of the biggest points of [the governor's visit] that we've been making to our students is that it's your civic duty to vote. It's your civic duty to be a part of what's going on in our government and in our state so you can understand how decisions are being made," said Wright. "The decisions that impact them now are decisions about education and workforce. So it's really important that kids are informed about that so that they know where they are headed and how it's going to impact their own future." House Republicans, with the approval of President Donald Trump, on Friday released a disputed GOP intelligence memo that alleges FBI abuses of its surveillance authority. The highly controversial memo from the GOP and House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes alleges that then-Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe told the committee that no surveillance warrant would have been sought for a Trump campaign aide without a disputed opposition research dossier on Trump and Russia. The memo is the most explicit Republican effort yet to discredit the FBI's investigation into Trump and Russia, alleging that the investigation was infused with an anti-Trump bias under the Obama administration and supported with political opposition research. The public release of the classified document, through a never-before-used committee rule, threatens to further fracture the frayed relationship between the President and his Justice Department and intelligence community, both of which opposed the release of the document, which is based on classified intelligence. The FBI issued a rare public warning on Wednesday that the memo omits key information that could impact its veracity. The release also raises the question of whether Trump might seek to dismiss his deputy attorney general, Rod Rosenstein, who appointed special counsel Robert Mueller. Trump signed off on releasing the memo before it was released, and the White House requested no redactions, spokesman Raj Shah said. Speaking in the Oval Office Friday, Trump implied the memo revealed political bias at the FBI. He said he believed the purported bias was a "disgrace" and said certain people should be "ashamed of themselves." Asked whether he retained confidence in Rosenstein or if he planned to fire him, Trump demurred. "You figure that one out," Trump said. Democrats have slammed the memo as an inaccurate and misleading portrait intended to undermine Mueller's probe. They disputed what the memo concluded about McCabe's testimony on the dossier as the basis for a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrant. California Rep. Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, told reporters Friday that the Republican memo "cherry picks" information from McCabe's testimony. Schiff argued that memo does not represent what McCabe told the House Intelligence Committee, and he said McCabe told the panel the "genesis of the investigation" did not begin with the dossier. The memo is focused on a warrant granted in October 2016 by the FISA court to monitor former Trump foreign policy adviser Carter Page, as well as the approval of three subsequent renewals. Even if the dossier was used as part of the application, a FISA renewal indicates that a judge was convinced that the surveillance was yielding information about the target acting as an agent of a foreign power that merited continued monitoring. FBI Director Christopher Wray addressed FBI employees in an internal video, according to two people who had viewed it, telling agency employees that it's been a tough time and unsettling, and the last few days have only made it worse. "The American people read the newspapers and watch TV, but your work is all that matters. Actions speak louder than words," Wray said in the video, the sources said. Questions about the memo The memo tries to connect what Republicans believe was a flawed application to monitor Page to the overall counterintelligence investigation into potential collusion between Russians and the Republican campaign. But the memo also undermines its own argument about the application being overly reliant on the dossier. It notes that the application also included information regarding Trump campaign foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos, suggesting there was intelligence beyond the dossier in the Page application. Papadopoulos was already under investigation for contacts with a professor connected to the Russian government who had promised dirt on Hillary Clinton. That investigation was opened months before the Page application after the FBI received information from the Australian government, CNN has reported. The memo states that the FBI counterintelligence investigation was "triggered" by Papadopoulos in July 2016, months before the Page FISA application was filed. The memo also doesn't mention that the FBI had earlier opened an investigation into the Russian intelligence agencies' hack of the Democratic National Committee. Former FBI Director James Comey, who was in charge during the 2016 campaign, downplayed the significance of the memo Friday. "That's it? Dishonest and misleading memo wrecked the House intel committee, destroyed trust with Intelligence Community, damaged relationship with FISA court, and inexcusably exposed classified investigation of an American citizen. For what? DOJ & FBI must keep doing their jobs," Comey tweeted. Rep. Trey Gowdy, a South Carolina Republican who vetted the intelligence for the Intelligence Committee in place of Nunes, tweeted that the memo did not discredit Mueller's investigation. "As I have said repeatedly, I also remain 100 percent confident in Special Counsel Robert Mueller. The contents of this memo do not - in any way - discredit his investigation," Gowdy tweeted. "While this memo raises serious concerns with the FISA process, I have been and remain confident in the overwhelming majority of the men and women serving at the FBI and DOJ." Dossier allegations The memo alleges that Christopher Steele, the ex-British intelligence agent who wrote the dossier, harbored anti-Trump financial and ideological motivations that were not included in the FISA application, and that senior DOJ officials knew about Steele's anti-Trump bias. According to the memo, that Steele told then-Associate Deputy Attorney General Bruce Ohr in September 2016 that he "was desperate that Donald Trump not get elected and was passionate about him not being president." The memo alleges that the FISA application cited a September 2016 Yahoo News article on Page's July 2016 trip to Moscow, but the application "incorrectly assesses that Steele did not provide information to Yahoo News." "The article does not corroborate the Steele dossier because it is derived from information leaked by Steele himself to Yahoo news," the memo states. But the memo then goes on to say that the FBI did not know about Steele's media contacts, alleging Steele "improperly concealed and lied" to the FBI about his media contacts. Schiff, however, said that the Yahoo News article was not referenced in the FISA application to corroborate Steele. The memo names former officials in the Obama administration who signed off on the warrants, saying former FBI Director James Comey signed three applications, and McCabe and former Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates signed at least one. But the memo also states that Rosenstein -- who was elevated under Trump -- signed off on at least one FISA application for Page. Dana Boente, who is currently the FBI general counsel and was appointed by Trump's FBI director, also signed off as well on one or more of the applications. Democrats dispute memo's findings Democrats have slammed the Republican memo as misleading and inaccurate. Schiff, saying the memo fails to provide "vital context," called the memo "a shameful effort to discredit" the FBI and Justice Department and an attempt to undermine Mueller's probe. Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said the memo "demonstrates an astonishing disregard for the truth." "Unlike almost every House member who voted in favor of this memo's release, I have actually read the underlying documents on which the memo was based. They simply do not support its conclusions," Warner said in a statement. But Nunes said in a statement that committee had "discovered serious violations of the public trust, and the American people have a right to know when officials in crucial institutions are abusing their authority for political purposes." "It is my hope that the committee's actions will shine a light on this alarming series of events so we can make reforms that allow the American people to have full faith and confidence in their governing institutions," Nunes said. Page's role The Steele dossier alleges that Page met senior Russian officials as an emissary of the Trump campaign and discussed quid-pro-quo deals relating to sanctions, business opportunities and Russia's interference in the election. After Page took a trip to Russia in July 2016, the FBI grew concerned that he had been compromised by Russian operatives, US officials briefed on the matter told CNN. Page says he never cut any political deals with the Kremlin and says there was nothing illegal in his interactions with Russian officials. "The brave and assiduous oversight by Congressional leaders in discovering this unprecedented abuse of process represents a giant, historic leap in the repair of America's democracy," Page said in a statement Friday. Ohr, the Justice Department official who was demoted amid the discovery of his ties to the opposition research firm behind the controversial Trump dossier, figures prominently in the memo. "Before and after Steele was terminated as a source, he maintained contact with DOJ via then-Associate Deputy Attorney General Bruce Ohr," the memo says. "Shortly after the election, the FBI began interviewing Ohr, documenting his communications with Steele," including "clear evidence of Steele's bias," according to the memo. It adds, "Ohr later provided the FBI will all his wife's opposition research, paid for by the DNC and Clinton campaign via Fusion GPS. The Ohrs' relationship with Settle and Fusion GPS was inexplicably concealed from (the FISA court)." Ohr previously served as an associate deputy attorney general, but was stripped of that position after his meetings with Steele and Simpson became public in December. More recently, Ohr was removed as head of the Justice Department's Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces as well. Escalation of partisan fight over Russia probe The memo was spearheaded by Nunes, who was a member of the Trump transition team, and written by majority committee staff. The committee voted along party lines to release the memo first to the full House and then to the public on Monday. At the same time, the committee rejected an effort from Schiff to also make public a 10-page Democratic counter-memo. The committee voted to release that memo to the full House, and Schiff plans to push for its release next week. FILE- In this Feb. 26, 2017, file photo, Kate Upton arrives at the Vanity Fair Oscar Party in Beverly Hills, Calif. Shares of Guess are falling after Upton posted about companyAos co-founder Paul Marciano on social media on Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2018. Guess couldnAot be immediately reached for comment. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, File) Bob Purdy is shown paddling in winds of 35 km/h off the shore of Rotary Beach in this file photo from 2005. Purdy, who died Monday of cancer, spent part of every day for more than five years paddling. Tina Fontaine is seen in an undated handout photo. A DNA expert has testified he found no traces of DNA from Raymond Cormier on a duvet cover that was used to place 15-year-old Tina Fontaine in the Red River in Winnipeg. THE CANADIAN PRESS/ HO, Winnipeg Police Service MANDATORY CREDIT Ontario Progressive Conservative party leadership candidate Christine Elliott is photographed in her office at Queen's Park in Toronto on Monday, April 13, 2015. Former Ontario legislator Christine Elliott says she is running to lead the province's Progressive Conservative party. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young FILE - A Dec. 1, 1981 file photo shows actress Natalie Wood. Investigators are now calling 87-year-old actor Robert Wagner a "person of interest" in the 1981 death of his wife Natalie Wood. Mystery has swirled around Wood's death. It was declared an accident but police reopened the case in 2011 to see whether Wagner or anyone else played a role. (AP Photo/File) A person stands near the spot where Mark Salling, who played Noah "Puck" Puckerman in the hit musical-comedy "Glee," was found dead in a remote area of Big Tujunga Canyon in the Sunland-Tujunga area of Los Angeles, Tuesday, Jan. 30, 2018. Authorities say Salling died of an apparent suicide. He was 35. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon) Morgan Geyser, 15, appears for sentencing before Waukesha County Circuit Judge Michael Bohren, Thursday, Feb. 1, 2018 in Waukesha, Wis. Geyser is one of two girls who tried to kill a classmate with a knife to appease fictional horror character Slender Man. Prosecutors want Geyser to spend the maximum 40 years in a mental hospital for stabbing Payton Leutner in suburban Milwaukee in 2014. (Rick Wood/Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel via AP, Pool) Groundhog Club co-handler Al Dereume holds Punxsutawney Phil, the weather prognosticating groundhog, during the 132nd celebration of Groundhog Day on Gobbler's Knob in Punxsutawney, Pa. Friday, Feb. 2, 2018. Phil's handlers said that the groundhog has forecast six more weeks of winter weather. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar) FILE - In this Nov. 23, 2011 file photo, film producer Harvey Weinstein poses for a photo in New York. A lawyer for Weinstein called actress Rose McGowan's claims of rape against the former Hollywood producer are "a bold lie." McGowan details her allegations against Weinstein in her new book "Brave," released Tuesday, Jan. 30, 2018. (AP Photo/John Carucci, File) This undated photo provided by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice shows John David Battaglia who is scheduled for execution Thursday, Feb. 1, 2018, in Huntsville, Texas, for the May 2001 slayings of his two daughters. (Texas Department of Criminal Justice via AP) FILE - In this Jan. 28, 2018, file photo, Ryan Seacrest arrives at the 60th annual Grammy Awards at Madison Square Garden in New York. The E! channel says an investigation into a misconduct allegation against Seacrest found insufficient evidence to support the claims. In a statement Thursday, Feb. 1, the channel said outside counsel conducted the now-ended investigation. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, File) FILE - This Nov. 9, 2016, file photo shows state Rep. Zach Fansler during a House news conference in Anchorage, Alaska. Fansler, accused of hitting a woman during a night of drinking last month, has resigned. His resignation was announced on the House floor Friday, Feb. 2, 2018. Fansler, a Bethel Democrat, was under pressure to resign from House leaders for nearly a week, since the Juneau Empire reported that a woman had accused him of hitting her shortly before the legislative session began. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen, File) International tourists increased by 40 percent against the same period last year. On average the district welcomed about 7,000 holidaymakers each day. According to Vice Chairman of the districts Peoples Committee Huynh Quang Hung, Sun Group will put into operation An Thoi - Hon Thom cable car in early February to serve tourists on the traditional New Year (Tet). The district is carrying out measures to ensure safety for tourists during Tet holiday. Located on the Vietnam-Cambodia-Thailand marine economic corridor, Phu Quoc is dubbed the pearl island. Phu Quoc features a monsoon tropical climate. It has two seasons, the dry season from November to April and the rainy season from May to October. The average temperature is 28 degrees Celsius, allowing visitors to enjoy the islands beauty at any time of the year. Phu Quoc National Park is one of the most attractive places in the district. It is home to 929 plant species, of which 42 are listed in the Vietnamese and world red books of endangered species. The park is part of the Kien Giang biosphere reserve, which was recognised as a World Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO in 2006. The island was named as one of the 10 most beautiful Asian islands to visit in summer by tourism site www.topinspired.com. "This peaceful tropical paradise is Vietnam's largest island, which has rapidly morphed from a sleepy island to a must-visit destination. It's still largely undeveloped as there is plenty of room for exploration. Dive the reefs, kayak in the bays or relax by lounging on the beach, indulging in a massage and dining on fresh seafood. It really is a perfect escape from reality and everyday life, the site said./. ONTARIO, Ore. (AP) - Anthony Montwheeler's mental health is again in question. Montwheeler was discharged from the state mental hospital in December 2016 after telling the Oregon Psychiatric Security Review Board he faked mental illness for 20 years to stay out of prison following the 1996 kidnapping of his first wife and son. The 50-year-old is now charged with murder after police say he killed a different ex-wife in January 2017 after kidnapping her in Idaho. He then collided head-on with a vehicle while fleeing police in Oregon, killing the driver. Montwheeler's attorney says in court papers that evaluators at Oregon State Hospital have deemed his client mentally unfit to stand trial. If the judge agrees, Montwheeler would be sent to the hospital to receive treatment until he's ready to assist in his defense. It is not a bad thing for us, that the route known as the Goldene Strae or the Golden Road as we will get to know it- has escaped the attention of so many. It has been spared being overrun by hordes of tourists and as you will discover GARNER, Iowa - In Iowa, 40 schools report having at least 10 percent of their student body out due to illness. Minnesota is seeing 111 new school outbreaks reported due to influenza-like illnesses. That's according to last week's flu reports from the Iowa and Minnesota Departments of Public Health. Mercy Medical Center-North Iowa and Mayo Clinic say in general, people with flu like symptoms should stay home until they're fever free for 24 hours. Family practice doctor Charity Baker says if you test positive for influenza you should stay out of public for seven days. Shaunte Brown a mother of three has now dealt with the flu. Then that night I came home and he had a 104 temp and I was like, 'nope something is wrong,' Brown said. Brown's middle child just recently tested positive for influenza A. She came in and had a doctors note right away saying he had to be out of school for a week, Brown said. We go by the guidelines of their provider, Bonnie Hiscocks said. Hiscocks is Garner-Hayfield-Ventura's school nurse. She's seen kids like Brown's walking into her office, later testing positive for influenza. You just kind of cringe because with all the news stories with how severe it is this year. Its really scary when kids are diagnosed with it. You never know what can happen to them, Hiscocks said. Hiscocks doesn't want to see anything happen to her students so she's sent out an email to parents that the flu is here and to keep them home if they don't feel good. Again, their rule of thumb is kids should stay home for however long their doctor recommends. It hasn't been super crazy busy. I think parents are doing a good job that if kids do wake up with a system they do stay home, Hiscocks said. Parents like Brown hope it stays that way, stressing she was fine having her kid miss school for a week. I was OK with that. Im one of those parents that strongly believe if your kids are sick don't take them in because not only are you exposing everyone else they could pick up something else as well, Brown said. NORTHWOOD, Iowa A charge of criminal mischief has been dropped against a man who vandalized a casino gaming machine. 55-year-old Dion Wesley King of Mason City was arrested on Saturday at Diamond Jo Casino. Authorities say he was seen on video surveillance punching the touch screen of a gaming machine multiple times, causing an estimated $2,000 in damage. King was accused of 2nd degree criminal mischief but that charge has now been dropped. The Worth County Attorneys Office filed to dismiss the charge, noting that King has paid the casino full restitution and they requested the dismissal. According to online records, King will have to pay any court costs in this matter. MASON CITY, Iowa - Now a days, it's not just cops who have a camera installed in their car. You've probably heard of taxi drivers putting them on their dashboards but what about your everyday drivers? According to area lawyers video like this could help you in civil court if it came down to it. This video is from a Mason City resident who didn't want to be interviewed but was happy to share what's he's been capturing since he installed his dash cam. Local law enforcement say they're not seeing a huge trend in residents having cameras but they know more and more are looking into it. Brad Anthony told KIMT News 3 while at the local coffee shop he's not too concerned about recording what happens while he's driving. Not too much but I can see why some people may want them in there, Anthony said. Anthony says he's not a big fan on the whole camera's watching you concept but says he thinks this will be a trend coming soon. GARNER, Iowa A woman has been sentenced for stealing pain medication from a nursing home resident. 51-year-old Denise Ranae Wagner of Kanawha pleaded guilty to a serious misdemeanor charge of dependent adult abuse. Authorities say Wagner took a fentanyl patch from a resident of the Kanawha Community Home in June 2017 while Wagner worked there in the kitchen. On Friday, Wagner was sentenced to 14 days in jail, a $315 fine, and two years of supervised probation. Wagner must also pay restitution of $75. CHARLES CITY, Iowa A Chicago man has been accused of selling heroin in Floyd County. 22-year-old Lilshawon Phillip Stewart has been charged with a controlled substance violation. Authorities say he sold heroin to law enforcement personnel at a home in the 300 block of 4th Avenue in Charles City on January 16 and 17. Charges were filed against Stewart on Monday and he was booked into the Floyd County Jail. DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - Iowa Republicans appear united in proposing about $32 million in new funding toward the state's roughly $3.2 billion K-12 education budget. A GOP-controlled Senate education committee voted 9-6 Thursday for the 1 percent increase. Data shows per-pupil spending would go up by $67, totaling $6,731. The vote comes one day after the education committee in the Republican-majority House approved a similar measure. The funding, for the budget year beginning in July, is expected to be finalized next week. The amount is less than the $54 million increase proposed recently by Gov. Kim Reynolds. It's also less than the $40 million in extra funding approved last year. Republicans say the funding is adequate amid budget constraints. Democrats argue it's not enough to prevent bigger classroom sizes and reduced staffing. FOREST CITY, Iowa A California man is facing drug charges in Winnebago County. 19-year-old Carlos Antonio Guizar Lopez of Wasco, CA is accused of possession of marijuana with intent to deliver and failure to affix a drug tax stamp. Law enforcement was called to the Mills Motel in Lake Mills on January 19 for someone refusing to leave their room. When police arrived at the motel, they say Lopez came to the door and the smell of marijuana could be detected. Lopez was arrested and a Forest City K9 dog was brought into check Lopez suitcase. The dog indicated drugs were inside and law enforcement says a search found a total of about 13 ounces of marijuana in eight separate bags. Lopez has entered a not guilty plea and his trial is set for March 28 in Winnebago County District Court. MASON CITY, Iowa - For many of us its hard to imagine what it could be like to serve overseas, but our fellow family, co-workers, and friends do. Now a new report is showing those who served in Afghanistan and Iraq could benefit from seeking mental health help. Will Arnold served in Afghanistan for four years. Born and raised in Mason City, he's now back in his hometown. I mean we were over there trying to help people, trying to liberate them from the Taliban who was there for many years, Arnold said. Arnold says after serving his country Everyone experiences different things over there, you seen stuff, done stuff, that many don't understand, Arnold said. The military did a two day de-briefing on how they can receive mental health help, should they need it. They tell you about it they don't force you to do it. They give you a de-compression time, Arnold said. Arnold knows getting mental health help is important and could be even lifesaving. He's watched a fellow brother who he served with commit suicide, leaving him in shock. Its tough. Feels like someone like losing a family member someone you spent that much time with you experienced things a lot of people haven't, Arnold said. According to the National Academics of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine the number of suicides for veterans from both Afghanistan and Iraq have reached a record high. The mental trauma let alone the physical trauma that soldier endures in these deployments is very difficult for someone, John Crom said. Crom who's been a deputy in Cerro Gordo County for 11 years now, served in Afghanistan from 2009 to 2010. I myself have been told that after coming back I acted differently, I wasn't the same person, Crom said. Crom says that was hard to hear at first but he knew it was true. He doesn't feel seeking mental health help is needed for him. The report shows nearly half of American veterans who need mental health care don't get it. Arnold and Crom agree those who served could seek it out. I think all veterans probably need that. PTSD is a huge thing you have heard anything about it like WWII, Korea and all of a sudden its a huge thing that's been brought out, Arnold said. NEW YORK, Feb 1 (Reuters) - Steve Pattyn, a managing director and U.S. equity analyst for Och-Ziff Capital Management Group LLC, has left the company, a spokesman said in an e-mail on Thursday. Pattyn, who had a focus on the energy and utilities sector, is now a managing member at Yaupon Capital Management, according to his LinkedIn. He started in February. Yaupon will be an energy and utilities focused alternative asset management firm set to launch later in 2018, according to a source. It was not immediately clear how much capital it had raised. Pattyn had been at Och-Ziff for nearly 11 years and was formerly an analyst at Morgan Stanley. (Reporting by Catherine Ngai; Editing by Sandra Maler) * SSEC -0.4 pct, CSI300 -0.2 pct, HSI 0.0 pct * HK->Shanghai Connect daily quota used -6.2 pct, Shanghai->HK daily quota used 15 pct * FTSE China A50 -0.4 pct, BNY Mellon ADR China Select Index -1.7 pct SHANGHAI, Feb 2 (Reuters) - China stocks extended losses on Friday as investors booked profits after recent sharp gains, with the Shanghai benchmark index and the start-up board poised for their worst weekly losses in nearly two years. ** Investors continued to dump small-caps after firms including Leshi flagged startling losses for 2017. Sentiment was further dampened as a slew of companies suspended trading in an apparent effort to avoid margin calls. ** Meanwhile, major shareholders of a growing list of companies have announced plans to buy shares in their firms, stirring memories of the 2015 stock market crash that sent shockwaves across global financial markets. ** At 04:03 GMT, the Shanghai Composite index was down 14.16 points or 0.4 percent at 3,432.82. It was on track for a weekly loss of 3.5 percent. ** China's blue-chip CSI300 index was down 0.2 percent, with the financial sector sub-index lower by 0.42 percent, the consumer staples sector down 1.76 percent, the real estate index up 0.67 percent and healthcare sub-index up 0.19 percent. The CSI300 has shed 3.2 percent this week. ** The smaller Shenzhen index was down 0.43 percent and the start-up board ChiNext Composite index was higher by 0.71 percent. Still, ChiNext looked set for a near 6 percent slump for the week. ** Chinese H-shares listed in Hong Kong rose 0.5 percent at 13,498.27, while the Hang Seng Index was down 0.01 percent at 32,640.12. ** Around the region, MSCI's Asia ex-Japan stock index slid 0.4 percent and Japan's Nikkei index 1.3 percent. ** The yuan was quoted at 6.2821 per U.S. dollar, 0.23 percent firmer than the previous close of 6.2965. ** The largest percentage gainers in the main Shanghai Composite index were SJEC Corp up 9.99 percent, followed by Anhui Leimingkehua Co Ltd gaining 8.48 percent and ShanXi Coking Co Ltd up by 8.19 percent. ** The largest percentage losses in the Shanghai index were Guizhou Chitianhua Co Ltd down 10.03 percent, followed by Routon Electronic Co Ltd losing 10.01 percent and Shandong Jintai Group Co Ltd down by 10.01 percent. ** Through Thursday's close, the Shanghai stock index was up 4.23 percent so far this year, while China's H-share index was up 14.7 percent. Shanghai stocks have declined nearly 1.4 percent this month. ** The top gainers among H-shares were People's Insurance Group of China Co Ltd up 5 percent, followed by Guangzhou Automobile Group Co Ltd gaining 3.18 percent and Air China Ltd up by 3.01 percent. ** The three biggest H-shares percentage decliners were Dongfeng Motor Group Co Ltd which has fallen 1.20 percent, China Minsheng Banking Corp Ltd which has lost 0.8 percent and Great Wall Motor Co Ltd down by 0.6 percent. ** About 11.44 billion shares have traded so far on the Shanghai exchange, roughly 56.3 percent of the market's 30-day moving average of 20.31 billion shares a day. The volume traded was 26.05 billion as of the last full trading day. ** As of 04:03 GMT, China's A-shares were trading at a premium of 29.96 percent over the Hong Kong-listed H-shares. ** The Shanghai stock index is above its 50-day moving average and above its 200-day moving average. ** The price-to-earnings ratio of the Shanghai index was 15.85 as of the last full trading day while the dividend yield was 1.8 percent. ** So far this week, the market capitalisation of the Shanghai stock index has fallen by -2.65 percent to 30.48 trillion yuan. ** In Hong Kong, the sub-index of the Hang Seng index tracking energy shares rose 2.7 percent while the IT sector fell 0.1 percent. The top gainer on Hang Seng was AAC Technologies Holdings Inc up 7 percent, while the biggest loser was China Merchants Port Holdings Co Ltd which was down 5.00 percent. <^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ China stock market graphics suite ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^> (Reporting by Samuel Shen, Luoyan Liu and John Ruwitch; Editing by Kim Coghill) HANOI, Feb 2 (Reuters) - Here's a snapshot of Vietnamese dong exchange rates in the official and unofficial markets, indicative SJC gold prices in Hanoi and interbank offered rates at 0405 GMT. February 2 USD/VND mid-point 22,426 USD/VND interbank 22,709/22,710 USD/VND unofficial 22,710/22,725 SJC gold (mln dong/tael) 36.72/36.94 Interbank offered rates Overnight 1.1-1.8 1 week 1.3-2.1 1 month 3.3-3.8 3 months 3.7-4.7 NOTES: As of Jan. 4, 2016, the State Bank of Vietnam has begun setting the mid-point rate on daily basis, allowing dollar/dong transactions to move in a band of +/- 3 percent around the mid point. The dong's exchange rate against other currencies is not restricted by a band. Interbank offered rates are the latest indicative bid/ask prices, quoted from market sources. One tael is equivalent to 37.5 grams or 1.21 troy ounces. SJC gold prices are quoted by state-owned Saigon Jewelry Co. For more interbank rate fixings released at 0400 GMT, click on . For Vietnam market overview click on: Vietnam's bonds market auctions: Bonds auction results: (Compiled by Hanoi Newsroom) (Recasts with finmin, detail, background) TOKYO, Feb 2 (Reuters) - Japan's financial regulator conducted a spot inspection on Coincheck Inc on Friday to protect users, Finance Minister Taro Aso said, as authorities tried to pin down how hackers stole $530 million of digital money from the Tokyo-based cryptocurrency exchange. Last week's theft - one of the world's biggest cyber heists - highlighted the vulnerabilities in trading an asset that policymakers are struggling to regulate, as well as the broader risks for Japan as it aims to leverage the fintech industry to stimulate economic growth. The regulator, the Financial Services Agency, earlier this week issued a business improvement order to Coincheck and said it would investigate all cryptocurrency exchanges in Japan for security gaps following the hack. "(FSA) is conducting on-the-spot inspection today," Aso, who doubles as financial services minister, told reporters on Friday. Coincheck has been ordered to submit a report on the hack and measures for preventing a recurrence by Feb. 13. But the inspection was conducted ahead of the deadline to "ensure protection of users," Aso said. The FSA said on Friday it had ordered all cryptocurrency exchanges to submit a report on their system risk management. The FSA has already conducted an interview-based hearing with Coincheck company but questions remain, a source with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters on Friday. Another source said the checks by some 10 inspectors started 8 a.m. Friday (2300 GMT Thursday), with the aim of examining financial conditions at Coincheck, the company's responses to clients and reviewing its system managing structure. Tokyo-based Coincheck said on Sunday it would repay about 46.3 billion yen ($425 million) of the virtual money. The FSA has said it had yet to confirm whether the company had sufficient funds for the reimbursement. The hack has drawn into focus Japan's approach to regulating cryptocurrency exchanges. Last year, it became the first country to regulate exchanges at the national level - a move that won praise for boosting innovation and protecting consumers, contrasting sharply with crackdowns in South Korea and China. Authorities in several countries are also investigating last week's heist involving the NEM cryptocurrency, a member of the foundation behind the digital coin said on Thursday. Last year's explosive rise in the value of digital coins and the flood of new retail investors drawn to the market have rattled global regulators nervous about a sector used largely for speculation. Officials have said cryptocurrencies are used by criminals to launder money. Bitcoin, the world's largest cryptocurrency, skidded 11 percent on Thursday to its lowest since November, as a Facebook ban on cryptocurrency adverts and a growing regulatory backlash against the nascent market frightened investors. Bitcoin extended its slide to $8660 on after Thursday's drop to as low as $9,022 on the Luxembourg-based Bitstamp exchange , less than half the peak price of almost $20,000 it reached in December. (Reporting by Takahiko Wada, Tetsushi Kajimoto, Taiga Uranaka and Kaori Kaneko; Editing by Richard Pullin & Shri Navaratnam) Feb 2 (Reuters) - Following are domestic prices of Vietnam's key commodities. Unit: Million dong per tonne Item Jan 29-Feb 2 Jan 22-26 Location Robusta beans 36.4-37.0 36.3-37.1 Central Highlands Black pepper 64.0 62.0 Southern region Refined sugar 15.0-16.0 15.0-16.0 Southern region Summer-autumn paddy 6.1-6.7 5.2-6.4 Mekong Delta SJC gold 3.689-3.706 3.689-3.732 Hanoi, HCMC City NOTES: Gold prices are low/high selling prices quoted in million dong per 3.75-gram ingot during the week by top manufacturer SJC. Prices in the previous week are updated. Coffee export prices Rice export prices Historical data Central bank's gold auction ($1 = 22,707 dong) (Reporting by Mi Nguyen) Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and may not reflect those of Kitco Metals Inc. The author has made every effort to ensure accuracy of information provided; however, neither Kitco Metals Inc. nor the author can guarantee such accuracy. This article is strictly for informational purposes only. It is not a solicitation to make any exchange in commodities, securities or other financial instruments. Kitco Metals Inc. and the author of this article do not accept culpability for losses and/ or damages arising from the use of this publication. SINGAPORE, Feb 2 (IFR) - Asian credits were flat in thin muted trade flows ahead of the release of US non-farm payrolls figures later tonight. "The market is quite subdued mainly because of the volatility in the US Treasury yields," said one trader. Overnight long-term UST yields had surged with the 10-year and 30-year levels rising 6bp and 7bp, respectively. The muted trade was reflected in Asian credit spreads as the iTraxx Asia ex-Japan investment-grade index, at 64bp/65bp, was largely unchanged from yesterday's close. Yesterday's US$2.5bn jumbo offering of bonds from Chinese asset manager Cinda were faring reasonably well, given the soft markets. The 3.875% 2023s were tightening to 137bp from reoffer spreads of 140bp over UST, while the 4.625% 2028s were about 1bp tighter. There were no quotes for the 5% 2048s. Poly Real Estate's 3.95% 2023s were also performing strongly with the notes quoted at 148bp/143.5bp, after pulling in from reoffer of 155bp. Noble's bonds were slightly down with the 6.75% 2020s seen at 50.3/51.4 and the 8.75% 2022s at 51.77/52.9. Its 6% perpetuals were a touch firmer at a cash price of 6.30/8.40 against Wednesday's 5.00/8.00. (Reporting by Kit Yin Boey; Editing by Dharsan Singh) Keywords: MARKETS ASIA DEBT/ BRASILIA, Feb 2 (Reuters) - Brazil has shelved a planned railway to ship commodities destined for China through Peru as it was too costly and faced "absurd" engineering challenges, a Brazilian official said. The 5,000-km (3,300-mile) railway over the Andes to the Pacific coast, announced during a visit by President Xi Jinping in 2014, was meant to speed up soybean and iron ore exports to China at a lower cost by bypassing the Panama Canal. But at an estimated cost of $80 billion, the railway would not be commercially viable if it transported just commodities and not more valuable goods, Jorge Arbache, vice planning minister for international affairs, told Reuters in an interview late on Thursday. Peru also opposed the planned route that cut through one of the country's most important nature reserves, he said. "The project has stopped, because it was extremely costly and the feasibility study was very unsatisfactory. At this time, the railway is not on the government's agenda," Arbache said. "The engineering challenges were absurd." The Peruvian government has said the railway could be feasible if it took a more direct route through Bolivia that would reduce costs and have less of an environmental impact, in addition to giving Peru's landlocked neighbor better access to Pacific export markets. Arbache said talks on an alternative route were only at an "embryonic" stage. China is Brazil's biggest trading partner and invested $20.9 billion in the South American country in 2017, the most since 2010, as a recession eroded asset prices and attracted investors, according to the planning ministry. The bulk of that investment has gone into energy, logistics and agriculture. Arbache said Brazil expects China to take a longer-term view and diversify its investments towards Brazilian manufacturing and services, including the health and education sectors. (Reporting by Anthony Boadle and Leonardo Goy; Editing by Bernadette Baum) ATHENS, Feb 2 (Reuters) - Greece will sell 875 million euros ($753.13 million) of three-month treasury bills on February 7 to refinance a maturing issue, debt agency PDMA said on Friday. Athens rolled over three-month T-bills last month, with the paper priced to yield 0.99 percent. In a rollover, T-bill holders renew their positions instead of getting paid on the maturing paper they hold. The settlement date of the new T-bills will be February 9. Only primary dealers will be allowed to participate and no commission is to be paid. Primary dealers can submit non-competitive bids for up to an additional 30 percent of the auctioned amount until February 8, PDMA said. (Reporting by Lefteris Papadimas; Editing by Peter Graff) BEIJING, Feb 2 (Reuters) - HNA-Caissa Travel Group Co Ltd , a unit of China's beleaguered HNA Group , said on Friday it would scrap its share private placement plan mainly due to changes in regulations and market conditions. HNA-Caissa Travel had planned to raise up to 3.09 billion yuan ($492 million) via the private placement, which it had revised three times from an original plan for up to 8.0 billion yuan announced in 2016. The tourism service company will apply to withdraw its proposal from the securities regulator, it said in a filing to Shenzhen stock exchange on Friday. Trading in its shares has been suspended since January 19. Since late 2016, the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) has been tightening its approval process for private placements to clamp down on speculative acquisitions, money misuse and irrational share valuations. HNA-Caissa is one of many units of HNA Group, an aviation-to-financial services conglomerate which has been scrutinized over its ownership structure recently. ($1 = 6.2820 Chinese yuan renminbi) (Reporting by Min Zhang in BEIJING and Lee Chyen Yee in SINGAPORE; editing by Jason Neely) MUMBAI, Feb 2 (Reuters) - India will allow unrestricted export of onions, the government said in an order on Friday, as prices of the politically-sensitive vegetable fell over a third in a month. The world's biggest exporter of onion had imposed curbs on overseas sales late last year in an attempt to soften local prices. In November, the government set a minimum price of $850 per tonne for overseas sale of onions, but subsequently reduced it to $700 per tonne. Unrestricted exports from India could soften prices in key importing countries such as Bangladesh, Malaysia, the United Arab Emirates and Sri Lanka, traders said. (Reporting by Rajendra Jadhav; Editing by Amrutha Gayathri) (Adds more analyst comments, updates prices, changes dateline from BEIJING) By Eric Onstad LONDON, Feb 2 (Reuters) - Lead prices eased on profit-taking and a firmer dollar, having hit 6-1/2 year highs earlier in the session on Friday after Chinese mines shut for the winter. Benchmark zinc on the London Metal Exchange hit $2,685 per tonne, the strongest since July 29, 2011, before reversing. It was down 0.5 percent at $2,650.50 by 1102 GMT. "It's the time of year when Chinese mining of zinc and lead comes under a lot of pressure when Inner Mongolia shuts down for winter," said Colin Hamilton, director of commodities research at BMO Capital Markets. "It's clearly tightened up the concentrate side of the market and that's feeding through into LME pricing." Shortages of lead concentrate in China have become so severe that treatment charges -- the fees that smelters charge to turn ore into metal - have skidded to zero or negative levels in some cases, he added. * DOLLAR: Metals were pressured by a firmer dollar index as the euro held near three-year highs since the euro zone's economic revival and expectations of monetary tightening made the single currency more attractive. A stronger dollar makes commodities priced in the greenback more expensive for buyers using other currencies. * ZINC/LEAD SPREAD: The gap between sister metals zinc and lead were expected to continue to narrow with lead seen extending gains on shortages and zinc pulling back slightly since it had already had a strong rise, Hamilton said. The premium of zinc over lead hit the highest in over a decade at $948 a tonne on Monday and has since retreated to $870. * LEAD TIME SPREAD: The premium of cash lead over three month lead rose to $21.50 a tonne by Thursday's close, the highest in over a month, indicating a shortage of material for immediately delivery. * COPPER: Three month LME copper was down 0.3 percent at $7,097 a tonne, retreating from the highest in a week at $7,188.50. Copper has the smallest speculative long position of the LME complex at 4.3 percent of open interest, according to Alastair Munro at broker Marex Spectron. * TIN: LME tin bucked the weaker trend and added 0.7 percent to $21,545 a tonne after LME on-warrant inventories - those not earmarked for delivery and therefore available to investors - slid 16 percent to 1,155 tonnes, very close to the record low of 1,125 tonnes seen in November 2016. For the top stories in metals and other news, click or <^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Top Base and Precious Metals Analysis - GFMS ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^> (Reporting by Eric Onstad; Editing by Elaine Hardcastle) By Marianna Parraga and Adriana Barrera MEXICO CITY, Feb 2 (Reuters) - Mexico has raised the bar on oil contracts in Latin America after sweetening terms to attract international energy firms, luring $93 billion in future investment in the region's first big auction this year. On Wednesday, Mexico awarded 19 of 29 deepwater blocks on offer, comfortably more than the seven areas expected to be assigned. Anglo-Dutch oil major Royal Dutch Shell emerged as the biggest winner, with nine blocks. Unique for generous terms such as setting a cap on royalties that oil firms can pledge to the government in bids, Mexico faces off this year with Brazil, Argentina, Ecuador and Uruguay. They will all hold auctions for oil and gas fields in 2018 that require billions of dollars in investment from foreign firms. Mexico is due to hold major auctions in March and July. While Brazil's prolific deepwater presalt oilfields are expected to attract aggressive bidding from oil majors, other regional rivals could be forced to revise the terms of their auctions if Mexico scores another win in its next auction for shallow water areas in March, analysts said. Argentina and Ecuador have already changed their terms over the past year in preparation for their 2018 auctions. Argentina has lowered labor costs and some taxes, while Ecuador switched to production sharing from service contracts. Oil prices have reached three-year highs near $70 per barrel in 2018, giving the world's top energy companies a cash boost and improving the chances that they will have the funds needed for big-ticket projects in Latin American. The industry is, however, emerging from a recession that cost tens of thousands of jobs and forced companies to slash spending on expensive projects such as those in deep waters. Oil majors have committed to keeping tight control on costs and will only bid for what they see as the most profitable projects. Oil executives and industry specialists say the terms on offer in Mexico, as well as the potential for major finds in the country's deep water, made it attractive on Wednesday. At the auction, the decisive bidding parameter was the cash bonus that firms pledged. Shell won several bids with cash bonuses that drew surprised gasps from an audience mostly made up of executives from bidding firms and members of the media. Mexico collected $525 million in cash. While the government has limited its own take at the auction, the estimated $93 billion in investments pledged to develop the blocks auctioned is about 1.5 times greater than the amount involved in the previous eight auctions. "COMPETITION FOR CAPITAL' After the government of Mexico started auctioning oilfields in 2015, it tweaked the terms of the bidding process several times, following a historic energy reform that ended state oil firm Pemex's 75-year monopoly over the sector. The liberalization, the most ambitious plank of President Enrique Pena Nieto's economic policy, started just as oil prices crashed in 2013-2014. The government had to balance the need for a big enough take for the state to placate opponents of the reform with ensuring there was enough potential profit to attract foreign firms. "Mexico understood how tough the competition for capital was in a very difficult oil price environment," consultant Pablo Medina told Reuters. After failing to award a large number of blocks in previous auctions, the government regarded the results of this week's deepwater bidding round as a success. As well as the limits on royalties, sweeteners included allowing foreign firms to propose areas to be included in the bidding rounds and relaxing the qualification process. Mexico also put a stop to "additional investment pledges." This makes it harder for small companies to win by making unrealistic promises, but further limits the mandatory investment in projects. "What we are looking for is that the market tells us how big royalty should be and how much government take is possible to achieve," Salvador Ugalde, head of the Mexican Finance Ministry's Hydrocarbon Income Unit, said Wednesday. Brazil, which plans a busy auction schedule for 2018, does not expect Mexico's auctions will lower interest in its own offerings, said Marcio Felix, Brazil's oil and gas secretary. In Brazil's last round in October, Shell and BP were the biggest winners. "We have a set of companies that have an appetite for a certain type of asset," Felix told Reuters on Thursday. <^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Link to Graphic on offered areas: Shell sweeps nine of 19 blocks awarded in Mexico oil auction ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^> (Additional reporting by Marta Nogueira in Rio de Janeiro; Editing by Tom Brown) NEW YORK, Feb 2 (Reuters) - Plains Pipeline LP set a new committed rate for a portion of its crude pipeline in Lea County, New Mexico, to be effective Feb. 1 according to a filing with a U.S. regulator. * Plains set a rate of 85.17 cents per barrel for committed shippers with a 10-year commitment for a minimum acreage dedication of 4,500 acres. * Plains established the rate for the first time in this filing. (Reporting by Devika Krishna Kumar in New York Editing by Chizu Nomiyama) Following are news stories, press reports and events to watch that may affect Poland's financial markets on Friday. ALL TIMES GMT (Poland: GMT + 1 hour): PLAY Mobile operator Play plans to accelerate investment in its network this year and wants to build over 1,000 cell towers in 2018, Play Chief Executive Joergen Bank-Jensen said, according to the newspaper Parkiet. WIRTUALNA POLSKA Publisher Wirtualna Polska Holding is in talks with Polish and foreign entities - mainly from the e-commerce sector - regarding their takeover, Wirtualna's Chief Executive Jacek Swiderski told the newspaper Rzeczpospolita. FURNITURE INDUSTRY The value of the furniture market in Poland may grow by about 7 percent in 2018 to 50 billion zlotys ($15.05 billion), Parkiet reported. ****Reuters has not verified stories reported by Polish media and does not vouch for their accuracy.**** For other related news, double click on: Polish equities E.Europe equities Polish money Polish debt Eastern Europe All emerging markets Hot stocks Stock markets Market debt news Forex news For real-time index quotes, double click on: Warsaw WIG20 Budapest BUX Prague PX ($1 = 3.3222 zlotys) (Reporting by Warsaw Bureau, editing by Larry King) MOSCOW, Feb 2 (Reuters) - Russian government bonds, known as OFZs, rallied on Friday following a U.S. Treasury report cited by Bloomberg that warned about the implications of sanctions on holding Russian debt. Investors in OFZ bonds, popular among foreign market players thanks to their lucrative yields, have been on alert about new possible sanctions recently, buying into Russian debt pre-emptively due to fears of losing access to them in the future. A Treasury Department report, cited by Bloomberg on Friday, indicated Washington was wary of imposing sanctions on buying rouble-denominated OFZ bonds, warning the move could cause financial turmoil and would also lead to Russian retaliation. "A U.S. conclusion that sanctioning Russia sovereign debt could be uncertain and risky for global markets should unleash further downside for OFZ yields," Dmitry Polevoy, chief economist at ING Bank in Moscow, said in a note. Yields of OFZ bonds maturing in 2033 , one of the most liquid papers on the market radar, dropped to an all-time low of 7.44 percent as of 1511 GMT from levels of around 7.48 percent seen before the report. A decline in yields, which move in the opposite direction with bond prices, suggested an increased demand for OFZ. "Those OFZ bonds have been snapped up recently in any size of the offer and at any price," said a senior trader at a major state bank in Moscow. Yields of OFZ bonds maturing in 2028 , also one of the most popular, briefly dropped to 7.17 percent after the report but later recovered to previous levels of 7.21 percent. Fears of risks of limited access to OFZ bonds that offer yields above many other comparable bonds fanned demand for them recently. At the latest auctions of the finance ministry this week demand for Russian government bonds exceeded the amount of paper on offer by more than three times. The finance ministry has not immediately replied to a request to comment on the report. Previously, the finance ministry warned that possible U.S. sanctions on Russia's debt would harm foreign investors, who play a major role on the OFZ market by holding more than 32 percent of all OFZ bonds issued by Russia. (Reporting by Andrey Ostroukh, Editing by William Maclean) * Clashes between local allies threaten three-year campaign * Saudi Arabia, UAE see war as essential to countering Iran * Pro-coalition forces have not capitalised on enemy divisions By Stephen Kalin and Noah Browning NEHM, Yemen/DUBAI, Feb 2 (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have pumped billions of dollars into fighting Houthi rebels in Yemen, but the Gulf states' three-year campaign risks being derailed after their local allies turned on each other this week. It was a serious setback for the Saudi-led coalition whose thousands of air strikes have so far failed to deliver victory over the Houthis, who are aligned with Iran. Riyadh and its allies see victory in Yemen, where they are backed by U.S. weapons and intelligence, as vital if they are to counter Iran's growing influence in the Middle East, a priority for Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. But coalition prospects have been dimmed by an armed uprising this week by fighters in southern Yemen, who have been backed the United Arab Emirates (UAE), against government forces until now on the same side. This comes at a time when the coalition war effort has already been running into trouble. Late last year, the coalition moved quickly to support former president Ali Abdullah Saleh when he seemed to be about to end his backing for the Houthis, but he was killed by the Houthis. Since then, there has been no sign of a new strategy to end the war in Yemen and Saudi efforts to confront Iran in other theatres including Syria appear to be losing momentum. The Houthi-controlled capital Sanaa appears within the grasp of pro-coalition Yemenis, who retook territory from the Houthis after they suffered their own internal struggles late last year. But the coalition still faces formidable obstacles. From the Nehm front line 40 km (25 miles) east of Sanaa, the lights of the city are visible at night. The mountains in between are however full of snipers and landmines. "The geography takes time (to overcome). It is hard to get supplies in and evacuations take too long," said Major General Nasr Dhibany of the Yemeni army on a recent tour of the area. The uprising by UAE-backed southern Yemeni separatists against forces loyal to the Saudi-based and internationally recognised government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi could further complicate efforts to dislodge the Houthis from Sanaa. Experts say Saudi Arabia and the UAE will need to think again if strains persist between their local allies. "Many key powers had thought it could somehow just shelve the political grievances among its allies, focus on the fight against the Houthis and everything would work itself out," said Adam Baron of the European Council on Foreign Relations. "This shows the folly of that thinking. Without a large-scale political solution, Yemen's conflict will always develop new tentacles." With U.N.-mediated peace talks stalled for over a year, both the Houthis and the coalition-backed government are still hoping to win by force, even as their local alliances unravel. OUR NECKS The southern separatists want to restore the independent state of South Yemen, which united with North Yemen in 1990. They have fought alongside President Hadi's forces, but rose up this week and seized control of the southern port of Aden after Hadi refused to sack his prime minister, whom the separatists accuse of mismanagement and corruption. While the UAE says it continues to support the government and the mission of defeating the Houthis, some southern leaders are based in Abu Dhabi and their troops have been armed and funded by the UAE. The UAE and Saudi Arabia have presented their cultivation of different factions on the anti-Houthi side as a division of labour aimed at the same goal, but the contradictions of the policy have now become clear. Prime Minister Ahmed bin Daghr remains holed up in a fortified palace in Aden. Though Saudi and UAE troops protect him, armed southerners are posted near the gates in a reminder of the new realities on the ground. A government source in the palace accused the UAE of backing the uprising to assert its supremacy in the South, saying the southern secessionists were "just a foreign tool like the Houthis". "Our necks are in the hands of the UAE," the source told Reuters by phone, declining to be identified. UAE officials could not be reached for comment, but Foreign Affairs Minister Anwar Gargash on Twitter described the UAE stance as "clear and principled in its support for the Arab coalition led by Saudi Arabia", adding: "No solace for those seeking sedition." A coalition statement on Thursday said Saudi Arabia and the UAE remained united in seeking a solution that would "preserve the Yemeni state", and spokesman Colonel Turki al-Maliki told Reuters the coalition was monitoring the situation. "The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and its Coalition partners have come together to relieve humanitarian suffering in Yemen," he added in a written statement. Some pro-government forces withdrew from southern battlefronts, where they had been facing the Houthis, and returned to Aden to help fight the separatists. "It's obvious that Hadi and Saudi Arabia are trying to reduce the UAE's influence over the South," a senior southern secessionist official told Reuters. Houthi fighters meanwhile face discord within their own ranks and have lost some territory to government forces. Yemeni officials said the rebels were forcibly conscripting fighters and recruiting child soldiers. "From interrogations with (Houthi) captives we see that their morale has collapsed," said General Dhibany. But it not clear that the coalition can push the Houthis out of Sanaa. The main front line east of the city has moved only 80 km (50 miles) in about two years and the rocky terrain leaves government troops exposed. In one day last week, at least 10 Yemeni soldiers were killed at the Nehm area, officials said. (Editing by Sami Aboudi and Giles Elgood) By Francesco Canepa FRANKFURT, Feb 2 (Reuters) - Spain's Banco Popular could have been worth more than a billion euros when it was sold to larger rival Santander for just one euro in June, the independent valuation used by authorities to inform the sale showed on Friday. Saddled with bad debt and facing a run on its deposits, Popular became the first bank to be wound down using new European rules aimed at avoiding bailouts by taxpayers. But its sale for a nominal one euro, orchestrated by the European Union's Single Resolution Board (SRB), was contested by investors who lost 850 million euros ($1.06 billion) as a result and demand compensation. In a confidential report sent to the SRB at the time and published on Friday, consultancy firm Deloitte valued Popular's equity at 1.3 billion euros in its most optimistic scenario, or "best case". The publication of Deloitte's report, in which Popular is referred to using the code-name Hippocrates, marks a victory for investors who had been asking for more information about the SRB's decision. In its "worst case" and base estimates, which were made public by authorities after the sale, Deloitte put Popular's value several billion euros less than zero. Deloitte's report cautioned its estimates were "highly uncertain" because they were put together in just 12 days and with patchy information, adding the real value of the bank was best determined through an open and competitive sale process. "The best offer received following such a sale process is likely to be the best and most reliable indication of the value of the bank," the firm's consultants, whose name was redacted, said in the report dated June 6, a day before Popular's sale. Some key information, such as Deloitte's estimate of how much money creditors could have recouped if the bank had been put into insolvency rather than sold, was blanked out in the document published by the SRB on Friday. European Union rules state that creditors should not be left worse off after a bank is wound down using new "bail-in" arrangements than they would be if the firm had simply gone into insolvency. The consultants highlighted some missing data and incorrect property valuations. "Most of the inconsistencies identified are due to the inadequate consideration of the ECO rules," Deloitte said, referring to Spanish regulations on the valuation of real estate assets. The Spanish High Court is investigating the role of former Popular chairmen Angel Ron and Emilio Saracho in Popular's collapse following complaints by shareholders. The former directors have denied any wrongdoing. The court is looking at allegations of false financial statements, investor fraud, market manipulation, and possible insider trading at Popular, according to law firm Quinn Emanuel, which represents a group of bondholders who want to join the investigation. Launched in 2014 to end an era of bank bailouts, the SRB came under fire last year for deciding not to intervene in two failing Italian banks, weeks after forcing losses on Popular investors. ($1 = 0.8011 euros) (Reporting by Francesco Canepa; editing by Andrew Roche) MADRID, Feb 2 (Reuters) - Spain will present a candidate for the position of vice president of the European Central Bank, though a final name had yet to be confirmed, Spain's government spokesman Inigo Mendez de Vigo said on Friday. "The government has not taken any decision on the candidature. The time limit is until Feb. 7 and we will announce a Spanish candidate. No decision has been made," De Vigo said at the press conference following the weekly cabinet meeting. Spain's Economy Minister Luis de Guindos, who is rumoured to be Spain's candidate for the post, has said he is convinced the position would go to a Spaniard. (Reporting by Paul Day; Editing by Emma Pinedo) MADRID, Feb 2 (Reuters) - Spanish property developer Metrovacesa cut its listing price late on Thursday and delayed its stock market flotation by one day in a negative sign for one of the sectors that has attracted most investor activity in Spain in recent years. The company, which owns the largest land bank in Spain, cut its listing price to 16.5-17 euros per share from 18-19.5 euros, it said in a statement to the market regulator, without giving a reason. It will list on Feb. 6, it said, one day later than planned. The new listing price values the company at up to 2.57 billion euros, below its net asset value of 2.69 billion euros. Residential construction in Spain is thriving with foreign investment pouring into developments in cities and coastal resorts, a decade after a property bubble burst leaving banks laden with developers' bad loans. House builder Neinor Homes listed last year, the first flotation by a Spanish residential builder in a decade. Metrovacesa was taken over by creditors Santander and BBVA in 2009. The banks are selling stock in the company as part of the listing although they will remain majority shareholders. Just under a fifth of its assets are in the northeastern region of Catalonia which embarked on an independence drive from Spain in October, plunging the country into its worst political crisis in decades. BBVA, Santander, Deutsche Bank and Morgan Stanley are acting as the joint global coordinators and joint bookrunners for the offer. Goldman Sachs and Societe Generale are acting as additional joint bookrunners, the company said in the statement. (Reporting by Sonya Dowsett; editing by Jason Neely) JOHANNESBURG, Feb 2 (Reuters) - South Africa sold 1.8 billion rand ($150 million) worth of three-month Treasury bills on Friday, at an average yield of 7.31 percent compared with 7.34 percent last week, central bank data showed. The bid-to-cover ratio fell to 2.7 from 3.4. Auction date: 02/02/2017 Settlement date: 07/02/2017 Days 91 182 273 364 Amount received (R'bln) 4.897 5.658 6.568 5.97 Amount on offer (R'bln) 1.8 2.0 2.1 2.3 Amount allotted (R'bln) 1.8 2.0 2.1 2.3 Bid-to-cover ratio 2.7 2.8 3.1 2.6 Avg discount rate (pct) 7.18 7.22 7.17 7.07 Average yield (pct) 7.31 7.49 7.57 7.61 ($1 = 11.9950 rand) (Reporting by Olivia Kumwenda-Mtambo; Editing by Alexander Winning) Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and may not reflect those of Kitco Metals Inc. The author has made every effort to ensure accuracy of information provided; however, neither Kitco Metals Inc. nor the author can guarantee such accuracy. This article is strictly for informational purposes only. It is not a solicitation to make any exchange in commodities, securities or other financial instruments. Kitco Metals Inc. and the author of this article do not accept culpability for losses and/ or damages arising from the use of this publication. PARIS, Feb 2 (Reuters) - Robert Zolade, top shareholder in French caterer Elior , has reduced his stake via holding BIM to 23.07 percent, BIM said on Friday. BIM sold a 4.24 percent stake to Fonds Strategique de Participations (FSP) for an undisclosed amount, it said. It still supports Elior's strategy and CEO Philippe Guillemot, who was appointed in December, BIM said. Zolande is honorary chairman of Elior and sits on its nine-member board as BIM's representative. Sofibim, another entity controlled by Zolade, also has a board seat. Following the stake sale, Sofibim will not ask for a renewal of its board seat at the next AGM on March 9, freeing up the seat for an independent board member, it said. Elior, Europe's third-largest catering group, issued a profit warning in December and named Guillemot as CEO. . In January it reported a 6.3 percent rise in first quarter revenue and confirmed it guidance for fiscal year 2017/18. Elior shares were down 1.83 percent at 18.23 euros at 0945 GMT. They are up nearly 8 percent this year. (Reporting by Dominique Vidalon; editing by Jason Neely) (Updates with further ARDAL comment) BRATISLAVA, Feb 2 (Reuters) - Slovakia will offer its new 30-year bond, the longest-dated paper it has, for the first time in a domestic auction in February, looking to lock in low yields before they are gone. Euro zone member Slovakia has enjoyed a comfortable borrowing position with a strong-growing economy helping state finances and leading to lower than expected budget deficits. But with the European Central Bank widely expected to end an asset-purchase programme as early as September, yields have started turning upward in major markets. With that in mind, the country's debt agency ARDAL put the 30-year bond - which it first sold in a benchmark 1 billion euro syndicated deal last October - on its February calendar after getting strong demand last month for a 20-year bond. "We want to catch the wave of lower yields as we expect them to rise in the second half of the year," Peter Soltys, head of ARDAL's debt management section, said. The yield on the 30-year bond was quoted as high as 1.976 percent on Friday, hovering around its highest since November. In December it touched as low as 1.75 percent. ARDAL plans to offer the bond along with another bond due in 2031 at an auction on Feb. 19, expecting to sell around 80 million euros of each paper, it said. A top-up round will follow on Feb. 20. Slovakia's gross funding needs should reach 4.5 billion euros in 2018. Ardal has said it will open one or two new benchmark bond lines via syndicated sale or auction this year, with a likely 10-12 year tenor coming in the spring and a shorter-dated paper in the fall. Soltys said the spring offer was still planned for the second quarter. (Reporting by Tatiana Jancarikova; Writing by Jason Hovet) * Bitcoin briefly below $8,000; down almost 40 pct in 2018 * Total crypto market value half of peak * Fears of regulatory clampdown spark selling (New throughout, adds details, comments, adds second byline and NEW YORK dateline) By Tommy Wilkes and Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss LONDON/NEW YORK, Feb 2 (Reuters) - Cryptocurrencies plunged on Friday, with bitcoin at one point sliding below $8,000 and headed for its biggest weekly loss since December 2013, as worries about a regulatory clampdown globally sent investors scrambling to sell. The currencies have come off their lows but analysts said the sell-off was probably not over. This week's slump brought the total market value of cryptocurrencies down to around $400 billion, half the high it reached in January, according to industry tracker Coinmarketcap.com. The market value of cryptocurrencies is calculated by multiplying the number of digital coins in existence by their price, although many question whether that is the right way to value them. Bitcoin, the biggest and best-known cryptocurrency, fell as much as 15 percent on Friday to a two-month low of $7,625 on the Luxembourg-based Bitstamp exchange . It clawed back some losses and was down around 4.1 percent at $8,623.50 in mid-morning New York trading. The virtual currency is down by close to 25 percent this week and almost 40 percent in 2018. The second and third largest virtual currencies, Ethereum and Ripple, also plunged more than 20 percent at the session low, Coinmarketcap.com said. Ethereum was last down 18.2 percent, at $913.37, while Ripple last traded at 80 U.S. cents, down 16.7 percent. Retail investors have poured money into digital coins, enticed by the huge run-up in prices. Regulators say cryptocurrencies are highly speculative and dangerous investments. On Thursday, India vowed to eradicate the use of crypto-assets, joining China and South Korea in promising to ban parts of the nascent market where prices have boomed in recent years. Social media website Facebook said this week it would ban cryptocurrency advertisements because many were associated with misleading or deceptive promotional practices. U.S. regulators have sent a subpoena to two of the world's biggest cryptocurrency players, Bitfinex and Tether "The growing confusion revolving around the Indian government's view on cryptocurrencies sparked uncertainty, consequently exposing bitcoin to downside risks," said Lukman Otunuga, research analyst at FXTM. "Price action suggests that bears are clearly in control, with further losses on the cards as jitters over regulation erode investor appetite further," he added. A massive $530 million hack of a Japanese cryptocurrency exchange last week renewed worries about the security of the industry. Critics of virtual currencies have called the run-up in prices a speculative bubble, but supporters of cryptocurrencies say short-term price volatility is to be expected, and the blockchain technology underpinning these assets maintains its power and value. Going back to 2011 and including the current selloff, bitcoin's price has been halved nine times on the Bitstamp exchange before recovering. The last time was from November 2014 to January 2015. (Reporting by Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss in New York and Tommy Wilkes in London; Editing by Larry King and David Gregorio) Joy Bishop receives Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Philanthropy The Tennessee Board of Regents has presented the Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Philanthropy to Maryville's Joy Bishop in recognition of her support of Pellissippi State Community College. (L-R) Ginger Hausser, TBR associate vice president for Institutional Advancement, Joy Bishop, Regent Danni Varlan, PSCC President L. Anthony Wise UT AgResearch administrator honored by research center peers Barry Sims (left) is pictured receiving the Research Center Administrators Society Distinguished Service Award during the association's annual winter meeting. Presenting the award is RCAS President Jeff Chandler. Photo by V. Skinner, courtesy RCAS. RALEIGH, NC The Research Center Administrators Society honored past president Barry D. Sims, associate director of University of Tennessee AgResearch, with its Distinguished Service Award. RCAS President Jeff Chandler made the presentation to Sims on Tuesday, Jan. 30, during the associations annual winter meeting. Sims served as RCAS president from 2016-2017 and also served as former president of the Southern Weed Science Society. Barry has been an energetic proponent of the land grant mission and has a deep understanding of the research thats needed and the benefits it has, not only for the ag industry, but the nation as a whole, said Chandler, who is director of the Mountain Horticultural Crops Research and Extension Center at North Carolina State Extension. Sims was named associate director of UT AgResearch in 2016 after 18 years as center director of the Highland Rim AgResearch and Education Center in Springfield, Tennessee. As associate director he oversees the systems 10 centers and coordinates faculty research at the centers. Before joining UT AgResearch, Sims worked for the University of Missouri as an extension specialist and as a field research biologist in the private sector. Sims is currently the national president of the Research Center Administrators Society and a former president of the Southern Weed Science Society. Sims earned his B.S. in Plant and Soil Science from UT-Martin, his masters in plant and soil science/weed science from UT Knoxville and his Ph.D. in agronomy and weed science from the University of Arkansas. A native of Tennessee, Sims grew up on a farm in McNairy County. He and his wife, Amy, have three sons. The Research Center Administrators Society is a national non-profit organization whose membership is comprised of agricultural research station managers, directors, university, college and USDA administrators. To learn more about RCAS, visit RALEIGH, NC The Research Center Administrators Society honored past president Barry D. Sims, associate director of University of Tennessee AgResearch, with its Distinguished Service Award.RCAS President Jeff Chandler made the presentation to Sims on Tuesday, Jan. 30, during the associations annual winter meeting. Sims served as RCAS president from 2016-2017 and also served as former president of the Southern Weed Science Society.Barry has been an energetic proponent of the land grant mission and has a deep understanding of the research thats needed and the benefits it has, not only for the ag industry, but the nation as a whole, said Chandler, who is director of the Mountain Horticultural Crops Research and Extension Center at North Carolina State Extension.Sims was named associate director of UT AgResearch in 2016 after 18 years as center director of the Highland Rim AgResearch and Education Center in Springfield, Tennessee. As associate director he oversees the systems 10 centers and coordinates faculty research at the centers.Before joining UT AgResearch, Sims worked for the University of Missouri as an extension specialist and as a field research biologist in the private sector. Sims is currently the national president of the Research Center Administrators Society and a former president of the Southern Weed Science Society. Sims earned his B.S. in Plant and Soil Science from UT-Martin, his masters in plant and soil science/weed science from UT Knoxville and his Ph.D. in agronomy and weed science from the University of Arkansas.A native of Tennessee, Sims grew up on a farm in McNairy County. He and his wife, Amy, have three sons.The Research Center Administrators Society is a national non-profit organization whose membership is comprised of agricultural research station managers, directors, university, college and USDA administrators.To learn more about RCAS, visit www.thercas.org Published February 2, 2018 Korea Times columnists _ from left, Oh Young-jin, Andrew Salmon, Michael Breen and Stephen Costello _ pose before the Times roundtable on North Korea at its office, Tuesday. / Korea Times photo by Choi Won-suk By Oh Young-jin What would happen after the PyeongChang Olympics are over and everybody goes home? Would the United States go after the defiant North Korea over the North's weapons of mass destructon (WMDs)? Would President Moon Jae-in somehow manage to create momentum for the reconciliation of not just the two Koreas but also between Pyongyang and Washington? Four columnists of The Korea Times got together for a round table discussion Tuesday. Washington-based Stephen Costello was truly "Korea-centric," arguing that Moon has an unprecedented opportunity to take the lead because the U.S. under President Trump is in disarray. Costello left at least one at the debate feeling "I wish." Asia Times Asia bureau chief and long-time contributor to the Times was more hard-nosed about any prospects of post-Olympic change. He hoped that the gathering of big players from Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to U.S. Vice President Mike Pence "at the balcony" for VIPs would result in a change of the status quo . Michael Breen, author of two books in his "Korean" series and an expert on North Korean affairs, was at his best analytical self when he highlighted the symbolic significance of the Olympics, dubbing Koreans as "bullied by big powers and ignored by the world." Still his emphasis is on this significant moment that will hopefully bring about positive change. Oh Young-jin, host of the round table and digital managing editor of The Korea Times, refused to be optimistic, pointing out the North has a habit of "missing the bus" or a good opportunity. "The Oympics would be a one-shot event, a sporting event, nothing more," he said. "But I hope I would be surprised by something, a positive element the United States and North Korea would get back to their usual business of threatening each other" By Jung Min-ho North Korea, one of the world's most notorious regimes for human rights abuses, says U.S. President Donald Trump's administration is a "gross violator of human rights." According to foreign media' reports Thursday, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), its state media, slammed the Trump's administration for "abusing human rights" based on the regime's white paper on the issue. "The U.S., guardian of democracy' and human rights champion' is kicking up the human rights racket, but it can never camouflage its true identity as the gross violator of human rights," KCNA cited the white paper as saying. "Racial discrimination and misanthropy are serious maladies inherent to the social system of the U.S., and they have been aggravated since Trump took office." The North Korean media also accused the administration's top officials of working for the interests of a handful of rich circles. It also claimed genuine freedom of the press and expression did not exist in the U.S. Ironically, North Korea's rulers are most infamous for human rights violations. According to a 2014 U.N. Commission report, human rights abuses in the regime were without parallel in the contemporary world. In response to North Korea's criticism, U.S. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said it was "very humorous and ironic," U.S. media reported. By Oh Young-jin Stephen Bradner, a former counter-intelligence specialist who worked for 16 U.S. commanders in South Korea over four decades, died Jan. 17 in his home state of Rhode Island on Jan. 17 at 86. Bradner retired on May 13, 2013, at 82 in a ceremony hosted by Gen. James Thurman. He arrived in Korea in 1954 and was deployed with the U.S. Army Counter Intelligence Corps. When communist soldiers and guerillas left in the South sabotaged the South Korean government, his job was to interrogate them, when they were captured, and suggest countermeasures. Ken Kaliher, a member of Bradner's staff and a contributor to Thoughts of The Times in the 1970s, informed the Times of his passing. Asia Times' Hank Morris remembers his conversation with him. "In 1960, he was an eyewitness to the popular uprising against Syngman Rhee, the authoritarian and deeply corrupt South Korean president. On April 18 that year, Bradner shinnied up a tree to see what was happening and spotted U.S. military police patrolling in Seoul alongside South Korean military police (MPs). I was worried that our MPs would be dragged into fighting against Korean student protesters for democracy if any violence broke out,' Bradner told this writer many years later. So, I went to see the commander of the U.S. intelligence unit on the U.S. Army base in Seoul, and told him of my fears that something was about to happen.'" By Choi Yearn-hong Immigration policy was one of most important issues in President Donald Trump's State of the Union address. However, he does not know how to hit the right button. He has been insisting on a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border since he ran his presidential campaign. This is just ridiculous. Even when his chief of staff tried to scrap the idea of the wall, he insisted on his wall as an anti-immigration policy. I first heard of the wall as a metaphor for his anti-immigration policy. After all, Trump should have learned the lesson of China's Great Wall that did not deter the invasions from the Mongols and Manchurians into China's mainland. It was of no use. Fortunately, it is now one of the best tourist attractions in the world. Trump should pay attention to my neighbors' chit-chat. My conservative neighbors, retired army colonels, tended to support Trump, as a presidential candidate, but not his wall. They just openly said to me that, "We don't mind the immigrants like you coming. You came here as a poor foreign student, but you worked hard to earn a doctorate and taught at colleges all your life. You did not take any taxpayer money. That is what we like." The key words were: "You did not ask for any penny from Uncle Sam." Middle-class American people are concerned about immigrants who are relying on generous American welfare programs. Generous welfare programs are basically humanitarian programs. However, the government cannot provide the ideal state of living for all people. I would like to share an ancient Korean saying with my fellow American people, that even a wise virtuous king cannot provide three meals to all people. The U.S. government since the New Deal has expanded the welfare policy and programs to the level of serious budget deficits, resulting in the unmanageable, threatening the nation's economic well-being. Skyrocketing welfare programs have escalated the anger of middle-class American people that guided it to an anti-immigration policy. Trump took advantage of this anger for his presidential campaign. I believe their discontent deserves care from the president and Congress now. I know one foreign student couple received all kinds of humanitarian care from the welfare program for their unwanted pregnancy. They were grateful for the welfare system. However, all the care given to a pregnant woman from a foreign country is costly. This is just one example. Some immigrants took advantage of this kind of welfare state. It is very difficult to change this kind of situation. However, this kind of welfare policy and programs should be stopped somewhere. Simply because we cannot afford them. Our resources are limited. The United States is a great country. It can afford to do a lot. That may be Utopian thinking. I may be an anti-Utopian thinker. Public administration is not seeking Utopian policy-making, but seeking the best cost-benefit analysis. The university is an ivory tower inviting Utopian thinkers and scholars. However, the government is the place of Hamiltonian pragmatists. I know a generous and humanitarian welfare program may benefit America's future in the long run, but it should be curbed. If not, the government will face bankruptcy sooner or later. The welfare programs need a dramatic overhaul now. It is not easy. I have seen proposals for welfare reform since the 1960s, but they did not bring any significant results. I complained, "We reached the moon in less than 10 years. However, welfare reform cannot be done in 20 years and 30 years." "Well, one is human affairs and the other is scientific and technological," my fellow public administration scholars responded. My simple welfare reform proposal is: Welfare benefits should be open only to U.S. citizens who have worked 20 years and paid their taxes. Those who cannot find a job and support their lives should knock on the doors of charity organizations. All donations to charities should receive tax benefits. My two children have been working on Wall Street. They have had good times and bad times. Wall Street is not always rosy. It has its ups and downs. They were once unemployed for a year or so. They survived on their savings. They did not ask the government to take care of them. They were proud of themselves not to resort to welfare programs. In the 1960s, my home country Korea did not have any welfare program. However, people survived, because they helped each other when they needed help. The family is the building block of society and welfare programs. The American people need to take care of their family members in need. If the family is missing in the U.S., it should be revived. I know welfare reform cannot be as simple as I propose. But it should provide the foundation for forthcoming welfare reform. That will be the first step toward an immigration policy. The government is not a charity organization. Let each citizen take care of his or her life. That should be the premise of all welfare policy and programs. Dr. Choi is retired public administration scholar. He was an assistant for environmental quality in the U.S. Office of the Secretary of Defense in the 1980s. Startups need protection from hostile takeovers Fair Trade Commission Chairman Kim Sang-jo said Wednesday the government might consider allowing small businesses and venture startups to issue dual class shares. A dual class stock is the issuing of shares with distinct voting rights by one company. It offers one type of share to the public, and the other kind, with more voting rights, to company founders and their family members, and executives to help the former maintain a majority control of the company. The government wants to encourage small high-tech firms to make initial public offerings on the KOSDAQ market more actively. By doing so, these startups can raise funds free from concerns about hostile takeovers by larger, cash-rich companies. Kim's remark was enough to draw the business community's attention. It was the government's first positive response to strenuous demands from businesses to introduce a dual voting structure to defend their management control. Most advanced countries are also adopting the system to let startups focus on long-term operations undeterred by short-term performance. Such being the case, it is inappropriate for big businesses and pro-chaebol commentators to call for applying the system to family-controlled conglomerates, too. These guardians of large enterprises cite such giants as Google and Alibaba listed on the New York Stock Exchange as examples of the system's beneficiaries. They say the Seoul government should also protect large companies' management control from foreign capital and hedge funds, in a thinly-veiled "patriotism marketing." Yes, the U.S. and Japan have maintained the dual class ownership. It is also true Google and Alibaba benefitted from it when they were startups, but not after they grew big. These countries permit dual class stock issuance only at the time of IPOs, not retroactively apply it to existing giants, such as Samsung and Hyundai. Google and Alibaba have not adhered to the status quo content with the protection device but grown through innovation and transparent operations. They are different from Korean chaebol, whose owners are bent on dominating the cobweb of affiliates through circular shareholding and handing over management control to their offspring. Accepting chaebol's demands will end up aggravating their governance structures and perpetuating the "Korea discount." The Renault Samsung Motors Twizy ultra-small electric vehicle / Courtesy of Renault Samsung Motors A model poses next to the Daechang Motors Danigo micro-electric car in this file photo. / Courtesy of Ticket Monster Finance Minister Kim Dong-yeon, right, drives the Cammsys PM-100 micro-electric vehicle, during his visit to the company's headquarters in Incheon in this Dec. 19 file photo. Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry Chairman Park Yong-maan is sitting next to him. / Yonhap By Park Jae-hyuk Doubts still exist over the usefulness of ultra-mini electric vehicles (EV), although the government has come up with various measures aiming to boost their production and sales. Critics point out that small cars are inadequate for commercial use, considering the reality of the nation's roads. The vehicles were initially expected to be used as substitutions for typical motorcycles, since the transport ministry vowed to push ahead with legislation regarding their standards and President Moon Jae-in demanded deregulation for them. Korea Post has also heated up the ultra-mini EV fever in line with the government policies, promising to adopt the vehicles for its postmen and women as a means of delivery from this year. A comfort woman statue in front of the Japanese Embassy in Jongno-gu, Seoul, attracts passers-by for a selfie. / Korea Times file By Clifford Lo Police arrested a 51-year-old man in the early hours of Thursday on suspicion of stealing two "comfort women" statues placed near the Japanese consulate in Hong Kong. The incident happened on the Connaught Road Central footbridge near Exchange Square in the city's financial centre at about 12.45am. The office of the consulate is in One Exchange Square. The fibreglass statues representing Chinese and Korean women each weighing 32kg were placed there, along with donation boxes and chairs, by the Action Committee for Defending the Diaoyu Islands group since July to mark the start of hostilities between China and Japan in 1937. The activist group wanted them to serve as a reminder to the public of the Asian women used as sex slaves by the Japanese army during the second world war. Police said a passer-by made a 999 emergency call after the suspect was seen in the area pushing a trolley loaded with the statues, two donation boxes and two chairs. A police spokeswoman said the man was intercepted by officers at Connaught Place, a short distance from the crime scene, and the stolen items had been recovered. Officers arrested the suspect a Hong Kong identity card holder for theft. He is being held for questioning and has not been charged. Detectives from Central police district are handling the case. Separately, three men aged between 37 and 48 were arrested for stealing 50 gratings used to cover the drains in a Mui Shu Hang Road park in Tai Po at about 4am on Thursday. Police said the haul was worth about HK$10,000 (US$1,280). Officers also impounded a car, a truck, an electric tricycle and a trolley. The three Hongkongers were detained at Tai Po police station for questioning and have not been charged. Official figures show police handled 23,806 reports of theft last year, down 7.1 per cent compared with 25,628 in 2016. Naples, February 2 - Giuseppe Cioffi, the judge who was set to preside over the trial of two brothers of Forza Italia lawmaker Luigi Cesaro, has filed a request to be taken off the case, Cioffi told ANSA on Friday. The move follows a furore over a photo that seemed to show Cioffi taking part in a Forza Italia conference in October. The judge said the photo featuring FI flags was taken after the conference. Brothers Aniello and Raffaele Cesaro are accused of external participation in mafia association. Justice Minister Andrea Orlando has ordered a preliminary inquiry into Cioffi's conduct, sources said this week. Catania, February 2 - 5-Star Movement (M5S) premier candidate Luigi Di Maio said Friday that if reports about M5S Senate candidate Emanuele Dessi' are true, he will not be able to stay with the anti-establishment group. "I am the political leader of the movement and it's my duty to protect it," Di Maio said. "We started all the checks this morning. If what's emerging is true, we'll have no problem saying that these people cannot be in the movement. So give us time to run the checks". Earlier on Friday M5S lawmaker and candidate to be Lazio governor Roberta Lombardi called on Dessi' to explain how come he only pays rent of seven euros a month on his council apartment. Dessi' has also been under fire from the centre-left Democratic Party (PD) over a photo that seems to show him dancing with a member of the Spada crime family in the Roman coastal district of Ostia, but Lombardi dismissed these charges. "The attempt by the PD and some newspapers to link our Senate candidate Emanuele Dessi' to the Spadas or call him a thug is miserable," Lombardi said on Facebook. "On the other hand, I think that there is something that the M5S candidate must absolutely clarify - his house, the seven-euro rent. "Elements of opacity are emerging that the M5S cannot accept. As far as I'm concerned, transparency is worth more than anything else". Berlin, February 2 - Italian Premier Paolo Gentiloni will be received by German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin on Wednesday February 7, her spokesman Steffen Seibert told a press conference. The two leaders will have lunch together and will discuss bilateral relations. Gentiloni will give a talk on Europe at the von Humboldt University. The title of the speech is "Italy and Germany together for a stronger Europe". Gentiloni will then move to the Chancellery, where he will have lunch with Merkel. Brussels, February 2 - A Milan-area student has won an EU contest as best translator. Gianluca Brusa from the Carlo Emilio Gadda high school in Paderno Dugnano beat 351 other Italian students from 73 high schools, the European Commission said Friday. This year's translation was a text on the 60th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome. Brusa and the winners in the other 27 countries will receive their prize from European Human Resources Commissioner Guenther Oettinger in Brussels on April 10. Bari, February 2 - A 20-year-old Italian man bullied for 10 years for being gay has urged other victims to stand up and be proud of being gay. Writing on Facebook, Pierluigi Glionna said fellow gay victims "should love their diversity". Glionna recounted how he had to defend himself "every day" from insults by people calling him "Piergay" in the Puglia town of Spinazzola near Trani. He said at one stage it all become too much for him and he shut himself up in his home "for fear of going out". Glionna said "enough of this disgusting bullying". Rome, February 2 - Premier Paolo Gentiloni said Friday that Labour Minister Giuliano Poletti had signed a decree exempting 15 heavy jobs from the lengthening of the pension age. "The pension system must not be dismantled. The weakest parts of society must be protected," said Gentiloni. The decree envisages an exemption in 2019 from a pension-age hike to 67 for thousands of people in 'heavy' jobs. Rome, February 2 - Oscar winners from the world of Italian cinema are among a group of directors and actors who have joined in support of the "Cinema America Kids", an organization that holds a summer open-air cinema event in Rome's Piazza San Cosimato, that the city has announced it intends to put out for tender as part of its "Estate Romana" summer events programme. Important figures from the world of Italian cinema including Bernardo Bertolucci, Roberto Benigni, Paolo Sorrentino, Carlo Verdone, and Nicola Piovani, among many others, signed an appeal to the city against its decision. "We cannot prevent ourselves from expressing total opposition to the intention announced by Rome Deputy Mayor Luca Bergamo to reduce the days of the event and to put out to tender a project created by a group of young people who are guilty only of loving, more than anything else, their city and its cinemas," the letter said. "Letting it be understood that the initiative, up to now, has been conducted illegally is an unacceptable lack of respect for the efforts of dozens of young men and women, as well as an offence to thousands of people and guests who, like us, have participated in the event," the letter said. The letter called on Rome Mayor Virginia Raggi to authorize the event for this summer. Valerio Carocci, president of the "Piccolo Cinema America" association, said the city has given the group specific conditions that make it impossible for it to hold the event this summer. He said the event has always been produced legally and that 90,000 people attended last summer. Carocci said the group won't participate in the call for tenders. FROM EIR DAILY ALERT Explorer 1 Satellite Opened the Age of Space Science, 60 Years Ago Feb. 1, 2018 (EIRNS)When the Explorer 1 satellite lifted off from Cape Canaveral on Jan. 31, 1958, to the American public (and its politicians) the United States had regained its self-confidence, a month after witnessing the spectacular explosion of the Vanguard rocket. But to the scientific community, the Explorer 1 satellite, with the instruments aboard to reveal the characteristics of the near-Earth space environment, would open the age of space science. Renowned physicist James Van Allen led a team at the University of Iowa, which developed the instruments to detect cosmic rays, the high-energy particles originating beyond the Solar System. But the Geiger counter detected levels of radiation that far exceeded what would be expected from cosmic rays alone. Explorer 1 had discovered two concentric rings of high-energy particles circling the Earth, originating from the Sun. They were later named the Van Allen Belts for their discoverer. On the 60th anniversary of the Explorer 1 launch, the National Academy of Science held a symposium, to review past and current studies of the physics of Van Allens radiation belts, and future directions for research. Following a review of the historic discovery, which NASAs Thomas Zurbuchen described as a new part of nature that was something beautiful, there was a presentation of the less-known Soviet research in radiation belt physics. As the Russian scientist who was scheduled to give a presentation was not granted a visa, the Soviet and Russian space physics programs were reviewed by a Russian-born NASA scientist. The most exciting scientific presentations were made by three younger women, covering current missions and future frontiers in radiation belt research. As many questions remain unanswered, in 2012, NASA launched the twin Van Allen probes, to study the behavior of particles in the belts. One of its discoveries, for which there is not yet an explanation, is the existence of a third belt, which is transitory. Other nations are also participating in what was a described as a geospace observatory fleet of orbiters, to advance the study of the interaction of the Sun with the Earth. FROM EIR DAILY ALERT The Gadarene Faction Is Not Long for This World Feb. 1, 2018 (EIRNS)The whole British Empire gang in the United States is shrieking and howling so piteously against the release of California Rep. Devin Nuness House Intelligence Committee four-page memo, that they have already ensured that a large part of the English-speaking population of the entire world, will avidly read and reread that memo the first moment it becomes available, which could be tomorrow. Washington Post conservative columnist Jennifer Rubin launched her column this morning by breathlessly informing her readers that Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) is endangering our country. The Post had also reported that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and FBI Director Christopher Wray had gone to the White House on Jan. 29, for a last-gasp appeal against publishing it. But the next evening, right after his State of the Union address, President Trump told an inquiring Congressman that it would be published 100%. Yesterday, the FBI released a rare public statement, which concluded that we have grave concerns about material omissions of fact that fundamentally impact the memos accuracy. Rep. Nunes answered, Having stonewalled Congresss demands for information for nearly a year, its no surprise to see the FBI and DOJ issue spurious objections to allowing the American people to see information related to surveillance abuses at these agencies. The FBI is intimately familiar with material omissions with respect to their presentations to both Congress and the courts, and they are welcome to make public, to the greatest extent possible, all the information they have on these abuses. Regardless, its clear that top officials used unverified information in a court document to fuel a counter-intelligence investigation during an American political campaign. Once the truth gets out, we can begin taking steps to ensure our intelligence agencies and courts are never misused like this again. Watermelon-headed Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) claims that the memo was secretly altered by Republicans after the committee had voted along party lines to release it. But Nunes spokesman Jack Langer replied that, In its increasingly strange attempt to thwart publication of the memo, the Committee Minority is now complaining about minor edits to the memo, including grammatical fixes and two edits requested by the FBI and by the Minority themselves. The group of Anglophile extremists who have temporarily taken over the Democratic Party, are madly rushing to their own self-destruction worse than Hillary Clinton did in her self-doomed Presidential campaign. They are about to leave a policy vacuum which only LaRouches forces can and must fill. FROM EIR DAILY ALERT Russian Intelligence Chiefs Meet with CIAs Pompeo and DNI Dan Coats Feb. 1, 2018 (EIRNS)Last week, the heads of Russias three intelligence services, the FSB, SVR, and GRU, were in Washington for meetings with their counterpartsCIA Director Mike Pompeo, Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Dan Coats, and other U.S. intelligence officials, according to National Public Radio (NPR). A Moscow-based senior U.S. intelligence official was also called back to Washington to participate in the meetings, the Washington Post reported today. Sergey Naryshkin, head of the Russian foreign intelligence service, SVR, and Alexander Bortnikov, head of the FSB, the successor organization to the Soviet-era KGB, met with Pompeo and Coats to discuss matters of mutual interestcounterterrorism, aviation security, and preventing foreign fighters from returning to both nations, among other things. There is no confirmation as to which meetings the GRU director participated in. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) has gone ballistic over the fact that these meetings occurred at all, screaming in a Jan. 29 press conference, and then in a letter to Coats, that the meetings are suspicious, and demanding to know why individuals who are subject to sanctions were allowed to just waltz through our front door, referring to Naryshkin. The timing of these meetings, he raved, probably had something to do with President Trumps decision not to impose new sanctions on Russia, per the CAATSA act. In a letter to the Minority Leader dated today, Pompeo calmly, but sharply, put the hysterical Schumer in his place, referencing the latters suggestion that there was something untoward in officials from Russian intelligence services meeting their U.S. counterparts. On the contrary, Pompeo wrote, we periodically meet with our Russian counterparts for the same reason our predecessors didto keep Americans safe. While Russia remains an adversary, we would put American lives at greater risk if we ignored opportunities to work with the Russian services in the fight against terrorism. He went on to say he was very proud of that counterterror cooperation, including CIAs role with its Russian counterparts in the recent disruption of a terrorist plot targeting St. Petersburg, Russiaa plot that could have killed Americans. He also explained that when these meetings take place, you and the American people should rest assured that we cover very difficult subjects in which American and Russian interests do not align. Neither side is bashful about raising concerns relating to our intelligence relationships and the interests of our respective nations. Security cooperation between the U.S. and Russian intelligence agencies, Pompeo concluded, FROM EIR DAILY ALERT Japan and South Korea Take Steps To Improve Relations Feb. 1, 2018 (EIRNS)Japan and South Korea are taking concrete steps to improve relations, parallel to similar efforts taking place between Japan and China, and between China and South Korea. Cooperation among the three powerful nations of East Asia, in the context of the Belt and Road, will vastly improve the means for a peaceful solution to the Korea crisis, and facilitate cooperative expansion of the Silk Road internationally. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will attend the Winter Olympics in South Korea, and has arranged to meet with President Moon Jae-in on the morning of the Opening Ceremonies, Feb. 9. There is anger in Japan over the fact that a task force created by Moon concluded in December 2017 that the 2015 agreement over the World War II Korean Comfort Women was flawed. However, on Jan. 9 Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha assured Japan that Seoul would not call for the agreement to be renegotiated. Hopefully, the Abe-Moon summit will be able to address other issues of positive cooperation. Also in Japan, Yomiuri Shimbun reported today that Japan and China are likely to restart their education and training exchanges for defense officials in September, after a six-year hiatus, as another result of Foreign Ministers Taro Kono and Wang Yis meeting last weekend in Beijing. China stopped the military exchanges when Japan nationalized the contested Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands in September 2012. Japan will now make arrangements with China for Chinese trainees to attend a 10-month program in Japan. State visits by President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe are also being planned. FROM EIR DAILY ALERT Kazakh President Nazarbayev Succeeds in Getting U.S. Investment into the Silk Road Feb. 1, 2018 (EIRNS)During his Jan. 16 visit to Washington, Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev succeeded in signing 20 commercial contracts worth $7.5 billion, at a business roundtable with U.S. companies. Agriculture, where Kazakhstans trade with China is growing, is one of three areas of Kazakh-U.S. collaboration named in a joint press statement. Kazakh produce travels into China through railroads and inland ports, built as part of the massive regional development program Beijing launched five years ago, CNBC reported. Now that China has built a railroad linking Chinas east coast to Kazakhstan, China is looking at Kazakhstan more favorably for investment. Overall, Kazakhstan exported 150,300 metric tons of oilseeds to China in the marketing year ended July 2017, according to a report by the U.S. Department of Agricultures Foreign Agricultural Service, citing industry sources. In addition, Silk Road development has increased Kazakhstans railroad-related equipment requirement. General Electric subsidiary GE Transportation has worked in the country since the 1990s, and announced on Jan. 17 that it had signed two contracts with Kazakhstans state-run railroad Kazakhstan Temir Zholy, or KTZ. The deals are worth more than $900 million, according to a release, and include the delivery of 300 shunter locomotives and an 18-year service agreement for 175 passenger Evolution Series locomotives, CNBC reported. Our new agreements with KTZ reflect our ongoing commitment to partner with Kazakhstan to build a world-class rail industry that serves the region and beyond, said Rafael Santana, CEO of GE Transportation. Ten years ago this month, I joined the L.A. Times book blog, Jacket Copy. Blogs were a thing then they were becoming a cultural force and were beginning to be accepted by institutions, including The Times. It was clear that blogs were a way to get news and commentary onto the internet quickly. For a few years, Id been blogging about books on a site called Pinkys Paperhaus, during which time Id become a contributor to the metroblog LAist and then its editor, before skedaddling for graduate school in Pittsburgh. It was from there that I started writing for Jacket Copy (you can see my first post here). And now, many, many, many, many, many, many, many posts later, Im the Times Books editor. To me, all the mechanics of blogging writing quickly and with a point of view, taking photos and getting stuff up fast came naturally. I didnt realize how hard those processes might be for a century-old print publication like The Times. I can only image what kind of internal debates were happening here at the time, and Im grateful that David L. Ulin, the books editor back then, supported the idea of jumping into the online conversation. Technologically, it was clear that there was some ambivalence about the project. The first platform we used was an adapted version of Typepad, sort of cobbled together to appear to be part of the Times website. The two were separate systems. Over time, the blog platform changed and changed again there was even a small Wordpress club, which I longed to join but they remained siloed. But eventually, the two systems became one: writing for the web and writing for the paper were done in the same place. Advertisement And technology is why we dont need Jacket Copy anymore. A terrific Times website redesign with new back-end functionality rolled out in January. We no longer need to have one place for book news and chronological postings (Jacket Copy) and another for our book features and reviews. It will all simply be found in Books. Whats been posted on Jacket Copy isnt going anywhere; the content will remain online. Happy reading. carolyn.kellogg@latimes.com @paperhaus I dont claim to be an unbiased observer, writes activist and photographer David Bacon, who has documented migrant farmworkers in Californias breadbasket for 30 years. I am on the side of immigrant workers and unions in the United States and share their struggle for rights and a decent life. His book, In the Fields of the North / En los campos del norte, combines black and white portraiture with interviews and oral histories of his subjects to reveal the reality of laborers. Detail of a crew of farm workers harvests romain lettuce for Pamela Packing Company near Mecca, in the Coachella Valley. (David Bacon ) Photographers must be objective and neutral, the word goes, writes Bacon, who was a factory worker and union organizer for two decades. But I believe our work gains visual and emotional power from its closeness to the movements we document. Advertisement His photographs, which are strong and intimate taken alone, are ultimately not designed to speak for themselves: The impact of In the Fields of the North arises from the accompanying text, in which workers tell their own stories. The text appears in both English and Spanish, and the book is organized geographically, with chapters devoted to Californias Imperial Valley and Sonoma, as well as Washington and North Carolina. Detail of a Mixtec farm worker lives with her son. (David Bacon ) Farmworkers face visceral hardship. Lorena Hernandez, a single mother from Oaxaca living in Madera, Calif. , describes taking salt tablets in order not to faint from the heat while working in the fields. Lucrecia Camacho, who speaks Mixtec, an indigenous language of Mexico, recounts being detained by immigration authorities in Oxnard, a town known for its strawberries. Stories like these remind us to consider where our food comes from. Workers are paid roughly 20 cents to fill a box of strawberries. If the price of a clamshell box increased by 5 cents, Bacon writes, the wages of the workers would increase by 25 percent and most consumers wouldnt notice the change in price. Detail of the children of strikers. The sign reads Justica Para Todos; Justice for Everyone. (David Bacon / David Bacon ) Exploitative wages and living conditions are the norm for migrant farmworkers, but the book does search for solutions. In the final chapter, Rosario Ventura describes becoming a striker. We cant leave things like this, she says. I want a little house and to stay in one place with my kids. Threaded throughout stories of picking olives and peaches, of poverty and backbreaking labor, are also the stories of families parents left behind in Mexico, children born in the U.S. and of the intersection of lives. Advertisement Migration creates communities, Bacon writes. The function of these photographs, therefore, is to help break the mold that keeps us from seeing this reality. His book aims not merely to show but to tell. I believe documentary photographers stand on the side of social justice; we should be involved in the world and unafraid to change it. In the Fields of the North/En los campos del norte by David Bacon (University of California Press ) In the Fields of the North/En los campos del norte David Bacon Advertisement University of California Press: 450 pp., $34.95 paper agatha.french@latimes.com @agathafrenchy Any attempt to prevent California from setting its own clean air transportation standards would provoke a war with many states lining up on Californias side, Mary Nichols, chair of the California Air Resources Board, said Friday. I cant say which court we would sue in or where but CARB will aggressively oppose any attempts by the Trump administration to revoke the states right to set clean air standards separate and stricter than the federal governments rules, Nichols said at a Bloomberg New Energy Finance conference in Palo Alto. CARB was created in the 1960s under Gov. Ronald Reagan. In 1967, federal law specifically allowed smog-choked California to set stricter standards. Since then, automakers modified the cars they sold in California to meet the rules, but standards were effectively unified by the Obama administration as part of the federal governments auto industry rescue during the Great Recession. Advertisement The Trump administration is considering giving automakers permission to backtrack on their commitments to achieve certain improvements in gasoline mileage and cuts in greenhouse gas emissions by 2025. Manufacturers now argue the requirements are too inflexible and technologically too hard to meet. Nichols said she believes automakers dont want to scrap clean air laws and prefer standards to be harmonized throughout the 50 states. But CARB, she said, has no intention of loosening its clean air regulations. Currently, nine other states are following Californias lead with laws that effectively mandate increasing numbers of zero-emission vehicles. russ.mitchell@latimes.com Twitter: @russ1mitchell The Federal Communications Commission has levied a record fine against two farmworker radio stations in California and Arizona for overstepping restrictions against commercial advertising. The Cesar Chavez Foundation, a nonprofit social service affiliate of the United Farm Workers union, agreed to a $115,000 fine and a one-year moratorium on new underwriting from for-profit sponsors on the two stations, the FCC said Thursday. The stations KUFW-FM (90.5) in Woodlake, Calif., and KNAI-FM (88.3) in Phoenix strayed from rules that allow educational stations to acknowledge underwriters without making commercial pitches for them, the FCC found. Those violations, from August 2016 to March 2017, involved promotional announcements that implicitly compared an underwriters business with competitors, provided information about valuation and discounts, and urged listeners to contact a business. Advertisement Examples included assuring listeners they could trust one car dealership, and listing services and products of specific cellphone companies, according to the FCC. And at 30 to 60 seconds, the announcements were too long, the agency said. Such violations threaten to upset the reasonable balance between the financial needs of noncommercial educational stations and their obligation to provide an essentially noncommercial service, the FCC said. The Cesar Chavez Foundation which operates eight radio stations through its Campesina network said in a written statement that it fully cooperated with the FCC and accepted the findings. This has been a learning experience for the organization, and as we move forward in polarizing times, we will continue being a voice for our community, the foundation said. One of the complaints about the radio spots came from an attorney for Gerawan Farming Inc., a fruit grower and packer in the San Joaquin Valley that has been locked in a decades-long battle with the UFW over representation of its workers, according to FCC documents. KUFW was fined $12,500 in 2010 over similar violations, according to FCC records. It also was required to repay nearly $400,000 to the Corp. for Public Broadcasting in 2013 after an audit revealed accounting irregularities involving restricted grants to the station. The Farmworker Educational Radio Network, a for-profit corporation owned by the Cesar Chavez Foundation, agreed last December to pay $20,000 to the FCC over unauthorized broadcasting blackouts and failure to maintain proper records at KRIT-FM (93.9) in Parker, Ariz. The Cesar Chavez Foundation reported $39 million in revenue and more than $100 million in assets in 2015, according to Internal Revenue Service documents. Advertisement geoffrey.mohan@latimes.com Follow me: @LATgeoffmohan The famed Boeing Co. 747 airplane now has a slightly longer lease on life at least in the cargo transport industry. And that could be a boon for the Hawthorne plant that produces fuselage panels for the humpbacked plane. This week, UPS said it ordered 14 Boeing 747-8 cargo jets to handle the accelerating demand for its air transport services. The announcement comes about two years after a previous order from UPS for 14 Boeing 747-8 planes. All 28 planes, in addition to four new Boeing 767 aircraft that were also part of this weeks order, will be delivered to UPS by the end of 2022, according to a statement from the transport company. Advertisement Boeing has said the 747s next act could be in cargo transport. The wide-bodied 747 was once seen as the preeminent way for people to fly. But as technological advances led to lighter and more fuel-efficient jets, airlines began to turn away from behemoth passenger jets such as the 747 and the Airbus 380. The Boeing planes 172-foot-long fuselage panels have been produced in Hawthorne since the 747 program began in 1966, when the plant was owned by Northrop Corp. In 2000, Northrop Grumman sold its commercial aero-structures business, including the Hawthorne plant, to the Carlyle Group, a private investment firm. The plant was later bought by Triumph Group Inc., an aerospace supplier based in Berwyn, Pa. A Triumph Group spokeswoman said that it is business as usual at the Hawthorne facility and that there has been no change since the recent UPS order. The panels are still shipped via rail car to Boeings facility in Washington state. Boeing said its production rate for the 747 has remained about one every two months. samantha.masunaga@latimes.com Twitter: @smasunaga Named after the city in southern Spain, Granada Hills was originally marketed as a rabbit-raising community, with developers even adding hutches to the initial batch of homes in the 1920s. Although the land on which the neighborhood sits is just a few miles from Mission San Fernando Rey de Espana the foothold for European colonization in the Valley after it was founded in 1797 the area remained largely agricultural for more than 100 years. The friars of the mission used the land for cattle grazing and some grain production, and the lack of abundant water and its distance from the pueblo of Los Angeles made it an unappealing locale for homesteaders. The first settlers of note were Geronimo and Catalina Lopez, who were pioneers in more ways than one. According to the citys history of Granada Hills, after the couple purchased a 40-acre stake in 1861, they established the Valleys first English-language school and its first post office, and their adobe became a Butterfield Overland Mail Stage Co. stop and a stop for the mule trains hauling silver to L.A. Advertisement As is the story across the San Fernando Valley, the advent of plentiful water via irrigation supercharged agricultural production on the former ranch land. That trend continued up to the opening of the Los Angeles Aqueduct in 1913, which brought water in such abundance that developers began eyeing the area for residential possibilities instead of farming. By 1927, a new neighborhood had been subdivided, and streets and sidewalks had been laid out. At first it was called simply Granada; the Hills was added in the 1940s. Sales in the neighborhood stumbled during the Great Depression, but the population climbed to 5,000 by 1950 before exploding to 50,000 by 1960. In fact, much of Granada Hills was built in between 1950 and the late 1970s, and it is entirely typical of the Valley in the suburban Golden Age of that era, with seemingly endless low-rise commercial drags serving countless acres of ranch-style tract homes. In the 1980s, development crept up into the hills, and the 118 Freeway was built to funnel commuter traffic to Burbank, Pasadena and Los Angeles, cementing Granada Hills popularity as a family-oriented bedroom community. (@latimesgraphics ) Neighborhood highlights Home, sweet suburban home: Granada Hills is proudly suburban, as its vociferous resistance to a recently proposed mixed-use development makes clear. Advertisement Calling all mid-mod fans: The Balboa Highlands tract is a stunning collection of midcentury modern homes built by Joseph Eichler and boasting designs by A. Quincy Jones and others. Wide open spaces: Granada Hills has the citys second largest public space in OMelveny Park, and the Santa Susana Mountains offer stunning views and plenty of hiking trails. Neighborhood challenge Life in your car: Opposition to change may help preserve the suburban character of Granada Hills, but it also puts shopping, jobs and other activities at the other end of a long freeway commute. Advertisement Expert insight Mathy Fisher of Century 21 Peak Realty has seen Granada Hills grow slowly but surely during her 20 years operating in the area. This neighborhood offers cheaper homes on larger lots compared to neighbors like Porter Ranch or Northridge, and thats led to an uptick in population over the last 15 years, Fisher said. New modern and Mediterranean-style homes are being developed, but the neighborhoods days of massive yards and wide open spaces may be limited. Advertisement There are plenty of horse trails and mountains to climb but only so much flat space left to build on, Fisher said. Granada Hills will get more congested as it grows. Market snapshot In the 91344 ZIP Code, based on 51 sales, the median sales price for single-family homes in December was $675,000, down 15.8% year over year, according to CoreLogic. Report card Advertisement Of the 12 public schools within the Granada Hills boundaries, two scored 900 or above on the 2013 Academic Performance Index: Van Gogh Street Elementary, with 935, and El Oro Way Elementary, with 900. Other highlights include Robert Frost Middle, which scored 874, and Danube Avenue Elementary, which scored 848. The areas public high school, John F. Kennedy High, scored 723. Times staff writer Jack Flemming contributed to this report. hotproperty@latimes.com Advertisement MORE FROM HOT PROPERTY Former MLB closer Robb Nen hopes to strike a deal for Lake Havasu retreat Actress Rolonda Watts looks to shed her 1920s spot in Hollywood Hills Beverly Hills home of Detroit Tigers great Hank Greenberg pulls in $7.75 million In another bid to quell criticism that its platform is overrun with misinformation, YouTube said Friday that it would start labeling news broadcasters videos that receive at least some government or public funding. The move comes a year after the Office of the Director of National Intelligence detailed how Russian state broadcaster RT racked up hundreds of millions of views on YouTube promoting Kremlin propaganda. YouTube yanked RT from its list of premium channels marketed to advertisers in October amid growing congressional pressure. The Russian broadcaster, which produced a wealth of reports critical of Hillary Clinton and promoted the viewpoints of figures such as Julian Assange, was the first news organization to surpass 1 billion views on YouTube in 2013. RT did not respond to a request for comment. Advertisement In addition to RT, state and public broadcasters such as PBS and New China TV will see notices directly below their videos, above even their titles, YouTube said. Links to the broadcasters Wikipedia pages will also be included below their videos. PBS said it was misleading for YouTube to include the broadcaster in the initiative, saying it suggested the U.S. government had influence over its editorial content. PBS and its member stations receive a small percentage of funding from the federal government; the majority of funding comes from private donations, the broadcaster said in an emailed statement. More importantly, PBS is an independent, private, not-for-profit corporation, not a state broadcaster. YouTubes proposed labeling could wrongly imply that the government has influence over PBS content, which is prohibited by statute. PBS said it was conducting discussions with YouTube to address its concerns. Its impossible to know if such disclosures would have limited RTs influence in the past, experts say. But they still welcomed YouTubes move as a way to improve media literacy. Its a small but not insignificant step, said Bret Schafer, an analyst at the German Marshall Funds Alliance for Securing Democracy, which tracks Russian influence networks over social media. The connection between RT and the content it publishes on YouTube has often been less than transparent, he added. This, in theory, would help solve that problem. Advertisement YouTube, which is owned by Googles parent company, Alphabet Inc., is resistant to legal oversight of its content. But it has made efforts to police its platform after a year in which the company was criticized for surfacing conspiracy theories, hoaxes and inappropriate content directed at children. Starting last year, the company said it tweaked its algorithm to ensure more established news sources surfaced in search results in the wake of breaking news. The change was made after a slew of conspiracy theories surfaced on YouTube moments after the Las Vegas mass shooting in October. News is an important and growing vertical for us and we want to be sure to get it right, wrote Geoff Samek, senior product manager for YouTube News in a blog post Friday. Google, like Facebook and Twitter, is slowly coming to grips with its role in the Russian campaign to influence the 2016 presidential election. Forced to testify on Capitol Hill, the tech giants have since pledged to promote more trusted news sources and have disclosed more data on Russian-controlled accounts. Advertisement The three companies would much rather stay out of the business of editorial oversight. Doing so could bring them closer to being labeled media companies rather than platforms a critical distinction that largely absolves them of liability over the content and activities that appear on their products. By promoting transparency measures instead, the firms can argue its up to their users to decide what to watch and read. The principle here is to provide more information to our users, and let our users make the judgment themselves, as opposed to us being in the business of providing any sort of editorial judgment on any of these things ourselves, Neal Mohan, YouTubes chief product officer, told the Wall Street Journal. Facebook announced last month that it would let its users determine which news sources are trustworthy. The social network had previously employed curators to cherry-pick news for its users, a strategy that was abandoned after the company was accused of omitting conservative viewpoints. Advertisement Editorial judgment could be more trouble than its worth, in the eyes of Silicon Valley. Deciding whats acceptable content is fraught with risk during todays political climate and ever harder now that news sites that previously would have been dismissed outright, such as Alex Jones Infowars, have gained mainstream notoriety. But transparency alone wont stop the spread of propaganda and misinformation given the complexity of policing platforms with billions of users accessible to almost anyone in the world. The nature of an open platform means we never know what trends or moments are going to arise next, wrote YouTubes Chief Executive Susan Wojcicki in a blog post Thursday addressing the rash of objectionable material on her platform. Data compiled by the Alliance for Securing Democracy show Russias influence campaign remains active on social media. Advertisement The group says Russian-linked influence networks on Twitter continue to promote hashtags such as #releasethememo, a reference to the House Intelligence Committees controversial memo on the Russia inquiry disclosed to the public Friday. david.pierson@latimes.com Follow me @dhpierson on Twitter UPDATES: Advertisement 2:55 p.m.: This article was updated with a comment from PBS. This article was originally published at 11:35 a.m. Harold Pinter wrote The Hothouse in the 1950s, then buried it in a drawer before resurrecting it in 1980 for a production that he himself directed. During the interim, what Pinter initially intended as a fantasy became oddly timely. Reality has overtaken it, he commented at the time. What a difference a few decades make. One can only conjecture how Pinter, that angry old gadfly of the British theater, would have reacted to todays political climate, where torture is being debated as a legitimate governmental policy. The Hothouse, set in a government-run mental asylum, touches upon themes of torture, as well as bureaucratic incompetence, governmental overreach and endemic institutional corruption. Yet Pinters first instinct to bury the play in a drawer may not have been entirely inappropriate. Yes, it is certainly one of his funniest plays. But The Hothouse, being presented by Antaeus Theatre Company at the Kiki & David Gindler Performing Arts Center, shows signs of youthful indiscipline, especially in the messy second act, which collapses into a cursory ending at odds with Pinters signature inaccessibility. Advertisement That said, the play is an actors showcase, and when it comes to gifted performers, Antaeus has an embarrassment of riches. J. D. Cullum, with Towne, in Antaeus double-cast production. (Geoffrey Wade Photography ) As with all Antaeus productions, this one is double cast, with director Nike Doukas the sure hand at the helm for both sets of actors, unearthing plentiful humor in the text. Subtext is crucial in Pinter, but while Doukas allows her actors to explore those subterranean undercurrents, she stops them short of overplaying a fine line frequently crossed in Pinter interpretations, in which lesser actors overthink and overfeel their lines, searching for hidden meanings. Among the designers, Jeff Gardner deserves special mention for his echoing, disorienting sound, while Julie Keens witty costumes, which stop just this side of parody, earn a chuckle or two. The cast I saw featured the typical Antaeus aggregate of seasoned stage veterans. Theyre superb as the poisonous staff of this ministry-run establishment, whose Christmas festivities have been disrupted by one inmates mysterious death and by news that another has just given birth. As Lamb (to the slaughter, get it?) J.D. Cullum is particularly fine as a friendless functionary whose longing to advance in the organization allows him to brook agonizing indignities. Peter Van Norden plays Roote (of all evil need hardly be spoken), the incompetent head of the asylum. Hes a hoot and a horror who vacillates between the needy and the domineering. The big fish that rots from the head downward, Roote is a particularly apt symbol in Pinters parable. Advertisement The Hothouse Where: Antaeus Theatre Company at the Kiki & David Gindler Performing Arts Center, 110 E. Broadway, Glendale When: 8 p.m. Thursdays-Fridays, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturdays, 2 p.m. Sundays; ends March 11 Tickets: $30-$34 Info: (818) 506-1983, www.antaeus.org Advertisement Running time: 1 hour, 50 minutes See all of our latest arts news and reviews at latimes.com/arts. MORE THEATER: The 99-Seat Beat: Jeanine Tesori, Culture Clash and more Advertisement When Dolly! will say hello to L.A. Ovation Awards 2018 winners Whenever a movie opens in wide release without screening in advance for critics, those of us with a professional duty to seek it out immediately brace ourselves not without some eagerness for an experience of epic, unprecedented awfulness. Once in a while our expectations are satisfied I still (vaguely) remember you, Aeon Flux! but most of the time we find ourselves let down, longing for memorable turkeys and instead getting stuck with bland mediocrities like Winchester. Directed by brothers Michael and Peter Spierig (Daybreakers, Jigsaw), who wrote the script with Tom Vaughan, this dour and derivative ghost story exploits the mysterious legacy of Sarah Winchester, the reclusive heiress who spent much of the early 1900s and much of the fortune she inherited from her firearm-magnate husband building an enormous seven-story estate in San Jose. The design for each room was inspired, or so she believed, by the whispers of those tortured souls who had the misfortune to perish at the end of a Winchester rifle, and who had returned from the grave to either heap punishment on the family or offer them redemption. Depending on your perspective, then, you might describe Winchester as an unusually dull supernatural thriller or an unusually protracted gun-control PSA. In either case, I doubt that any staunch 2nd Amendment advocates would find it especially troubling. In the wake of yet another wave of mass-shooting headlines, a few creaky floorboards and howling apparitions are unlikely to disturb anyones conscience. Advertisement Its 1906 when representatives of the Winchester Repeating Arms Co. invite a San Francisco psychologist named Dr. Eric Price (Jason Clarke) to assess Sarah Winchesters mental state, hoping that he will declare her unfit to lead the company. This will require Dr. Price to spend a few nights at her legendary home, a labyrinthine Victorian Xanadu of stained-glass windows and German-imported silver chandeliers. Construction workers toil on the rooftops day and night, tirelessly constructing new rooms and wings with a limitless budget but no apparent blueprint on hand. But Sarah isnt about to relinquish her grip on either her sanity or her fortune, and Helen Mirren, among the canniest of screen actors, supplies a rational impulse for her every Miss Havisham-like eccentricity. Clad in funereal black, still mourning the untimely deaths of her husband and their infant daughter years ago, Sarah stalks the houses endless stairways and corridors with purpose and conviction, insistent in her belief that she is building a shelter for the spirits of the slaughtered those who died at the Winchester companys hands. Sarah has an ardent defender in her widowed niece, Marian (Sarah Snook), whose young son, Henry (Finn Scicluna-OPrey), has an unfortunate habit of sleepwalking with a bag over his head. Dr. Price, for his part, seems similarly susceptible to the houses dark visions. Like his hosts, he is no stranger to untimely family tragedy. He also has a weakness for booze and opium, making it initially unclear if the ghosts hes seeing are genuine visions or mere figments of his druggy imagination. In the right hands, that ambiguity reminiscent of the conundrum at the heart of Henry James The Turn of the Screw and Jack Claytons brilliant 1961 film adaptation, The Innocents might have yielded a slippery, spine-tingling study in the power of suggestion. The frustration of Winchester is that the Spierigs hands might, once upon a time, have been the right ones. Few audiences saw their little-seen 2014 time-travel thriller, Predestination, but on the evidence of that science-fiction tour de force, there was every reason to hope they might pull off a similarly ingenious cinematic parlor trick here. Unfortunately, having laid out an unusually intricate and politically charged puzzle, Winchester proceeds to solve it in the clunkiest, most perfunctory way imaginable. The filmmakers taste in trick mirrors and shuddering armoires is impeccable, and they get some decent mileage out of a demon-possessed roller skate. But no matter how many non-sequitur jolts they manage to squeeze into these jumpy proceedings, the ability to sustain a sense of dread, to create tension that lasts beyond the immediate moment, seems dispiritingly beyond their grasp. ------------ Winchester Rating: PG-13, for violence, disturbing images, drug content, some sexual material and thematic elements Advertisement Running time: 1 hour, 39 minutes Playing: In general release See the most-read stories in Entertainment this hour Movie Trailers Advertisement justin.chang@latimes.com @JustinCChang More than 20 female music industry executives have reportedly signed an open letter calling for the resignation of the Recording Academys chief, Neil Portnow. Its the latest response to not only the male-centric Grammy Awards show but Portnows subsequent remark during a news conference suggesting it was the responsibility of women to step up. The statement you made this week about women in music needing to step up was spectacularly wrong and insulting and, at its core, oblivious to the vast body of work created by and with women, read the letter, which has been posted by Billboard and other media outlets. Your attempt to backpedal only emphasizes your refusal to recognize us and our achievements. Your most recent remarks do not constitute recognition of womens achievements, but rather a call for men to take action to welcome women. Advertisement We do not await your welcome into the fraternity. We do not have to sing louder, jump higher or be nicer to prove ourselves. The signatories include executives at several powerful talent agencies, publicity firms, PR companies and artist managers. The Times reached out to several of the reported signees for further comment. The letter also called for changes in the academys voting structure to better reflect the diversity of the music industry. The stringent requirements for members ... to vote reflect the distorted, unequal balance of executives and creators in our industry, it read. There is simply not enough opportunity and influence granted or accessible to women, people of color and those who identify as LGBTQ. We can continue to be puzzled as to why the Grammys do not fairly represent the world in which we live, or we can demand change so that all music creators and executives can flourish no matter their gender, color of their skin, background or sexual preference. The Recording Academy simultaneously announced a task force to overcome the explicit barriers and unconscious biases that impede female advancement in the music community. After hearing from many friends and colleagues, Portnow said in a statement issued Thursday, I understand the hurt that my poor choice of words following last Sundays Grammy telecast has caused. I also now realize that its about more than just my words, he said. Because those words, while not reflective of my beliefs, echo the real experience of too many women. Id like to help make that right. Advertisement august.brown@latimes.com For breaking music news, follow @augustbrown on Twitter. Altered Carbon, which begins streaming Friday on Netflix, adapts Richard K. Morgans 2002 novel into a 10-episode television series starring Joel Kinnaman as space-warrior turned detective Takeshi Kovacs. Its strategy, not unique among science fiction stories, is to adapt the tone and tropes of hard-boiled detective fiction to futuristic sci-fi, which is why its rainy, neon-noir vision of San Francisco some centuries hence (now called Bay City) may remind you strongly of Blade Runner. In the crazy future Morgan envisions, brought to colorful life by series creator Laeta Kalogridis (Terminator Genisys), human consciousness is downloaded into a stack, a gizmo slid into every persons cervical vertebrae at age 1. These stacks can be swapped into new bodies or sleeves when the old ones break. Additionally, the information they contain can also be needlecast across great distances into waiting empty vessels, allowing instant travel not merely between Atchison and Topeka, but Earth and distant planets, where there is a sort of Imperial Stormtroopers versus Rebel Alliance thing going on. (Pay attention, its important.) Consciousness can also be uploaded into virtual reality, in which not a little of Altered Carbon takes place. Not surprisingly, this system mostly benefits the rich, who can buy flashy designer-enhanced corpses to inhabit, who keep banks of clones at hand the way you might have a drawer of clean underwear, and back up their consciousness to personal satellites for added security. As Irene Cara sang in Fame, they want to live forever, up in their towering sky-mansions accessible only by flying car (again, see Blade Runner). But as with vampires, virtual immortality exacts a price: Kicks just keep getting harder to find, as Paul Revere & the Raiders sang in Kicks, and the .01% play around with death other peoples to feel alive. Renee Elise Goldsberry shows how its done as a rebel leader in the Netflix sci-fi series Altered Carbon. (Netflix ) Advertisement As we open, the mind of Kovacs, first played by actor Will Yun Lee, and the last of the Envoys the Rebel Alliance folks mentioned above awakens in Kinnamans long, tall Swedish-born body. With his semi-superhuman skills, Kovacs has been brought back out of stack prison, where he has languished for 250 years, to do a job for mega-mogul Laurens Bancroft (James Purefoy), who wants him to solve a murder his! Someone blew off the head of Bancrofts previous body but, owing to the timing of his scheduled brain backup, a gap in his memory leaves him clueless as to the killer. (It might have been suicide.) A sort of Scooby Gang coheres around Kovacs, including Lt. Kristin Ortega (Martha Higareda), who is angry; a former Marine with tech skills (Ato Essandoh) grieving for a daughter (Hayley Law) caught in a virtual-reality trauma loop; and Poe (a comically touching Chris Conner), the dignified, computer-generated embodiment of the Raven hotel, where Kovacs is the first guest in five decades. Kovacs also chats in his mind with long-lost sister Reileen (Dichen Lachman) and Envoy guru Quellcrist Falconer (Renee Elise Goldsberry), whose aphorisms he also quotes, in voice-over. As in martial arts and superhero movies, the amount of punishment these characters can take is so outrageous that the violence hardly registers as violence. The fight scenes, which come along often enough, are well staged Lachman is your new action heroine, Hollywood but also in a way tedious; there are only so many knives to the gut or bullets to the head before they become a blur. I felt something of the same about the sex scenes, for that matter, which also come along often enough. (The nudity is premium-cable copious and mostly female, but Kinnaman and Purefoy and a few random dudes balance that scale a little.) And its worth pointing out that this is very much a story that runs on though it does not recommend violence against women. Chris Conner plays Poe, the computer-generated host of the Raven Hotel, in the future-set Netflix series Altered Carbon. (Netflix ) The series is convoluted, digressive and long. (Even True Detective only took eight episodes to solve a mystery, and Miss Marple could do it in 60 minutes, or 90 at a stretch.) You may forget by the end what the beginning was about, as the main case is clouded by others. (From what I can gather, there are elaborations upon and departures from Morgans text, and so these reverses may feel surprising to readers as well.) Youll be watching a scene that feels like the climax, only to check and find youve still got another two or three or four episodes to go; you think things are coming to a head, and suddenly a caper movie is beginning. Eventually, you do arrive at the end, which has a certain mathematical balance and, despite (or perhaps because of) some corniness, prompts deeper feelings than you might have expected. Whatever else, for fans of Stephen Holder, the character Kinnaman played on The Killing, Altered Carbon puts the actor back in detective mode. His body has been muscled to a fare thee well, and energetic use is put to it. But when he is not dispatching thugs who have come to dispatch him, there is that old Holder music, skeptical and laconic, as he spars with foes and with the friends he slowly lets past that tough exterior. Its good to hear it again. Altered Carbon Where: Netflix Advertisement When: Anytime, starting Friday Rated: TV-MA (may be unsuitable for children under the age of 17) robert.lloyd@latimes.com Follow Robert Lloyd on Twitter @LATimesTVLloyd Building off the success of its collaborations with designers like Virgil Abloh, Ikea has recruited stylist and costume designer Bea Akerlund for a limited-run home collection. While many know Akerlund for her work with Madonna, Beyonce, Lady Gaga and Rihanna, Ikea heard her before they actually met her. Dividing her time between Los Angeles and her hometown of Stockholm, the self-described fashion activist said Ikea executives contacted her after she hosted the 90-minute, non-scripted radio program Sommar i P1. Its been around since the Sixties and its very prestigious to be asked to do this program. Its everyone from politicians to actors to journalists to zookeepers. You talk and play some music, talk and play some more music. You can talk about anything and I just told my life story, which I have never done with the press or anyone. They found that inspiring, she said. Due out in the U.S. in mid-February, Bea Akerlund: Omedelbar features lip-shaped pillows, 3-D-printed hands, an armchair, an ottoman with storage and other home items, retailing from $2 to $249. Since everything she does in her daily life is for other people, whether that be dressing pop stars or working in fashion, she felt this project was her one chance in life to focus on herself. Advertisement I guess you could call it a little bit of an ego trip, Akerlund said with a laugh. Being a stylist, we always need racks, hangers and hat boxes to organize your stuff. I also wanted to have a little fun with the collection. There are different parts of me the Goth Bea, the punk Bea and the fun crazy Bea. Knowing that Ikea is a worldwide brand, she wanted to cater to everyone to keep it fun to remind people life is not that serious. You should just add a splash of color and have fun with your decor. The message of my collection is the mantra I live by Be who you are. Ten years ago when I was a struggling stylist, people told me that I was too loud and I needed to tone it down, Akerlund said. I just followed my heart and stayed true to myself. I try to inspire other people to not forget who they are, and to not get caught up with what other people want them to be. Akerlund didnt have the chance to meet Ikea founder Ingvar Kamprad before his recent death, but she visited the tiny town of Almhult, where 85 percent of the population works at Ikea. For her Omedelbar launch during Stockholm Fashion Week, she transformed the very boudoir members only club Noppes. These amazing set designers took my whole collection and turned it upside down on the wall. Downstairs in a big red room, there was a big red bed and films were projected on the wall. After the launch, Akerlund flew to Paris to style A.F. Vandevorsts 20-year anniversary show. We also have a T-shirt collaboration coming out in April. They are such a lovely couple [An Vandevorst and Filip Arickx] super-inspiring. Theyve been together for 30 years. The dynamic in their relationship between who does what was really interesting to see, Akerlund said. Hoping for a second act with Ikea, Akerlund said, I probably presented 200 ideas and we made 35 products, so one can hope. Susan King is a former entertainment writer at the Los Angeles Times who specialized in Classic Hollywood stories. She also wrote about independent, foreign and studio movies and occasionally TV and theater stories. Born in East Orange, N.J., she received her masters degree in film history and criticism at USC. She worked for 10 years at the L.A. Herald Examiner and came to work at The Times in January 1990. She left in 2016. Lets say, for arguments sake since were arguing so much about sexual harassment these days, that a nursing home supervisor claimed that her boss assaulted her. That he came up behind her in a hotel corridor during a break in a training session, put his hands on her shoulders, slipped his right hand onto her breast and whispered, Oh, how I want you. Lets say she whirled around in shock and threw her coffee on him. Then, later, when confronted, he not only denied that he touched her, but said he never even saw her that day. Who is going to figure out what happened? Probably someone from the growing class of professionals known as workplace investigators. Advertisement Workplace investigators might be staffers in the human resources department, private investigators or outside law firms that specialize in bad workplace behavior. At this fraught cultural moment, their work has never been more important, scrutinized or in demand. :: This week in Santa Barbara, 70 workplace investigators gathered for a five-day training institute. Members of the Assn. of Workplace Investigators, they had come from as far away as Australia and Canada to burnish their skills in the delicate art of investigating complaints that arise when employees believe they have been harassed, abused or discriminated against at their jobs. The association was founded nine years ago by Amy Oppenheimer, 65, a Berkeley attorney who spent many years representing plaintiffs in sexual harassment lawsuits. It now counts 850 members. The training culminates in a day of testing for certification, which Oppenheimer and some of her colleagues developed in collaboration with a psychometrician (an expert who develops exams for credentialing purposes). In my experience, my clients didnt want a lawsuit, said Oppenheimer, as we chatted Wednesday evening in a hotel bar. They wanted to keep their jobs, be protected and get on with their life. They were always more upset about their employer not protecting them. Advertisement The investigators have attended sessions on how to understand and avoid bias when fact-finding and how to execute a review, including how to interview witnesses. They have studied the law relating to workplace investigations and will be trained to assess credibility in order to decide what is likely to have happened. They seek the truth, but it is often elusive. For example, when confronted with the he said/she said scenario, they look for corroboration, and examine motives and credibility. :: Advertisement I met Oppenheimer in 1991, shortly after I arrived at The Times. She and her then-partner, Leslie Levy, were representing 21 single, low-income women who had been sexually harassed, stalked and assaulted by the manager of their apartment building in Fairfield, a town halfway between Oakland and Sacramento. It was an extraordinary case, unheard of in the annals of American justice. The manager ended up in jail for sexual assault; the women ended up with modest sums of settlement money and the satisfaction of knowing that in Oppenheimer and Levy, they had found relentless advocates. Last October, after exposes about Harvey Weinstein inspired women to take a stand against rampant harassment and sexual assault in the state Capitol, Senate leader Kevin de Leon announced he had hired Oppenheimers firm to investigate the allegations. Two other firms have since been hired, including one led by Sue Ann Van Dermyden, a board member of the Assn. of Workplace Investigators who is also on the institutes senior faculty. Advertisement I have heard from colleagues in Sacramento that some women who claim they have been harassed by legislators are reluctant to be interviewed by attorneys hired by the Legislature itself. That is a common conundrum when it comes to workplace investigations. How many of us have gone to our HR departments with complaints about bosses only to come away feeling the goal of HR was to protect the company, not the employee? Turns out we were right. HRs job is to protect the company, Oppenheimer said, but HR needs to understand that uncovering the truth as soon as possible and dealing with it head on does protect the company. In the short term you can say, This looks terrible and we can deep-six it. But thats not whats best for the company. Whats best is dealing with whats wrong in a righteous manner. Advertisement Still, she and many of her colleagues believe that the #MeToo movement has led to a shoot-first-ask-questions-later workplace atmosphere. I think too many heads are rolling without enough inquiry into what actually happened, Oppenheimer said. There is a huge difference between a Weinstein and an Al Franken. If we were to eliminate every man who has done something untoward over the age of 18 or 22, we would just have to eliminate most of them. Remember that old feminist joke, If you can send a man to the moon, why not send them all? There was probably a time in my life where I thought that would be fine, but that time has passed. I guess I am more forgiving of human frailty. :: Advertisement In the end, most workplace investigators seemed to agree there was a preponderance of evidence (described as 50% plus a feather) that the nurses boss had probably grabbed her breast. Though no one had seen the boss at the work conference, she had accurately described the clothes he was wearing corroborated by others who had seen him that morning in the office. Also, she appeared upset immediately after the alleged incident, according to a hotel worker. And she reported the encounter contemporaneously to a friend and colleague, to whom shed also confided previously that the boss stared at her breasts during her job interview and invited her to a bar for what she thought was a work party, but no one else showed up. Weighing in favor of the boss: He had told her that her work was not yet up to par, though she was not in danger of being reassigned or transferred; she had recently entered into a contract to buy a home in Santa Barbara and may have been fearful about losing her job at a financially precarious moment, so she struck first. So should the boss get fired? God, yes, but thats not up to workplace investigators. They just lay out what they believe happened. Advertisement After that, its up to employers to do the right thing. The California bullet train project is supposed to be an economic engine for small business in the Central Valley, but one woman-owned construction firm is alleging in a suit that the project has paralyzed her company. Virginia Villa made it a goal to win a small contract for high-speed rail construction for her firm, West Pacific Electric Co. in Lemoore. Villa spent about a year going to the rail authoritys outreach meetings, which it held to help meet a goal of issuing 30% of its work to small businesses. In October 2016, Villa won a $685,000 subcontract from the Spanish construction giant Dragados USA to move telecommunications cables in five locations along the rail route. She purchased new equipment, hired more workers and put up more than $1 million in performance and bid bonds under the subcontract limiting the firms ability to bid on other projects. Villas suit, filed this week in Sacramento County Superior Court, alleges that Dragados issued the subcontract knowing that it did not have access to land at two of the work locations. After completing three of the locations, Villas company had to suspend its work. It asked Dragados to release it from the contract and return its bond. Advertisement Dragados has refused, said Lisa Nicolls, the Sacramento attorney representing Villa. Without a return of the bond, Villa had limited capacity to bid on other contracts, she said. Virginia would have never taken the risk and the bonding companies would never have agreed to issue the bonds if they knew Dragados did not have access to the land, Nicolls said. Not being able to use that bonding capacity has had a devastating effect. Dragados officials did not immediately return calls seeking comment. A spokeswoman for the state rail authority said it cant intercede in the dispute, but is attempting to bring the parties to the negotiating table. Nicolls said that the demand for qualified small disadvantaged contractors is so strong that West Pacific could easily have obtained other work. Nicolls said it could be another 18 months before the rail authority acquires the land and turns it over to Dragados, which could leave West Pacific stuck until the middle of next year. The problem originated with the state rail authority, which is years behind schedule in acquiring land. It has paid tens of millions of dollars to rail contractors Dragados and Tutor Perini to compensate them for the delays. The suit, which also names as defendants 10 bonding companies, is seeking $2 million, along with punitive damages. ralph.vartabedian@latimes.com Twitter: @rvartabedian Kenneth P. Hahn, a former Los Angeles County assessor and one of the countys first openly gay elected officials, has died at his home in Cathedral City. He was 78. Hahn was recovering from a serious stroke last month when his condition began to deteriorate, said Robert Kalonian, spokesman and assistant to the countys current assessor, Jeffrey Prang. He died peacefully Saturday with his husband, Louis Mangual, at his side, Kalonian said. Hahn first worked inside the L.A. County assessors office as an appraiser, answering public complaints for 10 years before deciding to run against his boss, Assessor John J. Lynch, in 1990. Advertisement Though he had little political experience and reportedly jumped into the contest mostly to irritate his boss, Hahn overcame steep odds and won. He was reelected in 1994 and 1998. Kenneth P. Hahn and Louis Mangual participate in West Hollywoods public commitment ceremony in the early 1990s. (Karen Ocamb ) Prang said he met Hahn in 1990 when he was 27 and just starting a career in local government. He remembered Hahn as a nice guy who wasnt very political. I remember him telling me he wasnt running with any expectation of winning, Prang said. Eventually Hahn settled into his new job, where he used his calm demeanor and humor to oversee a staff of more than 1,500 employees to assess 2.5 million taxable properties. One of those employees he hired in 1992 was Prang, who worked as a staff assistant. Prang said Hahn brought a sense of normalcy to the office. He was a very down-to-earth guy and was approachable and humble, said Prang, who credits his career in government to Hahn. Advertisement He gave me my foot in the door and stayed around to help me along the way. During his second year in office, Hahn became somewhat of an accidental trailblazer for the LGBTQ community at a time when few elected officials were openly gay. Hahn, who had never denied that he was gay but had never made a public announcement about it, was outed in 1991 when organizers of the West Hollywoods annual Gay and Lesbian Pride Parade told the crowd that Hahn was the senior-most elected openly gay official in Los Angeles. Advertisement Shortly after, Hahn, who was 51 at the time, told The Times that he wanted to be treated like any other elected official. My sexual orientation has nothing to do with my job Ive never been a gay candidate, just a candidate who happened to be gay. Because gay marriage was not legal in the early 1990s, Hahn and Mangual participated in West Hollywoods public commitment ceremonies celebrations that were much like weddings but without an actual marriage license. Karen Ocamb, a freelance reporter and longtime friend of Hahn, attended the event. Advertisement He was gazing lovingly into his partners eyes, totally unaware of me as I circled them, taking photos with my little camera, Ocamb said. Love just radiated around them. Hahn stepped down as assessor in 2000 and was replaced by Rick Auerbach. Hahn later moved to Hawaii, where he lived for about three years growing rambutan a tropical fruit that is similar to lychee before moving to Seattle and eventually back to Los Angeles. In 2013, when gay marriage became legal, Hahn married Mangual, his partner of more than 40 years. Advertisement Hahn, who is predeceased by his older brother Richard, is survived by Mangual; nephews Troy Han and Richard Hahn; and a niece, Debbie Hatcher. melissa.etehad@latimes.com Follow me on Twitter @melissaetehad USC names retired aerospace executive Wanda Austin as acting president, announces Nikias departure By Harriet Ryan USC appointed a retired aerospace executive as interim president and laid out a detailed plan for selecting a permanent leader Tuesday, ending speculation about whether outgoing President C.L. Max Nikias might remain in the post. Nikias, embattled over his administrations handling of a campus gynecologist accused of sexually abusing patients, relinquished his duties after a meeting of USCs board. The trustees tapped one of their own, Wanda Austin, an alumna and former president of the Aerospace Corp., to temporarily run the university. The trustees also approved the formation of a search committee and the hiring of firm Isaacson, Miller to coordinate the selection of a successor. A second search company, Heidrick & Struggles, will also advise trustees. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Ex-student sues elite Brentwood School after teacher is charged with sexually abusing him By Richard Winton A former student sued the elite Brentwood School on Monday in the wake of a female teacher being charged with repeatedly having sex with the minor, alleging that other faculty members encouraged the unlawful behavior and failed to report it to authorities. The lawsuit accuses the private school, whose students include the children of many of Hollywoods elite and L.A.s powerful, of acting negligently and allowing Aimee Palmitessa to abuse and batter the teenager sexually. The suit alleges that the student was abused in summer 2017 after one of the schools counselors offered words of encouragement to the then-17-year-old, identified in the suit as only John Doe, to engage in an illegal relationship with the teacher. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Civil jury vindicates fired Montebello school executives in whistleblower case By Howard Blume The Montebello school district is in dire straits at risk of insolvency and under apparent criminal investigation. An outside audit in July found some teachers earning more than $200,000 a year, as well as improper raises, excess paid vacation time and inappropriate overtime, sick leave and car allowances. Fixing the district and pinpointing blame could take time. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print L.A. schools fall short on safety measures, new report warns By Howard Blume After the mass shooting at Floridas Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in February, Los Angeles school officials reassured parents that much had been done to keep local schools safe. California had tougher gun laws, after all, and the school district paid close attention to students mental health. But a new report issued Monday by a panel convened to take a close look offers some cause for concern, flagging inconsistent campus safety measures, thinly spread mental health staff and inadequate coordination between the school district and other public agencies. With the stakes this high, we must strive to do better, said L.A. City Atty. Mike Feuer, who assembled the panel. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement L.A. school district says more are graduating, but rate may not show it By Howard Blume The L.A. Unified School District has hopes of continuing its winning streak this year with another record graduation rate, but the official numbers may not show it. A senior district administrator warned the board Tuesday that graduation rates were likely to decline 2% to 3% across the state, even though L.A. Unified is likely doing better than ever in producing graduates, he said. The issue is that the state will now count high school students who transfer to adult school as dropouts, said Oscar Lafarga, who heads the districts office of data and accountability. Previously, schools treated these students as though they had simply enrolled in another high school, he said. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Betsy DeVos to California: Not so fast on that federal education plan By Joy Resmovits Education Secretary Betsy DeVos (Erik Lesser / European Pressphoto Agency) In April, Californias top education officials breathed a sigh of relief. After months of debate and back-and-forth with Betsy DeVos staff, they had finalized a plan to satisfy a major education law that aims to make sure all students get a decent education. The state focused on aligning its plan to fulfill the requirements of the federal Every Student Succeeds Act with Californias Local Control Funding Formula, which gives extra money to districts to help students who come from low-income families, are in the foster system or are English learners. But this week, DeVos team said not so fast. Jason Botel, the U.S. Department of Educations principal deputy assistant secretary, sent California education officials a letter asking for more information in such areas as measuring student progress, graduation rates and English learners. In an unsigned statement, the California Department of Education declared itself surprised and disappointed because officials thought after a meeting with federal officials in Washington that they were on the right track to get approval. Now the Every Student Succeeds Act plan will be up for discussion once again at the July meeting of the State Board of Education. The U.S. Department of Education has already approved most state plans. Every Student Succeeds is the Obama administrations 2015 replacement for the No Child Left Behind Act. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print L.A. school board sets a new goal: prepare every grad to be eligible to apply for Cal State or UC By Sonali Kohli Last month, Los Angeles school board president proposed a spate of highly ambitious mandates aimed at ensuring that every district graduate be eligible to apply to one of the states public four-year universities by 2023. By the time the L.A. Unified school board unanimously approved the resolution Tuesday, the original language had been watered down. The goal is no longer that in five years 100% of students meet the long list of benchmarks, which include not just college eligibility for graduates but first-grade reading proficiency and English fluency by sixth grade for all students who enter the district in kindergarten or first grade speaking another language. The original college-readiness goal, for example, called for 100% of all high school students to be eligible to apply to one of the states four-year universities. Now the goal seems to offer more wiggle room: Prepare all high school graduates to be eligible to apply to a California four-year university. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement We have been hurt. More women say they were mistreated by USC gynecologist By Richard Winton USC student Anika Narayanan says she vividly recalls her first appointment with Dr. George Tyndall at the campus health center, alleging that he made several explicit comments during an examination she felt was inappropriate and invasive. When she came back for a second visit in 2016 after a nonconsensual sexual encounter, he allegedly chastised her, she said in a civil lawsuit and at a press conference Tuesday. He asked me if I had forgotten to use a condom again, said Narayanan, 21. At one point, she said, Tyndall asked if I did a lot of doggy style, she said. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print L.A. Unified gives inspector general brief contract extension By Howard Blume The Los Angeles school board on Tuesday extended the contract of Ken Bramlett, its inspector general, by three months, though his job is far from secure and questions remain about the future direction of his watchdog office. Board members also unanimously promoted Vivian Ekchian, who had been the runner-up for the superintendents job, to deputy superintendent the districts No. 2 position. Both moves had elements of peacemaking between different factions on the board. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print USCs handling of complaints about campus gynecologist is being investigated by federal government By Harriet Ryan The U.S. Department of Education announced Monday that it has launched an investigation into how the University of Southern California handled misconduct complaints against a campus gynecologist, the latest fallout in a scandal that has prompted the resignation of USCs president, two law enforcement investigations and dozens of lawsuits. In revealing the inquiry by the departments Office of Civil Rights, officials rebuked USC for what they alleged was improper withholding of information about Dr. George Tyndall during a previous federal investigation. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, who has been criticized for taking a less vigorous approach to examining sexual misconduct than predecessors, called for a systemic examination of USC and urged administrators to fully cooperate. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Judge to sentence woman and her boyfriend for the murder of an 8-year-old that led to L.A. child welfare reforms By Marisa Gerber A woman and her boyfriend are expected to be sentenced Thursday for the torture and murder of an 8-year-old boy whose killing in 2013 provoked public outrage, prompted sweeping reform of Los Angeles Countys child welfare system, and led to unprecedented criminal charges against social workers who handled the childs case. Pearl Sinthia Fernandez, 34, faces life in prison without the possibility of parole for her role in the death of her son, Gabriel. A jury decided last year that her boyfriend, Isauro Aguirre, 37, should be executed. When paramedics arrived at the boys Palmdale home in May 2013, Gabriel had slipped out of consciousness. He had a fractured skull, broken ribs, burned skin, missing teeth and BB pellets embedded in his groin. A paramedic would later testify that every inch of the boys small body had been abused. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print L.A. Unifieds spending out of step with similar school systems, task force says By Howard Blume The Los Angeles school district is out of step with similar school systems, spending more on teachers pay and health benefits and less on activities that could enhance student learning, according to a new report by an outside task force. The L.A. Unified School District Advisory Task Force did not make specific recommendations, but instead posed a series of questions it said the district needs to answer to make sure its funding is aimed at providing a full opportunity for all students to succeed. What were trying to say is: Lets put the data on the table. Lets look at the truth. Lets be transparent and here are the numbers, said task force member Renata Simril. This is not to say that we should cut teachers salaries. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Top USC medical school official feared dean was doing drugs and alerted administration, he testifies By Paul Pringle A former vice dean of USCs Keck School of Medicine testified Tuesday that he feared the schools then-dean, Dr. Carmen A. Puliafito, could be doing drugs and expressed concerns about his general well-being to the universitys No. 2 administrator before Puliafito abruptly left his job in 2016. Dr. Henri Fords testimony at a hearing of the state Medical Board marks the first suggestion that any USC administrator had suspicions about Puliafitos possible drug use before he stepped down. A Times investigation in 2017 found Puliafito led a secret second life of using illegal drugs with a circle of young criminals and addicts. Puliafito testified about his behavior at the hearing Tuesday, saying he took drugs with one young woman on a weekly basis. Ford said that he decided to alert USC Provost Michael Quick after receiving reports in early 2016 that Puliafito was partying in hotels with people of questionable reputation, and that he came to worry about his mental stability. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Why L.A. Unified may face financial crisis even with a giant surplus this year By Jessica Calefati With more than half a billion dollars socked away for next school year, the Los Angeles Unified School District hardly seems just two years from financial ruin. Its a scenario that is especially tough to swallow if youre a low-wage worker seeking a raise or a teacher who wants smaller classes. But budget documents show that todays $548-million surplus cannot be sustained and that even basic services face steep, seemingly unavoidable cuts because of massive problems barreling the districts way. Theres a disconnect between the rosy short-term picture and what we know is coming, said board member Kelly Gonez. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print We have failed: Top USC officials try to reassure students amid gynecologist scandal By Joy Resmovits Top administrators at USC are reaching out to students in the wake of misconduct allegations against the universitys longtime gynecologist, acknowledging failings and vowing reforms as they try to address growing outrage over the revelations. Several USC deans have sent out messages trying to reassure students and faculty that the university is committed to changing. We have failed, wrote Jack H. Knott, dean of USCs Sol Price School of Public Policy, in a May 24 letter. What happened is antithetical to everything we know is right. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Rick Caruso is named chair of USCs trustees, vows swift investigation of gynecologist scandal By Thomas Curwen The University of Southern Californias board of trustees has elected mall magnate Rick Caruso to be the new chair of the board, giving fresh leadership as the university navigates a widening scandal involving a longtime campus gynecologist. The move marks the latest effort by USC to address the case, which has sparked a criminal investigation by the Los Angeles Police Department and dozens of civil lawsuits. More than 400 people have contacted a hotline that the university established for patients to make reports about their experience with Dr. George Tyndall. In his first act as chairman, Caruso announced that the white-shoe L.A. law firm OMelveny & Myers would conduct a thorough and independent investigation into the gynecologists conduct and reporting failures at the clinic. He set an ambitious timeline for the review, pledging it would conclude before students return for the fall semester. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print UC Berkeley students persistence helps win more liberal rules for in-state tuition By Teresa Watanabe Ifechukwu Okeke thought shed be a shoo-in for in-state tuition when she was admitted to UC Berkeley for fall 2016. She had moved to the United States from Nigeria in 2012 to go to Chaffey College in Rancho Cucamonga. By the time she got her acceptance to transfer to UC to study molecular and cell biology, she had lived in California four years. She had a California drivers license, bank account and rental records as proof. UC Berkeley, however, ruled she was a nonresident which meant she would have to pay nearly $27,000 more. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement State medical board calls former County-USC doctor a sexual predator, suspends his license By Matt Hamilton A UCLA cardiologist has been temporarily stripped of his medical license after state regulators described him as a sexual predator who assaulted three female colleagues when he was working and training at L.A. County-USC Medical Center. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Global California 2030' aims to get more students learning more languages By Joy Resmovits Tom Torlakson (Andrew Seng / Associated Press) Outgoing state Supt. of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson on Wednesday announced a new statewide effort to encourage students to learn more languages. Called Global California 2030, its goal is to help more students become fluent in multiple tongues. Torlakson said that by 2030, he wants half of the states 6.2 million K-12 students to participate in classes or programs that lead to proficiency in two or more languages. By 2040, he wants three out of four students to be proficient enough to earn the State Seal of Biliteracy. Torlakson announced the initiative at Cahuenga Elementary School, which offers a dual-language immersion program in English and Korean. Californias public school students speak more than 60 languages at home, and 40% come to school with knowledge of a language other than English. Torlakson called his plan a call to action that invites parents, legislators, educators and community members to pool resources to expand language offerings in schools and get more bilingual teachers trained. He said the state already is working with Mexico and Spain to expand a teacher-exchange program. Fluency, the plan argues, can help students succeed economically and language acquisition can help their overall critical thinking. The initiative builds on Proposition 58, a ballot initiative passed in 2016 that undid an earlier requirement that English learners be taught in English-immersion classes unless their parents signed waivers. Torlakson recently visited Mexico and met with that countrys education secretary. They later signed a pact to increase collaboration, particularly in language education. This [Global California 2030] is great follow-through on Toms part and very important, Patricia Gandara, a UCLA education professor who hosted the Mexico meeting, said in an email. It hands over a plan to move forward in an area in which California has a unique advantage, but must seize the opportunity. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Jury convicts man of murder in 2015 slaying of UCLA student found inside her burning apartment By Marisa Gerber A jury on Tuesday convicted a man in the 2015 slaying of a UCLA student found dead inside her burning apartment a gruesome stabbing case that led to a fierce rebuke of the police response amid concerns that the killing could have been prevented. The panel deliberated for about six hours before finding Alberto Medina, 24, guilty of murder, arson, burglary and animal cruelty. On Sept. 21, 2015, firefighters found the charred body of Andrea DelVesco inside her apartment after responding to the complex a block from campus. The 21-year-old student an Austin, Texas, native known to her sorority sisters as a fearless giver who befriended others with ease was stabbed at least 19 times, authorities said. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print LAPD begins sweeping criminal probe of former USC gynecologist while urging patients to come forward By Adam Elmahrek The Los Angeles Police Department said Tuesday it is investigating 52 complaints of misconduct filed by former patients of USCs longtime campus gynecologist as detectives launch a sweeping criminal probe into the scandal that has rocked the university. LAPD detectives also made an appeal for other patients who feel mistreated to come forward, noting that thousands of students were examined by Dr. George Tyndall during his nearly 30-year career at USC. More than 410 people have contacted a university hotline about the physician since The Times revealed the allegations this month. Tyndalls behavior and practices appear to go beyond the norms of the medical profession and gynecological examinations, said Asst. Chief Beatrice Girmala. We sincerely realize that victims may have difficulty recounting such details to investigators. We are empathetic and ready to listen. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print At L.A.'s only school for the deaf, parents want leaders who speak the same language By Anna M. Phillips Ever since her son was 6 months old, Juliet Hidalgo has been bringing him to the Marlton School, a low-slung building in Baldwin Hills that for generations has been a second home for deaf and hard-of-hearing students in Los Angeles. Marlton staff taught Hidalgos brother and sister, both of whom are deaf. The school was where her deaf son learned to make the signs for milk and food. Hidalgo had planned to enroll her daughter, taking advantage of a popular program that allows hearing children to learn American Sign Language alongside their deaf siblings. But after more than a decade of involvement, she and other family members are considering withdrawing their children. They are not alone. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Fueled by unlimited donations, independent groups play their biggest role yet in a California primary for governor By Ryan Menezes An unprecedented amount of money from wealthy donors, unions and corporations is flowing into the California governors race, giving independent groups unrestricted by contribution limits a greater say in picking the states chief executive than ever before. The groups have already spent more than $26 million through Thursday, the most ever spent by noncandidate committees in a gubernatorial primary, according to a Times analysis of campaign finance reports. California elections have always been expensive, and the future is even more expensive, said Jack Pitney, a political science professor at Claremont McKenna College and a former state Republican leader. The stakes are very real. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement 2 hurt in Indiana middle school shooting; suspect in custody, authorities say By Associated Press Authorities say two victims in a shooting at a suburban Indianapolis school are being taken to a hospital and the lone suspect is in custody. Bryant Orem, a spokesman for the Hamilton County Sheriffs Office, said in a news release that the victims in Friday mornings attack at Noblesville West Middle School are being taken to Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis and their families have been notified. He says no other information is available about the victims. Orem said the suspect is believed to have acted alone and was taken into custody. No additional information about the suspect was made public. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print For new L.A. schools chief Austin Beutner, some key unions are giving no honeymoon period By Howard Blume In the less than two weeks since Austin Beutner took charge of Los Angeles schools, unions representing teachers and administrators have staged a job action and a protest. Theyve made it clear that they will not give the new superintendent the traditional honeymoon period, and they are bashing him for his wealth and lack of experience running either a school or a school district. Beutner is a billionaire investment banker with zero qualifications, local teachers union President Alex Caputo-Pearl told members in a phone alert urging them to participate in a Thursday afternoon rally in Grand Park. The board is saying that billionaires who made their money blowing institutions up and making money off it know best not the education professionals who have dedicated our careers to working with students. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Pressure grows on Board of Trustees amid USC gynecologist scandal By Paul Pringle USCs large and powerful Board of Trustees is coming under growing pressure to provide a stronger hand as the university faces a crisis over misconduct allegations against the campus longtime gynecologist that has prompted calls for President C.L. Max Nikias to step down. Allegations that Dr. George Tyndall mistreated students during his nearly 30 years at USC have roiled the campus, with about 300 people coming forward to make reports to the university and the Los Angeles Police Department launching a criminal investigation. USC is already beginning to face what is expected to be costly litigation by women who say they were victimized by the physician. So far, the trustees to whom Nikias reports have expressed sympathy for the women who have come forward and launched an independent investigation while also publicly backing the president. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print UC regents approve leaner budget for Janet Napolitano By Teresa Watanabe University of California regents on Thursday unanimously approved a leaner, more transparent budget for President Janet Napolitano, moving to address political criticism over the systems central office operations. The $876.4-million budget for 2018-19 reflects spending cuts of 2%, including reductions in staffing, travel and such systemwide programs as public service law fellowships, carbon neutrality and food security. Napolitano shifted $30 million to campuses for housing needs and $10 million to UC Riverside to support its five-year-old medical school. She also permanently redirected $8.5 million annually to help enroll more California students, as required by the state. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print USCs Academic Senate calls on university president to resign after a series of scandals By Matt Hamilton The body that represents USCs faculty called on President C.L. Max Nikias to resign Wednesday in the wake of relevations that the universitys longtime gynecologist faced years of accusations of misconduct by students and colleagues at the campus health clinic. The Academic Senate took the vote late Wednesday afternoon after a fiery town hall meeting attended by more than 100 faculty members, many of whom voiced outrage over Nikias and the Board of Trustees leadership. The vote came a day after the trustees executive committee stood firmly behind Nikias, saying it has full confidence in his leadership, ethics and values. At the town hall meeting, Senate President Paul Rosenbloom said he did not think Nikias or Provost Michael Quick committed wrongdoing but that the university president deserved criticism for a lack of transparency. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Californias public universities on the way to getting a big longed-for boost in funding By Teresa Watanabe The University of California and California State University systems are poised to get major funding boosts that will help them enroll thousands of additional state students and eliminate the need for tuition increases in the coming school year. A key Assembly budget panel on Wednesday approved $117.5 million in new funds for the UC. A Senate panel approved a similar sum last week. The same committees recently approved even more funding for the Cal State system. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement UC regents to scrutinize Janet Napolitanos office budget in a step toward stronger oversight By Teresa Watanabe University of California regents this week plan to scrutinize the budget of President Janet Napolitano, whose office came under political fire last year for questionable spending and murky accounting. Regents will vote on the proposed $876.4-million budget for 2018-19 during their two-day meeting, which starts Wednesday, at UC San Francisco. They also will discuss state funding, financial aid, online education and transfer student policies. Board Chairman George Kieffer said regents are stepping up to exert stronger oversight of the presidents office after a blistering state audit last year found financial problems including an unreported $175 million budget reserve. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print State legislative panels approve major funding boost for Cal State By Teresa Watanabe Cal State students protest against a tuition increase outside the chancellors office (Irfan Khan) After months of intensive lobbying, Cal State University has convinced two key legislative panels to approve funding to enroll nearly 11,000 more students, hire more faculty and expand housing aid to those without shelter this fall. An Assembly budget panel on Tuesday approved $215.7 million more for Cal State, adding to Gov. Jerry Browns proposed $92.1 million general fund increase. A Senate budget panel approved a similar increase last week. The extra funding which went beyond Cal States own request to the Legislature of $171 million is still subject to final budget negotiations with Brown. But the actions by the Senate and Assembly panels amount to a demand from Democrats that the governor hike higher education spending. Cal State University is the workhorse undergraduate university serving hundreds of thousands of Californians, said Assemblyman Kevin McCarty (D-Sacramento), who heads the Assembly Budget Subcommittee on Education Finance. We need more graduates for the California workforce and higher education is the ticket to the middle class. Cal State Chancellor Timothy P. White hailed the actions, but said it was too soon to celebrate. The CSU has a singular focus on helping students earn high-quality degrees sooner, and the entire university community has rallied to reinforce that message to our states lawmakers, he said in a statement. The actions taken thus far by the Assembly and Senate are promising and show that our message is being received, but there is still work to be done. Funding for the University of California was not taken up Tuesday as originally scheduled. McCarty would not comment on sticking points but said he was confident that a resolution would be reached this week. Were looking to provide resources above whats in the governors budget, but negotiations are ongoing, he said in an interview. State per-student funding is not what it once was, leaving both Cal State and the UC in a tough financial squeeze. Both systems raised tuition last year after a six-year freeze on higher costs. For this year, Cal State had asked for funding to enroll an additional 3,621 students, but both the Senate and Assembly panels approved three times that amount. Cal State, the largest public university system in the nation, turned away 32,000 eligible students last year because its campuses werent able to accommodate them. The panels asked that at least $50 million of the extra funding be used to hire more tenure-track faculty to help boost graduation rates. The Assembly panel also approved one-time funding of $5 million to ease hunger on campuses and $14 million for rapid rehousing pilot projects at three campuses, offering needy students rental support and short-term case management. Other items approved include $5 million to support the CSU Long Beach Shark Labs research on sharks and beach safety and $2 million for equal employment opportunity practices. This post has been updated to include comments from Assemblyman Kevin McCarty and Cal State Chancellor Timothy P. White. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Faculty members call for USC president to step down: He has lost the moral authority to lead By Matt Hamilton Two hundred USC professors on Tuesday demanded the resignation of university President C. L. Max Nikias, saying he had lost the moral authority to lead in the wake of revelations that a campus gynecologist was kept on staff for decades despite repeated complaints of misconduct. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Gun battle, negotiations lasted 15 minutes before Texas school shooter was apprehended, sheriff says By Molly Hennessy-Fiske Minutes after a school shooter opened fire in an art class last week, killing 10 people and wounding 13, including a local police officer, fellow officers returned fire in a protracted gun battle before isolating the suspect, the local sheriff said Monday. Galveston County Sheriff Henry Trochesset praised first responders as well as Santa Fe Police Officer John Barnes, who was working as a resource officer at the school the day of the shooting. Their actions, he said, prevented the attack from spreading to other classrooms and potentially claiming additional victims. As officials continue to probe last Fridays shooting at Santa Fe High School, students are worried about returning to the scene of the attack when classes resume next week. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 6 women sue USC, alleging they were victimized by campus gynecologist By Richard Winton Six women filed civil lawsuits Monday alleging that a longtime gynecologist at the University of Southern California sexually victimized them under the pretext of medical care and that USC failed to address complaints from clinic staff about the doctors behavior. One woman alleged Dr. George Tyndall forced his entire ungloved hand into her vagina during an appointment in 2003 while making vulgar remarks about her genitalia, according to one of the lawsuits. Another woman alleged that Tyndall groped her breasts in a 2008 visit and that later he falsely told her she likely had AIDS. A third woman accused the doctor of grazing his ungloved fingers over her nude body and leering at her during a purported skin exam, the lawsuit states. The wave of litigation comes as USC continues to grapple with the scandal, which legal experts said could prove costly to the university as scores of former patients come forward about their experiences with the gynecologist. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Fatalities reported in Texas high school shooting; suspect arrested, officials say By Associated Press Houston-area media citing unnamed law enforcement officials are reporting that there are fatalities following a shooting at a local high school Friday morning. Television station KHOU and the Houston Chronicle are citing unnamed federal, county and police officials following the shooting at Santa Fe High School, which went on lockdown around 8 a.m. The Associated Press has not been able to confirm the reports. The school district has confirmed an unspecified number of injuries but said it wouldnt immediately release further details. Assistant Principal Cris Richardson said a suspect has been arrested and secured. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print This student followed the new L.A. schools chief on his first-day tour L.A. schools Supt. Austin Beutner is greeted by Van Nuys High School principal Yolanda Gardea. (Melissa Barales-Lopez) Melissa Barales-Lopez, a senior at Garfield High School followed Supt. Austin Beutner on his first day on the job, as he toured a variety of programs around the Los Angeles Unified School District. Heres what she took from the experience. LAUSD students and staff alike are looking for a personal champion, someone who will address and improve the difficulties afflicting their education. What LAUSD students need is someone whos willing to listen and learn, someone who can understand the current issues affecting their schools and act to efficiently amend them, someone who can unlock the full potential of LAUSD students and enable them to reach their goals. During the entirety of his first day, superintendent Austin Beutner did indeed demonstrate a willingness to learn. Posing questions to teachers and students, Beutner engaged with the student communities he encountered to gain a better comprehension of the minutiae and nuances that distinguish each school inside an overwhelmingly large district. From inquiries about Grand View Boulevard Elementary Schools dual language program to questions regarding the services of LAUSDs after-school program, Beyond the Bell, Beutner revealed he has a lot to learn about the system. But, Beutner also showcased a willingness to tackle challenges head-on on his first day. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print USC let a gynecologist continue treating students despite years of misconduct allegations By Matt Hamilton For nearly 30 years, the University of Southern Californias student health clinic had one full-time gynecologist: Dr. George Tyndall. Tall and garrulous with distinctive jet black hair, he treated tens of thousands of female students, many of them teenagers seeing a gynecologist for the first time. Few who lay down on Tyndalls exam table at the Engemann Student Health Center knew that he had been accused repeatedly of misconduct toward young patients. The complaints began in the 1990s, when co-workers alleged he was improperly photographing students genitals. In the years that followed, patients and nursing staff accused him again and again of creepy behavior, including touching women inappropriately during pelvic exams and making sexually suggestive remarks about their bodies. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Cal State trustees to discuss Browns latest budget proposal, which they say still falls $171 million short By Joy Resmovits Just how much money does California State University need to serve its students? In recent years, this question has been front and center for the nations largest public university system. Cal States leaders say that to keep their campuses quality from slipping, they need much more money than the state is giving them. This year, theyre also at odds with Gov. Jerry Brown on the question of whether any extra money should come in one-time bursts or be ongoing. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print On his first day as L.A. schools chief, Beutner plans a day of visits across the district By Howard Blume L.A. Unifieds new superintendent, Austin Beutner, will kick off his first day of work on Tuesday with a choreographed tour of the nations second-largest school district, from the San Fernando Valley to Carson. His day is scheduled to begin at 5:15 a.m. at a school bus depot and end more than 12 hours later at a parent meeting at Garfield High School. Along the way, Beutner is expected to be joined by school district administrators, L.A. Unified board members and the vice president of the union that represents school bus drivers. Though he will be covering a lot of ground, Beutners tour has him skipping Tuesdays school board meeting, when board members are expected to discuss labor negotiations in closed session. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Cal State trustees to discuss Browns latest budget proposal, which they say still falls $171 million short By Joy Resmovits Just how much money does California State University need to serve its students? In recent years, this question has been front and center for the nations largest public university system. Cal States leaders say that to keep their campuses quality from slipping, they need much more money than the state is giving them. This year, theyre also at odds with Gov. Jerry Brown on the question of whether any extra money should come in one-time bursts or be ongoing. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Why a handful of rich charter school supporters are spending millions to elect Antonio Villaraigosa as governor By Ryan Menezes California voters have seen a barrage of sunny television ads in recent weeks touting former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosas record on finances, crime and education, aired by Families & Teachers for Antonio Villaraigosa for Governor 2018. But the group is, in fact, largely funded by a handful of wealthy charter-school supporters. Together they have spent more than $13 million in less than a month to boost Villaraigosas chances in the June 5 primary at a time when his fundraising and poll numbers are lagging. Reed Hastings, the founder of Netflix, jump-started the group with a $7-million check, by far the largest donation to support any candidate in the election. Their efforts are part of a broader proxy war among Democrats between teachers unions longtime stalwarts of the party and those who argue that the groups have failed low-income and minority schoolchildren. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Talking schools with L.A. Unifieds new superintendent By Anna M. Phillips Al Seib / Los Angeles Times ( Incoming L.A. schools Supt. Austin Beutner talks to students at Belmont High School.) Austin Beutner, who officially starts Tuesday as the new superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District, is taking on a famously difficult job at a particularly difficult time. The school board is divided and did not back him unanimously. The nations second-largest school district has deep-seated problems, including declining enrollment, lagging academic achievement and rising pension and healthcare costs that eat away at its budget. The 58-year-old former investment banker and former L.A. Times publisher has years of experience in the financial world but none as an educator. Earlier this week, he sat down with the Times education team to discuss the challenges facing the district, which has about 60,000 employees and 500,000 students in traditional public schools. He did not talk about his plans saying repeatedly, stay tuned but he spoke in broad terms about his mindset in approaching the tough decisions ahead. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Suspect detained, authorities search campus after reports of armed man at Palmdale high school By James Queally One person has been detained after a report of an armed man at a Palmdale high school sparked a massive law enforcement response Friday morning. The suspect was spotted at 7:05 a.m. on the campus of Highland High School in Palmdale, according to Sheriffs Department spokeswoman Nicole Nishida. The person was detained in a nearby parking lot, according to Nishida, who did not know whether that person was an adult or juvenile. Deputies at the scene are clearing the school methodically, and students will be transported home via school buses once the campus is deemed safe, Nishida said. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement The education of Bertha Perez: How a UC Merced custodians disenchantment led to a political awakening By Robin Abcarian Its the third day of a three-day strike, and UC Merced custodian Bertha Perez is taking a break from a picket line at the universitys unremarkable entrance, an intersection with stop lights. Photos from other UC campuses this week have shown big crowds of striking service workers members of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees marching and chanting pro-labor slogans as they try to force the University of California back to the negotiating table. But here, at UC Merced, whose handful of big buildings rise from a flat expanse of farmland, the picket line is tiny, maybe two dozen workers and a few students. Its not a big-city-style show of force. Then again, a union sympathizer is banging relentlessly on a snare drum, so its noisier than youd expect. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Ref Rodriguez resigns from teacher credentialing commission By Howard Blume Ref Rodriguez appears during a court appearance. (Al Seib/Los Angeles Times) Los Angeles school board member Ref Rodriguez has resigned from the states Commission on Teacher Credentialing, which oversees the integrity and quality of Californias teachers. Rodriguez faces felony and misdemeanor charges for political money laundering. Separately, his former employer, a charter school organization, has accused him of improperly authorizing checks to a nonprofit under his control. Rodriguez has denied wrongdoing. Rodriguezs resignation from the state body was effective May 4, days after he cast a crucial vote as part of a narrow majority that voted to authorize contract negotiations with Austin Beutner to become superintendent of the L.A. Unified School District. Beutners first official day on the job is Tuesday. Rodriguez remains in his $125,000-a-year position on the Los Angeles Board of Education. The mission of the state body is to ensure integrity, relevance, and high quality in the preparation, certification, and discipline of Californias teachers. Critics had questioned Rodriguezs continued service on the commission, given that teachers can be suspended from work if they face criminal charges. They also can lose their jobs for lapses in personal behavior, such as excessive drinking, with the potential to affect their performance. Police in Pasadena arrested Rodriguez on a Friday afternoon in March for public drunkenness. He was not charged in the incident and has apologized. The state commission reviews teacher discipline cases and can take action to remove a teachers credential to work in a California classroom. The commission has 15 members. Rodriguezs departure was disclosed in a one-sentence announcement on the agencys website. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print School board members request for restraining order against blogger is rejected By Priscella Vega An Orange County Superior Court judge on Wednesday denied a school board members petition for a permanent restraining order against a Huntington Beach blogger. Attorney Jeffrey W. Shields filed the petition on behalf of Ocean View School District trustee Gina Clayton-Tarvin, 46, who alleged in court documents that Charles Keeler Johnson, 56, has threatened her on social media and at school board meetings, causing her to fear for my own safety and for that of my immediate family members. Johnson, who goes by Chuck and publishes HBSledgehammer.com, said the trustee tried to stifle his freedom of speech. He also contended that Clayton-Tarvin took his blog posts and Facebook comments too seriously and out of context, saying anyone who is afraid of metaphors has serious issues. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Deal with workers averts one-day strike that could have shut down L.A. schools By Howard Blume Los Angeles school district and union officials announced a contract agreement Tuesday night that averted a one-day strike planned for next week. The pact, which runs through June 2020, removes one labor problem from the desk of incoming Supt. Austin Beutner whose first day on the job would have coincided with the strike. Plenty of other challenges remain. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print UC labor strike expands with show of support from more unions By Teresa Watanabe Fong Chuu is a registered nurse who has assisted with countless liver transplants, kidney surgeries and gastric bypasses during 34 years at UCLA. Working with her are scrub technicians who sterilize equipment, hand medical instruments to the surgeon and dress patient wounds. They are a team, Chuu says, which is why she walked off her job Tuesday in support of those technicians and other members of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 3299. The 25,000 member AFSCME local, the University of Californias largest employee union, launched a three-day strike Monday. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print We are humans too: Voices of UCLAs striking custodians, hospital aides and imaging technicians By Joy Resmovits Demonstrators parade in front of Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) This week, thousands of UC employees are staging a three-day strike for better pay and working conditions. On Monday, more than 20,000 custodians, cooks, lab technicians, nurse aides and other members of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 3299 walked off their jobs. By Tuesday, two more unions joined in sympathy strikes. The union and UC reached a bargaining impasse last year. The university has said it wont meet the workers demands. The strikers said they wanted better pay, more equity in the allocation of work, stable healthcare premiums and an end to the universitys use of contract workers. These are their stories. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Massive UC workers strike disrupts dining, classes and medical services By Joy Resmovits A massive labor strike across the University of California on Monday forced medical centers to reschedule more than 12,000 surgeries, cancer treatments and appointments, and campuses to cancel some classes and limit dining services. More than 20,000 members of UCs largest employee union, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 3299, walked off their jobs on the first day of a three-day strike. They include custodians, gardeners, cooks, truck drivers, lab technicians and nurse aides. Two altercations involving protesters and people driving near the rallies were reported at UCLA and UC Santa Cruz. At UCLA, police took a man into custody Monday after he drove his vehicle into a crowd, hitting three staff members. They were treated for minor injuries at the scene and released, said Lt. Kevin Kilgore of the UCLA Police Department. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Sen. Kamala Harris to skip UC Berkeley commencement in support of striking workers By Teresa Watanabe Sen. Kamala Harris (Chris Dekmas) California Sen. Kamala Harris has canceled plans to deliver UC Berkeleys commencement address this weekend in support of UC workers who are on strike over wages and health benefits. Due to the ongoing labor dispute, Sen. Harris regretfully cannot attend and speak at this years commencement ceremony at UC Berkeley, said a statement from Harris office issued Monday. She wishes the graduates and their families a joyous commencement weekend and success for the future. They are bright young leaders and our country is counting on them. UCs largest employee union, the 25,000-member American Federation of County, State and Municipal Employees Local 3299, launched a three-day strike Monday and had earlier called for a speakers boycott. The union and university reached a bargaining impasse last year and subsequent mediation efforts have failed to produce an agreement. The union is asking for a multiyear contract with a 6% annual pay increase while the university is offering 3% annual increases over four years. UC Berkeley Chancellor Carol Christ will deliver the keynote address instead, the university announced. About 5,800 students are expected to participate in the ceremony Saturday. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement School mural depicting Trumps bloody, severed head sparks controversy By Gary Warth A Chula Vista school mural that depicts the bloody, severed head of President Trump on a spear sparked a controversy that prompted officials to cover it and issue a response distancing themselves from the work. The statement also said the artist will alter the painting. We understand that there was a mural painted at the event this past weekend that does not align with our schools philosophy of non-violence, read the statement from MAAC Community Charter School director Tommy Ramirez. We have been in communication with the artist who has agreed to modify the artwork to better align with the schools philosophy. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print New blackface incident at Cal Poly prompts calls for state investigation By Kim Christensen Cal Poly San Luis Obispo officials have asked the state attorney generals office to investigate after a new photo of a white student in blackface surfaced on a fraternity groups private Snapchat. I am outraged, Cal Poly President Jeffrey D. Armstrong said in a video address Friday to the campus. These vile and absolutely unacceptable acts cannot continue. We must not allow these acts to define us as an institution. Armstrong said the latest photo was intended to imitate an incident last month in which a white member of the Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity was photographed at a party wearing blackface. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print More than 50,000 UC workers set to strike this week but campuses will remain open By Teresa Watanabe More than 50,000 workers across the University of California are set to strike this week, causing potential disruptions to surgery schedules, food preparation and campus maintenance. The systems 10 campuses and five medical centers are to remain open, with classes scheduled as planned. UCs largest employee union, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 3299, plans to begin a three-day strike Monday involving 25,000 workers, including custodians, gardeners, cooks, truck drivers, lab technicians and nurse aides. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement New L.A. schools chief Beutner pledges to listen, learn and take action By Howard Blume New Los Angeles schools Supt. Austin Beutner proved Wednesday that hes a quick learner even without an education background. Like countless public officials before him, he appeared at an important event his first speech and news conference with a photogenic background of students. His message that he would put those students first seemed heartfelt if hardly original. Nor was it a huge surprise that he pledged to push cooperatively but unflinchingly to improve the districts academic performance and stabilize its finances. As an introduction, Beutner, a former investment banker who made a fortune on Wall Street, offered little flash, but that was partly the point. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print In a school lockdown, one student takes stock of the stressful scene (Phalaen Chang) At the beginning of lunch one day late last month, Duarte High School, Northview Middle School, and California School of the Arts-San Gabriel Valley were advised by the Los Angeles Sheriffs Department to go into lockdown mode due to police activity in the immediate area. Phalaen Chang, a junior at the California School of the Arts, wrote a series of notes on her iPhone while she sat in a room with her classmates. By the time the lockdown ended an hour later, she wrote, she knew which of her friends would hold open the door for others, be the ones calming others down, be the ones barricading the doors. She knew that all of them have the potential to be such strong people. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Tale as old as time: L.A. Unified superintendent pick follows a historical pattern of outside-the-box choices By Joy Resmovits Navy Vice Adm. David L. Brewer III, superintendent from 2006-2008. (L.A. Times file photo) L.A. Unified has long gone back and forth between picking insiders and outsiders to run the nations second largest school district. The choice of Austin Beutner, announced Tuesday, places the district squarely back in the outsider camp months after a consummate insider, Supt. Michelle King, announced that she had cancer and would not return to the job. Check out this timeline of former L.A. superintendents to see how the school board members have changed their minds, sometimes favoring leaders who come from the world of education and sometimes executives from elsewhere, recruited to shock the system into change. At one point, the district hired someone from the military retired Navy Vice Adm. David L. Brewer III, who served as superintendent from 2006-2008. In hiring Brewer, board members had opted for a non-educator largely because they sought a fresh thinker, unwedded to the bureaucracy, unafraid to make bold, even unorthodox moves, reads a 2008 Times story. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Austin Beutner named superintendent of Los Angeles schools By Howard Blume Austin Beutner, a philanthropist and former investment banker, on Tuesday was named superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District, the nations second-largest school system. His selection was the biggest move yet by a Los Angeles school board majority elected with major support from charter school advocates. The decision came after lengthy public testimony, most of it in support of the other remaining finalist, interim Supt. Vivian Ekchian, who is well known within the school system. Beutner, 58, has no background leading a school or school district. Less than 2 years ago, a school board with a very different balance of power named Michelle King, a former teacher who rose through the district throughout her career, to L.A. Unifieds top job. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Hearing delay gives both sides more time in Ref Rodriguezs potential trial By Howard Blume Ref Rodriguez and his attorneys will have more time to prepare their defense against charges of political money laundering, a judge ruled Monday. The preliminary hearing in the case had been scheduled to begin May 9, but that date will now be pushed back to July 23 per the ruling from L.A. Superior Court Judge Deborah S. Brazil. Rodriguez, 46, faces three felony charges of conspiracy, perjury and procuring and offering a false or forged instrument, as well as 25 misdemeanor counts related to the alleged campaign money laundering. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement L.A. school board poised to name Beutner as superintendent By Howard Blume The Los Angeles Board of Education is poised to select philanthropist and former investment banker Austin Beutner to be the next superintendent of the nations second-largest school system. Barring a last-minute development, the only mystery is whether Beutner emerges with four or five votes from the boards seven members. Terms of his contract already have been under discussion, according to sources close to the process who requested anonymity because they are not authorized to speak. The selection of Beutner, 58, who has no experience managing a school or a school district, would be a signal that the board majority that took control nearly a year ago wants to rely on business management skills instead of insider educational expertise. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Teacher walkouts in Arizona and Colorado continue national debate on money for schools By Michael Livingston Following the lead of teachers who walked off the job in other states in recent weeks, thousands of teachers and their supporters took to the streets in Arizona and Colorado for the second day in a row to demand better pay and more funding for education. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Three decades before the #MeToo movement, UC San Diego led the way against sexual assault By Teresa Watanabe When Nancy Wahlig first started her fight against sexual assault, one company was marketing a capsule for women to stash in their bras and then smash to release a vile odor. Because of the very nature of society, the only person who can prevent rape is the woman herself, read a 1981 advertisement for the Repulse rape deterrent. Ideas about how to prevent sexual violence have come a long way since then, and Wahlig has helped lead that evolution on college campuses. In 1988, she started UC San Diegos Sexual Assault Resource Center (SARC), the first stand-alone program at the University of California. Today, she remains the systems most senior specialist. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Andres Alonso withdraws from consideration for L.A. schools job By Howard Blume Andres Alonso, believed to be one of three remaining finalists to lead the Los Angeles school system, has withdrawn from consideration. The remaining known candidates in the confidential search are former investment banker Austin Beutner and interim Supt. Vivian Ekchian. Alonso, 60, announced his decision on Twitter on Thursday night, saying he had notified the L.A. Unified School District on Monday. The exit of Alonso, the former Baltimore schools chief, seems to solidify the front-runner status of Beutner, who also was a former L.A. Times publisher and a Los Angeles deputy mayor. He held each of those positions for about a year. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Heres why the apparent increase in autism spectrum disorders may be good for U.S. children By Karen Kaplan The prevalence of autism spectrum disorder among American children continues to rise, new government data suggest. And that may be a good thing. Among 11 sites across the U.S. where records of 8-year-olds are scrutinized in detail, 1 in 59 kids was deemed to have ASD in 2014. Thats up from 1 in 68 in 2012. Normally, health officials would prefer to see less of a disease, not more of it. But in this case, the higher number is probably a sign that more children of color who are on the autism spectrum are being recognized as such and getting services to help them, according to a report published Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print UC shelves tuition increase for now, in hopes of getting more state funding By Teresa Watanabe University of California regents will not vote on a tuition increase next month, shelving the plan for now in hopes that state lawmakers will come through with more funding. Raising tuition is always a last resort and one we take very seriously, UC President Janet Napolitano said Thursday in a statement. We will continue to advocate with our students who are doing a tremendous job of educating legislators about the necessity of adequately funding the university to ensure UC remains a world-class institution and engine of economic growth for our state. Last week, Cal State Chancellor Timothy P. White said the 23-campus system no longer would consider a plan to raise tuition for the 2018-19 academic year. But unlike Cal State, UC officials have not taken a tuition increase off the table entirely. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement A chemical spill, unchecked eyewash stations, poor training: Audit details Cal States lax lab safety By Joy Resmovits In May 2016, two bottles tumbled off a poorly supported shelf and broke, leading to a chemical spill in a Sacramento State University lab. The liquid got onto one students legs and soaked anothers feet. Five employees cleaned up the mess, even though no one knew for sure what it was and whether it was dangerous. They called fellow employee Kim Harrington, their union representative, to let her know what happened. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print After blackface incident, minority students at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo say they dont feel welcome By Hailey Branson-Potts Aaliyah Ramos was walking through the Cal Poly San Luis Obispo campus last year when a prospective student approached her. Ramos was the only black person, the young woman said, that she and her mother had seen that day. They asked about the quality of education and the diversity of the student body. Ramos, a mechanical engineering student, didnt want to sugarcoat the truth: Cal Poly long has been predominantly white. But she told the young woman who also was black that she didnt want to discourage her from applying, because that wouldnt help with diversity at a school where only 0.7% of students are African American the lowest percentage of any university in the California State system. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement El Camino Real Charter High School in Woodland Hills wins the 2018 U.S. Academic Decathlon By Carlos Lozano El Camino Real Charter High School in Woodland Hills has won the 2018 U.S. Academic Decathlon, officials said. The winner was announced early Saturday at a ceremony in Frisco, Texas. More than 600 students from the U.S., Canada, China and the United Kingdom gathered there over the last three days to compete in the 37th annual U.S. Academic Decathlon. Congratulations to El Camino Real Charter High School for another impressive victory, said Vivian Ekchian, interim superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District. Your academic stamina and competitive spirit to win is remarkable. The entire L.A. Unified family is so proud of you. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Anticipation mounts as L.A. school board meets over superintendent selection By Howard Blume L.A. schools superintendent candidate Andres Alonso got an endorsement Friday, but Austin Beutner and Vivian Ekchian also have supporters. (Elizabeth Malby) The Los Angeles Board of Education is reconvening in closed session Friday at noon as anticipation mounts about the choice of the next leader of the nations second-largest school system. The presumed front-runner is former investment banker and philanthropist Austin Beutner, but interim Supt. Vivian Ekchian and former Baltimore Supt. Andres Alonso also are in the running. Most district insiders appear to be rooting for Ekchian, who has spent her entire career in education within the school system. After her 10 years as a teacher, her roles have included head of human resources, chief labor negotiator and regional administrator for campuses in the west San Fernando Valley. Shes managed the district since September, when then-Supt. Michelle King went on medical leave and chose Ekchian to fill in for her. King, who is battling cancer, never returned and announced her retirement in January. Numerous influential civic leaders have urged and pressured the board to select Beutner. Also lending their weight have been advocates for charter schools, which are independently operated, growing in number and competing for students with district-operated campuses. Four of the seven board members enough to control the outcome were elected with major financial support from charter supporters. Beutner has two ongoing connections with the L.A. Unified School District. The first is his leadership of an outside task force that is making recommendations on how to improve the school system. The second is his charity, Vision to Learn, which supplies glasses to low-income students. The charity and the school system are in a dispute at the moment over who is responsible for delays in providing services to students as part of a $6 million contract, half of which is paid for by L.A. Unified. Unlike Ekchian and Buetner, Alonso, who currently teaches at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, has no deep-seated local constituency, but the prospect of his selection has generated some excitement. While in Baltimore, Alonso was recognized for pushing for progress at low-performing schools, and for being willing to take strong action. While in Baltimore, he also weathered a test-score cheating scandal and occasionally rocky relations with the teachers union. But by the time he resigned, after six years, he and union leaders seemed to be working together without rancor. Leaders of some community groups have split from the pro-Beutner camp. They worry that Beutners approach to confronting the districts financial problems could shut out their voices or involve severe economic cutbacks that would undermine programs that are helping students. Some prefer Ekchian; some Alonso. Theyve been reluctant to speak out publicly because theyll have to work with whoever is selected, but they have tried to get the ear of board members. On Friday morning, one leader of a community group decided to come out in favor of Alonso. L.A. Unified has the opportunity to bring in an instructional leader of color with a history of success, said Alberto Retana, president and chief executive of Community Coalition, which works on behalf of low-income students and families in South Los Angeles. If we have a shot at that, we should go for it because its in the best interests of our kids and of our community. Retana said his statement was not meant to criticize Beutner or Ekchian but to alert board members that there also is community support for Alonso. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Cal State leader shelves proposed tuition hike: Its the right thing to do, but its not without risk By Joy Resmovits Cal State, the nations largest public university system, will no longer consider a plan to raise tuition for the 2018-19 academic year, Chancellor Timothy P. White announced Friday. The decision is a bet that Sacramento will come through in the end. If Cal State loses that bet, it could mean cuts to campus programs. White said in an interview that Californias economy is strong enough that families should not be shouldering the burden of higher college costs. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print L.A. students to participate in national walkout activities on Friday By Joy Resmovits (Los Angeles Times) Students are taking to the streets again Friday to protest gun violence on the 19th anniversary of the Columbine school shooting. Starting at 10 a.m., students at many schools will spend 13 seconds honoring the 13 people 12 students and one teacher killed on that day in Littleton, Colo. After that, theyll participate in a host of different activities. Within L.A. Unified, one school is having an open-mic event for students to talk about school violence, and lawmakers are visiting campuses to hear students thoughts. According to a central hub for organizing the protests written by the students of Ridgefield High School in Connecticut the walkouts are intended to drive the political change necessary to curb school violence. The day is also a time for students to interact on an elevated platform they have never had before, the site states. It is a day of discourse and thoughtful sharing. Bringing together communities and students to get a national discussion rolling. Organizers have suggested using the event to convey the importance of curbing gun violence to legislators. They are encouraging students to push legislation that would ban assault weapons and tighten up rules around who can buy guns and how. Over 2,500 schools nationwide are expected to participate. In L.A., some students at campuses including Eagle Rock High School, the Ramon C. Cortines School of Visual and Performing Arts and Bravo Medical Magnet plan to walk out. Students from various schools expect to join area marches, including those in Santa Monica and Huntington Park. Other schools are hosting career days and voter registration drives. At 1 p.m., students plan to start a rally in front of L.A. Unified headquarters. For the record: An earlier version of this article stated that 12 teachers and one student were killed in the Columbine shooting. The opposite is true: twelve students and one teacher died. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Stabbing of popular student devastates South El Monte High School; teen friend suspected in slaying By Sonali Kohli When administrators at South El Monte High School called Jeremy Sanchezs parents to say he never showed up for class Wednesday, his father began to worry. It was unusual for the 17-year-old junior to miss school, so his father filed a missing persons report and assembled two of Jeremys close friends to look for the popular student-athlete. Their search took them to a scenic stretch of the San Gabriel River Trail, where one of the friends a 16-year-old boy made a tragic discovery. Among the bushes in the riverbed near Thienes Avenue and Parkway Drive was Jeremys body, punctured with stab wounds, according to Lt. John Corina of the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Racist fliers spark outrage at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo By Alene Tchekmedyian Soon after Neal MacDougall arrived on the Cal Poly San Luis Obispo campus Tuesday, the professor noticed university police standing outside a restroom near his office. A racial slur against African Americans had been scrawled in red marker on a stall wall. Later, he discovered a series of racist fliers pinned up next to his door. Someone had also slashed posters hed hung outside his office supporting students in the country illegally. The discovery was the latest controversy on the prestigious campus which the president said is less than 55% white that MacDougall said demonstrates a culture of racism at the university. Last week, photographs emerged of white fraternity members, including one in blackface, flashing gang signs. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement The superintendent waiting game, paying for L.A.'s College Promise, Princetons slave history: Whats new in education By Joy Resmovits Acting LAUSD superintendent Vivian Ekchian is a finalist for the permanent job. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times) In and around Los Angeles: The L.A. Unified school board spent 10 hours interviewing and discussing candidates for superintendent. When they adjourned after 10 p.m., they said they would reconvene on Friday. Who is paying for Mayor Eric Garcettis much-touted College Promise, a program that promises two years of community college for LAUSD grads? In California: The Legislature is considering a proposal that would boost K-12 education funding for black students. When the cost of living is taken into account, California has the highest rate of child poverty. Nationwide: The families of two children killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School are suing Alex Jones and Infowars for saying the school massacre never occurred. Princeton will name two spaces an arch and a garden after slaves who lived or worked on the campus. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print L.A. school board meets privately with finalists and debates choice for school district leader By Howard Blume The Los Angeles Board of Education adjourned late Tuesday after spending more than 10 hours interviewing candidates and trying to reach a decision on who would be the next leader of the nations second-largest school system. When the meeting finally recessed at 10:11 p.m., a spokesman announced only that the school board would reconvene Friday at noon. Going into the days meetings, there were apparently four finalists, according to sources who could not be named because they were unauthorized to speak. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Two Sandy Hook families sue Alex Jones and Infowars for saying the school massacre never happened By David Altimari Families of two children killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School have filed lawsuits in Texas against controversial radio host Alex Jones for continually claiming the massacre never happened. Neil Heslin, the father of Jesse Lewis, and Leonard Pozner and Veronique De La Rosa, whose son Noah Pozner died in the massacre, filed separate lawsuits late Monday in Travis County, Texas. The lawsuits allege that Jones defamed the parents by constantly calling them crisis actors and insisting the shooting was a false flag operation; they also claim Jones accusations have led to death threats against the Sandy Hook families by Jones followers. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Beutner emerges as a top pick for L.A. schools superintendent amid last-minute jockeying By Howard Blume Austin Beutner has emerged as a leading contender to run the Los Angeles school district, with backers saying he is smart enough and tough enough to confront its financial and academic struggles. Though he does not have a background in education, the former investment banker has in the last year examined some of the districts intractable problems, serving as co-chair of an outside task force with the support of then-Supt. Michelle King. Sources inside and outside the school district said Beutner appears to have more support on the seven-member board than other finalists, and his name could come up for a vote as early as Tuesday. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Challenge at Chicago school construction site: Watch for 38,000 unmarked graves By Nereida Moreno A 15-year effort to build a school in Chicagos Dunning neighborhood is underway with an unusual complication: Construction workers are taking careful steps to avoid disturbing human remains that may lie beneath the soil. The $70-million school is to be built on the grounds of a former Cook County Poor House, where an estimated 38,000 people were buried in unmarked graves. Among the dead are residents who were too poor to afford funeral costs, unclaimed bodies and patients from the countys insane asylum. There can be and there have been bodies found all over the place, said Barry Fleig, a genealogist and cemetery researcher who began investigating the site in 1989. Its a spooky, scary place. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Oklahoma teacher walkout winds down despite lawmakers failure to meet demands By Washington Post Oklahomas largest teachers union has announced an end to a walkout that has drawn thousands of educators out of classrooms and to the state Capitol demanding greater investment in the states schools, which have endured the nations steepest funding cuts. The announcement Thursday from the Oklahoma Education Assn. does not necessarily end the protests at the Capitol, as teachers not affiliated with the union vowed to stay longer. Instead of a walkout, the union and school districts across the state have said they plan to send delegations of teachers to Oklahoma City to keep the pressure on lawmakers. Teachers and their supporters have also promised to push education issues to the forefront of November elections, when the state chooses a new governor. As school districts begin to reopen, the protests may lose steam. The Legislature is not in session Friday, and observers are waiting to see what happens Monday, when lawmakers return. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Most Californians are worried about school shooting threats and oppose arming teachers, survey finds By Joy Resmovits Hamilton High School student Aiyana Dabriel holds a sign during a March 14 walkout in support of the Parkland shooting victims. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) Most Californians are worried that a school shooting like the one that occurred in Parkland, Fla., in February could shed blood closer to home, a new survey found. Some 73% percent of adults and 82% of public school parents said they were very concerned or somewhat concerned about school shootings. The Public Policy Institute of California surveyed 1,704 adults in the state by phone just after the March for Our Lives protest against gun violence. Latino and black respondents were significantly more likely to be concerned about school violence than white or Asian respondents, the institute found. Two-thirds of adults and public school parents said they opposed letting more educators carry weapons in school. The response differed across party lines, with 86% of Democrats and 69% of independents voicing their opposition, while 60% percent of Republicans said they would support a measure to arm educators. The poll, which had a margin of error of 3.2% in either direction, also asked Californians about school funding, educational issues in the governors race and the impact of immigration enforcement on students. You can find the full results here. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Californias largest virtual charter school network agrees to contract with its teachers By Anna M. Phillips Nearly four years after teachers at Californias largest online charter school voted to unionize, they have reached a deal to increase pay and create job protections, according to a spokesman for the California Teachers Assn. The contract, which is still tentative and subject to ratification, is a victory for the teachers union. Although charter schools are publicly funded, most are privately managed and their employees arent protected by labor contracts. Under the terms of the contract the result of years of negotiation and legal wrangling approximately 500 teachers working for California Virtual Academies will no longer be at-will employees who can be dismissed for almost any reason. Their average salary will rise to just over $45,000, according to union estimates, a figure that remains far below the norm for traditional public school teachers. Still, it is an improvement over the previous average of $38,000. The accord also places a limit on the number of students each teacher is responsible for monitoring in online homeroom classes. Were very satisfied with the gains we made, said teacher Brianna Carroll, president of California Virtual Educators United. I think were going to see some extraordinary changes in our schools. According to Carroll, teachers at California Virtual Academies better known as CAVA had grown frustrated with the organizations foot-dragging and were making preparations to go on strike when CAVAs leadership agreed to the deal. CAVA and K12, the Virginia-based for-profit company linked to its schools, did not immediately respond to an email Tuesday asking for comment. The network currently operates nine virtual charter schools across California. In 2016, the charter network agreed to pay $8.5 million to settle claims of false advertising, misleading parents and inadequate instruction. The state attorney generals office had also accused K12 of controlling the charters for its own financial benefit. Neither CAVA nor K12 admitted to wrongdoing in the settlement. A year later, the state imposed a $2-million fine on CAVA after an audit found that it had misspent public funds. The network disputed the findings. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement School board approves a new formula for funding high-need schools By Sonali Kohli L.A. schools will soon get more money if they are located in neighborhoods with such problems as high levels of gun violence and asthma. The Los Angeles Unified school board voted unanimously Tuesday to adopt a new formula to determine how to dole out some funding to schools, based not only on the characteristics of the student populations but on the traumas that affect the communities around campuses. The new formula will be applied to $25 million in funding next fiscal year and about $263 million annually in future years a small part of the districts $7.5 billion annual budget. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Protesters demand Ref Rodriguez resignation outside school board meeting By Sonali Kohli Students, parents, teachers and UTLA marching outside the board meeting chanting "Ref resign" pic.twitter.com/W0LRWZSIXY Sonali Kohli (@Sonali_Kohli) April 10, 2018 A few dozen parents, students and teachers marched outside the Los Angeles Unified School Board meeting Tuesday, some calling for board member Ref Rodriguez to resign the week after news broke that he was taken into custody on suspicion of being drunk in public at a Pasadena bar and restaurant. Rodriguez was not cited or charged in that incident, but was held for more than five and a half hours before being released. The school board member faces felony and misdemeanor charges for political money laundering. He is accused of getting more than two dozen people people to donate to his campaign for his school board seat with the understanding that he would reimburse them. He stepped down from his post as school board president after he was charged last fall, but he did not give up his seat on the board. He has pleaded not guilty to three felony counts of conspiracy, perjury, and procuring and offering a false or forged instrument, as well as 25 misdemeanor counts related to the alleged campaign money laundering. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for May. He cant give his full focus to our students, said Rebecca LaFond, a Highland Park parent whose three children marched with her as she chanted, Ref resign. One daughter marched in front of her, using a drum stick to hit the bottom of a gallon-size empty water jug. Our kids deserve someone who has the utmost ethical standards representing them, LaFond said. The protests continued into the board meeting, where some addressed Rodriguez directly, calling on him to step down during public comment portions of the meeting. Rodriguez, through his chief of staff, declined to comment. Some parents outside the board meeting did not know about the charges against Rodriguez but came out to protest the possibility of sharing their school campuses with charter schools. Protesters also oppose colocation not all of the parents are here to ask Ref Rodriguez to step down pic.twitter.com/1Co8zQ9zSi Sonali Kohli (@Sonali_Kohli) April 10, 2018 Cynthia Martinez said her son, who goes to Christopher Dena Elementary School in Boyle Heights, has been bullied in the past by students from a charter school sharing the campus. She said she didnt know who Rodriguez was. Some parents and teachers are worried about losing computer labs, robotics rooms and fitness centers if they are required to share their campus with charter schools, said Ilse Escobar, a parent community organizer for United Teachers Los Angeles. The issues of Rodriguez and colocation are related, Escobar said. Rodriguez is part of a majority on the school board elected with financial backing from charter school supporters, and many parents, she said, feel that the school board is compromised if he is a part of it. Staff reporter Howard Blume contributed to this post. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Delaine Eastin tries to gain momentum in the California governors race, one voter at a time By Seema Mehta Delaine Eastin was a sophomore in high school when a drama teacher urged her to try out for a part in The Man Who Came to Dinner. She hesitated until he told her: This is a metaphor for your whole life. If you never try out, you will never get the part. Eastin auditioned and won the role. Decades later, the advice sticks with the former state schools chief, this time in her unlikely run for governor. Despite calls for more women in leadership roles in state politics following sexual misconduct allegations in Sacramento, Eastin has been largely overlooked in the race, lagging far behind her Democratic rivals in fundraising and the polls. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Arizona high court rejects in-state tuition for DACA recipients By Associated Press Young immigrants granted deferred deportation status under a program started by President Obama are not eligible for lower in-state college tuition, the Arizona Supreme Court ruled Monday. The unanimous ruling will affect at least 2,000 students attending the states largest community college district and hundreds more at other colleges and the states three public universities. The Maricopa County Community Colleges District and state universities said they would begin raising tuition immediately for the coming school year. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print New York high school students injured when bus strikes overpass By Associated Press A charter bus carrying teenagers returning from a spring break trip Sunday night struck a bridge overpass on Long Island, seriously injuring six passengers and mangling the entire length of the top of the bus. The crash happened shortly after 9 p.m. Sunday on the Southern State Parkway in Lakeview, according to New York State Police. One of the six injured passengers had very serious injuries, said State Police Maj. David Candelaria. Thirty-seven other passengers suffered minor injuries. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Some good news for California in national student test scores By Joy Resmovits National test scores for fourth- and eighth-graders were generally flat from 2015, but eighth-grade reading scores showed some improvement. Every two years, the nations fourth- and eighth-graders are tested in math and reading and newly released results from last years tests give California at least a little reason to be pleased. The 2017 results out Monday night were mostly flat nationwide compared with 2015, though the average score in eighth-grade reading went up. But while that improvement largely came from the increased scores of the highest-performing students, California eighth-graders showed some reading progress from the lowest levels to the highest. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Under state control, Inglewood school districts financial picture worsened By Anna M. Phillips When Eugenio Villa agreed to return to the Inglewood schools for a second tour last summer, he knew the district remained one of Californias most troubled. Inglewood Unified had been nearly insolvent when it was taken over by the state Department of Education in 2012. Six years later, its enrollment was still declining. Its school buildings were tired some edging into decrepitude. Its test scores and graduation rates were still below the state average. And the public was out of patience. Still, Villa, who had signed back on as the districts chief business official, was shocked at what he found when he arrived in June 2017. Two years earlier, he had left the school system on what he thought was firm ground. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Charter school group drops two lawsuits against L.A. Unified By Howard Blume A charter schools advocacy group last week announced that it would end two long-running lawsuits in which it was seeking more classroom space and construction money from the Los Angeles school district. The decision, the California Charter Schools Assn. said, reflects better relations between charter schools and the L.A. Unified School District. But the move also suggests that the litigation, which already contributed to significant gains for area charters, was unlikely to produce much more. It takes time, money and effort to litigate, said Ricardo Soto, general counsel for the charter group. Maybe its better to see if we can find the time and opportunity for collaboration. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print L.A. school board member Ref Rodriguez is arrested on suspicion of public intoxication By Richard Winton Los Angeles school board member Ref Rodriguez was arrested recently on suspicion of being drunk in public at a Pasadena restaurant, the latest trouble for an elected official who faces political money-laundering charges. Pasadena police took Rodriguez into custody on March 16, according to city spokeswoman Lisa Derderian. Officers arrested Rodriguez at about 4:30 p.m. at the Yard House restaurant and bar at the Paseo Mall and held him in jail for more than five-and-a-half hours. Rodriguez was ultimately released without being cited or charged, Derderian told The Times. Other details about the arrest were not available, she Benjamin was in the back of his science class at Sal Castro Middle School on Thursday morning when he heard a pop at the front of the room, he said. There was like a loud pop, it was louder than a balloon, said Benjamin, 12, a seventh-grade student. The Times is not giving his full name to protect his privacy. His aunt agreed to have him talk to the newspaper. For the record: A previous version of this post misstated Benjamins age. He is 12. Benjamin said he didnt see the gun in full, but saw part of it while students were playing with it. Someone decided to bring a gun, I guess someone was accidentally playing around with it, he said. It was an accident, they thought it was a fake gun. Advertisement When the shot occurred, an adult called for help. Once police came, Benjamin and the other students went to auditorium, he said. A 12-year-old girl was in police custody after the shooting, which injured four students. The gunfire erupted at the school in the Westlake neighborhood shortly after the opening bell and caused numerous students to run from the area. Arianna, 14, was in her English class in the same building as the shooting. No one in her class heard the shooting, she said. We had no idea what was happening until someone from the office came into our room ... saying, Were on lockdown, said Arianna, an eighth-grade student whose mother asked that she be identified by only her first name for privacy. Our teacher immediately turned off the lights and we went all the way to the wall, she said. They werent allowed to leave the classroom, and lunch was brought in. I just feel a little sad because a boy got shot in the head, she said. Arianna said shes seen Snapchat and Instagram posts in the past, bullying the girl believed to have brought the gun, calling her ugly or weird. Advertisement sonali.kohli@latimes.com An Oklahoma man who gunned down a woman and her 4-year-old daughter in Long Beach and tried to kill the childs father was sentenced today to two life-without-parole prison terms, but he had to be restrained in court after trying to walk away. At the beginning of his sentencing hearing, Brandon Ivan Colbert Jr., 23, stood up and tried to walk out of the court, but three bailiffs pounced on him and wrestled him to the floor. The hearing had to be delayed while Colbert was restrained in a safety chair and brought back into court. Superior Court Judge Jessie I. Rodriguez sentenced him to two consecutive terms of life in prison without parole for the Aug. 6, 2016, killings of Carina Mancera, 26, and her daughter, Jennabel Anaya. Colbert was also sentenced to another life term for the attempted murder of Luis Anaya, along with 75 years to life for personally discharging a firearm. Advertisement In a sentencing memorandum, Deputy District Attorney Cynthia Barnes cited the nature of the crimes and total lack of remorse shown by the defendant and the number of people killed to justify her request for back-to- back life-without-parole terms. The prosecutor wrote that the attack was without any provocation. A Long Beach jury found Colbert guilty a week ago of two counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted murder. Jurors also found true the special circumstance allegations of murder while lying in wait and multiple murders, along with allegations that he personally discharged a firearm. Prosecutors opted not to seek the death penalty against Colbert. Authorities said he hid behind a sign and opened fire on the family with a shotgun. Mancera and her daughter were gunned down near 9th Street and Locust Avenue about 10:20 p.m. Aug. 6, 2016, as the family was returning home from grocery shopping. The gunman also fired at Luis Anaya, but missed, according to police. Long Beach police Chief Robert Luna said Colbert was arrested about three weeks after the killings by Los Angeles police on suspicion of driving a stolen vehicle. A DNA swab was obtained from him, ultimately linking him to the killings, for which he was arrested in November. Advertisement The surviving victim told investigators that a man walked up to his longtime girlfriend and their daughter and suddenly -- without provocation -- opened fire, then ran off. He said he did not recognize the man, nor did anyone else in the neighborhood. Colbert acted as his own attorney during the trial. Federal agents this week ordered dozens of Northern California businesses to prove that their employees are authorized to work in the U.S., heightening tensions between state and federal officials over immigration policies. Employers at 77 businesses were given three workdays to turn over records that show their employees are in compliance with federal law, said James Schwab, a spokesman with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. No one was arrested during the operation, which was carried out Monday through Wednesday, but Schwab said employers who knowingly hired unauthorized workers could face criminal charges or fines. He said workers found to be in the country illegally during the investigations will be subject to arrest and removal from the country. Advertisement Schwab would not identify the businesses, but said they represent a range of industries and include chains as well as mom-and-pops. Businesses in San Francisco, San Jose, Sacramento and other cities were served with the audit notices. The sweep is part of a crackdown that federal authorities said is focused on protecting jobs for U.S. citizens and eliminating unfair competitive advantages for companies that hire an illegal workforce. But the move marks the latest instance of state and federal authorities clashing over Californias newly minted sanctuary laws. Just two weeks ago, state Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra warned employers that he is prepared to slap them with fines of up to $10,000 if they violate a new state law that bars them from giving information on employees to federal authorities. Becerra said that under the law, businesses are prohibited from voluntarily allowing immigration officers to access or obtain employee records without a court order or subpoena. alene.tchekmedyian@latimes.com Twitter: @AleneTchek U.S. relations with Mexico have been in a tailspin for the last year over President Trumps anti-immigrant jibes, his threats to scuttle a crucial trade pact, demands that Mexico pay for a border wall and his apparent antipathy toward Mexicos president. On Friday, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson assumed his now-familiar role of damage controller and held talks with Mexicos President Enrique Pena Nieto and other senior officials in an effort to repair relations with one of the United States largest trading partners and, historically at least, one of its closest allies. If there were no breakthroughs, there were no ruptures either after Tillerson met with the Mexican and Canadian foreign ministers, Luis Videgaray and Chrystia Freeland. All three are involved in trying to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement, a trilateral trade deal that Trump has threatened to kill. At a news conference after the meetings, Tillerson defended Trumps attempts to modernize the NAFTA agreement, and to crack down on both legal and illegal immigration. He said the president wants to clean up the troubled U.S. immigration system and lift the cloud of uncertainty on immigrants living without proper documentation. Advertisement I know its painful, the process, Tillerson said as the three diplomats stood before their nations flags. Freeland praised Tillerson as an incredibly important voice in maintaining the rules-based international order, an implicit rebuff of Trumps more freestyle flouting of diplomatic norms. Videgaray also painted a rosy picture, telling reporters he is confident the trade talks wont become a chess game with winners and losers but will produce a win-win-win outcome benefiting all three countries. The sixth round of NAFTA talks ended this week in Washington and will resume later this month in Mexico. Some Mexican officials have threatened to curb cooperation with Washington in the fights against illegal immigration and drug trafficking if the NAFTA talks collapse, but both governments say that has not happened. Tillersons visit here marked the start of a five-nation tour of Latin America and the Caribbean, his first multi-country mission in the region. He next flies to Bariloche, Argentina. From there, he continues to the Argentine capital of Buenos Aires; Lima, Peru; Bogota, Colombia, and Kingston, Jamaica. Mexico, like much of Latin America, is at odds with the Trump administration over numerous policies. Stepped-up deportation of Mexicans living in the U.S. without proper documentation, for example, has a direct impact on Mexicos economy. Last year, Mexicans working in the U.S. sent their families in Mexico nearly $28 billion in remittances, an amount 6.6% higher than in 2016, the Bank of Mexico reported Friday. The bank said this was the largest sum of remittances on record. Advertisement Outside the marble halls of the Mexican presidential compound, Los Pinos, and the Foreign Ministry, the reception for Tillerson was decidedly frosty. Protesters on the street called for his ouster, and a financial newspaper editorialized that he was preaching primal colonialism. The question is, what else is Videgaray giving to Trump and his collaborators in exchange for preserving NAFTA? political columnist Salvador Garcia Soto wrote in El Universal newspaper. That came partly in response to reports floated in the U.S. that Washington would make concessions on NAFTA if Mexico allowed armed air marshals on commercial flights between the two countries. Videgaray has denied such quid pro quo and said any decision on NAFTA will be carefully analyzed. But he has been criticized here for opaque maneuvering. Advertisement Tillerson is eager to cement the security cooperation relationship as much as possible so that it doesnt get contaminated by the NAFTA talks should they turn sour, said Eric Olson, senior advisor to the Mexico Institute at the nonpartisan Wilson Center think tank in Washington. So far, the Mexican government has been a willing partner in these discussions, Olson added. But that could change if no progress is made or if a leftist president is elected in voting scheduled for July 1. Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, a nationalist from the left, is riding a surge in anti-American sentiment to lead the polls so far. The Mexican military, meanwhile, has enjoyed unusually good relations with the Pentagon. The two nations military forces and intelligence agencies cooperate closely on drug interdiction and arrests of drug cartel figures. Advertisement But Mexican military officers also are worried about a backlash in or against Mexico if NAFTA collapses or the wall is built and are considering contingency plans, people with knowledge of the deliberations said. tracy.wilkinson@latimes.com For more on international affairs, follow @TracyKWilkinson on Twitter Floridas system of barring felons from voting unless they receive executive clemency is unconstitutional, a federal judge has ruled. In a sharply worded ruling, Judge Mark Walker of the Northern District of Florida said a clemency board with unfettered discretion in restoring voting rights violates the 1st and 14th Amendments. Walker blasted Floridas process at length, writing that it makes felons kowtow to a board that can accept or deny their application for any reason. A person convicted of a crime may have long ago exited the prison cell and completed probation. Her voting rights, however, remain locked in a dark crypt, Walker wrote in the ruling released Thursday. Only the state has the key but the state has swallowed it. Only when the state has digested and passed that key in the unforeseeable future, maybe in five years, maybe in 50 does the state, in an act of mercy unlock the former felons voting rights from its hiding place. Advertisement The ruling throws into limbo the status of 1.5 million ex-felons eligible to seek the restoration of their rights. The judge required the state and the nine ex-convicts who brought the lawsuit to file motions by Feb. 12 on how to fix the rights restoration system. The office of Gov. Rick Scott, a Republican, said he was reviewing the ruling but would continue to defend this process in the court. The discretion of the clemency board over the restoration of felons rights in Florida has been in place for decades and overseen by multiple governors, Scott spokesman John Tupps wrote in an email. The governor believes that convicted felons should show that they can lead a life free of crime and be accountable to their victims and our communities. The Fair Elections Legal Network, a national voting rights group that filed the lawsuit last year on behalf of nine ex-felons seeking to vote, hailed the ruling. Today, a federal court said what so many Floridians have known for so long that the states arbitrary restoration process, which forces former felons to beg for their right to vote, violates the oldest and most basic principles of our democracy, said Jon Sherman, senior counsel for FELN. Florida is one of a handful of states where felons voting rights arent automatically restored after they serve their sentence. Felons must apply to the state clemency board, made up of Scott and Florida Cabinet members Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi, Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis and Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam. The order comes as the movement to quash Floridas rights restoration system gains momentum. Voters rights groups gathered enough petitions to place a constitutional amendment on the November ballot that would automatically restore voting rights to felons after they complete their sentences. If 60% of voters approve the measure, it would become law. Advertisement It certainly gives some ammunition to efforts to amend the constitution, said Darryl Paulson, a member of the conservative Heritage Foundation and University of South Florida St. Petersburg professor who favors the amendment. These legal issues have existed in Florida for a long time. A remedy needs to be reached, and the remedy put forward by the restoration group may muster additional support. But Paulson also warned that the GOP-controlled Legislature may try to do a quick patch to fix the rights restoration process. [The Legislature] is going to have to consider all issues raised as to why Florida is so far out of the mainstream out of all 50 states, Paulson said. Rohrer writes for the Orlando Sentinel. Good morning, and welcome to the Essential California newsletter. Its Friday, Feb. 2, and heres whats happening across California: TOP STORIES Gunfire shakes a community Authorities are trying to sort out the chain of events that lead to a shooting inside a classroom of a Westlake middle school that left two students hospitalized, two others and a 30-year-old woman injured, and resulted in the arrest of a 12-year-old girl. Los Angeles police do not believe that the shooting was intentional, spokesman Josh Rubenstein said Thursday evening. But it does renew a debate on safety at the Los Angeles Unified School District. Los Angeles Times Advertisement Frantic texts between a mother and her young son after gunfire burst out. Los Angeles Times More about LAUSDs random weapons searches on campus. Los Angeles Times Trump takes on California desert protections The Trump administration is threatening to scrap a major Obama-era agreement that sought to protect millions of acres of the California desert by placing sensitive areas off limits to major solar- and wind-energy installations. The Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan covers more than 10 million acres and was designed to guide energy facilities to parcels where they are least likely to cause environmental damage. The administrations announcement that it will reconsider the plan touched off an immediate backlash. Los Angeles Times Mass transit suffers with Californians on car-buying spree The vast majority of public transit agencies across Southern California, from modest municipal carriers to the West Coasts largest bus system, have watched their ridership numbers fall off a cliff over the last five years. With data revealing multiyear decreases of up to 25%, experts and officials have stopped debating whether the decline exists, and have instead turned their attention to why. One answer: California is on a car-buying spree. Los Angeles Times L.A. STORIES Beyond Meat: Inside the L.A. fake-meat company. Its become famous for faux chicken strips, ground beef and soon-to-be-released sausage need constant tinkering, like software updates. Then there are the moonshots ersatz bacon and steak, considered the holy grails of mock meat. Los Angeles Times Advertisement Mountain lion killed: The Santa Monica Mountains cougar known as P-23 was found dead near Malibu Canyon Road recently, where she appears to have been struck by a vehicle. Los Angeles Times Private/public space: The classic California bungalow courtyard is an endangered species as officials push for more dense developments. Should they be saved? Curbed Los Angeles Speaking up: Latinx poetry about the injustices and inequalities of L.A. Los Angeles Review of Books GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS Advertisement Gearing up: Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom has amassed more than $16 million for his 2018 bid for governor, far outpacing his rivals and cementing his position as the clear front-runner in a race thats just starting to liven up. Los Angeles Times Prop. 65s latest twist: Could a cancer warning come with your coffee? Welcome to what could be the future in California. Los Angeles Daily News Oops: More than $1 million was spent lobbying last year on failed legislation that would have fast-tracked construction of a new Clippers arena in Inglewood, according to state lobbying disclosures released this week. Los Angeles Times About that train: Democratic legislators have heard enough. Theyve decided to take a closer look at Gov. Jerry Browns deeply troubled bullet train. One reason: Brown is a lame duck headed for the door with waning Capitol influence. Los Angeles Times Advertisement CRIME AND COURTS What happened? The mysterious death of Natalie Wood off Catalina Island has sparked more than three decades of speculation about whether it was an accident or murder. One of the investigators on the case has made fresh comments, but do they push it forward in any serious way? Los Angeles Times Murder case: A Fresno man accused in a shooting rampage last year said racism made him want to kill white people. Fresno Bee THE ENVIRONMENT Advertisement Snow report: Californias snowpack is a bit better but still at critically low levels. Sacramento Bee Tough times: The extreme weather hitting the state is taking a toll on Californias military bases. SCPR CALIFORNIA CULTURE Duuude: How California is pushing legalized pot not just as a drug but as the key to a healthy lifestyle. The New Yorker Advertisement No magic trick: Why are there suddenly walls and barriers on Disneylands Main Street? Its part of a replacement of a famous attraction. San Gabriel Valley Tribune Hot hot hot: San Joses overheated real estate market is reaching levels no one has seen before. San Francisco Chronicle Silicon Valley milestone: An upscale San Mateo grocery store has delivered its first orders using self-driving delivery vehicles. The Mercury News The big fig: San Diegos most famous tree might be getting its own viewing platform. San Diego Union-Tribune Advertisement Do not try this at home: This Lodi couple might have won the extreme wedding contest. SF Gate CALIFORNIA ALMANAC Los Angeles area: partly cloudy and 81. San Diego: partly cloudy and 74. San Francisco area: mostly sunny and 67. Sacramento: mostly sunny and 67. More weather is here. AND FINALLY Advertisement Todays California memory comes from Linda Ward: When I was about 9 years old (in the late 1950s), I would spend time with my cousin in Hollywood. We spent all day exploring on Hollywood Boulevard, playing in the Hollywood Bowl (which we had all to ourselves), and hiking in the hills exploring the grounds of all these amazing homes. Our days always ended the same: waiting for Frank Sinatra. My cousin was born in love with Frank Sinatra. She discovered that he owned the Villa Capri restaurant off Highland. We sat on the curb in front of the restaurant for hours waiting to see him. As the dinner guests started arriving, the maitre d kept coming out to see if we were still there. Much to his dismay, there we were. We didnt believe him when he told us Mr. Sinatra was not expected. He would get so upset, he would give us money to go away. We never did get to see Ol Blue Eyes, but the anticipation was so much fun. If you have a memory or story about the Golden State, share it with us. Send us an email to let us know what you love or fondly remember about our state. (Please keep your story to 100 words.) Please let us know what we can do to make this newsletter more useful to you. Send comments, complaints and ideas to Benjamin Oreskes and Shelby Grad. Also follow them on Twitter @boreskes and @shelbygrad. The first major newspaper article about Donald Trump, in 1973, described him as surrounded by slinky fashion models. If you count former fashion models, he still is. Theres his wife, Melania, who started modeling at 5 and eventually landed on the cover of Vogue. Theres his daughter Ivanka, who walked various runways. Kristin Anderson, Temple Taggart McDowell, Ninni Laaksonen and Karena Virginia, some of the 20 women who have accused Trump of sexual harassment and assault, were once models. Even United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley and advisor Kellyanne Conway have beauty-pageant experience. But its Hope Hicks, the White House director of communications, whos most often referred to as a former model. Thats not wrong: Hicks, now 29, did indeed appear in Ralph Lauren ads before going on to model clothing from the Ivanka Trump Collection, including the zipper-trim pleated sheath in form-fitting polyester/rayon/spandex ($134, Dillards). Modeling is not, however, Hicks chief qualification for her job with Trump. Shes a publicist to the bone. By the time she was photographed in that sheath, she had already trained in a fierce Manhattan PR shop. Her first job with the Trump Organization was to expand Ivanka Trumps brand and promote Trumps resorts. In her mid-20s, she already had an office on the 25th floor of Trump Tower. Then one day in 2015, as Hicks told New York magazine, Mr. Trump looked at me and said, Im thinking about running for president, and youre going to be my press secretary. Press secretary. Trumps formal language belied what he knew well after a lifetime of litigation, depravity and scandal. Anyone who did communications for him would have to do more than stand at a podium. Shed have to be a human manganese steel plate built to obstruct anything that came for him: attacks, allegations, lawyers, journalists and even justice. Advertisement Hicks didnt just drift into her first PR job as some in the sheath set are known to do. Instead, shes to the manner born, third generation in a family of special-forces flacks. Her grandfather, Paul Hicks Jr., was a lifer at Texaco, eventually running public relations and advertising there. During his tenure, Texaco went bankrupt and in 1990 entered an unusual joint venture with the Soviet oil industry. Paul Hicks III, Hopes father, ran publicity for the NFL, blocking a labor impasse and tackling threats to the leagues antitrust exemption. Hes now managing director of the Glover Park Group, another communications firm, founded by Democratic operatives, which specializes in among other things crisis management and Complex Situations. So complex situations are the Hicks family business. Moreover, when it comes to protecting clients in chronic crisis, she was trained by the best: Matthew Hiltzik, who introduced her to the Trumps. And Hiltzik made his bones as chief publicist for, wait for it, Harvey Weinstein and Miramax. Hiltzik knows from damage control. Hicks might be an accomplice in the crime of the well, lets get ahead of ourselves. PR at that level takes moral flexibility, callousness and charm. The flexibility (its all relative) and callousness (who cares?) allow you to sleep at night. But the charm is your real high card, especially when youre whitewashing the unsavory practices or grave misdeeds of Texaco, the NFL, Harvey Weinstein and Donald Trump. The catch is that whitewashing grave misdeeds, as Watergate showed, can tilt into a grave misdeed itself. On Wednesday, the New York Times reported that Hope Hicks, according to former Trump legal spokesperson Mark Corallo, may have taken part in an effort to obstruct justice. To wit, Corallo plans to tell special counsel Robert S. Mueller III that Trump and Hicks co-wrote a July 2017 press release misrepresenting the purpose of a suspicious meeting a year earlier between Donald Trump Jr. and Russian government official Natalia Veselnitskaya. The truth emerged later: Junior had been promised Hillary Clinton kompromat to get him to the meeting, but when he and others with the Trump campaign showed up, Veselnitskaya and others tried to enlist him in the cause of undoing sanctions against Russia, especially the ones that under the Magnitsky Act punish oligarchs responsible for human rights abuses. She seems also to have held out the possibility that, if sanctions were lifted, the Kremlin would allow Americans to adopt Russian children again. Advertisement When the story first broke, the 2016 meeting looked like a smoking gun for Trump-Russia ties and Hicks, in Corallos telling, moved quickly to hide the weapon. She and Trump, it seems, decided to tell the media that the meeting was not about Clinton kompromat (which suggested collusion) or lifting sanctions on oligarchs (which suggested quid pro quo), but about adoptions, which sounded innocuous. Corallo presciently suggested that, if Juniors emails ever surfaced, the deception would too. But Hicks, in Corallos account, replied that the emails will never get out, according to the New York Times article. This showed Corallo that Hicks might be game to suppress Juniors correspondence, which would arguably qualify as obstruction of justice. A revered GOP spin doctor himself, Corallo is an old hand at managing crises. He was long known as the master of disaster, and he says he gets an adrenaline high superintending Republican nightmares. But maybe time has chastened him. Maybe hes ready to stop spinning, especially if it saves his own hide. Or maybe hes just aiming to best Hicks. In either case, Corallo is a PR man dropping a dime on one of his own, and suggesting that Hicks might be an accomplice in the crime of the well, lets get ahead of ourselves. Does Hicks promise to keep Juniors emails out of sight, and thus deceive the public if she actually made that promise rise to the level of obstruction? The answer to this question may double as a referendum on the whole thorny practice of public relations. Advertisement We know its a crime to lie to the FBI. We know its a crime to lie to Mueller. But, as Hope Hicks knows and as her father and her fathers father knew lying to the media is traditionally called PR. Twitter: @page88 Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion or Facebook President Trumps exquisitely awful decision to pull the U.S. out of the Paris climate accords has been underscored by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrations announcement that 2017 was the second-warmest year ever recorded. To understand the true costs of the United States abnegation of its international responsibilities, theres a useful analog in the story of another global environmental threat that arose in the last century. Then, too, the world was moving toward a united response when a U.S. presidential election intervened. Ultimately, the world dodged a bullet. This time, we may not be so lucky. In 1974, the world was facing the depletion of the ozone layer. The distinguished science journal Nature had published an article providing evidence that chlorine compounds called CFCs were migrating to the upper atmosphere and destroying the ozone molecules that formed a protective shield against harmful ultraviolet radiation (three scientists Sherwood Rowland, Mario Molina and Paul Crutzen were later awarded the Nobel Prize in chemistry for the discovery). Without the shield, UV radiation would reach the Earths surface, causing an extraordinary range of harmful effects, including cancers in animals and people and the wholesale destruction of phytoplankton, the basis of the oceanic food chain. By the late 1970s, the Carter administration had banned the use of CFCs in aerosol sprays, and was moving to phase out their use in refrigeration. Then came the election of Ronald Reagan. CFC-using industries were already challenging the science and fighting regulation. They lobbied Congress, arguing that eliminating CFCs would cost tens of thousands of jobs. If this sounds a lot like the fossil fuel industrys posture toward global warming, it should: The playbook developed to slow efforts to combat climate change was developed during the CFC battle. Indeed, a number of the same scientists who disputed ozone depletion later showed up before Congress casting doubt on climate change. In the 70s, they discovered they didnt need to refute the science to delay action, they only needed to convince the public it was not yet settled. Before Reagan, CFC producers were preparing for a worldwide ban on the compounds. DuPont, the dominant manufacturer, had begun to develop an alternative refrigerant. After the 1980 election, however, industry lobbyists found a friendly audience for their arguments. Anne Burford, Reagans Environmental Protection Agency chief (and mother of Supreme Court Justice Neil M. Gorsuch), dismissed the threat of CFCs as an unsubstantiated scare story. DuPont halted work on the alternatives, and production of CFCs reached new highs. Advertisement Then the world got lucky. In 1982, Joe Farman, a British geophysicist doing research in Antarctica, noticed something odd about the data he was collecting on stratospheric ozone. The readings, which had been stable for 25 years, began to show a drop. At first, he thought it was instrument error, but a recheck validated the measurements. Farman doggedly pursued the data, and in 1985 the world learned about the ozone hole. The rapid expansion of the ozone hole put the lie to the industry-sponsored disinformation campaign. In 1986, DuPont dropped its opposition to a CFC phase-out, but this seemingly high-minded action should be considered in context. DuPont had the lead in getting alternatives to market, and those alternatives promised bigger profit margins than CFCs. In September 1987, the Montreal Protocol was signed; 197 nations agreed to its terms, making it the first universally ratified treaty in the history of the United Nations. Despite the dire warnings of industry, the transition away from CFCs didnt interrupt economic growth any more than had the earlier 20th century disappearance of the buggy whip. The important consequences of the delay in the phase-out were borne by Planet Earth. The rapid expansion of the ozone hole put the lie to the industry-sponsored disinformation campaign. Between 1978, when the Carter administration was moving toward phase-out, and 1988, just before the Montreal Protocol went into force, some 19 billion pounds of CFCs were produced. Like carbon dioxide molecules, CFCs have a life in the atmosphere that is measured in decades, and so for years after the treaty was ratified the ozone hole continued to grow. It was only in 2017, nearly 30 years after the protocols signing, that scientists detected that the ozone hole was beginning to shrink. Sometime after 2050, they estimate, the ozone layer will return to normal. We dont know how much smaller the ozone hole would have been had the world banned CFCs in 1978. But we do know that without Joe Farman, we might not have discovered this smoking gun until much later, perhaps too late for humanity and the biosphere. Is there something similar that will put the lie to the disinformation campaign still being waged against the consensus on global warming? Perhaps the biblical hurricanes of last summer will shake the confidence of the deniers. Or more likely, the ubiquitous and unambiguous signal of costly, catastrophic sea-level rise. Unfortunately, we need a Joe Farman (or two or three) to document the situation. The Trump administration wants to cut the budgets of the programs that monitor the atmosphere, and its opposed to the Federal Emergency Management Agency updating flood maps to take into account the danger of rising seas. Advertisement Still, there is one more analogy between the ozone story and global warming that offers a glimmer of hope. As the Trump administration and Congress feverishly try to build a bridge to the 19th century, industry and many state and local governments are looking forward. General Motors and Ford are greatly expanding their production of electric cars. China, India, Britain and France, as well as California and other states, are considering bans on fossil-fuel vehicles. As did DuPont in the 1980s, these carmakers and other industries now recognize that remaining competitive requires them to adapt to the scientific consensus on climate change. We can only hope that its not too late. Eugene Linden is the author of Winds of Change: Climate, Weather, and the Destruction of Civilizations. eugenelinden.com Advertisement Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinionand Facebook To the editor: One letter writer suggests that Stanford law professor Michele Dauber, who is leading a recall campaign against Judge Aaron Persky of the Santa Clara County Superior Court, is unqualified to have so much as an opinion on the jurist. (We need more jurists like Judge Aaron Persky who are willing to make unpopular decisions, Readers React, Jan. 30) This assertion is rich, given that one person whose opinion in the matter counts for very little is the letter writer, who is not currently a resident of Santa Clara County. Voters in that county collected more than 100,000 signatures to have the opportunity to have Persky answer not just for his terrible decision in the case against former Stanford student Brock Turner, who served three months in jail for sexually assaulting a woman on campus, but also for his entire long record of rulings that favor offenders over victims. Times up for Persky and everyone else who dismisses victims. Beth Morgan, Los Angeles Advertisement Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook This one hit close to home, literally: On Thursday, four students at Sal Castro Middle School west of downtown Los Angeles were injured in what police believe was an accidental shooting. A 12-year-old girl was taken into custody on suspicion of negligently firing a gun. And perhaps because this shooting took place at a Los Angeles Unified School District campus in a neighborhood with which many readers are surely familiar, most of our letter writers have suggested steps that parents and schools can take to prevent another tragedy instead of engaging in a rhetorical battle on gun control. Here are some of their letters. Long Beach resident Cholena Humphrey wants action by schools and adults: Advertisement I think that what is happening in America is appalling and that we are putting our childrens lives at risk sending them to school without providing protection for them. We need to install metal detectors, which are non-judgmental and will screen everybody equally at the entrance to all schools to protect our loved ones. [Parents] fret about allergies and dogs and alcohol and safe sex. But how many of us have the talk about guns? Barbara King-Wilson, Sherman Oaks Blood is being shed at our schools, and losing the life of even one child is too much. We need to protect all our children. Also, we could teach our children not to resort to guns to handle their problems. They could learn a lot by watching adults work through their difficulties in productive ways. Michael Wall of Hemet says we can ask schools to do only so much: Reading of yet another tragic gun incident, my first thought was not about what the school is not doing to safeguard its students. My first reaction was this: Why in the world did this child have access to a loaded gun? My second reaction: Why is it always the schools responsibility to safeguard our children from the failures of their parents? Whether its obesity, homelessness, gangs or abuse, to cure these societal problems we must do a better job identifying and treating the cause of the illness versus merely treating the symptoms. We are a very sick society. The sooner we own up to this, the sooner we can start healing. Advertisement Gun-control activist Barbara King-Wilson of Sherman Oaks encourages parents to talk about firearm safety: On Thursday, I received a text: School shooting here in L.A. As of this writing, there have been 14 school shootings across the country this year, many of which could have been prevented. As parents, we worry about our childrens safety constantly. We fret about allergies and dogs and alcohol and safe sex. But how many of us have the talk about guns? The group Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America launched Be SMART, a public education campaign encouraging responsible firearm storage to reduce the number of unintentional shootings by children, suicides, and homicides that occur when children or teens are able to access guns. Volunteers all over California give Be SMART presentations because the responsibility of these tragedies falls on us the adults to keep our children safe. Advertisement I co-founded the San Fernando Valley local group of Moms Demand Action because there is more we can do to prevent these senseless tragedies. Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook Gavin Newsom releases ad that highlights his push to allow same-sex couples to marry By Phil Willon A new ad from Democratic gubernatorial candidate Gavin Newsom features Phyllis Lyon, who with her partner, Del Martin, received the first marriage license after Newsom vowed to allow same-sex couples to marry when he was mayor of San Francisco in 2004. The current lieutenant governors push for marriage equality thrust him into the national spotlight and he has emphasized that effort to portray himself as a bold, progressive leader. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Failed California housing bill was not a bad idea, Gov. Jerry Brown says By Liam Dillon Gov. Jerry Brown (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press) Earlier this month, high-profile housing legislation that would have allowed for four- to five-story apartments and condominiums near transit stops failed to advance in the state Legislature. But had it reached his desk, would Gov. Jerry Brown have signed it? Maybe. I think that was not a bad idea, Brown said of Senate Bill 827 at a meeting with business leaders from the Bay Area Council on Monday afternoon. The bill, written by Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), attracted national attention and a maelstrom of opposition in part because it would have eliminated single-family zoning near transit stops in favor of apartments or condominiums. Brown said that a relative of his who lives in West Portal, a low-density neighborhood in San Francisco, told the governor he was horrified by the bill. Brown also lamented dramatically rising housing costs. He said he bought his first house in Los Angeles in 1973 for $75,000 at a time when his salary as secretary of state was $35,000. Now, he said, buying a house for a little over twice ones annual salary is virtually impossible anywhere in the state. FOR THE RECORD May 1, 9:32 a.m.: This post originally misstated the year Brown purchased his house as 1970. It was 1973. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print John Cox begins California barnstorm with the delivery of gas tax repeal signatures By Javier Panzar Gubernatorial candidate John Cox, left, and Assembly candidate Bill Essayli load boxes of signatures for the gas tax repeal initiative. (Francine Orr) GOP gubernatorial candidate John Cox strolled up to the stack of 12 boxes in front of the Los Angeles County registrar-recorders offices in Norwalk on Monday and placed his hands on top of his partys hope for success in 2018. The boxes, stacked four across and three high, contained 211,000 signatures for an initiative to repeal recent increases in Californias gas tax and vehicle fees. Cox says the effort has gathered more than 940,000 signatures from registered voters to put the measure on the ballot far more than the 585,407 signatures that are required. The aim: to bring out the partys base to the polls this November and help candidates in tough congressional and legislative races down the ticket. A USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times poll in November found 54.2% of registered voters surveyed said they would repeal the tax and fee hike, but a survey a month earlier by another group said a majority would vote to keep the higher taxes. Cox was flanked by Bill Essayli, a former federal prosecutor who is challenging Democratic Assemblywoman Sabrina Cervantes of Riverside in the June primary. Cervantes voted for the gas tax and Essayli plans to use that vote against her. He even launched his campaign at a 76 gas station in Norco. This is a central issue in my campaign, he said. Cox also submitted signatures in San Diego on Monday and is headed to Bakersfield, Fresno and Sacramento, as well as Shasta and Butte counties in coming days. We are going all across the state, Cox said. The whole state is paying this tax and the whole state wants it gone. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print All Californians would be able to serve on state boards even people in the U.S. illegally under new bill By Jazmine Ulloa Sen. Ricardo Lara (D-Bell Gardens) (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press) State lawmakers on Monday introduced legislation that would allow all Californians to serve on state boards and commissions regardless of immigration status. Senate Bill 174, by Sen. Ricardo Lara (D-Bell Gardens) and Assemblywoman Wendy Carrillo (D-Los Angeles), comes as the state is locked in a broader legal battle with the Trump administration over state immigration laws and his call for mass deportations. Lawmakers point to what they say is the states own discriminatory history as their basis for introducing the legislation. The proposal would amend an 1872 provision that was first adopted to exclude Chinese immigrants and other transient aliens from holding appointed civil positions. At the time, antipathy toward the Chinese had been building in California, though, Chinese immigrants opened hundreds of businesses across the state and would play a critical role in building the transcontinental railroad. The Senate bill would delete the phrase transient aliens from the government code and make clear that any person, regardless of citizenship or immigration status, can hold an appointed civil office if they are at least 18 years old and a resident of the state. That would allow any Californian to serve on hundreds of boards and commissions that advice in an array of policy areas, including farm labor, history and employment development. Californias two million undocumented immigrants are a source of energy for our state, Lara said in a statement. It is shocking to read the words of fear and exclusion that are still in California law but belong in historys trash can. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Tony Mendozas fundraising dries up after resignation amid harassment inquiry By Patrick McGreevy Former state Sen. Tony Mendoza (D-Artesia). (Steve Yeater / Associated Press) Political contributions to Tony Mendoza, who resigned from the state Senate under pressure amid sexual harassment allegations, have nearly dried up. New documents he filed with the state in his bid to reclaim the seat he once held show that his support has eroded. As a result, five other candidates for the 32nd District senate seat in the June 5 election have raised more than Mendoza so far this year. With the June 5 election approaching, Mendoza has reported raising just $7,750 in cash from six supporters during the nearly four-month period from Jan. 1 to April 21. Mendoza, a Democrat from Artesia, went on a leave of absence from the Senate Jan. 3 and resigned a month later under the threat of expulsion from colleagues. An investigation ordered by the Senate found a pattern of unwanted flirtatious or sexually suggestive behavior based on testimony from six women. Mendoza has denied wrongdoing. Last year, Mendozas reelection campaign raised $412,600, or an average of about $34,000 per month, from more than 350 supporters. Most of Mendozas 2018 total was contributed by the political arm of the Southern California Pipe Trades District Council 16 on Jan. 22, a month before Mendoza resigned. Mendoza also reported that his campaign loaned $125,000 this year to his legal defense fund. That left him with $446,600 in his campaign account at the end of April. Mendoza is running against eight Democrats and two Republicans. Democrat Bob J. Archuleta, a Pico Rivera city councilman, raised the most, $210,000, during the period. On Monday, Mendoza suffered another setback when the State Legislative Womens Caucus endorsed Democrat Vicky Santana, a member of the Rio Hondo College Board. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Newsom and Villaraigosa affairs coming to TV ads in California By Phil Willon An independent political committee backing Republican John Cox for governor released an ad blasting both Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom and former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa for their past sexual affairs. The California Deserves Better ad, which was first reported by Politico, criticizes Newsom for having an affair with a woman on his staff in 2005 while he served as mayor of San Francisco. It also goes after Villaraigosa for having an extramarital affair with a television reporter in 2007 while he was mayor of Los Angeles. The ad, which begins airing on Fox stations in the states top media markets Monday, links Newsom and Villaraigosa to the men accused of sexual impropriety in the #MeToo movement, including movie mogul Harvey Weinstein and disgraced Today show veteran Matt Lauer. Powerful men are finally being held to account, punished for inappropriate sexual conduct with women over whom they exercise power, the ad begins. Newsom and Villaraigosa think the rules shouldnt apply to them. The independent campaign committee, called Restore Our Values, already has raised more than $100,000, said Leigh Teece of Emeryville in Northern California, co-founder of the group. Teece, the CEO of a nonprofit that helps line up students with professional mentors, said the campaign will actively support Cox. She called him a true conservative and noted that he supports cutting taxes and opposes Californias sanctuary state policy. John is a business person who has demonstrated integrity, Teece said. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Was that Cisneros in the voicemail? Dispute is latest espisode of Democratic infighting in crowded primary races By Christine Mai-Duc Gil Cisneros speaks during a forum at Fullerton College in January. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times) With less than five weeks to go before Californias primary, insults and accusations are flying with abandon in the most crowded races Democrats hope to ultimately win. The latest example of this is in the 39th Congressional District, where a half dozen Democrats are vying for a chance to replace Rep. Ed Royce, whos retiring. Its one of several California contests where Democratic leaders are already worried that divisions could ultimately split votes and shut Democrats out of key pickup opportunities. In that race, millionaires Gil Cisneros and Andy Thorburn are going negative about going negative. Cisneros was recently elevated to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committees Red to Blue program in hopes it would serve as a signal to Democratic activists and donors that his campaign was the most viable. But both Cisneros and Thorburn have poured millions into the race, which promises to be a knock down, drag out fight through June 5. At the center of the latest controversy is a voicemail, allegedly left by Cisneros on Thorburns home answering machine earlier this month. The recording, which the Thorburn campaign turned over to media outlet The Intercept, lasts less than 10 seconds. Hi Andy, its Gil Cisneros. Im gonna go negative on you, a mans voice is heard saying. Cisneros campaign manager Orrin Evans denied the candidate made the call, posting a cease and desist letter to The Intercept on Twitter. The letter, sent by a Cisneros campaign attorney, called the voicemail fabricated and demanded that the story be taken down, calling it defamatory. It gave the publication until 3 p.m. Friday to take down the story before they pursue all legal rights and remedies. An attorney for The Intercept, in a letter to Cisneros, said the publication confirmed with multiple sources familiar with Mr. Cisneros that his voice was on the recording, and that it stands by its reporting. Thorburns camp says it flatly rejects Cisneros denial, and that the timing of a negative website filled with unflattering background on Thorburn, released three days later, suggests it was him. Track the California races that could flip the House According to The Intercepts report, Cisneros campaign manager did not respond to initial inquiries about the voicemail, calling its questions ridiculous. In a follow-up statement Friday, Evans said called the episode a dirty, desperate trick by the Thorburn campaign and said they are readying to pursue legal action for defamation and false light against both him and the publication. It sounded like him to me! said Thorburns wife, Karen, in a statement released by the campaign. She was the one who first heard the voicemail, they said. Thorburn campaign manager Nancy Leeds called Cisneros threats Trump-like tactics and accused the candidate of trying to harass and intimidate anyone who stands in his way. Its not the first time candidates from the same party have clashed in the lead-up to the June 5 primary, and its all but certain to not be the last. Cisneros sued two of his opponents, Thorburn and Sam Jammal, over their ballot descriptions until they had to change them. Earlier this month, Democrat Bryan Caforio asked his opponent, Katie Hill, to sign a pledge rejecting the use of independent expenditure committees, entities that neither of them can legally coordinate with, in the race to unseat Rep. Steve Knight (R-Lancaster). Hill refused and called the attempt hollow and likened it to political theater, while Caforio accused her of empty campaign promises. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print California Politics Podcast: The money raised in the race for governor hints at a race thats now red hot By John Myers With less than six weeks before election day, the cash raised in the California governors race mirrors the overall dynamics: one major front-runner and a heated race for second place. This weeks podcast episode offers a glimpse into those cash reports and how the Republican field seems more settled in a new statewide poll than the battle between Democrats. We also examine the reasons why a nationally talked-about housing bill in Sacramento was killed by the Democratic authors own allies. Im joined by Times staff writers Melanie Mason and Liam Dillon. You can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, SoundCloud and Stitcher. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement L.A. County politician sexually assaulted woman when she was 16, lawsuit claims By Dakota Smith A woman sued an unnamed politician in Los Angeles County on Friday, alleging the man sexually assaulted her when she was a teenager after he gave her an unusual-tasting drink. The politician, identified as John Doe, was in his early 40s and a public figure at the time of the 2007 assault, according to the lawsuit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court. The man is an elected official today and lives in Los Angeles, said attorney Lisa Bloom, who is representing the woman identified in the lawsuit as Jane Doe. Bloom declined to say what branch of government the man represents. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Villaraigosa touts his working-class upbringing, accomplishments as mayor in first TV ad By Phil Willon Democrat Antonio Villaraigosa released his first TV ad in the governors race Friday, touting his record and accomplishments as mayor of Los Angeles when up against the economic downturn during the recession. The 30-second television spot opens with a sweeping shot of Los Angeles and cuts to Villaraigosa sitting on a bus. In kindergarten, my sister and I took three buses to get to school. As mayor, I remembered that, Villaraigosa says into the camera. And despite the recession, we built more new schools and rail lines than any city in America, added 200,000 living wage jobs, built 20,000 units of affordable housing and nearly doubled graduation rates. Campaign spokesman Luis Vizcaino said the ad will air statewide over the next week at a cost of approximately $1 million. The commercial will being airing Saturday. Two Democratic rivals in Californias race for governor, Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom and state Treasurer John Chiang, also launched ads this week, signaling the biggest ramp-up of the campaign as the June 5 primary approaches. Newsom is the front-runner, while Villaraigosa is battling for second place with Republican John Cox. One recent poll has Villaraigosa trailing both Cox and Republican Assemblyman Travis Allen of Huntington Beach. Chiang has been stuck in the single digits in almost all polling in the race. Last week, an independent expenditure group called Families and Teachers for Antonio Villaraigosa for Governor, funded largely by a trio of wealthy charter school backers, launched a spot in support of the former mayor of Los Angeles. That ad campaign is focused on increasing Villaraigosas chances of coming in second in the June 5 primary and moving on to the general election. Villaraigosas ad, titled Three Buses, emphasizes the struggles he faced growing up in East Los Angeles and addresses one of his central campaign themes that hes the candidate best suited to help working-class Californians. I know how far a bus can take you, Villaraigosa says in the ad. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Sen. Dianne Feinstein wont participate in pre-primary debate By Sarah D. Wire (Tom Williams / CQ Roll Call) California Sen. Dianne Feinstein will not participate in a proposed pre-primary debate because there are too many candidates in the race, her campaign spokesman said Thursday. Political activists with the group Indivisible Los Angeles said they had a venue and date May 5 reserved for a debate with four of the Senate candidates. But they said if Feinstein does not participate, it will be canceled. Feinstein faces 31 primary opponents in her bid for a fifth full term representing California in the Senate. Feinstein staffers initially said she had a prior commitment on May 5 in San Francisco. When organizers offered to let her campaign pick another date, her campaign said it wasnt fair for the group to invite only some of the candidates when there is such a big field, said Tudor Popescu, volunteer community organizer with Indivisible Los Angeles. The invited candidates, all Democrats, were Feinstein, state Sen. Kevin de Leon, political action committee director Alison Hartson and lawyer Pat Harris. They were selected based on fundraising and poll numbers. There are 11 Republicans, 10 Democrats, nine independents and 2 third-party candidates running for Senate on the June ballot. Indivisible Los Angeles is still hoping Feinstein will pick another date, Popescu said. Feinstein spokesman Jeff Millman pointed to a San Francisco Chronicle endorsement of Feinstein, which indicates that she told the editorial board she would be willing to have a debate ahead of Novembers general election. Senator Feinstein looks forward to debating her opponent in the general election, Millman said in an email. Feinstein holds a substantial lead in both fundraising and in the polls. Front-runners in statewide races have routinely declined to debate their challengers, knowing that its free publicity for candidates who dont have the cash to increase their name recognition on their own. De Leon spokesman Jonathan Underland said the state senator has done candidate forums before, but planned to attend the May 5 debate only if Feinstein did. We basically said well clear his calendar 100%, well clear his calendar if Feinstein shows up, Underland said. Wed love to make it happen, but we want her to be there. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement NRA, Olympic shooter sue California over its restrictions on ammunition sales By Patrick McGreevy Olympian Kim Rhode is a plaintiff in a lawsuit filed by the NRA and its state affiliate against California. (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times) The National Rifle Assn. and its state affiliate have filed a fourth lawsuit against California over its gun control laws, this time challenging new restrictions on the sale and transfer of ammunition. The NRA and the California Rifle and Pistol Assn. filed a challenge in federal court to a requirement that ammunition sales and transfers be conducted face to face with California firearms dealers or licensed vendors, ending purchases made directly from out-of-state sellers on the internet. The lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Southern District of California also challenged a requirement starting next year for background checks for people buying ammunition. The lawsuit was filed in the name of Kim Rhode, a six-time Olympic medal-winning shooter, and others. It challenges Californias new ammunition sales restrictions as a violation of the 2nd Amendment and the commerce clause of the United States Constitution. Restrictions on ammunition purchases were included in Proposition 63, approved by voters in 2016, and in bills approved by the Legislature. As a result of these laws, millions of constitutionally protected ammunition transfers are banned in California, Chris W. Cox, executive director of the NRAs Institute for Legislative Action, said in a statement. Californias law-abiding gun owners are sick of being treated like criminals and the NRA is proud to assist in this fight. Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, who is running for governor, defended his initiative and vowed to fight the NRA lawsuit. We wrote Proposition 63 on solid legal ground and principle: If youre a felon banned from possessing guns in California, then you should not be able to purchase the ammunition that makes a firearm deadly, Newsom said in a statement. California voters said loudly and clearly that guns and ammunition do not belong in the hands of dangerous individuals but once again, the NRA has prioritized gun industry profits over the lives of law-abiding Californians. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Republicans hope to ride a gas-tax repeal to victory By Patrick McGreevy In a Central Valley barn decked out in red, white and blue, dairyman and state Senate candidate Johnny Tacherra drew cheers from a crowd of fellow farmers when he said he opposes the California Legislatures hike on gas taxes and vehicle fees. I would not have voted for that. It is not the time to be voting on (raising) the gas tax, said Tacherra, a Republican running against Democratic Assemblywoman Anna Caballero, who voted for the tax increase last year. Three hundred miles away the same week, a campaign mailer arrived at homes in Orange County from an Assembly candidate with a message blaring from the cover in bold type: Republican Greg Haskin tough enough to stand up to Jerry Brown and repeal the gas tax. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Treasurer John Chiang launches ad in governors race touting his record as a fiscal steward By Seema Mehta In his first television ad in the governors race, state Treasurer John Chiang touts his record on fiscal issues as California faced the recession. Some thought we were done, Chiang says in a voiceover in the 30-second spot he released Thursday, with images of him standing seriously at a lectern and complimentary headlines about his work as controller and treasurer. But I knew better. I made the tough calls. And brought California back from the brink of financial disaster because you trusted me to manage our economy. Chiangs campaign is spending about $500,000 to air the ad in Los Angeles and San Diego in coming days. That buy is dwarfed by seven-figure purchases for ads supporting Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom and former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. Newsom is the front-runner, while Villaraigosa is battling for second place with Republican businessman John Cox. Chiang has been mired in the single digits in almost all polling in the race. His ad, called Quiet Storm, tries to portray Chiang as a progressive who is effective and can move policy in Sacramento. Chiang points to his work challenging Wells Fargo before arguing that he could accomplish what doubters say is impossible to improve the states healthcare, housing and schools. I say, we got this, Chiang concludes. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Been ignoring the race for California governor? Thats OK, in some ways its just starting By Mark Z. Barabak On a recent trip to Iowa, Eric Garcetti the mayor of Los Angeles and a possible 2020 White House contestant raised eyebrows with a bit of exuberant outreach. Los Angeles and Iowa, Garcetti insisted, have a ton in common, and he didnt simply mean both are inhabited by carbon-based life forms needing oxygen to survive. Urban or rural, farmer or fashion plate, all of us harbor the same hopes and dreams, the mayor suggested, and if it wasnt a terribly original thought it also wasnt the most egregious sort of political pandering like, say, ordering that every home in Los Angeles be powered by Iowa-produced ethanol. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print California voters should expect to decide on an $8.9-billion water bond in November By Liam Dillon (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times) A proposal to borrow $8.9 billion for improvements to Californias water quality systems and watersheds and protection of natural habitats is eligible for the statewide ballot in November, Secretary of State Alex Padilla announced in a press release Wednesday. Padilla said the measure, which is backed by agricultural interests, had exceeded the 365,800 valid signatures it needed to qualify for the general election ballot. The bond measure will appear on the ballot unless proponents withdraw it by June 28, the release said. The bond is one of many voters could decide on in 2018. A $4-billion bond for parks and water infrastructure improvements will appear on the June 5 ballot. State lawmakers approved it last year. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print They came for Darrell Issa. They stayed with their inflatable chicken, blue wall and signs for political therapy By Christine Mai-Duc (John Gibbins / San Diego Union-Tribune) A mother of two turned ringleader of the resistance and more than a hundred of her faithful followers gathered on Tuesday morning outside Rep. Darrell Issas office in a northern San Diego County suburb. Across the street was her foil, a wedding DJ in a red Make American Great Again cap, setting up hefty speakers for an upcoming war of words. For about 65 weeks the deep divide in America played out along this 100-yard stretch of road in Vista. Here, at 10 a.m. every Tuesday, passersby found signs, chants, songs and, if they were lucky, sometimes a 20-foot-tall inflatable chicken with a Trump-esque coif. Theyd also glimpse the state of the body politic in 2018, a time when shock has turned to anger and post-2016 calls for reconciliation have morphed into grudging acceptance that each side might be better off in their respective corners. Or in this case, their sides of the street. On Tuesday, the anti-Issa, anti-Trump contingent fought this particular battle for the last time, declaring it their final protest at the congressmans office. They said they planned to use their energy to knock on doors and get out the vote, with an occasional protest on the side. Their pro-Trump rivals vowed to show up wherever they do. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Efforts to regulate bail companies have some unlikely allies: bail agents By Jazmine Ulloa Jane Un, chief executive and founder of Abba Bail Bonds, works with a client. ( Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times) In recent years, the seriousness and number of official complaints related to the bail industry in California have significantly increased while bail agents and bounty hunters face limited oversight, putting vulnerable communities at risk of fraud, embezzlement and other forms of victimization. This year, as Gov. Jerry Brown has pledged to work with lawmakers in a push to overhaul how courts assign defendants bail and to better regulate bail agencies, even some who profit from the court practice admit its time for regulation. These bail and bail-recovery agents could become unlikely allies, saying they advocate for change because theyve seen the system abuse the poor. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement California voters: Get ready for an onslaught of television ads By Seema Mehta After a sleepy campaign, California voters are now being bombarded with television advertisements in the governors race, an onslaught that is expected to ramp up in coming weeks. The ads most frequently seen on television are those promoting Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, the front-runner in the race, and former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who is trying to secure the second spot in the June primary. Newsoms campaign and an outside group backing Villaraigosa are spending seven figures weekly on these efforts, according to filings with the California secretary of states office and a media buyer who asked not to be identified in order to freely discuss the ads. Other gubernatorial candidates are expected to hit the airwaves soon, the media buyer said. State Treasurer John Chiang has reserved a half-million dollars in the coming days in the Los Angeles and San Diego markets, and Villaraigosas campaign has requested availability in at least five of the states biggest TV markets. The GOP candidates in the race, who will be seeking the state Republican Partys endorsement at its convention next weekend, have been much less active. Businessman John Cox in recent weeks has been spending about $90,000 per week, but doubled that this week in Los Angeles and added small buys on KFI-AM radio and cable in markets including Fresno, Bakersfield and Salinas. State Assemblyman Travis Allen of Huntington Beach, who has been scooping up Republican Party endorsements across the state, has yet to make a notable television or radio buy, though he and Cox have received some attention as commentators on Fox News. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Republicans ready to turn in signatures for ballot measure to repeal California gas-tax increase By Patrick McGreevy A Chevron gas station in Sacramento shows prices last year. (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press) Republican activists said Tuesday that they have collected at least 830,000 signatures for an initiative to repeal recent increases in Californias gas tax and vehicle fees, more than enough to qualify the measure for the November ballot. The activists need 585,407 signatures of registered voters to qualify the ballot measure. Because signatures are still being processed and counted by the campaign, backers hope to have 900,000 by the time they begin turning them in to the counties on Friday, according to Carl DeMaio, a former San Diego City Council member and organizer of the drive. The breadth and depth of voter anger over the car and gas tax hikes is just amazing, said DeMaio, who hosts a radio talk show. We are seeing Democrats, independents and Republicans sign the petition and volunteering to carry the petition, people from all walks of life. The initiative targets a law approved in April 2017 by the Legislature and Gov. Jerry Brown that is expected to raise $5.4 billion annually for road and bridge repairs and improvements to mass transit. The money comes from a recent 12-cents-per-gallon increase in the gas tax, a 20-cent increase in the diesel fuel excise tax and a new annual vehicle fee ranging from $25 for cars valued at under $5,000, to $175 for cars worth $60,000 or more. The petition drive raised more than $2 million with significant contributions from the California Republican Party and Republican members of Congress from California, including House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy of Bakersfield and Reps. Ken Calvert of Corona and Mimi Walters of Irvine. Republicans hope the issue will help their candidates for office in this years election and hurt Democrats who support the higher taxes. I think this is going to put Democrats in real bad spot, DeMaio said. A spokesman for Brown declined to comment until the signatures are filed. DeMaio said there were approximately 20,000 volunteer petition circulators who brought in more than 250,000 signatures, with the rest collected by paid circulators who received $1 to $2.50 per signature. Its a pretty comfortable margin [of signatures] that we have been able to hit here, DeMaio said. Opposition will grow, he said, as more Californians get their annual vehicle registration notice. The repeal campaign hopes to raise $5 million for the campaign to pass the constitutional amendment, which would not only repeal the increase in the gas tax and vehicle fees but require future increases to be submitted to voters. We know that Gov. Brown and his cohorts are going to spend an amazing amount of money to mislead voters, DeMaio said. But I feel pretty confident that we will repeal the gas tax. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Rep. Duncan Hunter sets up trust to raise money for legal expenses amid ongoing criminal investigation By Morgan Cook Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Alpine, has filed paperwork to establish a legal expense fund amid an ongoing federal criminal investigation into misused campaign cash. Hunter filed the required paperwork March 27, seeking a rarely granted Legal Expense Fund through which members of Congress under investigation or being sued in connection with doing their jobs or running for office can raise money for their legal expenses. Such funds are administered by an independent trustee and allow donors to give above the maximum amount they can contribute a candidates campaign. Hunter has spent more than $600,000 of campaign money on lawyers. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Kamala Harris says she wont take corporate donations anymore By Sarah D. Wire (Jose Luis Magana / Associated Press) California Sen. Kamala Harris says she will no longer accept money from corporate political action committees. In an interview with WWPM-FMs The Breakfast Club, in New York that aired Monday, the senator said she wasnt expecting a question at a town hall this month about whether she would accept money for corporations or corporate lobbyists. At the time, Harris said it depends, but she said on Monday that she had reflected on the matter and changed her mind. Money has had such an outside influence on politics, and especially with the Supreme Court determining Citizens United, which basically means that big corporations can spend unlimited amounts of money influencing a campaign, right? Harris said. Were all supposed to have an equal vote, but money has now really tipped the balance between an individual having equal power in an election to a corporation. So Ive actually made a decision since I had that conversation that Im not going to accept corporate PAC checks. I just Im not. You can watch the video of the interview here. (Harris corporate money comments come about 30 minutes in.) Harris wouldnt be on the ballot for a second Senate term until 2022, though its widely believed that she is planning a presidential bid in 2020. Other potential 2020 presidential candidates, including Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), have also ruled out taking corporate PAC money. Soon after Mondays show aired, Harris campaign sent out a fundraising request noting her new stance. As corporate PACs continue to corrupt our politics and twist Congress priorities at your expense, were going to focus on raising money from small-dollar, individual donors like you, the email says. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement With money tied up in court, California lawmakers try again with new plan to spend $2 billion on homeless housing By Liam Dillon A man sleeps on the sidewalk in front of the Union Rescue Mission in the skid row neighborhood of Los Angeles. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times) A measure to spend $2 billion on housing homeless Californians could be on the November statewide ballot. State Sen. Kevin de Leon (D-Los Angeles) is pushing the idea to deal with what he said was a burgeoning humanitarian crisis whose epicenter is here in California. De Leons new measure is a do-over for a 2016 plan passed by the Legislature to redirect $2 billion toward building homeless housing from a voter-approved 1% income tax surcharge on millionaires that funds mental health services. A Sacramento attorney sued over that decision, arguing that the move violated constitutional rules on approving loans without a public vote and that lawmakers shouldnt take money away from mental health treatment. The case remains active in Sacramento Superior Court and its unclear when, or if, the state will be able to spend the $2 billion. De Leons Senate Bill 1206 would put the $2-billion loan on the ballot in November, freeing up the money if voters approve the measure. De Leon said had he been able to predict the 2016 plan would end up in court, he would have sought a ballot measure at the time. We thought this was like apple pie and baseball and puppies, De Leon said. Who would oppose the idea of repurposing the dollars to build immediate housing as a permanent solution for homelessness? Obviously with a crystal ball, had I anticipated the litigation, I would have worked to place it on the ballot. De Leon noted that the 2016 plan had bipartisan supermajority support in the Legislature, something his new bill also will need to get on the ballot. Sen. John Moorlach (R-Costa Mesa) is a coauthor of the plan. SB 1206 is scheduled for its first hearing in the Legislature on Wednesday. Should De Leons measure be approved, it will join a crowded list of housing issues before voters in November. Californians will decide on a separate $4-billion bond to help finance new low-income housing and home loans for veterans. De Leon said hes not worried those two measures will compete against each other because voters are aware of the scale of the states housing problems and the proposed homeless housing bond redirects existing dollars instead of raising taxes. Once [voters] know that the impact on their pocketbook is not existent, Im confident that theyll join me and my colleague John Moorlach in support of this measure, De Leon said. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print California lawmakers say too many former felons are being denied professional licenses By John Myers Assemblyman David Chiu (D-San Francisco) along with supporters of bills to allow more former felons to receive professional licenses. (John Myers/Los Angeles Times) A trio of California Assembly members urged colleagues on Monday to pass legislation that would prohibit state commissions and agencies from rejecting a professional license for those who were once convicted of less serious crimes. We cant say we want to rehabilitate people, and then block them from getting the jobs that they need when theyre released, said Assemblyman David Chiu (D-San Francisco). That leads to more recidivism and to more crime. The bills, scheduled to be heard in Assembly committees Tuesday, would ban the use of arrest or conviction records as the reason for denying a professional license. The bill would not apply to Californians who served time for any of the offenses on the states list of violent crimes. The authors, all Democrats, said that a government-issued professional license is required for some 30% of all jobs in the state. Their bills would change the licensing process at the California departments of Consumer Affairs and Social Services and agencies that certify emergency medical technicians. The bills would block prior convictions from leading to the delay or denial of a license unless that crime is directly related to the profession the person intends to pursue. Two of the bills also specifically say convictions less than 5 years old could continue to play a role in licensing decisions. Last year, Gov. Jerry Brown signed a law that keeps private sector employers from inquiring about a job applicants conviction history prior to an offer of employment. Advocates joined the lawmakers at a press conference in Sacramento to point out that limits on awarding licenses should focus only on those whose prior criminal activity could pose a threat to consumers. Continuing to hold people back for crimes that are 6, 7, 8, 10, 20 years old does not actually make sense if youre looking at public safety, said Jael Myrick of the East Bay Community Law Center. One of the proposals, Assembly Bill 2293, seeks to make it easier for ex-felons to get a license allowing a job with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection the same agency that often uses prison inmates to battle blazes around the state. If a person is good enough to risk their life fighting fires for the state of California as an inmate, said Assemblywoman Eloise Gomez Reyes (D-Grand Terrace), their previous actions should not prevent from having a job utilizing the skill set that they learned. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Assembly speaker rebukes building trades union after it targets Assemblywoman Cristina Garcia By John Myers ( (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press)) The decision by a politically powerful labor group to openly campaign against an embattled Los Angeles-area lawmaker drew a sharp rebuke on Friday from Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon. The Lakewood Democrat lashed out hours after the State Building and Construction Trades Council of California filed paperwork for a political action committee to defeat Assemblywoman Cristina Garcia (D-Bell Gardens). Garcia, whos seeking her fourth term, took an unpaid leave of absence in February following allegations of sexual misconduct. She has denied the reports and an Assembly investigation remains underway. Rendon didnt criticize the labor group by name, insisting instead that the decision was driven by oil and gas industry interests. This is a thinly veiled attempt by Big Oil and polluters to intimidate me and my members. It is an affront to my speakership, Rendon said in a statement. We are proud of the work that the Assembly has done to increase jobs and wages while defending our environment. We will vigorously defend the members of our caucus from any ill-advised political attack. A statement from the labor group, which sparred with Garcia last year on her effort to link new climate change policies with a crackdown on air pollution, said it had decided to reverse past support for her. The Trades have thousands of hard working members in Garcias district, and we look forward to lifting up another Democrat in the 58th Assembly to better represent them and their families, said the statement. The political action committees campaign finance filing on Friday listed nonmonetary in kind contributions from Erin Lehane, a public affairs consultant aligned with the building labor group. Lehane said she had begun researching Garcia in November. In January, a former legislative staffer accused her of groping him in 2014. Lehane, who identified herself as a spokesperson for the labor groups political action committee, said on Friday that she believed Garcias hypocrisy threatened a movement that will dictate how much harassment and abuse my daughter will face in her work life. Garcia, who has been an outspoken advocate for women in the #MeToo movement, has complained that her political opponents helped fan the flames of the accusations. Through a campaign consultant, she declined to comment on Friday. Rendons critique came on the heels of a full-page ad in The Times on Friday, partly paid for by the Trades Council, that criticized well-funded ivory tower elites who push proposals that hurt the oil and gas industry. We are the real jobs that fuel the real California economy, read the advertisement. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Legal tiff breaks out over independent committees ad backing Antonio Villaraigosa for governor By Phil Willon An attorney representing Gavin Newsoms campaign for governor is demanding that California television stations cease airing an ad by an independent political committee supporting his Democratic rival Antonio Villaraigosa. Attorney Thomas A. Willis, in a letter to the stations, said the ad is false and misleading and violates California law because it uses snippets of video footage from Villaraigosas own campaign ads. Willis called that illegal coordination between the campaign and PAC. Under California law, advertisements made by entities other than a candidate are presumed to be coordinated and thus not independent expenditures when the advertisement replicates, reproduces or disseminates substantial parts of a communication, including video footage, created and paid for by the candidate, the letter states. A representative for the independent expenditure committee Families & Teachers for Antonio Villaraigosa for Governor fired back. Attorney Brian T. Hildreth says those allegations have no merit and accused the Newsom campaign of being misleading. Hildreth sent a letter to the television stations in response, urging them to ignore the Newsom campaigns accusations. He said the Newsom camp appears to intentionally misrepresent the law and that the video use was permissible. He said only six seconds of video from Villaraigosas campaign ads was used, which is well within the legal limits. The independent committee is sponsored by the group California Charter Schools Assn. Advocates, according to the California secretary of states office. The ad is airing on broadcast and cable stations statewide. The committees ad is focused on Villaraigosas record as Assembly speaker and as mayor of Los Angeles when there was a drop in crime. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Governors race snapshot: Californians are generally upbeat but not focused on the campaign By Mark Z. Barabak Armand Werden, a 29-year-old community college student who works the taps at Dust Bowl Brewery in Turlock, said the state is on the upswing. (Phil Willon / Los Angeles Times) As California chooses a new governor one of just a handful in the last 40 years not named Jerry Brown the state seems to be enjoying something unusual in these tumultuous political times: a feeling of relative contentment. Not to say things are perfect. Still, more than 100 random interviews conducted over the length and breadth of the state from Redding in the north to Santee in the south, from the Pacific coastline to the edge of the Sierra Nevada found most saying things are looking up, at least so far as Californias direction is concerned. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Sierra Club backs Gavin Newsom for California governor By Phil Willon Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks with members of the public following a debate at USC in January. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times) The Sierra Club endorsed Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom in the race for California governor, with officials in the established environmental group praising the Democrats record on climate change and clean energy. He has a proven record for leading on environmental protection, public health and clean energy, Kathryn Phillips, director of Sierra Club California, said in a statement released by the Newsom campaign. He understands that we are feeling the effects of climate change and that California must reduce carbon emissions and reach 100% renewable energy to achieve our climate goals. Phillips said the Sierra Clubs extensive network of volunteers will campaign for Newsom as the June 5 primary approaches. Sierra Club executive director Michael Brune also praised the Democrat, saying he will protect California from Donald Trumps attacks on our clean air and water. The Sierra Club joins a series of other influential groups in California that have backed Newsom. The California Medical Assn., the powerful state doctors lobby, announced its endorsement of Newsom on Thursday. The California Nurses Assn. and the Service Employees International Union, one of the most powerful labor unions in the state, also support Newsom. Newsom is the races front-runner in polls and fundraising. A poll released earlier this month by the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California found that 26% of likely voters backed Newsom. John Cox, a Republican from Rancho Santa Fe, was favored by 15% of likely voters and former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, a Democrat, by 13%. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Californias GOP House members are taking their challengers more seriously and the numbers show it By Christine Mai-Duc For much of last year, consultants and campaign managers for some of Californias most vulnerable Republican incumbents maintained a bullish tone on the prospect that the GOP would hold the House in this years midterms. The National Republican Congressional Committee insisted that longtime Republican incumbents in California had built up reputations as effective champions of local issues that would help them weather a flood of Democratic enthusiasm. Since then Rep. Ed Royce (R-Fullerton) and Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Vista) have decided not to seek reelection and the NRCC has opened a West Coast headquarters in Orange County. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print California officials say Pentagon has confirmed National Guard funding despite Trump threat By John Myers (Evan Vucci / Associated Press) The awkward dance between Gov. Jerry Brown and the federal government over the National Guard jerked back toward discord on Thursday, when Trump said he would refuse to pay for a new deployment of troops just hours after his administration said otherwise. And a few hours later, California officials said they had received written confirmation from the Pentagon that the mission would indeed be funded. Trump had earlier called Browns decision to approve 400 troops for a mission focused on combating transnational crime and drug smuggling a charade in a tweet. We need border security and action, not words! the president wrote. Governor Jerry Brown announced he will deploy up to 400 National Guard Troops to do nothing. The crime rate in California is high enough, and the Federal Government will not be paying for Governor Browns charade. We need border security and action, not words! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 19, 2018 A spokesman for Brown pointed to a tweet written Wednesday night by Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, thanking the California governor for his efforts. Trump was meeting on Thursday with Nielsen at his Mar-a-Lago estate not long after his tweet was posted. A tweet later posted by the California National Guard said that almost three hours after Trumps comment, the state received written confirmation from the Pentagon to fund the mission as outlined by Brown the day before. In short, nothing has changed today, said a subsequent Guard tweet. Just spoke w @JerryBrownGov about deploying the @USNationalGuard in California. Final details are being worked out but we are looking forward to the support. Thank you Gov Brown! Secretary Kirstjen M. Nielsen (@SecNielsen) April 19, 2018 Brown was the last of the nations border governors to respond to Trumps insistence earlier this month that National Guard troops were needed to assist with immigration-related duties at the U.S.-Mexico border. And he has consistently refused to allow California troops to engage in any mission related to federal immigration law. This will not be a mission to build a new wall, Brown wrote last week to Nielsen and Defense Secretary James N. Mattis. It will not be a mission to round up women and children or detain people escaping violence and seeking a better life. Exactly what the California operations will cost remains unclear, as state officials have said it will depend on decisions made once the mission begins. The funds would not be transferred to the state, but instead would be paid directly by the Department of Defense. Trump has critiqued California several times over the past few days, often writing tweets that embrace the actions by some cities and counties to join his administrations lawsuit against the states sanctuary immigration law. He made similar comments to reporters on Thursday afternoon. If you look at whats happening in California with sanctuary cities people are really going the opposite way, Trump said. They dont want sanctuary cities. Theres a little bit of a revolution going on in California. 2:26 p.m.:This article was updated with additional information from the California National Guard and with remarks from Trump. This article was originally published at 9:51 a.m. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Gay conversion therapy services would be banned under measure advancing in California By John Myers (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press) The California Assembly voted Thursday to add gay conversion therapy to the states list of deceptive business practices, following a debate that focused on the personal experiences of several lawmakers and hinted at potential lawsuits to come. It is harmful and it is unnecessary, Assemblyman Evan Low (D-Campbell), the bills author and one of the Legislatures most vocal LGBTQ members, said of the practice. Low, who told Assembly members that he explored conversion therapy as a teenager and suffered depression over his sexual orientation, insisted that the bill would be limited to efforts that involve the exchange of money. Theres nothing wrong with me, he said in an emotional speech on the Assembly floor. Theres nothing that needs to be changed. The bill, which now heads to the Senate, has become the focal point of intense debate on social media. Some religious groups have said that such a law would be a violation of their constitutional rights, while advocates insist the provisions are narrow and theres no credible evidence that the services work. One key part of the debate centers on whether Assembly Bill 2943 would stretch beyond businesses that charge for these programs and extend to printed documents, even Bibles. An analysis by the Assembly Judiciary Committee says the bill would apply only to services that purport to change a persons sexual orientation and offered on a commercial basis, as well as the advertising and offering of such services. Lawmakers who spoke in support of AB 2943 also made clear that they believe those kinds of services have been discredited. This is fraudulent, it should not be occurring, said Assemblywoman Susan Eggman (D-Stockton). But you can still try to pray the gay away, if you like. Assemblyman James Gallagher (R-Yuba City), who said the bill addresses a difficult issue, nonetheless said that its important to ensure laws dont tamper with religious freedom. We have to think about the legitimate experience of people who have gone through conversion therapy and said this was a good thing for them, Gallagher told his colleagues. California law already bans the use of conversion therapy by mental health professionals on those under age 18. Lows bill would expand the states efforts beyond minors. It would join a list of commercial activities deemed unfair or deceptive acts or practices and therefore banned under state law. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Gavin Newsom gets backing from doctors group, despite differences over single-payer healthcare By Melanie Mason Gavin Newsom speaks at the California Democrats State Convention in San Diego on Feb. 24. (Kent Nishimura) Californias doctors are siding with Gavin Newsom in the governors race, even though they dont see eye-to-eye on a defining issue of the campaign: single-payer healthcare. The California Medical Assn., the state doctors lobby and a political heavyweight, announced its endorsement of the lieutenant governor on Thursday. Gavin is a lifelong champion for health care in California, and we know he will continue to fight for pragmatic solutions to our most crucial health care challenges, including working to achieve universal access and tackling our states physician shortage, CMA President Theodore M. Mazer said in a statement. Newsom has made his support for state-financed healthcare a centerpiece of his campaign, and he earned the early backing of the most ardent single-payer supporters, the state nurses union. The doctors, meanwhile, oppose the nurses bill, SB 562, which emerged as a flashpoint in the healthcare debate last year. The CMA said the bill would dismantle the healthcare marketplace and destabilize Californias economy. Newsom has said SB 562 should advance in the Legislature, but also said it has open-ended issues that still need to be addressed. The doctors group is also battling with another prominent Newsom endorser, the Service Employees International Union, over a new measure that would impose price caps on an array of medical services paid for by commercial health insurers in the state. The SEIU is a leading sponsor of the proposal; the doctors fiercely oppose it. Newsom and the physicians group have a history of political alignment. Newsom was the first statewide official to support Proposition 56, a 2016 tobacco tax pushed by the CMA that raised revenue in part to increase money for doctors who saw Medi-Cal patients. That year, the association also endorsed two initiatives championed by Newsom: Proposition 63, which imposed new gun control measures, and Proposition 64, which legalized recreational marijuana. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Independent committee backing Antonio Villaraigosa for governor hits the airwaves with first ad By Phil Willon Antonio Villaraigosa speaks at the 2018 California Democratic Party Convention in San Diego in February.. (Denis Poroy / Associated Press) A well-financed independent committee backing Antonio Villaraigosas bid to be Californias next governor released its first television ad Thursday, praising his record for working with Republicans and as a candidate for all of California. The ad, which is to air statewide on broadcast and cable stations, is focused on Villaraigosas record as Assembly speaker and mayor of Los Angeles, including on education and a drop in crime while he was at City Hall. To move California forward, we need to help more Californians get ahead, the ad says. Thats why Antonio Villaraigosa brought both parties together to balance the state budget with record investments in public schools and new career training programs. The independent expenditure committee behind the ad campaign, Families & Teachers for Antonio Villaraigosa for Governor 2018, is sponsored by the California Charter Schools Assn. Advocates, according to the California secretary of states office. The committee is spending seven figures per week on the ad buy, said Josh Pulliam, a political consultant for the committee. As mayor of Los Angeles, Villaraigosa clashed with teachers unions, starting with his failed attempt to take political control of the Los Angeles Unified School District. His fight with those unions continued after he left office in 2013. Money has poured into the committee this month from wealthy charter schools supporters: Reed Hastings, chief executive of Netflix, donated $7 million, and Los Angeles billionaire and philanthropist Eli Broad donated $1.5 million. On Wednesday, former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan donated $1 million. The independent expenditure committee is expected to provide a boost to Villaraigosas campaign. Democratic front-runner Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom has a major advantage in fundraising over all other candidates in the race and has received the backing of the California Teachers Assn. and other education unions. A recent Public Policy Institute of California poll also showed Villaraigosa lagging in third place in the race, trailing Newsom and Republican businessman John Cox. The candidates who finish in the top two in the June 5 primary will advance to the November general election, regardless of their party affiliation. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Gov. Jerry Brown says Trump administration will fund his National Guard mission without immigration duties By John Myers (Alex Wong / Getty Images) Gov. Jerry Brown formally mobilized 400 California National Guard members Wednesday for transnational crime-fighting duties, thus preventing any effort by President Trump to have the troops focus on immigration enforcement on the Mexican border. The governor announced that federal officials have agreed to fund the plan he announced last week a mission to combat criminal gangs, human traffickers and illegal firearm and drug smugglers in locations around California, including near the border. The order Brown signed makes clear that the troops will not be allowed to perform a broader set of duties as envisioned by Trumps recent comments. California National Guard service members shall not engage in any direct law enforcement role nor enforce immigration laws, arrest people for immigration law violations, guard people taken into custody for alleged immigration violations, or support immigration law enforcement activities, the order read. The cost of the mission, a spokesman for Brown said, will be paid directly by the federal government. No initial estimate has been made, as the exact amount will depend on exactly how the troops will be used. Though the duties of California Guard members were outlined last week, the state had been waiting for an agreement by federal officials to pay for the operations. Since that time, the president has taken Brown and the state to task over its decision to avoid any immigration-related duties at the border. On Wednesday morning, Trump tweeted, Jerry Brown is trying to back out of the National Guard at the Border, but the people of the State are not happy. Want Security & Safety NOW! There is a Revolution going on in California. Soooo many Sanctuary areas want OUT of this ridiculous, crime infested & breeding concept. Jerry Brown is trying to back out of the National Guard at the Border, but the people of the State are not happy. Want Security & Safety NOW! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 18, 2018 Looks like Jerry Brown and California are not looking for safety and security along their very porous Border. He cannot come to terms for the National Guard to patrol and protect the Border, Trump tweeted Tuesday. There was no immediate reaction from the White House to Browns announcement. On Tuesday, Brown told reporters in Washington that his plan was consistent with a safer border. That sounds to me like fighting crime, the governor said. Trying to catch some desperate mothers and children, or unaccompanied minors coming from Central America, that sounds like something else. The order Brown issued Wednesday after returning from a brief trip to talk climate change in Toronto and to speak to a national trade union and visit with reporters in Washington is set to expire at the end of September. It specifically says no Guard service member may participate in a mission that would exceed the mission scope and limitations related to transnational crime activity. It also says troops cannot help build any new border barrier. 5:27 p.m.: This article was updated with information related to the cost of the Guard mission and Browns trip to Washington. This article was originally published at 5:13 p.m. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement California bill aims to end practice that keeps workplace misconduct cases out of court By Melanie Mason A California bill would prohibit employers from requiring workers to use private arbitration to settle disputes, a practice that critics say shields improper workplace conduct from public view. The bill by Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher (D-San Diego) would bar businesses from making employees, when they are hired, waive their future rights to take any harassment, discrimination or other claims to court. Arbitration can be a highly effective dispute resolution method when both parties can choose it freely, when both parties are equal, Gonzalez Fletcher said at a news conference on Wednesday. It is far less successful when the more powerful party forces the other to accept those terms, especially as a condition of employment. Forced arbitration has come under increasing scrutiny since the #MeToo movement, with high-profile figures such as former Fox News anchor Gretchen Carlson pointing to the practice as shielding workplace abusers from public disclosure because arbitration resolutions often include nondisclosure agreements. Last year, a bipartisan bill was introduced in Congress to end mandatory arbitration in employment agreements. Gonzalez Fletcher said she was pursuing an unusual tool to draw attention to the issue a subpoena issued by the Legislature to compel testimony from a worker bound by a nondisclosure agreement as a result of arbitration. The Legislature has subpoena power but it is rarely used. The bills sponsors believe lawmakers last issued a subpoena in 2001 while investigating price manipulation by Enron. Gonzalez Fletcher said she has requested Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon (D-Lakewood) to issue the subpoena to require Tara Zoumer, who sued the company WeWork in 2016 for overtime pay, to testify before the Assembly Judiciary Committee next week. Zoumers suit was moved to arbitration and resolved. She is now subject to a nondisclosure agreement and could face a financial penalty for speaking publicly about her case. A spokesman for Rendon said the subpoena request is under consideration. Business groups oppose the bill, AB 3080. The California Chamber of Commerce has dubbed it a job biller, claiming it would dramatically increase legal costs for businesses. Banning such agreements benefits the trial attorneys, not the employer or employee, the group said. The bill must first advance from the Assembly Labor Committee on Wednesday. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print At least 240 House lawmakers want a vote on immigration. California supporters say they arent ready to force one By Sarah D. Wire Rep. Jeff Denham (R-Turlock), flanked by Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-Redlands) and Rep. Will Hurd (R-Texas) speak about DACA legislation (Bill Clark / CQ Roll Call) Rep. Jeff Denham says at least 240 of the 430 current House members have signed onto his resolution to hold votes on four immigration bills, and he hopes House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) and President Trump are paying attention to the show of support. But, the Republican from Turlock and his allies said Wednesday that they are not yet willing to commit to forcing Ryans hand through a little-used procedural move called a discharge petition; they acknowledged theres no guarantee that all of 47 Republicans and 193 Democrats House co-signers will back them up if they try to force the issue. Im sure that it is something that will be discussed in the coming weeks. You should not need a discharge petition. When you can show the overwhelming majority of the House, the support of it, you should not need a discharge petition, but it is something we would talk about in the future, Denham said. It is far too early to talk about next steps. Ryan said last week that he opposes Denhams effort, saying its a waste of time for the House to vote on bills the president might veto. Denhams resolution would prompt debate and votes on four very different immigration bills: one favored by the Trump administration, one preferred by Democrats, one bipartisan proposal and another immigration bill of Ryans choice. Whichever got the most votes would move forward to the Senate. All four bills would help Dreamers to differing degrees and include varying levels of border security or immigration enforcement. For example, the Trump-backed bill would also dramatically reduce legal immigration, while the Democrats would only deal with legal status for Dreamers. Democrats say they dont expect the show of support will sway Ryan. Congressional Hispanic Caucus Chairwoman Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D-N.M.) said Tuesday night she expects Ryan will have to be forced into allowing a vote. It doesnt matter how many signatures we get. We could have every signature, technically, except his, on the floor of the House and... if he doesnt want to, it doesnt happen, Lujan Grisham (D-N.M.) said. Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-Redlands), who gathered the Democratic co-sponsors for Denham, also wouldnt give a deadline for House leaders to act, but said the co-sponsors are only willing to wait weeks not months. We do want to give them an opportunity to bring up the rule and to use whatever process they want, Aguilar said. They do have options, but I think they need to understand that we have options too. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Billionaire Democratic activist Tom Steyer endorses Kevin de Leon in his insurgent bid against Sen. Dianne Feinstein By Seema Mehta Tom Steyer, left, and California state Sen. Kevin de Leon (D-Los Angeles). (Getty Images; Los Angeles Times) Billionaire Democratic activist Tom Steyer is endorsing state Sen. Kevin de Leon in his insurgent challenge to Sen. Dianne Feinstein, and did not rule out funding an outside effort to boost De Leons chances. I think hes the kind of young progressive that reflects California and would be a very strong advocate for our state nationally, Steyer said in an interview on Tuesday, pointing to De Leons efforts on issues such as immigration, climate change and gun control while he was the state Senate leader. I know him well and hes a friend. We share a lot of values. Steyer, who flirted with running for the Senate seat, did not criticize Feinstein as he has in the past. Sen. Feinstein has been an outstanding public servant who has dedicated the bulk of her adult life to the service of our state and the country, he said. These are two strong, very good Democrats. I just believe Kevin is the true progressive and he reflects something we need representing California going forward. I have nothing bad to say about Dianne Feinstein. I have a lot of good to say about Kevin de Leon. De Leon faces enormous odds as he tries to oust Feinstein, who has served in the Senate for a quarter-century, is well known to the states voters and has daunting leads in polls and fundraising. But De Leon has gained notable endorsements, most recently from the 2.1-million-member California Labor Federation last week. Campaign finance reports released this week show that Feinstein has more than $10 million in the bank, while De Leon has just more than $670,000. Feinstein, a multimillionaire and one of the wealthiest members of the Senate, has already lent her campaign $5 million and could easily write another check. But Steyer, a billionaire former hedge fund manager, could write a larger one. He is among the largest Democratic donors in the nation and has already committed more than $50 million to push for the impeachment of President Trump and to register young voters. He was noncommittal when asked if he would fund an independent expenditure group on behalf of De Leon. I dont have any concrete plans for that, he said. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Californias largest pension fund sends next years invoice to state government: $6.3 billion By John Myers The California Public Employees Retirement System building (Max Whittaker / Getty Images) As part of a shift toward less optimistic expectations for investment returns to pay for government worker pensions, board members of the California Public Employees Retirement System voted Tuesday to require an almost $6.3-billion payment from the state budget in the fiscal year that begins on July 1. The action, which could receive final approval on Wednesday, reflects a gradually higher annual contribution to public employee pensions by the state and from local governments across California. In 2016, CalPERS approved a half-percentage point decrease in its official estimate of the long-term investment return on its $353.3-billion portfolio. That shift was designed to happen over several years, in hopes it would lessen the financial shock of shifting more of the costs onto government employers. The highest costs are also, in part, a reflection of increases in the size of the states payroll. The states CalPERS payment will be about $450 million more than the total paid in the current fiscal year and more than double what it was only a decade ago. CalPERS board members voted on Tuesdays staff proposal with little discussion, save for a question about the increase in contributions also required from workers hired after a pension overhaul that took effect in June. It seems like it will be a ding on peoples salaries, said Theresa Taylor, the chairwoman of CalPERS finance committee and a member of SEIU Local 1000, the union that represents some 96,000 state employees. The $6.299-billion payment required from Californias state government must now be factored into the budget crafted by the Legislature and signed into law by Gov. Jerry Brown in late June. Brown had already assumed a similarly sized payment in his budget proposal unveiled in January. In February, a coalition representing city governments warned about the effects of rising pension costs under the expectations of less money from Wall Street investments. The report issued by the League of California Cities projected an average increase of more than 50% in annual pension payments made by the states largest cities over the next seven years. A CalPERS staff report notes that the net return on all of the funds investments for the fiscal year that ended in July was 11.2%. But expectations on profits over the next 30 years remain significantly more modest, and theres long been a robust debate about how to properly set those future expectations. The lower the rate of projected investment return, the larger the share of pension costs that must be covered by taxpayers and some employees. Overall, CalPERS officials believe the system has assets to cover 71% of its long-term obligations. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print California warns legal pot sellers not to participate in unlicensed 4/20 events By Patrick McGreevy Marijuana on display at a dispensary in Los Angeles. ( (Frederic J. Brown / AFP/Getty Images)) The state issued a warning Tuesday that businesses holding licenses to sell marijuana could face penalties if they participate in unlicensed temporary events away from their stores, including on Friday, April 20, which has become an annual celebration for counterculture groups. The warning was issued ahead of 4/20 by the state Bureau of Cannabis Control. Since Jan. 1, the bureau has issued more than 700 state licenses to sell marijuana for medical or recreational use. The bureau has issued 47 temporary event licenses to groups that are limited to holding the marijuana celebrations on county fairgrounds that have authorized such events with city approval. Any bureau licensee participating in an unlicensed cannabis event may be subject to disciplinary action, the warning said, adding that lawful participation by bureau licensees in any temporary cannabis event that allows sales and/or consumption is dependent upon issuance of the appropriate licenses from the bureau. While many Californians have been issued medical approval to sell or use marijuana, the law does not allow them to participate in unlicensed events, also referred to as Proposition 215 events after the ballot measure that legalized medical pot two decades ago in the state. Participation in such events may lead to civil penalties for unlicensed commercial cannabis activity, the warning said. Meanwhile, a survey of some 1,000 marijuana users that was released Tuesday by the firm LendEDU found that the average 4/20 participant plans to spend $71 on marijuana to celebrate the unofficial holiday, and about 35% of respondents are planning to take off work Friday. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print California police groups shift position on officer discipline records, now consider support for making some of them public By Liam Dillon Los Angeles Police Department recruits at a graduation ceremony in April (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) Some major law enforcement groups signaled Tuesday they are willing to support making part of police officer disciplinary records public, a dramatic departure from their past positions. Local and national attention on police shootings and misconduct has led law enforcement organizations to reconsider their blanket opposition to proposals that would give public access to some internal disciplinary investigations of officers. Were going to be open to supporting efforts that would allow for some records to be released, said Ryan Sherman, a lobbyist with the Riverside Sheriffs Assn. Debate over secrecy provisions in officer disciplinary files came during a legislative hearing on Senate Bill 1421 from Sen. Nancy Skinner (D-Berkeley). Skinners bill, which advanced out of the Senate Public Safety Committee on Tuesday, would require public disclosure of all internal officer shooting investigations and confirmed cases of sexual assault and lying while on duty. Currently, all police discipline information is confidential outside of a courtroom in California, which has some of the nations strictest standards against public disclosure. Unfortunately, the fact that we have such strict restrictions on any access to public records has affected certain communities trust towards our law enforcement, Skinner said during the hearing. Prior to Skinners effort, other have tried to loosen these rules, some of which date back 40 years. Most recently in 2016, a bid by then-Sen. Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) failed in a Senate committee. In debate two years ago, no major law enforcement groups indicated they would accept changes to state laws that would make individual internal investigations public, saying they were essential to protect officer privacy and safety. But Tuesday, Sherman and other lobbyists including those representing the states largest police labor organization, signaled they might be willing to entertain changes. They said they were negotiating with Skinner on the bills details. Law enforcement groups still have major concerns about SB 1421 as written. Ed Fishman, an attorney for the Police Officers Research Assn., told legislators that the bill would wrongfully expose police officers who acted within departmental policy to invasions of their privacy. It has unintended consequences that are extreme and will hurt the public, Fishman said. Tuesdays hearing featured testimony from many who have had relatives killed by police officers in recent years advocating for the bill. Senators on the Public Safety Committee also gave public rebukes to law enforcement lobbyists, criticizing them for a lack of diversity and insensitivity to concerns raised by communities of color. I think that you are completely and utterly out of touch with the realities of how those you are representing are perceived by major segments of California, said Sen. Holly Mitchell (D-Los Angeles). You are not going to be able to continue to lobby your way out of it. The bill faces at least one more committee hearing in the Senate before reaching the floor. It will have to pass both houses of the Legislature by the end of August. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Newest member of the California Assembly arrives ready to work on criminal justice issues By John Myers Assemblywoman Sydney Kamlager-Dove prepares for the oath of office from Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon with her husband, Austin Dove. (California Assembly Democrats) Two weeks after winning a Los Angeles special election, the newest member of the California Assembly says she hopes to focus on reforms to the states criminal justice system during her time in Sacramento. Assemblywoman Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-Los Angeles) took the oath of office on Monday, filling one of three vacant seats representing Los Angeles County in the lower house. The Democrat, a former community college trustee and legislative staffer, thanked her mentors in remarks from the Assembly rostrum. So many women, and in my life so many black women, have paid in giving me the kind of morals and integrity and grit that is required to fight on behalf of people that you know, and people that you dont know, she said. Kamlager-Dove won handily on April 3, receiving 70% of the votes cast in the 54th Assembly District which encompasses communities west of downtown Los Angeles, from Crenshaw to Culver City and as far north as Westwood. She will serve the remaining eight months of the term of former Assemblyman Sebastian Ridley-Thomas, who resigned last year citing health concerns. She has said she hopes to focus her attention on poverty issues and on reform of the states criminal justice system. I think we have an opportunity to really push the needle in terms of how we look at rehabilitation, how we look at incarceration, and how we look at changing the lives oftentimes of poor men and women of color, Kamalager-Dove said on Monday in a video released by Assembly Democrats. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Survivors of violent crime raise their voices in California to call for a new approach to criminal justice By Jazmine Ulloa Aaliyah Smith marches with her cousins. (Jazmine Ulloa / Los Angeles Times) Her father, uncle, a cousin and two older brothers. Those are some of the family members 16-year-old Aaliyah Smith has lost to gun violence. Then there are her friends. Jermaine Jackson Jr., 27, was shot and killed in 2016 while he painted over graffiti in San Francisco. Toriano Tito Adger, 18, was shot there a year later at a bus stop. He called Smith, who was nearby, and warned her to run. She made it inside a library moments before the crack of gunfire. Last week, Smith was among hundreds who gathered in Sacramento for annual National Crime Victims Rights Week events, where calls were issued for a new approach to criminal justice and public safety in California, one that puts survivors at the center of policy. But a debate is brewing over what that entails. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print California expects $14 billion in tax payments this month By John Myers State workers handle income tax returns at the California Franchise Tax Board offices. (Laura Morton / For The Times) Gov. Jerry Browns proposed state budget is built on what taxpayers might find an audacious assumption: almost $14 billion in tax payments in the month of April, an average of $83 million collected per hour on every business day of the month. Most of that money will come from the taxes Californians pay in advance of Tuesday nights filing deadline for income tax returns. If history is any guide, the rate of payment could quadruple by weeks end. While tax rules have shifted some of the payment schedules to other months, April remains a vitally important month to the fiscal health of state government. The state controllers office reports more than 15% of all personal income tax revenues in 2017 were collected in April. In the recession years of a decade ago, tax revenue predictions were frequently off the mark by hundreds of millions of dollars. The last two state budgets have seen significant windfalls of personal income tax revenue, thanks in part both to an improving economy and to the continuation of a temporary surcharge on the wealthiest taxpayers extended by voters in 2016. In the budget plan he sent to lawmakers in January, Brown projected a $6.1-billion windfall and proposed using a sizable amount to top off Californias rainy-day fund ahead of schedule. The independent Legislative Analysts Office reports that through the end of last week, the months income tax tally stood at $3 billion, slightly ahead of projections. By the end of the current week, a single days total could be almost that large. Lawmakers began reviewing the governors $190.3-billion spending plan during the winter, but few decisions are made until they get a look at Aprils tax revenues. The governor will release a revised plan based on the new data next month; lawmakers are required to send him a completed budget no later than June 15. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Feinstein war chest tops $10 million while Kevin de Leon struggles to keep pace By Sarah D. Wire Sen. Dianne Feinstein widened her already-massive fundraising advantage in the run-up to Junes primary, raising twice as much in the first quarter than her strongest Senate challenger has sitting in the bank. Feinstein raised $1.3 million between January and March, bringing her war chest to just over $10 million as Californias U.S. Senate race begins in earnest, according Federal Election Commission reports. Former state Senate leader Kevin De Leon, the best known of the more than 30 people who will appear with Feinstein on the June primary ballot, raised just $575,991 in that same period, bringing his cash on hand to $672,331, according to his quarterly FEC report. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Trump has met his match, says Gov. Jerry Brown in promoting climate action on a quick trip to Canada By John Myers (Rich Pedroncelli/Associated Press) Gov. Jerry Brown told a Canadian audience Monday that he believes President Trumps efforts to reverse course on climate change policy are a momentary deviation as others in the United States seek limits on greenhouse gas emissions. Thats very temporary, I can assure you, Brown said at a joint event in Toronto with Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne. The governors quick international trip, announced only late last week, comes as Wynnes Liberal Party faces a stiff challenge in Junes election from the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario and its leader, Doug Ford. Critics of Wynnes party have called for Ontario to pull out of the Western Climate Initiative, a cooperative agreement between three Canadian provinces and California on efforts to limit greenhouse gases. Brown sought to link the efforts of Canadian conservatives with Republicans in the United States who oppose existing climate change programs. In contrast, he told the audience, several GOP lawmakers voted last summer to renew Californias cap-and-trade program. I would say to the conservatives of Canada, wake up and see what your friends in California are doing, he said. The Democrat took particular notice of Trumps efforts to shift away from climate change policies from the administration of former President Obama, as well as a push by the Environmental Protection Agency to cancel Californias strict limits on automobile emissions. If Trump tries to change that, well have litigation well beyond his term in office, Brown said while also noting Chinese government efforts to produce more low-emissions vehicles. Between California and China, Trump has met his match. What hes saying is not going to happen. Many of the governors remarks, though, were aimed at the tough political situation in which Wynne finds herself with seven weeks to go before Ontarios parliamentary elections. Dangers abound, but success is right in our hands, Brown said. So dont blow it! Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print California voters are getting to know the states attorney general through his aggressive stance challenging Trump By Patrick McGreevy Less than two months from his first statewide election, California Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra has become adept not only at challenging President Trump but at using the bully pulpit of his office to raise his profile with voters. The aggressive effort may help boost the former Los Angeles congressmans chances at winning a full term in office this fall, almost two years after he was appointed to replace Sen. Kamala Harris in 2017. Appointed by Gov. Jerry Brown, Becerra took office as attorney general four days after Trumps inauguration. Thats afforded him an opportunity to get in front of Californians and potential voters on an array of issues including immigration, healthcare and the environment. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Gov. Jerry Brown forms commission for 2020 census outreach By Melanie Mason In an effort to make sure California has a strong showing in the next national census, Gov. Jerry Brown on Friday established a state commission to prepare outreach for the decennial count. It is vitally important for California to do everything it can to ensure that every Californian is counted in the upcoming census, Brown said in a prepared statement. The commissions formation comes on the heels of a Trump administration plan to ask about citizenship status as a part of the census. State officials fear that such a question, which has not been asked in a census since 1950, could chill participation among California residents. That could result in the state losing billions of dollars in federal funds and a seat in Congress. The 23-member panel, appointed largely by Brown as well as picks by legislative leaders, comes from private- and public-sector backgrounds, including civil rights groups, religious institutions and educational institutions. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Garcetti kicks off Iowa visit with 2020 on his mind and a hardhat on his head LA Mayor - and 2020 prospect - Eric Garcetti makes his Iowa debut at the Carpenters Union Training Center. Fearlessly flaunts the never be photographed in head gear/safety glasses rule. pic.twitter.com/14bUOPXMvF Mark Z. Barabak (@markzbarabak) April 13, 2018 Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Asm. Rocky Chavez takes the lead in race to replace Issa, while Doug Applegate slips By Joshua Stewart A new poll shows that Republican Assemblyman Rocky Chavez has taken a clear lead over 15 other candidates running to replace Rep. Darrell Issa in Congress and has overtaken Democrat Doug Applegate, the previous frontrunner. In a SurveyUSA poll by 10News and The San Diego Union-Tribune, Chavez, R-Oceanside, has support of 16 percent of likely voters, putting him ahead of Applegate, a lawyer, who was favored by 12 percent of voters and is in second place. The top two vote-getters in June, regardless of party, will proceed to a November runoff election. Competing with Applegate for the No. 2 spot is Democrat Mike Levin, also a lawyer, with support of 9 percent of voters. Several other candidates were right at his heels. Democratic Businessman Paul Kerr and Board of Equalization Member Diane Harkey, R-Dana Point, were tied for fourth at 8 percent each. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Pro-Kevin de Leon group launches ad castigating Dianne Feinstein By Seema Mehta A group that is supporting Kevin de Leons bid for the U.S. Senate launched a blistering ad against Sen. Dianne Feinstein on Thursday, questioning her progressive principles and tying her to President Trump. The ad buy from A Progressive California is minuscule $10,000 to air it in Los Angeles for one day on CNN and MSNBC during programming such as The Rachel Maddow Show, Hardball with Chris Matthews and Anderson Cooper 360. The minute-long ad features news clips about Feinstein not getting the California Democratic Party endorsement earlier this year, as well as footage of Feinstein saying that Trump can be a good president and appearing to share a laugh with Trump. That moment actually came during a White House meeting in the aftermath of the Parkland, Fla., school shooting when the president suggested an assault weapons ban should be included in a bipartisan bill to expand gun background checks. It also features extensive clips of de Leons speech at the state partys convention. De Leon, who just ended his final term as leader of the state Senate, announced last year he would run against fellow Democrat Feinstein as she seeks her fifth full term. Feinsteins longtime political advisor dismissed the ad, noting the size of the buy. Its not really a buy, said Bill Carrick. Ten thousand dollars in cable in L.A. Poof, its gone. Still, he said he planned to have the campaigns lawyers review the ad to see if it violates campaign law that limits what outside groups like A Progressive California can do. Such groups cannot coordinate with campaigns or candidates, and are limited in how much their messages can support a candidate. Ann Ravel, the former chair of the Federal Election Commission and the California Fair Political Practices Commission, said if the ad was in a state race, she is certain that the state commission would open an investigation into potential coordination with de Leons campaign because of the messaging and the types of footage in the ad. But the bipartisan federal commission cant agree on how to enforce the federal regulations, she said. The problem is [outside groups] understand that given the lack of very strong enforcement at the federal level, theres the ability to stretch the law, she said. A spokeswoman for the FEC declined to comment. Dave Jacobson, a spokesman for A Progressive California, disputed the suggestion that the ad violated campaign law. This frivolous allegation shows that Sen. Feinstein is afraid of the public seeing an ad which showcases her own words, that Donald Trump can be a good president, he said. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Dispute over money emerges in campaign to repeal Californias gas tax increase By Patrick McGreevy A motorist prepares to gas up her vehicle in San Rafael, Calif., in 2015. (Justin Sullivan / Getty Images) A proposed initiative to repeal hikes to Californias gas tax has been caught in the middle of a dispute involving Republican rivals in the governors race. Assemblyman Travis Allen, a Republican candidate for governor, decided in January to drop plans for his own initiative and said he would urge supporters to sign a separate petition being supported by several Republican members of Congress. Then last week, the committee Allen formed to finance his ballot measure reported a $300,000 contribution from PISF Inc., a Novato, Calif., real estate firm. Now, an organizer of the still active Give Voters a Voice committee is urging the Allen committee to immediately donate their funds in support of the ongoing signature gathering efforts. There is only one gas tax repeal measure currently in circulation and that is the measure sponsored by the Give Voters a Voice Committee, said Dave Gilliard, a consultant to the group. PISF Inc., he said, gave to repeal taxes a While congressional Republicans were split over the decision to release the GOP memo on FBI surveillance Friday, Democrats lambasted what they view as a partisan effort to undermine the Justice Department and its investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. Top Democrats warned President Trump of a constitutional crisis if top Justice and FBI officials, who had expressed grave concerns about the release, were fired in what they would consider a Saturday night massacre echoing the Nixon era. We are alarmed by reports that you may intend to use this misleading document as a pretext to fire Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein in an effort to corruptly influence or impede Special Counsel Bob Muellers investigation, said the letter from Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) and other leaders. Rep. Adam Schiff of Burbank, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, vowed to seek a Monday vote by the panel to release the Democrats report, to counter what the minority views as an inaccurate and one-sided memo prepared by Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes (R-Tulare). Advertisement Republicans have splintered over the release, and House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) reiterated that he supported the release of both memos. Ryan, however, also sought to caution those in his ranks from using the findings to attack the FBI and Department of Justice. It is critical that we focus on specific actions and specific actors and not use this memo to impugn the integrity of the justice system and FBI, which continue to serve the American people with honor, Ryan said in a statement. Democrats criticized Republicans for standing by in what they view as Trumps efforts to undermine the Russia investigation, but Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky) have panned legislative efforts to protect Mueller from being ousted by Trump. My understanding is, theres no effort underway to undermine or to remove the special counsel, McConnell said earlier this week. Therefore, I dont see any need to bring up legislation to protect someone who appears to need no protection. The push to release the memo, fueled in part by a social media campaign lawmakers acknowledge was likely influenced by Republican operatives, came largely from House Republicans amid dissent from some GOP senators. In the Senate, the Intelligence Committee is trying to work in a bipartisan way to investigate Russian influence in U.S. elections, and senators have worried that the partisan nature of the memo could impede the probe. Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), the vice chairman of the Senate panel, said the memos release was reckless and demonstrates an astonishing disregard for the truth. Advertisement This unprecedented public disclosure of classified material during an ongoing criminal investigation is dangerous to our national security, Warner said. This will make it far more difficult for the Intelligence Committees to conduct meaningful, bipartisan oversight of intelligence activities in the future. The committees chairman, Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.), did not immediately comment. Republican Sen. John McCain, who is fighting brain cancer at home in Arizona, admonished leaders, including Trump, to stop engaging in partisan sideshows and get to the bottom of Russian election interference. The latest attacks on the FBI and Department of Justice serve no American interests no partys, no presidents, only Putins, McCain said in a statement, referring to Russian president Vladimir Putin. The American people deserve to know all of the facts surrounding Russias ongoing efforts to subvert our democracy, which is why Special Counsel Muellers investigation must proceed unimpeded. Our nations elected officials, including the president, must stop looking at this investigation through the warped lens of politics and manufacturing partisan sideshows. If we continue to undermine our own rule of law, we are doing Putins job for him. Advertisement Pelosi said Trump, in approving the memos release, just surrendered his constitutional responsibility and served Putin a bouquet. One year ago, the intelligence community concluded that the Russians interfered in our elections and plan to do so again, Pelosi said in a statement. Yet the president refuses to hold Putin accountable, making us all ask: What do the Russians have on Trump, politically, financially and personally? lisa.mascaro@latimes.com @LisaMascaro Advertisement ALSO Republican divide deepens over the risks of releasing classified memo about FBI surveillance Is this small-town congressman from New Mexico tough enough to win Democrats the House majority? Advertisement More coverage of Congress More coverage of politics and the White House F1 legend Niki Lauda has vehemently criticised Liberty Media's decision to eliminate the presence of grid girls in Formula 1. Speaking to Austria's Der Standard, the Mercedes non-executive chairman has qualified the move as "completely incomprehensible". "How dumb can someone be? Women have emancipated themselves and do very well at it," argues Lauda. "So this is a decision against women." The controversial decision to bring F1 in line with society's so-called "progressive" trends has sparked a fiery debate with opposing camps arguing the gird girl case. "I think it's a great pity to break a tradition such as this, which does Formula 1 but above all women no favours at all." The three-time world champion hopes there is a "way to reverse the decision", or blend girls with boys on the grid. Lauda also opposes the idea that grid girls send the wrong message to female individuals who wish to work in other areas of motor sport. "I would not mind seeing grid boys next to the girls. Why not?" he said. "I want to encourage rather than diminish women. But once again it is men who have decided over the heads of women." Gallery: The beautiful wives and girlfriends of F1 drivers Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter Allies balk at Trump administration bid to block Chinese firm from cutting-edge telecom markets By David S. Cloud Britain and Germany are balking at the Trump administrations call for a ban on equipment from Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei, threatening a global U.S. campaign to thwart Chinas involvement in future mobile networks. Both countries are expected to limit Huawei and other Chinese companies from providing core components including routers. But other types of Chinese equipment for next-generation, high-speed communications could still be installed on British and German networks, officials and analysts say. The U.S. push to ban Huawei has provoked a global dispute in recent weeks, with senior U.S. officials, including Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo, publicly urging NATO allies in Europe to exclude the company and warning that the United States might limit its military presence in countries that did not do so. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Confucius Institutes: Do they improve U.S.-China ties or harbor spies? By Don Lee Hanging red lanterns welcome visitors to the University of Marylands Confucius Institute, the oldest of about 100 Chinese language and cultural centers that have popped up over the last 15 years on American campuses, subsidized by millions of dollars from Chinas central government. But last fall, when four U.S. Senate investigators walked into the Confucius offices in Maryland and spent hours questioning staff, they werent looking for an educational exchange. The committee has been seeking detailed information from the university about the program, including contracts, email exchanges and financial arrangements that school administrators have kept under wraps since it started in 2004. American colleges once viewed these jointly funded institutes as an economical way to expand their language offerings one that could also bring warmer ties with China and, importantly, an influx of Chinese international students paying full tuition. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Watch Live: White House holds surprise news briefing amid government shutdown Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement U.S. policy toward China shifts from engagement to confrontation By David S. Cloud For decades, China had no closer American friend than Dianne Feinstein. As San Francisco mayor in the 1970s, she forged a sister-city relationship with Shanghai, the first between American and Chinese communities. As U.S. senator, she dined with Chinese leaders at Mao Tse-tungs old Beijing residence. And in the 1990s, she championed a trade policy change that opened a floodgate of Western investment into China. Today the Democratic senator sees China as a growing threat, joining a broad array of Trump administration officials, national security strategists and business executives who once favored engagement with Beijing and now advocate a confrontational approach instead. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Mnuchins attempt to calm markets backfires as Trump takes another shot at the Federal Reserve By Jim Puzzanghera An attempt by Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin to calm plunging financial markets backfired Monday, further rattling investors with new fears about whether major U.S. banks have enough cash on top of worries about interest rates, political instability in Washington and a slowing global economy. Adding to the volatile mix was a fresh attack on the Federal Reserve by President Trump, who declared that the central bank was the U.S. economys only problem and that it didnt have a feel for the market. The Fed is like a powerful golfer who cant score because he has no touch -- he cant putt! Trump said on Twitter. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print He speaks to Democratic hearts. But is Beto ORourke a serious White House contender? By Mark Z. Barabak Hes a failed U.S. Senate candidate with an undistinguished congressional record who, for the moment, is a blazing-hot 2020 presidential prospect despite the fact that he may not run and faces long odds if he does. Beto ORourke suggests the will-he-or-wont-he speculation is something he himself cant quite fathom. I think thats a great question, he responded in a Dallas Morning News interview when asked whether his unsuccessful November Senate bid merited a promotion to the White House. I ask that question myself. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Russian disinformation teams targeted Robert S. Mueller III, says report prepared for Senate By Craig Timberg, Tony Romm, Elizabeth Dwoskin Special counsel Robert S. Mueller III. (Associated Press) Months after President Trump took office, Russias disinformation teams trained their sites on a new target: special counsel Robert S. Mueller III. Having worked to help get Trump into the White House, they now worked to neutralize the biggest threat to his staying there. The Russian operatives unloaded on Mueller through fake accounts on Facebook, Twitter and beyond, falsely claiming that the former FBI director was corrupt and that the allegations of Russian interference in the 2016 election were crackpot conspiracies. One post on Instagram which emerged as an especially potent weapon in the Russian social media arsenal claimed that Mueller had worked in the past with radical Islamic groups. Such tactics exemplified how Russian teams ranged nimbly across social media platforms in a shrewd online influence operation aimed squarely at American voters. The effort started earlier than commonly understood and lasted longer while relying on the strengths of different sites to manipulate distinct slices of the electorate, according to a pair of comprehensive new reports prepared for the Senate Intelligence Committee and released Monday. Read more Timberg, Romm and Dwoskin report for the Washington Post. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement President Trump announces Mick Mulvaney as acting White House chief of staff By Associated Press President Trump says budget director Mick Mulvaney will serve as acting chief of staff, replacing John F. Kelly in the new year. I am pleased to announce that Mick Mulvaney, Director of the Office of Management & Budget, will be named Acting White House Chief of Staff, replacing General John Kelly, who has served our Country with distinction. Mick has done an outstanding job while in the Administration.... Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 14, 2018 Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print It aint over when its over: In Michigan, Wisconsin and elsewhere, losers seek to undermine election results By Mark Z. Barabak Democrat Gavin Newsom has yet to become California governor, but already a candidate for state Republican Party chairman is promoting a recall effort. In Michigan and Wisconsin, GOP lawmakers have rushed through legislation to thwart their incoming Democratic governors and hamper others in the opposing party from doing the jobs voters chose them to do. In Congress, GOP leaders have echoed President Trump and sought to undermine the legitimacy of Democrats strong midterm performance, raising unsubstantiated allegations of fraud and political malfeasance. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print New CFPB Director Kathy Kraninger says she wont be a puppet of Mick Mulvaney By Jim Puzzanghera On her first full day leading the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Kathy Kraninger said she wont be a puppet of Mick Mulvaney, the controversial acting director whom she replaced in the powerful regulatory position. To underscore that point, the former White House aide said she would even reconsider a Mulvaney action that critics saw as a gratuitous jab at Democrats who championed the agencys creation: changing its name to the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection. Kraningers declaration during a meeting with reporters Tuesday addressed one of the main criticisms of her selection. She is considered a protege of Mulvaney, her boss at the White House Office of Management and Budget who has executed a dramatic, industry-friendly shift at the watchdog agency. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Trumps pick for chief of staff, Nick Ayers, out of running By Associated Press Nick Ayers, right, with Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch, at the funeral service for George H.W. Bush on Dec. 3. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Associated Press) President Trumps top pick to replace John F. Kelly as chief of staff, Nick Ayers, is no longer expected to fill that role. Thats according to a White House official who is not authorized to discuss the personnel issue by name and spoke on condition of anonymity. Ayers is Vice President Mike Pences chief of staff. The official says that Trump and Ayers could not agree on Ayers length of service. The father of young children, Ayers had agreed to serve in an interim capacity though the spring, but Trump wanted a two-year commitment. The official says that Ayers will instead assist the president from outside the administration. Trump announced Saturday that Kelly would be departing the White House around the end of the year. Thank you @realDonaldTrump, @VP, and my great colleagues for the honor to serve our Nation at The White House. I will be departing at the end of the year but will work with the #MAGA team to advance the cause. #Georgia Nick Ayers (@nick_ayers) December 9, 2018 Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement U.S. hiring slows to 155,000 jobs, unemployment rate holds at 3.7% By Jim Puzzanghera Job growth slowed significantly in November but still was solid, indicating the economy remains in good shape but not expanding so quickly that it will lead to sharply higher interest rates. U.S. employers added 155,000 jobs last month, well below analyst expectations and a steep decline from Octobers strong 237,000 figure, the Labor Department reported Friday. Still, monthly job gains are averaging 206,000 this year, the best since 2015. Even the slower pace of 170,000 over the last three months is close to last years average of 182,000 and well above the amount needed to keep up with population growth. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Trump is expected to pick State Department spokeswoman for U.N. ambassador By Associated Press Heather Nauert at a briefing at the State Department on Aug. 9, 2017. (Alex Brandon / Associated Press) President Trump is expected to nominate State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert to be the next U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. Two administration officials confirmed Trumps plans. A Republican congressional aide said the president was expected to announce his decision by tweet on Friday morning. The officials were not authorized to speak publicly before Trumps announcement. Trump has previously said Nauert was under serious consideration to replace Nikki Haley, who announced in October that she would step down at the end of this year. Trump has been known to change course on staffing decisions in the past. Nauert was a reporter for Fox News Channel before she became State Department spokeswoman under former Secretary Rex Tillerson. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Senate confirms new consumer financial protection chief: Kathy Kraninger, protege of industry-friendly Mick Mulvaney By Jim Puzzanghera The Senate, in a party-line vote Thursday, confirmed White House aide Kathy Kraninger to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and experts predicted a continuation of the industry-friendly shift it has taken since President Trump installed an acting director last year. Kraninger is a protege of acting director and White House budget chief Mick Mulvaney, an outspoken critic of the agency that was created in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis to prevent predatory lending and other abuses that led to it. Democrats and consumer advocates have denounced him for sharply departing from the aggressive watchdog role the bureau had pursued under its first director, Obama-appointee Richard Cordray, including scaling back enforcement and moving to reassess tough new rules on payday loans and narrow the definition of abusive practices by banks and other firms. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Shutdown postponed by two weeks under plan approved by Congress By Erik Wasson Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), shown at the Capitol on Tuesday, says President Trumps border wall is a waste of money. (J. Scott Applewhite / Associated Press) Congress passed a two-week stopgap spending bill that will delay the chance of a partial government shutdown until Dec. 22 as lawmakers and President Donald Trump negotiate over his demands to pay for a wall on the southern border. The House and Senate passed the measure Thursday without dissent, and Trump has indicated hell sign the bill before the current shutdown deadline of midnight Friday. Negotiations were delayed by memorial services this week for former President George H.W. Bush. The temporary measure gives Democrats and Republicans more time to find a resolution to their biggest hurdle: funding a wall on the U.S. Mexico border wall. Trump says he wants $5 billion for parts of a concrete wall on the southern border and is willing to shut down the government if he doesnt get it. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York has said Democrats will provide no more than $1.6 billion for border security, because the wall is a waste of money. The presidents demands for wall funding from Congress come after he said during the campaign that Mexico would pay for it. This week he said on Twitter that a $25 billion border wall would pay for itself in two months, without providing evidence. Most of the U.S. governments $1.2 trillion discretionary budget has been appropriated already by Congress for the fiscal year that began on Oct. 1. Departments at a risk of a partial shutdown late this month include the departments of State, Interior, Agriculture, Commerce, Justice, Treasury and Homeland Security. Talks to resolve the differences have been on hold since a meeting among Trump, Schumer and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of California originally slated for Dec. 4 was postponed due to Bush memorial events. The three are scheduled to meet on Tuesday, according to a person familiar with the matter. Senate Appropriations Chairman Richard Shelby of Alabama told reporters the rest of the seven-bill spending package being negotiated is basically done. Shelby in recent weeks had tried to broker a compromise in which Trumps $5 billion request would be split over two years, but Schumer has rejected that. Some Democrats have been willing to trade border wall funding for deportation protections for young undocumented immigrants. Pelosi ruled out such a deal in remarks to reporters Thursday. The stopgap government funding measure also would extend the National Flood Insurance Program, which provides subsidized coverage for homes in flood-prone areas, to Dec. 21. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Bipartisan Senate group wants to formally blame Saudi crown prince for journalists killing By Karoun Demirjian Saudi Arabias Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at the G-20 summit in Buenos Aires. (Associated Press) A bipartisan group of senators filed a resolution Wednesday condemning Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman as responsible for the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, directly challenging President Trump to do the same. This resolution -- without equivocation -- definitively states that the crown prince of Saudi Arabia was complicit in the murder of Mr. [Jamal] Khashoggi and has been a wrecking ball to the region jeopardizing our national security interests on multiple fronts, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said in a statement accompanying the release of the resolution. It will be up to Saudi Arabia as to how to deal with this matter. But it is up to the United States to firmly stand for who we are and what we believe. The resolution put forward by Graham and Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), who are expected to lead the Judiciary Committee together next year, comes just one day after CIA Director Gina Haspel briefed leading senators about the details of the agencys assessment that Mohammed ordered and monitored the killing and dismemberment of Khashoggi in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, Turkey. Senators emerged from that closed-door briefing furious not only with Saudi Arabia, but Trump as well for dismissing the heft of the CIAs findings. You have to be willfully blind not to come to the conclusion that this was orchestrated and organized by people under the command of MBS and that he was intricately involved in the demise of Mr. Khashoggi, Graham said following the briefing, referring to Mohammed by his initials. He added that Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo and Defense Secretary James N. Mattis, who briefed senators last week, were at best being good soldiers and at worst were in the pocket of Saudi Arabia for presenting the evidence of Mohammeds involvement as inconclusive. The release of the resolution condemning Mohammed also comes as the Senate is preparing to move ahead with debate on a resolution to curtail U.S. support for the Saudi-led military campaign in Yemen. Though the Yemen resolution does not directly address Khashoggis murder, its popularity is a sign of how strained the United States patience with Saudi Arabia is on multiple fronts, including its role in worsening the civilian cost of the war in Yemen, cited by the United Nations as the worlds worst humanitarian crisis. Last week, the Senate voted 63 to 37 to advance the Yemen resolution past an opening procedural hurdle. But Graham and Feinsteins resolution on the crown prince has the potential of drawing broader support, especially from Republicans, who are deeply divided about how fiercely to punish Saudi Arabia over Khashoggis killing. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), who has been an outspoken advocate for human rights and is seen as one of the more influential foreign policy voices in the GOP, did not vote for the Yemen resolution last week or sign on to a bipartisan measure last month to sanction Saudi officials and cease weapons transfers to the kingdom. But he is an original co-sponsor of the resolution condemning Mohammed over Khashoggis death. So is Sen. Todd Young (R-Ind.), who represents the other end of the GOP spectrum in terms of recent Saudi-related votes and endorsements. Young was an initial co-sponsor of the bill Graham wrote with Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) to sanction Saudi officials deemed responsible for Khashoggis killing and stop the sale of anything but exclusively defensive weapons to the kingdom until it ceased hostilities in Yemen. Young also voted to advance the Yemen resolution something Graham did as well, though Graham has signaled he will not be lending any similar support to the measure, fearing it may establish a precedent of invoking the War Powers Act too broadly. Sens. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) and Chris Coons (D-Del.) are listed as original co-sponsors of the resolution condemning Mohammed, which also urges Saudi Arabia to negotiate with Houthi rebels to end the Yemen war, work out a political solution to its standoff with Qatar and release political prisoners. But how much sway the resolution has probably comes down to how forcefully the administration decides to heed it -- and thus far, Trump has not shown any interest in condemning the crown prince the way the senators hope he will. Demirjian reports for the Washington Post. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Los Angeles County offices and U.S. Postal Service closed Wednesday in honor of George H.W. Bush By Brian Park The Honor Guard carries the casket of former U.S. President George H. W. Bush following his funeral on Dec. 5 in Washington, DC. (Doug Mills - Pool/Getty Images) The U.S. Postal Service will suspend regular mail delivery Wednesday, which President Trump has declared a national day of mourning in honor of former President George H.W. Bush. All retail postal outlets will be closed, and package delivery will be limited. In Los Angeles, all nonessential county departments, offices and libraries will be closed for the day, L.A. County officials said. The Los Angeles County Library said no overdue fines will be assessed for books, and due dates will be moved forward one week. Los Angeles County Department of Public Health offices also are closed Wednesday. The Sheriffs Department, Fire Department, clinics and hospitals will continue to operate, the county said. The Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health clinics are being operated with reduced staffing, and the department asked patients to confirm or reschedule any appointments. All county courts and the disaster recovery centers for the Woolsey fire in Malibu and Agoura Hills will remain open. Larger federal government operations will be closed Wednesday. To honor the life and legacy of President Bush, the Postal Service will observe the National Day of Mourning. Learn how Postal operations will be affected. https://t.co/Mffch7bPCh pic.twitter.com/vG46BsIOpm U.S. Postal Service (@USPS) December 4, 2018 L.A. County offices and libraries will be closed tomorrow (Dec 5) in observance of the #NationalDayOfMourning for President George H. W. Bush. The Countys Disaster Recovery Centers in Malibu & Agoura Hills will remain open from 10 a.m. - 8 p.m. pic.twitter.com/Sv1J7GoJ7T Los Angeles County (@CountyofLA) December 4, 2018 @LAPublicHealth offices will be closed tomorrow December 5 in observance of the national Day of Mourning for President George H. W. Bush. Essential Services including clinics and other services will remain open: https://t.co/tZGoGGHRlg pic.twitter.com/ypXsV6vlYY LA Public Health (@lapublichealth) December 4, 2018 Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick to skip 2020 White House race, sources say By Associated Press Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick speaks during an interview in Boston on Dec. 15, 2014. (Elise Amendola / Associated Press) Former Gov. Deval Patrick of Massachusetts will soon announce he wont launch a 2020 presidential campaign, according to three sources familiar with his plans. They did not say why the Democrat decided against a run. A formal announcement was delayed as the country observed a day of mourning for President George H.W. Bush, one source said. News of Patricks plans was first reported by Politico. Patrick, 62, served two terms as governor, from 2007 to 2015, was assistant attorney general for civil rights in the Clinton administration and since leaving the governors office has been a managing director for Bain Capital. Patrick traveled the country in support of Democratic candidates in the recent midterm election. Earlier this year, some of Patricks supporters and close advisors started the Reason to Believe political action committee, a grassroots organization dedicated to advancing a positive, progressive vision for our nation in 2018 and 2020. Reason to Believe PAC had been holding meetups across the country, including in early presidential primary states. While Patrick is opting against a 2020 run, dozens of Democrats are considering jumping in, including nearly a half-dozen members of the Senate, several House members, and other Massachusetts politicians. On Tuesday, Michael Avenatti, the attorney for adult film star Stormy Daniels and a vocal critic of President Trump, said in a statement that he would run. Patrick had previously expressed some concerns about breaking through if he sought the nomination, telling David Axelrod, a former advisor to President Obama, that he wasnt sure he could stand out in such a large field. Its hard to see how you even get noticed in such a big, broad field without being shrill, sensational or a celebrity, and Im none of those things and Im never going to be any of those things, Patrick said in a September interview with Axelrod. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Former Trump adviser Roger Stone invokes 5th Amendment right and wont testify before Senate Judiciary Committee By Associated Press Roger Stone in 2017. (Joe Raedle / Getty Images) Roger Stone, an associate of President Trump, says he wont provide testimony or documents to the Senate Judiciary Committee. An attorney for Stone said in a letter to Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the committees top Democrat, that Stone was invoking his 5th Amendment right against self-incrimination in refusing to produce documents or appear for an interview. Stone has been entangled in investigations by Congress and special counsel Robert S. Mueller III about whether Trump aides had advance knowledge of Democratic emails published by WikiLeaks during the 2016 election. Stone has not been charged and has said he had no knowledge of the timing or specifics of WikiLeaks plans. In the letter to Feinstein, Stone said the committees requests were far too overbroad, far too overreaching and far too wide-ranging. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Watch live: Vice President Pence and lawmakers honor George H.W. Bush at the U.S. Capitol before he lies in state Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Rebuilding crumbling infrastructure has bipartisan support. But who gets to pay for it? By Jim Puzzanghera The grades for major U.S. infrastructure would give any parent indigestion if they were on a childs report card. Roads: D; bridges: C+; dams: D; ports: C+: railways: B; airports: D; schools: D+; public transit: D-. The nations overall grade: D+, which translates to being in fair to poor condition and mostly below standards with significant deterioration and a strong risk of failure, according to an evaluation last year by the American Society of Civil Engineers. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Trump calls former lawyer Michael Cohen a weak person who is lying By Associated Press President Trump says his former lawyer Michael Cohen is lying to get a reduced sentence. The president is reacting to Cohens guilty plea Thursday to lying to Congress about work he did on a Trump real estate project in Russia. During a surprise court hearing, Cohen admitted to lying in testimony to the Senate Intelligence Committee about a plan to build a Trump Tower in Moscow. Cohen in his guilty plea said he made the false statements to be consistent with Trumps political message. Cohens lawyer says he continues to cooperate with special counsel Robert S. Mueller IIIs investigation into Russian election interference and possible coordination with Trump associates. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print As California Republicans confront a congressional wipeout, GOP leader Kevin McCarthy faces a reckoning By Mark Z. Barabak When the House voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act, Kevin McCarthy trooped with other Republican lawmakers to a splashy Rose Garden celebration, smiling alongside President Trump as they celebrated the moment. As majority leader, McCarthy had helped round up the votes to narrowly pass the hard-fought legislation, convincing 13 other California Republicans to go along, even though several faced tough reelection fights. Fewer than half will be returning in January. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print As California Republicans confront a congressional wipeout, GOP leader Kevin McCarthy faces a reckoning By Sarah D. Wire When the House voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act, Kevin McCarthy trooped with other Republican lawmakers to a splashy Rose Garden celebration, smiling alongside President Trump as they celebrated the moment. As majority leader, McCarthy had helped round up the votes to narrowly pass the hard-fought legislation, convincing 13 other California Republicans to go along, even though several faced tough reelection fights. Fewer than half will be returning in January. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Michael Cohen, President Trumps ex-lawyer, pleads guilty to lying to Congress about Trump real estate project in Russia By Associated Press Michael Cohen, President Trumps former personal lawyer, pursued a Russian real estate project on candidate Trumps behalf well into the 2016 campaign, he said Thursday while pleading guilty to lying to Congress. Cohen had previously said that the project was abandoned in January 2016, but he now admits he continued to pursue a deal and says he updated Trump and members of his family about the negotiations, according to a new court document. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement James Comey says acting Atty. Gen. Whitaker may not be the sharpest knife in our drawer By John Wagner Acting Atty. Gen. Matthew Whitaker speaks at the Justice Department in Washington on Nov. 14. (Pablo Martinez Monsivais / Associated Press) Former FBI Director James B. Comey apparently isnt too impressed with the mental prowess of President Trumps acting attorney general. Matthew Whitaker may not be the sharpest knife in our drawer, Comey said during a radio interview on Monday night in which he sized up the man Trump installed this month to replace ousted Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions. Comey was asked by WGBH News in Boston if he thinks Whitaker could derail the investigation of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. Whitaker has spoken critically of the probe, and Trump as recently as Tuesday continues to call it a witch hunt. I think its a worry, but to my mind not a serious worry, Comey said. The institution is too strong, and [Whitaker], frankly, is not strong enough to have that kind of impact. He may not be the sharpest knife in our drawer, but he can see his future and knows that if he acted in an extralegal way, he would go down in history for the wrong reasons, and Im sure he doesnt want that, added Comey, who was fired by Trump last year and later wrote a book that portrays the president as an ego-driven congenital liar. Whitaker, a former U.S. attorney in Iowa, was Sessions chief of staff before being picked by Trump to lead the Justice Department. Trump has called Whitaker a very smart man. Earlier this year, Trump called Comey an untruthful slime ball. Wagner writes for the Washington Post. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Interior Department watchdog clears Zinke in investigation of Utah national monument By Juliet Eilperin Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke, third from the left, and Gov. Jerry Brown tour fire damage in Paradise, Calif., on Nov. 14. (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press) The Interior Departments Office of Inspector General has cleared Secretary Ryan Zinke in a probe of whether he redrew boundaries of a national monument in Utah to aid the financial interests of a Republican state lawmaker and stalwart supporter of President Trump. In a Nov. 21 letter to Zinkes deputy, David Bernhardt, Deputy Inspector General Mary Kendall wrote that her office found no evidence that the secretary or his aides changed the boundaries of Utahs Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in an effort to help former Utah state representative Mike Noel, who serves as executive director of the Kane County Water Conservancy District. Last December, Trump shrank the monument, first established by President Clinton in 1996, by 46% based on Zinkes recommendation. Noel owns 40 acres that had been surrounded by the monument, but now lies outside its boundaries. The new boundaries also would make it easier to construct the proposed Lake Powell Pipeline, which would deliver water to sites in Kane County that include Noels property. Earlier this year, the Interior Department had proposed selling off 120 acres of federal land from the former monument that lay adjacent to some of Noels land holdings, but later reversed the plan. We found no evidence that Noel influenced the DOIs proposed revisions to the [monuments] boundaries, that Zinke or other DOI staff involved in the project were aware of Noels financial interest in the revised boundaries, or that they gave Noel any preferential treatment in the resulting proposed boundaries, Kendall wrote. Neither the Interior Department nor the inspector generals office would release the actual investigative report. In the letter, Kendall writes that her office will provide the report to Congress no sooner than 31 days from Nov. 21, when it is provided it to Zinkes office. The Associated Press first reported the inspector generals conclusions Monday night, but did not provide details from the report itself. Noel emailed Zinke about the effort to alter Grand Staircase-Escalante, according to emails released by Interior under the Freedom of Informational Act. But those emails do not make references to Noels land holdings. Noel also pushed to rename a Utah highway in honor of Trump, but abandoned that effort in March after some of his fellow Republicans objected to the idea. Noel did not respond to requests for comment Tuesday. The inspector generals office still has at least two ongoing probes of the secretary, including one focused on his real estate dealings in Whitefish, Mont., and another regarding his decision to deny a permit to two Connecticut tribes who were hoping to jointly run a casino after MGM Resorts International lobbied against it. Interior Department spokeswoman Heather Swift welcomed the watchdogs conclusions. The report shows exactly what the secretarys office has known all along that the monument boundaries were adjusted in accordance with all rules, regulations and laws, she said in an email. This report is also the latest example of opponents and special interest groups ginning up fake and misleading stories, only to be proven false after expensive and time consuming inquiries by the IGs office. But Kendalls spokeswoman, Nancy DiPaolo, defended the inquiry, even though she said the report has not been publicly released and we will not be speaking specifically about the matter at this time. The OIG opens investigations based on credible allegations and reports our findings objectively and independently, DiPaolo added. Any time or resources spent investigating conduct or activity that may be a violation of law, regulation or policy is a service to the public, Congress and the Department. Rep. Raul Grijalva of Arizona, the top Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee, said in a statement that he still intended to investigate the way Zinke and his colleague redrew the boundaries for Grand Staircase-Escalante and another Utah national monument, Bears Ears, next year. I have great respect for the inspector general, and I accept these findings, but Secretary Zinke should have known the people he listened to while destroying our national monuments had disqualifying conflicts of interest, he said. Should I chair the Natural Resources Committee in the next Congress, the process he and President Trump used to destroy Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante will be front and center in our oversight and investigations efforts. We need to know why they ignored overwhelming public expressions of support for both Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante, why they ignored Native American tribes throughout their decision-making, and why they removed protections on parcels of land with known mineral deposits. Eilperin and Rein report for the Washington Post. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Trump advisor Larry Kudlow says China must do more to end trade war By Jim Puzzanghera Larry Kudlow, President Trumps top economic advisor, said Tuesday that Chinas response to U.S. efforts to rework the two economic superpowers trade relationship has been extremely disappointing but the planned meeting this weekend between the nations leaders is an opportunity for a breakthrough. They have to do more. They must do more, Larry Kudlow, director of the White House National Economic Council, told reporters ahead of a Saturday dinner between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Group of 20 Summit in Argentina. I think the president is exactly right to show strong backbone when prior administrations did not, to break through these Chinese walls, Kudlow said. Theyre so resistant to change. We have to protect the country. We have to protect our technology, our inventiveness, our innovation. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Watch live: White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders holds a media briefing amid tensions at the border By Los Angeles Times Staff Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Democrat TJ Cox grabs lead over Republican David Valadao in nations last remaining undecided House race By Maya Sweedler Democrat TJ Cox slipped past Republican incumbent David Valadao on Monday to take the lead in the countrys sole remaining undecided congressional race, positioning Democrats to pick up their seventh House seat in California and 40th nationwide. Cox, who trailed by nearly 4,400 votes on election night, has steadily gained as ballot counting continues nearly three weeks after the Nov. 6 election, a pattern consistent with the states recent voting history. On Monday, he pulled ahead by 438 votes after Kern County updated its results. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Former CIA director Michael Hayden hospitalized after suffering a stroke By Deanna Paul Then-CIA Director Michael Hayden testifies before a Senate committee in 2008. (Saul Loeb / Getty Images) Former CIA Director and retired Air Force Gen. Michael Hayden has been hospitalized after suffering a stroke, his family said Friday. He is receiving expert medical care for which the family is grateful, according to a statement issued by his namesake organization. The General and his family greatly appreciate the warm wishes and prayers of his friends, colleagues, and supporters. Hayden, 73, served as director of the CIA and National Security Agency during the George W. Bush and Obama administrations. He retired from the CIA in 2009. Hayden has been a vocal critic of Donald Trumps campaign and presidency. Earlier this year, after Trump decided to revoke the security clearance of former CIA director John Brennan, Hayden was one of several former intelligence leaders who signed a statement in opposition. Criticizing the president for crossing a line, he quickly became one of the individuals whose security clearance Trump threatened to review. Deanna Paul writes for the Washington Post. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Trump tells troops hes thankful for what hes done for the U.S. and rails against courts and migrants By Associated Press President Trump talks with troops via teleconference from his estate in Palm Beach, Fla., on Thanksgiving. (Susan Walsh / Associated Press) President Trump used his Thanksgiving Day call to troops deployed overseas to pat himself on the back and air grievances about the courts, trade and migrants heading to the U.S.-Mexico border. Trumps call, made from his opulent private Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Fla., struck an unusually political tone as he spoke with members of all five branches of the military to wish them happy holidays. Its a disgrace, Trump said of judges who have blocked his attempts to overhaul U.S. immigration law, as he linked his efforts to secure the border with military missions overseas. Trump later threatened to close the U.S. border with Mexico for an undisclosed period of time if his administration determines Mexico has lost control on its side. The call was a uniquely Trump blend of boasting, peppered questions and off-the-cuff observations as his comments veered from venting about slights to praising troops You really are our heroes, he said as club waiters worked to set Thanksgiving dinner tables on the outdoor terrace behind him. It was yet another show of how Trump has dramatically transformed the presidency, erasing the traditional divisions between domestic policy and military matters and efforts to keep the troops clear of politics. You probably see over the news whats happening on our southern border, Trump told one Air Force brigadier general stationed at Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan, adding: I dont have to even ask you. I know what you want to do, you want to make sure that you know who were letting in. Later, Trump asked a U.S. Coast Guard commander about trade, which he noted was a very big subject for him personally. Weve been taken advantage of for many, many years by bad trade deals, Trump told the commander, who sheepishly replied, Mr. President, from our perspective on the water we dont see any issues in terms of trade right now. And throughout, Trump congratulated himself, telling the officers that the country is doing exceptionally well on his watch. I hope that youll take solace in knowing that all of the American families you hold so close to your heart are all doing well, he said. The nations doing well economically, better than anybody in the world. He later told reporters, Nobodys done more for the military than me. Indeed, asked what he was thankful for this Thanksgiving, Trump cited his great family as well as himself. I made a tremendous difference in this country, he said. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Trump contradicts CIA assessment that Saudi crown prince ordered Jamal Khashoggi killing By Josh Dawsey | Washington Post (Susan Walsh / Associated Press) President Trump on Thursday contradicted the CIAs assessment that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had ordered the killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, insisting that the agency had feelings but did not firmly place blame for the death. Trump, in defiant remarks to reporters from his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, defended his continued support for Mohammed in the face of a CIA assessment that the crown prince had ordered the killing. He denies it vehemently, Trump said. He said his own conclusion was that maybe he did, maybe he didnt. I hate the crime .... I hate the cover-up. I will tell you this: The crown prince hates it more than I do, Trump said. Asked who should be held accountable for the death of Khashoggi, who was killed at the Saudi Consulate in Turkey, Trump refused to place blame. Maybe the world should be held accountable because the world is a very, very vicious place, the president said. He also seemed to suggest that all U.S. allies were guilty of the same behavior, declaring that if the others were held to the standard that critics have held Saudi Arabia to in recent days, we wouldnt be able to have anyone for an ally. Trumps remarks came after he held a conference call with U.S. military officers overseas, during which he repeatedly praised his administration and sought to draw the officers into discussions of domestic policy. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Former FBI Director James Comey gets subpoena from House Republicans By Bloomberg Former FBI Director James B. Comey said he has received a subpoena from House Republicans, according to a Twitter post on Thursday. Bloomberg News reported last week that Comey would be receiving a subpoena alongside former Atty. Gen. Loretta Lynch as part of continuing probes into their handling of investigations into Hillary Clinton and Russian election meddling, according to a top House Democrat. Happy Thanksgiving. Got a subpoena from House Republicans. Im still happy to sit in the light and answer all questions. But I will resist a closed door thing because Ive seen enough of their selective leaking and distortion. Lets have a hearing and invite everyone to see. James Comey (@Comey) November 22, 2018 Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Republican David Valadaos lead slips to 447 votes over Democrat TJ Cox in still-undecided Central Valley House race By Mark Z. Barabak Rep. David Valadao (R-Hanford), right, finds himself in an increasingly harrowing cliffhanger against Democrat TJ Cox. (Bill Clark / CQ Roll Call) On election night, it looked like Rep. David Valadao had survived a close shave and was destined to return to Washington for his fourth term. But on Wednesday, when Fresno County announced its latest vote totals, the Hanford Republican found himself in an increasingly harrowing cliffhanger against Democrat TJ Cox, with his lead in the Central Valley district shrunken to 447 votes. Thousands remain to be counted. Valadao, a repeated Democratic target, finished election night with a lead of nearly 4,440 votes. Cox, an engineer and a business owner who unsuccessfully ran for Congress in 2006, has steadily gained ground in the 21st Congressional District ever since. The trend is consistent with historic patterns showing Republicans in California tend to vote early and Democrats later, meaning their mail ballots continue to stream in past election day. Under California law, ballots postmarked up to midnight on Nov. 6 will be counted. Democrats have already picked up six House seats in California. They ousted Reps. Dana Rohrabacher, Mimi Walters, Steve Knight and Jeff Denham and won the seats of retiring Reps. Ed Royce and Darrell Issa. All six represented districts that backed Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump in 2016. Valadao was the seventh California Republican in a district Clinton won, though his previous successes he last won reelection by a 14-point margin suggested his ouster was a longer shot for Democrats. If Cox prevails, it would give Democrats a 40-seat gain nationwide, far more than the 23 seats needed to take control when Congress reconvenes in January. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Trump says no new punishments against Saudi Arabia in Jamal Khashoggi murder By Eli Stokols In this Oct. 25 photo, candles are lit in front of a photo of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. (Lefteris Pitarakis) President Trump made it clear on Tuesday that he does not intend to punish Saudi Arabia or Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for the murder of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi, an American resident killed by Saudi officials in Turkey in October. In a remarkable statement replete with exclamation points, Trump cast doubt on the CIAs reported conclusions that it has a high degree of confidence that the crown prince ordered Khashoggis murder and sent his closest allies to Saudi Arabias consulate in Istanbul to carry it out. Read MoreThis article has been updated with staff. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Sixteen House Democrats vow to oppose Nancy Pelosi as next speaker By Mike DeBonis | Washington Post House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (J. Scott Applewhite / Associated Press) Sixteen House Democrats said Monday that they will vote to deny Rep. Nancy Pelosi another stint as House speaker, a show of defiance that puts her opponents on the cusp of forcing a seismic leadership shake-up as their party prepares to take the majority. Their pledge to oppose Pelosi (D-San Francisco), both in an internal caucus election and a Jan. 3 floor vote, delivered in a letter sent to Democratic colleagues, comes as Pelosi has marshaled a legion of supporters on and off Capitol Hill to make her case. But her opponents said Monday they are convinced it is time to select a new leader. We are thankful to Leader Pelosi for her years of service to our Country and to our Caucus, they wrote. However, we also recognize that in this recent election, Democrats ran on and won on a message of change. Pelosi has expressed complete confidence that she will retake the speakers gavel in January eight years after she lost it following massive Republican gains in the 2010 midterms and 16 years after she was first elevated to the top Democratic leadership post in the House. Come on in, the waters fine, she said Friday about a potential leadership challenge. The signers might not be able to force Pelosi out themselves. The size of the Democratic majority remains in flux, but Democrats have already won 232 seats, according to the Associated Press, with five races still undecided. All those races have Republican incumbents, but the Democratic challenger is ahead in only one of them. If the leads hold in the uncalled races, Democrats would have won 233 seats, a 16-seat majority. That means Pelosi could lose as many as 15 Democratic votes when she stands for election as speaker on Jan. 3. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Democratic senators sue over Whitakers appointment as acting attorney general By Associated Press Acting U.S. Atty. Gen. Matthew Whitaker (Nicholas Kamm / AFP/Getty Images) Three Senate Democrats filed a lawsuit Monday arguing that Acting Atty. Gen. Matthew Whitakers appointment is unconstitutional and asking a federal judge to remove him. The suit, filed by Sens. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, Mazie Hirono of Hawaii and Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, argues that Whitakers appointment violates the Constitution because he has not been confirmed by the Senate. Whitaker was chief of staff to Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions and was elevated to the top job after Sessions was ousted by President Trump on Nov. 7. The Constitutions Appointments Clause requires that the Senate confirm all principal officials before they can serve in their office. The Justice Department released a legal opinion last week that said Whitakers appointment would not violate the clause because he is serving in an acting capacity. The opinion concluded that Whitaker, even without Senate confirmation, may serve in an acting capacity because he has been at the department for more than a year at a sufficiently senior pay level. President Trump is denying senators our constitutional obligation and opportunity to do our job: scrutinizing the nomination of our nations top law enforcement official, Blumenthal said in a statement. The reason is simple: Whitaker would never pass the advice and consent test. In selecting a so-called constitutional nobody and thwarting every senators constitutional duty, Trump leaves us no choice but to seek recourse through the courts. The lawsuit comes days after a Washington lawyer challenged Whitakers appointment in a pending Supreme Court case dealing with gun rights. The attorney, Thomas Goldstein, asked the high court to find that Whitakers appointment is unconstitutional and replace him with Deputy Atty. Gen. Rod Rosenstein. Rosenstein, the second-ranking Justice Department official, has been confirmed by the Senate and had been overseeing special counsel Robert Muellers Russia investigation. Whitaker is now overseeing the investigation. The Justice Department issued a statement Monday defending Whitakers appointment as lawful and said it comports with the Appointments Clause, the Federal Vacancies Reform Act and legal precedent. There are over 160 instances in American history in which non-Senate confirmed persons performed, on a temporary basis, the duties of a Senate-confirmed position, Justice Department spokeswoman Kerri Kupec said. To suggest otherwise is to ignore centuries of practice and precedent. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Gov. Rick Scott says Sen. Bill Nelson concedes Florida Senate race By Associated Press Republican Senate candidate Rick Scott speaks with his wife, Ann, by his side at an election watch party in Naples, Fla., on Nov. 7. (Wilfredo Lee / Associated Press) Floridas Republican Gov. Rick Scott says incumbent Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson called him to concede defeat in their extremely tight race. Scott issued a statement Sunday saying Nelson graciously conceded their Senate race shortly after the states recount ended. The final results show Scott defeated Nelson by just over 10,000 votes out of 8 million cast. Nelson is scheduled to release a videotaped statement later Sunday. The defeat ends Nelsons lengthy political career. The three-term incumbent was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 2000. Before that he served six terms in the U.S. House and as state treasurer and insurance commissioner for six years. Scott spent more than $60 million of his own money on ads that portrayed Nelson as out-of-touch and ineffective. Nelson responded by questioning Scotts ethics and saying he would be under the sway of President Trump. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Orange County goes blue, as Democrats complete historic sweep of its seven congressional seats By Michael Finnegan Gil Cisneros defeated Republican Young Kim on Saturday in the last of Orange Countys undecided House races, giving Democrats a clean sweep of the states six most fiercely fought congressional contests and marking an epochal shift in a region long synonymous with political conservatism. With Cisneros victory, Democrats will constitute the entirety of Orange Countys seven-member congressional delegation, the first time since the 1930s that the birthplace of Richard Nixon, home of John Wayne and spiritual center of the Republican Party will have no GOP representative in the House. Sitting back in the 1960s, I would never have believed this would happen, said Stuart K. Spencer, a party strategist who spent more than half a century ushering Republicans, including President Reagan, into office. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Going, going ... with midterm wipeout, California Republican Party drifts closer to irrelevance By Michael Finnegan For a party in freefall the last two decades, California Republicans learned that its possible to plunge even further. The GOP not only lost every statewide office in the midterm election again, in blowout fashion but Democrats reestablished their supermajority in Sacramento, allowing them to legislate however they see fit After major defeats in Orange County and the Central Valley, two longtime strongholds, Republicans will have a significantly smaller footprint on Capitol Hill. (Democrats hold both Senate seats.) When the vote-counting is finished, the GOP may not even have enough lawmakers in Californias 53-member House delegation to field a nine-person softball team. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Congresswoman-elect Katie Porter says she will support Rep. Nancy Pelosi for speaker By Maya Sweedler Democratic Rep.-elect Katie Porter is congratulated by volunteers at her campaign headquarters in Irvine. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times) Congresswoman-elect Katie Porter said she plans to support Rep. Nancy Pelosis bid for speaker of the House and will make campaign finance reform her top priority when she enters the chamber in January. Im going to continue to have conversations, but so far I feel like Leader Pelosi is definitely making the things that were a priority to the families that elected me her priorities, including announcing her support for campaign finance reform and anti-corruption as HR1, Porter said in her first public appearance since being declared the winner in Californias 45th Congressional District on Thursday evening. It means a lot to me that she is a Californian. She understands our state, Porter added. When we talk about environmental protections, this is a person who understands as a Californian how fragile our environment is and whats at risk in things like drilling off our coasts. Porter, a law professor at UC Irvine, defeated two-term Republican Rep. Mimi Walters. The 45th District, covering inland Orange County, has never been represented by a Democrat. Porter became the third Democrat to claim a Republican-held seat in Orange County, following the victories of Harley Rouda in the 48th District and Mike Levin in the 49th. A fourth, Gil Cisneros, is running slightly ahead of his Republican opponent in the race for the open seat in the 39th District, which extends into Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties. Porter attributed the massive political shift in the county, for decades a conservative stronghold, to increased levels of political engagement. Folks here care about education, they care about the environment, they believe climate change is real, they want healthcare that protects preexisting conditions, they want a tax system that doesnt punish California, they want our schools and places of worship to be safe from gun violence, she said. Those are the issues we campaigned on, and to the extent that Donald Trump and Mimi Walters were on the wrong side of those issues, the voters have made clear what direction they want us to go. Porter was flying back from the East Coast when her race was called, she said. She turned on her phone to find 167 text messages from friends and supporters. Among them was Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), who was one of Porters teachers in law school and with whom she has remained close. The pair spoke via FaceTime this morning, she said. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Bitter battle for Senate seat in Florida goes to hand recount By Associated Press Employees look through damaged ballots during a recount Thursday in West Palm Beach, Fla. (Wilfredo Lee / Associated Press) Floridas acrimonious battle for the U.S. Senate headed Thursday to a legally required hand recount after an initial review by ballot-counting machines showed Republican Gov. Rick Scott and Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson separated by less than 13,000 votes. But the highly watched contest for governor between Republican Ron DeSantis and Democrat Andrew Gillum appeared to be over, with a machine recount showing DeSantis with a large enough advantage over Gillum to avoid a hand recount in that race. Gillum, who conceded the contest on election night only to retract his concession later, said in a statement that it is not over until every legally casted vote is counted. The recount so far has been fraught with problems. One large Democratic stronghold in South Florida was unable to finish its machine recount by the Thursday deadline due to machines breaking down. A federal judge rejected a request to extend the recount deadline. We gave a heroic effort, said Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections Susan Bucher. If the county had three or four more hours, it would have made the deadline to recount ballots in the Senate race, she said. Meanwhile, election officials in another urban county in the Tampa Bay area decided against turning in the results of their machine recount, which came up with 846 fewer votes than originally counted. Media in South Florida reported that Broward County finished its machine recount but missed the deadline by a few minutes. Counties were ordered last weekend to do a machine recount of three statewide races because the margins were so tight. The next stage is a manual review of ballots that were not counted by machines to see whether there is a way to figure out voter intent. Scott called on Nelson to end the recount battle. Its time for Nelson to respect the will of the voters and graciously bring this process to an end rather than proceed with yet another count of the votes which will yield the same result and bring more embarrassment to the state that we both love and have served, the governor said in a statement. The recount has triggered multiple lawsuits, many of them filed by Nelson and Democrats. The legal battles drew the ire of U.S. District Judge Mark E. Walker, who slammed the state for repeatedly failing to anticipate election problems. He also said the state law on recounts appears to violate the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that decided the presidency in 2000. We have been the laughingstock of the world, election after election, and we chose not to fix this, Walker said during a morning hearing. Walker vented his anger at state lawmakers and Palm Beach County officials, saying they should have made sure they had enough equipment in place to handle this kind of a recount. But he said he could not extend the recount deadline because he did not know when Palm Beach County would finish its work. This court must be able to craft a remedy with knowledge that it will not prove futile, Walker wrote in his ruling turning down the request from Democrats. It cannot do so on this record. This court does not and will not fashion a remedy in the dark. The overarching problem was created by the Florida Legislature, which Walker said passed a recount law that appears to run afoul of the 2000 Bush vs. Gore decision by locking in procedures that do not allow for potential problems. A total of six election-related lawsuits are pending in federal court in Tallahassee as well at least one lawsuit filed in state court. Walker also ordered that voters be given until 5 p.m. Saturday to show a valid identification and fix their ballots if they have not been counted due to mismatched signatures. Republicans appealed the ruling, but an appeals court turned down the request. State officials testified that nearly 4,000 mailed-in ballots were set aside because local officials decided the signatures on the envelopes did not match the signatures on file. If those voters can prove their identity, their votes will be counted and included in final official returns due from each county by noon Sunday. Walker was asked by Democrats to require local officials to provide a list of people whose ballots were rejected. But the judge appointed by President Obama refused the request, calling it inappropriate. Under state law, a hand review is required with races that have a margin of 0.25 percentage points or less. A state website put the unofficial results showing Scott ahead of Nelson by 0.15 percentage points. The margin between DeSantis and Gillum was at 0.41 points. The margin between Scott and Nelson had not changed much in the last few days, conceded Marc Elias, an attorney working for Nelsons campaign. But he said that he expected the vote tally to shrink due to the hand recount and the ruling on signatures. The developments fueled frustrations among Democrats and Republicans alike. Democrats want state officials to do whatever it takes to make sure every eligible vote is counted. Republicans, including President Trump, have argued without evidence that voter fraud threatens to steal races from the GOP. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Democrat Gil Cisneros pulls ahead of Republican Young Kim as more votes are tallied in Orange and San Bernardino counties By Michael Finnegan Congressional candidate Gil Cisneros (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times) Democrat Gil Cisneros pulled ahead of Republican Young Kim in one of Californias undecided congressional races Thursday, an ominous sign for a GOP already reeling from its loss of four House seats in the state. In updated vote counts released by the registrars for Orange and San Bernardino counties, Kim fell 941 votes behind Cisneros in the contest to succeed Republican Rep. Ed Royce in Californias 39th Congressional District. The 39th straddles Los Angeles, San Bernardino and Orange counties. In another unresolved House race, Democrat Katie Porter pulled further ahead of Republican incumbent Mimi Walters in the 45th District, which includes Mission Viejo, Tustin, Irvine, Rancho Santa Margarita and Laguna Hills. Porter, a consumer attorney and UC Irvine law professor, is now 6,203 votes ahead. The Nov. 6 midterm election has been devastating to Republicans in California. If Cisneros and Porter win, the party will have lost six of its 14 House seats in the state, essentially a wipeout in every contest that both parties spent heavily to win. The three Republicans already bounced from Congress are Reps. Dana Rohrabacher of Costa Mesa, Steve Knight of Palmdale and Jeff Denham of Turlock in the San Joaquin Valley. Democrat Mike Levin won the seat of retiring GOP Rep. Darrell Issa of Vista in the fourth district flipped so far. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Florida Senate race likely headed to second recount By Associated Press A Palm Beach County Sheriffs deputy walks past boxes of ballots before a recount on Nov. 15 in West Palm Beach, Fla. (Wilfredo Lee) Unofficial Florida election results show that the governors race seems to be settled after a machine recount but the U.S. Senate race is likely headed to a hand recount. Republican Ron DeSantis is virtually assured of winning the nationally watched governors race over Democrat Andrew Gillum. Florida finished a machine recount Thursday that showed Gillum without enough votes to force a manual recount. Unofficial results posted on a state website show the margin between U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson and Gov. Rick Scott is still thin enough to trigger a second review. State law requires a hand recount of races with a margin of 0.25 percentage point or less. Counties have until Sunday to inspect the ballots that did not record a vote when put through the machines. Those ballots are re-examined to see whether the voter skipped the race or marked the ballot in a way that the machines cannot read but can be deciphered. The election will be certified Tuesday. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Pelosi says she has the votes to become the next House speaker By John Wagner Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi speaks during a news conference in Washington on Nov. 14. (Susan Walsh) House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi insisted Thursday that she has the votes to become the chambers speaker despite solid opposition from more than a dozen Democrats who want fresh leadership when the party takes control next year. I have overwhelming support in my caucus to be speaker of the House, the San Francisco lawmaker told reporters. I happen to think at this point, Im the best person for that. A vote within the Democratic caucus is scheduled for Nov. 28. The full House votes on Jan. 3 to elect a new speaker. During her remarks, Pelosi touted the size of the Democratic victory in the midterms, which she called almost a tsunami. With a few races still to be decided, Democrats are poised to pick up close to 40 seats in the chamber. Pelosi called that the biggest victory for the Democrats since 1974, when the Watergate babies came in. Pelosis comments come as she faces solid opposition from at least 17 Democrats, setting the stage for a battle over who will ascend to one of the most powerful positions in Washington. After a campaign in which some Democrats prevailed in competitive districts by promising to oppose her, a coalition of incumbents and newly elected members has denied her a smooth path to the speakership. The defections, if they stand, would leave Pelosi, who has led the Democrats for more than 15 years, several votes short of the 218 she would need when the full House votes for speaker Jan. 3. However, no Democrat has stepped forward to run against her for a job she held from 2007 through 2010. Rep. Marcia Fudge (D-Ohio) told reporters Wednesday that shes being encouraged to stand for speaker if Pelosi doesnt have the votes. In an interview with the Washington Post on Thursday, she said she has been overwhelmed by the support from many of her colleagues for her possible entry into the race for House speaker. Over the last 12 hours, Ive been overwhelmed by the amount of support Ive received, Fudge said, adding that there are probably closer to 30" Democrats who have privately signaled that they are willing to oppose Pelosi. Things could change rapidly, Fudge said. Fudge, 66, a former chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, said she is building a diverse coalition as she mulls a speaker run, talking with allies in the caucus, moderate Democrats and newly elected members. To this point, Pelosi has enjoyed the strong backing of the Congressional Black Caucus. On Thursday, Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.), one of its members, wrote a letter to colleagues praising her insight, fortitude and strategic thinking and urging support for her speakership bid. Former Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr., an African American who is contemplating a 2020 presidential bid, also voiced support for Pelosi, praising her in a tweet as an architect of the recent midterm success. Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.), a leader of the resistance to Pelosi, said during an interview on CNN on Thursday that Fudge is the kind of new leader that we need in this party. Shes in touch with middle America. She understands what the American people want. Shes a next-generation leader that people will look to and say, Thats the future of our party, thats the future of our country, and thats exactly the kind of leader that I want to see as our next speaker. Wagner reports for the Washington Post. The Posts Robert Costa, Erica Werner, Mike DeBonis, Paul Kane and Elise Viebeck contributed to this report. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement GOP Rep. Jeff Denham concedes to Democrat Josh Harder in Central Valley race By Maya Sweedler Rep. Jeff Denham (Bill Clark / CQ Roll Call) Republican Rep. Jeff Denham has conceded to Democrat Josh Harder in the race to represent Californias 10th Congressional District in the San Joaquin Valley. It has been an absolute honor to serve our community and represent the Central Valley in Congress over the past eight years, the 51-year-old congressman said. The enormity of the responsibility was never lost on me. My wife Sonia and I look forward to starting the next chapter of our lives. Harder said he had spoken with Denham and the two were committed to a productive transition. Denham, an Air Force veteran, previously represented the region in the state Senate for eight years and founded a company specializing in plastic packaging used in agriculture. While a member of Congress, he sat on the Transportation and Infrastructure, Veterans Affairs and Agriculture committees. First-time candidate Harder was born and raised in the district. After graduating from Stanford University, he served as vice president of a Silicon Valley venture capital firm. Since moving back, he has been teaching at Modesto Junior College. Denhams House seat is one of four in California that Republicans lost in the Nov. 6 election, with two contests in Orange County still undecided as of Thursday morning. Jeff Denham called me this morning and we had a very productive conversation. I'm honored that I've been chosen to serve our community in Congress, and we're both looking forward to a productive transition that best serves the people of District 10. Josh Harder (@JoshHarder) November 14, 2018 Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Democrat Katie Porter now nearly 3,800 votes ahead of GOP Rep. Mimi Walters By Maya Sweedler Rep. Mimi Walters thanks all of her supporters as she watches election results in Irvine on Nov. 7, 2018. (Alex Gallardo / Associated Press) Democrat Katie Porter opened a 3,797-vote lead Wednesday over Republican Rep. Mimi Walters in Orange Countys 45th Congressional District. In the neighboring 39th, Democrat Gil Cisneros has nearly tied the race against Republican Young Kim. Cisneros now trails Kim by a razor-thin margin of 122 votes. The 39th District straddles Los Angeles, Orange and San Bernardino counties; Wednesdays updated ballot counts came from the latter two. There are more than 202,000 ballots left to count in Orange County, which includes parts of seven congressional districts. The 45th is entirely in inland Orange County. In California, the ballots counted first tend to lean Republican and those tallied later skew Democratic. In the Central Valleys 21st Congressional District, Democratic challenger TJ Cox has pulled within 2 percentage points of Rep. David Valadao, who is serving his third term. The Associated Press had projected a win for Valadao on election night, but his 4,839-vote advantage has shrunk to 2,090. Back in CA-21, Valadao (R) wins a batch of ballots from his stronghold in Kings Co., but by a considerably smaller margin (14 points) than his previous ~30-point margin in the county. We're moving to Lean R from Likely R; today a bit scary for Valadao.https://t.co/WqJVUVkqGW Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) November 15, 2018 A spokesman for Valadao told the Fresno Bee that the changes were expected and that [s]tatistically, David Valadao has won this race. Democrats in California have already flipped four House seats, defeating three Republican incumbents and claiming an open seat previously held by the GOP. Reps. Steve Knight of Palmdale, Dana Rohrabacher of Costa Mesa and Jeff Denham of Turlock have already lost their races, and retiring Rep. Darrell Issas San Diego County seat was claimed by Democrat Mike Levin. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Trump aide departs West Wing after rebuke from Melania Trump By Associated Press First Lady Melania Trump. (Alain Jocard / AFP-Getty Images) Deputy national security advisor Mira Ricardel is leaving the White House, one day after First Lady Melania Trumps office issued an extraordinary statement calling for her dismissal. No replacement was named. Aides said Ricardel clashed with the first ladys staff over her visit to Africa last month. Yet it is highly unusual for a first lady or her office to weigh in on personnel matters, especially the presidents national security staff. White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Ricardel would have a new role in the administration. On Tuesday, Stephanie Grisham, the first ladys spokeswoman, released a statement saying, It is the position of the Office of the First Lady that she no longer deserves the honor of serving in this White House. President Trumps White House has set records for administration turnover. Ricardel was the third person to hold the post under Trump. An ally of national security advisor John Bolton, Ricardel began her service in the Trump administration as associate director in the White House Office of Presidential Personnel, then moved to the Commerce Department last year. Bolton brought her into the West Wing shortly after taking the job in April. He is traveling in Asia this week alongside Vice President Mike Pence. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Race for House Minority Leader is Kevin McCarthys to lose By Associated Press (Bill Clark / CQ Roll Call) House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy is running to take over next years shrunken caucus in closed-door elections that will set the tone for the new Congress. The race for minority leader is McCarthys to lose Wednesday. But the California Republican, who is an ally of President Trump, must fend off a challenge from conservative Jim Jordan of Ohio. Jordan is a leader of the House Freedom Caucus. The two encountered questions and finger-pointing during a private meeting with lawmakers Tuesday night as the GOP sorted through the midterm defeat that put Democrats in the majority next year. Elections Wednesday will also determine party leadership in the Senate. Voting for the biggest race, Nancy Pelosis bid to return as the Democrats nominee for speaker, is later this month. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Melania Trump calls for the firing of deputy national security advisor By Justin Sink First Lady Melania Trump arrives at the Chateau de Versailles outside Paris on Nov. 11. (Alain Jocard / AFP/Getty Images ) First Lady Melania Trumps office said she wants Mira Ricardel, the deputy national security advisor, ousted from the White House. It is the position of the Office of the First Lady that she no longer deserves the honor of serving in this White House, Trumps spokeswoman, Stephanie Grisham, said in a statement in response to a question about reports the first lady had sought Ricardels removal. Ricardel is the top deputy to national security advisor John Bolton. She drew the first ladys wrath after threatening to withhold National Security Council resources during Melania Trumps trip to Africa last month unless Ricardel was included in her entourage, one person familiar with the matter said. Grishams statement comes as several media outlets have reported that President Trump is considering a broader shakeup of his administration, including ousting Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen. Sink and Jacobs report for Bloomberg. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print CNN sues Trump over the suspension of Jim Acostas White House press credentials By Jim Puzzanghera CNN said Tuesday that it is suing President Trump and other administration officials over the decision to suspend the White House press credentials of correspondent Jim Acosta after a conflict at a news conference last week. The suit, to be filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, escalates an ongoing battle between Trump and the cable news outlet that he frequently accuses of disseminating fake news for its aggressive coverage of him and his administration. The wrongful revocation of these credentials violates CNN and Acostas 1st Amendment rights of freedom of the press, and their 5th Amendment rights to due process, CNN said in a written statement. If left unchallenged, the actions of the White House would create a dangerous chilling effect for any journalist who covers our elected officials. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Maxine Waters to take aim at Wells Fargo and Deutsche Bank as new head of House Financial Services Committee By Jim Puzzanghera Rep. Maxine Waters plans to zero in on two big banks Wells Fargo & Co. and Deutsche Bank when she becomes head of the powerful House Financial Services Committee. The Los Angeles congresswoman, now the committees top Democrat, is widely expected to gain the gavel after her party won control of the House in last weeks elections. While Waters has outlined a wide-ranging agenda, she said her focus on bank oversight will target two large institutions she has been tangling with for a while including one, Deutsche Bank, that spills into her bitter feud with President Trump. With Trump in the White House, I know that our fight for Americas consumers and investors will continue to be challenging. But I am more than up to that fight, Waters wrote in a letter last week to her Democratic colleagues on the committee that was obtained by The Times. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Heres how a controversial voting system will decide a congressional race in Maine By Kurtis Lee For the first time in U.S. history, a controversial voting system known as ranked choice is being used to decide a federal election. Its happening in Maine, which adopted the system in 2016. Rather than marking a single candidate, each voter ranks them all, assigning a first-place vote, a second-place vote and so on down the ballot. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print ACLU files suit to stop Trumps new asylum limits By Associated Press A group of Central American migrants march to the office of the U.N.'s humans rights body in Mexico City on Nov. 8. (Rebecca Blackwell / Associated Press) The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a legal challenge to President Trumps order denying asylum to migrants if they cross the U.S.-Mexico border illegally. The lawsuit was filed Friday in federal court in San Francisco and argues the new rules are against the law. Attorney Lee Gelernt said the regulations will put families in danger. The suit seeks to declare the regulations invalid and wants a judge to stop the rules from going into effect while the litigation is pending. The new rules were spurred in part by caravans of Central American migrants slowly moving north on foot, but officials say they will apply to anyone caught crossing illegally. Officials say about 70,000 people who enter the country illegally claim asylum. The order invoked the same national security powers Trump used to push through his travel ban. Read More Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Trump on new acting AG: I dont know Matt Whitaker By Associated Press President Trump talks with reporters before departing for France on the South Lawn of the White House on Nov. 9. (Evan Vucci / Associated Press) President Trump is moving to distance himself from Matthew Whitaker as he faces criticism over his choice for acting attorney general. Trump told reporters Friday that I dont know Matt Whitaker and said he didnt speak with Whitaker about special counsel Robert Muellers Russia investigation. Whitaker has made public comments critical of Muellers investigation, and critics have called on Whitaker to recuse himself from oversight of the inquiry. Under former Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions, the investigation was overseen by Deputy Atty. Gen. Rod Rosenstein. Of the scrutiny Whitaker is facing, Trump said: Its a shame that no matter who I put in they go after. He also called Whitaker a very highly respected man. Whitaker was Sessions chief of staff before Trump made him Sessions interim replacement. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg out of hospital after fall By Associated Press The Supreme Court says 85-year-old Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is home after being released from the hospital. She had been admitted for treatment and observation after fracturing three ribs in a fall. The court said Ginsburg was released Friday. Supreme Court spokeswoman Kathy Arberg says she is doing well and working from home. The court had previously said the justice fell in her office at the court on Wednesday evening and went to George Washington University Hospital in Washington early Thursday after experiencing discomfort overnight. Ginsburg broke two ribs in a fall in 2012. She had two prior bouts with cancer and had a stent implanted to open a blocked artery in 2014. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Gun-control activist Lucy McBath defeats GOP Rep. Karen Handel in Georgia By Associated Press Lucy McBath speaks during a rally for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams on Nov. 2 at Morehouse College in Atlanta. (Alyssa Pointer / Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP) Democratic gun-control activist Lucy McBath has defeated Republican Rep. Karen Handel of Georgia in a suburban congressional district long considered safe for the GOP. Handel had to seek reelection after winning her seat last year in a close special election race against Democrat Jon Ossoff. McBath became an advocate for stricter gun laws after her son, Jordan Davis, was fatally shot at a Florida gas station in 2012 by a man angry over loud music the teenager and his friends were playing in a car. McBaths margin of victory was narrow enough for Handel to have requested a recount. The Associated Press declared McBath the winner Thursday after Handel conceded. Handel conceded in a statement Thursday morning, stating that after reviewing all of the election data, its clear she came up a bit short in Tuesdays vote. Handel congratulated McBath, offering good thoughts and much prayer for the journey that lies ahead for her. McBath, who is African American, declared victory Wednesday. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg hospitalized after fracturing 3 ribs in fall By Associated Press Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg (Jacquelyn Martin / Associated Press) The Supreme Court says 85-year-old Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg fractured three ribs in a fall in her office at the court and is in the hospital. The court says the justice went to George Washington University Hospital in Washington early Thursday after experiencing discomfort overnight. The court says the fall occurred Wednesday evening. Ginsburg was admitted to the hospital for treatment and observation after tests showed she fractured three ribs. Ginsburg broke two ribs in a fall in 2012. She has had two prior bouts with cancer and had a stent implanted to open a blocked artery in 2014. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print White House suspends press pass of CNNs Jim Acosta after heated exchange with Trump By Associated Press The White House on Wednesday suspended the press pass of CNN correspondent Jim Acosta after he and President Trump had a heated confrontation during a news conference. They began sparring after Acosta asked Trump about the caravan of migrants heading from Latin America to the southern U.S. border. When Acosta tried to follow up with another question, Trump said, Thats enough! and a female White House aide unsuccessfully tried to grab the microphone from Acosta. White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders released a statement accusing Acosta of placing his hands on a young woman just trying to do her job as a White House intern, calling it absolutely unacceptable. The interaction between Acosta and the intern was brief, and Acosta appeared to brush her arm as she reached for the microphone and he tried to hold onto it. Pardon me, maam, he told her. Acosta tweeted that Sanders statement that he put his hands on the aide was a lie. CNN said in a statement that the White House revoked Acostas press pass in retaliation for his challenging questions Wednesday, and the network accused Sanders of lying about Acostas actions. This conduct is absolutely unacceptable. It is also completely disrespectful to the reporters colleagues not to allow them an opportunity to ask a question. President Trump has given the press more access than any President in history. Stephanie Grisham (@PressSec) November 8, 2018 Contrary to CNNs assertions there is no greater demonstration of the Presidents support for a free press than the event he held today. Only they would attack the President for not supporting a free press in the midst of him taking 68 questions from 35 different reporters... Stephanie Grisham (@PressSec) November 8, 2018 As a result of todays incident, the White House is suspending the hard pass of the reporter involved until further notice. Stephanie Grisham (@PressSec) November 8, 2018 Sanders provided fraudulent accusations and cited an incident that never happened. This unprecedented decision is a threat to our democracy and the country deserves better, CNN said. Jim Acosta has our full support. Journalists assigned to cover the White House apply for passes that allow them daily access to press areas in the West Wing. White House staffers decide whether journalists are eligible, though the Secret Service determines whether their applications are approved. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Trump spars with reporters at post-election news briefing, ordering several to sit down By Associated Press President Trump assails CNNs Jim Acosta at a White House news conference. President Trump sparred with reporters at his post-election news conference, ordering several to sit down and telling another hes a rude, terrible person. He told another reporter hes not a fan of yours, either. The presidents mood turned sour Wednesday after reporters pressed him on why he referred to a migrant caravan making its way to the U.S. on foot through Mexico as an invasion. Trump ramped up his anti-immigrant rhetoric against the caravan in the final days of the midterm elections. Trump was also pressed on why his campaign aired an ad featuring a Mexican immigrant convicted of killing American police officers and linking the mans actions to the caravan. Several television networks pulled the ad after airing it or declined to air it at all. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Im living one hour at a time at this point By Christine Mai-Duc Republican congressional candidate Young Kim and gubernatorial candidate John Cox campaign in Rowland Heights. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times) Republican congressional candidate Young Kim greeted gubernatorial candidate John Coxs giant campaign bus, the words HELP IS ON THE WAY emblazoned across it, as it rolled into the parking lot outside her Rowland Heights field office. Standing beside Cox on Saturday, Kim predicted that a string of GOP victories Tuesday would start with voters repealing the gas tax hike. Can you imagine Gavin Newsom being our governor? Can you imagine Gil Cisneros being your representative? Kim asked the crowd, to loud boos and cries of Nooo! The former state assemblywoman who worked for retiring Rep. Ed Royce (R-Fullerton) is vying for his seat with Democrat Gil Cisneros. She led the crowd in chants of Enough is enough! and, though short-lived, Drain the swamp! Ive served you in Sacramento and Ive seen dysfunction personally, Kim continued. We cannot continue that route. She urged her supporters to stay and help make phone calls or walk neighborhoods. Lets get out there the 72 hours is really critical. Its all going to come down to a few votes, it could be your vote, she said pointing to her left, then pivoting right, it could be your vote. So dont sit back and do nothing. Every night I go to sleep thinking, OK, how many more votes can I get or how many more people can I call tomorrow? Kim said. It can be physically exhausting but Im mentally, emotionally very energized. She listed off her events so far that day and the next one she was heading to. Thats just what I can remember, she said. Im living one hour at a time at this point. Kims campaign invited press to two of her events on Saturday. After she was whisked away to her next event a high tea fundraiser in Walnut, a couple dozen volunteers remained. John Freeman, a statewide field manager for the state Republican Party, tried to pump them up. This is the Super Bowl. Were not in an NFL stadium, were not getting paid millions of dollars, but you know what? Freeman said. Were walking on the field right now. This is that high-stakes-level game. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Its going to be tough out there Democratic candidate Katie Porter speaks to volunteers in Mission Viejo. Jon Bauman, Bowzer from the band Sha Na Na, is in the background. (Victoria Kim / Los Angeles Times ) Judging from the cheers in the crowd, about half those assembled at Katie Porters campaign headquarters in Mission Viejo Sunday morning were old enough to remember 70s rock n roll star Bowzer from the band Sha Na Na. Jon Bauman, as Bowzer is known off stage, said it was her position on senior issues including retirement and social security that has him out supporting Porter over her opponent, incumbent Rep. Mimi Walters. I want you to make sure every phone is called and every door is knocked, he told the crowd of about 80 volunteers. There has never been a more important election. Both Bauman and his nephew, California Democratic Party Chairman Eric Bauman, were interrupted by yells from Trump supporters coming from an adjoining hillside. We love Trump, the voice cried out. We love him too, he makes great fodder, the younger Bauman retorted, before introducing Porter. Porter, a UC Irvine law professor and first-time candidate, acknowledged the uphill battle some of her canvassers might face in this more conservative end of the long-red Orange County district. I know its going to be tough out there, she said, motioning to the hillside. But she said the attacks meant the other side viewed her campaign as a significant threat. This election is going to be close, she said. If we dont fight all the way to the finish line, until 8 oclock on Tuesday, this could slip away. Bowzer then took to a keyboard piano to lead the crowd in a reworded rendition of the song Good Night Sweetheart: Good night, Mimi Walters, he crooned. A woman in a black tank top, jeans and flip flops holding a cup of coffee later joined the crowd with her two sons, 17 and 14, the younger one wearing a Trump 2016 T-shirt. She declined to give her name, saying she was concerned about being attacked, but said she lived up the hill and said she had been the one yelling. She said she was encouraging her sons to talk to people on both sides and make up their own minds. We need to have a government that runs the way government teachers are telling kids its supposed to be run, said the woman, a retired registered dental assistant who voted early for Mimi Walters. Referring to Democrats, she said: Theyve had control over all these years and Californias gone to crap. Among those canvassing was Stacie Campbell, 37, who was at the launch with her husband Jerome and three children, the youngest of whom was 2 months old. Campbell, a Mission Viejo resident who runs a business, had never canvassed or volunteered for campaigns before, and her husband is a French citizen and unable to vote. She said they had been talking to their children the older ones are 5 and 2 about the presidency and the government since Trumps election. Together, they worked on homemade Katie Porter lawn signs and put them up around town. This is the first time its felt like a big deal and there isnt a president up for election, she said. Because her city is a mix of conservatives and liberals her next-door neighbor is an NRA-supporting Republican she the race felt m President Trump is prepared to approve the release of a controversial Republican-drafted memo about secret government surveillance as soon as Friday, a step that would put him at odds with his top national security officials but could give him a new tool to undermine public confidence in the Russia investigation. The White House might not seek any changes to the classified document, a senior administration official said Thursday, even though FBI Director Christopher A. Wray and Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats have expressed concern about its contents. The president is OK with it, the official said. I doubt there will be any redactions. Its in Congress hands after that. The FBI publicly warned Wednesday that it had grave concerns about the memos accuracy, a highly unusual challenge to the White House. Coats has privately expressed similar concerns to the White House, saying the release could set a troubling precedent for revealing classified information, according to another U.S. official. Advertisement Releasing the memo could put pressure on Wray, who was handpicked by Trump last spring to head the FBI, to respond or even step down. Trump fired Wrays predecessor, James B. Comey, and has publicly berated several other senior officials at the bureau and the Justice Department, including Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions. In a sign of the growing friction between the FBI and the White House, the union representing rank-and-file FBI agents offered strong support Thursday for Wray, saying he stood shoulder to shoulder with the men and women of the FBI as we work together to protect our country from criminal and national security threats. The classified memo was prepared by aides to Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Tulare), chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, which has been investigating Russias meddling in the 2016 election. Nunes has separately scrutinized claims of FBI surveillance abuses during the 2016 campaign. The document apparently cites selective information from FBI interviews with confidential informants, classified material provided to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, which meets in secret and must approve intelligence-related eavesdropping on U.S. citizens, and other highly sensitive material. The memo reportedly claims that the decision to start surveillance of Carter Page, then a Trump campaign advisor with business interests in Russia, was based in part on information provided by Christopher Steele, a former British spy who was working for a U.S. firm collecting opposition research on Trump. The subsequent counterintelligence collection on Page formed part of the broader criminal investigation, now led by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III, into possible ties between the Trump campaign and Russian meddling in the election. Deputy Atty. Gen. Rod Rosenstein, left, and Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats, talk on Capitol Hill last year. (Carolyn Kaster / Associated Press ) Republicans say the memo proves the FBI abused the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act process to undermine Trumps campaign and ultimately his presidency. Democrats on the committee say the cherry-picking of information from the FISA application shows Republicans deliberately sought to embarrass the FBI and discredit the Mueller probe. Advertisement The Republican majority on the committee agreed Monday to release the memo but refused to allow the simultaneous release of a lengthy rebuttal document drafted by Democrats, widening the partisan clash. Conservative commentators and lawmakers have amplified dark speculation that its contents are scandalous. Democrats who have read the document say it skews the facts to present a partisan indictment. This memo is part of the slow-motion purge designed to undermine Robert Muellers investigation into the president and his allies, said Michael Waldman, a former speechwriter for President Clinton and president of the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law. Its yet another step on a slide into abuse of power. Julian Zelizer, a Princeton University historian, said the clash differs from previous conflicts between the FBI and presidents, which largely revolved around policy. Advertisement This is about an investigation into [Trumps] administration and him. Its not just tension with the FBI. This is about trying to undermine an investigation into the White House, Zelizer said. The conflict has divided Republican lawmakers, who were attending a retreat at a resort in White Sulphur Springs, W.Va., on Thursday and found themselves facing repeated questions about a classified memo many had not read, instead of their recent success pushing tax cuts through Congress. Follow live coverage of the Trump administration on Essential Washington Senate Republicans, who have not been allowed to review the House memo, appeared more hesitant than their House colleagues about bucking the FBI to stand by Trump. Advertisement Sen. John Thune of South Dakota, the third-ranking Republican in the Senate, said administration officials and members of Congress should heed law enforcement warnings and concerns about the memo. They need to pay careful attention to what our folks who protect us have to say about how this bears on our national security, he said. House Republicans, on the other hand, were eager to publicize the memo. Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), chairman of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, said he had zero concern about the FBIs objections. Id like to see it out today, he said. Advertisement Lawmakers acknowledge the furor is being fueled in part by an influence campaign, including on social media, that is almost certainly being stirred up by Russian-aligned players, including Twitter bots. The Russians arent causing that, but I have no doubt theyre engaging and trying to elevate it, said Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.), a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee. Theyre the kid on the playground shouting, Fight, fight, fight. President Trump shakes hands with House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) on Thursday at the Republican retreat in West Virginia. (Andrew Harnik / Associated Press ) House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) gave Nunes wide latitude to work on the memo, backing him in a dispute last month when Wray and Deputy Atty. Gen. Rod Rosenstein objected to his requests for some highly-classified material that the FBI normally doesnt share. Advertisement On Thursday, Ryan tried to tamp down expectations for the memo. He said it is not an indictment of American institutions, the U.S. justice system, the FBI or the Department of Justice. It does not impugn the Mueller investigation or the deputy attorney general, Ryan told reporters, referring to Rosenstein. The memo is Congress doing its job and conducting legitimate oversight of the FISA law, he said. If mistakes were made and individuals did something wrong, its our job as the legislative branch to conduct oversight over the executive branch if abuses were made. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) and Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-New York) said Nunes should be stripped of his chairmanship of the House Intelligence Committee. Advertisement Pelosi said in a statement that Nunes had abused his position to launch a highly unethical and dangerous coverup campaign for the White House. Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Burbank), the ranking Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, made a last-ditch effort Wednesday to forestall the memos release. He accused Nunes of sending a copy to the White House that had been secretly altered with material changes. Schiff said the process for releasing the classified memo needed to be restarted because the text had changed. A spokesman for Nunes, Jack Langer, defended the changes as minor edits and described Schiffs letter as part of an increasingly strange attempt to keep the memo under wraps. Advertisement Times staff writers Bennett and Megerian reported from Washington, and Mascaro from White Sulphur Springs, W.Va. chris.megerian@latimes.com Twitter: @chrismegerian ALSO Advertisement Trump set to rally GOP retreat, but Republican divide deepens over release of FBI memo FBI and White House in open conflict over classified GOP memo Eighteen alleged cases of sexual harassment, including sharing of pornographic photos and a staff member accused of grabbing a womans buttocks and genitals, were publicly disclosed by the California Legislature on Friday, detailed through investigation records that had been shielded in some cases for more than a decade. Four incumbent lawmakers are named in those completed investigations: Assemblyman Travis Allen (R-Huntington Beach), state Sens. Bob Hertzberg (D-Van Nuys) and Tony Mendoza (D-Artesia) and Assemblywoman Autumn Burke (D-Marina del Rey). A fifth completed case named former Assemblyman Raul Bocanegra (D-Pacoima), who resigned last year after facing allegations of harassment by multiple women. In addition to the lawmakers, 12 senior staff members were accused of sexual harassment or misconduct in substantiated cases. Officials said in total there were more than six dozen complaints recorded by the two legislative houses since 2006. The information was provided after three months of requests from Los Angeles Times reporters and attorneys. The records provide the most detailed information, to date, of workplace sexual misconduct investigations at the Capitol in Sacramento and legislative district offices across the state. Advertisement (Jon Schleuss / Los Angeles Times ) Read the claims from the California Assembly The disclosures mark a major departure from the tradition of the Legislature, which rarely grants access to information about its internal operations. The documents also underscore the wide range of behavior that falls under the umbrella of sexual harassment, from bawdy office banter to unwanted propositions or uninvited touching. Allen, a Republican candidate for governor, was accused by an unidentified staff member of several instances of contact in early 2013 that made her feel uncomfortable. Hertzberg, too, was accused of contact hugging that worried a female staff member. Burke was accused by a former aide of sexually explicit talk in the workplace. Both houses proclaim zero tolerance for sexual harassment. The Assemblys employee manual defines harassment as being marked by unwanted sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other visual, verbal, or physical conduct of a sexual nature. The limits of a zero-tolerance policy are evident. One Senate staffer was told his inappropriate comments were grounds for immediate termination but instead was given one final chance to stay on following a two-week suspension. Another Assembly staffer was not fired for looking at pornography and exchanging sexually explicit photos on a work computer because of his lengthy tenure. Instead, he was demoted from a supervisorial role. Read the claims and settlements from the California state Senate Have you experienced sexual harassment in government or politics? Share your story Advertisement The incidents alleged in the documents span from January 2006 through the end of 2017 and were identified by legislative officials as cases in which discipline has been imposed or allegations have been determined to be well-founded. That phrase is similar to what The Times requested in November. The documents pertain to closed cases and do not include pending allegations. The incumbent lawmakers named in the documents denied any wrongdoing when contacted by The Times. Allen, who has served in the Assembly since 2012 and is now running for governor, accused Democratic leaders in the Legislature of a political attack. Im sure Ive shaken many peoples hands, tapped many people on the shoulder, and have even tapped peoples feet accidentally, he said in a statement. But there has never been anything in any of my actions that has been inappropriate, and nor will there ever be. I was actually shocked 6 years ago that any friendliness I displayed was in any way misconstrued. Everyone deserves to work in an environment free from inappropriate behavior. The newly revealed complaint against Hertzberg was from 2015. A Senate document alleges that he pulled the employee close to him and began to dance and sing a song to her in a way that the staffer felt was uncomfortable and unwelcome. Advertisement I hug people as a way to connect. Its never meant as anything other than a gesture of warmth and humanity, Hertzberg said in a written statement. This instance, a settled matter from several years ago, involves a single hug with a family member of someone I knew, and Im sorry to her and anyone else who may have ever felt my hugs unwelcome. Hertzberg is known in political circles as Huggy Bear for his frequent embraces. An investigation into his actions is underway, prompted after former Assemblywoman Linda Halderman of Fresno complained about hugs from Hertzberg. The Republican, who served from 2010 to 2012, said Hertzberg had repeatedly embraced her in a manner that made her uncomfortable. Mendoza, too, is the subject of a current investigation, after claims of unwanted advances toward three former female subordinates. He is on a leave of absence from the Senate while the accusations are examined and has denied any inappropriate bodily contact with the women. Mendoza has also been sharply critical of the Senates investigation process. An outside law firm is conducting the current investigations of Mendoza and Hertzberg. The case involving Burke, elected to the Assembly in 2014, was sparked by an accusation from a former staff member in 2017. The then-Assembly human resources director found that Burke had an inappropriate conversation regarding anal sex with Capitol office staff. In a statement, the Democratic assemblywoman said the conversation occurred after-hours and involved a staff member sharing his experience as a young gay man. She said the claim was later made by a disgruntled former staff member. Advertisement As a leader, I recognize my obligation to ensure a safe and comfortable work environment for everyone in my office, and I think every claim needs to be taken seriously, Burke said. However, I believed then and still believe that the complaint was motivated by the former staff members anger over being terminated. The newly released complaints were provided to The Times 94 days after legislative attorneys initially refused to do so, a position that lawmakers reconsidered after the newspapers attorneys warned that a California court could ultimately be asked to intervene. Any privacy rights in such cases must yield to the publics profound interest in learning the basis of the claims, the process followed and the resulting discipline or other resolution, Jeff Glasser, The Times vice president for legal affairs, wrote in a Dec. 5 letter. The chief of staff to Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de Leon (D-Los Angeles) said that future records will be released under the custom and practice of the house a set of nonbinding guidelines and then only upon formal request. Assembly officials said they havent determined the procedure going forward. In several instances, staff members were fired after an investigation. One Assembly staff member, however, stayed on the government payroll after an investigation in 2007. In 2015, he was again accused of inappropriate workplace behavior. Advertisement Only the original complaint and documents confirming each investigations completion were made public. The names of accusers and witnesses were excluded, and lawmakers refused to disclose any other records pertaining to the cases. Based on numbers initially provided to The Times last fall, the new documents show 58% of sexual misconduct investigations in the Legislature since 2006 resulted in a verified complaint or discipline. Absent additional disclosure, its difficult to make any broad assessment of sexual harassment accusations in the legislative workplace. Californias Legislature investigated 31 abuse complaints made over the past decade For example, the disclosure was limited to cases involving high-level staffers, usually legislative employees who manage other workers. Because sexual harassment isnt limited to supervisors acting improperly toward a subordinate a receptionist, for example, could be found to have sexually harassed an office assistant its possible additional incidents are being kept confidential. Advertisement The documents also included the cost to taxpayers. For investigations into sexual harassment, the Legislature spent more than $294,000 on outside attorneys. And on the cases that ended in cash settlements, legislative officials agreed to payments totaling $290,000. The current spotlight on the issue of sexual misconduct likely explains why there are more ongoing investigations in the Capitol than at any time in recent history. A spokesman for Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon (D-Paramount) said there are eight pending inquiries, including the publicly acknowledged allegations against Bocanegra and former Assemblyman Matt Dababneh (D-Woodland Hills). Both men resigned last fall after accusations of harassment from multiple women. Bocanegra and Dababneh have denied any wrongdoing. The Assembly declined to identify the subjects of other ongoing investigations, which include members and senior staff. The records provide new information about a 2009 incident involving Bocanegra, who was then a legislative staffer and later elected to the Assembly. The Times reported last year that Elise Flynn Gyore, a fellow staffer at the time, alleged Bocanegra made inappropriate and unwelcome physical contact with her by sticking his hands in her blouse at a nightclub. The records released Friday show that Bocanegra was suspended for three days without pay after an investigation found that the encounter more likely than not happened. He also was directed to undergo individual counseling and training. The records show that Bocanegra at the time speculated that the complainant had a political motive for the complaint, but the investigation found no evidence that Gyore would fabricate her claim for a political reason. Bocanegra resigned from the Assembly last year after The Times reported on the Gyore complaint and allegations from six additional women of inappropriate sexual behavior. Advertisement Coverage of California politics A spokesman for De Leon initially said investigations into Hertzberg and Mendoza are the only pending sexual harassment cases involving senators or high-level staffers. De Leons office later said there is a third senator under investigation, but declined to identify the lawmaker. The Legislatures handling of sexual harassment complaints has faced unprecedented public scrutiny in the wake of an open letter last October, signed by more than 140 women in California politics and denouncing a pervasive culture of sexual misconduct in their industry. In response, lawmakers scrambled to address what critics called a confusing and inconsistent process for handling complaints. They convened a joint legislative committee tasked with recommending changes to harassment policies that would be implemented uniformly by the Senate and Assembly a significant change for two houses that operate their own human resources operations. As has already been made clear, the Legislature needs to do a better job making sure everyone in the Capitol community feels safe in their jobs & safe coming forward with complaints, Rendon wrote in a tweet late Friday. Advertisement Gyore, who was praised last year for her decision to come forward with accusations against Bocanegra, agreed. I dont think were all done with everything, she said. We have work to do...The best outcome is we create a culture in which this doesnt happen in the first place. Times staff writer Patrick McGreevy contributed to this report. john.myers@latimes.com Advertisement melanie.mason@latimes.com Follow @johnmyers and @melmason on Twitter, sign up for our daily Essential Politics newsletter and listen to the weekly California Politics Podcast Read the claims from the California Assembly Read the settlements from the California Assembly Advertisement Read the claims and settlements from the California state Senate Have you experienced sexual harassment in government or politics? Share your story UPDATES: 5:20 p.m. This article was updated with comment from Speaker Rendon and from Elyse Gyore. Advertisement 4 p.m.: This article was updated with a comment from Allen and more details from the documents. 2:10 p.m.: This article was updated with the number of senators currently under investigation. This article was originally published at 1:40 p.m. Gov. Jerry Brown has earmarked $117 million in his new state budget to expand the number of treatment beds and mental health programs for more than 800 mentally ill inmates found incompetent to stand trial. State officials said they have struggled to keep up with the needs of a population that has jumped in size by 33% over the last three years, as judges are increasingly referring defendants to treatment. But one state lawmaker says additional funds are not enough. Legislators, he said, need to update the laws used by judges to evaluate the mental health of people charged with crimes. And he has proposed his own legislation to keep mentally ill offenders out of the criminal justice system. It seems to me that the courts, the behavioral health people, law enforcement, social work everybody should get together and try to solve that problem, Sen. Jim Beall (D-San Jose) said at a recent budget committee hearing. Because its like a bottomless pit if we dont reform. Advertisement Under California law, a judge can find a person charged with a crime incompetent to stand trial if they have a mental disorder or developmental disability that prevents them from understanding court proceedings or helping their lawyer with their defense. Depending on the severity of the alleged crime, defendants are supposed to be moved to a state hospital, a community mental health facility or a special jail unit to receive treatment for 180 days before undergoing another court evaluation. Felony defendants can repeat that legal process for up to three years, misdemeanor inmates up to one. Inmates who do not improve can be placed under the care of a guardian or organization and some are confined in mental health facilities, but most are released back on the streets without resources to address their chronic conditions. Beall argues the legal process fails to reflect advances in psychiatric and medical treatment. Defendants are committed to treatment for up to three years, when it can take only months or even weeks to determine whether medication will diminish the symptoms of mental illness and allow defendants to stand trial, according to Laura Arnold of the California Public Defenders Assn. The competency system is broken, Arnold said. The main reason, I believe, is that the three-year maximum term of commitment hasnt been revisited since 1974. As of December, 840 inmates in county jails were awaiting space in state hospitals or other treatment facilities. Most had a major psychotic or mood disorder and multiple arrests, according to state data. Nearly half had been homeless and did not have access to Californias healthcare system for the poor, Medi-Cal, in the six months before their arrest. If the Legislature approves the governors budget, the state funds earmarked by Brown would help counties create or expand mental health programs that divert inmates away from jail and into treatment in their communities. Most of the money would go to the 15 California counties with the largest populations of felony offenders found incompetent to stand trial. The highest number is in Los Angeles County, where the state plans to spend at least $15 million in the next year to treat up to 150 patients in community facilities. Mental health experts said they hope the funds will encourage counties to divert mentally ill offenders away from the criminal justice system before they are charged with a crime or are found incompetent to stand trial. Advertisement Anne Hadreas, supervising attorney with Disability Rights of California, said the state doesnt have to overhaul competency laws to cut the state hospital waiting lists if officials rethink how services are provided for defendants. Do we start trying to provide them before someone gets arrested? she said. Do we start trying to provide them in lieu of going to jail at all? Beall has been thinking the same thing. A bill he introduced this legislative session would allow judges to place mentally ill defendants in pretrial diversion programs for up to two years in lieu of prosecution. A similar proposal from Beall was shelved last year amid fiscal concerns. Advertisement Beall says he hopes his new legislation has a better chance of passing. People tend to slide backward when people are in the jail and the prisons, he said. It creates worse and more expensive problems. More California inmates are getting a second chance as parole board enters new era of discretion jazmine.ulloa@latimes.com Advertisement Twitter: @jazmineulloa ALSO: Prop. 47 got thousands out of prison. Now, $103 million in savings will go towards keeping them out To prevent wrongful convictions, California considering new eyewitness lineup standards Advertisement More California inmates are getting a second chance as parole board enters new era of discretion Updates on California politics Week 54 of President Trumps tenure brings us back to where we started the president fighting with national security agencies over claims of illegal surveillance. The fight comes after a period of relative calm in which Trumps public standing rose. The publics approval of his job performance and forecasts of his partys chances in the midterm election have improved from slipping-under-the-waves status to hanging on. The improvement came during a period in which Trump got somewhat out of the way and let good economic news dominate headlines. Most presidents would draw a lesson from that. But calm seldom lasts with Trump. Im David Lauter, Washington bureau chief. Welcome to the Friday edition of our Essential Politics newsletter, in which we look at the events of the week in Washington and elsewhere in national politics and highlight some particularly insightful stories. Advertisement #RELEASETHEMEMO THEN WHAT? Led by House Intelligence Committee chair Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Tulare), who has proved to be an untiring warrior on behalf of Trumps riskiest instincts, Republicans have waged a campaign for weeks to focus public attention on a classified memo that alleges wrongdoing by the FBI and senior Justice Department officials. On Friday, the House committee released the classified memo that Republicans say reveals improper government surveillance during the 2016 presidential campaign and that the FBI warned was inaccurate. (We will be updating this story throughout the day.) As Chris Megerian and Joe Tanfani wrote, the memo provoked an extraordinary response from the FBI, which on Wednesday issued a public statement that accused the committee staff, who wrote the document, of trying to mislead people. We have grave concerns about material omissions of fact that fundamentally impact the memos accuracy, the statement said. A few days earlier, the Justice Departments top national security official, Assistant Attorney General Stephen Boyd, had sent a letter to Nunes calling plans to release the memo extraordinarily reckless. On Monday, in the meeting at which the committee voted to release the memo, the panels top Democrat, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Burbank), asked for a pause to allow FBI Director Christopher Wray and Justice Department officials to brief the members about their concerns, which Wray had already expressed in private. Advertisement We are not going to be briefed by people that are under investigation by this committee, Nunes shot back. Both Wray and Boyd are Trump appointees. Because the memo relies on classified information, the White House had a five-day period in which to review the document and potentially block its release. But Trump made clear from the start that he favored release. On Tuesday night, as he left the House chamber after his State of the Union speech, he assured one member 100% that he would approve the memos release a comment caught on a C-Span microphone. On Thursday, officials said the decision to release had been made, despite objections from Wray and Dan Coats, the director of National Intelligence. Advertisement THE RISK OF BACKFIRE Friday, shortly after noon, the House committee released the memo. With that, Nunes and his allies, who, at least on this matter, include House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), won a victory. Or have they? The campaign has been a peculiar one. The memo, after all, is not a document that Nunes aides discovered; its one they wrote. Its a four-page committee report not the sort of publication that normally has huge impact on public opinion. Advertisement The Republicans helped along on social media by thousands of automated accounts linked to Russian bot operations have waged a highly successful effort to attract attention to the document in advance of publication. But when the public reads it, the impact may not be what they hoped. The central allegation is that when the Justice Department sought a classified warrant to conduct surveillance of Carter Page, a one-time Trump campaign official, they relied in part on allegations contained in a now-infamous dossier prepared by an opposition research firm that had been paid by Democrats. Trump believes that the memo will help him build a case, as he said on Twitter on Friday morning, that the top leadership and investigators of the FBI and the Justice Department politicized the sacred investigative process in favor of Democrats and against Republicans. But the opposition from his own, Republican, appointees complicates that argument. FBI officials say that the dossier, written by Christopher Steele, a former British intelligence agent, provided only part of the evidence on which the surveillance was based. A federal judge reviewed all the evidence before approving a warrant to monitor Page, and that evidence was reviewed again when the warrant was renewed, officials say. Advertisement Moreover, FBI investigations of Pages Russian ties go back to at least 2013, long before Trump became a candidate and picked him as an advisor. Focusing public attention on Trumps connections to Page and his Russian ties seems a questionable strategy for the White House. Trump thinks the memo controversy and his growing fight with the FBI will rally the public to his side. Perhaps so. But, of course, he thought the same thing about his decision to fire FBI Director James B. Comey. STATE OF THE UNION DIVIDED The fight over the memo bracketed Trumps State of the Union speech, which White House aides wrote and advertised as an attempt at bipartisan appeal. Advertisement To some extent, they succeeded for 24 hours, at least. Trump stuck to his text, presented a calm, non-threatening demeanor, and in the opening parts of the speech, devoted considerable time to touting economic growth, rising wages and the benefits of the Republican tax cut. Don Lee took a close look at one of Trumps claims his boast about lowered unemployment among African Americans. [The speech was among the longest in years. Weve put together an annotated text, with links to our fact checks and other background.] As Mark Barabak noted, for the length of the speech, a presidential Trump vied with pugnacious Trump, and for at least a time, the presidential version won out. Advertisement But as the speech moved past the 45-minute mark, darker notes began to prevail. As Cathy Decker described in her analysis, Trumps tone was milder, but his substance remained divisive. That was especially true on immigration, the issue that is once again preoccupying Congress. HOPES FOR DACA DEAL FADE Trumps speech framed the immigration debate primarily as an issue of crime. That infuriated many Democrats and their allies. Advertisement As Brian Bennett wrote, the anger increased the risks for any lawmaker who might be tempted to try to strike a compromise with Trump. The problem, as Democrats see it, is that Trump not only is attacking many of their constituents as potential criminals, he also wants them to agree to all the major elements of his agenda in exchange for only one item on theirs permanent legal status for the young immigrants who came to the U.S. illegally as children. The biggest non-starter for Democrats is Trumps insistence on reducing not just illegal immigration, but legal entries as well. His plan would cut legal immigration by more than 40%, independent analyses indicate, by preventing U.S. citizens and legal residents from petitioning for visas for their parents, siblings and adult children. In the Senate, talks continue on a narrower bill that would legalize at least the roughly 700,000 young immigrants covered by the Obama administrations Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which Trump wants to end, in exchange for more money for border security. Advertisement Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has promised to allow an immigration bill to come to the floor this month. But even if such a bill passes the Senate, prospects in the House appear dim. House Republicans know that any immigration bill has potential to alienate conservative, anti-immigration constituents. Facing a midterm election in which they need every possible Republican vote, theyre loathe to consider any bill that might split their party. House Democrats, meantime, see the possibility of winning back a majority this fall. That reduces their incentive to strike a deal now, when they have less leverage. A NEW BATTLE OVER THE MOJAVE Advertisement The administration is preparing to scrap a major agreement negotiated under the Obama administration that brokered a truce between two Democratic constituencies renewable energy developers and conservationists over the California desert. As Evan Halper reported, administration officials want to reconsider the Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan, which covers more than 10.8 million acres of California desert. The plan aimed to steer solar- and wind-energy projects to certain parts of the desert, keeping them away from more environmentally sensitive areas. The administrations move could unravel a series of agreements brokered by California officials to protect the desert while still spurring development of renewable energy. Advertisement TILLERSON STILL THERE, CDC CHIEF NOT A lot of people thought that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson would be gone by now. But Tillerson hasnt quit. Thursday found him at the University of Texas, delivering a speech on Latin America policy as he prepared to head off on a trip to the region, wrote Tracy Wilkinson, who is traveling with Tillerson. Trumps choice to head the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention hasnt fared as well. Advertisement Dr. Brenda Fitzgerald already had been required to step aside from several public health issues, including testimony about opioid abuse, because of her investments in companies that potentially stood to benefit from government actions. But, as Noam Levey wrote, the disclosure by Politico that Fitzgerald had invested in tobacco stocks crossed a line. Fitzgerald, a former Georgia health official, had served under the previous secretary of Health and Human Services, Tom Price, a former Georgia member of Congress. The new HHS secretary, Alex Azar, who was confirmed late last month, may have been less willing to live with her potential conflicts of interest. After meeting Azar, she announced her resignation on Wednesday. Were keeping track of the notable hirings and firings here. ALL THE PRESIDENTS TWEETS Advertisement Twitter has long been Trumps favored means of pushing his message. Were compiling all of Trumps tweets. Its a great resource. Take a look. LOGISTICS That wraps up this week. My colleague Christina Bellantoni will be back Monday with the weekday edition of Essential Politics. Until then, keep track of all the developments in national politics and the Trump administration with our Essential Washington blog, at our Politics page and on Twitter @latimespolitics. Send your comments, suggestions and news tips to politics@latimes.com. Advertisement If you like this newsletter, tell your friends to sign up. David.lauter@latimes.com @davidlauter The memo released by the House Intelligence Committee makes several claims that are in dispute. Here are key points in the debate. Purpose This memorandum provides Members an update on significant facts relating to the Committee's ongoing investigation into the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and their use of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) during the 2016 presidential election cycle. Our findings, which are detailed below, 1) raise concerns with the legitimacy and legality of certain DOJ and FBI interactions with the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC), and 2) represent a troubling breakdown of legal processes established to protect the American people from abuses related to the FISA process. David Lauter Washington Bureau Chief Notably, this memo by the Intelligence Committee majority staff does not assert that the DoJ and FBI actions were illegitimate or illegal, just that they "raise concerns." Investigation Update On October 21, 2016, DOJ and FBI sought and received a FISA probable cause order (not under Title VII) authorizing electronic surveillance on Carter Page from the FISC. Page is a U.S. citizen who served as a volunteer advisor to the Trump presidential campaign. Consistent with requirements under FISA, the application had to be first certified by the Director or Deputy Director of the FBI. It then required the approval of the Attorney General, Deputy Attorney General (DAG), or the Senate-confirmed Assistant Attorney General for the National Security Division. Lauter The date is significant because Page was no longer working for the Trump campaign at this point. Trump's supporters have argued that the surveillance was improper because it was targeted at his campaign. The FBI and DOJ obtained one initial FISA warrant targeting Carter Page and three FISA renewals from the FISC. Lauter The fact that the FISA court renewed the warrant on Page three times was not previously on the record and is significant. That means the federal judges who have been assigned to the FISA court on four separate occasions decided that prosecutors had met the legal standard of showing evidence of probable cause to believe that Page was "a foreign power or an agent of a foreign power. As required by statute (50 U.S.C. ,1805(d)(1)), a FISA order on an American citizen must be renewed by the FISC every 90 days and each renewal requires a separate finding of probable cause. Then-Director James Comey signed three FISA applications in question on behalf of the FBI, and Deputy Director Andrew McCabe signed one. Then-DAG Sally Yates, then-Acting DAG Dana Boente, and DAG Rod Rosenstein each signed one or more PISA applications on behalf of DOJ. Due to the sensitive nature of foreign intelligence activity, FISA submissions (including renewals) before the FISC are classified. As such, the public's confidence in the integrity of the FISA process depends on the court's ability to hold the government to the highest standard particularly as it relates to surveillance of American citizens. However, the FISC's rigor in protecting the rights of Americans, which is reinforced by 90-day renewals of surveillance orders, is necessarily dependent on the government's production to the court of all material and relevant facts. This should include information potentially favorable to the target of the FISA application that is known by the government. In the case of Carter Page, the government had at least four independent opportunities before the FISC to accurately provide an accounting of the relevant facts. However, our findings indicate that, as described below, material and relevant information was omitted. 1) The "dossier" compiled by Christopher Steele (Steele dossier) on behalf of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and the Hillary Clinton campaign formed an essential part of the Carter Page FISA application. Lauter This is one of the memo's key, contested assertions. Republicans say the material in the Steele dossier was "essential" for the warrant application; Democrats say it was just one piece of evidence among several. The actual evidence to tell whether this statement is true or false would be the warrant affidavit, which remains highly classified. Steele was a longtime FBI source who was paid over $160,000 by the DNC and Clinton campaign, via the law firm Perkins Coie and research firm Fusion GPS, to obtain derogatory information on Donald Trump's ties to Russia. a) Neither the initial application in October 2016, nor any of the renewals, disclose or reference the role of the DNC, Clinton campaign, or any party/campaign in funding Steele's efforts, even though the political origins of the Steele dossier were then known to senior DOJ and FBI officials. Lauter Without seeing the application, there's no way to verify if this statement is true. But legal experts have also noted that a judge reviewing a warrant application might not find the question of who paid Steele relevant. Warrants often rely on information given to law enforcement officials by informants, and informants typically have ulterior motives. That's not a new issue for judges. b) The initial FISA application notes Steele was working for a named U.S. person, but does not name Fusion GPS and principal Glenn Simpson, who was paid by a U.S. law firm (Perkins Coie) representing the DNC (even though it was known by DOJ at the time that political actors were involved with the Steele dossier). The application does not mention Steele was ultimately working on behalf of and paid by the DNC and Clinton campaign, or that the FBI had separately authorized payment to Steele for the same information. 2) The Carter Page FISA application also cited extensively a September 23, 2016, Yahoo News article by Michael Isikoff , which focuses on Page's July 2016 trip to Moscow. This article does not corroborate the Steele dossier because it is derived from information leaked by Steele himself to Yahoo News. The Page FISA application incorrectly assesses that Steele did not directly provide information to Yahoo News. Steele has admitted in British court filings that he met with Yahoo News and several other outlets in September 2016 at the direction of Fusion GPS. Perkins Coie was aware of Steele's initial media contacts because they hosted at least one meeting in Washington D.C. in 2016 with Steele and Fusion GPS where this matter was discussed. a) Steele was suspended and then terminated as an FBI source for what the FBI defines as the most serious of violations an unauthorized disclosure to the media of his relationship with the FBI in an October 30, 2016, Mother Jones article by David Com. Steele should have been terminated for his previous undisclosed contacts with Yahoo and other outlets in September before the Page application was submitted to the FISC in October but Steele improperly concealed from and lied to the FBI about those contacts. Lauter As with the payment issue, the legal question here is whether a judge would consider this relevant in weighing the evidence presented in the application for a warrant. b) Steele's numerous encounters with the media violated the cardinal rule of source handling maintaining confidentiality and demonstrated that Steele had become a less than reliable source for the FBI. 3) Before and after Steele was terminated as a source, he maintained contact with DOJ via then-Associate Deputy Attorney General Bruce Ohr, a senior DOJ official who worked closely with Deputy Attorneys General Yates and later Rosenstein. Shortly after the election, the FBI began interviewing Ohr, documenting his communications with Steele. For example, in September 2016, Steele admitted to Ohr his feelings against then candidate Trump when Steele said he "was desperate that Donald Trump not get elected and was passionate about him not being president." This clear evidence of Steele's bias was recorded by Ohr at the time and subsequently in official FBI files but not reflected in any of the Page FISA applications. Lauter The key question here is whether Steele was biased against Trump before or after he conducted his investigation. If he began the investigation with a bias, that would raise questions about his credibility. If he became "desperate that Donald Trump not get elected" because his investigation convinced him that Trump was subject to Russian blackmail, that would be a different matter. a) During this same time period, Ohr's wife was employed by Fusion GPS to assist in the cultivation of opposition research on Trump. Ohr later provided the FBI with all of his wife's opposition research, paid for by the DNC and Clinton campaign via Fusion GPS. The Ohrs' relationship with Steele and Fusion GPS was inexplicably concealed from the FISC. 4) According to the head of the FBI's counterintelligence division, Assistant Director Bill Priestap, corroboration of the Steele dossier was in its "infancy" at the time of the initial Page FISA application. After Steele was terminated, a source validation report conducted by an independent unit within FBI assessed Steele's reporting as only minimally corroborated. Yet, in early January 2017, Director Comey briefed President-elect Trump on a summary of the Steele dossier, even though it was according to his June 2017 testimony "salacious and unverified." While the FISA application relied on Steele's past record of credible reporting on other unrelated matters, it ignored or concealed his anti-Trump financial and ideological motivations. Furthermore, Deputy Director McCabe testified before the Committee in December 2017 that no surveillance warrant would have been sought from the FISC without the Steele dossier information. Lauter It's notable that the memo does not quote McCabe's testimony, but merely purports to summarize it. The committee has not released a transcript of what McCabe said. Democrats say the memo's summary of McCabe's words is misleading. The statement that "no surveillance warrant would have been sought" could mean that the Steele dossier was crucial to meet the standard of probable cause. If McCabe said that, it would significantly bolster the Republican case. But the statement could also mean that the FBI, which had other things on its plate, wouldn't have moved quickly to get a warrant for surveillance on Steele if not for the dossier, but had plenty of evidence without it. Or it could mean something else entirely. Without McCabe's actual words, which the committee has, the meaning is uncertain. 5) The Page FISA application also mentions information regarding fellow Trump campaign advisor George Papadopoulos, but there is no evidence of any cooperation or conspiracy between Page and Papadopoulos. The Papadopoulos information triggered the opening of an FBI counterintelligence investigation in late July 2016 by FBI agent Pete Strzok. Lauter This statement cuts against the Republican case. It confirms that the FBI began its investigation because of information related to Papadopoulos, who is now cooperating with special counsel Robert S. Mueller III, not because of the Steele dossier. Strzok was reassigned by the Special Counsel's Office to FBI Human Resources for improper text messages with his mistress, FBI Attorney Lisa Page (no known relation to Carter Page), where they both demonstrated a clear bias against Trump and in favor of Clinton, whom Strzok had also investigated. The Strzok/Lisa Page texts also reflect extensive discussions about the investigation, orchestrating leaks to the media, and include a meeting with Deputy Director McCabe to discuss an "insurance" policy against President Trump's election. Lauter The meaning of Peter Strzok's reference to an "insurance policy" has been hotly debated. Moreover, the existence of the text messages doesn't add evidence to the debate over the warrant, which might have been completely valid even if the agents didn't like Trump. Additional credits: Kyle Kim and Chris Keller If you spend a lot of time on your mobile phone, youll be happy to learn that your habit isnt hazardous to your health, according to a new government safety report. The findings, released Friday by the National Toxicology Program, reaffirm the agencys previous research. The reports dont go much further than what we had reported earlier, and I have not changed the way I use a cellphone, NTP senior scientist John Bucher said in a briefing. Dr. Otis Brawley, the chief medical and scientific officer for the American Cancer Society, said that the new evidence should not alarm wireless phone users. Advertisement The evidence for an association between cellphones and cancer is weak, and so far, we have not seen a higher cancer risk in people, Brawley said in a statement. The new evidence is based on experiments with rats and mice that were exposed to radiofrequency radiation for as long as two years. The rodents were bathed in the radiation for 10 minutes at a time, followed by a 10-minute break, for about 9 hours per day. The lowest level of radiation for rats was 1.5 watts per kilogram of body weight, which was equivalent to the maximum amount of exposure allowed for humans, the NTP said. At the high end, rats received 6 watts of radiation per kilogram of body weight. For mice, exposures ranged from 2.5 to 10 watts per kilogram of body weight. On the whole, the mice weathered the radiation just fine, with little indication of health problems, the NTP said in a statement. The rats didnt fare quite so well. Both male and female rats exposed to radiation were more likely to experience cardiomyopathy, a disease that causes damage to heart tissue. In addition, male rats exposed to the highest levels of radiation had an increased incidence of malignant tumors in the tissue that covers nerves in the heart. These nerve sheath tumors, called schwannomas, were not seen in female rats. Advertisement The researchers also reported that rats and mice exposed to radiofrequency radiation developed more tumors in the brain, prostate, liver, pancreas, pituitary gland and adrenal gland. But they said they werent sure whether the radiation was responsible. Among non-cancer risks, rat pups had lower birth weights when their mothers were exposed to high levels of radiation during pregnancy and while they were nursing. However, the rats ultimately grew to normal size. Strikingly, the rats exposed to radiation lived longer than rats in an unexposed group that served as controls. The researchers were at a loss to explain this. Perhaps the radiation reduces inflammation, as is seen in a therapy called microwave diathermy, they said. Or it could just be chance. Advertisement Its a complicated situation here, Bucher said in the briefing. Were seeing both positive and negative effects in these animals. Bucher also cautioned that the mice and rats in the study were exposed to far more radiation than humans experience through normal mobile phone use. So, these findings should not be directly extrapolated to human cell phone usage, he said in the statement. Brawley agreed. While the link to some rare cancers are important, there is no reason to think this study reflects real-life exposures, he said. But if youre concerned about this animal data, wear an earpiece. Advertisement The experiments used the type of radiation emitted by 2G and 3G networks that handle voice calls and text messages in the U.S. NTP researchers did not test the newer 4G, 4G-LTE and 5G networks used for more data-intensive functions like video streaming. The report will be reviewed by a panel of outside experts in late March. Independent scientists were critical of claims in a previous NTP study that linked cellphone radiation with tumor risk in the hearts and possibly brains of male rats. The Food and Drug Administration asked the National Toxicology Program to study the potential effects of the radiation emitted by cellphones in 1999. Back then, little was known about how the increasingly ubiquitous devices might impact human health. In the nearly 20 years since that request, hundreds of studies by scientists at the NTP and elsewhere have allowed the FDA to say with confidence that the current safety limits for cell phone radiation remain acceptable for protecting the public health, Dr. Jeffrey Shuren, director of the FDAs Center for Devices and Radiological Health, said in a statement. Advertisement Even with frequent daily use by the vast majority of adults, we have not seen an increase in events like brain tumors, he added. The FDA and the Federal Communications Commission share responsibility for regulating radiofrequency-emitting devices like wireless phones and televisions. The National Toxicology Program is based at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, part of the National Institutes of Health. To read this article in Spanish, click here Advertisement Times staff writer Amina Khan contributed to this report from Washington, D.C. karen.kaplan@latimes.com Follow me on Twitter @LATkarenkaplan and like Los Angeles Times Science & Health on Facebook. MORE IN SCIENCE Advertisement Why diets backfire: A year or more after weight loss, the desire to eat grows stronger This is how many pounds you can lose in a year by standing for six hours a day instead of sitting Polar bears bodies work 60% harder than thought which makes surviving climate change even tougher UPDATES: Advertisement 3:35 p.m.: The story has been updated with comments from Dr. Otis Brawley, chief medical and scientific officer for the American Cancer Society. The story was originally published at 1:20 p.m. Violent and property crimes in Burbank saw a small rise last year, with a 1.95% increase in reported incidents, according to the Burbank Police Department. The departments year-end crime statistics list 3,197 instances of crime that were reported in the city in 2017 as opposed to 3,136 in 2016. Sgt. Derek Green, a police spokesman, said the department wouldve liked to have seen a decrease in crime, but the minimal increase is still a testament to the work of officers and staff members. Green said the department has implemented various strategies to tamp down crime including direct-patrol missions, where officers identify specific problem areas of the city and increase their presence there. He also said the department has been aggressively filling vacancies since 2016, hiring more staff and sworn officers. Hopefully well start to see a decrease soon, he said. As for 2017, the number of violent crimes which include rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults jumped by 21% last year, from 209 reported cases in 2016 to 253. The gain was the result of a 72% hike in robberies, with 86 cases reported last year, while 2016 saw only 50. Green said the rise is due, in part, to whats called Estes robberies, which initially start out as shoplifting incidents. If a suspect engages in a physical confrontation with someone like a loss prevention officer trying to detain them, by law, that becomes a robbery, he said. However, not all of the robberies are upgraded shoplifting incidents, as Green referenced several armed robberies that occurred in Burbank last year including a Walgreens that was robbed in September and Subway and 7-Eleven that were robbed in November. Last year also saw a 16.6% decline in the number of reported rapes, going from 24 to 20. No homicides were reported in 2017 or 2016. Property crimes which include burglaries, thefts and auto thefts saw an overall increase of .58%, with 2,944 cases reported last year, while 2,927 were reported in 2016. Its the biggest category of crime in Burbank, according to Green. Burglaries saw the most dramatic reduction in property crimes, with a 9.44% decrease. Last year, there were 355 cases, while 2016 had 392. Weve certainly seen an increase in previous years, so the decrease is refreshing, he said. The number of thefts saw a small increase last year, going from 2,269 incidents in 2016 to 2,344 last year, a 3.31% bump. To help prevent any future property crimes, Green said residents should become more aware of their surroundings and valuables. Precautions such as keeping a car locked, installing antitheft devices and keeping items out of sight can go a long way, he said. andy.nguyen@latimes.com Twitter: @Andy_Truc UPDATES: Feb. 2, 4:05 p.m.: This article was originally based on preliminary numbers provided by the Burbank Police Department which have since changed. This article was originally published on Feb. 1 at 5:05 p.m. With predictions of ecological disaster on Earth, astrophysicist and author Stephen Hawking believes humans must begin to establish colonies elsewhere. At the Starmus science festival in Norway in June, Hawking brought new urgency to earlier statements that overpopulation, the potential for an asteroid impact and unchecked climate change are among the dangers that threaten the existence of humanity. Earth is under threat from so many areas that it is difficult for me to be positive, the scientist said. Hawking is a member of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences and was a participant late last year at the organizations annual meeting at the Vatican, where the avowed atheist found an unlikely ally in Pope Francis. At the same event, the pontiff expressed concerns about irreversible harm not only to the environment, but also to our societies, to democracy, to justice and freedom. Q. Do you believe the human race faces an existential threat? If humans fail to develop space travel, suffer a catastrophe and therefore become extinct, will the concept of God exist elsewhere in the physical universe? God has already addressed this very important question in scripture. The human race does not face an existential threat, whether from asteroids, ecological disasters or any other source. In fact, the Bible tells us exactly what will happen. Jesus Christ will return to raise the bodies of believers of all generations, and then transform or rapture believers living on earth at that time, leaving those who reject him. After this, the Antichrist will be revealed, rule over humanity for a limited time and ultimately be conquered by Jesus. Jesus will then rule on Earth over humanity for 1,000 years, after which the heavens and Earth will be consumed with fire. Those people who rejected God will be judged and cast eternally into the Lake of Fire. God will create new heavens and a new Earth, and those who know him will dwell with him there forever. Mankind will never be wiped out. So asking whether or not the concept of God would exist if humanity did not describes a scenario that will never happen. In addition to this, Gods existence is entirely independent of creation. The concept of God will exist everywhere because God is, and he is omnipresent. So, am I concerned about our planets future? Not at all. Earth (and mankind as well) is under such special guidance by God that its difficult not to be positive. Pastor Jon Barta Burbank -- The answer to the first part of this question is yes. Just as the concept of another devastating earthquake in California falls in the when and not the if category, we humans face threats of our own making whether they come in the nuclear, overpopulation or global warming flavor as well as from without. It is through chance, and not our good behavior, that we havent run afoul of an asteroid lately. But the second part of that question is the juicy one. Just as some believers fade away in the face of feats of science, their sense of divine magic and mystery dissipated, others see only the further reaches of Gods glory. These are the people for whom a God who looks like us albeit with a more flowing beard, better muscle tone among his two-to-eight arms, and eyes that are both more blue and also more pious, for example is just a placeholder for something we strive to describe. For these people, the god of Mars and beyond is easily the same one who chose a burning bush as its mouthpiece a few thousand years ago. The Unitarian Universalist view (if UUs can be said to have a view on anything) might be more in keeping with an oft-referenced conversation between French physicist Pierre Laplace and Napoleon Bonaparte around 1802. Bonaparte, when presented Laplaces five-volume Celestial Mechanics, is said to have ribbed Laplace about how there wasnt a single mention of the deity in the massive work. Laplace is alleged to have said, I had no need of that hypothesis. Some could say that Laplace had ruled out divine intervention in the creation of the universe, while others might say he simply relieved God of the tedious and gassy mechanics of universe-building to focus on the infinitely more complex construction of the soul. Still, some people might be disappointed when they find out that God is planet-agnostic. Marty Barrett Vice President Unitarian Universalist Church of the Verdugo Hills (UUVerdugo) -- I think Stephen Hawking should get out more, but he is chair-bound, and like so many sequestered city dwellers, frets about Earths population and pines for life in manmade cubicles on other planets without the abundance of Earth. Earth is unique, and I believe, along with many scientists, astrophysicists, astronomers, etc., that Earth is uniquely geared toward mans survival. It is made for us, it sustains us, it caters to us, and it is our intended home as imagined by God. I know Hawking has no other option in theorizing mankinds earthly doom, as he firmly rejects God (without scientific certainty). He cannot countenance a creator beyond time, yet he cannot explain how everything exploded into existence from nothing. There must have been something or there would be nothing, but because there is something, it is intellectually reasonable to believe that an infinite mind beyond time and space designed the whole shebang. Not for Hawking, so he would have us leave this incredibly human-focused place for the harsh climes of lifeless orbs beyond the stars. Here is what I believe: God is the God of all creation. If there is a life-sustaining planet somewhere in the universe besides ours, he is God of that place all the same. But God has not told us of such a thing, has not alluded to such, and has conveyed to us the blessedness of this current place, its spiritual and physical travail, and its future glory in absolute perfection. As a Christian, I await that day. In the meantime, I suggest people worried about overpopulation start looking to all the deserts, the Grand Canyon, the vast plains, the mountains, the ocean trenches, and if needs be, colonize those places first. If Christs Second Coming tarries, those should sustain us countless thousands of more years. No, I believe we should care for this planet and trust that God has not left our uniquely engineered home to a meaningless fate. The earth is the Lords, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it (Psalm 24:1 NIV). Rev. Bryan A. Griem Tujunga An article published in a September issue of the Week calls predictions of religious decline in the face of science unwarranted. Scientists, intellectuals and social scientists expected that the spread of modern science would drive secularization that science would be a secularizing force, the article states. But that simply hasnt been the case. Although leaders like Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of the Turkish republic, and Indias first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru championed secular and scientific ideals, the majority populations of nations forged from secularism have seen their governments replaced by religious ones, or have seen the rise of influential religious nationalist movements, the article states. In the U.S., with its First Amendment built in the words of Thomas Jefferson as a wall of separation between church and state, the battle between science and religion in classrooms and public spaces has been long fought and wide-ranging, with evolution, the Big Bang and climate change among contentious issues. Recently, the media has made known the concept of Dominionism in American politics, with reports that members of the Trump administration believe the U.S. is or should be a Christian nation. Q. Does an association with science put secular governments at risk of becoming theocracies? Could religious objections to science lead the U.S. toward becoming a theocratic state? First, lets not make the error of assuming that science and faith are opposites, that by nature they are at odds with one another. The person of faith understands that God made both natural, physical laws and moral, spiritual ones. Thats an important thing for the secularist to understand. Science doesnt cure people of faith. In fact, humanitys deepest existential questions can never be answered by science. By his design, creation points us to our creator. This basic fact will never be changed by governmental policy. On the opposite end of the spectrum, religious extremists certainly have dominated other countries and suppressed scientific inquiry. But in our country, disagreements over science v ersu s religion will not lead to a religious coup. Psalm 50:6 and Psalm 97:6 say, The heavens declare his righteousness. Romans 1:20 says, since the creation of the world his invisible attributes, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made. People of faith should never fear science. But they should be cautious of those who try to twist science to serve a secularist agenda. Pastor Jon Barta Burbank .. I hate that religion is being pitted against science. Science is not unlike religion in many ways; it seeks to understand the world and our place therein, but it stands on the back of earlier science to peer into the unknown, making faith decisions regarding the outcome of its current investigations. Thats called hypotheses (reaching from the known and believing things about the unseen). Scientists are often very good at their educated guesses, but they also change their minds and apprise us later that there really werent certain evolutionary hominids as science textbooks taught, that it wasnt really a brontosaurus, or that trans fats are no longer good for us. In other words, science is good yet faulty, like religion. But if scientists believe their field is ultimate truth that should eradicate the spiritual, then Houston, we have a problem. Man is naturally religious, and some of our best scientists were Christians, but today its difficult for godly scientists to excel amid the atheistic climate of scientism; kind of like Christian actors having little representation in morally miscreant Hollywood. In the 1960 s, anthropologist Anthony Wallace prophesied, Belief in supernatural powers is doomed as a result of the increasing adequacy and diffusion of scientific knowledge. It reminds me of John Lennon declaring the Beatles greater than Jesus Christ. Then theres neuroscientist Sam Harris final solution, Science must destroy religion! Here are the scientific elite; how can the majority of us not bristle at such hubris, and how can science and religion peacefully co-exist when one wants to burn the other? Christians dont hate science. It has been useful for advancement, but its also people of faith who have created the environment for free scientific inquiry. In atheist countries, scientists may only be useful for helping strengthen a totalitarian state. Then what noble end has science? As to the question, if the science community would value religious views, then religious people might more try to discover how faith is strengthened by science and how science is validated by Scripture. Well never agree on every theory or hypothesis, but we certainly wont agree with any government that takes science and uses it as a bludgeon to kill God. If theres no God, thats one thing, but its our belief he exists that will cause us to rise against the forces of anti-god (Anti-Christ?). Could America become a theocracy? Anythings possible. Rev. Bryan A. Griem Tujunga .. Being a member of a Unitarian Universalist community appeals to me because I can come up with at least two reasonable answers to that question. First, the answer is yes, and we can see evidence in our elementary schools. As the parent of school-age children, I often marvel at their stories of the recess-yard antics of their peers, especially ones involving doubling down, the popular phrase for asserting a belief despite mounting evidence against it (such double-downs usually involve boasts of Minecraft achievements, and one family favorite concerned how a schoolmate of my sons simply would not yield ground on her statement that Katy Perry is her godmother). Sadly, I cant tell my kids that the market corrections of adulthood have been effective in stamping out such behavior, especially recently. Instead, I tell them about the Jefferson Bible, in which one of our founding fathers, in his ample free time, removed mentions of Jesus divinity and miracles from his personal Bible, leaving just his life and morals. I tell them such a thoughtful document is a way of capturing the spirit of the Bible love your neighbor, lets say rather than the often problematic and easily refuted letter. Today we have a president whose base supports doubling-down against contrary evidence, as if our civic life is a game at an Atlantic City casino. I think the cynical co-opting of the evangelical vote, in which clergy encourage Trumps behavior with Sometimes God works with faulty tools is evidence that yes, a theocracy is possible when such a relentless fear of intellectualism is evident. But I also think that, just as the public pendulum shifted toward Bush after Clinton and toward Obama after Bush (and then disengaged entirely), there is a growing understanding that a quest for scientific truth is not at odds with spirituality. What are science and spirituality, after all, if not voyages into the mystery? So Im prepared to say that no, were not in danger of being a theocracy, even if Mike Pence becomes president after his boss wanders off somewhere. Marty Barrett Vice President Unitarian Universalist Community of the Verdugo Hills (UUVerdugo) The debt of clients of public joint-stock company Ukrtransgaz for natural gas balancing services grew 2.8-fold or UAH 13 billion in 2017, to UAH 20.1 billion, the press service of Ukrtransgaz has reported. "Among the largest debtors are PJSC Kharkivmiskgaz with UAH 2.74 billion and PJSC Donetskoblgaz with UAH 2.38 billion of debt. Some UAH 16.67 billion (82%) in the total debt structure was accumulated in the networks of gas distribution system operators (GDS) due to the unauthorized gas pumping for industrial and technological needs of these operators and enterprises producing heat energy," the company said. Ukrtransgaz said that the General Prosecutor's Office of Ukraine is conducting a pretrial investigation on suspicion of officials of GDS operators of embezzlement of the funds of Ukrtransgaz on a particularly large scale. "Regional gas supply companies and their sales subsidiaries are growing rich thanks to nonpayment not only to Naftogaz, but also to Ukrtransgaz,. UAH 20 billion from one company, UAH 20 billion from another, and it is possible to make a decent living for the main shareholder in Austria. Required intermediaries? Effective network operators?" the press service of national joint-stock company Naftogaz Ukrainy said on its Facebook page, commenting on the information. Art enthusiasts have an opportunity to view two disparate, yet equally compelling exhibits currently on display at Soka Universitys Founders Hall Art Gallery. The Winter Art Gallery Exhibit, set within the universitys Aliso Viejo campus, will run through May 7 and feature the works of artists Frank Galuszka and Tracy Sagalow, known as Red. Votive: Art of Frank Galuszka The South County gallerys first floor showcases the iridescent colors and compositions of Votive: Art of Frank Galuszka. Curated by Arie Galles, Soka University professor emeritus of painting and drawing, the Votive exhibit has been described by Galles as a consecrated, voluntary vow of gratitude and devotion. Working in acrylic and oil, and covering a range of emotion and expression, Galuszka, a classically trained artist, often incorporates mythological and biblical sources into his works featuring contemporary figures and settings. The creation of Votive began when Galles traveled over the summer to Santa Cruz, where Galuszka has taught painting at UC Santa Cruz since 1995. Galles selected the shows pieces from hundreds of paintings over a period of two days. My favorite thing about this exhibition is the intersection of [Galles] imagination with my own in assembling this retrospective body of work, said Galuszka during an opening reception held Jan. 25. His selection created juxtapositions that surprised me, and informed me about my own work so that I saw things in it I would not have seen otherwise. From plein air paintings at Lake Como and depictions of a young woman in Advice (2016) to the figures shown in Three Philosophers, Galuszkas paintings offer evocative impressions of various locations and individuals. Inga, the exhibits centerpiece, vibrates with color, pattern and subject matter. I try to give each painting a unique identity, said Galuszka. I try to give each painting a color identity. Inga is about a place and about a person in this place. The figure comes from an earlier painting of mine in which this same figure is dressed in indigo. I like that painting can reach into unknown and unseen places, Galuszka said. I like that painting defends the unknown that it makes visible the unseen, that it can align the unseen with the seen. Artists Red, left, and Frank Galuszka chat during opening night of 100 Women and More and Votive at Founders Hall Art Gallery at Soka University of America. (Don Leach / Staff Photographer ) The exhibit 100 Women and More by Red, a Manhattan-based artist, is featured in the gallerys second floor space. The series features 100 portraits of influential women throughout history, from 1500 B.C.E. to today, who have shaped the world and helped change it. Using ink on wood, Red illustrates each woman on a 5-by-7-inch wooden oval thats accompanied by an identifying card with a short biography. Five years in the making, Reds series was inspired after she experienced an incident of gender discrimination in the workplace in 2012. Feeling helpless and powerless to change her situation, Red began researching the series and created detailed, intricate portraits. Arranged by year of birth, the exhibit starts with Hatshepsut, a pharaoh of Egypt, and concludes with Malala Yousafzai, education activist and the youngest Nobel Prize laureate. Along the way, viewers will find portraits of trailblazers such as Queen Elizabeth I (Reds first portrait), Amelia Earhart, Rosa Parks, Georgia OKeeffe, Julia Child, Janis Joplin, Billie Jean King, Hillary Clinton and Michelle Obama, to name a few. The series never features the same 100 women twice, and the show is always growing, said Red, who has completed 168 portraits and hopes to get to 1,000. Viewers also have an opportunity to add names of women to the collection, which Red hopes will not only deepen the viewers connection to the exhibit, but allow them to think about inspiring women in their own lives. Revealing that there was something mystic about how her series came about, Red explained that everything unfolded with the timing of the 2017 Womens March and that female empowerment movement. If You Go What: The Winter Art Gallery Exhibit When: Till May 7; 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Fridays Where: Soka University of America, Founders Hall Art Gallery, One University Drive, Aliso Viejo Cost: Admission is free Information: (949) 480-4000 or soka.edu. Beth Fhaner is a contributor to Times Community News. When musician David Washburn had the chance to play trumpet for one of the Star Wars films as part of John Williams orchestra, he savored the moment. The first time playing the score, the first thing they put on our stand was the suite, Washburn said. The room was electric. When the movie came out I was in college it was the biggest thing musically we had ever heard in a movie. To be able to play it was a dream. Washburn, 59, of Huntington Beach has been in the trumpet section of Williams orchestra for about 20 years, recording on a variety of soundtracks, including Star Wars films The Force Awakens, Rogue One and The Last Jedi. Washburn has also performed with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra for 25 years, currently as the principal trumpet player. Hes recorded more than 500 film soundtracks over the years, including War for the Planet of the Apes, Spiderman: Homecoming, The Legend of Zorro, Troy, A Beautiful Mind, The Perfect Storm, Titanic and Deep Impact. Washburn discovered he had a natural predilection for the trumpet as a child, possibly from his father, who played trumpet at the 1915 Worlds Fair in the Bay Area. Washburn seriously took up the instrument at age 11. Washburn went on to attain his undergraduate music degree from the University of Southern California in 1980 and a masters degree from the New England Conservatory in Boston. During this time, Washburn said he didnt know if he would have the musical chops to make it professionally in the cutthroat industry. I always knew I would play trumpet, but not necessarily at the professional level, he said. Following his schooling, Washburn moved abroad to perform as the principal trumpet player of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra. A few years later he returned stateside, claiming the Los Angeles Chamber position. Early in his career, Washburn began to serve as the principal trumpet player for James Horners orchestra. Horner, who died in 2015, was an Academy Award-winning film composer who scored Titanic, Apollo 13, Braveheart and Field of Dreams, among others. Composer John Williams on the red carpet at the 2016 AFI Life Achievement Award Gala Tribute to John Williams at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. Huntington Beach resident David Washburn has played in Williams trumpet section for about 20 years. (File Photo ) Washburns reputation in the studio grew, and through word of mouth he landed a prestigious role in Williams trumpet section. Hes gone on to record about 20 movies with Williams, who is considered the greatest film composer of all time. He is very friendly and supportive of the orchestra, Washburn said of Williams. He is very cordial with everybody, but knows what he wants when hes on the podium. You know you are working with someone who is really special. You just enjoy the moment with him making great music. The orchestra usually doesnt practice. Each musician arrives at the recording session with the ability to sight-read the music on the spot. We rehearse right there and then by the second or third time we are recording, Washburn said. Sometimes we record the first take. Although Washburn enjoys recording soundtracks for movies, he loves performing live for an audience. His favorite piece to play is Bachs Brandenburg Concerto No. 2. Washburn is considered to be one of only a handful of trumpet players who can perform the complex composition. Its taken me around the world, he said. His ability to play at such a skilled level while still maintaining his trademark humility has endeared Washburn to his colleagues. David is an incredible trumpet player and a beautiful musician, said Tereza Stanislav, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra assistant concertmaster. He has a warm sound and stunning virtuosity. Hes also an incredibly kind person. When he plays the trumpet, you can hear that in the warmth of his tone. benjamin.brazil@latimes.com Twitter:@benbrazilpilot Maria Roman has worked at Fountain Valley Regional Hospital and Medical Center for eight years, taking patients meal orders and delivering them to their rooms. Only recently has her wage cracked $11 per hour, and despite health challenges, she is uninsured, she said. Shes part of a group of unionized workers asking for more from the food service and facilities management company that employs them, and they went on strike Thursday at Fountain Valley Regional. If we stick together, well get a fair contract for us, for our families, for our patients, for dignity and respect for everybody, Roman said at a midday rally intended to energize the picketing workers. About 100 cafeteria workers and housekeepers who clean and disinfect common areas, surgical areas and patients rooms demonstrated on a sidewalk outside the hospitals southwest entrance off Euclid Street. Staff members from state Assembly and Senate offices, candidates for local, state and congressional offices and members of other unions joined the rally to offer encouragement. The workers are employees of Sodexo, which Tenet Healthcare, the hospitals operator, contracts with at several medical centers in California. They have been represented by the National Union of Healthcare Workers since last spring but have not yet negotiated their first contract with Sodexo, said union President Sal Roselli. Fountain Valley Regional released a statement this week saying the hospital would remain fully operational during the one-day strike, and that appeared to be the case Thursday. Our focus, as always, is on providing exceptional quality patient care, the statement said. The workers authorized the strike to protest what they describe as low wages, costly healthcare coverage and poor staffing levels. Most of them make minimum wage $10.50 per hour or slightly more, according to the union, which said many workers collect and recycle cans to help make ends meet. The union is seeking a contract that would boost hourly wages by about $3. It also is asking that Sodexo address high staff turnover and chronic understaffing, which employees say put patient safety and infection control at risk. Sodexos public relations director, Enrico Dinges, said the company was disappointed by the strike. We have been negotiating in good faith with the National Union of Healthcare Workers with a goal to reach a new collective bargaining agreement thats equitable for everyone, including our employees, and we still intend to achieve such an agreement, he wrote in an email. Roselli said unionized food and housekeeping workers in Northern California make better wages and have better healthcare and retirement benefits than their Southern California colleagues. Those workers are employed directly by their hospitals, not by contractors, he said. Roselli said the union wants its Southern California workers to also be employed directly, or for Tenet Healthcare to pay Sodexo more to help benefit workers. Stem cell scientist and former UC Irvine professor Hans Kierstead who has started and sold several medical research companies told the crowd at Thursdays rally that he would not do clinical trials with Fountain Valley Regional until the labor issues are settled. Kierstead is a Democrat from Laguna Beach running for the congressional seat held by Rep. Dana Rohrbacher (R-Costa Mesa). hillary.davis@latimes.com Twitter: @Daily_PilotHD Thirty-one Edison High School business students received advice from organizations such as Microsoft during a seven-day senior trip to Massachusetts. The eighth annual trip was through the Huntington Beach schools Center for International Business and Communication Studies, a four-year program with curriculum focusing on competitive projects, job shadowing and internships with business partners. Students returned to campus Monday. The extracurricular trip is geared to help students flesh out their own business as part of their senior project and learn about careers available outside Huntington Beach, said CIBACS teacher Bob Strachan. The destination is different each year, depending on the teacher and organizer. Student Alexandra Trementozzi, 17, organized this years trip. She established a budget, hosted informational meetings for parents and coordinated meetings with the organizations with help from Strachan and Maxine Derderian, a CIBACS alumna who initiated the annual excursion. Strachan said students typically share their career plans and ask industry professionals for recommendations. Students toured Microsofts facility in Cambridge and learned about the technology giants fundamentals, how to apply for internships and what it takes to become an employee. I learned how important it truly is to communicate and network, said Bailey Hansen, 17, who is creating a 14-piece clothing collection that will be featured in a runway show in April. Its the only way to succeed in the business world. At the Massachusetts Port Authority, which owns and operates three airports in the state along with public terminals in the Port of Boston, students were surprised to learn the role it plays in the area, Alexandra said. One student who is looking to create natural dog treats found a similar business in Boston and talked to people there about their recipes and her business project. Another student had similar success with his project focusing on Kaatsu, a training method developed in Japan. This is what CIBACS wants students to work toward, Alexandra said. A lot of us are majoring in business studies in college, and its really helpful for our future. Students will present their senior projects May 19 at Edison High. Priscella.Vega@latimes.com Twitter: @vegapriscella A Costa Mesa woman accused of embezzling more than $265,000 from a Laguna Beach business has pleaded not guilty to four counts of felony grand theft, according to Orange County Superior Court records. Nhora Tellez last week also denied sentencing enhancement allegations of aggravated white collar crime over $100,000 and property damage over $200,000, court records show. Authorities say Tellez, 38, was a bookkeeper and an office manager for Laguna Coast Corp., a marketing agency, when she changed the passwords for all the business owners investment and credit card accounts. Tellez created passwords for each online account, and notifications of access or fraud went to an email address assigned to Tellez, Laguna Beach police Cpl. Ryan Hotchkiss wrote in a court document in support of increasing her bail. According to Hotchkiss, fraudulent charges were made for plane tickets, veterinarian visits, Disney passes and a Louis Vuitton handbag. Authorities obtained footage from ATMs throughout south Orange County showing Tellez withdrawing cash advances from at least one of the business owners accounts, Hotchkiss wrote. The owner noticed that money was missing from his accounts and notified police in 2016. Authorities allege Tellez embezzled $265,390. She is being held in Orange County Jail with bail set at $260,000, according to court and jail records. hannah.fry@latimes.com Twitter: @HannahFryTCN Orange Countys first and only needle exchange program has shut down after Santa Ana city officials denied its permit application, a move some local advocacy groups and the states leading public health agency say could negatively affect public welfare. However, the city contends the move was necessary because of an increased number of discarded syringes in the Santa Ana Civic Center, for which it says the needle exchange was at fault. Kyle Barbour, co-founder and board member of the Orange County Needle Exchange Program, said the nonprofits permit application was denied by the city in mid-January. The group, which operated in the Civic Center, is working on how to get back up and running because it feels needle exchanges are a crucial public health service. People are going to die and get infectious diseases, Barbour said. Theres no ambiguity that needle exchanges are an effective strategy. Needle exchanges seek to provide drug users with clean needles to prevent the spread of infectious diseases, like HIV and hepatitis C, and other harm accrued through needles. The practice is endorsed by the American Medical Assn., the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, among others. Santa Ana has the highest rate of HIV infection in the county, according to 2016 statistics from the Orange County Health Care Agency. There was a 201.2% increase in hepatitis C rates in Orange County from 2011 to 2015 since the last analysis from the California Department of Public Health. With the shuttering of the Orange County Needle Exchange Program, the county is devoid of a needle exchange. Syringe services programs are an essential component of preventive health care for people who inject drugs, said Matt Conens, California Department of Public Health spokesman who attributed the information to the agency, in an email. Scientific studies have consistently found that syringe services programs reduce HIV and viral hepatitis infection and are among the most cost effective tools available. While the California Department of Public Health cannot predict the specific results of closing Orange County Needle Exchange Program services, one could expect that it would negatively impact HIV, viral hepatitis, and opioid-overdose prevention efforts in Santa Ana and Orange County. The California Department of Public Health is the supervising agency for the Orange County Needle Exchange. The agency recertified the nonprofit on Jan. 12. Conversely, the city of Santa Ana felt the needle exchange posed a public health issue for visitors and the city and county employees who work nearby. Robert Cortez, Santa Ana deputy city manager, said by phone that syringe litter became a rampant problem since the needle exchanges inception. A lot of unintended consequences came with the program, Cortez said. There was needle debris everywhere in the center, to the point where some of the books at the Santa Ana library had needles inside of them. Cortez said employees had been pricked by needles lying around the center. When asked whether needle litter had been an issue at the Civic Center before the arrival of the needle exchange, Cortez said, not to the extent that you see now. Heather Folmar, Santa Ana Public Library operations manager, said syringe littering was a huge problem. Before the needle exchange opened, library staff rarely found syringes in the facility, but began to find 40 to 50 a month after it opened, she said. We found them on shelves, near planters, window sills, in books, Folmar said. A cleaning lady was pricked by one. She said theyve found fewer syringes since the needle exchange closed. The permit rejected by the city was required of homelessness service groups operating in the Civic Center under a city ordinance that became effective in November. Since opening about two years ago, the needle exchange had been operating under a memorandum of understanding with the city that was terminated, with a 30-day notice, in early December, citing syringe litter. When the needle exchange opened in February 2016, Santa Anas then-Police Chief Carlos Rojas told the Los Angeles Times that the Civic Center made the most sense as the site of the group. Its away from residential areas, he said at that time. We have a large homeless population there and a high concentration of IV drug users, so we saw this area as being more beneficial not only for the people who will be using the service, but also from a public safety aspect. A homeless man sets up his tent at a homeless encampment at the Santa Ana Civic Center. The Orange County Needle Exchange Program operated in the center before its permit application was denied by the city. (Scott Smeltzer / Staff Photographer ) Barbour said his group has made efforts over the programs lifespan to temper litter. The group educates each user on the importance of disposing of syringe litter and provides sharps containers to everybody for needles disposal despite not being legally required to do so, Barbour said. These containers are also provided to neighboring businesses and the needle exchange offers to pick up and dispose of the containers free of charge, Barbour said. The organization also seeks to encourage people to return used needles to the exchange by providing them with more needles in return. Barbour said the group, which has about 15 core members and about 100 volunteers, is willing to do whatever needs to be done to rectify the situation, but it needs help. What we are doing is pretty comprehensive, but if we are going to be more comprehensive, we need the city to stop fighting the program and work with us, Barbour said. The California Department of Public Health said the Orange County Needle Exchange was operating in a manner consistent with the expectations of syringe services programs supported by the State of California. When asked about the state agencys remarks, Cortez said he couldnt comment on anything other than the negative impact weve suffered here in our city. Cortez provided a document with dozens of photos of needles strewn about the public library and surrounding areas. Other homelessness advocacy leaders also said the closure of the needle exchange will cause negative health issues for the county. The loss of the needle exchange will be a public health catastrophe and people will absolutely die, said Aimee Dunkle, executive director and founder of the Solace Foundation of Orange County, which administers naloxone, a lifesaving overdose reversal drug, at the Civic Center. Syringes along the banks of the Santa Ana River were left behind after a large homeless encampment was evicted in November 2017. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times ) The Solace Foundation had been partnering with the needle exchange since it opened, which increased the impact of the foundation. Barbour said needle exchanges are generally considered to be the access point into communities of homeless drug users. Other advocacy and service organizations can be more effective in countering health hazards when partnering with them. The foundation, which started in 2015 after Dunkle lost a son to a drug overdose, recorded 12 overdose reversals before partnering with the needle exchange. In 2016, the foundation recorded 420 reversals and reached more than 1,000 last year, Dunkle said. She believes the foundations effectiveness and reach will be significantly diminished with the shuttering of the needle exchange. Dunkle said she also expects to see a rise in infections like methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and sepsis. Garrett Dunbar of the Orange County Burrito Project, which feeds burritos to the homeless at the Civic Center, also said loss of the needle exchange would have a negative effect on the communitys welfare. Eliminating the needle exchange will only have negative public health implications and increase spending on health care long term, Dunbar said. The Orange County Health Care Agency declined to comment. The agency had listed the implementation of syringe services programs as a desirable strategy in its 2012-2014 Comprehensive HIV Plan to help lower HIV rates by 2015. Such programs, implemented as part of a comprehensive approach to HIV prevention, have been shown effective in reducing HIV infection, the document stated. benjamin.brazil@latimes.com Twitter:@benbrazilpilot A group suspected of committing several armed robberies in Southern California and Arizona were apprehended in Glendale on Thursday by agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, who were joined by local police. The four-person crew is said to have targeted at least five Verizon Wireless stores across Los Angeles, Orange and Riverside counties in the past five months. A sixth robbery said to be connected to the others occurred Wednesday evening at a Verizon store in Tuscon, according to Ginger Colbrun, a spokeswoman for the ATF. Our agent here in Los Angeles started investigating the Verizon robberies in October and saw commonalities in them, she said. In each robbery, the suspects would mainly target the cellphones at the stores. Because of their similarities, Colbrun said it was believed that the Arizona and California incidents were all connected. Federal agents tracked the group to Glendale. With the help of the Glendale Police Department, all four suspects were taken into custody without incident. One of the suspected robbers was a Glendale resident, 23-year-old Gaspar Khachaturyan. The rest 41-year-old Zachary Wade, 30-year-old Marques Pettywright and 29-year-old Randall Tate live in Long Beach. A fifth person was also taken into custody but was later released, according to Colbrun. She said the group may be responsible for additional robberies of Verizon stores. Anyone with information can contact the ATF at (888) 283-8477. Were not just asking community members who have information but other law enforcement agencies investigating similar robberies to contact us, she said. andy.nguyen@latimes.com Twitter: @Andy_Truc UPDATES: 2:25 p.m.: This article was updated with information from ATF on how many people were arrested. This article was originally published at 11:55 a.m. When I met A. I wondered if it was too good to be true. Meeting women in Los Angeles on dating apps has taught me a few things, the most important being that looks can be very deceiving. But five months ago I was naive and desperately seeking to get over my latest heartbreak by any means necessary. I was in my living room when I swiped right on her picture, a green-eyed, strawberry blond beauty with a soft spot for Kafka. I was drooling. I struck up a conversation, and we exchanged phone numbers. After a few days of chatting, we made plans to meet up Saturday night at La Cita Bar in downtown Los Angeles. When I arrived the bar was empty. I was shocked to feel a flood of nerves. I wanted to be second to arrive and even waited until about 15 minutes after we were scheduled to meet to even leave my house. I was trying to avoid the awkward introductory contact for as long as possible. Do you hug? Shake hands? It can be very strange meeting someone for the first time. I ducked into the bathroom but immediately felt my phone buzz in my pocket to a text reading: Im here, where are you? I typed back, Bathroom, Ill be out in a second! Advertisement Are you a veteran of L.A.'s current dating scene? We want to publish your story I emerged to see her sitting at the bar, smiling back at me. As I pulled up a bar stool, she asked what I wanted to drink. Whiskey. On the rocks. I grinned. She ordered two and turned back to me saying, Girl after my own heart. Maybe this wouldnt be so bad. We talked for about an hour, and the distance between us shrank with each passing minute. I felt myself relaxing. We paid our tab and headed to another bar, this time with music. Being able to keep up with me on the dance floor is a huge make-or-break for me, and this was my chance to test her. But upon arriving, she took me to a back table to sit. This is what was wrong with her. She cant dance. Not too bad, all things considered. More L.A. Affairs columns Advertisement I have to tell you something, she said as she sipped her drink, looking me directly in the eye. I braced myself. Go ahead. I have a boyfriend. I choked. Advertisement And Im married. Are you kidding me?!? I stood up to leave. She begged me to sit and let her explain. I guess Im also a sucker for a free drink. For the next 15 minutes, A. gave me a rundown of her torrid love life. At 22 she had met and married a European tourist and promptly moved to the South of France. However, when things went south she came home and met her current boyfriend. They relocated to Silver Lake, where things stood poised to go directly downhill. Advertisement In the meantime, she was looking for girls to get drunk and enjoy this beautiful, crazy city we live in. So there I was, the gay guinea pig for a seemingly confused polyamorous bombshell, veering further and further away from sobriety. Things were starting not to look as bad as they did when we started the conversation. I kissed her. Against my better judgment, I saw her for several weeks. Wed meet up at night and carefully avoid any Eastside bars her boyfriend might wander into. On the nights he worked late she told him she was having a sleepover with a good friend, and Id drive up Hoover to her place in Silver Lake. A few times I even persuaded her to come down to West Adams there was no way her man would end up there. I was seduced by the sneaking around and knowing all of the power in this relationship lay directly in my hands. I knew all of her secrets. I was the secret. But the affair began to sour. It started when she started to diligently track my every movement. She called me a liar when I abandoned my phone at hair appointments in North Hollywood or hiked Runyon Canyon. This escalated to her telling me that she thought I was spending too much time with my friends and we didnt have enough time for us. Advertisement She told me to quit my job so I could be all hers, all the time. The final straw came when she confronted me after I admitted to seeing other people. Somehow, hearing that from the person youre dating but know is spending a significant amount time snuggled up with her boyfriend/husband (both?), just didnt sit right. I sat back and pondered what to do next, and it occurred to me: Does anyone really ever venture into the world of swipes hoping to fish out a relationship? I wasnt. Advertisement I was just trying to numb the pain from a prior relationship with something casual. So eventually, at a fateful dinner date at El Condor on Sunset Boulevard, I announced my decision that we needed to go our separate ways. It took a series of messy text messages, but she eventually relented and we severed our ties. We do, however, still like each others Instagram photos. My favorites are the ones with the boyfriend. Advertisement The author is a reporter and associate producer for HBOs Vice News Tonight. You can find her on Twitter @cerisecastle or Instagram @yourmajestcee. L.A. Affairs chronicles the current dating scene in and around Los Angeles. If you have comments or a true story to tell, email us at LAAffairs@latimes.com. MORE L.A. LOVE STORIES Im black. Hes white. Heres what happened Advertisement I went on a bunch of blind dates with total losers I was sleeping alone in a strangers bed and falling for him home@latimes.com You can fly to Changsha in south-central China for $484 round trip from LAX, including all taxes and fees, on Hainan Airlines. The fare, which is subject to availability, is for outbound travel through April 30. By 1938, Changsha had become Chinas intellectual hub, according to Diana Larys book The Chinese People at War: Human Suffering and Social Transformation, 1937-1945. But in November of that year, much of the city was burned to the ground in an effort to keep it out of the hands of the invading Japanese. More than two-thirds of its buildings were destroyed and 20,000 or more people died, Larys book said. Advertisement Today, Changsha, the capital of Hunan province, has about 2.6 million people. It is a shipping and distribution center. Info: Hainan Airlines, (888) 688-8813 (you may need to press the number 1 for the English phone tree Source: Airfarewatchdog travel@latimes.com @latimestravel Ukraine cut imports of natural gas by 44.8% or 651.5 million cubic meters (mcm) in January 2018 year-over-year, to 801.5 mcm, according to data from public joint-stock company Ukrtransgaz. According to Interfax-Ukraine's calculations, imports from Slovakia in January 2018 amounted to 596.7 mcm, Hungary to 99.8 mcm, and Poland to 105.1 mcm. Ukraine has not been importing natural gas under the contract with PJSC Gazprom for more than two years (since November 26, 2015), purchasing resources exclusively on its western border. As reported, Ukraine increased imports of natural gas by 26.8% or 2.972 billion cubic meters (bcm) in 2017, to 14.05 bcm. Imports from Slovakia in 2017 amounted to 9.91 bcm, Hungary to 2.835 bcm, and Poland to 1.305 bcm. Ukrtransgaz, fully owned by Naftogaz Ukrainy, operates a system of trunk gas pipelines and 12 underground gas storage facilities in the country. The Chicano rights marchers were heading north when staff photographer John Malmin took this image from inside his company car. In the May 13, 1971, Los Angeles Times, staff writer Jack Jones reported: About 25 determined Chicanos hiked single-file along the desert highway within sight of the Salton Sea Wednesday, shouting an occasional Viva la Raza! at passing cars and trucks. Sometimes a truck driver waved back and honked. But now and then a big rig roared close enough to the highway shoulder to nearly blow the marchers down. Weve had some racist catcalls from cars, said Rosalio Munoz, chairman of the Chicano Moratorium Committee, sponsoring La March de La Reconquista, a three-month long march from Calexico to Sacramento to reconquer the rights and dignity of Chicanos. Advertisement About a third of the motorists greet the marchers with the peace sign or the raised fist of the Chicano movement, said Munoz, walking at the head of the nucleus group that grows with campesinos (farm workers) and others as it moves through farming settlements. As the small band moved out of Imperial County into Riverside County along Highway 111, it included some Brown Berets from East Los Angeles, some members of Cesar Chavez farm workers union and individual Chicanos from as far away as El Paso. They had covered about 60 miles since they began walking from Calexico May 5 (Cinco de Mayo) and they had been staying overnight with church and community center groups or camping out. They stopped for lunch Wednesday when Mexican family brought food up in a small camper truck from Mexicali. The group arrived in the Los Angeles area June 15, 1971, staying at a Chicano community center in San Fernando. In early August 1971, the marchers reached Sacramento. An Associated Press story in the Aug. 14, 1971, Los Angeles Times reported that 200 Chicano demonstrators held a 20-minute protest on the front lawn of Gov. Ronald Reagans home. The demonstration was the culmination of a week of rallies and demonstrations of a so-called Chicano convention, the AP story said. It was sparked by the 600-mile march of a small number of the demonstrators the last two months from Calexico. See more from the Los Angeles Times archives here Prominent Islamic scholar Tariq Ramadan was handed preliminary charges in two cases of rape alleged by women who sought his counsel, a judicial official said Friday. Ramadan was jailed, at least temporarily. Ramadan was placed under investigation on suspicion of rape in encounters in 2009 and 2012, the official said. Both women filed the complaints last year. The scholar, a Swiss national, asked to postpone a debate required before confinement, according to the judicial official, who was not authorized to speak publicly. Advertisement Ramadan denies wrongdoing and has filed his own suit asserting false allegations. An investigating magistrate in charge of the case followed the request of the Paris prosecutors office in charging him. Ramadan has been in custody in Paris since Wednesday. Preliminary charges mean that after a full investigation the suspect can either be freed for lack of grounds or be indicted and sent to trial. The investigation can be lengthy. The prosecutors office has asked the judge to keep Ramadan in custody, probably because of concerns he could leave the country. Ramadan is on leave from Englands Oxford University, where he is a professor of contemporary Islamic studies. He travels frequently and has written numerous books on Islam and the integration of Muslims in Europe. He is being investigated by French authorities because the rapes are alleged to have taken place in Paris and Lyon. The adoption of the law on the Institute of National Remembrance in Poland, which bans "Bandera ideology," is harmful to Poland itself and plays into the hands of the Kremlin, Bloc of Petro Poroshenko MP, Vice-President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe Volodymyr Ariev has said. "I have an impression that politicians in general in Europe have forgotten about historical lessons. Everybody knows how the confrontation between Ukraine and Poland ended, and how it was used by Muscovy, and it ended badly for Ukraine and Poland. The same can be said of European politicians who are currently pursuing a strategy to pacify the Russian aggressor, forgetting about how it ended before World War II. Our politicians, often in intestine strife, also forget about the lessons of the UPR from a hundred years ago," Ariev said live on the Priamy television channel on Thursday, February 1. According to him, if Ukraine is drawn into enmity in connection with this law, it will be against the interests of Ukraine and Poland. "If the Polish side acts against its own interests and does everything to get a standing ovation in the Kremlin, then Ukraine should have a calm and balanced reaction. It is necessary to hold consultations at the level of presidents and, then, perhaps, as a last chance, the Polish president will understand that these things are contrary to the interests of Poland itself," Ariev added. As reported, the Senate of Poland adopted early on February 1 without any amendments the law on the Institute of National Remembrance, which foresees, in particular, punishment for "crimes of Ukrainian nationalists." The bill was supported by 57 senators, mainly from the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) Party, 23 voted against the document, and two abstained. Amendments to the law envisage fines or imprisonment for up to three years for "sharing responsibility before the Polish people or the state, including for crimes committed by the Third Reich." In addition, the document envisages punishment for denial of the "Volyn massacre" and the use of the expression "Polish death camps" in relation to the camps that were located in Poland during the Second World War. The law will enter into force after signing by Polish President Andrzej Duda. On February 1, Verkhovna Rada Speaker Andriy Paruby instructed the parliament's committee on foreign affairs to consider the situation with the adoption of the law on the Institute of National Remembrance in Poland. Russia's proxy forces have mounted four attacks on Ukrainian army positions in Donbas in the past 24 hours, with no Ukrainian soldiers reported as killed or wounded in action, the press center of the Anti-Terrorist Operation (ATO) headquarters has reported. "Over the past day, the militants of the Russian-occupation troops continued their activity in the ATO area, in particular the militants continued using heavy mortars on the positions of Ukrainian defenders, blatantly violating the Minsk accords," the headquarters said on its Facebook page on Friday morning. In the Luhansk sector, the enemy was active at the Svitlodarska Duha bulge. In the evening, the adversaries were shelling our positions near the village of Luhanske for more than two hours, using 120mm and 82mm mortars, cannons of infantry fighting vehicles and heavy machine guns. Moreover, the same types of weapons were used in the afternoon and in the evening to shell the Ukrainian fortified positions near the village of Troyitske. "In total, the illegal armed formations lobbed over 50 shells of various calibers into our fortified positions. No Ukrainian servicemen were injured," ATO staff said. Head of the National Agency on Corruption Prevention (NACP) Natalia Korchak has supported the bill, which excludes public activists from the list of subjects of electronic declaration. "NACP supports the proposed changes regarding the exclusion of the obligation to file a declaration for public activists, persons receiving funds and property as part of the implementation in Ukraine of programs or projects of technical assistance or other assistance, including irrevocable one, in the field of preventing and combating corruption," the NACP's press service quoted her as saying at a meeting with members of the Venice Commission and head of the Democratization Department of the OSCE/ODIHR Office on Thursday, February 1. She recalled that the NACP had approved the conclusion to the draft law as early as August 2017 with certain remarks to certain provisions not related to the reporting of public organizations. According to Korchak, the national agency is more interested than others in ensuring that the issue of declarations being submitted by social activists was clearly specified and resolved as soon as possible. "Given that the next stage of submission of electronic declarations will last until April 1 this year, we hope that people's deputies will support these changes," she said. As reported, bill No. 6172 on amending certain laws of Ukraine on the specifics of financial control of certain categories of officials was passed by the Verkhovna Rada on March 23, 2017 and signed by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on March 27, 2017. This document exempts servicemen of the rank and file, sergeant, sergeant corps, junior officers from the obligation to file e-declarations. At the same time, the bill obliges individuals who receive funds and/or property for anti-corruption activities, in particular, heads of relevant public organizations, members of public councils under state agencies, candidates for elected offices, to file data on property and income. On July 10, 2017, Poroshenko submitted a package of bills regarding the abolition of e-declaration for anti-corruption public organizations to the Verkhovna Rada for consideration. Bethlehem Township police are looking for the person who stole from multiple cars overnight. Township police said the suspect broke into cars between Thursday night and Friday morning on the east end of the township, near the Palmer Township border. Police have taken about a dozen reports from victims. Affected streets include Winfield Terrace, Embur Terrace, Emrick Terrace, King Avenue, Cibby Street and Farmhouse Court. Township police said anyone with information should call officer Beck at 610-419-9679 or e-mail him at abeck@bethlehemtwp.com. Anyone with additional surveillance footage should also contact police. Theft from vehicle THEFT FROM VEHICLES: Overnight between February 1 and February 2, 2018, multiple vehicles were entered and items stolen on the east end of Bethlehem Township, bordering Palmer Township. Attached is a video of the suspect. Anyone who has any information as to the identity of the suspect is asked to contact Ptl. Beck at 610-419-9679 or e-mail abeck@bethlehemtwp.com Wish to stay anonymous? Text TIP BETHLEHEMTWP followed by your message, to 888777, or visit https://local.nixle.com/tip/township-of-bethlehem/ Posted by Bethlehem Township Police Dept on Friday, February 2, 2018 Sarah Cassi may be reached at scassi@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow her on Twitter @SarahCassi. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook. By Rudy Miller | For lehighvalleylive.com UPDATE: Controversial rapper's Easton concert canceled after sex crime uproar Rapper 6ix9ine's rise to fame is meteoric. It's come despite a felony conviction for participating in a sexually-explicit video involving a child and posting the video on social media. The controversial rapper will perform in Easton on Feb. 9, two months before hes due to be sentenced for the sex offense. And hell be greeted by protesters. Don't Edit "A local venue booking him for an all-ages show isn't elevating the arts atmosphere downtown at all," said Easton resident Karolina Davis on Facebook. "Frankly, it's disgusting and discouraging and I do believe that public pressure can be applied to the venue to reconsider acts where performers are known child abusers." Don't Edit 6ix9ine is slated to perform at One Centre Square. Venue co-owner Billy Cornish declined to discuss the performance. Its something I just cant comment on, he said Thursday. Don't Edit Davis created a page devoted to her protest on Facebook called, "Minors Cannot Consent." In less than 24 hours five people indicated they'd show up for the rally, which starts at 5:30 p.m. 6ix9ine takes the stage at 6 p.m. Don't Edit The rapper whose real name is Daniel Hernandez was arrested and pleaded guilty to one count of use of a child in a sexual performance in 2015, but his criminal history hasn't prevented his recent rise in popularity. His song "Gummo" has amassed 110 million views on YouTube since it was posted in October. It reached at least as high as No. 13 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, according to billboard.com. His songs "Keke" and "Kooda" are on the chart now. Hernandez, who goes by the rap names 6ix9ine and Tekashi69, claimed on Jan. 25 he signed a $7.5 million record deal, according to a billboard.com report. The report says he made the claim on Instagram but then deleted the post. Don't Edit Don't Edit WARNING: THE FOLLOWING VIDEO CONTAINS EXPLICIT LANGUAGE Don't Edit Hernandez's public defender in the criminal case didn't immediately return a message. But Hernandez gives his explanation of the charges in a video posted Nov. 18, 2017, with YouTuber DJ Akademiks. Im not touching the girl. Im not having sexual intercourse with the girl. Im not doing nothing, he said in the video. She just, she just nude in some type of way. But you know how it go in the hood. Hes not charged with molesting the girl. According to the Manhattan District Attorneys office, Hernandez was in three videos. Another man in the videos allegedly had the girl perform a sex act on him. Don't Edit Victim was 13 The district attorneys office provided details from court documents that say Hernandez stood behind the girl while she performed the sex act. He allegedly made thrusting motions with his pelvis and slapped the girl on the buttocks. In a second video, shes allegedly wearing a bra and panties while she sits on Hernandezs lap. The other man pours liquid on her and fondles her breasts, according to the district attorneys office. In the third video, the child is naked and lies across the laps of Hernandez and the other man. Hernandez took a deal to pleaded guilty to participating in one video. Court records say the girl was 13, although Hernandez claims to DJ Akademiks on YouTube that she said she was 19. He claimed he was 17 during the incident, but his date of birth provided in court records would make him 18. Don't Edit Screen shot from 6ix9ine's Instagram account Hernandez said in the video he was immature and didnt realize the consequences of participating in the video, which he posted on the internet. He said people assume the worst about him due to his outrageous look and music. Almost every line of "Gummo" has either the n-word or some expletive in it. The n-word appears 26 times in the song. The f-word appears seven times and the s-word six times. Don't Edit People are also put off by his rainbow-colored hair and teeth and the 69 tattoos all over his face and body, he said. "Bro, I didn't know she was going to come back and bite me, bro. I'm not that type of n-----," he told DJ Akademiks. "Everybody that's saying something right now, bro, they don't want to see the kid with the '69' on his forehead win. They don't understand 'Why is this kid with rainbow hair winning now?'" he said. Don't Edit Don't Edit Jail time could be avoided He said hes sorry if he hurt the girl. I wrote a letter of apology. When I found out the girls age, bro, gangsta, I wrote a letter of apology to her, her family, he told Akademiks. He was ordered to write the letter to the victim as part of his plea agreement. According to the district attorneys office, Hernandez will avoid jail time if he completes a list of requirements. Don't Edit 6ix9ine Instagram photo with this caption: Fool me once shame on you. Fool me twice prison 3 years. #GED. FEBRUARY 23RD He must not post any sexually explicit images of women or children or any images of violence against women or children to social media. He must continue mental health treatment for two years and regularly update the court He must complete 300 hours of community service He must obtain his GED He must not be re-arrested for two years He was supposed to be sentenced last week but the date was put off until April 10 to give him more time to complete the requirements. If he completes them, hell be on probation for a year. Don't Edit Reactions on social media His pending arrival in Easton drew mostly negative comments on the Easton, PA, page on Facebook with one person putting it succinctly, "Ewwww." Davis pointed out on her page that Hernandez has called himself a happy rapist on social media, which indicates his lack of remorse. Booking these assailants takes away the voice of the victim and doesn't encourage any kind of arts or culture in downtown Easton, she said. Forks Township resident Lynn Passarelli doesn't excuse Hernandez for the crime but said he's a young man who made a mistake and is working hard to pull himself out of poverty. She points out that online readers assume the crime was worse than what Hernandez actually did. If you protest an act like this it'll only help him because it will give him more media attention, Passarelli said. Don't Edit Screen shot of a 6ix9ine Instagram photo. "The venue and the artist have a First Amendment right to have the show," said Ed Reagan, First Vice Chair of the Northampton Libertarian Party. "If you don't support this type of act, don't buy a ticket." Don't Edit READ MORE Insane Clown Posse to perform in Easton despite gang designation Galactic Empire performs at One Centre Square 8 things you (probably) didn't know about Easton's Centre Square Don't Edit Don't Edit Rudy Miller may be reached at rmiller@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @RudyMillerLV. Find Easton area news on Facebook. The chairman of Pennsylvania's Democratic Party resigned Friday morning after comments he made to a columnist about a local lawmaker accused of sexual misconduct. "I accept full responsibility for comments attributed to me in an article printed several days ago in The Philadelphia Inquirer by Will Bunch. Some of my comments were taken out of context and some were inaccurate. They were certainly in artful and in hindsight were not offered with the level of clarity I would have liked," Groen wrote in an email. Groen was referring to a Tuesday column by Bunch, of the Philadelphia Inquirer and Daily News. In the column, Bunch questions silence from the Pennsylvania Democratic Party in the wake of sexual misconduct allegations involving lawmakers, and Groen's lack of leadership in creating a sexual-harassment policy. Groen was asked about Democratic state Sen. Daylin Leach running for U.S. Rep. Pat Meehan's seat, despite Daylin facing sexual misconduct allegations from several staffers. Groen said, "If he was inappropriate, that's for the people to decide -- not for me." In the email, Groen said he was informed Gov. Tom Wolf wanted him to step down. "While I have done no wrong and disagree with the Governor's assessment, I do not wish to be a distraction to a Party that has to rectify gerrymandered maps and elect strong and civically responsible candidates throughout Pennsylvania. As such, I will honor his request and will immediately resign my position as Party Chair," Groen wrote. Reached by phone Friday morning by philly.com, Groen said, "I think my letter speaks for itself." Sarah Cassi may be reached at scassi@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow her on Twitter @SarahCassi. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook. Stock Market News Apple posts enormous profits despite faltering iPhone 02-02-2018 09:33 Stock News headlines are gathered from financial news sources around the web. Views and opinions on each item are from their respective authors and website. They are not opinions of LiveCharts.co.uk Stock Market News Braemar Shipping Services buys up Atlantic Brokers 02-02-2018 12:38 Stock News headlines are gathered from financial news sources around the web. Views and opinions on each item are from their respective authors and website. They are not opinions of LiveCharts.co.uk Stock Market News Friday newspaper round-up: Bitcoin, Apple, Woodford, Chappell 02-02-2018 07:22 Stock News headlines are gathered from financial news sources around the web. Views and opinions on each item are from their respective authors and website. They are not opinions of LiveCharts.co.uk Stock Market News Schulz confident of German coalition agreement by Sunday 02-02-2018 14:58 Stock News headlines are gathered from financial news sources around the web. Views and opinions on each item are from their respective authors and website. They are not opinions of LiveCharts.co.uk Stock Market News Scientific Digital Imaging acquires Quantum assets 02-02-2018 11:13 Stock News headlines are gathered from financial news sources around the web. Views and opinions on each item are from their respective authors and website. They are not opinions of LiveCharts.co.uk Two-time champion of Russia in duel shooting from rifle Alexander Zalichev is involved in terrorist activities in eastern Ukraine and in 2014 served as a sniper in the Russian military group 'Private Military Company of Wagner', said head of the apparatus of the SBU head Ihor Huskov. "We have repeatedly informed the public about the activities of the special unit of the Russian Federation under the name of Wagner. We informed that we have personal data of almost 2,000 mercenaries. And in framework of this work, new facts of impudent attitude towards Ukraine by special services of Russia and individual citizens are being revealed," he said on the air of the Priamy (Direct) TV channel" the website of the channel said on Friday morning. The head of the apparatus of the SBU head informed that one of the mercenaries of the Wagner company was Zalichev Alexander Borisovich, who served as a sniper: "It is seen from the analysis of open sources that he was a two-time champion of Russia, and I emphasize, a member of Russia's national team in tactical shooting at least in 2014-2016." Stock Market News Vodafone's on-off talks with Liberty Global back to 'early stages' again 02-02-2018 17:53 Stock News headlines are gathered from financial news sources around the web. Views and opinions on each item are from their respective authors and website. They are not opinions of LiveCharts.co.uk Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine Oleksandr Turchynov opened the Cyber Threat Response Center (CRC) on Friday morning. "Today we are opening the Center for Responding to Cyber Threats. This is the core of cyber defense of our country," Turchynov said during the opening of the Center. According to him, the Center identifies a cyber threat in the early stages of its emergence. The Cyber Threat Response Center (CRC) was created by the State Communications Agency as the core of the national cyber defense system in Ukraine. CRC is a technical platform for interaction between the main subjects of providing cyber security (State Service of Special Communication and Information Protection of Ukraine, SBU, National Police). The adoption of the law on the Institute of National Remembrance in Poland was triggered by the desire to counter the falsification of history, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki has said in a special statement. "The Oswiecim lie is not only denial of German crimes, but also other ways of falsifying history. We want to fight this lie in every form. That is why we are amending the law on the Institute of National Remembrance," Ukraine's Yevropeiska Pravda media outlet quoted him as saying, with reference to Poland's TVN24 television channel. He added that Poland was not going to limit the freedom of the Holocaust debate. "We owe it to all who have experienced it," he said. Morawiecki said that he understood Israel's criticism of the adopted changes. He said that Poland had been the first victim of the Third Reich and had lost during the war six million citizens, including three million Jews. "Death and suffering in German Nazi concentration camps were a shared experience of Jews, Poles and many other nations," he said, adding that "the Holocaust was an unimaginable crime." He noted that Polish law had for years been pursuing people who try to deny the victims of Nazi crimes and similar decisions are in force in many other European countries. "Spreading the truth about the Holocaust is not only the task of Israel. It is also the task of Poland. It is a battle for universal truth that is a warning to the whole world," Morawiecki said. As reported, the Senate of Poland adopted early on February 1 without any amendments the law on the Institute of National Remembrance, which foresees, in particular, punishment for "crimes of Ukrainian nationalists." The bill was supported by 57 senators, mainly from the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) Party, 23 voted against the document, and two abstained. Amendments to the law envisage fines or imprisonment for up to three years for "sharing responsibility before the Polish people or the state, including for crimes committed by the Third Reich." In addition, the document envisages punishment for denial of the "Volyn massacre" and the use of the expression "Polish death camps" in relation to the camps that were located in Poland during the Second World War. The law will enter into force after signing by Polish President Andrzej Duda. The issue of creating a cyber army in the Armed Forces of Ukraine is being considered, Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine Oleksandr Turchynov has said. "One of the issues that has been recently considered at the National Center for Cyber Security is the request, according to which the General Staff reported, the creation of Cyber Forces within the Armed Forces of Ukraine," Turchynov told reporters during the presentation of the Cyber Threat Response Center in Kyiv on Friday. He noted that this is a serious issue, and both the Foreign Intelligence Service and military intelligence work in this direction. Accusations of sexual misconduct against James Franco have led Palo Alto High School to distance itself from the the 1996 graduate who won a Golden Globe last month for his lead role in the movie The Disaster Artist. Students and teachers have spent this week debating their principals decision on Monday to paint over a mural by Franco. He painted two murals for the school and loaned multiple paintings to its Media Arts Center when it opened in 2014. On Thursday, Palo Alto Unified School District Superintendent Karen Hendricks announced that the rest of Francos artwork would be transitioned out. District staff recently considered the best interests of our students in the light of our educational mission, and decided to remove and return the remaining artwork, Hendricks said in a statement. Esther Wojcicki, who taught Franco at Palo Alto High and does not support the removal of the paintings, said she believed Principal Kimberly Diorio and administrators were responding to pressure from parents. The question is, and one of the kids asked this: How does it impact students to look at this art? Wojcicki said. A hundred years ago, 50 years ago, a lot of artists could have been accused of the same things Franco is. Do we take down all the art in the Louvre or in the MoMA? More for you Hollywood turns #MeToo into a celebration of its own response... As the #MeToo movement calls attention to sexual assault, harassment and misogyny, critics and consumers have struggled with how to treat the art of men accused of sexual harassment and assault. But its rare for a high school to find itself navigating these questions head-on. John Loftus, a Palo Alto High senior, said he believes in separating the art from the artist and hoped the school would keep the paintings. Tess Manjarrez, a junior, said she never liked the paintings for aesthetic reasons. Theyre very dark and gloomy, she said. When the allegations against Franco surfaced, that seemed like more of a reason to take them down. Diorio initially told the Paly Voice, one of the high schools student publications, that she planned to leave the paintings hanging for the time being. She did not respond to The Chronicles requests for comment. While the schools newspaper has been active in reporting on Francos artwork, students and teachers said there have been no public forums or assemblies to share their opinions about the removal of the mural and paintings. I think there should be a platform for students and all members of the community to share their opinions, Loftus said. That would be more effective than rushing and taking (the mural) down. There should be some kind of dialogue. A publicist for Franco did not respond to requests for comment on the artworks removal. Sophie Haigney is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: sophie.haigney@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @SophieHaigney The U.S. Customs and Border Protection have stayed busy this week with a number of arrests and seizures taking place along the Texas-Mexico border. RELATED: Laredo Police Blotter: January 2018 From Jan. 28 to Feb. 2, CBP agents seized narcotics valued at about $5 million. Additionally, a number of arrests were made and a missing Laredo child was relocated with his mother. Click through the gallery above to see Border Patrol happenings along the Texas-Mexico border this week. jerilynn.thorpe@lmtonline.com | Twitter: @jerilynnthorpe Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has welcomed the return of four Ukrainians who spent many years in captivity in Libya. "I am pleased with the return to our native land of four of our citizens after many years of captivity in Libya. I am grateful to diplomats and foreign intelligence for four more rescued Ukrainians!" Poroshenko wrote on his Facebook page on Friday and posted a photo of the Ukrainians who arrived home. The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry reported later that on February 2, through joint efforts of Ukrainian diplomats and the Foreign Intelligence Service, Ukraine had managed to return home four Ukrainian citizens "who had been held in Libya for more than six years." "The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry once again calls on citizens of Ukraine to refrain from visiting Libya due to the difficult political situation and security situation in the country, and the inability to provide proper consular and legal assistance on its territory, and those who continue to stay there should leave the country," the ministry said. Early on Friday, Belarusian media reported the liberation in Libya and the return to the country of military specialist from Belarus Vyacheslav Kachura, who was detained by rebels in 2011. Kachura arrived in Libya in June 2011 as part of a group of international specialists from Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. In August 2011, they were detained by rebels and charged with cooperation with the regime of Muammar Gaddafi. Later, some of the detainees were released. A Ukrainian doctor who worked under a private contract in the city of Sabha and was abducted earlier by a numerous armed group was released on January 13, 2018, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry reported. The doctor was released due to agreements reached by Ukrainian diplomats during talks with the leadership of local tribes. In a victory for youngsters charged with crimes, the state Supreme Court ruled Thursday that a November 2016 ballot measure, which limited prosecutors authority to charge juveniles as adults, applied to all cases that were not yet final when the measure passed. Under the unanimous ruling, numerous cases around the state, filed against defendants as young as 14, will be transferred from adult court to juvenile court. There, a judge will decide where the case belongs after considering such factors as the youths history, maturity and chances of rehabilitation. While youths in adult court face sentences of up to life in prison, the maximum confinement in a juvenile court case is until age 23. Defense lawyers told the court a few hundred cases would be affected. A 2000 ballot initiative, passed during a nationwide uproar about alleged youthful super-predators, allowed California prosecutors to charge youths ages 14 and over in adult court for serious crimes. It repealed the previous law that required prosecutors to convince a juvenile court judge that the case belonged in adult court. The November 2016 initiative, Proposition 57, was sponsored by Gov. Jerry Brown and is one of several recent laws that have relaxed the states strict sentencing laws. One provision, not at issue in Thursdays case, allows inmates serving long sentences for crimes classified as nonviolent to seek release on parole. The measures other main feature restores the pre-2000 rules requiring approval from a juvenile court judge before a youth can be charged as an adult. Thursdays case came from Riverside County, where prosecutors filed charges in adult court accusing a teenage boy of sexually assaulting a young girl in 2014 and 2015, when the boy was 14 and 15 years old and the girl was 7 and 8. After Prop. 57 passed, a Riverside County judge ruled that the measure applied to the case, and a juvenile court judge said it should not be tried in adult court. Prosecutors appealed to the states high court, which said Thursday that the ballot measure applied to cases that were pending when it passed. Though the initiative did not say whether it was intended to be retroactive, one of its stated purposes was to stop the revolving door of crime by emphasizing rehabilitation, especially for juveniles, Justice Ming Chin noted in the 7-0 ruling. He cited the courts 1965 ruling that gave retroactive effect to a law reducing criminal sentences. When lawmakers, or voters, choose to make sentences less harsh, Chin said, they must have decided that the previous punishment was too severe and that the lesser terms should be applied to all pending cases. That would include cases like the teenagers in Riverside County that have not yet gone to trial. The court also referred, approvingly, to a lower-court ruling in another case last year that ordered a new hearing for a 16-year-old who was convicted of murder as an adult and sentenced to 72 years to life, but was still appealing his conviction when Prop. 57 passed. In that case, and others in which appeals were pending, the conviction would stand, but a juvenile court judge would decide whether the youth should be sentenced as a juvenile or an adult. Juvenile court is rehabilitative. Adult court is about punishment, primarily, said Rourke Stacy, a deputy Los Angeles County public defender who filed arguments in the Riverside County case. She said the ruling means looking at kids differently and making communities safer. John Hall, spokesman for the Riverside County district attorney, said, We respect the California Supreme Courts opinion and appreciate that this issue has been clarified. The case is People vs. Superior Court, S241231. Bob Egelko is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: begelko@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @BobEgelko Directorate S: The C.I.A. and America's Secret Wars in Afghanistan and Pakistan By Steve Coll Penguin Press. 757 pp. $35 --- In Kabul in December, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani told Vice President Pence that more senior Taliban members had been killed in 2017 than in the previous 15 years combined. "Real progress," Pence said. The dry language of wire reports does not reveal whether this reply was delivered in the sarcastic tone one might expect, given the utter chaos now reigning in Afghanistan. There are times when one wishes pool reporters used emoticons in their dispatches. Steve Coll's "Directorate S: The C.I.A. and America's Secret Wars in Afghanistan and Pakistan" is an account of a slow-motion military and policy disaster. It is sometimes as affectless as a wire report, but the unadorned facts in its narrative more than suffice to stoke bafflement and despair. After 17 years of war in Afghanistan, more than 100,000 Afghans are dead, and the Taliban and the Islamic State are competing to inflict wanton violence on civilians in the capital. The only thing U.S. policymakers know for sure is that the situation will degrade fast if we leave. It will probably degrade slowly and expensively if we stay. Previous attempts at discreet draw-downs have not, Coll notes, been dignified or had positive results. In 2014, at a ceremony marking the end of a phase of U.S. combat in Afghanistan, "the ceremony program noted that attendees should lie down flat on the ground in the event of a rocket attack." Coll's book is chronological, and mostly a catalog of mistakes made and lessons learned far too late, if at all. He quotes a soldier who summarized his job to Eliot Cohen, then counselor of the State Department: "You walk through a valley until you get into a firefight and then you keep shooting until it stops." ("That's a little troubling," Cohen replies.) Various strategies are attempted - the current one, conceived at the end of the Obama era, involves vigorous use of drones and commando teams - but at no point after 2003 does the United States recover the initiative. Almost every endeavor threatens to be undone in a moment. By 2012, a quarter of the soldiers killed in the U.S.-led alliance were killed by the very Afghan soldiers they were training. The mistakes are legion. First, in the heady days after Sept. 11, 2001, U.S. spies were fighting a war with "blood in the mouth" - an attitude that the CIA's battlefield commander describes as a "burning need for retribution." This attitude inspired numerous shortsighted policies in the war on terrorism, including the opening of Guantanamo Bay's prison camp and the policy of making no distinction between al-Qaeda militants and those who harbored them. Most of the Taliban fighters were ornery yokels, with only the vaguest understanding of what America was. They did not require annihilation - of course we slowly discovered that we couldn't kill them all anyway - and they could, at some point, have been incorporated into the Afghan state rather than hunted in endless war. Moreover, the Taliban had provided order, and the United States had no plan to install and nurture a similarly orderly government. Afghans quickly grew irritated at an occupier skilled at fighting but uninterested or incompetent at governing. Coll's strongest sections detail the relationship not with the Taliban but with Pakistan. Pakistan is a democracy of 193 million people. But the force that determines its national security and foreign policy is not its elected politicians but its spy agency, Inter-Services Intelligence, or ISI. The agency has a staff of 25,000, and it is not paranoia but good sense to assume that if you are a journalist or politician in Pakistan, its agents are watching you. Foreign government officials treat its director - always a high-ranking army general - all but officially as Pakistan's leader. Its most secretive division, Directorate S, controls covert operations "in support of the Taliban, Kashmiri guerrillas, and other violent Islamic radicals." ISI has been demonized both justly and unjustly; shadowy bureaucracies tend to be spotted in the shadows even when they aren't there. But Coll's account of the agency makes it hard to treat it as benign, overall. The Afghan Taliban fights with ISI's blessing, and its members drop into Pakistani territory to rest and re-equip. (More than one policymaker has concluded that this problem of Pakistani sanctuaries makes defeating the Taliban impossible.) ISI analysts themselves acknowledge the desire to cultivate Taliban fighters for future deployment, especially in Kashmir. According to one estimate, Coll says, 100,000 militants are in Pakistan on ISI's watch. Coll reports that the late Richard Holbrooke, tasked by President Barack Obama with fixing the region, considered ISI "obsessed" with India and thought its policy toward Afghanistan was motivated by a desire to curtail perceived Indian influence. I tend to agree. Before 2001, ISI enjoyed access to Afghanistan as "strategic depth" for Pakistan's war against India. We remember the al-Qaeda training camps in Afghanistan, complete with monkey-bar obstacle courses, but we forget the many more Pakistani-run camps for guerrillas preparing to fight in the heights of Kashmir. ISI viewed the government of Afghan President Hamid Karzai as too India-friendly, and by 2003 - after the United States distracted itself with Iraq - ISI resumed its meddling in Afghanistan, to stave off Indian influence. Finally, Coll identifies the Iraq invasion of 2003 as a costly distraction for the United States and a boon for Afghanistan's forces of chaos. In 2003, Coll writes, "the National Security Council met to discuss Afghanistan only twice." Meanwhile the enemy extracted useful lessons from Iraq and began to apply them at home. Those ornery Taliban, once inwardly focused, came to learn from, and in some cases consider themselves part of, a global jihad. They acquired a taste for wanton slaughter - a hallmark of the Jordanian terror master Abu Musab al-Zarqawi but not of the Taliban previously - and became a pet movement for the religious fanatics of Pakistan and elsewhere. Coll himself is, in the venerable tradition of newspaper reporting, absent from the narrative, although his harsh judgment of U.S. policymakers is pervasive. Absolutely nothing works; "the United States and Europe," Coll writes, "have remade Afghanistan with billions of dollars in humanitarian and construction aid while simultaneously contributing to its violence, corruption, and instability." "Directorate S" is one of the most unrelentingly bleak assessments of U.S. policy of recent years, and it shows, regrettably, that American errors have accumulated beyond recovery. The question is less whether Afghanistan can be saved than how its failure will affect the region. The billion-plus citizens of Pakistan and India have now enjoyed a generation without war, and the fall of Afghanistan could contribute to a premature end to that holiday. Coll's previous book on Afghanistan, the Pulitzer Prize winner "Ghost Wars," is widely considered the best book on U.S. policy in Afghanistan before Sept. 11, 2001. This superlative actually undersells it: If you tore the book into two pieces, the resulting ragged scraps would be the best and second-best books on Afghanistan, respectively. This companion volume is also definitive, if different in effect. "Ghost Wars" struck a tragic tone, with a disastrous conclusion known to the reader. The conclusion of the policy blunders chronicled in "Directorate S" is not known. But because the errors so often look, in retrospect, unforced, they are just as painful to contemplate, and they should induce shudders as we consider the conclusion to which we might be hurtling this time. --- Wood writes for the Atlantic and is a visiting fellow at the University of Pennsylvania's Perry World House. The Country House Library By Mark Purcell Yale University Press. 352 pp. $55 --- If any one room in the Downton Abbeys of Britain came to symbolize the wealth, learning and sheer quirkiness of the English aristocracy, it was the library. Here, the nobleman could retreat into a private sanctuary where the earl of this and the duke of that could open a tome to enter the next rabbit hole of self-didactic enrichment. Some of the papers in these libraries were tatty and loose, but for the most part they amounted to cultural gems, such treasures as illuminated manuscripts, early printed incunabula and skillfully bound volumes that explored everything from the classics to theology to cosmology. Each book came with its own provenance and patination of history and ownership. They were always expensive. Today, some of the finest - one thinks of a Shakespeare First Folio, for example - sell for millions of dollars. For this reason, many of the grandest surviving libraries tend to be the part of the country house that ticket-buying visitors never get to see, or if they do, it's from behind a velvet rope. This may have contributed to the way these important and beautiful collections have faded from our cultural consciousness while other treasures in these palaces - and the palaces themselves - have not. Mark Purcell seeks to correct this in his survey of historic and surviving country-house libraries of the United Kingdom and Ireland. "The Country House Library" is a book that seems long overdue. As the former longtime libraries curator for the National Trust, Purcell is singularly qualified to discuss these troves. The Trust owns and runs some of the choicest historic houses in Britain and is the steward of 170 or so such libraries in its care. If you add libraries still in private or other institutional hands throughout the British Isles, "at the most conservative estimate," Purcell writes, "we must be dealing with hundreds of thousands of books in hundreds of locations." Among his conclusions: Libraries were a part of the country house earlier than generally thought. Their numbers have been underestimated, as has the "enormous range" of their form and function. But it's not just the tourists who have ignored the libraries, it's the scholars, Purcell writes. Architectural and art historians, while poring over every aspect of the fabric and decor of these libraries, have forgotten to mention (BEGIN ITAL)their contents(END ITAL). No one, he writes, "would have written about picture galleries or porcelain cabinets without saying anything about the pictures or the porcelain." Looking at the pictures in the book, this oversight seems understandable. Some of the rooms are stunning. The library at Alnwick Castle is a two-story, floor-to-ceiling sanctum that manages to look both magisterial and cozy, with its roaring log fire, marble hearth, and cluster of fine upholstered chairs and settees. (BEGIN ITAL)Who needs books!?(END ITAL) The library at Wimpole Hall is crafted to perfect Palladian proportion; at Syon House and Kenwood House, both by Robert Adam, the book rooms doubled as sublimely elegant gathering spaces. With the rise in the wealth of the aristocracy in the 18th and 19th centuries, the libraries became such an important massing of fine books that some owners employed librarians. Or, as the 6th Duke of Devonshire put it, "I am not worthy of my own collection." For some, rare books became an addiction. In the early 1700s, Edward Harley, the 2nd Earl of Oxford, went book batty, amassing 7,639 manuscripts, more than 14,000 rolls, charters and legal documents, 50,000 printed books, 41,000 prints and "an extraordinary 350,000 pamphlets," Purcell writes. Harley's extravagance eventually led to his ruination and the dispersal of his great collection. Later, bibliomania became more widespread and created a bubble. At a frenzied auction in 1812, a nobleman named the Marquess of Blandford bought a supposedly unique 1471 edition of "Decameron" for an eye-popping 2,260 pounds. (At around the same time, Jane Austen sold the copyright to "Pride and Prejudice" for 110 pounds, Purcell writes.) The greatest collector of the age was the 2nd Earl Spencer, a forebear of Princess Diana, who needed five libraries in his home at Althorp House to contain his books. That collection was sold in 1892 to the widow of a Manchester cotton magnate. The moneyed industrialists became the new bibliophiles. The library was a mark of pedigree that "no arriviste could do without," Purcell writes. Conversely, shifts in the economic and tax landscapes depleted the wealth of the blue-bloods. Selling off the incunabula was, as Purcell points out, a lot less obvious than unloading the Gainsboroughs and van Dycks. It is easy to understand why an antiquarian book holds so much appeal. In what other object is there so perfect a confluence of art and craft, of mind and hand? Such books are tangible testaments to the skills of the engraver, the printer, the bookbinder and even the tanner. Today's keyboards and screens, with all their promise of data, can only be touched. A rare book, by contrast, is felt. Keeping track of those daily jogs, it turns out, could jeopardize the lives of our nations troops abroad and may not sit well with civilians much closer to home, either. That is, unless they exercise their right to more privacy. According to the Washington Post, an online map created by the athlete social network Strava revealed the location and activities of soldiers at U.S. military bases who use fitness devices such as a Fitbit. Using satellite information, Stravas so-called Heatmap highlights its users morning jogs and other activities with a sprawling array of GPS points. The map, which was posted in November, is not live and does not identify the apps users, but shows activity patterns over a two-year period. Nevertheless, an international security analyst in the Post report warned that such data easily could be mapped to attack or ambush U.S. troops in or around bases, most notably in warzones where the rarity of such tech practically puts those revealed users in the crosshairs. For instance, the report noted that the map of Afghanistan appears as a web of lines connecting bases, showing supply routes. The Pentagon is now broadly reviewing how military forces use fitness trackers and other wearable devices, according to the Associated Press. Jacob Stauffer, a San Antonio cybersecurity expert and former federal service employee with the Department of Defense, said the military has been trying to address exercise tracking since the advent of the Fitbit and Apple Watch. Pretty much anyone can get access to this (online map), including our adversaries, who may intend to do harm to our military members, said Stauffer, vice president of operations for Coherent Cyber, a group of former military and government cyber professionals who provide cybersecurity to businesses. But concerns over such revealing data arent just limited to the theater of war. What if exercise tracking apps and devices give away too much information to stalkers or other bad actors who want to harm their users? Any time you share public information about your location, especially if you share while youre gone, people can take advantage of that information to use it for their benefit. You just have to be careful, said Collin Beck, founder of Koedal, a custom mobile apps maker in San Antonio. Beck logs his own jogs with his Apple Watch, but he said he doesnt start capturing that data until hes well away from his driveway so no one knows where he lives. He rarely posts his runs to social media, but when he does, its after hes finished and is back home, so no shifty eyes try to spot him while hes out. You cant be overly paranoid, Beck said. Im just careful. Strava CEO James Quarles said in an online letter to users that the company is committed to working with military and government officials to address potentially sensitive data, and is reviewing features to ensure they cannot be compromised by people with bad intent. The letter also said Strava is working on simplifying and increasing awareness of its privacy and safety features so users know how to control their own data. Those privacy features include a privacy zone feature, which will let users hide locations on their activity maps, such as homes or workplaces; and the choice to opt out of contributing data to Stravas heatmap. To access Strava privacy settings on the Web, select Settings in the drop-down menu under your avatar and choose Privacy. On mobile, go to More from the menu at the bottom of the screen, then select Settings and Privacy. Of course, Strava is hardly the only app that knows where you pound the pavement. Apps for Facebook, Yelp and many other services can track where you are in the real and online world alike, the better to target you with location-rich activities and, yes, advertising. To manage their privacy across apps, Stauffer said users always should pay attention to an apps prompts requesting access to your location, photos, etc. before giving the OK. He also recommends double-checking privacy settings across all apps at least every three months. Software updates may turn those settings on or off without your knowledge, he said. Beck warned that most apps, especially free ones, require you to opt out of sharing your info instead of opting in. So expect to go through those apps default settings and change any sharing options you dont like. When it comes to wearables, Beck said the Apple Watch only stores data locally on the device unless you manually set it to share information. Fitbits website notes location features such as mapping only are available if you activate them, and you can turn off these features any time and Fitbit will stop collecting that type of info. But why stop with fitness? Beck said its a good idea to be careful about vacation pics or anything else you could share while on the go, as well as who you share it with. The biggest thing is that this is not just a military issue when it comes to what we call operational security, Stauffer said. People in general just need to be very cognizant of what data we put out in the world. rguzman@express-news.net | Twitter: @reneguz Michigan's Grand Rapids Police Department has released a consumer alert for Netflix customers about a phishing scam. The scam, which was first noticed in early November, manifests itself as "an email from a fake account has been circulating to Netflix customers alerting them of the deactivation of their account because the company 'could not validate billing information,'" the police department wrote on Facebook. JUSTICE: Groupon reimburses people for Houston crab and beer festival Groupon scam The fraudulent email asks people to click a link to enter their personal information. Netflix has a lengthy FAQ page on "How can I keep my Netflix account secure?" Fernando Alfonso III is a digital reporter at Chron.com. Follow him on twitter at @fernalfonso. Lutsenko intends to initiate stripping of deputy immunity from Opposition Bloc member Bakulin by start of new Rada session Prosecutor General of Ukraine Yuriy Lutsenko has said that the next week he will submit to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine the motion on giving consent to the stripping of immunity from Opposition Bloc People's Deputy Yevhen Bakulin, on his detention and arrest. "At this stage, it is also planned to submit to the Verkhovna Rada a request to authorize the prosecution of Mr. Bakulin," he said at a briefing in Kyiv on Friday. Lutsenko specified that the presentation would be submitted to the Rada next week and reviewed in due course. According to the Prosecutor General, Bakulin is a Verkhovna Rada member, but he has not visited the territory of Ukraine for a long time. "But nevertheless, for any further steps - suspicion, putting him on the wanted list - we need permission from the Verkhovna Rada," said Lutsenko. The Prosecutor General specified that the submission would concern a request for criminal prosecution, in particular under the articles "the creation of an organized criminal group" and "the plunder of public funds." "We will request stripping him of immunity, his detention and arrest," he said. As reported, in July 2017, Lutsenko said that Bakulin might become the next people's deputy, against whom the Prosecutor General would ask for stripping of immunity in the case of the so-called Boiko's 'oil rigs case' (the case of the purchase of overpriced rigs for oil and gas production on the Black Sea shelf, in which co-chairman of the Opposition Bloc faction Yuriy Boiko is allegedly involved). Bakulin served as a chairman of Ukraine's Naftogaz board in 2007, and also from 2010 until 2014. WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, W.Va. - To hear President Donald Trump tell it, he "never appreciated" the importance of drilling in an Alaskan refuge until an energy industry titan called to explain the 40-year history of the battle between environmentalists and oil barons. "It's amazing how that had an impact. That had a very big impact on me, Paul, I really didn't care about it," Trump said Thursday at the congressional Republican retreat here, looking at House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis. That's not exactly true, according to one Alaska Republican. The Trump family actually has a history in Alaskan gold fields, and very early in his presidency, the state's two Republican senators, joined by Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, gave Trump an Oval Office briefing about the effort to open up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling. "No, no, no, look," Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, said in an interview after Trump's speech, recalling exactly how he and Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R, made their pitch. "We had the opportunity to brief the president last year. It was early, like February or March. Over an hour, in the Oval, you know, that's a lot of time." Sullivan said that the senators went into deep detail about the controversial project. "It was maps, it was on his desk, Zinke was there. And it was all about Alaska, all about Alaska issues, all about our priorities. And we talked about ANWR," he recalled. The Alaskan senators were pleased with how well-versed Trump already was about the state. "He actually knew a fair amount about Alaska," Sullivan said, noting how Trump's grandfather worked on Chilkoot Trail, an 1890s route that led to the Yukon gold fields. "It's pretty amazing history. His grandfather was there." Long controversial, Republicans included legislation to open up the refuge to drilling as part of the massive package that passed in December that was headlined by the $1.5 trillion tax-cut plan. It was often overlooked in the debate because of the sweeping import of the tax plan and a provision that eliminated the mandate to buy health insurance that was first imposed in the 2010 Affordable Care Act. But ANWR has been a big issue for Alaska Republicans for 40 years, with Republican presidents failing to win new drilling there and Democratic presidents blocking any effort because they viewed it as an environmental threat, particularly to local caribou. Including the ANWR provision early in the debate all but guaranteed support from Sullivan and Murkowski for the overall tax package. Indeed, after beating back the last amendment to try to strip the drilling provision during the tax votes in December, Murkowski celebrated by fist bumping Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. Yet Thursday, in a speech that doubled almost as a comedy routine, Trump repeatedly made it sound as if a New York real estate guy would know little about the issue. "Is it true you're thinking about ANWR?" Trump recalled the energy industry friend asking him. "I said, 'Yeah I think we're going to get it but you know.' " His friend cut him off: "Are you kidding? That's the biggest thing by itself." Only then, Trump said, did he understand the issue. "I really didn't care about it, and then when I heard that everybody wanted it for 40 years, they've been trying to get it approved and I said, 'Make sure you don't lose ANWR,' " he said. After Trump recounted the anecdote Thursday to laughter, Sullivan interjected from the crowd, shouting at the president: "We know you cared about ANWR all along though." Sullivan declined to say Thursday whether Trump was telling a story just to make the audience of lawmakers chuckle. But he said there was no doubt the president understood the issue and its importance early last year. "Hey, that's a legislative thing we've got to get done, Mr. President," Sullivan remembered telling Trump. "It's not going to be easy, but having the White House support on that is going to be important." Trump has not wavered on the issue, aside from his remarks Thursday. "He's been rock solid on this, ever since, ever since," Sullivan said. Yevhen Korniychuk, former deputy chairman of the Naftogaz Ukrainy board, has been notified of suspicion and put on the wanted list as part of the investigation into the case of the so-called 'Boiko's oil rigs'," Ukrainian Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko has said. "Today, deputy head of the Naftogaz Ukrainy board Korniychuk has been notified of suspicion and put on the wanted list," Lutsenko told a briefing in Kyiv on Friday. The Prosecutor General added that Korniychuk is on the territory of Ukraine, but is fleeing from the investigation. "We invite him to voluntarily come to the General Prosecutor's Office of Ukraine, which will obviously affect the qualification of his actions," added Lutsenko. Korniychuk held the post of Deputy Chairman of the NJSC Naftogaz Ukrainy board from March 2010 and was dismissed from this post on June 26, 2013 at his own request. Prior to that, in 2004-2005, she held the post of Deputy General Director for Finance at Ukrgazvydobuvannia. The case of 'Boiko's oil rigs' is a matter of buying overpriced rigs for oil and gas extraction on the Black Sea shelf, in which Yuriy Boiko, co-chairman of the Opposition Bloc faction, is allegedly involved. A McAllen middle school teacher is facing federal charges after investigators say he was supplementing his income by smuggling drugs for a group in Mexico. Jorge Ignacio Cavazos was arrested Monday after authorities say he admitted to assisting a Mexican drug trafficking organization (DTO) since 2016. Investigators learned of Cavazos' involvement after an informant identified the educator as recipient of narcotics for a DTO operating in Reynosa, Tamaulipas, Mexico. READ ALSO: Laredo teacher accused of displaying harmful material to child In a criminal complaint filed by the United States District Court, Cavazos is quoted as saying that the DTO sent vehicles loaded with narcotics on a weekly basis and he was responsible for extracting packages of cocaine and other narcotics hidden inside the vehicle. Cavasos has been placed on administrative leave from his position as a Spanish teacher at Lincoln Middle School, according to McAllen ISD spokesperson Mark May. May told LMTonline.com that the district is in currently in the process of informing the Texas Education Agency. McAllen ISD has released the following statement on Cavasos' arrest: "On late Wednesday evening, we secured confirmation of the arrest of one of our teachers. We are following our protocols and have placed him on Administrative Leave and are notifying the Texas Education Agency of the situation. Due to laws protecting privacy rights, we are limited in the information we can disclose. However, we want to reassure the community that the safety of our students and staff remains our top priority. We are committed to maintaining a school environment that is conducive to teaching and learning." jerilynn.thorpe@lmtonline.com | Twitter: @jerilynnthorpe A new poll of Iranians, conducted in the aftermath of widespread protests that left scores dead and many more arrested, has shown complaints about corruption and economic mismanagement voiced by anti-government demonstrators are widely shared by a broader population. The poll, released on Friday by the Center for International and Security Studies at Maryland (CISSM) and IranPoll, found comparatively little support for changing Iran's political system or relaxing strict Islamic law and suggested criticism of Iranian foreign policy in Syria and Iran was not as widely shared by the general population. Iranians also felt expressions of support for the protesters from President Donald Trump and other U.S. officials did not help those demonstrating, the survey found, with 39 percent saying they hurt the protesters' demands and just 9 percent saying they helped. When asked for their opinion on the U.S. government, 85 percent of Iranians were found to have a very unfavorable opinion of it; less than 1 percent had a very favorable opinion. Iranians had first come out to protest over high prices and other economic woes on Dec. 28 in the northern city of Mashhad, but the unrest quickly spread to at least 75 cities within just a few days. In early January, an Iranian lawmaker said 21 people had been killed and 3,700 arrested after authorities cracked down on the protests. Though the protests have since died down, the polling data released on Friday suggests the economic dissatisfaction that sparked them is shared among a wide segment of society. When polled between Jan. 16 and 24, 69 percent of Iranians were found to describe the economy is bad, the highest measured by IranPoll since it began asking in 2015. A majority of the country - 58 percent - said on the whole, conditions in Iran were getting worse, while 41 percent said the economic condition of their family had worsened over the previous four years. Though respondents were not asked directly whether they supported the protests, they were asked whether they agreed or disagreed with a number of complaints made by protesters. More than 8 out of 10 Iranians were found to strongly agree the government should do more to fight corruption and limit the price of foods; smaller but still high numbers focused on gasoline prices and compensation for failed financial institutions. Iranians have long complained about their sluggish economy and the negative effects of international sanctions on their personal finances. However, a number of developments last year - including price increases, austere government spending, growing evidence of economic inequality and increased labor unrest - helped the issue reach an inflection point among a broader population. "Most protests in Iran are over economic issues," Suzanne Maloney, senior fellow on Middle East policy at the Brookings Institution, told The Washington Post in January. "What's different is that it seems to have tapped into a deep sense of alienation and frustration, that people aren't just demonstrating for better working conditions or pay, but insisting on wholesale rejection of the system itself." In at least some cases, anger over the economy has spilled out into different aspects of Iranian life. Some protesters were reported to have been shouting "Death to the dictator!" - a rare criticism of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. More recently, some Iranian women have protested the obligation to wear a headscarf in the country. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, a relative moderate compared with hard-liners in the country, said protesters did not only have economic concerns. "People had economic, political and social demands," Rouhani said in January. While this may be broadly true, the polling data released Friday suggested the country was far more divided on political and social issues than on the economy. A majority of the nation was found to strongly disagree with the idea that Iran needed fundamental political change (54 percent), while large minorities strongly disagreed with the idea that the military should spend less on missiles (40 percent), that the government should not be strict in enforcing Islamic law (33 percent) or that Iranian involvement in Iraq and Syria was not in its interests (30 percent). The poll also found that generally, Iranians were happy with the way authorities had handled the protests, with roughly two-thirds saying police handled the protests very or somewhat well, and a slightly smaller about (64 percent) saying they used an appropriate amount of force. Trump tweeted "Big protests in Iran. The people are finally getting wise as to how their money and wealth is being stolen and squandered on terrorism. Looks like they will not take it any longer. The USA is watching very closely for human rights violations!" Though Trump was among a number of U.S. officials who voiced their support for Iranians during the protests - Trump tweeted five times in three days about the protests at the end of January, offering support for the protesters and criticizing the government - the poll found 48 percent of Iranians felt comments by the American leader and other U.S. officials had no effect on the crisis. In general, the poll suggested a broad distrust for the United States among the Iranian public. Though most Iranians still supported the nuclear deal reached with the United States and other countries under the Obama administration, 86 percent had doubts the United States would live up to its obligations under the deal while 42 percent said the United States had violated the letter of the agreement. Much of Iranian's ire seems directed at Trump himself, with 69 percent of the country rating his policies toward Iran as zero on a ranking out of 10 - the lowest ranking possible, suggesting Trump was completely hostile to Iran. Iranians do differentiate between the U.S. government and its people, however. While the United States has low favorability among Iranians overall, 41 percent of the country was found to view the American people as very or somewhat favorable, compared with less than five percent who felt the same of the U.S. government. Both figures are drops from the last time the question was answered in 2016. Conducting opinion polls in authoritarian countries like Iran is difficult - the country has limitations on freedom of speech, and it is not always clear whether people feel free to voice their true opinions. However, the IranPoll series has become one of the best snapshots of public opinion in Iran over recent years, with its polling predictions for the May 2017 presidential elections accurate within less than 2 percentage points. These most recent surveys were conducted through random dialing of landline phones between Jan. 16 and Jan. 24, with a nationally representative sample size of 1,002. The margin of error is listed as plus or minus 3.1 percent. Courtesy photo /Laredo Fire Department A 58-year-old man was airlifted to San Antonio after being struck by a vehicle Wednesday evening in central Laredo, police said. Laredo police identified him as Jose T. Espinoza-Garcia. He was not using the designated crosswalk when he tried crossing the street, LPD said. Here's a word that Republicans are going to make sure that working-class America hears a lot between now until the November elections: crumbs. It is the scornful description that House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi, Calif., used last month, when she summed up the new tax law passed by Republicans as consisting of "the bonus that corporate America received, versus the crumbs that they are giving to workers." Her comment was already making its way into Republican talking points and ads. One launched this week by the American Action Network, a well-financed outside group aligned with House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., showed Pelosi's face projected onto buildings along the skyline of San Francisco, a city that the right considers the temple of out-of-touch liberalism. On Thursday, President Donald Trump went all-in, comparing it to a memorable gaffe in 2016 by Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, when she said that half of Trump's supporters belong in a "basket of deplorables." "Does that make sense - deplorable and crumbs?" Trump asked during his speech to a congressional Republican retreat in West Virginia. "Those two words, they seem to have a resemblance. I hope it has the same meaning. But she called it crumbs, when people are getting $2,000 and $3,000 and $1,000. That's not crumbs - that's a lot of money." In fact, Pelosi's comment was taken out of context, and did not refer to the overall effects of the new tax law. When she made it at a Jan. 11 news conference, it was as an answer to a reporter's question about a recent spate of announcements that corporations have made attributing employee bonuses and wage increases to the new law. Following Trump's riff, Pelosi spokesman Drew Hammill retorted: "What's deplorable is Republicans' desperate effort to hide the multibillion dollar corporate windfalls of the GOP tax scam behind a handful of meager, one-time bonuses. The casual dishonesty of taking Leader Pelosi's words out of context is nothing compared to the dishonesty of Republicans' sales pitch on their tax scam itself." The changes that Republicans made to the tax code tilt heavily in favor of the rich, and vary widely according to individual circumstances and geography. But this year, 80 percent of all households will get some kind of tax reduction, with the average receiving around $1,600, according to an analysis by the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center. That may not be a life-changing sum, but most Americans could easily imagine what they might do with it - put some money away for a child's college tuition, perhaps, or fix the annoying engine noise of a car they cannot afford to replace. While the tax law was broadly unpopular when it took effect, recent surveys suggest voters may be warming up to it as they begin to see the changes in their paychecks. Most dramatic was a Monmouth University poll released Wednesday, which showed that support had rise to 44 percent - up from just 26 percent in mid-December, when lawmakers were getting ready to pass it. It was the first major poll to show the act had just as many supporters as critics. More worrisome a sign for Democrats in a year when they have high hopes to retake the House is another number in the Monmouth poll: the generic question of whether voters would prefer a Democrat or a Republican to represent them. The survey showed that Democrats now hold an edge of just two percentage points - down from a 15-point advantage just a month ago. "The generic congressional ballot is prone to bouncing around for a bit until the campaign really gets underway later this year. But Democrats who counted on riding public hostility toward the tax bill to retake the House may have to rethink that strategy," said Patrick Murray, director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute. Meanwhile, the larger imperative for Republicans in months ahead is to closely tie the tax law - their one major legislative achievement - to the good feelings that Americans now have about the economy. Nearly six in 10 Americans say the economy is "good" or "excellent," according to a recent Washington Post-ABC poll, the highest figure in 17 years. But half say the Obama administration deserves significant credit for the economy, while fewer than four in 10 say the Trump administration does. Pelosi has long been a foil for Republican candidates, and a villain in their attack ads. Moreover, she has a penchant for saying things that can be easily taken out of context and that come back to haunt her party, such as her infamous remark in the run-up to the passage of the Affordable Care Act that "we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what's in it." Even many Democrats cringed privately at her "crumbs" comment, which they worry distracts from their larger argument over the fairness of GOP economic policies. And of course, any metaphor that involves baked goods easily lends itself to the Marie Antoinette caricature that Republicans have drawn of Pelosi. "It sounds like something a wealthy woman from San Francisco would say," said Republican pollster Whit Ayres. "Her 'crumbs' comment is something we think we can use pretty effectively," added Rep. Steve Stivers, R-Ohio, who is chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee. For her part, Pelosi has seems to be trying to adjust her language. At a Washington Post Live event on Monday, for instance, she referred to the "goodies" in the tax law. Asked whether she was backing off her "crumbs" comment, however, the Democratic leader said: "Crumbs, goodies - either one. Because it's not a question of $1,000, it's a question of the billions of dollars, the banquet that they have put for the top 1 percent. "Now, I don't begrudge anybody their success, their wealth, their achievement. God bless you for that," Pelosi added. "This is unconscionable that we would have 83 percent of the benefits going to the top 1 percent." Katie Uhlaender had just arrived in South Korea, had just started her Olympic experience, when she learned of the latest turn in a saga that began four years ago. Rather than placing her entire focus on the upcoming Winter Games, the American skeleton racer relived competitive heartbreak again and rekindled grave concerns about the integrity of the Olympics. "It takes away from the moment," Uhlaender said, speaking Thursday night from South Korea. "I was expecting to arrive in Korea and be stoked and just really excited to have a clean Olympics and thinking everything had been set right. To none of that being the case, and not understanding why." Thursday morning, the Court of Arbitration for Sport overturned Olympic bans for 28 Russian athletes who allegedly took part in Russia's widespread, state-sponsored doping program. The decision sparked frustration from athletes around the world and confusion about how the International Olympic Committee will proceed, with the start of the Pyeongchang Games barely a week away. It may have affected no one more personally than Uhlaender. The charismatic Uhlaender, with colorful hair and a menacing eagle on her helmet, finished fourth at the 2014 Sochi Olympics. She lost to Russia's Elena Nikitina by four hundredths of a second. When the IOC banned scores of Russian athletes and stripped Sochi winners of their medals, Nikitina was among them. Uhlaender was in line for a bronze. The CAS decision, though, dashed Uhlaender's medal hopes, at least for now, with the possibility of an IOC appeal and more years of litigation pending. Uhlaender said she cried when the news came out for both personal and broad reasons. For her, the ruling meant more than her own medal. "It just makes me sad," Uhlaender said. "I thought the IOC was taking a strong stand and protecting clean athletes and the integrity, and I hope that they continue to do so, because it will add fuel to my fire and help me fight. Right now, it's not just me - a lot of athletes feel like we're believing in a movement that is dying." The CAS decision disheartened Uhlaender because, in her mind, it allowed the Russians an ill-gained victory. The CAS reasoned the athletes it pardoned could not be proved to have doped. But part of Russia's strategy, according to the IOC's report, was to destroy evidence of cheating. "To say they can't prove an athlete is dirty, that just helps Russia accomplish what they set out to do in the first place," Uhlaender said. "My thoughts were, does this mean we have to compete against the dirty athletes again? This was a huge blow to clean sport, and the integrity of sport. People are saying they can't prove they were dirty. In the same breath, you can't prove that they were innocent. They can prove the samples were destroyed to make that possible. In my mind, if they destroyed the samples with the goal of keeping the medals, then we're letting them win. It's disheartening." The ruling reinstated results from Sochi that had been thrown out, CAS secretary general Matthieu Reeb said in Pyeongchang. The IOC could still move to prevent Nikitina and other suspected Russian dopers from competing again, but for now, their fate remains hazy. In Russia, Nikitina said she would train as if expecting to compete in the Olympics. "We were hoping for justice and it has prevailed," Nikitina said, according to the Associated Press. "It's a matter of my life, what I do, and when you're accused like that it's very unpleasant and everything falls apart for you." The timing carried the possibility of disruption for Uhlaender. She applied her entire focus toward Pyeongchang, determined to perform her best to honor her late father, MLB player Ted Uhlaender, and her late best friend, Team USA bobsledder Steve Holcomb. She still plans to make them proud, and to control what she can control. First, though, she received another reminder of Sochi. "This is a distraction," Uhlaender said. "I'm a human being. There is a lot of emotion in just seeing something so unjust happen. But to be a good human, to be a good Christian, I have to focus on what I can control and set the example. That's what a lot of athletes are tying to do, is focus on what we believe in and the good in the Olympic movement. I just hope the leadership of that movement takes note and becomes our voice. I, as an Olympic athlete, am turning to leadership of this movement, and I'm asking them to do what's right. Because they have let down a lot of us." Uhlaender was weary of granting interviews on the topic, not wanting to put her mind through the emotional grinder. After speaking Thursday night with The Post, she planned to put a hiatus on speaking with the media until after she competes. But she decided to speak out in hopes of promoting clean sport and inspiring IOC leadership to continue trying to prevent, or at least punish, doping. "The people fighting for us, that are continuing to fight and not giving up. It inspires me," Uhlaender said. "I just hope the leaders are not giving up and they continue to fight for clean sport. I don't believe it's black-and-white that people have failed or succeeded. I think it's a constant battle. For those that are continuing to stand up for what's right, thank you." As Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke prepared to travel to the Carolinas to discuss offshore drilling, state attorneys general condemned the Trump administration's plan to expand development of oil and gas in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans as "outrageous" and "reckless." Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh, D, one of a dozen state attorneys general on the two coasts to co-sign a letter Thursday that called on Zinke to cancel the proposal, said, "We intend to sue if they go forward with this, unquestionably. We're going to do everything we possibly can to stop it." Three state attorneys general interviewed by The Washington Post said they were irked by the deal Zinke struck with Florida Gov. Rick Scott, R, which exempted the state from the drilling plan. They said the agreement pointed to how arbitrary the drilling plan is, because the decision was made without the benefit of an analysis or clear process. In their letter and personal interviews, the attorneys general of North Carolina, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Massachusetts, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island and Virginia told a similar story. Drilling and potential spills could harm beach tourism and fishing industries that are comparable in value to Florida's, they say. In an interview with CNN after the deal was struck, Zinke cited his credentials as a geologist with an undergraduate degree from the University of Oregon and said that "Florida is different" as justification for granting a special exemption to the state. "The coastal currents are different. The layout of where the geology is." Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey, D, didn't buy it. "Once again you see a department that hasn't provided any reasoning for its decision that makes sense," she said. Said Frosh: "It's outrageous. Maryland has everything Florida's got except Mar-a-Lago," President Donald Trump's luxurious private club on the coast of Palm Beach, Florida. But there are indications that Trump was not a fan of the Florida deal. Axios reported that the president "turned on" his Interior secretary, and sources with knowledge of the situation said Zinke was called to the White House last week to explain himself. Those sources said that despite Trump's irritation, Zinke's job was not in danger. The agreement with Florida, though, may be in danger, according to a professor at the University of South Florida whose specialty is environmental law. "It's highly unusual for an agency head to announce a decision before the regulatory process is complete," said Alyson Craig Flournoy, a professor at the University of Florida law school. Florida's exemption could be voided if Zinke is dismissed from his job, Flournoy said. "Or he could change his mind tomorrow. What makes it a more vulnerable decision is that the courts look for reasoned decision-making based on records." "If a decision-maker says I've already decided before hearing from the oil and gas industry and conservation groups about what the appropriate plan is, that's a premature announcement," Flournoy said. "An opponent of the final plan can certainly raise that if Florida is excluded. They could say the decision was not based on science and data. He said it on day five after the plan was announced." The four state attorneys general who spoke with the Post said they are considering court actions that could seize on deficiencies in the Florida agreement if the administration's proposal survives the lengthy, possibly year-long path to finalization. Each of the four said the staffs of attorneys generals on the Atlantic and Pacific coast started burning the phone lines as soon as Zinke made the announcement about the administration's plan to expand drilling to 90 percent of the U.S. outer continental shelf in early January. They said their conversations hit a fevered pitch days later after Zinke exempted Florida. North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein, D, took the lead in organizing the letter, giving each of its signors a chance to explain why offshore drilling was bad for their coasts. Only the attorneys general of Rhode Island, Maine, Georgia, South Carolina and Florida on the Atlantic coast did not sign, along with those of Washington on the Pacific and Alaska on the Arctic coast. With the exception of Georgia, Maine and Alaska, the governors of coastal states have strongly opposed drilling. The offices of North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, D, and South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster, R, declined requests to confirm a meeting this weekend with Zinke, but The Hill newspaper was one of several that reported the secretary's travel plan. Zinke's office also did not answer a request to confirm any pending talks. Zinke posts his schedule on Interior's website, but it hasn't been updated since September. "This is a really big deal," Healey said. "It's the reason our office has been opposing this reckless plan since last year. It threatens our $7.3 billion commercial fishing industry. The decision to open up ocean waters to oil and gas drilling. . . is bad for our state's growing clean energy economy. We simply can't risk having drilling rigs just a few miles offshore." The top attorneys general in Maryland and Virginia had their own pressing concern, the Chesapeake Bay, the nation's largest estuary that supports a massive recreation and fishing industry, including a fragile blue crab population. Frosh said it would not take an oil spill on the scale of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster to destroy juvenile blue crabs such as those that will hatch this spring. "You could kill an entire crab year population, not with a Deepwater Horizon spill but a minor spill," he said. It would mean that juveniles would not be around to grow and continue the species. "You wipe out the crab population for one year and you could endanger the whole species." Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring, D, mentioned the bay and its fragile watershed that includes the James and Potomac Rivers nearly the moment he began talking. But he expanded the threat to the Virginia coastline and Hampton Roads, and its "multibillion dollar tourism industry." Virginia is also home to the largest naval base at Norfolk. "All of those could be threatened by offshore drilling, the livelihoods of so many Virginians is tied to the health of our waters. A lot of people seem to have forgotten that the Deepwater Horizon spill happened." Ukraine freezes $144 million in foreign accounts as part of the investigation into the case on abuse during the purchase of two offshore drilling rigs of Chornomornaftogaz in 2011-2012, Chief of Ukraine's Prosecutor General's Office (PGO) Yuriy Lutsenko has said. "We have received information and, through an international financial monitoring system, we freeze and analyze a flow of funds in the accounts to which the stolen funds were transferred, worth about $144 million. An analysis of the movement of these funds may lead us to other suspicions," he said at a briefing in Kyiv on Friday. According to evidence received by the PGO, part of the funds stolen during the transaction with drilling rigs was distributed in the following way: $95 million was transferred to the accounts controlled by former President Viktor Yanukovych and former NBU Governor Serhiy Arbuzov, $25 million to the accounts owned by Svitlana Bakulina, a daughter of former Naftogaz CEO Yevhen Bakulin, and $15 million to the accounts of the owner of Latvian company Rigas Kugu Buvetava, Vasily Melnik. In addition, according to Lutsenko, former Naftogaz Deputy CEO Yevhen Korniychuk received $2 million in cash, Valeriy Yasiuk, who headed Chornomornaftogaz, $3 million, Natalia Ihnatchenko, head of the supervisory board at Vernum Bank, $4 million, and the head of the commerce department at Chornomornaftogaz, $0.1 million. "They also promised to give Oleksandr Katsuba, deputy chairman of Chornomornaftogaz, $1-2 million for the purchase of a house in Obukhiv district of Kyiv region following the embezzlement of funds during the purchase of a second rig. However, in connection with the events described in the media [the scandal with Boiko's rigs], he was not given cash, which, by the way, helped sign an agreement with investigation last year," Lutsenko added. According to Lutsenko, in general, the cost of purchasing two drilling rigs was initially overstated by $409 million, to $798 million. However, due to the scandal, part of the funds was spent on additional equipment for the rigs in order to create the appearance that their price was valid. "In fact, they managed to embezzle $144 million, as evidenced by the materials of the investigation and the findings of the examination," he said. As reported, in 2011-2012, PJSC Chornomornaftogaz bought two self-elevating floating drilling rigs, the Petro Hodovanets and the Nezalezhnist, produced by Singapore's Keppel FELS, for about $400 million each. During occupation of Crimea, Russia seized these jack-up rigs. PARIS - The two small rooms are hidden off to the side, far from the crowds that surge through France's most famous museum in search of the Mona Lisa and the Venus de Milo. At first, it is unclear what unites the 31 paintings now on permanent display in those rooms - among them works from Renaissance Italy, the Dutch Golden Age and pre-revolutionary France. From outside, no prominent sign announces a theme, and the art is crammed into the space in a way that recalls the packed, haphazardly arranged halls of the 19th-century Louvre more than the curated galleries of today. Nevertheless, the museum has billed the modest display as a major development in its history. For the first time since 1945, the Louvre has formally dedicated an area in which to present - together in the same space - some of the Nazi-looted artworks in its collection, in what curators are calling a restitution effort. The idea, they say, is to encourage the descendants of the works' original owners, many of whom were probably Jewish victims of Nazi persecution, to come forward and reclaim what is rightfully theirs. "Our objective is very clearly to restitute everything we can," Sebastien Allard, the Louvre's chief curator of paintings, said on a tour of the new rooms Thursday. "It's very important that we present the 'MNR' works in a separate space," he added, using the French acronym for "Musees Nationaux Recuperation," the roughly 61,000 stolen artworks that were returned to France after World War II. Of those, the government quickly returned some 45,000 works to survivors and heirs but sold thousands more to replenish its postwar coffers. For decades, French museums - the Louvre included - have willingly displayed the remaining 2,143 works. According to the Louvre's statistics, it still holds 1,752 MNR works, 807 of which are paintings. Of those paintings, 296 are held in the museum's sprawling Paris headquarters, while the rest are on display in affiliated museums across France. Outside the two new rooms, other MNR holdings remain scattered throughout the museum's permanent collection. Restitution lawyers and activists applaud the new display, which opened in December, but dispute the assertion that its animating motive is in fact restitution. Since 1951, the Louvre has returned only about 50 of the MNR paintings in its collection, according to museum statistics. Some say that launching this project now, more than 70 years after the war, means that even fewer descendants are likely to come forward. "This is halfhearted - I'm sorry. From the Louvre I expect more," said Christopher Marinello, a restitution lawyer in London who has overseen some of the highest-profile recoveries of Nazi-looted art, including the 2014 transfer of Henri Matisse's 1937 "Profil bleu devant la cheminee" from the Henie Onstad Museum in Oslo back to the heirs of its rightful owner, the Parisian art dealer Paul Rosenberg. "This is the type of thing that should have been done in the late 1990s," Marinello said. "The fact that this comes 20 years after the Washington Declaration is completely pathetic, especially for a museum with the funding and the stature that the Louvre has." At a 1998 D.C. conference, the Washington Declaration - formally the Washington Principles on Nazi-Confiscated Art - established international protocols for the identification and return of stolen art. Forty-four governments sent delegates to the gathering. In France especially, the late 1990s also represented a turning point in a national narrative that had long avoided acknowledging the state's wartime collaboration with Nazi Germany. In July 1995, then-President Jacques Chirac publicly apologized for France's role in the Holocaust, and his government began examining a dark, complicated legacy in which the question of stolen art was central. Two years later, the government launched a task force known as the Matteoli Commission, which investigated the provenance of the MNR works in the national museums and spurred the creation of a state-run enterprise charged with researching the claims of potential victims. But some say actual progress has been slow. "Honestly, the creation of these MNR rooms at the Louvre is far too little, far too late," Marc Masurovsky, a Washington-based restitution scholar who co-founded the Holocaust Art Restitution Project in 1997, said in an email. "It feels like a publicity stunt, aimed at sending a message worldwide that the French government takes the 'unclaimed' works, the apparent residua from the Second World War, seriously." The reality, Masurovsky suggested, is that Louvre and government officials, in much the same way as their counterparts across Europe, have never quite focused on the most crucial task - proactively researching victims and their descendants, who may not even know what is theirs. "If the Louvre and the French museum administration were to invest the same amount of energy into research and professional, ethical due diligence into its own collections - what some like to describe as 'transparency,' although there is nothing really transparent about this exercise, it simply is less opaque - we would all applaud its efforts," he said. "But such a commitment does not exist." The Louvre's Allard said that he hopes descendants will come forward but that they need to provide sufficient proof of ownership. "We have to return the right work to the right person," he said. Descendants who have been through the restitution process say it is far more complicated than that. "If you fled in haste, you may not have all the pieces of the puzzle," said Marianne Rosenberg, a granddaughter of the dealer Paul Rosenberg who has since worked to recover several of her family's stolen paintings. Because of the meticulous records her grandfather kept, she said, her work was easier than it is for most but still faced years of bureaucratic inertia and indifference from museum professionals. In the 1990s, Rosenberg said, she and her sister were trying to get back "Water Lilies," a 1904 Monet oil painting that belonged to their grandfather but that was then hanging in the Musee des Beaux-Arts in Caen. When Rosenberg telephoned the museum to inquire about the painting's provenance, a curator had a ready response. "Oh, that came from a Jewish family who disappeared," Rosenberg recalls being told. "That happened, you know." Washington The White House signaled on Thursday that President Donald Trump would allow a secret memo written by Republican congressional aides to be made public, despite fears from some in the West Wing that it could prompt the resignation of the FBI director, Christopher A. Wray, and lead to another crisis for the administration. Trump, who had a brief window to block the memo's disclosure on national security grounds, was expected to tell Congress on Friday that he had no objections and would probably not request that any of its substance be redacted, according to a senior administration official. The president's eagerness to see the document made public pitted him against his own top national security officials, who have warned that it omits crucial context and that its release would jeopardize sensitive government information. The memo is said to accuse federal law enforcement officials of abusing their authorities in seeking court permission to surveil a former Trump campaign adviser. White House aides worked on Thursday to accommodate concerns raised by Wray as well as Daniel Coats, the director of national intelligence. It was unclear what changes, if any, were being made before the document was transmitted back to the House. White House officials cautioned that the situation remained fluid. Once Trump's decision is formally conveyed to Congress, the House Intelligence Committee, whose leaders have pushed for its release, can make the document public. Exactly how and when that would happen was not immediately clear. Republicans were relying on a never-before-used House rule and did not telegraph their plans. Wray and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein had already tried unsuccessfully this week to persuade the White House to stop the release of the memo, and Thomas O'Connor, the president of the FBI Agents Association, issued a statement on Thursday supporting Wray. It thanked the director for "standing shoulder to shoulder with the men and women of the FBI" and came a day after the bureau itself strongly condemned the push for the memo's release. Despite the White House worries about his unhappiness at the prospect of the document's release, Wray, who has kept a relatively low profile since taking over the FBI in August, was unlikely to resign over this issue, people familiar with his thinking said. House Speaker Paul Ryan, speaking to reporters at the Republicans' annual policy retreat in West Virginia on Thursday, rejected criticisms of the memo and offered a full-throated defense of the document. "This memo is not an indictment of the FBI, of the Department of Justice. It does not impugn the Mueller investigation or the deputy attorney general," he said, referring to Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel investigating the Russian election meddling and whether Trump obstructed justice. Instead, Ryan said, the memo was the product of Congress employing oversight of the executive branch. Trump has told the people close to him that he believes the memo, which the White House confirmed he had read, makes the case that law enforcement officials acted inappropriately and with bias in the early days of the Russia investigation. Xi meets May, calling for better Sino-British ties in new era Chinese President Xi Jinping (R) meets with visiting British Prime Minister Theresa May in Beijing, capital of China, Feb. 1, 2018. (Xinhua/Liu Weibing) BEIJING, Feb. 1 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping met with visiting British Prime Minister Theresa May Thursday, calling on both countries to forge an enhanced version of the "Golden Era" bilateral ties. During their meeting at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse, Xi said peace, development and win-win cooperation have been the mainstream of the times with the development of a multipolar world, economic globalization, cultural diversity and great IT applications. The two countries need to conform to the trend of the times, respond to the needs of their respective development stage and bilateral cooperation, and add new meaning into the bilateral ties so as to forge an enhanced version of the "Golden Era", Xi told May. China and Britain agreed to embrace a "Golden Era" for bilateral relations during Xi's visit to Britain in October 2015. Xi said that China is willing to work with Britain to promote the healthy and steady development of bilateral ties in a new era. He made four proposals for the future development of bilateral ties. Firstly, the two countries should consider and design the future development of bilateral ties from a strategic height and in a comprehensive way. Xi called on both countries to continue to host high-level dialogue in areas of strategy, finance and people-to-people exchanges, and strengthen exchanges between the legislature bodies, political parties and militaries. "The two countries need to enhance mutual understanding, respect and consider each other's core interests and major concerns, and deal with sensitive issues in a constructive way," Xi said. Secondly, both sides should work together to promote bilateral economic and trade cooperation. He encouraged both countries to dovetail strategies, enhance cooperation in areas of finance, nuclear energy and investment, and explore cooperation in new areas such as artificial intelligence, green energy, the digital economy and sharing economy. China supports economic globalization and trade liberalization, the president said. The Belt and Road Initiative, a public, transparent, open, inclusive and mutually beneficial initiative, is operated under market rules and international rules in the principle of wide consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits, Xi said. "China and Britain can carry out broader and more in-depth cooperation of higher standard within the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative," Xi said, referring to the initiative he proposed in 2013 that aims to achieve policy, infrastructure, trade, financial and people-to-people connectivity along and beyond the ancient Silk Road trade routes. Thirdly, China and Britain should enhance exchange and cooperation within multilateral institutions such as the United Nations, G20 and the World Trade Organization to address global challenges including climate change. Fourthly, the two countries should reinforce people-to-people and cultural exchanges to set an example of realizing harmony and coexistence between eastern and western countries. Echoing Xi's comments on Sino-British ties, May said Xi's visit to Britain in 2015 promoted the in-depth development of bilateral ties in various areas. "Britain shares similar views with China on many global issues and values China's role in international affairs," May said, adding that Xi's speech on globalization at the World Economic Forum annual meeting in 2017 was warmly welcomed by the international community. Saying the Belt and Road Initiative has far-reaching global influence, May expressed her hope that Britain and China can cooperate in this regard to boost global and regional economic growth. May said that as a defender of free trade, Britain is willing to cooperate with China in areas of trade, investment, science and technology, environment, culture and Internet, as well as intensify coordination on major global and regional issues and jointly promote Britain-China global comprehensive strategic partnership for the 21st century. Earlier on Thursday, China's top legislator Zhang Dejiang also met with May. Zhang, chairman of the National People's Congress Standing Committee, expressed willingness to enhance exchanges between the two legislative bodies to ensure a sound legal environment for pushing forward economic and trade cooperation, and cementing cultural exchange. This is May's first official visit to China since she took office in 2016. She kicked off her three-day visit to China in the central city of Wuhan Wednesday morning and held a China-Britain annual meeting between heads of government with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang in Beijing Wednesday afternoon. The two countries signed a dozen deals in areas including trade, finance, health care and smart cities on Wednesday. Houston ISD officials painted a stark picture of what Texas' largest school district could look like if they are forced to enact proposals to close a $208.8 million budget shortfall. Almost all custodians could be cut, with schools being cleaned a couple times a week rather than every day. The number of campuses with an assigned Houston ISD police officer could fall from 89 to 24. Bus routes could be drastically cut, only sparing routes for special education and homeless students. Teacher layoffs would likely be widespread. Those cuts are all just examples of what could happen, Superintendent Richard Carranza said at a Thursday budget workshop, and could change as the district seeks input and shifts some potential cuts to other departments. But the $208.8 million deficit is real, as is the pain it would bring. "What you're going to see today may be shocking in some ways, but I want to reiterate that this is the very first view of what a zero deficit budget would look like," Carranza said. HISD Chief Financial Officer Rene Barajas also told the board there's an option to increase revenues -- hold a Tax Ratification Election to increase property taxes from the current rate of about $1.20 per $100 of a home's value to $1.33. That would cost the owner of a $200,000 home an additional $200 a year and would bring in an estimated $119 million for the district. Increasing the district's taxes would have to be proposed and approved by the board and would later have to be passed by voters through a Tax Ratification Election. Trustee Sue Deigaard said it would likely be an uphill battle to pass such a tax. "I find it striking and frustrating that every year it's about what can we cut instead of finding efficiencies," Deigaard said. "I do not understand how we can go to the public for a TRE until we give them confidence we're been as efficient as we can be with our money." Another hot topic at the workshop was Carranza's proposals to change the way that schools are funded. Currently, schools receive a pot of money based on the number of students at their campus, and principals have wide discretion in using that money to hire staff and provide resources to students. Carranza's administration has proposed moving to a full-time equivalent, or FTE model, which would centralize and standardize many staffing and school budgeting decisions. Schools would be provided with teachers based on student-to-teacher ratios under the plan, for example. Barajas and Carranza said moving to an FTE model would make cuts to schools less painful than if the cuts were delivered through the current system. If the cuts were made under the current system, Barajas said, some high schools could lose more than $1 million in annual funding, while some elementary schools could lose about $475,000. Board President Rhonda Skillern-Jones and Trustee Jolanda Jones supported the bulk of the plan. "I want the FTE model -- the (current) model is not equitable in this district. It is not," Jones said. "While I understand some schools will have things cut, it makes no sense some schools have $1 million left over in their budget and some schools don't have viable personnel (in the current model)." Other trustees had reservations. Trustees Elizabeth Santos, Sue Deigaard and Holly Flynn Vilaseca voiced concern that the FTE system would create a one-size-fits all model that would place more emphasis on campus' bottom lines than on student needs. Carranza said that was not the case, but added that standardizing and requiring some positions would be important to make sure all HISD schools have the same base level of services, such as libraries and medical guidance. "This is not a one-size-fits-all. If it were, we wouldn't meet with principals or ask for feedback or ask for differentiated resources," Carranza said. Trustee Holly Flynn Vilaseca said she worried about the magnitude of all the proposed changes, and Trustee Diana Davila said she felt the FTE model was being steamrolled through without much consideration to other options. "As soon as we started going to these meetings, it was just an FTE conversation," Davila said. "The train was already moving, and this is what we were being fed." Houston ISD administrators on Thursday announced preliminary plans to close and immediately reopen six chronically low-performing elementary and middle schools, a process that would force hundreds of students to leave their home campuses and result in the replacement of all staff at those schools. The six campuses are Blackshear, Highland Heights, Hilliard and Wesley elementary schools, Cullen Middle School and Woodson PK-8. Administrators recommended the closure-and-restart plan in response to the possibility of state intervention under a new Texas law aimed at improving schools that have repeatedly failed to meet state standards. Under the law, 10 Houston ISD campuses must meet state academic standards this year to avoid immediate closure or a state takeover of the district's school board. The district's chief academic officer, Grenita Lathan, acknowledged Thursday "it's going to be hard" for all of those campuses to meet state standards this year. As a result, district administrators are proposing major changes at the 10 schools, along with four other lower-performing campuses, to preempt state intervention. In addition to closing and reopening the six schools, the district would surrender control over hiring, curriculum and governance at eight campuses to outside organizations. "The focus is not to close schools," Houston ISD Superintendent Richard Carranza said. "The focus is to ensure our students have incredible opportunities and that we control our destiny and nobody else controls our destiny." As required by state law, the six closure-and-restart schools would only serve limited grade levels in the 2018-19 school year. The four elementary schools and Woodson PK-8 would offer pre-kindergarten and kindergarten, while Cullen Middle School would offer sixth grade. The campuses would add a single grade level each year. District officials are also asking the state to allow it to serve additional grade levels in 2018-19. Students in grade levels no longer served at those six campuses would be sent to nearby schools. District officials have a tentative list of where students would go, but that information wasn't immediately available Thursday. By forming partnerships at the other eight schools, the district would stave off state intervention for at least two years. Under preliminary plans, Dogan and Mading elementary schools would partner with Children's Learning Institute at University of Texas Health. Kashmere, Madison, North Forest, Wheatley and Worthing high schools as well as Henry Middle School would partner with Talent Development Secondary, a Baltimore-based nonprofit. Unlike the partnerships, Houston ISD would retain control over the six closure-and-restart schools. This story will be updated. A woman who may have been attempting suicide when she drove the wrong way on a California interstate and crashed into a San Antonio medical students car, killing him, has been arrested on eight felony charges, including second-degree murder, authorities said. Grace Elizabeth Ward, 28, of Anderson, California, was being held in the Shasta County Jail in Redding in lieu of posting bail totaling $1.5 million. She was arrested Tuesday at a hospital, where she had been since the fatal crash occurred Jan. 7 on Interstate 5 in Anderson. Ward is accused in the death of Ryan John Folsom, 29, a fourth-year student at UT Health San Antonios School of Medicine. RELATED: Donors rally to support medical student's widow, children Folsom, a married father of three, was supposed to graduate from medical school in May. Ward is charged with one count of second-degree murder in Folsoms death; three counts of attempted murder; three counts of assault with a deadly weapon; and one count of felony vandalism, Shasta County District Attorney Stephanie Bridgett said. Ward also is accused of trying to crash into three other drivers cars before she hit Folsoms vehicle, Bridgett said. All of them report her intentionally swerving and driving toward them, Bridgett said Thursday. RELATED: Workers crushed as 1,000 pounds of rebar falls near Loop 410 Ward was seen parked in the median separating the opposite sides of the highway for seven minutes before she drove the wrong way, Bridgett said. Once she crossed over to the wrong side, she did stop her car for approximately seven minutes before she accelerated into oncoming traffic, the district attorney said. Ward broke her leg in the crash. She was in court Thursday for an arraignment and a public defender was appointed to represent her. That proceeding will continue this morning. Ward has not yet entered a plea, Bridgett said. Folsom and his wife, Lauren, had lived in San Antonio for four years. They had two sons, 2 and 3 years old. Their third son, Ryan Brooks Folsom, was born Monday. Nelson the pit bull has officially retired as Kerr Countys canine ambassador in the care of a former handler, officials said Friday, resolving a situation that upset some dog lovers. Commissioners were advised Thursday that the popular pooch, whod ceased appearing at school campuses and community meetings in November due to liability concerns, would be adopted by his most recent handler at the shelter where Nelson had resided in recent years on an office pillow. Nelson is free now to be a loved family member, to live the life companion animals are meant to, said a post on the Free Nelson page on Facebook, started by Susan Hunter of Bandera County. This has been a long, tedious process. RELATED: Puppy Bowl 2018 to star two dogs from San Antonio The handler wasnt named during the presentation by Reagan Givens, who became county director of environmental health and animal services in September. He is loved, he is cared for, and this resolution is ideal, above all other options, Givens said in prepared remarks provided Friday. County Attorney Heather Stebbins had initially labeled Nelson, a former stray brought to the shelter, as surplus county property, which restricted how the county could dispose of him. Givens said euthanasia was never a consideration. He became a cause celebre in December when the county set a $2,306 adoption fee for him that was intended to recoup its expenses for a veterinarian bill incurred in 2016 when he was hit by a car while on an official outing. County Commissioner Jonathan Letz said one individual had indicated a willingness to pay the high fee to adopt Nelson. However, no one applied by the deadline, and the dog was confined to the shelter office until his fate could be decided. RELATED: PetSmart groomer fired after video showing her violently handling a dog goes viral Stebbins later found that service animals, such as dogs trained to sniff for drugs or explosives, are often allowed to retire in their handlers care. She told me theres no law saying thats how you do it, but thats what other governmental entities have done, Letz said Friday. I think its the best thing for Nelson. I hope hell be happy. Zeke MacCormack is a San Antonio Express-News staff writer. Read more of his stories here. | zeke@express-news.net | @zekemac Huo Chuanlin, an official from China's State Oceanic Administration, holds a photo showing a rescue ship and an oil slick during a press conference on the Iranian oil tanker Sanchi, which exploded and sank after a collision in the East China Sea in January, at the Information Office of the Ministry of Transport in Beijing on Thursday. Photo: AP Chinese authorities have coordinated efforts to continue clean-up operations in the East China Sea where an Iranian tanker sank more than two weeks ago, officials said Thursday. As of Tuesday, five Chinese vessels, a Japanese vessel and a South Korean ship have cleaned a total of 225.8 square nautical miles, said Zhi Guanglu, an official with the Ministry of Transportation, at a press conference in Beijing. "We are also making plans to clean residual oil underwater with the help of underwater robots to root out the hidden risks from the oil spill," Zhi said, noting that the ship also carried 1,900 tons of fuel oil. China's marine, environmental and agricultural authorities have been closely monitoring the situation since the accident. Besides sending ships and planes, satellite remote sensing has been used to monitor up to 800,000 square kilometers of sea surface. As of January 28, the detected oil slick zone had shrunk to 30 square kilometers from 328 square kilometers on January 21, according to Huo Chuanlin, an official at the State Oceanic Administration, citing official satellite remote sensing data. Agricultural departments have also assessed nearly 500 samples from 40 locations. Fishing vessels are now allowed to enter areas within a radius of 30 nautical miles around the sinking site. "Based on the latest monitoring results, the oil spill remains a stable and controllable influencing factor for fishing resources as of now," said Han Xu, an official at the Ministry of Agriculture. The Panama-registered, Iranian-owned oil tanker Sanchi, carrying 113,000 tons of light crude oil, collided with the CF Crystal, a Hong Kong-registered bulk freighter, about 300 kilometers east of the Yangtze estuary on January 6 and sank on January 14. The 32 crew members onboard the tanker - 30 Iranians and two Bangladeshis - were lost. AUSTIN U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson used a stop at his alma mater Thursday to continue to put more heat on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and reminded the audience that historically in South America when conditions get so bad the military often handles that. Speaking at the University of Texas, where he graduated in 1975, Tillerson stressed that the Trump administration has not advocated for regime change, but said the best thing for Venezuela would be for Maduro to go. President Maduro could choose to just leave, Tillerson, 65, said. Thatd be the easiest. Tillerson said the country needs to get back to its constitution. I think there will be a change, said Tillerson, a native Texan who attended high school in Huntsville. We want it to be a peaceful change. With a laugh, Tillerson said if Maduro left, Im sure that hes got some friends over in Cuba that could give him a nice hacienda on the beach. Tillersons comments were part of a speech entitled U.S. Engagement in the Western Hemisphere at the Blanton Auditorium on the Edgar A. Smith Building at the University of Texas campus. He delivered on the same day he was scheduled to fly to Mexico City to meet with President Enrique Pena Nieto as part of a five-nation trip that will also include Argentina, Peru, Colombia and Jamaica. Tillerson also used his speech: To call for modernizing the North American Free Trade Agreement that he says was drawn up before the digital economy had completely disrupted supply chains. To advocate for expanding access to American energy supplies in Central and South America because energy connectivity can lift regions out of poverty. To warn that Latin America needs to be weary of Chinese involvement in the Hemisphere. He said Chinas offers for help always comes at a price that can hurt countries. Latin America does not need another imperial power, Tillerson said. Tillerson also stressed the U.S.s efforts to work with Mexico to help strengthen that nations southern border. Tillersons speech came on the one-year anniversary of him becoming President Donald Trumps Secretary of State. His tenure in the Trump administration has been bumpy at times. Last summer, NBC reported that Tillerson called his boss a moron, leading some to question if Tillerson would lose his position. Tillerson, former CEO of ExxonMobil, had never held public office before his appointment last February. Unlike many of Trumps other top appointments, Tillerson had no formal role in Trumps presidential campaign. Tillerson acknowledge the anniversary at the start of his speech Its been a very busy whirlwind year, Tillerson said during the midday speech. WASHINGTON - The State Department's top career diplomat announced his resignation Thursday, contributing to an exodus of senior diplomats during the Trump administration. Thomas A. Shannon Jr., the undersecretary of state for political affairs, is the department's third-highest ranking official. He will serve until his successor is confirmed by the Senate, according to Heather Nauert, the department's spokeswoman. Shannon served as the acting secretary of state during the first days of the Trump administration while the Senate considered the nomination of Rex Tillerson for the department's top post. The timing of Shannon's announcement was driven by his promise to stay through Tillerson's first year, an anniversary that arrived Thursday, said Steve Goldstein, the department's undersecretary for public affairs. Goldstein said Shannon had been hoping to spend more time with his father following the recent death of Shannon's mother late last year. "The secretary is as regretful as everyone else, but we respect the decision he has made," Goldstein said. Most of the State Department's top diplomats have left since the start of the Trump administration. Of the five "career ambassadors," the department's highest rank, who were in place in January 2017, only one, Stephen D. Mull, will remain after Shannon departs. Mull is currently on sabbatical and has been repeatedly bypassed for top jobs. Shannon not only survived but seemed to thrive. In the administration's first months, Tillerson often decided against attending formal functions at the White House and sent Shannon to serve in his place. When President Donald Trump met with the leaders of Japan, Britain and Canada, Shannon was by the president's side. Shannon's no-nonsense expertise and quiet good humor quickly endeared him to Trump's top White House aides. But within the department, Shannon was widely rumored to be unhappy with Tillerson's decisions to ignore many of the department's top experts, failure to identify a cadre of senior leaders or fill vacancies in a large number of ambassadorships. Morale at the department has plunged amid severe budget cuts and a grinding reorganization. It was often Shannon who delivered the news to senior diplomats that they were being pushed out of their jobs or would not get the postings they had been promised. Goldstein said Shannon's departure was unrelated to low morale at the State Department. Tillerson is expected to give a speech Thursday at the University of Texas describing the administration's policy in Latin America. The speech will preview Tillerson's upcoming trip to South America, his first as secretary of state. When Scott Kelly embarked on his year-long mission on the International Space Station in 2015, both he and NASA were unsure of what to expect. No one had spent that much time in space before, but the mission was an important one in bringing the space agency one step closer to sending astronauts to Mars -- and, hopefully, beyond. RELATED STORY: After finding inspiration in 'The Right Stuff,' astronaut Scott Kelly's life soars. So when Kelly climbed into the Soyuz (the Russian spacecraft that transports astronauts to the space station) in March 2015, he became the experiment, undergoing numerous tests and tracking his vitals and body changes for more than 300 days. NASA was tracking his twin brother and fellow astronaut, Mark Kelly, at the same time as a means of comparison. The second phase of findings for that study were released last week, showing that long duration space travel causes long-term changes in genes related to a person's immune system and DNA repair, for example. NASA is calling it the "space gene," though it actually impacts hundreds. When Kelly returned to Earth, scientists found that 93 percent of his genes returned to normal after coming back. But 7 percent experienced longer term changes, according to a Jan. 31 post on NASA's website. "This is thought to be from the stresses of space travel," another post on NASA's website stated. RELATED STORY: Why can't male astronauts see in space? NASA, Texas researchers aim to find out. Genes that changed include those related to: Hypoxia (probably from high CO2 levels and lack of oxygen) Mitochondrial stress and elevated levels of mitochondria in the blood (suggesting damage to the "power plants of cells") Length of telomere (the protective caps on the ends chromosomes) DNA damage and repair (probably from caloric restriction and radiation) Collagen, bone formation and blood clotting (probably from zero gravity and fluid shifts) Hyperactive immune activity (from the new environment) NASA researchers also found that Kelly's increase time in space did not significantly decrease his cognitive performance on the space station when compared to his twin on the ground. "However, a more pronounced decrease in speed and accuracy was reported postflight, possibly due to re-exposure and adjustment to Earth's gravity, and the busy schedule that enveloped Scott after his mission," NASA stated. Scott Kelly's mission also helped scientists learn that spaceflight is associated with increased inflammation and oxygen deprivation, among other things, according to NASA. A paper on all NASA's findings related to Scott Kelly's long-term mission will be published later this year. Alex Stuckey covers NASA and the environment for the Houston Chronicle. You can reach her at alex.stuckey@chron.com or Twitter.com/alexdstuckey. AUSTIN Executives from several companies getting millions of dollars in contracts to rebuild homes damaged by Hurricane Harvey gave thousands to Land Commissioner George P. Bush's re-election fund within days of the contracts being signed. More than a dozen Horne LLP executives gave $27,500 dollars in political contributions to Bush just three days after the company signed a $13.47 million contract to assist with financial oversight and other administrative duties of federal and state Harvey recovery funds. In October, James W. Turner Construction won a $20 million from the GLOs office to rebuild homes. A month earlier, James Turner, the president and CEO of the company, donated $5,000 to Bushs re-election campaign. A few months later, Windstorm Mitigation, a Florida-based company, signed a $9 million contract to install and maintain temporary housing units. But just over two weeks before the contract was signed on Dec. 15, Ken Cashin, the companys president, gave $2,500 to Bush. None of the contributors from the three companies have given money to other Texas politicians. In 2013, Turner donated $3,000 to Bush. There are no state laws that prohibit donations from employees of state contractors, but some watchdogs say the donations raise questions about the influence of money in politics. "The timing if you take it just before or just after looks bad both ways, especially if these are people who haven't given before and haven't given to other state officials, it looks like quid pro quo," said Andrew Wheat with Texans for Public Justice, a group that tracks political spending. Ash Wright, Bush's political director, dismissed any suggestion of any conflict of interest. "This is the biggest non-story in the history of non-stories," he said. Yes, businesses support Commissioner Bush, as they do other conservative candidates." Joey Havens, an executive partner with Horne, said the company does not comment on employees' personal contributions, charitable or otherwise. Havens, who personally gave $3,000 to Bush, said the company has worked with state since 2010. "I have confirmed that none of our partners or staff have ever discussed the referenced [contract] with the Commissioner nor has the Commissioner requested a political donation," Haven said, noting that the company received the contract through a competitive bid process. 'This stinks' Miguel Suazo, a Democrat vying for Bushs seat, suggested Bush should send the money back. The Texas Democratic Party characterized the donations as Bush "[lining] his pockets." "Everyone knows this stinks. Any way you slice it, an exchange of money for government contracts is never good," said Manny Garcia, the Democratic Party executive director. The Texas Tribune first reported the donations made by the Horne executives Friday, and the Houston Chronicle found two additional companies whose executives donated to Bush. Bush is in the midst of a re-election campaign against three other Republicans, including former land commissioner Jerry Patterson, who has strongly criticized Bushs response to Hurricane Harvey. Wright said the real story is that Bush cleaned up his predecessors practice of routinely handing out no-bid contracts. Patterson said appearance is an issue with the contributions. The contributions dont bother me as much as he is simply not doing his job, Patterson said, noting that Bush has traveled to San Francisco, Washington D.C. and other cities for fundraising events. Wheat, the fiscal watchdog, said the donations undermine faith in government. "It would not be worth taking that amount of money to lose that amount of credibility," Wheat said. Alejandra Matos covers politics, immigration and education policy. Follower her on Twitter. Email tips to alejandra.matos@chron.com. AUSTIN -- It's no secret that Texas has a serious health crisis on its hands with the alarming number of women dying due to issues related to pregnancy within a year after giving birth, and state leaders haven't yet come to a consensus on finding the best policy path forward. But some women's health experts and state legislators agree one of the first steps is making sure Texas mothers have continuous access to health care before, during and after childbirth. "I think we could have made some changes last (legislative) session," said Rep. Donna Howard, D-Austin. "We already knew that access to care was one of the leading problems, and yet we still refuse to do what's necessary to make sure we have more women getting this access to care." On Thursday, Howard gathered alongside other state legislators, health care experts and Texas care providers for a daylong health care policy conference at the University of Texas at Austin for a slew of panels, from strategies to manage the opioid crisis to addressing maternal health in Texas. Most of the panels, regardless of topic, touched on maternal mortality at some point. Howard said the first step in tackling the state's maternal mortality issue is developing policy to ensure women have' continuous health care coverage without any breaks or gaps, so that they get the prenatal and wellness care they need through postpartum under the same program. Under current state law, women are eligible for Medicaid coverage up until 60 days after delivery before they're kicked off. "That would go a long way to making sure women are going to afford themselves of the care that they need to stay healthy before, during and after the pregnancy," Howard said. The Maternal Mortality and Morbidity Task Force, an agency under the Department of State Health Services, reported in 2016 that 189 mothers died within a year after of giving birth in 2011-2012. The problem has only worsened, with the state's maternal mortality rate nearly doubling since 2011, making the state the worst in the country, according to 2016 research published in a national medical journal, though a recent study has cast doubt on those numbers. Most of the mothers in the study died from heart disease, drug overdose (particularly prescription drugs), hypertension or hemorrhaging. "As a mom, I will tell you it's a miracle to have a healthy baby," said Anne Rote, president and CEO of Molina Healthcare of Texas. "There's so many things that can go wrong." The state task force report made several recommendations on how legislators could examine and address the problem. These included increasing access to care up until a year after birth; increasing screening for mental and behavioral health issues (especially postpartum depression); and improving the quality of death certificate data. According to a recent study, there's a direct link between the lack of quality data and women dying during pregnancy, in childbirth or the 42 days thereafter. It found that the state's death rate is not as high as previously found, but it's still worse than other states throughout the country. Some legislators at the panels said the Legislature needs to look at addressing how death certificates are written and signed to clean up some of the data problems. "We need to be sure there's good integrity around the data," said Rep. John Zerwas, R-Richmond, and a candidate for speaker of the House of Representatives. "We don't want to try to create solutions for something that the data doesn't really support." China solar company Jinko Solar is on its way to the US despite a recent tariff on China-made solar panels, photo taken January 16, 2018. Photo: AP Washington (People's Daily) -- Jinko Solar, the worlds second-largest solar panel manufacturer, said that its board of directors had authorized the company to open a factory for an advanced solar manufacturing facility in the US. The solar company did not specify the size or location of its first planned US factory, but a local newspaper in Jacksonville, Florida, reported that the Chinese solar company was most likely entering a $410 million factory-building deal with the city. Although unofficial, Jinko has pledged to bring 400 jobs to the city by the end of the year, with the other 400 to be hired by the end of 2019. Plant construction is slated to begin mid-summer and could be finished by the end of next year. The company also did not explain a reason for the investment but said it would continue to closely monitor treatment of imports of solar cells and modules under the US trade laws. The decision comes after US President Donald Trump said he would raise tariffs on solar panel imports from China. The US tariff hike on solar power equipment, which could be as high as 30 percent has been seen as a hit against Chinese companies. Made-in-China solar products accounted for 21 percent of the products used in the US in 2016, even after years of American anti-dumping and anti-subsidy investigations into Chinese companies. Jinko Solar employs over 15,000 people across eight manufacturing sites in China, Malaysia, Portugal, and South Africa, as well as through 16 overseas subsidiaries and 18 sales offices. 1 War on drugs: Nearly 50 people suspected of using and selling drugs were killed by officers in the past two months, the Philippine National Police said Friday, contradicting earlier pronouncements that the governments war on drugs would become less deadly. The figure was the first released since President Rodrigo Duterte reactivated the police in December as the countrys lead agency in carrying out a crackdown on illegal narcotics. Duterte temporarily placed the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency in charge of the drug war last year after police officers were found to have killed three teenagers and then lied about how the boys died. News of their deaths prompted protests and a Senate investigation. The number of people killed since Dutertes drug war took effect in 2017 is unknown. The government says fewer than 4,000 suspects, but Human Rights Watch last week estimated the figure at more than 12,000. 2 London attack: A man who drove a van into worshipers near a London mosque, killing one man and injuring a dozen others, was sentenced Friday to at least 43 years in prison for what a judge called a crime driven by malevolent hatred. Judge Bobbie Cheema-Grubb said Darren Osbornes mind was poisoned by far-right ideas before the June 2017 attack targeting Muslims and that he had shown no signs of remorse. Makram Ali, 51, was killed and 12 people were injured when Osborne drove a rented van into people leaving evening prayers during Ramadan. BEIJING, Feb. 1 (Xinhua) -- Chinese and foreign reporters have been invited to cover two major Chinese political meetings in March. The first annual session of the 13th National People's Congress (NPC), the country's top legislature, will open on March 5 in Beijing. The first session of the 13th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), the top political advisory body, will open on March 3. A media center will be open on Feb. 27, the general offices of the NPC Standing Committee and the CPPCC National Committee announced Thursday. Chinese and foreign journalists should submit applications for passes to the media center, while foreign reporters temporarily in China for the "two sessions" should apply to Chinese embassies or visa organizations authorized by the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Reporters from Hong Kong and Macao should apply at the central government's liaison offices in the two special administrative regions. Reporters from Taiwan should apply to the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council. The deadline for applications is Feb. 25. Information on the NPC session will be posted at www.npc.gov.cn/pc/13_1 and at www.cppcc.gov.cn for the CPPCC session. The beginning of the school year when you got to show off your new duds, new cars, new looks! Sports! Playing, cheering, watching high school athletics. The arts: Dramatic arts, musical groups and shows, graphic arts groups, debate, etc. The prom! No dancing the night away or punch bowl antics. The daily interactions. Just being with the group, hanging with friends and classmates. Access to college recruiters and advisors its harder to line up higher education. Walking onstage to get a diploma while all the family is watching with everyone elses family. Vote View Results The law department of a city in Northeast China's Heilongjiang Province urged netizens to keep a clear mind on Thursday after several news reports questioned a teenage girl for claiming she was raped by a dozen of her relatives who had since been jailed, in a case a decade ago. "We urge netizens not to believe in some people who deliberately create confusion," according to a notice of the political and law committee of Wudalianchi city released on Thursday. The notice said that in 2008, the victim, surnamed Tang (or known online as Tang Lanlan), was less than 14 years old when she was allegedly raped by more than 10 relatives and villagers, who were then sentenced to five to 15 years in 2010. After Tang's mother, surnamed Wan, was released from jail in June 2017, she appealed several times, claiming to be tortured into confessing. She asked media to play up the incident and attempted to reverse the verdict, the notice said. "We ask the people involved to deal with their appeals according to the law and regulations," the notice said. Two released from prison were caught on Sunday by police in Wudalianchi for buying sex during an anti-prostitution campaign, it said. Tang's mother Wan Xiuling and aunt Tang Yumei, whose husband Liu Changhai was also sentenced, appealed to the Supreme People's Procuratorate of China, reported the Yangtse Evening Post's Ziniu News on Wednesday. Fu Jian, Tang Yumei's lawyer, told the Global Times that the case lacks evidence - the suspects all denied their involvement, and two were sentenced without any testimonies. "Tang Lanlan was against her family, and Tang Yumei has been appealing for the family for 10 years," Fu said, "We have appealed to the Supreme People's Procuratorate several times but received no reply so far." Five of the 11 have been release so far, including Wan, who felt Tang had been instigated by others to fabricate the incident and has been asking lawyers to appeal, according to the Ziniu News report. Tang changed her identity and had since moved out. Wan is also looking for Tang, in hoping her daughter could clarify the matter. But after reports on Tang were made, thousands of netizens criticized media for violating Tang's privacy and rights. "If Tang Lanlan is with you, please protect and hide her, because people who want to seek revenge have been released from prison," "Wuhoude Shuiyao," a Sina Weibo user, appealed. The tweet garnered more than 32,000 reposts and 21,800 likes, with most people supporting Tang's protection. If a defendant feels she was unjustly charged, she should appeal according to law, instead of inciting media to find the victim. "If media adds fuel to the fire, it would become an accomplice," Tang Yunxiu, a Sina Weibo user who claims to be a lawyer from Chengdu, Sichuan Province said on his Sina Weibo account. "The case is suspicious, but media reports have also pushed Tang at the center of suspicions," Luo Ruixue, a member of women's rights group Women Awakening Network, told the Global Times on Thursday. Lifestyle / Travel BBC Worldwide in partnership with Airbnb brings you the chance to spend three nights and two days onboard the Alucia, used in the filming of Blue Planet II. Win the sleepover of your dreams on Airbnb. Find out how Feb 02, 2018 | By Andrea Sim An Ocean Exploration Trip with Airbnb From the very best of land holidays to the exploration of the mysterious space offered through worlds first commercial spaceflight by Virgin Galatica, now American company Airbnb has just announced a partnership with BBC Worldwide, inviting guests onboard the vessel from BBCs Blue Planet II on an underseas expedition. The deep sea exploration experience offers a chance for three lucky winners to spend three days and two nights onboard the 56m OceanXs Alucia as featured in the world leading oceanic research and exploration vessel used in the filming. Having spent so many hours in the submarine and countless weeks at sea filming the deep sea for Blue Planet II, the Alucia almost feels like my second home. I now feel privileged to be able to share this once in a lifetime experience with promising ocean heroes and show them the wonders of life in the ocean Orla Doherty, Blue Planet IIs Producer and Veteran Ocean Explorer The lucky winners will enjoy a sleepover as well as discover the breathtaking surrounding views of the seabed, which is home to a wondrous universe of fish, mammals and sea creatures. This submarine trip is the first of its kind adventure submerging 1,000m beneath the waves, with the journey starting from Cape Eleuthera and ending at Nassau, Bahamas. Experience it with Airbnb as it transforms iconic spaces into homes to bring guests on a short trip to varied locations. Immerse yourself into the extraordinary. Let marine life host you for this awe-filled special experience aboard the iconic Alucia. Our oceans are in danger, and what better way to know what we can do to help than through the very eyes of underwater animals at risk and with the expertise of the worlds leading scientists? Joe Gebbia, Founder and Chief Product Officer, Airbnb. Submissions should be 50-550 characters in English. For eligibility requirements and full contest terms and conditions, please see airbnb.com/blueplanet. Eligible markets: US, Canada, China, Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Germany, Philippines, Portugal, Spain and UK For more information about the contest, please visit Airbnb here. Six out of ten rail travelers to take high-speed trains in Chinese New Year travel rush Passengers prepare to take the train at Beijing Railway Station in Beijing, capital of China, Feb. 1, 2018. The 2018 Spring Festival travel rush, known as the Chunyun, started on Thursday and will last till March 12. About 2.98 billion trips are expected to be made during the Chunyun. The Spring Festival, or Chinese Lunar New Year, falls on Feb. 16 this year. (Xinhua/Xing Guangli) This year's Spring Festival travel rush, known as chunyun, will see people taking 2.98 billion trips by various means, with high-speed trains playing a greater role during the world's largest annual migration. Monday marks the first day of this year's chunyun, when people start to travel home for the Chinese New Year, which falls on February 16. The travel rush will last until March 12, said the Xinhua News Agency. About 390 million trips will be made by train, China Railway said in a news release sent to the Global Times. China Railway said 57.5 percent of rail travelers will take high-speed trains, up 4.8 percent from previous year. In order to provide a "safe, organized and warm" chunyunfor passengers, China Railway has implemented new measures to make taking the train easier and more comfortable. Railway stations have self-service counters that can authenticate tickets and ID. An online meal delivery service allows passengers to order ahead and try local delicacies along their route, said China Railway. High-speed trains are putting a serious dent in the time it takes to travel home. For example, it now only takes nine hours to get from Beijing to Chengdu by high-speed train said a traveler surnamed Shi, adding that before high-speed service the trip took almost 30 hours. A man from the Republic of Congo, who gave his name as Miao Shu, said he was lucky to be able to book his trip from Hangzhou, capital of East China's Zhejiang Province, to Beijing just as the travel rush is about to begin. Although there were obviously more people than usual, Miao said that the service was still good. "I really like China Railway's punctuality and convenience because you can order food on the train and have WiFi," he said. Toilet Revolution The railway authorities this year also launched what they are calling the "toilet revolution." On the four-hour train trip from Shanghai to Beijing, cleaners will check the toilets at least once an hour and ensure they meet 'hotel standards,' according to Xinhua. "The toilet used to be unbearable. But now it's as clean as hotel toilets and I can even smell a nice aroma," a passenger surnamed Wang who arrived in Beijing from Shanghai on Thursday morning, told the Global Times. Road trips less popular China Railway will not only add more trains to meet the increased passenger demand but also plans to open at least one new rail line during the holiday rush. Some 576 trains will be put into service in the days leading up the official national Spring Festival holiday week, which runs from February 15th to the 21st. After the official holiday week China Railway said it will put 665 extra trains into service to meet the wave of travelers returning to where they work. A new high-speed rail line linking Southwest China's Chongqing Municipality to Guiyang, capital of Southwest China's Guizhou Province will be put into use for the first time after the official holiday week. It will shorten travel times between the two cities from 10 hours to two hours. As train and air travel become increasingly convenient and comfortable, the number of people traveling by road is expected to show a slight decline for the first time in chunyun. The number of road trips will drop 1.6 percent to 2.48 billion, Lian Weiliang, deputy director of the National Development and Reform Commission, said at a news conference on Wednesday. Meanwhile, some 65 million trips are expected to be made by air, up 10 percent from last year, said Lian. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying (Photo: www.fmprc.gov.cn) BEIJING, Feb. 1 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying on Thursday refuted allegations regarding China's espionage threat, made by the United Statesand Australia. Media reported that U.S. Central Intelligence Agency Director Mike Pompeo said China was trying to steal U.S. information. Meanwhile, Australia said the foreign espionage threat was greater than before, with a raft of different countries seeking to conduct espionage and foreign interference, citing China as "a focus of concern." "These reports remind me of a Chinese saying: your thoughts shape the world in your eyes. Thus, it is not strange to hear such remarks from the head of the world's largest intelligence agency," Hua said. She said that "facts speak louder than words," and the world knows well who really conducts surveillance and espionage, and wields influence over other countries. As for Australia's allegation, Hua said millions of people travel between China and Australia every year. "If they regard these people and overseas Chinese in Australia as spies, they will be undoubtedly anxious," she said. SPRINGFIELD -- The Massachusetts Department of Transportation is negotiating with Connecticut on plans to extend the CTrail commuter train service north from Springfield to Holyoke, Northampton and Greenfield on the Knowledge Corridor rail line Massachusetts already owns. The plan is to run trains further north up the Pioneer Valley sometime this year, said Astrid Glynn, the MassDOT rail and transit administrator, Friday at a question-and-answer session organized by U.S. Rep. Richard E. Neal, D-Springfield. Seventeen state lawmakers from Hampden, Hampshire, Franklin, Berkshire and Worcester counties -- Neal's congressional district -- joined Neal and Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno for the meeting in unfinished office space available for lease on an upper floor of Union Station. Topics also included highways, broadband internet and -- thanks to a question from state Sen. Stanley Rosenberg, D-Amherst -- how the state plans to pay for it all. Neal hosted the meeting just as talk heats up in Washington of a new $1.5 trillon federal transportation and infrastructure plan. Connecticut plans to start in CTrail service in May, Glynn said. CTrail will serve New Haven, Hartford and Springfield as well as parts in between. The service, as planned now, would stop in Springfield. "We want people in Greenfield to be able to travel to New York City and back in a day," Glynn said. "We also want to be able to connect the people in Greenfield with jobs that are in Connecticut." Enhanced north-south passenger service is a priority in Massachusetts' new Draft State Rail plan. A MassDOT public information meeting on the rail plan conducted just after Neal's session drew about 200 people to the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission about one block away. The rail plan also prioritizes a possible Berkshire flyer train from New York City to Pittsfield and freight improvements including heavier rail on the New England Central line. Ends of that line in Vermont and in Connecticut can handle heavier, fully loaded freight cars that save shippers money. State Rep. Todd M. Smola, R-Palmer, praised the efforts. The New England Central runs through his district. But he also asked about the possibility of adding more exits on the Massachusetts Turnpike, a project made easier by the all-electronic tolling system in place since October 2016. He said the Interstate 90 / Interstate 84 interchange in Sturbridge backs up and a few other exits in places such as Warren or Brimfield would help. Also, there is the ongoing effort to get an exit on the Pike between Westfield and Lee. Scott Bosworth, MassDOT chief strategy officer, had little to say on the possibility of new highway exits. But the lawmakers thoughts will go into account. State Rep. Aaron Vega, D-Holyoke, asked about expediting bridge projects. Holyoke, a city of canals, has a lot of small bridges. Bosworth answered Vega by talking about "bridge bundling," the state's plan to package a number of small bridge projects, many of them in Western Massachusetts, and handing the projects to a private company. The state would then pay for the work after the bridges are done. Many lawmakers expressed frustration with the lack of high-speed internet in their communities. Rosenberg asked how the Baker administration plans to raise money to fund transportation projects. One idea that has been floated is a pay-by-mile plan called VMT (vehicle miles traveled) that some states are experimenting with. Bosworth told Rosenberg that VMT is still on the table as a possibility, but more research must be done. After the meeting, Rosenberg said VMT can hurt rural communities where folks travel longer distances. The impact can be offset through the use of zones with different rates or a rebate for rural residents. "There are rural, western states who are trying to figure this out," he said afterward.